I would just like to wish everyone a Happy Easter today as it is Good Friday. I hope your Easter is a happy health one and that everyone gets time with family and friends.

A 16th Century Russian Orthodox description of the Resurrection

It was not all great news though in the sports world today. In fact the news was quite sobering and it is to bad the clown driving the white minivan was not. You can see what I mean Here.

The Los Angeles Angels are mourning the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart who was killed it a traffic accident yesterday, two others were killed in the car with him by a suspected drunk driver. Of course the drunk driver was not injured and fled the crash on foot only to be apprehended a little later.What a waste of a life, Adenhart was only 22 years old and had just realized his dream of playing major league baseball. Fate can be a very cruel dance partner sometimes.

The drunk driver had a suspended license due to a previous DUI. They are throwing the book at this clown and so they should. Anyway I hope everyone has a great holiday and play safe.

“No Gut No Glory”

Walt Webb

If you watched the World Baseball Classic or searched the web for sports news stories on the subject, you will already be aware of the final being played between Japan and Korea. That’s right folks a complete far east final. Both of these teams deserved to be there too. They were the class of the tournament  and finished play before the final with identical 6-2 records. Loosing only to each other.

Korea got to the final by crushing Venezuela 10-2 while Japan had a neat and tidy spanking of the USA by a convincing score of 9-4 in their semi-final. The US made three errors in the game which accounted for five unearned runs. Boh Japan and Korea got to the final by playing exceptional defence, with great pitching and textbook execution. The three main ingredients for winning baseball. These two teams may have had a bit of an advantage as they had been playing together since February 1st. Long before the other teams were assembled. The point is moot because they were both deserving and were far and away the two best teams. The teams weren’t here by accident or fluke. Japan is the defending World Baseball Classic champion and Korea is the current Olympic gold medalist from the Bejing games.

In the final the Korean team dodges bullets all night, Japan threatened to blow the game open on a few occasions. Every time though it just seemed that when Korea needed a big play on defence, they got it to wiggle off the hook and keep the game close. Japan went ahead 3-2 in the top of the ninth, but Korea came back and tied it up in their half of the inning. So going into the 10th inning the score was 3-3. Japan had left on eleven base runners, while Korea had been pretty efficient, cashing in almost every base runner they had.

In the top of the 10th Suzuki Ichiro came to the plate with two runners on and two outs. With first base open Allsports thought for sure the Korean manager would intentionally walk him to load the bases and take his chances with the next batter. Much to my suprise, he pitched to Ichiro and he made them pay, driving in both runners with a single up the gut of the infield. They turned out to be the winning runs as YU Darvish came back out for the bottom of the 10th and retired the Korean batters.

Dice “K” won the MVP for the tournament, going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA but Allsports says move over Dice “K” cause this Darvish kid is the real deal. He has a fastball clocked in the 96-100 mph range along with a knee buckling change up and great curve ball. The kicker is, he is only 22 years old. How many MLB scouts were drooling over this kid. The answer, all of them.

Here are some Highlights from the Game

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

The World Baseball Classic started with so much anticipation for the Canadian contingent to do well considering they had home field and a pretty strong roster to work with. As people know now if they follow sports on the web or the games on television, that was not the case. The Canadian team was knocked out and is now left to wonder what could have been.

After a promising start against a very strong US squad, the Canadians eventually fell 6-5. I was a great game and Canada was in it right up to the final pitch. Based on that showing I thought Canada would put it together against Italy. A country not known to be a baseball powerhouse by any means. Well Allsports was wrong Canada left something like twenty men on base against the Italians. They ended up dropping the game by a score of 6-2.

The loss combined with the one previously to the USA, knocked Canada out of the tournament. This left Ernie Whitt and company scratching their heads as to what went wrong. Special mention should be given to Toronto’s local boy Joey Votto. He hit the cover off the ball in both games Canada played, its just to bad the rest of the team did not do as well.

Moving forward, Australia has been a pleasant surprise in the tournament and has advanced to the 2nd round. In the end it should be interesting to see what country will come out on top. The US has a team of Major League all stars and should be there when the dust settles but in a one game format anything can happen. All they need to do is have a game like Canada did against Italy, and they will be gone. Japan and Cuba are looking strong again this year and should advance to the final round too. The US will be trying to avenge its poor performance of 2006.

Its anyone’s guess who will come out on top but the four countries I think have the upper hand are the USA, Cuba, Japan and Korea. Only time will tell.

Go Here for more on the WBC

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

Jamie Moyer came out in game three after a rain delay and put on a pitching clinic for six plus innings. The Rays just could not deal with his pin point control and mastery of pitching to both sides of the plate. Video of his pitching should be shown to all young pitchers on the how too of finesse, I don’t think he had one pitch over 85 mph all night but he sure kept the Rays off balance. The home town boy waited twenty-two years for his ring. Chase Utley homered and Ryan Howard followed him with one of his own. The Rays fought back to tie it at fours but in the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies had a runner on third with no one out and a first in World Series history happened. Rays manager Joe Maddon, went with a five man infield to try and cut the run off at the plate on a ground ball. It did not work and the Phillies scored to win the game 5-4. You have to admire Maddon though for thinking outside the box.

Jamie Moyer

Game Four was a wash and a 10-2 pasting by the Phillies on the Rays. Howard was a one man wrecking crew with two home runs and five runs batted in. Joe Blanton helped his own cause, hitting a home run as well as winning the game.Here is a sports news article on the web with a full account of the game

Game five had a life or lack there of it. The Phillies ace, Cole Hamels started the game and it looked like the Rays were in deep trouble. The game was played with 43 degree F temperatures and a 17 mph wind. Rain started in about the fourth inning and the night was completely miserable. Pena and Longoria, my name in Evan, not Eva, finally broke out of their 0 for about 31 slump and got a couple of hits. It had to have been the longest game in major league history, because they called it after six and a half innings and it took two days for them to pick the game back up. So the game took about 50 hours to finish.  I thought the break helped the Rays because they managed to dodge the Hamels bullet but when play resumed and the score 3-3, the Phillies pushed home another run in their half of the seventh. With their bullpen that would be all they needed. Here’s the complete web sports news story.

The Tampa Bay Rays did not handle the adversity of the weather very well at all and the down fall started with the rain delay in game three. Matt Gaza was the Rays starter and being the high strung individual that he is was wandering the clubhouse like a caged lion waiting for the game to begin. When it finally started he was too wound up and could not get his pitches over for strikes. Moyer on the other hand took everything in stride like the pro that he is and was relaxed on the mound and pitched a gem.

The Umpiring in the series was brutal with quite a few gaffs and in game five the home plate umpire was squeezing the strike zone on Kazmir. If he had got a couple of those calls it could have been different. It takes away from the game when the Umpires help to control the outcome.

Finally the scouting staff of the Phillies deserves full credit for helping win the championship. Their information on pitching to the Rays and telling their hitters to be patient at the plate was likely the difference in the series. That and the fact that the young Rays did not adjust well to what they were given. Chalk it up to inexperience and youth but be sure that the Rays will be back with their young talent if economics can keep the team together.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

Don’t get me wrong based purely on performance Luke Schenn should be staying with the leafs, hands down. He has played over twenty minutes a night against some of the best in the league and held his own, being likely about the best leafs defense man, night in and night out. His performance in the first eight games of the season has been outstanding and there is nothing he has done that has generated any negative sports press in print or on the web.

Here is the but with allsports, yes he can learn more with the big club but he is only eighteen years old, playing about the toughest position to master on the ice, readers may not remember another leafs prospect named Jim Benning a few years ago, that stayed with the big club at the age of 18 and was not ready. This effected him for the rest of his career and his confidence was never the same. Schenn is bigger and stronger than Benning was but I am surprised that Fletcher would risk the kid, there is still a long season left to play.

Fletcher and company must think he is completely ready both physically and mentally, but he could go back and play another year of junior, captain his team in Kelowna, captain team Canada at the world juniors, win a gold medal, then likely return for another memorial cup run with the rockets. I know he did this last year but hey why not do it twice. I think Fletcher is a little surprised at how well the whole leafs team is playing and is starting to realize that a play off spot may be within reach. If the leafs were as bad as people were saying they were going to be there is no doubt in my mind that Schenn would have been returned to junior. From an economic stand point now that Schenn is staying put, his entry level NHL contract will kick in after ten games and that will bring him one year closer to free agency. A team like the Toronto Maple Leafs, with very deep pockets, won’t concern themselves with that because they will not let Luke Schenn go anywhere as a free agent and will sign him to a long term deal when the time is right if he stays healthy. Schenn is one of those unique players that you can use the words, “corner stone” for and build a franchise around.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

P.S. Looking at the outcome of the World Series game last night, I think the Tampa Rays dodged a big bullet when the game was called due to the brutal weather. 42 degrees F, 17 mph winds and then lets add some pouring rain into the mix. The Rays managed to tie it up before it was called and the bright side for them is they won’t have to face Cole Hamels tonight when the game resumes. Go here for a sports article on the web. I may have given the Rays the kiss of death by picking them to win but if they can get the series back to Tampa? stranger things have happened in sports.

First here in an interesting video on the rule changes and discussions in the sports world of the NHL. It comes to you courtesy of Kukla’s Korner on the web.

Colin Campbell, Mike Murphy and Kris King discuss on-ice issues and potential rule changes within the game.

Second, James Shields pitched a win so the tampa Bay Rays could even the World Series at one game apiece. The score was 4-2

The final sports news tidbit on the web is that the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins last night, in Boston, by a score of 4-2 also. The win snapped a five game winless streak.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

Cole Hamels delivering to the plate
His wife, Heidi Strobel is not to hard on the eyes either lol.

Chase Utley helped Hamels cause with a two run homer in the top of the first inning and Allsports thought that would have been all Hamels would need considering his minuscule ERA in the 2008 post season. As it turned out Hamels did need one more run for the win. The Rays should still be in pretty good shape though because their next three starters are better than what the Phillies can bring to the table. They will need to get a good lead in those games though because the Phillies bullpen was the best in the majors this year.

Chase Utley

In other sports news out there in electronic web land, it was nice to see at least someone else agreed with my pick on the rays to win. Hey I got TSN in my corner. They also gave a good sports news account of game one on the web.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

The Rays have been the cellar dwellers of the American League East for many years and received very high draft picks for their efforts or lack there of. Never winning more than 70 games in a year until this year and going from worst to first in the division. There drafting has come to fruition and now they are the American League Champions.

So now who is going to win the World Series. Both teams are very solid as they have had to be to get to this stage. The Rays won five more games in the regular season than the Philadelphia Phillies did and they won them in the toughest division in baseball, the American League East. They battled the Yankees, Red Sox and to a certain extent the Toronto Blue Jays as well with their excellent pitching staff, all year long and came out on top. Then they knocked off the Red Sox, the defending champs in seven games to get here. Talk about a character builder. So I am picking the Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series in Seven games, based primarily on who they had to face to get here.

If you search the web for baseball sports news stories you will find that there are many out there that think the Phillies will win and if my track record at picking the winners hold true they likely will. The way this MLB playoff has gone the good money would have been bet against me cause I am not batting anywhere near 1,000 with my picks. The guy that I think will have a big series, if the Phillies win is a good old Canadian boy, Matt Stairs and it would not hurt my feelings if he finally got his ring.

For other articles on baseball sports news here on the web, there are a couple of good write ups on the bleacher report and TSN.

Rays Win

This is nothing new for this Boston Red Sox and I think Tampa Bay may pay dearly for letting the Red Sox up off the mat. I take you back in time to some recent Red Sox, history. Boston trailed the dreaded New York Yankee’s 3-0 in the  2004 ALCS and came back to win the series and go on the win the World Series that year. Then last year they were down 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, coming back to win that series before beating the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.

The way Allsports is looking at this, historically Boston has Tampa Bay right where they want them. Other web sports news articles tend to agree.

See another full sports news article on the web Here

Red Sox Comback

Some vintage video of the 1929 series for your enjoyment.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

So now I will put my neck out there on the web again and make my predictions in baseball playoff sports news. First the American League.

Boston and Tampa Bay : Well Tampa did do quite well against the Red Sox this season and even took the AL East pennant from the Sox by two games. They are a very good young team and are quite deserving of being where they are. The key hear is young, they have never one anything and they are playing the defending champions. Boston has all the tools plus the experience and veteran savvy.

Allsports says Boston in six games.

In the National League

Philadelphia and LA Dodgers: The Phillies hit a ton this year and have a lot of offensive weapons. LA has good pitching and had about the 3rd lowest ERA in the majors this year. The Phillies pitching is none to shabby either. Who ever wins this series will be doing it in the full 7 games. Look for Manny to stay hot with the bat.

Allsports says LA Dodgers in seven games.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb