Monday Morning Meissnervations

It's Monday already? Where did the weekend go? Anyway, here's what's happening....

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Hockey Playoff Roundup ----

NHL:

Last night --

Eastern Conference Finals

No game

Western Conference Finals

Chicago 3, San Jose 2 (Chicago wins series 4-0)

Tonight --

Eastern Conference Finals

Montreal at Philadelphia 7:00pm EDT (Philadelphia leads series 3-1)

(Note: Chicago wins Western Conference Finals 4-0 over San Jose)

AHL

Last night --

Western Conference Finals

No games

Tonight --

Western Conference Finals

Texas at Hamilton 7:10pm EDT (Hamilton leads series 3-2)

(Note: Hershey defeated Manchester 4-2 in Eastern Conference finals)













2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup at Brandon, Manitoba

Last night --

Championship Final

Windsor(OHL) 9, Brandon(WHL) 1

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American workers' waistlines are expanding through the weak economy, according to a new survey (by CareerBuilder). The poll revealed that 44 percent of workers have gained weight in their current jobs, with 32 percent saying stress was a contributing factor.

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The Tampa Bay Rays spotted the Houston Astros four runs in the first inning, then worked their way back for a 10-6 win last night.

In the Houston first, Jeff Keppinger scored on a Carlos Lee sacrifice fly, then Jason Michaels and Hunter Pence scored on Pedro Feliz's three-run homer.

The Rays got two back in the third, as Ben Zobrist hit a solo homer and Carl Crawford scored on a Carlos Pena single. They took the lead in the fifth, as John Jaso brought home Carl Crawford with a two-run homer, followed up by Hank Blalock's solo blast. The Astros struck back in the bottom of the fifth, as Pence belted a solo homer.

Tampa Bay regained the lead in the sixth, scoring twice. Reid Brignac scored on Willy Aybar's single to right, then Sean Rodriguez scored on a Zobrist single to right. Pence's single drove in Keppinger to bring Houston back within one at 7-6, but a three-run eighth put the game away for the Rays. Gabe Kapler scored on Crawford's single, then Jaso tripled, chasing home Zobrist and Crawford, sending the Rays on to the 10-6 win.

David Price allowed five earned runs in five innings, but got a solid bullpen effort behind him to pick up his 7th win against just one loss. Rafael Soriano got the last out for his 13th save of the year. Brian Moehler took the loss for Houston, he's now 0-1.

Tampa Bay improves to 32-12 and now returns home for seven games. Boston comes to town for three games starting tonight and the White Sox follow with a four-game set starting Thursday. With the exception of a 1:40pm EDT start against Chicago on Sunday, all games start at 7:10pm EDT. All games can be heard on 620AM WDAE and seen on Sun Sports and MLB.TV. Tonight's game airs on ESPN.

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In the American League, Tampa Bay has opened up a six game lead in the East over the Yankees. Minnesota is one ahead of Detroit in the Central and Texas is two ahead of Oakland in the West.

In The National League, Philadelphia leads Atlanta by 3 1/2, St. Louis is 1/2 game up on Cincinnati and San Diego leads the Dodgers by one game in the West.

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How stupid is this: State police in Pennsylvania said a man is in jail on charges that he threatened his girlfriend with a meat cleaver during an argument. Troopers say the man and woman were arguing about the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Chicago clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup finals yesterday, coming from 2-0 down to beat San Jose 3-2. The Blackhawks clinch their first trip to the finals since 1992 with their 4-0 series win. Chicago last won the Stanley Cup in 1961. They await the winner of the Philadelphia/Montreal series, currently led 3-1 by the Flyers. Game five is in Philadelphia tonight.

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Lost ended it's six-year run on ABC last night. From what I hear(I never watched one episode of the show, which, from promos and media buzz, came off to me as nothing more than Gilligan's Island on steroids), people are still confused about how it all turned out. Law & Order wraps tonight after 20 seasons on NBC and 24 ends it's eight year run on FOX tonight.

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I watched the Memorial Cup final last night. I don't recall a team ever dominating a championship game at any level, like Windsor did last night. They seemingly attacked the Brandon zone in waves all night long, while rarely allowing the Wheat Kings puck possession below the top of the circles. And, just how long will Brandon goaltender Jacob DeSerres think about allowing 13 goals in 100 minutes played against the Spitfires (Windsor beat Brandon 9-3 in the round-robin and DeSerres played the last 40 minutes of that game and all 60 minutes of last night's game) in this tournament? I'll bet forever. That's a shame too, because he played pretty well in the rest of the tourney.

Windsor is the eighth team to win the Memorial Cup two straight years(Kamloops in '94-'95 was the last) and Spitfires' forward Taylor Hall is the first player to win the Stafford Smythe Trophy as tournament MVP twice.

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Bump Day complete, field set for next Sunday's Indianapolis 500

From http://www.indycar.com

Sebastian Saavedra got the news while undergoing an MRI at Methodist Hospital. He’s in the Indianapolis 500.

On a dramatic Bump Day, tears were intermixed with cheers, surprise storylines developed throughout the day and 33 starters for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” were finally determined as the gun was fired to end the two days of qualifications at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It’s the closest matched field by time in Indianapolis 500 history -- 3.0622 seconds – which underscores the level of competition.

Getting in were former pole sitter Tony Kanaan, who had to make a shaky run to qualify with 35 minutes left in the backup car that crashed in the morning practice, rookies Takuma Sato and Mario Romancini, John Andretti, Sarah Fisher, Vitor Meira, Alex Lloyd and Bruno Junqueira, who made his first on-track appearance in the No. 33 FAZZT Race Team car at 9:35 a.m.

Left out were rookie Jay Howard, Milka Duno, Paul Tracy and Jaques Lazier, who replaced A.J. Foyt IV in the No. 41 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing car following the morning practice.

“It is heartbreaking,” said Tracy, the 2002 race runner-up who was attempting to compete for the seventh time.

For Bryan Herta, a five-time Indy 500 starter and first-time Indy 500 car co-owner, it was the best 40th birthday present he could imagine.

Saavedra, whose No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport car made contact with the Turn 1 SAFER Barrier while practicing with 1 hour, 10 minutes left in the session in anticipation of having to bump his way back into the field, was transported to the hospital for evaluation. He was released “with a big upper-back bruise” and cleared to drive May 30.

Herta called Saavedra to deliver the good news minutes after Howard, the final qualifier, couldn’t knock the fellow 500 Mile Race rookie off the bubble. He couldn’t hear over the din; the 19-year-old Colombian and his family already were celebrating.

“I saw on TV my crew jumping and me and my family starting jumping in celebration,” Saavedra said from the hospital. “It’s wonderful for me and my country. I’m still trying to process it. I want to thank Bryan Herta Autosport and William Rast for believing in me and making my dream come true.”

Saavedra will be the first Indy 500 starter on the track this week – practicing and qualifying for the Firestone Freedom 100 for Bryan Herta Autosport.

“It’s the most amazing turn of events,” Herta said. “I don’t think there’s ever been drama in Bump Day qualifying like this, at least when I’ve been involved. My partner, Steve Newey, and I put so much on the line with this little team to try to come out here and qualify with a rookie driver and a bunch of guys that are just amazing mechanics. You don’t know what meant to our team because we put everything on the line to make this race.”

Once the field was full, the slowest car was placed on the bubble -- whether it’s the slowest qualifier from Pole Day qualifying or Bump Day. That position changed hands often, and it came down to Howard (on the bubble) withdrawing his time and making another attempt to solidify his position in the No. 66 Service Central/Sarah Fisher Racing car. The run blunted a final effort by Tracy, but the 223.120 mph average speed wasn’t enough to squeeze past Saavedra (223.634 mph).

“I didn’t think this would happen,” Howard said. “I was confident with a small change we could easily go out and to the same time again (223.824). I wasn’t willing to let Tracy take that away from me. I had my own destiny. I was hoping to get the job done, and that wasn’t the case. You can’t really prepare yourself for that situation.”

That’s the drama – the risk vs. reward -- of Bump Day at Indianapolis.

You can see the 2010 Indianapolis 500 starting field here.

The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the 2010 Indianpolis 500 is this coming Sunday, May 30th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Coverage on ABC begins at 12:00pm EDT. Radio coverage begins at 12:00pm EDT on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. The 500 can also be heard on XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 211. The race will also be streamed live, along with other great features to enhance your race day experience, at http://www.indycar.com/.

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That's it for today. Have a great Monday everybody!