Must See Sports – Fourth Weekend of May 2011

The NBA Finals are set. Major League Baseball is getting intense. And…there are still no NFL players. Get your chips, dip, and beer and get ready for a fun weekend with your TV set. Here is the Memorial Day Weekend edition of Must See Sports.


Friday, May 27

MLB

Cleveland Indians at Tampa Bay Rays
Josh Tomlin – Indians (6-1, 2.41) vs David Price – Rays (5-4, 3.89)

The best team in the American League visits the Rays, a team in a tight three way battle in the AL East with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. David Price has pitched well for the Rays, but it is not as well reflected in his win-loss record. Price has a strikeout to walk ratio of 56-10 and gives his team well over 100 pitches per start, but generally struggled in the four games he lost.

Josh Tomliln continues to be on a roll, with all of his nine starts being quality starts in 2011. He will have to contend with a red hot Rays right fielder in Matt Joyce (.367, 8 HR, 26 RBI), who is in the running for the American League batting title. Likewise, shortstop Astdrubal Cabrera (.306, 10 HR, 34 RBI) of the Indians continues to have a banner season.

David Price has had a Jekyll and Hyde year on the mound at times, but when he is on, he is really on. The game is in Tampa and I think that somewhat offsets the consistency of Tomlin’s pitching and the Indians’ bats.

Advantages - Game: push, Series: Rays

David Price: Getting back on track. 1

Saturday, May 28

MLB

Cincinnati Reds at Atlanta Braves
Bronson Arroyo (3-5, 5.28) – Reds vs Derek Lowe (3-4, 3.53) – Braves

The Reds are trying to stop a vicious slump, losing 8 of their last nine games. The Braves continue their pursuit of the NL East leading Phillies, 3.5 games back of first place.

The Braves and Reds are real life examples of how great pitching can overcome sub par hitting, but not the other way around. The Reds are at the top of the Major Leagues in runs scored but in the bottom 5 in ERA. Arroyo, and fellow starting pitchers Mike Leake (3-2, 5.70) and Endison Volquez, whose ERA is greater than 6.00 and was recently sent down to the minors, continue to struggle to return to past form.

The Braves, on the other hand, as they have for most of the last 20 years, may have the overall best pitching in baseball. While their team batting average is only .242 and their leading hitter, Martin Prado (.285, 6 HR, 29 RBI), is hitting below .300, their bats do just enough, which does not have to be much when the Braves are pitching as well as they are.

Advantages – Game: Braves, Series: Braves

Baseball mascots are far and away the funniest in sports, to me. 2

Sunday, May 29

The 2011 Indianapolis 500 presented by GoDaddy.com

NASCAR may be the hot motor sport of late, but racing purists may argue that IndyCar is “real” racing in America. With over 30 cars whizzing by at over 220 miles per hour, the Indy enthusiast makes a compelling case. Canadian Alex Tagliani (#77) won the pole position with a qualifying speed of 227.472 mph. I have very limited depth of IndyCar knowledge, except that I wouldn’t mind seeing Danica Patrick (#7) (25th position, 224.861 mph) come out of that GoDaddy.com racing suit and taking a champagne shower at the end of the race. This should be fun viewing, even for the most casual of motor sports fans.

Danica Patrick, folks. Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES! Mine is...! 3

Monday, May 30

MLB

San Francisco Giants at St. Louis Cardinals
Madison Bumgarner (1-6, 3.79) – Giants vs Kyle McClellan (6-1, 3.11)

Bumgarner got off to a brutally rough start to his 2011 campaign, but since has had five consecutive quality starts, with an ERA of 2.14 during that stretch. The Giants continue to struggle at the plate, near the bottom of the Majors in offense, and the loss of star catcher Buster Posey (.284, 4 HR, 21 RBI), possibly for the season, will not help the Giants reverse that trend.

The Cardinals are red hot, winning 10 of their last 12 to stay ahead of the, also hot, Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Central. McClellan has been an absolute stud in his last two starts, with a 1.29 ERA in 14 innings of work and yielding two baserunners in his last start, against the San Diego Padres. He will need to pitch well for the Cardinals to have their best chances in the first game of this four game series.

Advantages – Game: Cardinals, Series: split


Tuesday, May 31

NBA Finals – Game 1

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat

They eyes of the basketball world have been on Miami ever since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach last July. Some critics accused the Heat’s trio of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh of exerting too much influence over the competitive balance of the league. Some thought that two of the league’s five best players, James and Wade, may have a clash of egos and could not exist on the same team. Nearly 11 months later, the Heat have won the Eastern Conference Championship and are four wins away from saying, “I told you so.”

The Ultimate Prize 4

The Dallas Mavericks have been a model of consistency throughout the regular season and the playoffs. They did not run out of gas and crash & burn, like the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics. They did not go on a roller coaster ride, like the Los Angeles Lakers did, especially in the first half of the season. They never had to carve out an identity for themselves and gel into a cohesive unit, like their opponent, the Heat.

The Heat have home court advantage. The Heat have not lost at home during this postseason. LeBron James, in the Eastern Conference Finals series against the Chicago Bulls, elevated his game to a higher level, a championship caliber level. They are going to be very difficult to beat.

I think The King is fired up about the Finals. 6

The Mavericks are playing lights out basketball in the playoffs. They are also red hot having won 10 of their last 11 games. The Mavericks have players in Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki, who have been to the Finals before, only to come up just short of the ultimate prize. Nowitzki is playing the best playoff basketball of his career and has also elevated his game in these playoffs.

Dirk: A man on a mission 5

This is a rematch of the two franchises from the 2006 NBA Finals. Both teams are full of players who, for a number of reasons, are very hungry for a championship ring. I think the Mavericks have more depth, but the Heat have more talent at the top. I believe home court is what may tip the scales to the Heat’s favor in this series.

Advantages – Game: Heat, Series: Heat


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1) Image from faniq.com
2) Image from baseballmascots.blogspot.com
3) Image from si.com via wtfman.net
4) Image from nba-news-alex.blogspot.com
5) Image from newstweed.com
6) Image from setanchor.com