Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1066 of 1503)

      Cliff Lee wins AL Cy Young Award

      November 13, 2008 /

      Besides from the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series or the Tampa Bay Rays having the best season in the history of their franchise, one of the best stories from the 2008 MLB Season was Cliff Lee, who won the American League Cy Young Award on Thursday.

      Cliff LeeCliff Lee is a runaway winner for the American League Cy Young Award, capping a dominant comeback season that made him the second consecutive Cleveland Indians lefty to earn the honor.

      Demoted to the minors last year, Lee went a major league-best 22-3 this season with a 2.54 ERA. He received 24 of 28 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Thursday.

      Toronto ace Roy Halladay finished second with four first-place votes and 71 points.
      Lee became the third Indians pitcher to win the award, following Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in 1972 and CC Sabathia last year.

      Good to see Lee, and Giants’ youngster Tim Lincecum claim their respective league’s Cy Young awards this season. Both played on below average teams this season and still had tremendous success. When they pitched, their hapless teams won – and often because of them.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Should Jaguars have kept Coughlin?

      November 13, 2008 /

      Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel.com writes that the Jaguars should have kept head coach Tom Coughlin.

      Tom CoughlinCoughlin, fired by the Jags in 2003, coached the New York Giants to the Super Bowl title last season and is the prohibitive favorite to win yet another championship this season. If Coughlin wins his second Super Bowl, he is almost a shoo-in to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

      The reason we bring this up is because — with the struggling Jaguars (4-5) hosting Fisher’s unbeaten Tennessee Titans (9-0) Sunday — it’s hard not to play the what-if card. What if Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver had stuck by Coughlin like Titans owner Bud Adams stuck by Fisher? Isn’t it possible the Jags would be Super Bowl contenders today instead of one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL?

      This is no knock on current Jaguars Coach Jack Del Rio. He was a decent hire and has taken the Jaguars to a couple of playoff appearances in his six years as head coach. But he’s certainly no Coughlin. In the NFL coaching hierarchy, Coughlin is Casablanca; Del Rio is the ABC Movie of the Week.

      In this day and age, we all want to change coaches like we’re changing rolls of toilet paper. Use ’em, flush ’em and move on to the next one.

      It’s a little easy to suggest that the Jags should have kept Coughlin when he’s currently sporting a Super Bowl ring and Jacksonville has vastly underachieved under Jack Del Rio this season. Just because Coughlin won a title in New York, doesn’t mean that he would have won one in Jacksonville. Sometimes it’s time for a team or coach to move on.

      NFL

      Do or die for the Jets Thursday in Foxboro?

      November 13, 2008 /

      Eric Mangini/Bill BelichickWeek 11 in the NFL kicks off Thursday night with a matchup between the Jets and the Patriots that could determine which team wins the AFC East. Both teams currently sit at 6-3, but New England holds the head-to-head advantage after beating the Jets 19-10 in Week 2.

      Many are deeming this a must win for the Jets and given the circumstances, that’s hard to argue. Teams that can’t win in their own division are usually the ones looking from the outside in come playoff time. And with the Jets losing to the Pats earlier this season, there’s even more onus on victory tonight.

      Unfortunately for the Jets, they’re going to see a very different Matt Cassel than they did in Week 2. Even though he led his team to victory, Cassel wasn’t asked to do too much in the offense when he first took over for Tom Brady earlier this season. But over the past month, Cassel has given Bill Belichick reason to believe he can open up the passing game more, which even means running the no-huddle at various points during games.

      Of course, this matchup always has an added dynamic to it considering Belichick would rather piss glass than lose to Eric Mangini. And it’s about time Mangini puts a great game plan together and finally knock off Belichick on a national stage. Even though they’re currently 6-3, the Pats are down this year and Mangini needs to take advantage of the situation. It might be dramatic to suggest this, but Thursday night might be now or never for Mangini to finally put the screws to his old boss and claim the division.

      Tonight should be interesting. Jet Favre is playing better than he did a couple weeks ago when he was turning the ball over like candy on Halloween and the NY defense has been very opportunistic lately. Both of these teams are playing vastly different than they did in Week 2 and it should be a great battle for those 34 people who have the NFL Network.

      NFL

      10 Best and Worst NFL Coaches

      November 13, 2008 /

      Jason Whitlock of FOX Sports.com ranked the 10 current best and worst NFL head coaches. His list for top 10 worst had some intriguing names.

      Top 10 Worst:

      Andy Reid1. Eagles Andy Reid: Twice this season Reid has taken the game out of the hands of Donovan McNabb and tried to win at crunch time with his running game. Here’s a coach who loves to throw on damn near every down except when the game is on the line. I also blame Reid for the Eagles failing to trade a second-round draft pick for Tony Gonzalez. Other than the one season with Terrell Owens, McNabb has made a living throwing the ball to the James Thrashes of the world. It’s ridiculous. I’m convinced the Eagles don’t want to win it all.

      6. Packers Mike McCarthy: With Brett Favre at the helm, the Packers were one play from the Super Bowl. With Favre run off to New York, the Packers are 4-5 and in jeopardy of missing the playoffs. You have to blame McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson for Favre’s absence. Aaron Rodgers has been pretty damn good. He’s not the problem. Apparently he’s not the answer either. McCarthy wanted to be the big hero for letting Favre go, well now McCarthy and Thompson look like fools.

      7. 49ers Mike Singletary: The end of the “Monday Night Football” contest against the Cardinals is all the evidence you need to understand why I wanted Singletary to pass on the San Francisco job. Singletary has a chance to be a great NFL coach. Unfortunately, he took a head-coaching job before he was ready. Singletary can’t manage the clock. All the whining about the refs spotting the ball wrong or too quickly just points to Singletary’s inexperience and the folly of having Mike Martz as an unsupervised offensive coordinator.

      10. Saints Sean Payton: Someone has to take the blame for New Orleans’ 4-5 record. I don’t have a real problem with Payton. It’s impossible to win in the Big Easy. There are just too many distractions in NO to build a successful football franchise.

      Whether you like Whitlock or not (I can take or leave him), you have to appreciate how he didn’t just rank his top 10 worst head coaches because they were on the hot seat or list the ones that have terrible teams. As much as Singletary deserves a shot to be a head coach, he and Martz screwed the pooch on Monday night and deserve to be called out for it. And while criticizing Reid is nothing new for the media, Whitlock has some balls ranking him as the worst coach in the league, especially considering the Eagles could still viably make the playoffs this season.

      I don’t know if it’s fair of Whitlock to say that Aaron Rodgers isn’t the answer though. Remember, it’s only his first year as a starter and he’s been phenomenal.

      NFL

      Yankees ready to dole out big to CC Sabathia

      November 13, 2008 /

      Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes what we already know:

      CC SabathiaThe Yanks can begin revealing that answer as today turns to Friday at 12:01 a.m. It has not been the Yanks’ history to brandish a theatric offer at one minute past midnight. Nevertheless, sometime tomorrow you can expect the Yankees aggressively will extend a proposal. It might not be their best and final, but Yankee insiders suggest it will be a number that says this to Sabathia: “Anything they can do we can do better – much, much better.”

      One Yankee executive said, “we have to separate ourselves.” Translation: They must divest Sabathia of his dreams of the Pacific and the batter’s box by going to a financial region relatively quickly that no other franchise would even consider, especially in this plummeting economy.

      That means a bid north of the six years at $137.5 million the Mets bestowed last year on Johan Santana . My gut says six years at $150 million sounds about right to force league-wide surrender before the bidding really even gets started.

      Can anyone else go to that financial area? The Dodgers are probably Sabathia’s dream landing spot. But there continues to be doubt that L.A. owner Frank McCourt has either the money and/or the willingness to offer near that much.

      Where Sabathia winds up will come down to money and whether or not he wants to hit every fifth day. So he’ll weigh the options and then head to the Yankees.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

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