•At least one of the six umpires was actually paying attention, but bad calls wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Cliff Lee was nigh unhittable, and Philadelphia takes the opener.

•Had your fill of high-and-mighty Pennsylvanians yet? Sidney Crosby had a hat trick by the second intermission, and the Penguins have the best record in the east. But don't expect to hear about it from the fans; they can't hop on while their Steelers bandwagon is still moving.

•The Chiefs suspend Larry Johnson for two weeks, which is really just one game and the bye week. Normally teams are loathe to lose the production from their star, but I'm not sure they'll notice his 2.7 yards per carry when it's missing.

•Maybe it's foolish to panic after two games, but...maybe LeBron should start panicking after two games. His triple-double goes for naught as Toronto sends the Cavs to their first 0-2 start since his second season.

•Orlando Thomas: not dead! Which is good. He's still battling ALS though, which isn't good.

•The Buccaneers name first round pick Josh Freeman their starter, because what's the point of benching your talented young QB when you're not winning anyway? Apparently the Titans also have a young rookie they should be starting, one Vince Young. Haven't heard much about him.

•Finally, it's been making the rounds all day: the behind-the-back touchdown pass.

Remember back in April when A-Rod's entire career was in danger of becoming the punch line to a terrible joke about steroids? People were wondering if any of his 500+ home runs could be considered legitimate. Now he's the new Mr. October. Seriously, everyone is saying it now. Every. One.

In five playoff games, he has 3 game-tying home runs in the 7th inning or later. He leads his team in hits, batting average, home runs, RBI and smiles. He might be more fertile than ever. Even a New York tabloid is forced to admit that Alex is the man this year. He's a dream teammate. Mr. Clutch. Dare I say it ... a true Yankee?

As usual, winning cures everything. Even bacne. (Oh, good. The bad jokes are still available.)

Alex Rodriguez is the main reason why New York Yankees are up 2-0 in ALCS [New York Daily News]
A-Rod morphing into new Mr. October? [Yahoo! Sports]
A-Rod has become 'Mr. October' [AP]
[Photo: AP]

* * * * *

Here are some other big winners, who did not win quite as big:

The New Orleans Saints: Seven touchdowns to seven different players against a "real" defense, should pretty much make them the team to beat (for now.) Plus, Drew Brees has enough grit to fix a dozen levees. [USA Today]

Tom Brady: Six touchdowns. That's a lot, right? [Boston Herald]

Cliff Lee: Good thing for Philly that the Roy Halladay trade never worked out. [Philly Daily News]

Alabama Football: Not that it matters until they face each other, but Florida's pathetic showing against Arkansas means the Tide are now ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. (Gators are still No. 1 in the BCS, however.) You know, if all you watched were Alabama games the SEC wouldn't look so tough. [Crimson White]

Brett Favre: I know. I know.... [Baltimore Sun]

And new this week ... the Weekend Loser: A lot of good candidates, but I'm going to say the Tennessee Titans, for their pillow-soft effort against New England. I know it was snowy and all, but at least pretend like you give a shit. Maybe those Houston Oiler throwbacks are just making them feel guilty?

Column: This is the worst Titans team ever [The Tennessean]

Lee (5-0) ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 27 before Wladimir Balentien's three-run homer in the seventh. That raised his ERA from 0.28 to 0.96, still lowest in the majors. Franklin Gutierrez had a run-scoring single in the fourth and a two-run single in the fifth for the Indians, still two games below .500 in the Central.

• At Wrigley Field (15th Place). Mark Cuban watched the Cubs exceed Brandon Bass' playoff scoring average as Chicago unleashed hell on the Brewers, 19-5. It was the Cubs' 17th April win, a club record. Geovany Soto had two three-run homers for Chicago.

• At Yankee Stadium (20th Place). Placido Polanco — one of the Three Tenors, if I'm not mistaken — had two homers to lead the Tigers to a 6-2 win over the reeling Yankees, who played their first game with Alex Rodriguez on the disabled list. Gary Sheffield had two hits for Detroit, which has won seven of nine but is still below .500 (13-15).

• At Shea Stadium (28th Place). Tom Gorzelanny allowed one hit over five innings for the win, then sent his bobblehead doll to talk with reporters after the game as the Pirates beat the Mets 13-1. Pittsburgh scored nine unearned runs, and ex-Met Xavier Nady was 3-for-3 with three RBI.

• Bad News Braves. Mike Hampton, who was supposed by be back for a May 10 start with Atlanta, won't be coming back any time soon. And the Braves need him, dammit.