My attention wasn't fully focused on the sporting world this past weekend, as I had other, more important affairs in Lower Manhattan to deal with. (More on that in an upcoming post.) But it was a bloody awful weekend, with my teams.
Notre Dame's last-second loss to Michigan Saturday was really brutal. ND had a 17-point lead go up in smoke in the fourth quarter, but Tommy Rees engineered a great drive that got the irish into the end zone with 30 seconds to play and a 31-28 lead. Who would have guessed that that was too much time? The Irish defense went to sleep, and Michigan scored a game-winning TD with 2 seconds to play, 35-31.
Notre Dame is now 0-2, and Michigan State awaits them at South Bend next Saturday.
I saw none of the Vikings-Chargers game in San Diego, just checked updates. The Vikings led at one point 17-7, and the season actually got off to a blistering start, as Percy Harvin ran back the opening kickoff 103 yards. But it sounded like Donovan McNabb's Vikings debut was less than stellar, throwing for only 39 yards. The Vikings as a team disappeared in the second half, and San Diego won it on a 19-yard TD pass from Philip Rivers with 5 minutes remaining.
Best news of the weekend concerning the Vikings was Adrian Peterson's new 7-year contract.
And what do I say about the Red Sox? And absolutely abominable week from hell, as they went 1-6 in Toronto and Tampa Bay. To say that what we saw, especially in Tampa Bay, is totally unacceptable at this time of year, goes without question. It's like the first two weeks of the season all over again.
The pitching is absolute crap right now, as even Jon Lester gave a horrible showing on Sunday. (111 pitches in 4 innings?) The offense in AWOL right now, and simply didn't show up against James Shields on Sunday.
In the series, the Sox went 1-for-15 with RISP, and the team's starting pitcher ERA was just under 10.00. A deadly combination.
Since the doubleheader sweep of Oakland two weeks ago, the Red Sox are 3-10. They have let the Rays and Angels back in the Wild Card race, and Tampa Bay is now 3 1/2 games back. TB now plays Baltimore starting tonight. The Red Sox are off today, and play Toronto at Fenway starting tomorrow night. This begins the final homestand of the regular season: two with Toronto, four with Tampa Bay (how important are those games now?) and four with Baltimore.
More crappy efforts like this past weekend, and the Red Sox could easily find themselves in third place by this weekend. They have too much talent for that. It better get better.