All Square

Well, AJ Burnett finally earned his paycheck. As one of the biggest Burnett haters you will find I had a feeling this was a good spot for him and his arsenal is the type you need to beat this Phillies lineup. 7 innings, 4 hits, 9 k's, 2 bb's, 1 run. By the way, that run should have been unearned, Matt Stairs hit a one-hopper to A-Rod's glove side and that quite frankly is a play you have to make as a major league 3rd baseman. No clue how they scored that a hit. It wasn't the most routine play ever, but a definite error. So, Burnett was absolutely brilliant.

Again, game 2 saw two brilliant starting pitching performances where one guy gives up two solo home runs and it turns out to be the difference. Pedro Martinez and his afro turned back the clocks as he has done down the stretch all year throwing the bugs bunny change that fooled hitters all night. Unfortunately for him, he left one up a bit to Texeria and just as Manny Ramirez did in a previous game, sitting on that change, blasted it out of the park. He then gave up a home run to Matsui who golfed a ball about three inches off the ground down the left field line 320' for a stadium special.

6 innings, 6 hits, 8 k's, 2 bb's, 3 runs was Pedro's line. His last run scored after Manuel brought him out for the 7th inning and he allowed a two-strike bloop by Hairston Jr. and then a single to Melky Cabrera on a hit-and-run before being pulled. Chan Ho Park limited the damage in large thanks to Derek Jeter trying to bunt with two strikes, two on and no outs and a bit more of bad umpiring resulting in a double-play on Johnny Damon. Where do I begin?

First, Joe Girardi did a terrible job making this lineup. The 7-8-9 hitters were Jerry Hairston Jr. (because he's 10-27 off Pedro lifetime, yipppie), Melky, Jose Molina. If you're starting Molina over Posada there is no way you choose that game to start a guy like Hairston over Swisher. Yes, Swisher is slumping but he gives you a ton more power and a much greater ability to get on base. Since Hairston hit a cue shot down the line with two strikes (after looking hideous at the plate all night) in the 7th in what ended up being a big hit most will call Girardi a genius for the move. He wasn't, he was an idiot and got bailed out. By the way, the bottom of the lineup killed a few rallies and the Yanks may have gotten to Pedro real good with a better back-end, but we will never know.

In what was a brilliant move after Hairston gets on, Girardi pinch-runs Gardner, Melky shows bunt first pitch, they go to the hit-and-run on the following pitch. It's not clear if Melky was just showing bunt to confuse the Phils or not, but if-so that's brilliant by him or Girardi. That is the type of thing a good baseball manager will come up to you and say before an inning "hey look, if jerry gets on here we're going to run for him, show bunt first pitch and if its a strike we'll have gardner steal, if its a ball we may put the hit and run on, so be aware." And that is my guess to what happened, so kudos to Girardi there.

But this idea McCarver was promoting that Girardi is a genius for then pinch-hitting Posada there? Are you kidding me? Of course he's going to pinch-hit Posada there. It's 1st and 3rd no one out in a 2-1 ballgame bottom 7. Personally, I would've pinch-hit Posada for Molina the last time he got up (right before the Jeter double) and told Burnett to man up and throw to Jorge like he should anyway.

Next came Jeter bunting. Usually when Jeter bunts it's on his own. It's a nice thought Derek but come on, you're the hottest hitter in the lineup...give yourself a bit of credit and swing the stick. You're hitting .500 on the series and that's after fouling out. Great announcing by the way, "no way he bunts here (bunt) no way this happens (it happens)." We know for certain that Girardi, if he did have the bunt sign on, would have taken it off with two strikes. If he ever put it on it's a ridiculously bad call, but I'd bet it was Jeter all the way. I'm sure everyone has seen the next play as Damon hits it to Howard and it is incorrectly ruled a catch and resulted in a double-play. Not sure what Howard was doing there as the play would have resulted in everyone safe, bases chucked, 1 out for Tex/A-Rod..so this was a big play (and if the Yankees lost last night people would be calling for the umps heads..as is this is maybe the perfect play that would call for instant replay, though it's tricky in baseball and would slow down already slow games, more to come on this after the series)...all Howard had to do was step on first base for the double-play and even if he was playing it like a ground ball after you run to within a step of first base, step on it, sucker. **Editing in a note - Should mention this is a tough call to make and going to instant replay ruins the flow of the play, much like the difficulty of dealing with fumbles and whistling plays dead in football.

The next inning (8th) Mo comes in and the Phils have Rollins and Victorino on 1st and 2nd with 1 out and Utley batting. Count goes full and again McCarver is promoting a ridiculous idea that "You have to send the runners here." Manuel pretty much shut it down in the press conference after saying "Check the stats, I'll bet you Utley has hit into less than 5 double plays all year. So I wasn't worried about that. On top of that I don't want him lining out and if he strikes out, he's a lefty and Posada would have had a straight shot to third there. And I want Howard to hit." The fact is, McCarver, if you send the runners there and Utley makes an out, it's 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and 1st base is open so they're either walking Howard or making him chase a pitch. Werth with the bases stacked is nice there, but you want Howard to hit. It was just a freak play, Utley hit it taylor made, Cano and Jeter made a ridiculously sweet turn and in the words of Charlie Manuel, stopping mid-answer to about the third question after that and turning back to the reporter who asked why he didn't send the runners "And another thing Jim, check the replay, Utley didn't hit into a double-play, he was safe!" Classic.

Fox track is terrible. DJ Hero is terrible. And Fox, you're the worst. When we have Chase Utley squaring off with Marino Rivera in the 8th inning of a 3-1 game with two guys on, DO NOT SHOW ME THE BASE-RUNNERS. They missed the beginning of three pitches including the double play showing us a ridiculous angle. No one cares about the base-runners. What ever happened to the announcers? Can Joe Buck let us know if the runners are on the move? K Thanks.

A-Rod is now 0-8 with 6 k's and what should have been an error.
Ryan Howard went 0-4 with 4 k's last night, though he did have that big double in game 1, might be struggling.
Wonder who will take more heat if it continues?
Raul Ibanez is quietly putting together a brilliant series.

I know there was more I wanted to say, but I think my brain is burned out now. Games Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Thursday. Some huge decisions on pitching and such. I fully expect Hamels to "surprise" everyone and out-pitch Pettitte in game 3, but that shouldn't come as a surprise if you've been paying attention.

Afternoon Notes

I get a call from Mulldog today who tells me as he posted earlier that he is at the local OTB and nailed 5 straight races at the track. He was confident he had the field down cold and was looking for the improbably 9 for 9 day. Just like you never mention a perfect game in baseball, Mulldog's phone call had done him in. Race 6 was a loser, and so is Mulldog.

Tatum Bell of the UFL's Florida Tuskers has come out today and said that his squad is better and could beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! Let's get this game to happen! Bell predicted a 24-14 Tuskers victory, and watching the Buccs play this year, could he be that wrong?
Thought in all reality the Buccs would spank the Tuskers, can we get the UFL champions to play the worst NFL team in the pewchbowl at the end of the year? Tell me you are not watching it.

The article for the record, comes out and credits JP Losman as the best player in the league.

A Call to Common Sense

In a bit of single game overreacting I'd like to call some attention to two players...first...for those of you who were not committed Pewch Rev. readers back during the NBA Draft (can you believe we have been blogging to no one for this long?), here is some things I wrote:

Knicks - Jordan Hill - Pewch. Pewch. Pewch. He stinks. Literally outperformed by 6-6 Dejaun Blair in every category and that was while playing in the soft Pac-10 where Jeff Pendergraph was an absolute monster. Just an outright terrible pick. And I love how everyone says "Has only played 7 years" like it's a good thing...that's so ridiculous. I'll take the guy who had a ball in his hand out the womb before the guy who just put down the power ranger action figures and picked up a basketball a few years ago.

Game 1, Dejuan Blair: 22 minutes, 7-10, 14 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 PF.
Jordan Hill: 1 minutes and 45 seconds.

DEJUAN BLAIR IS ROCKING IT FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER TEAM AND JORDAN HILL CAN'T EVEN CRACK THE KNICKS SAD ROTATION IN GAME 1? COME ON WALSH, YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE.


The other guy who was ultra-productive in college but fell like a ton of bricks on draft night was Ty Lawson. A guy I personally thought was the most dynamic player in college basketball (with many disagreeing UNC fans).

Game 1, 26 minutes, 7-13, 17 points, 6 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 4 rebounds. Lawson ran the second unit which essentially won the game for the Nuggets over the Jazz (check the +/- numbers).

Why is it so hard for NBA GM's to get it through their heads that guys who produce in college are the best bets to produce in the NBA? Sure there are exceptions both ways, but why gamble on a guy like Jordan Hill just because he's taller than Blair? Why pick all sorts of players with the upshot of being 6th or 7th men - I'm talking about you James Johnson..when a player as explosive and productive as Ty Lawson is available?

By the way, Steph Curry had a nice first game starting for the Warriors and hitting 7/12 shots with 7 assists to 2 turnovers while falling to one of my favorite sleeper teams - the Houston Rockets.

***edit in - After re-reading the Jordan Hill note, I still can't help but think of how stupid the whole "He just started playing a few years ago" noted as a positive is. Think about that. In no other area of life would anyone say this. You don't go checking around for surgeons and check a guy's credentials, well on one hand we have a guy who has been performing them for twenty years without incident... the other option is this guy who shakes the scalpel around like he just drank two pots of morning howler coffee, but hey, he's only been doing this for a few years, he's got huge upside! I'll take him!

Phils Take Game 1 / The NBA Lives

Everyone can now wake up and realize that the Phillies have been flying under the radar. No way should the Yankees have been such overwhelming favorites in this series and we see why as Cliff Lee out-duels CC Sabathia and Chase Utley single-handedly out-hits the entire Yankees lineup.

Now the problem for the Yankees is this: If Burnett doesn't beat Pedro tonight, they might be on their death bed. I know I'm the only person in the world who still believes Cole Hamels is throwing well, but agree or not, that is going to be a very difficult game for the Yanks to win (game 3, back in Philly, Pettitte-Hamels). That means if they lose tonight they might be starting at 0-3. Looks like it's time for AJ Burnett to finally step up and show us all why the Yanks signed him to such a lucrative deal.

...oh and he has to out-pitch arguably one of the 5 greatest pitchers of all-time in Pedro Martinez (an old, lesser version, of course).


King James and the Cavs fall to 0-2? Glad I didn't get that Eastern Conference preview out saying the Cavs would win 70 games. The king did notch a triple-double in a losing effort.

God, the Knicks are dreadful.

This is how a 5 year old should train

Mark my words, if I have a son he will train exactly like this. This kid is flat out ridiculous. Unreal. He is officially stronger and more athletic than any of us combined.

NBA is Back

Just like Hockey did a few weeks ago, the NBA has crept back up on us all. Lots of intriguing plot lines this year to get into and I am sure we will begin to cover some of these in some previews and breakdowns of some early season match ups. Hockey is in full gear, NBA is starting up, NFL is in full swing, and MLB is starting the World Series....what a time for sports.

Wanted to touch on two quick games tonight, the TNT double header. First off with NBA comes TNT pregame and halftime reports and Big Chuck Barkley. This crew is honestly the best group of analysts you can find in any sports. They know there stuff, are controversial, and honestly funny. I can't take listening to Fox and CBS stutter and laugh at themselves at non-sense anymore.

Game one match ups up two favorites in the east. Celtics @ Cavs. Lets see how the Big Witness protection program (Shaq) works in Cleveland. If nothing else, this should be the funnest pregame introduction team in the league by far. Expect nothing less then an MVP out of Lebron this year.

Sad note on the Clippers franchise who face off vs the Lakers tonight. Should be good to see Ron Artest go nuts on the lakers at some point this season. Clippers receive a huge blow with the latest news that Blake Griffin stud #1 prospect trashed his knee and the Clipper Curse Continues. He will be out around 6 weeks and its a shame because everyone wants to see what this kid can really do. All signs point to him being NBA ready. The Clippers may have been able to contend in the west for an 8 seed as they have some decent pieces. Excellent big man in the inured Griffin, Camby, and Chris "top three ugliest in NBA" Kaman. Al Thorton is a solid player. Baron Davis is apparently in better shape than ever looking for a bounce back year, and Eric Gordon is ever improving. Plus any team with Sebastian Telfair has to be good, its a proven track record.....

Lets see what the NBA season brings us...

Sad Story

No jokes on this story guys. Unbelievable...need to share with the revolution. Has a bit to do with sports since she was an aspiring Redskins Cheerleader.

Big Coaching Moves in St. Louis

No I am not talking about Tony LaRussa signing a one year extension with the Cards as Manager. I am talking about Big Mac becoming the hitting Coach! McGwire has been out of the spotlight since his famous Congressional hearing where he was "Not here to talk about the past." Well Mark, the whole basis of the hearing was to get all you roided up freaks to ummmm Talk about the past!

It just goes to show you that any public figure who is held in high regards and is behind a huge scandal can always get there way back into the publics good graces. All you have to do is stay out of limelight for a few years and boom, all is forgiven.

I can't actually say that I despise McGwire for several reasons.

1. Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire had made baseball interesting again and rejuvenated a dying game.

2. I still think he was Innocent. Both him and Slammin Sammy were just taking Flinstone vitamins.

Everyone in Major League Baseball, Owners, Management, Coaches, players, media, and fans can all be blamed for the Steroid era, because the bottom line was it was exciting and put fans in the seats. Now everyone wants to do the right thing and pretend they had no idea what was going on and play dumb. No one in the media asked the tough questions when this was happening, they were too busy covering another monster slam by the Bash Brothers. Did anyone in the Owners box or in MLB front office get suspicious when Sammy Sosa smashed about 25 home runs alone in the month of June one year? Of course not.

Mark McGwire is only a career .263 hitter and is an interesting hitting coach selection...almost seems more of a publicity move. I can picture him kinda being like Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite giving advice to young players. "You see that arch out there in, I bet you I can hit a baseball over those arches." Maybe he can have his son still sit in the dugout and run and give him high fives every time a player gets a home run like the old days.

Two more statements on this. The first is that you have the purest, best baseball player in the world in Albert Pujols who to this day has not been really linked with Steroids and PHDs, and now you want to cloud suspicion by bringing in the master of it all.

And second, either the Cubs are going to make a retaliatory move by hiring Sammy Sosa as there newest hitting coach or Mark McGwire may bring him on the Cardinals as an independent Consultant. God knows if Steroids don't work for this team then Sammy can always cork a bat to get the job done. These guys are slime, and the MLB loves it.

Weekend Roundup

-Yanks win a pretty good game 6 and it will be Yanks-Phils in the World Series. We'll get up a preview on that soon. Is it really that intimidating to play the Yankees this year? Every game their opponents have made either a really bad error or a big base-running mistake. Again, last night the Angels made three mistakes you just can't make as a major leaguer. Vlad got doubled off first base on a routine line-out to right field, Howie Kendrick drops a ball at first base that hits him right in the glove on a bunt and Scott Kazmir makes maybe the worst throw a major leaguer has ever made in a game on the very next bunt.

The defending champion Phillies are not going to be intimidated by the Yanks. No one seems to be giving them a chance, but I don't see why. They have the lefty bats to neutralize the Yanks home-field advantage and the starting pitching might be a coin flip.

-Not much to discuss from college football, it has become quite the uneventful year. Alabama again proved to me that they are the exact same team they were last year, barely beating Tennessee. Florida escaped narrowly in a battle with former offensive coordinator Dan Mullen. Texas made the biggest statement of the week pounding a weak Missouri team. TCU crushed BYU and made themselves to appear the best non-BCS team out there (still don't think they're very good). Iowa snuck past Michigan St. but stop worrying everyone, no way does Iowa run the table, we aren't going to have to watch them in the championship game, I promise.

-The Giants season is about to crumble before our eyes. I felt strongly that the Cardinals would cover the spread and maybe win, but the Giants continue to look like the injuries are taking their toll. We will get a much better idea of who is going to win this division when we find out if Philly's loss to the Raiders was a complete aberration or serious cause for concern, because I think Philly is a top-5 team in the NFL, but I've also seen the Raiders 3 times this year - Eagles, you've got some explaining to do.

Billllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllls

Pittsburgh and Minnesota are very good.

The Saints are very good, offensively.

Dallas is good again, and Miles Austin has become a major fantasy football sleeper.

Seriously, nothing of much surprise value happened yesterday in my opinion, so what did all of you think?

The Pewch Revolution: Unwaveringly Pewch

The other day the Millman brought to my attention the SportsIllustrated.com listing of the "Web's Best Blogs" and while I was shocked to not find The Pewch Revolution on there, I was equally shocked and appalled to see that all of the blogs listed had not updated their sites in over a month. So, in a continuing effort to extend from our readership from the 5 of you out there who still visit, to possibly a few more I decided to email SI and name drop us.

And no, they didn't respond. And I have to wonder why. Could it be that they saw through my attempt at acting as if we didn't want the spot ourselves and use one of my suggested blogs, such as:

Kissing Suzy Kolber (a great hilarious football blog google and read if you never have)
FEI (a college football website dedicated to ranking all of the nation's teams and projection scores - truly another great blog)
or
FireJoeMorgan (an absolutely great blog about baseball where the arrogant bloggers critique Joe Morgan chats, anything Joe Morgan does, and all types of sports journalism pieces they deem terrible..................................................................................................and as I just found out by visiting first time long time.......................inactive since November 2008.

Ladies and gentlemen, further clarification of the word Pewch.

Clueless Joe Strikes Again?

Hope everyone stayed up to watch what turned out to be a very exciting game. The Angels prevailed 7-6 and sent the series back to the Bronx.

Mr. Joe Girardi made a slew of bad decisions.

I'm sure the media will be all over him today, my three biggest problems from last night...

1. Phil Hughes - You have a man on third, 2 outs. Torii Hunter is up with Vlad on deck. Hughes clearly went with the unintentional, intentional walk strategy looking dead scared of Hunter. Why???? You have a hall-of-fame legendary player on deck. A career .320 hitter with a .950 OPS. Torii Hunter is a career .270 hitter with a .800 OPS. The Rod Sox did the same thing. I don't get it. Since when did people become scared of Torii Hunter? I don't care if they wheel Vladamir Guerrero out there and he swings one-handed with a cane in the other, I'm making Hunter beat me. And of course Hughes throws a 1-2 fastball right down the middle and was fortunate it didn't end up in the stands, as is Vlad got it up the middle and tied the game.

2. Reggie Willits - You're winning 7-6 in the bottom of the 8th. You're on third base with one out and the greatest post-season pitcher ever is on the mound. Figgins hits a somewhat shallow fly ball to Nick Swisher in right field. Why don't you tag and try to score? Why???? Sure, Swisher ended up making a perfect throw, but Posada still would have to make a great pick and tag and with your speed you may have just beat it anyway. Seriously, Mariano Rivera is on the mound, take a chance to get a little cushion man. That's terrible.

3. The biggest mistake of all goes to Clueless Joe himself. 2 outs in the top half of the ninth and Scoscia makes, in my opinion, a bad decision himself to intentionally walk A-Rod. Why are you bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of a very capable hitter - Matsui. Worst thing A-Rod can do is tie the game so why not at least pitch carefully to him? But back to the real egregious mistake here. Girardi pinch-runs for A-Rod with Freddy Guzman. The Yankees strategy with pinch-running has gotten completely ridiculous. They've basically done everything short of trying to get Usain Bolt eligible and dropping bench spots to put in pinch-runners. Sometimes however, you have to let your team play. A-Rod is still pretty fast, maybe not Freddy Guzman fast, but he's perfectly capable of scoring from second on a single or first on a triple. He stole 14 bases and was only caught stealing twice this season. In a sense, Joe Girardi got extremely lucky they lost that game, because if they had only tied it there and anything happened defensively or god-forbid, A-Rod's spot came up again, he would be getting absolutely murdered by the media today.

Note to Mr. Girardi:
This Yankees team isn't about you. A monkey could have got them here. Stop over managing. Stop trying to win the championship yourself. You have the best team in baseball. A good manager would focus on not losing it here. Stick to the formula, make a couple moves when you need to and let your team play. It's that simple.

Sunday Showdowns..

Minnesota Vikings +4 @ Pittsburgh Steelers
Vikings are 6-0 after squeaking out a couple wins this year namely a hail mary back of the end zone miracle by Brett Farve, and a come from behind thriller last week vs Baltimore and lucking out on a missed field goal. Pittsburgh has been strangely mediocre this year, and Polamalu being out has been a huge detriment. I roll Minnesota here. Not only do I think they have a great shot to win the game outright, I just don't see the Steelers winning big. An interesting Nugget (and its true)..anytime the defending champion has played a team that is undefeated and has atleast six wins they have lost. Not really sure if there is much to make of that, but if the trend continues we got a Vikings win. Plus who doesnt want more Brett Favre coverage.

New England Patriots -14 @ Tampa Bay Buccs
Things do not get any easier for the Tampa Bay Buccs. I had a conversation with Pewch Revolution reader PC (who has been quiet for weeks) who is a die hard Boston guy. He made a great point when people forget about this Patriots team that it takes about 5-6 weeks for someone coming off of major knee surgery to trust the knee again and feel right. Well we are going into week 7 and I think Tom Brady thought to himself last week...."oh I remember how we did this in 07.

Don't think this team is 07 good, but they might have their swagger back. Wes Welker is healthy, and Joey Galloway is finally cut, leaving room for Julian Edelman to be welker 2.0. This team is so good that Bellicheat has decided to sit Pro-bowl linebackers as healthy scratches. What gives Adalius? 14 is a lot of points, but if you are going any direction in this game you got to lay the 14.

San Diego Chargers -4.5 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Chargers with a pretty disappointing performance last Monday night vs the Broncos. The offensive line was pitiful, and LT might officially be dead weight. Its unbelievable how Running Backs in this league hit the wall and hit the wall hard. They go from absolute studs to wastes of lives without a mediocre average season in between. Crazy. I like what Todd Haley is doing in KC and was thrilled to see them strip Zorn of his dignity last week. Dwayne Bowe is a monster, Cassel is solid, and I wish some of these young guys would step up. I think I realized that Glenn Dorsey and Jamarcus Russel have switched teams and positions and that's why they are both doing so bad. They are both the same size so who knows if they have or not.

Conventional wisdom says lay the points, but I am rolling with the Chiefs this week and I like them in the upset bid. Two solid performances vs the Cowboys and Skins and i think this team is learning how to play football.

San Francisco 49ers +3 @ Houston Texans
Two very tough teams to figure out. Matt stump the Schaub has been lights out and is coming off a 4 td performance. Slaton is starting to be utilized and Andre Johnson is Andre Johnson. This team is always dangerous. San Francisco has kinda faded from their hot start, but are a solid football team. This week we will see Michael Crabtree, and we will see him start apparently. Lets see if this kid was worth the wait. Every indication he gave us in College says he will be, but we shall see. I roll Houston at home here...don't forget they are a couple boneheaded plays away form having 2 more wins.

Green Bay Packers -7@ Cleveland Browns
Interesting article on ESPN Page 2 on Browns fans. It really is a good article by a special contributor. The thing that resonated with me is that how is Brady Quinn not the starting QB for this team? They drafted a stud QB who is essentially a third year rookie, and decided after 3 games of playing against unreal defenses and with a terrible supporting cast that he is not the guy for the future? Listen, your clearly not making the playoffs this year, so find out what the heck you have in Brady Quinn, because Derek Anderson right now looks like a flash in the pan.

As for the game I have one name why I am all over GB. AHMAN GREEN. Love AHMAN and happy he is back in the NFL and with the pack. Green claims he had such a bad time in Houston because of family issues with his daughters and the death of his father. Not that I wish injury on anyone, but I would love to see AHMAN back as the featured RB. Now if we can only get Samkon Gado back...

Indianapolis Colts -13 @ St. Louis Rams
Marvin Harrison is obviously a stud receiver, but the job that manning is doing with Garcon and Collie have to take a bit away from his illustrate career. Or maybe its just the fact that he has faded into oblivion because no one wants to mention that he may have shot a guy outside of his car wash in Philly and since he was a quiet guy we all assumed he was good. Peyton has that championship swagger back and the colts welcome back Bob Sanders. Dangerous team and don't have the Titans lingering around to give them problems in the division. They could run away with this thing real early.

I have to mention that Steven Jackson has been an absolute beast this year. He is putting up 100 yard games and doing what he always does. Great RB and wants to stay with this team. Hope the poor guy can find paydirt this week. As for the game, a lot of points, but St. Louis is bad and the Colts can score...

NY Jets -7 @ Oakland Raiders
I am not going to get into how the Raiders beat Philly, because I have no answers. What I do have an answer for is the following question. Do you like the raiders? Why yes, they are gonna start rolling baby.

Count me on the Richard Seymour bandwagon. Seymour said the other day that this team is making the playoffs and told Antonio "hide the gun" Pierce that he better shut his mouth and worry about his own team getting rung up for 50 pts. Jamarcus Russel still stinks don't let his mediocre stats last week fool you as 80 yrds and a TD came on a huge Zach Miller score. I just like this Raiders team...this week at least. The defense isn't shabby and Mark Sanchez is a rookie QB with 10 college games to his name. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Raiders stick with em, Just win Baby!

Buffalo Bills +7 @ Carolina Panthers
Terrell Owens???? Steve Smith???? I really don't like the bills, though AVP is calling plays for the sideline, and Fitzpatrick might be an upgrade over Trent Edwards. Caroline really doesn't justify being favored by a touchdown over anyone. Though expect them to run all over the Swiss cheese defense. I still like Buffalo to keep it a close game, maybe even win and instill some perfect false hope into a few naive fans...

Atlanta Falcons +4 @ Dallas Cowboys
Don't care that the Cowboys are off a bye and Falcons are working off a short week. I just kinda like Atlanta here, they are better on offense, better on defense, and the overall better team. I ride ATL and Matty Ice after their impressive victory over the Bears monday night.

Chicago Bears +1 @ Cincinatti Bengals
Some unreal tweeting has been going on this past week between Cutler and Ocho Cinco. Cutler was given a 2 year 30 million dollar deal and Ocho Cinco was taking credit for it. He then was tweeting some hilarious statements such as...

"Chicago Amber Alert; bears secondary ----if found please make sure they show up on Sunday, I cant wait."

"This just in fresh of the wire, the Bears secondary is listed as doubtful for Sunday...damn now what do I do"

"I just got this from sportscenter now. Bears secondary placed on waivers for refusing to cover Ocho this Sunday"

"CNN reports a new strand of the flu has been discovered by the Bears trainer H1N85. The chicken flu."

"Breaking news on ESPN; The NBA replacement officials to replace Bears secondary after Ocho Cinco is done with them."

"News flash, a small balloon though to be carrying Bears secondary seen floating over Chicago. Witnesses claim this is no hoax."

Okay enough is enough. As for my prediction I like the Bears here and think Cutler has a field day break out game proving for at least one game why they paid him 30 Million.

New Orleans Saints -7 @ Miami Dolphins
Lets see how the Saints do against the Wildcat...or will it matter, can anyone stop this juggernaut. If they are dropping 50+ on a good Giants defense then Miami stands no chance right?

Arizona Cardinals +7 @ NY Giants.
Mulldog probably has some more insight on this, but I like the Gmen here after an embarrassing loss to come back strong and dominate. Though it is concerning that the first good opponent they truly have played they get smoke showed.

Eagles -7 @ Washington Redskins
This line can't be high enough for me to back off the Eagles here. Coming off a bad loss and pissed. Not to mention this skins team is in total disarray and Jim Zorn is a lame duck. Play calling has been taken over by Sherm Lewis who was last scene reading Bingo Numbers at retirement homes. Good Riddance.

Also I forgot to mention the Patriots game is in London I think...they are still doing that apparently....

Few Notes

The Phillies are back in the World Series. Jimmy Rollins is getting hot and the team looks dangerous. The bullpen issued might be resolved and the only area of concern is that Cole Hamels threw a clunker. He's been pitching a lot better than most people think but he really labored out there last night and couldn't even make it the full five to gut out a win. The Phils are really going to need Lee and Hamels to be at their best to take out the Yanks (or what would be a hot Angels team). With how well they are hitting right now they might just want to root for the Yankees and get this thing underway.

I see Terrelle Pryor's high school coach said Ohio St. needs to let him run more. Thank you. What in the world are the buckeyes doing? Pryor does look like a robot. Yeah, Ohio St. has a winning formula which is more of a pro style offense than most college teams...but you have a player who could be one of the best in the nation and he doesn't fit that system. QB's who can run and move around to buy time are king in college football. Loosen the reigns and let him win you games.

Very alarming news coming out of the SEC - They have suspended the entire officiating crew from the Florida-Arkansas game after a personal foul was called as Florida rallied late for the win, apparently there is no video evidence for this foul. This is not the first time this has happened with this crew either, apparently a very similar call was made during the LSU-Georgia game earlier this month.

The crew won't be back until mid-November and probably won't be doing any post-season games. Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino handled this issue with much class and isn't making any excuses. He said their focus is on Ole Miss.

Billboard City

Do the Buffalo bills realize that your supposed to get talent to win championships. I am talking about monsters with freakish ability that stay in school for minimum amount of time and only pass classes because they are on the football team. A coach from Yale, a starting QB from Stanford, and a backup QB from Harvard. You can't write this stuff.



For the record, I called the loss to the browns and the win against the jets two weeks before either game was played to mulldog. It's classic Bills football. They are going 7-9 folks. They will find a way to keep it interesting for a couple more weeks. I just hope Fitzpatrick can win a few games so we don't have to see Captain Check down anymore and we can officially draft a new QB to add to the long list of failures.



Main point of this post is to just show you a picture of the billboard referenced in a previous story.

Fall League Softball

Last night a friend asked me to fill in for his Fall League softball team. The game would cut into the start of the Yanks/Angels game but I decided to play anyway. As I pulled up in my customary fashion (that is two minutes before game-time)...I walked over to be greeted by a number of former teammates from our legendary Kingston City League Arc Pitch Softball team - the Laidlaw Killer Bees.

Yes, the infamous group of young kids who pulled up on a yellow school-bus a half-hour before gametime one early Summer evening, with our player/coach stepping off the bus and announcing to a stunned audience and paused softball game "The Champs is here." he then pressed play on the boom-box he held over his right shoulder and Juelz Santana repeated the phrase as we filed off the bus and 10-run ruled the first 5 or so opponents we faced.

Anyway, as I stood around bs'ing while the other team was on the field warming up, the guy making the lineup told me to swing a bat I was leading off. So I grabbed a bat stepped up, swung at the first pitch, roasted the right fielder and trotted around the base-paths for an in-the-park home run.

Normally this is of no merit and it really isn't anyway, but you had to see the guy I hit it off of. First, the guy was elder middle-agred, balding and out-of-shape. In other words, the prototype franchise pitcher for any city league softball team. He had an impressive arsenal too: throwing the fake pitches, throwing from way behind the mound, spinning the ball every which way; he had a curveball and a screwball (legitimately curved as I found out in a later at-bat), a front-spinner and a back-spinner.

Of most interest however, occurred after two of our batters fouled out (league rules state that a foul ball with two strikes is a strikeout)...after each strikeout, this man turned his back to our bench which revealed his jersey "number" to be a backwards "K". His name? "You Got Cha'd" And after each foul out he pointed to it with the pride most exhibit after a long home-run.


Unfortunately for Mr. Cha'd I knocked him and his bullshit pitches around to the tune of a 6-6 night with a homer, triple, four singles and even drew a walk. 22-8 final, Who really got Cha'd?

CC is a bear. Why he pitched in the 8th inning up 7-1 is beyond me. Girardi said he would be available for 115 pitches if necessary...this was far from necessary though. Either way, A-Rod continued his miracle run. When will him or Ryan Howard not have a RBI in a game?

Last night, to me, was the best case to date for this team's invincibility. It was the key game in the series as I think in LA, the Angels have a big advantage in game 5 with Lackey facing Burnett. They had a pitcher going on 3 days rest. On top of that, the Angels fan-base (for all my hate of the stupid rally monkey, which is incredibly stupid) is one of the best in baseball. That stadium was absolutely electric from start to finish last night. With their team down 5-1, most stadiums get a little quiet even in the post-season, but that place was electric. The bottom of the 6th inning had the place abuzz, ready to explode at the first guy crossing the plate. CC let the first two batters on and I thought for sure the rally was coming. CC brilliantly escaped the jam with a double play ball and a pop-out.

I still say the Phillies are not getting enough attention. Maybe Hamels goes out there tonight and makes a statement. On the other hand, if Hamels goes out there and throws poorly (or perhaps if the bullpen blows one) then the Yankees suddenly become big favorites again..and I do think the Yanks/Angels series is headed to a game 6 at least, so I'm not completely counting the Angels out. With that lineup and two of the next three at home with Burnett/Pettitte/CC though, that is a tall task for the Angels, unlike what Boston did to them down 3-0 when they essentially ran out of pitching.

I pointed it out in the divisional series and now it is getting more and more attention - the umpiring in baseball is terrible. It is one thing to miss some ball/strike calls..that is essentially part of the game and an incredibly difficult task. Most of the blown calls there are simply from the guy just having a "bad" strike zone. But, this bad calls on the bases - completely unacceptable. And I'm not talking about the occasional bang-bang play that we re-watch in ultra-slow motion five times before figuring out. There have been numerous calls on the base-paths that were completely obvious to the naked eye in real time, on my 13" non-HD, magnavox, 1994 tv set. It's the playoffs gentlemen, just as we expect the players to up their play the umpires are expected to do the same. Make all of the easy calls and do a decent job on the tough ones. That's all we ask...and if you can't do that, I'm quite sure technology is more than ready to replace you..so step your game up right now.

Clueless Joe?

Joe Girardi has been making moves this entire playoff run that have made me scratch my head. To this point, every move he made turned to gold. He got bailed out by the A-Rod home run Saturday or he was staring at Freddy Guzman (Hairston would have pinch-hit so Hairston I guess) and Gardner as his last hopes vs Fuentes. Meanwhile Sciosca brilliantly had his regular lineup in with the only change being at catcher with the defensive stop Mathis in for Napoli and Matthews in for a slumping Juan Rivera (Matthews drew a big walk and scored a big run). On top of that his pitchers went 7/2/1/1/1.1....Girardi's pitchers? 6.1/.1/.1/.2/2.1/1.1/.1/1.1 KISS. On top of that Rivera has now pitched in every game, most of which over an inning (over two Saturday)...he is amazing and has yet to surrender a run. But if he comes in one of these games, isn't sharp and gets knocked around look no farther than the guy in the dugout flipping around a binder for meaningless small sample statistics like "oh man, Howie Kendrick is 1-2 off Robertson this year, I better go to the pen and use another arm" like he did last night. TURRRIBLE.

Great game in Philly last night though it effectively ended the series in all likelihood. The manager formerly known as clueless Joe had to watch as his flame-throwing closer surrendered an improbable game-winning double to Jimmy Rollins with two men on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. I will say this much - if that gets Jimmy Rollins going, whichever AL team ends up winning better get a little scared. With so much attention on the AL games there isn't enough talk that A) Ryan Howard is putting together one of the all-time post-seasons and B) The Phillies are every bit as good as the Yankees when their bullpen is pitching well and their lineup is going. People forget that the Yankees are going to be hurt when they have to travel to a National League park. They lose the DH and they don't have a very deep team. This World Series is far from the forgone conclusion many believe it to be. A big thing for the Phillies will be to see how Cole Hamels throws tomorrow. He's been pitching pretty well but always seems to have a rough inning when he gives up a three-run homer or just sees things fall apart. If he re-gains form here, this team is murderous.

Shocking News!

Detroit Basketball will no longer be played @ the Palace. They have decided to uproot and play in Tulsa, Oklahoma....Kinda strange since Oklahoma City already has a team, but Detroit must really be hit hard financially to move a proud franchise....

Wait? What? Ohhhh Nevermind its the WNBA Detroit Shock, not Pistons. Read the weekend Roundup below for real news stories.

Weekend Roundup

In the words of Larry David: pretty, pretty good.

This weekend did not really disappoint the viewer.

Friday kicked off with a vintage playoff pitcher's duel as Pedro threw 7 scoreless innings that made you think it was the 90's again. Him and Vicente Padilla were painting corners, changing speeds and overall just throwing everything but the kitchen sink at guys to get them out - and it worked. Just a fun game to watch that the Phillies bullpen predictably lost. And that is the difference between this series being 3-0 Phils after last night's bloodbath.

Yanks took game 1 Friday behind the masterpiece CC turned in. Then came back Saturday in what will go down as one of the more epic ALCS games ever played. Fitting end to a game littered with errors that the second baseman throws one away to end the game, but am I the only one who found that to be a bit anti-climatic? Lots of questionable managerial decisions in my opinion, but pretty much all worked out. The only thing that didn't work out? Turns out 0-2 to A-Rod up a run isn't a great time to throw a belt high 91 MPH fastball down the middle.

Saturday gave us some good college football (before that classic Yanks/Angels game stole the show)...Texas knocked out Bradford early, looked like the lesser team for most of the game, but gutted out a 16-13 win in the Red River Rivalry. It wasn't the shootout we hoped for, but finally we had a hyped up college football game that was watchable.
USC/Notre Dame then gave us a more exciting game, though honestly I thought USC should have won by 20+. Props to Notre Dame for hanging tough but they looked much out-classed to me.

A young Bobby Petrino led Arkansas team went into Florida and gave them all they could handle. Ryan Mallett looked good and this Arkansas team is going to be a National force next year. Of course Tim Tebow and company found a way to win, but much like Ole Miss did last year, Arky stripped a bit of their invincibility from them.

The big teams to lose were: Ohio St to Purdue in a real shocker. The Ohio St offense continued to sputter and their defense looked terrible. I can't figure out the Big Ten. Iowa sucks, Ohio St sucks, Penn St sucks. The whole conference is terrible...but who will emerge? I still don't think it's Iowa when all is said and done. And Va Tech fell to Georgia Tech in a less shocking defeat.
A lot of arguing about "what if this team goes undefeated, what if these two go undefeated, who plays in the championship game?" I think I'll make a post about that later in the week with a little preview of next weekends games, but none of this matters if Florida and Alabama win out.

NFFFFL SUNNNDAY:

No 48, NYG 27: My GGGGGGGGGGGG-Men got destroyed. They looked completely over-matched and it turns out the defense can't just turn it on when they need to. This was a game I fully expected to lose but the way which the Giants did so was very alarming. They couldn't get to Brees and even when they did he would just throw it up to receivers that were bigger and way too physical for our d-backs. Even when guys were covered they would come down with the catch. Defensively, the Saints are very much smoke and mirrors. The Giants could have run it all over them if they didn't fall behind early...and Eli missed a couple receivers (including once Steve Smith who had about 5 steps on the entire Saints defense) and this could have turned into a closer, complete shootout.

Houston 28, Cincy 17: So the Bengals aren't that good? Shocking.

Green Bay 26, Detroit 0: Drew Stanton and Daunte Culpepper got shut out? I don't believe it!

Jax 23, St. Louis 20, OT: Alright guys, I admit it, you were right, my prediction of 12-4 for the Rams was off the mark.

Minnesota 33, Baltimore 31: Told you Baltimore's defense is no more. Can't say I saw this type of shootout coming.

Pitt 27, Cleveland 14: Yahoo's spotlight player for Cleveland? Lawrence Vickers (I believe about a 5th year FB out of LA Tech or Colorado, how do I confuse those two schools? I don't know..but I recall wanting the Giants to draft him in the 6th round or something one year, pewch). Vickers stats: 1 catch, 1 yard, 1 TD. At least Derek Anderson raised his completion percentage to 37.5% this week.

Lina 28, Tampa 21: I don't even believe this game was played, I think they just did a Madden simulation.

KC 14, Wash 6: So Washington isn't winning the NFC East?

Oakland 13, Philly 9: Still not convinced this actually happened either. I'm waiting for the NFL to release a statement: "Sorry fans, we were just kidding. Come on, you didn't really believe the Raiders beat the Eagles, did you?"

Arizona 27, Seattle 3: Nothing to say.

New England 59, Tennessee 0: That damn Madden simulation again? I guess we can stop hearing about how Tennessee is a "good" 0-5 team (and not just because they're 0-6)?

Buffalo 16, Jets 13: After I sent out an en masse text message to most people from school including a bunch of Bills fans and a few others proclaiming "Wide Right Bitches" after Lindell missed the would-be game-winner at the end of regulation my responses varied from "lol" to "im glad, we want a better draft pick" to "die" (the last of which being a female respondent - welcome to ruff buff)...of course, more responses were added after the conclusion in which the Bills won in OT after Sanchez threw his 6th int of the game. It took until about 8:30 for a Bills fan to be wise enough to rip into my Giants, but hey, congrats Bills fans, you just missed out on a franchise QB! But Ryan Fitzpatrick looked great!

Atlanta 21, Chicago 14: I actually found this to be a compelling game. Just a good battle between evenly matched teams. I thought Ryan and Cutler were better than their numbers and though they each threw some picks on balls they let fly, both can really sling it when they get in a groove.

ALCS

The ALCS will be the nightcap to follow a NLCS game which pits a guy some people once compared to his opponent (that is Vicente Padilla to Pedro Martinez)..what we get today is a watered down version, though Padilla comes in throwing well, he never turned into the pitcher many envisioned early in his career. Pedro meanwhile, has been pretty good for the Phillies, until of course, they over-worked him. Now he is much rested and there is just no guessing what type of performance to expect out of either of these guys. One thing is for sure however, the Dodgers have to win this game or the series is over. Especially with Cliff Lee set to pitch game 3 back in Philly.

I'm not going to get too in-depth on the Yankees-Angels series. Everyone knows how much trouble the Yanks have had in recent history with the Angels. Everyone also knows that the Yankees are the best team in baseball and the favorite to win both this series and the World Series. The weather in NY is terrible. It hasn't rained or snowed here like the weather called for, and honestly, I don't think it will rain a ton tonight. But it is going to be extremely cold and likely pretty windy. Tomorrow's game is almost undoubtedly going to get canceled with rain forecasted all day. The decision will then be whether Fox wants to pit the baseball at 4 o'clock against a weak slate of 4 o'clock NFL games. Otherwise both the Yanks/Angels and Phils/Dodgers will be playing at 8 Sunday night. My guess is Yanks/Angels game 2, 4 o'clock Sunday afternoon.

Obviously potential rain-outs would figure to be advantage Yankees. One of the few chinks in the team's armor is a lack of depth in the starting rotation. They will probably be using CC on 3 days rest in game 4 anyway, but clearly if he gets any more rest it makes the decision that much easier. Meanwhile, a strength of the Angels team is depth in the starting rotation. They don't have a true ace, but there isn't a ton of difference between Lackey, Weaver, Kazmir, Saunders.

I definitely think we will see the Angels take a couple games here. Burnett can be very shaky and did not exactly pitch well against Minnesota. A repeat performance of that against this Angels team could be a disaster. The Angels are always tough at home and the Yanks do not like traveling to the West. Clearly, the Yankees should be able to get it done this series, but their margin of error is probably smaller than people think. Say CC Sabathia loses tonight, will anyone be shocked if Burnett then drops a game and the Yanks find themselves in a hole before heading out west? CC has proven he is a horse and can pitch on short rest, but this is just one year after his arm was completely abused in a pennant race. The question of whether he can repeat that type of performance on short rest seems underrated to me.

Ultimately, the Yankees lineup is just too good and the bullpen is certainly much stronger than the Angels....LAA would have to play near flawlessly hitting with runners on, getting quality starts and managing not to blow games with a less than stellar bullpen (not the norm for this team recently).

Prediction: Yankees in 7.

College Football Saturday

We should finally have some excitement back in College Football.

Charlie Weis may have his job on the line when USC comes to town tomorrow. Very interesting that a college football team can get fired for losing to USC. Isn't that essentially the same as if the Raiders came to town and beat Notre Dame and they gave him the axe? Is it maybe not as bad? Either way, last time this game was played they gave us an absolute classic and the teams, talent-wise, are a lot closer this time around. But something tells me this one is going to get ugly. Clausen might be in for a rough day and the Notre Dame defense seemingly doesn't have a prayer in trying to stop USC. You would think the only chance of a win they have is to put up 40+ and while the USC defense this year is not as good as those of the recent past - it is probably still talented enough to keep Clausen somewhat in check. Thinking Notre Dame is going to need the friend to lean on after this week.

The other big match is, of course, the Red River Rivalry, Oklahoma-Texas. Last year, Texas avenged the loss in 2007 with a 45-35 win. At the time, Oklahoma was ranked #1 in the nation, with Texas #5. This season Oklahoma is ranked #21 and Texas is #3. I have a feeling this will be the best game of the early college football season. Neither team appears to have played its best game to date. Texas has gotten away with playing some cupcakes and even struggled early on in those games at times.

Oklahoma lost a pair of games by a single point, in their opener against BYU after Bradford went down with an injury and at Miami, two weeks ago. The question is, can they beat a good team? So far, they have not. But Bradford is back and healthy and this is the team's best chance to salvage an already disappointing season. Certainly, Bradford didn't get what he wanted out of this season (an injury, and no chance at a National Title, after passing up being the likely first pick in the draft...though he still may be this year, that is another story though)...you have to figure he is going to be fully motivated to try and get this done...if they win out they could still land a BCS bowl.

A friend who is a big Longhorns fan, had this note, which I felt was insightful, through text message, regarding the Texas defense this year vs last year, "It's ten times better the 2nd year under Muschamp. Texas is always good against the run but a lot better against the pass this year." If Texas can go out and prove that against the strong Oklahoma passing game, then that should be the difference...if not, the Big 12 might once again look wide open. He also noted that excitement is much higher than confidence...Personally, I think this one comes down to the wire with a good chance to see who has it in them tomorrow - Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford? Could say a lot about the BCS this year and could say just as much about the NFL Draft (I prefer Colt for the record).

Buffalo Billboards

Ryan Abshagen is the new hero of Buffalo NY. Yes fans are unhapy with the team. God knows you have seen enough of this blog to know that I am unhappy with the team. Mr. Abshagen, an unemployed 18 year old, has taken matters into his own hands. By the way, I like how websites are making it known this guy is unemployed....he is only 18 years old folks, not a huge deal. Regardless, this saint raised about $1,500 through the Internet to rent a billboard.
The Billboard will read:

"It's time to clean house, RALPH"

Then a checklist of three names:

Jauron (head coach)

Tom Modrak (College scout)

John Guy ( VP of Pro personnel)

This may not be the most creative idea, but nothing like driving on 190 and seeing this flash over 3,000 times a day. Its a disgrace and the fact that nothing has been done is just pitiful. I would actually consider dropping $500 dollars with 3 friends to get a billboard hung in Buffalo for a week and publicity. Mine would be much more brutal though.

Potential Ideas:

*A puppet Master controlling Ralph Wilson's limp, slumped over body.

*Five fat pigs in Bills Uniforms with the phrase, "These fat little pigs can block better then the Buffalo Bills line."

*Picture of me and my qualifications pining for the next head coaching job

*A picture of Fred Jackson with a thought bubble next to him saying, "I wish I could go back to DIII Coe College, Arena league, or the USFL and play with a real team again."

*A picture of Marshawn Lynch as a werewolf with the entire 53 man roster slained beneath him screaming, "Beast Mode"

*A picture of Terrell Owens crying in his dark sunglasses crying next to a picture of Trent Edwards saying, "That is NOT my quarterback man"

*A skeleton body next to the phrase, "Dick, the human cadaveour, Jauron."

Torre Getting Ripped

Apparently, the LA media is predictably all over Joe Torre for his decision to leave in 21-year old Clayton Kershaw for "too long" in last night's NLCS opener in what would become a loss to the defending champion Phillies.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke16-2009oct16,0,1346275.column

There is Bill Plaschke's (of Around the Horn fame) article.

There was wildness, whiffling, waffling, a proud kid being whittled into an absolute wreck.

Clayton Kershaw walked the pitcher on four pitches. He walked the third baseman on four pitches. He put one on a tee for the catcher to crush into dark blue oblivion.

Did I say he walked the pitcher on four pitches?

With a 21-year-old sophomore bumping and staggering through a roomful of boos, the fifth inning Thursday contained every element of a textbook youthful playoff meltdown except for one.

An adult to stop it.

My problem with Plaschke here is that a) his writing is divisive - the first thing he says is that he walked the pitcher. Well, first off that was after the three-run homer. b) While I understand that he felt he should have taken him out before Rollins - HE GOT ROLLINS OUT. AND THEN STRUCK OUT VICTORINO. He was sstill flashing bits of wildness, but no manager actually wants to pull his pitcher in the 5th inning. On top of that, from what I understand, Jeff Weaver was suffering flu-like symptoms and wasn't available. I can't believe I'm admitting it, but Jeff Weaver is the only type of pitcher you want to go to in the 5th inning of game 1, no matter how good your bullpen is. Yeah, you want to have a quick hook with your starters in the playoffs, but you also don't want to use up your entire bullpen. With the way Cole Hamels was pitching there was no way to predict if the Dodgers would even score again. Could you imagine if he pulled Kershaw after apparently settling, getting Rollins out and then striking out Victorino - and then the Phillies won anyway? The same writers (cough * Plaschke * cough) would be killing Torre for "using up the bullpen." The fact that he looked un-hittable for the first 4 innings, and possibly settled back in before facing the heart of the order is just the icing on the cake..nothing Joe could do here but sit back and hope.

Look, I'm not opposed to questioning a managerial decision. And believe me, I used to kill Torre on some of his moves when he was with the Yanks. But this is your classic second-guess. Were there signs Kershaw was in trouble? Certainly. Did they have a better option to face Utley and Howard, with the added bonus of not having to use up their bullpen in game 1 (a game they were already trailing)? No, probably not.

It was an exciting game 1. The Dodgers got 3 of the 5 runs back in the bottom half of the inning and still had every chance to get to a questionable Phillies bullpen. Bottom line is this - the Phils wheeled out Chad Durbin to help work out of a jam (he kisses men, on the lips!! come on! that was him right? I thought so, but didn't re-check). They used JA "never thrown a strike in my life" Happ.
They brought out Chan Ho Park who worked a perfect scoreless 7th right through the heart of the Dodgers lineup. But I suppose we should also kill Joe Torre for that?

And I do find it funny how much Plaschke pushes the whole kid thing. After four innings he probably had written his lede sentence as "Clayton Kershaw is still a kid by major league standards, but last night he was a man among men." Oh wait, that's probably not poetic enough for baseball writing's own poet laureate, Billy P.

A cup of Brew

Well...in case any of you out there are still struggling to figure out what exactly Pewch is (and there really is no way at this point that you could not know) here is a conversation between two guys stuggling at life..

Mulldog: have to run out and get some fire for a big weekend of capping
Millman: haha alright

Mulldog: by that i mean pure columbian

Millman: typical
Millman: where you going to load up
Mulldog: already all over my bluff of coffee?
Mulldog: monkey joe's coffee shop
Mulldog: best beans in town
Millman: monkey joes wow
Millman: nothing better then a local place that can brew a mean cup
Mulldog: oh yeah, they have their signature blend, jazzy joe, a maple cinnamon blend, delectable

Mulldog: or i could go with the morning howler, named after the loudest monkey in the world and essentially gives you a caffeine rush like you just downed a liter of jolt cola
Millman: that is risky
Mulldog: or i may just go for the pure columbian
Millman: wouldn't mind a quick jazzy joe
Mulldog: they have some certified rainforest beans there too, more expensive, never tried, can they really be fire just because theyre from the rain forest?
Millman: tough to spring for the extra dime with such uncertainty
Mulldog: definitely

Nice Lives.

NLCS: The Other Series

Baseball is back today as the Phillies head to LA with a battle of talented southpaws in Cole Hamels and Clayton Kershaw. Hamels hasn't been the same MVP-caliber pitcher he was last year as he led the Phillies to a championship but it's interesting that Vegas has lined him +127 even on the road against the young Kershaw. The Phils are a very good road team and with the more experienced arm. Game two will be tomorrow and is scheduled with a sickening matchup of Pedro Martinez and Vicente Padilla. Padilla is fresh off a complete gem but is Vicente Padilla...and Pedro has been magical down the stretch, until they decided he was '08 CC Sabathia and threw him 115 pitches and then came back with a 130+ pitch outing down the stretch. Now, I believe his arm is actually detached from his right shoulder and they have to glue it into place before games.

Game 3 will be Sunday night as both teams will travel eastward to Philly and it will be Hikori Kuroda vs. Cliff Lee. Kuroda is a very underrated pitcher but this is clearly a game you have to expect the Phils to win at home.

Game 4 is Tuesday. The man originally projected to toss game 1 for LAD, Randy Wolf is scheduled to face Joe Blanton. Obviously, these things can sometimes change depending on what the series is at. This would be a good battle of crafty pitchers, or possibly a good battle of mashing lineups.

Game 5 Wednesday 9/21. Back to Hamels/Kershaw except this one would be played in Philly.

Game 6 - Friday back in LA, Pedro/Padilla.

Game 7 - Saturday. Lee/Kuroda.

Not a terrible job by MLB in spacing out the games too much. This is about as tight as it is going to get. Kind of strange to schedule a game 7 on Saturday I feel? That is one you'd almost rather they skip a day and play Sunday night as everyone would be watching (Yanks/Angels possible game 7 is scheduled for that Sunday).

So beside that, what actually matters here - what is going to happen? Well, while most everyone is rooting for Joe Torre to bring his team to the World Series for a possibly electric rematch his the team that made him, the Yankees...no one seems to want to give the defending champs their due. This is essentially the same Phillies team that won the whole thing last year, the difference?
Last year their bullpen was a huge strength and this year they can't get anyone out. There is no question the bullpen could end up costing them, but it seems as if it has quietly settled in a touch. On the other side Joe Torre knows his biggest (and arguably only) advantage is the strength of his bullpen. What he will need is big outings from Kershaw and Wolf and will be asking Padilla and Kuroda to give him something like 6 innings, 3 runs...then he can turn it over to a dominant bullpen and see if his lineup can get to 4.

The problem is this Phillies lineup is getting hot at the wrong time for LAD. People for some reason still don't realize that if Rollins or Victorino get on ahead of Utley and Howard it's almost a lock they're going to score. And when they both get on, it is huge trouble. Not to mention a guy like Jayson Werth who gets absolutely red-hot at times. The Phillies lineup might not be the absolute best in the MLB, but it is the most dangerous (certainly in the NL at least). Throw in Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels and suddenly you have a team which I think should be the favorite to win this series (they are not) and ultimately the most dangerous team remaining in the playoffs for the Yankees (unless the Angels continue to be their kryptonite).

Prediction: Phillies in 5 (originally said in 6 but it's so pewch to predict a team in 6 games, everyone always predicts - this team in 6, that team in 6...show some creativity).


I would like to mention that USA tied Costa Rica in a thriller yesterday. I caught the tail end...they were trailing 2-1 in extra time, must have been the 94th minute (scheduled for 5 extra minutes), USA gets a corner kick and despite being a man down, somehow some cat is left completely unguarded and drills a perfect header past the goalie and a defender sitting in net. Of course, therein lies the problem with soccer, they just got a tie and you would have thought they just won the World Cup. No game that ends in a tie can really be considered a classic either... It's just a problem with soccer in my opinion.

Another exciting finish to any of us who bet Argentina +175 yesterday when they broke a 0-0 tie in the 86th minute for the 1-0 win.