4/8/14 Sports Notes

MLB:

The Baltimore Orioles hammered the New York Yankees 14-5. The O’s outhit the Yanks 20-13. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters (1-4, 3RBI) had one hit, a 2-run homer. Every other Orioles starter had at least 2 hits: Markakis (2-5, 1RBI), Young (3-6, 3RBI), Davis (2-3, 2RBI), Jones (2-4, 2RBI), Cruz (2-4, 1RBI), Lombardozzi (3-5, 1RBI), Flaherty (3-5), Schoop (2-5, 1RBI). Every Orioles starter scored at least once. Every Orioles starter had at least one RBI except Flaherty. Doubles by Schoop, Jones, Flaherty, and Cruz. Homers by Jones, Young, and Wieters. The bottom 3 of the Orioles lineup, which had been struggling, went a combined 8-15, 2RBI, 4R.  

Wei-Yin Chen gave up 9 hits and 4 earned runs in 5 innings, but still recorded his first win of the season (1-1), and struck out 3. Josh Stinson went 2.1 innings (1H, 1W, 3K). Brian Matusz gave up 2 hits, including a solo home run to Kelly Johnson. Darren O’Day gave up 1 hit and stuck out 1 in a scoreless 9^th.

Today’s game combined the 2 best things in baseball, an Orioles win and a Yankees loss.  

Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said a player will be going on the DL tomorrow and replaced by someone from AAA Norfolk, but would say who, other than it not being SS J.J. Hardy, who has been inactive with back spasms. I’m wondering if maybe it’s Chen, who hasn’t looked right at all, being replaced by Gausman or another starter?     

Hockey:

After being eliminated from the NHL playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks fired President/GM Mike Gillis. Rumor has it that former team captain Trevor Linden, one of my favorite players of all time, may be his replacement.

The Reading Royals of the ECHL were sold to local businessman Jack Gulati, who said he will keep the team in Reading, PA.

Update: The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 to climb to 109 points, only 2 behind the St. Louis Blues, who lost tonight, for 1st place in the NHL Central Division, with 3 games left in the regular season. Avs goals: Paul Stastny, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie, and Jamie McGinn. The Avs also set a franchise record for most road wins. Nice game in goal by J. S. Giguere. 

©2014 Denim McDemus

A Quick Goodbye

I'm sick of hearing about Derek Jeter already. Ok, he's retiring. Now move on to the next story. Doesn't the media devote enough time to the Yankees already?

Talk about what's going on in Major League Baseball now, the scramble for the remaining free agents, not something that won't happen until the end of the regular season. (No, I don't expect the Yankees to make the post season.)

Wasn't there enough of a circus last year for Mariano Rivera? Are we going to have to endure a "Farewell Tour" every time a Yankee retires? Players retire every year, good players, even great players. Why should Rivera and Jeter be singled out?

Derek Jeter is retiring after this season. That should be the end of the story.

Wounded Warrior

Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said he expects Brian Roberts to be the Yankees’ full-time 2B all season. Orioles fans know how hilarious that statement is.

"Blackout Blues"

Major League Baseball's blackout rules are completely ridiculous, especially in this area.

I live in Eastern Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia Phillies home television territory. Therefore, only their games should be blacked out for me, with the assumption that I can watch their games on a local channel or regional sports network. For some reason, MLB ridiculously has Phillies, NY Yankees, Pittsburg Pirates, and NY Mets games blacked out here.

People with Comcast Cable receive Phillies games on CSN, but do not get the YES Network.

People with Directv or DISH Network get Yankees games on YES, but not the Phillies, as Comcast won't allow satellite companies to carry their channel, CSN, since they are also their competitors.

It is a conflict of interest that Comcast owns both the regional sports network and the local cable company. It's an unfair business practice for them to deny their competition the regional sports network. It's unfair for local residents to be cheated out of having a local sports network just because they chose satellite over cable.

So basically, people in this television area get EITHER Phillies games or Yankees games, depending on their television carrier.

No one in this area receives Mets or Pirates games, so I don't know why they're blacked out.

So if the team you follow is playing one of those 4 teams, you cannot see the game live on MLB.TV, MLB Extra Innings, or any subscription package, or on ESPN, FOX, or any national broadcast.

If you are a Mets or Pirates fan, you can't view their games live at all.

The point of MLB's blackout rules is supposed to be so viewers watch games on local broadcasts, but in Eastern Pennsylvania, viewers don't receive 3 out of 4 blacked out games anywhere... Why are we punished more severely by blackout rules than other areas?

Hey MLB, it's time to stop alienating your fanbase, or you may someday fade into obscurity like the NHL? Maybe it's time to go back to airing your product on local broadcast channels like the immensely successful NFL does?

Copyright 2013 Denim McDemus