Top Tens

Men's Tennis Rankings

1. Rafael Nadal (Spain) - 12070 points
2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - 11665 points
3. Roger Federer (Switzerland) - 8390 points
4. Andy Murray (Great Britain) - 6085 points
5. Robin Soderling (Sweden) - 5435 points
6. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) - 4215 points
7. David Ferrer (Spain) - 4060 points
8. Jurgen Melzer (Austria) - 2850 points
9. Gael Monfils (France) - 2465 points
10. Mardy Fish (USA) - 2395 points

OUT: Nicolas Almagro (12)



Women's Tennis Rankings

1. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) - 10105 points
2. Kim Clijsters (Belgium) - 8115 points
3. Vera Zvonareva (Russia) - 7675 points
4. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) - 5425 points
5. Francesca Schiavone (Italy) - 5047 points
6. Li Na (China) - 4775 points
7. Maria Sharapova (Russia) - 4761 points
8. Samantha Stosur (Australia) - 4156 points
9. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) - 3743 points
10. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) - 3670 points



FedEx Cup Points Leaders

1. Bubba Watson 1383 (1)
2. Luke Donald 1354 (2)
3. Mark Wilson 1207 (3)
4. Phil Mickelson 1190 (4)
5. Nick Watney 1169 (7)
6. K.J. Choi 1161 (-)
7. Martin Laird 1065 (5) 
8. Rory Sabbatini 1052 (8)
9. Gary Woodland 1050 (6)
10. Aaron Baddeley 1046 (-)

Out: Jonathan Byrd (11), Brandt Snedeker (12)



NCAA Baseball Rankings

1. Virginia 45-6 (1)
2. South Carolina 41-11 (3)
3. Vanderbilt 42-8 (2)
4. Florida 39-13 (5)
5. Texas 38-12 (4)
6. Florida St. 39-13 (6)
7. Oregon St. 37-12 (7t)
8. Oklahoma 39-13 (12)
9. TCU 36-15 (10)
10. CS Fullerton 36-14 (11)

OUT: Arizona St. (12), North Carolina (13)



AL Leading Hitters (through Sunday)

1. Jose Bautista TOR - .368 (42/114)
2. Matt Joyce TB - .368 (43/117)
3. Michael Young TEX - .342 (54/158)
4. Travis Hafner CLE - .340 (36/106)
5. Jason Kubel MIN - .331 (46/139)
6. Paul Konerko CHW - .327 (49/150)
7. Adrian Gonzalez BOS - .319 (52/163)
8. Maicer Izturis LAA - .319 (43/135)
9. Jed Lowrie BOS - .314 (37/118)
10. Adam Lind TOR - .313 (40/128)



NL Leading Hitters (through Sunday)

1. Matt Holliday STL - .379 (50/132)
2. Lance Berkman STL - .347 (42/121)
3. Andre Ethier LAD - .346 (54/156)
4. Joey Votto CIN - .345 (48/139)
5. Placido Polanco PHI - .366 (52/153)
6. Starlin Castro CHC - .338 (54/160)
7. Darwin Barney CHC - .333 (45/135)
8. Brett Wallace HOU - .333 (42/126)
9. Gaby Sanchez FLA - .331 (49/148)
10. Matt Kemp LAD - .329 (50/152)



Photos Courtesy (in order of appearance):

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

Miami, Meet Taj Gibson

Here's links to Gibson's two ridiculous dunks against Miami tonight. The first one went for a 3-point play that tied the game at 25, and the second punctuated the route late in the 4th quarter.

Dwyane Wade Gets Put on a Poster

One-Handed Putback

NHL Western Conference Finals - Game 1

VANCOUVER 3 SAN JOSE 2

Goals:

VAN- Maxim Lapierre (1), Kevin Bieksa (2), Henrik Sedin (2)
SAN- Joe Thornton (3), Patrick Marleau (4)

Note:

The Canucks scored 2 goals in a 79 second span during the 3rd period to erase a 2-1 deficit... Ryan Kesler picked up an assist on Sedin's game winner for his NHL leading 16th point of the postseason... Maxim Lapierre played for 3 teams during the 2010-2011 season, the Canadiens, the Ducks and the Canucks. He scored just 1 goal for the Canucks in 19 regular season games... Antti Niemi, who was the starting goalie for the Blackhawks in their Stanley Cup run a year ago made 35 saves in a losing effort for San Jose... Dan Boyle and Joe Thornton each had an assist on Patrick Marleau's goal giving them both 10 in the playoffs which leads the team... San Jose scored on their only power play evening of the night... Game 2 of the series will be Wednesday night in Vancouver.

Odds and Ends

Some People Call Him a Space Cowboy

The Joker continues his run through the men's tennis world. Novak Djokovic won his 37th straight match to open the 2011 season beating #1 Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Italian Open today. Djokovic is now just 5 wins away from tying John McEnroe's 42-0 start to the 1984 season. During his run this year, Djokovic has beaten Nadal 4 times, #3 Roger Federer 3 times, and #4 Andy Murray twice. Djokovic lost just one set the entire tournament en route to his 7th title of 2011.



Bautista Bombs

Jose Bautista hit 3 more home runs today giving him 13 in his last 19 games. During that stretch, he's hit .415 with 21 runs batted in and now has 16 home runs on the year. To give you an idea of how ridiculous that is, Minnesota, as a team, has 18 home runs this year. The 30 year old former Pirate, had hit just 79 home runs in his first 6 major league seasons before breaking out last year with 54 for Blue Jays. All indications this year are that it's no fluke as Bautista continues to hammer the ball all over the field. Good news for my buddy Chris who once again got him on his fantasy team this year in the Lushbucket Baseball League.



How to Make a Poster by Dwyane Wade

My friend Ellen texted me this photo from the first half of the Bulls-Heat game tonight. The Bulls are NOT intimidated by Miami's recent success. And this wasn't even his best dunk of the night.

My trip to Zephyr Field

Finally caught a New Orleans Zephyrs game last night, my first one since moving down here at the end of 2008. New Orleans, the AAA affiliate for the Marlins, was taking on the Tacoma Rainiers. The Zephyrs ended up pulling it out 5-4 and outhit Tacoma 14-4. I was a little disappointed in my "Chicago Style Brat" which was just a plain bratwurst, so i 'm not really sure which made it "Chicago Style", but other than that it was a good time as minor league games usually are. Ex-major leaguers Ryan Langerhans and Ruben Gotay both him homeruns, and I got to see a number of Seattle's top prospects: second baseman Dustin Ackley (1), starting pitcher Blake Beavan (9), and third baseman Alex Liddi (10). Ackley went 0 for 4 dropping his average to .247 on the year, Beavan gave up 4 runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 inings, and Liddi went 2 for 3 with a double and scored 3 runs. For the home team, Bryan Petersen (2/3), Vinny Rottino (3/5), Chris Aguila (2/5) and Mike Cervenak (2/4) all had multi-hit games, and Jose Ceda pitched a scoreless 9th for his 11th save. Ceda has a 0.53 ERA on the season for the Z's.

Thunderstruck

I've made the comment before, it's great to see players rise to the occasion in big games. Today we saw the first Game 7 of the 2011 NBA playoffs between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook made sure that this was the end of the line for 8th seeded Memphis. Durant had his best game of the series finishing with 39 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks and Russell Westbrook had 10 rebounds and 14 assists (both playoff highs for him this year) to go along with 14 points for his first career postseason triple double, as the Thunder advance and can now get ready for Dallas. Durant was coming off of his worst game of the playoffs when he was just 3 for 14 with 11 points in Game 6 so his ability to bounce back made the performance that much more impressive.

Durant and the young Thunder continue to exceed all expectations. It hasn't just been Durant though. In fact, the Thunder's top 4 scorers are all 22 years old or younger. Westbrook and Durant are both 22 while Ibaka and Harden are 21. Harden also turned in a solid effort in Game 7 finishing with 17 points and draining 4 3-pointers, and while Ibaka played limited minutes in Game 7 due to Nick Collison's strong play, he still leads the NBA in blocks during the postseason with 43 in 12 games. It's the balance of talent with a strong mix of role players that has really allowed this team to hit its stride earlier than many people expected. The addition of big men Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed at the trade deadline has been paying big dividends inside, Nick Collison, the longest tenured Supersonic/Thunder player (1st round pick in 2003) has given them an energetic big who does the little things off the bench, Thabo Sefolosha is a terrific wing defender, 2nd year point guard Eric Maynor has been more than capable of spelling Westbrook, and Daequan Cook is a knockdown shooter. If you're a basketball fan, you have to love the Western Conference Finals matchup between the Thunder and the Mavericks. The NBA, where amazing happens.

The Grizzlies meanwhile can hold their heads high, as they came one win away from reaching the Western Conference Finals as an 8 seed. Their accomplishments are that much more impressive when you consider that their best known player, Rudy Gay, missed the postseason with an injury. With a young corps group of players, of the nine players in their rotation only Tony Allen (29), Zach Randolph (29) and Shane Battier (32) are over the age of 26, it's unlikely this will be the last time they're competitive.

LeBron and the Heat Advance

Well, so much for that prediction. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and company made short work of the Celtics knocking them out in 5 games. They won all 3 games at home, and even stole an overtime game in Boston suggesting to many that we've seen a changing of the guard in the East. Now it's no secret that I'm not a Heat fan AT ALL these days. I didn't like the way LeBron James handled his move from Cleveland and naturally, I'm going to root against him as a result. I really thought the Celtics had Miami's number when they beat them 3 straight times to open the regular season, but Boston showed their age in this series, and the Heat exposed all of their weaknesses. The C's missed the toughness they lost in Kendrick Perkins, especially when Shaq went down, and they clearly missed Tony Allen's defensive presence this year. And as a result, they're going home early. So with the Lakers and Celtics both out, does this mean it's Miami's title to lose? Not so fast. Chicago has a 3-2 lead in their series over Atlanta, and the Heat still haven't shown they came beat them yet. And then out West, the Mavericks are loaded with talent as we saw in their sweep of L.A. The Heat haven't beaten Dallas this year either. And don't forget Oklahoma City. With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, they can't be counted out. And the way Memphis is playing, if they can beat the Thunder after routing the Spurs, I'd have to think they're a scary proposition for anyone. So I'm not going to say it's Miami's title to lose just yet. But I'm not going to lie, as a hater, I'm definitely getting more and more nervous with each passing victory.

Bulls - Heat Preview

Regular Season Series - Bulls Won 3-0

01/15/11 - Chicago 99 Miami 96 - LeBron James, Joakim Noah DNP
02/24/11 - Chicago 93 Miami 89 - Chris Bosh 1/18 shooting
03/06/11 - Chicago 87 Miami 86 - Miami Bench 2/12 shooting, 6 points


Playoff Resumes

(1) Chicago

Def. (8) Indiana 4 games to 1
Def. (5) Atlanta 4 games to 2

(2) Miami

Def. (7) Philadelphia 4 games to 1
Def. (3) Boston 4 games to 1


Likely Starters

Chicago

PG - Derrick Rose - 28.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 8.2 apg
SG - Keith Bogans - 5.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.7 apg
SF - Luol Deng - 16.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.0 apg
PF - Carlos Boozer - 11.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.8 apg
C - Joakim Noah - 9.9 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 2.1 apg

Miami

PG - Mike Bibby - 3.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.0 apg
SG - Dwyane Wade - 26.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 5.0 apg
SF - LeBron James - 26.1 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 4.9 apg
PF - Chris Bosh - 16.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.1 apg
C - Joel Anthony - 4.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.4 apg


Key Bench Players

Chicago

SG - Kyle Korver - 7.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.4 apg
F - Taj Gibson - 6.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.5 apg
PG - C.J. Watson - 3.2 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 2.0 apg
SG - Ronnie Brewer - 2.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.0 apg
C - Omer Asik - 0.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.1 apg

Miami

SF - James Jones - 7.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.2 apg
PG - Mario Chalmers - 6.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.1 apg
C - Zydrunas Ilgauskas - 3.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.3 apg
SG - Mike Miller - 0.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.7 apg
PF - Udonis Haslem - 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 0.0 apg *

*played just 1 game


Prediction

Chicago's won every matchup with Miami this year, but all three came down to the wire. Chicago is relentless on defense and has a lot more depth, but Miami has Dwyane Wade and LeBron James both playing at the top of their games right now. Chicago doesn't exactly have slouches as the 2011 MVP, Derrick Rose has been sensational this postseason putting up 39, 36, 44, 34 and 33 point games in the first two rounds. So how's it all going to unfold? Chicago was my pick to come out of the East back before the season even started, so I'm not going to pick against them here. I'm going to say the Bulls are going to win in 6 and go to the Finals for the first time since the Jordan era. I think Derrick Rose presents all sort of matchup problems for Miami. In 3 games against the Heat this year he had 34 points and 8 assists, 26 points and 6 assists, and 27 points and 5 assists. And each time, he showed the ability to take the game over down the stretch. The recent resurgence of Carlos Boozer is a big plus, and Chicago's ability to rebound the basketball on both ends of the floor is going to put pressure on Miami's big men. Chris Bosh is going to have a huge impact on the series. If he plays up to his ability, the Heat will be in good shape, but he's been inconsistent in the playoffs, and it seems like he crumbles in big moments. If he does not get off to a good start, memories of his 1 for 18 shooting performance in February are sure to get back into his head. So yeah, Bulls in 6, every game coming down to the wire. Hopefully it's not my hatred of the Heat that is blinding me right now.