The French Open (Men’s) // MLB: Colorado Rockies “On The Slide;” NL/AL Standings.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).  

French Open   ---   Tennis great from Switzerland, Roger Federer, has won 17 Grand Slam events but hasn’t owned the French Open as many times as Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who has seven wins at Paris, interrupted in 2005 when Federer grabbed the title. Recently, Nadal defeated Federer at the Italian Open, and an unimproved Federer could lose again to Nadal at Paris in coming days.

But the Swiss master of smarts, power + precision has risen smoothly in two French Open rounds in five days; he’s “back on game,” if you will.

So, Team Nadal has reason to re-think strategy. It’s unlikely that Nadal will be facing the same Federer that opposed him at Italy.

Also at Paris, Nadal’s to be concerned about number one in the men’s standings, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, thought by many analysts to be best in the world today and winner of six of his last seven matches---a French Open crown hasn’t landed on Djokovic’s resume yet.

The record says that there’s no dark horse, no fourth athlete capable of causing arguably the world’s three best tennis players to be eliminated at Paris. Of course, that’s to be seen---a few years ago, no-one suspected that Djokovic could be that dark horse at any Grand Slam event.

More conspicuous now is that if a largely unknown player suddenly leaps forward as a serious challenge to Federer, Nadal and/or Djokovic, it’s unlikely that he will be an American.

It’s easily noted from a brief look at world standings and U.S. men tennis players, that the Americans are far behind the best of the best, and it’s been that way for a long while. It’s many years since American men hit the finals not just at the French Open but at the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Open events “regularly,” e.g., the last U.S. male player to lead in the world for more than a brief period and to win at the French Open was Andre Agassi, in 1995. From the 1970’s until the late 1990’s, the seven best of world tennis were, in succession and overlapping, (alphabetical order:) Agassi, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Jim Courier, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras.

Not that the American men of the pro- tennis circuit are way below the margin; several are within the top twenty-five percent. But, why no U.S. male consistently at the summit, as in years gone by? Reasons given never seem to be steel-and-concrete. If true, they appear to be that which could be put asunder easily by U.S. players and their coaches early on, for instance, these excuses: the Cold War freed East European and Russians to nurture their talent; athletes from other countries train harder; Americans live and train in environments loaded with distractions; athletes outside America are more motivated to earn the money that pro- tennis provides. This writer believes that these reasons may exist in a few cases and that they are minor determinants, but that that no-one has figured out precisely the main reason(s) why the U.S. near-dynasty re. men and world tennis has dissipated, while women’s singles hasn’t fallen back drastically, e.g., in recent years Serena Williams and Venus Williams ranking high repeatedly, defeating some of the best non-U.S. women tennis players ever.  .  .  For more about the French Open, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Colorado Rockies   ---   A fan writes, “Seems the Rockies are two teams, and you never know which one you’re going to get to watch.” A safe assumption is that the writer is addressing a perceived Rockies A, the team that wins games, and a Rockies B, the team that loses games, which would be an easy assumption to prove if the rosters for each were mostly different, but it’s usually the same guys winning and the same guys losing. Of course, reasons for this inconsistency within any baseball organization are hard to discover and put solutions to.

Some managers, coaches and players keep saying that you just have to ride out the bad days, put them behind you mentally and do your best next game. Others decide that their team needs total makeover, so they reconstruct line-ups, change rotations, pull players up from the minors, send a few down. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn’t.

Right now, after winning enough games to return to second place with the NL West behind the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Rockies are back at third position, having lost three of four games to the AL’s Houston Astros. What’s that, the 17-37/.315 Astros, the second worst team in the majors? Last night, it was 7-5, Astros ahead after the Rockies had established a 3-0 lead through the third inning. Sixth inning, the Astros developed six runs, which the Rockies could only match with two in subsequent innings.

Maybe the Rockies aren’t so much the team of vastly different sides suggested by many observers. Perhaps the same characteristics that seem to pull the Rockies down and cause losses also exist when the Rockies win games. For example, most notable when the Rockies are losing are the runners in scoring position who never get to score, those left on base as a third out occurs and the Rockies must return to the field. But there’s a tendency to forget about this issue ever existing when during one or two half-innings a Rockies home run or extra base hit brings in a run or two and the Rockies start leading, maybe they win the game---yet at the end of the won game there are as many as seven, maybe eight players having been left on base from third outs. Win or lose, the Rockies need to overcome that inability to push runners around the bases and home.

Too, in wins the reliance has seemed to be on the heavier hitters, OF Carlos Gonzalez, IF Troy Tulowitzki, catcher Wilin Rosario. This has also been a factor when the Rockies have lost games, the truth of it being that baseball’s very best hitters can’t always be depended upon for the HR or that extra-base shot linked to RBI’s.

Cited above, then, are the weakest characteristics within the Rockies offense, and they exist within Colorado’s wins as well as during the team’s losses---an argument can be made that one’s offense is only as good as it’s weakest parts.

As for pitching rotation, there have been some great successive innings by Rockies starters this year, but some starters lose efficiency sooner than others and some more erratically than others. For whatever reason, when some Rockies starters begin fading it’s rarely gradual; they drop down the ladder from rung 10 to zero in a matter of a few batters being faced: no more strikes from them, just hits given away, often the home run.

Sure, fans like to see the good starter accrue enough innings so the hurler can get credit for a win, and a manager wants to believe that the sudden faltering is going to go away quickly and sometimes that is what happens, but in too many cases the Rockies starter fails to recover and the manager porbably wishes he’d been less optimistic and taken him out sooner. Though not always a prescription for losing, this delay pushes a team in that direction.

Yes, relieving a pitcher is a judgment call. Last season, then Rockies manager, Jim Tracy, thought he could fix starter fallback by limiting starters to a specific number of pitches, with a reliever in at that number no matter how well the starter may have been doing. An extreme approach, such also relieved the manager of having to make a judgment call, so a lot of good arms were wasted. Rockies current and perceptive manager, Walt Weiss, prefers the role of decider here, and so a refining of his focus for earlier + tougher mound-replacement decision-making is probably at the top of his agenda.

MLB   --- Only one MLB National League franchise that failed to finish the 2012 season above .500 is today leading a division, the NL West’s’ 30-23/.566 Arizona  Diamondbacks, and only one NL franchise that finished the 2012 season above .600 and close to the top of a division is now holding a last place slot, the NL West’s’ currently below .500 Los Angeles Dodgers, 22 wins, 29 losses.

The two other NL division leading teams were also high flyers in 2012---the NL Central’s 35-17/.673 St. Louis Cardinals and the NL East’s 32-21/.604 Atlanta Braves. Presently, the Cardianls are leading both leagues.  

Within the American League, the only franchise that completed 2012 under .500 and that leads a division today is the AL East’s 33-22/.600 Boston Red Sox. But no AL franchise that finished above .600 and within a division was either first, second or even third place last year is today a last place club.

Leading the AL West today are the 33-20/.623 Texas Rangers, and leading the AL Central are the 29-23/.558 Detroit Tigers---these teams finished at the top last year, reaching the ALC playoffs.

Other upward turns from last year are the NL West’s’ 28-26/.519 Colorado Rockies (3d place, behind 2d place San Francisco Giants), the NL Central’s 34-20/.630 Pittsburgh Pirates (2d place behind the Cardinals), the AL Central’s 29-24/.547 Cleveland Indians (2d place), franchises that finished in MLB’s bottom half last year.

So, at 50+ 2013 games played per team today, we can argue safely that at the very top of the standings baseball seems a lot like last year, while beneath it’s a much different set of games. Not a complete spray of Deja Vu going on, unless you are the Miami Marlins and the Houston Astros, last place teams in 2012, same as now.    

More re. French Open   (Revised from previous posting)---   The French Open began Sunday, May 26, and is the second of four Grand Slam tennis events after the Australian Open. The Fr. Open always occurs in late May, then comes Wimbledon (London, U.K.), afterward the U.S. Open (NYC). Here’s data for anyone wanting to be other than clueless about the Paris happening---

The Fr. Open has been around since 1891, an Open since the late 1920’s. It is always held at Paris, now at the city of lights’ “Roland Garros” arena.”

In 1928, the Fr. Open went from “grass” to “red clay” and has remained the latter.

Among the 16 countries that have had winners in the men’s Fr. Open since WW2, France is not among them. Since WW2, 12 of the 16 have had multiple Fr. Open winners in the men’s category, the most belonging to Australia and the United States, 11 each (Not number of wins per player, rather number of players with multiple wins). Next is Sweden, 10, the United Kingdom being tied at the bottom with two multiple winners along with Argentina and Egypt.

Among the 19 countries with multiple Fr. Open winners in the women’s category, France is among them---seven wins, though the U.S. is highest in the category with 13 multiple female winners since the Fr. Open went from only amateur to all-inclusive in the late 1920’s. Next is Australia, Belgium, Germany and Yugoslavia, tied at four players having multiple wins.

Since WW2, the Fr. Open men’s competitor with the most wins is Spain’s Rafael Nadal---seven victories. Next, Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, with six wins. The American male with the most Fr. Open wins is Ivan Lendl, three (1984, 1986, 1987).

The woman player with the most Fr. Open wins is America’s Chris Evert, with seven. Next since WW2 is Germany’s Stefi Graff, with six. Third is Australia’s Margaret Court, with five wins. America’s Martina Navratalova is tied with four others at two wins.

U.S. men that have won the Fr. Open one or more times in the past 50 years, they are Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang, Jim Courier and Andre Agassi, who is the last American male to win the Fr. Open (1999).

U.S. women who have won the Fr. Open one or more times---Chris Evert, Martina Navratalova, Jennifer Capriati, and Serena Williams.

The only U.S. Fr. Open women winners since year 2000 are Jennifer Capriati, 2001, and Serena Williams, 2002, having defeated sister, Venus Williams, in the Final match-up.

The 2012 holder of the Fr. Open women’s title is Russia’s Maria Sharapova. 

Starting 2005, and except for 2009 when the event went to Switzerland’s Roger Federer, Spain’s Rafael Nadal has won the Fr. Open every year. .  .  After having defeated Federer recently at the Italian Open, analysts are suggesting that Nadal will win the Fr. Open again this year, providing, of course, that top world player, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, isn’t the leading player at Roland Garros---no Fr. Open on his list of wins yet.  

Among women players expected to reach the semi- and finals this year, analysts are saying that America’s Serena Williams will be among them and has what it takes to win the women’s title. This weekend, her sister Venus, a seven time Grand Slam event winner but never a Fr. Open winner went down in the first round, losing to a player ranked 40^th among world players.

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NBA: the Playoff’s Best Shooters  //  World Tennis: the French Open  // MLB: “Around The Horn.”

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).  

NBA  ---   IT’s our guess that the 2012/13 NBA playoff-Finals will set the San Antonio Spurs against the Miami Heat unless the East’s Indiana Pacers rev it up in truly surprising ways. But let’s put that issue aside, for there’s another NBA ramp-up that will continue, that which reflects NBA players having scored the most points since the 2012/13 post-season began, and what that has to say about the NBA game. For instance, among top NBA scorers during the current year’s playoffs, only one player from a Western Conference team entering the Finals is on the top 10 list, the Spurs Tony Parker, as of Saturday Parker in at number eight on the list having scored 285 points and posted a 21 points-per-game average. Does this likley sole entry into the Finals mean that high scoring stars aren’t as relevant for getting there as many NBA observers keep arguing, strengthened when noted is that if the East’s Indiana Pacers make it to the Finals they’ll be without any team member on the top 10 scorers list.

Yet if the Heat dominates, it could very well be because of the East’s second highest high scorer on the top 10 list, LeBron James, who if in this year’s Finals will have an opportunity to lead the 10 best scorers list with more than his current 282 playoff points and his playoff 25.1 ppg average, though he’s now number four within the top 10, in spite of his having the most field goal points---126.

Is the James factor saying that it’s the top ten-level scorers who pull a team across playoff games into the Finals? 

A significant data point is that the top three of the 10 best playoff scorers are with teams defeated and eliminated from the playoffs, the current number one being Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant having 339 total points. With 91 of those being free throw points, his ppg average rose to 30.1, higher than LeBron’s and higher than that of number two on the top 10 list, the N.Y. Knicks Carmelo Anthony, who accrued 346 points with only 71 being FT’s, leveling his ppg at 28.1. Number three on the top 10 list is the Houston Rockets James Harden, his 158 points gained during only six games, therefore he has a 26.1 ppg average, higher than James’ ppg but less points than James’ 282 that were from 11 games played. Well, these three high scorers weren’t enough to keep the Thunder, the Knicks and the Rockets from reaching the Finals.  

Also revealing is that six of the top 10 playoff scorers are from the West, and two of the top three are from the East, a kind of rough balance, but when combining all points accrued separately by West and East players on the list the West leaps ahead, 1,336 vs. the East’s 930.

But a factor drawing West and East back into a rough balance is that if it’s to be the Spurs vs. the Heat, the only top 10 scorers in the Finals will be the West’s Parker and the East’s James. A third show of balance is that of the top 10 playoff scorers, five are from major market/big city organizations, the other five from mid-market/mid-size city teams, with numero uno Durant from the former, and number nine on the list, Ty Lawson (Denver Nuggets), also from a mid-market/mid-size city.

And, the West has two players from the same division on the top 10 playoff scorers list, while the East has three, close enough to suggest an East/West balance re. number of top playoff scorers.

So, what can we make of all this? Surely that the NBA has tilted West over East this playoff season when it comes to scoring prowess, a kind of save-face data point should the West lose to the East in the Finals.

An argument is that since six of the top 10 playoff scorers have consistently been regular season star shooters, that’s what a team needs to get to the playoffs, but this is an argument that’s weakened when noted is that the remaining four top playoff scorers have not been star shooters during the regular season and they play for teams known more for teamwork reliance than for one or two superb shooters, this latter fact strengthened when noted is that only one or two players from the top 10 scorers list will be in the year’s Finals.

If there’s an upshot from the above-cited heavy mix of numbers, it’s that an NBA team having top-of-the-heap shooters can certainly matter, especially if that’s all that a franchise has for the playoff possibility, but that certainly isn’t the end-all.

French Open --- The French Open began only a few days ago, and is the second of four Grand Slam tennis events after the Australian Open. The Fr. Open always occurs in late May, then comes Wimbledon (London, U.K.), afterward the U.S. Open (NYC). Here’s data for anyone wanting to be other than clueless about the Paris happening---

The Fr. Open has been around since 1891, an Open since the late 1920’s. It is always held at Paris, now at the city of lights’ “Roland Garros” arena.”

In 1928, the Fr. Open went from “grass” to “red clay” and has remained the latter.

Among the 16 countries that have had winners in the men’s Fr. Open since WW2, France is not among them. Since WW2, 12 of the 16 have had multiple Fr. Open winners in the men’s category, the most belonging to Australia and the United States, 11 each (Not number of wins per player, rather number of players with multiple wins). Next is Sweden, 10, the United Kingdom being tied at the bottom with two multiple winners along with Argentina and Egypt.

Among the 19 countries with multiple Fr. Open winners in the women’s category, France is among them---seven wins, though the U.S. is highest in the category with 13 multiple female winners since the Fr. Open went from only amateur to all-inclusive in the late 1920’s. Next is Australia, Belgium, Germany and Yugoslavia, tied at four players having multiple wins.

Since WW2, the Fr. Open men’s competitor with the most wins is Spain’s Rafael Nadal---seven victories. Next, Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, with six wins. The American male with the most Fr. Open wins is Ivan Lendl, three (1984, 1986, 1987).

The woman player with the most Fr. Open wins is America’s Chris Evert, with seven. Next since WW2 is Germany’s Stefi Graff, with six. Third is Australia’s Margaret Court, with five wins. America’s Martina Navratalova is tied with four others at two wins.

U.S. men that have won the Fr. Open one or more times in the past 50 years, they are Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang, Jim Courier and Andre Agassi, who is the last American male to win the Fr. Open (1999).

U.S. women who have won the Fr. Open one or more times---Chris Evert, Martina Navratalova, Jennifer Capriati, and Serena Williams.

The only U.S. Fr. Open women winners since year 2000 are Jennifer Capriati, 2001, and Serena Williams, 2002, having defeated sister, Venus Williams, in the Final match-up.

The 2012 holder of the Fr. Open women’s title is Russia’s Maria Sharapova.  

Starting 2005, and except for 2009 when the event went to Switzerland’s Roger Federer, Spain’s Rafael Nadal has won the Fr. Open every year. .  .  After having defeated Federer recently at the Italian Open, analysts are suggesting that Nadal will win the Fr. Open again this year.

Among women players expected to reach the semi- and finals this year, analysts are saying that America’s Serena Williams will be among them and has what it takes to win the women’s title. This weekend, her sister Venus, a seven time Grand Slam event winner but never a Fr. Open winner went down in the first round, losing to a player ranked 40^th among world players.

MLB   ---   The St Louis Cardinals, the Atlanta Braves, the Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox are now the only MLB division first place teams with 30 or more wins---33, 30, 32 and 32 respectively. Closest with 30 or more wins and as division second and third place clubs are the Cincinnati Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees---32, 31, 30 .  .  .   The NL Central and the NL West appear to be the more contentious among the six MLB divisions, in that the NL Central’s top three teams, the Cardinals, Red and Pirates, are 32, 32 and 31 wins respectively, while the NL West’s top three, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Giants and the Colorado Rockies, are 29, 28 and 27 wins respectively, and NL West’s fourth and fifth place teams are but six and seven games behind.   .   . The NL West’s disparity between first place and last is the least within both MLB leagues, the Los Angeles Dodgers being only seven games behind first place team, the Diamondbacks.  .  . The greater disparities within the MLB belongs to the NL East and the AL West, where both last place teams, the Miami Marlins and the Houston Astros are 17 games behind first place teams, the Braves, the Rangers.  .  . First place teams with least number of wins to date within both leagues are the Diamondbacks and the AL Central’s Detroit Tigers, each with 29 wins.  .  .  Sixteen of the 30 MLB clubs are now above .500, eight from each league. Were the majors competing with a similar pair of pro- leagues today, they’d be a winning enterprise.

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MLB: NL & AL Rankings; Rockies, the View From Above; Baseball-International.   

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).

MLB Rankings  ---   THE National League Central’s leading team, the St. Louis Cardinals, tied this week with the American League West’s number one club, the Texas Rangers, at 30 wins apiece. This put them at the number one spot, both MLB leagues. And, seven other franchises are atop MLB’s remaining four divisions with regard to number of games won. That adds up to nine baseball clubs leading the six divisions that constitute the majors. How could that be? Easy enough to understand regarding games won, when three teams are tied for first place within the NL West---the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants, each at 21 wins as of this morning, while inside the AL the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have the same number of won games keeping them above their competing AL East teams---28.

A sure divider concerning the two MLB leagues remains the number of teams above .500 but under .600, there being only four within the NL versus the AL’s six. That said, the AL has six teams at or above .600, while the AL has only two in this category, though three of the NL’s four clubs over .600 are within a single division, the NL Central. Yet the NL has three teams below .400, and the AL but one team under .400---the AL West’s 14-33/.298 Houston Astros. At this time, no MLB division can boast of every club within being over .500. Worst team in both leagues today? The NL East’s 13-34/.277 Miami Marlins. From all of this, the two leagues seem closer in ability to win games, than they appear apart, but they appear different in how won games and standings have added up re. either league.   

First and second place teams within each division are, of course, the hottest of contentions. Presently, the only deep division disparities between first and second place MLB franchises include the Rangers five game lead over the Oakland Athletics, and the five games that the San Diego Padres are behind the three NL West teams that are now tied at first position. The 28-18 Atlanta Braves are four games ahead of the Washington Nationals today, and the 25-22 Baltimore Orioles are behind the tied Yankees/Red Sox by three wins, but the 29-18 Cincinnati Reds are behind the Cardinals by only one game, the Detroit Tigers are back of the Cleveland Indians also by just one win.

Fact: were the MLB divisions in contention with each other, the NL Central would be leading the NL now with 124 wins over the NL West’s 118 and over the NL East’s 105. The top division re. won games in the AL today, that’s the AL East having 125 and being the only MLB division with just one team under .500, the 20-27/.426 Toronto Blue Jays. Next best division within the AL is the AL Central with 119 wins, last being the AL West with 109 wins, this number odd in that atop the AL West are two of the hottest AL teams, the Rangers and the 25-23/.521 A’s.

Best division re. wins in the MLB, then, is the AL East, one game up over NL Central.

So, which is best? When looking at all of this as an East vs.West tourney, the NL East appears to prevail over the AL West with its 118 wins over 109. The NL Central tops the AL Central with 124 won games against 113, but the NL East’s 105 knees to the AL East’s 125.

Next question, “Is one league really better than the other, if total number of wins to date is the measure?” With all those differences shown, and our adding up the wins of each league, surprisingly each league’s total number of wins is today the same: 347 won games apiece.

More than one wise GM and club manager has thought to himself, “Do the math in baseball enough times and what you come up with in the end is the phrase, 'Go figure!'”

Rockies    ---    For the Colorado Rockies now it has to be about gaining the tags “Intrepid,” “Consistent,” “Powerful leading club,” and that will take the usual requirements +, in other words a starting rotation that can maximize strikeouts while minimizing opposing team runs, and a line-up that can deliver extra-base hits and furnish RBI’s, therefore keeping to a minimum runners left on base from third outs. What are the necessary plusses? Among them, there’s that most careful calculation when by a fourth or fifth inning a Rockies starter has kept the opposing club scoreless but starts throwing fewer strikes and allowing more hits, i.e., is it time then for manager Walt Weiss to call his currently high above the margin bull pen, is it time to send the right reliever to maintain that big Zip other side of the mound, or should the starter continue? Probably the correct thing to do is to call that constantly imporving bull pen. Right now, the Rockies relievers are among the best within the NL’s top seven teams, holding a 3.8 ERA, including LH Rex Brothers, who managed a scoreless 16 innings streak, and closer RH Rafael Betancourt, he has 10 of 10 saves this year. 

Too, the line-up that’s helped to take the Rockies back from the dark side and up through the gray area into the light of being tied at first place with the Giants and the DB’s, such needs no mending now, not past the D.J. LeMahieu replacement for infielder Josh Rutledge being suddenly off-game in the field and hitting well below .300, while at Triple-A LeMahieu had been batting above .330, succeeding as shortstop although he’ll be a second baseman starting tonight vs. the Giants.

Weiss may have hit upon a batting order that eluded former manager, Jim Tracy, during the 2012 MLB season, now having lots of flexibility via either Dexter Fowler (OF) or Eric Young, Jr. (OF), maybe Johnathan Herrera (IF) leading off, giving deep ball hitters Carlos Gonzales (LF) and Troy Tulowitzki (SS) the opportunity for putting numbers on the board early on, with next-up hitters being catcher Wilin Rosario, first baseman-alternates Todd Helton and Jordan Pacheco plus third baseman, Nolan Arenado, each continuing the line of power at a high enough level to push RBI’s the likes of those that helped the Rockies win series recently vs. the Giants and the DB’s. Leading off with Fowler has had high value, he’s batting over .310. Gonzalez, Tulowitzki and Pacheco are also batting above .300.

After playing the Giants, for the Rockies it’s the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers, six games vs. teams that are last in their respective divisions and far below .500.

With the vs. Giants series starting today, the Rockies have solid opportunities across nine games for summiting and leaving the other NL West teams behind.

World   ---   This year’s World Baseball Classic drew enough viewers to cause TV and venue execs to shout “Give us more,” while a greater number of MLB players have expressed interest in being a part of the WBC’s next go-round. It’s quite possible that as many as 30 countries will be sending teams for it by the next decade, more than in any WBC to date.

But what caught our attention this week is a seeding that has begun to internationalize baseball as played in America, much in the manner that the National Basketball Association has gone “world,” though, by comparison baseball’s internationalization has been at a narrower and slower pace.

Nearly every NBA team has one or more athletes from countries outside the U.S., and the variance is more like the United Nations than baseball having leaned for years mostly into Central America and Japan for gifted ballplayers. NBA players are from the African nations, from Germany, Italy, France, Argentina, Croatia, Israel, Turkey, China, from several other countries, as well.

Baseball’s seeding for international expansion has existed quietly at what’s been MLB’s “Europe Academy,” based at an Olympic training center, Tirrenia, Italy, and the second graduate of this institution to hit the majors in America is Don Lutz (raised, Germany), a new Cincinnati Reds outfielder who hit his first career home run on May 13. He follows Italian ballplayer, Alex Liddi, now with the Seattle Mariners.

The “Europe Academy” functions throughout August every summer, with MLB responsible for, and managing, the program that is limited to approximately 60 players selected from the European and African countries. MLB has operated a similar program for Asian athletes at Australia. Go World, Go!

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BASEBALL: MLB’s Upticks & Drawdowns; Rockies Win Series Versus Giants // Tennis: the Italian Open, Results.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).

            MLB   ---     IN professional American baseball a lot can happen in a week’s time, or in a day, for instance, the San Francisco Giants dropped from first to third place in the National League West, while second place team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, they are now the NL West’s leading ballclub, with last week’s third place franchise, the Colorado Rockies, behind Arizona by only one game on Monday, then back in third place on Tuesday with a game behind the Diamondbacks, and the Giants back in second place today---Phew!

In the NL Central, the leading St. Louis Cardinals (28-15) maintained “unexpectedly” a single game edge above the ever-improving Cincinnati Reds, and in the NL East the 26-18 Atlanta Braves increased its lead over division number two, the Washington Nationals, today the Braves being three games up.

            In the American League West, the 29-16 Texas Rangers’ seven-game lead over second place team, the Oakland Athletics, dropped back by two in number of wins. Last week’s number two, the current 20-25 Seattle Mariners, now holds third position in the AL West.

In the AL Central, the 26-17 Cleveland Indians increased its lead to three games up, while in the AL South the 28-16 New York Yankees are leading the Boston Red Sox by one win.

            The Texas Rangers are still leading both leagues, but only by a single game. Directly behind are the Cardinals, and at the heels of the Cards are the Yankees, Red Sox and the Reds.

Among last week’s third place teams within each of the six MLB divisions, the AL West’s Rockies and the NL West’s Athletics advanced to second place, having added three wins. All other third place teams have remained in position, three winning but two games and two not winning any. The last place teams of the six MLB divisions haven’t budged in the standings, though the AL Central’s 18-23 Minnesota Twins moved from last to fourth position only for a day.

Least number of wins is still the fate of the Miami Marlins and the Houston Astros, both with 12 wins against 32 losses.

The remaining surprises are the 18-25 Los Angeles Dodgers, 17-27 L.A. Angels and the 20-23 Chicago White Sox, neither holding higher positions within their respective divisions and leagues. Each finished last season well above .500 and showed promise for upward mobility this year.

The upside of surprise belongs to AL Central’s number one club, the 26-17 Indians, which finished last year fifth from the bottom, both leagues.

The MLB changes of the past week, during which no game was won in the same manner, is surely a putdown vs. viewers who say watching one baseball game a year is the same as seeing the remaining 4,859.  

Colorado Rockies  ---    Were it not for last night’s Colorado Rockies 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night, the possibility of a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks would still underscore another possibility, that of the Rockies returning to first place within the National League West by, say, Monday of next week. Could the Rockies now take the Diamondbacks down for two, winning the series? Yes, if they could play as they had during three of four games versus the San Francisco Giants, a series that ended on Saturday with a 10-2 victory.

Not seen in the wins vs. the Giants was a Rockies team that until then in May had rarely advantaged having runners in scoring position, that is, couldn’t push them home during two-out situations. Nor in the first weeks of May had Rockies hitters operated above-the-margin enough times; only a few could hit appropriately against the particular challenge being faced at the plate, and the Rockies pitching staff couldn’t keep from giving away more runs than the Rockies had accrued.

But facing the Giants, the Rockies equation included good hitting, fine pitching and superb field-defense in “near-perfect” balance, and that could be from what’s been an essentially above-the-margin crew, best addressed by the numbers, e.g., the Rockies 15 current season wins against NL West opponents are not only across-the-board, that is, not only have the Rockies defeated each of the four other NL West franchises this year, they have defeated each two or more times. The Rockies have also won games against two of this year’s top five MLB teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves, and five of the team’s wins have included nine or more runs, which translates into one run gained per inning.

The merry month of May hasn’t been merry for the Rockies, but they finished April at 16-11 and they held first place in the NL West twice, though briefly. Despite having experienced 28 innings in May without having posted a run, Rockies batters haven’t been a zero bunch, not with shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler, first baseman Todd Helton and catcher Wilin Rosario likely to be the five players contributing more significantly during critical situations as the season continues, also being the hitters that in May anchored the Rockies to sufficient credibility, i.e., “out of the range of data planted by the Houston Astros and the Miami Marlins," both being last place teams within their divisions. During the Rockies last road trip, three of Tulowitzki’s five hits were extra-base hits, and more than a dozen of his RBI’s have produced a lead in games played. In addition, since his rookie year, 2007, Tulowitzki has hit 138 home runs (as of last Friday). That averages out to almost 28 per year, five years straight. It also means that Tulowitzki has led all MLB shortstops in home runs accrued since 2007. Moreover, teammate, Carlos Gonzalez, he’s leading the NL in number of runs achieved so far this year, 31 as of Friday, while Dexter Fowler has been the fourth player in MLB history to have blasted six home runs during his first 10 games played. And, the Rockies Todd Helton ranks as one of baseball’s top extra-base hitters (966, career), a record within which places him as 20th in the MLB in achievement of doubles, 573. Wilin Rosario put up 28 home runs last season, plus 71 RBI’s. And, without any doubt, while not fantastic the Rockies pitching staff is much improved, 11-8 at home, 21-20 on the road, ERA 3.8.  

Last night, the Rockies went down primarily from inability to counter Diamondbacks starting pitcher, Patrick Corbin, surely an ace; he’s won nine games per nine starts for the Diamondbacks this year. Tonight could be iffy, with the DB’s Ian Kennedy facing the Rockies Jhoulys Chacin. Kennedy holds a 2-3 record this year, ERA 4.8, and Chacin is 3.3, ERA 4.0. The Rockies line-up will be needed to offset any Chacin drawbacks, especially during the first four innings of play.

Following the Colorado/Arizona series will be 10 more Rockies games vs. NL West franchises, perhaps the best 2013 opportunity for the Rockies to regain primacy.

Tennis   ---   While not as famous as, or as important for worldwide media coverage as are the Grand Slam French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open events, the Italian Open is definitely world-class tennis and important to its competitors for positions in the year’s rankings and for future seeds.

Otherwise, Rome might not have seen Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal this year, or Serena Williams facing Victoria Azarenka.

Nadal took the title at Rome a few days ago, and Williams the women’s title, each 6-3 and 6-1.

This year’s Italian Open win is a seventh Rome victory for Nadal, also purchasing for Nadal a 20-10 record vs. Swiss tennis great, Federer. A winner of 17 Grand Slams, Federer has never won the Italian Open.

Williams, a 15 Grand Slam event winner, won her fourth title in a row this year at Rome, defeating her opponent without losing a set.

By virtue of consistency, Nadal and Williams could dominate the French Open, to be held at Paris starting May 27.

END/ml

 

 

BASEBALL: MLB Standings; Rockies, Cubs, Giants // NFL: QB Tebow  // Boxing: Mayweather, Jr.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).

            MLB   ---      THE AL West’s 27-14 Texas Rangers increased their lead over the 20-22 Oakland Athletics and 20-21 Seattle Mariners to seven games, while the status of the remaining five division leading teams could be said to be precarious, for each is there by only one win. The other division leading teams are the 24-17 San Francisco Giants (NL West), the St. Louis Cardinals (NL Central), the 22-18 Atlanta Braves (NL East), the 22-17 Cleveland Indians (AL Central), the 25-16 New York Yankees (AL East).

Except for the Indians, at the summit of the MLB today are teams that finished at or near the top last season. Yet the Rangers are first in the AL by only two wins. Second within the AL are the N.Y. Yankees. Within both leagues, the Rangers are ahead by only one win, second being the NL’s leading team, the St. Louis Cardinals.

To date, then, the MLB isn’t loaded with breakaway teams. It would seem that to be leading within each of the MLB’s six divisions, or to be leading all teams of either or both leagues, such is up for grabs except for the AL West and the Rangers. But there’s no guarantee of this, for instance, four of the six division leading clubs have won more games away than at home, and a fourth franchise has the same number of away wins as at home, while a fifth is behind its home record by only one win, all of which suggests “consistency of wins under a variety of conditions for those teams,” signaling, in turn, that as the season continues we may not see dramatic changes at the top of the standings. Underscoring this notion is that most of the better MLB teams improve in home wins after two months of play without losing many away from home, and that the leading Rangers are now first in this away vs. home category, 15-12.

Sixteen clubs are now above .500, eight within each league (what could be more equal?). And, each league has two clubs above. .600. This tells us that the MLB is a winning and possibly balanced enterprise, though disparity is reflected by the AL West having only one of five teams above .500 (the Rangers), and by the AL East having but one team under .500 (the 17-24 Toronto Blue Jays) and also by the NL Central owning two of the MLB franchises above .600 (the Cardinals); and, third within the MLB are the 25-16 Cincinnati Reds. So, where the proverbial rubber meets the road it’s always a different story.

Rockies vs. Cubs, Giants    ---   The Rockies vs. Cubs series showed that the Rockies line-up hadn’t drifted into slow and continuing fallback, it included a 9-4 victory versus the Cubs. Until this Rockies turnabout, the team had gone 28 innings without a run, pulling upward vs. Chicago with extra base hits + home runs and RBI’s, enabling the Rockies to keep at third place within the AL West, two wins behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and three rear of first place team, the San Francisco Giants.

Of the six division third place teams, the Rockies now have the third best win/loss record in the MLB and second best within the NL, behind the third place 24-17 Pittsburgh Pirates (NL Central) and third place 23-17 Baltimore Orioles (AL East). The sudden upturn that occurred at Chicago wasn’t just from hits; it was from what those hits converted into: fewer runners left in scoring position with third outs, i.e., enough runs to win a ballgame. But was the Rockies escalation in line-up activity and runs at Chicago only a temporary advance? Last night, in game one of a series vs. the San Francisco Giants, the Rockies suddenly went from hot to cold, unable to produce runs between the third and ninth innings, before which the Rockies had built up a 6-0 lead, eventually losing to the Giants, 8-6. Two home runs by Rockies first baseman, Todd Helton, and catcher, Wilin Rosario, had pushed base runners over the plate for a 5-0 Rockies lead, and a solo HR from Rockies third baseman, Nolan Arenado, delivered the sixth Rockies run, but after that the Giants hill allowed only one Rockies hit while the Rockies mound just couldn’t stop giving the Giants what they needed within the strike zone. At endgame, the Giants had 20 hits, a sufficient number of which led to the team’s winning eight runs. For the next three games of the four-game Rockies/Giants series, the former will have home advantage but in succession against the Giants top starting pitchers, all winners so far this year, LH Madison Baumgartner (2-0, ERA under 1.0), RH Tim Lincecum (3-2) and LH Barry Zito (3-2). They will face respectively the Rockies LH Jorge De La Rosa (tonight), RH Juan Nicasio and RH Tyler Chatwood. Do the math, it’ll seem that the Rockies line-up will be depended upon for an as high, if not a higher number of hits than achieved last night at San Francisco’s AT&T park.

NFL    ---   Tim Tebow, from perceived NFL miracle maker (for the short run, that is) to, what? Second tier? In our thinking, the Tebow fallback has only been within the realms of expectation and faith-as-entertainment. More than likely, as a skilled quarterback Mr. Tebow is today exactly where and what he was the first day that he put on an NFL uniform: player of much promise based on his outstanding college football record, but a player much too hyped because of his public displays of religious faith before, during and after his NFL showings, which to many observers seemed to be asking a God to do what a wise and empathic God would never do, “choose sides,” for a wise and empathic God is a fair God. This unfairness of “Hey, Lord, pick us and dump the other fellas mentality” just couldn’t wash in cynical New York, it rarely works for Tebow anyhow, and so Tebow is now on his way to Philadelphia to prove again that he may have more than marginal QB competence. Still, he played a key role in the Denver Broncos winning six hard games, and he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself when with the New York Jets, where he hadn’t reached perceived potential, but that's reason enough for Broncos and Jets fans to wish Tebow luck.  

Boxing     ---   Too often, professional boxers create a persona solely to captivate in an entertaining way, and it can cause the boxer’s exceptional prowess to fade behind the persona. Past examples are Ali, Tyson, De La Hoya. Today, while welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., gets recognition for being the richest athlete on planet Earth, a flamboyant gambler and spender, a Kardashian of the sports world, not even boxing fans are aware of his amazing skills as practitioner of the so-called sweet science. Mayweather’s professional boxing record borders on the almost unbelievable: 44 wins, no losses (26 knockouts, 18 decisions).

Some boxers get to the top of their profession primarily from strength, raw power; others from inducing more fear than ought to be sensed by anyone, a Shobiz way of causing anxiety in opponents. Other boxers get to the top of their sport from boxing, nothing else added, by applying effectively a mix of artfulness and science to overcome opponents, among them, Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard. Add: Mayweather, Jr., who showed in his most recent fight (12 rounds vs. Robert Guerrero, a welterweight championship title match) that the points that can be accumulated from obvious exhibitions of a timely defense can win a championship bout. Mayweather has a way of forcing an opposing fighter to unload numerous “missed shots,” Mayweather always darting away quickly enough so as to remain untouched but close enough to respond with an effective hit that does not have to be a hammering blow sending the opponent to the canvas, just a well-placed punch, hook or uppercut. Vs. Guerrero, Mayweather glided across 12 rounds in this manner, winning rounds by defense points alone. His substance is within the style, joined with an ability to transition into attack maneuvers faster than can most boxers. As an amateur, Mayweather accumulated 86 wins against just six losses. His 44 pro- wins have brought him eight world titles from lightweight on up to his current world welterweight championship title.

END/ml

BASEBALL: MLB Standings; Colorado Rockies // World Tennis (Our NBA playoff coverage will continue when finalists face off, Game One).

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).

          MLB   ---    AS of today, three franchises are leading the MLB in number of games won, the St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees, each with 24 victories. Eleven other teams have accrued 20 or more wins. Least in having wins are the Houston Astros and the Miami Marlins, 10 and 11 respectively. Next from the bottom are the N.Y. Mets with 14 wins, then the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays, each with 15.

The differentials between winners and losers within the 30 clubs of the MLB can appear wide.  Today, five clubs are above .600 regarding percentage of wins over losses but 13 are below .500, seven of which are beneath or barely above .400, the worst flashpoint being the American League West, where only one of five teams is above .500, the Rangers, a team that at .649 leads the AL. Atop the National League are the Cardinals, also .649.

The Rangers are currently the only division breakaway franchise, leading the AL West by five games above number two team, the 19-20/.487 Oakland Athletics. None of the other division leading clubs has a greater than two game lead over the team directly behind.

And within the MLB’s six divisions, four third place clubs are only three games behind first place teams. Only two races for division numero uno are quite close, inside the NL East it’s the 21-16 Atlanta Braves versus the 20-17 Washington Nationals, within the AL Central it’s the 21-15 Detroit Tigers vs. the 21-16 Cleveland Indians.

The above MLB numbers are, with other data, a lot to chew on, difficult to extract a final truth from, in that an almost equal amount of stats underscore both equality and inequality; there appears to be a lot of sameness to one side, with matters being quite different elsewhere, practically in equal measure.

At the surface, it could seem from the 13 clubs below .500 (half of which are under .400), and from 17 teams therefore being at or above .500 (within which are five hgher than .600) that there’s a high quotient of equality and fairness in baseball. The math tells us that when the 30 MLB teams compete as 15 versus 15, half will win, half will lose. But that’s not how it looks among divisions, where the NL West has a total of 95 wins, the NL Central, 99, the NL East, 84, and the AL West, 85, the AL Central, 93, the AL East, 103.

And, when you ignore division vs. division and just look at individual franchise records, more diversity appears, e.g, no more than five of the 30 MLB clubs have the identical number of wins. Looking deeper, i.e., at individual games, noted is that rarely are any two exactly the same, and from examination of the records of individual ballplayers we can see quickly that rarely are there a large number of them completing a season with identical numbers.

So, if you are the MLB’s Commissioner looking at the entire "enchilada" from a lofty posiiton without going deep, you could see balance, a league divided almost in half among winners and losers. To you, the map will suggest uniformity, unity. However, drop below to teams, managers and players and that old saw about baseball being extremely unfair will seem to prevail, it’s where diversity and the unexpected will reign supreme, and that is a good thing, reducing predictability to a minimum, maintaining one of sports greater gifts---suspense, when it’s not over until it’s over, when we can’t prove beforehand how anything will really turn out.

Colorado Rockies  ---  The Rockies lost a series to the Tampa Bay Rays, next to the N.Y. Yankees, went 28 innings without scoring a single run and suddenly came roaring back, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-2. Last night, the Rockies lost to the Chicago Cubs, 9-1. For a current description of the Rockies, “Mercurial,” “Yo-yo,” “Ferris wheel,” all such tags apply to this team that a few weeks ago led the National League West and is now struggling to rise from division third place at 20 wins,18 losses/.526, eighth among the NL’s 15 franchises.

Fourteen of the Rockies 18 losses have occurred within the team’s last 21 games, five within the club’s last six. The MLB season is now around seven weeks in. If the Rockies continue to have the same win/loss ratio that it’s had for the 38 games already played, they will finish the 2013 season barely above .500, but if they continue to play as they have during the past 21 games they could end up as they had last September, sixth from the bottom of both leagues, 64-98, way below .500.

Yet there exists a better Rockies team than that fielded in 2012. Comparisons reveal a much improved pitching staff. Winning or losing this year, few games have gone by without the Rockies hill, field and offense delivering some moments of more than just good baseball. Consistency at the plate is lacking, however, especially for RBI’s from extra-base hits and/or from home runs when there are two outs, possibly the hardest tactical vacancy to figure out in all sports and one of the more difficult to cure. Even when line-ups are reconstructed to maximize power for base-runners to round the horn and touch home, it doesn’t seem to be enough.

Last year, winning games relied upon Rockies batters to offset with hits + runs the Rockies weak pitching that kept giving up runs to opponents. It has appeared during the Rockies recent line-up slump, that Rockies starting hurlers have had the task of offsetting weaknesses in batting and they haven’t come through entirely, e.g., Jaun Nicasio unable to draw out his best vs. the Cubs.

Confusing is that the skills of individual Rockies players and the team’s win/loss ratio fail to match up, the former appearing far superior to the latter when you look at teh excellent batting averages, number of home runs and other achievements of outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, infielders Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton, pitchers Jorge De La Rosa and Jeff Francis, and catchers Wiln Rosario and Yorvit Torrealba. Up now and at home for the Rockies is a series vs. the San Francisco Giants, an opportunity for the Rockies to prove contention, that they can turn matters around. The data and observed skills advise that the above-cited Rockies players can contribute considerably to a series win over the Giants if the right match-ups pitcher-to-opposing batter can also exist.

World Tennis   ---   The world class/ATP tournaments that are more popular and more important than others for championship level players began in January with the Australian Open, won by Novak Djokovic. After numerous other but less known tournaments, the “Bigs” (2013) will return as follows:

French Open, (clay), Paris, Fr., May 27 – June 3

Wimbledon, (grass), London, U.K., June 24 – July 1

U.S. Open, (Hard surface), N.Y.C., N.Y., August 26 – September 2

Davis Cup---Semi-finals, September 9, and Finals, November 11---locations of both, TBA.

It’s our hope that you will stay with us for reports and analysis before, during and after these top showings.

END/ml

BASEBALL: Colorado Rockies, N.Y. Yankees; Current MLB Standings; NBA: Playoffs-Semi-finals; Denver Nuggets Head Coach, George Karl, Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri.

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com.  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).

Rockies, Yankees   ----   THE New York Yankees are beatable and they will lose several games in the near-future, that is, during the current MLB season. That’s the fate of all MLB franchises. It’s also the fate of all MLB franchises that each can be unbeatable across a series of games, and that includes the Colorado Rockies. Each MLB franchise will win games into September, but then that also includes the Yankees, a team that the Rockies lost a series to in the past week while having home advantage.

All that the Rockies can take to heart in a positive sense from its loss to the Yankees is that they did not lose the series humiliated, final scores were not of the embarrassing variety, 3-1 yesterday, 3-2 the night before, and they did win game one vs. the Yankees, 2-0.

The sadness here is in two parts: first, the Rockies were close enough to win each of the final two games of the series and need to improve hurriedly on that which kept them from doing so; second, the lost series was the team’s third dumped series in a row, which could be prologue to a dismal period following games that helped the Rockies maintain second place within the NL-West and briefly, first place.

Issues that Rockies manager, Walt Weis, will likely be thinking about intensely now are, (1) While the Rockies pitching staff has improved immensely (starters + Bullpen), they were overmatched by Yankee hurlers that managed to hold the Rockies to five runs throughout the series; (2) Many Rockies half-innings left men on base unable to score (that RISP inefficiency problem of recent seasons, and of recent games); (3) Home-runs without sufficient RBI’s attached rarely win a ballgame; (4) Fielding went awry in game three, though some calls remain suspect; (5) Closers like Yankee Mariano Rivera, who thus far this season has 12 saves re. 12 games, usually prevent the likelihood of ninth inning comebacks, so “runs insurance” has to be built up in earlier innings.

The 19-15 Rockies are far from being NL non-contenders (though in third position of the NL West, they are close behind first and second place franchises). Next up for the Colorado franchise is a series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, and then series vs. the Chicago Cubs and NL West first place team, the San Francisco Giants. Prevailing during these series could put the Rockies back on top.

Key, of course, will be the Rockies diminishing quickly the effects of the above-cited five issues.

MLB   ---   Exactly a month ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks led the National League West 5-3, the Colorado Rockies close behind, third the San Francisco Giants. Today the Giants are leading the NL West, 20-14, the Diamondback’s are second, the Rockies third. The NL East has gone topsy-turvy, too, today the 21-12 St. Louis Cardinals are in first place, the Cincinnati Reds directly behind, which is the reverse of a month ago. Only the NL East has stayed the same, the April 10th Atlanta Braves still in the lead today, now 20-13, the Washington Nationals at their heels, 19-15.

The AL has also experienced reversals, with the AL East’s April 10th first place Boston Red Sox now third and behind first and second place teams, the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. Meanwhile, the AL Central’s month ago first place Kansas City Royals are at second place today behind the Detroit Tigers, which on April 10th were third in the division. April 10th’s AL-Central second place Chicago White Sox are now the division’s fifth and last place team. It’s the top of the AL West that hasn’t changed, the Texas Rangers still holding first at 21-13, the Oakland Athletics second, 18-18.

Some changes at the bottom have occurred, as well, for instance, the NL West’s last place April team, the San Diego Padres, are at third place today, just four games behind first, and the AL Central’s Cleveland Indians have gone from last place on April 10th to third place today. But still at last place within their respective divisions are the NL’s Miami Marlins, the AL’s Houston Astros and the Toronto Blue Jays.

That song lyric, “Soon as you think you’re winnin’ you’re losin’ again,” it can go in reverse almost instantly, which professional baseball can surely be a chorus for.

NBA  ---   IT’s the surprises blasting in, like Whoosh! Where’d that come from? Leading the unexpected in the West are the Golden State Warriors, last season not even an also-ran, finishing 2011/12 as fourth in the West’s Pacific Division, no playoff appearance, beating back the Denver Nuggets in the 2012/13 playoffs (first round), now causing the San Antonio Spurs to sweat and groan.

From the field, the Warriors are shooting nearly 50 percent, achieving an almost 110 points-per-game average, the standouts being Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. By sustaining current speed, tactical savvy, teamwork mentality and shooting accuracy, Curry could soon be the West’s playoff MVP---shooting percentage above 43 percent; seven + assists per game; 31 three-pointers in the playoffs thus far, but Klayton topping him recently with seven successful three-pointers during a single game, a franchise record. This has been happening linked to a tight defense (the Warriors are now within the NBA’s top five teams re. defense skills).

No irrationality exists in thinking that the Warriors after a possible defeat of the Spurs could be taking down the Memphis Grizzlies or the Oklahoma City Thunder. Of course, it’s not over yet for the Spurs, and the Thunder and Grizzlies have been known to go beyond surprises, think: shock and awe! 

The East’s Miami Heat (now vs. the Chicago Bulls), they’ve continued to heap damage upon opponents, though zero is absent today as a win figure in the NBA East. All four Eastern semi-final franchises have been winning post-season games; the Heat haven’t come off as “leap-ahead & super-unbeatable, as a sure-thing.” And, while never a stratospheric division leading team during 2012/13 the Chicago Bulls are not playoff slouches even vs. Miami’s best players. Our guess, we won’t see another 42 ppg from the Heat’s Dywane Wade, in that the Bulls defense will get meaner. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are taking “heat” from the Indiana Pacers. Careful logic says, “Too early to suggest which of the East will be at the finals.”

Denver Nuggets   ---    Nuggets Head Coach, George Karl, recently accepted the year’s NBA “Coach of the Year” award for the right reasons, and not only because he brought the Nuggets to a playoff billet from 57 season wins, surely indicative of “consistency of victories.” Karl managed to have that happen for players whom without constant dependency on each other’s “strength vs. vulnerability” ratios could have turned out as a bottom-of-the-heap group. Karl figured out how to combine those strengths, improve upon them and reduce the collective of vulnerabilities, operating from a concept many NBA head coaches fear adhering to, “Teamwork vs. star power.”  No player on the Nuggets has been for the history books in a big way, but “the team” has gone there in an important manner. As noted on this page in an earlier column, during 2012/13 the Nuggets posted six, nine and 15-game winning streaks and defeated each team now comprising the NBA playoff semi-finals. Why, then, had the Nuggets again failed to advance from the post-season first round? Being a masterful head coach, Karl will determine the answers early on, with the right solutions for next season soon applied.

GM/Head Coach compatibility is an NBA franchise essential, and it isn’t present everywhere within the league. As Nuggets GM, Masai Ujiri has been a natural fit for this without his having to fight to the hilt to make it happen. By crafting that which fit his image of a winning franchise, GM Ujiri managed to deliver the post-Carmelo Anthony era starter, bench and assistant coaches that head coach George Karl might have selected were Karl a notch higher in the Nuggets organization. Mostly for that, and for his ability to maintain a GM’s proper distance from the floor during training + games and yet exert strong leadership and management en absentia, Ujiri recently received the NBA’s “Executive of the Year” award.

The Nuggets were eliminated from the NBA’s 2012/13 post-season, but that’s been the result of a few games. Ujiri secured a 2012/13 team enabling Karl to force up a third-in-the-West season finish, with six players averaging double-digit ppg across the lion’s share of 82 games.

Fans and analysts are still steaming over the Nuggets failure to reach the playoff’s second round and some have called for Karl and/or Ujiri to resign or be fired. However, breaking up one of the more successful GM/head coach combos would be a ridiculous feat, indeed.

End/ml.