Bleacher Report - Articles by Michael Rippe

2008 National League Preview: New York Mets the Team To Beat

Michael Rippe — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:51:59 -0400

The best time of the year is upon us. It's time to put the jackets in the closet and break out the flip flops because the 2008 Baseball season is here. In the 2nd year of my baseball predictions, I have chosen to separate the AL and NL. As well to here a more in depth version of this preview, check out Eaglescast on Itunes Podcasts.

Division Winners: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers
Wild Card: Phillies

Pennant : New York Mets

CY Young: Johan Santana
in contention--> Dan Haren, Smoltz, John Maine, Jake Peavy, Chad Billingsley

MVP: David Wright
in contention--> Mark Teixeira, Chase Utley, Ryan Braun, Russell Martin

Rookie of the Year: Kosuke Fukodome
in contention--> no one

Manager of the Year: Joe Torre
in contention--> Lou Piniella, Bobby Cox, Willie Randolph

Johan should be overly dominating in the NL, winning around 22/23 games with a mid to high 2 ERA in NY. Look for Pedro to be big and Maine to win around 17/18. As you can see I'm all over the Mets for a monster year. Expect to know who Chad Billingsley is by mid-summer as he is anchoring a solid Dodgers staff. Andre Ethier as well will have a breakout year in LA. Dan Haren should form a killer 1/2 with Webb in Arizona. Yunel Escobar as a surprise big time player for the Braves. Look for the Reds, Braves, Brewers, Rockies, & Dbacks to all be in the playoff hunt while the NL West will be the most competitive division in all of baseball. The Phils win the wild card because of this. The Mets will win 100.

EPL: Weekend Predictions

Michael Rippe — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:23:00 -0500

Arsenal leads the Barclay Premiership with 64 points from 27 games. Manchester United sits passenger in this title race with 61 points. Chelsea stalks on 55 points with a game in hand, and all are in action Saturday. Here are my thoughts on what may occur.

Arsenal's season has come to a screeching halt the past two weeks, as they have been eliminated from the FA Cup, lost Eduardo for the season, and now have an extremely difficult away trip to Milan on the horizon to save their European aspirations. Aston Villa propose a serious challenge in this game, as they have been in fine form this season, only losing once in their past 11 games. Adebayor will shine.

Arsenal 2, Villa 1.

Spurs travel to Birmingham off their Carling Cup triumph. They will be fantastic.

Tottenham 3, Birmingham 0.

United visits Craven Cottage looking to keep the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the league. Possibly looking ahead to the return leg with Lyon in the Champions League? Not a chance.

Red Devils 3, Fulham 1.

Manchester City is home to Wigan and should get the result.

City 2, Wigan 1.

Boro is home to Reading, in what should be an interesting fixture. I'm thinking this ends in a draw.

Boro 1, Reading 1.

Newcastle United looks to get its first victory for Kevin Keegan, as Blackburn Rovers come to St. James Park. That won't be easy on this day as the Rovers have some quality on their side. Michael Owen should make an appearance on the score sheet, but in the end Rovers will leave with three points.

Blackburn 3, Newcastle United 1.

Chelsea visits West Ham looking to regroup after a horror performance at Wembley over the weekend. Avram Grant is under pressure, so look for his squad selection to be scrutinized. Joe Cole must be on the pitch, and the Blues will get back on track here.

Chelsea 2, West Ham 0.

Liverpool travels to the Reebok Stadium for a Sunday's fixture with Bolton. Fernando Torres continues to impress in his first year with the Reds. Look for Steven Gerrard to back up his disappointment talk with a nice performance.

Liverpool 2, Bolton 0.

Everton is home to Portsmouth, in what has turned into a quality fixture, not including the Big Four. Jermain Defoe and Lassana Diarra have breathed new life into Pompey. Look for this to be one of the more entertaining games of the weekend.

Everton 3, Portsmouth 3.

Joba Chamberlain: Starter or Closer?

Michael Rippe — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:15:21 -0500

The debate continues: Joba the starter versus Joba the closer.

Really this is a pointless debate, let me tell you why.

First off, Joba Chamberlain has spent his entire career in college and the minors as a starter. Baseball America has stated he has four above average pitches and the potential to be an ace in the mold of Josh Beckett.

Something crazy happened during the middle of last season. The Yankees struggling for help in the bullpen, used Chamberlain as a setup guy and he ended up being mostly unhittable, (until of course he got hit with the bugs in Cleveland.)

A lot of people are so enamored with how unhittable he was in the bullpen that they don't want to change that in case somehow Joba won’t be as good.

Here's the thing, people: Joba had ridiculous numbers as a starter in the minors and there is little reason to think (barring injury) he won't develop into a quality starter in the majors. And here's the key: Let's say Joba is starting and it isn't working out as planned, he isn't doing well, you can ALWAYS switch him back to the bullpen.

So it's a win-win for Yankee fans. And don't worry, it's a win-win for Joba the starter and Joba the closer fans because he will do both this season. To preserve his innings the Yankees will start him in the bullpen and move him to the rotation midseason.

Everyone wins, so what's the debate?

Syracuse Has the Look of an NIT Team in 2008

Michael Rippe — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:02:34 -0500

The 2008 men's basketball season looked promising to the Syracuse Orange...in August.

Days away from the madness that is known as March, Syracuse is sitting on the bubble once again. Only this year they weren't supposed to be on the bubble, they were supposed to be fighting for a top seed and top ranking in the tournament.

How injuries and inconsistency have foiled that plot.

First, Andy Rautins went down with a torn ACL while playing for Team Canada in the World Games. Then weeks into the 2008 season, junior guard Eric Devendorf was lost to a torn ACL as well. Following these injuries, the lone Senior Josh Wright disappeared and was effectively kicked off the team.

The Orange were left to fight it out in the Big East with a bunch of young and talented freshman. With Johnny Flynn and Donte Greene, Syracuse has two of the top freshman in the country. Add in Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku, and they have talent that other teams dream of.

Unfortunately, talent isn't everything as the Orange have learned. Inexperience combined with lack of depth/leadership has proven costly as each night, Jim Boeheim is left to guess which of his squads will show up.

The squad that plays hard, focused, and together; or the inconsistent play-for-myself team. Unfortunately, it's been the latter on most nights as Syracuse has been maddeningly inconsistent.

It looks as though it will be a second consecutive year that the Orange are in the NIT. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Yankees vs Red Sox: The Rivalry Breaths New Life

Michael Rippe — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:44:37 -0500

For the first time in the past ten years, the Boston Red Sox begin the 2008 Baseball Season as the AL East Champions.

They begin this year as World Champions. As for their hated rivals down 1-95 South, the Yankees begin the year in unfamiliar territory—chasing.

Finishing second in the East in 2007 has put the Yankees in the position of underdog. This effect will only add to the intrigue that Yankees-Red Sox affairs involve.

Here's a look at the new faces to this rivalry.

In Joe Girardi, NY now has a manager who is fiery and will not allow the Sox pitchers to throw at Yankees batters whenever they feel like it. Can any Yankee fan remember Joe Torre kicking dirt over home plate and spitting in an umpires face? I doubt it, but come this year, that won't be so unusual.

Girardi is a hands-on, in-game type of manager. A complete turn around from the laid back style that Torre used.

Now to the faces of this rivalry.

The Yankees will have Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy in big roles while the Red Sox counter with young guns Jon Lester and Clay Bucholz. And don't forget Jacoby Ellsbury in center.

These young kids will spark the rivalry and add new life to it. Gone are the days of the "Roid Rager" throwing at Manny, Sheffield throwing at a fan in RF, and Pedro throwing down Zimmer but here are the days of the young guns. Expect a whole new bunch of antics and fireworks to blossom this spring as the Yanks and Sox revive their rivalry with new blood.

While the faces are changing, the rivalry is certainly not fading.

Chelsea-Tottenham: Avram Grant Fails the Blues

Michael Rippe — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:19:50 -0500

Avram Grant has done a disservice to Chelsea fans around the world in failing to put forth his best squad in the first cup final of the 2007-2008 season.

Tottenham earned a well-deserved 2-1 victory in extra time after Jonathan Woodgate scored. The real story was the lineup that Grant put forth and the lack of adjustments.

Joe Cole, who has been the Blues' best player in the past month, was left on the bench and only inserted into the game in extra time while Nikolas Anelka was pitted on the left wing in a 4-4-3 that also saw an out of form Shawn Wright Phillips playing on the right wing.

Anelka was out of place the entire game and never made an impact while Wright Phillips had no business seeing the pitch other than from the substitutes' bench. Florent Malouda needed to be in the lineup while Anelka should only be in the squad in a 4-4-2 setup.

The up and down free-flowing football that Spurs play was conducive to a lineup that would have had Cole on the right with Malouda on the left—but instead Grant made a huge mistake and cost Chelsea its first chance at silverware this season.

As a Blues supporter, I can only hope that Avram Grant has learned a tough lesson today and will put forth the right squad for the next set of important fixtures.

NBA Power Rankings: Top 10

Michael Rippe — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:41:22 -0500

With the NBA trading deadline over, I've put together a top 10 regarding title contenders...

1. Los Angeles Lakers

The world's best player now has the teammates around him to win a title without the Diesel. Will his pinky prevent that?

2. San Antonio Spurs

The defending NBA champions haven't reached top form as of yet but with spring around the corner and a point guard returning, look for that to change. Will Tony Parker be 100 percent when he returns?

3. Boston Celtics

The NBA's winningest squad has been dynamite all season and now the MVP candidate returns. Will they run out of gas too early?

4. Detroit Pistons

Looking like the best Pistons team since 2004. Will Flip handle the playoffs correctly?

5. Phoenix Suns

Amare Stoudemire is going to benefit from Shaq quite a bit. Will the Big Fella get in shape to run up the court through the playoffs?

6. Cleveland Cavaliers

Adding Big Ben makes them better defensively, adding Wally makes them better offensively and then they also some guy named LeBron. Will the team mesh in time?

7. New Orleans

With Chris Paul, anything is possible. Will they be serious come playoff time?

8. Denver Nuggets

A team being forgotten in the crazy good Western Conference. Will they get a playoff series win this year?

9. Dallas Mavericks

Jason Kidd returns while half the team departs in the same deal. Will Kidd make them a tougher team come playoff time?

10. Utah Jazz

Jerry Sloane can coach anyone. Will this hot streak ever end?

New York Yankees: The Man and the Plan

Michael Rippe — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:21:24 -0500

At this point, it is fair to say that the Boston Red Sox will win the World Series in 2007 and therefore will now have won two titles, while their bitter rivals continue to look for #27.

Not only are the Yankees still searching for their first title of the new century, they are also searching for a new manager. Which brings me to my point: The fixing has already begun with "not bringing back" Joe Torre.

Joe Torre needed to be fired since the '04 collapse, since the '05 debacle in Anaheim, since the '06 meltdown vs the Tigers, and finally since the '07 choke job against the Tribe. The funny thing is the only reason Torre won't return is because he thinks the Yankees low balled him. I guess Joe realized those $1 million incentive packages for advancing in the playoffs were low balling him because he would only be getting the first million for advancing to the Division Series, considering he has no in game managing skills.

The Yankees are finally not being held at the mercy of one of the two to three worst in game managers in baseball. Shocking how a guy who can't make a baseball related decision gets so much credit because he knows how to handle his players. What was he handling when he used the combo of Brown/Vazquez in Game 7 of '04, or when Scott Proctor's arm was falling off only to be continuously thrown out there, or when Arod was batting eighth, or when Sheffield was playing first base, or finally when his pitcher had become the landing spot for bugs.

Would the manager consider taking his team off the field in this unprecedented level of weirdness? Not Joe, that would take too much thought, but he obviously knows how to handle his players so that’s better I guess.

As far as most of the media, anti-Yankee, and Yankee fans believing that losing Torre is such a blow, I give them the man and the plan for the offseason of 2007/08.

The MAN is: Joe Girardi. This man knows how to manage in game right up there with the best of them. He is young, fiery, and has experience in NY. I have been calling for him to be the manager for a year now and he needs to be the choice. Don Mattingly would be another Joe Torre and when did Donny Baseball ever take his teams to the playoffs. Oh yeah 1995, when they were eliminated by a Seattle Mariners team who had a certain rookie by the name of Alex Rodriguez. Do I need to say anything else?

The PLAN is this: Hire Leo Mazzone as the Pitching Coach while promoting AAA Pitching Coach Dave Eiland to Bullpen Coach. Mazzone is one of the best in the business while Eiland has helped nurture the new Young pitchers.

Combo this move with offering the Twins a move they cannot refuse: Wang and a combination of Alan Horne or Ian Kennedy and another minor pitching prospect or Melky Cabrera for Johan.

This gives the Yankees a 2008 rotation of Johan, Hughes, Pettitte, Chamberlain, Kennedy/Mussina.

As far as the Alex Rodriguez saga goes, the Yanks need to stick to their word and only bring him back if he "chooses to stay" and doesn't opt out. Besides he is merely only a piece of the puzzle not the main part.

What have the Yankees actually won with him? Absolutely nothing. With the hated rivals now turning the tables on this rivalry, it is without question time for the Yankees to turn the tables right back and do it now. It won't be easy but is possible if they go with The Man and The Plan.