Friday’s six-pack
— Chargers fired Bobby Wick this week, their equipment man for the last 39 years. Classy.
— Chris Sale has a 4.78 ERA in 118.2 IP vs Cleveland; against everyone else, his career ERA is 2.81, in 1,169.2 IP. Thanks to Christopher Kamka for that stat.
— Boston closer Craig Kimbrel has faced 197 batters this year; he struck out 102 of them.
— Boston Celtics are already sold out of season tickets for the 2017-18 season.
— Dodgers won their 90th game before any other team got their 80th win.
— Dodger pitcher Kenta Meada’s season stats this year:
Wins: 11
Saves: 1
WHIP: 1.11
IP: 111.1
Strikeouts: 111
****************************
Friday’s List of 13: Random stuff with weekend here……
13) 6th/7th innings of New York-Detroit game Thursday took around two hours to play, thanks to a brawl, eight ejections, two hit batters and six runs scored.
Detroit’s Michael Fulmer hit Gary Sanchez in the 5th inning; when NY reliever Tommy Kanhle threw behind Miguel Cabrera, benches emptied, Kanhle and Joe Girardi got tossed. Before play could resume, Cabrera and backup catchup Austin Romine started jawing and a fight broke out, an actual fight, not a baseball shoving match.
Not the best job of controlling things by the umpires; New York lost its DH when Sanchez had to come in and catch, but they rallied to tie the game in the top of the 7th before the Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the 7th.
New York used Aroldis Chapman in the 6th inning, after Kanhle got tossed.
12) Last summer on Hard Knocks, Rams’ rookie QB Jared Goff was hardly on the show, which didn’t help the program any— they focused mostly on guys on who got cut.
This year, Bucs’ QB Jameis Winston IS THE SHOW— he is all over it and that makes the program better. Haven’t seen much of coach Dirk Koetter yet, except when Winston threw an ill-advised pass in the red zone against Jacksonville and Koetter went bullshit on him for it.
11) Pittsburgh beat the Dodgers Wednesday despite getting only one hit; last time the Pirates won a game when they had one hit was May 2, 1943- Vince DiMaggio got the only Pittsburgh hit.
10) Josh Harrison’s walk-off homer to end that game was the first walk-off homer in MLB history that also ended a no-hitter. That same night, Harrison’s cousin JaVon Shelby caught a no-hitter in the Class A Midwest League.
Hill is the 5th major leaguer and first since 1995, to lose a no-hitter in extra innings.
9) On May 26, 1959, a Pirates pitcher named Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings in a game at Milwaukee, but lost the game and no-hitter 1-0 on an unearned run in the 13th inning. It is the greatest losing performance in baseball history.
The next year, Haddix was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, throwing a scoreless 9th inning as the Pirates upset New York to win a world championship.
8) Some people are going to protest until Colin Kaepernick is on an NFL team; then once he is on a team, other people will protest until he is out of the league again.
What a world this has become.
7) Marvin Bagley III is committed to play basketball at Duke this fall, but will be play? Will the NCAA clear him on time? Bagley went to three different high schools in two states, he took online classes, so it is going to take some time, and the NCAA can be slow in these cases.
Expecting Bagley to be dominant in the ACC might be a bit much; don’t forget, he is supposed to be a high school senior- when he plays against older people, there will sometimes be a big age/maturity gap, not a talent gap. Plus you wonder if he isn’t already looking ahead to the NBA, which has often been an issue with probable 1-and-done guys.
6) Cole Hamels is 9-1, 3.42 in 16 starts this year, but in the six games where Hamels didn’t get a decision, the Rangers are 1-5, and that could bite Texas coming down the stretch. In races like this, with so many teams bunched together, you have to win when your ace is pitching.
5) I can’t even imagine working in a sportsbook and having someone hand me $100,000 to bet on a fight. Someone risked $100,000 to win $20,000 on Floyd Mayweather Saturday night. I’m trying to think of the most money I’ve ever held at one time…….$100K is a lot of cabbage.
4) Mets’ OF Michael Conforto dislocated his left (throwing) shoulder swinging at a pitch Thursday; never saw that happen before. Conforto had been playing really well for the Mets.
3) There was an old movie on TV the other night; Taking Care of Business, with Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin; Belushi is an escaped convict who escapes jail to go watch the Cubs play in the World Series. Filmed in 1990, one of the TV announcers was Joe Torre— this was just before he took over managing the Cardinals. His record at that point wasn’t Hall of Fame-worthy.
Cubs beat the Angels in the fictitious movie, by the way, even though Bert Blyleven was in the movie, pitching for the Angels.
2) In the movie Friday Night Lights, where Billy Bob Thornton coaches Permian HS to the finals of the Texas state football tournament, his team loses to Carter HS of Dallas in the state title game.
In real life, three of those Carter HS players made the NFL, including Jesse Armstead. Hall of Famer LaDanian Tomlinson calls that Carter team “the greatest high school football team ever assembled.”
1) This November will be the last-ever Great Alaskan Shootout; once one of the best preseason college hoop tournaments, it suffered because ESPN started running tournaments in places with way better weather than Alaska. One year, Duke-Cincinnati was the final in Alaska, back when Bob Huggins was coaching Cincinnati.
— Chargers fired Bobby Wick this week, their equipment man for the last 39 years. Classy.
— Chris Sale has a 4.78 ERA in 118.2 IP vs Cleveland; against everyone else, his career ERA is 2.81, in 1,169.2 IP. Thanks to Christopher Kamka for that stat.
— Boston closer Craig Kimbrel has faced 197 batters this year; he struck out 102 of them.
— Boston Celtics are already sold out of season tickets for the 2017-18 season.
— Dodgers won their 90th game before any other team got their 80th win.
— Dodger pitcher Kenta Meada’s season stats this year:
Wins: 11
Saves: 1
WHIP: 1.11
IP: 111.1
Strikeouts: 111
****************************
Friday’s List of 13: Random stuff with weekend here……
13) 6th/7th innings of New York-Detroit game Thursday took around two hours to play, thanks to a brawl, eight ejections, two hit batters and six runs scored.
Detroit’s Michael Fulmer hit Gary Sanchez in the 5th inning; when NY reliever Tommy Kanhle threw behind Miguel Cabrera, benches emptied, Kanhle and Joe Girardi got tossed. Before play could resume, Cabrera and backup catchup Austin Romine started jawing and a fight broke out, an actual fight, not a baseball shoving match.
Not the best job of controlling things by the umpires; New York lost its DH when Sanchez had to come in and catch, but they rallied to tie the game in the top of the 7th before the Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the 7th.
New York used Aroldis Chapman in the 6th inning, after Kanhle got tossed.
12) Last summer on Hard Knocks, Rams’ rookie QB Jared Goff was hardly on the show, which didn’t help the program any— they focused mostly on guys on who got cut.
This year, Bucs’ QB Jameis Winston IS THE SHOW— he is all over it and that makes the program better. Haven’t seen much of coach Dirk Koetter yet, except when Winston threw an ill-advised pass in the red zone against Jacksonville and Koetter went bullshit on him for it.
11) Pittsburgh beat the Dodgers Wednesday despite getting only one hit; last time the Pirates won a game when they had one hit was May 2, 1943- Vince DiMaggio got the only Pittsburgh hit.
10) Josh Harrison’s walk-off homer to end that game was the first walk-off homer in MLB history that also ended a no-hitter. That same night, Harrison’s cousin JaVon Shelby caught a no-hitter in the Class A Midwest League.
Hill is the 5th major leaguer and first since 1995, to lose a no-hitter in extra innings.
9) On May 26, 1959, a Pirates pitcher named Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings in a game at Milwaukee, but lost the game and no-hitter 1-0 on an unearned run in the 13th inning. It is the greatest losing performance in baseball history.
The next year, Haddix was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, throwing a scoreless 9th inning as the Pirates upset New York to win a world championship.
8) Some people are going to protest until Colin Kaepernick is on an NFL team; then once he is on a team, other people will protest until he is out of the league again.
What a world this has become.
7) Marvin Bagley III is committed to play basketball at Duke this fall, but will be play? Will the NCAA clear him on time? Bagley went to three different high schools in two states, he took online classes, so it is going to take some time, and the NCAA can be slow in these cases.
Expecting Bagley to be dominant in the ACC might be a bit much; don’t forget, he is supposed to be a high school senior- when he plays against older people, there will sometimes be a big age/maturity gap, not a talent gap. Plus you wonder if he isn’t already looking ahead to the NBA, which has often been an issue with probable 1-and-done guys.
6) Cole Hamels is 9-1, 3.42 in 16 starts this year, but in the six games where Hamels didn’t get a decision, the Rangers are 1-5, and that could bite Texas coming down the stretch. In races like this, with so many teams bunched together, you have to win when your ace is pitching.
5) I can’t even imagine working in a sportsbook and having someone hand me $100,000 to bet on a fight. Someone risked $100,000 to win $20,000 on Floyd Mayweather Saturday night. I’m trying to think of the most money I’ve ever held at one time…….$100K is a lot of cabbage.
4) Mets’ OF Michael Conforto dislocated his left (throwing) shoulder swinging at a pitch Thursday; never saw that happen before. Conforto had been playing really well for the Mets.
3) There was an old movie on TV the other night; Taking Care of Business, with Jim Belushi and Charles Grodin; Belushi is an escaped convict who escapes jail to go watch the Cubs play in the World Series. Filmed in 1990, one of the TV announcers was Joe Torre— this was just before he took over managing the Cardinals. His record at that point wasn’t Hall of Fame-worthy.
Cubs beat the Angels in the fictitious movie, by the way, even though Bert Blyleven was in the movie, pitching for the Angels.
2) In the movie Friday Night Lights, where Billy Bob Thornton coaches Permian HS to the finals of the Texas state football tournament, his team loses to Carter HS of Dallas in the state title game.
In real life, three of those Carter HS players made the NFL, including Jesse Armstead. Hall of Famer LaDanian Tomlinson calls that Carter team “the greatest high school football team ever assembled.”
1) This November will be the last-ever Great Alaskan Shootout; once one of the best preseason college hoop tournaments, it suffered because ESPN started running tournaments in places with way better weather than Alaska. One year, Duke-Cincinnati was the final in Alaska, back when Bob Huggins was coaching Cincinnati.
