WHO IS JUNICHI TAZAWA?

He is a 22 year old Japanese baseball player, who asked (demanded) the 12 pro teams in Japan not to draft him so he could sign with a Major League club. They didn't draft him, and now he'll be a free agent.

He plays for Eneos, a semi-pro team in Japan's corporate league. Believe it or not, getting stats from this unaffiliated Japanese minor league has proved somewhat difficult for me. But I do know Tazawa was the MVP of the Annual National Intercity Nonpro Baseball Championship, throwing 28.1 innings in 5 games (3 starts, 2 relief appearances), with 36 Ks, 3 walks, and a 1.28 ERA.

He has a decent fastball (88 to 93), with "so-so" command. He's got a nice arsenal of breaking pitches, namely a fork and a curve, which he uses to get hitters out.

Here's a good video of two innings in which he dominates his opponents. Again, these are semi-pro Japanese hitters he's up against, but it does look like he has quality stuff. Underneath the video are some metric conversions for the pitch speeds.



120 km/h = 75 mph
125 hm/h = 78 mph
130 km/h = 81 mph
135 km/h = 84 mph
140 km/h = 87 mph
145 km/h = 90 mph
150 km/h = 93 mph

The guy's still a prospect. He's not going to come over here and start games in the Majors right away. The Sox are one of many teams reportedly interested in him. The others include San Francisco, Seattle, the Yankees, the Cubs, Atlanta, Florida, and Detroit.

There are claims that the Red Sox are the frontrunners to sign Tazawa. In which case, he might get a Major League deal, but start in AA Portland, or AAA Pawtucket. Again, he's essentially the same as a prospect graduating college.

In the big picture, Tazawa refusing to be drafted is a major change in the way things work in Japanese baseball. The status-quo had been that Japanese players were all drafted by Japanese teams. They could then move on to the Majors via free agency, or after an MLB team paid a posting fee to their Japanese club (like the Sox did with Daisuke).

But skipping over the Japanese league altogether might become a new trend with top prospects. That could have dramatic repercussions on the landscape of the sport in Asia.

Sources:
Boston herald
ESPN.com
Japanese Baseball Players.com
Some message board on SimCentral.net
eForecourt.com MPH to KPH converter

BOYCOTT MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL HALFTIME SHOW

I love politics, and I love sports. I love steak, and I love chocolate. That doesn't mean any of these things should be mixed.

Sports are relaxing, made for eating junk, drinking beer, and chilling with your buddies. Politics are serious, stressful, important, and meaningful.

When you argue about sports, it's always something silly and, in the end, completely irrelevant. Who's better: Brady or Peyton? Who should be the #1 college football team? What should the Sox do about Varitek? Et cetera.

Political arguments are much heavier, with harsh consequences. Should the US attack Iran? What if North Korea launches a nuclear missile at Japan? What the hell should be done about the lack of credit in the economy? Abortion legal: yes/no?

A sports opinion is an opinion. A political opinion is a stance.

Sports are diversion, entertainment, fun for the family. Politics are dull, dreary, engrossing, involved.

So fuck you, Monday Night Football, for allowing our two potential leaders to invade the once secure sanctuary of sports. What's next? Hilary Clinton on WWE Raw?

Wait a minute...

PATS DO THE BIG THINGS, BUT SCREW UP THE LITTLE THINGS

We're not used to seeing this kind of stuff from the Patriots. Dumb penalties, poor play-calling, horrible timeout management, and all the other little things we've been accustomed to seeing from a Bill Belichick coached team.=

The play everyone will be talking about all week is David Thomas' personal foul for a late hit. It was stupid, but there have been far worse personal fouls this season. It's a shame that a late shove may have altered the outcome of a game.

Jabbar Gaffney's dropped ball was horrendous. He got both hands, and most of his fingers on pigskin and couldn't haul it in. No excuses.

My primary concern with the play calling was the inconsistency. Sometimes the offense would be very aggressive, with gadget plays and high risk/high reward passes. Then it would lean toward the more conservative side, with safe decisions and almost weak plays.

It's just weird to me that the Pats went for 2 with 7:00 left in the 3rd, then they don't go for it on 4th and inches in the red zone. Kevin Faulk throws a pass on 2nd and 10 from the Indy 20, then the next play is a 3rd and 12 draw.

Mixing aggression and conservation doesn't work. You never want to be too aggressive or too conservative, but it doesn't make sense to have Faulk throw the ball, then play for a field goal on the next play.

The challenge of 12 men on the field was the biggest brain fart. It was a challenge for 5 yards. The dumb part, however, was not realizing that Indy's 11th man was trying to run off the field, not the 12th man. The Pats coaches upstairs simply saw a Colt desperately trying to get off the field, and assumed he was the 12th guy out there.

On the bright side, the Pats went into Indy with their 1st string, 2nd string, and 3rd string RBs gone, their backup QB starting, their safety gone; and if not for one or two plays, they would've won.

This was the first time the Pats lost DESPITE Matt Cassel. He had a great game, was solid under pressure, got rid of the ball (wasn't sacked once), and was SCRAMBLING not SCURRYING.



The running game was a pleasant surprise. BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Kevin Faulk combined for 117 yards on 25 carries. And as a team, the Pats ran for 140 yards.



So let Peyton and the Unicorns celebrate reaching .500. Let the haters out there point out the irony of the NFL's least penalized team losing because of a personal foul. Let them talk about Adam Vinatieri kicking the game winning points. But the Pats are far from dead. They're tied for 1st place with the Bills and the Jets. Their quarterback looks better every week. BenJarvus Green-Ellis runs like we all wanted Maroney to run.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Conroy
AP Photo/Darron Cummings

BC PULLS A "BOSTON COLLEGE"

I don't know if it's the water in the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, or fumes from the green line, but BC athletics have a very strange habit*. Win games they're supposed to lose (See BC football vs. #4 Notre Dame in South Bend in 2002), and lose games they're supposed to win (See 4th seeded BC basketball losing to Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 2nd round of the 2005 NCAA tournament).

*Note: the hockey team wins a lot, regardless of opponent.

Once again, BC football has let me down.

I know this year the Eagles were going to be a step down from the 11 win team of a year ago. Not only did Matt Ryan leave, but the entire running game graduated. Ballhawk Jamie Silva left, and stud corner/returner DeJuan Tribble got drafted by San Diego.

But as much as BC took a step back, the entire ACC took ten steps back. Powerhouses FSU and Miami are inexplicably mediocre. Preseason favorites Virginia Tech and Clemson were exposed early in the year. Georgia Tech's adjusting to a new coach. Maryland, NC State, and Wake Forest are always stuck in 3rd gear.

When BC beat Virginia Tech a few weeks ago, there was legitimate hope they'd win the Atlantic Division, and then who knows. Even after losing to North Carolina - a solid team - they controlled their own destiny.

But the Clemson Tigers, under an interim coach, riding a 3 game losing streak, were too much for the Eagles, who were 4.5 point favorites at home.



A lackluster first half saw the Eagles down 17-0. But in the 4th, a blocked punt and an interception put BC in the driver's seat with a 21-17 lead. A 64 yard kickoff return set up a Clemson touchdown, and a BC fumble on the next drive was how the Eagles responded.

Here are the teams Clemson has beaten:
NC State
The Citadel
South Carolina State
And now... Boston College

A less than prestigious list that the Eagles are now a part of.

BC still needs a win to become bowl eligible, and will likely wind up in one of the lower ACC bowl games. One that will make the Florida Citrus Bowl look like the Rose Bowl.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

BRUINS KICK SOME ASS

146 penalty minutes, 4 unsportsmanlike minors, 6 fighting majors, and 7 game misconducts (that's an ejection, for those of you just learning hockey). Oh yeah, and 6 goals, 5 of which belonged to the Bruins. The only unfortunate thing is that this is the last time these teams play each other.

Dallas has two very interesting individuals on their roster. Sean Avery and Steve Ott. Both of these gentlemen were among the 7 kicked out of last night's game. And both of them have less than desirable reputations.

Avery is a pest, an agitator. That's all well and good. But when he pushes a player over the edge, he doesn't stand up for himself. He hides behind a teammate or official. It gets his team a lot of power plays, but it's also led him to be the most hated player in the NHL. Watch him curl into the fetal position right after boarding Paul Kariya.



Steve Ott is your classic cheap shot artist. His specialties are late hits, and elbows to the head. He also goes for the knees sometimes, usually when a player has his back turned and/or play has just come to a stop.



But here's the important stuff. Despite dealing with these two clowns, the Bruins kept their cool, and played hockey. Early in the 2nd, Ott went after Stephane Yelle's knees. Shawn Thornton came off the bench, went after Ott, and Ott refused to fight. A minute later, Patrice Bergeron wrapped a goal past Marty Turco to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.

Of the 146 penalty minutes in the game, 66 involved Avery or Ott in some way (either their penalty, or a penalty committed against them).

Tim Thomas made 21 saves in the 2nd period, which allowed the Bruins to pull away in the 3rd. Kessel and Stuart scored, and Sturm put the icing on the cake.

Of course, the real story was all the between-play shenanigans. The roughing, the fighting, the ejections. Avery boarded Marc Savard, and in the 4-1 contest (this all took place 40 seconds after it became 4-1), there was no holding back. By the end of the scrum, Savard was defending Milan Lucic by going after Avery.



It speaks volumes about this team that the leading scorer - Savard - goes after a guy in order to help the team's hardest hitter and best fighter. Savard had 66 penalty minutes last year. He's already got 24 this season.

The Bruins didn't let Avery and Ott get under their collective skin. They focused their anger into beating them on the scoreboard. Then, with that accomplished, they beat them up on the ice. Or at least they tried to. Can't help it if Avery and Ott are turtles.

The B's are off until Thursday when they host the Maple Leafs.

Sources:
ESPN.com
BostonBruins.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Mary Schwalm

PEYTON MANNING'S DIARY: WEEK 8

Dear Diary,
I'm sorry I haven't spoke (or written, I guess, LOL) to you the past few weeks. I've been shooting 10 commercials a day. But I didn't get paid for any of them. I just decided to shoot a commercial for every product/service/company in the world, that way my agent can call them and offer my endorsement with the work already done.



But these days the advertising agencies don't seem to want me to be in their commercials. Unless I bring Eli with me. The economy must be really bad if they don't want me in commercials.

I've been sick the last two days with the sniffles. It was cold in Nashville Monday night. 45 degrees! Where were we? Santa's Workshop on the North Pole?



I remember asking Coach Fisher and Coach Tony if we could play the game inside, or postpone it, because it was so nippy. "I left my mittens and scarf in Indiana," I complained, but Coach Fisher just rolled his eyes and walked away. Jeff Saturday offered to keep me warm with his body heat. Then he winked at me. I told him to take care of Marvin, because he gets the coldest.

Monday's game was hard, and I almost cried on the sidelines. But I was afraid my tears would freeze to my face and I'd get hypothermia and die, so I held it in. I've said it before, I'll say it again: football should only be played when it's sunny, and warmer than 55 degrees.



We lost because it was cold and we have lots of injuries. At least, that's what Coach Tony said, and everyone on the TV seems to agree. We do have a lot of injuries. I played Monday night with a headache that really bothered me until Dallas Clark gave me a head massage and got rid of it.

I've been throwing more interceptions than I used to, but they're not my fault! The other teams must be cheating somehow. How else could it be possible?

I decided to talk to Bill Polian. He lets me call him Willy because he likes me so much. He's the one that complained about those mean old Patriots being mean to my teammates and made sure they'd get in trouble for it. This time, I asked him if we could make a rule eliminated the interception altogether. Not just for me, I think it hurts every quarterback's feelings when they throw one. Football is supposed to be fun, it isn't supposed to hurt. He said he'd try, then he gave me some gum.

Coach Tony decided to cheer us up this week with fun Halloween activities. Yesterday we bobbed for apples and Officer Tim from the Indianapolis Police gave us a talk about Halloween safety.

Guess what we did today...

JACKOLANTERN CARVING!!!

It was so much fun. Coach Tony said he loved mine, and it was real scary.

I can't wait for Halloween. Do you know what my costume is? It's a big secret, but I know I can trust you, diary. I'm going to be my favoritest character from my favoritest movie ever: Woody from Toy Story. I know it's not scary, but I always wanted to be a cowboy. Or an astronaut. Maybe next year I'll be Buzz!!!! Why can't there be 2 Halloweens a year?



Robert Mathis has the scariest costume in the history of Halloween. He's going as Rodney Harrison. When he said that, my heart skipped a beat. Coach Tony yelled at Robert and told him not to bring the costume into the locker room because it was too scary. I asked where Robert would be trick-or-treating on Friday so I could stay on the other side of town. Ghosts, goblins, and ghouls are scary, Rodney Harrison is terrifying!



I'm just glad I don't have to see him on Sunday.

Until next time diary, I love you. And Happy Halloween!

BOSTON: NO KINGS ALLOWED SINCE 1775

The World Champion Celtics picked up right where they left off, with a 90-85 win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the PGA Tour back for another season, and young guys like Rajon Rondo and Leon Powe gaining more and more experience, you've got to like the Celtics' chances of a repeat.

The C's overcame a slow night from Kevin Garnett, who finished 5 of 15. Ray Allen also missed the mark a great deal, shooting 2 of 9 for 8 points. But the defense first Celtic philosophy kept them in the game. Pierce's 27, Rondo's 14 were the bulk of the offense. Tony Allen and Leon Powe provided the remainder off the bench, with 11 and 13 points respectively.

Combined, the bench was 11 of 24, a slightly better percentage than the 5 starters shot (45.8% compared to 44.0%).

When KG and Ray Ray get going, the offense is going to roll over the opposition.

And how about those rings? It's nice to see some tasteful championship jewelry for once. Rings should be flashy, but shouldn't be deafeningly loud.



Seeing Paul Pierce get choked up makes it clear that these guys won't be satisfied with just one ring.



The Celtics host the Bulls Friday night.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Winslow Townson

THOMAS' ENGLISH SHUTOUTS

I don't know what the "English" means, I just wanted to use a stupid title.

You very rarely see a goalie start games on back-to-back days. Coach Claude Julien, however, went against the norm and started Tim Thomas in net Tuesday night. It was a wise decision.

Thomas stopped every shot that reached him, recording 31 saves for his 2nd straight shutout. Unlike Monday night's outing, Thomas needed to make a few more spectacular saves. He went post-to-post, made saves on his back, and kept calm when the crease was crowded.



He hasn't allowed a goal in 132:14 of game time. He's stopped 61 straight shots on net. Last season, he didn't record a shutout until January. He already has 2 and it's not even November.

The Bruins have excelled on the road so far. They're 4-1-2 (10 points) away from the Garden, as opposed to 1-1-1 (3 points) at home. They're also 3-0-0 west of the Mississippi. Maybe the B's should start their home games at 10 PM Eastern time.

The road trip ends Thursday night in Calgary. I'm just going to assume Thomas will be starting in net.



Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck