Opening day in Washington, DC was a tale of two teams going in opposite directions. The Washington Nationals celebrated their NL East championship yesterday before their game with the Marlins, and they started this season where they left off. Stephen Strasburg tossed seven dominating shutout innings before handing the ball to his bullpen, who shut the door without much effort. Phenom Bryce Harper homered twice off Ricky Nolasco and that was all the Nats needed, beating the Fish 2-0. Nolasco pitched well enough, giving up only the two dingers to Harper. Gotta score runs in order to win. The teams are off today, and will meet again tomorrow. Gio Gonzalez will take the mound for the Nationals, Kevin Slowey will start for the Marlins.
In the rest of MLB yesterday, first in the American League,
Mets 11 Padres 2
Jon Niese allowed just two runs in 6 2/3 innings, and Collin Cowgill hit a grand slam homer.
Cubs 3 Pirates 1
Anthony Rizzo connected long distance with a man on, Jeff Samardzija tossed 8 scoreless innings.
Dodgers 4 Giants 0
Clayton Kershaw threw a four-hit shutout, and clubbed the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning.
Brewers 5 Rockies 4 (10 innings)
Jonathan Lucroy ended the game with a sacrifice fly in the tenth.
Braves 7 Phillies 5
Freddie Freeman had a two-run homer and finished with three RBI. Justin Upton and Dan Uggla also connected long distance in the win.
Diamondbacks 6 Cardinals 2
Ian Kennedy struck out eight in seven innings and the D-Backs won their seventh straight opening day game.
Angels 3 Reds 1 (13 innings)
Chris Ianetta decided the game with a two-run single in the 13th inning.
In the American League,
Red Sox 8 Yankees 2
Shane Victorino drove in three runs. CC Sabathia gave up four runs in five innings.
White Sox 1 Royals 0
Tyler Flowers hit a solo homer and Chris Sale pitched 7 2/3 innings for the win, out-dueling KC starter James Shields.
Tigers 4 Twins 2
Prince Fielder, Omar Infante, and Miguel Cabrera drove in runs. Justin Verlander scattered three hits and struck out seven in five innings of work.
Mariners 2 A’s 0
Felix Hernandez tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight. Oakland has lost nine straight season openers, the longest opening day losing streak in MLB history.
Here is the complete schedule for today. In the National League:
Rockies @ Brewers 8:10 pm
Jorge de la Rosa vs Marco Estrada
Cardinals @ D-Backs 9:40 pm
Jaime Garcia vs Trevor Cahill
Giants @ Dodgers 10:10 pm
Madison Bumgarner vs Hyun-jin Ryu
In the American League:
Orioles @ Rays 3:10 pm
Jason Hammel vs David Price
Indians @ Blue Jays 7:07 pm
Justin Masterson vs RA Dickey
Rangers @ Astros 8:10 pm
Yu Darvish vs Lucas Harrell
Mariners @ Athletics 10:05 pm
Hisashi Iwakuma vs Jarrod Parker
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers became only the second pitcher in MLB history to throw a shutout and hit a home run on opening day. Who was the first? Tell you later, alligator.
In other baseball news, the Yankees MAY have just gotten some good news. Buster Olney of ESPN just reported that Robinson Cano, who will become a free agent at the end of this season, has dropped Scott Boras as his agent. Boras, historically, always lets his clients play out their contracts and test the open market.
In case you missed these yesterday, here are my seven “take it to the bank” predictions for the 2013 season, in honor of my childhood hero, the great number 7, Mickey Mantle:
1) The Miami Marlins will finish in last place in the NL East, and will struggle not to lose 100 games this season. The team will not trade the man-child, Giancarlo Stanton, but Ricky Nolasco and Steve Chisek will be pitching elsewhere before the season is done. The Braves and the Nationals will fight for supremacy in the division, with the Braves taking it in a close race.
2) My New York Yankees will not finish last in the AL East, however, they will not finish over .500. This year, the AL East will be represented in the post season by Rays and the Jays.
3) The Pittsburgh Pirates will finish over .500 for the first time since 1992. Unfortunately, they will not win the NL Central. The Cardinals and the Reds will be in a “mano a mano” all season long and both of those teams will advance to the post season.
4) The AL Central is the easiest to guess at, as the Detroit Tigers will win this division hands-down. Look out for the KC Royals as they continue to improve, but not enough to challenge this season.
5) Out west, in the National League, the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers will fight to the death all year, with the Dodgers eventually coming out on top. Keep your eyes on the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres, who will both improve and keep the second place team out of the postseason.
6) In the AL West, the Angels and the A’s will fight it out all year
6) In the AL West, the Angels and the A’s will fight it out all year
with the Texas Rangers, thanks to the fact that both the Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros play in that division, and the Angels will finish ahead of the A’s, who will also advance to the postseason.
7) My other guesses for this season
7) My other guesses for this season
AL NL
MVP Jose Bautista TOR Joey Votto CIN
Cy Young David Price TB Gio Gonzalez WAS
RoY Aaron Hicks MIN Rob Brantly MIA
MoY Joe Maddon TB Fredi Gonzalez ATL
AL NL
Wild Card game Jays over A’s Nats over Cards
Division Series Tigers over Jays Braves over Dodgers
Division Series Rays over Angels Nats over Reds
League Champ Rays over Tigers Braves over Nats
World Series Braves over Rays
Remember, no wagering!
Tomorrow, (Wednesday), I will list my hopes and dreams for this MLB season.
The Miami Heat are back in action tonight, as they host the New York Knicks at the AAA tonight. Tipoff is at 8:00 pm, and the game will be televised nationally by TNT.
In the NBA yesterday,
Detroit 108 Toronto 98
Greg Monroe led the way with 24 points.
Atlanta 102 Cleveland 94
Devin Harris had a season-high 25 points and seven assists, Josh Smith had 18 points, 14 rebounds, and eight assists.
Milwaukee 131 Charlotte 102
Larry Sanders paced the Bucks with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Monta Ellis had 19 points, 14 assists, and six steals.
Memphis 92 San Antonio 90
Mike Conley’s layup with less than a second remaining was the game-winner.
Houston 111 Orlando 103
Omer Asik scored 22 points and pulled down 18 rebounds.
Minnesota 110 Boston 100
Nikola Pekovic had 29 points, Dante Cunningham had 19.
Utah 112 Portland 102
Al Jefferson scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Jazz moved into sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, ahead of the Lakers.
Indiana 109 LA Clippers 106
Roy Hibbert led six Pacers in double figures with 26 points.
TONIGHT’S PRO HOOPS SCHEDULE:
New York @ Miami 8:00 pm TNT
Chicago @ Washington 7:00 pm
Dallas @ LA Lakers 10:30 pm TNT
In college hoops, the Final Four contests will be next Saturday, with Louisville taking on Wichita State at 6:09 pm, and Michigan will face Syracuse at 8:49 pm. Both games will be telecast on CBS, Channel 4 in South Florida.
Here’s the complete Bracket, so you can see what yours and mine DID NOT look like:
Here is what is left of my bracket, my worst bracket EVER...... At least, my selection for National Championship is still playing.
Final Four
Louisville vs Ohio State Wichita State
Miami Syracuse vs Florida Michigan
National Championship game
Louisville vs Miami
National Champions
Louisville
In Miami Dolphin news, Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post continues to do a GREAT JOB in providing the latest information on what’s going on with the Fins. Here is his list of draft prospects who are/aren’t visiting/working out with the team before the draft:
In case you missed it, check out the new Dolphin logo:
In other NFL news, the next victim to play QB for the Oakland Raiders is Matt Flynn. ESPN.com has all the details:
Let’s check out Todd McShay’s Mock Draft for the first two rounds:
Here is Mel Kiper Jr.’s “Big Board”, ranking the top 25 players:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2013/story/_/id/9100875/2013-nfl-draft-geno-smith-back-big-board
In college baseball, FIU will take on Florida A&M in a midweek series here at FIU Stadium, and they will then head to Mobile, Alabama to take on South Alabama in a three-game series beginning on Friday. Meanwhile, the University of Miami will be home all week, taking on Bethune Cookman on Wednesday, and hosting Florida State for three games this weekend.
I’m gonna keep this in here for a few days, for those of you that missed it. My good friend O. D. Villavicencio shared this with us. A couple of years ago, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny wrote what he called “The Matheny Manifesto”, intended for youth baseball coaches and, especially, parents. It is one of the most thought provoking and incredibly accurate collection of thoughts that I have ever come across on the subject of youth sports. You really have to read this and share it with anyone you think would benefit from it:
High School Sports coverage, especially during baseball season, seems to have disappeared from the Miami Herald. Here is the web site for all the latest in High School Baseball -
My thanks go out to LaSalle head coach Oscar Benitez for sharing the web site with me.
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.
THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers became only the second pitcher in MLB history to throw a shutout and hit a home run on opening day. Who was the first?
Hall of Famer Bob Lemon accomplished the feat in 1953, while pitching for the Cleveland Indians.
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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