Pirates 3, Cards 1

The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday by a score of 3-1. The Pirates drew first blood in the Bottom of the 1st on a 2 run shot by Ike Davis that hit the speaker in Center field. The Cards cut the lead in half in the Top of the 3rd on a solo shot by Matt Holiday. The Pirates would get that run back in the Bottom half on a Sac Fly by Andrew McCutchen. That would be it for the scoring as both Jeff Locke and Adam Wainwright were solid from there on out. Locke pitched 7.1 innings of 1 run ball to improve to 6-3, while Wainwright fell to 15-9 despite allowing a respectable 3 runs over 6 innings. Mark Melancon pitched a scoreless 9th for his 24th save. The Pirates are now 69-64 on the season, 4 games back of 1st place Brewers and 2 games back of a wildcard spot.

Alvarez's 2 Homeruns Propel Pirates to 10-2 romp over Brewers

The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Milwaukie Brewers on Saturday night by a score of 10-2. Milwaukie drew first blood in the 2nd with a solo dinger by Scoter Gennett. They would increase their lead in the 3rd when Khirs Davis hit a double, scoring Aramis Ramirez. That would be it for Milwaukie offensively. The Pirates took the lead in the next half inning with a 3 run blast by Pedro Alvarez. They would add on in the 4th when a double by Neil Walker scored Travis Snider. Later that inning, Russell Martin would bust the game open with a 3 run dinger, followed by another Alvarez bomb 1 batter later. The Pirates would add on 2 more runs on 2 singles by Walker. The 10 run outburst was more then enough for Edinson Volquez, as he allowed just the 2 runs over 5.2 innings despite allowing 11 hits. The win moved the Pirates to within 4 games of Milwaukie in the division and 1.5 games back of a wildcard spot. With a lot of baseball left to be played, a lot can happen between now and the end of the season. That's all for tonight, thanks for reading.

NCAA Title Game Prediction

 

Hello again. I was in Boston over the weekend, so I did not get to preview the Final 4. But I am back at it to preview tonight's conclusion to March Maddens, as #7 UConn takes on #8 Kentucky for all of the marbles. Let's breakdown this game and I will give you who I think will be crowned the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Champion.

Offense
No brainer here. The Cats, led by Julius Randall and the Harrison twins, are a solid offensive team and have been this whole tournament. UConn, on the other hand, has struggled offensively all year long, and it has continued the past 2 games, with the Huskies scoring 60 and 63 points respectively. Shabzz Napier and DeAndre Daniles are both solid, but I just think the Wildcats have more offensive firepower.

Edge: UK

Defense
This is where the Huskies have an advantage. When a team is 144th in the country and makes it to the title game,  they must be doing something right defensively. The Huskies have size and are very athletic, and the same could be said about UK. I just fell that UConn has a slight edge, as the Cats cannot force turnovers, while the Huskies rank in the top ten in the country in steals per game.

Edge: UConn

Coaching: Calipari>Ollie. Not a lot of explaining needs to be done here.

Edge: UK

Overall: These teams match up very evenly, but I feel that one huge stat to point out is that UK is 5th in the country in offensive rebounding. I feel that that stat could be the key to tonight's game. As for experience, UConn does not have anymore then Kentucky does when it comes to big games, no matter how many Freshman UK has. I feel that while both teams were not expected to be here, UK has more talent and has thought through more adversity, as they have played in more close games.

Therefore, Kentucky takes it home tonight.

Winner and 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball National Champions: Kentucky Wildcats

Opening Day 2014: My thoughts on the best day of the year

As always, Opening Day of the Baseball season brought a lot of excitement, drama and if nothing else, knowing that Baseball, the greatest sport of all time, will be back for another 6 months. Spring is here, and as you all know, spring is the revival of hope. Well, enough of the corny  lets talk about the games.

The first game was on Sunday night, and it was a good one. The LA Dodgers took on the San Diego Padres. LA took a 1-0 lead into the 8th inning behind the steller pitching of Hyun-Jin Ryu, and a single by Carl Crawford for LA's 1st and only run of the game. For a while it looked like that run would hold up for LA, but the game was not over yet. Brian Wilson entered the game for LA, and the first batter he faced was pinch hitter Seth Smith. Smith would proced to crush one into the Right Field stands, and just like that the game was tied at 1. Big Blue would unravil after that. A walk and an error, followed by a double steal would put runners at 2nd and 3rd for Chirs Deneforia. Denforia would single, scoring Evreth Cabera and Yasmani Grandal, giving San Diego a 3-1 lead. Dale Thayer would shut down LA in the 9th, and the Padres would end the night with a 1-0 record, while LA would fall to 2-1.

The next game we will discuess took place in the great city of Baltimore, Maryland, where the Orioles defeted the Boston Red Sox by a score of 2-1.  Both Nelson Cruz(Baltimore) and Grady Siezmore(Boston) hit homeruns in their debut's for their respective teams. Siezmore's homer was extra meaningful, as it was his first game since 2011. Cruz's homer ended up being more significant in terms of the games outcome, as it broke a 1-1 tie in the 7th inning, and wound up being the deciding run. Tommy Hunter would nail down his first save as an Oriole, and the Birds left Camdon Yards with a 1-0 record.

The final game we will talk about took place at PNC Park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates took on the Chicago Cubs. The game was tied going into the Bottom of the 10th inning, but that would change when Neil Walker hit a walkoff homerun over the Clemente Wall off of Carlos Villanauvia, to give the Bucs a 1-0 win. I was at this game, and it was fantastic. The Pirates played a solid game overall, and deserved to win this one.

Overall, opening day was fantastic, and had a lot of things that I love about Americas Pastime.

Thats all I have to say about that. Thanks for Reading!

Elite 8: Review of Saturday's games/ Preidctions for Sundays games.

Hello again. I had started writing my review of the Sweet 16, but things happened and I ended up not finishing it. So, I am back with my review of the Elite 8 so far. 2 games took place on Saturday, so I will discuss them and also predict what will happen in Sundays games. Let's get into it.


#1 Florida ended Dayton's magical run by defeating the Flyers, 62-52. Scottie Wilbekin lead the Gators with 23 points, while Dayshawn Pierre had 18 for the Flyers. It was a great run for the Flyers, and they have nothing to be ashamed of. They just ran into a better team.


Now, lets get to the game that really has people talking. #2 Wisconsin defeated #1 Arizona by a score of 64-63 in Overtime. It was back and forth the whole way through, with neither team gaining a big sizeable advantage at any point in the game. The Badgers finally prevailed in overtime. The last 3 seconds of the game were hectic. Johnson was called for an offensive foul with 3.5 seconds remaining and the Wildcats down by 1. I think that the officials should have let it go in that situation, although I have never been an official, and I may have done the same thing if I only had that much time to make a call. It is no lock that Zona would have won the game, and that was not the only play that took place, so no credit should be taken away from Wisconsin. The game was not over yet, however as Arizona would get the ball back after the ball went apparently went off of the hands of a Wisconsin player. I did not think that there was enough evidence to overturn the call, but either way, I hate... HATE the length of these reviews in basketball games, as this play was reviewed for what felt like forever. I understand how important the some calls are, but there was once a time when officials did not feel the need to go to the monitor whenever a close call needed to be made, or deciding if a foul is flagrant or not( which also happened in this game, go figure) was not thought of as necessary. Did that make March Maddens any less exciting, I think not. I could go on for hours about this, but lets move on. Aaron Gordon would then miss a potential game winner, and Wisconsin punch their ticket to the Final Four. If I was Sean Miller, I would have tried to get the ball to a big man in the post, instead of drawing up a play to take a jump shot. Arizona was scoring inside a lot all game long, so it might have worked. Frank Kaminsky lead the Badgers with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while Nick Johnson lead the Wildcats with 16 points.


On Sunday, #7 UConn will face #4 Michigan State,  #2 Michigan will face #8 Kentucky. UConn and UK were not expected to be here, but that is what's great about sports. My predictions? Kentucky is finally playing like they were expected to when the season started in November, and I believe they will pull off the upset here. Michigan did not impress me against Tennessee, and UK is hot. Julies Randal and company will get the Cats to their 3rd Final Four in the past 4 years. Michigan State will prevail as well in my opinion. They are playing great, and Tom Izzo is hard to bet against in these types of games.




That's all I've got to say about that. Thanks for Reading

NCAA Torunament: My thoughts as the Sweet 16 nears

Wow, do we have a lot to talk about. The first 2 rounds of March Maddness were beyond maddness. We saw upsets, heartbreak, joy and a lot of pissed off civilians throwing away their brackets by the time Saturdays games got underway. All of these things are what makes this month so special in the world of sports. When people who are not sports fans fill out a bracket and pay attention just for a brief period of time, that is a special thing. I am not going to do a breakdown of every single game because I am only a man, but I will give out awards, some  good, some bad, but awards nonetheless. Let's get into it.

Biggest Surprise: Mercer beats Duke

Tell me, how many of you reading this post knew where Mercer is located on the map before this game? Now put your hands down, liars. Believe it or not, I do know some people who picked Mercer to win this game, but I was still shocked by the result. The fact that Duke was playing in their home state of North Carolina makes it that much more stunning that they lost. Mercer had 1 thing that the Blue-Devils did not: experience. Most of the mid-major teams that make runs in the tournament are filled with seniors, and that is not a coincidence. Coach K gave Mercer full credit in the post-game press conference, saying basically that they won they game, and not that Duke lost it, which I feel is true, as Mercer played close to perfect. The dream would die just 2 days later at the hands of Tennessee, but that does not take away what these kids accomplished. It will not be forgotten by fans anytime soon.
Biggest disappointment: Wichita State loses to Kentucky
Any time a team that finished the season at 35-0 and gets a #1 seed loses in the 2nd round, it's hard to imagine them not getting this unfortunate award. I am not doing this to hate on Gregg Marshall's team by any means: winning 35 straight games is a great accomplishment no matter what conference a team is in, and I still believe that they deserved all of the praise that they got. Unfortunately for the Shockers, Kentucky was just a little bit better on this day. The thing that is most disappointing to me is that some people will remember the 2014 WSU Shockers as a team that was a product of a down conference and never should have had the spotlight in the first place. Because of that fact, I really feel for those kids who could have been remembered as a team that went to the Final Four and possibly beyond.

Best Game
Wichita State vs. Kentucky
This was a tough one to decide as there were so many great games to choose from in this tournament, but I decided that this one had the most drama. On one side we had an upstart program who was out to prove that it belonged with the best of them. On the other we had a legendary program who's tradition dates back decades, and was out to save what many have called a disappointing season. This alone makes for compelling television, but the game was exactly what makes college basketball great. This game went back and forth the whole way through, and Kentucky had several chances to put they game away late in the game. But the Shockers would not go away without a fight, and the game was not sealed until a 3 pointer shot by Fred VanVleet fell short. Kentucky will move on a face Louisville in the Sweet 16, and what a game that should be.

Best Story: Dayton

What a story. Dayton, Ohio is a town that has fallen on hard times in the past and doesn't have a lot to take pride in, but one thing that people from Dayton are proud of is their basketball team. Now, coach Archie Miller has guided Dayton to the sweet 16 for the first time since Regan was president. This scene on campus pretty much sums up why I think this has been the best story of the tournament so far.

What to watch for: Tennessee is on fire, and I am interested to see what happens when they take on Nick Stauskas and the #2 seeded Michigan Wolverines. Stanford vs. Dayton should be great as it is 2 Cinderella's battling against one another. Louisville vs. Kentucky is 2 historic rivals battling against each other for the 2nd time in March since 2012, so that says it all. All Sweet 16 games are interesting, but these are the ones that stick out to me.

That's all I got for today. Thanks for reading!

Last Minute predictions for the Field of 68

Here are my predictions for who will play who in the NCAA Tournament. I plan of seeing how accurate I am in predicting these, as you will see in my next article.


SOUTH
#1 Florida
#16 Milwaukee
#2 Kansas
#15 Wofford
#3 Syracuse
#14 Manhattan
#4 Creighton
#13 Western Michigan
#5 Ohio State
#12 Harvard
#6 Cincinnati
#11 Dayton/NC State
#7 Saint Louis
#10 Arizona State
#8 Stanford
#9 George Washington


West
#1 Arizona
#16 Albany
#2 Wisconsin
#15 Weber State
#3 Iowa State
#14 UNC Central
#4 San Diego State
#13 Delaware
#5 Kentucky
#12 North Dakota State
#6 Gonzaga
#11 Colorodo
#7 UConn
#10 SMU
#8 Pitt
#9 Texas


East
#1 Michigan
#16 MOUNT Saint Mary's/Costal Carolina
#2 Villanova
#15 AMERICAN U
#3 Virginia
#14 MERCER
#4 UCLA
#13 New Mexico State
#5 New Mexico
#12 Tulsa
#6 VCU
#11 Xavier/Nebraska
#7 Oklahoma State
#10 Saint Joseph
#8 UMASS
#9 California


Midwest
#1 Wichita State
#16 Cal Poly/ Texas Southern
#2 Duke
#15 Georgia State
#3 Louisville
#14 Eastern Kentucky
#4 Michigan State
#13 Stephan F. Austin
#5 UNC
#12 Providence
#6 Oregon
#11 Tennessee
#7 Oklahoma
#10 Iowa
#8 Memphis
#9 Kansas State