The Sports Watercooler

A quick round-up from this weekend's sporting activities.

Apparently there was an NCAA hockey champion crowned. I don't know, I didn't pay much attention.

Baseball is getting to that point in the season where they have gone through their rotations about 3 times and the season is starting to show its true colors.

For instance, the Tigers are really bad. This should not be happening. In my preseason predictions, I talked about their loaded lineup, the pitching staff should have had 2 Cy Young contendors on it, and they brought over 2 great hitters from the NL in Renteria and Cabrera. Instead, they are getting smoked. Every facet of their game sucked yesterday. The pitching staff gave up two (TWO!) grand slams, and the hitters couldn't get anything across, and were shut out for the second time in 2 days. They have far and away the worst record in baseball right now.

Meanwhile, Baltimore still continues to surprise, as they sit at the top of the AL East. They continue to ride the hot bat of Aubry Huff, but they can't keep this up, can they?

There are some familiar names at the top of the pitching categories (Cole Hamels, Ben Sheets), and a lot of unfamiliar ones. Zach Greinke, Kyle Lohse, Brain Bannister are all off to hot starts.
Mark Reynolds leads the league in RBIs and ESPN.com doesn't even have his picture to post next to his name.

The NHL playoffs are underway. And even though the Stanley Cup playoffs feature a lot of underdog victories, this year its even more so. Only three teams have a 2-0 lead on their opponent (Dallas, Detroit, and Pittsburgh), all the other series are tied or 2-1. 2 of last nights games went to OT and a third was won when a team scored 4 unanswered to overcome a 3-0 deficit.
Trevor Illelmen won the Masters this weekend, in an almost dominating fashion, beating second place Tiger by 3 strokes.

And finally, the NBA playoffs are more or less set. All that remains is the final spot in the West. Its Denver's to lose. And if they do lose, Golden State will make it. Both teams are fun to watch and high energy, so I really have no dog in that race.

And lastly, we say good bye to this week's Bandwagon Team--The Royals. They won a series against the Yankees 2-1 and lost a series to Minnesota 1-2, finishing the week 3-3. This is a great young team, with excellent pitching. I really don't expect them to fade too far as the season progresses.

As for this week's team: lets all cheer for the Pittsburgh Pirates! They have an amazing young player in Nate MacLouth who is currently batting .400 and is in the top ten in fantasy value. Plus Xavier Nady has revitalized his career wearing the yellow and black, and is a hitting machine. Throw in young pitchers like Ian Snell and Tom Gorzallany, and this is an easy team to root for. Currently sitting at .500, this week they will face The Dodgers and The Cubs, two very good NL teams. So they will need our support! Go Pirates!