Last night the Atlanta Braves helped to tighten NL East Race by sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies. The series started on Tuesday night in a game where Derek Lowe looked to be the winning pitcher only to have the lead blown by Mike Gonzales. The Braves ended up winning the game in the tenth inning on a Martin Prado walk off single that scored Matt Diaz. Prado had a career night collecting 4 hits in 5 plate appearances. Wednesday’s game was a completely different story as the Braves had pitching and hitting on their way to a rout of the Phillies that ended 11-1. Jair Jurrgens was unhittable until the seventh inning. Once again, Martin Prado’s bat was huge in this game as well as he went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and scoring 3 times himself. Last nights game was the topping on the pie as we watched our Braves take an early 2 run lead behind the strong arm of Javier Vazquez. However, the 6th inning would prove to be his undoing as he would give up a run before leaving and another would be charged to him after leaving.
The play of the game would have to be in the 8th inning when Mike Gonzales would throw a pitch to the backstop with Jayson Werth on third. As Werth broke to the plate, so did Mike. McCann went chasing the wild pitch, picked it up, and turned and fired a strike of his own to Mike who then put his body in harms way to nail Werth at the plate and perserve the lead. The bottom half of the 8th inning would once again prove to be the decisive blow that the Braves would need to knock out the Phillies. This time, the punch would not be provided by Martin Prado. This time, it became ABC baseball. McCann got on and was then pinch ran for by Jair Jurrgens. Yunel Escobar would move him into scoring position. Then Matty Diaz delivered a blow that would rock the socks of the Philles and send a chill up the spines of their fans. Jurrgens would come home to score. However, the decisive blow would come from Garret Anderson as he delivered his first ever pinch hit home run of his career.
The Braves will now move on to take on the Washington Nationals. The Phillie series tightened the NL East up so that there is only a 2 game difference between the first and fourth place teams. The series also left the Braves 2 games under .500.
On a side note, for those of you that are unaware, Kelly Johnson has lost his starting 2nd baseman job to Martin Prado. Then again, Prado is the hottest player on the planet at this time.
Day 10 was an excellent day for tennis. Today the women’s singles finalists were decided. It was Russian versus American in both semi-finalist matchups.
The undisputed queen of the grass court, Venus Williams (3) completely dominated her Russian opponent, Dinara Safina (1). Though both women had virtually the same number of first serves (Williams 25 and Safina 23), Williams had 5 Aces while Safina had none. And Safina had 2 double faults whereas Williams had none. Part of the story of Williams’ dominance can be easily seen in the statistics regarding winners base on first serve percentage (Willimas 80% and Safina 30%). This very one-sided statistic can be compunded further with a look at the statistics based on winning percentages for second serves (Williams 77% and Safina 38%). Furthermore, Williams converted every break point opportunity she had (5 out of 5) while Safina was unable to convert her single break point opportunity. When looking at net approaches that led to winners, the story was virtually the same with Williams converting 100% of the time (5 for 5) and Safina converting only 25% of the time (1 for 4). In the end, the number one ranked singles female player in the world fell 6-1, 6-0.
The other Willimas sister, Serena Williams had a much more competitive match and eventual win over her Russian opponent, Elena Dementieva. The crowds at the All England Club were treated to some spectacular tennis in this second semi-final match. Though Williams dominated the Ace tally with 20 to Dementieva’s 3, and was able to win 80% of the points played on her first serve she had a difficult time converting her break point opportunities and was less successful than Dementieva at winning when she approached the net; 9 of 19 or 47% for Williams while Dementieva was 14 of 26 or 54%. In the end the total points won was only by a margin of 5 with Williams winning 121 points and Dementieva winning 116 points. Williams victory in three sets, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6 though less decisive than her sister’s win has given her a Wimbledon final berth for the second year in a row.
Saturday, July 4th will see an all-American women’s singles final with Venus Williams trying to further assert her dominance on the grass court with a win over her sister, Serena Williams. Congratulations to both women for an excellent tournament!
If Day 8 belonged to the excellent play on the women’s singles side, then day 9 was all about the men. When you get to the Quarterfinal round of Wimbledon it may seem like any lose would be an upset. Of course that assumption would be incorrect. Though his defeat may be upsetting to Lleyton Hewitt, it seems like it would be a bit of hyperbole to say that be an upset. Hewitt who achieved victory on the grass courts of Wimbledon in 2002 has not enjoyed such high caliber success since then and has fallen to 56 in the men’s singles world rankings. The victor in the match, Andy Roddick, is ranked number 6 in the world and was heavily favored. Roddick won in a nailbiter, 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-4. Roddick had more than twice as many Aces as Hewitt (43-21) and less than half the number of double faults (4-9) giving him a decided advantage.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a true upset, you need look no further than the match between Tommy Haas GER (24) and Novak Djokovic SRB (4). Though the sets were competitive and close the Serbian phenom, who has had some issues in recent tournaments, fell to the German veteran 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3. To get an idea of just how close this match really was, simply glance at the statistics below.
Though the enormous serve of Ivo Karlovic garnered him more than three times the number of Aces than his opponent, Roger Federer, was able to muster (23-7) in the end the unforced errors did Karlovic in (17-7). Federer advances to the Semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) victory. In the Andy Murray versus Juan Carlos Ferrero matchup, the dominant serve of Murray garnered him 18 Aces while Ferrero had only 3. The dominance of Murray was evident in his 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
With these four matches completed, the men’s singles Semi-final mathcups are set!
VS.
AND
VS.
Today the grass courts of Wimbledon belonged to the women. The women’s singles Quarterfinals saw the top ranked female players in the world battle it out for a chance to move on. Of today’s four matches there were not upsets but there was definitely some phenomenal tennis.
In the top portion of the bracket, Dinara Safina RUS (1) defeated Sabine Lisicki GER in three sets with the first being a tie-breaker; 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-1. In the other match in this portion of the draw, Serena Williams USA (2) destroyed her opponent, Victoria Azarenka BLR (8) 6-2, 6-3. In the lower half of the draw, Venus Williams USA (3) followed her sister’s cue and easily amshed her opponent, Agnieszka Radwanska POL (11) 6-1, 6-2. And finally, Elena Dementieva RUS (4) schooled her Italian opponent Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2.
The result of the women’s Quarterfinals will mean a Russian vs. American Semi-final in both portions of the draw. The potential finals, though the names may be somewhat different could easily mean an all Russian, an all American, or a Russian vs. American women’s singles final.
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