Week 8 Preview

Another Thursday Night, another episode of Flash Forward, another Preview of the upcoming weekend of Football

Tier I: Cheesehead Tier

Packers 4-2 vs. Vikings 6-1

Well Brett Favre plays his first game at Lambeau against the Packers (in case you haven't heard). It does feel bizarre that the Packers are one half-of a match-up receiving Yankees-Red Sox caliber coverage. Its gotten so bizarre that FOX is going to have a camera on Brett Favre at all times (even when hes on the bench and not in the game)

For the game itself....this is more or less a must win for the Packers. Sure being 4-3 isn't going to be the end of the world but failing to salvage a split against the Vikings and going 0-2 against Favre will definitely put a damper on the season. The last time they played....a lot of things went wrong for the Pack and still the game was reasonably close. The Vikings have lost some mojo since then, the late-season Favre who throws dumb interceptions is emerging and Rodgers gets a win over his replacement.

Packers 35 Vikings 24

Tier II: Best Games of the week

Falcons 4-2 vs. Saints 6-0

A good Monday Night Match-up between two elite QBs in Matt Ryan and Drew Brees. The Falcons will put up a good fight but the Saints are pretty much having their way with the league right now.

Saints 45 Falcons 31

Giants 5-2 vs. Eagles 4-2

A battle for NFC East Supremacy. Both teams need a victory pretty bad right now as neither team is playing their best ball of the season. The Giants struggles carried over to the Arizona game while the Eagles look to win their 2nd straight. Wouldn't be surprised who won either way....personally, i'm picking the Giants

Giants 24 Eagles 21

Broncos 6-0 vs. Ravens 3-3

The Broncos are also undefeated but other than that, have very little in common with the Saints. I'm coming around to them as a playoff contender but they have a Ravens team coming up that is better than their 3-3 record indicates. The Ravens were an errant kick away from knocking the Vikings off their undefeated perch. The Ravens have the mix of talent and sense of urgency to pull an upset.

Ravens 20 Broncos 17

Tier III: Worth Checking Out

Dolphins 2-4 vs. Jets 4-3

The Dolphins are another team that I feel is better than their record indicates. Two of their losses have come to the 2 best teams thus far (Indy and New Orleans)...the Dolphins had chances to win both games that slipped through their fingers. I think they'll make a run and at least have a shot at the playoffs. The Jets on the other hand, have been going in the wrong direction since losing to the Saints. Mark Sanchez may be able to get away with slacking, eating a hot dog on the sideline against the Raiders but not against the D-Fish.

Dolphins 28 Jets 17

Tier IV: Close Games, Terrible Teams

Rams 0-7 vs. Lions 1-5

Wow...........worst.....match-up.......ever. Seriously these teams should be re-assigned to either the UFL or the AFL2..........or the Big 11 conference. Still someone has to win this game.

Rams 6 Lions 0

Jaguars 3-3 vs. Titans 0-6

The Jaguars are the anti-thesis of the Ravens as they are worse than their 3-3 record indicates. Considering that the Titans haven't announced their starter for Sunday, the Jags won't know exactly whats coming. The Titans break into the win column on Sunday.

Titans 21 Jaguars 14

Texans 4-3 vs. Bills 3-4

The Texans seem to have the Jekyl and Hyde thing down perfectly. They play terrible for a half, they play good for a half.....sometimes they win sometimes they don't. Thats more than what can be said about the Bills.

Texans 28 Bills 21

Tier V: Blow-Outs

Bears 3-3 vs. Browns 1-6

Granted the Bears have been down for the last couple of weeks. The Browns have been down for the last decade. Jay Cutler takes out the frustration of being beaten down by the Bengals.

Bears 38 Browns 7

49ers 3-3 vs. Colts 6-0

The 49ers come in with a myriad of questions at the QB Position. How long of a leash does Alex Smith get? Did he just get lucky last week.....or is he actually.........good?! Either way this weeks game won't be the best indicator as they run into a Colts team that has quietly run the table thus far.

Colts 42 49ers 17

Cowboys 4-2 vs. Seahawks 2-4

I had been on the fence with the Cowboys but after their strong performance against the Falcons...i'm sold on them for now (well until Romo goes into his December swoon). The Seahawks will be done way before then.

Cowboys 42 Seahawks 3

Panthers 2-4 vs. Cardinals 4-2

Jack Delhomme is still a starter? Theres no way his back-ups could do any worse. Worse yet, they play the same Cardinals team that was on the beginning end of Delhomme's interception binge.

Cardinals 45 Panthers 20

Raiders 2-5 vs. Chargers 3-3

The Raiders are coming off a blow-out loss to a mediocre Jets team. The Chargers haven't had the greatest year but they get another easy game against the Raiders.

Chargers 38 Raiders 10

World Series Preview

Well, the 2009 season comes down to this. One team will come out as champions...the other team (especially if its the Yankees) will have a long winter ahead of them......the match-ups are as follows

Catcher

Jorge Posada vs. Carols Ruiz

Advantage: Yankees

First Base

Mark Teixiera vs. Ryan Howard

Advantage: Yankees

Second Base:

Robinson Cano vs. Chase Utley

Advantage: Phillies

Shortstop

Derek Jeter vs. Jimmy Rollins

Advantage: Yankees

Third Base

Alex Rodriguez vs. Pedro Feliz

Advantage: Yankees

Left Field

Johnny Damon vs. Raul Ibanez

Advantage: Phillies

Center Field

Melky Cabrera vs. Shane Victorino

Advantage: Phillies

Right Field

Nick Swisher vs. Jayson Werth

Advantage: Phillies

Starting Pitching

C.C. Sabathia

A.J. Burnett

Andy Pettite

vs.

Cliff Lee

Pedro Martinez

Cole Hamels

Joe Blanton

Bullpen

Mariano Rivera

Philip Hughes

Phil Coke

vs.

Brad Lidge

Ryan Madson

Advantage: Yankees

X Factor: Phillies

Posada has a large advantage behind the plate. First Base was a close battle but Teixiera has a slight edge on the numbers and has yet to appear in an annoying Subway commercial. Utley has the edge over Cano......the Yankees left side of the infield is much stronger than the Phillies.

The Phillies have the edge at all 3 outfield positions. Ibanez and Victorino have decent sized advantages. Werth vs. Swisher are about the same production wise but Werth is playing much better than Swisher right now.

The Starting Rotation was a tough call. Both teams have an ace ex-Indians pitcher (Sabathia/Lee) a pitcher who peaked in the 90s but are still viable options (Pettite/Martinez)....The Phils get the edge b/c I think they'll get more out of Blanton/Hamels than the Yankees will get out of Burnett.

The Yankees win the bullpen match-up easily. Mariano Rivera is one of the greatest post-season closers of all time....and Brad Lidge.....well hes Brad Lidge....nuff said.

The X-Factor went to the Phillies for a couple reasons. First, this is pretty much the same team that won it all last year so their confidence in winning is higher. Second, there is more pressure on the Yankees. For them, anything less than a World Series title is a bad season, they haven't won in what they consider forever (2000) and the expectations are so high from both fans and management.......they just have a lot more external pressure and stress than the Phillies do.

Final Tally: Phillies 6 Yankees 5

These teams match-up really well and we could have a classic series in store. For the Yankees its a matter of continue to keep doing all year (win games) plus doing what they've done throughout the off-season (take advantage of other mistakes).

For the Phillies, the major question is can the bullpen not mess things up? So far it hasn't but the bullpen is pretty much a ticking time-bomb. If they survive this series, they repeat...if they don't the Yankees take it. My call: the Phillies do just enough...with the emphasis on just enough to repeat

Prediction: Phillies in 7

Monday Baseball Ramblings

Well, the Yankees are back in the World Series

While the Angels definitely helped the Yankees in this process due to some bad innings, un-clutch defense, so on and so forth.......at least they made the series somewhat interesting. The Yankees proved again that you can indeed buy at least a League Championship......They face off against the Phillies who are trying to repeat.......if they were real people.....it would give the gang from Its Always Sunny another chance to sneak into a world series game, deliver a letter to Chase Utley...or go up against the Fanatic for mascot supremacy......or not

Manny Acta gets another chance

When Acta got fired from the Nationals job....I mentioned that there was no way to tell whether the his bad record was because he's not a good manager or because he was managing a really bad team. Arguably, the same could be said about this Indians team he is inheriting. I'm not going to stretch and say the Indians are as bad as the Nationals....but they have traded away enough players in the last couple years that they could almost field a team. Still, Acta will have a better chance to win in Cleveland since he moves away from a competitive NL East to an AL Central division that is arguably the weakest in baseball. If he does a good enough job as a manager and catches a few breaks he could be heading a competitive team within a couple years.

Mark McGwire: Hitting Coach

Honestly, i'm a bit surprised by this development. Mark McGwire struck me as someone who was over the spotlight of being involved with the MLB as we haven't heard much from McGwire since he stopped playing (well except for that one time where he said he didn't want to talk about the past). It will be interesting to see how having McGwire around will affect the Cards. The two troubling things (for St. Louis) are that being a star as a player doesn't mean they are that good as coaches and b) if/when another steroid controversy breaks out about a current or past player, it has the potential to serve as a distraction to the Cards as McGwire's alleged use is inevitably going to come to the fore-front. Either way, it should be interesting to see how he holds up in a coaching role.

What I found most important about the weekend in football

Things I drew from the weekend of action:

Packers Win, Bears Lose, Vikings Lose (Finally)

There's not much that can be drawn from the Packers win today. The fact that the Packers blew out the Browns 31-3, Rodgers had a good game, Ryan Grant got 148 yards but they were playing the Browns so that was to be expected. The Packers now sit at 4-2 but playing the Lions and Browns aren't the best barometers for whether this team is a contender or pretender. We'll get a better answer when the Packers have their highly anticipated rematch against the Vikings.

Coming into Sunday's Bears-Bengals game there was the sub-plot of Cedric Benson alleging that he was blackballed by the Bears and that this caused it to take longer for him to get his second chance. Regardless of whether or not these allegations are true, Benson made the Bears pay by racking up 189 yards and helping the Bengals blow out the Bears 45-10

Well....it was a matter of when...the Vikings finally lost to the Steelers. Brett Favre started to show signs of being in last-season form by throwing a 4th quarter-pick six to close out the game.

49ers QB Controversy Brewing:

Going into today, it was a given that Shaun Hill had a grip on the 49ers QB job and Alex Smith was penciled in as one of the biggest draft busts in the past few years. Well, thats not how things looked today. After a terrible first half, Hill was benched and Alex Smith was given a chance to see what he could do. While he didn't bring the Niners all the way back...he threw 3 second half TDs turned a sure-fire blowout into a game that was interesting up until the final minute.......

Withe the 49ers struggling, it should be interesting to see how this affects the rest of their season. Does Shaun Hill get another chance to make something out of the football season or does Alex Smith get a shot of redemption?

Saints keep on keeping on:

For a while, it looked like the Dolphins were going to pull off a major upset against the undefeated Saints. However, the Saints demonstrated an ability to play through adversity and from behind to keep their record unblemished.

College Football Thoughts:

TCU won yesterdays only game between two top-20 teams by destroying BYU yesterday. They were (somewhat) awarded by the BCS rankings by bypassing Boise State to get to 6th in the BCS rankings.......also their victory over Clemson looks better after Clemson upset the Hurricanes

Still the BCS rankings weren't good to the TCUs/Boise's of the world. TCU is ranked behind an Iowa team (that squeaked by a perennially average Michigan State team) and a 1-loss USC team that lost to an improving but still mediocre Washington Squad......Boise took care of business and they were "awarded" by being dropped to 7th...............much of this talk is probably counter-productive as the championship game is likely to be Texas vs. Alabama/Florida

Well......Game 6 of the ALCS is about to start..........here's to a good game and the Angels forcing a 7th game

The Friday Night Rundown....ALCS, Mountain West Showdown and ACC Thursday Nighters

Sports-Related Things In my Mind

We could be two games away from another Yankee Collapse:

This would be good for baseball. While the Phils and the Angels don't even come close to being small market teams....the Yankees are the poster children of why salaries, tickets, etc. get progressively more expensive and a lot of other things wrong with baseball. The way Yesterday's game went suggests that the Yankees aren't automatically going to punch their World Series ticket. 1) The way they lost last night: They were shut down for six innings....exploded for 6 runs in the 7th to take the lead and can't even hold that lead for half an inning 2) The Angels seem to have a penchant for sending the Yankees home early....

Mountain West Showdown.......

To think tomorrow, the best game (based on National Ranking) is the showdown between TCU-BYU. For those that don't have Versus......they wont be able to see the best of the Mountain West on display.....I do have Versus so theres a good chance I will tune in to see these teams in Action.......if TCU wins.....it helps bolster their argument for a BCS Bowl Berth......if BYU wins it will likely be another year until the Mountain West Conference gets its due.....

Christian Ponder and FSU coming from behind

This comment has element of real life/my fantasy college team blended ...........while it can get too passe talking about fantasy teams......the one good thing about it is you know more about other teams and are more interested in games that you otherwise wouldn't.

Last nights Florida State-UNC game is a perfect example. If it weren't for the fact that I started Ponder and picked him off the waiver wire a few weeks back...I couldn't have cared less about a Thursday night ACC game (seriously this conference gets an automatic BCS bid and the MWC is snubbed) against two teams going nowhere and performing below expectations. Florida State's season to me boiled down to two things 1) Being a spoiler to BYUs BCS Bid 2) Making headlines more for the contentious head coaching system and when/if Bobby Bowden was going to retire 3) Wow FSU has fallen HARD

Thanks to my team the Cheddar Squad.....i'll add another thing to the list 4) Christian Ponder exploding for 300-plus yards 34 points and giving me a better chance to snap out of 1-3 funk im in.............

Week 7 NFL Preview

Well, Week 7 of the NFL Season Is Upon us and it is time to preview this weekend's upcoming action.................

Tier I: Cheesehead Tier

Packers 3-2 vs. Browns 1-5

It was definitely good that the Packers beat the Lions next week but concerns still linger about the O-Line holding up against an NFL Caliber team. Luckily for the Packers, they don't play an NFL-Caliber team on Sunday and they are playing the Browns instead. On a random note, when I hear the words Cleveland Brown(s) together It reminds me of The Cleveland Show....the theme song for this show has been in my head for the last couple weeks.

Packers 28 Browns 7

Tier II: Best Games of the week:

Vikings 6-0 vs. Steelers 4-2

The Vikings continue to find new ways to win (on the bright side 10 more games plus the playoffs for them to find a way to not win the SuperBowl) are facing the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers. The Vikings lucked out last week......their luck runs out Sunday.

Steelers 35 Vikings 28

Bears 3-2 vs. Bengals 4-2

One of the more under-rated games of the week. The Bears have found a groove with Jay Cutler at QB. The Bengals may not be the best team but they're definitely not boring. Plus, the game gives Cedric Benson gets a shot at redemption by having a big-game against his former team.

Bengals 21 Bears 20

Falcons 4-1 vs. Cowboys 3-2

The Falcons are coming off a couple of strong wins. The Cowboys are one of those teams where I'm on the fence regarding how legit of a team they are. The Falcons are playing too well to lose these days.

Falcons 24 Cowboys 20

Tier III: Worth at least checking out

49ers 3-2 vs. Texans 3-3

It should be interesting how the 49ers offense will play with Crabtree in the mix. The 49ers are clinging to the lead in a weak NFC West. The Texans bounce between being good and terrible on a weekly basis. They seem to have trouble getting over .500. I see this trend continuing as the Niners get a boost with Crabtree in the lineup.

49ers 27 Texans 14

Cardinals 3-2 vs. Giants 5-1

The Cardinals seem to be bouncing back from a bad start. However, they picked a bad week to face the Giants. The Giants are a much better team than the Saints made them look like and I see them taking their frustration out on the Cardinals.

Giants 45 Cardinals 31

IV: Close Games......Bad Teams

Jets 3-3 vs. Raiders 2-4

The Jets 3-0 start looks like a bigger mirage and fraud with each passing week. The Jets couldn't beat an atrocious Bills team. The Raiders somehow won last week against the Eagles. This game has a legit chance of being even more poorly played than the Bills-Browns game a couple weeks back. The Raiders get a slight momentum boost since their coach isn't headed to Napa County Jail.

Bills 2-4 vs. Panthers 2-3

The Bills are coming off a good win versus the Jets. The Panthers are riding a 2-game winning streak. Still, i'm not sold on either team actually being good. The Panthers win by default since they're slightly less horrible than the Bills.

Panthers 14 Bills 10

Eagles 3-2 vs. Redskins 2-4

The Eagles are coming off a bad loss to the Raiders. The good news for the Eagles is they get to play a Redskins team that is horrible (even against bad teams).

Eagles 21 Redskins 6

Tier V: The BlowOuts

Chargers 2-3 vs. Chiefs 1-5

Well its week 7 which is that time of the year when the Chargers start taking the season seriously. The Chiefs are coming off a win against the Redskins.....which doesn't say much. While the Chargers may be 2-3 they are too good to even almost lose this game.

Chargers 35 Chiefs 3

Saints 5-0 vs. Dolphins 2-3

The Saints passed their test against the Giants with flying colors. The Dolphins are coming off a bye week and a thrilling Monday Night win against the Jets. The Dolphins aren't that bad of a team but the way the Saints are destroying everything in their path, they have no chance.

Saints 56 Dolphins 24

Patriots 4-2 Buccaneers 0-6

Unlike some teams (Redskins...cough....cough) the Patriots take care of business against winless teams. Luckily for them, that is exactly what they get this week against Tampa. Raheem Morris will have to wait another week to get his first win.

Patriots 45 Buccaneers 10

Colts 5-0 vs. Rams 0-6

The Colts have gotten to 5-0 as quietly and business-like as possible. At this point, its almost expected the Colts can be penciled in for a playoff spot. A team as talented as the Rams should probably be playing in the UFL.

Colts 70 Rams 0

Raiders 2 Jets 0

Top 10 Sports Cities---Not Top 10 Aspects

Recently, Forbes Magazine wrote an article with their top-10 list of hottest sports cities.

Well, I decided to twist things around a little bit and give a sarcastic take on some of these top cities not top 10 sports elements/moments/whatever comes to mind/etc.

# 10 San Diego

Out of the cities listed on here this one surprised me the most. The Chargers sleepwalk through a month hoping to squeak into the playoffs (works better when everyone else is .500 or worse) and they have the Padres (beyond Adrian Gonzales and Heath Bell....nothing special there)........losing 85+ games a year and David Eckstein......so not top 10

# 9 Chicago

I admit i'm biased on this one as many of my least favorite teams play in Chicago. I'd go with 101 years of no World Series titles but deflecting the blame on billy goats and scapegoating a die-hard fans who instinctively reach for foul balls.

# 8 Indianapolis

Nothing against Peyton Manning personally but he's in way too many TV Commercials but its all good as long as he keeps my fantasy team competitive

# 7 Detroit

Tigers inability to hold a 3-game lead with 4 games left......The Matt Millen Era.........Making 0-16 a reality.......its all good because the Lions being in the NFC North gives the Packers a couple easy wins per season

# 6 Pittsburgh

Its crazy to think that despite being 26 years old, the Pirates haven't had a winning season since I was in 4th grade.

# 5 Dallas

Tony Romo, The Cowboys in General, The irony of spending boatloads of cash on a stadium but placing the scoreboard so low that punted footballs hit it on a regular basis......

#4 Philadelphia

Booing Santa Claus....seriously Santa Claus.......can't hate on Philly sports too much since Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia did an episode where the gang tries out for the Eagles....it was funny

# 3 New York

The Mets opening their new stadium with a thud....The fact that the Yankees are one win away from sucessfully completing their purchase of the AL Championship......The Knicks.......Letting Isiah Thomas be a GM

# 2 Los Angeles

LA........Number 2? They'll support teams....if its cool. The Clippers playing to half-empty arenas. Dodger fans arriving in the 3rd, leaving in the 7th. This brings me back to a couple weeks ago: I was watching Game 2 of the NLDS the Franklin/Holliday game....it was the bottom of the 9th inning they showed the stadium attendees... the first thing that comes to my mind is i've never seen Dodger Stadium that full ever (let alone that late in the game)

# 1 Boston

I was going to mention the Titans play against New England on Sunday....but that doesn't apply to the criteria for the posting.

One thing thats sort of bugs me is why does Boston College call itself Boston College? This would imply that the campus is in Boston....but according to the all-knowing Wikipedia its in Chestnut Hill........is there a reason they went the BC method for naming?

The Thursday Morning Rundown

What Sports-Related stuff is running through my mind this morning

Phillies are going back to the World Series

After losing Game 4 with 2 out in the 9th, the Dodgers pretty much went through the motions in last nights loss to the Dodgers. With the exception of a failed rally in the 8th, the Dodgers just didn't seem to interested in the game. For the second straight year, the Dodgers fall short of getting to the World Series. For the 20th straight year we don't get to see their fans leave a World Series game in the 7th inning.

For the Phillies, they get a chance to be the first team since the 1998-2000 Yankees to be repeat World Series Winners. For now, the Phils play the waiting game to see whether they match up against New York or Earth of North America of Los Angeles of Anaheim.

On a personal note, i'm wondering if the Phillies win enough World Series, whether the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will make an episode where they try to capitalize on their championship.........even if they don't its all good as long as the show remains hilarious.

Speaking of the ALCS....it could be ending tonight

The Angels have their backs to the wall and are in danger of having their season come to an end. The Angels have at least shown the resiliency to bounce back from close losses. I'm not saying that the Angels will necessarily win but at least they're going to show up

ESPN Gone Wild

So, yesterday morning the story regarding Steve Phillips' affair with Brooke Hundley broke and went viral. Normally, I wouldn't give a TMZ-esque situation like this the time of the day (i'm not Joe Buck...I actually like sports better than TMZ.com) but for some reason I have a strange fascination with this story.......the rational side of me says this is one of the biggest non-stories ever........the other side of me just can't get enough of this breaking scandal. I don't know whether its rooted in things I don't like about ESPN or what but either way this story has taken on a life of its own. Either way it should be interesting how this story unravels (but probably not in a good way)

The Wednesday Morning Rundown

Alright, I haven't posted anything in the last couple days but that doesn't mean I don't have an opinion on whats gone on the last couple days........

This continues to be the post-season of blown saves

On Monday night the Dodgers and Phillies played an exciting game that went back and forth. For most of the game, it looked like the Dodgers had an edge.....then they brought in Jonathan Broxton to attempt to close things out. Things didn't quite go as planned as he gave up a game-losing hit to Jimmy Rollins. Instead of a potential classic series tied up at 2 all....we appear headed towards another one-sided playoff series. Also, the Broxton blown save has an ironic twist. That being out of all the closers who have imploded in the post-season, none of them have been the closer that seemed destined to pitch his team out of the playoffs (Brad Lidge).

A-Rod isn't the only Yankee making strides towards shedding a bad post-season reputation

Prior to 2009, C.C. Sabathia's one blemish to his fine career was a less than stellar post-season body of work. He struggled with this when he pitched for the Indians in the '07 post-season ( it feels like its been way longer than two years since the Indians almost made the world series) plus a bad start for the Brewers last year (NOT his fault by the way....he was on 3 days rest for two weeks straight at that point) but point being he wasn't a proven post-season winner.

That seems to be changing. He has owned the Angels in the ALCS, pretty much giving them no chance to win in either of his starts.....as much as I don't like the Yankees, i'm glad to see Sabathia shed the only blemish on his reputation.....even though the post-season thing didn't work out last year....Sabathia is still one of my favorite players since he made it possible for me to see the Brewers make the playoffs in my lifetime

Will Josh McDaniels ever lose a game as head coach?

Every year teams randomly become terrible out of nowhere (Titans) and teams become great out of nowhere. If things keep going as they are, the Broncos seem destined to be one of those teams. This continued as the Broncos got a strong special teams effort and just enough from Kyle Orton to beat the Chargers. When the season started, it was debatable whether the Broncos would win six games all year, well they got that done in six games. It took me awhile to come around on them as a legit contender but Josh McDaniels seems to have a pulse on getting the most out of his team (even if he hurt Jay Cutler's feelings in the process).

What sticks out to me for today:

Game 5 of the NLCS--Can the Dodgers make the most out of their last chance to keep 2009 alive or do the Phillies make my NLCS prediction come true by winning in 5 games.

Lots of stuff to talk about.....some NFL, some BCS, some Playoffs?!

Alright, so Saturday was a pretty busy sports day where the Angels-Yankees game overshadowed a pretty good slate of college football games. Today was a strong follow up to yesterday but with no one particular event overshadowing the crowd......my observations from the day in sports

The Saints can and will beat anyone in the league

Going into today, the one non-Packers game that I anticipated the most was the Giants-Saints game. Both teams were undefeated and the upper-hand in the NFC was at hand. The Saints ended up winning the game 48-27. The final score does not do service to how one-sided this affair was. Dree Brews and Marques Colston had their way with the Giants defense. It is scary how good the Saints are with their high-octane offense complemented by a competent defense. At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if the Saints go marching to their first Super Bowl this year.

The Vikings have got to lose at some point.......

The Vikings were thiiiissss close to choking in the 4th quarter against the Ravens. The Vikings D had a bad breakdown in the 4th allowing the Ravens to get back into the game. Joe Flacco had an excellent game and deserved to win this one. If only their kicker would have made the last-second field goal. Still, there is no way Favre keeps up his strong performance this year.....they've narrowly escaped defeat twice and their defense hasn't exactly been top-shelf.

The First BCS Standings are out.....

The top 3 are Florida-Alabama-Texas as expected. While the voters are stretching to place less deserving one-loss teams to pass Boise State on a weekly basis (USC replacing Virginia Tech in this regard)....I was glad to see Boise State being 4th in the BCS standings.....they were dropped to 6th in the AP despite winning their game last week......seriously if two of the top 3 lose, Boise stays undefeated but Boise gets passed up by a 1-loss team...that will only escalate the calls for a playoff.......weak conference or not...if a non-BCS team is one of two teams to run the table they at least deserve a chance to prove they are worthy of winning a national championship....

Whatever dignity the Titans had left is gone....

The first few weeks of the season the Titans were 0-3 but they were at least competitive in their losses. The last couple weeks, things had gotten progressively worse. Today, they bottomed out. I didn't know it was physically impossible to give up 5 touchdowns in a quarter in an NFL game but the Titans proved it was possible today. This is the thing you normally see when Florida schedules some cupcake 1-AA team...........seriously, when I saw that New England went up 45-0 scrolling across the bottom of my tv....I pretty much did a double take.....this goes to prove that any given year a team can go from 13-wins to a laughing stock and vice versa.....

At least today...the Dodgers weaker pitching staff is coming back to bite them

When I previewed the Dodgers-Phillies NLCS series, the one thing that stuck out to me is the discrepancy between pitching staffs. The Dodgers had been getting by on Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla, etc. However, when your facing Cliff Lee in the playoffs, you can only go so far. The Dodgers started Hiroki Kuroda started and abruptly got rocked for 6 runs in 1 1/3 innings....as a result, the Dodgers have had no realistic shot to go up 2-1 in the NLCS...that combined with the Dodgers offense no-showing leaves the Phils up 8-0 in the 8th and the Dodgers moving one-step closer to having their season ended by the Phils.........

What is it with NFC teams losing to the laughingstocks of the NFL

This is something the Redskins have turned into an art-form. They have found ways to lose to the Chiefs, Lions and Panthers.........not exactly the most imposing schedule. But their divisional rival Eagles one-upped them this week by losing to the Raiders. The Raiders haven't shown this much fight since Tom Cable confronted his assistant in the pre-season. The Eagles may still have a winning record at 3-2 but any team that loses to the Raiders can NOT be taken seriously and from here I see the Eagles joining the Redskins in irrelevancy this year......and for the Redskins, their bad loss puts Jim Zorn one step closer to getting fired........

13 Innings and an error

Well, today was a busy day in the sports world.......There was a lot of college football....Ohio State flops against an inferior Purdue team....Oklahoma loses again...V.Tech loses....Florida squeaks out a victory...and a bunch of other teams played college football.....on most given Saturdays this college football would be at the fore front of my attention

However, the main thing I will pull from today is the thrilling 13-inning epic that the Angels and Yankees had on stage tonight. The Angels needed to win tonights game after a flat and uninspiring performance in Game 1. This game had the feel of an instant classic, even before going to extra innings. The main things I noticed in extras were as follows:

As questionable as the umpiring has been, at least it didn't cost anyone the Game.

In the 10th inning, Erick Aybar thought he was on the front end of a double play that would leave the bases empty with 2 gone, instead the umpire called him for being off the bag (a play where the out should have been given to the Angels)...luckily the Angels were able to get out of the inning and this game was able to be settled on the field.

We're one step closer to people not discussing how un-clutch A-Rod is:

Alright, i'm not exactly a fan of A-Rod. I don't know whether its the salary, his arrogance, the team he plays for, he just rubs me the wrong way. That said, he is one of the greatest (if not) the greatest hitter of this generation. Also, he has gotten a lot of flak for being a bad post-season hitter. Granted his post-season body of work isn't as impressive as what hes done during the regular season but its not like he turns into David Eckstein.

Tonight, he follows up a strong start to the post-season by hitting a game-tying homer in the 11th and keeping the Yankees chances of going up 2-0 alive.

Speaking of that home run, whats up with all these blown saves?

Also, the Angels probably wish they still had K-Rod after the events of the 11th inning. I haven't been sold on Brian Fuentes as an elite closer and tonights game doesn't help his case at all. Instead of going into LA of Anaheim with a tied series, A-Rods home run kept this game going for a couple extra innings. If there is one theme from this post-season (besides the atrocious umpiring) its closers blowing games for their teams.........

Offense wins games, Defense wins championships, bad defense loses games

As great as this game was, it did seemed like a minor shame to see this game lost on a botched double-play attempt. Maicer Izturis tried to play hero by turning a double-play on a sharply hit ground ball. Even if he went the safe route and threw to first, worse case scenario is runners in scoring position 2 outs and a chance to force a 14th inning. Instead Izturis makes a sloppy through that Erick Aybar is unable to field and 5-plus hours of baseball comes to an end.

While I would have preferred for this game to end on a clean hit (or a Yankees loss)....at the end of the day, this game is an instant classic and one that we'll be talking about for a while. And to think this game seemed like it was going to be rained out as recently as yesterday.

NFL Week 6 Preview

Well....the weekend is here and time to look ahead to Sunday's action. Thankfully we have a better slate of games this week than last week. Anyways, let the games begin......

Tier I: Cheesehead Tier

Packers 2-2 vs. Lions 1-4

The Packers come out of their bye week and face their NFC North rival Lions. The Packers have had a couple weeks to recover from a rough Monday Night Loss against the Vikings. Hopefully, the offensive line bounces back and improves from their early season play. Honestly, I could see anything between a repeat of 6-10 and a NFC North title and a strong playoff run. The Packers have the talent but it comes down to whether or not Aaron Rodgers can be adequately protected.

The Lions while still a bad team, have moved in the right direction this year. I have some concern the Packers may look past this game but even with the Packers struggles, they are too talented of a team to lose to Detroit.

Packers 28 Lions 17

Tier II: Best Games of the Week

Giants 5-0 vs. Saints 4-0

Easily, the best game of the week. In this possible NFC Championship Game Preview, The Giants come in firing on all cylinders after beating the UFL-Caliber Oakland Raiders. The Saints are coming off a bye week and a win over the Jets where their defense stepped up.

This one is a close call but Drew Brees has been his unstoppable self and the Saints have improved enough on defense to beat anyone on any given Sunday.

Saints 35 Giants 28

Ravens 3-2 vs. Vikings 5-0

The Ravens are coming into an unexpectedly difficult part of their schedule as the teams they play in the next three weeks (Vikings, Broncos and Bengals) are a combined 14-1.

The Vikings have played much better as expected due to the quick start to Brett Favre's second un-retirement. Brett Favre is bound to have a clunker game sooner or later and the Ravens will be playing with a chip on their shoulder after being clipped by the Bengals. I think that bad game happens Sunday and the Ravens hand the Vikings their first loss.

Ravens 17 Vikings 10

Tier III: Worth at least checking out

Bears 3-1 vs. Falcons 3-1

A pretty compelling Sunday Night Match-up. Jay Cutler gets a chance to redeem himself from his glorious 4-interception Sunday Night game in Green Bay. He has been red hot since Week 1.

The Falcons have started '09 strong and coming off a complete decimation of a solid 49ers team. These teams are pretty evenly matched but the Falcons are playing at a higher level right now.

Falcons 31 Bears 21

Cardinals 2-2 vs. Seahawks 2-3

Winner of this game grabs second in the NFC West. If the Cards win, they will be tied for 1st, if the Seahawks win, they will be within 1/2 game of first [Niners are in a bye week].

The Cardinals won last week but in a an uninspiring way. They blew a 3-touchdown lead but pulled the game out in the end. The Hawks played over their heads and put on a clinic against the Jags.

This game could easily go either way. I'm not quite sold on the Cardinals as a playoff-caliber team and the Seahawks haven't been that great either. The Seahawks carry just enough momentum from last week to pull this game out.

Seahawks 28 Cardinals 24

Texans 2-3 vs. Bengals 4-1

Both of these teams were in close games last week but had varying results. As mentioned, the Texans comeback bad fell short against the Cardinals. The Bengals, found another way to win a game. Its crazy to think that the Bengals are one tipped pass away from being 5-0. On a talent basis, i'm not sold on the Bengals because well, they're the Bengals. On a team-oriented standpoint, i'm starting to come around a little bit as they've shown an ability to get points on the board when it matters the most. This trend continues next week.

Bengals 17 Texans 14 (OT)

Tier IV: Two Mediocre/Bad Teams = Close Games By Default

Panthers 1-3 vs. Buccaneers 0-5

The Panthers became the second bottom-dweller team to get their first win over the Redskins last week. The Buccaneers have played themselves further into irrelevancy by the week. Both of these teams are terrible but the Panthers are at a lower level of atrociousness.

Panthers 9 Buccaneers 3

Chiefs 0-5 vs. Redskins 2-3

The Chiefs have yet to win a game in the Matt Cassel era. The Chiefs have been so terrible that they lost to the Raiders......they're not even good enough to win in the UFL but I digress. The Redskins should be 4-1 since they have played the NFL equivalent to a cupcake schedule. Seriously, the off-field drama of when Jim Zorn is going to be fired is more interesting than the product that they put on the field. Even though the Redskins are going to play terrible on Sunday, they're playing a team that lost to the Raiders.

Redskins 13 Chiefs 7

Rams 0-5 vs. Jaguars 2-3

The Rams are another team that's done nothing newsworthy on the field but are getting more attention for whats going on off-field. The Jaguars are an inconsistent team with a coach that is probably not gonna last beyond the season. Still, they at least have some talent which is more than what can be said about the rams.

Jaguars 20 Rams 10

Tier V: The Lopsided Games

Browns 1-4 vs. Steelers 3-2

If there ever is a place for asterisks in the sports record book, it should be on the Browns win last week against the Steelers. It looks like another week of Derek Anderson for the Browns. Considering their back-up (but not as atrocious QB Brady Quinn has his house for sale and trade rumors surrounding him) it looks like its gonna be a long year for the Browns.

For Big Ben and the Steelers, this game is pretty much going to be a scrimmage.

Steelers 38 Browns 0

Jets 3-2 Bills 1-4

The Jets have struggled a bit the last couple weeks losing to New Orleans and losing to the Dolphins in the last-second. The Bills were on the losing end of one of THE worst regular season NFL games in recent memory.

The Jets may be struggling but they have one thing going for them, they are not the Bills.

Jets 31 Bills 3

Titans 0-5 vs. Patriots 3-2

Well, the wheels have completely fallen off the wagon for the Titans. When the season started, this looked like it was going to be a really good match-up. Then the '09 season started and the Titans lost games left and right. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Titans bounce back strong next year but for '09 their season is pretty much over.

The Patriots are coming off a tough OT loss to the Broncos. Still, i'm sold on the Pats as a legit play-off contender and they should bounce back strong on Sunday.

Patriots 24 Titans 7

Eagles 3-1 vs. Raiders 1-4

The Eagles are off to a strong start this year. Unlike the Redskins, they have been able to take advantage of the cupcakes in their schedule. The Raiders........well they might be good again....in 2023.

Its too early to tell if Philly is going to make a deep playoff run (they got blown out against their only tough opponent, New Orleans)..but they take care of business against the laughing stocks of the league.

Eagles 52 Raiders 10

ALCS Preview...Angels/Yankees

Another night.....another LCS preview....a much needed diversion from the sloppy Arkansas St.-UL Monroe.. game i'm watching on ESPN2.....there's been almost as many penalties than you see in an Oakland Raiders game....but the sloppiness of the Sun Belt Conference is another topic for another day.....anyways my take on the ALCS is as follows:

Catcher

Jorge Posada vs. Mike Napoli

Advantage: Yankees

First Base

Mark Teixeira vs. Kendry Morales

Advantage: Yankees

Second Base

Robinson Cano vs. Howie Kendrick

Advantage: Yankees

Shortstop

Derek Jeter vs. Erick Aybar

Advantage: Yankees

Third Base

Alex Rodriguez vs. Chone Figgins

Advantage: Yankees

Left Field

Johnny Damon vs. Juan Rivera

Advantage: Yankees

Center Field

Melky Cabrera vs. Torii Hunter

Advantage: Angels

Right Field

Nick Swisher vs. Bobby Abreu

Advantage: Yankees

Designated Hitter

Hideki Matsui vs. Vladimir Guerrero

Advantage: Yankees

Starting Rotation

CC Sabathia

A. J. Burnett
Andy Pettite

vs.

Jered Weaver

John Lackey

Scott Kazmir

Joe Saunders

Advantage: Yankees

Bullpen

Mariano Rivera

Philip Hughes

Phil Coke

vs.

Brian Fuentes

Darren Oliver

Jason Bulger

Advantage: Yankees

X Factor: Angels

Final Tally: Yankees 10 Angels 2

Do I want the Yankees to win and advance to the World Series? Do I think they are going to advance to the World Series? Yes. The only real major advantage the Angels have on the Yankees is history. They are the only team to have a winning record since 1996. In addition, the Angels have ended the Yankees season of '02 and '05 helping extend their World Series drought to an oh so excruciating 9 years.

However, looking at the starting line-ups, the Yankees are pretty loaded. While the short right-field porch has helped them, so has their ever-expanding payroll. They are stronger at every offensive position, with the exception of Center Field. The only Angels pitcher i'm sold on is Weaver and despite Fuentes getting through the ALDS without blowing any saves, i'm not sold on Fuentes getting through the post-season without squandering an opportunity for the Angels to win.

Prediction: Yankees in 4

NLCS Preview Phillies-Dodgers

One shocking thing about the NL playoffs is that two closers helped pitch their team out of wins and out of the playoffs and none of them were Brad Lidge. Well....we got what we have last year, a rematch of the'08 NLCS.....what looked to be a possibly thrilling divisional series set was anti-climatic as 3 series were sweeps and the 4th one was deciding in 4 games....with that on to the NLCS Match-up...since I broke down the players seasons in prior posts, i'm going to list the match-ups and advantages up top and then explain my general thinking below the match-ups.

Catcher:

Russell Martin vs. Carlos Ruiz

Advantage: Phillies

First Base:

James Loney vs. Ryan Howard

Advantage: Phillies

Second Base

Orlando Hudson vs. Chase Utley

Advantage: Phillies

Shortstop

Rafael Furcal vs. Jimmy Rollins

Advantage: Phillies

Third Base

Casey Blake vs. Pedro Feliz

Advantage: Dodgers

Left Field

Manny Ramirez vs. Raul Ibanez

Advantage: Dodgers

Center Field

Matt Kemp vs. Shane Victorino

Advantage: Dodgers

Right Field

Andre Ethier vs. Jayson Werth

Advantage: Phillies

Starting Rotation:

Randy Wolf

Clayton Kershaw

Vicente Padilla

Jon Garland

vs.

Cliff Lee

Cole Hamels

Joe Blanton

Pedro Martinez

J.A. Happ

Advantage: Phillies

Bullpen:

Jonathan Broxton

Ramon Troncoso

Ronald Belisario

vs.

Brad Lidge

Ryan Madson

Clay Condrey

Advantage: Dodgers

X Factor: Phillies

The Phillies have a strong edge on the majority of the infield (third base being the exception)...the Dodgers are stronger in the outfield. Ethier vs. Werth was pretty much a push at right field.....Werth got the nod due to having a better body of post-season work. While the Dodgers starting pitchers were strong vs. St. Louis....I have doubts about a rotation headed by Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla being able to win every series. While Brad Lidge had a strong NLDS....i'm not quite sold that he can hold up his strong performance through the NLDS and World Series......The Phillies got the X Factor due to a) experience.....when these two matched up last year, the Phillies sent Manny-Wood home for the winter b) The Phillies late season acquisition Cliff Lee has more potential to carry a team through the playoffs than the Dodgers main pick-up (Vicente Padilla). I've learned my lesson from the Divisional Series and that any hope of these playoff series going 7 games just isn't happening....but the Phillies getting a chance to repeat is likely to happen

Phillies in 5

Outsmarting the experts and why I would vote Chris Carpenter for the Cy Young Award

This is the second (in a yet to be determined amount of columns) where I use logic and reason to outsmart Joe Morgan. This time, instead of taking a broad brush the focus is going to be on the NL Cy Young Race. During his chat last Tuesday, the following question was posed:

Steve (Middletown, CT)

Who is your NL CY Young winner?

Joe Morgan

(11:17 AM)

I would give it to Wainwright, but there are a lot of people that believe that Carpenter deserves it. Wainwright pitched more innings, he was there the whole year. Carpenter had the injury. Wainwright led the league in wins and had more innings than Lincecum and Carpenter. ERA and strikeouts don't impress me as much as wins do. The name of the game is to win.

Admittedly, the Cy Young Award race is close and all 3 of the pitchers mentioned (Wainwright, Lincecum and Carpenter) have pretty strong cases. The problem I have is the way he reaches his conclusion.....i'll breakdown the segments and then mention why I would vote for Carpenter

a) Wainwright pitched more innings, he was there the whole year

Fair enough. Wainwright did lead the NL in innings pitched but didn't necessarily leave his Cy Young competition in the dust. Wainwright had 233, Lincecum 225 1/3 and Carpenter 192 2/3, all three have a long body of work and pitched more than enough innings to contend for the lead in rate statistics (ERA, SO/9, WHIP, etc.)

Using innings pitched for Cy Young Criteria isn't the best logic. For example, Bronson Arroyo was 4th in innings pitched with 220 1/3, but it would be absolutely absurd to vote for him and his 15-13 3.84 era 115 ERA+ season for a Cy Young Award over a more deserving candidate such as Carpenter on this basis.

b) Carpenter had the injury

Alright, he was injured but he only missed about a month. Granted this doesn't help his case but it isn't an automatic dis-qualifier. Still, Carpenter was very dominant and was healthy in the June/July part of the season when the NL Central was close and needed him to step up (which he did). Also, Lincecum only gets a passing mention here and he didn't even lose time to injury.

c) Wainwright led the league in Wins

That's nice...the Cy Young Award is around for the purpose of recognizing the best pitcher. While being a superior pitcher generally leads to more wins, that is not always the case. On a theoretical basis, pitcher A pitches 5 innings gives up 6 runs, leaves with a 10-6 lead which his bullpen holds on to and gets the win. Pitcher B pitches a gem throws 8 shutout innings but gets no run support and gets a no-decision or loss. Is pitcher A a better pitcher because he got the win? no.........while this is one start and a small sample size it does illustrate that having more wins doesn't make one a better pitcher

In a world where wins was used as the criterion for Cy Young voting....a league average pitcher like Jorge de la Rosa 16-9 4.38 era 103 ERA+ would be in this Cy Young discussion while Tim Lincecum's much better 15-win season would be ignored....obviously most people see through the absurdity of the win-total statistic and thankfully no one is dumb enough to vouch for de la Rosa winning a Cy Young for this reason.

To further demonstrate the absurdity of win-loss totals, i'll use my Brewers as an example. Braden Looper (1/2 of the two-headed monster i've named Jaden Loopan) led the Brewers in wins with 14. Was he the best Brewers pitcher this year? Would anyone be dumb enough to argue this? No and I really hope not. Looper gave up a ridiculous amount of home runs but also had a ridiculous amount of run support.

In comparison, Yovani Gallardo had a much better season, was the ace of the staff and ended up with a record of 13-12. Anyone with half a brain would realize that Gallardo is a much better pitcher than Looper and the differences in win-loss records had a lot more to do with one pitcher getting much better run support than anything else........a vote based on win totals could lead to a Looper-esque pitcher being backed for Cy Young Award and that is a scary notion.

d) ERA and Strikeouts don't impress me as much as wins do

Since I just finished a very long-winded rant about the weakness of the win stati'll focus on the ERA part of the argument. Since I don't necessarily hold high batter strikeouts against a player if they are productive hitters otherwise (i.e. Adam Dunn/Mark Reynolds) i'm going to divert my argument towards the ERA side.

While ERA isn't a perfect stat, it does a much better job of measuring pitching effectiveness than wins. It does cut pitchers some slack in some cases such as if they give up a big hit after an error for example but there are worse stats (Wins)....but it gives a reasonable portrayal of how good or bad a pitcher is

Carpenter 2.24

Lincecum 2.48

Wainwright 2.62

Also, even though he hasn't been in the Cy Young discussion at all (due to bad luck in W-L column) i'd like to recognize Jair Jurrgens for having an excellent season and having a better ERA than Wainwright.....he had to work much more for his 14-win season than Braden Looper and Carl Pavano had to work for theirs.

Personally, I depend more on the ERA+ statistic as a better metric and to give context to where these pitchers rank within the league (Carpenter 185+, Lincecum 173+, Wainwright 158 ERA+)........to wrap around to the initial argument, why do I mention these numbers.....well because the object of the Cy Young Award is to recognize the best pitcher and the ERA stats are able to give us a quick and dirty measurement of who pitched better, pitcher A, pitcher B or pitcher C

e) If I had a Vote for the Cy Young Award I would vote in this order and because:

1) Chris Carpenter-By every measurable metric, he has the most well-rounded and dominant body of work....the missed starts weaken his case but it only makes the race closer....but not cost him the award

2) Tim Lincecum- Lincecum is a beast, a freak of nature (in a good way) and one of the most exciting players to watch. If the season had ended in August I may have been swayed to place him #1. However he has two flaws in his body of work which drop him to second. First, he didn't quite measure up statistically to Carpenter. Second, even if he did what he did with the season on the line would have been used as a tie-breaker that he would have lost. He had a bad month (by his standards) a 3.38 era in September and most importantly got rocked in a crucial game against LA on the 20th 5 ER in 4 innings when the Giants were playing for their playoff lives. Carpenter on the other hand, was unbeatable in July (when St. Louis was fighting for NL Central Supremacy) and in August (when they were pulling away).

3) Adam Wainwright- I know it may sound like i'm being critical of him in this article. But he had an amazing season and a strong breakout year. Carpenter's and Lincecum's seasons were just better.

First Impressions of This Years Playoffs

Alright, so the first three days of this years playoffs are in the books....while 3 of the 4 series have teams leading 2-0, the games have been more compelling than this may indicate....my impressions form

Rockies v. Phillies

Well, like most sequels, Rocktober II got off to a lack-luster start. The Phils have already done better in this version than they original as they've actually won a game this time. The weird thing is that while this is the only tied up series...this is the series that I haven't gotten the least into

Cardinals v. Dodgers

Prior to the series, I argued that the Dodgers would win this series due to having a better-rounded team. I also mentioned that while the Dodgers have several players who could step up on any given day...the Cardinals are revolved mostly around Carpenter, Wainwright, Holliday and Pujols.

This series isn't even over and the Cardinals have been hurt by 2 of these players not playing up to their regular season performance. Chris Carpenter did has non-stepping up on a more subtle level as he got out-pitched by Randy Wolf of all people.

Then there is Matt Holliday. Thursday started off well for him with him hitting a home run early on. However, thats not what people are going to remember. He's obviously going to be remembered for his missed opportunity to grab the final out of the game (plus getting hit in the groin with the baseball---usually you have to watch MTV for something like that...and the impending collapse that occurred afterwards.

While Holliday obviously made a crucial error, he definitely can't be blamed entirely for the loss. After this error the Cards were up 2-1 with a runner on base and 2 outs. I get the vibe that the defensive gaffe will cover-up the very non-clutch performance of Ryan Franklin.....its not like he gave up the game-tying/losing hits to the meat of the line-up...he blew this game against two players who did time on some bad Brewers teams in the late 90s (Ron Belliard and Mark Loretta).

Twins vs. Yankees

Todays match-up was a lost opportunity for the Twins. They were up 3-1 on a couple late RBI singles. A normally clutch Joe Nathan blows the game on the biggest stage.....can't capitalize on loading the bases with 0 outs and left 17 men on base...........14 of those potential runners that could have let them win this game......there are some things you can blame on payroll discrepancies...Game 2 is not one of them.........if this didn't ruin the Twins morale...the walk-off home run from Mark Teixeira pretty much finished off the job

Angels vs. Red Sox

Well, the Angels are one win away from beating the Red Sox for the first time in a playoff series. Whether they follow through on this is yet to be seen. They have to travel east to Fenway Park so anything can happen here. For what its worth out of the 4 times a team has come down 2-0 in the ALDS...the Red Sox have been the team to come back two of those times ('99 vs. Cleveland and '03 vs. Oakland)

Still, to pull this off (or win a game) they need to get their offense going. Scoring 1 run in 2 games is not a good things.

For a while this game looked like it was going to be more epic than the preceding Twins/Yankees game. Josh Beckett and Jered Weaver went blow for blow until the 7th inning until the Angels broke through for a 3-run inning.

On a misc. note, this series has allowed C.B. Bucknor has gotten his 15 minutes of shame. How hes umpring in the playoffs is beyond me. His work has been bad enough to have various edits made to his wikipedia page.

Well thats my gut reaction to the first few days of the playoffs......can't wait to see how the rest of this plays out.

NFL Week 5 Preview

Well, another week of Football is upon us and another weekend of exciting match-ups are on tap.

As usual the games are rated on a 5-tier system as follows:

Tier 1: Packers Game

Tier 2: Best Match-Ups of the Week

Tier 3: Worth at least checking out

Tier 4: Close games....but because both teams aren't good

Tier 5: Blowouts....one-sided snoozers

Tier 1: The Packers are on their bye week so off to the next tier

Tier 2:

Patriots 3-1 vs. Broncos 4-0

Hands down the game of the week. You have two teams fighting for AFC Supremacy. One team, New England that is looking to maintain their grip at the top of the AFC food pyramid. The Broncos are 4-0 and fighting for respect. I'm starting to come around on them as at least a playoff team but I still don't think they have the fire power to make a deep run. Still, I didn't expect them to be 4-0 and there still is plenty of time to prove skeptics like me wrong.

Also, this is the first match-up since between the teams since McDaniels left his gig as the Patriots Offensive Coordinator to take the Denver head coaching job. The Broncos will probably come out motivated due to this but probably not enough to win.

Pats 24 Broncos 17

Bengals 3-1 vs. Ravens 3-1

An unexpected battle for AFC North supremacy. The Ravens will be playing with a chip on their shoulder after getting their first loss to the Pats. So far, they look to be one of the better teams in the league.

The Bengals keep finding ways to win games, even if it doesn't look pretty. The 3-1 record looks nice but considering they barely beat an atrocious Cleveland team...I don't see them squeezing their way to another win on Sunday.

Bengals 28 Bengals 17

Tier 3:

Jets 3-1 vs. Dolphins 1-3

Not the best Monday Night match-up. The Jets are coming off their first loss of the season and it should be interesting to see how Mark Sanchez bounces back after his first encounter with adversity.

The Dolphins have struggled this year and stuck with Chad Henne at QB. Still, they played strong against a good Indy team on Monday night already and I have a hunch they'll play over their heads a little bit for the ESPN crowd.

Jets 21 Dolphins 14

Falcons 2-1 vs. 49ers 3-1

A solid battle between former NFC West rivals. The Falcons are coming off their bye week as Matt Ryan looks to follow-up on his solid rookie year.

The 49ers see themselves as legit division contenders for the first time. They have wiped themselves clean of the Mike Nolan era and looked to turn around under Mike Singletary. The defense has looked strong, they had a great game last week in a game that was pretty much a lay-up.

49ers 17 Falcons 3

Jaguars 2-2 vs. Seahawks 1-3

As recently as a couple weeks ago, I thought the Jaguars would be playing for nothing more than a high draft pick. Those wins have come against a mediocre Houston team and an unlucky Titans team. Even though they have a chance to rack up their third straight win, i'm still not sold on them.

The Seahawks look to be going nowhere and are in a deeper hole. Theoretically, they could get back in it since they play in a weak NFC West. It probably won't happen but they'll probably pull out the victory here

Seahawks 27 Jaguars 14

Texans 2-2 vs. Cardinals 1-2

The Texans seem to be stuck in a constant loop where they hover around the .500 mark.

The Cardinals have lost that fire that got them to the Super Bowl. They appear headed to honor the tradition of many recent Super Bowl runner-ups by failing to make the playoffs.

Texans 35 Cardinals 24

Tier 4:

Steelers 2-2 vs. Lions 1-3

The defending champion Steelers have come out not as strong as expected.

The Lions while still terrible, seem to have improved after their first Matt Millen-free offseason. On an unrelated note, Matt Millen's body of work in Detroit makes it impossible for me to take anything he says as an announcer/analyst seriously since his ineptness made this team so terrible I had to force myself to even mildly dislike this NFC North rival.

Steelers 31 Lions 20

Buccaneers 0-4 vs. Eagles 2-1

The Buccaneers have crashed hard this year. They haven't looked this bad since around the early-90s. Firing Jon Gruden doesn't exactly look too smart in hindsight.

The Eagles are a team in flux. Things are in transition and they are still figuring out how (and if) they'll utilize Vick. Still with Tampa Bay in disarray the Eagles win this easily.

Eagles 14 Buccaneers 0

Redskins 2-2 vs. Panthers 0-3

The Redskins are not as good as their mediocre record indicates. They've had one tough game against the Giants and three straight weeks of bottom feeders. They'll likely finish in the bottom of the NFC East but they'll at least get above .500 first.

The Panthers seem to have carried over the negative momentum from last year's NFC Wild Card loss and seem to be headed nowhere. There is a faint hope for them cause c'mon....the Lions beat them and the Rams almost did so as well.....but it looks like they'll be sharing the bottom of the NFC South with Tampa Bay.

Redskins 10 Panthers 7

Cowboys 2-2 vs. Chiefs 0-4

It looks like Tony Romo's failure to come through in the clutch is popping its ugly head a couple months early this year.

The Chiefs seem to have gotten worse since firing Herm "You Play to win the Game" Edwards. So far, the Chiefs have failed to take heed of this advice.

Cowboys 24 Chiefs 10

Tier 5:

Colts 4-0 vs. Titans 0-4

At the beginning of the season, this looked like it was going to be the game of the week. The Colts have done their part cruising to a 4-0 start behind another excellent season from Peyton Manning.

The Titans on the other hand have unraveled very quickly. The first few weeks, it looked like they were just unlucky as they were losing close games. However, with last weeks unraveling against a weak Jacksonville team they are likely to be in a 0-5 hole after this weekend.

Colts 35 Titans 14

Vikings 4-0 vs. Rams 0-4

I've said whats been needed to be said about the Vikings. They're 4-0 and i'm not too crazy about this harsh reality.

The Rams.....well they're the Rams...they've made news more for off-field events (Rush Limbaugh considering buying the team) more than anything they've done on the field (absolutely nothing).

Vikings 38 Rams 7

Raiders 1-3 vs. Giants 4-0

Like the Rams, the main Raiders headlines have been off-field related. It looks like Tom Cable is close to losing his job AND proceeding directly to Napa County Jail without passing go and collecting a couple of bills.

The Giants seem to be rolling to another strong season. The Raiders pose absolutely zero challenge to the Giants.

Giants 49 Raiders 0

Browns 0-4 vs. Bills 1-3

The Browns gained themselves a moral victory last week by coming within second of tying the Bengals.

The Bills acquisition of T.O. to fire up the offense hasn't gone as planned. The Bills are headed to another non-playoff year but they'll walk all over the Browns.

Bills 31 Browns 14