Thursday Night Football and the NLCS

Ok - so maybe I'm going to watch some baseball as well tonight. I heard they start that NLCS in Philadelphia tonight. It could be a pretty interesting series.

But I've started with football tonight. Wake Forest and Clemson have a quarter in the books. It was a quarter that the Demon Deacons absolutely dominated. And after 15 minutes they have a whopping 3-0 lead. Two very good drives from Wake produced only a field goal. They had a second attempt missed (Sam Swank out with an injury - but it was the snap that caused the miss.

Meanwhile, Clemson (one of the most disappointing teams of the young season) has negative yards of offense. But they are in Wake territory to start the second quarter. I just have a feeling that Clemson is going to take advantage of Wake's inability to score points sometime soon.

8:31PM - The Dodgers have scored a run in the first and have a runner on second against Cole Hamels with two outs. Hamels walks the lefthander James Loney and will now have to face Matt Kemp, who mashes lefthanders. Not what the Phils wanted in a start. A passed ball has moved both runners up. It's important for the Phillies to get out of this with minimal damage. Doubles from Ethier and Ramirez provided the run for the Dodgers. The Phillies get out of it, with just that minimal damage, as Kemp flies out.

8:35PM - Wake Forest seems to try a lot of trick stuff. They just tried to hit quarterback Riley Skinner on a post pattern. He was open for a minute, but the throw was late. I just think they should take it to Clemson, they seem to be able to get what they need anyhow. Why bother with the fancy stuff?

8:38PM - I never really thought Joe Torre was a great manager. But I'm starting to rethink that, with the performance of the Dodgers down the stretch and in the playoffs. Of course, the addition of Manny Ramirez and his run production (he got the ribbi tonight) hasn't hurt. The shift, and a nice play from Blake Dewitt have gotten Derek Lowe out of a mini jam in the first.

8:44PM - Back to the football....and an injury to a Tiger lineman sends them to commercial and me looking for baseball.

8:45PM - Happy NHL opening Night!!! I know you are pumped. Is there a game on somewhere? Versus perhaps the NHL network?

8:47PM - Hamels seems more relaxed this inning. Not quite as amped - and not as rusty after the 7-day layoff. So why do lefties hit him better? Because his best pitch is the changeup which is tougher on righties than lefties, because of the movement. It was always that way with Tom Glavine as well. Three up, Three down, and the Phillies come to bat.

8:52PM - Wake got a field goal attempt from Shane Popham, and if they put the goalposts on the hashmarks, it might have been good. But it wasn't even close. Looks like it is going to be 3-0 at halftime. But possibly Clemson will get something on the 2-minute drill. I'm going to take a break for awhile.