OKC ties series up in Big D!

In game 1, Durant carried the load for the Thunder dropping 40. He was outdueled by a 48-point effort from Dirk Nowitski.

Thursday night, Durant got some help from his boys on the bench.

With a 1 point lead going into the 4th quarter and Russell Westbrook spectating, KD and the reserves took down Dallas 106-100 to nab a big road W and tie the series up.

Leading the attack was James Harden and his 23 points. The more I watch this guy play, the more justified it seems that he was taken 3rd last year in the draft. He's gonna be a player in this league.

Oklahoma City seems to live and die by the decisions that Russell Westbrook makes. When he takes too many shots, they seem to lose. On nights when he realizes he has Kevin Durant as a teammate they win. Don't get me wrong, he's a stud. However, last night proved to me that they are capable of winning a big game without him. Without one of their best players, the Thunder did something that the 2x defending champion Lakers couldn't do and that's play big down the stretch. With the bench playing such a big role and the series going nack to Oklahoma for the next 2, Dirk, J-Kidd and the Mavs are in trouble.

It's time for Subway Series 2k11

It's that time of the year again. It's round 1 of the Subway Series this weekend at Yankee Stadium...and it might not be the bloodbath that everyone thought it was going to be when the season started.

Contrary to popular public opinion and despite the same old story of injuries. The Mets have taken a 5-13 record and gone 16-9 in their last 25 games. No Ike? No D-Wright? No problem.

The Mets have plugged the right guys in the right holes and have played solid baseball in the past month all while carrying 8 guys that started the year in AAA.

The poster child for the recent success has been supplied by "The Red Burner" Justin Turner. In his past 5 games, Turner has carried the Mets by notch uping 10 RBI. Another stud from AAA, has been Dillon Gee, who pitched a gem against the Nats and simply looks like he belongs in a big league rotation.

Reyes is having a career year and Beltran appears to be back (contract year syndrome?). For all of you that want to trade Reyes...you simply don't see what he brings to the table.

It also helps when the pitching comes around. Niese and Big Pelf have stepped their game up and the bullpen has been solid. K-Rod has converted 14 straight saves and Isringhausen is pitching like its 2003. The lone starter that has yet to turn it around is R.A. Dickey, who gets the ball tonight against Freddy Garcia and the Yankees

Now the trouble around the Bronx bombers has been documented ad nauseum ever since Jorge Posada quit on his teammates just over a week ago. It's this simple. It doesn't matter if your having a "bad day," you just don't quit on your team because your manager puts you in the 9 hole. The fans were much more forgiving then they should have been, but when you win 5 World Series championships you get away with murder. Anyone else would have seen the unemployment line. We all know it, if he can't produce, he'll be filing his retirement papers before the All-Star break

Another man being buzzed about is the captain and his diminishing abilities. Seeing the back page of the Daily News saying "He's Back" after a 2 home run game had to be the most ludicrous thing i've ever seen because after that he went back to hitting ground balls to second base. I'm not saying #2 is done, there's alot of baseball to go, but Jeter is a shadow of what he used to be. Sadly, your gonna see the Posada drama unravel again in the near future when they

attempt to move Jeter in the order or away from Short.

As for the rest of the team, they seem to be rebounding after a 6-game losing streak. Before last night, he forgot how to get hits and Tex's bat seems to have woken up as well. A-Rod broke his slump in a big way the other night with a 2 bomb preformance.

The pitching matchups, weather and apocolypse permitting, are a bit lackluster. Dickey and Garcia tonight, Capuano and Burnett tomorrow, Big Pelf and Nova Sunday.

I don't expect alot of 1-0 games this weekend. As an optimistic Mets fan, i'd like to see the Amazins take 2 out of 3 with the same solid pitching and timely hitting we've been seeing. Regardless of the record, these games are always competitive and the series should be a doozy.

LETS GO METS!

Glad i'm not THAT guy...Vin Mazzaro

Want to make history? How about a trip to Nebraska? Sounds tempting to some people, but not for Royals reliever (and Jersey native) Vin Mazzaro.





Vinny came in to eat some innings for starter, Kyle Davies, who was getting spanked by the resurging Cleveland Indians. He pitched a 1-2-3 3rd inning so they brought him back out for the 4th.





He had given up a run in the inning and there were still 2 guys on, but hey..at least there was 2 outs.....right?





A walk, 6 hits, a home run and 9 runs later, Vinny Maz escaped out of the inning. You'd think that the manager had seen enough...right?





Not quite.





He only made it through another third of an inning after giving up 4 more runs totaling 14...yeah..14! earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. Mazzaro became the first reliever since Buster McCrabb in 1942 (can't make that name up) to accomplish such a feat. After a brutal outing, Vinny was sent packing back to AAA Omaha in the minor leagues!





There is hope for Vinny Maz, however! After McCrabb's debacle, he did make it back to the majors..8 years later! He gave up 7 hits in the next inning he pitched. His next and final outing was a scoreless third of an inning. After that, he retired on top and became a mushroom farmer in Pennsylvania.





Hopefully things work out a little bit better for Mazzaro or you'll be seeing a new Pizza place opening in his hometown of Hackensack.

Have a brew for Killebrew!

This past Tuesday, the game of baseball lost one of it's most feared sluggers of all-time. Twins great Harmon Killebrew lost a long battle with esophageal cancer 74 years young.




Harmon earned the nickname "The Killer" for the rediculous amount of power he possessed at the dish. In a time where roids were non-existent, Killebrew mashed 573 Home Runs over a 22-year career (11th all-time)










In the 1960's, pitching dominated. Harmon Killebrew managed to hit 40 or more homers 8 seasons and hit more round trippers in the 1960's than anyone!



His home runs weren't just squeakers over the wall either, mind you..this wasn't Big Mac's 62nd home run in '98..they were absolute BOMBS! He is only one of 4 men to ever hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium and is the owner of the longest ball hit in Twins history. The ball sailed 520 feet back at the old Memorial Field (which is now replaced by the Mall of America). The exact spot the ball landed is still preserved to this day as you can see here.




A Hall of Famer, a 13-time all-star and former Most Valuable Player. Harmon Killebrew may have been feared by pitchers everywhere, but until his death he remained one of the most all-around gentlemen and ambassador to baseball.





So if you respect the greats of this game. join me in raising your drink of choice and toast one to "The Killer"!

Miami evens it up in Chi-Town

Lebron and D-Wade stepped up their games with 29 and 24 points respectively to nab a huge win on the road and even up the Eastern Conference Finals at 1 game a piece against DA BULLS. Bron Bron had 9 points in the final 4:27 despite suffering from a head cold. Guess he got in his dose of vitamin C today. However, he was sick enough to avoid another 15-minute postgame celebration.

The most valuable player tonight, however? Udonis Haslem!

Limited to just 13 games this year because of injury, Haslem posted 13 points and 5 boards in just 23 minutes of action. This is huge because the Heat need someone besides Joel friggin Anthony and Jamal Magloire. Remember Eric Dampier and Zydrunas Illgauskas? Yea, they're still in the league too. Instead of being in a nursing home, they age by the minute on the Miami bench.

A defensive battle (85-75), Miami managed to get an 11-point lead in the 3rd only to see Chicago battle right back. Unfortunately, when you shoot 3 of 20 from downtown and 16 of 26 from the foul line, your not gonna get it done.

The MVP of the association, D-Rose, scored 21, but only 2 in 4th quarter. I won't rag on him, because it was the rest of the team that didn't show up offensively; Carlos Boozer and your 7 point, 8 rebound preformance..IM POINTING MY FINGER RIGHT AT YOU.

Despite the next 2 games being on South Beach, i'm not concerned at all with the possibility of the Heat running away with this series. The presence of the Bulls frontcourt with Noah, Boozer (on a good night) and role players like Taj Gibson, Miami simply cannot compete down low. Miami has managed to play more like a team as the season has gone on and they have 3 of the best players in the world, but as far as fully playing like a team..well..they're not quite at the level of Chicago just yet..

By the way, how did that dunk taste, Dwayne? Don't cry over it..

G-Men of baseball just 1 win away!

"Every victory's just as tasty, but tonight's was really delicious" - Brian Wilson

Juan Uribe came through with a clutch sac fly off of Roy Oswalt in the bottom of the 9th for the 6-5 W and brought San Fran within 1 game of the 'ship.

Buster Posey officially had his coming out party last night with 4 knocks and big ups to Aaron Rowand for showing that he's still a warrior on the field. It puzzled me why he was taken out immediately after gunning out Ruiz at home in the fifth.

Manuel had some guts for going with Oswalt in the 9th, but you gotta do what you gotta do to win the game at hand. Although Roy gave up a run on 2 hits, it wasn't over the span of 8 innings like Game 2. Philly's got some serious work to do, but they've got the right guys taking the ball.

Tonight we get a rematch of Halladay/Lincecum. With everything on the line, I expect this one to be the classic that game 1 should have been.

CC you in Arlington!

"We play today, we win today- that's it."

- Mariano Duncan

It's been 52 years since the Yanks came back from a 3-1 hole, but they're not going down without a fight.

C.C came out today and did exactly what he needed to do. He gave up 11 hits, but he kept Texas in check in the run column. Hamilton was a non-factor and, in his final inning, he got himself out of a bases loaded, 1 out jam. All in a 7-2 victory for the Yanks.

The defending champs knocked the Rangers square in the mouth. Back in the starting lineup he should've never been out of, Jorge got things going with the RBI single and the Granderson came through with the 2-run double that looked like a play straight out of little league. By the way, good thing A-Rod didn't slide because he would've been toast!

The game was put out of reach in the bottom of the 3rd when Swish woke up from his 1-16 funk and put one over the wall. Robby Cano followed suit with his 4th bomb of the ALCS to make it 5-0. Texas might as well have packed it in then because it was over. C.J Wilson was a shadow of his game 1 self.

The Yanks may have lost Tex, but the Rangers may have also lost a big bat today in Nelson Cruz. His left hammy that kept him out of 51 games this year acted up on him again and he was taken out in the 5th. Anytime you can get someone that's hitting .371 4 HR 6 RBI in October, it's a good thing.

Outside of Berkman's not so graceful plunge in the right field foul ground today, my bonehead play of the day award goes to Elvis Andrus. What the hell was he thinking leading off of second base when your fighting to get back into a game? Should never happen. Kudos to Kerry for picking off 2 in the series.

Hey. At least Joe finally went to Mo to closse out the game.

We resume in Texas Friday night with Phil Hughes against Colby Lewis. Can the Yanks keep the momentum rolling? If they do, the only thing stading between them and the World Series... is Cliff Lee.