FAVORITE TEAMS UPDATE: some bad news last night. The Dallas Mavericks fell behind two games to none against the Denver Nuggets, losing 117-105. Once again a big 4th-quarter run by the Nuggets did the Mavericks in; also hurtful was Josh Howard going down with a sprained ankle in the first quarter. Yet the Mavs were right in it early in the 4th. Then came the fall. Do they get tired? Worn down? Answers will need to be found, and soon.
And the Detroit Red Wings lost again, 2-1 to Anaheim. They now trail their 2nd round series, 2 games to 1. The Wings aren't playing badly--they outshot the Ducks last night 46-23, a 2-1 margin. But they're having a hard time beating the Anaheim defense and their goalie, Jonas Hiller. The Wings just have to keep at it, and not get frustrated.
Meanwhile, former NBA star Dave Bing (he used to play for the Detroit Pistons) was elected mayor of Detroit in a special election; the election was to fill the position formerly held by the disgraced Kwame Kilpatrick. Bing won in a close race. His victory speech sounded good:
"What we will bring ... is efficiency, transparency, honesty and integrity back to the mayor's office."
Well, good luck to him in cleaning up Detroit...he'll need it.
BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers looked much better last night, blanking the Twins 9-0. Manager Jim Leyland shuffled the batting lineup, and it worked...and rookie Rick Porcello pitched very, very well. Leyland knows how to push the right buttons. I'm glad the organization didn't panic last year and fire him.
The Cubs lost to the Giants, 6-2...largely because they were facing Tim Lincecum, and also because Manager Lou Piniella rested many of his usual starters. Hopefully that won't cost the Cubs momentum--the loss broke a 4-game winning streak.
But the Texas Rangers beat Seattle, 7-2 in 10 innings, for their 4th win in a row. The Rangers got excellent starting pitching from Vincente Padilla...who held Seattle to 1 run on 1 hit for 8 innings, but got a no-decision. That's because the Rangers faced tough Erik Bedard. But the Rangers finally broke through for 6 in the 10th off of Seattle's tired and injury-plagued bullpen, and that was that. Just keep getting adequate pitching, Rangers...that offense can do the rest.
DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN---and Sec of State Hillary Clinton expresses regrets:
"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the death of civilians in Afghanistan apparently as the result of a U.S. bombing."
Hmmm...well, funny thing: the Bush administration of course expressed regrets for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan when it was in office, too. But that didn't matter to our progressive friends--they bashed Bush for such deaths, anyway. But do you think a single liberal poster on any of the online discussion groups one sees has expressed an ounce of worry over civilian deaths--since Mr. Obama has taken office???? Answer: nope...
I guess when civilian deaths happen in war, but a Democrat is in office, they're just not so morally questionable...to some.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE REPUBLICANS: or, at the very least, signs that things ain't that bad, and they ain't that great for the Democrats:
"Looks like Kathleen Sebelius, the new HHS secretary celebrated from one end of the Washington beltway to the other as "a popular Democratic governor of a nominally Republican state" (that would be Kansas, where the governor is usually a Democrat), got out of town just in time. A new SurveyUSA poll shows, for the first time, more disenchantment than enchantment among Kansans for the new princess of human services. Last time I checked, her favorables were close to 60 percent."
