Charros Take 2nd Game From Mexicali 3-1

Aguilas de Mexicali started things off in the first inning of Saturday's game with the Charros by scoring a run. That would be all they would score though in a 3-1 loss to Jalisco.

Misael German walked and moved to second on a Walter Ibarra sacrifice bunt. German scored when Brock Peterson hit a ball to left center that bounced over the wall for a ground rule double.

Marco Tovar, the starter for the Charros, settled down and got Mike Jacobs to pop up to short and Luke Montz to ground out 5-3 but the Aguilas had the 1-0 lead.

The Aguilas starter, Marco Duarte, gave up a lead off home run to Japhet Amador in the 4th that tied the score at 1.

In the Jalisco half of the 8th, Jesus Lopez led off with a single off Edgar Gomez, in for Aguilas starter, Marco Duarte. Eduardo Arredondo sacrified Lopez to second. After Manny Rodriguez struck out, Leo Heras hit a ground rule double to center to score Lopez. Japhet Amador singled to center to drive in Heras and the Charros had the 3-1 lead that proved to be the final margin of victory.

Brian Broderick set the Aguilas down in order in the top of the ninth to pick up his 5th save on the year. Ivan Salas got his 1st win of the year for the Charros and Edgar Gomez took the loss for Mexicali.

Japhet Amador was 3 for 4 on the night with his 1st home run, 2 RBIs and a run scored  as he raised his batting average to .321. Leo Heras was 1 for 3 and drove in his 10th run of the season. Jesus Lopez went 2 for 3 with a run scored to raise his average to .333.

Marco Tovar worked 6 strong innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits with 3 walks and 6 strike outs while lowering his ERA to 3.21 on the young season. Brian Broderick in picking up his 5th save, lowered his ERA to 1.23.

The 3rd game of this series will be played on Sunday the 26th of October starting at Noon.

#11 K-State Shutsout Longhorns 23-0

The University of Texas football team has been shutout by the Kansas State Wildcats 23-0. This was the first time UT has been shutout since Oklahoma did the deed on October 9, 2004.

Check out the ESPN coverage here.

#6 Oregon Beats Cal 59-41 in Pac 12

Marcus Mariota threw for 326 yards and 5 TDs as the 6th ranjed Oregon Ducks beat the Cal Bears 59-41. Mariota threw his 1st INT of the year with 3:31 to go in the 2nd quarter.

Oregon improved to 7-1 while Cal dropped to 4-4 on the season.

Read the ESPN recap article here.

Royals Up 2-1 in World Series

Without the benefit of the DH at the National League park, Ned Yost was forced to make some fielding and lineup changes. Those changes worked as the Royals beat the Giants 3-2 to take a 2 games to 1 lead in the World Series.

Yost moved Lorenzo Cain from center field to right field and inserted Jarrod Dyson in center. Cain made two very good plays on sinking line drives and appeared comfortable in his new position. Yost also moved Alex Gordon from 6th to 2nd in the lineup and Gordon responded with a clutch RBI double in the 6th.

Kansas City jumped on top in the 1st when Alcides Escobar doubled to lead off the inning. Alex Gordon grounded out to move Escobar to third and Escobar scored when Lorenzo Cain grounded out to short. KC had the early lead 1-0.

The Royals added to their lead in the top of the 6th. With one out, Alcides Escobar singled to center. Alex Gordon then doubled off the wall in right to score Escobar. After Lorenzo Cain grounded out to third, Javier Lopez relieved Tim Hudson for the Giants. Eric Hosmer had what is called a quality at bat against Lopez. Hosmer singled on the 11th pitch of the at bat to score Gordon and the Royals had built a 3-0 lead.

San Francisco rallied in their half of the 6th. Brandon Crawford singled to lead off. Mike Morse, pinch hitting for Javier Lopez, doubled to left to score Crawford. Kelvin Herrera relieved Royals' starter, Jeremy Guthrie and promptly walked Gregor Blanco. Joe Panik sent a high chopper to the mound to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Buster Posey then grounded to second to score Morse and the Giants had cut the lead to 3-2.

Neither team scored again and Greg Holland pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the Royals to preserve the win for Guthrie and pick up his 1st save of the World Series and 7th save of this postseason, an MLB record. The Royals bullpen became the first bullpen in MLB history to have 7 wins and 7 saves in a single postseason.

Charros Topple Mexicali With 3-2 Win

Charros de Jalisco scored a run in the bottom of the 9th when Mexicali right fielder, Shane Peterson, misplayed a ground ball that allowed Gabriel Gutierrez to score from third with the winning run.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Aguilas lead off batter, Brock Peterson, reached safely and went to second on a throwing error by Charros third baseman, Marquez Smith. Shane Peterson then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Brock Peterson to third. After Luke Montz grounded out to the pitcher, Luis Juarez singled to right to score Peterson. Ramon Ruiz singled to center and Gil Velazquez singled to left to score Juarez. Mexicali had a 2-0 lead after 2 innings.

Edgar Ozuna, starter for the Aguilas, held the Charros bats in check until the 5th. Gabriel Gutierrez doubled to lead off the inning. When Jesus Lopez flied out to center, Gutierrez tagged and went to third. With two outs, Manny Rodriguez singled off of the pitcher's leg and Gutierrez scored. Jalisco had cut the Aguilas' lead to 2-1.

Anthony Slama relieved Daniel Herrera for Mexicali in the bottom of the 8th and gave up a solo home run to Cory Vaughn, his 1st of the year, and the score was tied at 2.

Brian Broderick, the Charros closer, pitched the 9th, giving up a hit but holding the Aguilas scoreless.

Mexicali went through three pitchers in the bottom of the 9th. Eder Llamas  began the inning for the Aguilas. Gabriel Gutierrez singled to center and took second on a throwing error by by Chris Roberson. Jesus Lopez laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to move Gutierrez to third. Eduardo Arredondo was intentionally walked and the Charros had runners at the corners with 1 out. Manny Rodriguez waited out a walk to load the bases. Jose Sanchez was brought in to face Leo Heras and got Heras to strike out swinging for the second out. Francisco Rodriguez was called on to replace Sanchez and face Japhet Amador. The outfield was in to cut down the run at the plate. The move seemed to have worked as Amador sent a sharp one hop ground ball to right field. The Mexicali right fielder, Shane Peterson took his eye off the ball and misplayed it for an error that scored Gutierrez from third for the walk off error win for the Charros.

Brian Broderick got the win, his 1st of the year, but the entire pitching staff held the Aguilas to just 2 runs on 6 hits, four of those by Luis Juarez who went 4 for 4, while walking just 2 and striking out 5.

Eder Llamas took the loss for Mexicali and dropped to 0-2 on the young season.

Cory Vaughn was 3 for 3 with the home run, an RBI and a run scored. Manny Rodriguez, hitting .373 on the year, went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Gabriel Gutierrez was 2 for 4 with a double and 2 runs scored.

The Charros and Caneros de los Mochis are now both 7-5, one half game behind the Venados de Mazatlan for first place in the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico. Mexicali falls to 6-6, a game behind Jalisco.

These two teams continue their series with games on Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th.

USA Women's Soccer Advance to 2015 World Cup

The USA's Womens Soccer team clinched a berth in the 2015 World Cup by defeating Mexico 3-0 in a semi-final match.

Carli Lloyd scored 2 goals for Team USA. Christie Press scored an empty net goal in the 56th minute for the third US goal.

The US women will face Costa Rica in the CONCACAF finals on Sunday.

Mexico will face Trinidad and Tobago for third place also on Sunday.

Manning Doesn't Care For Bronco Scoreboard Antics

Okay, Peyton is a perfectionist who likes things scripted, re: Career Record keep away game. I get that. One thing I can agree with is that Peyton is upset with the way the jumbotron at the Bronco's stadium got the crowd riled up during Thursday night's game against the San Diego Chargers.

Most fans would say "lighten up Peyton",  but in this case I agree with the master. The "entertainment" provided by the jumbotron is annoying.

Check out the Arnie Stapleton article here. Am I crazy or not?

World Series Game 1 Least Watched

The NY Times has an article today by Jonathan Mahler and Bill Carter explaining that Major League Baseball is no longer the center of attention in US Television Sports.

Their argument is that only 12.2 million viewers tuned in to Game 1 of the World Series. Sunday Night Football, they say, drew 24 million. They called that game a regular season game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos. What they failed to mention is that the game was between last year's Super Bowl team, with Peyton Manning about to break Brett Favre's career touchdown record, and a team that was one play away from making the Super Bowl last year.

Even the Florida State against Notre Dame matchup drew more viewers they note, again failing to mention that #2 FSU, with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and all his personal problems, was facing it's toughest challange to an undefeated season and possible back-to-back National Championships, against #5 Notre Dame with it's own TV Network and legion of fans nationwide.

There are reasons why the NFL and college football draw more viewers than baseball in the regular season. Every loss could mean elimination from the playoffs.

NFL football, and this year college football, playoffs are a single elimination format - lose and go home. Baseball playoffs are either best of 5 or best of 7 formats. There is no feeling of win now or wait til next year. In 2011, 25 million viewers tuned in watch the 7th game of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers, the first series to go 7 games since 2002 and, in essence, a single elimination game.

You have compound problems with the 2014 World Series. Small markets, no "household names" and literally not the "best" teams playing in the series.

Kansas City is the smallest TV market in major league baseball while the Giants rank 14th of the 32 markets.

Cable TV hypes players all year, from April through September, usually from the big markets. (ie. NY, Boston, LA and Detroit) Think Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, Miguel Cabrerra, Giancarlo Stanton, Big Papi, Derek Jeter. These players are highlighted every day for 6 months. There are no "big names" on either of this years teams.

Then you have the perception that the teams playing are not the "best" team of either league. The Kansas City Royals were the 4th best team in the American League while the San Francisco Giants were the 5th best team in the National League. Throughout the early playoffs, neither team was picked to win a series they were in. The saying that perception is reality holds true in the 2014 World Series.

Lastly, the late starts do effect viewership. An 8 o'clock start on the East Coast costs viewers. Without an East Coast team, games during the week and on Sunday, fans won't stay up that late to watch the whole game. They can always check in on the internet to find out the score. In fact, most adults under the age of 40 do not watch TV and get their news and sports from the 'net.

If all baseball wanted was to improve World Series TV ratings, here is what Major League Baseball should do.

Go back to 2 leagues, American League and National League. Play 146 games during the season to determine the top 4 teams. Have those 4 teams play a 1 game playoff. (#1 v #4 and #2 v #3) The winners to play another 1 game playoff. That gives you 6 single elimination games. The League winners would then meet in a best of 5 game World Series to determine a Champion. With the shorter schedule and a shorter playoff, the season could be over by the middle of October instead in dragging on until the end of October or early November.

Interest would be sky high for every game. I know this won't happen but if Major League Baseball calls I'll fill them in on the details...One can dream!

Joe Maddon Opts Out of Rays Contract

Joe Maddon, manager of the Tampa Bay Rays for the last 9 seasons has invoked the opt out clause in his contract and will not manage the Rays in 2015.

In and interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Maddon said this.

"I have been doing this for a long time," Maddon told the newspaper. "I have never had this opportunity to research my employment on my terms. Never, never, never. And I think anybody given the same set of circumstances would do the same thing."

Maddon led the Rays to 4 playoff appearances in his time managing the team.

Read the complete ESPN article here.

Charros Drop Series To Navojoa

The Charros dropped the third game of the 3 game series with the Mayos de Navojoa 5-4 on Thursday night to drop to 6-5 on the year. Jalisco lost the series 2 games to 1.

Jalisco scored in the top of the 1st on a double by Manny Rodriguez and a single by Leo Heras to take the early 1-0 lead.

Navojoa came back in their half of the inning to score three times. Jose Chavez led off with a single against Charros starter Ben Kozlowski. Jon Weber doubled with Chavez stopping at third. Luis Fonseca doubled to score Chavez and Weber. Chris Marrero walked and a wild pitch by Kozlowski on the walk put runners on the corners with no outs. Rolando Acosta grounded into a 5-4-3 double play that scored Fonseca and the Mayos took the lead 3-1.

Cory Vaughn led off the Charros 2nd with a single but Ivan Araujo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to erase Vaughn. Jose Felix walked and Jesus Lopez singled as Felix moved to third on a throwing error by the Mayos' shortstop. Eduardo Arredondo doubled to score Felix and Lopez and the score was tied at 3.

Navojoa retook the lead in the bottom of the 3rd on a single by Jose Chavez, a ground out by Jon Weber that moved Chavez to second and a single by Luis Fonseca that scored Chavez. Navojoa led 4-3.

In the top of the 6th, Cory Vaughn walked with one out but got picked off first. Ivan Araujo singled and went to second on a single by Jose Felix. Jesus Lopez followed with a single as Araujo scored and the Charros had tied the game again at 4 apiece.

Hugo Castellanos was pitching for the Charros to start the bottom of the 8th. He struck out Reggie Ambercrombie for the first out but gave up back-to-back singles to Eliseo Aldazaba and Diego Madero. Murphy Smith relieved Castellanos and gave up a single to pinch hitter Fernando Flores that scored Aldazaba with what would prove to be the winning run.

The Charros got 12 hits on the night. Japhet Amador was 2 for 5. Manny Rodriguez was 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored. Jesus Lopez was also 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Leo Heras went 1 for 5 with an RBI and Eduardo Arredondo was 1 for 5 with a double and 2 RBIs.

Ben Kozlowski lasted 5 innings but gave up 4 earned runs on 7 hits while striking out 1 and walking 3. He saw his ERA climb to 4.02 on the year. Hugo Castellanos took the loss, his first of the year, and his ERA shot up to 12.27 for the season.

Hugo Gutierrez got the win for the Mayos and Gene Escat picked up his 2nd save of the year.

Broncos Bully Chargers 35-21 on Thursday Night

It took Peyton Manning and the Broncos 16:29 to figure out the Chargers defense but they scored 35 points in the next 30 minutes to top San Diego at home 35-21 and move to 6-1 in the AFC West.

Emmanuel Sanders caught the first of his three TD passes from Manning to start the barrage, a 2 yard catch that got the Broncos on the board. Sanders got his second touchdown with 32 seconds to go in the half to give Denver the 14-7 lead heading into the locker room.

A 3 yard touchdown pass following a Philip Rivers' interception in the 3rd quarter was Sanders' third of the night and put the Broncos up 21-7.

Juwan Thompson had touchdown runs of 1 and 2 yards to complete the Broncos scoring. Thompson had 7 carries for 24 yards on the night.

Manning was 25 of 35 passing for 286 yards with 3 TDs and no INTs while Rivers went 30 for 41 with 3 TDs but threw 2 INTs.

Sanders caught 9 passes for 120 yards and those 3 TDs and Demaryius Thomas had 8 receptions for 105 yards for Denver.

Ronnie Hillman carried the ball 20 times for the Broncos and had 109 yards on the ground while Denver rushed for a total of 139 yards.

The Broncos defense held the Chargers to 61 yards on the ground with Branden Oliver their leading rusher with 13 carries for 36 yards.

Keenan Allen caught 9 passe from Rivers for 73 yards and a TD while Antonio Gates added 2 touchdowns on 5 receptions for 54 yards.

Chris Harris and Rahim Moore both intercepted Philip Rivers for the Bronco defense.

NFL Predictions for Week 8

I didn't do very well last week, in fact I went 4-10 on the week. I promise I'll do much better this week. Here goes!

San Diego @ Denver                    Broncos 28-21 - Shootout between Manning and Rivers

Detroit @ Atlanta                          Lions 31-21 - Even without Megatron
Baltimore @ Cincinnati                Ravens 35-17 - Bengals continue downward spiral
Chicago @ New England              Patriots 28-24 - Turmoil in Bears lockerroom spills onto field
Miami @ Jacksonville                  Dolphins 21-17 - Short trip for Miami victory
Minnesota @ Tampa Bay              Buccaneers 20-17 - Bucs with just enough O
Buffalo @ NY Jets                        Bills 21-14 - Out on a limb here
Seattle @ Carolina                         Seahawks 31-17 - Hawks can't lose 3 in a row?
Houston @ Tennessee                   Texans 24-14 - JJ may have to do it all
St. Louis @ Kansas City                Chiefs 27-10 - No more trick plays please
Philadelphia @ Arizona                 Eagles 28-20 - Must keep pace with the Boys
Oakland @ Cleveland                    Raiders 31-17 - Two losses in a row to winless teams
Indianapolis @ Pittsburgh              Colts 28-21 - Tough test for Luck and the D
Green Bay @ New Orleans            Packers 35-28 - Another offensive thriller

Washington @ Dallas                     Cowboys 31-10 - 'Skins are toast in the East

NHL Update

The following article is from Puck Central on ESPN.

The tragic murder of the soldier at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknowns and bullets flying in the Parliament Building are grim reminders that the world has gone crazy and that sports sometimes need to take a back seat to life.

The games will go on in Canada! The Canadian and American citizens will not be terrorized!

SEC's 5 Best Coodinators

Brad Crawford of saturdaydownsouth.com, has a really good article on the 5 best coordinators in the SEC. Also contained within the article is a link to one on the 5 worst coordinators...also a good read.

There are two defensive coordinators, 2 offensive coordinators and a running backs/recruiting coordinator listed.

The defensive coordinators are from Ole Miss and Georgia, the offensive coordinators from Alabama and Mississippi State and the running backs/recruiting coordinator is from LSU.

If you like the SEC, you'll love the article. If you tend to think the SEC is overrated you will scoff at any notion that any good thing could come from the SEC.

I'm a college football fan who likes well written articles about college football. Read Brad's article here, Regardless where you stand on the SEC, you'll have to admit this article is spot on.

NBA 2014-2015 Season Preview

LeBron is back in Cleveland, Kobe is the 40th best player in the NBA, Kevin Durant has a broken bone in his foot...

These are some of the stories, above and below, to watch this season.

Blake Griffin seems to be saying "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore..."

Carmelo Anthony says he won't win the scoring title because of the triangle offense.

And let's not forget the reigning Champion San Antonio Spurs!

Mike Prada of SBNation.com has a wonderfully complete breakdown of the NBA's upcoming season. Be sure to read it all here. It's a little cumbersome but a great read.

Sporting News Names Kershaw MLB "Player of the Year"

Sporting News has named Clayton Kershaw of the LA Dodgers their Player of the Year for 2014.

What I like about Sporting News' selection is that their panel is made up of 244 major league players. These players vote on what they see day in and day out. The panel is not given a list to choose from, they choose their own candidate.

This year, Kershaw narrowly beat LA Angels outfielder, Mike Trout by three votes, 76-73. Giancarlo Stanton, of the Miami Marlins, finished a distant third with 32 votes.

Jesse Spector of The Sporting News has an article here with the facts about Kershaw's 2014 season. A season where he missed the month of April due to injury.

Royals Down Giants 7-2 in Game 2

The Kansas City Royals answered the Giants' offensive outburst in game 1 of the World Series with one of their own in game 2.

Game 2 looked as though it might be a continuation of game 1 when Gregor Blanco sent a 3-2 pitch from Yorlando Ventura over the wall in right to lead off the game and give the Giants a quick 1-0 lead. Ventura settled down and got the next three outs to get out of the inning.

The Royals responded in their half of the 1st inning. Alcides Escobar reached on a ball hit deep in the hole to short. Norichika Aoki flied out to center. Escobar was caught trying to steal second for the second out. Lorenzo Cain then doubled to left center and Eric Hosmer walked. Billy Butler followed with a single to score Cain and the Royals had tied the game at 1.

Kansas City scored another run in the 2nd on doubles by Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar that gave the Royals a 2-1 lead.

The Giants would tie the score in the top of the 4th on a double by Pablo Sandoval to lead off the inning, and a double by Brandon Belt one out later that scored Sandoval.

Jake Peavy started the bottom of the 6th for the Giants and gave up a single to Lorenzo Cain and walked Eric Hosmer. Jean Machi relieved Peavy and gave up a 2-0 single to Billy Butler that scored Cain with Hosmer stopping at second. Kansas City had retaken the lead 3-2. Terrance Gore ran for Butler. Javier Lopez relieved Machi and got Alex Gordon to fly out to left for the first out. Hunter Strickland relieved Lopez and threw a wild pitch that moved both runners into scoring position. Hosmer and Gore scored on a double by Salvador Perez. Perez came around to score on a 2 run home run by Omar Infante and the Royals led 7-2. Neither team would score again and the Royals had taken game 2.

Billy Butler was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs for the Royals while Omar Infante went 2 for 3 with the home run, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Lorenzo Cain was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored.

Gregor Blanco was 1 for 4 with the home run and a run scored for the Giants and Brandon Belt was 1 for 4 with the other RBI.

Jake Peavy was saddled with the loss allowing 4 earned runs on 6 hits with 2 walks while striking out 1 in 5 innings of work. Kelvin Herrera picked up the win in relief of Yorlando Ventura.

The series now shifts to San Francisco on Friday with games 3, 4 and 5 to be played at AT&T Park. Games 6 and 7, if necessary will be played in Kansas City.

Mayos de Navojoa Top Charros 6-1

Charros pitcher, Juan Delgadillo, had another rough outing last night dropping to 0-3 on the season with the 6-1 loss to the Mayos de Navojoa.

Delgadillo lasted just 4 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits with 2 home runs while striking out just 2.

Navojoa scored 3 times in the bottom of the 3rd. With one out Jose Chavez singled and Jon Weber sent a line drive home run to right to give the Mayos a 2-0 lead. Two batters later Chris Marrero sent a ball over the fence in left center for a home run to increase the lead to 3-0.

The Charros got a run back in the top of the 5th. Cory Vaughn led off the inning with a triple. Vaughn scored on an attempted pick off by Navojoa starter, Eddie Gamboa, that sailed wide and into foul territory.The lead was narrowed to 3-1 Mayos.

Things were quiet until the bottom of the 8th inning. Charros reliever Alan Guerrero replaced Manuel Flores. With one out, Rolando Acosta singled. After Guerrero got the second out he was replaced by Murphy Smith. Eliseo Aldazaba tagged Murphy for a double with Acosta stopping at third. Fernando Flores was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Luis Borges singled to drive in Acosta and Aldazaba. Antonio Garzon replaced Murphy on the mound and Jose Chaves greeted Garzon with a double that scored Flores. Jon Weber flied out to left to end the inning but the damage was done. The Mayos would go on to win the game by this 6-1 score.

The only bright spots on the night for Jalisco were Cory Vaughn's triple and Manny Flores who worked three perfect innings in relief of Delgadillo to lower his ERA to 2.00.

The series is even at 1-1 with the rubber match to be played tonight. The Charros fell to 6-4 on the year while Navojoa climbed to 3-7.

NBA Owners Shoot Down Draft Lottery Changes

The NBA owners, by a vote of 17-13 in favor, failed to achieve the 23 votes required to change the way the NBA Lottery Draft is conducted.

The new changes would have given the 4 worst team an even 11% chance of receiving the 1st pick in the draft. As it stands now the worst team has about a 25% chance of getting the 1st pick.

The rules change was an effort to reduce the chance of "tanking" games at the end of a season to get that coveted 1st draft pick.

Commissioner Adam Silver said. "I think we all recognize we need to find the right balance between creating the appropriate incentives on one hand for teams to, of course, win, and on the other hand allowing for appropriate rebuilding and the draft to work as it should in which the worst performing teams get the highest picks in the draft."

Read the full ESPN article here.

UNC Underfire for "Sham" Courses Taken by Athletes

The University of North Carolina has discovered in an investigation the university commissioned that over an 18 year period, athletes were steered toward so called sham courses to maintain their GPA and thus maintain their athletic eligibility.

This is from the ESPN story. "The report, released Wednesday, says academic advisers in North Carolina's athletic department colluded with a manager in the African and Afro-American Studies department for student-athletes to take classes to boost their GPAs and keep them eligible in their respective sports."

Read the full investigative story here.

Giants Take Game 1 of World Series 7-1

Madison Bumgarner held the Kansas City Royals to 3 hits and 1 run over 7 innings as the Giants overpowered the Royals 7-1 to take game one of the 2014 World Series.

Hunter Pence was 2 for 3 with a home run, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored while Pablo Sandoval went 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs for the Giants.

Read the ESPN recap here.

Charros Top Navojoa 6-4

The Charros de Jalisco powered their way to a 6-4 victory last night over the Mayos de Navojoa. Orlando Lara picked up the win with the help of two home runs by Leo Hera and a home run by Marquez Smith.

Jalisco scored a run in the top of the 1st with a solo home run by Heras off of Navojoa starter, Mario Gonzalez, and the Charros led 1-0.

In the 3rd, Gabriel Gutierrez led off with a double and went to third on a single by Jesus Lopez. Lopez moved up to second on a wild pitch. Eduardo Arredondo grounded out 4-3 as Gutierrez scored and Lopez went to third. Leo Heras then,stroked a hard shot up the middle that caromed off the glove of the Mayos second baseman into left center for a double that scored Lopez. The lead was now 3-0 Charros.

Navojoa got a run back in the bottom of the 3rd. Jose Chavez doubled to lead off. Jon Weber drew a base on balls. Orlando Lara then struck out Luis Fonseca and Chris Marrero but Rolando Acosta singled to right to drive in Chavez. Acosta was thrown out at second trying to stretch his single into a double to end the inning. The Jalisco was 3-1.

Marquez Smith, of the Charros, walked to lead off the top of the 4th. Smith stole second and went to third on a throwing error by the Mayos catcher, Genaro Andrade. Smith then scored on a single by Jesus Cota to increase the Charros lead to 4-1.

Leo Heras hit his second home run of the night in the top of the 5th for a 5-1 Charros lead.

Navojoa's reliever Estaban Haro started the 6th and Marquez Smith greeted Haro with a solo home run, Smith's third of the year, as Jalisco increased their lead to 6-1.

Ken Sigman had replaced Orlando Lara in the 6th. In the bottom of the 7th Sigman gave up a solo home run to Eliseo Aldazaba and the Mayo's had cut the lead to 6-2.

Adrian Rameriz, pitching for the Charros to start the bottom of the ninth, gave up a single to Rolando Acosta and a 2 run home run to Reggie Ambercrombie and the Charros lead was down to 6-4.

Brian Broderick entered the game with two outs in the ninth and got pinch hitter Fernando Flores to ground out to second to preserve the win for Lara, who is now 2-0 on the year, and pick up his fourth save of the season.

The Charros de Jalisco improve to 6-3 on the young season while the Mayos de Navojoa fall to 2-7. These two teams play again tonight in a continuation of their three game series.

Leo Heras was 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and a double, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Marquez Smith was 1 for 2 with a home run, 2 walks, an RBI and 2 runs scored. Jesus Cota went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Orlando Lara pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up 1 run with 3 base on balls and 6 strikeouts. His ERA on the year is 0.84. Brian Broderick lowered his ERA to 1.69.

Harbaugh Questioned About Kaepernick Game Down 42-10

Jim Harbaugh had to answer questions on Monday about Colin Kaepernick. Harbaugh was asked why he left Kaepernick in with 11:22 to go in the game and the 49ers down 41-10 to the Denver Broncos.

Matt Maiocco of csnbayarea.com has the story for his ComCast Bay Area Sports broadcast. You can  read the article and watch some video here.

I am going to borrow the quote from Harbaugh though, because it takes reading the quote several times to get his drift. I understand never giving up but sometimes you need to save your horses for another day and let the ponies run.

“The drive started with about 10 minutes and I was still thinking with three timeouts and a quick score, an onside kick, three timeouts to stop a drive, another score and an onside kick,” Harbaugh said. “I was still thinking of the possibilities. That drive extended quite a bit of time, longer than I was hoping for. And I did think about, in the middle of the drive about the six-minute mark, of taking Colin out, but didn’t.”

Makes perfect sense right.

Pick 'em in 2014 World Series

Jayson Stark, writing for ESPN.com, has a very good article about the similarities and the differences between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants. Read the article and you can takes yer chances.

The Royals were 89-73 in 2014 while the Giants were 88-74. This the first time that neither team in the World Series had at least 90 wins.

The Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2014 and hope to keep up their even year magic. The Royals on the other hand, haven't been in the playoffs, let alone the World Series, since 1985. When you count the last three games of that series and the first seven games of this round of playoffs, the Royals have won 10 playoff games in a row.

The American League won the All-Star game in July that gave the Royals the first two games in KC with games 3, 4 and 5 in San Francisco. That sounds good but the Royals were 42-39 at home while the Giants were 47-34 on the road. Maybe that advantage isn't so great.

Neither team had a Kershaw or Scherzer as a starting pitcher but both team's starters give quality innings. The Royals have a 7th and 8th inning pitcher with a very good closer. The Giants setup men and closer are also good.

The similarities of these two teams make this series too close to call.

Anthony Riccobond of ibtimes.com has this about the series with his prediction of Royals in 7 games.

Although evenly matched my pick is also Kansas City but they win in 6 games.

News and Notes From Week 7 in the NFL

Thursday through Sunday in the NFL was pretty exciting. The Redskins, behind backup quarterback Colt McCoy, beat the Titans 19-17. The St. Louis Rams used special team subterfuge to upset the Seahawks 28-26.

After looking so good last week, the Browns lost 24-6 to the here to fore winless Jaguars. The Bills lost key players but rallied on a TD pass from Kyle Orton to win 17-16 over the Vikings.

Matthew Stafford engineered two late TD drives to topple the Saints 24-23. The Chiefs used a last second FG to beat the Chargers, while Demacro Murray set an NFL record that had stood for 56 years as the Cowboys humbled the Giants 31-21.

The Bears are bickering among themselves and with their fans...again.

Oh yes, Rodgers, Brady and Manning were their same old selves...ho hum!

Frank Schwab of Shutdown corner on Yahoo Sports has his weekly winners and losers story here. Be sure to check it out.

Charros take Series From Tomateros With 6-5 Win

The Charros de Jalisco baseball team is interesting to say the least. Starter Marco Tovar gave up four hits in the bottom of the 1st, all of them solo home runs. The Charros did not make a pitching change until the 3rd inning after Tovar gave up 2 walks and a single to load the bases with no outs.

Four relief pitchers for the Charros held the Tomateros scoreless until the bottom of the 8th on two hits and one walk.

Jalisco started to climb out of the four run hole in the top of the 4th. Leo Heras led off with a walk and Manny Rodriguez doubled. With runners at 2nd and 3rd, Japhet Amador singled to score Heras with Rodriguez stopping at third. Marguez Smith then grounded out to third as Rodriguez scored. The Charros were on the board but were still down 4-2.

The Charros scored a run in the 5th when Jesus Lopez scored on an Eduardo Arredondo single to narrow the score to 4-3 Tomateros.

With one out in the top of the 6th, Cory Vaughn was hit by a pitch. After Gabriel Gutierrez flew out to center, Vaughn scored on a double by Jesus Lopez that tied the score at 4.

Jalisco scored two more runs in the 7th. Eduardo Arredondo and Leo Heras walked. Japhet Amador drove in Arredondo with a single. Cory Vaughn walked to load the bases and Gabriel Gutierrez waited out a walk to force in Heras with the second run of the inning and the 6-4 Charros lead.

The Tomateros tried to mount a comeback in the bottom of the 8th. With one out, Arturo Rodriguez singled. Ronnier Mustelier also singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Rodriguez scored on a ground out to second off of the bat of pinch hitter Refugio Cervantes to make it a one run ball game, 6-5. Pinch hitter Oscar Robles then grounded out to first to end the inning.

Neither team would score in the 9th and the Charros won their fifth game against three losses.

Japhet Amador and Manny Rodriguez were both 2 for 5 with Amador driving in 2 runs and Rodriguez scoring 1. Jesus Lopez was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Eduardo Arredondo went 1 for 4 with an RBI.

Carlos Vazguez got the win for the Charros while Brian Broderick picked up his third save of the year.

Manning Breaks Career TD Mark With #509

Peyton Manning sat out an entire year because of 4 neck surgeries. He has come back from that time off to play at a "superstar" level in one of the most violent games in the US,

Sunday he passed Brett Favre for the Most Touchdown Passes - Career with #509 against the San Francisco 49ers on national television.

Jeff Legwold of ESPN has the story of Peyton Manning here.

Congratulations Peyton on a remarkable career.

Cowboys Top Giants 31-21 For 6th Win In A Row

The Dallas Cowboys, behind a solid effort by Tony Romo and a record breaking performance by Demarco Murry defeated the NY Giants 31-21 to improve to 6-1 on the year,

Romo threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs. Dez Bryant caught 9 of Romo's passes for 151 yards. TE Gavin Escobar caught 3 passes for 65 yards and 2 TDs.

The story of the game though, was Demarco Murray recording his 7th consecutive game to start the season. The old record was 6 in a row by Jim Brown set in 1958.

Murray, on a pace for more than 2000 yards rushing this season has 915 yards through 7 games a 130.7 average. That would work out to 2091 yards over the 16 game schedule.

Read the ESPN Recap here.

Colts Shutout Bengals 27-0

While Andrew Luck was completing 27 of 42 passes for 344 yards and 2 TDs with no INTs, the Colt defense was holding the Bengals to 135 yards of total offense. The 27-0 final score indicates that the Colt defense is quite formidable.

Cincinnati had 103 yards through the air and 32 yards on the ground for the game. Giovani Bernard was the leading ground gainer for the Bengals with 17 yards on 7 carries. Mohamed Sanu had 3 catches for 54 yards while Jermaine Gresham caught 10 passes from Andy dalton for 48 yards.

Dalton was 18 of 38 for 126 yards but was sacked 3 times for 17 yards.

The Bengals ran 54 plays and got just 8 first downs. Two of those first downs were the result of Colt penalties. Cincinnati was forced to punt the ball away 11 times during the game, tying a franchise record. They didn't get the ball into Colt territory until the 4th quarter.

T.Y. Hilton, of the Colts, had 7 catches for 107 yards, his second consecutive 100+ yard game. Reggie Wayne caught 4 passes for 15 yards that put him over 14,000 yards receiving for his career.

The Bengals fall to 3-2-1 on the year while the Colts are 5-2.

Rams Stun Seahawks 28-26 On Special Teams Play

The Seahawks controlled the game on the offensive side of the ball. They even held the Rams in check defensively byt they couldn't stop the Rams on special teams play.

They allowed the Rams punter, Johnny Hekker to complete an 18 yard pass with 2:55 left on the clock for a 1st down.

Read the ESPN Recap here.

Buster Posey the New Jeter?

Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey has compiled some very interesting statistics in his first 5 full seasons with the Giants. Remember that Posey, a catcher, missed most of the 2011 season after fracturing his leg in a collision at home plate with Scott Cousins.

Is he as good as Derek Jeter was in his first 5 seasons?

Jayson Stark, of ESPN.com, has an indepth article on how good Posey has been and how he compares to Jeter at the same point in their careers. Read Jayson's article here.

FSU 31-27 Over Notre Dame

I have watched the replay of the offensive pass interference call on Notre Dame in last night's loss to Florida State. I have seen it from every angle possible. The offensive pass interference call was probably correct, but...if you watch the defensive back #6 for FSU you will clearly see his arms around the shoulders of CJ Prosise.

In this case there are off-setting infractions which should be a no call, or at a minimum a re-do of the play from the 4 yard line.

Of course arguments can be made that ND let the game slip away in the 2nd half and should never have been in the position they were in at the end of the game.

Both teams played clean, hard football all night. It was a thrilling game, depending on who one was rooting for, but a great game none the less.

Rodger Sherman writing for SBNation.com has the video and his commentary here.

I don't agree with his conclusion but watch closely and see for yourself.

Charros Defeat Tomateros de Culiacan 9-5

After Friday's 3-1 loss at Culiacan, the Charros came out with bats blazing on Saturday. They scored 9 runs, their highest output of the year, on 14 hits, also a high for the season, as they beat the Tomateros de Culiacan 9-5.

Graham Godfrey picked up the win with 5 strong innings of 1 hit, one run pitching. The one hit that he did give up was a home run to Oscar Robles.

The Jalisco hitters gave Godfrey plenty of run support in the top of the 1st, scoring three runs on four hits. Eduardo Arredondo started things off with a single to left. After Leo Heras popped up to second, Manny Rodriguez doubled and Arredondo went to third. Japhet Amador doubled to score Arredondo and Rodriguez and the Charros had a 2-0 lead. Marquez Smith singled to center and Amador stopped at third. Cory Vaughn followed with a sac fly to right that scored Amador to increase the Charros' lead to 3-0.

Graham Godfrey got one out in the bottom of the 1st before giving up the solo home run to Oscar Robles. The Jalisco lead was 3-1.

In the top of the 3rd, Manny Rodriguez singled with one out. Japhet Amador singled to left. Marquez Smith singled to left and Rodriguez was thrown out at home trying to score from second. A wild pitch by Tomateros pitcher, Alfredo Aceves, put Amador and Smith in scoring position. Cory Vaughn singled to drive in Amador and Smith. Jalisco had a 5-1 lead after three innings.

Jesus Lopez scored for the Charros in the top of the 4th. After singling to lead off the inning, Lopez went to third on a single by Amadeo Zazueta and scored as Eduardo Arredondo hit into a 4-6-3 double play. The Charro lead was 6-1.

Antonio Garzon started the 6th for the Charros in relief of Godfrey. Garzon got Oscar Robles to ground out to second and Issmael Salas to fly out to left. Nick Buss reached on a single off of the pitcher's leg. Arturo Rodriguez doubled to right and Buss scored. Ken Sigmen relieved Garzon and gave up a 2 run home run to pinch hitter Jorge Vazquez. Culiacan had cut the Charros lead to 6-4.

The Tomateros scored another run in the bottom of the 7th when Joey Meneses scored on a single by Sergio Gastelum that brought Culiacan to within one run of Jalisco at 6-5.

Marquez Smith hit a solo home run in the top of the 8th and the Charros had an insurance run and the 7-5 lead.

In the top of the 9th, the Charros put the game away by scoring two runs. Manny Rodriguez hit his third double of the night to drive in Amadeo Zazueta and Leo Heras for the final score of 9-5 Charros.

Manny Rodriguez was 4 for 5 on the night with 3 doubles, 2 RBIs and a run scored. Japhet Amador went 2 for 5 with a double, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Marquez Smith was 3 for 5 with a home run, an RBI and 2 rubs scored.Cory Vaughn was 1 for 3 with 3 RBIs. Amadeo Zazueta, playing in his first game for the Charros, went 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Brian Broderick pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief for his second save of the season.

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.

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).

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.

It's On To The World Series After KC Downs O's 2-1 In Game 4 Of ALCS

The Royals jumped on top of the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st and never looked back.

Alcides Escobar reached on an infield single to deep short off of O's starter, Miguel Gonzalez, to lead off the inning. Norichika Aoki was hit by a pitch. Lorenzo Cain sacrificed the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Eric Hosmer grounded into what looked like a fielder's choice but a throwing error by Orioles catcher, Caleb Joseph allowed Escobar and Aoki to score. The O's got out of the inning but the damage was done.

Baltimore got a run back on a solo home run by Ryan Flaherty in the top of the 3rd to make it a 2-1 ball game but the Royals pitching staff took over and shut down the O's the rest of the way.

Jason Vargas went 5 1/3 innings for the win, allowing 1 earned run on 2 hits with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Kelvin Herrera allowed 1 hit and no runs in 1 2/3 innings of work. Wade Davis held Baltimore scoreless in the 8th and Greg Holland picked up his 4th save shutting down the Orioles in the top of the 9th.

Lorenzo Cain became the first #3 hitter to lay down a sacrifice bunt in the first inning in a postseason game since Steve Garvey did it in the 1984 World Series.

Ned Yost takes over the top spot for consecutive wins by a manager in a postseason series with his 8th consecutive win.

Selfish Moves by Selfish Players?

Matt Hayes of Sporting News has a great article outlining the Todd Gurley/Jameis Winston autograph signing debacle. Personally I agree with choice #1 on how to solve the NCAA rule.

He touches on a lot of good topics in the rest of the article but I would bet that the lead paragraphs will get to most attention.

Check out his article here, I know I will be back. Send me your comments about the article and Gurley/Winston.

Who Predicted the Cowboy's Would Improve on Their 8-8 Record?

Did anyone, not a Cowboy fan, think that Dallas would be in the playoffs this year?

ESPN The Magazine had a panel of  64 "experts" in their NFL 2014 season preview and exactly one person predicted that the Cowboys would be in the playoffs this season.

KC Joyner, the ESPN Fantasy football expert, was the lone supporter of the Cowboy's playoff hopes.

Read the ESPN article here to see the experts opinions now. Ashley Fox, ESPN's NFL writer, goes so far to opine that the Cowboys could be on a 10 game winning streak before they take on the Eagles for 2 games in 3 weeks in November.

My how times have changed!

Royals Take Commanding 3-0 Lead in ALCS

The Kansas City Royals have won their seventh consecutive game in the 2014 American League playoffs. Jason Frasor got the win while Greg Holland picked up the save. Wei-Yin Chen suffered the loss for the Orioles.

Although Kansas City is up 3 games to none in the ALCS, Game 3 was not assured until Steve Pearce grounded out to second for the third out of the Orioles 9th inning.

Jeremy Guthrie started for the Royals and threw 5 innings of 3 hit ball giving up the lone O's run. He threw 94 pitches of which 63 were strikes. Wei-Yin Chen started for the Orioles and matched Guthrie pitch for pitch through 5 1/3 innings, giving up 7 hits with 1 walk and 4 strikouts while allowing 2 earned runs. Chen threw only 80 pitches and 53 of them were strikes. Both starters were around the plate all night.

The Orioles would get on the board first. Guthrie gave up back-to-back doubles to Steve Pearce and JJ Hardy. Pearce scored the only O's run in the game on Hardy's double and Baltimore led 1-0.

In the bottom of the 4th, Lorenzo Cain singled with one out. Eric Hosmer singled to right and Billy Butler walked to load the bases. Alex Gordon then grounded out to second to score Cain and the game was tied at 1.

Chen gave up a lead off single to Norichika Aoki in the Royal's half of the 6th. Jarrod Dyson entered the game as a pinch runner for Aoki. After Lorenzo Cain struck out, Eric Hosmer singled and Dyson moved to third. Billy Butler hit the second pitch he saw from O's reliever, Kevin Gausman, to deep left for a sacrifice fly that scored Dyson and the Royals had their first lead of the night at 2-1.

Kelvin Herrera worked a perfect 7th, striking out two. Wade Davis worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Royal's closer, Greg Holland, got Adam Jones to pop up to second, Nelson Cruz to foul out to right and Steve Pearce to hit into a ground out to second to preserve the win for Frasor and pick up his third save.

34 teams have been down 3 games to none in MLB playoff history and only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have come back to win and advance.

Ned Yost, manager of the Royals, joins Clint Hurdle as the only managers in MLB history to win their first 7 playoff games.

40,183 Royals fans watched their team get to within one game of the World Series. The ALCS continues tonight and a Royals win will have them in the World Series for the first time since winning it all in 1985.

Charros Defeat Naranjeros de Hermosillo 3-2

The Charros de Jalisco improved their Liga de Mexicana del Pacifico record to 2-1 with a 3-2 win over Naranjeros de Hermosillo last night at the Stadium of Athletes in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico.

Marco Tovar started, and picked up the win, for the Charros and went 5 complete shutout innings, giving up 5 hits and a walk while striking out 4.

Jalisco scored a run in the bottom of the second. Japhet Amador singled to lead off the inning. Marquez Smith singled and Amador stopped at second. Wilson Batista hit into a 6-4-3 double play with Amador advancing to third. Cory Vaughn followed with a single to left to score Amador and the Charros led 1-0.

Cory Vaughn singled to lead off the bottom of the 5th for Jalisco. Jose Felix then doubled to right and the Charros had runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Jose Lopez struck out but Eduardo Arrendondo laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Vaughn for the 2-0 Jalisco lead.

The Charros added another run in the 6th to increase their lead to 3-0. Manny Rodriguez singled to start things off. Japhet Amador singled and the Charros had runners at 1st and 3rd. Marquez Smith hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Rodriguez.

Hugo Castellanos started the 7th for the Charros. He got Yunesky Sanchez to ground out to first but he hit Jose Amador with a pitch. That was all for Castellanos. He was replaced by Carlos Vazguez. Vazquez walked Jesus Loya and was pulled for Alan Guerrero. Pinch hitter Adan Munoz greeted Guerrero with an RBI single and the Naranjeros were on the board. Jorge Flores then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The score would remain 3-1 Charros until the top of the 9th. Brian Broderick, on to close for the Charros, got Luis Garcia to fly out to right for the first out. Yunesky Sanchez and Jose Amador connected on back-to-back singles to put runners at 1st and 3rd with one out. Jesus Lopez singled to drive in Sanchez with Amador stopping at second. The Charros lead was cut to 3-2. Broderick then got Johnathan Aceves to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game and pick up the save.

Marco Tovar recorded his first win of the season for the Charros while David Pauley was saddled with the loss for the Naranjeros.

Marquez Smith was 1 for 2 with an RBI. Cory Vaughn, hitting .400 on the season, went 2 for 3. Jesus Lopez was 1 for 3 and is also hitting .400 on the year. Jose Felix, making his first start for the Charros, was 2 for 3 with 2 doubles.

The Charros used 6 pitchers in the game. They have used 6 pitchers in each of their first three games.

Giants Up 2-1 In NLCS On Throwing Error

A throwing error by Cardinal pitcher Randy Choate allowed Brandon Crawford to score the winning run in the Giants 5-4 victory in Game 3 of the NLCS.

The Giants scored four times in the bottom of the 1st. After two outs, Buster Posey singled to right. Pablo Sandoval followed with a single to center and San Francisco had runners at 1st and 2nd. Hunter Pence doubled to right scoring Posey and moving Sandoval to third. Brandon Belt was intentionally walked to load the bases.Travis Ishikawa doubled to deep right field to clear the bases and the Giants were up 4-0.

The Cardinals got two runs back in the 4th. Jon Jay singled as did Matt Holliday. After Tim Hudson got two outs, he gave up a triple to Kolten Wong that scored Jay and Holliday.

In the top of the 6th, The Redbird's Jon Jay singled. He went to second on a ground out by Matt Holliday and to third on a ground out to first by Matt Adams. Jay scored on a Jhonny Peralta single to left and the Cardinals had cut the Giants lead to 4-3.

Randel Gruchik, rookie right fielder for the Cardinals, tied the game at 4 all in the top of the 7th with a solo home run off of the first pitch he saw from Tim Hudson.

That was all the scoring until the bottom of the 10th. Randy Choate was on in relief of Seth Maness. Brandon Crawford worked an 8 pitch walk to lead off the inning. Juan Perez, after fouling off two bunt attempts, singled to left with Crawford stopping at second. Gregor Blanco bunted down the third base line attempting to move the runners along but Choate threw the ball away at first and Crawford scored.

The Giants won on a walk off error and lead the NLCS 2 games to 1.

Cowboys Running Back Joseph Randle Arrested for Shoplifting - UPDATE

Joseph Randle, backup to Demarco Murray was arrested on Monday on allegations he stole $134 worth of merchandise from a Frisco, Texas Dillards department store.

Randle was charged with a misdemeanor Class B Theft of $50-$500. He was released on a writ bond at about 1:30 Tuesday morning.

A 5th round pick in the 2013 draft, out of Oklahoma State, Randle is being paid a base salary of $495,000 a year.

As a backup to Murray, Randle has seen limited action and has 113 yards on 16 carries for the Cowboys in 2014. He had the best game of his career on Sunday in the Cowboys win over the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks when he ran for 52 yards on 5 carries in the Cowboys 30-23 victory.

The Cowboys have said they will fine Randle an unspecified amout but they would not suspend him.

UPDATE
Cowboys to fine Randle 1 weeks pay, equal to $29,117

Read the ESPN article here.

And You Thought Flopping Was Bad?

Obvious "flops" in sports contests are funny. If it happens against your team and the ref misses it, it's maddening. If your team gets away with one, well...so be it.

For the Soccer world it isn't quite so easy to get away with a flop but that doesn't stop athletes from attempting them. Leandro Damiao tries a very lame soccer flop in the videos. Chile's Bryan Carrasco literally takes one for the team, except he did it to himself in the second video.

Brooks Pack, editor of "Dirty Tackle" for Yahoo Sports fas a good article with video here. Warch the videos and try not too laugh!

49ers Score 24 Unanswered Points to Down Rams 31-17

The St. Louis Rams led the San Francisco 49ers 14-0 at the end of the 1st quarter but gave up 24 unanswered points to fall behind 24-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The Rams kicked a field goal with 2:24 left on the clock to make it 24-17 but Dontae Johnson picked off an Austin Davis pass intended for Kenny Britt and returned it 20 yards for the touchdown that put the 49ers up 31-17 with 1:05 left to play. The Rams got to the San Francisco 41 yard line as time expired.

Colin Kaepernick was 22 of 36 for 343 yards and 3 TDs on the night. Anquan Boldin had 7 receptions for 94 yards and a TD. Brandon Lloyd and Michael Crabtree also had TD catches for San Francisco.

Austin Davis was 21 for 42 for 236 yards with 1 TD and an INT. Davis was sacked 5 times. Benny Cunningham had 21 yards on 7 carries with a touchdown.

San Francisco moves to 4-2 on the year. The Arizona Cardinals leads the NFC West with a 4-1 record after beating the Washington Redskins 30-20 and the Seattle Seahawks dropped to 3-2 with a 30-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Read the ESPN article here.

Can the Orioles Come Back From an 0-2 Deficit?

On paper the Orioles should be the team with the 2 game advantage, They won the American League East by 12 Games. On paper, the Royals couldn't hit a home run off a "tee" this year. They finished last in the American League in home runs.

Billy Butler stole a base. On paper he couldn't steal a base with a 45' head start. Butler stole a base.

So...should you count the Orioles out? On paper, no team has come back from losing the first two games of a 7 game series at home and advanced to the World Series.

But we don't play the games on paper. The Orioles have great pitching, great hitting and good defense. The Royals do too.

Game 3 of the ALCS on Tuesday night should be a great game. The Royal's fans yearn for a winner. They are reliving 1985, the last time the Royals even made the playoffs.

Ryan Fagan, of Sporting News, has a very good story about this series. Be sure to read it here before popping the champaign for the Royals. But, don't count the Royals out either.

I could probably be less sure of the outcome of this ALCS but I doubt it!

Florida State to Investigate Winston Autographs

Florida State University has begun investigating how 340+ items with Jameis Winston's autograph have shown up on the web pages for James Spence Authentications (JSA). JSA was recently in the news for authenticating 500+ items signed by suspended UGA Bulldog Todd Gurley.

FSU has not been contacted on the matter by the ACC or the NCAA, but the university's compliance department has begun to specifically look into how JSA received such a large number of signatures.

"Kids sign things all the time," Jimbo Fisher, head coach of the Seminoles said after Saturday's game. "So what do you want them to do, stop signing stuff? We could make them not have any fans from that standpoint and not sign for anybody. That's what it's going to come to, and that's a shame for college football, that somebody exploits a kid. Now if they're getting paid for it, then I don't have any knowledge of that. I don't believe Jameis did."

Fisher also said that Jameis told him that he didn't take any money for the autographs. So while Todd Gurley was suspended by UGA immediately, no action will be taken against Winston until the investigation is complete.

What an indictment of the ACC when the SEC takes the moral high ground.

Read the complete ESPN story here.

7 NC State Players Suspended

Linebacker Jerod Fernandez, safety Josh Jones, both starters, receivers Johnathan Alston and Jumichael Ramos, defensive linemen Justin Jones and Pharoah McKever along with cornerback Mike Stevens were all suspended from the Wolfpack football team for a BB gun incident off campus.

Fernandez leads the team, and is tied for 2nd in the ACC, with 58 tackles. He also leads the team with 2 INTs.

Read the Yahoo Sports article here.

Molina May Miss Playoffs With Pulled Left Oblique

The Cardinals added catcher AJ Pierzyski to their NLDS roster and left off a pitcher. The move seems precient now as Yadier Molina suffered a pulled left oblique muscle in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Giants and may not be available to play.

Read the full Yahoo Sports article here.

D'Backs Hire Chip Hale as Manager

The Arizona Diamondbacks have hired Chip Hale to replace fired manager Kirk Gibson for the 2015 season.

Hale was the 3rd base coach of the Oakland Athletics last season. He was the 3rd Base and Infield Coach for the Diamondbacks from 2007-2009. Arizona won the NL West in 2007. He was also the 3rd Base Coach for the NY Mets in 2010.

The Minnesota Twins drafted Hale in the 17th round of the 1987 draft. He made his major league debut with the Twins on August 27th, 1989. He played for the Twins in 1989 and 1990. He was playing for the AAA Portland Beavers on May 27th, 1991 when he hit a deep fly ball to right that became famous when Rodney McCray crashed through the fence while trying to track down the fly ball. Check out the video of that play here.

Hale played for the Twins again from 1993-1996 and played his final major league game with the LA Dodgers on October 2nd 1997. Hale had a career BA of .277 with 7 home runs and 78 RBIs.

Read the ESPN article on the D'Backs hire here.

Cards Beat Giants 5-4 on Kolten Wong Walkoff Home Run

The St. Louis Cardinals have tied the NLDS at one game apiece thanks to some good pitching, poor hitting by the Giants and a power surge of home runs.

The Redbirds hit 4 home runs last night. They were all solo shots. Matt Carpenter connected in the 3rd, Rookie Oscar Taveras, pinch hitting for pitcher Carlos Martinez, in the 7th, Matt Adams in the 8th and Wong's walkoff in the 9th. Randal Grichuk drove in the second run for the Cards on a single in the 4th.

The Giants had tied the score at 4 in the top of the 9th on a wild pitch by Trevor Rosenthal with the Bases loaded.

Sergio Romo took the loss for the Giants while Seth Maness picked up the win.

These two teams now head to San Francisco for games 3, 4 and 5 of the NLDS. If necessary games 6 and 7 would be played in St. Louis.

Read the ESPN story here.

Mexico National Soccer Team Beats Panama 1-0, But...

The Mexico National Soccer team, El Tri, beat the Panama team 1-0 of Sunday. El Tri looked sluggish and unable to work well against a team that played close defense and tried to shorten the field.

This game, and the one against Honduras on Thursday, have shown that the Mexico team still plays like they did in the World Cup when these weaknesses were first exposed.

Things will bet harder for El Tri in it's march through CONCACAF which of 54 teams in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associations Football.

There is a very good story fron the Sporting News here.

Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle says Chandler Parsons Should "Shed Some Weight"

Carlisle thought about what he said when he singled out Chandler Parsons for being overweight and out of shape following an exhibition game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.

Carlisle said in a statement, "I also made it clear to our players and staff this morning that this type of bad example is not acceptable and beneath the dignity of a championship organization like the Dallas Mavericks."

This is the second time this preseason that the Mav's coach has questioned Parsons' conditioning.

Read the ESPN article here.

Bears Ground Falcons 27-13

The Chicage Bears beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday by a score of 27-13. The Bears remain tied with the Packers for the NFC Central lead.

Jay Cutler threw for 381 yards and a touchdown.

Jared Allen recorded his first sack of the year.

Willie Young got his 6th and 7th sacks for the Bears.

"D" returns to Soldier Field!

Read the story from Sportsrants.com here.

Eagles Shut Out Giants 27-0

The Philadelphia Eagles shut down and shut out the NY Giants on Sunday night 27-0. With the eagles lack of offense the past couple of weeks this was comforting to the Eagles fans.

Conversely, the Giants fans, who had high hopes after the last two weeks need to be concerned. With the Eagles and the Cowboys both at 5-1, the Giants will have to play extremely well against Division and Conference opponents to make the playoffs.

By the way, this was the Eagles first shutout in 18 years! Their last shutout came against the NY Giants on December 1, 1996.

Read the ESPN "Rapid Response" article here.