So that's a quick summary of what's going on in LA Sports that I like to cover. First of all, congratulations to SP Chad Billingsley for getting his first win of the season and bringing the Dodgers win streak at 5 games now (actually 6 games, they just beat the Marlins less than an hour ago). The winning streak is at 6 games mostly because of how well SS Rafael Furcal is playing. For the month of April, he is batting .381, 26 runs scored in 27 games, 11 RBIs, seven steals, a .462 on-base percentage (reaching in every game), and a .602 slugging percentage. As of today the dodgers are 15-13 and 5 games back from the first place D-backs in the NL West.
Closer Fransisco Rodriguez has 11 saves and a 3.86 ERA and highly-touted pitching prospect RHP Nick Adenhart will make his Major-League debut tonight against the A's. Also SP Ervin Santana learned to pitch well away from home and Joe Saunders has finally given his chance to shine as both pitchers have below a 3 ERA (Saunders 2.03 & Santana 2.48) and the Angels hitters continue their solid play especially 1B Casey Kotchman who is leading the team in HRs with 6, and tied with Gary Matthews Jr in RBIs with 19. Right now the Angels are 1 game ahead of the A's for first place in the AL West at 18-11.
The Los Angeles Lakers easily handled the Denver Nuggets sweeping them in the first round of the NBA playoffs and now will play either the Utah Jazz or the Houston Rockets. KoME, Pau Gasol, and Lamar oDUMB are playing great and in my opinion the Lakers have a great chance to make the finals as the Jazz and Rockets don't have what it takes to beat the Lakers.
As for the Clippers... nothing
The LA Avengers of the Arena Football League are playing horrible and have lost the last six of seven games to put them at 3-6 with 7 games left in the season. If they can turn it around and win at least 5 of those games, maybe they have a chance for the playoffs, but I doubt it.
For college sports, the USC Football factory continues to churn out more talent for the NFL with a national-best 10 players getting drafted by NFL teams last week. I think the most intriguing pick is QB John David Booty going to the Vikings in round 5. I think that is a nice steal for the Vike's and Booty could potentially become a starter with them in the future if their other two QB's (Tavaris Jackson and Gus Ferotte) continue to struggle.
For basketball, everybody expected freshman guard OJ Mayo to declare for the NBA draft in June but for freshman forward Davon Jefferson to declare comes as a surprise since many feel he is not ready yet and could potentially be drop out of the first round. He previously said he would not declare for the draft but he's not the first to say that. Projections: Mayo top 10; Jefferson late first to early second.
The only noteworthy thing to say about UCLA football is that former UCLA QB Troy Aikman has been inducted into the college football HOF. For basketball, 4 out of 5 starters are declaring for the NBA draft and another player is transferring. PF/C Kevin Love, SF Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and guards Josh Ship and Russell Westbrook have declared for the NBA draft. Love probably needs a little more work as he did struggle against some of the competition in college but he should have a solid NBA career. I think Mbah a Moute and Shippp are making big mistakes and probably wont be first round picks. As for Westbrook, he is my favorite player on UCLA and many NBA scouts believe he's the best prospect on teh UCLA team. Darren Collison staying for another season was a bit of a surprise but I think he made a good choice, even though the recruits coming in may take some playing time from him. NBA Draft projections: Love - lottery, Westbrook - lottery, Mbah a Moute - Late first/early second, and Shipp - second round/undrafted. UCLA might have a tough season next year, except they have one of the top recruiting classes coming in so I think another top 10 ranking and high tournament finish is not out of the question.
On a small note, highly touted freshman G/F Chase Stanback will not return next season and will transfer to play his final years at another school. He was a 4-star prospect who didn't receive any playing time during the 2007-2008 season, but I wish him luck since I watched him and his high school, Fairfax high destroy Hamilton High School, the school I attended.
Ok that's enough for today, probably too much for today but this is a my April month review so that's why I said a lot. I hope you enjoyed this edition of LA Sports by Zach S-E and look out for my another post next week. Thanks
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