On Saturday night, baseball’s future arrived, perhaps a few months early, in Los Angeles, California.

Amid a season-long offensive slump, facing the prospect of playing without their best hitter  for at least a week, the Washington Nationals expedited the arrival of uber-prospect and 2010 MLB 1^st overall pick, Bryce Harper.  The 19 year old was called up from AAA Syracuse on Saturday to fill the roster vacancy created by the placement of Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-day Disabled List. It didn’t take long for Harper to make an impact.

Playing LF on Saturday night, Harper went 1-3 at the plate with a 9^th inning RBI that would have been the game-winner RBI, had closer Henry Rodriguez not imploded in the bottom of the inning. The Harper play that had people talking though, didn’t occur at the plate. In the bottom of the 7^th, Dodger Catcher AJ Ellis hit a single into LF. Harper, in seemingly one motion, scooped the ball up and threw a laser to catcher Wilson Ramos, who unfortunately could not hold on to the ball, allowing Jerry Hairston Jr. to score.

Through 2 games, Harper is batting .333 and has drawn a walk. The most important thing, though, is that he looks relaxed  in the field and at the plate.  He will make his Washington DC debut tomorrow night against Trevor Cahill and the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The Nats will be looking to bounce back from a weekend sweep in Los Angeles. The Nationals (and Harper) have today off for travel.

Up by 11, late in the fourth quarter, against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday afternoon, the Chicago Bulls’ playoff run, for all intents and purposes, came to an abrupt end. Star PG Derrick Rose, who has endured a season of nagging injuries, suffered the opposite of a nagging injury, as he tore the ACL in his left knee with just a minute to play. Rose will miss the remainder of the playoffs, the Summer Olympics, and, very likely, the early portion of next season’s NBA schedule.

The loss of the NBA’s reigning MVP puts Chicago in an enormous hole.  Rose is the catalyst for the Bulls’ offense. Without him, the team will need major contributions from reserves like CJ Watson (now starting in Rose’s place) and John Lucas. Both had big moments during the NBA’s regular season, but as any observer can tell you, the playoffs are different.  

The loss of Rose puts the Miami Heat firmly in the catbird seat in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. The Heat currently have a 1-0 series lead on the New York Knicks, following a 33 point victory on Saturday.

The LA Clippers found themselves down by 21 points at the end of the 3^rd quarter of last night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies (Game 1 of their series).  The first few minutes of the 4^th quarter didn’t go much better for LA.  With 8 minutes to play, the Clippers were down by 24 points. Then, they made a run. And won. 99-98.

The Clippers tied an NBA record by coming back from 21 points down at the end of the third quarter.  Once Memphis went up by 24, the Clippers went on a 26-1 scoring run, spurred by former Washington Wizard Nick Young, who hit three 3-pointers. Young finished with 19 points off the bench, to lead the Clippers.

The Grizzlies will have a chance to bounce back from this devastating loss on Wednesday night in Memphis.

Manchester United @ Manchester City (2:30/ESPN).  United leads City by 3 points in the English Premier League. A City victory would pull them to within one point of their cross-town rival. Each team has two matches to play following today’s showdown.

City handed United an historic 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford in October.