The Sports Review

The Atlanta Braves had a 5-4 victory against the Padres and with this win they made a 6-0 home stand. The winning hit was made by Matt Diaz in the ninth inning. Though Diaz was having 0-for -4 and was finding it difficult to play against right-handed pitchers, he acted well at the nick of the time for Braves. Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox is relieved about the fact that at last his team was able to win a One-run game. Braves got four unearned runs due to the errors made by San Diego Padres. Atlanta Braves now have their best record in Major League with 14-4 at the Turner Field.

India’s only formula one racer Narain Karthikeyan did his country proud by helping team India to win the final race of the A1 Grand Prix at Great Britain’s Brands Hatch circuit last Sunday. The 31 year old Coimbatorean had a near perfect race at the Brands Hatch circuit and was familiar with the racing track and its conditions. Narain started from the pole and made an astonishing start to the race as son as the red lights went off. He maintained the early lead that he gained at the start and only glitch in his entire racing was the slow first pit stop that enabled the eventual runner up of the race Robbie Kerr to get into the lead position.

One of the leading sports in the world’s racing calendar, A1GP, is becoming very popular as each year rolls by and the rare reviews that the racers are receiving is a testimony to the fact that this is a very popular sporting spectacle in the globe today. 

The Washington Redskins affable receiver Antwaan Randle El recently underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will be out of commission for the time being. When pressed for comments, Coach Jim Zorn revealed that Randle El was lucky to have taken an MRI scan and found the foreign body in his knee that was causing him hurt and irritation. Doctors estimated that Randle El will spend between three to four weeks recuperating. Translated, this meant that the receiver might have to miss out on offseason practices in June. Randle El expressed his regret but hopes to make a full comeback very soon.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa did the Ferrari proud last Sunday as they both came in the first and the second position respectively in the world’s favorite racing sport, the Spanish Grand Prix race. The win at Spain gave Raikkonen his third consecutive win in the 2008 Formula One Season and by the looks of it the Ferrari team is very much on course for many victories in the coming months. The British racing star and the most feared opponent of Kimi, Lewis Hamilton, could only finish the race in the third position.

After the race Raikkonen, who received rare reviews for his racing, said that Ferrari did not have the ideal start to the race, but had what was required to finish on the podium. The pole was the fifteenth one for Raikkonen in his career and Kimi leads the driver’s championship table with 29 points. The second place is currently held by Lewis Hamilton who is nine points behind Kimi.

Christiano Ronaldo is the most exciting player that the English Premier League has witnessed this season and his superb performances against Aston Villa and Roma recently is testimony to the fact that he is a soccer legend in the making. One of the sports leading icon Ronaldo is close to be called as the best soccer player in the whole world and on an average scores a goal in three games for his national side Portugal.

Ronaldo’s EPL record speaks for itself and he has reached such dizzy heights in the Premiership that cannot be matched by any player in the near future. Even though it is too early for Ronaldo to be compared to the likes of Maradona, Pele, Charles or Best, the rear reviews that he has gathered in this season will place him in close ranks with these soccer legends. Ronaldo has many years of soccer left in him and if he plays with the same form and commitment for a few more years, he will surely become a soccer legend.

Chipper Jones, the no.10 third baseman for the Atlanta Braves, sustained further injury to his already strained right quadriceps while belting out a double, leaving Atlanta Braves to fend for themselves during last Sunday’s game against Los Angeles. Fortunately, his team did not suffer much due to his absence and instead managed to score 6-1, making them the victors.

Previously, Jones injured his right quad during the April 9 at Colorado. He did not fully recuperate and trooped on to play but this proved to be a bad mistake. He successfully extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He took quite a while to get back on his feet after sliding into second base, and that’s when Jones knew that something was wrong. When asked to comment, the Atlanta Braves’ manager Bobby Cox does not know if Jones feels up to it for the following Monday night game. With opponents like Washington, it’s best to be sure, he says. He maintains that Jones’ injury is nothing major and fans should not worry too much.

The American number one tennis player and leading sports personality, Andy Roddick, helped his team to book a place in the semi finals of the prestigious Davis Cup tournament by beating the Frenchman Paul Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. USA beat France 4-1 in their five match rubber and will face Spain in the semi finals in September. The semis will be played in the clay courts in Spain and Roddick said that he is looking forward to represent his nation there.

Roddick who did not give any opportunity for Mathieu in the match is currently on a nine match Davis Cup winning streak and has received rare reviews for his Davis Cup performance. Roddick said that he played some awesome tennis and was very much excited about his serves in the game. Roddick fired two aces to close the match and was so dominant on his serve that he only lost 13 points on his serve in the entire match.

The Washington Capitals have agreed to sign on Francois Bouchard and award him with an entry level three level contract. Previously, the nineteen year old right winger was drafted in the second round session by the Washington Capitals during the 2006 NHL Draft.

He obtained a phenomenals 92 points (36-56) in 68 games with Baie-Comeau of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season. He also had one goal in four regular-season games with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears.

Bouchard led the QMJHL in scoring in 2006-’07, when he recorded 125 points (45-80). He was also known as the younger brother of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, a Minnesota Wild hockey player. Just four years older, Pierre-Marc is a professional hockey forward player is considered to be creative playmaker as well as a resilient team player who is not afraid of utilizing unusual techniques in the ice hockey industry.

At first, Dontrelle Willis thought that his knee was severely injured. Then it turns out that the Detroit Tigers player actually suffered from a hyperextended knee after slipping in front of the mound while churning out a first-inning pitch last Friday night.

Willis was a good trooper and soldiered on enough to let the Tigers regroup to throw a grand total of 14 pitches to beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2, gaining their second win in 10 games this entire season.

He was initially worried that his knee would be the reason behind the Tigers’ impending failure but with plenty of Advil applied to the sore spot, he eventually regained confidence and played on, much to the fans and team’s delight. He has been to a doctor for evaluation but at the present moment the extent of his knee injury is unclear, and fans do not know when he will be able to deliver his finishing moves yet again.

After an 18 day tour to three countries and four cities, the red sox are on their way back home. The team concluded their road trip with a 7-4 defeat by the blue jays this Sunday. The red sox had started their trip from Tokyo. From there they traveled to Los Angeles followed by the trip to Oakland and finally concluding the series with a trip to Toronto.

 The epic road trip covered around 16,000 miles and the players are happy that it has finally come to an end. It was a first trip for the team of such a kind and there was a major adjustment that had to be made. One of the most difficult parts of the trip has been the mental and physical strain it takes on the players. The team had got off to a good start by winning two games in Japan. This was followed by their wins in Oakland as well. Things were however not very smooth after this and some claim fatigue was a major factor which deteriorated the team’s performance.