The Heat take on the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals that begin on Wednesday. The Pacers got past the New York Knicks in six games, and, according to their head coach Frank Vogel, the Heat are “just the next team standing between Indiana and the NBA Championship”. That quote ought to look good in the Heat locker room. LeBron James, for one, took exception to that statement and Lebron said that his ears perked up when he heard Vogel’s remarks after the Knicks series. “We’ll be ready for them”, said LeBron. In the regular season, the Pacers beat Miami two out of three, winning both games in Indiana by double figures. In the playoffs last year, the Pacers took a 2-1 lead before Miami won three in a row to put an end to the series. Game one is set for Wednesday, with tipoff at 8:30 pm. You can watch the game on TNT. Game two is set for Friday night, also on TNT, at 8:30 pm.
In the Western Conference final series, game one went to the San Antonio Spurs, as they handled the Memphis Grizzlies with relative ease, 105-83. The Grizzlies got only two points from their big man, Zach Randolph, while Tony Parker led the Spurs with 20 points and nine assists. Here’s the upcoming schedule for both series:
TUESDAY:
Memphis @ San Antonio 9:00 pm ESPN
Game 2 Spurs lead series 1-0
WEDNESDAY:
Indiana @ Miami 8:30 pm TNT
Game 1
David J. Neal of the Herald feels like I do - - - Miami in no more than six games.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/19/3406127/david-j-neal-miami-indianapolis.html
The Miami Dolphins open their “OTA” practices today, consisting of 10 organized team activity days and a minicamp over the next four weeks. Armando Salguero has all the info right here and now:
After seven losses in a row, the Marlins needed a superhuman effort from their ace, and got it. Ricky Nolasco threw eight shutout innings and struck out 11 batters before coming out in the ninth after a leadoff double. Steve Chisek came in and was awful, allowed the inherited runner to score, and loaded the bases before Mike Dunn bailed him out, and the Fins broke that streak, beating the D-Backs, 2-1. Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run double to lead the feeble Miami offense. The Fish open a three-game series with the Phillies tonight at Marlins Park. First pitch tonight is 7:10 pm. The pitching matchups for the series against Philadelphia:
Tonight Cole Hamels vs Alex Sanabia 7:10 pm
Tuesday Tyler Cloud vs Jose Fernandez 7:10 pm
Wednesday Cliff Lee vs Kevin Slowey 7:10 pm
Of course, the Fish are still bringing up the rear in MLB in runs scored. They’re still last in runs scored with 117 in their 44 games, a woeful 2.66 runs per contest. What it boils down to is that if the opponent scores more than two runs, the party is over. I will be posting the “bottom five” rankings in runs scored until the Marlins aren’t on the list. We could be here a while.
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 12-32 117
Dodgers 17-25 142
Nationals 23-21 155
White Sox 19-23 155
Phillies 21-23 156
In the major leagues yesterday, first in the National League,
Braves 5 Dodgers 2
Atlanta scored four runs in the eighth inning to beat LA and sweep the weekend series.
Phillies 3 Reds 2
Erik Kratz and Freddy Galvis homered in the bottom of the ninth inning against Reds closer Aroldis Chapman as Philadelphia stole one from Cincinnati.
Cardinals 4 Brewers 2
The Cards scored all their runs in the fourth inning on RBI’s by Yadier Molina, Jon Jay, David Freese, and Pete Kozma.
Mets 4 Cubs 3
Daniel Murphy came through with the go-ahead homer in the top of the eighth inning.
Pirates 1 Astros 0
Pedro Alvarez’ solo homer was all the offense needed. Jeff Locke fired seven shutout innings to win his fourth straight decision.
Rockies 5 Giants 0
Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki drove in a pair of runs each. Juan Nicasio tossed six scoreless innings.
Padres 13 Nationals 4
Will Venable, Kyle Blanks, and Yonder Alonso all homered and drove in a pair of runs each.
Over in the American League:
Indians 6 Mariners 0
Justin Masterson struck out 11 in seven innings of work, giving up only three hits. Michael Brantley homered and finished with four RBI.
Rays 3 Orioles 1
Matt Moore won his eighth game of the season, without a loss. Luke Scott hit a tie-breaking homer in the fifth inning against his former team. The Rays swept the three-game series against the Orioles.
Angels 6 White Sox 2
Jason Vargas threw seven scoreless innings. Erick Aybar drove in three runs, Howie Kendrick drove in a pair.
A’s 4 Royals 3
Yoenis Cespedes hit the go-ahead homer in the eighth inning.
Red Sox 5 Twins 1
Dustin Predoia homered and finished with three RBI, Will Middlebrooks also connected long distance for Boston as they won their fifth game in a row.
Rangers 11 Tigers 8
David Murphy’s three-run homer put the Rangers ahead to stay. Miguel Cabrera went 4-4 with three home runs and five RBI in the loss. All three homers were to center field.
The game between the Yankees and the Blue Jays was postponed due to rain. No makeup date has been announced.
More on Miguel Cabrera: After winning the triple crown last year, Miggy is leading the AL in batting average (.387), is second in homers (11), and leads the league in RBI (47).
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: As Miguel Cabrera continues to wreak havoc on major league pitching, I just wanted to rub salt in our wounds . . . who was Cabrera traded for? Tell you later, alligator.
Today’s games, first in the National League:
Reds @ Mets 7:10 pm
Johnny Cueto vs Shaun Marcum
Phillies @ Marlins 7:10 pm
Cole Hamels vs Alex Sanabia
Twins @ Braves 7:10 pm
Kevin Correia vs Julio Teheran
Dodgers @ Brewers 8:10 pm
Clayton Kershaw vs Yovani Gallardo
D-backs @ Rockies 8:40 pm
Patrick Corbin vs Jon Garland
Cardinals @ Padres 10:10 pm
Shelby Miller vs Jason Marquis
Nationals @ Giants 10:15 pm
Zach Duke vs Ryan Vogelsong
Over in the American League:
Mariners @ Indians 12:05 pm
Hisashi Iwakuma vs Scott Kazmir
Rays @ Blue Jays 1:07 pm
Jake Odorizzi vs RA Dickey
Yankees @ Orioles 7:05 pm
CC Sabathia vs Freddy Garcia
A’s @ Rangers 8:05 pm
Bartolo Colon vs Josh Lindblom
Red Sox @ White Sox 8:10 pm
Jon Lester vs Dylan Axelrod
Royals @ Astros 8:10 pm
Jeremy Guthrie vs Dallas Keuchel
Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on the possible lingering effects the injury to David Price will have for the Rays:
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports feels that the firing of Don Mattingly in Los Angeles is imminent. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen this movie before: the GM and the ownership make bad personnel decisions, the manager takes the blame and becomes the fall guy:
According to John Harper of the NY Daily News, the Yankees need to just show Robinson Cano the money. (I totally agree).
I’ve been telling you about Braves rookie Evan Gattis since spring training. Here’s an update on “El Oso Blanco” from David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
From Jim Caple at ESPN.com, here are his ten worst baseball uniforms ever. You want ugly? Check out his #10.
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
Catch Santos Perez’ weekly boxing column in the Miami Herald and here on the blog today:
In college baseball, FIU closed out their regular season with a whimper and a cry for help, as they were swept by Florida Atlantic in a three-game series. FIU finishes the season 25-29 and enter the Sun Belt Tournament as the #6 seed, and will face #3 Louisiana-Lafayette, the hosts of this year’s tournament. Meanwhile, over in Coral Gables, the University of Miami Hurricanes took two out of three against Georgia Tech this weekend. The Canes are the eighth seed in the eight-team ACC Tournament, and will square off against North Carolina at Durham, NC on Wednesday.
The State tournament in high school baseball continues. Congratulations to head baseball coach Luis Padron and his Westwood Christian Warriors, who beat Trinity Christian-Deltona 9-3 to capture the 2A state title. The next day, Padron resigned his job and accepted the head coach position at St. Brendan.
Here is the web site for all the latest in high school baseball:
Speaking of websites, check out my new and improved site:
THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: As Miguel Cabrera continues to wreak havoc on major league pitching, I just wanted to rub salt in our wounds . . . who was Cabrera traded for? Tell you later, alligator.
Jeffrey Loria and his minions traded Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for the following misfits: Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Frankie de la Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, and Mike Rabelo. Congratulations to Dave Dombrowski and the Tigers for taking advantage of the baseball-challenged Marlins front office. It’s always about saving dollars and cents.
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.
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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