White Suburban Punk

The Red Sox managed to win two games with walkoffs against the Rangers before being shut out last night.  Clay Buchholz was excellent before tiring, however, so that’s a good sign.  New hero Darnell McDonald was finally kept hitless, although he did have a walk.  Tonight Jon Lester tries to straighten things out against Baltimore at Fenway.

The Bruins look to wrap up their surprising series with Buffalo tonight in Buffalo.  Where this team was all year, no one knows, but they have been an absolute joy to watch in this series.  Johnny Boychuk and Vladimir Sobotka are my new favorite players, and Tukka Rask has been fantastic.

The Celtics go on the road for game 3 of their series against the Heat after blowing them out in game 2.  Once again, I have no idea what will happen tonight, but it’s possible the C’s could put up another dominating performance.  They’ve been strong on the road all season, and now they have KG back.  Of course, with all signs pointing up, that probably means they’re due for a stinker.  Glen Davis has been awesome in the first two games of this series, while Rasheed Wallace only made the news for getting another fine by the league.

The Patriots ready for rounds 2 and 3 of the draft tonight, where they have three picks in the second and one in the third.  They went with a DB out of Rutgers in the first round, Devin McCourty, who Bill Belichick claims was who they wanted.  Today there are the usual overreactions from the media, stating that the secondary was the only area that didn’t need any help this offseason.  Belichick is apparently close with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, which should provide him with added insight, but the experts in the Boston media know that Belichick hasn’t done anything here in New England to prove he has any idea what he’s doing, so they’re feeding off each other like maggots today.

The 2000s were a great decade for the New England Patriots, the only period of sustained excellence in franchise history.  Dan Shaughnessy even wrote articles about how Patriots fans were spoiled.  That’s all over now.  It’s a new decade, and now it’s time to see if Bill Belichick can prevent the team from slipping to mediocrity.  They’re clearly not among the elite anymore. 

What started as a tough, ball control team with a great defense early in the decade morphed into the ultimate finesse team at the end of the decade.  The defense is no longer stout, and, with several young players,  its remaking has already begun.  Vince Wilfork is the biggest contractual question this offseason, but it still looks like the team needs more and better talent at both linebacker and in the secondary.

Offensively, Tom Brady was simply awful yesterday, and pretty inconsistent all year.  He was supposedly suffering from rib, finger, and shoulder ailments, and I actually hope that’s the case.  A lot of his passes were ducks yesterday — more were fluttering around than seemed to have the characteristic Brady zip.  Sure, it was a comeback year from the knee injury.  But to get back to being a threat to go to the Super Bowl, this team needs far better play from its quarterback.

There are other issues with the offense.  Laurence Maroney had one carry yesterday.  What will happen with him this offseason?  Wide receiver depth is clearly an issue.  The team really never had a #3 wideout all season.  The Joey Galloway signing was a disaster, but who really could’ve predicted that?  The offensive line has been together for a long time, but it may be remade this offseason.  Stephen Neal may retire, Logan Mankins is a free agent, and Matt Light has seen better days.

Belichick is actually facing a more difficult task now than when he took over the team.  Back then, expectations were low and the region was so starved for a winner that everything was gravy.  And sure, a lot of things broke the right way for the Patriots last decade.  Belichick built a legitimate dynasty here, but it is now crumbling, as they all do.  It will be interesting to see if BB makes any changes to his coaching staff.  The defense didn’t seem as inventive or creative as in years past, and it may be time to get a legitimate offensive coordinator, too.

The team has stockpiled numerous draft picks in the next two drafts, and the next two seasons will be uncapped, too.  The Patriots are entering a crucial period in their history, and it will be a great challenge for Bill Belichick.  But there’s no one I’d rather have in charge.

The Patriots win an ugly one in Buffalo, but a win is a win at this point.  Especially on the road.  Randy Moss’ comments after the game were hilarious.  I wonder if there will be any talk that Wes Welker quit on the team after his quiet day.  Laurence Maroney continues to look good, really fighting for yards.  I had to admit I was worried after the Bills’ first drive, but then they reverted back to what they are, and the Patriots defense played well against an awful team.  Jacksonville is up next, and supposedly New England still has an outside shot at the #2 seed if San Diego loses its final two games.  I still can’t figure out the Patriots offense, though.  The same personnel as 2007, but it sure doesn’t look like it.  Is it all Brady?

Liverpool lost to last place Portsmouth, 2-0, over the weekend.  They now sit in seventh place.  Javier Mascherano got sent off for a bad tackle, and he managed to strain his MCL on the play, as well.  So he’s suspended and injured.  I don’t know if it can really get any worse for this team.  Wolverhampton is next in the Premiership on Saturday.  They drew a Romanian team in the Europa League, which will start in February.

The Champions League draw also took place, with Inter Milan getting Chelsea, The Chosen One’s current team and former team.  And AC Milan drew Manyoo, David Beckham’s current team and former team.  Should be interesting.

The Landon Donovan loan to Everton went through.

So Mike Lowell is back with the Sox.  Both player and team must be thrilled.  If he’s going to be ok by Spring Training, why didn’t the Rangers just go through with the trade?  They’d only be paying him $3 million.

The Cubs traded Milton Bradley to the Mariners for Carlos Silva.  So the M’s continue to improve, while all the Angels have done is sign Hideki Matsui.  That also means that Jason Bay will not be going to Seattle.  I’ve got to think that he’s not real psyched to play for the Mets, with the big ballpark and circus atmosphere.  I hope I’m wrong, but I still think the yankees are going to swoop in.  Speaking of, Brian Cashman claims that the yankees will “almost certainly add a starter by New Year’s,” according to the New York Post.  But no one seems to have any idea who that would be.

Coco Crisp is going to the A’s.

Bill James projects your Opening Day first baseman, Casey Kotchman, to hit .272 in 372 at bats (122 games), with 9 HR and 52 RBI in 2010.  His best year was 2007 with the Angels, when he played in 137 games, hit .296 with an OBP of .372 and slugged .467.  He finished that year with 11 HR and 68 RBI.  The next year he was traded (with a prospect) to the Braves for Mark Texeira and hit his career high 14 HR.  He was considered a top prospect by Baseball America for a number of years; in 2002 he was ranked 22nd, 2003 13th, 2004 15th, and 2005 6th.  He’ll be 27 years old in February.

Glen Davis will supposedly return to the Celtics in early January.

Everyone’s favorite whipping boy, the Big 10, has seven teams in bowl games.  Only two are favored to win, Minnesota by 2.5 over Iowa State, and Penn State by 2.5 over LSU.  The other five are underdogs.  Wisconsin is 3 point dogs to Miami, Ohio State 3.5 to Oregon, Iowa 4 to Georgia Tech, Northwestern 7 to Auburn, and Michigan State 8 to Texas Tech.  Does the fact that 5 of the teams are underdogs prove the conference sucks, or if they have another bad bowl year, can Big 10 fans say, “yeah, but 5 of the teams were underdogs?”

In the wake of the Mike Cameron signing, rumors persist that the Red Sox would consider sending Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury to San Diego in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez.  I can understand Padre GM Jed Hoyer asking for Ellsbury, but I seriously doubt Theo would bite.  Ellsbury is the only legitimate speed on the team and should continue to progress into a consistent lead off hitter.  The only move Ellsbury should make is to left field.

According to FanGraphs.com, 36 year old Mike Cameron was the third best defensive center fielder in baseball last season, based on Zone Rating, or UZR, at 10.0.  This measures the number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs, outfield arm runs, double play runs, and error runs combined.  Jacoby Ellsbury was last in baseball, at -18.6. 

Offensively, Cameron may not be as much as a drop off from Jason Bay as the media projects.  2009 statistics:

Admittedly, Cameron’s stats are from the National League, but it’s not as big a discrepancy as one would think.  And Bay’s 2009 zone rating was -13.0.  It looks like he’s going to disappear into the abyss that is the New York Mets.

Meanwhile, what the hell is happening to the Disney Angels?  They’ve lost their ace, John Lackey, their sparkplug, Chone Figgins, and apparently will lose their aging superstar, Vlad Guerrero.  They did sign Hideki Matsui, so I guess all is well.  Their division rivals, the Mariners, have taken Figgins from them and added Cliff Lee to King Felix.  And the Mariners led the AL in ERA last year. 

Liverpool beat Wigan yesterday at Anfield, 2-1.  Once again no clean sheet, after Wigan scored one minute into second half added time.  Liverpool goals came from David Ngog and Fernando Torres, who came off the bench.  Ngog is looking better and better every game.  The team played with much more spirit and verve, unlike the seemingly indifferent play in the Arsenal game.  It was a very entertaining game, pretty open, chippy, and lots of scoring chances.  Torres now has 35 goals in 37 league games at Anfield.  Next up is at Portsmouth on Saturday.  Liverpool still sit in sixth place, 13 points behind Chelsea.  By the way, Fox Soccer has “upgraded” their website, and it’s a total disaster.  It was obviously done by people who have never surfed a sports website in their lives.

The US will play Honduras in January in a World Cup tune up.  Fine, but they would be much better off playing teams they haven’t played before, non-CONCACAF teams.

Wisconsin basketball beat Cal Poly 90-42 last night.  Not quite like in football in 2008, when Cal Poly took UW to overtime and only lost because they missed two extra points.

More Randy Moss analysis: From Merril Hoge, via Michael Vega at Boston.com: 

John Lackey and Mike Cameron to the Sox.  Sweet.  Lackey as a #3 starter?  That’s pretty freaking good.  It’s great that Theo kept these moves so quiet, too.  Just last week I wrote that I wished Lackey was more on the Sox’ radar, and it turns out he was.  I guess Theo isn’t writing off 2010 after all.  Lackey will fit in great with Beckett, Youk, Pedroia, and Victor Martinez.  I really like this plan of attack — there’s no way we’ll ever be able to outslug the yankees, but we could outpitch them.  And improving the defense is key to that.  Jason Bay never seemed like a particularly bad outfielder to me, but the defensive metrics apparently say otherwise.  And Mike Cameron is unquestionably an excellent defensive outfielder.  He can play any of the outfield positions, too, allowing Tito great flexiblity to sit Ellsbury or Drew against tough lefties.

I would also be fine with Adrian Beltre at third base.  Again, excellent defensively, but don’t expect too much with the bat.  If the offense is as bad as the Boston media says it will be, they can always try to add something during the season.  I’m afraid to mention it, but Big Papi claimed he was going to come into camp next year in the best shape of his life.  Just sayin’.

I guess an Adrian Gonzalez deal could still be in play, maybe even more so since they’ve added a quality starter without giving anything up.  It seems that would create a very left handed heavy batting order, though, without a real right handed power hitter.  Still, that would be a nice problem to have.

Ah, Randy Moss.  Sixth in the NFL in receiving.  Opponents double team him so much that it allows Wes Welker to have an absolutely crazy day.  In fact, Welker is #2 in receiving yards and Moss #6 in the league.  And Moss is #5 in the NFL in receiving touchdowns.  Not bad for a quitter.  Sure, his production Sunday definitely didn’t pass the smell test.  So he had a bad game, but the team won.  It appears the coach is behind him, the QB is behind him, and the rest of the team is behind him.  He’s still a captain.  As the Young Fresh Fellows say, everything’s gonna turn out great.

The Patriots should retire Kevin Faulk’s #33 when he retires.

The Celtics have won 11 in a row and have the best record in the NBA.  When is Big Baby coming back?  I thought it was supposed to be December.  Anyway, the only win over an elite team was opening night against Cleveland, but they’re definitely beating the teams they should beat, and looking good doing it. 

Big 10 to add a twelfth team?  I think it would be a good thing at this point.  It could even help in recruiting, and of course an elite conference shouldn’t be sitting home watching everyone else play.  But divisions will be awkward, especially for football.  Do you go east/west, or north/south?  I would think that Michigan and Ohio State have to be together, but then do you include Penn State with those two?  And who exactly is the twelfth team?  Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Missouri?  Don’t even freaking joke about Rutgers.

Liverpool lost to Arsenal 2-1, this weekend, and the misery continues.  They didn’t even look passionate, which is extremely worrying.  So far this year, they’ve really risen to the occasion against the big teams, but not so in this game.  The Europa League draw is Friday.  Juventus and Marseille joined Liverpool in dropping out of the Champions League.

Flight of the Conchords is over after two seasons.  Great show, but probably a good decision.  How far could these guys really go before things got tired?  It was just too creative to go on for too long.  Hopefully they’ll come up with some one-off type stuff, and maybe some HBO specials.

On another TV note, Friday Night Lights has been incredible this season.  Best show on television, bar none.

The news from Patriots camp is pretty insane, with the two losses in a row, the inability to win in someone else’s stadium, the four players being sent home, Adalius Thomas essentially blasting BB, and now Brady supposedly has a rib injury.  Things really seem to be falling apart, but BB has four games to rally them.  It’s been a confusing year.  They still have so much talent on offense, but stunningly can’t execute, especially in crunch time.  I think Bill O’Brien has to get a lot of blame for the play calling.  It seems that whenever they start running the ball effectively, they immediately go away from it.  Please come back, Charlie Weis.  The defense has probably played about as well as anyone could have expected, with the youth and all the new players.  Adalius Thomas and Derrick Burgess appear to be bums, and the lack of a pass rush is killing them.  Any secondary would look bad put in that situation.  It’s incredible that they’ve already lost as many games this year as last year, especially considering how Matt Cassel has played this year.  Four games to get their act together, get back to basics, and PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

The Sox are reportedly close to consummating the deal trading Mike Lowell to the Rangers.  Great guy, 2007 World Series MVP, but the team just has to have better defense on third base.  Of course, they now have to replace his bat, too.  I would think they’re either going to trade for Adrian Gonzalez or sign Adrian Beltre.  If they trade for Gonzalez, Roy Halladay is obviously out.  My guess is that Jason Bay will re-sign here, but if not, I don’t think they’ll get Matt Holliday.  LF would probably end up being a platoon between Jeremy Hermida and somebody like Xavier Nady. 

Is everyone excited about Marco Scutaro?  No.  Boof Bonser?  No, but I’ve actually always liked him.  He was a first round pick in 2000, and is now coming off shoulder surgery.  Good risk, but probably not lots of upside.  After the yankees traded for Curtis Granderson, if they get Bay or Matt Holliday or, god forbid, Doc Halladay, just forget 2010 and 2011.  Although Doc is probably out for them now after trading away one of their top prospects in the Granderson deal.  They could sign John Lackey, though, which would be almost as bad.  I’ve always liked him; it’s too bad the Sox don’t seem to be looking at him any closer.  Theo did have a comment about 2010 being a “bridge” to the future, and it’s getting to the point where no one will be able to compete with yankees next year anyway, so why bother.

The only good news this offseason has been the report that Peter Gammons is leaving the four letter network to join MLB Network and NESN.  Welcome home, Commish.

Badger football doesn’t get a New Year’s Day bowl game after the Outback Bowl bizarrely picked Northwestern.  Sure, they beat the Badgers, but we had a better overall record.  Anyway, I much prefer the matchup against Miami.  Better team than Auburn, and Miami is a team I truly hate.  Incidentally, ESPN’s 30 For 30 show is doing “The U” this Saturday night.  I’ve watched all the episodes so far of this thing, and it’s really good.

Badger hoops got themselves ranked after beating Duke, and then lost in OT at UW-Green Bay.  Harsh, but it looks like UWGB is actually a pretty good team, so hopefully that loss won’t look so bad later in the season.  Marquette is up this Saturday at 6:00 Eastern on ESPN2, in Madison.  Gotta win that one.

Badger hockey is on a nice roll, and they look like they could be for real this season.  They’re #11 in the country now, and they play at #3 North Dakota this weekend.  Friday night’s game will be televised on the NHL network, and I think they usually use the Badger announcers for those games.  The trend this year is for the Badgers to massively outshoot their opponents, at least with shots that reach the goalie.  Five of Wisconsin’s six defensemen have been drafted in the first two rounds of the NHL draft.

Liverpool finished up their Champions League schedule with yet another hard luck loss, this time to Fiorentina at Anfield, giving up the game winning goal basically at the death.  They play a huge game against Arsenal Sunday at Anfield.  I think it will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel.  It looks like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will both start for the first time since October.

Everton is supposedly in talks to get Landon Donovan on loan from the MLS.  Hopefully it happens, but I’m skeptical.  The league owns all the contracts in the MLS, and they have a history of asking for exorbitant sums for players on loan.  It would be great for Landycakes, though, and I would be really curious to see how he performs in the Premiership.

That’s all I got.

The media is going to love this.  In fact, they’re already gleefully blaming Bill Belichick for the loss to Indy.  After the game, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Chris Collinsworth, Marvin Harrison, and Tony Dungy all had variants of “he did not trust his defense.”  Over on ESPN, Trent Dilfer called the decision to go for it on 4th and 2 “ludicrous” and “ridiculous.” 

The Patriots’ clock management in the last two minutes was certainly curious.  They used their final two time outs when the clock was already stopped because of personnel problems, and therefore didn’t have the ability to challenge the spot on Kevin Faulk’s catch.  Preliminarily, I would submit that it was a terrible spot.  From what I could see, Faulk didn’t “juggle” the ball as Al Michaels described — he tipped it and then caught it.  To me, a “juggle” necessarily requires more than one tip.  Anyway, after he caught the pass, his feet landed on the ground, one north of the 30 yard line, and one on the 30 yard line.  I don’t know how that can be spotted short of the 30.  Obviously, that’s irrelevant now.

Bill Belichick made a Bill Belichick decision.  He is a coach who makes ballsy calls.  That’s who he is.  I actually think that decision showed how much he does trust his players.  He trusted one of the best offenses in the league to make two yards after they had already piled up 34 points and 477 yards in the game.  And he trusted his defense to keep the Colts out of the end zone from 29 yards out if the offense failed.  In fact, the Colts probably would have gotten the ball back even if the play had correctly been ruled a first down.  The Colts would’ve used their last time out before the 2:00 warning, Brady would’ve taken a knee, 2:00 warning, knee (3rd down), 1:20 left, knee (4th down), :40, punt.  So the Colts would’ve had about :35 seconds from somewhere in the neighborhood of their 35 yard line.

And while everyone is blaming Belichick, what about the Patriots’ two turnovers in the end zone on the first two possessions of the second half?  Were those Belichick’s fault?  That’s where the game should have been won.  The players lost the game, not the coach.

UPDATE: Advanced NFL Stats breaks down the Win Probability from the Patriots’ various options and concludes that going for it on the 4th and 2 was the right move.  I’m sure that will get a lot of media play.

Notre Dame loses at home to Navy, and still gets three votes in the AP poll.  Unbelievable.  They lost to Michigan, USC, and Navy, and barely beat Michigan State, Purdue, and Boston College.  Joke Heisman candidate Jimmy Clausen had one interception in the red zone, one fumble in the red zone, and was sacked on consecutive plays with his team down by a touchdown with less than two minutes left, the second resulting in a safety.  It would be absolutely pathetic if this guy is even invited to New York for the Heisman presentation.  Year after year, supposedly top 15 recruiting classes, and year after year, it’s nothing but excuses from the national media.  No heart.

The Patriots dispatched the Dolphins to set up the big showdown with Indy Sunday night, the fifth undefeated team on New England’s schedule.  They’re 3-2 in those games so far, with New Orleans still looming in two weeks.  I still haven’t heard anything from Joey Porter this week after he got manhandled by a rookie and didn’t show up on the stat line.  At all.  At least we won’t hear Dierdorf ripping on Randy Moss during the Indy game, despite, you know, the things he does on the field.

Wisconsin had a rather uninspired win at Indiana, 31-28, in a game they should’ve put away in the first half.  John Clay got hurt (concussion), but we finally got to see why the coaching staff is so high on Montee Ball, as they both ran for over 100 yards, Clay’s all in the first half.  Sitting at 7-2, and with Iowa’s loss, the Badgers actually have an outside shot at a share of the Big 10 title and/or an at large berth for a BCS bowl.  Saturday is the last home game of the year against hated Michigan.  There is so much that needs to be paid back to those arrogant bastards, but we can start with last year’s debacle in Ann Arbor and go from there.  Bielema should take a cue from Woody Hayes.  In the 1968 game against Michigan, with Ohio State up 42-14, the Buckeyes scored a late touchdown and Woody elected to go for two, which they got.  Asked after the game why he went for two after the last touchdown, Woody growled, “because they wouldn’t let us go for three.”  That’s the attitude the Badgers need to have.

Iowa’s fairy tale run finally ended (I picked it!) against Northwestern.  Now QB Ricky Stanzi is supposedly doubtful for their last two games, vs. Ohio State and Minnesota, so I would say that the Rose Bowl is doubtful now, too.

Larry Johnson released by the Chiefs.  It’s weird he went to Penn State.  I wonder how Joe Pa kept him from acting up, something nobody else has been able to do.

Maybe I should stop trying to pick college games.  All are against the spread, but I went 1-5 2 weeks ago and 2-9 this past weekend.  It seems that some years I’m uncannily tuned in to the college game and some years I’m, well, I’m not tuned in whatsoever.  There were some harsh losses last week, though.  I picked Indiana +17.5 against Iowa and they lost by 18.  Houston -7.5 against Southern Miss and they won by 7.  And Oregon State -8.5 against UCLA and they won by 7.  The pro picks have gone fairly well, though, 9-4 against the spread both weeks.  I’ll keep trying.

Rajon Rondo signed at 5 year, $55 million contract extension.  Great signing by Danny Ainge, I actually thought Rondo could get more money.  He’s still not in the top 5 highest paid point guards in the league.  If Ainge had let him go to restricted free agency, who knows what would’ve happened?  One of the teams that didn’t get Lebron, Dwayne Wade, or Chris Bosh probably would’ve dumped a plate full of cash on Rondo’s lap and the C’s wouldn’t be willing/able to match.

The supposed contenders with the Patriots for the AFC East crown are a joke.  Buffalo gets blown out by Houston, and Miami somehow beat the Jets.  Again.  Yet the Jets continue to talk.  Rex Ryan claimed that his team outplayed the Dolphins, but still lost.  Special teams don’t count?  They sure do on the scoreboard.  Miami, meanwhile, had 52 yards rushing and 52 yards passing for the game and their hero of the game, Ted Ginn, was called an embarrassment and a coward by a former Dolphin earlier in the week.  Patriots are 5-2, Jets 4-4, Dolphins 3-4.  In the AFC, Indy is 7-0, Denver 6-1, and New England, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are 5-2.

It’s good to see that Florida head coach Urban Meyer came down hard on his player for the cowardly eye gouge on Saturday.  Suspended for the first half of the Vanderbilt game.  That’s sending a message.  And the guy who did it wears a face shield!

Wisconsin blew out Purdue, 37-0 Saturday at Camp Randall.  Purdue played horribly, with tons of dropped passes.  But when that happens, they should be shut out, and they were.  In fact, Purdue’s QB was 5-23 for 59 yards and a pick, so it wasn’t just the dropped passes.  Purdue had 141 total yards for the game; Wisconsin had 150 in the first quarter.  Nuf ced.  Next up: at Indiana Saturday.  They’ll probably still be reeling from their choke job against Iowa.  Wisconsin is now ranked 22 in the coaches poll and 24 in the AP.

One other note: former Badger and current Houston Texan Owen Daniels tore his ACL in the Buffalo game and is out for the year.

Liverpool lost to Fulham 3-1 in the Premiership over the weekend.  That’s 7 losses in the last 8 games in all competitions.  Rumors are that Fernando Torres’ injury is more serious than they’re letting on.  They’ve got a must-win at Lyon in the Champions League Wednesday and then another must-win Monday against Birmingham at Anfield, televised on ESPN2.  I guess they’re all must-wins now.  Chelsea plays Manyoo at Stamford Bridge Sunday.

It was nice to see that the Phillies held on last night to force game 6, but I’m not too optimistic.  I really don’t want them to do it against Pedro, though.

Wisconsin hockey kicked the living crap out of UNH, 4-1 and 6-1.  Not a nice homecoming for Blake Kessel.

October 13, 2009

Well, that sucked.  Badgers lose to Ohio State for their first loss of the season, Red Sox lose game 3 at Fenway to get swept by the Angels, and the Patriots blow a lead and lose at Denver in overtime.  Ouch.  That’s gonna leave a mark.

To start with Badgers, what a bizarre game.  Wisconsin basically dominated the game, outgaining OSU 368-184, owning the time of possession 42:47-17:13, and only turning the ball over one more time than the Buckeyes, 2-1.  But the team that dominated got blown out.  Killed.  Destroyed.  Annihilated.  Both Wisconsin turnovers were returned for touchdowns and the real killer was the kickoff return for touchdown in the third quarter after UW had cut the lead to 21-13.  That was all she wrote, despite the statistical imbalances.  The encouraging thing for Badger fans is that there is no doubt that UW belonged on the field with Ohio State.  Matt Millen kept repeating (and repeating and repeating) that UW was losing the battle at the line of scrimmage, and maybe they were on certain plays.  But taken as a whole, Wisconsin moved the ball extremely effectively all day, and Ohio State simply did not.  Wisconsin had 22 first downs, Ohio State, 8.  Terrelle Pryor: 5-13 for 87 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.  Of course, the touchdown was huge, coming right before the end of the first half, and really the only time all day that Ohio State moved the ball offensively.  The bottom line is that Ohio State made big plays when they absolutely needed to, and that won them the game.  Ouch.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, simply got outplayed for three games.  The Angels were just as good as the Red Sox last year, but they essentially choked late in games (remember, they were all close).  This time, they didn’t choke, and if anything, the Red Sox did.  At least, their closer chose an awful time to not be clutch.  But really, the Angels weren’t really lacing the ball off Papelbon, they were more Texas Leaguers that showed that it just wasn’t the Sox’ year.  Now, next year is probably the last run for this group of core players.  Ortiz, Lowell, Beckett, and Victor Martinez, are all free agents after next season (although Sox have 2011 club option on Ortiz for $12.5 million).  One would have to believe that Theo and company will try to extend Martinez this winter, but it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Beckett.  Clearly, he is among the best pitchers in the game and he is 29 years old.  Do the Sox risk letting him play out his contract next year, or try to extend him this winter?  My guess is they try to extend him, but it will be costly.  He made $10.5 million in 2009 and is due for $12.1 million in 2010, relatively a bargain for a starting pitcher of his caliber.  Of course, the big question immediately is Jason Bay.  How aggressive will teams like the Giants, and, yes, the Yankees, be in going after one of the only outfielders with thump who is on the market this winter?  The top of the minor leagues is now essentially bereft of talent, so can we really expect the Sox to improve over this season?  Right now, it doesn’t seem likely to this observor.  For this reason, I believe the Sox will be aggressive this winter in trying to trade for a young, impact player, be it Adrian Gonzalez, Felix Hernandez, or Prince Fielder.  If that doesn’t happen, I think it will be a while before the Sox approach 95 wins again.

Ah, the Patriots.  It seems so bizarre to be worried about the offense when Brady and Moss are both healthy.  And this talk that the offensive struggles were due to Welker being out appear to have been overblown.  Yes, Fred Taylor is out now, too, but this is football, for crying out loud.  Somebody is always hurt.  Remember, in 2007, this offense overcame absolutely everything to win and win and win.  So what’s wrong?  I’ve got to come down on the quarterback play, although the offensive line doesn’t look the same, either.  I have every confidence that the quarterback play will improve as the season goes on, and the Patriots will be a dangerous team come playoff time.  Super Bowl?  I don’t know.  I was very confident before the season started, but now this team just doesn’t look like the old dominant Patriots.  And there are some much better teams in the AFC now, as well.  The Colts are playing as well as they ever have, the Broncos are one of those teams that plays good defense and doesn’t make mistakes, Baltimore is good, and you’ve got to believe that Pittsburgh and San Diego will be there at the end.  I guess I’d even have to put the Jests up there.  I think we’ve got parity here, folks.  Of course, it’s only week 5 and things tend change rather gradually between now and the playoffs.  Teams that look unbeatable now will look very beatable in January.  And hopefully for the Patriots, the opposite will be true as well.