October 3, 2006

This morning was one of the longest commutes in history. On the train I learned that once again Amtrak had screwed up the tracks leading into Penn Station, and that there were no trains going into or out of Penn. Fine, I’ll just go to Hoboken and take the Path up to 33rd I thought. Well, we just sat outside of the Secaucus transfer station because there was additional volume going into Hoboken. Then I had to stand a packed Path train forever and finally I got into the city and onto an N train that was so kindly just sitting in the 34th street station. It was like it was waiting for me. In the end I only was about 10 minutes late for work. I hope this is all fixed by the time I go home tonight!

Premiering Tonight:
6-7 PM
Everwood (ABC Family) ok, it actually premiered yesterday but I forgot to put it up here. The good news is that it will be on every weekday! The bad news, they’ll be repeats, damn you Dawn. Runaway, like you really thought that would be a hit?
8-9 PM
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
9-10 PM
Veronica Mars (the CW)

Braves Rewind:

Today we celebrate the breakout stars of 2006!


Brain McCann (C)
Brian McCann really made some noise last year when he joined the ranks of the Atlanta Braves midseason, but 2006 was a true All-Star year for him. He led the team with a .333 batting average which would have ranked him third behind Miguel Cabrera in the National League if he would have had enough plate appearances. He also raked up 23 homers and 93 RBIs. McCann missed the end of May and part of June with a sprained ankle. During that time, you could really tell what a team leader this 22 year old is. McCann also made his first appearance at the All-Star game in July in Pittsburgh, but something tells me that will definitely not be his last!


Adam LaRoche (1B)
Who knew the kid had it in him. The 3rd year player started off the year slowly, trading time at first base with Brian Jordan, but once Jordan went down with a broken collar bone, LaRoche was able to show the Braves what he was made of. There were fewer players in the league hotter than Adam after the All-Star break. In April he was batting .200 with only 4 homeruns and 12 RBIs. In July his average shot up to .341 and in August he was batting .375. He amassed 14 homeruns and 40 RBIs in just those two months. LaRoche cooled down a little bit in September but he still finished up the season batting .285 with 32 homeruns and 90 RBIs. Adam has proved that he is an everyday player.

Chuck James (P)
Chuck James made his Major League debut as a starter in June going 8 innings and allowing only 2 hits and 1 run against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This was just a preview of what this 24 year old would do the rest of the season. He finished the season 11-4 with a 3.78 ERA in 25 games. Compare that to Cole Hamels, the Philadelphia Phillies rising star, who ended the season 9-8 with a 4.08 ERA in 23 games. I’d take Chuck James any day!

MLB Playoffs:
American League Divisional Series

New York Yankees v. Detroit Tigers
Game 1
First Pitch: 8:09 PM/EST on Fox (Yankee Stadium)
Scheduled Starters:
Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang (19-6 3.34 ERA in the Regular Season)
Tigers: Nate Robertson (13-13 3.84 ERA in the Regular Season)
Series Tied (0-0)
Next Game:
10/4 @ 8:09 PM/EST on Fox (Yankee Stadium)

Minnesota Twins v. Oakland Athletics
Game 1
First Pitch: 1:09PM/EST on ESPN (Hubert Humphrey Metrodome)
Scheduled Starters:
Twins: Johan Santana (19-6 2.77 ERA in the Regular Season)
A’s: Barry Zito (16-10 3.83 ERA in the Regular Season)
Series tied (0-0)
Next Game:
10/4 @1:09 PM/EST on ESPN (Metrodome)

National League Divisional Series

San Diego Padres v. St. Louis Cardinals
Game 1
First Pitch: 4:09PM on ESPN (Petco Park)
Scheduled Pitchers:
Padres: Jake Peavy (11-14 4.09 ERA in the Regular Season)
Cardinals: Chris Carpenter (15-8 3.09 ERA in the Regular Season)
Series Tied (0-0)
Next Game:
10/5 @ 4:09 PM/EST on ESPN (Petco Park)

New York Mets v. Los Angeles Dodgers
Day off
Series Tied (0-0)
Next Game:
10/4 @ 4:09 PM/EST (Shea Stadium)

NASCAR Update:
The Busch Series is increasing its international affair next season with an added race in Montreal at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve road course on August 4th. The Busch Series will also be paired with the Nextel Cup Series in 26 of the 35 races next year. Could NASCAR make it any easier for Cup drivers to invade the series? Seriously, it's already Cup Lite this year, how about restricting the number of races Cup drivers are allowed to enter so we don't get stuck with more crappy drivers who enter Cup because a spot is open, not because they are ready. (Currently picturing David Stremme and J.J. Yeley as I think about this.)

Congratulations to Matt Kenseth who will make his 250th career Cup start at Talladega this weekend.

Joe Nemecheck will run that #46 Chevy Silverado for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series’ first race at Talladega this weekend. Joe is a full time Nextel Cup Series driver for MB2 Motorsports in the #01 Army Chevy.

Giants Update:
Giants RB, Tiki and his twin brother Rande Barber made a $1 million donation to the University of Virginia. The twins are members of the class of 1997. $500,000 will be split by the Athletics Department, the School of Commerce where the twins received their degrees, the UVA Children’s Hospital, the Young Alumni Council, and a scholarship fund. The other money will be used as matching gifts to encourage young alumni to donate. That means you Ben Mackenzie (of the OC)!

Around Sports:
Basketball:
An investment group that includes Christian Laettner and his former Duke teammate Brian Davis has reached an agreement to buy 70 percent of the Memphis Grizzlies. The team's current majority owner is billioniare, Michael Heisley. Laettner was in his final two seasons at Duke University when the school won back to back NCAA titles in 91 and 92. (foxsports.com)

Baseball:
Major League Baseball's regular season ended on Sunday and it already had its first two managerial casualties. As of Monday, Dusty Baker formerly of the Chicago Cubs and Felipe Alou who replaed Baker for the San Francisco Giants were fired. Today, it was also announced the Joe Girardi will not be back as the manager of the Florida Marlins next year, even though he is thought to be a top candidate for NL Manager of the Year.

Football:
It was hard for me to decide where exactly to put this because in any other arena this would be assault, but since no charges have been filed, I’ll put it in the sports news section. Tennessee Titan, Albert Haynesworth drew a five game suspension, the longest in NFL history for an on-field incident, after stomping on Cowboys’ center Andre Gurode on Sunday. Watch out Albert, because the NFL is on your tail!

Celebrity Tid Bits:
Congratulations to Jennie Garth and her husband Peter Facinelli. The couple welcomed their third child on Saturday. Fiona Eve joins big sisters Luca Bella (9) and Lola Ray (3). Garth starred in the 90s teen drama, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Facinelli was in the movie Can’t Hardly Wait.

Martina McBride and Keith Urban have been added to the list of performers for the 2006 CMAs.

Happy birthday wishes go out to Erik Von Detton (24), Kevin Richardson (35) and Clive Owen (42).

It’s been fun blogging with you,

Kate