Monday Quick Hits

VERLANDER NAMED AL MVP

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

Justice was served today as Justin Verlander was awarded the AL MVP award. Despite Verlander's sensational season (24-5, 2.40 ERA, 250 strikeouts to go along with a no-hitter), there was some speculation as to whether or not the voters would gave him honest consideration seeing as the award is typically given to a position player. But Verlander received 13 first place votes and outpointed Jacoby Ellsbury 280-242 to win the award becoming the first pitcher to be named the AL MVP since Dennis Eckersley in 1992 and the first starting pitcher to win it since Roger Clemens in 1986. Additionally, Verlander winning means I'm now 7 for 7 in picking baseball's end of the year awards and just a Ryan Braun NL MVP award away from going a perfect 8 for 8. Here's a good piece of trivia for you if you're into that sort of thing. With today's MVP award, Justin Verlander becomes just the second player in baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year award, Cy Young award, and the MVP award. Can you name the other? Scroll down to the bottom of the blog for the answer.

SIDNEY CROSBY IS BACK

Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com

Sidney Crosby stepped back onto the ice for the Penguins tonight for the first time since January 5th and quickly silenced any doubters who thought he might have trouble getting back up to speed. Crosby needed just 5 minutes and 24 seconds to score his first goal of the season and finished with another goal and two assists as the Penguins routed the New York Islanders 5-0. Not a bad night for The Kid. The win moves the Penguins into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Flyers.

RANGERS SIGN JOE NATHAN, NEFTALI FELIZ TO START

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

The Rangers didn't waste long reloading for 2012 as they went out and signed Joe Nathan, the former Twins closer, to a 2 year deal worth $14.5M. Nathan, who missed all of 2010 following Tommy John surgery, has 261 career saves including 36 or more in every season between 2004 and 2009. The move also means that incumbent closer Neftali Feliz will be making a move to the starting rotation next season. The hard throwing right hander has never started a game in the majors since being called up in 2009, but did start 54 games in the minors including 27 starts in 2008. The Rangers have had a lot of success converting relievers to starters over the past few years moving C.J. Wilson into the rotation in 2010 (15-8, 3.35 ERA in 33 starts) and the Alexi Ogando this past year (13-8, 3.51 ERA, 29 starts). Feliz may have the best stuff out of those three so if he can make the transition into the rotation as well, look for the Rangers to be right back in contention next season.

VINCE YOUNG PULLS OUT WIN SUNDAY NIGHT

Photo Credit: statesman.com

I've talked a lot about how crazy it is that Tim Tebow keeps winning games, but last night I was reminded of another guy who just seldom seems to lose. Playing in place of the injured Michael Vick, Vince Young rallied the Eagles to a 17-10 victory over the first place Giants as the former Titan improved to 31-17 in his career as a starter. In fact, Young has never had a season where he posted a record below .500 as the starting quarterback. Considering that he's thrown more interceptions (46) in his career than touchdowns (44), it's pretty impressive that he's been as successful as he has. It wasn't pretty last night either as Young tossed 3 more picks, but despite playing without Jeremy Maclin and having a 60 yard pass play taken off the books thanks to a taunting penalty on DeSean Jackson, Young still finished with 258 yards and touchdown passes to Steve Smith and Riley Cooper while engineering the game winning drive in the 4th quarter. Considering the Eagles' inability to close out games this year, going into the Meadowlands and pulling out a victory is huge. But hey, that's what guys like Young and Tebow seem to do, right? Somehow they find a way. The Eagles will be at home this weekend when they face the Patriots on Sunday.

CUTLER TO HAVE SURGERY, HANIE IN FOR BEARS

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Devastating news out of Chicago last night as following the Bears big win over San Diego it was announced that Jay Cutler suffered a broken thumb during the game that will require surgery and cause him to potentially miss the rest of the regular season. So now the 7-3 Bears, who had just started to hit their stride with Cutler, turn the reigns over to Caleb Hanie. Hanie has never started an NFL game during the regular season however you may recall his breakout performance in last year's NFC Championship Game against the Packers when he led a pair of second half scoring drives after coming on for the injured Jay Cutler and the awful Todd Collins. The Bears schedule isn't terrible the next few weeks as they go at Oakland, play at home against Kansas City, then on the road to take on Tebow and the Broncos, and then back home against Seattle. Even without Cutler those are winnable games. With the Bears ability to run the football with Matt Forte and their defense playing as good as ever, Hanie shouldn't have to do too much. So while this injury is going to have an impact, there's no reason to think that the Bears season is over. One other thing, I think it's kind of funny that nobody's talking about Cutler's toughness right now. I mean he finished the game and went through all the postgame stuff as if nothing was wrong and now it's coming out that he has an injury that could keep him out the rest of the season. Just thought it was interesting after how quick everyone was to criticize him during last year's playoffs.

TRIVIA ANSWER

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Don Newcombe won the Rookie of the Year award in 1949, and the Cy Young and MVP in 1956.

Beckham to Keane to Donovan for the Win

The Los Angeles Galaxy are your 2011 MLS Champions and it should come as no surprise that designated players David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan combined on the game's only goal. Final score: Galaxy 1, Dynamo 0 as David Beckham, in the last year of a 5 year deal with L.A. finally wins a title.

Sunday Six Pack

TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL

Photo Credit: nbcsports.msnbc.com

If you missed the last few days of college football, you missed a LOT. Four of the top ten teams in the country lost this weekend: #2 Oklahoma State, #4 Oregon, #5 Oklahoma and #7 Clemson. So much for any case you could make for a non-All SEC title game. The top three teams in the country right now are all in the SEC. LSU has a strangle hold on the #1 ranking, Alabama is #2 with their only loss coming at the hands of the Tigers, and now Arkansas is #3 with their only loss occurring in Tuscaloosa.

There's some interesting scenarios here. The current rules in the BCS prohibit more than 2 teams from any conference playing in the BCS Bowls in a given year UNLESS "two non-champions from a BCS conference finish as the top two teams in the final BCS standings, in which case they will meet in the National Title Game while their conference champion will play in their conference's BCS bowl game." So barring some crazy scenario in which that happens, one of these three teams is going to be denied a BCS bid. Things will get REALLY interesting if Arkansas somehow pulls off the upset of unbeaten LSU this coming weekend. The way this season has been going, I have no idea what to expect.

Here's a look at the latest BCS Standings released tonight:

1. LSU 11-0
2. Alabama 10-1
3. Arkansas 10-1
4. Oklahoma State 10-1
5. Virginia Tech 10-1
6. Stanford 10-1
7. Boise State 9-1
8. Houston 11-0
9. Oklahoma 8-2
10. Oregon 9-2

NEWCASTLE DEALT FIRST LOSS OF SEASON

Photo Credit: the100.ru

It took 12 matches, but Newcastle finally has their first loss of the 2011-12 Premier League Season. Facing off against also unbeaten Manchester City yesterday, Newcastle fell on the road by a score of 3-1 needing an 89th minute goal from substitute Dan Gosling to avoid the shutout. Newcastle finished 12th a year ago, and the year before that weren't even in the Premiership having been relegated to the English League Championship in 2009. The last time Newcastle finished in the top 5 of the Premiership (2004), they still had Alan Shearer (pictured above) playing up top for them. The win improves City to 11-0-1 and they maintain their 5 point lead over Manchester United atop the EPL Table. United also won on Saturday defeating Swansea City 1-0 on a goal from Chicharito. Meanwhile surging Arsenal won their 5th straight getting two more goals from Robin van Persie as they slowly creep back into the picture. Finally Liverpool picked up a big 2-1 road win at 4th place Chelsea today getting a late goal from Glen Johnson to pick up three big points.

U.S. WOMEN CLOSE OUT 2011 WITH DRAW

Tobin Heath's first goal of the year gave the U.S. Women a 1-1 tie against Sweden in their final game of 2011. Playing in front of the largest crowd ever to watch the Women's National Team play in Arizona, the U.S. fell behind in the first half, but Heath one-timed the rebound of an Alex Morgan shot to salvage the draw. The U.S. finishes the year 13-3-4 (although 2 of those ties were decided by shootouts in which the U.S. went 1-1). Two of those three losses were against Sweden, who the U.S. failed to beat this year in three tries. It's not going to get any easier going forward as current U.S. Coach Pia Sundhage has expressed a desire to coach her native Sweden when her contract expires at the end of next season.

AFC SOUTH QUARTERBACK SITUATIONS

Photo Credit: steelerstoday.com

Once upon a time, just a few short months ago the AFC South had Matt Hasselbeck, Matt Schaub, Peyton Manning and David Garrard under center. All 4 have played in Pro Bowls, and Hasselbeck and Manning both led teams to Super Bowls. Now it's conceivable that in Week 12, the AFC South could trot out Jake Locker, Matt Leinart, Curtis Painter and Blaine Gabbert. Total career wins: 9. Wow.

DOES CHRIS CANTY HAVE ENOUGH BARS IN HIS FACEMASK?

Seriously, that thing is ridiculous. It's medieval looking.

Photo Credit: hotmovieprops.com

GOODSON SCORES IN DENMARK

Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com

American center back Clarence Goodson scored his first league goal for Brøndby since May helping lead his club to a 2-1 upset over defending Danish League Champions FC Copenhagen. Goodson, who plays on the backline for the U.S. National Team scored against Panama during the 2011 Gold Cup.




Meanwhile in the English League Championship (one below the Premier League) Robbie Findley, formerly a member of Real Salt Lake and a member of the 2010 World Cup Team, scored his 5th goal for Nottingham Forest helping them to a 3-2 win over Ipswich. This was his second goal in league play to go along with 3 that he scored during the Carling Cup. Findley has not appeared in a game for the National Team since the World Cup.

Photo Credit: socceroverthere.com

Week 11 NFL Picks

Time for my NFL picks once again and just like last week I'm headed into Sunday already 0-1. Last time it was Carson Palmer and the Raiders beating San Diego and this time it was Tim Tebow driving the Broncos 95 yards late in the 4th quarter to defeat the Jets. Who saw that one coming? To be honest I was tempted to pick against New York, but I couldn't bring myself to pick Tebow against the Jets defense. May need to start rethinking how I pick Broncos games. Anyhow, here's the rest of my picks for Week 11:

Photo Credit: wsau.com

Buffalo (5-4) @ Miami (2-7) - Miami is playing better lately, but I still think the Bills are the better team here. Traditionally whatever I say the Bills will do, Buffalo will do the opposite, but I still like them here. Pick: Bills

Cincinnati (6-3) @ Baltimore (6-3) - Is there a team less consistent than Baltimore? Two wins over Pittsburgh, but losses to Jacksonville and Seattle. How do you explain that? And today they're going to be without emotional leader Ray Lewis. Still, I have a tough time picking against them at home. Pick: Ravens

Jacksonville (3-6) @ Cleveland (3-6) - Not a lot of bright spots to this season for the Browns, and I don't see them getting better against Maurice Jones-Drew and the Jags today. Pick: Jaguars

Dallas (5-4) @ Washington (3-6) - The emergence of DeMarco Murray has jumpstarted the Dallas offense and has them looking they might be the best team in the NFC East. Washington meanwhile has fallen apart after a fast start. Pick: Cowboys

Carolina (2-7) @ Detroit (6-3) - The Lions have lost three of four, but the schedule gets easier today as the struggling Panthers come to town. Look for the Lions D-Line to get after Cam Newton and give him problems as the Lions gets back to their winning ways. Pick: Lions

Tampa Bay (4-5) @ Green Bay (9-0) - Rodgers is putting up record numbers this season. Tampa Bay isn't going to change that. Pick: Packers

Oakland (5-4) @ Minnesota (2-7) - No Darren McFadden for Oakland today, but the Raiders are starting to click with Carson Palmer. Adrian Peterson should have a big day for Minnesota, but I don't think it will be enough. Pick: Raiders

Seattle (3-6) @ St. Louis (2-7) - Last year this matchup decided the division. A little less on the line this year. I think Seattle is poised to fall back down to earth after a huge win against the Ravens last week. Pick: Rams

Arizona (3-6) @ San Francisco (8-1) - The Niners are 8-1. Crazy. Should be 9-1 after today as I don't see the Fordham alum John Skelton and the Cardinals offering much resistance. Pick: 49ers

Tennessee (5-4) @ Atlanta (5-4) - No real reason to pick the Titans this week, but I'm going to do it anyways. Maybe Atlanta will go for it on 4th down inside their 30 a few more times today to help me out. Pick: Titans

San Diego (4-5) @ Chicago (6-3) - Gonna break from tradition this week and actually PICK the Bears instead of going against them. The Chargers are having all kinds of problems while the Bears Defense is starting to look formidable once again. Plus, if they continue to keep Cutler's jersey clean, only good things can happen. Pick: Bears

Philadelphia (3-6) @ New York Giants (6-3) - This feels like a trap game. Michael Vick is out which means Vince Young will be quarterbacking the Eagles. He won't have Jeremy Maclin to throw to, but the Eagles still have a lot of weapons on offense. Vince Young is like Tebow in that he always seems to win games. It would not surprise me if the Eagles stole one here, but I'm still taking New York at home. Pick: Giants

Kansas City (4-5) @ New England (6-3) - There's no way Tyler Palko quarterbacks a team that beats New England. Unless Brady's knee gets destroyed (which actually happened against the Chiefs before), there's no way New England loses this game. Pick: Patriots

Last Week: 9-7
Season: 96-50

Follow us @smittysports1 on twitter.

Got any questions/comments/requests? Email the blog - smittysports.blogspot@hotmail.com 

Tebow Wins Again??

Tim Tebow is 4-1 as the Denver Broncos starting quarterback. How did this happen? It's bizarre really. Tim Tebow is not playing well at quarterback at all by your traditional standards. To say that no one is confusing him for John Elway is an understatement. And no, it's not because Tebow's a lefty.

Photo Credit: thecardinvestor.com

On the year Tebow has completed just 46.9% of his passes, he hasn't had a game yet where he's completed over 50% of his throws, and he's never passed for over 200 yards. But despite all of that, he WINS. It's not pretty, but he's been finding ways to get it done. And with the exception of getting roughed up by the Lions, he ONLY wins.

In his first start against the Dolphins he was just 4 for 14 for 40 yards in the game's first 54:37. Then he led the Broncos on two touchdown drives in the closing minutes and added a 2 point conversion to erase a 15 point deficit. Broncos win 18-15 in overtime.

In start number three against the Raiders, Tebow threw two more touchdown passes and ran for 118 yards in part of a 299 yard rushing attack as the Broncos erase a 24-14 3rd quarter deficit and score the game's final 24 points. 38-24 Denver.

Start number four against the Chiefs, Tebow only completes TWO of EIGHT passes. However, one goes for a 56 yard touchdown and the Broncos carry the ball 55 times and Tebow runs for an additional score. Despite losing their top two running backs, Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno, Denver still wins 17-10.

Photo Credit: cbsnews.com

And that brings us to Thursday night football. In a game not seen by those who don't get the NFL Network, Tebow led yet another rally. Down 13-10 with under six minutes to go and starting on his own 5 yard line, Tebow led the Broncos 95 yards for a score, capping it off with a 20 yard touchdown run.

Three second half comebacks, and suddenly Denver is 5-5 and just a half game behind the Raiders in the AFC West. It defies logic. And while the win against the Dolphins was easy to dismiss, the Raiders lead the division, the Chiefs had been playing better of late, and the Jets are supposed to be one of the toughest defenses in the league. Like him or hate him, you can't ignore it any more. Right now, Tebow is a viable NFL quarterback. Can he sustain it? Maybe. It certainly helps that he isn't turning the ball over (just one interception in 5 starts). Either way it's working right now, and Denver is right in the thick of the AFC West race as a result. Here's Denver's schedule the rest of the way:

11/27 @ San Diego (4-5)
12/4 @ Minnesota (2-7)
12/11 vs Chicago (6-3)
12/18 vs New England (6-3)
12/24 @ Buffalo (5-4)
1/1 vs Kansas City (4-5)

Not the easiest of schedule, but Denver has playmakers on defense, they can run the football, and they can beat you on special teams. And now with Tebow on the field, in a close game you have to say they have a chance.

Dwayne De Rosario Named MLS MVP

Today D.C. United midfielder Dwayne De Rosario was named the 2011 MLS MVP beating out Houston's Brad Davis and Dallas's Brek Shea to win the award. On paper Dwayne De Rosario is a fantastic choice. The MLS's Golden Boot winner with 16 goals and 12 assists was named to his record 6th MLS Best XI this year. But 2011 was an interesting year for De Ro to say the least. The Canadian-born MLS veteran opened the year with Toronto FC, but was traded to the Red Bulls just 2 games into the season for midfielder Tony Tchani, defender Danleigh Borman and a first round draft pick in 2012. However, the teaming up with Thierry Henry, Juan Agudelo and company didn't pan out as planned and the plan was scrapped less than 3 months later. De Rosario was moved yet again, this time to D.C. United for Dax McCarty on the 30th of July. From that point on the Canadian played like his hair was on fire scoring 13 goals and tallying 7 assists in 18 matches, but it wasn't enough to get United into the playoffs.

Photo Credits:soccerchris.com, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, zimbio.com

Now the numbers don't lie, what De Ro did this year was ridiculous. Especially considering he had to adjust to different teams with different strategies and get familiar with new teammates and new cities. When you think about it in that sense, it's fairly remarkable that he was able to continue to play at such a high level despite everything around him almost constantly in flux. The problem I have is that this is the Most Valuable Player Award. If De Rosario was the league's most valuable player, how does he get traded twice in the same season, and how does the team he finishes the season with miss the playoffs? In fact, De Rosario is the first MLS MVP EVER to play for a non-playoff team. Compare that to say Davis, whose team is in the MLS Cup Final. Davis started every game for the Dynamo this season, led the league with 16 assists and Houston finished in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference. However, I'm in the minority in saying that Davis was more deserving. De Ro finished first in coach/GM voting, media voting and player voting. Hard to argue with that. So congratulations Dwayne. Hopefully D.C. United realizes what they have in you and holds on to you for a while.

For the rest of you, don't forget, MLS Cup Final Sunday night at 9 Eastern on ESPN.

Around the Diamond

CLAYTON KERSHAW WINS NL CY YOUNG AWARD

Photo Credit: zimbio.com

The Los Angeles Dodgers 23 year old southpaw brought home his first Cy Young Award yesterday easily beating out Philadelphia's Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, and Arizona's Ian Kennedy for the honor. Kershaw, tied for the National League lead in wins (21), and led the league in ERA (2.28) and strikeouts (248) and received 27 of a possible 32 first place votes. Halladay received 4 while Kennedy received 1. The last starting pitcher to win the Cy Young for the Dodgers was Orel Hershiser back in 1988. Speaking of the 1988 Dodgers...

KIRK GIBSON NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR

Photo Credit: stilettosetsports.com

The Arizona Diamondbacks were just 65-97 a year ago finishing in last place in the NL West with the 2nd worst record in the National League. In his first full season as Diamondback manager, Gibson led them to a division title and 94 wins. Apologies to Cardinal fans who think the award should've gone to Tony La Russa for leading his team into the playoffs after being left for dead in early September and dealing with injuries to Adam Wainwright, Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday among others, but consider this: Gibson won 94 games - a 29 win improvement - with a starting rotation of Ian Kennedy (10 career wins before this season started), Josh Collmenter (made his major league debut in 2011), Daniel Hudson (9 career wins before this season), Joe Saunders (a 17 game loser in 2010) and a combination of Barry Enright, Zach Duke, Wade Miley and Armando Galarraga in the #5 spot. The Diamondbacks were also forced to start Willie Bloomquist at shortstop for the majority of the year after Stephen Drew was lost for the season. Let's give credit where credit is due. Meanwhile, on the other side...

JOE MADDON AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR

Photo Credit: tampabaymetro.com

Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon won his second AL Manager of the Year Award leading the Tampa Bay Rays through a dramatic wild card race and into the playoffs. Despite competing with a small budget against the titans of the AL East, Maddon's Rays surged to the finish line erasing a 7-0 lead on the final day of the regular season and winning on a dramatic extra inning walkoff home run by Evan Longoria. Maddon grabbed 26 of a possible 28 first place votes beating out Detroit's Jim Leyland and Texas's Ron Washington for the award. Which means...

SIX FOR SIX SO FAR

So far I've successfully predicted the Rookies of the Year, Cy Young Award Winners and Managers of the Year. So all that leaves are the MVPs. I said Verlander and Braun. I'm less confident in those two picks. I would not be surprised to see either Curtis Granderson or Jacoby Ellsbury win it in the American League or Matt Kemp take home the honors in the National League. We'll see I guess.

DALE SVEUM NAMED CUBS MANAGER

Photo Credit: shop.sportsworldcards.com

Dale Sveum has been named the new manager of the Chicago Cubs. The former big league infielder has been involved in coaching since 2001. He started his coaching career as the AA manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates, a position he held for three years. Sveum followed that up with a 2 year stint as the Boston Red Sox 3rd base coach where he worked under Terry Francona, his former Brewers teammate. After his two years in Boston he returned to the Brewers organization where he started his big league career. Sveum was the team's bench coach in 2006 and 2007, the third base coach for most of 2008 before briefly taking over as the interim manager after Ned Yost was fired, and then took over as hitting coach at the start of the 2009 season. I was a little surprised that Theo Epstein opted to go with someone was as little managerial experience as Sveum has, but by all accounts he's a true baseball guy, has a good rapport with the players, and is an excellent communicator, so in that sense he should be a breath of fresh air for the Cubs organization. I still maintain that Bobby Valentine would have been a good choice for the Cubs, but speaking of Mr. Valentine...

RED SOX SCHEDULED TO MEET WITH BOBBY VALENTINE

Photo Credit: bleacherreport.com

Apparently Valentine has a meeting set up with the Red Sox. For every reason I thought he'd be a great manager for the Cubs, you could state the same thing for why he'd be a good fit with the Red Sox. Don't be surprised if he gets the job.

CHANGE IS COMING

Photo Credit: rockrivertimes.com

Starting in 2013, the Houston Astros will be playing in the American League West. One of the conditions for the sale of the team to businessman Jim Crane was for the Astros to make the move to the American League. This creates six 5-team divisions instead of having the AL West at four teams and the NL Central at six teams. I have mixed feelings about the move, but this really deserves its own blog entry so we'll try and hit that this weekend.