Monday Morning Quick Hitters

Well…maybe Bill “Yoda” Belichick knows what he is doing after all. Matt Cassel’s 1st NFL start looked a whole lot like one of the 1st few games that one Tom Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001, lots of running, lots of screens and lots of short dump offs and take 1 shot down the field just to stretch the D. Cassel didn’t turn the ball over and was a fairly efficient 16 – 23 for 165 yards. Lamont Jordan gave the running game a boost in the 2nd half, pounding his former team for 62 yrds in 11 carries. The Pats beat the Jets 19 – 10.

The Chicago Bears choked up a lead and a game against the Carolina Panthers 20 – 17.

The Oakland Raiders, who may be minus a head coach today, beat the KC Chiefs 23 – 8.

The New York Giants totally stomped on the St Louis Rams 41 – 13.

The Colts barely slipped by the Minnesota Vikings with a late FG 18-15.

Backup QB Kerry Collins and rookie RB Chris Johnson led the Tennessee Titans to a big 24 – 7 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Redskins D picked off Drew Brees 2 times and Jason Campbell finally got Jim Zorn’s offense to edge out the New Orleans Saints 29 – 24.

Trent Edwards has a strong game as the Buffalo Bills outlast the Jacksonville Jags 20 – 16.

JT O’Sullivan gets sacked 8 times, but still throws for over 300 yrds and leads the 49ers to a 33 – 30 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

The Tampa Bay Bucs bring Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons back to Earth with a 24 – 9 win in Tampa.

The Arizona Cardinals and Anquan Boldin sliced and diced the Miami Dolphins 31 – 10.

The San Diego Chargers got a little robbed as the Denver Broncos went for 2 and won the game 39 – 38.

In the nightcap, not exactly the way the NFL drew it up, The Pittsburgh Steelers limped to a 10 – 6 win over the Cleveland Browns.

Jon Lester looked like an ace once again, helping the Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4 – 3. The Sox took 3 of 4 against the Jays and head to Tampa 1 game back of the Rays.

The New York Yankees did the Red Sox a favor by beating up on the Tampa Bay Rays 8 – 4.

NL Central leading Chicago Cubs sure got a game out of Carlos Zambrano. With the game moved to Miller Park in Milwaukee, Zambrano threw the Cubs 1st no hitter in 36 years, beating the Astros 5 – 0.

The Milwaukee Brewers fall continued as the Philadelphia Phillies finished off a sweep of the Brewers with a 7 – 3 win. The win propelled Philadelphia to a tie with the Brew Crew for the Wild Card lead.

The Minnesota Twins dropped another game in the standings, losing to the Baltimore Orioles 7 – 3.

The LA Dodgers lose to the Colorado Rockies 1 – 0 in 10 innings, but still remain 4 1/2 games up on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wednesday Morning Quickies

MLB

The Boston Red Sox got back on track last night in Kansas City. Josh Beckett pitched 6 1/3 very strong innings and new addition Jason Bay went 4 – 5 with 2 RBIs leading the Sox to an 8 – 2 win.

The Tampa Bay Rays finally beat the Cleveland Indians 8 – 4. Evan (Don”t Call Me Eva) Longoria capped off a 4 run 7th inning with a 2 run blast to pull the Rays ahead for good. Longoria is the new Tampa Rookie HR record holder with his 22nd.

The Chicago White Sox, effectively, put the proverbial nail in The Detroit Tigers proverbial coffin Tuesday. Nick Swisher hit a 3 run HR in the 14th inning to outslug the Tigers 10 – 8.

The Minnesota Twins fell back to 1 game behind the White Sox by losing to the Seattle Mariners 8 – 7. The Twins took the lead in the top of the 8th with a 4 run inning, but the Twins bullpen and Joe Nathan coughed it right back up. Raul Ibanez capped a 5 RBI night with a HR along the way to the win for the Mariners.

The Yankees fell to 6 1/2 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays, by losing to the Texas Rangers 8 – 6. Andy Pettitte continues his terrible play at Arlington (1-5 in last 6) only going 5 innings.

While Manny is continuing his NL surge (2 -3 with 2 BB), but the Dodgers slipped to 2 1/2 games back of Arizona with the 6 -4 loss to the Cardinals. Ryan Ludwick hit a 2 Run HR in the 11th for the walkoff win for St. Louis.

The Baltimore Orioles Magic was in its glory Tuesday, as Rookie Chris Waters 1 hit the California Angels over 8 innings and George Sherril closed it out for the 3 – 0 win over California.

Brandon Webb became the majors 1st 16 game winner, throwing a complete game 6 hitter, to help Arizona beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3 – 1.

Rick Sutcliffe doesn’t know his rear end from his elbow in this look at Big Papi post Manny. Sutcliffe should know, for the record, Papi’s numbers (AVG, and RBIs) are better without Manny behind him. Sorry Rick.

NFL

Farve drama still playing out. Looks like it is finally over in Green Bay.

The Cincinnati Bengals finally signed their #1 pick, Keith Rivers.

Kyle Boller wins the Baltimore Ravens starting QB job in the preseason….YAAAWN.

St. Louis Rams RB Steven Jackson still not signed, start of season in question.

J-E-T-S H-C Eric Mangini still unsure about his Q-B.

NBA

ESPN’s Marc Stein is reporting another NBA free agent vet is bolting for Europe’s riches. The Charlotte Bobcats Earl Boykins signed a 1 year contract with Italian team, Virtus Bologna.

The Great State of Maine gets some pub with the positive things happening at The Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield as Jordan Farmar makes a trip overseas.

The Detroit Pistons exercised team options on “The Toaster Oven” Rodney Stuckey and Aaron Afflalo.