Were you ready for some football? I’m not sure I have been. The Eagles’ Donovan McNabb completed all three of his passes (29 yards) while leading Philadelphia on a 61-yard scoring drive on the team’s (and McNabb’s only) first possession of the game. After that, the Eagles’ only touchdown came on a Hall of Fame-record 55-yard field goal by David Akers.
My bye for Monday is Cin Reds over StL Cards at 7:10 ET. Coming off a 3-1 weekend in MLB, I open the new week with a Technical Insider (backed by two 73% winning trends) plus a 15* AL Championship Series rematch at the Angels /White Sox on ESPN.
The entire backup team contributed, as quarterbacks Garcia and Chang each threw an interception, and Detmer fumbled. RB Bruce Perry lost two fumbles, giving Philly five turnovers in the game. The Raiders were slightly better, losing just two turnovers and missing the snap on a short field goal attempt. Speaking of FG, Janikowski hit two long shots for the Raiders, from 50 and 51 yards. Oh yeah, the final was Oakland 16-10 over Philadelphia.
USA Today published the preseason coaches’ poll last Friday and Ohio State will open the 2006 season as the No. 1 team in the nation. However, unlike last year when USC got all but two of the first-place votes, the top six teams received at least one first-place vote, the most since 2001 when nine schools got at least one vote. Ohio State garnered 28 No. 1 votes and defending champion Texas will open as the No. 2 team in the nation, with 11 first-place votes.
Notre Dame (nine votes) and USC (one) finished tied for third place and Oklahoma finished fifth. The Sooners actually received the second-most first-place votes (13) of any team, but of course the poll was taken before the team’s starting quarterback Rhett Bomar was suspended. Of interest is the wide discrepancy in opinion about the Sooners this year, as they garnered votes from No. 1 to No. 22. Auburn, which opens at No. 6, was the only other school to receive a node in the first place.
The SEC claimed the most teams in the top 25 with six, while the ACC, Big-10 and Big-12 all claimed four spots. The Pac-10 had three, the Big East had two, the MWC had one (TCU), and of course No. 3 Notre Dame plays by its own rules (one could consider the Irish independents or members of the Conference!) -NBC!). By the way, the last time ND was ranked this high in preseason was 1992 (it opened unranked last year).
No. 23 Tennessee, which finished 5-6 last year, is the only ranked team to have a losing record in 2005. No. 15 Michigan and No. 17 Iowa went 7-5 last year and join the Vols as the only schools in this year’s preseason poll that have not been ranked in the final 2005 coaches’ poll. Teams that finished in the final top 25 last year but were not in the top This year’s survey includes UCLA (which finished 13th last year), Wisconsin (15) and Boston College (17).
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Go imagine the Dodgers! They opened the second half in MLB losing 13 of 14 games after the break. During that streak, they were outscored 81-29 with a team batting average of .222 and a team ERA of 5.41. So who is the hottest team in MLB at the start of the new week? The Dodgers, of course. They have rallied to win nine straight games entering Monday’s game, outscoring opponents 65-23 while batting .310 and posting a 2.55 team ERA!
Elias reports that the Dodgers have now won nine straight, a streak that began after losing eight in a row. They are the sixth team in major league history to lose at least eight straight games and are immediately following a winning streak of at least eight games. The others: the 1931 Cubs, the 1949 Red Sox, the 1965 Pirates, the 1985 Twins and the 2001 Cubs.
The Dodgers’ starting pitcher had a win in each of the team’s last six games and all six games were on the road. In the past 10 years, only one major league team has had a longer such streak. Seattle won eight straight games, all away from home, with a starting pitcher getting the win each time in 2003.
The Cardinals rode a seven-game losing streak in weekend action, but after losing to the Brewers 4-3 on Friday, they won on both Saturday and Sunday. The team’s eight game losing streak was their second eight game losing streak of the season and that hadn’t happened since 1983! The Blue Jays ended their seven-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over the White Sox on Sunday.
Of note in that game was the losing pitcher, José Contreras. It’s Contreras’ fourth loss since July 14, the day he ended his 17-game winning streak, tied for the most losses by any pitcher in the majors during that stretch. The longest active losing streak in MLB, now that they have won St Louis and Toronto, currently belongs to the Royals (four games). I guess that’s fitting, since KC also owns the worst overall record in the MLB, at 38-73.
Monday’s MLB schedule features a relatively light nine-game undercard, including the Angels and White Sox forming a rainout from May 11 at 7:05 ET tonight in Chicago on ESPN. Of course, these teams met in last year’s American League Championship Series with the White Sox winning four straight games (all complete games) after the Angels opened with a 3-2 win in Game 1.
It’s hard to believe they’ll be a complete game tonight, either starting pitcher. The Angels send Kelvim Escobar to the mound and he is 1-9 with a 6.21 ERA in his career against the White Sox in 18 appearances. That includes going 0-7 in nine starts with a 5.64 ERA. As for Chicago’s Mark Buehrle, the former staff ace is 0-5 with a 9.92 ERA in his last six starts!
Speaking of rematches, the Twins open a three-game series tonight in Detroit vs. the Tigers. Detroit was able to win two of three at Minnesota from July 28-30 and has now won nine of 12 meetings this year between the two teams. Tonight’s pitching matchup features two rookies, the Twins’ Francisco Liriano (12-2, 1.96) and the Tigers’ Zack Miner (6-2, 4.03). These guys connected on July 28, in a game the Tigers won 3-2 (10 innings).
Liriano allowed only three hits and two runs in that game in eight innings (12 Ks), while Miner allowed four hits and two runs in six innings. Liriano hasn’t thrown since then (left forearm?) and it will be interesting how he does it. As for Miner, the Tigers are 8-3 in his 11 starts this year, but his last win was on July 16 and in his last four starts he has a 7.36 ERA.
Ness Notes is available Monday through Friday at 1:00 ET.
