Mike Coulter

Well, it’s definitely not the biggest weekend in sports, but there are a few fun things going on in the athletic universe.

Major League Baseball

White Sox vs. Cubs
Things have already kicked off in Chicago, with the Cubs winning the first game of the series on a walk-off homerun from Aramis Ramirez. These two teams are at the top of their respective divisions for a reason. They both have had solid pitching, and have lineups that are capable of giving those pitchers decent run support.

Look for an 8-7 or 7-6 game on Saturday, followed by a close, but much lower-scoring contest, when Javier Vazquez and Ryan Dempster hit the bump on Sunday. Dempster is 8-2 on the season, with a 2.76 ERA, while Vazquez sports a mediocre 7-5 record, but has fanned 93 batters so far this season.

Twins vs. Diamondbacks
If the Twins look in the rearview mirror, they’re going to see a Tiger team edging up fast. And while Minnesota has been playing good ball, the Tigers are the team with the should-be All-Star lineup... and that linup is starting to come alive. Even with a decimated pitching staff, Detroit should have no trouble taking two of three from the lowly San Diego Padres, this weekend.

If the Twinkies want to hold on to their second-place spot in the AL Central, they absolutely need to win this series against the NL West-leading Diamondbacks. The Twins will have their work cut out for them, though. They will face Randy Johnson, Micah Owings and Brandon Webb. Webb will be looking to bounce back from an awful last performance, in which he gave up 7 earned runs in only 3.1 innings. Owings, meanwhile, could be trying to help his team with more than his arm; serving as designated hitter for the interleague series.

Angels vs. Phillies
The weekend’s second battle of first place teams kicks off Friday in Philadelphia, with the NL East-leading Phillies playing host to the top team in the AL West; the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos have played spectacular on the road, posting a 21-12 record away from home.

Philadelphia has cooled off after winning seven of eight to start the month. The team now holds a slim, two-game lead over the surprising Marlins. They will likely struggle against Angel pitchers Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders, before facing Jered Weaver on Sunday. Cole Hamels takes the mound for the Phils on Sunday, so I’ll say they go 1-2 in the series, and retain a one-game lead over Florida.

Other Action

-The Olympic torch makes its way to Tibet on Friday... What could possibly go wrong? You might see more coverage of this on the news than on the sports stations. I’m just hoping that we don’t have to hear about Chinese police brutalizing protesters, or monks lighting themselves on fire.

-NASCAR is in Sonoma on Sunday, for the first road race of the season. For a lot of fans, this is not a must-see race, but I think it’s an interesting blend of open-wheel and stock car. I probably won’t watch the whole event, but I’ll probably give it a couple looks as I flip from game-to-game.

-The NHL draft will be held this weekend, and for hockey fans, this is obviously a pretty huge deal. The Tampa Bay Lightning have the first pick this year, and have already said that they plan on taking forward Steven Stamkos. Listed at just under 6-feet and 176 pounds, Stamkos is a skilled two-way player with exceptional speed, who produced 197 points (100 goals, 97 assists) in 124 games with Sarnia of the Ontario Hockey League over the past two seasons.

-The PGA Tour is in Cromwell, Conn. for the Travelers Championship. It’s obviously a huge letdown from the U.S. Open, but it still has some appeal. Young players, and even some old guys, should be in contention for the win. This course also offers a lot more scoring opportunities then Torrey Pines did. And, of course, Tiger-haters can rejoice at the fact that someone else will have a chance to win.

-The College Baseball Word Series is in progress in Omaha, and the Championship teams will be determined this weekend. The five remaining teams are Georgia, Stanford, Fresno State, North Carolina and LSU.

-Saturday, MMA fans will probably want to check out the finale for the seventh season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter series. The final match will be part of a three-hour card featuring Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove taking on middleweight champ Evan Tanner. I’m not a huge fan of mixed martial arts, but it’s free, and past finales have been pretty solid.

In the news...

So, Chad Johnson had surgery today to clean out an ankle that was supposedly bothering him at the Bengals mandatory workouts. Oh, and he also has a sore back.

Riiiiight...

Sure, Chad, we believe you. There’s definitely no way that you and your agent, Drew Rosenhaus, could have cooked this one up as a way to punish the Bengals for not trading you.

Just like there’s no way that the general public would question the statements of someone who has been a loud-mouth, malcontent for most of his career.

Sarcasm aside, I think we all know that this is a power move on Chad’s part. He says he’ll be back to start the season, but we all expect him to try to sit until he’s traded.

I wouldn’t expect Cincinnati to play ball, though. The team has already said that it won’t trade Chad because it can’t get equal value.

Good for the Bengals, too. I hope they fine him, and if that doesn’t work, I hope they sit him and let him rot. Whatever they do, they can’t, under any circumstances, trade him to get him out of the way. These guys have to learn that they can’t bully management... even if slimy Mr. Rosenhaus is doing their bidding.

Cincinnati, maybe more than any other team in this situation, needs to hold firm. They’ve already cut ties with a few troubled players, and they are well on their way to reigning in the three-ring circus. To finish the task, they have got to get this one right.

Anyway, it might even be better for the team if he doesn’t play. Carson Palmer is sick of him. T.J. Houshmandzadeh seems to have had his fill of “Ocho-Cinco”. Plus, at this point, who’s to say he even gives it an honest effort?

Eventually, though, he’ll realize that he’s wasting games and money in the prime of his career. If he has any brain beneath that short Mohawk, he’ll also realize that he’s hurting his stock for the future.

Sure, someone will sign him after this ordeal (Dallas), but it won’t be as big of a contract as it would have been, especially since he’s coming off somewhat of a down year. How many teams nowadays can afford to take a chance on a guy like Chad Johnson?

Some, but not that many.

And by the way... 85 is “ochenta y cinco”. Idiot.

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From the Blogosphere...

Banned Poster learned a lot of things during this year's NBA finals, but the most important was that Laker fans are "classless". Please, can we start using some synonyms for that word. I know they use it on television, but there are actually about 20 other words that mean exactly the same thing. Microsoft Word has a thesaurus. Besides that, it is a great blog, and is up to par with the rest of BP's writings.

Stepping outside the world of sports, redoverred is sending his prayers to the Americans dealing with the floods of the Midwest. Stop in and share a thought.

The AL Central is always a dog fight. In his latest blog, tigertowner68 breaks down the middle of the pack, as the Tigers and Indians move in opposite directions.

Coming up...

Unfortunately, I missed Griffey’s 600th homerun by one at-bat, last weekend. I went Sunday, and he hit the thing on Monday, in his first plate appearance. The saddest thing is; the area where he hit the ball was exactly where I was camped out with my wife and friend.

We had it all planned out, too. I was going to hurl my wife on top of everyone in the row in front of us. My buddy, meanwhile, would tackle anyone coming in our direction, leaving me to make the catch... I'm sure it would have been mine.

Well, now that my missed opportunity is behind me, I have to look forward to this weekend. I know I won't have a chance to catch history, but there’s still a lot going on in the world of sports.

MLB

Interleague play is back this weekend, giving us some very interesting matchups to look at.

Rays vs. Marlins
I wouldn't have said this at the beginning of the season, but these may be two of the best teams in baseball. Both teams have capable offenses, but pitching has been a real key for the clubs.

It’s starting to look like the Marlins got the better of that trade with Detroit in the offseason. Rookie Andrew Miller - one of the prospects they received in the trade - has four more wins than Dontrelle Willis, who’s now pitching in Single A. Although we won’t get to see Miller this weekend, we will get a chance to check out young Ryan Tucker. The rookie takes the mound, Friday, bringing a 1-0 record, and an ERA of 1.80. I got to see him last Sunday, and it seemed like he could be a very solid young arm.

Tampa Bay (38-28) and Florida (36-30) are both contenders for their respective divisions, so this should be a good series. The only thing missing will be Carl Crawford, who will be serving a suspension for his involvement in last week’s brawl with Boston.

Reds vs. Red Sox
Two teams going in different directions - Boston is atop the AL East at 42-27, while Cincinnati is in the cellar of the NL Central, 11½ games behind the Cubbies.

Why do I want to see this series, you ask? The only thing they have in common is Manny Ramirez and Ken Griffey Jr. both hitting milestones this year.

There’s still plenty to watch for, in this one. Griffey has been hot... or at least better then he has been in a while. Wouldn’t it be great to see these two Hall-of-Famers go homer-for-homer to see who ends up on top? C’mon, it could happen.

The Reds also bring young stars Jay Bruce and Edison Volquez in to the series. Volquez, especially, has been a treat to watch this season. Acquired from the Rangers in the trade for Josh Hamilton, Volquez is lining himself up for a Cy Young this season. He’ll enter Saturday’s contest with a 9-1 record and paltry 1.56 ERA.

Oh yeah, and look for the Red Sox to hang about 10 runs on once-dependable Aaron Harang.

Cubs vs. Blue Jays
The Cubs sit with the best record in the majors, and this weekend, they’ll ride a four-game win streak in to Toronto. The Cubs haven’t been at their best away from Wrigley, and the Jays will have their best arms waiting. “Doctor” Roy Halladay will take the ball on Saturday, and will probably go 9 innings, before handing it directly to Sunday-starter Jesse Litsch.

It will be interesting to see if the Cubs can hold up, especially with Alfonso Soriano out for a few more weeks.

US Open Golf

I’m guessing the Open will eat a large portion of my weekend. (Could be worse!) I've been paying close attention to the first two rounds, and it’s been a pretty strange leaderboard so far. Many young players are going to make the cut, leaving a few of the veterans out in the cold.

As I write this, notables behind the cut line include Mark O’Meara, Justin Rose, Vijay Singh, and last year’s winner, Angel Cabrera.

Obviously, the biggest question remaining is whether Tiger Woods or Phil Mickleson can make a run. They had a late tee time on Friday, but it doesn't look like they will have to make a huge push to the top. If they can shoot -2, they should be sitting pretty heading into Saturday

Torrey Pines has played tough in the first two rounds, and probably will get tougher as the weekend progresses.

NBA Finals - Game 5

Can the Boston Celtics close out the Lakers for the franchise’s first championship in 20 years? Can Kobe and the Lakers play a full 60 minutes of basketball?

I definitely can't wait to find out.

This series has seen both teams come back from 20-plus point deficits. The difference is that Boston won their game 4 comeback, while Los Angeles fell just short in game 2.

It’s good to know that both teams are going to in it at the end, but it can also be a little predictable. I say tune in for the last six minutes and enjoy.

Who am I kidding? I’ll be watching.

Kobe was the next Jordan until the Lakers went down 3-1, and I think that Sunday’s game will be the last. If it does look like it’s going in that direction, I fully expect Bryant to start back-handing his legacy-killing teammates right there on the court.

Somewhere... I can hear Shaq laughing.

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From the Blogosphere...

Footballprophet returns to the list with his Diaries of a Crime Scene Analyst. This week, it's the second part in the story of JC, a toddler who was growing up in a meth lab.

Who's the greatest guitarist of all time? Da Fan in Japan has a bracket going. Cast your votes!

For the top minor league baseball prospects, take a look at pizza's phantastic blog. (Yeah, that's really what it's called.) This member ranks the