Archive for August 2008
Mets meet Fish in FLA
29. August 2008 by Glendo.
The Mets, now a full game in front of the Phillies, begin an important weekend series with the 3rd place Marlins. The Mets need these games, while the Phillies have to battle the Chicago Cubs. The Mets also have a chance here to just about knock out the Marlins from the division race.
Oliver Perez will take the mound for the Mets in the opener. In his last start against the Astros he allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings, getting 8 K’s. In his previous start against Florida he held them scoreless through seven innings. The Mets need the good Olly to pitch well and deep into this game.
Mike Pelfrey will also pitch in this series as he continues his remarkable season. He has struggled against the Marlins though, a good fastball hitting team. The Mets scrapped their plans to cut down Pelfrey’s starts now with Maine on the DL.
These are all important games. With only 28 games remaining the Mets need to consistently win series. Here is a list of the Mets remaining opponents and their record against them. Not a tough schedule at all, very similar to last year and we all know what happened then. It breaks down to 15 home games and 13 on the road. 31-25 against these teams on the year.
Marlins (3 home, 3 away): 7-5
Brewers (3 away): 1-2
Phillies (3 home): 10-5
Nationals: (2 home, 4 away): 8-4
Braves (3 home, 3 away): 5-7
Cubs (4 home): 0-2
MATCHUP
NEW YORK METS (74-60, 1st Place NL East) at FLORIDA MARLINS (68-66, 3rd Place NL East/6GB)
Tonight: Mets (Oliver Perez, 9-7, 4.00) at Marlins (Chris Volstad, 4-3, 3.42) 7:10pm ET
Saturday: Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 13-8, 3.70) at Marlins (Ricky Nolasco, 13-7, 3.62) 7:10pm ET
Sunday: Mets (Pedro Martinez, 4-3, 5.22) at Marlins (Scott Olsen, 6-8, 4.19) 1:10pm ET
Pacman reinstated
28. August 2008 by Glendo.
Adam “Pacman” Jones has been cleared to play for the Dallas Cowboys this season. According to the AP
The cornerback-kick returner was suspended all last season, when he was with the Tennessee Titans, because of an accumulation of arrests and legal problems. He was traded to the Cowboys in April, then allowed in June by commissioner Roger Goodell to join the team in training camp and in preseason games.
Goodell, however, was still waiting to decide whether to let Jones play in the regular season. That news came Thursday, hours before Dallas’ final preseason game.
The Cowboys had been operating under the assumption that Jones would indeed be reinstated for the season. Jones’ involvement in different schemes increased throughout camp as he got comfortable in the system
Kotsay to Red Sox
27. August 2008 by gchacko.
The Braves have traded Mark Kotsay to the Red Sox for Luis Sumoza. Kotsay is having his best season since 2004, his onbase percentage is .340 but he has not hit for power. This move comes one day after J.D drew was put on the 15 day DL.
Kotsay did waive no-trade rights, and received $325K to do so.
Sumoza, a 20-year-old, hit .301 in 51 games for Class A Lowell of the New York-Penn League this season.
Quiet October for the Yankees
27. August 2008 by JJK.
October 7, 2007.
It is seventy-nine degrees and partly cloudy.
Yankee Stadium -161st Street and River Avenue Bronx, NY
The Marines, The Navy and The Army are here.
Star Spangled Banner/F-18 Fly over!
56,358 fans!
Cleveland Indians vs New York Yankees - Roger Clemens started and he lasted only 3 innings and gave up three runs. He pulled his hamstring and was replaced by Phil Hughes. (I thought then that I was seeing the changing of the guards) I booed Clemens as he walked off the mound, but most people cheered.The bottom of 5th, Yankees are down 3-1 in the 5th. The Stadium is on the verge of either booing or cheering. It is deathly quiet. The Crowd is dying for the Yankees to give them a reason to cheer. Giambi struck out swinging (I’m thinking thank God one more year of this fat mess). Matsui singled to left(he’s a playoff stud, but how the hell did he age so fast?) Robby Cano doubled to deep left and Matsui went to third. The Melkman delivered a RBI single to left and Matsui scored and Cano went to third. Cleveland’s lead is now cut to 3-2. Johnny Damon steps up to the plate. (He had the Yankees first RBI in the 3rd when he singled in Matsui. I don’t care how bad Johnny is in the outfield, he’s a great player in October) Ball one! Ball two! Yeah take those pitches Johnny, two more and bases are loaded! The funny thing about potential hits are that half the stadium is always negative and they only cheer when they know for a fact that a hit is a hit. (That’s me) The other half will cheer pop ups to shallow center. Well, the third pitch to Johnny from Westbrook was hit hard and it sailed to right field and over the fences. 5-3 YANKEES! Everyone stood up and screamed at the top of their lungs and the Stadium literally shook. Some people threw their beers up in the air from the upper deck. The beer shined and glistened in the Yankee Stadium lights and it looked like shining confetti falling down to the main level. Nobody cared! The roar of the crowd echoed through my body and I screamed until I couldn’t scream anymore. HE crosses the plate and he proceeded to the dugout. The crowd is still buzzing. “Johnnnny DAMON!! CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP! JOhnny DAMON! He steps out and accepts his curtain call! This was the loudest I have ever heard the stadium. The Stadium was waiting for someone to give us a reason to cheer, and Johnny let us release all this stress and all this pressure that has been building up since we went down 2-0 to Cleveland. After the 5 inning ended, Johnny came out to take the field in left and the crowd cheered his name until he tipped his hat to acknowledge us. The Yankees went on to win 8-4. There was so much history involved in this. I was happy to have experienced this amazing Yankees’ Victory. It was Roger Clemens’ final game! Joe Torre’s last win as a Yankee Manager! There could have been more stats but I don’t recall any other.I might be a negative Yankee fan in saying this now, but I can say I went to the final Yankees Playoff win @ Yankee Stadium. There are still those positive Yankee fans that will cheer them on. They are probably those fans that cheer a potential hit even before it’s a hit, but I am the guy who waits until a hit is a hit to cheer. I am pretty sure that in October, Yankee Stadium wont even get to experience “Bronx Cheers”
Huge Series For Yankees
26. August 2008 by rich.
The Yankees begin a huge 3 game series tonight against the Boston Red Sox. They are 5 GB the Sox for the wild card and 3.5 GB the Twins who are battling with the ChiSox which is a whole other hurdle for the Yanks being that the loser of that division is right in the thick of the wild card race as well. This could be do-or-die for the Yankees. Win 2/3 or sweep, and they are still in the thick of things. Get swept or lose the series, things are looking down. This is the most important 3 games of the year thus far. Anytime you can beat the team that’s ahead of you in the standings and get that full game, it is money.
Here are the pitching probables for the series starting tonight in the Bronx:
Notes: There are 32 games left in the Yankees regular season.
Running of the Red Bulls
26. August 2008 by critter.
This past weekend saw the Red Bulls continue their streak of stellar play when they hosted the Western Conferences #1 ranked, Houston Dynamo. Juan Pablo Angel once again got the ball rolling (ha, get it?!) when he struck a header right past Dyanamo goaltender, Pat Onstad, in the 8th minute of play. Dane Richards then scored his first goal of the season 26 minutes into the match. From that point on the Red Bulls defense stepped up yet again and shut down any attacks. And finally in the 60th minute, Mike Magee scored to put the game out of reach.
The fact that many players have been ping-ponging with their national duties the past two weeks with the Olympics doesn’t hurt, but you can’t ignore the fact that the Red Bulls have outscored their opponents 9-1 in their last three games. They’ve also pushed their record to 8-6-7 (unbeaten in their past five matches, 3-0-2) which is good enough to put them in a 4th place tie with DC United for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Rolling in strong, the Red Bulls travel to DC to face the United where they lost 4-1 in June. However, that was a much different team plagued by injury and prior to some huge pickups…
Mets, Phils meet for 1st in East
26. August 2008 by Glendo.
Every game is important, but some matchups take on extra meaning down the stretch. That will be the case when the Mets hit the road Tuesday to take on the Phillies in a two-game series with the top spot in the National League East standings at stake
The Mets will open will Pedro, followed by Santana in this short series. Jamie Moyer gets the ball in the opener for the Phillies, Moyer has pitched very well in his career against the Mets. Lets hope the Mets can get some pitching like that from Mike Pelfrey last night, who pitched his second complete game in a row. This is a big series and the Mets should be up for it. That being said these two games will not make or break either teams seasons.
MATCHUP
NEW YORK METS (73-59, 1st Place NL East) at Philadelphia Phillies (72-59, 2nd Place NL East/.5GB)
Tonight: Mets (Pedro Martinez, 4-3, 4.97) at Phillies (Jamie Moyer, 11-7, 3.54) 7:05pm ET
Wednesday: Mets (Johan Santana, 12-7, 2.64) at Phillies (Kyle Kendrick, 11-7, 4.87) 7:05pm ET
Olympics - In closing
25. August 2008 by gchacko.
Top highlights:
- Opening ceremony
- Michael Phelps 8 gold medals
- Usain Bolt’s domination in track and Field
- Re-deem team winning the gold - USA vs Spain was definitly good basketball
- Dara Torres 2 silver medals at age 41.
- Nastia Liukin, left, and Shawn Johnson of the United States beat out China to win the gold and silver medals in the women’s gymnastics all-around final.
- Closing ceremony
The Olympic Crush:
Leryn Franco
Controversial Olympic Moments:
- Spanish Olympic basketball team in ‘racist’ photo row
- Age of chinese gymnysts
- Fake fireworks for Opening ceremony
- Mysterious points for chinese gymnysts
- Olympic opening uses girl’s voice, not face.
- A kick in the face of a taekwondo referee by furious loser Angel Valodia Matos
John Maine to DL
25. August 2008 by Glendo.
John Maine has been put on the Disabled List due to a bone spur in his right shoulder. Maine will be replaced on the roster by Luis Castillo, who has been activated from the 15–day disabled list.
This is a big hit for the Mets.
A Giant hurt!
25. August 2008 by gchacko.
The Giants received some terrible news and a huge blow to the pass rush game. Osi Umenyiora will miss the upcoming season with a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee, suffered during Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets.
Although it is a far fetched theory, there is some speculation that the Giants will try to bring Strahan out of retirement. Strahan is the new analyst for FOX and is currently vacationing in Greece.
“Someone has already raised that with me today, and I haven’t really talked to anyone at this point in time about anything, to be honest with you,” said Coughlin. “I am sure that Jerry Reese and I and ownership will look long and hard at whatever options are out there and do what is best.”
