Quick Hitters

Sorry for the quick column this week, but I am on a plane later this morning so no time. Back Wednesday night or Thursday with another post.....

• Let's start with baseball. The Phillies have been incredible. They just keep holding their collective heads just above waters. They beat the Mets for the 8th straight time yesterday. Despite pulling to within 3.5 games in the division, they are still realistically playing for the Wild Card. The problem is that San Diego evidently may never lose again, so despite sweeping the Mets in New York this weekend, they remain right where they started, 1.5 games out of the Wild Card. They need to stay sharp as they head to Busch Stadium for three against the Cards before a day off Thursday. Every time the Mets scored yesterday, the Phillies responded. This team just has the feel right now. Let's hope it continued and the Pads actually lose a few...
• This just in, Derek Jeter is the most clutch hitter in baseball. As I stated on 5/17/06, " this guy is my FIRST CHOICE for the Hall of Fame among ALL ACTIVE PLAYERS, including Clemens, Maddux, Johnson, Bonds (only because he cheated), A-Fraud, and Pujols." This guy just comes up with the big play in the big moment all the time. And he is a class act. Great for the game.
• Onto the gridiron. Did anybody notice that college football's longest losing streak belongs to....Florida International at 15 games. That's right. Duke 20, Northwestern 14. How 'bout them Blue Devils!!! I was actually following play by play on my TREO at 11:00 pm Saturday night as the bend but don't break Duke D had to survive a Northwestern goal to go sequence in the final seconds. That almost overshadowed the fact that I went 0-5 on my college picks.
• In the NFL, I looked up and Carolina was ahead of Houston 14-0 early and I thought maybe I just really missed the boat and Carolina is actually pretty good this year. And then Houston reeled off 31 straight points and I felt a lot better about things. It looks like Andre wants to battle Chad for "Best Johnson" title this year.
• I guess cheating was a dumb idea by the Patriots, because clearly they do not need to do it. They are clicking on all cylinders right now. Fortunately for the rest of the league, it is 15 weeks until the playoffs start, so maybe they are peaking too early.
• Before we go assuming that Ladanian Tomlinson's contract with the devil expired during the offseason, let's remember that his first two weeks, while very sub-par for him, were against the Bears and the Patriots. Next Sunday in Lambeau should give us a better indication.
• Speaking of Lambeau, I remain firmly committed to the idea that, despite being 2-0, Green Bay is not very good.
• Speaking of not very good, it appears that there is a bit of a hangover effect going on to the Saints. Who 'dat? One year wonder? Still too early to tell, but they better start playing better in a hurry or the hole will be way too deep. They have a virtual must win next week against a very tough Tennessee Titans squad.
• I am very interested to see the 41 point per game offense of the Cowpokes as they visit the 12 point per game defense of the Bears next week.
• The Cleveland Browns, led by Derek Anderson, scored 51 points. I guess, to paraphrase Dennis Green, "the Bengals were NOT who we thought they were."
• Did that last point not sink in? The Cleveland Browns, led by Derek Anderson, scored 51 points yesterday.
• Now that Derek Anderson has bought himself some time as the Cleveland starting QB, how about we send Brady Quinn back to Notre Dame for a 5th year of eligibility? They could use him!
• I am looking forward to the Eagles game tonight, except that I will be watching from a TV on the Redneck Riviera instead of from the Linc. It will tell us a lot about the 2007 Birds. They are in a must play well scenario, and if they do not come out full of intensity and handle a mediocre Redskin team fairly easily at home and at night, then it will say a lot of scary things about this year's club.