Results tagged ‘ Jeremy Bonderman ’
A Little Baseball, A Little Hockey, Too
- I would have watched the Blackhawks beat the Sharks 2-1 in Game 1 of the NHL
Western Conference Final yesterday, really I would have, but I was watching the
Twins v. The Team That Shall Not Be Named live from the stadium named for The
Team That Shall Not Be Named instead. TTTSNBN had a 3-1 lead over Minnesota
after 7 which was good since it is the Twins that the second-place Tigers are
trying to catch for the Division lead. (I can’t remember the name of the
Division in which the Tigers play but it’s either the AL “North”, the AL
“Central” or the AL “Norris”.) TTTSNBN brings in Joba Chamberlain, their
8th-inning specialist, to serve and protect that 2-run lead but he’s not
particularly special on this day and the Twins load ‘em up on him with two
outs. No problemo. The Evil Wearers of the Pin-Stripes bring in Mariano
Rivera, a.k.a “The Best Closer in the History of Organized Ball” to record what
should be an altogether routine 4-out save. But Rivera goes three-and-oh on Jim
Thome before walking him on a full count to force in a run and then gives up a
Granny to Jason Kubel–whoever he is–and the Twins lead 6-3 and the game is
over. So Detroit, a 5-1 winner over the Red Socks (sorry, Spellcheck sez it’s
Socks, not Sox and who am I to argue?) is not a game and a half off the lead but
rather two and a half back all thanks to the New York bleeping Yankees who suck
and who always have sucked and who always will suck and that’s all there is to
say about that. - So, I missed seeing the Chicago’s beat the San Jose’s 2-1 and I missed
seeing Blackhawk goalie Antti Niemi or whatever his name is, I had to look it up
and besides, I thought he was Chi’s backup goalie anyway, stop 44 of 45 shots
which must have been quite a performance on his part unless they were all on
dump-ins by San Jose which they probably were not. I suppose I could watch the
10-minute video game re-cap on NHL.com to get up to speed, and maybe I will. - I missed the Canadians/Flyers game, too. This maybe isn’t such a great
column, ‘ya think? I thought they’d be playing the two Conference Finals on
alternating nights meaning I thought Game 1 of the Eastern series would be
tonight so I would up watching the finale of “The Pacific” on HBO last night. I
can tell you that that was pretty good, if it helps. Reminder to self: Always
check the Program Guide!!! - Montreal, in spite of being nipped 6-0 by Philadelphia in Game 1, matching
the worst margin of defeat in Canadiens playoff history except for when they got
beat this one time by 7 goals back in 1919 which I am not sure should even
count, is my team in this match-up of Teams of Destiny. - Montreal is a Team of Destiny because when I saw it was #8 seed Montreal v.
Alex Ovechkin and the #1 seed Washington Capitals in Round One and I said, “No
way Montreal wins.” Canadiens beat ‘em in 7. They won on account of their
goalie Jaroslav Halak. Remember, Halak battled for the starting job all season
with Carey Price and was even replaced by Price after Montreal lost a couple of
games to the Caps. After Price got lit up, Halak went back in and stopped 131
of 134 Washington shots (.978) in the last three games and Canadiens pulled off
one of the biggest playoff upsets, ever. Measurably. Washington–first overall
in the NHL standings this season (enjoy that President’s Trophy, boys)–finished
33 points ahead of Montreal. There have been only four occasions where a team
knocked off a playoff opponent when that team had finished more than 33 points
ahead of them. So, statistically, this tied for the 5th-biggest playoff upset
in NHL history. Then it was Montreal v. Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley
Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2 and I said, “No way Montreal wins.”
Canadiens win in 7 again. Montreal is outshot 18-3 in the 3rd period of the
final game and Halak stops all 18. They are a Team of Destiny. - Philadelphia is a Team of Destiny for becoming the 4th team in all
best-of-seven series’ in all sports ever played to overcome a 3-games-to-none
deficit and win and because they happen to have a documentary about their
previous Cup-winning teams (see: Broad Street Bullies) in the rotation on the
HBO family of networks right now. Playing their own Game 7, on the road
naturally, the Flyers overcame a 3-0 Boston lead. It was the first time this
season Boston lost a game in which they led 3-0 (they had been 15-0) and the
first time the Bruins lost a game in which they led by 3 goals at any point (had
been 18-0). These are the factors which make Philly a Team of Destiny. - Oh, and this is weird. While it’s the #1 seed (San Jose) v. the #2 seed
(Chicago) in the Western Conference Final, it’s the #7 seed (Philadelphia) v.
the #8 seed (Montreal) in the Eastern Final. A 7-8 Conference Final matchup is
unprecedented and has never happened before, either. - But, back to baseball. The Tigers went 5-2 in against TTTSNBN and Boston
last week. Wow. I did not see that coming. Meanwhile, Detroit made some
personnel moves. Max Scherzer was demoted to Triple-A Toledo after getting his
brains beat in (again) v. the Red Socks Friday. When Scherzer gave up that
3-run homer to David Ortiz in the first inning (you remember, that 450-foot Moon
Shot to center) his line from that point working back to include his previous
13.1 Innings Pitched was, well, a little untidy: 26 Runs (Earned), 31 Hits, 5
HR and 8 Walks. ERA is Earned Runs Allowed x 9 / Innings Pitched . In this
case, that works out to 17.59 and that, friends, will get you sent down. His
replacement, Armando Galarraga, looked terrific yesterday (1 earned run in 5.2
innings). It was of note who replaced him Sunday. Jeremy Bonderman came out of
the bullpen for the first time this season, taken out of the rotation after
starting the year with six starts which can best be described as inconsistent.
And one other thing, Dontrelle WIllis walked 7 in three-and-a-third Saturday
night. Don’t think the brain trust isn’t a little worried about that. It was
control, actually the lack thereof of course, which knocked Willis out of
Baseball for basically the last two seasons. If he’s lost the strike zone
again… - Chicago–soon to become the next team to fire its manager–brings their 15-22
record to town tonight. They are already 9 games out of first in the AL
Norris. Or whatever…
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