Armchair Weekend in Review (April 20-22, 2007)

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by user JB82

How Sweep It Is

This weekend saw the first series between two of baseball's greatest rivals: the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. When last we left these two teams, the Sox had taken three of four from the Bronx Bombers, and were looking to continue putting the hurt on them.
- Friday was the marquee matchup, pitting Andy Pettite against Curt Schilling. It looked as thought the Yanks had this one in their back pocket, but the Sox came back in the late innings (as Joe Torre put Mariano Rivera in the eighth inning, something he said in Spring Trainingf he wouldn't do) to win, 7-6. By the way, Alex Rodriguez hit two home runs in the game, giving him 12 on the year.
- Saturday saw rookie Jeff Karstens take the hill against Josh Beckett, and while Karstens held his own, the Sox soon ate him up starting with a David Ortiz home run in the fifth inning, and won it virtually going away, 7-5.
- Sunday was the Yanks' first look at BoSox rookie sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka, and while Mr. Gyroball pitched 7 1/3 innings, it was the Red Sox offense who stole the show. In the bottom of the third inning, Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek all used the long ball to turn a 3-0 deicit into a 4-3 lead and eventually a 7-6 win, sweeping the almost-hapless Yanks. The last time that four consecutive homers were hit in a game was on September 18, 2006, when the Los Angeles Dodgers came from behind against the Pittsburgh Pirates. If the Yanks' lead were a movie, it would be Gone in Sixty Seconds.

More news from the diamond

It was also the same day that the next rare event occurred. The Philadelphia Phillies turned a triple play in a 4-1 over the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati. The Phils' Abraham Nunez threw the ball to second baseman Chase Utley and then tossed it to Wes Helms to complete the first triple play since September 18 of last year. The more impressive stat from Saturday was Cole Hamels' 15 strikeouts.

The Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets on Friday night (and would take two of three from them), maybe because of this person: Frank Martinez, a 40-year-old fan, reportedly used what authorities called a "small, streamline flashlight" and shined it into the eyes of Braves hurler Tim Hudson and shortstop Edgar Renteria. Renteria noted the distraction in the bottom of the eighth inning and shortly, the shining ended when Martinez was ejected from Shea Stadium. Put that in the Hall of Shame...

CHASE FOR THE BIG ASTERISK: Barry Bonds put two balls out of the park in as many days over the weekend. Bonds' homers came in wins over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday and Sunday, gving him a total of 740 lifetime taters and six on the year.

First, Lou Piniella, now Jim Leyland became the second manager to out his team for a bad performance. A day after Leyland ripped his team a new you-know-what, the Detroit Tigers responded with a 12th-inning base hit by Placido Polanco for a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Some more sports tributes to Virginia Tech

In the aftermath of Monday's shooting, Virginia Tech used sports as both a distraction and a part of the healing process. The Hokies baseball team lost 11-9 to Miami in the first sporting vent at the Blacksburg, Virginia campus since the worst massacre of its kind in US history.
- Meanwhile, in State College, Pennsylvania, Penn State fans put on a show of solidarity at the football team's Spring game as the over 40,000 people in attendance traded in the school's colors for those of VA Tech and displaying a large "VT" logo.
NASCAR also put that same logo on all of the racecars in its three main series starting this weekend and wrapping up at Richmond two weeks hence.

NBA Playoffs begin

The Washington Wizards cam into the playoffs with Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler amongst their walking wounded. But it was Lebron James who shook off the injury bug while leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 97-82 victory in Game 1 of rematch of last year's quarterfinal matchup. James scored 23 points in spite of a sprained ankle.

Back before Christmas 2004, Vince Carter was a disgruntled man. He was unhappy with how things were going in the Toronto Raptors organization, feeling as though they were treating him like you-know-what. So, the Raptors traded him to the New Jersey Nets in order to get rid of a metaphorical headache. The fans wore baby bibs with his number 15 on them, but it was Carter who had them crying as the Nets took Game 1, 96-91, while scoring 16 points despite a 5-for-19 afternoon from the field.

In an example of tepid officiating, Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal fouled out of Game 1 of their series against the Chicago Bulls after playing only 27 minutes and adding 19 points by the same score as the above game.

Is it just me, or will there be shades of 1994 in the Western Conference playoffs? The 8th-seeded Golden State Warriors may be on the way to making like the Denver Nuggets of 13 years ago with a 97-85 upset of the Dallas Mavericks in Big D.

Speaking of the Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson combined for 61 points (30 and 31, respectively) in an upset of the San Antonio Spurs. This was déjà vu for Gregg Popovich's squad, as they lost two years ago in Game 1 to the same Nuggets team (the Spurs went on to win the NBA championship that year...)

NHL Playoffs

Talkin' proud, talkin' proud! The Buffalo Sabres knocked out the New York Islanders in Game 5 of their series 4-3 on Friday night.

An ugly incident marred Saturday's Game 4 of the Calgary Flames' series against the Detroit Red Wings. Late in the third period, Flames netminder Jamie McLennan took his stick and hit Wings forward Johan Franzen in the stomach. While the suspension was not as stiff as Chris Simon's actions on Ryan Hollweg last month, the NHL came down hard on both McLennan and the franchise, suspending him for five games, fining head coach Jim Playfair $25,000 US (the Flames didn't play fair that night) and the franchise a whopping $100,000. The Wings got revenge as they took the series on a double overtime goal by – speak of the Devil! – Franzen the following night.

Also moving on during the weekend were the New Jersey Devils and the San Jose Sharks...

Across the pond

Manchester United's 1-1 draw against Middlesborough kept the Red Devils on track to clinch the Premiership for the first time since 1999, holding a three-point lead over Chelsea.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Watford became the first Premier League club to go back from whence the came (the Football League Championship) with a 1-1 draw against Manchester City.

Congrats to Inter Milan as they won the Serie A title (or scudetto) for the second year in a row with a 2-1 win over Siena.

Barcelona's loss to Villarreal, coupled with Sevilla's 4-1 win away at Bilbao, put Barça's lead in La Liga to one point.

Fast Track

Jeff Gordon made history on Saturday night at Phoenix when he got his 76th career win in the NEXTEL Cup Series in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Gordon celebrated by carrying a flag with the late Dale Earnhardt's number 3 on it, as he had tied "The Intimidator" for fifth on the series' all-time wins list.