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**Udog** · 10-25-2017, 08:31 AM

Armadillo: Wednesday's six-pack

— Dodgers 3, Astros 1— Taylor/Turner homered in quickest WS game since 1992.

— North Carolina PG Joel Berry broke his hand, will miss the start of the hoop season.

— Kansas 93, Missouri 87— This exhibition basketball game raised $1.75M for a hurricane relief fund, but it also shows that Missouri’s talent level has risen dramatically this year.

— Pacers 130, Timberwolves 107— Indiana shot 77% in the second half.

— Magic 125, Nets 121— Brooklyn is 2-2, with an average total of 221 in their games.

— Injured 1B Adrian Gonzalez is away from the Dodgers, is on vacation in Europe with his family, which just seems odd.

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Armadillo: Wednesday's List of 13: Mid-week musings…….

13) Good news if you like sports and live in the Albany area; Arena Football is coming back to downtown Albany next spring.

Arenaball was big in Albany in the 90’s; the Firebirds won the 1999 Arena Bowl, behind a star WR named Eddie Brown, whose son is current Steelers’ star Antonio Brown. But the league tried to expand to bigger markets; the Firebirds moved to Indianapolis, and later pretty much failed.

Now the rebuilding AFL is back in town; Albany is 6th team in the AFL, mostly eastern teams; hopefully they will add another franchise or two before next season.

12) Couple of quick Arena League memories from 20 years ago:
— Former Ohio State QB Art Schlichter played against the Firebirds here in Albany; him and Major Harris, who played at West Virginia. Schlichter was great in the AFL, but Harris needed to run to succeed and there was nowhere to run in the Arena League. It is a passing league.
— Then there was this other guy who played QB for the Iowa Barnstormers; they won a 77-76 game in Albany one night, a great game. The Iowa QB wound up in the NFL, played in three Super Bowls, just got inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

You may have heard of him…..Kurt Warner

Bottom line…the Arena League is great fun. Glad it is coming back to town.

11) Phoenix Suns have had a season’s worth of drama in a week; they fired their coach, one of their best players asked off the team and is now in exile, awaiting a trade.

After an 0-3 start, with two losses by 40+ points and a 132-130 loss to the Lakers, the Suns went out with an interim coach and without Eric Bledsoe and they beat Sacramento, holding on to win by a point, after leading by 19 after the first quarter. Go figure.

Very curious to see what they get for Bledsoe when they trade him; they don’t exactly have a lot of leverage here.

10) So far in the postseason, Dodger hitters have drawn 46 walks; their opponents? Only 12.

9) Over the last 23 years, Washington Redskins have used 21 different kickers. Oy.

8) This year in the major leagues, there were 6,104 home runs hit, and 40,104 strikeouts.

40,104 strikeouts in 2,430 games; that works out to 16.5 strikeouts per game.

7) Chargers’ WR Keenan Allen has caught 16 3rd down passes this season that resulted in first downs for the Bolts; no one else in the NFL has more than 11 of those catches.

6) Kentucky is favored over Tennessee this week for only the second time in the last 21 years; last time the Wildcats were favored over Tennessee was 2007, when the Vols (+2.5) won 52-50. Tennessee is 19-1 in the last 20 series games, winning the last five in a row.

5) Best three red zone teams so far: Packers-Eagles-Texans, but you have to eliminate Green Bay, with Aaron Rodgers being on the sidelines. Other two teams have a rookie QB and a 2nd-year QB, which is really surprising.

Worst red zone teams: Cleveland-Arizona-Denver/Indianapolis. Broncos are only one of those four teams that haven’t changed QB’s yet this season.

4) Teams with most plays of 20+ yards: Patriots (34), Rams/Vikings (33), Cardinals/Chiefs(32).

Teams with fewest plays of 20+ plays: Ravens (14), Bears/Giants (16), Dolphins (17).

3) With Jay Cutler (ribs) banged up, Miami Dolphins signed former San Jose State QB David Fales as a backup; he has two career NFL completions, for the Bears. He was in camp with Miami, so he knows the offense- they hope the hell they don’t have to play him.

2) ESPN college football analyst Joey Galloway had a really good NFL career; he played 16 years in the NFL, scored 78 TD’s, averaged 15.6 yards/catch. He averaged 19.8 ypc in 2003 for Dallas, leading the league when he was 32 years old.

1) This from the great Gil Brandt on Twitter:

In last 30 years, only 3 NFL QBs won games completing four or fewer passes that day: Chris Weinke (4), Tim Tebow (2), Mitch Trubisky (4). What else did those three QB’s have in common?

John Fox was head coach of all three of those teams at the time.

**Udog** · 10-25-2017, 08:42 AM

MLB
Armadillo's Write-Up

Wednesday, October 25

Houston @ Los Angeles
Astros are in World Series for 2nd time; last time was in 2005 when they were NL champs and lost to the White Sox. Dodgers are in their first World Series since 1988. Expected to be very hot again for the 5:00 local time first pitch in LA.

Verlander is 8-0, 1.13 in eight starts for Houston; he also won a game in relief. Four of his last five starts went over total. Astros won all three of his road starts. Verlander allowed 2 hits in 8 IP in a 6-1 win over LA for the Tigers on August 20. He is 11-5, 3.00 in 20 playoff games (19 starts).

Hill is 7-5, 2.77 in 14 home starts this year (5-3, 4.06 on road); he is 3-0, 1.67 in his last five starts. Over is 5-3 in his last eight starts. Dodgers are 10-6 in his home starts this season. Hill didn’t pitch against the Astros this year- he is 1-2, 3.96 in six career playoff starts.

MLB

Wednesday, October 25

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Trend Report
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HOUSTON @ LA DODGERS
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games when playing LA Dodgers
Houston is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of LA Dodgers's last 5 games when playing Houston
LA Dodgers is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home

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**Udog** · 10-25-2017, 11:31 AM

MLB
Dunkel

Wednesday, October 25

Houston @ LA Dodgers

Game 903-904
October 25, 2017 @ 8:05 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Houston
(Verlnder) 17.032
LA Dodgers
(Hill) 18.186
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
LA Dodgers
by 1
5
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
LA Dodgers
-110
7 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
LA Dodgers
(-110); Under

MLB
Long Sheet

Wednesday, October 25

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HOUSTON (108 - 66) at LA DODGERS (112 - 59) - 8:05 PM
JUSTIN VERLANDER (R) vs. RICH HILL (L)
Top Trends for this game.
HOUSTON is 24-26 (-12.6 Units) against the money line against left-handed starters this season.
VERLANDER is 63-77 (-26.1 Units) against the money line in road games in night games since 1997. (Team's Record)
LA DODGERS are 79-33 (+28.4 Units) against the money line after a win this season.
HOUSTON is 108-66 (+13.7 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
HOUSTON is 27-18 (+7.8 Units) against the money line on the road when the money line is +125 to -125 this season.
HOUSTON is 54-33 (+12.0 Units) against the money line in road games this season.
HOUSTON is 42-19 (+19.1 Units) against the money line in an inter-league game over the last 3 seasons.
HOUSTON is 38-23 (+9.2 Units) against the money line in road games in night games this season.
HOUSTON is 42-22 (+9.2 Units) against the money line after a loss this season.
HOUSTON is 21-13 (+7.9 Units) against the money line in road games when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
VERLANDER is 12-5 (+7.3 Units) against the money line when playing against a team with a winning record this season. (Team's Record)
LA DODGERS are 156-179 (-63.0 Units) against the money line when playing on Wednesday since 1997.
LA DODGERS are 148-105 (-11.2 Units) against the money line in night games over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
LA DODGERS is 1-0 (+1.0 Units) against HOUSTON this season
1 of 1 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL this season . (Under=+1.0 Units)

JUSTIN VERLANDER vs. LA DODGERS since 1997
VERLANDER is 2-0 when starting against LA DODGERS with an ERA of 3.86 and a WHIP of 0.714.
His team's record is 2-0 (+2.3 units) in these starts. The OVER is 1-1. (+0.0 units)

RICH HILL vs. HOUSTON since 1997
HILL is 2-1 when starting against HOUSTON with an ERA of 2.92 and a WHIP of 1.054.
His team's record is 3-3 (-1.4 units) in these starts. The UNDER is 5-1. (+3.8 units)

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**Udog** · 10-25-2017, 11:51 AM

World Series Game 2 betting preview and odds: Astros at Dodgers

Justin Verlander has been nothing short of spectacular since coming over from the Tigers. He is 9-0 with a 1.22 ERA (including playoffs) and won the ALCS MVP.

Houston Astros at Los Angeles Dodgers (-115, 7.5)

Dodgers lead series 1-0

Justin Verlander is 4-0 during his stellar postseason run and looks to continue the success when the Houston Astros visit the Los Angeles Dodgers for Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday. Verlander will aim to help Houston knot the series after Clayton Kershaw and Justin Turner guided the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory in Game 1.

Verlander was acquired from Detroit by the Astros to fortify their rotation, and now he's a symbol of a franchise looking for its first World Series title in the wake of a damaging hurricane that ravaged Houston in August. "In any organization, the opportunity to win your first championship is something special, but really with what's going on in Houston now specifically, I think it makes it even that much more special," Verlander said during his press conference on Tuesday. "I mean, given this opportunity, if we come away successful, you leave a legacy and mark on people that won't be forgotten." Kershaw allowed one run and three hits with 11 strikeouts over seven innings while Turner belted a tiebreaking two-run homer (his fourth of the postseason) in Tuesday's victory. "You enjoy it while it happens," Turner told reporters, "and then you go home and you find a way to prepare, and we've got to figure out how to beat Verlander."

TV: 8:09 p.m. ET, FOX

LINE HISTORY: Sportsbooks are giving a lot of respect to Justin Verlander (and they should) opening the Dodgers as very slight -113 home favorites. They have moved very slightly to the current number -115. The total hit the board the at 7.5.

WEATHER REPORT:

It should be another scorcher in Los Angeles Tuesday.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Justin Verlander (4-0, 1.46 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Rich Hill (0-0, 3.00)

Verlander has a stellar 11-5 postseason record, but none of those victories occurred in the World Series, where he went 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA in three career starts for the Tigers. The 34-year-old's arrival in Houston changed the complexion of the rotation, providing the team with a second ace alongside Dallas Keuchel as well as raising the stature of the organization. "We understand the magnitude of his performance and the magnitude of his entrance into our clubhouse," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said at a press conference. "The way he's fit in, the way he's been intellectually curious on how to get better, but let's be honest, ultimately the way he's performed, has been second to none."

Hill is 1-2 with a 3.96 ERA in six career postseason starts and is making his World Series debut. The 37-year-old is trying to keep the moment in perspective after his major-league career appeared to be finished in the summer of 2015, when he signed with the independent Long Island Ducks, but 26 of his 50 career regular-season victories have come since that stint. "I wouldn't change that for anything," Hill said at his press conference on Tuesday. "It was learning, reigniting that fire, reigniting that passion for what we do out there on the field. And really getting back into disassociating yourself with the results, and just understanding that it is a pitch-to-pitch process and understanding that the moment is all that matters."

UMPIRE REPORT: Paul Nauert

Nauert was one of the biggest homer umps in the Majors this season, with the home team going 21-9 (70 percent). When he was calling balls and strikes this season where the home team was listed between -101 and -120 , the home team went 5-0. Nauert was also one of the best Under umpires, going 10-18 against the total. That is interesting considering his low strike rate of 62.04

TRENDS:

* Astros are 8-0 in Verlanders last eight starts.
* Dodgers are 5-0 in their last five playoff home games.
* Over is 5-1 in Astros last six road games vs. a left-handed starter.
* Under is 5-1-1 in Dodgers last seven overall.

CONSENSUS: The public is siding with the red-hot Verlander in Game 2, with the 63 percent of wagers on the Astros. With another hot pitcher on the mound, bettors like the Under here with 58 percent of wagers on it.

WALK OFF NOTES:

* The Dodgers bullpen came in and shut the door behind Kershaw, throwing another two hitless and shutout innings. Since the start of the NLCS the Dodgers bullpen has pitched 19 scoreless innings, striking out 23, allowing just four hits with just one walk.

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Wednesday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/25

Wednesday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/25

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