Reds with/without Hamilton

It's early, but here's a key stat:

The Reds are 4-1 when Hamilton starts and 4-5 when he doesn't.

Chew on that for a bit.

Mock Draft

#8 from Pat Kirwan sticks with Russell:

The Raiders have lots of needs, but as long as quarterback is one of them, they have to respond by selecting the guy with the great deep ball, JaMarcus Russell. As I said previously, the Raiders are pushing forward to trade for Josh McCown. The compensation the Lions rejected was a fifth-round pick, but it appears they could move up a pick in the first round to close the deal. The Lions aren't going to give McCown away, but a quarterback that has one year left on his deal and didn't play a down last year can't be worth more than a fourth-round pick. I'm sure the Raiders would love to have McCown in a Raiders uniform to start the season until Russell is ready. The biggest point about the Raiders' intentions to use the mobile McCown until Russell is ready and then make the switch is that Oakland is not looking to renegotiate McCown's $2 million salary to make the trade happen.

Warriors 111, Mavericks 82

What did you expect? No Nowitzki, Howard, Stackhouse (or Dampier). Avery was resigned to lose this game, which is sad in a way. I am not so sure it's wise to take the Golden State Warriors lightly. They swept the regular season series, although this game doesn't really count. But this is the team that can give the Mavs problems. I wouldn't much want to see the Lakers in the #8 seed either, but the Warriors are scary and have lights-out shooters that when they get hot are hard to stop. The Warriors could be the #8, that's the most likely case. The Lakers could fall to #8 and the Clippers could rise to #8. We'll know soon enough.

Hard to draw much from this game, though. When the leading floor players are Buckner, George, Ager, and Barea, you know that's not the usual Mavs out there. Moe Ager actually didn't perform all that poorly and ended up with a team-high 20 points, along with 6 rebounds. He made all of his free throws, too. Harris & Barea got 13 points apiece, and little Barea got 10 rebounds somehow. Must have come right to him. Devean George had 12 points.

For the Warriors, just like the Mavs, only one guy scored 20 or more. That guy was Mickael Pietrus of all people, with 22 points. Superstars Richardson & Davis had only 14 and 12, respectively. Barnes got 19. Weird game.

What did it was the poor shooting. The Warriors were consistently better on overall shooting, 3's, and free throws. They also killed on assists and had far fewere turnovers. Nothing to get excited about here.

Reds 11, Brewers 5

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Belisle started and wasn't terribly effective, starting and getting the first out in the 6th before sitting down. He left with 8 hits, 2 walks, 1 wild pitch, and 2 K's for 5 earned runs and the Brewers lead. He would not end up with the loss on the day, however. The day after the bullpen was the goat, the bullpen was the saving grace. That's how it goes sometimes in baseball, but this was good to watch. Excluding Rheal Cormier, who hit the only batter he faced, the bullpen was quite solid. Saarloos came in and got two groundball outs, one of which scored a runner, but that was attributed to Belisle. Not much Kirk could have done in that situation. It was lights out from there. Stanton pitched the 7th and 8th and was simply the man. Only one man was allowed on base and that was due to error. Stanton had 3 K's. And a good turnaround from Todd Coffey as well, pitching a clean 9th with a strikeout mixed in for effect.

Hitting: Well, it's about dang time. This is what it was supposed to be, let's put it that way. The big story was Freel signing a new 2-year deal with the Reds and how the focus of his press conference wasn't himself but Hamilton as Freel keeps gushing over how incredible Hamilton is and says that he, Freel, needs to play less. So Narron wants to play them both, doesn't want to play EdE, so he moves Freel over to third base for the first time in a while and Hamilton goes to center field. Aside from Freel's error at third, the move works out masterfully as they batted in the top two spots in the order. Freel & Hamilton led off the first inning with singles and scored, and led off the 7th inning with singles and scored. Well done from those lads. Freel ended up being 4/5 with 3 runs scored and his first RBI of the year, clearly one of his best games in a long time. Hamilton followed him with a 2/4 evening, 2 runs scored. Dunn was 1/5, getting an RBI on a fielder's choice and scoring on Griffey's double. Griffey had another double, making him go 2/5 on the day with 2 RBI's. Phillips was also 2/5 with 3 RBI's, one of the hits was a sweet triple, the first of the year for the Redlegs. Gonzo, who everybody counted out because he would be too emotional, was smart enough to go 1/2 along with drawing 2 walks, including an RBI walk. Valentin was 2/4 with a bases-clearing single in the 7th. 15 hits on the day. Great stuff to watch.

Fielding & such: Mentioned in the first two sections is the error on Freel on a routine groundball. It's bound to happen, especially since the guy is new. He made some stops out there as well. Adam Dunn, newschool baserunning phenom, stole his 4th of the year in the 5th inning.

Brewers 10, Reds 6

Guaranteed Loss Night. Therefore, a loss was to be had.

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Eric Milton was the starter, therefore nobody showed up to watch the Reds lose. And although, yes, he was the losing pitcher, that honor should have gone to Todd Coffey, who blew chunks. Milton would have gotten out of the first inning were it not for Griffey's error. Milton did give up a homer as he is prone to do, but it was a solo job. Then he settled down, gave up a double in the 6th and was pulled. That was enough for the loss. 5 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks and 4 K's for 2 earned runs and the loss. Not that bad, all things considered. Todd Coffey, as mentioned, was the goat today. Was he on crack? It's possible. After Santos was relatively inefficient in the 6th, Coffey got into the 7th inning, hit two batters, and gave up a single to load the bases. Narron played it smartly (not really) by leaving him in there to give up the grand slam to Bill Hall. Coffey then got an out (yay!) and gave up a single to Mench. That was it for him. Coutlangus was in for Coffey, picking up the rest of the 7th, giving up a a run. It was unearned though, on EdE's error. He got out of the 8th, but wasn't all that great. His line looks better than what he pitched: 1.2/3 innings, 1 hit, 2 K's, 0 earned runs. He also hit a guy. Saarloos has lost his edge, as the 9th wasn't great. 2 doubles and a walk for an earned run. Nothing to get excited about today, the bullpen was not ready to play. I almost feel bad for Milton.

Hitting: Freel led off and was 1/5. Phillips was 2/5, Dunn was 3/5 with a double. David Ross got a hit. Reds were making Capuano look like an ace until the 6th inning, when things got interesting. An error and a couple singles and the Reds were in business with no outs. Conine got royally SCREWED as he hit an infield pop fly that went past the 2nd baseman's glove. The umpire somehow called the infield fly rule, even though Freel scored. Narron was rightfully upset on that call. EdE got a 2-RBI single, his only hit of the day but a big one. Score was 4-3 Brewers until Coffey's fateful inning. Griffey hit a nice RBI double. The real story was Josh Hamilton, as it always is. Bottom of the 9th, for those lucky handful of fans that stuck around, saw Hamilton rip a pinch-hit 2-run homer.

Fielding & such: 3 errors, 2 big ones. Griffey misplayed a ball in right field in the first inning, which set the tone for the game. An unearned run for Milton, but a run for all the rest of us. An error on EdE would have saved another run in the 7th inning. The new guy, in for Gonzo, E Cruz had an error in the 9th that could have turned disastrous, but didn't. A double play was turned in the 9th inning, which if not turned, would have turned out far worse for the Reds. Saarloos to Phillips to Hatteberg. Sloppy game overall.

Lightning 3, Devils 2

The Devils cannot afford to hand the Lightning 3 goals every game.

Have you ever felt so little faith in a goaltender who broke the single-season winning record?
Have you ever felt so little faith in a #2 seed?

Do you remember the Devils teams of old, especially come playoff time? Could you perchance round those Devils up and get them in uniform, preferably before the next game? Thank you, sir/ma'am.

Freel signs 2-year deal with Reds

That's my guy.

Reds 1, Cubs 0

What a (weird) game.

NOTABLE THINGS

Pitching: Hats off to Kyle Lohse. What a beast. I knew he was capable of doing something like this, but had all but abandoned hope in the guy. Not for being average or decent, I thought he could do that. But I about gave up on him being a master, and he was simply masterful today. Even when he got into some jams, he got out of it. He actually pitched better when men were on base. The 6th inning was the best, with runners on the corners with 0 outs. Lohse fooled Jacque Jones all around the zone and got him hacking. Derrek Lee didn't even swing the bat, looking at 3 beautiful strikes, and then Barrett flied out to end the threat. All in all, he went 8 innings of shutout baseball, walking 1, giving up 4 hits, and striking out TWELVE batters. Whoo baby! This is the Kyle Lohse I enjoyed watching with the Twins back in 2003. When I was watching, I was getting nervous because the Cincy bats were not swinging well and I was going to be very annoyed if the Cubs pushed across a couple runs and Lohse would get the loss. He deserved the win and thankfully got it. Stanton got a groundball, and Weathers got the save, walking 1 and almost allowing Barrett to rip a double, but thankfully it hooked foul. Weathers likes to be reckless with his chances. It would be nice to see a 1-2-3.

Hitting: What can you say? Same problems every time. I was nervous to see Ted Lilly on the mound, because he has a good chance of being the 2007 Reds Killer. He is certainly the leading candidate thus far. He pitched a pretty dang good game himself, going 6 innings, allowing 2 hits and a walk for a run scored, and K'ing 10. Freel had a bad leadoff day, going 0/4. Phillips walk and stolen base were enough as Jeff Conine got the only RBI today. Hamilton was 0/4, tear tear. Griffey got the other hit. Just two hits. Thankfully it was enough, but it was sad to see. Lilly is good, no doubt. But Cincinnati looks all out of shape up there, they just look flat-out bad, and I am particularly sad about Brandon Phillips as of late, though he did manage that walk that was huge. He just doesn't look good up there, but neither do most people this year. Plate discipline is lacking in the worst way.

Fielding & such: Jackie Robinson Day, which Griffey started and wore #42. It turned into this whole thing where entire teams were wearing the number or only the black players were wearing it. It was supposed to be cool, and I guess it was. I think Griffey's idea was better, though. No errors on the day, which is a bonus. Already mentioned Phillips' stolen base, which was pivotal today. Jeff Conine got his own stolen base, which is beyond ridiculous. Who is this guy? This guy who I hated on for so long is being incredible and thankfully he is because nobody on this team is right now. Good for him.

Mavericks 91, Spurs 86

Oh, it's always great to beat the Spurs.

This game appeared to be surprisingingly meaningful, as Dallas saw fit to play their superstars as if it were a real game. Not quite sure the logic in that, but it worked as they pulled out the victory. Although the win wasn't quite as meaningful as it could have been since Tim Duncan was out for the entire fourth quarter because he got ejected. That was the story of the day for sure, and rightfully so. I have never liked Tim Duncan. Maybe he's a cool guy, I think he plays basketball pretty well, but he's one of my least favorite guys. He is a constant complainer and everyone calls him otherwise, and so does he. Does it seem like he truly deserved to get quicked out? Not really, but I still choose to enjoy it because it's funny to me. Here's the money quote from official Joey Crawford, who kicked him out:

He's complaining. He was constantly complaining. He was complaining when he was on the court. Then he got on the bench and kept doing the same stuff. So I just ejected him.

Great stuff right there. The only downside is that it's hard to figure out if the Mavericks would have won the game had he stayed in. Chances would have been pretty tough, since they were already down late and went on a 9-0 run to win the game. Odds are likely the Spurs win and the teams finish with yet another split in the series, 2-2. As it stands in the real standings, the Mavericks won the season series 3-1.

Nowitzki & Devin Harris led the way with 21 points. Josh Howard had a poor shooting night and ended up with 15 points. Stackhouse added 14 off the bench.

Shooting was fairly even, 3-point shooting was very low, and the Mavs had the edge in free throws. Spurs barely had the rebounding edge. Not much there of substance, just the big Tim Duncan story. Maybe he didn't deserve it, but it was a long time coming.

Lightning 3, Devils 2

Goals:
First Period: Filip Kuba, Lightning (shorthanded) (Perrin, Richards)
Zach Parise, DEVILS (PPG) (Rafalski, Langenbrunner)

Second Period: Jamie Langenbrunner, DEVILS (PPG) (Gionta, Elias)
Martin St. Louis, Lightning (Richards, Ward)

Third Period: Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning (Ranger, Prospal)

Shots on Goal: 36-20 DEVILS

Penalties: Devils - 6 minutes, Lightning - 10 minutes


--FIRST PERIOD--

Not a bad pace to start things off. Seems both teams are playing smart and within themselves. Rasmussen takes the early penalty for the Devils tonight, but luckily nothing got going for Tampa Bay. Brodeur got some good saves, but the Lightning don't look like they are shooting much, at least not yet. No more penalties, though. Devils have had some chances but they are playing pretty conservatively right now. Elias draws the first penalty for the Lightning, gotta go for the first goal of the game here. I smell it. Oh wow. I smell it alright, there was indeed a goal. For Tampa Bay. What a joke. This is no fun for anyone, no fun at all. The Devils were known during the year as giving up shorthanded goals, especially to Tampa Bay & Atlanta. Well, they got one here. They couldn't score on their own power play, but they scored on the Devils' power play. Frickin' junk, man. Time to stop playing conservatively. Yes, time to abandon it already. They have shot only 3 times compared to Tampa Bay's 7 already. And that gap is only going to get bigger as the Devils are going to the penalty box again. HELLO!!!!!! Wake up, people. The Devils kill another one, no damage done. Some discipline would be nice. Along with shots. Many shots. Throw the puck at the net and see what happens. It will probably work. They aren't playing very well thus far. Another power play for the Devils and nothing happens. Power play is weak thus far. Another power play for the Devils, and they almost give up another shorthanded goal. Yikes, man. And they get it done!!! Who else but Zach Parise?? The kid is A BEAST!!! That was a big one. Very nice goal right there, especially being only the 6th shot on goal. Holmqvist maybe a little shaken up mentally, that's the hope anyway. The power play wasn't particuarly amazing, but Parise was setting up shop when the rebound went right to him and he just banged it in. That always helps. Always good to get that first goal, and important to get the equalizer before the end of the period. Who is this Zach Parise kid? He's dang good is who. Wow, thankfully the Devils got out of that period as Tampa Bay applies the pressure late amidst Devils turnovers and lack of defensive pressure. Sound familiar? Look at the Game 1 recap. Dang man, I thought we were going to try and WORK on these problems. Ah, maybe not. Oh well. Tampa Bay was for sure the better team, but the scoreboard says we're even. I'll take it.

--SECOND PERIOD--

Devils look a little shaky at the beginning of this period, but nothing too severe. They look like they just need to settle down. But honestly, that should be easy for this team. Why do they look like they haven't done this before? They are having trouble clearing pucks away from the zone, a problem from the first period that is continuing so far into this one. The only thing to really get excited about is the play of Zach Parise right now, as he continues to fly around the ice and do fun things. I think the Devils have had either 3 or 4 offsides penalties in a row. At least they are trying to set things up in Tampa Bay's zone, but these offsides calls are really killing them. They need to get shots on goal and still can't quite figure out how to do that. Maybe soon. Parise registers the first shot in the second period, naturally. Zajac gets his turn and blasts one straight on at Holmqvist for the easy save. Not a bad shot, though. Heck, it was a SHOT. More of those, please. Madden and Pandolfo get in on the action and the Devils appear to have woken up a little bit, thank goodness. Tampa Bay presses and gets some shots of their own, but Broduer sees them all cleany. Brylin gets a miniature breakaway but can't get one past Holmqvist. Next time, buddy. Devils are looking much better this time around, moving the puck around quite well and taking some good shots, the shots are just not falling in the right place. They are doing well keeping things in Tampa Bay's zone, which has been hard to come by in this series. The forecheck has marginally improved, but even a marginal improvement is a big one, if that makes any sense. Holmqvist does look quite a bit different tonight, he's got the edge. Which is annoying, but you gotta figure he's going to bring it this time around. Oh, the Devils had a couple of amazing chances, but Holmqvist denied Parise and then Gionta. Dang. The Devils have really picked it up and they are taking it to the Lightning right now. Just nothing worked out for them. They better not get discouraged, because if they keep doing that, things will fall into place. Weird, no penalties called in this period so far. I don't really mind that too much as it clearly favors the Devils. I guess it makes sense that Tampa Bay was the better team the first period, the Devils are the better team right now, and it's tied. It makes sense. I just think the Devils easily could be up 2-1, but Holmqvist for his part has been handling things pretty well. Shots are 11-2 in favor the Devils, that's just ridiculous. Great stuff, but nothing going on. First penalty called, it's on Tampa Bay. Which could be good or bad, considering goals for both teams were scored on Devils power plays. Devils look decent, but not much going on. Ooh, a PRIME opportunity now as Elias gets taken down. 5-on-3 for a little bit. No excuses now. No excuses at all, as Jamie Langenbrunner puts it home!!!! The Devils are one of the better 5-on-3 teams, but 5-on-3's are nice for everybody. Good movement, good spacing, good puckwork and finally found the wide-open Langebrunner in front of the net. Holmqvist had some nice saves before then, but he missed Jamie L. Very nice work right there. The Devils are doing what everybody wants them to do and that is throwing the puck at the net. 17-2 shots on goal right now, crazy stuff. Not just throwing pucks either, they are being smart about it. Big save Brodeur on LeCav, I almost forgot about Brodeur as Tampa Bay has simply not been shooting the puck this period. You have to be kidding me. Tie game. St. Louis of course. With a rifle. Brodeur might have had a chance, but dang. That's a tough one. New Jersey DOMINATED the period and they get nothing out of it, it's a tie game once more. Late goals have hurt the Devils many times this year and this one really hurts as they should have gotten out of the period with a lead. They better not get too disheartened about it, another period like this one and they win it. It's just a tough thing. Gotta shrug it off. Regroup.

--THIRD PERIOD--

Early goal by LeCav. Is he truly that unstoppable? Fairly even, but sloppy play. Sloppy being the Devils for the most part. What can they do? If they can't play good defense, they have no chance just because the Lightning are one of the best offensive teams in the NHL. They can turn it on at a moment's notice. All of this stuff was said last game, so I hate repeating myself but the same symptoms are showing themselves here. I thought Lou was all about discipline and awesome things, but I am not seeing many awesome things except the many shots in the second period. Devils still own on shots on goal and will no doubt end the game on top. Sadly, that makes Holmqvist the more effective goaltender with a far better save percentage. Brodeur may have had better individual saves, but he has been the 2nd-best goalie tonight. Which is pretty dang sad when you think about it. Credit Holmqvist for most of that, though. Devils are trying, but they are not playing with the sense of urgency they will need. I would imagine that to change as time is flying by and the minutes are winding down. Brodeur has shut down the few Tampa Bay chances, it's up to the offense to get it going now. Not much time left. Gomez with a chance but another offsides. Is anyone keeping a tally on how many times? Absurd. Devils with some good chances late, but not enough. Penalty on the Devils as they turn it over for about the 25th time and that just about seals the deal. No chance now. Brodeur is off and it's 5-on-5 again. Very risky move, but LeCav takes down Gionta and now it's 5-on-4 for 18 seconds. It could happen. Very slim chance, but it's worth hanging around for. Gionta with a nice chance, but it's not enough. We're headed to Florida with the series tied. If the Lightning continue scoring 3 goals every game, the Devils are done for.

Cubs 7, Reds 0

I stopped following after it was 7-0. No such luck this time, no 8-run 8th inning this time around.

As previously highlighted in the last post about the Reds, the offense is the thing to watch. It's bad. It was plenty bad today. Rich Hill? He's alright, not bad. Looked great today. 7 hits. That's 2 less hits than the Cubs, who had 9. Cubs scored 7 on their 9 hits. Reds scored 0. They still haven't figured out to play smart baseball when guys are on base. It just doesn't work out.

Who do you feel bad for in all of this? Bronson Arroyo should be your answer. The man has done everything asked of him, you think the Reds could figure out some way not to suck when he is pitching. But they don't give him anything to work with, so even a great game turns into a loss. This wasn't a great game for Arroyo. It had the potential to be, but then he stayed in the game too dang long and the Cubs went wild in the 7th inning.

Tough stuff out there today. The only thing I really like about the Cubs is that Soriano gets picked off almost daily. He'll steal his bases, that's for sure. He just sucks at it right now. It's kinda funny, actually. Other than that, the Cubs don't give me much. First win at Wrigley always sucks.

Wake up the bats, boys. If you don't count the Reds 6-run inning from yesterday, they haven't been doing very well. I already said all of that, so I will try not to say it again, but it would be nice if the team would somehow drop the hitting habits of late last year and put some smart moves together. The hits aren't all that bad, but you have to work with what you have out on the basepaths. Make it count. Try again tomorrow.

Why Todd Coffey got the win

Because Harang didn't go five innings, the official scorer has the discretion to pick the winner based on which pitcher was the most effective. Don Friske, the official scorer at Wrigley Field, picked Coffey, the only reliever to go more than one inning for the Reds.

Poor old Jonny Coutlangus. I could have sworn that the winning pitcher was the one who benefits from the runs advantage in sequential order. So Coutlangus was the next pitcher to pitch after Zambrano blew the lead, therefore he was the winner. But nope, it's a SUBJECTIVE call. Which sucks. By no means did Coffey not deserve the win, he was the man. No doubt. But don't forget about Jonny.

Jazz 104, Mavericks 89

Not much to see here, folks. Sure Nowitkzki played 29 minutes, though I'm not sure why. He ended up with 23 points. Josh Howard played some. A lot of guys didn't play at all. They didn't really care. Or try. It was sad, but expected. The Jazz played like it was a regular game and pretty much dominated, even when the Mavs threatened to get close. Boozer went nuts, 32 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists. Really wasn't a good game, but you can expect that to happen. The Jazz were all acting like it was a real game since Josh Howard played some and Nowitzki had some major minutes, but it really wasn't.

Reds 6, Cubs 5

I have a rule. When the Reds get down by 5 runs, I pause and reflect on life. If I perceive the Reds to be exquisitely sucking, then I stop watching/listening/following and resume my life as regularly planned. If I sense they have some spirit, some drive, some intensity left, I will continue to watch/listen/follow until it is clear they will lose. Today I turned off the television after the fourth inning, the Reds down 5-0. After class, I check online to see what happened. And what happened? Naturally, the very next inning, the Reds put together 6 runs for the win. Silly me. I should have learned from watching Boise State defeat Oklahoma to never turn my back on a game while it is in progress.

Anyway, I turned it off because it appeared that everyone on the Reds had the EdE symptoms from Wednesday night. Since Narron benched him, I thought he might as well bench everybody that was playing for the Reds in the first four innings. It was bad. Zambrano turned into the Reds Killer, as nobody appeared to have plate discipline particularly well. Hamilton lost a ball in the sun (first time at Wrigley, I know) but picked it up nonchalantly. Harang looked like a lethargic monkey out there. What's his deal? And when will people start listening to me to put Arroyo first in the order? He's the #1, will be this year anyway. Not that it matters too much, but Harang has been pretty weak so far. Javier Valentin, who we all know is not going to win Defensive Catcher of the Year, was particularly awful. He let baserunners do whatever they wanted out there, couldn't make a throw for his life, and was calling generally all the wrong pitches. All that bad stuff happened in the first four innings and it was hard to support a team that just looked like it didn't care. So I turned it off and was surprised to find that the Reds got it going in the fifth inning, knocking Zambrano out without an out recorded and making him the losing pitcher on the day. Not sure how Todd Coffey got the win, pitching the 7th, when the Reds went up 6-5 in the 5th. Someone should explain that to me. And good thing the Reds didn't give up anymore runs after the 4th inning, because they barely hung onto the lead. Hard to rip on the Reds after they scored 6 runs in an inning, but to have the bases loaded with no outs and strike out 3 straight times? That just blows right there. Anyway. A win is a win is a win. Is a win? A win. David Weathers for the save, seems like he's the guy. Although he did make it interesting, like he is apt to do.

The Reds had 6 hits on their 6 runs, whereas the Cubs had 15 hits on their 5 runs. Ouch. They were definitely the better team today, just had a worse inning than any of the Reds innings combined. Which is great news, because the Cubs remain winless at Wrigley. Which is awesome. And they lost while the Reds won. You have to love that double bonus, especially when the Reds sucked enough to lose it today. Too bad I missed it, but that's just me. You all have your own demons to deal with. Rock on.

Mavs are #1

Best record in the NBA. It was inevitable and now it's here.

Time to rest the superstars and we'll see you in the Playoffs.

Reds lose first series of the year

The Arizona Diamondbacks took 2/3 from the Reds this week, both losing games for the Reds came when they had the lead late in the contest. Come-from-behind wins are hard to take, especially for the hard-luck losers that were pitching - Arroyo and Lohse. The game they won saw Matt Belisle pick up his 2nd win of the year for the Reds, although Weathers thought about losing it for him.

We see a clear picture developing with the 5-4 Reds. Offense is a huge problem. And I don't think it's one that is a beginning of the season problem, this one could last throughout the year. There will be games when the Reds bust out and score a zillion runs and there will be stretches when they are hitting well, but it will be a problem. Combine that with the shaky pitching the Reds will no doubt see, and they may be in for a tougher year than any of us realize. Thankfully, the Reds pitching has been very solid. From pretty much everybody, even Milton's horrible outing wasn't too horrible. But this can't last. The Reds are not yet built to be a pitching & defense team. This is not the team that was an offensive superpower a few years ago, though they will crank out the homers.

This could be problematic, so watch yourself.

Devils 5, Lightning 3

Goals:
First Period: Zach Parise, DEVILS (no assist)
Patrik Elias, DEVILS, PPG (Gomez, Rafalski)
Martin St. Louis, Lightning, PPG (Richards, Boyle)

Second Period: Brian Rafalski, DEVILS, PPG (Gomez, Langenbrunner)
Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning (no assist)

Third Period: Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning (Prospal, St. Louis)
Zach Parise, DEVILS (Langenbrunner)
Brian Gionta, DEVILS (Gomez, Elias)

Shots on Goal: 26-24 Lightning

Penalties: Devils - 12 minutes, Lightning - 6 minutes

Nice to be back again. School is crazy right now, but I simply must take time out to cover the playoffs. Hockey playoffs are sweet except for the fact that almost all of the games are on some obscure TV station and not one that I actually get on my television. Unfortunately, that also includes Versus. Anyway, here we go.

--FIRST PERIOD--

Not a bad start, would be better if Oduya would get his frickin' act together. Sheesh. Twice times he pulled a holding call when somebody else was already in the box. These are the two best teams in terms of not being penalized, and this has been a parade to the box all night. What a joke. Anyway, Brodeur didn't face many shots, shut most of them down, but couldn't handle a 5-on-3, which is pretty understandable. The Devils got an early goal from Zach Parise, which is awesomebe cause many of the previews said the Devils young blood has to get hot, and that's what happened. Even better though is that Patrik Elias scored. Better for me, because we need all the major players. Gionta, Gomez, Elias, Langenbrunner, Madden - all those guys who you think of as being Devils. He got a nice pass from Gomez and just slammed it in. Two fairly easy goals and they were shutting down Tampa Bay for the most part. Hard to completely shut down such scorers as Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, and Vincent LeCavalier forever, especially in dealing with penalties. I think if the Devils stick to 5-on-5 hockey, they can do it. They can't let up, though. They need to keep going strong. You can tell they really feel this is the playoffs. If there was one team to bet on for turning on their game come playoff time, it's the New Jersey Devils. That's always a good feeling. Gotta watch out for the Lightning, though. Gotta pound that weak goalie.

--SECOND PERIOD--

Patrik Elias with another power play goal? It's too dang good to be true, my friends. Except this time wasn't really his own doing, he just happened to be in the right place after Ralf let it rip. Ralf gets an assist, but on those shots, I feel like giving him the goal. Just because it touched Elias along the way doesn't mean that Elias scored it. Unless he did. Ah well. Another goal. Good start. Have to do it. Must not stop. Lots of nothing went on, not even any penalties, until somehow LeCavalier got the puck behind the net, wrapped it around, and it went in behind Marty Brodeur. Always. Always with this guy. How does he score those dang goals every time? The scary part about this series is that the Devils aren't known for scoring many goals, and even when they get 3 goals in a period and a half, it's not enough. Tampa Bay can come back from any deficit - they can score at will. It's a scary thought. Defense must dominate here, they need to choke as much life out of the Lightning offense as possible. Can it be done? We can only hope. The radio is randomly alternating between live action and commercials. It's really pissing me off. Well, I'll be darned, they did change the Elias goal to a Rafalski goal. Good for him. Hard to understand how they got it wrong or how they know they got it right. Anyway, I am much more satisfied, maybe Elias will feel that he got screwed over and will want to score another one. That couldn't hurt right now. Elias almost got one, but not quite. Same for Gomez. The Lightning definitely picked it up in this period, with a lot more opportunities and a lot more reckless play. Brodeur came up with two huge stops, one on LeCav and the other on St. Louis. The two guys with the goals. Truly, other than Richards, there is nobody on this team, but they were good enough to almost get #3 in the East, that's just how dang good those 3 players are. Ridiculous. The Devils just need to hold on. They got a couple good chances, but played a little more loose and Tampa Bay was all over the place. Need to find a way to slow down the pace and preserve the lead, maybe even extend it.

--THIRD PERIOD--

Quick flurry of shots by Tampa Bay. Brodeur flat out robs Tarnasky, that was pretty amazing right there. And now the Devils 3-1 lead becomes a tie game at 3-3. Did I not go over this? You can never let up on Tampa Bay. No lead is safe. They can score on a whim. Who can score? Those 3 dang guys. Nobody else matters. Crush them, squeeze them, trap them, hook them, slap them, punch them. Sickening. The Devils cannot afford to get into a scoring match with this team, it just can't be done. Well, consider me wrong momentarily as Zach Parise gets his 2nd goal of the night on a pretty nice play and the Devils regain the lead. We know the Lightning can do this, it's weird for the Devils to do it, but I don't mind. If they want to score a lot of goals, go ahead. They might need it for this series, thank goodness for Zachary Parise, my dear friends. What a kid. Now we need some defense or something crazy like that. For the moment, it seems there might be some reasonable hockey action going on. It would clearly be in the Devils best interest to slow down the pace of the game. The Devils are playing smartly, now. They are still being opportunistic but are being less risky about it. That's how they're going to have to do it if they want to hold onto this lead. It's a dangerous place to be. Tampa Bay is turning on the juice yet again, but Brodeur got big saves on Prospal and St. Louis. Brodeur has allowed 3 goals on 18 shots, not great, but they have been tough shots, and on top of that, he has made some dang tough saves. Not a wonderful start, but he's doing what he can. He needs more help than what he is getting. HUGE TEST for the Devils right as the first penalty is called in the final frame, and they are now on the penalty kill thanks to Parise's slash. Not much time left in the game, a good kill here would be very helpful to icing this one. Not icing in the rulebook way, but on wrapping it up. You know. The power play is over for Tampa Bay, but they remain in control. Scary stuff here, it's getting late. Just hang on, buddies. You can do it. Thanks to that power play, the Lightning now have more shots on goal than the Devils, 23 to 22. The Devils have a great record when they shoot more. Hopefully they can get some more shots in, maybe even an insurance goal. AND AS SOON AS I SAY IT, AN INSURANCE GOAL IS SCORED!!!!!!!! Wow, I am so good. In what may be the worst play of the playoffs, Holmqvist sent the puck out instead of covering it up, turning it over to Elias, who gave it to Gomez who gave it to Gionta who scores! Game over, baby. The Lightning go down swinging, but they go down nonetheless. Very, very nice. I would not be surprised to see Marc Denis in net Saturday night. I would have expected Holmqvist, but after that critical mistake, it's hard to believe he'll be the goalie.

Islanders 3, Devils 2 (SO)

So, there it is. The Islanders are in, the Maple Leafs are out, the Devils don't change their position, and Brodeur doesn't pick up any more wins. But that's primarly because he didn't play.

Brodeur was rested on the final game of the year in favor of Scott Clemmensen. Clemmy actually played pretty well, but going into the shootout, you didn't feel very good with such an unproven guy out there, and sure enough, he didn't come through. Some guy named Doublewide, who is the 3rd-string goale for the Islanders, won the game and sent them into the playoffs. Yeah, that's right. Dublewizthtchshjz won the game. Why in the world, if this game meant so much to the Islanders, would they start him? Apparently America's Goalie was still hurt and Dunham inspired no confidence. Whatever. It worked. The Islanders were up 2-0 late, but the Devils got 2 very late goals to send it to overtime. Nothing worked there, so it was a shootout. And you know what happens from there.

The Devils didn't need to win, so they didn't. Not a big deal. It would have been nice to end the season with a win, especially at home where the Devils have struggled recently. It's just very annoying because I want to keep the Atlantic Division rivals out of the playoffs as much as possible, and 4 of the 5 teams are in the playoffs. That's a lot. The Flyers had no chance, being the worst team in the league. But the Penguins, Rangers, and Islanders are in. The weird thing is that no team is playing each other. They are #2, #4, #6, and #8. Very, very odd. Oh well. I hope everyone loses but the Devils, that's for sure.

Which brings me up to my next point. Will the Devils win? They play the Tampa Bay Lightning for sure now. It's settled. The Devils haven't been good at home and haven't been good vs. the Lightning. Anything can change come playoff time, and I would expect to see different results against the team. But they are a threat to score at any time. They are a good team. This may very well be the hardest test the Devils may face. If they play the winner of Ottawa/Pittsburgh, they could beat either team. Then they could beat Buffalo, assuming they come out of things. Tampa Bay might be the hardest individual matchup, and that's scary. We'll see how things go. It's playoff time now!

GO DEVILS!!

Mavericks 86, Blazers 74

Another low scoring affair, this time with the positive result. It was good to be home, albeit without Josh Howard. Maybe Josh Howard should be MVP of the league, the Mavericks look worse without him than without Dirk. That's mostly a joke, but still a weird phenomenon. Anyway.

This game was never really in doubt and the better team won. Not sure what else you want other than that. Howard and Stackhouse didn't play, and didn't need to. Nowitzki played less minutes than ever before, but he was cold anyway. He ended up with a measly 11 points. It was the guard duo of Jason Terry and Devin Harris that took over this night. Terry had 22 at halftime and was simply taking over the game. He was great. He ended up with 29, which was sad because I thought he might just explode, but he tempered things down in the second half. Devin Harris had a lawnmower type game. Scored a little bit here, a little more here, a little bit more here, and then ended on a very solid note with 18 points. They controlled the flow of the game, allowing the reserves to do their thing.

Portland can be beaten even when they have their stars. They didn't have any of their big stars, with Zach Randolph and LaMarcus Aldridge already out, and the rookie of the year Brandon Roy declared inactive for the game. That pretty much seals the deal right there. If you can beat that team with those guys in there, then it shouldn't be a contest when they are out of it. And that's pretty much what happened. Jarrett Jack was really the only guy worth watching for them, he played a smart game and ended up with 18 points.

Kevin Willis made his Mavericks debut and second NBA debut after a few years away from the game. He did nothing but get 2 fouls in less than a minute and then sat back down. Ha. Sad. Moe Ager, the Mavs rookie draft pick, got significant minutes (24), scoring 8 points and getting 3 rebounds. Nothing to write home about.

Portland jacked up a ton of shots, 77 in all, and made only 29 for 38%. The Mavs shot 51%. Finally, the Mavs were able to dominate in free throw shots, 28 to 19 attempts. Problem is, they only made 16 of their 28, which is very bad for the best free-throw shooting team in the league, but it happens every now and then. Still not good. Rebounds were clearly in the Mavs favor, thanks in large part to 10 rebounds snagged by Diop and Croshere.

That's about it, folks. Next game vs. the Clippers tomorrow night. Could be a first-round matchup. More importantly, if the Mavs win, they get #1 in the West. It's practically inevitable, but it would be nice to get out of the way.

Pirates 6, Reds 3

What do you expect with Eric Milton on the mound? I honestly thought about Milton as a human being today, being Easter and all. I thought I could sit alongside him and offer him support. Seriously, though. It must suck to be him right now. Nobody believes in him and everyone wants him gone. For good reasons, no doubt. And he wasn't awful today, just not very good. Gave up 4 earned runs on 10 hits in his almost 6 innings. The Reds put up a 3-run rally in the 7th, but that was all. The invincible bullpen wasn't to be, as Todd Coffey and Jon Coutlangus gave up homers in their innings. Victor Santos once again was dang good. It just wasn't enough. Jared Burton was placed on the 15-day DL. Maybe that means the Reds will try to deal or get rid of Milton in 15 days. Maybe it doesn't mean that.