Weekend Wake Up: Lee Rocked, Zito’s Gem, Cassel Hurt, Tiger’s Charge, Rancid Raiders
No Leeway. Proving he is not, in fact, the reincarnation of Walter Johnson, Cliff Lee finally faltered in the NL on Saturday, giving up six earned runs over five innings in a 9-1 loss to the Braves. Proving he has not fully fossilized, Garret Anderson hit the first of the Braves’ four homers.↵↵Zito Pops Rocks. Barry Zito’s vicious curveball handcuffed the Rockies. Pablo Sandoval deposited a dinger in McCovey Cove. And the Giants’ bullpen recovered after late shakiness. Add it all up and you get a 5-3 Giants win, one that slices the Rockies’ wild card lead to a single game. Matt Cain will try to secure both a sweep and a wild card tie today.↵
↵↵Chief Concern. Matt Cassel went down with an apparent leg injury in the Chiefs’ preseason tilt with the Seahawks last night. X-rays, though, were negative. More at The Trenches, including prominent discussion of Tyler Thigpen. Chiefs fans, be afraid.↵
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↵Another Stripe? After a painfully average first two rounds, Tiger Woods found a gear at The Barclays, cranked out a four-under 67, and moved to within five shots of leaders Steve Marino and Paul Goydos. The six players ahead of him have one combined win this year, and Tiger's got a five-shot Sunday comeback at Bay Hill in his 2009 scrapbook. That would suggest the man in red may make some noise today, perhaps even reminding viewers that the FedEx Cup exists.↵
↵↵Entombed Raiders. Losing a preseason game 45-7 in a vacuum would be bad enough, but JaMarcus Russell felt the Raiders’ loss was more than that. “It was very embarrassing today. It was disrespectful to our fans, ourselves and our family to go out and perform that way,” he said. Come on, JaMarcus: You have to try to lose by that margin in the preseason.↵
↵↵In other news, Raiders players apparently respected themselves before yesterday.↵
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