« Master of our domain »

Enough of this silly blogspot URL. We've got a real address:

www.futonreport.net

Start usin' it, and spread the word. This blogspot is officially done.

« Oh, snap! Miami U. commits record 3 safeties »

OXFORD, Ohio — After Tuesday night's game against Bowling Green State University, Dave McClain knows what he'll be doing during practice for the next week: throwing the ball between his legs.

McClain, the long snapper for the Miami University Redhawks, misfired on four of the team's seven punt attempts as they sailed over the head of punter Jacob Richardson. Two of those errant snaps went through the end zone for a safety, one was face-high and mishandled by Richardson for another safety, and the fourth bad'un tricked backwards 41 yards.

• Losses by virtue of high punt snaps: 105 yards, 6 points


• Net yardage accrued by virtue of successful punts: 95 yards

The three safeties tied an NCAA record for most safeties scored by one team, the other times being:

• 1996, when Arizona State University (with current Denver Broncos QB Jake Plummer) conquered University of Nebraska (with current Green Bay Packers RB Ahman Green) by a 16-0 score


• 2003 when University of North Texas defeated University of Louisiana-Lafayette 44-23. But Tuesday night was the first time that three safeties were logged in one half

The first bad snap was most likely a direct result of the harsh weather conditions. The game was delayed more than two hours due to reported lightning strikes and potential tornado weather.

(Oh, by the way Miami lost to BG 42-14.)

Miami quarterback Josh Betts didn't have such a hot day either, finishing the night 17-for-37 with 258 yards and two touchdowns while getting sacked 4 times for 34 yards and throwing a career-worst 5 interceptions.

BG win adds more drama to upcoming rivalry game

The Bowling Green Falcons, now at 5-2 in the MAC East division, is now in first place and can clinch the division and a berth in the MAC Championship with a win over rival Toledo next Tuesday (11/29, ESPN2).

Toledo lost to Northern Illinois Wednesday night 35-17 in their final home game, breaking a 17-game home win streak. Now the UT Rockets need a win in BG next week and NIU to lose to Western Michigan next Wednesday, or else NIU goes to the MAC Championship. (Breathe.)

Basically, this MAC football champ outlook makes this year's MLB Wild Card chase look straightforward.

« No, the contest wasn't rigged »

The NFL Elimination contest just wasn't girl-proof.

« Vassallowned! »

BG basketball went down to Blacksburg for the NABC Classic (how classic can it be? I never heard of it) and didn't win a single game thanks to their own players.

They did, however, win one thanks to a Va-Tech player. In the second game of the round-robin tourney, Tech's A.D. Vassallo tipped in a missed shot by BG's John Floyd (SJJ HS grad) at the buzzer to give BG two points. Final score? 72-71 BG.

While it may suck to be him, Vassallo is a college athlete getting a free education.

(I could not find a pic of this silly incident.)

« In over my head with that whole MLB recap stuff »

Yeah, I admit it. I bit off more than I could chew.

I had this whole plan where I would write about one baseball team's '05 season per day. That's a lot of teams, but fer Chrissakes that's a lot of stats to look up, a lot of obscure stats to track down (I'm not gonna jank them from some Web site) and a bunch of analysis.

There's 30 teams to write about. Thirty. That's gonna take me to December. You NaNoWriMo people sure have grit and persistence. I don't.

I admit complete and utter failure for not even getting a third the way through. Give me credit for setting goals and trying to stick to a schedule, but there's plenty of other sports I want to write about.

The NFL season is in the meat of the schedule. College basketball is starting up. College football is as hilarious as ever. Most notably, it's curling season.

This series may not have finished by Christmas -- instead, I gave up on Veteran's Day.

Besides, MLB.com's Hot Stove Report is way better and pretty much says everything I want to. So go there.

I have other athletic fish to fry.

Matthew T. "Matt" Sussman doesn't care what you think because his mom thought he was the nicest boy in the neighborhood.

« '05 Recap: Padres »

The San Diego Padres Manager: Bruce Bochy (11th year) 2005: 82-80; 1st place, NL West Lost in 1st round of NLDS —1st half: 48-41 —2nd half: 34-39 2004: 87-75; 3rd place Leaders (hitting) Batting Avg: Brian Giles (.301) Home Runs: Ryan Klesko (18) RBI: Giles (83) On-base pct: Giles (.423) Stolen bases: Dave Roberts (23) Leaders (pitching) ERA: Jake Peavy (2.88) Wins: Peavy (13) Strikeouts: Peavy (216) Holds: Scott Linebrink (26) Saves: Trevor Hoffman (43) Free agents: SP Pedro Astacio C Robert Fick RF Brian Giles RP Chris Hammond C Ramon Hernandez RP Trevor Hoffman 3B Joe Randa RP Rudy Seanez 1B Mark Sweeney ► Peavy's 216 strikeouts led the league and was second in the majors only to Johan Santana's 238. ► The last team which won its division with only 82 wins was the '73 Mets. ► The Padres had its best month in franchise history, winning 22 games in May while only losing 6.

The 2005 Padres will be remembered as a little team that, with some success and a series of peaks and valleys, won an injury-laden division and got no respect doing so.

And 82-80 record is not special. Maybe it's the low-IQ kind of special but certainly nothing worth touting them as good as dominant as the other five division winners.

Yeah yeah, San Diego would have finished fourth had they been in the National League East. They would have only beaten .500 teams Washington and/or Milwaukee by a single game had they been in the same division.

But here's the thing -- they weren't in the same division. San Diego won a brutal, albeit weak, division. They didn't even have the best record in their division -- that "feat" belonging to the Diamondbacks. They had the best out-of-division record, including a winning record against NL East teams and specifically the Braves. That was more than enough to seal the division.

Their primary Achilles' heel was consistency on offense. They didn't help their cause by shipping fan favorite Phil Nevin to the Rangers for a pitcher (Chan Ho Park), but they did acquire base-knocker Joe Randa from the Reds to replace a struggling Sean Burroughs. In the end, they finished in the last quartile in the NL in homers, slugging runs scored and dead last in extra-base hits.

Their pitching was very middle-of the road, finishing 7th (out of 16) in ERA (4.13). Their dominant ace was lone All-Star Jake Peavy (13-7, 2.88 ERA), who had arguably the best complete pitching season in Padres history since Padre legend Randy Jones' 1976 Cy Young campaign. While the wins weren't there, he did have the league's most strikeouts (216), fourth in WHIP (1.04), third in complete game shutouts (3rd with 3) and sixth in ERA (2.88).

The bullpen pulled their own weight by accumulating the second best pen ERA (3.49) in the NL. The ageless Trevor Hoffman saved 43 games, jumping two spots to 2nd place all-time with 436. (If he saves 43 more next year, he will surpass Lee Smith as the all-time save leader. Scott Linebrink, Rudy Seanez and Clay Hensley all contributed with sub-3.00 ERAs as relievers.

And every year, the Padres pick up some vagabond veteran player and has a pretty good year. This year, Pedro Astacio, a waiver acquisition, put together a nice 4-2, 3.17 ERA season, joining the ranks of Fernando Valenzuela, Rickey Henderson, Rod Beck and David Wells in the Spanish Dads' "So That's What Happened To Him" hall.

So the little team that could (win a ravaged division) didn't get much postseason glory, but they must now focus on next season as their division foes reload with talent and aim for the bullseye on the Padres' backs.

« '05 Recap: White Sox »

The Chicago White Sox Manager: Ozzie Guillen (2nd year) 2005: 99-63; 1st place, AL Central World Series Champions —1st half: 57-29 —2nd half: 42-34 2004: 83-79; 2nd place Leaders (hitting) Batting Avg: Craig Monroe (.290) Home Runs: Paul Konerko (40) RBI: Konerko (100) On-base pct: Konerko (.375) Stolen bases: Podsednik (59) Leaders (pitching) ERA: Mark Buehrle (3.12) Wins: Jon Garland (18) Strikeouts: Jose Contreras (154) Holds: Cliff Politte (23) Saves: Dustin Hermanson (34) Free agents: 1B Paul Konerko DH Carl Everett DH Frank Thomas (bought out) C Raul Casanova C Chris Widger 3B Geoff Blum ► The White Sox were never below first place all year -- their first wire-to-wire division title. ► Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras each had 20 wild pitches, each breaking the franchise record for wild pitches in a season. You have to go all the way back to 1887 the last time two teammates had at least 20 wild pitches in the same season -- the '87 Chicago White Stockings (who are now the Cubs for some reason) featured the legendary Mark Baldwin and John Clarkson throw 41 and 25 wild ones, respectively. ► Frank Thomas threw more pitches in the playoffs than he had plate appearances. Yes, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 1 of the ALCS.

Back in March, you all knew the White Sox were a shoe-in to win the World Series, right?

... Right?

You knew that the White Sox would sweep the defending champ Red Sox, tear through the Los Angeles Angels and cap it off by claiming a Mortal Kombatesque flawless victory versus the Astros. Right?

Of course you did.

And, even when they pulled out to a 15-game lead in August and the Indians became the first team to close such a commanding lead that late into the season to a 1 1/2 game-margin, you knew the White Sox would eventually pull away and win it all. You knew that, right?

Did you?

Did you also figure that Shingo "Mr. Zero" Takatsu, the toast of their bullpen last year, would be eventually replaced by journeyman starter Dustin Hermanson for the closer's role, then by 24-year old Double-A prospect Bobby Jenks in the playoffs? I bet you knew that too.

And you knew it was doable despite a league third-worst .262 batting average and fourth-worst .322 on-base percentage.

And it was common knowledge that the big deal of the season would be a deadline deal for Padres' utilityman Geoff Blum, who would wind up smashing a game-winning homerun in Game 3 of the World Series.

Why am I telling you all this? You knew it all along.

Imagine if you didn't know any of this coming into the year. You might be kind of surprised.

You might think that the White Sox was proof that parity is somewhat of a metaproperty of baseball, regardless of economics and markets. You may think that this victory, which broke an 85-year championship dry spell, indicates that the 2000s is a decade of bout-damn-times, as the D-Backs, Angels, Red Sox and White Sox all won their first franchise ring or first one in a while.

But you don't think that, because the White Sox were everyone's pick for the Fall Classic.

Wait ... they weren't?!?

None of ESPN.com's 19 "experts" had them even in the World Series, let alone winning it?

Only one of them - Rob Neyer - had them even making the playoffs?

Wow, that's surprising.

« '05 Recap: Tigers »

Detroit Tigers Manager: Alan Trammell (3rd year) 2005: 71-91; 4th place, AL Central —1st half: 42-44 —2nd half: 29-47 2004: 72-90; 4th place Leaders (hitting) Batting Avg: Craig Monroe (.277) Home Runs: Dmitri Young (21) RBI: Monroe (89) On-base pct: Brandon Inge (.330) Stolen bases: Nook Logan (23) Leaders (pitching) ERA: Nate Robertson (4.48) Wins: Jeremy Bonderman, Mike Maroth (15) Strikeouts: Bonderman (145) Holds: Kyle Farnsworth (15) Saves: Ugueth Urbina, Fernando Rodney (9) Free agents: OF Bobby Higginson OF Rondell White 2B Fernando Vina RHP Jason Johnson ► The Tigs led all teams in triples, with 45, despite only one person in the top 10 individual triple hitters (Brandon Inge, tenth with 9) ► They were unable to achieve a winning record against an AL rival with a winning record, the closest being the 80-82 Blue Jays (5-4). They did, however, sweep the Padres in interleague play. ► Detroit had the best record in extra inning games, winning 8 and losing three.

This first paragraph is supposed to be the lead where, in the first recap of a team that I rooted for, try and put a positive spin on "how they played hard" because "they have a lot of young guys" and "there's hope for the future." Well, there is, but the numbers show a worse season than last year.

Last year, was the season after a dismal 119-loss campaign, so a 29-win improvement threw Detroit fans' Impress-O-Meter way out of whack.

Jeremy Bonderman (14-11, 4.57 ERA) didn't progress very much, winning three more games and lowering his ERA by all of 22 points. Of course, he's 22 years old so he's "still a young guy."

Mike "Not Gettin' Any Younger" Maroth finally had his first .500 season (14-14, 4.74 ERA) by allowing fewer baserunners, but his ERA still jumped.

As it turns out, their offense didn't get anything done, and their pitching had an off-year. No wonder they were a game worse.

The Tigers did make a few good moves, trading Ugueth Urbina to the contending Phillies for second baseman Placido Polanco. Had Polanco had all his at-bats for the Tigers, his .331 average would have won the batting title. They also dealt the flamethrowing Kyle Farnsworth in exchange for two young pitchers, Roman "Don't call me Ramon" Colon and Zach Miner. While these two may give "hope for the future," Farnsworth's departure led to a -- albeit coincidental, perhaps -- September fallout, going 8-24 after August.

And is there "hope for the future?" Their Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens, won the International League title decisively, sweeping Pittsburgh's Triple-A team Indianapolis. And two of their most prized pitchers, Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander, will hopefully make it to next year's opening day roster, as will outfielders Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson.

In summary, they -- er -- played hard, have a lot of young players and have hope for the future.