tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Tuesday’s Thoughts

While wondering if there is enough room on the Buffalo Bills bandwagon, here's what is on my mind this morning:

* Unbelievably the New York Yankees find themselves in first place, 4 games over the Boston Red Sox. Last night, the Yankees beat up on a long-time Yankee-killer, Felix Hernandez. The 9-3 victory was the game in hand that the Yankees had with Boston. Phil Hughes had another solid outing and the Yankee offense showed up with home runs from Mark Teixiera and Chris Dickerson, not to mention another solid night by Robinson Cano. Cano has 109 RBI's good enough for second in the American League behind teammate Curtis Granderson.

* David Ortiz has indicated that it is panic time for the Red Sox and he may be right. The Tampa Bay Rays beat up on the Baltimore Orioles to reduce Boston's lead to 3 games for the AL Wild Card spot. Theo Epstein was whining about various injuries that his club has suffered but the Yankees have had their share of injuries also. The Red Sox problem is the same as New York's: pitching. John Lackey has been an unmitigated disaster since the Red Sox signed him in 2010 and Erik Bedard and Tim Wakefield are hardly imposing particularly in October. The Red Sox are not dead but the four game series coming up against the Rays in Fenway will determine a lot for the team that the talking heads predicted would run away with the American League East and be in the World Series.

* As pointed out in one of the New York daily's, with 16 games remaining the Red Sox will have to go 12-4 and the Yankees will have to go 8-8 in order for Boston to catch the Yanks for the AL East crown.

* I still say, be wary of the Detroit Tigers in October. We all know about Justin Verlander but deadline acquistion Doug Fister has been a great pickup for the Tigers. Fister is 5-1 since joining the Tigers with a 2.28 ERA. Kudos to Dave Dombrowski for bolstering his staff with a potential starting rotation for October that would consist of Verlander, Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer and Fister.

* After Week 1 of the NFL, I would still take college football over pro football any day.

* Tom Brady's brilliant performance last night certainly sent a message to the rest of the AFC that Brady & Company will be a force to reckon with. However, Bill Bellichek's boys will have to get better on defense if they are to ultimately land in the Super Bowl.

* NBC lucked out in week one as they had two of the most exciting games of the pro weekend with the Green Bay-New Orleans game and the NY Jets-Dallas game. They have another marquee matchup this Sunday with Philadelphia going into Atlanta.

* This week in college football there are some intriguing matchups as interconference play begins. Florida will host Tennessee, #2 LSU heads to #25 Mississippi State and the top game on Saturday is #1 Oklahoma heading to Tallahassee to take on #5 Florida State. And in the Violation Bowl, Ohio State will go down to Florida to take on the Hurricanes of Miami.

* Last night, Ron Jaworski was praising Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins. According to Jaworski, Daboll's philosophy is that of an aggressive, attacking offense. Are you kidding me??? Did Jaworski see the Browns offense for the time that Daboll was offensive coordinator??? The Browns were hardly aggressive and attacking with Daboll at the helm.

* Hard not to do this column without mentioning my favorite media whipping boy, Michael "Beavis" Kay. Last night, Beavis tried to stir up things by asking Kim Jones if there was any talk about who would catch Mariano Rivera when he tries for his 600th save. Beavis was specifically questioning about whether Jorge Posada will be brought in to catch his longtime teammate. Jones went on to say that Posada would like to be in the game and that it would be difficult for him to sit on the bench seeing Rivera hit the 600 mark. Interestingly enough, the fan poll indicated that the majority of fans thought that it would be Russell Martin or Austin Romine who would be the catcher when Rivera hits 600. What a ridiculous question and its another example of Beavis trying to stir up a controversy when in fact its all a bunch of crap and something that the fans really could careless about.

* And speaking of Yankee catchers, its just been reported that Francisco Cervelli will be out indefinitely with a concussion. The Yanks will now have to decide if both Montero and Romine will make the post season roster which would most certainly mean that Posada would not be on it.

* Finally, the talking heads were all a blaze about the new NFL rule for kickoffs, specifically that the ball be kicked off from the 35 yard line. What is the big deal?? Prior to 1974, they kicked off from the 40 and I believe that kickoffs were returned for touchdowns back then. Again, another controversy that is all BS.