Wire Check - 9/25/09

Football

The 49ers were not a preseason sleeper this season. After a 2-0 start, the media is warming up to the team, but Mike Singletary wants his team to be wary of evil. The Evil of Overconfidence. [Yahoo!]

Possible scenarios for Michael Crabtree. [NFP]

Football Outsiders looks at the Top 10 QB contracts in the NFL. [Football Outsiders]

Tough test for Cal this week at UO. [SFGate]

P-Willy stays grounded. [Merc]

Are the Raiders making progress this season? You won't know unless you buy a ticket. [Sac Bee]

Baseball

Jeff Baker to Giants' playoff hopes, "I crush you!" [SFGate]

Go see the new faces of the A's franchise...before Beane trades them. Sorry A's fans, couldn't resist. [SFGate]

Wire Check - 9/24/09

Baseball

* I love the concept that a writer can say Freddy Sanchez would not want to test the free agent market after having knee surgery in the off-season and then the writer goes on to say it behooves the Giants to seek a long-term deal. WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?! Any trader worth anything know that it is better to cut your losses than try to double down and HOPE (not a trading strategy) that they will get a better. Can you imagine how good a sports team would be if they had smart people with trading sense running an organization!? Red Sox, Rays ... [SF Gate]

* Giants win and are ready to look towards the off-season. [SJ Merc]

* The second best pitcher in the Bay Area starts for the A's tonight [MLB.com]

Football

* Does anybody think JaMarcus Russell will ever be a top 20 quarterback in the NFL? So why stick with him? [SJ Merc]

* Guess what ... the Niners-Vikings game is going to be pretty good. [SF Gate]

* However, it is not good when the best player in football wants payback. [CC Times]

Hockey

* I will admit it ... I am on the Sharks bandwagon because they have the only front office in the Bay Area that seems to care about winning a championship. Time to buy my Heatley jersey. [SJ Merc]

Wire Check - 9/22/09

Baseball

Can we all agree that the Giants' season is now over? Please? Kawakami wraps a bow on it. [Merc] Raise your hand if you'd do the Freddy Sanchez trade over again. You disgust me.

That A's, still in Oakland. [CCTimes]

The company behind Pitchf/x, I think they do the first down line in the NFL as well, are working on a Fieldf/x at AT&T park. [SFGate]

More on the Villalona situation in the DR. [SFGate]

Football

Matt Maiocco presents the NFL's anti-tampering policy [Press Democrat]

Wire Check - 9/22/09

Baseball

* If you have bought a ticket to a Giants home game after Sept. 20, you could be going for free. Why you ask? I am sure the class action lawsuit against the team for false advertising. "We are IN this thing?" No matter if thing is defined as the playoffs or the first overall pick in the draft ... the Giants are in fact not IN this thing. [SF Gate]

Football

* At what point does the Crabtree talk stop? Week 5, Week 10 ... [SJ Merc]

* I have to admit that Shaun Hill could be the next Trent Dilfer. [SF Gate]

* Isn't this good news? [CC Times]

Gambling

* Who wants to go to Delaware this weekend!? [Fan House]

Wire Check - 9/21/09

Football

New news on the Michael Crabtree front. The 49ers have filed tampering charges with the NFL accusing the Jets of malfeasance. [Press Democrat]

This is the most interesting article about the contract issues between Crabtree and the 49ers. [National Football Post]

The Niners are 2-0 and Matt Maiocco breaks down every players performance from yesterday's win against Seattle. [Press Democrat]

We're only two weeks into the NFL season, but the 49ers and Raiders are better than they've been in recent years. [Merc]

As the 49ers gain victories, Crabtree loses leverage. [CC Times]

Scott Ostler, who do you think you are? Writing actual columns? JaMarcus Russ ell was bad, but good enough at the end to steal a win. [SFGate] JaMarcus Russell is a drive killer. he can't complete the short passes consistently and that leads to a lot of three and outs. He's got a great arm and throws a nice deep ball, but the inaccuracy is maddening. Also, was anybody else bothered that the 6'7" QB couldn't throw a screen over a d-lineman?

Frank Gore etched his name in the record books next to Barry Sanders as the only two backs with two touchdown runs over 75 yards in the same game. [Merc]

Darren McFadden beat the Chiefs last season on the same play he beat the Chiefs with this season. [SFGate]

Baseball

The Giants are almost assuredly not going to make the playoffs and some other terrifying news surfaced yesterday. Top Giants prospect, Angel Villalona, has turned himself in to police in the Dominican Republic where he is suspected of...murder! [SFGate] Wow.

A's fans continue to search for silver linings with a 13-5 record in September. [SFGate]

RT and Koski NFL Pick Challenge: Week 2

Last week was a massacre. Koski goes 3-0. The Packers saved RT on Sunday night, but a double dose of losing was in store for MNF. Can RT turn it around in Week 2? We'll let him try, just for fun.

RT(1-2)

• Titans -6.5 v. Texans.
  The Titans are a much better team than people think and they get to play an overrated Texans team at home. I don’t understand how the line in this game isn’t at least 10.
  
• Steelers -1 @ Bears
  No Urlacher, No Receivers, No Bears.
• Panthers + 6.5 @ Falcons
  The Panthers and Delhomme rebound from a terrible loss to cover against the Falcons.

Koski (3-0)

• Oakland +3 @ Chiefs
  Darren McFadden destroyed the Chiefs at Arrowhead last season, Matt Cassel may play, but is still hurt and Richard Seymour has really improved the Raiders D-line.
• Packers -9.5 v. Bengals
  The Packers left a lot of points on the field last week and they are going to get them back against the Bengals.
• Chargers -3 v. Ravens
  The Chargers' offense rebounds in home opener against a Ravens team that gave up 24 points to the Chiefs at home last week.

Week 1 Results
Koski: 49ers +6.5 @ ARI, Cowboys -6 @ TB, Vikings -4.5 @CLE
RT: Packers -3.5 v. CHI, Patriots -11 v. BUF, Chargers -9 @ OAK

Did Bonds Steal MVPs from Pujols?

Backgroud: I was listening to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports on Fitz and Brooks yesterday talk about Albert Pujols and his incredible career thus far. In his nine seasons, Pujols lowest seasonal batting average is .314, lowest number of homeruns is 32 and lowest OPS is .955. Pujols is defining himself as THE player of this generation. Yet, last year Pujols won only his second MVP award. This got me thinking about the number of MVPs Pujols should have. Albert Pujols finished second in MVP voting in 2002 and 2003 and finihsed third in 2004. All three of those MVPs were won by Barry Lamar Bonds. So, I posed the question to RT, Did Barry Bonds steal MVP awards from Albert Pujols? Take it, RT.

No. Bonds only stole one MVP from Pujols and that came in 2004. The Giants failed to make the playoffs and Pujols led the Cardinals to a central division crown. The Cardinals won the division by 13 games over the Astros who won the wild card that year. I have always believed that the MVP should come from a team that has made the playoffs or a guy that has had a season that is far superior to any other player in the league. In 2001, I would argue that the MVP should have gone to Luis Gonzalez and not Bonds or Pujols.

Of course, the steroid issue is the big elephant in the room and everyone wants to cling to Pujols as the only clean guy in the game during the second or third most tainted era in baseball history. (You tell me what’s worse – A) Throwing the World Series, B) Not letting minorities play the game or C) Having players taking performance enhancing drugs beyond the usual greenies and 6 cups of coffee) As long as “the list” remains sealed and biased congressmen conduct reports about performance enhancing drugs and never set foot in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela or Japan, we cannot say with any kind of certainty that a certain player was clean.

As a result, it can be legitimately argued that Bonds might not have been the most deserving candidate for the 2001 and 2004 MVPs but to say he stole multiple MVPs from Pujols is incorrect.

Here's how the numbers compared:
2002___Avg_Runs_HR_RBI_OPS
Bonds__.370_117_46_110_1.381
Pujols__.314_118_34_127_.955

2003
Bonds__.341_111_45_90_1.278
Pujols__.359_137_43_124_1.106

2004
Bonds__.362_129_45_101_1.422
Pujols__.334_133_46_123_1.072