INTER MILAN STUNNED BY NOVARA
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| Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
Inter Milan lost again dropping a match 3-1
today to Novara... Who? Great question. Novara wasn't even in the
league last year finishing 3rd place in Serie B to earn a promotion. But
it gets better. The year before that, they were in the equivalent of
Serie C where they had been for 33 years. In fact, the last time Novara
played in Serie A was in 1956 back when Dwight D. Eisenhower was the
President of the United States. So naturally, a team like this should
have no shot against powerhouse Inter Milan who finished 2nd in the
Serie A last season and won it the year before that, right? But here we
are: Novara 3 Inter 1. Riccardo Meggiorini, who ironically made his
Serie A debut for Inter back in 2004, opened the scoring in the 38th
minute and it stayed 1-0 almost until the last ten minutes of the match.
In the 86th minute Inter's Andrea Ranocchia took down Takayuki Morimoto
in box and Novara was awarded a penalty while Ranocchia was sent off.
Marco Rigoni converted from the spot, but Inter still had some fight
left despite being down a man. Esteban Cambiasso got Inter back within
one in the 89th minute, but Rigoni knocked home a rebound in stoppage
time to put the game away giving the home side their first Serie A win
in 55 years.
But let's talk about the bigger issue here. What is going on with
Inter Milan? Since the start of August, they have compiled a record of
0-4-1 losing the Italian Super Cup to AC Milan 2-1, their Serie A opener
to Palermo 4-3, their Champions League Opener to Trabzonspor 1-0, and
now dropping a match at Novara. Their only points came from a 0-0 draw
against AS Roma at home. And now head coach Gian Piero Gasperini may pay
the price for these failings as speculation is that he may not be
around come week's end. Quite a turn of events for the club that won the
Champions League as recently as 2010.
BEDARD LASTS 2 2/3 INNINGS - SOX FAIL TO EXPAND LEAD
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| Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
In yesterday's doubleheader against the
Orioles, the Red Sox bullpen was forced to throw 9 innings. So what they
really needed today was for Erik Bedard to pitch deep into the
ballgame. Apparently the lefty didn't get the memo. Bedard couldn't get
out of the third inning despite throwing 51 pitches in the frame and the
Sox once again had to go to their bullpen early. Still, they found
themselves in the 8th inning with a 5-4 lead. Daniel Bard, 0-3 in the
month of September before today, had already thrown a 1-2-3 7th and was
back out on the mound. But after surrendering a pair of singles, Terry
Francona opted to go with closer Jonathan Papelbon for the 5 out save.
Papelbon got Chris Davis on strikes, but gave up a single to number nine
hitter Nolan Reimold on an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Then leadoff
man Robert Andino lined a 3-2 pitch into the rightfield corner to unload
them and put Baltimore up 7-5. Baltimore's bullpen then did what
Boston's could not and shut the door in the 8th and 9th once again
saddling Daniel Bard with the loss. And so Boston fails to pick up a
game on a night where the Rays were stymied by Ivan Nova and the
Yankees. Boston's bullpen has now worked 15 1/3 innings over the past
two days. Hopefully Josh Beckett is ready to go tomorrow because the Sox
are in need of a lift big time. Tampa meanwhile has a doubleheader
against the Yankees. Here are your pitching matchups:
Baltimore at Boston
Tommy Hunter (4-4, 4.81) vs Josh Beckett (13-5, 2.50)
Tampa Bay at New York
James Shields (15-11, 2.81) vs Phil Hughes (5-5, 6.00)
Jeremy Hellickson (13-10, 2.91) vs CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.01)
BRAVES WIN - MAINTAIN LEAD OVER ST. LOUIS
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| Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
Rookie Randall Delgado picked up the Braves
in a big way with 5 shutout innings for his 1st Major League win
as the Braves defeated the Marlins 4-0. It was a much needed win for
Atlanta as they maintain their 2 1/2 game lead over St. Louis in the NL
Wild Card race. The Cardinals meanwhile scored 6 times in the bottom of
the seventh to erase a 6-5 deficit to rally for an 11-6 win and keep
pace with the front-running Braves. Albert Pujols had 4 hits for St.
Louis and rookie Adron Chambers delivered the big blow, a pinch-hit
bases loaded triple in the 7th to blow the game wide open. The Cardinals
have two more games with New York before Chicago comes to town on
Friday while the Braves wrap up their series with the Marlins tomorrow.
Here are your pitching matchups:
Atlanta at Florida
Derek Lowe (9-15, 4.94) vs Javier Vazquez (11-11, 3.92)
New York at St. Louis
Chris Schwinden (0-2, 5.40) vs Jaime Garcia (12-7, 3.59)
Chris Capuano (11-12, 4.47) vs Jake Westbrook (12-9, 4.58)
NO DISRESPECT TO IAN KENNEDY BUT...
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| Photo Credit: zimbio.com |
Clayton Kershaw should be the NL Cy Young
Award winner. Kershaw defeated the Giants for the 5th time this year and
Tim Lincecum for the 4th time and joined Ian Kennedy as the only
National Leaguers with 20 wins. Kershaw is the National League's leader
in Strikeouts (242) AND ERA (2.27) and he's been Verlander-esque as of
late. The Dodgers are 22-10 when he pitches, and 12 games under .500
when he doesn't. He's also 18-2 since the beginning of May. Apologies to Ian Kennedy, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum, but in my opinion this is the guy that's the most deserving.
SOUNDERS SUFFER FIRST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEFEAT
The Seattle Sounders finally met defeat in
the CONCACAF Champions League dropping a 1-0 match tonight at home
against Costa Rican side Herediano. Previously winless in the
tournament, Herediano got a first half goal from
Josimar Arias and it stood up as the previously unbeaten Sounders were unable to beat goalie
Daniel
Cambronero. Even with the loss, Seattle maintains a 3 point lead in
Group D over Mexican side Monterrey and Guatemala's Comunicaciones. The
day wasn't a complete bust for Major League Soccer though as Toronto
defeated Panama's Tauro FC for the second time, this time by a score of 1-0 thanks to a goal from Dutch import Danny Koevermans. The Galaxy, Rapids and FC Dallas are all in action tomorrow.
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