I’m Miles Miller!

So a lot has happened in the last month in the NBA.  The Lakers dominated the Rockets and Nuggets in the West, and then the Magic in the Finals.  The Cavs were simply no match for the Magic offensively or defensively.  Dwight Howard did everything he wanted in the paint and left Lewis, Turkoglu, Pietrus, and Lee wide open on the perimeter.  LeBron did everything for the Cavs offensively while four other guys in Cleveland uniforms stood around and watched.  My picks finished the playoffs 11-4.

In case you missed, it was an interesting week in trades as LeBron got a new teammate in Shaq, Vince Carter is now with Dwight Howard in Orlando, Richard Jefferson is now with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, and playoff hero Hedo Turkoglu opts out of his contract to become a free agent.  There could be a lot of teams changing faces as the list of other unrestricted free agents include Jason Kidd, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion, Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson, Ben Gordon and some guy named Kobe Bryant.
 
The NBA draft also happened last week.  #1 pick Blake Griffin is a Clipper (who lost the last game of the regular season at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 41).  Have fun.  The Clippers may be better with a lineup including Griffin, Baron Davis, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, Al Thornton and Zach Randolph, but it won’t matter in the West.

Memphis Grizzlies are also stacking up young talent as they get 7-3 center Hasheem Thabeet of UConn, Mizzou’s DeMarre Carroll and Sam Young from Pitt to go along with OJ Mayo and Mike Conley.  Give them a couple years and they will be making noise in the Western Conference.

Baseball is a funny game: The Yankees finished the sweep of the weekend Subway Series with a 4-2 win on the other side of town tonight.  Chien-Ming Wang got his first win (1-6) and almost lowered his ERA below 10 (10.06).  Robinson Cano had a night to forget.  He came up with 9 men on base and went 0-4 hitting into a fielder’s choice out, caught stealing, grounding into double play, another double play with the bases loaded, and grounding out with the bases loaded.  In the 9th inning with two on and two out in a 3-2 game, Mets’ closer KRod intentionally walked Jeter to load the bases and then walked Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera to force in a run.  Mariano earned his 500th career save, becoming only the 2nd pitcher to reach that, and with the walk notched his first-career RBI.

Mile-high month:  Since the Colorado Rockies fired head coach Clint Hurdle on May 29 they have been on fire.  Jim Tracy’s Rockies have gone 22-7, including winning 20 of their last 23 games.  Aaron Cook has won five straight starts.  They will have to have a hot-hot June and July if they want to catch the first-place Dodgers who are still 7.5 games ahead and get Manny back next week.

Playing catch-up: Tampa Bay Rays are also storming back into the scene with a 17-7 June.  The combination of Carl Crawford and BJ Upton have 67 stolen bases, which is more than all but 2 teams in all of baseball.

Madduz, Smoltz, and Glavine who?  Braves’ rookie Tommy Hanson has 3 straight shutouts against the Red Sox, Yankees, and at Cincinnati.  For his young career now he’s thrown 29 innings, but he hasn’t given up a run in his last 19 2/3 innings. 

Medic?  Mets are struggling to stay afloat, with Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Delgado all on the DL (Alex Cora, Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy are not exactly helpful fill-ins), as well and John Maine, Oliver Perez and reliever JJ Putz.  Yet the Phillies aren’t taking advantage as they recently lost 11 of 13.

Roy-al relief:  The Blue Jays have 6 starting pitchers on the disabled list.  Their starting rotation this week included Richmond, Romero, Tallet, Mills, and Cecil, not exactly what fans and management had in mind.  Roy Halladay makes his first start since getting hurt, on Monday, where he goes for league-lead win #11. 

A little help would be nice:  Cardinal’s pitcher Joel Pineiro started the season 4-0.  Since then, he’s 2-9.  Pineiro, Doug Davis, and Javier Vazquez have ERA’s below 3.50 but have a combined  W/L record of 13-24.  Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield and Kevin Slowey each have 10 wins and ERAs of 4.18 and 4.41.

Guess who:  Ichiro is up to .372, 30 points higher than the next guy, Met David Wright.

It’s been 6 weeks without a baseball update.  Lots has happened.  Remember when the Royals and the Marlins were on a roll?  Last time I was ready to concede defeat for the Yankees on the season and consider the possibility that maybe my team will be long gone come October.

Finding creative ways to lose:  June 13: After David Wright hit a go-ahead double off Mariano Rivera, the Yankees were trailing the Mets 8-7 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning and Alex Rodriguez slammed his bat after hitting a game-ending pop-up to second base.  But wait, 3-time Gold Glove winner Luis Castillo missed the ball, bouncing it off his glove in Bill Buckner fashion, allowing two runs to score.  Instead of winning by a run, the Mets lost by a run.  This was not the Mets’ first experience like this.  They lost to Florida on April 12 when left fielder Daniel Murphy dropped Cody Ross’ fly ball. And on May 18 they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers after Ryan Church missed third base en route to not scoring the go-ahead run in the 11th inning. 

More from: Usually you would relax a little knowing your ace Johan Santana is on the mound.  Two days later the Yankees knocked around the great pitcher for 9 runs in 3 innings, on their way to a 15-0 drubbing of the cross-city rivals.  This came five days after Santana gave up 4 home runs in a game against the division rival Phillies (which the Mets were fortunate enough to win).

Top of the Standings: The top winning percentages currently belong to the Manny-less Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees and Tigers.

Remembering the name on the front of the jersey: After starting 18-11, the Royals have gone 11-28 since May 8.

Lopsided rivalry:  Red Sox are 7-0 against the Yankees this season. 

Time for streaking:  The Padres won 10 in a row in May to become 24-22.  Oh, how long ago that was.  6-18 since.  Meanwhile, the Rockies are on fire right now, winning 15 of their last 16 games after starting 20-32.

Still king of the hill:  Reigning MVP Albert Pujols leads the major leagues in home runs, runs batted in, runs scored, on-base-percentage, and slugging percentage.  He almost has as many home runs (26) as strikeouts (27).   Contrast that with Chris Davis (13 HR-101 SO) or BJ Upton (5-79). 

Mr. Consistent: Ichiro has 96 hits in 61 games, which is on pace for 254 hits over a 162 game season, his second most (he has missed 8 of the Mariner’s games, so his actual pace is a little lower, 240).

Mr. Dependable:  Dan Haren has 13 quality starts in 14 total starts. 

What injury?:  Joe Mauer went 0-4 on Sunday to lower his batting average all the way down to .407.  He has 14 homers since his first game on May 1, already a career high (set in just 45 games played). 

So for the last month I was working at a sales job in Ohio, staying at white trash run-down extended stay hotel in Middletown that did not have internet availability or cell phone reception and saturated everything my wife and I own with cigarette smoke.  Besides working 60 hours a week, writing my blog didn’t get much opportunity for an update. 

Anyway, I thought I was sick of school but after five years I’ve decided to do another couple years here in beautiful New England (Hartford, CT).  Meanwhile, I’m working with my dad in Vermont where I can listen to the Yankees on the radio every night while my dad walks around with headphones listening to the Red Sox.  I’m looking forward to getting to new Yankees Stadium this summer and in September.

So nothing exciting here, but just an update with more to come.

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