Philly grabs one back

It didn't start pretty with the San Francisco Giants out to an early 2-0 lead, and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay tweaked his groin batting, but the Phillies clawed back and were 4-2 winners to cut the series lead to 3-2 for the Giants.  They'll tangle again at 3:57 (Eastern) tomorrow back in Philly.  Up tonight, it is game six in the ALCS.  Maybe it is loyalty, but I've got a funny feeling the New York Yankees even it up and send it to - gulp! - a game seven against Cliff Lee tomorrow night.

New England Patriot QB Tom Brady isn't a guy that talks a whole lot, but his "they talk a lot for a team that has beat us once in nine years" crack on the Baltimore Ravens is absolutely nuclear.  Awesome.

Things are going to get real interesting on the labour front in the NBA if Commissioner David Stern is serious about rolling back player salaries by a third, or $750-$800 million across the board.  If he's serious, there is no way there is a season to start 2011/12, no?

9,802 in Columbus to see the Blue Jackets on Wednesday with the Anaheim Ducks in town, 8,820 in Atlanta on the same night to see the visiting Buffalo Sabres.  I know Gary Bettman's argument against more Canadian teams is they won't draw well in the U.S., but here's a thought: neither do some U.S. teams.  GB will look real smart if Atlanta fails a second time.  Oh, and not to be outdone, the Phoenix Coyotes drew 6,706 last night.  Picture of league health at right.

The NFL has released its "hits" video that went to all teams this week.  Check it out here.  After yesterday, I'm tempted to suggest this problem is all the result of shoddy officiating, just for fun.  If you're wondering what I'm referring to, check out the discussion that yesterday's crack on officials brought here.

After all that ink wasted, Wayne Rooney has signed with Manchester United for another five years.  It'll be interesting to see if his anger over them saving money on players sold rather than acquiring new ones makes a difference come January's transfer window.

In ESPN The Magazine's "Lists" issue, New Orleans Hornet Chris Paul was asked to name the five best passers in the game. Who did he have tops? Chris Paul.

Also listed, Brett Favre's final pass in a playoff game went to a member of his team six times. Intercepted?  Five. Nice.

Talk about punching above your class: LA Laker Sasha Vujacic is engaged to Maria Sharapova.

I managed to catch a minute of the Toronto Maple Leafs/New York Rangers game last night. Didn't better my life a bit.

Philadelphia Phillies Ryan Howard, batting cleanup, has yet to cash an RBI this playoffs. That's hard to believe, but speaks to the very streaky Phillies offence.

The Dallas Cowboys are using officials in practice this week in an effort to cut down on the penalties they're drawing.  Up next week: using a head coach.

The very evolved NFL analyst Mark Schlereth says that if the NFL continues to look at ways to remove hitting from the game, they'll end up being soccer.  I'd love to get Schlereth on the field some day with a Nigel De Jong say, and show him how little contact there is.  Know what you're talking about, MS, otherwise you look like a pure jerkoff.  Oh, guess the league isn't removing contact entirely if Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison backing off retirement talk is any measure.  What a shock.

If the stories are to be believed, looks like Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell - experience: zero - is in line to be the new manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.  The largest downside of this hiring for AL East rivals: the Sox pitching is bound to improve after the not-so-great work Farrell did with Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Jonathan Papelbon.

Not sure what is more impressive in this clip from a youth hockey game.  The celebration after the goal, or that it looks like they drew a bigger crowd than the NHL cities named above.

Hockey snow angels @ Yahoo! Video

Roy Throws a No-Hitter

Roy Halladay is probably wondering why he didn't get out of Toronto sooner if this is what playoff baseball is for him.  A no-hitter to open the NLDS, including driving in a run, as his Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-0.  Not sure one hitter really had a hope yesterday.  Having a laugh at the Twitterverse putting him up there with Don Larsen.  Didn't know that throwing a no hitter in the divisional round was the same as throwing a perfect game in the World Series.


The New York Yankees rallied from a 3-0 deficit and ultimately were 6-4 winners after Mark Teixera broke a 4-4 tie with a 2-run Tex Message into the right field stands.  If you're in to patterns, last year, Alex Rodriguez opened game one of the divisional series with Minnesota with a fly to right field, then a strikeout, before getting on his third at-bat and going on to dominate the playoffs.  Last night?  Opened with a flyout to right field and then a strikeout, then worked a walk into a stolen base and scored the Yanks second run.  If September's AL Player of the Month stays hot, could get real interesting for the Yanks.  The Yanks have to be salivating over facing former teammate Carl Pavano tonight at 6:07pm.



Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon has set himself up for some serious second guessing going with James Shields in Game 2, especially after losing the opener 5-1 led by a dominant Cliff Lee. Shields allowed 246 hits this year, tied with Mark Buehrle for most in the bigs.  The Rangers will send a hot CJ Wilson to the bump.  One reason to cheer against the Rays: Maddon, who I generally like, is encouraging Rays fans to show up to the park in plaid.  As if the cowbells weren't annoying to one sense, now they're aiming to assault your vision, too.

The New York Islanders top line has John Tavares earning $900k, $800k to Blake Comeau and $600k  to P.A. Parenteau for a total of $2.3 million.  By way of comparison, the New Jersey Devils have eight forwards making more than that individually.


Seriously, I have a hard time believing that the New York Yankees (1) create (2) sell and (3) have any of their fans buy this stuff.  I generally don't buy gear with dates on it, and certainly don't buy it for a Wild Card for a team that has won 27 World Championships and has been a playoff fixture since 1995 save for one year.

On the heals of the Randy Moss deal back to Minnesota, Moss will become just the 6th player to play 17 games in a season since bye was instituted in 1990.  That assumes, of course, that he stays healthy.  For the record, the Pats won no rings with Moss in the lineup.  Jason Whitlock says that the move reeks of desperation for the Vikes.

There are five NHL games on tonight to open their far-too-long schedule, including the Montreal Canadiens visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs, which can only mean one thing: Facebook is about to be inundated with a lot of ridiculous posts about how the losing team sucks based on one game.  Watch baseball tonight people, at least that actually means something right now.


Merely the latest best thing ever...



A ridiculous goal scored in Northern Ireland.  Be sure to watch closely.

Leroy ain't moving...unless...

It took triple overtime, but the Anaheim Ducks managed to even their series with the Detroit Red Wings. I would not be shocked at all if the Ducks finish off the Wings. How much has Ryan Getzlaf's profile grown with his playoff performance? Call him a Team Canada lock for the 2010 Olympics...Cam Ward made 36 saves for the shutout as the Carolina Hurricanes evened their series with the Boston Bruins, the B's first loss in this playoff...the subject of trading Roy Halladay came up again, and while Toronto Blue Jays GM JP Ricciardi didn't call him untouchable, he did say it would take a "boatload" to move Leroy...after Saturday's devestating knockout, Ricky Hatton's trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. and others are thinking it is time the Hitman pack it in. Somehow, you have to figure boxing doesn't really want a guy who brings people from across the pond into Vegas for fights to shut it down quite yet, and can't imagine Hatton wants to go out that way either...seems yesterday's "Rick Roll" wasn't a hit with some RMers. Guess the title wasn't clue enough...hard to believe that a club like Newcastle United are in the relegation zone. The Magpies were pounded 3-0 by Liverpool yesterday, and word is it could've been triple that...speaking of Liverpool, their manager Rafa Benitez is talking smack again, saying Manchester United will slip up in the final handful of games. Somebody needs to explain to Rafa that United can afford to slip up a lot more than Liverpool, what with a three point lead and a game in hand...I really don't understand the logic behind having the second round of the NBA playoffs start while some are still playing the first, but that's what we saw yesterday as the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavs tipped off their series - with the Nuggets an easy winner while the Miami Heat were going down meekly to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7 of their first round series. If you're David Stern, you'd think you want to sports world focused on a Game 7, no?...the CFL Draft went this weekend, still awaiting confirmation that no dead people were drafted...your PTP today is the Blue Jays/Indians over 10. Enjoy.

NBA deadline - so uneventful...

Tracy McGrady will need at least another year before he sees the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in his career - he's 0-12 - now that he's going under the knife for micro fracture surgery on his knee...Wade Phillips is still the Dallas Cowboys coach. Therefore, I'm sour...the Quebec commission that threatened to prevent UFC97 from going off in April is now relenting, and the show will go on in Montreal...UFC95 goes tomorrow from London, England and is available free on SportsNet (3pm Eastern live and 9pm tape delay). In your main event, Diego Sanchez - and how is his nickname not "Dirty"? - faces Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. Sanchez fights are always super entertaining, and this should be no different...MLB commissioner Bud Selig made more last year than the CEO's of Apple, Pepsi and Nike. Not bad for a former used car salesman...saw an ad on Fox with Summer Glau and Eliza Dushku for their shows tonight, Terminator and Dollhouse. Who's hotter? I'm leaning towards Glau, mostly because Summer's my season. That, and Dushku is a Red Sox fan...there's something to be said for MLBTraderumours.com's approach to never mentioning drug use stories, ever...not surprisingly, LA Galaxy fans are not too pleased the David Beckham is so openly trying to move to AC Milan. If they said they were surprised, that would be the real shocker...from the Department of Weird, old wrestling legend Verne Gagne - now 82 and in a living assisted community with Alzheimers - killed his 97-year old roomate. No, he didn't hit him with "the sleeper"...for those wondering why Toronto Raptors Josee Caleron was spared a skewering in this space yesterday after his performance a couple nights ago in one of the worst games you can see out of an alleged starting, $8 million plus point guard, it is a rare occasion where I thought it would just be piling on...Toronto Blue Jays stud pitcher Leroy Halladay says he wants to win, and he wants to stay in Toronto. Somebody might want to point out to Halladay that he can't have both anytime soon in Toronto, and time is wasting on his career...Tiger Woods is returning to the PGA Tour next week. With the media onslaught coming, you'll think it is Barrack Obama and Jesus H. Christ teeing off before next weekend is through...back later with your PTP. Damn you, Leafs! That's 0-3 on the year betting against them slugs...have a great Friday.

If you're a mascot, is a dunk worth it if it costs you an ACL?

Eduardo!

It is a shame that in sport, you so often get hammered with stories of drug use, off-field issues and bad personalities but when a great story comes around, it gets the short end of the stick. Not today. Eduardo Da Silva, who on February 23rd of last year nearly had his foot amputated so severely was his ankle and leg broken in a vicious tackle, returned less than a year later to play two games for club - Arsenal - and country - Croatia - in the space of six days. He set up the winner for Croatia over Romania Wednesday, and yesterday returned in incredible form for Arsenal, scoring a pair, as the Gunners hammered Cardiff City 4-0 in FA Cup play. Goosebumps... now back to the usual, Florida Marlins star shortstop Hanley Ramirez added 25 pounds of muscle this off-season. That is normal, after all...A-Rod's circus of a presser goes this afternoon and his Yankees teammates are expected to back him fully, and literally. Go figure that it might have taken the performance enhancing drug usage of years back to have his teammates finally embrace him. Again, if he's wise, more detail is preferable to less...if Brett Favre is still holding out hope of playing for Minnesota to get over on the Green Bay Packers, he can forget it: the Vikes aren't interested...Roy Halladay could be dealt this season. As hard as it is to imagine the Toronto Blue Jays without their stud chucker, dealing Halladay makes too much sense, no? Memo to Yankees GM Brian Cashman: he's worth Phil Hughes. Plant the seed...Station Casinos is one company that made a list of 15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009. This might not seem significant on the face of it, aside from it being shocking casinos could lose money, until you realize they're owned by the Fertitta brothers, who own 90% of UFC. Somewhere, Dana White is sweating bullets...one other sign the economy is an issue in sports: the Dallas Cowboys don't have a deal for naming rights to their new billion dollar home, and will likely wait out the economic crisis to get top dollar later...have a great Tuesday, back later with your PTP.

3:56PM UPDATE: Playing Orlando -8.5 tonight over Charlotte. Liking the under there as well.