Armadillo Sports
Monday’s 6-pack
Major League leaders in OPS:
.967— Tampa Bay Rays
.867— Los Angeles Dodgers
.814— Boston Red Sox
.808— Milwaukee Brewers
.802— San Francisco Giants
.793— St Louis Cardinals
Quote of the Day
“I’m happy here. So there’s nothing to worry [about]. Something’s got to change, for sure. I mean, last year we went to Western Conference finals. We were having fun. I always talk about the chemistry we had. It was great. But something’s got to change for sure.”
Luka Doncic, not sounding very happy
Monday’s quiz
Which NBA team won the most regular season games in one season?
Sunday’s quiz
Aaron Rodgers played his college football for the Cal Bears.
Saturday’s quiz
From 1967-73, UCLA won seven consecutive national titles in college basketball; NC State beat UCLA at the 1974 Final Four and ended their streak.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday
— Minnesota Timberwolves beat New Orleans 113-108, clinched the #8-seed in the West, but they had a bad day. T’wolves lost F Jaden McDaniels for the season when he punched a wall in frustration, then later on, Rudy Gobert punched one of his teammates during a timeout, and could be facing a team suspension.
Not the kind of stuff you want to happen a couple days before the playoffs start.
— Baltimore Ravens signed WR Odell Beckham to a one-year, $15M deal that could get to $18M if he hits all his incentives. Is this sending a message to holdout QB Lamar Jackson?
— NFL schedule comes out in a month; lot of unsettled QB situations. Ravens. Packers. Jets. Colts. 49ers. Carolina. It is April 10; the draft is 17 days away.
You would think the league wants to know who is going to be playing where then they release the 2023 schedule, since TV ratings are important to the whole “we make a lot of money” thing that the league enjoys.
Last year the schedule was released May 12; I’m hoping it is that same week this year, because I’m going to be in Las Vegas that week. Think it’ll be fun to see the betting activity when the schedule is first released.
— Pirates 1, White Sox 0— Pittsburgh is off to a surprising 6-3 start, but they lost SS O’Neil Cruz Sunday, when he broke his ankle in a home plate collision with Chicago C Seby Zavala.
— Rays 11, A’s 0— I’ve been an A’s fan since I was 5 years old back in 1965; this is going to be a long freakin’ summer. Tampa Bay swept this series, outscoring Oakland 31-5; they beat them 11-0 both Saturday and Sunday. Rays are 9-0, with all nine wins by 4+ runs.
— Guardians 7, Mariners 6 (12)— If you bet the under in this game, skip ahead to the next item; Seattle led 2-1 after eight innings, but both bullpens imploded and the game wound up 7-6, with Cleveland winning its fourth extra inning game over the last eight days.
— Blue Jays 12, Angels 11 (10)
Angels led 6-0 after five innings.
Toronto led 10-6 after seven innings.
Chapman/Kiermaier both knocked in five runs for Toronto.
Blue Jays finally go home for their home opener Tuesday against Detroit.
— Brewers 6, Cardinals 1— Freddy Peralta allowed one run in 6 IP as Milwaukee improved to 7-2. Four Brewer relievers combined to get the last nine outs.
— New York 5, Baltimore 3— Aaron Judge hit two homers; New York won two out of three for the third series in a row.
— Padres 10, Braves 2— Nelson Cruz went 3-4 with a homer and six RBI; Padres went to Atlanta and won three of four games. Now they head to New York to play the Mets. San Diego is going to get a boost when Fernando Tatis joins the lineup in a couple weeks.
— Giants 3, Royals 1— Kansas City led 1-0 in 8th inning, but Michael Conforto hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning for the win. Giants’ first nine games were all against American League teams; they play their first NL game tonight against the Dodgers.
— Boston Bruins beat Philadelphia 5-3, setting a new NHL record with their 63rd win of the season. Impressive feat, but all that gets them is an extra home game in every round of the playoffs. Now the real work begins, and expectations are high.
— NBA play-in games:
Tuesday: Hawks @ Miami, Timberwolves @ Lakers
Wednesday: Bulls @ Toronto, Thunder @ New Orleans
Monday’s 6-pack
Major League leaders in OPS:
.967— Tampa Bay Rays
.867— Los Angeles Dodgers
.814— Boston Red Sox
.808— Milwaukee Brewers
.802— San Francisco Giants
.793— St Louis Cardinals
Quote of the Day
“I’m happy here. So there’s nothing to worry [about]. Something’s got to change, for sure. I mean, last year we went to Western Conference finals. We were having fun. I always talk about the chemistry we had. It was great. But something’s got to change for sure.”
Luka Doncic, not sounding very happy
Monday’s quiz
Which NBA team won the most regular season games in one season?
Sunday’s quiz
Aaron Rodgers played his college football for the Cal Bears.
Saturday’s quiz
From 1967-73, UCLA won seven consecutive national titles in college basketball; NC State beat UCLA at the 1974 Final Four and ended their streak.
*****************************
Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday
— Minnesota Timberwolves beat New Orleans 113-108, clinched the #8-seed in the West, but they had a bad day. T’wolves lost F Jaden McDaniels for the season when he punched a wall in frustration, then later on, Rudy Gobert punched one of his teammates during a timeout, and could be facing a team suspension.
Not the kind of stuff you want to happen a couple days before the playoffs start.
— Baltimore Ravens signed WR Odell Beckham to a one-year, $15M deal that could get to $18M if he hits all his incentives. Is this sending a message to holdout QB Lamar Jackson?
— NFL schedule comes out in a month; lot of unsettled QB situations. Ravens. Packers. Jets. Colts. 49ers. Carolina. It is April 10; the draft is 17 days away.
You would think the league wants to know who is going to be playing where then they release the 2023 schedule, since TV ratings are important to the whole “we make a lot of money” thing that the league enjoys.
Last year the schedule was released May 12; I’m hoping it is that same week this year, because I’m going to be in Las Vegas that week. Think it’ll be fun to see the betting activity when the schedule is first released.
— Pirates 1, White Sox 0— Pittsburgh is off to a surprising 6-3 start, but they lost SS O’Neil Cruz Sunday, when he broke his ankle in a home plate collision with Chicago C Seby Zavala.
— Rays 11, A’s 0— I’ve been an A’s fan since I was 5 years old back in 1965; this is going to be a long freakin’ summer. Tampa Bay swept this series, outscoring Oakland 31-5; they beat them 11-0 both Saturday and Sunday. Rays are 9-0, with all nine wins by 4+ runs.
— Guardians 7, Mariners 6 (12)— If you bet the under in this game, skip ahead to the next item; Seattle led 2-1 after eight innings, but both bullpens imploded and the game wound up 7-6, with Cleveland winning its fourth extra inning game over the last eight days.
— Blue Jays 12, Angels 11 (10)
Angels led 6-0 after five innings.
Toronto led 10-6 after seven innings.
Chapman/Kiermaier both knocked in five runs for Toronto.
Blue Jays finally go home for their home opener Tuesday against Detroit.
— Brewers 6, Cardinals 1— Freddy Peralta allowed one run in 6 IP as Milwaukee improved to 7-2. Four Brewer relievers combined to get the last nine outs.
— New York 5, Baltimore 3— Aaron Judge hit two homers; New York won two out of three for the third series in a row.
— Padres 10, Braves 2— Nelson Cruz went 3-4 with a homer and six RBI; Padres went to Atlanta and won three of four games. Now they head to New York to play the Mets. San Diego is going to get a boost when Fernando Tatis joins the lineup in a couple weeks.
— Giants 3, Royals 1— Kansas City led 1-0 in 8th inning, but Michael Conforto hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning for the win. Giants’ first nine games were all against American League teams; they play their first NL game tonight against the Dodgers.
— Boston Bruins beat Philadelphia 5-3, setting a new NHL record with their 63rd win of the season. Impressive feat, but all that gets them is an extra home game in every round of the playoffs. Now the real work begins, and expectations are high.
— NBA play-in games:
Tuesday: Hawks @ Miami, Timberwolves @ Lakers
Wednesday: Bulls @ Toronto, Thunder @ New Orleans
