Throughout his career, Scutaro has been on only decent offense clubs (Toronto and Oakland primarily). By being placed in the bottom of the Sox lineup, there will be much less stress and focus on his hitting ability as well as the opportunity for him to see better pitches. On he defensive side of the ball, Scutaro is one of the best fielders in the AL who consistently makes the routine plays and has a tendency to wow you with his range.
As reported in the New York Daily News on Tuesday, the Red Sox are actively pursuing one of the game's best pitchers, Roy Halladay. Halladay has been an object of the Sox affection since the trade deadline last season, but Theo and the gang were unwilling to give up too many top prospects for the 32 year old starting pitcher. As great as this news appears for Red Sox fans, I am concerned about what it will take to bring Halladay to Boston. The Red Sox would most likely have to give up SP Clay Buchholtz and either SS prospect Casey Kelly or P Michael Bowden, which may effect their ability to trade prospects for a power hitter like Adrian Gonzalez or Matt Holliday. That being said, if the Red Sox could pull off a trade for Halladay, they would have one of the premier pitching staff in baseball. With Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Roy Halladay, the Red Sox would have 3 #1 starters at the front-end of their rotation, and a strong bullpen to boot.
This is a battle of the 1st place 7-4 Cowboys and the last place 3-7 Oakland Raiders. Despite their record, however, the Cowboys have really struggled this season having any type of consistent offense. They lost to the Packers 17-7, and the only TD they had came with under 1 minute left in the 4th quarter and they beat the Washington Redskins this past week 7-6 on a late TD. With Tony Romo's injured back, this could be a closer game than it should be. The Oakland Raiders, on the other hand, are coming off a huge win against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals went into Oakland 7-2 and really clicking on offense, but were stopped by the mighty Raiders defense. I doubt they can repeat that performance, but they gained a ton of confidence.
For those lucky souls who get the NFL Network will have a special treat on Thanksgiving night, a battle of 6-4 teams. the Giants will soar into the mile-high city to face the Broncos. This is a tough matchup to predict, because at times this season, both teams have looked dominant and both teams have looked terrible. The Giants started the season 5-0 in impressive fashion with wins over divisional foes the Redskins and Cowboys in the first 2 weeks of the season. After the hot start, the Giantslost 4 straight, and just barely squeaked out a win this past weekend against the Falcons in OT. The Broncos have a similar story. They started off 6-0 and now have lost the last 4 games in a row. The Broncos problem has been scoring points, having given up 183 points to opponents this season, while only scoring 170 points on offense. If nothing else, this should be a fairly close game.
Wow. There is so much to say in so little space. I am not going to break down the game (if you would like my analysis, I posted a longer entry here http://joshqpublic.com/2009/11/22/saturday-thriller/), but would like to say a few words to a few members of the UConn Huskies program. First, the one negative comment. K Mr. David Teggart. You hit every FG when we don't need you to, and miss every clutch kick. Go home. Now, on to the positive. RB Jordan Todman. When did you become such a great kick returner? I am certainly not complaining, but 'where have you been all my life?' RB Andre Dixon. You are a monster. 20 carries for 114 yards, most of which came in the later stages of the 4th quarter and OT. Thank you for running over ND defenders. QB Zach Frazer. You only threw 1 interception. Congratulations on not blowing the game against your former team. WR Marcus Easley. You also fall into the category of 'where have you been all my life?' You have been ridiculous over the last half of the season receiving for over 625 yards on 30 receptions and 5 TD's since the 4th game of the season on 9/26. Coach Randy Edsall. You have been the most underrated coach in college football this season. To overcome tragedy and still play the way your team has, is because of your leadership. You deserve this win as much as the players do, if not more. Congratulations. And one final note to a non-UConn person. Mr. Charlie Weis. Good luck trying to find a new job. I'm sure someone is looking for .500 coach.
Has there been any coach on the proverbial 'hot seat' more often than Charlie Weis? Every day there is a new story about his future with ND and how up in the air it is at any given moment. I'll give you a definitive answer right now. If Notre Dame loses to UConn in South Bend this weekend, Charlie Weis's tenure at ND is over. End of discussion. I am in no way slighting UConn by saying they are an inferior team, because it is my alma mater, but given the year Weis's team has had, with arguably the best QB in college football, a loss to UConn would be the final straw for Swarbrick (ND Athletic Director) to make the decision everyone is anticipating, if he has not already, like he claims.
This gives me a great chance to discuss the game this weekend. UConn has had an exceptionally frustrating year. In many ways, they have performed extremely well, hanging in tough with highly ranked opponents (Cincinnati, Rutgers, Pitt, West Virginia, UNC). UConn is 4-5, and have lost by a combined 15 points over those 5 games. Some of their heart-breakers include: losing to UNC by 2 on a holding call in the end zone that resulted in a safety, losing to WVU by 4 on a late 60 yard run by Noel Devine, Losing to Rutgers by 4 after taking the lead with about 38 seconds left, losing to Pitt by 3 on a last second FG, and losing to #5 Cincinnati by 2 after missing a 2-point conversion and after being down 20 at halftime. The biggest loss for the Huskies this season was of their CB Jasper Howard who was stabbed to death on the Storrs, CT campus. Not only are they missing a close friend and teammate, but also an excellent CB, which has left a void in their secondary.Howard's death was extremely emotionally draining for his teammates, making the UConn season more impressive considering the circumstances.
Prediction: UConn by 5
On Sunday at 8:30pm EST on ESPN we can all witness history with the MLS Cup Final. The league MVP Landon Donovan will lead the LA Galaxy against Real Salt Lake (RSL) and their sharp shooting forward, Robbie Findley. The added intrigue of this game, is that it is being held in Seattle, this year's expansion team. QWEST Field has been packed with Seattle Storm fans all year, in one of the most impressive first years for an expansion team ever, in any sport.
As far as the game is concerned, these two teams are extremely evenly matched in terms of their play so far in the playoffs. Both goalies, Nick Rimando for RSL and Donovan Ricketts for LA, have played 3 games, 2 of which were clean sheets, and allowed 2 goals in the 3rd game. The scoring attacks for these two clubs are similar as well, with LA having 5 goals his postseason and RSL having 4. The one goal differential between the clubs was an extra penalty kick given to LA. During the regular season, the two teams matched up twice. The first meeting was held in May in Utah and resulted in a 2-2 tie and the second match was held in LA in June and resulted in a RSL 2-0 win. 
The New Orleans Saints are still rolling at 9-0 and are only gaining confidence as their wins keep coming. As they travel to Tampa for an inter-division game, there should be little doubt in every player's mind that they are the far superior team and only need to play a C game at best to beat the Bucs. Believe it or not, the Bucs are the least talked about 1-8 team in the NFL. There are articles about the Lions and the Browns constantly, but the Bucs are always left out. Just to be clear, they are bad and this game shouldn't even be close.
As soon as I saw this game on the schedule, it peaked my interest. Both of these teams are 5-4 and are sitting in 2nd place in their respective divisions. Offensively, both teams have solid running games, both ranked in the top ten in yards per game, and they both average around 24 to 25 points per game. Because of how evenly these two teams match-up offensively, the decision on RB Michael Turner's ability to play on Sunday could create a problem for the Falcons. In terms of defense, the Giants are one of the best defenses in the league, while the Falcons have one of the worst. QB Matt Ryan has had only a decent year, so it will be interesting to see if he can adjust to the pressure that the Giants defense will surely throw at him.
Two straight weeks the Patriots have played what is considered by most to be a rival team. After their heartbreaking loss on Sunday night, the Pats are ready for revenge against the struggle QB Mark Sanchez and the Jets. If you are a Jets fan, you already know this is a must win. After starting 3-0, the Jets have dropped 5 of the last 6 games, and need a quick turnaround if they have any inkling of hope at saving this season. This is an absolute must win for the Jets, but on the road in Foxborough against a hungry Pats team will be a tough situation to turn their season around.
In terms of other power bats, Adrian Gonzalez has been an object of the Red Sox's affection for a year or two now. He is a young, strong first baseman with a ton of pop and a decent glove. If the Sox were able to land Gonzalez, which is probably more likely that any other power bat, they would have to either include Mike Lowell in a trade or have another trade lined up. The problem with that scenario, is that Lowell's trade value has plummeted over the last year or year and a half with is chronic hip problem and his increasing age.
Since the '98-'99 season (which was shortened by a lockout), the Atlanta Hawks have had a winning record in only one season, last year's 47-35 mark. In the 9 seasons between winning records, the Hawks were an abysmal 255-483, but luckily for them, things have turned around. The past two seasons, the Hawks have made the playoffs (Losing to Boston in '07-'08, beating Miami, then losing to Cleveland in '08-'09), advancing one round further each year. The difference for the Hawks has been their athletic play from their young starting 5. Three of their starters are 23 years old and they are led my an experienced point guard, Mike Bibby. So far this season the Hawks have been dominant with a record of 10-2 and they already have wins against Boston (9-3) on the road, Portland (9-4) home and away, and division foe Miami (7-4). The Hawks can score in bunches, dropping 100+ in 8 or their first 12 games this season. With every game, the team is gaining confidence that will guide them through the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs again. I would not be surprised if the Hawks make the Conference Finals again this year, but will they break into the NBA Finals for the first time since the '60-'61 season when the franchise was in St. Louis?
