An exciting weekend in sports outside of football with the MLB and NASCAR postseasons underway, the Presidents Cup staying in America, and World Cup Qualifying reaching a dramatic climax. We'll be back tonight with our YCS College Football Standings and Heisman Watch. And, as soon as the Phillies take care of the Rockies we'll give our extended thoughts on baseball's first round (we have time, the Yankees and Angels start Friday... Friday? really?). Let's get to the biggest and the best from the world of sports with our weekend recap as we go around the world in 7 Things We Missed...
-Well that was quick wasn't it? We knew the Yankees wouldn't have any trouble with the Twins, but the Halos ditching the Sawx in 3?? That was a surprise, especially given the history between those two teams. Given Paplebon's form, it wasn't a shock to see him blow it in a fitting end to the Red Sox season. As a Yankees fan, it's a win-lose scenario. Yes, the Red Sox and their annoying "nation" are eliminated... but now the dreaded Angels have to play the Bombers.
Would you believe that this is the first ALCS appearance by the Yankees since 2004?? So, everyone can ease off on all the hate, it's been a while, why can't us Yankees fans be welcomed back to baseball's Final 4? The starting pitching against the Twins was certainly up to snuff, it may be hard to beat Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte. I was most encouraged by Jeter's awesome play in the 8th inning, boosted by Posada and A-Rod to catch Punto at 3rd. That was vintage Jeter, and vintage Yankees. It's that sort of play from guys like Jeter, O'Neill, Tino, and Brosius that won the championships, not the money. Los Angeles/Anaheim/The OC Angels will need Scott Kazmir to step up in a big way to boost their staff to match the Yankees pitching. With both of these offenses extremely potent, it will come down to pitching to see who wins this series. Here's where the money comes in though... Sabathia and Burnett will earn the big bucks as they lead New York back to the World Series. The Game 3 highlights featuring Jeter's 8th inning magic...
2. NL Playoffs
-St. Louis got beat by the Dodgers, that's not a huge shock. But swept? Carpenter and Wainwright shut out? Very surprising. Matt Holliday's drop is certainly in contention for our upcoming D'Oh Plays of the Decade coming soon! The Dodgers have been under the radar for much of the season, especially post-Mannygate. They coasted down the stretch until they had to wake up and keep the Rockies from winning the division.
The Phils and the Rocks have to survive a chilly Rocktober (I guess whoever thought expansion in Denver was a good idea didn't anticipate October baseball, eh?). Philly got homefield back last night, although nobody east of the Mississippi saw it. With another Cliff Lee start coming up, you have to figure Philly will move on to face the Dodgers. The thought of seeing LA and NY, with Joe Torre managing against the Yanks in the World Series means the Dodgers are the pick to win the NL. Of course that's awful reasoning, but have you seen our football picks? It can't get much worse than when we actually try to use logic and reason... anyways, here's a crappy fan video of Holliday's drop (thanks MLB), but it is funny to see the crowd's reaction at least!
3. NASCAR Playoffs
-MLB isn't the only sport with playoffs going on... the Chase is in full swing! Of course, seeing Jimmie Johnson win isn't all that exciting, and neither is sitting around for a half hour waiting for 4 laps to be run during a red flag. Isn't there anything NASCAR can do about alllll these late race yellow and red flags? The series right now is being dominated by Johnson, Martin, Montoya, Gordon, and Stewart. No surprise to see them finish in the Top 5 in Cali with Johnson taking the win and the Chase lead. But, all 5 drivers still have a legitimate chance at the title. With the crapshoot at Talledega coming up in two weeks, next week's Charlotte race is going to be huge to see if anyone can get some separation before these teams roll the dice at the superspeedway. Here's the highlights of the final laps...
4. Presidents Cup
-At least we here at RSS can predict something right! The US Presidents Cup win wasn't a shock, but it would have been nice to see some more Sunday drama. As we said, the big guns like Els, Singh, Goosen, and Cabrera would have to play well to win, and it didn't happen. Only Ernie and rookie Ryo Ishikawa had winning records. On the other hand, the Big 3 of Woods, Stricker, and Mickelson went 13-1-1 to lead the way to victory. Steve Stricker indeed was the perfect partner for Tiger Woods (as we also predicted before the tournament at RSS). Woods finally asserted his dominance in the match play format, and finally got his chance to exercise the YE Yang demons with a 6&5 whoopin. While Stricker played well all week, it was Tiger's Saturday morning shots on 17 and 18 which sealed the matches in a comeback win. If that match went the Internationals' way, the Cup would have been much closer. You have to wonder with heavyweights like Goosen, Singh, and Els on the backside of their prime whether the World Team will improve on their 1-6-1 record anytime soon. Here's Tiger clinching the Cup...
5. US Heads Back to South Africa
-A fantastic win for the US Soccer team in a hostile enviornment at San Pedro Sula clinched the US a place in next year's World Cup with a thrilling 3-2 win over Honduras. Yes, a country with 2 presidents where beat writers get robbed at gunpoint qualifies as hostile territory. Of course, nobody saw it as ESPN dropped the ball by not getting the TV rights to the game. What was that about a commitment to soccer again? It was great to see Conor Casey get the two goals to lead the US to victory and shut up all the MLS haters, at least for the time being. The US needed that kind of statement win on the road in Central America, and it should do wonders to rebuild the team's confidence as we are now officially on the road to South Africa. Here's the highlights of the thrilling win... in Spanish, it's the best we could do...
6. WCQ Roundup
-Elsewhere around the World Cup scene, the main story is Argentina's huge win over Peru to move into the CONMEBOL Top 4 with a last gasp goal from 85 year old Martin Palermo. Argentina need a tie at Uruguay to get in, but nothing is a given in South America, especially with Maradona still leading the team. Portugal is also back into the race, as they only need to beat Malta to get into the playoffs. There are still a lot of spots on the line all across the world, and we'll be back after European, and North and South American group qualifying ends on Wednesday with our thoughts. Here's the highlights from Argentina's dramatic win in monsoon conditions, featuring the excitable foreign commentary and a hilarious celebration from Maradona as well!
7. NBA Preseason
-The NBA is back! Of course, we're not going to waste our time or yours talking about the preseason or anything, but it is a welcome sight to see the world's best athletes back out on the court. However, the preseason does make us hope for a resolution to the silly dispute between the NBA and the refs. NBA refs are indeed bad, but replacement ones evidently are worse. Stay tuned to RSS as we'll intently cover the Association throughout the season. With all of the talented teams, it promises to be one of the most compelling NBA seasons in many years. Our preview and picks will be coming up soon. Here's a pretty slick Youtube vid of the action so far including 2 Greg Oden sightings, and Detroit rookie Austin Daye stuffing D Wade just shy of the minute mark...
1 comment:
So I've finally seen the Jeter play everyone is raving about, because, of course, it's Derek Jeter. I must say...I'm not impressed. I think I, past my athletic prime could have made that play. Jeter has time to eat a sandwich before he throws home. Now, if he'd thrown directly thrown to 3rd, maybe it's a good play. But Punto's horrid baseunning makes the play, not Captain Fantastic.
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