bobcatfan

There are 3 picks on here i strongly disagree with, especially one of them, and here they are: Jeter: Are you serious about this one? Either A: you have a serious mancrush on Jeter, or B: you've let ESPN, and their east coast bias, brainwash you over the past decade. The intangibles argument for Jeter is weak. He's played on one of the best teams in baseball for the past decade and they havent won a world series since 2000, so im not seeing the intangibles and neither are you. If i want a shortstop for this year, or especially the future, theres a minimum of 3 shortstops you'd pick over Jeter. Jeter has no range, and hes one of the worst defensive shortstops in baseball (Arod is a better SS than him). He doesnt hit for power, he's not really a basestealer either, the only thing he still does well is hit for average, and he strikes out too much. Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins can hit for power and steal a lot of bases, and play defense better. Same with Reyes, who has similiar power and is one the best basestealers in the game. If i want an over the hill shortstop with less range, i'd probably pick Tejada over Jeter also. At least he can hit for power and drive in runs, and he does have some "intangibles". Carlos Lee: This is kind of a homer pick i would guess, because there are tons of other options out there. Lee's biggest problem is that his power numbers arent great enough to offset the fact that hes a below average outfielder. His best season as a pro was last year in which he went 32hrs 119 rbis and 303 avg. Check out Manny and Vlad's career numbers. Manny is similiar defensively and Vlad has a cannon arm, both i'd take offensively over Lee for their career. Grady Sizemore wont hit as many homers, but hes a great leadoff hitter and steals bases, and is a gold glove calibur outfielder. Another gold glover that puts up numbers close to Lee is Torii Hunter. Josh Beckett: Everyone remembers the 2 postseasons he had for the Marlins and Red Sox and no doubt he was great. But everyone forgets his well documented struggles in the regular season throughout his career. He's pitched 6 full seasons and only reached 200 innings twice, and those 2 seasons were only 200 and 204 innings. You cant trust the guy to pitch a full season, and he's already been hurt this year. He had one great season last year, but the year before that in the 06' season he had 5.01 era in 200 innings. If i'm going to pick just one guy to have on my team, i want a guy who i can depend on year in and year out to give me 220-230+ plus innings and not go to the DL every year. Give me more reliable options like Santana, Peavy, Halladay, Webb, and even hometown guy Roy Oswalt, who's been way more reliable and dominant in the last 5 years. Sorry for the criticism, i'm just being objective about it.

Wow, the game just ended at 3:20 am central time. This was a quite a game. Scoreless until the 14th when the rockies score 1 run, then the padres answer in the bottom of the inning to extend the game. Troy Tulowitski gets his 2nd hit in 8 at bats to drive in the winning run in the 22ND INNNING! Willy Taveras got 10 at bats. Todd Helton, Clint Barmes, Brian Giles, Josh Bard, and Kevin Kouzmanoff got 9 at bats. Brad Hawpe and Tadahito Iguchi went 0-7! There will probably be plenty more stats come out from this game, these were just a few that stuck out to me. I need to go to bed....

Its 2:30am and the Rockies and Padres are still playing in the 20th inning! I cant imagine there has been a whole lot of 20 inning games in baseball history. I'm sure most of you reading this will see the box score and the game will have ended, but right now they are still playing! The Padres are on their 7th pitcher and the Rockies are on their 8th! Some players have had 8 official at bats!

Based on the early season struggles of the bullpen, i thought this would be an interesting question for yall. Lidge, Qualls, Sarfate, was our best bullpen options at the end of last season and Ed Wade overhauled the team and gave us Valverde, Brocail, Geary (Villareal). After what you've seen so far early in the season, are you wishing we had the old trio or are you still glad we got the new guys?

How many seniors did your team lose from this years team? And how many of them were starters and impact players? From Orangefield, they lost 5 seniors, 3 starters, which were Helton, Granger, and Green. Those 3 were the main impact players, the other 2 didnt play much. They will have a lot of juniors on varsity next year to help the team. I want to hear from Silsbee and HJ fans how many seniors and starters they lost from this years team.....

First Baptist Church Orangefield is having a mens basketball league this year. Signups started on monday march 31. You can go by the church office and sign up during regular business hours. The cost for the league is 40 bucks a person. People eligible to sign up are anyone that lives in the Orangefield/Bridge City area that is out of high school. They are taking only the first 40 people that sign up, so dont wait too long to sign up if you plan on playing. I think there will be around 8 games, which i think will include some playoff games. The games will be played at the OF baptist church gym. They played the league for a few years a while back, and havent gotten to play since hurricane Rita damaged the church. They just got the gym opened up where you can play full court. If you want to know how much people liked the league, there are still people that come up to me and ask me when the league will start back up. If you have any questions, you can call the church, the number is 735-3113. There are already 20 people signed up and they are only taking 40 people so if you intend to sign up, i'd do it within the next week to be safe. Remember, you must live in the OF/BC area to be eligible.

[Hidden Content] I think the astros might as well take a flyer on this guy. We could probably get him fairly cheap and he does have some upside. He went 9-7 with 185 K's in 198 innings back in 2005, so he has had some success. Not to mention he adds the local flavor to the mix. Although it seems our new general manager doesnt really care about that. I think the way our rotation has performed this spring, it is obvious we will be weak at starting pitching. If this guy can get back to his 2005 form he could definitely help our rotation.

Congrats to all players that made the list. I didnt see any of the guys listed in 4A or 5A so i really cant comment on them. In 1A, I think Tyler Copeland shouldve gotten higher than he did, he shouldve been higher than anyone in the district in my opinion. I was told by someone that saw him play, he was the best player he'd seen all season. And Tolar from Big Sandy got ALL STATE and can only make honorable mention yet whittaker gets 2nd (not that Whittaker didnt deserve it). I'll also say that 2 of the best players i saw all year were Bailey and Spikes from Jasper. I'd put them in the top 6 or 7 players easily in all of 21-3A and seeing them get only honorable mention, when i thought they were at least up there with Robinson (who got 1st team), was a little puzzling to me. I know the guys who put this list together probably spent a lot of time on it and i appreciate all their work. This was just some of my thoughts when i saw the list...

You guys are forgetting the most important factor when making the decision on this poll. Boston will have a much easier road in the eastern conference than any team you put in the western conference on this poll. Even if you put the Spurs or any other top western team, i'll still take Boston because they're a much safer bet just to make it to the finals. The western conference is just so loaded this year, whoever makes it from there will have played 3 really tough series.

I agree with Wildcatter. OF's 2 biggest and few losses will be Granger and Helton. Garrett Granger will replace Helton and can do a good job, he couldve played varsity this year and can shoot the lights out. Jeremy Granger is the one senior they will miss most. Orangefields biggest weakness this year was that they didnt have any depth on their bench, but with their strong junior class next year that will be their strength. Next years team will be more athletic and more exciting to watch. They have the potential to be stronger and give the top teams some tough games again. I know bobcat4life would like to see them fast break and run more, well they should be able to next year...

I'm sure this thread was coming, so i figured i'd go ahead and get it started. Who are your playoff picks for next year? I think its going to be the same 3 as last year. I think Orangefield has a chance at 2nd place also. I think anyone else making the playoffs over these 3 would be a surprise. I'm sure we'll get the usual "dont count us out" from the other schools but realistically i think these are the best bets. What do yall think though? HJ Silsbee OF

I agree with you CATMAN, but you need to proofread before you post. The Big Sandy-Slocum game was a great game that should be mentioned on this thread. A prayer shot on the buzzer brought the game into OT. Nobody on the board must have seen the game in person because it was an amazing shot. If more people wouldve seen it, they wouldve made a much bigger deal about it, and it wouldve gotten a lot more attention than it did.

sorry whsalum, didnt mean to leave you out...i just remembered most people picked BS by 10+ forgot about your post. Yall shouldve listened to whsalum, he knows his stuff, his posts are always a good read. I guess my point was in the last post though that i predicted that one close, i think i have a good idea about this one too...

Well, not many people on the board have probably seen Cayuga so i guess its hard to make a prediction on a game. Although only 2 people have picked Cayuga on this thread, which is not enough. I've seen both teams play, Cayuga is VERY athletic, especially for a 1A team. Their best player, Summerville is a stud, but they are fairly deep too. I've seen Cayuga beat Slocum at Slocum, which was almost like a playoff game with a playoff atmosphere (a Cayuga fan wanted to fight me). I saw Cayuga beat a very good Martins Mill team in the Martins Mill tournament championship game. Cayuga is very good folks, i think if they were in this area they might could make the playoffs in 2A or 3A. They werent ranked #1 in the state for a while for no reason. I think Spurger is good enough to beat Cayuga though, no doubt. Although if Spurger beats Cayuga i'll be surprised, if they keep it within 10 pts i'd be a little surprised. I think somewhere in the 10-20 pt range is pretty fair. I know i'll get ripped for this post i imagine but dont forget i think i predicted the Slocum-BS game the best, everyone was picking BS by 10+ and i called it a tossup, and it was. I'd like to hear what fivetool, i mean yugahoops, has to say on this thread....

I was at the game tonight, wow, it was a great game to watch. This is kind of my "i told you so" post because i said this game was a toss up and could go either way while everyone else picked BS by double digits, and i got ripped mercilessly and called biased. Well this game was back and forth with several lead changes and i dont think either team got up by more than 6 pts the whole game! Big Sandy played Slocum real well in the first half, but Slocum hit 2 buzzer beater shots to end each quarter to kind of take back the momentum. In the 2nd half, both teams were in the bonus by the end of the 3rd quarter. I thought the key to victory for Big Sandy was 2 things: Free throwing shooting and Mckinney. BS shot a lot of free throws in the 2nd half and they didnt miss hardly at all. Mckinney was a beast in the paint, especially getting all the offensive and defensive boards. The end of the game was crazy. Slocum was up 6 points with under 30 seconds left! Slocum had 2 turnovers trying to inbound in the backcourt and Big Sandy hit a 3 in the corner to make it a 3 point game after the first turnover. After the 2nd turnover, they had the ball with around 10 seconds down 3. They put up a 3 and missed and one of the BS guards grabbed the rebound and rushed to the 3 point line with a second or 2 left. As soon as he gets a foot across the line he just turns and throws it up toward the basket with his momentum still going toward mid court and the shot goes in on the buzzer, amazing! In OT, Big Sandy had a 1 point lead at the end, and Slocum had the ball with under 10 seconds left. They got their star player the ball, he dribbled up and took a shot right inside the 3 point line and tried to draw a foul as he shot it and didnt get off a great shot or get the call. Thats how it ended. I talked to coach Foster after the game to congratulate him and he said this was a very tough game for them, and he knew it coming in, and hated to see one of these teams lose. He said Mckinney wasnt 100% going into the game (didnt i say that catman?), although i couldnt tell that much, he played a heck of a game. Coach Foster is a classy guy and i wish the best for he and his team the rest of the playoffs. Good luck to Big Sandy the rest of the way. I'll be rooting for yall...

Wow, a thread dedicated to me....should i feel special? court side do you actually read what i post? How have i shown bias? I said tomorrows game is a toss up and will be a great game...is that biased? I think thats pretty accurate...I said Cayuga and Martins Mill were the favorites in region 3, that is a fact. Ask any 1A coach in region 3, he'll tell you the same thing. Go back and read all my posts, i've been pretty consistent in what i've said. Its funny that i get criticized for not picking Big Sandy to win region 3, when they arent the favorites. And as for my posts on eastexsports, i just started a prediction thread asking who would win the region 3 quarterfinal games, i didnt pick a winner or suggest who would win, i just asked for peoples opinions...Yeah thats a lot of bias there...

I think it's tough to judge a team by one game, especially if its a bad game... The game court side watched watched Slocum was their only district loss of the season. Most of their district wins were margins over 20 pts. In fact, the other time they played Lovelady they beat them by 20+ pts. If court side wouldve seen a different game, i think he wouldve had a different impression, like when they beat Brookeland, or when they won at Laneville, or played region 3 favorite Cayuga to the wire. And to say Slocum isnt in Big Sandy's class is way off. Go on eastexsports and ask YUGAHOOPS (Cayugas coach) what he thinks and he would laugh at the comment. By the way, just an observation, but most people are picking Slocum on eastexsports and most people on setxsports are picking Big Sandy, is there any coincidence to that? [Hidden Content] My prediction is still that we will see a great game tomorrow night!

This is the game i am going to tuesday night, i know there are some good games tuesday but this will be one of the better ones. Both teams are very fundamentally sound and can shoot the ball well. Slocum plays hard defense and will be a tough test for BS. I heard BS's big man is not 100%, which i think is a big factor in this game. If he was at full strength i think he could do some damage against Slocum, who doesnt have a lot of size. Like i said in the other thread, this game is a toss up, if either team won i wouldnt be surprised at all. My friend coaches at Slocum so i know a little about them, they have good classy kids and a good community. For all those who are throwing out predictions on this thread, (like MWhizzie) i'd like you to mention whether or not you've seen Slocum play this year, because i imagine there are not many on here that have.

I wouldnt assume Big Sandy will be in the regional finals either...I would call their game tuesday a toss up, i could see either team winning. Then if they get past #9 Slocum, they will have to face a very good #7 Martins Mill team, who has beaten #3 Cayuga this year i might add. I would say Big Sandy getting to regional finals is a little more likely than Spurger (but not much), but they have a tough road also. But if you are a fan of 24-1A, you should be really happy if either team makes it to the regional finals. Because if i was a betting man, i wouldnt bet on either to make it. But like i said earlier, these are very good teams and i wouldnt be very surprised if either made it to the regional finals. I'm not trying to be negative, just putting it into perspective.

I'm not a non believer, I was just giving my objective opinion on the question. I like Spurger, i met their coach and he was a nice guy, i'd be thrilled if they made it to state. But when they play against Cayuga and Martins Mill they will be underdogs, and Big Sandy or Slocum they'd be slight underdogs. If they like being the underdog then thats great. I'm probably one of the few people on the board thats seen Cayuga, Martins Mill, Big Sandy, and Slocum play this year in person, so thats why i gave my opinion on the topic. Would i be shocked if Spurger made it state, no not at all, a little surprised, yes. Good luck to Spurger

I agree bleed, Orangefield played Navasota very close on friday night. For the 4th ranked team in state beating a team that tied for 3rd place in district by a small margin like that, i wouldnt be celebrating so much like they did, i'd be nervous. Their fans acted like they were happy to win that game instead of expecting to win that game. Maybe because they know it will end for them soon for them if they can barely beat a 3rd place team. Hopefully HJ will shut them up and take care of business. Thanks for all the compliments from the HJ fans (Poppabearstarr, shackbully, Lazeek) on the OF-Nav thread, i know everyone from OF was real proud of how OF played this year and against Navasota. I think with the talent coming up hopefully this is just the beginning of great things to come for the program. Good luck to HJ from Orangefield fans, i know we will be rooting for yall...

I agree with what yall said about Spurger, Big Sandy, and Newton being on the list, those are all good playoff teams with a legit shot. That being said, i probably wouldnt vote for Spurger. Spurger will have to beat West Sabine, which they should. But then they will have to play Cayuga, who is good, and one the most athletic teams i've seen this year at any level. I've seen both teams play and that game will be very tough for them, not saying they cant win though. If they win that game they will have to play the winner of Martins Mill/Big Sandy/Slocum from the other side. I'm not saying they cant do it, but they will be the underdog in both of their games in the regional tournament.

I've seen Slocum play and yes they are better than last years team. I think it will be a great game to watch, i would probably give Slocum a slight edge. The game will be at Angelina College in Lufkin @ 7:30. Slocum does have good fundamentals and they can shoot the ball well. One difference in last years team and this years team is they play much better defense this year. Here is a list of the notable Slocum wins for those wondering. @Laneville-1A div 2 (ranked 15 in state) Brookeland- 1A div 2 Kennard - 1A div 2 Huntington- 3A Woodville- 2A @Mt Enterprise- 1A (ranked 17th in state ) Grapeland-1A twice @Lapoynor- 1A they lost to Cayuga by 6 (#1 ranked team in state in 1A at the time) Here is a a few interesting nuggets about this game that most of yall didnt know. Slocums coach is a graduate of Orangefield high school. He was the quarterback of the 1999 OF playoff team that broke the school record for points in a season. When he was in college, he and Coach Henry, HD's coach, coached basketball together at Kelly high school for one season.

On the little dribblers site, it says the tournament is march 13-15. On the little dribblers calendar in parenthesis, it says march 13-15 is the "alternate date" and march 20-22 is the "preferred date". Well march 13-15 is the weekend of spring break in Orangefield and i believe i heard it is the spring break of some other area schools. If little dribblers went with the "preferred date" it would be a different weekend. I wonder why little dribblers chose the "alternate date" ahead of the "preferred date" to have the regional tournament. I know someone is calling to get an explanation on this, does anyone on here know why they did that? Maybe i'll hear something and will be able to tell yall why... Hey whocares4u, did you ever get in touch with Orangefield? PM me if you still need to get in touch with someone from OF. I heard from the coach though that he talked to nederland and they're supposed to scrimmage some time soon.

Granger probably didnt excite you that much because he probably didnt touch the ball that much. They dont get him the ball near as much as they should. Also if you wouldve seen any of the 3 games against Jasper you wouldve been impressed with him. He scored over 20 in 2 of the games and scored like 16 in the other game when he was sick. They just couldnt stop him. He's not one the best 2 or 3 players in the district, but i think he's easily in the top 10, he's very good. He is a senior this year and will be the toughest player on the team to replace on next years team, no question about it. I'll agree with you on one thing and that is that they dont depend on Granger to do everything, they have several other teammates they depend on.