Detroit always gets tougher as the series goes on and they can smell blood. That's what championship teams do. Pittsburgh better play well.

On a brighter note the Hershey Bears are one win away against Manitoba from winning another Calder Cup in the AHL. I don't go to any of the games, but I root for them.

Well i hope the Bears win it for you Klyd?

I know your teams have not won anything for a while

Has anyone seen the rookie relief pitcher for Arizona, Clay Zavada? He has an awesome handle-bar mustache, similar to Rollie Fingers. I provided a link for a story about him, he's been through a lot to get to the majors, so I'm rooting for him and his mustache to succeed.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_lea...urn=mlb,165231

As a Pirates fan, I don't know how I let May 26 go by without mentioning the 50th anniversary of the most perfect game pitched in Major League history. 1959, Harvey Haddix picthed 12 perfect innings for the Pirates against the Milwaukee Braves. Included in the Braves lineup were illustrious players such as Lew Burdette and Hank Aaron. What a performance. It is at least ironic if not downright hieneous that Harvey lost the game in the 13th inning. But noone before or after (or probably ever will) matched his performance.

You're such a goofball!

That's a really great story, though. It's nice to hear about those feel-good things in baseball.

Well done to the Penguins last night. Good performance. Lets see if the can turn over Detroit on their own patch.

Guess what, CS? I'm finally reading it! I finished my Clemens book, so "Moneyball" was next in line - maybe I'll stick to a baseball theme this summer. I'm really liking it so far. It's making me think about things I'd never before considered, and all the stats concepts make my heart flutter.

Has anyone voted for the All Star team???

olivant, there is a very good piece about the Haddix performance in last week's Sports Illustrated (Tom Brady cover). You're right about the Braves' lineup being powerful. They were leading the leaguein hitting, and Roberto Clemente had to sit out that game for the Pirates.

12 perfect innings and then to lose the game on an unearned run in the 13th had to be heartbreaking.

I remember that day and hearing about it!

Haddix faced Lew Burdette, a top pitcher in his own right. Included the batters that were up against Harvey were not only Aaron but monster hitters Eddie Matthews and Joe Adcock. (Matthews hit over 500 hr's and Adcock averaged about 30 per year including some of the longest ones ever hit).

Pittsburgh was a marginal team then; they managed 12 hits in the game but couldn't bring a run in. The Braves actually scored three runs in the bottom of the 13th when Adcock homered with two men on base (including Aaron who was intentionally walked). Aaron pulled a bonehead play by allowing Adcock to pass him on the basepaths and the homerun was disallowed and counted only as a double and officially only one run scored.

No matter - the big story was Haddix's great performance.... he retired 36 consecutive batters!

True. The SI piece explains why Aaron did what he did. The leadoff hitter in the botttom of the 13th reached on a throwing error;Matthews sacrificed him to second; and Aaron was intentionally walked, setting the stage for Adcock's homer, which Aaron mistook for a ground rule double. He therefore left the basepath after touching second even though Adcock rounded the bases. While newspapers erroneously called the score 2-0 because of Aaron never touched home, the score was 1-0 and Adcock was credited with a double and an out at second base.

Here is the box score and play by play summary of that historic game:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MLN/MLN195905260.shtml

PTI on ESPN has reported that Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids in 2003. Don't book any flights to Cooperstown for a while, Sammy.

just posted something like this on the mlb one...lol

Albert Pujols is like Obi-Wan Kenobi... baseball's last hope at a true slugger. If only baseball would do blood tests for HGH.

that's a great story. I wonder how the pitcher feelks like in a day like that. Pedro Martinez also pitched a perfect game thru 9 innings and came out with a loss.

it's funny that the Pirates are so irrelevant now because that's a franchise with one of the most interesting stories in baseball. they have more WS titles than most teams, were the first team to win a WS on a walk-off HR, had the great "We are family" team, and some of the greatest players of all time like Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente and one of the greatest story that always fascinated me with Steve Blass. also, I recently found out that they were the only team to score 10 runs in the first inning and lose the game!

Did i see that Ryan Leaf had been arrested on some smuggling charges?

I only caught half the news bulletin but i'm sure it was him?

Pedro was credited with the win in that game with Expos at San Diego. After 9 perfect innings the game was scoreless. The Expos scored once in the top of the tenth and Bip Roberts of the Padres led off the bottom of the tenth with a double. Martinez was taken out and Mel Rojas retired the next three batters while stranding Roberts for the save. Martinez got the win and combined with Rojas for a 1 hitter.

thanks for clearing this up klydon. I believe I did think "didn't get a win" but posted "got a loss" and obviously that is not the same thing in baseball.

Fantastic Gina! I try to follow the tenets of that book when I set up our fantasy league - the points system helps factor in OBP and Slugging.

The day Pujols and Griffey are outed as PED users will be a very, very sad day.

i sure hope pujols is natural as well as griffey and thomas. if they are not clean then baseball is basically dead.

Just saw that the movie version of "Moneyball" has been shelved after Sony pulled out. There goes the cameo for the Greek God of Walks.

U.S. just beat Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup. According to what I just read, it's in the Top 5 of all-time U.S. upsets in any sport. Wow.

ESPN is reporting that the Cavs have acquired Shaq for Ben Wallace & Sasha Pavlovic. I don't know - my initial reaction is that this is not going to get Cleveland over the hump. Many in the local media have been saying "we need a big guy to compete with Orlando." I say why make a move to matchup against one team? I think Orlando might have overachieved in reaching the Finals, much like Cleveland in 2007. Both simply got hot at the right time.

If this move was made to matchup better with Dwight Howard, then to quote Vito Corleone "it is a sign of weakness." In case anyone forgot, Kevin Garnett was hurt and will be back for Boston. So the Cavs have to reckon with Orlando, Boston, Miami, and, in my opinion, Chicago.

What I do like about the trade is what the Cavs gave up. Pavlovic is mediocre at best and does not play defense. Wallace is contemplating retirement and his salary is gone. I liked Wallace's leadership and experience, but there was not much left in the tank. Getting Shaq for 1 year is not a bad idea. I hope that he has low minutes for much of the season until the playoffs. I think Shaq now might have a little added motivation to get one more ring to move himself ahead of Kobe, so maybe that could help somewho. We will know if it was the right move by June 2010.

I agree that Shaq isn't enough to make Cleveland an NBA champion. He's been declining steadily and his performance with the Suns has been inconsistent. But Cleveland didn't give up much. I don't know how many minutes per game he can give, and still be fresh for a vital role in a long playoff run.

Cleveland will try to pick up some more veteran talent as this very well may be the last season with LeBron.

this is a improvement for the cavs if shaq stays healthy. i just cant wait for the draft in a few hours because i have a feeling that the bulls will do something tonight.

another trade, and this will help orlando...and make things harder for the bulls.

vince carter has been traded from new jersey to orlando.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4287197

Any thoughts on the NBA draft? I'm happy the Warriors got Stephen Curry, but the strong rumors going around that the Suns and Warriors might make a trade sending Stoudemire to Oakland for Biedrins, Curry, and Wright worry me. I don't want the Warriors to give up Andris Biedrins, their only good defensive player. Stoudemire is a stud, but not defensively. I hope the rumors stay rumors.

Continuation of my post above, I just saw a replay of the first few picks of the draft on ESPN, and it's funny how all the New York Knicks fans booed when the Warriors took Curry. Knicks fans wanted Curry, so why would they boo when another team takes him first? What in the world are they booing??

Then the Knicks took Jordan Hill, who I wanted the Warriors to get, and they boo him too. I don't think it would have mattered at that point who they would have been picked, they still would have booed.

What a way to welcome a new member of your favorite team Knicks fans.

By the way, does anyone else think it's funny when they cut to the team management and they are cheering and clapping when their pick is announced? Like they are cheering the fact that they successfully handed their pick to the commissioner.

Knicks fans boo everything, Blibble. These are the same idiots who chanted "overrated" when LeBron James was drafted. Yeah, how's that working out, Knicks fans?