Thursday, May 15, 2014

In the NBA playoffs, Miami and San Antonio became the first teams to advance to their respective conference finals.  The Heat were down by eight points with under five minutes left in the game, but staged a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to eliminate the Brooklyn Nets, 96-94.  A three-pointer by Jesus Shuttleworth (Ray Allen) was the dagger in the heart and some tough defense sealed the deal.  Put the ball in Ray Allen’s hands at crunch time and good things tend to happen.

Heat fans need to pay attention to the series between the Washington Wizards and the Indiana Pacers to learn when and where the Conference final series begins.  The Pacers lead that series 3 games to 2, with game six being played tonight in Washington.  If Indiana wins, the Heat would be the road team for games 1,2,5 and 7 and would play at home in games 3, 4, and 6.  If Washington advances, the Heat would hold the home-court advantage.  If Indiana wins game 6 tonight, game 1 of the conference final series would be on Sunday at 3:30 pm in Indianapolis.  If Washington wins game six tonight, the series would start on Tuesday, either in Indianapolis or in Miami.

Out west, the San Antonio Spurs clinched yet another Western Conference finals appearance, eliminating the Portland Trailblazers in five games.  The Spurs were very impressive against a very good Portland team, beating them by double-digits in all four of their wins in the series.  The LA Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder meet tonight in game six of their semifinal series in Los Angeles, with the Thunder holding a 3-2 advantage.  If the Clippers win tonight, game seven would be played on Sunday.  

Believe me when I tell you that the Spurs are rooting for the Clippers tonight and the Heat are rooting for the Wizards to force a game seven as well.



Let’s go to MLB:

Jose Fernandez has received two medical opinions that suggest Tommy John surgery, keeping him out of action until at least June of 2015.  Jose and his family are reviewing all the data and the possible scenarios before reaching a final decision.  He will be missed.  

In last night’s game in Los Angeles, Anthony DeSciafani made his major league debut a memorable one, and the Marlins’ minor league pitcher of the year last season notched his first victory as the Fins exploded for 13 runs and pounded the Dodgers 13-3.  

The Fish kick off a four-game weekend series tonight in San Francisco against the Giants.  Here are the starters for that series:

Thursday Nathan Eovaldi vs Matt Cain            10:15 pm

Friday Henderson Alvarez vs Tim Hudson   10:15 pm

Saturday Tom Koehler vs Tim Lincecum           9:05 pm

Sunday Jacob Turner vs Ryan Vogelsong        4:10 pm

Click below for yesterday’s recaps and results in the major leagues:



Here are the standings in MLB:


Today’s complete schedule in the major leagues:


Some things I’m keeping my eye on around the diamonds:

The Marlins added veteran hurler Randy Wolf to the roster.  Good guy to have available, either in the bullpen, or as a starter if one of the youngsters struggle.   

Masahiro Tanaka is the real deal.  He improved his record to 6-0 last night, throwing his first major league shutout as my Yankees finally beat the Mets, 4-0.  

Speaking of real deals, Jose Abreu of the White Sox continues to pummel major league pitching.  Last night, he blasted his MLB-leading 15th homer, a three-run blast in the eighth inning to give the White Sox the win over the Oakland A’s. 

Major League Baseball is taking a look at the situation with Cuban slugger Alfredo Despaigne.  Despaigne was playing in the Mexican League with a falsified Dominican passport, joining Leo Nuñez (now Juan Carlos Oviedo) and Fausto Carmona (now Roberto Hernandez) in this list of shame.  Look for MLB to launch an investigation in Dominican Republic to try and control this continuing epidemic.  Sadly, there are more fake passports out there, and more names will be coming out very soon. 

Here is a very interesting article by Dan Szymborski of ESPN that shows that PEDs have had little or no noticeable effect on hitting stats.  Click below:


TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  I guess that David Ortiz qualifies as a late bloomer.  Big Papi signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in 2003 at the age of 27, after being released by the Minnesota Twins.  What team did Ortiz sign with originally as an amateur free agent and how did he get to Minnesota?  The answer comes later, alligator.

More from MLB:



Let us move on to the Miami Dolphins and the NFL.

Thanks to the Sun Sentinel, here is the latest breakdown of the Dolphins 2014 roster:


Here’s the list of the Fins’ draft picks, with player bios:


The Sun Sentinel has a photo gallery of Miami’s undrafted free agent signings, including Ryan Lankford, a WR from Illinois, who is the son of former Dolphin defensive back Paul Lankford:


Here’s the latest on the Miami Dolphins from Armando Salguero:


The countdown begins until the Dolphins take the field.  Here are both the Preseason and Regular Season schedules:

2014 MIAMI DOLPHINS Preseason schedule: 

Aug. 8 at Atlanta Falcons             (Fri) 7:00 pm
Aug. 16 at Tampa Bay Bucs           (Sat) 7:00 pm
Aug. 23 Dallas Cowboys                (Sat) 7:00 pm
Aug. 28 St. Louis Rams                 (Thu) 7:00 pm

2014 MIAMI DOLPHINS Regular Season schedule:

Sep. 7 New England Patriots 1:00 pm
Sep. 14       at Buffalo Bills 1:00 pm
Sep. 21 Kansas City Chiefs 4:25 pm
Sep. 28 at Oakland Raiders  (London) 6:00 pm
Oct. 5 BYE
Oct. 12 Green Bay Packers 1:00 pm
Oct. 19 at Chicago Bears 1:00 pm
Oct. 26 at Jacksonville Jaguars 1:00 pm
Nov. 2 San Diego Chargers 1:00 pm
Nov. 9 at Detroit Lions 1:00 pm
Nov. 13 Buffalo Bills              (Thu) 8:25 pm
Nov. 23 at Denver Broncos 4:25 pm
Dec. 1 at New York Jets      (Mon) 8:30 pm
Dec. 7 Baltimore Ravens 1:00 pm
Dec. 14 at New England Patriots 1:00 pm
Dec. 21 Minnesota Vikings 1:00 pm
Dec. 28 New York Jets 1:00 pm

For more 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 more from the University of Miami.


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:


The Central Florida Knights are in the house:


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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  I guess that David Ortiz qualifies as a late bloomer.  Big Papi signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in 2003 at the age of 27, after being released by the Minnesota Twins.  What team did Ortiz sign with originally as an amateur free agent and how did he get to Minnesota? 

He signed with the Seattle Mariners as a 17-year-old in 1992 and was traded by the Mariners in 1996 to the Twins as part of a trade for Dave Hollins.  That trade worked out pretty well for the Red Sox.

Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.

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