It’s FRIDAY!
The greatest golf tournament teed off yesterday, as the Masters Tournament started in Augusta. The most beautiful backdrop for any sports event. No Tiger Woods this year, so everybody has a shot. My pick this week - Bubba Watson.
In the NBA, the Heat find themselves a half-game behind the Indiana Pacers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference race, and the two teams square off tonight at the AAA. Indiana has been in a tail-spin, and they sat their entire starting five in their last game against the last-place Milwaukee Bucks. They managed to beat the Bucks, and when Miami lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, they flip-flopped in the standings. After tonight’s encounter, the Pacers have two games remaining, while the Heat will have three more games to play. You can watch tonight’s critical game on Sun Sports, starting at 7:30 pm. It will also be aired nationally on NBA-TV.
In the rest of the east, the rest of the positions are almost set, with Charlotte and Washington tied for the with spot, and the Atlanta Hawks are pretty much in control of the eighth and final spot for the playoffs, two games ahead of the New York Knicks, with only four games to play.
Over in the west, Golden State is in sixth place, holding a one-game lead over Phoenix and Dallas, while Memphis sits in ninth position, one game behind the Suns and the Mavs.
Here’s the Heat’s remaining schedule:
Tonight 4/11 7:30 pm Indiana SUN SPORTS, NBA-TV
Sat 4/12 7:30 pm @ Atlanta SUN SPORTS
Mon 4/14 7:00 pm @ Washington SUN SPORTS
Wed 4/16 8:00 pm @ Philadelphia SUN SPORTS
My take from around the Association:
The Heat have more to worry about than just the playoff seeding. They need to get healthy real quick. Dwyane Wade and Greg Oden have both missed the last eight games. Chris Andersen, Ray Allen, and Udonis Haslem have also been out of action. They need all these guys to be at 100% if they want a chance to three-peat.
Let’s go to the Marlins, the Rays, and the rest of MLB:
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: In this, the 40th anniversary of Hank Aaron passing Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list, a three part question:
What pitchers did Aaron hit #714 and #715 against? What pitcher did Aaron hit his last home run, (#755) against? The answer comes later, alligator.
The Marlins wasted no time in leaving Washington, DC after getting swept by the Nats in a three-game series. The Fish looked awful, especially the bullpen who got hit around quite a bit. Not to be left behind, their offense sputtered as well, as the team struck out a franchise-record 17 times in the final game of the series on Thursday. The Marlins are in Philadelphia, as they open a weekend series with the Phillies. The probable pitchers for the Phillies’ series are:
Friday Jose Fernandez vs AJ Burnett 7:05 pm
Saturday Nathan Eovaldi vs Jonathan Pettibone 7:05 pm
Sunday Henderson Alvarez vs Kyle Kendrick 1:35 pm
The team returns home for a homestand after this weekend, kicking it off with another three-game series against the Nationals. After a day off on Thursday, Robinson Cano and the Seattle Mariners will invade Marlins Park for a weekend series.
The Tampa Bay Rays lost two out of three against the KC Royals this week, and after an off day yesterday, are now in Cincinnati to take on the Reds in an inter-league series. Here are the probable pitchers for the series against the Reds:
Tonight David Price vs Johnny Cueto 7:10 pm
Saturday Alex Cobb vs Alfredo Simon 1:10 pm
Sunday TBA vs Tony Cingrani 1:10 pm
Click below for yesterday’s recaps and results in the major leagues:
Click below for today’s complete schedule in the major leagues:
Some little things I’m keeping my eye on around the diamonds:
It is always very entertaining to see a series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees took game one of their four-game series yesterday at Yankee Stadium, behind Michael Pineda.
White Sox rookie Jose Abreu had his second two-homer game of the year yesterday. He looks like a player. The Sox got some bad news yesterday, as outfielder Avisail Garcia suffered a season-ending injury.
Good move by MLB as they announced that the top relief pitchers in their respective league will get awards named after Mariano Rivera (AL) and Trevor Hoffman (NL).
In case you missed it, check out the ESPN story on the NY high school pitcher who not only pitched a perfect game, but took it one step further by striking out all 21 hitters he faced.
More from MLB:
What’s up from the gridiron?
Here’s the latest on the Miami Dolphins from Armando Salguero:
2014 MIAMI DOLPHINS Home schedule: Buffalo, New England, NY Jets, Kansas City, San Diego, Green Bay, Minnesota and Baltimore.
2014 MIAMI DOLPHINS Road schedule: Buffalo, New England, NY Jets, Denver, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland (in London), and Jacksonville.
Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill says he has to be a lot better in 2014. Here’s the rest of the story from the Sun Sentinel:
Here is the 2014 draft order, according to ESPN. The Houston Texans are on the clock.
The NFL Draft is less than a month away. Mark your calendars for May 8th, at 8:00 pm.
More mock drafts. Here is the latest from ESPN’s Todd McShay:
In police news, Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers is being investigated my Miami police, no less:
For the latest news from around the NFL, here is NFL NATION:
Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest from Coral Gables, and the University of Miami.
The Sun Sentinel talked with Canes RB Duke Johnson:
From FIU, David J. Neal of the Herald has the latest in his blog:
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and the Seminoles:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
We welcome the Central Florida Knights to the blog:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: In this, the 40th anniversary of Hank Aaron passing Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list, a three part question: What pitchers did Aaron hit #714 and #715 against? What pitcher did Aaron hit his last home run, (#755) against?
Home run #714 - Jack Billingham of the Cincinnati Reds.
Home run #715 - Al Downing of the LA Dodgers.
Home run #755 - Dick Drago of the then California Angels. Aaron finished his career playing for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!
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