Phoenix.BloggersPub

A reminder that RoadKillOvercoat, the new release from the quick-lipped Busdriver, is out today. Rarely do I drop these sorts of annoying notes, but I’m just that into this record.
You can stream RoadKillOvercoat in its entirety at Busdriver’s MySpace page. I copped it at eMusic this morning.

I was watching an anime film called Mezzo Forte over the weekend, about the psychotic owner of a baseball team (and his even-worse daughter). After losing a game, the owner surprised his losing pitcher in the parking lot, and beat him to death with a baseball bat. Now, while I don’t normally advocate violence as the solution to any problem (except for entertainment purposes, when I’m all for it. Link may be slightly NSFW), it strikes me that this might well have resolved the Huge Manatee issue very nicely. Hell, if Ken Kendrick had gone after Ortiz on the pitcher’s mound, with a chainsaw, in front of a full Chase Field house, 40,000 cheering witnesses would probably have seen absolutely nothing at all. I’m just sayin’…

So, the Suns roll on, now possessing a recod of something like 33-2 over the past couple of months, the second-best in NBA history. Hah! I’m less than impressed though, and let’s put things into perspective here: the Diamondbacks’ unbeaten streak is now approaching four months. Okay, the fact that they haven’t played in almost four months, might just have something to do with it, but so what? I do admit, even though I hate basketball, to being impressed by the Suns. I mean, in nine years of Diamondbacks’ franchise history, we have reached double-figures once, with a longest winning streak of 12. The Suns have had two of 15+ this season.

In terms of D-backs streaks, seven appears to be where about we run out of steam. We have won seven straight on twelve occasions - but in the eighth game which follows, our record is only 5-7. Here are the five times we’ve won it, and posted a streak of eight games or more.

• May 4-13, 2000. Nine games. Starting with a win in Milwaukee in front of only 8,405, we then swept a six-game home stand against the Padres and Dodgers, before finishing with two victories in San Diego. Two wins each for Stottlemyre and Anderson, and the closest game during the streak was a 12-innings victory over the Dodgers.

• May 25-June 3, 2001. Nine games. As in the last streak, San Diego were largely the victims, providing six wins, three on the road and three at home. We also swept the Giants in San Francisco, including the memorable 1-0, 18-innings marathon on May 29. Seven consecutive games of the nine were won by two runs or less.

• Aug 10-19, 2001. Nine games. Our best streak outside the division, sweeping Atlanta in Turner Field, than coming home to clobber the Pirates and Cubs. Pitching was the key here, with every win going to our starter, and the D’backs conceded three runs or less in each game bar the last one, where we beat Chicago 13-6.

• Aug 9-17, 2002. Eight games. Part of perhaps the most amazing streak of pitching in Arizona history: 13 straight contests allowing three runs or less, with a total of only 27 conceded in those games. Florida (road), and Cincinnati and Chicago (in Phoenix) were the victims: we had a 2-1 lead in the 8th inning of the ninth game, but Fetters, Myers and Mantei couldn’t hold on.

• June 18-13, 2003. Twelve games. All the more remarkable, because the rest of the year, the “Baby Backs” never won more than four in a row. Starting with two in Houston, we swept the Reds and Astros here, then Detroit on the road, before pipping the Rockies at Coors in twelve innings. Seven wins went to our bullpen, Eddie Oropesa and Stephen Randolph getting two each.

Since then, we haven’t won more than seven in a row, which we did most recently last season, from April 30 to May 6. If we assume Arizona will be a .500 team this year (which is probably within five, almost certainly ten games, of the truth), what are the odds of various winning streaks? Fortunately, we have the Winning Streak Calculator, which gives us the following results for over the course of next season:
8 games: 1 in 8.11
9 games: 1 in 15.74
10 games: 1 in 32.17
11 games: 1 in 67.52
12 games: 1 in 143.94
13 games: 1 in 310.20
14 games: 1 in 674.62
15 games: 1 in 1479.74
16 games: 1 in 3273.05
17 games: 1 in 7301.18

This suggests anything more than a seven-game streak would be unlikely, and only the most ardent fan would bet double-figures. I guess the good news is, the odds are the same for a losing streak of the same duration, so lengthy futility seems just as unlikely. And that ties in with recent performance too: the Diamondbacks haven’t lost more than seven in a row since August 2004, though that season we had separate losing runs of eleven, fourteen and nine games. Yuk. Incidentally, the odds of an 84-win team like the Baby Backs posting a 12-game win streak, works out to about 1 in 97, so they were apparently the Lucky Backs as well.

It’s kinda interesting, however, since studies have shown that “momentum” is, as they say, vastly over-rated. Well, actually, what they said was, “the Wald-Wolfowitz runs test for randomness produced only 5 team season observations out of 86 with significance levels less than .05.” Which I think translates to “vastly over-rated”. There’s also a chart here which looks at the winning records of teams before and after a given record over ten games. This seems to show little effect of a hot streak: for example, if a team goes 10-0, their win % in the five games after is .620, barely changed from the .610 for the five games before the streak.

What matters at the end of the day, is the number of wins in total, not whether they’re attractively grouped or not. Streaks may be fun to ride while they last, but as the Cardinals can attest, the switch from cold to hot (or vice-versa) can occur at any time. Even if you crawl into the playoffs on your hands and knees, anything can happen. Especially if you have the reigning Cy Young winner and Randy Johnson in your rotation…

This was suppose to be a winnable game for the Phoenix Suns, but Kevin Garnett had a differing opinion.  Minnesota’s “Big Ticket” delivered a monster game against the Suns, leading the Timberwolves to an unexpected 121-112 victory.  In an typically un-Garnett fashion, KG almost single-handedly beat the Suns, finishing with 44 points and 11 rebounds.  His dominance in the 4th quarter was quite unexpected, but good to see nonetheless (for a lifetime KG fan).  Garnett almost scored at will against a weak Suns frontcourt, hitting turnaround after turnaround - he scored 15 points in the 4th quarter alone, almost willing his team to the victory.

“People who say he can’t carry the load, take a look at this game film,” new Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said.

Raja Bell finished w/ 26 pts for the Suns and Steve Nash added 20 and 18 assists, but it wasn’t enough to get the win; Shawn Marion contributed a respectable 24 pts & 10 boards.  The Suns were seeking their 18th straight win and a perfect record in January, but were denied by the ferocious Timberwolves (ok, maybe hungry).  Despite the Suns best efforts late in the game, missed shots and KG’s dominance were too much to overcome.

“Better to lose that way than to lose when we beat ourselves,” Steve Nash said. “Kevin (Garnett) was sensational. We just didn’t make shots at the end at the clip Kevin was making them.”

The loss aside, the Suns are still the best & hottest team in the NBA right now.  I almost wonder if the loss will help them focus more on the championship run vs. the winning streak and constant talk about how a fast-break team can’t continue winning (especially in the playoffs).  Nash has been bothered nonstop by the media lately, and has seemed pretty upset w/ the commentary quite frequently.  Too much emphasis was put on the Suns winning streak and not enough talking about their defense (highest avg margin of victory in the NBA) and their chances of winning the title.

Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw barely showed up for the game… combined, they tallied a total of 22 pts and a whopping 4 rebounds; one less than Minnesota guard Randy Foye was able to get.  Amare only took 5 shots from the field - yes, only 5.  He wasn’t in foul trouble and he wasn’t turning the ball over too much, so I’m not sure why he held back against one of the guys he’s compared to most frequently (high school to NBA drafted players).  Amare usually has great performances against the guys that he’s trying to show that he’s better than.

The Suns will attempt to start a new winning streak Thursday on national TV against the San Antonio Spurs.

If my Googling skills are up to snuff, the title of the 2006 debut album from Urbs (aka Paul Nawrata) translates roughly – or, possibly, exactly – to “the same old film.” It makes sense, if I’m correct, given Nawrata’s cinematic approach to this G-Stone Recordings release.
A longtime DJ in Austria, Nawrata has […]

As painful as it was to watch our boys go down in a blaze of 17 game winning streak glory, I take solace due to the fact that it took a herculean effort from a former MVP and superstar to defeat the Suns 121-112. I’m not a fan of moral victories but I’ll take […]

I liked the Oliva Special S “Toro”, but not $10 worth.

All good things come to an end.  What goes up must come down.  All of those things.  No excuses.  The Timberwolves were the better team tonight.  They played really, really well.  The game plan for the Wolves worked.  Kevin Garnett could not miss!  No matter how well the Suns defended him, he kept making the […]

The Wolves gameplan:  Run the Suns into the ground.
It would make sense in most cases.  The Suns are at the end of a 5-game road trip, they are on the second half of a back-to-back and they’ve played 5 games in 7 nights.
But so far the strategy hasn’t worked for the Timberwolves.  The […]

Clipse is hittin’ the road in support of Hell Hath No Fury, a year-end favorite of many bloggers. It probably would have been one of mine if it weren’t released so late in the year.
Nevertheless, the tour includes a March 18 stop in Phoenix/Tempe at the Clubhouse that happens to coincide with another great show […]

When watching professional athletes compete do we as fans ever sit back and really comprehend just how athletically freaky these guys are? Well the video above, of Arizona Cardinals strong safety Adrian Wilson, will not only humble you but also put things into perspective. In the clip, Wilson jumps a 66 inch bar after taking […]