Note: Posted Sunday evening prior to some sporting events, including late football and baseball, as I gear up for the debate.
NFL/Jets Quiz: Name the six Jets to throw for 10,000 yards in their N.Y. career. Answer below.
MLB Playoffs
Giants-Cubs
In their hopefully historic quest, for Cubs fans, Chicago took Game One of the best of five division series, 1-0, Friday, behind Jon Lester’s 8 scoreless and Aroldis Chapman’s save, with Javier Baez taking Giants starter Johnny Cueto deep in the bottom of the eighth for the lone run; Cueto going 8 and striking out 10 while walking none. [Lester didn’t walk anyone either.]
The Cubs then won Game Two on Saturday, 5-2. In this one, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks was knocked out in the fourth on a line drive off the bat of Angel Pagan, leaving with Chicago ahead 3-2 after Hendricks had singled in two.
But Hendricks was replaced by Travis Wood, and all Wood did was hit a home run in the bottom of the fourth (he has nine regular-season homers) as the Cubbies bullpen did the rest, with Chapman finishing off the Giants in the ninth again.
So back to San Francisco, where Madison Bumgarner will attempt to keep the season going for the Giants. The Giants have won nine straight elimination games dating to 2012. Is the ‘even year’ magic over?
Dodgers-Nationals
In Game One Friday, the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw went just 5 innings, allowing three earned, but it was enough for the win as L.A. beat the Nats in Washington, 4-3, Max Scherzer absorbing the loss.
Kershaw’s postseason record is just 3-6, 4.65 ERA. [Scherzer is 4-4, 3.93.]
Game Two was rained out Saturday, forcing the teams to play Sunday, and then travel to Los Angeles for Monday’s contest, far from ideal.
So Sunday, the Nats evened the series at 1-1 with a 5-2 win, the key blow being a three-run homer off the bat of catcher Jose Lobaton, who has replaced the injured Wilson Ramos.
The Dodgers were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, 0-for-5 with the bases loaded.
As I post, both teams are flying back to the west coast for a Monday afternoon contest…kind of brutal.
Red Sox-Indians
Talk about a bummer for Red Sox fans, they lost the first two in Cleveland, 5-4 and 6-0. In the first one, 22-game winner Rick Porcello came up small for Boston, yielding five earned in 4 1/3 (his postseason mark now 0-3, 5.66), while Corey Kluber of the Indians threw seven shutout innings in the second game over the Red Sox and David Price, Price continuing his string of postseason disasters in give up five runs in 3 1/3. He is now 2-8, 5.54 in his career when it matters most. Ughh.
Game Three at Fenway was rained out today and will be played tomorrow evening.
Blue Jays-Rangers
It also sucks being a Rangers fan and seeing your boys lose the first two of this series at home, 10-1 and 5-3, with Texas ace Cole Hamels getting hit hard in the opener (3 1/3, six earned), while in the second game, the Rangers were a godawful 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position, having 13 hits, with the Blue Jays producing four home runs out of their just six hits!
Game Three is being played as I post.
–Finally, I just have to go back to Wednesday night, after I posted my last chat, and the Mets-Giants wild card contest at Citi Field. Noah Syndergaard was spectacular, fanning 10 in seven scoreless for the Metropolitans, but Madison Bumgarner was better as the Giants prevailed 3-0 on a ninth-inning, three-run homer by Conor “Freakin’” Gillaspie, who no one outside the Bay Area had ever heard of.
The loser was closer Jeurys Familia, who once again came up small in the postseason, though to be fair last year, he had help in the field in blowing three saves in the World Series.
This time, Familia, who had yielded just one home run in 77 2/3 in the regular season, gives up the bomb.
As for Bumgarner, his legend grew further. In 97 1/3 career postseason innings, he has a 1.94 ERA. His shutout Wednesday was his third in the playoffs. He ran his postseason consecutive scoreless inning streak to 23 innings. In his past 53 playoff innings on the road, he’s allowed three earned runs, 0.50 ERA, and in his past nine postseason games, covering 68 2/3, he’s allowed six earned runs…good for a 0.79 ERA.
So Bumgarner is right there with Koufax, Gibson, Curt Schilling, and Mariano as the best playoff pitchers of all time.
Meanwhile, it will be an interesting offseason for the Mets. First and foremost, they have to retain Yoenis Cespedes, who has an opt-out clause that he will no doubt exercise to pursue free agency, though most people keep saying he likes it in New York and will end up staying.
But the Daily News reported Cespedes said goodbye to some in the organization, even as he was telling others he will definitely be back.
Cespedes, if he stayed, would be paid $48 million over the next two years (or the Mets could extend this, which they would need to do).
Mets fans also can’t help but look forward already to spring training because we’re anxious to see which of the injured pitchers – Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler – are going to be up to the task. It’s also assumed 43-year-old Bartolo Colon will be re-signed.
CFB Review
Among the Top Ten….
No. 1 Alabama (6-0) handled 16 Arkansas (4-2) in Fayetteville, 49-30, despite 400 yards and three touchdowns through the air by the Razorbacks’ Austin Allen. For ‘Bama and Nick Saban, it’s now 18 straight wins
2 Ohio State (5-0) got tested by Indiana (3-2) 38-17 in Columbus, quarterback J.T. Barrett rushing for 137 yards.
Friday, 3 Clemson (6-0) blasted Boston College (3-3) 56-10 up in Beantown, with Tigers QB Deshaun Watson throwing for 266 yards and four touchdowns.
4 Michigan (5-0) traveled to Piscataway, N.J., to face Rutgers (2-4) and for the Scarlet Knights, it was not only their worst defeat since 1888 (82-0 to Princeton), it was historic on a number of levels, Rutgers going down 78-0! This after a 58-0 loss the preceding weekend to Ohio State.
Rutgers had two first downs for the game, not getting their first until nine minutes were left in the fourth quarter, as they were 0 for 17 on third down. They were outgained 600-39! The Rutgers’ QBs were a combined 2 for 18 for 5 yards, which means the last two weeks, including the OSU game, the quarterbacks are a combined 5 for 34 passing!
[Rutgers’ punter Michael Cintron had 603 yards on 16 kicks.]
Moving along…quickly…to get out of the stench….
5 Washington (6-0) traveled to Eugene to face Oregon and the Huskies rolled, 70-21, Oregon losing its fourth straight for the first time since 2006 to fall to 2-4. Huskies QB Jake Browning was 22 of 28 through the air for 304 yards and six touchdowns, while rushing for another two.
[I keep forgetting former Boise State coach, Chris Petersen, is at the helm now for Washington. From 2006-13 at Boise, Petersen was 92-12 with four final season AP Top Tens. With the Huskies he started out 8-6 and 7-6, prior to his national championship contending season this year.]
But the big shocker on the week was No. 6 Houston (5-1) getting upset by Navy (4-1) in Annapolis, 46-40, as Cougars quarterback Greg Ward Jr., while passing for 359 yards and three touchdowns, picking up 94 more yards on the ground, also threw two interceptions and had a fumble. So much for the Cougars’ bid for a national title.
It was Navy’s first win against a top ten opponent since 1984.
No. 8 Texas A&M held off 9 Tennessee in College Station, 45-38 in double overtime; Tennessee once again forced to come back, this time from a 21-7 first quarter deficit. But unlike its other five games, the Vols were unable to prevail in the end, Tennessee dropping to 5-1, A&M now 6-0. The Vols had almost 700 yards of offense (684) but turned the ball over seven times.
In another crushing defeat for 10 Miami (4-1) against rival 23 Florida State (4-2), the Hurricanes lost 20-19, giving up a 13-3 lead at the half, as FSU quarterback Deondre Francois led the comeback.
Miami, though, scored a late touchdown, only to see the extra-point attempt from Summit, N.J.’s Michael Badgley get blocked, after Badgley had converted 72 straight, plus boot a 51-yard field goal in the first half that would have easily been good from 65. Just sucks. The seventh straight loss for Miami in the series.
For the Seminoles, Dalvin Cook had 150 yards rushing and a 59-yard TD reception. He’s going to a big star at the next level.
20 Oklahoma (3-2) beat Texas (2-3) 45-40 in the Red River showdown, the Sooners’ two losses having been to Houston and Ohio State. OU quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for 390 yards and 3 touchdowns, with receiver Dale Westbrook catching all three scoring strikes…10 receptions overall for 232 yards. And Sooner running back Samaje Perine rushed for 214 yards and two TDs.
Longhorns coach Charlie Strong is under ungodly pressure. His first two seasons at the helm he was 6-7 and 5-7 and the fan base was essentially ready to run him out of town after the first year. This guy is going through hell, not that he doesn’t deserve it.
No. 17 North Carolina (4-2) suffered a crushing loss in the rain down in Chapel Hill, 34-3 to 25 Virginia Tech (4-1). For the Tar Heels, quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who had thrown for 400 yards three straight games, was just 13 of 33 for 58! yards and two interceptions. Receiver Ryan Switzer, he of the 30 catches in the prior two games, had two for 2 yards. Carolina had four turnovers and just 131 total yards.
North Carolina State (4-1), playing in the same rain from Hurricane Matthew over in Raleigh, dropped Notre Dame to 2-4 in the muck, 10-3, as the teams combined to turn it over five times (there were 10 fumbles, four lost, plus an INT), and it seemed like there were countless block kicks. N.D. had only 113 yards of total offense in the atrocious conditions.
So will Brian Kelly survive as head coach of the Irish? B.C. alum, Steve D., told me yesterday he thinks it’s a lock Kelly ends up in Chestnut Hill.
Duke (3-3) beat Army (3-2) 13-6, also in the rains of Matthew.
Pitt (4-2) edged Georgia Tech (3-3) 37-34.
Maryland (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season to Penn State (4-2), 38-14, in Happy Valley.
BYU (3-3) handed Michigan State (2-3) its third loss in a row, the first such losing streak for them since 2009, 31-14 in East Lansing. The Spartans simply don’t have a quarterback.
In Div. I-AA play, I just have to note the performance of Fordham running back Chase Edmonds against Lafayette, the Rams winning 58-34. In just 17 carries, Edmonds rushed for 359 yards, with scoring runs of 29, 19, 67 and 74 yards. Kind of like some of my electric football games, when I’d set up my impenetrable O-line and just watch my featured back, usually Emerson Boozer (my players were Jets, Packers and Rams) go “Bzzzzzz.” [Those of us of a certain age who played electric football also remember how the passing game was non-existent given the felt ball.]
Finally, Wake Forest took a big step towards an 8-4 season, moving to 5-1 with a 28-9 win against Syracuse (2-4) in Winston-Salem. We have potential ‘Ws’ remaining against Army, Virginia and Boston College…all at home…while losses to Florida State, Clemson and Louisville loom.
But Go Deacs! Arnie is no doubt very proud.
Back to Rutgers, I was telling Johnny Mac that the Scarlet Knights’ stretch reminds me of Wake and 1974, when on consecutive weekends the Deacons had these three losses:
2 Oklahoma 63-0
15 Penn State 55-0
18 Maryland 47-0
–The SEC is taking some heat for postponing LSU-Florida on Thursday due to Hurricane Matthew, but the game was Saturday and the weather in Gainesville ended up being fine.
Now the issue is, when do the teams make the game up? There are all kinds of scheduling conflicts, but it seems Nov. 19 could be the date, only this would require both teams to buy out existing non-conference games: Florida against Presbyterian and LSU against South Alabama. LSU doesn’t want to lose a home game in battered Baton Rouge (with their historic floods).
—ESPN analyst Lee Corso celebrated 20 years donning mascots’ headgear on the network’s “College GameDay” show, picking Navy to upset Houston.
–One more on Michigan-Rutgers. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has targeted New Jersey big time, signing five of the top nine recruits from the state last year. Linebacker/running back Jabrill Peppers and defensive end Rashan Gary, both graduates of Paramus Catholic, were the state’s two most coveted recruits in the last decade.
Which just points out Rutgers’ age-old problem. They can’t keep the state’s considerable talent from heading elsewhere.
Harbaugh held one of his satellite summer camps in Jersey, as he’s been doing in other football hotbeds.
Rutgers has won more than nine games just once in the last 40 seasons.
–Before Clemson’s win at Boston College on Friday night, coach Dabo Swinney took a few minutes to meet Welles Crowther’s parents, delivering a Clemson helmet signed by the entire team and speaking with them about what an inspiration their son was.
Boston College has been holding an annual Red Bandana game in honor of 9/11 hero & BC grad Crowther. I saw a video of Swinney’s remarks to the parents and it’s touching.
Crowther is credited with saving more than a dozen lives.
[The new AP Top 25 poll won’t be released until Monday.]
NFL
—I said after the Jets lost last week that our season was over, finis, and now it really is following a 31-13 loss to the Steelers (4-1) in Pittsburgh that drops New York to 1-4…the brutal early schedule being everything it foretold when released last spring.
Ben Roethlisberger threw for 380 yards and four touchdowns and now has nine TD passes and zero interceptions his last two games.
For the Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick was 25/28, 255, 1-0, 93.6…not awful, but far from enough.
I mean the Jets now go to Arizona, which may have found its stride again, the Cardinals being a Super Bowl favorite, and we’re facing 1-5. And maybe something like 4-12 when the nightmare is over.
I’m tired of this crap. Very, very tired.
—Tom Brady returned from his fall vacation, leaf peeping, Mediterranean sunbathing…that kind of thing…and the Patriots rolled after his four-game suspension, 33-13 over 0-5 Cleveland, the Pats now 4-1. All Brady did in his 2016 debut is throw for 406 yards and three touchdowns.
For its part, the Brownies are on their fifth QB of the season, or something like that.
–The Lions burst the Eagles’ bubble, 24-23 in Detroit on a Matt Prater field goal with a minute to play, the Eagles falling to 3-1, Detroit now 2-3.
For Philly, rookie Carson ‘Senor’ Wentz’s* was 25/33, 238, 2-1, 102.8, but the interception, first of the season, came in the final drive.
For Detroit, Matthew Stafford threw for three touchdowns.
*Sorry, for long-time Ed Sullivan watchers.
–The Redskins won the Baltimore of the Beltway, 16-10, over the Ravens, both teams now 3-2.
—Minnesota is 5-0 after whipping Houston (3-2) in Minny, 31-13. Sam Bradford continues to play the best ball of his career at QB for the Vikings, 22/30, 271, 2-0, 123.1.
For the Titans, Brock Osweiler sucked, going 19/42, 184, 1-1, 56.1.
—Atlanta surprised the Broncos in Denver, 23-16, both teams now 4-1.
—Oakland is 4-1 for the first time since 2002 after defeating the snakebit Chargers (1-4), 34-31; San Diego muffing a snap that should have led to a tying field goal with about two minutes left in the game.
Far more on their hideous start next time.
—Dallas is 4-1 after a 28-14 win over the Bengals (2-3) at Jerry’s Palace, rookie QB Dak Prescott setting a new, ongoing record for most throws starting a career without an interception, now 155, while rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott had 134 yards and two scores.
–Thursday night, the Arizona Cardinals picked up a much-needed win, 33-21, against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara…the Cards’ moving to 2-3, while the Niners fall to 1-4. Drew Stanton (subbing for the injured Carson Palmer) threw two touchdown passes to Larry Fitzgerald, while David Johnson rushed for 157 yards and two scores.
–There is a little panic among NFL owners after the first four games saw television viewership decline 11%, and among the critical 18-49 demographic, ratings are down 12%. NFL executives counter that over the last 15 years, ratings have grown 27%.
The league said the drop in ratings this year is because of “unprecedented interest in the Presidential election.” Ratings took a hit in 2000 as well amid the Bush-Gore tussle.
But some feel the NFL has hit a saturation level, particularly in adding Thursday night games to the Sunday/Monday schedule. I agree with this point.
Golf Balls
–The excitement is building…Tiger Woods’ return this coming week at the first PGA Tour fall / wraparound season event, the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif. And he is being paired with Phil Mickelson the first two rounds (or so last word had it).
Now while I didn’t write this beforehand, watching Mickelson’s 63 on Sunday at the Ryder Cup, I was thinking, as good as he’s playing, why not enter the Safeway Open? No reason why Phil can’t win again.
But to be paired with Tiger, well, that’s delicious…and a huge shot in the arm for a new tournament sponsor in what normally would have a no-name field, especially after such a congested end to the Tour season for the stars.
Stuff
–The Premier League was off this week for World Cup qualifiers. Play resumes this coming weekend.
–The No. 11 Wake Forest men’s soccer team tied No. 2 Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday, 2-2. We should move up a notch or two when the new rankings come out.
–The Washington Post had an extensive story on the CEO of USA Track and Field, Max Siegel, who “has built a reputation as a savvy deal-maker who has raised so much money the Olympic sports nonprofit finally can offer decent pay to some Team USA athletes, many of whom scrape by on annual incomes of $20,000 or less. Within the track and field community, however, Siegel is a polarizing figure.”
It turns out Siegel will make $1.7 million in salary and bonuses this year, a huge compensation package for the CEO of a nonprofit.
Most of Siegel’s fundraising success, though, is the result of a long-term sponsorship agreement with Nike worth a reported $500 million, which was primarily negotiated by two former Nike executives “whose small consulting firm is collecting $23.75 million in commission payments from USA Track and Field through 2039.”
—Mount Rushmore celebrates its 75th birthday this month. According to geologists, the granite presidential faces will withstand the forces of erosion for 7.2 million years. [Amanda Foreman / Wall Street Journal]
–Johnny Mac passed on this tale from the Asheville, N.C. area: “A rabid raccoon attacked a man outside his home in East Asheville on Wednesday, according to Buncombe County Health and Human Services.
“The raccoon was unprovoked, said public information officer Stacey W.
“ ‘This is a really scary one,’ since he was outside his house, she added….
“The victim was transported to Mission Hospital where he was treated and released….
“The raccoon tested positive for rabies and was put down.”
Now you may recall earlier reports of mine on wild animal attacks in this area. It was in July that an Asheville woman was attacked by a beaver while she was paddle boarding on Beaver Lake. That beaver also had rabies and it was this particular incident that caused a special tribunal at The Hague to permanently ban ‘Beaver’ from the All-Species List, part of our “three strikes and you’re out” policy.
J.Mac wondered what the penalty was for ‘Raccoon,’ never a favorite of mine to begin with, and Raccoon has been placed on double-secret probation, with little likelihood it will emerge from same the rest of the decade. It’s only No. 264 as it is.
All-Species List Top Ten
1. Dog
2. Elephant
3. Tiger
4. Southwest African Lion
5. Great White Shark
6. Grizzly Bear (includes Kodiak and Brown Bears)
7. Pig
8. Octopus
9. Gibbon
10. Wolverine
Others knocking on the door…Gorilla, Leopard Seal, Orca, Hawk, Hippo, Wolf, Ocelot, Mountain Lion, Rhino, Yak, Mallard, Snow Leopard, and Polar Bear.
‘Man’ is 330.
–I saw the following in the Oct. 17 issue of TIME:
“Dogs May Learn More Efficiently Than Children: Yale researchers who taught dogs how to open a box containing food found that a significant number of dogs learned to skip the unnecessary lever step in four trials, suggesting they’re more likely than children to disregard instructions that aren’t needed to solve a task at hand.”
Top 3 songs for the week 10/15/66: #1 “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Four Tops) #2 “Cherish” (The Association) #3 “96 Tears” (? Question Mark & The Mysterians)…and…#4 “Last Train To Clarksville” (The Monkees) #5 “Psychotic Reaction” (Count Five) #6 “Cherry, Cherry” (Neil Diamond) #7 “Walk Away Renee” (The Left Banke) #8 “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” (Jimmy Ruffin) #9 “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (The 4 Seasons) #10 “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes…what an outstanding week!…)
NFL Quiz Answer: Six Jets who threw for 10,000 yards.
Joe Namath 27, 057
Ken O’Brien 24,386
Richard Todd 18,241
Chad Pennington 13,738
Vinny Testaverde 12,497
Mark Sanchez 12,092
7. Boomer Esiason 8,478
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
