Buzzer Beaters

After 31 games in the Major League Baseball Season, we have our first no hitter. Minnesota Twins southpaw Fransisco Liriano guided his team to a 1-0 win against the Chicago White Sox earlier this evening. Liriano was far from brilliant; throwing 123 pitches, giving up 6 walks and only striking out 2 batters. But there was a big 0 in the hit column. Liriano has become the 7th pitcher in Twins history to throw a no hitter and the 141st pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat. This win boosts Liriano's record to 2 wins and 4 losses. If anything the no hitter is a sign Liriano may be on the right track.


On the other hand, the Boston Celtics are far from the right track. After this writer picked them to win in 7, the fighting Shamrocks lost again to the Miami Heat 102-91. Ray Allen was invisible with an anemic 7 points for the game. Kevin Garnett had 16 points on 8-20 shooting and Paul Pierce had 13 points on 5-11. And the Big two and a half combined for 80 of Miami's 102 points (James 35, Wade 28, Bosh 17). The Celtics head home down 0-2 in a must win situation. Boston played uninspired, unmotivated basketball, in game 2; each star player was waiting for somebody else to get it going. That doesn't work in the NBA. Especially against a team as talented as the Heat.

In further NBA news the results are in and Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is your new league MVP. And he earned it. The bulls won a league best 62 games this season behind Rose and coach of the year Tom Thibodeau. And when Chicago also ousted the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs, Rose looked unguardable. Despite the regular season success, Rose tweaked his ankle in the closing seconds of the Bulls game 1 loss to the Atlanta Hawks last night. Rose should play in game 2, but that is the same ankle he hurt beating the Pacers pretty much by himself. Even with a healthy Rose, I still have the Hawks in 6.

Despite the Celtic's woes, Boston might not have to wait until fall to sniff a championship. The Boston Bruins took a 2-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers by winning both games in the city of brotherly love. The B's  looked very impressive in their 7-3 win in game 1, and pulled out a 3-2 overtime thriller on a David Krejci goal. However, there is one troubling statistic, the Bruins remain 0 for the playoffs on the powerplay. Perhaps the powerplay woes can be resolved with a little home cooking. And even despite the powerplay woes, Boston and the San Jose Sharks have looked like the best teams left standing. Will it be Sharks- Bruins for the battle to hoist lord Stanley's Cup? Only time will tell.

On a final note, just one more example of how NFL players need to be careful of what they say. Pittsburgh Steelers Running back Rashard Mendenhall had some scathing comments regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden. Mendenhall said on his twitter "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never heard speak, We've only heard one side..." Now in most cases, Mendenhall raises a valid point. However, Osama bin Laden is no ordinary case. I choose to celebrate the death of what Bin Laden stood for: Pure hatred for America and a threat to our country's safety. Instead of celebrating the death of another human being. This is not the first time Mendenhall said something scathing on Twitter. When Vikings running back Adrian Peterson compared the modern day NFL to slavery, Mendenhall supported Peterson saying "Anyone with knowledge of the slave trade and the NFL could say that these two parallel each other" Rashad, I'll tell you the same thing I told Peterson. Last time I checked, slaves did not get paid 12.55 million dollars over the course of 5 years with at least 7 million GUARANTEED. It is a toss up in regards to which one was dumber to say, so I'll call it a push and add Mendenhall to the list of sports figures I don't like.