Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Quote du jour
“If you’re casting your emotionally charged vote for Shane Victorino and feeling guilty about it, just remember all the impulse voting that occurs at the highest levels of government – and this candidate actually deserves it.” — Jason Weitzel, Beerleaguer.com.
Flyin’ Hawaiian goes to St. Louis
Shane Victorino
It has just been announced that Phillies’ centerfielder Shane Victorino has grabbed the final spot on the National League All-Star team, with the All-Star Game being held in St. Louis on Tuesday. Victorino was one of five finalists presented to fans for their vote. Victorino had been in second place behind the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval, but, owing his walk-off single against the Cincinnati Reds last night, the Flyin’ Hawaiian went ahead earlier today and won the fans’ vote for the final roster spot. Victorino joins fellow Phillies Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, and Ryan Howard on the All-Star team. Utley and Ibanez were elected by the fans to start.
Monday night at Greer Stadium
Runs forever
The Phillies tied a team record tonight with 10 first-inning runs en route to a 22-1 thrashing of the Cincinnati Reds. It is the Phillies’ largest margin of victory since 1894, and their most runs in a game since 1985.
Behind Victorino, Phils score 22 in rout | phillies.com: News.
I really do like this guy
Phillies sweep the hated Mets
The Phillies completed their three-game sweep of the hated Mets this afternoon, winning 2-0 against the Mets’ ace Johan Santana, who was denied his tenth win of the season. This is a 
huge win and a huge sweep for the Phillies for several reasons.
1. After losing 11 out of 13 games, the Phillies have now won 5 of 8, and that includes getting swept by the Braves in Atlanta earlier this week.
2. The Phillies have maintained their hold on 1st place, keeping 1 game ahead of the suddenly-hot Florida Marlins, and opening up a 4-game lead on both the Braves and the hated Mets.
3. Jimmy Rollins, who is having a terrible season at the plate and just went through the worst slump of his career, is hitting the ball again, and led off today’s game with his 7th home run of the season.
4. The Phillies starting pitching has been dismal at times, but Phillies’ starters earned wins in each of the three games against the hated Mets, holding them to a total of 3 runs during the series.
5. Brad Lidge, who has had a rocky season out of the bullpen after being so dependable last year, earned saves both yesterday and today, pitching three-up-three-down 9th innings both games, today striking out the side on 14 pitches.
6. The sweep came at home, where the Phillies have not played well at all, the bulk of their victories this year coming on the road.
70 years ago today
R.I.P., Steve McNair
I just heard on the radio a few minutes ago that former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was found shot dead in his Nashville home earlier today. Shocking.
Report: Former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair found dead of gunshot wound – ESPN.
Ouch
The Phillies got creamed last night 11-1. But at least I did get some good pictures at the ballpark. Somehow, even though we’ve now lost 13 of 17 games, we’re still in 1st place, a mere one-half game ahead of the Florida Marlins.
You win some, you lose some
The little guy and I went to see the Phillies play at Turner Field in Atlanta last night. We left Mrs. Right Minded at the hotel, as we were able to find two front row seats one section over from the Phillies dugout. The little guy managed to weasel his way into a crowd of autograph seekers right before the game and got Ryan Howard’s signature on a baseball.
The Phillies lost a game they seemed destined to win, having led three different times, only to blow it each time, ultimately losing 5-4 in 10 innings. There were lots of lost opportunities, and also three errors, with Jayson Werth having myriad troubles in the right-field corner. The Phillies hit three home runs, but none of them with men on base. There were lots of stranded runners, plus a lethargic performance from shortshop Jimmy Rollins, who was back in the leadoff hole after a 4-day break. He was hitless in 5 at bats.
We’ll be back at Turner Field tonight, this time with Mrs. Right Minded in attendance, this time with Phillies ace Cole Hamels on the mound.
Wanted: a power forward for the Memphis Grizzlies
Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal has the rocket-science-headline-of-the-week.
Geoff Calkins: Grizzlies’ future all about looking forward : Columnists : Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Two in a row
For the first time in what seems like a year, the Philadelphia Phillies have won two games in a row. Today, the Phillies found themselves down 3-0 and 4-1 early, stormed back to take a 5-4 lead the 4th, then held on for dear life as the 5-4 lead held. After dropping 11 out of 13 games in what has been two of the most miserable weeks in my 29 years as a Phillies fan, perhaps the June swoon is over. It can’t come soon enough. The Roses head out tomorrow for Atlanta to see the Phillies take on the Braves on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let’s hope the winning streak continues.
With the victory, the Phillies, who have amazingly remained in first place throughout their June swoon, have opened up a full 2-game lead over the hated New York Mets, and a three-game lead on the resurgent Florida Marlins. The hated Mets play at home against the Yankees later this evening. The Fish have already lost today.
Beerleaguer – Phillies Blog, Baseball News, Trade Rumors & Spirits.
The future of Tiger basketball
The ever-reliable Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial Appeal assesses the state of Memphis basketball, taking stock in what has been a busy and tumultuous off-season.
“I would say the top 25 is not out of reach, but I wouldn’t expect it,” Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News said. “The inside game still needs to be rebuilt, the point guard position is still not established as solid and there’s no one that’s proven himself as a No. 1 scoring option. Williams is another important piece, but the program still is undergoing a dramatic transition.”
What Williams’ addition should do, however, is give the Tigers a legitimate claim to challenge for the Conference USA title if not make them the outright preseason favorite. Williams, Coleman, sophomore Wesley Witherspoon and potentially Latavious Williams (if he’s academically eligible) would arguably be the most athletic players at their respective positions in the league.
“You put (Elliot Williams) with Willie Kemp and Roburt Sallie, that would really give them a terrific perimeter game, and Witherspoon is very good,” Gillen said. “So they have some nice parts. They’ll be right there with Tulsa. They’ve got a lot of experience, but Memphis certainly is going to be better than people think.”
Welcome home, Elliot Williams
Last week, sophomore Elliot Williams announced that he would transfer out of Duke in order to be closer to his ailing mother. He’s from Memphis, and he has just announced that he will be a Tiger. We’re glad to have you, and let us all hope that this kid’s mother pulls through.
A soccer nation?
I normally don’t have much to do with soccer. I have enough on my hands just following baseball, basketball, and football. But I do start to pay attention during international competitions in which the U.S. is involved. We usually aren’t very good in soccer, so our involvement in these things is typically short-lived. But not this year. The United States pulled off one of our biggest upsets ever – if not the biggest — today in the FIFA Confederation Cup being held in South Africa. This moves us to the championship match against either Brazil or South Africa.
The United States stunned top-ranked Spain 2-0 Wednesday night on goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, advancing to the Confederations Cup final with one of the Americans’ biggest soccer victories.
Altidore scored in the 27th minute and Dempsey added a goal in the 74th as the Americans became the first team to defeat Spain since Romania in November 2006.
The chances of such a U.S. victory seemed slim just a few days ago. The 14th-ranked Americans lost their first two games in the Confederations Cup, an eight-nation World Cup warmup, and were on the verge of elimination.
Report: Spain vs United States – Confederations Cup – ESPN Soccernet.
Why couldn’t they be playing this in Nashville?
Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers will finish out his 50-game suspension by playing for the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate. His first game is tonight. Their opponent? The Nashville Sounds. Problem is, they’re playing it in Albuquerque.
Oh, the pain, the pain
Here’s the Beerleaguer blog’s summary of last night’s game: “Phillies fever turned into another tough pill to swallow. After sick slugger Ryan Howard gave his mates the go-ahead off the bench in the 7th, Ryan Madson gave it right back in the 9th in a 6-5 loss to the Orioles.”
Beerleaguer – Phillies Blog, Baseball News, Trade Rumors & Spirits: Where’s the barf bag?.
Leaving no stone unturned
Josh Pastner, a.k.a. Boy Wonder, has already done a fantastic job in fielding a solid Memphis Tigers basketball team for the upcoming season. And he may not be done yet. I’m telling you, John Calpari’s departure in April was incredibly painful for, oh, a week or so, especially since he took the nation’s #1 recruiting class with him, but his departure may turn out to have been a blessing. Giving Josh Pastner his first job as a head coach is proving to be a golden opportunity for all parties.
Please just go away, Brett Favre
This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Last year, if you recall, Brett Favre retired from the Green Bay Packers shortly after the NFL season ended. It was all well and good. The guy’s a guaranteed hall-of-famer, he put in a lot of good years, won a Super Bowl ring. It was time to go. Then he un-retired and came back with the New York Jets. The sports media couldn’t get enough of him. It was as if football was the only sport, and Brett Favre was the only football player. The sports media hung on every word, every text message, every innuendo and rumor. In short, as a sports fan, I grew absolutely sick of the world revolving around Brett Favre.
He had a decent season with the Jets, but tailed off at the end, and the final result was a poor finish by the Jets. And then some of the Jets players came out and let their dislike for their prima donna quarterback be known. Brett Favre retired again.We were all hoping it was for good.
Brett Favre had recent shoulder surgery. At ESPN, the world might as well have stopped rotating on its axis. It was all they could talk about. Really, why the mass coverage of a surgery performed on a retired football player?
Now it is believed Brett Favre is going to un-retire again and come back with the Minnesota Vikings. Naturally, with the NBA season now over, ESPN is giving baseball second-shelf coverage, with Brett Favre plastered all over SportsCenter and their website. Just click on the link to ESPN’s NFL page. I didn’t even have to grab the URL of a specific story. That’s because Brett Favre is all over the place, once again. There are NFL quarterbacks out there who are better than Brett Favre. Heck, there were 20 of them who finished ahead of The One in quarterback rating last season.
Please, Brett Favre, for the love of everything that is good and decent, stay retired this time. Football will go on without you. And ESPN, I’m sure, will find something to talk about in your absence.
Looking ahead to next season
Dan Wolken has a nice column in the Commercial Appeal on the upcoming college basketball season. He predicts that the Memphis Tigers won’t quite be the dominant force in Conference USA that they have been. We all knew that. But he predicts that Tulsa will win the conference next season, with Memphis coming in second. I’m not quite ready to concede that. I can’t wait to see how Josh Pastner and his new coaching staff performs.
But for coaches like Wojcik (0-10 against Calipari), UTEP’s Tony Barbee (0-3), and Houston’s Tom Penders (1-10), a temporarily vulnerable Memphis could cut two ways.
Yes, there will be an opportunity to end the Tigers’ 61-game winning streak in C-USA and perhaps even unseat them as league champs. But that window promises to be short, adding urgency and pressure to the task.
The early indications on Josh Pastner as Memphis’ coach point to a quick and forceful reload in 2010-11 with the commitment of Will Barton (the top-ranked shooting guard in the country) and the strong possibility that Joe Jackson will become the first McDonald’s All-American from Memphis to stay home since Lorenzen Wright in 1994.
As Memphis fans spend the next year contemplating those possibilities, the biggest question that will unfold in the meantime is whether the league’s other 11 coaches would trade rosters with Pastner, even with the Tigers in a somewhat depleted state.
