It's the first week of July. Lots of extravaganzas and celebrations will take place on Wednesday, obviously, but here are some things you need to look for this week.
Sunday: UEFA Euro Final: Italy vs. Spain (2:30 ET,
ESPN) The final of the UEFA Euro
2012 tournament takes place this afternoon at 2:30 and it should be an absolute
dandy. Spain takes on Italy and both teams have been fantastic throughout this
entire tournament. In the Semifinals, both teams stepped up over their foes and
made it to this final without any sense of stopping. Italy took care of
favorite Germany 2-1 in the Semifinals, with two goals from Manchester City
player Mario Balotelli. A clutch performance in the Final may only increase his
starpower. Spain went to penalty kicks with Portugal, and came out on top 4-2.
Spain was helped by Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos and Cesc
Fabregas and will need all the output from everyone that they can get to win
the tournament today. This should be an excellent match on the pitch.
Monday: The Championships at Wimbledon (ESPN2, All
Day) The event in London continues
on Monday morning here in the United States. Some notable matchups will feature
Roger Federer taking on Xavier Malisse and Novak Djokovic taking on Viktor
Troicki. Both Federer and Novak are looking like prime favorites after Rafael
Nadal was bounced a couple of days ago in a stunning upset. Meanwhile on the
ladies’ side, Serena Williams will be taking on Yaroslava Shvedova and Maria
Sharapova will be taking on Sabine Lisicki. Sharapova is my uninspired pick to
win the whole thing, so I will be watching attentively to see if she advances.
Tuesday: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays (7:10 PM,
YES Network, SUN Sports) The AL East
has begun to take a bit of shape and it will continue to do such in the early
part of this week with this series. The Yankees and Rays face off in the Trop
for a 3-game series that will heavily influence the division. This matchup will
showcase two solid pitchers as Ivan Nova takes on James Shields. As of right
now these two teams are separated by 6.5 games, and with the Rays losing seven
of their last ten, the Yankees could potentially “bury” their AL East rival for
the time being.
Wednesday: San Francisco Giants vs. Washington
Nationals (11:05 AM, CSN-Bay Area, MASN, MLB Network) It’s the 4th of July, so why not watch some baseball
featuring the team in our Nation’s Capital? The Washington Nationals have been
one of the surprising stories of the first half, leading the NL East Division
currently and not really showing any signs of leaving from the top. They’ll
trot out Edwin Jackson who has been good enough for them to get by thus far.
Meanwhile the San Francisco Giants had an incredible month of June and now lead
the NL West Division. They’re backed by stellar pitching and spotty offense,
sort of like the Washington Nationals to some extent. Young southpaw Madison
Bumgarner will be their man on the mound. Warning to all West Coasters, this
game is an 8:05 AM start. You’d have to be pretty dedicated to watch a game at
that hour.
Thursday: Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets
(7:10 PM ET, CSN-Philadelphia, SportsNet New York) Here’s my MLB.tv Game of the Week. Why? Because of
the man who is on the mound for the Metropolitans. R.A. Dickey has been
absolutely tremendous this year. As of this point he’s 12-1 with a 2.15 ERA and
116 K, as well as an 0.885 WHIP. He’s my All-Star Starting Pitcher for the
National League so he’ll look to help beat the fledgling Phillies. Cliff Lee
still does not have a win and it is July 1st, and his ERA continues to balloon
up. We’ll see if he can get that ever-elusive first victory on Thursday night.
My thoughts? Doubt it.
Friday: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox (7:10
PM, YES Network, NESN, MLB Network) It’s the greatest rivalry in baseball,
what more could you ask for to end the first half of the season? The Boston Red
Sox have climbed their way out of last place and have suddenly been surging.
They stand 6.5 games back of the Yankees at this point, and with some help from
Tampa Bay could put themselves in position to only be a .5 game out of first by
the conclusion of this weekend series. They’ll send Aaron Cook out to the mound
who as of late has been pretty good. Meanwhile the Bronx Bombers will look to
keep their first place lead over the rest of the AL East and send out Hiroki
Kuroda who had a brilliant performance against the Chicago White Sox yesterday.
Catch this one on MLB Network if you’re out of the area.
Saturday: San Francisco Giants vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
(4:05 PM, CSN-Bay Area, ROOT Sports) The
Pittsburgh Pirates are doing it again. Last year of course we saw them hang
around first place before collapsing and finishing the season 24.5 games back
of first place. This year they are hanging tough in the NL Central and with the
Reds on the mend as of late, they are squabbling for first place once again.
The Buccos will send out James McDonald on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park, who I
think was a huge snub from the All-Star Game. McDonald sports a 7-3 record,
2.44 ERA, 86 K and 0.98 WHIP. Top tier numbers. On the other side, the Giants will
send out Ryan Vogelsong who hasn’t been too bad either this year. Vogelsong
sports a 2.23 ERA, a 7-3 record as well, 67 K and a 1.15 WHIP. This one could
be, if the cards play out right, an early potential postseason preview.
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