Monday, September 15, 2008

Doubleheader Central

Wheaher was one of the biggest story this weekend with countless doubleheaders taking place on Saturday and Sunday not to mention the Cubs/Astros Series that had to be moved to Milwaukee in wake the of the terrible distruction that hit the coast of Texas this weekend. (My thoughts and prayers go out to those effected.) So here's a wrap of the weekend's news.

Baseball Update:
Hurricane Ike forced the Cubs/Astros Series to moved to a neutral site, unfortunately, the Stadium which happened to be open for use was Miller Park in Milwaukee, aka Wrigley North. Fans cheered on Carlos Zambrano as he completed the first Cubs no-hitter in 36 years, as Chicago blanked the Astros, 5-0.

Speaking of the Brewers, things are not going well for them. With the Phillies 6-1 win on Sunday night, Philadelphia not only completed a four game sweep, but they also moved into a tie with the Brew Crew for first in the Wild Card race. Couple that with the Mets ninth inning disaster that gave the Braves a 7-4 win and the Phillies are just a heartbeat away from a playoff spot.

The Yankees may not be in the heat of a playoff battle but they still managed to play spoiler, knocking down the Rays, 8-4 and taking the weekend series from Tampa two games to one. Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium only a week before the curtain comes down on the 1923 relic. Robinson Cano was benched for the game after failing to show any hustle on the field and guess who's hurting? If you said Carl Pavano out of habit, you'd be right! He left in the third inning with a stiff hip but claims he's fine.

The Yankees have called up Phil Hughes and David Robertson from Triple-A. Hughes could start for the Bombers on Wednesday.

The Red Sox are now just one game behind the Rays in the AL East after holding off a two run rally in the ninth by the Blue Jays. Jon Lester was once again spectacular, allowing four hits and one run over eight innings as the Sox edged the Jays, 4-3.

The Orioles chased Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn out early after the pitcher allowed six runs in four innings in the Minnesota's 7-3 loss. The win allowed the Birds to avoid the sweep.

The White Sox were able to pad their lead in the Central by outslugging the Tigers, 11-7. Detroit rallied in the later innings, tying the game at seven a piece in the eighth inning, until DeWayne Wise blasted a grand slam off of reliever Kyle Fransworth to give Chicago the win.

Chone Figgins hit a game winning RBI single in the ninth inning to hand the Angels a 4-3 win over the Mariners. Mark Teixeira launched his 200th career homer in the win. On Saturday, LA's closer Francisco Rodriguez bested Bobby Thigpen's season save record with his 58th save of the season. Congrats to K-Rod!

Troy Tulowitzki broke a scoreless tie in the tenth with a single that brought home Matt Holliday to win the 1-0 game for the Rockies. The Dodgers, much like the Padres before them, wasted a superb seven inning outting by Greg Maddux in which he gave up just two hits and didn't walk a batter.

Corey Patterson homerun was enough for the Reds to slip past the Diamondbacks, 2-1 (10). With the Dodgers loss, Arizona remains 4 1/2 games back with time starting to run out. With their recent poor run, the D'Backs have replaced Brandon Lyon with Chad Qualls as closer.

With their 7-2 win, the Pirates were able to complete a sweep of the Cardinals, who sit 4.5 games behind the Brewers and Phillies in the Wild Card.


Brian Bannister picked up his first win since June with a little help from his friend Ryan Shealy who homered twice and drove in five runs as the Royals bashed the Indians, 13-3.

With the way things are going this season, I wouldn't be surprised it there was a need for a tie breaker game. Click here to see where things would shake out.

Nascar Update:
Greg Biffle made his presence known, taking the checkers in Loudon, NH for the first race of the Chase. Click here to see the updated standings.

Young Joey Logano's first race in the Sprint Cup Series wasn't exactly how he pictured it. But he knows things will get better, at least he hopes things will get better.

Loundon is set to add lights.

Congrats to Ron Hornaday, Jr. who was able to put behind a pretty tough week in which he admtited to using performance-enhancing drugs, learned Nascar would not take action against him and then was able to came out and won the Truck Race at New Hampshire.

Nascar is ending their recent tradition of having a "victory lap" around Manhattan during banquet week. Don't worry, they plan on having other events that will get fans very excited.

News&Notes: A controversial call in the closing seconds gave the Broncos a second chance and they didn't waste it, edging the Chargers, 39-38...In bad weather and with a bad shoulder, Ben Roethlisberger was able to lead the Steelers past the Browns, 10-6...Matt Cassel is no Tom Brady, but he was able to do just enough for New England to beat the Jets, 19-10...Even after coaching the Raiders to a 23-8 victory, Lane Kiffin could be out...Meanwhile the Saints get stunned by the Redskins, 29-24 and Sean Payton has a few extra years of job security...(Speaking of Jeremy Shockey, click here for his article in ESPN the Magazine)...The Giants spanked the Rams, 41-13...For more football scores, click here..After embarassing Ohio State, USC continues their stay at #1 while Oklahoma takes the #2 spot...Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis says he's in no rush to get surgery to fix torn ligaments in his knee suffered during Saturday's game against Michigan when John Ryan barrelled into into him on the sidelines...Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver to ever win a Formula One race when the 21 bested the field at the Italian Grand Prix.

Check this out: So Michael Phelps was on SNL on Saturday night and he did an ok job with the material he was given. (I thought the T-Mobile commercial was the best skit with Phelps in it.) But this skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton has been getting the most play. Click here for the video.

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