Just a few random notes for this morning.  David was at the Detroit/Minnesota game last night at lovely, new Target Field.  He witnessed a 2-1 Twin victory and some free baseball, as the game went extras. 

Twins Win

The Twins prevailed in the bottom of the 10^th on a double by Danny Valencia that scored Michael Cuddyer.  Minny keeps their lead in the Central at 4 over the White Sox.  Hopefully, David had a good time and didn’t mind the late drive home. 

Tommy Boy

Oh, and just because I like him, I want to mention that Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson ended a 10-start, nearly two month long win drought by dominating the Mets last night in Atlanta’s 4-1 win.

  The wild, 16-10 win by the Marlins over the Nationals featured a lot of hits.  Not all of them from bats, though.  Brawls and beanings and retaliation everywhere in this one. 

Melee In Miami

Nyjer Morgan was in the middle of the storm for the Nationals, and I think he will be having a discussion with the Commish soon…

 I am going to the Iowa State/Northern Illinois game tonight, so hopefully we will post some pictures tomorrow.  Also going to the Iowa/Eastern Illinois game Saturday, so it is the first time ever for me pulling off the combo package of taking in ISU and Iowa games in the same week when they did not play each other.  Should be fun.  We will try to get some Week Two notes together soon before kickoff for Friday night…Don’t forget there are games tonight, as well.  Eastern Iowa 4A action with Bettendorf going to Davenport to take on North, and Linn-Mar is at CR Kennedy.  Happy Thursday…

I promised some more on Urbandale.  Here we go

GILSON HAS DONE ALL HE HAS BEEN ASKED.. QB-THEN INJURY.. THEN FB.. AND ALWAYS AT LB… ON D.. LEADS THE TEAM IN TACKLES.. AND PASSING YARDS.. NEARLY 600.. 7 TD’S AND NO INT’S…. HE WILL HAVE MORE THAN 1000 YARDS RUSHING WITH 14 TD’S..

IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS HE HAD 6 TD’S INCLUDING 3 RUSHING ONE PASSING.. ONE INT RETURN AND ONE FUMBLE RETURN?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Gilson is Sick-

Wedderburn, Jevoury 28- HAS BEEN A STUD FOR THE J-HAWKS.. THIS SEASON ALMOST 2000 YARDS RUSHING AND 24 TD’S… HE HAS BEEN A GREAT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER.. JUST A FEW OF HIS 2009 TOUCHES …

Tons of stuff this week.. But here are the Plays of the year so far!

FOR INFORMATION ON THE AP DVD CLICK ON “TOUCHDOWN IN THE HEARTLAND” ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS WEB PAGE..

BOB DID A GREAT JOB BREAKING DOWN THE FINAL WEEK.   WE HAVE TON’S OF VIDEO UPDATES TO POST HERE…  AND WILL BRING YOU MORE AS THE WEEKS UNFOLD..     SOME MORE MADRID VS AHST..  ANKENY VS DOWLING.. CARROLL VS BALLARD.. ENJOY IT ALL

These are the current leaders for the decade that will end in about a month…2000-2009.

Some are races that may change, some are long-gone leads. 

Games played: Miguel Tejada 1557, Bobby Abreu 1551.

Plate App: Bobby Abreu 6835, Derek Jeter 6830.

Runs: A-Rod 1178, Johnny Damon 1107.

Hits: Ichiro 2000, Derek Jeter 1911.

2B: Helton 428, Abreu 402.

3B: Rollins 93, Crawford 90.

HR: A-Rod 429, Thome 368, Albert 363.

RBI: A-Rod 1222, Albert 1097, Manny 1095.

BB: Bonds 1128, Abreu 1028.

SO: Thome 1425, Dunn 1410.

HBP: Jason Kendall 155, Giambi 138.

SB: Juan Pierre 454, Crawford 357.

CS: Juan Pierre 153, Luis Castillo 108.

GIDP: Tejada 217, Konerko 193.

BA: Albert .334, Ichiro .333, Helton .331.

OBP: Bonds .517, Helton .436, Albert .427.

SLG: Bonds .724, Albert .629, Manny .602.

OPS: Bonds 1.241, Albert 1.056, Manny 1.021

May 25th. It is my daughter Gabi’s Birthday and the Date the town of Parkersburg, Iowa will never forget. For the past several months, I have been buried at my editor working on a documentary that chronicles the Falcons 2008 football season. You can click on the “Touchdown in the Heartland” link to your right to see more on that project. Stay tuned for more details. This project has consumed a lot of my creative energy. Yes, I’m unable to MY SPACE, FACEBOOK, Web Cam or Tweet. I’m just a man doing my best to coach my daughters in softball, crank out year end football DVD’s, and try to keep my struggling Fantasy baseball team out of last place.

Thank God we have Bob to fill us in on all that is baseball because without him my daily dose of MLB is watching my team fall in the standings. I mean who knew this was the year Brandon Webb would crash, Garrett Atkins would turn into a modern day Bill Bergen.

http://ndai.blogspot.com/2006/09/worst-hitter-ever.html

I flat out need help, Or I’m going to Go HONG MAN-CHOI on my fellow fantasy owners at the next free agent draft!

Get Back on the Juice Bash Brother.
That’s about it. In my small but safe world this is all I can handle right now. That and as Little NBA as I can swallow. Thank God for Dustin Pedroia.

Here’s a headline you might want to get used to: “Nats lose again, Dunn Homers.”  Pittsburgh beat Washington 8-5, their 6th loss in a row, and 9th out of their last 10.  They have scored 5 or more runs in each of those 10 games!  However, they lead the majors with 41 errors and their bullpen has a 1-14 record.  Guzman and Zimmerman are hitting great, but it won’t matter.  Dunn has 12 HR and the Nats have 11 wins…The Yankees have won 7 in a row, and A-Rod and Teixeira both hit homers in their 9-1 win over Baltimore.  A-Rod has only 7 hits since his return, 5 HR and 2 singles.  At 558, he is 5 HR behind Reggie Jackson for 11th on the all-time list.  Atlanta gave Jair Jurrjens some support with 13 hits, and the Braves won 8-1 over Colorado.  Jurrjens: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K.  He is now 4-2 (1.96).  Casey Kotchman and Kelly Johnson each had 3 hits for the Braves.  Todd Helton smacked his 2,000th hit for the Rockies.  Helton doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis…Dontrelle Willis sighting: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.  In his first win since September 2007, Willis leads the Tigers past Texas 4-0.  Don’t be quick to buy stock just yet.  Arizona beat Florida 5-3.  The Marlins have lost 7 of 8 and 13 of their last 17.  Hanley Ramirez remained above the ruins with his 7th HR and his .348 Average.  Details of the game are sketchy because nobody was there to see it.  Oakland beat Tampa Bay with a 3-run HR from Matt Holliday in the 11th inning.  Extra innings tied at 0-0!  Josh Outman pitched well, going 6 with only 3 hits allowed, 1 walk and 6 K.  Carl Crawford stole his 25th base for the Manta Rays.  Boston inched closer to division leader Toronto with a 2-1 win from Tim Wakefield, his 5th of the year.  Jacoby Ellsbury has a 14 game hit streak.  First place Milwaukee won for the 7th straight time, downing Houston 4-2.  Dave Bush goes to 3-0 and Trevor Hoffman clamped it down for his 10th save.  Ryan Howard hit HR #9 and Cole Hamels outdueled  Johnny Cueto in the Phillies’ 4-3 win over Cincinnati.  Jay Bruce hit his 12th HR in the loss for the Reds.  Philly has won 5 in a row.  Kansas City was down 5-2 to Cleveland, thanks to Cliff Lee, but Kerry Wood gave up 2 HR, a triple, a walk and a RBI sac to blow the save and lose the game in the 9th.  Whoooops!  KC 6, Cleveland 5.  Joel Piniero pitched a complete game shutout against the Cubs for the Cardinals.  The 3-0 win is rare in this rivalry, and it snaps a skid for the Redbirds.  Pineiro gave up only 3 hits, walked none and struck out 5.  The White Sox are 7-1 when Mark Buehrle pitches, but they’ve only won 9 games without him.  He raised his record to 6-1 after a 6-2 win over Minnesota, losers of 5 in a row.  Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko homered for the Pale Hose, who ironically wear black socks, and Joe Mauer hit HR #7 to stretch his hit streak to 12 games.  San Diego edged San Francisco 2-1 behind Chris Young, who is the latest to beat Barry Zito even though being out-pitched by him.  Zito went 8, but gave up 2 solo HR for the loss, his 4th against 1 win.  The Giants are giving Zito 1.25 runs per game, the worst support in the majors.  The fans are giving him even less.  The Angels dropped Seattle 6-5 behind Matt Palmer, who raised his record to a spotless 5-0.  Bobby Abreu went 3-4 with 2 RBI and Maicer Izturis was 3-4 with 3 runs scored for the Halos.  Brian Fuentes struck out the side in the 9th for his 10th save.  Ichiro kept his hit streak alive at 13, and Ken Griffey hit career HR #615 in the loss for the Mariners.  Los Angeles got by the Mets again, 5-3.  Chad Billingsley is 6-1 after striking out 7 and going 2-2 with a RBI double at the plate.  Casey Blake was the hero, with his 6th inning 3-run HR (CASEY BLAKE HR METER at 9).  Blake went 2-4 and is hitting .283 after a bit of a rough start.  He also leads the Dodgers in homers.  Jonathan Broxton pitched a clean 9th inning for his 10th save.

Some quick notes for your reading pleasure:  MLB action from last night…Jack Wilson went 4-4 with a pair of doubles and a triple, 2 RBI and scored 3 runs to lead Pittsburgh past Washington 12-7.  The Nats helped out by committing errors and having a lousy bullpen.  They have lost 5 in a row.  Jim Thome hit HR #548, but Chicago lost their 5th in a row anyway, losing 3-2 to Toronto.  The White Sox have lost 12 of their last 15, while the Blue Jays have an AL-best 27-14 record.  Scott Richmond was just fine for Toronto, 7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.  No win, though, he left up 2-0 before the bullpen allowed 2 runs to tie the game in the 8th.  Atlanta grounded into four double plays against Colorado, helping Jason Marquis beat them 5-1.  The former Brave hurler went 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K to win his 5th game for the Rockies.  Braves starter Derek Lowe gave up only 3 hits in 8 innings, but was denied his 6th win and the Braves fell to 6-11 at home.  Mark T$ix$ira hit 2 HR and A-Rod hit his fourth to propel the Yankees to a four game sweep of the Twins, 7-6.  New York has won 6 in a row.  Justin Morneau went 4-5 for the Twins.  Milwaukee started 4-9, but they have went 20-5 since.  They swept the Cardinals behind Braden Looper and got 4 runs from Ryan Braun on 2 hits and 2 walks.  Jason Kendall had 2 hits to push him over 2,000 for his career, the 8th most by a full-time catcher and just 47 behind Johnny Bench.  That is amazing.  Johnny Bench is roughly 100 times better than Jason Kendall.  Would Anyone take Kendall over Bench?  I didn’t think so.  Jason Bartlett was 3-3 with 5 RBI and 3 runs scored for Tampa Bay in a 13-4 rout of the woeful A’s.  Jason Isringhausen made his 2009 debut, pitching a scoreless 9th for the Rays, his first action since August of last season for St. Louis.  The Dodgers are an MLB-best 27-13 after an extra-inning win over New York, 3-2.  Angel Pagan of the Mets was 4-6, and they outhit LA 11-5, but still managed to lose due in large part to their 5 errors.  Randy Wolf pitched well again for LA, but left with no decision for the 6th time in his 7 starts. *Belated Casey Blake HR Meter-8*  California (don’t get me started) clubbed 15 hits against the Mariners and had 7 players with multi-hit games.  Kendry Morales was 3-5 with 2 HR, 3 RBI and 3 R in the 10-6 Angel win.  Seattle had 10 hits and a HR from Russell Branyan, his 10th.  They have now lost 11 of their last 14, but on the positive side, Ichiro is quietly up to a 12 game hit streak.

It was a small schedule of games in the league last night, but there were some highlights and lowlights worth noting, nonetheless.  In New York, the Mets lost to Atlanta, 8-3, ending their 7 game winning streak even though the invincible Johan Santana was on the mound for the home team.  Santana improved his ERA to 0.78 in his 7th start of the year, but couldn’t get the win.  He is 4-2 and NY has lost 3 of his starts, even though both of his losses were with no earned runs.  He is also 0-4 against the Braves lifetime.  Derek Lowe ground ball outed the Mets to death for his 5th win against 1 loss.  Yunel Escobar and Matt Diaz each had 3 hits for the Braves, who decided to wear their ugly-ass blue alternates yet again.  At least they are better than their Sunday red alternates.  Carl Pavano sighting in Cleveland:  He has won 3 in a row after downing the White Sox 9-4.  He gave up 10 hits and 4 ER, but the Indians pounded the Sox pitching.  Chicago has lost 7 of their last 9.  Cincinnati walloped Arizona 13-5 behind an 18 hit attack.  Leading the way was Willy Taveras who went 5-5 with 4 R and 2 RBI.  Bronson Arroyo got the win, his 5th, even though he gave up 5 ER and 10 Hits.  He is 5-2 with a 7.02 ERA.  Sorry, Johan, I had to mention that.  Walks, Errors and unearned runs…San Francisco and Washington had all of these in the Giants’ 11-7 win over the Gnats.  No, wait.  I can’t waste that on this team, they’re not pesky.  Ryan Zimmerman went 4-5 with 2 HR and 4 RBI, but could not prevent Washington from reclaiming the worst record in the majors at 10-20.  Daniel Cabrera fell to 0-4 after walking 6 and giving up 8 runs.  Only 4 were earned, but they were all ugly.  Cabrera has gone 12 straight starts without a win.  Welcome to the miracle that is the Washington pitching corps…He went up against Randy Johnson, so it was a 6′-9″ vs. 6′-10″ matchup, the tallest ever in MLB history.  And one of the ugliest.  Johnson won #298 despite giving up 8 hits, 4 ER and 3 HR.  He has allowed an MLB-worst 10 HR so far this year, and 400 for his long career.  Only Jamie Moyer has given up more among active old men pitching in the majors.

As much as we love baseball season, and as much as we love talking about it, it’s fun compiling a morning rundown of what happened the day before in MLB action.  However, we are not a blog-first site, meaning we unfortunately have very little time to post the kinds of things we want to.  Ideally, I would love to have numerous posts throughout the day and more interesting takes on all the sports news of the day, but we aren’t able to do that very often.  However, we will post when we can and we hope you will visit the site often, no matter how current the blog material is, because there are always going to be videos to see and buy, and plenty of cool webcam action as well.  I just wanted to make note of this in case there was anyone out there who checks in every day looking for fresh material.  I don’t mean to disappoint those readers, I just don’t currently have the time to devote to the posts.  In the future, this may change, but for now, we will have to work it this way.  While we’re here today, though, why not touch on some baseball items?  What better place to begin than with the new ‘worst team in baseball’, the Cleveland Indians.  A 3 game sweep at the hands of Detroit dropped the bumbling Indians to 11-21, percentage points behind the Washington Nationals, who had won 3 in a row before Sunday’s loss to Arizona.  For Washington, at least Ryan Zimmerman has a 28 game hit streak, so they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.  Both teams, and Oakland as well, are horrible…Ryan Franklin had his scoreless streak closing for St. Louis come to an end with a blown save against Cincinnati, but the bats bailed him out in extra innings, so he picked up a win despite giving up a couple of homers…The Mets are back to being the Beast of the East, for now.  They have won 7 in a row after a rough start…Speaking of 7 in a row, thats how many starts Roy Oswalt had made without a win until yesterday, when he gave up 4 runs in 6 innings, but still got the W against San Diego…Ken Griffey Jr. hit HR #614 in the Mariners’ 5-3 win over Minnesota.  It was his 7th HR on Mother’s Day in his 21 year career.  Momma’s Boy…The Angels have won 7 of their last 8 and 10 of 13 after sweeping the previously red-hot Royals.  Kansas City is still tied for first in the Central with Detroit, though…Toronto has 10+ hits in most of their games, so it’s no surprise they have the best record in the AL.  But they keep getting big pitching as well.  Brett Cecil got his first major league victory in just his second start for the Blue Jays, going 8 innings, giving up only 5 hits, no runs, 2 walks while striking out 6 against the hapless A’s in a 5-0 win…*Casey Blake HR Meter is at 6…Boston took 2 of 3 from Tampa Bay at Fenway to win their first series against the Rays out of their last 7.  Papelbon struck out the side in the ninth for his 8th save after getting himself in a bit of a jam with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.  The Red Sox also called up Daniel Bard from Pawtucket.  Don’t know who Daniel Bard is?  You will…As the immortal “Sweet” Lou Palmer once said, “Happiness is Connecticut in your rear-view mirror.”  I have no idea what that has to do with anything we’ve discussed here today, but I have always been fond of that quote, so I leave you on that note.

Here are some guys who did good things for their teams yesterday in MLB action…Michael Bourn went 3-4 with 2 R and 1 RBI to lead Houston past Atlanta, 7-5.  Justin Verlander nabbed a win with the following line in Detroit’s 3-1 win over Cleveland: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 11 K.  Johnny Cueto was even better for Cincinnati.  8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB and 9 K did in Pittsburgh and lowered his ERA to 1.65 in a 5-0 win.  Kevin Youkilis is hitting .407 after going 2-4 with 1 R, 2 RBI and a HR in Boston’s 5-3 loss at Tampa Bay.  Carl Crawford led the Rays with his 4-4 performance at the plate.  He walked once, scored twice, had an RBI and swiped 6 bases to tie the modern-day record.  John Baker did what he could for Florida, going 3-4 with a 2B, HR and an RBI, scoring 3 times, but the Marlins still lost to the Cubs, 6-4.  D Lee hit a grand slam for the Cubs.  Jose Guillen was a big 2-3 for the Royals, driving in 4 and scoring once with a BB, 2B and HR to lead KC past Minnesota, 7-5.  Ian Kinsler went 2-4 with a 2B and a HR, scored twice and drove in 2, helping Texas knock off the White Sox 5-1.  Matt Harrison pitched 5 innings of 6 hit scoreless ball with no walks and 3 K for the Rangers.  Barry Zito pitched well but again left with no decision in the Giants’ 1-0 win over Colorado.  His 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K kept the Rockies down, but it took 10 innings for the Giants to push a run across.  Chad Billingsley went to 5-0 with a 2.21 ERA after pitching 7 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and striking out 8, as the Dodgers defeated San Diego 7-3.  He also managed to go 1-3 at the plate with a run scored and 1 RBI.  The Dodgers are now 10-0 at home to open the season, a team record.  The last NL team to do that was the 1983 Braves, also managed by Joe Torre.  It is the longest streak in the majors since the 2003 Royals somehow won their first 11 home games under Tony Pena.  Pena’s bench coach then was Bob Schaefer, who happens to be Torre’s bench coach in LA.  Hmmm.

Cleveland had it in the bag.  They led 5-2 in the 8th over Boston, looking to take 2 of 3 at home after knocking Jon Lester out of the game.  Enter Jonathan Van Every.  The Boston farmhand started a 3 run rally to tie the game with a run-scoring single, then hit his 1st MLB homer to deep centerfield in the 10th off Jensen Lewis to put the Red Sox up for good.  Papelbon closed it, and Boston instead took 2 of 3 from the Tribe.  Good times.  Cleveland also put Travis Hafner on the 15 day DL.  Yovani Gallardo keeps trying to do it all himself.  He hit his second game-winning HR this year in the Brewers’ 1-0 win over Pittsburgh and pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball with 1 BB and 11 K.  Milwaukee is on a nice 7-1 roll.  Shane Loux won his first game since 2003 in the Angels’ 3-2 win over Baltimore, the Halos’ 3rd win in a row!  For the O’s, Nick Markakis kept his hit streak going at 16, and has reached base in 31 straight games, the current league best.  Adrian Gonzalez set a San Diego record with 9 HR in April after hitting 2 more against Colorado in the Padres’ 7-5 loss.  He also has an 11 game hit streak.  Todd Helton went 2-3 with a HR, raising his average to .303, so it is an official baseball season now that he is over .300.  Doug Davis of Arizona took his time to do it, but after 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB and 7 K, he had shut down the weak-hitting Cubs, and the Diamondbacks went on to win 10-0.  Chad Tracy was 3-4 with a 2B, HR and 3 RBI.  Nick Swisher leads the Yankees with 7 HR.  Not your typical statement, but it’s true after he became the 10th Dark-Sider to hit one from both sides of the plate in the same game.  His 4 RBI set the pace for New York, as they held off Detroit to win 8-6.  Not helping at all, Jeter and Teixeira combined to go 0-8.  Ryan Zimmerman has an 18 game hit streak and Scott Olsen pitched 5-2/3 of 1-run, 6 K ball, as the Nats won 4-1 over Philadelphia.  Noted whack job Julian Tavarez pitched the 9th for his 1st save in 3 years.  Zack Greinke gave up his first earned run of the season, and then another, but it mattered little as the Royals pounded out 15 hits and throttled the Bluejays, 11-3.  Greinke became the first Royal ever to go 5-0 in April, even though his ERA ‘ballooned’ from 0.00 to 0.50.  7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB and 8 K.  Not a bad night.  Billy Butler went 4-5 for the Royals with 2 HR.  Bluejay 2B Aaron Hill remained hot, going 2-4 to raise his average to .376.  All the Bluejays are hitting well, but Hill is a nice surprise so far.  Adam Wainright went to 3-0 and Ryan Franklin notched his 7th save as St. Louis downed Atlanta 5-3.  The Twins took 2 of 3 from the Rays, winning 8-3 in their series finale.  The top 3 batters, Denard Spam, Brendan Harris and Justin Morneau all had 3 hits and scored twice to beat Scott Kazmir and the struggling Al Champs.  AL Champion Rays…If you were reading this after being in a coma or on a space mission for a year, that would shake you up.  San Fransisco started out 2-7 this year, but they crawled and clawed back to .500 after beating the Dodgers 9-4 behind 8 K in 7 innings from Tim Lincecum and heavy hitting from Edgar Renteria and Bengie Molina.  Renteria was 4-5 with a 2B and 2 RBI, while Big Bengie went 3-5 with a 1B, 3B, HR and 4 RBI for the Giants.  Edinson Volquez is goofy looking, but he can deal it.  8 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.  That will usually get the job done.  He helped end Houston’s 11 game win streak at Cincinnati by only allowing a harmless early 2B to Miquel Tejada before handing it over to Francisco Cordero, who picked up his 7th save for the Reds in their 3-0 shutout.  Another great day on the diamond, and if you don’t have swine flu, another great day for you.

Not a bad night.  Full slate of baseball, Celtics scrape out a 3-2 series lead over the Bulls, my oldest son ran well in his track meet, my youngest son hit a 2 out, 2 run single to keep his team alive in an eventual 1 run Little League win and I had some nice pizza.  Hope you all enjoyed your evening as well.  Chase Utley enjoyed his.  Utley went 3-4, hit 2 HR and drove in 3 to lead Philly past the 4-15 National Disasters, 7-1.  Adam Dunn is hitting well, and Ryan Zimmerman has a 17 game hit streak going, but DC is not good.  Pedro Feliz and Raul Ibanez continue to tear it up for the Phillies, and Utley is hitting .357 with 7 HR and 20 RBI.  Boston’s 11 game win streak ended on a 2-out error by Javier Lopez trying to cover first on a grounder in the 9th inning, allowing Mark DeRosa to score the winning run in a 9-8 Indian triumph.  DeRosa had 4 hits and Kerry Wood got the win.  Houston won their 11th game in a row at Cincinnati, 8-3 over the Reds.  With some support, Wandy Rodriguez went 7 innings, gave up only 5 hits, 1 ER, 2 BB and 5 K.  He is 2-2 with a 1.69 ERA.  The Angels finally won back to back games, downing Baltimore 7-5.  In the loss for Baltimore, though, Melvin Mora returned from the DL with 3 hits and Nick Markakis extended his hit streak to 15.  Florida got back in the win column with a 7-4 victory over the Mets.  Jorge Cantu can do.  He went 3-3 with 2 HR and 5 RBI to lead the Marlins, who are the only team ever to win 7 in a row and also lose 7 in a row in April.  The Yankees scored 10 in the 7th against Detroit, and went on to win 11-1.  Trevor Hoffman got his first save for Milwaukee, closing a 6-5 win over Pittsburgh.  I wonder if they will retire his number and put it right up there with Hank Aaron’s #44?  Prince Fielder did his best to set up the save opportunity by stranding 6 runners with his 0-4 performance.  Milwaukee has managed to beat Pittsburgh 14 straight times!  17 straight at Miller Park.  How do you explain that?  Pittsburgh will have their first winning April in 7 years, though, so there’s that.  San Diego beat Colorado 4-3 with call-up Chad Gaudin going 5 scoreless and allowing only 3 hits in his first Padre start.  His 0.00 ERA matches Heath Bell’s, who closed it and picked up save #8.  Bartolo Colon sighting:  7 IP, 4 H, 1 UER, 1 BB, 6 K.  Chicago beat Seattle in the first of two games, 2-1 behind the rotund righty.  The second game was all Seattle.  Felix Hernandez had little resistance on his way to a 4-0 record.  8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.  Not shabby.  Seattle pounded out 19 hits, led by Russell Branyan (5-5) and Yuniesky Betancourt (4-5, 5 RBI).  Speaking of hits, Toronto got right back to it with 14 more against the Royals in their 8-1 win.  Even though they didn’t need it, they got 7 strong innings from Scott Richmond, who ran his record to 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA.  The Dodgers got by the Giants 5-3 behind Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier at the plate and Chad Billingsley on the bump.  Billingsley didn’t get a decision, but pitched 7-1/3 solid innings with 8 K.  Manny went 3-3 with 3 doubles and scored twice.  He is hitting .366 now.  Ethier scored the other 3 runs, going 2-4 for LA.  The Cubs hammered the Diamondbacks, 11-3 with good pitching and hitting by Carlos Zambrano. He went 7 innings for the win, but also contributed at the plate with a 3-4, 3 R, 3 RBI night.  Z didn’t get a shot at a triple, but he had a single, double and a HR, his 17th career jack.  I guess Carlos was trying to make up for Ramirez and D Lee not being in the lineup.  Soriano hit #7 for Chicago as well.  Jo Jo Reyes threw 7 innings of 3 hit ball for Atlanta, giving up only 1R, 1 BB and striking out 7 in the Braves’ 2-1 win over St. Louis.  He avoided losing his 9th consecutive game, and Matt Diaz drove in 2 in the 8th with a single off Kyle McClellan.  Albert Pujols was 0-3, proving even machines have off nights once in a while.

Just a few observations, thoughts and notes…Phillies use 2 grand slams to get by Nationals, 13-11.  Joel Hanrahan, the victim of the second one, ends up losing the game and blowing his 3rd save.  Jason Bay hit a 3-run bomb off of Kerry Wood in the 9th at Cleveland to win it for the Red Sox, 3-1.  Wakefield was dealing the floater again, going 7 scoreless with only 1 hit allowed.  Ryan Franklin nailed down save number 6 for the Cardinals in Atlanta as St. Louis won 3-2.  Houston beat Cincinnati 4-1.  Nothing special about the game, but it’s the 2nd time Roy Oswalt has pitched well against the Reds this year with a no-decision.  He went 7 innings with only 1 run allowed, but the Astros couldn’t win it until he was out.  He is an amazing 23-1 against Cincy in his career.  Justin Verlander sighting: 7 scoreless with 9 K against the Yankees.  Detroit won 4-2.  The Mets sent the Marlins to their 7th straight loss, 7-1 behind John Maine actually pitching decent and Omir Santos hitting a grand Slam.  Kansas City keeps getting great pitching.  This time it was Brian Bannister’s turn.  7 innings and only 1 hit allowed for the now 2-0 young hurler.  Jose Guillen jacked twice to supply some support, and KC won 7-1 over the mighty Blue Jays.  Dan Haren looked great in his win over the Cubs, and the Rattlers won 7-2.  LA lost late to SF, 5-4.  The Dodgers went ahead in the 7th because the *Casey Blake HR Meter* reached 5, but the pen couldn’t hold it down.

Hope your NFL team got some good players this weekend…If your NFL team is Miami, that is.  Otherwise, I don’t really care.  The draft is great, but I don’t get too excited yet.  If they sign, show up at camp, do well enough to actually make the team and start helping the team, then great.  Otherwise, it’s just a lot of talk about money and potential.  More speculation.  I hate speculation.  Hope for the best and move on.  How does the NFL draft impact my fantasy draft?  That’s the real issue here.  Let’s check some baseball notes and such…Florida was red hot at 11-1.  They don’t look so great now at 11-7.  Outfielder Cody Ross pitched a scoreless 9th, though.  Philly swept them this weekend with Jamie Moyer getting the win yesterday to improve to 12-1 lifetime against the Marlins.  Reds fans:  Jay Bruce and Joey Votto are really good.  Nationals rookie Jordan Zimmermann won again, getting by New York 8-1.  The Nats have only won 4 games total but JZ is 2-0.  Trevor Hoffman is set to make his Brewer debut, fresh off the DL.  Now they just have to get into a save situation for him.  The Astros have struggled so far, and the fact that Lance Berkman and Russ Ortiz are both hitting the same (.167) might have something to do with that.  Ortiz somehow is 2-0, though.  Cardinal fans couldn’t celebrate a sweep over the rival Cubs after a 10-3 Chicago win behind Rich Harden’s 9 strikeouts and Kosuke Fukudome’s hitting.  Mini-Ichiro went 3-4 with 5 RBI to help snap the Cubbies’ losing streak and raise his average to .371.  Colorado beat the Dodgers 10-4 to move to 6-11.  Jason Marquis got the win, and is 3-1.  The Pirates beat San Diego 8-3 to send the Padres to their 5th loss in their last 6 games after a 9-3 start.  Jake Peavy got hit hard again, giving up 5 earned runs in 5 innings.  He is 2-3 with a 5.74 ERA.  VUPL…Very Un Peavy Like.  Adam LaRoche hit 2 HR with 4 RBI for Pittsburgh.  Toronto leads the Majors in runs with 120, and more importantly, in wins with 14.  Roy Halladay got by the White Sox 4-3 to raise his record to 4-1 for the AL East leaders.  Oh My, Omar Vizquel is still in the Majors!  He has played in 5 games for the Rangers, and recently turned 42 years old.  Sunday, in the Rangers’ 8-5 loss to Baltimore, Vizquel was put in for defensive purposes in the 8th. (like Texas cares about defense) and he became just the 3rd player in history to play shortstop at that ‘advanced’ age, joining Luke Appling and Honus Wagner.  Omar is 6-14 (.429) at the plate in his limited time for Texas.  The Tigers may not be that great, but Brandon Inge is hitting .323 with 7 HR and 17 RBI, and Armando Galarraga is 3-0 after slipping by the Royals 3-2.  Jered Weaver alert:  7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.  That’s his line from the Angels’ 8-0 win over Seattle.  He is 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA.  At 7-11, the Angels have not won back to back games yet this season.  Oh yeah, the Red Sox swept the Yankees in their 3 game series at the Fens.  10 in a row for Boston after the 2-6 start.  Even so, they’re still a game behind Toronto.  Jacoby Ellsbury stole home off Andy Pettite and Justin Masterson won his second start in place of Disabled Matsuzaka in the 4-1 Boston win last night.  Temporary call-up Michael Bowden pitched 2 scoreless relief innings for Boston before being sent back to Pawtucket, but at least he can tell his buddies there that he whiffed Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira while he was brought up.  Did I mention that I love Michael Bowden?  Takashi Saito picked up his 2nd save, giving Paps a little rest.  He got pinch-hitter Johnny Damon to fly out to right for the final out amid a lusty chorus of heart-felt booing from the faithful for ole’ #18.

Glorious weather here in the Quadrant…’Bout time.  First things first, Boston goes up 2-1 in their series with the Bulls after pounding them at the United Center, 107-86.  That’s more like it.  Jazz nip the Lakers 88-86, making it a very nice evening on the hardwood, even though the Spurs stunk it up and lost to Dallas again.  But we are here to talk baseball, so let’s do just that.  Dave Bush grew up just outside Philadelphia, and now he pitches for the Brewers.  Last night he took a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the Phillies before giving up a home run to Matt Stairs.  It’s the 3rd time he’s taken a no-no into the 8th in his career, only to be denied.  Milwaukee won 6-1 to take 2 of 3 from Philly.  Ryan Braun went deep again, his 4th.  Grady Sizemore blasted a 3-run HR for the Indians in the 8th inning to send the Tribe to a 5-2 win over Kansas City.  Don’t blame it on Gil Meche, though.  He pitched well again, tossing 7 sharp innings with only 5 hits.  Kerry Wood notched his 3rd save.  The Cardinals swept the Mets in their 3 game set, winning 12-8 behind Albert Pujols who went 3-4 with 2 HR and 3 RBI.  He also scored 4 times and intimidated the Mets entire team and coaching staff.  He leads the NL with 21 RBI and has 998 for his career.  Rick Ankiel also homered and hit 2 doubles for the Redbirds, but his running, diving catch in center may have been the highlight of the game.  He made like Jim Edmonds and laid out for a spectacular web gem they will replay all year, hopefully.  Carlos Beltran went 3-5 in the loss for the Mets, raising his average to .404.  Here’s one you don’t see everyday…Ichiro HR sends Mariners past Tampa Bay, 1-0.  Felix Hernandez out-dueled James Shields to go to 3-0 with 7 scoreless innings and only 4 hits allowed.  Joey Votto really likes Wrigley Field.  He has 53 career AB there, and 5 have ended with a HR.  He went 4-5 to raise his average there to .367, and the Reds dumped the Cubs 7-1.  The Reds just finished a 10 game road trip in the division with a 7-3 record.  Harang went 7 scoreless for Dusty’s Little Red Machine.  Adam Eaton sighting:  The ex-Phillie pitched 7-1/3 solid innings with 9 K to net his first Oriole win, leading Baltimore past the Chisox 6-2.  For Chicago, Jim Thome had 2 RBI to raise his career total to 1,499.  The Dodgers downed Houston 2-0 behind this Chad Billingsley line:  7-1/3IP, 3H, 0ER, 2BB, 5K.  He is now 4-0 on the year.  Jonathon Broxton picked up his 5th save.  Wandy Rodriguez slipped to 1-2 for the Astros despite only giving up 5 hits and 1 run in 6 innings.  His ERA is 1.80, but the Astros hitters aren’t supporting his efforts very well.  *Casey Blake HR Meter is at 4* He hit one Wednesday night.  Miguel Tejada had 2 hits for Houston, and is at .365.  The Angels got a HR from Torii Hunter in their 10-5 win over Detroit.  It was his 6th of the year.  He is hitting .353 and Bobby Abreu is hitting .373 for the Halos.  30 year-old Matt Palmer got his 1st MLB victory in his 4th career start.  Toronto just keeps impressing.  They beat Texas for their 5th straight series win to open the season and improved their record to 12-5.  Texas has lost 9 of 12 since starting 3-0.  These 2 teams are 1-2 in HRs, with Texas having 29 and Toronto having 28.  The Rangers, however, have not benefitted nearly as much due to some less than stellar pitching and fielding.  Kevin Millwood gave up 3 HR and 4 runs, losing his second game for the Rangers.  Andrew Jones was inserted at 1B in the 8th inning for Texas.  His first appearance there in his career.  Texas also sent pitcher Kason Gabbard back to Boston for cash.  You may remember Gabbard from the ‘worst deal of the Theo Epstein era’ that sent the promising, and at the time dominating, young Red Sox starter to Texas for the overweight, out of gas, ineffective Eric Gagne two years ago.  I guess Gabbard didn’t fit Nolan Ryan’s master plan for reshaping the image of the staff in Arlington.  Here’s hoping he does well back in Boston where he belongs.  This should be a fun sports weekend from Little League games on up.  Enjoy and stay safe.  ***ICS visitors reminder:  Check out all the amazing football videos while you’re here.

Time constraints today, friends.  Pesky work…Let’s just say there was good baseball last night and there was bad baseball last night.  We’ll pick up with tidbits, notes and such when we get a chance to regroup.  **Hockey news–Boston swept Montreal away last night in their first-round series, four games to zero with their 4-1 win.

A very wet day out east, and attendance paid for it.  Minnesota at Boston was ppd.,  so they will play a doubleheader today/tonight.  There was also rain in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore.  The total head count for all five games was less than the average for one normal game.  Delays and rotten playing conditions marred the action, but the teams pressed on.  Washington won their second ugly game in a row over the slumping Braves, 4-3, and Joel Hanrahan picked up his second save for the Nats.  Kerry Wood also got his second save, (both against the Royals) but also gave up a two-run HR before he was done, as the Indians got by the Royals 8-7.  Cleveland turned a double play in six consecutive innings.  Philly beat the Brewers 11-4 even though Ryan Braun went 5-5 with 2 HR and 4 RBI.  Jamie Moyer won #248, tying APBA legend Amos Rusie for 45th place on the all-time wins list, and Phillie third-sacker Pedro Feliz went 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBI, raising his average to .359.  No Brewer starter has reached the seventh inning this season.  Ouch.  Pittsburgh downed the Marlins again, 3-2 behind a nice outing by Jeff Karstens, who went six, allowed three hits, one run, two walks and struck out three.  Pirates starters have only given up more than two runs in 4 of their 14 games.  Matt Capps shut the door for his fourth save, and his ERA remained 0.00.  Andy LaRoche update:  After starting out 0-18 at the plate, he is 8 for his last 19.  Baltimore dropped the White Sox 10-3, knocking Jose Contreras around for six runs in 5-1/3 innings.  Jose is 0-3 with a 8.04 ERA.  Markakis went 4-4 and Brad Bergesen won his MLB debut for the Birds, who put Ryan Freel on the DL.  Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler both homered off Roy Halladay to lead the Rangers to a 5-4 win over Toronto.  Halladay is 3-1, and continues to struggle against Texas even when he is killing everyone else.  Houston snapped the Dodgers’ 8 game winning streak 8-5, but Manny homered and had 3 RBI to pass Honus Wagner for 18th place all-time with 1,735 RBI.  Ryan Franklin is perfect for the Cardinals with 3 saves and a 0.00 ERA since getting the opportunity to close.  Ankiel and Molina had 3 hits apiece and Chris Duncan extended his hit streak to 13 as St. Louis rallied to beat the Mets 6-4 after trailing 4-0 early.  Seven of the Mets’ starters are hitting over .300, yet they are only 6-7.  Seattle sent Tampa Bay to their 6th loss in their last 7 games, 4-2.  Jarrod Washburn improved to 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA.  Todd Helton went 3-5, homered, scored three times and drove in three, helping Colorado rally to beat Arizona 9-6 after trailing 6-3.  Arizona really needs Brandon Webb back.  The Giants won 8-3 over the Padres and Jake Peavy due in large part to Edgar Renteria’s grand slam HR, three hits and 5 RBI.  He just destroys Peavy.  It was the first grand slam ever given up by Peavy, who, even though San Diego is 9-5, is now 2-2 with a 5.13 ERA on the young season.  Only Houston’s Brian Moehler has a longer active streak without allowing a grand slam.  Matt Cain went six, giving up only two runs to go to 2-0.  The Cubs, Yankees and Angels also won, but their games didn’t appeal to me enough to comment.  70% chance of rain in Boston for that doubleheader today, they may have to play Thursday on their off day.

Very light schedule in the Majors last night, with only six games on tap after the previously discussed Red Sox/Orioles affair at the Fens.  Two of these were postponed due to weather, Oakland @ NY and San Diego @ Philadelphia, and two others maybe should have been.  At Washington, the weather was so bad it delayed the start of the Nats/Braves game and then delayed it further with stoppages throughout.  When they finally did get the game in, Washington came from behind and got their second win of the season 3-2 behind rookie Jordan Zimmermann in his MLB debut.  Only about 1,000 fans saw it in person, but it counted, nonetheless.  Not a bad night for the young prospect…6IP, 6H, 2R, 1BB and 3K.  Norwalk’s Joel Hanrahan picked up his first save for the 2-10 Nats.  A save in Washington is roughly equivalent to 3.14 saves for most teams.  Pittsburgh cooled off the red-hot Marlins and their seven game win streak with a 8-0 pounding in front of about 4,000 die-hard Bucco fans.  Ross Olendorf was too much for the Marlin hitters, pitching seven scoreless innings with 2 hits, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.  Little Nate McLouth was the star at the plate with a HR and four RBI.  Cincinnati slipped by Houston 4-3 thanks to Joey Votto’s 2-run double in the 7th inning, and decent pitching by Bronson Arroyo, who is now 3-0.  Mike Hampton pitched well again for Houston, and didn’t factor in the final decision.  Francisco Cordero picked up his 5th save for the Reds, who have trailed in 10 of their 12 games so far, but have scraped back enough for a 7-5 record.  The final game for Monday was in the 92-degree heat of the night in Arizona, where the D-Backs got by Colorado 6-3, with Jon Garland picking up the win over the road-weary Rockies who are opening up the season with 11 of their first 14 games away from Coors Field.  The Rocks have dropped seven of their last eight games, and after this series will have played six times in Arizona and only three times in Colorado.  Just for fun, the Diamondback hitters have 96 strikeouts and only 93 hits to this point, even after “exploding” for 10 hits against Colorado.  They were hitting .215 as a team heading into last night’s game.  *Hockey News-Hockey News*  -Just in case you missed it, the Boston Bruins now lead their series with arch-rival Montreal 3-0 after a 4-2 victory on the road.  While they were out, the Celtics used the home court to escape another Chicago upset 118-115, tying the series at one win apiece.  Ray Allen was just being Ray-Ray in the second half, dueling with Ben Gordon, who was just insane.  Gordon was ‘stuck on automatic’ and had 42 points and Allen had 30, 28 in the second half, including six treys.  His game-winner was a cold-hearted killer three over Yucky Noah.  Oh by the way, Rondo hurt his ankle and left the game for awhile in the first half, but played the second half, netting a triple -double with 19 pts, 12 reb and 16 assists.  He also had 5 steals.  Glen Davis had 26 pts and 9 reb, Kendrick Perkins had 16 pts and 12 reb, and Paul Pierce had 18 pts and 8 reb.  Without KG, and little or no help from the bench, Boston would have to do alot more of this to advance deep into the playoffs.  I don’t know if that will happen or not, but this was a very entertaining game and a very nice end to a great day for Boston sports fans.

Yes, today is Patriots’ Day, so as is always the case, the Red Sox host an early morning baseball game.  The Boston Marathon is also held on Patriots’ Day, but we do not promote insanely long jogs or any needless tests of endurance, for that matter.  Today’s game happened to be the last of a four game set with the Orioles, and the Bosox came away victorious at Fenway 12-1, sweeping the Birds and winning their fifth straight game to climb above .500 at 7-6.  Justin Masterson filled in for Dice-K and his sleepy arm, and did a nice job in 5-1/3 innings giving up only four hits and one run.  The Sox pounded out 15 hits off four different largely ineffective Baltimore pitchers starting with Mark Hendrickson, who gave up the first three runs on five hits and three walks before exiting after the 5th with 103 pitches thrown.  The Captain hit his third homer of the season in the second inning and Dustin Pedroia had four hits and three RBI to lead the way for the Red Sox.  Patriots’ Day, for the record, has nothing to do with the football team.  Even though many New Englanders use this time to swill a Sam Adams or two while discussing the upcoming NFL draft and how the Pats are going to fare this season.  The day marks the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which were the first of the Revolutionary War.  The Red Sox have scheduled home games on Patriots’ Day since 1959.  ICS will celebrate Patriots’ Day by watching the Celtics host the Bulls in Game 2 of their series at the TD Banknorth Garden (soon to be simplified to TD Garden in July) where they kindly let Chicago steal homecourt advantage in Game 1, losing 105-103 in OT.  As if playing without KG wasn’t challenge enough.  Someone help Rondo with Derrick Rose, please…