Pirates 13, Reds 1

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Saarloos, Stanton, Wilson sucked.

Hitting: Pretty much everybody sucked. Godwin with the RBI FTL?

Fielding & such: Eh........

Slight breeze shatters Ken Griffey Jr.'s femur

From The Onion:

Although Ken Griffey Jr. had nearly recovered from a broken hand sustained while playing with his children in December, his rehabilitation came to a sudden halt yesterday when a gentle 2 mph breeze wafted across his leg, shattering his femur in three places. "I knew it was broken right when that breeze hit me," said Griffey, who was walking from his sports therapist's office to his car in order to drive to his daughter's piano recital at the time of the injury. "These things just happen. If I would have known a breeze like that was coming, I never would have left the house." Reds manager Jerry Narron has stated that, upon Griffey's return to the Reds, he will be fitted with a personalized protective bubble to be worn for the remainder of the season.

Penguins 3, Devils 0

Another huge game, as the Mavs/Suns game was. And another disappointing loss. Not a great night.

This one didn't make any sense. The Devils didn't deserve this one. They might not have been the better team, which would be hard to argue, but I think they were pretty close. They played a very solid game and didn't get anything because of it. Jocelyn Thibault, of ALL PEOPLE, got a shutout. That is inexcusable. But it wasn't for lack of effort. Give the man some credit, he played well. Just very little things went wrong for the Devils at the wrong times. It was annoying and frustrating because it was such a big game, fighting for first place in the Atlantic and first place in the East, but probably only fighting for the division at this point. The #1 seed might be out of reach now, but it's still possibly out there.

Winning the division is the new priority, and I'm not sure if it's a bad thing if they lose it. Try to comprehend my crazy logic. Devils win the division, get the #2 seed. They play the Islanders, who are always tough for NJ. Then they play the winner of Tampa Bay/Atlanta, two teams who can beat the Devils handily. If the Penguins win the Atlantic, the Devils get #4. They play whoever it ends up being, Ottawa probably, and can beat them. Then they play Buffalo and can beat them, it's been shown. Then they play whoever comes out of the other side. That might be the most favorable scenario, oddly enough.

Oh well, we'll see. I don't really feel like talking about this game anymore, so check out In Lou We Trust.

Penguins 3, Devils 0

Another huge game, as the Mavs/Suns game was. And another disappointing loss. Not a great night.

This one didn't make any sense. The Devils didn't deserve this one. They might not have been the better team, which would be hard to argue, but I think they were pretty close. They played a very solid game and didn't get anything because of it. Jocelyn Thibault, of ALL PEOPLE, got a shutout. That is inexcusable. But it wasn't for lack of effort. Give the man some credit, he played well. Just very little things went wrong for the Devils at the wrong times. It was annoying and frustrating because it was such a big game, fighting for first place in the Atlantic and first place in the East, but probably only fighting for the division at this point. The #1 seed might be out of reach now, but it's still possibly out there.

Winning the division is the new priority, and I'm not sure if it's a bad thing if they lose it. Try to comprehend my crazy logic. Devils win the division, get the #2 seed. They play the Islanders, who are always tough for NJ. Then they play the winner of Tampa Bay/Atlanta, two teams who can beat the Devils handily. If the Penguins win the Atlantic, the Devils get #4. They play whoever it ends up being, Ottawa probably, and can beat them. Then they play Buffalo and can beat them, it's been shown. Then they play whoever comes out of the other side. That might be the most favorable scenario, oddly enough.

Oh well, we'll see. I don't really feel like talking about this game anymore, so check out In Lou We Trust.

Suns 129, Mavericks 127 (2 OT)

That was a tough one.

To be honest, I was surprised the Mavs hung around that long. They needed lucky shots and they got them. They just didn't have enough at the end of the game, and it they only lost by two. They didn't really deserve to have the game go this long, and unfortunately, the right team won last night. Phoenix was the better team. What can you say about Steve Nash? The guy, who I miss dearly, is incredibly annoying when playing for another team. And there was simply no answer for Amare Stoudemire. No answer. He was 16/19 for 41 points. It wasn't just the points, it was how easily he racked them. He made 12 straight shots and they were all right by the basket. He was not being challenged whatsoever until it was too late. What a dominating performance. It's scary, because the Suns had no inside presence during last year's playoffs, and if they would have, they very well could have won the series against Dallas and won the Championship. Now they have it, and they played like the better team last night.

Aside from Stackhouse, who just went OFF last night for a season-high 33 points, nobody really impressed me for the Mavs. Sure, Terry hit a big shot and made a few more, but it wasn't enough. Nowitzki had plenty of points, but they seemed pretty empty to me. He had 30 points and 16 rebounds (many in the overtime periods) but I wasn't impressed. Outside of the one-step dunk SLAMDOWN, there wasn't much of his play that excited me. I thought he ran his mouth too much and worried about things that were outside of his control.

Josh Howard in particular did not play well. He had 19 points and 9 rebounds, which surprised me, but he missed many shots. His defense was very solid, though, and when he fouled out, that was a big shift in the game. And then Dampier fouled out. So with those two out, things were going to be hard. Dampier, I was definitely not impressed with whatsoever. He played too recklessly, threw the ball away, consistently missed easy shots. He did go CRAZY on the rebounds, though. And that was huge. But otherwise, he offered nothing.

Here's the big picture: for all the talk about how great the Dallas Mavericks are, for all the talk about one of the greatest regular seasons of all time, all the talk about how the team functions as a team with each player having a role that fits perfectly with everyone else, for all the talk about all the streaks and all the stats they are breaking along the way, the Suns are now only 2.5 games behind Dallas. The Spurs are only 6.5 games behind, which is going to be 6 after they win tonight. So it's not like Dallas is all alone on their little island being the best team, they are one of three incredible teams right now. So they need to dig down and figure some things out and win again. The loss against Golden State, I brushed off, saying they needed to lose because it would be better for them. Not so in this case. This was a tough one.

Reds 2, Devil Rays 1

Reds are hot. And sexy.

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Arroyo had a very nice outing, going the longest any starter has gone with five innings. He K'ed 2 and only allowed 2 hits. Keep in mind that it was against Tampa Bay and keep in mind that it is still Spring Training. Otherwise, awesome. It was good news for him, though. Weathers pitched the sixth and gave up a homer to Rocco Baldelli. Homer Bailey pitched the seventh, surprisingly, and K'ed 1 in his scoreless inning, though he did hit another batter. Seems to be his forté. His ERA is now a meager 19.64. Salmon got the save, K'ing 1. Notice how I changed tense, going from "K'ed" to "K'ing?" This is not how to write a paper, which is probably what I should be doing instead of this.

Hitting: Not much to go on, except Josh Hamilton got another hit, but only went 1/3. Disappointing to say the least. And most. Not much hitting to get excited about. Gonzalez, Castro, and Phillips all went 1/2, Gonzo & Fidel getting doubles. Ross still sucks, going 0/2. Worse were Hatteberg and Crosby at 0/3.

Fielding & such: Phillips stole his first base of the year. And by that, I don't mean first base compared to second base, it's his personal first. It's always something I thought he could do a lot of last year but didn't. And it's something I've been waiting for him to do. And it finally happened. Hopefully more of that. Gil-Bellhorn-Votto turned a double play.