Rays win again with the help of another unlikely hero

The Rays in the midst of a loosing streak, and playing in Boston, another loss would have caused them first place. I wrote Tuesday morning that they would find a way to win, and Tuesday night they did, with the help of another unlikely hero.

It was a game where the Rays left many runners in scoring position, but could not increase their lead by more than one run. For 5 straight innings the Rays got the lead off batter on base, but could not score. Rays pitcher Scott Kazmir was excellent as was the bullpen, but you just knew that one run would not be enough. Jason Bay, who the Rays tried to get at the trade deadline, hit a 2 run homer in the bottom of the eight to give the Red Sox the lead 4-3.

The Rays with BJ Upton out for a couple days called up Dan Johnson earlier in the day, and was going to have him start, but his flight was late due to weather. So in the top of the 9th they bring in Johnson to pinch hit and he hit a blast over the right centerfield wall to tie the game. This was followed up with doubles by Fernando Perez and Dioner Navarro to give the Rays the lead. The Red Sox had a man in scoring position in the bottom of the ninth, but closer Troy Percival was able to hold.

Here was a game as with many others, that the Rays found a way once again. Ever time someone gets injured; there is another to pick them up. Whenever some struggle, the ones you least expect come through. It is hard to put into perspective what this team has done this season. This is partly because in order to compare some of their stats you would have to think back over a hundred years, and not many of us can do that. I just have to think with what they are accomplishing, and who they are doing it with, it is just something special.

Pennant race baseball & the NFL's wacky first week

I look at the baseball standings and the NFL highlights, and I can tell it is mid September. Three division leads in MLB have diminished to within 2 games, and the NFL has upsets all over the place.

In MLB the Mets lead over the Phillies is 1.5 games, the same as the Dodgers over the Diamondbacks. The Rays lead over the Red Sox is down to .5, with them in the middle of a series against them in Boston. You know, even I still can't get used to saying that, and yes I will have to say that some more. Even though they are struggling in Boston right now, they will find a way, they have all season. Evan Longoria should be back by this weekend, and next week Boston comes to the pit (Tropicana Field) where the Rays have dominated them. Anyway, the wild card picture is dwindling down especially in the American league, but with the upcoming schedules, anything can happen with the division winners.

Now in the NFL, who would have thought that Atlanta and Baltimore would have wins and Detroit, Jacksonville, and Indianapolis would not. There were some very good games this weekend that could have went either way, and some that were lopsided in the wrong way. As I was trying to watch the final minutes of many at the same time, and keep up with the baseball scores, I did not pay much attention to the Falcons and Lions. What in the flippin universe happened there? Atlanta with a rookie QB, and Mike Smith who has never been a head coach before beat up on Detroit, it just goes to show anything can happen.

As I prepare for the upcoming baseball games, and this weekends NFL and college games, I look back at my picks for this past weekend. Now I mostly understand where I went wrong, but I had only 1 college game wrong, and that was the West Virginia loss to East Carolina. Now that one still baffles me, but like I said it is mid September and anything can happen.

Jaguars at Titans: wk. 1 preview

Tough AFC South rivals the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans will battle it out today for the right to say they are the team to beat in their division.

The Jaguars after making great improvements during the offseason seemed to end up on a lot of people's prediction list. During training camp though, they suffered quite a few injuries and their program seemed to be heading in the wrong direction after loosing to the Miami Dolphins. Since then they have healed up, but they now have to contend with off field problems. This week has been especially tough with the arrest of Fred Taylor, and the shooting of Richard Collier who is still in critical condition. For the Jaguars to accomplish their goal of their first AFC South title, they will need to put these things behind them, but we will see them use Collier as inspiration in today's game.

The Tennessee Titans trying to make a run for the same championship would like to use the Jaguars as a confidence boost. They have an improved running game, but QB Vince Young still has his share of problems. The Titans have a good defense that was 5th overall last season, and they should be just as good this year. Their toughest defense is against the pass however, which should leave the Jaguars some room for their speedy run game.

This is a rival match up that is shaping up to be a battle within a very tough division every year.
The Jags are favored by 3 and I am going to go along with that.

Jags: Win one for Collier
My pick: Jaguars by 3

Buccaneers at Saints: wk. 1 preview

The storm has passed, the dome is in good shape, and they are ready for football in New Orleans.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers uncertainties of the preseason may continue today. Jeff Garcia tossing two interceptions after returning from injury leaves us wondering if he is fully recovered. Fortunate for Garcia is that Joey Galloway should return with some playing time today, to help him out with his passing misfortunes. Coach Jon Gruden should watch Garcia's progress closely, and make a temporary change at QB if necessary. The Buccaneer defense should play well, but if the offense takes too long to put points on the board, the game will be out of reach.

The New Orleans Saints spent most of the week wondering if and where they would be playing today's game. They spent the week preparing in Indianapolis, and did not fly home till Friday night. Drew Brees will try and get his offense up and running quickly, to get some points on the board and the crowd into the game. The saints did this in front of 68,000 fans the first game back after hurricane Katrina, before going on to compete in their first NFC title game. The key for them today is if they can do this again, and not let the inconveniences of the past week affect them.

The Saints are favored by 3 in this game, but I am going to give the edge to the Buccaneers. The first reason being the play of their defense, and secondly is that I don't think Jon Gruden will hesitate make a QB change if necessary.

My pick: Buccaneers by 2

Jets at Dolphins: wk 1 preview - Favre vs. Pennington

Here it is week 1, and after the Favre media circus, and the booting of Chad Pennington it comes down to this. A game where there will be talk about which team made the better move during the preseason, and this game won't necessarily make it go away.

Brett Favre having stayed with a northern team after getting traded by Green Bay will travel to the deep south to try and prove he can still get it done. Favre had one of his better seasons in years last year, but everything is new this season, so we will see if the old QB can learn new tricks. Favre and the Jets say they plan to set the pace in this game, hence the regular season debut of outside linebacker Calvin Pace among many others. Note to Jets: this is a 1pm game in hot and humid Miami, what kind of pace do you plan on setting.

The Miami Dolphins will be out take the great improvements they made during the preseason a step further. During the offseason I would have put the Dolphins somewhere at the bottom of the NFL, but after acquiring Chad Pennington the whole outlook seemed to change. Pennington came into the Dolphins camp and picked up on things rather quickly. In his final preseason games he was able to open up his passing game because of a strong rushing threat put up by Ricky Williams, and Ronnie Brown. I look for it to be the Dolphins offense that sets the pace in this game.

This is a game where the Jets are favored by 3, but the outcome could be determined by the QB that has learned his new offense the most. I believe that QB will turn out to be Pennington.

Oh, and what you see dripping down Brett's face today won't be tears like during the off season, it will be sweat.

My pick: Dolphins by 3

Miami Hurricanes at Florida Gators: preview

The Miami Hurricanes who got off to a good start with a win over Charleston Southern will blow north tonight to compete in the bigger of the two instate matchups tonight. A new generation of Hurricanes and Gators will go at in the swamp like the many before them.

The Miami Hurricanes who are in a rebuilding phase of their program, would like to leave Gainesville the way they did the last time they visited in 2002, with a win. This may prove to be a little tougher than it was in 2002. The Hurricanes have come a long way, and this game could be a lot closer than I would have thought during the offseason. Just like last week the Hurricanes will start a freshman QB, this time starting Robert Marve. Last week freshman QB Jacory Harris threw for 190 yards completing 16 of 26 with a touchdown. This is the first season to be opened with two Miami freshman QB's since Bernie Kosar & Vinny Testaverde in 1983. The Miami defense also played well last week holding Charleston to 126 yards, tonight though they will have to stop the speedy Gators.

The Florida Gators after clobbering Hawaii 56-10 will have to make more use of QB Tim Tebow tonight. Last week the Gators got 2 touchdowns from their defense and one from special teams, and that won't be as easy against the Hurricanes. The Gators racked up a total of 406 total offensive yards, with Tebow directing 174 of those. The Gator defense shut down the Hawaii offense to allow only 241 yards, to go along with their six turnovers, and the two touchdown returns. Watch for the Gators to not take any chances, and show us everything they got tonight.

The Hurricanes are well on their way back, and I think they may make tonight's game interesting, but the gators will be too much to overcome. The Gators on the other have stepped it up even more than I originally thought, and is inching closer to the Georgia Bulldogs on my list. What a game the Georgia vs. Florida game will be on Nov. 1

South Florida Bulls at UCF Knights: preview

Here is the in-state rivalry between the University of South Florida Bulls and the University of Central Florida Knights. A battle between a team that has gotten to top 25 status quickly in its program life, and one that wants to follow in their footsteps. It is the battle of Interstate 4.

The South Florida Bulls will take to the road in hopes of winning their 4th in a row against UCF. As I said last week about USF not taking some teams seriously, and not playing tough in the first half, well this is one of them. USF will have to go out and play like they did last week and play hard from the opening whistle. Matt Grothe and his offense will try to continue what they started last week when he went 6 for 8 for 96 yards and their combined player rushing yards was 300. Their rebuilt defense also played well last week, allowing just 97 yards. Look for more of the same this week with the key being to play hard early and take the crowd out of it.

The University of Central Florida Knights will also need to focus on their early play. Last week they only scored 7 through the 3rd quarter and winning 17-0. They will need to turn up there offense quite a bit, especially the running backs that coach George O'Leary was not happy with after last weeks game. Their defense will have to play like last week, and not like last year against the Bulls when they allowed 64 points. This is not a must win for UCF, but they would like to have a good showing on their way to what they hope will be another division winning year in conference USA.

This is not the big Florida vs. Florida State battle that we have seen for many years, and this is also not the matchup between the Bulls and Gators that I want to happen. Even though USF should run away with this one once again, UCF should make this one fun as they continue to move forward and improve their program. We no longer say the Florida big 3, we say the big 4, and pretty soon it could be the Florida big 5.