Wilson's orange shoes

Giants closer Brian Wilson has been fined $1,000 for wearing his bright orange cleats that were a gift to him at the All-Star Game in games. The fine comes on the heels of comments from Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez who said the shoes were "too flashy" and that something should be done about them. Major League Baseball told Wilson that his shoes needed to be at least 50 % black, which is the dominant color on the Giants regular home and away jerseys. In order to conform with the rules, Wilson colored in half of each shoe with what he joked were "Nike Air Sharpies" so that they are now half black and half orange. When asked if he could tell if the shoes would indeed be 50% black, he said "I've got pretty good eyes. I think I can eyeball 50 percent."

In response to Rodriguez's complaining, Wilson said "Too flashy. I didn't know that's in the rulebook. Oh it's not in the rulebook. The fact that he thinks these shoes throw 97 to 100 with cut might be a little far fetched. I guess we should have these checked as performance-enhancing shoes." Wilson is hilarious and I agree with what he's saying. Rodriguez should probably focus on worrying about his team and not on an opponent's shoes. The American League didn't complain about them at the All-Star Game. The whole thing is pretty silly to me and I think it's pretty ridiculous that Wilson was fined without a warning for such a minor thing.

Giants rolling, trade deadline approaches

My San Francisco Giants (58-44) have won 13 out of their last 16 games as well as 17 of their last 21. They have been tearing it up lately to say the least. Their pitching has been good for the most part though they did have a rough outing today in coughing up a 9-2 lead to the Marlins (50-51) before winning in extra innings. Rookie Buster Posey now has a 21 game hitting streak and is starting to make a run for Rookie of the Year. He's definitely been the best rookie in July. I believe he leads the Majors in hits this month. The kid looks like he's going to play a big part in carrying the offense for years to come. The Giants conclude their four game home series against the Marlins tomorrow at 1:45 p.m. MT on MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv before taking on the hated Dodgers (54-46) this weekend. The Giants are only 2 games back in the NL West and have a 1.5 game lead in the Wild Card. I can't tell you how much fun it is to watch a team that is playing so well. Every game seems like such an event and something to get excited for.

The Phillies (55-46) have been playing better as of late and really played well in their crucial weekend series against the Rockies (51-50) in earning a four game sweep and have now won 7 in a row as they keep up their winning ways. They trail the Giants by 2.5 games in the Wild Card and the Braves (58-42) by 3.5 in the NL East. I'd really prefer it didn't come down to those two teams, but my preference is definitely the Giants.

The trade deadline is on Saturday and rumors abound. The Dodgers acquired outfielder Scott Podsednik from the Royals (42-59). He'll be helpful, he's a good player, but I'm not extremely worried about him pushing the Dodgers over the top. Dan Haren has moved from the Diamondbacks (37-64) to the Angels (52-52) who hope he can help them catch the Rangers (59-42) in the AL West. Of course the Athletics (51-49) have surpassed the Angels for second place now. The big piece in play is Astros (42-59) ace starting pitcher Roy Oswalt who would like to play for a contending team. It would be cool if the Phillies could land him and use that as a springboard to pass the Braves. I'll be interested to see what happens, but time is running out for a deal to get done. I'll also be interested to see if the Giants can get another hitter before the deadline.

Baseball thoughts from New York

The San Francisco Giants (53-43) took two of three from the Dodgers (51-45) in L.A. earlier this week and looked like an entirely different team from the last time the two teams met. Tuesday's game was a rather unforgettable one, with the Giants showing a lot of heart and coming behind from a 5-1 deficit in the third and eventually taking a 6-5 lead in the 9th and holding on to win by that score. They won the first of four in Phoenix last night against the Diamondbacks (37-59) and now hold a half-game lead over the Reds (53-44) for the Wild Card.

The Phillies (49-46) have struggled since the Break, going 2-6 to this point but somehow are in second place in the NL East, seven games behind the Braves (56-39) and just 3.5 behind the Giants (feels good to refer to the Giants as leaders late in the year) for the Wild Card. It's imperative they start playing better with a four game wraparound series this weekend at home against the Rockies (51-44).

As for me, I'm in New York and will be attending the Kansas City Royals (41-54) at New York Yankees (60-34) game tonight at 7 p.m. ET (5 p.m. MT). I'm pretty excited as it will be my first time in the new Yankee Stadium. Brian Bannister is pitching for the Royals and A.J. Burnett goes for the Yankees in his first start since cutting his hand punching a door last week. The Yankees won the series opener 8-4 last night but I'm hoping the Royals can pull it out tonight despite right fielder David DeJesus (one of their best players) going on the disabled list today with a thumb injury.

Giants robbed; look ahead to Dodgers

At left: Travis Ishikawa clearly beats Henry Blanco's tag for what would have been the winning run but was called out by umpire Phil Cuzzi.

The San Francisco Giants (50-42) lost to the New York Mets (49-43) by a score of 4-3 in ten innings today at AT&T Park. However, the real story of the game was that the Giants by all rights should have won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Travis Ishikawa slid under the tag of Mets catcher Henry Blanco. David Wright fielded Freddy Sanchez's ground ball with one out in a 3-3 game in the ninth and fired a high throw home. Blanco clearly tagged Ishikawa late. It kind of took the wind out of the sails of the Giants who had rallied from 3-1 down at the start of the inning behind Ishikawa's two-run pinch-hit single. Ishikawa and manager Bruce Bochy both argued with home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi but of course to no avail. You can see for yourself in the photo I'm posting that the call was missed.

Cuzzi had a rough day behind the plate and missed several calls including many balls and strikes. It's frustrating to see what should have been a four game sweep taken away, although winning three of four is still a very good start following the All-Star Break. Cuzzi probably should have rung up Mets first baseman Ike Davis on a couple of breaking balls from Brian Wilson on 1-2 and 2-2 counts in the tenth but somehow called those balls. Davis, hitting with two outs, doubled off the bricks in right field to bring in Jason Bay who had singled a batter earlier. It proved to be the winning run.

All this being said, the Giants still had chances to win but Aubrey Huff bounced out to Davis with runners still on first and third following the controversy to end the inning. And in the tenth Eli Whiteside struck out on a 3-2 curve ball from Mets pitcher Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez who ended up throwing 47 pitches on the day over two innings and was responsible for coughing up the two run ninth inning lead. Whiteside was hitting with runners on first and second following Edgar Renteria's two-out double and an intentional walk of Juan Uribe. The Giants showed resiliency in not going down quietly in the ninth or tenth. I like that the team has such great heart.

Ishikawa, Bochy and well pretty much everybody said that Cuzzi missed the call and even Blanco said "He was safe all the way. Everybody was surprised when he called it out." I think it's cool that an opposing player admitted that, but it still sucks that the call was missed. The Giants travel to southern California to face their hated rivals the Dodgers (49-43) for three tomorrow through Wednesday. Coverage of all three games starts at 8 p.m. MT on mlb.tv. I would throw in MLB Extra Innings but for some reason today's Giants-Mets game wasn't on there and I had to bust out my computer to catch it on mlb.tv. Doesn't make sense but most games typically are on Extra Innings and I would think at least two of these three will be.

The Giants need to turn it around on the Dodgers after being swept at home by them recently. Ever the optimist I feel like the Giants should win two of three with Bumgarner, Lincecum and Zito starting, but with the series in Dodger Stadium I would more realistically say the Dodgers will win the series. But go Giants nonetheless. This Dodgers series is important not just for the standings but for the teams psyche after dropping five of the first six this season as well as not playing well against the NL West in general. They have to improve their play within the division from here on out if they want to have good odds of making the playoffs.

One good thing about this weekend was that the Dodgers were swept in St. Louis by the Cardinals (51-41) in four games, including an epic late game meltdown today that really makes me happy. With the Giants winning their series it puts them back ahead of the Dodgers in the West and just a half-game behind the Rockies (50-41) for second place after they lost two of three in Cincinnati (51-42). The Padres (54-37) lead the division by four games and still seem to never lose after sweeping the Diamondbacks (34-58) in San Diego this weekend. But as a Giants fan I'm just focusing on just being a half-game back of the Rockies and Reds for the Wild Card.

Giants playing well

The San Francisco Giants (50-41) have won the first three games of a four game set with the New York Mets (48-43) by scores of 2-0, 1-0 and 8-4. Tim Lincecum went the distance with a complete game shutout on Thursday and Barry Zito threw eight scoreless innings last night. Tonight the Giants offense came alive, sparked by home runs by Andres Torres and Buster Posey as well as another extra base hit for Pablo Sandoval. Matt Cain was solid on the mound as well.

Posey has been tearing it up and going into the game tonight he led MLB in average for July. The kid's fast becoming a star and his opposite field home run to right was something to behold. I don't know when the last time was that I saw a right-handed hitter hit a home run to right field at AT&T Park before tonight. You have to be awfully strong to do that. Hopefully Sandoval's first three games after the All-Star Break are an indication of how strong he will be playing in the second half. If he keeps up the hot streak he's capable of carrying the team and should help make the Giants quite a force to be reckoned with. The fourth game of the series with the Mets is tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. MT and is available on MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv. Johan Santana will be pitching for the Mets and Jonathan Sanchez for the Giants.

The Giants have moved up to second in the National League West and in a dead heat with the Cardinals for the Wild Card lead. This five game win streak and winning 9 of 10 has been refreshing on the heels of that 7 game losing streak. Hopefully the team can keep it up.

National League wins All-Star Game (finally)

The National League beat the American League 3-1 tonight to win the Major League Baseball All-Star Game for the first time since 1996. The win ensures that the National League will have home field advantage in the World Series this year. It's about freaking time the National League wins. So optimistically this means the San Francisco Giants could have home field advantage in the World Series. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

The big hit came from Braves catcher Brian McCann in the seventh inning. With the American League nursing a 1-0 lead with two outs in the inning, McCann cracked a bases clearing double to put the National League up 3-1 which would end up being the final margin. Not surprisingly, McCann was named MVP of the game. It was a clutch hit and really just helped the NL break the long winless streak. Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers pitched the ninth to earn the save. He was aided by a terrific play by Cubs right fielder Marlon Byrd who threw out Red Sox DH David Ortiz at second base following a shallow fly ball from Blue Jays C John Buck that landed in front of Byrd. Instead of there being two on and one out, there was one on with two out. That's a big difference and the game ended one batter later.

I enjoyed Byrd and outfielders Michael Bourne of the Astros and Chris Young of the Diamondbacks do a simultaneous jump following the last out being recorded. I like seeing guys look like they enjoy the game; it brings a smile to my face every time. Byrd is fast becoming a favorite of mine because he always seems to have a smile on his face and enjoys playing the game. I saw an interview he did on Sunday and he just seemed ecstatic to be going to the All-Star game. He also smiled a lot in the game tonight and pumped his fist after sliding in just ahead of the throw for the third National League run. So he's a player I'm going to pay more attention to him.

Also in baseball today, longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away this morning at the age of 80. He was a polarizing figure and I have to admit that I didn't really ever like the way he ran things because I didn't (and don't) think it was good for baseball. He tried to buy championships and it tore down the integrity of the game in my opinion because it meant teams weren't on as equal of footing financially. I don't want to delve too much into that right now. Steinbrenner is said to have often been good to his players and to have been good in the community and it's notable that so many people are lamenting his loss. But that still doesn't change the way I feel that he wasn't good for the game overall.

Spain wins first World Cup

At left: Spain celebrates its first World Cup championship.

Spain won the 2010 World Cup yesterday with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands in Johannesburg, South Africa. Andres Iniesta scored in the 116th minute (in extra time) and it proved to be the winner. It was really a pretty ugly game with a lot of fouls and so forth and the Netherlands strategy has to be questioned. Spain seemed to play the purer form of soccer and appeared to be the better team. So hats off to the Spaniards; it's quite an achievement. I'm not sure they have stopped partying in Madrid and all throughout Spain and who can blame them?

It was quite the World Cup I have to say. There was a lot of drama, such as Ghana missing a game winning penalty kick that would have sent them to the semi-finals and then losing the match in as big of a heart breaker as you can imagine in penalty kicks, and Landon Donovan's late goal against Algeria to send the USA to the knockout stage. South Africa was a great host country if you ask me and the atmosphere was quite festive throughout. It was the first time the World Cup was ever held in Africa and I thought it was just spectacular. Having the Tournament in South Africa brought a unique feel to it that has never been present before and I am glad I was able to watch some of it. Now, we look forward to 2014 in Brazil and hope that the USA can improve then on its Round of 16 appearance this year.

All-Star Game tomorrow; Ortiz wins Derby; MLB thoughts

David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox (51-37) won the Home Run Derby tonight at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, topping Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins (42-46) in the final round by a total of 11 to 5. Ortiz seems like a nice guy and it was cool to see him win. It doesn't mean too much for the second half of the season, but it was fun to see all the players relax and participate and watch the Derby. Many of them had their kids on the field which was also cool. It was a very festive atmosphere and I always enjoy watching it. I liked how Ortiz said it was for the fans, he really seems to get it. He also gave a shout out to former Major League pitcher Jose Lima, who died earlier this year which was cool to see.

The All-Star Game is tomorrow night. Coverage starts at 6 p.m. MT on FOX. It's kind of a big deal in case you haven't heard. Here are the starting line-ups for both teams:

National League:
SS Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
2B Martin Prado, Atlanta Braves
1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
DH Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
3B David Wright, New York Mets
LF Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
CF Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
RF Corey Hart, Milwaukee Brewers
C Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals

SP Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies

American League:
RF Ichiro, Seattle Mariners
SS Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
1B Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
CF Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
DH Vladimir Guerrero, Texas Rangers
3B Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
C Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
2B Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
LF Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays

SP David Price, Tampa Bay Rays

For the full rosters, check out mlb.com. I'm really stoked for the big game tomorrow and I'm really pulling for a National League victory. It's about time I say.

As for my San Francisco Giants (47-41), I said that if they finished the last seven games of their road trip 5-2 that it would be successful. Well, 6-1 would be considered great. Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey, among others, carried the load for the offense and the pitching was solid during a four game sweep of Milwaukee (40-49) and taking two of three from the Nationals (39-50). I don't think I've ever seen a team play as bad over the course of a series as the Brewers did this week. They just looked awful and it made you wonder how they ever won games. I don't think they are as bad as they looked, although the Giants probably had something to do with that. It was good to go into the break on a positive note after that seven game losing streak and the Giants are right in the midst of the playoff races. Here's a look at the contending teams in the National League West:

W L GB
San Diego Padres 51 37 --
Colorado Rockies 49 39 2
Los Angeles Dodgers 49 39 2
San Francisco Giants 47 41 4

And now the National League Wild Card:

W L GB
Colorado Rockies 49 39 --
Los Angeles Dodgers 49 39 --
New York Mets 48 40 1
Philadelphia Phillies 47 40 1.5
San Francisco Giants 47 41 2
St. Louis Cardinals 47 41 2

So as you can see the Giants are only two back in the Wild Card and four back in the division. So there is definitely perfectly good reason for hope. I'm going to keep the faith alive. As for the Phillies, they had a very big four game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds (49-41) at Citizens Bank Park this weekend after dropping two of three to the Atlanta Braves (52-36). The Braves have opened up a 4 game lead on the Mets and 4.5 on the Phils, but it's hardly insurmountable. And the Phils are only 1 back in the loss column in the Wild Card hunt. They showed a lot of heart in sweeping the Reds in four very close games this weekend after a tough series against Atlanta to stay right in the thick of the race. I still think it will be an upset if they don't at least make the playoffs.

The Chicago White Sox (49-38) have been tearing it up and I'd have to say they are the hottest team in baseball. I think it's been 25 wins in 30 games now and they erased what was about a 9 game division deficit about a month ago to the Twins (46-42) and now the Sox lead the Tigers (48-38) by a half-game in the AL Central at the break. They are riding an 8 game win streak and that has followed closely on the heels of an 11 game win streak. It's too early to say for sure, but there is reason to believe that my preseason pick to win the division will be accurate.

The Texas Rangers (50-38) acquired star pitcher Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners (35-53) on Friday and Lee made his Rangers debut last night against the Baltimore Orioles (29-59). The Orioles won the game and swept the four game series in Arlington, but Lee gives the Rangers a legitimate number one starter and makes them the clear cut favorite to win the AL West. With Lee in the rotation and a potent offense, the team even has the potential to do some damage in the playoffs.

James to Heat

LeBron James announced tonight that he will be signing a five year contract with the Miami Heat to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach. The move immediately makes the Heat the favorite to win the Eastern Conference next year, although the Celtics and Magic will still be forces to be reckoned with. It's going to be fun to see these guys play together -- they are going to win a lot of games. I'd be surprised if they didn't win at least one NBA Title during their run together. I'm glad the decision is over with and we can now see where the rest of the free agents are going to go.

It seems like James' heart is still in Cleveland to some extent as he said that in a perfect world he might have been able to stay in Cleveland but he wanted a better chance to win. It's sad to me that places like Cleveland aren't always considered top threats to win and that bigger, more glamorous markets are deemed better opportunities. But such is life in sports I guess. And James is taking a smaller contract than he could have gotten in Cleveland so there is something to be said for that (although he should make up that money with endorsements particularly as he will now be based in Miami).

Boozer on his way to Bulls

More NBA free agent news: PF Carlos Boozer has agreed to a five year deal with the Chicago Bulls for roughly $80 million and will leave the Utah Jazz. Boozer has been great at times with the Jazz, but also inconsistent, oft-injured and frustrating. But his roughly 20 points and 10 rebounds per game will not be easy to replace here in Utah. I'm hoping Paul Millsap is up to the challenge. I'll be interested to see what happens with the Jazz's other free agents. I thought Boozer wasn't guaranteed to stay with the Jazz, but I thought it was likely he would. This is a bit of a surprise, but I think the Jazz will be okay and still competitive.

In other news Ray Allen has re-upped with the Celtics for 2 years and $20 million and Kevin Durant has agreed to a five year, $86 million extension with the Thunder. Allen, along with the also recently re-signed Paul Pierce as well as Kevin Garnett, should keep the Celtics relevant in the East for at least another year or two. The Thunder are becoming an increasingly dangerous team, with Durant evolving into a genuine superstar. I think they will be in the upper half of the Western Conference next season.

It's all set for the World Cup Final on Sunday: it will be Spain vs. the Netherlands at 12:30 p.m. MT on ABC. Neither nation has ever won the World Cup before so we are assured of a first time winner. I'll have more on that as the championship match draws closer.

Wade and Bosh to sign with Heat

Two of the most sought after free agents, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, announced today that they will both be signing with the Miami Heat. Wade has played his entire career in Miami while Bosh is coming over from the Toronto Raptors. The move should help the Heat improve and help them draw closer to championship contenders. I don't know if they will be able to win it all unless they get some other supporting players.

Speaking of other players, LeBron James has yet to announce his decision but word has come out that he will do so tomorrow night at 7 p.m. MT in a one hour special on ESPN. I think he will either stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or join Wade and Bosh in Miami. I'll be interested to see what he chooses to do. Word was James had been trying to recruit Bosh to join him with the Cavaliers but that Bosh did not want to play in Cleveland. So that shows that James has some desire to remain in Cleveland. I don't know if he'll want to stay unless he knows someone else will be coming also. We'll know tomorrow night. Oh and this from Conan O'Brien's Twitter account: "I don't care where LeBron James ends up... As long as it's not at 11 pm on TBS." Good stuff considering all that's happened in the late night talk show world.

As for the Jazz, there is no news yet on any of their free agents. I think things should start moving one way or another when dominoes start to fall following the James decision.

Division by division midseason looks

Okay, so I'm revising my first half National League MVP pick from Mets third baseman David Wright to Reds first baseman Joey Votto. Votto is hitting .316 with 21 home runs and 59 RBI. His OBP is .419 and his SLG is .595. Wright is still a good candidate and if he keeps ups his pace he could still win the MVP, but Votto's numbers are just slightly better. Also key is that Votto has meant a lot to the Reds, I don't think there is any way they would be first or maybe even second right now without him.

And now I'm set to give a division by division review of roughly the first half of the season and I'll even include the Wild Cards. I would like to take the opportunity now to say that I could still reasonably have gotten all of the postseason teams correct in my preseason picks. They aren't all in position right now, but they're all reasonably close.

AL East:
My preseason pick: Tampa Bay Rays
Current leader: New York Yankees
My thoughts: The Rays (50-33) hit a rough spot but are now just two games back of the Yankees (52-31) and figure to be in the race all year. The Red Sox (49-35) are still in the race also and should make things interesting. I think it'll be a three team race all the way down to the last week or so, just as I thought before the season. These three could very well end up with the three best records in the American League but only two get in. I think the Rays and Yankees will make it and the Red Sox will be on the outside. The Rays seem to be playing with a chip on their shoulders and the Yankees are just really, really tough and don't figure to have any sort of prolonged slumps (though I would like very much to see that happen). I think the Yanks take the division and the Rays the Wild Card.

AL Central:
My preseason pick: Chicago White Sox
Current leader: Detroit Tigers
My thoughts: I said just a few weeks ago that the only one of my preseason picks I wished I'd had back was picking the White Sox (44-38) to win the Central. They were really struggling, particularly on offense, and were well back of the Twins (45-38) and Tigers (45-37). An eleven game win streak and sustained strong play later it turns out I may have been on to something. The Sox are merely one game back of Detroit and have been playing like the team I expected them to be. Starting pitcher Jake Peavy went down tonight with an injury (uncertain of how serious it is), but even so the team really seems to have gelled and I'm going to take them to win the Central. This too will be a tight race into September though, and I suspect all three of these teams will have something to say.

AL West:
My preseason pick: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Current leader: Texas Rangers
My thoughts: The Rangers (49-34) led the division for much of the season last year, but faded down the stretch. They have a 4.5 game lead over the Angels (46-40) right now and I'm going to say the Rangers are going to hold on and win the division this year behind improved pitching and of course the acquisition of former Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero in the offseason. Guerrero has been outstanding for the Rangers and coupled with Josh Hamilton and others in the lineup, the Rangers offense has been dynamic. They too recently had an 11 game win streak. The Angels just seem to have been scuffling along and not playing great baseball. I think they'll stay within striking distance, but I don't think they have enough for a fourth straight division title. I picked the Seattle Mariners (34-49) to finish second in the division after a promising 2009 season and it turns out they have been one of the biggest disappointments in all of baseball, trailing Texas by 15 games.

AL Wild Card:
My preseason pick: New York Yankees
Current leader: Tampa Bay Rays (Yankees lead East)
My thoughts: You can refer to above in the AL East section. The Wild Card is definitely coming out of the AL East. No team not in first in another division is within five of the Rays.

NL East:
My preseason pick: Philadelphia Phillies
Current leader: Atlanta Braves
My thoughts: I had the Braves (49-35) pegged to make the playoffs and still think they will, I'm just surprised that they have been on top of the division for so long. I think the Phillies' (43-39) experience will help them to ultimately win the division, but it will be closer than I originally thought. A lot depends on if the Phillies can get fully healthy and how much they can stay in the race in the mean time. The Mets (47-37) have been surprisingly solid and they look like they will be making the race interesting in their own right down the stretch. The Marlins (39-43) have been a bit of a disappointment so far and the Nationals (37-47) are still bad, but not as bad, and have Stephen Strasburg.

NL Central:
My preseason pick: St. Louis Cardinals
Current leader: Cincinnati Reds
My thoughts: The Reds (48-37) have to be the biggest surprise in baseball. They've had some great hitters all along, but now their pitching is coming along to match and their consistency has been very unexpected. The Cardinals (45-38) are right there and I don't see them going anywhere. However, I'm going to pick the Reds to win it now, although I picked them fourth in my preseason picks. I didn't expect the Milwaukee Brewers (37-47) to have great pitching, but I expected it to be average enough to keep them relatively close with their great lineup. They've been a disappointment and I honestly only expected a little bit more than this from the Cubs (37-47).

NL West:
My preseason pick: Colorado Rockies
Current leader: San Diego Padres
My thoughts: I picked the Padres (49-34) to finish dead last in the West, but their pitching has been nothing short of outstanding all season long and they have had decent if not great offense with timely hitting. The Padres seem like a tight knit bunch and I think they will win the division now in stark contrast to what I had picked before the season. The Dodgers (45-37) are in second, but I think the Rockies (45-38) will take second and even put some heat on the Padres. The Rockies are notoriously a second-half team and I think this year will be the same. They are already showing signs of heating up. Tonight they came back from six runs down in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Cardinals tonight. I think the Giants (43-40) will be in the mix too, but it's sadly looking like they will take fourth. However, I think all four of these teams will stay in the race and anything can happen, so there is reason to hope for the Orange and Black.

NL Wild Card:
My preseason pick: Atlanta Braves
Current leader: New York Mets (Braves lead East)
My thoughts: The Mets have been good, but I think they will fade just enough down the stretch to not actually win the Wild Card. Since I now have the Padres winning the West, I'm going to take the Rockies with the Wild Card behind a solid second half.

MLB first half awards

I'm really not a fan of either New York team, but it's hard to not select players from each team as the MVPs of the first half of the baseball season. Yankees (50-31) second baseman Robinson Cano has been having an outstanding first half, hitting .343 with 16 home runs and 55 RBIs along with a .396 OBP and a .569 SLG. He's really become a complete player, hitting for speed and power and is a big reason the Yankees are in front in the AL East.

Mets (46-36) third baseman David Wright (.315 BA, 14 HR, 64 RBI, .391 OBP, .541 SLG, 15 SB) has been really stepping up his game this year. He's had the talent, but I don't remember him ever having a season like this. He'd have to be my first half National League MVP. Leading the league in RBIs, plus hitting for average and power as well as having some speed on the bases and being thought of as a good defender at the hot corner.

As for the Cy Young leaders, I'm going to have to go with Josh Johnson (8-3, 1.82 ERA, 115 SO, 0.96 WHIP) of the Marlins (38-43) for the National League and David Price (11-4, 2.42 ERA, 90 SO, 1.20 WHIP) of the Rays (48-33) for the American League. The AL has a tight group including Clay Buchholz (10-4, 2.45 ERA) of the Red Sox (49-33) and Cliff Lee (8-3, 2.34 ERA) of the Mariners (34-47) among others. Price is really becoming a top of the rotation guy, though, and I think is more valuable to his team than the other guys are to theirs. His numbers are very comparable and I think he is ready to become a big game pitcher.

As for the National League, Ubaldo Jimenez (14-1, 2.27 ERA) of the Rockies (44-38) is who everyone is assuming is running away with the award. However, since June got under way, he has been very hittable and is now fourth in the league in ERA. Johnson just hasn't gotten as much hype, but leads the NL in ERA and deserves to be the All Star Game starter. He doesn't have as many wins, but his team hasn't played as well and I'm a big believer that ERA is more indicative of how a pitcher is going than is record.

Rookies of the year for the first half are Tigers (43-37) left fielder Brennan Boesch (.345, 12 HR, 46 RBIs) for the AL and Cardinals (45-37) pitcher Jaime Garcia (8-4, 2.10 ERA) for the NL. Boesch has been having a monster first half and I think it's downright criminal that he isn't on the All Star team. Twins (44-38) broadcaster Bert Blyleven insinuated that Boesch doesn't deserve to be on the All Star team because it's something that's earned over years of solidifying yourself as a player and not over a couple of months in a season. I disagree with that because I think each All Star Game should feature the players who are having the best seasons. That should be the reward, the Hall of Fame can be a reward for a good career. Boesch is having a great rookie season (great for any season really) and deserves to be going to Anaheim.

Garcia is like Boesch in that he doesn't get talked about as much as Jason Heyward of the Braves (48-34) or Ike Davis of the Mets or Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals (36-47). Those guys are all having good years and I particularly was gushing over the hot starts Heyward and Strasburg have gotten off to. However, Strasburg needs to maintain his pace (very possible, by the way) to earn such consideration and Heyward has slumped a bit and been bothered by injuries some, though I still think he is going to be a superstar sooner rather than later. Garcia has a solid record and is second only to Johnson of the Marlins in ERA in the National League. So as far as I'm concerned he's even an early Cy Young candidate. I bet most people don't know that he has a better ERA than Jimenez.

Anyway, these are my first half awards. Of course a lot can change in the second half of a season and I'll give my final awards after the regular season ends.

Giants and Phillies trying to stay in races

The San Francisco Giants (41-40) finally won a game on Saturday night, but still dropped three of four in Denver to the Rockies (44-38). The Giants have now lost eight of their last nine games as well as ten of their last twelve. They are now solidly in fourth place in the National League West, trailing first place San Diego (49-33) by 7 1/2 games.

The Giants are now on the periphery of the race and simply cannot have this type of play continue or they will fall out of the division race altogether. The team has shown some resiliency in the last two games that is encouraging, so I'm hoping that will lead to a solid four games series in Milwaukee (37-45) this week. The first game of that series is tomorrow at 2 p.m. MT.

One thing I'm hopeful about is that the Giants are still only 4 1/2 games behind in the Wild Card race that the New York Mets (46-36) lead. The bad news is they are in sixth place in that race. Hopefully this resiliency they've shown in winning last night despite blowing a six run lead and today where they scored three in the eighth to tie the game before losing in 15 innings will come through.

My second favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies (42-38) are just ahead of the Giants in the Wild Card race and trail the Mets by three games. They trail division leading Atlanta (48-34) by five games with a big series featuring the two starting tomorrow night at 5 p.m. MT on ESPN. The key for me is the Phils only trail the Mets by two in the loss column and the Braves by four. So they are right in the race. I'm much more optimistic about Philadelphia because they have won the last two National League Pennants and came from behind in September to win the NL East from the Mets. Once Chase Utley and Placido Polanco come of the disabled list, I think they will be playing even better. I think they will be able to hang in the race until then and maybe even do some damage -- even without those players the Phillies are still a dangerous team.

The Giants need to do much better on the last seven games of their current road trip which will take them up to the All Star break. They then have a big series at home against the Mets right after the break that could really push them into the race, or push them out altogether. The key is keeping things relatively close over these next seven. I think they need to go at least 5-2 for me to consider it a success as they are visiting two teams with sub .500 records in Milwaukee and Washington (36-47). I think 4-3 is the more likely scenario, however and I wouldn't even be too surprised at 3-4 the way they have been playing. The Giants are exactly halfway through the season today and as such I'll try and get back on later tonight for a sort of mid-year review of baseball.

NBA musings

At left: The Jazz selected Gordon Hayward from Butler.

The Utah Jazz drafted Gordon Hayward from Butler with the ninth pick in the NBA Draft last week. I was hoping we could get Greg Monroe from Georgetown, but my second favorite team, the Detroit Pistons nabbed him a couple of picks earlier. I don't think there were any can't miss big men on the board at number nine so I'm not really upset that the Jazz didn't get a big man.

Hayward had a monster run with Butler during this year's NCAA Tournament and my dad and I had the privilege of watching him play in person during the Bulldogs' Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight victories over Syracuse and Kansas State. I think he was the best player on the court on either team in both of those games and helped carry Butler to victory. He had an incredible step-back three that really was something to behold.

I just think Hayward has a lot of the intangibles and knows how to win. He's a good player and a good teammate and genuinely cares about basketball and winning. I think he will be a good fit here in Utah. I'm not particularly enamored with the booing that took place at Energy Solutions Arena at the draft day party last week. I think we should be happy to be getting a good player and again I didn't think there were any sure-fire, can't-miss guys that we passed up to get him (I mean it's not like we passed on Monroe, John Wall or Evan Turner).

In case you haven't heard, the NBA Free Agency period is under way and players are now permitted to talk to teams. The big question on everyone's mind is what will happen with LeBron James. Reports are that he has already met with the Nets and Knicks and still plans to meet with the Heat, Bulls, Clippers and Cavaliers. He'll be able to make a lot of money wherever he goes. My bet is he will re-sign with Cleveland but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go and the most likely of those scenarios to me is him going to Miami to team with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. There's a lot of big-name free-agents out there including Dirk Nowitzki (likely to re-sign with Dallas), Amare Stoudemire as well as Carlos Boozer. I think Boozer will be back in Utah but that's far from a guarantee from me.

The World Cup quarterfinals begin tomorrow with Brazil vs. the Netherlands at 8 a.m. MT and Ghana vs. Uruguay at 12:30 p.m. MT with both games on ESPN and espn3.com. On Saturday it's Germany vs. Argentina at 8 a.m. MT and Spain vs. Paraguay at 12:30 p.m. MT with both of those games on ABC. And of course if you own one of those new 3-D televisions you can watch in 3-D. I don't have one so I guess I will "settle" for HD on the games I watch which will be hopefully at least part of three of the four games. The semis are next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Check out below for more pictures including a comparison I make of Dodgers pitcher Vincente Padilla to The Joker.

Bengie Molina traded to Rangers

At left: Bengie Molina has been traded to the Texas Rangers.

Bengie Molina was traded from the Giants to the Texas Rangers (47-30) last night for relief pitcher Chris Ray. It's a really, really sad thing for me to have to see. Molina is one of my favorite Giants players of all-time because he had all the intangibles that make someone a great player and a winning player. He was a great catcher and a good hitter with some pop in his bat, but also a really good teammate. He genuinely seemed to care for his teammates as well as his family and friends and had a sincere desire to win.

He was also a very clutch hitter and was someone I always liked having at the plate in crunch time. I particularly remember a game late in the season last year at AT&T Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks that the Giants absolutely had to have in order to stay in the pennant race. The Diamondbacks led by two in the bottom of the 8th inning with two outs and two runners on for the Giants. Bengie, nursing a sore calf, muscled out a three-run home run to left field. It was one of those very cool baseball moments that I may never forget. He got a curtain call with the crowd chanting "Bengie, Bengie" and it was just awesome. I'm glad I got to see him hit a home run in person during my visit to San Francisco this year. I'm really going to miss having him on the team.

Buster Posey looks like he will be taking over as catcher. I really like Posey and think he is already a good player that will only be getting better. He's a good hitter and I hope he'll be good behind the plate too. I think he'll fill that spot in the lineup well. But that doesn't change that I'm really going to miss Bengie and wish that he would have been able to stick around for at least the rest of the season. Based on his comments, Bengie seems a little upset about being traded and I could really tell that he loves this Giants team and his teammates. I wish him well with the Rangers and think they are fortunate to be getting such a good guy on their team.

Giants have now lost six straight

Pictured: Dodgers pitcher Vincente Padilla reminds me of The Joker.

So the Giants (40-38) were swept by the Dodgers (43-35) after dropping the last two to the Red Sox (47-32) and then lost the opener of their road trip tonight to the Rockies (42-37). So that's now six straight losses by the Giants. I don't know how much more of this I can take. We're falling further behind in the standings every day and are now in fourth place in the National League West. We need to win tomorrow to tie the Rockies in the loss column for third and still only be a few games back of the second place Dodgers. The Giants really need a solid road trip.

As I watching the Giants-Dodgers game yesterday I couldn't help but notice that Dodgers pitcher Vincente Padilla (2-2, 5.05 ERA) looks like the character "The Joker" from the Batman movies. And he is indeed a nemesis to the Giants. Not only did he pitch very well yesterday in helping the Blue Crew complete the sweep, but he also hit Giants center fielder Aaron Rowand (.239 avg, 7 hr, 24 rbi) in the face with a pitch earlier this season in Los Angeles, fracturing a bone in Rowand's cheek and landing him on the disabled list. Rowand has struggled pretty much ever since the injury and has even found substantial time on the bench when healthy, but has really been turning it around at the plate recently and hitting well. Rowand took Padilla deep for a home run to straightaway center field yesterday. It was really cool to see him exact some measure of revenge. I also enjoyed Giants relief pitcher Santiago Casilla (1-2, 2.51 ERA, 2 saves) throw a pitch clearly aimed at hitting Padilla, showing him the Giants haven't forgotten about the Rowand incident. Unfortunately those were about the only things I have enjoyed over the last six games.

Giants take on Dodgers this week in SF

So I've decided that the San Diego Padres (45-30) just never seem to lose as they swept the Marlins (35-40) in Miami this weekend after taking two of three from the Rays (44-31) in St. Petersburg earlier this week. It's really starting to frustrate me as I'd really like the Giants (40-34) to make up some ground on them. The division lead is 4.5 games and the Dodgers (40-35) are just a half-game back of the Orange and Black. This leads to my next point: the Giants and Dodgers are renewing hostilities this week at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Start times are 8:15 p.m. MT on Monday and Tuesday and 1:45 p.m. MT on Wednesday. All the games are available via MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv. It's kind of a big deal to be able to win this series at home, not just because it's against our most hated rival, but also because it deals with positioning in the NL West and Wild Card races. The Giants trail the Mets (43-32) by 2.5 games in the Wild Card with the Phillies (40-33) and Cardinals (41-34) in between them.

The Giants also need to rebound from losing two of three to the Red Sox (46-31), who are looking really good but suffered some tough injuries in the series, at home this weekend. This is the last home series before the All Star Break for the Giants so it's really important for them to gain this momentum for the playoff races and leave for their 11 game road trip with visits to Colorado (39-36) and Milwaukee (34-41) for four games each and then Washington (33-43) for three. It's important to still be within striking distance at the break. It's important to note that the Giants host the Mets right after the All Star Game for four games and then visit Dodger Stadium for the following series. That's two series right out of the gate that are against playoff contenders.

USA falls to Ghana in Round of 16

The USA soccer team dropped its match to Ghana in the round of 16 in the World Cup yesterday by a score of 2-1. Team USA once again gave up an early goal, this time in the first five minutes of the game and were forced to chase the lead for much of the match. They finally obtained the equalizer on a penalty kick by Landon Donovan about sixty minutes in. However, Ghana scored within the first minute of the thirty allotted minutes of extra time and were able to hold on for the win.

It was a game that I felt the USA should have been able to pull out; it was really disappointing for them to give up a goal so early in the match again. If they had been able to take a lead, things might have shaken out differently. I felt they had the momentum after tying it up, they just gave up that goal in extra time and it proved to be one too many times of them falling behind in the tournament. It's frustrating because they showed flashes of how great they can be but weren't able to be consistent enough to take charge of matches and get as many wins as they would have liked in the World Cup.

I haven't been particularly thrilled with the officiating in this World Cup. There have been a couple of bad calls against the United States (though none too egregious in the match against Ghana) and from what I hear there were a couple of more missed calls in matches today that helped to influence outcomes. FIFA needs to use the technology that is available to have at least some measure of replay to review controversial calls. Replay is available to some extent in all four of the major sports played in North America now and it's time for soccer to catch up. There clearly needs to be more accountability given to the referees; controversial calls should have to be explained and consequences should be levied. These referees should not be able to just hide under the umbrella that is FIFA and not address their mistakes as seems to have become commonplace. The soccer world deserves much better.

USA beats Algeria in dramatic finish

Landon Donovan (pictured above celebrating with teammates) scored in the 91st minute to lift the USA soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Algeria. The USA wins Group C with the victory and advances to the knockout stage. England also advanced with a 1-0 win over Slovenia. If the game had ended in a draw, Slovenia, not the USA would have advanced. Team USA takes on Ghana on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. MT on ABC.

It was quite dramatic to have the goal occur in stoppage time and I have to admit that I was quite nervous. It was a heck of a game and a heck of a finish. It would have been a big disappointment if the U.S. had failed to advance and they only did so by the skin of their teeth. They had several scoring chances throughout the match and I thought clearly outplayed Algeria throughout. Algeria curiously appeared to be content to playing for a draw which was interesting when they were still mathematically alive to advance during the match. It seemed that their main objective was to keep the U.S. team from advancing. I thought it was pretty sad that they had been reduced to that.

It would be nice to see the USA take an early lead against Ghana just to ease everyone's nerves. I think they did better kicking it into gear today early in the match, though they were lucky to avoid an early Algerian goal when the ball bounced off the crossbar. With so many chances, it would be great to put one in the back of the net early on. To be fair, the U.S. should have had a goal about twenty minutes in, but Clint Dempsey's goal was disallowed for on an offsides call. However, it was pretty clear in looking at replays that Dempsey was not offsides and that the Americans had once again gotten the raw end of a bad call. Fortunately Donovan was able to put one in and it's a rather moot point now as the USA won the group. I'm looking forward to the match on Saturday.

Baseball thoughts for the week ahead 6/21/10

The Giants (38-30) salvaged the finale of their series with the Blue Jays (38-32) by winning yesterday's game 9-6. The offense came alive and I'm really starting to believe this team will hang around all year. Edgar Renteria is finally off the disabled list and looks good out there. I think third baseman Pablo Sandoval is starting to bust out of his slump which is good news for the offense. We really need him to get going if we're going to make a push for the postseason. The Giants take on the Astros (26-44) in Houston tomorrow through Thursday. The Giants are 6-0 so far this season against Houston and I think they'll keep it rolling this week -- I'm optimistically hoping for a sweep.

Jimmy Rollins is coming off the disabled list this week for the Phillies (35-32) who are in third in the NL East and trail the Braves (42-28) by 5 1/2 games. They're still in the race but clearly have missed the 2007 NL MVP being in the lineup but also in the clubhouse. I've read a lot of comments from his teammates about how he brings swagger, charisma and leadership to the club. I think he really is invaluable to the Phillies and makes them a much better team. All this stuff is why he's my favorite player in the game right now. I thought the Phils were turning it around this weekend, but coughed up a 5 run lead in the 9th inning on Saturday to the Twins (40-29) and went on to lose in extra innings. They went on to lose yesterday as well. The Phillies host the Indians (26-42) and really need to win the series and preferably sweep the Tribe to help get some of that mojo back.

The Reds (37-33) were swept up in Seattle (28-41) this weekend and really struggled to score. They now trail NL Central favorite St. Louis (38-31) by a game and a half. The Cards are in Toronto and the Reds in Oakland (34-37) this week. I think the Reds offense really needs to produce if they are going to stay in this race and I think they will be strong enough to stay in the race, particularly as they play their home games in a hitters park. I still think the Cardinals will win the division, though.

The Rangers (41-28) have now won eight in a row and are still surprising me, particularly with their pitching staff which I thought would be the team's undoing this year. The Red Sox (43-28) have won six in a row and are right in the hunt in the AL East and it's weird to think that one of the teams with the three best winning percentages right now in baseball will be left out of the playoffs. The Yankees are atop the division at 43-26 and the Rays are one back at 42-27. I was happy that the Red Sox swept the Dodgers (38-31) who now trail the Giants by a half-game for second in the NL West. The Dodgers face their southern California rivals the Angels (39-33) this week in Anaheim and I'm hoping the Angels can sweep them again. The Padres (40-29) lead the division by a game and a half and visit the Rays this week.

The AL Central is really heating up right now with some good baseball. The Twins were in impressive in winning two of three in Philadelphia and showing some really good resiliency on Saturday in making an incredible comeback, capped by a tying home run by Joe Mauer with two outs in the top of the ninth off Brad Lidge. The Tigers (38-30) have won eight of ten and just took two of three from the Diamondbacks (27-43) this weekend. The White Sox (34-34) are back to .500 and are finally playing some good baseball, having won six in a row and nine of ten after a sweep of the Nationals (31-39) this weekend. Maybe the Sox really will get into the race in the division after all, but I'm still not holding my breath. They take on the Braves at home this week in what is a good opportunity for them to prove themselves as legitimate. The Twins visit the disappointing Brewers (29-40) and the Tigers visit the Mets (39-30). Jerry Seinfeld will be visiting the Mets broadcast booth on Wednesday and I'm hoping to catch the game just for that, not to mention two teams playing well this year.

It's a light schedule tonight and right now I'm checking out the Royals (29-41) at the Nationals on MLB Extra Innings. Since Stephen Strasburg isn't pitching tonight, there is a very and I mean very sparse crowd at Nationals Park. It doesn't help that the Royals, who have become perennial losers are in town either. Strasburg's next start is Wednesday against the Royals and I'm betting more fans will be there for that 4:35 p.m. local time start than in the first two night games combined. Credit to Strasburg for bringing any level of excitement to D.C. about baseball, though, and now the Nats need to bring the rest of the team up to speed and become a contender to really build a strong fan base.

I'd really love to see the Royals do well and I was really surprised to hear that they have scored more runs than the Phillies this year. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke has had a down year so far to this point. His ERA isn't too bad (3.94), but his record isn't great and he hasn't been close to as dominating as he was last year. But it can't really be pinned that much on him. A lot of the problem with smaller market teams like the Royals is pitching, particularly in the bullpen. The Royals have a good closer in "The Mexicutioner" Joakim Soria, but the rest of their staff doesn't inspire a lot of confidence as their team ERA is 4.90 which is good for 13th out of 14 teams in the American League. It's weird that my team, the Giants, have pretty much the opposite problem with ample pitching but not as much hitting, when more teams than not always seem to be in need of more pitching.

Baseball notes, who's hot and who's not

The Pittsburgh Pirates (23-44) lost their 12th straight game last night, dropping a 4-3 decision at home to the Cleveland Indians (26-40). The Bucs once again just have a really, really bad team. Patience in Pittsburgh has to be wearing thin and I'm impressed that they actually get decent crowds sometimes, although it's understandable when there are sparse crowds on other occasions. The Pirates haven't even had a winning season since 1992 and aren't really showing any signs of coming out of that anytime soon. Every time they've had exciting players like Jason Schmidt, Freddy Sanchez, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady and Aramis Ramirez they just seem to trade them away. They get more prospects and then just trade them away. Here's to hoping at least for the sake of sanity of people in Pittsburgh that they don't trade away promising young outfielder Andrew McCutchen.

As for teams that have been playing well as of late, we have the New York Mets (39-29), whose eight game winning streak was snapped earlier today in the Bronx by the Yankees (42-26), who have been pretty consistently good themselves this year. The Mets have been playing pretty good baseball overall, and even their much-maligned bullpen has been doing pretty well. I don't think the bullpen and the team will hold up this pace all year, though. They may stay within relative striking distance, but I think the Phillies (35-30) still win the division. The Phils have really been starting to put it together, beating the Minnesota Twins (38-29) by a score of 9-5 last night and hold an 8-4 lead today in the top of the seventh.

The Detroit Tigers (37-29) have won seven in a row and could actually take the lead in the division tonight with a win against the Diamondbacks (26-42) if the score in Philadelphia holds up. Their offense can be really potent and if they can pitch well enough they'll be right there with the Twins at the end of the year. Out in the AL West, the Rangers (39-28) have won six in a row and nine of ten and are up four games on the Angels (39-32) in the loss column. It's important that the Rangers don't fall behind at this point and keep themselves in the race. They continue their series in Houston against their in-state rivals the Astros (26-42) tonight.

The Boston Red Sox (41-28) have really been putting it together as of late as I said they would need to get back in the race. They now only have two more losses than the Yankees (42-26) and Rays (41-26). They are leading the Dodgers (38-29) by a score of 4-3 in the top of the seventh right now. The Rays take on their in-state rivals the Marlins (32-35) later tonight.

The Giants (37-30) got shut out 3-0 by the Blue Jays (38-31, not out of the race in the AL East yet either) after dropping the series opener last night 3-2. It's really a shame because Barry Zito last night and Matt Cain today both pitched outstanding games and just didn't have any run support to speak of. The Giants have to find out a way to score on the road if they want to make any kind of run at the playoffs. They are just 13-18 away from AT&T Park. I think their offense has been better since the signing of Pat Burrell and with the emergence of Buster Posey but for some reason it just hasn't always traveled. Hopefully they can turn around the way they are playing on the road because they definitely have the players to do it.

I still can't believe how well the Padres (39-28) are playing and there was a really good graphic shown on FOX highlighting just how dominating their bullpen has been. Their starters have been good as well, but the numbers they were showing for the bullpen were just staggering. I think it was 5 guys who all have an ERA under 3. Heath Bell has been doing a good job as closer and has some filthy pitches, but he didn't even have the lowest ERA of the relievers. FOX's Ken Rosenthal said that Mets outfielder Jeff Francoeur told him that this Padres bullpen is the best he's ever seen in his 5 or so years in the majors. So it looks like the Padres are going to stick around the top of the standings for a while after all. It's pretty amazing because they were a really bad team last year. The Padres rallied to beat the Orioles (18-49) last night and play them again later today. Fortunately the Giants are pretty close to both the Padres and Dodgers and look like they will at least stay within striking distance.

That's all for now, but I will also be monitoring the NL Central race with the Cardinals (37-30) and Reds (37-31) and have more thoughts on that later.

Myriad of baseball thoughts 6/18/10

The San Francisco Giants (37-28) look to continue their solid play as they start a six game road trip tonight with a visit to the Toronto Blue Jays (36-31) at 5 p.m. MT. The game will be televised via MLB Extra Innings and available online via mlb.tv. Same story for watching the games Saturday and Sunday except coverage of both of those games starts at 11 a.m. MT. The Giants have showed they can play well at home and now here's a chance to show they can take it on the road against a solid team. The Giants haven't really played that well on the road so I think Toronto will take two of three, but I'm hoping for two of three the other way.

Here's a look at the top of the National League West Standings entering this weekend:

Team W-L GB
1. San Diego Padres 38-28 --
1. Los Angeles Dodgers 38-28 --
3. San Francisco Giants 37-28 .5

The Giants are also a half-game back of the New York Mets (38-28) in the Wild Card right now. The Atlanta Braves (39-28) have a half-game lead on the Mets in the East. The Padres host the Baltimore Orioles (18-48) this weekend and should win at least two there. San Diego continues to surprise everyone with their continued solid play. The Dodgers visit the Boston Red Sox (40-28) in Manny Ramirez's first return to Fenway Park for the first time since he was traded in 2008 under unpleasant circumstances. The Red Sox have been surging of late and I think they will take two of three in that series.

In other baseball news, Washington Nationals (31-36) rookie phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg makes his third start tonight at home against the Chicago White Sox (31-34). Coverage of that game starts at 5 p.m. MT on MLB Network. Strasburg is 2-0 in his first two starts with an ERA of 2.19 in 12 1/3 innings pitched. He has an astounding 22 strikeouts already, with 14 in his first start against the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-43) and 8 more Sunday on the road against the Indians (25-40). I thought that Jason Heyward (.266 AVG, 11 HR, 44 RBI, .383 OBP, .489 SLG) of the Braves had a beat on rookie of the year, but Strasburg is fast closing the gap and will win the award at this pace. I don't remember having two rookies this talented in the same league at the same time. Heyward and the Braves take on the Kansas City Royals (29-38) this weekend at Turner Field with the opener tonight at 5:35 p.m. MT on MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv. I think Strasburg will continue to dazzle and will end up winning the Rookie of the Year, but will probably dip slightly from his current pace. Heyward, though, I think is the real deal and will keep playing well.

My second favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies (34-30) are coming off taking two of three from the hated New York Yankees (41-25) in the Bronx this week including an impressive performance from 47-year-old pitcher Jamie Moyer on Wednesday in which he gave up only two runs in eight innings of work. Kyle Kendrick pitched well last night as well to help make things more bearable for me as the Lakers won the NBA Title last night. The Phils try to keep it up against the Minnesota Twins (38-28) this weekend at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. I think the Phillies are starting to pull out of their slump and will win two of three this weekend, particularly as they are at home. It will help when my favorite player (and 2007 MVP) star short stop Jimmy Rollins comes off the disabled list soon as well. Hopefully that will be soon. He's been having a solid year and is definitely an emotional leader of the team that helps others around him play better. For all of the talk about the Phillies struggles, they are just 3.5 games back of the Braves and only two back in the loss column. I think they'll figure it out and when the NL East for the fourth consecutive year. The Twins are no slouches themselves and find themselves once again in a tight race with the Detroit Tigers (36-29). I could see that one going down to the final week of the season once again. The Tigers host the Arizona Diamondbacks (26-41) this weekend.

There's lots of intrigue to look for in baseball this weekend so I recommend you catch at least some of it. National coverage features the aforementioned White Sox-Nationals match-up tonight at 5 p.m. MT on MLB Network. Tomorrow it's the second game of the Dodgers-Red Sox series at 2 p.m. MT on FOX and then the Oakland Athletics (33-35) visiting the St. Louis Cardinals (36-30) at 5 p.m. MT on MLB Network. On Sunday it's the Subway series between the Mets and Yankees in the Bronx at 11 a.m. MT on TBS and then the finale of the Dodgers and Red Sox from Fenway Park at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN. Saturday and Sunday it's the Angels (37-32) and Cubs (30-36) from Wrigley Field tomorrow at 11 a.m. MT and Sunday at 12:20 p.m. MT on WGN. And of course all games are available on MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv. I know I'm going to be enjoying some baseball this weekend and you'd do well to do so too.

USA comes back to earn draw with Slovenia

At the World Cup in South Africa, the USA soccer team rallied from a 2-0 deficit at halftime to earn a 2-2 draw in their match with Slovenia today. Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley, the coach's son scored in the second half for the U.S. The U.S. should have gotten the win with a goal late in the game by Maurice Edu that was disallowed by some sort of phantom call. It wasn't offsides and there wasn't a foul against any of our players. It was simply a terrible call. Inexcusable. It's really too bad because we earned that win. The officiating was poor throughout the game, but this call was just unacceptable. It's hard to take when I know we should have had a win and now it becomes more difficult to advance to the knockout stage.

However, it still was a remarkable comeback and the U.S. showed great resiliency in getting the draw. They were pretty bad in the first half though in falling behind 2-0 and you just can't throw away halves like that in the World Cup. I thought Donovan's goal within the first four minutes of the second half really helped the USA to feel like they were right in the game. Another Group C match is coming up at 12:30 p.m. MT on ESPN2 and espn3.com. It'll be England vs. Algeria. If Algeria wins, then the U.S. can be assured of advancing with a win against them next Wednesday. If not, then we may need some help. It's hard to sort out right now. It'll be easier to sort out when the England-Algeria match is in the books.

Lakers outlast Celtics

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 83-79 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to clinch their second consecutive NBA Title. It's not nearly as bad of a feeling as I had when the Yankees beat the Fightin' Phils in the World Series last year but it still really sucks. I hate the Lakers, I hate how arrogant Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher are (I very possibly could be leaving out more in this category) and I hate that Ron Artest was the one that made such a huge three late in the game. Seriously, you almost have to live with that if you're the Celtics because he isn't a great outside shooter. It just tears your guts out.

The Celtics had a 13 point lead on the road and had plenty of chances to win this one. I don't like blaming losses on officiating, but there were plenty of bad calls down the stretch that favored the home team, the two most notable ones coming when Pau Gasol's shot had already been rebounded and the Celtics were whistled for inexcusably late foul call and the no-call in the last two minutes when Gasol shoved Rajon Rondo to the ground in pursuit of an offensive rebound and the Lakers clinging to a 3 point lead. I read the lips of Celtics coach Doc Rivers on the sideline and he said "That's terrible." And I agree with him. Very pivotal moment considering Boston could have had the ball with a chance to tie and instead it was the Lakers headed to the line shortly after to extend it to a two possession game. I felt like the officiating definitely helped propel the Lakers to victory, but that's what you have to expect when you play against them in the Staples Center, particularly in the playoffs. It seemed like pretty much all of the Laker points down the stretch were on free throws. Yes, some were actually fouls, but I still feel like the calls were unbalanced.

All this being said, the Celtics had chances to win and probably are kicking themselves right now. And the Lakers are a really good team and did capitalize on the breaks they received. They won under the circumstances, the Celtics lost. I think the Celtics did benefit from some calls in Boston, so that's just the way it goes sometimes. It's part of the game, whether we like it or not (and even though David Stern still stubbornly denies that it affects outcomes of games) and so credit the Lakers for winning. They earned the title, they're a really talented team that plays well at home and like any championship team, is capable of capitalizing on breaks that come their way.

On the bright side for me today, the University of Utah did officially join the Pac-10. Man, it just feels good to be a part of such a big-time conference. And coming up later this morning is the World Cup on ESPN with the United States taking on Slovenia in a crucial match-up in Group Play. It's pretty much got to be viewed as a must win game for the Americans. Coverage starts at 7:30 a.m. MT. I'll definitely be watching. Hopefully our national soccer team can give me another thing to feel good about.

Utes set to join Pac-10; Giants win again; Game 7 Thursday night

So word is that the University of Utah will officially announce it is joining the Pac-10 on Thursday. I'm just ecstatic about the news. There's more money, more exposure on TV and better overall competition on a consistent basis. And of course, there's the thing about being in a BCS automatic qualifying conference which will certainly help with recruiting.

Although I will miss the traditional rivalries that the Mountain West has provided on a yearly basis, I feel like this is an opportunity that Utah just couldn't pass up. My guess is that we will still play BYU on a yearly basis even though we won't be in the same conference. The rivalry will likely just be more heated as BYU fans will be upset (and already are) that the Utes have bolted for a new conference. BYU would have done the same thing and I don't think there is any way you can criticize Utah for taking an opportunity to better their program. Wow, this will give us the potential to more easily be a big time program on a consistent basis. This should definitely help recruiting (as I mentioned), not to mention our facilities.

The San Francisco Giants (37-28) beat the Baltimore Orioles (18-48) 6-3 and took two of three in the series and five of six on the home stand. Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe each hit their 11th home runs of the year in the sixth inning and Tim Lincecum improved his record to 7-2 with ten strikeouts and two earned runs in six innings of work. Brian Wilson picked up another five out save. The Giants continue to play well and I'm looking forward to seeing their series up in Canada against the Blue Jays (36-31) starting on Friday.

And of course Game 7 of the NBA Finals is Thursday night at 7 p.m. MT on ABC. I'd highly recommend checking that one out. The Celtics looked terrible in Game 6 and it's going to take a lot more from them if they want to take home the title. I'm really excited about the prospect of a Game 7 for all the marbles. It should be really intense and exciting. Unfortunately for the Celtics Kendrick Perkins will likely miss the game with an injury. I think the Lakers will win at home behind Kobe Bryant coming up big. But I hope I'm wrong and I'm definitely expecting a close, highly contested game.

Giants streaking, Utes could join Pac-10

The San Francisco Giants (36-28) swept the Oakland Athletics (33-33) at home this weekend at AT&T Park. I was able to attend the wins on Friday and Saturday and I have to say that the atmosphere was simply electric. The offense played well and the pitching was outstanding also. Pablo Sandoval homered on Saturday while Pat Burrell and Bengie Molina went deep on Friday. Tim Lincecum pitched 8 strong innings in the series opener and Barry Zito was solid through 7 against his former team Saturday. Zito now has wins against all 30 teams in MLB. Juan Uribe continues to swing a hot bat for the offense and Aubrey Huff is playing well also (he had two homers Sunday). The Giants have split the first two games against the AL East cellar dwellers Baltimore Orioles (18-47). The finale is this afternoon in San Francisco. I'm really happy with the way the Giants are playing and how they are right in the race in the NL West, just behind the Padres (38-27) and Dodgers (37-27). The offense for the Giants has come alive and the pitching is doing well as always. Closer Brian Wilson had a couple of saves this weekend and is anchoring the bullpen. I was impressed that he came in Saturday in the 8th inning with the bases loaded and a 1 run lead. He was lights out, getting five outs for the save. Wilson really has turned into a top notch closer. I'll be back with more baseball thoughts before long.

As for college football, Texas has turned down an invitation to join the Pac-10 and will remain in the Big 12, which now has 10 teams (the Big Ten has 12 teams now). Comcast SportsNet Bay Area has reported that the University of Utah will be invited to join the Pac-10 and that an announcement will come today. I hope that's true. It would just be awesome to be a part of a BCS Conference. I'll continue to update with my thoughts as more news breaks.

College conferences shaking up

The college athletics landscape as we know it looks to be undergoing massive changes. Officially all we really know to this point is that Nebraska will be joining the Big Ten in 2011 and that Colorado will be joining the Pac-10 at the same time. Rumor has it that the Pac-10 is trying to lure five other schools currently in the Big-12 (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) to join the conference and form a Pac-16. Texas A&M is also reportedly considering joining the SEC. Should those five schools all leave the Big 12, the conference could dissolve with Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor possibly looking at joining the Mountain West Conference.

Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe is said to be working feverishly to preserve the Big 12 with the ten schools that remain in it by trying to convince them that they would be better off financially by staying put than joining the Pac-10. That could happen, but those five all could depart at which point the remaining five schools could try to preserve the Big 12 brand and expand to a viable number while maintaining BCS Automatic Qualifier status or look at joining the Mountain West.

Boise State joined the MWC last week to bring membership to ten. The conference reportedly would pursue the remaining schools from the Big 12 should the conference dissolve with the exception of Baylor. TCU reportedly would lobby strongly to block Baylor from joining as there are administrators and powerful alumni who remain upset about Baylor being picked over TCU to join the Big 12. Personally I would be fine with Baylor being stuck on the outside as I think that their membership in the Big 12 should never have happened and wouldn't have if it weren't for the then Texas governor saying the conference couldn't have the other schools without Baylor. I feel this led to Utah being snubbed from the conference, so I would be happy to see Baylor in turn snubbed.

So many things could still happen, it's hard to say what the outcome will be. If the Big 12 stays put with the ten teams it now has, Utah would most likely be asked to join the Pac-10. This would be a favorable situation and I would be pretty happy with it. I'd also be pretty confident in Utah's chances at joining a revamped Big 12 that tried to remain intact following potential desertions by Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. If the Big 12 dissolves I'd see it as being pretty likely that most of the remaining schools would join the Mountain West at which point the MWC would be strengthened to the point of probably commanding BCS Automatic Qualifier status in the near future. Any way you slice it, it looks like Utah will probably face a conference with increased competition. But in these times it's hard to know exactly how things will shake out.

Many thoughts on sports

The Celtics and the Lakers are tied at 2 games each. The Lakers won Game 3 with some key baskets by Derek Fisher down the stretch and the Celtics were led in Game 4 by strong bench play by Nate Robinson and Glen Davis. Game 5 is Sunday night at 6 p.m. MT on ABC. If the Celtics are to have any realistic chance of winning the series, I think they have to win Game 5. Robinson's energy was a big boost for them off the bench last night and if he can bring that again the Celtics will be in good shape at home.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night behind a Patrick Kane overtime goal in Philadelphia in Game 6. Like everyone else, I didn't see the puck go in right away but after looking at the replay it was clearly a goal. It was kind of an anticlimactic ending in a way because it took a while to verify, but the Blackhawks were still rightfully excited. They were definitely the most consistent team throughout the playoffs and deserved to hoist the Cup. I thought Flyers goalie Michael Leighton let in a couple more soft goals in Game 6 and it's tough to win a championship when you have stuff like that happening. It was the Blackhawks first Cup since 1961, so now maybe there is hope for my Toronto Maple Leafs winning it for the first time since 1967. Okay, so maybe there's not much hope right away. But a guy can always wish.

The FIFA World Cup is officially underway now. Host country South Africa and Mexico got things under way earlier today with a 1-1 draw. South Africa isn't expected to make it past the group stage so earning the draw is quite an achievement, but they are disappointed they didn't get the win after having chances late in the match. Right now Uruguay and France are just underway and are scoreless about 11 minutes in. The big one for early in the tournament is tomorrow when England the United States go at it at noon MT on ABC. I'm pretty stoked for it. The USA has shown promise in international play in recent matches and now has a chance to prove it on the biggest soccer stage against a highly ranked international foe in England.

The San Francisco Giants (32-27) are coming off a split of a four game series against the Reds (35-26) in Cincinnati. It's disappointing to only get a split after taking the first two, but the Reds are a good team. The Giants now take on their rivals from across the bay, the Oakland Athletics (32-30) this weekend at AT&T Park. I will be at least one and possibly two of the games. I'm pretty excited to see my team in person and I think they should perform well as they are at home where they have a strong 19-11 record so far this year and have the top 3 of the rotation (Lincecum, Zito and Cain) lined up to pitch the three games. The first game is tonight at 8:15 p.m. MT.

Speaking of the Athletics, they did indeed get their split with the Angels (33-30), although the Rangers (33-27) still have a hold on the AL West after taking three straight against the disappointing Mariners (23-37). Contrary to my prediction, the Rays (39-21) cooled off the Blue Jays (34-27) by taking two of three at Tropicana Field. I know it's still the first half of the season, but the Rays are tearing it up and I don't see any way that team doesn't make the playoffs. The Reds and the Braves (35-26) are atop their respective divisions in the National League but I still don't see either of them taking the crowns as the Phillies (31-27) and Cardinals (33-27) are not far back. The Dodgers (36-24) continue to play well and swept the Cardinals this week just as they did in last year's NLDS. The Padres (35-25) are a game back and lead the Cardinals by 2 games and the Giants by 2.5 in the Wild Card. Interleague play is in full force this weekend and there are some exciting match-ups going on. If you have some time you might want to check them out as well as soaking in some of the World Cup.

Strasburg dazzles in debut

Washington Nationals (28-31) rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg actually managed to exceed all the hype surrounding him in his Major League debut on Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-35) in Washington, D.C. Strasburg went seven innings and struck out 14 batters, while allowing zero walks and two earned runs. He unleashed an array of devastating pitches and got better as the game went on. He started piling up strikeouts like crazy toward the end of his outing and just looked really good. The kid is the real deal. I'd encourage you to check out the highlights if you haven't yet and if you get a chance check out his next start Sunday at Cleveland (21-36). Based on early reviews, Strasburg could anchor the Nationals staff and help them to be competitive for years to come.

Stephen Strasburg debuts Tuesday night

Washington Nationals (27-31) rookie starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg makes his much anticipated Major League debut Tuesday night at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-34). The first pitch is set for just after 5 p.m. MT and the game is scheduled to be televised on MLB Network. If you can I would recommend checking it out. The Nationals have already had the game sold out for several days now and just began selling standing room only tickets.

Strasburg was the number one overall pick in last year's MLB Draft coming out of San Diego State. He throws hard and has been simply dazzling during his tour of the minor leagues these past two months. He's being thought of as the guy who will lead the Nationals to a turn in their fortunes after being arguably the worst team in baseball the past couple of years. I'm anxious to see how he does in the big leagues and I think he will do quite well. The Nats still have a couple of more pieces to add, but if Strasburg pitches well and becomes dominant then they will be that much closer to having a competitive team for the first time in quite a while for the Montreal/Washington, D.C. franchise.

Baseball Thoughts 6/7/2010

Baseball has some good match-ups coming up this week and here are some to keep your eyes on: the St. Louis Cardinals (33-24) visit the Los Angeles Dodgers (33-24) for three games in a rematch of last year's NLDS. The Dodgers have been on a tear as of late and I think they'll be able to take two of three although I really hope the Cards slow them down. The Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim (31-28) visit the Oakland Athletics (30-28) for a key four game series between AL West foes. The A's have been scuffling a bit and would be well served to at least gain a split for psychological purposes for their positioning in the division. The Angels have been surging as of late and I think they'll win 3 of 4. The Toronto Blue Jays (33-25) visit the Tampa Bay Rays (37-20) for three games at Tropicana Field. The Blue Jays have been playing some good baseball but nobody has been talking about them at all. If they sweep this series then people should start talking and the division race could really tighten up. I actually think they will take two out of three as they have come off of winning two of three at home this weekend against the New York Yankees (35-22).

As for my San Francisco Giants (30-25), they just took two of three competitive games from the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-33) at PNC Park. The Pirates proved tough and I think the Giants showed some resiliency in winning the series whereas if they had given up they could have lost all 3 games. They had spirited comebacks, one of which was successful, in Friday and Saturday's game, and survived a blown save from Brian Wilson (who to his credit has been very good all season) on Sunday to win the game in 10 innings. Tim Lincecum seemed to gain some of his old form back on Sunday's start, pitching 7 innings and giving up 3 earned runs. Freddy Sanchez had a great series against his old team and I'm officially glad he's off of the disabled list and back playing. He had the game-winning sacrifice fly in the tenth inning.

The Giants next head to Cincinnati to face the Reds (33-24) for four games. The Reds have been playing surprisingly well this year and are tied for first place in the NL Central with the St. Louis Cardinals. I'm thinking this will be a split and a competitive series. Barry Zito and Matt Cain start the first two games of the series and the Reds will throw out Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake to bookend the series. The most surprising thing about the Reds this year is their pitching and Cueto and Leake are two of the guys having really good years.

The Giants are in third place and trail the San Diego Padres (33-23) by 2.5 games in the tightly contested National League West. The Padres finish up their four game wraparound series in Philadelphia against the Phillies (30-25) on Monday night before visiting the New York Mets (30-27) for three games. The Colorado Rockies (29-27) are still within striking distance in the division and host the Houston Astros (22-35) for four games this week. The Arizona Diamondbacks (22-35) just took two of three from the Rockies after suffering through a miserable 10 game losing streak and aren't a threat to compete for the division crown. The Snakes host the Atlanta Braves (33-24) for four games this week. The Braves have been playing really well as of late en route to taking the lead in the NL East and should take 3 if not 4 of the games in that series.

Highly touted Washington Nationals (27-31) rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg makes his much-anticipated major league debut on Tuesday night at home. I'll have more on that later.

Double barrel finals action

Tonight it was double barrel finals action with the (4) Boston Celtics taking care of the (1) Los Angeles Lakers 103-94 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals and the (2) Chicago Blackhawks beating the (7) Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. The NBA Finals are tied at one game each and the Blackhawks lead the Stanley Cup Final 3 games to 2.

I'm not happy that both games tonight went on the air at exactly the same time. I think that both could recognize that there is a championship series from another major professional sports league going on and try to work around each other. I blame the NHL for not being more pro-active in trying to grow its fan base. The NHL is definitely in 4th place in terms of popularity among the major team sports in the United States and should recognize this. Logically that means that it would lose the ratings battle against a sport that is more popular than it in the NBA. I think the NHL is taking too hard of a line on this and that Commissioner Gary Bettman and the other higher-ups in the NHL should work on avoiding starting times that conflict with the NBA Finals. Hockey is king in Canada and will always be watched there, but hockey officials should try harder to gain popularity in America and tonight wasn't a great example of how to do that.

As for the games, I mostly watched the NBA Finals and checked out some of the hockey during the commercials. Ray Allen led the Celtics with 32 points and had a Finals record 8 three-pointers made. Rajon Rondo had a triple-double with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. Pau Gasol had 25 points and Kobe Bryant 21 for the Lakers. With Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett not having their best games, it was huge for the Celtics that Allen and Rondo both came up big. Allen lit it up in the first half in which he made 7 of his 3s and Rondo helped secure the win down the stretch. The Celtics were down with five minutes to go but I think their championship experience which enabled them to not be fazed by the hostile environment that is the Staples Center plus having a star point guard in Rondo were the keys to them pulling this one out.

Bryant seemed to disappear down the stretch for the Lakers. I lost track of how many shots he missed late in the game, but it was a lot. I watched the game with my brother and the two of us both noted that on several possessions he didn't even look to pass it, rather being bound and determined to jackknife up shots no matter the percentages of it actually going in. It was great to see the Lakers lose on their home floor, it's one of those things in basketball that just makes me happy. I kind of enjoyed seeing how angry Bryant looked in his post game press conference, plus hearing coach Phil Jackson whine (again) about the referees, proving once again he may be the most classless coach in all of sports. Some people are just sore losers. The Celtics played better and deserved to win. Game 3 is on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT on ABC. It's a very pivotal game and the winner will essentially have a firm grasp on the series. I'm looking forward to it and I think the Celtics will win it at home.

As for the hockey game, I didn't get to watch a whole lot of it, but it seemed like every time I switched to it that somebody was scoring a goal. The Blackhawks apparently separated their star players from the same line for this game and it paid great dividends with 7 goals being scored. Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, who is detested in Chicago, had a miserable game and had an awful plus-minus rating. Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton gave up 3 goals in the first period and was replaced for the second time in the series by Brian Boucher, who didn't fare a whole lot better. My guess is Leighton will be back in net for Game 6 in Philadelphia, where he has played well throughout the playoffs. Game 6 is set for Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT on NBC.

Back on the internet

Guess what everyone!? I'm back on the internet here at my apartment! So crisis resolved and I can get back to much more frequent blogging.

The Lakers beat the Celtics last night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. I think the Celtics need to be much more consistent and smart to take Game 2. It's basically a must-win for the Celtics with Games 3-5 in Boston. It's going to be very difficult for them to take all 3 at home just because of how good both teams are. And it wouldn't be ideal to come back to LA down 3-2. So let's hope the Celtics take Game 2 in LA Sunday night (6 p.m. MT, ABC).

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final tonight to even up the series at 2 games each. The Flyers jumped out to a 4-1 lead and really seemed to feed off the crowd. A pivotal Game 5 is Sunday night in Chicago at 6 p.m. MT on NBC. The Blackhawks are going to be really pumped up for that one on their home ice in front of about 22,000 rabid fans. I'll be interested to see who wins.

I don't know what in the world is going on with the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals being scheduled on the same night and at the same time but that's what is happening on Sunday. Neither series is being played Saturday or Monday night so it seems that something should have been worked out. It's very frustrating to me, but at least this is the only time this year that the two series will overlap.

In baseball, Detroit Tigers (28-26) pitcher Armando Galaragga had a perfect game taken away from him on a blown call by first base umpire Jim Joyce on Wednesday night. Galaragga covered first on a throw from first baseman Miguel Cabrera and clearly caught the ball and put his foot on the bag before Indians (20-33) short stop Jason Donald got there. Joyce ruled Donald safe however. It was a travesty. I think in that situation that if it's even close and you're not sure as an umpire that you have to call the guy out because now history has been tampered with when it should have been something really amazing. It'll always be a perfect game in my mind. I feel really bad for Joyce, and it's clear that he feels awful about what happened.

I think Commissioner Bud Selig should reverse the call and grant Galaragga a perfect game, which he has power to do, but Selig has opted not to do so. This move (or lack thereof) from Selig is not surprising to me at all since he has been content to sit on his hands for most of his tenure as Commissioner. I agree with White Sox (23-31) broadcaster Hawk Harrelson that extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures. Even though such an overturn has never been performed before and certainly should not become commonplace, I think it is the right thing to do in this situation.