World Series Preview: Texas Rangers vs. San Francisco Giants

One of these teams will end the futility that has held both of these franchises hostages for the last half a century. Texas is making its first appearance in the fall classic and San Francisco has 18 appearances, but since moving to the bay in 1958, this will be only their fourth trip. The Giants haven’t won since 1954 for those keeping count and that was when the say-hay kid Willie Mays was patrolling the outfield.

The Rangers, meanwhile, are the fourth team in the past six seasons to be appearing in their first World Series. Led by the big bat of AL MVP candidate Josh Hamilton and the arm of ace Cliff Lee, the Rangers are looking to make up for lost time. This is a team that was in shambles financially at the beginning of the season. The team was in the midst of being sold and also had to be placed on bankruptcy protection. Enter the former Rangers great Nolan Ryan, who led a group of investors that scooped the team up and have been firing on all cylinders every since. They have a nice balance of youth and veterans including youngsters Elvis Andrus, Netfali Feliz, Nelson Cruz and veterans Micheal Young and the off season addition of Vladimir Gurrerro.

The Giants barely made it in the Playoffs but are definitely making the most out of the trip. A team dominated by pitching, the Giants added a lot of key pieces during the season to entrench the team. The additions included: Cody Ross, Javier Lopez, a call up of rookie Buster Posey and off season additions included Aubrey Huff and Pat “the bat” Burrell. For this season at least all these moves have had a positive impact on the club. Their pitching is off the charts with two top of the line starters in Tim “The Freak” Lincecum, and Matt Cain. The closer Brian Wilson is one of the quirkier guys you will meet in baseball but is also one of the best. It’s fitting that this patchwork of an offense will meet a patchwork of a front office in the Rangers for the World Series.

Now time for the breakdowns:

Pitching: Texas has the best postseason pitcher that has come along in awhile with Cliff Lee and also are benefiting from quality starts from C.J Wilson and the former Japanese league pitcher Colby Lewis.

San Francisco counters with maybe the deepest rotation in all of baseball: Lincecum, Cain, Jonathon Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner.

The Edge: San Francisco

Offense: Texas has the big bats in Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Gurrerro, Ian Kinsler, and Nelson Cruz. They also have a nice platoon of for average hitters in Michael Young, Elvis Andrus and Mitch Moreland.

San Francisco doesn’t have the power of the Rangers but has timely hitting with Buster Posey, Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff leading the way. They will need a big series from Posey and for Ross to continue his hot streak of late.

The Edge: Texas

Fielding: Texas has a solid defense led by the former gold glove winner Michael Young. The Rangers have been playing good enough defense but not the best.

San Francisco’s fielding has been just as solid if not better than the Rangers. Rookie Buster Posey leads the team in that department.

The Edge: Even

The Series prediction: This is sort of a karma infused World Series. It seems both teams haven’t been successful over the past few decades and both are trying to exercise those demons of the past. Pitching is always the most important factor in the playoffs to me and the Giants are deeper in that department. Cliff Lee is amazingly only getting better as the playoff’s progress but he can only start so many times for the Rangers. Josh Hamilton will keep it close and should have his moments as the best hitter in the series. One for sure winner in this series will be Bengie Molina, who after playing for both teams this year is going to receive a ring either way.

 

         The Pick: Giants in 7

Monday Night Review: Disaster in Dallas

If you thought it couldn't get any worse for America's team, you thought wrong. The Cowboys fell to the Giants last night 41-35, but more importantly loss starting Qb Tony Romo for at least 8-10 weeks with a broken Collarbone. That is just a devastating blow to the popular preseason Super Bowl picks. Their season effectively ended with Romo's injury.



The play occurred in the beginning of the second quarter. Linebacker Michael Boley busted through the Cowboys line at full speed and just leveled Romo. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was bad. Romo lay on the ground motionless, grimacing in pain. Boley himself was quoted as saying he heard “Romo let out a little scream.” That scream was surely echoed by owner Jerry Jones, who was witnessing the end of his team’s season. All the Super Bowl talk and being the first team to host and play in the Super Bowl ended on that one vicious hit.



The game itself had such a promising start for Dallas. Eli Manning threw an interception to Terence Newman on the fourth play of the game and Newman returned it to the Giants five yard line. A Marion Barber rush for one yard and than a five yard pass from Romo to tight end Jason Witten would lead to a Dallas touchdown. On New York’s second drive, Manning would be picked off again by Gerald Sensabaugh, who returned it to the Giants 18. From there Romo completed a 13 yard pass to Martellus Bennett but the drive would stall and Dallas would settle for a field goal.



The Giants got back into the game with a good drive that ended with a Hakeem Nicks touchdown catch. On the next drive Romo led the Cowboys to a field goal and the Dallas defense forced New York to punt on their next drive. On the punt, Rookie Dez Bryant made a nice cut up field and was able to find a seam and was off to the races for a 93-yard return. That score made the game 20-7 and that would be as happy as the story gets for Dallas. From that point, New York would go on to five unanswered scores and put the game out of reach. Eli Manning caught fire in the middle of the second and would finish 25 of 35 for 306 yards 4 touchdowns but also 3 interceptions.

Dallas would later add two cosmetic touchdowns going to Dez Bryant but the game was never really in doubt after the Romo injury. The Cowboys now sit at 1-5 without their starting QB. Jon Kitna looked a mess running the offense and could never get it going until the game was out of reach. The season ended all on the Boley blitz in that instant. The question now becomes how far will Dallas fall this season? Will Coach Wade Phillips be able to survive the turmoil that will ensue now? One thing is for sure, for this season the Cowboys are down and out.

Brett Favre injured

The consecutive game streak may finally come to an end and not for the Jenn Sterger accusations. As reported by the Associated Press, Brett Favre has two broken bones in his left ankle and no word yet on if he will be able to play this Sunday vs. the Patriots. He was reportedly injured in the third quarter of the Vikings’ 28-24 loss to Green Bay on Sunday night at Lambeau Field.

Brad Childress, coach of the Minnesota Vikings confirmed the report and stated that Favre is wearing a protective boot, but has yet to rule out Favre, who's streak stands at 291 games started. Even without word from Childress can you honestly expect a 41 year old man with two broken bones to go play a NFL game? It sounds like old grey beard's body is finally succumbing to 20 years of carnage in the league. Favre already had off-season surgery to repair his left ankle and was taking injections for it before the season even started.

If this is the end of the streak, than its just a sad ending. I always said that Brett would regret coming back this season because it just be so hard to top the magic that he played with last year. When you couple this injury with the accusations and other off field distractions he has had this year, then I think we could all agree he wishes he would have just stayed on his farm in southern Mississippi with his wranglers on.

Sportaholic NFL Power Rankings

I wanted to wait until the Monday night game was in the books but upon further review I don't have Dallas (duh) or the Giants in my top five so it was OK to go ahead and post my Power rankings. In one of my previous posts (http://thenashvilleblog.com/2010/10/pretenders-and-contenders/) I listed my Pretenders and Contenders as of week 4. The list included two teams at the time that I thought until they got their act together were not going to make the playoffs. Both of those teams have finally straightened up and look to make some major noise going into week 9. The two teams you ask? None other than AFC co-division leaders Tennessee and Indianapolis and both make their introduction into the top five. And with that being said let's jump in the Power Rankings

1. New York Jets - I have to keep them here even though they had a bye week. The offense has been fluid and only looks to get better with another week of practice and finding places for Santonio Holmes to get the ball. Sexy Rexy's (Pun totally intended) defense will always show up and give the team a chance. I really like this team and they look to be the class of the league right now

2.Pittsburgh Steelers - As everyone knew, the addition of Big Ben to the offense has infused life back into that side of the ball. Before Rothelisberger, the passing offense was ranked dead last and now with him back they have already rose to 26th in the league. Aaron Smith was lost for the season with a torn tricep and may be a bigger blow than most think but the defense is the least of their worries these days in Steeler nation. One other thing I worry about with the Steelers is how they sometimes get a little cute with Ben back in the lineup and pass more than they should. All in all this is a solid team and Super Bowl contender.

3. Tennessee Titans - On paper you look at this team and try to figure out who some of these guys are. You know the names Vince Young, Chris Johnson, Cortland Finnegan and after his break out performance Kenny Britt. I challenge anyone outside of of Tennessee to name any other players from this team. Hmm? That's what I thought. But the thing about the Titans is that they play with a mean streak that is indicative of their coach Jeff Fisher. They will hit you in the mouth, just ask Philadelphia. The emergence of Britt really is intriguing for this team. If you can combine a speedy deep threat to the likes of Chris Johnson you are definitely on to something. The running lanes will be open more now for Johnson and Vince Young now that a passing game has developed. This is a team to be reckoned with and will have something to say about the AFC south crown.

4.New England Patriots - The gritty, gutty Patriots gutted one out against the mistake prone San Diego Chargers but it wasn't without its faults. The Pats almost had a fourth quarter meltdown. San Diego was able to find their offensive rhythm in the fourth and came back from 20-3 down to almost tie the game. New England was saved by a missed field goal from the unreliable Kris Brown ( Houston fans know what I am talking about.) New England is a good team but I am weary of their young defense. Good teams will make that field goal and take it to overtime or not be in that position at all in the first place. I noticed a lot of holes in the secondary that Phillip Rivers was able to take advantage of. But to be honest if that is one thing you have to worry about, than you should be OK. As long as Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck are on the same page, the good times should continue in Boston.

5.Indianapolis Colts - I flipped and flopped in my head who to put in this slot. I really like Baltimore, but that was just a bad performance they had against the Bills. They should have blown them out. So instead I will go with the Colts this week. Indianapolis had a bye this week and thank god for that. The players have been dropping left and right with Austin Collie, Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai and Donald Brown all getting injured. The biggest one is Clark, he has always been Peyton's safety net, so that will definitely be a blow to their high powered offense. I just think Manning will find a way to get the best out of what he has and they will battle Houston and Tennessee all the way to the end for the AFC South. I have a personal belief to never ever bet against Peyton Manning. He has burned me too many to do so.

Honorable Mention: Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Vandy vs. South Carolina review

Vandy came into this game looking to recover from the thrashing it took from Uconn, but South Carolina was also looking to retake first place in the SEC East. Senior Brian Maddox, in for the super freshman Marcus Lattimore due to an injury, had a career day with 146 yards rushing en route to defeating the Commodores 21-7.

Vanderbilt looked strong in the first half and the game was tied 7-7 going into the 3rd quarter. Coach Steve Spurrier replaced an ineffective Kenny Miles with Maddox in the 4th series of the game. Maddox at first was proving just as ineffective as Miles until a game changing drive that saw him eat up 48 yards on the ground in the 3rd quarter. The Gamecocks let Vandy hang around with an errant snap on one drive and Casey Heyward's SEC-leading fifth interception on another and a blocked field goal as well. The Commodores had consistent pressure on Stephen Garcia and had a total of 4 sacks. To Garcia's credit, he remained tough in the pocket and finally found his rhythm and hit a couple of long passes late in the game. I figured Vandy would have problems covering Alshon Jeffrey with his size and athleticism and was proved to be correct. Garcia was able to connect with Jeffrey for a 24-yard catch that set up a Maddox touchdown and later Jeffrey had a spectacular 72-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth. A surprise to me and apparently to the Commodores was receiver Tori Gurley who finished with 13 catches for 109 yards. When you combine Jeffrey's number and Gurley's numbers you can see it was hard for Vandy's secondary to keep up with the Gamecocks passing game.

Vanderbilt's offense looked as stagnant as ever finishing with just 250 total yards. Larry Smith continues to have trouble passing going 13/31 for 142 and no touchdowns. The run game was OK at best going for 108 yards. Vandy will continue to have problems as long as there middling offense doesn't find the continuity it needs to help out its defense. The Commodores are now 2-5 and are headed to Fayetville next in a dual with Arkansas, lead by QB Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks intricate passing game. There is definitely no rest for the weary in the SEC but hopefully Vandy can try to rebound from consecutive losses.

UT report

vs.

Alabama vs. Tennessee is a game that dates back to back to 1901 and is referred to as "The Third Saturday in October. It is one of the best rivalries in the south and usually has championship implications on it. Let's just say this year not so much. UT was handed its 4th consectutive lost in the series after being bulldozed by the Crimson Tide 41-10.The Alabama offense had its way with Tennesse. Julio Jones shredded the Vols secondary for 12 catches and 221 yards receving (but failed to get a touchdown, weird huh?) and the Crimson Tide running backs combined for 210 yards. Trent Richardson finished with 119 yards on 12 carries and defending Heisman winner Mark Ingram had 14 carries for 88 yards.

The bright spots for far and few for the Vols.Tennessee was actually in this game in the first half. Matt Simms lead a drive at the end of the 2nd quarter that ended up with a field goal and UT went to the locker room down just 13-10. But their fortunes quickly turned in the 2nd half of play. The first play of the 3rd quarter for Alabama resulted in a 38-yard strike from Greg McElroy to Jones. The next play after Mark Ingram ran for a 12 yard gain, McElroy found Jones again for 19 yards.From there Mark Ingram punched it in and the game began to slide for the Vols from there.  Michael Palardy missed a 52-yard field goal on the next possession. Alabama in turn scored on its next drive with a 65-yard rumble from Richardson.

The game was not in doubt after that. Tauren Poole ran for 117 yards and a score on 14 carries and looked especially strong in the first half game. Matt Simms finished 11 of 22 for 117 yards and one interception. Tennessee did have some big plays in the game including a 59 yard burst for Poole for a touchdown. That was the longest rush of the year for the Vols. UT would go on to have carries of 59, 15 and 13 yards on Bama. They just cannot sustain those drives enough to get scores out of them. Matt Simms as tough as he is, does not have the arm of most SEC quarterbacks. He can only make a limited amount of throws and thus limit the offense. The offensive line seems to be getting better every week and was very strong in the run game this game.

All in all, it is about what I anticipated this game to be. Alabama's talent and depth eventually took over as the game went on. UT fought a good battle but wasn't able to contain Bama's stable of athletes. It will take awhile and a few more good recruiting classes from Derek Dooley and staff to be able to compete with the Crimson Tide.

College Football Weekend Finale

Another week in College Football and another number one ranked team goes down. The Oklahoma Sooners were the first number one team this year in the initial BCS rankings but that won't last long with its defeat at the hands of the Missouri Tigers 36-27. Missouri's high powered offense out lasted the Sooners and gave them problems all night. The most noticeable thing to me was the lack of pressure that Oklahoma was able to get on QB Blaine Gabbert. He would finish 30 of 42 for 308 yards. He pretty much had all the time and more to dissect the Sooners defense and made them pay for it. In previous years the Tigers wilted under the pressure of Oklahoma but were able to show their toughness this time around. Oklahoma became the third top ranked team to go down following Alabama and Ohio State. The win now puts Missouri in the driver seat for the north division title. A looming showdown next week in Lincoln vs. Nebraska will show if they are ready for the next level.

Now a few teams that caught my eye, some for good reason and some for bad.

Auburn - My question now is what can Cam Newton not do? Auburn just pummeled LSU on the ground with 440 yards to LSU's 115. Newton did his part going for 217 yards on 28 carries. He showed his uncanny athleticism on a stunning 49 yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter. This guy is just too big for the DB's to tackle and too fast for the Linemen and Linebackers to catch. Auburn's other running backs also showed up with Freshman Micheal Dyer rushing for 100 yards on 15 carries and Onterrio McCalebb broke the game open with a spectacular 70 yard scamper that sealed the victory for Auburn. Cam Newton now has to be considered the front runner for the Heisman. His team is undefeated in the SEC and he has already broken the single season touchdown record for Auburn and also the SEC single season QB rushing yardage mark. Auburn is now the lone undefeated team in the SEC and if they win out, should be in the national championship game.Auburn rose to number in the latest BCS rankings and the only team that seems to stand in their way will be Alabama in the Iron bowl and final game of the season. That is just the way it should be.

Oregon - The Ducks continue to dominate its foes but can't seem to lock down the top spot in the BCS. The Ducks pounded UCLA 60-13 but remain stuck at the two spot for the second consecutive week. If they win out and don't make it to the championship game, they would have valid argument with the system but I think if they do go undefeated they should have a spot in the title game. They have a showdown with USC this weekend.

Michigan State - Michigan State survived a scare, coming back from 17 down to defeat a very game Northwestern team. Mike D'antoni has guts. He called a fake punt that led to a touchdown that spun the momentum back into the Spartans favor. When asked what he was thinking on that play, D'antoni quoted " That's the old mouse taking the cheese bait." You have to love a coach who will take risks in order to win games. That's the way I would want my coach to be. Sparty remains unbeaten and have the inside track to the Big Ten title.

Texas - The Longhorns remain the inconsistent team that I said they were earlier this season. There is just not justification of losing to Iowa State. The cyclones jumped on the Longhorns to the tune of a 28-0 lead going into the 4th quarter. The Longhorns mounted a comeback in the final quarter but it was to little to late. Mack Brown sounded frustrated in his post game conference and for good reason. Texas isn't going anywhere this season.

And lastly, the non-AQ teams continue to get jumped by the BCS conference teams in the poll. TCU was jumped by Auburn in the latest BCS poll. Boise State remains at number two , but it will be worth watching if the BCS conference schools can continue to surge over the likes of TCU, Utah, and Boise State because of the poll rankings and strength of schedule.