Perfect? Definitely, Maybe.

Posted by Nick Verlaney on Jun 3, 2010 in Baseball | 2 comments

- Again, many thanks to those who took time out to give me feedback over the past 2 weeks. It has meant a lot to me and I hope to make this something you look forward to every week.

- Perfection next, but first up is the juicy NBA Finals match-up between the 2 most storied franchises in the NBA, or in other terms- what David Stern dreams about at night, L.A. vs. Boston for all the marbles. This has the makings of a 7 game series written all over it. These teams know each other, and better yet, don’t like each other. I’m predicting the Lakers win in 7, but I’m hoping the Celtics win (see below). Lets take a look at each position to see who has the edge: Point Guard: Celtics. Rajon Rondo has been the Celtics best player in the playoffs and could win the MVP of the finals if he plays like he is capable. Shooting Guard: Lakers. 1 word: Kobe. Small forward: Celtics. Paul Pierce is getting hot at the right time, just like he did in the ’08 Finals. Power Forward: Lakers. Too close to call, but I like the way Pao Gasol is playing right now, although he better get ready for a battle with KG if he wants to win a title. KG dominated Gasol in the ’08 Finals and would like to again. Center: Celtics. Kendrick Perkins is a great defender and rebounder. He needs to control his emotions to not get another techical foul though. 6th man: tied. Rasheed Wallace and Lamar Odom have both been really good in the playoffs and will play crucial roles for their teams. Bench depth: tied. I like Boston’s mix of energy and chemistry coming off the bench, but the Lakers bench has played above themselves all playoffs. I agree with Doc Rivers statement when he said this isnt going to be like ’08, these are 2 vastly different teams. The NBA Finals: where rematches happen.

-Lets take a quick look back at how we got to the Finals. The Lakers might have beaten the Suns 4-2 to win the Western Conference Finals, but the Suns easily could have won or split Games 5 and 6 to force a game 7. The Lakers in the last 4 games proved to be ineffective against the zone defense the Suns played, and struggled shooting 3′s. Phoenix played like champs and gave the Lakers all they could handle. I must say though, without a doubt, that Kobe is by far the best closer in the NBA. Those shots to win game 6 with suffocating defense all around him were unbelievable. He proved he wanted it that little bit more and got it. I also must add that I think every word that comes out of his mouth is incredibly fake. You can tell he rarely says what he actually feels, and that is what makes him so unlikeable to me, he seems disingenuous. Kobe lovers, you can rag on me all you want, but I call it like it see it: great player, poor sport. The Celtics also took a weird road to the Finals. They dominated the Magic, taking 3-0 lead with game 4 in Boston. Easy close-out win, right? Wrong. Orlando finally remembered they were a good team and took games 4 and 5 to force a game 6. Boston finally closed out the series in dominant fashion in game 6, but injuries to Rondo and Glen Davis made the Finals that much more complicated to get ready for. Nate Robinson sure looked good in game 6 though, which makes life a little easier for Boston to let Rondo get healthy.

- Time to tackle the almost perfect game on Wednesday night. For those who didn’t see, Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had thrown a perfect game through 8 2/3 innings. The next hitter grounded to Miguel Cabrera at 1st and Galarraga ran over to cover 1st base and claim his perfect game. He had the ball and touched the base clearly before the runner. Unfortunately, umpire Jim Joyce didnt see it that way and called the runner safe, thus ruining Galarraga’s perfect game. What is more unfortunate is that baseball rules dictate that play cannot be reviewed or overturned. Baseball, not Joyce, stole that perfect game from Armando Galarraga. MLB is so set in its ways that it has fallen behind every other major sport, and frankly, has forgot about the most important thing: getting the call right. I will say this, if they do not change their replay rule to be able to review game changing plays, they will start to lose my generation of fans. Undeniably, baseball has the most accurate officials of any sport, but these umpires are human and make mistakes, even in routine situations like Wednesday night. I must add, the class that Galarraga and the whole Tigers organization showed to Joyce after the game was amazing. If it were me, I would like to take a swing at him for blowing my perfect game, but they all realized he was human and he made a mistake, albeit a huge one, but a mistake nonetheless. Jim Joyce was a big man for admitting he made the wrong call, but is a winner in my book for actually going up to Galarraga after the game and apologizing. That rarely happens in baseball. Galarraga was a bigger man for accepting his apology and moving on. Get it right baseball. Not only did you cheat the players, but you also cheated the fans who didn’t get to witness the first perfect game in Tigers history. Side note: It’s a perfect game in my book, congrats Armando. *Edit: Look at this classy display as Armando Galarraga presented Jim Joyce with the lineup card today. This is about as classy as it gets, and also why sports are so inspiring.

- For the first time since 1880, thats right, 15 years after the Civil War ended, there have been 2 perfect games in a single season (cough, should have been 3, cough). First, Dallas Braden threw one on Mothers Day, and then Roy Halladay threw one against the Marlins last Saturday. This is unbelievable, it is rare to get 1 in an entire season, but 3 (yes, I count it) is flat out ridiculous. Do you know how hard it is to throw a perfect game in baseball? I would put it up there with getting a hole in 1 on a long par 4 in golf, having a quadruple-double in basketball, or running for 300+ yards in a football game.  Everything has to be on point for the pitcher, the defense behind him, and the most overlooked item- luck has to be on his side. This proves that baseball without steroids, baseball can still be a pitching dominated sport.

- When I was growing up and starting to understand baseball, the player everyone wanted to emulate was Ken Griffey Jr. ‘The Kid’ did everything. He had the sweetest swing in baseball and hit home runs, but he also hit for average. He stole bases with ease. He robbed home runs with spectacular catches over the wall. He was the best defensive center fielder since Willie Mays. He played the game with great passion and joy, like it’s supposed to be played. ‘The Kid’ retired on Wednesday after a sparkling 22 year career with 630 homeruns, 10 Gold Gloves, and 7 Silver Slugger awards. The first thought that comes to mind is what could have been. If Griffey didn’t get injured so often in the prime of his career, how many more home runs could he have hit? How many more Gold Gloves could he have taken home? That is the game though, and unfortunately injuries do cut even the best players careers short. One thing that did not change throughout his career was the way he carried himself. He was a class-act from day 1, and stayed that way even through the tough times. He also did things the right way. He was never in the middle of all the steroid hoopla, and was never arrested for doing anything ridiculous. He was a role model to me growing up, and I want to thank him for that. Very few players in the history of baseball had half of his talent, and even fewer were as good as he was off the field. See you in Cooperstown, Griff.

- In a bizzare story, Kendry Morales of the Los Angeles hit a walk-off grand slam on Saturday to beat the Mariners. Awesome, right? Wrong. When he jumped into the crowd of Angels waiting to celebrate the win at home plate, he stepped on the plate wrong and broke his leg. Two thoughts: 1) what a freak injury and buzz kill after a great win. 2) this probably proves that jumping into a pile of your teammates isn’t the safest thing you can do. Honestly, how don’t more people get injured in celebrations like dog-piles? The weight of 20 guys bearing down on you cannot be good for you. Unfortunately for the Angels, this was a costly injury as Morales was unequivocaly their best player. Tough break, get it?

- In what has to be one of the ultimate redemption stories, Duke Lacrosse won the National Title on Monday. If you remember ALL THE WAY BACK to 2006, this program was in the middle of one of the greatest scandals in modern sports history. There were sexual assault accusations after a party with a stripper went horribly wrong. The District Attorney went after players, insisting they had to pay for their crimes. There was also the trial, which was more public and testing than Kobe Bryant’s for my money. Then, there was the revelation that the stripper did not get assaulted and the players were cleared of any wrong doing. Finally, the D.A. got fired for making false claims publicly without all of the facts. Even after-the-fact, the players, coach, and program were under a dark cloud so large, that they were thought to never get out from under it. It was thought by many that dark cloud would be their legacy. Well, thanks to the freshmen that came the year after the scandal, the dark cloud has been parted. They worked vigorously to remove any doubt that their program was run the right way, and suffered some heartbreaking losses in the NCAA tournament the years before reaching the title game on Monday. Of course, the Duke seniors had 1 more challenge to overcome before getting their moment, and that was overtime in the National Title game against huge, but scrappy underdog Notre Dame team. 5 seconds into overtime Duke scored a great goal, the cloud faded away, and Duke had their title.

- As I reported last week, teens seem to be into doing the amazing this year. Well, I left out Jessica Watson, who, in May, completed a 7 month voyage CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE. Yes, you read that correctly, she took a boat around the world…..as a 16 year old. Honestly, this is unbelievably impressive. I was barely legal to drive a car at 16, and this teenager decides that “hey, I have a boating license, why not take it for a joy-ride….around the world.” I wonder how that conversation went with her parents. “Ummmm daddy, could I take the boat out for a little while?” “Sure honey, where are you going and when will you be home?” “Ummm…..like about 7 months….its only 12,000 miles daddy please?!?!?!” All I have say is WOW. Great job Jessica, you are easily the coolest kid at school.

- Did you hear that? It is the whole state of Minnesota collectively exhaling after it was learned that Brett Favre had ankle surgery in an attempt to come back and play for the Vikings this season. Nobody should be in the least bit surprised by this, the guy is addicted to football like BP is to safety violations (read below).

- What do you think of the Super Bowl in New York in 2014? Personally, I don’t like it. I think playing the premier game in your sport, especially with all of the extra factors that have become Super Bowl week, at least the weather conditions of the game should be comfortable for the players to perform their best. Just my two cents, but it will be cool to see snow for the big game.

- To switch gears, here is a list of the Top 25 Douchiest Colleges by GQ magazine. Great piece by GQ, although I think they omitted some worthy of making the list.

- Here is the Daily Show ripping into BP for not making any progress in the tragic oil spill.

- Is BP the real enemy in the oil spill? Colbert thinks someone else is.

- Time for everyones favorite segment: GET A GRIP.

- BP, honestly, GET A GRIP. You are quickly ruining every square inch of water in the Gulf of Mexico, endangering wildlife, and disrupting the Gulf economy. By the way, over the last 4 years BP has rung up 760 ‘Willful Safety Violations’ determined by OSHA. By comparison, Exxon has rung up a grand total of 1 violation. Wow.