The Friday Morning Rush for April 15, 2011

It's Friday, April 15, 2011....

LEADING OFF: Two weeks of the baseball season are in the books and the Reds have been in first place since that first game. But Milwaukee has moved to within a game of the Reds in the Central Division

TONIGHT AT GABP: The Reds begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  It's Bronson Arroyo, looking for his third win in three starts.  Charlie Morton will pitch for the Buccos,

NOTHING MAJOR: The Reds were distressed to see that Aroldis Chapman was losing velocity on his pitches with each relief appearance that he made in the last week.  John Fay of the Enquirer says he was examined on the way back to Cincinnati on Wednesday and some inflammation was found.  GM Walt Jocketty told Fay that Chapman will get one or two days off. 

NATIONAL LEAGUE THURSDAY NIGHT:  Randy Wolf struck out ten as the Brewers beat the Pirates in Pittsburgh 4-1........Cliff Lee pitched a three-hit shutout as the Phils blanked the Nationals 4-0.  Lee struck out 12.....The Rockies took two from the Mets 6-5 and 9-4....the Marlins have taken consecutive series from the Astros and the Braves.  They beat Atlanta Thursday night 6-5....Bud Norris and the bullpen combined on a three-hitter as the Astros beat the Padres 1-0.....The Cardinals beat the Dodgers 9-5.

AMERICAN LEAGUE THURSDAY NIGHT: The Yankees rallied to beat the Orioles in ten innings 6-5.....The Rays beat the Twins 4-3 on a Johnny Damon two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning.  After the game, the Twins placed star catcher Joe Mauer on the 15-day disabled list due to weakness in his legs....Bruce Chen with another stellar effort, eight strong innings, in the Royals 5-1 win over Seattle....Detroit beat Oakland 3-0.

BIG BODIES: UC basketball got a commitment from 6-10 power forward Cheikh Mbodji of Grayson Community College in Texas.  Mick says Mbodji is 6-10, but has a 7-4 wingspan.  But will he bang under the boards?  Miami signed up 6-9 center Jared Tadlock from Charis Prep in North Carolina

TU GO OR NOT TU GO? Tu Holloway of Xavier has declared for the NBA draft.  But he hasn't signed with an agent in case he wants to change his mind.,

IT'S PLAYOFF SEASON: The NBA playoffs get underway Friday night with four games.  In the East, it's Indiana at Chicago....Philadelphia is in Miami... and Atlanta is at Orlando. In the West, Portland is at Dallas.  All are best-of-seven series.

THE NBA ON CHANNEL NINE: On Saturday, we have the Philadelphia at Miami game at 3p.m.  On Sunday, we have New Orleans at the LA Lakers at 3p.m.

THE NHL PLAYOFFS: Montreal blanked Boston 2-0.....Buffalo skated over the Flyers 1-0.....The San Jose Sharks beat the LA Kings in overtime 3-2.

SUNDAY ON MEIJER SPORTS OF ALL SORTS: Chris Welsh, the outstanding baseball analyst for Fox Ohio will be my special guest.

NA'S NIGHTMARE: Kevin Na hit his tee shot on the 9th hole of the Texas Open into the woods on Thursday. Thus began his less-than-excellent adventure.  Na hit a second tee shot into the thicket, and then it took him 10 more shots just to get out.  He whiffed on one shot, ricochetted a shot off his leg on another.  He needed to hit one shot lefthanded and it went about ten feet. He posted a 16 on the par-4 hole.

NO GO FOR UNCLE MO: Early Derby favorite Uncle Mo had a disappointing third place finish at the Wood Memorial and yesterday it was revealed that he has a gastrointestinal infection.  They still plan to ship him to Churchill Downs for the May 7 Kentucky Derby, but they're not sure he'll be able to run.

Hope your weekend is great

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