Were you ready for some soccer? I’m not sure I have been. The Eagles’ Donovan McNabb completed all three of his passes (29 yards) while leading Philadelphia on a 61-yard scoring drive on the team’s first (and McNabb’s only) possession of the game. After that, the Eagles’ only score came on a Hall of Fame record 55-yard field goal by David Akers.

My free game for Monday is at Cin Reds over StL Cards at 7:10 ET. Following a 3-1 weekend in MLB, I open the new week with a Technical Insider (backed by two 73% winning trends) plus a rematch of the 15* ALCS on the Angels /White Sox on ESPN.

The entire backup team contributed, as quarterbacks Garcia and Chang each threw an interception, and Detmer lost a fumble. RB Bruce Perry lost two fumbles, giving Philly five turnovers in the game. The Raiders were slightly better, losing just two turnovers and missing the snap on a short field goal attempt. Speaking of FG, Janikowski kicked two long kicks for the Raiders, from 50 and 51 yards. Oh yeah, the final was Oakland 16-10 over Philadelphia.

USA Today released the preseason coaches’ poll last Friday and Ohio State will open the 2006 season as the No. 1 team in the nation. However, unlike last year when USC got all but two of the first-place votes, the top six teams received at least one first-place vote, the most since 2001 when nine schools got at least one vote. Ohio State earned 28 No. 1 votes and defending champion Texas will open as the No. 2 team in the nation, with 11 first-place votes.

Notre Dame (nine votes) and USC (one) finished tied for third, and Oklahoma finished fifth. The Sooners actually received the second-most first-place votes (13) of any team, but of course the poll was conducted before the suspension of the team’s starting quarterback Rhett Bomar. Of interest is the wide discrepancy in opinion on the Sooners this year, as they garnered votes from No. 1 to No. 22. Auburn, which opens at No. 6, was the only other school to receive a node in the first place.

The SEC claimed the most teams in the top 25 with six, while the ACC, Big-10, and Big-12 claimed four spots. The Pac-10 had three, the Big East two, MWC had one (TCU), and of course No. 3 Notre Dame plays by its own rules (one might consider the Irish as independents or members of the Conference! -NBC!). By the way, the last time ND was ranked this high in preseason was 1992 (it opened unranked last year).

No. 23 Tennessee, which finished 5-6 last year, is the only ranked team to have a losing record in 2005. No. 15 Michigan and No. 17 Iowa went 7-5 last year and join the Vols as the only schools in this year’s preseason poll not to have been ranked in the 2005 final coaches’ poll. Teams that finished last year in the top 25 finals but were not in the first poll this year include UCLA (which finished 13th last year), Wisconsin (15) and Boston College (17).

MLB ratings

Go imagine the Dodgers! They opened the second half of MLB losing 13 of 14 games after the break. During that streak, they were outscored 81-29 with a team batting average of .222 and a team ERA of 5.41. So who is the hottest team in MLB at the start of the new week? The Dodgers, of course. They’ve rebounded to win nine straight games entering Monday’s game, outscoring their opponents 65-23 while hitting .310 and posting a 2.55 team ERA!

Elias reports that the Dodgers have now won nine straight, a streak that began after losing eight in a row. They are the sixth team in Major League history to lose at least eight consecutive games and immediately follow with a winning streak of at least eight games. The others: the 1931 Cubs, 1949 Red Sox, 1965 Pirates, 1985 Twins and 2001 Cubs.

The Dodgers starting pitcher has earned a win in each of the team’s last six games with all six games coming on the road. In the past 10 years, only one major league team has had a longer such streak. Seattle won eight straight games, all on the road, with a starting pitcher getting the win each time in 2003.

The Cardinals rode a seven-game losing streak in weekend action, but after losing to the Brewers 4-3 on Friday, they won both Saturday and Sunday. The team’s eight-game losing streak was their second eight-game losing streak of the season and that hadn’t happened since 1983! The Blue Jays ended their seven-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over the White Sox on Sunday.

Of note in that game was the losing pitcher, José Contreras. It’s Contreras’ fourth loss since July 14, the day he ended his 17-game winning streak, tying for the most by any pitcher in the majors during that span. The longest active losing streak in MLB, now that St Louis and Toronto have won, currently belongs to the Royals (four games). I guess that’s fitting, since KC also owns the worst overall record in the MLB, at 38-73.

Monday’s MLB schedule features a relatively light nine-game card, including the Angels and White Sox who form a rainout from May 11 at 7:05 ET tonight in Chicago on ESPN. Of course, these teams met in last year’s ALCS with the White Sox winning four straight games (all complete games) after the Angels opened with a 3-2 victory in Game 1.

It’s hard to believe they’ll be a complete game tonight, either starting pitcher. The Angels send Kelvim Escobar to the mound and he is 1-9 with a 6.21 ERA in his career against the White Sox in 18 appearances. That includes going 0-7 in nine starts with a 5.64 ERA. As for Chicago’s Mark Buehrle, the one-time staff ace is 0-5 with a 9.92 ERA in his last six outings!

Speaking of rematches, the Twins open a three-game series tonight in Detroit vs. the Tigers. Detroit was able to win two of three in Minnesota from July 28-30 and has now won nine of the 12 meetings this year between the two teams. Tonight’s pitching matchup features two rookies, the Twins’ Francisco Liriano (12-2, 1.96) and the Tigers’ Zack Miner (6-2, 4.03). These guys hooked up on July 28, in a game the Tigers won 3-2 (10 innings).

Liriano allowed just three hits and two runs in that game over eight innings (12 Ks), while Miner allowed four hits and two runs over six innings. Liriano hasn’t thrown since (left forearm?) and it will be interesting how he does. As for Miner, the Tigers are 8-3 in his 11 starts this year, but his last win came on July 16 and in his last four starts he has a 7.36 ERA.

Ness Notes is available Monday through Friday at 1:00 ET.