Ken Huth- Wake UP

Better read some Cross-Checkers reports! I have..

Might be surprise what the top MLB teams believe about this kid..

jcaz is right!!! WAIT!!!

Ok, seems as if we are agreeing on more of the issues than not.

Still, one loss (or three)really dosent make or break a season nor the statistics that go along with that.

Mark my words, Amat will be there at the end hosting yet another CIF championship banner. You can bet on it.

605 west,
know your facts before you start giving fred a hard time.

CO beat Bonita in the Championship game (sorry shutout) Amat has beaten CO this year. On any given day right. Amat has better pitching then CO and Bonita. May not have showed early on but they are now pitching like most predicted. Bonita one player Giovanni is what you are hanging on to but it takes 9 and bench to win. Bonita ranking is justified.

605 West,

you can go to http://www.insidesocal.com/paspreps
to talk about your West SGV teams. Different coverage area

The top 10 teams are all east of the 605 fwy. I know there are some other teams (Arcadia) that belong on this list. I know gas prices are rising a bit but, little ride to the west won’t hurt. There are some good teams west of the 605. Let’s not forget, this is the whole SGV. Pull out the old Thomas Guide for directions.

Frederick, Fred, Robledo, Mr. Don't Know How to Do a Top Ten,

Your top ten has lost all credibility. How is an Amat team with 3 losses (2 of them against teams below .500) and another 11-0 blowout with Paez on the hill get them #1? You have Northview at 9-2, preseason ranked #1 ahead of them, a team that beat Bonita-previous #1 at #2. Do some homework, polls don't and bounce around so much, esp. in baseball, where top teams can lose more easily than in football or basketball. St. Paul got 5 losses or so, when is that not a big win anymore?

Ken Huth,
Were you at the Charter Oak-Bonita game last night? Yes, you know you were. Did you see the best all around SS out there? NO!!! The one playing last night is not the best ss around (come on , how many routine groundballs or popups he going to get excused for?) He's the best prospect, not the best ss. Come on Kenny Huth, get your head out of the Bonita Kool Aid and take off the blinders.

jcaz,

If you agree that the game should have never been played out the way it did, well then you motiviations are the same as mine which are to give some of the boys that do not play as much some time and show a little class and ease up on the throttle. Instead Nieto decided to go with his aces at full throttle....NO.

BTW, when exactly did I say that the loss to Chatsworth was any indication as to how the season would pan out?

Side note, why bother bringing NV or Bonita into the debate?

I still think you were correct in you original assertion.

To: jcaz is right!!! WAIT!!!

Look my friend, while I agree that that game should never have been played out that way, I think that perhaps your motivation here is not quite the same as is mine.

You are not here to have an honest critique of that game, but rather to down play the Lancers and thier team in general.

While it is true that this team is not the same offensive powerhouse that we had last year, I can still nevertheless see this team doing very well down the line.

The fact that Amat got beaten very handily by Chatsworth is not indicative of the kind of season that they will have nor of the team in general.

Baseball after all, is a funny game, but one loss does not necessarily make or break a season.

Because If you look at it that way, then how can you justify the losses by both Northview and Bonita to teams that would absolutely be crushed by Amat?

Hum ?

Just Maybe,

Sorry, once agian spin it any way you want but this is blatant STAT PADDING, those two games were gimme's and a time for the midget to get more of the boys some work, but instead he chose to go with the big dogs.

Take off the Amat (Nieto) glasses and try to see things for what they are.

Starting Paez was not for padding stats. He last pitched on April 2nd. Had he not thrown on Monday he would have went 9 days between starts. The coaches like to keep their guys on a routine. He only threw 3 innings to get work in a game situation.

Diamond Bar 17 Covina 1

How did Covina do yesterday?

jcaz,

You are completly right in your observation of the last two Amat games, this Cantwell (Can'tWin) team is just terrible and the fact that Nieto would even pitch his best against them is even more laughable. Paez and McNitt combined for a 28-0 win only to be followed by Zuniga getting the start the very next day in a 22-0 win, can you say STAT PADDING?

Look, the pitching is decent to good, but as we have all seen both Paez who was lit up by Chatsworth and Zuniga who was lit up by of all teams Diamond Ranch and all of a sudden ERA's start to climb and that needs to be corrected, so thank goodness league play starts and you get to face the Cantwells of the world and the corrections to the ERA's that need to be made are made.

All the amat fans that want to pump sunshine, remember, the Lions tournament starts Saturday and we shall see how good this YOUNG Amat team actually is.

You know, I don't claim to be a baseball coach or even a schmuck with allot of in-depth knowledge about the game, but to tell you the truth, I can smell a turkey a long ways out, even before I see it.

I went to the game today but, I left after the second inning when the score was already 7 to nothing.

It was that bad.

To tell you the truth, I don't like to see a game where the opponent is just getting hammered mercilessly, and the opposing coach doesn’t let up.

The funny part was that everybody knew going in that this game was going to be a wipe out.

Given that fact, why then, did not Nieto start the second or even third string against this team, considering the fact that Amat clearly outclasses this team every time they match up with them?

Anyhow, I just though that it was questionable judgment at best, to completely humiliate a team like that, especially in back to back games like that.

Just my thoughts that’s all.

Damien 8-Chino Hills 7

What a great come from behing win! Whitehouse goes 5 (best pitcher in SGV), Gonzales 1, Guillen 1 and both Ortega boys were on fire at the plate. Stay healthy and God Bless.

GO Damien!

25-0 and 22-0 guess who BA got to beat up in league play? Yup! BA will be moving up the ranks. Not anyTIMEs. Let’s wait and see when they start playing some real teams. We’ll revisit this on 4/26, after their tournament run.

Did you take particular offense to me writing that,"anyone can pick any order and be able to find a way to justify it"
or when I wrote,
"ANYBODY in the top ten beating ANYONE else would NOT be a surprise. I still believe that"
Which one - just curious?

As far as the leagues go, you really do need to get out more. Beyond Northview and San Dimas how good is the VVL? Baldwin Park? Beyond CO and BoHi in the Miramonte? Or SH and Nogales in the San Antonio. I think the Sierra League is deepest top to bottom... but Glendora, DB and Damien are the only ones in the SGV. And DB's signature win was Wilson who got shut out by the Millikan team Amat just beat.

In the Del Rey
St Paul has several players back from last years 22 win squad that finished ranked higher than the D4 runner-up , was an early divisional favorite and in the preseason everyone here was saying watch out for the Swordsmen. What's changed since then?

Bishop Montgomery has played a tough schedule but has beaten a REALLY good Alemany team who has a bunch of good wins and handed Chatsworth (who hammered Amat) their only loss of the season.

La Salle had a 3rd place finish in the season opening Arcadia tourney behind only Arcadia and Temple City, whose having a nice season of their own.

I'd still match those top 4 teams in the Del Rey with the top four teams in the leagues mentioned and feel ok.

Cantwell is about like playing Ganesha or Pomona - it's just there's only one of them and 3 games instead of 6 automatic wins.

So what does that all mean? ANYBODY in the top ten beating ANYONE else would NOT be a surprise and you can pick any order and be able to find a way to justify it.

Disagree?

didnt know there was such thing as a 5,6,7 string pitchers?

DB PITCHING ...lost the game !!! routine plays ?

AMAT IS THE BEST TEAM IN THE SGV... HATERS..LOL.. THE HAVE THE BEST PITCHERS BY FAR... ALL GOING D 1.... 1..2...3..4.... ZUNI,PAEZ,MCNITT AND CUEVAS.SO DON'T HATE ..

Yes! Amat!

Amat looks good playing against who? In your league. LOL

You wouldn't beat NV or Bonita!

Joe Amat

Joe shows up after Fred puts Amat back on top!

Get a life Joe. Amats sucks in baseball and they wouldn't beat NV, or Bonita at any time during the season..

Your league is a BIG JOKE! We'll see next week what happens!

04/07/09

BASSETT---0

LP------13

Bonita that loss to Wilson hurt I know, but 3-1 win against Walnut? Were talking Walnut? Mustering up 3 runs vs that team is weak.

JUST A FAN,

Takes time for a team to put it together and hit their stride. Amat looked lousy early on and at that time NV and BH looked far superior. As of right now Amat would win a game vs Bonita or Northview with the way they are playing and coming around right now. A horse race does not finish at the Starting gate. Amat deserves the #1 spot. Losing to Wilson>?

Do we all *read* everything Fred writes... or jsut give it a glance and make a comment? He wrote:
"This was a hard week to do rankings." That supports everything everyone is saying and why there are varying opinions.

He goes on to say, "But let's be honest, Bishop Amat, Northview, San Dimas and Bonita all make strong cases for No. 1, so I'm going with my gut, and my gut tells me these are the top four, in this order ..."
So really, what he's saying is, anyone can pick any order and be able to find a way to justify it. Remember - this is one writers *list* as the Times posts their *list*. The coaches are the only ones who do a *poll* where they actually get multiple voters and develop a consensus. I wrote a couple weeks ago that ANYBODY in the top ten beating ANYONE else would NOT be a surprise. I still believe that. It's splitting hairs. Pick an order... for now. Who'd beat who in a sudden death playoff game with everything on the line... that's how I'd try to rank them (and it looks like Fred might have too). We can talk about unearned runs, players injured, umpires calls in extra-inning games played on a little league field, and 1 or 2 run games that aren't necessarily a mandate on who might be best. Just like Louisville women's hoops coach is saying tonight when they take on 38-0 UConn, clearly the most dominant team in the nation. "you don't have to be the BEST team - juat the best team TONIGHT!"

Before the Northview faithful light me up, I mistyped. The three errors I was referring to below were Bonita's. One each on the F2, F4, and F9. Each allowed a run in the Glendora torment game.

Curious that you would rank Amat, two of whose losses have come at the hands of 6-5 Ayala and 2-7 Diamond Ranch, first ahead of Northview and Bonita. Hard to see how the Vike's missteps against Claremont and San Dimas should count for more than the Lancers losing to Ayala or Diamond Ranch.

Now that I think about it, the Bonita loss to Northview was a result of three unearned runs on as many errors by the Vikings. Put in the mix with the Wilson game and they have a pretty good argument for a higher rank as well.

Oh well, at least Bolch at the Times got it a little closer. . . . . Yikes!! did I just suggest I agreed with the LA Times?

I think the last time I agreed with the Times was 1986 when they wrote something nice about George Deukmejian.

ken huth

The kid at NV has great hands... Seem both play many times! I'll take the kid a NV on defense over Gio. NV kid needs size and pop with the stick to compete at Fullerton.

Problem with Gio, needs to improve his consistency at the plate. Not very impressed with the bat. Sure some have pitched around him, but he just needs a lot of work to be able to compete with good pitching at the next level! In HS , this kid should hit .600+, with RBI, HR’s Slg, etc.

The Times posted on 4/6 these three SGV teams on their top 25.
5. BONITA
11. ARCADIA (east of the 605)
20. NORTHVIEW

No BA, and I'm not BS'ing

At least the CIF coaches poll has it right. SD and NV ranked ahead of BA in Div 4, while BHS is at #4 in Div 3 poll.

CIF Rankings as of 4/7/2009
Rk. DIVISION III
1. Beckman
2. Gahr
3. Quartz Hills
4. Bonita
5. Hemet
6. Paramount
7. South Hills
8. Alhambra
9. California
10. Corona del Mar

Rk. DIVISION IV
1. El Segundo
2. Northview
3. San Dimas
4. Bishop Amat
5. St Paul
6. Palm Desert
7. Torrance
8. Patriot
9. Fullerton
10. Monrovia
As you can see 3 of the area teams are ranked higher that Amat.

Fred stick to your guns. If people would take off the hater glasses they can see this team is starting to gel and getting better with every game. As long as they stay the course and keep the so called little ball going to win those close games in time the bats will come along and start hitting to match the outstanding pitching we are seeing now from our staff. We are a very young team that took time to find their identity and now will only get better with time.

fred take another week off. get it st. i looked on the la times top h.s. rankings .#4 BONITA # 16 NORTHVEIW I DIDNT SEE AMAT ANY WHERE WHY DO YOU HAVE SUCH A WOODY FOR AMAT, GET REAL. GO TO THE BALL PARK WATCH SOME GAMES, THEN MAKE YOUR CHOICES. LOSING RESPECT FOR YOUR DECISIONSLONG TIME BUDDY,YOR OPENNNG YOURSELF UP FOR A CAN OF WORMS.AND BONITAS S.S. IS REALY STARTING TO HAMMER THE BALL DEEP.NOBODYS IN H.S. IS BETTER WITH THE GLOVE.PLUS ARM,CANNON ALL THE TOOLS

What's so great about St Paul. They are a good program, not great. They lost to BA 4 times last year. Please don't bring up that they were in the DIVISION 5 CIF championship game....it was Div 5. Who cares that BA beat ST Paul. What I do think is interesting is how bad BA played when they were out of their league. They are now beating mediocre opponents. You bring up the crazy loss to Wilson, but ignore the even more crazy BA losses to DR (proving to be a very down year) and Ayala. Look, I think BA is a premier baseball program and they will be VERY good in the next few year, but there is some serious kool-aid drinking if you think they are better than either NV or BHS this season!!

While Bonita was losing to Wilson, Bishop Amat was beating St. Paul.

BA # 1 is a complete joke and gives your ranking absolutely no credibility. Yeah - BHS lost to Wilson, but both BHS and NV would beat BA 8 out 10 times this season. They will be a good team the next few years.

Fred,

Chester Pak pitched 5 innings and pretty much handled them 7-2 when he left the mound. Chester (has never pitched a league game EVER) Retamosa (not a pitcher) Tanner Johnson (soph) J.V. player never played or pitched at the Varsity level. Our 5, 6, & 7 string pitching beat Charter Oak. It was our defense that lost the game. Diamond Bar's pitching isn't the problem Fred.

That was one inning I described.

That's absolutely right, it wasn't Diamond Bar's pitching at all. They had four errors and three in the eighth inning alone. In fact, Charter Oak sent nine players to the plate in the eighth inning, and the only hit was a grand slam. If Diamond Bar makes routine plays, they win easily. You can't blame the pitcher, he did his job.

Posted by: FredJ | April 7, 2009 10:23 A

Oh Fred:

Come on BA # 1? I guess you need more hits on the blog. Lets get real, what league do they compete in?

I guess we'll see what happens next week, when they play out of league.

Fred, Diamond Bar's problem isn't the PITCHING it's the defense! you said it yourself.