Congratulations, once again, to Charlie Manuel and the Phillies

I'm on record as rooting for the Rays in this World Series, but at the same time, I couldn't be happier for Charlie Manuel. I certainly would not have predicted in mid-September that his Phillies would be the champs, given that they were still locked in a division race with the Mets.

Chase Utley made the defensive play of the series -- and one of the most savvy defensive plays I've ever seen -- in the seventh inning last night. With the score tied at 3 and Jason Bartlett on second, Akinori Iwamura hit a ground ball up the middle, and Utley fielded it behind second base. He faked a throw to first as Bartlett rounded third, then gunned Bartlett down at home. Absolutely brilliant. If Utley had actually thrown to first, Bartlett would certainly have scored; if he hadn't faked the throw, Bartlett wouldn't have even tried to score, so the Rays would have had first and third with two outs. Either way, the World Series might be headed back to Florida.

I liked what Fox did at the end of the game, when they had a camera trained on each of the Phillies' players on the field, and at least a few on the dugout. They then showed us the reactions from each of those corners at the moment Eric Hinske struck out on a Brad Lidge slider to make the Phillies the champs. Charlie was pretty reserved, but he was obviously thrilled as he shared a group hug with a few of his coaches before heading onto the field.

This was Philadelphia's first pro championship in any major sport since 1983, the year I turned 12. I'm still waiting for Cleveland's first in my lifetime. I'm happy for the Philly fans, but it does make me more than a bit envious.

Heavyweight slugfest goes Penn State's way

Ohio State battled a very strong Penn State team up until the final minute last night. And a Terrelle Pryor with another year's worth or so of experience might well have pulled out that game.

Color commentator (and Buckeye alum) Kirk Herbstreit felt Pryor was trying to make too much happen on the play in which he coughed up the ball in the fourth quarter, which the Nittany Lions recovered to set up the field goal that made the final score 13-6. Herbstreit felt that Pryor should have just taken the sneak inside and picked up the first down. No disrespect to Herbie, but I disagree. Pryor thought he saw an opening to the outside and would try to pick up a few extra yards -- which I applaud. His mistake was not carrying the ball more carefully.

Pryor did make a mistake -- albeit an understandable one -- on the throw that was intercepted in the end zone in the final minute. He threw what was essentially a Hail Mary, with 20-some seconds left on the clock. Keeping in mind that in college, a first down stops the clock until the chains are moved, Pryor had time to try to find somebody underneath and then run up and spike the ball. It's likely that it wouldn't have made much difference, but regardless, a more experienced quarterback probably gives his team a little bit better chance in that situation.

It should be said that the Buckeyes couldn't get anything going on the ground, which kept the pressure on Pryor. Beanie Wells picked up just 55 yards on 22 carries, and Pryor himself only got six yards with his legs, on nine totes.

The Penn State Nittany Lions now look pretty good to get to the national title game, and I'm rooting for them. It'd be neat to see Joe Paterno win another championship at age 81.

What a mess

I'm really not sure what to make of this Kellen Winslow Jr. situation. The sequence of events went something like this:

• Winslow spent a few days in the hospital with a staph infection.
• The Browns didn't want anybody to know what it was because they were gaining a reputation for spreading staph infections.
• The team didn't tell anybody and asked him not to tell anybody either.
• Everybody wondered what was wrong with Winslow, and people were filling in the blanks on their own. I actually heard someone speculate that he'd contracted a social disease.
• Winslow missed a game, which incidentally was the best game the Browns have played in years.
• Winslow got out of the hospital and played in the next game, which incidentally didn't go well at all for the Browns.
• Winslow complained after the game that he felt like a piece of meat, because Phil Savage never called him while he was in the hospital with a staph infection.
• Savage suspended Winslow for a game, without pay, for making comments that were "unwarranted, inappropriate, and unnecessarily disparaging to our organisation."
• Winslow appealed his suspension.

There seems to be a lot of blame to go around here. It's the ugly truth that professional athletes basically are pieces of meat. The teams really don't care about them as people; they only care about what they can do for them on the field of play. Winslow should know that. On the other hand, I can understand that it would be a bit frustrating to have people speculating about what's put you in the hospital, and to top it off, nobody from the team bothers to check in on you while you're in there. If LeBron James or Zydrunas Ilgauskas were in the hospital, I have to believe Danny Ferry would call to see how they were doing; ditto with Grady Sizemore and Mark Shapiro.

But there's a right way to do things, and there's a wrong way. Popping off publicly about how your GM behaved while you were in the hospital is the wrong way. Then again, suspending a player for popping off is probably not productive either.

What a mess.

World Series!

For the first time in probably decades, the World Series matches up two teams that, between them, have combined for exactly one WS title -- the Phillies, in 1980.

The Cinderella Rays finally finished off the Red Sox last night, in a game it seemed like you'd have had to be a little high to think they'd win, given Boston's recent history of coming back from big series deficits (including last year's heart theft against the Tribe). Matt Garza and the Rays' bullpen held the big Red Sox bats in check, and while things were touch and go there for a while in the eighth, rookie David Price -- a veteran of exactly seven major-league games, including this postseason -- came in and struck out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded to end the threat. Then he set them down in the ninth, stranding a lead-off walk, to give the Rays the American League pennant in their first above-.500 season in team history. Price had not even pitched professionally until May 22, but the boy's apparently got ice in his veins. He has no regular-season wins or saves, but he now has one of each in the postseason.

I'm looking forward to this World Series. I'll be rooting for Tampa, but the Phillies aren't exactly the Yankees. I'm glad one of these teams will be the new champions.

Too little, too late

The Browns offense that showed up in the fourth quarter of today's game against the Redskins looked a lot like the Browns offense that took the Giants to the woodshed on Monday night. The problem was that the Browns offense that laid an egg for the first three quarters looked more like the Browns offense that laid egg after egg for the first four games of the season.

The defense played pretty well, but predictably wore down after the offense failed to keep the defense off the field for most of the game.

I don't know what else needs to be said. The Browns are now 2-4, and this is shaping up as another lost season.

But hey, at least the Buckeyes are winning.

Hafner goes under the scope

So it seems the Indians "cleanup" hitter, Travis Hafner, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder yesterday. The procedure by Dr. James Andrews is described as a "debridement," or cleaning out, of his right shoulder joint. I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you that Hafner spent most of 2008 on the disabled list, and didn't do much when he did play (.197/5/24 in 198 at-bats). He was an absolute monster in 2006 (.308/42/117), but fell off precipitously in 2007 (.266/24/100).

The Indians say Hafner will be ready for opening day in 2009, but he will turn 32 on June 3 next year and will be coming off an injury-plagued year that was followed by arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Given that most hitters peak around age 27, I don't think Hafner will ever have another season like he had in 2006, when he was 29. In fact, I'll be surprised if Hafner's production in 2009 is as good as it was in 2007. I hope I'm wrong.

Well, what do you know?

When the Browns were 0-3, none of us could have possibly imagined this outcome tonight. And in fact, even when they were 1-3, with a win over the woeful Bengals, we all figured we were basically sacrificial lambs against the undefeated defending champion Giants tonight.

But the team that took the field tonight in the brown and orange was not the same team that took the field any of the previous four games. In fact, I can't swear it's even the same team that went 10-6 last year. This team tonight looked better than any Browns team has looked since ... well, the Modell era. I don't want to exaggerate, but that's how it feels right now. I just sat here and watched every play of this game, and I still can't believe what my own eyes beheld.

Derek Anderson is suddenly a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback again, thanks in part to great protection from the offensive line that previously looked so shabby. Jamal Lewis could get a first down any time he wanted. Braylon Edwards seemed like he was open by five yards at all times. And Eric Wright, for the second game in a row, made the play of the day. That 94-yard interception return not only featured a fantastic read on Eli Manning and an athletic move to step ahead of the receiver, but a tremendous return in which he eluded Manning's attempt to force him out of bounds and/or knock the ball loose. When Wright kick-stepped over the goal line, we all knew it was over.

Thirty-five to fourteen over the undefeated, seemingly invincible, Super Bowl champs. This was probably the most satisfying early-season Browns win of the expansion era. Savor it, ladies and gentlemen. I sure hope it's a sign of things to come.

Very interesting

Loyal reader John Arthur "Hutch" Hutchison sent me this link about all the necklaces you see hanging on ballplayers' chests these days. Honestly, I hadn't really noticed, but it turns out Randy Johnson's behind a lot of it. They're called "phitens," and supposedly, they confer some sort of benefit on the players who wear them. Sounds like a load of hogwash, but then again, that's what doctors used to think of hand washing. (P.S. Wednesday is Global Handwashing Day, so be sure to celebrate in appropriate style.)

I'll never forget the image of Carlos Baerga jogging onto and off of the field with his big ol' silver chain and pendant bouncing up and down between his chest and his face. I guess I always figured it was a Latin thing.

I'm pissed at Channel 8

Like most 21st-century Americans, I have cable. In my case, about 75% of the reason I have cable is for the sports you can only get on cable. So I'm paying to see tonight's Browns game, whether a local station picks it up or not. But I'd also like to be able to flip to the National League Championship Series during commercials. And I can't, because Fox is showing the NLCS, and Channel 8 bought the local over-the-air rights to tonight's game. The HD Fox channel also has the Browns. The Fox Spanish-language channel has the Phillies and Dodgers, but I'd have to pay extra for that channel. I love the Browns as much as anybody else, but I've already got ESPN. I want the local Fox station to show the damned baseball game that Fox is showing.

This sucks.

Defense, special teams do it for Buckeyes

The Ohio State offense did very little in Saturday's 16-3 win over Purdue, but it didn't need to, thanks to Malcolm Jenkins and his defensive cohorts. Jenkins blocked a punt that Etienne Sabino (of whom I'd never heard) returned for a touchdown, and later added an interception that any one of four Buckeyes could have had.

Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeye O only gained 222 yards on the day, to Purdue's 298 yards; and only managed 14 first downs, to Purdue's 18. They didn't score an offensive touchdown, but did set up three field goals, which adds up to three times as many points as the Boilermakers' offense managed. The OSU D was impressive, keeping Purdue from getting inside the 30 until the last half-minute of the game.

Pryor, quite simply, struggled. He tried to do too much with his legs, which turned a couple of small gains into big losses. I recall one play in particular in the third quarter, in which Pryor faked a handoff to Beanie Wells and then took it off-tackle himself. First off, if he'd actually given the ball to Wells, he'd have had about a 10-foot hole to run through, and would have probably picked up at least 10 or 15 yards. I accept that if the play calls for a fake, you can't just give the back the ball, because he's not expecting it; but Pryor could have seen the soft spot in the defense and called an audible. Maybe that's too much to ask of a freshman quarterback. Anyway, once Pryor took the ball, it looked like he could have made about three or four yards if he'd cut up the field early, but instead he tried to cut it outside and wound up losing a couple of yards. But he's learning, he's obviously got a lot of talent, and the most important thing was the W.

Brett Myers the hitter

Just a few days ago, I posted something about Brett Myers, a career .116 hitter, battling CC Sabathia until he wore CC out in the NLDS. Myers fouled off three pitches before Sabathia walked him. It seemed like Sabathia must have lost something, for a poor-hitting pitcher to battle him like that. Myers only had four hits all season, after all. Who could have known he was just finding his stroke?

Myers had three hits in today's 8-5 win over the Dodgers. If he'd pitched better, he might have gotten a fourth at-bat and could have, in one game, matched his hit total for the entire regular season. He scored two runs and knocked in three -- the latter number of which, you may note, was the margin of victory.

Our old friend Charlie Manuel managed the Phillies' win just hours after the death of his mother. According to Joe Torre, Charlie still talked to his mother "on a regular basis." I can't imagine anybody not talking to their mother on a regular basis, unless she's mental or something, but it had to be tough for Charlie to put that out of his mind. He didn't talk to reporters today, which is certainly understandable. You're in our thoughts, Charlie. (I'm sure he's a regular reader.)

Speaking of people with Cleveland connections, Manny Ramirez hit his 27th career postseason home run in a losing cause. Of course, Manny has played in four World Series, two each with the Indians and Red Sox; and since 1995, his team has reached the playoffs every year but two. And you can't compare players from pre-1969, who never played in more than one round of the postseason, with players of today, who play in up to three rounds a year. Still, it's an impressive number. And here's an arcane stat: Manny now has 27 career LCS RBIs, which ties him for second all-time with former Tribe teammate David Justice. I have no comment on that.

Great game to open NLCS

These days, I'm not usually up this late on a school night, but I'm starting to get LCS fever. That's pretty corny, isn't it? Whaddaya want, I've been up since 6, and I'll be up at 6 tomorrow too.

Anyway, tonight's game between the Dodgers and Phillies was a minor classic. Cole Hamels was shaky early, but settled in; Derek Lowe was lights-out early, but lost it in the sixth, when he gave up home runs to Chase Utley and Pat Burrell. Thanks to ESPN's Jayson Stark, I now know that before Lowe gave up those two home runs in the space of three hitters, he had only given up two home runs to his previous 287 hitters.

So the Phillies have taken the lead, but apparently because of the matchups involved, a Diamond Mind simulation still thinks the Dodgers are slight favorites. Whatever. Such projections are fun, but who remembers them after the games are played?

There is NOTHING on

Last night, I watched no sports at all. Tonight, I'm watching Wisconsin at Northwestern in volleyball.

During the NBA playoffs, if both teams that are moving on to the next series against each other end their series early, the next series starts early. Why doesn't Major League Baseball do that? Easy. Major League Baseball is run by idiots. I'm looking at you, Allan H. Selig.

Buckeyes pulled it out

By halftime of yesterday's game against Wisconsin, one started to get the feeling that the Buckeyes didn't belong on the same field as the Badgers -- but even still, Wisconsin was only up 10-7. If the first half had been 30 minutes and 30 seconds rather than 30:00, it might well have been 14-7, but then again, if it were 29:30, it might well have remained tied at 7. Regardless, it was starting to feel like the Dairyheads were on their way to take us to the woodshed at Camp Randall Stadium, where Wisconsin had a 16-game winning streak.

But Terrelle Pryor, making his second start, started to put it together in the second half. He was far from perfect, but between his arm and his legs, he was the main reason Ohio State won that game. Sure, there was some good luck involved -- Brian Hartline's fumble bouncing directly to Brian Robiskie, for example -- but give Pryor credit. On the 11-yard touchdown run that put the Buckeyes ahead for good, Pryor recognized that four Wisconsin defenders were in confusion mode as the ball was snapped, and he ran it to the spot they didn't have covered.

These Buckeyes are the favorites for the Big Ten title, and I think we saw why. And darned if Terrelle Pryor didn't remind me just a little bit of a guy named Craig Krenzel yesterday.

CC's outing looked familiar

Well, folks, it seems CC Sabathia's playoff mental block is still there -- and as a result, he may have pitched his last for the Milwaukee Brewers. And he probably cost himself several million dollars.

As we Clevelanders all remember, if Sabathia had pitched well in the 2007 postseason, they Indians might have won the World Series. Going into tonight's game, the Brewers were in even more desperate need of a great start from their ace than the Indians were last year. But he laid yet another egg.

Before I go any further along these lines, let me say that Sabathia's failure in tonight's game brings me no pleasure. CC seems like a genuinely good guy and good teammate, and I have no doubt he wants to succeed for his team. I bear him no grudge. And there is absolutely no question that without him, the Brew Crew would have ended their season on Sunday, as the Indians and 21 other teams did.

But the man has obviously developed some sort of psychological trouble with pitching in October. He went just 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits and four walks. Those runs all came in the second inning, when he gave up an RBI double to Pedro Feliz (aka Peter Happy) and a grand slam to Shane Victorino. One of the runners who scored on Victorino's blow was the opposing pitcher, Brett Myers, who hit .069 this year, and whom Sabathia walked. Myers actually managed to foul off three pitches during the plate appearance. When CC was pulled with two outs in the fourth, it was after having walked the last two hitters to load the bases.

One more loss to the Phillies, and the Beermakers are done. And CC's erratic performance will be one of the reasons why. I'd say I feel for the guy, but he's probably about to sign a contract worth at least $80 million. Some teams might shy away, based on his playoff performance, but someone's still going to drive a truckload of money up to his door. So yeah, he's undoubtedly having a worse night than I am, but I have a hunch he'll be OK.