The Fives: April 18th, 2010

Five observations from Saturday in sports…

1.    Nice to see the Rockies get off the list and get their first ever no-hitter last night.  Ubaldo Jimenez throws a gem and definitely had to work for it, throwing 128 pitches.  That just leaves the Mets, Padres and Rays as the teams not to throw one.

2.    I’m not really sure what Kevin Garnett was thinking last night.  How can you get tossed out in the first game of the playoffs?  Now he’ll probably suspended for Game 2 and gives the advantage in the series to Miami to get a win on the road and go back to South Beach with home court advantage.

3.    I’m not sure the last time this happened, but if Chicago wins Game 2 over Nashville, all 8 first round NHL Playoff series will have been tied at 1-1.  This is probably the best case scenario for the league, as the longer these series continue, the momentum that can be built can carry through the rest of the playoffs.

4.    How about going to a MLB game and getting over 2 games worth of baseball?  20 innings for the Mets and Cardinals yesterday and two things that worked out for both teams: 1. At least it was an afternoon start, so they weren’t playing until early this morning. 2. It’s a good thing that the final game of the series is going to be the Sunday night game because everyone could use the rest.

5.    Nice to see Alexander Ovechkin has joined us for the NHL Playoffs.  But the Capitals still needed overtime to even the series.  I’m starting to wonder if the pressure of the President’s Trophy may be starting to get to Washington, losing in OT in Game 1 and having to rally from two goals down in the 3rd period just to force overtime in Game 2 before winning it. 

Five top performances from Saturday…

1.    Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies SP: Throws Colorado’s 1st ever no-hitter with 7 strikeouts

2.    Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets SF: 42 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast in DEN’s 126-113 Game 1 win over UTA

3.    Nicklas Backstrom, Capitals C: A hat trick with an assist in WAS’s 6-5 OT Game 2 win over MON

4.    Livan Hernandez, Nationals SP: 0 runs on 4 hits with 3 K’s and a CG SHO in WAS’s 8-0 win over MIL

5.    Derrick Rose, Bulls PG: 28 pts, 7 reb, 10 ast in CHI’s 85-76 Game 1 loss to BOS

Five events to watch on Sunday (all times Eastern)…

1.    MLB: Rays at Red Sox, 1:30 PM (Good matchup; Garza (TB) vs. Lester (BOS))

2.    NBA Playoffs: Thunder at Lakers, Game 1, 3:00 PM, ABC (Durant vs. Kobe for the first time)

3.    MLB: Giants at Dodgers, 4:00 PM (Zito (SF) vs. Kershaw (LAD))

4.    NHL Playoffs: Penguins at Senators, Game 3, 6:30 PM, Versus (Defending champs take to the road for the first time)

5.    NBA Playoffs: Spurs at Mavericks, Game 1, 8:00 PM, TNT (Is it the last run for this current group of Spurs?)

Have a good day.