Jaguars Out Coach & Out Smart Jets

JAGUARS 24
JETS 22

So much for Woody Johnson's proclamation on Saturday night that he believes his team can "absolutely" make it to the postseason. Maybe Johnson should stop sounding like a man desperate to sell seats in his new Jets/Giants Stadium, and more like an owner who is not satisfied with mediocrity.

The Jets found manifold ways to shoot themselves in the proverbial foot in Sunday's 24-22 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in front of 78,000 comatose fans at Giants Stadium.

Things looked ugly from the outset when Mark Sanchez threw an interception on the first snap of the game. The fans hadn't even settled in their seats by the time Sanchez started to screw things up for Gang Green.

From there, the Jaguars pounded the Jets defense with a ton of Maurice Jones-Drew. Drew had five carries on the Jaguars opening possession, including a 33 yard touchdown run to give the Jags a fast 7-0 lead.

The Jets offense was vanilla. They lucked out when the Jaguars on-side kick landed out of bounds but failed to do anything with the good field position, settling for a field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.

In the second quarter, the Jags continued to punish the Jets defense. Jones-Drew took the first carry for 15 yards to the Jaguar 45; later, he had a seven yard gain to move the ball into Jets territory at the 41. Next, David Garrard hit old timer Tory Holt for 17 to Jets 14 yard line. Finally, Garrard took the ball himself for an 11 yard touchdown to give Jacksonville a 14-10 lead.

The Jaguars poured it on later in the quarter, when Garrard hit Mike Sims Walker for a 26 yard touchdown to give Jacksonville a 21-10 lead.

The Jets could never get anything going offensively. In the third quarter, Sanchez threw his second interception, this one right into the hands of defensive end Quinton Groves who dashed 37 yards to the Jets four yard line. Groves could have easily scored a touchdown to make it 28-13, but Groves tripped over himself, costing Jacksonville the easy touchdown.

The stumble proved costly when Jones-Drew fumbled the exchange with Garrard, allowing Gang Green to recover and kill the Jaguars drive.

The Jets did nothing with it of course. Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards in the flat for a 41 yard gain, but Edwards fumbled the ball, and Jacksonville recovered. The Jaguars were unable to do anything with that second Jets gift, keeping the Jets in the game.

The Jaguars turnover proved costly. The Jets put together a wonderful 16 play 77 yard drive that concluded with a Thomas Jones touchdown to give Gang Green a 22-21 lead. The Jets attempted the two-point conversion; Sanchez rolled right and hit Edwards in the numbers. Edwards had the ball, then dropped it, costing the Jets any chance of taking a 24-21 lead.

The Jaguars knew this was their chance to take the game back. Garrard hit Marcedes Lewis for a 33 yard gain to the Jets 14 to put Josh Scobe in position to kick the game winner. Then, Jones-Drew made one of the smartest plays in the game.

Jones-Drew had an open hole to score a touchdown and give Jacksonville a 28-22 lead, but the running back, smartly, stopped his momentum and took a knee at the Jets one-yard line. The logic behind this?

By not scoring, Jones-Drew guaranteed that his team would run the clock out on the Jets and give Jacksonville the opportunity to win the game in the final seconds. If Jones-Drew had scored, the Jets would have had a lot of time to march down the field for a game-winning touchdown.

Great play! Smart play! Unselfish play! Box score.

As a result, the Jaguars kicked the game winner with three seconds remaining in the game to give Jacksonville a thrilling 24-22 victory over the Jets. The Jets have lost five of their last six, and with New England, Carolina, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati on the docket in the Jets final seven games, you can call it curtains on the Jets 2009 season.

Mets Interested In Figgins

Here is one out of the "what are they thinking" category, and of course, it comes from the Mets.

Sure, the World Series victory for the Yankees is only a week old, but already MLB teams are gearing up for the 2010 season.

The Mets need a major overhaul after the debacle that was the 2009 season. Already the Mets are rumored to be interested in free agent outfield Matt Holliday, which would give them a needed power bat in left field, a position of weakness in 2009. And they are rumored to be in the sweepstakes, yet again, for Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

That is all good and fine, if the Mets can pull that off, however, it appears that the club is seriously considering signing Chone Figgins from the Angels. Figgins played third base for the Angels since taking over full time in 2004, and has proved to be an adept base stealer.

However, it appears that the Mets intentions to acquire Figgins is for all the wrong reasons. One, Figgins is also being targeted by the Mets divisional rival, the NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies to replace Pedro Feliez at third base.

The Mets basically want to acquire Figgins just to spite Philadelphia. This move makes no sense. The Mets already have a third baseman in David Wright, and Figgins would have to play out of position if he came to the Mets.

According to Joel Sherman of the N.Y. Post, the Mets would have to try to trade Luis Castillo in order to free up a spot for Figgins on the infield, otherwise they will have to plug Figgins in left field, and try to trade for a first baseman, or re-sign a 39-year-old Carlos Delgado.

As good as Figgins is at stealing bases, he is not a good fit for the Mets. The Mets need a power bat, and Figgins is not it. In 2009 Figgins hit .298, but blasted only five homers and drove in 54. Not exactly the kind of prodcution the Mets need.

Figgins would be a total waste for the Mets, especially if they remain handcuffed to Castillo; and, unless the Mets have hidden plans to move David Wright to first base this move makes little sense.

The Mets are better off staying away from Figgins.

Giants Suffer Worst Lose of the Season

CHARGERS 21

GIANTS 20

Many years ago there was Dan Marino's fake spike that stunned Jets fans at the Meadowlands in a season-shaking defeat for Gang Green.

Today, Philip Rivers had his Dan Marino moment at the Meadowlands. No, it wasn't against the snake-bitten Jets, who also call East Rutherford home, it was against the Giants.

In a game that the Giants needed to win in order to end a hideous three game losing streak and give themselves some hope of getting back into the NFC playoff chase, they choked it up in the final seconds, and, in turn, may have killed their season.

The first half of the game was a total blur. Both the Chargers and Giants traded extensive time consuming drives that ended in touchdowns that kept the game tied going into the half at 7-7. However, the Giants did have a chance to take the lead in this game. On their opening drive of the afternoon, the Giants got all the way to the Chargers 21 yard line; instead of going for it on fourth and short, Tom Coughlin elected to kick a field goal.

Tonight, he may regret that decision. Lawrence Tynes missed the ball, that's right, his foot kicked air not the football! Jeff Feagles got tackled on the play, killing the Giants opportunity to take a early 3-0 lead.

In the fourth quarter things got really interesting. With San Diego up 14-7, the Giants started to turn the tables. Manning hit Hakeem Nicks in the flat for a 29 yard gain to put the Giants in great position as the third quarter ended. The drive ended in a Tynes field goal to cut the deficit to 14-10.

Then on the Chargers next possession, Rivers was sacked by Fred Robbins for a loss of seven, and Darren Sproles was tackled by Justin Tuck for nine more yards to spot the ball at San Diego's own four yard line. The Chargers eventually punted.

Giants Stadium was rocking, and it appeared that Big Blue was ready to burst.

Manning hit Mario Manningham for 14 yards to the Chargers 20. Then Eli lobbed a touchdown pass to Kevin Boss to give the Giants a 17-14 lead.

Late in the quarter, Rivers was picked off by Tyler Thomas, which appeared to have ended the game for Big Blue, but it was not the case.

The Chargers got the ball one more time with 2:05 to go, and Rivers put on a show. Rivers hit Malcom Floyd for a 12 yard gain to move the ball from the Chargers 39 to the Giants 49 yard line. Next, Rivers hit Antonio Gates for 10 more, and Darren Sproles for 21 to set up shop at the Giants 18 yard line. Then Rivers lobbed the ball to a wide open Vincent Jackson for the 18 yard touchdown.

The Chargers bench exploded with jubilation as 78,000 people sat in silent horror. The Chargers stole the game with 21 seconds to go. Eli Manning heaved up a couple of incompletions in desperation and was then sacked by Shawn Merriman to end the contest. Box Score.

This is by far the worse loss of the year for Big Blue. They couldn't afford to lose another game with Dallas and Philadelphia well ahead of them in the NFC East. Now the Giants will have to wait 14 days before they play a game again. This game will be one very tough pill to swallow.

Are the Giants in danger of watching their 2009 season come to an end before Thanksgiving? It's possible. After the bye, the Giants play the Falcons (5-3), Broncos (6-1), Cowboys (5-2) and Eagles (5-2). If the Giants aren't careful they could be 6-7, or worse, 5-8, before anyone knows it. The Giants are clearly on the brink of extinction.

YANKEES WIN WORLD SERIES

YANKEES 7

PHILLIES 3

Ball game over; World Series over; Yankees Win! DDDAAAAAAAAA Yankees Win!

For the 27th time in franchise history the New York Yankees are World Series Champions, and they did so by blowing away Pedro Martinez and the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in game six of the Fall Classic.

There was little doubt from the start of this game that New York was going to win this thing; Martinez was laboring early as he failed to record 90 mph on the radar gun in the games first two innings. In the bottom of the second, with Alex Rodriguez on first, Martinez served up a fat pitch to Hideki Matsui, who blasted the pitch deep into the Bronx night to give the Yankees a 2-0 advantage.

Andy Pettitte was just dandy on three days rest, as he was able to get through five and two thirds innnings tonight, giving up only three runs. He had good command and the win tonight gave Pettitte his sixth series clinching victory of his career.

But, the story of the night was Matsui. In the third, with the bases loaded, Matsui laced a single up the middle to bring home two more runners to give New York a 4-1 lead. There was some questionable managing on the part of Charlie Manuel of the Phillies, who decided to leave Pedro Martinez in the game to pitch to Matsui with the bases loaded. He could have gone to the lefty in J.A. Happ, but stuck with Pedro and got burned.

Finally, in the fifth, Matsui doubled into the gap to bring home Mark Tiexeria and A-Rod to make it 7-1 Yankees.

Mariano closed the deal by coming into the game in the eighth to record the games final four outs.

When the final out was recorded with a simple ground ball to second, the Yankees celebrated near the pitching mound by congregating in a large circle and jumping up and down, with the tune "We Are the Champions" ringing in the background.

CONGRATULATIONS NEW YORK YANKEES!! Box score.

Yankees Come Oh So Close To Stealing Game Five

PHILLIES 8

YANKEES 6

With a 3-1 lead in the World Series, some thought that the Yankees would mail in game five in order to have home field for game six, where they could clinch their world title in front of their own fans in the new Yankee Stadium.

Instead the Yankees did what a baseball team with a 3-1 lead is supposed to do, work like hell to try to end the series as soon as possible.

The Phillies bombed A.J. Burnett early in this game, posting up six runs in the game's first three innings. Chase Utley led the way, when he blasted a three run home run in the first inning to give Philadelphia a 3-1 lead.

In the third, singles by Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth brought home two more Philly runs to make it 5-1 Philadelphia.

Cliff Lee was dominating the Yankees through the first six innings, and by the seventh, the Yankee bull pen was getting bombed as well. Utley and Ibanez lauched two rockets to right center field off of reliever Phil Coke to give Philadelphia an 8-2 lead.

At this point it appeared that the game would turn into a laugher and the Yankees would accept defeat in order to play another day in the Bronx. Not so fast.

In the eighth inning, the Yankees finally got to Lee. Johnny Damon led the inning off with a single, and Mark Tiexeria followed with a double to make things a little more interesting. Then, Alex Rodriguez lined a double off of the glove of Raul Ibanez to plate Damon and Tiexiera to make it 8-4. Lee was taken out for Chan Ho Park who worked around a sacrifice fly by Robinson Cano to get Philadelphia out of the inning still up 8-5.

The Yankee comeback made it clear that the Bombers had every intention of winning game five, and ending this series.

In the ninth, things continued to get dicy for the Phillies. Jorge Posada led off with a double off of Ryan Madson. Then, Hideki Matsui singled to put two on with nobody out for Derek Jeter. Jeter promptly grounded into a double play; Posada scored from third to make it 8-6, but there was no one on with two out.

Damon came up to bat again, and drilled a 2-2 single past second base to make things hot again. With Mark Tiexeria and Alex Rodriguez looming, it looked for sure that the Yankees would come back and win the World Series. In fact, no team had ever come back to win a World Series game from three plus runs down; this appeared destined to become the first. Box score.

Instead, Tiexeria struck out swinging on a nasty change-up in the dirt to end the game sending the series back to the Bronx. The Yankees will indeed look to close things out at Yankee Stadium.

Yankees Now One Win Away From 27th Championship

YANKEES 5
PHILLIES 4

Game four was a microcosm of the entire season.

In a year that has been full of wild twists and turns, game four of the 2009 World Series was no different, as the Yankees avoided potential disaster to grab yet another game from the Philadelphia Phillies to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

With the score tied at two in the fifth, the Yankees appeared to take full control of this game, when Derek Jeter A.K.A. Captain Clutch, drilled an RBI single past short stop to drive home Nick Swisher to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Later, Johnny Damon laced a single to right to drive home cabrera to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead.

C.C. Sabathia wasn't great tonight. He didn't have a lot of good control. In six and two thirds innings, Sabathia gave up seven hits and walked three. He was putting men on in every inning, and some how, pulled a Houdini act every time, getting out of it.

However, in the seventh inning, Chase Utley, who killed Sabathia in game one with two home runs, went yard again, a solo shot to trim the Yankee lead to 4-3. Joe Girardi, knowing that his ace was struggling took Sabathia out of the game.

Turned out that going to the pen was not going to make things any better for the Bronx Bombers. Joba Chamberlain gave up a solo home run to Pedro Feliz in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game, and all but cost the Yankees any momentum in the ball game.

In the top of the ninth, facing Phillies closer Brad Lidge, things didn't look too good early for the Yankees. Lidge was able to Hideki Matsui to pop out, and Jeter to ground out. With two out, it looked really bleak for New York.

Then Johnny Damon stepped to the plate. Damon hit a harmless single. Then on a base hit by Mark Tiexeria, the Phillies totally botched up the play. Pedro Feliez, who is the Phillies third baseman was covering second on teh steal, since the Phils were in a defensive shift on Tiexeria. When Damon stepped on second, he noticed that Lidge was not covering third, and went ahead and stole third base as well. A terrific example of heads up baseball.

With two on and two out, it was time for Alex Rodriguez to answer the $300 million question: can he deliver a game winning hit in a World Series game? The answer is...YES! Rodriguez drilled a double off the left field wall to drive him Damon to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. Jorge Posada followed with a two RBI single to make it 7-4 Bombers - putting the kabash on the Phillies night.

Mariano Rivera settled things down easily in the bottom of the ninth to save the game for the Yankees. Box score.

The Yankees are now up 3-1 on the Phillies, who have found one way after another to cough up two games at home. They had a 3-0 lead on New York in game three and blew it, and, had a chance to steal one from the Yankees with Sabathia on the mound.

The Yankees can close out title number 27 Monday night, when A.J. Burnett squares off against Cliff Lee.

Burnett Propels Yankees Past Pedro & Phillies

YANKEES 3
PHILLIES 1

Pedro Martinez proved that he still had something left, and sent a parting shot across town to the Mets, who refused to sign the veteran this year, by holding the Yankees down through six innings of Thursday night's game two; however, the righty wasn't as good as A.J. Burnett.

Burnett shut down the mighty Phillies. He pitched seven dominant innings, giving up only four hits and a run, while striking out nine Phils in his first ever World Series start. Burnett was one cool customer as he had his way with the outside corner of the plate all night long, frustrating the Philadelphia hitters.

As for Martinez, he was brilliant as well. He blew by the Yankee lineup for most of the evening and held a 1-0 lead heading into the fourth inning.

He struck out eight, and looked like the Pedro of old, who used to electrify Boston fans, and Met fans during the prime of his career. Even though Martinez lost the game, he sent a clear message to Mets GM Omar Minaya, that the embattled GM made, yet, another mistake in a year full of mistakes for the Mets.

Back to the here and now, Mark Tiexeria finally broke through his postseason struggles, blasting a long homer into the Yankee bullpen in right center to tie the game at one. In the sixth, Hideki Matsui lifted a curveball from Martinez, off of the ground, and into the seat in right field to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

The Yankees finally got to Martinez in the seventh when the put two on with no body out, before he was removed for another former Met in Chan Ho Park. Park, in typical Chan Ho Park fashion made things worse for the Phillies, by allowing Jorge Posada to line a single up the middle to bring in Brett Gardner to make it 3-1 Yankees.

Fast forward to the eighth, the Yankees bring in Mariano Rivera. Rivera gets the first out with a Carlos Ruiz ground out. Then it gets really interesting. Rivera walks Jimmy Rollins, and gives upa single to Shane Victorino to put two on with one out and Chase Utley and Ryan Howard waiting to bat. This is what baseball is all about: star power vs. star power.

Rivera won the battle this time around, forcing Utley to ground into a double play to end the threat. In the ninth, Rivera allowed Raul Ibanez to reach on a double with two out. Rivera then struck out the power swinging Matt Stairs to end the game, 3-1. Box score.

The series is tied 1-1. Cole Hamels will pitch for Philadelphia against Andy Pettitte.