Punches in Pittsburgh Punishment

Hey All,

I'm sure If you've watched Sports Center you've seen the bench clearing brawl between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Pittsbugh Pirates. This all started after Gomez and Cole had words after Gomez hit a triple off of Cole.

Today the league handed out the punishment. There were four players involved, and ESPN has more on this story.

Carlos Gomez suspended 3 games http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10822556/major-league-baseball-issues-penalties-milwaukee-brewers-pittsburgh-pirates-scuffle?ex_cid=null -via SportsCenter http://bit.ly/zzSpRY

After these suspensions were handed out, Gomez, Snider, and Martin are appealing their suspensions. I think this is a great move for Snider and Martin, not so much Gomez. I feel this way because Snider and Martin were sticking up for their pitcher Cole. Not to mention that Snyder got drilled by a Brewer defending Cole, Martin was just out there to support his teammates, but Gomez started the whole thing by being cocky. 

I don't think the suspensions are just. For one, Gomez deserves more than a 5 game suspension. He is a repeat offender, who said in his statement after the game "That's how I play, if they don't like it then they don't like it." He's telling everyone he's not going to stop with his attitude on the field, and basically start more bench clearing brawls on the diamond. 

Second Martin shouldn't get a suspension for defending a fellow teammate, and Snider got blasted in the face and taken out by another Brewer, again for defending his pitcher. There is no reason for these two to have a suspension, but Gomez needs more than 5 games for this. What is 5 games? Like a series and a half, in the beginning of the season? Who cares about that? It means nothing. I say a full week of games worth of suspensions. 

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports

Phelps Comes Out of Retirement

Hey All,

Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite sports, mainly because it's the one I competed at in college, and that's swimming. Yes, I know it's not the most glorious one in the sports world, but it can be very entertaining. One of the biggest figures in the sport will be coming out of retirement, Michael Phelps will be coming back to the swimming world and will be looking forward to Rio in 2016.

Phelps will be swimming on April 24-26th in the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa, Ariz. This will be the 22-time Olympic medalist's first time competing since the London Games in 2012. He will join such swimming stars as Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky in the Grand Prix this all according to USA TODAY sports.

"As of today, I definitely expect him to swim," Phelps' longtime coach Bob Bowman told USA TODAY Sports by phone Monday. "We're looking forward to it. I think it'll be great for the sport to have Michael compete again. We really don't have any expectations for what might happen. We just want to have some fun with it and see how it goes." Also according to coach Bowman, Phelps has entered into the 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle.

"Those are both on the first day, and he'll probably try both of those (preliminaries) in the morning, see how it goes, and maybe do one final if he gets to the finals," Bowman said. "The next day, he's entered (in the 50 free) and will probably do a 50 butterfly. We don't know yet. After this, we can decide what he wants to do next."

All of this isn't that much of a surprise to any in the swimming world, as Michael was taking all the steps needed to compete again at swimming. He went as far, in the last year, as he rejoined the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's drug testing pool last year. Along with that he upped his training over the last year which lead most to believe he would try and make a comeback.

"It's historic, it's going to be a media spectacle," Mesa Aquatics Club CEO Paul Smith said. "No other venue has the same feel and proximity to the action as ours. It's going to be thrilling regardless of what shape he (Phelps) is in. There's something about being at pool level that is energizing."

"This meet happens to be at the right time," Bowman said. "He's eligible to swim in a meet, and he thought it might be fun to do one. We heard this was a great meet. I don't think it was something we had targeted; it came up at the right time."

I think people may look into these quotes too much. They will probably say that he (Phelps) won't even think about the Olympics in Rio in 2016, but this shouldn't not be a surprise either. Phelps and Bowman denied that Phelps was even going to swim in this meet in April, this was all said a month ago. Now I know people may change their minds, but I don't think it could happen that quick. This is something the two have been thinking about for a long time.

I'm excited to see what happens in the meet on  24-26th and will keep you up to date with everything that goes on from here on out.

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.

KD Passes MJ

Hey All,

Last night Kevin Durant passed one of the games best player. Durant past Michael Jordan's point streak for most consecutive 25+ points in a game. To read more about the game, check out the link below thanks to ESPN.

Suns hold off Thunder to take 1-game lead for West's 8th spot http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400490029&ex_cid=null -via SportsCenter http://bit.ly/zzSpRY

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports

Two Game, Two Extra Innings Walk Offs

Hey All,

Well it's official, the baseball season is upon us, and boy did it get off to great start. A lot of teams seemed to look like there was no layoff from the Winter season. They jumped right back into things like there was no offseason. One of the teams is the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are playing some great baseball right now, like they did last season. The pitching is right where it was last season, even after losing their ace A.J. Burnett to the Phillies. The hitting is right where it was when the season ended last year, with maybe a few cobwebs that need beaten off, but who doesn't need to do that. It seems like the only way to go for the Pirates, is up.

The season got underway this past Monday March 30th with opening day against the Cubs. This game was a pitchers duel throughout the entire game, as it was 0-0 going into the 9th inning. Neither team could buy of run in this game because of the pitching. Francisco Liriano pitched a gem on opening day. He went 6 innings with only few hits and 10 K's. He is one of few Pirates who had double digit strikeouts on opening day. Though Liriano didn't get the win on opening day you still can't say that he didn't deserve a win, if only he got a little run support. The Bucs were able to get a win in the bottom of the 10th inning on a Neil Walker walk off home run. This is Walker's first walk off home run ever, and it just so happen to happen on opening day in Pittsburgh.

Yesterday, Wednesday April 2nd, the Bucs had their hands full with the Cubs yet again. Only this time, there was a lot more runs scored, and innings played. This game had a lot of excitement with run support, as well as pitching. This game was 2-1 in favor of the Bucs in the top of the 9th. This meant it was time for the closer. Jason Grilli was called in to close the game out, and I thought it was a done deal. Well, the Cubs had other plans. They were able to get a run and stop Grilli from getting his first save of the season. This meant that the Bucs were going into extras for the second time in as many games. This hasn't happened since 1964 that the Bucs had to go into extras two times in two games, and oddly enough, it was against the Cubs.

This game though, wouldn't just go 10 innings, it would go 16 innings and had just as much excitement. In the 12th inning, the Cubs were able to take the lead 3-2 and it looked like the Bucs were going to lose this game. Well, they had other plans. They were able to get another run off the bat of Marte, and no one was able to get a run until the 16th inning. The Bucs looked like they weren't going to make it out of the 16th and the game was going to go into the 17th, but Tony Sanchez had other plans. With runners on the corners and a full count, Sanchez had one pitch left to face. He was able to slap a ball into left and score Marte from third. This was just as exciting as Walkers, because this was also Sanchez's first career walk off RBI.

This is a great start for the Pirates, and lets everyone know that they are no joke and are here to contend. The bullpen has been able to hold down the fort like they did all of last season. The hitting and the defense has been there like it was last season. The only thing that I see is room for more improvement. They are only going to get better from this point on, and I can't wait to see how this season turns out.

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.