Posts Tagged ‘mat latos’


Weekend Sports Preview–July 23-24–Edmonton Indy, RBC Canadian Golf Open, Stamps & Esks, MLB, Senior British Golf Open

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Tony Kanaan (Wikimedia Commons)

Over the last two years, some of the most interesting IndyCar races have happened in Edmonton. Two years ago, Brazilian Tony Kanaan suffered first and second degree burns to his body when a splash of fuel got into his cockpit and ignited him and his car.

Then last year, Brazilian Helio Castroneves, who was the leader after 92 laps, was black flagged for blocking on the restart and finished tenth. The eventual winner was New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.

Fast forward to 2011, where Dario Franchitti of Scotland has been the driver so far on the IndyCar circuit. He won two weeks ago in Toronto, and has also won in St. Petersburg, Florida and Milwaukee. He leads Australian Will Power by 55 points.

Organizers have changed the layout of the 2011 Edmonton Indy, giving competitors more opportunities to pass.

The race starts Sunday at 12:45pm on TSN.

Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:

Saturday & Sunday–10am–Senior British Open–TSN–I wasn’t go to watch this, but now I will. Rod Spittle of St. Catharines, Ontario is the co-leader with Americans Mark Calcavecchia and Lee Rinker. Spittle shot a -5 on Friday to tie for the lead at -7. The emergence of Spittle, 56 years of age, is remarkable because he never played on the PGA Tour. He won the Canadian Amateur in 1977 and 1978, but decided to sell insurance instead of turning professional. Now he is one of the world’s top senior golfers.

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Padres struggled mightily since signing Bud Black long term

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Bud Black (Wikimedia Commons)

On July 19, 2010, the San Diego Padres awarded manager Bud Black with a contract extension through to 2013, with a club option for the 2014 and 2015 seasons . At the time the Padres were the best team in baseball, with a remarkable record of 54-37.

I remember when I heard the news last year that I felt the Padres had made a mistake signing Black to a long-term deal. I was not a fan of the makeup of the Padres team, and didn’t feel they had what it took to make a deep run in the playoffs. The Padres had Adrian Gonzalez in the cleanup spot, but after that, not much offensively. From a pitching standpoint, Mat Latos and Clayton Richard were coming into their own, but I felt would not live up to the expectations during the postseason.

Well, since July 19, the Padres have gone so down hill, it’s mind-boggling. Despite having the best record in all of baseball by late July, they failed to even make the postseason last year, and already in 2011, San Diego finds themselves in last place in the National League West with a record of 15-22, five and a half games back of the division leading Colorado Rockies.

In my opinion, a greater sample size of regular season games was required before Black was to be handed a long-term deal. Just because the Padres were the best team in baseball over a 14 week span, wasn’t good enough to justify this Padres’ general managerial decision.

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Major League Baseball Preview–National League West

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Tim Lincecum (Wikimedia Commons)

It is in this division where the World Series champion came out of in 2010. The San Francisco Giants knocked off the Texas Rangers 4-1 to win their first championship since 1954.

Even though their pitching staff remains basically intact, the Giants did have to say goodbye to infielders Juan Uribe and Edgar Renteria in the offseason. Uribe, who had 24 home runs and 85 runs batted in last season with the Giants is now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Renteria, who was named the World Series Most Valuable Player, is now with the Cincinnati Reds.

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