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**Udog** · 05-14-2018, 07:00 AM

Armadillo: Monday's six-pack

CG Technology released spreads for every Week 1-16 game for 2018-19 NFL season. Here are a few of the more interesting spreads:

Week 1: Falcons @ Philadelphia (-4)

Week 2: Chiefs @ Pittsburgh (-7)

Week 3: Jets @ Browns (-2.5)

Week 4: Vikings (-2) @ LA Rams (-3)

Week 5: Raiders @ LA Chargers (-5)

Week 6: Jaguars @ Dallas (-1)

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Armadillo: Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend…..

We start today with two examples of why baseball is a fascinating game:
13) Baseball strategy, Exhibit A: Twins-Angels are tied in late innings; Angels have game-winning run on 3rd with two out. Minnesota walks Pujols/Simmons intentionally, to bring up Marte, putting lot of pressure on their pitcher to throw strikes. I’ve never seen a team walk two hitters intentionally to load the bases with two outs, especially with the batter coming up not being a pitcher.

Twins escape the jam, win the game 5-3 in 12 innings.

12) Baseball strategy, Exhibit B: San Diego was tied with the Cardinals in late innings; Padres had men on first and second, no one out, and pinch-hit Spangenberg for Villanueva so he could bunt the runners over.

Spangenberg fouls off two bunts, count is 2-2, and then he fouls off another bunt and strikes out. What are you telling a position player when you have him bunt with two strikes? Especially on the day you brought him back from AAA.

Padres wound up with a walk-off win in the 13th inning, despite all that.

Two teams use unusual strategy, and both win their game.

11) Charlotte Knights, AAA farm team of the White Sox, drew 10,512 fans Saturday, their 8th sellout this season. Would Charlotte be a good city for a major league team?

10) Nick Markakis is hitting .346 this year, having a terrific year; he is 34 years old, has 2,105 career hits, but has never played in an All-Star Game. Hopefully that’ll change this year, and if it does, it’ll be the best moment at the All-Star Game, when he is introduced before the game.

9) Bad news for the Seattle Mariners; Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch Sunday, broke a bone in his right hand.

8) Odubel Herrera has reached base in 41 straight games; the all-time record is 84, held by Ted Williams.

7) Phillies 4, Mets 2— Jacob deGrom threw 45 pitches in the first inning; Phillies fouled off 20 of the 45 pitches- they didn’t get a hit or score a run. A very unusual inning, and then deGrom was lifted from the game.

Mets said that deGrom wasn’t hurt; they just were cautious because of the rain delay before the game and the 45 pitches he threw in the first inning. Plus, it was his first start in 11 days.

6) By way of reference, Angels’ Jaime Barria threw 49 pitches in a scoreless first inning against the Giants April 22; that was the night of the 21-pitch AB to Brandon Belt. Those two starts are the most pitches this season thrown in a scoreless inning.

5) Atlanta Braves’ 3B prospect Austin Riley was 4-for-5 Sunday with three HR’s, 8 RBIs for AAA Gwinnett; he’ll be in Atlanta pretty soon.

4) Richmond-Albany college lacrosse game drew 4,800 fans Saturday here in the capital city of New York State. Albany doesn’t draw crowds like that for football, but they’re ranked #2 in the country in lacrosse, so the bandwagon is pretty crowded these days. Good for the Great Danes.

3) Texas Rangers brought up lefty reliever Brandon Mann from AAA Sunday; the 34-year old Mann was originally drafted in 2002, and has played both in Japan and in independent leagues. What a journey he must’ve had; congrats on making the big leagues.

2) Major Leagues need to identify who the replay umpires are for each game; they make calls that change games, but they’re hunkered down in Manhattan and are fairly anonymous. It’d be interesting to know who is making a particular call, for better or worse.

1) RIP Coach Chuck Knox, the man who won five straight division title for the Rams in the 70’s, and went to coach the Seahawks/Bills. Coach Knox was 186-147-1 in his NFL career; he won Coach of the Year for all three teams that he coached. RIP, sir.

**Udog** · 05-14-2018, 07:26 AM

NHL Western Conference final Game 2 betting preview and odds: Knights at Jets

Vegas Golden Knights at Winnipeg Jets (-150, 6)

Jets lead series 1-0.

The Vegas Golden Knights won eight of their first 10 playoff games and entered the Western Conference finals with five days off, but find themselves facing a potentially deep hole if they cannot slow down the host Winnipeg Jets in Game 2 on Monday. The Jets show no signs of fatigue after a grueling series victory over Nashville, beating Marc-Andre Fleury three times in the opening 7:35 of Game 1 en route to a 4-2 victory that puts Vegas in a series deficit for the first time.

“We are going to see what kind of team we are,” Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault told reporters after he collected two assists in Game 1, but whose team had little answer for Winnipeg’s waves of pressure. “It’s definitely a must-win next game, and I think as a group everybody needs to step up, not just one or two guys.” The Golden Knights did a better job in the middle of the series opener but nonetheless matched their season low with 21 shots on net, or one fewer shot than the Jets blocked. It was more of the same for Winnipeg’s deep offense, as forward Blake Wheeler dished out three assists while defenseman Dustin Byfuglien and center Mark Scheifele each netted a goal with an assist. “It was just a matter of coming out and playing our game, keeping it simple,” Byfuglien told the media after boosting his postseason totals to five goals and 10 assists. “I felt that we got moving our feet right away. The ice opened up, and we got to moving the puck easily and doing simple things.”

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

SERIES PRICE (PER PINNACLE):

LINE HISTORY: The Jets opened as -140 home favorites for Game 2 and have been bumped up to -150 as of Sunday night. The total hit betting boards at 6 and has yet to move. Check out the complete line history here.

CONSENSUS: There could be some sharp action on the Jets as the line has moved in their favor despite seeing just 39 percent of wagers according to the public. The Over is seeing the slight edge in the total action with 57 percent of the bets.

GOALIE SHOWDOWN:
W L OTL GAA Save % SO
Marc-Andre Fleury 29 13 4 2.24 .927 4
Connor Hellebuyck 44 11 9 2.36 .924 6

INJURY REPORT:

Golden Knights - LW William Carrier (Questionable, upper body), D Clayton Stoner (Out, abdominal).

Jets - D Dmitry Kulikov (Out, back).

ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (59-26-5-3, 46-43 O/U): A better start is critical for Vegas, which found itself chasing the game after giving up a goal 65 seconds in, a power-play tally, and a third goal that originally was disallowed for goaltender interference but reversed after the Jets challenged. Marchessault found linemate William Karlsson on a beautiful feed for the Golden Knights’ second goal with 4:05 left in the second, but Vegas mustered just eight shots in the final period. Fleury gave up more than three goals for just the third time in 11 playoff games, finishing with 22 saves.

ABOUT THE JETS (61-23-9-2, 46-46 O/U): Scheifele scored his league-high 12th goal of the playoffs in the second period, an important redirect of a Byfuglien blast on the power play to make it 4-1. Scheifele and Wheeler each have 18 points through 13 postseason games, Wheeler leads the NHL with 15 assists, and nine Jets finished the opener with a plus-rating. Winnipeg’s top defensive pairing of Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey each blocked a team-high four shots, and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck recorded 19 saves in improving to 9-4 in the playoffs.

MATCHUP CHART:

TRENDS:

* Golden Knights are 11-3 in their last 14 vs. a team with a winning record.
* Jets are 43-11 in their last 54 home games.
* Under is 3-1-2 in Golden Knights last 6 road games.
* Under is 7-1-1 in Jets last 9 home games.

**Udog** · 05-14-2018, 07:32 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Monday, May 14

Vegas @ Winnipeg

Game 57-58
May 14, 2018 @ 8:05 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Vegas
15.080
Winnipeg
12.556
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Vegas
by 2 1/2
8
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Winnipeg
-145
6
Dunkel Pick:
Vegas
(+125); Over

NHL

Monday, May 14

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Trend Report
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Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas is 6-3 ATS in its last 9 games
Vegas is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games
Vegas is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
Vegas is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg is 8-2 ATS in its last 10 games
Winnipeg is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games
Winnipeg is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games at home
Winnipeg is 14-2 SU in its last 16 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Winnipeg's last 9 games at home

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**Udog** · 05-14-2018, 10:49 AM

NHL
Long Sheet

Monday, May 14

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VEGAS (59-27-0-7, 125 pts.) at WINNIPEG (61-24-0-10, 132 pts.) - 5/14/2018, 8:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WINNIPEG is 61-35 ATS (+20.5 Units) in all games this season.
WINNIPEG is 38-18 ATS (+7.8 Units) second half of the season this season.
WINNIPEG is 34-21 ATS (+6.5 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
WINNIPEG is 24-11 ATS (+10.7 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
VEGAS is 60-34 ATS (+19.3 Units) in all games this season.
VEGAS is 15-5 ATS (+7.8 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent this season.
VEGAS is 33-18 ATS (+13.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
VEGAS is 2-2 (+0.2 Units) against the spread versus WINNIPEG over the last 3 seasons
WINNIPEG is 2-2-0 straight up against VEGAS over the last 3 seasons
2 of 3 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.0 Units)

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Monday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/14

Monday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/14

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