Major League Baseball

October comes in with a bang

Published Oct. 4, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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FRIDAY

All wet

Of all the possible storylines that could have developed on the opening day at the Ryder Cup, this one couldn’t possibly have been considered.

A lot of the talk on Friday was about the American team’s rain gear. At first, the conversation focused on the fact the navy blue outfits with double white stripes and players' names in unusual font stitched on the back seemed better suited for a college basketball team.

But once the rain started, the aesthetic part of the equation became a mere footnote. The only meaningful function of rain gear is of course, to repel rain. This gear absorbed it.

The American players were getting so wet they had to go to an on-course merchandise tent and purchase gear that was available to patrons as Ryder Cup souvenirs. Oops.

It is said that all publicity is good publicity, so in the interest of helping out the company that makes butt-ugly, defective rain gear, I’ll mention its name: Sun Mountain Sports.

You’re welcome.

Stay classy, San Diego

Considering where they came from at the end of last season, the San Diego Padres are a major success story.

Considering where they were just five weeks ago, they are on the brink of a disaster.

Their 6 1/2-game divisional lead is gone; replaced by a 3-game deficit in the West
Needing a sweep over the Giants to force a playoff, the Padres took the opener 6-4 on the strength of home runs from Ryan Ludwick, Adrian Gonzales and Matt Stairs.

Buck’s birds

The utter buffoonery in Baltimore has not only stopped, but completely turned around.

The Orioles, who were a dismal 32-73 when Buck Showalter took over as manager, swept a doubleheader from the Tigers, improving to 33-22 since.

Showalter became the first manager in baseball history to take over a team in August or later and win more games the rest of the season than his team had before his arrival.

Now the question is, what do Orioles fans do with all those “We Suck” signs they’ve made?

SATURDAY

Giant beating

Hold off a minute on that burial of the Padres. Tim Stauffer gave up one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings, leading San Diego to a 4-2 win over San Francisco. With the regular-season finale on Sunday, the Giants' lead in the West was down to a single game.

Lone Wolverine

Early Heisman favorite Denard Robinson went bonkers again, racking up 494 yards in offense, throwing for three touchdowns and running for two others. His last TD came on a 4-yard run with 17 seconds remaining to lift Michigan to a 42-35 win over Indiana.

Just another Big Ten snoozer.

Later, Gator

No. 7 Florida outgained No. 1 Alabama, 281-273, and had nearly 33 minutes in time-of-possession. Problem is, the Gators turned the ball over four times in a 31-6 Alabama rout.

Downwardly mobile

Boise State’s ongoing quest for respect just got a bit more maddening. The Broncos improved to 4-0, beating New Mexico State 59-0. Once again, though, their travels in the polls are southbound. With their win over Stanford, Oregon leapfrogged Boise State to No. 3 in the polls while the undefeated Broncos fall to No. 4.

Hook ‘em. Don’t book ‘em

The nation’s best streak of 162 straight weeks in the top 25 came to an end for Texas. The Longhorns dropped out of the polls after a 28-20 loss to No. 8 Oklahoma.

SUNDAY

This guy was phenomenal. Let’s boo him!

Not sure how it happened, but somewhere along the way, the NFL’s hot-topic issue in the media last week became whether Eagles fans were going to cheer or boo Donovan McNabb in his return to Philadelphia.

The answer was simple: If those fans are the kind of people who appreciate a player giving the game every ounce of his physical and mental energy for the past 11 years, representing the franchise with class and dignity, and leading his team to five conference championship games, they would cheer.

If they are a bunch of unappreciative jerks who refuse to acknowledge greatness unless it comes with a Super Bowl trophy, then they will boo.

So what happened? He got a standing ovation and a 95 percent positive response.

Way to go Eagles fans. By the way, Santa Claus on Line 1.

Then the cheering stopped

Philly’s new QB, Michael Vick, was knocked out of the game in the first quarter, and the Redskins made 14 early points stand up to beat the Eagles.

McNabb had a rather unimpressive day, going 8-19 for 125 yards in a 17-12 Redskins win.

Big names, big games

Sunday’s NFL stat sheet looked like something out of 2003.

Ten-year veteran LaDainian Tomlinson ran for 133 yards in the Jets' 38-14 romp over Buffalo.

Fourteen-year veteran Tony Gonzales became the first tight end in league history to rack up 12,000 receiving yards in Atlanta’s 16-14 win over the still-winless 49ers.

And 15-year vet Terrell Owens caught 10 passes for 222 yards in the Bengals' 23-20 loss to Cleveland.

Blacked-out 'Bolts

The San Diego Chargers hosted ... oh, never mind. Apparently nobody cares. The Chargers game was blacked out for the second straight week because the team didn’t sell enough tickets.

Hey Chargers fans, the Tampa Bay Rays fans just called. They say you are lame.

Red, white and ewww

The European team dominated the U.S. to take a 9-1/2 to 6-1/2 lead in the Ryder Cup. More bad weather pushed the 12 final-day singles matches back to Monday.

On second thought ...

Go ahead with that burial for the Padres. A 3-0 Giants win closed out San Diego both in the West and the wild-card race. San Diego finished the season with just 14 wins in its final 37 games, to finish two back in the West, and one back in the wild card.

A date for eight

Major League Baseball playoff match-ups:

NL: Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia

Atlanta vs. San Francisco

AL: Texas vs. Tampa Bay

New York vs. Minnesota

My World Series pick: Phillies in five games over the Rays.

Stick with the Mick

For my money, the most amazing stat of this baseball season is Jose Bautista’s 54 home runs leading the American League by FIFTEEN over the second-place finisher, Paul Konerko.

The last player to lead his league by 15 or more home runs was Mickey Mantle in 1956!

Jose Bautista & Mickey Mantle… Gotta love baseball.

Hang in there, folks, just five more days 'til the weekend.

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