Royalties & Cardinalate

New baseball movie; more MU woes

From All-Baseball.com: One of the movies being displayed at Sundance is Game 6, "a film about a star-crossed playwright who skips out on the premiere of his new work and attends Game 6 of the 1986 World Series." Sounds cool.

Well, I called it. Conley played more, played well, Mizzou played well, kept it close and then lost. They shot 4-for-19 on 3's despite JC going 2-for-3. This team should not be 2-6 in the Big 12 and 10-11. I won't watch them again until the Big 12 tourney . . .

Forgive me for indulging myself, but I was just looking at some site statistics for Royalties & Cardinalate. And I recalled how we received a minor spike in traffic last year when Brian happened to mention Jennie Finch, who was spotted on camera during a D-Backs game with Casey Daigle on the mound. So, as a litmus test, I thought I would offer my congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Mike Piazza - and mention that you can easily find Alicia Rickter naked all over the internet with incredible ease.

Sorry for this, folks, I couldn't help myself. I'll report back in a couple of days with any irregularities in site traffic.

As for our legitimate traffic, it's solid and consistent. And we appreciate everyone who stops by. With the season approaching, let us know if there is anything you'd like to see more often in this space. Drop one of us a line or leave a comment.

Also, anyone who would like to exchange links, send me an e-mail. I know there are at least a couple of you whom I meant to add but, in my eternal distractedness, failed to do so.

For Mizzou, the 3 is a nightmare

I’ve wanted to vent about this for awhile. Missouri leads all Big 12 teams in 3-pointers attempted this season with 431 (in 20 games). However, they are 11th in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage at .309 (133-for-431). Iowa State is at .281 but has only 203 attempts. Since Mizzou is 10-10 and not in the upper part of the Big 12, this is not particularly striking. But what is stunning is that head coach Quin Snyder cannot dictate that his players step in and shoot mid-range jumpers (15-18 feet). Teams realize that if they get in a bind against the Tigers, they merely need to revert to a zone defense and Mizzou will become helpless offensively. The Tigers make 31 percent from 3-point range; the 50th-ranked 3-point shooting team in the nation is at .386. Yet the Tigers keep firing away. Even when they penetrate and draw the defense, they pass to a 3-point shooter who fails to step in for the higher-percentage shot and opts to shoot a 20-foot clanker.

Exacerbating the problem is MU cannot play 3-point defense. They allow opponents 37-percent from 3-point range, which is last in the Big 12. Mizzou's other defensive numbers are solid. In fact, except for shooting statistics (3’s, FG% and FT%), the Tigers are even overall with their opponents in nearly every category, including scoring. Turnovers, rebounds, steals and blocks are even. The defense is fine.

Linus Kleiza shooting 39 percent is unacceptable. And Jason Conley should be playing 32-plus minutes per game. He is the team’s most efficient offensive player and its best overall shooter to date. His 24.5 minutes is not enough. I lost hope weeks ago and, honestly, have not watched this team since the travesty at K-State. It is a maddening team. They may play KU close; just close enough to be annoying. Snyder had no previous head coaching experience and it is looking as if that is quite an obstacle.

A whole new Cubs

Sammy Sosa in Baltimore does not seem right and is kind of sad. No more Steve Stone/Chip Caray and now no Sosa. Some of the Cubs’ charm is now gone forever. I wonder if this is the season that I finally shed any slightly lingering support of the Cubs that was deeply instilled in me while growing up with WGN/Harry/Steve in rural Iowa.

Julian Tavarez made a six-inning appearance for the Aguilas in the Dominican League last week, allowing three unearned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Nice to see him stretched out - and somewhat surprising to see that to this extent. But it can only be good.

Anthony Reyes and Brad Thompson have been issued non-roster invitations to spring training and it will be intriguing to see how they perform. Each has potential to impact the competition for roster spots.

Best news of late (regarding Chris Carpenter):

“He threw some pretty normal bullpens (in October),” said head trainer Barry Weinberg. “Then during the course of the winter, it's even gotten better. His strength has gotten better, his definition has gotten better.”