6:38: Prediction for Strasburg. 6 1/3 innings pitched, 5 hits, 1 ER, 6 K’s.
6:46: Nick Swisher is doing a tutorial on how to hit a baseball with Harold Reynolds using a tee ball stand. I feel like this is a video for a 10 year old little leaguer. Does not belong on a pregame show for a game like this. Do better MLB Network!
6:52: My dad will be at the Nationals at Indians game on Sunday where Strasburg is expected to make his next start. The ticket he has for that game is $50. He said if someone offers him $400 for it he’ll take it, and go to a bar and watch the game. Can’t say I blame him.
6:54: Bob Costas, John Smoltz, and Jim Kaat are going to call the game. 3 guys who know baseball. Should be a good broadcast.
6:59: Bob Costas talking about Strasburg and then black…DirectTV says game is a blackout. Why?! Because we get Fox Sports Pittsburgh broadcast. So I go from Bob Costas to some Pirates TV announcers I never heard off. What a letdown!! Thanks a lot DirecTV.
7:00: My dad knows who the Pirates Color Analyst is…it’s Tim Neverett a former player. My dad says watch he has a terrible lisp. He’s absolutely right. He whistles his S’s. Just awful. Thanks goodness the Fox Sports Pittsburgh broadcast is in HD at least!
7:05: Strasburg warming up at the mound! Almost time!
7:06: First pitch. Ball outside. Second pitch ball. Neither close. Fans still booing. Third pitch line drive to the shortstop. Out.
7:07: Crowd is still standing. Flashbulbs off cameras.
7:08: Groundout to first for second out. One thing I like about Strasburg. He takes very little time in between pitches. Gets the ball from the catcher and almost immediately throws it back.
7:09: K to end the inning. He can throw the heat, but he has a nasty curve too. Crowd is jumping. With Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Ovechkin, McNabb, and soon to be John Wall there seems to be a revival for sports in D.C. Good for them.
7:12: Pirates pitching, Nationals now hitting. Who cares get me Strasburg again.
7:14: Ryan Zimmerman hits a HR for the Nationals. Crowd not nearly going as crazy as they did for Strasburg’s 1st inning strikeout. 1-0 Nationals.
7:15: Commercial for Pirates. PNC Park on September 5th will have a statue of Bill Mazeroski unveiled outside the Pirates PNC Park. He hit the game winning Game 7 World Series Home Run over the Yankees. Narrator says the statue represents the “Greatest Sports Moment” in Pittsburgh history. Not sure it is. Greatest Pirates moment yes! But isn’t the Immaculate Reception, Super Bowl IX, Super Bowl X, Super Bowl XIII, and Ben Roethlisberger’s bathroom stall incident (haha) all bigger moments. I think of Pittsburgh as more of a Steelers town than a Pirates town.
7:19: Strasburg fell behind 3-0. Then threw 3 straight strikeouts, including a 99 mph fastball for a strike 3, with the Pirates batter swinging like a fool. Damn he’s good.
7:21: Strasburg throws 100 mph for strike 2. Crowd goes wild. Then throws nasty slurve for strike 3. 3 straight K’s. Crowd is delirious.
7:22: Base hit by Andy LaRoche. Strasburg is human.
7:25: Strike 3 looking. 4 K’s in two innings for Strasburg. Unreal.
7:28: Ivan “Pudge” Rodriquez gets a double for the Nationals. Had no idea he was still playing. Had no idea he was still alive haha.
7:37: Strasburg K’s the guy looking to start the 3rd. 5 K’s. My 6 K prediction is looking way too low right now.
7:38: Another K. 6 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Unreal.
7:39: Ground out to 3rd to end the inning. During that entire top of the 3rd the Pirates GM was on to talk about their draft. Didn’t listen to anything he said. Couldn’t Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh have him talk when the Pirates are pitching? Bob Costas where are you!?!? Thanks again DirecTV!!!
7:52: Base hit by the Pirates to start the 4th. Fox Sports Pittsburgh’s cameras show crowd shots of tons of fans in Strasburg #37 shirts. Pirates color analyst Tim Neverett with his lisp thinks the Nationals might have had a giveaway previously to give away shirts. No way!!! Every one of those shirts was paid for I guarantee it! Nationals will profit on Strasburg. What a dumb thought! Where is Bob Costas?!?!?!
7:54: Another base hit. 2 men on now. Wow. Strasburg in his first ever MLB jam.
7:57: Broken bat double play. Two men out, man on 3rd.
7:58: Delwyn Young hits a 2 run HR!!! Holy cow. Pirates up 2-1. We got a game folks!!!
7:59: Pop out to end the top of the 4th. Through 4 innings Strasburg has allowed 2 ER’s, 4 hits, and has 6 K’s.
8:06: Pudge Rodriquez hits a base hit. Man on 1st and 3rd for Nationals with one out. Rodriquez is hitting .331 for the season. Someone test him for steroids!!!
8:07: Pop out to Lastings Milltedge. Throws out the guy at home. Pirates 2 Nationals 1 after 4 innings.
8:10: K to start the inning. 7 strikeouts for Strasburg.
8:11: Did you know you can vote up to 25 times a day for your favorite Pirate to go to the All Star Game? Well according to Fox Sports Pittsburgh you can. Is there ONE Pirates fan out there that is doing that?!?!!?
8:15: Strasburg strikes out the Pirates pitcher to end the inning looking. 8 strikeouts for Strasburg through 5 innings.
8:26: Strasburg strikes out the first two batters to start the 6th inning. 10 K’s. This guy is already a CY Young candidate hahaha!!!
8:28: Strasburg strikes out the side! 11 K’s in 6 innings! I don’t care if this is the Pirates this is still very impressive!
8:33: Adam Dunn crushes a 2 run homerun in the second deck of the right field outfield. 3-2 Nationals. I’m pumped, I want a win for Strasburg!
8:35: Josh Willingham hits a solo homerun. 4-2 Nationals. The way Strasburg is pitching that should be enough. Unless the bullpen blows it.
8:49: 12th Strikeout for Strasburg. 5 K’s in a row. For many pitchers this would be a performance for an ages. For Stephen Strasburg it’s his first start!!!
8:50: 3 strikes in a row for the second out! 13 K’s now. This is amazing!!! The NBA game has a lot to live up to now!!!
8:51: Another 3 strikes in a row! 14 K’s. My dad said it best. “He’s so good for baseball!” Yes this can only help the sport raise it’s popularity. I hope he comes out for the top of the 8th. He hasn’t even thrown 100 pitches yet!!
8:54: Strasburg is being pitched hit for. His night is over. Stats for the night for him is 7 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, and 14 strikeouts. He lived up to the hype and then some. Hopefully the Nats don’t blow this game.
8:58: NBA Finals intros going on right now on ABC. Alright NBA Finals Game 3 let’s go!!! What a great night for sports!
9:01: ABC has had the same stupid montage opening for every NBA Finals game for the past 5 years. It’s so lazy. Man I miss the days of the NBA on NBC…The music was so good, the coverage, everything. Though Breen, Van Gundy, and Jackson are great announcers for ABC.
9:02: KG will play very well tonight. That’s my prediction. I’m saying it right now!
9:06: ABC shows Doc Rivers pregame speech. Phil Jackson is a better coach, but I love when Doc Rivers speaks. I would run through a wall for that guy!
9:07: Awesome move by KG for the first basket!!! Great start to my prediction.
9:08: Oooooohhhhhh!!!!!! Alley oop to Garnett! Heeeeeeee’sssss baaaacckkk!
9:08: Another alley oop to Garnett!!! This could get ugly real fast!!!!
9:11: Nationals got through the top of the 8th allowing no runs. Still 4-2.
9:12: Rondo has his A game tonight!!! 12-5 Celtics. Kobe may need to bring out his selfish shoot everytime game out tonight!
9:16: Ray Allen or Reggie Miller who’s the better all time player? I say Allen, but it’s real close.
9:19: Love the Kobe Sucks chant as Kobe shoots free throws at the line. And Bill Simmons didn’t even tell them to say that!
9:22: 2 fouls on Rondo. This will be a good game. Awful call on Rondo’s 2nd foul. Fisher playing great D on Allen so far too.
9:23: Garnett 4 for 4. No surprise to me lol!
9:23: Garnett is going strong to the basket. 5 for 5.
9:25: Nationals get the win 5-2. Good for Strasburg, good for the Nationals, good for the fans, good for the city of Washington D.C. Baseball is alive and well in Washington D.C.!!!
9:29: Ray Allen 0-5 so far tonight. So if he stinks tonight does that mean he will have another epic performance in Game 4?
9:33: In the offseason Rajon Rondo should practice shooting 1,000 free throws every day. He just badly bricked two. A guard needs to make free throws on a more consistent basis than what he does.
9:35: Dumb foul by Rasheed Wallace at the end of the 1st quarter.
9:37: Alright Paul Pierce I think it’s about time for you to step up.
9:40: That NBA Finals commercial just came on. My dad on seeing Dr. J; “Is he dead?” Me “No.” My dad “Are you sure?” Me “Yes.” Safe to say my dad was never a Sixers or Dr. J fan.
9:43: Lakers 31-17. It’s not a good sign when Shannon Brown is making wide open shots.
9:45: Doc Rivers “We need to get stops.” Nate Robinson “Yeah” nodding his head and looking at everybody. No one responds to him. Know your place Nate.
9:52: Garnett 6 of 8 from the field. LA up 37-26. When will Paul Pierce join the party?
9:57: My dad loves Rondo’s green shoes. Some “Celtic Magic” he says. Yeah my dad has always been a Celtic fan. He knows Bob Cousy and Larry Bird are still alive haha.
9:59: LA is up 41-31 and Kobe really hasn’t done a whole lot yet. Great sign for the Lakers.
10:01: Kobe is 2 of 8 from the field and 0 of 3 from 3. 6 of 6 from the foul line. So he is getting to the line, but he can’t buy a bucket right now.
10:03: Jeff Van Gundy “Your best player shouldn’t be your best liked” talking about Kobe. I couldn’t agree more with him. Kobe and Jordan are winners, yet there teammates hated them. Dwight Howard is a goofball on the court, and has underachieved. And you know what. LeBron is similarly a well liked guy. What has he won so far?
10:06: Lakers up 46-35 after a great hustle play by Kobe. Boston needs to keep this lead 10-12 by halftime. Can’t let the lead get out of hand.
10:09: Kobe is in the game now. Beautiful layup he just made.
10:09: Garnett is keeping Boston in this game.
10:13: Doris Burke looks like she needs a 72 hour nap. Baggy eyes and a very tired look to her all the time.
10:14: LA up 52-40 at half. Boston is still in this game.
10:19: If TNT’s NBA studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley is the porterhouse steak of TV sports studio crews the ABC NBA studio crew of Stuart Scott, Jon Berry, Michael Wilbon, and Magic Johnson are the rotten bologna of TV sports studio crews. Stuart Scott tries to be too cool with the “what’s up y’all” line he always has. He should stick to SportsCenter. Michael Wilbon is much better on PTI than on this show. Much more lively with PTI. Jon Berry says nothing relevant. And Magic Johnson is a much better personality than he is a studio guy. Sorry to say that but it’s true.
10:35: Ray Allen bricks another shot. In Game 4 he will score over 30 points. I am saying it now.
10:36: Would it be too much to ask that Boston have ONE game where Rondo, Allen, Pierce, and Garnett all have good games?
10:37: Pierce with a 3. He’s alive! LA up 54-45.
10:40: Garnett goes to the basket hard and gets fouled.
10:41: Garnett makes both free throws. Lead cut to 56-49.
10:43: I will say the refs are much better tonight so far. Not nearly as ticky-tacky as the refs were in the first two games.
10:45: The new Kobe Nike commercial is just stupid. I don’t get what it means at all!!!
10:53: Boston hanging around. 60-53 LA.
10:57: Nicholas Cage with another crappy movie coming out. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice preview just came out on a commercial. This will be one of the 5 worst movies Disney has ever made easily.
10:59: Kobe’s got the points, but he really isn’t playing that good tonight. He just missed another shot.
11:00: Tony Allen is a great presence off the bench. LA up only 5 now.
11:01: And just like that Kobe makes a 3.
11:02: Tony Allen off the fast break. Huuuuugeeee 3rd quarter for him!!!
11:03: Lakers 67 Celtics 61 after three quarters. Who will be the star to step up in the 4th quarter? My prediction?!?! It will be Rajon Rondo, with a little Kevin Garnett, and Big Baby sprinkled in. Boston comes back from 17 to win an epic game. I hope I’m right.
11:05: These Grown Ups NBA Finals commercials are awful. Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James, and Adam Sandler have no chemistry in these commercials. And why is Sandler wearing a green t-shirt underneath his New York Knicks Willis Reed jersey?!?! That does not match at all!!! Wouldn’t a stylist in the commercial shoot have told him this?
11:08: Big Baby!!! Lead cut to 4!
11:09: Boston crowd is so much better than a LA crowd. Yelling bullshit after bad call on Rasheed. Boston crowd is alive right now in the 4th quarter.
11:12: Great layup by Rondo!!!! One point game!!!! 68-67 LA…Kobe can’t buy a shot right now!!!!!!!!
11:16: Another brick by Kobe!!!! I’m loving this!!!!! Tony Allen playing great D on Kobe!!!
11:18: Another shot by Kobe, another miss. What more can you say?!?!!?
11:19: KG with another bucket!!! One point game!
11:20: Green Shoes Rondo with a nice pass to Big Baby who gets fouled. Big Baby needs to make both these free throws.
11:21: Big Baby misses the first, makes the second. Ok, but two would have been better.
11:21: Bynum misses an easy put back layup. Uh-oh LA!!!
11:22: LA 74-70 5:40 to go…..We’re in for a very good finish.
11:23: How many takes do you think it took to do that Charles Barkley $2 Taco Bell meal commercial? I say no way it was over 3. Very little acting there. Yet Barkley still kills it! “Terrible!”
11:26: Big Baby with the basket and the foul!!! I said the Ticket Stub would be a sprinkle in the 4th quarter. I was wrong; he’s been the main desert! And he made the foul shot!
11:28: Ron Artest is in the NBA Finals! Good hustle play by him to knock the ball off of Ticket Stub. And another big shot by Derek Fisher.
11:29: Pierce for 3!!! LA 78-76
11:30: Kobe and Ray Allen will make one great house with all the bricks they’ve had tonight!
11:30: KG!!! LA 80-78
11:31: Every time Boston cuts it to a one possession game someone from LA comes back to make it two possessions again. This time it was Gasol. LA 82-78. If Boston could just tie it.
11:35: KG cuts it to two. Can Boston get a stop?!?!
11:35: Kobe finally makes a shot when it counts. That’s why he’s Kobe. Clutch when it matters.
11:36: Charles Barkley “Momma pick up the phone!”
11:37: Ball def. went off of Garnett’s hand. DAMMITT!!!
11:39: How the hell is that a jump ball?!?! Ball went off Odom!!! Get Boston the ball refs!!!
11:41: Allen couldn’t make the 3. 0-13 from the field, 0-8 from 3. Unbelievalbe. Then Fisher makes the bucket and the foul. MVP for LA is Derek Fisher.
11:42: LA 87-80 with 48 seconds left. Looks like LA will win. Damn!
11:44: Paul Pierce with a basket and foul.
11:45: Another review coming in the last two minutes…When did the NBA become the NFL?!?! I like that they do this though. You see this MLB?!?!?!
11:47: Good call on Garnett. Dumb foul by KG!!! Completely unnecessary!
11:48: 89-82 LA. Game over!
11:50: Final Lakers 91 Celtics 84.
11:51: I know Fisher has been through a lot, and that’s why he’s emotional…but it’s only Game 3 of the Finals Fisher. Still a few games left.
11:53: Boston needs all four of the Big 4 to show up in Game 4. Four for four in four would be the motto I would say.
11:55: So here are the two stats that kill Boston. Phil Jackson is 47-0 all time in series when winning Game 1 of a series, and the team that wins Game 3 of the NBA Finals in the 2-3-2 format when the series is tied 1-1 is 10-0 all time in the series. But you know what? No baseball team ever came back from 3-0 down in a series. Then came the 2004 Boston Red Sox. So I still have faith in the Celtics.
Kofod
