LA Galaxy defeat Philadelphia Union 1-0. A corner kick by David Beckham in the 27th minute connected with Edson Buddle who headed the ball into the net for his 16th goal of the season. The win gives the Galaxy 56 points and clearly in the driver’s seat for the club’s third Supporters’ Shield - the league’s best regular season record.
NOTABLE NOTES
MLB Playoffs Day 2. If it weren’t for Roy Halladay’s no-hit postseason debut for the Philadelphia Phillies over the Cincinnati Reds, everyone would be talking about San Francisco Giants’ ace and reigning two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum’s complete game shutout of the Atlanta Braves 1-0. In the nine innings pitched Lincecum only gave up two hits and a walk while striking out a Giants’ postseason record 14 batters on 119 pitches.
Even though we saw a no-hitter yesterday, it still didn’t diminish the awe from Lincecum’s performance. Most Dodger fans have seen him dissect a lineup many times. Now the entire nation has.
Now let’s talk about the end of the Tampa Bay Rays. Fans can complain about the checked-swing-that-should-have-been-called-a-strike by Michael Young in the fifth inning, but clearly the Rangers have outplayed the Rays who are hitting only .125 in the first two games. But let’s face it. With no one attending games despite an excellent team on the field and the ownership promising to cut payroll, it only can end up with one scenario: no more baseball in Tampa.
So I officially extend an invitation to the Rays to move to LA for one reason alone:
Kings Go Retro. For the season opener at the Rogers Arena on Saturday, the Kings and Vancouver Canucks will don their retro 1970s jerseys to celebrate the 40th anniversary (to the day) of their first ever meeting. As shown here the Kings will wear their “Forum Blue” and gold uniforms. This will kick-off their “Kings Legend Series” where they will wear the retro jerseys in three future home dates while honoring former distinguished players.
The Canucks, who entered the NHL as an expansion team in the 1970 season, played their inaugural game against the Kings in a 3-1 loss. Left winger Bob Berry scored two goals while Ross Lonsberry also chipped in a goal with goalie Denis Dejordy stopped 24 shots to spoil the debut.
The Kings are 17-16-9 in season openers and have an average age of 25.4, the youngest in the NHL. Center Anze Kopitar comes into the season playing in 255 consecutive games trailing Marcel Dionne’s Kings’ record of 324.
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo. Deadspin has gotten some interesting stuff. Jenn Sterger, current co-host of the show The Daily Line which airs daily on Versus, alleges that quarterback Brett Favre wanted to sex her. While both were with the New York Jets - he as quarterback, she as “Gameday Host” - Favre sent her voicemails and went so far as to send her pictures of his little Favre. Allegedly.
Deadspin obtained the voicemails and pictures from a third party and put together a video montage NSFW and all. Sterger refuses to talk on the record about it, however she did talk to the Deadspin folks in February about this. Go figure.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
Anaheim Ducks (0pts., 0-0-0) at Detroit Red Wings (0 pts., 0-0-0). 4:30 pm FS Prime Ticket, AM 830 KLAA.
