The Heat needed a win in Indiana, after losing to the Pacers on Friday to even the series at a game a piece and giving up the home court advantage. LeBron James and his teammates went nuts on the Pacers‘ vaunted defense, riddling them for 70 first-half points and kept up the pace in the second half to pull away with the 114-96 victory and take a 2-1 lead in the series. LeBron led the way with 22 points, but it was a contribution from an unexpected source that may have been the key to the game. Udonis Haslem had 17 points and 7 rebounds and all five starters finished in double figures, as Dwyane Wade contributed with 18 points and 8 assists, Mario Chalmers added 14, and Chris Bosh had 15 points. Chris Andersen came off the bench to score 9 points and pull down nine rebounds in 22 minutes of action, hitting on all four field goal attempts. The Bird Man has hit 16 field goal attempts in a row. Game three is scheduled for tomorrow night, again in Indiana, at 8:30 pm. By the way, the Heat have now won five games in a row on the road, all five by more than 10 points. The Heat are 47-4 in their last 51 games, and they’ve been devastating on the road, winning 23 of its last 24 games away from home. I’m sticking by my original pick - Miami in six games or less.
From FoxSports.com, the numbers reveal how dominating the Heat were in destroying the Pacers last night:
In the Western Conference final series, the San Antonio Spurs can close out their series against the Memphis Grizzlies tonight in Memphis. The Spurs are in total control with a 3-0 lead over the Grizzlies. Game time tonight is 8:30 pm, and you can watch it on ESPN on your satellite or cable system.
Another horrible weekend for the Marlins, who got swept by the Chicago White Sox in their three-game weekend series. Yesterday, the White Sox punished Marlins starter Alex Sanabia, who gave up four runs and six hits in just four innings of work. Adam Dunn belted a two-run homer and former Marlin Alejandro de Aza also knocked in a pair of runs in Chicago's 5-3 win. The White Sox have won 9 out of 12, and are back at .500 (24-24) for the first time since they were 4-4 back on April 10. For the Fish, the offense yesterday was provided by Marcell Ozuna, Justin Ruggiano, and Nick Green, each of them with two hits and a run batted in. The Marlins take on the Tampa Bay Rays today and tomorrow, and both teams travel to Miami for games on Wednesday and Thursday. Here are the expected pitching matchups in the four games against the Rays:
TODAY Jose Fernandez vs Jake Odorizzi 3:10 pm
TUES Kevin Slowey vs Jeremy Hellickson 7:10 pm
WED Roberto Hernandez vs Tom Koehler 7:10 pm
THU Matt Moore vs Ricky Nolasco 7:10 pm
Of course, the Fish are still the worst run-scoring team in MLB, scoring just 132 runs in their 50 games. (2.64 runs per contest) Their 13-37 record is the worst ever in franchise history after 50 games. Don't you remember Jeffrey Loria proclaiming that this team would be "competitive"? We just didn't realize that he meant competitive with the 1962 Mets. I will be posting the “bottom five” rankings in runs scored until the Marlins aren’t on the list. It looks like we’ll be here all season long.
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 13-37 132
Dodgers 20-28 164
Nationals 26-24 173
Phillies 23-24 167
White Sox 21-24 166
In the major leagues yesterday, first in the National League,
Cubs 5 Reds 4 (10 innings)
Alfonso Soriano tied the game with a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Wellington Castillo had the go-ahead run-scoring double in the tenth.
Nationals 6 Phillies 1
The Nats broke up a scoreless tie in the seventh inning, scoring five runs against Cole Hamels, with the help of an infield hit and a couple of errors. Stephen Strasburg got the win, Cole Hamels suffered the loss, and is now 1-8.
Pirates 5 Brewers 4
Wandy Rodriguez won his fourth straight start, Pedro Alvarez had a two-run double.
Giants 7 Rockies 3
Buster Posey homered and finished with two RBI’s, Hunter Pence also drove in a pair. Matt Cain improved to 4-2.
D-Backs 6 Padres 5
Patrick Corbin is now 8-0 this season, Martin Prado had four hits, after getting three hits the night before. Eric Chavez connected long distance for the second straight game, and former Marlin Heath Bell threw a perfect ninth inning to record his eighth save.
Cardinals 5 Dodgers 3
Matt Carpenter drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single in the seventh inning. Pete Kozma hit a three-run double as the Cards improved their ML-best record to 32-17. Ex-Marlin Edward Mujica closed it out, his 14th save in 14 opportunities.
Mets 4 Braves 2
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Metropolitans got a run-scoring single from John Buck to tie the game, and Ike Davis, who came into the game hitting .148 with only 9 RBI, connected the game-winning two-run single.
Over in the American League:
Jays 6 Orioles 5
Munenori Kawasaki’s two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning ended the contest, capping off a four-run ninth inning for the Blue Jayes.
Tigers 6 Twins 1
Avisail Garcia had a pinch-hit three-run triple and Torii Hunter connected long distance.
Red Sox 6 Indians 5
The Red Sox scored four runs in the ninth inning, capped off by a two-run double by Jacoby Ellsbury.
Rays 8 Yankees 3
The Rays avoided the three-game sweep, as Alex Cobb shut out the Yankees for eight innings before giving up a leadoff homer to Brett Gardner in the ninth.
Angels 5 Royals 2
JB Shuck and Erick Aybar had consecutive RBI singles as part of a three-run seventh inning as the Angels completed a four-game sweep over the Royals. Josh Hamilton connected long distance.
A’s 6 Astros 2
Bartolo Colon, who celebrated his 40th birthday on Friday, threw seven shutout innings yesterday. Mate Freiman homered and drove in three runs.
Mariners 4 Rangers 3 (13 innings)
Jason Bay ended the game with a run-scoring single in the 13th inning. Kendrys Ramirez and Raul Ibañez homered for the Mariners, Ibañez’ blast was in the bottom of the 11th to tie the game one after the Rangers had taken the lead in the top of the inning.
Today’s games are all interleague matchups:
Orioles @ Nationals 1:05 pm
Jasop Hammel vs Gio Gonzalez
Pirates @ Tigers 1:08 pm
Francisco Liriano vs Justin Verlander
Indians @ Reds 1:10 pm
Ubaldo Jimenez vs Mike Leake
Cardinals @ Royals 2:10 pm
Adam Wainwright vs James Shields
Rockies @ Astros 2:10 pm
Jhoulys Chacin vs Bud Norris
Twins @ Brewers 2:10 pm
Kevin Correia vs Wily Peralta
Marlins @ Rays 3:10 pm
Jose Fernandez vs Jake Odorizzi
Rangers @ D-Backs 3:40 pm Game 1
Martin Perez vs Tyler Skaggs
Rangers @ D-Backs 9:40 pm Game 2
Yu Darvish vs Trevor Cahill
Giants @ A’s 4:05 pm
Madison Bumgarner vs Dan Straily
Padres @ Mariners 4:10 pm
Clayton Richard vs Aaron Harang
Braves @ Blue Jays 7:07 pm
Tim Hudson vs Mark Buehrle
Cubs @ White Sox 7:10 pm
Jeff Samardzija @ Jose Quintana
Phillies @ Red Sox 7:10 pm
Tyler Cloyd vs Alfredo Aceves
Yankees @ Mets 7:10 pm
Phil Hughes vs Jon Niese
Angels @ Dodgers 8:10 pm
CJ Wilson vs Zack Grienke
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: If last year was the year of the no-hitter, the 2013 season seems to be the year of the one-hitter, as five pitchers have thrown complete game one-hitters so far. Who are these guys? Tell you later, alligator.
ESPN’s David Schoenfield talks about closers not being able to close and other stuff from this past weekend:
Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports looks at Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera, along with some other baseball tidbits:
By the way, speaking of Miguel Cabrera, Miggy leads all of baseball with 55 RBI this season. He is on a pace to drive in 198, which would break Hack Wilson’s major league record of 191 RBI in a season.
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
In college baseball, FIU was eliminated from the Sun Belt Conference tournament on Saturday, losing to South Alabama 7-6. A tough season and a long off-season ahead for the Panthers and head coach Turtle Thomas. Meanwhile, the University of Miami Hurricanes were also eliminated in their ACC Conference tournament, and they now wait to hear their postseason fate today at 12 noon on ESPN-U on the NCAA Selection show. The Canes, who have participated in the NCAA postseason forty years in a row, finished 36-23 this season, so they should be playing somewhere and extend the longest postseason streak in all college athletics. Hopefully, Coach Jim Morris will be able to lead his team in the NCAA regionals, after he couldn’t coach the team in their final game against Clemson. Morris fell ill and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Please check this out: I’m selling a little over three acres in the beautiful North Carolina mountains, overlooking the New River, a quick 35-minute drive from Boone and Blowing Rock. Click here to see some photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: If last year was the year of the no-hitter, the 2013 season seems to be the year of the one-hitter, as five pitchers have thrown complete game one-hitters so far. Who are these guys?
Former Marlin Anibal Sanchez, who leads all active pitchers with four career one-hitters, leads this season’s “close but no cigar” list: Jordan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals, Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox, Shelby Miller of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox are the other four to come oh so close in 2013.
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.
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Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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