Keep Calm and Play Ball

Down goes Rose!

Derrick Rose suffered a torn ACL in the opening game of the Chicago Bulls playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. Rose will miss the rest of the playoffs and possibly some time next season to recover from this devastating knee injury.

The Bulls were thought to be the biggest threat to the Miami Heat playoff run this season out of the East, but after Saturday’s injury it looks like the Heat are the hands down favorite coming out of the Eastern Conference.

A legend says goodbye.

The Texas Rangers honored their longtime catcher Ivan Rodriguez with a ceremony Monday afternoon that allowed “Pudge” to officially retire as a member of the team that signed him nearly 23 years ago.

Rodriguez’s iconic smile and charisma always made him a fan favorite around the ballpark, and he also retires as the most decorated player in Rangers’ franchise history with 13 Gold Gloves (10 as a Ranger), 10 consecutive All-Star appearances, and was the recipient of the 1999 American League MVP award.

He retires from the game of baseball with 2,844 hits, 311 homers and a .296 career batting average ranking him near the top in each category for career numbers as a catcher. A World Series Title in 2003 with the Florida Marlins also cements him as one of the games greatest catchers.

There is no doubt that the game of baseball will miss one of the greatest catchers it has ever seen, and we salute Pudge for the 21 years of memories and dedication to this great game.

Matt Wieters and the Baltimore Orioles sit atop the American League East standings at (8-5) a half game up on the New York Yankees.

Who has been the biggest surprise team thus far in Major League Baseball?

How do Yu like me now?

Ever since the rocky first inning in his major league debut, Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish has been as good as advertised after coming overseas from Japan to join the defending American League Champs.

Darvish pitched two-hit baseball into the seventh inning Thursday night in Detroit, as Mike Napoli homered for the fourth straight game, leading the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 rout against the Detroit Tigers for their seventh consecutive victory.

The Indianapolis Colts have announced they will be selecting Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as the #1 overall selection in the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft.

With the departure of Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, how will Luck stand up to Manning’s legacy and take the reigns of a Colts organization who finished just (2-14) last season?

Is it time to panic in Beantown?

The Boston Red Sox celebrated the 100th Anniversary of their home ballpark (Fenway Park) Friday afternoon in a game against their bitterly hated rivals, the New York Yankees.

It was supposed to be a day of celebrating past Red Sox legends, current heroes, and throwback uniforms. However, The New York Yankees never got that memo, as a swing from third baseman Alex Rodriguez cleared the signature “Green Monster” in Boston as the Yankees’ cruised to a 6-2 victory dropping the Red Sox to a dismal (4-9) on the season.

Current Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine has been under fire over the past few weeks after being swept by the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers, and criticizing the efforts of his ball club as they have come out of the gates to a terribly slow start. 

A picture that’s worth a thousand words. Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz and manager Bobby Valentine watch on in horror after a historic beating on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

It’s hard to imagine anything could get any worse in Red Sox nation tonight after an 18-3 trouncing at the hands of the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers, but the story doesn’t quite end here.

After calling out third baseman Kevin Youkilis on his slow start to begin the season, manager Bobby Valentine started the “Youk-Dawg” for the first time since his comments on Sunday night, only to be humiliated by an 18 run outburst from the Texas Rangers off of ace pitcher Jon Lester, and the rest of the Red Sox pitching staff.

Six home runs in all were surrendered by the Sox, two coming off the bat of Rangers’ first baseman Mike Napoli, and one big fly from Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, and Adrian Beltre.

Texas finished with a season high 21 hits, 8 of which came off of staff ace Jon Lester as he suffered through two innings pitched and 7 earned runs.

Rangers’ starter Colby Lewis faired much better. After giving up a two run home run to Dustin Pedroia in the first inning, Lewis settled down going a strong seven frames and striking out 7, en route to his second victory of the season.

Now doubt the Rangers poured it on for the first game of the series, but Texas does have a history of coming up a bit short in games after a huge outbursts of runs. None the less, they improve to (9-2) on the year, while the Red Sox fall to a disastrous (4-7) start to begin the season.

A first look at Tim Tebow in, “The Big Apple” sporting a New York Yankees hat Sunday night at Yankees Stadium as the Bronx Bombers took on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Tebow was doused in jeers and boos after he was shown on the video board with Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade.

Not exactly a warm welcome for Mr. Tebow, but we will see what the Empire City has in store for him as the NFL season rapidly approaches.

Growing Pains?

The Los Angeles Angels are off to a terribly slow start to begin the 2012 season, as so much was expected of them early after an offseason that saw the acquisitions of National League MVP Albert Pujols, and 16 game winner C.J. Wilson.

Pujols is off to a 37 at bat homerless streak to begin the season, which is the longest drought of his career to begin a season, while C.J. Wilson looks very impressive through his first two starts. The Angels bullpen has been atrocious through the first eleven games of the season, sporting an ERA above six with no saves.

Things look to turn around for the Angels this week as they take on their rebuilding in-state rival Oakland Athletics in a four game series, and look to cut their divisional gap of 4.5 games that separates them from the Texas Rangers who sit atop the American League West at (8-2).

Texas Rangers’ center fielder Josh Hamilton pummels a ball over the right field fence plating two runs in the top of the eighth inning as the Rangers go on to sweep the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Sunday by a score of 4-3.

Neftali Feliz started the game strong for the Texas Rangers going four scoreless innings before surrendering a two run home run to newly acquired Twins’ right fielder Clete Thomas that put the Twins ahead 2-1 after the fifth inning. Leading off the sixth inning, Twins’ center fielder Denard Span blasted a triple off the right field fence before scoring on Jamey Carroll single that ended the night for Feliz on the mound with the Rangers trailing 3-1.

Robbie Ross was summoned to clean up the mess in the bottom of the sixth, as he pitched two scoreless innings and later went on to collect his second straight victory in as many games.

After a leadoff walk by Ian Kinsler to start the eight, the Rangers’ bats came alive yet again to save the day, as Elvis Andrus tripled off the right field fence, then was followed by Josh Hamilton’s home run blast that put the Rangers up for good, before Joe Nathan closed the game out in the ninth picking up his third save of the season.

The Rangers improve to (8-2) on the season before heading to Fenway Park this Tuesday as they will take on the surging Boston Red Sox, who as well are coming off a series sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays. It will definitely be a series worth watching as the defending American League Champs take on the underachieving Sox who were shocked on the final day of the season last year missing the playoffs for the second straight year.