In this morning’s conference call from London, I asked Randy Wittman to describe his optimal scenario for Randy Foye. Does he want Foye to be his rock-ribbed point guard, or does he want him to slide over and play the two occasionally, be a combo guard?
“He is going to play both,” Witt replied. “No, not all of his minutes will be at the point because of all the problems he presents [for opponents] off the ball. So he’ll do both.” The coach noted that in the first exhibition game Foye played about half and half between the guard positions and implied that he’d like to see that continue.
When I followed up asking who that would deliver minutes for, Marko Jaric of Sebastian Telfair, Wittman said, “These guys are going to dictate who plays. But the opportunities are going to be there because I don’t want 35 minutes of Randy at the point.”
The PiPress’s Rick Alonzo remarked that that might be news to Foye, who seemed to emphasize that he would be pretty much only a point guard at the media day interviews. But Wittman essentially replied that Foye has foreknowledge of and is on board with the combo guard plan. “He wants to play off the ball some,” Wittman flatly stated, noting that he and Foye have talked about this.
Okay, maybe this is surprising news, or maybe we should just take it with a boulder (instead of a grain) of salt, along the lines of Witt claiming that the Wolves will be a running team this season. Why am I skeptical? Because it means a much bigger role for either Jaric or Telfair, two players that have been relied upon fairly significantly to handle point guard duties in the past two years and have failed miserably. Because putting Foye at the two increases the swingman glut that continues to dog this roster. Witt today claimed that he wants Ryan Gomes to get as comfortable at the 3 as he was last year at the 4. So if you have Gomes playing some 3 and Foye playing some 2, both on a regular basis, that necessarily robs minutes from Davis/McCants/Green/Buckner.
As for the Wolves being a running team, the dirty little secret is that a transition game requires a quality ball distributor just as much as in the half-court game, and the Wolves, aside from the soon-to-be-departed Davis, are flat out of decent options there. Oh, and there is also this notion that all the Wolves’ need to crash the glass at both ends of the court, further retarding the running game. No, if the Wolves are smart, they’ll play a lot of dump and slash: Get the ball inside to Al Jefferson and otherwise rely on the slashing abilities of Foye, Davis, McCants, Green, and Brewer.
By the way, Witt also mentioned that a few players tweaked their ankles today in practice–Jefferson and Green and Telfair–and might be doubtful for the Celtic tilt tomorrow. A conspiracy theorist might opine that the Wolves don’t want the current talent differential of their big trade to be quite so obvious out on the hardwood, although you could also argue that they have nothing to lose except maybe a little face. Anyway, McCants as of now is healthy enough to play and Craig Smith might be able to go–he engaged in a full practice today–but the coach sounded dubious on that count.
On to the baseball playoffs. The first round was a real snooze. I called every series but of course was in deadline hell so nobody knew it (he mutters, kicking the ground). Now watch–I’ll blow the pick on both of these second round matchups, especially because I’m pretty confident of the winners, especially the ALCS.
The key to the Boston-Cleveland series is the lack of lefties in the Red Sox rotation. The two most influential bats in the Indians lineup, Sizemore and Hafner, are both righty mashers. Yes, I know the numbers rebut this: Hafner hit below the Mendoza line versus Boston this season (ditto Victor Martinez), and Sizemore was merely .250, with 11 Ks in 28 ABs. But I think both will come up big in the clutch. Schilling and Beckett have both proven to be big game pitchers, but Dice-K is shakey, and unless Boston can go right from Beckett-Schilling to Okajima and Papelbon, I’m not convinced that Timlin/Gagne/Delcarmen can hold down the fort. Ditto the lefty Lopez.
Meanwhile, Sabathia and Carmona are the best 1-2 in baseball right now, two bona fide aces. The only potential chink is the batting eyes of Youkilis-Ortiz-Manny-Drew: if Carmona nibbles too much and gets behind in the count, he’ll either get lucky and last only 5-6 innings because of his pitch count on the mistakes will result in runs. I also have a feeling Jake Westbrook has a hell of a game in him for this series. The guy lost quite a bit of time with injuries this season and thus should be fresher than usual, and he’s already gotten over that blip, the post-big contract jitters. Finally, Cleveland’s much maligned bullpen is better than Boston’s right now. Cleveland in six.
The other league features two very hot NL West ballclubs whose seasons are already a fabulous success regardless of whether they win another game or not. Because of that circumstance, the first game is even more important than usual, as one club may feel they remain on the side of the gods while the other shrugs and considers it a good run to get this far. This is particularly true if the Rockies snatch Game One on the road.
But I’m picking Arizona in 6 or 7 and the reason is Brandon Webb, the most unheralded great pitcher in the game today. Who knows that Webb is the reigning Cy Young Award winner? That he induces ground-outs as effectively as anyone in baseball right now? I think Webb is capable of a 3-0 series. Again, this prediction is based more on gut instinct than raw numbers. The Rockies have actually hit Webb very well this season, especially lefties Brad Hawpe and Kaz Matsui. Todd Helton less so this year, but in the past has murdered Webb. And Matt Holiday has posted decent numbers with a plus .800 OPS.
No matter. It is the postseason and great pitchers rise to the occasion. Brandon Webb is a great pitcher. Meanwhile, Doug Davis (who had a nice comeback second half of the season) and Livan Hernandez should be able to pull out at least one and possible two games against the likes of Josh Fogg and Franklin Morales. Obviously, Colorado’s strength is in its offense and its bullpen, both of which are better than Arizona’s. The difference-maker will be Webb.
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