Announcement

**Udog** · 05-22-2016, 08:19 AM

Armadillo: Sunday's six-pack

Six of the my favorite baseball announce teams to listen to on the baseball package

-- Brian Anderson/Bill Schroeder, Brewers

-- Victor Rojas/Mark Gubicza, Angels

-- Don Orsillo/Mark Grant, Padres

-- Dick Bremer/Bert Blyleven, Twins

-- Drew Goodman/Jeff Huson or Ryan Spliborghs, Rockies

-- Jason Bennetti/Steve Stone, White Sox

Other analysts I think are very good: Ron Darling (Mets), Bob Brenly (Arizona) and Ray Fosse (A's). Not that fond of their play-by-play partners, though.

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Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday.......
13) Milwaukee Brewer TV announcers were telling a story about last July 31, when the Mets/Brewers almost made a trade at the deadline. Milwaukee brass told Carlos Gomez he had been traded to the Mets, he was shaking hands with teammates, saying his goodbyes but then the trade fell through.

12) Mets wound up trading for Yoenis Cespedes instead, which worked out really well for them, as they got to the World Series. Gomez wound up getting dealt to the Astros, where he has struggled greatly.

11) As far as baseball eliminating the four pitches for the intentional walk, last year in the major leagues there were 951 intentional walks in 2,430 games, so eliminating those four pitches isn't going to be a huge time-saver.

10) Ichiro Suzuki had his 253rd game with 3+ hits last night, most amongst active players. Ichiro now has 2,954 hits in his 16 big league seasons.

9) I've got no idea why, but people in Chicago do not like ketchup on hot dogs. White Sox announcers were discussing this the other night and back in 2003, a friend of mine actually got mad at me for asking for ketchup at a Chicago hot dog stand.

I dislike mustard and relish but if I knew the ketchup was going to cause a problem, I would've eaten the weiner plain.

8) A batter who hits a sacrifice fly isn't charged with an at-bat, but a batter who knocks in a run with a ground out is-- why is this? Whats the difference?

7) Marlins 3, Nationals 2-- Washington had bases loaded, no one out in ninth inning but couldn't tie game. Miami is now 3.5 games behind Washington in NL East.

6) Jim Baron is retiring as basketball coach at Canisius at age 62; he has been a very good coach at a number of places: Canisius, St Bonaventure, URI, St Francis, PA.

Few years ago, I was sitting in front of coach Baron at an AAU tournament here in Albany- his son was playing. It was a close game against a local team, and at the end of the game, the hometown refs gave the local team a couple calls and they won.

Coach Baron had been pretty low-key during the game but when his son's team got hosed at the end and lost, he was steamed and he went after the offending ref to give him a piece of his mind. He did quickly and fairly quietly but believe me, the guy who made the calls deserved to get ripped.

Anyway, good luck in retirement coach. Canisius will miss you. .

5) 164 undergraduates declared for this year's NBA Draft; many have returned to college, but there are only 60 picks in the draft, so add in seniors and kids from other countries and a lot of kids are going to wind up very disappointed.

4) Toronto's Bismack Biyombo is going to make a fortune as a free agent this summer and when he does, remember this: last night in Game 3 against Cleveland, Biyombo had 15 rebounds before he took his first shot of the game. Guys like that are worth their weight in gold, if you want to have a winning team.

3) Jack McDowell threw 10+ complete games three years in a row, the last pitcher to do that and that was back in 1991-93. Will probably never happen again.

2) Major league baseball wants more balls in play; approximately 30% of plate appearances are ending in walks/strikeouts. Baseball's head honchos want more action, so they're going to raise the strike zone some, hoping it'll result in more balls put in play, which makes the game more interesting. We'll see how that goes.

1) RIP Alan Young 96, the actor who played Wilbur Post on the classic TV show Mr Ed, passed away this week. It is not easy to be a straight man for a talking horse; that was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid. Yes, I said a talking horse, but he only talked to Wilbur, which caused problems with Wilbur's wife Carol.

Just loved Mr Ed, whether he was driving a delivery truck or taking batting practice against Sandy Koufax (yes, Koufax tossed a meatball to a horse, with manager Leo Durocher watching). Spent many hours laughing with this show. RIP, sir.

**Udog** · 05-22-2016, 08:21 AM

NHL

Sunday, May 22

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Sunday's NHL Conference Finals betting preview: Lightning at Penguins
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Right winger Phil Kessel leads the Penguins with 17 points in the playoffs after notching his fifth goal in the last five games Friday.

Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins (A: +180, H: -210, O/U: 5)

Series tied 2-2

The Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from their worst performance of the postseason to even the Eastern Conference finals and look to seize control of the series when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins for Game 5 on Sunday. The Lightning gave up 48 shots Wednesday before scoring the first four goals of Game 4 two days later and holding on for a 4-3 triumph.

Tampa Bay catalyst Ryan Callahan told reporters the change was more about energy than X's and O's and the Lightning hope to carry that emotion over on the road. “The bottom line is get a good rest tonight and make sure we refocus and get ready for a tough game,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman told reporters after assisting on two goals Friday. “They’re a really good team, but so are we, and it’s going to be a battle all the way.” Pittsburgh could draw positives out of a three-goal third period Friday, but lost defenseman Trevor Daley (left leg) indefinitely and gave up more than three goals for the first time in nine games. “We knew this was going to be a hard game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said on Friday. “. … We didn’t play the way we’ve been playing that has allowed us the results that we’ve gotten here over the postseason.”

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, TVAS

PROBABLE GOALIES:

Lightning - Ben Bishop (W/L: 8-2, GAA: 1.85, SAVE %: .928)

Penguins - Matthew Murray (W/L: 9-4, GAA: 2.33, SAVE %: .926)

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (56-34-6, 39-44 O/U): Right wing Nikita Kucherov has yet to score a goal in the series, but totaled four assists in the last two games and leads the team with 16 points in the playoffs – one better than Tyler Johnson. Kucherov played with Vladislav Namestnikov and Alex Killorn on Friday while coach Jon Cooper put Johnson between Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin, who recovered from a rough game with a big power-play goal – his 12th point of the postseason. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy could get his fourth straight start in place of Ben Bishop (left leg) and owns a .928 save percentage in the series.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (58-30-9, 43-36 O/U): Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made seven saves in the third period Friday after replacing Matt Murray, making his first appearance in net since March 31, and Sullivan told reporters he would make a decision on his Game 5 starter Sunday. Defenseman Olli Maatta could move back in the lineup for Daley, who left the arena on crutches Friday. “(Daley) is a hard guy to replace," Sullivan said. "He plays a lot of minutes. He plays in key situations.” Right wing Phil Kessel leads the team with 17 points in the playoffs after notching his fifth goal in the last five games Friday.

TRENDS:

* Lightning are 4-1 in their last 5 road games.
* Penguins are 7-0 in their last 7 Sunday games.
* Under is 3-0-1 in Lightning last 4 games following a win.
* Over is 8-1-1 in the last 10 meetings in Pittsburgh.
* Lightning are 2-8 in the last 10 meetings in Pittsburgh.

CONSENSUS: At the time of publication the Penguins are picking up 65 percent of the moneyline wagers for Game 5. When you look at the total wagers, Over 5 is grabbing 74 percent of the action. View full consensus data here.

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**Udog** · 05-22-2016, 08:24 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Sunday, May 22

Tampa Bay @ Pittsburgh

Game 17-18
May 22, 2016 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Tampa Bay
10.794
Pittsburgh
13.651
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Pittsburgh
by 3
7
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Pittsburgh
-205
5
Dunkel Pick:
Pittsburgh
(-205); Over

NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Sunday, May 22

Tampa Bay-Pittsburgh (2-2)
Tampa Bay led Game Four 4-0 after two periods, had to hold Penguins off for last 6:52 after Pitt cut lead to 4-3. Lightning won six of its last nine games with Penguins- they won two of last three played here. Over is 9-1-1 in last 11 series games, 2-1-1 in this specific series. Lightning is 2-8 on power play in first three games in this series, Pittsburgh is 3-13. Pittsburgh is 6-3 in its last nine games, going 4-1 in last five at home. Tampa Bay won three of last four road games (2-1 in OT). Pittsburgh won three of its last four home games.

Playoffs tally: 1st round-- Home: 23-24, Over: 16-17-14
2nd round-- Home: 16-9, Over: 11-5-9
Conference finals-- Home 4-4, Over 3-4-1

NHL

Sunday, May 22

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
TAMPA BAY vs. PITTSBURGH
Tampa Bay is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games
Tampa Bay is 2-8 SU in its last 10 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is 18-6 SU in its last 24 games
Pittsburgh is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home

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**Udog** · 05-22-2016, 08:39 AM

NHL
Long Sheet

Sunday, May 22

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TAMPA BAY (56-34-0-6, 118 pts.) at PITTSBURGH (58-30-0-9, 125 pts.) - 5/22/2016, 8:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
PITTSBURGH is 58-39 ATS (+12.4 Units) in all games this season.
PITTSBURGH is 24-10 ATS (+10.6 Units) in a home game where where the total is 5 or less this season.
PITTSBURGH is 40-20 ATS (+7.5 Units) second half of the season this season.
PITTSBURGH is 13-4 ATS (+7.6 Units) after allowing 4 goals or more this season.
TAMPA BAY is 38-20 ATS (+10.1 Units) second half of the season this season.
TAMPA BAY is 202-211 ATS (+449.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
PITTSBURGH is 7-6-0 straight up against TAMPA BAY over the last 3 seasons
10 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+7.7 Units)

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**Udog** · 05-22-2016, 11:42 AM

NHL
Short Sheet

Sunday, May 22

Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh, 8:05 PM ET
Tampa Bay: 22-27 SU when playing their 3rd game in 5 days
Pittsburgh: 13-4 SU after allowing 4 goals or more

Announcement

Sunday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/22

Sunday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/22

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