NBA: WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS, "SPURS AFIRE, THUNDER TO ASHES," EAST: "HEAT UP, PACERS DOWN" // MLB: STANDINGS & NEARING THE TOP; COLORADO ROCKIES & "THE UNKIND ROAD"

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . 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: WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS, “SPURS AFIRE, THUNDER TO ASHES,” EAST, "HEAT UP, PACERS DOWN" // MLB: STANDINGS & NEARING THE TOP; COLORADO ROCKIES & “THE UNKIND ROAD". . . NBA: SCROLL back to last night, and watch---“HAVING tunneled through a weak spot in a line of big defenders, a San Antonio Spurs ball handler seems ready for a layup, but he passes the ball way back or to a far corner, to a Spurs shooter who floats a successful field goal.” This kept happening last night, along with other openings driven forcefully up, down, around and through the Oklahoma City Thunder’s defense, allowing the Spurs to push their NBA 2013/14 Western Finals competitor into a bubble of humiliation, final score, 117-89, bringing the WC ranking to Spurs three games up, Thunder, two. Distillation of the crisis will surely leave the Thunder with a truth about NBA playoff competition relative to regular season games: “It’s more about speed of transition to a rotational defense, especially against a team that can exploit rebound-capturing for the fast break + improvisations that can outsmart opposing responders.” Even with the appearance of exceptional forward, Serge Ibaka, the Thunder’s WC Game Five defense application hadn’t the seamlessness that existed in versus Spurs games all year; and, when free for the successful shot, the Thunder’s star-quality shooters, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, were off-beam, largely from the Spurs fast and smothering defense activity. Yet the Thunder took the Spurs down on Monday last, 105-92, Durant and Westbrook able to break from Spurs coverage for more than a combined 50+ ppg. Tomorrow night’s WC Game Six could end it, with Spurs becoming the WC champion if the Thunder is again minus a fast and punishing defense wire-to-wire, with Durant and Westbrook unable to produce the shooting accuracy so evident in previous games. . . EASTERN CONFERENCE:---Again, scroll back, “See on Wednesday night the Miami Heat dropping a game to the Indiana Pacers, the Pacers finishing ahead, 93-90 (OT). The EC is now set at the Heat being three games up, Pacers with two, tonight being the Heat’s chance to return to the NBA Finals for the fourth year straight. Wednesday’s highlight was the Pacers Paul George breaking away for 37 points, also the Pacers defense re-imagined as a stop-LeBron James gang. LeBron ended the Wednesday game below double-digits re. points---seven (Ugh!), foul trouble a contributor. Envision a Heat/Pacers playoff series at three-3, and in Game Seven Le Bron offers up only seven points and the Heat suffers at the end, 93-86, eliminated from a go at the NBA Finals. It won’t matter why. BUT, the Pacers aren’t counting on another LeBron downturn happening easily---LeBron’s bad shooting consistency rating is among the lowest this year, last year and probably re. 2015. . . // . . MLB---TWO division second place teams are looking up from deficits that are hard to diminish when the clubs above them have been consistent winners at home and also away from home. A damper for these number two’s is that they have faltered either at home, or on the road not within both categories. The American League Central’s now 28-27 Chicago White Sox are four games behind the 30-20 Detroit Tigers mostly from losses on the road, worsened from the White Sox away from home record being 12-15. And, the National League West’s 29-25 L.A. Dodgers are six games behind the 35-19 S.F. Giants, much from a below .500 record at home, 11-14. Of the two categories, 15 of the 30 MLB clubs have, to date, lost more games on the road than they have won at home, while, of the 30 teams, 13 have won more games at home than they have lost. Four clubs are at .500 in the at home category, the NL Central’s 12-12 Cincinnati Reds, the NL East’s 14-14 Washington Nationals, the AL West’s 13-13 Texas Rangers and the AL East’s 11-11 N.Y. Yankees, and two are at .500 re. road games, the NL West’s 14-14 Arizona Diamondbacks, and the NL East’s 12-12 Philadelphia Phillies. Worst away from home are the AL Central’s 9-19 Cleveland Indians and the NL Central’s 9-19 Chicago Cubs. Best on the road, that’s the AL West’s 18-10 Oakland A’s, and the NL West’s 18-11 Dodgers. Presently, the worst at home record belongs to the NL West’s last place team, the Diamondbacks, 9-19. Best today at home, that’s the NL West’s 19-9 Giants. . . COLORADO ROCKIES---WERE the National League West’s 28-25 Colorado Rockies “away from home” record reversed today, 18-12 instead of 12-18, the club would be tied for first place with the 35-19 S.F. Giants. The Rockies, in the NL West’s third position and one game behind number two team, the 29-25 L.A. Dodgers, they now hold the NL West’s worst away from home record, and within the entire NL the Rockies are third worst behind the NL Central’s 9-19 Chicago Cubs and the NL East’s 8-17 Miami Marlins. So, it’s the 16-7 “at home” record that has kept the Rockies from dropping to fourth position within the NL West. It’s the second best home record in the NL-West today, and second best home record within the entire NL, and were the Rockies an AL team they’d be tied for first re. number of at home wins with the AL Central’s 16-12 Chicago White Sox and the AL East’s 16-12 Toronto Blue Jays. . . Frustrating for the Rockies is that they haven’t reached a clear explanation as to why their games won away from home have been in the negative Starting pitchers have performed better at home, yet over the years some of the best games won by the Rockies starters have been on the road. The same can be said about the Rockies batters, super-great when great, maximum-bad when bad. Could it be that as more than one analyst has put it, what’s wrong with the Rockies on the road is hardly Rockies-specific, it’s what haunts most of the MLB clubs. This is said because of the 30 MLB franchises, most have losing rather than winning records away from home, and rarely are there more than three or four MLB clubs that win mostly on the road with leads greater than six games. Believing this to be so, it’s been asked, “What is characteristic of all teams on the road that could explain the Rockies deficits, and explain road losses accrued by all the other MLB clubs, while pointing to cures for turning the loss sheet around?” Surely some software analysis is needed for proof of what’s not working as desired, and surely to be considered for thought is that during away from home games the majority of MLB clubs continue to employ the same line-ups, starter rotations, bull pens, and also offense and defense tactics as that sent afield at home. Away from home, and except for using data on opposing pitchers for a line-up’s OBP growth, most teams can be accused of redundancy or only light maneuvering instead of going to the wall maximally with changes based on road variables such as the current opposing team’s defenses other than mound work, and stadiums different from home and from the last stadium encountered; add: weather conditions, altitude drops or increases, jet lag, so much more. END/ml

NBA: CONFERENCE FINALS UPDATE // MLB: CURRENT STANDINGS

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . 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: CONFERENCE FINALS UPDATE // MLB: CURRENT STANDINGS . . . // NBA---THE absence of forward Serge Ibaka as means favoring San Antonio Spurs domination of the Oklahoma City Thunder, it wasn’t meant to be. The talented Thunder rebounder, blocker and close-in shooter Ibaka played during Game Three of the Western Conference finals and is good to go for Game Four. His contribution to the Thunder’s Game Three win over the Spurs was crucial, an aid to Thunder’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scoring high in double-digits, the Thunder taking down the Spurs, 106-97, preventing the Spurs from going into Game Four at 3-0, thus one win from becoming the 2013/14 NBA-Western Conference championship team, to face either the Miami Heat or the Indiana Pacers. Tonight is Game Four, and the Spurs are ahead, 2-1, and while the Spurs Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are still threats, the return of Ibaka can again yield a seamless Thunder defense and also clear pathways for Durant and Westbrook for both deep and close-in shots, and the Spurs need to diminish the plays forced subtly by the Thunder’s Derek Fischer, an enabler for many sudden Durant and Westbrook drives + shots made from the corners. The next Spurs/Thunder contest is tonight, May 27 . . . As for the Eastern Conference grab, forget the trash talk accusations made about LeBron James. Concentrate on his must-win attitude and the resulting near-perfection of ball control and subsequent points that ensue. Against the Pacers last night, James dominated the game’s second half and helped to push the final score to 102 Heat, 90 for the Pacers. That’s a 12 point deficit for what’s been touted as the NBA’s best defense of the year, James having provided 32 points, Chris Bosh, 25, Dwyane Wade, 15. The Heat are now at 3-1, a game away from the NBA-EC championship trophy, next playing either the Spurs or Thunder for the NBA 2013/14 championship title. Should the Heat defeat the Pacers after Game Five on Friday, May 30, it will be the team’s fourth straight appearance at the NBA finals, a record held to date only by the L.A. Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Not that the Pacers were completely below the margin during Game Four, with the Pacers Roy Hibbert being scoreless and the Pacers Lance Stephenson reaching but nine points. Pacers Paul George scored 23 points. . . //. . MLB---THE now 26-23 Baltimore Orioles are the only division team of 10 days ago now below that slot, holding at the American League East’s third position, four wins back of the 30-22 Toronto Blue Jays, and one win behind second place team, the 27-23 N.Y. Yankees. And, the National League West’s 32-19 S.F. Giants and the AL Central’s 28-19 Detroit Tigers are the only division leading franchises of 10 days ago with substantial leads over number two position teams, the Giants now ahead of the L.A. Dodgers by four wins and the Tigers leading the Chicago White Sox by five wins. Meanwhile, since May 17 the NL Central’s leading franchise, the Milwaukee Brewers, dropped from five wins ahead of second place team, the St. Louis Cardinals, to just one win above the Cardinals; and, within the NL East, a three game lead held by first place team, the now 28-22 Atlanta Braves, is now a one win edge over second place franchise, the Miami Marlins. Inside the AL West, the 31-20 Oakland A’s are still numero uno with three wins above second place holder, the L.A. Angels. Best re. both leagues today are the NL’s 32-19 S.F. Giants. . . Of teams that have sunk to the very bottom of their respective leagues, the AL’s Boston Red Sox are there with only 21 wins, only two wins above the worst current year record of 19 wins and 30 losses, that held by the Chicago Cubs. Ironic is that five of the six bottom-of-the-pile franchises are from the biggest MLB market regions and are teams that have plenty of dollars to spend wisely and coaches and staff to arrange for performance tactics wisely---New York, Chicago, Boston, Cleveland and Houston. “Wisely” could be the operative word missing among all five. END/ml

NBA & Other U.S. Sports Organizations: "Weighing in on social prejudices and franchise owner commentary"

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . 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 & Other U.S. Sports Organizations: "Weighing in on social prejudices and franchise owner commentary"---FROM recent comments made by L.A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, and by Dallas Mavericks boss, Mark Cuban, many analysts and fans have wondered if NBA franchise owners need a better rule book, one that updates how they should behave in the modern world, their serious disregard of which would always lead to dismissal from ownership and, depending on severity of misconduct, from all other aspects of the NBA. Sterling has surely been downgraded to that level that invites paparazzi and the nuttiness components of social media, immediate result, “Dude, you’re guilty,” and you may not be that at all. This surely lends incentive to other owners for maintaining joy of anonymity, for clinging to that far-off control perch, for staying behind that glass wall that no-one can see through. Of course, a to-do list for owners should begin with, “Keep your personal thoughts about sensitive subjects to yourself, especially those notions that can be interpreted as racism and are not,” and if you are a racist and you own a basketball team that provides wealth and happiness for whom you hate, see a psychiatrist immediately because you are definitely schizophrenic. Second, when flagged as a possible racist from inappropriate language but you are not a racist, then own up to your mistake, apologize, pay whatever fine you were slapped with, and provide commensurate contributions to those that were insulted. Third, if evidence that you are a racist is clear, quickly sell or give your team away, and exile yourself from the NBA, or accept the NBA commissioner separating you from your team and from the NBA. . . . As for Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, and his response to the Sterling affair, while his remarks carried words that at first blush could be interpreted as racist, the remarks were, on review, not that at all; they were meant to underscore a reality about all races, all nationalities, all religious organizations. Cuban was saying that among Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Native American Indians, Asians, Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims are many misfits, members of each that are downright scary and we should be wary of those that are. Yet Cuban seemed thoughtless when he referred to externals signaling possibility of danger, for instance, implying that he’d cross to the other side of a street when seeing the black man on a dark street wearing a hoodie, or the white guy in a leather vest and tattoos up and down his muscular arms. Here’s where sports contradict Cuban’s remark favorably, e.g., the N.E. Patriots Head Coach being famous for wearing a hoodie and so many NBA stars being covered in tattoos, all decent men on and off court. So, also for the team owner’s rule book, “Don’t stereotype.” That fellow wearing a hoodie could be returning from a gym and is on his way to night school, and the man of the vest and tattoos could be returning from all day volunteer work at a hospital, thinking of bringing flowers to his girl friend. Being misperceived, stereotyped when you are otherwise and decent, is an awful experience. Victims of this feel violated, robbed of dignity. So, unanswered questions prevail, “Should society forbid persons walking on dark streets from wearing hoodies, and should society force tattooed persons to wear clothing that covers the artwork?” “Definitely not,” is how most Americans would answer, rightly so. And, “Should we discriminate against the man or woman who experiences fear and decides to cross the street, and find ways to punish that individual?” Again, a ridiculous and impossible idea. Yet both questions point to existing moral gridlock, which society needs to undo by finding ways to eliminate stereotyping and the fear that it creates, and it shouldn’t take long for any American to realize that, in spite of a team owner’s poorly developed commentary and what may really be lurking within an owner’s heart that is despicable, the NBA, the NFL, MLS and the NHL and Major League Baseball, are probably at the forefront of institutions that the nation can rely upon for viewing lack of social prejudices and for learning how irrational hatreds can be dealt with and eliminated. END/ml.

NBA: Outlook, Conference Finals // MLB: the Standouts; Colorado Rockies---"A Game to Remember"

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . 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: Outlook, Conference Finals // MLB: the Standouts; Colorado Rockies---“A Game To Remember”. . . NBA---FROM the NBA Conference Finals that began last night, and with the possibility of 12 more games occurring, there’s no sure way of knowing which of the contenders for the conference titles will prevail. Analysts and fans seeking surety to the question can only rely on regular season + playoff rounds one and two data and on present situational factors such as injured big man, Serge Ibaka, unable to say to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Scott Brooks, “Put me in now, Coach,” causing Brooks to re-imagine the Thunder’s defense, having to substitute for Ibaka’s height, width and speed with enhanced defense rotation so that Thunders shielding can be seamless, in effect, defense elasticity and jump for the block and the rebound, eyes on likelihood of the San Antonio Spurs guard, Tony Parker, attempting to exploit Ibaka’s absence, meanwhile Brooks increasing reliance on MVP Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for escape, evasion and points, this to offset any losses from Ibaka being off-court. Durant and Westbrook have combined for an average PPG exceeding 50 during the playoffs, and Durant scored 33 and 38 points respectively in final 2013/14 playoff games vs. the Memphis Grizzlies and the L.A. Clippers. The Spurs will certainly attempt to remain the Spurs of the regular season and of its 4-0 and 4-1 series wins during the playoffs (“If it aint broke, don’t fix it” is probably a Spurs Coach Greg Poppovich motto.). The Spurs ranked third in defense when the regular season ended; the Thunder, sixth. Here’s a schedule should six more Thunder/Spurs games occur---(all on TNT:) Wednesday, May 21, 9 PM; Sunday, May 25, 8:30 PM; Tuesday, May 27, 9 PM; Thursday, May 29, 9 PM; Saturday, May 31, 8:30 PM; Monday, June 2, 9 PM. . . Eastern Conference: DEFENSE wasn’t enough to help the Indiana Pacers win initial NBA-2013/14 playoff games during series versus the Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards, but it was platinum against the Miami Heat in game one of the best-of-seven EC title match-up. The Pacers 107-96 win surprised anyone confident that the best defense in the NBA this year would be no match for the Miami Heat foursome of James/Wade/Bosh/Allen, an offense combo arguably best in the league when the four are to the hilt of their capabilities, which is rare, James and/or Wade usually the performance catch-up for the win. The Pacers defense kept James, Bosh and Allen to fewer points, while the Heat defense couldn’t keep the Pacers Paul George from scoring 24 and achieving seven assists, with Roy Hibbert scoring 19. Also, performance factors displayed by the two teams during the last weeks of the regular season showed the Pacers declining in skills and the Heat upgrading. Too, the Heat made it through rounds one and two of the current playoffs with greater ease than it took the Pacers to reach the ECF. But the regular season weaknesses within the Pacers occurred mostly in offense capacity, which did not show often last night while the Pacers defense was full-out, though Miami’s Wade scored double digits. Still, it’s anyone’s pick for the following possibility of six more Pacers/Heat games (all on ESPN): Tuesday, May 20, 8:30 PM; Saturday, May 24, 8:30 PM; Monday, May 26, 8:30 PM; Friday, May 30, 8:30 PM; Sunday, June 1, 8:30 PM . . . MLB---NO division last place team has won a game since last week, all seeing their losses increase, worst among them the 18-28 Arizona Diamondbacks and the 16-28 Houston Astros. Meanwhile, of the six division leaders, five increased their number of wins, best the NL West’s S.F. Giants and the AL West’s Oakland A’s, each with 28 wins, while last Friday the Baltimore Orioles, then the AL East’s leading team at 21-18, dropped to second place at 22-20 behind the now first AL East club, the 23-20 N.Y. Yankees. The AL Central’s Detroit Tigers maintained first position from three wins since last week, now at 27-12. Within the NL Central, the Milwaukee Brewers maintained leadership from a win, now at 27-17, though its lead over second place club, the St Louis Cardinals, dropped by a win, the Cards now at 23-21. The NL-East’s 23-19 Atlanta Braves also maintained leadership from a win, but with the Washington Nationals now just one win behind them. Presently, five division second place teams own four or less wins behind first position teams, a sixth, the AL Central’s K.C. Royals, being seven wins behind Detroit. As for best in both leagues, the win gaps among the six division leading clubs are quite slim, from the 28 wins each of the Giants and Oakland A’s being at the top, to the 23 wins each that are held by the Yankees and the Braves. . . COLORADO ROCKIES---Sunday, May 18, Coors Field: A third inning “triple play” by the Colorado Rockies, 3B Nolan Arenado to 2B D.J. LaMahieu, to 1B Justin Morneau, followed by the Rockies line-up producing three singles, a sacrifice bunt and a home run by OF Corey Dickerson, this putting the Rockies ahead of the San Diego Padres, 4-1, then drawbacks causing a 6-6 tie and a 10th inning during which Rockies LF Carlos Gonzalez got on base and Rockies 1B Morneau delivered a walk-off home run from a 3-2 count, game over, Rockies ahead, 8-6. Same game, Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki blasted a fifth inning home run, holding to his .400 batting average. Tulowitzki is also at the top in the NL re. home runs to date, 13. Thus far in the MLB season, the Rockies have won three series vs. division challengers, v. the Diamondbacks, the Giants and the Padres, and three against other NL clubs, accounting for nine of the Rockies 25 wins. Versus NL clubs, the Rockies are 20-16 today. Next up for the Rockies is a series vs. the Giants, starting tonight. Sweeping this series means the Rockies and Giants tied at NL West’s top slot. END/ml

NBA: Conference Finals // MLB: Current Rankings

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . 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: Conference Finals // MLB: Current Rankings. . . NBA---THAT the East’s Miami Heat and the West’s Oklahoma City Thunder would reach the NBA-2013/14’s Conference Finals was a safe prediction last October and stayed that way through most of the regular season and into the year’s playoff rounds, but it didn’t happen in the easy ways that a hefty number of predictions said it would. Neither team entered the playoffs as very best in the NBA, with during most of the regular season both back of the amazing Western Conference-Southwest’s San Antonio Spurs and the Eastern Conference Central’s Indiana Pacers, plus league-wide the L.A. Clippers, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers close at the heels of the Heat and Thunder for more than just a week or two. And, both the Heat and Thunder struggled for their semi-final positions for their shot at the conference best-of-seven, and for the year’s NBA championship title if the Heat can knock off the Pacers and if the Thunder can take down the Spurs that are less winded after a 4-1 semi-final defeat of the West’s Portland Trail Blazers. Last night, it took the last of six games for the Heat to eliminate the Brooklyn Nets by just two points, 98-96, and a sixth contest for the Thunder to beat and eliminate the L.A. Clippers, 104-98. It also took a sixth game win for the Pacers to prevail over and eliminate the Washington Wizards, 93-80. The Spurs were the only team rising to Conference Finals this year from a semi-final win that carried a large anti-opponent deficit, 104-82 vs. the Trail Blazers. The Heat, Thunder and Pacers semi-final/last game victories carried but two, six and seven point deficits respectively. So, it’ll be the Heat against the Pacers for the Eastern title, and a Thunder vs. Spurs Western challenge. Last night, the year’s NBA MVP and Thunder star, Kevin Durant, made the difference for his team’s Clippers cutaway. Durant scored 38 points, consistency of his performance factors probably key to how well the Thunder will do vs. the Spurs extremely fast-in-transition and nearly seamless defense. For the Heat, there’s great star depth in a foursome, i.e., James, Wade, Allen, Bosh, primarily as shooters, less at each being quick enough to evade any Pacers defense rotation-variance. Likely outcomes? The rational take is that the year’s NBA Conference title games will be close. It shouldn’t surprise if 3-2 standings regarding each conference series again leads to sixth-game matchups. As for that Heat and Thunder prediction of last October for respective “Conference crowns” and occupying the NBA 2013/14 championship series slots, well, it’s more than a bit fragile now . . . MLB---AFTER nearly six weeks of the current MLB season, and more than 40 games played by each of MLB’s 30 clubs, which for most of them is a fourth of the season gone by, the biggest edges in wins gained by division leading teams over second place clubs are the four wins up having been purchased by the American League’s 24-12 Detroit Tigers over the Kansas City Royals, and the five wins more that belong today to the National League Central’s 26-15 Milwaukee Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, the leads held by the remaining four division number ones is precarious, examples: the AL’s Eastern Division leader, the 21-18 Baltimore Orioles, they are ahead of the 21-19 N.Y. Yankees by just one loss, and the 25-16 Oakland A’s are only three up over the L.A. Angels. Within the NL, the West’s 26-15 Giants are but three wins ahead of the Colorado Rockies, and the East’s 22-17 Atlanta Braves are only one win above the Washington Nationals. From a first glance at this, we can decide that much within the two leagues is subject to change, and there is no way to refute this. However, a question remains: “Will most of the current standings alter greatly in the near future?” Not an easy query to respond to when it’s a fact that almost three weeks ago four of the six division leading teams were also then division leaders, and the two that weren’t, the Yankees and the Giants, they were holding second place positions from just one win back of first. Not that there hasn’t been the unexpected turn, for instance, the AL West’s 14-8 Texas Rangers of three weeks ago dropping from second place to fourth position, now under .500 at 20-21, and in three weeks time the NL East’s now third place 21-20 Miami Marlins jumping up from last place at 10-12. END/ml