SPORTS SPECTRUM MAGAZINE PRESENTS
SPORTS SPECTRUM DAILY
Looking Closer at the World of Sports
By Dave Branon and Rob Bentz
MONDAY, MAY 12, 2008
MLB
CRAWFORD POWERS RAYS SWEEP OF ANGELS
On Sunday, Los Angeles Angels starter Ervin Santana was looking to become the American League's first seven-game winner. It didn't happen. The Tampa Bay Rays got to Santana and beat the Angels 8-5 to complete a sweep of their weekend series.
Santana worked five innings and left with a 5-4 lead and a runner on base and two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Reliever Justin Speier (0-3) gave up a double Akinori Iwamura and then served up a three-run blast to Carl Crawford. The Rays fleet center fielder went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a three RBI.
J.P. Howell (2-0) worked three scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory. Troy Percival pitched the ninth inning for his ninth save of the season.
The win pushed Tampa Bay's record to 21-16-the first time they have been five games above .500 in franchise history!
AMERICAN LEAGUE SCORES
Minnesota 9, Boston 8
Seattle 6, Chicago White Sox 3
Kansas City 4, Baltimore 0
Oakland 12, Texas 6
Cleveland vs. Toronto 3 - Postponed
New York Yankees vs. Detroit - Postponed
NATIONAL LEAGUE SCORES
Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3
New York Mets 8, Cincinnati 3
Florida 5, Washington 4
Chicago Cubs 6, Arizona 4
San Diego 6, Colorado 1
Houston 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 5
San Francisco 4, Philadelphia 3
Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh - Postponed
NBA
SPURS, JAZZ EVEN THINGS UP
San Antonio 100, New Orleans 80
Tim Duncan reminded everyone why he is such force to be reckoned with on Sunday night in San Antonio as he led the Spurs to a convincing victory over New Orleans. The hometown victory for Gregg Popovich's guys knots their series with the Hornets at 2-2 as both teams won their home games.
Duncan scored 22 points on just 13 shots from the field, and he scraped the boards for 15 rebounds. In addition, he blocked four New Orleans shots as the Spurs clamped down on the Hornets' offense. They held David West to just 10 points, making Chris Paul's 23-point contribution inconsequential for lack of support.
Tony Parker, who had a huge first quarter for the Spurs to get them going, scored 21 points.
The teams head for New Orleans for Game 5 as the Hornets try to recapture the momentum they failed to maintain when the teams traveled west to San Antonio.
Utah 123, LA Lakers 115
Talk about a see-saw ballgame. Utah takes a 10-point lead after one quarter. LA reverses things to tie the game at the half. Utah outscores the Lakers by four in the third. LA returns the favor in the fourth.
The math adds up to overtime, and in this case the Jazz didn't leave the Lakers any time to regroup and come back. In the extra session, the Jazz clamped down their defense on the visitors from LA and allowed them just two field goals in the extra time. Meanwhile, LA's defense was sending the Jazz to the foul line, where they made shot after shot-nine of nine to be exact. For the entire game, the Jazz marched to the free throw line 45 times, which added up to a 23-point differential (37-45 vs. 14-25).
Deron Williams took scoring honors for Utah with 29 points to go with his 14 assists. Carlos Boozer (14 points and 12 rebounds) and Mehmet Okur (18 and 11) had double-doubles as well.
Kobe Bryant took 33 shots and scored 33 points for LA. He had 10 assists. Lamar Odom's 26 and 13, combined with Pau Gasol's 23 and 10 meant that both teams had three players with double-doubles.
The teams will hook up in Game 5 on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
NBA PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
BOSTON VS. CLEVELAND
Game 1: Boston 76, Cleveland 72
Game 2: Boston 89, Cleveland 73
Game 3: Cleveland 108, Boston 84
Boston leads 2-1
Game 4: Monday at Cleveland
DETROIT VS. ORLANDO
Game 1: Detroit 91, Orlando 72
Game 2: Detroit 100, Orlando 93
Game 3: Orlando 111, Detroit 86
Game 4: Detroit 90, Orlando 89
Detroit leads 3-1
Game 5: Tuesday at Detroit
WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
LOS ANGELES LAKERS VS. UTAH
Game 1: LA Lakers 109, Utah 98
Game 2: LA Lakers 120, Utah 110
Game 3: Utah 104, LA Lakers 99
Game 4: Utah 123, LA Lakers 115 (OT)
Series tied 2-2
Game 5: Wednesday at Los Angeles
NEW ORLEANS VS. SAN ANTONIO
Game 1: New Orleans 101, San Antonio 82
Game 2: New Orleans 102, San Antonio 84
Game 3: San Antonio 110, New Orleans 99
Game 4: San Antonio 100, New Orleans 80
Series tied 2-2
Game 5: Tuesday at New Orleans
NHL
PENS DOUBLE FLYERS AGAIN, LEAD 2-0
Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2
This time the Penguins didn't put the game away in the first period, but they waited until the third period to settle things.
The Penguins scored first, as they did in Game 1. This time Sidney Crosby got the scoring going at 10:48 of the first with his fourth postseason goal. The Flyers came back to tie the game early in the second on a Jeff Carter goal, and after Marian Hossa put the Pens up 2-1, Mike Richards scored this third goal of the series to even the score at two going into the final session.
But at 8:51 of the third, Max Talbot knocked home the game-winning goal for the Penguins. Jordan Staal's empty-netter in the game's final minute made the final score 4-2.
CONFERENCE FINALS
East
Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
Game 1: Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2
Game 2: Pittsburgh 4, Philadelphia 2
Pittsburgh leads 2-0
Game 3: Tuesday at Philadelphia
West
Detroit vs. Dallas
Game 1: Detroit 4, Dallas 1
Game 2: Detroit 2, Dallas 1
Detroit leads 1-0
Game 3: Monday at Dallas
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
What matters in life-in the words of an athlete in the news.
TODAY'S FEATURE
CARLOS BELTRAN, outfielder, New York Mets
BIO NOTE: Beltran has recorded six 100-plus RBI seasons in his career since 1999.
RECENT NEWS: On Sunday, Beltran had a double and a home run as he helped the Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds.
FAITH QUOTE: “I had been feeling that I wanted to have a better life, and I found it in God. Luis [Alicea] asked my wife and I if we wanted to accept Jesus, and we said yes. It was the biggest decision I ever made. It's not that everything is perfect now or that my wife and I don't have struggles anymore, but it's easier going through it with Christ in our lives.” -Sports Spectrum magazine
MINI MEMOS
Putting the Sports Spectrum spin on today's sports news
MLB
FISH HAVE “TBRIB”
In a world of tradition-rich Boston, offense-rich Detroit, talent-rich LA Angels, pitching-rich Arizona, and just plain old rich New York, this was not what anyone expected. The Florida Marlins have “The Best Record In Baseball.” Better than the darlings of the media-the Chicago Cubs. Better than the revamped and revitalized St. Louis Cardinals. Better than another of Mr. Beane's miracles in Oakland. The Florida Marlins, who every few years re-invent themselves as at top team in baseball despite spending less money than some sports superstars receive individually in a season, are 23-14-which is even better than their state rivals, the upstart and everybody's pick to finally be good Tampa Bay Rays. Kudos to the folks in Miami for doing it again when no one expected it.
NBA
D'ANTONI IN NEW YORK LEADS TO QUESTIONS
Is Mike D'Antoni ready for this? Can the former Phoenix Suns' coach straighten out the mess created by his predecessors at Madison Square Garden? Will a team that probably thought they were getting former Knicks player Mark Jackson as their coach be happy with a man with no history in the Big Apple? Is it possible for D'Antoni's fast-paced offense to do anything to help the Knicks win when it appears that they first need to play defense? How many changes is the front office willing to make to give D'Antoni some winners to work with? Will Isiah Thomas really and truly stay out of D'Antoni's way? If things don't go well, will the Knicks have another fired coach with a long-term contract to deal with?
GET INVOLVED
Your chance to make your voice heard in SS Daily. Responses will be printed in future Daily reports. Please give your name and hometown when you send your email response.
QUESTION: What college coach (any sport) would you want your son or daughter to play for?
TELL THE DAILY! Send your response to editor@sportsspectrum.com
SPRINT CUP STANDINGS
We are 11 races into the 2008 NASCAR season. On Saturday, Kyle Busch won for the third time this year, taking the checkered flag at Darlington in the Dodge Challenger 500. The race to get into the Cup Chase looks like this.
1. Kyle Busch 1,690
2. Jeff Burton 1,611
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1,556
4. Denny Hamlin 1,500
5. Clint Bowyer 1,490
6. Jimmy Johnson 1,442
7. Carl Edwards 1,400
8. Tony Stewart 1,397
9. Kevin Harvick 1,396
10. Carl Edwards 1,326
POWER UP!
Verse of the Day
“Get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land.” Joshua 1:2
Read about this how verse applies to you. It's the basis for a sports-related devotional article by Rob Bentz.
The article “The Waiting” is found on May 12 in the May-June edition of Power Up, which comes inside each copy of Sports Spectrum magazine.
Read what Rich Gossage learned about waiting-and what we can learn from him about it.
Note: If you order a subscription to Sports Spectrum magazine, you also get Power Up, a daily sports-related devotional booklet. Call 1-866-821-2971 to order.
SIZZLERS
It's all in how you look at things.
JUST WONDERING: How can the low-budget Florida Marlins possibly rip off seven in a row?
JUST WONDERING II: It may be a bit premature, but don't you get the feeling we'll be watching a Pittsburgh/Detroit Stanley Cup Final?
ANYBODY BUT US: Do you remember a week in recent baseball memory when two established big league closers (Gagne & Isringhausen) both asked to be removed from their ninth-inning duties? Weird.
COURTING THE ADVANTAGE: So far in the NBA semifinals, the home teams are 14-1. What is it that makes this such a big factor?
PASS ON MAYO? Will NBA teams fear taking O. J. Mayo, who has had controversy dog him every step of his basketball career?