6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: My Sleepy Morning, USC Makes Duck Soup, And Aramis Ramirez

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Sunday, November 12, 2006

My Sleepy Morning, USC Makes Duck Soup, And Aramis Ramirez

Overture, Hit The Lights

For some reason I came up sleepy this morning, terribly so. It was to the point that when I awoke (at about 7:30), had breakfast, walked the dogs, and came back at around 8:30, I was utterly exhausted, and went back to sleep until 10:30. I have no idea why, but I'm now much better (that first cup of coffee helped, too).

OT: USC Plucks The Ducks

As my regular readers probably know, I couldn't care less about other sports besides baseball, but when I got an invitation to the USC-Oregon game a few weeks back (thanks to the generosity Brenda Barnes at KUSC for that), I could hardly turn it down. Well: what do you know but my luck on Other People's Tickets continues unabated, as the Trojans rolled to an easy 35-10 rout of the Ducks in what has to be one of the most collossally boring football games I've ever witnessed.

That was, partly, because the Ducks used seemingly every opportunity to foul the Trojans; the Ducks drew 12 penalties for a total of 87 yards, including at least two 15-yard penalties, one of which was for an intentional face mask violation. But by far the worst and most annoying part of the game was Oregon's lone touchdown, a call that was disputed twice, and took seemingly 15 minutes to clear up. At first, SC got the touchdown reversed because receiver Jonathan Stewart had gone out of bounds, but then on the second review, the TD stood, because a USC player touched the ball on the way to the ball ending up in Johnathan Stewart's hands.

Of course, it wasn't enough, and the Trojans managed still another touchdown after that one; whatever the lessons of the first two possessions of each team might have been, it wasn't that the game would be high scoring on both sides. SC's defense, though allowing more yards than Oregon's, held off the Ducks when it counted at the end zone. Partly that was because the Trojans managed two consecutive sacks in the fourth quarter, two of four that SC's defensive line worked.

I finally left with five minutes still on the clock; by then, even the band was yelling, in unison, "Hurry Up And Play!" That's how slow it was. And people say baseball is a slow game!

Aramis Ramirez Takes The Cubbies To The Limit

Well, after letting the window of exclusivity with the Cubs lapse, Aramis Ramirez signed with 'em anyway, for 5 years/$73M. The Cubs will likely regret the last couple of years on that deal, but it wouldn't have been awful for the Angels to absorb — or the Dodgers, for that matter. On the other hand, it's hard to know whether he would become this offseason's Kevin Brown. At least he didn't get the six-year deal he was publicly asking for earlier in the week.

The Cubbies also signed Kerry Wood to a one-year, $1.75M deal that could be worth up to $6M with bonuses and incentives. Thus does the free agent frenzy begin, though this seems more like a school of pirahna chasing after a handful of lunchmeat than any way to improve a team.

// posted by Rob @ 4:53 PM link // 2 comments