While it is becoming apparent that the top 10 will remain the top 10, with 11th place Kasey Kahne now 90 points behind 10th place Mark Martin it will be tough for the 9 team to break back into the icture, and near impossible for the 400 point window to come into play.
With 2 races to go until the chase cutoff, only 13 drivers are still mathematically alive for the 10 spots - but 12th place Greg Biffle and 13th place Carl Edwards are 251 and 261 back of 10th place, and they have to gain 100+ points on 10th at California to remain alive another week. Both are also 700+ points out of the lead, or all but eliminated from the 400 point window possibility. Kahne is the only one with a shot, but he has to hope to win each remaining race while the 10th place bar finishes 11th or worse.
The wild shows the 4th through 10th place drivers separated by only 48 points, with 3rd place Kevin Harvick 81 points in front of now 4th place Kyle Busch. The loser on the night was Mark Martin, who entered the race 4th in the points but fell to 10th place on the heels of a 28th place finish, 4 laps down to the leaders.
Jeff Burton led 263 laps, 2nd time this month he led the most laps, but like Indianapolis, he faded at the end to a 9th place finish, but that was good enough to move back up to 7th from 9th in the points. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. moved up from 10th to 9th in points on the strength of a 3rd place finish. Jr. led 35 laps, and had strong pit stops all night, turning a 40th starting spot into a top-five. The fastest stop was 12.8 seconds on the next to last caution, seeing the 8 car jump from third to first on the stops.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Streaking again
The Buccos managed a third win in a row, now with a record of 50-78 with 34 games remaining. They must go 13-21 over the rest of the season to avoid losing 100 games. Their win percentage on the season of .391 extrapolated for the rest of the season would mean 13.28 games won out of 34, or just enough to avoid losing 100.
Freddy Sanchez went 1 for 4, and still leads the NL with an average of .346.
Freddy Sanchez went 1 for 4, and still leads the NL with an average of .346.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Streaky Pirates at it again
Streaky as anything, the Pirates extended another tonight in a 4-2 win over the Brewers. This marked the 4th win in a row, building upon a sweep of Division leader St Louis over the weekend. Before the streak, the Pirates had lost 5 in a row, which had followed close on the heels of another 5 game winning streak.
They are now 16-13 since the All-Star break, and 46-73 overall. They must go 17-26 in the remaining games to avoid losing 100 games. If they can keep up their post-all star pace, they should be ok in this department.
The other thing left to root for is Freddy Sanchez in the NL batting title race. As of Sunday night, Sanchez was batting .346, with 2nd place at .339. Sanchez went 6 for 13 in the St Louis series. Sanchez went 1 for 3 on Monday, slightly lowering the average to .345 with 43 games to go.
The Pirates season is a tale of two cities. One is Pittsburgh, where they own a 32-28 record at home. The other is anywhere but Pittsburgh, where they are 14-45.
They are now 16-13 since the All-Star break, and 46-73 overall. They must go 17-26 in the remaining games to avoid losing 100 games. If they can keep up their post-all star pace, they should be ok in this department.
The other thing left to root for is Freddy Sanchez in the NL batting title race. As of Sunday night, Sanchez was batting .346, with 2nd place at .339. Sanchez went 6 for 13 in the St Louis series. Sanchez went 1 for 3 on Monday, slightly lowering the average to .345 with 43 games to go.
The Pirates season is a tale of two cities. One is Pittsburgh, where they own a 32-28 record at home. The other is anywhere but Pittsburgh, where they are 14-45.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
6 laps down to finish 9th!?
For the second straight week, a Hendrick Motorsports driver receives multiple "lucky dog" passes to get back on lead lap, this time in the #5 car of Kyle Busch, who was 6 laps down early in the race. He was credited with 5 lucky dog passes, two more than #24 Gordon got the week before. The last one, putting Busch back on the lead lap, occured on lap 63. Resulting problems by many other drivers between there and the end (most of the field had already pitted for the final time) found Busch scored 9th at the end. The TV coverage was not clear how the #5 got the 6th lap back, can only assume that he had stayed out on the first round of green flag stops and got one back the old fashioned way.
The race itself was a jumble. The 9th and 10th place cars in the Chase (#24 Gordon and #8 Earnhardt) both spun in turn one between laps 67 and 73, neither bringing out the caution. The caution would later fly for other incidents, and both drivers would make use of it by pitting late. This helped both drivers climb back up from around 30th to finsih in the teens, combined with the 11th place driver (#9 Kahne) spinning on the last lap and finishing behind them.
It's not yet clear, but the original unofficial results had Gordon 15th, Johnson (#48) 19th and Jr. 20th, but now they show 13th, 17th and 18th, with former 9th and 10th place finishers Ryan Newman and Ron Fellows being put back to 31st and 32nd, bumping each car between 11th and 32nd up two spots each. (Without this change, the #5 would have finished 11th) [11pm UPDATE: NASCAR has revised the finish order again, moving the #12 of Newman back up to 8th, and moving the former sixth place finisher #60 Boris Said to 31st.]
The #29 of Kevin Harvick, 3rd place driver in the points, won the race, passing Tony Stewart (#20) at the line with three laps to go. Stewart would finish 2nd, with Jamie McMurray (#26), Robby Gordon (#7) and Carl Edwards (#99) rounding out the top five.
The race itself was a jumble. The 9th and 10th place cars in the Chase (#24 Gordon and #8 Earnhardt) both spun in turn one between laps 67 and 73, neither bringing out the caution. The caution would later fly for other incidents, and both drivers would make use of it by pitting late. This helped both drivers climb back up from around 30th to finsih in the teens, combined with the 11th place driver (#9 Kahne) spinning on the last lap and finishing behind them.
It's not yet clear, but the original unofficial results had Gordon 15th, Johnson (#48) 19th and Jr. 20th, but now they show 13th, 17th and 18th, with former 9th and 10th place finishers Ryan Newman and Ron Fellows being put back to 31st and 32nd, bumping each car between 11th and 32nd up two spots each. (Without this change, the #5 would have finished 11th) [11pm UPDATE: NASCAR has revised the finish order again, moving the #12 of Newman back up to 8th, and moving the former sixth place finisher #60 Boris Said to 31st.]
The #29 of Kevin Harvick, 3rd place driver in the points, won the race, passing Tony Stewart (#20) at the line with three laps to go. Stewart would finish 2nd, with Jamie McMurray (#26), Robby Gordon (#7) and Carl Edwards (#99) rounding out the top five.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
The Malkin soap opera
Time is running out on Evgeni Malkin making it over in time for the 2006-2007 NHL season. Malkin was the 2nd overall pick in the 2004 draft, but has been prevented from coming over to the US by Russia's failure to sign the IIHF transfer agreement that the other European nations signed in the Summer of 2005.
New Russian Hockey Federation president Vladimir Tretiak had announced on June 9th that the Russian Federation had agreed to sign the IIHF-NHL transfer agreement, yet dragged his feet on producing the signed, ratified document for two months. This past week, he announced that Russia would not sign after all.
The transfer agreement allows players to come to the NHL, with the NHL teams paying into a fund for every player brought over. The funds are used to support hockey development in those countries. Russia believes they are deserving of more money per player than the rest of Europe, but the real reason for their balking is Malkin himself.
Malkin's Russian Superleague (RSL) team wants $2M US to let him cross the Atlantic, and the NHL is unwilling to let member clubs negotiate directly. Malkin's contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk runs through 2008, and does not contain an out-clause, such that Russia vetoing the transfer agreement means Malkin stays in Russia. Metallurg this week has announced a renegotiation with Malkin that pays him more, but only keeps him under contract until May 1, 2007, at which point the Penguins could sign him without giving any compensation, except a season of his services lost. He would not be able to play in the 2007 playoffs without clearing waivers, something the Pens would not subject him to.
New Russian Hockey Federation president Vladimir Tretiak had announced on June 9th that the Russian Federation had agreed to sign the IIHF-NHL transfer agreement, yet dragged his feet on producing the signed, ratified document for two months. This past week, he announced that Russia would not sign after all.
The transfer agreement allows players to come to the NHL, with the NHL teams paying into a fund for every player brought over. The funds are used to support hockey development in those countries. Russia believes they are deserving of more money per player than the rest of Europe, but the real reason for their balking is Malkin himself.
Malkin's Russian Superleague (RSL) team wants $2M US to let him cross the Atlantic, and the NHL is unwilling to let member clubs negotiate directly. Malkin's contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk runs through 2008, and does not contain an out-clause, such that Russia vetoing the transfer agreement means Malkin stays in Russia. Metallurg this week has announced a renegotiation with Malkin that pays him more, but only keeps him under contract until May 1, 2007, at which point the Penguins could sign him without giving any compensation, except a season of his services lost. He would not be able to play in the 2007 playoffs without clearing waivers, something the Pens would not subject him to.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Texas incongruities
Scotusblog has this post dealing with the 5 redrawn Texas congressional districts on the heels of SCOTUS's 2006 decision on the Texas redistricting, where although the plan won overall, a single district, the 23rd, was found unconstitutional by the Court. The District court, on remand, has changed five districts to make the 23rd "legal". The Court has done this a mere 90 days out of an election, changing the election dynamics in such a way as to harm all the candidates in these 5 districts.
The Constitution leaves it to the States to decide the manner of election, yet a Federal court has stepped in and drawn a map of its own, rather than that chosen by the elected members of the Texas Legislature.
Earlier this week, a Federal Court ruled that the State cannot define its elections, declaring that the State GOP had no proof that Tom DeLay would not be a resident of the state on Election day, even though he provided a Virginia drivers' license, employment forms bearing a Virginia address, and other documents proving a Virginia Residency. Texas state law allows the party to "declare ineligible" any candidate that is not a resident per public record. (To the federal court, a Drivers' license is not a public record now) Although the Texas GOP has said it will appeal it to SCOTUS, as noted in this post on Scotusblog from Thursday, August 3rd. The 5th circuit opinion can be found here (ht: Scotusblog)
The panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reasoned that the Democrats suffered actual harm in having to change their election strategy to run against someone other than DeLay, who resigned from Congress in June, and publically announced his moving to Virginia. This is at odds with the redrawn map adopted by the District Court, where that "actual harm" is akin to what the Democrats had claimed in the DeLay case.
Coincidence? Where at once both decisions are in sync, but are also at odds with each other? Not a chance.
The DeLay decision stands in stark contrast to the Torch - where AFTER the mandated deadline, Sen. Robert Toricelli withdrew from the race, and was replaced on the Ballot by former Sen. Frank Lautenberg. The Court in NJ saw fit to ignore the ballot rules, on a matter of "fairness" that the voters be left with a choice.
DeLay may be forced to run for (re)election this November, and given the meddling of the courts, the chances of DeLay winning have likely improved. The Democrats may get what they want - DeLay on the ballot - but still lose big.
The Constitution leaves it to the States to decide the manner of election, yet a Federal court has stepped in and drawn a map of its own, rather than that chosen by the elected members of the Texas Legislature.
Earlier this week, a Federal Court ruled that the State cannot define its elections, declaring that the State GOP had no proof that Tom DeLay would not be a resident of the state on Election day, even though he provided a Virginia drivers' license, employment forms bearing a Virginia address, and other documents proving a Virginia Residency. Texas state law allows the party to "declare ineligible" any candidate that is not a resident per public record. (To the federal court, a Drivers' license is not a public record now) Although the Texas GOP has said it will appeal it to SCOTUS, as noted in this post on Scotusblog from Thursday, August 3rd. The 5th circuit opinion can be found here (ht: Scotusblog)
The panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reasoned that the Democrats suffered actual harm in having to change their election strategy to run against someone other than DeLay, who resigned from Congress in June, and publically announced his moving to Virginia. This is at odds with the redrawn map adopted by the District Court, where that "actual harm" is akin to what the Democrats had claimed in the DeLay case.
Coincidence? Where at once both decisions are in sync, but are also at odds with each other? Not a chance.
The DeLay decision stands in stark contrast to the Torch - where AFTER the mandated deadline, Sen. Robert Toricelli withdrew from the race, and was replaced on the Ballot by former Sen. Frank Lautenberg. The Court in NJ saw fit to ignore the ballot rules, on a matter of "fairness" that the voters be left with a choice.
DeLay may be forced to run for (re)election this November, and given the meddling of the courts, the chances of DeLay winning have likely improved. The Democrats may get what they want - DeLay on the ballot - but still lose big.
Gamble sees Jr climb to a 6th place finish
When the caution came out with 19 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sat in 30th place on the track, looking to end the day there with leader Jimmie Johnson running away from the field. Johnson and the leaders came in for four tires, others came in for two tires, while Kyle Busch (7th), Jr. (6th), Ryan Newman (15th) and Joe Nemechek (24th) stayed out.
Kyle Busch led on the restart, with Jr in 2nd, where the two got away from a crazy field - where eventual 2nd place finisher Matt Kenseth led Johnson and the other four-tire cars around the two tire stoppers, which included Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. On lap 150, Jr. passed Busch for the lead going into turn 1, but Johnson was able to get by Busch as well, and passed Jr in turn 4 of the same lap. So while Jr led, he would not get any bonus points for leading.
Jr gave little difficulty to Kenseth, Harvick (3rd), Bowyer (4th) or Martin (5th), but was able to hold off Busch (7th), Carl Edwards (8th), Tony Stewart (9th) and Kurt Busch (10th) for the last 6-7 laps until several incidents happened on the white flag lap, which saw Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle spin, saw Tony Raines (11th place finisher) involved, and saw Kasey Kahne clip Stewart hard into the wall. Biffle finished 33rd, Gordon 35th and Kahne 36th. This kept Biffle in 12th in the points, dropped Kahne from 7th to 11th in the points.
Jr. improved one spot to 10th in the points, some 512 behind leader Johnson, but is only 26 points out of Denny Hamlin in 7th, 15 behind Jeff Gordon in 8th, and only 3 behind Stewart in 9th, but also improves to 37 points ahead of 11th place, in the last transfer spot in the Chase with 5 races to go: Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, California and Richmond. Jr is now 115 up on 12th place Biffle, and only 100 points back of 6th place Martin, and 121 back of 4th place, which sees Harvick tied with Kyle Busch, some 391 points back of the lead.
Today's result perhaps steals back some points lost in New Hampshire three weeks ago, where a strong car suffered a blown engine en route to a last place finish. Jr was 3rd in points before that race, and fell four spots each of the two prior races on the heels of consecutive last place finishes. Today goes to show that it is far easier to lose points quickly than to gain them back.
The other story of the day was the comeback by #24, Jeff Gordon, who fell almost 4 laps off the pace in the first 15 laps, and through three lucky dog passes (and the rest of the field cooperating by staying on the lead lap) was able to get back on the lead lap, and finish a respectable 16th, far better than the 40th place he looked doomed to finish.
Kyle Busch led on the restart, with Jr in 2nd, where the two got away from a crazy field - where eventual 2nd place finisher Matt Kenseth led Johnson and the other four-tire cars around the two tire stoppers, which included Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. On lap 150, Jr. passed Busch for the lead going into turn 1, but Johnson was able to get by Busch as well, and passed Jr in turn 4 of the same lap. So while Jr led, he would not get any bonus points for leading.
Jr gave little difficulty to Kenseth, Harvick (3rd), Bowyer (4th) or Martin (5th), but was able to hold off Busch (7th), Carl Edwards (8th), Tony Stewart (9th) and Kurt Busch (10th) for the last 6-7 laps until several incidents happened on the white flag lap, which saw Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle spin, saw Tony Raines (11th place finisher) involved, and saw Kasey Kahne clip Stewart hard into the wall. Biffle finished 33rd, Gordon 35th and Kahne 36th. This kept Biffle in 12th in the points, dropped Kahne from 7th to 11th in the points.
Jr. improved one spot to 10th in the points, some 512 behind leader Johnson, but is only 26 points out of Denny Hamlin in 7th, 15 behind Jeff Gordon in 8th, and only 3 behind Stewart in 9th, but also improves to 37 points ahead of 11th place, in the last transfer spot in the Chase with 5 races to go: Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, California and Richmond. Jr is now 115 up on 12th place Biffle, and only 100 points back of 6th place Martin, and 121 back of 4th place, which sees Harvick tied with Kyle Busch, some 391 points back of the lead.
Today's result perhaps steals back some points lost in New Hampshire three weeks ago, where a strong car suffered a blown engine en route to a last place finish. Jr was 3rd in points before that race, and fell four spots each of the two prior races on the heels of consecutive last place finishes. Today goes to show that it is far easier to lose points quickly than to gain them back.
The other story of the day was the comeback by #24, Jeff Gordon, who fell almost 4 laps off the pace in the first 15 laps, and through three lucky dog passes (and the rest of the field cooperating by staying on the lead lap) was able to get back on the lead lap, and finish a respectable 16th, far better than the 40th place he looked doomed to finish.
Friday, August 04, 2006
PSU gets no respect in preseason coaches poll
Penn State finished last season ranked #3 in all polls, with an 11-1 record and a big ten conference championship.
Today saw the 2006 preseason coaches poll being released, with PSU being dropped to #19, with 406 points. #18 Clemson (8-4 last year) has 493 points, while #20 Oregon (10-2 last year) has 373 points. Reportedly there are 63 voters, with a 1st place vote being worth 25 points, and a 25th place vote being worth 1 point. In that scale, the average vote for PSU is somewhere between 19 and 20.
CBS's poll page: http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/coaches
ESPN's story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2539278
We know PSU has a tradition of being panned in the preseason polls, and having to earn their way up the ladder. This is a good thing, makes the kids work harder, and not get complacent.
It should be noted that the preseason polls are often meaningless - 6 teams received 1st place votes, while 27 teams are among the "others receiving votes", including four of which averaged better than a 25th place vote.
Today saw the 2006 preseason coaches poll being released, with PSU being dropped to #19, with 406 points. #18 Clemson (8-4 last year) has 493 points, while #20 Oregon (10-2 last year) has 373 points. Reportedly there are 63 voters, with a 1st place vote being worth 25 points, and a 25th place vote being worth 1 point. In that scale, the average vote for PSU is somewhere between 19 and 20.
CBS's poll page: http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/coaches
ESPN's story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2539278
We know PSU has a tradition of being panned in the preseason polls, and having to earn their way up the ladder. This is a good thing, makes the kids work harder, and not get complacent.
It should be noted that the preseason polls are often meaningless - 6 teams received 1st place votes, while 27 teams are among the "others receiving votes", including four of which averaged better than a 25th place vote.
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