Moral victories are for losers

"Almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but this time "almost" feels a little bit different. It feels like the 2008 Huskers could actually get one of those "signature wins" that everyone talks about. The disappointing thing to me is that they had Tech right where they wanted them and they couldn't quite close the deal. It was encouraging and heartbreaking at the same time.

Here are my thoughts...

Positives:

• Encouraging to me that Shawn Watson ran the ball with both Marlon Lucky and Roy Helu - and he stuck with it! Sure it was barely over 100 yards, but it was effective for only the second time this year (NM State).
• I thought that Lucky played an excellent game in all facets. He ran well between the tackles, was patient, caught the ball well (as usual) and picked up a number of blitzing 'backers.
• Encouraging also that NU actually stopped Tech twice and controlled the time of possession by better than 2-to-1.
• Watson had a great game plan that put NU in position to win the game.
• Even better effort in OT on the blocked FG. I really thought they'd win it after that!
• Joe Ganz threw the ball away well all game long, and I think he was trying to throw that last one away in OT but was hit at the same time and the ball got away from him.

Negatives

• Discouraging to me that NU is still making the stupid mental errors (false starts and personal fouls) that are costing them games.
• I'm not sure what's up with Ndamukong Suh, but he needs to cut out the damned personal fouls. This is now two games he's potentially cost us with that crap! First Va. Tech and now T. Tech. He draws the personal foul and then is standing on the sideline when they score because Pelini pulls him after the penalty. Shukree Barfield came in and got driven off the ball like he was a high school freshman. He was on his back in the end zone six freaking yards from the line of scrimmage!
• What the hell was Armando Murillo doing on that 4th and 4 when Michael Crabtree went deep? How do you let a guy who was a Heisman finalist as a freshman get behind you that far!?! The worst part about that play to me - the post game interview on FSN with Graham Harrell where he said that the center wasn't even supposed to snap the ball but didn't get the memo evidently. They were just going to try and draw NU off and then punt.

It was a sad loss, but NU competed with and really handed it to the #7 (probably #4 or 5 next week) team in the country on their own field. They should have won the game.

Game balls from me go to Joe Ganz, Todd Peterson, Mike McNeill, Meno Holt, Niles Paul, Matt Holt, Larry Asante and Ty Steinkuhler.

How about Matt Holt stepping in as a true freshmen (a walk-on no less!) when Cody Glenn and Phil Dillard are both hurt and having 8 tackles (7 solo)? NU might have found a true "diamond in the rough".

Aside from his stupid personal foul, I thought Suh played very well in the middle against that huge OL of Tech's.

Jacob Hickman certainly redeemed himself after a poor performance against Missouri also.

All in all, I'll take it but I'm disappointed that they lost. The game was theirs for the taking and they blew it when it counted the most. As the title says, moral victories are for losers and the bottom line is that NU is now 3-3 when they could very well be 5-1 with some better play between the ears.

Virginia Tech thoughts...

I will preface this by saying that I haven't watched the film yet. I'm burning the DVD as I type and will watch it later today/tonight.



That said, I thought that the effort was good Saturday night but the execution and (especially) the play-calling on offense left a LOT to be desired. I'm of the opinion right now that the game was over early on when Roy Helu ran for 4 yards on first down, 4 yards on second down and then Watson threw a pass on 3rd and 2!!?? Ganz misfired and we had to punt - it was blocked for a safety and the ball was rolling downhill for the wrong team.



Larry Asante played poorly.



Joe Ganz played poorly.



The offensive line - especially Mike Huff and Mike Smith - played poorly.



The WR weren't able to get open much, but that was expected given Va Tech's corners.



Macho Harris is VERY, VERY good and will be a star on Sundays.



Tyrod Taylor's athleticism was not on display for the most part, but then when you're running for 7 and 8 yards a pop between the tackles there's no reason to take a chance getting your QB hurt. Taylor did miss on a couple of throws that helped NU hold the Hokies to FG where they could have had TDs.



In all, the team played hard and played to the final gun. That's something that I'm not sure we saw last year, so that's encouraging.


For those who say that Suh and Bo lost the game on the late hit and then personal foul late, I disagree. I believe it was lost because Watson chose not to run the ball on that 3rd and 2 way back in the first quarter.



Thoughts?

Is it time for Price?

It's mid-September and the Tampa Bay Rays are still in first place. They've overcome injuries this year to Aki Iwamura, Carlos Pena, Troy Percival (3 times), Dioner Navarro, Jason Bartlett and (most recently) Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and B.J. Upton to maintain a 2.5 game lead heading into this weekend's three-game series in the Bronx with the dreaded (and nearly eliminated!) NY Yankees.

Guys like Gabe Gross, (former HUSKER) Dan Johnson, Ben Zobrist and Willy Aybar have stepped up and helped this team to victories at different points this year. It's been a magical year in the Tampa Bay area - not that "fans" there would know since they seem insistent on staying home from the Trop (but that's a different rant for a different day).

That's right folks, the Rays have a magic number of 16 to clinch the division.


In today's St. Pete Times, columnist John Romano calls for manager Joe Maddon to change the role of closer Percival. I've fought this idea personally because Percy is the only guy in that bullpen with significant closing experience in September and October. He's been to (and won) a World Series with the Angels while guys like Grant Balfour (with his 97-MPH heater and mound-mumbling) and Dan Wheeler (with his 89-MPH "warmer" and being Maddon's son-in-law) have not been in the same type of pressure-cooker as Percival.

I love Wheels and Balfour in setup situations - just as I do J.P. Howell, Trever Miller (this year) and the rest of that 'pen. But face it fans - Percy is the only guy qualified to close right now.

Now I know that I just bemoaned the lack of experience of Wheeler and Balfour as a reason to keep them as setup guys, but I have a different idea for someone to replace Percival. Why don't the Rays pull a page from the Yankees playbook and give David Price a shot? New York did that with (former HUSKER) Joba Chamberlain and it seems to have worked out pretty well for them. It didn't hinder Chamberlain's ability to transition to being a starter this year.

Give Price a shot for a couple of games and see what he can do? Try him in the 7th or 8th innings and watch him blow away a few hitters and then tell me that he isn't the man for the job. I vividly recall his first appearance this past March during Spring Training at Legends Field in Tampa against these very Yankees. He blew away three straight after hitting one batter.

There's a reason that he was the No. 1 pick in the draft and moved from A to AA to AAA this year (and dominated at each level). He's SPECIAL!

I know all of the arguments about clubhouse cameraderie and upsetting the "mojo" of a team already in first place and with a legitimate shot at the best record in the majors, but Price has that "it" factor and could be the guy to get the Rays over the hump and into their first post-season. Why not give it a try? It can't be any worse than watching Percival struggle through another 9th. When was the last time Percy went through an inning without at least bringing the tying run to the plate? My heart can't take it anymore! Try Price!

It just keeps getting worse...

Now Evan Longoria is on the 15-day DL with a fracture in his wrist. What was thought to be just a bruise that would have had him back in the lineup today has turned into a 15-day trip. Longoria will be eligible to come off the DL August 23.

It's looking more and more likely that Carl Crawford is done for 2008.

What does this mean for the Rays?

They play 3 @ Oakland and 3 @ Texas before returning home for 3 with the ML-leading Angels. Then they get a day off before heading to Chicago for the Central-leading White Sox.

Longoria will be eligible to come off the DL at the end of that Chicago series. Hopefully he's able to play by then.

To finish August they get 6 games at home against Toronto and Baltimore and then we hit crunch time in September. Aside from a 4-game visit from Minnesota and a 4-game trip to Detroit to end the season, all of their games in September will be intra-divisional games. They have 6 each (3 home and 3 away) with both the Yankees and Red Sox. Those 12 games will likely decide the division and who gets to play in October.

It's time for players like Akinori Iwamura, B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena to step up and play like we know they can. Aki and Pena have been showing signs of breaking out over the last two or three weeks. The batting averages of both have been steadily climbing, and Pena's driving in runs again.

Pitching and defense has carried them all year. It will need to continue to be that way. They need Scott Kazmir to recapture his form from April and May and Shields, Jackson, Garza and Sonnanstine to continue pitching as they have been. The bullpen needs to keep it up - Wheeler, Balfour, Howell and even Trever Miller to continue pitching well. And they need Troy Percival to time-warp back to 2001 and start blowing hitters away.

They need Jason Bartlett back at shortstop - they're infinitely better up the middle with him in there.

Their best player this year has been Longoria.

Their best player in club history has been Crawford.

Missing them both at the most important time in club history... either it's disaster, or they step up and finish what's been the best story in baseball this summer.

Updating Crawford

Updating Carl Crawford's situation. Rays' trainer Ron Porterfield extrapolated a bit on what was said before Sunday's game.

From the TampaBay.com Rays blog "The Heater":

The Rays are officially calling Crawford's injury "right middle finger tendon subluxation'' and head athletic trainer Ron Porterfield said to was too early to predict how much beyond the 15-day DL period Crawford will be out until he sees team hand specialist Dr. Doug Carlan today in St. Petersburg. "I wouldn't even put a timeframe on it right now until our doctor sees him,'' Porterfield said.

Crawford, who was to fly back to Tampa Sunday afternoon, said he was hurt on his final at-bat Saturday, checking his swing on a 3-1 pitch before a 10th-inning walk.

"I felt my hand pop," Crawford said."I don't really know yet (what's wrong) I just know it's real sore. ... I felt it last night and I thought it was something I could just shake off, but when I got to the outfield and tried to play catch and I knew it was worse.''

Porterfield said Crawford told him after playing the field it "felt like a rubberband snap" and that his "finger locks."

The problem, Porterfield said, is that the tendon that runs the length of the finger is "out of the groove" and slides over to the side of the third and largest knuckle, which is a sign of damage to the tissue that holds it in place. "More than likely he's disrupted that,'' Porterfield said, "so it's not holding that tendon in the proper grove." Crawford is "point tender" on the spot. The finger can be manipulated back into place and it feels fine, but as soon as it is flexed the problem reoccurs.

Porterfield stressed that there was no way to predict how long Crawford will be out until further diagnosis, but said in general the problem could be fixed by putting the finger in a split and resting it, or it could have to be repaired surgically, with the tissue reconstructed."

At this point in time, with our situation, we're going to do whatever we can to get him back on the field as soon as possible,'' Porterfield said. "So whether that's splinting it and trying to let it heal or whether it's intervention at some point in time, I wouldn't even be able to tell you until he sees that specialist.''

Since the injury on his non-throwing hand, the bigger concern is Crawford's ability to grip and swing the bat.

Crawford's absence would be a significant blow to the Rays' hopes to make the postseason for the first time as he is is one of their top overall players, hitting .273 with 8 homers and 57 RBIs and leading the team with 69 runs.

"Carl's been one of our best clutch hitters recently, specifically, and obviously everything else that he brings, his defense in the outfield, his speed on the bases, his veteranship, all that stuff's going to be missed,'' manager Joe Maddon said.

Doesn't sound very promising, does it?