Happy Friday

The Bad The Phillies are toast. I admit that I did not watch many (OK...any) Colorado games this year. They are a good team. In fact, they are a very good team. Their offense top to bottom does not afford many chances for opposing pitchers to rest. As for Charlie Manual's decision to remove Kyle Kendrick with a 3-2 lead and the bases loaded in the fourth inning? I thought Kendrick was pitching well enough to keep him in the game. But if Charlie thought he was ready to implode, then going to the bullpen was the right call. However, bringing in Kyle Lohse was just plain stupid. We're talkin' practice, errrr, we're talkin' playoffs. Charlie took Kendrick out far earlier than he would have in a regular season game. Fine. But that means he should have used his normal bullpen rotation in the same earlier-than-normal fashion. That means J.C. Romero should have bailed on Kendrick in the fourth and then worked the fifth. That means Flash Gordon should have come in and done the 6th and 7th. And that means Brett Myers should have come in and closed the 8th and 9th innings. None of that happened. And that means Charlie screwed up. True, Romero, Flash and Myers don't normally go more than an inning. But for cripes sake, you needed to win that game to have any hope of salvaging the series.

Now, I am not ready to get rid of Charlie because of his pitching decisions. But Our Guy Jayson Stark sounds like he is, based on yesterday's column. In fact, he went so far (so very far) as to compare it to John McNamara leaving Bill Buckner in at first base against the Mets and Grady Little letting Pedro "If you break into my house, I will shoot you!" Martinez pitch to the Yankees.

Wow. Ouch. Yikes. That's not good.

The Good Oklahoma and Texas play tomorrow in the Red River Shootout. After having pistol whipped the 'Horns five straight years, the Sooners have dropped the last two contests. Both teams enter the game coming off of disappointing losses last week. Hard to comprehend that one of these teams will be 0-2 in the conference come dinner time tomorrow night. Prediction?

I will simply say Oklahoma will not cover as 11 point favorites.

Steve Spurrier Good to have the Head Ball Coach back on top. You just know that as he enjoyed Happy Hour(s) this week, he was laughing at the notion that Kentucky --Kentucky!-- was being viewed by some as the team to beat in the SEC. (Not so surprising) Result? South Carolina 38 UK 23.

It's all about The Links
Peter Vecesy on the Isiah Thomas situation.
Stephon Marbury has found God.
Sounds like Andy Reid isn't going anywhere soon.
College football = Upset City.
Casual Friday = No e-mail Friday?
Chris Fowler's Friday column (psst...he likes OU over UT).