Thursday, May 31, 2012

Marlins Sweep Nationals

    The Miami Marlins extended their franchise record for most wins in one month as they defeated the Washington Nationals 5-3 on Wednesday night at Marlins Park. The Marlins finished the month of May with a 21-8 record.
    With the three-game series sweep, Miami pulled to half-a-game behind Washington for first place in the National League East. Giancarlo Stanton socked his 13th home run of the season for the Fish. The Marlins head to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to take on the Phillies this weekend in a three-game series.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Heat Take Second Game In Overtime

    The Miami Heat had to take game two of the Eastern Conference Finals into overtime as they dropped the Boston Celtics 115-111 at American Airlines Arena on Wednesday night. Miami now leads the series 2-0 as they play the next two games at TD Garden in Boston. The Heat overcame their biggest deficit in franchise playoff history for the win. LeBron James led the Heat with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Dwyane Wade added 23 points while Mario Chalmers had 22 points. Rajon Rondo had a career-high 44 points and 10 assists for the Celtics.  
    Udonis Haslem hit a seven-foot shot with 1:27 left to go in overtime for a 107-105 lead. Wade was fouled by Kevin Garnett when he made a driving lay-up with 59.7 remaining in the extra session. Miami had scored seven straight points at that point to led 110-105.
    In the first quarter, the Heat got the first basket on a James dunk then Boston scored the next six points. Miami followed with five straight points for a 7-6 lead. The C's pulled off a 14-6 spurt midway through the first quarter. Boston led 24-18 after one quarter with Paul Pierce and Rondo getting eight points each.
    Boston scored six consecutive points at the start of the second quarter and got a double-digit lead with a 12-3 run in the first four minutes to make it 36-21. Miami was down 54-46 at halftime as Chalmers had 14 points and James added 13. Rondo led all scorers in first-half scoring with 22 points.
    Miami was able to cut the margin down to five points for most of the third quarter. They were behind 61-56 with over eight minutes left. The Heat retook the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter at 73-71 with 2:55 remaining as Haslem made a field goal and a free throw. Miami scored 12 consecutive points to stretch the lead to 78-71 and led 81-75 after three quarters.
Boston was outscored 35-21 in the third quarter.
     The Celtics pulled off an 11-1 run in the early part of the fourth quarter and regained the lead 88-85. Miami came back and went ahead 96-94 with just under two minutes to go. Pierce fouled out with 48 seconds left. Ray Allen tied the game at 99-99 with a three-point shot with 34.3 remaining. The game went info overtime as James missed an 18-foot shot in the final second.

         

Sid Rosenberg To Join WMEN

    Sid Rosenberg is expected to join 640 Sports WMEN-AM as the new morning host. He will replace the Armando and Perk Show with Armando Salguero and Chris Perkins. Salguero left the station last Friday while Perkins will continue as the morning host on an interim basis until Rosenberg takes over.
    Rosenberg has a non-compete clause in his contract with Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM that will expire in August. He was first suspended and then let go by the station in early April due to his DUI arrest. 640 Sports General Manager Steve Lapa is negotiating with WQAM management to get Rosenberg out of his contract for financial considerations.
    Rosenberg began his broadcast career as a morning co-host of The Drive with Scott Kaplan at CBS Sportsline.com in Fort Lauderdale. The show moved its operations to New York City as the morning show at WNEW-FM in 2000. He joined Sports Radio 66 WFAN-AM in 2001 as the sports anchor for the Imus In The Morning Show. Rosenberg added midday co-host duties at the station with Jody McDonald and later with Joe Beningo. He left WFAN in 2005 when he didn't show up to host a New York Giants pregame show.
    Rosenberg returned to South Florida and co-hosted middays with O.J. McDuffie on 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM. He later was elevated to the morning host position which he held until spring 2009. Rosenberg joined Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM that August and hosted middays. He was promoted to the afternoon host spot in June 2010 and was there until he was fired in early April 2012.

Armando Salguero Exits WMEN

    Miami Herald sports columnist Armando Salguero did his final show as morning co-host with Chris Perkins on 640 Sports WMEN-AM last Friday. The Armando and Perk Show has been on the station since January when Larry Milian left for a mid-afternoon post at 940 WINZ-AM The Sports Animal. It is expected that Sid Rosenberg will become the new morning host at 640 Sports when he can get out of his non-compete clause in his contract with Sports Radio 560 WQAM.      
    Salguero, Milian and Perkins worked together on the morning show from August until the end of 2011. He and Milian replaced Jeff DeForrest in 2010 as the morning co-hosts with the Armando and The Amigo Show. Salguero previously worked as a sports host at WAFN-AM 1700 The Fan from 1999 to 2000. He also was a sports reporter for ESPN during the 2000's. Perkins will continue to host the morning show until Rosenberg takes over.

Pat Murphy Leaves WPEC-TV

    Longtime WPEC-TV Channel 12 sports director and sports anchor Pat Murphy will retire from television during the summer. He has been the lead sports anchor at the West Palm Beach station since 1995. Prior to that, he was sports director and sports anchor at longtime crosstown rival WPTV-TV Channel 5 from 1983 to 1995. While others have come and gone from the local market like Craig Minervini and Larry Smith, Murphy's reign of 29 years as a West Palm Beach sportscaster is right up there with Jim Gallagher, Buck Kinnaird and Marc Goldberg.

HBO Pick Dolphins

    HBO announced that the Miami Dolphins will be on the series Hard Knocks this year. The program shows how an NFL team functions throughout the preseason. The first episode will air on August 7. HBO had a harder time getting an organization to agree this year compared to in the past.  In previous seasons, Hard Knocks have included the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Marlins Set Monthly Win Mark

    It was a pitching duel between Anibal Sanchez and Edwin Jackson as the Miami Marlins got by the Washington Nationals 3-1 on Tuesday night at Marlins Park. The Marlins set a franchise record as they won their 20th game this month. They had 19 wins back in August 1997. Miami crawled within 1 1/2 games of the Nationals for first place.
    Washington was hitless against Sanchez in the first four innings as he retired 12 of the first 13 batters. Jackson gave up a base hit to Hanley Ramirez in the first inning, which was the only hit for  Miami in the first five innings.
    The Nationals picked up one run in the fifth inning. Ian Desmond started it off with a single to left field. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by John Buck. Rick Ankiel struck out swinging which brought Corey Brown to the plate. He pulled off a suicide squeeze play with a bunt in front of the plate and Desmond scored for a Washington 1-0 lead.
    Miami evened up the score in the six inning as Omar Infante smacked a one-out double to the deep left field. Ramirez then lined out to center field and Ankiel overthrew the cut-off man on the infield and the ball stopped at the fence of the Marlins third base dugout. Infante was able to cruise into third. Giancarlo Stanton followed with a double into left field to score Infante.
    The Marlins took the lead for the first time as Chris Coghlan made things happen in the seventh inning. He picked up a single to center field with one out. Jackson attempted to pick him off but the ball went by first baseman Adam LaRoche. Coghlan advanced to third base on the play. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by Greg Dobbs to left field.
    Sanchez pitched seven innings and gave up one run on three hits with five strikeouts while Jackson went 6 2/3 innings and allowed one earned run on five hits.
    Ramirez extended the Marlins lead to 3-1 as he lead off with a solo home run to left field on the first pitch of the eighth inning. It was his eighth homer this season. Heath Bell came in and got his ninth save this year.


Miami/Fort Lauderdale Arbitron Ratings April

    790 The Ticket WAXY-AM regained the spot as the highest rated sports station in Miami/Fort Lauderdale for the month of April. They were tied with Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM with a 1.0 back in March. 790 The Ticket improved to a 1.1 due to the beginning of the playoffs for the Miami Heat, who are contenders to win the NBA championship. It was also the start of the baseball season for the Miami Marlins as they moved into their new stadium which has created a major buzz in the region. The station was not hurt that morning host Jorge Sedano left in early April and morning sports anchor Brandon Guzio shifted to the spot on an interim basis.
    Sports Radio 560 dropped to a 0.8 in the month of April.  It was the lowest ratings at WQAM since last summer. The situation with afternoon host Sid Rosenberg had an impact at that station. Rosenberg was arrested for driving under the influence back in early April. He was first suspended and then fired by station management in a matter of days. They replaced him with former University of Miami football player Dan Sileo, who was fired in March by WDAE-AM in Tampa Bay for a racial remark.  It seemed that WQAM fell from the afternoon show change.
    940 WINZ-AM The Sports Animal dropped from 0.4 to 0.3 in April. The station has lost more than half their audience since December when they had a 0.7 and Miami Dolphins game broadcasts on. The mid-afternoon show with Larry Milian and Phil Dominic has lost a bulk of their audience since they began in January. In addition, 940 The Sports Animal has been hurt with the Jeff DeForrest Show in evenings because they power down their signal at night which cuts their coverage area.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Heat Beat Celtics In Game One

    The Miami Heat hosted the Boston Celtics in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night at American Airlines Arena. They defeated the C's 93-79 as LeBron James led the way with 32 points and 13 rebounds. Dwyane Wade contributed 22 points and seven assists. Miami now has a four-game winning streak in the playoffs and improved to 6-1 on their home court. 
    The Heat put in the first four points of the game and were up 5-3 three minutes in. They maintained their lead on a 12-6 run and led 17-9 with 3:00 left in first quarter. Miami ended the first quarter with a 21-11 lead. LeBron James outscored Boston in the first quarter with 13 points while the Celtics only had 11.
     Miami remained ahead 34-24 with 7:25 left in the first half. Boston pulled off a 19-11 spurt to be down 45-43 with under two minutes left. The Heat gave up 35 points in the second, the most points they've given up in a quarter this postseason. The game was tied at 46-46 at halftime as Kevin Garnett had 13 points while Paul Pierce added 10.
    With the game tied at 50-50, Miami went on a 9-2 run that was capped by uncontested lay-ups by James and Dwyane Wade. They led 59-52 with 9:25 left in the third quarter.  Boston was down 72-61 after three quarters as they were outscored 26-15. James had 27 points and eight rebounds after the third frame.   
    Miami got the first six points of the final quarter and had their largest lead of the game at 17 points with a 78-61 lead just two minutes in. The Heat had a 15-point lead when they pulled their starters with just under two minutes remaining. Garnett led the Celtics with 22 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.  

Marlins Swat Nats

    On Memorial Day, the Washington Nationals came into town and were defeated by the Miami Marlins 5-3 Monday afternoon at Marlins Park.  Miami is now 2 1/2 games behind the first place Nationals in the National League East division. The Marlins tied a franchise record with 19 wins in one month which they set in August 1997.
    The Nationals scored the first run of the game in a very unlikely way during the third inning. With one out, Washington starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann hit his first career home run to left field on a 2-2 pitch off Carlos Zambrano.
    The Marlins tied the game in the fourth inning. Logan Morrison smashed a lead-off solo home run down the right field line on a 2-2 pitch. It was his third homer of the season.
    In the fifth inning, Washington was able to retake the lead 3-1. Second generation player Steve Lombardozzi got a one-out single to center field. He advanced to second when Bryce Harper followed with a single to center. Ryan Zimmerman launched a two-run double to left center to score Lombadozzi and Harper.
    Miami hit the ball hard off Zimmermann and were able to pull ahead of Washington in the sixth inning. Hanley Ramirez hit a single to left center to lead off the frame. Giancarlo Stanton then pounded a two-run homer to left-center field on a 3-1 pitch. Stanton notched his 12th home run this year. Logan Morrison place a double to right center. Bryan Petersen blooped a single to left field and Morrison advanced to third. After four consecutive hits by Miami, John Buck struck out swinging for the first out. Chris Coghlan picked up an RBI sacrifice fly to left field as Morrison scored for a 4-3 lead.
    Zambrano(3-3) lasted into the seventh inning in which he gave up three runs on seven hits while Zimmermann(3-5) also left the game after the Marlins got four runs and eight hits off him.
    Reyes led off the seventh inning with a double to center field off Henry Rodriguez. He advanced to third on a ground out by Omar Infante. Ramirez drove in Reyes on a sacrifice fly to center field.

Giants Edge Marlins

    It was the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, although the San Francisco Giants were across the nation to finish a road trip in Miami. They slipped by the Marlins 3-2. Matt Cain(5-2) got the win as he went 6 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on five hits. Ricky Nolasco(5-3) took the loss after going seven innings with three runs on five hits.
    Melky Cabrera started things off for his team with a two-out solo home run in the first inning off Nolasco to right field on a 2-2 pitch for a Giants 1-0 lead.
    San Francisco added another run in the fourth inning. Cabrera singled and then stole second. He went to third on a base hit by Buster Posey. Angel Pagan drove him in on a sacrifice fly to left field.    
    The Marlins closed the gap to 2-1 in the fifth inning. Giancarlo Stanton got a lead-off walk and Logan Morrison hit an infield bunt single. Following two straight outs, Chris Coghlan lashed a single to right field off Cain to score Stanton.
    The Giants picked up a two-out rally during the sixth inning. Cabrera singled to center field and then scored the game-winning run on a double to deep center field by Buster Posey.
    In the seventh inning, Miami could only garner one run. After he got a single with a defensive error by Pagan, Bryan Petersen was standing on third base. Greg Dobbs came in to pinch-hit for Nolasco and walked. Jose Reyes made it 3-2 on a single to right field to score Petersen. Giants manager Bruce Bochy then pulled Matt Cain. Omar Infante struck out against Sergio Romo to end the inning.
   

Friday, May 25, 2012

Heat Eliminate Pacers

    The Miami Heat picked up a 105-93 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis on Thursday and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. They won the series four games to two. The Heat will either host the Boston Celtics or the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Prior to this season, Miami always had the most trouble on the road at Indiana of all their Eastern Conference foes.
  

Van Gundy Fired By Magic

    Stan Van Gundy was fired as head coach by the Orlando Magic on Thursday after five seasons with the team. He led the team to an Eastern Conference championship in 2008-09, his second season there. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated them in the NBA Finals four games to one. He won three straight Southeast Division titles from 2007-08 to 2009-10.
    Van Gundy was acquired by the Orlando Magic from the Miami Heat in an exchange of draft picks. He was an assistant coach of the Miami Heat from 1995-96 until 2002-03. He replaced Pat Riley as the head coach after Riley resigned from the post following the final game of the preseason prior to the start of the 2003-04 season.  Although he lost his first seven games as a head coach that season, rookie Dwyane Wade led the team to the NBA playoffs. They upset the New Orleans Hornets in the first round, however they lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
    The Heat acquired Shaquille O'Neal during the off-season. They won the Southeast Division and finished first in the Eastern Conference in 2004-05. They were upset at home in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals by the Detroit Pistons. Van Gundy resigned as head coach 21 games into the 2005-06 season. Pat Riley took over and led the Miami Heat to their first NBA Championship as they beat the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

Mellanby Released By Blues

    Former Florida Panthers right wing Scott Mellanby has been let go by the St. Louis Blues as an assistant coach after two seasons. The Blues won the Central Division this past season and finished second in the Western Conference behind the Vancouver Canucks.
    Mellanby was a special consultant with the Vancouver Canucks after he retired from the NHL. He was hired as an assistant coach by head coach Davis Payne in 2010-11. Payne was fired earlier this season after a poor start and replaced by Ken Hitchcock. In addition, Blues owner David Checketts sold the club earlier this week.
    Scott Mellanby played for the Florida Panthers during the first seven seasons of the franchise from 1993-94 to 2000-01. He started as an alternate captain then replaced Brian Skurdland to become the second captain in team history.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Women's Professional Soccer Folds

    Women's Professional Soccer announced over the weekend that the league has folded after three seasons. The league did suspend operations back in January. Despite a Women's World Cup Final appearance by the United States, the organization was unable to break through due to numerous obstacles.
    The organization had a dispute with Dan Borislow throughout 2011. He bought the Washington Freedom earlier that year and moved the team to Boca Raton. He named them majicJack after the telephone call device that he invented. The team played their home games at Florida Atlantic University.
    The team ignored the league office in San Francisco when they refused to submit any business and team operations information, in addition to no website.  Borislow and the WPS would clash many times during the 2011 season. MajicJack finished in third place in the regular season and lost in the second round against the Philadelphia Independence.
    WPS stripped the majicJack franchise from Borislow following the season and the players were put into a dispersal draft. Borislow sued the league and they counter sued back. Both parties recently settled out of court on their lawsuits.

Gaby Sanchez Demoted

    The Miami Marlins have sent first baseman Gaby Sanchez to their Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans on Sunday. Sanchez had been in the starting lineup against Cleveland on Saturday. He was hitting .197 with one home run and 11 RBI. His on-base percentage was .244 and slugging percentage was .295 this season.

Indians Blank Marlins

    Four pitchers of the Cleveland Indians combined and pulled off a 2-0 shutout over the Miami Marlins on Saturday at Progressive Field. Jeanmar Gomez picked up the win as he went 6 1/3 innings and gave up three hits. Miami was unable to get a hit against the Indians bullpen.
    Anibal Sanchez took the loss as he pitched seven innings as surrendered seven hits and two runs with four strikeouts. Asdrubal Cabrera drilled a lead-off homer in the fourth inning to right field on an 0-2 pitch for an Indians 1-0 lead.
    Cleveland added another run in the fifth inning, Shelley Duncan hit a one-out infield single and Shin- Soo Choo followed with a single into right field to advance Duncan to third. Jason Kipnis then had a sacrifice fly to center field which scored Duncan. The Marlins will finish the three-game set in Cleveland on Sunday before returning home to face the Colorado Rockies.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Yeremiah Bell Signs With Jets

    Former Miami Dolphins defensive back Yeremiah Bell has signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets on Friday. Bell was drafted by the Dolphins from Eastern Kentucky back in 2004. He played in 104 games in his eight-year career with the team and had six interceptions with eleven sacks. His best year was in 2008 when he had 100 tackles and assisted on 20 more.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Pacers Take Heat

    The best-of seven series continued on Thursday night at Bankers Life Field House at Indianapolis as the Miami Heat got beat by the Indiana Pacers 94-75. The Heat now are down in the series two games to one. Game four will be played on Sunday.
    The big surprise of the game was that Dwyane Wade only put in five points while Mario Chalmers sank a playoff career-high 25 points, six rebounds and five assists. LeBron James contributed 22 points and seven rebounds.
    Miami was able to pull ahead 26-17 after one quarter. The Pacers began the second quarter on a 9-2 to close the gap within two points. The Heat increased the lead to 33-26, but Indiana came back with a 17-10 spurt to tie the game 43-43 by halftime.
    The Pacers outscored the Heat 26-12 in the third quarter and had a 14-point lead as they headed into the final quarter. Indiana increased their lead to 76-58 two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth.
    The closest Miami came to take the lead was with 7:20 left and were down 76-65 following seven straight points. Indiana went on a 15-6 run in the next four minutes to led 91-71 with 3:03 to go in the fourth quarter. Heat coach Erik Spolestra pulled his starters and emptied his bench with 2:43 remaining.

Braves Bash Marlins

    The Miami Marlins finished off a two-game set on Thursday at Turner Field in Atlanta as they were pounded by the Braves 7-0.  The Marlins head to Cleveland and face the Indians in an inter-league series that will start on Friday. Brandon Beachy picked up the complete-game shutout win as he allowed five hits and struck out six.    Atlanta got the jump with none out in the first inning. Michael Bourn led off with a single to left field, then Martin Prado followed with a triple to deep center field for a 1-0 lead.
    The Braves added to the lead in the third inning on a two-out rally. Freddie Freeman hit a solo home run to right field off Ricky Nolasco on a 1-0 pitch. Dan Uggla was able to get a walk and scored on a double by Brian McCann to left field.
    In the fourth inning, Atlanta extended their lead to 4-0 as Bourn knocked in Tyler Pastornicky on an RBI single to center field by Bourn with two out. Nolasco was pulled after the fourth inning as he gave up four runs on seven hits.
    The Braves continued to roll in the fifth inning as Chad Gaudin took the mound for Miami. After initial walks by Freeman and Uggla along with a fly out by McCann, Chipper Jones drove in Freeman on a single to center field. Jason Heyward followed with an RBI single to left and scored Uggla. Pastornicky stuck out to make it two out. Beachy hit a line drive single into right field to score Jones for a 7-0 lead.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Hurricanes Stay With WQAM

    The University of Miami Hurricanes announced that they have signed a five-year extension with Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM to remain the radio home for their games. The contract would have the Canes remain with WQAM through the end of the 2016-17 school year.
    The Hurricanes have aired on that station since the 1999-2000 season. It would include all football games along with most of the men's basketball season and a part of the baseball season. Since the Hurricanes have been on WQAM, they won the BCS national championship in 2001 and lost the national title game in 2002.
    It is expected that Joe Zagacki will continue as the play-by-play announcer for University of Miami radio broadcasts. He was a game analyst from 1999 to 2002 working with Marc Vandermeer. Zagacki slid into the play-by-play spot when Vandermeer left to become the radio play-by-play announcer of the Houston Texans.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Marc Eisenberg Joins WMEN

    Marc Eisenberg has left Sports Radio 560 WQAM-AM and joined 640 Sports WMEN-AM as of this weekend. Eisenberg is expected to be a weekend host on the station. He was a guest co-host with the Sports Brothers program on Saturday.
    Eisenberg was the afternoon producer, weekend host and fill-in host at WQAM until this past week. It was his second stint at that station where he mainly produced the Sid Rosenberg Show. Rosenberg was let go by WQAM in early April.
    Eisenberg worked at WQAM from 1999 to 2004. He started as a producer for the afternoon show with Hank Goldberg. It led to him to co-host an overnight show with Joe Castello from 2003 to 2004. He joined 790 The Ticket WAXY-AM as a producer and later became a midday co-host with O.J. McDuffie on What's Popping which lasted over one year. Eisenberg was also a football sideline reporter for Florida Atlantic University on radio.

LeBron James Named MVP

    LeBron James has been named the NBA Most Valuable Player for 2011-12. He has now won the annual award for the third time in his nine-year career. Only seven other players in NBA history have received the MVP award at least three times.
    James won it in 2008-09 and 2009-10 while with the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is the first time that a player from the Miami Heat won the award. James averaged 27.1 with 6.2 assists and 7.9 rebounds per game. He led the team to another Southeast Division title during the abbreviated season of 66 games.

Monday, May 7, 2012

WAXY Gets Interim Morning Show

    WAXY-AM 790 The Ticket has named new hosts for an interim morning show. Jon Weiner and Marc Hochman began as morning co-hosts on Monday and will continue to hold that role until the Miami Heat postseason is over. They replace Brandon Guzio who worked as the morning host since Jorge Sedano left the station back in early April.
    Jon Weiner, aka Stugotz, and Marc Hochman will also continue to be part of the Dan LeBatard Show in afternoon drive. Both have been part of the afternoon show on 790 The Ticket since it began in 2004. Weiner is the afternoon sidekick while Hochman is the executive producer of the program.   

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Junior Seau Dead

    Former All-Pro linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide on Wednesday morning. He was 43 years old and one of the most recognized defensive players in NFL history.  He was named an All-Pro ten times and landed a spot on the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. Seau played for the Miami Dolphins from 2003 until 2005. They did not make the playoffs while he was there.
    Seau played college at the University of Southern California and was drafted by the San Diego Chargers. He played in his first 13 seasons with San Diego and led the Chargers to an AFC championship in 1994. His team lost to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 29 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami. 
    He signed with the New England Patriots in 2006 and played his final four seasons in the NFL with them. Seau helped the team go undefeated in the 2007 regular season. They lost to the New York Giants at Super Bowl 42 in Arizona.

FIU Joins Conference USA

    Florida International University announced on Friday that their institution would leave the Sunbelt Conference and join Conference USA starting in 2013-14. FIU has been in the Sunbelt Conference since 1998. Prior to that, they were in the Trans America Athletic Conference(TAAC) from 1990 to 1998. One of the reasons for the switch by FIU was that they are based at a major city in Miami while other Conference USA universities are also in large cities. Their former nearest conference rival, Florida Atlantic University, will remain in the Sunbelt Conference.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Marlins Drop Giants

    The Miami Marlins defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-1 at AT&T Park on Tuesday night. This was the first of a nine-game road swing out west. The Marlins took a new color scheme in 2012 for their caps and uniforms that was similar to the Giants longtime black, orange and white look.
    It was a duel in which both starting pitcher had quality starts. Ricky Nolasco picked up the win and improved his record to 3-0. He went 7 1/3 innings and gave up one run on seven hits. Matt Cain dropped to 1-2 as he pitched eight innings for the Giants and surrendered two runs on six hits. Cain had retired the first nine Miami batters in the game.
    The Marlins got a run in the fourth inning to take the lead. Jose Reyes walked, stole second base and went to third on a wild pitch. Emilio Bonifacio popped out to shortstop. Hanley Ramirez then drove Reyes in with a one-out single to right field.
    In the fifth inning, Miami extended their lead to 2-0 as Giancarlo Stanton smashed a lead off line drive down the left field line on a 1-0 pitch for a solo home run.  It was his second homer of the season.
    The Giants closed the gap to 2-1 in the sixth inning when Pablo Sandoval hit a one-out home run over the high right field wall on a 1-1 pitch.  For the Big Panda, it was his fifth home run in 2012.
    Heath Bell got his third save of the season as he retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning.