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Thursday’s 6-pack
Week 1 NFL spreads:
— Dallas @ Tampa Bay (-6.5)
— Arizona @ Tennessee (-2.5)
— Seattle @ Indianapolis (-2.5)
— Minnesota (-3) @ Cincinnati
— Philadelphia @ Atlanta (-3.5)
— Jacksonville (-2.5) @ Houston
Quote of the Day
“I didn’t actually know the playbook, necessarily, really, really good, and that’s no one else’s fault but my fault. Our play calls were simple when I was in. I didn’t have alerts and checks. Where now, I feel comfortable and I can maneuver my way through these things.”
Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa
Thursday’s quiz
Which NBA team drafted Anthony Davis when he came out of college in 2012?
Wednesday’s quiz
The first night World Series game was in 1971, Orioles-Pirates
Tuesday’s quiz
Minnesota is known as “The Land of 10,000 Lakes”.
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Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud………
— Thumbs up to DMV in Albany; was there Wednesday morning to get my Real ID, which I thought I needed in order to travel again. Turns out they pushed all that back to 2023, but I got the Real ID, crossing one thing off my to-do list for 2023.
— Travel tip; if you’re going to Las Vegas during football season, don’t stay on the Strip if the Raiders are home that weekend. Rooms at the Luxor/Excalibur are both over $400 for the Saturday night of the weekend I was looking at, and they ain’t the classiest joints in town.
Looking at weekends where the Raiders aren’t home, rates are pretty normal.
Rates at the SouthPoint were pretty good for the weekend the Raiders were home; that’s a few miles south of Allegiant Stadium. Good place.
— How pitchers have fared after throwing their no-hitters this season:
1) Joe Musgrove
— Went 0-4, 5.63 in his next five starts, then 2-0, 0.75 in his last two.
2) Carlos Rodon:
— Is 3-2, 2.08 in six starts since his no-hitter.
3) Madison Bumgarner:
— His no-hitter was 7 innings, but it was a no-hitter.
— is 2-2, 3.54 in five starts since; he’s been batting leg problems.
4) John Means:
— Is 0-0, 2.92 in two starts since the no-hitter; not sure where Orioles would be without him.
5) Wade Miley:
— Allowed nine runs in two starts (7.2 IP) since the no-hitter, is currently on the IL.
6) Spencer Turnbull:
— Allowed three runs in six IP, in his first start after the no-hitter.
7) Corey Kluber:
— Left his last start after 3 innings (shoulder), his first since the no-hitter.
— He had thrown 100+ pitches in three of his previous four starts.
— Braves’ OF Marcell Ozuna is out six weeks after dislocating two fingers while sliding headfirst into third base the other night. This is why some guys wear those oven mitts while running the bases, to protect their fingers.
— They showed a clip of Clayton Kershaw’s MLB debut in 2008 yesterday; he was pitching against Albert Pujols who, 13 years later, is now his teammate with the Dodgers.
— Amazon just bought MGM studios for $8B; they figure to use MGM’s massive collection of movies to help market Amazon Prime Video.
— NFL salary cap was $198.2M last year; it’ll be $182.5M this year, because of the pandemic.
— Is it weird that I watched a movie on TV the other night, then just got a recommendation on a similar movie on my phone? Do they track everything we do/watch?
— Lot of baseball in the Big Apple today; twinbills in the Bronx and at CitiField, after lot of rain in New York City cancelled Wednesday’s games.Leave a comment:
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9PITTSBURGH -10 NY ISLANDERS
PITTSBURGH is 8-0 ATS (8 Units) off 2 consecutive losses against division rivals over the last 2 seasons.
11FLORIDA -12 TAMPA BAY
FLORIDA is 23-7 ATS (11.9 Units) against poor defensive teams - >=29 shots on goal, convert >=17% pp in the current season.
15VEGAS -16 MINNESOTA
VEGAS are 7-0 ATS (7 Units) in road games after allowing 4 goals or more in the current season.
NHL
Wednesday, May 26
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Trend Report
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Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders
Pittsburgh
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Pittsburgh's last 8 games when playing on the road against NY Islanders
Pittsburgh is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games on the road
NY Islanders
NY Islanders is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games
NY Islanders is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Pittsburgh
Florida @ Tampa Bay
Florida
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Florida's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Florida's last 9 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Tampa Bay's last 9 games when playing at home against Florida
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Tampa Bay's last 6 games at home
Vegas @ Minnesota
Vegas
Vegas is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Vegas is 18-5 SU in its last 23 games
Minnesota
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Minnesota's last 10 games at home
Minnesota is 13-4 ATS in its last 17 games when playing Vegas
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Wednesday’s 6-pack
College football over/under win totals:
— Alabama 11.5
— Clemson 11.5
— Cincinnati 10
— Auburn 7
— Arkansas 5.5
— Baylor 5.5
Quote of the Day
“The time when there is no one there to feel sorry for you or to cheer for you is when a player is made.”
Tim Duncan
Wednesday’s quiz
What year was the first night World Series game?
(Hint: the Orioles played in that game)
Tuesday’s quiz
Minnesota is known as “The Land of 10,000 Lakes”.
Monday’s quiz
Actor Tom Selleck played one year of D-I college basketball, at USC.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..
13) Umpire Joe West worked in his 5,376th major league game last night, breaking the all-time record. He first umpired in the big leagues at age 24, which is pretty amazing.
12) Speaking of umpires, saw something I don’t think I ever saw before. Sunday night in St Louis, Adam Wainwright is pitching to Kris Bryant in the 4th inning— first two pitches of the at-bat are both marginal, are both called strikes.
Cubs manager David Ross comes out of the dugout and gets in the face of the home plate ump, who throws him out of the game- his guy didn’t strike out, he just took two pitches, and the manager gets tossed. Game was scoreless at the time.
Maybe Ross bet the over, I don’t know, or maybe the ump had the under; Wainwright wound up having 31 of his pitches called strikes, which is a really, really high number. Cubs starter Davies only had 12 strikes called, but he is more of a pitch-to-contact guy.
Anyway, it struck me as odd. Erich Bacchus was the ump, a new umpire.
11) Then there is Houston P Cristian Javier, who threw 94 pitches in his start at Texas Sunday; only 8 of those 94 pitches were put into play. 50 strikes, 44 balls; six walks, five strikeouts- he gave up only one hit, but lasted only 4.2 innings in the Astros’ 3-2 loss.
These days, one of the starting pitcher’s jobs is to get deeper into games, to take the strain off of the bullpen, seeing how the starters are supposed to be the team’s best pitchers. Finishing six innings consistently helps a team that day, and for the next couple days.
10) Genius alert: Indians P Zach Plesac suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right (throwing) thumb when he was really mad after a bad start, and was tearing his jersey off in anger— his right hand smacked against a chair, and he broke his thumb. Awesome.
9) Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette is hitting 2-31 against Tampa Bay this year, .325 against everyone else, which adds up to .270 overall.
8) Tampa Bay has used 49 different lineups in its first 50 games; if they ever decide to do another Moneyball movie, they should do it on the Rays, who do some very unusual things.
7) Colorado Rockies are now 3-18 on the road after splitting a pair at CitiField this week; they were the first team to start a season 2-17 on the road since the ’06 Kansas City Royals.
6) Houston Astros are 3-12 on the road when they score less than 7 runs; they’re 8-0 on the road if they score 7+ runs.
5) Baseball injury stuff:
— Bruce Harper (forearm) went on the IL
— Corey Kluber (elbow) left his start Tuesday after 3 innings.
— Zach Plesac (thumb) went on the IL
— Noah Syndergaard left his rehab start after only one inning, which obviously is bad news.
4) Cowboys’ LB Jaylon Smith wants to switch from #54 to #9; when an NFL player wants to switch numbers, the rules say he has to buy out the current inventory of jerseys/T-shirts of his old number- that will cost Smith around half a million bucks.
He must really like number 9.
3) Wayne Gretzky is going to be an NHL analyst on TNT next fall, when that network begins its coverage of the NHL. You never know if a guy is going to be good or not on the air; Gretzky is probably the greatest player ever, but will he be critical? Funny? Will he tell great stories from his career, without harping on himself?
I would bet on him to be good, but time will tell.
2) Back in my high school days, I took a course on speed reading, it was an actual course, taught by Mr O’Brien, who looked a little like Burl Ives, the singer.
Anyway, all I remember about the course was that they told you when you read a book, to read the first and last paragraph of each chapter, then the first sentence of every other paragraph.
They said a well written book would contain the vast majority of its information in those areas, and you could save a lot of time by skipping the rest. Wonder if they still teach that stuff?
Also, I am told they don’t teach cursive writing in schools anymore; how do people learn how to sign their names?
1) If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets-Cardinals-Padres. Wild Card: Giants @ Dodgers
AL: Rays-White Sox-A’s. Wild Card: New York @ BostonLeave a comment:
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3NASHVILLE -4 CAROLINA
NASHVILLE is 2-12 ATS (-11.2 Units) after 2 straight close wins by 1 goal in the last 3 seasons.
5TORONTO -6 MONTREAL
TORONTO is 5-9 ATS (-14.9 Units) in road games vs. losing teams in the current season.
NHL
Dunkel
Tuesday, May 25
NHL
Tuesday, May 25
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Trend Report
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Toronto @ Montreal
Toronto
Toronto is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Montreal
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Toronto's last 7 games when playing Montreal
Montreal
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Montreal's last 7 games when playing Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Montreal's last 7 games when playing at home against Toronto
Nashville @ Carolina
Nashville
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Nashville's last 7 games when playing on the road against Carolina
Nashville is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games
Carolina
Carolina is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Nashville
Carolina is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Nashville
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Tuesday’s 6-pack
NFL over/under win totals:
— LA Rams 10, -140
— Dolphins 9, -130
— Vikings 8.5, -160
— Patriots 9.5, +100
— Saints 9.5, -105
— Giants 7.5, -105
Quote of the Day
“I don’t know if it has ever been harder to manage a roster, manage player development. You’re talking about things that are outside of our control as far as transfer portal and COVID. Nobody has ever had to deal with the social media phenomena with recruiting the way it is. But you know what? That’s what they pay us for. That’s the job. It’s still the greatest job on Earth.”
Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz
Tuesday’s quiz
Which state is known as “The Land of 10,000 Lakes”?
Monday’s quizActor Tom Selleck played one year of D-I college basketball, at USC.
Sunday’s quiz
Kevin Bacon played the losing attorney in A Few Good Men.
************************************************** **
Tuesday’s Den: Trends for National League teams
Diamondbacks:
— Lost their last 13 road games.
— 3-8 at home, if they score less than 7 runs.
— Lost nine of ten one-run games.
Braves:
— 20-7 if they score 5+ runs, 3-17 if they do not.
— Lost last four home series openers.
— Lost five of six extra-inning games.
Cubs:
— Won 8 of their last ten home games.
— 11-3 vs lefty starters, 13-19 vs righties.
— Under is 6-2 in their last eight road games.
Reds:
— Lost six of their last seven home games.
— 11-3 in games where winning run scores from 7th inning on.
— Over is 8-2-1 in their last 11 road games.
Rockies:
— Lost 17 of their first 20 road games.
— Won six of last eight home games.
— 8-5 vs lefty starters, 11-24 vs righties.
Dodgers:
— 16-5 so far against their NL West rivals.
— Won nine of last ten home games.
— 5-2 in home series openers, 2-5 in road series openers.
Marlins:
— Won eight of their last 11 home games.
— 2-6 in road series openers.
— 4-9 in one-run games.
Brewers:
— Lost 10 of last 15 home games.
— 3-6 vs lefty starters, 21-17 vs righties.
— 8-5 in one-run games, 4-2 in extra innings.
Mets
— Currently have 16 players on injured list.
— 11-5 at home, 10-15 on the road.
— 10-5 in games where winning run scores from 7th inning on.
Phillies:
— 15-10 at home, 8-15 on road.
— Under is 6-2 in their last eight road games.
— Scored in 1st inning in six of last ten road games.
Pirates:
— Lost 8 of their last ten road games.
— Lost five of six home series openers.
— 7-16 vs division rivals, 11-12 vs everyone else.
Cardinals:
— Won six of last eight home games.
— 10-6 in series openers.
— 13-7 vs NL Central rivals, 13-14 vs everyone else.
Padres:
— Won their last ten home games.
— 6-0 vs American League teams.
— Over is 12-4 in their last sixteen games.
Giants:
— 13-5 in day games, 1-4 in extra inning games.
— 10-5 in series openers.
— Scored in first inning in six of last 11 road games.
Nationals:
— 12-10 at home, 8-13 on the road.
— 6-4 in games where winning run scores from 7th inning on.
— Under is 8-2 in their last ten home games.Leave a comment:
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71TAMPA BAY -72 FLORIDA
FLORIDA is 11-1 ATS (9.9 Units) after allowing 3 goals or more 3 straight games in the current season.
73NY ISLANDERS -74 PITTSBURGH
PITTSBURGH is 10-0 ATS (10 Units) in home games revenging a loss versus opponent as a favorite in the current season.
75TORONTO -76 MONTREAL
TORONTO is 5-9 ATS (-14.9 Units) in road games vs. losing teams in the current season.
77EDMONTON -78 WINNIPEG
EDMONTON is 7-0 ATS (7 Units) revenging a close loss vs opponent of 1 goal or less in the current season.
79MINNESOTA -80 VEGAS
VEGAS are 26-5 ATS (17.4 Units) against poor defensive teams - allowing 2.85+ goals/game in the current season.
NHL
Dunkel
Monday, May 24
NHL
Monday, May 24
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Trend Report
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Toronto @ Montreal
Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Toronto's last 6 games when playing on the road against Montreal
Toronto is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games
Montreal
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Montreal's last 7 games
Montreal is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games when playing at home against Toronto
NY Islanders @ Pittsburgh
NY Islanders
NY Islanders is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
NY Islanders is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against NY Islanders
Pittsburgh is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games at home
Tampa Bay @ Florida
Tampa Bay
The total has gone OVER in 18 of Tampa Bay's last 24 games when playing Florida
Tampa Bay is 15-7 SU in its last 22 games when playing Florida
Florida
Florida is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games at home
Florida is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games when playing at home against Tampa Bay
Edmonton @ Winnipeg
Edmonton
Edmonton is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Edmonton's last 5 games on the road
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Winnipeg is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
Minnesota @ Vegas
Minnesota
Minnesota is 8-2 ATS in its last 10 games when playing on the road against Vegas
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Minnesota's last 5 games when playing on the road against Vegas
Vegas
Vegas is 18-4 SU in its last 22 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Vegas's last 5 games when playing Minnesota
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Monday’s 6-pack
Odds on random college football games this fall:
Sept 4— Boise State @ UCF (-10)
Sept 11— Utah (-7) @ BYU
Sept 18— Purdue @ Notre Dame (-10)
Sept 25— Toledo @ Ball State (-1)
Oct 2— Ole Miss @ Alabama (-22)
Oct 9— Utah @ USC (-4)
Quote of the Day
“We held their team to 99 points. We played good defensively and we gave them a ton of points as well. A couple in transition, they had 16 transition points in the first half. Second-chance points. We just have to be better on that end, but there’s no way we’re winning a game, let alone a series, with me playing the way I played. So this one is on me. I take full responsibility for sure. We’ll be better in Game 2.”
Lakers’ Anthony Davis
Monday’s quiz
Actor Tom Selleck played one year of D-I college basketball; where did he play?
Sunday’s quiz
Kevin Bacon played the losing attorney in A Few Good Men.
Saturday’s quiz
Dick Vitale was 34-60 as coach of the Detroit Pistons, from 1978-80.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday
13) Six American League games Sunday; the winning run in all six games scored from the 7th inning on. Interesting day of baseball, for sure.
12) Rangers 3, Astros 2 (10)— Adolis Garcia should’ve been walked with a man on third and one out, but they pitched to him and Garcia singled up the middle to end the game. Astros got only three hits in seven innings against Mike Foltynewicz.
11) Royals 3, Tigers 2— Carlos Santana hit a walkoff homer for Kansas City.
10) Saturday night Scott Kazmir threw four innings for the Giants, his first MLB appearance since September, 23, 2016. Lot of work had to go into those five years, getting back to being MLB-ready.
Tough weekend for the Giants, though, who fell from first place to third place.
9) There is a Toronto Raptors’ super fan who apparently got inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame recently; he was also a big time car salesman who sold 129 cars in his first 90 days on the job, which is still a record in Canada. He didn’t miss a Raptors’ home game for 25 years.
8) My Mt Rushmore of Oakland A’s managers:
— Dick Williams— Only three years, but two World Series titles.
— Bob Melvin— Current manager keeps the A’s in contention with a steady hand.
— Tony LaRussa— Won three straight AL titles, and the ’89 World Series
— Art Howe— Got a raw deal in the movie Moneyball; he did a great job in Oakland, winning 102-103 games his last two seasons there.
7) The website for our fantasy baseball league is 2-3 seconds ahead of the picture on my TV; DirecTV must be slow. I see results go up on the website before the pitcher even starts to throw the pitch, its a little unusual.
6) Twins 8, Indians 5— Minnesota wins its first extra inning game in nine tries.
5) 76ers 125, Wizards 118:
— Tobias Harris scored 37 points, 28 in first half.
— Ben Simmons had 15 rebounds, 15 assists, but was 0-6 on foul line.
— 0-6 on foul line was bad news if you took the Sixers (-8)
4) Suns 99, Lakers 90:
— DeAndre Ayton scored 21 points, had 16 boards, was 10-11 from floor.
— Anthony Davis was 5-16 from floor, minus-18 for game.
— Lakers were 7-26 on arc, 17-28 on line; not good.
3) Hawks 107, Knicks 105:
— Trae Young made a runner in the lane with 0:00.9 left for the win.
— Hawks were +17 with Bogdanovic in game; no one else was better than +9
— Julius Randle was only 6-23 from the floor.
2) Grizzlies 112, Jazz 109:
— Dillon Brooks scored 31 points for the winners.
— Big week for Memphis, beating Pelicans, Warriors, then this game.
— Bogdanovic was scoreless in first half, scored 29 in second half.
Only five times has a #8-seed upset the #1-seed in an NBA playoff series.
1) The other night in Houston, A’s SS Elvis Andrus batted against Astros’ closer Ryan Pressly, the seldom seen matchup:
Elvis vs Pressly.
Thank you, thank you very much.Leave a comment:
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61CAROLINA -62 NASHVILLE
NASHVILLE is 28-24 ATS (6.5 Units) against mistake free teams - opponents average <=4 power plays/game in the current season.
63COLORADO -64 ST LOUIS
ST LOUIS are 1-8 ATS (-7.8 Units) in home games on Sunday games in the last 3 seasons.
65BOSTON -66 WASHINGTON
BOSTON is 20-10 ATS (8.3 Units) vs. winning teams in the current season.
67EDMONTON -68 WINNIPEG
EDMONTON is 7-0 ATS (7 Units) revenging a close loss vs opponent of 1 goal or less in the current season.
NHL
Dunkel
Sunday, May 23
NHL
Sunday, May 23
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Trend Report
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Carolina @ Nashville
Carolina
Carolina is 15-4 SU in its last 19 games when playing Nashville
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Carolina's last 7 games when playing Nashville
Nashville
Nashville is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games at home
Nashville is 7-2 ATS in its last 9 games at home
Colorado @ St. Louis
Colorado
Colorado is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Colorado is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
St. Louis
St. Louis is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against Colorado
St. Louis is 9-3 ATS in its last 12 games at home
Boston @ Washington
Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Boston's last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Boston's last 5 games when playing Washington
Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Washington's last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Washington's last 6 games at home
Edmonton @ Winnipeg
Edmonton
Edmonton is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Edmonton is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games on the road
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
Winnipeg is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
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Sunday’s 6-pack
Odds on random college football games this fall:
Sept 4— Penn State @ Wisconsin (-3.5)
Sept 11— Stanford @ USC (-10)
Sept 18— Alabama @ Florida (-11)
Sept 25— West Virginia @ Oklahoma (-17)
Oct 2— Nevada @ Boise State (-6)
Oct 9— Georgia (-4) vs Auburn
Quote of the Day
“If it was a nobody, they would put him in health and safety protocols. Ain’t no (bleep)ing way LeBron James is going to be sit out because of health and safety protocols.”
Charles Barkley
Sunday’s quiz
What famous actor plays the losing attorney in A Few Good Men?
Saturday’s quiz
Dick Vitale was 34-60 as coach of the Detroit Pistons, from 1978-80.
Friday’s quiz
Nine years after he retired as a player, Hall of Famer Ted Williams took over as manager of the Washington Senators.
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Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday
13) Next wave of change in major league baseball figures to be some losing teams ditching their over-educated “executives” and bringing back old school baseball people to put together rosters and lineups. Overachieving teams either do something different, or they do things better.
Some of these cruddy teams are playing badly for one simple reason; they have bad players, or players who aren’t ready to be major leaguers yet.
Seattle insists on batting their big prospect Jarred Kelenic leadoff; problem is, he is hitting .139, Drop him down in the order, take some pressure off him, maybe score more runs.
12) Indians 5, Twins 3 (10):
— Cesar Hernandez walked it off with a home run.
— Minnesota is now 0-8 in extra innings.
11) I don’t have numbers on this, but seems to me that base umpires are calling more and more strikes on check swing appeals. The end of the bat always looks like it goes too far, even if the batter’s hands don’t commit to the swing.
10) Dwight Gooden’s son is a sophomore in high school who is rising up the recruiters’ charts as a pass rusher; the kid is 6-foot-6, and he is getting recruiting attention from several top 20 teams.
At first, Dylan Gooden wanted to be a WR, but his dad talked some sense to him, he switched to defense and now he figures to be a highly sought after recruit.
9) Bucks 109, Heat 107, OT:
— Miami took 50 3-pointers, 49 2-point shots.
— Milwaukee was +13 on the boards.
— Miami’s bench outscored the Bucks’ subs, 39-15.
8) Mavericks 113, Clippers 103:
— Dallas made 17 of 36 shots on the arc.
— Clippers’ five starters were a combined minus-70.
— Luka Doncic scored 31 points, had a triple-double.
7) Nets 104, Celtics 93:
— Brooklyn outscored Celtics 57-40 in second half.
— Blake Griffin played 20:00, didn’t take a shot from floor, was 1-2 on foul line.
— Jayson Tatum was 6-20 from the floor; not good enough.
6) Trailblazers 123, Nuggets 109:
— Blazers played only eight guys, not a lot.
— Carmelp Anthony scored 18 points in 22:00 off the bench.
— Funny how Portland’s star G’s went to Weber State/Lehigh.
5) When the Braves led Atlanta 20-1 the other night. Ronald Acuna wanted to take an at-bat left-handed, but manager Brian Snitker wouldn’t let him do it. Javier Baez has done this a couple of times, when hitting against a position player who was pitching in a blowout.
4) Modern baseball: Mets-Miami were scoreless after four innings; Joey Lucchesi had mowed the Marlins down on 43 pitches, allowing only one baserunner, but the Mets took him out after the 4th inning.
Lucchesi has started 61 big league games, he’s a capable big leaguer, I don’t care what the pencil pushers say— he faced only 12 batters by the way.
3) Rockies 7, Arizona 6— Diamondbacks have lost 12 in a row on the road.
2) Nationals 12, Orioles 9— Baltimore scored five runs in top of the first, but were trailing by the 4th inning- except for John Means, their pitching is terrible.
1) Cubs played St Louis on FOX last night; they had Anthony Rizzo miked, which irritates the hell out of me. Is it that difficult to concentrate on your job instead of yukking it up for the cameras? Not like Rizzo is killing the ball this year; little more focus wouldn’t hurt, and if that makes me the miserable old guy sitting on my porch, then so be it.Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: