Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge returns with a five fight weekend-a tripleheader on HBO and a world lightweight title bout on Twitter of all places...

HBO features one of the best fighters in the world as WBO junior lightweight champ Vasyl Lomachenko defends against Jason Sosa,who gave up a secondary title to face Lomachenko.
Sosa's far from a soft touch,but I don't see anyone at 130 that has anything more than a very remote Hail Mary of a chance.

Oleksander Usyk defends his WBO cruiserweight title against undefeated former Olympian Michael Hunter.
Usyk is part of the three fighters that are revitalizing the cruisers with Mairis Breidis and Murat Gassiev and could use an exciting win in his second appearance on American TV.
Hunter has faced no one even remotely considered a top twenty fighter,but his amateur experience along being the son of one of the most awkwardly effective fighters of the 80's and 90's-Mike "the Bounty" Hunter has the potential to make this an interesting fight.

The other HBO fight pits light heavyweights as Oleksander Gvozdyk faces Yuniesky Gonzalez.
Gvozdyk has defeated former title contenders in his previous three fights (Tommy Karpency and Nadjib Mohammedi were squash match contenders though) and his win over Issac Chilemba in his last outing was more impressive than Sergei Kovalev's win over Chilemba four months before.
Gonzalez looked like a division comer after a loss to Jean Pascal that most thought Gonzalez deserved to win,but a subsequent loss to Vyachaslav Shabranskky dulled that reputation.
This could be an interesting clash of styles...

Terry Flanagan defends his WBO lightweight title against mandatory contender Petr Petrov in the UK and that bout can be found at 5 pm on Twitter.
Not sure why Twitter picked up this bout,but I'm glad it did as the winner could land unification fights against any of Jorge Linares,Mikey Garcia or Robert Easter or make some fun fights in defenses against recent title fight losers Anthony Crolla or Dejan Zlatcanin.
Petrov is an aggressive fighter and could make a exciting fight....

The other fight was going to be for the WBO "interim" junior middleweight title before a mishap.
I'm normally not in favor of interim title,but Canelo Alvarez holds the WBO title and is unlikely to defend it,yet hasn't vacated it.
The winner of this bout would have been the full champion when Alvarez vacated,but Liam Smith missed weight and is ineligible to win the title.
Smith was knocked out by Alvarez in his last bout,but was favored to defeat Liam Williams in this one (How many Liam's are around,let alone two fighting for the same title?)
If Williams wins,he wins the interim title,if Smith wins,the title remains vacant.

I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 32-30.

WBO Junior Lightweight title.12 rds
Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jason Sosa
R,L:Lomachenko unanimous decision
TRS:Lomachenko KO 9

WBO Cruiserweight title.12 rds
Oleksander Usyk vs Michael Hunter
R.L:Usyk KO 4
TRS;Usyk KO 8

Light Heavyweights.10 rds
Oleksander Gvozdyk vs Yunieski Gonzalez
Both:Gvozdyk unanimous decision

WBO Lightweight title.12 rds
Terry Flanagan vs Petr Petrov
Both:Flanagan unanimous decision

Junior Middleweights.12 rds
Liam Smith vs Liam Williams
R,L:Smith unanimous decision
TRS:Smith KO 10

Time isn't on my side...

Time isn't on my side at this time.
The autographing season is starting,but there is always stress as teams wait to release rosters and you just cannot get ahead of things to be prepared.

Combine that with work and it's tough to be as prepared as you'd like.
Add a rainout for the Suns opener and it only gets worse as teams dragged out a roster release,so I cannot get cards out as quickly to my traders.

Anyway,because all the extra work needed to get that finished-I've decided to skip team previews and just note them here for posterity.
I also won't predict anything past the regular season,the playoffs are just too unpredictable in short series action.

Cleveland Indians 97-65 1st place American League Central
Pittsburgh Pirates  81-81 3rd place National League Central
San Francisco Giants 92-70 2nd place National West-Wild Card....

This might be the year Indians fans have waited for.
The addition of Edwin Encarncion's power bat might be what puts the Tribe over the top.

The Pirates appear to be about average.
If Andrew McCutchen bounces back,they could threaten for a wild card,but a slow start that would make that difficult,look for McCutchen and others to be moved at the deadline...

San Francisco should fight a neck and neck battle with the Dodgers that could go either way at the wire.
The Giants starting pitching ranks with the best,but even with the addition of Mark Melancon,the bullpen still remains a question mark.
If the Giants get to the postseason,they are the team no one wants to face due to that starting rotation.

Meeting the Curve and Meeting the Suns-A tale of two evenings

It truly was a tale of two nights as I attended two different events in two different cities to introduce their teams to the fans...

Tuesday night in Altoona PA,I attended the Altoona Curve's event with Derreck Chupak,Doug Hopkins and Kendall Morris.
Kendall,Doug and I had done last years event and had such a great time that we recommended Derreck come along.
The Curve uses the Lakemont Park casino for their event and they clearly do it right.
The Curve sells tickets to the event,so they make some money there,but for what you get for a more than reasonable 12 dollars,you walk away very pleased.
For your twelve dollars,you receive a buffet dinner with grilled chicken,potatoes and various vegetables,free sodas and beer,if you prefer for a price.
Add the Curve introducing the players in a pretty neat ceremony in the hall and it's a nice dinner.
The team then has the players go into another banquet room,where they are seated and ready to sign whatever items that you have.
This years team features a first and second round pick from the 2015 draft in Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer as well as hard throwing pitcher Yeudy Garcia.
Newman will likely be an early promotee to AAA Indianapolis with a decent start with the stick with Kramer being the starter at second.
During the dinner,we talked about Altoona having a great giveaway handed to them.
Imagine a double bobblehead with Newman and Kramer in full Seinfield regalia-I'm not a huge fan of the show,but that would be quite cool!
Garcia was a mild surprise in starting at AA,but he's 24 and the Pirates are attempting to accelerate his development.
Thanks so much to Brett Shaw for always thinking of us and for his work in getting us tickets along with the Curve for a fun event....

And then there were the Hagerstown Suns.
That's not said with malice,its more along the lines for being resigned to failure.
The Suns did start with a good move in leaving the former home for the event.
They wanted to go to a more family friendly locale' and I liked that idea.
I had thought that for years and the decision made was a good one.
The chosen spot was Bulls n Bears in downtown Hagerstown,which is a well thought of restaurant,but one that involved going downtown,which in Hagerstown is rarely a plus because the amount of one way streets make getting anywhere a grind.
The Suns were a little late in starting things,but it was for a good reason-the players had not all arrived yet!
I can understand not being able to find Bulls and Bears,if you aren't a local,so I was OK with that.
We waited outside (Doug Hopkins,Fred and Michael Landucci) and chatted while a volunteer kept the parking deck rolling.
There wasn't many of us,maybe 10-15 people at most as the "general public".
I like to play by the rules and I don't like to slide in as something that I'm not-which in this case was a season ticket holder.
Now this is where,many of you would like me to discuss the incident that happened here,judging by my blown up email/Facebook account.

I'm not.
I'll discuss it privately with anyone that wants to discuss,but not here.
Why when I normally write about incidents?
I gave my word about not wanting issues and I'll stand by that.
I go to games to relax and have fun,not to be harassed and conversely,they have a job to do,no matter my opinions on their decisions.
Therefore,in the spirit of wanting to enjoy my hobby-I'm letting it go....

I was able to get the cards that I needed finished,most notably 18 year old phenom Juan Soto,first rounder Carter Kieboom and some other cards for Kendall Morris,who was unable to make it this time.
You didn't have as much space as Altoona,but it was decent enough access and the players were affable enough.
I was able to talk a bit with the new radio voice of the Suns,Kevin Gehl.
Gehl,who comes here from the Big 10 network and formerly the voice of the Lansing Lugnuts (low A Midwest League) ,talked about working toward returning the Suns to local airwaves (great idea) and some of the events that he covered on the Big 10 network.
I'm hoping to have Kevin on the podcast sometime this year,which he agreed to do.
Gehl looks to be a huge upgrade for the Suns broadcasts and I'm a little surprised that the Suns were able to attract an announcer with his resume'..

On the overall,an improved edition of Meet the Suns with some highs and lows.
I'd still recommend a bigger venue with easier access,but this was an improved version over past ones and with a few wrinkles,this could be a nice event in the future....

I'm going to try to return later with either previews or at least a short prediction post,depending on the amount of time that I have available.

Grouchy Observations.

Sitting here watching the last few innings of the Pirates and discovered that I had five things in sports today that made me rather grouchy.
And considering that Oscar is my favorite Sesame Street (Feel free to send me your Oscar the Grouch memorabilia) character-it was easy to decide the theme and picture for this post...

Let's start with this morning's post on the Lexi Thompson robbery in the ANA Inspiration yesterday.
The more I think about it,the more ridiculous the whole thing seems.
The LPGA is always a niche' tour that is in a constant struggle for attention and today they are getting plenty of it-for all the wrong reasons...

Georgetown hires Patrick Ewing?
Two notes:First,name me the long list of successful college coaches that have never been a head coach anywhere or coached in college at all?
Take your time,I'll wait.
If you were going to hire Ewing,why fire John Thompson III?
Not exactly breaking new ground in Georgetown...

The NHL is not participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics,which means if any players want to play,they need to insure themselves and have their teams permission to play.
The NHL involvement was the best part of the winter games,helped to grow the game and showed that the game's growth came before profit for once.
The league dangled the Olympics in front of the players union as a carrot to help make a deal and the players didn't bite.
Is there anything that Gary Bettman touches that doesn't turn to fertilizer?

Opening day for most of the league and nothing spells baseball season more than watching the Pirates than tuning in and hearing Greg Brown as the voice of the Buccos.
The worst in local baseball announcers and just hearing that voice makes me reach for the remote to either mute or change to the opposing teams network,
I think Bob Walk's decent enough,but Greg Brown? Bleech.

Wrapping with the Pirates and I've made my feelings about interleague play well known,but it really hits home on opening day with the Pirates playing Boston.
Since the move of Houston to American League play,there is at least one interleague game every day,so an opener for one of my teams was inevitable.
It just feels so spring training to me when it occurs this soon...

Travesty in LPGA

I'm asked on an odd occasion just why I watch golf.
Usually that's followed by a statement about how slow and boring that golf on television can be.

I usually respond with one of the most dramatic scenes in sports is a final round back nine in a men's major (especially the Masters and U.S.Open) or the fun of watching the LPGA as a tour that is extremely fan friendly,but my third answer is often one that surprises the questioner-the game is more often than not,the most honorably played by the participants.
Sadly,the stern and often archaic rules of golf and its various tours leave little room for nuance and often the past rules smash head on into modern technology with the results being often mind numbing.

In this weekend's first LPGA major,the ANA Inspiration,Lexi Thompson was the dominant player and after 12 holes of the final round,Thompson looked to be cruising her way to a victory.
That was until a fan watching the tournament on television sent the tour an email after looking at a replay from SATURDAY that showed Thompson marked her ball on the 17th green (a 1 foot putt,which almost any of us would have drilled),but placed the ball roughly an inch out of position.
It was a violation that common sense would say was harmless considering the length of the putt and that likely the hairline spot might happen several times during a tournament.
The tour looked at the replay and penalized a stunned Thompson four strokes and only an incredible show of composure by Thompson saw her finish with three birdies to force a playoff,where she lost to So Yeon Ru.

Was the rule broken? Yes,as Missy Jones explains far better than I here,but this is the type of thing that makes golf look like this stodgy unyielding game that fails to use good sense to use the rulebook as a guideline rather than this written in stone binder.
I think the listening to someone at home is dicey at best anyway since the broadcast is focusing on the leaders and not all of the players,so the opportunity to find an error is top loaded towards the front of the field.
That would be similar to me seeing a receiver's foot land out of bounds in the second quarter of an NFL game,sending them an email and the league looking to see if I was right and then taking points off the board in the fourth quarter!
Not to mention that this mistake was caught the next day!
That's unreal in its stupidity.

A common sense fix would say-no penalty if a competitive advantage was not gained,no call-ins from anyone allowed (although a NFL style video room makes sense to catch large mistakes) and once the tournament is closed for the day (say an hour after the final group finishes),the statute of limitations kicks in and no further penalties can be served.

I thought the players gained a lot on Sunday as Lexi Thompson likely gained a lot of fans with her late charge and classy handling of the situation,while I thought So Yeon Ru was understated in her celebration and came out well too.
The LPGA followed its rules,but needs to make a fast decision as rules changes are being mulled for 2019.
There doesn't need to be that large of a time frame to make these types of corrections.
The time is right-let's do the right thing and fix this before it happens again...

Giants bullpen ruins Bumgarner's bombs

I had planned on working on team previews for the Indians,Giants and Pirates,but a very early night at work and a family development (illness/hospital) made time short,so instead I'll be doing game coverage of the Giants opener,since they opened today and I'll be doing my best to some coverage of the Indians and/or Pirates openers tomorrow.
I'm hoping to get those previews finished later this week,but if not,I may do a post with just my best guesses as far as predictions.

Madison Bumgarner didn't allow a hit for five and a third innings and slugged two home runs and looked to be on his way to a spectacular opening day.
Instead the bugaboo from last year bit the San Francisco Giants from the bullpen and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied for a 6-5 win over the Giants in the ninth.
Mark Melancon allowed three hits in a row after retiring the first two batters in the ninth to pick up the loss (0-1) in his initial outing as the Giants closer.
The Giants get tomorrow off before returning Tuesday with Johnny Cueto against Arizona's Patrick Corbin.

Giant Steps

1) Madison Bumgarner was dominant.
His fastball sat in the middle 90's (I'm sure the off-season helped with that a bit) and his breaking stuff was sharp.
Striking out eleven without walking a batter says more than I can write.
The easy thing to say that this sets up another strong season and it is just one start,but in this case-I'll bet on it..

2) Bumgarner was taken out in the 7th after 88 pitches and later in the season,Bruce Bochy might have left him go a bit longer.
I understand the reasoning and it didn't cost the game,but it is interesting from an old school boss like Bochy.

3) Bumgarner's two homer related numbers;
Now all time home run hitter among Giant pitchers with 16
1st pitcher to ever hit two homers on opening day.
4th Giant ever to hit two homers on opening day-joining Matt Williams,Willie Mays and Barry Bonds.
The two homers were the two hardest hit homers off bat (112 MPH) by a pitcher in the Statcast era.
The two previous hardest? Both by Madison Bumgarner.

4) Derek Law surrenders the lead in the 8th without obtaining an out.
The Giants are to have to get more out of a setup crew than that,if the horrors from the pen from 2016 are going to be avoided.

5) It was encouraging with runners on in the eighth and after Law left that Ty Blach and Hunter Strickland were able to get the three outs without further damage.
Try to not be too down or too low-it still is just one game.

6) I'll try not to worry too much about Mark Melancon either.
The Giants newest (and highly paid) closer didn't allow a run in spring training and all relievers have bad days,but relievers never fail to worry me-their effectiveness (for the vast majority) can vary wildly from year to year.

Podcast:Special Guest Luke Erickson

The podcast returns with special guest Luke Erickson from NationalsProspects.com.
We talk prospects in the Washington Nationals system,various travels and more from the world of the minors!