Panthers Now 1-4

heh

Baseball

Baseball is a magical beast.

Travis Wood, a relief pitcher for the Cubs, hit a home run against the Giants in game two. Last night, Jake Arietta, one of the best pitchers in baseball, hit another home run for the Cubs. It was a three run shot that gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead early over the Giants. That's the first time two pitchers have homered in the same playoff series since 1924.

Baseball is also a finicky beast. Arietta left after the sixth with a 3-2 lead. But the Giants did not quit. Long story short: 13 innings. Giants won 6-5.

I was in bed by then.

I'm sure Giants fans rejoiced after 5 long hours. I'm also pretty sure most of America missed that ending.

Baseball, you see, is also a tiring beast.

And Then There Was One...

Five weeks into the season, and the NFL has just one remaining undefeated team.

The Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings defense certainly acted like the league's top defense yesterday, but Bradford is starting to look like one of its top quarterbacks as well, releasing the ball quickly and finding open receivers  accurately. His 70% completion percentage is certainly among  the league's best.

And still no interceptions.

Did I mention that they are now missing three of their five starting offensive linemen?

And yet the running game is far more effective now than when Peterson was playing. McKinnon and Asiata are not setting the world on fire, but they are getting first downs and keeping drives alive. Their average per carry may still be disappointing, but they are moving the ball forward.

Adam Thielen had a career day receiving and Marcus Sherels had another punt return for a touchdown. It was a real TEAM win. AGAIN.

And you have the idea that they are still going to get a lot better.

Skol Vikings! 

Diggs Out?

The Vikings will take the field today perhaps missing the services of another one of their top offensive stars.

This is pretty common for the Vikes this season. Eventually this will hurt the Vikings. We'll see if it has an impact today. Officially, he's listed as "doubtful." Coach Zimmer is only saying that he won't start, but he may play. His groin injury has been bothering him for a couple of weeks.

Skol Vikings!!!

Baseball

Much like the NFL, MLB is trying to get you to subscribe to their network. Yesterday's playoff games were there, and not on the normal "free" cable networks.

Baseball playoff games used to be on network television. Everyone with a TV could watch them for free. Baseball ratings were soaring.

Then cable TV bought the rights to some of the playoff games. Only cable or satellite subscribers could watch them IF they were were lucky enough to have those channels in their cable lineup. Baseball ratings suffered a bit, but baseball made more money.

Then all of the playoff games were on cable TV. None were left for free TV.

Now some of the games are just on the MLB premium subscription channel.

My guess is yesterday's playoff games were the worst watched ever.

I think I'll skip the next few games myself as a means of protest. Baseball used to be America's number one past time. MLB is gradually killing the interest of once rabid fans. Soon no one will care about baseball. And MLB won't understand what happened.

I'm just letting them know, if you do this during football season, you are real idiots. You've killed the national past time, one broadcast contract at a time.

Playoff Baseball

How many times have we seen this. No score. Late innings. One run will win the game.

BAM!

Javier Baez hit the homer last night for the Cubs.

1-0 was the final.

Pitching is SOOOO important this time of the year. And the Cubs pitching is as good as anybody's.

Go Cubs!

Baseball

I watched more football than baseball last night, but finally decided to watch regular TV (Blacklist) over either. I missed the three home runs in the third by Cleveland. If I'd have seen that inning, I'd probably would have watched more baseball.

The problem with so many nights of football? Not all games are created equal. The Niners in primetime? I don't think so.