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**Udog** · 05-20-2017, 07:52 AM

Armadillo: Saturday's six-pack

— Rory McIlroy has back/rib injuries, has pulled out of the BMW tourney next week. His status for the US Open is up in the air.

— Cavaliers 130, Celtics 86— Cleveland led 72-31 at the half— 72-31!!!!

— Nationals, Twins are only teams with an extra base hit in every game this season.

— RIP Wayne Walker, a LB for the Lions who also their punter, then later a good announcer on TV. There was a time when punters played other positions; Walker was a very good LB.

— NASCAR driver Alric Almirola is out 8-12 weeks with a broken vertebrae after his scary accident at Bristol Motor Speedway.

— Jason deGrom pitched seven innings last nite, the first time in 18 games a Mets’ starting pitcher got an out after the sixth inning.

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Armadillo: Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind……

13) Paolo Espino is 30 years old; he’s pitched in the minor leagues for 10 years— 291 games, 191 starts, 1,304 IP. Finally, this week he got the call to the major leagues and started for Milwaukee at Wrigley Field Friday.

Imagine the emotion he felt? How excited he must’ve been? His dad flew all the way from Panama to see the game. Luckily for him, the wind was whipping hard and it was blowing in, which makes Wrigley a supreme pitchers’ park.

12) Brandon Kintzner is the Twins’ closer; he’s 32 years old, from Palo Verde HS in Las Vegas and Dixie State in Utah. Back in 2009, he was offered a chance to try out for the role of Tim Hudson in Moneyball, but chose instead to play in an independent league all-star game.

Luckily for him, the Brewers spotted him at the All-Star Game, signed him to a minor league deal and he made it to Miller Park the next year. Now he is the Twins’ closer and a good one.

11) Jose Abreu hasn’t homered in 66 plate appearances at home this year; he’s hit seven in 95 PA’s on the road. That could be weather-related; Abreu’s bat has often heated up when the weather does. Hasn’t been too warm on the south side of Chicago this spring.

10) Quick story from my days coaching Little League:

I was an assistant coach; my future ex-wife’s nephew was on the team, which wasn’t a good team. I’m warming up our starting pitcher at practice one night; he throws strikes, but didn’t throw hard, but at least he throws strikes.

After three pitches, the kid says to me, “You know, I can pitch left-handed.” I’m thinking to myself, “Kid, you can barely pitch right-handed.” But our team wasn’t good, so I tell him to throw me a couple left-handed.

Well, what do you know; the kid threw much harder, and a heavy ball— he was good!!!! I’m like, what took you so long to tell us? Now I have to break the news to our head coach without him thinking I’m pranking him.

We didn’t have a good season, but the kid did real well pitching lefty (he also was a catcher and played righty as a catcher); he would’ve made the All-Star team except his dad got transferred out-of-state for work so the family moved as soon as school got out.

Just goes to show you; keep your ears open. You never know what you might hear.

9) Anaheim Ducks’ Corey Perry has three overtime goals in the NHL playoffs this spring, the first player to do that since Maurice Richard in 1951.

8) There have been 26 overtime games in the NHL playoffs this spring; the record is 28 (1993), they had 27 in 2013. Playoff hockey is way more fun to watch than the NBA playoffs.

7) When the Las Vegas Golden Knights have their expansion draft next month (yes, the NHL has a team in Las Vegas now), the Knights will select 30 players- they have to take at least one player from every team in the league.

6) Stayed up late Thursday night watching a replay of Super Bowl XIV, from January of 1980, Rams-Steelers. Long time ago, but I had never seen the replay of that game. Rams had won seven division titles in a row, but only made the Super Bowl in ’79 after they started the season 4-5 and survived a bunch of injuries.

Some observations from the broadcast:
— Football was way different in 1980; guys got hit out of bounds a few times- no flags.
— TV graphics were obviously way worse; no game clock on the screen until the last minute.
— CBS analyst Tom Brookshier wouldn’t have lasted two weeks in today’s politically correct world. He was funny as hell and told the truth, but people today don’t always want the truth.
— The whole world is so different now; there were over 100,000 people there, doubt any of them had phones in their pockets. How many people go to games now without a cellphone?
— Rams basically played that Super Bowl at home, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. It was their last year at the Coliseum before they moved to Anaheim.
— Teams substituted so much less then than they do now, from play-to-play.

5) Miami Marlins hired former big league OF Todd Hollandworth as a TV analyst this year; he is very good, and for one reason— Marlins’ broadcasts are like listening to Hollandsworth and Rich Waltz sit around and talk about ball. They’re not announcing the game as much as they’re just talking about baseball and having a good time. Very relaxed; fun to listen to.

4) My personal opinion on the NBA Draft is this: If I ran an NBA franchise and could take Lonzo Ball, I wouldn’t let his father’s antics make me pick someone else.

That is assuming I thought Ball was the best player available and fitted what my team needed. UCLA had a terrific season this past year; the kid is a really good player. NBA players are well-versed in tuning out distractions.

3) Ryan Fitzpatrick signed as a free agent QB with the Buccaneers; if he throws a pass for Tampa Bay this season, he’ll be the sixth QB in NFL history to throw a pass for seven different teams, joining: Jeff Blake, Steve Bono, Chris Chandler, Gus Frerotte and Vinny Testaverde.

2) Je’rell Springer didn’t play HS basketball last winter due to eligibility issues after he changed schools in Las Vegas, but he got a scholarship from Southern Utah anyway, turning down BYU, an unusual choice. Springer is a great get for the Big Sky’s Thunderbirds.

1) Will Nerd Power catch on in Milwaukee? Eric Sogard (he wears glasses when he plays) came up to the Brewers this week and went 10-17 (.588) in his first six games with the Crew, with two 4-hit games. This is the same guy who hit .239 in 1,210 AB’s over six years in Oakland.

Sogard was once a 2nd round draft pick by the Padres out of Arizona State; terrific fielder. Wish he had hit like this for the A’s.

My condolences to Brewers’ TV analyst Bill Schroeder, whose mom passed away this week. I lost my dad two years ago last night; miss him every day.

**Udog** · 05-20-2017, 09:06 AM

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

Filip Forsberg was labeled "Mr. Clutch" by teammate Harry Zolnierczyk and it's hard to argue after the forward again came through by scoring the tying goal with 34.5 seconds in Game 4 to force overtime.

Nashville Predators at Anaheim Ducks (-115, 5)

Series tied 2-2

Having handed the Nashville Predators their first home defeat of the postseason, the Anaheim Ducks return to Honda Center to host Game 5 of the Western Conference final on Saturday night. Anaheim's dramatic overtime victory in Thursday's Game 4 ended Nashville's 10-game home winning streak and turned the series into a best-of-3.

The winning goal by Corey Perry came as the result of a fluke deflection, preventing a potentially crushing defeat for the Ducks, who blew a two-goal lead in the final 6 1/2 minutes of regulation. “The last three or four years, we’ve obviously gone through a lot,” Anaheim goalie John Gibson said. “More downs in the playoffs than ups. I think we just learned from that and I think now we have a sense of calmness. And we have the ability to always regroup, whether we’re up or we’re down or something bad happens." While the Ducks reclaimed home ice with the 3-2 overtime win, Nashville won the series opener at Honda Center and posted three wins at Anaheim in last year's first-round playoff matching, including a winner-takes-all Game 7. “It’s an open series," Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne said. "It’s 2-2, but we have a lot of confidence. I don’t think we need to change a lot of things going into Game 5."

TV: 7:15 p.m. ET NBC, CBC, TVAS

LINE HISTORY: The Ducks opened as -111 home favorites for Game 5 and by Friday evening that money line was up to -116. The total hit the betting board at 5 and has yet to move off the opening number.

INJURY REPORT:

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

Ducks - C Rickard Rakell (Questionable, undisclosed), RW Logan Shaw (Out indefinitely, lower body), RW Patrick Eaves (Out indefinitely, lower body), D Simon Despres (Out indefinitely, concussion)

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (51-32-9-4, 43-41 O/U): Filip Forsberg was labeled "Mr. Clutch" by teammate Harry Zolnierczyk and it's hard to argue after the standout forward again came through by scoring the tying goal with 34.5 seconds in Game 4 to force overtime. Forsberg, who registered two goals and two assists over 14 games in the 2016 playoffs, also netted the tying tally in Game 3 against Anaheim. A 31-goal scorer during the regular season, Forsberg set a franchise single-season mark with his seventh goal of the postseason and is the first player in seven years to score in each of the first four games of a conference final.

ABOUT THE DUCKS (56-27-11-3, 35-40 O/U): Corey Perry offered a simple assessment after scoring Anaheim's only goal on a bad-angle shot in Game 3, basically telling reporters you can't score if you don't shoot, and he reinforced that point with the decisive tally Thursday. Perry threw a shot at the net from the right point that deflected off the stick of Predators defenseman P.K. Subban and past Rinne to give the Ducks new life. “I’ll take it,” Perry said. "I was trying to create traffic or create a bounce and create havoc in front. And that’s what they say in overtime. Throw it on net, you never know what can happen.”

TRENDS:

* Predators are 5-1 in their last six road games vs. a team with a home winning percent of greater than .600.
* Under is 10-2-4 in Predators last 16 when their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game.
* Under is 5-1-3 in Predators last nine vs. Western Conference.
* Over is 5-1-2 in Ducks last eight Conference Finals games.

CONSENSUS: 69 percent of users are siding with the home chalk Ducks on the moneyline and 59 percent are on the Over.

**Udog** · 05-20-2017, 09:10 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Saturday, May 20

Nashville @ Anaheim

Game 11-12
May 20, 2017 @ 7:15 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Nashville
11.578
Anaheim
13.173
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Anaheim
by 1 1/2
7
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Anaheim
-120
5
Dunkel Pick:
Anaheim
(-120); Over

NHL
Long Sheet

Saturday, May 20

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NASHVILLE (51-32-0-13, 115 pts.) at ANAHEIM (56-27-0-14, 126 pts.) - 5/20/2017, 7:15 PM
Top Trends for this game.
NASHVILLE is 20-28 ATS (-17.0 Units) on Saturday games over the last 2 seasons.
ANAHEIM is 56-41 ATS (+12.8 Units) in all games this season.
ANAHEIM is 57-27 ATS (+20.1 Units) in a home game where where the total is 5 or less over the last 3 seasons.
ANAHEIM is 38-21 ATS (+5.3 Units) second half of the season this season.
ANAHEIM is 31-20 ATS (+8.7 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ANAHEIM is 21-12 ATS (+8.0 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
NASHVILLE is 241-193 ATS (+32.0 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent since 1996.
NASHVILLE is 31-19 ATS (+10.5 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
NASHVILLE is 23-12 ATS (+10.4 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 11-9 (+0.3 Units) against the spread versus NASHVILLE over the last 3 seasons
ANAHEIM is 11-9-0 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)

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NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Saturday, May 20

Home side won seven of last ten Anaheim-Nashville games, but is 2-2 in this series; Predators split their last four games in Orange County- over is 3-1-1 in their last five games played here. Nashville lost three of its last four road games; under is 5-1-2 in their last eight games overall. Ducks won three of their last four home games. Over is 5-2-2 in last nine Anaheim games; under is 5-1-2 in Predators’ last eight. Nashville is 1-21 on power play in its last five games; Ducks are 2-26 on power play in its last eight games.

Conference finals
Ottawa-Pittsburgh
Ottawa 2-1 OT
Pitt 1-0
Ottawa 5-1
Pitt 3-2

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

NHL

Saturday, May 20

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Trend Report
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7:15 PM
NASHVILLE vs. ANAHEIM
Nashville is 10-4 SU in its last 14 games
Nashville is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Anaheim
Anaheim is 14-5 SU in its last 19 games
Anaheim is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games at home

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Saturday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/20

Saturday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/20

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