Return of the Zambon-I

Two Sundays ago, at a little after eight A.M., I received the news via text message from my friend, Tyler. Hockey is back. 

I was pretty much having a completely shitty day at that point, as it was eight A.M. on a Sunday and I had already been at work for over five hours. And with one text message, that changed. I had my favorite thing in the world back. I'm still all for my Gary Bettman needs to die in a fire (#DIAF on twitter) campaign, but I was beyond happy at this point. 

I don't have any plans to purchase a jersey this year like I was originally planning, but I want my hockey team to be there for me, so I will be there for them in the stands. After all, I'm well aware that Tom Stillman and the rest of the Blues' new ownership group didn't want any part of this lockout. The Blues were recently listed as the least valuable NHL franchise, so losing money by not playing 34 games and alienating fans would be about the worst thing they could do. Jeremy Jacobs, the owner of the Boston Bruins and just a handful of others were the reason for this lockout, the third work stoppage under Bettman (#DIAF), and it was completely unacceptable. Their greed cost us fans roughly half of a hockey season just eight years after it cost us an entire one. But since the St. Louis owners weren't the problem, I can't boycott them like I did the Cardinals' owners during the 2012 regular season for messing up the Albert Pujols situation. 

When Saturday rolls around, I will be in the stands ready to yell "Let's go Blues!" at the top of my lungs, decked out in a jersey and cap. I'll heckle the Red Wings just like usual (I once yelled at Pavel Datsyuk while he wasn't even on the ice. Alcohol may have been involved.) Maybe it's due to the longest withdrawal I've had in years, as hockey is my crack, or maybe it's because many pundits are picking the Blues to go far in the playoffs this year, but this may be the most excited I've ever been for a hockey season to begin. 

 

The Blues stellar goaltending tandem of Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott that propelled them to their first Central Division title in 11 years is back and healthy, after Halak injured his ankle in the first round of the playoffs last season. Overall, the Blues are bringing back 22 of the 25 roster players from last season. Carlo Colaiacovo left in free agency to join Detroit, but for me, that's addition by subtraction. He would make gritty, solid plays at times, but he would often make silly, careless mistakes that would cost the team. And that was when he could actually manage to stay healthy, which wasn't often. The other blueliner that won't be back is Kent Huskins. His play was consistent when he was in the lineup, but nothing special that can't be replaced. The Blues added veteran Wade Redden to fill the void left by Huskins. Ian Cole appears like he will be stepping into a full time role with the Blues for the first time as a replacement for Colaiacovo, so Redden's signing will be more for depth than anything else. The 35-year old D-man may bring some additional leadership as well, but this hockey club isn't short on that either. David Backes will resume his captaincy with the team for the second season and the same four alternates of Andy McDonald, Alex Steen, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Barret Jackman.

The only forward of last year's roster that won't be returning is veteran Jason Arnott. He was a great player for the Blues last year, recording 17 goals and 17 assists with six of his goals coming on the power play, tying him with Alex Pietrangelo for second on the team. Arnott simply didn't fit into this year's roster for the Blues, as they had to make room for perhaps their most exciting addition, rookie Vladimir Tarasenko. After spending his past two season in the KHL in Russia, Tarasenko's contract was up and he decided to make the leap to the NHL. David Perron, T.J. Oshie, and Backes certainly have offensive firepower, but not the same kind that Tarasenko wields. He could really bring an offensive punch to the roster that the team was missing at times last year. Personally, he is what I'm most looking forward to seeing this season live. He's great to watch on Youtube, but I'd much rather see the real thing (here's a video of him scoring a hat trick in the KHL anyway). 

And now that this is a possibility, the possibilities for this Blues team are endless. They have the goaltending, the defense, and the offense. They have head coach Ken Hitchcock returning, last year's Jack Adams Award winner for coach of the year. They have general manager Doug Armstrong, whom they just signed to a five-year extension, who was last year's NHL executive of the year, who is willing to add whatever little pieces the team may need, like Redden. And they certainly have the fans behind them again, as it appears that Saturday's opener against Detroit will sell out. Bring on hockey season and let's go Blues!

Bears Slam Rams Back to Reality

Sunday, following the Rams' first win in a home opener since 2006, was full of hope. They had a chance to beat a Bears team that was down to their second running back and struggled mightily to protect quarterback Jay Cutler the previous week in Green Bay.

Unfortunately, in football, you have to play on both sides of the ball. The Rams' defense was everything they could've hoped for against the pass. Cutler was just 17-31 for 183 yards and a pick without a touchdown. He was also sacked twice. The Bears' rushing game wasn't extremely effective either, overall, but they allowed the Bears to convert on a couple of crucial third downs. Their goal-line stand on which running back Michael Bush rushed for the Bears' only offensive touchdown was also unimpressive. But what was most disappointing about a pretty decent defensive day for the Rams, was two extremely stupid penalties that led to both the aforementioned touchdown and a field goal by extending two Chicago drives. Even the replacement refs know that you can't hit the punter and you can't hit the quarterback late. The Rams probably got away with a few late hits on Cutler, but if you do something illegal enough, you're probably going to be caught eventually. And that's exactly what happened. The flag was thrown, the Bears kept the ball, and eventually scored the game's only offensive touchdown to build a 10-0 lead. The Rams' anemic offense would ensure that would be all that the Bears would need.

I know that the St. Louis offensive line has struggled in years past and has already been decimated by injuries this season, but that's starting to not be an excuse anymore for quarterback Sam Bradford. He was sacked six times on Sunday and I would estimate that at least three of them, you could put on Bradford. He's simply holding on to the ball for too long. In the NFL, quarterbacks can not expect to get five seconds to throw the ball. They're lucky if they get three on most plays. If he can extend the play by scrambling, that's fine, but he doesn't do that very often. Bradford often goes into the fetal position and just take the sack. Sacks are better than interceptions, but these are not all coverage sacks, with zero open receivers available. On the pick-six he threw, wide receiver Danny Amendola was wide open on the left side of the field as the, but he forced it deep into tight coverage that quickly became double coverage on the same side of the field. He's clearly not going through his progressions and is still not comfortable in the pocket. Teams don't win many games in which their quarterback takes six sacks, so Bradford will either need to start making plays with his legs or at least learn to get rid of the ball quicker to get back to winning like he did in college.

Labor Day

Both the NFL and NHL don't seem to get it.

The NHL is on the verge of its second lockout in under a decade and the owners and Players' Association are supposedly still very far apart on a new CBA. The NFL announced earlier on Wednesday that it will begin the 2012 season with replacement referees. Both of these situations could be greatly damaging to the leagues.

Only in the last couple of years has the NHL truly started to get back its fans in most of its markets. Most of the Canadian teams, Detroit, Boston, and New York, got their fans back either right away or pretty quickly. But even Chicago, an Original Six team, didn't see their fans come back until a few years after the lockout. This was partially due to their now deceased owner, William W. Wirtz, running the franchise in a very non-fan friendly manner, but the lockout certainly didn't help matters. St. Louis, which is a historically strong hockey town, also dealt with ownership problems in the post-lockout era and frankly wasn't a competitive team again until the 2008-09 season when they rallied to make the playoffs, before being swept by Vancouver in the first round. And like in any city, even when the fans are there, the tickets sell better when a team is winning. The Blues have raised ticket prices the last two years, which is certainly a signal that their fans are back strong. This is the case in many NHL cities at this point. But there are still franchises that are struggling as well.

The Phoenix Coyotes have been in financial trouble for years in the desert, and the vultures have certainly been circling the Jobing.com Arena for a while. The Coyotes are still currently being run by the NHL itself and are constantly being discussed as a team that could possibly move cities. The same can be said about the Florida Panthers. The Dallas Stars used to sell out routinely, but they've struggled in recent seasons both in the standings and in attendance. Even the New York Islanders, a historical franchise that had a dynasty of four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 80's, have been talked about as a potential franchise that could move. The Islanders haven't won a division title since the 1987-88 season and have rarely been in the playoffs since the 80's. Their crosstown rivals, the Rangers, are bigger draw as they win more often, have the more famous arena, and have more history.

It is situations like these that could make the average fan side with the owners on the CBA. Teams like the Islanders, Panthers, Coyotes, and Stars can't afford to see the salary cap creep closer and closer to where it was before the 2004-05 lockout. But franchises like the Red Wings, Rangers, Flyers, Maple Leafs, and Canadiens certainly can. These teams might not like the revenue sharing, but they have to play someone and without all of the other teams, it just wouldn't be the same league. On the players' side, the owners and the league were completely unreasonable in their first proposal to the NHLPA. In addition to a steep drop in revenue sharing between the players and owners, they asked for salary rollbacks, a lower salary cap, and extended entry-level contracts, which was probably the worst part. There is absolutely no way that the NHLPA would agree to that and the NHL had to know that.

I understand asking for a lot in order to get a little in a compromise, but when another season is at risk and the deadline for negotiations is this close, this was a waste of time. The first proposal should have been more fair and with that, they could have expected a better first proposal from the NHLPA. We're now on the league's second proposal, with under three weeks to go until a potential lockout and things don't sound like they're coming to a head any time soon. I quite honestly don't think the NHL, which is miles behind the NFL and MLB in popularity, can survive another lockout, especially the franchises that are already struggling. I'm not sure I would want to keep following a league that will continue to shoot itself in the foot every time it starts to turn things around again. And if a hockey fan like me won't be in the stands, then who will?

As far as the NFL's referee situation goes, I again will side with the little guy, but mostly for my own sake as a fan. People complain about officiating all the time, no matter the sport. But in the country's most popular sport, the one that is talked about more than any other, does the league really want poor officiating from inexperienced referees to be what is talked about the most? Probably not. Talking about how bad the refs were on Sunday afternoon doesn't sell jerseys. It doesn't sell tickets either, except maybe on Stubhub when the fans get so frustrated with blown calls that they don't even want to go to the game anymore. By bringing in replacement refs, the NFL is downgrading its product, a product that has become the most popular sport in the United States, passing even America's past time of baseball. Why on earth would you want to give that up? Commissioner Roger Goodell will make $20 million this season. Are you honestly telling me that a league which can afford to pay its commissioner that much money can't afford to make a few concessions to  appease its top officials? Especially when it will help keep its brand as the king of American sports? Please.

The NFL and NHL both need to do what is best for the fans and get these matters settled quickly before they do extensive damage to themselves. After all, the fans are the ones actually paying the salaries.

Cole Hamels IS That Good

I was getting tired of reading about how Cole Hamels is going to get a ridiculous contract from either the Phillies or in free agency, so I decided to write a post about him not being that good and not being worth that kind of money.

Well, it turns out that Hamels has been extremely consistent since he entered the league in 2006. Since his rookie year, his ERA has only finished over 4.00 one time, and that was in 2009, the year after the Phillies won the World Series. He threw what is still a career high of 227.1 innings in 2008 and threw an additional 35.0 innings during that postseason, bringing the overall total to 262.1 innings. Most pitchers struggle after putting up a bunch of extra innings. Just look at Chris Carpenter. After the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series, Carp missed nearly two full seasons, pitching in just five games over those two years. Now it's 2012 and Carpenter won't pitch at all this season after the Cards won the 2011 World Series. Hamels had took a step back in 2009, suffering career highs in ERA, WHIP, and his only sub-.500 season, but he still was decent enough to help the team back to another World Series.

I'm not sure if Hamels is worth $20+ million a year, but the Phillies gave Cliff Lee $120 million over five year and Hamels has a career ERA .30 lower than that of Lee. At least if he does get that much, he can afford a better hair cut. If Philadelphia can't retain Hamels, he would be a prized asset that could bolster any team looking to make the playoffs this season. One major rule change could deter some clubs, though. Players acquired in mid-season trades will no longer result in draft pick compensation if they sign elsewhere. With this being the first year of this rule, it's difficult to tell how it will affect prospective trades, but teams might not want to give up as many prized prospects with the possibility of losing both those young players and the free agent, without a chance to replace either. If the Phillies re-sign Hamels, they're looking at close to $70 million on three pitchers between him, Lee, and Roy Halladay for next season. Add on Ryan Howard's $25 million, and that's $95 million on four players. The Phillies might be better off trading Hamels for the right package so if nothing else, they can keep some balance on their roster keep it competitive.

The Second Half

After an amazing April, the Cardinals have fallen a bit on hard times. The biggest reasons for this have been injuries and a sub-par performance from the bullpen. Allen Craig has been on the DL twice and has practically averaged an RBI per game when he's been able to play. Lance Berkman only has had 42 at-bats so far this season, but is on the verge of coming back. The biggest blow of all, however, is probably the fact that Chris Carpenter hasn't pitched and we found out a little over a week ago that he won't pitch again until 2013 at the earliest.

As for the bullpen, it simply hasn't been reliable. Whether it's been Marc Rzepczynski walking too many batters, Fernando Salas allowing a hit parade, or Jason Motte thinking he has God's gift to fastballs, the Cardinals have allowed far too many leads to be squandered this season. The Cardinals have blown 14 saves a team so far this season. Only the Colorado Rockies, who are having a historically bad pitching season, have blown more saves. By comparison, the division leading Pirates have only blown five. If the Cardinals had converted just half of those blown saves, they would have the best record in Major League Baseball. This isn't that unreasonable  as they still wouldn't be perfect or even the best in the league at holding leads if they had managed this task. An improvement in this category is a must if the Cards are to make the playoffs. They blew way too many save chances in 2010 as well, and that cost them a playoff spot that year. There is no reason to think that this season would be any different.

General manager John Mozeliak made a trade last July to completely rework the bullpen. It took about a month for it to fall into place, but once it did, the Cardinals went on a tear, erasing the biggest September deficit in National League history to make the playoffs and eventually win the World Series. I don't think he needs to completely rework the bullpen this year. I think he may just need to add one pitcher and the bullpen can fall into place. The offense isn't a problem and hasn't been all season. There's no reason to believe that the offense will fade in the second half, especially with the addition of Berkman back into the lineup.

This offensive depth could be a way for the Cards to find that pitcher they need, as with the extra wild card spot, very few teams are completely out of the race. This could cause more trades where both teams are trying to improve for this season rather than the more conventional sell now/buy for the future type of trade. The Padres' Huston Street has been a name that has come up with the Cardinals being mentioned. This is an experienced closer who could thrive in either that role or be a setup man for Motte in the way that Francisco Rodriguez was for the Brewers when he was acquired last summer. The right side might be where the Cardinals need a bullpen arm most, as rookie call up Barret Browning has stabilized the left side for the time being. I will admit that Browning has a very small sample size of 4.1 innings, but if his success continues (he's yet to allow a base runner), it could allow Mozeliak to focus on a righty for the bullpen.

There has also been talk of the Cardinals adding to the rotation and possibly trading for Zach Greinke. I feel that the Cards would have to give up far too much to bring him in, especially within the division. Milwaukee gave up a lot to get him, so they're not going to ship him off for a group of second rate prospects.  It might take a player like Craig and a decent prospect and I'm not sure I'd like to do something quite that drastic, especially with the way that Joe Kelly has pitched since coming up and Jaime Garcia returning from the DL in the near future.

The other part of the equation, with the Cardinals sitting in third place, 2.5 games behind the Pirates and 1.5 behind the second place Reds, is how will those clubs respond in the second half? The Pirates are currently playing out of their minds. Andrew McCutcheon is the only position player that is an A talent. Everyone else is pretty average. They've been hitting great for the past month, but isn't it kind of likely to expect that if they don't go back to how they were in April and May, that they'll at least fall somewhere in the middle? Also, the Pirates could go out and get a bat to help them make a playoff push, but when was the last time this team actually spent money? I'm confident that the Pirates could help themselves if they wanted to, I'm just not sure that ownership cares enough to do anything.

That brings me to their pitching. Starter James McDonald has pitched like the ace of the staff so far this season, posting a 9-3 record and an impressive 2.37 ERA. He's also already thrown 110 innings. He only threw 171 innings in 31 starts as a rookie last season, so it's very possible that he could hit a wall in late August or September when the Bucs will still need to be piling up wins to fend off the far more experienced Cardinals and Reds. A.J. Burnett also has an impressive record of 10-2, but his ERA of 3.68 is fairly mediocre. Erik Bedard and Kevin Correia have been pretty average this season as well, and their fifth spot in the rotation has involved three different starters, which isn't the consistency that you'd hope for to make a playoff push. I feel like the Pirates are still at least one more year away from truly contending for a playoff spot.

As for the Reds, they've won the division before, have a GM in place who can pull off a big deal with some solid prospects to trade if that's the direction they'd like to go. The big rumor for a while was that they were going to bring home an Ohio guy in Kevin Youkilis to play third, but now that he's been dealt to the White Sox, that's obviously not going to happen. There's really not much on the market anymore in terms of impact hitters at third base, so the Reds will likely have to look for an outfielder. They could use a little more pop, but also a leadoff hitter, so there will be several options. They've also been linked to looking at Greinke, who could help round out their already solid rotation.

If the Cardinals can get their bullpen settled like they did last year, they should be in great shape to make another run. The Pirates are young, the Reds have their problems, and the redbirds are starting to get healthy. They also have more motivation to make it to the World Series now, as they know they'll have home field advantage again if they make it. Thank you, Justin Verlander!

The End of an Era

When I read that Nicklas Lidstrom had retired this morning, it made me smile from ear to ear. Not because I think he's a douche. Not because I think he's well past his prime and that he hung on too long. Because I think he's great and he played for a team I despise.

When a great player plays for a team that constantly stops your own from winning titles, playoff series, and lots of regular season games, you're going to hate him. This is how Bears fans feel about Brett Favre, how Cavs fans feel about Michael Jordan, and how Cubs fans felt about He Who Shall Not Be Named before he went to some stupid red team in California.

Lidstrom wasn't known for the bone-jarring hits of a Scott Stevens, the laser slap shot of an Al MacInnis, or even the vocal leadership of a Mark Messier. However, he made the proper checks in his own zone when they were needed. Lidstrom always found a way to get the puck to the net, either with his initial shot or with a deflection of the boards which he perfected, making him a menace on the power play. He led by example both on and off the ice and was described by teammates as a perfect person. Of course, if a guy helped me get into the playoffs every year and win a bunch of titles, I doubt I'd have many bad things to say about him either.

I'm thrilled that the St. Louis Blues will never have to kill another penalty with Lidstrom on the blue line, worry about him making an outlet pass, or have to try and dump it by him into the offensive zone. The Red Wings fell apart without him in the lineup for the 12 games he missed last year, which opened the door for the Blues to win the division. I'm sure Detroit will find a nice replacement with all of the money they have to spend towards the cap. Perhaps they'll lure Ryan Suter away from the Predators, but he's not Nick Lidstrom, nor will he ever be. And for that, I am very thankful. The door is definitely open for the Blues. They just have to step through it.

Completely Inexcusable

As we were walking into Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Kings, we walked past a bus with the Peoria Rivermen painted on the side. For those of you who may not know, the Riverment are the Blues' minor league affiliate.

Well, my friend Steve joked that he hoped they weren't playing. He then went a step further, joking about the South Park episode in which Ike's peewee hockey team plays against the Detroit Red Wings. The sad thing is, I think they might have put forth a better effort than the Blues did in the first period, even if the results would've been similar.

The Blues came out flat, right from the hop. They failed to get an early clear and after one save, goalie Brian Elliott was down, the Kings roofed it, and just 31 seconds into the game, it was 1-0. Midway through the first, while the Blues were on a power play, defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo coughed up the puck in his own zone, leading to the Kings second goal of the game and their second shorthanded tally in as many games. The worst part about this? Colaiacovo didn't even learn anything from his huge mistake, as he made a similar turnover in the third period while the Blues were on yet another power play. Luckily for him, this time Elliott saved his ass, but the score was 5-2 at the time and the goal would've been of little consequence.

After the second goal, the Blues just looked ready to accept that the game was over, even with two-plus periods to play in front of their home crowd, which to our credit, continued cheering throughout periods two and three. This attitude and lack of resilience led to two more Kings goals before the first was over. And at 4-0, with the way Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has played in this postseason, the game was already over. It was flat out depressing to have two more periods to watch, knowing that they were inconsequential. The Blues outplayed the Kings over the last 40 minutes and the score reflected that, with St. Louis registering two goals to LA's one the rest of the way. But it was too little too late.

If the Blues would've shown the effort in the first 20 minutes that they showed over the last 40, they almost certainly would've won the came. But alas, they head to the west coast down two games to none, with Alex Pietrangelo still questionable for Game 3. That's quite a hole they've given themselves to dig out of, but with the last two periods of Game 2 as evidence, they're capable of doing it. They just can't play another period in this series like the first from Monday night.

Many fans wanted to blame the officiating after the loss. I'll agree that they were pretty awful, with Dustin Penner being three feet offsides for the Kings' third goal, but they weren't the reason the Blues lost the game. Any time you go 0-for-9 on the power play, including a 1:35 5-on-3, you deserve to lose. The Blues got what they deserved in Game 2. They should be down 2-0 in this series. Hopefully,  they'll bring their A-game to SoCal, take back home ice advantage, and be back Tuesday for Game 5. Because after suffering through that mess on Monday, it's certainly what us Blues fans deserve.