Sports Redux: Welcome Back Your First-Place New England Patriots

Hey. If Daisuke Matsuzaka can be the shakiest, scariest 18-3 pitcher in baseball history, why can't the Patriots be the craziest, weakest 5-2 team in football? Maybe being the worst 12-4 team ever is a realistic goal. And why not?

The Patriots, for all their injuries and inconsistencies and foibles, have a share of the AFC lead after surviving the Rams 23-16 at Foxboro yesterday. With (it seems) every running back on the roster out with injuries, the Pats gave the ball to the awesomely named Benjarvus Green-Ellis for their first score. Stephen Gostkowski and St. Louis' Josh Brown traded field goals, and it was 16-16 late into the fourth quarter. A nervous mood settled on the region.

But Matt Cassel (who was 21 for 33, with 2 interceptions, and maybe we're just going to have to accept numbers like that) found Kevin Faulk, who survived the running back plague and hauled down a great catch in the end zone with 3:13 to go. Ballgame. After the game, Coach Bill was effusive in his praise. "Whatever [Faulk] can do to help us win, he'd do -- mop the floors, he'd mop them." Apparently, postgame celebrations are a little muted this year.

The 2008 Rays have lasted longer than anyone in the world ever thought they would, but they may be in their last 24 hours of existence. The Phillies whaled on them 10-2 last night, getting two home runs from Ryan Howard, a home run from pitcher Ricky Joe Blanton*, and solid pitching to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. And when you have Cole Hamels on the mound, and Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria struggling so bad that A-Rod is criticizing their performance in the clutch, well. But we don't want to jinx Philly, so we'll just wish them well and hope for a good game.

Photo by Elise Amendola/Associated Press.
* Ricky Blanton played two games for the '92-93 Bulls. How that name, and not the name of a current World Series hero, got lodged in our brain, would make for an interesting psychological study.