'Bama Tops LSU in OT 20-13

Alabama escaped "Death Valley" with a 20-13 overtime win over LSU on Saturday.

It looked like the Tigers would win the game in regulation when they recovered a fumble by Alabama's T.J. Yeldon on the Alabama 6 yard line with 1:13 on the clock. LSU should have had 4 plays to punch it in from 6 yards out but offensive guard Vadal Alexander was called for unsportsmanlike conduct that moved the ball to the 21. LSU used up only 23 seconds of time before settling for a field goal and the 13-10 lead.

The ensuing kickoff went out of bounds giving Alabama the ball on their 35 yard line with 50 seconds to play in regulation. The Tide drove 55 yards in 47 seconds where Adam Griffith nailed a 27 yard field goal to tie the game.

Alabama took the ball 1st in overtime and scored on a 6 yard pass from Blake Sims to DeAndrew White. LSU threw 4 incomplete passes with their possession and Alabama had the 20-13 victory.

LSU falls to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC West while Alabama is now 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the SEC West.

With the Auburn loss to Texas A&M, Alabama should take the fourth spot in the CFP playoff with Oregon moving up to #3. Alabama has a game with Mississippi State coming up.

How does LSU get called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the opposing team's 6 yard line, after recovering a fumble, with 1:13 to go? How can LSU use up just 23 seconds with four plays to run? How can a Tiger defense that had held the Tide in Check all game give up 55 yards in 47 seconds? Why would LSU attempt 4 straight passes in OT when their quarterback was not having a good game? How does an LSU kickoff go out of bounds with just 50 seconds on the clock putting Alabama just 35 yards from field goal range?

These are some of the questions Les Miles will have to answer and Nick Saban should be thanking his lucky stars for.

Baseball Free Agency 2015

There are 165 official free agents following the 2014 major league baseball year.

Yahoo Sports writer, Jeff Passan has them ranked from #1 Max Scherzer, the Tigers ace, who reportedly wants a long term contract worth 200 Million Dollars to #165 Hiroyuki Nakajimi, of the A's, who hit .266 last year in Double A ball.

Some interesting players entering free agancy on Passan's list are, #134, Dan Uggla who will get $13 million from the Braves this year and possibly a World Series ring from the Giants. #120 Daisuke Matsuzaka...how fast does a shooting star fade? Ichiro Suzuki, in at #80. With two or so more good hitting years, Ichiro could reach 3,000 hits. Some team will need a 4th outfielder who can hit and still steal bases.

Read Jeff Passan's article here.

Worst Fielders In MLB for 2014 Season

Ryan Fagan, writing for The Sporting News online has a list of the worst fielders for this past season in major league baseball. He uses sabermetric terms such as UZR/150 and even DRS as a tie breaker. To be honest I don't have a clue as to what they really mean, nor do most of my readers I presume, but his article/slideshow is good.

Only three of the 10 fielders came from playoff teams with two of those from the Tigers. Torii Hunter made the list. Some of us remember Torii as the best fielding outfielder not too long ago.

Here's the list:

1B - Ike Davis, Pirates
2B - Jose Altuve, Astros
SS - Yunel Escobar, Rays
3B - Nick Castellanos, Tigers
LF - Domonic Brown Phillies
CF - Dexter Fowler, Astros
RF - Torii Hunter, Tigers
C - Travis d'Arnaud, Mets
SP - Phil Hughes, Twins
RP - Sam Dyson, Marlins

Be sure to check out Fagan's article/slideshow here.