And So The Journey Begins…
This is the start of something good…I hope
Welcome to the first ever Sports Note. Thanks for stopping by. I have no idea if this will work but I thought; why not give it a shot? I’ve got the time and I’ve got the interest. Will I be able to pump out 1,500+ words every weekday night? We’ll see I guess. This is long in part because we’re coming off an event filled weekend; they won’t all be this long (I hope). Anyway I hope you like it. For more information check the About and FAQ pages to your right. I’m pumped, hope you are too.
Now that that’s done with, let’s get started. Two huge Game 7’s tonight as first the Mavericks play at the Spurs at 8 pm ET, followed by the Clippers at the Suns at 10:30 pm ET (both games are on TNT). Both these games should be about a thousand times more exciting as the Piston/Cavs Game 7 from yesterday (see below for more details). Both these games have the potential to be classics as all four teams play basketball the way it should be played.
In four of the six games in the Clippers/Suns series both teams have scored over 100 points. In a fifth game the Clippers scored 122 on the way to winning by 25. This is basketball people want to see, teams running the ball up the court, moving the ball around to get quality looks and, most importantly, making those shots. The style of play made popular in the mid-90’s by the Knicks and Heat might be successful but as a fan it is absolutely brutal to watch. That’s what makes this series so much fun. Watching Steve Nash or Shaun Livingston run the break (he’s leading the Clippers in assists in the series), Sam Cassell pretend to hold his giant testicles, Shawn Marion do everything well, Elton Brand dominating inside. This is what basketball should be. Who cares about defense? I want points, I want triple doubles, I want players launching threes with 20 seconds left on the shot clock. I want Clippers/Suns basketball. Adding to the fun, only tangentially related, is that NBA.com used the series to bring us this “Five Things You Didn’t Know About Amare Stoudemire†page. Check out the grammar in items two and five. Good times.
The Spurs/Mavs match up is almost as compelling as the Suns/Clippers. Can the defending champion Spurs comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to put away the Mavs on the Spurs’ home court? Can the new Mavs (who actually play defense), led by their small in stature, high pitch head coach Avery Johnson, knockoff the Spurs? So many questions. No matter who wins you know Mark Cuban is going to have a sick blog post about the outcome. Dirk Nowitzki is simply unstoppable and Devin Harris is showing Tony Parker what being fast really means. Throw in Jason Terry, fresh off his one game suspension for punching Michael Finley in his nice-nice area, and the Mavs have a real shot. The peerless Tim Duncan will need all the help he can get to protect the Spurs’ home court. If Manu Ginobili repeats his Game 6 performance (30 points, 10 rebounds) and Tony Parker shakes off his Game 6 dud (8 points on 3-15 shooting) we could have something going. And now on to the weekend that was…
The King is dead
So close. After taking the Detroit Pistons to the brink of elimination, the Cleveland Cavs couldn’t finish the job Sunday, losing at the Palace in Auburn Hills 79-61. Cleveland’s 61 points was the fewest ever for a team playing in a Game 7 in the shot clock era and the third fewest in any playoff game. Detroit advances to the Eastern Conference Finals where they will face the Miami Heat on Tuesday night. Down only two at the half Cavs came so pumped they…scored only 10 points in the 3rd quarter to the Piston’s 18. The Cavs only scored 23 points in the second half as the Piston’s defense absolutely dominated. LeBron was 1-9 for six points in the second half and finished with 27 points on 11-24 shooting for the game. He got no help from his teammates as they collectively shot 9-41 from the field. No one expected LeBron to get this far but its got to be disappointing to have the Pistons on the ropes only to let them slip away. (Link)
Bonds ties the Babe, no one cares.
On Saturday against the A’s Barry Bonds finally hit his 714 career homerun, tying Babe Ruth for second all-time. No celebration (it was an away game) and for a pretty big milestone, very little fanfare. Shows what being a cheater will do for your popularity. In a great twist of fate, the guy who caught number 714 turns out to not really like Bonds, the guy’s quoted as saying “I hate that guyâ€. Parents don’t let your kids grow up to be steroid users. The Giants won the series against the A’s on Matt Cain’s one-hitter. (Link)
Nobody likes A.J. Pierzynski, finally someone did something about it
Right in the face. A direct shot. Cubs catcher Michael Barrett punched A.J. Pierzynski right in his gourd. Thousands of fans (particularly Angels fans remembering last year’s playoffs), players all around the Majors and probably more then a few White Sox teammates finally got to see Pierzynski get what was coming to him. Barrett punched A.J. seconds after being absolutely destroyed in a collusion at home plate. A frame by frame picture sequence of the whole episode can be found here. The White Sox’s Brian Anderson was throwing haymakers (but missing) like there was no tomorrow. So what happens Sunday? Well of course Pierzynski hits a home run, his second of the season. Pierzynski, never one to pass up an opportunity to look like a jackass, tapped his chest and pointed to the sky after touching home, mocking Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano. Zambrano got mad, people started shouting at each other from the top steps of the dugouts but unlike Saturday, no fireworks. Despite the Cubs winning on Sunday the White Sox won the series. (Link)
Albert Pujols is sick
Can anyone stop this guy? Certainly the putrid Kansas City Royals can’t. Pujols hit three home runs, one in each game, this weekend, to up his season total to 22. He’s not going to do it (or at least probably won’t) but he’s on pace to hit 84 home runs this year which would smash Barry Bond’s record of 73. Not to mention the 54 RBI’s he’s already got (on pace to knock in 204, which would also be a record). At some point teams are going to stop pitching to the man but until then Pujols is going to keep hitting the crap out of the ball. The Cardinals swept the Royals behind their Superman. (Link)
Who comes up with these things?
The so-called Beltway Series between the Nationals and the Orioles makes no sense. The Beltway doesn’t connect the two cities, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway does. In fact both cities have “beltwaysâ€, Washington 495 and Baltimore 695. Someone needs to do something about this. Anyway the Nationals took two out of three from the Orioles. Somewhere Peter Angelos is crying. On second thought he’s really rich and owns a Major League Baseball team, so maybe not. Orioles fans are definitely crying though. (Link)
As for the other interleague games…
The Devil Rays swept the Marlins in a series watched by dozens. Scott Kazmir struck out 11 on Sunday and Mets fans everywhere shed a tear. (Link)
The Mets took two out of three from the Yankees. Tom Glavine contines to amaze. (Link)
Indians closer Bob Wickman somehow hadn’t won a game in four years but he finally got one on Sunday as the Indians beat the Pirates in 10 and won the series winning two out of three. (Link)
The Rockies swept the visiting Blue Jays. Could Colorado be for real? (Link)
Bobby Abreu drove in five runs and was double short of hitting for the cycle as the Phillies salvaged one game against Boston. (Link)
Detroit has the best record in the American League and took two out of three from the stumbling Reds. (Link)
Some guy named Taylor Buchholz shutdown the mighty Texas offense, throwing a five hit shutout as Houston won the rubber game of their series. (Link)
The Brewers scored four runs in the 7th to win the final game of their series against the Twins after losing the first two. (Link)
Seattle finished their sweep of the Padres behind an eight run 2nd and the pitching of phenom Felix Hernandez. (Link)
In the battle of the LA’s the Dodgers swept the disappointing Angels. (Link)
And in the only non-interleague game the Braves, behind ace Tim Hudson, got one win out of their series against the Diamonbacks. (Link)
The Preakness
The sport of horse racing has the worst luck. Desperate for a Triple Crown winner, after an almost 30 year drought, and a feel good story to help promote a dying sport, horse racing instead got the tragedy that was Saturday’s Preakness. Barbaro, Kentucky Derby winner and touted by many as capable of winning the Triple Crown (though it seems like every year a horse is touted as being that capable), broke his right rear leg in three places and was pulled up by his jockey shortly after the start. The injury was described at the time as “catastrophicâ€, almost certainly career-ending and potentially life-threatening. Thankfully Barbaro survived six hours of surgery on Sunday and probably will be spared the big glue factory in the sky. The Washington Post’s Andrew Beyer, horse racing’s preeminent writer, gives his take on the whole mess here.
Odds and Ends
Hockey is still dead to me after canceling last year but games are still being played. In fact they are almost at the Finals. On Sunday the Edmonton Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks 3-1 to take a 2-0 series lead. I have nothing intelligent to say about this. (Link)
David Wells can not shut up. Can’t do it. He’s a reporters dream, put a microphone in front of his mouth and he’ll give up solid gold quotes. Now he’s trashing Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa for steroid use, all of which is fine by me. Bizarelly though he threw in Craig Biggio (Craig Biggio?) and David Dellucci as being under suspsion. Wells’ manager Terry Francona apologized to Dellucci and Wells’ of course went to the old standby “I was taken out of context†defense. This coming from a man who once claimed he was misquoted in his autobiography. (Link)
Here’s a video stolen from the guys at Deadspin. The Kansas City/St.Louis series featured a very imaginative streaker. (Link)
The lovely Martina Hingis picked up her first tournament victory since unretiring. (Link)
Sports Illustrated’s Alexander Wolff gives his latest installment of the joys of owning your own ABA franchise. Someday my dream of owning/running the Washington Monuments will come true. (Link)
The WNBA 10th season started over the weekend. Who cares? (No Link, not now, not ever)
Tonight’s NBA Games
Dallas Mavericks at San Antonio Spurs at 8 PM ET on TNT
Los Angeles Clippers at Phoenix Suns at 10:30 PM ET on TNT
Tonight’s Baseball Schedule
|
American League |
National League |
|
7:05 PM ET (ESPN Game) NYY: C. Wang (4-1, 3.79 ERA) |
8:05 PM ET ChC: S. Marshall (3-1, 4.26 ERA) |
|
8:05 PM ET Oak: B. Zito (3-3, 3.27 ERA) |
8:10 PM ET Mil: D. Bush (3-4, 4.35 ERA) |
|
8:05 PM ET LAA: K. Escobar (5-3, 3.51 ERA) |
9:40 PM ET Pit: O. Perez (2-5, 6.98 ERA) |
|
10:10 PM ET Det: J. Verlander (5-3, 3.18 ERA) |
10:05 PM ET Atl: J. Smoltz (3-2, 3.47 ERA) |
|
10:05 PM ET Bal: E. Bedard (5-2, 4.18 ERA) |
10:10 PM ET Col: B. Kim (2-1, 4.62 ERA) |
|
|
10:15 PM ET StL: M. Mulder (5-1, 3.69 ERA) |