As for the offense? I don’t know what to expect, but with the help of a defensive score, I see the Cowboys winning, 24-20.
Chiefs prepare for stationary Bledsoe ….
The Chiefs have generally fared well against pocket passers who are one-dimensional. They had plenty of success in recent games against players such as Miami’s Gus Frerotte, Oakland’s Kerry Collins, Houston’s David Carr and New England’s Tom Brady.
Scramblers such as Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb, Denver’s Jake Plummer and Washington’s Mark Brunell have given the Chiefs fits.
The Chiefs will see Dallas’ Drew Bledsoe in Sunday’s game at Texas Stadium, and there is no quarterback who is more of a classic pocket passer. Bledsoe still has a big arm and, when given time, can still pick apart a defense.
But he makes few plays after the pocket breaks down, something the Chiefs intend to make happen early and often Sunday.
Mike Young doesn’t seem impressed …
Did the trade disappoint Young, who is the team leader?
"I don't know what to think," he replied. "We have always been an offense-first organization. I guess this is more of that. But we certainly know what has to be done for us to be a better team."
Lebreton likes the swap …
Wilkerson has a career on-base percentage of .365. He strikes out a lot, but he usually walks more than 90 times per season. Batting first in the Rangers' order, he'll probably score 125 runs.
Soriano's career on-base percentage, on the other hand, is .320. Yes, he drove in 104 runs last season, but lots of guys, batting fifth in the Rangers order, would have driven in a lot of runs.
Soriano's true reliability to the Rangers could be neatly summed by two numbers: .236, his batting average with runners in scoring position, and .183, the same average when two were out.
As much as anyone, Soriano benefited by playing in Arlington. He batted .315 at home and only .224 on the road.
Meanwhile, Sori has no intention of playing in the outfield …What a guy!!!
"I have the same position [on moving] as I always had when I was with Texas," Soriano said. "I said that I'm not going to change from second base."
That was a point of contention with Texas, which wanted Soriano to consider playing shortstop or the outfield when he was acquired for American League Most Valuable Player Alex Rodriguez in February 2003. But Soriano was adamant about playing second base, and Michael Young moved to shortstop.
Soriano's unwillingness to change positions hurt his trade value. So did the fact he could earn $10 million through salary arbitration and will be a free agent next winter.
The Nationals are believed to want Soriano, considered a mediocre defender, to play left field or center field if their three-time All-Star second baseman, Jose Vidro, is healthy. Vidro has battled knee problems for two years.
Soriano said he had not spoken with anyone from the Nationals, but he doubts they want him to move positions. Said Soriano: "I think that if they traded for me, it's to play second base."
Asked if he would use any control he might have to prevent a position switch, Soriano said: "Obviously, I have the control. Of course I'm not going to play the outfield."
Rangers proceed to chase Matt Morris …
The Rangers saved about $5 million by agreeing to trade second baseman Alfonso Soriano to Washington on Wednesday night.
The savings is burning a hole right through their pocket.
In an effort to land a legitimate free-agent starter, the club on Thursday upped its most recent offer to Matt Morris, general manager Jon Daniels confirmed. The offer is worth about $25 million for three years, according to a source close to the negotiations.
Rangers assure us they plan on getting pitching …
ABC back in the Nascar game in 2007 and beyond …
By popular demand by blog readers, coverage of the ManU failing in Europe ….Could someone remind me what they have won since Sir Alex through a boot at Beckham’s head? I guess it was all Becks fault. Things have really improved since you got rid of that cancer…
United's season so far appears to have lurched from one setback to another.
The latest disaster to hit the club was Wednesday's defeat in Benfica, which not only dumped them out of the Champions League but left them without any European action at all for the remainder of the campaign.
It was a result which has heaped the pressure on Sir Alex Ferguson ahead of Sunday's Premiership encounter with Everton, with many pundits believing it is now time his 19-year Red Devils reign came to an end.
The Glazer family have insisted there is no panic, despite the loss of up to £15million in prize money if United had emulated Liverpool's achievement of last season by winning the trophy in Paris next May.
Speaking of soccer, the fighting SMU Mustangs are in the soccer final 4 ….Beat those Terps!
Some days you get nothing from Sports from me. This is one of those days.
15 comments:
Pretty weak effort Bob! But then again it is your BLOG.
tvb
This is a killer game Sunday..
You win, everything is moving forward to the playoffs. You lose, the season and the Cowboys are dead.
Having said that, we have had too many good moments this year with this team to end this now...
Cowboys win: 20-13
By the way, a Mavs quickhit for you.. ESPN has called this team the "surprise team" of the year so far. I agree. This team has done this without the Stack and with injuries all over the place. I know it's early, but.. Could we be looking at the beginning to the re-emerging of this franchise as a solid defensive team? Are you kidding me!!! DEFENSE AND MAVS IN THE SAME SENTENCE! and a contender for a good 3-5 years in the West by Avery? Look at who we are playing with in this conference, San Antonio (enough said), Houston (underachieving and overrated), Pheonix (Basically the Nellie Mavs on Cocaine and without Stoudamire), Denver (solid, but are they better than Dallas.. no), and everybody else.
Call me in May about the Mavs, but right now I am impressed!!
Bob,
Huge game Sunday, and I'm with you Bob, the Cowboys will find a way to win b/c they absolutely have to....
Thanks for the SMU mention.
I don't think this is a real "Survivor" story if I just ask it this way: Isn't giving up the car last night pretty much a no-brainer? I absolutely would've given up the car in that situation without a moment's hesitation. And not because it was a Pontiac, though that would've helped my decision.
He "through" a boot?
Maybe that's Wisconsinin for "threw".
I agree with your Mavs analysis, Andy. Their defense has been a welcome Christmas present, and, as we all know, Christmas comes but once a year.
The biggest NCAA basketball game of the year is coming up tomorrow, pitting 2 storied universities against each other in a #1 v #2 matchup, but no mention by Sturm. Meanwhile there's a mention of SMU soccer???
World Cup Final Draw
group a
germany
costa rica
poland
ecuador
group b
england
paraguay
trinidad & tobago
sweden
group c
argentina
cote d'ivoire
serbia and montenegro
holland
group d
mexico
iran
angola
portugal
group e
italy
ghana
u.s.a.
czech republic
group f
brazil
croatia
australia
japan
group g
france
switzerland
korea republic
togo
group h
spain
ukraine
tunisia
saudi arabia
group c is looking really tough, d is pretty weak....the u.s. got a freaking tough draw....
I also agree with the Mavs assessment. I was not very hopeful in the off season with an Avery team. But good defense has really given the Mavs more a feeling by fans and critics of a team in contention. I just hope they improve their offense some. Their offense looks very simple and too Dirk dependent. Devin has been playing better but when he throws the ball out of bounds, it makes me long for the Nash days. But you know, Nash's numbers were not that flashy until his 5th year in the league and his third with the Mavs. So Devin could have potential to be even better. Nellie shaped Nash into a great point guard. Can Avery do the same with Devin?
Disco
Tough draw for the USA, Hope we do good..
As for A Man U fan, I can not believe what I have seen, I fear that it will only get worse. And David was a cancer because why, Sir Alex...
oh well, baseball seaseon starts in a few months... hello Yankees.
"Out of the running" for Matt Morris?? Well that's a relief. At least they tried, right?
"The biggest NCAA basketball game of the year is coming up tomorrow, pitting 2 storied universities against each other in a #1 v #2 matchup, but no mention by Sturm."
There's a reason: 97-66 = overrated. Nice to see the "#2" Whorns girls team get pantsed on national tv by a real basketball team. Maybe now we can put to rest this tired head talk of t.u. stringing together championships in all 3 sports. You t-sips will just have to settle for last year's baseball win.
"Bob, no love for the nation's top quaterback and college football's best player? Did anybody catch who won those by the way?"
Yeah, the guy who lost the Heisman by the 2nd largest margin in history. Boo hoo.
Meanwhile, let's all watch out for that great basketball powerhouse down in College Station.
Please Aggie fans, for your own good, establish an identity outside of envying Texas. You can start by giving up on sawing the horns off Bevo and concentrating on sawing the claws off that Baylor bear.
For all it's "tradition," Aggie football has produced as many national titles and Heisman winners as TCU and is about as relevant in any national discussion as ACU.
By the way, "last year's baseball win" is one more title than the Aggies have produced in any team sport since the 1930's. If only the Aggies could come up with a way to harness the power of all that repressed homosexuality on campus and redirect it to the athletic department...
"If only the Aggies could come up with a way to harness the power of all that repressed homosexuality on campus and redirect it to the athletic department..."
That was funny!
Hey, don't through ACU in with A&M, may I remind you of Wilbert & Cle Montgomery!!!
ACU is also a national powerhouse in Track & Field and since Bob loves talking about the sparest of sports, I think BaD should do a couple of segments about the ACU track program.
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