DL457: Playoff Baseball, College & Pro Football, Injuries, BCS & Soccer Scandals

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This is a Monday where we can’t get to half the stories we want. We talk about this:

• MLB playoffs, including the Phillies win over the Giants, fans over-reacting to Ryan Howard going to the Eagles game, Cole Hamels being the best Phillies pitcher in the last few months & if the Yankees will really start AJ Burnett in game four if they lose tonight.

• NFL, including the quarterback controversy in Philadelphia and if one of them should get traded. We also talk about the injuries around the league which leads to the awful news that Rutgers defensive lineman Eric LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down this weekend. Is there anything to stop this from happening in football? With that happening on Saturday, we still saw a ton of helmet hits on Sunday. Players can’t stop themselves. Is the protection — helmets, pads, etc — too good? Do players now think they are actually invincible? Whatever the answer, it’s awful.

• We somehow spin that to more college football, includingREAD MORE

Charlie Manuel Is A Stylin’ & Proflin’ Son of a Gun, Drops Flair Quotes in NLCS Presser

Do you want to know why Charlie Manuel is the greatest manager in baseball? No other manager would say, in the middle of his NLCS press conferences, “it’s like going to Space Mountain…what the hell.”

Nobody. Nobody would drop Ric Flair references in the middle of his presser. Ric. Flair. Space Mountain. To be the best you gotta beat the best! Wooooo!

I know Meech from The Fightins agrees with me — he gave his kid the middle name Fuqua for crying out loud — but there’s not another person in sports that I love more than Uncle Cholly. And look, I was one of the people who thought the Phillies should have gone in a different direction in 2008. But since that season, he has been, and always will be…the man.

If you don’t like it, learn to love it. READ MORE

DL455: Craig Calcaterra From NBC’s Hardball Talk Previews the LCS

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Lots of baseball talk today with Craig Calcaterra from NBC’s Hardball Talk. We cover a lot, so here’s a quick recap of most of it.

We talk about the Josh Hamilton Ginger Ale bath and wonder if the Rangers will remove all the alcohol should they beat the Yankees. It was a great gesture to use soda for a recovering addict, but why not remove the alcohol altogether? Has the beer and champagne become THAT synonymous with winning in baseball…and if so, what does that say about the sport?

Of course, it all comes down to sponsorships as Budweiser is all over those locker room celebrations. Calcaterra points out that once they get a Ginger Ale company to throw in some cash, maybe they’ll lose the alcohol.

That all said, will Texas see another celebration anyway? Can they beat the Yankees in a seven-game series? We try to break down the possibility, which seems to hinge on CC Sabathia. Even though the Yankees SAY AJ Burnett is starting game four, does that mean they’llREAD MORE

Raise A Glass To The Texas Rangers Today, Folks

Last night, the Texas Rangers won their first playoff series ever, a feat that seems pretty incredible considering the team has been in Texas since 1972 (the team was originally the Washington Senators and had just one winning season from 1961-1971 before leaving for Dallas.)

Not only was the Rangers victory over the Rays the first playoff series win in franchise history, it marked the first time the team had ever won two playoff games in the same series. The Rangers have only been to the playoffs thrice before this season, losing in the LDS 3-1 in 1996 and getting swept in both 1998 and 1999. It’s pretty incredible to see, but that’s it.

It’s certainly time to celebrate. Pop the champagne, fellas. Wait, what’s that? The star of the team is a recovering addict? What’s a team in need of celebration to do?

Ginger Ale. Via SportsDayDFW:

When the Rangers clinched the American League West in Oakland, All-Star Josh Hamilton remained in the training room to avoid the alcohol bath in the postgame celebration.

After Tuesday night’s 5-1 AmericanREAD MORE

DL452: Baseball Playoffs, College and NFL Football, Gambling, Other Stuff

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It’s 11am and the show still isn’t up. A college game program I’m working on has to get to the printer ASAP and my hard drive is full. Do you really need a recap? Here: Nick and I high five about the Phillies, talk about the Eagles ratings in comparison to what the Phils will get then high five some more about the Phillies.

We break down the rest of the MLB playoffs, which includes a huge apology to Jimmy Traina for doubting the Yankees “tank to succeed” plan. Then we talk about football, Kolb, Favre, and gambling.

Hope to have posts later today. You win this round, computer.

Call of the Day: Tim Lincecum Is Very Exciting. Dick Stockton, Notsomuch

The Year of the Pitcher? Yep, it’s the Year of the Pitcher alright. Tim Lincecum opened up the 2010 NLDS by throwing a complete game two-hit shutout against the Braves. He struck out 14 batters.

He good.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF TIM LINCECUM STRIKING OUT 14 BRAVES

I really wish I could find the San Francisco radio feed of this performance (it’s not on the KNBR website or on MLB.com) because, frankly, this clip is boring. Lincecum struck out 14 batters and the video is fall-asleep-on-your-keyboard boring.

This is a one-run game, in the playoffs, and it’s as if Dick Stockton is calling highlights of a dog show. “A brilliant pitching gem by Tim…Lincecum. Look at the shininess of his coat. Strong teeth. His handler must be very happy tonight.”

Give a little excitement, Dick, please? Jon Miller must have been frothing at the mouth during the ninth inning. Even the end of this clip — click that link and skip ahead to around the 3:00 mark — when Lincecum strikes out Derrek Lee looking to end the game, there’sREAD MORE

Call of the Day: “Wait, I Just Saw Halladay Smile”

Was there any other choice for the Call of the Day? Cliff Lee went out in the first game of the 2010 MLB playoffs and, after a few bumps early on, shut down the Tampa Bay Rays to steal game one of the ALDS for Texas.

Everyone in Philadelphia, despite a Cy Young-worthy season already this year, had to watch that game and wonder if Roy Halladay was going to be as good as Lee in the playoffs. Could he continue to erase the memory of Lee carrying the Phillies to the World Series last season?

In a word…yes. Halladay tossed a complete game, no-hit, one-walk performance for the ages. Halladay faced one over the minimum against the best hitting team in the National League. He had eight strikeouts and, most importantly, got a win for his team in game one of the NLDS.

WATCH EVERY SINGLE OUT OF HALLADAY’S NO-HITTER AT MLB.COM

Halladay’s no-hitter is only the second in the history of the MLB playoffs, following Don Larsen’s perfect game FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Here’s the audio call of PhilliesREAD MORE

DL449: Kevin Kaduk of Big League Stew Previews the MLB Playoffs

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Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew joins the show to preview the MLB playoffs which FINALLY start today.

Kaduk and I go league by league and series by series to try and guess which teams will come out of the LDS round. After all that prognosticating, we eventually get into a conversation about how stupid prognostications are and how nobody should hold us to any of our picks.

(Except one pick, maybe. Image via Phillies Twitter feed)

That being said, I think I’m going with the Yankees only because I picked them at the beginning of the season and I want to be right. I think I actually “feel” like the Twins are the better team, and with home field, will win the series. So I’m on the fence. Kaduk is not, as he’s going with the Twins.

Neither of us give the Rangers much chance after Cliff Lee, who has to go against the Rays ace David Price.

In the NL, we talk about the Phillies and Reds and whether or not the youngREAD MORE

Does Anyone Want Home Field In the American League?

Is it possible Minnesota clinched their division too soon? Look, I know Justin Morneau is concussed and Joe Mauer is just coming back from being out with a knee injury, but Minnesota went 16-4 in the 20 games from September 1 until September 22nd and since that game they’re 1-6 in their last seven games, including being swept by the Tigers and losing two out of three to the Royals.

Thursday night, with a chance to tie both the Yankees and Rays (more on them in a minute) for the best record in the American League, the Twins got smoked by Jose Bautista and the Blue Jays, 13-2. With three games left in the season, Minnesota is one game behind both AL East teams in the race for the best record in the American League.

Minnesota will host the Wild Card winner — more aptly named, the AL East loser — in the first round while the AL East winner will host Texas. If looking just at the ALDS, there isn’t anything the Twins can do toREAD MORE

DL372: On Military Burials, Playoff Series & New ESPN Megadeals

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We talk about my wife’s grandfather’s funeral. Have you ever heard Taps played by a uniformed man with a horn at a funeral, then watched two other soldiers fold up an American flag and hand it to someone you care about? It’s an amazingly powerful moment.

We ask two questions about sports today: would you rather see a short series with close games or a long series with blowouts that lead up to a competitive culmination? How much power does “game seven” have? Plus, if you’re a fan of a team, do you embrace bandwagon jumpers, especially if your sport is looking for fans?

Last, we tackle the Deadspin rumor about Bill Simmons new contract.