Who is going to close for the Braves this year???

Last week, the Atlanta Braves signed Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito to one-year deals to firm up the bullpen after offering arbitration to Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano. I assume that the Braves expected both relievers to decline arbitration and become free agents. However, yesterday Soriano accepted arbitration and will be pitching for the Braves next year. That leaves us with two closers and a bunch of set-up men in a bullpen that will cost the team $25 million in 2010. I think there is something else going on behind the scenes, maybe a trade of Soriano, Derek Lowe, or Javier Vasquez to relieve some of the payroll problems that we are now in. The winter meetings are this week, so we will see.

The Redskins lost a thriller to the Saints 33-30 in OT. The Skins had a 7 point lead late in the 4th quarter when kicker Shaun Suisham missed a 23-yard field goal that would have given the Saints their first loss of the season. The Redskins are not a bad team, it's that they can't close games. In 5 games this year, the Skins have had the ball with 5 minutes or less left in the game and either ahead or down 3 points or less. They have lost all 5 of those games. The team could easily be 8-4 instead of 3-9. Next Sunday, the Redskins go to Oakland to play the Raiders. Oakland is coming off a big win against the Steelers, so they are playing well. The Skins are an early 1-point favorite with the over/under of 37. It looks to be a close, low-scoring game between two teams that are fighting for pride only.

The Brownsburg girls basketball team travels to Center Grove tonight. According to the sagarin ratings, Center Grove is a 10-point favorite. Cg is 4-0, but their opponents have a record of 13-18 so far, so they haven't really beaten anybody. CG beat the Dogs 65-38 last year and have beaten BBurg the last 8 years by an average score of 65-45. BBurg has not beaten Center Grove since 2000-01. But, the Dogs are 5-2 for the first time since 2002, so it may be a closer game than the numbers show.