Obviously, Monday’s biggest sports story had nothing to do with baseball. As we predicted less than a month ago, the Kansas Jayhawks knocked off the Memphis Tigers in overtime, 75-68, to be crowned the collegiate national champions for the first time since 1988.
It was an incredible back-and-forth affair, as neither team could seemingly pull away when it took the lead. It wasn’t until late in the second half, when the Tigers took a nine-point advantage with 2:12 left on the clock, that the game looked to be in hand. Kansas had chosen to foul Robert Dozier, with its apparent game plan being to exploit what was perceived to be Memphis’s glaring weakness, foul shooting. But when Dozier sank both shots, the game looked to be over.
Still, Kansas had a lot of fight left. It cut the lead to 60-53 on a Darrell Arthur jumper, then took the ball away from Memphis and capitalized on the huge turnover when Sherron Collins drained a three. Suddenly, the lead was cut to 4.
But the Jayhawks still had to extend the game with fouls. Chris Douglas-Roberts got Memphis’s lead back to six by sinking a pair of free throws with 1:39 left. But Memphis made another mistake at the other end when Joey Dorsey picked up his fifth foul for bumping Mario Chalmers. Chalmers negated CDR’s efforts at the line by dropping in two free throws of his own.
And that’s where it really started to go south for Memphis. Douglas-Roberts was sent to the line again at the other end, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. At the other end, Kansas cut Memphis’s lead to 2 with another Arthur jumper.
At the other end, Douglas-Roberts continued to miss foul shots and keep Kansas alive. Still, it looked like the Tigers would survive the scare when Dozier grabbed a key offensive board and quickly got the ball to Derrick Rose, who was sent to the line with 10 seconds left.
But just as Douglas-Roberts had done, Rose appeared to feel the pressure and missed his first free throw. He did manage to make the second, but his miss kept the game within the Jayhawks’ reach.
And then that happened.
As you can probably tell by Chalmers’ joy at the tail end of that clip, not to mention the link in the first paragraph of this post, the Jayhawks went on to outscore Memphis 12-5 in the five-minute overtime period to complete their improbable comeback win and become the National Champions.
So, what does all of this have to do with Monday’s ballgames? Well, plenty. (Or at least enough that I feel justified in writing several paragraphs about the game before coming up with the tie-in.) Just as Memphis blew a big lead late in the most publicized sporting event of the day, several Big League teams were also unable to protect late leads.
I could’ve just said that at the beginning and saved everybody the trouble of reading the previous eight or so paragraphs, but it gave me an excuse to throw out that Chalmers YouTube clip and also allowed me to remind my readers that I am, in fact, sometimes capable of correctly forecasting the outcomes of sporting events. And, as we’ve seen in recent days, that’s a point that could use some reinforcing.
Of Monday’s 11 Major League games, only four of them saw the team that scored first hold its lead throughout the entire game. The Phillies, Padres, Yankees and Diamondbacks managed to hold the Reds, Giants, Rays and Dodgers at bay in their respective games.
That leaves seven games where leads were blown, several in spectacular fashion.
The Chicago Cubs saw their 7-0 third inning lead evaporate against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who rallied for five runs in the 4th inning against Ted Lilly and Kevin Hart. The Cubs would add a run in the top of the sixth inning, scoring a run on a fielder’s choice, but the Pirates continued to chip away at the lead, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Pittsburgh completed the comeback when Jose Bautista scored on an error by Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa, tying the game at 8.
The score would remain that way until the 12th inning, when Rule 5 pick Evan Meek, the final reliever left in Pittsburgh’s bullpen, held the Cubs hitless while walking five batters. Throw in a sacrifice fly, and the Cubs were able put two runs on the board in a somewhat Hawkinsesque display.
Carlos Marmol entered and kept the Pirates off the scoreboard in the 12th inning to salvage the game for Chicago.
Later in the day in Anaheim, the Angels saw closer Francisco Rodriguez fail to convert a save opportunity in a 2-1 game. K-Rod walked two Cleveland Indians and allowed a pair of doubles before departing with a leg injury. He was replaced by Scot Shields, who worked himself into and out of trouble. At the end of the half inning, the Indians had taken a 4-2 lead.
But that lead wasn’t safe either. After Chone Figgins made the first out of the inning, the Angels went to work. Gary Matthews Jr. drew a walk against Cleveland closer Joe Borowski. Vladimir Guerrero followed with a single. A walk to Garret Anderson loaded the bases.
And then a home run by Torii Hunter cleared them, as the Angels went on to win by a 6-4 final.
Elsewhere, a 2-run home run by Matt Holliday in the bottom of the 8th inning was all the Colorado Rockies needed to come from behind and secure a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves. Manny Corpas, who blew a save on Sunday, pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
The St. Louis Cardinals had some ninth inning magic in them, scoring three runs off of Houston closer Jose Valverde to tie the game at 3. But Miguel Tejada was able to pick up his new teammate in the bottom of the inning, launching a 2-run walk-off shot of his own against Kyle McClellan to clinch the 5-3 victory for the Astros.
FULL RESULTS FROM APRIL 7:
Philadelphia Phillies 5, Cincinnati Reds 3
Chicago Cubs 10, Pittsburgh Pirates 8 (12 innings)
Baltimore Orioles 5, Seattle Mariners 4
Chicago White Sox 7, Minnesota Twins 4
San Diego Padres 8, San Francisco Giants 4
Houston Astros 5, St. Louis Cardinals 3
New York Yankees 6, Tampa Bay Rays 1
Florida Marlins 10, Washington Nationals 7
Colorado Rockies 2, Atlanta Braves 1
Arizona Diamondbacks 9, Los Angeles Dodgers 3
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6, Cleveland Indians 4
TUESDAY PICKS:
New York Mets over Philadelphia Phillies
Detroit Tigers over Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles over Texas Rangers
New York Yankees over Kansas City Royals
Toronto Blue Jays over Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners over Tampa Bay Rays
Cincinnati Reds over Milwaukee Brewers
Houston Astros over St. Louis Cardinals
Colorado Rockies over Atlanta Braves
Los Angeles Dodgers over Arizona Diamondbacks
Cleveland Indians over Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
San Diego Padres over San Francisco Giants
Merrill Park Superstar vs. the NL Central Updated Standings:
Milwaukee Brewers (5-1) .833
St. Louis Cardinals (5-2) .714
Chicago Cubs (4-3) .571
Cincinnati Reds (4-3) .571
Merrill Park Superstar (55-48) .534
Pittsburgh Pirates (3-4) .429
Houston Astros (3-5) .375
