MLB Season Preview

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

Hey Guys I am back. WIll start posting again during the season. BTW for any that don't know I am an aspiring sports writer and run my own sports blog. Writing about the NFL, NBA and MLB. Here is my first MLB article of the season.

(I am a Senior in HS)

My 2012 Season Preview
Give it a read & Comment with your opinions
24/7 Sports Zone: MLB Season Preview

 

[bone3421]

good job...but a little more research will help ....for example you say the angels leaped over the rangers and mentioned injuries on other teams...the rangers won the west by 10 games
with hamilton,beltre and cruz missing about 38 games each

still good writing though

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

thank you. You are right about Hamilton and Beltre. But Cruz being out is standard year by year. Still though i get your point and appreciate the feedback

 

[ColinCoby]

Nice work young man. And since the Giants and Angels are my 1st and 2nd favorite teams, your final prediction of a 2002 rematch is damn cool.

That said, I don't think you're going to find too many baseball writers predicting a championship for our beloved Giants. Too many question marks in the lineup remain. We'll see.

As for the Halos, I wish they would have spent some money on getting a legit closer.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

hey if I'm the only one predicting Giants WS and they make it, great for me

 

[ColinCoby]

Who you think the writers will predict to go to The World Series? I imagine most will go with the Phils or D-Backs in the NL...but I have no idea about the AL. There are some powerhouses in the American League, with at least 5 teams having a legitimate shot at winning the pennant.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

my guess is the major sports writers will go with
Phillies vs. Tigers
Phillies vs. Angels
Phillies vs. Yankees

 

[CameronFrye]

Hey Guys I am back. WIll start posting again during the season. BTW for any that don't know I am an aspiring sports writer and run my own sports blog. Writing about the NFL, NBA and MLB. Here is my first MLB article of the season.

(I am a Senior in HS)

My 2012 Season Preview
Give it a read & Comment with your opinions
24/7 Sports Zone: MLB Season Preview

Your preview was pretty good.

Please allow me - a writer who worked for a number of years in the sports journalism field - to give you a few tips.

First, take writing classes when you get to college next year. I don't mean this to sound like an insult because it is not meant that way. No matter how good you think you are and no matter how much you think you know, you can ALWAYS know more. I took so many writing classes in college that I was able to get a minor in English to go with my major in journalism. It definitely helped.

Second, be more careful about your grammar and punctuation. As an example, in your summary of the Giants, you wrote, "Their slugger from last year Aubrey Huff fell flat as did the rest of the Giants Offense."

It should read like this, "Their slugger from last, year Aubrey Huff, fell flat, as did the rest of the Giants' offense." A few missing commas, an apostrophe on the team name (giving it ownership of the offense) and a lowercase 'o' make a difference in how the sentence reads to your audience.

Another one: You wrote, "As the Diamondbacks prepare for the 2012 season there will be a larger target on their backs, and it will be on the rotation to repeat their performance from last year."

I point this one out because it is a common error - even by those who are working in the field. A rotation is a singular unit. There may be five guys in a rotation, but as a unit it is ONE rotation. So your statement should have read "...it will be on the rotation to repeat its performance..." The difference is the possessive pronoun. Also notice that there is no apostrophe on the word its. The word rotation is not indicative of any single person and so it cannot hold possession. I know that in the last statement I gave possession to the word Giants. But if you take the words by themselves, they tell a story. Just saying the word Giants indicates the members of the San Francisco Giants. It is specific to 25 guys wearing the uniform. When you say the word rotation by itself, it could be any team's rotation in any league anywhere. Hence the difference.

There are quite a few other places in your blog that have tiny grammatical errors. If you want to be noticed by the bigger websites, you are going to have to be better than everyone else. Having multiple grammar and punctuation errors will not make you stand out in a positive way.

Third, ALWAYS proof-read your work. If you have a friend or a family member that you trust, have that person read your work as well. My best friend while I worked as a sports writer was my copy editor. Not only was I able to receive constructive feedback on my work, but he saved my hind quarters a few times by catching huge mistakes that would have otherwise made me look bad.

I will not comment on the sports knowledge at all because you really seem to know your stuff there. Knowing that you are a high school senior, I will say that you have a lot of potential.

Good luck. Keep writing.

 

[GiantsPackersChamps2011]

Your preview was pretty good.

Please allow me - a writer who worked for a number of years in the sports journalism field - to give you a few tips.

First, take writing classes when you get to college next year. I don't mean this to sound like an insult because it is not meant that way. No matter how good you think you are and no matter how much you think you know, you can ALWAYS know more. I took so many writing classes in college that I was able to get a minor in English to go with my major in journalism. It definitely helped.

Second, be more careful about your grammar and punctuation. As an example, in your summary of the Giants, you wrote, "Their slugger from last year Aubrey Huff fell flat as did the rest of the Giants Offense."

It should read like this, "Their slugger from last, year Aubrey Huff, fell flat, as did the rest of the Giants' offense." A few missing commas, an apostrophe on the team name (giving it ownership of the offense) and a lowercase 'o' make a difference in how the sentence reads to your audience.

Another one: You wrote, "As the Diamondbacks prepare for the 2012 season there will be a larger target on their backs, and it will be on the rotation to repeat their performance from last year."

I point this one out because it is a common error - even by those who are working in the field. A rotation is a singular unit. There may be five guys in a rotation, but as a unit it is ONE rotation. So your statement should have read "...it will be on the rotation to repeat its performance..." The difference is the possessive pronoun. Also notice that there is no apostrophe on the word its. The word rotation is not indicative of any single person and so it cannot hold possession. I know that in the last statement I gave possession to the word Giants. But if you take the words by themselves, they tell a story. Just saying the word Giants indicates the members of the San Francisco Giants. It is specific to 25 guys wearing the uniform. When you say the word rotation by itself, it could be any team's rotation in any league anywhere. Hence the difference.

There are quite a few other places in your blog that have tiny grammatical errors. If you want to be noticed by the bigger websites, you are going to have to be better than everyone else. Having multiple grammar and punctuation errors will not make you stand out in a positive way.

Third, ALWAYS proof-read your work. If you have a friend or a family member that you trust, have that person read your work as well. My best friend while I worked as a sports writer was my copy editor. Not only was I able to receive constructive feedback on my work, but he saved my hind quarters a few times by catching huge mistakes that would have otherwise made me look bad.

I will not comment on the sports knowledge at all because you really seem to know your stuff there. Knowing that you are a high school senior, I will say that you have a lot of potential.

Good luck. Keep writing.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I am happy to hear from someone who is in the field about what I still need to do and key areas to work on. Right now my school offers nothing for writing but when I enroll at Junior College I plan on taking whatever writing courses they have available.

 

[CameronFrye]

Oops. I should follow my own advice. I didn't proofread my own post. I put the first comma in the Aubrey Huff sentence in the wrong place.

I wrote, "Their slugger from last, year Aubrey Huff, fell flat, as did the rest of the Giants' offense."

It SHOULD read, "Their slugger from last year, Aubrey Huff, fell flat, as did the rest of the Giants' offense."