This edition of World Baseball Classic has had some great games, and we are looking forward to another one in tonight’s championship game, an all-Caribbean affair. The Dominican Republic finally beat the Netherlands 4-1 to remain unbeaten in this year’s classic. The DR will face Puerto Rico tonight in the championship game. First pitch will be just after 8:00pm, and you can watch the game on MLB Network or ESPN Deportes.
Here is MLB.com’s coverage of the classic:
Just to make sure I’ve got this right: The last four Marlins managers (all fired by Jeffrey Loria) include:
A guy that won a World Series (Joe Girardi)
One that took his team to the playoffs last year (Fredi Gonzalez)
One that has led a prohibitive underdog to the finals of the WBC (Edwin Rodriguez)
One (Ozzie Guillen) that is still getting paid by the Marlins for NOT managing them, and laughing all the way to the bank every payday.
The moral of the story is that all former Marlins managers fired by Jeffrey Loria will eventually end up in a very good place. This should be very comforting for new skipper Mike Redmond.
In exhibition baseball yesterday, the Marlins defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-2, in a rain-shortened game. Nathan Eovaldi threw five innings to improve his spring record to 3-0, with a 3.38 ERA. Top prospect Christian Yelich and Chris Valaika homered, for Yelich his team-leading 5th dinger and 13th RBI. Important game for Marlins starter Jacob Turner today as the Fish take on the Cardinals in Jupiter at 1:05. Turner hasn’t looked good so far this spring, and this start could determine whether or not he is part of the starting rotation with the club or down in the minors.
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.
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com is living proof that the national media is beginning to notice young Christian Yelich:
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: There are only 46 pitchers in MLB baseball who have reached 250 wins in their careers. The Yankees‘ Andy Pettitte needs five wins to join that very exclusive club. CC Sabathia needs nine wins to reach 200 wins, a milestone that two other pitchers should also reach this season. Who are they? Tell you later, alligator.
In NFL news, the league’s annual meeting continue in Phoenix, Arizona. Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald is blogging from Phoenix:
We already know that offensive tackle Jake Long decided to accept a new contract from the St. Louis Rams. Back to Salguero, who lists some options at tackle for Miami:
Greg Stoda of the Palm Beach Post has some words of wisdom for the Dolphins and the fans:
The Dolphins were awarded two additional compensatory draft picks in this upcoming draft. Ben Volin of the PB Post brings us up-to-date:
Another note from the NFL. The league and MLB are in a bit of a scheduling situation in regards to the first game of the season. Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports is all over it:
LeBron James and the Miami Heat had their work cut out for them yesterday in Boston against the Celtics, as they tried to extend their winning streak to 23 in a row, in a place where they hadn’t won a regular season game since 2007. It didn’t start off well as Miami fell behind by as many as 17 points, but the Heat managed to tie the game at 103-103, with ball in hand, with 33 seconds left. At that point, of course, the ball is going to be in LeBron’s capable hands. He dribbled the shot clock down to just over 10 seconds left, and hit a 20-foot jumper to give the Heat the lead and the eventual win. LeBron finished with 37 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, a MONSTER dunk over Jason Terry, and, of course, the game-winning shot. The Heat needed that kind of effort, especially with the game the Celtics’ Jeff Green had - 43 points, 7 rebounds, and four blocks. All’s well that ends well, the good guys win, 105-103. The Heat are now only 10 victories away from the all-time NBA longest winning streak of 33 in a row, set by the LA Lakers in 1971-72. Maybe, just maybe, Paul Pierce and his Celtics’ teammates are, at least, a little impressed. The Heat end their road trip tomorrow night in Cleveland, against the Cavaliers, before returning home to face the Detroit Pistons on Friday, and the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday. They need to stay alert and keep their guard up, because long winning streaks have a tendency to come to an end against teams that you normally wouldn’t and shouldn’t lose to.
In the rest of the NBA yesterday,
Philadelphia 101 Portland 100
Jrue Holliday had 27 points, 8 rebounds, and six assists.
Charlotte 119 Washington 114
Gerald Henderson was one of seven Bobcat players in double figures yesterday. Henderson finished with 27 points and eight assists.
Indiana 111 Cleveland 90
Gerald Green led a balanced Pacers attack with 20 points. Tyler Hansgrough added 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Dallas 127 Atlanta 113
Darren Collison had 24 points, Dirk Nowitzki finished with 22.
Brooklyn 119 Detroit 82
Deron Williams led the way with 31 points, Brook Lopez added 18 points.
Denver 119 Chicago 118 (OT)
The Nuggets have quietly won 12 in a row. Andre Iguodala’s 3-pointer gave Denver the win.
Memphis 92 Minnesota 77
Mike Conley had 20 points, Zack Randolph had 14 poins and 10 rebounds, Tayshaun Prince scored 12 points and pulled down 14 boards.
Golden State 93 New Orleans 72
Stephen Curry drained six 3-pointers and finished with 30 points. Another double-double for David Lee, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Phoenix 99 LA Lakers 76
Just when you think the Lakers have got something going, the throw down another clunker. The Suns outscored Los Angeles 28-10 in the fourth quarter to snap a four-game losing streak.
New York 90 Utah 83
JR Smith scored 20 points, Raymond Felton added 19.
TONIGHT IN THE NBA:
Orlando @ Indiana 7:00 pm
Portland @ Milwaukee 8:00 pm
Denver @ Oklahoma City 8:00 pm NBA-TV
LA Clippers @ Sacramento 10:00 pm
In college hoops, everyone is working on their brackets for the NCAA tournament, and we are all waiting for Friday, when the University of Miami Hurricanes take on Pacific in the Eastern Regionals. You can watch that game on TNT, starting at 2:15 pm. The top seeds in the four different regionals are Indiana (East Regional), Kansas (South Regional), Louisville (Midwest Regional), and Gonzaga (Western Regional). I absolutely LOVE the NCAA Tournament. Before it starts, there are a couple of play-in games today:
North Carolina A&T vs Liberty 6:40 pm truTV
St. Mary’s vs Middle Tennessee 9:10 pm truTV
MY GAME PICKS ARE BOLD AND IN ALL CAPS.
Here’s the complete Bracket:
Go ahead, just do it, already. You know you want to. Print out the bracket and make your picks. Remember: NO WAGERING, PLEASE.
The REALLY BIG story in basketball is from the 6-year old and under All-Stars League at Kendall Lakes Elementary, where point guard Dante “DX” Muñecas (my grandson) had 2 points, a couple of assists, and played suffocating defense for the “Light Blue” team, who were led in scoring by their shooting guard, Jaime “Kobe” Villalba, who scored 8 points to lead the Light Blues.
In college baseball, struggling FIU hits the road again for a Wednesday game against #23 ranked Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, before returning home for a three-game weekend series against Western Kentucky. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes, who also lost two out of three this past weekend, will be back home all week, as they face Columbia tonight and tomorrow, and take on Virginia Tech this weekend in a three-game set.
THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: There are only 46 pitchers in MLB baseball who have reached 250 wins in their careers. The Yankees‘ Andy Pettitte needs five wins to join that very exclusive club. CC Sabathia needs nine wins to reach 200 wins, a milestone that two other pitchers should also reach this season. Who are they?
Atlanta’s Tim Hudson and Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay. Halladay is at 199 wins, Hudson is just behind him with 197.
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.
IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW WANT TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE ON MY RADIO SEGMENTS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME FOR ALL THE DETAILS - jerry@descargadeportiva.com
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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