SPORTS NOTEBOOK: October 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

NFL: ANALYSIS, WEEK 8; BRONCOS 7-1 AFTER DEFEAT OF WASHINGTON REDSKINS // MLB : WORLD SERIES, RED SOX AHEAD.

Friday, October 25, 2013

NFL: WEEK 8, ON TO MID-POINT; BRONCOS TO FACE THE REDSKINS // MLB: WORLD SERIES, BRIEF UPDATE.

SPORTS NOTEBOOK. . . sports-notebook.blogspot.com. . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail leiner. . . // . . . NFL: On To Mid-Point, Week 8; Broncos, Redskins // MLB: World Series, Brief Update. . . // . . . NFL---AFTER seven weeks of play, last year’s mediocre American Conference West Kansas City Chiefs are the only undefeated 2013 NFL franchise (7-0), and the AC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars and National Conference South’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers are at the other end of the spectrum, both 0-7, while Super Bowl winner of two years ago, the NC East’s New York Giants, are surprisingly at 0-6, and just two franchises have but one loss, the AC West’s Denver Broncos and the NC West’s Seattle Seahawks, 6-1 each. Also, last year’s often dumped and now 5-1 NC South’s New Orleans Saints are fifth best in the league behind three teams that are tied at 5-2, the AC East’s New England Patriots, the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts, the NC West’s San Francisco 49ers. Consequently, this isn’t a movie that we have seen time and again, an impression that is further illuminated when you note that the AC North’s Baltimore Ravens, last season’s Super Bowl winner, are at 3-4 and therefore under .500 as Week 8 moves from last night’s NC South’s NOW 4-3 Carolina Panthers 31-13 win over the Buccaneers, placing the Panthers at second place behind the Saints. Too, teams that were far ahead of others throughout most of last season, and that were already post-season candidates as Week 8 then appeared, they are now way behind the power-curve, the AC South’s 2-5 Houston Texans and the NC South’s 2-4 Atlanta Falcons. Still, except for the Chiefs atop the AC West, the current division leading teams cannot be said to be where they are “surprisingly” for NFL season Week 8---AC East, it’s the 5-2 Patriots, AC North the 5-2 Bengals; AC South the 5-2 Indianapolis Colts, and within the NC West it’s the 6-1 Seahawks, NC East the 4-3 Dallas Cowboys, NC North the 4-2 Green Bay Packers, NC South the 5-1 Saints. Unlike last season, not one of these numero uno teams has a commanding lead today over the franchises in division number two slots, as examples, the AC West’s 6-1 Broncos being one only win behind the Chiefs, and behind the NC North’s Packers are second and third place teams with the same number of wins that the Packers have, four. . . Of course, this Sunday put into focus the other side of the 2013 race, it’s the start of the back end, where teams get a glimpse of what must be accelerated and improved upon over eight more weeks if they are to finish 2013 as NFL winners instead of as losers, that is, at or above 8-8/.500, better yet as candidates for a shot at the Super Bowl. This said, no crystal balls, please, for fair if not perfect guesses at what could exist as standings when Week 8 ends are best seen relative to the current 2013 win/loss records, such as those cited above, for instance, the data tells us that the 7-0 Chiefs will probably defeat the AC North’s 3-4 Cleveland Browns on Sunday, meanwhile the 6-1 Broncos finishing ahead of the NC East’s 2-4 Washington Redskins, while the 5-2 Patriots will likely defeat the AC East’s 3-3 Miami Dolphins, the 5-1 Saints the AC East’s 3-4 Buffalo Bills, the 5-2 49ers the 0-7 Jaguars (game is at London, U.K.), the 6-1 Seahawks the NC West’s 3-4 St. Louis Rams on Monday night. Yet the AC North’s 5-2 Bengals could be kneed by the AC East’s 4-3 N.Y. Jets, the 4-3 Cowboys could lose to the NC North’s 4-3 Detroit Lions, while the AC West’s 2-4 Oakland Raiders/AC North’s 2-4 Pittsburgh Steelers game could go in either direction. Note: for the Ravens, Colts and the NC North’s 4-3 Chicago Bears, Week 8 is their Bye. . . //. . . BRONCOS, REDSKINS---SINCE the start of the 2013 NFL season, the AC West’s 6-1 Denver Broncos have been a most transparent football team, while the NC East’s 2-4 Washington Redskins have appeared mercurial, complex, harder to pin down from outsider observations, this latter fact about the Redskins probably not deliberate, more than likely the result of Redskins players, head coach and tactical coordinators being both high and low upon the ladder of smarts, skills and power across Weeks 1 through 7. In other words, where the Broncos are of concern the Peyton Manning-led offense has been consistent since September 5, it has been a high above-the-margin offense outsmarting and outplaying opposing defense squads in almost every quarter played, always finishing games in double-digits, experiencing only one loss, that by just six points to the AC South’s 5-2 Indianapolis Colts last week, 39-33. Paralleling this, the Broncos defense hasn’t matched the Manning-led offense in capabilities and in limitations, it being at-the-margin only, allowing opposing offense squads to score 19 or more points per contest. Meanwhile, the Redskins have been roller-coaster on two tracks, upon Track One losing its first three games of the season, one of these three a blowout (vs. the NC North’s 4-2 Green Bay Packers, losing 38-20), then defeating the AC West’s now 2-4 Oakland Raiders, 24-14, next losing badly to the NC East’s 4-3 Dallas Cowboys, 31-16, followed by a win vs. the NC North’s 4-3 Chicago Bears, 45-41; Track Two, within either win or loss over the past seven weeks the Redskins have been offense-strong during one or two games while defense-weak, and then the opposite existed in other contests. There’s no telling which will come up stronger during a Redskins game, offense or defense? Clear, however, are the differences in performance values, Broncos vs. Redskins. While QB Manning has a pass completion rate above 70 percent, Redskins QB Robert Griffin III’s completion rate hovers at 60 percent. To date, Manning has passed for more than 2,500 yards, RG3 for less than 1,800, and though the Redskins have rushed for more than 845 yards and averaged more than 5 yards per rush and the Broncos for less than 800 and 3.8 per rush, the Redskins have turned this into seven touchdowns while the Broncos have converted rushes into 10 TD’s, signaling that the Broncos offense has superior economy-of-force and better end zone-to-TD attributes. Another example of this is the Redskins best RB rushing for a total of 472 yards throughout the season’s seven weeks at 5.2 yards per rush, while Broncos RB, Knowshon Moreno, has rushed for fewer yards, 413 and 4.3 yards per rush, a difference being that the Redskins top RB’s rushes accrued only three TD’s compared with Moreno’s eight TD’s. Comparing receivers, no Redskins receiver has achieved more than two TD’s up through Week 7, while Broncos WR Wes Wexler has caught for eight TD’s, tight end Julius Thomas for eight, WR Demaryius Thomas for five, WR Eric Decker for three. Should this data hold, an offense comparisons-only on Sunday could humiliate the Redskins. Still, and win or lose, in no game that the Redskins have played this year has its offense failed to score 27 or more points, the highest being 45 points against the Bears. If the Broncos defense can keep the Redskins to fewer than the 19 or more that it has given away each week, the Redskins will return to Washington as losers, 2-5 toward Week 9. This also means that to win vs. the Broncos, the Redskins will need to succeed at the pass rush so as to upset Manning’s timing and field-of-vision, at linemen smothering Broncos RB’s, at a defense secondary being fast and flexible enough to stay between the football and the Broncos WR’s, all of these anti-Bronco skills that which the Redskins haven’t demonstrated so far this year. The Redskins RG3-led offense could amass more than 20 points vs. the Broncos defense if the Broncos defense cannot deliver better than it has to date, but it’s likely that QB Manning and his fellow-attackers will put up much more than that. . . // . . . MLB WORLD SERIES--- FOR the 2007 WS victory, the American League’s Boston Red Sox swept the National League’s Colorado Rockies, 4-0, and in 2004 the Red Sox swept the NL’s St. Louis Cardinals, 0-4. Well, chances for the Sox to do that again disappeared last night with the Cardinals 4-2 win. And, for the 2011 WS championship the Cardinals beat the American League’s Texas Rangers, 4-3, and to take the 2006 WS title the Cards defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4-1. Either of the last two NL WS win outcomes is a possibility now for the NL’s Cards starting with home game advantage on Saturday, but also a possibility for the AL’s Sox in that whatever happens tomorrow will result in a 2-1 outcome, with neither the Sox nor the Cards yet in a WS situation including real insurance for a best of seven WS victory. “Go, Sox1” “Go, Cards!” END/ml

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

NFL: WEEK 7, RESULTS & ANALYSIS; BRONCOS LOSE TO COLTS // MLB: WORLD SERIES.

Friday, October 18, 2013

NFL: WEEK 7, OBSERVATIONS; BRONCOS FACING COLTS // MLB: LC'S NOW // NBA 2013/14

SPORTS NOTEBOOK // sports-notebook.blogspot.com FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // NFL: Week 7,Observations; Broncos Facing Colts // MLB: LC’s Now // NBA 2013/14. . . NFL---NFL WEEK 7 could be the week during which current division leading franchises could feel serious heat in the standings, though not the National Conference West’s number one franchise, the now 7-1 Seattle Seahawks, having last night defeated the NC West’s now 3-4 Arizona Cardinals. Regarding other “Bigs,” on Sunday the American Conference West’s first place 6-0 Denver Broncos will face the AC South’s number one team, the 4-1 Indianapolis Colts, the former expected to win but it won’t be an easy walk in the park. Bronco vulnerabilities have already appeared---in no game this year has the Broncos defense kept an opposing offense from fewer than 19 points. Should the Broncos lose and the AC West’s second place 6-0 Kansas City Chiefs defeat the AC South’s 2-4 Houston Texans (as expected), the Broncos could then slip from first to second place. And, the National Conference East’s number one team, the 3-3 Philadelphia Eagles, could lose to the division’s second place team, the 3-3 Dallas Cowboys, and exchange positions in the rankings. Meanwhile, the AC North’s 4-2 Cincinnati Bengals versus NC North’s 4-2 Detroit Lions game could see a losing Bengals tied at first with the now AC North’s 3-3 Baltimore Ravens that are likely to undo the AC East’s 3-3 New York Jets on Sunday. If the Lions win this one, and the NC North’s now first place team, the Chicago Bears, lose to the NC East’s 1-3 Washington Redskins (doubtful), the Lions will own first place, Bears off to second. And, some marginal teams may not drop in the ratings during Week 7, in that they are facing beatable teams on Sunday, providing, of course, that they can rise to their best potential (call it a 54-46 shot that they will lose)---the AC North’s 3-3 Cleveland Browns vs. the NC North 3-2 Green Bay Packers, NC South 2-3 Carolina Panthers vs. the NC West’s 3-3 St. Louis Rams. As for the teams that are winless so far, the AC South’s 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars will probably be kneed on Sunday by the AC West’s 2-3 San Diego Chargers, the NC South’s 0-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers by the AC South’s 1-4 Atlanta Falcons, but on Monday the NC East’s 0-6 N.Y. Giants have a shot at their first win vs. the NC North’s 1-4 Minnesota Vikings. Untouched among division leading franchises this week from the Bye principle, that’s the NC South’s 5-1 New Orleans Saints, and they may not have much to fear until Week 13 (December 2d), when they will face the Seahawks (all challengers to the Saints until then will be from lower-ranked clubs). The Saints and Seahawks are now the two leading teams within the NC. Inside the AC, Week’s 8 through 13 won’t be as easy as it will be for the Saints or Seahawks, for the top two of the AC, the Broncos and the Chiefs, will be facing each other twice as Week 13 commences. . . //. . . BRONCOS, COLTS---MUCH is being said about old gun versus young gun, the experienced quarterback up against an up-and-coming QB, age against youth. There’s talk reflecting words uttered often where people retire in America, “Old age & wisdom beats youth all the time,” and we’ve heard drama about former Colts star vs. new Colts star, this dominated by sentiment causing both QB’s to falter while struggling harder than needed to prevail one against the other. It’s all nonsense, excessive hype. While both franchises have numerous game-winning attributes, the Broncos have shown to this year own the most in advantages, for example, not just the season’s best QB in Peyton Manning but the season’s top QB-receiver package, that is, Manning to wide receivers Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, Wes Welker, and to rush-maestro/RB Knowshon Moreno. It is this connectivity from Manning’s precision passes and handoffs that have given the Broncos amazingly high drive-to-touchdown percentages per 2013 game played, within this a high efficiency rating regarding third and fourth down transferences into points on the board. Unless the Colts can disrupt this Manning-receiver connectivity via pass-rush tactics that can disorient Manning, or from getting between the football and Broncos receivers by reading receiver maneuvers before they can occur and by being where that can happen, surely then the Broncos will score in each quarter of the competition. But the Colts QB, Andrew Luck, can also pass deep, short, and at any angle with much accuracy and fast enough to evade most pass-rushes that have gone at him this year, and the Colts WR’s are not of the slower, less canny caliber found within teams like the Buccaneers and the Jaguars. Here’s where the Broncos defense has to deliver “big time,” and with Broncos LB Von Miller and CB Champ Bailey afield some improvement will certainly be noted. Super-reliance must also be asked of Broncos defender, Danny Trevathan, tackler-supreme. So, whichever team wins this event, it will be from defense execution serving as spoilage that returns the football quickly to brother-offense, more than from the QB-led offense tactics that can follow. Our pick: both teams finishing in double digits, the Broncos winning by no more than six. . . //. . . MLB---IN baseball it’s after the euphoria of a sweep that many fans begin to sulk, saying, “If only the LC series could have gone to six games, 3-3 instead of 4-0, there would have been two more games between the two best LC-appointed teams.” Presently, the American League Championship series and National league Championship series are headed for that longer framework, best of seven from 3-3 standings, which is where the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers now sit. Tonight’s Los. Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals game could go in the same direction from their current two wins apiece scenario. Thus far in the post-season we’ve been watching what could be characterized as pitching duels, suggesting that faster and more cunning work from the mound has overtaken professional baseball. More than likely, if this is so it’s largely characteristic of the post-season, when the much fewer number of games to be played relative to those of the long regular season allows a team’s best hurlers to go all out, no holding back in order for them to maintain for the many teams that they would be facing across six months of baseball. Too, vs. fewer teams in the post-season the hurlers can be enemy-specific, matched deliberately within the context of right or left handed pitcher against left or right handed batters. Moreover, during a regular season all batters have been afield and at the plate a lot more often than pitchers have been to the mound, so they are more worn in a post-season environment, though not by much. Also, the number of home runs and extra base hits from line-ups during the regular season hasn’t declined in ways suggesting that mound-work is definitely the superior element in baseball. Even in the post-season, number of no-hitters, of shutouts, is indeed rare. All is as it should be. Anyway, no-one wants to make a liar out of the late and great hitter, Ted Williams, who kept repeating that hitting a baseball is surely the hardest action to pull off within the entire realm of sports. Back to the LC’s, because we’ve been asked how we’d like it; well, our hope is that the WS will compete the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Boston Red Sox, a sort of West Vs. East competition. Truth be told, the Cardinals and the Tigers could be the ticket. Few post-seasons in the existing decade have been about teams as close in equality of skills and power as the four involved in this year’s post-season. . . //. . . NBA---WHAT many observers appreciated from the 86-62 Brooklyn Nets win over the Miami Heat last night was that it underscored two positive notes, that an NBA championship team of a previous season is beatable, and that a rookie head coach of a lesser but still high-powered team can be among leading providers of that win, if not its sole architect (what coach ever is the only win factor in an NBA game, anyway, which former great HC’s Phil Jackson and George Karl are among the first to say is impossible?) The Nets won a game expected to be close and to go either side of the court by a wide margin of points not just from outshooting but by being where shots could be taken relatively easy, and that emerged from tactics that put the accent on “surprise,” the Nets shooters suddenly where they weren’t expected to be or to be doing, e.g., driving forward as if in a half-court game (street-game, if you will, fast break following fast break within the same drive, oops! yeah, points from under the board, and, hey, what’s that, back to three point shooting from the sides?) The Heat seemed arrogant to a man, as if they expected to win with a hand tied behind each of five backs throughout, even late in the fourth Q, and best of the best yet LeBron James is supposed to know a lot about the danger of player-arrogance in basketball, for that matter, within any other endeavor. . . Rest of the pack? Here’s our outlay of NBA teams likely to be close to one another as first and second place teams within their respective divisions “prior to All Star Week, and possibly after”---Western Conference-Northwest Division, the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz tied at second and a lot closer to first place Oklahoma City Thunder than ever before, possibly just two games behind. . . WC-Southwest, either the San Antonio Spurs or Grizzlies at the top, all other WC-SW teams anyone’s guess as to standings. . . WC-Pacific, though the Los Angeles Lakers finished eighth in the WC for 2012/13, the Kobe Bryant + Steve Nash attributes have jelled somewhat and the Lakers leading this division would be possible were it not for last season’s WC fourth place team, the L.A. Clippers, maintaining speed and skills, the Clippers likely the division’s numero uno, Lakers behind by three or four games. . . Eastern Conference-Atlantic Division, the N.Y. Knicks in the lead from November on, the Nets second from three losses, Boston Celtics third by no more than five losses. . . EC-Southeast, hard to see any change from how this division ended the 2012/13 season, the Heat ahead by as many as six games, the Atlanta Hawks second. . . EC-Central, the Chicago Bulls ahead of the Pacers by no more than three. END/ml.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

NFL: WEEK 6, RESULTS & ANALYSIS; BRONCOS DEFEAT OF THE JAGUARS // MLB: THE LC'S, SOME HISTORY & AN UPDATE // NBA 2013/14: POINTS OF INTEREST; DENVER NUGGETS, SAN ANTONIO SPURS.

SPORTS NOTEBOOK sports-notebook.blogspot.com FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. NFL: Week 6, Results & Analysis; Broncos Defeat of the Jaguars // MLB: the LC’s--Some History & An Update // NBA 2013/14: Points of Interest; Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs. . . //. . . NFL---NOT one of the NFL’s teams that competed Thursday through Monday (Week 6) failed to put points on the board, least being six from the New York Jets against the Pittsburgh Steelers 19, next the Oakland Raiders seven versus the Kansas City Chiefs 24. The highest number of points obtained during Week 6 belonged to the St. Louis Rams, 38 over the Houston Texans 13, a 25 point differential and highest of the week along with the same differential that the Carolina Panthers attained vs. the Minnesota Vikings, 35-10. The lowest/tightest point spread belonged to the Baltimore Ravens win vs. the Green Bay Packers, 19-17. All other point spreads were from six or more, and the teams that entered Week 6 at 5-0 (no season losses yet) and 5-1, they put up 20 points and more each, of these the Denver Broncos having accrued the most, 35 over the Jacksonville Jaguars 19. . . Presently, only two franchises are at 6-0, the Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs, both within the same division, the American Conference West. The two leading National Conference teams are the NC West’s 5-1 Seattle Seahawks and the NC South’s 5-1 New Orleans Saints. And, regarding which teams to sing sad songs for, that’s the 0-6 Jaguars, 0-6 New York Giants and 0-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All told, 19 of the 30 NFL franchises are at or above .500, signaling the continuation of a high-power season, thus a strong possibility that NFL-2013 will after Week 16 own a record for fewest number of teams tanking with an embarrassing number of losses. Yet of the league’s eight divisions, four now have leading teams with 4-2 or lower win/loss records, the lowest that of the NC East’s 3-3 Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys second and behind at 2-3. Total up the number of wins accrued by the NC East’s four teams, it’s no more than that won by the 6-0 Broncos or 6-0 Chiefs. The AC West’s 16 wins is the conference’s highest today among divisions, also the highest number of wins league-wide. Highest NC division total of wins belongs to the NC West, 15. The total number of AC wins is 50; NC wins, 41. . . As for super drama, only one of the eight division first place franchises has a commanding lead over a second place team, the NC South’s Saints being three ahead of the 2-3 Panthers. The AC East’s 5-1 New England Patriots are two games up vs. second place team, the 3-2 Miami Dolphins. All other division leading teams are but one win ahead of the next in line franchise. Different here is both the AC West’s Broncos and Chiefs being at 6-0, the Chiefs a close second based on other than wins, third place the 2-3 San Diego Chargers. . .//. . . BRONCOS, JAGUARS---WERE it not for the Manning-machine, that is, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and his preferred receivers, the Denver franchise might have lost during Week 6 to the worst NFL franchise of the current season, the Jacksonville Jaguars. The amazing Broncos offense stole game initiative from the Jaguars during a first quarter of their Sunday match with a 14 point lead from the team’s first and second drives, but in the second Q the Broncos defense returned 12 points to the Jaguars and gave seven more away in the third Q, fortunately with Manning’s passes and the five touchdowns from WR’s J. Thomas, Wes Welker and RB Knowshon Moreno offsetting that drawback. From Week 1 through Week 6, the Broncos defense has allowed more than 140 points to opposing franchises, more than the number of points given away by half of the teams that are currently under the margin, i.e., of teams with three or fewer wins and that are beneath .500. From stitching this defense performance to the fact that the Manning-led offense played worse vs. the Jaguars than in any preceding 2013 game, a rational argument could be made that the Broncos could by mid-season accrue some losses. The Jaguars QB, Chad Henne completed 27 of 42 attempted passes, just one shy of Broncos QB Manning’s 28 of 42. And, the Jaguars offense managed to obtain longer ball possession time than the Broncos had gained. Were it not for the Manning-Moreno connectivity that led to three TD’s, the Broncos/Jaguars outcome would have been vastly different vs. the Jaguars offense that managed to accrue 291 net passing yards, only four fewer than the Broncos 295. Too, Jaguars RB, J. Blackmon, rushed for 90 yards, 13 yards per play, which was highest gain in rushing yards for the game, while the Bronco’s best was Moreno’s 42 rushing yards gained, 2.8 pr play, the difference being that Moreno’s rushes contributed to TD’s, Blackmon’s hadn’t converted into any points at all, a sign that the Broncos defense can come through, it just needs to do more. Hope floats with Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey to the field recently and with von LB Miller ready to smash and sack, and with LB Danny Trevathan (five tackles, second quarter, three interceptions for the season so far). . . Next up for the Broncos is the AC South’s numero uno, the 4-2 Indianapolis Colts, a team that can defeat the Broncos only if the Broncos defense deteriorates even in the slightest way and if the Broncos offense execution vs. the Jaguars on Sunday was a sign of upcoming slippage. Also, if the Chiefs beat the Houston Texans on Sunday, as expected, the Broncos could find themselves second and not first within the AC West. In this context and for more insurance for a post-season berth and a shot at the Super Bowl, the Broncos will be playing against the Chiefs on Sunday as well as vs. the Colts. . . Surely a bad bet is Manning being troubled, weakened from his having been let go by the Colts after leading the Indianapolis franchise for a Super Bowl and other victories during a 14-year period, that such will be a mental detractor for Manning. More than likely, given Manning’s competitiveness and the cool + skills learned and developed when he led the Colts offense, the let-go factor will be a motivator for him, honoring all that he learned from his Colt years properly, doing so with his Broncos offense defeating the Colts. . . //. . . MLB, LC’s---FOR the National League LC it’s the Cardinals 2-1 over the Dodgers, the latter club closing in last night with a 3-0 win. For the AL-LC it’s the Red Sox and Tigers tied at 1-1, scheduled to break that today. Some history: last year’s LC winners were the NL’s San Francisco Giants and the AL’s Tigers, the former beating the latter for the 2012 World Series title. Last among today’s four contenders to win a LC and go to the WS are the Tigers (2012), before that the Cards (2011). Since year 2000, the Cards have gone to the WS three times and won twice (vs. the Tigers, 2006; vs. the Texas Rangers, 2010). The Tigers have gone to the WS twice and lost twice (vs. the Cards, 2006, to the Giants last year). The Dodgers haven’t won the NL-LC since 1988, the year that they won the WS vs. the Oakland Athletics. The Red Sox have won the AL-LC twice since year 2000, winning the 2004 WS from the Cards, and the 2007 WS from the Colorado Rockies. Given the low number of runs in LC games played this post-season to date, dominance lies more with effective pitching than with even effective hits and base-running, the most runs achieved in a single game being six runs during a Red Sox 6-5 win vs. the Tigers. Here’s where the Dodgers might prevail against the Cards, the Tigers vs. the Red Sox. Then again, maybe not, in that the differentials between pitching staffs of all four clubs are slight, best isn’t that much better. Of course, hitting and base-running is what produces the numbers, a 2-1 win is surely a win. That a sweep is no longer possible within either LC series, and that winning scores have been single-digit low, such has this page repeating once more, “It’s anyone’s guess until best of seven occurs.” . . . //. . . NBA: THE NBA 2013/14 season is within reach, just two weeks away for most of the league’s 30 teams. Questions are already on the table. Will the Miami Heat dominate all other franchises from the get-go? Will the Brooklyn Nets turn out to be the number one New York City basketball enterprise, surpassing the N.Y. Knicks well before the All Star break? Will this be the season advising that in more cases than not the teamwork-based franchises (no more than two 20+ ppg shooters) will have the better chance of a post-season appearance than the superstar-loaded franchise (25+ ppg shooters)? Which of the 14 NBA teams with new head coaches will win 50 or more games during 2013/14, same question regarding the nine teams that are being led by first time NFL head coaches? Relatedly, will the one new head coach directly from the wood floor succeed, Jason Kidd (recently retired from the Knicks), now leading the Nets? Or, will we learn that dominant will be teams banking on the head coaches they’ve maintained for many years, e.g. the San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich? Is it possible that the Denver Nuggets will regret firing 2012/13’s number one head coach, George Karl, replaced by the multi-skilled Brian Shaw, a Phil Jackson protégé? Is there a mind-set among owners that goes like this: “Head coaches are like busses. There’ll be another one coming along about every 10 or 12 minutes.” Also, will this NBA season be the one that throws the phrase “Status quo” out the window now that major player-personnel changes have occurred last year and recently, e.g., Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets from the Los Angeles Lakers, plus Laker superstars Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash and the Spurs Tim Duncan and Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki getting older? In other words, will we again see the Eastern Conference led by the Heat, the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers, and the Western Conference by the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs and the Nuggets? Or will we see flip-arounds, new teams ahead of the rest of the bunch? Add that the Thunder’s superstar, Kevin Durant, will be teamed with and maybe hampered by an injury-recovering Russell Westbrook. Will we see greater dependence for the win leveraged over to the concept of “depth being crucial,” that is, to stronger and better-skilled than ever players from the bench?. . . // . . . DENVER NUGGETS---THIS NBA quintessential mid-market team has reflected the best that there is within the “teamwork/no superstar needed” concept for winning basketball games, having reached the post season year after year, knocked away, however, in first or second rounds during those years, this latter point among reasons why George Karl, who engineered many of the Nuggets playoff appearances, was asked to resign, replaced for the upcoming season by Brian Shaw, the former assistant coach behind the 2012/13 resurrection of the Pacers. Last night, the Nuggets defeated the 2012/13 Western Conference leading team, the San Antonio Spurs, 98-94, having maintained a lead greater than 10 points within the second half, losing it in final moments of the fourth period to the four point victory. Looking at this win shallowly is to say that the Nuggets defeat of the most recent season’s Western Conference championship team shouldn’t count for much of anything because the Spurs head coach gave few minutes, if any of meaning, to top Spurs players Tony Parker (guard) and Tim Duncan (forward). The Nuggets won playing against the lesser Spurs, a Team B. But a deeper look shows that Nuggets head coach, Brian Shaw, hadn’t given the lion’s share of minutes to his team’s best starters either, to guard Ty Lawson or to forward JaVale McGee, to forward Kenneth Faried or to guard Nate Robinson. Shaw spread the minutes thin, the win signaling that the Nuggets back-up, the team’s depth, its subset, that is, the Nuggets bench, is indeed strong, a key asset when you compete without 25+ ppg shooters. Fact: unexpectedly (maybe not a surprise to Shaw) the top Nuggets shooter for last night’s win against the Spurs was guard Randy Foye, 15 points achieved. Already, and for the pre-season games under the bridge, three Nuggets players have double-digit ppg averages---McGee, forward J.J. Hickson and Lawson. END/ml

Friday, October 11, 2013

NFL; WEEK 6, STANDINGS & PICKS; BRONCOS VS. JAGUARS // MLB: UPDATE, THE LC SERIES // F-1 GRAND PRIX MOTOR RACING & FILM "RUSH."

SPORTS NOTEBOOK//sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . // FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. NFL—Week 6 & Picks; Broncos, Jaguars // MLB—Update, Playoffs // Formula 1 Grand Prix Racing & Movie, “Rush.” . . . //. . . NFL---THE NFL National Conference South’s leading team, the New Orleans Saints, has a substantial lead over second place club, the Carolina Panthers, 5-0 vs. 1-3, but the remaining seven NFL division leading franchises haven’t that luxury, in that second place organizations are at their heels, e.g., the American Conference West’s 5-0 Denver Broncos can sense the 5-0 Kansas City Chiefs touching their shoulders, and the AC East’s 4-1 New England Patriots are still in the shadows of second and third position teams, the 3-2 Miami Marlins and 3-2 New York Jets. Meanwhile, the AC North’s top franchise, the 3-2 Baltimore Ravens, are being chased by second and third spot teams, the 3-2 Cleveland Browns and 3-2 Cincinnati Bengals, and the AC South’s 4-1 Indianapolis Colts are followed by second place club, the 3-2 Tennessee Titans. Within the National Conference, the NC West’s Seattle Seahawks, can see from up close their division’s second and third position teams, the 3-2 San Francisco 49ers and the 3-2 Arizona Cardinals, and the NC East’s 2-3 Philadelphia Eagles have at their heels the 2-3 Dallas Cowboys, while the NC North’s first place franchise, the 4-2 Chicago Bears, are feeling heat from the 3-2 Detroit Lions. So, for Week 6, we have three franchises that are still unbeatable, the Broncos, the Chiefs and the Saints, and four that are at 4-1, the Patriots, Colts, Seahawks and the Bears, the latter having taken the N.Y. Giants down last night, 27-21, forcing the Giants into last place of the NFL, 0-6 as of today. Three other NFL teams are members of the Zero, Zip & Nada Club, the AC South’s 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, the AC North’s 0-4 Pittsburgh Steelers and the NC South’s 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Of course, the NFL rankings could be quite different after Sunday and Monday night. Here are some observations: If the Jaguars take down the Broncos on Sunday, a miracle will have occurred (don’t count on it), while the Chiefs giving way to the Oakland Raiders is possible but unlikely, thus the Broncos and Chiefs will each be at 6-0 as Week 7 commences. If there is a cliff-hanger on Sunday, it’s likely to be the Patriots vs. Saints, in that for the former a possible loss could allow the Jets to tie with the Patriots at AC East-first place, providing that the Jets defeat the Steelers on Sunday (no easy task). More likely on Sunday is the AC North’s Ravens lording it over the Green Bay Packers, implying a stay at first place for the Ravens. Another AC near-given is the AC South’s Colts defeating the AC West’s San Diego Chargers, therefore holding AC South first place for the coming week. And, another miracle would be needed for the AC South’s Titans to take down the NC West’s Seahawks on Sunday, which would push the Seahawks into a tie situation should the 49ers whip the Cardinals. This couldn’t possibly be easy for the 49ers, and anyway the Seahawks will probably defeat the Titans---our pick, the Seahawks going to 5-1 at endgame, continuing in first place. For pure enjoyment on Sunday, catch a very real rivalry, the 1-3 Washington Redskins facing the Cowboys, the latter close to defeating the now 5-0 Broncos last week. As to the current week’s irony? Were the AC West’s last place 2-3 Raiders and the AC South’s last place 2-3 Buffalo Bills now within the NC East, the two would be tied for second place with the Cowboys, close behind first place team, the Eagles, also 2-3. . . //. . . BRONCOS, JAGUARS---JUST about every NFL 2013 Broncos statistic tells the Jaguars to go afield without any thoughts about winning a football game, the advice from both Broncos passing and rush yardage saying that the Jaguars head coach should be telling his players, “Just have fun, it’s a strong chance that you’ll be giving away lots of points to the Broncos Peyton Manning-led offense.” But the Jaguars head coach knows that there’s a window of opportunity for his team, and it’s offered up by a Broncos defense that last week gave away 48 points to a lesser offense squad, that of the Dallas Cowboys. By confusing, disorienting and forcing the Broncos defense to go where the Jaguars offense won’t be, the boys from Jacksonville just might go home without being humiliated, maybe score two touchdowns and a field goal as the Broncos offense surpasses no fewer than 30 points. As for the Jaguars defense maintaining respectability, best tactic for them is surely the pass rush, the operative words for its linebackers, “enter Madness, like you’ve been ordered to stop a bomb from exploding, like you’re the Avengers, caffeinated,” meanwhile QB Manning so cool his E&E, his Escape and Evade moments, will probably be enough to keep the Jaguars pass rush having more misses than gains. Borrowing a line from a heist movie so as to define Manning, “The guy’s a genuine hero, he’s so cool that when sheep have to go to sleep they count him.” Presently for 2013 and entering Week 6, Manning has completed 150 of 198 passes and accrued 20 TD’s, 17 more TD’s than achieved by the two Jaguar QB’s, Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne. Look to the Broncos to finish ahead on Sunday by two or more TD’s even if the Broncos defense fails to show improvements over last week; otherwise, Broncos by three TD’s and a FG. . . //. . . MLB---SOMETIMES the MLB season seems to move forward no faster than turtles in a race across thick mud, each turtle wearing a back pack loaded with bricks. Of course, that’s time playing a trick on us, the way that waiting for a slice of bread to be toasted at breakfast seems longer than the rest of the day will be. Then comes Major League Baseball’s Post-season, which seems to go by faster than a Formula One racing car leaving the grid. We’re at the best of seven League Championship series now, within the American League the Boston Red Sox facing the Detroit Tigers, and inside the National League the L.A. Dodgers versus the St. Louis Cardinals. Gone, then, are the AL’s Oakland Athletics, having lost in a best of five division series to the Red Sox, and the NL’s Pittsburgh Pirates, having lost in best of five to the Cardinals. If complete toolbox teams dominate, that is, those with top of the line starting pitchers, relievers, closers, infielders, outfielders, batters and the depth for replacements, then we stand with some hesitancy that a Dodgers/Red Sox World Series is a bit more likely than any other, yet tenuous, we’re not entirely sure of the prediction. But if, as we cited on Tuesday, star power dominates, e.g, domination from but a handful of better than the rest hurlers + batters and fielders, we could see a Tigers/Dodgers WS. Note that the Dodgers have demonstrated both star power and all other game-winning attributes, this a few degrees higher than have been seen from the Cardinals---and we could safely say this about the Red Sox being a better team than the Tigers, the latter upticked immensely by hurler, Justin Verlander, and superb batter/fielder Miguel Cabrera, but the Dodgers having stars, too, plus those all-around attributes, totality for winning at baseball. . . //. . . F-1 GRAND PRIX RACING;FILM “RUSH”---THE Ron Howard movie, “Rush,” is worth seeing if you are curious about F-1 Grand Prix racing and want certain messages about competitive spirit among athletes rendered and reinforced. A downside of the film is that the camera shots of F1 racing and the F1 cars themselves keep you wanting much more and that doesn’t happen, such is interrupted by the off-track story of two highly competent drivers, each wanting to best the other at high risk. The better part of the upside is that from watching the film you can learn a lot about the F-1 series, now the world’s second biggest sport after soccer and the second richest, also after soccer, though F-1 isn’t as big in the U.S. as it is in Europe, South America, Asia and in a few parts of the Middle East. Yet F-1 returned to America last year and will appear this year at Austin Texas, come November. The U.S. F-1 GP is one of the last races in a season of 16 races involving 20 teams for races held at a different country every two weeks, the more famous races on the circuit being the Monaco, Australian, British, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Brazilian Grand Prix events. The cars are similar in looks to the Indy 500 cars, while tracks differ, hardly any just variations of the basic oval, many including actual roadways and natural obstacles for cars that reach over 150 mph easily. As for the lessons learned by the two drivers, it’s that obsessing victory can cause an athlete to push beyond his or her ability to control events during dangerous situations. Whether the risk is worth taking is any athlete’s choice. During an F-1 Grand Prix season, the risks remain high. END/ml.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

NFL--WEEK 5 RESULTS; BRONCOS DEFEAT OF COWBOYS // MLB: PLAYOFFS, TOWARD LC'S & THE WS.

SPORTS NOTEBOOK, October 8 // sports-notebook.blogspot.com FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL---JUST a week ago, there were five NFL franchises that hadn’t taken a 2013 regular season loss; they were 4-0, thus .1000. Today, there are three without a loss and so 5-0/.1000 each---the American Conference West’s Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs, and the National Conference South’s New Orleans Saints. Close behind these perfectos today is the .800 club, that is, the three 4-1 NFL teams, including the AC East’s New England Patriots, the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts, the NC West’s Seattle Seahawks. Of these six NFL franchises, four reside within the AC. . . The 10 3-2/.600 gangs are the AC East’s Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets, the AC North’s Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, the AC South’s Tennessee Titans, NC West’s San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals, the NC North’s Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. Do the math and we have 16 of the 32 NFL teams above .500, therefore the NFL average is above .500. Askew is that 10 of these 16 teams are within the AC, six inside the NC, and the AC has six of the 3-2 teams while the NC includes four of the 3-2 teams. All this places the AC ahead by more than a miniscule margin. . . Oddly, as the NFL approaches Week 6 of the 2013 season, there is but one .500 team, the NC North’s Green Bay Packers. The remaining NFL clubs are below .500, four without a season win since the get-go, the AC North’s 0-4 Pittsburgh Steelers and the AC South’s 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, the NC East’s 0-5 N.Y. Giants and the NC South’s 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. . . The tightest division races to date appear to be the AC West’s Broncos and Chiefs, each being 5-0, also the AC North’s Ravens and the Bengals each at 3-2, the NC East’s Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys both at 2-3, and the NC North’s Lions and Bears each at 3-2. Presently, the NC South’s Saints are the only “runaway” division-leading franchise, second in that division being the 1-3 Carolina Panthers. Except for the 4-1 Seahawks, all other NC teams are two or more games behind the Saints. And within the AC, there are three franchises close at the heels of the AC’s leading franchise, the AC West’s Broncos. . . Of note is that not one of Sunday’s games could be classified as a blowout, the widest disparity being the 49er’s 34-3 win over the Houston Texans. Of Sunday surprises, there’s the N.E. Patriots loss to the Bengals, 13-6. . . BRONCOS, COWBOYS---FOR most of Sunday’s Week 5 Broncos vs. Cowboys game, it appeared that no matter how many points the Cowboys could score the Broncos offense could match the numbers and add some, surely a positive for the Denver team coached by John Fox, the offense led by professional football’s best active quarterback, Peyton Manning, an offense including the NFL’s top receiver pack, wide receivers Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, Wes Welker + running back, Knowshon Moreno. BUT---taking the shine off of this was the Broncos defense (the Broncos Achilles heel, if you will), a defense that has given away more than 20 points during each 2013 regular season game, worst being the 48 points handed to the Cowboys on Sunday, made null and void by a Broncos field goal in the last seconds of a fourth quarter, final: 51-48 (Yes, a win is a win). Of course, praise must go to the Manning-led offense up against a Cowboys defense performing better than it had Weeks 1 through 4 of the season. Only in the second Q were the Broncos able to score more points than the Cowboys had. Were it not for the Broncos second Q’s 20 points over the opposition offense’s six points, the game could have gone to the Cowboys. Still, the Broncos accrued 34 first downs toward the team’s six touchdowns, 10 more than achieved by the Cowboys, and the Broncos offense obtained a total of 103 yards from rushing plays, vs. the Cowboys 52 total rushing yards. And, QB Manning completed 33 of 42 throws for a total of 414 passing yards. Denver’s RB Moreno rushed for 93 yards, 4.9 yards per rush and for a TD, while the Cowboys best RB rushing was half that, 43 yards total, 3.6 yards per rush. And, though Cowboys QB Tony Romo’s rushing for seven yards was but one yard behind Manning’s eight, Manning’s eight was for a TD. Also, Broncos WR Julius Thomas received for 122 yards and for two TD’s, WR Decker for 87 and a TD. All this data certainly highlights the Manning-led offense as being spectacular, yet such dims quickly when seen against the Cowboys offense on Sunday. The Cowboy’s offense could be said to have won a particular category labeled “Economy of force.” From less ball possession time and from 10 fewer first downs, the Cowboys offense managed to score as many points as the Broncos had, minus that Broncos late fourth Q FG. And, from Cowboys QB Romo were 505 passing yards, almost 100 more than Manning accrued, Romo’s from fewer passing attempts, 36 vs. Manning’s 42 attempts. Too, the Cowboy’s top three receivers on Sunday gained a total of 413 yards and four TD’s, while the Broncos totaled up but 266 received yards, though for three TD’s. Yet given the Cowboys performances during Week 1 through 4, and from data put up by QB Romo in those weeks, one has to also credit ironically “the Broncos defense” for much of the Cowboy’s Sunday success in a game within which the Cowboys led during three of four Q’s and which they may have taken into OT and then won. However, on the subject of “Economy of force,” no-one can say anything disparaging about the Broncos offense and be correct, for it was the Manning-managed successive first downs and third down efficiency (twice that of the Cowboys) that saved the day for Denver. This said, unless the Broncos defense can reform, reinvigorate, add more juice to the pass rush and get between enemy receivers and the football more often, the Broncos may not be able to keep on without a 2013 loss. On the plus side, of the Broncos next three games (Weeks 6 through 9) they could easily win two easily, vs. the 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars and the 1-3 Washington Redskins. Week 8’s Broncos vs. Indianapolis Colts game won’t be as easy for the Broncos defense, nor will challenges from the Chiefs and the Patriots during Weeks 11 and 12 be easy for the Broncos defense, especially if the Broncos defense denies enhancements, one of which is linebacker Von Miller and cornerback Champ Bailey afield and in top form. . . //. . . MLB---WITHIN the 2013 playoffs, it’s still the division series dominating, in the National league the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates being two games apiece for best of five, plus the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the Atlanta Braves, L.A. now with two wins, Atlanta with one win, also for best of five. In the American League, the Boston Red Sox are leading the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-1 (best of 5), and the Oakland Athletics are 2-1 vs. the Detroit Tigers (best of 5). Noteworthy, and suggesting lots of parity, is the absence of no-hit and shutout wins within 13 post-season games that have been played as of today, and only two of these 13 have been won with double-digit scores, the Dodgers 13-6 win over the Braves on Sunday, and the Red Sox win over the Rays, 12-2. The tag of most runs put up by a team to date among the MLB contenders for an LC and possibly the World Series, such belongs to, in the NL, the Dodgers---23. Within the AL, it’s the Red Sox---21. This is the only hint that there could be a Dodgers/Red Sox WS, yet it’s a vague hint, for a WS berth is still attainable by the Cardinals, Pirates, Braves, Athletics and the Rays. So, again we say, “the 2013 MLB LC and WS outcomes are anyone’s guess.” END/ml.

Friday, October 4, 2013

MLB: 2013 PLAYOFFS // NFL: WEEK 5 STANDINGS; BRONCOS VS. COWBOYS.

SPORTS NOTEBOOK, Friday, Oct 4 Sports-notebook.blogspot.com FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. MLB: 2013 Playoffs // NFL: Week 5 Standings; Broncos Facing the Cowboys. . . // . . . MLB---IS the MLB post-season really miles apart from the regular season? Is it the crapshoot that so many baseball professionals call it? “Yes,” “Ya,” “Si,” “Of course, Bro’” are the proper answers here, in that a team that hadn’t done as well as other clubs from April through September can be crowned a League Champion in October and then win the World Series, and then there’s the fact of post-season players being more psyched and tense during the playoffs, the stakes being high among teams much closer in skill-sets and power than many of the clubs encountered during the regular season (a team’s vulnerabilities are a much more worrisome factor during the post-season, than prior to October). About the only “No,” “Nope,” “Nyet” that applies to the above questions is that the post-season is baseball all over again, each day or night just one more game in spite of what the stakes are, although this isn’t what is felt by most fans, analysts and ballplayers. If baseball is your thing, the post-season is definitely “Big Deal,” and this year the teams seeded are bound to excite, reflecting the best of 2013. The immediately positioned, that is, those at the cusp on that day that the regular 2013 season closed, were, in alphabetical order, the Atlanta Braves (NL), Boston Red Sox (AL), Cincinnati Reds (NL-Wild Card), Detroit Tigers (AL), Los Angeles Dodgers (NL), Oakland Athletics (AL), Pittsburgh Pirates (NL-Wild Card), and the St. Louis Cardinals (NL), the Tampa Bay Rays (AL) and the Texas Rangers (AL). Yet only five of these 10 teams were among the top 10 last year, and just one got to the World Series---the Detroit Tigers. Surprisingly, last year’s five other teams of a top 10 are not only out of the 2013 playoff picture, they finished poorly as as mediocre during the 2013 regular season, as examples, last year’s WS winner the San Francisco Giants (NL), the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Angels. Of this year’s playoff-billeted, the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates were losing teams as 2012 ended, each under .500 with fewer than 69 and 79 won games respectively, thus within the bottom 15 of MLB’s 30 ball clubs. Nor had the New York Yankees reached the playoffs this year, when for 2012 they were ranked in the top 12 and had more won games (95) than the number two team and WS winner the Giants, more proof that in the post-season “anything can happen.” Fueling this reality is that each post-season team has one or more strong cards suggesting the possibility of victory, for instance, the Braves can boast of five hitters accumulating 100 home runs during the regular season, while this year the team’s starter rotation + bull pen have the lowest combined ERA in all of professional baseball. Yet the Dodgers, now vs. the Braves in Division Series competition, they have excelled at extra-base hits and leaving few runners on base at third outs, and they may have the best three starting pitchers in the National League, each with an ERA under 3.0. The Tigers also have low ERA starting pitchers, and a high team-wide on-base percentage with MLB’s top hitrter of the year, as last year, Miguel Cabrera, and the Cardinals, like the Red Sox, are competent all-around, as well, with least vulnerabilities when examined whole. Also, the Cards have the NL’s number one record re. doubles and runs, and the Red Sox can claim more than 100 HR’s placed by nine batters during 2013, and the Red Sox finished 2013 with the best AL Record (most won games). The Athletics, well, they are hot, they won 19 of the team’s last 27 games, not leading in many skill categories yet still recording high nearly among all categories. If it is strategy and all-around skills + power that dominates, we could see the Athletics besting the Tigers and then the Red Sox, too, but barely and then winning the AL-LC, and the Cardinals taking down the Braves and the Dodgers for eth NL-LC. If it’s star power from the mound and line-ups that prevail, then we might see the Dodgers incredibly close and the Dodgers grabbing the NL-LC from wider distribution of offense skills. An Athletics vs. Dodgers WS would compete the two styles employed for winning ballgames, the winner being anyone’s guess. . . // . . . NFL---WEEK 5 is here, having kicked in last night, Buffalo Bills against the Cleveland Browns. These franchises entered Week 5 at two wins, two losses (2-2) each, thus .500, and nine other NFL franchises will be seeing the start of Week 5 at 2-2/.500, the majority holding third and fourth positions among the five teams within their respective divisions, yet two of these teams are today leading their divisions, the American Conference North’s 2-2 Baltimore Ravens, and the National Conference East’s 2-2 Dallas Cowboys. Three other division leaders are at 4-0, AC West’s Denver Broncos, AC East’s New England Patriots, the NC West’s Seattle Seahawks, and the NC South’s New Orleans Saints. At the heels of the Broncos are the 4-0 Kansas City Chiefs. The division leaders at 3-1 are the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts, and the NC North’s Detroit Lions. But directly behind the Colts are the 3-1 Tennessee Titans, and right back of the Lions are the 3-1 Chicago Bears, causing the AC South and the NC North to be very tight Week 5 division competition. For a look at AC vs. NC as Week 5 continues, the AC has 37 wins, the latter 27, the NC having been pulled down by two 0-4 franchises, the NC East’s 0-4 New York Giants, and the NC South’s 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, plus a 1-3 team within each of the NC divisions, surprisingly among them the 1-3 NC East’s Washington Redskins and the now NC North’s 1-2 Green Bay Packers, which faces the NC North leading team the Lions on Sunday, Green Bay’s chance for a turnabout start. . . // . . . BRONCOS, COWBOYS---IN a nutshell, if the 4-0 Denver Broncos hold the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys offense to no more than 21 points it’s likely that the Broncos will take the Cowboys down, for the Peyton Manning offense is skillful and powerful enough to put up 28 or more points vs. the Dallas franchise. To date, the Broncos have scored 179 points through Week 4 of the NFL season, the Cowboys, 104, yet the Broncos have given away 91, the Cowboys 75, which implies that the Cowboys have a chance for victory if the Cowboys defense can hold the Manning-led strike force from scoring big. The least number of points for a Broncos single game win this year has been 37, the highest, 52, while best for the Cowboys has been 36 and that was against an 0-4 team, the N.Y. Giants. Note that the Broncos defense has improved game by game, giving away fewer points progressively, though not my much, Our pick, Broncos 31, Cowboys 20. END/ml

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

NFL: WEEK 5 & MUCH ALIVE; BRONCOS DEFEAT OF THE EAGLES // MLB: POST-SEASON; COLORADO ROCKIES & 2014

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . // . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL---WELL, they shut down the U.S. government and the NFL is still standing. Must be that professional football dominates. After all, who would have had the courage to put a halt to the five NFL teams with perfect records thus far for the 2013 NFL season? These phenoms, four wins, zero losses (4-0) each, are the American Conference West’s Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs, the AC East’s New England Patriots, the National Conference West’s Seattle Seahawks and the NC South’s New Orleans Saints. Together, these teams put more than 150 points on the board Thursday, Sunday and Monday (Week Four), the Broncos ahead with 52 pulled from the NC East’s now 1-3 Philadelphia Eagles, the Saints next with 38 taken from the now 3-1 Miami Dolphins. It is definitely a strong NFL season moving into Week 5, with today only four NFL teams at the opposite end of the win/loss spectrum, 0-4---the AC North’s Pittsburgh Steelers, AC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars, AC East’s New York Giants and NC South’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while nine teams are at 2-2, thus at the margin of playoff possibility, .500, and five teams are at 1-3---the AC West’s Oakland Raiders, NC West’s St. Louis Rams, the NC East’s Eagles, NC North’s Minnesota Vikings and the NC South’s Atlanta Falcons. Notable is that of the nine 2-2/.500 teams, two are leading their divisions, the AC North’s Baltimore Ravens and the NC East’s Dallas Cowboys. When adding the five teams that are at 3-1 and thus .750, the AC South’s Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans, NC North’s Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears and the Dolphins, plus the above-listed 1-3 franchises, we can see that the entire NFL is above .500, a winning enterprise, though a value NOT being experienced by teams that have fallen far from high expectations, e.g., the Giants, the Steelers, the NC East’s 1-3 Washington Redskins, the Falcons. . . The nine 2-2/.500 franchises are the AC West’s San Diego Chargers, AC East’s N.Y. Jets and Buffalo Bills, the AC North’s Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, the NC West’s San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals, and the NC East’s Cowboys. . . // . . . BRONCOS, EAGLES---DURNG WEEK 4, the Denver Broncos defense played against the Philadelphia Eagles offense with radar pulsed to the max, bent on high RPM/hard HP intervention. Keeping the Eagles offense to 20 points wasn’t an easy ride for the Broncos pass rush unit, tackles and cornerbacks. Meanwhile, the Eagles defense couldn’t do the same against a Broncos offense that accrued points from nearly every drive to the red zone and beyond, racking up 52 points. Broncos QB Peyton Manning’s four TD passes for 28 of the Broncos 52 points tied the NFL record for TD’s earned by a QB in the first four weeks of a season—16. And, credit must be given to Broncos special team players, to Trindon Holliday’s first quarter kickoff return run of 105 yards for a TD, and to Steven Johnson fourth Q block of an Eagles punt, Johnson then taking the football for a Broncos TD. In most skill categories, the Broncos offense dominated---35 first downs, 472 total net yards including 337 passing yards averaging 8.7 yards per, also ball possession for more than the entire half of the game---33 minutes. Too, no Q occurred without the Broncos gaining double-digit points, and by endgame Broncos wide receivers Eric Decker, DeMaryius Thomas and Wes Welker received for 88, 86 and 76 yards respectively, and Broncos running back, Knowshon Moreno, rushed for 78 yards. QB Manning completed 28 of 34 passes, his four TD passes totaling 327 yards. The Eagles respectable 450 total net yards for the game, which included more net rushing yards than the Broncos had achieved, 166 vs. the Broncos 141, just couldn’t convert to enough TD or field goal points against a Broncos defense that has improved with each contest since the pre-season, though slightly per game. When Broncos linebacker, Von Miller, and cornerback, Champ Bailey, return to the field from the bench, this defense will likely keep enemy points lower than the 20+ attained by opposing franchises every game since September 5. QB Vick accrued only 14 completed passes of 27 thrown for 247 yards, 80 yards fewer than Manning’s total. . . // . . . MLB---Post-season battles are underway. Regarding Wild Card teams afield, from the National League it’s the Cincinnati Reds up against the Pittsburgh Pirates (both, NL Central Division), and from the American League it’s the Cleveland Indians (AL Central) against the Tampa Bay Rays (AL East). Either the Reds or Pirates will then compete versus the NL Central’s St. Louis Cardinals, and either the Indians or Rays will go against the AL West’s Texas Rangers, winner here vs. the AL East’s Boston Red Sox. Other division series this week will include the NL East’s Atlanta Braves versus the NL West’s Los Angeles Dodgers, and the AL Central’s Detroit Tigers against the AL West’s Oakland Athletics. . . // . . . COLORADO ROCKIES---A ballclub that reaches the MLB post-season with more than 90 wins can usually count the reasons why with fewer than five fingers, while a team that couldn’t win more than 70 games in a season needs several hands to count the reasons why, just like there’s only one way to be born and a million different ways to fail in life. The Colorado Rockies just finished their third losing season in a row, and so there’s detective work ahead in order to ferret out the multiple reasons why, from the start a difficult task because of a peculiar irony that has existed across the three losing years. In each of the three years, the Rockies have not only had the physical assets afield and the management behind it for a winning season, they put forth greater numbers in major game categories than that which catapulted other ball clubs onto higher wins and directly into post-season berths. The Rockies have been like the NFL team that achieves one first down after another and reaches an end zone in record time, then fails at third and fourth down attempts to score a TD or even a field goal, for instance, hitters such as the now retired Todd Helton, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Cuddyer envied by hitters on other clubs for their high batting averages and nearly errorless defense maneuvers, and starting pitchers Jorge DeLaRosa, Jhoulys Chacin and Juan Nicasio capable of winning records and low ERA’s, and reliever Rex Brothers the same. During the recent season, the Rockies defeated every division first place team that they played against one or more times, yet the Rockies finished last in the NL West, unable from mid-August on to accrue the runs needed to prevail in series of three and four games per. No matter the number of hits and number of players getting on base, if such doesn’t translate into more runs than obtained by the opposing club, a team might as well be zip, zero, Nada when it comes to rankings and post-season candidacy, for it’s runs that win a game. Teams that in a single contest have produced doubles and triples, lots of base-runners, and several catches from acrobatics that circus performers couldn’t complete, they often lose when at third outs multiple runners are left on base. This has happened far too often to the Rockies during the team’s beneath the margin years, meanwhile the pitching staff remaining sparse with winning starters + relievers capable of game recovery tactics. These will probably be the first game-categories that the Rockies manager, coaches and players investigate during the off-season. END/ml