A. J. Pierszienski’s 2nd Career

It looked to me that White Sox C A.J. Pierszinski made the call on the dropped 3rd strike in Game 2. After the game HP Umpire Drew Eddings said that he “saw the ball change direction”. Where did he get that X-ray vision to see that through the catcher and the glove? The 1B umpire thought it was a valid strikeout, he was on his way to 2nd base and had to sprint back towards first after Pierszinski started racing up the line. Angels C Josh Paul was in the process of rolling the ball back to the mound when Pierszinski took off; he should have checked with the HP umpire before releasing the ball. While it is most important that the umpires get the call right, they also need to be clear in communicating what they call, and the HP umpire clearly wasn’t on that play.

Type/Last Week/Season
NCAA/3-1/6-4
NFL/2-3-1/10-8-1
Invest/-2*/-4.5*

INVEST
3:30 NBC HD Notre Dame (+11 ½) 34 Southern Cal 30. The Irish will run an efficient ball-control offense to limit the number of USC’s offensive possessions. Irish QB Brady Quinn is off to a great start this season and should post impressive numbers against a vulnerable USC secondary. The Trojans clearly have more talent than the Irish, but won’t be able to wait until the 3rd quarter to start playing well in this one.

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
4:00 FOX HD. League Championship Series

SUNDAY
1:00 FOX HD N.Y. Giants 27 (+3) Dallas 24. The Cowboys might be due for a letdown after last week’s demolition of the Eagles. RB Julius Jones probably won’t play (ankle). The Giants are off to a flying start behind 2nd-year QB Eli Manning.

1:00 FOX HD Washington 20 (+5 ½) Kansas City 24. The Redskins are one of the early-season surprises. They shocked the Cowboys with 2 late touchdowns in Week 2, then escaped a 4th-quarter Seachicken rally before succumbing to the Broncos last week in the rain 21-19. QB Mark Brunell appears to have turned the clock back to 1999… did he spend the offseason training with 47 year young Braves 1B Julio Franco? RB Clinton Portis has loved running against the Chiefs, but that was behind the Broncos OL. He has been a good runner for the Redskins, but not the game-breaker that he was for the Broncos. The Chiefs need to get TE Tony Gonzalez more involved in the offense and shift the focus of the running game to be 90% on Priest Holmes instead of 60%.

1:00 CBS HD Pittsburgh 16 (-3) Jacksonville 10. QB Ben Roethlisberger is out with an injured knee suffered on Monday Night’s winning drive. RB Jerome Bettis was effective ans will team with Willie Parker to pound the Jaguars with a physical running game.

1:00 CBS Tampa Bay 19 (-4) Miami 13. Both Florida teams are off to stronger than expected starts this season. I’ll take Tampa QB Brian Griese over Miami QB Gus Frerrote. Dolphins RB Rickey Williams returns from his retirement and substance abuse suspension in this one.

4:00 FOX HD. League Championship Series
4:15 CBS HD New England 27 (+3) Denver 24. Tom Brady or Jake Plummer? I’ll take Brady 100 times out of 100. LB Tedy Bruschi is planning on returning to practice next week to help out a struggling Patriots defense.

7:30 ESPN HD NFL PrimeTime 8:30 Seattle (-9 ½) 30 Houston 17. This could be a letdown opportunity for the Seachickens after last week’s win over the Rams but the Texans are a mess so far this season.

8:00 FOX HD. League Championship Series

9:00 ABC HD Indianapolis 44 (-13 ½) St Louis 20. The Colts have started scoring touchdowns this season, and the Rams haven’t stopped anyone but the Cardinals. I’m tempted to take the over in this one but am not sure how the Rams will react to the loss of HC Mike Martz (heart condition).

8:00 FOX HD. League Championship Series