Another scattershot blog post

A variety of bloggable topics are available this weekend. Here goes:


World Series


I was initially surprised to see the Yankees comeback from an early 0-3 deficit.  But I shouldn't have.  Cole Hamels has been shaky this postseason, and unlike some of the Phillies these Yankees are professional hitters.   They swing at strikes, and fielded a relentless line up that even featured pitcher Andy Petite driving in a run.


[Interesting take on these Yankees today in the Times.]


The Phillies' approach last night was not as professional.  Case in point is Shane Victorino.  Batting in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out, Victorino came up after Jimmy Rollins walked - WALKED - to drive in a run and give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.  Most ball players know to take the first pitch if the previous hitter walked.  But Victorino was a bonehead twice, swinging at two balls waaaaayyyyy outside the strike zone to quickly put himself in the hole 0-2.


He eventually drove in a run - on a defensive swing - on a sacrifice fly but instead of breaking the game open with a hit, driving Petite off the mound in the process, Victorino's sacrifice ended the chance for a big, game -changing inning.

• Good column by Tom Boswell today that semi-explains why umpiring in baseball has declined so badly in recent years.  Bad umpiring/refereeing seems endemic to all sports these days but in baseball the umpiring stinks worse than in other sports.  From calling a terrible strike zone, to allowing hitters and pitchers go on a walkabout after every pitch, to missing fairly obvious calls this postseason - fair and foul balls, two runners on the same base, plays at first - baseball has a fairly serious issue to deal with. Boswell makes a good case that instant replay deserves a chance to solve some these problems.

Carolina football


Huge win for the Heels on Thursday night against Virginia Tech. There are almost too many story lines to talk about: a road win versus a ranked opponent, bouncing back from a terrible home loss the previous Thursday that also was a nationally televised game, coming back late in the game after falling behind due to a terrible turnover/interception by Yates.


The win was inspiring; the Heels could have mailed in the rest of their season and done what some so-called scribes had done and turned to basketball.  But instead they played with pride and determination and were rewarded with a meaningful and season-saving win.


The Heels will need to sustain that effort and focus if they truly want to save the season.  Carolina has four tough game left, versus Miami, at Boston College, and rivalry games versus NC State and Duke.  The Duke game is homecoming next week - Evan, Johnny, Alex and I will be there - and the Blue Devils is no pushover.  The Dukies are 5-3 after defeating Virginia in Charlottesville yesterday.  Beating the 'Hoos may not be that big a deal, then again the Heels lost to them in Chapel Hill.


Either way, I'm looking forward to spending a day and a half in Chapel Hill for homecoming (something I never thought I would ever want to attend).  This will actually be the fourth Duke-Carolina game in five years for Johnny, Evan and myself.


Wizards


Got to catch part of the Wizards win last night over the Nets. Arenas continues to look fantastic, and Andray Blatche off the bench almost matched Agent Zero's 32 points.  Brendan Haywood finished with 10 and 7 (a reverse of his opening-night numbers).


I may be the only guy I know who is paying attention; only 3 people voted in my favorite Wizards poll (and I think those 3 were me, Evan and Ariadne).


Heels in NBA


Of all the Heels in the NBA rookie Ty Lawson is probably off to the best start.  Lawson was the best player on the floor for Denver as they rallied to defeat Portland on opening night.  Lawson finished with 17 points in that game in 26 minutes.  He scored 7 in 17 minutes last night in another Nuggets win.


Here's a look at what the others Heels are doing so far:


Wayne Ellington: Ellington is playing, getting 23 min/game, while averaging 6 pts on 32% shooting; has yet to hit a three-pointer in two games.
Sean May: May is starting for 0-3 Sacramento but still playing 'out of shape' minutes, around 19 a game and averaging only 6 points a game.  I hope May gets healthy and gets his career on track.  He should be a good pro.
Brendan Haywood Off to a pretty good start - averaging 12 and 9 - though his timing on offense appears off as he returns from a wrist injury that kept him out of 79 games last year. Physically looks great, trim and agile.
Jawad Williams Has only played 2 minutes of mop-up time in one game, but hey he's in the NBA!
Rasheed Wallace Happily coming off the bench and playing a lot at crunch time, Ra is averaging 9 points a game. Twenty of his twenty-six shots have been three-pointers.
Raymond Felton Continues to struggle with his shot for the 1-2 Bobcats. Averaging 14 points (39% shooting) and 5 assists in 28 minutes a game. I still can't figure out why Ray has not become Chris Paul.
Marvin Williams Is third option on a young and dynamic Hawks team.   Averaging 12 points though 2 games.
Vince Carter The Magic are 2-0 with Carter, but Vince only played 15 minutes in their second game due to a sprained ankle (and did not play today versus the Raptors).  Carter is averaging 15.5 points a game on 55% shooting in two games.


Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Brandan Wright and Antawn Jamison have yet to play this season due to injuries, and both Jerry Stackhouse and Rashad McCants have yet to sign with a team.  For a while rumors circulated that McCants would join Aris Thessaloniki (in my dad's hometown) in a Carolina-Hellenic Blue blog-driven move.


Completely Random

• What ever happened to Jurassic 5?  'Day at the Races' came on my iPod the other day, a song that hinted at their promise.  Maybe I missed something, but what happened to the group who rapped 'you're out of your league like Jordan was with baseball' and featured the 'verbal Herman Munster' as one of their members?
• Lots of comments on our Halloween 2009 iPod mix for our party last night. Most often asked question "Are we listening to ABC?"  With Halloween as the obvious theme the mix featured "Poison Arrow" - due to the word poison - "Back from the Dead" by Spinal Tap, the "Buttercup" theme from the Power Puff Girls soundtrack, and more cliched songs like "Thriller," "Dead Man's Party" and "Everyday is Halloween." 
• Sorry for some of the font problems with this page.  The software was upgraded and I have yet to find my comfort zone.

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day Weekend!

A good weekend of baseball is pending if the games of the last 4 days are any indication of things to come.

I didn't enjoy watching the Yankees win tonight, but that was a fun and frustrating game to watch. The Twins had multiple chances - 17 left on base including the bases loaded in the 11th - plus Joe Nathan pitching with a two-run lead. That game was theirs to win and they blew it.

Not sure what was worse, watching A-Rod get the big hit or watching the umpire miss Mauer's double in the 11th, a play that was right in front of the guys face. How do you a blow a call like that? Not only did the ball clearly land in fair territory, he had to see it nick Cabrera's glove, too. The umpire blew that call TWICE!

The Yankees comeback mimicked the Dodgers' win from the night before. I've never liked Matt Holiday, and conversely I've always loved me some Ronnie Belliard. It was good to see an ex-Nat excel, and I am firmly on the Dodgers Bandwagon.

As exciting as this round of baseball has been I still have misgivings about the wild card and the extra round of playoffs, something Boswell covered in his column today. I'd still vote to get rid of the wild card and go back to two divisions, east and west, and only have 4 teams make the playoffs.

FOOTBALL UPDATE

Greece tries to salvage their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign when they host the 'Fighting Baltics' from Latvia tomorrow. Ellas needs to win its last two games and hope that Switzerland stumbles against Israel and/or Luxembourg to win their group and qualify. But it looks more likely that Greece will have to win a playoff among other European teams that finish second in their group.

However, they have to finish second. If Greece loses tomorrow at home versus Latvia finishing second is impossible.

Carolina plays another Division I-AA squad tomorrow in Chapel Hill when they host Georgia Southern. It's an important chance for the offense and especially the offensive line to get their act together and salvage the season. After GS, the Tar Heels play back-to-back Thursday night games, at home versus FSU and at Virginia Tech. Winning those two games - a split is more likely - would definitely turn things around and erase the memory of the horrible loss to Virginia last Saturday.

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS

Greece elected another Papandreou last weekend when the socialist PASOK party swept election there. I like the new PM, who like me was born in the United States and speaks Greek with an American accent.

And I now consider myself a candidate for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, since both Barack Obama and I have solved the same number of international crises. But I'm happy for Obama, who I assume won due to multiple reasons: fixing America's international image, NOT being George Bush, reenergizing the world's most important democracy and attracting new voters, announcing his intention to close Guantanemo and getting us out of Iraq (and ignoring the ratcheting up in Afghanistan). I also wonder if the Nobel Committee wanted to stick their finger in the eye of the International Olympic Committee.

It's also funny to see the Rs go nuts complaining. As Bill Maher said on tonight's show, giving Obama the peace prize is the trifecta for the right wing since they hate black people, foreigners, and peace.