The St. Louis Cardinals once again put together several more outstanding pitching performances, and won games on Friday and Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, both by the score of 5-0, and even with a strong performance Sunday, they ended up losing by a score of 3-2. While the pitching has been excellent the last six games, the offense has been lacking just a bit. I would certainly hope that things will change as Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick are returning to the lineup and should add some much needed offense to the Cardinal offense. The pitching staff certainly seemed to receive a boost when Chris Carpenter was activated from the D.L., maybe the same will happen to the offense with the return of those two players.
In the NBA, the Lakers took back home court advantage be beating the Denver Nuggets in the third game of the Western Conference final in Denver, and taking a 2-1 series lead. Denver will try to keep pace by winning game four on Monday. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Orlando Magic took a 2-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers, holding onto the home court advantage that they were able to steal from Cleveland in game one. Time will tell if they will be able to hold on to it.
The biggest event of the weekend, however, is the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships being held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA. In the division I semifinals, number two Syracuse defeated number three Duke 17-7, and number five Cornell upset number one Virginia 15-6. The Finals are set for Monday in Foxborough at 1:00 P.M. Eastern time. The game will be
televised live on ESPN. As I have mentioned before, if you have not watched lacrosse, this would be a great time to check it out. It is one of the most exciting sports to ever be played. The game is fast, high scoring and hard hitting. What more could any sports fan want. For all of my friends back in Maryland, you know what I am talking about, but for the rest, you just need to check it out. Here are some basics to get you through the game. A game is played with four, 15 minute quarters. The game starts with a face-off in the center of the field, and subsequently after each goal, and at the start of each quarter. When a team has the ball in the offensive half of the field, they can have six of the eleven players in that half of the field, while the defense has six defenders and the goalie. If and extra player crossed the center line, offsides is called and the other team gets the ball. Around each goal is a circle, called a crease, and no offense player can enter that circle at any time, or they lose possession of the ball. Now for the most exciting part of the game, other than scoring of course, are the ground balls. When the ball is on the ground, anyone can pick up the ball(with their stick of course), however, while the ball is on the ground, anyone in a five yard radius around the ball is fair game to hit, as long as it is not from behind, or with a cross check. There are other rules that are more technical of course, but this is a very, and I mean vary basic idea of what to watch for. If you do tune in, you will hear 
other explanations of the rules, which will make much more sense, and make the game even more exciting. I know for some of you, this is elementary, but I am just trying to do my part to promote what I think may be one of, if not the greatest games ever invented.(In case the name did not give it away, it was derived from a game played by the Native American Tribes) Hope you will give it a chance, and tune in to ESPN, Monday at 1:00 Eastern.Have a great day. Rock and Roll Sports Fans!!!!
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