Memorial Day Smorgasbord

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the men and women who have served and are serving our country. We cannot thank you enough for your service and dedication to the United States.

I have been traveling too much for my liking and have not been able to write nearly as much as I would like. Let’s cover a bunch of topics in short order:

· I will be the first to admit that I never saw this coming from the Boston Celtics. I never anticipated them beating Cleveland and did not give them much of a chance against the Magic either. My Dad contends that he does not understand why people DIDN’T see this coming and I quote, “They are the same team that won the championship in 2008 but now they have a great point guard as well.” He just may be right, and hindsight is always easier, but anyone who saw this team play during the regular season, hell anyone who just follows the scores and standings, will attest that this team looked old, slow and past their window of opportunity. Only Pierce and Rondo were competing at a high level and the Celtics were all but ready to give Ray Allen away at the deadline. For someone like my Dad who doesn’t follow the NBA until the playoffs start, the above quote makes sense and maybe it proves that the regular season matters much less than we want to give it credit for.

· Meanwhile, everyone expected the Lakers to be here. I picked the Jazz to upset the Lakers in the second round but that was before their own seven- footer was out for the series, which pretty much eliminated any chance they had. When the Lakers are playing right, and by right I mean pounding the ball down low to Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and then allowing Kobe to take over in the fourth quarter, they are the best team in the league. Their problem is that they do not play “right” nearly enough. It should be interesting to see how the Lakers attack the Celtics in the Finals. I will have much more on my thoughts heading into Game One later this week.

· Before the series began I predicted the Blackhawks to hoist the Cup in seven and so far my prediction looks good. I did, however, struggle mightily with this one as I feel the Flyers have what it takes to knock off the ultra-talented Blackhawks. The Flyers went out last summer and acquired Chris Pronger to deal with the likes of Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby come Stanley Cup Playoff time. They knew that the move may cost them some wins in the regular season as they adapted styles and integrated Pronger, but their objective was to become a better playoff roster and the plan has worked to perfection. Despite avoiding Ovechkin and Crosby in the playoffs, it has been Pronger’s presence along the blue line that has pushed the Flyers over the top of the Eastern Conference and into the Finals. I expect a big game from Pronger tomorrow night and hope the Flyers extend this series as it has been some really entertaining hockey in the first two games.

· The Pirates stand at 20-31 right now after losing 9 of their last 11, but I believe the number is 19-22 when Charlie Morton is not the starter. Granted many teams could potentially throw out a figure like that, but it goes to show that; (1) how bad Morton really has been, and; (2) that the Pirates are competing hard every night. As I alluded to in an earlier post, the Pirates obviously are not the most talented team in the league but they do have guys like Andrew McCutchen, Ryan Doumit and Garrett Jones that are worth watching and a few more of those guys, namely Brad Lincoln, Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata, that should be here in the near future.

· Speaking of Morton, his former team and my National League Wild Card pick the Atlanta Braves have been surging in the NL East. Their recent surge has nothing to do with the play of Nate McLouth, however, who is batting .184 on the year with 3 HRs and 4 SBs. McLouth is in danger of finding himself in a platoon role or possibly even a full-time bench role if he doesn’t pick up his play. Despite Morton’s struggles, I would still take the package today that the Pirates received for McLouth from Atlanta in a heartbeat. For reminder’s sake, that package also included Jeff Locke and Gorkys Hernandez in addition to Charlie Morton.

· Finally, with Boston starting to play as we expected and Toronto playing great baseball the AL East looks like it could be an unbelievable race throughout the summer. I do think that the Blue Jays will eventually take a backseat to the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox, but the intensity and urgency of the top three as they battle for what most likely will be two playoff spots should be great theater. One of these teams very easily could miss the playoffs with 90+ wins.