Theo Walcott made a very impressive first league start as the Gunners cruised past Watford 3-0 at the Grove on Saturday.
Arsenal’s first goal came in the 33rd minute on a Watford own-goal. Emmanuel Adebayor got his head onto Cesc Fabregas’ curling free-kick, the ball deflected off of a leaping Jordan Stewart and into the net.
Ten minutes later, Thierry Henry, who should have scored after making an amazing move just a few moments earlier….
….made another slick move in the 43rd minute to put the Gunners 2-0 up at the half:
In the second half, the Captain turned provider, setting up Adebayor’s 66th minute goal, which all but sealed the deal.
Another three points for the Gunners, which, after the rest of the weekend’s results, puts them at fifth overall with a game in hand. Not bad at all considering the first miserable days of the season.
Attention now turns to Europe, and a trip to the frozen tundra of Moscow to take on CSKA. Kickoff is at 12:30 PM ET, and coverage in the US will be provided by Setanta USA.
Word out of the Bronx is that George Steinbrenner has decided to stay with Joe Torre as manager of the New York Yankees. I guess the right people explained to George that it’s not Joe’s fault that the starting pitching sucks.
The defense was MUCH improved over the first three games of the season, but the offense was a bit contained as the Giants posted their second win of the season over the Washington Redskins.
Taking some of the sting out of yesterday’s Yankees playoff exit, was the Rangers’ 5-4 shootout victory over the Flyers. After trading leads for three periods, the teams found themselves tied at 4-4. The short overtime period proved pointless, and so it was on to the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist and Antero Niittymaki were both excellent during the shootout, but in the thirteenth round, Marcel Hossa slotted his shot through Nittymaki’s five-hole to give the Rangers their second win in a row.
The two teams face off again on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. The puck drops at 7 PM ET, and will be broadcast nationwide on “Vs.”, the newly renamed “Outdoor Life Network.”
Reports out of New York last night in the wake of the Yankees 8-3 loss to the Tigers - their 10th in the last 13 playoff games - are that Joe Torre expects to be fired if he doesn’t resign soon. It also seems that we’ve seen the last of A-Rod in a Yankee uniform. Honestly, I think getting rid of Joe is a shame. It’s not his fault the Yankees have had shit pitching the last several seasons, it’s Brian Cashman’s. Actually, that’s not totally true. It’s mostly George’s. By spending money on guys like Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi, the focus moved from the pitching, defense and timely hitting formula that won four rings in five years, to a team that was helpless when it faced good pitching - case in point this last series. The only pitcher worth his salary was Wang, and he’s the only one who got the win. Randy Johnson is done, and so may be Mike Mussina. Jaret Wright was never good enough to be on a contender. Perhaps trading A-Rod could fetch some pitching, but honestly, who the hell is going to want him?
Even if A-Rod stays, the pitching needs to be the number one priority - question is, who’s out there? A look at mlbtraderumors.com may provide some anwers. Here’s a listing of the “best” free agent starting pitching this off season:
Jason Schmidt
Ted Lilly
Barry Zito
Mike Mussina
Gil Meche
Roger Clemens
Byung-Hyun Kim
Andy Pettitte
Cory Lidle
Jeff Weaver
Woody Williams
Jamie Moyer
Jason Johnson
Aaron Sele
Brian Moehler
Randy Wolf
Mark Mulder
Greg Maddux
Shawn Chacon
Miguel Batista
Sidney Ponson
Vicente Padilla
Carlos Silva
Chan Ho Park
Jamey Wright
Rodrigo Lopez
Call me crazy, but there’s nobody out there that screams “Must Have”. It’s going to be a long winter.
Kenny Rogers puts on a master class as the old adage proves true once again; “Good pitching beats good hitting.” Rogers pitched the game of his life last night, striking out eight, and forcing the Yankees to strand nine as the Tigers beat the Yanks 6-0.
The Tigers now own a 2 games to 1 advantage in the best of 5 series. Jaret Wright starts for the Yankees this afternoon. Playoffs, I hardly knew ya.
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know anything and can't read.
