Armchair Weekend in Review (May 4-6, 2007)
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by user JB82
Tons to get to, so let's get started!
MLB Weekend
- For a change, the New York Yankees had an overall good weekend – it would have been "pretty good" if not for the 15-11 shellacking at the hands of the Seattle Mariners after the Yanks spotted them a 5-0 lead early on Friday night. But there were glad tidings from the last three days:
- Saturday saw something that had never happened at any time in the season: a Yankees pitcher went longer than six innings! In fact, Chien-Ming Wang threw 7 1/3 innings of perfect ball before serving up a gopherball to the Mariners' Ben Broussard. Wang held on for eight full innings as the Yanks got the win, 8-1.
- Sunday's 5-0 shutout, led by Darrell Rasner, saw a rather surprising event happen. After the seventh-inning stretch, all eyes were drawn to George Steinbrenner's private box, where stood a former Yankee. That ex-Bomber was, of all people, ROGER CLEMENS! The Rocket announced that he was returning to the Bronx effective June 1st, thanks to a pro-rated $28 million (USD) contract. Given the Yanks' pitching troubles, this comes as no surprise...
- The Los Angeles Dodgers' Wilson Betemit responded to losing his starting third-baseman job by hitting two pinch-hit home runs in as many days in a win over and loss to the Atlanta Braves.
- Meanwhile, ol' "Balco" Bonds took one step closer to Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, clubbing his 744th career homer on Saturday in a 9-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Oh the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home...
The weather didn't look too promising for the race, but the clouds cleared out and a packed house at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, including Her Majesty the Queen and entourage, got to see a thrilling finish as Street Sense, the favorite of the field, went from near dead-last to top of the heap in the 133rd Kentucky Derby. Street Sense ended Curling's undefeated streak and looks to be the favorite at the Preakness Stakes two weeks hence.
Let's get ready to rumble!!!
A lot of hype went into Saturday night's fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., and it lived up to it – to a turn. De La Hoya got an early advantage, but Mayweather stole the show to retain the World Boxing Council's super-welterweight championship and keep his undefeated streak alive.
NBA Playoffs from the Armchair
Eastern Conference Semifinals
- Anyone who thought that the matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons would be like the bruising battles of Michael Jordan vs. the "Bad Boys" has been disappointed thus far. The Pistons held former teammate Ben Wallace to a franchise playoff-low 69 points to Detroit's 95 in a Game 1 win on Saturday.
- Lebron James played in Sunday's Eastern Conference despite a cold and left the New Jersey Nets, who got into the other Semifinal thanks to a last-second basket by Richard Jefferson, feeling sick she scored 21 points and nabbed 11 rebounds in a 81-77 win on Sunday.
Western Conference Semifinals
- However, Lebron's stuffy nose gave way to Steve Nash's busted up schnozzola, given in a collision with Tony Parker's forehead. Nash scored 31, but Tim Duncan bested everyone with 33 and 16 boards as the San Antonio Spurs took the Phoenix Suns to the brink and back, 116-111.
- The other semifinal was set up on Saturday as the Utah Jazz ousted the Houston Rockets, 103-99, thanks to Carlos Boozer's 35 points and 14 rebounds.
Across the pond
- We stay with basketball to congratulate Greek club Panathinaikos, who clinched their fourth Euroleague title with a 93-91 win over defending champion CSKA Moscow. It is the fourth title for the Spurs of Greece...
- In soccer (football), kudos to Manchester United, who clinched their first Premier League championship since 2003 and ending London's domination with a 1-0 win at crosstown rival Manchester City. Cristiano Ronaldo provided the lone goal on a penalty kick in the 34th minute.
- Speaking of London, the last two Premiership champs duked it out at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea and Arsenal renewed hostilites from last February's Carling Cup brawl to draw 1-1, giving the Red Devils the league title. Look for ManU and the Lions in the FA Cup Final two weeks from now...
NHL Playoffs from the Armchair
- Things looked bleak for the Buffalo Sabres in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal. On Friday night, the New York Rangers had skated into HSBC Arena, took a 1-0 lead, and had ths game in their back pocket. However, with just 7.7 seconds in regulation, Chris Drury banged home the equalizer, and Maxim Afinegenov rolled the highlight film and sent the Western New York faithful into a frenzy with a 2-1 overtime win. Two days later, the Blue and Gold finished off the Blueshirts at Madison Square Garden in a 5-4 nailbiter. Talkin' proud, talkin' proud!
- The other Tri-State Area team in the playoffs, the New Jersey Devils, also got the hook thanks to the Ottawa Senators. The Devils tried to shake off a three-goal Senators second period, but it was too much, too little, too late as the Sens advanced, 3-2. Given the history of the Sens and Sabres as of late, I wouldn't be surprised if some big-time fireworks came out of this Eastern Conference final...
- The Detroit Red Wings got one step closer to the Western Conference final against the Anaheim Ducks with a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. My prediction for the Stanley Cup Finals: Sabres and Wings... (Ed. note, 3/22/2008: Boy, did we whiff on that prediction!)
Fast Track
- Jimmie Johnson got his fourth NEXTEL Cup win of the season at Richmond and while he and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch finished the race 1-2, it's Jeff Gordon and Johnson who are 1-2 in the points standings as the series heads to Darlington, South Carolina next weekend...
- Not only did Australian Casey Stoner take his second win of the MotoGP season at Shanghai, China, he also assumed the points lead in the series with a 15-point lead over Ialian Valentino Rossi.
That's all for this week
Until then, let's all be good sports...
