National League East: HAHAHA PERFECTO!!! I nailed it (minus that whole Wild Card thing) Hard to argue with the Phillies winning it, best pitching staff in baseball, and an unbelievable lineup. The Braves were an easy #2 for me they only know how to win, but they are in the transition of  getting younger but they have always drafted well. My surprise team was the Nationals and i know they surprised a boat load of teams this year… here’s the scary part they are getting better!! the Mets and Marlins are not good, lets hope the new stadium will help the ‘Miami’ Marlins… Final Standings: Phillies, Braves, Nationals, Mets, Marlins SPOT ON!

5 for 5 with 5 RBI’s mix in a HR (I would have hit for the cycle had it not been for the WC miss)

National League Central: OOPS here we go again… I had the Brew Crew right, then and oops with Cincinnati, should have had the Cardinals (never bet against the Pujols). However, for the last three years I have incorrectly predicted that the Pirates would not finish in last place, and they have… So, i intentionaly picked them last so that they would finish last… and they didn’t!! Congrats!! and my beloved Astros were the worst team in the central, if not the worst team in baseball… lastly the lowly Cubbies (who watched the ESPN 20 for 20? how can you not want the Cubs to win every year after that… sarcasm…) finshed second to last… HOWEVER, you will hear it here first, there is no better time for a new GM in Chicago, and there is no better time for a Red Sox GM to get out… see where I am goin with this? and his first signing… a certain first basemen with homerun genes from a city north and slightly west, will be the keystone signing… Final Standings: Brewers, Cardinals (WC), Reds, Pirates, Cubs, Astros

3 for 6 the bottom three are the bottom three… and I got the Division Champs right…

Finally the West: Not all that close… How the Rockies didn’t win it I’ll never know, no, really, I tried to watch the games on the west coast and every time I watched the Rockies they were destroying teams… Seriously if Ian Kennedy doesn’t win 20 games, they don’t win the division, besides Justin Upton can anyone name 3 guys in the everyday lineup? well besides me… the Giants again, not enough offense, to win in the NL. the Padres are just not that good without Gonzo. even the pitching suffered. And honestly, the Dodgers with the potential MVP and Cy Young award winner overachieved there was very little on that team besides those two.  Final Standings: Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres.

As it turns out i had forgotten to put the Dodgers in my original predictions, so lets just stick them in the middle and go from there… Oh they finished 3rd? lucky me… 3 for 5 for this league…

Award Winners

Surprise team: I picked the the Nationals, which they were a surprise team but the Pirates would have been a good choice too.

Comeback player of the Year: I think I may have nailed this one too. Lance Berkman may even recieve a couple of votes for the MVP.

Closer or the Year: Not so Close, Huston Street, had a decent year, spent some time on the DL, but not the best closer in the NL.

Rookie of the Year: Branden Belt was up and down from the minors, Freddie Freeman will have to battle his fellow relief pitching Rookie for the title.

Cy Young: THE U, Ubaldo Jimenez, eventually got traded to the Indians (for half the farm system)and was never really all that close to his 2010 performance. Clayton Kershaw will battle Roy Halladay, and Cris Carpenter for this award.

MVP: Tulow showed signs of brilliance but never really was in the same realm as Matt Kemp this year.

as far as the World Series winners… lets just say 0 for 4… I wasn’t even close…

I’ll be back next year… and Better than ever… or worse who cares, its not like I am getting paid to do this…

Lets start in the American League West. I said that the Rangers would win that division, what a surprise, most ‘analysts’ did as well. But I had the A’s coming in last because in my mind there was no reason to believe the Mariners could do as bad as they did the year before with that pitching staff…. well, INCORRECT.  Final Standings in the West: Rangers, Angels, Athletics, Mariners.

3 for 4 right? just go with it… it gets worse.

Moving on to the American League Central. If any one picked this division correctly please take a bow. I am sure no one saw the Indians 30-15 start happening, and no one could have foreseen the Twins collapse and finish dead last.  But I did say the Royals wouldn’t finish in last place this year, right? Final Standings in the Central: Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Royals, Twins

1 for 5 and I’ll take 2 (with closed eyes) Swinging K’s in that game… OUCH!!

And then the American League East. So as most of you reading this already know I am not a fan of the Yankees, but it is hard to argue that they will not make the playoffs with that lineup and a steady bullpen. To be honest flip a coin at the beginning of the year to see who finishes in second yet still win the wildcard between them and the Sox.  But the collapse that the Sox had at the end of the year makes me wonder if those Sox/Yanks, Yanks/Sox years are coming to a close… I did however INCORRECTLY predict that the Orioles would surprise a lot of teams… they did not… little to no pitching will kill any team. Pretty impressed with Toronto’s .500 record in the most difficult division in baseball. And if you don’t know by now, you can never count out a Joe Maddon coached team, the Rays were impressive when it mattered most, down the stretch. Look out next year, the Rays have so many Starters David Price, Big Game James Shields, Jeremy Hellickson, Jeff Neimann, Wade Davis, Matt Moore, Jake McGee, and Alex Torres… expect the Rays to move Neimann and or Davis. Final Standings for the East: Yankees, Rays (WC), Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles.

0 for 5 with a backwards K with RISP on the Orioles finishing in third… oops! That’s what I get for trying to be bold.

Awards

Closer of the Year: my pick wasn’t even a closer for most of the year… Joe Nathan.

Come Back Player of the Year: again, not a very good choice, Joe Nathan.

Rookie of the year: Jeremy Hellickson, Tsuyoshi Nishioka 2B/SS. Well at least I got one guy in the conversation….

Cy Young: Jon Lester, not a bad pick, he had a good year 15 wins (10th over all)  3.49 ERA (18th overall).  But hands down the Cy Young in the American League has to go to Justin Verlander. He was #1 in: innings pitched, Strike outs, Wins, WHIP, and ERA… unbelievable season,  unbelievable arm.

MVP: Adrian Gonzalez, this might be the only pick I get right…  and its still a long shot. In the AL you have Ellsbury, Bautista, Granderson, Cano, Gonzalez, and Cabrera… and every single one of them will potentially get at least 1 first place vote…

In the fifth Century what was thought to cure ‘the plague’?   Castration

In New Zealand, a 23 year old mother lost 88 lbs, suffered a heart attack, after drinking nothing but _Red Bull_ for eight months.

In the U.S. some of the most prestigious libraries have books bound in _Human Flesh_.

What common insect has no bite but is one of the world’s most deadly creatures? The Common House Fly

In 1732 England’s King George II gave General James Oglethorpe a charter to create a new colony in America where Imprisoned British Debtors could be relocated so that they might start new lives and become self-sufficient, the colony became known as __Georgia__ .

and one for my website:

pretty cool, create your own here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Working in Search Optimization I get a lot of questions on all different areas of search: AdWords, title tags, keywords, links, etc. However, recently a large number of questions have pertained to the SEO of blogs. I am sure this is because blogs are a great way to get your site ranked on the SERPS.

More often than not, I suggest adding a blog to any existing site to promote the site.  Here is my personal checklist for blogs when adding posts… All are important, in no particular order. Enjoy!

• URL / Domain Name - This is an example of SEO best practices: www.MyWebsite.com/blog/2011/sample-post/ The URL should be something simple. Try to keep the numbers and symbols out of it if possible. In Wordpress it is a very easy fix in the Permalinks section of the Settings tab. Also FYI - Dashes are better than underscores.
• Metadata: Description Tags / Keyword Tags / Title Tags - Standard SEO procedures, ‘All-in-one SEO’ Plugin gives you the ability to write what you want for these tags.
• Categories - descriptive categories on your site also help the engines determine how/where to place your blog post/website in the SERPS.
• Naming the Headings - do not over think this part, Yes, you need keywords in the heading, but do not try to over-stuff the heading… just name it what it is, it’s that simple. Do not get too ‘Wordy’ for a Heading… Short and Sweet.
• Keyword Rich Content - Use Free Keyword Density tools. There are drawbacks to Over Done Keyword Content.  3% - 6% keywords for posts, greater than 7% can have penalties for ’spamming’ or ’stuffing.’
• Visually Emphasizing Keywords - Bold and Italics are most common. But they do trigger emphasis to the engines.
• Clear Functional Navigation - this goes back to the URL’s, and is something to always keep in mind for User-Friendliness. The easier it is for your user to find what they want, the same probably holds true for the search engines.
• Links, Links, Links!!!- Links to previous posts, Links to other Pages on site, and Links to outside sources. Links can give ‘SEO Juice’ (for lack of a better term) to both parties linked together.
• Anchor Text - “Click here” doesn’t describe the link. The Anchor Text should be a keyword.
• NO FLASH! - can I say it any other way?
• Update Frequently - if you can only do 1-2 posts a week, that is fine, just stick to it. The engines love new information.

East: Boston Red Sox,  New York Yankees (WC), Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays

Central: Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians

West: Texas Rangers, Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners, Oakland A’s

MVP: Adrian Gonzales BOS 1B

Cy Young: Jon Lester BOS SP

Rookie of the Year: Jeremy Hellickson SP / Tsuyoshi Nishioka 2B/SS

Closer of the Year: Joe Nathan CP

Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Nathan CP

Surprise Team in the AL: Baltimore Orioles

National League Final Standings

East: Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves (WC) Washington Nationals, New York Mets, Florida Marlins

Central: Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates

West: Colorado Rockies, San Francisico Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres

MVP: Troy Tulowitzki SS COL

Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez SP COL

Rookie of the Year: Brandon Belt 1B SF/Freddie Freeman 1B ATL

Closer of the Year: Houston Street CP COL

Comeback Player of the Year: Lance Berkman OF/1B STL

Surprise Team in the NL: Washington Nationals

Rockies Over the Red Sox in the World Series.

In the United States what is the leading cause for lightning injuries during a thunderstorm? (its not Golfing, or satellite dish repair). Talking on the Telephone

What state has more lightning injuries and deaths occurred than in all other states combined? Florida

Scholars estimate that 50 million people world wide will displaced by 2010 due to serious weather related environmental changes caused by ________________.  Global Warming

This allergy afflicts almost 4 million Americans, and can be life threatening. Almost half of annual hospital visits  and two thirds of deaths due to anaphylaxis are a result of this allergy… Peanuts.

This regularly eaten food contains alkaloid theobromine, which in high doses can kill humans, and even in small doses can kill dogs, cats, horses, and parrots, what is it? Chocolate

What well known poison has been approved by the FDA as an additive to poultry feed and given to at least 70% of chickens raised for consumption in the United States? This poison has been linked to cancer, birth defects, diabetes and death. (Whats worse is that this poison has virtually no taste, at the very least they could use cyanide which tastes like almonds, and is every bit as deadly). Asbestos

by the way, none of these are my own. I bought a book 1,001 Facts that will scare the S#*t out of you. Great “office” read… I think I’ll be posting a ton more from this book…

What percentage of death row inmates are actually executed?  Of the 7,320 people under a death sentence between 1977 and 2005, 14 percent had been executed, 4 percent died from causes other than execution and 37 percent received other dispositions. A slightly higher percentage of whites (16 percent) than blacks and Hispanics (11 percent) have been executed.

Because of the writings of criminologists, who argued that the death penalty was a necessary social measure, and save the county millions of dollars during a difficult economic time, this decade averaged 167 executions a year. What decade had the most executions in U.S. History? It was the 1930’s.

Extra credit: What was the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution? In 1977, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution, though it would be five more years until Charles Brooks would become the first person executed by lethal injection in Texas on December 2, 1982.