Monday Sports

Today we have a small amount of games in both sports, with hockey playing two games and baseball fielding six. The hockey begins in...

New York, with the Rangers hosting the Boston Bruins. Tim Thomas and Henrik Lundqvist tended the twines. Boston got on the board with the fifth of the season by Daniel Paille, assisted by Johnny Boychuk and Michael Ryder. The Bruins extended their lead with Nathan Horton scoring his 25th of the year, thanks to David Krejci and Milan Lucic. Boston kept going in the second period with Chris Kelly potting his 13th of the season, with help from Tomas Kaberle and Dennis Seidenberg. New York got on the board with a pair of Vinny Prospal goals, his seventh and eighth of the campaign, with Wojtek Wolski picking up both primary assists, as well as secondary assists to Marc Staal and Derek Stepan. Brandon Dubinsky potted his 24th of the year for the Rangers in the third period to tie the game, with helpers provided by Ryan Callahan and Artem Anisimov. Mike Sauer put New York in front with his third of the season, guided in by Marian Gaborik and Brian Boyle. The Rangers beat the Bruins 5-3 after the empty netter from Stepan, his 21st of the year, made possible by Ruslan Fedotenko and Sauer. Prospal, Sauer, and Dubinsky were the three stars.

Finishing up with puck, the San Jose Sharks hosted the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Antti Niemi played goal. San Jose led off with Joe Pavelski's 19th of the season, with help from Torrey Mitchell and Kyle Wellwood. The Sharks extended their lead with a Marc-Edouard Vlasic goal, his fourth of the year, guided in by Wellwood and Pavelski. Kyle Clifford and Jamal Mayers later took a dance. Michal Handzus used his 12th of the campaign to put Los Angeles on the board, fueled by Matt Greene and Alec Martinez. Twenty-two seconds later, San Jose got the goal back with Wellwood's fifth of the season, made possible by Vlasic and Andrew Desjardins. Dan Boyle helped out as well for the Sharks, netting his eighth of the year, assisted by Joe Thornton and Douglas Murray. Thornton tallied for San Jose as well, his 20th of the season coming from Patrick Marleau. Devin Setoguchi made it 6-1 for the Sharks on his 22nd of the year, powered by Marleau and Boyle. The third period had a scrum at 17:12, with Boyle completing a Gordie Howe hat trick while dancing with Brad Richardson, and Douglas Murray taking on Clifford as well. Boyle was dinged for additional penalties regarding his face mask. The score above was final, with Wellwood, Thornton, and Vlasic getting the three stars.

To baseball, with the...

Milwaukee Brewers hosting the Atlanta Braves. Brandon Beachy and Chris Narveson got the ball. Milwaukee got out in front during the third inning, with a Rickie Weeks solo home run. Atlanta took a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning with solo homers by Martin Prado and Dan Uggla. This was the final, with Peter Moylan getting the win, Johnny Venters taking a hold, and Craig Kimbrel wrapping up with the save. Kameron Loe also got a hold on the other side of the ledger, but Takashi Saito blew the save and also took the loss. Prado and Weeks were the top hitters.

To Chicago, where the Cubs hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks. Joe Saunders finally got his start, opposing Randy Wells. Willie Bloomquist put Arizona up with a first inning solo home run. Chicago answered with the same thing by Alfonso Soriano in the third, and took the lead in the fourth with a Carlos Pena sacrifice fly to score Marlon Byrd. The Cubs scored some more in the eighth inning with a Geovany Soto double bringing around Aramis Ramirez, and a Soriano single to complete the trip around for Soto. This brought around the final score of 4-1. Saunders was the losing pitcher, Wells got the win, the holds were given to Sean Marshall, Marcos Mateo, John Grabow, and Kerry Wood, and the save was performed by Carlos Marmol. Bloomquist and Soriano were the top hitters.

Into Maryland, where the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Detroit Tigers. Rick Porcello and Jake Arrieta were on the mound. Baltimore opened the scoring as Matt Wieters scored on a wild pitch. Will Rhymes answered for Detroit with a single to bring in Brandon Inge. The Orioles got back to business in the fifth with a three run blast from Brian Roberts, scoring both Felix Pie and J.J. Hardy as well as himself. Wieters also used a single to knock in Nick Markakis, bringing the score up to 5-1, the eventual final. Porcello got tacked for the loss, while Arrieta picked up the win. Rhymes and Roberts took home top batter status.

Over to New York, where the Yankees welcomed the Minnesota Twins. Scott Baker and Ivan Nova were handed the ball. New York led the scoring with two-run homers in the first and second innings by Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, scoring Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher. Minnesota got on the board with a Jim Thome double that drove in both Justin Morneau and Delmon Young. Tsuyoshi Nishioka followed the example for the Twins with his own double and brought around Alexi Casilla. The Yankees would hold on for a 4-3 win, with Baker taking the loss, Nova grabbing the win, Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano taking holds, and Mariano Rivera picking up the save. Nishioka and Rodriguez were the top batters.

Moving along to Texas, where the Rangers hosted the Seattle Mariners. Erik Bedard pitched against Derek Holland. Texas opened with an Elvis Andrus home run in the first. The Rangers added on with Julio Borbon tripling to score Mike Napoli and Yorvit Torrealba. Justin Smoak got Seattle going with a double in the fourth inning to bring around Milton Bradley, and Miguel Olivo tacked on a groundout to score Jack Cust. Nelson Cruz also hit a solo home run for Texas in the bottom of the inning. Chone Figgins grounded out in the fifth inning for the Mariners, but not without producing a run by Jack Wilson. The Rangers kept pace with Josh Hamilton's double bringing around Ian Kinsler. Texas got a groundout double play from Torrealba to bring in Michael Young, although the play itself with Wilson's ability to complete was far greater than the run (true colors, may they show). Seattle got one more run to make it 6-4 with an Olivo single driving in Bradley. They lost, as did the pitcher Bedard, while his opponent Holland grabbed the win, Darren O'Day and Arthur Rhodes were awarded holds, and Neftali Feliz picked up a save. Olivo and Cruz took the top batter status.

Into Missouri, wrapping up the games with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates. Charlie Morton and Kyle Lohse took the starts. St. Louis opened with David Freese grounding into a double play, one which allowed old Lance Berkman to reach home safely. Pittsburgh took the lead in the sixth with Neil Walker doubling for two RBIs in Ronny Cedeno and Jose Tabata, before a two run tater by Andrew McCutchen to complete Walker's trip. The Cardinals got Berkman to single and drive in Colby Rasmus, followed by Allen Craig grounding into a fielder's choice to score Albert Pujols. This wouldn't be enough, as they fell 4-3. Morton got the win, Jose Veras and Mike Crotta collected holds, and Joel Hanrahan recorded another save. Lohse got pinned with the loss. Walker and Skip Schumaker were the best batters.

That's all for Monday. Sorry for the delays on these, work ethic on here is at an all-time low. I'm lucky to keep pace, but I hope to improve that in the coming days.