Southpaw Jesus Indeed!

Without dissecting every play (the game just ended afterall), Ben Olson is the freaking man. He stood up to pressure in the pocket, stepped up and threw strikes when the Bruins needed him to, made his reads to find the open receiver, and despite the lack of an effective running game, marched the Bruins down the field for three touchdowns. He looked every bit as impressive as Drew Olson did last year. Of course, not all of Drew's production came in the fourth quarter (it just seemed like it), but what a nice sight it was to see the Bruins march down the field on their first drive of the game, culminating in a scoring strike from the chose one. 26 for 35, 316 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. That's not too bad for a debut, even against Utah. Aside from a couple of shaky QB/Center exchanges, I can't remember one play that even ALMOST went for an interception. Excellent decision making and execution.

Logan Paulsen also made a name for himself tonight, hauling in five catches for 90 yards. Brandon Breazell also stepped up with some big grabs, including a very athletic leaping grab for a big first down in the third quarter. The only disappointments were Junior Taylor, with two really awful drops, and the run blocking of the offensive line, which control the line of scrimmage all night. But with the numbers Big Ben put up tonight, teams won't be able to sell out against the run.

On the defensive end, true freshman Alterraun Verner had a huge game, with an interception return for a touchdown, and a fumble forced and recovered that salted the game away. The interception was especially important as it came when the game was tied and the offense was struggling. Dennis Keyes also stood out, and the defensive line was pretty impressive. They held Utah to 112 yards on the ground.

The most important part of the game for the defense, in my opinion, was their fundamental play. They actually tackled, something the Bruins haven't done for the last five years or so. Say what you will about Dewayne Walker. Criticize his lack of experience, his schemes, what have you, but if does one thing, if he teaches these guys to tackle, this will be the best defense the Bruins have put on the field in the Dorrell era.

Well, one down, ten to go. The way they looked tonight, and the way Notre Dame looks right now, that game in October should be a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

Angels 5; Mariners 3

Nice way to finish the series. The offense finally staked Lackey to a lead that he somewhat amazingly didn't turn over. Howie was big time again, GA continues to rake, and Frankie continues to be absolutely lights out. The Angels salvaged the season series from the Mariners, ten games to nine.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. The A's swept the Red Sox and increased their lead to 7.5 games. They lead by more than a week, and there's only about five of those left in the season. At this point, the Angels need to really outplay the A's down the stretch in their games versus other opponents, and they need to pound the A's in their last seven head to head. I don't think it's a stretch to see that anything less than 5-2 pretty much ends the discussion, and realistically, even that likely won't be good enough.

Now it's on to Detroit to face the Tigers, who narrowly escaped a sweep in New York this evening when Craig Monroe hit a two out three run homer in the ninth to salvage a split. They've been struggling, and the Angels need to take advantage. Honestly, this is a series that won't kill me if the Angels lose. I have a friend who has suffered for the last 12 years with the Tigers, and their slide has him a bit on edge. I've been there, and I hate to see people go through that. So I'm rooting for the Angels, but if they get swept, it won't devastate me. There's a silver lining. Plus, Tiger wins are bad for the White Sox, and that's good for everyone.

Except the White Sox, of course.

Good lord

These guys are fucking awful.

Update: Hope Soriano's OK. Anyone else see him spit out a big fatty of dip as the trainers got to him. Good thing he didn't swallow it.

God help us

From the L.A. Times:

Napoli Is Hatcher's Project

Well, it was a nice career, Mike . See ya in the independent leagues.

More fun with Sitemeter

Someone did a Yahoo search (people still use Yahoo?) for "Seitz" and came to this site via that search. One of the other listings for Seitz was a link to this page, which, in addition to providing the correct pronunciation of my last name, links to the census bureau page which lists Seitz as the 2,837th most popular last name in America. Lookout, Smalley, we got your number!!

Actually, that's not true. I can't think of any Seitzes in my family set to add to that number, now that I think about it.

Angels nothing; Mariners something more than nothing

Anyone who thought the Angels stood a chance after the Mariners took the lead in the fourth was either fooling themselves, or named Matt Welch. Felix Hernandez had his good stuff, and the Angels hitters decided they were going to swing early and often, which helped Felix keep the pitch count down.

With the A's on their way to winning, the Angels continue to dig their hole that much deeper. But perhaps something positive can come from this game. Hopefully John Lackey and Ervin Santana were watching. Hopefully they learned something from watching a kid younger than both of them. Hopefully they've learned that you can get through a game without trying to strike everyone out. Hopefully they've learned that it's not normal to have 110 pitches through five innings. But I doubt it.

Jered Weaver takes the mound against Jarrod Washburn tomorrow. 56 vs. 56. Enjoy it, because the season has essentially been reduced to seeing how well Jered Weaver and Howie Kendrick can finish. The rest of the team can pretty much take the rest of the season off, to the extent they already haven't