The Smorgasboard: Fact Book Edition

--Lakers coach Phil Jackson is 47-0 when winning the first game of a playoff series.

--The Boston Celtics starting five of Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo and Perkins has never lost a playoff series together, going 7-0.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Celtics takes place tonight in Boston.  The series is tied 2-2.  The Lakers won Game 1.

Update:  The Celtics are 11-0 in their history in series where they have a 3-2 games lead.  They won in Boston Sunday night and now lead 3-2.  All hell breaks loose in LA Tuesday night at 9 EST.  Stay tuned.

--With their 1-0 victory over Serbia, Ghana recorded Africa's first win in this World Cup, the first ever on the African continent.  Perhaps fittingly, it took place in Pretoria, the city where apartheid ruled.

--England and the US have each finished in the top three at the World Cup one time.  England won in 1966.  The US finished third in 1930.

--Germany, which got a headed goal against Australia in their 4-0 victory today, has 32 headed goals since 1966, almost double second place Italy's 18.

--27 year-old Daniel Nava hit a grand slam yesterday in the Boston Red Sox 10-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.  Nava became only the fourth player to ever hit a grand slam in his first at bat and only the second to ever hit one on the first pitch he saw as a major leaguer.  None of the four occurred during the 20th century.  Three have happened since 2005.

--Roberto Clemente is only player ever to hit a walk off inside-the-park grand slam when he did it July 25, 1956 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.  The Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs 9-8.

--China has one time zone.

The Smorgasbord: Pirates Style, Leading Off with Another JR Special

Last week I skewered John Russell for this quote on Aki Iwamora.  Yesterday he produced this gem when asked about Ryan Church who had started the last four games, and had started eight in a row before hurting his wrist.  The question from Dejan Kovacevic was asking if Church had become an everyday player.

I don't know about everyday.  The way he's been playing, it's hard to keep him out of there.

Here are Church's stats this year.  Suffice it to say his triple slash line of .211/.250/.382, three walks and 16 strikeouts makes one wonder what glue factory Russell is living next to.   Even worse, Church's May numbers are .150/.190.350.  His 1 for his last 25 (.040) with two walks and eight strikeouts is genuinely Akiesque.

In last night's impressive win over Phillie ace Roy Halladay, Church failed to get runner home from third with less than two outs on two occasions.   I guess that all made it a little easier for JR.  Both Aki and Church are out of the lineup tonight for only the second time since April 30--although Aki is still dinged up.

Here are a bunch of links from around the web relating to the Pirates:

•With the 49th pick in the supplemental first round of the 2009 amateur draft the Pirates selected hard-throwing right hander Victor Black out of Dallas Baptist University.  Black, pitching for the Class A West Virginia Power, got a late start to the season due to an oblique injury.  Here's a look at his first outing thanks to the Charleston Daily Mail.

http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201005170041

•In a pay-to-play website ESPN's Keith Law reviews his Top 25 Prospects and re-calibrates now that we are a quarter of the way through the season.  No Pedro Alvarez and no other Pirates farmhands on the list.

•It has been a year since the Pirates-Braves trade in which Nate McLouth and Charlie Morton were the principals and it isn't looking too good for either team at the moment.  Morton is 1-7 (the Pirates are 16-15 in games he hasn't started) and questions are being raised about whether Nate will keep his starting job in Atlanta.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/3628/what-should-the-braves-do-with-nate-mclouth

•Bryan Morris is the first minor-leaguer to get promoted as he makes the jump from High-A Bradenton to AA Altoona.  Morris absolutely dominated in Bradenton.  Here's what I wrote on Bucs Dugout:

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2010/5/16/1474194/bryan-morris-gets-pulled

•The Bucs signed six Latin American amateurs:

http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports-town/pbc-blog/102408-pirates-sign-six-latin-players

•Former Bucco Jose Bautista is tied for third in the AL with 11 HRs.  Late-bloomer?  Here is a look at what is going on from MLBTradeRumors. (Note: Ex-Pirate Ty Wigginton is tied for second with 12.)

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/05/possible-destinations-jose-bautista.html

The Smorgasbord

• The Oklahoma City Thunder have looked great in their two games at home and have now evened their series with the Los Angeles Lakers at 2.  I thought this series would go seven and it still might, but tonight is do or die.........for the Lakers.  Yep.  They aren't going to win game six on the road so they better win tonight if they want to continue their title defense.

• In early April RJ Umberger ripped the Washington Capitals, saying among other things that a good defensive team would beat them in the playoffs.  The Columbus Blue Jackets winger sounded a little silly calling out a team on it's way to winning the President's Cup for having the most points during the regular season, particularly when his Jackets were not even going to make the post-season.  Well RJ was spot on and if the Caps lose Wednesday night to the Canadiens the season will go down as an epic failure.  

• The Caps have only won one playoff series since they lost 4-0 in the 1998 Cup finals to the Red Wings.  As a result,  Wednesday's game is an early referendum on Alex Ovechkin's career.  There is no arguing the energy and excitement #8 brings to the game, but it has not translated to playoff success.  This is only the fourth playoff series of his career and they have all gone to seven games, with the Caps losing two of three.  A loss tomorrow will absolutely crush the Rock the Red crew and will make for an interminable twelve months for Ovie and the boys.  It isn't just on Ovechkin though as Alexander Semin and Tomas Fleischmann have been invisible with one point each through six games.

• Speaking of epic failure, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost their seventh consecutive game and their 22nd straight at Miller Park last night 17-3 to the Milwaukee Brewers.  Over the seven games they have been outscored 72-12 (53-4 courtesy of the Brew Crew) and have not held a lead at the end of any inning.  They have been beaten by more runs than they have scored 82-65.  After winning seven of their first twelve and generating some cautious optimism, the Pirates have gone from bad, to embarrassing to comical with frightening speed.  Hope, located on the horizon, still appears to be at least two years away.

• It's a big weekend for some finge sports as the Kentucky Derby will be run at Churchill Downs and Floyd Mayweather will fight Shane Mosley in Vegas, both on Saturday.  In the Derby the bloom is off Lookin at Lucky but I expect him, Dublin and Devil May Care to battle it out at the wire.  I'll be a conflicted fan in Vegas as I would love to see a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, but a Mosley win would strip it of its luster.  It's hard to root for Money, but I guess I have to.  Hopefully Shane can win a few rounds early and make Floyd work.  I think he'll win a decision.