Wednesday, April 10, 2013


The Fish were again unable to muster any offense, and lost to the Braves last night by the score of 3-2.  That is 16 losses in the last 19 games to Fredi Gonzalez and his troops.  Marlins starter Wade LeBlanc gave up a two-run homer to El Oso Blanco, Evan Gattis, in the first inning, the only blemish on LeBlanc’s ledger in his six innings of work.  Braves starter Kris Medlen was better, giving up just an unearned run in seven innings.  ANOTHER MEMO TO ROOKIE MANAGER MIKE REDMOND:  Your team has scored a grand total of 16 runs in eight games.  With nobody out and a runner on first in the ninth, you CANNOT AFFORD to give up a precious at bat by attempting to sacrifice.  Rob Brantly attempted the sacrifice bunt with Donovan Solano on first base, and bunted into a double play.  Braves closer Craig Kimbrel is the best closer in the NL, and if he has a weakness, it is that he isn’t used to having baserunners on and he really doesn’t pay much attention to them.  Don’t give up an out in that situation.  Your team can’t hit its way out of a paper bag.  Another rookie mistake for Mr. Redmond, who needs to remember that Jeffrey Loria has been known to fire managers on a whim.  Tonight, these two teams will close out their three-game series.  The Marlins will send Alex Sanabia to the hill, Mike Minor will toe the rubber for Atlanta.  Game time is 7:10, and you can watch the game on Sun Sports.

By the way . . . another note, this one to the South Florida “media”:  Stop harping on the low attendance.  We can see the empty seats on the TV.  Anything and everything you say influences what fans do and does nothing but keep people from going to the park.  It is ok to criticize ownership and even to keep begging them to sell the team, but you all need to figure out that the sale of the team will not be determined by attendance.  Mr. Loria has already indicated he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the fans or what they think. 
  
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  The Marlins are off to a 1-7 start, their worst start since when?  Tell you later, alligator.

In the rest of MLB yesterday, first in the National League,

Padres 9 Dodgers 3
Will Venable homered and finished with four RBI.

Phillies 8 Mets 3
Cliff Lee pitched 8 2/3 innings, struck out 6, and didn’t walk a batter.  Ryan Howard and John Mayberry Jr. homered for the Phillies.

Cubs 6 Brewers 3
David de Jesus went 3-5, scored two runs, and drove in a couple.

Cardinals 5 Reds 1
Lance Lynn struck out 10 in his six innings of work.

Pirates 6 D-Backs 5
Sterling Marte, Garrett Jones, and Neil Walker drove in two runs apiece.

Giants 9 Rockies 6
Angel Pagan drove in the eventual winning run in the eighth inning.  Brandon Crawford homered with two on for the Giants.

Nationals 8 White Sox 7
Adam LaRoche connected long distance twice, Ian Desmond also went deep.

In the American League,

Tigers 7 Blue Jays 3
Miguel Cabrera went 4-5 with a three-run homer, drove in four runs, and scored three.  Anibal Sanchez got the win for Detroit.

Yankees 14 Indians 1
Robinson Cano finished with four hits, including a pair of doubles and a two-run homer.  Kevin Youkilis, Brennan Boesch, Ichiro Suzuki, and Lyle Overbay also connected long distance.

Rangers 6 Rays 1
Nick Tepesch was sensational in his major league debut, pitching into the eighth inning, allowing just 1 run and four hits.  Lance Berkman and Elvis Andrus drove in two runs apiece.

Royals 7 Twins 4
Jeremy Guthrie won his second game of the season.

A’s 9 Angels 5
John Jaso and Brandon Moss connected long distance in the seventh ining.  Coco Crisp also went deep for the A’s, who have won six straight after losing their first two games of the season.

Astros 16 Mariners 9
The lowly Astros scored as many runs yesterday as the Marlins have scored in their first 8 games total.  For the Astros last night, Chris Carter hit two homers, Jose Altuve, JD Martinez, and Marwin Gonzalez also connected long distance.

Today’s games, first in the National League:

Reds @ Cardinals 1:45 pm
Homer Bailey vs Jake Westbrook

Pirates @ D-Backs 3:40 pm
Jonathan Sanchez vs Wade Miley

Rockies @ Giants 3:45 pm
Jeff Francis vs Barry Zito

Mets @ Phillies 7:05 pm
Jeremy Heffner vs Kyle Kendrick

White Sox @ Nationals 7:05 pm
Gavin Floyd vs Jordan Zimmerman

Brewers @ Cubs 8:05 pm
Kyle Lohse vs Scott Feldman

Dodgers @ Padres       10:10 pm
Chad Billingsley vs Eric Stults

Over in the American League:

Blue Jays @ Tigers 1:08 pm
Mark Buehrle vs Rick Porcello

Rays @ Rangers 2:05 pm
Matt Moore vs Derek Holland

Yankees @ Indians 7:05 pm
Ivan Nova vs Brett Myers

Orioles @ Red Sox 7:10 pm
Jake Arrieta vs Ryan Dempster

Twins @ Royals 8:10 pm
Liam Hendricks vs Wade Davis

A’s @ Angels       10:05 pm
Tommy Milone vs Joe Blanton

Astros @ Mariners       10:10 pm
Brad Peacock vs Blake Beavan

In other baseball news, Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports talks about the Toronto Blue Jays and their slow start:


Speaking of slow starts, Ken Rosenthal has the scoop on Roy Halladay of the Phillies:


More on slow starts, the Marlins have scored a grand total of 16 runs in their first eight games.  For those of you who are not math majors, that is 2 runs per game.  Here is how the Fish stack up at the bottom of the ladder in runs scored so far this season:

TEAM W-L Runs
Miami 1-7 16
Pittsburgh 3-5 19
LA Dodgers 4-3 20
Cubs 3-5 23
Padres 2-5 23

Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:


The Miami Heat again were without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but LeBron James was enough for the Heat to beat the Milwaukee Bucks last night, 94-83.  LewBron finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.  The Heat is off to Washington, DC where they take on the Wizards tonight.  Tipoff is at 7:00 pm, and you can watch the game on Sun Sports.  Dwyane Wade is not expected to play, Chris Bosh will be a game-time decision.  The rest of the regular season schedule for Miami is as follows:

Friday April 12 Boston
Sunday April 14 Chicago
Monday April 15 @ Cleveland
Wednesday April 17 Orlando
     
Last night in the NBA,

Indiana 99 Cleveland 94
Paul George hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 29 seconds left in the game.
Brooklyn 104 Philadelphia 83
Brook Lopez had 29 points and 11 rebounds, Reggie Evans tallied 17 poits and 24 rebounds.

New York 120 Washington 99
Carmelo Anthony had 36 points, 8 rebounds, and six assists, as the Knicks won for the 13th time in a row.

Toronto 101 Chicago 89
DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, Rudy Gay added 19.

Memphis 94 Charlotte 75
Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 20 points.

Houston 101 Phoenix 98
James Harden got credited with the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer as Jermaine O’Neal was charged with goaltending.

Oklahoma City 90 Utah 80
Russell Westbrook had 25 points, Kevin Durant came through with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists.

LA Lakers 104   New Orleans 96
Kobe Bryant scored 23 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, lifting the Lakers to the win.

Golden State 105    Minnesota 89
Klay Thompson poured in 30 points, Stephen Curry had 24 points and 10 assists.

Tonight in the NBA,

Miami @ Washington 7:00 pm Sun Sports
Atlanta @ Philadelphia 7:00 pm
Milwaukee @ Orlando 7:00 pm
Detroit @ Cleveland 7:00 pm
Brooklyn @ Boston 8:00 pm ESPN
Phoenix @ Dallas 8:30 pm
New Orleans @ Sacramento 10:00 pm
LA Lakers @ Portland 10:00 pm
San Antonio @ Denver 10:30 pm ESPN
Minnesota @ LA Clippers 10:30 pm

In college hoops, the Connecticut Lady Huskies captured their eighth national championship, beating Louisville 93-60.  Never a good idea to bet against Geno Auiriemma and Connecticut in that scenario, as they are 8-0 when reaching the championship game.       

Nothing new to report from Westchester regarding the search for a new basketball head coach at FIU.  We could hear something as early as sometime later in the week from FIU AD Pete Garcia.  

The greatest tournament in golf, the Masters, tees off at Augusta National tomorrow.  One word:  Tiger.  

In a related story, I enjoy iced tea, and I prefer drinking a mix of tea and lemonade, (sugar-free, of course), called an “Arnold Palmer”. The mystery of how golf legend Arnold Palmer orders his own drink has been solved by Shane Bacon of Yahoo!Sports.com:


In college baseball, FIU lost two out of three against South Alabama in Mobile this weekend.  Meanwhile, over in Coral Gables, the University of Miami also fell twice in their three-game series against arch-rival Florida State this weekend.  FIU hosts Louisiana-Monroe this weekend at FIU Stadium, while the Canes will host Stetson today, before heading to College Park, MD this weekend to take on Maryland.  

Here is the web site for all the latest in High School Baseball - 


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:  The Marlins are off to a 1-7 start, their worst start since when?      

The Fish are off to their worst start since 1998, when they began 1-11.  That team finished 54-108 but, at least, they scored 39 runs through the first eight games of that season.  This year, we have scored 16 runs in the first eight contests.      

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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