Wizzards Lose Arenas

The AP is reporting that Washington Wizzards franchise point guard Gilbert Arenas will be out at least until December following surgery to his left knee Thursday. The procedure to remove what is being called "loose debris" is the third surgery that Arenas has had in the past 17 months.

This is bad news for a Wizzards team not known for its depth. The team in July signed the seven year pro to a six year $111 million deal.

Rays Prove Themselves Yet Again

Once again the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox had a series showdown in which first place was up for grabs and once again it was the Rays, not the defending champs, who came out on top.

Tampa scored ten runs, six of which came of Boston starter Tim Wakefield during his 2.1 innings of work, en route to a 10-3 victory and two game strong hold on the AL East. Willy Aybar, Fernando Perez, and Gabe Gross all homered in a winning effort for the Rays who now have 90 wins on the season.

The win makes Tampa Bay just the sixth team in Major League Baseball history to win 90 games in a season after having ten consecutive prior losing seasons.

David Ortiz homered twice for the Red Sox who have now lost four of their last five against the division leading Rays.

The two teams will not face each other again in the regular season, but both appear to be locks to make the playoffs at this point setting up a potential match-up in the ALCS. Tampa won the season series 10-8.

QB Shuffle

A pair of NFL teams announced today that they will be changing quarterbacks on Sunday.

The Minnesota Vikings have elected to go with 15 year veteran Gus Frerotte for their Sunday matchup with the Carolina Panthers. Frerotte will be replacing Tavaris Jackson who had started both games so far this season. Jackson had been the Vikings starter most of last season, nearly leading the Vikings to a playoff berth. Viking's coach Brad Childress had the following to say in regards to the move:

"I'm just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games that he played in. And part of it may be experience. I know Gus will give us that. And I know his approach will also lend itself to that."

Elsewhere in the NFL the Kansas City Chiefs announced that Tyler Thigpen will get the start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Thigpen will be the Chiefs third different quarterback in three games this season; Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard were the other two. The start will be the first of his career for the second year pro out of Coastal Carolina.

"For what we're trying to do, I think he can do a good job of it," coach Herm Edwards said. "He'll be limited in some things but we want to take a look at him. We're trying to look at young players, it's part of the process. Is he a two? Is he a one? Is he always going to be a three? You don't know until they play, until they have an opportunity to play."