For those in the know, you can scroll halfway down for the eye candy video (you know who you are!), and the Beyonce section- the rest of you good sports (badda-BING!), we'll start with the Opening of the SF Giants 2024 season!
The Major League Baseball season is underway, and the San Francisco Giants opened their season at Petco Park in San Diego against the Padres. Logan Webb started, and did relatively well till the 5th, where the Padres tied the game at 2-2. New Giants shortstop Nick Ahmed had a nice debut, including driving in the lead run in the 6th to give the Giants a 3-2 lead, but the bullpen melted down in the 7th, giving up four runs for a 6-3 lead that held then LF Michael Conforto hit the Giants first home run of the season, but the Giants lost their first game, 6-4. Bright spot was Giants top free agent signing center-fielder Jung Hoo-Lee getting his first major league base hit.
Next night, and we have our first injury of the season! Relief pitcher Luke Jackson, who basically blew up the game yesterday, was put on the 15-day injury list with a lower back strain. RF Mike Yazstremski is on paternity leave, so the Giants are bringing up rookie phenom Luis Matos to take his place. Kyle Harrison makes his SF Giants debut as a full-time regular starter. Harrison ended up pitching six innings, giving up two runs, five strike-outs, and no walks; in fact, Giants pitching gave up zero walks. On the offensive side, third baseman Matt Chapman had himself a game, with two home runs and five RBI's to seal up an 8-3 Giants win over the Padres in another sold out Petco Park in San Diego.
Saturday's game was threatened by rain to be cancelled, but the skies cleared and a pitching duel ensued between newly acquired free agent Jordan Hicks and Padres starter Dylan Cease. The Giants had a 3-1 lead going into the 8th inning, where they exploded for six runs, including Jung Hoo-Lee's first MLB homer, and a grand slam by Michael Conforto. The bullpen, including our ace closer, Camillo Duval, nearly blew it by giving up five runs to the Padres in the 9th, but held on to snag the 9-6 victory.
Sunday's game....ugh....called up from AAA, Dalton Jeffries made the start for the Giants, and it did not go well from the start. By the end of the 3rd inning, it was 12-0 Padres. By the end, it was a Padres 13-4 smackdown. On to LA and the Dodgers!
In LA, with the Dodgers lineup practically being a batters Murderer's Row to pitchers, the Giants held in there, with Giants pitcher Keenan Wynn turning in a respectable outing, but the Dodger bats did their damage in the late innings, eventually beating the Giants, 8-3. A note about this game, post-game umpire analysis showed several missed calls by the home plate umpire-grrr...time to get an eye exam, ump! Tuesdays game had the Dodgers working SF starter's Logan Webb's pitch count hard, over 30 pitches in two innings. The game was close, tied at 2-2, , before LA won 5-4.
Wednesday's game same score, same outcome with a 5-4 loss. Back home for Opening Day at Oracle Park on Friday! BREAKING: As I was getting ready to hit the Publish button, the Oakland A's announced that they will be playing in Sacramento for 2025-27. I'll have more in this in next week's blog. Sad day for A's fans.
Onto basketball, The Golden State Warriors five game road trip continues in Steph Curry's hometown, Charlotte, as the Dubs took on the Hornets. No Jonathan Kuminga or Klay Thompson as both out with minor knee injuries. When your team scores 64-38 in the paint, lock the defense, Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody, Steph Curry and Trayce Jackson-Davis shooting in double figures, the Dubs won their 21st game on the road, 115-97! Third game the Warriors have kept an opposing team under 100 points! On Easter Sunday in San Antonio, the Warriors take on the Spurs and their rookie star, Wembanyana. Wemby ended up scoring 32, and the Dubs had no free throws in the first half. The second half the Dubs who were 13 down at one point, but Draymond Green came ALIVE- 21 points , six steals 11 assists to lead the team to a 117-113 win to close out a successful 4-1 road trip. Back home to Oracle Arena to face the Mavericks!
Missed the Dallas game, but Golden State ended up winning a thriller, 104-100, helped by Andrew Wiggins 23 points, a "block of the year" block by Green, and a defense that held the Mavericks to a point total for each quarter of: 27-22(!)-25-26. Very impressive against the leagues 6th ranked offense and Luka Doncic!
The Dubs play Houston and then Dallas again in Texas, and y'all will have to wait till next week for those results and if Golden State has made the NBA playoffs! Cliffhanger!
The road to the NCAA college basketball finals finals has come to an end for the women's Stanford Cardinal, as they fall to North Carolina State, 77-67 in the Sweet Sixteen round. The men's NC State's Cinderella run continues, as they knock off #2 Marquette, 67-58. In the mens tourney. The Men's Final Four has been set, with UConn, Alabama, Purdue and Cinderella team #11 North Carolina State set to all play on April 6th.
On the ladies side, for me, the REAL championship game in the NCAA Women's tourney is the rematch of last years Championship with defending #3 LSU and Angel Reese versus #1 Iowa and Caitlin Clark. The first half was an offensive shootout, Reese and Clark were on fire, scoring 13 and 19 points respectfully, to lead their teams into halftime tied, 45-45 in a very fast-paced first half! Third quarter was almost all Iowa, at one point going on a 15-3 run and to end the 3rd quarter up, 69-58. Iowa kept the pedal to the metal in the 4th, and with Angel Reese fouling out late in the game, and with Iowa's Caitlin Clark dropping 9 three-pointers, and 41 points to win 94-87 and avenge their championship loss from last season and punch their ticket to the Final Four. An interesting note: for the first time in NCAA history, 2 schools, UConn and NC State will have both the men's and women's teams in the Final Four!
BREAKING: With 12.3 million viewers, the Iowa/LSU game was the most watched sporting event of any sports event from 2023, only the Michigan/Ohio State college football game, and the 2024 Super Bowl had a larger audience! Women's basketball is a THING now!
In tennis, I wasn't expecting to write about the the Miami Open, but dang, there was some fantastic play to reach the finals! First thing we had was Grigor Dimitrov destroying #2 ranked Carlos Alcaraz, 6-2, 6-4. In the post match interview, Carlos said Grigor made him "feel like a 13-year old out there!" Great line, and shows Carlos knows he got schooled!
Highlights of that great match! We know how much I love my Carlitos, so congrats, Grigor!
Then on March 29, we had TWO great semis, as Grigor defeated Alexander Zvevrev 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, while leader of the carrot nation, and playing some out of his mind tennis, #2 Jannick Sinner sailed by Danaii Medevev in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. This set up a showdown on Easter Sunday with Grigor, where Jannick swept Grigor in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. With Jannick winning this title, and Carlos's loss, Jannick will be ranked number two in the ATP rankings come this week, and Jannick is on a 22-1 win record so far this year, only loss being to Carlos at Indian Wells final two weeks ago. A quick note on the ladies side, unranked Danielle Collins, who plans to retire after this season, got the biggest win of her career, as she defeated #4 ranked Elena Rybakina in the Miami Open final, 7-5, 6-3. A nice underdog story for Collins!
EYE CANDY/THIRST TRAP ALERT! If you made it this far, thanks! As a reward for reading this far, I give you a minute's worth of a shirtless and sweaty Carlos Alcaraz workout! I'll give you a moment to "appreciate" it! :)
Beyonce Buzz: Beehive, get in formation, cuz it's Beyonce "Cowboy Carter" video time! First some stats/background: The first single from the album, "Texas Hold Em" is the first ever #1 country single on the charts by a black female artist! The background is that this album has been in the works for over five years, with Bey doing major research on history of country music, and was spurred by Bey's attempts to get into the country music industry, which decided she wasn't wanted....BIG MISTAKE. This album is Bey's answer to those critics, and a bit of a love letter to the genre. I've listened to several tracks, and am just grinning from ear to ear or boppin! Here are four videos I like to share with you. Keep an ear out on Ya-Ya on some familiar and classic sample beats!
Potential LGBTQIA wedding song!
And a friend of mine both without knowing what the other would pick, had this track as one of our faves!
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