"The Stack" 5-30-17
The Stack is back on this Tuesday and I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing Memorial Day weekend. There was a lot that happened on Memorial Day from the roads of Jupiter, Florida, to the diamond to the ice so let’s get right to it all and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Tuesday, May 30th:
Penguins take game one of Stanley Cup Final
It was a wildly entertaining game one of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night, one that saw the winning team register just 12 shots on goal, the lowest of any team to win in a Stanley Cup Final since they started recording shots on goal back in the 1950s. The Nashville Predators in their first ever Stanley Cup Final game looked extremely comfortable and dominated the first six or seven minutes of the game. They scored first too on a shot by P.K. Subban, but the Pittsburgh Penguins challenged the goal saying that the play was offsides before Subban was set up for the goal. Upon video review, the puck did cross the line before the back skate came off the ice right behind the blue line. No goal. There are those out there who disagree with the video review of this and I completely get it, but by the letter of the law that play was offsides.
Momentum swung right away in favor of the Penguins. They controlled the puck more and applied more pressure in the Predators zone. They eventually drew two penalties that gave them a 5-on-3 power play for two minutes and Evgeni Malkin would put the Penguins on the board 1-0 with four minutes and change left in the period. They would add a second goal by Conor Sheary thanks to a beautiful quick pass by Chris Kunitz that Sheary buried into an open net. A fluke goal that seemed to go off of a couple of Predators with 17 seconds would put the Penguins up 3-0.
The Predators though battled back. They dominated the entire second period and didn’t allow a single shot on goal by the Penguins. Ryan Ellis would cut the deficit to 3-1 on a power play goal and they would continue to dominate going into the third period on another power play goal midway through the period thanks to Colton Sissons. They would tie the game up three minutes later and it sure looked like the Predators would find a way to win the game. They were inches away from winning it too when a shot went off the crossbar moments later and the Penguins took advantage getting their first shot in 37 minutes on net against Pekka Rinne and Jake Guentzel would take advantage getting it by Rinne to put the Penguins up 4-3. Add an empty net goal and the Penguins would steal game one 5-3. They were thoroughly outplayed in this game and very lucky to come away with a victory. It didn’t look like they had the energy that the Predators had. That must change before game two on Wednesday. The Predators know they should have won the game. They’ll be ready for game two. Hopefully we will get a long series.
Baseball news
There were a lot of big stories that took place both on the diamond and off of it. We’ll start off of the diamond where the heavy favorite for AL MVP is going to be shelved 6-8 weeks. That would be Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the United States of America of planet Earth of the Milky Way Galaxy outfielder Mike Trout who suffered a torn ligament in his thumb and will undergo surgery to repair it. Trout suffered the injury over the weekend. It’s a huge blow to the Angels who have been a pleasant surprise so far this season hanging around .500 so far this season and have played better than I think most expected. Without Trout though, the Angels are in some serious trouble over the next one-to-two months.
On the diamond we saw some pretty significant stuff on Monday. The Houston Astros were 0-659 when trailing by six plus runs entering the eighth inning in their history and teams were 0-119 this season I believe when trailing by six plus runs entering the eighth inning. Well add a one to both of those dubious records, because the Houston Astros were trailing 8-2 entering the top of the eighth against the Minnesota Twins and promptly scored eleven runs in the inning in route to a 16-8 victory. The Twins bullpen was absolutely terrible and they didn’t get the best defensive help either. Three pitchers and a rain delay later and the Astros had eleven runs on the board. That is quite deflating for the Twins and it is the second time in as many days that the bullpen gave up a lead Starting pitcher Ervin Santana had another good outing and it was all for nothing.
In San Francisco, benches cleared when Giants bullpen pitcher Hunter Sutherland plunked Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper in the eighth inning. There is a history between the two players, but this seemed highly uncalled for. Harper charged the mound and Giants catcher Buster Posey didn’t try to stop him at all. Multiple punches were thrown from players on both sides as the benches cleared. Expect suspension and fines. Unfortunately Harper is probably going to be suspended the most if not the second most though he was clearly provoked. What a shame all the way around.
Tiger Woods arrested on DUI charges
Tiger Woods’ fall from grace continues to plummet and the latest incident took place early Monday morning when police in Jupiter, Florida pulled over Woods around 3 AM. Woods was arrested on DUI charges though he released a statement saying that it was not because of alcohol, but an unforeseen negative reaction to some medication he was taking. I will give Woods the benefits of the doubt regarding this. Perhaps I am a sucker. This whole incident is just yet another sad chapter in what has become one of the biggest falls from grace that a professional athlete has ever experienced. Will Woods ever get back to being competitive in a golf tournament again? Between back surgeries and now this, it appears Woods has far greater issues to tackle than his driving accuracy, chipping and putting. Very sad.
French Open preview
The French Open has started on the clay courts of Roland Garros. Serena Williams isn’t there due to her pregnancy. Maria Sharapova isn’t there due to the French Tennis Federation not wanting to give her a wild card spot because of her doping situation. Roger Federer would rather preserve his career than play in this tournament. He’s won it only once. So there isn’t a whole lot of star power in the second grand slam event of the season, especially on the women’s side. The number seed was knocked out already. Hopefully the women’s side produces a good final. On the men’s side, it will be either Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal winning the tournament. So far both are still alive. Give me Nadal to win on his favorite surface in his favorite tournament. That’s about all I have.
Coming up Wednesday: Game two Stanley Cup Final preview (perhaps) plus other top stories in sports. If no blog Wednesday, we’ll be back Thursday for sure.
