Monday October 20, 2003

 

TWINS THOUGHTS

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

GOPHERS FOOTBALL

TELEVISION THOUGHTS

TEN GRAND!

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

Be sure to also check out the Saturday posting, if you missed it.

World Series, and other Weekend Ramblings

World Series

The New York Yankees and the Florida Marlins split the first two games of the 2003 World Series at Yankees Stadium. Game 3 will be tomorrow night down in Miami.  Here is a quick look at the two games so far. Tomorrow, I’ll make some predictions for Game 3.

Game 1

How could it start any better? Clay Aiken singing the National Anthem! But the Yankees players and fans didn’t seem to come to the park really quite ready to play. Even long-time Yankees announcer Bob Shepherd wasn’t ready, forgetting to announce RF Karim Garcia in the pre-game.

And once the game got started, the Marlins got off to a great start. Juan Pierre led off with a perfect bunt single. He went to 3B on a bleeding single by Luis Castillo. Pudge Rodriguez then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Pierre from third, and giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead. That may not seem like a big deal, but I’m sure the Marlins had plenty of nerves floating around, so to have success in the first inning had to relax them even further.

In the bottom of the 3^rd inning, Derek Jeter singled in Karim Garcia to tie the score at 1. But in the fifth inning, Juan Pierre singled to left field which scored both Jeff Conine and Juan Encarnacion to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead. Juan Pierre has shown his worth in the postseason. He has shown that it’s ok to be a singles hitter in the leadoff position. He has shown that stealing bases, or simply being a threat to steal a base, can greatly affect a pitcher and a defense. His RCAA and OPS will never be as high as many players because he is a singles hitter, but he has more than proven his value to the top of a lineup.

In the bottom of the 6^th inning, Bernie Williams hit a deep home run to center field (his 18^th career postseason home run, tying him with Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson for most in Yankees history… of course Jackson never played in a Divisional Series and Mantle never played in a Divisional Series or Championship Series) , cutting the lead to 3-2 and ending the outing of Marlins starter Brad Penny. Penny did well. He was throwing hard too, hitting 95-98 consistently throughout the game. But he also had control and a second pitch to go with it. He went 5 1/3 innings and allowed some runners (7 hits and 3 BBs), but was able to fight out of some situations, giving up just the 2 runs, striking out 3 Yankee batters. Penny was relieved by phenom, Dontrelle Willis. Willis will be in the bullpen for the World Series, but that does make sense. He pitched well, going 2 1/3 innings, giving up just two hits and striking out two. Those hits came in the 8^th, and with 2 outs, Marlins closer Ugueth Urbina came in and got the third out.

Urbina stayed in for the 9^th inning as well. He did get himself into some trouble, walking 2 batters, but neither could score. Urbina struck out two and finished off the win for the Marlins.

David Wells pitched solidly for 7 innings. He gave up just six hits and walked two (striking out 1), and was accountable for the 3 runs the Marlins scored. Jeff Nelson and Jose Contreras finished the final two innings. Contreras had two strikeouts.

Game MVP - Juan Pierre - 2-3 BB, R, 2 RBI, SB.

Game 2

As they have in every Game 2 through the playoffs, the Yankees went to Andy Pettitte to tie the series. And again, he was up to the task! But the Yankees offense was also able to help! It didn’t take long to jump all over Marlins starter Mark Redman. In the bottom of the first inning, with two outs and two on, Joe Torre gave Hideki Matsui the 3-0 greenlight, and Matsui took advantage of it. Matsui gave the Yankees the quick 3-0 lead with a deep home run to center field.

In the bottom of the 2^nd inning, Juan Rivera hit a line drive double to left center that scored Nick Johnson, giving the Yankees a four-run lead. Mark Redman came out to start the third inning, but got just one out before Rick Helling was brought in to stop the bleeding. Redman went 2 1/3 innings, and struggled mightily with his control, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks leading to the 4 runs. Helling actually did pretty well, holding down the Yankees. He gave up a two-run homer to Alfonso Soriano in the 4^th inning, but did go 2 2/3 innings.  Chad Fox, Game 4 starter Carl Pavano, and Braden Looper each provided a scoreless inning of relief for the Marlins.

The Soriano home run is about the only positive thing he’s done lately. He’s really been scuffling, striking out almost twice per game in the postseason, but also hitting into many double plays. Maybe the home run will relax him and he’ll be able to play better the rest of the World Series.

Game MVP - But truly, the story of the game was Andy Pettitte. Not only was he impressive statistically, but he gave the Yankees exactly what they needed, innings. It’s unfortunate that he gave up an unearned run in the 9^th inning, losing the shutout, but he provided 8 2/3 innings to a pitching staff that needed some time off. Jose Contreras recorded the final out on a nice play by Aaron Boone, the player whose error led to the lone Marlins run.

Game 3, Tuesday night in Florida.

TWINS THOUGHTS

Just a quick update on how the nine Twins that are playing in the Arizona Fall League are doing. You remember that Joe Mauer, Jesse Crain and JD Durbin are playing for Team USA. They have played seven games now and are 5-2. Here’s how the Twins players are performing.

The other six players are playing for the Scottsdale Rafters, who are 5-8 thus far. Here are how the Twins are faring:

Be sure to check out the journals the both JD Durbin and Brian Wolfe.

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

The Vikings improved to 6-0 yesterday with a 28-20 victory over the Denver Broncos. It was really the most impressive team that the Vikings have beat so far this season.

The Vikings started off the scoring in the first quarter with a 47 yard pass from Daunte Culpepper to Kelly Campbell.  In the second quarter, the Broncos went to Clinton Portis, who capped a drive with a 4 yard touchdown run, tying the game at 7 with just 1:55 remaining in the first half. But, the Vikings don’t really need any more time than that to do damage. The Vikings did not look terribly impressive for the first 100 seconds of the remaining time, but then came “The Play”.

With time running out, and the Vikings on their own 41 yard line, Culpepper scrambled a little to hit right, before unloading the ball deep down the field. Culpepper was drilled just as he threw it, so the ball didn’t fly as far as Culpepper is capable of throwing it. But, Randy Moss came back to the ball nicely and made the catch at about the 12 yard line. My thinking was that it was a nice play to pad some stats. But Moss certainly wasn’t thinking that. Being tackled by two Bronco defenders, he somehow saw Moe Williams running down the field and somehow flipped it over his head and it somehow hit Williams in stride, and all Williams had to do was run 15 yards untouched into the endzone. The play was reviewed. And the play was, rightfully, allowed, giving the Vikings an unexpected touchdown to close out the first half and a 14-7 lead.

The momentum shift was obvious, especially when the 2^nd half began and the Vikings received the ball. They marched right down the field. Onterrio Smith ended the 5 ½ minute drive with a powerful 5 yard run. The Vikings were ahead 21-7.

And then, just over a minute later, Scott Buerlein threw a ball and Vikings linebacker Lance Johnstone made the catch and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. The Vikings were up 28-7 and I’m sure many thought the game was over! But that was far from the case.

Jason Elam kicked a pair of 46 yard field goals cutting the lead to 28-13. Doing the quick math, I realized that the 15 points could be made up by two touchdowns and one two point conversion. And, there was 15 minutes to play. With 7 minutes left, backup Danny Kanell (who came in because Buerlein broke a finger which will keep him out 4-6 weeks) hit Mike Anderson with a 1 yard touchdown. The extra-point cut the Vikings lead to just 8.

The Vikings had a chance to put the game away, but on a 4^th and short, Kelly Campbell somehow missed an easy touchdown catch, and the Broncos got the ball back and started to drive. Fortunately, on a fourth and long, Johnstone knocked down a Kanell pass, ensuring the Vikings would go into next week’s game in the Dome against the New York Giants still unbeaten!

The Green Bay Packers lost their game in St. Louis by a score of 34-24. The Lions got trounced by the Cowboys and the Bears lost at the end to Seattle. So here are the up-to-the-minute standings in the NFC North:

Just take a look at that loss column. The Vikings already have a 4 game lead in the loss column. The Packers come to the Dome in two weeks in a game that could wrap-up the division for the Vikings.

A couple of other notes:

Daunte Culpepper made his first start in three games. His back seemed fine yesterday. He went 19-26 for 276 yards and 2 touchdowns. He got hit hard a few times, but took the hits well. He didn’t run a lot, but did scramble well.

The Vikings threw deep a lot more than they have for a long time, and although they had the 2 long touchdowns, it wasn’t overly successful. I thought the Vikings went deep too much, which really allowed the Broncos to come back.

The Vikings didn’t run as much as they typically have. Moe Williams ran 14 times for just 47 yards, and Onterrio Smith got just five carries for 29 yards.

Randy Moss caught 10 passes for 152 yards, but the highlight will certainly be his catch and pitch to Moe Williams.

The defense played really well in the first half, and came up big right at the end when they needed to. They recorded four sacks and 3 interceptions. Johnstone returned his interception for a touchdown. Brian Russell tied a team record (set by Hall of Famer Paul Krause) with an interception in all 6 Vikings games so far. But, it is also important to remember that Corey Chavous picked off his 5^th pass this year as well. The Vikings safeties have been great. But again, much credit belongs to the defensive linemen who put pressure on the QBs.

6-0, pretty impressive!! What do you think of the Vikings?  How long will they remain unbeaten? Can we start making Super Bowl plans yet? E-mail me.
 

GOPHERS FOOTBALL

Last week, the Gophers blew a 21 point lead in the 4^th quarter at home against Michigan, and lost. I laughed.

On Saturday, the Gophers came out lethargic, fell behind by 17 points in the first quarter, and were never able to get caught up. Also, I laughed.

The Minneapolis media wonder why fans can’t get behind the Gophers football program. Well, it’s because of stuff like this, it happens every year. They get off to a 4-0 start, throttling teams that would struggle to compete in Division II. The coaching staff and certain media members tell us how this year is different, that this year will really be the year that the Gophers win the Big 10 and play in the Rose Bowl. This year, the Gophers were fortunate to sneak past a bad Penn State team and then crushed a terrible Northwestern team, and went to 6-0.

Then came the return to reality. The Gophers finally had to play a full game against Michigan, and because of that, didn’t know how to coach or play in the 4^th quarter. The let down from the tough loss seemed to linger into Saturday’s game. Even the vaunted Gophers running attack was nowhere to be found.  Asad Abdul-Khaliq came to play though! I can say nothing wrong about his performance. He went 27-40 passing and threw for 377 yards and 4 touchdowns without an interception. He added 52 yards rushing on 13 carries. The problem was that Marion Barber III only got 14 carries on the day. Aaron Hosack had 8 catches for 113 yards and 2 TDs. Tony Patterson had 6 receptions for 98 yards and a TD.

Let me know your thoughts on the Gophers football program? E-mail me.
 

TELEVISION THOUGHTS

When I started writing this web page, I thought that I would write on a number of different topics. Well, I have. Primarily, I discuss the Twins. As the World Series comes to an end, I’ll still write about baseball topics, but will also focus more time to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Vikings. But, for the most part, I have written about topics that are in the sports genre.

One of the genres I thought I would spend more time covering was pop culture, specifically television and movies. I had hoped to do some writing regarding television shows that I watch and enjoy. I haven’t exactly done that, and will continue to try to comment from time to time.

But for now, here’s what I will do. On the left side of the screen, with all of my links, we have now added links to all of the shows that I watch. Of course, the list is always subject to change for a number of reasons.

So, do you have any suggestions for me? What shows should I be watching? Which shows should I not be watching?  E-mail me.
 

TEN GRAND

On Friday night or Saturday morning, this web site had its 10,000^th hit. I think that’s a nice little milestone, but as I wrote in Saturday’s Special edition, I have a new goal. It took me over 4 months to get to 10,000 hits. My goal is to get to 20,000 hits by December 1^st and need your help. Here’s how, as I wrote Saturday:

That’s where I need your help. If you enjoy reading this site, please send me a quick e-mail and let me know where you’re from. I’d love to hear from readers, especially new readers, and finding out where you’re from, whether you’re a Twins fan from Minnesota or a Devil Rays fan in central Florida. Maybe you’re a Mets fan from northern California. I’d love to hear from you. Along with that, I’d love to hear what you want to read on a baseball, or sports-related, blog. What would make you go to bed saying, “Hey, I can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and read SethSpeaks?” (OK, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but you get my point.) More Discussion Questions? More stats? More opinion? More minor league information?

Secondly, I would love it if you would tell other sports fans you know about my site. Networking is a beautiful thing, right? Forward my link (http://www.sethspeaks.net/) to everyone in your address book! OK, you don’t have to do that, but please spread the word.

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

Finally, I did improve a little bit on my football picks this week. Through yesterday’s games, I have just four wrong so far, which certainly is not great, but better than the 6-7 wrong I have been averaging the past three weeks. 9-4 so far ensures that I will win the week, and also helps me get a little closer to the top of our overall list. Here are how our experts have done thusfar this week: (Check out the FB Picks page for specifics)

Welp, that is it for the day. Happy Monday to everyone! Be sure to check out the Saturday posting if you missed it. My World Series preview is in there.  If you have any questions or comments, please send me an e-mail. Thanks!

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