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**Udog** · 09-19-2017, 08:53 AM

Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack

— Phillies 4, Dodgers 3— Aaron Altherr hit a grand slam, the first one Clayton Kershaw allowed in the big leagues.

— A’s 8, Tigers 3— Matt Olson homered for the 4th consecutive game; he has 14 HR’s in his last 20 games. Oakland is 9-3 in its last 12 games.

— Marlins 13, Mets 1— Giancarlo Stanton hit his 55th home run; he has 117 RBI, Marcell Ozuna has 113— will they both be Marlins next year?

— Chargers are sticking with kicker Younghoe Koo, who missed clutch FG’s at the end of the Bolts’ first two games the last two weeks.

— Red Sox 10, Orioles 8— Wild game at Camden Yards.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
AL: Boston-Cleveland-Houston. Wild Cards: New York/Minnesota
NL: Washington-Chicago-Los Angeles. Wild Cards: Arizona/Colorado

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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but……..

13) Lions 24, Giants 10— Detroit broke game open with an 88-yard punt return for a TD; they’re 2-0 while Giants are 0-2, having scored only one TD on 18 drives so far this season.

One thing thats going to be an issue in Detroit, if they have a good season this year; Jim Caldwell doesn’t have a contract past this season. Think about Tampa Bay/Lovie Smith, when he got fired because Bucs’ brass liked the job OC Dirk Koetter was doing with franchise QB Jameis Winston- they didn’t want Koetter leaving, so they made him head coach.

Same thing could happen in Detroit if OC Jim Bob Cooter becomes a hot name on the coaching carousel; if the Lions want Cooter/Matthew Stafford to stay connected, they may have to make Cooter the head coach to keep him in the Motor City. Stay tuned.

12) Obscure Lions’ trivia: Cooter was Peyton Manning’s backup QB at Tennessee.

11) Matthew Stafford is now 53-58 as an NFL starting QB, plus 0-3 in playoff games. Detroit was 0-16 the year before they drafted him.

Jon Gruden called him “a great quarterback” last night. I’m not disputing that at all, just repeating his words. Stafford has attempted more passes per game than anyone in NFL history— I wouldn’t have guessed that.

10) Archie Manning (Peyton/Eli’s dad) was a great college football player at Ole Miss; he was just like Steve Young, except he threw righty instead of lefty. Otherwise, the same; great mobility, solid passer, but in the NFL, Archie Manning played 11 years for the then-putrid New Orleans Saints. No bueno.

There was was no free agency back then; Manning got pummeled playing on a horrible team; his record was 35-91-3 as a starter for New Orleans, which is probably why Archie orchestrated Eli’s trade from San Diego to the Giants after the 2003 draft.

9) My point is this: football is a TEAM game; no one player makes a team great. I’m reading lot of media nitwits who follow the “narrative flowchart”:

— Team A won: Team A’s quarterback is on the upswing.
— Team A lost: Team A’s quarterback was a lousy draft pick, or is over-the-hill.

It is just lazy commentary; developing players is a process, it takes years to become a great player. Matthew Stafford is under .500 in his career, but Jon Gruden says he is a great QB, and that’s good enough for me.

8) Arizona Wildcats have a 26-year old freshman QB named Donovan Tate who was drafted 22 spots above Mike Trout in the 2009 baseball draft- he was the third player taken.

San Diego Padres gave Tate a $5M+ signing bonus in ‘09, then watched his struggle with injuries and off-field problems ruin his baseball career. Now Tate is trying football and is a backup QB now— he is the son of former Georgia running back Lars Tate.

7) Atlanta Braves are moving their spring training HQ from Kisssimmee to Sarasota; they’re having groundbreaking on the new facility in October.

6) Everyone was a kid once: ESPN’s Jon Gruden hit a home run in Little League off of John Parry, the referee in the Lions-Giants game last night.

5) At one point in his career, Andy Reid was the offensive line coach at UTEP. He’s come a very long way since then. Offensive line coach at UTEP is not usually a stepping stone to the NFL.

4) Record for most total home runs in a season is 5,693, which figures to fall late this week.

3) Weird stat: the NFL quarterback with the most wins in FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, home of the Browns, is Ben Roethlisberger, with 11. He obviously plays for the Steelers, which is bad for the Browns.

2) No baseball team has ever made the playoffs after losing more than 97 games the previous season. Minnesota lost 103 games last season and right now, they hold one of the AL Wild Card spots, so they could make some history soon

1) Had a great weekend in Philadelphia the past few days; very underrated city. Saw the A’s play three games, had some cheesesteaks, visited with friends. Good stuff, very much appreciated.

**Udog** · 09-19-2017, 08:56 AM

Cheat Sheet - WNBA Finals

(1) Minnesota vs. (2) Los Angeles

Best-of-Five (2-2-1 Format)

Game 1 – Sunday, Sept. 24
Game 2 – Tuesday, Sept. 26
Game 3 – Friday, Sept. 29
Game 4 – Sunday, Oct. 1
Game 5 – Wednesday, Oct. 4

Series Price – per BookMaker.eu

Minnesota -160
Los Angeles +140

Betting Notes - Minnesota

-- Minnesota swept Washington 3-0 in the semifinals, winning all three games by double digits. The Lynx went 2-1 against the spread in the series.

-- Including the playoffs, the Lynx have won six straight games by 10-plus points and they’ve covered the number in four of those games.

-- The ‘over’ went 2-1 in the semifinals.

-- Minnesota has gone 17-2 SU and 9-10 ATS at the Xcel Energy Center this season while the ‘under’ produced a 10-9 record.

-- The Lynx were 13-5 SU and 11-7 ATS on the road this season.

-- The ‘under’ has gone 6-1 in the last seven away games for Minnesota.

Betting Notes – Los Angeles

-- Los Angeles advanced to the WNBA Finals with a three-game sweep over Phoenix in the semifinals.

-- The Sparks went 2-1 versus the number and only failed to cover Game 3 as they nipped the Mercury 89-87 as 4 ½-point road favorites.

-- Los Angeles will bring a 10-game winning streak into the finals and the club has gone 9-1 ATS during this run while the ‘under’ is 7-3 over this span.

-- The Sparks went 18-1 SU and 14-5 ATS at home this season.

-- Los Angeles went 11-9 SU and 10-8 ATS away from home this season.

-- Similar to Minnesota, the ‘under’ has been a solid wager for L.A. on the road lately with a 5-2 mark in its last seven.

2017 Regular Season Encounters

July 6 – Minnesota 88 (-6.5) vs. Los Angeles 77 (Under 166.5)

August 11 - Los Angeles 70 (+5.5) at Minnesota 64 (Under 161.5)

August 27 – Los Angeles 78 (-2.5) vs. Minnesota 67 (Under 155.5)

2016 WNBA Finals

Game 1 – Los Angeles 78 (+6.5) at Minnesota 76 (Under 161)

Game 2 – Minnesota 79 (-7) vs. Los Angeles 60 (Under 159)

Game 3 – Los Angeles 92 (+1) vs. Minnesota 75 (Over 159.5)

Game 4 – Minnesota 85 (+1) at Los Angeles 79 (Over 160)

Game 5 – Los Angeles 77 (+5.5) at Minnesota 76 (Under 156.5)

WNBA Finals History – 1997-2016

-- The league went to a best-of-five format during the 2005 season. In the 12 series, we’ve seen five sweeps (3-0), four matchups go to a decisive Game 7 and three series end in four games (3-1).

-- The Sparks have won the WNBA Championship three times, including last year’s victory over Minnesota.

-- The previous title for the Sparks came in 20012 when the franchise pulled off the rare repeat.

-- Los Angeles failed to three-peat in 2003 as it was defeated by the now defunct Detroit Shock.

-- Since the 2011 season, Minnesota has won three championships and finished runner-up twice. The victories included two sweeps.

-- The Lynx have alternated titles the last six years and if that trend continues, they’ll be champions this seasons.

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Tuesday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 9/19

Tuesday's WNBA Trends and Indexes - 9/19

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