Archive for 9. May 2008
Federer Stays Down
9. May 2008 by critter.
I know most don’t really follow along to closely but in tennis in the Rome Masters, Roger Federer was upset yet again.
Up until a few months ago, Federer was unstoppable, justifying his climb towards the label of greatest Tennis Pro ever. Federer was beaten for the sixth time THIS year. Last year he fell only 9 times total. At the beginning of this tournament, Federer boasted how he is back to playing at the top of his game….guess not.
Federer has never been dominant on clay courts and Rome is just that. Unfortunately for him, the Rome Masters is usually used to get prepared for the French Open (the one Grand Slam title that he has yet to win) which starts at the end of this month and is played upon….you guessed it….clay courts.
For a mediocre tennis fan, this brings me great joy. He’s arrogant. He runs off the court like a baby if he loses and rejects interviews and fans under the same circumstances. And because of him, players like Andy Roddick have been undervalued over the past couple of years, not unlike what Pete Sampras was to Andre Agassi. Thankfully, Roddick finally got past Federer just a couple weeks ago, but of course most will contribute it to the fact that Federer is slipping and not because Roddick has what it takes.
Fading Stars
9. May 2008 by critter.
Last night the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars opened the Western Conference Finals in Detroit. A pretty boring game overall as Detroit controlled most of the action in the first 2 periods, scoring 4 goals in the first 35 minutes of play. Towards the end of the 2nd period, Dallas started to show some life when, Captain, Brenden Morrow banged in a rebound shot to finally get the team on the scoreboard. From there Dallas picked up their physical game figuring they can’t send Detroit to bed with a loss, but might as well send em home with bruises.
It could have been the fact that Detroit has been more than well-rested with over a week since their last game, or the fact that Dallas was just over-tired having to play less than 3 days since their 7 period marathon against San Jose. My money is on the 2nd of the two as Dallas Goalie, Marty Turco, just wasn’t playing at his usual stellar level (If you saw the work he was put through against San Jose in that 7 period game, you’d understand why). Plus, so much was obvious at the fact that Dallas didn’t have any legs until the final period.
Game winning goal went to Johan Franzen who redirected his mind-boggling 12th goal of the playoffs into the net. Dallas needs to shut him down if they want the chance to drink from Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Expect a big turnaround performance from Turco and the Stars in game 2. However, you can also expect another Detroit win as they are 6-0 at home in the playoffs thus far. And just imagine, this has all been done with “backup” goalie, Chris Osgood leading the charge (#1 goalie, Dominick Hasek hasn’t even played since losing 2 in a row to Nashville in the first round of the playoffs).
Moooose
9. May 2008 by rich.
After dropping the first two to the Indians, the Yankees looked to avoid the sweep yesterday. And they did just that. Veteran Mike Mussina pitched 5 solid innings, yielding 3 runs on 4 hits in the Yankees 6-3 victory over the Indians during yesterday afternoons matinée at The Stadium. Behind Moose’s solid pitching for his 255th career win (he has been a pleasant surprise thus far), as well as four round trippers, the Yankees are looking to use this game as a launching point for these next few weeks. For starters, it looks like Robbie Cano is finally waking up, which is a great thing. Johnny Damon has been solid, as has Hideki who has a 17 game hitting streak. Ohlendorf came in for two solid innings to get his first hold of the year, and Joba came in and did his thing to record his 8th hold of the year…Then it was Sandman time, and lights out for The Tribe.
The Yankees open a series against the Tigers tonight in Motown. Here are the probable starters:
Friday: NYY: K. Igawa (0-0, NA) vs. DET: K. Rogers (2-3, 6.27) @ 7:05 PM est
Saturday: NYY: D. Rasner (1-0, 3.00) vs. DET: J. Bonderman (2-3, 4.17) @ 3:40 PM est on FOX
Sunday: NYY: A. Pettitte (3-3, 3.77) vs. DET: N. Robertson (1-4, 6.64) @ 1:05 PM est
Notes: Giambi has 14 hits this year, 6 are homers. A-Rod flew back to Tampa to get an MRI. He may be back in the lineup in 7-10 days. The Yankees are 9-9 both at home and on the road this year for an overall record of 18-18. Mussina is 5-3 this year thus far and has really pitched well. Hopefully he can keep it up and we can see the confident Moose we all know and love for this year.
Game 2…To the C’s!
9. May 2008 by rich.
I am too pumped right now to write an article, but what a game…I was pretty depressed after the first few minutes b/c the Cavs went up by a few…But from there on, the Celtics put the clamps down again…Overall team effort, and the defense is amazing…Game 3 in Cleveland Saturday night 8pm on ABC.
Notes: Lebron is 8 for 42 in the first two games of this series (19.05%)…Game ball to Posey for another all around amazing game…Hopefully the chants of “over-rated!” by the Beantown faithful don’t get ‘Bron ‘Bron too fired up for Saturday night…Big Z had a solid night, but did most of his damage early on…Big ups to Leon Powe for another solid performance off the bench.
