Friday, June 7, 2013


Tony Parker’s improbable circus shot beat the Miami Heat last night, 92-88, and the San Antonio Spurs take a 1-0 lead in their Finals series against the defending champion Miami Heat.  With the Spurs holding a two-point lead in the closing seconds of the game, Parker dribbled the ball off his leg, and fell to his knees.  Well defended by the much bigger LeBron James, he somehow managed to get up and connect on an impossible bank shot off his knees as the shot clock expired.  Parker scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, dominated by the Spurs, who outscored the Heat in that final frame, 23-16.  The ageless one, Tim Duncan, finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds.  Miami led most of the way, outrebounded the Spurs, and only had eight turnovers, but struggled in the fourth quarter, hitting on only 5 of their 18 shots with five turnovers in the final 12 minutes.  LeBron James had a triple double with 18 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists, but was held to only eight points in the second half.  Dwyane Wade finished with 17 points, Chris Bosh had 13, but was  0-4 from behind the three-point arc.  Can’t sweat over this loss too much - you have a game two on Sunday, start time is 8:00 pm, again here at home at the AAA.  Here are the game times and dates for the series, all games will be broadcast by ABC, Channel 10 in South Florida:

Game 2 Sun, June 9 8:00 pm @ Miami
Game 3 Tue, June 11 9:00 pm @ San Antonio
Game 4 Thu, June 13 9:00 pm @ San Antonio
Game 5     *       Sun, June 16 8:00 pm @ San Antonio
Game 6 * Tue, June 18 9:00 pm @ Miami
Game 7 * Thu, June 20 9:00 pm @ Miami

* If Necessary

Let’s go the the diamond.  Two young aces take the mound tonight at Citi Field as the Marlins visit the Mets for a three-game series this weekend.  Matt Harvey (5-0, 2.17 ERA) takes the mound for the Metropolitans, while Jose Fernandez (3-3, 3.34 ERA) toes the rubber for the Fish.  Against the Marlins so far in his young career, Harvey has given up 17 hits and four walks in 10 1/3 innings, with 12 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.35.  Fernandez has been terrific against the Mets, 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA, with 20 strikeouts in 16 innings.  Game time tonight is at 7:10 pm and you can watch the game on Fox Sports Florida on your cable or satellite system.  The expected pitching matchups for the rest of the weekend series are:

SATURDAY         Kevin Slowey vs Jon Niese        1:10 pm
SUNDAY Tom Koehler vs Jeremy Hefner 1:10 pm

The Marlins return home after the series with the Mets, and will take on the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then will host the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game series starting on Friday.

The Fish are still the worst run-scoring team in MLB, with 177 runs in their 60 games.  We congratulate the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have joined the party at the “bottom five” rankings in runs scored, even though they are 10 games over .500. 

TEAM                   W-L             Runs
Marlins       16-44   177
Nationals       29-30   201
White Sox       25-33   203
Dodgers       26-33     213
Pirates 35-25 220

Major League Baseball held their amateur player draft yesterday, and the Marlins had the sixth selection in the first round.  They drafted for need, and selected University of North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran.  In all the mock drafts I saw, everyone had  Moran going in the top five, and, fortunately for the Marlins, he lasted one more pick for them.  Moran has been a stud while at North Carolina.  In his freshman season, he was Baseball AMerica’s Freshman of the year, when he hit .335 with 9 homers and 71 RBI.  In 2012, he hit .365, with six homers and 35 RBI.  This past season was even better - .348, 13 home runs, and he led the nation with 86 RBI this season.  His #1 ranked Tar Heels are still playing to try and win the College World Series.  Moran has good blood lines, as he is the nephew of former major leaguer BJ Surhoff, who played for 19 years in the majors and had a .282 career average.  The Fish had two more picks in what was considered the first round.  With their Competitive Balance Pick (#35) they took left-handed pitcher Matt Krook, a 6-4, 210-pounder who touches 95 mph on the radar gun, from St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco.  Everyone expected Krook to go a lot earlier in the draft.  This could be a very good pick.  With the 44th pick, Trevor Williams was the choice, a sinkerball-throwing right-hander from Arizona State.  With the final pick of the day, (73rd overall), the Marlins took University of Arkansas closer Colby Suggs.  Suggs had a 1.74 ERA, with 29 strikeouts and opponents only hit .139 against him in 20 2/3 innings this past season.

Although it is very difficult to predict how any of these draft picks turn out, the Marlins picked the best player available to them with the sixth pick.  This guy could be making an impact as early as 2014.  A couple of other names to watch and follow in the near future:  OF Austin Meadows (Pirates), Clint Frazier (Indians), and two players drafted by the Yankees: 3B Eric Jagielo and OF Aaron Judge.   

Here is ESPN.com’s pick by pick analysis for the first round:


TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  Three potential hall of famers were selected number six in their respective draft.  Who are they?  Tell you later, alligator. 

In the major leagues yesterday, in the American League,

Tigers 5 Rays 2
Max Scherzer improved to 8-0, allowing one run and four hits in his seven innings of work.  Victor Martinez homered and finished with three RBI, Miguel Cabrera went 3-4 with an RBI.

Orioles 3 Astros 1 
JJ Hardy went 4-4 with an RBI, Miguel Gonzalez allowed five hits and one run in six innings, striking out seven.

Red Sox 6 Rangers 3
David Ortiz ended the game with a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Royals 7 Twins 3
The Royals rallied with four runs in the eighth inning to come back and defeat the Twins.  Lorenzo Cain had the key hit, a two-run homer.  

A’s 5 White Sox 4 (10 innings)
Adam Rosales hit the last of the A’s four homers in the game in the top of the tenth inning.  Yoenis Cespedes connected long distance twice, and Josh Reddick also went yard.  The A’s have won 17 out of their last 20 games.

Yankees 6 Mariners 1
The Yankees scored all their runs in the third inning, keyed by home runs by Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano.  Cano’s three run homer was followed by Teixeira’s solo blast.  Phil Hughes took a shutout into the eighth inning.

Over in the National League,

Cardinals 12 D-Backs 8
The Cardinals went on a home run barrage - Matt Adams, Matt Holliday, Matt Carpenter, Daniel Descalso, and pitcher Shelby Miller all connected long distance in the win.  Edward Mujica recorded the last two outs in the ninth inning to record his 18th save of the season.

Phillies 5 Brewers 1
Delmon Young hit a solo homer, John Mayberry went 3-5 with an RBI, and Ryan Howard also drove in a run as the Phillies went over the .500 mark (31-30) for the first time this season.

Padres 6 Rockies 5 (12 innings)
Yasmani Grandal drove in the go-ahead run on a force out grounder in the top of the 12th inning. 

Dodgers 5          Braves 0
Yasiel Puig’s impressive first week in the major leagues continued last night.  Puig blasted his third homer, a grand slam in the eighth inning, and Zack Greinke tossed seven shutout innings, striking out seven.  

The game between the Mets and Nationals yesterday in was postponed due to inclement weather in the Washington, DC area.  The game will be made up on July 26th as part of a day-night doubleheader.  

Today’s games:

In the American League,

Rangers @ Blue Jays         7:07 pm
Nick Tepesch vs Esmil Rogers

Indians @ Tigers 7:08 pm
Ubaldo Jimenez vs Justin Verlander

Orioles @ Rays 7:10 pm
Jason Hammel vs Chris Archer

Angels @ Red Sox 7:10 pm
Tommy Hanson vs Felix Doubront

Astros @ Royals 8:10 pm
Jordan Lyles vs James Shields

A’s @ White Sox 8:10 pm
Jarrod Parker vs Chris Sale

Yankees @ Mariners       10:10 pm
Hiroki Kuroda vs Jeremy Bonderman

Over in the National League,

Pirates @ Cubs         2:20 pm
Francisco Liriano vs Travis Wood

Twins @ Nationals 7:05 pm
Kevin Correia vs Nate Kearns

Cardinals @ Reds 7:10 pm
Adam Wainwright vs Mike Leake

Marlins @ Mets 7:10 pm
Jose Fernandez vs Matt Harvey

Phillies @ Brewers 8:10 pm
Cliff Lee vs Alfredo Figaro
Padres @ Rockies 8:40 pm
Edinson Volquez vs Jorge de la Rosa

Giants @ D-Backs 9:40 pm
Matt Cain vs Patrick Corbin

Braves @ Dodgers       10:10 pm
Paul Maholm vs Hyun-Jin Ryu

Yasiel Puig has made quite the first impression this week with the Dodgers.  The Dodgers have a history of producing Rookies of the Year, the most by any team in National League history.  Here is a photo collage of the Dodger award winners.  (Note:  Yahoo! Sports is not perfect.  They inserted a photo of NY Yankee legend Elston Howard in the group.)


ESPN Insider Mike Petriello has a “buyer beware” for teams that may be interested in trading for Giancarlo Stanton:


Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:


Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:


Former GM Jim Bowden, now with ESPN, talks about the fallout he expects from the PED situation:


In college baseball, here is the NCAA tournament bracket this year.  The Super Regionals begin today, with the winners advancing to the College World Series in Omaha:


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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: Four potential hall of famers were selected number six in their respective draft.  Who are they?    

Barry Bonds  (Pirates, 1985)
Gary Sheffield (Brewers, 1986)
Derek Jeter (Yankees, 1992)
Zack Greinke (Royals, 2002)

The Marlins have had mixed results in the past when drafting that high.  Josh Beckett (#2 in 1999) and Adrian Gonzalez (#1 in 2000) were good picks.  Josh Booty (#5 in 1994), Jaime Jones (#6 in 1995), and Kyle Skipworth (#6 in 2008) are different stories.

Overall, 35 of the 49 players drafted in that spot have reached the majors (71%).  Let’s hope we see Colin Moran manning the hot corner in Miami very soon.

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. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!

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