The Miami Heat are waiting for the winner of the Chicago-Brooklyn series, and that series may be getting interesting. Last night, the Nets beat the Bulls 105-91. Brook Lopez finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, while Deron Williams had his usual solid game, 23 points and 10 assists. The series is now 3-2 in favor of the Bulls, with game six scheduled for Thursday, in Chicago. Personally, I’m rooting for the Nets.
In the other first round games yesterday,
Atlanta 102 Indiana 91 Series tied at 2-2
29 points and 11 rebounds for Josh Smith. Kyle Korver scored 19 points off the bench and Al Horford contributed with 18 points.
Houston 105 Oklahoma City 103 Thunder lead series 3-1
Chandler Parsons tallied 27 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists as the Rockets staved off elimination and live to play on at least another day.
TONIGHT
Golden State @ Denver 8:00 pm TNT
Game 5 Warriors lead series 3-1
Memphis @ LA Clippers 10:30 pm TNT
Game 5 Series tied 2-2
WEDNESDAY
Boston @ New York 7:00 pm TNT
Game 5 Knicks lead series 3-1
Atlanta @ Indiana 8:00 pm NBA-TV
Game 5 Series tied 2-2
Houston @ Oklahoma City 9:30 pm TNT
Game 5 Series tied 2-2
NBA player Jason Collins, a 14-year veteran who this past season played for the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards, came out and declared he is gay. Here is the story from ESPN:
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald shares his comments:
My thoughts: It took a whole lot of courage for Collins to come out and make this public. Hopefully, he is ready to face a lot of ignorance and bigotry that will come alongside all the praise and support. I am sure that there are a number of players in all professional leagues that are gay and are afraid to come out, and this may help them. It has to be very difficult for them to carry this load inside of them and not be able to tell everyone. This, however, is nothing like Jackie Robinson integrating baseball. Times were different back then, and Jackie and the Brooklyn Dodgers were opposed by a great majority of people, both inside the clubhouse, in the stadiums, and all around the country, and everyone knew he was black. Although Collins will undoubtedly face a lot of bigotry and ignorance, society in general will probably be more accepting than what they were back in the 1940’s and 1950’s to Jackie Robinson and the rest of the black players that immediately followed.
The great pitching matchup yesterday at Marlins Park as Jose Fernandez squared off against Matt Harvey of the Mets just didn’t pan out. The Fish still aren’t hitting, thus, not providing any support for their starters. Fernandez, who is on an 85-pitch pitch count this season, was taken out of the game after four innings, and was allowed, again inexplicably, to hit for himself with two outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth. John Buck homered for the Mets in the fourth inning to give the Mets a 2-1 lead, and the bullpens were great until the ninth, when the Marlins pushed across the tying run after a leadoff double by Justin Ruggiano, a bloop single by Rob Brantly put runners on the corners with nobody out. Ruggiano scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Green, but Chris Coghlan ended the threat by grounding into a double play. The game remained tied until the top of the 15th, when Ruben Tejada’s infield single gave the Mets the lead 3-2. With one out in the bottom of the 15th, Greg Dobbs singled. Ruggiano walked, and Rob Brantly hit an RBI single to tie the game. Nick Green followed with his second sacrifice fly of the game, and that’s the ballgame...everything’s well that ends well. Marlins win 4-3, and have won consecutive games for the first time since Oct 1 and 2 of last year. Here are the pitching match-ups for the rest of the series against the Metropolitans:
Tonight 7:10 pm Jeremy Hefner vs Kevin Slowey
Wednesday 12:40 pm Dillon Gee vs Wade LeBlanc
The Fish are still bringing up the rear in MLB in runs scored, with a grand total of 71 runs in their first 26 games. I will be posting the “bottom five” rankings in runs scored until the Marlins aren’t on the list. At this point, I am not very optimistic about this list not being a permanent part of this blog.
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 7-19 71
Dodgers 12-13 82
White Sox 10-14 83
Cubs 10-15 85
Padres 9-16 88
In the rest of MLB yesterday, first in the National League,
Braves 3 Nationals 2
Andrelton Simmons drove in the tie-breaking run in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly. The Braves have now beaten the Nationals eight times in a row, dating back to last season.
Cubs 5 Padres 3
Scott Hairston and Cody Ransom hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Brewers 10 Pirates 4
Five Brewers left the park - Jean Segura, Norichica Aoki, Carlos Gomez, Yunieski Betancourt, and starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo.
Reds 2 Cardinals 1
Mat Latos threw 6 shutout innings, Aroldis Chapman came in and shut the door in the ninth to record his sixth save.
Giants 6 D-Backs 4
Brandon Belt hit a tie-breaking, two-run single in the eighth inning. Belt also homered earlier in the game
Rockies 12 Dodgers 2
Wilin Rosario hit a three-run homer, Nolan Arenado connected with a runner on, and Dexter Fowler led off the game with a homer.
Over in the American League:
Astros 9 Yankees 1
Carlos Corporan had four hits, including a home run as Houston pounded Andy Pettitte for seven runs and ten hits. Brandon Barnes had three hits and drove in three runs.
Indians 9 Royals 0
Ubaldo Jimenez pitched into the eighth inning, Ryan Rayburn went 4-4 with two home runs and finished with 4 RBI. Jason Kipnis also connected long distance.
Tigers 4 Twins 3
Prince Fielder’s three-run homer in the sixth inning was the difference in the ballgame.
Mariners 6 Orioles 2
Joe Saunders pitched the complete game, allowing just two runs and four hits. Michael Saunders connected long distance in the win.
A’s 10 Angels 8 (19 innings)
Brandon Moss’ two run homer in the bottom of the 19th inning, his second dinger of the game ended the affair. The Angels have lost six of eight.
Today’s games, first in the National League:
Nationals @ Braves 7:05 pm
Stephen Strasburg vs Julio Teheran
Padres @ Cubs 8:05 pm
Clayton Richard vs eff Samardzija
Pirates @ Brewers 8:10 pm
Wandy Rodriguez vs Yovani Gallardo
Reds @ Cardinals 8:15 pm
Mat Latos vs Adam Wainwright
Giants @ D-Backs 9:40 pm
Matt Cain vs Ian Kennedy
Rockies @ Dodgers 10:10 pm
Tyler Chatwood vs Ted Lilly
Over in the American League:
Astros @ Yankees 7:05 pm
Philip Humber vs Hiroki Kuroda
Phillies @ Indians 7:05 pm
Roy Halladay vs Zach McAllister
Red Sox @ Blue Jays 7:07 pm
Jon Lester vs Brandon Morrow
Twins @ Tigers 7:08 pm
Vance Worley vs Justin Verlander
White Sox @ Rangers 8:05 pm
Jose Quintana vs Yu Darvish
Rays @ Royals 8:10 pm
Alex Cobb vs James Shields
Angels @ A’s 10:05 pm
Garrett Richards vs Jarrod Parker
Orioles @ Mariners 10:10 pm
Jason Hammel vs Brandon Maurer
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Let’s stay on home runs. Who is the oldest player to ever hit a home run in the major leagues? Who is the youngest player to connect long distance in the majors? Tell you later, alligator.
David Schoenfield of ESPN.com gives out his April grades in the National League:
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
In college baseball this weekend, FIU will take on Florida Gulf Coast in a doubleheader on Wednesday, and will travel to Troy, Alabama to take on Troy in a weekend series. The University of Miami welcome St. Johns to Coral Gables this weekend for a three-game series.
Here is the web site for all the latest in High School Baseball -
Speaking of websites, check out my new and improved site:
Don’t miss my two “Descarga Deportiva” radio 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: Let’s stay on home runs. Who is the oldest player to ever hit a home run in the major leagues? Who is the youngest player to connect long distance in the majors?
Tommy Brown was 17 years, 257 days old when he homered for the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 20, 1945. You may remember the oldest player - Julio Franco, was 48 years 254 days old when he left the yard on May 4th 2007 while playing for the New York Mets.
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Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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