Baseball Update

Today the Yankees lost to the Orioles again, this time 6-3. Mo Rivera, for the second time in this series, could not hold his own against the O's who have been hot since the break. The Yanks are now tied for the wild card lead in the American League. With the pitching the way it's been, things don't look bright for New York. Today, Phil Hughes only went five innings and gave up two earned runs although all three were scored when he was in the game. Shelly Duncan hit a three run home run in the ninth inning to put the Yankees back in the game but Mo blew it in the tenth after a Miguel Tejada doubled and Aubrey Huff hit another home run. New York will have to man up against teams like the O's because they have a tough stretch coming up against the Tigers and Angels. This is not going to be easy.

The Mariners also lost tonight, this time to the Twins. The final was 6-1 in Seattle. Jarrod Washburn couldn't have been better, going seven innings and giving up one earned run, although two were scored while he was in. The Mariners bullpen blew it, giving up four runs in the final two innings. Hey, this bullpen has been excellent all season long, give them a brake. However, this offense hasn't been excellent but I think it will be good enough to win the wild card. Guys like Ichiro and Jose Guillen have been carrying this team all season long and they need to step it up now. The pitching has been better, as this is the time of year that Jeff Weaver usually heats it up so lets expect it. Also, the King hasn't had a bad year. He has an ERA under four and eight wins. He doesn't have more simply because of the injury earlier this season. If Seattle can stay consistent and keep it going, I think they will win the wild card.

Meanwhile, in the National League, the Diamondbacks have been doing excellent as they are currently on top in the National League West. Tonight, they beat the Marlins and remain in first. Who ever thought that Arizona would do this. The big story on this club so far has been Justin Upton, the number one draft pick in 2005. The guy has really been getting on base and has an OBP of .319 and a slugging percentage of .535. They have won four out of their last six games, folks and that has put them on top for a while. They have been great since the break and are 20-10. Their biggest streak came in July when they won eight straight games. This has clearly been the feel good/comeback story of the year wrapped in one. Keep it going D-Backs.

Here are your updated standings from the A.L. Wild Card:
Mariners and Yankees tied in first place. Yanks: 67-53 M's: 66-52
Indians and Tigers in second with a record of 66-54. Both are one game out.
Toronto is in fourth place with a record of 61-58. They are 5.5 games back.

Have a good one and keep rooting for your team!

NFL QB Controversies

There are many quarterback jobs that are currently being competed for. The most interesting one that comes to mind is in Oakland where the number one pick for the Raiders, JaMarcus Russel, could possibly not even see a down of football in his rookie season. Oakland signed Dante Culpepper, a move that was probably for the best. Of course they pick the year that Randy Moss leaves the team to sign Culpepper but it's good enough for now as he creates a lot of possibilities for this Raiders offense even though their offensive line is horrendous. I can't see any QB having much success on a team with a line like the Raiders. But we'll have to see how this battle goes as right now it is between Andrew Walter, Josh McCown, and Culpepper. McCown has not been a consistent player throughout the course of his career as he did get some starting time in Arizona in the earlier part of his career. I do actually see him playing a factor in this battle. Russel, however, still hasn't even signed with Oakland yet which has led many to beleive he won't see any action at all in his rookie season. I was actually listening the MVN Radio's the Blitz the other day and both of the hosts said that they didn't even think Russel should play at all this season. I would like to see him in there, cosidering he is the future for the Raiders. But if they have a guy like Culpepper who is already proven, maybe it would be safer to go with the veteran. However, Lane Kiffin has recently been hospitalized so everything will be held back as a result of that.

In Cleveland there is another sticky situation with three men vieing for the starting QB job. Brady Quinn recently signed a deal with the Browns so he is on the practice field although he did miss quite a bit of time while holding out. We've been hearing that Derek Anderson has looked the best so far in camp. Anderson is completly unproven and its almost like we see this every year. We always hear about the guy who has absolutely no experiance doing the best in camp. It makes no sense and this is why the preseason in football is a complete crap shoot. It's almost completely pointless because fans get bad impressions like Derek Anderson will be the starting QB for their team. Hah. What joke. Anyway, Charlie Frye is the other guy competing in Cleveland, probably the favorite at this point in camp because he has experiance and alot of people say that he can lead this team places in the future if he gets the chance. Well the question to Browns fans everywhere is should we keep giving this guy a chance or should we bring in the future now? Hmm. Tough one isn't it? I know these questions aren't easy ones to answer but hey, the Browns fans have done a great job in building confidence throughout the offseason and in the draft. They should have no problem deciding. After all, should'nt the fans start filling in for Romeo Crennel? Wouldn't be a bad idea. I see Frye winning this job in the end but I would rather see Brady Quinn in there. I figure that in the end Quinn and Frye will end up having the same amount of talent.

Another job that is up for grabs is in Tampa where Jeff Garcia and Chris Simms are competing. Garcia showed his talent from his days in he San Francisco last year when he led the Eagles to the playoffs and even got them one win in the playoffs. My co-host on Fourth and Inches, Jimmy DiFalco says that Garcia only performs well when he's on teams that have alot of talent. I would agree with him on that. However, I do think that Garcia will win this job and do solid for the first couple of weeks. Simms did have a spleenanectomy last season and thats not easy to recover from. It's still tough to tell if he will be back to full health and even be able to play at full stregth as he did a couple of years ago. Garcia is in an offense that really expresses alot of similar qualities as the Eagles offense. I don't think Brian Westbrook is that much better then Cadillac Williams. The only determining factor there would be experiance. I look for Garcia to play for the first couple of weeks.