Bad memories from close-outs, and Louis Freeh...

Whenever the subject of close-out games and the Angels are mentioned in the same breath, I break out in a cold sweat, the nightmares of 1982 & '86 still fresh in my mind. I would have thought the magic year of 2002 would have erased some of that pain, but the anguish was apparently so seared within me that it will never go away...

I'll leave it at this for tonight. Either "the good" Angels or "the bad" Angels show up. A little more patience at the plate will go a long way toward solving Mussina. A few extra baserunners will allow the Angels to do more of what they do best, that's run the bases, and put pressure on the shaky Yankees defense. Flail away wildly as in Game One, and this could add another chapter to the litany of postseason bitterness...

The Yankees won Game Four in Angels style, with aggressive baserunning. With Saturday's rainout, I would assume that Mariano will be ready to go if needed again tonight, even after pitching 2 innings on Sunday. So I'd much rather the Halos jump on Mussina early, get out to a 3-0 or 4-0 lead, and let Bartolo do his stuff, then turn things over to the capable Halo bullpen in the late innings. I suspect, however, that this might be a game for the ages, and something dramatic will happen to determine the outcome...and whether I start pulling for the White Sox after tonight...

Cardinals could be vulnerable against the Astros. And I still think the Phils could have given the Redbirds all they could handle. I thought the Padres had their chances throughout the Cardinal series, but were atrocious in RISP situations. And the Pad starting pitching was abysmal, never giving the solid bullpen a favorable situation in the late innings. I will go out on a limb and pick Astros to win the NLCS in 6. Cannot believe that is the same team I saw with Dan that lost so meekly in Baltimore June 13, when the O's, not the 'stros, looked like the team in contention. Or the sluggish 'stro team I saw lose in Minute Maid Park to the Cubs way back on April 28. No way would I have ever envisioned the Houston teams I saw earlier this season ever making it this far...

Better news comes from the Dodger managerial search, where the politicking Terry Collins, who has a high-profile role within the organization, has apparently moved to the front of the pack to succeed Mr. Excitement, Jim Tracy. I could envision Collins' BS playing very well with the shallow McCourts, Jamie McCourt in particular, and probably elevating him over Trammell, Ron Washington, and anyone else the McCourts and DePodesta might want to hire. There is absolutely no talk of Lou coming out here (I don't think he would dig working for DePodesta, or the McCourts, for that matter), which is good, but I don't think any manager is going to matter too much with this current crop of Dodgers, who are destined for another sub-.500 finish next season. Collins' hire, however, would ease my mind, because he is an egomaniac, a flawed tactician, and a proven loser. He worked behind the scenes to undermine Art Howe in Houston (remember how Art, in better work than he eventually did in Oakland, kept the 'stros afloat when they went through some serious housecleaning in the early '90s, only to be rudely dismissed after steering the team back to respectability?) and was an unmitigated disaster in Anaheim, when the Angels underachieved and eventually imploded under his glare in 1999. Sounds like the perfect Dodger manager to me...

I would expect the Eagles to bounce back from the Dallas fiasco, but my warnings about the NFC East are coming true, though in a roundabout sort of way. I suspect the Cowboys and Skins will probably hang in this thing a bit longer than I originally thought, joining my earlier team du jour, the Giants, to keep the division race interesting. The Birds fell behind quickly yesterday, and the run game went out the window, but Andy should be a bit cautioned about his offense that often reverts to dink-dink-dink mode. At times the Eagles fall too much in love with McNabb's short throws. At some point opponents are going to get keen to all of this and Andy will have to adjust accordingly. Maybe now is the time...

Broncos made that game closer than it should have bene with the Skins. The ex-Browns that litter Shanahan's defense contributed to those incredible penalties that kept the Skins' last TD drive alive, but how many times have we seen teams drive the length of the field in the final minutes vs. defenses playing too soft. When will they learn? Broncs did have Skins stopped at midfield with just over 2 minutes left, but that 4th down penalty kept the drive alive, and Brunell & Co. almost burned them in the end. Wins, however, are precious, and after that early scare following the Miami debacle, Broncos are a tidy 4-0 and have survived what looked like a rough portion of the schedule pretty much in tact. Don't get too carried away with the Redskin stats edge, remember how the Broncos simply throttled Jacksonville down there last week. Play next week and Denver might have a 400-200 yardage edge. Let's see what happens when the Patriots visit this week. A win would be huge because it could also come into play with any tiebreakers that might eventually be involved with the Pats...

How far can Denver go this season? I'll leave it at this--the Broncos will be good enough to get to the Super Bowl when they are good enough to get all of their playoff games at home. I would hate to have Denver to go back to Indianpolis again, much better to get the Colts in Denver...

On the coaching front, I can't believe Dom Capers has much longer to go in Houston. The team is abysmal, and is getting worse instead of getting better. Dismissing Chris Palmer as o.c. is like a band-aid covering a gaping wound. The Palmer-designed offense can't do anything as long as David Carr is taking hits like he's George Chuvalo in the pocket. Does anyone remember that new Teaxans o.c. Joe Pendry was the coach of USFL Pittsburgh Maulers (Mike Rozier & Glenn Carano) back in 1984? The Carano family, by the way, runs the El Dorado Hotel/Casino in downtown Reno...

Would also think that the most-overrated coach in the NFL, Brian Billick, is going to get his comeuppance after this season. After the Ravens fall to 5-11 or 6-10, he will likely use the Boller injury as an excuse, but I hope Steve Bisciotti sees through that baloney and sends this first-rate phony packing after the season. The Raven defense isn't what it once was, either...how can any team allow Detroit to score 35 points?...

Cal-UCLA was one of the wildest and most-exciting college games I can remember. If there was ever a hump win for the classy Karl Dorrell, that was it, but Bruins had better temper their talk of being 10-0 for the SC game until they plug some holes on that defense. Cal ran for over 300 yards, and the rest of the Pac-10 will exploit that weakness, starting with Washington State this week. Look for Coug RB Jerome Harrison to blast away, and already I think that UCLA -7 is too rich. The Bruins ought to be happy to escape the Palouse with any sort of win this week...

LSU-Vandy score was a bit deceiving, Dores were hanging tight until the 4th Q, but there are still opportunities to get to make that first postseason trip since the 1982 All-American Bowl in Birmingham. Vandy simply must play error-free football vs. the upper-echelon teams to have any chance against the LSUs and Georgias, which in itself is an upgrade from the much of the past when they basically had little or no shot to compete. Just getting on ESPN and CBS a couple of times is a step in the right direction, but Cutler could use a bit more help. Still, I think 6-5 is very doable, and a trip to the Independence Bowl to face an improved Baylor team would be one of the neat stories of the postseason...

And Wake up the Echoes, guys, ND is ready to pull the big upset this weekend. I was a bit miffed in the new TGS that Chuck insisted he write this week's cover story about the game, in which he missed out on much of the history of the series that will come back into focus this week. How many streaks and unbeaten seasons have been ended by one or the other in this rivalrye? Anyway, Chuck only writes a few stories each season, so I'll let this one slide, and I did the game writeup. I just could have written this week's cover story a lot better than him...

In the meantime, I think I'll go buy a copy of Louis Freeh's book. Looks like good reading to me...