week four, NFL picks

After good weeks by the Giants and Raiders, plus more wins by the Lions and bills (both 3-0-0) we head into week four, also the end of the first quarter in the NFL season.

week 4 picks:
1)  Buffalo has been impressive so far they're are confident bunch and I expect them to keep it going against a 1-2-0 Cincinnati team that has not looked very good in giving up 201 yards to Alex Smith and the 49ers last week.  I'll take the Buffalo Bills (-3) on the road in Cincinnati.  Buffalo Bills -3
2)  San Diego can be a bit of an odd team at times but I'll take them against an pretty bad Miami Dolphin team at home, San Diego Chargers (-7) against Miami.  San Diego Chargers -7
3)  The Packers are still the Super Bowl champs and a dangerous team and this week as Denver Bronco team comes in with maybe some quarterback controversy, I'll take the Green Bay Packers (-12) at home against Denver.  Green Bay Packers -12
4) The Giants got a win against a good Eagle team last week and I expect them to continue to ride the momentum into the desert for a meeting with the Arizona Cardinals this week,  give me the New York Giants (-1) in Arizona.  NY Giants -1              
5) The Jet defense looked bad and overrated last week, Rex Ryan has been good in coming back after a loss but not against a Baltimore Raven defense, I'll Take Baltimore (-3.5) at home against the NewYork Jets.  Baltimore Ravens -3.5 

Jose Reyes

I just have say something about this.  Its not a Met thing, Jose basically took himself out of the game after getting his bunt base hit in the first inning.  Jose Reyes got a bunt base hit in the first inning yesterday and then preceded to take himself out of the game to preserve his batting average.  Play the game the right way don't dog it just to become the first Met in history to win a batting title.  He's a possible free agent on a lousy club and he takes himself out before fans have a chance to eat their hot dogs.  Congratulations Jose but I don't condone what you did.      

2011 regular season baseball: wrap

The regular season has now come to an end, with the playoffs starting tomorrow.  A couple weeks ago the baseball season was all but over, all of the division races have been clinched and Boston and Atlanta had big Wild Card leads.  Well that was before Boston went 7-20 in the month of September to squander a nine game lead to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  The Boston Red Sox were undone by injuries, to pitching especially, Becket, Lackey and Lester couldn't win a game down the stretch, big-ticket players (Crawford) not preforming and not playing hard nosed baseball.  The Atlanta Braves had an 8.5 game lead at the beginning of September and lost their Wild Card to St. Louis.  I haven't watched the Braves as closely but their pitching looked tired.  With both the Red Sox and Braves blowing huge leads (epic collapses), we are reminded that baseball can be a crazy game and anything can happen.          
We now go into what should be an exciting post season.  In the American League the New York Yankees play the Detroit Tigers, in which the Yankees have some untested pitching behind Sabathia and both teams have explosive line-ups which can hit the ball out of the park.   In the other AL series a hot, young Tampa Bay Rays team goes into a series with Texas with a chance to win.  In the National League the Philadelphia Phillies have all the pitching, going into a series with the Wild Card winning St. Louis Cardinals.  In an interesting series the Milwaukee Brewers face the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks.  All of these Series can go either way.  the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies and the two best teams (the betting choice as well) and the two are expected to meet in the World Series.  The question is can the Yankee pitching hold up behind Sabathia, their going into the ALDS pitching Nova (rookie) and Garcia behind him.            

week three, NFL picks

After a better week with my picks last week it is time to keep the momentum going, as I make my NFL picks for week three.
1) I don't have a firm grasp on the Oakland Raiders, the Jets are a good road team so give me the Jets (-3) at Oakland.  NY Jets -3
2)  The Giant line is not posted but they go into Philly after loosing two more pieces of their offense, Mario Manningham will probably not play with a concussion and Domenik Hixon has been placed on IR with a ACL injury.  On the Eagles side there is a chance Michael Vick won't play (concussion) but all indications are that he will.  If Michael Vick plays, I don't see the Giants winning this one, when they get together later in the season things might be different.  Philadelphia Eagles
3)  Baltimore has had good showings against teams and this week they go up against an injury laden St. Louis Ram team that made a bunch of costly mistakes against the Giants last week.  I like Baltimore in this one, give me the Ravens (-4) over the Rams.  Baltimore Ravens -4  
4)  I like Pittsburgh on the road in Indianapolis, Payton Manning is still out and the Colt quarterback play has been spotty at best while Pittsburgh has a proven quarterback, give me Pittsburgh (-10.5) in Indy.  Pittsburgh Steelers -10.5    
5) This spread is a little high.  I like the Chargers at home against an over matched chief team, I'll take the San Diego Chargers (-14.5) over the Chiefs.  San Diego Chargers -14.5

602 and counting!

If we didn't already know Marino Rivera was the greatest closer, since saves became an official stat in 1969, he passed Trevor Hoffman (601) to become the all-time saves leader (602) yesterday.  Since Marino took over the closers role in 1996 he has been lights out.  When the Yankees have a ninth inning lead you don't worry when Mo comes into a game, you say to yourself Mo's in he'll get the job done, your shocked when he doesn't.  The 602 doesn't count his remarkable 42 postseason saves.  No other active relief pitcher has close to 602 saves.  Mo is the best relief pitcher in history and we we will never see another one like him.        

week two, NFL picks

After a subpar week, in week one, its now time for week two NFL picks.
1)  Green Bay is healthy and charged, while Carolina is young and breaking in a rookie quarterback who had a good week in week one but Cam Newton's brilliance won't last long against the Packers.  I'll take Green Bay (-10) over Carolina.  Green Bay -10
2)  Baltimore who beat up on a good Steeler team last week travels to Tennessee this week, although it won't be as easy as last week, the Ravens can take one from the Titans.  I'll take Baltimore (-5.5) over Tennessee.  Baltimore -5.5    
3) Oakland has to come east and play an up and coming Buffalo team, I'll take Buffalo (-3) over Oakland.  Buffalo -3 
4)  The Jet defense gave up 390 yards to a Cowboy team last week, but the Jets took advantage of some Tony Romo mistakes to come away with the victory.  This week they have Jacksonville at Metlife Stadium and the Jets will one agin come away with the victory, New York Jets (-8.5) over Jacksonville.  NY Jets -8.5    
5)  The banged up Giants face a team in the St. Louis Rams that might be a little more banged up right now.  The Giants are starting to get healthier, and turning around an 0-1 start, starts monday night against the Rams.  I'll take the Giants (-6) over St. Louis.  the giants have to improve their secondary and special teams if they are going to take advantage of this soft early schedule.   NY Giants -6 

week one, NFL picks

The boys of fall are back, another NFL season is upon us.  On sunday we will start to separate the teams and decide who is going to represent their respective conferences in Super Bowl XLVI.

1)  Philadelphia has built a dream team with Michael Vick, Vince Young, and Nnamdi Asomugha, I am not sure if they can stay healthy for an entire season but i'll take the Eagles -4 this week against a young St. Louis Ram team.  Philadelphia -4  
2) the Arizona Cardinals went out and got kevin Kolb to anchor a ball club which is just a few years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, I'll take them -7 against  a rebuilding Carolina team. The Carolina Panthers could be one of the worst teams in the league, as they break in a new coach and quarterback.  Arizona -7 
3) The Cincinnati Bengals might also be a historically bad team, their quarterback just took off.  Cleveland is looking better with a reshaped staff, I'll take the Cleveland Browns -6.5 over the Cincinnati Bengals.  Cleveland -6.5
4)  The Giants have had a lot of injuries this preseason, I'll take the Giants -3 over a Washington Redskin team that might still be coming together.  New York Giants -3
5)  I think the Jets are going to be pumped up to play Sunday night, on the anniversary of 9/11 and will beat the up and down Dallas Cowboys. I'll take the Jets on a weird line of -5.5.  New York Jets -5.5            

   

Football preview: 2011

Its almost time for football, the boys we be back on the gridiron this Sunday.  In the AFC the New York Jets and their coach (Rex Ryan) who does all the talking haven't done much major tinkering during the offseason, they did sign Plaxico Burress and quarterback Mark Sanchez is another year wiser.  Rex is guaranteeing things his team hasn't won yet,  Plaxico is good when healthy but after missing  two seasons of football, I don't know that he can stay healthy through a 16 week NFL regular season.  The Jets are still in the top five AFC teams, but I am not as high on them as other people.  The Problem with the Jets is they're in a division with the Patriots.   In the rest of the conference I like San Diego, I don't know what the Colts are going to be without Peyton Manning and I never bet against New England.    AFC top five 1) San Diego 2) Baltimore 3) New England 4) N.Y Jets 5) Colts/Steelers
In the NFC he New York Giants have done some work to that offensive line, that defense is going to be good, although Osi Umenylora may not be ready to go until week three.  They did mess up at tight end when they let Kevin Boss go to Oakland and they did have a few deflating injuries this preseason.  I believe they'll figure out the receiving core and they still have a under appreciated backfield with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, even with all the injuries they have looked good in the preseason, I think the Giants will be better than some people think.  In the rest of the conference Philadelphia has built a dream team, but I don't know if they or their quarterback can stay healthy,  Green Bay is still good, New Orleans is good, the Detroit Lions might surprise some people.       NFC top five 1) Green Bay 2) New Orleans 3) Atlanta 4) philadelphia 5) N.Y Giants/Dallas  

NFC East                               NFC North                           NFC South                      
1) Eagles                                1) Packers                             1) Falcons                        
2) Giants 9-7                          2) Lions                                2) Saints                            
3) Cowboys                           3) Vikings                             3) Tampa Bay                  
4) Redskins                            4) Bears                                4) Carolina                      

NFC West
1) Arizona
2) St. Louis
3) Seattle
4) San Francisco
NFC Wild cards: Giants, New Orleans Saints


AFC East                           AFC North                             AFC South                      
1) New England                 1)  Baltimore                         1) Houston                        
2) Jets 10-6                         2) Pittsburgh                          2) Indianapolis                  
3) Buffalo                           3) Cleveland                          3) Jacksonville                  
4) Miami                             4) Cincinnati                          4) Tennessee                    

AFC West
1) San Diego
2)) Kansas City
3) Denver
4) Oakland
 Wild cards:  Jets, Indianapolis

Superbowl: Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers

Yanks win, long three-game set at Fenway

C.C Sabathia and A.J Burnett (Wade got the win) pitched winning games for the Yankees up in Boston.  The Yankees showed a lot of fight, in winning two out of three nail bitting games.  This series had a lot of implications for the Yankees, first they had to go into Fenway and prove that they can take a series from the Red Sox, second they had to stay in a virtual tie (tied in the loss column) for the division lead before not seeing each other until the end of the month.
These are division games and they take forever.  There is a rule on the books, that with nobody on base a pitcher has to throw the ball within 12-15 sec, that rule is never enforced and the umpires don't want to deal with.  I am not a proponent of putting a countdown clock on the scoreboard, I feel that will take away from the game and make baseball something its not.  I like baseball because it is not governed by a clock and it can go at it's own pace.  All that talk about rules aside, these games are going to take a long time.  These are division games between teams that see each other a lot, scout each other a lot, and watch video tape.  In your division their might be more strategy playing out, not that there's not always the game with in the game.  Not all three game series, have an average game length of 3:52.