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**Udog** · 10-22-2015, 01:55 PM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

-- NHL teams playing for second night in row are 12-15 this year, 8-12 on road.

-- UNLV is having an outdoor basketball practice in downtown Vegas tonight, by the D Hotel; they moved their actual game court down there for the event.

-- Before this month, Daniel Murphy had homered in consecutive games once in his career, back in 2009.

-- A Rick Vaughn bobblehead from the movie Major League was going for $124 on an auction Wednesday, and the auction wasn't over yet.

-- Blue Jays 7, Royals 1-- Tremendous pitching by Toronto starter Estrada.

-- Mets 8, Cubs 3-- Ugly end to a fine season on the north side of Chicago.

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Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.....

13) Watching some NBA exhibition games this week; very strange to see Billy Donovan wearing a suit jacket coaching the Thunder; he never wore a jacket during games at Florida, but in the NBA, he has to- they have a dress code thanks to Larry Brown, who once wore overalls while coaching an ABA game in Denver.

12) Been doing lot of college basketball prep since coming back from Vegas; little tired of reading how much of an upgrade Shaka Smart is over Rick Barnes at Texas. In four years since his one run to the Final Four, Smart is 2-4 in NCAA tourney games, with a loss to Stephen F Austin in there.

Smart did very well in A-14 tourney (11-2 last four years) but the Big X is lot better league than the A-14. Barnes was underappreciated, in my opinion.

11) Big 14 hasn't won a national title in basketball since Michigan State in '00; over last 11 years, the conference is 0-5 in national title games.

10) Some things are just plain meaningless: last time I looked. Charlotte was unbeaten, Cleveland has yet to win an NBA exhibition game. It does not matter.

One thing that does matter: Cavaliers signed Tristan Thompson for five years, $82M

9) Read an article last week how the 76ers are having a tough time getting oft-injured Joel Embiid to eat properly or rehab his many injuries. He just won't do what they tell/suggest to him. Pretty sad that a kid has already banked a ton of money, but he's never really done anything, not even in college.

Moral of story: Draft players who have been productive. Plain and simple.

8) Switching to football, the ACC has two divisions; NC State/Wake Forest are in one division, Duke/North Carolina in the other, all this despite the four schools all being in basically the same area. Glad basketball doesn't have the divisional setup. With Notre Dame a basketball-only member, thats probably why they don't.

7) Underdogs were 6-0 vs spread in Mountain West games last week, with four of the six underdogs playing at home. League has slipped a lot this season; they should be better in basketball this winter, with six transfers expected to make an impact.

6) Baltimore Ravens are losing close games; none of their losses are by more than six points. Ravens haven't forced a turnover in their last three games.

5) Auburn beat Kentucky 30-27 LW; they punted on 4th-and-1 with 2:19 left, but as they punted, Kentucky was so confused they only had eight guys on the field when the ball was snapped. Fair to say that coach Stoops was not a happy man.

4) Unbeaten Memphis visits Tulsa in a trap game Friday; Tigers had one of their program's biggest wins ever last week vs Ole Miss, but their defense is still shaky so they better not look past any game, especially a conference road game.

3) Veteran coach John Tortorella is back in NHL with Columbus, which changed coaches after an 0-7 start- few years ago, Tortorella was miked by HBO leading up to a Rangers outdoor game on New Years Day. Lets just say.....he doesn't hold back with his opinions. Made me laugh a few times.

2) When Cliff Pennington pitched for Toronto Tuesday night, it was the first time ever a position player pitched in a playoff game.

1) Joe Buck just sounds happier when he calls a baseball game, as opposed to the NFL. He's pretty good on football, but he sounds like he is working, On baseball, he sounds like he is having fun.

**Udog** · 10-22-2015, 02:12 PM

MLB
Long Sheet

Friday, October 23

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TORONTO (98 - 74) at KANSAS CITY (101 - 71) - 8:05 PM
DAVID PRICE (L) vs. YORDANO VENTURA (R)
Top Trends for this game.
PRICE is 29-32 (-20.4 Units) against the money line when the total is 7 or less since 1997. (Team's Record)
PRICE is 0-7 (-10.3 Units) against the money line in playoff games since 1997. (Team's Record)
KANSAS CITY is 101-71 (+21.6 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
KANSAS CITY is 25-14 (+12.2 Units) against the money line when the total is 7 or less this season.
KANSAS CITY is 55-31 (+14.6 Units) against the money line in home games this season.
KANSAS CITY is 32-16 (+12.4 Units) against the money line at home when the total is 7 or less over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 20-8 (+13.9 Units) against the money line in October games over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 30-14 (+15.1 Units) against the money line when playing with a day off over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 97-65 (+23.0 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season.
KANSAS CITY is 68-53 (+5.4 Units) against the money line in night games this season.
KANSAS CITY is 17-8 (+10.8 Units) against the money line in playoff games over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 41-27 (+10.7 Units) against the money line after a loss this season.
KANSAS CITY is 92-69 (+18.8 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
KANSAS CITY is 47-32 (+14.4 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
VENTURA is 13-4 (+8.8 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons. (Team's Record)
TORONTO is 98-74 (+7.0 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
TORONTO is 53-36 (+10.6 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
TORONTO is 29-13 (+11.3 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
PRICE is 70-39 (+23.9 Units) against the money line in road games since 1997. (Team's Record)
PRICE is 20-6 (+11.5 Units) against the money line in games played on a grass field this season. (Team's Record)
PRICE is 41-21 (+18.6 Units) against the money line in road games when playing against a team with a winning record since 1997. (Team's Record)

Head-to-Head Series History
KANSAS CITY is 6-6 (+1.1 Units) against TORONTO this season
6 of 11 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL this season . (Over=+0.7 Units)

DAVID PRICE vs. KANSAS CITY since 1997
PRICE is 2-1 when starting against KANSAS CITY with an ERA of 2.72 and a WHIP of 0.907.
His team's record is 3-3 (-3.9 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 3-2. (+0.7 units)

YORDANO VENTURA vs. TORONTO since 1997
VENTURA is 1-0 when starting against TORONTO with an ERA of 4.15 and a WHIP of 1.269.
His team's record is 3-0 (+3.5 units) in these starts. The OVER is 2-1. (+1.1 units)

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MLB
Short Sheet

Friday, October 23

Toronto at Kansas City, 8:05 PM EDT
Toronto: PRICE is 0-7 TSR in playoff games
Kansas City: 14-5 SU in home games against AL East opponents

MLB

Friday, October 23

Mets' Cespedes leaves due to shoulder soreness

CHICAGO -- New York Mets center fielder Yoenis Cespedes left Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday due to left shoulder soreness.

Cespedes came out in the bottom of the second inning, replaced by Juan Lagares. New York already led 6-0 at the time, and it went on to win 8-3 to close out a series sweep.

After the game, Cespedes said he would be ready for Game 1 of the World Series next Tuesday. The Fall Classic begins at the home of the American League champion, either the Kansas City Royals or the Toronto Blue Jays.

Cespedes, who went 0-for-1 with a walk and a run Wednesday, hit .286 with no homers and three RBIs in the NLCS. In nine postseason games overall, he is batting .265 (9-for-34) with two homers and seven RBIs.

A midseason acquisition by New York from the Detroit Tigers, Cespedes went on a power tear after joining the Mets. He hit .287 with a .337 on-base percentage, a .604 slugging percentage, 17 homers and 44 RBIs in 57 regular-season games for his new team.

Dodgers part with manager Mattingly

Don Mattingly is out as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Mattingly and the front office mutually agreed to part on Thursday as the team that bounced the Dodgers from the postseason, the New York Mets, prepared to represent the National League in the 2015 World Series.

The fact the Dodgers aren't there – and haven't been since 1988 – was a factor in the team's decision to move on from Mattingly, who survived only one year under the new hierarchy headed by Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.

According to ESPN, Mattingly was offered a contract extension last week. He has one year remaning on his existing deal. However, Mattingly turned down the new deal, per the report.

Mattingly led the Dodgers to three straight playoff appearances but the team's total payroll over those seasons was $800 million.

The Dodgers lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2014 and 2015.

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Thursday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/22

Thursday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/22

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