MySports Today

The Angels played their first game on Friday night in Anaheim after trying to deal with the tragic death of one of their starting pitchers – Nick Adenhart – in a deadly car crash on Wednesday night.  Adenhart and 2 friends were killed when another car, driven by a suspected drunk driver, broadsided them late Wednesday night.  The driver has been charged with 3 counts of felony murder.  The Angels canceled their game Thursday night against the A’s, and honored Adenhart with a moment of silence before Friday night’s game.  The Angels placed a black-and-white photo of Adenhart on the centerfield wall next to where his name and number appeared in a black circle.  The Angels also painted his number 34 in red-lettering on the back slope of the pitching mound.  Torii Hunter and John Lackey held Adenhart’s #34 jersey on the mound during the moment of silence.  Fans also contributed to the tribute by piling candles, flowers, baseballs and hand-written messages on the replica pitcher’s mound outside the gates to Angel Stadium.  Adenhart had made his 1st start of the 2009 season on the night of his death – pitching 6 strong innings – 0 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.

As for the Angels – Red Sox game, Jered Weaver made the start for the Angels and traced Nick Adenhart’s initials into the pitching mound dirt right before his start – he usually traces his grandparent’s initials into the dirt.  “It was one of the toughest I’ve had to get through.  It still really hasn’t hit home yet.  I shed a couple of tears before I went over there.”  Weaver responded with a great tribute to his rookie teammate – 6 2/3 innings, 1 unearned run, 4 hits, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts.  He picked up his 1st win of the 2009 MLB season as the Angels defeated the Red Sox 6-3.

Manager Mike Scosia summed up the night perfectly:  “We’re happy to get a win.  It doesn’t do much for what happened the last couple of days, but we’re playing baseball.  When the game’s over and you start to think about it, it doesn’t ease the pain.”

The NFL has expanded the number of players they invited to the draft this year in New York to 10. Mark Sanchez the USC quarterback has decided not to attend the draft. His teammate, linebacker Brian Cushing will be attending. Most years the NFL invites six of the top players from colleges but this year decided to expand the list to include players with some compelling stories, even with them not being on the top ten list. The league should make a formal announcement on Monday.

The French must really hate Americans and Lance Armstrong because they will not leave him alone. This week the AFLD said it could punish the seven-time Tour de France star for not remaining in sight of a doctor conduction a test on his hair, urine, and blood on March 17. No banned substances were found or have been found in multiple test of Armstrong. On March 17 the French agency sent over a doctor to do a surprise test on Armstrong. He was not sure if this was a legitimate tester so while they were verify the test he went to take a shower, which he asked the tester for permission. The AFLD came back this week and said this was a violation.

Good thing for Armstrong the head of the world cycling agrees that this is out of hand. Today they t said that the AFLD was unprofessional and “disturbing” behavior. Lance has been very vocal on his Twitter feed saying, “Was winning the Tour seven times that offensive??” and “Just took a shower. Got it down under 10 mins. Whew” taking shots at the French. As long as Armstrong competes in the Tour he will keep winning and this will drive the French crazy, so it will all be worth it. I hope this just makes him work hard to show them who’s boss.

It’s a sad day for the Los Angeles Angels, their rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two other people were killed Thursday when a minivan ran a red light and struck the car they were in. Adenhart, died in surgery at University of California, Irvine Medical Center, police said he was the passenger in the car.  Just hours before the crash he made his fourth major league start, throwing six scoreless innings in Wednesday loss to Oakland. No other members of the team were involved in the accident. A 24 year old man who was in the car remained in critical condition according to police.

A preliminary test indicated the driver of the minivan, Andrew Callo, had a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. “The Angels family has suffered a tremendous loss today. We are deeply saddened and shocked by this tragic loss. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Nick’s family, friends’ loved ones and fans,” general manager Tony Reagins said.

The silver Mitsubishi sedan Adenhart was in was broadsided at an intersection shortly before 12:30 am by a minivan that apparently ran a red light. The impact spun around both vehicles, and one then struck a third car, that driver was not hurt. The Mitsubishi struck a light pole. Adenhart was taken to a hospital, where he died, two other people were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the minivan fled the crash scene on foot and was captured a short time later.

Ouch – getting booed in front of your own home crowd after only 2 games to start the season.

Guess that’s what you get from Phillies fans…

2009 Home Opener on Sunday night – Braves 4, Phillies 1.  Only 4 hits, 2 of which same in the 9th inning when the Phillies scored their lone run.

Tuesday Night – Game 2 – Braves 4, Phillies 0.  At least the Phils got 6 hits in this game, but no runs to show for it.

Fans booed constantly throughout both contests.  Can you believe the short memories on these crazy Phillies fans?

North Carolina crushed Michigan State 89-72 in the Championship Game of the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament.  UNC rushed out to an early 40-20 lead and led by an incredible 21 points by halftime – 55-34.  Although MSU cut the lead to 13 on a few occasions in the 2nd half, the game was never close.

UNC’s Roy Williams won his 2nd National Championship Title in 5 years at his alma mater.  IN 2005, UNC defeated Illinois for Williams’ 1st National Championship title as a head coach.

UNC had an explosive balanced attack on Monday night.  Ty Lawson led the way with 21 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.  Lawson also set a Final Four record by recording 8 steals in the Championship Game – he had 7 steals in the 1st half alone before Coach Williams called off the dogs.  Tyler Hansborough, who returned to Chapel Hill for his senior year to win the NCAA title that eluded his team during their 2008 Final Four run, poured in 18 points and 7 rebounds.  Wayne Ellington emerged on the Final Four scene with an impressive 19 point effort to go along with 4 rebounds.  Ed David also had a solid night off the bench – 11 points and 8 rebounds in only 14 minutes.

Goran Suton led the way for MSU in defeat – 17 points and 11 rebounds.  Point Guard Kalin Lucas scored 14 points and dished out 7 assists, but also committed 6 costly turnovers.  MSU’s best player – Raymar Morgan – was invisible all night long.  Morgan fouled out after scoring just 4 points and grabbing only 1 offensive rebound.  Morgan only took a total of 2 shots from the field.

Kudos to Coach Williams and his Tarheels.  There was a lot of pressure on North Caraolina to get the win over the “home-town underdog” Spartans, and they didn’t disappoint.  Williams has now added his name to the elite list of college coaches who have won multiple NCAA Basketball Championships – Mike Kryzewski, Jim Calhoun and Billy Donovan are the only other active coaches to lay claim to multiple championships. And he should be credited with rejuvenating the Tarhell program which should once again be a national powerhouse for years to come…

Michael Jordan’s son Marcus announced that he will attend and play for the University of Central Florida. Both of his sons will probably never play in the NBA since they are considered only good players, but they both did get scholarships to play basketball. When your dads Michael Jordan I guess that doesn’t really matter he can afford to pay for school even if they didn’t.

So much has been said about the New York Mets’ collapses in September in each of the last 2 seasons.  With a bullpen that just blew way too many saves too be reliable each of the last 2 seasons, Mets GM Omar Minaya made it his off-season mission to make sure that did not happen during the 2009 MLB schedule.

How did the moves pay-off in the Mets opening day game against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday?  It was a one word answer:  perfectly.

Johan Santana – the Mets ace acquired in free agency a little over a year ago – pitched well enough to give the Mets a 2-1 lead into the 6th inning.  Newly acquired Sean Green came into the game with 2-men on and 2 out and his job was to preserve the Mets 1-run lead.  He did just that – getting out of the jam with a soft line drive to left field and then retiring the Reds 1-2-3 in the 7th inning.  Next up – - newly acquired J.J. Putz.  1 walk and 1 strikeout later, the Mets still had the 2-1 lead heading into the 9th inning.  Next up – - Francisco Rodriguez – or K-Rod as he is affectionately known throughout all of baseball.  10 pitches later – 8 of which were strikes – K-Rod had his 1st save as a Met and the Mets were 1-0.

Now I know it is just 1 game, but this is exactly why Minaya signed K-Rod to a 3-year deal and exactly why he traded for Putz and Green.  If today’s game is any indication – 3 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 2 K’s – these guys can pitch.  And as long as they stay healthy, you won’t see these guys collapsing late in the season.  Will it be enough for the Mets to overtake the defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL East Division Crown?  I guess we won’t officially know that answer until October, but I like my odds with the bullpen Minaya has put together.

With the championship game just hours away tickets for this NCAA brawl are still hot. If you are just looking to get into the game its going to cost you about $325 and good seats are still at $400 to $1,500. This comes as some what of a surprise since the Super Bowl back in February was not that hot of an event.  With the economy going down and people losing jobs many brokers did not think it would turn out to be that big of event. A lot of fans like to hold off until the last minute to get the best deal, but sometimes this gamble can come back to bit you.  We talked to Joe from ticketchest.com and he told us that they have received many calls and emails from people in Detroit looking for cheap tickets. He said, “It looks like there is going to be a lot of people in Detroit not going to the game.” Waiting is a gamble and its unfortunate that people miss out but its a market and it goes up and down with the demand for the event.

Also, what many people don’t realize is that when you wait and try to get tickets right before the event or on the street you could end up with fake tickets. If you don’t use a legitimate source for your tickets it could cost you the money you spent on the tickets and you won’t get in.

Call it karma…

This has never happened before in the New York.

On Friday night (April 3rd), the New York Yankees and New York Mets each opened new baseball stadiums.  And although they were only “exhibition” games, each team pulled out the victory, marking it the first time that 2 teams playing for the same “city” opened new stadiums and won their respective games.  Does this mean we are headed for a Subway Series?  Probably not, but it is an odd first.

The New York Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-3 at the new Yankee Stadium behind home runs from Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and Cody Ransom.

The New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-3 behind solid pitching from Livan Hernandez, Pedro Feliciano and Francisco Rodriguez and clutch hitting from the ageless Fernando Tatis and newly signed, Red Sox cast-off Bobby Kielty.

2 teams playing for New York.  2 new stadiums.  2 rainy nights.  2 victories.

The Yankees and Mets faced off in a Subway Series back in 2000 – the Yankees took the crown in 5 games.  Will 2009 bring another Subway Series to the Bronx and Queens?  We’ll have to wait about 6 months to find out…