Who does Kyle Orton think he is, Jay Cutler?

Let me get this straight ...

Kyle Orton is 5-0 and Chad Henne is 2-0. Chad Pennington, whom Henne replaced, was 0-3. Kerry Collins is 0-5 while Tom Brady and Philip Rivers are a combined one game over .500. Did I get that right? It's nice that we've had the chance to enjoy some surprises even though many aspects of the 2009 NFL season have been quite predictable (e.g. Giants good, Rams bad).

This week on Fox ...

This says it all about last Sunday's slate of NFL games: Joe Buck, Fox's #1 play-by-play man, was doing the Cowboys-Chiefs game. That's right, the 2-2 Cowboys vs. the winless and hapless Chiefs. It actually turned out to be a barn burner, but Fox execs must have looked down the list of games about 10 times before finally convincing themselves that yes, that was in fact the best early game on the schedule. All the others involved either unwatchable teams like the Rams and Redskins or likely blowouts such as Giants-Raiders and Eagles-Bucs, which turned out to be blowouts indeed.

Getting the rally monkey off their back


Despite having lost 12 of 13 postseason games against the Red Sox prior to their ALDS series, and having been eliminated by Boston in 2004, 2007 and 2008, and having never EVER beaten the Red Sox in a playoff series, the Angels scored five runs in the final two innings--including three in the 9th--on Sunday to pave the way to an improbable sweep. Here's hoping they can maintain their confidence and level of play against a stellar Yankees team.

Nearly a clean sweep

Obviously, the Rockies didn't get the memo about getting swept in the first round. By winning Game 2 of their series with the Phillies, they prevented 2009 from being one of the worst years ever when it comes to the divisional round of the playoffs (introduced in 1995). No, wait, it was still one of the worst years ever. Sweep, sweep, sweep, 3-1. Not exactly the best way to tear up the ratings.

While we're on the topic of parity, or lack thereof, the four teams left standing have the 1st (Yankees), 6th (Angels), 7th (Phillies) and 9th (Dodgers) highest team payrolls, respectively. And the Phillies-Dodgers match-up mirrors last year's NLCS. Did someone say salary cap? No? Sorry, I thought I heard someone say salary cap.

Aw man, this jersey got all soaked in irony

This whole story requires a big ol' hat tip to Khair Sadrud-Din.

The Angels clinched the NL West last week, and part of their postgame celebration involved remembrance of and tribute to Nick Adenhart, a former Angels pitcher who was killed earlier in the season. As you can see, part of their celebration involved dousing Adenhart's jersey with beer.

Only problem is, Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver. Now while we can assume Adenhart wouldn't have wanted his friends and teammates to stop drinking simply because he was killed by a drunk driver, and we can also grant that the Angels were just trying to pretend he was there with them, pouring beer on his jersey just as they would have done to him had he been in the locker room, can we at least acknowledge that this scene is sort of uncomfortably ironic?

I mean, I'm pretty sure I've never in my life seen 10-15 people pouring anything on a jersey. And the first time I do see it, it involves guys energetically smothering a jersey with alcohol. And that jersey happens to be that of a guy who isn't celebrating with his teammates because he was killed in an unfortunate accident involving a guy who clearly had too much to drink.

But here's the best part: when a reporter asked the Angels players about this ironic display, third baseman Chone Figgins came up with a response that was as defensive as it was tone deaf:
"He's our teammate. We're allowed to do what we want."

Yes, Chone, that is correct. You can in fact do what you want. But that's not really the point.

The scene made me think: Isn't it a little odd that when a team clinches a playoff spot, youngsters watch their favorite players as they spray champagne, chug beer and pour alcohol everywhere? And that in this case, kids saw their heroes celebrate their lost teammate by taking his jersey and covering it in beer? The fact is, it's probably fair to assume that some of these players drive home with at least a slight level of intoxication. Maybe not the Angels players last week, but with eight of these alcohol orgies at the end of each baseball season, there's bound a few guys driving under the influence. And isn't that the whole reason Nick Adenhart isn't with us today?

But I digress. On the scale of immature things you can do, electing to celebrate your lost teammate with a beer shower is pretty far down on the list. But the irony simply can't be ignored. Unless, of course, you're Chone Figgins.

Angels pitcher killed in car crash

Very sad story from the world of baseball.