Caps Fall To Rangers

The Capitals took on the Rangers tonight at Madison Square Garden.  Both of these teams have a rivalry of their own as they've met in the playoffs almost every year since 2009.  For the Caps, this was another big road test against a Metropolitan Division rival.

The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Rick Nash and a power play goal by Martin St. Louis.  In the third period, New York jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Nash's second goal of the game.  The Caps answered right back though.  First Evgeny Kuznetsov found the back of the net, then Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play and suddenly it was a one goal contest with plenty of time left.  Unfortunately, the Rangers got a two man advantage and took advantage of the 5 on 3 power play as St. Louis scored his second goal of the game to give the Rangers the 4-2 win.

The Capitals continue their Metropolitan Division road trip this Saturday night as they take on Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Wizards Fall To Bulls In Playoff Rematch

Last spring the Wizards and the Bulls squared off in the first round of the NBA Playoffs in what was a thrilling series.  Washington upset Chicago 4-1 and a new rivalry between the two teams was born.  It wasn't born after the playoffs however, it was born in game 3 when Nene and Jimmy Butler got into a brawl which resulted in Nene getting suspended.  The bad blood didn't stop there.  In the Wizards first preseason game they took on the Bulls and there was a fight between Paul Pierce and Joakim Noah.

Tonight in front of a sellout crowd at the Verizon Center these teams squared off for the first time in the regular season.  The Wizards hung in there but ultimately came up short tonight, losing 99-91.  Derrick Rose scored 25 points for the Bulls while John Wall had 18.  The Wizards fall to 19-8 and are third in the Eastern Conference.  Their next game is Christmas Day at The Garden against the Knicks

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Wow I can't believe my last blog post was over a year ago!  Sorry I haven't posted in a while, A LOT has happened to me over this last year and I mean A LOT.  For starters, I'm now in the middle of my third year of college at Radford University.  While there, I am now a beat sports writer for our newspaper The Tartan and have my own sports talk show which I cohost along with Courtney Mendenhall at radiofreeradford.com.  In other news, I have developed into a much better runner and I recently ran my first half marathon in September.  I hope to do more races and running related activities in 2015. 

But ENOUGH about me. I am writing this post because 1. I need to get back to blogging. and 2. No better time than now.  There is a lot going on in the sports world especially here in the DC area. The Wizards are ballin right now and the Capitals are about to host hockey's signature event, the Winter Classic from Nationals Park.  Since the blogger bug has once again bit me, you'll see more posts from me about these two teams as well as Radford Hoops when I'm back at school.  Stay tuned...

Redskins Top Titans in Preseason Opener

The Redskins are back! After a memorable season last year that resulted in a NFC East Championship for the first time since 1999, the Redskins are about to embark on a huge season filled with high expectations. Before they can start playing games that count, they have to get through the preseason. They opened up the preseason in Tennessee against the Titans looking for a good start in the exhibition schedule. Kirk Cousins got the start at quarterback while Robert Griffin III or RGIII continued to rest and get ready for the regular season. The Redskins jumped to an early lead in the first quarter as Cousins threw a touchdown pass to Fred Davis. The Titans would bounce right back thanks to their running backs, first with a 58 yard run by Chris Johnson then a 19 yard run by Shonn Greene to take a 14-7 lead. In the second quarter the Redskins tied the game when Rex Grossman fired an eight yard touchdown pass to Leonard Hankerson to tie the game at 14. The game remained tied until the fourth quarter as the Titans retook the lead. The Redskins didn't quit. Pat White came into the game in the second half as quarterback, playing in his first NFL game in three years. Late in the fourth quarter, he led the Redskins on a 12 play, 80 yard drive that ended with White running it in 9 yards for a touchdown with 2:23 left in the game. With the score 21-20, the Redskins decided to go for the two-point conversion. They got it as White found Emmanuel Ogbuehi for the two-point conversion to give the Redskins 22-21 lead. The held on and got the win by that score. It may be the preseason, but a win is a win. Up next for the Redskins is a home game on Monday August 19 vs the Pittsburgh Steelers.

American League Shuts Out NL. Secures Home Field in Fall Classic

The MLB All Star Game is one of my favorite nights of the summer. You watch the best players in baseball on the biggest stage and it is the halfway mark of summer. What made this All Star Game special was that it was played in New York. Though I've never been to Citi Field, it brought back memories of being in the front row at Shea Stadium for a game during the Mets final season there. Mets pitcher Matt Harvey got the start from the NL in his home ballpark. While he gave up a few hits to start off the game, including hitting Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano in the knee, Harvey got out of the jam with two strikeouts. There wasn't a lot of offense as pitching dominated the game. It was scoreless until Jose Bautista hit a sac-fly to score Miguel Cabrera from third base that gave the AL a 1-0 lead. They would add to their lead a few innings later to make it 3-0. The best moment of the night came when Yankees closer Mariano Rivera came into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, with Enter Sandman playing. As he took the mound to warm up, he was the only one on the field, while the players from both teams and the fans gave him a standing ovation in what would be Rivera's final All Star Game. It would turn out to be Rivera's night as he worked a 1-2-3 inning and won the All Star Game MVP. With another memorable ASG in the books, now we enter the second half of the season. Who will make the playoffs? Who will be watching from home? The road to October starts now. 

MLB All Star Rosters Announced

On Saturday, Major League Baseball announced the American League and National League rosters for the All Star Game which will be played at Citi Field in New York next Tuesday.

AL Starters
C Joe Mauer, Twins
1B Chris Davis, Orioles
2B Robinson Cano, Yankees
SS J.J. Hardy, Orioles, Orioles
3B Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
OF Mike Trout, Angels
OF Adam Jones, Orioles
OF Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
DH David Ortiz, Red Sox 

AL Pitchers
RHP Max Scherzer, Tigers
RHP Felix Hernandez, Mariners
RHP Clay Bucholz, Red Sox
LHP Brett Cecil, Blue Jays
RHP Justin Verlander, Tigers
RHP Justin Masterson, Indians
LHP Chris Sale, White Sox
RHP Mariano Rivera, Yankees
RHP Bartolo Colon, Athletics
RHP Yu Darvish, Rangers
RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners
RHP Jesse Crain, White Sox
RHP Joe Nathan, Rangers
LHP Glen Perkins, Twins

AL Reserves
1B Prince Fielder, Tigers
OF Torii Hunter, Tigers
SS Jhonny Peralta, Tigers
2B Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
OF Nelson Cruz, Rangers
UTIL Ben Zobrist, Rays
C Jason Castro, Astros
1B Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays
OF Alex Gordon, Royals
2B Jason Kipnis, Indians
3B Manny Machado, Orioles
C Salvador Perez, Royals

NL Starters
C Yadier Molina, Cardinals
1B Joey Votto, Reds
2B Brandon Phillips, Reds
SS Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
3B David Wright, Mets
OF Carlos Beltran, Cardinals
OF Carlos Gonzalzez, Rockies
OF Bryce Harper, Nationals 

NL Pitchers
LHP Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
LHP Patrick Corbin, Diamondbacks
RHP Matt Harvey, Mets
RHP Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
RHP Jason Grilli, Pirates
RHP Jordan Zimmermann, Nationals
RHP Craig Kimbrel, Braves
LHP Aroldis Chapman, Reds
LHP Travis Wood, Cubs
RHP Jose Fernandez, Marlins
LHP Cliff Lee, Phillies
LHP Jeff Locke, Pirates
LHP Madison Bumgarner, Giants

NL Reserves
OF Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
OF Michael Cuddyer, Rockies
C Buster Posey, Giants
3B Pedro Alvarez, Pirates
OF Domonic Brown, Phillies
SS Everth Cabrera, Padres
2B Matt Carpenter, Cardinals
1B Allen Craig, Cardinals
1B Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks
OF Carlos Gomez, Brewers
SS Jean Segura, Brewers
2B Marco Scutaro, Giants

Bryce Harper is back and the Nats look back on track

The Washington Nationals finished their first half of the season with a 42-40 record. After being picked by Sports Illustrated to win the World Series, the ballclub entered 2013 with high expectations after a heartbreaking first round exit last year. Injuries and inconsistency contributed to the struggle. After a big win over the Mets on Sunday in which the Nats clubbed four homers they returned home last night to face the Brewers. The game would mark Bryce Harper's return from injury. When Harper stepped up to the plate in his first at bat he homered to left field and Nats Park was going wild! Jayson Werth also contributed with 5 RBIs. The Nationals are heading in the right direction and hope to grab some more curly W's before the All Star break and catch up with division leading Atlanta Braves.