He has had a few shaky outings so far this year, but coming into tonight's game, his ERA (1.71) was lower than his 2010 ERA (1.80) and his 2009 ERA (1.76).
Questionable, but hardly terrible. AJ really labored last night, and was all over the place. In the sixth inning, against Logan and Ayala, the Mariners hit one ball hard. Just more bad luck, which has been a theme over the past two games.
Just one of those games. The Yankees hit the ball harder than the M's did that entire game, but have nothing to show for it.
Unfortunately, on the whole, they just haven't played well for over a month now. Showing their true colors, I think.
I suspect Miami won't see it that way. If anything, they'll welcome the idea of putting him on Marion/Peja/Stephenson. That way he won't be at risk of picking up any fouls and he can concentrate on offense, rebounding, and help defense for most of the game. Then at the end they'll put him on Dirk. But I could be wrong ... we'll know soon enough.
LeBron gets so much attention for his offensive game, and deservingly so, but he's far and away the best wing defender in the NBA. There's no one else even in the conversation.
I have to echo this. The 'tribal mentality', as you called it, of sports fans is not in any way unique to this country.
EDIT: the 'you' is directed at SMP, sorry for the confusion
Haha come on, that argument defeats itself. Mo isn't going to get a save every time. The O's aren't always going to capitalize on opportunities (probably more often than Mo blowing a save).