Archive for May 2008
Celtics 1 Game Away…Welcome Back Jesus Shuttlesworth!
30. May 2008 by rich.
…Well it’s down to the final hour of my 24th birthday, so I figured I would quickly stop in here. Last nights game was quite unique. At first I wanted to punch the TV the Celtics were playing so bad and just not thinking. Then they were playing so well that I felt like I was on cloud nine. Then suddenly it was a one point game and I felt like I was going to vomit on my living room carpet. Then Ray Allen hit a jumper (will the real Jesus Shuttlesworth please stand up? Or should I say remain standing after last nights stellar performance)…Anyways…Then we decide to play a game of lets foul and hope they miss FT’s, which luckily they did, and the Celtics made theirs. I tell you, I honestly almost couldn’t watch the ending. I was panicking, but the Celtics came out on top. Now they need to come out with that intensity, that venom, that drive tomorrow night in Motown. One more win to get to the Finals…One more win…Will it be tomorrow night? Or will they put me through a third Game 7?
P.S. Richard Hamilton is a baby, he gets away with so much, and I cannot stand him. Rasheed Wallace talking about flopping, etc. He needs to watch some film on Mr. Hamilton. He makes me sick. He isn’t playing basketball, he’s trying to win an Oscar. In the words of Cindy, “I want to punch him in the face and break his stupid mask.” Gotta love it when the girlfriend gets all fired up and into playoff basketball!
Pens Attack!
29. May 2008 by critter.
Sidney Crosby’s greatness was put on the line and he answered. Leading the Penguins with 2 goals in their 3 - 2 home ice victory against the Red Wings. The Pens now have a little more breathing room and can even the series at 2 games a piece, with a home win in game 4.
It was an amazing game that saw the Penguins just attack like crazy. Chris Osgood still made many amazing saves, but the constant attack was too much to handle as the Pens finally managed to get close to the net with their shots and got their sticks on some rebounds.
The tone of the game was also set by the hard hitting. Orpik led the way throwing his body at every White & Red jersey he saw. And oldtimer Gary Roberts was more than willing to throw his body around too. Heck even Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby were caught in the center of several scuffles.
With the win, the Penguins turned a dead series into a really intense one. Expect to see an increase in hitting and attitudes as the series has now started getting more personal. Can the older Red Wings maintain now that the youthful Penguins have begun using their speed and endurance and obviously figured out a greater passing & zone entering scheme?!?! If the Pens come out every game like they did last night, they could take the next 3 games.
For anyone on the borderline or not really into hockey. RIGHT NOW is the time to watch…..so stop giving me excuses that you’d rather watch the Celtics go around poking their opponents in the eyes all night…..
Traded for 10 bats???
29. May 2008 by Glendo.
Pitcher John Odom of the minor-league Calgary Vipers was traded to the Laredo Broncos for 10 baseball bats
Talk about an all time low. Check it out on SI.com
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/05/23/minor.leaguer.traded.bats.ap/index.html?eref=si_topstories
Thanks to Matty Q for the link.
Happy Birthday!
29. May 2008 by admin.
To Rich Miller III.
Unlikely heros!
29. May 2008 by gchacko.
Positives from todays game:
- The Mets had jumped to an early lead on the strength of a pair of homeruns by Luis Castillo and Jose Reyes. For Reyes it was his seventh and third in this series.
- Endy Chavez led off in the bottom of the ninth and launched a rocket over the leftfield wall to tie the game at 5-5.
- Duaner was absolutely filthy, but Alfredo Almezega got lucky and launched his first homerun of the season to put the Marlins up 6-5
- Bottom of the 12th… David Wright walks on four pitches to lead off the inning, every Met is standing and hanging on the rail in the dugout… Carlos Beltran slaps a single up the middle on a hit and run, runners on first and third.
- Fernando Tatis is up… He lines one down into the left field corner for a two run double scoring Wright and Beltran, and the Mets win it!
The Downside:
- The night started out very promising for Oliver Perez who cruised through the first couple of innings, but as usual, Perez began to unravel. He started walking hitters and hanging breaking balls over the fat part of the plate. Oliver Perez gave up three homeruns including two of them to Cody Ross, the second one was a three run bomb that put the Marlins in the lead 5-4.
Bulls Engulfed in Fire
27. May 2008 by critter.
The Red Bulls hosted the Chicago Fire this Sunday in what should have been a heated match between the two best defensive teams in the MLS. Both teams went into the match as the only two left to yield less than 10 goals. Unfortunately for the Red Bulls, their year’s goal allowance almost doubled due to their 5 - 1 loss (ending their 5 game unbeaten streak).
Cuauhtemoc Blanco, one of the greatest ball controllers you’ll ever see, had a hand (or more appropriately a foot) in each tally. His skills make up for that super soggy gut of his.
Jon Conway had a very unattractive game in Goal for the Red Bulls. While he had no way to stop one or two of the balls that slipped by, he did let up some bad shots that just slipped through. The Red Bulls defense was just dead. They were caught too many times just staring at the ball, instead of moving with it. And they were owned in one-on-one situations.
Amazing rookie, Jozy Altidore headed a ball through late in the 2nd half, but it was too little too late. With little time to mourn the loss, the Red Bulls move on to face the Houston Dynamo this Saturday.
Detroit WHAT!
27. May 2008 by critter.
Wow, no one saw this coming but in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals the host Red Wings have crushed the Penguins by a total of 7 - 0 goals. The start of the first game was neck and neck, but since the 3rd period of game one it has just been uber domination by Detroit.
Like the Hockey genie that I am (although any moron could technically guess), I was correct in predicting the edge would go to goaltending. Detroit hasn’t let a single shot through yet and Pittsburgh’s, Marc Andre Fleury has let up more goals in the last two games than he had in previous entire series’. In fact, in game 2, Detroit had 2 goals on board before the Penguins even registered a shot!!!
Though it isn’t necessarily a do-or-die situation, the Pens are in a must win situation for Game 3. Time for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to put their money where all their admiring reporters’ mouths are.
Joe Girardi Motivates….and the Yankees Walk off
23. May 2008 by JJK.
Bronx, NY – Ian Kennedy had by far his best start of the season. He allowed 1 run off 4 hits, over 6 innings, while striking out 4. He didn’t get much help from his teammates on the offensive end. They were only able to muster up only 1 run until the 9th inning. Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless seventh, and eighth, while Mariano pitched a perfect ninth inning for the win. The bottom of the ninth was where all the excitement occurred. Matsui singled to lead off the inning. Arod followed up Matsui and he struck out on four pitches. Jason Giambi stepped up and worked the count to 2-2. Then Jim Johnson pitched a ball inside that home plate umpire, Chris Guccione called as a foul tip strike out. The ball looked like it may or may not have hit the bottom handle of the bat. Chris Guccione had a delayed reaction then signaled that the ball hit the bottom of Giambi’s bat and he foul tipped it into catcher Ramon Hernandez’s glove for a delayed called strike three.
Girardi immediately came jolting out of the dugout to argue the call. The Yankee Stadium crowd got their moneys worth with the show Girardi put on. He kicked dirt at the umps he threw his hat down and kicked it.
“I wanted to kick something, and I figured that was the best thing. Walls don’t work too well,” Girardi said.
The crowd obviously loved it while they cheered louder and louder with every gesture Girardi preformed. Girardi was ejected for his theatrical performance. This was his first ejection as a Yankee manager.
The inning continued with a 5 pitch walk to Abreu who was pitch hitting for Shelly Duncan. Robinson Cano hit Jim Johnson’s third pitch between second and third. Matsui rounded third and slid home safely on a high outfield throw by left fielder Jay Payton as the Yankee dugout cleared and congratulated Cano at first base.
“It means a lot, to see the manager fighting for the team,” Cano said.
Last night Joe may have taken his frustration out on home plate umpire Chris Guccione, but his outburst motivated his team to victory. Someone needed to light a fire under the team and he did that and more. “Joe got fired up and I guess it got us fired up,” said Giambi.
Managers need to fire up their players. Team meetings are nice and all, but sometime a team meeting just won’t cut it. This is what players need to see. A player needs to see that their manager has their back. No matter what type of work place you are in, you want your manger to take charge and lead. You want him to fire everyone up. You want him to have your back. When things are going awry, nobody wants an emotionless stiff sitting on their side. This is NY baby! We love people that wear their hearts out on their sleeves. New Yorkers love their Paul O’Neills, their John Starks, and even their Wayne Chrebets. None of them are Hall of Famers, yet New Yorkers immortalized them. We want to see fiery expressive emotions explode out of our leaders. Joe Girardi let the best of his emotions get to him, but in doing so he motivated his team to victory.
“My purpose to go out there was not to fire them up, because I think they’re fired up every day.”
Well, regardless of what he said, he fired up the troops. Hopefully, this will motivate the Yankee players to perform and win the way that they should be.
Meet the Mutts
23. May 2008 by Glendo.
The Braves completed a four game sweep of the Mutts by beating Johan 4-2 last night. This team just doesn’t make any sense, the come off a great weekend with the Yankees, then get swept in the house of horrors in Atlanta. The inconsistent play is driving me crazy, I don’t get it. They are better than this, they are playing like shit and I think Willie’s time as the Mets manger is running out. The Mets no drop to one game below .500 at 22-23 and 4.5GB in the NL East. It’s hard to imagine that basically this same team was a base hit away from the World Series less than 2 seasons ago.
David Wright seems to be making steps towards becoming this team’s captain by basically call out his teammates with his comments.
“I can accept losing,” Wright said. “Not easily, but every team loses here and there. But to go out and give the effort we’re giving, to go out and lose without a fight …”
“I just don’t think we have the fire I would hope we’d have,” Wright said. “The problem,” he said, “isn’t there or in there. … The problem is with us, in here.”
“Losing like this, I hope, would ruin their nights,”
“I want them to take it personally when we lose,” he said. “I want them to be ticked off.
“If it was a matter of talent, it’d be different. If we just weren’t any good, I could put my head on the pillow at night and sleep. But to got through the motions every night …”
Mets try to get back above .500 before heading home, but most do so in a 3 game set with the NL Champion Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have struggled so far this year and you would think its a good matchup for the Mets, but right now that does not mean anything.
MATCHUP
New York Mets (22-23, 4th Place NL East/4.5GB) at Colorado Rockies (18-29, 4th Place NL West/10GB)
Tonight: Mets (Oliver Perez, 4-3, 4.25 ERA) at Rockies (Greg Reynolds, 0-1, 3.09 ERA) 9:05pm ET
Saturday: Mets (Claudio Vargas, 0-2, 4.76 ERA) at Rockies (Jeff Francis, 1-4, 5.87 ERA) 3:55pm ET
Sunday: Mets (John Maine, 5-3, 3.29 ERA) at Rockies (Jorge De La Rosa, 1-2, 7.78 ERA) 3:05pm ET
Red Devils = Twice as Nice!!
22. May 2008 by critter.
Yesterday brought Manchester United FC’s 2nd championship title in less than two weeks. Once again, standing in their way was Chelsea FC, but this time it was a head-to-head match for the much more popular European Champions League which is a huge tournament of some of the best Clubs. This was the first ever finals match to include two English clubs. I only got to see the first half live but had to wait to see the videotape for the amazing finale.
One of the greatest European players, Christiano Ronaldo started things off 25 minutes into the match with an amazing header off a perfectly placed cross that found its way tucked into the near corner. The game was pretty intense with several yellow cards being thrown and even an ejection. Chelsea tied it up 45 minutes in, and the score remained for the rest of regulation.
The game went into a shootout that was plagued with rain. Ronaldo had a horrible kick as he slowed down his approach just before making contact and the Chelsea keeper was able to stop it. Later on in the shootout Chelsea’s captain, John Terry had a chance to put the game away but slipped just before making his kick and wound up ringing the ball off the post. Chelsea had one more chance after Man U scored but unfortunately Man U’s keeper, Edwin Van der Sar swatted the ball away and with it Chelsea’s shot at the title; adding yet another tale of the Red Devils’ domination of the sport.
