Hughesus is risen!

Nobody ever said sports were fair. The New York Rangers thoroughly deserved to win last night's game seven at Washington, but old war horse Sergei Fedorov had different ideas, scoring late in the third to put the Caps into the second round for the first time in 11 years. Up next is a date with the Pittsburgh Penguins - yep, Sid The Kid vs. Alexander The Great - that has to have Gary Bettman legitimately smiling...the other Eastern semi will see Boston face Carolina, who scored two goals late - including a couple uncharacteristic softies on Martin Brodeur - to knock the Devils out...May 8th can't come soon enough for the New York Yankees. Seems that's the date A-Rod will return, on the road at Baltimore...Phil Hughes - Hughesus if you prefer - pitched more innings last night filling in for Chien-Ming Wang than Wang has in three starts this year. The Yankees halted their losing streak with a 11-0 win at Detroit, on the strength of Hughes 2-hitter over 6 innings. Asked post-game about his time in the minors with Scranton, Hughes talked of how much he'd love to stay with the Yankees, despite being a huge fan of The Office and tracking down the sites from the show. Not making that up. Hughes, you may recall, ran a contest on his blog to guess his fav Office quote and gave away the game ball from his first playoff win...Barcelona went 50 games without being shut out but shut out they were yesterday as Chelsea looked to bar the doors and hold on for an ugly road draw. So much for the offensive show that Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink promised...it didn't take long for the New York Yankees to slash ticket prices for those mostly unused seats between the dugouts. They've been cut from $2675 to $1200 per game. Sign me up! Those who paid for seasons already will be refunded or credited. Still far overpriced, but good for them for recognizing things have changed since last year...from the Department of Bad Ideas: a White House hack authorizing a low flying 747 with a fighter jet tailing it over Manhatten as a photo op for Air Force One. Check out this video of Manhattenites freaking out...the other Champions League semi-final starts today with its first game, as Manchester United host Arsenal. I'm expecting a United win, frankly. Too much quality and Arsenal is too inconsistent...and that's all for the San Antonio Spurs, a rare first round victim...good of the Chicago Bulls to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with a late collapse and then overtime loss to give the Boston Celtics a 3-2 series lead...back with your PTP later, have a great Wednesday.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind

At right is one theory as to why home runs are up - albeit in a very small sample - at the new Yankee Stadium. And when can we stop calling it "new"?...check out Chelsea's hideous new unis for 2009. What are the odds Toronto FC goes to that template for 2010? Ghastly. Fortunately, their change kits are better...how bad has Chien-Ming Wang's start to 2009 been? He'll need to pitch 47 2/3 scoreless - the record is Orel Hershisers 59 - to get down to his career ERA of 3.93...Virginia tackle Eugene Monroe, a likely NFL draft pick this weekend, has a 60-year-old brother. Seriously...ESPN's Eric Karabell on the Toronto Blue Jays on ESPN's Baseball Today podcast: "Toronto is clearly going to fall flat on its face as they don't have the starting pitching."...check out these hardcore Montreal Canadiens fans and their replica Bell Centre basement. Is that a broom I see in the corner?...the San Jose Sharks are 0-12 on the power play going into tonight's third game. That, as much as anything, is why they're down 0-2 to the Anaheim Ducks...you know the NFL Draft is out of control big when you've got a "Mock of Ages" being conducted at ESPN.com. Yes, they're drafting with this year's order as if every player were available from history...GBVH has pointed us in the direction of the OHL Western Conference Finals, led 3-1 by the Windsor Spitfires over the London Knights, where the scores are 4-3, 6-5, 5-4, 5-4, each game having gone to OT, each having seen a two-goal lead blown in the third. Somehow you get the feeling NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman would tell you it is no more exciting than some of the snoozers being played in the NHL...after shutting out the Florida Marlins last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates have thrown four shutouts this year, doubling last year's total before April is out...the Detroit Lions have a new logo. Yeah, that'll change everything...why rainouts are a great thing for the New York Yankees: every game they get pushed into later this year is another with A-Rod in the lineup...back later with your PTP.

Cleveland Cavalier Delonte West takes a camera behind the scenes with his team on Jim Rome is Burning...classic. Oh, and Anderson Verajao drops a bomb.

4:20, Bob

Seems there are some baseball people concerned that the new Yankee Stadium is a homer launching pad, particularly to right field. I'm going to guess the early totals are more an aberration, aided by "The Wang Effect" more than anything...is it just me, or does it seem everytime Toronto FC gives up a goal, the incredibly overrated Jim Brennan is in the vicinity and barking at someone else that they're to blame? All too common. TFC lost 3-2 at Dallas last night, victimized by a very bad penalty kick call in the dying minutes. Adrian Serioux? Stud. Best move of the off-season so far. Shame he's surrounded by such mediocre - being nice - defenders...Manchester United took an FA Cup semi-final win over Everton for granted judging by their resting of several prominent players yesterday, and they paid for it, losing in penalties. No quintuple this season, but a quad is still doable. Everton moves on to face Chelsea in the final May 30th..if you were asked to guess which Toronto Blue Jay is hitting .208 with no homers and six RBI, you probably guess a bench player, maybe John McDonald. But not Alex Rios, who if he doesn't get it turned around soon, he'll be in the running for worst Toronto pro signing since Bryan McCabe, Jason Kapono and Vernon Wells for the what he's produced since signing an extension two offseasons ago. Shocking it hasn't cost the Blue Jays, who are off to an impressive start...Randy Johnson is the latest pitcher in an early season trend of guys taking no-hitters into the late innings. Also a crazy trend: batters hitting for cycles. Most years you're lucky to see one. There have been 3? already this year...finally caught the Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites fight at UFC 97. Perhaps the dullest main event in UFC history. Even UFC head honcho Dana White called it embarrassing...the San Jose Sharks, nearly bullet proof at home this season, are now down 2-0 in the series after a pair of home losses against the Anaheim Ducks and are in need of the Heimlich Manoeuvre . I'm not saying they're done, but they can't be a confident bunch given their playoff history. Looking strong are the Vancouver Canucks, a game from sweeping the St. Louis Blues. If the old adage is true that it isn't a series until a team has lost at home, then the Philadelphia Flyers are in business after a 6-3 win to cut Pittsburgh's series lead to 2-1. Yes, that was 9 goals in a game...one team that wasn't about to open any doors at home for the visitors was the LA Lakers, who hammered the Utah Jazz in the curtain raiser on that series. At the opposite end of that are the Orlando Magic, who turned an 18-point lead into a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Betting Stan Van Jeremy is wound tighter than a snare drum right now...the Miami Heat scored all of 64 points in a 90-64 loss at Atlanta. Thanks for coming...back with your PTP later...finally today, in honour of it being 4:20, the always hilarious contestant on The Price Is Right working in 4:20. View below.

American Idle Returns

Yanks starter Chien-Ming Wang is having a rougher start to 2009 than Natasha Richardson, and ran the opening leg in a total curb stomping at the hands of the Cleveland Indians yesterday. Memo to Phil Hughes: get to the Scranton airport...good friends and one-time teammates starting against each other on the bump is interesting enough, but when one is former New York Yankee Carl Pavano ("American Idle"), pitching at Yankee Stadium against the team he fleeced for $40 million over four years, it gets that much more interesting. Of course, the other is AJ Burnett. If this were 2008 at this time, there would have to be a line on whether both get hurt, but Burnett's working a second calendar year without a drip to the DL, knock on wood...RM reader TS passes on the 16 Greatest TV Catchphrases. What, no "If you smell what The Rock is cookin'"?...Arizona Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren is 0-3 this year despite a 1.50 ERA. The D-Backs have scored a single run - total - in his three starts...as broadcasting trainwrecks go, Brad May working for TSN is certainly the most recent. Poor guy sounds like he's going to have a nervous breakdown. Far more impressive is The Little Ball of Hate Ray Ferarro...good-bye, Chuck Lidell, nice knowing you...Derrick Rose dropped 36 points for the Chicago Bulls in an overtime win over the Boston Celtics. Way to clutch up, Paul Pierce, and rim the potential game winning free throw in the dying seconds of regulation...a group of Italian ladies have a pool going that will see the winner net $30,000 if they can sleep with David Beckham. It is not tough being DB...the Florida Marlins are now 10-1 to start the year. Anybody saw that coming?...playing Manchester United in the FA Cup at -.5 +127, enjoy.

Happy belated birthday to RM

Somehow even I missed it. RandoMango celebrated it's first anniversary last Monday..the baseball season is barely a week old and Manny Ramirez is already talking about his next and last team. Turns out he was kicking about the idea of a reunion in Cleveland with one-time teammate Jim Thome recently...the NHL draft lottery goes tonight, and another dose of hope gets dished around Leafland...the NFL is a league like no other. They raised a giant middle finger to sports radio and newspapers across the continent by releasing their schedule - on the NFL Network no less - tonight at 7pm, after the majority of talk shows are on ice for the day and papers are mostly locked down...nice 72.0 ERA on Chien-Ming Wang last night in a 15-5 Tampa Bay Ray beatdown of the New York Yankees. It was such a disaster that Nick Swisher even pitched an inning, which you can see here...Liverpool midfield stud Steven Gerrard may be hurting, but word is he'll give it a go today as Liverpool needs a 3-0 win on the road at Stamford Bridge to win their Champions League quarter-final match-up with Chelsea after getting drilled 3-1 last week. Of course, a 3-1 Liverpool win sends it to extra time. Less contentious or likely seems Bayern Munich coming back from a 4-0 loss to Barcelona last week...the first look at the new home of the New York Mets - Citi Field - can be seen here. Freaking impressive looking place, particularly if you've ever been to the dump that was Shea Stadium. That place made Exhibition Stadium look modern...it'll cost on average 17% less this year to see the Buffalo Bills play in Toronto. Wonder if those that got raped for tickets to all games will see a refund? My money says "no"...Phil Jackson joins Pat Riley as the only NBA coaches to have 60+ wins in a year with seven each...didn't figure Jon Lester would have a second bad start in a row, but the Oakland A's lit him up something fierce last night. The PTP could be streakier than a truck-stop toilet bowl. Back with your pick later.