Monday Ramblings Nov 3, 2014: Jays Trade Lind, Raps Sloppy in South Beach, Leafs Impress and Another Insane NFL Sunday

Arrivederci Adam! It’s been…interesting. After 9 seasons the Jays sent Adam Lind and his beard to Milwaukee for some pitcher named Estrada. Sounds good to me. After very average numbers from 2006-08 Lind had his big year in 2009 batting .305 with 35 HR and 114 RBI. The following season he slipped to .237, 23 HR and 72 RBI but JP Ricciardi still gave him a big contract worth a lot of money and like everything else Ricciardi touched, it was a bust. In the last four seasons, mainly as a DH versus righties he has been mostly average and his lifetime average against lefties is like .212 makes him only useful as a specialist. The problem I always had with him was he lacked the intensity and fire I want to see from a player. He always seemed a little lackadaisical to me and that bothered me. Maybe Milwaukee will be the fresh start he needs and he can get back to those 2009 numbers…but probably not.

Same old Raps. The final score in last nights Raps/Heat games suggests a good offensive battle with little D to show for it. That’s half right. There was no D but while the Heat shot just over 50% (as high as 65% at one point) the Raps tried to live and die by the 3…and they died. They went 4-16 and those 12 misses were ugly. The nail in their coffin was free throw shooting. They went 24 for 39! That’s horrendous. They gave Miami 15 points for free! Dwayne Casey better have them in the gym today shooting 1000 free throws each because that is unacceptable. The defense was weakened because Amir Johnson was out with a sore ankle and Patrick Patterson got into early foul trouble which created a matchup nightmare. The Raps had to play undersized most of the 3rd quarter and it cost them. But not as much as missing those free throws. What’s the point of penetrating and drawing fouls if you can’t make an uncontested basket from 15 feet? Clean it up boys! You made Bosh look somewhat serviceable last night and we all know that’s not true!

Don’t look now but the Leafs are on a roll! Saturday night’s 3-2 win against Chicago made it three in a row and they have outscored their opponents (Buffalo, Columbus, Chicago) 11-3 in those games including Bernier only allowing 1 goal in two games. While there is no need for bragging about beating the Sabres and Blue Jackets, Chicago is a legitimate team and Reimer stuffed them 45 times. The biggest difference to me this season is the play of David Clarkson who has been a monster presence on the ice versus last season when most of us forgot he was signed to a huge deal. If he keeps playing well and the goaltending remains solid, it means….nothing really. We’re only 12 games into an 82 game season so let’s just enjoy the winning now and not look ahead too far. We already have the MLSE Cup planning committee to do that for us.

Brady versus Manning. Remember how exciting those three words sounded on Sunday morning? Remember how nauseous you felt when you saw the final score Sunday evening? I don’t know if there will be a bigger letdown in the NFL this year (I’m talking football, not off-field issues). I thought Denver was going to roll over the Patriots (Michael Irvin projected Broncos winning by 20+ points!) so it was an annoying reminder why no one can get rich off NFL betting. Oh, and it wasn’t the only reminder. Dolphins shut out the Chargers 37-0? Two weeks ago I thought the Chargers were the second best team in the AFC behind Denver! 49ers lose to the Rams making them 4-4 and a probably playoff miss in that division with Seattle grinding away and Arizona just pounding everyone. At least one constant remained: Raiders lose again. A good effort but a loss moving them to 0-8 and halfway to my prediction of 0-16. Go Raiders!