Sportsness
Well, I haven't updated in a while, and I haven't said anything about California, and I'm going to get to that next. But for now, sports.
Well, the Phillies are definitely in the Wild Card race, but they could be leading it. After going 60-0 in games leading after 8 innings, they blew back to back games on Thursday and Saturday. They almost choked one today, but they managed to come back, so they still have a chance to be first in the Wild Card at the end of today, with another doubleheader today. They split yesterday's, although they should've won both games. Fortunately, I went to the better of the two. The bullpen has been a disappointment in the past few games, but they've been playing really well, going 20-13 since the trade deadline.
Their starting pitching has actually been really good. Myers was struggling, but has a 2.57 ERA in his last two starts, Lieber has an ERA of 2.42 since the trade dealine, and Hamels has an ERA of 2.43 in that time period. Moyer and Wolf haven't been as good, but the Phillies are 8-2 in their starts. Two of Moyer's starts were quality starts, however, and Wolf (with a record of 3-0; the Phillies are 6-1 in his starts) is clearly showing signs of getting back to form. Since the trade deadline, the starters have an ERA of 4.64, compared to an ERA of 5.57 during the rest of the year. And with the starting rotation pretty clearly set for the rest of the year, I'm feeling confident about the starting pitching for the first time. Oh, and Howard is unbelievable, breaking Schmidt's franchise home run record. The entire offense is, really. They've scored 312 runs since the All-Star Break, the most of any team in the Majors. (The Yankees are second with 285). So if the bullpen can just get back on track, they'll be great. By the way, the bullpen has an ERA of 4.47 since the All-Star Break, it was 3.55 before the All-Star Break.
Well, in other news, the Hoos were slaughtered in their opener against Pitt. Not altogether surprising, but annoying at the same time. I'm guessing their record will be about 6-6, maybe even 5-7 this year, although my dad is more optimistic and thinks they'll win 7 at least. I don't know if 6-6 would qualify for a bowl, since the scheduling's changing this year, but they'll have a hard time getting into one even if 6-6 is enough. Although I think Cedric Peerman and Andrew Pearman will be good, (yea, weird, I know, I hope I got the right first names with the right last names) Michael Johnson is the one with the most experience, and he definitely isn't great. None of them played well against Pitt, so I think that shows that the running game won't do much. Olsen isn't exactly a star quarterback either, so I think the offense'll be horrible in general. Sewell is going to be good in the future, but I don't think he'll start at all. The only TD in the Pitt game came on an interception, which doesn't say much for the offense. I don't think the defense'll be horrible, but it's not good enough to make up for the lack of offense. I'm predicting wins against Western Michigan, Duke, ECU, Maryland, UNC, and NC State. If they can win next week against Wyoming, even better. I don't think they're good enough yet though.
So yea. School starts on Tuesday and the schedules are messed up, so the first day of school will be great. I wish I had another 2 months of summer.
Well, the Phillies are definitely in the Wild Card race, but they could be leading it. After going 60-0 in games leading after 8 innings, they blew back to back games on Thursday and Saturday. They almost choked one today, but they managed to come back, so they still have a chance to be first in the Wild Card at the end of today, with another doubleheader today. They split yesterday's, although they should've won both games. Fortunately, I went to the better of the two. The bullpen has been a disappointment in the past few games, but they've been playing really well, going 20-13 since the trade deadline.
Their starting pitching has actually been really good. Myers was struggling, but has a 2.57 ERA in his last two starts, Lieber has an ERA of 2.42 since the trade dealine, and Hamels has an ERA of 2.43 in that time period. Moyer and Wolf haven't been as good, but the Phillies are 8-2 in their starts. Two of Moyer's starts were quality starts, however, and Wolf (with a record of 3-0; the Phillies are 6-1 in his starts) is clearly showing signs of getting back to form. Since the trade deadline, the starters have an ERA of 4.64, compared to an ERA of 5.57 during the rest of the year. And with the starting rotation pretty clearly set for the rest of the year, I'm feeling confident about the starting pitching for the first time. Oh, and Howard is unbelievable, breaking Schmidt's franchise home run record. The entire offense is, really. They've scored 312 runs since the All-Star Break, the most of any team in the Majors. (The Yankees are second with 285). So if the bullpen can just get back on track, they'll be great. By the way, the bullpen has an ERA of 4.47 since the All-Star Break, it was 3.55 before the All-Star Break.
Well, in other news, the Hoos were slaughtered in their opener against Pitt. Not altogether surprising, but annoying at the same time. I'm guessing their record will be about 6-6, maybe even 5-7 this year, although my dad is more optimistic and thinks they'll win 7 at least. I don't know if 6-6 would qualify for a bowl, since the scheduling's changing this year, but they'll have a hard time getting into one even if 6-6 is enough. Although I think Cedric Peerman and Andrew Pearman will be good, (yea, weird, I know, I hope I got the right first names with the right last names) Michael Johnson is the one with the most experience, and he definitely isn't great. None of them played well against Pitt, so I think that shows that the running game won't do much. Olsen isn't exactly a star quarterback either, so I think the offense'll be horrible in general. Sewell is going to be good in the future, but I don't think he'll start at all. The only TD in the Pitt game came on an interception, which doesn't say much for the offense. I don't think the defense'll be horrible, but it's not good enough to make up for the lack of offense. I'm predicting wins against Western Michigan, Duke, ECU, Maryland, UNC, and NC State. If they can win next week against Wyoming, even better. I don't think they're good enough yet though.
So yea. School starts on Tuesday and the schedules are messed up, so the first day of school will be great. I wish I had another 2 months of summer.