Saturday, October 18, 2014

Gators "Swamped" by Missouri Tigers 42-13

The Florida Gators have not had 3 seasons in a row this bad since...well...since Spurrier left.

Read the ESPN article here and shake your head in wonder as most SEC fans are.

Tide "Rolls" over A&M 59-0

How does Nick Saban get the "no offense" monkey of the last two weeks off his back? How about shutting down Kenny "Trill" and the Texas A&M offense  while scoring 59 points on offense in the 59-0 rout of the Aggies.

Blake Sims was 16 of 27 passing for 268 yards and 3 touchdowns. Even alabama backup quarterback, Jake Coker was 5 for 8 for 36 yards and a TD.

The Tide rolled for 298 yards on the ground and 4 TDs. TJ Yeldon carried the ball 13 times for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Amari Cooper caught 8 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns.

The Alabama defense held the A&M offense to 172 yards on the day - total yards!

Read the ESPN article here.

D3 Coach Fastest to 100 Wins

Lance Leipold of Wisconsin-Whitewater became the fastest coach to 100 wins on Saturday. Coach Leipold is now 100-6 since taking over the Warhawks in 2007. He is also 29-1 in Division 3 playoffs.

Congratulayions Coach Leipold!

Read the ESPN story here.

NFL Predictions for Week 7

The ESPN staff has done their weekly predictions for Week 7 in the NFL. In the games this week that matter they predict the Cowboys to defeat the Giants and the Broncos to come out on top of the 49ers.

The problem with their predictions is that only two people are doing the prognosticating and if they split there's no concensus.

I will give you my predictions here and then link you to the ESPN article so that you might see for yourself what I mean.

Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers - This is easy, Packers 35-20
Atlanta Falcons at Baltimore Ravens - I look for the Falcons to upset Baltimore 21-17
Tennessee Titans at Washington Redskins - Titans win to get to .500  24-21
Seattle Seahawks at St. Louis Rams - Things don't get easier for Rams. Seahawks 31-10
Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars - Browns close 24-20
Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts - Colts squeek 31-27
Minnesota Vikings at Buffalo Bills - Bills in a close one 20-13, mostly field goals
Miami Dolphins at Chicago Bears - Bears 28-21
New Orleans Saints at Detroit Lions - NO needs this one, Megatron may not play. NO 24-17
Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers - Phillip Rivers wins 31-20
Arizona Cardinals at Oakland Raiders - Cards 24-3
NY Giants at Dallas Cowboys - Giants have the Cowboys # in Dallas. Giants 28-24
San Francisco 49ers at Denver Broncos - TD record falls but so do Broncos 31-27
Houston Texans at Pittsburgh Steelers - Steelers must win...so...Texans 20-17

Here is what the "experts" say.




West Virginia Stuns #4 Baylor 41-27

Clint Trickett and the West Virginia Mountaineers upset the #4 Baylor Bears on Saturday, 41-27.

Triskett passed for 322 yards and 3 TDs with 1 INT. This was Trickett's 8th consecutive 300+ yard game. Kevin White had 8 receptions for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns. WVU rushed for 134 yards while the Mountaineer defense held Baylor to 95 yards on the ground and 223 yards through the air.

Read the ESPN story here.

Syracuse faces NCAA Committee On Infractions

Dana O'Neil, writing for ESPN has this story on Syracuse University facing the NCAA's Committee on Infractions for at least 10 basketball players who were allowed to play despite failing to meet the school's drug policy standards.

Think Your Golf Game is Good?

Read the story of 81 year old Dom Debonis and his terrific 3 days of golf. The yardages are short but remember...he is 81.

ESPN has the story here.

Peyton Manning and the Chase to 508

Peyton Manning, of the Denver Broncos, needs 3 TD passes to tie Brett Favre for the most touchdown passes in an NFL career. If he doesn't get to that number this week against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday he surely will against the San Diego Chargers on Thursday the 23rd of October.

The Yahoo Sports staff has put together an interesting look at Manning's career. Check it out here.

Charros Drop Opener to Tomateros de Culiacan 3-1

Ben Kozlowski started the game for the Charros last night and pitched a pretty good 5 2/3 innings. The Tomateros de Culiacan won the game 3-1 but Kozlowski did not figure in the decision. The Tomateros exhibited some good pitching of their own although their starter, Marco Camarena, also got a no decision.

The game was scoreless through 5 innings. In the top of the 6th, Leo Heras singled to lead off. Manny Rodriguez followed with an RBI double and the Charros took the early lead 1-0. The way Kozlowski was pitching that looked as if it might be enough.

The first two batters for the Tomateros in the bottom of the 6th, JC Linares and Nick Buss went down quietly. With two outs, Kozlowski tossed a mistake to Jorge Vazquez that he hit out of the park to right. The score was tied at 1. Juan Navarrete, the Charros manager, yanked Kozlowski for reliever Alan Guerrero. Guerrero gave up a single to Arturo Rodriguez and a double to Ronnier Mustelier. Sergio Gastelum then got the third consecutive hit off of Guerrero, a single that scored Rodriguez and Mustelier. That would be all the scoring in the game as Culiacan won by the final score of 3-1.

The Charros squandered opportunities in each of the last three innings. They had Gabriel Gutierrez on first in the top of the 7th. Jesus Lopez hit a grounder to second that hit Gutierrez for an out. The Charros would not score.

In the top of the 8th, Leo Heras was caught stealing second after a lead off single. Again, the Charros would not score.

After putting runners on 1st and 2nd in the top of the 9th, pinch hitter Jesus Cota hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Leo Heras went 3 for 4 on the night with a double and a run scored. Gabriel Gutierrez was 2 for 4 while Manny Rodriguez went 1 for 3 with the lone Charros RBI.

Alan Guerrero took the loss for Jalisco while reliever Manny Barreda got the win for Culiacan and Ricardo Gomez picked up his third save of the young season.

Celtics, Pistons Swap Players

According to Chris Forsberg of ESPN, the Boston celtics have traded Joel Anthony to the Detroit Pistons for Will Bynum.

Read Chris' article here.

4 Umps Named to 1st World Series Crew

Four veteran umpires, with an average of 15 years experience, have been named to the crew of the 2014 World Series. Jerry Meals, Hunter Wendelstedt, Eric Cooper and Jim Reynolds will be calling their 1st Series.


An umpire's entire body of work is evaluated when assigning postseason series, and we always strive to have the most deserving umpires working postseason games,'' MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said.


''This year,'' he added, ''instant replay also became another facet of performance.''
Several factors determine which umpires get picked for the playoffs and World Series by MLB. Ball-strike ratings on plate jobs, skill at handling situations on the field, experience and time missed during the season are all considered.

Mark Townsend, of Big League Stew, has an interesting story about their selections and replay review in Major League Baseball. Read Mark's story here.

Blake Griffin "Could" Retaliate For Cheap Fouls

Blake Griffin , of the LA Clippers, is getting pretty fed up with hard, cheap fouls. In a preseason victory over the Utah Jazz, Griffin and Trevor Booker had to be separated after a foul by Booker led to Griffin grabbing the back of Booker's head. Griffin was pulled away by teammates.

"I was going to but then I thought its preseason," Griffin said when asked about retaliating. "It's not worth it, that's not the person I want to waste it on."

Read ESPN's story by Aresh Markazi here.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Seattle Trades Percy Harvin to NY Jets

ESPN is reporting that the Seattle Seahawks have traded Percy Harvin to the NY Jets for a conditional draft pick in the 2015 draft. Sources say that this could be from a 2nd through a 4th round pick.

Read the ESPN story here.

Jets Lose to Pats 27-25 Drop To 1-6

The NY Jets ran for 218 yards, controlled the ball for almost 41 minutes and had no turnovers. Geno Smith was 20 of 34 for 226 yards and a touchdown. Given these stats it could be assumed that the Jets won.

Sadly, they lost. Nick Folk was 4 for 5 on field goal attempts. His last try, from 58 yards, was blocked by Chris Jones on the last play of the game to preserve the Patriot's 27-25 win.

The Patriots improved to 5-2 on the year while the Jets have lost 6 in a row and are on the brink of elimination from the playoffs with a 1-6 record. Realistically with 9 games remaining, the Jets would have to win out to have a chance.

Tom Brady was 20 for 37 for 261 yards with 2 touchdown passes to Shane Vereen, including a 49 yard catch and run, and 1 TD pass to Danny Amendola, his only catch of the night.

The Jet defense, ranked 5th in the league overall, held the New England patriots to 63 yards on 15 carries.

Chris Ivory had 107 yards on the ground for the Jets on 21 carries with a touchdown and Jeff Cumberland had 3 catches for 50 yards and a TD.

The Jets sacked Tom Brady once while the Patriots got to Geno Smith 3 times for -21 yards.

Charros Lose to Naranjeros 8-3

The Charros de Jalisco dropped the third game of the three game series with Hermosillo by a score of 8-3. Jalisco dropped to 3-2 on the year while Hermosillo climbed to 3-2.

Juan Delgadillo took the loss for Jalisco, his second of the year. Delgadillo gave up 5 runs on 8 hits with 4 walks and 2 home runs.

Roy Corcoran picked up the win in relief for the Naranjeros. Juan Oramas started the game for Hermosillo and held Jalisco to 3 runs on 5 hits though 4 2/3 innings of work.

The Naranjeros scored two runs in the top of the 1st on back-to-back home runs by Carlos Gastelum and Sebastian Elizalde.

Jalisco got a run back in the bottom of the 1st. Manny Rodriguez singled and moved to second when Leo Heras drew a walk. Japhet Amador then singled to score Rodriguez and the Charros had cut the lead to 2-1.

Hermosillo scored another run in the top of the 2nd on a walk to Jerry Owens and a double by Sebastian Elizalde that scored Owens. Hermosillo led 3-1.

The Charros scored two times in the bottom of the 2nd.  Cory Vaughn drew a walk and stole second. Wilson Batista grounded out with Vaughn moving to third. Gabriel Gutierrez doubled to left that scored Vaughn. Eduardo Arredondo followed with a single to score Gutierrez and tie the game at 3.

Adan Munoz led off the 3rd for Hermosillo with a double. With one out Jorge Flores singled and took second on the throw to third trying to get Munoz. Jerry Owens singled and Munoz scored with Flores moving to third. Carlos Gastelum hit a sac fly to right that scored Flores and the Naranjeros had a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish.

Hermosillo scored one run in the 6th and two more in the 8th for the final margin of victory, 8-3.

Manny Rodriguez and Japhet Amador were both 2 for 4 with Amador getting an RBI. Gabriel Gutierrez was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored. Eduardo Arredondo had the other RBI for the Charros.

Venados de Mazatlan leads the Liga de Mexicana del Pacifico standings at 4-1 with four teams at 3-2, two teams at 2-3 and Mayo de Navojos remains winless at 0-5.

The Charros de Jalisco (3-2) travel to Culiacan today to take on the Tomateros de Culiacan (2-3).

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Kevin Durant Has Surgery Will Be Evaluated In 6 Weeks

Sean Highkin of probasketballtalk.com has this article on Kevin durant's foot surgery.

Rangers Hire Jeff Bannister as New Manager

According to Calvin Watkins of ESPN Dallas and Fox News Dallas, the Texas Rangers have hired Jeff Banister as their manager for the 2015 season. Banister replaces Ron Washington who resigned in September and interim manager Tim Bogar.

Banister has spent 29 years in the Pittsburgh Pirate organization with the last 5 seasons as bench coach.

Read Calvin Watkin's article here.

Adam J. Morris of SBNation has his take here.

Signature Authentication Haunts FSU and Jameis Winston

Darren Rovell of ESPN asserts that in indepth search reveals 2000+ Jameis Winston signed items on the website of James Spence Authentication (JSA).

James Spence, the authentication company's owner, told ESPN Thursday he will not reveal the identity or identities of the customers who submitted the signed Winston items for authentication. Spence also won't verify the number of items because he says his database is not searchable by name.

Read Darren's article hhere.

Giants Win 6-4 Take 3 Games to 1 Lead in NLCS

The San Francisco Giants took a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS with a 6-4 win last night at AT&T Park on the west coast. Yusmeiro Petit got the win, in relief of starter Ryan Vogelsong, with 3 innings of effective relief work. Santiago Casilla picked up the save. Marco Gonzalez took the loss for St. Louis.

St. Louis broke on top with a run in the top of the 1st. Matt Carpenter doubled and Jon Jay walked. With one out, Matt Adams singled to left to drive in Carpenter. The Cards had the 1-0 lead.

The Giants answered in the bottom of the 1st. Gregor Blanco doubled to right to lead off. Joe Panik followed with a single that got Blanco to third. Buster Posey, who had 3 RBIs on the night, got Blanco home with a sacrifice fly to center. The score was tied 1-1.

The Redbirds would score another run in their half of the 2nd. Kolten Wong doubled to lead off the inning. AJ Pierzynski singled to drive in Wong and the Cards were back on top 2-1.

The Cardinals scored two more times in the 3rd. Matt Holliday doubled and Matt Adams singled with Holliday stopping at third. Jhonny Peralta hit into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Holliday. Kolten Wong hit a 3-2 pitch from Ryan Vogelsong over the right field fence to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. Kolten Wong his 7 hits this postseason...all for extra bases.

Joaquin Arias, pinch hitting for Vogelsong in the third, singled. Gregor Blanco grounded out to first as Arias moved to second. Joe Panik flied out to center and Arias took third. Buster Posey singled to left and Arias scored. Pablo Sandoval walked and Hunter Pence singled to drive in Posey. The Giants had cut the lead to 4-3.

Marco Gonzalez took the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 6th. Juan Perez walked to lead off the inning for the Giants. Brandon Crawford singled to right and Perez stopped at second. Matt Duffy, pinch hitting for Yusmeiro Petit, laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Perez to third and Crawford to second. Gregor Blanco grounded to first and Matt Adams decided to throw home to get Perez but Adam's throw short hopped the catcher and Perez scored. The next batter, Joe Panik grounded to first. Adams stepped on the bag to get Panik but threw wildly to second trying to get Blanco. Crawford scored and the Giants had their first lead, 5-4. With Blanco on second, Buster Posey singled to left off of Cardinal reliever, Seth Maness, and Blanco scored giving the Giants the 6-4 lead.

With the 6-4 win and a 3 games to 1 lead in the NLCS, the Giants face the Cardinals tonight in game 5 at AT&T Park. If the Giants win game 5 they will face the Kansas City Royals in game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday the 21st of October. If the Cardinals win game 5, the NLCS heads back to St. Louis for game 6 and, if necessary, game 7.

dr. howl of SBNation has a great article on this game, and the series from a Cardinal point of view here.

Charros Top Naranjeros de Hermosillo 9-2

The Charros de Jalisco scored six runs in the 2nd inning and Orlando Lara pitched 5 strong innings last night as the Charros defeated the Naranjeros de Hermosillo 9-2. Jalisco moved to 3-1 on the young season good for second place in the Liga de Mexicana del Pacifico behind the Vendaros de Mazatlan.

Jalisco got out to the early lead, scoring two runs in their half of the 1st. Hector Galvan, starter for the Naranjeros, got the first two outs but gave up a single to Manny Rodriguez, a double to Japhet Amador that scored Rodriguez and a single to Marquez Smith that drove in Amador and the score was 2-0 Charros.

Wilson Batista led off the bottom of the 2nd with a double for the Charros. Gabriel Gutierrez drew a walk and Jesus Lopez singled to load the bases. Eduardo Arrendondo singled to score Batista. Leo Heras, Jalisco right fielder, tripled to clear the bases and up the lead to 6-0. Manny Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly off of Naranjero's reliever, Jesse Estrada, to bring home Heras and after Japhet Amador flied out to center, Marquez Smith hit a towering home run to cap the 6 run 2nd inning and the Charros led 8-0 after two.

The Charros would score again in the 5th. Wilson Batista singled and moved to second when Gabriel Gutierrez walked. Batista advanced to third on a wild pitch and after Jesus Lopez struck out, Batista scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Eduardo Arrendondo. The lead was now 9-0 Jalisco.

The Naranjeros would score their two runs in the top of the 8th off of Charros reliever Manual Flores. Carlos Gastelum greeted Flores with a triple to center that got by Arrendondo. Sebastian Elizalde popped up to third but Cole Garner doubled to center and Gastelum scored. Luis Garcia grounded out to third for the second out. Yunesky Sanchez followed with a single to center that plated Garner and Hermosillo had scored their 2 runs. The score would remain 9-2 and the Charros won their third consecutive game.

Orlando Lara picked up the win for Jalisco, his first of the year, while Hector Galvan took the loss for Hermosillo.

Fernando Valenzuela, son of "El Torito", the famous former LA Dodger pitcher of the same name, pinch hit for Jesus Lopez in the bottom of the 8th and grounded out to second.

The 1-4 hitters for the Charros were 8 for 17 with 3 doubles, a triple, 8 RBIs and 4 runs scored. Eduardo Arrendondo was 2 for 4 at the plate with 2 RBIs and a run scored. Leo Heras went 2 for 5 with a double, a triple, 3 RBIs and a run scored. Jose "Manny" Rodriguez was 3 for 4 on the night with an RBI and a run scored. Marquez Smith went 2 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Wilson Batista was 2 for 4 on the evening with 2 runs scored.

Jesus Lopez is 8th in the league in hitting with a .385 average. Cory Vaughn is 14th, hitting .357 and Manny Rodriguez is 15th at .353.