Devils 4, Panthers 3 (SO)

Wait, the Devils won?

Cool.

It was on my birthday, too. March 24. 1986. Back in the day, you know.

Jim Dowd had a 2-goal night, each goal tying up the score. So they were big. Very big. He played well and he needs to as the Devils have many of their forwards out. Another new forward who is playing simply because there need to be enough bodies, David Clarkson, scored a power play goal, his second of the year. Good for him. Shots on goal were even, faceoffs were pretty even with Florida winning slightly more. New Jersey only took one penalty on Cam Janssen's slash.

The shootout was exciting as both Parise and Zajac scored, Zajac scoring the game winner. Not sure if he is a body I would put out there for a shootout, but again you take what you have and the Devils were and have been shorthanded for some time now. And he ended up winning the game, so that was good.

Devils maintain the Atlantic Division lead over Pittsburgh, 96-94, and now have a couple days off to hopefully get somebody healthy. Islanders on Tuesday in a potential first-round matchup.

Mavericks 109, Celtics 95

The Mavericks did pretty much everything right in this one.

Jason Terry led the way with 29 points, 11/15 from the field including 4/6 3-pointers. He also had 6 assists. Nowitzki had 20 points and that was about it. Would like to see him get to the free throw line more often. Dampier was clueless. Josh Howard was nice with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but his rebounds don't usually come with much effort, but maybe I'm unnecessarily hating on the kid. Devin Harris had 18 points and 6 assists and was playing very smart basketball again. We will need it more and more from this guy, who was the #5 pick in some draft if you'll remember. From Wisconsin. Yuck. But you can't hold a grudge forever. Anyway, that was about it, but it was nice to see Greg Buckner get out and play a little, he got 13 minutes. Hope he stays around now. Diop got 5 blocks. I miss the guy and on some nights, he is clearly better than Dampier but he isn't the starter anymore. Which is too bad because he was pretty decent. Oh well.

On the other side, it was Paul Pierce with 30 points, but only 11 earned. He was 19/21 for free throws. That's right, he shot TWENTY-ONE free throws. The Mavericks shot 17. But that's both to Pierce's credit and the Mavs disdain as well as maybe some unfairness. Overall, it was Celtics - 40, Mavs - 17. So yuck. But yes, Paul Pierce and all that. Nobody else really did anything noteworthy.

Shooting was much better for Dallas who made 56% as compared to Boston's measly 36%. Assists were in the Mavs favor 28-16.

Easy game, good game, and the Mavs are 4-0 on their road trip. Good stuff.

Reds 7, Phillies 0

Jr. is back!

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: The weird thing was I thought about writing a comparison between Arroyo and Harang and how they have done in spring training and how Arroyo is acting like the #1 that Harang actually is. I should have done that, because it happened again last night with this game. Arroyo was the ace, getting the win in 6 innings. 5 hits, 1 walk, 6 K's, 0 earned runs. That's how to do it, folks. Victor Santos pitched a clean 7th, and for me is a sleeper to get the #5. Big sleeper, but it's out there. He has been very solid. Todd Coffey pitched a clean 8th, with a K. Hermanson closed it out cleanly, allowing 1 hit.

Hitting: Ken Griffey Jr. was in the lineup for the first time, playing right field, and he was 2/4 with a double. Freel led off and was 1/4 with a run scored and a strikeout. Dunn was 2/4 with 4 RBI's, most of which came on a 3-run blast of a homer. Very nice day for him. Phillips was 3/4 including a homer, which followed Dunn's blast. EdE was also 3/4 with an RBI. Votto was 0/3 with 2 K's. Gonzalez was 0/1 but drew 2 walks. Chad Moeller hit a home run. Hamilton was 0/2.

Fielding & such: No errors today. Votto stole a base and was also the recipient of a Phillips-Gonzalez double play.

Devil Rays 15, Reds 1

Oof.

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Harang started and rightfully took the loss. 6 innings, 8 hits, 6 earned runs, 2 walks, and 6 K's. His K count still remains high so at least he will have that with him. But c'mon, is anybody worried about this guy? Sure, it's meaningless. Spring training means nothing. Blah. But c'mon. This is our ace. He hasn't very good overall this spring at all. Not much to get excited about. He had some good innings and a very bad inning and a bad inning. I would like to see something to get excited about here. It didn't get much better from Harang on out. Burton pitched the 7th, gave up 3 hits (1 homer) and walked 1 for 2 earned runs. That's not going to help his already slim chances. Coutlangus pitched for the first out of the 8th, giving up 2 hits and 2 walks for 3 earned runs. Wilkerson (who?) got the second out, giving up 1 homer and 1 walk for 2 earned runs. He also got kicked out of the game. Flannery (who?) pitched the final out which was a strikeout.

Hitting: The first inning boded well as Freel got a hit, advanced on a hit, and scored on a groundout. Then that was pretty much it for the team. The man mentioned was 1/2 and scored the only run. Hamilton was 1/4 with the only RBI. Juan Castro, as DH no less, was 0/4. Denorfia was 1/2 with a walk. E Cruz, the savior of the last game, was 0/2 with 2 strikeouts.

Fielding & such: Error was on Machado, and that was his FIFTH of the spring. That's not going to sit well with anybody, as he is probably in doghouse-mode right now. Denorfia stole another base, and Hamilton stole his first.