WEDNESDAY, JULY 7
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS
MON at TB 08:00 PM
TB -238
O 5.0
+500 +500
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31MONTREAL -32 TAMPA BAY
MONTREAL is 13-8 ATS (4.2 Units) as a # 4 seed in the playoffs in the last 3 seasons.
NHL
Dunkel
Wednesday, July 7
NHL
Wednesday, July 7
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Trend Report
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Montreal @ Tampa Bay
Montreal
Montreal is 12-5 ATS in its last 17 games
Montreal is 12-5 SU in its last 17 games
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Montreal
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Wednesday’s 6-pack
Odds to win the Quad Cities Open golf tourney this week:
9-1— Daniel Berger
14-1— Brian Harman
16-1— Russell Henley, Sungjae Im
18-1— Kevin Streelman
27-1— Cameron Davis, Si Woo Kim
29-1— Alex Noren
Quote of the Day
“Hey, the other team gives scholarships too!!!”
Football coach Lou Holtz, asked by a reporter at halftime why his heavily favored team was only ahead by a couple points.
Wednesday’s quiz
Who was manager of the Seattle Mariners, last time they made the playoffs?
(Hint: He won a World Series managing a different team)
Tuesday’s quiz
Matthew Stonie (62 hot dogs) was the last male other than Joey Chestnut to win the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest, in 2015.
Monday’s quiz
Joe Girardi was the manager of the Bronx Bombers before Aaron Boone.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..
13) Suns 118, Bucks 105:
— Chris Paul scored 32 points for Phoenix.
— He has 73 points the last two games, most points he’s ever scored in consecutive games.
— Giannis Antetokounmpo played 35:00, scoring 20 points, with 17 rebounds.
Before the 1969 NBA Draft, a coin was flipped in New York City to determine who got the first pick in the draft. Milwaukee won the coin flip, got Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then won 332 games over the next six years, winning the 1971 NBA title, losing the Finals in ‘74.
Phoenix lost that coin flip in ‘69; they drafted Neal Walk, a center from Florida. Not ideal.
Later that summer, the Suns had a coin flip with Seattle for rights to ABA star Connie Hawkins. The second flip was more better for Phoenix; the won that coin flip and the rights to Hawkins, who became one of the greatest players in Suns’ history.
Suns went 136-110 the next three years, with Hawkins lasting 4.5 years in the desert.
12) With all the talk about Shohei Ohtani, I decided to look into Babe Ruth’s career, since he also was a great hitter who did some pitching. Here is what I found:
Babe Ruth played five years for Boston, but played in 100+ games only in the last two seasons. He went 89-46 as a pitcher for Boston, winning 47 games in 1916-17. He threw 35 complete games in 1917. His last year in Boston was the only time he batted 400+ times for them.
When he was traded to New York, he became a full-time hitter, and pitched only five games. Ruth hit 659 home runs for New York, and had a candy bar named after him.
(A person who is smarter than me informed me that the candy bar was probably named after President Grover Cleveland’s daughter Ruth)
Obviously there was no DH back then, or he probably would’ve hit more for Boston.
11) In 1975, there was a TV show called When Things Were Rotten, a comedy set in Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Robin’s band of Merry Men. Pretty good cast: Dick Van Patten, Bernie Kopell, Dick Gautier, Ron Rifkin.
I was reminded of that this week, thinking about the catchers on my fantasy baseball team; over the last 23 days, the catchers on my fantasy team have been a combined 2 for 44.
2 hits. 44 at-bats. 2 more hits than a dead person.
In the big picture of life, this isn’t important, but it is driving me nuts; there are very few big league catchers who can hit. I’ve had six different catchers on my team in only 14 weeks. Next step is to leave the spot blank, then at least they won’t kill me in on-base %age.
As I was typing all this, one of my team’s pitchers, Luis Castillo, left a game in Kansas City with a 6-1 lead after 7 innings; of course the Cincinnati bullpen blew the lead for him.
Thats what happens when things are rotten.
10) Braves, Marlins, Rangers are only three major league teams who haven’t been over .500 at any time this season.
9) Angels’ 3B David Fletcher has a 20-game hitting streak, longest in the AL this season.
8) Top under teams in the majors:
— Washington under 52-29-1
— Cubs 50-33-2
— Marlins 45-31-6
— Bronx 46-36
Top over teams in the majors:
— Twins 53-28-2
— Angels 51-33
— Astros 48-35-3
— Rays 46-36-3
7) Jacob deGrom was supposed to pitch for the Mets on Tuesday, then again on Sunday, the last day before the All-Star break, but the weather didn’t cooperate and last night’s game got rained out, so deGrom won’t pitch on Sunday.
The Mets really, really wanted him to pitch last night night, then on Sunday; last night’s game wasn’t postponed until 9:40 or so. It was a scheduled 7:10 start.
6) Baseball players signed by big league clubs at age 18 or younger have to be added to the team’s 40-man roster within five years, or that player becomes subject to the Rule 5 Draft, where other teams can draft them away from the original team.
Players signed by big league clubs at age 19 or older have to be put on the 40-man roster within four seasons, or else they risk losing that player for nothing.
5) Cities where the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest got the best TV ratings:
Cincinnati, New York, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Columbus.
4) In 440 games played in empty arenas during the NBA regular season, the home team won by an average of 0.39 points.
In 507 games played with fans, the home team won by an average of 2.13 points.
3) Jaguars’ rookie QB Trevor Lawrence signed his first pro contract, for $36.8M, with $24.1M of that guaranteed. By way of contrast, when Sam Bradford signed his rookie contract in 2010, it was worth $78M. NFL has done a good job of toning down the rookie deals since then.
2) Phillies 15, Cubs 10
— Cubs lose their 11th straight game
— Chicago’s last 67 home runs have all come with either the bases empty or only one man on base, the longest stretch in franchise history.
1) When umpire Joe West first umped in the major leagues in the mid-70’s, there were five current major league managers who weren’t even born yet.
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NHL CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD:
DATE W-L-T % UNITS RECORD
07/05/2021 0-1-1 25.00% -7.70
07/02/2021 1-1-0 50.00% -0.50
06/30/2021 1-1-0 50.00% -0.50
06/28/2021 0-2-0 0.00% -10.50
Totals:..............2-5-0........28.57%.....-19.20Leave a comment:
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MONDAY, JULY 5
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS
TB at MON 08:00 PM
TB -154
O 5.0
+500 +500Leave a comment:
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21TAMPA BAY -22 MONTREAL
TAMPA BAY is 12-1 ATS (10.7 Units) when playing against a marginal losing team (Win Pct. 40% to 49%) in the current season.
NHL
Dunkel
Monday, July 5
NHL
Monday, July 5
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Trend Report
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Tampa Bay @ Montreal
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Montreal
Tampa Bay is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Montreal
Montreal
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Montreal's last 5 games when playing at home against Tampa Bay
Montreal is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games at home
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Monday’s 6-pack
Odds to win the MAC in football this fall:
5-2— Toledo
7-2— Ball State, Buffalo
5-1— Western Michigan
6-1— Ohio U
10-1— Central Michigan
12-1— Kent State, Miami
25-1— Eastern Michigan
75-1— Northern Illinois
200-1— Akron, Bowling Green
Quote of the Day
“I’m supposed to throw Sunday. For me, I don’t think it’s smart to go pitch in the All-Star Game. I’ve been a little beat up this first half and obviously missed a few starts that I wish I wouldn’t have missed, so I don’t think it makes sense for me to throw in it.”
Jacob deGrom
Monday’s quiz
Who was the manager of the Bronx Bombers before Aaron Boone?
Sunday’s quiz
NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner played his college football at Northern Iowa.
Saturday’s quiz
Trevor Bauer broke into the majors with the Diamondbacks, in 2012.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend
13) What are the best/worst days to have birthdays?
I’m thinking July 5th is on the worst list, along with December 24 and 26, maybe January 2.
July 4th would be on the good list, along with December 31st.
What do you think? Let me know………[email protected]
12) These are facts; do with them what you will:
— Madison Bumgarner threw a no-hitter April 25; Arizona then lost its next 24 road games.
— John Means threw a no-hitter May 5; Orioles lost their next 20 road games.
— Cubs threw a combined no-hitter June 24; Cubs are 0-9 since that game.
Bumgarner/Means are both hurt now, by the way.
11) Cubs had 11 hits in their 3-2 loss to Cincinnati Sunday, ending a streak of 20 games in a row with 8 or fewer hits. Cubs are just third team in last 100 years to go 20 consecutive games with 8 or fewer hits (’72 Mets, ’68 Bronx).
10) Nevada sportsbooks banked a profit of $27.1M in May, their all-time record for May.
9) I cannot imagine eating 76 hot dogs (and buns) in 10:00, but Joey Chestnut did that Sunday and won the Nathan’s contest for the 14th time. I can’t watch those guys eat anymore; it makes me want to puke, seriously. No way is it healthy.
I do remember the movie Meatballs, when Larry Fink beats “The Stomach” in a hot dog eating contest, or as Bill Murray put it, “weenie war.” The actor who played “The Stomach” wound up being a high school football coach about 30 miles from here.
8) Has to be a little awkward when umpires are constantly checking pitchers’ hats for foreign substances right after an inning.
Miami’s Sandy Alcantara was getting squeezed by the home plate ump Saturday, then after the inning the guy was checking his hat/belt. Alcantara had to be biting his tongue.
7) Sunday night was 22nd time this season the Diamondbacks had 2 or fewer hits thru six innings; they’re 1-21 in those games. Arizona has lost 45 games in a row when they score 4 or fewer runs, an ignominious record.
6) Braves 8, Marlins 7 (10):
— Atlanta tied game with four runs in 9th inning.
— Pitcher Max Fried got the walk-off hit as a pinch-hitter in 10th inning.
5) Colorado Rockies have nine walk-off hits, most in the majors this season.
4) NFL Network had the 1999 Rams’ highlight film on Sunday night; damn right I watched it. Was pretty cool that Martin Sheen narrates it; I watch a lot of West Wing re-runs on my laptop as I write this space (am listening to one right now) so it is excellent that President Bartlet narrated the Greatest Show on Turf’s highlight film.
3) Speaking of my Rams’ fandom, 40 years ago this week, Vince Ferragamo made his debut playing QB for Montreal in the CFL. It didn’t go well in Canada for Ferragamo, who had led the Rams to the Super Bowl in 1979- he was 15-5 as QB of the Rams before going to Canada, 11-13 when he came back. He later played for Buffalo and the Packers.
Ferragamo got a raw deal from the Rams, who were very dysfunctional back then; they should’ve made sure he never freakin’ went to Canada, but that’s water under the bridge now.
2) If you care about such things, over is 606-597-42 in baseball totals this season. Under was 11-5 Sunday; teams play more of their bench players on Sunday. May have to check that angle out as we go along.
1) RIP to football coach Terry Donahue, who passed away this weekend at age 77. Coach Donahue coached UCLA from 1976-95, going 151-74-8, 98-51-5 in Pac-12 games, 8-4-1 in bowl games. Coach Donahue replaced the great Dick Vermeil at UCLA; he later worked as an analyst for CBS, then worked in the 49ers’ front office.
Coach Donahue was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. RIP, sir.Leave a comment:
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NHL CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD:
DATE W-L-T % UNITS RECORD
07/02/2021 1-1-0 50.00% -0.50
06/30/2021 1-1-0 50.00% -0.50
06/28/2021 0-2-0 0.00% -10.50
Totals:..............2-4-0........33.33%.....-11.50Leave a comment:
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FRIDAY, JULY 2
GAME TIME(ET) PICK UNITS
TB at MON 08:00 PM
TB -133
U 5.0
+500 +500Leave a comment:
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11TAMPA BAY -12 MONTREAL
TAMPA BAY is 27-6 ATS (15.9 Units) when playing against a marginal losing team (Win Pct. 40% to 49%) over the last 2 seasons.
NHL
Dunkel
Friday, July 2
NHL
Friday, July 2
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Trend Report
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Tampa Bay @ Montreal
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Montreal
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Tampa Bay's last 6 games when playing on the road against Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home
Montreal is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home
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Friday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in hits:
103— Nick Castellanos, Cin
101— Adam Frazier, Pitt
100—Trea Turner Wash
99— Cedric Mullins, Balt
96— Vladimir Guerrero, Tor
95— Xander Bogaerts, Bos
Quote of the Day
“People forget my birthday, but no one forgets July 1. I get more texts and calls that day than any other during the year.”
Bobby Bonilla
Friday’s quiz
Bobby Bonilla hit 287 major league homers, playing for 8 teams. What did team did he hit the most home runs for?
Thursday’s quiz
Back in July 1979, Chicago White Sox hosted “Disco Demolition Night”, where they blew up a vat of disco records in between games of a doubleheader, but right field caught on fire and they had to forfeit the second game of the twinbill.
Wednesday’s quiz
Bruce Bochy managed the San Diego Padres last time they played in a World Series; he later won three World Series managing the Giants.
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Friday’s Den: Random stuff with weekend here……..
13) Hopefully every had a good day Thursday. It was:
a) Canada Day— Our neighbors to the north celebrated the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867. Unfortunately the Blue Jays are still playing home games in Buffalo, but hopefully soon they’ll be back in Toronto.
b) Bobby Bonilla Day— Every July 1, Bobby Bonilla gets a check for $1,193,248.20 from the New York Mets, as he will every July 1 until 2035.
Back in 2011, instead of paying Bonilla a $5.9M buyout right there and then, the Mets agreed to make annual payments of nearly $1.2M for 25 years starting July 1, 2011, including a negotiated 8% interest. Hopefully Bonilla buys his agent a nice gift every year.
12) Orioles-Astros game Wednesday night, CB Bucknor behind the plate and Brent Strom, the Astros’ pitching coach, gets tossed after the second batter of the game. Not good.
Bucknor is widely known to be one of the worst umpires, but you don’t see a guy get tossed after two batters very often.
11) Reds’ 1B Joey Votto got his 1,000th career RBI Wednesday, and he did it the right way, by hitting a home run against San Diego. Votto should get his 2,000th career hit later this summer.
10) Seattle Mariners won 12 of their last 16 games; their 9-1 in extra innings this year.
9) In their last 21 games, Baltimore Orioles have zero wins from starting pitchers, as in, none.
Orioles are 5-16 in those 21 games, but relievers got all five of the wins.
8) Miami’s Adam Duvall has homered in consecutive games six times this season, more than any other player in the big leagues.
7) Congrats to Mississippi State on winning the College World Series, their first national title in any team sport. Bulldogs lost Game 1 of the finals to Vanderbilt, but then swept the last two.
6) White Sox’ rookie Gavin Sheets hit his first big league homer Wednesday night; can’t imagine how great a feeling that must be. Young man couldn’t stop grinning.
5) Hallmark Channel is running Christmas movies 24/7 this week and next; people must watch this stuff or else they wouldn’t do it, but why watch a Christmas movie in July?
4) Chris Paul has played in the NBA for 16 years, played in 123 playoff games, but this is the year he finally made it to the NBA Finals for the first time, scoring 41 points in the decisive Game 6 win over the Clippers. Congrats to him.
3) Fernando Tatis Jr will be the first position player from the Padres to start an All-Star Game since Tony Gwynn, in 1998.
2) Wednesday, Cubs scored 7 runs in the first inning, but lost 15-7 in Milwaukee; they were the first team since 1976 to score 7+ runs in the first inning, then lose by 7+ runs- the Giants also did that April 26, 1976. Those are the only two times that has happened in the last 100 years.
1) Thursday was also the first day rules allowing college athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness went into effect. We’ll see how this works out; there are usually unintended consequences that pop up when stuff like this happens, but I’m guessing lot of college QB’s are going to be driving really nice cars this fall.
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Thurday’s 6-pack
Top states in sports betting handle in May 2021:
$814M— New Jersey
$478M— Nevada
$447M— Pennsylvania
$258M— Michigan
$254M— Indiana
$249M— Colorado
Quote of the Day
“I really feel like I have a new passion for the game. I’ve been the high, I’ve been injured, I’ve been, now, benched, I’ve been traded, I’ve kinda seen a lot in five years, so whatever the game throws at me I’m ready. It’s given me a new level of excitement….It’s reinvigorated my passion for the game.”
Carson Wentz
Thursday’s quiz
Which major league team once hosted “Disco Demolition Night”, where they blew up a vat of disco records in between games of a doubleheader, but right field caught on fire and they had to forfeit the second game of the twinbill?
Wednesday’s quiz
Bruce Bochy managed the San Diego Padres last time they played in a World Series; he later won three World Series managing the Giants.
Tuesday’s quiz
Milwaukee Brewers came to be in 1970, after spending their first season in existence in another city. In 1969, the Brewers were the Seattle Pilots.
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Thursday’s Den: Pac-12 football knowledge:
Arizona:
— New coach Fisch has been an assistant to both Bill Belichick, Sean McVay.
— Arizona hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2017.
— Since 2013, Wildcats are 7-21 ATS as a road underdog.
— Pete Carroll’s son Brennan is Arizona’s offensive coordinator.
Arizona State:
— ASU is 15-13 SU under Herm Edwards, with a +32 turnover ratio.
— Under Edwards, Sun Devils are 5-10 ATS as a favorite, 9-4 as an underdog.
— ASU has a QB with 16 career starts; their OL has four starters back.
California
— Coach Wilcox is 18-7 ATS as an underdog.
— Last three years, Cal is 0-7-1 ATS as a home favorite.
— Since 2012. Golden Bears are 19-36 ATS coming off a loss.
Colorado
— As a head coach, Dorrell is 23-9-2 ATS at home, 13-15 on road.
— Last four years, Colorado is 6-12-1 ATS coming off a loss.
— Buffs lost last four bowls, last two by 38-8/55-23 scores.
Oregon:
— Since 2016, Ducks are 12-20-1 ATS coming off a win.
— HC Cristobal is 12-18 ATS as a home favorite, 12-7 as a road favorite.
— QB Brown started 28 games at Boston College.
Oregon State
— Last winning season: they went 7-6 in 2013.
— HC Smith is 3-9-1 ATS as a home underdog, 11-3 as a road dog.
— Last two years, 10 of their 22 games were decided by 6 or fewer points.
USC
— Trojans were +5 in turnovers LY, after going -10/-10 previous two years.
— Last four years, USC is 7-12 ATS as a home favorite.
— Since 2012, they’re 4-12 ATS as a road underdog.
— Allowed 37.4 ppg in last five bowls, going 2-3 (wins were 45-42/52-49).
Stanford
— Since 2016, Stanford is 8-13 ATS as a home favorite, 8-4-1 as road faves.
— Cardinal started 0-2 LY, won their last four games by total of 10 points.
— Stanford’s last three bowl games were decided by total of 5 points (2-1)
UCLA
— Since 2015, UCLA is 8-16 ATS as a home favorite.
— Bruins are 4-16-1 ATS in last 21 non-conference games.
— UCLA’s last bowl was in 2017; in their last three bowls, they allowed 35-37-35 points.
Utah:
— Last four years, Utah is 14-5 ATS as home favorites.
— Utes are 23-9-1 ATS in last 33 games as a favorite.
— Last three years, Utah is 2-5-1 ATS out of conference.
— HC Whittingham is 11-3 SU in bowls, but lost his last two.
Washington:
— Last five years, Washington is 43-15 SU.
— Last three years, Huskies are 6-11 ATS at home.
— Since 2013, Washington is 1-6 ATS as a home underdog.
Washington State
— In 2019; Wazzu blew a 49-17 lead to UCLA, losing 67-63; they were 3-0 coming into that game, are 4-10 since that day.
— Last two years, Coogs are 2-6 ATS as an underdog.
— Wazzu is 0-4 ATS in its last four bowls.
— QB Jarrett Guarantano started 30 games at Tennessee.Leave a comment:
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