It's Friday!

Good morning everyone. Here's what's happening....

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders have released quarterback Graham Harrell. Details on Rod Pedersen's blog.

It's no surprise it turned out that way. I kinda expected it would happen, especially after he never got on the field last season. After all, who A) Doesn't want to play sooner, rather than later and B) Thinks that'll happen anytime soon when you sit at #5 on the depth chart and the #1 guy (Darian Durant) put a total lock on the job with his play last season?

Lots of talk about it on Rod's blog, including some insightful comments from former Rider G.M. Eric Tillman. Go read and tell Roddy you were directed there from here, okay?

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After having their road win streak snapped Tuesday in Chicago, the Rays rebounded in a big way. After Wednesday's 12-0 win, Tampa Bay won again last night, 10-2 over the White Sox.

Chicago jumped on top with runs in the first and second, but the Rays scored 3 in the third, 4 in the 5th and 3 more in the 8th. Carlos Pena was 2 for 3 with 4 rbi's, Carl Crawford, Pat Burrell and Reid Brignac drove in 2 runs each. James Shields allowed 2 runs over 7 inning, to go to 2-0 on the year. Jake Peavy fell to 0-1 for the Sox, allowing 7 earned runs in 4.1 innings.

Tampa Bay is now a major league best 12-4 and leads the Yankees by 1/2 game in the A.L. East. Rays are now home for nine games, starting tonight with the first of three against Toronto. Oakland arrives for two games next Tuesday, followed by Kansas City for a four-game set starting next Thursday. All games on 620AM WDAE.

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Oh, before I forget: Today is Talk like Shakespeare Day. Goeth thou to http://www.talklikeshakespeare.org for alleth thy fun and frivolity. Ol' Billy, were he still with us, would be 446 years oldeth todayeth!

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Back to baseball....How bad (once again) will the Pittsbugh Pirates be? They lost to the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday, 20-0! They are 7-8, just 3 games behind St. Louis in the N.L. Central, but I'm betting they finish at least 20 games under .500 this year.

Last Saturday, the Mets beat St. Louis 2-1 in 20 innings. The good: The game was on Fox. With as badly as TV manipulates baseball these days, it's good to see FOX's network programming get all screwed up by a baseball game. The bad: 5 hours of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. That's worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. Yeesh!

Speaking of bad baseball teams, how 'bout them Baltimores? Just 16 games into the season and the Orioles have won just 2 of their first 16 games, and are already 10 games out of first in the A.L. East. Managers of the O's, White Sox and Pirates are probably all looking over their shoulder, hoping they don't get that dreaded "vote of confidence" from their bosses anytime soon.

And also yesterday, the Yankees turned a 5-4-3 triple play in a 4-2 loss at Oakland, their first triple play since 1968. It reminded me of two years ago in Doniphan, Nebraska. I was working the bases in an American Legion ballgame. It was the top of the first inning, of my first game of the summer, and I called all three outs of a triple play. (Liner to short, step on second, toss to first) What are the odds of that?

Tampa Bay leads the A.L. East by 1/2 game over the Yankees, Minnesota leads Detroit by 2 games in the Central and Oakland leads Seattle by 1/2 game in the West(Mariners are 9-7, but 7-2 in their last 9 games).

Philadelphia leads the N.L. East by 1 1/2 games over Florida(A Florida-Tampa Bay World Series anyone?), St. Louis is 2 ahead of Milwaukee in the Central and San Diego leads San Francisco by 1 in the West(Giants have lost 4 straight).

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Hockey Playoff Roundup ----

NHL:

Eastern Conference

Last night --

Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0 (Philadelphia wins series 4-1. Take that, Jacques Lemaire and Martin Brodeur!)

Ottawa 4, Pittsburgh 3, in 3OT (Pittsburgh leads 3-2)

Western Conference

Chicago 3, Nashville 0 (Series tied 2-2)

San Jose 5, Colorado 0 (San Jose lead 3-2)

Tonight --

Eastern Conference

Montreal at Washington 7:00pm EDT (Washington leads 3-1)

Boston at Buffalo 7:00pm EDT (Boston leads 3-1)

Western Conference

Los Angeles at Vancouver 10:00pm EDT (Series tied 2-2)

Detroit at Phoenix 10:00pm EDT (Series tied 2-2)

WHL:

Western Conference

Last Night --

Tri-City 5, Vancouver 2 (Series tied 2-2)

Tonight --

Eastern Conference

Brandon at Calgary 9:00pm EDT (Calgary leads 3-1)

Western Conference

Vancouver at Tri-City 10:05pm EDT (Series tied 2-2)

OHL:

Last night --

Western Conference

Windsor 3, Kitchener 0 (Kitchener leads 3-2)

Tonight --

Western Conference

Kitchener at Windsor 7:30pm EDT (Kitchener leads 3-2)

(Note: Barrie beat Mississauga St Michaels Majors 4-1 in Eastern Conference Finals)

QMJHL:

Last night --

No games

Tonight --

Saint John at Victoriaville 7:00pm EDT (Saint John leads 2-1)

Moncton at Drummondville 7:35pm EDT (Moncton leads 3-1)

(Note: Both series are QMJHL semifinals)

USHL:

Last night --

Western Conference

Omaha 6, Fargo 2 (Series tied 2-2)

Tonight --

Eastern Conference

Green Bay at Indiana 7:05pm EDT (Series tied 1-1)

(Note: All USHL series are best-of-five)

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Here's the scene at my house today:







I love my family!

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Ye have thee a nice day, okay?