Mallards look for sweep of Honkers

June 2, 2009 Comments off

After last night’s thrilling walk-off win, the Madison Mallards are set tonight to face the Rochester Honkers for the second game of their two-game set at the Duck Pond.
I wasn’t sure what it would be like covering the Mallards this summer for a couple of reasons.
First, I didn’t know until yesterday afternoon if I would be able to get into the game or not due to some communication issues with the staff. Second, as much as I enjoy baseball, I’ve never covered it for the newspaper before.
Finally, the Mallards are in an interesting limbo between professional and collegiate ball — it’s officially referred to as a minor league internship — and I wasn’t sure how much access I would have to the players and coaches.
Well, after last night’s game I realized I enjoy covering the team as much if not more than any team at the University of Wisconsin. Perhaps this is because I have no school- or fraternity- or work-related responsibilities interfering with my ability to cover games and write stories at midnight or later.
Or maybe it’s because I love baseball so much and now I know I want to be a baseball writer someday.
The first pitch is still three hours away and I won’t be leaving for Warner Park for at least 1 1/2 hours, but I’m excited for tonight. Witnessing the first walk-off home run in Mallards history is something I won’t soon forget, regardless of whether or not I was able to cheer for Harold Riggins and the Mallards as the celebrated.
Tonight’s matchup features a pair of Big Ten hurlers with Purdue’s Matt Jansen taking the hill for the Mallards and Zach Robertson of Iowa getting the nod for the Honkers.
Each pitcher started their team’s respective season opener. Jansen took the loss against Alexandria, allowing four runs in five innings, and Robertson delivered an impressive six-inning shut out performance in Rochester’s 5-3 win over Mankato.
Check back here or at The Badger Herald later tonight or tomorrow morning for a recap of tonight’s action.
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Mallards recap 6/1

June 2, 2009 Comments off
Check out my first story of the summer:

Riggins blast gives Mallards walk-off win

by Jordan Schelling
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Federer avoids making French Open irrelevant

June 1, 2009 Comments off

First it was Novak Djokovic. Next was Venus Williams in the third round. Then it was defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal. And the last major star to fall at the French Open was defending women’s champion Ana Ivanovic.
For only the fourth time in the Open era at Roland Garros, neither defending champion reached the quarterfinals. So what’s left to watch at the French Open?
Well, thanks to Roger Federer, at least one major star remains.
Less than 24 hours after the elimination of Nadal, Tommy Haas nearly stunned Federer, winning the first two sets 7-6 (4) and 7-5. Federer, however, dug deep and won three straight, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 to stave off elimination at Roland Garros.
It’s become more of a question of when than if the remaining stars will fall at the French Open with the dream matchup of Federer-Nadal out the window and Djokovic, Williams and Ivanovic all losing before the quarterfinals.
Luckily for Americans, we still have Andy Roddick to cheer for in the fourth round and potentially against the mighty Federer in the quarterfinals if he can advance against Gael Monfils of France.
But inevitably, one of those two stars must fall if they face off in the quarterfinals, leaving just two big names: the winner of that matchup and No. 3 Andy Murray.
Let’s hope the winner of the potential Roddick-Federer matchup faces Murray in the finals, otherwise it will be quite an irrelevant French Open final.
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Brandon Phillips says Reds are better than Brewers

May 31, 2009 Comments off

For the first time since July 2006, the Milwaukee Brewers completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 5-2 victory Sunday at Miller Park.
Milwaukee won the series’ first game 3-2 Friday on just three hits, two of which were home runs by Prince Fielder and Corey Hart.
In game two Saturday, the Brewers fell behind 3-0 in the first inning before a three-run home run by Fielder sparked the team’s offense, which later scored six runs in the fifth inning and put up 16 hits in the game to take the series from the Reds with a 9-5 win.
Finally, the Brewers earned the sweep Sunday, scoring five runs in the first three innings to give Yovani Gallardo all the run support needed to down the Reds.
Still, after losing three straight to the Brewers at Miller Park, Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips insists his Reds — who had won four straight and five of their last six games heading into the series — are the better team.
“I feel like we’re a better team than the Brewers,” Phillips told reporters after Sunday’s game. “But today, they executed better than we did. They did the little things. We didn’t do the little things the last two games. That’s why they won the game.”
How can Phillips still say his team is better even after the Brewers outplayed the Reds for three straight games?
Or what about the fact Milwaukee is 3 1/2 games ahead of Cincinnati in the NL Central division standings? If the Reds were the better team wouldn’t they have a better ranking than the Brewers?
Maybe Phillips is just trying to remain positive, but it seems to me the Reds’ second baseman is simply unable to realize his team is not as good as the Milwaukee Brewers. Or maybe he injured more than just his wrist when he went on the DL back in late April?
Whatever it is, it’s hard for me to accept his argument. The Brewers did the small things right and executed better than the Reds over the course of the three games at Miller Park this weekend. And they’ve been doing it better than Cincinnati all season. Tell me again how the Reds are better than the Brewers?
In fact, Phillips even disproved his own theory:
“Good teams do little things to win,” he said. “We got to do small things. Get them over, get them in and they executed. That’s why they are in first place.”
If that’s why they’re in first place, then why do you still think you’re team is the better team? Be realistic Brandon, the Reds could be the better team over the long haul of the season, but right now, they simply are not.
And until you prove otherwise, they won’t be.
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Shocker: Nadal ousted in Paris

May 31, 2009 Comments off

Some things never seem to change. Every Sunday in the fall, Brett Favre will be behind center in the NFL. And every spring, Favre will wrestle with whether or not to retire, eventually choosing to continue playing.
Lastly, Rafael Nadal never loses at Roland Garros.
Well, while Favre continues to be indecisive about retirement, Rafael Nadal’s winning streak at the French Open is over. Thanks to 23rd-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden, Nadal’s record 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros is history.
In his previous 31 matches, Nadal had lost only seven sets. Since losing a set to Roger Federer is 2007, Nadal hadn’t even lost a set. I guess if Nadal can lose on clay, maybe Favre can retire? Well, maybe not.
Soderling defeated Nadal 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the fourth round in Paris Sunday. So much for the highly anticipated Nadal-Federer final everyone expected. Now, the best possible final (based on seeding) would be No. 2 Federer versus No. 3 Andy Murray.
While Federer has yet to play his fourth round match, Murray, unlike Nadal, advanced to the quarterfinals fairly easily Sunday, beating No. 13 Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Personally, aside from these two stars the only other player that draws my interest is Andy Roddick. So if the final doesn’t include any of the three of them, it seems unlikely I would even tune in at that point.
Let’s hope Federer, Murray and Roddick can continue to have success, unlike Nadal or No. 4 Novak Djokovic, who both lost much earlier than expected.
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Howard leads Magic to NBA Finals

May 30, 2009 Comments off

Before Saturday’s game in Orlando, LeBron James was averaging more than 40 points per game in the series with the Magic.
It was Dwight Howard, however, who led all scorers with 40 points in Game 6 against the Cavaliers while James managed just 25 points in a losing effort.
So, when it really mattered, Howard proved he was the better clutch player, nearly single-handedly sending his team to the Finals for the first time since 1995.
In fact, aside from the miracle three-pointer James hit in Game 2, the Cavaliers were essentially swept by Howard and Magic, after going 8-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Now, the Magic will try to pull off yet another upset, as the Finals begin Thursday in Los Angeles.
James on the other hand, will be left with questions of whether or not he will stay in Cleveland or go to New York when he becomes a free agent in 2010.
If this series was any indication, the Cavaliers better acquire someone else to help James if they want him to stick around beyond next season.
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