I think Carson Palmer is healthy! Playing in his first game since his knee injury in last season’s playoffs, Palmer threw three touchdown passes (9-of-14 for 140 yards) Monday as the Bengals beat the Packers 48-17. He is the first player to throw for three touchdowns in a preseason game this year, as the Bengals advanced to 3-0 for the first time in a preseason game since 1976. The win also guarantees the team its first winning preseason since 1988.

My free play for Tuesday is with the NY Yankees over the Det Tigers at 7:05 ET. My 9-0 win over the A’s last night (MLB Las Vegas Insiders is now 9-1 since Aug. 5!) increases my streak in all sports to 20-6 since Aug. 18. I look forward to continuing my 10-2 MLB record since Aug. 21 tonight, with two blockbuster 15* plays. My underdog of the month and a rare “Road Warrior” play. Get them BOTH, right now!

The Bengals ended a 14-year playoff drought last season by going 11-5 and winning the AFC North. However, they lost their wild card game at home to the Steelers 31-17, in a game in which Palmer was injured on his first pass attempt of the contest. Last night’s game rounded out the Week 3 action as the home teams finished 11-5 SU and 10-6 ATS. They are 30-18 SU over three weeks with ATS records of 26-21-1.

The Bengals’ 48-point effort surpassed their 44-point effort in Week 2 (they beat the Bills in Buffalo, 44-31), for the most points scored by any team this preseason. The Patriots, in their 41-0 shutout of the Redskins on Saturday night, are the only other team this year to reach the 40-point mark. New England’s 41-point victory marked the largest preseason margin of victory by any NFL team since the Seahawks defeated the Colts 45-3 in 1997 (before Peyton).

Only one team scored as many as 30 points in Week 1 (the Jags in their 31-26 win in Miami), seven teams scored at least 30 in Week 2, and in Week 3 four teams scored at least 30 points. Adding in the HOF game, there have been 21 overs and 28 unders so far. Five teams remain undefeated, with the Raiders leading the game at 4-0. All five teams have also combined to go 16-0 ATS. Four teams remain without a win, with a combined ATS of 1-11.

Those numbers make sense, as in 49 preseason games this year, 45 of SU’s 49 winners have also been ATS winners in their games. Week 4 begins with 12 games on Thursday, August 31, and concludes with four games on Friday, September 1. The 2006 NFL regular season begins on Thursday, September 7, when the Steelers host the Dolphins at 8:30 ET on NBC.

MLB ratings

The Marlins extended MLB’s longest active winning streak to eight straight games by beating the Brewers 4-2 last night. Florida rebounded from an 11-31 start to finish 53-35 (the Marlins also opened 2-13 at home, but have since gone 33-17) and are now just two games away. for the Reds in the NL wild card race. The National League wild card race will drag on into the closing days of the season, as six teams are currently within 2 1/2 games of the lead.

The longest active losing streak in MLB is just four games, a mark held by five teams. The Red Sox are one of those teams with four straight losses, the third time this month the team has gone on a losing streak of at least four games. Boston has lost 12 of 15 and its 8-19 mark in August is the worst in ML. Speaking of losing streaks, the Mariners ended one of epic proportions last night.
Felix Hernandez pitched a five-hitter for his first career shutout, leading Seattle over the Los Angeles Angels 2-0 and ending the Mariners’ 20-game losing streak against the AL West. Seattle’s losing streak was the longest against division rivals since Major League Baseball split into divisions in 1969. It matched the 1969 Montreal Expos’ streak against the National League West for longest losing streak against teams of any division.

Seattle’s previous victory against an American League West team came on June 11, when it completed a three-game sweep of the Angels. Monday’s game took just 1 hour, 51 minutes, the fastest in the history of Safeco Field, which opened in July 1999 and was Seattle’s fifth straight win, tying a season high. Another noteworthy game last night was Oakland’s 9-0 win over the Red Sox.

Esteban Loaiza pitched seven shutout innings against the Red Sox, allowing just one earned run in 30.2 innings over his last four starts, for a 0.29 ERA. No other pitcher has allowed just one earned run in 30 innings in four starts this season. Four pitchers did it last year: Jae Seo, Chris Carpenter, Mark Buehrle and Kenny Rogers.

Loaiza’s career may recall something of Cory Lidle’s season for the A’s in 2002. Loaiza posted a 6.41 ERA in 87 innings before his hot streak began. Lidle had a 5.15 ERA in 113.2 innings in 2002, then didn’t allow an earned run in 38 innings over his next five starts, and just one earned run in 45 2/3 innings over his next six starts.

Other than those two A’s pitchers, no one else in the past 30 years has had a streak of four starts with zero or an earned run in at least 30 innings, after posting an ERA over 5.00 in at least 75 innings in the A’s. season the streak began.

It’s another full 15-game MLB schedule tonight, highlighted by the Tigers and Yankees in New York at 7:05 ET in the opener of their three-game series. Detroit (82-49) and New York (77-52) have comfortable leads in their divisions, but the Yankees have managed to move within four games of the Tigers for the best record in the American League. New York has gained ground on Detroit by going 27-16 since the All-Star break, while the Tigers are 23-20.

Nate Robertson (11-10, 4.10) was one of the leaders in the Tigers’ surprising start to the season, going 8-3 with a 3.14 ERA in his first 16 starts. However, he is 3-7 with a 5.50 ERA in his last 10 outings heading into tonight’s game. The Yankees go with Chien-Ming Wang (15-5, 3.81 ERA). Wang has a 4.88 road ERA but is 9-1 at home in 13 starts (Yankees are 11-2) with a 2.66 ERA.

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