The Morning Wood - 10/16/2006

Stud: Carlos Delgado
Somebody is excited to be in the playoffs finally! Carlos Delgado isn’t just a guy with a great set of teeth. He went 2-4 last night with his 3rd homerun of the NLCS in a 12-5 Game 4 Mets victory. Honorable mention has to go to Carlos Beltran for his abuse of Cardinals pitching the last two years (7 HRs) that has led to the usually even tempered St. Louis fans actually booing him at times. Although I must admit that I only consider Beltran a 4 tool player at this point. He looks very slow in the outfield and can’t seem to come in on any balls. I wasn’t sure how to make a joke there but it was probably going to involve Andy Dick.

Dud: The Raiders
So due to someone’s drinking problem at a certain TV network, the Raiders somehow managed to find themselves in a game with a national primetime broadcast. And wow, people had been saying that they were bad, but it’s one of those situations that you have to see for yourself to truly experience the suck. I don’t know where to start with this team. 13 Penalties. One stinkin’ field goal. Andrew Walter (who?) tossing an INT at the one. Warren Sapp questioning the length of Jerry Porter’s suspension. The only thing Sapp has managed to get a grip on in the last three years is a microphone. This is what happens when you bring back a head coach who was incompetent and out of his element ten years ago and expect anything of out of him. This team will be helpless until they are moved back to L.A. and Al Davis disappears.

Talk Around the Cooler:
Umm, what exactly did Steve Lyons say that was wrong? I’m not saying that he’s going to be missed but I don’t get it. First off, things that we know are true: Steve Lyons is a little bit out there. Lou Piniella is about Hispanic as my forearm freckles (if he were truly Hispanic, his last name would be pronounced “Pah nee ya”). The “finding a wallet” analogy sucked to begin with. But I don’t think that he should be fired. I’ll take Steve Lyons making slightly odd comments about people stealing his wallet and not being able to understand Piniella over Tim McCarver explaining to me that it’s good when pitchers throw first pitch strikes. Stupid P.C. world that we live in today.

Quick Hits...
Speaking of Jose Juan Carlos Louis Piniella, he might be getting the Cubs managing job. Pencil him back in for color commentary for the 2008 playoffs. Go Tigers! Detroit advanced to the World Series on the strength of Magglio Mullet's walk off HR. I am slightly concerned about Tigers fans getting cocky though, as they didn't see the need to burn cars and murder people after the victory. Is anyone else excited for Stephen Jackson's true defense in court, the "that big moon thing was looking at me all funny and I had to straighten it out" plea?