MLS Wrapup - Week 7

HOUSTON 4 DC UNITED 1

If you didn't know who Will Bruin was before Friday night, you should know the name now. The 21 year old 11th overall pick in the draft netted a hat trick against DC United propelling the Dynamo to a 4-1. After scoring 18 goals as a junior at Indiana last season, Bruin had gotten off to something of a slow start scoring just once in his first 6 starts, but all that's in the past now. Bruin opened the scoring in the 4th minute when Geoff Cameron fed him a through ball and he beat Bill Hamid to the near post. DC United would equalize the game later in the half off a set piece. Some trickery on the restart caused the wall to collapse and Marc Burch slammed the shot past a screened Tally Hall for his first goal of the year. The tie wouldn't last long though as Bruin once again beat Hamid, this time heading home a cross from Brad Davis just a few minutes later. Davis and Bruin would combine again a little over ten minutes into the second half, this time off a free kick with Bruin heading another one past a helpless Hamid. Davis now has 6 assists on the year. The Dynamo would add to their lead 5 minutes later, when nobody got back to mark Cam Weaver on a throw-in giving him a free run at the goal. DC's defense tried to close him down, but it was too late, and he blasted a shot top netting for his 3rd goal of the season. The Dynamo now are unbeaten in their last six matches with their last loss coming in their opener against Philadelphia back on March 19th. Meanwhile DC United has conceded 8 goals in their last two matches. DC will host Seattle on Wednesday while Houston will host Colorado.


PHILADELPHIA 1 SAN JOSE 0

Philadelphia saw Jordan Harvey get sent off in the 41st minute with a controversial red card, but still outplayed the Quakes and eventually were rewarded with a penalty kick late in the second half. Sebastien Le Toux converted the PK past Jon Busch for his first goal of the 2011 season and the only goal of the match as the Union got their 4th win of the season. Harvey and San Jose's Chris Leitch got tangled up on a play where Leitch went to the ground and the referee ruled Harvey kicked him, but replays proved inconclusive. But the Union kept battling and their hard work paid off. Amobi Okugo took a ball down to the endline and his cross was ruled to have been handled by Jason Hernandez. Le Toux converted and the rest is history. With the loss San Jose falls to 1-4-2 and currently are in last place in the Western Conference. The Union meanwhile have only conceded 2 goals in their first 6 games thanks in large part to the addition of Faryd Mondragon in goal. The Union look to stay hot on Friday night when they travel to Portland while San Jose has some time to regroup following their third straight loss. The Quakes do not play again until May 11th in Vancouver.


NEW YORK 1 KANSAS CITY 0

The Red Bulls continue to roll posting their 3rd straight shutout victory in the wake of their 1-0 loss to the Union on April 9th. New York had a chance to take the lead early when Dwayne De Rosario was taken down in the box for a penalty kick, but Rafa Marquez's PK was saved by Jimmy Nielsen, but ten minutes later the Red Bulls would break through with a beautiful bit of soccer. Rafa Marquez took a quick restart after a foul and his pass found Thierry Henry who one touched it to De Rosario. De Rosario's first touch got him in behind the defense and then he fired a cross into the middle to a wide open Luke Rodgers who delivered the game winner. Nielsen would otherwise play great in goal making some terrific saves against De Rosario and Tim Ream in the first half. He would finish with 5 saves in the game, but it wouldn't be enough as Sporting saw their winless streak extend to 5 games and their losing streak to 3. Kansas City has some time off, but the road doesn't get any easier for them as they still have 4 games left on their season opening 10 game road trip. Next up is a trip to Los Angeles on the 14th of May. Meanwhile the Red Bulls look to make it 4 wins in a row against the same Galaxy on Saturday.



COLUMBUS 2 VANCOUVER 1

Emilio Renteria scored a pair of goals ten minutes apart in the second half as the Crew extended their unbeaten streak to six game. Renteria was taken out in the box by Vancouver goalie Jay Nolly to set up the first goal. Renteria took the penalty himself and coolly slipped it past Nolly who guessed wrong on the play. Renteria's second goal came when Dejan Rusmir found him at the penalty spot and he beat Nolly with a left footed shot to the far corner giving him 3 goals on the season. Vancouver would get one back 10 minutes later when 17 year old Omar Salgado would head in a Terry Dunfield cross for his first MLS goal. The Whitecaps nearly equalized a little while later but Nizar Khalfan's shot was tackled off the goal line by Crew defender Josh Gardner to preserve the lead. A little while later it was Will Hesmer denying Salgado from point blank range. The Crew defense has allowed just 2 goals now in their last 6 matches after their 3-1 loss to DC United on opening weekend. They are 3-0-3 during that stretch. Next up for the Crew is a home game with the Seattle Sounders on Saturday while the Whitecaps go on the road to take on the Fire.


COLORADO 1 CHICAGO 1

The Rapids finally saw their 3 games losing streak come to and end thanks to a goal from Andre Akpan early in the second half. The defending champs still have not won a game since April 3rd against DC United, but they picked up a much needed point against the struggling Fire who still have just one win this season. Both teams had chances early in the first half, but both Colorado's Matt Pickens and Chicago's Jon Conway were up to the task keeping the score knotted at zero. Chicago broke through first late in the first half when Marco Pappa got on the end of a cross from Dominic Oduro. Akpan would equalize in the first five minutes of the second half though. Omar Cummings split a couple of defenders with his pass and Akpan did the rest blasting his shot into the top of the net for his first MLS goal. Both teams had opportunities down the stretch, but neither side could break through as Pickens finished with 5 saves and Conway had 3 of his own to preserve the tie. It was the third straight match between these two teams that has failed to yield a winner. Colorado has a pair of road games this week as they look to snap their skid taking on Houston on Wednesday and New England on Saturday while the Fire will host Vancouver as they're still in search of win #2.


SEATTLE 3 TORONTO 0

The Sounders started off the post Steve Zakuani era on the right foot pounding Toronto FC 3-0 behind a pair of goals and an assist from Brad Evans. With O'Brian White out with an injury as well, the Sounders started Evans and Alvaro Fernandez instead and boy did the move pay off. Fernandez opened the scoring less than 10 minutes into the match as Evans cross found him wide open at the back post where he was easily able to head it past Stefan Frei. Frei would make a couple big saves on Fredy Montero and Brad Evans in the first five minutes of the second half, but he could only keep the Sounders at bay for so long. Fredy Montero's through ball found Evans and Evans ripped it past Frei in the 52nd minute. And then Evans made it a brace about 20 minutes later when there was a hand ball in the box and he stepped up to take the PK and got Frei guessing wrong for his second goal of the match and third goal of the season. Frei finished with 6 saves overall, but Toronto went winless for their 6th consecutive match. Toronto's last win came on March 26th against the Timbers. Toronto will look to break out of their funk on Saturday when the host the Dynamo while Seattle, now unbeaten in their last 6 after opening the season with 2 straight losses, travels to DC Wednesday and then Columbus on Saturday.


CHIVAS USA 3 NEW ENGLAND 0

After losing their first two games of the season, Chivas USA now find themselves winners of their last two and unbeaten in their last 5. Nick LaBrocca opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Ben Zemanski delivered a cross just before it crossed the endline and LaBrocca was able to redirect the header past an outstretched Bobby Shuttleworth. Zemanski nearly made it 2-0 but his free header from the six was headed right at the goalie. The Goats would break though just before halftime though doubling their lead when Alejandro Moreno delivered a cross into the box where Marcos Mondaini delivered a flying volley past Shuttleworth for his first goal of the season. Moreno was involved in the final goal as well when New England made a bad turnover in their own box and Moreno pounced on the loose ball blasting it past Shuttleworth from close range. Chivas nearly added a 4th but Moreno and Jorge Flores were both denied from close range. Shuttleworth ended up with 5 saves on the night while Dan Kennedy made 4 of his own to preserve the shutout. The Goats have their work cut out for them this weekend if they hope to extend their winning streak as they travel to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake. The Revs meanwhile head home to take on the defending champion Rapids.


PORTLAND 1 REAL SALT LAKE 0

It was a rough week for RSL as they lost the CONCACAF Champions League Final to Monterrey 1-0 at home midweek and then saw their season long 4 game unbeaten streak snapped by the expansion Timbers on Saturday night. Kenny Cooper's 3rd goal of the season would be the only scoring of the match as Troy Perkins and the Timber defense stifled the RSL attack. Cooper volleyed in a cross from Kalif Alhassan in the 22nd minute, just the 2nd goal scored all year against RSL. Portland meanwhile has quietly won 3 of their last 4 games and have crept up into 6th place in the Western Conference. Next up for the expansion Timbers, a Friday night home game against the Union while RSL tries to get back on track against Chivas USA on Saturday afternoon.


DALLAS 2 LOS ANGELES 1

Lightning may not have struck the pitch, but Brek Shea did giving FC Dallas a hard earned 2-1 win over the Galaxy on a rainy night in Texas. Playing without the league's reigning MVP David Ferreira, Dallas still put together a solid attack led by Fabian Castillo and Marvin Chavez up front. Castillo opened the scoring early in the second half when he hit a looping volley just dipped in behind Donovan Ricketts for his first MLS goal. LA would come right back though with Landon Donovan getting at the end of a cross from Juninho hitting a sliding volley home at the back post. Donovan actually ended up wrapped around the post on the play, but still managed his 3rd goal in his last two matches. The two sides traded opportunities in the second half before the game was stopped on account of lighting in the 83rd minute. 5 minutes later it was Shea who delivered on what looked to be a badly aimed cross that soared over Ricketts and into the goal for his second goal of the season and the game winner. Dallas has now won two straight and three of four after failing to win any of their three opening matches. They will look to continue their winning streak on Saturday when they travel to the nation's capital to take on DC United while the Galaxy have a big showdown with the red hot Red Bulls in LA.

No-No for Liriano

The Minnesota Twins' Francisco Liriano became the first pitcher in 2011 to throw a no-hitter as he beat the White Sox 1-0 last night. Liriano threw 123 pitches and walked 6, but got 3 double play balls and retired Adam Dunn on a line drive to short to end the game. It was Liriano's first career complete game in 95 starts, and his performance was even more impressive considering that coming into the game he was just 1-4 with an ERA of 9.13 allowing 24 runs and 27 hits in 23 2/3 innings. Even with the shutout, his ERA is still 6.61. It was the 7th no-hitter in the history of the franchise and the Twins first since September of 1999 when Eric Milton no hit the Angels. Ironically, Liriano's opponent in this one, Edwin Jackson, recorded a no-hitter last season when pitching for Arizona against Tampa Bay.

The Box Score

Top Tens

Men's Tennis Rankings

1. Rafael Nadal (Spain) - 11915 points
2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - 9710 points
3. Roger Federer (Switzerland) - 8690 points
4. Andy Murray (Great Britain) - 5815 points
5. Robin Soderling (Sweden) - 5235 points
6. David Ferrer (Spain) - 4330 points
7. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) - 3900 points
8. Jurgen Melzer (Austria) - 3055 points
9. Nicolas Almagro (Spain) - 2735 points
10. Gael Monfils (France) - 2690 points



Women's Tennis Rankings

1. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) - 9970 points
2. Kim Clijsters (Belgium) - 8115 points
3. Vera Zvonareva (Russia) - 7615 points
4. Francesca Schiavone (Italy) - 4892 points
5. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) - 4630 points
6. Li Na (China) - 4240 points
7. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) - 4235 points
8. Samantha Stosur (Australia) - 4136 points
9. Maria Sharapova (Russia) - 3726 points
10. Serena Williams (USA) - 3035 points



FedEx Cup Points Leaders

1. Bubba Watson 1339 (10)
2. Luke Donald 1219 (2)
3. Mark Wilson 1207 (1)
4. Phil Mickelson 1089 (3)
5. Martin Laird 1064 (4) 
6. Gary Woodland 1048 (5)
7. Nick Watney 1034 (6)
8. Brandt Snedeker 975 (7)
9. Aaron Baddeley 954 (8)
10. Webb Simpson 906 (-)

Out: Matt Kuchar (11)



NCAA Baseball Rankings (Previous Week)

1. Virginia 42-5 (1)
2. Vanderbilt 38-5 (2)
3. South Carolina 35-8 (3)
4. Florida 34-10 (4)
5. Texas 33-11 (5)
6. Florida St. 33-11 (8)
7. Oregon St. 32-9 (9)
8. Arizona St. 31-10 (7)
9. Texas A&M 30-14 (6)
10. TCU 31-13 (10)



AL Leading Hitters (through Monday)

1. Jose Bautista TOR - .357 (30/84)
2. Jason Kubel MIN - .354 (34/96)
3. Miguel Cabrera DET - .350 (36/103)
4. Matt Joyce TB - .346 (28/81)
5. Travis Hafner CLE - .342 (26/76)
6. Michael Young TEX - .342 (40/117)
7. Alex Gordon KC - .339 (38/112)
8. Wilson Betemit KC - .333 (25/75)
8. Maicer Izturis LAA - .333 (30/90)
10. Robinson Cano NYY - .320 (32/100)
10. Billy Butler KC - .320 (32/100)



NL Leading Hitters (through Monday)

1. Matt Holliday STL - .410 (34/83)
2. Lance Berkman STL - .406 (39/96)
3. Placido Polanco PHI - .385 (42/109)
4. Brett Wallace HOU - .382 (34/89)
5. Andre Ethier LAD - .374 (43/115)
6. Matt Kemp LAD - .368 (42/114)
7. Joey Votto CIN - .357 (35/98)
8. David Freese STL - .356 (31/87)
9. Ryan Braun MIL - .352 (37/105)
10. Brandon Phillips - .351 (34/97)



Photos Courtesy (in order of appearance):

livetennisguide.com
bbs.chinadaily.com.cn
zimbio.com
virginiasports.com
zimbio.com
zimbio.com

More NBA Observations

1. The Atlanta Hawks are not going to roll over and die. I really didn't think the Hawks matched up well with the Bulls at all. I thought Chicago was going to pretty much just steamroll them behind Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and company. Newsflash, the Hawks came to play. The Hawks jumped out to a double digit first quarter lead, found themselves down in the third quarter and then battled back outplaying the Bulls down the stretch to take a 1-0 series lead. Joe Johnson finished with 34 points and hit all 5 of his 3-point attempts and Jamal Crawford, a former Bull, added 22 points off the bench for the Hawks who shot 51.3% from the floor. Even without Kirk Hinrich, the Hawks gave Derrick Rose problems as he missed his first 7 shots and finished 11 of 27 with just 24 points. To make matters worse for Chicago, Rose rolled his ankle on the last play of the game. If he can't go Chicago's in trouble. And even with him, get ready for a series.

2. Derrick Rose needs to get to the free throw line. In the first three game of their opening series against Indiana, Rose shot 21,13 and 15 free throws. Since then he shot 4, 7 and ZERO in the opener against Atlanta. Rose's jumpshot is not the strong point of his game, so to be effective he has to be able to get to the foul line. I don't know if it's a coincidence that Rose injured his ankle in Game 4 against the Pacers. If that's the case, his latest ankle injury becomes that much more significant.

3. The Bulls defense has to play better. Chicago gave up just 91.3 points per game during the regular season. Atlanta torched them for 103 and as mentioned before shot 51.3%. In their three regular season meetings, Atlanta scored 83, 76 and 81 points.

4. You cannot give points away in the playoffs. At the end of the first half, Jason Terry fouled Lamar Odom on a desperation three-pointer. Then, when jockeying for the rebound, Dirk Nowitzki threw and elbow at Ron Artest. End result? 4 points for the Lakers with less than a half second remaining in the half. Instead of going into the break down 5, they instead found themselves down 9. Granted Dallas was able to come back and win the game, but this almost cost them as the Lakers had a chance to win the game at the buzzer. Fortunately for Dallas, Kobe's 3 hit off the back iron.

5. Dirk wins round one versus Pau. 28 points and 14 rebounds for Dirk including the go-ahead free throws with 20 seconds to play. Pau had a great all around game with 15 points 11 rebounds and 7 assists, but fouled Dirk to set up his game winning free throws and then turned the ball over on the Lakers next possession.

6. Kobe Bryant still has a lot in the tank. Yes, the Lakers lost, but Kobe went for 36 points in a losing effort. HOWEVER, he had zero assists.

7. So far none of the four teams I picked won their opening game. This is not shaping up well. Once again we are all reminded why I shouldn't gamble.

NHL Playoff Update

Bruins - Flyers

Game 2 - Boston 2 Philadelphia 2 - Boston leads series 1-0.

Goals:

BOS- Chris Kelly (4), Brad Marchand (4), David Krejci (4)
PHI- James van Riemsdyk 2 (7)

Notes: The 21 year old Van Riemsdyk scored only 3 playoff goals in last year's postseason (21 games)... Milan Lucic led the Bruins in goals during the regular season with 30. Through 9 games, he has yet to score in the postseason, though he does have 2 assists... The Flyers blew a 2-0 lead and did not score after the midway point of the first period... Tim Thomas made 52 saves in goal for the Bruins including 9 in overtime... 3 of David Krejci's 4 goals this postseason have come against the Flyers... Game 3 is Wednesday night in Boston.

Five Observations from today's NBA Games

1. Zach Randolph is really good. The 29 year old power forward finished with a career playoff high of 34 points and added 10 rebounds in leading the Grizzlies to another upset win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City today. Randolph grabbed 4 of the Grizz's 17 offensive rebounds, hit a wide array of shots from inside and out, and gave the Thunder fits on both ends of the floor. Plus any time you outscore Kevin Durant, who finished with 33 points, you've had a pretty good day. If Randolph plays like this the whole series, he's going to make prediction that the Thunder would win the series look pretty stupid.

2. The Grizzlies are tenacious on defense. Oklahoma City turned the ball over 18 times resulting in 23 points for the Grizzlies. More than anything this was the difference in the game. Having defensive stars Tony Allen and Shane Battier on the roster certainly doesn't hurt, but the whole team has bought in. Nothing came easy for the Thunder all night, and they shouldn't expect things to get any easier. Russell Westbrook will have to do better than his 7 turnovers for the Thunder to bounce back in this series.

3. The Heat are not intimidated by the Celtics any more. Everything the Celtics threw out the Heat, the Heat had an answer for. Any time the Celtics made a run, the Heat locked down and extended the lead back out. Paul Pierce lost his cool and got himself ejected, Dwyane Wade finally overcame his struggles against the C's and finished with 38 points, and James Jones channeled his inner Steve Kerr and drilled 5 3-pointers and finished with 25 points. Miami never looked like they were worried and they have to be confident heading into Game 2.

4. Rajon Rondo will be the key to this series. Rondo was in foul trouble early and never got into a rhythm. He finished with 8 points 7 rebounds and 7 assists, but was just 3 of 10 from the floor, seemed tentative to take open shots and turned the ball over 5 times. He wasn't outplayed by Bibby and Chalmers persay as they combined for just 5 points, but it was certainly a subpar effort from Rondo. Delonte West is Rondo's backup and he's not capable of doing what Rondo can so Rondo has to stay on the floor for the Celtics to win this series.

5. Ray Allen is an unbelievable shooter. Dogged by Dwyane Wade all night, Allen still finished 9 of 13 from the floor and hit 5 of 8 3-pointers. In 5 playoff games, Allen has now hit 21 of 34 3-pointers in his 5 postseason games, whopping 61.8%. Not bad for a 35 year old.

NHL Conference Semis

Canucks - Predators

Game 3 - Vancouver 3 Nashville 2 - Vancouver leads series 2-1.

Goals:

VAN- Ryan Kesler 2 (2), Christopher Higgins (3)
NAS- David Legwand (3), Joel Ward (4)

Notes:

Pekka Rinne saved 44 saves in a losing effort. Vancouver outshot Nashville 47-30... Ryan Kesler scored a career high 41 goals during the regular season this year. Prior to his breakout performance in Game 3, he had just 3 playoff goals in 32 games. Kesler also assisted on Higgins' goal... Daniel Sedin, the NHL's regular season leading scorer, had an assist on Kesler's first goal giving him his first point of the series. Sedin had 5 goals and a pair of assists in their opening series against Chicago.


Game 4 - Vancouver 4 Nashville 2 - Vancouver leads series 3-1.

Goals:

VAN- Christian Ehrhoff (2), Alexander Edler (2), Ryan Kesler (3), Henrik Sedin (1)
NAS- Joel Ward (5), Cody Franson (1)

Notes:

Henrik Sedin had 19 goals during the regular season but was scoreless his first 10 postseason games... Joel Ward had just 10 goals in 80 games during the regular season, but already has 5 playoff goals in just 10 games... Ryan Kesler has 3 goals and 3 assists and Christian Ehrhoff has a goal and 4 assists over the last two games... Game 5 is Saturday night in Vancouver.


Bruins - Flyers

Game 3 - Boston 5 Philadelphia 1 - Boston leads series 3-0.

Goals:

BOS- Zdeno Chara 2 (2), David Krejci (5), Daniel Paille (1), Nathan Horton (5)
PHI- Andrej Meszaros (2)

Notes: Tim Thomas made 37 saves in the win... Zdeno Chara had just 1 assist in his first 8 playoff games this season before picking up a pair of goals and an assist in Game 3... The Bruins first two goals were in the game's opening 63 seconds... Krejci has 4 goals and 4 assists in the 3 games against the Flyers after picking up just 1 point in 7 games against the Canadiens.



Lightning - Capitals

Game 3- Tampa Bay 4 Washington 3 - Tampa Bay leads series 3-0.

Goals:

TAM- Sean Bergenheim (5), Vincent Lecavalier (5), Steven Stamkos (4), Ryan Malone (2)
WAS- Mike Knuble (2), John Carlson (1), Alex Ovechkin (5)

Notes:

Washington led 3-2 after 2 periods but Tampa Bay scored twice in 24 seconds in the 3rd to take the lead... Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist in a losing effort... Ryan Malone who had the gamewinner is playing in his first postseason since 2008 with the Penguins... The win was Tampa Bay's 6th straight.


Game 4 - Tampa Bay 5 Washington 3 - Tampa Bay wins series 4-0.

Goals:

TAM- Ryan Malone (3), Sean Bergenheim 2 (7), Marc-Andre Bergeron (1), Martin St. Louis (6)
WAS - Marco Sturm (1), John Erskine (1), John Carlson (2)

Notes:

Sean Bergenheim has 7 goals in 11 playoff games after only scoring 14 goals in 80 regular season games... The Lightning have not allowed more than 3 goals in a game this postseason and have now won 7 straight games... The Capitals have won just one series over the past two seasons as the East's number one seed... Alex Ovechkin had an assist and finished the postseason with 5 goals and 5 assists in 9 games.



Red Wings - Sharks

Game 3 - San Jose 4 Detroit 3, OT - San Jose leads series 3-0.

Goals:

SAN- Devin Setoguchi 3 (4), Dan Boyle (1)
DET- Nicklas Lidstrom (2), Patrick Eaves (3), Pavel Datsyuk (3)

Notes:

Setoguchi's hat trick was the first of his postseason career. He tallied his first regular season hat trick on February 19th against the Avalanche... The Sharks have won all 3 games in this series by one goal. This was their second overtime win of the series... Henrik Zetterberg had 2 assists for the Red Wings... The Sharks are 5-0 in overtime games this postseason... Game 4 is tomorrow night in Detroit.