Looking at the final boxscores, it looked like each game went the way it was supposed to, but that was thanks to a lot of great comeback drives in the two-minute drill by the great quarterbacks in the league: Brady, Rivers, Roethlisberger, Rodgers, and Orton (and Palmer in a losing effort).

Most Impressive Individual Performance: Mark Sanchez

Best Moment: Brandon Stokley’s game winning catch

Worst Individual Performance: Jake Delhomme

Most Impressive Team Performance: New York Jets

Most Disappointing Team Performance: Houston Texans

Injury of the Week: Brian Urlacher

After just one week it’s hard to accurately differentiate teams #1-5, but since the Steelers are the champs they will start at the top. 

Elite Tier

1.       Steelers:  They may be the reigning champions and 1-0 on the season, but this offense led by Big Ben will have to do better than run, run, sack, punt.  Roethlisberger may end the season in a wheelchair.

2.       Patriots:  Brady’s typical Pats: 54 pass plays, 23 rushing.  Not a pretty game (0-2 on 4^th down, missed FG, two failed 2-pt conversions, two terrible roughing the passer calls), but they showed on the last two drives that when they are focused, you can’t stop this offense.  The defense played pretty well, too.

3.       Giants:  No Plax, no problem.  Manning to Manningham has a nice ring to it.  Welcome back Osi, and welcome to the endzone. 

4.       Vikings:  Adrian Peterson began his march to the MVP. Favre looks like a kid again hitting Percy Harvin for a touchdown. 

5.       Ravens:  85 plays, 500 yards of offense, 2:1 time of possession.  The Ravens picked up where they left of last year by controlling the ball for the whole game, and that way wins most games.

6.       Falcons: Tony Gonzalez fits very nicely with this offense.  +4 in the turnover battle means you win.

7.       Eagles:  31 points at halftime thanks to a 5-series stretch with an interception, fumble recovery for a touchdown, punt return for a touchdown, interception, three-and-out punt.  The offense never had far to go.  However, an injured McNabb in Week 1 is something to be concerned about.

8.       Chargers:  They got outplayed most of the game, but like the other great quarterbacks this week, Rivers made the plays in the spotlight when it mattered most.

9.       Colts:  Reggie Wayne had a field day; Peyton looks fine without Harrison. Good start for Jim Caldwell.  

10.   Titans:  Defense shows that without Haynesworth they are still one of the best units in the league.  The offense was non-existent in the second half when it mattered.  In a tight, low-scoring game, Bironas has got to make those kicks.

Middle o’ the Pack 

11.   Cowboys:  No T.O., no problem.  Romo has career day, completing long passes to three different receivers.  The defense was rather generous. 

12.   Seahawks: It’s nice to have all the pieces back together.

13.   Saints:  Matthew Stafford got a free clinic in throwing the ball in the NFL from Drew Brees on Sunday.   Touchdowns all around!

14.   Packers:  Like the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers did nothing for almost the entire game but made the big play when it mattered most and that’s what he’ll be remembered for today. 

15.   Jets:  Sanchez played like a veteran in his debut.  If he continues to play like this, the Jets are a playoff team.

16.   Broncos:  Stokley’s miracle play will be one of the best of the season. 

17.   Bears:  Cutler had a debut to forget: 47% passing, four interceptions and two sacks.  The defense kept the Bears in the game despite it all.  It doesn’t get any easier next week against Pittsburgh.  This team is in trouble with no Urlacher.

18.   Texans:  What happened to the offense?

19.   Buccaneers: It’s nice to see Cadillac Williams back on the field and playing well.  Impressive loss for the offense; Byron Leftwich and Williams lead the team to 450 yards of offense. But it felt like I was watching a video game when the Cowboys were on the field.

20.   Redskins: Good news: Rams come to town next week.

21.   49ers:  Singletary’s Niners stop the Cardinals on 4^th down to get a nice rivalry win on the road in the desert despite only 21 yards on the ground.

22.   Cardinals:  Fitzgerald beat the Madden Curse in Week 1, and the defense stuffed the Niners for most of the game, but Tim Hightower should not be the leading receiver if they expect to win.

23.   Bills:  Trent Edwards and Fred Jackson looked good and the defense did its job for 57 minutes, but you didn’t actually think that the Bills would win Week 1 in New England, did you? 

24.   Bengals: That will be one of the most heart-breaking losses of the season.  But until that last play, the defense got a great start to the season.

25.   Panthers: Jake Delhomme picked up right where he left off, a miserable performance at home.  And then losing backup Josh McCown spells bigger trouble for the Panthers this season.  They should still be around .500 with their power running game.

Bottom Feeders 

26.   Raiders:  Played hard and should have come away with a win, which makes their 11^th straight loss on prime time TV all the more painful.

27.   Jaguars:  They hung tough in Indy, but the Jags just aren’t a playoff team.

28.   Dolphins: The team looked more like the 1-15 team from 2007 than the team that protected the ball so well last year. 

29.   Browns:  Brady Quinn had the biggest blooper of the week.   Cribb’s return was a real nice play.

30a.  Chiefs:  If they want to win a game this year the defense better show up.  The Ravens marched up and down the field at will.

30b.  Lions: Now that the Lions D got torched in the air, they get a visit from Adrian Peterson next week.

32c.  Rams:  Steve Spagnuolo is gonna regret leaving the Giants.

Exciting Things Coming Up Next Week:

Giants @ Dallas

Ravens @ San Diego

Saints @ Philadelphia

Seahawks @ San Francisco

Patriots @ New York Jets

Grand slams:  My favorite story is all about Manny Being Manny.  On Manny Bobblehead Night in LA last Wednesday, Manny was hurt and not in the lineup.  But with bases loaded in a 2-2 tie in the 6th inning Joe Torre called Ramirez up as a pinch hitter, and he hit the first pitch he saw for a grand slam home run and they won 6-2.
Yesterday, National hitter Josh Willingham hit two grand slams in the same game.
Soriano hit a walk-off grand slam in the 13th inning for the Cubs in a division rivalry game against the Astros. 
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Fernando Tatis hit a game-winning pinch hit grand slam to help the Mets defeat the Rockies.  If I’m not mistaken, Tatis also hit two grand slams in the same game (same inning even maybe?) earlier in his career.

Streaking:  Look out, all you haters.  The Yankees have won 23 of their last 29 games and now have the best record in the American League.  The starting pitching has been outstanding, and they now have a super-solid bullpen with Rivera, Hughes, Aceves, and Phil Coke. 
The Phillies are on a roll, winning 18 of their last 21.
The Angels had won 15 of 18 before losing two this week.
The Cubs have won 9 of 11 and jumped into first place.
Meanwhile, the Padres are 4-20 in July and the once-promising Royals have lost 17 of their last 23.

Smoltz not being Smoltz:  The Red Sox picked up dinosaur John Smoltz in an effort to give them a boost for the second half of the season.  He has started six games, against the last place Nationals, Orioles  (twice), A’s, Royals, as well as the Rangers.  The Red Sox have lost 5 of his 6 games, only winning the KC game after scoring 15 runs, and have dropped out of first place. I don’t think this is what they had in mind.  Meanwhile, he’s up against Baltimore for the third time this Friday.

Other quirky moments from the last couple weeks:

• Alan Embree of the Rockies got credit for a win without throwing a pitch.
• Joel Hanrahan got his first win of the season Thursday for the Nationals, even though he was at home as a member of the Pirates.
• John Smoltz’ first 3 starts this season were against last place Washington, Oakland, and Baltimore, going 0-2 with a 6.60 ERA.  His big stride on Saturday came against the Kansas City Royals. 
• Baltimore comes back from down 9 runs to beat the Red Sox 11-10.   The next day, Boston came back from 4 runs down to win 6-5.
• The Cardinals began an inning with the first 5 batters getting a single, double, triple, home run, and walk (not in that order, mind you). The next batter also singled.
• From the beginning of June through July 7, the Mets went 11-22, scoring one or fewer runs 13 times. Meanwhile, the other team from New York City went 13-2 from June 24-July 9. 
• It’s tough being in the AL East: Toronto lost 10 out of 13 in their recent stretch against the Yankees, Rays, and Orioles to drop 2 games under .500.
• The Angels swept the Yankees in Anaheim even though they were without their entire starting outfield.  On their recent home stretch, they fell behind by 4+ seven times and won four of those games.
• Last Saturday, Robinson Cano or Brett Gardner ended the first 9 innings for the Yankees.
• Jason Bay got on base 5 times on Sunday without a hit.
• Joe Mauer finished the first half going 0-9 in his last two games, lowering his average to .373.
• Michael Bourn of the Astros had 8 hits over the last week and scored 10 runs. 

With the announcement of the All Star Game starting lineups for baseball every year there is plenty of opportunity for criticism and reflection.  They have been tinkering with the system for a while and it’s kinda fun to watch the league’s attempts at helping the game be more enjoyable for everybody.  I can’t sleep right now, so here are my thoughts.

It appears that the overall focus of the game is to be for the fan. One of the first rules of the All Star game is that fans vote on the starting lineups.  This makes some people a little nervous as there is the potential for 7 Red Sox to get voted in to start, but overall the “fans” did a pretty good job picking this year.  All of the AL and NL spots lead their positions in some, if not most stats, except last year’s Derby hero Josh Hamilton and reigning MVP Dustin Pedroia. 

The next rule of the game is that each team gets an All Star representative.  This is an interesting rule with lots of opinions on both side.  This means that some undeserving players will get in instead of some more-deserving players.  But it also guarantees even those die-hard fans in Pittsburgh, Oakland, and Kansas City that their favorite player will at least get a chance to pinch-run and therefore the game is worth-watching.  This year that group includes Oakland’s closer Andrew Bailey, Oriole outfielder Adam (not-pacman) Jones, Reds’ closer Francisco Cordero, Cub hurler Ted Lilly, Astro SS Miguel Tejada, Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman, and Pirate Freddy Sanchez. 

The newest thing is that fans get to vote for the last roster spot.  This tries to rectify one snub but usually results in a dumb pick.  Those “last chance candidates” are all very deserving this year, so it’s a shame 8 out of 10 of them won’t make it. 

(Rant time:)  The next thing is that the players (coaches too?) vote on next players and the coach completes the roster.  Here’s where the arguments come.  Why is Ryan Howard on the team as a 4th first baseman while Mark Reynolds (has more homers, runs, batting average, stolen bases, and is about equal in RBI as Howard) and Kung Fu Panda Pablo Sandoval are not, leaving just two third basemen on the team?  Where the heck is Ian Kinsler?  He’s got 20/17 HR/SB, 60/54 R/RBI (Pedroia’s sporting a 3/14 60/37).   Where is Miguel Cabrera, hitting .323 with 17 home runs?  And even catcher Benji Molina leads the other Molina and McCann in homers, runs, RBI and will be watching at home.  What about Brewer ace Yovani Gallardo has more strikeouts, lower ERA, lower WHIP and better winning percentage than Johan Santana, and strikeout, ERA, and WHIP advantages over All Stars Chad Billingsley and Jason Marquis, too.   Not to mention that he’s had a tough job replacing C.C. Sabathia, keeing the Brewers around the top of the NL Central.  And Josh Hamilton’s spot keeps out Shin-Soo Choo and Jermaine Dye, who are having a great first half of the season.

One of the other changes they have made to the game recently is to make it meaningful as the winning league gets home-field advantage in the World Series.  The game is more interesting to watch because it’s important.  I don’t know why it was changed and a lot of people think an exhibition game for fun shouldn’t have significance but hey, AL has won 12 years in a row and Phillies still won the World Series last year without homefield advantage so I don’t think it matters much.  And it definitely makes the game more intriguing.

Last rant:  it’s time to change the Home Run Derby.  Lots of players have fizzled out after their power display (i.e. Bobby Abreu and Josh Hamilton) and the steroid scandal has weakened the significance of the long bomb.  Why not throw in some new Skill Challenges, like a race around the bases, throwing hit the targets from the outfield, outfield wall vertical leap contest, or something else of the sort?  The Home Run Derby is boring.  Keep it, but not every single year. 

The greatest team ever was the 1998 New York Yankees, a team that won 114 games and then the World Series.  And who was on this team, A-Rod, Griffey, Bonds, Giambi, Canseco, Bagwell, Pujols?  No!  It was made of guys like Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblach, Chad Curtis, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter.  You need winners, teammates, role-players and smart baseball; you don’t need an All-Star team to win games.  (Look at the Cowboys, Redskins, Angels with Mo Vaughn, Mets, and Yankees of the last decade.)

Anyway, mlb.com reports that Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi says that the Jays are open to trade offers for Roy Halladay. “I’m not saying we’re going to shop him,  But… we’re [leaning] more toward listening than we’ve ever been.”  Doc Halladay will be a free agent after 2010, so the Jays have a little time to get something for him before he’s gone.  This is music to my ears!  Roy is no spring chicken, he is 32 years old, but this is a guy who has had an ERA under 3.30 in 7 of the last 9 seasons in the AL East and is getting better each year.  He’ll be just 33 at the end of the contract so the Yankees wouldn’t be investing $150M for a guy who will cash his checks when he’s 40.  Throw in Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, Melky, A-Rod (they would love him in Toronto haha), Kei Igawa, Chien-Ming Wang, or anybody else.  How much is two World Series worth? 

Sure, the Blue Jays sure don’t want to help Boston or New York and will try to avoid helping their rivals but hey: who needs him, who has the money, and who would give Roy the best chance to win?  He has the no-trade clause that he would have to be willing to waive so he won’t be going to San Diego or Pittsburgh. 

The point is: other than like Giant’s Tim Lincecum, there is no pitcher I’d rather have on my team for the next two seasons than Roy Halladay.

In case you missed, it was an interesting week in trades as LeBron got a new teammate in Shaq, Vince Carter is now with Dwight Howard in Orlando, Richard Jefferson is now with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, and playoff hero Hedo Turkoglu opts out of his contract to become a free agent.  There could be a lot of teams changing faces as the list of other unrestricted free agents include Jason Kidd, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson, Ben Gordon and some guy named Kobe Bryant.
 
The NBA draft also happened last week.  #1 pick Blake Griffin is a Clipper (who lost the last game of the regular season at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 41).  Have fun.  The Clippers may be better with a lineup including Griffin, Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, Al Thornton and Zach Randolph, but it won’t matter in the West.

Memphis Grizzlies are also stacking up young talent as they get 7-3 center Hasheem Thabeet of UConn, Mizzou’s DeMarre Carroll and Sam Young from Pitt to go along with OJ Mayo and Mike Conley.  Give them a couple years and they will be making noise in the Western Conference.

Baseball is a funny game: The Yankees finished the sweep of the weekend Subway Series with a 4-2 win on the other side of town tonight.  Chien-Ming Wang got his first win (1-6) and almost lowered his ERA below 10 (10.06).  Robinson Cano had a night to forget.  He came up with 9 men on base and went 0-4 hitting into a fielder’s choice out, caught stealing, grounding into double play, another double play with the bases loaded, and grounding out with the bases loaded.  In the 9th inning with two on and two out in a 3-2 game, Mets’ closer KRod intentionally walked Jeter to load the bases and then walked Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera to force in a run.  Mariano earned his 500th career save, becoming only the 2nd pitcher to reach that, and with the walk notched his first-career RBI.

Mile-high month:  Since the Colorado Rockies fired head coach Clint Hurdle on May 29 they have been on fire.  Jim Tracy’s Rockies have gone 22-7, including winning 20 of their last 23 games.  Aaron Cook has won five straight starts.  They will have to have a hot-hot June and July if they want to catch the first-place Dodgers who are still 7.5 games ahead and get Manny back next week.

Playing catch-up: Tampa Bay Rays are also storming back into the scene with a 17-7 June.  The combination of Carl Crawford and BJ Upton have 67 stolen bases, which is more than all but 2 teams in all of baseball.

Madduz, Smoltz, and Glavine who?  Braves’ rookie Tommy Hanson has 3 straight shutouts against the Red Sox, Yankees, and at Cincinnati.  For his young career now he’s thrown 29 innings, but he hasn’t given up a run in his last 19 2/3 innings. 

Medic?  Mets are struggling to stay afloat, with Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Delgado all on the DL (Alex Cora, Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy are not exactly helpful fill-ins), as well and John Maine, Oliver Perez and reliever JJ Putz.  Yet the Phillies aren’t taking advantage as they recently lost 11 of 13.

Roy-al relief:  The Blue Jays have 6 starting pitchers on the disabled list.  Their starting rotation this week included Richmond, Romero, Tallet, Mills, and Cecil, not exactly what fans and management had in mind.  Roy Halladay makes his first start since getting hurt, on Monday, where he goes for league-lead win #11. 

A little help would be nice:  Cardinal’s pitcher Joel Pineiro started the season 4-0.  Since then, he’s 2-9.  Pineiro, Doug Davis, and Javier Vazquez have ERA’s below 3.50 but have a combined  W/L record of 13-24.  Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield and Kevin Slowey each have 10 wins and ERAs of 4.18 and 4.41.

Guess who:  Ichiro is up to .372, 30 points higher than the next guy, Met David Wright.

It’s been 6 weeks without a baseball update.  Lots has happened.  Remember when the Royals and the Marlins were on a roll?  Last time I was ready to concede defeat for the Yankees on the season and consider the possibility that maybe my team will be long gone come October.

Finding creative ways to lose:  June 13: After David Wright hit a go-ahead double off Mariano Rivera, the Yankees were trailing the Mets 8-7 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning and Alex Rodriguez slammed his bat after hitting a game-ending pop-up to second base.  But wait, 3-time Gold Glove winner Luis Castillo missed the ball, bouncing it off his glove in Bill Buckner fashion, allowing two runs to score.  Instead of winning by a run, the Mets lost by a run.  This was not the Mets’ first experience like this.  They lost to Florida on April 12 when left fielder Daniel Murphy dropped Cody Ross’ fly ball. And on May 18 they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers after Ryan Church missed third base en route to not scoring the go-ahead run in the 11th inning. 

More from: Usually you would relax a little knowing your ace Johan Santana is on the mound.  Two days later the Yankees knocked around the great pitcher for 9 runs in 3 innings, on their way to a 15-0 drubbing of the cross-city rivals.  This came five days after Santana gave up 4 home runs in a game against the division rival Phillies (which the Mets were fortunate enough to win).

Top of the Standings: The top winning percentages currently belong to the Manny-less Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees and Tigers.

Remembering the name on the front of the jersey: After starting 18-11, the Royals have gone 11-28 since May 8.

Lopsided rivalry:  Red Sox are 7-0 against the Yankees this season. 

Time for streaking:  The Padres won 10 in a row in May to become 24-22.  Oh, how long ago that was.  6-18 since.  Meanwhile, the Rockies are on fire right now, winning 15 of their last 16 games after starting 20-32.

Still king of the hill:  Reigning MVP Albert Pujols leads the major leagues in home runs, runs batted in, runs scored, on-base-percentage, and slugging percentage.  He almost has as many home runs (26) as strikeouts (27).   Contrast that with Chris Davis (13 HR-101 SO) or BJ Upton (5-79). 

Mr. Consistent: Ichiro has 96 hits in 61 games, which is on pace for 254 hits over a 162 game season, his second most (he has missed 8 of the Mariner’s games, so his actual pace is a little lower, 240).

Mr. Dependable:  Dan Haren has 13 quality starts in 14 total starts. 

What injury?:  Joe Mauer went 0-4 on Sunday to lower his batting average all the way down to .407.  He has 14 homers since his first game on May 1, already a career high (set in just 45 games played). 

Anyway, I thought I was sick of school but after five years I’ve decided to do another couple years here in beautiful New England (Hartford, CT).  Meanwhile, I’m working with my dad in Vermont where I can listen to the Yankees on the radio every night while my dad walks around with headphones listening to the Red Sox.  I’m looking forward to getting to new Yankees Stadium this summer and in September.

So nothing exciting here, but just an update with more to come.

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I’m no purist.  I still love Manny Ramirez.  It sucks that he will be gone for a couple months.  Frankly, I don’t think any less of him, I still cheer for him, and I look forward to seeing him on the field again in Dodger Blue. 

Coming back the other way: One man who never tested positive but admitted to using steroids is back at third base for the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez.  He came back with a bang, hitting a 3-run home run on the first pitch he saw, helping the Yankees win 4-0 on Friday.  I’m cheering for him.  By the way, in his absence over the first 5+ weeks of the season, his replacements at third base hit a combined zero home runs.

Streaking: Washington Nationals’ third baseman is halfway to DiMaggio.  Ryan Zimmerman has a 28-game hitting streak.  Nick Johnson, Cristian Guzman, and Adam Dunn are all also hitting well above .300 (Dunn has 11 home runs to go along).  The pitching is showing signs of life too, Shairon Martis is 4-0, and the Nationals are 9-9 since starting the year 1-10. 

More streaking: Boston Red Sox tied a record in their game Thursday night against the Indians by scoring 12 runs in an inning before making an out!  So much for the misnomer “relief pitcher.”  Meanwhile, guess who’s in last place in the American League?  That would be the underachieving Cleveland Indians.

Can I get a little help?:  Zach Greinke received his first loss of the season, losing 1-0 to Joe Saunders and the Angels on Saturday.  That one earned run in 8 innings raised his ERA all the way to 0.51.  Mark Buehrle is still undefeated at 5-0, and Met Mike Pelfrey is 4-0.  Johan Santana also has a sub-1.00 ERA (0.91). 

Catch me if you can: Carl Crawford stole his 22nd base on Sunday.  That personal total is more than 20 other teams!!

Speaking of…: Crawford and Longoria went back to back against Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning Thursday to beat the Yankees 8-6.  That was the first time Rivera allowed back-to-back bombs in 863 games.

Tough breaks: Yankee All-Star catcher Jorge Posada went on the DL Tuesday.  Three days later, their other catcher Jose Molina went on the DL.  I wonder if they’ll throw Nick Swisher back behind the plate anytime soon.

Falling back to reality: The Mariners 6-game losing streak brings them back to .500 after their hot start.  San Diego Padres have lost 16 of their last 20 games.  Pittsburgh Pirates have lost 12 of their last 13. 

New faces, same result: Oakland Athletics made a lot of noise in the offseason by adding Matt Holliday, Orlando Cabrera and Jason Giambi.  Those three are hitting, respectively, .226, .223, and .208.  That helps the A’s hold down the basement of the West. 

First to get canned: Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin is the first manager of the year to get fired.  Diamondbacks are last in the league with a .234 team batting average.