THE RANT

And We Say...Lets Go Mets Remix

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:10:00 -0400

I remixed Lucas Prata and Dave Brody's song and added sound clips from SNY. I hope all Mets fans enjoy it.

Here is Dave Brody's site. He wrote the song for Z100 and the Mets.

http://myspace.com/z100brody1

I used audio from SNY broadcasts, with Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, Howie Rose and Ron Darling.

http://www.sny.tv/

Lets Go Mets!

The Rant-April 24, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 13:08:00 -0400

Dan Galway and John Greenberg break down the future stars and busts of the NFL in The Rant's annual NFL Draft Preview. The tradition of a draft preview started with Dan and Sim Lucien, the creators of The Rant, three years ago. Tune in to hear a breakdown of all the positions and top prospects.

Blue/White Game

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:42:00 -0400

Penn State's annual spring football game, the Blue White Game, was played this past saturday, April 22nd. This is an MP3 of the whole ComRadio podcast, if you want to listen. I called a football game and did color for the first time in my life from the end of the second quarter on. Overall, it was a lot of fun. Enjoy.

Head over to http://bluewhitepodcast.blogspot.com/ in order to listen to the game.

The Rant-April 17, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:13:00 -0400

On this version of The Rant, Dan and Jon start with a discussion of whether or not Rudy Gay and Tyrus Thomas are ready for the NBA as well as if Larry Brown will ever get the Knicks back to prominence. They also give their take on the NHL's most exciting division, the Atlantic, in which three teams were within one point of each other with one game remaining. To wrap up the show, the boys highlight two key baseball series to watch this week and talk about what ticks them off with two, 30 second rants.

The Rant-April 10, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:22:00 -0400

On this edition of The Rant, Dan and Jon start off by discussing the recently completed Masters as well as Phil Mickelson's status in the golf world after winning his third major championship. They also touch on the recent news on two former Penn State football stars, Michael Robinson and Tamba Hali, as well as their respective places in the upcoming NFL draft. The show ends with a recap of the first week of the baseball season, including 3 surprise teams and 3 dissapointments so far.

The Rant : Now available for subscription and on Itunes

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Fri, 7 Apr 2006 16:50:00 -0400

I am pleased to announce that The Rant is now available for subscription and through Apple Itunes.

To subscribe:

To subscribe to The Rant, click on the link on the right side of the page that says "Subscribe to The Rant." It is the first link under the Links section of the page. This will take you to my feedburner page. There are a number of options in the box on the right side that says, "Subscribe Now." If you click the Yahoo! button, you can add The Rant to your My Yahoo! page. There will be a section of the page that will have links to my recent posts. The advantage here is that you can set up your My Yahoo! page to display any type of news that you want all on one page. There is no need to constantly check my site, because Yahoo! will list when I have posted a new blog.

The rest of the sites all operate under the same idea, but some of them are just for audio.

To read more about RSS syndication, the technology that makes this possible, follow the link below.

About Feed Sydication

Itunes:

If you use Itunes to play music on your computer you have another option. I highly recommend the program if you don't have it. If you do however, you can subscribe to it and it will automatically download to your ipod every time you connect it and there is a new show. Just go to the podcasts section of the music store and search for "Dan Galway" or "the rant."

Apparently, this works with Yahoo Music Engine as well. I don't know much about the program, so I can't help you out there.

Major League Baseball Preview-American League East

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Wed, 5 Apr 2006 13:38:00 -0400

In my second installment of a six part series, I preview the AL East:

American League East

Yankees
Blue Jays
Red Sox
Orioles Devil
Rays

New York Yankees

It's another year and another big name free agent for the New York Yankees. While not as big as the makeover of their cross-town rivals, the Bronx Bombers added some nice pieces in Johnny Damon, Kyle Farnsworth and Octavio Dotel. Damon should help their offense, an offense that scored 886 runs and was second in the American League in that category. Adding him to a lineup that includes Jeter, Sheffield, Rodriguez, Giambi, Matsui, Posada, Cano and Williams, the Yankees have a legitimate shot to score 1,000 runs this year. It's pretty safe to say that their offense won't be a problem, and come midseason their bullpen should be in good shape as well. Mariano Rivera is still, in my book, the top closer in all of baseball. Adding Farnsworth and Dotel, two good set-up men, to the mix and filling out the pen with Mike Myers and Tanyon Sturtze in middle relief turns this weakness from last year into a borderline strength. The weakest point of this team is its starting pitching. I think Randy Johnson will go back to winning 20 games this year, and Mike Mussina always seems to be solid, but after that there is a huge dropoff. Sean Chacon and Chien Mien Wang were fantastic for the Yankees last year, but would you bet on both of them repeating their performance? My bet is that one does (probably Wang) and one doesn't. The fifth slot in the rotation will fall to whoever stays healthy between the often injured duo of Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano. Pavano just has the look of a player that won't succeed in New York, and both the afformentioned pitchers are extremely overrated off of a couple good seasons and many mediocre ones. I think the offense will be strong enough for the Yanks during the regular season, but in a playoff series I wouldn't feel as confident. They should, however, win the AL East by 2+ games.

Potential Breakout: Robinson Cano
Potential Dud: Kyle Farnsworth
Potential Bounce-Back: Randy Johnson

Boston Red Sox

The Bosox open 2006 after an offseason filled with change and controversy. Theo Epstein stepped down, and the Red Sox still made trades without naming a GM. Then, Epstein came back to Boston towards the end of the offseason. Not to be outdone, Manny Ramirez asked to be traded for the gazillionth time, and for the gazillionth time, was not traded. Last but not least, for the second time in two years a Red Sox icon leaves Boston for a New York team. Last year it was Pedro Martinez to the Mets, this year Johnny Damon traded in his locks and Red Sox Jersey, and went to the arch-rival Yankees. To fill numerous holes created by departures, the Sox acquired Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett from the Marlins, signed Florida's former shortstop Alex Gonzalez, and traded for Cleveland's Coco Crisp as well as San Diego's Mark Loretta. Besdies Damon, they also lost shortstop Edgar Renteria, 3B Bill Mueller and backup backstop Doug Mirriabelli. The strength of this team is still the hitting, as Crisp should do a pretty good job replacing Damon. Renteria did not have a big year last year, so they won't lose that much offense at short stop, and at third they could either upgrade or take a hit depending on which Mike Lowell shows up. Any team that has a decent supporting lineup and a core of Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Jason Varitek is going to score a lot of runs. Don't look for them to fall too far from the 910 runs they scored last year. The Red Sox starting pitching is also pretty good. The 1-2 punch of Schilling and Beckett, assuming Schilling is healthy, is a formidable one. The back end of the rotation, Wakefield, Clement, and Wells is decent and rounds out an overall above average pitching staff. The place I feel that Boston wil have problems is in the bullpen. Keith Foulke was injured most of last year, and terrible when healthy. He is the X-factor for the Sox. However, if he stays healthy and becomes the closer he was prior to 2005, the bullpen looks better, and Boston has a legitimate shot at the division. Without a legitimate closer, the Red Sox don't have a shot.

Potential Breakout: Josh Beckett (to an elite starter)
Potential Dud: Julian Tavarez
Potential Bounce-Back: Mike Lowell

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays were probably the only team in baseball with more change over the winter then their division rival Red Sox. New to town are A.J. Burnett, Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay, Bengie Molina, and B.J. Ryan...all established Major League Baseball starters. Leading the charge out of town were Miguel Batista, Orlando Hudson, Corey Koskie, and Dave Bush. Overall, the Jays look like a very solid team, but there are still a few doubts in my mind that they can put it all together in 2006. Their lineup is very good, and would probably be one of, if not the best in any other division in baseball. The problem is they play in a division with two of the top offenses in the big leagues. Despite this, look for big contributions from Alexis Rios and Aaron Hill to complement the usual numbers from Overbay, Glaus, Shane Hillenbrand and Vernon Wells. The lineup won't be a problem, and the starting pitching shouldn't be either. The staff is led by perennial all star and Cy Young winner Roy Halladay. With the Jays revamped offense, look for Roy to win around 20 games. Gustavo Chacin will try to follow up on his great rookie season in which he won 13, and one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball, Josh Towers, will try to improve on his 13 wins and 3.71 ERA. The fifth starter will either be Ted Lilly or Scott Downs, but the key cog to the Jays staff is A.J. Burnett. The former Marlin has yet to prove he can win consitently or consistently stay healthy. If he does, the Blue Jays will have one of the best starting staffs in the big leagues. The Jays also have the best overall bullpen in the division, and one of the best in all of baseball depending on whether B.J. Ryan reamains the dominant closer he was last year for the Orioles. Relievers are hard to predict a lot of the time, and Ryan only has one year of experience shutting the door. Scott Schoenweis is very good situational lefty (they batted a measely .188 off him last year) and both Justin Spier and Jason Frasor can pitch in the setup role. Overall, the Jays are a very solid club and have the potential to put it together and win the division. However, a more likely scenrio would be the wild card. It may be a little too early early for the baby birds though; just give them a year to gel.

Potential Breakout: Alexis Rios
Potential Dud: A.J. Burnett
Potential Bounce-Back: Ted Lilly

Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles have really been a frustrating franchise in recent years. They have only won 90+ games once in the last 21 campaigns, and their last winning season and division title was in 1997 (the last year the Yankees didn't win the AL East in some fashion). Miguel Tejada obviously felt the same frustration this offseason when he demanded a trade. However, weeks later rescinded the demand and said he wanted to stay. He cited the lack of moves the O's were making to better themselves as the reason for his unhappiness. Baltimore didn't make any huge splashes in the player department this offseason, but they did acquire a big-time coach in Leo Mazzone. The legendary former Braves pitching coach should provide a boost for the O's staff, but his time in Baltimore will really be a litmus test to see how much the success he has had is in fact his "genius," and how much should be attributed to just how well the Braves' organization is run. The pitching staff does have potential. Rodrigo Lopez has won 14+ games 3 times in his career, Bruce Chen seemed to break through last year, Kris Benson has always had potential (something that Mazzone is great with), and Erik Bedard pitched great for the first three months of the season last year. In addition, Daniel Cabrera has some of the nastiest stuff in the league and pitched great all spring. The 24 year old could have a breakout year with the help of Mazzone. Baltimore's lineup is solid 1-9, although its a notch below the top three in this division. The additions of Kevin Millar, Jeff Conine and Ramon Hernandez to a lineup that already includes Javy Lopez, Melvin Mora, Brian Roberts, and Miguel Tejada should provide ample depth. However, the weakness of the birds is their bullpen. The only established reliver in the pen is Latroy Hawkins, who has a penchant for blowing big games. The organization is relying on second year closer Chris Ray to finish games for them. He did pitch well last year but he's untested, and that could come back to haunt Baltimore in close games. The Orioles seem to be a team with a lot of good parts. In another division they could be contenders to finish higher, but in the competitive AL East they're no better than fourth best.

Potential Breakthrough: Daniel Cabrera
Potential Dud: Kris Benson
Potential Bounce-back: Javy Lopez

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are one of the most interesting teams in the league. They're going in the right direction on offense, but the complete opposite, and wrong direction in the pitching department. They have one of the best collections of young hitters in the game. Carl Crawford continues to get better, and once the power comes he'll be a legitimate five tool player. Joey Gathright (.276, 20 sb in 71 G), Johnny Gomes (21 HR in 101 G), and Jorge Cantu (28 HR, 117 RBI) all had good season last year at young ages. Additionally, Crawford, Gomes, Gathright and Cantu are all younger than 27. This group makes up a good core, and they have more on the way. Delmon Young, the #1 prospect in the majors by many accounts, will be up soon, and after B.J. Upton figures out his fielding problems he should be a major addition to the team at shortstop. The Rays shouldn't have a problem scoring runs this year. Scott Kazmir and Mark Hendrickson are the only pitchers in this rotation that should rightfully starters in this league. Kazmir, the flamethrowing lefty, has a great future ahead of him. The same can't be said for the others; Casey Fossum, Seth McClung and Doug Waechter. Moving on to the bullpen, things only get worse. In addition to not having a legitimate closer, not one pitcher in their active bullpen had an ERA below four last year. Keeping a lead will be like walking through a minefied for the Devil Rays this year. Look for the offense to be improved, but the lack of pitching should keep the Rays once again in the cellar of the AL East.

Potential Breakthrough: Joey Gathright
Potential Dud: Aubrey Huff
Potential Bounce-Back: Mark Hendrickson

Picture Credit: Yankees:ign.com, RedSox:foxsports.com, BlueJays:tsn.ca, Orioles:bronxpride.com, DevilRays:tbo.com

The Rant-April 3, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Wed, 5 Apr 2006 00:35:00 -0400

On this edition of The Rant Dan is joined by another Penn State student, Jon Greenberg. They open with a discussion on the contracts of Brett Favre and LSU men's basketball coach John Brady, and then move on to break down the chances of both Florida and UCLA in the NCAA national championship game. Finally, in honor of opening day, the boys close the show by giving their predictions for each of Major League Baseball's six divisions.

Major League Baseball Preview-National League East

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Sun, 2 Apr 2006 16:45:00 -0400

Here is a brief preview of the way I think Major League Baseball will shake out this year:

National League East

Braves
Mets (Wild Card)
Phillies
Nationals
Marlins

Braves

I would LOVE to pick the Mets to win the division but I just can't do it. The Braves, although they lost Rafael Furcal, Kyle Farnsworth and Leo Mazzone to other clubs and Mike Hampton to injury, still look like an overall solid club. Their pitching staff has the best 1-2 in the division in John Smoltz and Tim Hudson. Jorge Sosa could be huge for them if he can continue to pitch like he did last year, which is questionable. Their lineup has two studs with Chipper and Andruw Jones and some nice supporting parts in Giles, Francouer and Renteria, who I think will have a bounce back year. Their bullpen is young and has potential to be OK. However, the fact that the only recognizable name in the bullpen is Chris Reitsma, as well as the fact that Reitsma is their closer is troubling. Overall, the Braves are a solid club that will be very good. You can always count on Bobby Cox to get the most out of his players.

Potential Breakout: Brian McCann
Potential Dud: Jorge Sosa
Potential Bounce-Back: Edgar Renteria

Mets

The Mets come into 2006 with the best looking roster since 1999. Their strengths this year wil be their lineup (a change from years past) and their bullpen (a change from last year). The biggest impact should be made by the acquisition of Carlos Delgado. Delgado will protect Carlos Beltran in the lineup and this should lead to Beltran having a big year. Also look for big contributions from budding superstar David Wright and Cliff Floyd should hit around 30 HRs and drive in around 100 if healthy. Jose Reyes seems primed to have a huge second full year...even with his low OBP, he is capable of electrifying the offense. Statistically, the Mets bullpen wasn't too bad last year. Roberto Hernandez and the middle relief were mostly responsible for that. However, the closing position was a huge weakness. Billy Wagner is a huge upgrade and should add at least five additional wins. Aaron Heilman and Duanar Sanchez should be one of the best set up tandems in the game. The starting rotation is now the Mets question mark. For them to have a chance to win their decision, Pedro needs to be 100% and Tom Glavine needs to pitch like he did the second half of last year. Brian Bannister looks solid but he's a rookie. Steve Trachsel has been consistent as a Met but he's old and coming off back surgery and Victor Zambrano is not exactly consistent.

Potential Breakout: Jose Reyes
Potential Dud: Cliff Floyd
Potential Bounce-Back: Tom Glavine

Phillies

The Phillies are another team that has potential to win the Wild Card and even the division if everything breaks right. The lineup with Pat Burrel, Bobby Abreu, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins is the best in the division. The Phillies did a great job picking up Aaron Rowand for old and injury prone Jim Thome this offseason. He will do a fearless job patrolling center field and his offensive numbers should go up in Citizens Bank Park, even with the fencees moved back. Brett Myers has the potential to win 15-20 games, and Jon Lieber will probably be solid, but after that the starting rotation is full of question marks. Corey Lidle, Ryan Madson and Gavin Floyd are not what you want for your last three starters, although Madson and Floyd have potential. The bullpen is also questionable. It has some solid parts (Tom Gordon, Arthur Rhodes, Aaron Fultz), but it seems to have the potential to melt down. This is enhanced by the fact that Tom Gordon is going to become a closer again after years off and that both Rhodes and Godon are old and could break down. The Phillies will probably need to score a lot of runs to contend again this year.

Potential Breakout: Ryan Howard
Potential Dud: Tom Gordon
Potential Bounce-Back: Bobby Abreu (from the second half)

Nationals

A lot of people forget how good the Nationals were the first half of last year. Midway through the season they were 19 games above .500 and 5 games up in first place. They lost 50 games in the last three months and finished 81-81 and in last place. The strength for Washington early last year was their ability to win one run games. The end of their bullpen is still solid with all star Chad Cordero and WBC representative Gary Mejewski, but the rest leaves a lot to be desired. Luis Ayala getting hurt in the WBC will affect them in this area. Their staring pitching has a solid 1-2 in Livan Hernandez and John Patterson, but not much more after that. Hernandez always finds a way to win games, and look for Patterson, if he can get run support, to bud into a star player. The offense has some good players (Jose Guillen, Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro, Alfonso Soriano), but also a lot of incosistency. Nick Johnson has turned into a good pure hitter and great on base guy when healthy, but he's never played a full season. Jose Vidro is also injury prone, and Jose Guillen is coming off an injury and there is always the chance of him having an emotional meltdown. Alfonso Soriano goes from an above average second basemen to an average outfielder with good speed. Look for the move to left and cavernous RFK to seriously hurt his numbers. Brian Schnieder will provide his usual awesome defense and moderate offensive numbers, while 3B Ryan Zimmerman could become another solid piece at 3B for the nationals.

Potential Breakout: John Patterson
Potential Dud: Alfonso Soriano
Potential Bounce-Back: Jose Vidro

Marlins

The Florida Marlins went through their second firesale during the offseason and it left them with two remaining superstars, Miguel Cabera and Dontrelle Willis. The rest of their roster is littered with first year players and superstar minor leaguers. Their starting rotation is behind Wilis is scarily inexperienced. Brian Moehler is the only other starting pitcher that has actually seen sizable major league time. Sergio Mitre is a failed prospect with the Cubs and Julio Vargas seems to be a back end of the rotation pitcher at best. Every member of their potential bullpen, besides Josh Johnson (in four games) , had a 4+ ERA last year and pinning your closing hopes on Joe Borowski (0 for 4 in save opportunities last year) is not optimal. Their lineup has a few good parts: Miguel Cabera is one of the best young hitters in the game and Mike Jacobs' beautiful left-handed stroke looks like the makings of a good, young slugger. Jeremy Hermida is the early pick for National League Rookie of the Year and should put up some good numbers from right field, but the rest of the lineup in very inexperienced and probably will be eaten up by major league pitching this year. It will be a long summer in south florida.

Potential Breakout: Jeremy Hermida
Potential Dud: Dontrelle Willis
Potential Bounce-Back: Miguel Olivo

Picture Credit: Braves:TSN.ca, Mets:Scout.com,Phillies:the700level.com,Nationals:Phillyburbs.com,Marlins:TSN.ca

Steroids and Baseball

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:32:00 -0500

I know you've heard it over and over, but I want to put my two cents in about steroids and America's past time.

One of my pet peeves is to hear people say something to this effect:

"Steroids don't have that much of an impact on baseball. Take Bonds for example, most of his home runs go over the fence by a wide margin. If he didn't take steroids, he would only lose those home runs that squeak over the fence."

This type of thinking is wrong for a number of reasons. Firstly, steroids do more than just add muscle and strength to an athlete. Another benefit of shooting up is that the athlete is able to recover from injuries quicker than they would while not on the juice. In the new book that details Bonds' alledged (haha) steroid use, Book of Shadows, the writers claim that Bonds even took drugs that improved his eyesight.

Besides the fact that steroids make a player stronger and more resilient, the most important factor for a baseball player is the fact that the added strength will increase their bat speed. If Bonds or anyone else is able to swing the bat faster, they can wait longer before they start their swing. This will allow them to lay off more late breaking pitches that they would've been susceptible to if they were a bit weaker and had to start their swing a bit earlier. The key component of hitting in baseball is timing. The ability to put the ball on the sweet part of the bat is what separates a bad player with immense strength and a player who utilizes that strength to hit home runs.

Today steroids were once again in the news because commissioner Bud Selig announced yesterday that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell would lead an investigation into steroids in baseball. Selig stated that Mitchell would focus on investigating the players that have been connected with BALCO, but would have the power to "expand the scope of the probe if necessary," according to Hal Bodley of USA Today.

Mitchell is an interesting choice to lead the investigationn. Usually when bringing in an outside person to conduct an investigation, the person should not have ties to the parties being investigated or the party doing the investigating. Take journalists, which some people consider investigators in a smaller way, as an example. It is their job to be objective much the way it is the job of the investigator to objective. Because they are supposed to remain neutral, reporters are not assigned stories that may lead to a conflict of interest or may make them even seem to have a conflict of interest.

Keeping the above in mind lets look at a few facts about Mitchell. Currently, he is on the board of directors of the Boston Red Sox. Yes, those same Boston Red Sox that play at Fenway Park. Additionally, he is the chairman of the board of the Walt Disney Co. This doesn't seem to be a problem until one looks at the fact that Disney owns ESPN, which "has an eight-year, $2.4 billion contract to televise MLB games and is currently producing a reality show with Barry Bonds, one of the focuses of the probe," according to Mike Dodd of USA Today.

Is Bud Selig absolutely clueless? First of all, the investigation should be an in depth look into all players that have used steroids. That includes pre-BALCO, post-BALCO, and players that haven't been involved in any way with BALCO. If an investigation is going to be done, it should be done the right way. All the possible cheaters that can be found should be, and should be outed. The fact that Selig is limiting the scope of the investigation is absolutely ridiculous.

When it comes to Mitchell, you have to wonder why Major League Baseball would pick him out of all possible candidates. With all the connections he has, this reeks of an inside job. It seems like Selig picked a buddy of his that he could count on to not bury baseball. Bud wants to do the right thing but he picks someone to investigate steroids when that person has connections to the Red Sox, ESPN, and Barry Bonds? This seriously undermines the credibility of the investigation. Maybe Bud should go back to that used car lot.

The Rant-March 27, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Galway) — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:10:00 -0500

On this edition of The Rant, host Dan Galway focuses on the NCAA tournament. He recaps the best games of the weekend, gives his predictions as to who will move past the Final Four, and names his Final Four All Tournament Team.