New York Mets 7 Florida 2: It's A Long Season After All

Not a whole lot to complain about in this one, but the best news certainly has to be that off-season acquisition Johan Santana looked awfully good in his season debut with the Mets in Miami today. (The photo is from J. Pat Carter of the AP)



Unfortunately we were stuck with the Florida broadcast team of Rich Waltz and Tommy Hutton; they're good enough, but not nearly as entertaining as SNY's team of Cohen, Hernanadez and Darling. Since Waltz used to be at Fox Seattle, we were reminded of the basketball days of Marlins starter Mark Hendrickson at Washington State.



Both pitchers looked good through the first three innings; Hendrickson got the Mets to swing at balls that were inside, resulting in quite a few pop-up outs. The Mets actually had runners on second and third in the first, with two outs, but that was the result of a fluke play by Marlins centerfielder Cody Ross, who misplayed a shallow fly ball hit by Carlos Beltran that popped out of his glove as Ross attempted to make a diving catch. Somehow, that was ruled a double for Beltran rather than an error, but Curtis Delgado ended the inning by lining to shortstop.




The Mets rallied in the fourth inning with six runs, the first two coming on two doubles, a single and a walk. Hendrickson then got the next two Met hitters out, but then the floodgates opened with the top of the order, as a single by Jose Reyes and a walk from Luis Castillo loaded the bases for David Wright, who hammered the ball into centerfield for a bases-clearing double, rounding out the damage for the inning.




Santana did struggle a bit in the fourth and fifth innings, comparatively speaking with the rest of the game, and it was in the fourth where he allowed both the first base runner ( a walk to Hanley Ramirez) and first hit, a two-run home run by Josh Willingham, to trim the Mets lead to 6-2. In the fifth, Santana gave up an infield single, threw a wild pitch , and then walked a batter to have runners at first and second with one out, but got himself out of that mini-jam with a couple of strikeouts.



Marlon Anderson got another pinch hit, and wound up scoring the final run in the top of the ninth, making it home on a throwing error on Marlins catcher Matt Treanor. Reyes had sacrificed Anderson to second, but then pitcher Matt Lindstrom threw a wild pitch; Anderson was heading for third when Treanor recovered the ball, but his throw wound up in left field. Treanor, however, did throw out two Mets trying to steal a base (Reyes and Wright) but replays seemed to indicate that both runners were safe. Castillo did manage to steal one, back in the third with two outs; he laid a perfect bunt down the third base line to get on base, and promptly stole second in an effort to create something, but the early inning jinx of Hendrickson continued as Wright ended the inning with a fly ball.




Once again, it's a long season, and it was only the Florida Marlins after all, but it was a good enough show to create optimism amongst Mets fans, especially after division rivals the Braves and Phillies had enough problems of their own, as the Braves BLEW TOM GLAVINE'S HOMECOMING AND FAILED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE FROM RECOVERING FROM A 5-RUN 9TH INNING DEFICIT to lose to Pittsburgh in 12 innings, and the Phillies bullpen fell apart to the DIVISION LEADING WASHINGTON NATIONALS. Hey, the Mets'll take care of them later.






METS STORY and GAME RECAP.

Tottenham 1 Newcastle 4: WTF???

I know that Spurs don't have a lot to play for, and that Newcastle are desperately fighting relegation, but that still doesn't really explain what happened today at White Hart Lane.


A second half implosion led to Spurs demise, very disappointing considering that Darren Bent had led the scoring parade, with a goal halfway through the first half.



Haven't seen the match yet, it'll be replayed on FSC here in a couple of hours, but from reading the reports, it seems that the usual bugaboos haunted Spurs today: giving up a goal in the dying moments of the first half, allowing goals from set pieces, and Paul Robinson being so caught off guard that he remained flat-footed as the ball sailed into the back of the net.



Once again, a very disappointing result today, no excuse really even if Juande Ramos did experiment a bit with a 4-3-3 lineup so that he could get Bent into the match alongside Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane. It's not too early to start drinking this morning, I've become accustomed to such results after all of this time.




Away to Blackburn next Saturday, expect a low scoring affair that'll end up either a 1-1 draw or 1-0 to either side. COYS!



7:30 PST EDIT: After reviewing the match, along with the highlights, the first thing to say is that Newcastle played very very well. Combine that with such things as the woeful line defense on Geremi's free kick that put Newcastle ahead, and with Robinson standing flat-footed on the first two goals, and it all adds up to more aggravation for Spurs and their fans.


The goal from Micheal Owen, number three, was a lovely bit of passing, going from Obafemi Martins on the outside of the box to Mark Viduka nearer the goal, with Viduka sending his pass on the back of his heel to a strident Micheal Owen for a shot that Robinson had no chance on. Martins completed the scoring by dodging two Spurs defenders on a breakaway run in the 83rd minute. Joey Barton got the assist for that one by recovering the ball and quickly launching a downfield attack on the suddenly overwhelmed defensive side.





REPORT

Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1: No schadenfreude Here

(well, maybe just a little bit, especially for their fans in this area!). Who would've thunk it? Chelsea rallied from a goal behind, against a good side, with player substitutions from Avram Grant that actually worked for once. Didier Drogba scored twice in the last twenty minutes to lift the home side to a well-earned victory over their London rivals, leapfrogging them in the standings to second place, five points behind Manchester United.



It was a little bit odd to hear the crowd chanting, after Arsenal's Bacary Sagna had scored in the 59th minute, that You don't know what you're doing! and Jose Mourinho, in the interim before Chelsea got their goals, but it certainly had to be a heavy load to bear for the team, considering what had happened in their last match versus Tottenham and in a disappointing defeat to Barnsley in the FA cup.



This match was on FSC, and I'm glad they got this one instead of Man United/Liverpool, a 3-0 result; it was a highly competitive game that was fun to watch, and while some of the missed opportunities at goal are ones that players would like to have back, it's just the way the ball bounces sometimes.



Sagna's goal, his first for Arsenal, was a great shot on a corner kick (how many goals from set pieces have Chelsea allowed lately at any rate?) He headed the ball in on the near side of the post at a very difficult angle, in front of the Arsenal crowd, to put the aforementioned heavy load on the home side, the doubts about whether they could mount a comeback were most certainly palpable to Blues fans. Drogba most certainly showed in the latter stages of the match that they indeed had the stuff for a win that will be savoured for awhile.




GUARDIAN REPORT

Pepperdine 8 Oregon State 5

Spent a good part of a perfectly lovely Saturday afternoon in Corvallis to watch the Pepperdine Waves and Oregon State Beavers finish their series at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. My parents have season tickets, and my father somehow wound up working on Saturday, so I wound up going with my mother to see how the Beavers looked this year.


Yes, I wore an Oregon sweatshirt and hat, but my mother's colleagues, as expected, were very good natured in their ribbing of me (though I did get a "Go Ducks!" from a lady handing out the Powerball tickets before the game!). Of course, there's always one in every crowd, and as we took our seats in front of the radio booth, a man standing next to us, who'd noticed what I was wearing whilst talking to another man, began to voice his displeasure about Oregon, Pat Kilkenny, etc. etc. etc. Just shut the hell up, I thought to myself, not wanting to take his bait, I'm just trying to finish my sudoku puzzle, thankyouverymuch!



It was a great game of baseball, for the first six innings anyway, as the Waves put together a 7 run inning in the top of the 7th to rally from a 2-1 deficit and grab the lead at 8-2. A couple of errors from third baseman Drew George were the keys to the big inning for the Waves, and it seemed to me most of the damage came with two outs in the inning, which always make such innings extra painful (I could be wrong about the number of outs though, as I didn't keep score but the Beaver fan next to me, a very nice guy, agreed with me on that point).



The Beavers rallied with two in the seventh and another one in the ninth, with two out and the tying run at the plate in Jordan Lennerton, but he struck out after working the pitcher up to a full count. I must say that the thoughts of most people around me were that the Beavers had rallied before to win in this series, and could do it again, so optimism was high until that final strike.


I've got to agree with the local views that James Nygren, making his first collegiate start, looked pretty good in his effort, I remember thinking early that he was able to hit the corner for some strikes early on.


The Pepperdine short stop did make a wonderful throw from deep in the hole to throw out an Oregon State batter, for which he got a nice ovation from the home crowd.


I'm not going to say that I'll attend every Beaver baseball game in similar situations in the future (lucky for me that there were no good soc....err, football games going on at that point) but there are many good things to like about this team, as young as it is.




G-T VIEW



OREGON LIVE VIEW

Tottenham 4 Chelsea 4: Where's The 'D'?

Not on FSC, who aired Man U/Bolton, and my allergy medicine kept me at home to follow the match via the web, though it was televised on Setanta. The hallucinogenic aspects of the medicine certainly seemed to aid my sensibility today though, as Spurs rallied from a second half 3-1 deficit to earn a point that certainly seemed lost up till that point.



Some good Chelsea play, some lousy defending and Paul Robinson being his usual self led Spurs to find themselves behind 2-1 after just 20 minutes at White Hart Lane, with Didier Drogba and Micheal Essien scoring for the Blues, while Jonathan Woodgate, who also scored the winning goal against Chelsea in the Carling Cup final, got his second goal for the club in the midst of those.



Joe Cole, who would've been MOTM had not the defenses evaporated, scored the first of his two goals early on in the second half on a nice chip shot that really seemed to doom the match in the eyes of most Spurs fans.


However, Dimitar Berbatov made it a game again just a few minutes later, and then Tom Huddlestone equalized in the 75th minute. Cole then responded in the 80th minute with another goal that gave Chelsea the lead again at 4-3. The reaction from Chelsea manager Avram Grant at that point was to take Cole off of the pitch and replace him with Micheal Ballack, a very curious move given the nature of the match up to that point.


Fate smiled upon Spurs though in the 86th minute when a long ball deep in Chelsea territory hit defender Roberto Carvalho in the back, whereupon Robbie Keane pounced upon the ball to deliver a terrific strike to level things once again. It took a terrific save from Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini on a Berbatov shot a couple of minutes later to assure one and all that there would be no more goals in such a thrilling contest.


The other big news is that Chelsea's Ashley Cole was only given a yellow card, instead of a straight red, for a studs-up tackle on Alan Hutton late in the first half that incensed the home crowd and the Spurs coaching staff. The petulant manner of the video of Cole listening in the aftermath to referee Mike Riley with his back turned to him certainly showed a childish attitude.


All in all, a great comeback in an exciting match, I guess I'll have to look to torrents for the full length match. The bad news for Chelsea is that they could have drawn level with Arsenal for second place with a victory. After this match, it looks more and more certain that Avram Grant's tenure as Chelsea manager will be lucky to last through the season. The Blues could make up the missed ground with a victory over the Arse this coming Sunday, and given the schizophrenic nature of Chelsea's play as of late, it would not surprise me in the least to see the Blues take all three points at Stamford Bridge.



SOCCERNET REPORT




Also found an interesting article on Spurs assistant manger Gus Poyet on his not-too-long ago CHELSEA DAYS.




Now it's home to Portsmouth, but the breaking news is that ex-striker Jermaine Defoe will NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY, due to transfer rules. What a shame, I know that most Spurs fans still hold him in high regard. Oh well, the warm reception will just have to wait until next year. Come On You Spurs!!!

Mikey Dread, R.I.P.

Less than a month after the passing of Joe Gibbs, old school reggae fans were treated to some more bad news as the passing of Mikey Dread was announced on Saturday, from a brain tumor at the age of 54. STORY ON ROOTS ARCHIVES.


Thanks for your great music Mikey, you will be missed.



Some Dread At The Controls, with a variation on Barbara Lynn's You'll Lose A Good Thing.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Thanks to my buddy Shug for supplying me with a CD of Charlie And The Bhoys songs, including their fabulous rendition of Fields Of Athenry, one of the most moving songs I've ever heard. To the right is a large group of Celtic fans in Seattle singing along with the words as the band trying to play the song struggled to be heard over the shouting din.


What follows is a photo montage of scenes over the CATB track, massive thanks to Barrymac 1916 via youtube.

Man City 2 Tottenham 1 :Giving It Away

Spurs let Man City off the hook from a 0-1 halftime deficit for the victory in Manchester.


Certainly wasn't the most free-flowing offensive game I've seen Spurs play, and while they had the edge in time of possession, they rarely created any true chances to put one in the net, especially in the first half.


The second half belonged to Man City, who certainly made the most of their time with a couple of goals. While their first, from Stephen Ireland in the 59th minute, was indeed offside, as City manager Sven-Goran Erickson noted afterward, his team had been on the other end of some questionable calls in matches with Spurs.


Not surprisingly, City got their second goal on a corner kick in the 72nd minute, on a header from Nedum Onuoha, a shot that really gave the home crowd a reason to celebrate. Prior to those goals, they'd been teased time and again at that point to have seen their scoring chances snuffed out by some good defending (most notably by Micheal Dawson and Pascal Chimbonda in the first half, some good goal tending by Paul Robinson, and by some poor shot decisions on the part of the Man City players.



About the only other thing I'll remember about this one is that Robbie Keane, who scored Spurs first half goal, was taken off in the 66th minute and none too happy about it either.



Well, let's hope Juande Ramos has the boys ready for Chelsea on Wednesday; on the other side of the equation, if Spurs lose this one, maybe Avram Grant will remain as the Chelsea caretaker. Win-win, as far as I'm concerned. Come On You Spurs!



There was some good news on the EPL front, for fans of the U.S. players over there; Brian McBride scored the only goal in the match to help Fulham in their relegation battle with a 1-0 VICTORY OVER EVERTON.







SPURS ESPN SOCCERNET REPORT

One Reason To Never Listen To KPNW Again

A co-worker, who lives in Eugene, asked me earlier this week what had happened to SportsTalk on 1120 KPNW, and not having been able to catch the show for the last week on the road, I'd certainly missed a lot of stuff that had been going down.


Having been fan of the show ever since it featured three guys and was located on the FM dial, I'd casually assumed that since it was down to just one of those three (Steve Tannen) that maybe he was on vacation for the week, and also after ruling out the possibility of east coast starting times for the Portland Trail Blazers.


Turns out that he was fired for "business reasons", and the show's time-slot was filled with Micheal Savage (!). I found a link to an earlier blog posting on JASON'S OSU BEAVERS BLOG that has links to the Register Guard story as well as one from KVAL that feature words from the departed host.




Obviously, I have always enjoyed Steve's wide-ranging knowledge about many various sports, mixing the big national stories with his balanced views of the local stories. It was an entertaining two-hour show, one that rivaled the best of ESPN radio. Sports Talk will most certainly be missed.


The bright side is that we won't have to hear the waffling of Cougar Mark any more........;) j/k Mark..........Allan In Albany.

PSV Einhoven 0 Tottenham 1 : Missed PK's Send Spurs Home

Still trying to wrap my head and thoughts about the UEFA Cup match from today, but all I can do is shake my head and take a deep breath. Spurs scored an away goal, just as PSV did in London last week , and theirs came on a fantastic late match strike from Dimitar Berbatov to knot things up on the aggregate tally.


Given that both teams, especially Spurs, failed to capitalize on opportunities throughout the match, it really came as no surprise when there were no goals in the extra time, bringing up the necessity for penalties.



Most Spurs fans weren't terribly optimistic with goalie Paul Robinson stopping anything at this point, so we were thrilled when he managed to knock away PSV's second shot. Spurs scored on their first four attempts, but when it came to the clinching shot from Jermaine Jenas, but he missed. Then PSV, in sudden death, made their first two shots, but to the eternal dismay for all Lilywhite supporters worldwide, Pascal Chimbonda missed rather badly to end Spurs quest for a double this season.


Not much else to add right now, going from the cusp of a major cup victory to the disappointment of a cruel loss has many fans around the world thinking about what might have been. We shall see, now that the cup competitions for Spurs are done with, how they respond in the EPL, and the distinct feeling is that Juande Ramos will want to build his team with an eye for the future (i.e. next year). It's still great to be a Spurs supporter, thinking about how far this team has recovered after such a woeful start, so Come On You Spurs! ( I do most certainly need a drink or three now, though).




SOCCERNET REPORT

Tottenham 4 West Ham 0: Hammer The Hammers

Spurs rebounded nicely from the post-Carling Cup losses to Birmingham and PSV Eindhoven in the last week to pound their London rivals 4-0 in a runaway match at White Hart Lane today.


The Hammers, coming off of two previous 4-0 thrashings at the hands of Liverpool and Chelsea, got off to a roaring start but could not put one past goalie Paul Robinson in a mistake-filled exchange around the fifth minute.


Spurs recovered enough in the next few minutes to create scoring chances on West Ham fouls, and Dimitar Berbatov headed in two lovely free kicks from Tom Huddlestone in the 8th and 11th minutes, from either side of the goal, to give the home side an insurmountable lead, given the woeful offensive performance of the Hammers as of late.



The constant pounding from the opposition must've frustrated the West Ham players today, they were called for 17 fouls (Spurs were whistled for 6), and two yellow cards for the hapless Luis Boa Morte on rash challenges led to his sending off just before halftime, which really did seal the Hammers fate for the day.


Spurs finished off the match in fine style at the end of the game with goals from Gilberto in the 85th, his first for the club, and from Darren Bent, who headed in a great ball from Alan Hutton in front of a lazy Hammers defense near the end of stoppage time for his 100th career goal.


Mention must also go to the two shots Huddlestone took that should've gone in the net, he certainly had a fine game filling in for the injured Jermaine Jenas.




SPURS SOCCERNET REPORT




It was a very interesting sports weekend, what with BARNSLEY CONTINUING ON THEIR GIANT-KILLING WAYS VS. CHELSEA and MAN UNITED FALLING 0-1 AT HOME TO POMPEY in FA Cup action this weekend, while in local college basketball action, congrats must go the Oregon State Beavers for going 0-18 in regular season action, a first in Pac-10 history. Even my parents, die-hard Beaver fans, couldn't be bothered to attend Saturday's finale after Thursday's pitiful exhibition against Arizona. The Ducks continued their run toward another NCAA bid with a NICE WIN OVER THE WILDCATS.



One note on the Man United match, goalie Edwin van dar Saar was taken off at halftime, replaced with Tomasz Kuszczak, who received a red card for taking down Milan Baros late in the match. Out of goalies, the Red Devils placed Rio Ferdinand in the box to play the penalty kick taken by Sulley Muntari in the 78th minute. Ferdinand correctly guessed the direction of the shot, but could not stop it from going in, giving Pompey the victory at Old Trafford. At the end though, Sir Alex Ferguson was just a wee bit hot under the collar about the REFEREEING.



Barnsley were the well-deserved victors in their match at the Oakwell, and their win ensure that none of the Big 4 (Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea) will be on hand to lift the Cup trophy for the first time in 15 years. The bad news is that Avram Grant knows that his time at Chelsea is running out, UNLESS HE CAN WIN THE LEAGUE OR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, an unlikely feat given his puzzling management decisions. Even the Champions League win over Olympiakos has to coloured with the fact that the Greeks put on one of the most pathetic performances seen at this late of a stage in the competion in quite awhile.



Come on you Spurs..............let's go Ducks...........and ha-ha to the Beavers.

Snip Away (Just Not On Me.........Yet)

There is a peculiar advantage to driving around in a company vehicle that, for music choices, is equipped with only an AM/FM radio; if one chooses to listen to it, one is listening to the music, news, and ads at the whim of the particular station's programmer, be it human or computer.



In the early afternoon hours around Eugene, I'm usually listening in to the Dan Patrick show on 1320 The Score, and for the past couple of weeks, I've been hearing a radio spot for the Oregon Urology Institute’s campaign for men to get vasectomies before the upcoming NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney.



The "recovery kit" that the radio station is offering those who elect to have the procedure done is amusing, certainly fitting in with some of the ideas men might have about things that are needed to help in the healing process, the inclusion of a bag of frozen peas always makes me laugh out loud.



It's a radio ad that sneaks up on you, at first listen the topic of the ad combined with the light hearted tone taken up made me wonder if what I was hearing was a put-on. Repeated listens have made it clear that this is indeed something that a number of men must consider at some point in their lives.



In today's Register-Guard, columnist Bob Welch did a little behind-the-sceneS look at the ad, written in the same humorous way as the radio ad is. Nice job Bob, his story is HERE.

Birmingham 4 Tottenham 1: When The Hangover Strikes

Though coach Juande Ramos refused to offer up an excuse of an emotional letdown after last Sunday's Carling Cup triumph, one may tend to view this match, with the resultant score, in that manner. However, it was a combination of Spurs failing to capitalize on their opportunites with a weakened starting line-up set with an eye on Thursday's UEFA Cup match with PSV Eindhoven, against a determined opponent not wishing to be relegated that resulted in the final score.


After all, Birmingham has drawn twice with league leaders Arsenal in the last six weeks, including last week's controversial match in which Blues defender Martin Taylor horrifically broke the leg of Arsenal's Eduardo on an ill-timed tackle.



The match was not on television here, so we were spared the visuals of this lopsided affair, but Spurs gave up the only goal in the first half off of a corner kick, when Mikael Forssell headed in a pass from James McFadden just seven minutes in for the home side.



With no Ledley King, Micheal Dawson or Jonathan Woodgate in the back due to injuries, and with Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Jenas and Robbie Keane resting on the bench, Spurs really had no effective defense, nor did they have a consistent offensive attack, the stats of possession and shots on goal giving no evidence to the true nature of the match.



Forssell scored a hat trick in the second half, with goals in the 59th and 81st minutes, with a 55th minute goal from Sebastian Larsson sandwiched inbetween those goals. Jenas scored a mere consolation goal in extra time at the end of the match for mere window dressing on a miserable afternoon on the pitch.





Of the matches that were on television, it was a day for late goals affecting the outcomes, with the unfortunate news of Nicklas Bendtner scoring a goal seconds from end time to salvage a point at home with Aston Villa and with Newcastle being stunned at home 1-0 to Blackburn at the end of regulation time from a Matt Derbyshire goal, even though the Magpies had completely outplayed the Rovers for much of the game.






SPURS SOCCERNET REPORT