National League April/May 2010

The National League has seen a no hitter, Ubaldo Jimenez, and a perfect game, Roy Halladay. That makes 3 no hitters so far this season. Kelly Johnson lead the league with 12 homeruns in April. What? Yes its true. Jimenez also owns every pitching lead, wins, ERA, K, you name it he has it. With a .85 ERA after 10 starts its the 3rd best start in the history of baseball. There are two division leaders, Atlanta and St. Louis who are used to being there and then you have San Diego. San Diego was rebuilding this season. They are winning games and competing for the division lead. At seasons end so far these are the team I think will make the playoffs. Atlanta, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Los Angeles.

American League April/May 2010

First two months of the season have been very entertaining. Teams with hot starts, Tampa Bay and New York, and teams start out really cold, Baltimore and Cleveland. We have a a perfect game, Dallas Braden on mothers day. We have also seen Yankee/Red Sox game go over 3 hours every time played. Threw two months the league leader in homeruns is Toronto's Jose Bautista with 16. A-Rod is moving up the all-time homerun list, and is now the active leader all time cause of the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr. Now as the the weather heats up the play of baseball will become better, and we get to see what team are for real and what teams are not. After two months I believe these will be the four playoff teams, Tampa Bay, New York, Minnesota, and Los Angeles.

Game 7

This is one of the most exciting things in sports! A win or go home game in a series. This game will be hard fought, very close, and ton and tons of hitting. Both teams will be eyeing a spot in the Eastern Finals. Montreal has played there ass off. They are the under dog and they are playing very well at this time. The Pens are playing well but not as good as they can do playing. In past game 7's, teams best player are not the guys that make the plays to win, its normally someone no one expected to do it. Lets go back to last year the Pens went to a game 7 vs Washington in the same round as this year, the hero? The whole Pens team. They came out with 6 goals. After Fleury made the stop on Ovechkin in the 1st it was clear sailing from there for the Pens. In the Stanley Cup finals the hero was Max Talbot. Who would of guessed that one? No one that's who. So who will be the hero this year? It can be anyone. If the Pens don't change the way they play there going to lose this game, but if they change they have a chance. Cant let up more then 3 goals, cause we cant score more then that right now. The Pens have won there last 4 game 7s. Hopefully they find a way to win this game and move onto the next round. LETS GO PENS!

2010 NFL Draft

On April 22nd 2010 it marked the first time that the NFL draft was on prime time TV, and it didn't disappoint. The St.Louis Rams had the first pick, and there was a lot of talk about them trading it, but they didn't and they went with Sam Bradford from Oklahoma. Now that he was gone the question was, when would the next quarterback go in the draft? That would be answered 24 picks later when the Denver Broncos traded up and took Florida QB Tim Tebow. In between those picks there were some big names taken. Suh went number two to the Loins, Haden went number seven to the Browns, Spiller went number nine to the Bills, Dez Bryant went twenty fourth to the Cowboys, as they took a big chance on him plus they traded up to get him. Of course I cant leave out the Steelers with the number eighteen they took center Maurkice Pouncey from Florida. Now with the first round done the question was when would Clausen, McCoy, Gerhart, and Tate go in the draft. In the second round the Panthers took Jimmy Clausen, the Vickings took Toby Gerhart and the Seahawks took Golden Tate. Now with Colt McCoy getting passed on he feel farther then anyone would of thought. Late into the third round the Browns finally took a chance and drafted Colt McCoy. It was a very exciting draft to see where some of these players were going to go. Big surprises and tons of trades. To finish out the Steelers draft they took three linebackers and traded Arizona a fifth round pick to get back corner Bryant McFadden, what a great add, so much help needed to this position.

NHL Playoffs Round 1

I know its now in the 2nd round, but here are things I thought was going to happen in the playoffs. I really didn't think that Washington, New Jersey and Buffalo were all going to lose in the first round. I was for sure Washington and New Jersey would win there series. Buffalo playing a tough Boston team seemed more likely for a good series. Washington/Montreal was a great series. Montreal won the series 4-3. For me that was great, it took Ovechkin out of the playoffs, I like to see him cry and be a bitch! New Jersey/Philadelphia was another good series. Philly won this one 4-1. Very surprised! So this meant that the number one and two seeds were out of the playoffs just like that. Buffalo/Boston series was yet another great series. Boston won 4-2. As good a Ryan Miller is he couldn't stop this high powered Boston team. Now the number one, two and three seeds in the east are out. Ottawa/Pittsburgh series was a good one. The Pens can out winners 4-2. So as the the 4 seed, the Pens were the lowest seeded team left in the East.
In the west I don't really follow so here are the final series results. The Sharks won there series over the Avalanche 4-2. The Blackhawks won there series over the Predators 4-2. The Canucks won there series over the Kings 4-2. The Redwings won there series over the Coyotes 4-3. The whole first round of the playoffs was very exciting! Every series was close and the games were incredible.
My prediction before the playoffs started, I had the Penguins playing the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals. Lets see what happens, and hope the rest of the playoffs can be as exciting as the First round was. LETS GO PENS!

Gotta Catch up

Didn't write for a while so here are some topics that I will review soon. NFL draft, First month of baseball, NHL playoffs/Pens. Ill be posting these topics with in the next week or so.

2010 MLB Predictions

National League

East- Philadelphia
Central- St.Louis
West- Los Angeles D
Wildcard- Atlanta
M.V.P- Albert Pujols
Cy Young- Roy Halladay

American League

East- New York
Central- Minnesota
West- Los Angeles A
Wildcard- Boston
M.V.P- Joe Mauer
Cy Young- Justin Verlander

World Series

Philadelphia-2 vs. Minnesota-4

Pittsburgh Pirates- 79-83

National Championship Game Prediction

This years National champion will be the Butler Bulldogs. The game will be close but Butler will control this game and take over in the second half. The final score will be 70-64.

Final Four Games

And then there were two. Butler and Duke for the National Championship! How many people had that right? Butler is a feel good story, a under dog. But is Butler an under dog? Not in my opinion. Butler was ranked in the top 10 preseason polls. They remind me a lot of Boise state from 2008. But Boise didn't get a chance to win the national championship. Butler will make you play there game. The can score in the paint and make tons of three's. Duke in the other hand is a power. There Oklahoma from 2008. High power offence, good defence. I think this game will be a lower scoring game cause Butler will control the game. Monday night should be exciting!

Elite 8 Predictions

OK so maybe I'm not good at predicting games, but here is what I think. Saturdays games: As much as I would like to see Butler win I think Kansas State will beat them in a very close game. This game I believe will be the best yet. Kentucky vs West Virginia. As much as I hate WVU I think they have a chance to win. This one should be close and I do believe that West Virginia will win this game. Sundays games: 6 vs 5 in the first game. I hope Tennessee wins but I think that Michigan State will pull it out. The team and coaches have experience and even without Lucas I think Michigan State will win. Baylor is a tuff team but I think with Duke's experience they will be able to win this game.
Final 4: Kansas State vs Michigan State/ West Virginia vs Duke

Sweet 16 Round Games, Thursday and Friday

Another 2 great days of basketball!! Another upset here and a blow out no one seen coming. Lets start with Thursdays games. The early games: Butler stuns Syracuse 63-59. One big upset after another. This game started out slow but as the game went on both team start shooting the ball better. Syracuse the number 1 team in the west. Butler advances to its first elite 8. Then West Virginia beat Washington 69-56. This game also started out slow. West Virginia looks really good, even though I hate them. The later games Kentucky just beat up on Cornell. Cornell couldn't make a shot after having a 10-2 lead. After that Kentucky went on a 28-4 run to end the half. Kentucky went on to win 62-45. Kansas State and Xavier might of been on of the best game of the tournament. With big shots made and big stops made, Kansas State survived a scare and won in double overtime 101-96. Xavier had another run at an elite 8, but just didn't have enough in the tank to pull off the upset.
Fridays games were very exciting too but not as mush as Thursdays. Baylor went off on St.Mary's and beat them up and went on to win easily 72-49. Ohio State had the lead with about 3 minutes left but couldn't hold it against Tennessee. Tennessee went on to win the game 76-73. This is one upset I didn't see coming. I though Ohio State had a good enough team to win it all after Kansas fell last weekend. In the later games no surprises as Duke beat Purdue 70-57. Duke controlled pretty much the whole game, and didn't let Purdue get any chance for a run. Upset minded Northern Iowa came very close of doing in again but Michigan State found a way to win it 59-52. Every year Michigan State always finds a way to get farther in the tournament. Final 8 teams play on Saturday and Sunday. Then next weekend Final 4 games and the National Championship. Should be a very exciting week for these teams and there fans.

Prediction for the rest of the tournament

Down to 16 teams. I think that the best teams will come out with wins in the sweet 16 round. I believe all the final 8 teams will be teams that should be there. But I wouldn't be surprised if there is still a Cornell or Northern Iowa left. So here are my pick for the rest of the tournament. In the Mid-west: Michigan State over N.Iowa, Ohio St over Tennessee. In the West: Syracuse over Butler, Kansas St over Xavier. In the East: Kentucky over Cornell, WVU over Washington. In the South: Duke over Purdue, Baylor over St.Mary's. I pulling for the highest seeded teams though. I hope Northern Iowa, Cornell and Washington win. That would be great. Lets sit back and watch the final 16 teams play, and hope for the upsets!!!

Second Round Sunday Games

The end of a very excited weekend has come to an end. A weekend of upsets and surprises. Sunday was no different. Cornell upset Wisconsin to advance to the sweet 16. Its the first time a Ivy League team as advanced in over 50 years. This was not an upset but Xavier beat Pittsburgh. Big runs by both teams in this game and it came to a last second shot to end the game. With .04 seconds left Pitt shot a 3 to tie and was just off. Xavier in the sweet 16 again. Talking about a last second shot, Michigan State hit a 3 as time expired to beat Maryland. Purdue beat Texas A&M in overtime to advance. Top seeds Duke, Syracuse and West Virginia all advance to the sweet 16 as well. Next weekend looks to be very good. With teams like Northern Iowa, Cornell and Washington left. All under dogs. A sweet 16 blog will be up before Thursday's games start.

Second Round Saturday Games

This might of been the best day of the tournament so far. We should expect upsets everyday from here on out. The first upset came with St. Mary's beating Villanova. looking back at this we should of seen this coming. Villanova almost lost to Robert Morris in the first round. St. Mary's since beating Gonzaga in the WCC title game has looked really good. St.Mary's Sweet 16 bound. The next upset came with Washington stunning New Mexico. Now the Pac-10 didn't know if they were going to get more then one team in the tournament, but the got 2 teams in. They both won there first round games and now Washington is going to the sweet 16. And the biggest upset of the whole tournament was Northern Iowa beating the number one team in the tournament Kansas. Northern Iowa lead through out the whole game. The game got very close as the game was near the end but Northern Iowa had what it took to beat the top ranked Jayhawks. Other close games: Butler had just enough energy to beat a very pesky Murray State team, Baylor survived Old Dominion, and Kansas State kept ahead of BYU to advance to the Sweet 16.

First Round Friday Games

Not as exciting as Thursday but there were good games. The biggest upset came in Cornell over Temple. Very close game for the most part. Another that was surprising was Purdue over Siena. I was for sure that Siena was going to win big. Plus I had them going to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, in certain brackets. Pittsburgh started out very slow against Oakland but as the game went on the got better. If Pitt can play the way they did in the second half against Oakland they can beat any team. The do play Xavier on Sunday. I'm thinking Pitt will hang with Xavier and I do believe they will win. I guess we will see.

First Round Thursday Games

WOW!! That's all I have to say about the first day of the tournament. Big upsets including Ohio over Georgetown, Murray State over Vanderbilt, Washington over Marquette and Old Dominion over Notre Dame. The biggest surprise was Robert Morris all over Villanova. RMU lead through out the whole game. Then in the closing seconds Nova forced Overtime. Then Nova just took over the game in OT. WOW!! I wish they would of won even thought I have Villanova in the title game. Murray state's game winning shot as time expired was exciting. Down 1 with about 2 seconds left. Almost every game in the first day was very close. A very good day of basketball. I hope the second day can live up to the first day. I just want the Panthers of Pittsburgh to have an easy game. They always play down to the team there playing. The Temple/Cornell game should be very good. Both team are about even. The other game that should be exciting is Purdue/Siena. Purdue is without there best player Robbie Humble, after having a serious knee injury. Plus I think Siena could be this years George Mason. Lets see what happens today, and Lets Go Pitt!!!

NCAA Predictions

OK this maybe a day late but I have my bracket in pen. I have had it done since Wednesday night, just haven't had the time to write this blog. OK here are my picks. Round 1: I had trouble guessing some of these game, the biggest was Vanderbilt/Murray State. I went with Vanderbilt in every bracket but 2. Other upsets I have in the first round, San Diego state over Tennessee, Siena over Purdue. Nothing major in the first round, but I has wrong. Sweet 16: The only team I have going to the sweet 16 that is a mid-major is Siena. i have a feeling that they could beat Duke to go to the Elite 8. I said it first, and maybe an outside shot for a final 4. My Final 4: Kansas playing Kansas State and West Virginia playing Villanova. Then I have Kansas playing Villanova for the national championship. I have Kansas winning the tournament. I believe they are the best team, if there is one, in the tournament. As for Pitt I think there going to beat Oakland in the first round. Then in the second I think they lose to Xavier. It will be close but I hope can pull it out!! This should be a very exciting tournament!!!!

NCAA Tournament

The time is finally here. The 2010 NCAA tournament. No really big surprises in this years bracket. The number 1 seeds: Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse. All teams deserve there number 1 seed. I do believe if Duke lost to Georgia Tech in the ACC title game West Virginia would of took over the last number 1 seed. The hardest region goes to the East. The top 4 seeds are Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico and Wisconsin. All 4 teams very default to beat. They all play a different style, so it makes every game interesting. The easiest region goes to the Mid-west. I think Kansas is the best team in the tournament and probably my favorite as of now to win it all. Ohio state and Georgetown are tough teams but I think Kansas will beat whoever wins the game between the 2 in the Elite 8. As for Pittsburgh I think they will beat Oakland. But in the 2nd round I think Xavier gives them a run for there money. Sorry Pitt I don't think a sweet 16 appearance is going to happen, but I hope it does. As for my picks, ill have to make up my mind. Ill have the picks in before the games start on Thursday.

Pens vs Canes 3/11/10

I dint get to watch the game but the game highlights I saw upset me. In the first the Pens took a 2-0 lead when they got goals from Stall and Guerin. Then in a span of 5 minutes the Canes came back with 2 from Whitney and Boychuk. Second period scoring came from the Canes Stall and the Pens Cooke. Tied at 3 going into the third. Then the highlights I saw looked liked the Pens took over the third period but couldn't get a puck behind Peters. The Pens out shot the Canes 14-7 in the third and 40-21 overall. 22 seconds into overtime the Canes Pothier scored the game winner. Heartbreaking loss for the Pens. After dominating the third and to come up short like that hurts. The Pens travel to New Jersey to play the Devils tonight at 7pm. The Pens are 0-3 vs the Devils this season and haven't scored a goal against them in the last 2 games.

Pitt one and done, Again...

For the second time in 2 years the Pittsburgh Panthers went into the Big East tournament and lost in there first game. Pitt lost to Notre Dame 50-45. Is this a bad thing for Pitt? I think it is. I believe Pitt needs to play more games with there young team. I guess were have to see what seed there get in the NCAA tournament. My guess is a 5 or 6. Nothing lower but maybe something higher like a 7 or 8. Then again Pitt lost there first game in the Big East tournament last year and came within 2 points of advancing to the final four. They will be lucky to get to the sweet 16. I'm guessing a second round upset, like other years in the past.

What are you thinking?

That's the question I would like to ask Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. For the 2ND time in just over a year Roethlisberger is accused of sexual assault. Didn't you learn from the first time? This time around you were hanging out in a college bar in Georgia. Ben how old are you again? The first time I think the women wanted money, and that was pretty much what it was. Most people would think twice about doing the same thing over again. You are a big name in sports. People know who you are. Its cool if you were hitting on her, nothing wrong with that. But then you take it a step forward. Bad choice. I don't know much about whats going on now but what I think is that you need to keep it in your pants. I hope nothing comes to out of this. Talking about jail time or whatever the penalty's maybe for this. Now to what I think should happen. I think the Steelers need to sit down with Ben and explain to him that he is the face of this team, the city, and very close to being the face of the NFL. I think the Rooney's hire someone to follow him around every where he goes. Just to keep an eye on him. I would like to see Ben change his ways. Maybe hang out at a bar that's not for college kids. Or not be at bars at all? Whatever he does it needs to change right now. I hope for all the best, then again maybe he needs a wake up call, and not the one he gets from the hotel in the morning...

Matt Cooke

The hit Matt Cooke put on Boston Bruins Marc Savard was dirt. But in the same sense the hit was a very good hit. Every fan of hockey would love to have a hitter on there team like Cooke. You can look at this two ways. One the hit was meant to hurt Savard. When you come in on a player with your elbow, your meaning to do some damage. Yes it looked like Marc Savard lowered his head but when you only have seconds to react you need to make whatever decision is best for you. Second he was going in for a good hit. Hitting is a big part of hockey. Its not like football when you hit the QB right after he throws the ball, and you get called for the penalty. There is no penalty for hitting a player right after he shoots the puck. Matt Cooke not getting suspended for that hit is a shame. A suspension should of been given to him. 3, 5, season? Not sure what it should of been but it defiantly should not of been 0. I cant wait to see what happens when the Pens travel to Boston on the 18Th. Its not going to be pretty. I guarantee that!!! Lets go Pens!!!