Coffees for closers

...and Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Huston Street, and Ryan Franklin will be getting no coffee. All 4 of these men blew their saves in the ALDS to give their teams another day of life in the playoffs. The worst part about them all blowing saves, is the situations how it happened. Nathan air mailed a pickoff move into centerfield to move NYY's Brett Gardener over to 3rd, only to be knocked in shortly thereafter. Papelbon got to 2 outs, with a 2 run lead, and blew it like a Thai hooker. Huston Street had a 2 run lead too, and he also blew it. Ryan Franklin got 2 outs, let up a shallow sinking liner to left fiend where Matt Holliday forgot his grown man glove and took the ball off his lower stomach, botching that play to end the game. Franklin then let up 2 walks and 2 hits to blow the game. Never have I ever seen four closers, who in their own right are very very good, blow four games in the most important times of their baseball seasons.

After not making the play to end the game, the Cards let up 2 walks and 2 hits, one being the walkoff single by Mark Loretta, who came off the bench to win it for the Dodgers.

Playoff baseball, well, playoff success is stringent to pitching. Offense is great, but pitching wins games. You need a starter to go 6+ innings, strong middle relievers to hold the game down, and a lights out closer to seal the deal. All of those aforementioned closers are for the most part shut down closers, but what happened? Did the stars and planets all align and they were in fate's hands? Or are the baseball gods just not Twins, Sox, Rockies, and Cards fans? The world will never know, but regardless, that is just another reason why baseball is the best sport.

In every other sport, you have that one player that stands out. In the NBA, when there is 2.6 seconds left in the game, and you need a 2 to tie, 3 to win - you know the ball is going to Lebron (in Cleveland's case). In the NFL, when you need a TD, you throw it to your best WR, so Eli Manning will be looking at Steve Smith when the game is on the line (in the NY Giants case). In the NHL, you know the puck will be given to Zdeno Chara for that 100+ mph slapshot when the Bruins need to get that goal. Baseball is the only sport where you cannot script who is going to come up big in that clutch spot. Of course there will be times when A-rod, Big Papi, Albert Pujols, etc. all get their chance to bat in the bottom of the 9th, but that is just luck when the lineup calls for them to bat in that position. Baseball has that mysterious "Who will come up big today?" feel to it. Noone can tell how the game will go, who will make the error, who will make the game saving play or who will hit the walk off home run. That makes baseball so special, to me atleast.

Continuing on with the playoffs, the Yankees are set to battle the Angels for AL supremacy and the privilege to represent the American League in the World Series while the Dodgers and Phillies do the same for the National League. In my opinion, the New York Yankees have the best chance to win the pennant this year due to their studly lineup, which can put up runs like noone's business. Their pitching is so-so, but when you have a lineup that is capable of putting up 10+ runs a game (and if not, they'll hit a walkoff for you in the bottom of the 9th) ANYONE can pitch with that kind of run protection. I see the Yanks taking the Angels in 4 games, and the Dodgers over the Phils in 5 (that series is a pick your poison one for me, i hate both teams). Hopefully this will come true, if the Yanks dont win I dont know if i will appreciate the World Series at all. I used to be an Angels fan until Torri Hunter made some obnoxious comments during/after the Sox series, and now, even though I appreciate the Nick Adenhart memorials/motivation, I do not want them to win.



Moving on from baseball, the Monday Night Football game this week was a classic! The New York Jets lead by Mark Sanchez cruised down into Miami to play the Dolphins at Landshark Stadium in a game that was not to be missed. New addition to the men in green Braylon Edwards showed that he can actually play some pretty damn good football (when he cares) and made a few tremendous toe-dragging, sideline-defying catches for touchdowns and huge gains.

Edwards showed that he could actually be one of the top receivers in the league..if he actually plays like he is capable of.

This wasn't the big story of the game though. Miami and their uber cool Wildcat offense was definitely in effect. Ronnie Brown finally threw a pass while playing QB this season, and their actual QB Chad Henne played out of his mind. Ronnie Brown, aside from leading the Wildcat, scored the game winning TD from 6 yards out with under 10 seconds left. The Phins are now 3-0 all-time when wearing their alternate orange jerseys, which I think are absolutely DIRTY! They look great, almost as good as they played in them. The Jets played very well too, I don't want to take credit away from them because they kept it close the entire game. Miami's play calling under 2 minutes was exceptional, and definitely the reason they won the game, well, that and the fact that Henne was beyond good and Brown + Wildcat = Success.




Ok, off of sports for a minute. I have a few things i just want to reach out to you all with.

1st off, we got some clothing. These are 2 Boston based brands, one being Boston Knucklehead, an up and coming t-shirt and hoodie brand, and the other is well established Johnny Cupcakes.


In your travels around New England, even in LA now that he has a store there too, you have most likely seen someone walking around with a cupcake on their shirt. Johnny Cupcakes from Hull, Mass has one of the best clothing lines in Boston. His brand is probably the reason why 75% of the people go to Newbury Street (add also because it is really one of the few affordable stores on the average joe's salary). Why am I telling you about a store/brand you probably already knew about/heard about? Because every holiday it seems now, JC puts out some limited edition shirts celebrating the event. This Halloween (which is one of my most hated holidays) he has come out with another "There's something in the CUPcake mix!" series. It is really something to check out, definitely gets my seal of approval.
http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/

Boston Knucklehead is nowhere near JC's publicity level...yet. I feel this brand has great potential because they're theme in their clothing is the best thing ever...BOSTON! With designs inspired from the best city in the world, only good things can happen! This brand is on the up and up, definitely something to look out for. It was featured on thrillist.com, and when they give you attention that is something to be proud about. Right now, BKH only has a few things in stock, but on their site you can see their selection and be one of the first few to be seen in a BKH tee or hoodie.
http://www.bostonknucklehead.com/shop/

The 2nd thing i wanted to talk about, is TWITTER. Twitter is by far the best social networking website on the internet. It blows myspace and facebook out of the water in my opinion, because there is no marketing gimmicks, annoying popups, stupid friends sending "play this farming game" or "take my quiz" things, and no "RANDOMPERSON invited you to LOST CELL PHONE, NEED NUMBERS group version 21466123506038". Twitter lets me get my thoughts out, no matter how ignorantly stupid, funny, incorrect, true to life, smart, genius, or retarded they are. If you want to follow me, i am JmstrJ2 on twitter. If you dont have a twitter....may God have the kindness in his soul to not smite you right now. Twitter is so 3008, facebook is so two thousand and late. (no homo, i had to)

Twitter is that cool. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Shoutout to my boy @dearisjackson , he is one of my favorite followers on Twitter. He knows whats up.

Thats all i got tonite, im about to pass out. Peace