Saturday Morning Quick Hitters

The Boston Red found some of the usual playoff magic with 2 towering HRs. Jason Bay blasted his 2nd HR in 2 games (Manny Who?!?) and JD Drew hit a dramatic towering shot of K-Rod in the 9th to put the Sox in the drivers seat for a 7 – 5 win over the Angels. The Sox now have an 11 game post season winning streak against the California Angels.

Scott Kazmir started the game by plunking Orlando Cabrera (editor’s note:good, Cabrera is a douche unless you are a cleaning lady at the Ritz Carlton), allowed a couple of runs, but Chicago failed to capitalize the rest of the way. The Rays added insurance late and finally beat the White Sox 6 – 2.

#8 BYU Cougars beat up on Utah St 34-14. BYU Junior QB Max Hall was 23 – 37 for 303 Yrds with 2 TD passes.

Former top draft pick Lawrence Phillips sentenced to 10 years in prison

OJ Simpson finally got nailed by a little thing called karma. Simpson, ironically 13 years to the day of his acquittal on double murder charges in LA, was found guilty of many felonious counts.

New Orleans Saints rookie Sedrick Ellis to miss some time.

Wednesday Morning Quick Hitters

DON’T FORGET! MONTREAL EXPOS APPRECIATION DAY BELOW AND INTERVIEWS ABOVE. ALSO REMEMBER THE SPORTS VORTEX LIVE TONIGHT 9PM. WE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL GUEST LIVE RIGHT AT THE OPEN. LET’S JUST SAY A SPACESUIT AND JETPACK MAY BE INVOLVED!

The Chicago White Sox won the pitching duel against the Minnesota Twins to propel the Pale Hose to a divisional series against the Tampa Bay Rays. There were only 7 toal hits in the game, but the biggest a Jim Thome blast in the 7th, leading the White Sox to the 1 – 0 win

Brian Cashman gets a 3 yr deal to stay in Yankee Land.

Pat Burrell leaves Philadelphia Phillies practice with back injury.

Lane Kiffin finally met his demise in Oakland, as Al Davis fired him. Priceless video of the Al Davis press conference and Kiffin’s response.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!! Tony Mandarich used steroids at Michigan State. (Editor’s note: By breaking news we mean “we know you already knew that”)

The Pittsburgh Steelers tried to bolster their running back corps by signing Najeh Davenport.

Tuesday Morning Quick Hitters

The Pittsburgh Steelers stole a game from the Baltimore Ravens. On a sloppy night when the Steelers lost 3, count em 3 RBs, they were able to outlast the Ravens in OT 23 – 20.

For the love of all that is good, Al Davis, please pull the trigger. ESPN’s John Clayton is reporting that talks have started internally about replacing Lane Kiffin.

New York Jets DB Eric Smith has been fined and suspended for the brutal helmet to helmet hit on Arizona Cardinals WR Anquoin Boldin.

Doctors for Jaguars lineman Richard Collier say he had 14 bullet wounds in various organs and spine, is paralyzed below the waist and lost his left leg below the knee due to the shooting.

The Chicago White Sox forced a 1 game playoff on Tuesday by defeating the Detroit Tigers 8 – 2. The Pale Hose will face the Minnesota Twins Tuesday in Chicago. TBS will have the game at 6:25PM

The Boston Celtics re-signed G Sam Cassell.

Miami Heat GM Randy Pfund resigns. Take a stab at who takes over…think Dippity Doo mixed with grecian-formula.

Thursday Morning Quick Hits

MLB

The Red Sox put another nail into the Yankees coffin last night.

Hank Steinbrenner is not impressed.

The White Sox got rundown by Orioles magic…

Denard Span saved the Twins, and helped the Twins gain a game.

The Mets bounced back against the Phillies.

The Cubs finished off the Bucs. Craig Hansen was shipped to the minors.

NFL

Ahman Green took a pay cut to stay with Houston.

Good news for one of my fantasy teams (not the case in real life), Peyton Manning looks good so far.

Sports Illustrated will have 6 regional covers for the NFL preview, who do you think gets the nod in the northeast?

NBA

With the injury to Monta Ellis, Marcus Williams will get a chance to run the point for GSW Hoops.

NCAAF

College football starts tonight. My wife is less than thrilled.

Tuesday’s Links

Today’s links are brought to you by Jeff’s alarm clock….

Josh Beckett pitched to form last night as the Red Sox survived being no-hit through 6 innings and beat the White Sox 5-1.

The Yankees continued to slide, and lost to the Twins 4-0. Joe Girardi addressed his teams lack of hustle, as well.

The White Sox bats went quiet, on a night when John Danks was perfect through 6 1/3 innings.

The Twins got a hell of a performance from a new dad.

The New York Mets bullpen continues to be a bone of contention, and this team’s Achilles heel. Pedro refused to throw his teammates under the bus, at least in the press.

Kyle Kendrick tossed a stinker in LA. Brad Lidge says he is good to go.

Manny-Mania is just getting ridiculous, and the Dodgers knocked off the Phils at home. TJ Simers is concerned about haircuts. The Dodgers are also keeping an eye on the innings of youngster Clayton Kershaw.

Aaron Rodgers took the field to a standing ovation from the Packers faithful. No word on whether they did the same thing when Tony Kornhesier stopped talking.

The Bengaals starters did not start the preseason well.

Monday Morning Quickies

MLB

Xavier Nady seems to like being on the Yankees just fine, thank you. Yanks earn the split with the Angels 14 – 9.

Dice K came back to have a strong game, along with Jed Lowrie, beat the A’s 5 – 2.

Ben Sheets continued his mini slide losing to the Braves 5 – 0. The Brewers slipped to 5 games back of the Chicago Cubs. An Atlanta Braves note, longtime Braves announcer Skip Carey passed away late Saturday. Carey was 68.

The New York Mets slipped to 2 1/2 games behind the Phillies by losing to the Houston Astros 4 – 0.

Speaking of the Philadelphia Phillies, they have a huge comeback in the 8th inning, scoring 4 runs and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5 – 4.

The Chicago White Sox dropped out of 1st place for the 1st time since May, losing to the Kansas City Royals (who were in their throwback powder blues) 14 – 3. The game included a bench clearing, well, dance rather than brawl.

The Minnesota Twins took a 1/2 game lead on the Pale Hose by beating Cleveland 6 – 2. Francisco Liriano was resurrected, after a stellar few months in AAA, throwing 6 innings and giving up only 3 hits.

Manny Ramirez is hitting .615 with the LA Dodgers. Let that sit a while Sox fans. Manny went 4 – 5 with 3 RBIs in the win over NL West Division leading Diamondbacks. The Dodgers beat the D-Backs 9 – 3.

Tampa Bay stays 3 games up on the Red Sox by beating the Detroit Tigers 6 – 5.

NFL

There was real football on the field last night, albeit preseason, the Washington Redskins beat the Indianapolis Colts 30 – 16.

The Brett Favre situation gets weirder and weirder. In more Packer news, Ryan Grant was welcomed back into the fold Sunday, signing a 4 year, $30 Million contract.

Nick Kaczur spoke with the media on Sunday, admitting to “making mistakes”.

Former Patriot Tebucky Jones is in some trouble.

Cincy Bengals top draft pick Keith Rivers, still isn’t in camp.

Denver WR Brandon Marshall will be suspended by the league this morning.

NBA

Another established NBA veteran heading overseas. Orlando Magic guard Carlos Arroyo is heading to Israel to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

David Stern getting into a urination contest with former Sonics owner.

Paul Pierce had a little too much fun in Vegas.

Thursday MLB Trade Update and Rumors

MLB

Chicago seems to be a player this AM. Chicago is trying to land Huston Street from the A’s and apparently they have acquired Ken Griffey, Jr. This deal is contingent on Griffey approving the trade because of those pesky 10/5 rights.
Update 11:35 AM: per Ken Rosenthal, Griffey has approved the deal…

The AP is reporting there is nothing imminent in the Manny deal.

The KC Star is reporting that the Twins are looking for a second baseman.

The Tampa Rays are still looking to get Jason Bay, obviously if the Red Sox don’t get him, but will also look at Adam Dunn, Craig Monroe, Jayson Werth.

Mike Jacobs to San Francisco for Bengie Molina? Rich Aurilia to Minnesota? Omar Vizquel to the Dodgers? Giants Trade rumors here. Ray Ratto had a great column about the differences between Billy Beane and Brian Sabean.

Chad Billingsley pitched a complete game shutout last night for the Dodgers. Rumors have the the Dodgers re-acquiring Greg Maddux, but Frank McCourt is concerned about Ned Colletti adding payroll (allegedly). Maybe if you hadn’t signed off on the Andruw Jones and Jason Schmidt’s deal financial flexibility wouldn’t be a problem.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette summarizes the Jason Bay options they have. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pirates demand a lot more for Bay than they did for Nady and Marte, because they were widely criticized for what they took back in that deal. Bay would be under any team’s control through 2009.

The Twins are looking at moving Boof Bonser, which would clear the way for Francisco Liriano to return to the rotation. That might be the type of jolt the Twins need to make a run.

NFL

The Minnesota Star Tribune is reporting(courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that the packers may now consider trading Brett Favre to the Vikings. If the Packers want to unpaint themselves from the corner, they pretty much have no other option then to get what they can from the Vikings. Besides if Aaron Rodgers is as good as they think, the Vikings shouldn’t be a threat, right?

John Lynch is leaving the Broncos.

NBA

The Bulls may move Larry Hughes, could acquire Brad Miller, and are now trying to get Ben Gordon signed long term.

Jazz fans hypothesize on a Josh Smith for Carlos Boozer deal. Still no movement on those trade rumors from over the weekend, although the Dallas Mavericks have been mentioned as a possible destination, as have the Golden St Warriors.

NHL

The New York Islanders have eliminated a candidate for their head coaching job, or maybe he eliminated them.