Archive for April 1st, 2011

WATERCOOLER CHAT: OPENING DAY IN BBALL, LAKERS VS MAVS

BASEBALL

Thursday was opening day in baseball.  First up, it was the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees.  It was C.C. Sabathia vs.  Jason Verlander on the mound in what many thought would be a pitcher’s duel.  But, they were wrong, as it turned out to be an offensive showdown.  The Yankees Mark Teixeira typically starts off the season slow.  But, yesterday, he was red-hot, even hitting a 3-run homer to put the Yanks up 3-1.  And later, former Tiger, Curtis Granderson smacked his own homer off a lefty (Phil Coke) to put the Yankees up a run, and there was no looking back.  The Yanks open the season with a win.  NY Yankees 6, Detroit 3.

And in a prime-time match-up, we got a look at the defending champion San Francisco Giants.  But, they had to play in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, and this is probably the biggest hush-hush rivalry in sports.  These teams (and their fan bases) HATE each other.  The games are wild and even, at times, violent.  You don’t want to be wearing Giant orange in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium.  Clayton Kershaw had a phenomenal pitching night for the Dodgers to best Giants ace Tim Lincecum, and James Loney helped knock in the winning run to win the game for LA.  Watch out for the Dodgers this season.  LA Dodgers 2, San Francisco 1.

BASKETBALL

Finally, in the NBA, a heated match-up between the LA Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.  This is a big deal because of seed numbers.  They’re fighting over the #2 seed, which would be very valuable for home court advantage in the second round.  The Lakers played great, and even Andrew Bynum had 18 points, but this game was most notable for its ejections.  First, Jason Terry shoved Lakers point-guard Steve Blake to the ground.  He was ejected, and will most likely see a fine.  Then, Matt Barnes got into the action, even shrugging off a Mavericks assistant coach trying to restrain him.  And HE was rejected.  Then, in an odd moment, a fan came storming down the stairs headed straight for the Mavericks bench.  He was ejected from the arena by a host of Staples Center security guards.  What a weird night.  But, the Lakers took the game, and that’s all that mattered.  LA Lakers 110, Dallas 82.

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