9/16: Time for Panic?

Greetings... Leading with the Braves...

• One pitch, one swing... 4-0 Nationals on a grand slam by Justin Maxwell who came into the game hitting .132... yes, you read that right... Mike Minor made one mistake... in his defense, I thought he got hosed out of a strike out against Alberto Gonzalez in the previous AB, but that was it...
  
• 3 games back of Philly with 15 to play, 0.5 game lead in the WC over San Fran... Those are the stakes... 9 game road trip starts Friday, and it's playoff baseball from this point forward... on the bright side? 6 more with Philly to try to make up the division... on the dark side? 9 of the 15 on the road, and 6 of the 15 with Philly, who has 15 of 19 and is playing out of their minds... not to mention 3 more with the Nats who seemingly own the Braves...
  
• If I was a betting man? My money wouldn't be on the Braves, but on the other hand, San Fran isn't scoring runs, and there is a 2.5 game head-start on Colorado... One thing is for sure, the starters ERA of 5.00+ in September has to change, or it's all over... Go 5-4 on the road trip and 4-2 against Philly in those 6 games, and we'll talk
  

Moving on...

• The 2005 Heisman stays vacated... in a random turn of events, a governing body associated with college football made a productive decision, and decided in favor of an absurd "re-vote" of a 5-year-old award...
  
• Why the outrage about Derek Jeter faking like he was hit by that pitch? People do that all the time... if his name wasn't Derek Jeter, this isn't news outside of New York and Tampa....
• Troy Tulowitzki is on another planet right now... 11 HR and 27 RBI in 15 days in September... the only comparable numbers to his in that period of time this late in the season go back to Harmon Killebrew... that should tell you something
• Who else is riveted by the thought of Mike Vick starting at QB somewhere this week? Is it just me?

What to watch for...

• Cincy @ NC State - 7:30 ESPN - If you need a football fix until Saturday...
• WNBA Finals Game 3 - Dream/Storm - 8:00 ESPN2 - I wouldn't put it here except for its the home team and it's the finals with their backs against the wall... Angel McCoughtry ftw...

Weekend College Football preview on the way later today... keep an eye out