Weekend Wrap

This weekend there was plenty of sports to watch. Whether it was the Stanley Cup Final, Women's College World Series, NBA Playoffs, Men's College World Series Regionals, MLB regualr season, French Open, NASCAR race at Dover, or the Giro d'Italia, there was sports on from the time you woke up to the time you went to bed.

There was a 25-inning college baseball game between Texas and Boston College, a 9-inning, 4hour 15 minute softball game between Washington and Georgia, the Red Wings winning the first 2 games against the Penguins and LeBron James still not having the supporting cast to win him a title.

TOP 5 PERFORMANCES OF THE WEEKEND

Usually hitting two home runs in a game, throwing a no-hitter through 6, or striking out 12 batters in a game would be a top 5 performance of the weekend. But unfortuneately for Ryan Howard, C.C. Sabathia, and Jon Lester, all three will not make the top 5 this weekend. So while you ask yourself if Washington pitcher Danielle Lawrie is better looking as a blonde or brunette, here are the top 5 performances of the weekend of May 29-31.

5. Florida State Baseball Team- 61 runs in 3 games.
The Florida State baseball team entered the Tallahassee regional in fairly good shape. A series at home, and the potential to score runs. I guarantee you if you told any Seminole player on Friday that they would score 61 runs in 3 games, they would think you were crazy. But, the only thing crazy was the ridiculous amount of runs that the Seminoles put up on Ohio State Sunday night. The Seminoles won 37-6. No, it wasn't a football game, although the score might seem like it. The Seminole baseball team really score 37 on the Buckeyes after scoring 16 on Marist, and 8 on Georgia earlier in the weekend. With the win, Florida State advanced to the super regionals in the NCAA Tournament next week.

4. Dinara Safina- Losing 5 games in 4 matches.
No one doubts Dinara Safina's skill, it runs in the family her brother Marat Safin was one of the best players of his time. Safina entered the French Open as the #1 women's seed and is proving why. Safina won 6-0,6-0 in the 1st round, 6-1,6-1 in the 2nd, 6-2,6-0, in her 3rd round match and today won 6-1, 6-0 in her 4th round match. If she continues her pace, the women's title will be hers on Saturday.

3. Denis Menchov- Giro d'Italia Winner
In the Italian version of the Tour de France, Menchov showed excellent skill in holding offf 2nd-place Danilo DiLuca for the past week in the mountains. But, Menchov faced his toughest challenge today in Rome. A time-trial as the final stage of the race, up by only 20 seconds on DiLuca, and having to ride his bike through the wet streets of the eternal city. Everything was going well for Menchov, until he got into the last kilometer and his bike came up from underneath him. But without a few seconds going by, the technician in the team car following Menchov sprinted out and gave him a new bike and Menchov ended up finishing with plenty of time in front of DiLuca to win his 1st Giro d'Italia title.

2. Robin Soderling- Upsets #1 Rafael Nadal
Who??? Robin Soderling is known to sports fans around the globe after his upset Sunday of #1 seed and 4-time defending champ Rafael Nadal. Soderling was the better player all match long giving Nadal no shot of winning the match. It took 4 sets and 2 tiebreaks for Soderling to give Nadal his first loss at Roland Garros bringing Nadal's record to 31-1. Soderling win now take on Nikolay Davydenko in the quarters but more importantly has opened up the bracket on the men's side.

1. Austin Wood- P, Texas Longhorns
In a game that lasted 25 innings and 7 1/2 hours, Wood was the shining star in a game that lasted forever in the Austin regional. Wood threw 12 1/3 no-hit innings, which would be more than enough in any other regular game but not on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Wood entered the game in the 7th and shut down Boston College for 12 1/3 innings until giving up a hit with 1 out in the 19th inning. For some reason, the Longhorns couldn't push a run across until the 25th inning when Wood was out of the game. In total, Wood threw 13 innings, giving up 1 hit and he threw 169 pitches.

Although next weekend won't be as exciting this weekend. I wish you will be reading this column next week when you have nothing else better to do.

Champions League Final

ok. so i was wrong. barcelona became champions of european soccer today. but they completely deserved it. after samuel eto'o scored in the 10th minute they put the game on cruise control and sailed right on to victory. the second goal they scored by lionel messi was absolutely brilliant. messi outplayed ronaldo for the whole of the match. as for the worries abour barca's back four, there was nothing to worry about. carlos puyol did a great job filling in for dani alves at left back and at least is my mvp for the match.

so now that both teams seasons are over, they will likely spend money to get better for next year's competition. but for now soccer season is basically over, except for the fa cup final on saturday between chelsea and everton.

Baseball's Young Stars Getting Called Up

The past few weeks has already brought baseball fans excitement and also young prospects excitement by being calles up to the majors for the first time. With prospects such as 3B Mat Gamel(Milwaukee) and OF Matt Laporta(Cleveland) being called up, Laporta was sent down earlier this week. This week has brought the biggest week for Oriole fans especially with star prospect C Matt Wieters, a 6-5 switch-hitting catcher, who will be called up on Friday to start against the Tigers. Some young prospects have already made their long-awaited debuts this week. OF Fernando Martinez, the Mets #1 prospect was called up when OF Ryan Church went on the DL and last year's #1 overall pick , P David Price of Tampa Bay made his season debut after taking Scott Kazmir's place in the rotation. Although Price left the game Monday after 3 1/3 innings and 100 pitches and Martinez went 0-for-3 in his debut, the hype around the two is still alive, especially for Price after his performance in the postseason last year. Also, the Chicago Cubs have promoted OF/1B Jake Fox today. Fox leads all the minor leagues with 17 HR and over .400 average.

As for Matt Wieters, I personally saw him play for Double-A Bowie last summer, and he is the real deal. As a 6-5, switch-hitting catcher, he could strike fear into opposing pitchers immediately, at least for the first few weeks until teams have his tendencies down and learn how to pitch him. That will be the real challenge for Wieters, learning how to adjust to pitchers who adjusted to his hitting style.

As for other prospects still in the minors, it is only a matter time before P Tommy Hanson joins the Atlanta rotation because of the problems they are having, first with Jo-Jo Reyes, who got demoted to the bullpen, and now with newly promoted Kris Medlen, who outshined Hanson at Triple-A Gwinnett for the first past of the season. Also, don't be surprised if you see San Francisco's rotation bolstered later in the year with Madison Bumgarner and/or Tim Alderson, who are both in Double-A Connecticut right now. ( I hope I get to see one of them pitch in Trenton in the middle of June). Baltimore's rotation could also be strengthened by Jake Arrieta, who is lighting up the Eastern League at Bowie this season.(I also hope to see him next week at Trenton).

As for more young prospects, I will update this part of the blog as much as I can. And please excuse the bias to the Eastern League, I have a 12-game pack at Trenton and get to see a lot of talent in that league.

Champions League Final

Tonight in Rome, Manchester United (Premier League champions and defending Champions League champs) face Barcelona(La Liga and Spanish Cup champs) in the UEFA Champions League final. Tonight's final does not lack anything in its build up. The most interesting storyline is Cristiano Ronaldo v. Lionel Messi. Which one of these two world-class players will shine the brighest? Ronaldo beat out Messi to become the World Player of the Year in 2008. But, in this year's Champions League, Messi has been more consistent in his performace, although Ronaldo has stepped up to the plate in the past few games.

Another big storyline that people are overlooking is that Barca will be without fullbacks Dani Alves and Eric Abidal due to yellow card suspension and centerback Rafa Marquez is out due to injury. This absence could hurt Barca greatly. The one that will be missed the most is Alves, whose speed up and down the right side of the field is irreplaceable. This may give Man United an easier route on the outside of the pitch with Ronaldo, Patrice Evra, Wayne Rooney, and big game player Ji-Sung Park. Park could be the man who by himself could exploit the absence of Alves and Abidal the most. Park always seems to be on the pitch to start any big match.

The good news for Barca is that Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta are supposed to play so that will give them a better attack force up front along Messi and Samuel Eto'o. Another thing going Barca's way is the heat in Rome. Over the past week, Italy has been in a heat wave and that could help the Spanish team and maybe cause the Man United players to cramp up towards the back end of the game(especially if extra time is needed).

Now time to pick a winner:
Even with the heat on their side and with the return of Henry and Iniesta, I believe that the abscence of Alves and Abidal will be too much to overcome.

Prediction: Manchester United 2, Barcelona 1. Goals by Ronaldo and Rooney for Man U, and Eto'o scores for Barca.

Joe's Blog

My name is Joe. I am an avid sports fan. On this blog I will share my opinions about pro sports.