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Red Sox vs. A's:
Red Sox rallied Thursday for 2-2 split in heavyweight
series. Boston's August remainder is brutal, but September
should be breezy.
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The Lead Item
Two Words For You:
VALUABLE. MATCHUPS.
Forget "Freddy vs. Jason:" The week's
end is loaded with much bigger battles, like "Albert
vs. Barry."
With Pujols' hit streak at 28 (and counting) and
Bonds going on the bereavement list, let's take
stock of the tight NL MVP race. Bonds is better, but
here are three external factors that will help AP:
* Hit-streak pub: Highly overrated (i.e., a
162-game hit streak, going 1-for-4 every game, nets
you all of a .250 average), but it's a natural
sound-bite bullet-point for Pujols' MVP platform.
* Scoreboard watching: With the Cards in a NL
Central menage a trois, Pujols' team will be at
the top of every highlight show; Bonds is actually
hamstrung by leading his team to a ho-hum division
runaway.
* "Bonds fatigue": BB could win the MVP
every year (and pretty much has), leading
voters to think, "Sure, Barry's awesome, but let's
give someone else a turn."
Lefty vs. Destiny
There's already an unfair volume of
Mickelson-haters out there (saying that as a fan),
but his strong first-day showing at the PGA
Championship must be discounted until an actual
got-to-see-it-to-believe-it first-place finish on
Sunday. Any Rodney Pampling can have a good
opening round (except, apparently, Tiger Woods).
'Stros vs. Cards vs. Cubs
NL Central Standings, 8/15/03:
Team W L GB
Houston 64 57 --
St. Louis 64 57 --
Chicago 63 57 .5
'Nuff said.
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SIGN IT'S NFL PRESEASON: SATURDAY FOOTBALL FIX |
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| THE SET-UP: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
1 NFL: Full slate of games. Bills at Titans on Sat night
2 MLB big series: Cards at Phillies; Red Sox at Mariners
3 X Games: Must-see to stay hip with the kids |
| THE SIT-DOWN: DROP THESE FROM YOUR HOT LIST |
1 Dissing Ken Dorsey: Got job done leading 49ers past Oak
2 Ben Curtis: British Open champ loses touch in PGA Rd. 1
3 Power: Sure, A/C is nice, but NYers made best of outage |
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Vick vs. Lewis
The NFL's best players on either side of
the ball may only be on the field together this
weekend for a few snaps, but don't think "preseason"
will keep Ray Lewis from giving Mike Vick a "Week
12"-style lick.
Skate vs. Surf
Most popular event of the X Games? The
newest: surfing, and not just because it's
ultra-trendy. It's arguably the most visually stunning
sport anywhere -- and that's just the participants.
(This matchup is more accurately labeled: Baggy
shorts vs. Bikinis. No contest.)
Freddy vs. World
14-year-old U.S. soccer prodigy Freddy
Adu's hat trick Thursday at the Under-17 World
Championships underscores this: Like no other U.S.
athlete,
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Adu carries the entire weight of his sport's
future. He can single-handedly lead soccer to "major"
status in the U.S., but not for three years -- when
17-year-old Freddy delivers the U.S. a World Cup title
in 2006.
AI vs. Kobe
Want a template for talking your way out of
Kobe Bryant jury duty? "... You can go get Allen
Iverson because Allen Iverson's had brushes with the
law before. But to go get Kobe Bryant -- the squeaky
clean human being -- it's got to be something." --
Allen Iverson, SportsCenter Sunday
Conversation.
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Rich Beem:
PGA Championship's 2002 Cinderella won't be repeating.
He opened with a brutal 12-over 82. (But, hey, he
still has one more major than Phil.)
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Today on ESPN.com
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| P2: Sports Guy mailbag |
| Golf: PGA Championship |
| NFL: Training Camp |
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| "Weekend Flick" Edition |  Open Range
| Tiger struggles, PGA up for grabs
|  Freddy vs. Jason
| Try "Adu vs. World"
|  Grind
| Red Sox playing hellish August
|  SWAT
| More tuneup for US hoops
|  Uptown Girls
| | ... Like candlelight dinners |
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If you think the Browns QB snafu is over when Butch
Davis names a starter this weekend, better book time on your shrink's Couch ...
Big Ten to test instant replay (meaning less chance
for Ohio State "lucky break") ...
Even bigger? B10 removing home-team pep band from
behind visiting bench at hoops games ...
Braves' Russ "Right Place, Right Time" Ortiz first MLB
pitcher to 17 wins ...
Tigers awarded MLB's 2005 All-Star Game. Ironically,
team on track to have no representation ...
A clever jokester put Yankees pitcher Jeff Weaver up for sale on Ebay. The Yankees could only wish ...
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