Archive for 12. May 2008
Premier Domination
12. May 2008 by critter.
Critter here with another report on “sports action & outcomes which 99.9999% of you didn’t watch or know about” from this weekend.
Manchester United claimed its 10th English Permier Title in 16 years over the weekend. Unlike most sports, there are no set playoffs in the Premier League. It all comes down to points gained by record. Man U had a good lead for a while until Chelsea beat them two weeks ago and jumped into a tie for the lead. Both teams stayed neck and neck until the final matches of the season which were this past weekend, when Man U won their match and Chelsea only managed a 1 - 1 draw. Even if Chelsea had won, Man U would’ve taken the title based on the tie-breaker of goal differential.
Next stop for these two teams is the championship match later this month where they will face each other in the finals of the massively popular (well as far as the rest of the world is concerned) UEFA Championship League which is a league compiled from 32 of the greatest European clubs take part in a round robin and then playoff bracket. This year was the first time three English teams were in the semi-finals of the tournament (Liverpool fell to Chelsea).
Facing off for two huge championship titles in less than a month!?!?! And you thought the Yanks / Red Sox was heated!!!
Mets v Nationals
12. May 2008 by Glendo.
The New York Mets come off the weekend winning the series form the Reds. In taking two out of three the Mets bats seem to have warmed up, collecting 21 runs and 30 hits in the three games. In the three game series against the Reds, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado were a combined 10 for 21 and each raised their overall batting averages by around 20 points. Carlos Delgado extended his hitting streak to nine games and is batting .353 over this stretch. Ryan Church kept up his great season and Alou is a welcome addition.
Perez pitched a good game yesterday matching his season high in strikeouts with 8. He got into a little trouble in the sixth giving up three runs, but still a much better performance from him.
The Mets look to keep up their winning ways as they take on the Nats in a 4 game set at Shea before the big weekend series in the Bronx, let’s hope they don’t get caught looking ahead.
Matchup:
New York Mets (19-16 / 2nd Place NL East) vs. Washington Nationals ( 15-23 / 5th Place NL East)
Tonight: Mets (Nelson Figueroa, 2-2, 4.81) vs. Nationals (Odalis Perez, 0-3, 3.43), 7:10 p.m. ET
Tuesday: Mets (John Maine, 4-2, 3.00) vs. Nationals (John Lannan, 3-3, 3.40), 7:10 p.m. ET
Wednesday: Mets (TBD) vs. Nationals (Tim Redding, 4-3, 3.83), 7:10 p.m. ET
Thursday: Mets (Johan Santana, 4-2, 3.10) vs. Nationals (Michael O’Connor, 1-1, 13.00), 1:10 p.m. ET
Notes:Oliver Perez’s stolen base in the second inning Sunday was the third of his career and first by a Mets pitcher since Orlando Hernandez stole a base last summer.
The Pennsylvania Cold War
12. May 2008 by critter.
While you were most likely doing something else over the weekend, hockey fans watched the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals knock out a couple of games.
Starting with the Pens/Flyers:
Thanks to Evgeni Malkin in game 1 and Sidney Crosby in game 2, the Pens swept their homestand and have become the first NHL team to go 10-1 in the playoffs since the 1995 Red Wings. They also set a franchise mark for 7 straight playoff victories on home ice. Game 1 was just a man-handling offensive attack by the Pens which got started off by this poster’s favorite, Petr Sykora. Game 2 didn’t show as many offensive results on the scoreboard but was certainly a big offensive game for both teams which came down to the wire. The Penguins got a couple of lucky openings and found themselves going to Philly up 2 - 0 in the series.
Now the Red Wings/Stars:
On Saturday the Red Wings barely made it past the Stars to keep their home playoff record perfect. The Stars were obviously more energized as they sobered up from that 7 period marathon from several days before, and were able to skate with the Red Wings, and actually controlled a lot of the action in the last two periods.
Analysis thus far is that the East and West have swapped strategies thus far. The West is usually known for it’s offensive juggernauts and the East is usually dependant upon defense and superb goaltending. Not the case this round. The West games have been at a slower pace and the outcomes have been packed with amazing saves and concentration by the goalies. Meanwhile the East teams have been skating fast and throwing the puck on net from all different directions with amazing highlights of brilliant passing and shots.
Returning home, you can expect the Stars to bounce back and the Flyers to put up a good fight as well. The Stars can take 1 or 2 games here but the Flyers’ fate depends on how well they can keep up on the 3rd period.
