Hate the injuries, not the loss.

When the Angels dropped out of the ALCS this year, hockey season officially started around my house. The Canucks have been on a nice little run lately, thanks to the resergence of Roberto Luongo, but a 4-5 loss at home to the Red Wings last night did a lot more than bruise our egos.

This is the injury list for the Canucks as of right now: Pavol Demitra (torn left rotator), Mathieu Schneider (shoulder surgery, but he's back), Jannik Hansen (right hand), Daniel Sedin (broken foot), Sami Salo (sprained right MCL), Rick Rypien (sore groin), and Kyle Wellwood (broken big toe). After last night's game we can now add Ryan Johnson (who got an upper body injury after slamming crazy hard into the boards last night) and Roberto Luongo (bruised rib cage after a collision last night). Bobby Lu is out just in time to miss the two games this week when the Vannies come to Southern California. Ryan Johnson is lucky to be alive with the way he crashed into the boards. Despite all of that, the Canucks have somehow come up with a 6-6-0 record (12 points in 12 games). That's after a fairly rough start, but it still isn't good enough. Colorado is leading the division with their amazing start (9-1-2), and Calgary (7-2-1)/Edmonton (6-5-1) are also up ahead. Thank goodness for lowly Minnesota (3-8-0)!

Last night was kind of a scoring bonanza that ended with 6 third period goals and a 4-5 finale on the scoreboard. The 'Nucks got goals from Henrik (his 5th of the year on a sweet rebound) and Christian Ehrhoff (his 3rd on a nice wrister from a bad angle) in the opening frame, and got two more in the third (Matt Schneider getting his first on the power play) and H-Bomb again (another power play goal, for his team leading sixth of the year). Despite all that scoring, it was Pavol Datsyuk leading the charge back into the game for the Red Army with two of his own in the final frame, and a Willie Mitchell penalty for high sticking that set up the game winning goal for the away team. Luongo wasn't up to the task of coming up any bigger after taking on 42 shots, allowing 5 goals, and the defense couldn't do enough to keep the pressure off. At least we chased Osgood away. Should we follow the baseball playoff format and talk about some positives and negatives from the game? We'll start with two on each side, and we'll start with the positives:

1) Kevin Bieksa was large and in charge. Our best defensiveman, in my humble opinion, was all over the ice. He finished with 3 assists, a +2 rating, 3 blocked shots, and some big defense when we needed it. The goals didn't come with the X-Man on the ice, they came with Edler and Mitchell on the rink. Our Grimsby native was on point last night.

2) Hank continues his domination. With his brother Daniel out of the lineup (along with Welly, Ryp, Po Po, and Jannik), Henrik has been so huge for keeping the Canucks offense humming along. He earned two goals in this game and a huge assist. 33 has put up 6 goals and 9 assists so far this season, including three goals in his last two games. We need all that offense to come back, but it's nice to have Hank filling the hole for now.

Other quick positives are the recent re-call-up of my man Shirokov, the positive play of Moose Master Michael Grabner (2 goals and 3 assists in 7 games), and the high hopes put on Alex Bolduc.

On the negative side, injuries may rule the day:

1) Losing Bobby Lu could potentially be huge. While a lot of fans on the Canucks Facebook page are trying to pump Orca Nation up on Andrew Raycroft as a solid backup, I think we all need to be realistic. Raycroft will probably at best play .500 hockey while our Captain is out, and that may not be that big of a deal because he may only be out two games, but it changes the face of this franchise when El Roberto isn't between the pipes.

2) Losing Ryan Johnson. If you can go around the internet and find the crash into the boards for Ryan Johnson last night, you'll realize how crazy awful it was. RJ had to be taken straight to the hospital after banging into the boards, and wasn't able to move his extremities until later in the night. The Thunder Bay, ON native has always been the stud of blocked shots since coming over to the Vannies. It will be a huge deal if he gets back anytime soon, but he is the best defensive offensive player on the team, and we just can't wait to have him out of the hospital and back on the ice. Best of luck buddy.

Andrew Raycroft and company will fly into Los Angeles tomorrow to take on the Kings (a surprising 8-4-0), and then head down the 5 to battle the Ducks on Friday (again, a surprising 3-6-1). Will Tommy, Karen, and the baby be somewhere to be found in the stands at the Honda Center this Friday? Let's hope so. With any luck, the 'Nucks will grab 4 over the next 2 games, and go into the Sunday match at home against Colorado in second place in the division.

Go Canucks Go.

Weekly football post #58.

Another week, another bunch of football games. And, as such, another weekly football post. Let's get it on.

Are the Fountain Valley High School Barons going to run the table this season? Are they going to be the Champions of Orange County? They are the #4 team in the County as of today, and we couldn't be more happy. The Mighty Barons took it to Esperanza this weekend with a 31-14 victory, continuing a long winning season that is all leading up to an epic battle with Edison on November 6th. This time around, it was our main man Kyle Middlebrooks with 3 TDs, 2 rushing and 1 receiving, to lead us on to victory. He finished with another nice 143 yards on the ground and 52 yards in the air, with QB Dominic Ragland tossing for just 92 on the afternoon. Esperanza scored a late TD, but was unable to lead the charge back against my boys. We're really getting used to winning these days. Next week is a battle against Newport Harbor as we try to keep our streak alive.

One level up, Notre Dame earned a crucial win against Boston College this weekend 20-16, putting us back on track for a solid season. After the loss to USC the previous weekend, all eyes were on this game as the final game in our important hard stretch that will define the season. BC may have been driving, but a Brian Smith interception with 98 seconds to go ended that whole comeback dream, securing the win for the Domers. The first quarter didn't start off extremely well. This weekend I was live and in person at Oggi's in Mission Viejo to watch the Irish fall short on their opening drive, earning just a TD. Then, on a drive later in the quarter, Jimmy Clausen made an ill advised pass that ended up being intentional grounding. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except that he was in the end zone, and BC was credited with 2 points. Damn! With ND opening the second quarter with the same three points, this was still an ominous game. Boston College, meanwhile, was shredding the ND defense with some wide open passing. The defense looked terrible in the air, and solid on the ground. The end result at the half was teams trading TD passes, with Golden Tate getting one with 36 ticks left in the second quarter, and ND walking off with a 13-9 lead. BC, however, continued their assault, getting a TD in the third to take the lead. A Golden Tate TD with 8:12 left, on a 36 yard play from JC, ended with the Irish taking the final lead in the teeter totter battle. Despite the Eagles charging back, the Irish defense finally came up huge, on the interception that sealed the deal. Well, I guess if you're going to have one really good defensive play, it might as well come late. The win has pushed Notre Dame to 5-2 on the year, and back into the rankings! While the AP has let the Irish back to #25, the BCS computers have us #23. I'm just glad that we're getting respect despite our close losses to Michigan and SC. Next week is a knock down drag out fight against Washington State, an unusual late night start in South Bend. It is the first in a hopeful easy string of wins for Notre Dame (Wazzu are 1-6 this year), although any kind of win will be welcomed.

How about those Rams? Man, they suck. The latest on field tragedy was a 6-42 loss at the hands of Peyton and the Colts. Who the hell are these guys? Do they just pick up random guys off the streets, give them the horn helmet, and put them out on the field? How can we be this bad? Seriously! And to think, the line was only 14.5. The Rams were down 21-3 after the first half, 28-6 after three quarter, and a whopping 42-6 in the end. Were they even trying? Marc E Marc went 14/26 for 140 yards with 2 INTs for a 37.3 QB rating. Steven Jackson actually made it over the 100 yard rushing mark with 134 on 23 runs for a nice 5.8 yard average. How did we not score a TD with all that S Jack rushing? Donnie Avery led the way in the air again with 58 yards on 2 catches. Our receiving core continues to be a weak point. Along with the defense, offensive line, and QB position, among other things. After being outscored on the season 211-60, the Ramies are a thrilling 0-7. We are making it look pretty easy to go 0-16 here in 2009. But, our biggest challenge to going reverse undefeated may come next week against the Detroit Lions. The Lions are 1-5, and could be our first serious chance at getting a win. Get ready Ram Nation.

Speaking of the Lions, BC came out of a OT game with Saskatchewan with a difficult to take 30-33 loss. Damn you Jon Davis! The Lions came storming back with a 14-8 fourth quarter, but fell short by allowing 3 points to the Riders in the extra session. The Lions had a slim 3-0 lead after the first quarter, but then the Corner Gas squad blew up in our face, putting BC at a 9-17 disadvantage at the half. We tried to come back, but it just wasn't meant to be. TCU and Florida A&M signal caller Casey Printers was the QB for BC, and finished 19/31 for an impressive 339 through the air. 2TDs and 1 INT wouldn't be enough, though, for a win. Martell Mallett was held back by our Western foes with just 44 yards on the ground. Former Terrapin Geroy Simon did his best in the air, with 142 yards receiving, but again, just not enough. Jarious!!!!! The Lions are now back down to .500, at 8-8, still trailing the first place Riders and Stamps (both 9-6). Calgary and BC get it on next weekend, as we continue to pray for a playoff berth. Grey Cup, anyone?

It was a big win for Celtic to boost us back ahead of Rangers in the SPL standings. Take it Andrew! A 2-1 win against Hamilton was enough for 3 gigantic points. Two early goals from the Highlighter jersey squad from Glasgow was enough, despite an 84th minute strike from Hamilton. It was Shaun Maloney getting the Sligo side on the board in the 15th, after Hamilton made it a little tough for Celtic with some stifling defense. Eventually, the better team always breaks through. My main man Scott McDonald made all the criminals of Australia proud by doubling the Celtic lead in the 29th. McDonald added the main assist on Maloney's goal, but finding him at the back post, to help cap a really solid day for him. Winning 2-1 was also impressive considering that Zaluska was was between the pipes, rather than Boruc. The win has pushed Celtic forward to the #1 spot in the SPL with their 6-1-2 record (20 points in 9 games). That's good enough for a 1 point led on Rangers, heading into our Halloween clash against Kilmarnock (2-4-3). Hail!

How about the Toon Army getting back on track? Yep, Newcastle also pulled off a fun 2-1 win in their Coca Cola Championship match of the weekend against Doncaster Rovers. It was a 1-1 score well into injury time when Kevin Nolan decided to be the hero for the Magpies. 'Castle went down early, giving up a goal in the 18th, putting Toon Nation on alert for another disappointing, possibly continuing the recent string. But, when you have faith good things happen. It was Andy Carroll in the 67th minute that drew us even, as he smashed home a volley from Danny Guthrie. Stellar goal, and the Bar Codes weren't finished. There was a bad call late in the game, that gave Doncaster a chance to steal a win, but Newcastle held strong, and got their chance to make things right. Kevin Nolan did just that, nailing a 20 yarder into the bottom corner to set St. James Park off in celebration. Steve Harper held strong enough between the pipes, and the Newcastle crowd went home happy. Nolan now leads the squad with 7 goals on the campaign, second only to Shola's 4 followed by his mysterious vanishing act. 'Castle are #1 in the Championship with their 8-3-3 record (27 points in 14 games), getting me excited about promotion yet again. Next up is a Monday night battle against Sheffield United (4-5-7), and another win would certainly continue to bolster those hopes.

Chivas may have lost this weekend, dropping a 2-3 game against Houston, but the ramifications may set up the most exciting playoffs in Chivas USA history. Galaxy? It was the Goats third loss of the season at the HDC this year, and rookie Michael Lahoud nailed his first even MLS goal in the loss. Lahoud found the net in the 60th, and super stud Eduardo Lillingston added a goal in the 87th, but Houston was just too much, as they have for much of Chivas' history (both as San Jose and Houston). Lilly's goal continues to help him have a strangle hold on the golden boot award, as it was his 8th. He leads the team ahead of second place Sacha Kljestan and his 5. The two Chivas goals came after three goals from Houston quieted the HDC crowd (26th, 29th, and 52nd). ZTB was just not having it in this game, hopefully getting all of his bad games out before the playoffs come. Houston had 7 shots to Chivas' 12, but you've got to find the back of the net. Mad props to Lahoud, who led the team with 4 shots, and mad props to Lillingston for also getting involved in a little goalie interference in the 94th. Let's get rough on the pitch! We are now just 6 days away from the MLS playoffs. Chivas USA vs. the LA Galaxy is far and away the most exciting of all the opening round MLS playoff matches. The battle for your hearts gets underway Sunday afternoon on ESPN 2. Eyes glued to the TV.

Quickly now, Chivas de Guadalajara lost the all important battle with America 0-1 this weekend to drop to 4-6-3 on the year. A goal in the third minute was all America needed to walk off the pitch with the soul crushing win. In Ireland, Sligo Rovers are continuing to roll away from the relegation zone. The Bit O' Red have 40 points in their 34 games, tied with Galway, but 3 clear of any relegation danger. However, my ancestor's favorite team play first place Bohemians on Friday. Could be dangerous. Finally. Lazio lost 0-2 to Barin in Serie A action to fall to 2-3-4 on the young year. What is going on here? Next up is Cagliari on Wednesday before the weekend match with Siena. Come on Julio Cruz!

Man, this thing was all business.

This is the end. My only friend, the end.

There isn't much to say after your favorite team gets eliminated from the playoffs. After six games of ALCS play, however, that is where I find myself. All I can think about is the mistakes the Angels made during this six game battle with the Yankees. 3 errors in game 1, 2 errors in game 2, 1 in game 4, and 2 in game 6. 9 errors in the series. When pointing the finger at why this series was lost, this is probably the first time that I'm not going to blame Mike Scioscia. The blame clearly is placed on the Angels defense. Sure there were a few bad pitching moves, a lack of offense at times, and even some poor base running. But in the end, the Angels were doomed by their own lack of fundamental defense. That will be the most memorable negative thing about the 2009 ALCS for me. The most memorable positive will be the way we came back in the bottom of the 7th to win game 5 after giving up our 4 run lead.

All in all, it was a thrilling season. We finished better than 12 other American League teams. We should be proud. And yet, we have a right to feel disappointed in the way this ALCS went down. Overall, the playoffs were a fun ride. We'll never forget sweeping the Red Sox in the ALDS (especially the amazing game 3 win). We'll never forget the horrible calls from umpires all over the diamond throughout both series. And, we'll probably never forget Scott Kazmir's air mailed throw on the bunt in the bottom of the eighth tonight that really broke the game open in favor of NYY. Let's keep our head's high, though, Angels fans. We won the West and made a pretty sizable dent in the playoff mountain. We'll get 'em in 2010.

Now, the sizable job of resigning free agents comes up. Will we keep Figgins after his stellar season and horrible post season? Will Lackey even think about coming back after the way he was handled by the coaching staff in the ALCS' game 5? What will come of Vlad, after he produced fairly well throughout the playoffs? So many questions.

Until we have answers, it is officially hockey season around the LSF. Good night, and take care.

Comeback kids force game 6.

After getting pounded by the Yanks in Game 4, the Angels came into Game 5 in their first literal must win situation of the year. Things looked pretty damned good after the Halos jumped out to a 4-0 lead after just one inning, but the game became a pitching duel after that. Lackey and Burnett went head to head, and with the Angels offense being held down, the Yankees were just laying in wait to comeback. In the seventh they did, putting a six spot on the board to crush our dreams. Luckily, the crushing was only temporary, as the comeback kids came back with 3 of their own in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead. Brian Fuentes made it interesting in the end, loading the bases before shutting New York down, and the Angels have officially sent this ALCS back to New York. Anything can happen.

As I've done throughout the playoffs, I'm ready to present my positives and negatives after this Game 5. Let's get started with the positives:

1) There was no stopping us. There was no chance for the Angels to win Game 4, as they just simply got blown out, but they should no quit in Game 5. They stepped it up after getting the wind knocked out of them in the top of the seventh, and were able to produce enough to keep hope alive. The Angels got production from unlikely sources in this one, as they have in a lot of their post season wins this time around. Mathis got three hits and Vlad came through again in a crucial situation. Is he going to get a one year deal?

2) Torii Hunter. Just like Briana texted me during the game, "Where has Torii been all series?" Seriously. He was here tonight. Big Game Hunter went 2 for 2 with 2 walks, 2 runs, and 2 RBI. He was the freaking man. We've been waiting for him to make an impact ever since his ALDS Game 1 three run jack that started this whole thing, and here he came. If Torii is slugging with runners on, we're winning. It's just that simple.

3) Gigantic John Lackey is ferocious. Lack Daddy was a beast in this one, going 6.67 innings of 3 run ball with 7 punch outs. He wasn't on the mound when his three runs crossed the plate (Oliver), but he really kept us in the game up until that point. Also, how can you not love your #1 getting crazy fired up like he does. He was angry when Scioscia pulled him out, and he should have been. It was a bad call. Although, he did lose control after walking Posada instead of striking him out. Emotions are a tough thing to deal with. All that being said, though, he was an ace yet again for the Red Hats this evening.

4) The Mathis-Matician! I don't know what it is going to take for the fans to come around on this guy. I've been one of his biggest supporters ever since the Angels minor leagues were all about Kotchman, MacPherson, and Mathis, and I think I'm being vindicated with his performance in the ALCS. If we win, shouldn't Mathis get the MVP award? Tonight, Big 5 went 3 for 4 with 1 run, and he's now pounding an average of .600 in the playoffs (6 for 10). This is Mathis' shining moment, and we're reaping all the benefits.

5) Jered Weaver came out of the bullpen blazing. Weaver pitched a perfect eighth inning out of the pen, getting 2 Ks, and definitely should have been back on the hill in the ninth. There is no reason for Fuentes to come out with Weaver dealing in relief. The playoffs are no time to pad stats for closers, or show someone that you have faith in them. It worked out, but I would have let the Caveman close it out.

Of course, there were plenty of negatives that need to be examined before the huge game 6:

1) Pitching choices. I had earlier in the game remarked to my Dad how Mike Scioscia has seemed to have gotten better with his pitching decisions. This game showed that I was giving him too much credit. He called things better thus far, but at this point he made some poor choices. I don't know if I would have left Lackey in the game with the bases loaded and two outs, but he really seemed like he would have had me leave him in. Oliver gave up the big hit, and now everyone will second guess the decision, but what are you going to do? Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The decision I didn't like, although it worked out, was going with Fuentes straight up in the 9th, rather than letting Weaver continue his domination. Then, when you're trying to show faith in Fuentes' talents, you have him intentionally walk A-Rod? Makes a ton of sense.

2) Figgins. When I was making comments in the ALDS about Figgy not doing anything for us, and I figured that he would come around. I guess not. Chone went 0 for 3 with a run and a walk. Where is he? He's hitting .105 in the playoffs thus far. Arguably the best leadoff hitter in the game in the 2009 season, playing his brains out for a contract all year, and he's giving us .105 in the playoffs? I'm serious about this: if we hope to bang out two wins on the road in New York, we MUST have Figgins produce.

3) If I'm going to bang on Figgins, I think I also have to bang on Juan Rivera. My Dad says, "Rivera sucks right now." I guess he's right. Good ol' JR is hitting .143 in the ALCS, with just 2 hits in the five games, and he only had three hits in the series against Boston (.273). Rivera has a chance to show on a national stage how good he really is, and what a steal we got from the Jose Guillen deal, and he is just not putting up. The Angels brought him back, and he was solid during the regular season, but he needs to perform when it matters in Game 6 and 7.

The do or die battle rages on. Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, the Angels and Yankees get it on for an intense Game 6. I was pointing out how being down 2-3 isn't nearly as bad as being down 1-3. Right? Are you feeling the hope like I am? The Angels will send their trusty lefty Joe Saunders (0-0, 2.57) to the mound to try and get revenge for Game 2 against Andy Pettitte (1-0, 2.84). Pettite pitched 6.3 innings of 3 run ball in the Game 3 that the Angels stole in extra innings. He is one of the pitchers on the staff that we fear the least, in my opinion, and the way Joe pitched in Game 2 has me confident. Joe went 7 innings of 2 run ball in his first start in the ALCS. He nailed down 5 Ks. The downside of his outing, other than the late inning loss, was the fact that he was dead even on 10 ground outs and 10 fly outs. The reason Saunders is heading to the mound at Yankee stadium is because he is the ground ball pitcher, and it is his job to keep the home runs down. Game 6 of the ALCS has the opportunity to be the game that defines Joe's career (much like Game 7 of the 2002 World Series for Lackey). It is all up to him.

These games are killing me.

Mathis delivers knockout blow.

Now please don't think that I'm only posting when the Angels win in the playoffs. I've just been kind of busy, and haven't been able to throw up posts after the losses to the Yankees in the first two games in New York. But, after the amazing 11 inning 5-4 win on the heels of a Jeff Mathis walk off double, I'm back and ready to give you the run down.

Game 1 thought: Yes, the Angels made big mistakes. However, it was a tough transition after sweeping the Sox. It was cold, the Angels hadn't practiced, and they weren't ready. That, and the fact that CC was completely nuts on the mound.

Game 2 thought: This was a game that could have gone either way, and it just so happened to go the bad guy's way. Mistakes? Sure. Brian Fuentes never should have thrown a high fastball to A-Rod when he had an 0-2 count. That was probably the biggest mistake. I don't really see why everyone was giving Ma$e such a hard time for throwing to second base. In the heat of the moment, he was trying his best, and it made a mistake. No biggie. Even with the BFF mistake, the fact remains that the Angels should have been way ahead. The Angels left 16 on base, and why should you win when you do that?

Now, game 3 was obviously a little more exciting in a "we win" kind of way. Thanks to my DVR and my patient wife and I got to enjoy the whole thing after work. The amazing walk off win had some positives and some negatives that we need to address heading into game 4. First, the positives:

1) Jeff Mathis is the wonderful stud. All we hear about throughout the playoffs (and throughout the season, from uneducated Angels fans) is what a waste Mathis is with the bat when we have Napoli sitting on the bench. Well, guess what the defensive substitution was able to do! Mathis ripped a game winning double to drive home Howie Kendrick, just one inning after ripping a double that could have easily led to him scoring the game winning run. Mathis is officially the player with the lowest regular season batting average to come through with a walk off playoff hit in the history of baseball. Write it down. I know Napoli will start game 4 behind the plate, but hopefully the fans will come around on my favorite catcher.

2) Howie Kendrick almost went for the cylce! Just another Halo platoon player that the idiot fans give no vote of confidence to. Of course, I should divulge that HK 47 is my favorite player on the squad, and damned if he didn't deliver when it mattered last night. Howard went 3 for 5 with 1 RBI and 3 runs, ripping a jack to get us on the board, a single, and a triple that put us ahead temporarily. Look for him to earn some respect, and Ma$e to continue to sit on the bench after that overrated game 2 error.

3) Jered Weaver did just enough. 5 innings of 3 run ball, allowing 5 hits, giving up 3 solo jobs to the Bronx Bombers. Weaver was busy, though, going 95 pitches in his 5 innings, getting kind of outpitched by Pettitte. However, giving up 3 solo jacks is a lot better than giving up some crazy rallies or multi-run bombs. Weavaer may not have earned the win in the comeback victory, but he certainly did a good enough job to keep us in the game.

4) This freaking bullpen. Say what you will about the pen allowing the Yanks to win the game in extra innings on Saturday, but you hve to admit that the bullpen has been so much better than the FOX announcers want to give them credit for. In this version of the series, Darren Oliver, Kevin Jepsen, Brian Fuentes, Jason Bulger, and Ervin "Extra Innings" Santana combined for 6 innings of 1 run baseball, allowing just 3 hits (Jepsen is accountable for one run and two hits, just so you know). This bullpen has been solid over the playoffs, I don't care what you or the media thinks, and they have been the key to some of our big wins.

5) This team never gives up. If it is game 3 of the ALDS, game 2 of this series, or the game last night, these guys are always giving us hope for a "double-you." I love this team for that, but like Torii Hunter said in a post game interview, "These games are making me lose my hair!"

Of course, we are still trailing 1-2, so don't be too jubilent Angels Nation. There were some things we need to improve on after last night:

1) JR/Kendry combined for an awful night. Together, two of our biggest bangers went 0 for 10 in the game. They never came up with a chance to knock anyone in, but these two guys are going to have to step it up. Kendry has done well earlier in the playoffs, but he'll need to continue, along with production from JR, to help push the middle of the offense forward.

2) Even the worst pitcher on the Yankees, Pettitte, isn't really that bad. With CC and AJ going the next two games, we're up against a tough task. Enough with all these comebacks, the Angels need to get to these gray shirted hurlers early and often.

3) Stop hitting into double plays at important times! The Angels did plenty of that in Game 2, and last night Hunter and Morales did it again. We need to stay out of the 6-4-3 if we have any hopes of keeping this series alive past Thursday.

Alright, game four features CC Sabathia (2-0, 1.13 in the playoffs) against Scott "Is This..." Kazmir (0-0, 7.50 in these playoffs). We know what CC brings to the table, since he punked us in game one. Hopefully a) CC will be weak on less rest and b) Kazmir will bring a little more to the table than he did in his game against the Red Sox.

Come on boys, we need this one.

Weekly football post #57.

Welcome to the latest in a long line of weekly football posts. Warning: it is a big disappointment.

One thing that wasn't disappointing was the amazing way that my Mighty Barons destroyed Marina High School over the weekend. 56-7. Fountain Valley came up huge in their first league game, ending it with 42 points in the second half. Mega star Kyle Middlebrooks scored six touchdowns in the game. Four running TDs and two passing TDs helped our best player in years lead us onward to victory. He finished with 210 yards on the ground and 63 yards in the air, continuing to impress college recruits including Washington University. Dominic Ragland went for 166 yards through the air, 63 of those to Middie, and the Barons improved to a beautiful 6-0 start on the 2009 season. I'm smelling title. Next week is a battle with Esperanza (3-3), and I'm thinking we're running for an 8-0 start heading into a huge November 6 battle with Edison.

#25 Notre Dame went head to head with #6 USC this weekend, and really played their hearts out, despite losing 27-34 in the end. We were live and in person at Buffalo Wild Wings in Lake Forest, going head to head with various douche bag Trojan fans. The Fighting Irish played a hell of a game, especially in the fourth quarter, but fell short on a couple of chances to score a game tying touchdown as the game ended with a last second play. It is now the eighth time that USC has beaten ND in a row, but it was the closest matchup since the infamous "Bush Push" game. USC and my Irish went head to head in the first quarter, with the Trojans having a really nice drive followed up by a ton of solid Irish defense. Two USC field goals in the second quarter, after more solid defense from the Golden Domes, ended in a 7-13 first half tally. USC kind of took to dominating in the third quarter, making us worried that this was going to turn into a kind of route. Golden Tate scored a great TD in the third, which would only be upstaged by his fourth quarter sixer, that kept us close (14-27 after three. Joe McKnight was amazing! He upped the ante to 14-34 with a 1 yard touchdown run. But, Jimmy Clausen and the Irish had some more fight in them, and the defense was ready to fight as well. Jimmy Clausen nailed a two yard TD run, Golden Tate made the aforementioned amazing TD catch, and the Irish defense got the ball back for a thrilling last minute TD drive. Marching down the field, including with a little ref help, the Irish were inside the ten yard line. A pass to Kyle Rudolph appeared to be closer to a TD than most thought (he caught it out of bounds), but in the end it was two incomplete passes. Oh wait, we have one more second to go! Everyone already rushed the field to celebrate the Trojan win. Charlie Weis, however, fought for another second on the clock and actually got it! The sports' Gods had to be in our favor with one last play being handed to us, right? This had to be the time when the Irish would strike, send the game to OT, and get revenge for the Bush Push, right? Wrong. Incomplete. Game over. We fell short of the huge upset. Really fun game. Really disappointing finish. The now unranked 4-2 Fighting Irish step up next weekend against a gigantic Boston College team. BC has a streak against Notre Dame much like that of the Trojans, and our hopes to have a good season versus a bad one, for me, all comes down to our performance against the Eagles on October 24.

My Rams were damned close to getting a win. But, alas, no cigar. St. Louis took a late lead against the Jags on Sunday afternoon, but ended up going to OT and losing on a field goal, 20-23. Can nothing go right? 16 straight losses. It's almost becoming expected. Actually, it became that long ago. Marc Bulger looked good, 22/34 for 213, 1 TD, 1 INT, but it wasn't enough. Steven Jackson carried the ball for just 50 yards, but earned the top receiver honors with 78. It didn't matter. Donnie Avery's touchdown catch early on helped stake the Rams to the lead, and they escaped the half up 10-6. They kept the lead with a thrilling Leonard Little 36 yard interception returned for a TD, but allowed Maurice Jones Drew to tally a 3 yard TD run for the lead with 1:53 left. It was over, right? Wrong. The Ramies marched for their best late game maneuver of the year, ending it with a game tying 27 yard field goal with just 4 seconds left. Sadly, the coin flip determines the game winner in the NFL's OT, and Jacksonville pulled it off. We lose. However, this 20-23 loss is far and away the greatest game of the 2009 season. I'm proud. Now, at 0-6, the Rams get geared up for a loss next week to the Colts. Can't wait.

BC beat Winnipeg 24-21 this weekend to continue to improve their CFL chances. It was a 17 point second quarter that pushed the Lions onward to victory. After falling behind quickly 0-14 after the first fifteen minutes, the Orange & Black came storming back. Travis Lulay was the primary QB, not Buck Pierce or Jarious Jackson, and was good enough to win with a 13-24 night for 177 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs. It was Lulay as the leading rusher as well, going 7 times for 92 yards for an amazing average of 13.14. Is this guy the best kept secret in British Columbia. Keep in mind that the Lions earned this comeback with just one offensive TD, a pass in the fourth quarter, and earned this win with gritty play (4 field goals and an interception returned for a TD by Dante Marsh). Winning without scoring much on offense, that's fun. At 8-7, BC now are tied for most runs in the West (can you believe it?), but technically are behind the Rough Riders (8-6) and Calgary (8-6). However, you have to be happy with our position, even if it is just because the West is awful this year. This Saturday we go against the Riders. Bring it Jon!

On the soccer pitch, it was Celtic earning a disappointing draw against Motherwell this weekend, 0-0. Celtic, as they do in most 0-0 draws, had the majority of the pressure and possession, but failed to find the back of the net. Ruddy held strong between the pipes for Mother', and the Hoops just couldn't do anything to beat him. Despite a couple of chances for the Sligo Side, it was Motherwell holding strong, and their supporters will definitely consider that a solid day at the park. Don't let the efforts of Artur "The Polish Perfectionist" Boruc slip by. Just another clean sheet for our main man. At 5-1-2 (17 points), Celtic are still back by a single point of Rangers, and continue their SPL battles next weekend against Hamilton (1-5-2). That should be an easy win, eh? Hopefully a Thursday UEFA battle with Hamburg SV will be the perfect tune up.

Things were even worse for Newcastle, dropping a 0-1 decision to Nottingham Forest this weekend. The loss has dropped the Mighty Mags from their top spot in the Coca Cola Championship table, and hopefully will prove to just be a small blip on the road to promotion. A 45th minute goal from Nott's Dexter Blackstock (evidently the best striker in this division, not on Newcastle) was all that it would take to seal the fate of the Bar Codes. Steve Harper was keeping the bastards out for the full 90, stopping 7 shots on target from the Notts', but Lee Camp was better with his 7 shot task on the other end of the pitch, earning the clean sheet. Are we missing Obafemi or what? What about Ameobi? Where has he been? Despite the loss, the Magpies are 7-2-3 (24 points) on the year, and are dead locked with West Brom for the top spot (don't ask why West holds the lead, since the goal differential is the same as well...). Next up is a Tuesday (that's tomorrow!) battle against Scunthorpe United (4-6-2), and hopefully the match against the lowly squad will boost us back to the top.

Chivas USA went into their weekend battle against San Jose looking for blood and playoff positioning. What they ended up with was a 2-2 draw in a tight battle with the Nor Cal squad. However, earning a point with a comeback has to be considered promising. The unbeaten streak is now 6. It was my main man Maykel "Super Freak" Galindo opening scoring in just minute 7 (with the helper from Anaheim's Sacha Kljestan) before San Jose took the lead with goals in the 21st and 58th. Ten minutes after they took the lead, though, young gun Justin Braun earned the tie with his third goal of the year. Zach Thorton may not have had a super solid outing, but I'm happy with a draw. Really, I am. At 13-9-6 (45 points), Chivas are still dead even with LA and Houston for the top spot in the West, with Seattle coming hard with 44. With just two games to go in the season, we are coming into some really important matches. Thursday night on ESPN2, it's Chivas v. Chicago, and I'm ready for the Goats to rock Jon Davis' world and move into first in the West.

In short: Chivas de Guada lost their Monday night game 0-1 to Santos to drop to 4-4-3 and third place in the table. Next week is an epic battle with America! It's on. Amazingly, in Ireland, Sligo beat Bray and has moved completely out of the relegation zone. With 37 points in 33 games, the Bit O' Red are tied with St. Pat's for the "last chance spot," but ahead for some beautiful reason. Can they pull this out? Tomorrow is a gigantic game against #4 Derry City. I don't want to say must win. But, must win! Lazio drew their weekend game on Sunday, 1-1 to Sampdoria. Francesco Matuzalem earned the 42nd minute goal for the Blues, and we're at 2-2-4 on the season (-9 of first place Inter). Thursday is a Villarreal match for UEFA honors, before a Sunday Serie A game against Bari (2-1-5).

Now, let's go Angels.

My 5 rainy reasons.

It has been a busy week. Between infant CPR classes, maternity ward tours, and preparing for my third (and hopefully final) MFT test, there wasn't much time left over for blogging. Luckily, there hasn't been much going on for this LSF blogger since the last post on Monday. Of course, there has been plenty going on for the others, most notably the continuation of the LSF record Andrew/Jon/Brandon post strike of 94 days!

So, we are finally at the ALDS after an long layoff (remember, we swept the Red Sox?!), and we might get rained out for the very first game! As is becoming tradition before a huge game/series around the LSF, I present to you my 5 reasons that my Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will defeat the New York Yankees:

1) History: Let's face it, historical outcomes are going to drive the stories in this series (that, and the whole Mark Teixeira and Bobby Abreu thing). The Angels have gone up against the Pinstripes twice in the playoffs, and dispatched of them both times. In 2002, the Angels came in as the wild card and beat the Yankees en route to their only World Series Championship. Then, in 2005, the Angels proved it was no fluke in beating the Yankees again to advance to the memorable series loss in that ALCS to the White Sox. It has long been pointed out that the Angels are one of the more successful teams in baseball when going against the Yanks in general (87-72 all time), and that has to be taken into account as well. This season, however, it has been damn tight. The Angels and the Yanks split their season series 5-5 here in 2009, with 7 of those games being decided by 3 runs or less. Of course, there were blowouts as well, all being on the Angels side. The Angels beat the Yanks 8-4, 10-6, and 14-8, earning the only big wins in the season series. We have the history behind us to help beat these guys hard. Just to be fair, there is a down side to history, where the Angels are just 28-52 on the road against NYY.

2) Team offense: Everyone in the media (and thus everyone you talk to) is going to say that the Yankees had a better offense than the Angels thanks to winning the regular season run battle 871-864. But, let's delve a little deeper to show how the Angels' bats were actually ripping better than our AL East counterparts. Batting average was in favor of the Angels: .280 vs. .277. How about slugging? Yep, Halos: .472 vs. .450. Total bases? Yep, Red Hats: 2659 vs. 2500. Home runs? You have to be kidding! Nope, Halos: 236 vs. 205. The Angels team offense also leads the Yankees offense in hits, double, triples, RBI, OPS, intentional walks, and sacrifice hits. Contrary to popular belief, though, the Yankees led the Angels in stolen bases, 99-93. Outside of that, I think you have to give the offensive nod to the Halos, believe it or not.

3) Larger rotation: While some may think that it's better to just have 3 solid pitchers, I'm leaning toward the idea that having more solid starting pitching is going to pay off in a longer best of 7 series. Most are picking one team or the other in seven games, and when you only go with three starters, you are asking for guys to come through on short rest. Meanwhile, the Angels are sending four (Lackey, Saunders, Weaver, and Kaz), which will allow the boys in Red to get way more rest, and thus be more solid come game 5. When we get to game 5 (when, not if), the Angels will be sending their #1 against the Yankees #2, and this could be the difference in the game. Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte? Not enough rest = not enough on the mound. Advantage Halos.

4) Bullpen: I never would have given the Angels the edge in any playoff series based on the bullpen until I watched our boys come out crazy good in support of our starters against the Red Sox in the ALDS. Darren Oliver: 2.3 innings of shutout ball. Brian Fuentes: 1.67 innings of shutout, no hit ball. Jason Bulger: 1 inning of shutout, no hit ball. Kevin Jepsen may have allowed a run in his 1.3 innings of work, but if Scioscia can continue to manage this pen the way he did in the brief ALDS, we'll be in good shape after our starters head to the dugout. Keep in mind, BFF is going to have to make way more of an impact in this series than the last. Meanwhile, the Yanks have Phil Hughes (2 innings of 2 run ball), Mariano Rivera (3.67 innings of 4 hit ball), and Damaso Marte (0 innings of 2 hit ball). If our pen can hold like it did against the Sox, we'll be in a good place.

5) Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: Being Catholic, I have a pretty good understanding of who Jesus is rooting for in this series. There is no way Jesus is a Yankees fan, he's all Angels, and that gives us a serious advantage.

So tonight, weather permitting, we get it on with John Lackey (1-0, 0.00 in the ALDS) going up against C.C. Sabathia (1-0, 1.35 in the ALDS) to get this series underway. These first two games against the Yankees, in New York, are crucial. The Angels need to steal a win, and steal home field advantage.

Let's do it, boys.

'Nucks win second straight.

The Vannies started their season 0-3-0, leading to a panic wave surging through Orca Nation, this blog included. I watched as Vancouver played well below their potential, Roberto Luongo and the defense first and foremost. However, since the third loss of the season to Columbus back on October 5, the Canucks have reversed course. After a coming out party against Montreal, where the 'Nucks banged out a 7-1 win, my boys came back around last night with a 4-3 shootout victory against the Dallas Stars. Maybe the game should have been won a little easier, but a win is a win, and we're almost back to .500.

First, I'd like to thank DirecTV for continuing the NHL Center Ice free preview much longer than in the past. I'd also like to thank Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay for inventing the DVR, which allowed me to watch the game that I recorded. Nice work, everyone. The loyal BC crowd was on the verge of booing after Mike Ribeiro scored a power play goal just 6:09 into the game, and the opening parts of this match started to feel a lot like the first three losses. By the way, the goal was actually tipped in by Rick Rypien who was trying to deflect the rubber away, and instead deflected the puck past Luongo (own goal!). Frustrating. The Canucks got called for penalties at 0:32 (honestly, Bieksa?), 5:02, and 6:46 (way to fill in for DS, Desbiens), and the Stars didn't waste all of the opportunities (just most). However, a Ryan Kesler power play goal equaled the game at 1 just 8 minutes later, and saved hundreds of Canuck fans from jumping from the upper deck. Kesler got the puck near the top circle and fired a wicked wrister. The second period saw the whistles get put away, with a single penalty going to each team. This time around, the Canucks were the only squad to capitalize, as my main man AB nailed his third of the year (team leading!) to get the Canucks the slim lead heading into the final twenty. After Brad Richards scored to get the game back even, Willie Mitchell worked a little magic to give the Canucks the lead. Mitchell was near the far board when he blasted his go-ahead goal. Unfortunately, the Canucks couldn't hang out, allowing a NHL first time goal to Jamie Benn of the Stars to tie the game with 1:33 on the clock. Luongo didn't really have a chance on any of the goals, so the blame goes to blown coverage. After the obvious no scoring OT session, we headed to the shootout where the Canucks completely dominated. Kyle Wellwood opened it up with a mega deke that beat Turco on the glove. Luongo made an amazing save on Brad Richard with the mega long stick. Ryan Kesler just went with a straight you vs. me wrist shot, and blew it past Turco. Finally, Bobby Lu stopped Mike Ribeiro in stone cold fashion to secure the win and the two big points.

It's fun for a new season to start because it brings up a brand new crop of the LSF Underrated Stars of the game. This season, the "Underrated Stars" are not going to be just players, like the regular media, but rather "Star Style" keys to the game. Should be fun: 1) Henrik Sedin & Mikael Samuelsson both earned 2 assists a piece to go down as the two most underrated Vannies on the ice. 2) Guillaume Desbiens is the young gun getting called up from the AHL after Daniel Sedin went down with his broken foot (collective Canuck-sized gasp) and was able to hold firm with a 0 +/- rating, along with getting in the mix during his 9:25 of ice time. 3) Ryan Johnson is there again. RJ blocked a game high 3 shots in the game to help his boys hold firm, again showing why he was considered the most underrated Vannie pick up as called by this blogger last season.

As the Canucks move forward and win, remember to give props for doing it a) with Nintendo DS on the DL for the next 4-6 weeks and b) with Sami Salo possibly out just as long with leg injury. The next five games on the 'Nucks schedule are serious hockey. Calgary, Minnie, Edmonton, Chicago, and Toronto are the next five opponents, and they are all a huge test for my boys. First, revenge against the Flames for the season opener. Second, a chance to distance us from the bottom feeding Wild. Third, an all important chance to bust Khabibulin and his new team. Fourth, a chance to get revenge for the 2008 playoffs. And finally, a chance to make Andrew continue to self-loathe for being a Leafs fan. What a run we have ahead of us! At 2-3-0 (4 points), the Orca are 4 shy of division leading Calgary, and match up with the Flames this Friday.

Weekly football post #56.

Kyle Boller is doing his best impression of the Rams last three seasons, and that welcomes us to the latest football post. It may be the "calm before the storm" football post, with so many teams taking a bye before a huge game next weekend, but we'll still try to make it enjoyable.

Starting with my high school alma matter's bye week, the #7 Amazin' Barons are 5-0-0 and heading into league play next weekend against Marina at HB High School. With an amazing start to the season, outscoring opponents 193-78, all eyes turn to the upcoming league schedule. Can the Barons convert some big games and continue to stay ranked among the elite teams in the OC?

Guess what? The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame had a bye week as well this week, and moved up to the #25 spot in the National rankings. Finally, the recognition that we deserve based on the fact that we should be a 5-0 squad rather than the slightly less impressive 4-1 that we are. You have to hope that the Irish have been used the entire bye week to prepare for their upcoming match on Saturday. We have made no bones about the fact that the October 17th football game against the Trojans will define this season for Notre Dame. Finally getting a win against USC, and the Irish will only have one really tough game left on the schedule (BC). It would open the door for a 11-1 record and a trip to a BCS game (possibly the National Championship game?). The only thing standing in between the Irish and a return to glory is the #6 Trojans of USC. Next weekend, it is game on.

I know the answer to this question, but don't you think the Rams suck? The latest joke in this season's fixtures was a 10-38 drubbing against the Vikings. It was more painful than a regular loss for the Rams this year, being that Brett Favre did the job. I hate Favre. The Vikings were down 3-17 after the first half, getting only a Josh Brown field goal. The only shining glory was Marc Bulger coming back in for quarter number four, and connecting to Donnie Avery for a 27 yard TD pass that saved us from another zero TD effort. Man, what the hell is the deal with the Rams? My boys are pathetic. All of this, and the Ramies had 400 yards of offense. Again, are you kidding me? Although, was this game the triumphant return of our beleaguered and oft called out (by me) QB Marc Bulger? He filled in for Kyle Boller (20/31 for 209 and 1 INT) with a 7/7 88 yard afternoon with 1 TD. Maybe he's back to being Mr. Fantasy. Steven Jackson continued to disappoint (as I continue to think back on how we should have taking Julius Jones in the draft) with just 84 yards on 21 carries. Big Avery led all receivers with 87 yards on 5 catches and the 27 yard TD. Again, we have zero offensive weapons this season (I mean, we have a couple of weapons, but none of them seem loaded), and we're already playing for the #1 pick in early October. At a fun 0-5, the Rams head back on the road to take on the Jags of Jacksonville. They got blasted by Seattle this week (0-41!) to fall to 2-3. Does this mean that we are staring the Rams first big win of the year in the face? Probably not.

The more exciting football action was up in Edmonton this weekend, as the BC Lions nailed a 62 yard TD pass from Buck Pierce to Geroy Simon with just 12 seconds to go, to take the lead and beat the 'Mos. Everyone knew that Simon was going to get the pass, but the Yellow & Green still couldn't stop him, as he split to defensive backs to take the ball to the house in the latest epic CFL duel. The 34-31 late win saw QB Buck Pierce go 23/38 for 301 yards with 3 TDs and 1 INT, which more than solidifies that he may be the man of Jarious Jackson to lead the Lions back to glory before the season ends. Martell Mallett had a rough night, going for just 41 yards on 11 rushes, but Geroy "Born on 9/11" Simon had an epic outing with 9 receptions for 170 yards and 2 TDs. All of the University of Maryland is proud of their all time receiver. The studs of Vancouver footie are now 7-7, back to .500 after a long hard season, and their two game winning streak has pulled us closer to #2 Saskatchewan (8-6) and #1 Calgary (8-5). We're close! It's a Sunday night battle against Winnipeg (5-8) that stand between the Orange & Black and a 3 game winning streak.

It was World Cup qualifier weekend (big ups to the US, but the way), so the second half of the football post is going to be a quick one.

Celtic will try to regroup against Motherwell next weekend after last weekend's 1-2 loss to Rangers. We're still in first place by a single point, but a win against the Mothers will be crucial.

Newcastle got the weekend off after their 0-0 draw with Bristol City at St. Jame's Park. Next weekend is a Championship battle with Nottingham Forest. We're still in first place by 3 over West Brom, but we need to keep the pressure on to keep the relegation dreams alive.

Chivas USA didn't take the weekend off like a bunch of European wussies. Instead, they blasted Kansas City in battle of rivals 2-0. The win secured a playoff trip for the Goats, their fourth consecutive trip to the second season, and now anything is possible. Kansas City may have looked like the more dangerous squad throughout the 90 minute journey, but the only things that matter is what you put in the net. The game went the distance, through 72 minutes, before Chivas broke the deadlock with a thrilling Justin Braun nailing his second of the year. As if that wasn't tough enough, Anaheim's own Sacha Kljestan scored his fifth of the year just two minutes later. The double strike was enough to completely crush the dream's of Brandon's Wizards, and enough to make all of Goat Nation rejoice in the fact that we're in the playoffs. Zach Thorton was again just a crazy brick wall, earning just another clean sheet. In 24 games played, ZTB has 12 shutouts, and holds just a 0.72 GAA. Get off me! With a new team motto of, "Come Celebrate The Playoffs!" Chivas USA and their 13-9-5 (44 points) record are officially dead tied with Los Angeles and Houston for the top spot in the West. Who knew?! Next week we go head to head against last place San Jose (7-13-8, 29 points), looking for a chance to be all alone atop the Western standings. Ole!

In short, Chivas de Guadalajara won against UAG 2-1 over the weekend to improve to 4-4-3. Despite being 10 points back of 1st place, we're still #2 behind the upstart Toluca. Reynoso scored the first goal and my man Javier Hernandez Balcazar scored a 67th minute penalty to crush the UAG early lead. Next week, Santos. 2-2-3 Lazio got the week off, and go next weekend against Sampdoria (5-1-1) with dreams of stealing a win. Over in Ireland, Sligo blasted Galway with a thrilling and unexpected 2-0 win against Galway United. The win gets the Bit O' Red 33 points in their 31 games, pulling them up to #8 out of the 10 teams in the Premier League. If the season ended today, Sligo would go head to head against Drogheda (#9 at 28 points) to decide who stays in the top tier league, with the #10 Bray Wanderers being automatically relegated. Sligo gets a huge break this week, with a Tuesday battle against Bray! The win would put my boys into the safety zone. Let's do it.

Much love the the US team for securing their trip to the World Cup. As an American soccer fan, I'm damned proud.

The second best comeback in history.

It's official: The Angels got rid of the curse and swept the once might Red Sox out of the 2009 playoffs. If it wasn't for Game 6 of the 2002 World Series, this game would stand alone as the most exciting comeback in Halo history. Being second best behind that epic game, though, is nothing to laugh at. The Angels unleashed the beast of an offensive attack to support their start Scott Kazmir's lackluster performance, and busted the "best closer in the playoffs" with a thrilling come from behind 7-6 series sweeping win against the Wildcard Red Sox.

I'll be one hundred percent honest with you: I was already getting ready for the plan of attack for game four with Joe Saunders on the mound. I was calling game four as a must win for the Angels to prevent the series coming down to one game for all the marbles back here in Southern California. Oh me of little faith. The Halos shocked the baseball world with a ridiculous comeback in the ninth inning, starting a rally with an Erick Aybar base hit with 2 outs, nobody on, and two strikes. Each pitch after that point led us more down the alley of thinking, "This actually might happen." Until it did. When Juan Rivera stroked his two run single in the eighth to pull the Angels within 1 (4-5 at the time), I started to believe in this comeback. Then, pinch runner Reggie Willits got picked off, the Red Sox scored in the bottom of the inning of Jepsen to take the two run lead, and I figured it was all over. Papelbon, however, wasn't his normal self in this outing. With 2 quick outs, and EA Sports down to his final strike, this amazing sequence played out (followed by my play by play thoughts): Aybar singles ("Big deal, we're just delaying the inevitable"), Chone Figgins draw a walk after going down 1-2 in the count ("Well, at least he made it on base once in the series"), Bobby Abreu doubles of the monster getting Aybar home and Figgins to third ("Oh baby, Torii Hunter has a shot to come through and pull this crazy thing off"), Torii is intentionally walked ("Shit, here comes Vlad, and he's not the same Vlad that we used to count on in times like this"), Vlad singles to center scoring Figgy and El Comedulce ("Are you kidding me?! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"). El Caballo Street was rocking after Vladdy connected. Of course, Andrew had the guts to text me, "What do you think are the odds that Fuentes will hold it?" I was shaking in my boots for the BFF save situation, but he seemingly pitched better than in any other situation all year. After he finished his perfect inning, the Halos stormed the field, all of Angels Nation rejoiced, Donnie Moore finally was released from his 23 year old curse, and the Angels were heading to the 2009 American League Championship Series.

As with the first two games, there were plenty of positive to take away from this game:

1) The never say die attitude is back. When the Angels won it all in 2002, you could ask any fan, and they would tell you that we would pretty much believe that the Angels would come back to win any game no matter the current situation. There was just something about that squad that screamed "never give in." Of course, in the regular season, the Angels led the MLB in comeback victories, but it takes a dramatic win in the postseason to really get the fans to start having that feeling again. This game, outside of game six in the 2002 World Series, was the greatest comeback in the history of Angels baseball.

2) Bobby Abreu has had the best series of any Angel offensively. He finished this game with a 3 for 5 showing with 1 RBI and 2 runs. In the series, he has gone 5 for 9 with 1 RBI, 4 runs, and 4 walks. That's a .556 batting average and a .692 OBP. His leads the Angels postseason stat battle in BA, OPB, SLG, runs, hits, doubles, total bases (tied with EA), walks, and obviously OPB (by a lot). While Torii gets all the attention for game one, Weaver for game two, and Vladdy for game three, Bobby Abreu goes silently on his way being the main reason that the Angels offense was so off the charts against Boston. Let's not even mention how important his numbers are in the #2 spot considering the 0 for 12 performance of our leadoff man.

3) The bullpen is finally being managed well. One of the main complaints against Mike Scioscia is that he doesn't really manage a bullpen/pitching staff very well. Scioscia has always been called out (on this blog) for leaving starters in too long, staying with relievers after they are already losing it, and not having faith in the guy he is supposed to have faith in for a given situation. This series has been completely the opposite of that. Tonight's pen went 3 innings of 1 run ball, with Bulger pitching a no hit inning, Oliver tossing another perfect third, and Fuentes earning a rare perfect inning save. Now, Kevin Jepsen may have allowed the run on the Lowell hit that made the comeback feel out of reach, but Scioscia pulled him out at the right time and fell back on DO to save the day. In fact, in the entire series against the Sox, the Jeps run is the only allowed earned run by our bullpen over their 6.3 innings of work. And to think that I thought the pen was our liability against the Sox.

4) Juan Rivera finally came through. We've kind of been waiting on Good ol' JR to step things up in the ALDS, and boy did he. Down 2-5 with two outs in the eighth and Papelbon coming in to pitch, Juan Rivera stroked him for a two run single that really got the Angels back in the thick of things. Now just 3 for 11 in the series after today's 2 for 4 morning, Juan's 2 RBI were big enough to put him on the map in this one. Much like BA, however, he will go unrecognized for his contribution. Maybe, though, if Scioscia would have left him on the base paths instead of Willits, he wouldn't have gotten picked off, and we could have taken the lead in the 8th. I'd like to say that, but I would have pinch run with Willits too.

5) Dare I say, Scott Kazmir? Scott "Is this..." Kazmir (thanks to Karen for the new Seinfeld reference nickname that has everyone just screaming out "CASHMERE!" when he takes the mound) may have a horrible line: 6 innings of 5 hit/5 run ball with 3 walks and just 1 strikeout, but if you watched the entire game, it actually wasn't as bad as it reads. The Kazmanian Devil was completely lights out in innings 1, 2, 5, and 6 (especially one and five). In those four innings, he looked like that guy who knew the Red Sox that we were hoping to see. Sure, he got roughed up in his other two innings, but to come back and pitch shutout a fifth and sixth after those two run innings was impressive to me. He was the right choice as the #3 starter.

Of course, heading into a probable series with the Yankees, there are some negatives from today's game that we are going to have to improve on:

1) Honestly, Chone Figgins is going to have to start playing. I know that I said this after game one and game two, threatening that the Angels wouldn't be able to win without a hitting Figgins, but I'm serious. How far can the Angels continue in the playoffs if they get nothing out of their leadoff hitter. Don't go through the regular season playing like a guy who really wants to get big money with his new contract, and then choke when it matters in the playoffs. That's just not what we expected after the first 162. In the 2008 playoffs he hit .333, in 2007 he hit .231, in 2005 he hit .132, .143 in 2004, and 1.000 in one AB in 2002. So it's not like he's usually Mr. Clutch October, but if he can go 7 for 21 last year, then we know we can expect a little more from him this year. Please, Desmond, show up for the ALCS.

2) 7 left on base. I know we won, and when that happens I usually skip over the LOB category, but for a while I was watching the Angels get leadoff double after leadoff double with no result. Again, a bases loaded with no outs situation led to very little (a run scored on a double play, and that's it). The Angels were 4 for 15 with RISP, which is .267, and will hopefully look to improve that mark headed into the ALCS. In chapter two of the playoffs, the margin for error decreases, and that LOB needs to drop.

3) Where did you go, Ma$e? Izzy came in for his second straight ALDS start, replacing game 1 second baseman HK-47, and went 0 for 4 with 1 K. He finished the series 1 for 7 (.143) with a run, with HK finishing the series 1 for 5 (.200) with a run). I'm thinking that a little more production out of our second base spot would be pretty nice for the ALCS and beyond. Remember, Kendrick (who is definitely playing second fiddle at second base in this year's playoffs) hit .291/.334/.444 in the regular season, and Izzy was better than that at .300/.359/.434. We need to see that type of action from here on out.

As we look toward the 2009 ALCS, we see the New York Yankees trying to punch their tickets. As they try to close out the Twins tonight, I can think of one really important thing about the most likely ALCS scenario: Don't let the talk about history make you feel like the ALCS will be a cake walk. It obviously happened to Boston in this series. All the media could talk about was the success that the Sox had against the Angels, winning all four postseason series between the two teams. It was up to the Angels to reverse the curse, and it was up to Boston to just keep doing what they had been doing to the Halos since 1986. If the Yankees make it to the ALCS, however, the Angels will see the roles reversed on that story. The story will be as follows: the Mighty Yankee Killing Angels routed the AL East Champion New York Yankees 3-1 in the 2002 postseason as a wildcard only to move forward and capture the World Championship, which was followed up by a 2005 series matchup between the two teams where the Angels bested the Yankees 3-2 to move onto an infamous ALCS against the eventual Champions from Chicago. Add to those story lines the fact that the Angels have the only winning record against the Yankees in regular season action, and you have a recipe for media gold. Now, the Angels just have to keep their "one day at a time" attitudes, stay focused, and beat those Brooklyn Bastards.

For today, the Angels will celebrate.

Friday, it's back to work.

Donnie Moore packs his bags in purgatory.

Don't worry, I'm still only cautiously optimistic after taking the 2-0 lead against Boston (remember, out of the four times in baseball history that a team has come back from being down 0-2 in the DS, the Red Sox have done it twice), but I'm sure that our tragic pitcher Donnie Moore has to be getting ready to move from the emptiness of purgatory to the pearly gates of heaven. After all, the 1986 loss to the Sox led to his death and this whole hex business in the first place. With the Angels pitching their brains out for the second straight night, and getting enough offense to put the Red Sox to bed early, all of Halo Nation is on the collective edge of our seat with 1 win standing in between us and the Championship Series.

As in the first game, there were a whole heap of positives with the Angels game 2 win:

1) Jered "So Easy A Caveman Could Do It" Weaver came out and did his best John Lackey impression, and it worked! We were hoping that J Weav would be able to show the ESPN Nation (aka, the East Coast) that he is a quality young gun, and he did that with ease. Outside of a triple by Ellsbury and a RBI single by the Sox embattled catcher Victor Martinez in the fourth, Weaver was complete on point. I'm not sure if I can remember ever seeing him seem more in control of himself or of a game in his young career. It was fun to watch. He finished with 7.3 innings (sound familiar?) of 2 hit 1 run ball. He punched out 7 and walked only 2 in his 111 pitch effort. Despite allowing a run, he actually outdid Lack's game 1 performance, and made all of Long Beach proud. 22 outs for both of our starting pitchers. 2 wins.

2) Erick Aybar gets the monkey off his back for his previous ALDS performance. All year we'ce been talking about how Aybar is coming into his own, and really playing above anyone's expectations. However, he has always had that failed suicide bunt from the '08 playoffs hanging over his career. Last night, with a super clutch two run triple in the seventh, who finally became completely legit. EA Sports finished the night tied as the Angel with the most hits, going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI to raise his series batting average to a ridiculous .429. The RBIs came with 2 outs as well.

3) The Angels only left 3 runners on base! We put this out as an issue that the Angels needed to improve after their 8 left on base in Game 1, and they did it! The Red Hats were stepping up with runners on base and ripping the ball, going 2 for 4 with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox left 6 on, and that is with Weaver only allowing 4 to reach base. Take it Bean Town!

4) Again, Bobby Abreu and Kendry Morales were so important. In Game 1, El Comedulce went 0 for 0 with 4 walks to turn heads to something he has been doing all year long. In Friday night's edition, BA went 2 for 4 with a run, and it was a completely all important run in the fourth that erased the Red Sox run from the top half that gave them the lead. Abreu singled, and then went 1st to 3rd on the hit and run with Vladdy at the plate. That easily allowed Kendry Morales to step up and his a plenty deep sac fly to get us back even with Boston. Kendry came up, executed, and finished 0 for 2 with that severely underrated RBI.

5) Again, the bullpen was nuts. I was surprised when Darren Oliver was brought out of the pen, thinking that you just can't do the same thing every night and expect everything to go the same, can you? Well, DO pitched just 0.3 innings of 1 hit ball with 1 K, giving way to Kevin Jepsen to save the day. Jeps finished 0.67 innings of 1 hit ball, and gave way to Brian Fuentes. Tito Fuentes came out of the bullpen, and you have to admit that we all started praying that BFF would keep this thing together. Jeps had allowed a single, the Fuentes gave up a walk, allowing Mike Lowell to come to the plate representing the game tying run. Sweating. Shaking. Fuentes pulled off the heart poundingly exciting save to hold the game 4-1 in our favor. Phew.

Even though the Angels have played near perfect baseball (not really, but jumping out to a 2-0 lead against Boston makes me want to say that), there are a couple of things that we need to take away from this game 2 that we can improve on heading into our first game as the away team:

1) Who should be our catcher? Most fans were probably looking forward to Mike Napoli coming in and taking over the catching duties from my boy Jeff Mathis, who piloted game 1. Comparing the two: Mike Napoli finished 0 for 2 with 1 run scored, while the Mathismatician finished his game 1 for 3 with a single. It's questionable who did better, but it's completely insane to think that Napoli gives us some kind of huge edge over Mathis. Stop it.

2) We are slow starting against the starters. In game one we didn't strike against Lester until the fifth, last night off of Beckett we got a sac fly in the fourth but didn't really strike until the seventh. In playoff games like these, it is so important to get on board with some runs early and often, and even though it hasn't hurt us thus far, we should really try to put more pressure on early once we get to Massachusetts.

3) Anyone want to take a guess as to why we haven't been able to put pressure on early? Chone Figgins, who caught all kinds of crap for going 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts in game one, went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts in game two. Are you kidding me Chone? What the heck is going on? Figgy had his best year ever as the Angels leadoff man, as we have frequently pointed out around the LSF, so what's with the choke job coming here in the playoffs? In the 2009 season, Figgs hit just .257 against Boston, well below his .298 overall season average, but he did have 8/9 BB/K (which he isn't even close to showing here in the ALDS). Again, it gets more important when we hit the road, we need Figgins to perform!

Just a couple of other quick points about this game that I'd like to point out. C.B. Buckner, who went from first base to home plate, was still doing his best to make a couple of interesting calls. A perfect Jered Weaver strikeout pitch comes to mind that both Pitch Trax and myself called a strike. C.B. is trying to do his best Doug Eddings impression here in the ALDS, and it's working. Also, the Red Sox have now had 4 or less hits in their last three post season games overall. It makes me laugh. It makes me happy.

Set your Sunday morning alarm clocks, and get your usual 9 am mass out of the way early, because the Angels and Red Sox are getting it on at 9:07 am to make way for the afternoon Patriots game. Way to have your priorties straight, Boston. You might not even have baseball after Sunday's lunch, and you're already worried about making the Pats happy? The Brady rule. As far as our pitching matchup goes, I think few would disagree that we have a big advantage on the mound in game 3. Scott Kazmir (10-9, 4.89) will take the mound against his well known foes and Clay Buchholz (7-4, 4.21). Buchholz has seemingly always been overrated to me, but I don't really watch the Red Sox very often. The Texas native went 3 innings if 6 run ball in his last game, 5 innings of 7 run ball the game before that. He has a nice streak prior to those two outings (against the Indians and the Blue Jays, by the way), but we may be getting this guy at the right time this weekend. Meanwhile, Scott Kazmir has easily been the most underrated trade deadline acquisition in all of baseball thanks to his thrillingly low amount of run support. That can't continue in the playoffs, right? In 6 starts with the Halos, Kaz went 2-2. However, he allowed just 7 earned runs in his 36.3 innings on the mound. Earlier this year, when he was with the Rays, the Kazmanian Devil went 5 innings of 3 run ball in a huge Tampa win (in May) , and went 6 innings of 1 run ball against the Red Sox way back in April. He knows these guys better than any other Angels pitcher, and that puts the ball in our court (cross sports reference!)

Sweep?

Cautiously optimistic.

My playoff posts are generally short, as I am pretty tired by the time the game wraps up, and we'll be keeping the trend this time around. The last time I did a Lackey v. Lester playoff post, I was grappling with a tough loss. This time around, things are much, much better. The Angels let their bats do the talking to help back up an incredible night of pitching against Boston in the opening game of the ALDS, and finished up with a very enjoyable 5-0 victory. Simply huge.

There were plenty of gigantic positives from tonight's series opening game:

1) Big John Lackey brought his A game with 7.3 innings of 4 hit shutout ball. He was on point the entire night, outside of a little rough patch in the sixth where he threw seven straight balls. He recovered from that slight misstep unscathed, and pushed his shutout through with just 1 walk and 4 punch outs.

2) Torii Hunter was able to step it up as our main man. The Big Game Hunter had a 1 for 2 night with a walk and a game changing 3 run bomb off of Lester in the fifth (pictured above). As soon as the ball left the bat, Torii knew the ball was gone, and it was a really long jack to give us the lead.

3) Bobby Abreu was the ultimate walk master. Who can remember a time when a guy went 0 for 0 in a game with 4 walks? El Comedulce was the ultimate table setter in tonight's game, and will most likely go down as the most underrated super start in the match. 4 walks?! Are you kidding me? Huge, huge game.

4) Kendry Morales may have gone just 1 for 4 in the game, but his one hit was a clutch two run double that saved the Angels from getting a big doughnut after getting the bases loaded with 0 outs. When evaluating his night, keep in mind that his one two run hit came in his only AB from the left hand side, which is his much better side.

5) Darren "The Wizard" Oliver was so studly out of the pen for the Angels. 1.2 innings of perfect ball from DO. So often when a starter goes a great distance with epic numbers, the bullpen comes out weak and doesn't bring it. Not so tonight. Our always impressive veteran came onto the mound and held the Red Sox in check to keep the game in our favor.

Of course, there are some things that we need to consider working on coming into tomorrow's game two:

1) As a team, the Angels left 8 runners on base. Lester was able to get out of a bunch of jams, from the opening inning to the bases loaded opportunity for Vladdy in the third. When you're in the middle of a pitching duel, as we were for much of this battle, it breaks a fans' heart to see his squad fail to get the runner home early on.

2) Chone Figgins was sweet with the glove, but awful with the bat. Our mighty leadoff hitter, who easily has had his career year here in 2009, went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts in the game. We were able to make up for it thanks to Abreu's awesome OBP for the game, but Figgy is going to have to be the spark plug if we are going to roll through this series.

3) The Halos didn't have a single stolen base. I realize that this is most likely completely related to Figgins not getting on base during the game, but the Angels didn't really have the runners set in motion at all against the four Boston pitchers. Don't forget that going first to third and putting pressure on a pitcher with stolen bases is one of our biggest assets.

Just a couple of other quick points about this game that I'd like to point out. Would you believe how many close calls on the base paths we had tonight? C.B. Bucker was playing like Howie Kendrick's proud father as the first base umpire, calling HK safe in two different situations where he was clearly out. I hate Youkillis, but he obviously had a good reason to complain. On the other side, there was no way that Jeff Mathis should have been called for a catcher's interference early in the game. Either way, you really don't want umpiring to decide a game; it didn't tonight, but with this umpiring crew, it may as we go on.

I'm so happy right now. The 5-0 win against the Red Sox gives the Angels the all important first win in the ALDS this time around, and now all eyes focus on tomorrow night when we go at it again. Game 2 will feature Jered "The Caveman" Weaver against Josh Beckett. Becks finished his season with a 17-6 record and a 3.86 ERA for the Sox, holding down a 1.19 WHIP and getting 199 Ks. In his last outing, against Cleveland, he went just 5 innings of 4 run ball, which followed up a 6 inning start against KC where he allowed 12 hits. KC may have only managed to knock in 2 runs, but you know if we get 12 hits off the guy, we'll be a lot better off in the run column. Meanwhile, J Weav can easily argue that he was our ace throughout the season. Big Baby went 16-8 with a 3.75 ERA, holding down a 1.24 WHIP and getting 174 Ks. The Northridge native, who just turned 27 four days ago, has been hot lately. He pitched 5 shutout innings against the A's in his last start, 6 innings of 2 run ball against the A's prior to that, and 6 innings of 3 run ball against Texas prior to that. He has shown flashes of brilliance during the 2009 season, and now it is time to get his name on the National stage with a big game 2 outing.

Game two is really important, and hopefully we can put up like we did tonight. Let's keep it rolling boys.

Panic at the disco.

I chimed in with a 'haven't you people ever heard of, scoring some gosh darn goals?' It seems to officially be panic time in the city of Vancouver, after dropping the home opener 3-5 to Columbus. Everyone around Orca Nation was hoping that the homecoming and home opener would spark Vancouver to earn their first win after a suspect 0-2-0 start. It didn't quite work out that way.

After getting their first lead of the season on a Henrik Sedin rebound goal (H-Bomb!), the Canucks promptly allowed the Jackets to take complete control. After not scoring on a 5 on 3, the Canucks allowed an odd man rush the other way, which resulted in an Antoine Vermette goal (shown above). With that game tying goal, no one was blaming our faithful captain, Roberto Luongo. With the next three goals, however, they were. El Roberto allowed goals at 2:07, 5:29, and 5:51 of the second period, and Columbus took complete control of what was supposed to be the Canucks first win. Each of those three goals (scored by Huselius, Klesla, and Filatov) were single shot, non-deflected, straight on goals that definitely all should have been stopped. Oh captain, my captain! After falling down 1-4, Roberto was promptly lifted from the game in favor of the flavor of the year backup Andrew Raycroft. Vancouver would make it interesting, however, with a slapper goal from Christian Ehrhoff at 8:27 of the second and another slapper goal from Willie Mitchell (who earned an assist on the Ehrhoff goal). They were pretty sweet shots from the blue line, and Vancouver fans started thinking that we may have a chance with Ray Ray in net to get back into the game. Unfortunately, Mikael Samuelsson got called for a hook at 14:32 of the third leading to a power play goal for the Blue Jackets, and the game was history. The fans didn't boo, which I was pleasantly surprised with, but you could feel plenty of unpleasant feelings as every walked out of the arena and off to White Spot for a late night burger. After an undefeated preseason, most Canucks fans are wondering what the hell is happening. I'm going to present two reasons.

Reason #1: We just can't look over the Roberto Luongo factor. Bobby Lu has had an awful start in his first three games, going 0-3-0. He has a third string 4.56 GAA and a lackluster .820 save percentage. Usually I would point out the fact that the defense has let Luongo down when he goes through a run like this, and they have, but our captain has definitely let in his fair share of easy goals thus far. Before the 09/10 year start, El Roberto was talking about how his main goal was to be a solid starter, to wipe out the title of "slow starter" that has followed him around for his entire career. It just hasn't happened. Lu stuck around to make a comment after the game, "A lot of chances are coming off the rush so we have to make sure to have a third man high and limit the rushes, but at the same time I've got to make some saves here." I'm proud of him for stepping it up and taking some of the blame, and he's not wrong about limiting the rushes as well. Just remember, without Luongo having success, we're not going to have success as a squad.

Reason #2: Ridiculous penalties. This just isn't the image of the Canucks that we know. In this most recent edition, the Canucks only allowed 1 power play goal, which is a huge improvement. However, the penalty to Samuelsson in the third period really shut down our chances of a comeback. In the game against the Avs (game #2), the Canucks allowed 2 power play goals, and got called for 9 total penalties (including 4 in the second and 4 in the third). I don't think I need to say much about the loss to the Flamers (game #1), where the Canucks gave up 2 power play goals. The got called on 4 penalties in the first period (4:25, 6:16, 13:47, and 20:00) which resulted in two goals. It was a horrible way to start the season. A horrible way to get out the gate. Coachie V thought he turned it around in the locker room, but it hasn't shown up that way over our next couple of games. Can we pull our stuff together. I'm used to Shane O'Brien getting called for bad penalties, but Henrik, AB, and Bieksa? Come on. This is getting out of hand. Show some discipline.

I'm afraid that if the 'Nucks don't win their next home game, the entire city of Vancouver is going to have to be placed on suicide watch. Wednesday night, my 0-3-0 Vannies line up against the Eastern conference's Montreal Canadians. The Habs, in contrast to the Canucks, are 2-0-0 this season so far (although, they are currently losing to the Flames 3-4 with 2 minutes to go in the third). The Canadians also recently signed blue liner Marc Andrew Bergeron to their lineup to try and make their squad even better. Is there any way that the 'Nucks will turn their season around against these bums? I can only fall back on the fact that my boys have been solid against the Eastern Conference in recent memory, and they have to be motivated to continue that tomorrow night.

If not, riots on Robson, anyone?

P.S. The Andrew/Brandon/Jon post strike is at a LSF record 84 days. That is not a joke. And, don't forget to stay in the know on the LSF Twitter page.

Weekly football post #55.

As usual, let's get it started with American football.

My #5 (per the OC Register's rankings) Fountain Valley Barons have really been riding on high this season. They finished the pre-league tune up schedule with another huge win, busting Scripps Ranch 42-14, including a 21 point third quarter that had Baron Nation going absolutely nuts. Bring on all comers! Hold on to your hats for the stats: Kyle Middlebrooks rushed for...270 yards! 270 hash marks for big KM, continuing to move him up the ranks of various top tier colleges around the US. He added in 16 yards through the air, on a day where Dominic "Rag Time Band" Ragland threw for just 71. It was all about the rushing. Middie scored 4 rushing TDs in the match, to help Fountain Valley High School improve to 5-0-0 on the season. Undefeated and heading into league play has all of us alumni pretty fired up, right? The all-important league action gets underway October 16 (after a well deserved bye week) against Marina (0-4-0). Lock?

Is this where we start calling the Fighting Irish the Cardiac Kids? I'm ready. At least it's better than the "Lepre-cats," as NBC was promoting. The Irish went into an all-important game against the Huskies, got into a situation where they had to play catchup, and finished with a thrilling 37-30 OT win for the fourth straight game to be decided in the final minute of play, again per NBC. The game pretty much started with the Irish being able to move the ball well, but completely unable to get it in the end zone. Field goal after field goal. After responding to the Huskie's opening TD drive with 3 FGs, the Irish were in the lead, and were outplaying the hell out of U-Dub. Then, with 4:39 left in the first half, Jimmy Clausen made probably his most ill advised play of the season, lofting up a backwards pass for Armando Allen due to pressure, and the pass was well over the reach of Allen. The pig fell to the ground behind where it started, and Washington walked it in for a TD. You could feel the momentum shift. However, an amazing 67 yard TD pass to Golden Tate, which my Dad pointed out had nothing to do with Clausen, got us back in the lead 16-14. Tate was fleet of foot, and damned impressive on the run after the catch for the TD. How did he stay on his feet? Alas, the defense couldn't stop the Huskies from getting the go ahead FG before the half ended, and this is foreshadowing at its finest. The third quarter saw the Irish trade a field goal for another Washington TD, and the fourth quarter opened up with the teams trading field goals to make the score 22-27 in favor of the Seattle squad. Did Jimmy Clausen and company have another wild finish in them? They sure did. I solid drive with the clock winding down culminated in a perfect pass to Kyle Rudolph for the TD and the late lead (1:20 on the clock). Rudolph pulled a Michael Floyd type catch, climbing the ladder on the lob pass, to really earn the 6. ND was able to push home a perfect extra point, and I literally mean push (Robert Hughes had to be pushed by the entire team to get into the end zone for the deuce), and that play would turn out to be bigger than we ever would have imagined. When we scored, I said, there is a lot of time on the clock. And I was right. Washington marched down the field, almost getting picked off, and was able to nail a game tying field goal to send the match to overtime. I'll take this moment to point out that I made it clear that the field goal kickers and Kyle Rudolph would play huge roles in this game, when I wrote my "5 reasons" earlier in the week. In the OT session, Golden Tate grabbed a 22 yard TD pass to set up the Robert Hughes 1 yard TD run, and the Irish defense finally stepped up to foil the Huskies and win the game. In the end, JC Le Douche went 23-31 for 422 yards (which really is impressive) 2 TDs and 1 INT (and 1 really bad fumble that didn't make the box score on ESPN), Golden "It's Insane The Size Of This Guy's" Tate filled in for Michael Floyd like what with 9 catches for 244 yards and a TD (long of 77), and Armando Allen made a quiet return back to the pitch with 39 yards on 12 rushes (plenty of those being direct snaps from the "Wildcat" offense). The Irish now enter the bye week with a 4-1 record, eyeing their season defining match against USC on October 17th. Game the f' on.

The Rams are still on the field against the 49'ers this afternoon (meaning that the slaughter has not yet ended), and per my Dad's text, things aren't going well. With the 4th quarter about the get underway, the Rams trail 0-21, headed for their second shutout in four games. The Rams have turned the ball over twice, Kyle Boller is now making me question my preseason love for him (10/19, 91, 1 INT), Steven Jackson continues to underperform (18 carries for 49 yards), the the long list of receivers not stepping up into a #1 role continues (Avery leads all with 2 catches for 36 yards). I'm surprised the Niners are only up by 21. Come on you guys! I also wonder how the line was only SF by 9. Come on Vegas! The presupposed 0-4 Rams will line up at home against Brett Favre and the Vikings next weekend. Expect a fifth straight defeat, boys.

I picked the BC Lions to beat the Rough Riders in Streak for the Ca$h, and it paid off. Take it Jon! The Orange & Black eeked out a 19-16 win against Saskatchewan on Friday night, and I was laughing all the way to Vancouver. At least someone in Vancouver is winning/laughing. Buck Pierce showed why Jarious Jackson is sitting on the bench, earning a 29-43 night with 343 yards and zero INTs. Martell Mallett, a man destined for the NFL if you read this blog, went 20 rushes for 81 yards, and both Geroy Simon and Paris Jackson topped the 100+ receiving yard mark (134 and 114 respectively). BC is now 6-7, pulling barely out of the bottom spot, and continuing to chase 8-5 Calgary. Next Friday is fellow 6-7 Edmonton.

Now on to Euro Trash football. Celtic played at 2:30 am our time this morning, and it showed. The first round of the Glasgow Derby against the hated Protties from Rangers did not go as planned. Rangers walked away with a gigantic 2-1 win, with goals from Kenny Miller in the 8th and 15th minute. Celtic wasn't able to manage anything but a penalty goal from Aiden McGeady at the 25th, that made things interesting for the final hour plus, but didn't make a different on the point sheet. This all came with Chinese captain Zheng Zhi making his Celtic debut in the midfield, earning Celticfc.net ma on the match honors despite being subbed out in the 70th. After Boruc and the defense kind of lazied through the first 15, though, there was no chance for the Hoops to regain their glory. The majority of the pressure came from the Green & White in the second half, but McGregor and the Blues held firm, and the rivalry went to the bad guys this time around. Despite the loss, the 5-1-1 Celtic side still hold the firm top of the table spot (+1 on Rangers for now). Next week is a bye (is all of football taking the week off?) before an October 17th go against Motherwell (3-1-3). Our next chance to avenge the loss to Rangers come on January 2, 2010. I'm waiting...

Newcastle showed they were human this weekend. The soccer ball his the white post 3 times for the Magpies. Luckily, Steve Harper was equal to the task of the Bristol City goal frame, and the Boys in Bars drew with Bristol 0-0 at St. James'. It was a bitter draw for the Mags, knowing that of their six shots on target, at least one should have dropped. Bristol City responded with 4 shots of their own, but Steve Harper was able to work some magic for the clean sheet in this one. 'Castle went with a bit of a different look in this game, putting Peter Lovenkrands and Marlon Harewood up front, but even a fresh look on the striker side didn't help push things forward for the Black & White. The draw puts my boys at 7-1-3 on the year (24 points), leading the English League Championship by a full win over West Brom. Next week, of course, is a bye week, with an October 17th match against Nottingham Forest (and Sheriff John) looming. The Notts are 4-3-3 on the year, and the Mags are certainly hoping to return to form with their 8th win of the campaign.

Chivas USA busted in the face of DC over the weekend, rocking a 2-0 victory of further improve their playoff hopes. The Red and White got goals from two of their late season acquisitions, Maicon Santos and Jesus Padilla, and another solid outing from ZBT (Zach "The Beast" Thornton) to carry them onward to victory. It was a high speed match that featured plenty of chances for both sides, but the 32nd minute goal for Santos was able to make a little magic happen that resulted in truly an own goal for DC, and the 53rd minute unassisted goal by "Nobody F's with the Jesus" Padilla sealed the deal against our Eastern Conference foes. All this, and the Goats only finished with 4 shots on goal to United's 3. Now at 12-9-5 (41 points), Chivas are tied with Seattle (41), and are just 3 back of Houston and LA (44 points, and each have clinched a playoff spot). Only four regular season matches remain, and next Saturday's match against KC is just way too huge. Must win, according to the media.

In brief: 1) Chivas de Guadalajara actually earned another win, 1-0 over Monterrey this weekend. The record now improves to 3-4-3 (12 points), but Toluca (24 points) is really running away with things. Next week is a match against Tecos de UAG. 2) With Sligo falling back to the #9 spot in the Irish Premier league, a Tuesday match against St. Pat's (7th place) is really, really important. A win, and the Bit O' Red would make their case to stay in the premier division even more solid. Remember, #10 is automatically relegated, while #8 and #9 battle it out in a one game playoff to stay with the big boys. 3) After beating Levski Sofia 4-0 in their UEFA Europa League match, Lazio drew with Fiorentina 0-0 this weekend. At 2-2-3, the SS needs to get things going soon, although we are still tied with those bitches from AC Milan. In two weeks, Lazio continues play after their bye week, against Sampdoria (5-1-1, top of the table). Let's make the Pope proud.

Baseball season is officially over, with the Angels going 97-65 after a 5-3 win against the A's. The record is better than my predicted 95-67 record, and is good enough for stand alone third place in Angels history (behind last year's 100 win season, and 2002's 99 win season). I hope you've been praying for us to finally beat the Sox...and for the Canucks to get at least 1 win in 09/10.

I'm so done.