And one more

I'll leave this here as my reminder to not get so angry should LSU lose to Florida this weekend.  Les Miles "is a car wreck that you can't turn away from".  How true.

Football Friday

Tim Lincecum threw a gem last night for the Giants.  As I had expected, it might take him a few innings to get going since he hadn't pitched in more than a week.  Atlanta didn't get to him enought early and Lincecum got in a groove.  A 14 strikeout 2-hit groove. 

So here we go with my pics for some pertinent games: (home teams in bold)

College

#1 Alabama over South Carolina
#11 Arkansas over Texas A&M
#18 Michigan over #17 Michigan St.
Notre Dame over Pitt
Clemson over North Carolina
Oregon St over #9 Arizona
#10 Utah over Iowa St.
#14 Florida over #12 LSU
#13 Miami over #23 FSU
#16 Stanford over USC

NFL

St.Louis over Detroit
Indianapolis over Kansas City
Green Bay over Washington
Baltimore over Denver
New Orleans over Arizona
Dallas over Tennessee
N.Y.Jets over Minnesota

Wish me luck.  Everyone have a great weekend.

Lynch, Dong Fregosi, and the Playoff No-Hitter

I've never been in a clubhouse of a Major League Baseball team, nor any other pro team for that matter.  But I can imagine that hilarity like this is more commonplace that one might thing.  Or maybe I'm wrong there.

While I was not exactly surprised, the no-hitter thrown by Roy Halladay last night was remarkable nonetheless.  Only the second no-hitter in more than 100 years of postseason history by a guy in his very first postseason start.  But it was thrown by a pitcher who has become one of the best in game in a season where everyone seemed to have a no-hitter or come close. The no-hitter just doesn't mean as much to me now as it once did.  But congratulations to Roy Halladay on a remarkable feat.

Finally, Marshawn Lynch was traded from the toilet bowl if the NFL to, well, something better.  I think.  Seattle is better, and better because they now have Marshawn Lynch.  He's a very talented running back both as a runner and receiver.  I can see him carry the Seahawks offense with multiple 100 yards games and lifting Seattle to a division title in the wide open NFC West.  Critics will say that he is more likely to be arrested again and fall out of the league altogether.  That might have scared many teams away from trading for him over the past year. 

Seattle is going through a sort of rebirth under first year head coach Pete Carroll.  To a team that already seems to have good energy, Lynch only adds to that with his arrival.  Lynch brings with him a resume that includes two 1,000 yard seasons in his first three years in the league and a 2008 Pro Bowl selection.  He is stepping into a situation where inconsistency and poor performance has led Seattle to a 27 worst rush offense in the league and fourth worst in the NFC. 

My gut feeling on Lynch is probably like many others.  He is in a position to help a potential playoff contender right now.  If he can avoid any further off-field problems and perform as expected, things look clear in Seattle.  If not, then the many overcast days ahead in Seattle will look more gloomy for the young running back.

MLB Playoffs and Moss to Minny

Major League Baseball playoffs start tonight.  I tend to greet this event with a "meh" response.  Television schedules dictate far too much and I tend to lose interest even when my beloved Cardinals are involved.  But I am interested nontheless.  But first:

In case you hadn't heard, Randy Moss was traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a 3rd round pick.  The obvious for the Vikings is that they must win now.  The bulk of their core is getting old and/or has an expiring contract in the next year or two.  In trading for Moss, they finally decided to part with future draft pick to help win now.  While many are expecting the Vikings to sign Moss to an extension, I would think that to not be so smart a choice.  Not unless they want to deal with a huge new contract going to Moss with no one throwing to him after this year.  That would be dumb. 

For the sake of Brad Childress, the Vikings need to win now.  He has invested too much of himself into this current team for it to fail.  With the season ending injury to Sidney Rice, and the recurring injuries to Percy Harvin, the down field passing game of Minnesota has struggled and would have continued to do so.  Moss will definitely help that.  Plus, Moss and Brett Favre seem to really want to play on the same team as the other.  So that has to count for something, right?

Well, Minnesota is playing on monday night this week against the J E T S, JETS, JETS, JETS!!!  Darrell Revis is apparently back this week for New York.  I'll put an over/under for Moss at 2 catches.

Back to baseball.  There are four playoff series with three of them starting today.  I'll go with Texas winning against Tampa Bay in 4 games.  The Rays seem to play better on the road, and since they have home field in this series, I suspect that will play against them somehow.  I'm really not interested in this series at all.

If I have a sleeper for this years playoffs, its the Cincinnati Reds.  I really don't expect them to beat the Phillies, nor does anyone else.  But the Reds ranked in the top ten in all of baseball in every offensive stat that matters (OBP, runs, SLG, ) so I think they might actually keep up with the Phillie pitching.  And they tied for an MLB best .988 fielding percentage.  And you can say all you want about the Reds mediocre pitching, but with extra days off because of television schedules, that bullpen can get worked all they want because they will all get an extra day off that they wouldn't have gotten during the regular season.  So you know what, Reds in 5.

Minnesota Twins vs New York Yankees will also start tonight in the new open stadium in Minneapolis.  Temps are expected to be in the 40's tonight.  Should be interesting.  The stat that everyone is throwing out for this one is how the Yankees (besides Cano/Swisher) are hitting much worse away from the launching pad of the new Yankee Stadium.  And how besides Sabathia, no one else on the Yankee staff knows how to pitch.  Let be honest here, Francisco Liriano is starting Game 1 for Minnesota.  He has never pitched this many innings in a season, struggled down the stretch, and didn't exactly pitch that well in relief in last years playoff against this same Yankee team.  Game 2 starter Carl Pavano has had solid postseason outings in the past.  If Minny wins tonight, I say Twins in 5.  If not, Yankees in 4.

I want to think that in the last year for Bobby Cox as an MLB manager, that he might go into retirement as a champion.  But there are too many injuries for the Braves (Chipper, Prado, Jurrjens) and San Francisco pitchers are just too good.  I am amuzed to see the likelihood of Barry Zito being left off the Giants postseason roster in favor of rookie Madison Bumgarner.  I think its the right move.  Especially is the Giants only plan to go with a three man rotation of Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez.  Giants in a sweep.

I'm not going to act like I'm that smart and pick past the divisional round.  Particularly when I might have picked half of these series wrong.