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**Udog** · 05-21-2019, 06:59 AM

Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack

Odds for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge:

9-1— Justin Rose

12-1— Jon Rahm

14-1— Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth

16-1— Xander Schauffele

20-1— Francesco Molinari

25-1— Casey, DeChambeau, Finau

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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……

13) There was some grumbling in Toronto Monday when last week’s AL Player of the Week, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, was given a day off for the Blue Jays’ Victoria Day game with Boston, a game the Red Sox won easily, 12-2.

Why give a 20-year old kid a day off when he is hot? When you have a big crowd in the house on a holiday? When you can use him at DH and at least let him get four AB’s in front of the home crowd, which is rooting for a lousy Toronto team this season?

12) Strange stat: Boston’s Andrew Benintendi is 2-for-35 in his first at-bat of a game; he is hitting .326 in all his other AB’s.

11) The softball coach at Oklahoma, who has won four national titles, makes $1M a year. We were guessing Sunday night how much softball coaches get paid, so I did a google search and was stunned to find that out.

10) Washington Redskins’ LB Reuben Foster was carted off the field Monday with a knee injury during the Redskins’ OTAs.

9) Tampa Bay Bucs released DT Gerald McCoy, who was set to make $13M this season.

8) Mets’ OF Yoenis Cespedes suffered multiple fractures in his right ankle on his ranch down in Florida, so who knows when he’ll be back in the major leagues. Unlike Gerald McCoy, Cespedes will keep getting paid, because baseball contracts are guaranteed- most NFL contracts aren’t.

7) Conference USA reached a broadcast deal with NFL Network, which will show 10 of their games next season.

6) ESPN’s Hubie Brown said over the weekend that he has worked with 21 different TV play-by-play broadcasters during his career, including Al Michaels, Brent Musburger, Marv Albert, Dick Stockton and Mike Breen. He is 85 years old and still going strong. Amazing guy.

5) Toronto’s Ryan Feierabend returned to the majors Saturday as a knuckleballer; he is the first lefty knuckleballer in the major leagues since Baltimore’s Danny Boone, in 1990.

4) All the passengers on a flight at JFK Airport in NYC had to deplane before takeoff Monday afternoon due to a guy who refused to turn his phone off after they closed the boarding door. Police removed him, but only after everyone else was off the plane first.

3) Former Florida State QB Deondre Francois will walk on at Florida Atlantic this fall; hr got tossed from FSU because of a couple of domestic violence incidents. He will compete for the QB job with LY’s starter Chris Robison, who was suspended this spring due to an investigation into an alleged sexual battery that led to no charges being filed.

Francois played in 25 games at quarterback for the Seminoles, throwing for 6,291 yards, 36 TDs and 21 INTs.

2) Vegas Dave, the huckster/tipster featured on Showtime’s Action series last month, had been indicted in January by the Federal Government on 19 felony counts carrying a potential sentence of 40+ years in federal prison, but in the end winds up with no felony convictions, because of a plea bargain.

A judge ordered that he must stay out of Las Vegas sportsbooks for three years; he also gets three years probation, must get gambling treatment and do 150 hours of community service.

1) Am guessing there is no way to know this, but I’d be curious how many fantasy baseball leagues there are in this country. Every time Mike Trout or Bryce Harper hits one out, how many owners are they helping out?

Am also guessing that being an official scorer for major league games has become a much tougher job, with people having money on the line, as far as what is a hit and what isn’t.

**Udog** · 05-21-2019, 07:05 AM

**Udog** · 05-21-2019, 07:12 AM

25San Jose -26 St Louis
ST LOUIS are 22-6 ATS (16 Units) against good passing teams - averaging 5 or more assists per game in the 2nd half of the year in the current season.

NHL
Dunkel

Tuesday, May 21

San Jose @ St. Louis

Game 25-26
May 21, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
San Jose
10.475
St. Louis
12.882
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
St. Louis
by 2 1/2
5
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
St. Louis
-150
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
St. Louis
(-150); Under

NHL
Long Sheet

Tuesday, May 21

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SAN JOSE (56-35-0-10, 122 pts.) at ST LOUIS (56-33-0-11, 123 pts.) - 5/21/2019, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
ST LOUIS is 41-22 ATS (+8.4 Units) second half of the season this season.
ST LOUIS is 35-23 ATS (+4.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
ST LOUIS is 23-11 ATS (+11.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
SAN JOSE is 92-58 ATS (+26.2 Units) in road games on Tuesday nights since 1996.
SAN JOSE is 227-242 ATS (+512.1 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a winning record since 1996.
ST LOUIS is 17-23 ATS (-14.1 Units) in home games after a win by 2 goals or more over the last 3 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
ST LOUIS is 8-6 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus SAN JOSE over the last 3 seasons
ST LOUIS is 8-6-0 straight up against SAN JOSE over the last 3 seasons
8 of 11 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+4.4 Units)

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NHL

Tuesday, May 21

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Trend Report
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San Jose Sharks
San Jose is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road
San Jose is 4-8 SU in its last 12 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of San Jose's last 11 games when playing St. Louis
San Jose is 9-2 ATS in its last 11 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
San Jose is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of San Jose's last 5 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games
St. Louis is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games
St. Louis is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games at home
St. Louis is 18-7 SU in its last 25 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of St. Louis's last 11 games when playing San Jose
St. Louis is 2-9 ATS in its last 11 games when playing at home against San Jose
St. Louis is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against San Jose
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of St. Louis's last 5 games when playing at home against San Jose

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**Udog** · 05-21-2019, 08:13 AM

Blues close to Stanley Cup Final

ST. LOUIS (AP) Jaden Schwartz is on a scoring run that has the St. Louis Blues dreaming big.

Schwartz's hat trick in Game 5 on Sunday helped give the Blues a 3-2 series lead against the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference final and set the single-season franchise record for playoff wins.

The Blues could advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970 when they host Game 6 Tuesday night.

''It's probably tough to put into words,'' Schwartz said. ''It's something that everyone's worked for and dreamed about. You don't want to look too far ahead. We all know how important and how hard that last win's going to be. It would be a dream come true.''

Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko have played huge roles in the Blues' playoff success. Just not necessarily in the way that was expected.

Tarasenko has come up with more big assists than goals against the Sharks.

Meanwhile, Schwartz has found a scoring touch that eluded him during the regular season. After scoring 11 goals in 69 regular-season games, Schwartz has 12 goals in 18 playoff games.

''He's obviously a tenacious player, a hard-working player,'' Blues coach Craig Berube said. ''I know, goal-wise, he didn't have a good regular season, but the work ethic was there and other things besides not producing with the goals.

''He's a 200-foot player for us and he's around the net for us, that's where he scores. His hard work, being relentless and staying with it is paying off.''

Schwartz's scoring run began on a quick pass from Tyler Bozak with 15 seconds left in regulation to snap a 2-2 tie in Game 5 in the first round against Winnipeg. He followed that up with a hat trick in Game 6 to send the Blues to the second round.

Schwartz is the first player to have two hat tricks in the same playoffs since Johan Franzen did it for Detroit in 2008 and he is the first to do it for the Blues.

Not bad for a guy who went 23 games without a goal during the regular season.

''He's obviously been kind of our engine and a guy that's scored huge goals for us throughout every series,'' Bozak said.

''Pucks weren't going in as much as he probably wanted in the regular season, but he was still playing really good hockey I thought and getting a lot of chances. And obviously what he's done in this playoffs so far has been incredible. We're pretty lucky to have him and we know he's just going to keep getting better and keep doing those things for us.''

Tarasenko is the only player to get a point in every game of the Western Conference final. But just two of his seven points in the series are goals.

Instead he has become a potent playmaker, setting up Bozak's eventual game-winning goal in Game 4 and assisting on two of Schwartz's goals in Game 5.

''Every time he gets the puck he puts them on edge,'' Blues center Ryan O'Reilly said. ''Having such a shot like he does, teams are scared when he gets the puck and obviously they maybe will overcompensate for that and other things come available. Having played with him throughout the year, you see how dangerous he is whether it's taking that shot or just being that threat that opens so much up.''

Tarasenko's unselfish play was evident on Schwartz's third goal. Carrying the puck on the power play, he could have taken a shot. But with San Jose playing the shot, he found Schwartz cutting towards the net for a one-timer into a wide-open net.

''Vlady is a good passer, he makes plays,'' Berube said. ''He's got his head up a lot, sees the ice well. His hard work is paying off. He's working hard without the puck, and he's a powerful guy.''

Tarasenko has led the Blues in goals in each of the past five seasons. Though he has taken a back seat to Schwartz in goal-scoring, the Blues are thriving in the postseason as never before from his playmaking ability.

And they are one win away from playing for the Stanley Cup, which many thought would have been impossible on Jan. 3 when the Blues were at the bottom of the NHL standings.

''Everyone knows we have a lot of work to do and we're going to get their best game,'' Schwartz said. ''They're going to have the most desperation they've had in this series. We'll enjoy it tonight, but we know there's a lot of work yet.''

**Udog** · 05-21-2019, 08:14 AM

Sharks dealing with key injuries

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The San Jose Sharks could be headed into their fifth elimination game of the postseason short-handed.

The Sharks left town Monday to play Game 6 of the Western Conference final at St. Louis with questions about the status of captain Joe Pavelski, high-scoring forward Tomas Hertl and playmaking defenseman Erik Karlsson.

Coach Peter DeBoer gave no update on their conditions and didn't say whether any of the three made the trip to St. Louis. San Jose lost all three stars to injuries during a 5-0 loss at home to the Blues on Sunday that left them trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2 headed into Tuesday night's game.

The Sharks have already staved off elimination four times this postseason, rallying from 3-1 down in a first-round series against Vegas and then winning a seventh game on home ice in the second round against Colorado.

''We've dealt with this before and guys have stepped in and got the job done,'' DeBoer said. ''People can write us off but I know in our room we know we have guys in there who we know can step in and get this done.''

Pulling it off again against a deep and physical Blues team could be even more of a challenge, especially if the Sharks will be missing some key pieces.

Karlsson has been dealing with groin injuries since January. He missed 27 of the final 33 regular-season games but returned for the start of the playoffs even if he often looked hampered by the injury. Karlsson appeared to be finding his groove, scoring two goals, including the overtime winner, in Game 3 at St. Louis before coming up lame again in the fourth game.

Karlsson played just one shift in the final 9:24 of Game 4 but told DeBoer he was good to go Sunday. He wasn't moving well early in the game and committed a turnover that led to St. Louis' first goal. He played just 3:03 in the second period and was unable to accelerate on the play that led to Vladimir Tarasenko's penalty shot. Karlsson then didn't come back out for the third as DeBoer acknowledged he had regrets about playing him.

If Karlsson is unable to go, Tim Heed will likely get his first action since filling in for an injured Marc-Edouard Vlasic in Games 3 and 4 of the opening round. But the Sharks will miss Karlsson, who has two goals and 14 assists this postseason.

Hertl was hit high in the first period by Ivan Barbashev in a play the Sharks believe should have been penalized as an illegal hit to the head. He remained in the game through the second period but also didn't come out for the third.

That was the second time this series the Sharks felt one of their players got hit in the head with no penalty in the game or supplemental discipline. Defenseman Justin Braun got hit by Sammy Blais in Game 3.

''You don't want to see your teammates get hit like that,'' Braun said. ''You can't worry about the refs' calls or non-calls. You have to go out there and keep playing.''

Pavelski, who led the team with 38 goals in the regular season, dealt with yet another injury early in the third when Alex Pietrangelo sent him into the boards and appeared to hit him high at the end with an elbow. Pavelski didn't return and there is concern because he missed six games already this postseason after a bloody concussion when his helmet slammed into the ice in Game 7 against Vegas.

If Hertl and Pavelski can't go, the Sharks' depth up front will take a serious hit. Marcus Sorensen, who missed two of the past three games, could move back into the lineup, with winger Lukas Radil and untested center Dylan Gambrell also options.

**Udog** · 05-21-2019, 10:34 AM

Sharks vs Blues NHL betting picks and predictions: St. Louis capitalizing on San Jose's defensive miscues
Monty Andrews

Vladimir Tarasenko and the St Louis Blues are -165 betting favorites at home against the San Jose Sharks in NHL playoff action tonight.

The St. Louis Blues are a win away from reaching their first Stanley Cup final since 1970 – and oddsmakers like the chances of that happening as the Blues host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.

St. Louis is the biggest betting favorite of any team at any point during the conference finals, listed at -165 following an impressive 5-0 drubbing of the Sharks on the road in Game 5. San Jose is sputtering in a major way, having scored just one goal in its previous two games. We break down the odds with our predictions and best bets for this NHL playoff battle.

San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues (-165, 5.5)

QUICK-HITTER

There has been a first-period winner in each of the first five games of this series – and with the way these teams have come out of late, it's hard to go against the home team here. The Blues have scored three goals on just 14 shots in the opening period of their past two games against the Sharks, and have allowed a first-period goal just once in the previous four games. Look for the Blues to come out strong in Game 6, and go into the first intermission with the lead as a result.

PREDICTION: St. Louis -0.5 first-period puckline (+155)

PERIOD BET

While the second period has been the most entertaining 20-minute segment in this series, we have a feeling there will be plenty of fireworks in the early stages of Game 6. San Jose was stymied despite outshooting St. Louis 11-4 in the opening period of Game 5, then came out completely flat over the final 40 minutes. With their season on the line, the high-powered Sharks are a good bet to score in the first period – and so are the Blues, which makes the O1.5 the superior option here.

PREDICTION: Over 1.5 first-period goals (-105)

TEAM/PLAYER BET

The winning side has scored four or more goals in four of the first five games of the series, and are a good bet to end up there again given the proficiency of these offenses. The Blues have scored three or more goals four times against the Sharks, and given how San Jose has struggled at the back end for the majority of the season, it's easy to envision the home team putting multiple pucks into the net yet again. We favor the Blues finishing with three or four goals in this one.

PREDICTION: St. Louis 3 or 4 goals (+127)

FULL-GAME TOTAL

There are plenty of reasons to favor the Over in this one despite the Sharks' recent offensive doldrums. The Sharks have faced elimination three times in this postseason, and scored 12 total goals in those contests; look for a similar all-out offensive effort Tuesday night. And St. Louis is primed for another strong offensive showing against a San Jose netminder in Martin Jones who boasts a dismal .902 save percentage in the playoffs. The O5.5 looks good here.

PREDICTION: Over 5.5 (+100)

FULL-GAME SIDE

The Sharks probably won't be kept down to the extent that they were in Games 4 and 5, and should give the St. Louis defense fits. But the Blues are a controversial non-call away from potentially finishing off San Jose in five games, and have clearly been the superior team of late. And it doesn't help that the Sharks are dealing with a rash of injuries to key players, including Erik Karlsson and Joe Pavelski. San Jose looks almost out of gas – and the Blues are well-positioned to empty the tank Tuesday.

PREDICTION: St. Louis -1.5 (+175)

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Tuesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/21

Tuesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/21

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