The World Baseball Classic moves to Miami for second round action at Marlins Park. The surprise team in this bracket, Italy, takes on the powerful team from the Dominican Republic today at 1:00 pm, while the US team will face Puerto Rico in the main attraction tonight at 8:00 pm. In the afternoon game, Italy will send Tiago de Silva to the hill, while the Dominican team will counter with Edinson Volquez. In the nightcap, local product Gio Gonzalez will start on the mound for Joe Torre’s US team against Puerto Rico, whose manager is former Marlins skipper Edwin Rodriguez. Rodriguez will send Mario Santiago to the hill. Both of these games will be televised on ESPN Deportes and on MLB-TV. In Tokyo yesterday, if felt like the NCAA basketball tournament was going on. The bracket’s Cinderella, the team from Holland, eliminated Cuba 7-6 in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning. Holland dominates Cuba in international play, and has now defeated the supposedly stronger Cuban team five times in a row. Holland and Japan will move on to San Francisco for the championship round, and they played early this morning (Miami time) to determine the champion and runner-up. Japan beat Holland 10-6 and finished unbeaten in their bracket.
Here is MLB.com’s coverage of the classic:
In Major League exhibition baseball yesterday, the Marlins defeated the Boston Red Sox 8-7. Trailing 7-1 in the seventh, the Fish scored seven unanswered runs, five in the eighth and got a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth from their top prospect, 21-year-old Christian Yelich. Yelich is hitting .375 this spring, with 3 home runs and a team-leading 11 RBI. Before everyone out there goes crazy, Yelich is going to begin the season in the minor leagues. Period. End of story. First of all, this kid has never played above Single-A, and you really don’t want to rush a 21-year-old. Second, and probably even more important, is the fact that if he starts the season in the majors, his arbitration clock kicks in a year early. We’ve seen this before with Miguel Cabrera and Giancarlo Stanton. We saw it last year with the Washington Nationals and Bryce Harper. Even if Yelich is still killing the ball in Double-A, I don’t see the Marlins calling him up until any time before mid-June. The Fish take on the Houston Astros at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter at 1:05 pm this afternoon. Ricky Nolasco will start for the Marlins, while Bud Norris will get the start for the Astros.
Here are all the scores from yesterday’s spring training games. You can “click” on the box scores and the recap under each individual game’s line score.
In other news, Yankees GM Brian Cashman has reached out to a couple of veteran players to come in and help while Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez recover from injuries. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com has more:
Cashman also joked around about reaching out to Chipper Jones, and the New York tabloid media was all over that one. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the facts:
A well-placed NFL source told me this morningthat the Miami Dolphins and free-agent wide receiver Mike Wallace are “very close” to an agreement on a multi-year contract. Don’t be surprised if we have a deal done as soon as the free agent signing period begins this afternoon. The Dolphins are also said to be pursuing former Tennessee tight end Jared Cook, are talking with their own free agent, LT Jake Long, and have met with former UM right tackle Eric Winston.
Quick editorial comment here: everyone (yours truly, included) has consistently ripped Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland for drafts, signings, the economy, global warming, etc. Just looking at first and second round picks, his last three drafts have produced solid contributors in QB Ryan Tannehill, OT Jonathan Martin, C Mike Pouncey, RB Daniel Thomas, DE Jared Odrick, and LB Koa Misi. Let’s hope that the free agent signings and draft picks in 2013 add up to a return to the playoffs right away.
Some other teams in the NFL are busy. The two teams that met in the Super Bowl, the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers worked out a trade in which the Ravens sent former all-pro wide receiver Anquan Boldin to San Francisco for a 6th round pick. I believe John Harbaugh of the Ravens felt sorry for his brother Jim after beating him in the Super Bowl and felt compelled to help him. The Minnesota Vikings have agreed to trade malcontent wideout Percy Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks, subject to Harvin passing a physical and signing a new contract. The Vikes will receive a couple of draft choices, including Seattle’s first round pick in this upcoming draft.
The NFL draft frenzy begins today at 4:00 pm. Today is the first day that teams can extend formal contract offers to other team’s free agents. It should get interesting.
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: The Dolphins franchise was born in 1966, and they had two first-round picks that season. Who were those picks? Tell you later, alligator.
The Miami Heat look to make it 19 wins in a row tonight at the AAA against the Atlanta Hawks. Tipoff tonight against the Hawks is at 7:30 pm. After the game, the Heat will head to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers in the first of five games away from home. On Friday, they will be in Milwaukee against the Bucks, and on Sunday they will cross the border into Toronto to take on the Raptors. Monday the 18th, they will be in Boston to take on the Celtics, and on Wednesday the 20th, they will close out the road trip with a game in Cleveland against the Cavaliers.
In the NBA yesterday,
Philadelphia 106 Brooklyn 97
Spencer Hawes led six Philadelphia players in double figures with 24 points.
San Antonio 105 Oklahoma City 93
Tiago Splitter scored 21 points and puled down 10 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green scored 17 and 16 points respectively.
Utah 103 Detroit 90
Mo Williams led the way with 20 points and six assists, Al Jefferson posted 16 points and 10 rebounds
Denver 108 Phoenix 93
Kosta Koufos scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed ten rebounds, Corey Brewer added 20 points off the bench.
Golden State 92 New York 63
Stephen Curry scored 26 points, Klay Thompson had 23, while David Lee finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
TONIGHT IN THE NBA:
Atlanta @ Miami 7:30 pm Sun / NBA-TV
Boston @ Charlotte 7:00 pm
LA Lakers @ Orlando 7:00 pm
Washington @ Cleveland 7:00 pm
New Orleans @ Brooklyn 7:30 pm
Dallas @ Milwaukee 8:00 pm
San Antonio @ Minnesota 8:00 pm
Memphis @ Portland 10:00 pm
In college hoops, the University of Miami Hurricanes dropped to #9 in the rankings this week, but they are more concerned with this week’s ACC tournament, where they are seeded #1 as the champions of the regular season. The Canes’ first game in the tournament will be on Friday, at 12 noon, on ESPN2, against the winner of the game between Boston College and Georgia Tech on Thursday.
In the Sun Belt conference tournament, the FIU Panthers’ season came to a screeching halt, as they lost in the Sun Belt championship game against Western Kentucky, 65-63. As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, the loss does not put a damper on the terrific season that FIU had with their rookie Head Coach Richard Pitino at the helm. If his first year is an indication of things to come, let’s hope that FIU can keep Coach Pitino around for a long time.
In college baseball, the University of Miami hosts Illinois State here at A-Rod field at Mark Light Stadium tonight and tomorrow, and will travel to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina in a three-game series this weekend. Meanwhile, FIU hosts South Florida here at FIU stadium today and tomorrow, and will hit the road for a weekend series up the road in Boca Raton against FAU.
THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: The Dolphins franchise was born in 1966, and they had two first-round picks that season. Who were those picks?
Not a real good draft for the Fins in 1966, who selected Illinois RB Jim Grabowski and Kentucky QB Rick Norton. Grabowski never played with the Fins, and signed with Green Bay. He played for six forgettable years in the NFL, 5 with the Packers, and 1 with the Bears. Norton played very little while with the Dolphins from ’66 through ’69, and had a cup of coffee with the Packers in 1970. The Dolphins did hit the jackpot with their first-round picks in 1967 and 1968, drafting two future hall-of-famers - QB Bob Griese in 1967, and RB Larry Csonka in 1968.
Don’t miss my two “Descarga Deportiva” segments (for the Spanish-challenged, “Sports Jam Session”) every day, Monday through Friday, at 9:25 am and 12:15 pm on Radio Esperanza, 1550 AM or on the internet on www.miradioesperanza.com.
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Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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