Friday, April 8, 2011

4/8: Bulls, The Masters, George Karl, etc.

Greetings all...
  • The Masters are underway... Rory McIlroy became the youngest player ever to lead after the 1st round, and his co-leader Alvaro Quiros also posted a 65 (7-under) to go into the next 18 up by 2... Tiger shot a very respectable 71 (1-under) and usually just needs to be in contention after 18, not leading... A long way to go here... but it's firing up...
  • NBA Check - The Bulls pounded Boston 97-81 to take a 4-game lead with 4 to play... Rose had 30 points and 8 assists while the always underrated Luol Deng added 23 and 6... Boston shot just 38% for the night including 3-11 from Ray, 3-10 from Rondo, 3-9 from Garnett, and 1-8 from Big Baby... that won't get it done... and Portland takes down the undermanned Jazz on the road... 5 guys in double-digits for the Blazers led by 29 from Gerald Wallace... and Brandon Roy looked good (5 of 8 shooting) in 21 minutes...
  • George Karl actually said... live... that he would prefer to play Dallas over OKC... what is the advantage of this decision? You tell me... Obviously, coaches have a preference of who they want to play because of matchups... I get that... but what advantage is gained by vocalizing it? Extra motivation for the opponent and no discernible gain for you...
  • Michigan is in NCAA Hockey finals... I mention that because I bleed Maize... and that is literally the only reason
Baseball...
  • Atlanta falls to 3-4... a 4-2 loss to Milwaukee... couldn't really solve Marcum (who allowed only 2 ER) and never overcame the early struggles of Hanson... on the bright side, after the 2nd inning, Hanson settled down and looked good, but he threw so many pitches early that he only went 5.1 IP, and the offense didn't pick him up... a 3-4 road start isn't the worst thing in the world... on to the home opener...
  • Boston is 0-6... and Tampa is 0-6... well, I would've lost a bet on this one... neither team is hitting... Tampa has 8 runs in 6 games.... EIGHT!... and Boston has only 16 on their end... I still don't think it's anything damning about Boston because if you look at that lineup, they're going to score... but Tampa has a lot of unproven pieces and it could be cause for some early concern... nothing drastic...
  • Pitching Line of the Day - Edwin Jackson (CWS) - 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 13 Ks... He beat up on the Rays in dominant fashion... never been a fan, but he has games like this...
  • Batting Line of the Day - Wilson Valdez (PHI) - 4 for 4, 3 RBI, 3 runs... I put him here chiefly because he will never set foot in this space again... he's probably the worst hitter of any "regular" even in the National League...
What to watch for...
  • The Masters 2nd Round - 3:00 ESPN - I do wish this was on all day...
  • Phillies @ Braves - Lee vs. Hudson - 7:35 Peachtree TV - It doesn't get much better than that... 2 stud pitchers in the home opener in front of a sold-out house...
  • Hawks @ Pacers - 7:00 SportSouth - Hawks need 1 win to clinch the 5-spot... other than that... playing out the string...
  • Suns @ Hornets - 8:00 NBA-TV - Paul vs. Nash is enough....
Enjoy...

No comments: