Friday, June 13, 2014

First of all - - - Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there.  Enjoy your day to its fullest!

Oh me, oh my.

It would have been very easy to recap Thursday’s Heat - Spurs game by copying what I wrote after game 3.  Another beatdown as San Antonio clobbered Miami 107-86.  The Heat lost games 3 and 4 at the AAA by a combined 40 points.  That is totally unheard of.  Kawhi Leonard again ruled on the court, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, and 3 steals.  All this while playing suffocating defense on whoever he guarded.   

The Spurs are on the verge of winning their fifth NBA championship and avenging last year’s loss to the Heat.  They are just clicking on all cylinders.  They have outscored the opposition in this year’s playoffs by a whopping 197 points, and their average margin of victory in their fifteen wins so far is just over 17 points.  Their shooting percentage in the playoffs is the second highest in NBA history since the implementation of the shot clock.  

It is going to take a monumental comeback for the Heat to three-peat, as no team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.  Through the first four games, San Antonio has dominated totally, and Miami has had a lead for a mere few minutes in this series so far.  Their defense, which is based on pressure, has been totally ineffective because of San Antonio’s ability to pass the ball.  They had 25 assists in game four alone.  

To analyze the finals series so far is an easy task . . . the better team is winning the series 3 games to 1.  The Spurs have simply outplayed the Heat so far, pure and simple.  The five players on the court at any time for San Antonio have totally dominated the five players on the court for Miami.  The Spurs have a system in place and they stick to it.  

Regardless of what has gone on in the past, the Heat have always believed that they were the better team on the court and have been able to prove it during the time the big three have been together in Miami.  I, for one, am not willing to bet against this team.  Can they turn it around and win three games in a row?  Absolutely.  Will they?  That’s another story.  

All they have to worry about at this moment is winning game five on Sunday in San Antonio, tipoff is at 8:00 pm, on ABC.  


What are the South Florida and San Antonio newspapers saying?  

Click below:




Here is the complete series schedule:

GAME 1      SPURS 110 Heat 95

GAME 2      Heat 98 SPURS 96

GAME 3      Spurs 111         HEAT 92

GAME 4      Spurs 107         HEAT 86

GAME 5       Sunday June 15       Heat @ SPURS     8:00 pm  ABC

GAME 6       Tuesday June 17      Spurs @ HEAT      9:00 pm  ABC *

GAME 7        Friday June 20        Heat @ SPURS     9:00 pm  ABC *

*  if necessary

Let’s go to MLB, where the news are a little better:

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  Derek Jeter is the third player in Major League history with 3,000 or more hits, 350 or more stolen bases and 250 or more home runs. Who are the other two?  The answer comes later, alligator.

How ‘bout them Marlins?  The Fish return home for a long homestand in which they fill square off against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Chicago Cubs, and the New York Metropolitans at Marlins Park.  Here are the probable pitchers for this weekend:

Friday Jeff Locke vs Nathan Eovaldi 7:10 pm
Saturday Charlie Morton vs Randy Wolf 4:10 pm
Sunday ?? vs Henderson Alvarez 1:10 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:


Here are the individual leaders in the majors:


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

Miami-product Gio Gonzalez declared himself ready to return to the Washington Nationals’ starting rotation.  Gio has been on the DL since the middle of May due to inflammation in his shoulder.  Good news for the Nats, bad news for the rest of the NL east.

It took 179 starts, but 2013 Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer finally threw his first complete game in the majors.  That is the biggest number of games without a complete game in modern baseball history (since 1900).

Staying with the Tigers, in 62 games this season (234 AB), Victor Martinez is hitting .329 with 16 home runs and has only struck out 16 times.  Those are freaky numbers.

Speaking of freaky numbers, the Oakland A’s are scoring a ML-best 5.09 runs per game, and also lead the majors giving up only 3.12 runs per contest.  They are scary-good.

The Marlins are in a three-team dogfight at the top of the National League East.  The Nats are on top by one game over the Braves and the Fish.  For Miami to continue to compete they need to get consistent production from their starting rotation.  Will the Marlins pull the trigger and try to make a deal for a top-notch starter?  Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammels of the Cubs are being dangled as tradeable by the Cubs.

The Fish are expected to call up Rafael Furcal today.  He’s been playing well in his rehab assignment in the minor leagues.  Also look for Andrew Heany to get called up and get a shot at joining the starting rotation.  The only question there is who gets dropped for the rotation: Randy Wolf or Jacob Turner?  

The Pirates, who will be in Miami this weekend, finally called up star prospect Gregory Polanco.  Polanco totally looks like a ballplayer.  Folks around MLB are already saying that the outfield of Polanco, last year’s NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, and Starling Marte can quickly become baseball’s best young outfield.  NOT SO FAST . . . . . The Marlins’ outfield of Christian Yelich (22), Marcel Ozuna (23), and Giancarlo Stanton (24), are younger than the Pirate trio, are out producing them, and are all rated as very good defensive outfielders.

You have to go back to 1975 or 1978 to find a younger and better outfield trio.  In 1975, it was the Boston Red Sox, with Jim Rice (22), Fred Lynn (23), and Dwight Evans (23).  In 1978, try the Montreal Expos with Warren Cromartie (24), Andre Dawson (23), and Ellis Valentine (23).  Honorable mention goes to the 1985 Toronto Blue Jays, with George Bell (25), Lloyd Moseby (25), and Jesse Barfield (25).

Keep voting for Giancarlo Stanton for the All-Star game.  The man-child is now second among NL outfielders, behind only Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers.  Let's make sure he gets in. 

More from MLB:



In soccer news,

There is some sort of soccer thing going on.  Here is the latest from Brazil:


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

Click below for the latest:



Also from the Herald, here are details of the new deal being worked out between the Dolphins and Miami-Dade County:


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


Chris Perkins and Omar Kelly bring us their Dolphin blog:


The countdown is on until the Dolphins take the field.  Their first preseason game is just over two months away.  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. 

From around the universities,

Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have all the latest 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:


In other sports,

Here is Santos Perez’ weekly boxing column for the Miami Herald:



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  Derek Jeter is the third player in Major League history with 3,000 or more hits, 350 or more stolen bases and 250 or more home runs. Who are the other two?   

Rickey Henderson and Craig Biggio

Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.  Have a great weekend!  Again, to all the fathers out there:  Happy Fathers Day!

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