Happy, sad, then happy again

I am on the "hate" side of the nation's love/hate obsession with the New York Yankees. So after the first inning of yesterday's game, I was in a great mood as the Angels put 4 runs on the board to lead 4-0. However, the Yankees put up a 6-spot in the top of the 7th to take a 6-4 lead. At that point, I was thinking "I may not like the Yankees, but they always seem to get the job done when they need to." But then, the home team rose from the ashes and put 3 runs on the board in the bottom of the 7th to take a 7-6 lead. Jared Weaver pitched a solid 8th inning for the Angels to turn the ball over to close Brian Fuentes in the 9th. Fuentes got the first two outs of the inning, but then some managerial nonsense occured. Angels manager Mike Scoscia had Fuentes intentionally walk A-Rod. Why would you put the winning run on base???? I know he's A-Rod, but he "only" gets on base 40% of the time, with a fraction of those being home runs. Why, why, why? But then it gets even more strange, as Yankee manager Joe Girardi pinch-runs for A-Rod. I won't go into the details and reasons, but there is a post at www.fangraphs.com that explains the situation in detail. I discussed Girardi's managerial moves in previous posts, so it looks like I am not the only one who is thinking that way. So, now the tying run is on first with two outs, Hideki Matsui coaxes a walk and then Robinson Cano is hit by a pitch. This led to a showdown with Nick Swisher. Fuentes got ahead 0-2 then threw three off of the plate and a foul ball. The seventh pitch of the at-bat was popped to the shortstop to end the game. So, now we go back to New York for game 6 on Saturday night.

A repeat for the Phillies

The Phillies pretty much breezed through the NLCS. With the exception of a crazy 8th inning in game 2 and a difficult game 4, the Phillies had a easy time on their route to a repeat of the NL championship. Ryan Howard was named MVP as he was 5 for 15 with 8 RBI in the series.

Game 5 of the ALCS is tonight with the Yankees hoping to clinch a world series berth. AJ Burnett will pitch for New York and John Lackey will pitch for the Angels.

Ball State is a 2.5 point favorite against Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Game time is 1pm.

A bad season gets worse

The Ball State football team received some bad news yesterday. The Muncie Star-Press reports that starting QB Kelly Page has a broken thumb on his throwing hand and will be out for the rest of the season. That leaves Tanner Justice as the starting QB and possibly the only QB on the roster. The other three QBs on the roster are freshmen and are expected to redshirt this year, including top recruit Aaron Mershman. This means that the play calling will be much different, considering that Justice is a little less mobile than Page. Also, the wildcat formation may play a huge part in the games for the rest of the season. The Cardinals are still favored by 3.5 points at Eastern Michigan, with an over/under of 51.5. However, both of those lines may move once the QB situation filters through.

The Yankees beat the Angels 10-1 last night to take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS. Angels pitchers made each inning difficult as they allowed the lead-off batter to reach base in 8 of the 9 innings. Game 5 is tomorrow night in LA.

Game 5 of the NLCS is tonight at 807p. The Phillies have a chance to clinch the LCS and make a return trip to the World Series. Cole Hamels will start for the Phillies while Vicente Padilla will start for LA.

That was some good playoff baseball

Both games of the LCS were won on walk-off's last night as the Angels and Phillies won their respective games. In the ALCS, I thought that Mariano Rivera's playoff mystique would continue as he got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th without allowing a run to score. But a now-questionable move by Joe Girardi to relinquish the DH by putting Jerry Hairston in left field and putting the pitcher in the #2 spot in the order which was due to bat in the next inning. This made Girardi pinch hit for Rivera in the top of the 11th. The game was tied in the bottom of the 11th when David Robertson was brought in to pitch for New York. He retired the first two batters and was pulled from the game for Alfredo Aceves. Of course, Aceves gave up a single to Howie Kendrick and the game-winning double to Jeff Mathis to give the Angels the game. Another questionable move by Girardi to remove a pitcher that is pitching well, especially when you are running out of pitchers.

The NLCS game was just as crazy as the ALCS game. The Phillies took a 2-0 lead on Ryan Howard's homer in the first inning. The Dodgers used three RBI singles and a homer by Matt Kemp to take a 4-3 lead after 6 innings. The Phillies fought back in the 8th and had two runners on with one out, but Ryan Howard struck out and Jayson Werth flied out to end the threat. The same situation occurred in the 9th as there were two runners on with one out when Greg Dobbs lined out for the second out of the inning. Jimmy Rollins came to the plate. He had been struggling all year, but he dug deep and hit a double to score both base runners and give the Phillies the victory 5-4 and a 3-1 lead in the series.

Drew Storen threw another inning for the Phoenix Desert Dogs last night. He gave up a walk and a hit while striking out two and not giving up any runs. Opponents are batting .333 against him in three innings in the AFL.

Is it basketball season yet?

Since both of the football teams I root for have not shot of making the post-season, I think I am ready for basketball to start....

The Redskins lost to a winless team, again, taking a 14-6 drubbing by the Chiefs. I don't know if pitiful can describe it. Two field goals, only 7 first downs, 78 of the 256 total yards were on one play, the starting QB was benched at half time, the backup QB led the team to 6 points (and a 3-point) lead, but took a safety to put the game out of reach. At least I can rest knowing that Jim Zorn will no longer be calling the plays. That task has been given to Sherm Lewis, who was recently hired to be a overseer of the offense. Too bad we can't fire the entire offense, or at least have them play to the same level of the defense. The Redskins are 5th in the league in points allowed and 5th in yards allowed. A team like that should be at least 4-2, not 2-4. Ugh....

Ball State's football team travels to Eastern Michigan for the "MAC Game of the Year"....ok, maybe not. BSU is 0-7 while EMU is 0-6. If there is nobody in the stands to watch the game, does the game really exist? EMU had 2,401 fans in attendance for last week's game against Kent State, and KSU is 3-4 and an hour closer to EMU than Muncie. The odds makers don't think EMU is very good, as Ball State is a 3.5 point FAVORITE on the road. When is the last time an 0-7 team has been favored on the road????? This will be an ugly game, I just hope we can get a win.

A close game and a not-so-close game

The Ball State football team had a terrible first half, but came back in the second half to make it a game, however they ended up losing to Bowling Green 31-17. Ball State was down 24-0 at the half after giving up 309 yards of offense while only getting 123 yards of their own. Starting QB Kelly Page injured his thumb in the second quarter and did not return, leaving Senior Tanner Justice to run the team. Neither QB did very well. Page was 4 of 9 for 39 yards and Justice was 6 of 21 for 92 yards. The running game was one of the bright spots for BSU. Senior MiQuale Lewis ran 18 times for 120 yards and Freshman Eric Williams carried 9 times for 88 yards. It was a cold day in Muncie, but a crowd of 10,000+ paid to see the Cardinals play on family weekend. Not too bad of a crowd for a team that hasn't won a game in a while. BSU travels to Eastern Michigan next week in a game where they may actually be favored on the road. Both teams are 0-for-the-season, so it will be a first win for someone, hopefully the Cardinals.

Game two of the ALCS was a doozy as the Yankees beat the Angels 4-3 in 13 innings. The relief pitching of Mariano Rivera and Kevin Jepsen was some of the most clutch pitching I have seen in that situation. Both pitchers induced ground outs with runners on second in the 8th and 9th innings. Chone Figgins singled to give the Angels the lead in the 11th inning only to be upstaged by A-Rod's homer to tie the game in the bottom of the 11th. The bottom of the 13th was bad for the Angels. After a single, a sacrifice, and a walk, pitcher Ervin Santana got a ground ball that should have been a double play. However, Maicer Izturis threw the ball past the shortstop and into left field to allow the winning run to score. The Angels had their chances, but their big bats could not get the clutch hits. Vlad Guerrero was 1-for-7 with 8 men left on base and Bobby Abreu was 0-for-5 with 5 men left on base. If you can't hit, you don't win games. The Angels ERA for the two games is 2.21...you should win both games with pitching like that.

Drew Storen gave up two un-earned runs on Friday night for the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League. After a strikeout and a ground out to start the inning, Storen gave up a single. The next batter hit a ground ball that should have ended the inning, but a throwing error allowed the runners to advance. Two singles later, Storen had given up two runs. He's been getting regular work so far, so he may pitch either today or tomorrow.