Good morning y'all. It's Monday, let's see what's going on.
Jimmy had his 1st birthday last Wednesday. He has been such a joy to us, ever since we found out he was coming, to his arrival and all the way up to his first birthday on Wednesday and party on Saturday. (He got LOTS of really cool presents!)He has the bluest eyes of all time, and he charms everyone he meets. We love our baby boy!
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The Oregon State Beavers returned to the NCAA baseball tournament this past weekend after missing last year, following their back-to-back titles. The Beavers hung on in game one on the Fort Worth Regional Friday, building a 9-0 lead on the way(?) to a 9-8 win over Texas A & M. Carter Bell set a season-high with three hits and Koa Kahalehoe had three hits and drove in three runs.
Oregon State collected just two hits Saturday and lost to #1 seed and host TCU 13-1. That forced the Beavers into a must-win situation, the same path they rode to their two titles(In '06 & '07). Oregon State ended Texas A & M's season Sunday, with a 13-5 win. Koa Kahalehoe went 5-for-5 and drove in three runs, and Jorge Reyes fanned six in a complete game effort. Sunday's second game didn't go as well though. The Beavers built a 4-0 lead over TCU, saw it slip away, then missed a comeback chance late, losing 5-4. Oregon State finishes the season with a 37-19 record.
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While we're on the subject of the NCAA Division 1 baseball tournament, how about those Ohio State Buckeyes? Competeing in the Tallahassee Regional, the Bucks(42-17 entering the tournament) opened with a 24-8 loss to Georgia on Friday, but then, to their credit, rebounded for a 6-4 win over Marist on Friday, but somewhere along the way, burned all their pitching. The result? An amazing 37-6 loss to Florida State on Sunday. 65 runs against in three games and many of those were earned. (FSU pounded out 38 hits in Sunday's game.) Wow. How does that happen?
And, we can't move on without mentioning Texas's 3-2 win over Boston College on Saturday. What made the game noteworthy, was that it went 25 innings and lasted nearly 7 1/2 hours. Two participants in a game that I'd normally love to be, the home plate umpire or the play-by-play guy, may have had the toughest jobs of the night. Wow. I've broadcast a three-overtime hockey game, refereed a five-overtime hockey game, but those were nothing like what went on between Texas and BC. Wow.
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The Detroit Red Wings won the opening two games of the Stanley Cup finals over the Pittsburgh Penguins over the weekend, winning 3-1 on both Saturday and Sunday nights. This is the first rematch of Stanley Cup finalists since Edmonton and the Islanders in the 80s. One thing that seems to be bothering people, is the latest example of how the major TV networks exert a great deal of influence over sports. This weekend's games were the first time Stanley Cup Finals games have been played on back-to-back nights since 1955(The Red Wings won that year too. And I would have been more interested in that series if I had been more than just three months old!). Most playoff series in big league sports these days play, day off, play, day off, etc, etc. But the schedule for Detroit-Pittsburgh shows just how much influence NBC holds, despite how little they pay to carry the games. Reality may stink, but reality says NBC will make lots more money on Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show debut. That's a problem hockey has to do something to fix.
The Red Wings have gotten strong efforts all through the lineup, especially from goaltender Chris Osgood. Pittsburgh has played hard too, but the bounces just haven't gone their way. This series could go the whole 7 games. We'll see. Games 3 & 4 are in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Thursday.
Oh, by the way: Teams that have won the first two games of the finals have gone on to win the Cup 41 times. Of the three teams that didn't, Detroit was the victim of the combacks twice, in '42(Toronto) and '66(Montreal).
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The Tampa Bay Rays continue to struggle through injuries. They hosted the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, winning 2 of 3. The Rays are fourth in the AL East with a record of 25-28, 5 1/2 games behind first place New York. Getting on a roll is simple: Fix the starting pitching, solidify the bullpen and get the injured players all better. Oh, and while they're at it, they can do something about their abysmal customer relations too.
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The NBA was close to their dream Finals matchup of LA vs Cleveland, but the Orland Magic didn't cooperate, knocking off the Cadavaliers in six games. It's the first finals appearance for the Magic since the mid-90s. Go Magic!
Oh....NBA Basketball: Tall Guys Who Can't Skate!
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The Canadian Football League opens the 2009 season with rookie camps this week. My favorite team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, appear to be a contender again. This blog will follow the Riders again this season, but for the best Riders coverage, check out my good friend Rod Pedersen's blog, at http://rodpedersen.blogspot.com. Rod is the radio voice of the Riders, as well as the WHL's Regina Pats, as well as the sports guy at CKRM Radio. He's one busy guy, but there's few better than Roddy. You'll enjoy Rod's blog. If you haven't already viewed it, check it out soon. It's really good.
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That's it for now. Y'all have a good day and week!
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