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Angels
Mike Scioscia made even Girardi look good.............but Bobby Abreu
and the Angels could smile afterwards
Photo by Harry How- Getty Images
Photo
by Jacob de Golish - Getty Images |
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The Angels won despite themselves and
their over-managing
manager, Mike Scioscia. Taking out John
Lackey in the 7th was one of the most dreadful moves I have
ever
seen in ANY baseball game, never mind a playoff game.
And, although they wound up winning anyway,
largely due to some very questionable Yankee relief pitching, the
bitter taste
in my mouth for over-managing in general and for Mike Scioscia in
particular
remained.
The Angels may have taken this series
back to New York
but they will
never win it. They don’t deserve to win
it with a manager as arbitrary as theirs is. The
only way they can win it is if Joe Girardi, who
has done some
serious over-managing of his own in this series, loses it for the Yanks.
I have to admit that, prior to last
night, Girardi’s moves
have amused rather than upset me. As a
serious Mets fan (whatever that is) and avowed Yankee-hater, I’d say,
“go
ahead, Joe, put in Joba, ha-ha.” But, as
I now am actually rooting hard for a Yanks-Phillies World Series, if
only to
see those pinstriped posers get their heads handed to them, these
imprints the
managers of both teams are leaving on the games is beginning to get me
down. It’s not as if they couldn’t
affect the result.
I can see it now in my mind’s eye, the
Yankees clinging to a
one run lead, Pettitte cruising in the 6th or 7th,
when
oops, he’s thrown 100 pitches, time to bring in Joba, or let’s bring in
Hughes
or Aceves or whatever mediocre relief guy comes to his mind, if mind is
the
best word for it. Next thing you know,
it’s not “Yankees win, thuhhhh Yankees WIN.” Instead,
it’s “Angels win.” I
refer, of course, to Jon Sterling’s call.
Did Baba Booey really pinch-run for
Arod? See….point made.
The only thing I can think of is that he
didn’t want to see Arod get hurt running the bases.
And I don’t think you can manage against the
possibility of injury, not in baseball anyway, not unless you think the
man
doesn’t know how to slide. (A lot of
ball players have hurt themselves sliding but I don’t think Arod has
been one
of them).
So, anyway, it’ll be Pettitte versus
Saunders on Saturday,
and God forbid, the Angels could very well win that one too. Joe Saunders is a really good pitcher. Then it’ll be Sabathia in a Game 7 and, who
knows, if there is a rainout on Saturday, if Game 6 is played on
Sunday, then
CC will have to go Monday, and not even the big guy can go on just two
days
rest for the start of the World Series on Wednesday.
Not that I’m worried about the Yankees
but I had been keenly
anticipating a Lee vs Sabathia opener in the World Series.
If they have to start with Burnett, it just
won’t be the same.
Okay, enough about baseball, except
for the umpiring, that
is. I’ll just say this, “If an umpire is
caught red-handed both not looking at the play and not asking for help,
then
that umpire should be removed from the umpiring ranks.”
It’s just too arrogant for me. And
the umpiring in MLB this entire year has
been lousy. It’s almost as if they’re
begging for instant replay. (As instant
replay adds significantly to the length of games, allowing that much
more time
for commercial interruptions in highly-rated affairs, this last musing
is not
entirely out of line).
Okay, on to the Week 7 NFL matchups. Last week, I went 10-4 against the spread,
not too shabby, after my first two weeks of going 6-8.
(I only started making picks in Week 5). The ridiculous Eagles loss to the usually
horrible Raiders ruined my four best bets and, once again, I lost my
$10. This isn’t a game for the faint of
heart, or
um, wallet.
Without further ado (and there has
been considerable ado
thus far, I know), here’s my prognostications (no, that’s not a nasal
condition) for Week 7:
|
Favorite
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Underdog
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Spread
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4 Best
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My Pick
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Reason
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GIANTS
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Cards
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7
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*
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Cards
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Cards could very well win
outright
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Jets
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RAIDERS
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6
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Raiders
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Unpredictable things happen on
West Coast
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SnDiego
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KC
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4 ½
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*
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SnDiego
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SD coming off tough loss to
Broncos
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Ind
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STL
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13
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Ind
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Colts are not Jaguars and coming
off bye too
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CIN
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Chi
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1 ½
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*
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Chi
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Bengals lost best defensive end
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GrnBay
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CLE
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7
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GrnBay
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Home field not so hot for Browns
and Mangini
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PIT
|
Min
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4
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PIT
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Polamalu’s back in time for Favre
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NE
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TB
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14 ½
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NE
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London game and who cares?
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HOU
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SanFran
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3
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SanFran
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49ers off bye week and bad loss
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CAR
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Buf
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7
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*
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CAR
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Bills can’t get wagons across Mason-Dixon line
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NwOrlns
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MIA
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6 ½
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NwOrlns
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What? I should take Miami?
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DAL
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Atl
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4
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Atl
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Boyz just haven’t shown enough
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Phi
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WAS
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7
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Phi
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Campbell, Skins just pathetic
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The G-Men will be lucky to escape with
a win after
demonstrating how bad their pass defense really is.
Yeah, they’ll rush the passer this time (what
a concept, too bad Sheridan
didn’t think of it sooner). Geez,
where’s Steve Spagnuolo ?
The Chargers looked good against a
really tough Broncos
defense. I can’t imagine how they would
lose to the Chiefs, not even in Kansas City, not even with Norv
Turner, not even if he never
plays LaDainian. Look for Rivers to
Gates quite often.
The Bengals looked flat against Houston last
week. You’d look flat too if you lost your
meanest
guy in a fight and that’s what happened to the Bengals early on. The Bears faced Atlanta last week and lost. Cinci should be easy by comparison.
The Bills are a mess and even Delhomme
will look better than
did Sanchez. Home cookin’ won’t hurt the
running game.
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