Sports Jam Session / Descarga Deportiva

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.

Game FOUR recap and box score

What are the South Florida and San Antonio newspapers saying?

Click below:

HEAT - SPURS GAME 4 - from the Herald

HEAT - SPURS GAME 4 - from the Sun Sentinel

HEAT - SPURS GAME 4 - from the San Antonio Express

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:

National League

American League

Here are the standings in MLB:

MLB standings

Today’s complete schedule in the major leagues:

Today's games in MLB

Here are the individual leaders in the majors:

Individual batting and pitching leaders

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.

Sports Jam Session / Descarga Deportiva

Friday, June 13, 2014

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