Even though I had a rare full weekend off from work, I found myself doing more work at home than I ever do for my actual job. Isn't that always the way? Saturday was community yard sale day so we lugged out half of our house and tried our very best to give away some junk. Six hours and a bunch of bartering later we made barely enough to cover our efforts, but the house was cleaner and that was what we were aiming for. My wife and I both let go of our childhood furniture that was being used in the guest bedroom. We cleared room for the nursery which now needs painting...anybody willing to help?
Sunday was more cleaning. We started in the kitchen and cleared out the pantry and all the cabinets. Our house wins for most trash bags out on the curb this weekend. Of course this is just the beginning. I'm going to go room by room and gut the house of all the crap that we've acquired in the last five years. With the baby on the way I am going to need all the room I can get for his toys and diapers and stuff. This should be fine.
If you were like me and spent your free time doing housework and hawking junk in a yard sale you probably missed some sports. Here's your recap on the biggest events of the weekend:
10. Houston Texans at Denver Broncos
This was a much better start for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. They got an early safety and field goal to take a 5-0 lead and things were looking peachy. Then I blinked and the Texans had responded with 3 consecutive passing touchdowns by Matt Schaub and it was 21-5. The lead was extended to 31-11 after Schaub fired his 4th touchdown of the game and this one looked to be wrapped up with a pretty little bow. Peyton was having none of that though as he threw two fourth quarter touchdowns and with three minutes to play it was suddenly a nail biter. Even though the Texans weren't able to run the clock out they only left Manning 30 seconds and 85 yards to score. No miracle this time as Houston looks to be for real and continues to be my favorite to be the AFC representative in the Super Bowl. Denver is going to be okay as Peyton continues to shake off the rust and as they are mired in a season opening gauntlet of tough games. I guessed 30-24 Houston and got 31-25...I win.
9. Milwaukee Brewers at Washington Nationals
As predicted this series has been pretty even. Of the first three games (the fourth being played today) only Friday had final inning fireworks. The Nationals clung to a 2-1 lead before Ryan Braun and the Brewers hit him around for three runs and Milwaukee won 4-2. Saturday was all Washington as Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond both hit 3 run, 4th inning home runs. This was more than enough for Gio Gonzalez who notched his 20th victory of the season, becoming the first pitcher this year to do so and the first Washington pitcher to accomplish the feat since 1933. That was done by some fringe major league pitcher name Walter Johnson. Quite a feat Gio, quite a feat. Sunday lived up to the name thanks to a beautiful, bright sun field that caused Bryce Harper to miss a fly ball leading to the first runs of the game as Milwaukee won to take a 2-1 series lead. Jordan Zimmermann should even the series up for Washington if my prediction is to come true.
8. #22 Arizona Wildcats at #3 Oregon Ducks
Thanks for showing up Arizona. Luckily I was far too exhausted to even give this game a chance Saturday night and I didn't miss much. Matt Scott came into this game on fire and left ice cold. He threw three interceptions including two that were returned for touchdowns as Oregon thumped the Wildcats 49-0. Neither Kenjon Barner nor De'Anthony Thomas were able to score for the Ducks, but none of that seemed to matter. They did have 175 combined total yards on 36 touches which while far lower than the norm were still enough to keep Oregon moving up and down the field. The big takeaway from this game has to be the Oregon defense. Posting a shutout in college football is tough to do. Posting a shutout against a team in your conference is even harder and if they happen to be ranked at the time, well that's a bold statement. Maybe the Ducks are for real this season.
7. Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees
This series was not for the faint of heart. Being an Athletics fan did not help. Hating the Yankees with every ounce of my soul didn't help either. Friday was a classic pitcher's duel between C.C. Sabathia and Jarrod Parker. Down 1-0 in the 9th, Brandon Moss hit a pinch hit home run to tie the score up. Russell Martin trumped that home run with a walk of home run an inning later for New York. Saturday was probably the game of the season in MLB. Oakland started with 3 straight doubles to take a 2-0 lead, New York scored 3 in the bottom of the half of the first. They trade two runs each as the Yankees led 5-4 heading to the 7th when Oakland tied it up with sac fly. Then the offenses went into hibernation. My wife and I walked into Babies R' Us to set up our registry just as Oakland tied it up and two plus hours later we walked out as Jonny Gomes was hitting a go ahead 2 run home run in the...wait for it...13th inning. That was followed by two more mammoth home runs by Oakland and they had a 9-5 lead. Unfortunately they had no major league caliber pitchers left. Three straight singles, a wild pitch, a sac fly and a home run later it was 9-9. The 14th inning went quietly for Oakland and then they basically conceded the game by sending Tyson Ross out to pitch the bottom half. That Yankees scored on an error with two outs and the bases loaded giving Ross his 10th loss on the season in only 73 innings pitched. Sunday was another back and forth with Oakland taking a 3-0 lead only to see New York score 4 to take the lead right back. Oakland tied it up and then took a one run lead in the 6th and miraculously it held up for their lone victory of the series. The Yankees stay a game up on the Orioles in the A.L. East who are one game up on Oakland for the 1st Wild Card spot. Oakland is 2.5 games up on Los Angeles and 3.5 games up on Tampa Bay for the 2nd Wild Card.
6. #18 Michigan Wolverines at #11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame did everything in their power to lose this game. Luckily for them, Michigan tried even harder to lose. It appeared as though both teams were on the take and were trying to shave points before any were even scored. I had this game pegged as my upset special and if Denard Robinson had played even average, Michigan would have walked out of South Bend with a victory. He threw four interceptions during the game which kept the Wolverines scoreless until the 4th quarter. They weren't out of it, though as it was only 10-0. This game was ugly. It wasn't LSU vs. Alabama ugly with two pro defenses facing off, but just ugly, ugly. Notre Dame will continue to rise in the rankings and as long as they keep passing these tests I suppose we have to take them seriously, but they had better play a lot better if they think they are going to beat an SEC team.
5. #15 Kansas St. Wildcats at #6 Oklahoma Sooners
If you were going to tell me that Kansas St. was going to get 149 yards passing and 0 touchdowns from starting quarterback Collin Klein I would have told you Oklahoma won by 30. This did not happen. Kansas St. used a stingy defense that kept Landry Jones in check (at least compared to his dissection of the Wildcats a year ago) and a seemingly unstoppable running attack to upset Oklahoma on the road. John Hubert carried the ball 23 times for 130 yards and a touchdown and while Klein could throw with any significance he did have 79 yards on the ground along with touchdown. Both of these came in the 4th quarter which had started with Oklahoma leading 13-10. Oklahoma will now plummet in the rankings and Kansas St. will now shift its focus to staying undefeated until their trip to Morgantown to face West Viriginia in late October. That will be some couch burning fun.
4. Chicago White Sox at Los Angeles Angels
What a dud of a series this turned out to be. The streaky Angels have caught fire again behind their pitching staff and swept away the White Sox from southern California. Los Angeles held the potent Chicago lineup to only 5 runs over the weekend. This included another stellar start from Cy Young candidate Jered Weaver on Sunday who earned his 19th victory with 6.1 innings giving up just a run. Dan Haren and Ervin Santana did their part as well giving up only 3 runs over their 13 innings. With the day off Monday, Los Angeles can even skip the scheduled start of the struggling C.J. Wilson and keep their big guns in turn. For Chicago things could have been much worse. After winning the first game of their series, the Detroit Tigers were promptly swept in a Sunday doubleheader by the Minnesota Twins to lose that series. That leaves Detroit a game behind Chicago even with the White Sox on a current 5 game losing streak.
3. New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens
This game will go down in Baltimore Ravens history as the Torrey Smith game. Playing with a heavy heart from losing his brother just hours earlier Sunday morning, Smith responded with his best game of the year. He hauled in 127 yards and two touchdowns to help bring the Ravens from behind to upend the New England Patriots 31-30. Sure this game was not without its share of unneeded controversy thanks to the replacement refs and sure maybe, just maybe, that last second field goal leaked a little right, but when the Ravens look back it will always be remembered for what Torrey Smith was able to do. After the Patriots scored the first 13 points, it was a Smith touchdown that got the team right and the fans back into it. Ray Rice then took over through the middle of the game amassing 150 total yards and scoring a touchdown. For the Patriots it seemed as though the only thing that could slow them down was their tricky play calling or the fact that they refused to run the ball to milk away the clock when they had the lead. Both Wes Welker and Brandon Llyod eclipsed 100 yards receiving, but when push came to shove, New England couldn't get that final first down that would have iced the game. Not only that, but their incomplete passes kept stopping the clock giving Baltimore invaluable time and timeouts to keep their hopes alive. They took full advantage, scraping together one final drive and hitting a game winning 27 yard field goal as time expired.
2. PGA Tour Championship
Yeah about the Tiger, Phil and Rory Sunday I was hoping for...that didn't happen. The three mega stars of the Tour combined for a +2 weekend and were not a factor at all. Maybe that's why I didn't watch too much golf. Instead American Brandt Snedeker came out of nowhere to capture the Tour Championship and in turn he won the FedEx title. He's not the sexiest of names and the poor performances of the 'Big 3' certainly cost the PGA some viewers, but what it does is give another American some good feelings heading into the Ryder Cup in Chicago. Instead of man versus man it becomes USA vs. Europe. Yippee!
1. #10 Clemson Tigers at #4 Florida St. Seminoles
This was fun. This was college football of the past. Forget suffocating defenses and playing for field position. I wanted a Tecmo Bowl like atmosphere and by God I got it. Twelve touchdowns and just one lonely field goal later, Florida St. emerged as true championship contender. Sure their defense might need to be shored up a bit, but Clemson has a dynamic offense so giving up some points was to be expected. I came in to the game watching what Tajh Boyd was going to do, but it was Florida St. quarterback EJ Manuel that left me with my jaw on the floor. He had 482 total yards, eclipsing 300 in the air and 100 on the ground. That's a good day at the office. As for the game itself, Clemson held a 31-21 advantage midway through the 3rd quarter until the Seminoles reeled off 28 straight points in just under a quarter of play. That was all she wrote and now Florida St. looks at a schedule where they have only one currently ranked team left to play and that isn't until Thanksgiving. In between they have a tough test at Virginia Tech, but this is a very manageable schedule to weave through to get to a possible BCS championship game. Better luck next year at becoming big time Clemson. I had predicted a 13 point FSU win and they won by 12 so not too shabby.
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