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.

Burning Questions: Redskins

The Washington Redskins have been going nowhere fast under the coaching of Joe Gibbs. Last year, they pummeled to a 5-11 season. So what are the main concerns for the Skins heading into the 2007 season? Here they are.

1. Can Jason Campbell take over this team at the quarterback position? Well Campbell did look great in the last game of the season against the Giants as he almost led his team to a win at home. That being said, he still is very young and I'm not so sure this will be his big year to shine in the NFL. I see it being more of a work in progress where he'll lose the job somewhere around week 10 or 11 and then comeback late in the year. He does have a lot of weapons to use on offense but those weapons have not really performed to the best of their ability in the last couple of years.
2. Will Clinton Portis show how talented he really is? Portis was injured for most of last year. If he can stay healthy, which I think he can because there are so many offensive weapons on the Skins, then Washington will have a better year. Ladell Betts is being rumored to share carries with Portis in camp. I personally think this should go exactly like a Tiki Barber type situation like the Giants had last year. Let Portis be the premiere back until he flusters, and have Betts be your go to guy on third and short.
3. Will Santana Moss have comeback season? I've always admired Moss, and it was sad to see him fall as the premiere wideout in Washington last year. Hopefully with Clinton Portis at the runningback position who the other team can always cover on a play action, Moss will flourish in 2007.

Burning Questions: Eagles with Video from Youtube

The Philadelphia Eagles had a solid year in 2006, one that they were not expected to have when Donovan McNabb was injured midway through the season. Jeff Garcia took over this team and led them to the playoffs. Here are three burning questions for the Eagles.

1. Can Donovan McNabb remain healthy for the entire season and perform? Well, I believe he can but he will need the other parts and positions of this team to work around him properly. Pluse, he has some very young, talent filled wide receivers like Reggie Brown and Hank Baskett that he can throw the ball to. Plus, he has Brian Westbrook one of the big underrated backs of last year.
2. Will Brian Westbrook repeat his performance from last year? I believe won't do as good as last year because if McNabb stays healthy, there will be alot more passing in this offense in Philadelphia. This has always been the case except for last year because McNabb got injured and Westbrook basically became the star of this offense. If McNabb goes down with another injury, well that just depends on the type of injury and when it happens. Based on that happening, yes he can repeat from last year. If McNabb doesn't get injured, he may not even break 1000 yards as last year was his first season doing that.
3. What is keeping this team from being a Super Bowl pick? It's a question that really surrounded this team before 2004 because every year they looked like a Super Bowl team and they would make the playoffs and yadda yadda but they would always lose to teams that no one would expect them to lose to in the playoffs. Basically they were chokers. This year, however, there are some things that are keeping them from being Super Bowl team. The main thing is that there isn't a great deal of talent at the wide receiver position. Reggie Brown and Hank Baskett are young and learning but by no means do they make this group talented. The other spot is the defense. It's an old defense that needs some youth to get it going like it did in the Super Bowl year of 2004 and before that.

Now, enjoy this video of an Eagle fan acting out a skit all by himself that includes a Cowboys fan and an Eagle fighting.

Michael Vick Indicted

Well, we all saw this coming. Michael Vick has been indicted for an instance that took place sometime in the past year that had to do with dog fighting. Now, this indictment doesn't really mean alot at this point. After listening to ESPN legal analyst Roger Kossack today on Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN radio, basically, a grand jury could indite a ham sandwich and it wouldn't mean anything.

All this means to me is that the charges are out there. He has been charged with dog fighting, a federal crime in the United States. I have a dog and just the thought of my dog in a dog fight is a terrible thing. And you don't want to know what happens to the dog if they lose the fight. They are killed.

That's right. It's amazing that anyone would even think of doing that. And he says that he was just apart of it and that these people were on his property doing it and he didn't know. That's a bunch of BS in my mind because you should have control of your property and what is going on on your property. He knew it was going on and it's just amazing that he didn't do anything to stop it even if he wasn't there. I think he did this anyway, I don't think that he wasn't there. I think he was there and that he did do it. There's no question in my mind.

Now, the big question here is should Vick be suspended from the NFL. I think he should but Mike and Mike made the argument against him being suspended because as mentioned, nothing is proved by an indictment. He has not been convicted, so there is no reason to suspend him. I think that if any NFL player gets involved with the law in a bad way such as Vick, then there should be some sort of punishment no matter what. You got yourself involved with the law, you did something that led people to punish you, you should be punished by the league no doubt.

As you will hear in this video, ESPN's Kelly Naqi explains what Vick has been described as in relation to the dog fighting. She also says that if this case gets to trial in Richmond, VA, it will be sometime during the NFL season because the court house in Richmond is known as the Rocket Docket and gets through trials rather quickly.



This could also be a big problem for the Atlanta Falcons because now they are definitely going to receive alot of bad publicity because of this. As with the Don Imus situation, there could be alot of advertisers for the Falcons that back out of their deals with Atlanta and ultimately, the franchise could enter a dark age because of this. Of course pending any outcomes with Vick.

The Falcons could also lose Vick as their starting quarterback. Then where do they go in terms of a starting QB? Joey Harrington is on the roster right now as the number one backup. Will he be the starter if Vick has to go to trial? All remains to be seen at this point.