Archive for 30. June 2008
Red Bulls Maintain Unbeaten Streak
30. June 2008 by critter.
On Saturday evening the Red Bulls hosted Chivas USA. I didn’t get to watch the match as naturally the overall unpopularity of soccer and MLS especially, leaves the Red Bulls with only most of their games being shown on MSG, while the others fall to either FSC or HDNet. Plus I was working anyway, but the lack of the HD left me unable to tape it, oh well guess this will be short and sweet then.
The Red Bulls started out strong with Dane Richards stepping up with his speed and making several strong rushes. When he got pulled down on a play, Dave van den Bergh came in and chipped a free kick that most thought would be redirected or stopped, but somehow curved its way into the net.
Just before the end of the half, Kevin Goldthwaite gave up a horrible turnover at the edge of the penalty box that Chivas’ Ante Razov snatched up and drilled it into the net.
The 2nd half saw Chivas dominate the play and posession, but once again stellar goalkeeping from Jon Conway kept the Red Bulls safe to capture a 1-1 draw.
Red Bulls were ONCE AGAIN without stars Claudio Reyna and Juan Pablo Angel. No timeframe for Reyna’s return has been set yet, however hints of Angel returning to the practice squad soon have been popping up left and right. The team could’ve been drowning in the league but reserve players have stepped up to really keep them in the playoff hunt.
Luckily they have made it through this recent gauntlet of matches against good teams and now have a couple of matches against the East’s last place, Kansas City and the West’s 2nd to last, Colorado. Hopefully the Red Bulls will get atleast one of their two missing stars come the middle of July when they face the juggernaut that is LA Galaxy. And hopefully the Red Bulls will some day strike a full deal with MSG or FSC to broadcast all of their games so I don’t get all cranky. I mean c’mon every wannabe guido in the US (and Westchester County especially) acts like they love and know everything about soccer since Italy won the World Cup. So why not offer them the most viewable games possible? Sure their tweezed eye brow, fist-pumping, blown out hairstyles will once again become their priority as their interest starts to fade realizing they have 2 more years before they can pretend to be a fan again….you might as well strike while the iron’s hot. Hell there’s atleast 30 or 40 of us that would certainly appreciate it.
Mets head to St. Louis
30. June 2008 by Glendo.
The Mets spilt the 4 game weekend series with the Yankees, winning the season series 4 to 2. It is only the second time the Mets won the season series with the Yanks, the Yankees now lead 37-29. The Mets played well against the crosstown rivals with maybe the exception of Friday night’s game. They got decent starting pitching, the bullpen looked good, and with the offensive explosion on Friday afternoon showed they can hit. All in all its a good way to start off this important 12 game stretch where they play good teams.
The Mets now travel to St. Louis to take on the wild card leading Cardinals. The Cards are 6 games ahead of the Mets in the wild card standings so this is a great opportunity to make up some ground and show that they are a playoff contender. The Mets will get the series started off tonight with John Maine, who will be followed by Tony Armas Jr. making his first start for the Mets. Hopefully Pedro can rebound from his poor performance against the Yanks. Pelfrey will look to continue his good pitching of late. The Met bats seem to be hitting a little better. David Wright is in a groove right now, he is 5th in the NL with 64 RBIs. Jose Reyes is 8th in the Majors with 99 hits. Also having Ryan Church back in the lineup and feeling good is only a plus and should help the Mets has they start the second half of the season.
MATCHUP
New York Mets (40-41, 3rd Place NL East/3 GB) at St. Louis Cardinals (47-36, 2nd Place NL Central/2.5 GB)
Tonight: Mets (John Maine, 8-5, 3.73) at Cardinals (Kyle Lohse, 9-2, 3.94) 7:05 pm ET
Tuesday: Mets (Tony Armas Jr., 0-0, -.–) at Cardinals (Todd Wellemeyer, 7-2, 3.46) 8:15 pm ET
Wednesday: Mets (Pedro Martinez, 2-2, 7.12) at Cardinals (TBA) 8:15 pm ET
Thursday: Mets (Mike Pelfrey, 5-6, 4.47) at Cardinals (Joel Pineiro, 2-3, 4.33) 8:15 pm ET
Notes: The Mets finished their inter-league schedule with a 9-6 mark. The best record in the NL along with Cincy. Atlanta was the only other NL team with a winning record versus the AL.
Walsh, D’Antoni, Gallinari
30. June 2008 by gchacko.
Danilo Gallinari has arrived and Donnie Walsh’s resume as President of Basketball Operations has begun to take shape. Regardless of your individual take on Gallinari, he is now a significant part of the future of Knicks basketball.
Gallinari’s preference for playing in New York along with his father’s relationship with D’Antoni have been well documented. There is no question that Walsh made this choice to appease his new head coach. Walsh - who admitted to not seeing Gallinari play in person - relied heavily on his scouting staff for direction. Reportedly, Isiah Thomas was one of the individuals who influenced Walsh to make the selection. Walsh would go on to say Thomas told him “this kid won’t back down”. For fans who thought the days of Thomas having a say in current affairs had come to an end, sadly this is not the case.
According to scouts who have watched Gallinari play in the Euroleague, he is touted as a point-forward with a polished jump shot. Scouts say he is a competitive & intense athlete. Scouts cite his lack of lateral quickness, reliance on the three-point shot and struggles on the defensive-end as areas for improvement.
The level of skepticism around Walsh’s selection is not without reason. Just two years ago, fellow Italian forward Andrea Bargnani was selected 1st overall by the Toronto Raptors. Known as “Il Mago” (the Magician), Bargnani was hailed as a revolutionary seven foot talent who would take the league by storm with his dazzling array of offensive ability, which included a “lights out” touch from outside. Like Gallinari, Bargnani won the Euroleague Rising Star Award and was seen as the next Dirk Nowitzki. Two years later, he’s been publicly criticized by teammate Chris Bosh and mentioned in trade rumors. Moreover, the Raptors decision to acquire Jermaine O’Neal to pair with Bosh speak volumes about their view of the former top pick.
Gallinari will ultimately end David Lee’s tenure in New York. Trading Lee for Raymond Felton may fill the need for a pass-first PG, but this trade rumor may not have legs. With Larry Brown on the bench for Charlotte, he may advise the team to look for another trading partner should they deal Felton. Hopefully the hype around Gallinari will pan out and lead to more wins for a playoff-starved organization. At a minimum, Gallinari needs to silence his critics and show he was worthy of the 6th pick. If not, Walsh will find himself in this position again next year debating on whether to take California’s Brandon Jennings or Spain’s Ricky Rubio as his point guard of the future.
