Archive for April, 2010
Don’t Look Now — New York Mets Riding High On 7-Game Win Streak!
Friday, April 30th, 2010 | MLB, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Sports | No Comments
Call it one of the biggest surprises during the early part of the 2010 MLB baseball schedule – the New York Mets are in 1st place in the NL East.
The Mets have rose clutch hitting from David Wright and rookie Ike Davis, and stellar pitching from Johan Santana (3-1, 2.08 ERA & 1.12 WHIP) and Mike Pelfrey (4-0, 0.69 ERA & 1.19 WHIP).
The Mets are 11-5 at home at CITI Field, they are 13-9 overall (after starting the season slow by losing 6 out of the first 8 games that they played) and they open up a big 3-game weekend set against the Phillies in Philadelphia tonight. Jonathan Niese, in his 1st full season as a regular starter, will look to keep up his excellent pitching (0-1, 3.68 ERA & 1.86 WHIP) against Ryan Howard and the Phillies. This will certainly be a good test for the upstart New York Mets who are looking to dethrone the back-to-back NL pennant Phillies.
Game-Winning Bunt Single Draws Ire of Opposing Team’s Pitcher
Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB, Sports | No Comments
I love this – Howie Kendrick won the game for the Angels on Wednesday night with a 2-out bunt single that enabled the winning run to score from 3rd base in the bottom of the 9th inning to break a 3-3 tie. Kendrick expertly pushed the bunt past Indians’ pitcher Chris Perez and neither 1st base man or 2nd baseman could make the play to get Kendrick out at 1st base. Most walk-off hits don’t occur that way, but when you see an opening (with the right side of the infield playing so deep), sometimes you just have to take advantage of what the other team gives you. Now Perez, however, didn’t feel the same way about the “bush-league” walk off bunt by Kendrick. This is what he had to say: “It was a bad baseball play that happened to work out. I don’t want to say it was bush league. But you never see that. Nintey-nine percent of hitters in that situation would rather win the game with a hit, not a bunt… It was a stupid play that just happened to work.”
I’d love to see what Perez had to say if one of his players made the same smart that Kendrick made to win a game for the Indians. I have a feeling he’d think otherwise. Gotta love baseball players…
Bulls Season Ends with 96-94 Loss to Lebron James & the Cavs
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bulls NBA season is finally over with their 96-94 to Lebron James and the Cavaliers on Tuesday night. The Cavs won the series 3 games to 1, but the Bulls played the top seed in the East surprisingly well.
Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 31 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Luol Deng had another good showing, knocking down 26 points and grabbing 6 boards. Never thought I would say this, but Joakim Noah had an “off” night with only 8 points and 9 rebounds. Crazy to think that that is a bad night for Noah – 2 years ago, we would be saying that Noah is showing some promise. Now that we know what he is capable of night in and night out, that seems like a poor effort for the 3rd year big man out of Florida.
Lebron James was relatively quiet, although he did almost net his 2nd triple-double of the series with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
Now the 2 biggest questions are who will replace Vinny Del Negro as the head coach of the Bulls for the 2010-2011 NBA schedule and will the Bulls be able to land one of the big free agents this summer? We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything on either front…
Blackhawks Top Predators 4-3, Advance to Conference Semifinals v Vancouver Canucks for 2nd Straight Season
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, NHL, Sports, Vancouver Canucks | 1 Comment
The Chicago Blackhawks got it done on Monday night, defeating the Predators 4-3 n Nashville to clinch the 4-2 series win. Finally. It was a hard-fought series and the Blackhawks should feel a sense of relief to make it through to the next round.
The Blackhawks quickly raced out to a 3-1 lead over the Predators with 1st period goals by Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp. But 2 goals by Jason Arnott before the end of the period squared the game at 3. But a stupid hooking penalty by by Jerred Smithson with under a minute to play in the 1st period set up Jonathan Toews power play goal with 30 seconds to go in the 1st period. That proved to be the game winner as the 2 teams played scoreless hockey the rest of the way until John Madden’s empty netter with 8 seconds to go in regulation.
Kudos to Brent Sopel, Niklas Hjalmarsson and the rest of the power play killers. The Blackhawks held the Preds in check all series long – the Predators only converted 1 of 26 power play chances in the 6 game series.
Kudos should also go to rookie goalie Antti Niemi. Niemi made 25 saves in Monday night’s clinching win and kept the Preds off the scoreboard after a shaky start to the game. Niemi shutout the Preds twice during the series and seems poised to be able to rise to the occasion during the playoffs for the Blackhawks.
The Hawks now face a familiar opponent in the Conference Semifinals – the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks were the 3 seed in the Western Conference this year with 103 points. The Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings in 6 games, winning the last 3 games of the series. The Hawks and Canucks met in the Conference Semifinals last season as well. Although the Canucks had home ice advantage, the Hawks won in 6 games and advanced to the Conference Finals. During the 2009-2010 NHL season, the Hawks and Canucks split the season series 2-2. Each team won a game on the other’s home ice too. It should be a fun series to watch…
Huge Weekend for Chicago MLB Baseball Teams — Cubs & White Sox Both Sweep Weekend Series
Monday, April 26th, 2010 | Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, MLB, Sports | No Comments
WOW — what a great weekend for both Chicago MLB baseball teams. Both the Cubs and White Sox pulled off weekend sweeps to get back on track after a slow start to the 2010 MLB schedule.
The Cubs outscored the Brewers 25-4 in their 3-game weekend series at Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Cubs bats finally came to life and the pitching was just as impressive. Kosuke Fukudome and Tyler Colvin each hit 2 home runs in the series and Ryan Theriot racked up 9 hits in the series (with 14 hits in his last 5 games) to raise his batting average to .329. Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Randy Wells picked up the wins and Carlos Zambrano made his 1st appearance out of the bullpen in Saturday’s win (although he did give up an earned run).
The Cubs are now 9-10. They trail the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals by 2 and one half 5 games in the National League Central Division and open up a 7-game homestand against the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks. If Carlos Silva and the Cubs win tonight at Wrigley Field, the Cubs will be back at .500 with a 10-10 record.
The White Sox, meanwhile, took 3 straight games from the Seattle Mariners on home runs in their final at-bat in each game at U.S. Cellular Field over the weekend. In Friday’s 7-6 win, Andruw Jones’ 2nd home run of the game on his birthday gave the Sox the walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th inning. Saturday’s win was even more thrilling. After Bobby Jenks surrendered 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning in a 2-2 tie, the Sox found themselves in a big hole. But with one out, Paul Konerko hit his 6th home run of the season to get the Sox within 1. Then with 2 outs, Carlos Quentin walked to set up Alex Rios’ game-winning, walk-off home run to deep left field that gave the White Sox the 5-4. Paul Konerko followed up his Saturday performance with another big home run in the bottom of the 8th inning that broke a 2-2. 3 straight days – 3 straight game-winning home runs for the White Sox in their last at-bat. Incredible!
The White Sox are now 8-11. They trail the 1st place Minnesota Twins by 5 games in the American League Central Division and start a 6-game road trip against the Rangers in Texas and the Yankees in New York.
These 2 teams are far from being playoff teams right now, but more games like this and we could be seeing a “Red Line Series” in Chicago very very soon…
Lebron James, Cavs Too Much for Bulls in Easy 121-98 Win
Sunday, April 25th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, Sports | No Comments
Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were too much on Sunday at the United Center, as the Cavs cruised to an easy 121-98 over the Bulls. Lebron James notched a triple double in the win – 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Derrick Rose played well for the Bulls (21 points and 5 assists) as did Joakim Noah (21 points and 20 rebounds), but they did not have the help that they had in Thursday night’s impressive win over the Cavs. In that game, both Rose (37 points and 7 assists)and Noah (10 points and 15 rebounds) played well, but they also had a ton of help from Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng.
Now it’s back to Cleveland where the Cavs will look to close out the 1st round best of 7 series. Don’t expect this one to come back to the United Center folks…
WOW – Blackhawks Top Predators 5-4 in OT, Take 3-2 Series Lead
Saturday, April 24th, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, NHL, Sports | No Comments
Unbelievable! Patrick Kane’s rebound of a Jonathan Toews shot on goal tied the contest at 4-4 with just 14 seconds remaining on the clock in regulation. Marian Hossa atoned for his costly 5-minute major penalty with just over a minute left to play by scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. It was his 1st playoff goal in a Blackhawks uniform.
It was a game of 2 halves. After taking a 3-1 lead midway through the 2nd period, the Predators scored the next 3 goals to regain the lead 4-3. It looked like they would go home to Nashville with a chance to clinch the series when Hossa committed his costly penalty. But the Blackhawks pulled Antti Niemi to negate the 1-man advantage and after an offensive spurtm Kane knocked in the game-tying goal.
The Predators futility on the power play has cost them this series. They are the only NHL hockey team without a power play goal this post-season – 0 for 21. Now the Blackhawks can clinch the Quarterfinals round win on Monday night in Nashville.
Sharp, Niemi Help Blackhawks Even Series with Dominant 3-0 Win
Friday, April 23rd, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, NHL, Sports | 1 Comment
The Chicago Blackhawks came out on a mission on Thursday night and it showed in their 3-0 shutout of the Predators in Nashville. Antti Niemi was solid in net and Patrick Sharp put the Hawks on the board 1st with a power play goal halfway through the 1st period. But the biggest moment of the night came when Tomas Kopecky and Dave Bolland of the Blackhawks committed 2 stupid penalties which gave the Predators a 5-3 advanatge for 1:51 seconds of critical ice time. Somehow the Hawks defense buckled down and kept the Predators from scoring a game-tying goal, and that seemed to take the life out of the Preds and their raucous fans.
When goals by Jonathan Toews and Sharp in the 2nd period extended the Hawks lead to 3-0, you could tell that the game was over. Although the Predators out-shot the Blackhawks for a 2nd straight game (33-30), Antti Niemi rose to the occasion with a sensational performance. He stopped all 33 shots on goal and he was successful in killing all 6 power plays for the Nashville squad. Both of Niemi’s wins in the series have been shutouts.
What a night for the Hawks. With their backs against the walls, the team came together to put forth one of the best efforts of the year. It was great to have Brian Campbell back on defense (he logged 14 important minutes) and the team looks forward to taking the lead for the 1st time in the series when the 2 teams resume play on Saturday afternoon at the United Center. Can’t wait…
Big Night for Chicago Bulls & Blackhawks
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, Nashville Predators, NBA, NHL, Sports | 2 Comments
It is a big night tonight for Chicago sports teams as the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks face “must-win” games in their respective playoff series.
The Bulls find themselves in a 2-0 hole in their 1st round NBA series against the #1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers. Lebron James of the Cavs torched the Bulls for 40 points in Monday’s contest. Another loss tonight will all but end the series – can’t see the Bulls coming back from a 3-0 deficit. While Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah have had great performances in both games, the Bulls are going to need more consistent play out of Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson if they expect to contain Lebron tonight and pull of the win. Tip off is 6PM Chicago time and the game will be televised on TNT.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, find themselves in a 2-1 hole in Nashville. After a horrible, lifeless performance in Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Predators, the Blackhawks must play with more urgency tonight. Brian Campbell – who was injured in a vicious hit about 40 days in which he suffered a broken clavicle and broken ribs – is expected to make his return on the ice tonight. Brian Bickell and Adam Burrish will also return to the line action. Could the return of these 3 players be the energetic injection that will propel the Hawks to victory?
After out-shooting the Predators in Games 1 and 2 of the series, the Predators out-shot the Hawks in Game 3 at home. The Blackhawks will need to apply more constant pressure in tonight’s game and they will have to move the puck around instead of trying to skate past the stingy Nashville defenders. The Hawks will also need a better performance out of goalie Antti Niemi. He was so good in the 1st 2 games, but will need to rebound from a sub-par showing in Game 3. It is do-or-die for the Blackhawks tonight in Nashville. Let’s hope they can put together a solid game like they did on Sunday at the United Center. If they can win tonight and even the series at 2 games apiece, I like the Blackhawks chances of advancing to round 2 and avoiding the upset. Tonight’s puck-drop is scheduled at 7:30 Chicago time in Nashville and the game will be televised on TSN2.
Music City Nightmare — Listless Blackhawks Drop 4-1 Game to Predators
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, NHL, Sports | No Comments
Ouch – this is not how Coach Joel Qunneville drew it up – a 4-1 listless loss to the Predators in Nashville. The Hawks now trail the Predators 2 games to 1 in the best of 7 series, and the team has their backs up against the wall, needing to win 3 of the next 4 games in order to advance to the Conference Semi-Finals. Not an easy task, especially against a team that packs the defense in their own zone and limits scoring chances on a consistent basis. The Blackhawks are used to outscoring their opponents in just about every game. But last night, the Predators actually out-shot the Hawks 35-27. The Hawks did not get more than 10 shots on goal in any period. Can you believe that?
Tomas Kopecky scored the Hawks lone goal on a power play in the 1st period. That goal tied the game at 1. But the Predators pulled away in the 2nd period scoring on 2 of their 9 shots on goal against Antti Niemi. Not good. And the Predators didn’t let up on the Hawks in the 3rd period – actually outshooting them 13-10 and scoring once to extend their lead to 4-1.
The Hawks have their work cut out for them. Are the Hawks being stubborn in not changing their game plan for this careful, consistent Predators squad? If they are trying to change their own style of play, is it just not working? Patrick Sharp said — “We need to get back to the drawing board and be better in Game 4.” That leads you to believe that the Hawks have not made the necessary adjustments leading into Game 3. Will Coach Quenneville do his job and make the changes? “I really thought we lost all momentum in that second period, and they took the game over. I think the building was alive. It had some personality. We put ourselves in the spot we’re in.”
The Blackhawks are just 8-18 in playoff series in which they have lost 2 of the 1st 3 games. Not a good stat. I still have faith that the Hawks will find a way to win Game 4 in Nashville. They had their backs against the wall in Game 2 and they found a way to win 2-0. Now it’s time to do the same on the road. Only 24 hours to go – then we’ll find out how tough this Blackhawks team really is…
