NFL Playoffs Recap

The New Orleans Saints came into their playoff game with the Arizona Cardinals limping. They had lost 3 straight to end the season after opening with 13 straight victories. The Arizona Cardinals won a thrilling game against Green Bay last week and were riding some momentum. The Saints took care of all that yesterday and looked like the team they were for most of the season. They beat the Cardinals by the score of 45-14. The Saints took the time at the end of the season and the bye to rest some guys and get healthy. Jeremy Shockey was back and played a good game. He was his wild, emotional self and that seemed to lift the Saints early. Reggie Bush had his best game as a pro with over 200 all purpose yards. He looked like the man that played at USC 4 yrs ago and won the heisman. The Saints will take on the Vikings at home in their first every NFC Championship game. The Saints will be looking to make their first trip to the Super Bowl. The Vikings led by ageless wonder Brett Favre put a spanking on the Dallas Cowboys today and beat them 34-3. Dallas was riding momentum after finishing the season strong and then winning their first playoff game in 15 years last week. Minnesota weathered a early storm from Dallas and then never looked back. They finished the season 9-0 at home. They will take on the Saints in New Orleans next week, it should be a high scoring game. The Indianapolis Colts who were heavily criticized for not going for the record undefeated season came out and took care of business over the Baltimore Ravens yesterday. They won the game 20-3. They were never really in danger in this game and the Colts didn't look great but they didn't have to be in this one. They will host the AFC title game for the right to go to the Super Bowl. The New York Jets who have been the big underdogs keep living up to their talking. They came out to San Diego and weathered a dominating first half by the Chargers. The Chargers were in control but only led 7-0 at the half. The New York Jets turned it on in the second half and won the game by the score of 17-14. Nick Kading the placekicker will be kicking himself for missing 3 field goals. The Jets defense is starting to really earn its stripes and will now head to Indianapolis for what will be their toughest test. The thing is if they could go into San Diego and win they could probably beat anyone. San Diego definitely helped the Jets but all that matters is they got the victory, it doesn't matter how. The Jets and their fans should enjoy this one and then start looking ahead to Indy. The Jets beat the Colts in Indy in week 15 after the Colts were heavily criticized for pulling their starters after the first half. The Colts will surely be fired up for this one as they want to show the Jets they can beat them. It should be a fun weekend next weekend with the title games.

Yankees Minor League Titles

The New York Yankees minor league system once again has been outstanding this season. The A-Tampa Yankees won the Florida State League title last night and the short season Staten Island Yankees won the NY/Penn League title. The Staten Island Yankees were represented by a lot of the recent draft picks. You can check out the stories about the games on www.milb.com the official minor league baseball site. The AAA Scranton Yankees are down 0-2 in their championship series but they have lost a lot of players to the big club such as Shelly Duncan, Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli and a few relievers. They still have a shot though with 3 straight home games, of course they have to win every one of them. The big news out of AAA though is that Ian Kennedy you remember him pitched 3 hitless innings last night with 6 strikeouts. This is great news, he is a good kid who was thrust onto the scene maybe too quickly in NY and didn't do too well and then had surgery this year for a aneurysm in his arm. He now has pitched 5 scoreless innings in the minor league playoffs and will head to the instructional league and Arizona Fall league to build up his innings. Ian should be in AAA next year ready to go but he doesn't have much more to prove there as he has dominated the level. If Andy Pettitte comes back and Phil Hughes does become the 5th starter then there doesn't seem to be a spot for him but maybe he becomes a long reliever/spot starter or stays in AAA as a extra guy. Another scenario is the Yankees leaving Hughes where he is and Ian Kennedy being the 5th starter. This is all a ways off but interesting to think about, hopefully first the Yankees secure their 27th title then they can worry about this kind of stuff.

Yankees bounce back

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays today by the score of 6-4. Andy Pettitte made the start and wasn't great but did enough to win, he pitched 6 innings giving up 4 runs with 5 walks. David Robertson pitched a scoreless seventh, Brian Bruney got the first two outs of the eighth before allowing a walk and then Phil Hughes got his third save of the year by getting the last 4 outs and striking out three. The Yankees offense was much better today then yesterday. A-rod had a couple of hits and a rbi, Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira each hit solo homeruns. Melky Cabrera had a rbi hit and Hideki Matsui had a pinch hit single. Derek Jeter had a couple of hits and a walk, he now is 7 hits away from breaking Lou Gehrigs record for most ever hits by a Yankee. Nick Swisher had a hit and a walk. Jorge Posada had a hit, walk and rbi. Eric Hinske had a hit. The Yankees will try to win the series tomorrow with Sergio Mitre on the mound, making his first start since that brilliant start he made over a week ago before leaving the game when he got hit by a ball up the middle. It will be interesting to see how he does on the longer rest and coming off of that outing. The Yankees will also try to end the roadtrip at 6-1 and head home for a holiday double header with CC and AJ pitching against the Rays. The Yankees are now 8 1/2 ahead of the Boston Red Sox and basically cruising to the division title.