Ranting With Rizzo Podcast For 9-8-12

On "Ranting with Rizzo" this past week I was
lucky enough to have Roch Kubatko of MASN on
the show to talk a little about the Orioles
their magical September carpet ride. Checkout
the podcast here and see what else we had to
say:



Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Are The New York Yankees Done?

That question is so easy to answer, it's child's
play. Of course not, it's way too early for that,
they haven't even given up first place yet.

That being said, after three games at home with
the Orioles, and a bad game one in Tampa, 1-3
isn't gonna do it going down the stretch. The
good news is, they have six more against these
two teams coming right up. The Yankees are by
no means done, just ask the 2011 St. Louis Cards
who were left for dead, and came back to win it
all. I'm not sure these Yankees have that heart,
and I think it was easier for the Cardinals to
chase than it is for the Yankees who are being
chased, and very successfully at that.

The Yankees aren't done, but if they keep this
type of play up, many of their fans will be.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

With Votto & Hamilton, Cincy Left To Wonder What If

Courtesy CBS Sports

After seeing the types of numbers that Joey Votto
and Josh Hamilton have put up recently, I can't
help but realize that I'm not the only one who
might be wondering what if. The Reds have to be
besides themselves knowing that they had both
Joey Votto and Josh Hamilton on the same team at
the same time, and now don't because they gave up
on Hamilton a tad too early. Of course the Tampa
Rays could be upset too having drafted Josh number
one overall, but how could they ever know that
Hamilton would eventually recover to some degree
from his demons of drug and alcohol addiction.

The numbers of these two are staggeringly similar
if you're willing to give a little. Since 2010
Votto has an RBI edge of 240 to 216 over Hamilton,
but Josh leads in HR's 75 to 71, as well as batting
avg .337 to .315, and with that you still have to
give Josh the edge in all three when you consider
that he has played in 58 less games and in turn had
127 less at bats. I could churn numbers all day,
and it sill won't define a clear cut winner with
these two, at least not until the end of their
careers. The Texas rangers are a scary lineup,
and Josh Hamilton is a big reason for that, and yet,
how do you thin pitchers would feel if they had to
face Votto and Hamilton in the same lineup every
night? Scared, probably, and the Reds too are left
to wonder, what if.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Chipper Jones And Atlanta Braves Out

Break it down anyway you like, but when you have
a 10 1/2 in August and blow it with a miserable
September, even after you get the chance to play
the final three games of the season against a
team who has everything wrapped up and nothing
to play for, and you still don't the job done,
you deserve to miss the post season. You were
not good enough to begin with. Chipper Jones
was robbed on a great play by Michael Martinez
that would have put the Braves in front, but
again, if you have to rely on one play when you
blew such a gigantic lead, you don't deserve
the honor of going to the post season.

The same goes for the Red Sox, but after winning
2 titles in the last 9 years, THIS debacle is a
little easier to swallow, especially when you
consider that they got that first one in super
comeback fashion. This is a major choke job,
but there is no crying here Red Sox fans, enjoy
the Football season, and your Champion Bruins,
because you probably won't see a Celtics game
this year. Funny thing is, that this was like
double whammy for anyone who was a fan of the
Boston Braves, like a two birds with one stone
kind of irony.




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MANNY, Manny, manny???

The letters in the title you see that went
all caps to all lower case letters are the
same as the sounds you will hear next year
coming from peoples mouths, as they start
talking about Manny helping some team out
once his 100 game ban is over down the
stretch to no one giving a damn once they
realize he has nothing left in the PED tank.
Thing is, I think he needs to be signed in
order for the ban to begin, so it may be a
mute point, but, we'll see. Someone's bound
to bring it up, now that he's applied for
reinstatement and given his leach of an agent
Scott Boras the go ahead to suck a few more
dollars out of some other sucker of a team,
and there's always a slow news day in February
after football.

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