Coghlan powers the Fish over the Nats; Grapefruit League: Florida Marlins vs. Washington Nationals

On an extremely hot day in Viera, Florida the Florida Marlins traveled from Jupiter to play the Washington Nationals in their former spring training home. The Marlins in the 3rd inning took the first lead of the game. National pitcher Ross Detwiler hit Chris Coghlan in the head with a pitch, safe to say this was payback from Ricky Nolasco hitting Nyjer Morgan (who was traded right before the game to the Milwaukee Brewers) and Danny Espinosa, and then on a double by Greg Dobbs with two outs, Coghlan made it home barely safe. The Nationals in the bottom of the 3rd; Ian Desmond with 1 out and no one on tripled to right field and Jayson Werth with an RBI sac tied the game up at 1. Nationals' Michael Morse hit a lead off solo home run in the 6th to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead. Next batter grounded out, then in the 3rd spot (of the inning) Espinosa singled and then stole 2nd and 3rd on Brian Sanches. A wild pitch by Sanches brought Espinosa home to extend the lead to 3-1. The 7th inning was a great one for the Marlins. A lead off single by Scott Cousins started it all. Brad Davis then also singled, and on a bunt attempt by Ozzie Martinez, Ryan Zimmerman made a fielding error allowing the bases to be loaded. The Marlins then put Jeff Dominguez to pinch hit for the pitcher Sanches and he hit an RBI single bringing in Cousins, 3-2 Nationals. Coghlan hit a beautiful line drive to right field which resulted in a 3 RBI triple which gave the Marlins the lead again at 5-3. There was still no outs in this inning when Doug Slaten walked Emilio Bonifacio, who then stole 2nd. With 1 out Wes Helms brought Coghlan home with a RBI sac fly to right field. Which then ended the rally at 6-3 Marlins. In the bottom of the 9th the Nationals scored a run but still fell 6-4 to the Marlins. Brian Sanches got the win for the Marlins, Brian Broderick got the loss for the Nationals, and Daniel Jennings got the save.

Starting line up

Nationals' starting pitcher, Ross Detwiler

Marlins' starting pitcher, Adalberto Mendez

Greg Dobbs at bat. (I just think this photos cool.)

Chris Coghlan clearly makes it safe and the ump agrees.

Rick Ankeil batting. (Also thought this was pretty cool.)

Jeff Dominguez scores uncontested.

Dan Jennings pitching and recieved the save.

Grapefruit League: Florida Marlins vs. Boston Red Sox (Picture Post)

On March 12th, 2011 at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers at 1:05 p.m., I watched my Marlins take on my Red Sox.

This is the starting line up for the game. (The hand is some dad explaining the line up to his kid.)

Adrian Gonzalez's first at bat during his Red Sox debut, which he winded up getting a single off Marlins' pitcher Josh Johnson. He only had one more at bat after which was an sac fly which scored Jacoby Ellsbury.

John Lackey recieved the winning decision after pitching for 4.1 innings allowing 6 hits, 1 run (earned), and struck out 3 Marlins, leaving with an ERA of 1.74.

The starting catcher for the Red Sox, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (such a long name), went 1-for-2; walked in the 1st, struck out swinging in the 3rd, and an RBI single in the 5th off of Marlins' pitcher, Ryan Webb.

Josh Johnson, the Marlins' starting pitcher, left the game with an ERA of 10.00. He pitched for 3.2 innings allowing 9 hits, 5 runs (all earned and 1 was a solo home run), walked 1 batter, and struck 2 batters. Also JJ did not get the pick off of Mike Cameron (#23) and Mike actually winded up stealing 2nd base after this picture.

My favorite MLB player, Kevin Youkilis, didn't do so great during my first Red Sox game. He went 0-for-3; flied out to the short stop in the 1st, grounded out to the pitcher in the 2nd, and flied out to the right fielder in the 4th.

Randy Williams came into relieve Lackey in the 5th inning with 1 out and pitched the entire 6th inning. Williams didn't allow any hits, runs, or walks. He did though strike out 3 batters.

Marlins' starting DH, John Baker, started the game off with an RBI single off Lackey in the 2nd, flied out to right field in the 4th, and flied out to left field in the 7th. John is the only Marlin to get an RBI in the game.

Vinny Rottino and Tim Torres almost collide on a routine infield pop fly.

Matt Fox pitched for the Red Sox in the 8th inning allowing 1 hit and 1 run while walking and striking out 1 batter.

Vinny Rottino in his only at bat, of the game in the 8th, flied out to right field and moved a runner to 3rd.

Osvaldo "Ozzie" Martinez, also, his first and only at bat of the game in the 8th inning made contact but by a fielding error by Red Sox 3rd baseman, Ryan Khoury, got to hold first and bring home Chris Lubanski.

Unpictured Notable Players

Marlins:

Logan Morrison went 1-for-3; struck out in the 1st, doubled in the 3rd, and flied out to left field in the 5th.

John Buck went 1-for-3; singled in the 2nd, flied out in the 3rd, and struck out swinging in the 6th.

Donnie "Bleeping" Murphy went 1-for-3; singled in the 2nd, lined out to 2nd base in the 4th, and struck out swinging in the 6th.

Matt Dominguez, who is fighting for a starting spot with the big league club, went 1-for-3.

Tom Koehler pitched for 2.2 innings allowing only 2 hits, walked a batter, and a strike out.

Red Sox:

Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-for-3; doubled in the 1st, 2 RBI double in the 2nd, and hit a solo home run in the 4th.

Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-3; RBI single in the 1st, singled in the 2nd, and singled in the 4th.

David Ortiz went 2-for-3; 2 doubles.

J.D. Drew went 0-for-3; grounded out in the 1st, lined out to the short stop in the 3rd, and grounded out in the 5th.

Marco Scutaro went 0-for-2; grounded out in the 2nd and flied out to right field in the 4th.

Random Photos

Dustin Pedrioa calling for the ball to avoid a possible collision with the right fielder.

Logan Morrison watching as the ball sailed in to center field in the 3rd inning, which he was able to get a double out of.

Josh Kroeger attempting to catch a ball drilled by David Ortiz that bounced off the wall.

John Baker and Donnie "Bleeping" Murphy signing autographs after they ran during the game.

Our usher singing "Sweet Caroline" even after it shut off and the game resumed he continued to sing another usher tried to get him to stop. It was great reminded me of a usher we have in Jacksonville.

Vinny Rottino falling while making the catch.

Grapefruit League: Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals (Picture Post)

Well I kept score in this game, but I guess I was too excited being back at a baseball game to do it accurately so good thing for online box scores!

Well the day started for me with a 2 hour drive to Viera, waiting 30 minutes with a full bladder to get into the stadium, and then 90 minutes by the Nationals dugout hoping to score a Bryce Harper or any other player autograph (nothing). Though while I was by the dugout I did get to see a glimse of Bryce! All was well I've had my share of unproductive days in the sun at a baseball field.

The day started out a bit gloomy with 60% chance of percepitation, but by game time it was sunny.

Ross Detwiler pitched spectacular even with given the lossing decision. He pitched 3 innings with only allowing 1 hit, 1 run (not earned), and walked only 1 batter. He struck out 5 players; Martin Prado looking in the 1st, David Ross swinging in the 2nd, Tommy Hanson swinging the 3rd, Martin Prado looking in the 3rd (2nd time), and Jordan Schafer swinging in the 3rd. The 3rd inning for Detwiler was 3 up 3 down, all down by strike outs.

The Nationals newly signed right fielder, Jayson Werth, making New York Yankee money. Werth in this at bat grounded out to the Braves starting pitcher, Tommy Hanson. Werth ended up 0-for-3 with a groundout in the 1st, struck out looking in the 4th, and another groundout in the 7th.

Newly signed Braves 2nd baseman, previously with the Marlins, Dan Uggla went 1-for-3 with a groundout in the 2nd, a single line drive to right field in the 4th, and struck out swinging in the 6th.

Jason Heyward, former hot shot prospect, headed to his sophmore season with the Atlanta Braves. Heyward was 1-for-1 in this game, walked his first time up in the 2nd inning, hit in the foot by a pitch in the 4th, and singled to center field in the 9th. Then manager Freddie Rodriguez (successor to Bobby Cox) substituted him with a pinch runner in Wilkin Ramirez.

The MLB's 2011 First-Year Player Draft's 1st overall pick by the Nationals, Bryce Harper, makes hard contact on his only at bat of the game, but the Braves left fielder, Martin Prado, made an amazing diving catch to make him the 3rd out of the 7th inning.

Luis Atilano pitched for an inning allowing 3 hits, 3 runs 2 of which earned, walked 1, and no strike outs. He finished his 1 inning of work with an ERA of 18.

Unpictured notable players and game notes:
Atlanta Braves-

The Braves as a team offensively went 9-for-35; 7 singles and 2 doubles, 10 strike outs, and left 13 runners on base. Defensively allowed 2 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 9.
Chipper Jones started the game at 3rd base played well defensively and offensively went 1-for-3 with groundout in the 1st, doubled to center field and scored in the 4th, and struck out looking in the 6th (after what looked to be a bad call by the home plate umpire when the count was 3-1). Every time Chipper Jones came up to bat the Braves fans showed him their love.

Tommy Hanson was the starting pitcher for the Braves, he pitched 3 innings allowing no hits, no runs, and only 1 hit. Though Hanson only struck out Danny Espinosa, he recieved the winning decision.

Cristhian Martinez came into pitch after Hanson's 3 innings and pitched for 2 innings. Martinez allowed 1 hit and struck out 5 (all looking); Ian Desmond looking in the 4th, Jayson Werth looking in the 4th (back-to-back), Wilson Ramos looking in the 5th, (Laynce Nix singled), Danny Espinosa looking in the 5th, and Michael Aubrey looking in the 5th.


Washington Nationals-

The Nationals as a whole offensively went 2-for-29; 2 singles, 9 strike outs, and 5 runners left on base.
Defensively allowed 9 hits, 5 runs which 3 were earned, walked 2, and struck out 10.

The Braves won this game 5-0 at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida on March 6th, 2011. The Braves advantaced to 7-2 while the Nationals went to 4-3.

After the game I headed back to the Washington Nationals dugout where I got a baseball signed and a picture with Bryce Harper!

Phoneix International Speedway?; Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway

The first 100 laps of this race was very Daytona/Talladega like.

First 2 cautions were Phoenix like debri on lap 20 and Robby Gordon, #7 Dodge Speed Energy / Bashas', spun, he thought he was helped, on lap 34 which would count as the competition yellow NASCAR was going to have at lap 40 due to overnight rain.

Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford Focus, spun and the rear of his car hit the wall.

Kyle Busch, #18 Combos Toyota Camry, got into Carl Edwards, #99 Subway Ford Focus, on lap 59 which also caused damage to Jeff Gordon, #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet (race winner), Kevin Harvick, #29 Jimmie John's Gourmet Sandwiches Chevrolet, and Mark Martin, #5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. Carl wasn't sure if Kyle got loose or if he intentionally hit him, Kyle apoligized for the incident saying he got loose. Only Carl was severely damaged, winded up finishing 28th 48 laps down.

On lap 67 would be considered 'the big one' at Daytona International Speedway or at Talladega Superspeedway. The wreck was caused by Matt Kenseth, #17 Crown Royal Ford Focus, getting into Brian Vickers, #83 Red Bull Racing Chevrolet. Vickers claimed Kenseth was racing him to hard and slammed into his door and Kenseth claimed Vikers gave him no room. This collected 13 cars; Clint Bowyer #33 Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, Jeff Burton #31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, Jamie McMurray #1 Bass Pro Shops/Trackers Chevrolet, David Reutimann #00 Best Western Toyota Camry, Casey Mears #13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Travis Kvapil #38 Long John Silver's Ford Focus, David Gilliand #34 Taco Bell Ford Focus, Bobby Labonte #47 Clorox Toyota Camry, Regan Smith #78 Furniture Row Companies Chevrolet, Andy Lally #71 Super Eco-Fuel Saver Chevrolet, and Robby Gordon (2nd incident). This wreck obvivously cause a red flag situation which lasted for 14 minutes and 4 seconds .

There wouldn't be another stop in action until David Ragan's, #6 UPS I Love Logistics Ford Focus, tire went down and slammed him hard into the wall on lap 127.

In the begining of the race Joey Logano's #20 Home Depot Toyota Camry engine was having issues which was that he lost a cyclinder in the engine, but on lap 218 his engine give up and blew which led to the second to last caution of the race.

The last caution was on lap 285 Andy Lally (was involved in the 'big one') for getting into the wall.


Jeff Gordon winded up passing Kyle Busch for the victory in Phoenix, after a 66-race winless streak.

Links:
Gordon ends 66-race winless drought at Phoenix- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/dZxmVb
Lap-by-Lap- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/eroPIC
Results- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/er6Jed
Early crashes at Phoenix leave many frustrated- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/h8odZ8
Jeff Gordon wins at Phoenix- ESPN.com: http://es.pn/gDAYNe

And the Cup drivers dominate again in the Nationwide series; Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway

Well the only story line of this race was that Kyle Busch, #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, lead all 200 laps and won the race. There were only 3 cautions for: debri, Brad Keslowski, #22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger, tire blew and ran him into the wall, and Daytona 500 winner's, Trevor Bayne's, #16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang, tire also blew and he slammed into the wall. Kyle Busch dominated the whole race. The only time he was challenged was after the caution, caused by Trevor Bayne on lap 164, Carl Edwards was able to stick with Kyle for 15-20 laps but wasn't able to lead a lap.

Even with the NASCAR's new rules on point system, this race was dominated by Cup talent drivers. The top 5 had 4 drivers that score points in the Sprint Cup series; Kyle Busch (1), Carl Edwards #60 Ford Drive One Ford Mustang (2), Kevin Harvick #33 Rheem/Menards Chevrolet (3), and Ryan Newman #30 Dollar General Chevrolet (4). Someone twitted Joe Gibbs Racing's twitter account saying “@DWallaceJr6: @JoeGibbsRacing Kyle Busch is really showing what the nationwide program is all about!” Now I don't understand this one bit. Kyle is a favorite in the top series and he's by no means new to NASCAR while the Nationwide series is meant for up and coming drivers to show their talents on a national stage and try to win a ride in the Cup series. With drivers like Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick racing pretty much every race and not allowing young drivers, like Colin Braun who is talented and has no ride in the nationwide series, to compete in a series meant for them is beyond me. They have already made their way through the ranks and they should allow others to do so too. People say it's good for the young drivers to compete with those drivers for experience and then it's makes them feel better when they win. I don't agree with this at all. I think there should be stricter rules, like you can only race in the nationwide or truck series your first 3 seasons in the Cup series and then no more. Now begins the talk of another Kyle Busch trifecta in Phoenix, he won the Friday night truck race as well.

Links:

Busch goes wire to wire for victory at Phoenix- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/hrcjM0

Lap-by-Lap- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/dSN1gM

Results- NASCAR.com: http://bit.ly/dXAV0n

Dallas a good host of the Super Bowl?

My schools' news had a brief segment on Super Bowl XLV, where they stated 3 facts that not everyone knew about the Super Bowl, which I did know.

1. Ice fell off Cowboys Stadium and hit 6 people.

2. Christina Aguilera messed up the Anthem.

3. Temporary seats weren't installed in time leaving fans without seats and were refunded 3 times the amount.

Then they went on to say that Dallas dropped the ball hosting the Super Bowl...First off how was Dallas suppose to know they'd have cold, snow, and ice in February. Secondly, Christina Aguilera's mess up was all on her. The temporary seating was their fault though and partly NFL (will explain later). So I don't think Dallas dropped the ball there were some bad coincidences but overall seemed like everyone that had seats had a good time, the game was great and Cowboys Stadium is a miraculous stadium. The NFL even stated that Dallas and Cowboys Stadium did an awesome job and they have a strong chance of rehosting the Super Bowl in years to come.

Dallas had unusally wintery weather days leading up to the Super Bowl that led to Dallas airports being shut down and roads therefore alot of inconveniences to fans trying to get in town for the 'big game'. On Friday, February 4, ice and snow slid off of the roof of Cowboys Stadium and fell onto 6 workers that were preparing the stadium for the game. 4 workers injuries were minor and the other 2 workers were more severely injured, 1 was hit in the shoulder and the other in the head. 1 of the workers is in critical condition and isn't expected to make it. (So keep his family in your thoughts.)

Gamblers were betting on all sorts of things during the Super Bowl, such as how long Christina Aguilera would take to sing the National Anthem and how long she'd hold the last note. (The over/under was 1 min 54 seconds and she took 1 min 53 seconds and 7 miliseconds.) The story line though of Christina Aguilera's performance was her messing up the National Anthem. She repeated the line "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming." instead of singing "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming."

1,250 fans entered Cowboys Stadium excited to see Super Bowl XLV to find out that the temporary seats that they paid to sit in for the game had not been installed or were deemed unsafe to sit in. 850 fans were relocated to similar or better seats and the 400 fans that weren't able to be relocated were given 3 times the cost of their ticket ($2,400) and tickets to next seasons Super Bowl in Indianapolis. "
The NFL tried to placate those 400 fans, taking them inside the stadium to watch the game on monitors in the North Field Club behind the Pittsburgh bench. They also had the option of viewing the game from standing-room platforms in each corner of the stadium. Those fans will still get the triple refund.
The fans "watched game in club w/free food, soft drinks + merchandise," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tweeted. "The other 850 were re-located to seats in equal or better locations. NFL + Cowboys staff and families gave up seats." -ESPN (Link #3). The NFL knew about the temporary seats possibly causing a stir a week before the game and didn't give any statement to those fans with temporary seating tickets about the chance of not being allowed to sit in their seats. The NFL stands by their decision of not alerting the fans and get them riled up if they didn't have to.

Links:
Ice falls off Super Bowl stadium, injures workers- MSNBC.com: http://on.msnbc.com/h4l1eR
Christina Aguilera flubs Super Bowl national anthem- FOXSports.com: http://bit.ly/fUVoAy
Super Bowl XLV: 400 fans given boot from Super Bowl seats- ESPN.com: http://es.pn/gEFeBW (Link #3)
NFL knew last week temporary Super Bowl seats at Cowboys Stadium might be unusable- DallasNews.com: http://bit.ly/fXGc7z

Punches, Blood, and a Goose Egg; Penguins vs. Capitals

This was the first time the Capitals and the Penguins played each other since the Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania where the Capitals beat the Penguins 3 to 1. The Penguins had their star players Steven Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in this loss on January 1st.

The rematch was hosted at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The arena was 100% full to see their Capitals take on the Penguins. The Capitals scored first at the end of the 1st period, Brooks Laich backhanded shot into the Penguins' goal, guarded by Marc-Andre Fleury, with assistance from John Erskine and Mattieu Perreault (1-0 Caps). At the very end of the 1st period, Capitals' Mike Green was hit on the right side of his face by a puck shot by Brooks Orpik, not intentionally, there was blood getting on to the ice from his face. In the 2nd period the Capitals' were setting up for a goal when Penguins' Alex Goligoskip was battling with Capitals' Matt Hendricks and pushed him into the Penguins' goal tender while Mike Knuble had placed a puck into the Penguins' goal. The refrees called goal tender interference, which was a right call, but also called a penalty on Hendricks, which was not a right call the ref was definitely not fully paying attention. During the last seconds of the Penguins' power play Marcus Johansson, Capitals' rookie center, scored a shorthanded goal assisted by Jeff Schultz (2-0 Caps). Around 8 minutes into the 3rd period after a face off Penguins' Tim Wallace and Capitals' David Steckel, who was the one that hit Crosby that gave him his concussion unintentionally as well, got into it and both was penalized 5 minutes for fighting. 16 minutes in Matt Cooke of the Penguins tripped the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin which Ovechkin and his teammate Nicklas Backstrom didn't care for and double teamed Cooke while other teammates from both teams started to pile up until the refs broke it up seconds later. Cooke got the penalty for tripping and the Capitals weren't able to capitalize on the power play. The Penguins' left their goal empty, with around 2 minutes to go, to try to over power the Capitals and score a goal to make it a closer game but Hendricks was able to take the puck to the other end of the ice and passed it to Mike Knuble who made the empty net goal, Hendricks got the assist (3-0 Caps). The Capitals shutout the Crosby and Malkin-less Penguins.

There were 0 penalties in the 1st period, 4 in the 2nd period (3 by Penguins and 1 by the Capitals, bad call), 4 in the 3rd (2 by Penguins and 2 by Capitals; both were for fighting and tripping). Capitals had 1 goal in all 3 periods. Michal Neuvirth's 2nd shut out of the season.

First hockey post so sorry if it sucks...also new to hockey.

Links:
Recap- NHL.com: http://bit.ly/hc7XTd
Boxscore- ESPN.com: http://es.pn/e2JsrU