It’s that special time of year again. The bats are lined up in the dug-outs, the jerseys are being dusted off, the baseballs are brought out of their boxes, and it’s time to finally play some ball! Last night marked the first game of the 2011 Spring Training season for Major League Baseball (MLB) with the San Francisco Giants taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants kicked us off in the same winning fashion as they closed out last year. Buster Posey, the recently crowned NL Rookie of the Year, went 2 for 3 knocking in a couple of runs for San Fran. Justin Upton came out of the scuffle with a 2 for 3 night of his own while putting one on the board for the D-Backs. Both Tim Lincecum and Joe Saunders looked shaky for the Giants and Diamondbacks respectively, both were hit for a few runs. If the results of Spring Training are any indication of where these players will finish over previous years, they’ll be just fine. A larger slate of games is up today including the Tigers and Blue Jays annual start against each other as well as the Yankees facing up against a fully re-tooled Phillies team.
In the NBA, the Miami Heat continues to assert their dominance over lesser teams by beating the Washington Wizards 121-113 in South Beach. Dwayne Wade smashed home 41 points individually to lead his team to the W. The Los Angeles Lakers proved to be just as much in the running by dropping their in-city rivals, the Clippers, last night 108-95. Unfortunately for the New York Knicks recently acquired offensive help Carmelo Anthony tweaked his elbow last night forcing him to play the final quarter of their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a numb right arm. Eventually Anthony fouled out of his second game with the Knicks (both of which were losses) at a time when New York needs wins now. Chauncy Billups provided some much needed offence in the fourth with Amare Stoudemire but it wasn’t enough to rally the Knicks to victory. After missing out on the Lebron lottery this past summer, New York is going to have to start changing to winning ways. There’s definitely going to be a teething period given the amount of personality now on this team but the nucleus should start to gel by the end of this season.
The race for a post-season spot in the NHL has begun to seriously heat up and this coming week’s trade deadline will be sure to fuel that fire. The New Jersey Devils have seen their hot streak doused by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Devils have moved up to 56 points in the Eastern Conference and are knocking on the door step for a Number 8 seed only 11 points away. The recently fired up Toronto Maple Leafs are also inching closer and closer to that Number 8 seed as they have been racking up wins lately. With a lot of roster shuffling going on by General Manager Brian Burke it remains to be seen whether he has yet to put a team together to challenge for a spot in the post-season. With veteran blue liner Tomas Kaberle out of the mix and the Kris Versteeg experiment rolling along to Broad Street, I personally don’t think Toronto’s their yet. It takes a certain type of player to succeed in the environment Burke and Head Coach Ron Wilson have put together and they are just not there yet. With so many young players becoming the faces on this team it’s going to be a while before they have the right mix of experience to make that leap. They need a more natural leader than Dion Phaneuf leading the Blue and White onto the ice too.
On this side of the Atlantic there’s a solid amount of Premier League action happening including Manchester United looking to extend their lead at the top of the table against Wigan Athletic. With the shear amount of fixtures occurring over the next two weeks it’s going to take a lot of talent by the managers of these big teams to keep sides winning. This applies the most to Arsenal who have their first opportunity to win a major trophy this Sunday in the Carling Cup final against Birmingham City. As the first Wembley final of the year it obviously has people excited (especially in London where Arsenal is based). The Gunners should have no problem racking up a victory, even with Cesc Fabregas ruled out because of a minor hamstring tear. The form of Robin Van Persie should be enough to end Arsenal’s trophy drought and give them the first of their potential four competition trophies this year.
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