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      Big Unit wins No. 299

      May 28, 2009 /

      With the Giants’ 6-3 win over the Braves on Wednesday night, Randy Johnson earned career victory No. 299.

      Johnson breezed through the first five innings, retiring 15 of the first 16 batters he faced, striking out five and allowing just one run and three hits. But he ran out of gas in the sixth and had to be relieved by Brandon Medders, who got out of that inning but allowed Atlanta to score two unearned runs to cut into San Fran’s lead at 4-3.

      But the Giants managed to add two runs in their half of the seventh and gave the bullpen enough of a cushion to preserve the win for the Big Unit, who will now go for career win No. 300 next Wednesday on the road against the Nationals.

      If Johnson claims victory, he’ll join amazing company in Cy Young, Warren Spahn, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine as other pitchers who have 300 career victories. It would have been nice for the home crowd in San Francisco if the Big Unit went for 300 at AT&T Park, although I think they’ve already seen a great moment or two in baseball history over the past couple years. (Even if a lot of baseball fans think that moment was tainted.)

      MLB

      Wings advance, will have Cup rematch with Pens

      May 28, 2009 /

      Thanks to a 2-1 victory in overtime against the Blackhawks on Wednesday night, the Red Wings have set up a rematch with the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals.

      Detroit won the Western Conference finals 4-1. The Red Wings and Penguins, coming off a four-game sweep over Carolina in the East, will open the championship series Saturday night in Detroit.

      The series will start nearly a week ahead of schedule because NBC and the NHL didn’t want a long layoff to stunt the excitement about the matchup.

      I think plenty of casual hockey fans wanted to see some new blood in the Finals, but it’s hard to beat a matchup between Sidney Crosby and the red hot Penguins vs. the defending champs. This will also be the first rematch of the Stanley Cup finals since the Islanders and Oilers battled each other in back to back years in 1983 and 1984.

      The 21-year old Crosby draws a lot of comparisons to the “Great One” Wayne Gretzky and legend Mario Lemieux, but even he’ll admit that until he wins a cup, people will always question the legitimacy of those comparisons. A Cup victory over the powerful Wings would go a long way in helping Sid Kid gain even more backers.

      It’ll be interesting to see if the Wings get Nicklas Lindstrom and Pavel Datsyuk back on Saturday. Both players were scratched from Wednesday night’s game after expecting to play. Hopefully Detroit will be at full strength come Saturday, because this series should be a battle.

      NHL

      23-5 run keys Laker win in Game 5

      May 27, 2009 /

      The Denver Nuggets were in position to win Game 5. They were up 71-64 with 6:31 to play in the third quarter and they had the Lakers on their heels. If they had shown patience and executed, they could have pushed the lead to double digits or at least have a modest lead going into the fourth quarter. But the Lakers tightened up their defense, and the Nuggets committed four straight turnovers late in the third to let L.A. back into the game.

      The Nuggets were stuck on 76 from the 2:25 mark in the third quarter until the 7:52 mark in the fourth. That’s almost six and a half minutes without scoring a single point. The Lakers deserve some credit for playing pretty good defense, but the Nuggets were sloppy with the ball and took a ton of bad shots.

      Lamar Odom finally showed up. He posted 19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three assists, and was the single biggest reason that the Lakers won this game. I grow tired of hearing how talented of a player he is and then watch as he misses bunny after bunny at close range. Shannon Brown also played well of the Laker bench. He and Odom were on the floor when L.A. made its run.

      The series moves back to Denver for Game 6, and the pressure is squarely on the Nuggets, as they face elimination.

      NBA, NBA Finals

      The NBA rescinds Dwight Howard technical

      May 27, 2009 /

      Wisely, I might add…

      The NBA announced Wednesday that it has rescinded Howard’s sixth technical foul of the playoffs, which he was given for taunting Anderson Varejao after a layup in the fourth quarter of the Magic’s 116-114 overtime victory Tuesday night. Cleveland’s forward had draped his arms around Howard in a failed attempt to stop him from scoring.

      Howard’s total of technicals for the postseason is thus back down to five. Players receive a one-game suspension after reaching seven technical fouls and further one-game suspensions for every other technical thereafter.

      I don’t like taunting, but what Howard did wasn’t taunting. He didn’t stand over Varejao for any length of time or show him up. He made a nice play and celebrated; he should be allowed to glance at the player he just worked over for a split second. Heck, the refs let Mo Williams whip the ball at Howard in Cleveland, and he didn’t get a tech.

      NBA, Video

      Zambrano goes bananas in game against Pirates, likely to be suspended

      May 27, 2009 /

      Cubs’ starter Carlos Zambrano went ape crap in a game against the Pirates on Wednesday and was ejected after bumping into umpire Mark Carlson.

      Upset with a call Carlson made at home plate, Zambrano made a huge scene, mimicking ejecting Carlson from the game, throwing a ball into left field, throwing his glove against the dugout screen and taking a bat to a Gatorade fountain.

      The Arlington Daily Herald expects that Big Z will be suspended for his actions:

      After uncorking a wild pitch, Zambrano thought he had tagged Nyjer Morgan, who was racing down from third base. Umpire Mark Carlson called Morgan safe, and Zambrano went ballistic. He got into Carlson’s face and then bumped him with his shouder or forearm, earning the heave-ho. Then, Zambrano made a show of things. He signaled that he had thrown Carlson out of the game. He tossed the ball into left field and then flung his glove against the dugout screen. He finished by taking a bat to the Gatorade fountain in the dugout. (Putting the fountain there was inviting that kind of stuff; Ryan Dempster punched it out the other day.)

      Figure Zambrano to miss at least 1 start with a suspension. Lefty Ted Lilly may get something for jumping the dugout fence the other night to take on umpire Bob Davidson, getting himself tossed. Already, Milton Bradley has been suspended for two games (reduced to one) for an argument in April with ump Larry Vanover.

      Well, nobody can ever claim that Big Z doesn’t show emotion. Maybe the tirade will breathe a little life into the recently dreadful Cubs, who have won two straight, but who had previously lost eight straight before their win Tuesday against the Bucs.

      MLB

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