Maddux Sports Blog

You know what new trend I am already getting really sick of? Baseball teams locking up star players to contracts that they call reasonable one year and then dumping those players for salary relief the next year. The Blue Jays took it to the extreme when they gave Alex Rios to the White Sox for absolutely nothing, but the Rays followed in the mold yesterday when they sent Scott Kazmir to the Angels for a couple of prospects. It’s yet another case of where money is becoming the controlling factor in sports – sadly inevitable. You can make the argument that both Rios and Kazmir were having off years, but both have talent that made their contracts seem like a solid deal last year, and there isn’t a real physical reason in either case why that talent can’t be realized again. The White Sox obviously got a huge steal in Rios, and I think the Angels made a nice move in Kazmir as well. It was only the beginning of last year that Kazmir was seen as one of the top young arms in the game, he’s young, and they have him under contract for two years beyond this one. The price was reasonable, and it’s all upside as I see it. It’s not like it can hurt – the pitching staff in Anaheim has been a long way from effective.

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It’s amazing to me how uncompetitive this round of the NHL playoffs is. I felt confident that the finals this year was going to be a rematch of last year, but I thought that Detroit and Pittsburgh would at least have to fight for their berth. The game this afternoon was so one-sided it wasn’t even entertaining. I actually felt bad for the Blackhawks. Yesterday was just as bad – Pittsburgh never gave Carolina a chance. You never want a team to look past their current opponent, but I’m certainly looking to the next round. I definitely like Pittsburgh to win it all – Detroit is beat up, and Pittsburgh’s top two players are playing truly spectacular hockey right now.

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I couldn’t be happier for any player than I am for Dontrelle Willis after last night. In his second start of the year he earned his first win in almost 20 months. He was pretty spectacular, too – allowing just one hit in six and a third shutout innings. His first start, six days earlier, was pretty ugly, but this was one heck of a bounce back. Not only did he pitch well, but he did it against the incredibly hot Texas Rangers as well. It’s obviously way too early to trust him, but it will be fascinating to see how he does in his next couple of outings. I’m no psychologist, so I have no idea if this is relevant or not, but I can’t help but make a comparison between Willis and Zack Greinke . Both are stunningly talented pitchers who had their career derailed by an anxiety disorder. I don’t know if the conditions were even remotely related, but Greinke certainly bounced back well, and Willis has more than enough talent to do the same. I’m pulling for him.

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Justine Henin retired suddenly yesterday despite the fact that she was number one in the world rankings. A couple of things arise from that. First, it’s sad where we have gotten to as a society of sports watchers – an athletes leaves suddenly and I can’t help but wonder what she was about to be caught doing. That’s probably not the case here, but we can’t help but wonder. Second, there goes one of the easiest bets in tennis. She had won three straight French Opens. The tournament starts in a couple of weeks. She hasn’t been playing well lately, but she still would have been an automatic bet for a few rounds.

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• Crazy, crazy, crazy game between Dallas and San Jose tonight. San Jose needed a win in game six to survive. It was tied at one after regulation, and still tied after three overtime periods. The fourth overtime was a farce. The players were so tired that they could hardly move, and I’m sure both teams just wanted the suffering to end one way or another. Brenden Morrow finally scored the winner for Dallas halfway through the seventh period. The goal came on the powerplay, and it was a bit of a shame to see it end like that. Unfortunately for San Jose, though, the penalty was pretty blatant. Dallas has a few days to recuperate from this one – they don’t play Detroit until Thursday.
• The good news is that Tampa Bay got Scott Kazmir back today for the first time this year. The bad news is that they need him to be really good and he wasn’t. He lasted just four innings and allowed three earned runs in that time. There were some signs of hope from amongst the gloom, though – he struck out five and only walked three.
• CSKA Moscow beat Maccabi Tel Aviv Sunday to win the Euroleague championship. I love checking out the European games to see which players have ended up over there. There were some real gems in this one. Trajan Langdon, the Alaska-born former Duke star, was the MVP of the game and is one of the true stars of the league. One of his teammates is J.R. Holden. He played with Bucknell before heading to Russia, and he took Russian citizenship so that he doesn’t have to use up a foreign spot on the roster. THe losers were led by captain and point guard Derrick Sharp. He played at South Florida, but he is 36 so that was a while ago.
• Pittsburgh has one loss in two rounds, and there is no reason not to expect them to cruise through the battle of Pennsylvania relatively unscathed. They are young and have a lot to prove yet, but at this point they have to be solidly viewed as the favorites from among the four teams remaining. I’d take the youth and speed of Pittsburgh over the age and experience of Detroit.
• It won’t show up in their records because neither guy got a decision, but Johan Santana and Dan Haren had a heck of a duel today. Santana allowed one run in six innings, with 8 K’s and 4 walks. Haren responded with two runs in six innings with just one walk against seven K’s. Chad Qualls blew it for Arizona in the end with an uncharacteristically bad showing – three runs in the ninth.