At the beginning of the season, I submitted my 10 Bold Predictions for the 2007 baseball season.
A quick look at where I stand after 122 games...
1. Ryan Howard Won’t Break the 40-HR Mark – After only three home runs in the firs month of the season, it looked like Prediction #1 was off to a hell of a start. Sadly, one month does not a full season make. Ry-How is now sitting 7 bombs short of 40 with 40 games to play. Still possible he doesn’t get there, although not very likely… unless we get a repeat of April!
2. The Mets Will Miss The Playoffs – Come on, who saw John Maine, Oliver Perez and El Duque et al putting together the season they have thus far? With a 4.00 ERA, they M-E-T-S trail only the Padres for best team ERA in the league. Ugggh. Sitting at 68-53 with a 3.5 game lead over the Phightin’ Phills for the division lead, this one never had hope out of the gate.
3. St. Louis Will Finish Fourth In The Division – Yet another pick that had the early makings of a nice notch in my belt. But no time was hotter than the Cards over the last month and while they are still in third place, they’re equally far out of first as they are out of fourth – 4 games in both directions.
4. Aaron Cook Will Throw The First No Hitter – 2007 has seen two no hitters and not even by scrambling the letters in Mark Buerhle and Justin Verlander’s names can I spell Aaron Cook. Now that he’s on the DL (which ironically appears to have also ended my fantasy season), this one was dead in the water long ago.
5. A-Rod Will Be The MVP – Finally a pick that appears dangerously close to coming to fruition. I just don’t buy Magglio stealing it from the 3B. The Tigers have too many other reasons why they’re as good as they are, including Gary “I’m Not A Racist, I Just Don’t Like White People” Sheffield, who should steal enough votes from his teammate to give the award to A-Rod.
6. Arizona Will Win The NL West – Wow, two in a row? It sure looks that way. Four games up on the Padres. Six games on the Dodgers. And neither of those teams could hit their way out of a paper bag if needed. The Bax will hang on to win the division.
7. Barry Bonds Will Ruin My Birthday – Ok, this one is scary. Before the season started, I said Barry would need 108 games before hitting his 22rd Home Run on August 4 to break Hammerin’ Hank’s record. He actually tied Aaron on that day. He’d break it three days later, but come on, that’s pretty damn close.
8. CAN’T TALK ABOUT THIS ONE FOR THE SOLE REASON OF NOT WANTING TO JINX ANYTHING…I’M SURE YOU UNDERSTAND.
9. Carl Pavano Will Lead The Yanks In Wins – My run of good picks had to end sometime. This is it. Thanks Carl.
10. Get Ready For The Return Of The Tomahawk Chop – The Bravos are 5 games out of first… but only .5 games out of the Wild Card. I’m not as sold on Atlanta as I once was, but if they should make it into the postseason, having to face John Smoltz (if he can get healthy) and Tim Hudson (if he can get right) twice in a 5 or 7 game series is still no easy task. Of course, I also didn’t see Andruw Jones hitting .215 this late in the season. Forget hitting your weight, dude, you’re barely hitting my weight. Probably a safe bet to put this one in the “Miss” column.
So there it is so far. Some good, some bad… some really bad. Damn you Aaron Cook!
Check back at the end of the season for a final tally. Since I love the prediction game, I’ll say I finish with 4 correct calls. Hey, I'll take a .400 average any day of the week.
You can just call me the new Teddy Ballgame.
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