Announcement

**Udog** · 05-18-2017, 07:10 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

Odds for the Byron Nelson golf tournament this weekend in Texas

9-2 Dustin Johnson

10-1 Jordan Spieth

13-1 Sergio Garcia

16-1 Brooks Koepka, Jason Day

30-1 Louis Oosthuizen, Tony Finau

35-1 Hoffman Palmer Kuchar Reed

**********

Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud………

13) Today’s weird story: The king of the Netherlands has revealed he has been living a secret double life as a co-pilot for a commercial airline.

For 21 years, King Willem-Alexander has taken to the skies twice a month to ferry passengers around on short-haul services for the Dutch airline KLM.

Go figure.

12) They’re honoring the 1967 World Champion Cardinals in St Louis this week; they had Steve Carlton on TV for half an inning Tuesday night, mainly because Tim McCarver is one of the TV guys for the Cardinals now- he and Carlton are great friends.

Was interesting to hear Carlton, who doesn’t speak publicly much, if ever. He doesn’t own a TV now so he doesn’t follow baseball much these days, but he talked about how he and Bob Boone didn’t see pitch selection the same way when he was on the Phillies, which is how McCarver became his personal catcher at the end of each of their careers.

McCarver was great when he did Mets’ games on local TV in the 80’s and he is really good now, but why was he not as good on FOX national broadcasts? Seriously, he just sounded like a different person on national TV, less relaxed.

11) Chris Davis homered in the 12th AND 13th inning Tuesday night in Detroit; to the best of my researching ability, he is the 4th major leaguer ever to homer in consecutive extra innings:

a) August 12, 1966— Art Shamsky homered in the 10th/11th innings, but the Reds lost in the 13th inning to Pittsburgh

b) June 4, 2013— John Mayberry Jr homered twice against the Marlins- his walk-off grand slam gave the Phillies a 7-3 win.

c) September 17, 2016- Curtis Granderson homered in the 11th/12th inning of the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Twins.

10) Willie Mays (22) hit the most extra inning homers in baseball history. Pitcher Elroy Face (21) has given up the most extra inning taters- no one else gave up more than 14.

9) Conference USA will hold its basketball tournament the next few years at The Star in Frisco, TX, the 12,000-seat arena Jerry Jones owns that also is the home field for eight high school football teams in that city.

8) ESPN laid off 80 people a couple weeks ago, but is paying Mike Greenberg $6.5M a year to host a 3-hour morning show? What genius decided that was a good idea?

7) Division I basketball teams are poaching lot of transfers from low and mid-major teams, which is why we’ll see fewer first round upsets in NCAA tournament. Kid plays well at the lower level and it is almost like he expects a promotion to a higher-level program.

6) They have an actual payphone at Chase Field in Arizona; don’t see many of those anymore. Put a quarter in, make a phone call; they used to be everywhere, before cellphones.

5) Nov 16-17, Madison Square Garden has a college basketball tournament: Providence, Saint Louis, Virginia Tech and Washington (former Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins is coach).

4) Dodgers 6, Giants 1— Clayton Kershaw has had nine starts against the Giants where he didn’t allow a run; seven of those nine starts were in San Francisco- he has a 1.31 ERA in 20 career starts at AT&T Park.

3) Before we anoint these one-inning closers the “greatest ever” keep in mind that in 1974, Mike Marshall of the Dodgers appeared in 106 games, and threw 208.1 innings- thats just about six outs per appearance. Marshall was 15-12 with 21 saves that year for the NL Champs. In the 70’s, great relievers got more than three outs to close out games.

2) Cavaliers 117, Celtics 104— Cleveland was up 22 at the half.

1— Arizona 5, NY Mets 4 (11)— Metropolitans finish their first 0-6 road trip since 1963. Backup catcher Chris Hermann hit a walk-off homer in the 11th.

Braves 8, Blue Jays 4— Atlanta scored six runs in this game before they made an out.

**Udog** · 05-18-2017, 07:27 AM

Thursday’s Stanley Cup Playoffs betting preview: Ducks at Predators

Nashville continues to receive stellar production from its blue-line corps, with Roman Josi delivering the decisive goal and Ellis adding an assist to boost their playoff totals to 10 points each.

Anaheim Ducks at Nashville Predators (-150, 5)

Predators lead series 2-1

Buoyed by raucous fans that raise the decibels to ear-splitting levels at Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Predators look to remain golden on their home ice when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference final. Nashville is 6-0 in the postseason at Bridgestone and has won 10 consecutive playoff games at home.

Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis lauded the team's fans after No. 8 seed Nashville took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with a 2-1 victory on Tuesday, scoring twice in the third period and overcoming a pair of apparent tiebreaking goals that were waved off. "Our fans, I really didn't think they could bring it to a new level, but I really thought they did tonight," Ellis told reporters. "We have our fans standing up the whole third period literally and cheering us on. It gives us that extra boost and that extra energy that we needed." Anaheim had evened the series with an impressive 5-3 victory in Game 2, but it was outshot by a 2-to-1 margin (40-20) and was unable to protect a third-period lead for the first time in six games this postseason. “Playoffs are a roller coaster,” veteran Ducks forward Corey Perry told reporters. “You got to try to stay even keel. ... What we did in Game 2 is kind of the game we want to play and that’s what we have to bring in Game 4.”

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

LINE HISTORY: The Predators opened as -155 home favorites but that moneyline was bet down slightly to -150 by Wednesday afternoon. The total hit the board at 5.

INJURY REPORT:

Ducks - D Kevin Bieksa (Out Indefinitely, lower body), RW Logan Shaw (Out Indefinitely, lower body), RW Patrick Eaves (Out Indefinitely, lower body), D Simon Despres (Out Indefinitely, concussion).

Predators - RW C. Smith (Questionable, undisclosed), LW Kevin Fiala (Out For Season, leg).

ABOUT THE DUCKS (55-27-11-3, 35-40 O/U): Perry, who was bumped off Anaheim's top line in Game 2, scored for only the second time in the past 11 contests on a bad-angle shot, but the Ducks were unable to generate sustained pressure and failed to notch a shot on goal in the final 11 minutes Tuesday. “You can’t score if you don’t get pucks towards the net with traffic and second opportunities,” Perry told reporters. “It’s something we’ve talked about, we’ve discussed and we got to do a better job.” Center Ryan Kesler has been superb on faceoffs, but he won 9 of 22 on Tuesday after going 27-18 in the first two games.

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (51-32-8-4, 43-41 O/U): Nashville continues to receive stellar production from its blue-line corps, with Roman Josi delivering the decisive goal and Ellis adding an assist to boost their playoff totals to 10 points each - a franchise record for defensemen. Overall, the unit combined for more shots on goal (21) in Game 3 than the Ducks (20) did as a team, led by nine from Ellis - who failed to notch a shot in Game 2. Forward Filip Forsberg has scored in each game of the series, with Tuesday's tying tally in the third period boosting his playoff total to a team-leading six goals.

TRENDS:

* Ducks are 1-4 in their last 5 Conference Finals games.
* Predators are 6-1 in their last 7 vs. Pacific.
* Over is 7-1-3 in Ducks last 11 when their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game.
* Under is 9-1-2 in Predators last 12 home games.
* Home team is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.

CONSENSUS: 63 percent of the public is siding with the home chalk Predators on the moneyline and 52 percent are on the Under.

**Udog** · 05-18-2017, 07:30 AM

NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, May 18

Home side won seven of last nine Anaheim-Nashville games; Ducks lost last three visits to Music City, by combined score of 10-2. Over is 3-1-2 in last six series games. Anaheim is 2-4 on power play in last two games, after going 0-20 in previous six games- they lost last two away games by combined score of 9-2. Over is 5-2-1 in their last nine games. Predators won five of their last seven games (under 5-1-1); they’re 5-0 in last five home games, allowing one goal in all five games. Nashville is 1-16 on power play in its last four games.

Conference finals
Ottawa-Pittsburgh
Ottawa 2-1 OT
Pitt 1-0
Ottawa 5-1

Nashville-Anaheim
Nashville 3-2 OT
Anaheim 5-3
Nashville 2-1

NHL

Thursday, May 18

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8:00 PM
ANAHEIM vs. NASHVILLE
Anaheim is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games
Anaheim is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games on the road
Nashville is 10-3 SU in its last 13 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Nashville's last 7 games

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Udog** · 05-18-2017, 08:59 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Thursday, May 18

Anaheim @ Nashville

Game 9-10
May 18, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Anaheim
11.767
Nashville
12.983
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Nashville
by 1
3
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Nashville
-155
5
Dunkel Pick:
Nashville
(-155); Under

NHL
Long Sheet

Thursday, May 18

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANAHEIM (55-27-0-14, 124 pts.) at NASHVILLE (51-32-0-12, 114 pts.) - 5/18/2017, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
NASHVILLE is 31-18 ATS (+11.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
NASHVILLE is 23-11 ATS (+11.2 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
ANAHEIM is 55-41 ATS (+3.4 Units) in all games this season.
ANAHEIM is 37-21 ATS (+9.9 Units) second half of the season this season.
ANAHEIM is 13-7 ATS (+22.4 Units) in road games when trailing in a playoff series since 1996.
ANAHEIM is 27-16 ATS (+7.8 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent this season.
ANAHEIM is 15-6 ATS (+7.3 Units) after scoring 1 goal or less in their previous game this season.
ANAHEIM is 30-20 ATS (+8.3 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ANAHEIM is 20-12 ATS (+7.5 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
ANAHEIM is 10-9-0 straight up against NASHVILLE over the last 3 seasons
9 of 13 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+4.9 Units)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Announcement

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/18

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/18

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment