Midday Recap 6/28: Mets, NBA, Dodgers & More

Marlon Byrd's two-run homer lifts the Mets to a Rocky Mountain Victory.  Aaron Hernadez awaits trial, denied bail.  The Los Angeles Dodgers are winners of 6 straight.  And Anthony Bennett is your NBA #1 Draft Pick.

Celtics Life Photo

But the big story today is the trade that went down while the GM's were selecting new talent.  Rumors were speculating before the draft began, but became publicized towards the end of the evening, as the Brooklyn Nets acquire the remaining two pieces of Boston's original big three.

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will call the Barclays Center their new home come November in a deal that is still being ironed out, and won't be official until July 10th.  This comes just days after it was announced Doc Rivers would be taking his coaching talents to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Meanwhile the NBA Draft had several twists and turns, no bigger than Nerlens Noel falling to the 6th pick, originally selected by the New Orleans Pelicans before trading his contract off to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for all-star Jrue Holiday.

Anthony Bennett was the 1st overall pick, selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Bennett is the first Canadian player to be selected 1st overall, having spent a year at UNLV.

Over in Colorado, the Mets and Rockies were making a game that was snowed-out in April.  Playing in 70 degree warmer weather, the Rockies jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to Todd Helton's sac-fly and then Wilin Rosario, who was given the gift of a Josh Satin throwing error.

The Mets would get one back in the 5th inning when Zack Lutz scored when Jeremy Hefner grounded into a fielder's choice.

David Zalubowski | Associated Press

Then in the 8th inning, Daniel Murphy singled and then Marlon Byrd homered to left field to drive in two runs to give the Mets the lead.  Scott Rice and Bobby Parnell were able to keep the Rockies off the board in the 8th and 9th innings for the win.

The Mets have won 7 of 11 during this roadtrip, and return to Citi Field to begin a three game series against the Washington Nationals.  Matt Harvey is due up on the mound today, with Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler to follow.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers have won 6 in a row to put themselves back in the race for the NL West.  At the start of their June 22nd game against the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers were 9 1/2 games back.  Following yesterday's 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, they are now within 6 of the division-leading Arizona Cardinals.

Alex Gallardo | Associated Press

Much of their comeback can be attributed to rookie sensation Yasiel Puig.  Since being called up to the majors, Puig has hit .427 in 23 games, including 7 homers.  He has accounted for 16 runs coming home, including two of them yesterday when he took a two-out two-strike pitch to left field for a single to put the Dodgers in the lead.

Recap: Marc-un

Shaun Marcum is finally off the winless snide.

He didn't need his best.  With the aid of some sound defense and the bat of Eric Young, the Mets earned a series split against the Chicago White Sox with their 3-0 win at US Cellular Field.

Marcum allowed only 4 hits during the span of 8 innings, allowing 2 walks and striking out 2.

He also had some help on the base paths, as Tuesday's hero Alexi Ramirez got greedy and tried to steal his 2nd stolen base of the game in the 6th inning, rubbing out their lone base runner that inning.  Ramirez was the only batter for the Chicago White Sox to get multiple hits off Marcum, with singles in both the 4th and 6th innings.

The win was Marcum's first of the season in 10 starts, and was the first since October 1st last year as he pitched the Milwaukee Brewers to victory over the San Diego Padres.

Next, the Mets make up a snowed out game from April with a single game in Colorado.

Midday Recap: Arrest Made, Bryz is Gone, Rough Wheels and A-Rod Tension.

The Philadelphia Flyers terminate the services of Ilya Bryzgalov.  Zack Wheeler tries his off-speed stuff and gets rocked for four in Chicago.  And an A-Rod tweet could be fueling more discomfort between the all-star 3rd baseman and the team he plays for.

George Rizer for the Boston Globe

But the big story this morning is the arrest of New England Patriots Aaron Hernandez.  It is unknown to what charges are filed against Hernandez at this time, but the tight end was seen being hauled away in a police car in cuffs at 9AM this morning in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

He is being arraigned at the North Attleboro police station, and will be appearing at the Attleboro District Court, where the charges filed will be disclosed to Hernandez and the media in the week-long investigation of a murder of a Boston semi-pro football player.

In response to the arrest, the New England Patriots announce they are releasing Hernandez.

Yahoo!

TAKE ME TO THE RIVERS
The Los Angeles Clippers will formally announced the hiring of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers today.  The former Celtics coach helped lead the team to a NBA Championship in 2008 and will look towards the continued growth of Clippers basketball.

The Clippers finished 4th in the Western Conference last year after several years of obscurity.  They did not advance past the first round, losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in 6 games.

In exchange of the contract buyout, the Clippers will provide the Boston Celtics with a 1st Round draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.  No replacement for Rivers has been named for the Boston Celtics.

BRYZ-GONE-LOV

Uncredited Photo | Wikipedia

The Philadelphia Flyers are buying out the contract of Ilya Bryzgalov.  The Russian Goaltender will earn $1.65 million dollars per year for the next 14 years as part of the buyout that shortens his nine year contract with the Flyers by seven years.

Bryzgalov played 40 out of the 48 games for the Flyers this year, allowing a GAA of 2.79 in that span.  Bryzgalov was known for quirky antics during media conferences and was a part of the goalie conglomeration in Philadelphia that brought about a goalie conundrum locally with the Adirondack Phantoms.

The Flyers have not outlined their goalie future, though rumors are circling about the possible attempt to go after Ray Emery of the Chicago Blackhawks, who will become a Free Agent on July 5th.

WHEELS FALL OFF

Charles Rex Arbogas | AP

Zack Wheeler can thank the Chicago White Sox infield that he doesn't have a "1" in his loss column after yesterday's Mets 5-4 loss.  Daniel Murphy popped up just feet from home plate for what should have been the final out, except some miscommunication with one sliding 2nd baseman allowed the ball to drop onto the ground untouched, allowing David Wright to score the tying run that got Wheeler off the hook for the loss.

However, the good fortunes for the Mets ran out in the bottom of the 9th when LaTroy Hawkins was unable to field a grounder, allowing the Chicago White Sox to set up Alexi Ramirez game-winning single down the left field line.

Zack Wheeler admittedly told media that he felt his performance was "bad".  He allowed 4 hits, 4 runs, all earned, in his 5 1/3rd innings of work.  He walked 3 and only got one batter to strike out.  Chris Sale struck out 13 in his 8 innings of work, allowing three runs, two of them coming in the 1st inning.  His 13 punch-outs are a season high for Sale, getting 12 against the Los Angeles Angels back on May 17th.

HOT ROD

Uncredited | Wikipedia

Alex Rodriguez is eager to get back on the diamond.  So eager, he used his 9th tweet on Twitter to announce his personal doctor clearing him for play.  So you'd think the Yankees would be excited to get Rodriguez closer to being able to play, fighting to stay in the chase for the AL East with the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles.

Apparently not.

In what may be more bad blood between the star 3rd Baseman and the Yankee brass, Brian Cashman fired back and told ESPN reporters that he would prefer that A-Rod would "shut the ---- up" and would further note that if when the Yankees want to make an announcement, they will do so themselves.

Meanwhile on the field, the Yankees were the beneficiary of a walk-off, as Ichiro Suzuki propelled the Yankees to a 4-3 victory with his two-out home run off Tanner Scheppers.


COACH SWAP
The Vancouver Canucks introduced John Tortorella to the media on Tuesday.  The former New York Rangers head coach will take over for the Canucks, who were swept by the San Jose Sharks in the first round.

This comes 4 days after Alain Vigneault was announced as the new Rangers head coach.  Vigneault was released by the Canucks following that 1st round sweep.

Bolla! Extra-Attacker Aides Blackhawk Comeback

No Mets, no Yankees nor Red Sox.  Only four games in the Majors and one hockey game.

Makes for a brief recap, right?  Not this time.

Reuters via Yahoo! Sports

BOLLA!
At 10:30pm, you had to feel good as a Boston Bruins fan.  Entering the late realm of the 3rd Period, the Bruins possessed a 2-1 lead.

It was looking like a Wednesday night decisive Game 7 at the United Center in Chicago was in your grasp.

All you needed to do was to survive the extra-skater attack of the Blackhawks and you'd get to salute the crowd happily and send the Stanley Cup packing to the Midwest.

The Blackhawks had other ideas.

Having pulled Corey Crawford for the extra attacker, the Blackhawks hit gold when Bryan Bickell converted his 13th playoff goal of his career to tie the game with 1:16 left.  Rather than play for what would be the 4th overtime of the series, the Blackhawks with little to lose went all-in, as Dave Bolland was able to direct in the puck past Tuukka Rask to take the lead.

Now behind and needing a goal to stay alive in the series, the Boston Bruins were never able to start a well-orchestrated attack as the Blackhawks become the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions, winning the game 3-2 and the series 4 games to 2.

It's the 5th time the Chicago Blackhawks hoisted the Cup, the first since 2010.  Patrick Cane, who was also on that 2010 squad, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, the award that is presented to the playoff MVP.

ELEVEN
11 players who were on the 2010 roster will see their names engraved for the Chicago Blackhawks again in 2013.  Two of the 11 were scratched when the Blackhawks won it against Pittsburgh in 2010, but saw playing time last night.  That would be goaltender Corey Crawford and game-tying goal-scorer Bryan Bickell.

One player has the distinction of being on both the 2010 and 2013 rosters, but was scratched for both when the team clinched the cup.  That would be defensemen Shawn Lalonde.

Players who were on the roster for both the 2010 and 2013 clinching games

2 - Duncan Keith (D)

4 - Niklas Hjalmarsson (D)

7 - Brent Seabrook (D)
10 - Patrick Sharp (RW)

19 - Jonathan Toews (C)

29 - Bryan Bickell (LW)°

36 - Dave Bolland (C)

42 - Shawn Lalonde (D)²

50 - Corey Crawford (G)°

81 - Marian Hossa (RW)

88 - Patrick Cane (RW)

° - Was scratched for 2010 Cup Clincher, Played last night
² - Was scratched for both 2010 and 2013 Cup Clinchers.

GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END - MLB RECAP
The Toronto Blue Jays lose for the first time in 12 games as Esmil Rogers got hammered for three back-to-back-to-back home runs in his six innings of work, as the Tampa Bay Rays take the start of a three-game AL East showdown 4-1.

Jonathan Papelbon blew his 4th save in a row as the San Diego Padres came back with three runs in the bottom of the 9th, then walked off in the 10th inning on Kyle Blanks single with the bases loaded.  Cliff Lee was left in to start the 9th, but was unable to generate an out as the first two Padres were able to reach base.  Blanks scored the tying run on a passed ball.

In an NL West battle, the Los Angeles Dodgers drew first blood as a pitchers duel for 7 innings turned into a Dodgers 3-1 win after Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez both batted in runs in the 8th inning.

And the Cleveland Indians scored three in the 6th and 2 in the 8th as they beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2.

Mother Nature washes Matt Harvey away

Matt Harvey was looking good.  Both on the mound and in the batter's box.

Up until Mother Nature came and washed Matt Harvey away from the game on Sunday.  After pitching 6 innings of two-hit ball, it was determined by Terry Collins and the Mets brass that Harvey would not return following a twenty minute rain delay to start the 7th.

The damage was already done.  Up 7-0 at that time and well in line to earn his 7th win of the season, they felt it was best to sit Harvey and get him prepped for his next scheduled start, which is Friday against the Washington Nationals in New York.

The bullpen preserved the shutout as the Mets win the rubber game against the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-0.  LaTroy Hawkins and Brandon Lyon pitched the remaining three innings, holding the Phillies to two total hits during the final frames.

Matt Harvey's bat in the 5th inning helped open the game for the Mets, as his double brought home Juan Lagares, who benefited from a Ben Revere fielding error that put him at third base.  Harvey would be led home by Eric Young as the Mets plated three in the 5th.

On the mound, Harvey pitched six innings, allowing only two hits.  His shutout helped lower his ERA to 2.05, polishing his candidacy to start in the All-Star Game coming up next month at Citi Field.

His pitching performance was supported by the bat of David Wright, who went 4-for-5, all being for extra bases.  Eric Young and Marlon Byrd also had multi-hit games for the Mets.

Weekend Notes: Lucas Duda is on the 15-day Disabled List, retroactive to June 22nd, as he is out with a left intercoastal strain.  His departure brought speculation that Ike Davis would be returning from the Las Vegas 51s, however the Mets opted to see Davis spend more time tweaking his swing. Instead, the Mets went with Josh Satin at 1st Base the last two games, a position he played at for eight games back in 2011.  In 10 Major League starts at 1st Base, he has never been charged with an error.

On Friday, Jeremy Hefner won his 2nd game of the season as the Mets came back from a 3-0 deficit to win, thanks to some help from Eric Young.  His 2-RBI single tied the game in the 5th inning, and then Juan Lagares brought Duda home in the 6th for the go-ahead run.

Saturday saw the Mets bounce back from a 7-1 hole after Dillon Gee saw three of his pitches go beyond the wall, two of them to Ryan Howard, who has always had Gee's number.  The other homer Gee surrendered was to Michael Young, who with Ryan Howard combined for back-to-back solos in the 5th inning.  The 7th and 9th innings were huge for the Mets as they scored 4 in the 7th and 2 in the 9th to tie the game before Kevin Frandsen took the 2nd pitch he saw deep for the Philly walk-off.

The 9th inning comeback brought the 3rd straight blown save for Jonathan Papelbon, who remembers a blown save effort against the Mets back in July last year when David Wright walked off with a single in the bottom 9th at Citi Field.

Young Choice: Eric Young has enjoyed his time with the Mets already.  Since being traded from the Colorado Rockies in exchange of Collin McHugh, the switch-hitter from New Brunswick, New Jersey has hit .364.  He has batted in 5 runs, one fewer than the 6 he had through 50+ games with the Colorado Rockies.  Meanwhile, Collin McHugh was immediately optioned to Double-A, and lost in his first start with his new team, the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League.  In that game, McHugh allowed two runs on five hits in 6 innings pitched.

Wheeler's on Deck: The Mets travel to the midwest for a pair of games against the Chicago White Sox.  The two teams split the pair played at Citi Field in May, one which included a Matt Harvey gem where the Mets finally tacked on the game's first run in the 10th inning. The White Sox won't have to face Harvey in this pair, but will find themselves facing Zack Wheeler on Tuesday night.  Wheeler kept the Braves scoreless in the nightcap of a day-night doubleheader, settling down to strike out 7 in his six innings of work.

North Country Sports Radio Recaps: May 7 (Mets won 1-0) | May 8 (White Sox won 6-3)

Radio Coverage: 7:30PM Tuesday, 1230 FOX Sports Radio

Hot Miami Heat fuel their way to Back-to-Back titles

The Miami Heat made the shots they needed to.  The Spurs didn't.

That's why the city of Miami is celebrating their second straight title after their Game 7 win over the San Antonio Spurs 95-88.

LeBron James had 37 of those 95 points, shooting 12/23 from the field, going 5/10 from downtown and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line.  Dwayne Wade offered 23 points and Shane Battier brought in 18 points off the bench.

LeBron was named the MVP for the second straight year, as for the series, James scored 25.2 points per game, and gathered in 10.8 rebounds a game.

Date	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts
6/20	12	23	52	5	10	50	8	8	100	12	4	2	2	0	2	37
6/18	11	26	42	1	5	20	9	12	75	10	11	6	3	1	3	32
6/16	8	22	36	2	4	50	7	9	78	6	8	3	4	0	1	25
6/13	15	25	60	1	2	50	2	4	50	11	4	1	2	2	2	33
6/11	7	21	33	1	5	20	0	0	N/A	11	5	2	2	0	0	15
6/9	7	17	41	1	3	33	2	2	100	8	7	2	3	3	2	17
6/6	7	16	44	1	5	20	3	4	75	18	10	2	0	0	0	18
	67	150		12	34		31	39		76	49	18	16	6	10	177
	FG			3P			FT			10.86	7.00	2.57	2.29	0.86	1.43	25.29

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 24 points as the Spurs made a contest throughout, but towards the end of the game, found it hard to find the bottom of the basket.

And now the debate can continue regarding LeBron's legacy, the Miami Heat and their dynasty standing, lasting up until the teams hit the courts again towards the end of October.

Jonathan Niese leaves early, causing concern for Mets fans

A scary moment for Mets fans last night that could temporarily resolve their rotation issue, but not the way they were hoping for.

Jonathan Niese departed after 3 1/3rd innings after shoulder discomfort caused him to exit early with the Braves leading 3-2.  The bullpen responded with 5 2/3rd innings of shutout ball as the Mets came back with a run in the 5th and a run in the 7th as the Mets take the series with the 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

LaTroy Hawkins earned the credit for the win as he was the pitcher on record when Josh Satin doubled in Omar Quintanilla in the 7th inning.

David Wright homered twice, once in the 1st inning and again in the 4th inning, to help the Mets cause.

The three-to-two series win marked the first time this year that the Atlanta Braves have lost a series at Turner Field, and also marked the first time the Mets have won a series against the Braves down in Georgia since 2011.

Niese is heading back for New York, where he will get examined today to see what exactly is ailing him.  He, and the rest of the Mets, are hoping that it's tendinitis, and that he will only be gone a limited time.

His departure will settle what was going to be a rotation issue, with the Mets having to demote a pitcher to the bullpen with the call-up of Zack Wheeler.

LOOK AHEAD
It's been a tough season for Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels.  A 2-10 record isn't what he envisioned in the 8th year of his Major League career.  But he does, as one of those wins came against the Mets back on April 28th.

But it was a game where the Mets should have made Hamels pay.

Hamels yielded 6 free passes to the Mets, none of which came back to home plate in the Mets 5-1 loss to the Phillies.  Instead, the Mets were only able to scatter two hits on Hamels, both coming in the 1st inning.

Jeremy Hefner has allowed only one earned run in each of his last three starts, the latest coming in an effort where Kirk Nieuwenhuis walked off with a three-run shot in the bottom 9th to beat the Chicago Cubs.  Three runs were scored against Hefner in that effort, but only one was earned as two runs were scored in the 5th inning on a David Wright error.

In those three starts, he has dealt 14 strikeouts and 3 walks in 18 innings of work.  He has allowed 18 hits in that span.

First pitch from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia is scheduled for 7:05PM.

Mets Coverage on 1230 FOX Sports Radio kicks off at 6:25PM.

Mets Recap: Come on Marcum!

When Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler are on the mound, we should be excited.

When Shaun Marcum takes the mound, we should run in fear.

AP via Newsday

The Mets right hander is now 0-9 after a wild pitch and a line-drive double to center undid what the Mets did in the Top half of the 5th inning, evening the score after Marcum allowed a three-run homer from Chris Johnson the inning prior. 

Marcum now has lost nine of his eleven appearances this year, and possesses the worst ERA of any starting pitcher on the Mets squad, which could make him a prime candidate for demotion to bullpen duties when the Mets must make a deletion to their current six-man rotation.

Let's take a hard look at Shaun Marcum's stats:

Date	Vs.	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	IP	H	R	ER	HR	HB	BB	IBB	SO	FINAL Score	E
APR 27	PHI	0	1	6.75	1	1	0	4.0	5	3	3	0	0	2	0	3	4-9	1
APR 29	@MIA	0	1	7.94	1	0	0	1.2	4	2	2	0	0	1	0	1	3-4 (15)	0
MAY 03	@ATL	0	0	7.20	1	1	0	4.1	6	3	3	0	0	3	0	4	7-5 (10)	0
MAY 10	PIT	0	1	8.59	1	1	0	4.2	9	6	6	1	2	0	0	2	3-7	1
MAY 15	@STL	0	1	6.75	1	1	0	6.2	5	3	2	0	0	1	0	3	2-4	2
MAY 20	CIN	0	1	6.59	1	1	0	6.0	6	4	4	1	0	1	0	7	3-4	1
MAY 26	ATL	0	0	5.77	1	1	0	7.0	4	2	2	1	1	0	0	12	4-2	1
MAY 31	@MIA	0	1	5.71	1	1	0	6.2	7	4	4	0	0	2	1	4	1-5	1
JUN 08	MIA	0	1	4.96	1	0	0	8.0	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	7	1-2 (20)	0
JUN 14	CHC	0	1	5.43	1	1	0	5.2	7	6	6	1	0	1	0	4	3-6	0
JUN 19	@ATL	0	1	5.76	1	1	0	4.2	6	5	5	1	0	4	0	6	3-5	0
TOTALS		0	9	5.76	11	9	0	59.1	64	39	38	5	3	15	1	53	34-53	7

Stats provided by MLB.com

In fairness, the St. Louis loss was not entirely his fault, as the Mets had tied the game before a Scott Rice wild pitch gave the Cardinals the lead for good.  And there were a few games where run support was nearly non-existent, especially the two back-to-back Miami games.

But this is what the Mets are paying $4 million for?  And that's not including the bonuses that he will cash in for innings pitched and staying off the disabled list.

As we briefly noted yesterday, both Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner have been improving through the season.  Marcum, however, has shown signs of improving from his season-high 8.59 ERA back on May 10th, but hasn't become consistent enough to know when you're going to experience a gem like the one May 26th against Atlanta, or a let-down like last night.

We're at this crossroad where every pitcher not named Matt Harvey is going to have to pitch like they've never pitched before if they're going to convince Terry Collins to keep them in the starting rotation now that Zack Wheeler is a part of the Mets folklore.  Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner have.

Apparently, Shaun Marcum didn't get that memo.  And that's why he should find himself outside looking in when the Mets do cut one after next week's Midwest trip.

Please note: The opinions expressed in this entry are of the author's, and does not explicitly express the opinions and thoughts of WMML/WENU station management, programming hosts or their sponsors.