2022 WNBA REGULAR SEASON PICKS,NEWS,GOSSIP !

[Udog]

WNBA

Sunday, June 12

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Trend Report
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Chicago @ New York
Chicago
Chicago is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against New York
Chicago is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against New York
New York
New York is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
New York is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games

Seattle @ Dallas
Seattle
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Dallas
Seattle is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games when playing Dallas
Dallas
Dallas is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Seattle
Dallas is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games

Phoenix @ Washington
Phoenix
Phoenix is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Washington
Phoenix is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Washington
Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Washington's last 10 games
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Washington's last 14 games at home

Indiana @ Minnesota
Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indiana's last 6 games when playing Minnesota
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Indiana's last 5 games
Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Indiana
Minnesota is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing Indiana


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[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Sunday, June 12

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack
— Seattle 7, Boston 6— Mariners scored twice in bottom of 9th.
— Phillies 4, Arizona 0— Phillies have won nine games in a row.
— Braves 10, Pirates 4— Atlanta scored eight times in 7th inning.
— Angels 11, Mets 6— Jared Walsh hit for the cycle.
— Padres 2, Rockies 1 (10)— Winning run scored on a throwing error after a wild pitch.
— Lightning 3, Rangers 2— Tampa Bay vs Colorado is the Stanley Cup final.

Quote of the Day
“If teams are gonna give us favorable one-on-one matches against their best corner, I don’t see why teams don’t utilize their best receiver. And that’s where probably like me and the Chiefs fell apart right there. When I’m like, yo, I don’t mean to talk or be a diva in some situation, but can I see the pill some time, please? Just give me the ball, please.”
WR Tyreek Hill, newly signed with the Dolphins. If he didn’t like playing with Patrick Mahomes, not sure how he’ll feel about catching passes from Tua Tagovailoa

Monday’s quiz
Who scored the first touchdown in the Super Bowl four months ago?

Sunday’s quiz
Keith Hernandez wore number 17 with the Mets; he wore number 37 with the Cardinals.

Saturday’s quiz
Steve Nash was the last player from Santa Clara drafted by an NBA team.

************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend……..

13) When they vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next winter, these two quarterbacks will be up for the vote. Here are their blind resumes:

— Quarterback A: 72-72 regular season W-L record, 8-2 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.
— Quarterback B: 117-117 regular season W-L record, 8-4 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.

Is Player B more qualified because of the extra 90 regular season (45-45) games?
Interesting question.

12) Was watching the replay of last year’s Super Bowl last night; I forgot that Dick Vermeil is getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, which is just tremendous. His speech should be excellent.

11) Mets 4, Angels 1— Unfortunate scheduling; this was the last game of an 11-day road trip for the Mets, and was the ESPN Sunday night game. That means that you might be reading this before the Mets’ plane landed back in New York City, expected to be around 9am Monday.

10) Rangers 8, White Sox 6 (12)— Chicago isn’t playing good baseball; this game ended with a runner getting thrown out at third base, when he tagged up after a fly ball. That run meant very little; you can’t ever get thrown out in that situation. It just isn’t smart.

9) Since 2015, Tampa Bay Lightning has won 82 NHL playoff games, more than any other team; Pittsburgh is next on that list, with 45.

USFL Week 9 games:
8) New Jersey 25, Michigan 23:
— Generals won their last eight games.
— Michigan outgained the Generals, 336-251.
— 1-8 Panthers turned ball over three times (-2).

7) Generals’ QB Luis Perez has bowled 12 perfect 300 games; he bowled four games of 299 before his first perfect game, which came when he was 12 years old.

6) Houston 17, Birmingham 15:
— First loss of season for the Stallions, who scored 10-15 points in last two games.
— Birmingham outgained the Gamblers, 329-187
— Houston snapped a 7-game losing streak.

5) New Orleans 17, Tampa Bay 6:
— Breakers clinch spot in playoffs in two weeks.
— New Orleans led this game 17-0 at halftime.
— Tampa Bay outgained the Breakers 352-215, but turned ball over four times (-2)

4) Philadelphia 17, Pittsburgh 16:
— Pittsburgh kicker made a 58-yard FG, also threw a TD pass on a fake FG.
— But he also missed a 49-yard FG with 0:59 left in game.
— Pittsburgh is a much better team when Vad Lee plays QB, like he did in this game.

3) Wondering why pro golfers are bolting to this LIV Tour? Charl Schwartzel banked $4.75M for winning the tournament in London this weekend. The big-name players got paid ludicrous amounts of money to join this tour— Dustin Johnson is rumored to have banked $100M, just for showing up.

Johnson’s father-in-law is Wayne Gretzky; I’m wondering what the conversation was like, when Johnson told him that he was skipping the Canadian Open to play in this LIV. Gretzky could be the most popular person in all of Canada.

2) In major league history, there have been 316 no-hitters, 337 cycles. Jared Walsh of the Angels hit for the cycle Saturday night in Anaheim.

1) Last five World Series champs finished in the top 5 in batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP), something to keep an eye on as the season goes on.

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Tuesday’s 6-pack
Odds for the US Open this weekend:
12-1— Scottie Scheffler
14-1— McIlroy, Rahm, Thomas
18-1— Cameron Smith
22-1— Morikawa, Schauffele, Spieth, Zalatoris
27-1— Viktor Hovland
29-1— Sam Burns, Shane Lowry

Quote of the Day
“Matt’s an incredibly smart guy, but one of the things I’ve continued to be impressed by—he doesn’t want to expand things, he wants to consolidate things. It’s a little bit Peyton-esque like that: ‘Don’t try to overcoach, don’t get too cute, don’t try to overscheme, let’s just run the same things over and over again…….’”
Colts’ coach Frank Reich, talking about QB Matt Ryan

Tuesday’s quiz
Where did Matt Ryan play his college football?

Monday’s quiz
Odell Beckham Jr scored the first touchdown in the Super Bowl four months ago.

Sunday’s quiz
Keith Hernandez wore number 17 with the Mets; he wore number 37 with the Cardinals.

**************************************

Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….

— Warriors 104, Celtics 94:
Golden State was +12 in turnovers (6-18)

Wiggins scored 26 points, had 13 rounds.
Warriors won, despite Curry going 0-9 on the arc.
Golden State leads series, 3-2

— When they vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next winter, these two quarterbacks will be up for the vote. Here are their blind resumes:

Quarterback A: 72-72 regular season W-L record, 8-2 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.
Quarterback B: 117-117 regular season W-L record, 8-4 in playoffs, won 2 Super Bowls.

Is Player B more qualified because of the extra 90 regular season (45-45) games?
Interesting question.

Quarterback B is Eli Manning; Quarterback A is Jim Plunkett.

— Eli Manning’s 8-4 postseason record is interesting; only 3 of the 12 games were at home. He went 1-2 in home playoff games, 5-2 in road playoff games, 2-0 in Super Bowls- the two Super Bowls will get him into the Hall of Fame.

But it says a lot about his mediocre regular season record that the Giants earned only three home playoff games in his 16-year career. He will get into the Hall of Fame, hopefully not on the first ballot.

— There are 21 QB’s from the Super Bowl era who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here are their W-L records in playoff games:
Troy Aikman 11-4
Terry Bradshaw 14-5
Len Dawson 5-3
John Elway 14-7
Brett Favre 13-11
Dan Fouts 3-4
Bob Griese 6-5
Sonny Jurgensen 0-0 (played one game in relief)
Jim Kelly 9-8
Peyton Manning 14-13

Dan Marino 8-10
Joe Montana 16-7
Warren Moon 3-7
Joe Namath 2-1
Ken Stabler 7-5
Bart Starr 9-1
Roger Staubach 11-6
Fran Tarkenton 6-5
Johnny Unitas 6-2
Kurt Warner 9-4
Steve Young 8-6

— Baseball injuries:
Red Sox put P Nathan Eovaldi (back) on IL
Detroit put P Edwin Rodriguez on the restricted list
Dodgers P Walker Buehler is out 6-8 weeks.
Washington put P Stephen Strasburg back on IL
Atlanta 2B Ozzie Albies broke his foot Monday night.

— Duke’s basketball team added four grad transfers for next season, one each from Illinois, Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern.

— Wisconsin-Stanford have an early season basketball game at Milwaukee’s Miller Park on November 11.

— Oklahoma City Thunder have a ridiculous number of draft picks this year and next year; they traded the 30th pick in this month’s draft, and two 2nd-round picks to Denver, for F JaMychal Green and a 2027 first-round pick.

Thunder still has the #2, CSS Examples and Flying Pigskins (NFL) picks in this year’s draft.

— Major league records in Game 3 of a series, if first two games were split:
Arizona 3-5
Atlanta 7-7
Cubs 3-3
Cincinnati 2-2
Colorado 6-4
Dodgers 4-3
Miami 2-4
Milwaukee 5-5
Mets 9-3
Philadelphia 1-6
Pittsburgh 4-3
St Louis 3-4
San Diego 7-5
San Francisco 3-4
Washington 3-5

Baltimore 6-4
Boston 5-5
White Sox 3-5 (0-5 at home)
Cleveland3-3
Detroit 2-7
Houston 5-5
Kansas City 3-3
Angels 7-1
Minnesota 4-4
New York 3-3
A’s 3-4
Seattle 5-4
Tampa Bay 5-4
Texas 3-5
Toronto 5-3

— RIP Philip Baker Hall, who passed away this weekend at age 90; Hall was a great actor with 185 acting credits to his name. I remember him best from a 1996 gambling-themed movie Hard Eight with Gwyneth Paltrow and John C Reilly. RIP, sir.

— From 2016-21, 23,687 amateur golfers tried to qualify for the US Open golf tournament; only 23 of them made it.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Tuesday, June 14

WNBA

Tuesday, June 14

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Trend Report
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Phoenix @ Washington
Phoenix
Phoenix is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Washington
Phoenix is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Washington
Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing at home against Phoenix
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Washington's last 16 games

Seattle @ Minnesota
Seattle
Seattle is 12-1 SU in its last 13 games when playing Minnesota
Seattle is 11-2 ATS in its last 13 games when playing Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against Seattle
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Minnesota's last 7 games at home


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[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Wednesday’s 6-pack
— Cardinals 3, Pirates 1— Miles Mikolas came within one out of a no-hitter.
— Paul Goldschmidt knocked in eight runs in the St Louis twinbill sweep.
— Braves 10, Nationals 4— Atlanta has won 13 games in a row.
— Padres 12, Cubs 5— Chicago led 5-0 after five innings.
— Astros 4, Rangers 3— Houston scored four times in 8th inning.
— Dodgers 2, Angels 0— Gonsolin is 8-0, 1.42 this season.

Quote of the Day
“I’m praying before training camp. I just want him there Day One of training camp.”
Arizona Cardinals’ coach Kliff Kingsbury, when asked about Kyler Murray’s contract

Wednesday’s quiz
When was the last time the Dodgers missed the playoffs?

Tuesday’s quiz
Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College

Monday’s quiz
Odell Beckham Jr scored the first touchdown in the Super Bowl four months ago.

****************************

Wednesday’s Den: Happy Armadillo Day, everyone!!!!

13) 21 years ago today we started this blog; doesn’t seem like that long ago.

I’d like to thank you for reading; hope you enjoy it and maybe sometimes you learn some stuff, too. We’ll see if I can make it another 21 years

Happy birthday to the Big Dawg; hope he has an excellent day, sitting by his pool.

12) Read on the Interweb today that minor league games where the pitch clock is used are running 24 minutes a game shorter than the other games. MLB experts are assuming that the pitch clock will become a thing in the major leagues next season.

11) There are many major league teams that completely suck; I’m not sure why you would own a team and deliberately not try to at least compete, but here we are:

A’s are a minor league team. It is depressing to see.
Pirates are bad, but at least they’re promoting some prospects, none of whom pitch
Royals are a bad team.
Washington is terrible, and they won the World Series in 2019
What the Cubs are doing is inexcusable; a big market team tanking. Makes no sense.
Cincinnati is also really bad, with no real solutions in sight.

This is why I’m in favor of a mandatory salary floor for MLB teams; at least pretend you’re trying.

10) Doing local TV/radio for these bad teams is a tough job; you have to tell the truth, but you cannot be overly critical, seeing how you travel on the road with the players/coaches you’re broadcasting. Guys who do the Pirate games sound like they’ve been tranquilized before they do do games. They spent half the game Tuesday talking about how hot it was in St Louis.

9) Coming into Tuesday’s game, White Sox’ Albums hitters led the team, with a .477 slugging %age; their Blogs hitters have only a .303 slugging %age, which makes very little sense.

8) Angels have already lost ten games that they led in the 7th inning or later; they’ve spent a lot of money on payroll, but again, their pitching is bad. Pitching is kind of important in baseball.

7) Diamondbacks have been shut out last three times Madison Bumgarner pitched; MadBum was a pretty good hitter. He probably wishes they’d ditch the DH and let him hit.

6) St Louis is a nice place, I mean, the people are genuinely nice. Was there a couple times when the Rams played there. At Cardinal games, when a visiting player makes his MLB debut, the PA announcer tells the crowd it is this guy’s debut, and they politely applaud him.

Could you imagine that happening in New York? Didn’t think so.

5) Just about everything NFL Films does is really good; Tuesday afternoon, I watched an hour-long special on the 2006 Texas-USC Rose Bowl, which Texas won at the very end. The special centered around the two QB’s, Matt Leinart/Vince Young, how they were great college players who fizzled in the pros.

— The two coaches in that game, Mack Brown/Pete Carroll are still coaching 16 years later.
— Vince Young got drafted by the Titans, even though their coach (Jeff Fisher) and OC (Norm Chow) were USC guys. In this film, Fisher made it clear that it wasn’t his choice to take Young, who lasted only six years in the NFL, five with Tennessee.
— Fisher claims that Titans owner Bud Adams overrruled his football people and ordered them to draft Young.
— Leinart got drafted by Arizona; he also lasted six years in the NFL. They both mentioned that if they knew where they would be drafted, they would’ve stayed in college another year.

— This was also the last game the great Keith Jackson broadcast; when I think of college football on TV, I think of Keith Jackson. He was excellent.
— Friend of mine who I met maybe 6-7 years ago told me a great story about how he wagered a lot of money on this game in Las Vegas; luckily for him, he had Texas.
— Reggie Bush got drafted before Leinart/Young; he wound up scoring 54 TD’s in his 11-year NFL career. Key play in the Texas-USC game was the Trojans failing on a 4th-and-1 while leading with 2:13 left. Bush was inexplicably on the bench for that play.

4) Passing yardage leaders in the USFL:
1,750— Kyle Sloter, New Orleans
1,502— Jordan Ta’amu, Tampa Bay
1,241— J’Mar Smith, Birmingham
1,028— Case Cookus, Philadelphia

3) Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson doesn’t have an NFL agent negotiating his pending mega-deal with the Ravens; how is this possible?

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes:
”If you are under the impression that Jackson is some naïve, out-of-his-depth, disengaged vessel in terms of his contract, you would be incorrect. Numerous sources close to this situation indicated he is quite well-versed in the NFL quarterback financial landscape……..”

Good for him, plus he saves the 3% agents usually get.

2) There are 358 Division I college basketball teams; there are over 1,400 transfers this year, which means that October/November will be a nightmare, trying to piece together which teams did well and which teams are going to get hammered because of all the roster turnover.

1) There is a commercial on Minnesota Twins’ TV promoting pheasant hunting in South Dakota; an attractive young woman has herself a rifle and is out in a field firing that rifle at birds, who do not have a gun to fire back at her.

Add South Dakota to the list of states I’ll never visit.

 

[Udog]

WNBA

Wednesday, June 15

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Trend Report
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Las Vegas @ Dallas
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Dallas
Las Vegas is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games
Dallas
Dallas is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Dallas's last 9 games

Atlanta @ Connecticut
Atlanta
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Atlanta's last 5 games when playing Connecticut
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Atlanta's last 8 games
Connecticut
Connecticut is 16-3 SU in its last 19 games at home
Connecticut is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Atlanta

Phoenix @ Indiana
Phoenix
Phoenix is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games when playing Indiana
Phoenix is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Indiana
Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Indiana's last 8 games when playing Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Indiana's last 8 games when playing at home against Phoenix


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[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Wednesday, June 15

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Thursday’s 6-pack
NFL leaders in passing yardage last year:
5,316— Tom Brady, TB
5,014— Justin Herbert, LAC
4,886— Matthew Stafford, Rams
4,839— Patrick Mahomes, KC
4,804— Derek Carr, LV
4,611— Joe Burrow, Cin

Quote of the Day
“Develop your own players, so you can manage salaries.”
Jerry West’s advice to Bill Belichick, back in 2004

Thursday’s quiz
Where did Klay Thompson play his college basketball?

Wednesday’s quiz
Last time the Dodgers missed the playoffs was in 2012.

Tuesday’s quiz
Matt Ryan played his college football at Boston College

*****************************************

Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud…….

13) Here is something we’ll never see again:

August 19, 1969, day game at Wrigley Field; Cubs beat Atlanta 3-0, as Ken Holtzman pitched the first of his two no-hitters, in front of a crowd of 37,514.

Here’s what makes it unique; Holtzman tossed a no-hitter but he didn’t strike anyone out. He walked three guys, facing 30 batters, so he probably threw 110-115 pitches.

This was a Braves’ lineup with Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, Rico Carty, Felipe Alou- they made the playoffs that year. Losing pitcher that day was Hall of Famer Phil Niekro.

Holtzman went on to win three World Series rings with the A’s; his career record was 174-150, 4-1, 2.55 in World Series games.

12) Wednesday afternoon, something we’ve never seen before; Astros had two pitchers throw an immaculate inning (strike out the side on 9 pitches). Luis Garcia, Phil Maton. Maton pitched just that one inning, then they took him out.

In major league history, there have been 106 immaculate innings; there have never been two on the same day, much less in the same game. Not only that, but the same three guys struck out for Texas in both of those innings.

11) White Sox 13, Tigers 0— Detroit used three different position players to pitch, and they did better than the regular pitchers. Roger Clemens’ son pitched the 8th inning, giving up a run.

After the game, the dismal Tigers held a (long) team meeting; they’re 24-38, scoring 2.7 runs/game, half a run/game less than any other team. The natives are restless.

10) Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, Mike Trout got a broken bat single, but part of the broken bat hit plate umpire Nate Tomlinson in the mask, getting inside the mask. He suffered a bruised retina and a scratched cornea, which is scary stuff.

TV people seemed to think he was going to be OK, that it could’ve been worse. Hopefully he’ll be back on the ballfield pretty soon.

9) Pirates 6, Cardinals 4— Something else you don’t see much these days; David Bednar got an 8-out save for Pittsburgh, throwing 43 pitches.

Going back a long time, in Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers’ five busiest seasons, he AVERAGED five outs a game, meaning his typical save started with one out in 8th inning. Times have changed.

8) Tuesday night in St Louis, Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas threw 129 pitches, coming within one out of a no-hitter. That is the most pitches anyone has thrown in a big league game this year.

Cincinnati P Tyler Mahle threw 119 pitches in Arizona Tuesday, in a game that was scoreless after nine innings. Reds eventually won in 12 innings.

7) Arizona 7, Cincinnati 4:
— Diamondbacks scored four runs in bottom of 8th.
— Zac Gallen allowed two hits in seven IP, but he also hit four of the first eight batters he faced. That is what happens when you pitch inside; guys these days don’t get out of the way very well.

6) My favorite gambling-related movies:
— Rounders
— Let It Ride
— Lucky You
— The Gambler (2014 version)

5) You can wager on how many of the golfers who played in last week’s LIV golf tournament will make the cut this week at the US Open. Over/under is 5.5 golfers to make the cut.

4) Minnesota Twins’ TV guy Dick Bremer is an outspoken advocate for the automated strike zone. It is becoming evident that the automated strike zone will happen in the near future; I’m not sold that it is that great an idea, we’ll see what happens.

3) Avalanche 4, Lightning 3 (OT)
— Andre Burakovsky scored at 1:23 pf overtime.
— Avalanche led 3-1 after the first period.
— Colorado outshot Tampa Bay, 38-23.
— Colorado leads Stanley Cup final, 1-0

2) Houston Rockets are trading C Christian Wood to Dallas, in exchange for Boban Marjanovic, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss and the Batter Up pick in next week’s NBA draft.

This season with Houston, Wood averaged 17.9 ppg, 10.1 rebounds/game in 30.8 minutes/game.

1) Braves 8, Nationals 2— Atlanta has now won 14 games in a row. Austin Riley was 3-5 with four RBI for the Braves.

 

[Udog]

WNBA

Thursday, June 16

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Trend Report
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Washington @ New York
Washington
Washington is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Washington's last 7 games on the road
New York
New York is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New York's last 7 games when playing Washington


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[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Thursday, June 16

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Friday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in OPS:
1.070— Paul Goldschmidt, StL
1.062— Aaron Judge, NYY
1.048— Jose Ramirez, Clev
1.043— Mike Trout, LAA
1.026— Yordan Alvarez, Hst
.994— JD Martinez, Bos

Quote of the Day
“We’ve had so many great players. But Steph is ultimately why this run has happened. Much like Timmy [Duncan] in San Antonio. I’m happy for everybody, but I’m thrilled for Steph. To me, this is his crowning achievement in what’s already been an incredible career.”
Steve Kerr, talking about Steph Curry

Friday’s quiz
Steph Curry was the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft; who was the Home pick?

Hint: He played in the NBA this season

Thursday’s quiz
Klay Thompson played his college basketball at Washington State

Wednesday’s quiz
Last time the Dodgers missed the playoffs was in 2012.

*****************************************

Friday’s Den: Week 10 USFL notes and other random stuff…….

— Myles Copeland, a player for Toledo Glass City of The Basketball League, saved a referee’s life during a game this week. The referee started wobbling, passed out and became unresponsive on the court. Copeland, whose daytime job is being a firefighter, quickly administered CPR until paramedics arrived, ultimately saving the referee’s life.

Good to hear some good news now and then.

— Golden State 103, Boston 90
Warriors win their fourth NBA title in eight years.
Steph Curry scored 34 points.
Golden State had a 21-0 run.
None of the games in this series were decided by less than 10 points.

— Question to tackle in the near future; where does Curry rank among the all-time greats of the game?

— Pretty busy weekend going on in Boston:
a) Game 6 of the NBA Finals was in Boston Thursday.
b) US Open golf tournament is in Brookline, MA this weekend
c) Cardinals-Red Sox in Fenway Park this weekend.

— They were talking on the Texas Rangers’ TV broadcast last night how more and more major league coaches are taking college head coaching jobs, for two reasons:
a) money isn’t as good for big league coaches nowadays
b) because of analytics, coaches have less influence than they used to have.

— Washington Nationals are retiring number 11 this week, for Ryan Zimmerman, who played his entire 16-year career in Washington, helping the Nationals win the 2019 World Series.

I had Zimmerman on my fantasy team for 5-6 years; it was an annual event that he would go on the disabled list every April/May, like the swallows returning to Capistrano.

One night, I’m driving up the Thruway, coming home from Long Island late at night, listening to WFAN in New York City. Zimmerman had been on a roll; it dawned on me that he hadn’t been on the DL yet that season. Five freakin’ minutes later, the update says “Washington Nationals put Ryan Zimmerman on the Disab—-“ I clicked the radio off, pulled into a Thruway rest stop and got myself a Cherry Coke, shaking my head. Not good.

— Rangers 3, Tigers 1— Rookie Ezequiel Duran hit a bases loaded triple with two out in 9th inning, giving Texas an unlikely win. Detroit is now 1-6 on this home stand; they’ve scored a total of seven runs in their last five games.

— Padres 6, Cubs 4— Chicago has now lost 10 games in a row, outscored 90-28.

— Angels 4, Seattle 1— Trout hit two homers, Ohtani threw six shutout innings.

— New Orleans Saints are going to wear black helmets in at least one game this year, with the same logo they’ve always had. This will be the first time in their 55-year history that they will not be wearing a gold helmet.

— Cleveland 4, Colorado 2— Guardians have won 13 of their last 16 games; Terry Francona is a great manager. This is not a great roster, but Cleveland is currently holding the third/last Wild Card spot in the American League.

Week 10 USFL games……..
Philadelphia vs New Jersey (-2.5)
Philadelphia Stars (6-3)
— Won four row, five of last six games.
— Last six weeks, they’re +11 in turnovers.
— Gave up 23+ points eight of nine games (over 5-1 last six).
— Have been outgained in seven of nine games (3-5-1 ATS).
— 1-2 ATS as an underdog.
— 5-0 if they score more than 17 points.

New Jersey Generals (8-1)
— Won last eight games (5-3 ATS), scoring 24.6 ppg in last seven.
— Last three games, Generals are +5 in turnovers (7-2)
— Outscored last three foes 56-24 in first half.
— 3-3 ATS as a favorite
— Five of their last six games went over the total.

These teams play in USFL playoffs next week, in Ohio.

First meeting:
— Generals (+1) won 24-16 back in Week 3.
— New Jersey outrushed the Stars, 269-31.
— Philadelphia led 10-3 at halftime, was outgained 458-259.

Tampa Bay vs Birmingham (-3.5)
Tampa Bay Bandits (4-5)
— Bandits lost four of their last six games.
— Minus-13 in turnovers— have only six takeaways.
— 1-3 ATS as an underdog.
— Were shut out in second half in 4 of 9 games.
— Their last three games stayed under the total.

Birmingham Stallions (8-1)
— Both their quarterbacks have been banged recently.
— Trailed at halftime in five of their nine games
— Outscored opponents 126-58 in second half.
— 0-3 vs spread the last three weeks (6-0 first six weeks)
— Scored 10-15 points last two games (26.9 ppg first seven)
— Stallions have a playoff game in Ohio next week.

First meeting
— Week 4, Stallions (-2.5) beat Tampa Bay 16-10.
— Tampa Bay led 10-7 at half; they were outgained 228-158.
— Birmingham outgained Bandits 126-53.
— Stallions blanked Tampa Bay 9-0 in second half.

Michigan (-2.5) vs Pittsburgh
Michigan Panthers (1-8)
— Lost their last six games (2-4 ATS)
— 0-6 in games decided by 7 or fewer points.
— Last six games, they’re minus-9 in turnovers.
— Scored 27-24-23 points in last three games.
— Last six games went over the total.
— Michigan is 1-2 ATS as a favorite

Pittsburgh Maulers (1-8)
— Have been outscored 124-55 in first half of games.
— Are 1-8 with a minus-2 turnover ratio.
— Completed less than half their passes in four games.
— Six of their last eight games went over total.
— Covered spread four of last six weeks (4-4-1 ATS for year).

First meeting:
— Michigan’s only win was 24-0 over Pittsburgh in Week 3.
— Panthers ran for 244 yards, Pittsburgh 103.
— Michigan completed only 11-25 passes for 65 yards.
— Game was 16-0 at halftime.

New Orleans (-3) vs Houston
New Orleans Breakers (6-3)
— 5-0 when they score more than 17 points.
— Scored 9-17 points in last two games.
— Four of last six games went over the total
— Have seven takeaways in last two games (+2)
— 4-3 ATS this season as a favorite.
— Breakers have a playoff game in Ohio next week.

Houston Gamblers (2-7)
— Lost seven of last eight games (3-5 ATS)
— Led eight of their nine games at halftime.
— Have a bad record, despite a +6 turnover ratio.
— Six of last eight games went over total
— Outscored 116-47 in second half.

First meeting:
— New Orleans (-6.5) Houston 23-16 in Week 4.
— Gamblers led 13-10 at halftime.
— Breakers outgained Houston 523-155, but were minus-4 in turnovers.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Friday, June 17

WNBA

Friday, June 17

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seattle @ Connecticut
Seattle
Seattle is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Connecticut
Seattle is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is 17-3 SU in its last 20 games at home
Connecticut is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games

Atlanta @ Chicago
Atlanta
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Atlanta's last 12 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Atlanta is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 10 of Chicago's last 12 games when playing at home against Atlanta

Phoenix @ Dallas
Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Phoenix's last 7 games when playing Dallas
Phoenix is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Dallas's last 7 games when playing Phoenix
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Dallas's last 5 games at home


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack
— Phillies 5-7, Nationals 3-7— Philly is 14-2 in its last 16 games.
— Cubs 1, Braves 0— Chicago ends 10-game losing skid, Braves’ 14-0 run.
— Giants 2, Pirates 0— Rodon threw eight shutout innings.
— Astros 13, White Sox 3— Houston has 9-game lead in AL West.
— Mariners 8, Angels 1— Halos lost 19 of their last 22 games.
— Guardians 2, Dodgers 1 (10)— LA is just 6-10 in its last 16 games.

Quote of the Day
“The graveyards are full of indispensable people.”
Charles de Gaulle

Saturday’s quiz
Which major league baseball team drafted Arizona Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray in the first round of the baseball draft?

Friday’s quiz
Steph Curry was the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft; Blake Griffin was the Home pick.

Thursday’s quiz
Klay Thompson played his college basketball at Washington State

******************************

Saturday’s Den: NFL rosters by round drafted, baseball records in close games, and other thoughts

— Davidson basketball coach Bob McKillop retired Friday, after 33 years coaching the Wildcats. McKillop had a career record of 634-380; he led Davidson to the Elite 8 in 2008, with a pretty good guard named Curry playing for him.

Davidson was in the Southern Conference back then; they’re in the Atlantic 14 now. Since that run to the Elite 8 in ’08, SoCon teams are 1-13 SU in the NCAA Tournament.

McKillop’s son Matt is taking over the Davidson job; he’s been an assistant for his dad the last 14 seasons, after playing at Davidson.

— Steph Curry was the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft; Minnesota had the 5th and 6th picks- they took a pair of guards, Ricky Rubio/Jonny Flynn. Whoops.

— From 1957-1986, the Boston Celtics won 16 NBA titles; since 1987, they’ve won one, back in 2008. Celtics/Lakers are tied with 17 NBA championships, with Golden State third with seven.

— Cubs 1, Braves 0:
Braves came into this weekend on a 14-game win streak, Cubs on a 10-game losing skid; the last time a team on a double-digit losing streak beat a team on a double-digit win streak? Back in September, 1999 when the Phillies beat Houston.

— San Diego Padres entered this weekend in first place, the first time they’ve been in first place in June since 2010.

— Boston College’s football team lost G Christian Mahogany for this season; he tore his right ACL. Mel Kiper had Mahogany listed as the Forum guard prospect in next April’s draft.

— Former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam is going to buy the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Haslam is worth $2.3B; his brother and sister-in-law, Jimmy/Susan Haslam, are the owners of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.

— Bruno Mioto posted this information on Twitter this week, breaking down NFL rosters by which round of the draft each team’s players were taken in, and how many undrafted free agents each team had.

— Most first round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
13— NJ Giants
12— Pittsburgh/San Francisco
11— Atlanta/Baltimore
10— Cleveland, Denver, Las Vegas

— Fewest first round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
4— Indianapolis, Kansas City
5— LA Rams
6— New England, Seattle, Tennessee
7— Houston, Jacksonville, Minnesota

— Most second round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
11— Tampa Bay
10— Jacksonville, Miami, NJ Giants, Seattle
9— Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City, LA Rams

— Fewest second round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
3— Baltimore, Detroit
4— LA Chargers, NJ Jets, New Orleans, Washington
5— Buffalo, Carolina, Dallas, Pittsburgh, San Francisco

— Most undrafted free agents on NFL rosters last year:
23— Tennessee
21— Detroit
18— LA Chargers
16— Carolina, Denver, Miami

— Fewest undrafted free agents on NFL rosters last year:
6— NJ Giants
7— Pittsburgh
9— Minnesota, Seattle
10— Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, NJ Jets

Major league records in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on:
These are thru Thursday’s games
Home/Away….Total
Arizona 5-6/5-2….10-8
Atlanta 6-5/3-1….9-6
Cubs 4-6/4-2….8-8
Cincinnati 1-4/5-5….6-9
Colorado 5-6/5-4….10-10
Dodgers 2-2/2-4….4-6
Miami 2-4/4-5….6-9
Milwaukee 1-1/8-5….9-6
Mets 4-4/2-2….6-6
Philadelphia 4-7/3-4….7-11
Pittsburgh 6-3/3-5….9-8
St Louis 4-4/4-2….8-6
San Diego 5-5/7-6….12-11
San Francisco 1-5/4-3….5-8
Washington 1-1/2-2

Baltimore 5-3/2-3….7-6
Boston 4-4/4-7….8-11
White Sox 6-5/6-2….12-7
Cleveland 3-4/8-3….11-7
Detroit 6-4/7-3….13-7
Houston 3-1/5-4….8-5
Kansas City 2-6/3-4….5-10
Angels 0-6/2-4….2-10
Minnesota 2-6/2-4….4-10
New York 6-3/4-4….10-7
Oakland 3-9/4-4….7-13
Seattle 3-7/4-2….7-9
Tampa Bay 6-2/5-4….11-6
Texas 4-4/9-4….13-8
Toronto 4-4/6-4….10-8

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Saturday’s 6-pack
— Phillies 5-7, Nationals 3-7— Philly is 14-2 in its last 16 games.
— Cubs 1, Braves 0— Chicago ends 10-game losing skid, Braves’ 14-0 run.
— Giants 2, Pirates 0— Rodon threw eight shutout innings.
— Astros 13, White Sox 3— Houston has 9-game lead in AL West.
— Mariners 8, Angels 1— Halos lost 19 of their last 22 games.
— Guardians 2, Dodgers 1 (10)— LA is just 6-10 in its last 16 games.

Quote of the Day
“The graveyards are full of indispensable people.”
Charles de Gaulle

Saturday’s quiz
Which major league baseball team drafted Arizona Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray in the first round of the baseball draft?

Friday’s quiz
Steph Curry was the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft; Blake Griffin was the Home pick.

Thursday’s quiz
Klay Thompson played his college basketball at Washington State

******************************

Saturday’s Den: NFL rosters by round drafted, baseball records in close games, and other thoughts

— Davidson basketball coach Bob McKillop retired Friday, after 33 years coaching the Wildcats. McKillop had a career record of 634-380; he led Davidson to the Elite 8 in 2008, with a pretty good guard named Curry playing for him.

Davidson was in the Southern Conference back then; they’re in the Atlantic 14 now. Since that run to the Elite 8 in ’08, SoCon teams are 1-13 SU in the NCAA Tournament.

McKillop’s son Matt is taking over the Davidson job; he’s been an assistant for his dad the last 14 seasons, after playing at Davidson.

— Steph Curry was the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft; Minnesota had the 5th and 6th picks- they took a pair of guards, Ricky Rubio/Jonny Flynn. Whoops.

— From 1957-1986, the Boston Celtics won 16 NBA titles; since 1987, they’ve won one, back in 2008. Celtics/Lakers are tied with 17 NBA championships, with Golden State third with seven.

— Cubs 1, Braves 0:
Braves came into this weekend on a 14-game win streak, Cubs on a 10-game losing skid; the last time a team on a double-digit losing streak beat a team on a double-digit win streak? Back in September, 1999 when the Phillies beat Houston.

— San Diego Padres entered this weekend in first place, the first time they’ve been in first place in June since 2010.

— Boston College’s football team lost G Christian Mahogany for this season; he tore his right ACL. Mel Kiper had Mahogany listed as the Forum guard prospect in next April’s draft.

— Former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam is going to buy the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Haslam is worth $2.3B; his brother and sister-in-law, Jimmy/Susan Haslam, are the owners of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.

— Bruno Mioto posted this information on Twitter this week, breaking down NFL rosters by which round of the draft each team’s players were taken in, and how many undrafted free agents each team had.

— Most first round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
13— NJ Giants
12— Pittsburgh/San Francisco
11— Atlanta/Baltimore
10— Cleveland, Denver, Las Vegas

— Fewest first round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
4— Indianapolis, Kansas City
5— LA Rams
6— New England, Seattle, Tennessee
7— Houston, Jacksonville, Minnesota

— Most second round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
11— Tampa Bay
10— Jacksonville, Miami, NJ Giants, Seattle
9— Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City, LA Rams

— Fewest second round draft picks on NFL rosters last year:
3— Baltimore, Detroit
4— LA Chargers, NJ Jets, New Orleans, Washington
5— Buffalo, Carolina, Dallas, Pittsburgh, San Francisco

— Most undrafted free agents on NFL rosters last year:
23— Tennessee
21— Detroit
18— LA Chargers
16— Carolina, Denver, Miami

— Fewest undrafted free agents on NFL rosters last year:
6— NJ Giants
7— Pittsburgh
9— Minnesota, Seattle
10— Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, NJ Jets

Major league records in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on:
These are thru Thursday’s games
Home/Away….Total
Arizona 5-6/5-2….10-8
Atlanta 6-5/3-1….9-6
Cubs 4-6/4-2….8-8
Cincinnati 1-4/5-5….6-9
Colorado 5-6/5-4….10-10
Dodgers 2-2/2-4….4-6
Miami 2-4/4-5….6-9
Milwaukee 1-1/8-5….9-6
Mets 4-4/2-2….6-6
Philadelphia 4-7/3-4….7-11
Pittsburgh 6-3/3-5….9-8
St Louis 4-4/4-2….8-6
San Diego 5-5/7-6….12-11
San Francisco 1-5/4-3….5-8
Washington 1-1/2-2

Baltimore 5-3/2-3….7-6
Boston 4-4/4-7….8-11
White Sox 6-5/6-2….12-7
Cleveland 3-4/8-3….11-7
Detroit 6-4/7-3….13-7
Houston 3-1/5-4….8-5
Kansas City 2-6/3-4….5-10
Angels 0-6/2-4….2-10
Minnesota 2-6/2-4….4-10
New York 6-3/4-4….10-7
Oakland 3-9/4-4….7-13
Seattle 3-7/4-2….7-9
Tampa Bay 6-2/5-4….11-6
Texas 4-4/9-4….13-8
Toronto 4-4/6-4….10-8

 

[Udog]

No games today.... play resumes tomorrow.

 

[Udog]

xx

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Sunday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in ERA (minimum 50 IP)
1.42— Tony Gonsolin, LA
1.59— Joe Musgrove, SD
1.68— Sandy Alcantara, Mia
1.84— Shane McClanahan, TB
1.94— Nestor Cortes, NYY
2.00— Alek Manoah, Tor

Quote of the Day
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Abraham Lincoln

Sunday’s quiz
Who was the 2nd President of the United States?

Saturday’s quiz
Oakland A’s drafted Arizona Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray with the 9th pick in the first round of the 2018 baseball draft.

Friday’s quiz
Steph Curry was the 7th pick of the 2009 NBA Draft; Blake Griffin was the Home pick.

*********************************

Sunday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….

13) Unusual situation in the NBA, where Golden State assistant coach Kenny Atkinson was expected to be hired as the new head coach in Charlotte; he even called the assistant coaches in Charlotte to set up interviews, but apparently Atkinson changed his mind and is going to stay as an assistant coach with the Warriors.

Atkinson’s last three years:
2019-20— Head coach, Brooklyn
2020-21— assistant with Clippers
2021-22— assistant with Warriors

Apparently Atkinson now believes that both professionally and personally it would be best to stay with the Warriors; winning is also a lot of fun. Golden State probably gave him a nice raise, too. Money never hurts, and moving every year gets old.

12) Atkinson has a track record of developing point guards, and guards in general; developing young players is what the NBA is all about now, since kids come out of college way too soon these days.

Warriors have a sub, Gary Payton II who averaged 17.6 minutes/game this year, the first time in his six NBA seasons that he became a regular in a team’s rotation. Payton has played for five teams in the G-League for a total of 128 games; under Atkinson’s tutelage, he’s a contributor on a championship team. He also has pretty good genes; his dad was a great player.

11) By the way, Steve Kerr is just about due to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame; the guy has nine championship rings, five as a role player, four as the Warriors’ coach. In 14 years as an NBA player, Kerr was on five title teams. It is good to know Michael Jordan.

For his career, Kerr made 45.4% of his 3-point shots. He also led Arizona to the 1988 Final Four.

10) One of the more interesting players in next week’s NBA Draft will be Shaedon Sharpe, who went to Kentucky last year, practiced with the team but never played in a game.

A 6-6 guard, Sharpe talks a good game: “I see myself being one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball, just getting after it and competing” but here’s the thing; no one in the NBA knows how good he is, if he can fit in with a team.

By the time next season starts, he will not have played in a game for 18 or 19 months. Will he even want to play in the NBA Summer League, which is next month in Las Vegas?

Anyway, his story will be interesting to follow Thursday night.

9) Baseball injuries:
— Mets’ P Tyler Megill (shoulder) is shut down for a month
— Angels’ 3B Anthony Rendon (wrist) is done for the season.
— Dodgers’ RF Mookie Betts (cracked ribs) goes on the IL

8) Dodgers, by the way, are 0-5 in extra innings this season; they’re 40-24 and will likely make the playoffs, but they’ve been struggling lately (7-10 in last 17 games).

7) When baseball has its amateur draft during the All-Stsr break next month, keep in mind that in 1999, the 402nd pick was a pretty good player— Albert Pujols. Not often a 13th round pick is a Hall of Famer, but you never know.

6) Jesse Winker signed a 2-year, $14.5M deal with Seattle this week; he’ll be a free agent after next season. Winker is off to dreadful start with the Mariners, hitting .212. Angels started two lefties in their twin bill Saturday, and Winker didn’t start either game. Not good.

Last year, Winker hit .305 with a .949 OPS for the Reds; moving to a bigger home ballpark has screwed up his approach this year.

5) My favorite baseball movies:
Moneyball, For Love of the Game, Major League, Bull Durham

4) NFL training camps start next month; there is a very narrow margin between winning and losing for most NFL teams. Think about this: the team that won last year’s Super Bowl went 0-3 in November with a bye week mixed in between. Lot of things have to go your way to win a championship.

3) I signed on with Amazon Prime this week, so I have access to old movies/TV shows and get free shipping on anything I buy from them. Bought a book Thursday and it got delivered in less than 48 hours. They send you an e-mail when it is delivered, with a picture of where they put the envelope. Pretty impressive customer service.

2) Harry the Handicapper checked in this week with a good story; back in 1970, long time ago but not that long ago, Marquette turned down a bid to the NCAA Tournament and decided to play in the NIT instead, which they won.

Al McGuire was Marquette’s coach; he was unique, a total character who later became a great analyst on TV. McGuire wasn’t happy with Marquette’s seeding/placement in the NCAA field, so he said the hell with it and turned the bid down. Seven years later, he won the national title and then retired as coach.

Stuff like that would never, ever happen today; way too much $$$ involved, but the NIT, once upon a time, was a pretty big deal.

1) Few years ago, I’m driving from Albany to Philadelphia and I stop for gas in New Jersey; I had absolutely no idea that in New Jersey (and Oregon) you’re not allowed to pump your own gas.

So I get out of the car and walk up to the pump and some Asian guy comes running out of the mini-mart and starts yelling at me, before I can start pumping the gas. You learn something every day; I was fine with someone else pumping my gas for me.

 

[Udog]

WNBA
Dunkel

Sunday, June 19

WNBA

Sunday, June 19

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trend Report
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seattle @ New York
Seattle
Seattle is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing New York
Seattle is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against New York
New York
New York is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games
New York is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games at home

Connecticut @ Washington
Connecticut
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Connecticut's last 5 games on the road
Connecticut is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Washington
Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of Washington's last 18 games
The total has gone UNDER in 12 of Washington's last 16 games at home

Chicago @ Indiana
Chicago
Chicago is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Indiana
Chicago is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Indiana
Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Indiana's last 5 games when playing Chicago
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Indiana's last 7 games at home

Los Angeles @ Dallas
Los Angeles
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Los Angeles's last 7 games when playing Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Los Angeles's last 10 games when playing on the road against Dallas
Dallas
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Dallas's last 5 games at home
Dallas is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Los Angeles

Minnesota @ Las Vegas
Minnesota
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Minnesota's last 7 games when playing Las Vegas
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Minnesota's last 6 games on the road
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is 10-1 SU in its last 11 games
Las Vegas is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games at home


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Udog]

Armadillo Sports

Monday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in on-base %age
.443— Luis Arraez, Minn
.423— Paul Goldschmidt, StL
.405— JD Martinez, Bos
.403— Yordan Alvarez, Hst
.401— Xander Bogaerts, Bos
.400— Manny Machado, SD

Quote of the Day
“Forgiveness is accepting the apology you will never receive.”
Shawne Duperon

Monday’s quiz
Which NFL team drafted John Elway?

Sunday’s quiz
John Adams was the 2nd President of the United States.

Saturday’s quiz
Oakland A’s drafted Arizona Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray with the 9th pick in the first round of the 2018 baseball draft.

**************************************

Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports weekend…….

13) Monday kicks in a new baseball rule; teams will limited to 13 pitchers, instead of 14, which means that 18 teams have to send a pitcher down Monday, and add a position player.

12) Braves 6, Cubs 0— Kyle Hendricks’ last three starts vs Atlanta: He allowed 20 earned runs in 12 IP.

11) Pirates 4, Giants 3— Rookie Jack Suwinski hit three home runs, including a walk-off tater in the ninth inning.

10) Astros 4, White Sox 3— Rookie TJ Matijevic hit his first major league home run (also his first MLB hit) into the Crawford Boxes in left field. The 16-year old fan who got the ball negotiated with a team employee, so that Matijevic could get that baseball. Here is what the fan got:

— Six tickets to a future game.
— Six tickets to a batting batting experience
— A baseball signed by Jose Altuve

The young man also wanted a jersey signed by Justin Verlander; the team spokesman declined that request, but few innings later, the fan got a bag with the signed jersey in it.

It was Matijevic’s first MLB hit; the fan had the Astros over a barrel- he did pretty well, but he could’ve done a lot better had he wanted to.

9) Marlins 6, Mets 2— Rookie RF Jerar Encarnacion is the first player EVER to hit a grand slam and steal a base in his first major league game. He also threw out a runner at 2B from the right field fence— he can really throw.

Sandy Alcantara threw eight strong innings and finally got some run support.

8) Arizona 7, Minnesota 1— Just like Encarnacion, Buddy Kennedy’s first MLB home run was a grand slam. Kennedy is the grandson of former big leaguer Don Money, who played 16 years in the major leagues, for the Phillies/Brewers.

Week 10 USFL games:
7) New Jersey 26, Philadelphia 23:
— These teams meet in USFL playoffs next week.
— New Jersey lost its opener, then won its last nine games.
— Generals ran for 178 yards, threw for 232 more.

6) Birmingham 21, Tampa Bay 18
— Stallions led 14-0 at halftime, survived four turnovers (minus-3)
— Birmingham outgained Tampa Bay 379-285
— Stallions play New Orleans in playoffs next week, in Ohio.

5) Michigan 33, Pittsburgh 21
— Michigan’s only two wins this season were against Pittsburgh.
— Panthers scored 27 ppg in their last four games.
— Pittsburgh was outscored 145-58 in first half this season

4) Houston 20, New Orleans 3
— Breakers ran 53 plays for 116 yards; it is possible they mailed this one in.
— New Orleans plays Birmingham in playoffs next week.
— Houston went 3-7; they led nine of ten games at halftime.

3) The last time a golfer lost a major tournament in a playoff, then won the next major? Way back in 1962…….Arnold Palmer.

2) Colorado 8, San Diego 3— Padres have now lost 10 straight games in Denver; they also lost 3B Manny Machado to a sprained ankle, when he slipped on first base. X-rays were negative; at some point, MLB is going to change the bases (make them flatter?)

1) MLB began enforcing a rule on hand attachments this week; Cincinnati pitcher Graham Ashcraft wasn’t happy when umpires told him to remove his wedding ring from under his glove by umpires during Saturday’s game against Milwaukee. Ashcraft wound up moving his wedding ring to his necklace chain for the rest of the game.