In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Tim Duncan scored 21 points and Tony Parker added 17 as the Spurs moved on to the Western Conference Dinals with a 102-99 win (and a 4-0 sweep) over the Clippers. After the win, Duncan sneaked off to the parking lot, sat in the backseat of his minivan, and filled a plastic cup to the halfway line with red wine. "This is your moment, Tim," he whispered to himself. "Enjoy." He took one sip, stared at the wine, and whispered, "Don't be a glutton" before carefully pouring the rest back in the bottle.
Earlier this week, ESPN SweetSpot writer David Schoenfield declared fully recovered White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy the game’s best hurler. Peavy’s comeback, from two-time ERA champ to desperately dangling limb and now back to a batter-baffling force, has been remarkable and was never a given. But as good as Peavy’s been, overwhelming hitters with his four-pitch repertoire, he isn’t a guy who haunts the nightmares of his opponents. Stephen Strasburg, well, he’s another story.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Thursday.
On a night when Kobe Bryant was hampered with a stomach issue, Ty Lawson scored 32 points and the Nuggets forced a Game 7 with a 113-96 win over the Lakers. "It sucks when you're sick for a big playoff game, doesn't it?" said Michael Jordan, in a really sarcastic phone call to Bryant. "So hard to play well. So hard to win. Hey, good luck man. Good luck with everything. Jordan out."
Andre Ethier had battled gamely against three blazing fastballs, a four-seamer at 97, another at 96, and a filthy two-seamer at 97. Now, he was set up. The pitcher reared back and fired, throwing from a nearly identical release point. Only this offering was anything but identical to the previous three. An assassin of a pitch, it started belt-high, then dive-bombed into the dirt in a flash. Ethier flailed wildly at it, caught nothing but air. Strike three.
In another era, you might have assumed it was a spitball or a shine ball, since pitches don't usually move like that without a little help. But this wasn't a product of Gaylord Perry's or Eddie Cicotte's imagination, or saliva. For one thing, the pitcher hadn't done anything illegal. For another, none of the master deceivers of yore could throw a pitch with that much break, and get so much on it.
As Ethier turned to walk back to the dugout, viewers at home could only stare slack-jawed at the radar gun reading. Stephen Strasburg had just thrown a completely unhittable beast of a change-up. At 90 miles an hour. Two minutes later, he made Aaron Miles look like a T-baller hopped up on Nyquil, humiliating him with a 99 mph fastball.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Stephen Strasburg made his long-awaited return from injury for the Nationals, throwing five scoreless innings and getting a no decision in a 7-3 loss to the Dodgers. It's good news for the city of Washington, where the situation is so dire that if Strasburg had lasted another inning, he would've automatically become the House majority whip.
Monday was a lovely night for baseball in Hagerstown, Md.: clear skies and 76 degrees for three innings of Stephen Strasburg. That might explain how a team in the Class A South Atlantic League drew a crowd of 1,652 fans. But this was Stephen Strasburg! Of course 1,652 people would come to watch him. And yet, what makes Strasburg's minor league stints even more remarkable is that this sort of fuss almost never happens.
It's August in Washington, D.C., which typically means two things: It is stink-hot and the Redskins have not yet had a chance to underperform. This year, just like all the others, it's stifling outside — I stink — and the Redskins haven't named a starter at QB. ('Tho, you know, what if Sexy Rexy Grossman can channel his 2006 self … and Ryan Torain can stay healthy all season … and … oh, goddammit, I'm doing it again.)
But Sunday delivered an altogether atypical experience for a D.C. sports fan — particularly one who roots for the local professional baseball team — and it had nothing to do with Jayson Werth actually getting a big hit in a big moment. No, what made Sunday special was an awesome 1⅔ innings in a baseball game in Hagerstown, Md.
