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**Udog** · 10-18-2018, 10:18 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

Top six teams in the Pac-12’s preseason basketball poll:

6) Arizona State

5) USC

4) Arizona (1)

3) Washington (2)

2) UCLA (6)

1) Oregon (16)

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

13) If you’re John Calipari, here is your recruiting pitch for next year:
— 31 former Kentucky Wildcats were on NBA rosters Opening Night.
— 19 teams have at least one former Wildcat; seven have more than one.
— Players coached by John Calipari have earned more than $1.9B in the NBA.
(Thats billion, with a B)
— In 2018-19 alone, Kentucky alums are scheduled to earn $190M in the NBA.
— Here is your Letter of Intent; please sign here ______

12) Wade Miley started Game 5 of the NLCS for Milwaukee, walked the leadoff hitter in bottom of first inning, and was taken out. Seriously. This is getting ridiculous, the level of over-managing that is going on with managers/front offices— it is starting to border on nonsense.

Miley is also going to start Game 6; how long he lasts then is open for debate.

11) Texans’ QB Deshaun Watson has been hit by defenders 70 times in six games; no other NFL quarterback has been hit more than 49 times this year.

According to Fox’s Jay Glazer, Watson suffered a cracked rib, a bruised lung, and a partially collapsed lung in the Texans’ game with Dallas two weeks ago.

10) Tampa Bay just fired their defensive coordinator, Mike Smith; Atlanta’s DC is Marquand Manuel, and he better be watching his back, too.

In the Falcons’ last four games, on the opponents’ first drive of the game, they’ve run 27 plays for 295 yards and four TD’s. Atlanta has some injuries on defense, but also seems like they may not be as well prepared as some of the other teams.

9) Jason Myers kicked seven field goals for the Jets Sunday in their 42-34 win over the Colts; the NFL record for most FG’s in a game is eight. Myers went to college at Marist in Poughkeepsie, which is D-I in basketball (Rik Smits’ alma mater) but not in football.

8) If you’re a Celtics’ fan, you’re rooting against Sacramento all season; Boston owns the Kings’ 2019 first-round pick thru the Tatum-Fultz deal. Rooting against the Kings is generally fun; imagine getting Tatum and Sacramento’s #1 pick in the same trade?

7) A guy in Las Vegas known as the “Duffel Bag bettor” wagered just over $100,000 on Army last weekend, when the Cadets were laying 15 points at San Jose State.

Now Army won 52-3, so the guy didn’t have to sweat for his $100K, but it takes onions to risk six figures on a service academy team laying double digits on the road.

6) Sports betting is up and running in New Mexico now; the political geniuses here in New York haven’t gotten around to it yet, but West Virginia, Mississippi and New Mexico have.

Brilliant!!!!

5) AAF is a new spring football league with eight teams that will play a 10-game schedule that begins February 9; games will be televised mostly on NBC Sports Network.

League has some big names coaching their teams: Mike Martz, Steve Spurrier, Dennis Erickson, Mike Singletary. It figures to develop into what the USFL used to be.

4) Jordany Valdespin, who played four years in the majors as a utility guy for the Mets/Marlins, recently pitched four scoreless innings of relief in a 19-inning Dominican Winter League game in which Mets’ 1B prospect Dominic Smith went 0-8, with a bases loaded walk.

3) UConn’s football team is giving up an average of 9.21 yards/play, worst in country; from what I can tell, UL-Monroe is next worst in country, giving up 7.18 yards/play.

2) Here is some good but scary news from the New York Post: No one got shot last weekend in New York City, the first time that has happened in at least 25 years.

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan has been with the NYPD since 1982, and he said he can’t remember a weekend without SOMEONE getting shot.

Unfortunately, the city’s quiet streak ended Monday, when a man was shot at around 1:15pm on Aqueduct Avenue in the Bronx. Hopefully, he recovered.

1) Duke recruit Zion Williamson’s name has come up in the adidas/college hoop corruption trial, which puts Duke in a curious position. Blue Devils shouldn’t worry though; the NCAA doesn’t go after the blue blood teams.

Long time ago, then-UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian got under the NCAA’s skin when he famously wrote, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, they’re putting Western Kentucky on probation.”

45-50 years later I’ve amended Tark’s quote: “The NCAA is so mad at Duke, they’re going to put Duquesne on probation” No way the Blue Devils ever meet an NCAA investigator.

**Udog** · 10-18-2018, 10:25 AM

MLB
Long Sheet

Thursday, October 18

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BOSTON (114 - 56) at HOUSTON (107 - 62) - 8:05 PM
DAVID PRICE (L) vs. JUSTIN VERLANDER (R)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 6-5 (+2.9 Units) against HOUSTON this season
9 of 11 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL this season . (Over=+6.9 Units)

DAVID PRICE vs. HOUSTON since 1997
PRICE is 6-2 when starting against HOUSTON with an ERA of 3.36 and a WHIP of 1.064.
His team's record is 8-3 (+3.2 units) in these starts. The OVER is 7-3. (+3.9 units)

JUSTIN VERLANDER vs. BOSTON since 1997
VERLANDER is 7-6 when starting against BOSTON with an ERA of 2.80 and a WHIP of 1.099.
His team's record is 10-11 (-3.5 units) in these starts. The OVER is 8-10. (-2.6 units)

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MLB
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, October 18

American League
Boston @ Houston (Red Sox lead series, 3-1)
Team in his starts: road.
5-inning record: Allowed run in 1st inning:

Verlander is 5-0, 1.62 in his last seven starts; four of his last five starts went over. Team in his starts: 23-13, 9-11 home
5-inning record: 23-6-7 Allowed run in 1st inning: 7-36

Houston lost last three games in this series; their last five games went over total. Red Sox won seven of their last nine games; they scored 23 runs in their last three games. Over is 14-3-1 in their last 18 games.

Red Sox are in playoffs for third year in row; they won World Series in 2013. Astros won their first WS title LY, in their second try (’05); they’re in playoffs for third time in four years.

MLB
Weather Report

Thursday, October 18

MLB

Thursday, October 18

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Trend Report
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Boston Red Sox
Boston is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
Boston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 11 of Boston's last 13 games
Boston is 7-1 ATS in its last 8 games on the road
Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Boston's last 9 games on the road
Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Houston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Boston's last 5 games when playing Houston
Boston is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Boston's last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston
Houston Astros
Houston is 12-5 SU in its last 17 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games
Houston is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games at home
Houston is 13-5 SU in its last 18 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Houston's last 8 games at home
Houston is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Boston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games when playing Boston
Houston is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Boston
Houston is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Boston
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston's last 5 games when playing at home against Boston

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**Udog** · 10-18-2018, 11:51 AM

MLB
Dunkel

Thursday, October 18

Boston @ Houston

Game 955-956
October 18, 2018 @ 8:05 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Boston
(Price) 16.326
Houston
(Verlnder) 18.799
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Houston
by 2 1/2
6
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Houston
-185
8
Dunkel Pick:
Houston
(-185); Under

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Thursday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/18

Thursday's MLB Trends and Indexes - 10/18

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