Jesse Chavez pitched 6 strong innings giving up only 1 run on 4 hits, and the Angels defeated the Blue Jays 2-1 on Monday night. The Jays and Angels split their four game series with two wins each.
Chavez improved his record to 2-3 on the season. He threw 101 pitches, giving up only a solo home run to Russell Martin in the 4th inning. That put the Blue Jays up 1-0 at that point. Chavez struck out 7 and walked 4 on the night.
The Angels didn’t generate much more offense but it was enough to win. Albert Pujols delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the 4th inning, which scored Mike Trout to tie the game 1-1.
The Halos would go-ahead 2-1 in the 5th inning when Cameron Maybin scored after Yunel Escobar hit into a fielder’s choice. Maybin broke from third on contact and scored on a close play at the plate.
Yusmeiro Petit, David Hernandez, and Bud Norris pitched the last 3 innings and shutdown Toronto over that stretch. The trio allowed a total of three hits. Norris earned his 2nd save of the season, despite letting a pair of Blue Jays on base in the 9th. He did induce an game-ending double play to end the threat though.
Francisco Liriano took the loss for the Jays, falling to 1-2 on the season. Liriano went 5 1/3 innings, allowing the two runs on five hits and four walks, with two strikeouts.
Earlier in the day, the Angels acquired right-handed reliever David Hernandez from Atlanta. To make room for Hernandez, the Angels optioned right-hander Daniel Wright back to triple-A Salt Lake. Their top 3 relievers are on the disabled list, along with ace, Garrett Richards.
Up next, the Halos will host the A’s for a 3-game set beginning Tuesday. JC Ramirez (2-2; 6.46 ERA) will get the ball for the Angels, and he’ll be opposed by Jesse Hahn (1-1; 3.00 ERA).
It’s become an unfortunate annual tradition for the Clippers. How do you know you get injured a lot? When your injuries eliminate you from the postseason even before the Clips are eliminated. Sure enough, it happened again in game 3 vs the Jazz. Even after losing game 4, and even after sending out a missing person alert on JJ Redick, as long as Chris Paul is on the floor the Clippers are still probably going to win this series. However, it’s only delaying the inevitable annihilation they will take from Golden State. The bigger question everybody wants to know about is the future. Well for those of you saying that keeping an injury prone Griffin and keeping the band together isn’t ideal, it’s also better than the alternative. That alternative is going back to being one of the most pathetic franchises in the NBA, which the Clips were for decades. Doc Rivers is wrong that his team is close to winning, but he’s right that keeping the team together is what they should do. Whether Steve Ballmer wants to foot the bill for this remains to be seen though.
The NBA just announced that the Celtics were not the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs, but instead, they were the #1 seed in the WNBA playoffs. That team is much further away from winning anything than most people thought. The bad news for the Lakers is that the Bulls success in this series make it more unlikely Chicago will trade Jimmy Butler. Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony is now taking losses on and off the court, after separating from his wife, LaLa. I guess nobody wants to be around ‘Melo these days since Phil Jackson wants him elsewhere too. The Grizzlies and Spurs are now locked up in a great series, and that’s thanks to the rant from Memphis Coach David Fizdale. In case you missed it after game 2, it’s an all-timer……
Let’s go to the ice, where the Ducks swept away the Calgary Flames in their 1st round series and are ready to take on the Oilers in round 2. Anaheim did more damage to the Flames than the Canadian dollar in the last few weeks. Things are setting up perfectly for the Ducks, taking on an inexperienced team they should have a nice advantage against, and then potentially taking on a Predators or Blues team, who are not nearly as talented. If the Ducks don’t get to the Stanley Cup Final, their fans should go jump off the top of the Magic Castle at Disneyland.
As for the Kings, they promoted John Stevens as their new head coach on Sunday. Stevens is a well respected voice in their locker room, but doesn’t seem like he’s too far removed from what Darryl Sutter did. It would be a decent hire if you like what Darryl Sutter was doing of late. I don’t. It would also be a decent hire if the Kings had really good young players to develop. They don’t. They need to re-invent they wheel, but they just don’t know it yet.
I respect people’s right to protest, but I don’t see how New England Patriot players skipping a trip to the White House to be honored for winning a Super Bowl is sending any kind of message. The President, regardless of how you feel about him, is taking the time to honor you for your accomplishments. If the player doesn’t want to be honored, then it’s their loss. As for Aaron Hernandez, sad to see the downward spiral of his life, and him ultimately taking his own life. I still don’t understand how he wasn’t convicted of that second murder. I guess the entire O.J. Simpson jury was assigned to that case as well.
I don’t know why anybody is really surprised that the Dodger pitching staff is falling apart. They are finally getting exposed for what they are: a bunch of injury prone, unreliable veterans, who are making way more money than they should be. Now that they actually have decent teams in their division like the Rockies and Diamondbacks, we are just noticing their flaws earlier in the year instead of when they get exposed in October. Andrew Friedman claims that starting pitching is one of the most overvalued positions in baseball. The only thing overvalued is Friedman’s front office work. Let’s see if he feels that way in another couple of weeks when the team continues to scramble to find somebody other than Clayton Kershaw to give the ball to. I’m pretty sure trading for Ryan Braun isn’t the answer either.
If it wasn’t for facing a terrible Blue Jays team and a couple of miracle wins in the first week, you would already realize the Angels are a bad team. Did somebody tell Mike Scioscia that the Halos are supposed to be tanking to get the #1 pick in the draft? It sure seems like it since he keeps insisting on sticking Jefry Marte in the lineup with his crummy defense. Scioscia claims that the Angels need his bat, but apparently he didn’t notice that Marte was hitting .179 coming into Sunday. Don’t forget about Danny “Mendoza Line” Espinosa, whose batting average is so consistently low, you can never tell if he’s in a slump or not.
I was under the impression that the Raiders were no longer a Mickey Mouse franchise in the NFL, but apparently I was mistaken. Instead of re-signing 27-year-old running back Latavius Murray, who had a nice season last year, they are replacing him with a 31-year-old Marshawn Lynch, who has been sitting on his couch eating skittles for the last year. Apparently their justification for this is that Lynch is from Oakland, so he should give the local fans a reason to show up to their games. Those same local fans they will be leaving behind in a year or two when they move to Vegas. With the NFL draft later this week, hopefully the Rams and Chargers don’t have any of these stupid moves planned themselves. You know….something as stupid as trading a boat load of draft picks for Jared Goff.
Finally, People Magazine named Julia Roberts the most beautiful woman in the world last week. Which world are they talking about? I initially thought that the writers of People Magazine gave up common sense for Lent. However, upon further examination I realize that this is the 5th time this has happened! Apparently we are still in the year 1991.
Joe Johnson delivered 11 straight 4th quarter points as the Utah Jazz defeated the Clippers 105-98 in game 4 of their first round series. The best-of-7 series is now tied 2-2.
Johnson finished the game with 28 points, including a critical 4th quarter jumper with to give the Jazz a 91-90 lead with just under 4 minutes left. The Clippers would never regain the lead after that.
Rudy Gobert returned to the Jazz lineup after injuring his knee in game 2. Gobert delivered 15 points to go along with 13 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. Gordon Hayward played only 9 minutes in the game after battling food poisoning, and did not play in the 2nd half. He had just 3 points in the game.
The Clippers were led by Chris Paul, who had 27 points, 12 assists, and 9 rebounds. Jamal Crawford provided 25 points off the bench, and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Clips were clinging to an 80-77 lead going into the 4th quarter. A free throw by Wesley Johnson gave the Clippers an 87-80 lead with 7:37 lead, but then the Johnson and the Jazz would begin their rally.
Johnson reeled of 7 straight points in about 2 minutes to tie the game at 87-87. 2 minutes later, Johnson capped his 11-point run and gave Utah the lead for good.
The Clippers were outrebounded 42-31 and outscored in the paint 58-36. For the game, the Jazz shot 54% from the field, while the Clippers shot 44%.
The series returns to Staples Center on Tuesday night for Game 5. Utah will host Game 6 on Friday night.
Brandon McCarthy pitched seven strong innings and the Dodgers exploded for 6 runs in the 5th inning, as they defeated the D’Backs 6-2. LA managed to salvage one game in their three game set with Arizona and avoided being swept.
McCarthy improved to 3-0, giving up 2 runs on five hits and striking out six in his seven innings of work. The only two runs he allowed came on a 2-run shot from Paul Goldschmidt in the 1st inning. The D’Backs could only muster two hits off McCarthy after that.
Shelby Miller took the loss for Arizona, falling to 2-2 on the year. He made it through 4 shutout innings, and then the Dodger offense woke up in the 5th. Miller walked the first two batters and then gave up an RBI double to Corey Seager, which made it 2-2. McCarthy scored, as did Joc Pederson after an error by 2nd baseman Brandon Drury. After throwing one more pitch, he was visited by the Arizona trainer, and left the mound after that. There was no word on an injury.
Randall Delgado came in for the D’Backs and the Dodgers continued to do damage. Adrian Gonzales doubled in Seager and Justin Turner, and suddenly, it was 4-2 LA. The next batter was Yasmani Grandal, who capped the big inning with a 2-run shot to right center field. It was his 3rd long ball of the season.
McCarthy and the bullpen took it from there. Pedro Baez and Sergio Romo pitched the 8th and 9th inning, allowing just 2 hits over those two shutout innings.
The Diamondbacks lost at home for just the second time in ten games this season. Meanwhile, the Dodgers improved to 9-10 on the year. LA is in 3rd place in the NL West, 4 games back of the Rockies in the early going.
The Dodgers will now travel to San Francisco to take on the Giants for a four game set beginning Monday at AT&T Park. Hyun-Jin Ryu (0-3; 5.87 ERA) will start the first game for the Dodgers, while the struggling Giants will counter with Matt Cain (1-0; 3.31 ERA). San Francisco comes in with the worst record in the National League at 6-13.
Marcus Stroman pitched a complete game and gave up only 1 earned run on 7 hits, and the Blue Jays had a 4-run blitz in the 8th inning to beat the Angels 6-2.
At one point, Stroman retired 17 consecutive batters during his 99-pitch performance, which improved his record to 2-2 on the season. It was also his is first appearance back in Southern California since pitching the U.S. to victory in the World Baseball Classic final at Dodger Stadium last month.
Things looked really good for the Angels for most of the game. Albert Pujols delivered a 2-run single in the 3rd inning, and the Halos had a 2-0 lead all the way until the 8th.
Spot starter Daniel Wright gave up only three hits over his five shutout innings of work. Blake Parker and Jose Alvarez recorded the next six outs for the Angels. Then Mike Scioscia turned to Deolis Guerra to pitch the 8th.
After issuing a lead-off walk to Russell Martin, with 1 out, Devon Travis hit a 1-1 pitch over the left center field fence and the Jays had a 2-1 lead. Ryan Goins grounded out, then Scioscia brought in Brooks Pounders to face Kevin Pillar.
3 pitches later, Pillar took Pounders deep to left, and Toronto had a 2-run lead. An Ezequiel Carrera triple and a walk to Jose Bautista set the stage for former Angel Kendrys Morales to add to the lead. He would reach on an infield single to 3rd, scoring Carrera, and it was 4-1 Jays.
Pounders ran into more trouble in the 9th, giving up a 2-run shot to Goins, which padded the lead to 6-1. Pounders allowed two homers, a triple, a double, a single, and a walk over 1 1/3 innings.
The Angels threatened in the 9th, as Andrelton Simmons produced an RBI single to make it 6-2, but Stroman induced a game-ending double play.
The Halos have now lost 10 of their last 12 games, and they have the 2nd worst run differential (-20) in all of Major League Baseball.
The Angels will try to salvage a split of their four game series on Monday night. Ricky Nolasco (1-2; 4.76 ERA) will be on the hill for the Halos, while the Jays will go with Francisco Liriano (1-1; 5.11 ERA).
The Kings have promoted assistant John Stevens to head coach, which the team announced on Sunday.
Stevens replaces Darryl Sutter, who was fired by the team on April 10, along with General Manager Dean Lombardi.
The 51-year-old has been on the Kings coaching staff for the last seven season. Prior to being a part of the Kings staff, he coached the Philadelphia Flyers from 2006-2009, where he compiled a record of 120-109-34. In 2008, he led Philadelphia to an Eastern Conference Final appearance.
General Manager Rob Blake and Stevens held discussions for over a week now regarding the direction of the hockey club.
“John and I had very productive dialogue this last week in relation to his head coaching philosophy and specifically how he would implement a strategy to activate our players offensively while maintaining the defensive philosophies we have come to be known for,” Blake said in a statement. “I am confident that we are both in agreement on how that can be executed.
“With that said, we believe John has the ideal qualities to lead our hockey club. His wide array of coaching experience, including success as an NHL head coach and his inherent knowledge of our players and those in our development system, is very appealing to us. We are confident he is the best person to lead our hockey club forward.”
Stevens is known for being a very defensive-minded head coach, but his challenge will be improving upon a Kings offense that was ranked 25th in the NHL last season. LA missed the playoffs for the 2nd time in the last 3 seasons.
The Kings will hold a press conference on Monday afternoon to make the announcement and formally introduce Stevens.
Andrelton Simmons hit a grand slam and the Angels held on to beat the Blue Jays 5-4 at the Big A on Saturday night.
Simmons hit a tie-breaking grand slam in the 3rd inning, the 2nd of his career, and also made a spectacular defensive play in the 9th. The Angel shortstop made a diving stop to help turn the fourth double play of the game, and end the Jays final threat of the evening.
“Double plays are great, but grand slams are cool, too, especially when you win,” Simmons said.
The Blue Jays jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Tyler Skaggs in the 1st inning. Justin Smoak came through with an RBI single.
The Halos tied it in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from CJ Cron, which scored Mike Trout.
After Simmons made it 5-1, the Jays were held in check until the 8th inning. That’s when Kevin Pillar hit a 2-run homer against Kirby Yates. Smoak would take Yates deep to start the 9th, and the Angels found themselves clinging to a 5-4 lead.
The Blue Jays then had the tying run on first with nobody out when Devon Travis hit a grounder up the middle that Simmons turned into that spectacular 6-4-3 double play.
Skaggs got the win, pitching 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and striking out 4. He picked up his first win of the season, and is now 1-1. Bud Norris came in during the 9th inning to record the save.
Casey Lawrence took the loss for the Jays. He’s now 0-2 on the season after pitching 6+ innings, yielding 4 earned runs on 8 hits, and striking out 4.
The Angels and Jays are back at it tomorrow afternoon in game 3 of the series. Jesse Chavez (1-3; 5.00 ERA) will go for the Halos, and Marcus Stroman (1-2; 4.05 ERA) will get the call for Toronto.
Yasmany Tomas hit a pair of home runs for Arizona, and David Peralta hit a franchise record four doubles, as the Diamondbacks hammered the Dodgers 11-5 on Saturday night at Chase Field.
Kenta Maeda got roughed up in 5 innings of work, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits. He struck out 5, but gave up 4 home runs on the night, falling to 1-2 on the season.
Robby Ray got the win for Arizona, improving to 2-0, despite laboring through 5 1/3rd innings. He gave up all 5 Dodger runs on 9 hits, but struck out 6 and got plenty of run support.
The Dodgers got off to a quick start in the 1st after Kike Hernandez homered in the 1st inning to make it 1-0. However, the D’Backs answered in the bottom half of the inning with a 2-run homer from Jake Lamb, followed by a solo shot from Tomas.
An RBI single from Justin Turner in the 3rd cut the Arizona lead to 3-2, but in the 4th Chris Herrmann hit a 2-run shot to make it 5-2. That would be all for Maeda, after throwing 83 pitches. Tomas hit his 2nd homer of the game in the 5th to make it 6-2.
“I threw a lot of pitches at the heart of the plate and a lot of hitters took advantage of that,” Maeda said through a translator. “My wish was to go deep in the game knowing the bullpen was taxed. I just didn’t execute at all.”
The Dodgers rallied for 3 runs in the 6th, after an Austin Barnes RBI double, an Adrian Gonzales RBI infield hit, and a bases loaded walk to Chris Taylor.
The rally wasn’t enough though as the D’Backs would go on to add 5 more runs in the 7th and 8th inning, against Chris Hatcher and Ross Stripling.
Skipper Dave Roberts indicated that he was unsure of Maeda’s future status in the LA starting rotation after all of his recent troubles.
“We are going to talk through some things and see what is best for Kenta,” Roberts said. Maeda has not lasted more than five innings in any of his four starts.
The Dodgers will try to avoid the sweep on Sunday afternoon at Chase Field. Brandon McCarthy (2-0; 2.12 ERA) will be on the mound for LA, and the D’Backs will go with Shelby Miller (2-1; 3.50 ERA).
Blake Griffin has been ruled out for the rest of the playoffs after suffering an injury to his big toe on Friday night against Utah. The Clippers made the announcement on Saturday morning.
Griffin suffered the injury in the first half Friday and did not return to the game. The injury is to the plantar plate of his right big toe. Griffin will visit a foot and ankle specialist when the Clippers return to Los Angeles.
It is the 2nd straight year that Griffin has suffered an injury that has knocked him out of the playoffs. Last year against Portland, Griffin injured his quad, and was out for the remainder of the series, in which the Clippers were eliminated in six games.
He also missed 18 straight games earlier this season after undergoing surgery on his right knee. Griffin was the Clippers’ leading scorer and second-leading rebounder this season, averaging 21.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
Griffin could potentially be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He has one year remaining on his contract for $21 million. However, he has he has an early-termination option on his contract this summer, allowing him to test the free agent market, or re-sign with LA for potentially another 5 years and up to $180 million.
Chris Paul put the Clippers on his back in the 4th quarter, scoring 9 straight points during one stretch as LA defeated Utah 111-106 in game 3 of their 1st round playoff series. The Clippers now have a 2-1 lead in the series.
Paul finished the game with 34 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds for the Clips. However, they also lost Blake Griffin, who left the game in the 1st half after bruising his right big toe. The injury took place late in the 2nd quarter after Griffin scored on a fast break. He went to the locker room shortly after, undergoing X-rays that came back negative. He’ll be evaluated for further tests.
DeAndre Jordan had 17 points and 13 rebounds, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had a playoff career-high 15 points, and Jamal Crawford finished with 9 points.
Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with a playoff career-high 40 points. However, the Jazz went scoreless for 6:06 of the 4th quarter, which allowed the Clippers to go on a 15-0 run.
With 4 minutes left, Paul nailed a 3-pointer to give the Clippers a 97-96 lead, their first lead since the 1st quarter of the game.
At the 3:23 mark, Paul went behind his back and eluded two Jazz defenders for a driving layup to make it 99-96 Clippers. That forced Utah to call a timeout to regroup.
“He has an amazing will,” Doc Rivers said. “He’s just a tough guy. He’s stubborn in a very, very positive way. All the great ones have that in them. They’re stubborn like they aren’t going to lose.”
“I’m just always looking at the scoreboard trying to manage the game,” Paul said. “I was just trying to pick my spots. That’s a good team over there. They stick to their principles.
Game 4 will be on Sunday in Utah. The Clippers will try to take a 3-1 lead in the series. They’ll be awaiting word on the severity of Griffin’s injury between now and then. Meanwhile, the Jazz will be awaiting word on whether center Rudy Gobert will return to their lineup.
