My 5 reasons (playoff edition).

I've done one of these before, but now it's time to present the Western Conference Semifinal edition of my 5 reasons. 

Just for our dear pal Jonathan (who is currently a part of the Brandon/Jon/Andrew post strike of 63 amazing days), we'll get started with the 5 reasons that the Blackhawks will beat the Canucks: 

1. The Sharp/Kane factor- Jon's favorite boys, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews put up a combined 8 points in 4 games against Vancouver in the 08/09 season. They totally dominated Vancouver during the regular season, helping the Hawks to earn a split against the Orca in four games. The young guns are ready to make it happen in round two. 

2. A lack of injuries- While the Canucks have the possibility of four different players missing games, the Blackhawks are only missing Brent "Hulk" Sopel, and they have pretty much gotten used to playing without him. The defense was still on point in Round 1 without the Hulk, holding the Flames to just 6 goals in Chicago's four wins, and the Canucks don't exactly have the most dynamic offense to challenge that solid D. 

3. Special teams- The Blackhawks were straight dominant in the opening round with the advantage. Chicago nailed down seven goals in 24 chances (a wacky 22.2%) and held down a 88.9% penalty kill mark. With as many penalties as the 'Nucks get called on (ahem, Shane O'Brien), the Hawks will be sure to take advantage, and often. 

4. History- The last time that Vancouver matched up against the Windy City in the playoffs, the Blackhawks marched right through with a 4-0 sweep in the 1995 Western Conference Semi-Finals. Wait, that's the same round that we're starting this Thursday. Oh crap. The Hawks also hold an overall 5-4 postseason edge against my boys, and have a 3-0 lead in Stanley Cup Championships. History is on the side of the Redskins. 

5. Khabibulin- The last time that the 6'1 209 pound netminder made it past the first round, he opened a can for the Tampa Bay Lightning all the way to hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup in 2004. After getting the first four wins, this guy knows nothing by winning it all, and that has to mean something. 

Of course, I think I'll be a little more convincing with my 5 reasons that the 'Nucks will best the Blackhawks: 

1. Roberto Luongo- Are you kidding me? El Roberto has been so crazy in the playoffs thus far, it almost knocks me out of my seat. Every time Vancouver had at least a 1 goal lead against the Blues, the whole thing was practically over. In round 1, Bobby Lu finished with a 4-0 record, a 1.15 GAA, and a .962 save percentage, including a game two shutout. During the regular season, he finished 2-1 against the Hawks with a 2.36 mark. He is a freaking series changer. 

2. The Twins- You thought the Sharp/Kane factor was impressive? Well, in the four games between these two squads during the regular season, Hank and Dan were even better. The brother combined for 12 total points in the four games, and were the huge difference makers for the Blue & Green in the two wins. With Alex Burrows finding his groove on their line, they just can't be stopped. 

3. Special teams- Sound familiar? Vancouver scored on four of their 18 chances on the power play against St. Louis (again, a wacky 22.2%), and were even better than Chicago on the kill with a 95.8% mark in short handed situations. And remember, the Blues were the greatest power play team to touch down on earth in 2008/2009 according to the media. Just try and score, even with a 5 on 3. It isn't happening. 

4. Taking the lead- Vancouver only trailed for 24:46 of the first round, all of which came in their game 3 victory. Out of the entire series, they were only not in command for just over one period of play. They found a way to take control of games, and keep control of games, and that is clutch in the playoffs. 

5. The sweepy momentum- The Blackhawks played a hard fought game with the Calgary Flames before advancing to the semifinals, and the Canucks were able to coast to 4 fairly easy wins and then take a long rest before finding out the round 2 schedule. With the momentum of the sweep, it is hard to imagine Vancouver getting off to anything other than a perfect start in front of Canucks Nation at the Garage on Thursday night. 

I sure hope I made my point, and not Jon's. No matter what happens in this series, keep in mind that this one is going to be a battle. In the regular season, these two teams matched up in a game that finished with 98 penalty minutes. Just in one game! The season series features big hits, brawls, and even some "alleged" hair pulling (Blackhawk pussies), and the matchup here in the playoffs promises to be no different. This is going to be a knock down drag out LSF battle, and it is the battle we've all been waiting for. 

Two things on the way out that won't go unnoticed. The Celtics beat the Bulls in OT to grab the series lead and a chance to close things out against the Bulls on Thursday (thanks Brandon). Also, the Angels topped the Orioles in B-More tonight with an impressive 7-5 win to improve to 8-11 and climb out of the cellar in the AL West (thanks Howie). 

None of that really matters, though, because starting on Thursday it is all about the NHL West's round two. 

Weekly football post #33.

It was a casual European football weekend, so let's get this party started. 

The boys from Celtic took the weekend off after a 2-0 win against Aberdeen, and look to continue their top form against Aberdeen again on Saturday. With a slim one point lead over Rangers, obviously, every single win is huge. In other SPL news, reports are coming out that neither Celtic or Rangers are likely to make the rumored jump to the EPL in the next couple of years. The EPL's elite are said to want to block the possible move, which is too bad, because it would be awesome. 

Newcastle didn't lost this weekend! I guess they are planning on saving it for the Monday Night Football match against Portsmouth tonight. The word on the street is that back Steven Taylor may not be fit enough to play in the Monday night clash, a match that Newcastle obviously needs to win. Four points shy of safety (#17 Hull City's 34 points), the Mags and their 30 point season really need to make a huge push here at end. Port will be a tough match here tonight, but hopefully Shearer and company can get something good to happen so that Magpie Nation can feel that much closer to staying with the big boys. 

Down in swine flu country, we had an erie site at the Chivas Guadalajara v UNAM game. If you haven't heard about the swine flu, you had better read some news. In Mexico, over 100 people have died from this crazy outbreak, and it is spreading into California as we speak. Because of fear of the flu, Mexico City has seen cancellations in masses, bars and restaurants closing, schools and work places completely shutting down, and even more bizarre is that not a single fan showed up for the Chivas football match. I'm not even kidding. They played the game against UNAM in a completely empty football stadium, with not a cheering fan in site. People in Mexico are so worried about the spread of the virus that they all just stayed home. Read about the story here. In the "behind closed doors match" (sounds like an old school WWF event), Chivas and Pumas came to a 1-1 draw. A goal by the Goats' Javier Hernandez Balcazar was cancelled out by UNAM's Juan Cacho, and the players walked off the pitch in silence looking up into the deserted seats. How bizarre. Chivas play Everton this Wednesday (I hope you're ready for the beat down, Jon) before getting back to FMF play on Sunday against Puebla, that is, if all the players survive this deadly swine virus.

Meanwhile, Chivas USA had plenty of fans to cheer them past Dallas this weekend at the HDC. Our boy Atiba Harris scored the opening goal of the game in the 68th minute and was followed by Alecko Eskandarian added a nice insurance goal in stoppage time to crush Dallas in a 2-0 victory. The two teams finished with just 10 a side as Dallas had Dario Sala booted in the first half, and our goal scorer Atiba Harris earned his second yellow card in the final minute. Scrappy. Chivas was able to hang on, despite the Harris ejection, thanks in part to the return of previously injured super star Justin Braun. Give some bear sized props to the sure-to-be MLS keeper of the year, Zach "The Beast" Thorton earned just another clean sheet in the big Chivas win. ZT now has 4 shutouts in his 7 starts, leading Chivas to glory here in 2009. At 5-1-1 (16 points), the American Goats are +4 on second place Seattle, and hold the overall lead in the MLS if that matters. Next weekend is the big match around my household with Chivas matching up against San Jose, in the SJC. Can my boys keep up the winning against the 1-3-2 Earthquakes? Yes. 

On my way out, here are some quick hits:

1. A double OT clash between Austin and Chicago ended with the Bulls matching the playoff series at two game a piece. Can I say that Paul Pierce finishes as the goat of the game for getting his game tying last second three pointer blocked right in his face? He needs to look off for a better shot. Ray Ray, anyone? Game 5 of this classic series is tomorrow afternoon. 

2. The Angels avoided another Seattle sweep with an 8-0 drubbing of the Mariners. The two stars of the game are Jered Weaver (7 innings of shutout ball with just 3 hits allowed, punching out 5) and my man Howie Kendrick (finally finding his stick on a 3 for 5 afternoon with 4, count 'em 4, RBI). 

3. An overall look at the NHL: Not good for the Rangers to have to play a game 7 against the Caps. Can Carolina upset New Jersey? Can Chicago close out the Flames tonight? Can Anaheim close the deal on their 8-1 upset tonight? Who the heck are the Canucks going to play when we eventually get to round 2? I love the NHL playoffs. 

About to be 6-11.

With the Angels bullpen handing the Mariners another big lead, 8-3 in the seventh inning, the Angels are surely headed to a 6-11 start and a 5.5 game deficit in the AL West. After winning just 1 out of 3 against the M's, the Halos got swept by Minnie, and then took 2 out of 3 from Detroit. That was a fun little spirt. Now we are staring another potential Seattle sweep in the face, this time at home, and Angels fans are wondering when the bleeding will stop. Is there anything we can do to plug the hole in the boat before our starters return? 

Here is our current DL (which, by the way, is even worse than I realized with the NHL Playoffs distracting me): Ervin, Lackey, Escobar, Darren Oliver, Dustin Moseley, Vlad, and Kevin Jepsen. With May being the month when most of those guys will be back (outside of Esco's predicted June return), we have a ways to go with our troubled roster. Who would have guessed that our April starting rotation would be 1. Joe Saunders, 2. Jered Weaver, 3. Anthony Ortega, 4. Shane Loux, and 5. Matt Palmer? Or that our bullpen would be 1. Jose Arredondo, 2. Jason Bulger, 3. Daniel Davidson (rocking Frankie's #57, by the way), 4. Brian Fuentes, 5. Rafael Rodriguez, 6. Shields, and 7. Speier? Looking at the names on the bullpen, it isn't too surprising that the bullpen's ERA is up over 8. Honestly, despite the large holes in our starting rotation, I want to give the opening hurlers props for doing such a good job. What to do about this bullpen, though. It's just bad. The rest of the roster is solid, outside of the ailing Vlad, so the pitching is the only problem, right? 

Well, not completely. While the offense was ultra-hot during our losing in the very begining, the run differential is a tad off putting these days. With their -19 run differential, which is not counting the current 3-9 deficit against the M's, the Angels rank dead last in the AL West. Here is my list of the zeroes on the Angels roster in terms of offense, meaning the ones dragging down that team .269 average: First off, sadly, is my boy Howie Kendrick. HK-47 is hitting just .207 on the season, which is not good enough to win the batting title in case you were wondering. Chone Figgins, leading the squad off, has just a .230 mark, and Gary Matthews (playing a bigger role after Vlad's injury and constant offseason bitching) is slugging at just .242. What is wrong with you three? Also underperforming to this point are Vlad and Kendry's .250. However, there are some red hats really bringing the heat this season, and they include Bobby Abreu's .349 with 24 total bases in his 16 games. It cannot go unmentioned that Abreu has completely delivered since signing with the Halos. Also helping the offense has been Torii's .327/6/11, which is the most impressive start for the squad here in 2009. Let's not leave out JR's .292 or Aybar and Izzy's .286. So, we do have a couple of things to be proud of, which will bring me to my final point. 

Can I be honest? This is the kind of season that I kind of enjoy. Hang with me now. The team is underperforming, yes; but we are getting a shot to see our young pitchers getting their MLB debuts in, young relievers trying to settle down and put up zeroes, a couple of studs with sticks just pounding the ball, and tons of bandwagon fans jumping off well before May 1st. When you lose most of your games, the wins are so much more exciting. Just ask Brandon and his Clippers. When you pull through with a sweet win in the midst of a losing season, it almost feels like the playoffs are here early. Just look, Abreu just laced a RBI single to drive in HK and I'm freaking pumped. In the middle of a 4-9 losing battle, I have a smile. Will this be one of those 81-81 seasons where I have a better time as a fan than when we go out in the first round against Boston after winning 100? Or, will all of this worry around Angels Nation be for nothing when the Angels turn this awful start around like they did as World Champions in 2002? I guess we shall see soon enough. 

Hopefully that wasn't as rambling as it felt. 

On my way out, here are a few items I'm thinking about: 1) The C's have a chance to take a 3-1 lead on the Bulls after a huge 107-86 win on Thursday. 2) Chicago has a chance to eliminate the Flames in their next game! 3) The Sharkies are playing for their playoff lives tonight, and winning. 4) I'm all about Dallas, TX native and Baylor grad Jason Smith as the Rams new OT and even more all about Ohio State graduate James Laurinaitis. I know, the Bukeyes suck, but this guy was actually predicted by scouts to be a second or third round draft pick in the NHL before choosing football instead. The Minnesota native must be some kind of stud to be that solid of an icer. 

By the way, Chivas de Guadalajara and Jon's Everton CD are matching up this Wednesday in the Copa Libertadores. All I can say is that Everton is really going down. Really. 

Burrows, Canucks complete sweep.

SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! Alex Burrows nabbed two goals including the game winner with 18.9 ticks to go in OT, Roberto Luongo stood damn tall with 47 gigantic saves, and my Vancouver Canucks finished off a four game sweep against the most disappointing #6 squad in recent memory. 

What a freaking win, man. The scoring opened up at 5:20 of the first period, with my man Kyle "Dub Dub" Wellwood stealing a pass in the offensive zone and putting a move on Chris Mason to shut the fans up. The penalty calling was relatively non-existent (9 total in game- most of them going to St. Louis). Neither team scored with the advantage, but at least the Vannies only went 0 for 3. The 0 for 7 night for St. Louis capped off more proof that regular season power play percentages don't mean a damned thing when you get to the second season. Alex Burrows quieted the Missourian crowd even more at 9:23 of the second period with an amazing redirection on a Shane O'Brien shot. The sweep was in the bag. Or was it? The Blues answered with two goals of their own in the second, rebound tallies by Brad Boyes and David Perron to square us back up. After a quiet third period, we were headed to the thrilling playoff overtime. Man, Roberto was good. St, Louis peppered him with 18 shots in the OT for a game filled with 49 shots from the Blues, and he just came up huge for the Orca. After a long overtime, the Canucks made things happen to end the first round. Willie Mitchell grabbed the puck in the defensive zone and sent one of those pretty two line passes that are legal these days all the way to a waiting Alex Burrows. Could he do it? My boy AB streaked into the zone with one defensive played coming toward him, but he fired a comet-like wrist shot that just found its way into the twine for the game winning goal. Burrows celebrated briefly before getting mugged by his teammates, and the Canucks have become the first team in the playoffs to punch their ticket to the semifinal. Wicked!

The media's three stars were respectful, with 1) Luongo (47 bombastic saves), 2) Alex Burrows (2 goals, including that dramatic game winner), and 3) Andy McDonald (1 assist?). Close, but as usual, no cigar. The underrated LSF stars of the game are 1) Burrows (come on, he's my boy), 2) Luongo (you have to respect the effort of two games worth of shots in one long test), and 3) Willie Mitchell (how many times do they have to forget about this guy? Two underrated assists, including the game winning assist on a pretty ass pass did the trick). Keys to the game? El Roberto was totally savage. With some solid offense, his catalytic keeping (does that work?) can't be overlooked. The Canucks only had 1 giveaway in the game, compared to the Blues and their 11, which is also pretty huge. Basically, however, I just think that we had the major momentum and there was no stopping us. The Orca swims on. Things to keep in mind? This was the Vannies first-ever-best-of-seven sweep in franchise history. Also, keep in mind that Sami Salo (groin) was an injured scratch along with Mats Sundin (groin), and we'll need both of those guys to make things easier in round 2 (especially Salo, obviously). Wait, both of the guys have groin injuries? Bedroom injury? Together!?

With the sweep, my boys head right into the Western Conference Seminfinals. BRING IT! What a first round; makes me excited for round 2. Here is the breakdown as I understand it: If Anaheim wins against San Jose, the Canucks would play either Chicago or Calgary OR if San Jose wins, we would probably play Detroit. So, for 1) a chance to play Jon's favorite team in round 2, and 2) to play an "easier" team than the Red Wings, I'm now officially rooting for the Ducks to upend the Sharks. I know it's sad, but it's all about the easiest path to Lord Stanley folks. Right now the Ducks and Sharks are tied at 3 after 2 periods, as the Ducks try to take an unbelievable 3-0 lead. 

I love playoff hockey. 

Weekly football post #32.

Time for another edition of the weekly football post, and things aren't really looking up for Tommy's favorite EPL squad. 

A hugely important match against the Totts didn't go very well this weekend for 'Castle, as Darren Brent nailed a golden goal to push Newcastle to a 0-1 loss, and give even Alan Shearer a serious lack of confidence when it comes to staying into the EPL. With the loss, the Magpies are now 4 points from safety with just five matches to go to save themselves. Manager Alan Shearer has come out in a statement that Newcastle will need to win their final three home matches to have any chance of staying in England's best soccer league. It is kind of tough to listen to the Newcastle media giving Shearer all kinds of crap for this situation, calling the role of the dice to hire Alan a "gamble that has backfired." Of course, this situation was put into effect long before #9 put on a suit for the Mags, and he's just the new face that is piloting this subpar team. With just 30 points in 33 games, Newcastle is just 5 points up on last place West Brom, and as was stated sit 4 points back from Blackburn, the #17 team. If we stand any kind of chance, an upset against Portsmouth next week is really, really needed. This is just bad.

Celtic blanked Aberdeen 2-0 in the SPL match of the weekend, the first of a home in home that continues on May 2. If you can believe it, Jan Vennergoor of Hesselink scored his fourth goal in fourth games to help the Hoops top Aberdeen and briefly stretch their win over Rangers to four points atop the SPL (the Rangers actually won later, and now the difference is back at one). With Jan scoring just before the break, and super stud Scottie McDonald scoring just nine minutes into the second half, the Bhoys had the game locked down against Aberdeen, and let's not forget the amazing effort by Boruc, getting just another clean sheet for the Green & White. As I wrote, Celtic will face Aberdeen again in two weekends, as the continue to work toward keeping their lead atop the SPL. A 1 point lead with 5 points to go is promising an exciting finish. 

Meanwhile, somewhere in Mexico, the boys from Guadalajara bested Club America in the biggest rivalry in all of North America. A 1-0 win against the Yellow & Blue will have Chivas fans buzzing all week long. Leave it to Sergio Amaury Ponce to getting the big goal in the 67th minute, the golden goal that pushed Chivas all the way to the big win in the FMF Clasico. Luis Michel was in control between the pipes, earning the clean sheet against the Goats' fiercest rivals. America put 9 shots on goal, 3 more than the Red & White, and Michel stood tall, turning them all away. What a sweet win. I'm not sure how it can get much better for Chivas, but they'll try and bring more joy to the Goat side against UNAM next weekend. At 5-5-4 (19 points), Chivas is all alone in 2nd place in their group, but UNAM is 5 points up in first place, so next weekend may be just as important as this weekend busting of America. 

Meanwhile, Chivas USA played a huge game at home against the new Seattle Sounders with a large 2-0 triumph. It was billed as a top of the table clash between two of the best of the West, and it ended with the Red & White coming out hard and continuing the never-lose season. If the game was hockey, and not soccer, Jonathan Bornstein would have earned the first goal of the match. Borns sent a pass across the goalie area and Seattle's Jame Riley bumped the ball into his own net. Top of the table clash, indeed. Chukwudi Chijindu came in as a second half sub for Chivas and scored his first ever MLS goal to push Chivas to the easy 2-0 win against the XBox sponsored squad. The surprising thing about Chivas' amazing start to the season is the fact that the injuries continue to pile up. If only the Angels could follow the Goats' example over on the baseball field. Don't let the clean sheet by Zach "The Bear" Thorton go without mention either. The giant beast was up to his old tricks again, making fans of the Red & White damned proud. At 4-0-1 (13 points), Chivas is the only team in the MLS with double digit points so far this season, and one of just three teams playing without a loss so far (Chicago and New England being the other two). It has just looked too easy this season, eh? Wednesday we have a mid-week match against Toronto (1-2-2) before welcoming FC Dallas (1-3-1) to the HDC for the big match next weekend. Keep up the good work. 

Seriously, what is the problem with the San Jose Sharks?

The PP gets win #3.

It was a battle of special teams on Sunday afternoon between the Canucks and the Blues, which if you listen to the media would mean that St. Louis would earn the win. Lucky for Canucks Nation, however, Vancouver was able to stand strong on the penalty kill (including two different 1:00+ 5-on-3s) and smash things up on the power play. In the end, Vancouver prevailed in a 3-2 battle that helps my boys tighten their grip on the necks of the entire Blues Nation. 

This game had a madly increased physicality going down, as the Blues tried to pick things up for their home fans (who eventually sold the game out to get their mascot off the arena roof!). It paid off early. Unfortunately, Minnie native David Backes was able to get the action going first, getting a feed from Brad Boyes as he streaked toward the net with an easy wrister past Luongo. I don't think anyone would have stopped it, but it was still tough to take as things got started. One thing that differed in this game was the pure amount of penalties. The Canucks had 5 power play opportunities (scoring on three of them, bitch), and the Blues got 6 chances (two 5 on 3s as mentioned, and they didn't score a single goal with the advantage. But their soooo good!) on the night. In the opening frame, the Canucks got whistled down five times, and the Blues just twice. I was waiting for Coachie V to start waving the white towels! The penalty kill was on point, however, and we were down just 1 after 20. The second period saw Vancouver come out like the team we saw in games 1 & 2. Things started with the Canucks getting a 5-on-3 chance after both McClement and Crombeen getting called for slashing. The 5 on 3 seemed pretty damned easy. Kyle Wellwood sent a pass to the blue line for Edler, Edler sent the puck across to Mattias Ohlund, and the Pieta, Sweden native bomed a perfect five hole slapper that tied things up. Just over 2 minutes later, the Blues had McClement back off for holding Ryan Kesler's stick (although the Versus announcers could have sworn it was a high stick by Kes), and Daniel Sedin was able to softly push the puck passed Mason in a mad scramble. The St. Louis fans were deflated. Rough stuff went back and forth until Andy McDonald (1 of 2 Blues players I've ever heard of) scored at 16:13 to tie things back up at 2. David Perron sent a heavy cross ice pass to Andy Mac, and he got it passed a sliding Bobby Lu. As the period ended, B.J. Crombeen got called for roughing Mason Raymod, and with 20 minutes to decide things, the Canucks would start the final frame with a 2 minute man advantage. Stevie Bernier would make good at 1:41 of the third period. Sami Salo shot the puck off the back board, it came to Hank, and a quick pass to Steve Bernier set up the game winning goal. Nice work from Karen's favorite Canuck. There was some back and forth after that, but the Blues never made much of an effort to come back. In fact, when the pulled their goalie to get an advantage at the end, David Backes got called at 19:53 for jacking Henrik Sedin up, which sealed the deal for good. A 3-2 win, and a 3-0 series lead. 

The pro-Blues three stars were 1) Daniel Sedin (1 goal), 2) Andy McDonald (1 goal, 1 assist), and 3) Steve Bernier (game winning goal). I'll put my own little twist on it with the LSF Underrated 3 Stars: 1) Steve Bernier (hello!? Game winning goal), 2) Sami Salo (do assists count for anything anymore? Salo had 2), and 3) Willie Mitchell (not only did the defender block 4 shots, but Versus also called him the "difference maker"). Keys to the game? Come on on dummy! The Canucks nailed down 3 out of their 5 power plays and stopped St. Louis on all of theirs. Are you kidding me? When is the media going to give up on this St. Louis dominance on special teams bologna? I'm over it. What did everyone else think about Mats sitting in favor of Jannik "The Great Dane" Hansen? I liked it. 

Now time for my "take that" of the post: A fan wearing a St. Louis jersey held up a sign that read, "LuonGO Home." El Roberto finished with 24 saves on 26 shots to help his team earn their third straight playoff win. TAKE THAT!

The Vannies try to close out the series against St. Louis on Tuesday night in the "Show Me State" at 5:00 pm. Versus is saying that they will be showing the game starting at 6:30 pm, and this has me plenty nervous. Will the Orca being able to win their fourth straight game, and then get a little time off before the Semifinals? Will they lose on purpose to have the chance to clinch the opening round series at home? Will they find some way to blow this amazing 3-0 start? So many questions, and they'll all be answered in two short days. Can't wait! I guess the Canucks win also has Jon happy, as the Hawks have been following our lead. Make it happen Sharp. 

Sharks are already down 0-1 to the Ducks in game 2. What the hell is going on? 

At least the Angels can't lose on Monday.

Seasons that start like this make you really appreciate the off day coming up this Monday. The Angels ended their three game series against the Twins with a less than exciting 1-3 loss that helped the Twins complete the weekend sweep of the Red Hats, and push the Angels further into the depths of the AL West early on. This time, however, it was the offense and not the bullpen that earned the big L.

Rapid City, SD native Shane Loux was on the mound for the Halos, filling in for a rotation that now has 5 starters absent from the roster (Lackey, Esco, Ervin, Moseley all on the DL, and Nick Adenhart watching from above). Loux Dawg has really been a bright spot for the Angels rotation this year, even though the rotation has been doing much better than most realize (it's the bullpen dragging Angels Nation down, and losing Darren Oliver to the rotation doesn't help). Loux may have ended with the loss in the game, but he had a quality outing with his 7 innings of 3 run ball. He punched out 2 and walked a big doughnut, while somehow keeping the runs at 3 despite allowing 10 hits. Unfortunately for Loux, the Twins' hometown boy Glen Perkins was on point for the home team. Perkins finished 8 innings of 1 run ball, making the Angels bats look foolish at times with 4 strikeouts. Loux got good bullpen help from major league debuter and Panama City, FL native Daniel Davidson (1 inning of shutout ball) to keep the game within reach, but the offense just wasn't connecting.

Of course, I guess we can count this one as just another game where the Angels blew the lead. Kendry "Fans Think I Haven't Done Anything" Morales earned a RBI with a ground out scoring Abreu in the second inning. That was the end of that. Only 4 hits connected for the Angels, all as singles (including one infield bunt), with Bobby Abreu earning the only pancake at 2 for 3 with a walk. Let's make it really clear that Abreu has been a serious bright spot this season, and was well worth the pick up. T-Hunt and Erick Aybar (the bunt) were the only other Halos to reach with a hit, and in fact, were the only other Halos to even reach base. 1 run on 4 hits is unusually low for the Angels this season, and hopefully the offense can do a little more once they get home. Thank God this road trip is over, I couldn't take much more after the 1-5 run.  

Today's nominees for "blame of the game" are as follows: 1) Howie Kendrick and his 0 for 4 afternoon with 3 strikeouts, 2) Chone Figgins going 0 for 4 as the all-important lead off man, and 3) Juan Rivera's 0 for 3 afternoon. The Angels left 8 on base as a team, and it was just plain weak sauce. Place your votes in the comments section as you see fit. 

At 4-8, Los Halos are now 4 games back of Seattle's 8-4 start with a -12 run differential (getting worse by the day). The sweep caps off a 1-5 road trip, and has all of Angels Nation ready for the boys to get home and turn things around. Hopefully they'll be able to do that against the 6-5 Detroit Tigers (who are playing their rubber match against the Mariners as I type). The Angels will send actual starter Jered Weaver (1-1, 3.09) to the mound to start the home stand, and the Tigers will counter with Venezuelan Armando Galarraga (2-0, 0.68). Galarraga may not be the easiest guy to turn things around against, as he has pitched in a 15-2 win and a 9-0 with, going 13.3 innings of 1 run ball overall. He's tough stuff, but you'd have to figure the second year baller from Cumana is due to give up some runs. And after the last two games against the Twinkies, God knows we're due to score some. Let's focus on the home stand getting us back to .500, eh? 

Just about 2 hours until the Canucks' game 3 gets underway. Oh, baby. 

Pierce blows opening game.

How do you spell choke? P-I-E-R-C-E. On a last second play with the Celtics down by 1, Paulie was fouled former Florida doofus Joakim Noah, and went to the line with two shots. Paul drained the first to tie the game, and then stepped up to the line for the game winning shot. A game winning free throw. Brick. After a less than perfect overtime, the Green & White dropped the opening game in the opening round of the NBA playoffs to the Bulls 103-105, and everyone in Celtic Nation realized how difficult it is going to be to repeat without Kevin Garnett. 

The game was close enough, 28-28 after the first period, followed by a superb second by the Bulls, a superb third by Austin, and then an even fourth. There was a couple of huge mistakes at the end of the game. First, Rajon Rondo fouled Derrick rose with the C's over the limit, allowing Rose to drain two free throws to give the Bulls the lead. Why would you foul him at that point? Then, when Noah fouled Pierce on the other end, it was all about to be rectified. But it wasn't. Pierce choked on the free throw line, Celtic fans everywhere let out a collective gasp in disappointment, and we were headed to an OT where you could see it all come crashing down. In the OT, it came down to a two point deficit for the C's with the clock winding down. Rondo would get fouled, but it didn't warrant any shots. On the final play, Ray Allen bricked a shot just inside the three point arc, and the game was over. At least fans living in the Massachusetts city that shall not be mentioned can move on with the Bruins playoff game tonight. What the heck am I supposed to do? I guess I have to wait for tomorrow's Canucks game to regain my smile, because we all know that the Halos aren't going to help me out the way they've been going. 

Time for today's "Plums & Bums" awards are ready to be handed out for the opening game of this series: Plums go to Rajon Rondo (29 points in a supreme battle of the point guards), Glen Davis (18 points and a +7 afternoon), and I reluctantly give a plum to Derrick Rose (36 points in 50 minutes). The Chicago, IL native and Memphis graduate tied the all-time NBA record for most points scored by a rookie in their first playoff game. He tied freaking Kareem Abul-Jabbar! That was an effort that deserves to be pointed out. The bums of the game are Paul Pierce (the aforementioned joke of a free throw effort that cost the C's the game), Stephon Marbury (just an aweful 10 minutes of play, with 0 points and a -4 effort), and Ray Allen (just 4 points in 39 minutes, including an 0 for 6 afternoon from beyond the arc). Bum town, USA  has become the capital of Celtics Nation today. 

Monday afternoon is game 2 of the NBA's opening playoff round against Chicago, and it is scheduled on the anniversary of the 1986 playoff game with Michael Jordan scored 63 points against Austin in a Bulls loss. To put this baby into perspective, the Bulls had not beaten my boys in Green & White  since they were called the Chicago Stags during the 1948 NBA Quarterfinals. It was so bad that Kevin Garnett shifted from watching the game on the bench in the first half to watching in the locker room in the second half. He almost knew what was coming. He didn't want to be seen watching it go down on national TV. Hopefully they get the ice down in time for the hockey game. 

Can anyone explain to me the headline on ESPN.com about this game? "Blooming Onions!" What the hell does that mean?

As I walk off, I'd like to mention that the Andrew/Brandon/Jon post strike is at a LSF record 53 days. We're getting dangerously close to Joe DiMaggio. 

El Roberto clean sheets Blue Notes.

Game two of the Stanley Cup opening round went even better than game one for my boys in Blue & Green. The Canucks got some exciting offense, some simply perfect goaltending, and cruised their way to a 3-0 game win and a 2-0 series lead against the St. Louis Blues. 

I'll start off by registering my complaint with the people at the Versus network. The 4:00 game between Philly and Pitt went into overtime, and Versus provided absolutely no sort of information about the Canucks/Blues game. At least during the baseball playoffs, TBS will reroute the second game to another station if the first game runs long. In the situation tonight, there was no such luck. Evidently, the game was switched in British Columbia at the drop of the puck, but everyone else had to suffer through the "who cares" OT of the Eastern Conference battle. Following the box score on ESPN provided another problem. With about 10:40 to go in the first, ESPN (and Canucks.com as a second opinion) reported that Andy McDonald scored for the Blues to open things up. Once Versus joined coverage of the game, with about 7:40 to go in the first period, the score was 0-0 and there was no mention of any controversy. What the hell? Another quick complaint about Versus was that after the goal was finally scored by the Pengiuns, they decided to provide analysis to that game before even switching to the more important game (to me) already in progress. It was on a TV in the background while they were talking, which I guess was as good as it would get, and then they had the guts to go to commercial before connecting us with the Western Conference game. Again, what the hell? Better luck next time Versus. At least the Canucks are traveling to St. Louis to get the early game on Sunday. 

As you can guess, I don't have much to say about the opening 20 minutes of the game. There was only one penalty (a charge on Mattie Ohlund by Dan Hinote), the goalies were both on point (Mason stopping 5, Luongo stopping 7), and Andy McDonald may or may not have almost scored a goal that may or may not have been reviewed and overturned (I'm going to lean toward him almost scoring a goal, as he earned the #3 star of the game with no goals and no assists on the night, for some strange reason). The second period, however, would see the excitement factor pick up a tad. Shane O'Brien was back up to his old tricks, getting called for holding at 3:39 and slashing at 9:36 (although, they seemed much closer than that when I was watching the game). Vancouver was able to kill both off, despite pre-series reports of the Blues "amazing power play abilities." The Blues handed things back to the Orca, with penalties at 10:53 and 13:16, but nothing doing. Mason was stopping the shots coming his way, and Bobby Lu was just getting warmed up with his pretty glove and blocked routine. Then, at 18:04, something glorious happened. Ryan Kesler passed the puck to Po Po Demitra, Po Po hucked the puck toward the net, Mats Sundin deflected the puck in mid air, Steve Mason stopped the puck initially, and the puck slowly slid through his five hole toward the red line, with Mason diving back just a little too late. The puck was going back so slowly and beautifully that it gave everyone time to stand up and admire the tally. By the time Mason reached the puck with his outstretched glove, it was too late. The red light was on, our favorite Bromma, Sweden native answered the call of his BC fans, and the Vannies were out to a 1-0 lead. Through two period, Bobby Lu had seen and stopped 16 shots to help his squad out big time. The best saves were yet to come. At 6:56 of the third, my boy Alex Burrows got called on a weak tripping penalty. His mates killed the thing with some ease, and AB hopped out of the box looking to make up for going to the sin bin. Did he ever. At 9:46, AB took a pass behind the net from Daniel Sedin, spun around, and banked the puck into the net off of Mason's leg, who was sprawling back to try and make the save. Burrows took a wicked elbow from a Blues defender as he started to celebrate and fell to the ice. But with the towel power (which was started in a 1982 playoff series against the Blackhawks, by the way) going crazy, AB hopped right back up to play his air guitar as his squad was rolling at 2-0 with half of a period to go. With about 1:45 or so to go, St. Louis got crazy and pulled their keeper. It didn't take long for Henrik "H-Bomb" Sedin to bury a mid ice shot that buried the game. After the final horn sounded (for the second time, actually, because the horn randomly sounded with like 1:55 to go in the game), the score was 3-0 in favor of the good guys, Roberto Luongo made saves on all 30 shots send his way, and a "Rumble on Robson" ensued. The Blues coach was pounded on the glass that separates the benches, screaming something like, "You f-cking as-holes!" The players were going at each other, with B.J. Crombeen fighting Kevin "X-Man" Bieksa, Barret Jackman fighting Stevie "Karen's Boy" Bernier, and Rick "Ryp the Ryper" Rypien just jumping anyone he could get his hand on. A total of 26 penalty minutes were handed out in the 20th minute, all while Coachie V was holding Mason Raymond back from jumping onto the ice to get involved in fisticuffs for himself. I just kept thinking, "Who cares? We win!"

It didn't take long for Viggy to give Lu the props he deserves for his recent unconscious goaltending, "The last four or five games, he's been in the zone. He found his 'A' game, and that's what we need." Keys to the game? How about we start with the amazing fans at the Garage? NHL.com is reporting that the decibel level peaked at about 103 during the game, which is 8 decibels higher than the level causing hearing loss in prolonged situations. Clearly, Luongo was the main key, and we don't need to talk about that, but how about the dudes in front of him laying down to take pucks to the body? How many times did we see the Orca players dropping to block slappers from the Blues offense? I can tell you, actually? Former Blue Ryan Johnson led the Canucks with 4 blocked shots on his own. He was followed by Ryan Kesler's three blocks, and Sami Salo and Rick Rypien with two each. That is some serious nonsense right there. Vancouver had a total of 15 blocked shots in front of our team captain, and that shows that this clean sheet was a team effort. I'm so proud!

The media's three stars were 1) Roberto Luongo (duh), 2) Daniel Sedin (ESPN reports he had 1 goal and 1 assist, but they're confused, it was Hank that scored the goal. Nintendo DS finished with 2 assists), and 3) Andy McDonald (for his phantom goal?). The LSF underrated three stars of the game will keep the media's top two, and then sub in Thunder Bay, ON native Ryan Johnson as star #3 (RJ had 4 blocked shots, as was mentioned, and won 50% of his face offs). 

Up 2-0 on St. Louis (please don't bring up the 2002 2-0 lead to the Red Wings, please), the Canucks travel to America's Most Dangerous City for what could be the concluding two games of the opening round, the way the Blues have been playing. Sunday night at 4:00 pm, local Vancouver time, Roberto and his teammates will strap it on and try to earn that all important third win of the test. While 53% of EPSN's Sports Nation is picking the Canucks to win the series (along with all of the humble ESPN experts), I'm feeling pretty confident about my boys earning the right to play in the conference semifinals. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves yet. We need to follow the cliche, focus on Sunday, and get that all important third win. 

You know how we love to make fun of people who pick the wrong teams to win things? Well, evidently, so does Canucks.com. Here's a fun little article that I think you'll enjoy. 

Angels save face in Seattle finale.

Looking to at least walk away with one win in this AL West series, after a tough ten inning loss and a Seattle blowout, the Angels came to SafeCo on a mission Thursday night. With Joe Saunders on the hill, it was a little easier. Add in a thrilling one inning hit-fest, and you've got the perfect combination for a 5-1 Halo victory. 

Joey Saunders was a man on a mission last night. In the fourth inning, Adrian Beltre grounded out to score Ichiro Suzuki, and outside of that, the V Tech graduate was on point. Finishing a great piece of work with 7 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball, Saunders punched out 3 sailors and only allowed one free pass. And what do you know? The bullpen was out to get the job done as well! Jose Arredondo finished his 1 inning of perfect ball, and Brian Fuentes made some noise in his first non-save situation, going 1 inning of shutout ball with just 1 hit allowed. Really, really nice pitching last night. The offense was really looking so great to start things off, I'll tell you that. Anaheim, CA naitve (Upland High graduate) and MLB debut stud Chris Jakubauskas was a demon against the Angels for most of the time, finishing with a nice first outing (5.3 innings of 2 run ball, punching out 3), but it just wasn't good enough. The Angels started a hit machine in inning number 6 that just couldn't be stopped. With the bases jacked full of Angels, Mike "Medium Shells" Napoli singled home Abreu and Hunter to grab the lead. The unlikely GMJ singled next, scoring Kendry Morales from second and moving Nap to third. Karen's hatred, Juan Rivera, singled next to score Nap and move GMJ to second. Are you following this? It's 4-1 at this point, when another former Expo, Maicer Izturis made good on his AB. Ma$e singled home Matthews, and the Angels grabbed the ultimate 5-1 lead. Very nice!

Time for my take that of the post: The Angels offense have nailed down at least seven hits in every single one of their games this season, despite the media thinking the offense sucks. TAKE THAT! Wait, does that mean our pitching blows? 

The win helped the Angels get back to a 2.5 game deficit behind the Mariners with their 4-5 record. We have been hitting the crap out of the ball, but somehow we still have a run differential of -3. Ah, RBI seems to be the problem. The M's are just totally ripping the whole damn thing up with their 7-3 record, leaving the entire AL West back in the dust with 4-5 records across the board. The Angels boarded a plain out of SeaTac Airport and headed straight for the beautiful spring destination of Minnesota where they'll go up against the Twinkies tonight. D-Mo takes the hill (1-0, 3.86) to try and keep his better-than-usual start to the season rolling against Ada, OK native Nick Blackburn (0-1, 5.73). Mr. Black is 0-2 against the Angels in his career with a 3.09 ERA, which is promising with our solid offense this year. Keep in mind that Michael Cuddyer is the only player on the Twins squad to ever get a hit against Dustin Moseley. If he sits, are we in line for a no on? Meanwhile, here is a list of players on the Angels with batting averages of .300+ against Blackburn: Bobby Abreu (.667), Chone Figgins (.667), Torii Hunter (.333), Howie Kendrick (.400), Gary Matthews Jr. (.333), Juan Rivera (.333), and Jeff Mathis (.500). Um, advantage Angels. 

Meanwhile, tonight is game 2 in the series between the Canucks and the Blues, and I will be glued to the television with some kind of crazy Vancouver paraphernalia on. Hopefully I don't run into Nelly! Meanwhile, the Celtic (without KG) will be matching up with the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. The C's lead the regular season series 2-1 against the Bulls, only losing to Chicago on March 17 (but I imagine there was some kind of St. Patrick's Day jinx). With KG possibly gone for the entire playoffs (although reports are conflicted on this one), can the Celtics get all the way to the Easter Conference Finals? Even without KG, you'd have to agree with me that nobody in the East outside of Cleveland can beat my boys from Austin, right? 

'Nucks do just enough to grab win #1.

Since it's the playoffs, I figured we should do something special for the post on the first game of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Canucks open things up at home against the Blues tonight, and I'll be providing an update after each period to keep you posted on the LSF side of the story. 

Period 1 (it's 7:53 pm): I'll just first point out how crazy the crowd was going as the game started. Probably for the first 2 minutes of the game, the entirety of Canucks Nation was on their feet clapping in anticipation of this glorious cup run. Excitement in the air! The game started out with a quick pace and back and forth. Luongo made a thrilling first glove save to get himself going. The Blues decided they wanted to make this interesting by giving Lu ice showers on the first couple of cover ups. The Canucks obviously took exception to that, and some brawl ensued. Alex Edler got flagged for a elbowing call at 7:37 on a big collision with Jay McClement. The Canucks killed the penalty really well, showing that they at least appear to be the squad that outmatches St. Louis. That fact was even more validated at 10:03 when my boys had Pavol Demitra hop on as an extra attacked on a delayed penalty. Demitra streaked into the zone, grabbed the puck, and fired a perfect slap pass to the slot where Daniel Sedin. Everyone, including Blues keeper Chris Mason, thought Po Po's puck was headed to the net, which easily allowed Daniel's shot to go into the net for the first goal of the playoffs. It was Nintendo DS' sixth career playoff goal, and it was so clutch money. Right after the goal, the Vannies got called on two penalties, resulting in a 1:30+ 5 on 3 for the Blues. Um, no worries for the Blue & Green. Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, and Willie Mitchell stayed out the whole time and killed the thing like WHAT! Exceptional. The second period is starting with the game 1-0 for the good guys, so I'll be back. 

Period 2 (it's 8:48 pm): Going into the second period, a lot of different things could have happened. And they did. The second frame was just as chippy as the first 20 minutes, and the back and forth playoff opportunities made the game that much more exciting. Jay McKee got called for interfering with Stevie Bernier at 3:19, and it was on. The power play was less than perfect until about 5:11 of the period. Daniel Sedin finally got the puck behind the net and fed a crazy long pass all the way out to the blue line where Sami Salo was waiting. The Turku, Finland native bombed a slapper like only he knows how to the net. Steve Bernier was standing in front of Chris Mason and deflected the puck for the 2-0 lead. The box score still has Sami Salo as the goal scorer, but the deflection was pretty clear, and hopefully they'll get it right for Stevie's sake. The 2-0 lead seemed to deflated St. Louis, and despite power plays going back and forth, the Blues would get back to things after Hank got called for hooking Barret Jackman at 16:43. The Canucks were working on killing their seventh power play of the night, but it wasn't meant to be. Tkachuk won the power play, Andy McDonald fed a pass to Alex Steen, the former Leaf took a hard shot that resulted in a wild rebound, and Brad Boyes easily put home the Blues first goal. I can't even remember the last time that Bobby Lu let the rubber tickle the twine, but here we are. After 40 minutes of play, we're looking at a narrow 2-1 lead, and the Vannies are going to need to keep up the speed and strength to finish off this game 1. Enjoy the final period, pals. 

Period 3 (it's 9:43 pm): Was all of Canucks Nation as nervous about the third period as I was? A complacent Vannie side held tight to their 1 goal lead through the final 20 minutes. The Orca didn't push hard for another goal, but didn't lay back an allow one either. The power plays were much reduced in the final frame, a 4-on-4 at 2:29, followed by a Vancouver power play at 11:17 on the heels of a David Perron hooking penalty. The Canucks didn't do much on the power play, and made it look like Coachie V was playing the sit back, defend the zone, and wait for the win strategy that often blows up in his face. Not tonight, through. Roberto Luongo and the Canucks held strong to the 2-1 lead to earn the first win of the playoff series. I have to admit that I was crouched in front of the TV when the Blues pulled Mason to get the one man advantage toward the end. It was scary, but we held on. When the final horn sounded, the towels around GM Place erupted in joy, and the Canucks earned a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Quaterfinals. Totally awesome intensity. 

My 3 stars for the game are as follows: 1) El Roberto (25 saves and his .962 save percentage. He was solid like a brick wall), 2) Daniel Sedin (1 goal, 1 assist, a +1 rating, and 6 shots on goal. Can you ask for more?), and 3) Alex Edler (1 assist and a +1 rating with a mostly solid defensive game. Nice stuff for the Swedish youngster). Honorable mention goes to Ryan Kesler, who was just all over the ice tonight. 

The Canucks will bring their 1-0 lead back to the Garage this Friday evening when they go for win #2 of 4 against St. Louis. All I can say is, thanks for a tremendous game tonight, and when it comes to Friday, GO CANUCKS GO!

Shields throws game away, literally.

It was an earlier than usual game between the Angels and Mariners at SafeCo, and to try and quell the recent media love for the red hot SoDo MoJo (sorry, but I have Mariner loving family in Washington, so I know their nicknames), the Angels were looking to bring the heat. Things were going well enough, with Shane Loux pitching over his head and the offense matching up with Griffey and the blue hats, but a sad guffaw by Scot Shields in the bottom of the tenth allowed a walk off Mariner win. 

It was a tough start for the Angels rookie and Rapid City, SD native pitcher. A bumpy first inning resulted in a fielder's choice RBI by Adrian Beltre that allowed the M's to jump out to the early lead. Shane would setting down, though, giving up just one more run in the fifth on a single by Endy Chavez. In the end Loux finished with 5.3 innings of 2 run ball, punching out 2 and walking one. Not a bad start. However, not as sweet as the relief work by Kansas City boy Darren Oliver. DO went 3 innings out of the bullpen, shuting out Seattle, allowing just 1 hit, and punching out 4. What the hell? I thought that DO was only good after the all star break! Stud! Meanwhile, the bats were fairly decent, with Vlad grounding out to score Howie from third base in the fourth (to tie the game), and Torii Hunter hitting a jack to deep left in the sixth (again, to tie the game). With solid relief from both teams, we went to extra innings. Enter Scot "Gas Can" Shields. In the bottom of the tenth, Franlink Gutierrez led off with a deep double over Torii's head straight up the pipe. The next batter was the only guy I like on Seattle (besides Griff), Yuniesky Betancourt, and he laid down the bunt heard round the AL West tonight. Shields picked up the bunt and air mailed the easy throw to first into the crowd, and the game was all over, 2-3.

Time for the take that of the post. Adrian Beltre, who for some reason gets every one to say how great he is (ESPN called him "the best third baseman in the AL"), finished the night 0 for 4. TAKE THAT!

The loss has slammed the Angels back below .500 at 3-4, with a 2.5 game deficit looking up to the heroes from Seattle and their 6-2 effort so far. I think we need to pick up the pace, eh? Well, we can start tomorrow in a battle with one of our favorite former Halo pitchers. The Mariners Jarrod Washburn takes the bump tomorrow evening at SafeCo to battle Jered Weaver and the red hats. Both pitchers had a fairly awesome effort in their first game of the season. Wash went 8 innings of shutout ball in a 2-0 win against the Twins, and Big Baby (who I think had that nickname prior to Glen Davis) pitched 6.67 strong shutout innings against Boston in a game that ended in a 6-3 win. Is this the clash of the pitching titans we've been waiting for this season? All I know is that we don't want to drop that far below .500 here while we wait for Lackey, Ervin, and Esco to rejoin the squad. 

I'm wanting to do a "hero of the game" nominee when the Angels win and a "blame of the game" nominee when we lose, if I can remember. Give your votes to the comments section, if you want. Blame of the game nominees: 1) Scot Shields ("Nice toss, buddy"), 2) HK-47 (a rare 0 for 3 night with 5 LOB), and 3) Mike "Rotini" Napoli (0 for 5? Where are all those jacks?). 

I'd like to give love to the MLB for suspending Josh Beckett for six games today after reviewing his intentional throw at the head of Bobby Abreu the other day. Good call. Now, I think we have waited long enough to explore the decision of the Angels to fill the role lost by Nick Adenhart, God rest his soul. Will Darren Oliver get a spot start? Did he pitch 3 innings of shutout ball in Seattle this afternoon to prove that he can stretch himself out and do well? It would be an interesting option that would shock most Angel fans, but I'm ready to see the big Missourian who hasn't started a game since 2004. Looking at SLC, other viable options would be Anthony Ortega (1-0, 1.80 in AAA this year) and little known Camden, ME native Mike MacDonald (0-0, 3.60, 4 K in 5 innings). We'll have to wait and see, probably until Saturday's match against the Twinkies. 

Meanwhile, the Celtics are in the middle of their penultimate game, tied at 95 with the Sixers with about 3 minutes to go. This could be a big game, in reality, as the C's and the 76'ers are likely to be battling each other in the 2/7 first found matchup soon. The C's are 3-0, and are going to try and make it 4-0 throughout the regular season, so it should be an easy playoff run in round 1, eh? 

Angels fight for series win.

Just want to start with the fact that the Canucks will be battling the Blues in round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs starting on April 15 at 7:00 pm on Versus. Can't wait. 

Meanwhile, the Angels stepped up to the plate on Easter Sunday, and busted the Red Sox with another narrow win 5-4. This game had it all. A bench clearing non-brawl that got multiple players ejected (all from the Angels, by the way), a Vlad home run for insurance, and even a Brain Fuentes allowed run in the ninth before earning the tight save #2 on the year. In the end, it was a big series win that would get our boys back to the .500 mark after a six game home stand. 

With Dustin Moseley hitting the bump against Josh Beckett, most Angels fans felt pretty hopeless about this rubber match. When J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis hit back to back jacks in the second inning, it seemed like that sentiment would be correct. However, it didn't take long for the Halos to get back into the game, as the bottom of the third was an inning they made good on. After getting a couple of speedsters on base, HK-47 got a base knock scoring Ma$e followed up by a base knock by Bobby Abreu that scored both Chone Figgins and Howie. A nice 3-2 lead would get even better in the fifth when Howie would push Izzy home again with another single (he got tossed at second, but let's not focus on that). With all this offense going on, Du-Mo was actually pitching pretty well, finishing with 5.67 innings of 3 run ball (2 earned) with 3 punch outs and just 2 walks. The Sox would get a third run in the sixth on some weird throwing mishap, but Vlad's jack in the eighth against Lopez helped Angels fans feel pretty secure. Of course, Brian Fuentes being the new Frankie also means that he likes to make things pretty damned exciting. David Ortiz earned himself a RBI on a single scoring Nick Green, and with two outs the Red Sox had two on and a chance to pull off a comeback. Luckily, our lefty save machine was able to shut the door, and earn his second save in the 5-4 win. 

Time for the LSF "Plums & Bums" segment of the post. First off, the Hitting Plums: Howie went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI, Vlad went 2 for 4 with a jack, and Ma$e went 2 for 3 while scoring twice. The Pitching Plums: Dustin Moseley's 5.67 innings of 2 earned run ball had to give him some happiness and Jose Arredondo went 1.3 innings of shutout ball to get his fourth hold of the year. Next is the Hitting Bums: Kendry Morales finished the afternoon 0 for 4, Nap went 0 for 3, and good ol' JR went 0 for 3. Pitching bums: Scot Shields and Brian Fuentes may have gotten away with their bad pitching, but Shields walked the bases loaded before getting out of his jam and Brian Fuentes proved that we really needed that Vlad insurance jack with his tough ninth inning work. Huge bum awards goes out to Ed Rapuano, who did not really handle the non-brawl very well. After Beckett threw at the head of Abreu, Rapuano ejected Mike Scioscia, Mickey Hatcher, Torii Hunter, and Justin Speier. Wait, none of the Red Sox got tossed? Oh, Rapuano is a native of New Haven, Connecticut. No wonder. New England bastards!

The Angels have the day off on Monday before getting back to action on Tuesday against the hated Seattle Mariners.  After a 1-0 win against the A's on Sunday, the Mariners raised their division lead with their 5-2 record to 1.5 games, and they are buzzing with a +10 run differential. Meanwhile, at 3-3 our Angels are 1.5 games back of those hot Moosers with a run differential of just +2. This time the Angels will throw Shane Loux, finally getting his first start of the year. Loux hasn't started a game in the bigs since 2003 with the Tigers, but he has clearly had a resergence with the Red Hats organization to leave behind hid 1-4, 6.41 career mark. The M's counter with Carlos Silva, who is 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA thus far. The Twins really got to Silva in his season opener, as he only went 5 innings and allowed a .348 BAA. The Angels sluggers hope to take advantage, as Abreu hits .643 in his career off of Silva, Aybar hits .667, Figgy hits .355, Napoli hits .500, and my man Howie Kendrick has a .714 mark against the Mariners hurler. The question is, will the sinker ball of Shane Loux be able to dominate the red hot Mariners lineup? Let's hope so. 

Just to give love to the LSF's hockey teams that made the playoffs, J's Blackhawks will be taking on the Calgary Flames in round one, Tommy's Canucks will be opening the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues, and Karen's Sharks are hopefully going to be able to bounce the Formerly Mighty Ducks. We did much better than last year, eh? The Eastern love is silent, but Tommy's cousin Daniel is fired up about the Rangers and their matchup against the Caps (which they'll probably lose). This will be some fun man. 

Weekly football post #31.

Non football updates: 1. The Angels beat the Red Sox with a 5-4 Sunday win to squeak by with the series victory. 2. The Blues actually leap frogged two teams after beating Colorado to match up against my Canucks for the round one 3/6 bout. Are you kidding me? Let's do it!

Newcastle earned a point! It was Gateshead native Andy Carrol delivering a game tying goal in a 1-1 draw with Stoke this weekend. Faye, a former 'Castle bomber, got a first half goal for Stoke City, but it was Carrol nailing home the big one for the Boys in Bars with nine minutes to go. The 1-1 draw may not be enough to drag my boys out of the relegation zone, but it is getting them closer to getting out. Right? With 30 points in 32 games, Newcastle now trail the non-relegates by 2 points! Sunderland is team #17 in the EPL, and they have a big ol' target on their backs for Newcastle. Come on 'Castle! Next week's battle to stay in the Premier will be against the Totts, who are #9 in the EPL with their 41 points. Most betting men wouldn't pick Newcastle to get any points out of this one, but I'm not most betting men. 

A 1-1 draw for Celtic against Hearts wasn't as exciting as the 1-1 draw for Newcastle. Inside of 30 seconds of the kick off, Jan Vennergoor "Longest Name in European Soccer" of Hesselink scored his third goal in 8 days for the Hoops. No joke. Inside of 30 seconds. It was looking like a pure explosion of Celtic-ness, but in the end it was a 32nd minute equalizer that ended win hopes for the Bhoys, as their match ended with a tough to swallow 1-1 draw. Andrew's Rangers came away with a big 3-1 win in their match, and now Celtic only lead the SPL by a tiny 1 point. I guess it isn't quite as great as when we clinched by Easter Sunday a couple of years ago, eh? Well, it is going to be a damned exciting finish. Celtic match up with #4 Aberdeen for their last game of the season next week, while Rangers ends their season against the #6 Hibs. For the Celts, it is win and win the League Cup. Meanwhile a draw or a loss will place all eyes on the Rangers/Hibby bout for the Cup. Boruc needs to be spot on next weekend. Hail! Hail! Win the SPL!

Guadalajara came away with a 2-2 draw against Atlante this weekend, in a weekend completely full of draws as you will soon see. Ramon "Ramoncito" Morales scored a penalty goal at the 44th to cut the Atlante lead in half. Atlante scored a goal at the 2nd and 18th minutes to really scare the Goat crowd, but a sweet comeback was in the mix. Keep in mind that the Red & White would tie the game without ever scoring another goal. It was a Luis Gererdo Venegas Zumaran's own goal in the 69th minute that allowed Chivas to earn the draw. Isn't it sweet when an own goal helps your team push things forward? At 4-5-4 (16 points), Chivas de Guadalajara have somehow turned a bad start into a second place position in the table. UNAM continues to lead the group with 23 points, and Chivas will need to come on strong next week against arch rivals America. A tune up game on Tuesday in the Copa Libertadores against Lanus should be just enough to get Chivas ready for the huge game. Can we get a Clasico win against America? God, I hope so. I hate those guys!

Of course, you can only beat around the bush about this far into a post before you have to admit what the real game of the weekend was. The Super Clasico in Carson, CA was a battle to behold. Chivas USA and the Galaxy always have an intense match, and this was no disappointment. It was a disappointment, unless you like offense. A 0-0 draw with a bunch of fighting and a bunch of cards was the way this one went, and if you are a Chivas fan you would have to admit that there was a great deal of blown chances. Chivas' Paulo Nagamura and LA's Alan Gordon and Gregg Berhalter got ejected. Berhalter's ejection was because he denied a goal scoring opportunity with his damned hands. There was a grip of reckless fouls, Chivas lead in shots 12-8 and shots on goal 5-4, but in the end it was the scoreless draw to end all scoreless draws. Would you believe that the HDC was packed with 23,317 fans? That has to be some kind of MLS attendance record, right? While the perfect season has been lost, there is still hope for a season without loss. At 3-0-1 (10 points), Chivas USA now lead the Western Conference all alone over Seattle (9 points) and Colorado (7 points). Ole! The question will be raised when Vancouver gets the MLS team in 2011. Who will I cheer for when Vancouver plays Chivas? Oh bubba! This Wednesday would be a LSF battle, if Andrew was more into the MLS team from Toronto. Should be an easy win for the Goats. 

In light of it being Master's weekend, I think this is pretty funny. 

Kendrick, Angels blow awesome title chance.

With the bases loaded in the ninth, the Angels needing just a well placed base knock to walk off with a win against Boston, I was all ready to drop a LSF post with the title "This is Howie do it." It was clever, it was solid, and I guess it wasn't meant to be. An attempt at a ninth inning comeback didn't come true, as the Halos stranded the bases loaded with a one run deficit (thank to an earlier ninth inning jack by Big Game), and dropped the game to the Sox 4-5. 

I don't know if it's too soon, but I was also going to have a title of Angels fail to win 159 straight for Nick. Too soon? The Halos jumped out to a nice 2-0 lead after three innings, with a run on a ground out by Bobby Abreu in the first scoring Chone Figgins and a jack in the third by Mike Napoli. First off, it made me frustrated that the announcers on Fox Nation said, "Now that's Angels baseball," when the Angels produced two ground outs to get Figgins home in the first. Then I had mega-mixed emotions about the Mike Napoli jack, which he would repeat in inning number 5. I don't like the guy, and as you know he has been my least favorite Angel for some time now. But, after he hit that jack, and Fox Nation told us that Napolini has the best HR/AB rating of any catcher in the history of baseball, I was flat out shocked. Better than Piazza and Roy Campanella? Really? How is that even possible? Well, Joey Saunders (getting a shot in the Halos' fifth game because of the postponement with the A's) gave up a respectable two run jack to Mike Lowell in the fifth with Bay on base, and then Scioscia showed his old colors leaving Saunders in too long, leading to another two run homer by the Sox (this time by Bay with Baldelli on base). With the score at 3-4, Trail, BC native Jason Bay jacked his second of the game to match Napoli, and give the Red Sox a 2 run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. By the way, it was none other than Justin "Not of this world" Speier starting the trade rumor by giving up the big jack in the ninth. If it wouldn't have been allowed, it would have been a totally different story. Torii Hunter started off the bottom of the ninth with a bomb off Papelbon, and the drama started. Morales got a double, Napoli walked, and Figgins walked. With the bases loaded and two outs, down by one, my man and Jacksonville native Howie "HK-47" Kendrick stepped up with a chance to be a hero. Despite a crazy at bat, including taking two strikes before fouling off seven consecutive pitches, Papelbon got HK to line out to right field to end the game at a 4-5 Angel loss. 40,163 fans went home disappointed. 

With their 2-3 record, the Los Halos are now tied for the bottom spot in the AL West. It may be early, but a 1.5 games deficit is always significant in baseball. Plus, the +1 run differential isn't too hot so far either. So far, the Angels are the #1 team on the American League in terms of stolen bases, which is impressive, and also lead the league in quality starts, which is even better. But, when you get 4 quality starts out of 5 games and end up with a 2-3 record, something just isn't working. Either the bullpen (wink wink) or the offense (quiet silence) aren't quite pulling their weight yet. I think the most underrated problem that the Angels may face this season is their bullpen. Can anyone disagree? We're looking at Arredondo, Bulger, Fuentes, Jepsen, Oliver, Shields, and Speier. 3 out of 7 ain't great. I'll let the debate begin on the three I'm talking about. I'll also point out the names of our four players hitting .300+: Napoli (.667), Mathis (.400), Morales (.368), and Abreu (.300). Interesting, eh? 

Tomorrow's rubber match should be an interesting one. We have an early afternoon home bash between the Halos and the Sox, and when you look at the pitching match up you have to start wishing for a miracle. The Angels hand the ball to Dustin "Eh" Moseley and his 4.50 ERA. In his first game of 2009, Moseley pitched 6 innings of 3 run ball, which was bad, but he earned a no decision. Josh Beckett will be the man opposing him, and Beckett holds a 1-0 record with a 1.29 ERA after pitching 7 innings and giving up just a single run to Tampa Bay. In his career against Boston (2 games, 1 being a start), our boy Moseley holds an ERA of 8.10. The BAA? .393. Hold onto your hats Angels Nation, it might be a bumpy rubber match (by the way, baseball-reference.com is totally better this season than it used to be). 

Time for my "Take That!" of the post: Dustin Pedroia went 0 for 4. I guess that Playstation video game commercial is right. High and inside, right Pedroia? TAKE THAT! We'll finish with the LSFISP of the post. Today's Irish slang is windy, which is slang for "weak looking and possibly gay." Example: "Nice day at the plate Pedroia, ya' feckin' windy thicko." Feel free to use it. 

As I walk off, I'd like to point out that the Andrew/Jon/Brandon post strike is now at 46 days. Can you guys push 50?

'Nucks best Avs, win division.

Roberto Luongo carried Vancouver to their second 1-0 win in the last two games this afternoon, and it has everyone thinking, "Is this our year?" This time around it was a nice 1-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche in overtime that clinched the 2008/2009 Northwest Division Title before the Flames even get a chance to play their last game. H-Bomb scored the OT game winner just 40 seconds in, and Vancouver now has to get their sites set on their first round match against Columbus. 

It was a pretty quiet game for a Saturday afternoon at the Pepsi Center. Neither team was able to put the rubber in the net over the first 60 minutes, and the penalties were light as well. The Avs earned a too many men in the first, three total penalties graced the middle frame (2 for Vancouver and 1 for Colorad), and each team picked up a penalty on the same play (a hook that was also called a dive) in this third to round things out. Roberto Luongo tried to continue his reign as the greatest goalie in the NHL (which, by the way, I don't agree he has been during this season) earning his 9th shutout of the year, lifting him to #2 in the West. The #1 shutout king? How about Columbus' Steve Mason. Damn. Peter "Czech Mate" Budaj was equally to the task, actually even better in his loss. Budaj make 32 stops on 33 shots compared to Bobby Lu's 22 saves on the 22 put on him by Colorado. Both teams went 0 for 3 on their respective power plays, in a game that saw Vancouver sit a bunch of players as a healthy scratch (Bieksa, Davison, and Hansen) for rest. 

The "real" media picked their three stars as follows: 1) Budaj, 2) H-Bomb, and 3) Luongo. It is the third straight game where Lu made it up in the top 3 of the game. Of course, this isn't really the best choice of three stars in my humble opinion. The LSF Underrated 3 stars will go fourth as such: 1) Roberto Luongo (just another shutout win), 2) Hank Sedin (game winning goal), and 3) Daniel "Nintendo DS" Sedin (1 assist, a +1 rating obviously, and 4 shots on goal). I think that covers it. 

At 45-27-10, the Canucks have finished the season as the Northwest Division Champions with 100 points. The will either finish up on Calgary by 4, or 2 if the Flames win later tonight, but they will finish up and that is all that matters. It follows, of course, that the 'Nucks will finish the season as the #3 team in the Western Conference and will match up with the #6 team in the first round of the playoffs. As it sits right now, Columbus would be that team. However, with 1 game to go for most teams, Anaheim could climb up to the #6 spot with a win and a Columbus loss. Previously I was cheering for a Chicago round one match up over Columbus. Now I'm praying that the Canucks will get to play Columbus, instead of those Dicks (I mean Ducks. No I don't) from Anaheim. I mean, I'm pretty sure the Orca would triumph over the Mighty Ducks this season in a best of 7, but after losing to them recently, I'm leaning toward wanting to try our luck against the Blue Jackets. The Jackets are playing the Wild tonight, and the Duckies are taking on the Coyotes a little bit later. So, we'll know the match up for my boys sometime around 8:00 pm local time. 

P.S. Props to the Sabres for currently leading the Bruins 5-0 in the third period. I like going out in style. 

Update (Sunday at 8:05 pm): Well, the Ducks lost in a shootout. As the standings sit right now, we are currently still set to play Columbus. However, there is a slim chance that St. Louis would grab the #6 spot. The Blues play the Avalanche tomorrow at 2:00 pm and a win would set the Canucks first round playoff against the team from one of the most dangerous cities in America. So, who will it be? Columbus or St. Louis? I forgot about the Blues earlier in the post, but now I guess we'll have to wait until about 5:00 pm on Easter to really have the first round locked up. Exciting. 

Luongo is the real king.

Remember, the Canucks need to win one more game over the final two than Calgary to win the division. Last night, they got off on the right start. Bobby Lu was crazy strong, Ryan Kesler gave the Orca all the offense they needed, and my Canucks did it to the Kings 1-0 in the final home game of the year. 

20 saves. That is all it took for the Montreal, Quebec native to earn clean sheet #8 on the year and pull the Canucks on his back for victory. LA's Jon Quick was almost equally as solid as Lu, making 27 stops on 28 shots. Quick made a couple of thrilling stops on the Vancouver offense, quite frankly, coming away with much more spectacular stops than our very own captain. After 20 minutes of nothing, we got to the second frame, and a Ryan Kesler power play goal at 5:49. Mats took a shot, the puck came to Kes, and he buried his 26th of the year. It was all my boys would need. The third period went by quietly, outside of the goalie interference pictured above by Brian Boyle, and Vancouver walked to a seriously important 1-0 triumph over the Kings. 

Keys? Well, scoring one more goal than your opponent always helps. Going 1 for 5 on the power play while holding the Kings to an 0 for 3 mark adds to the excitement. The Orca obviously poured on more shots as well, which might have been the real difference. The real three stars: 1) Luongo, 2) Kesler, and 3) Kings subpar stud and London (Canada) native Drew Doughty (nothing but 3 blocked shots...is that why he made it?). The LSF's underrated 3 stars starts off similar, and ends differently: 1) Lu, 2) Kes, and 3) Mats Sundin (1 assist and 7, count it, 7 shots on goal). 

With Calgary idle until tonight, my boys from Van-ca-tesh climbed to the top of the Northwest with their 44-27-10 (98 points) record. Calgary sit back 2 points with a game in hand now. With the East all set up (sorry Brandon), the West still has a couple of slots up for grab. In the big picture, we have #3 Vancouver (98 points), #4 Chicago (100 points), #5 Calgary (96 points), #6 Columbus (92 points), #7 Anaheim (88 points), and #8 St. Louis (88 points), with Nashville (88 points) and Minnie (85 points) still kind of in things. Calgary starts their final 2 tonight with the front end of a home-in-home with the Oilers, and Vancouver ends their season with a roadie a Colorado team that surprised us earlier in the week. A win against Colorado makes us sitting pretty, as we'll earn the division title with any Calgary loss. If Calgary loses tonight, the win against Colorado will be so important. If the Flames somehow earn back to back wins against the Oil, we're screwed, and we'll play the Blackhawks in the playoffs. It is all in the Canucks hands to finish things the best they can. Rumor is that Lu is starting the game tomorrow night against Colorado, sparing himself the rest, and it is time to step things up and earn this division title. 

The Canucks handed out their regular season hardware on the last home game of the year. Ryan Kesler earned MVP of the year for the team, with Steve Bernie getting the "unsung hero award" (see, Vancouver fans are really smart), Willie Mitchell earning the d-man of the year, and my fav Alex Burrows earning the Babe Pratt Trophy for the most exciting player of the year for the second year running. Props to the whole crew. If you care, you can read about it here. 

Finally, the LSFISP of the post. Today's Irish slang is benjy, which is slang for "an unpleasant odor." Example: "I'm so glad the Kings got the feck off the ice. They was makin' it mad benjy out there." Feel free to use it.

Farewell Nick.

We've dealt with death on this blog before, and surely it is no easy task. Prior to the NHL season, we had to cope with Luc Bourdon's passing after a motorcycle accident. Just recently we learned of the death of Taylor Pyatt's fiance in an automobile accident in Jamaica. Now, we sit here coping with a death that is even more close to home. Nick Adenhart has always been referred to as "Andrew's Boy" around the LSF, but in reality we all wanted him to be a successful pitcher after the kind of story he came up with. 

I went to Nick's MLB debut last year, and while it wasn't his best performance, he showed flashes of brilliance in that game that impressed the heck out of me. Watching him pitch, you just knew this guy had the right stuff. In the game Wednesday night against the A's, Nick was masterful in his six shutout innings, proving his potential was coming to fruition. However, as Torii Hunter said yesterday, this is well beyond baseball. This is real life. The story has been read and reread plenty of times over the last 24 hours, the pain of losing someone like this is hard. It gives us a chance to take a look at our lives and how our life is so out of our hands. It gives us a chance to take a look at how we're living our lives and realize that we may not have time to sort things out the way we would like. It gives us a chance to step back and get right with our faith and with our God. Most of all, it gives us a chance to just pause and realize what life is all about. 

Farewell Nick.

Division title hopes continue after win.

I think I'll give in to the first paragraph from the Associated Press to start my post. "The Calgary Flames came to Vancouver determined to clinch the Northwest Division title Tuesday night. Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had other ideas." I couldn't have said it any better myself, obviously, as I celebrated a thrilling divisional win against the Flames 4-1. 

It was either beat the Flames or not win the division. The Orca decided they would like to continue their shot at the division crown. It seems like it was much more difficult than the score would suggest. However, thanks to some straight savage goaltending by Robbie Luongo, there was never a doubt. The Vancouver pipe cleaner had 46 saves on the night, including 21 in a tough first period, only letting one goal through on a Jarome Iginla garbage goal at 14:44 of the first period. Mattias Ohlund was the kind of surprise star of the game, getting two goals for the first time since January 23, 2008. He netted a marker  at 15:06 of the middle frame with a giant slapper from the blue line, and then pretty much copied his first goal at 14:51 of the final period on the one man advantage to really put it away for good. Rick Rypien even got in on the action, scoring the opening goal at 17:21 of the first period. Ryp got just his third goal of this injury plagued season, although all three have come against Calgary, and got the puck passed Kiprusoff on a second shot after whiffing the first time through with the stick. H-Bomb rounded out the scoring at 17:28 of the third to prove that the first line is still where it's at, and 18,630 fans went home from GM Place damned happy. 

Keys? The Canucks went 1 for 5 on their power play chances and stopped Calgary on all six chances going the other way. Obviously, Luongo stopping 46 of the 47 shots coming his way was just ridiculous. Kipper only faced 25 shots, and let 4 go by comparatively. The top three stars? That had kind of a surprise, in my opinion. 1) Roberto (duh), 2) Ohlund (again, duh), and 3) Kiprusoff (WHAT!?). How do you explain the Turku, Finland native even get close to smelling the top three with a night like that? 84% on the save stat? 4 goal allowed on 25 shots? I kind of think it was just a joke played to piss of Flamer fans. I just don't know. I'll swap out the #3 star for my underrated LSF three stars by taking out the Flames keeper and placing in Ostersund, Sweden native Alex Edler. The big AE had 2 assists with a +2 rating, which played hugely into the large win. Recognize.

The win has the 43-27-10 (96 points) Canucks wrapped up at the top of the Northwest Division with Calgary and their 45-29-6 (96 points) record. Both teams have two games remaining, and basically the Canucks need to win more games than the Flames to claim the top spot and earn the #3 Western spot. Currently, the Flames are #3 (96 points), Chicago is #4 (99 points), Vancouver are #5 (96 points), Columbus are #6 (90 points), Anaheim are #7 (88 points), St. Louis are #8 (88 points), and Nashville and Minnie still have hope outside the line (86 and 85 points respectively). If the Canucks come out on top they earn a first round matchup with Columbus, is they come out #2 in the division they match up against J's Blackhawks. We've talked at length about what we'd rather have. Columbus has given the 'Nucks a run for their money in the regular season, but few would pick against us in a 7 game series. Meanwhile, Chicago would probably be a little more difficult to run through, but it would be a damned fun series. J doesn't want to play us. He says it is because he wants to cheer the Canucks on in their first rounder. I think it's because he doesn't think the Hawks can win in 7 against the Blue & Green. 

Two games remain for most teams, and for my Canucks it is a couple of battles against subpar teams. First up is a home game against the Kings, and that is followed up with a road game against the Avs. The Canucks should win both of the games, but we know what should means. Meanwhile, the Flames have back to back games against the Oilers (home-in-home), which most would agree is a difficult thing to sweep. Advantage 'Nucks? We'll find out starting tomorrow. Gotta beat those Kings. 

What do we think about Buffalo's chances? With a game in hand, being back by 6 doesn't sound too bad. But, the Buffs need to win all of their games while having the Rangers and Panthers go bust on their remaining two each. What do you say Brandon? Will this be the ultimate fall of the Rangers that you have been waiting for? 

Meanwhile, the Austin Celtics are finally back on the hardwood after a seemingly never ending break. Currently, the C's are tied with the Nets at 69 in the third quarter. Austin still holds a slim 1 game lead on #3 Orlando, but that 4 game deficit to the Cavs seems insurmountable. Is there a first round playoff fear if we face Chicago? 

Obviously the Angels dropped their Moseley game against the A's 6-4, and that was tough. However, when I throw up my next full blog on the Halos, I think it will be about a Nick "Andrew's Boy" Adenhart busting a huge win against the A's in game 3. Come on Nickie, we know you're great!

Saunders, Angels shutout A's.

What an opening day in Anaheim! The Angels sent Joe Saunders to the mound as the opening day starter, and he excelled better than we all expected. The Angels got some solid pitching, some timely hitting, and walked away with a 3-0 win on game 1 of 162. 

What can you say about the mound work when the Red Hats only allowed three hits to our biggest rivals? Joey "Colonel" Saunders was electric, going 6.67 innings of 3 hit shutout ball, with 2 punch outs and 2 free passes. Joe continues his amazing streak of never losing a MLB game in the month of April. I think most of us where sad to see him get yanked with a shutout going in the 7th inning, but I think the Halos are looking out for his "dead arm" problems, keeping him on the 90+ pitch count. He was backed up well, though, with Arredondo (1 batter/1 K), Scot "Karen's Favorite" Shields (1 inning of perfect ball), and Brian "I'm The New Frankie" Fuentes (his first save on a perfect 13 pitch inning). Extra love to Saunders for beaning the newly gray bearded Jason Giambi.

The bats may not have been as on fire as they were in Spring Training, but they were certainly enough to beat the run-less A's. It didn't hurt that my new "current favorite Halo" put on a performance to earn him the brand new "LSF Stick of the Game" award. Howie Kendrick was playing up to his HK47 nickname with a 2 for 4 night in the #2 spot with 2 RBI, including the first Angel homerun of the spring. Does anyone else smell batting title? His blast to left center was pretty exciting to go along with his dump RBI single in the 2 run third. Vlad The Impaler got the other RBI in that pull away third on his 2 for 4 night. Joining the two triumphant hitters was Juan Rivera (2 for 4), Big Game Hunter (1 for 4), and Jeff "Mathis-ma-tician" Mathis (1 for 3, and off to a better start than Napoli). The Angels left 7 runners on base total, and it should be mentioned that Aybar was the biggest offender (0 for 3, 3 LOB). 

Time for my "Take That!" of the post: Kurt Suzuki went 0 for 3. TAKE THAT!

I know it's premature, but the Angels 1-0 record has my Red Hats tied with Texas and Seattle for first place in the AL West, with the A's bringing up the rear, 1 huge game back. Game two of the series will be a bigger test of the Angels offense than tonight, with Dustin Moseley coming to the mound at the Stadium. The Texarkana, TX native was 2-4 with a 6.79 ERA in 2008. We all know the story with Moseley: the Angels franchise seem to think that he's better than most fans think he is. He's pretty hit or miss, either going 5 innings of 2 run ball or 2 innings of 5 run ball. Lucky for him, he's opposed by Trevor Cahill from Oceanside, CA. Cahill is a 21 year old  hurler making the leap from Double-A to the majors. He's an elite talent, and we all know that rookies seem to do well in their first game because of the not knowing factor (save Adenhart), but you'd have to hope that the Halos offense can get to this bozo. Bring it Cahill. And bring it Moseley...please. 

Is there any better time of year than the hockey playoffs and start to the baseball season? Well, maybe the baseball playoffs and the start of hockey season. Hm...I'd have to think long and hard on that one. 

Finally, it's time for the LSFISP (LSF Irish Slang of the Post). Today's Irish slang is savage, which is slang for "an expression of satisfaction." Example: "Joe's outing was feckin' savage tonight!" Feel free to use it.