By Ryan A. Gold
Wahoo! Sports
This is the eleventh and final preview and it’s going to trip you out, man. Eleven is a great number. My craps shooting amigos will know that 11 is probably the best number at the table. It’s a winner on the come out but doesn’t sweep the line after the point is made. Everybody hollers out “Yo’leven”. That alone is enough to make 11 my favorite number, but there’s more.
I was born at 11:11 p.m. and all my life I’ve found myself compelled to look at the clock at exactly 11:11. Now I figured there’s a logic explanation for this. 11:11 is pretty memorable, especially on digital clocks, and probably I look at the clock all the time but consciously take note when it’s 11:11. Makes sense. You ever heard of this cat Uri Geller? He’s a fake psychic. Here’s a note from his website:
I started experiencing this rather bizarre occurrence when I was forty years old, at first I thought they were coincidences, I would stand with my back to a digital clock and something made me turn around and I would notice that the time would be 11:11. These incidents intensified I would be checked into hotel rooms on floor 11 room 1111. I started noticing these digits on computers, microwave ovens, cars, documents, etc. I decided to write about it on my website. I was immediately inundated by hundreds of emails from all around the world. Individuals were telling me their own 11:11 stories, almost always saying ‘I thought it only happened to me.’ It is difficult for me to decipher what this is all about but my intuition tells me its positive.
Weird, huh? Same experience. Turns out 11 is what numerologists call a master number. This is a powerful number for numerologists. It’s closely associated from psychics. I’ve always been a little bit psychic. In fact, from the time I was about 5 years old I had dreams about airplanes crashing. One morning I woke up very early, before the alarm went off, mechanically went to the tv as if compelled, turned it on and watched a plane swoop into the WTC. It was like watching a replay of the dream I’d had all my life. September 11. 9-11. Or 9+1+1=11. Trippy man. Real trippy.
So given this is my 11th preview, I figure this one is going to be highly prescient. I remember previewing this team early on and being unimpressed but the second impression has been more favorable. Hanley Ramirez is a do everything bona fide fantasy star. Morneau and Holliday have an all star track record. Holliday of course basks in the reflected glory of Fat Albert. Chase Headley and Howie Kendrick are both value picks that will contribute with Headley running a lot early on and Kendrick doing what everybody has always expected he would when healthy. Cameron Maybin is a perpetual waiting to break out guy and you add in Podsednik this is a team that will steal a lot of bases, score a lot of runs and pound the ball. There are 7 guys hitting over .300 so far this year and one hitting over .400 (Podsednik). Expect the averages to deflate a bit, but this team will be solid on the offensive side.
I really like the deal to pick up Tim Lincecum. He’s the kind of guy that, given two starts in a week, can pretty much dominate four categories. Randy Wells is an underrated compliment to Lincecum. There are too many pitchers here that don’t do enough to really help, though. Don’t expect Mike Pelfry to maintain his hot start. Jared Weaver seems to be legitimate, but I tend to wonder. Floyd, Aceves and Sean Marshall are taking up roster space. Carl Pavano remains Carl Pavano. That leave just Leo Nunez down there in the pen doing anything worthwhile and that will likely need to be addressed.
Prediction? You know I’d like to say 11th. Planned on it, in fact. But this team is a bit better than that. I think they’ll be in striking distance but just miss the playoffs.
That’s a wrap, Jacks. Have a great year everybody.