Top Five:
1. Andy Johnson's dominating pace against Liverpool's defence combined with a few howlers by Reina lifted Everton to a surprisingly easy 3-0 derby victory to momentarily elevate them to the top of the tables.
2. Watford utterly outplays Bolton only to see a cheap but blatant foul with seconds left in the match that causes the game-losing penalty. Watford have no one but themselves to blame. When you have that many chances in the Premiership and you score nil out of them, you aren't going to do well. Always good to see Sam Allyardyce get the win, especially in Anelka's debut.
3. Three penalty kicks missed in total in one match between Sheffield United and Blackburn preserve a 0-0 draw. The final penalty, called by the linesman for a handball that was clearly a chested clearance was the most blatant of a series of crap calls by referee Mike Dean. Still a good match despite Dean's rubbish decisions. Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel had a match that pretty much saved the point for Rovers.
4. Almost too good to be true yet almost predictable regardless, Sunderland gave three points to new manager Roy Keane at Derby County. According to reports "he was an animated figure on the touchline throughout, haranguing the officials and responding with disbelief when it was announced that five minutes of adding time would be played."
5. Arseholenol's failure to get the win at home in their shiny new stadium. A pretty passing game for naught, you have to observe. Nothing coming into the centre from the sides. They are fourth from the bottom of the tables. I'm rather enjoying this stretch of poor play but doubt it will last all season. Middlesborough's David Woodgate had a spectacular match in defence, probably the best performance of the day and all that's left for him is more hammy problems and a gradual disappearance.
Bottom Five
1. Bloody Geordies going up 1-0 at home and losing 2-1 to a team who suck on the road, Fulham. It's three points they needed and should have had but two Yankees scored for Fulham; McBride and Bocanegra, egged on by piss-poor defending by the back line. Same auld story.
2. Manchester United winning their fourth straight game from the start of the season for the first time in their history. What sucked in particular about this result were the blown chances by Spurs. You don't get that many chances at Old Trafford and when you do, you bloody well take advantage of them. Spurs didn't and they paid the price. That Man U are perfect with Rooney missing three of their first four matches is telling. Amazing that supporters, some of them anyway, want Fergie out.
3. Chelsea got a cheap second and third point when Carvalho's header gave them a 2-1 lead. Hardly an inspirational performance by Chelsea at home which should be worrying. Nice seeing Wayne Bridge get the start over Ashley Cole and making the most of it by playing all over the pitch proving himself. It won't stop him from relegation to the bench but at least he went down fighting. Drogba should have had three goals in the first half alone and this game should never have been as close as it finished.
4. Portsmouth taking the top of the tables lead off Everton with yet another clean sheet, this time against Wigan who didn't make their chances. David James had a spectacular save among other good moves and preserved the victory for the unlikely Portsmouth side. I guess it's nice to see Harry Redknapp do well as well as Sol Campbell and James.
5. Cardiff were not the only Championship team to lose their unbeaten record. It also happened to Southampton who went down 2-1 at Ipswich after being ahead.
NCAA Football
From the Not Bloody Likely To Happen Again Department, Sports Amnesia predictions versus reality:
Calling Mr Heisman...
Notre Dame v Penn State: Sports Amnesia predicted an 8 point victory for the Fighting Irish and they won by 24. If anything under estimating the weakness of the Nittany Lions or the strength of a determined Irish side.
Texas v Ohio State: Sports Amnesia predicted a 6 point victory for the Buckeyes to preserve their Number One ranking and they defeated Texas by a 17 point margin.
El Beisbal
Oh, we don't really care that much but the Mets Continued Making Mincemeat of Potential Playoff Opponents, dropping the Dodgers 3-2 in a classic matchup of El Duque starting against Greg Maddox.
The AL Central continues to fascinate with the second-place finisher, either Detroit, Chicago or Minnesota, taking the AL wildcard.
Yesterday the Twins topped the Tigers again dropping the Tiger lead to a whisper-thin three games and sinking fast. Boof Bonser was the Twins hero yesterday, pitching 7 strong innings in a 2-1 victory.
With Minnesota's 82nd win, manager Gardenhire is guaranteed his fifth straight season above .500. The last manager to start a career with five straight winning seasons was Toronto's Cito Gaston , from 1989-1993.
Jon Garland earned his 17th win of the season in helping lead the White Sox past the Indians 10-8. Garland left with a 10-1 lead but the Indians battled back against the White Sox bullpen with a seven-run seventh inning. In his last six starts, Garland is 5-0 with a 1.44 ERA.
They are only 3 1/2 games behind the Tigers.
In the NL West, the only other "race", in losing yet again to the Giants, the Padres failed to gain any ground on the Dodgers, still 1 1/2 games behind. The Giants meanwhile, have closed to within 3 games of the lead.
Clinging to life, the Phillies lost to the Marlins in 10 innings. MVP candidate Ryan Howard, who homered three times to help Philadelphia win the series' first two games, was 2-for-2 and walked four times. Two of the walks were intentional, both times with first base occupied.
Here's something impossible to escape the eye: whilst trawling through the list of starters for today's MLB games noticed that
Never heard of Hayden Penn and in fairness, it was only two thirds of an innings work but an ERA of 108.00 has got to be the highest recorded, at least this season, no? Who else leaves a pitcher in to give up EIGHT runs before a full inning of work?
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