Suns/Nuggets Recap, THE GOOSE, the top 10 yankees prospects

Big Post Today:

The Suns absolutely came out blazing against the Nuggets. A 137-115 win was the result. Talk about ridiculous.

Suns:

• This win embodied the Suns; give up a solid amount of points, score even more, and hit 3's. Tonight, the Suns nailed 20 (out of 31) 3-Pointers, one off of the NBA record.
  
• Hmm, where to start?
• Nash was probably the one Suns star who didn't shine, but was solid with 13 points, 10 assists, and 2 threes.
• Raja Bell was worse, with 7 points and just 1 three-pointer.
• Amare was solid to the tune of 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
• Grant Hill helped the point barrage with 20 of his own to go with 5 rebounds and a three.
• Leandro B. didn't score much (12 points) but hit a couple of threes and dished out 6 assists.
• Diaw was similar, but lesser with only 4 points but 6 assists.
• Piatkowski hit a three pointer.
• Skinner also nailed a three to go with 2 rebounds and perfect 3 for 3 foul shooting.
• Alando Tucker played 2 minutes but didn't do anything but pick up a foul.
• The breakout player of the game was Marcus Banks. This team cast-off showed he belonged in a big way with 23 points, 2 blocks, and a team-high 7 three pointers.
• But the MVP goes to Shawn Marion. He shot a career-high 5 threes and picked up 27 points. His 14 rebounds and 4 assists were nice, too. So were his 6 blocked shots.
• As a team the number two blocking team in the NBA (Suns) out blocked the number one (Nuggets) 13 to 4. The Suns shot an astronomical 64.5% from behind the arc.

Nuggets:

• The Nugget players weren't that bad.
• A.I. did nail 32 points and Carmelo got 20 points and 14 rebounds; however, no one else scored above 17 (like I predicted), actually, the next best was Camby's 13.

Great game all the way. A+ performance from the Suns. Apparently Steve Kerr's pep talk and Coach D'Antoni's criticisms really motivated the team. The bar has been set high, and I hope the Suns will meet it more often than not.


THE GOOSE:
Former Yankees closer Rich "Goose" Gossage was the only one to be elected in the Hall of Fame this year (Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice was kind of close). Gossage jumped from 71% last year to a whopping 86% this year. He definitely deserved it. He was described as a top-three all-time closer by ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian (but somehow Mariano Rivera wasn't on that list). Gossage's stats: 124 wins, 3.01 ERA, 1809.3 innings, 310 saves, and 1502 strikeouts. Amazing.

Top 10 Yankee prospects:

I'm a bit late on this one, but here's Baseball America's top 10 Yankee prospects list.

1. Joba Chamberlain
2. Austin Jackson
3. Jose Tabata
4. Ian Kennedy
5. Alan Horne
6. Jesus Montero
7. Jeffrey Marquez
8. Brett Gardner
9. Ross Ohlendorf
10. Andrew Brackman

The rest of article (including best tools and analysis) is here:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/265405.html

I disagree with much of this list. Dellin Betances should be in there. Many other Yankee bloggers don't even have Gardner in their top 20. Marquez should be lower, as should Ohlendorf. Kennedy should be number two, and I wouldn't put Austin Jackson ahead of Tabata just yet. But their the so-called experts.