The Outlaws win a hard fought battle over Cape Cod

The New Jersey Outlaws defeated the Cape Cod Bluefins by a score of 6-3. Don’t let the final score fool you though, this was a hard fought game. The Outlaws jumped out to an early lead but Cape Cod came right back and tied the game 37 seconds later. The first period ended with the Outlaws having a 2-1 lead. 
The goals in the first period were scored by Kevin Cooper, Andrew Hutton and Matthew Puntureri. The assists were from Travais Kauffeldt, Puntureri, Matt Harrington and Stephen Kelley of the Bluefins and Nathan Oke and Lawne Snyder of the Outlaws. Jason Reese scored unassisted in the second period to give the Outlaws a 3-1 lead but Billy Tibbetts scored on the power play to make it a 3-2 game and that is how the second period would end. The third period would see New Jersey score three goals late after Cape Cod tied the game up at three. The New Jersey coaching staff wasn’t happy and was really letting them have it on the bench. The Outlaws responded and put the game away.

The goals in the third period were scored by Brad Surdam unassisted 38 seconds into the period and then Matt Miller scored twice for the Outlaws and the final goal of the game was scored by Reese off of a long outlet pass.

The game got chippy at the end with New Jersey trying to stay away from the fighting. They couldn’t take anymore though and with 22 seconds left all heck broke loose as their were several skirmishes. The head coach of New Jersey Chris Fiorello was even yelling from the bench at Cape Cod. The Outlaws were able to get the three points and stay atop the standings.

The Outlaws will play game two of four in four nights at home at the Capital One Ice Vault on Thursday night. They will take on the Brooklyn Aviators.

The New York Giants win the Battle Of New York

The New York Giants defeated the New York Jets by the score of 29-14 on Saturday afternoon. It was a close game for most of the day until the Giants pulled away at the end of the fourth quarter. It wasn’t the prettiest of games, especially in the fourth quarter but the Giants made fewer mistakes and executed when they needed to. They kept their season alive and will now play for the NFC East Title on Sunday night Football on January 1, 2012. 
Eli Manning was 9-27 for 225 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 54 yards on 15 carries and he had two touchdowns. Brandon Jacobs had seven carries for 42 yards and D.J. Ware had three carries for 20 yards. Victor Cruz was the leading receiver with three catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. He did have one catch for 99 yards. Hakeem Nicks had one catch for 20 yards, Jacobs had one for 13 and Devin Thomas had one catch for 11 yards. Bradshaw had one catch for eight yards. Lawrence Tynes was 2-2 on field goals with his long being 36 yards and he made three extra points.

Mark Sanchez threw more passes then he has ever thrown for the Jets. He was 30-59 for 258 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Shonn Greene rushed for 58 yards on 14 carries, LaDainian Tomlinson had 29 yards on five carries and Sanchez had 13 yards on four carries and a touchdown.

Dustin Keller was the leading receiver with eight catches for 77 yards. Santonio Holmes had four catches for 50 yards, Tomlinson had six catches for 36 yards and Jeremy Kerley had five catches for 36 yards. Plaxico Burress had three catches for 34 yards. Nick Folk missed the only field goal he attempted and made two extra points.

Kenny Phillips and Corey Webster each had an interception for the Giants. Webster and Antrelle Rolle led the team with seven tackles each. Jason Pierre-Paul had two sacks. Justin Tuck, Dave Tollefson and Chris Canty each had a sack. The Jets defense had one interception by David Harris and Muhammad Wilkerson led the team with three tackles and two assists with a sack.

The Jets will play Miami in Miami on Sunday needing a win and three other teams to lose to make the playoffs. The Giants will play for the division crown on Sunday night Football at home against the Dallas Cowboys. If they win the game they will be in the playoffs and have a home game in the first round and if they lose they will miss out on the playoffs once again and have another second half collapse that could end the Tom Coughlin era with the Giants.

The Giants are embarrassed at home by the Redskins

The New York Giants lost to the Washington Redskins on Sunday afternoon by the score of 23-10. It was not a pretty game at all for the Giants. The defense looked horrible as Washington jumped out to a 17-0 lead and the offense had a rare off day, the combination made it a horrible game to watch. The Giants playing for their playoff lives didn’t bother to show up which is a huge indictment on the coaching staff. The Giants somehow still control their own destiny. If they win the last two games of the season over the Jets and the Cowboys then they will win the NFC East and be in the postseason.
Eli Manning was 23-40 for 257 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. Manning didn’t have a good day but Hakeem Nicks dropped a sure touchdown pass early in the game, at least one of the picks was a tipped ball that the defender made a great play on. Ahmad Bradshaw had ten rushes for 58 yards and Brandon Jacobs had eight rushes for 33 yards. The Giants never got the run established but they were also down 17-0 early in the game. Bradshaw did have a rushing touchdown. Nicks caught five passes for 73 yards, Mario Manningham caught three balls for 57 yards and Victor Cruz caught five balls for 44 yards. Bear Pascoe had two catches for 26 yards, Bradshaw had three catches for 21 yards and Jake Ballard had one catch for 15 yards. Henry Hynoski had two catches for 13 yards, Ramses Barden had one for six and D.J. Ware had one catch for two yards. Lawrence Tynes was 1-2 on field goals and he made the one extra point. The field goal was from 40 yards.

The defense was horrible again and this time they weren’t facing an elite quarterback or offense. They did have two interceptions, one by Corey Webster and one by Kenny Phillips. Jason Pierre Paul once again was the Giants best defensive player, he is basically the only defender who shows up week in and week out. Pierre-Paul had 11 tackles and five assists with a sack. Michael Boley had ten tackles and two assists, Chase Blackburn had six tackles and Justin Tuck had four tackles and three assists.

Rex Grossman for the Redskins was 15-24 for 185 yards and one touchdown, he also threw two interceptions. Roy Helu rushed 23 times for 53 yards. Evan Royster rushed 10 times for 36 yards, Darrel Young rushed 4 times for 14 yards and a touchdown and Anthony Armstrong rushed once for 14 yards. Niles Paul rushed once for seven yards. Jabar Gaffney was the leading receiver for the Redskins with six catches for 85 yards. Santana Moss had two catches for 40 yards and a touchdown, Donte Stallworth had two catches for 35 yards and Helu had three catches for 16 yards. Logan Paulsen had one catch for nine yards. Graham Gano was 3-3 in field goals and the long one was from 43 yards. He made two extra points.

The Redskins swept the season series from the Giants as they also won the first game of the season in Washington. The Giants are still alive in the playoff race and control their own destiny. As disappointing as this loss was if they win their final two games they win the NFC East and reach the postseason. If the Giants lose this week to the Jets and the Cowboys win then the Cowboys win the NFC East. If it finishes in a three way tie at 8-8, the Eagles would win the division. The Giants will face off against the Jets on Christmas Eve, Saturday December 24^th.

The Jets go down to Philly and get manhandles by the Eagles

The New York Jets lost to the Philadelphia Eagles by the score of 45-19. This was a game that got really ugly and didn’t really change much from that. The Jets tried to stage a comeback with the help of some Philly turnovers but it wasn’t enough to overcome a huge first half deficit. The Eagles jumped out to a 28-0 lead. The Jets cut it to 28-13 at the half but that was as close as they would come. 
Mark Sanchez of the Jets was 15-26 for 150 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Mark Brunell did get into the game late and was 1-3 for 27 yards. Shonn Greene was the leading rusher with 18 carries for 73 yards. LaDainian Tomlinson rushed three times for nine yards, John Conner once for seven yards and Sanchez two times for three yards. Joe McKnight rushed three times for two yards. Dustin Keller caught the ball three times for 73 yards, Santonio Holmes caught the ball four times for 40 yards and a touchdown and McKnight caught one pass for 27 yards. Plaxico Burress caught one ball for nine yards and one touchdown. Jeremy Kerley had two catches for 16 yards and Tomlinson caught four balls for 12 yards. Nick Folk was 2-2 on field goals and his long was 39 yards, he made an extra point.

Michael Vick was 15-22 for 274 yards, one touchdown and one interception for the Eagles. LeSean McCoy rushed the ball 18 times for 102 yards and three touchdowns. McCoy broke the single season record for touchdowns by an Eagle. Vick rushed five times for 32 yards and a touchdown, Ronnie Brown rushed six times for 18 yards and Dion Lewis rushed the ball two times for 10 yards. Mike Kafka rushed the ball twice and got no yards. Brent Celek caught five passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, Jeremy Maclin caught three balls for 57 yards and DeSean Jackson caught two balls for 28 yards. Clay Harbor had two catches for 20 yards, Riley Cooper had one for 18 yards. Alex Henery made the only field goal he attempted from 28 yards and had six extra points.

David Harris had six tackles, an assist and a interception for the poor Jets defense. Muhammad Wilkerson had six tackles and a sack, Calvin Pace had six tackles and Marcus Dixon had a sack. The Jets defense was carved up. The Jets still right now are in the playoffs and control their own destiny. If they win out they will be in the postseason. The Jets will host the Giants on Saturday December 24^th which is Christmas Eve. It should be an intense and entertaining game as both teams are fighting for their playoff lives and there is no love lost between either of the teams.

Jets defeat the Chiefs without a problem

The New York Jets defeated the Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 37-10. It was a blow out right from the start as the Jets marched right down the field and scored. The Chiefs had a total of four first half yards. The Chiefs basically didn’t even get off the bus for this game. Mark Sanchez had a very business like performance and the Jets rushing attack was very good. The defense was great although the Chiefs offense isn’t very good at all. 
Sanchez was 13-21 for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Shonn Green led the rushing attack with 129 yards on 24 carries and he had a touchdown. Sanchez had four rushing yards on two carries and he had two touchdown runs and LaDainian Tomlinson had 14 yards on nine carries. Tomlinson had two catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, Greene had 58 yards on three catches and Dustin Keller had four catches for 34 yards. Santonio Holmes had two catches for 12 yards and a touchdown and Josh Baker had one catch for 17 yards. Nick Folk didn’t have a field goal attempt and made all five extra points.

Jim Leonhard had an interception, David Harris led the defense with four tackles and two assists with a sack. Muhammad Wilkerson had three tackles and two assists. Calvin Pace and Marcus Dixon had ½ a sack each and Eric Smith, Bart Scott and Sione Pouha each had a sack.

Tyler Palko for the Chiefs was 16-32 for 195 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Jackie Battle had 10 rushes for 33 yards, Thomas Jones had five carries for 12 yards and Palko had one rush for 12 yards. Jerheme Urban had one rush for seven yards and Dexter McCluster had four rushes for a yard. Dwayne Bowe had six catches for 69 yards, Steve Breaston had four catches for 44 yards and Urban had two catches for 28 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Baldwin had two catches for 28 yards and Battle had two catches for 26 yards. Ryan Succop made his only field goal attempt from 53 yards and his only extra point.

Derrick Johnson had nine tackles and three assists. Tamba Hali had a sack, Justin Houston had a sack and Javier Arenas had a sack.

The Jets now are in one of the wild card spots and can control their own destiny. The Jets will play at the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon at 4:15PM. They will then be at home against the Giants and finish off their season against the Miami Dolphins in Miami. If the Jets win all their games they will make the postseason

Giants with a big come from behind victory to take over first place

The New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys by the score of 37-34 on Sunday night. The Giants were trailing by 12 points with just over five minutes left in the game. The game was a back and forth game throughout and the only reason it reached a 12 point deficit is because as the Giants were driving they had a ball tipped and intercepted and then Dallas scored off of that. The Giants though have been resilient this season especially at the end of games. Eli Manning has played like an MVP and this game was no different as he led them to victory. 
Manning was 27-47 for 400 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Brandon Jacobs had a very good game running the ball. He ran for 101 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. Ahmad Bradshaw was benched for the first half due to a team disciplinary action. He rushed for 12 yards on eight carries. Hakeem Nicks was the Giants leading receiver with 163 yards on eight catches. Victor Cruz caught six passes for 74 yards, Mario Manningham caught two passes for 62 yards and a touchdown and Jake Ballard caught four passes for 52 yards and a touchdown. D.J. Ware caught three passes for 19 yards. Lawrence Tynes was 2-2 on field goals and his long was 26 yards, he also converted three extra points. The Giants defense was poor once again, they gave up 321 yards in the air and four touchdown passes. They gave up 139 rush yards. Jason Pierre Paul is basically the whole Giants defense, he had a great game with two sacks. He also had a sack for a safety, a forced fumble and blocked the potential game tying field goal to give the Giants the win at the end of regulation. He also had six tackles and two assists.

Tony Romo was 21-31 for 321 yards and four touchdowns. Felix Jones had to do the bulk of the rushing due to an injury to DeMarco Murray and rushed for 106 yards on 16 carries. Murray rushed for 25 yards on five carries. Miles Austin had one rush for five yards and Tony Fiammetta had three yards on two rushes. Laurent Robinson had 137 yards on four catches to lead the receivers and a touchdown. Austin had 63 yards on four receptions and a touchdown, Dez Bryant had one reception for 50 yards and a touchdown and Jones had six catches for 31 yards. John Phillips had one catch for 12 yards and a touchdown, Jason Witten had three catches for 12 yards and Tony Fiammetta had one catch for 10 yards. Murray had one catch for six yards. The Cowboys defense also was very poor, they did have an interception. They gave up 400 passing yards and 113 rushing yards.

The Giants with the win are tied with the Cowboys in record at 7-6. They are in first place though because of beating them head to head. The Giants will not leave their stadium for the final three games. They play Washington on Sunday afternoon, then the Jets on Christmas Eve and the Cowboys to finish it out. If they win two out of the last three and they are against the Redskins and Cowboys the Giants will win the division and make the playoffs. Them winning the division could save their coaches job, we will have to see how the playoffs would shake out and if they could win at least one game or make a run. The Giants right now have to take it one game at a time and if they win then they will be in the postseason.

Some randon MLB news and notes

The Cardinals signed Rafael Furcal to a two year deal.  It has been reported that Hiroyuki Nakajima, he is the Japanese shortstop that the Yankees won the bidding on would not sign a deal with the Yankees.  There was translation today of an article from Japan where he basically says he wants to play in the states and he praises the Yankees and it looks like they will be able to get a deal done with him.  I don't know if he would be filler in the minor leagues or if he could be a utility man on the big club and give Derek Jeter some extra days off.  We will see how this plays out over the next month if they can agree to a deal. 

Yu Darvish the Japanese pitcher is another guy to keep your eye on as teams have until Wednesday to submit bids.  The Yankees have been lukewarm on if they are going to do so but I think that may just be a game they are playing to get the other teams thinking they won't and then have lower bids.  We will see what happens with this. 

The Diamondbacks and Athletics made a big five player deal.  The Diamondbacks got Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow for three prospects.  The Rays did a good job of locking up young Matt Moore their special pitcher.  These are the kind of deals the Rays must make to remain competitive as a small market and they have done a good job of that.  The deal is for a guaranteed 14 million over five years and 40 million over eight. 

Winter Meetings end with a bang and Braun tests positive for PEDS?

The Final day of the winter meetings was Thursday and it ended with a bang.  Albert Pujols formerly of the St. Louis Cardinals decided on going to the Anaheim Angels.  The Angels in recent years have always been involved with free agents but never went the extra mile and always seem to fall short.  This time they gave the best player in baseball a ten year deal worth 254 million dollars.  This deal is crazy, he is the best player but he will be 41 years old at the end of the deal, if you believe he is really 31 now.  There are some who believe he is older then he has said.  I would say they will be good with him for the first five years and then he will start to decline and the contract will become a big problem.  The good thing for Pujols is that he could become a DH, we have seen what has happened to Arod after he signed his ten year deal with the Yankees. 

The Angels didn't stop with Pujols though, they signed C.J. Wilson to a five year 77.5 million dollar deal.  Anaheim got a lot more interesting with the additions of these two players.  The Angels who have been a very good team for the last decade or so have missed the playoffs the last two years but instantly they are a contender once again. 

Ryan Braun tested positive for PEDS it was being reported tonight by ESPN.  The test was done in October and Braun and his camp have stated that they are appealing it because he didn't knowingly take anything and he is innocent.  I would say don't hold your breath on that one, you just can't believe these ballplayers with the history of them but you never know.  It is being reported now later tonight that Braun requested a second test and it came back negative and they are using that in their appeal process, or trying to use it.  We will stay tuned with this story as it continues to develop.  He will be a marked man no matter what now though and suffer because of it and after such a great year and October for baseball and offseason so far this is another black mark on the sport. 

NJ Outlaws vs Akwesasne Warriors

The New Jersey Outlaws return home on Saturday night to take on the Akwesasne Warriors. The Outlaws come into the game with a record of 13-1-0-2 and the Warriors come in with a record of 8-1-1-4. The Warriors are the defending Federal Hockey League Champions. This is the tenth home game for the Outlaws and they are 7-1-0-1 at home. They have won their only overtime game of the season.  They played last night in Brooklyn and won 3-2.

The Outlaws have scored 83 goals on the season and given up 40. They will take on the Danbury Whalers in their next game which is Friday December 16th at Danbury. The game is at 7:35PM. The Outlaws have a high percentage on the power play which is 30.3% and ranks first in the league. The penalty kill is at 83.3% and ranks fifth in the league.

The leading goal scorer for the Outlaws is Travis Kauffeldt who has 19 goals. Kauffeldt also leads the team in points with 35. Kevin Cooper has 13 goals and 31 points. The Outlaws have a well-balanced attack. Matthew Puntureri has eight goals and 29 points on the season, John Goffredo has 18 points and Luke Flicek has 17 points. Tyler Barr leads the team in penalty minutes with 108 and William McCreary has 58.

The Outlaws have two very good goalies. Adam Dekker is 7-0 with a 2.14 goals against average and a 930 save percentage. Dan McWhinney is 7-2 with a 2.77 goals against average and a 911 save percentage.

The Warriors 4-1-0-1 road record and are 4-0-1-3 at home. They have scored 79 goals and given up 67 on the season. They played to a 0-0 tie in their last game at Cape Cod and they will take on the Brooklyn Aviators in Brooklyn on Sunday December 11th at 5:00PM. The Warriors power play is at 13.9% which is sixth in the league and their penalty kill is at 83.9% which is fourth in the league.
The leading goal scorer on the Warriors is Pierre Dagenais who has 24 goals. He is a former NHL player. Nicolas Corbeil has 11 goals and 23 points. Dagenais leads the team in points with 42. Mathieu Raby leads the team in penalty minutes with 80, Ahmed Mahfouz has 79 penalty minutes and Patrick Deraspe has 60 penalty minutes. They have three guys with double-digit + ratings.

They have had three goalies who have started this season. Adam Thompson is 3-0-1 with a 5.05 goals against average and a 818 save percentage. David Plouffe is 5-4 with a 4.05 goals against average and Jacob Lazore is 1-0 with a 6.99 goals against average and a 857 save percentage.

Outlaws win 3-2 in Brooklyn

The New Jersey Outlaws won their 11th straight game tonight in Brooklyn. They defeated the Brooklyn Aviators 3-2 in Brooklyn. They remain at the top of the Federal Hockey League and now have 44 points points on the season. The Outlaws record is now 14-1-0-2. They have eight more points then the second place team 1000 Islands. They have seven wins at home and seven on the road, they also have one loss each at home and away and their only overtime game was a win at home.

This game started out slow as neither team scored in the first period. New Jersey had a 13-12 shot advantage in the first period. There was one penalty against Brooklyn which was a hooking call at the 3:35 mark of the first period. Colin Ronayne received the penalty which was a two minute minor.

The second period had a lot more action as each team scored two goals, there was only one penalty again to the Aviators. Matthew Puntureri got the Outlaws on the board at the 6:04 mark of the second period. He was assisted by Kevin Cooper and Travis Kauffeldt. Kauffeldt scored a goal to give the Outlaws a 2-0 lead at 8:14 of the period. His goal was assisted by Puntureri and Cooper. The Aviators cut the lead in half at 13:25 of the period with a goal from Jesse Felten who was assisted by Matt Atsoff and Nick Grove. The Aviators tied the game at the end of the second period. They scored with 33 second lefts in the second period. The goal was scored by Andrew Owsiak and it was a shorthanded goal, he was assisted by Casey Mignone.

The only goal of the third period which was the game winner was scored by Cooper of the Outlaws. The assists came from Kauffeldt and Puntureri at the 3:01 mark of the third period. Cooper, Kauffeldt and William McCreary all received penalties in the third period, there was none against the Aviators. Cooper got a two minute holding penalty at 3:30 of the period, Kauffeldt had a two minute tripping penalty at 9:07 and McCreary had a five minute high sticking major at 10:35 of the period.

New Jersey was 0-2 on the power play and Brooklyn was 0-3. Brooklyn outshot New Jersey 35-29 for the game. Dan McWhinney got the win and Josselin St. Pierre took the loss. Cooper, Kauffeldt and Puntureri were all +2 for the game. The game lasted two hours and 13 minutes and there were 502 in attendance. The three stars of the game were St. Pierre as the third star, McWhinney as the second star and Cooper got the first star. The Outlaws will return home to take on the defending champs Akwesasne tomorrow night at the Ice Vault. The Outlaws will be looking for their 12th straight win and to extend their first place lead in the league.

Winter Meetings Heating up

The Winter Meetings began on Monday in Dallas and nothing really happened.  The Jose Reyes signing by the Miami Marlins actually happened on Sunday.  There were lots of rumors and suprisingly but not unexpected the Yankees have been quiet.  Tuesday was a different story.  The Mets in a span of an hour this evening became very busy signing two relievers and making a trade.  The Albert Pujols derby has really heated up.  We first heard that the Marlins wanted a resolution by tonight and are believer to have offered 10 years and as much as 220 million.  The Cardinals also upped their offer apparently and then we heard there was a third mystery team involved.  In the last half hour or so it looks like the mystery team has been revealed as the Anaheim Angels who may also have a 10 year offer out there.  Stay tuned on this, I don't think we will know tonight but maybe on Wednesday. 

I want to look at the Mets action more closely since I do cover the Mets as well as the Yankees.  The Yankees right now are very quiet so we will look at them later.  The Mets signed Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch.  This should solidify the back end of their bullpen.  I wouldn't say that Rauch is great but Francisco is good.  The deal the Mets made was Angel Pagan to the Giants for Ramon Ramirez and Andres Torres.  Torres will most likely be the leadoff hitter.  There had to be someone replacing Reyes at the top of the lineup and Pagan didn't like doing that, the Mets also didn't like Pagans non baseball instincts for lack of a better word.  Ramirez is a very solid reliever, one of the better ones in all of baseball so it will be interesting to see what they do for the closer. 

The Yankees are interested in bringing Eric Chavez, Andruw Jones and even Bartolo Colon back.  These will be one year deals and maybe even only minor league deals so they are on the back burner.  The Yankees are interested in starting pitching but find the prices to be too high and that hasn't changed yet.  They like Hiroki Kuroda and we heard today he would come east but doesn't look like the Yankees will get him.  Gio Gonzalez was another rumor, even heard a three team between Oakland, the Yankees and Royals but I don't think that was a legitimate rumor.  Heard the A's were asking for Jesus Montero and Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances which isn't going to happen.  The Yankees like John Danks but for right now they want too much for him also.  I think the Yankees will come away with a pitcher this offseason but not yet, the prices will drop eventually and then they will strike.  The Yankees aren't desperate remember with a full rotation right now and young guys who are looking to get into the major leagues. 

Tomorrow could be a big day with news of the big guys like Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson signing.  Wilson looks like it could be the Angels, the Marlins and Rangers are also involved.  Prince Fielder is the other big name out there and it looks like the Mariners may be the front runner for him. 

The Giants play a great game but come up just short as Green Bay wins on a last second field goal

The New York Giants lost to the Green Bay Packers by the score of 38-35. They came into this game losing three in a row and losing in New Orleans on Monday night in brutal fashion. They also were embarrassed at home by the Eagles the week before. The Giants now were facing an undefeated team and even though they lost they looked really good in doing so. The Giants answered every punch Green Bay had and in the end it came down to who touched the ball last. 
Eli Manning was 23-40 for 347 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Brandon Jacobs led the rushing attack with 59 yards on eight carries. Ahmad Bradshaw was back in the lineup and rushed for 38 yards on 11 carries. D.J. Ware rushed once for three yards. Victor Cruz led the receivers with seven catches for 119 yards. Hakeem Nicks had seven catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Travis Beckum had one catch for 67 yards and a touchdown, Jake Ballard had three catches for 47 yards and Bradshaw had two for nine yards. Lawrence Tynes was 2-2 on field goals with his long being 50 yards. He also made three extra points.

Aaron Rodgers was 28-46 for 369 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Rodgers rushed it four times for 32 yards, Ryan Grant rushed 13 times for 29 yards and Brandon Saine rushed six times for 16 yards. Greg Jennings led the receivers with seven catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Jermichael Finley caught six passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. Jordy Nelson had four catches for 94 yards, Donald Driver had four for 34 and two touchdowns and Saine had four for 29. Mason Crosby was 1-2 on field goals. He made five extra points.

Chase Blackburn had an interception for the Giants. They had two sacks, one by Justin Tuck and the other by Dave Tollefson. Linval Joseph led the defense with nine tackles. Clay Matthews had an interception for a touchdown for Green Bay. Charlie Peprah led the Packers defense with six tackles and three assists. Matthews also had the only sack.

The Giants will now go to Dallas to take on the Cowboys in basically a must win game for the Giants. The Giants are one game back in the division and have four games left. They will take on Dallas twice, the Jets and Redskins in the other games. The Giants are now 6-6 on the season and in another second half collapse. If the Giants fail to make the postseason most likely that will be the end of Tom Coughlin.

The Jets pull away late to defeat the Redskins

-The New York Jets defeated the Washington Redskins by the score of 34-19. The Jets were trailing 13-10 at the half and after three quarters it was tied at 13. The Jets were able to pull away in the fourth quarter as they outscored the Redskins 21-6. Shonne Greene had a big game with three touchdowns for the Jets. 
Mark Sanchez was 19-32 for the Jets. He had 165 yards throwing and a touchdown with no interceptions. Greene had 22 rushes for 88 yards and the three touchdowns. Jeremy Kerley rushed once for six yards and LaDainian Tomlinson rushed once for five yards. Santonio Holmes led the Jets with four catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. Plaxico Burress had three catches for 33 yards, Greene had three for 26 and Tomlinson had one catch for 16 yards. Dustin Keller had three catches for 12 yards. Nick Folk made two out of three field goals. He made all four extra points and the long field goal was from 51 yards.

Rex Grossman for the Redskins was 19-46 for 221 yards and an interception. Roy Helu rushed 23 times for 100 yards and a touchdown. Fred Davis was their leading receiver with six catches for 99 yards. Santana Moss had five catches for 42 yards, Helu had four catches for 42 yards and David Anderson had two catches for 21 yards. Donte’ Stallworth had one catch for 14 yards. Graham Gano was 4-4 on field goals with his long being 46 yards. He also made an extra point.

Kyle Wilson had an interception for the Jets. The Jets defense had two sacks. The sacks came from Jamaal Westerman and Aaron Maybin. David Harris led the team with five tackles. The Redskins defense had no sacks or interceptions. London Fletcher led the team with nine tackles and eight assists.

The Jets are now 7-5 and still in the hunt for a wildcard spot. The Jets will take on the Kansas City Chiefs at home on Sunday December 11^th.

The Outlaws win their 10th straight as they win in Danville once again

The New Jersey Outlaws won their 10th straight game tonight as they defeated the Danville Dashers 3-0. It was the second night in a row that they won in Danville. The Outlaws remain in first place in the Federal Hockey League. The game had no scoring until the third period. The Outlaws scored all their goals in the third and towards the end of the game. Travis Kauffeldt the captain had two goals.

The first goal came at the 14:43 mark of the third from Kevin Cooper. He was assisted by Kauffeldt and Matthew Puntureri. Kauffeldt scored on the power play assisted by Puntureri and Cooper at the 16:07 mark of the third. The final goal came at the 18:35 mark of the third as Kauffeldt scored again. Anthony Battaglia and Nathan Oke had the assists.

In the first period there were four penalties, three on New Jersey. In the second period there were 10 penalties with seven of them against New Jersey. In the third period there were only three penalties and only one against New Jersey. There were no fights in the game. New Jersey was 1-4 on the power play and Danville was 0-9.

New Jersey had 47 shots on goal and Danville had 21. Adam Dekker got the win for New Jersey. Nick Wydock took the loss for Danville. The length of the game was two hours and 20 minutes. 373 was the attendance as Danville continues to hurt. Danville has one overtime win on the season and that is it. Cooper, Oke and Kauffeldt were all +2 for the Outlaws.

Nolan Ryan, Michal Jordan and Kaleb Chillman were all -2 for Danville. The Outlaws will play at Brooklyn on Friday night December 9th. The three stars of the game were Wydock as number three, Dekker as number two and Kauffeldt as the first star. New Jersey is now 14-2 on the season with an overtime win. They have 41 points. 1000 Islands is in second and with their loss tonight New Jersey now has a five point advantage in the standings which is their largest lead of the season. 1000 Islands has 12 wins and four losses. They have one win and one loss in overtime. The Outlaws will return home next Saturday December 10th as they take on the defending FHL Champs the Akwesasne Warriors.

If you have any questions or comments please email me at gmarchesej@aol.com, find me on twitter @gmarchesej or facebook Gary Marchese Jr. Also for all your NJ Outlaws needs check out Newjerseyoutlaws.com and follow them on twitter @NJOutlawsHockey and facebook NJOutlaws.

NJ Outlaws Blog-Five Questions with Kevin Kamenski

Five Questions with Kevin Kamenski

1Dec

Here is my next set of the Five Question Series. It is a series that I developed to get to know some of the Outlaws front office. I also hope to do this with some of the players as well in the future. Rob Boertlein was my first victim and he did a great job and now Kevin Kamenski is next up. Kevin is the Vice President of Business Operations for the New Jersey Outlaws. Here are the five questions and his answers to them. I would love any feedback that you may have. As always you can write it on here or contact me on Twitter @gmarchesej, on facebook Gary Marchese Jr or email gmarchesej@gmail.com, thanks a lot.

1. What kind of goal or goals do you have for yourself and the team this season?

Our goal is to win the FHL Championship this season and to fill our building for every home game at the Ice Vault. My goal is to run a successful business for the Outlaws and to have this franchise grow into a huge attraction in Northern New Jersey

2. What does your job entail??

My day to day activities include; staff management, corporate sponsorships, ticket sales and business operations.

3. If you weren’t doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing?

I would be working for a corporate marketing firm in New York City.

4. What is the thing that you most love about your job?

Hockey, I have been involved in playing and coaching this awesome game since I was 6 years old.

5. What led you to joining the Outlaws team??

I was approached in July of this year about this position. I accepted this position on August 1st with the Outlaws. I find this to be a great opportunity to launch a new professional minor league hockey team in New Jersey.

Thank you to Kevin for a job well done and for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for this blog and fans of this blog and franchise.

NJ Outlaws vs. Danbury Whalers-11/23/11 Live Blog

We are here at the Capital One Ice Vault Arena in Wayne,NJ. The Outlaws are on their third game fo the five game homestand. This is a good matchup tonight as they are taking on the only team that they have lost too this season. The two teams have played four games so far this season and have split the four games. The Outlaws only have two losses on the season and they have both come to the Whalers. The games have all been close games and this one figures to be no different.

**We are just over five minutes away from the puck dropping. The puck has dropped and we are three minutes into the game and nothing doing as of yet. It has been a very crisp, clean game so far.

**Matthew Puntureri takes a tripping penalty at the 3:29 mark of the first period. Danbury takes a 1-0 lead on a power play goal at the 4:32 mark of hte first period. Danbury continues to put some pressure on the Outlaws after the goal was scored. They are controlling the game so far outshooting the Outlaws 7-1.

**The Outlaws tie the game at the 12:20 mark of the first period. It was a 2-1, but the goal was scored on the rebound by #9 Goffredo. Luke Flicek assisted on the goal. The Outlaws have picked up their play in the second half of this period and are now outshooting the whalers 11-9. It has continued to be a very fast moving, clean period.

**The first period comes to a close, it was a fast moving period and ends in a 1-1 tie. The shots for the period were 16 for the Outlaws and 13 for the Whalers. The second period has started, we are just under two minutes in and Kevin Cooper has taken a penalty. The Whalers will have their second power play of the game. They are 1-1 so far on the power play. The Whalers will have a 32 second two man advantage as Matt Miller of the Outlaws goes off the ice at the 3:30 mark of the second period. The Outlaws have 44 seconds left in their penalty as they killed off the first one. The Outlaws have killed off both penalties as we head to the 11 minute mark of the 3rd period.

**The Outlaws have killed off the first penalty and are working on the second one now. The Outlaws have killed off both penalties, lets see if they get some momentum from that. The Outlaws have the 18-15 shot advantage. The Outlaws score a goal at the 5:54 mark of the second period. The goal was scored by #10 Anthony Battaglia. The Outlaws have a 2-1 lead. The Outlaws go on their first power play of the game at the 6:15 mark of the second period. The Outlaws have a couple of really good chances and the Danbury goalies denies them as the power play is killed off. The Outlaws score a goal at the 9:04 mark of the second period. #9 Goffredo scores his second of the game on a nice wrist shot from the left side.

**The Outlaws score another goal to take a 4-1 lead at the 9:51 mark of the second period. They have really dominated the second period. The goal was scored by Nathan Oke and assisted by Goffredo who is having a great game. There is nine minutes left in the second and the Outlaws have a 4-1 lead and a commanding lead in shots now. The majority of the play has been in the Whalers zone this period. the Outlaws go on a power play as three guys go in the box but the Outlaws come away with the power play. The power play is killed off and with just over two minutes to go in the period the Outlaws maintain a 4-1 lead. The Outlaws have really taken control of the game in the second period. The Outlaws are shorthanded for four minutes. This will carry over into the third period. It is a big chance for the Whalers to get back into the game. The second period ends with the Outlaws leading 4-1 and having a 32-20 advantage in shots. The Outlaws still have 2:22 left in their double minor to #15 William McCreary.

**The Outlaws will be shorthanded here with 15:24 left in the third period. #55 Barr goes off the ice for slashing. The Whalers will have a 50 second two man advantage as #20 Miller gets a elbowing penalty. The Whalers cut the lead to 4-2 as #9 Martin Moucha scores his first goal of the season. The whalers have a little more then half of hte period to come back. This game is becoming tight, will the Outlaws hold them off or will the Whalers get even closer??

**The Outlaws get their goal back at the 10:13 mark of the third period. The goal is scored by Luke Flicek and it was assisted by Goffredo and McCreary. Flicek scores another goal with 59 seconds left to give the Outlaws a 6-2 lead. Tyler Barr and Corey Fulton get into a fight with 10 seconds left in the game.

New Jersey Outlaws vs. Danbury Whalers-Thanksgiving Eve

The New Jersey Outlaws will take on the Danbury Whalers tonight from the Ice Vault at 7:35PM. The Outlaws are on their longest home stand of the year, this is game three of five and are 8-2 on the season. The Whalers are the only team they have lost too and Danbury is right behind them in the standings. The Outlaws are in second place and the Whalers in third place. It should be a exciting night of hockey at the Ice Vault in Wayne,NJ. Here are the pregame notes.
The Outlaws have yet to play an overtime game. This is their 11th game of the season and their seventh home game. They are 5-1 at home and 3-1 on the road. The Outlaws defeated the Vermont Wild on Saturday night by the score of 8-2. The Outlaws will take on Brooklyn Friday and Saturday nights at home. They won’t be playing many home games over the next month after this weekend so they want to take advantage of these games.

The Outlaws have scored 51 goals and allowed 27. They have a very good power play which comes in at 34%. The penalty kill is at 80 percent which isn’t great but it isn’t horrible either. The leading goal scorers are Kevin Cooper and Travis Kauffeldt who each have nine. Matthew Puntureri leads the team in points with 21. Kauffeldt has 19 and Cooper has 18. The Outlaws have a pretty balanced scoring attack, they have a lot of guys that can score and put points on the score sheet. The two goalies are also good, Adam Dekker is 4-0 with a 2.50 goals against average and a 924 save percentage. Dan McWhinney is 4-2 with a 2.84 goals against average and a 905 save percentage.

This is also the 11th game for Danbury and they are 7-3 on the season. They also have not played an overtime game this season. They are 3-2 on the road and 4-1 at home. They have scored 43 goals and given up 34 goals. They won their last game against Cape Cod 5-3 and they will take on Akwesasne on Friday on the road.

Their power play is pretty good with a 25% success rate and their penalty kill is at 75.6% which is pretty low. Chris Seifert leads the team with seven goals and he leads the team with 15 points. Nick Deschenes has 13 points and Greg Holt has 12 points. Peter Vetri is one of their goalies and he is 3-1 with a 3.00 goals against average and a 916 save percentage. Nick Niedert is 4-2 with a 3.60 goals against average.

This is the fifth time these two teams have met this season and they have split the first four games. The Outlaws lost at Danbury to start the season by the score of 5-4. They won at home 5-3 in the second game of the season. November 5th they lost at home to them by the score of 4-2 and they beat them on November 11th by the score of 5-2.

NJ Outlaws defeat the Vermont Wild

Wayne,NJ-

The New Jersey Outlaws took on the Vermont Wild tonight at the Ice Vault. It was the two teams first ever meeting. The Outlaws came out flying in the first period and had a 4-0 lead after one. There was two simultaneous fights at the buzzer to end the first period. It got very nasty with #55 Barr receiving the bulk of the penalties including a game misconduct.

The goals in the first were scored by Matt Miller on the power play and assisted by Nathan Oke and John Goffredo. The second goal was scored 29 seconds later by Goffredo unassisted, Miller gave the Outlaws a 3-0 lead at the 14:48 mark of the first unassisted and Oke scored a shorthanded goal unassisted at the 18:01 mark of the first to give the Outlaws a 4-0 lead. New Jersey had a 18-4 shot advantage in the first.

In the second Vermont played much better, the Outlaws outshot them 15-9 and scored three goals to Vermont one goal. Matthew Puntureri scored the fifth goal for the Outlaws at the 4:51 mark of the second period and was assisted by Travis Kauffeldt. Kauffeldt scored at the 12:43 mark of the second period to give New Jersey a 6-0 lead and he was assisted by Kevin Cooper and Puntureri. Vermont finally got on the board at the 16:52 mark on a power play goal from Jason Dolgy. Goffredo scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Anthony Battaglia and Miller. It was scored at the 18:36 mark of the second period.

The third period saw each team score one goal. The Outlaws finished with a 54-23 shot advantage. The game got a little nasty at the end with a couple of fights. It didn’t get too crazy though. The Outlaws are now 8-2 on the season. The game for the most part was a very smooth game, Vermont for such a big team doesn’t really take the body.

The Outlaws will play Wednesday night at the Ice Vault against the Danbury Whalers. They will renew their rivalry. The Outlaws only two losses have come at the hand of the Whalers. It should be a good game and a fun night at the Ice Vault.

Continued Live Blog from the NJ Outlaws game

Here is my continued live blog from the NJ Outlaws game.

http://njoutlaws.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/nj-outlaws-vs-danville-dashers-111811-continued/

NJ Outlaws vs. Danville Dashers

Here is the link for my live blog on the NJ Outlaws game tonight against the Danville Dashers in Wayne,NJ.  If you dont know what that is, it is a minor league hockey team in Wayne,NJ.  The Outlaws are in their first season, so come on out and check out all the action and let me know.  http://njoutlaws.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/nj-outlaws-vs-danville-dashers-111811/ 

NJ Outlaws Five Question Series

Here is my link to my blog entry on the NJ Outlaws five question series that I have started, I am starting out with the front office and going to try to do one a week.  Here it is with the director of game day operations Rob Boertlein.  If you don't know the NJ Outlaws are a minor league hockey team in Wayne,NJ.  Check out my blog that I have developed for the team and continue to try and improve.  If you have any questions, thoughts, positives, negatives whatever please let me know, thank you for following and come out and support the NJ Outlaws. 

http://njoutlaws.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/meet-your-nj-outlaws-front-office/

The Giants comeback comes up just short this week

The New York Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers by the score of 27-20 on Sunday evening. The Giants and niners traded field goals in the early part of the game and it was a three point game at the half. The game started getting away from the Giants at the beginning of the fourth quarter but they were able to make it a one touchdown game and then came storming down the field in the final minutes on a long drive but were stopped two yards short of a first down, and about 15 yards from the end zone. 
Eli Manning had a pretty good game but he did throw two interceptions in this game which cost the Giants. Manning was 26 of 40 throwing for 311 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Jacobs was the leading rusher with 55 yards on 18 carries. D.J. Ware had nine carries for 34 yards and Manning had two for four yards. The rushing game once again wasn’t much of a factor. The leading receiver was Victor Cruz who had six catches for 84 yards. Mario Manningham also had six catches and it was for 77 yards, Hakeem Nicks had two catches for 41 yards and Jake Ballard had three catches for 35 yards. Ware had five catches for 34 yards. Lawrence Tynes was two for two in field goals and made two extra points.

The Giants defense did have one interception. Kenny Phillips and Antrel Rolle each had four tackles to lead the team. Osi Umenyiora and Linval Joseph each had a sack.

The Giants got on the board first with a field goal. Tynes made a 23 yard field goal after a 14 play drive to start the game. The 49ers answered with a 36 yard field goal after a 12 play drive. Tynes made a 25 yard field goal after a 13 play drive in the second quarter. David Akers answered back with a 52 yard field goal to make it a 6-6 game. Akers then made a 39 yard field goal and gave the niners a 9-6 lead which was how the half would end. In the third quarter the niners made a 28 yard field goal to take a 12-6 lead. The Giants scored the first touchdown of the game in the third quarter. Manningham caught a 13 yard touchdown pass to make it a 13-12 game in favor of the Giants. In the fourth quarter the niners got a 31 yard touchdown pass from Vernon Davis. Kendall Hunter had a 17 yard touchdown run to make it a 26-13 game. The extra point was good and made it a 27-13 game. After the first touchdown of the quarter making it 18-13 niners they went for two and converted making it a 20-13 game. The Giants would get a 32 yard touchdown completion by Hakeem Nicks making it a 27-19 game and the extra point made it 27-20. The Giants would have a long drive to end the game but with just over 30 seconds left the Giants were stopped on a fourth and two around the 15 yard line of the niners.

The Giants remain in first place in the NFC East. They have a 6-3 record and are one game ahead of the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants will return home and take on the Philadelphia Eagles next week. The Giants then will play at New Orleans and home against the Packers. They have a brutal schedule and this game was in their grasp but they weren’t able to win it. It will be interesting to see how the Giants bounce back next week against an Eagles team that has really struggled and the Giants have already beaten this season.

NJ Outlaws winning streak ends

The New Jersey Outlaws were defeated by the Danbury Whalers this evening by the score of 4-2. They got behind 4-1 in the first period and they weren’t able to come back from that. The Outlaws winning streak came to an end at four games. They are now 4-2 on the season but still lead the league with 12 points. They won’t play again until Friday night at home against the same Danbury Whalers team.


The Whalers took a 1-0 lead in the first period at the 18:32 mark. The goal was scored by Matt Caranci, the Outlaws would tie the game 13 seconds later on a goal by Kevin Cooper who was assisted by Matthew Puntureri and Trevor Kauffeldt. The first penalty of the game would come at the 14:37 mark and it would be a minor for roughing on Puntureri. Chris Seifert who is the leading goal scorer for the Whalers would score a power play goal at the 14:10 mark of the first period. At the 14:07 mark there were two penalties one for each team. Jari Bolbotowski had a holding penalty and Devin Guy got a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. John Goffredo received an interference penalty at the 11:47 mark of the period. Greg Holt scored 11 seconds later on the power play and was assisted by Martin Moucha. At the 8:19 mark Kelly Miller scored to make it a 4-1 game in favor of the Whalers. He was assisted by Matt Caranci. Seifert had a slashing penalty at the 5:38 mark of the period. Gentry Zollars of the Outlaws got a tripping penalty at the 2:15 mark of the period and Seifert got a hooking penalty at the 1:40 mark of the period. The period would come to an end and the Whalers had a 4-1 lead.

In the second period Sean OMalley was charged with a delay of game penalty at the 10:23 mark of the period. Kauffeldt would score a goal at the 5:35 mark of the second period. Zollars would assist on the goal and it would be a 4-2 game in favor of the Whalers.

In the third period there would be no scoring at all. Nick Deschenes would receive a hooking penalty for the Whalers at the 16:53 mark of the period. William McCreary had a slashing penalty at the 7:30 mark of the third period. Miller of the Whalers got a tripping penalty at the 5:53 mark of the third period. At the 3:19 mark of the third period Matt Moffat got a tripping penalty.

The shots on goal were 50-31 in favor of the Outlaws. The Outlaws really came at them in the third period outshooting the Whalers 25-7. The Whalers were 2-5 on the power play and the Outlaws were 0-5. Danbury had 14 penalty minutes and New Jersey had 13. Dan McWhinney took the loss for the Outlaws as the goalie. He made 27 saves out of 31 shots. Vetri picked up the win in net for the Whalers, he saved 48 out of 50 shots.

The time of the game was two hours and 34 minutes and there were 963 people in attendance. If you haven’t come on out to check out the Outlaws and see what they are all about then you should come down to the Capital One Ice Vault arena. It is a good atmosphere and it is good for the whole family. The tickets are 13 dollars for adults and 10 for children. There is a team store which sells a lot of hockey equipment and a lot of NHL merchandise. There is an arcade for the kids and plenty of food options for fairly cheap.

Yankees Offseason begins quickly

The New York Yankees offseason started earlier then they expected.  The Yankees were eliminated from the postseason at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in Game Five of the ALDS.  The Yankees mantra is to win the World Series every year so losing in the first round is a huge disappointment, especially after having the best record in the AL and homefield advantage due to that.  The Yankees though have addressed what probably were there two biggest issues of the offseason already. 

CC Sabathia the unquestioned ace of the staff had an opt out clause in his deal for October 31, 2011.  That was on Monday and a few hours before he could even opt out the Yankees and Sabathia agreed to a contract extension.  The Yankees have their ace for the next five years and that is a great move.  It also worked out well for Sabathia who not only made money but came off looking great in the process also. 

The original contract had four more years left on it which would of taken Sabathia through 2015.  It will have a fifth year extension on it for 2016 and a vesting club option for 2017.  Sabathia is 31 years old and has played three seasons with the Yankees where his record is 59-23.  His ERA in that time is 3.18, and he has won at least 19 games in each of those seasons.  He is the first major leaguer with at least three straight 19 win seasons since Randy Johnson in 2000-2002.  He is only the fourth Yankees to accomplish the feat.  Vic Rashi, Red Ruffing and Jack Chesboro are the three others to accomplish the feat. 

Sabathia said all along that he wanted to stay in New York that he loves it here and he now lives in NJ fulltime and that his family really loves it there.  He said that was a major factor in the decision.  He also said he didn't want to be a free agent, that he doesn't like the whole process and he wanted to stay with the Yankees without going through that, he wants to finish his career with them and hopes that this will accomplish that.  The weight issue was brough up and Sabathia said he will be proactive, that he did let himself go during the season but that didn't affect his performance.  He said he wants to be out there every fifth day for the team and if that means losing weight then he is going to do that, and he will be doing that again in the offseason. 

The other big thing for the Yankees is that they resigned their General Manger Brian Cashman yesterday.  Cashman started with the Yankees as a 19 year old intern in the minor league and scouting department and has been there ever since.  He became the GM on February 3, 1998 and has won four World Championships in that time.  His clubs have won 11 division titles and 6 AL titles in that span and made the playoffs in 13 of the 14 years.  His feat of reaching the playoffs in his first 10 seasons is unmatched in baseball history.  The Yankees are very comfortable with Cashman and that will continue for at least three more years.  He has the third longest tenure among current GM's and is longest serving Yankees GM since Ed Barrows in 1920 until 1945.  I like the fact that the Yankees are still owned by the Steinbrenner family and Cashman is the GM, they are successful and part of it id because they have the same people running the show for all these years.  It is a big departure from the 80's when there was so much change and upheaval. 

The Yankees center fielder and second baseman are in Taiwan now competing in a exhibition with major league all stars against the Taiwanese national team.  They also both won the silver slugger award at their respective positions today. 

The Cardinals defy the odds to win their 11th World Championship

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 6-2 on Friday night. It was the final game of the 2011 baseball season and no it didn’t live up to the hype. It would have been hard to top Game Six and it sure didn’t although it was a close game through the early stages before the Cardinals started pulling away later in the game. Chris Carpenter started for the Cardinals and was great after a rough start. Matt Harrison wasn’t as good for the Rangers and their bullpen wasn’t that good. Texas scored two first inning runs and couldn’t score the rest of the night. David Freese set the all-time record for postseason RBI and won the World Series MVP. St. Louis was a team that never said die from September all the way through this postseason and they ended up being the last team standing.
Carpenter started for the Cardinals and pitched 6 innings giving up six hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts. Arthur Rhodes faced one batter and retired him, Octavio Dotel faced two hitters and got both of them out, striking out one and Lance Lynn pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Jason Motte pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the game.

Matt Harrison who took the loss pitched four innings giving up five hits and three runs with two walks and a strikeout. Scott Feldman pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two runs and three walks. C.J. Wilson pitched 1 1/3 innings striking out two, Mike Adams pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and one run with a walk and a strikeout and Mike Gonzalez pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Alexi Ogando faced one batter and struck him out.

Allen Craig had a hit, RBI and a walk for the Cardinals. Albert Pujols had a walk, Lance Berkman had a hit and a walk and Freese had a hit, two RBI and two walks. Yadier Molina had two hits, two RBI and a walk, and Rafael Furcal had two hits and an RBI. Freese had a double, Craig had a homerun. The Cardinals were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Pujols made an error and Molina picked a runner off of first base.

Ian Kinsler had two hits and a walk for the Rangers. Elvis Andrus had a walk, Josh Hamilton had a hit and an RBI and Michael Young had a hit and an RBI. Mike Napoli and David Murphy each had a hit. Hamilton, Young and Murphy each had a double. The Rangers were 1-9 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Kinsler was picked off of first base.

The Rangers struck first again in the first inning. Hamilton had an RBI single and Young had an RBI double. That would give Texas a 2-0 lead but that would be all the scoring in the game for them. The Cardinals came right back in the bottom of the first with two runs to tie it. Freese hit a two run double. In the third Craig hit a solo homerun to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. In the fifth Molina had an RBI walk and Furcal was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 5-2 Cardinals. The Cardinals would tack on the final run of the game in the seventh inning. Molina hit an RBI single to make it 6-2 and that was how the final game of the baseball season would end.

This was a great World Series that culminated a wonderful baseball season. September was a great month for baseball and it carried into October culminating with this seventh game of the World Series. The Cardinals who were left for dead in September when they were 10 ½ games out of a playoff spot and were three games out with five to go just kept coming and became the World Champions. When you look back at this season is it truly remarkable. They defeated the best team in baseball and the heavy favorites to win it all the Philadelphia Phillies and won a Game Five in Philly against Roy Halladay. They defeated the favored Brewers who also had home field advantage and now defeated the favored Texas Rangers who were making their second straight trip to the World Series. The Rangers had a good season and a good postseason but being one strike away two times in Game Six is going to haunt them for a long time. The season is over and now the winter is upon us, it can be a cruel winter but the hot stove will be in full swing in a couple of weeks. Until the magical words are spoken again, pitchers and catchers we bid a fond farewell to the game we love, baseball.

The Cardinals one strike away from losing the World Series come back twice and force a Game 7

The Texas Rangers who twice were one strike away from winning their first World Series Title were stunned on Thursday night by the St. Louis Cardinals who survived and have forced a winner take all Game 7. Game 7 will take place on Friday night in St. Louis where the baseball season will come to a close and we will have a World Champion on Friday night. This game had so many layers to it and so many good and bad things that happened but in the end it became an instant classic. This is the kind of game that people will talk about for years, that you can tell your kids and grandkids about. This World Series game ranks right up there with the greatest of all-time. 1975, 1986 and 1992 all come to mind and this game is right there with all of them. The Rangers at least in the amount of hits dominated early and Jaime Garcia the St. Louis starter was pulled early but they could never put the Cardinals away although they had their opportunities. There were a few bad defensive plays including two dropped fly balls by the Cardinals. In the end a walk-off homerun decided the game.
Garcia started for the Cardinals and he pitched three innings giving up five hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeouts. The Cardinals used six pitchers after their starter was pulled and Jake Westbrook got the win pitching one scoreless inning and giving up one hit. Jason Motte the closer threw two innings in the game but gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. He came into a tie game because they were at home. The other relievers had good and bad outings, it was a mixed bag for the Cardinals.

Colby Lewis started for the Rangers and pitched much better then his opponent but he also got a no decision. Lewis pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up three hits and four runs with only two of them being earned. He walked three and struck out four. Alexi Ogando got charged with a blow save, he pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two walks. Derek Holland a starter pitched two innings in this game and gave up only a run on two hits. The Rangers used five other pitchers and there was a mixed bag with them also. Neftali Feliz the closer blew the save giving up two hits and two runs in an inning. He also walked one and struck out two, he had the Cardinals down to their last strike but couldn’t put them away. Scott Feldman also got charged with a blown save giving up a hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Mark Lowe took the loss, facing one batter and giving up a homerun.

Lance Berkman and David Freese were the offensive stars for the Cardinals. Berkman had three hits, three RBI and a walk. Skip Schumaker had a hit, Albert Pujols had a hit and a walk and Matt Holliday had two walks. Allen Craig had a hit and an RBI, Freese had two hits, three RBI and a walk and Yadier Molina had a hit, two RBI and a walk. Nick Punto had a walk, Daniel Descalso had two hits and John Jay had two hits. Pujols had a double, Freese had a triple and Berkman, Craig and Freese each had a homerun. The Cardinals were 3-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Holliday got picked off of third base. Holliday, Salas and Freese all made errors in the game. The Holliday and Freese errors were both botched pop ups.

The Rangers had several hitting stars but their biggest star Josh Hamilton had three hits and three RBI. Ian Kinsler had two hits, two RBI and a walk, Elvis Andrus had two hits and Michael Young had two hits and an RBI. Adrian Beltre had a hit and an RBI, Nelson Cruz had a hit and an RBI and Mike Napoli had two hits an RBI and three walks. Craig Gentry had a hit and David Murphy had a hit and a walk. Kinsler and Young had doubles. Beltre, Cruz and Hamilton each hit a homerun. The Rangers were 4-15 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Young made two errors and Napoli picked off a runner at third base.

In the first inning Hamilton had an RBI single to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the first Berkman hit a two run homerun to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Kinsler hit an RBI double in the second to tie the game at two. Napoli hit an RBI single in the fourth to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the fourth Molina hit a ground ball and a run scored to tie the game at three. Young hit an RBI double in the fifth to give Texas a 4-3 lead. In the sixth the Cardinals tied the game again, this time on a Molina RBI walk. In the seventh inning Beltre and Cruz hit back-to-back homeruns to give Texas a 6-4 lead. Kinsler hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 7-4. In the bottom of the eighth Craig hit a solo homerun to bring the Cardinals closer, making it a 7-5 game. At the time that seemed insignificant but it wasn’t. In the ninth the Cardinals were down to their last strike and Freese hit a two run triple to tie the game at seven. In the tenth inning Hamilton hit a two run homerun to give the Rangers a 9-7 lead and then in the bottom of the tenth the Cardinals tied it again. Ryan Theriot hit an RBI groundout to make it 9-8 and once again down to their last strike Berkman hit an RBI single to tie the game at nine. The Rangers went quietly in the 11th and Freese hit a walk-off homerun to give the Cardinals the 10-9 win in the bottom of the 11th inning.

This game became an instant classic and unless you were there or witnessed it on T.V. you would never believe it. It had so much in one game and now sets up a dramatic end to the baseball season. Game 7 is winner take all and anything can happen, it is amazing that a long crazy baseball season can come down to one last game. I would expect another good game because this has been a great World Series, it will be hard to top Game Six but they will try their best. The Rangers are searching for their first World Title and the Cardinals are looking for their 11th. The Cardinals last won it all in 2006 and the Rangers never as first the Washington Senators and then the Texas Rangers. The Cardinals have won the second most titles behind the New York Yankees 27. The starters for Game Seven will be Matt Harrison for the Rangers and Chris Carpenter for the Cardinals. There may be a lot of pitching changes in this game because there is no tomorrow and all hands are on deck. You can see anyone pitch in this game and any position player get into the game. There is no reason to leave anything on the table when you don’t have another day to worry about. It will be interesting to see how Game 7 measures up to Game 6, it will be hard to top but these two teams will try and close out a memorable World Series with another memorable game.

Rangers win Game Five and move one win away from a World Championship

The Texas Rangers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 4-2 on Monday night. The win put the Rangers up 3-2 in the series and they can wrap it up with a victory on Wednesday night in St. Louis. This has been a great World Series and feels like it will or should go seven games, we will see what happens on Wednesday. The pitching was good again and the difference in the game was clutch hitting by the Rangers and lack of by the Cardinals.
Chris Carpenter started for the Cardinals and pitched well. He was sailing along until he gave up a homerun to Adrian Beltre in the sixth inning. Carpenter pitched seven innings giving up two runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Octavio Dotel took the loss pitching 1/3 of an inning giving up one hit and two runs with a walk and a strikeout, Marc Rzepczynski pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and striking out one and Lance Lynn gave up a walk without recording an out. Jason Motte pitched 1/3 of an inning striking out the only batter he faced.

C.J. Wilson pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Rangers giving up four hits and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked five and struck out three. Scott Feldman pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Alexi Ogando pitched one inning giving up two hits and three walks with a strikeout and Darren Oliver recorded the win pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. Neftali Feliz picked up the save pitching an inning walking one and striking out two.

Yadier Molina was the hitting star for the Cardinals as he had three hits and an RBI. Rafael Furcal had a hit, Allen Craig had a walk and Albert Pujols was walked intentionally three times. Matt Holliday had a hit and two walks, Lance Berkman had two walks and David Freese had a hit. Skip Schumaker had a hit and an RBI and Nick Punto had a walk. The Cardinals were 1-12 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Carpenter made an error.

The Rangers offense was well balanced but Napoli delivered the big blow. Ian Kinsler had two walks, Elvis Andrus had a hit and Josh Hamilton had a hit and a walk. Michael Young had a hit, Adrian Beltre had a hit and an RBI and Nelson Cruz had a hit and a walk. David Murphy had two hits, Napoli had a hit and two RBI and Mitch Moreland had a hit and an RBI. Young and Napoli had doubles and Moreland and Beltre had a homerun. The Rangers were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base. Murphy and Wilson each made an error.

In the second inning the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead. Molina hit an RBI single and Schumaker hit a ground out scoring another run. The Rangers scored a run in the third inning on a solo homerun by Moreland to make it a 2-1 game. It would stay 2-1 until the sixth inning when Beltre got a hold of a hanging curveball from Carpenter and deposited it into the seats to tie the game at two. In the eighth Napoli hit a two run double to give Texas a 4-2 lead and that would be the final score.

The Rangers now lead the best of seven series three games to two. The Rangers after losing the first game at home have come back and won the last two. The teams will have a day off on Tuesday and then resume the series on Wednesday night. The Rangers can wrap up the series with a victory and if not there will be a Game Seven on Thursday night in St. Louis. This has been a terrific World Series and that continued in Game Five, it seems like there should be a game Seven in this series the way it is going. Pujols was intentionally walked three times in this game and I expect that to continue after his three homerun game the other night. If the Rangers do win the World Series it will be their first World Championship. Napoli became the second player to have four multi-RBI games in a World Series since 1960. He joins Mickey Mantle in that group. He is hitting 308 with two homeruns and nine RBI in the series. He is a leading candidate for MVP if the Rangers win the series. The other big story of the game was the lack of clutch hitting from St. Louis. You can also credit the Rangers pitching for that, but they were 1-12 with runners in scoring position. The team that has won Game Five in the World Series when tied at two games each has gone on and won the series 26 of the previous 39 times.

Derek Holland pitches the game of his life as the Rangers even the series at Two

The Texas Rangers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 4-0 on Sunday night. The Best of seven World Series is now tied at two games each and ensures at least a six game series. Derek Holland started for the Rangers and was outstanding, Edwin Jackson pitched a pretty good game for the Cardinals but was wild. The big hit in the game came off the bat of Mike Napoli. Albert Pujols after going 5-5 with three homeruns was hitless in this game.
Holland pitched 8 1/3 innings giving up two hits and no runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. Neftali Feliz pitched 2/3 of an inning, walking one and striking out one. Holland won the game, he pitched the best game of his life. Edwin Jackson pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Cardinals giving up three hits and three runs. He walked seven and struck out three. He took the loss in the game. Brandon Boggs pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and one run with three strikeouts. Jake Westbrook pitched one inning giving up one hit and he walked one.

Ian Kinsler pitched one hit and one walk, Elvis Andrus had two hits and Josh Hamilton had a hit and an RBI. Michael Young had a walk, Nelson Cruz had a hit and two walks and David Murphy had two walks. Napoli had a hit, three RBI and two walks. Hamilton and Andrus had a double. Napoli hit a homerun and the Rangers were 1-8 with runners in scoring position. The Rangers left eight men on base. Kinsler was caught stealing.

Lance Berkman had the only two hits of the game for the Cardinals. Rafael Furcal had a walk, Allen Craig had a walk and Nick Punto had a walk. Berkman had a double. The Cardinals were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base.

The Rangers got on the board first in the first inning with an RBI double from Hamilton. The Rangers had a 1-0 lead until the sixth inning when they scored three more to take a 4-0 lead. Napoli hit a three run homerun in the sixth and that would complete the scoring in the game as the Rangers won the game 4-0.

The World Series is now tied at two games each and there will be at least a sixth game. Game Five will be on Monday night in Texas with C.J. Wilson and Chris Carpenter starting the game. The story of this series so far has been the pitching. Game Three became an offensive game and Pujols was the story with the three homeruns but other then that game the pitching has been up to the task in the other three games. If Holland had completed the shutout he would have been only the third lefty to throw a two-hit shutout in World Series history. Warren Spahn and Whitey Ford are the only two that have done it. Ron Washington the Rangers manager said “We needed him to go out there and pitch well, and he did, and he showed the world what he’s capable of doing.” The Series will conclude in St. Louis on Wednesday in Game Six or Thursday in Game Seven if necessary. This World Series has been very entertaining and now it becomes a best of three.

Pujols three homers power the Cardinals to victory in Game Three

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers by the score of 16-7 on Saturday night in Game Three of the World Series. Albert Pujols took over the World Series as he hit three homeruns. He was hitless in the World Series coming into this game. He took a lot of criticism after not speaking to the media after Game Two. Pujols answered back the best way he could with his bat and now they won’t be criticizing him. Pujols tied four World Series records and broke one, simply amazing. The pitching which has been so good for both teams through the first two games was non existent in this game as the offenses exploded.
Matt Harrison started for the Rangers and took the loss. He pitched 3 2/3 innings giving up six hits and five runs with three of them being earned. He had one walk and three strikeouts. Scott Feldman pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and three runs with two walks, Alexi Ogando pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with three of them being earned, two walks and a strikeout and Mike Gonzalez pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up one hit and two runs with one walk. Mark Lowe pitched one inning giving up two hits and one run with a strikeout and Darren Oliver pitched one inning giving up one hit and one run with two strikeouts.

Kyle Lohse pitched three innings giving up five hits and three runs with two walks and three strikeouts. Fernando Salas pitched one inning giving up four hits and three runs, Lance Lynn got the win pitching 2 1/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with two walks and two strikeouts and Octavio Dotel pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up one hit and striking out one batter. Mitchell Boggs pitched one perfect inning with a strikeout.

Adrian Beltre led the Texas offense with four hits and an RBI. Ian Kinsler had a walk, Elvis Andrus had two hits and Josh Hamilton had a hit. Michael Young had two hits and two RBI, Nelson Cruz had a hit, two RBI and a walk and Mike Napoli had a hit and two RBI. David Murphy had a walk and Yorvit Torrealba had two hits and a walk. Young and Beltre each had a double and Young and Cruz each hit a homerun. The Rangers were 3-9 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Kinsler, Napoli and Andrus each made an error. Pujols was the star of the Cardinals offense and the game. Pujols had three homeruns, five hits and six RBI. Rafael Furcal had a hit, Allen Craig had a hit, RBI and a walk and Matt Holliday had a hit and a walk. Lance Berkman had two hits and a walk, David Freese had two hits, two RBI and a walk and Yadier Molina had two hits, four RBI and a walk. Ryan Theriot had a hit, RBI and a walk, Freese had a double and Molina had two doubles. Craig also had a homerun besides Pujols three. The Cardinals were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Jay was caught stealing and Holliday had an outfield assist.

The Cardinals scored one run in the first inning and it was a 1-0 game through three. In the fourth inning is when it started getting crazy the game. The Cardinals scored four runs, Freese hit an RBI double and Jay reached on a force attempt and an error with two runs scoring. Theriot hit an RBI single and it was 5-0 Cardinals. The Rangers came right back in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Young hit a solo homerun and Cruz hit a two run homerun to make it 5-3. In the fifth inning Freese grounded out to score a run and Molina had a two run double making it 8-3 Cardinals. In the bottom of the fifth Young hit an RBI double, Beltre hit an RBI single and Napoli hit a sacrifice fly making it 8-6. Pujols hit a three run homerun in the sixth and Molina hit a sacrifice fly to make it 12-6 Cardinals and the rout was on. Pujols hit a two run homerun in the seventh to make it 14-6. Napoli hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh making it a 14-7 game. In the eighth Molina hit an RBI double making it 15-7 and Pujols hit a solo homerun in the ninth to complete the scoring at 16-7.

The Cardinals have now taken a two games to one lead in the best of seven World Series. The Cardinals have also taken back home field advantage with the win. The next two games will also be in Texas on Sunday and Monday nights. The teams will have a travel day on Tuesday and resume the series on Wednesday and Thursday if necessary. I wouldn’t expect the Rangers to lose all three at home so this win by the Cardinals pretty much assured a return trip to St. Louis for Game Six. It was a history making night, the game was very long though and went very late so I am not sure how many people witnessed the history being made. It is amazing to me how baseball can be so different day to day and that is what makes it a special game. The first two games of this series were all pitching and this one was all hitting, will the series go back to the pitching being good or will the offense take over the rest of the series now. Pujols after the game had this to say”It is an honor to be in there, in the same category as those guys . But I just thank god that I was able to come out today and help our ball club to win and hopefully I can do that tomorrow again.” The Cardinals are now halfway home to their 11th World Series Championship in their history. This was the third highest scoring game in World Series history. Cruz hit his seventh postseason homerun in this game which is one short of the single season record held by Barry Bonds(2002) and Carlos Beltran(2004). He has 13 career postseason homeruns which are tied for 10th all-time. It will be interesting to see how Game Four is going to go on Sunday night, will Albert Pujols even have a chance to hit in that game or will the Rangers walk him?? Stay tuned to find out on Sunday night.

The Rangers turn the tables on the Cardinals and win Game Two by One Run

The Texas Rangers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 2-1 in Game Two of the World Series on Thursday night. Jaime Garcia and Colby Lewis started and they were both great. The Rangers bullpen was a little better though and that is what decided the game. Jason Motte has been so good for St. Louis but not in this game and he took the loss. The offense once again was not there for either of the teams. It is amazing how everyone thought it would be an offensive series and so far that hasn’t been the case at all.
Lewis pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Rangers. He gave up four hits and one run with two walks and four strikeouts. Alexi Ogando pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit, Mike Adams who got the win pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk but no runs and Neftali Feliz got the save pitching an inning and giving up a walk with two strikeouts.

Garcia pitched seven innings for the Cardinals. He gave up three hits and no runs with a walk and seven strikeouts. Fernando Salas struck out the one batter he faced, Marc Rzepczynski pitched 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout and Motte took the loss giving up two hits and two runs without recording an out. Arthur Rhodes got credit with a blown save, he pitched 1/3 of an inning getting an out and Lance Lynn retired both batters that he faced.

Ian Kinsler was the star of the offense for the Rangers. He had two hits and a walk. Elvis Andrus had a hit, Josh Hamilton had an RBI and Michael Young had a hit and an RBI. Adrian Beltre had a hit, the Rangers were 1-2 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Kinsler had a stolen base and he made an error.

Nick Punto was the only player on the Cardinals with a multi-hit game. Punto had two hits, Rafael Furcal had a hit and Lance Berkman had a hit. David Freese had a hit and Allen Craig had a hit and an RBI. Furcal had a double and the Cardinals were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base.

There was no scoring in the game until the seventh inning. The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single from Craig. In the ninth the Rangers scored two runs to take the lead. Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly and Young hit a sacrifice fly. Kinsler hit a bloop single and stole second just beating the throw to start the inning. Andrus singled and it was first and third no outs. Rhodes came on to replace Motte at that point which was a little peculiar considering Motte is the closer and has been so good in the postseason. The two sac flies followed and that was how the game would end after Feliz walked the leadoff hitter in the ninth and then got the next three batters out.

The World Series is tied at one game each with the series shifting to Texas now. The two teams will have an off day on Friday and then resume play on Saturday. The third game will be at 8:05PM Eastern time, 7:05 Central time. The win by the Rangers was the first win in the World Series by a team trailing in the ninth inning since Game Seven of the 2001 World Series by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Matt Harrison vs. Kyle Lohse will be the pitching matchup for Game Three. Young had this to say “For us to come back in the ninth there and win this ballgame, it’s huge for us. Going back home, we know what our ballpark’s like with 50,000 people, it goes crazy in the postseason. So we’re looking forward to being back there and I know we’re going to feed off of it.”

Moneyball

I went to see Moneyball finally tonight and I was very happy that I did do so.  It was pretty much what I thought but there was more inside the clubhouse stuff then I thought.  I would say you need to be a baseball fan and understand Moneyball and the whole concept to see it.  There were some woman in the audience and from what I could tell they don't know what was going on and didn't really care for the movie which makes sense.  I am a baseball enthusiast and nerd if you want to say that so I really enjoyed it as well as my brother who is the same.  I believe you need to be into baseball and understand it to get the movie and enjoy it. 

What is moneyball??  Moneyball is about the Oakland Athletics being a small market team and because they were losing players to bigger markets they came up with a sabermetric approach to baseball.  Moneyball has many different layers and can be very complicated.  The A's under Billy Beane and his top advisor Paul Depodesta came up with a statistical analysis approach to building their team and it worked. 

There are many teams now that have adopted that, the Boston Red Sox being the biggest example, the Toronto Blue Jays are another and to some extent I would say just about every team has some principles of it in their organization.  The Yankees even do some things in that model although they are still the Yankees and will spend money.  There are several teams including the Yankees who have sabermetric people on their stuff. 

Brad Pitt as the lead actor, he was Billy Beane did a great job but I think Jonah Hill was even better playing the part of Paul Depodesta who was Beanes sidekick and now is a member of the Mets front office.  I think the movie was pretty accurate, there are always some things you can say because it is a movie.  I didn't notice any fatal flaws though, I think Pitt accurately portrayed Beane and Depodesta was accurately portrayed as well.  They got the 20 game winning streak right from the Athletics 2002 season.  I think certain players were portrayed well, overall it was a very good move.  I would recommend this movie to any baseball fan and especially the hardcore fans such as myself. 

Batting Cages

There is some downtime right now as the World Series doesn't start until Wednesday.  I can talk about the Jets and Giants sure, but I will start getting into that more after the World Series ends.  I am a baseball fan big time and also mostly a baseball blogger/journalist so I have to keep my focus on that until sadly the season ends in about a week or so. 

There will be the winter coming and for those who are baseball coaches or players, why not take a look at the link below for your batting cage needs.  Of course you also may just love baseball and be interested in it for that reason.  Jug sports does a great job and you should look into it.  I wouldn't recommend anything that I don't think is a good product myself.  I hope everyone has a great winter and comes back strong and ready to go in the spring for another great baseball season in 2012.  Enjoy the World Series everyone and remember to visit the link and Jugsports for your batting cage needs, thank  you for the time. 
http://jugssports.com/batting-cages/

Jon Lester speaks out about the Red Sox collapse and locker room

Here is a link to a story in Boston.com from today.  Peter Abraham who is an old friend, he used to be the beat reporter for the Yankees and the Journal News.  He also had a famous blog, Lohud Yankees that a lot have tried to copy off of or at least get inspiration from. I am included in that list and now he does a great job with boston.com and the Red Sox.  It is amazing how the mighty have fallen quickly.  I wouldn't count them out just yet but they sure are going through a lot with their manager and general manager gone and the criticism the players are getting.  Lester comes out and defends what was going on in the locker room but also admitted it, I wonder how this is all going to play out with the fans.  It will be an interesting winter up in Boston, that is for sure. 
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/10/more_from_jon_l.html

Texas wins their second straight American League Championship with a blowout victory over Detroit

The Texas Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 15-5 on Saturday night. The win gave Texas it’s second straight American League Championship and sent them to the World Series. Texas will now await the winner of the National League Championship Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. The National League will have the home field advantage. The Texas offense erupted in the third inning for nine runs and they never looked back in this game. Nelson Cruz set the record for most homeruns in any single season series in postseason history. Cruz hit six homeruns during the series to eclipse the record of five.
Derek Holland started the game for Texas and he pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and four runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Scott Feldman retired the only batter that he faced, Alexi Ogando got the win pitching two innings giving up one hit and striking out three and Mike Adams pitched an inning giving up two hits and one run. Neftali Feliz pitched a perfect inning to close out the game. Max Scherzer started for Detroit and pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up five hits and six runs, he walked four and struck out one. Scherzer took the loss, Max Schlereth didn’t record an out and gave up a hit and a run, Rick Porcello pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a walk and Ryan Perry pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up two hits and one run. Brad Penny pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and five runs. Penny walked two and struck out one and Al Alburquerque pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and two strikeouts.

Ian Kinsler had two hits and three RBI with a walk for Texas, Elvis Andrus had two hits and a walk and Josh Hamilton had a hit, RBI and a walk. Michael Young had three hits and five RBI, Adrian Beltre had two hits and an RBI and Mike Napoli had a hit and a walk. Cruz had two hits and two RBI with a walk, David Murphy had two hits, two RBI and three walks and Craig Gentry had two hits and an RBI. Cruz, Young and Beltre each had a double. Young and Cruz each had a homerun and Cruz set the new postseason record with his six homeruns during the series. Texas was 8-18 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Andrus and Murphy each had a stolen base and Andrus was also caught stealing.

Detroit saw their big hitters come up big but it wasn’t enough on this night. Austin Jackson had two hits and two RBI, Miguel Cabrera had two hits and two RBI and Victor Martinez had three hits. Jhonny Peralta had a hit and an RBI, Brandon Inge and Ramon Santiago each had a hit. Cabrera hit two homeruns and Peralta and Jackson each had a homerun. The Tigers were 1-1 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Delmon Young and Ryan Raburn each committed an error in the game.

In the first inning Cabrera hit a solo homerun to put the Tigers in front 1-0. In the second Peralta hit a solo homerun to make it 2-0 Tigers. The Rangers struck for nine runs in the third inning to take a 9-2 lead and they would not look back in this game. Young hit a two run double, Beltre hit an RBI single and Murphy hit a two run single. Kinsler hit a two run single and Young hit a two run double. Young had four RBI in the inning. In the fifth Jackson hit a two run homerun to make it a 9-4 game in favor of the Rangers. Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10-4. In the sixth Gentry hit an RBI single and Kinsler hit an RBI single to make it a 12-4 game. In the seventh Young hit a solo homerun and Cruz hit a two run homerun to make it 15-4. In the eighth Cabrera hit a solo homerun to make it 15-5 and complete the scoring for the game.

The Rangers won the American League Pennant for the second consecutive season. They won the series in six games just like they did last year over the Yankees. The Rangers will now await the winner of the NLCS, the Cardinals and Brewers will play Game Six on Sunday night. The World Series will begin in the home of the National League Champion, the National League has home field advantage for the World Series. Cruz besides hitting his six homeruns became the first player to drive in 13 runs in a single postseason series. The Rangers became the first AL team to repeat winning the pennant since the Yankees did it in 1998-2001. The last non Yankee team to do it was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992-93. Ron Washington the manager said “It was very tough, but when you have a group of guys that’s committed to each other and committed to a purpose, usually good things happen. I have to give a lot of credit to our pitching staff. You have to give a lot of credit to the guys that showed up every day. I have to give a lot of credit to the organization for getting us pieces when we need it and jus trusting us with all that talent that they gave to us. More then anything else, the players deserve a heck of a lot of credit because it took a lot behind the scenes to get to this point. And more than anything else, we defended our American League Championship.” The World Series will begin on Wednesday and the middle three games of the series will be in Arlington on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Rangers are the second team in postseason history two win a best of seven playoff series without a win from their starters. The 1997 Indians also won the ALCS without a win from their starters.

Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson headline group of major leaugers headed to China

Here is a link from the Daily News and blogging bombers on a November exhibition series in China.  Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano are headlining the group of major leaguers taking part in this tournament against Chinese Taipai.  Miguel Cabrera will also take part if he is up to it after his postseason is over, he will decide once his season is over. 
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/yankees/2011/10/cano-granderson-headed-to-taiwan?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fblogs%2Fyankees+%28Blogs%2FBlogging+the+Bombers%29

St. Louis takes Game Five and is one win away from the World Series

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers by the score of 7-1 on Friday night. The win put the Cardinals one win away from the World Series as the best of seven series shifts back to Milwaukee for Game Six and then Seven if necessary. The Cardinals will have a chance to close out the series on Sunday afternoon or Sunday night depending on what happens with the ALCS on Saturday. Jaime Garcia started for the Cardinals and once again their starter didn’t last more then five innings but the Cardinals bullpen was outstanding again. Zach Greinke started for the Brewers and wasn’t great but he also wasn’t helped by his defense.
Garcia for the Cardinals started and pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and one run. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five. Octavio Dotel got the win pitching 1 1/3 perfect innings with two strikeouts, three other relievers pitched three innings giving up two hits, no runs with a walk and a strikeout. Greinke for the Brewers pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up seven hits and five runs but only two of them were earned. He walked two guys and didn’t strike out a batter. Marco Estrada pitched one inning and gave up one hit and two runs with two walks and a strikeout. He put the game pretty much out of reach as it went from 5-1 to 7-1 for the Brewers in the ninth inning.

The Cardinals offense was pretty much Yadier Molina and Matt Holliday. They each had three hits, Holliday had two RBI and Molina had one. Rafael Furcal had a hit, Albert Pujols had a hit, RBI and a walk and Lance Berkman had a hit and a walk. David Freese had a hit and a walk, Garcia had an RBI and Nick Punto drew a walk. Molina, Furcal and Holliday each had a double. The Cardinals were 4-15 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Berkman had a stolen base and Garcia picked off a runner.

Corey Hart led the Brewers offense with three hits and an RBI. Jerry Hairston had a hit and a walk, Ryan Braun had a hit and Carlos Gomez had a hit. Jonathan Lucroy had two hits and Greinke had a hit. Braun had a double and the Brewers were 1-8 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Gomez was caught stealing in the game. The Brewers defense really cost them in this game and Hairston, Weeks, Betancourt and Estrada all had an error.

In the second inning the Cardinals got the scoring started. Molina had an RBI double and Garcia reached on a fielding error by Hairston and two runs scored to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. In the fourth Garcia grounded out and a run scored making it 4-0. The Brewers scored their only run in the fifth on a Hart RBI single. In the sixth Pujols hit an RBI single making it 5-1 Cardinals. In the eighth Holliday hit a two run double to make it 7-1 and complete the scoring in the game.

The Cardinals now have a three games to two lead in the best of seven series. The series shifts back to Milwaukee where the Brewers had the best home record. The Cardinals though were the team that beat them the most in Milwaukee this year. It isn’t impossible but it won’t be easy for the Brewers to win both games to advance to the World Series. The Game Six pitching matchup is Edwin Jackson of the Cardinals against Sean Marcum. If the game does go to a game seven the Cardinals will have their ace Chris Carpenter on the mound. The Brewers won 57 games at home during the regular season and have won four more games in the postseason. They have won one elimination game already which was a Game Five in the NLDS against the Diamondbacks. The Brewers besides their four errors also had two non catches that could have been that cost them.

The Cardinals just keep finding ways to win games in this most improbably run. The Cardinals lost their best starting pitcher in the beginning of the season and were as much as 10 ½ games out in September but caught the Atlanta Braves and won the wild card. The Cardinals also have been getting through this series without a starter going past the fifth inning and their bullpen being great. If you were to say that a starter wouldn’t make it past the fifth you would say the Cardinals would be in big trouble or already have lost the series but that isn’t the case with this team. The Cardinals have won a game on get away day for the 16th straight time and are 29-13 since late August. Teams that have taken a 3-2 lead on the road for the last two games of a best of seven series have won the series 26 out of 43 times in major league history. In the NLCS it is seven out of ten times. The Cardinals haven’t made it easy but they are one win away from another World Series appearance.