The Big Red Machine Rolls On, August 8, 2011

I've been hearing and hearing about the amazing 2011 Boston Red Sox, who rebounded from a 2-10 start to become one of the most exciting Major League Baseball teams in recent memory, but I haven't seen much of them. Because I'm often either up early in the morning or out late at night for work, I haven't been able to watch much baseball this season, but tonight I had some free time and turned on the first game I could find, a Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins prime-time on ESPN.

I think these TV deals are made before the season starts, but I wouldn't be surprised if the fanfare of the Red Sox early in the season made this presentation possible.

When I turned the game on, the bottom-dwellers (this year) from Minnesota were leading Boston 2-1. After two innings, the Twins had turned on 45-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who is seeking his 200th win, with outfielder Jason Kubel bombing a home run and superstar catcher Joe Mauer ripped an RBI double, and Twins starter Scott Baker was mowing down the amazing Red Sox, retiring seven in a row and upping that strikeout total to 6 against arguably the best lineup in professional baseball.

By that point, the commentators were all over the Red Sox, muttering about a team performing sluggishly after a late-night trip to Minnesota after a tense series with the rival Yankees. Highly-paid outfielder Carl Crawford bobbled a fly ball in left, shortstop Marco Scutaro botched a hard grounder, and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia looked silly misjudging some of the floating knuckleballs.

But in the top of the sixth inning, with the score 5-1 Minnesota, it all changed, and I got to see the show that is the 2011 Sox. Crawford led off the inning with the 110th triple of his big league career. Adrian Gonzalez notched his Major League-leading 92nd RBI of the year with a fly ball to left. Former AL MVP Dustin Pedroia ripped a single up the middle. Then David 'Big Papi' Ortiz smashed a 438-foot drive into the right-center-field stands, making it 5-4. Just a few pitches later, Saltalamacchia slapped a ball 420 feet down the right field line, and trotted around the bases while Ortiz raised his fist in friendly salute.

Now this is just one inning, against a fourth-place team, but the Sox are still showing me the spectacle they are. Wakefield is suddenly toughening up, striking out two last inning. Now there are two on, no out, with Crawford at the plate...

I'm anticipating some excitement from the most exciting team in baseball circa 2011.

The world over, Red Sox Nation has a smile on its collective face.

Note: Atlanta 2B Dan Uggla just reached on an infield single to short in his game against the Florida Marlins, upping his personal hitting streak to 29, the second-longest hitting streak of the 2011 MLB season (Andre Ethier of the LA Dodgers had 30).

A Giant Acquisition, July 28, 2011

Didn't you hear? The Patriots just traded for Albert Haynesworth!
Oh, and Reggie Bush is going to the Miami Dolphins.
Donovan McNabb is officially with the Minnesota Vikings.
Matt Hasselbeck is now with the Titans, and Tarvaris Jackson is replacing him with the Seahawks, and Sidney Rice is joining him in Seattle.
The Jets are keeping Santonio Holmes...

All of those developments have been big news in the professional sports world the past two days, but I'm not referring to any of those dizzying NFL headlines.

If you caught the obvious pun in the title, you know what I am talking about:

Yesterday, 34-year-old New York Mets outfielder and former All-Star Carlos Beltran agreed to a trade to the defending-World Champion San Francisco Giants in exchange for San Fran's top pitching prospect, Zach Wheeler. Beltran was playing out the final year of a seven-year, $119 million contract with the Mets that he signed in 2005.

Beltran-probably still best-known for hitting .435 with eight home runs in the 2004 postseason with the Houston Astros, who fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game NLCS that year-will join a Giants club that is in first place but in desperate need of offense.

Last year, the Giants made the playoffs and won the World Series with a style of baseball they called "torture", i.e. a lot of one-run games in which victory was made possible only because of their pitching. The Giants won the World Series on the strength of their pitching (Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Brian Wilson, etc...), and, this year, are seeking to follow essentially the same formula. They are currently three games ahead of second-place Arizona in the NL West, an otherwise fairly uncompetitive division at the moment.

However, watching parts of the Giants' 2-1 victory over the Phillies (a 2010 NLCS rematch) last night on ESPN, it wasn't hard for me to see why the Giants needed an impact bat. They were kept in the game because Cain, per usual, pitched brilliantly, but he was barely better than his Philadelphia counterpart, Cole Hamels, who, in the seventh, gave up a run (to make it 2-0 Giants) but then pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam with relative ease. In the post-Barry Bonds era, the Giants have never been known as an offensive force, and that became even more pronounced when they lost catcher and clean-up hitter Buster Posey-the defending NL Rookie of the Year-for the season in May with a broken leg. Looking at their lineup last night, the Giants are a team made up of able veterans you may have heard of (Aubrey Huff, Aaron Rowand) if you've been around baseball enough, and a few players (Miguel Tejada, Pablo Sandoval) who no longer produce like they once did. Like Posey, starting second baseman Freddy Sanchez-who tore the cover off the ball in the World Series last fall-is on the DL. The current team leader in RBIs has probably fewer than 40 (and the Major League leader in RBIs, Adrian Gonzalez of the Red Sox, has 87).

Now, it's true that Beltran is well-remembered for taking a called third strike with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, sending the Mets home for the winter that close to the World Series after a dream season (the Mets were 97-65 that year, with six players in the All-Star Game, including Beltran). He has also missed chunks of the last two full seasons with injuries to his knees, which hinder the range of the three-time Gold Glove winner. But he's also a former Rookie of the Year (1999, with the Kansas City Royals), who has hit 20 or more home runs 8 times, driven in 100 or more runs 8 times, and stolen 20 or more bases 6 times. In other words, he's a career .282 hitter with a knack for hitting doubles and home runs from the heart of a lineup.

In other words, exactly the kind of player a manufacture-runs-outlast-them-through-the-torture, low-scoring team like the Giants needs.

They're three games up on Arizona. None of the other teams in their division are closer than 11-and-a-half games out (Colorado). Once Lincecum is back from his current illness (he's missed two starts) they'll be trotting out the Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito, Bumgarner group continuously, to baffle opposing offenses. Plus they have that eccentric bearded closer (Wilson) for mop-up duty. With Posey out, Sanchez out, Sandoval struggling, and Tejada and Huff no longer capable of producing as they once did, for their dreams of a repeat to become legitimate, the Giants, despite their division lead, couldn't make a more important acquisition for the stretch run.

Beltran is expected to bat third for the Giants tonight in their game against the Phillies. A long-time Met, Beltran's reception from Philadelphia fans should be interesting.

Everything's Bigger in Texas, July 26, 2011

Especially the run support.

Texas Rangers left-hander Derek Holland started last night's game against the Minnesota Twins with a 9-4 record thanks, in part, to 6.60 average runs of support per start, the third-highest total in the American League. This morning, Holland leads the American League with 7.55 average runs of support per start, thanks to an offensive explosion by his teammates, who rained 20 runs and 27 hits on Minnesota en route to a 20-6 victory.

"My focus was easy to keep," Holland-who pitched six innings, allowing one run on five hits-said after the drubbing. "Every time I went back to the mound I felt like I had to get loose again. The main thing was to throw strikes and make sure the momentum was in our favor."

Added Holland: "I can't say enough about the offense."

Here's a few things one can say about the barrage that started against Twins right-hander Nick Blackburn and ended up touching six pitchers:

• After five innings, the Rangers had 22 hits, the most by an American League team in an entire game this season



• After those same five innings, the Rangers had 18 runs, in the process becoming just the third team since 1900 to score 3 runs in each of the first three innings. Noted Twins manager Ron Gardenhire: "The first five innings went like a ZIP code. That tells you how it went for us. I think that's somewhere in New York, 33354."



• The Rangers' 27 hits were the second-most in team history, behind only the 29 they notched in their notorious 30-3 August 22, 2007 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
  


• Three Rangers-second-baseman Ian Kinsler, outfielder Nelson Cruz and catcher Mike Napoli-had four hits each, and four others-designated-hitter Michael Young, shortstop Elvis Andrus, outfielder Endy Chavez and first-baseman Mitch Moreland-had three each.

It was the fifth time in franchise history the Rangers have scored 20 or more runs in a game.

Sunday night, the Rangers were blanked, 3-0, and put up just four singles against Toronto Blue Jays lefthander Brent Cecil in a draining loss. Four-time All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton, who had two hits and three RBIs in Monday's blowout, went back to that shutout loss by way of explaining the outburst. "Think we were mad," he asked.

"We came out with a lot of energy," Young, who had an opposite-field two-run homer in the first inning to put the Rangers up 3-0 after they had already gained a one-run lead, said. "Obviously you never expect a game like this."

"It was fun," Hamilton said. "Obviously you're not going to do it all the time, but when you do it, it's fun. It seemed like everybody fed off each other."

Both Young and Hamilton mentioned how grateful they were to be on the winning side of the onslaught rather than the other.

"We have a lot of respect for the Twins," Young said. "They are a very professional team. We expect a tough game tomorrow."

But, for now, the Rangers will enjoy satisfying memories of their highest-ever hit output at home, in the Ballpark of Arlington, the most runs in one game by any team thus far in 2011, and the fact that a late Anaheim Angels loss expanded their cushion as the first place team in the American League West to four games instead of three.

"We did a pretty good job," Andrus said, to summarize the night's events.

*All quotes courtesy of July 26 MLB.com article by T.R. Sullivan

Football is Back, Now What to Do! July 25, 2011

Thank goodness, it's over!

I think President Obama said it best: "How can owners, who are each worth nearly a billion dollars, and players, who are almost all millionares, have a work stoppage over money?"

One of the best things he's ever said, in my opinion.

And here we are, 132 days after March 11, when the last labor agreement expired, and everybody's finally talking about getting football going again. Now James Harrison will have to face up to his teammates after his direct call-outs of QB Ben Roethlisberger and RB Rashard Mendenhall in a Men's Journal interview, Chad Ochocinco had stop playing soccer and riding bulls, Peyton Manning and Terrell Owens can get on the recovery train after injuries and surgeries, the New York Jets can start trying to lend outspoken head coach Rex Ryan some legitimacy after he declared that this was the year--the Jets really were going to win the Super Bowl.

I haven't been too into sports lately, what with my family and my favorite baseball team-the Baltimore Orioles-in the pits after an offseason of optimism, pro and college basketball over, pro Hockey over, and no big tennis tournaments in immediate site. I watched the second half, overtime periods, and penalty shootout of the Women's World Cup, and was, like many, sorely disappointed when the USA women basically fell over and died in the latter, losing the shootout 3-1.

I haven't been too into sports lately, but I'm glad football's back on the slate. It wasn't until the Super Bowl this past year when I went "ya know, I should request off-work on Sundays..." Not just for the football, mind you, but for church-related functions as well; you know how it is. But yeah. I used to start work at 1 p.m., so, at best, I'd catch some pregame clatter and maybe the end of the night game. Now I'll be able to really watch, assuming my work/living situation doesn't drastically change anytime soon.

Note: In all the hoopla over the players agreeing to the owner's tentative proposal and whatnot, I haven't heard anything about changing the schedule from 16 regular-season games to 18. I hope that isn't a coincidence; i.e., I hope they don't change it. I can't imagine the injuries that would result from two more games squeaked out just for the sake of several-million more dollars.

So, what now? Players go to training camp, then into preseason games, and then it all starts again. Ben Roethlisberger should be able to start this season at the beginning-as opposed to last year, when he missed the first four games with a suspension-and he'll do so this year as a) a married man, and b) a first-time Super Bowl loser. Carson Palmer's been whining and whining that he wants out of Cincinnati; will he retire or will Cincinnati let him go first? Will Cam Newton make any difference to a hopelessly-beleagured Carolina Panthers club? Has defending unaminous league MVP Tom Brady cut his hair at all, or, in fact, done anything with it?

I'm glad football's back, even though it technically doesn't start-to the garden-variety fan-until mid-to-late August. I'll look forward to Sunday afternoons, chilling, with a cold drink nearby, reclined, and watching grown men in helmets pound into each other. Sounds worthwhile, right?

Are You Ready For Some Football? No, Seriously, ARE YOU?? July 25, 2011

"Football's back, and that's the great news for everybody." -NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (on Monday)

It really is. Nearly four and a half months after the league's old labor contract expired on March 11, and we were plunged into a world where America's most lucrative sport was officially not happening until the NFL owners and the NFLPA (Player's Association) got together to agree on issues centered primarily around dividing the leagues billions of dollars in annual revenue.

The longest work stoppage in league history came to an end when the owners proposed a tentative deal on Monday and the players agreed to it, or at least agreed to make a collective bargaining agreement official out of the structure of the proposition.

DeMaurice Smith, head of the NFLPA, said the sides still had to sit down and agree on, among other things, "health, safety, benefits, and other collective bargaining issues", but he stated that he had "a great deal of confidence that both sides (were) going to engage."

According to an ESPN.com article put together with information from the Associated Press and ESPN.com writers John Clayton and Chris Mortensen, the main points of the new, approved deal are:
- the nearly $9 billion in annual revenue will be divided 53/47 in favor of the owners
- $120 million salary and bonus cap for every team for 2011, and potentially for '12 and '13
- $22 million in benefits
- salary system (and potential cap) for spending on first-round draft picks
- unrestricted free agency after four seasons (for most players)

Still to be worked out are issues including a new substance-abuse policy, punishments for on-or-off-field antics, and benefits and health care.

The article did not mention anything about the length of the regular season schedule, which at one point was strongly rumored to be expanding to 18-regular-season games.

"I wanna thank all the players for their leadership, and for securing the long-term future of the game," Goodell said in a press conference Monday. "Having a 10-year agreement is an extraordinarily great thing for our players, and especially for our fans. Everybody worked hard, everybody had a passion, and everybody believed in this game of football, and what we could do to make this game better, and I think this agreement is going to make our game better."

"I believe it's important that we talk about the future of football as a partnership," Smith said.

This, also from ESPN.com, is a timeline of what will happen in the next week, now that the two sides have agreed:

Monday: Teams can go to 90-man rosters and will receive the official free-agent list
Tuesday: Trades can commence. The signing of rookies and undrafted free agents can begin at 10 a.m. Teams can reach agreements will all free agents. Signed players are allowed back into team facilities.
Wednesday: Players can begin reporting to training camp, 15 days before their first preseason games.
Thursday: Teams can begin to cut players at 4 p.m.
Friday: Teams can file free agent signings beginning at 6 p.m.

"I want to get back to work," Four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning said.

Said DeMaurice Smith: "This is a great day for everybody."

America vs. Japan, Previewing the Women's World Cup Final, July 14, 2011

After a miracle against Brazil in the quarterfinals and a gusty victory of endurance over France in the semis, the United States' Women's World Cup team finds itself one win away from the ultimate glory, the World Championship in women's soccer. The game will be played Sunday, July 17, and it will be against a team to whom the U.S. women have never lost.

The women of the United States-who weathered a passing/ball possession storm in Les Bleus on Wednesday before scoring two late goals to put the game away-will face Japan, the fourth-ranked team in the world who surprised Sweden, 3-1, to make their first-ever World Cup final.

"Japan is a phenomenal technical team," U.S. Forward Lauren Cheney said. "It will be a battle."

That it will. Though the US has never lost to Japan (22-0-3 all-time in 25 matches, including an ongoing winning streak of 9-straight), they will be playing an opponent who has exceeded every expectation in the tournament thus far, can play a passing/possession game similar to the one that made the Americans look tired and off-balance for long stretches on Wednesday, and have emotional sentiment on their side.

"I think they are the sentimental favorite," US goalkeeper Hope Solo said of the Japanese. "Sentimentally, I'm cheering for Japan."

The sentiment, of course, comes from the March earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that took the lives of some 15,000-plus in the Japanese homeland.

The response of the world-charity drives, mass donations of food, money and supplies, concerts held to raise money in the country's honor-have driven the Japanese team to hold a banner at each World Cup match thus far, thanking the world for its support.

It's been a great show of heart and resolve by the Japanese, but, of course, the real show would be winning the World Cup within a half-year of the disaster.

It's also an emotional game because it is the last World Cup for midfielder Homare Sawa, her fifth tournament appearance and, of course, her first Finals appearance.

"We've played (Japan) before," Cheney said. "We know them well, and we'll be able to focus on their game."

That game, according to ESPN.com's Women's World Cup site, is a pass-heavy game made possible by their tournament-best 76.8 pass completion percentage-Sawa, for that matter, holds the tournament record for an individual, with an 82.4 percent completion rate. ESPN.com reporter Michelle Smith calls the US "the bigger, more physical team" in her preview of the match, adding that Forward Abby Wambach should "be able to dominate in front of the net on high-ball opportunities" but also states that the Americans need to play better defensively, at the midfield, or risk another fundamental clobbering like they experienced with the French.

She pointed out that, unless something changes, it could be a very busy night for Solo at the net.

The match will be played Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, at which point the Americans will try to win their third WWC Championship, and first since 1999, their last finals appearance (they beat China, 5-4, in a penalty shoot-out that year).

Reyes Out, Konerko, Victorino In, July 7, 2011

Mets Shortstop Jose Reyes was named the National League's starting shortstop Sunday afternoon, but the day before he ensured he wouldn't play in it.

Reyes, 28, who is in the midst of what's looking like a career year-he leads the NL in batting average (.354), hits (124), runs (65) and ranks second in steals (30)-suffered a Grade 1 strain of his left hamstring running to first base against the Yankees during Saturday's contest, and after missing four games and taking some practice and ginger workouts, he's skipping the Midsummer Classic to be more effective and available for the Mets, who are 45-42 but 9.5 games behind the NL East-leading Phillies.

A Grade 1 strain is considered mild-namely, a slight pull with no tearing of the muscle-but Reyes will be sure to wait it out and heal completely in the midst of a very important contract year.

While a big question is whether Reyes, who has been on fire of late, will continue to play at such a high level once he returns in the second half, another is who will replace him on the NL's starting roster.

Behind Reyes, NL Manager Bruce Bochy selected two shortstops, Starlin Castro of the Chicago Cubs and Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies.

Castro, 22, is hitting .307 with 111 hits, 22 doubles, eight triples, two home runs and 38 RBIs, has been one of the Cubs' few bright spots in 2011, and is making his All-Star debut this season.

Tulowitzki, 25, who was signed to a major contract extension by the Rockies this past offseason, is hitting .271 with 88 hits, 18 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs and 57 RBIs.

Reyes' missing the All-Star Game will deprive the game of one of its most electric talents, and one of the best players this year, but this opens the door for an interesting debate as to who should fill his spot. Castro has been the main attraction to ol' Wrigley this year, and is a stupefying young talent, though the Midsummer Classic would be his first chance to get widespread recognition. Tulowitzki, playing in the first (thus far) uninjured season of his career, is a much more recognizable name and a former Rookie of the Year runner-up who has also played in a World Series, but after a scorching finish to 2010 and a similarly-hot start to his season, he has cooled off quite a bit.

I'd go with Castro-the eight triples really win me over-but it's Bochy's call.

And Reyes may have left the NL squad for July 12's contest but they gained a new face today in Phillies' outfielder Shane Victorino. 'The Flyin' Hawaiian' won the NL's All-Star Final Vote competition today by snagging 9.2 million votes, beating out Los Angeles' Andre Eithier, Colorado's Todd Helton, Washington's Michael Morse and Arizona's Ian Kennedy. Victorino, who also won the Final Vote competition to reach the Midsummer Classic in 2009, is hitting .303 this year, with 81 hits, 53 runs scored, 14 doubles, nine triples, nine home runs and 34 RBIs.

His counterpart in the Final Vote victory was Chicago White Sox' first baseman Paul Konerko, a five-time All-Star, snagged 8.4 million votes to defeat Detroit's Victor Martinez, Kansas City's Alex Gordon, Baltimore's Adam Jones and Tampa Bay's Ben Zobrist. Konerko is hitting .319 with 100 hits, 13 doubles, 22 home runs and 64 RBIs.

I Give You...The National League All-Stars!!!!! July 5, 2011

Before last season, the National League hadn't won the All-Star Game since 1996, when Barry Larkin, Mike Piazza, Tony Gwynn, Larry Walker and Jeff Bagwell were prominent faces, all in the primes of their careers. But one bases-loaded double by one returning starting catcher changed all that with the NL's 3-1 win last year in Anaheim.

This year, with all the aforementioned players whispers in today's game, the Midsummer Classic takes place in Arizona, where defending World Champion San Francisco Giants' manager Bruce Bochy leads a squad looking to make something of a streak out of winning these things against a loaded club featuring A-Rod, Jeter, Hamilton and the newly-terrifying JoeyBats.

That squad is listed below:

Starters

Catcher-Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves
Last year's MVP-for a three-run seventh-inning double off White Sox' relief pitcher Matt Thornton-returns to the All-Star game for a sixth consecutive season. With his blend of power consistency (20 or more home runs in four of the last five seasons) and good contact skills (a lifetime .292 batting average), the 27-year old McCann appears to be the iconic catcher of this post-Mike Piazza National League.
2011 stats: .316, 87 H, 14 2B, 14 HR, 47 RBI

First Base-Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers
He's been criticized for his weight, judged for his estrangement from his former MLB-All-Star father (Cecil), and has seen his power numbers rise and fall year in and year out, but in a contract year, the 27-year-old, sweet-swinging first baseman has put up numbers worthy of this selection, even over contemporaries Ryan Howard, Joey Votto, and Albert Pujols.
2011 stats: .299, 90 H, 20 2B, 21 HR, 69 RBI (leads NL)

Second Base-Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers
Brandon Phillips has the Web Gems and Chase Utley has the constant All-Star pedigree, but this first-time All-Star has shown he has all the tools to be, well, an All-Star second baseman.
2011 stats: .277, 96 H, 60 R, 20 2B, 15 HR, 34 RBI

Shortstop-Jose Reyes, New York Mets
After struggling through two injury-plagued seasons, this third-time All-Star has proven to be the fan-spectacle the up-and-down Mets need, and more. At the time of this writing, the 28-year-old leads the National League in batting (.354), hits (124) and triples (15). In what could very well be a contract year, Reyes' 2011 campaign thus far has people whispering "best player in the game".
2011 stats: .354, 124 H, 65 R, 22 2B, 15 3B, 3 HR, 32 RBI, 30 SB

Third Base-Placido Polanco, Philadelphia Phillies
It wouldn't be a National League All-Star team without a Philadelphia Phillies' infielder, and with star NL third sackers like David Wright (NYM), Chipper Jones (ATL) and Scott Rolen (CIN) losing time to injuries or having down years, this second-time All-Star and former batting champion gets the nod despite some injuries himself.
2011 stats: .274, 88 H, 34 R, 11 2B, 4 HR, 39 RBI

Outfield-Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
In what's been a short but solid career thus far, then 28-year-old former Rookie of the Year is looking like one of the best all-around players in the National League with possibly his best campaign yet. This is his fourth straight All-Star appearance.
2011 stats: .320, 98 H, 57 R, 19 2B, 16 HR, 62 RBI

Outfield-Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals
Despite five previous All-Star appearances, many figured the 35-year-old Big Puma was over-the-hill after a brief but unsuccessful tenure with the Yankees at the end of last season. But with Albert Pujols struggling and then injured and Matt Holiday starting slowly, Berkman has surprisingly turned into St. Louis' biggest offensive threat.
2011 stats: .295, 74 H, 51 R, 22 HR, 61 RBI

Outfield-Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
His numbers sagged last season after an MVP-esque 2009 campaign, but Kemp is rolling with among-the-National-League's-best numbers despite all the turmoil in the Dodgers' front office.
2011 stats: .324, 99 H, 54 R, 18 2B, 22 HR, 64 RBI, 22 SB

Pitchers
Heath Bell, right-handed, San Diego Padres
Matt Cain, right-handed, San Francisco Giants
Tyler Clippard, right-handed, Washington Nationals
Roy Halladay, right-handed, Philadelphia Phillies
Cole Hamels, left-handed, Philadelphia Phillies
Joel Hanrahan, right-handed, Pittsburgh Pirates
Jair Jurrjens, right-handed, Atlanta Braves
Clayton Kershaw, left-handed, Los Angeles Dodgers
Cliff Lee, left-handed, Philadelphia Phillies
Tim Lincecum, right-handed, San Francisco Giants
Johnny Venters, left-handed, Atlanta Braves
Ryan Vogelsong, right-handed, San Francisco Giants
Brian Wilson, right-handed, San Francisco Giants

Substitutes
C-Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
1B-Gaby Sanchez, Florida Marlins
1B-Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
2B-Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
3B-Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves
SS-Starlin Castro, Chicago Cubs
SS-Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
OF-Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
OF-Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds
OF-Matt Holiday, St. Louis Cardinals
OF-Hunter Pence, Houston Astros
OF-Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks

This is a deep squad, with a lot of experience and some of the best pitchers of the era (Halladay, Lee, Lincecum) stocking the bullpen to face off against the AL's traditionally-more-imposing lineup. They're fighting for home-field advantage in the World Series (which the Giants most certainly used last year) and to keep the AL from starting another All-Star streak.

I Give You...The American League All-Stars!!! July 4, 2011

That's right! It's July 4th (incidentally, Happy Fourth, anyone who may be reading this) and it's about halfway through the Major League 2011 Baseball season, which means it's almost time for the annual Summer Classic All-Star Game.

Of course, before you can play the game, you have to have people to play in it.

Once MLB decided to let fans vote online, thereby allowing anyone the chance to vote, they opened the door for an unprecedented landslide of votes, making the number of ballots posted by this time look more like American Idol than American's second (or is it third?) most popular sport. Anyway, by selection time yesterday, Sunday, July 3, 32.5 million ballots were cast for the game to be played July 12 in Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, AZ, home of the Diamondbacks.

Up until last year, the American League All-Stars had won every All-Star Game (save the awkward '02 tie) since 1997. But after being beaten 3-1 last year on a bases-loaded Bryan McCann double, here's the crew that looks to get a new streak going, led by the defending American-League-champion Texas Rangers' manager, Ron Washington.

Starters

Catcher-Alex Avila, Detroit Tigers
A first-time All-Star, Avila, 24, leads all American League catchers in RBIs (46) and batting average (.298). One of those rare left-handed hitter/right-handed throwers, Avila represents a Tigers team that stands just a half-game behind the Cleveland Indians for the AL Central lead.
2011 stats: .298, 67 H, 16 2B, 10 HR, 46 RBI

First Base-Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox
For years, Gonzalez, 29, was the primary (read: "only") offensive threat for pitching-focused San Diego Padres teams, so many expected his numbers might soar joining an offensively-loaded club like the Red Sox. He hasn't disappointed. He's been hot all season despite the Sox' iffy start, leads the majors in RBIs (74) and beat out tough competition in the AL (DET's Miguel Cabrera, NYY's Mark Teixeira). This is his fourth All-Star selection.
2011 stats: .350, 119 H, 27 2B, 59 R, 16 HR, 74 RBI

Second Base-Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
Coming off his first All-Star selection (2010)-and a season in which he came in third in the AL in MVP voting-Cano, 29, continues to put forth numbers that suggest he might be the best second baseman in the Major Leagues.
2011 stats: .294, 93 H, 19 2B, 5 3B, 14 HR, 54 RBI

Shortstop-Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
Yes, like American Idol, voting for the All-Star Game is a popularity contest, and, yes, at 36, Jeter is a shadow of the player he once was, at least offensively. You won't find many who can criticize his achievements or his respectability as a player-especially with The Captain on the cusp of 3,000 hits (he's just 6 away)-but for the second straight year, the 11-time All-Star selection's numbers are in free fall.
2011 stats: .260, 68 H, 9 2B, 2 HR, 20 RBI

Third Base-Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
Probably the most controversial and reviled sports superstar this side of LeBron, A-Rod, who will turn 36 this month, continues to produce, and, with noteworthy counterparts like Evan Longoria of the Rays battling injuries, makes for an easy fit, as this is his 14th selection.
2011 stats: .299, 86 H, 19 2B, 13 HR, 52 RBI

>>>Oh my goodness, it JUST hit me! For the first time since 2001, a certain Seattle Mariners outfielder named Ichiro Suzuki is NOT a starting All-Star for the American League! Who could have ousted that uber-talent from his midseason throne?

Right Field-Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
He's been moved to third base recently to help his team, and he's the subject of rumors of possible PED use after a sudden surge in home run-hitting ability, but he reigned in more votes (7-and-a-half-million of them, breaking the old record set by Ken Griffey Jr. in 1994) than any other player, and he may just be the one who ousted Ichiro. He's no longer a secret; he's becoming historic. Oh, and he DOES lead the majors in home runs.
2011 stats: .331, 90 H, 14 2B, 66 R, 27 HR, 56 RBI

Center Field-Curtis Granderson, Detroit Tigers
His average could use some work, but this second-time All-Star selection is otherwise a five-tool player: a speedster with thump. Now 30, Granderson is third in the AL in home runs (22) and continues to terrify pitchers, even in the already intimidating Yankee lineup.
2011 stats: .273, 83 H, 11 2B, 7 3B, 22 HR, 58 RBI

Left Field-Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
He's a great comeback story. He once shocked the Yankee Stadium crowd (in 2008) with a power display unlike any other in Home Run Derby history. He's a five-tool player. He's injury prone. He's the defending AL MVP. He already missed time this year with an injury. He's an All-Star for the fourth-straight year...
2011 stats: .295, 56 H, 13 2B, 10 HR, 40 RBI

>>>I don't know why they're including Designated Hitters in the lineup when we're playing in a National League park this year. Seriously, no clue...

Designated Hitter-David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox
Who else would it be? Everyone (except opposing pitchers) love Big Papi, and his gregarious, fun-loving personality kept him afloat in the baseball world until his numbers rebounded from his tough struggles at the outset of the past two seasons. Well, forget about that: this 30-year-old and six-time All-Star is HITTING.
2011 stats: .301, 84 H, 20 2B, 17 HR, 49 RBI

Here are the American League substitutes:
Russell Martin, C, Yankees
Matt Wieters, C, Orioles
Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Tigers
Howard Kendrick, 3B, Angels
Adrian Beltre, 3B, Rangers
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS, Indians
Michael Cuddyer, OF, Twins
Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Red Sox
Matt Joyce, OF, Rays
Carlos Quentin, OF, White Sox
Michael Young, DH, Rangers

And the American League pitchers:
Josh Beckett, right-handed, Red Sox
Gio Gonzalez, left-handed, Athletics
Felix Hernandez, right-handed, Mariners
David Price, left-handed, Rays
James Shields ("Complete Game James"), right-handed, Rays
Justin Verlander, right-handed, Tigers
Jered Weaver, right-handed, Angels
C.J. Wilson, left-handed, Rangers
Aaron Crow, right-handed, Royals
Brandon League, right-handed, Mariners
Chris Perez, right-handed, Indians
Mariano Rivera, right-handed, Yankees
Jose Valverde, right-handed, Tigers

As usual, the National League (I'll talk about their All-Stars tomorrow) faces a tall order in a lineup loaded with future Hall-of-Famers, perennial All-Stars, and superb talents.

The Wimbledon Finals, July 2, 2011

Champions are made, not born.

Or, as Will Ferrell's Ricky Bobby often said in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby: "If you're not first, you're last!"

While the latter isn't quite true for those who lose Wimbledon finals-those individuals still get checks, trophies, and applause-the first most certainly is for those who emerge victorious. After three scintillating weeks, during which familiar faces Roger Federer, Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick and Caroline Wozniacki were swept away in the tide of the fast, furious schedule, two champions remain: Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, for the women, and Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, for the men. Both battled their way past former champions to earn their impressive achievements.

"Seriously, I lose because I am playing the best player of the moment, the best player of the world tomorrow, and I am the second," Spaniard Rafael Nadal, the defending Wimbledon Champion who lost a four-set final to Djokovic, said. "And when you play against these players and they are playing unbelievable, the normal thing is to lose."

Nadal, a two-time (2008, 2010) Wimbledon champion who nonetheless knew he would lose his #1-in-the-world ranking to Djokovic regardless of the final's outcome, became just the latest obstacle run over by the Djoker, as many call him, who improved his record in 2011 to a staggering 48-1.

"It's really hard to describe this day with any words except the best day of my life, most special day of my life," Djokovic said, after defeating the uber-talented Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. "[This is] the tournament I always dreamed of winning."

He did just that by playing what he called "probably my best match on the grass courts ever", forcing the hobbled (recurring left foot injury) but athletic Nadal into defensive mode with whistling forehands and hard serves. He also took advantage of a few unforced errors by the 25-year-old Spaniard.

"I had to play better to win," Nadal said, "and I didn't today. I played a little bit less aggressive."

On the women's side, Kvitova faced off with another former Wimbledon champion, '04 queen Maria Sharapova, who was 17 then and entered the late stages of this tournament as the heavy favorite with her #5 ranking and her championship aura.

But Sharapova was outplayed from the start by Kvitova, a spry six-footer who sprayed forehands and backhands and waited out Sharapova's shaky serve (five double faults) in a 6-3, 6-4 championship match.

"I was surprised how I was feeling on the court," Kvitova said. "Because I was focused only on the point and on the game and not on the final."

A native of a tiny town-Fulnek-of 6,000 in the Czech Republic, Kvitova became, at 21, the youngest Wimbledon champion since Sharapova in '04.

"She created offensive opportunities from tough positions on the court--sometimes it's just too good," Sharapova said of the woman who killed off her bid for a fourth Major title.

While Djokovic's meteoric rise in 2011 had him in the headlines far before his defeat of Nadal, Kvitova said it was "probably yesterday" that she began dreaming of herself winning a Major. Today, she's a champion, and someone to watch in tennis.

The Diamond and the Hard Court, April 18, 2011

This is my first post in three weeks. Because of work, a short vacation and other distractions, I haven't written any posts since the afternoon of the NCAA Men's Championship Game, a miss-a-thon that was won by UConn. The next night, the Texas A&M Lady Aggies defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a back-and-forth, edge-of-your-seat contest to claim the Women's Championship trophy. Then, unknown South African pro Charl Swartzel avoided the pitfalls that doomed so many others at Augusta during the Masters and won his first PGA major; Tiger Woods showed flashes of his former greatness and finished in a tie for fourth at -10.

The baseball season is off and running. Defending AL MVP Josh Hamilton is lost for 6-8 weeks after fracturing a bone in his right arm trying to score from third on a foul pop-up in one of the year's biggest stories so far. The Cleveland Indians have risen as one of baseball's best teams, an amazing feat for a team picked almost uniformly to finish fourth in the AL Central.

This week's rankings had a new #1 in the MLB, dethroning the reigning Texas Rangers:

1) The Colorado Rockies (12-3); a chic pick to win the NL West or Wild Card last year, the Rockies are off and running this season, led by their two young, contracted superstars, Carlos 'CarGo' Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki, who finished fourth in the NL MVP voting despite missing 40 games with a broken wrist, was picked by many to win the award this season if healthy, and he has made those experts look like genuises with seven home runs already.
2) The Texas Rangers (10-5); last year, when Hamilton missed the final month of the season with rib injuries, the Rangers were far ahead in the AL West and on their way to their first-ever World Series appearance. So far, they're staying afloat without the uber-talented outfielders, thanks to the ball-crushing tandem of Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz.
3) The Philadelphia Phillies (10-4); that vaunted starting pitching has proven worth the hype, as the offense has struggled without Chase Utley but the team keeps winning.
4) The New York Yankees (9-5); now all but uncontested atop the AL East, the Yankees' powerful lineup and effective bullpen are looking sharp.
5) The Cleveland Indians (11-4); I'm pretty sure they had the lowest attendance in the Majors a year ago, and started with it so far, but they're atop the AL Central after an early-season sweep of the much-ballyhooed Boston Red Sox.
6) The Cincinnati Reds (9-6); They led the NL in runs scored last year, and, led by defending NL MVP Joey Votto (who is hitting .444), they look primed for another run.
7) The Kansas City Royals (10-5); Second in the AL Central in another huge surprise.
8) Los Angeles Angels (10-5); After wasting away in last-place Arizona for two years, righthander Dan Haren looks rejuvenated by competing again
9) San Francisco Giants (8-7); the defending World Champions are a step behind Colorado in the West, but still looking competitive
10) The Florida Marlins (8-6); the Marlins tend to fizzle out of competition late, but they're looking okay in the early going.

Boston Bummin'
They picked up Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. They already had Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew, a healthy Jacoby Ellsbury. They got a healthy Josh Beckett to sit in the rotation with Jon Lester, Clay Buchholtz, John Lackey and Dice-K Matsuzaka. And they have a bullpen of Jonathan Papelbon and Daniel Bard. They have the most passionate fan base in sports backing them up.

All they need are wins. At this point, the "Best Team Ever", as some were jokingly calling it, is 4-10, having lost early season-series to the Rangers, the Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays, the latter of whom has looked lost against everybody else. They keep saying its still early in the season and they'll get going, but the Yankees continue to climb the ladder and leave their hated foes behind.

Y'all Ready for This?
The NBA Finals started last night, and heads turned in alarm everywhere.
The Oklahoma City Thunder grasped a tough fight against the Denver Nuggets, 107-103.
Ray Allen hit a 3-pointer (big surprise there) to give the struggling Boston Celtics a hard-fought win (They trailed most of the game) over the New York Knicks, 87-85.
The regular season's best-team-in-the-West San Antonio Spurs lost to the scratching-and-clawing Memphis Grizzlies, 101-98.
The New Orleans Hornets send the two-time-defending champion Los Angeles Lakers a message with a 109-100 win.

The Top Two, April 4, 2011

I had to give this post that title. Because, not only is tonight the night of the NCAA Men's College Basketball Championship, but because every other significant stage of the process is giving an alliterate name: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four (even, this year, First Four).

Today, April 4, 2011, we will see a new champion crowned in the Division 1 college hoops world. Last year's champ, Duke University, was ousted in the Sweet Sixteen by Arizona, and are nowhere to be found. But the program over whom they claimed victory last year, the Butler Bulldogs, are still alive and well. But, before I get into tonight's game, I better recap how the two participants got there.

At approximately 6:08 (ish) Saturday afternoon, the eighth-seeded Butler Bulldogs dirtied their hands in the highest-combined-seeded Final Four matchup ever (their 8th seed and the 11th seed of their opponent, the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams). The combined seed, 19, was a doozy. The game was even better.

Both teams had upset Number Ones (Pittsburgh for Butler, Kansas for VCU) on their way to the game, and so we knew not to underestimate them. But it was still pretty awesome. After Butler took an early lead, the Rams started playing the fast-and-furious full-court game that had been the major factor in their 12 points-per-game average margin of victory in the tournament, over such powerhouse teams as Kansas, USC, Purdue, and Georgetown. The Rams led at halftime. But Butler, patient and grinding it out on defense, led by the 6-foot-8 Matt Howard, began to rebound and steal, and tournament star Shelvin Mack began hitting shots from inside and outside the arc, even with a hand in his face. The Bulldogs, who came within a few inches on Gordon Hayward's last-second half-court shot of winning the '10 National Championship against Duke, basically squeezed the life and competitiveness out of the bigger, faster VCU team. They got victimized by Jamie Skeen for a game-high 27 points, but got the Rams as a team into foul trouble and subsequently knocked down nearly all of their own free throws. They ended the Rams' true Cinderella run with a series of wins on the glass and key layups, by a score of 70-62.

At the end of the game, while the players and coaches rejoiced while awash in the cheers of their fans, a sign read "Where's Duke?" Butler becomes the first team to make back-to-back National Championship games since the '06-07 Florida Gators, and the first-ever to not be ranked first or second either time.

Meanwhile, a slightly-less magical, but no less intense, matchup pitted a #3 against a #4 in the late game, with the University of Connecticut (UCONN) Huskies and the University of Kentucky Wildcats, respectively. Both teams had shown explosiveness, led by guards Kemba Walker (UCONN) and Brandon Knight (UK). Both were tall, fast, athletic teams with the ability to shoot and rebound well, and they showed it. Well, they showed the rebounding.

Two days later, the glaring thing about that game is still Kansas' horrible shooting, just 33% from the floor. A team accustomed to making three-pointers in bunches blew up and couldn't make a thing from beyond the arc. The Wildcats were all over the offensive glass, rebounding brilliantly, but there were stretches of many minutes where they looked woefully inadequate at even layups. And, of course, Kentucky didn't have Kemba Walker, the likely runner-up (to BYU's top-scorer-in-the-nation Jimmer Fredette) for the Naismith Player of the Year Award. Walker didn't have his best game, scoring just 18 points, but he kept his team in it emotionally with his constant chatter and his exhortations for them to play harder, and he contributed 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and one block to the Huskies' eventual 56-55 win. In a moment of great irony, Brandon Knight, who was 6-for-23 in the game after a sterling tournament-long showing, hit a three-pointer at the final buzzer, cutting the lead to 1, after several minutes' worth of attempted shots by Kentucky (all misses) that could have made that buzzer-beater much more fantastic.

So, what to think? Butler vs. UConn? The first thing my dad said was "It's not unlike Butler/Duke."

And he's right. You've got an athletic squad with a lot of tall men and savvy defense (UConn), plus a superduper athlete right in the middle (Walker) against, well, Butler, a team that can kill you on defense even while being iffy on offense.

My personal take? Butler has been awesome in this tournament, but they'll be hard-pressed to not suffer the agony of two national championship losses in two years. UConn has perhaps three or four guys 6'8 or taller (the height of Matt Howard, Butler's only effective big man and arguably their best player), all of them are athletic, and Walker leads a team that can score efficiently on the fast break. Howard and star defensive guard Ronald Nored of the Bulldogs both got into trouble with four fouls in the semifinal game against VCU; it won't be hard for the Huskies to get Howard especially into trouble, what with their speed and their big bodies.

That said, if Butler can shoot free throws like they have all tournament (Howard, in particular, has been outstanding, going 11-for-12 against the Rams), and if Shelvin Mack continues to rain it in from the three-point line (he made 5-of-6 in the Final Four) anything can happen. Of course, Butler already ousted from the tournament a team that was, like UConn, rather much taller and seemingly more athletic than themselves (Pitt).

It'll be a great game, and, if anything like the two Final Four matchups, edge-of-your-seat, can't-look-away intense.

Opening Day, March 31, 2011

FYI, it's 6-3 Yankees in the ninth. It's Opening Day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, and twelve teams are taking part. The Atlanta Braves already dumped the Washington Nationals, 2-0, in the first game of Atlanta's post-Bobby Cox existence. New manager Freddi Gonzalez oversaw sinkerballer Derek Lowe pitching 5 1/3 solid innings, with an assist from second-year star and Rookie of the Year '10 runner-up Jason Heyward, who became just the second major leaguer to homer in the first at-bat of his first two major league seasons. Who knew there was such a stat? Just over five months to the day after Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series, 4-1, over the Texas Rangers, a new season has begun (and the Yankees are already winning; I've seen this movie somewhere before...). It's been an off-season of trades, free-agent signings, contract talks, retirements and injuries, and now it's time for the 162 game push to the playoffs. If, however, you somehow slept from the alcohol-soaked post-game celebration of the Giants 'till today, I can gladly give you the LD (for lowdown) on what happened Nov-Mar. Here are ten of the biggest things to know as the 2011 season kicks off: Always Phightin' Since 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies have made four-straight postseasons, been in the NLCS three times, the World Series twice, and have won the Fall Classic once. They came from middling about with an uneven offense over the summer to crashing Bobby Cox's final division championship party with a tremendous August-September run in which they were nearly unbeatable. They've boasted a lineup of megastars and powers like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz. Last year they had the CY Young Award winner, 21-game winner Roy Halladay, who threw two no-hitters before the 2010 season was officially over. And you're telling me they got better!?! Well, it's arguable. It has been argued all winter. >>>They lost All-Star right fielder Jayson Werth, who had 87 home runs and 251 RBIs over the last three seasons, in which the Phils had made the NLCS each year. Werth was signed by the Washington Nationals for 8 years, $126 million. That contract was much-debated, but there's no doubting Werth's departure saps the Phils of some speed and some all-fields power. >>>Perennial All-Star second baseman Chase Utley is on the disabled list right now with a knee injury, and this after he missed nearly 50 games last year. When healthy, Utley, a lifetime Phillie, is an above-average defender and an offensive force that has produced five 20 home run seasons (3 30+) and 4 100-RBI seasons. He terrifies pitchers with his inside-out, line-drive machine-swing and usually helps set the table for cleanup man Ryan Howard. But, of course, as you must know, the Phillies also picked up the best free-agent pitcher on the market, left-hander and 2008 AL CY Young Award winner Cliff Lee. Lee, 33, is a two-time 18-game winner (23 in his Cy Young-winning campaign) who has pitched in the World Series twice (in '09 with the Phillies) and, until he lost a pair of tight pitching duels to Tim Lincecum in October '10, had a positively historic postseason stat-sheet-it's still above average, by the way. But Lee is an inning-eater and a strike-out guy who helped complete The Puzzle. You've probably heard by now, but Lee joined defending Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, two-time 20-game-winner Roy Oswalt, and former NLCS and World Series MVP Cole Hamels on the Phillies' staff, completing a quarter that has some checking the history books to see if such an impressive group has ever pitched for the same team in the same year (it's arguable, and two teams have, years ago, boasted 4 20-game winners a season, but whatever). The Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels-plus right-hander Joe Blanton, who pitched on the '08 World Series winning team-has made the Phillies an automatic favorite for the NL pennant, especially after a year in which the Giants won with a sometimes-dormant offense but a rotation of Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito. Boston Rockin' Sox Last year, for just the second time since 2001, the Boston Red Sox missed the postseason (the Tampa Bay Rays won the AL East crown and the New York Yankees won the Wild Card berth), and this during a year when they were AL pennant favorites for snagging bulldog right-hander John Lackey from the Angels. Perhaps as atonement, or as the result of being struck with inspiration, Sox owner Theo Epstein went out and got the two biggest names (among position players, thereby omitting Lee) on the free-agent market, outfielder Carl Crawford and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. >>>>Crawford, who was previously a lifetime Tampa Bay Ray (and Devil Ray), is 30, is a former All-Star game MVP, and has batted .300 five times, has hit 15 triples four times, 15 home runs four times, and, in his piece de resistance, has stolen 409 bases in his career, with 7 seasons of 45+. The Red Sox are not a big running team, so Crawford's stolen base numbers (which include 60 in 2009) may take a hit, but a guy who has scored 100 runs three times will fit in well with a Sox lineup that, even missing two key players (1B Kevin Youkilis and 2B Dustin Pedroia) for nearly half the year, ranked second in the major leagues in runs scored. >>>>Gonzalez, 29, is a left-handed slugger who spent the past five seasons almost singlehandedly making the San Diego Padres look like contenders. He has four straight 30 home run seasons, three 100 RBI seasons, and has a career average of .284. He is expected, with his power-to-all fields hitting approach, to leave dents aplenty in Boston's famed Green Monster in left field. The Red Sox have mostly worked on getting healthy this offseason. Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury missed nearly 150 games last year with rib injuries, pitchers Dice-K Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett, and position players J.D. Drew, Victor Martinez (now departed for the Tigers), Youkilis and Pedroia all missed time. Their main offensive weapon, third baseman Adrian Beltre, left for the Rangers after putting up a .300, 30, 100 season.
>>>But the Sox have big reason to hope. After all, their batting lineup could look something like this: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Crawford, Gonzalez, Ortiz (as in David, 'Big Papi'), Youkilis, Drew, Scutaro (as in Marco, their shortstop), and I don't know who their catcher will be, honestly. But it barely matters. This is a terrifying batting order that matches anything the Yankees have put out in recent years. They should be a run-scoring machine, and if their pitching rotation is healthy, they'll have Beckett, Lackey, Matsuzaka, and CY Young contenders Jon Lester and Clay Buchholtz around.
This team is the favorite to win the World Series.

Ah, this post is getting long. I'll breeze through a few other big developments.

Idiots Unite!
After winning the AL East crown twice in three years, the Tampa Bay Rays had to do a major cutting of payroll, losing Carl Crawford, home-run machine Carlos Pena, hit-matchine shortstop Jason Bartlett, no-hit pitcher and 2008 ALCS MVP Matt Garza and 40-save closer Rafael Soriano. But their team, which still boasts major talents at 3B (Evan Longoria), CF (B.J. Upton), RF (Ben Zobrist) and in the pitching rotation (David Pryce, James Shields), isn't exactly going to be full of high schoolers. Part of this is because they picked up two people very familiar to the AL East, Messrs Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. They're in their 30s now, but both men played on the Red Sox's history-making 2004 squad, which called themselves Idiots. Both are said to be in good shape (particularly Manny, who had a poor go of it for the White Sox late last year), and, if healthy, they could be a major boost of offense and experience for a somewhat deflated team and fan-base.

Counting the Cards
The biggest thing the St. Louis Cardinals didn't do this off-season was re-sign star and future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols to a new contract. Therefore, he becomes a free agent at the end of the season, and the three-time MVP is refusing to talk about his contract during the regular season.
The biggest thing the Cardinals did do is lose pitcher Adam Wainwright for the year to Tommy John Surgery. Wainwright won 39 games for them the past two seasons.
The Cardinals play in a division that includes the lowly Pirates, inconsistent Astros, oft-bumbling Cubs and mysterious Brewers, and boast a lineup of Pujols, Matt Holiday, Colby Rasmus and Yadier Molinda, but Wainwright's absence will be felt, and, should the Cards' fortunes turn sour early enough, could Big Albert change his mind about not talking about his contract?

Other big news included future Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter resigning with the Yankees after ugly contract talks. The 36-year-old is 76 hits away from 3,000 (he'd be, if you can believe it, the first Yankee) and is coming off one of the statistically poorest seasons of his accomplished career, but he plays on a team that boasts offensive talents like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Texeira, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson. The Yanks, who lost the ALCS in 6 games to the Rangers last year after winning it all the year before, missed out on any big signings (Lee, Crawford, Gonzalez, Beltre) and lost perennial star pitcher Andy Pettite to retirement, but picked up closer Rafael Soriano to set up for The Great Mariano Rivera and still feature two-time 20-game winner C.C. Sabathia atop the rotation.

The Milwaukee Brewers excited fans by picking up pitchers Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke (the 2009 AL CY Young Award winner) to keep the team afloat pitching-wise in Prince Fielder's contract year (which is hoped to be productive), but Greinke will miss the start of the season after injuring himself playing basketball.

Last, but certainly not least, the Colorado Rockies, who were expected by many to compete for the NL pennant but were offset by injuries and a poor start, re-signed their two best players from a year ago. They safely kept 27-year-old shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who missed 40 games last year with an injury but still hit .315 with 27 home runs and 95 RBIs (including 14 home runs in September). They also retained 25-year-old outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who was third in the NL MVP voting last year after a prodigious breakout season that included a league-leading .336 average and 197 hits, plus 111 runs scored, 34 doubles, 9 triples, 34 home runs and 117 RBIs. Oh, he stole 26 bases, too.

Those are the biggest stories of the 2011 Major League off-and-now-on-season. Now on with the show!

By the way, since I've been writing this article, the Yankees won (6-3).

Finals Week-Part 2; March 31, 2011

Yes, there has been a lot of buzz about the NCAA Final Four, what with no Number 1 or Number 2 seeds, plus a back-in-the-Final Four Butler and high-riding 11th-seeded VCU.

But there is another Final Four out there, and, though it also includes a team from the University of Connecticut boasting a high seed and serious talent, there's no Kemba Walker in sight.

Tuesday night, the two-time defending champion Lady Huskies of UConn dismissed the #2 Duke Blue Devils (Lady Devils?), 75-40, in the third game of the NCAA Women's Elite Eight, sending Coach Geno Auriemma's crew to their twelfth straight Final Four. The win was UConn's 114th in their last 115 games. Yes, you read that right.

UConn's win made the Lady Huskies the third of the women's Final Four teams, joining #2 Notre Dame (a Big East rival they've beaten three times this year) and #1 Stanford (the only team to beat UConn in the last three seasons). They were joined some three hours later by the Texas A&M Aggies, who upset the Baylor Lady Bears, 58-46.

While there may not be any storylines as compelling as #11 VCU's jaw-dropping run through a slew of powerhouses (USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Kansas), or Butler's returning to the Final Four for the second straight year while being a Number 1 or 2 neither time, but the ladies' tournament has drama aplenty.

First, as mentioned, there is the fourth meeting of the year anticipated between UConn and their archrivals, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

"It's going to be rough," UConn Superstar Maya Moore said of the match. "We know each other so well and there are not a lot of surprises. It's going to be a battle to grind it out. We're representing well for our conference. It should be fun."

While it's unlikely that anyone but the eventual winner will look like they're having fun at any point during Sunday's Final Four matchup, if anyone was, it ought to be Moore. The senior point guard is a four-time All-American, whose final shot of Tuesday night's game (she had a game-high 28 points) gave her 3,000 points for her career, a distinction only 7 other women have reached in the NCAA.

"I don't think about [that] right now," Moore said.

"We did talk in the locker room that this was going to be a big night for Maya," Auriemma said after cutting down the nets in the aftermath of the Elite Eight victory. "You could just sense it."

What many are wondering is if Moore is sensing a third-consecutive national championship, which is a very real possibility, considering their 3-0 record against the Irish this year. The Irish, though, are riding high after dismissing #1 Tennessee, an all-star laden team led by legendary coach Pat Summit.

Despite all the attention heaped on UConn, Moore, and the Big East rivalry, the other Final Four matchup isn't one to sleep on, either.

Number two Texas A&M, which is playing in the program's first Final Four, just beat a team against whom they were previously 0-3 this season, #1 Baylor.

"Our team has gone through so much; we've gone through so many things," A&M point guard Sydney Colson said. "We have so much resilience."

They needed it to get by Baylor, led by 6'8 sophomore Brittney Griner. Griner had an impressive game, with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, but she made just 6 of her 18 shot attempts from the floor, and was hounded the whole game by fellow All-American Danielle Adams, who stands 6'1.

"My shots weren't falling," Griner said glumly after the defeat. "It wasn't anything A&M did."

A&M will play the other remaining #1 (other than UConn), Stanford, who handily beat 11th-seeded Gonzaga, 83-60, in the Elite Eight. The Cardinal romped to a 33-2 schedule this year, which, of course, includes THE victory, the one that ended UConn's 80-game winning streak, back on December 30.

The women's Final Four will be played Sunday evening, the day after the men's semifinals.

Finals Week, March 27, 2011

Ladies and gentlemen: we have our Four.

No, really.

After the annual awesomeness known as the NCAA tournament (also nicknamed March Madness) began two weeks ago, with 68 teams alive, spawning workplace and college dorm brackets/betting pools everywhere, these are the four teams left alive: Butler University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Connecticut, and Virginia Commonwealth University. In short, technical, acronym language, that's BU, UK, UCONN and VCU.

Yes, basketball fans, this is what we've got. The defending national runner-up, who lost last year's national championship game by two points (Butler). A resilient big-name squad who lost big-name players to the NBA draft last year but still nipped two of this year's best teams in the tournament(Kentucky). The male counterpart to the ultimate dominant women's basketball franchise (UCONN). And a 15th seed that you've probably never heard of (VCU). That, respectively, is an 8th seed, a 4th seed, a 3rd seed, and an 11th seed.

I didn't make a bracket myself, but I know people at work, at my alma mater, at my church, and at my home (hello, Dad) who did, and almost all of them were way off. Top top seed Ohio State lost to Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen. Defending champion Duke lost to Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen, who lost to Connecticut last night. Number one Pitt was eliminated by Butler a week ago on that shocking last-second foul. And number one Kansas, my dad's pick, lost to VCU in one of the great all-time upsets.

Because of my work schedule and the tournament schedule, I didn't get to make a post about the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight action, but here's what happened:
Sweet Sixteen:
#4 Kentucky beat #1 Ohio State.
#5 Arizona beat #1 Duke.
#1 Kansas beat #12 Richmond.
#3 UCONN beat #2 San Diego State.
#2 Florida beat #3 Brigham Young.
#8 Butler beat #4 Wisconsin.
#11 VCU beat #10 Florida State.
#2 North Carolina beat #11 Marquette

;Then, last night and throughout this afternoon, the Elite Eight burst onto the scene. The matchups: Butler vs. Florida, Arizona vs. UCONN, VCU vs. Kansas, and Kentucky vs. North Carolina.

First, the drama-loving darlings of Butler beat Florida, 74-71, in overtime, becoming the first team to ever make back-to-back Final Fours without being seeded 1 or 2 either time. Their coach, Brad Stevens, 34, is also the youngest man to ever coach in a Final Four twice. Due to their record of success, their gusty play and their constant ability to make late dramatics work, the Bulldogs could be considered a heavyweight going forward.

Then the Arizona Wildcats failed to duplicate the fast and furious magic that won them an impressive double-digit victory over the defending-champion Duke Blue Devils when they fell, 65-63, to UCONN and Kemba Walker to send the Huskies to their second Final Four in three years.

Sunday afternoon, just as people like myself were getting out of church, a David/Goliath matchup for the ages began, with #11 VCU, who had to beat USC just to get into the Round of 64 two weeks ago, facing the last #1 seed, the Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas won the 2008 National Championship and, with the superb athletic tandem of identical twins Marcus and Markieff Morris, looked nigh unbeatable. Surprise! The VCU Rams, supported by a small quadrant of fans in a vastly pro-Kansas arena, led Kansas by 14 at the half and withstood a late charge with timely shooting and tough, full-bodied defense, to win, 71-61. They are the official tournament darlings (sorry Butler), a bandwagon people are jumping on by the hundreds, and just the third 11-seed to ever make the Final Four (LSU, 1986; George Mason, 2006). They are reminding us that anything is possible. And they have a coach, Shaka Smart, who is just 33.

Following that stirring story came a classic heavyweight matchup, #4 Kentucky vs #2 North Carolina. They brought a combined 4,085 victories (2,052 for KU, 2,033 for UNC), 12 National Championships (7 for KU, 5 for UNC). And they were playing for a spot (the final spot) in the Final Four, a distinction the schools had earned a combined 31 times coming into the game (13 for KU, a record 18 for UNC). As you might expect with such powers, it was a battle all the way, with big fouls, players chirping at each other (and the refs), thunderous three-pointers and a pair of freshmen (KU's Brandon Knight, UNC's Harrison Barnes) putting their teams on their shoulders for minutes at a time. But, despite their efforts, the Tar Heels never led after the game's opening minutes, even though they tied the second half late. The Wildcats always seemed to have an answer (one with three points attached to it) for each mini-surge, and held off UNC for a 76-69 victory. That made Coach John Calipari the second man to take three programs to the Final Four (University of Massachusets, 1996; University of Memphis, 2008; KU).

The Final Four matchups, set for Saturday, April 2, are Butler-VCU and Kentucky-UConn, to be played in Houston. The winners will, of course, meet in Monday's NCAA National Championship Game. A game Butler lost last season by mere inches.

America's SWEEThearts, March 21, 2011

After 52 college basketball games in five days, televised consecutively on four different networks, we have our Sweet Sixteen.

There was the First Four, where teams battled for low seeds and tournament berths, the Round of 64 where some high seeds stopped short, and the Round of 32, where David beat Goliath repeatedly in shocking fashion.

And then there were sixteen.

Those sixteen are:
5th-seeded Arizona
8th-seeded Butler
3rd-seeded Brigham Young (BYU)
3rd-seeded Connecticut (UCONN)
1st-seeded Duke
2nd-seeded Florida
10th-seeded Florida State (FSU)
1st-seeded Kansas
4th-seeded Kentucky (UK)
11th-seeded Marquette
2nd-seeded North Carolina (UNC)
1st-seeded Ohio State
12th-seeded Richmond
2nd-seeded San Diego State
11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
4th-seeded Wisconsin

You've got three Number One seeds: Kansas, Duke, and Ohio State.

Kansas crushed 16th-seeded Boston University and then soundly beat 9th-ranked Illinois to make it this far, riding the strength of their three-point shooting and the parallel unparallelled skills of the Morris brothers, Marcus and Markief.

Duke, which has been in headlines for its recovery of star freshman point guard Kyrie Irving, who had been out of action since December after suffering a toe injury. Irving's return could have rattled a group that was truly gelling as a team during their ACC Tournament Championship run, but instead led them to a blowout victory over 16-seed Hampton University. They were met by a stiff challenge in the Michigan Wolverines in round two, the same Wolverines who beat 4th-seeded Tennessee by 30 points in the first round, and held them off for a 73-71 victory. ACC Player of the Year Nolan Smith led the defending-national champion Blue Devils with 24 points. The Michigan victory gave "Coach K" Mike Kryzewski his 900th career victory, just the second with that number after Bob Knight. If Duke wins out and repeats its national championship, Coach K would claim the all-time record, surpassing Knight's 903 wins.

Ohio State made mincemeat out of a pair of lower seeded teams, blasting First Four survivor UT-San Antonio 75-46 before pummeling 8th-seeded George Mason 98-66. Said Naismith Player of the Year candidate Jared Sullinger after the latter: "We can play better." This after a game where David Lighty scored 25, going 7/7 on three-point attempts, Sullinger and teammate William Buford each scored 18, and the team totaled 16 three-pointers. The Buckeyes are due, however, for a could-be classic matchup with fellow heavyweight Kentucky (a 4 seed) in the next round.

Two Number Two seeds advanced:
Mountain West Conference champion San Diego State made quick work of UNCO, the University of Northern Colorado, in the round of 64, then beat the Temple Owls 71-64 in double overtime to advance to the sweet 16.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, who won the ACC's regular season championship before losing the conference tournament championship game to archrival Duke, dropped 102 points on their first round opponent, 15th-seeded Long Island University (LIU), then clawed their way past the seventh-seeded Washington Huskies, 86-83, to move on.

Two Number Three seeds advanced:

While their brethren Threes were upset within a span of minutes of each other Sunday night, UCONN and BYU each gave impressive performances, the Huskies proving it isn't only their women's team that rocks with an 81-52 victory over Bucknell in the first round and a 69-58 defeat of conference rival Cincinnati in round two. Meanwhile, the Cougars JIMMERED their way into the Sweet 16 with arguably the nation's most popular player, scoring machine Jimmer Fredette. They beat Wofford 74-66 and Gonzaga 89-67, with Fredette scoring more than 30 in each game. He is arguably the front-runner for Naismith Player of the Year honors.

Number Fours Kentucky and Wisconsin each advanced, with the Wildcats nipping Princeton 59-57 in round 1 and avenging last year's shocking Elite Eight loss to West Virginia with a 73-68 defeat of the Mountaineers. Wisconsin beat Belmont 72-58 and then Kansas State 70-65, outlasting KSU point guard Jacob Pullen's tournament high 38 points.

5th-seeded Arizona beat Memphis (77-75) and Texas (70-69).

Last year's tournament darlings, the eighth-seeded Butler Bulldogs, scraped past Old Dominion, 60-58 in round 1, then upset #1 Pittsburgh 71-70 in an ending that will live in infamy. Butler was up 70-69 on the Panthers after a Josh Smith layup with 2.2 seconds left. But Pitt's Greg Brown, preparing to make a desperate final shot, was fouled at midcourt, 50 feet from the basket, with 1.4 seconds left, by Butler's hero-turned-goat Shelvin Mack. Brown made his first free throw, tying the game, and his second clanged off the rim and landed in the hands of big Butler forward Matt Howard, who was the hero of round 1 with a last-second layup that sent ODU home. This time, he grabbed the ball and turned, attempting to make a wild shot, while Pitt's Nasir Robinson grabbed his arms and back, trying to restrain him. The foul, with 0.9 seconds left, has made the unfortunate Robinson a popular figure over the past few days, primarily because Howard made one free throw to break the 70-all tie. Two fouls in 1.4 seconds gave Butler a most improbably win that has been the talk of the sporting world. Last year, Butler surprised everyone by appearing in the national championship game, and, with the help of one current-NBA rookie Gordon Heyward, nearly had a miracle finish, losing to Duke by just three. Their repeat hopes are gaining steam.

Tenth-seeded Florida State battered Number two Notre Dame, 71-57, in the round of 32, following a surprising defeat of Texas A&M in round 1, 57-50.

Late last night, two 11-seeds found their calling, as Marquette shocked #3 Syracuse, 66-62, and VCU, who had to claw their way into the tournament and then beat #6 Georgetown in round 1, crushed a heavily favored Purdue team (a 3 seed), 94-76, for their first Sweet Sixteen berth ever.

And twelfth-seeded Richmond dumped 13-seeded Morehead State, who had shocked #4 Lousiville in the first round, 65-48.

Much has talk has been made of how the city of Richmond now has as many schools in the Sweet Sixteen (Richmond and VCU) as the Big East conference has (UConn, Marquette), after the Big East landed an NCAA record 11 teams into the tournament.

The matchups Thursday and Friday will be as follows:
Ohio St. vs. Kentucky, Marquette vs. North Carolina, Duke vs. Arizona, and UConn vs. San Diego State; Kansas vs. Richmond, VCU vs. Florida State, Butler vs. Wisconsin, BYU vs. Florida.

The big ones to watch are OSU vs UK, UConn vs. San Diego, VCU vs. Florida State, BYU vs. Florida, and there's always a chance something wild will happen in Butler's game vs. the Wisconsin Badgers. They've just got a history...

Speaking of the NCAA, March 21, 2011

So, as you may be able to tell by my last post, which was all about Day 1 of the Round of 64 in the NCAA Men's Tournament, I bit off more than I could chew by trying to approach NCAA coverage that way. There were so many games per day, and they went late into the night-and I was thus up late watching them-that I had to give up that approach. The games have been excellent, including last night, when three teams seeded 10 or higher beat 2 or 3 seeds to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The tournament has been thrilling so far, including an absolutely unforgettable finish by the Butler Bulldogs, who shocked #1 Pittsburgh, buckets of three-pointers by some guy named Jimmer, big-time upsets and the spectacle of blood-soaked Wisconsin players competing to the end in a big win over Kansas State.

NCAA Tournament, Round of 64-Day 1; March 18, 2010

With the First Four in the books (the winners of the games being UNC-Asheville, Clemson, Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Texas-San Antonio) the round of 64 kicked off yesterday with 16 games played at such timing and spacing that three different networks showed basketball for some five hours--heaven for the true sports fan.

Since baseball hasn't started up yet and football has ended-and may be ended for a while-and my dad and I are big sports fans, this is the first time in a while I've really been into basketball. I watched the March Madness '08 tournament with relish, even switching my vote from one team to another during Kansas' surprising Final Four massacre of UNC. This year, since I'm learning more names and more rules and since I enjoy my dad's gruff-but-usually-accurate (think Simon Cowell) commentary on plays and coaching, I've been watching a lot of hoops. Some NBA (by now, I'm quite well-acquainted with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard, Paul Pierce, etc...) and some college (in my house we're Duke fans).

But there's no question that college ball is more interesting than pro ball. The games are shorter, the players are more selfless, the crowds are far more enthusiastic, the stakes (pride, bragging rights) are much higher, and it's just more fun to watch. The scores are closer to earth and the officiating tends to be better.

I worked from 1-9 yesterday, so I missed the vast majority of the basketball action yesterday, and I was too tired to finish what I was able to watch late. But it was a scintillating day of action where some favorites ruled the roost but where some lower-seeded teams sparked upsets worthy of their own true-story film.

Yes, there were beatdowns. The third-seeded Connecticut Huskies whomped the 14-seeded Bucknell Bison, 81-52, with All-American Kemba Walker leading the charge with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists in a magnificent performance. Number-two Florida rolled over its 15-seeded-opponent, University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), 79-15, and another Number Two seed, San Diego State, rejected the University of Colorado, 68-50.

But not all top dogs reigned supreme on this exciting day. Sixth-ranked St. John's, who beat 1 seeds Duke and Pittsburgh during the regular season but were playing without injured point guard D.J. Kennedy, lost an early lead and never recovered, losing to 11-seeded Gonzaga 86-71. Fifth-seeded Vanderbilt suffered their third first-round loss in as many years, losing 69-66 to twelfth-seeded Richmond.

On ESPN recently there has been some amusing discussion about who could be this year's Butler (some saying it could be Butler itself), Butler being Butler University, Butler of the Horizon Conference who rose to prominence during last year's NCAA tournament and ended up playing all-time great Duke in the National Championship Game. Their run memorably ended on a halfcourt shot by Gordon Heyward that nipped the rim and bounced away. Last night they got another memorable ending, this one in their favor, when Matt Howard tipped in a ball that had been flung and then deflected near the hoop as time expired, with the Bulldogs' game against ninth-seeded Old Dominion tied at 58. Shawn Vanzant did the flinging, and then Andrew Smith hit the ball, where it deflected off the backboard. As the final seconds ticked away, Howard flicked it in for the 60-58 victory.

In one of the day's biggest upsets, fourth-seeded Louisville, whose impressive run through the Big East tournament had fallen just short of the intended goal with a championship game loss to UCONN, saw their run end as early as possible when Morehead State's Demonte Harper nailed a three-pointer with 4.2 seconds left to give the 13-seeded Eagles a one-point lead, 62-61. The play was based, according to reports, on a dream Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall had the night before. A dream victory in more than one way.

The Temple Owls had a dream of their own to remember last night, when Juan Fernandez hit a one-footed fadeaway from 18-feet distant to give the Owls a 64-62 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

And after an unusually difficult night on the court, Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight shook off a night where he missed his first seven shot attempts and landed a driving layup with 2 seconds left to give the UK juggernaut a breathtaking 59-57 victory over 13th-seeded Princeton.

Naismith Player of the Year favorite Jimmer Fredette scored 32 points in Brigham Young's 74-66 win over Wofford, a school I almost attended, to keep that 3-seed's hopes alive.

This day of exciting, often edge-of-your-seat action did not even include three of the number one seeds (Ohio State, Kansas, Duke), who will all play Friday. Duke has been in the headlines for the recovery of superstar freshman guard Kyrie Irving, who missed almost 30 games with a toe injury. The Blue Devils won the ACC tournament with impressive full-team play that some say could be hindered by the return of a star of Irving's magnitude.

Here are all the scores from Day 1 of the Round of 64:

5-Kansas State-73, 12-Utah State-68; 11-Gonzaga-86, 6-St. John's-71;
6-Cincinnati-78, 11-Missouri-63; 7-UCLA-78, 10-Michigan State-76;
4-Wisconsin-72, 13-Belmont-58; 3-UCONN-81,14-Bucknell-52
3-BYU-74; 14-Wofford-66;
2-Florida-79, 15-University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB)-51
2-San Diego State University-68, 15-University of Northern Colorado-50
12-Richmond-69, 5-Vanderbilt-66
1-Pittsburgh-74, 16-UNC Asheville-51; 4-Kentucky-59, 13-Princeton-57
7-Temple-66, 10-Penn State-64; 13-Morehead State-62, 4-Lousiville-61
8-Butler-60, 9-Old Dominion-58; 5-West Virginia-84; 12-Clemson-76

Devils' Advocate, March 13, 2011

The Duke Blue Devils won revenge, bragging rights and a Number One seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament with a 75-58 battering of blood rival North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship early Sunday afternoon.

The Devils (30-4 going into the NCAA tournament) found today's victory particularly sweet after the UNC Tar Heels (26-7) won the ACC Regular Season Championship at their behest last week in a 81-67 pounding. Led by senior Nolan Smith's 20 points, Duke captured a no-doubt-about-it victory against a team that had led them by 10+ at halftime in both of their meetings this season.

"It was the ultimate team effort," Smith said. "Everybody made big plays. When you do that, there's something inside you that you just have to feel good and we felt that."

The team effort grabbed them their record-19th ACC Tournament title overall, third in a row and fifth in the last seven years. It also snagged Mike Kryzewski (more affectionally known, of course, as "Coach K") his 13th title, tying him with North Carolina great Dean Smith for the most all-time.

The Devils jumped out of the gate, running away with early margins of 8-0 and 22-8, playing the tall, athletic Tar Heels tough in the paint and on the boards. The team effort Smith spoke of saw forward Kyle Singler and guard Seth Curry each notch 11 points, and forwards Miles Plumlee and Ryan Kelly and guard Andre Dawkins each added 9, continuing a conference tournament trend that saw the Blue Devils move a little more into team-wide offensive territory, rather than focusing mostly on the trio of Smith, Singler and Curry.

Duke played fast, furious defense, snagging breakaways and hounding UNC's tall men, like seven-footer Tyler Zeller, and doing their best to suffocate their opponent's big scorers, like forward Harrison Barnes (16, after scoring 40 the previous night), Zeller (14), and John Henson (10). The Tar Heels never gave up and fought hard in the second half, often making highlight-reel dunks and layups, but they were never closer than 9 points down after the 22-8 deficit early. Their attempts to make catch-up runs late were cut short by key three-pointers from Curry, Kelly and Dawkins. They were also penalized at the free-throw line by Smith, who was a perfect 7-for-7 and was named tournament MVP after the game.

"What they did was fantastic," North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said of Duke.

After becoming the ACC's clearly-outlined top dogs by the end of the regular season, they both ripped through the tournament, North Carolina overcoming double-digit defeats each night, including last night's semifinal against Clemson, while Duke spread the wealth around in another double-digit revenge victory, this one against notable NCAA tourney snub Virginia Tech.

"I love the ACC," Coach K said afterward. "The ACC has made me a better coach. I just feel that when you are a part of something bigger than you and you're in a tournament representing that conference you should try to be at your best...We don't talk about the NCAA tournament or anything like that. We just say we want to win this tournament. You could see how happy we are."

As much as they relish the ACC tournament victory, they are made all the happier by this victory's grand prize, a Number One seed in the 68-team NCAA tournament (of which they are the defending champions). The other Number One seeds are Ohio State (number one overall, who won the Big Ten Championship with a 71-60 defeat of Penn State today), Kansas and Pittsburgh. North Carolina, which started the season slowly but rolled down the stretch, leads the pack of Number Twos that also includes San Diego State (Mountain West Conference Champions), Notre Dame and Florida. The Number Threes are Syracuse, Connecticut (UCONN, the Big East Champs), Purdue and Brigham Young University. The Fours are: Kentucky (SEC Champs), Texas, Louisville and Wisconsin.

The NCAA tournament starts on Friday.

Madness in March, March 12, 2010

NCAA BASKETBALL
Tomorrow, Sunday, March 13, is not only the day we change our clocks forward an hour but also the day 68 lucky teams throughout men's Division 1 basketball find out they are in the NCAA Tournament, an annual event often referred to as March Madness.

For today, though, the madness involves the way the conference tournaments are breaking down? Jimmer scores 52? Check. Louisville arguably the hottest team in the country? Check. Duke/UNC scheduled for a second date in two weeks (third on the season)? Check. Number-one overall Ohio State rolling toward a position as one of the favorites in the big dance? Checkeroo.

Okay, let's face it. Selection Sunday will look a whole lot worse to some teams than it will to others. After all, teams are given 1st-16th seeds, which means some quietly-successful teams will have to enter the tournament playing the best teams in the country, which almost always lead to stat-padding and blowout losses. The big question right now, hours before the selections, are who will get what? Number one seeds? If you've been paying attention to the NCAA this season, three teams (Ohio State, Kansas, Duke) have lost the week they received the #1 ranking, and two others (Texas and Pitt) have been on the cusp before suffering debilitating losses to unranked opponents. So it's clear that there are no givens. Well, maybe one or two. Ohio State and Kansas are expected to be number ones, given their status as elite that has remained this year despite losses here and there.
>>>>Note: Kansas is currently up 63-55 on Texas, about two thirds of the way through the second half of the Big Twelve Conference Championship Game. Nationwide, Kansas is ranked Number 2 in the country, and Texas is ranked 10th.
>>>>Tomorrow, Ohio State (which nipped unranked Michigan today by a score of 68-61) will play unranked Penn State for the Big Ten title.

Otherwise, it's difficult to pick out a given for a Number One. Brigham Young University, behind star Jimmer Fredette (see below), got as high as third in the rankings this season, but lost twice to conference rival New Mexico and and lost third-scorer Brandon Davies to university student honor code violations. Last night, BYU finally beat New Mexico, behind 52 points (33 in the first half!) from Fredette, arguably the front-runner in Naismith Player of the Year contention. BYU is currently down, 43-31, to San Diego State University, whom they beat twice this year, in the Mountain West Conference final.

Then there's defending national champion Duke University. The Blue Devils were ranked #1 overall twice this year, but lost it in January after dropping a contest against conference foe Florida State and in late February after being beaten by underdog Virginia Tech, another conference rival. The Devils just avenged the latter game, beating the Hokies 77-63 today in the ACC Conference semifinals behind Player of the Year candidate Nolan Smith's 27 points. Tomorrow, at 12:30 p.m., the Devils will take on blood rival UNC after the Tar Heels beat Clemson, 92-87, in overtime in the other semifinal. This is just weeks after UNC dealt Duke a difficult double-digit loss in their second season meeting, after the more-experienced Devils recovered from an early deficit to beat the Heels at Duke in January. Duke has been in the headlines all year; North Carolina recovered from a sluggish start to romp through the rest of the regular season schedule and the conference tournament so far (well, they've been down by at least 10 in all tourney game so far, but it hasn't hurt their record). The two teams are the defending national champions of the past 2 years, and it is believed that Duke would be an automatic #1 if they win the season's rubber match tomorrow. North Carolina would likely be close, but a debate would still rage.

Last year, Duke beat rising star Butler by a basket in a classic game that came down to a nearly-there last-second half-court shot by Butler's Gordon Heyward to claim the title. The year before, North Carolina rolled through Michigan State in Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson's senior year curtain call.

We're not quite into the thick of the madness this year, but we're getting quite close.

This week's top-ranked teams nationwide were:
1. Ohio State
2. Kansas
3. Pittsburgh (lost to UCONN in the Big East Conference tourney two days ago)
4. Notre Dame (lost last night in overtime to Louisville)
5. Duke
6. North Carolina
7. San Diego State
8. Brigham Young
9. Purdue (lost yesterday to Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament)
10. Texas

Note: San Diego went on to beat BYU in the Mountain West Conference Final, 72-52.

Heat Getting Burned, March 6, 2011

"The Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games. The world is better now because the Heat are losing." -Miami superstar Dwayne Wade, one of the Big Three, on the notion that people love rooting against the star-studded Heat

Back in July, LeBron James gave today's society one of its lasting plays on words when he said he was taking his talents to Miami, where he, perennial superstar D-Wade and free agent Toronto forward Chris Bosh were going to form an elite trio with championship-level ability. Right now, it's hard to say that James, Wade, Bosh, or anyone else's talents are the answer.

The Heat have lost four of their last five games, the one win an eight-point, Feb. 25 win over the lowly Washington Wizards, and the losses are tell-tale because the now-third-ranked Heat (#3 in the Eastern Conference behind the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls) are 0-9 against the league's best four teams (Celtics, Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks).

There was a close loss (93-89) in Chicago to MVP favorite Derrick Rose and the Bulls on the 24th, the win over Washington at home the next day, the widely-viewed superstar bash with the Carmelo Anthony-Amare Stoudemire New York Knicks on Feb. 27 (which the Heat lost by 5). Then they blew a 24-point lead at home to the Orlando Magic, who are fourth in the Eastern Conference, on March 3. The next night they were disemboweled in San Antonio by the NBA's best team, who dealt them a 125-95 loss. And earlier today, Sunday, March 6, they suffered a crushing, one-point loss at home to the Bulls, against whom they are 0-3 this year.

Before the season began, the Big Three of Wade, James, and Bosh sent Miami fans into a frenzy, declaring that they would win "not one, not two, not three, not four, not five" world championships. The team scuffled early on as two guys (James and Wade) used to being the go-to guy learned to play together. Then they started rolling, losing only a single game in December (98-96, to the second-place-in-the-West Mavericks).

Their current 43-20 record is nothing to scoff at. LeBron James scored 51 points in a game against the Magic in mid-February, Dwayne Wade scored 40 points in consecutive games, and the entire Big Three made the Eastern Conference All-Star team, Wade and James as starters. Along the way, the Three have gotten big help from Mike Miller, Eddie House, the now-traded Carlos Arroyo, and newcomer Mike Bibby.

But with the season more than half over, and the playoff picture coming into focus, it's becoming clear that Miami has problems with any teams over .500, not just the league's best handful of teams. They have yet to beat #1 Boston in three tries, and add Chicago to that same list, now the #2. They've split four face-offs with in-state rival Orlando. And their best moment of the year might have been a Christmas Day defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers in L.A.

But that grand holiday moment is a distant memory now. The Heat led by 12 at one point in today's crushing 87-86 home court loss to Chicago, where Derrick Rose dumped 27 points on them and Luol Deng added 18. The Big Three combined for 63 points, led by James' 26, but this season has been a study in how stats-padding superstars don't always add up to big wins. The Bulls outscored the Heat 23-16 in the third quarter despite just 39 percent shooting by Chicago--five Miami turnovers no doubt contributed directly to the loss.

Superstar-laden teams are often villified, usually unfairly, by players and fans around the league: see New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Lakers, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, etc... The Heat have been no different, but now that they've proven the Big Three can play, and win, together, they need to prove that they can beat the best. After all, a crowd-pleasing declaration of "not one, not two, not three" championships can be a hard act to follow.

Woe-for-Five? Not So Much, February 20, 2010

In a week of jaw-dropping futility by the top-ranked men's college basketball teams in the country, one stood tall.

Well, Five stood tall.

After #1 Kansas, #2 Ohio State, #3 Texas and #4 Pittsburgh all lost this week, the fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils smothered Georgia Tech, 79-57, in a game that may put the former #1 team back in that slot after the other top contenders' struggles.

Playing in front of their faithfully-energized fan base, on Coach K Court, the Blue Devils had some trouble with the Yellow Jackets' energy and athleticism early, but righted the ship after Coach Mike Kryzewski was fired up on a no-call for a charge and received a technical for arguing. Pumped by their fearless, excellent leader, the Blue Devils swarmed in a long-shooting, post-charging attack that overwhelmed the Jackets.

Naismith Player of the Year candidate Nolan Smith had 28 points and 7 rebounds. Senior Kyle Singler rebounded from the single-lowest scoring output of his career (2 points vs. UVA) with 15 points and added 9 rebounds, and forward Mason Plumlee had 9 points and 9 boards in a game that was over at halftime. Once they righted the ship and had the adrenalien pumping, the Devils led by 9 at the half and raced skyward after that, ending the game with only two of their starters (guard Seth Curry and forward Ryan Kelly) on the floor.

Duke was #1 for the season's opening weeks-coming off a National Championship Game win over Butler-until they lost to conference rival Florida State. A surprisingly tough loss to unranked St. John's sunk them lower, but they've recovered, showing particular tenacity in a gritty win over rival North Carolina at home two weeks ago.

Could they be back at No. 1 when the polls come out tomorrow?