B]Armadillo: Sunday's six-pack[/B]
More pointspreads for six of college football's more interesting games this year:
-- Sept 3: Michigan @ Utah (-4)
-- Sept 4: Washington @ Boise State (-13)
-- Sept 5: Texas @ Notre Dame (-7.5)
-- Sept 19: Stanford @ USC (-4)
-- Sept 26: Tennessee (-2.5) @ Florida
-- Oct 3: Ole Miss (-6) at Florida
**********
Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Random stuff with weekend here.....
13) Rangers 4, Blue Jays 0-- Yovani Gallardo blanked the Jays for 8.1 innings in the Rogers Centre, which is super impressive this season-- Toronto only got five men on base against him and they score a lot of runs at home.
12) People are very nice in Toronto; rookie Matt Boyd left his first major league start down 4-0 in the 7th inning, but got a nice ovation from the home crowd. Think he gets a nice ovation in NYC if he leaves with the home side down 4-nil? Me either.
11) Angels 4, Mariners 2-- Robinson Cano was sitting in dugout in between innings when an errant warmup throw drilled him in the forehead and forced him out of this game. Freak accident but another lousy night in a dismal Seattle season.
10) Kenny Albert came up with a great stat on FOX Saturday; the last 11 no-hitters were all thrown by National League pitchers. Last AL pitcher to toss a no-hitter was Felix Hernandez in 2012.
9) Speaking of no-hitters, a lefty named Ken Holtzman threw two of them for the Cubs, one in '69, one in '71. The first one, August 19, 1969 came against an Atlanta team that had Hank Aaron-Rico Carty-Orlando Cepeda batting 3-4-5. Damn- you toss a no-hitter against those three guys, thats a full day's work.
But the oddity of that no-hitter is this; Holtzman didn't strike anyone out, not even the opposing pitcher (Phil Niekro).
8) Holtzman has a special place in my heart because the Cubs traded him to Oakland after the '71 season (for Rick Monday) and he helped the A's win three World Series in a row, in 72-73-74. He was a very underrated big-game pitcher.
7) Staying in Oakland for a minute, you can buy a ticket package of all 13 A's home games in July, for..........take a guess. How much you think 13 games would go for? I'll post the answer a little further down the line in today's article.
6) Andrew Cashner has given up 19 unearned runs this season, partially because he isn't pitching as well, partially because the Padres are terrible on defense. Jon Niese has allowed the second-most unearned runs this season, with 11.
5) Jose Altuve is trailing in the All-Star voting, which is fine with me; he is on my fantasy team and I'd just as soon he had the four days off to rest his legs.
4) Not sure why, but Jeff Samardzija has allowed a run or more in first inning in nine of his last eleven starts, which is really bad. A's got Marcus Semien and Josh Phegley for Samardzija and right now, they might have gotten the better end of the deal.
You can buy a ticket package to all 13 Oakland home games in July for $89; that is less than $7 a game. Lot of places, one beer costs $7, or more.
3) Karl-Anthony Towns went #1 in the NBA Draft; six guys on Kentucky played more minutes than he did last winter. Has that ever happened before?
2) Oakland Raiders lost the Super Bowl after the 2002 season, but they got there; since that day, the Raiders are 56-136, which is hard to believe.
1) NBA free agency starts Wednesday; NBA is one league where the off-season is often more interesting than the actual season.
More pointspreads for six of college football's more interesting games this year:
-- Sept 3: Michigan @ Utah (-4)
-- Sept 4: Washington @ Boise State (-13)
-- Sept 5: Texas @ Notre Dame (-7.5)
-- Sept 19: Stanford @ USC (-4)
-- Sept 26: Tennessee (-2.5) @ Florida
-- Oct 3: Ole Miss (-6) at Florida
**********
Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Random stuff with weekend here.....
13) Rangers 4, Blue Jays 0-- Yovani Gallardo blanked the Jays for 8.1 innings in the Rogers Centre, which is super impressive this season-- Toronto only got five men on base against him and they score a lot of runs at home.
12) People are very nice in Toronto; rookie Matt Boyd left his first major league start down 4-0 in the 7th inning, but got a nice ovation from the home crowd. Think he gets a nice ovation in NYC if he leaves with the home side down 4-nil? Me either.
11) Angels 4, Mariners 2-- Robinson Cano was sitting in dugout in between innings when an errant warmup throw drilled him in the forehead and forced him out of this game. Freak accident but another lousy night in a dismal Seattle season.
10) Kenny Albert came up with a great stat on FOX Saturday; the last 11 no-hitters were all thrown by National League pitchers. Last AL pitcher to toss a no-hitter was Felix Hernandez in 2012.
9) Speaking of no-hitters, a lefty named Ken Holtzman threw two of them for the Cubs, one in '69, one in '71. The first one, August 19, 1969 came against an Atlanta team that had Hank Aaron-Rico Carty-Orlando Cepeda batting 3-4-5. Damn- you toss a no-hitter against those three guys, thats a full day's work.
But the oddity of that no-hitter is this; Holtzman didn't strike anyone out, not even the opposing pitcher (Phil Niekro).
8) Holtzman has a special place in my heart because the Cubs traded him to Oakland after the '71 season (for Rick Monday) and he helped the A's win three World Series in a row, in 72-73-74. He was a very underrated big-game pitcher.
7) Staying in Oakland for a minute, you can buy a ticket package of all 13 A's home games in July, for..........take a guess. How much you think 13 games would go for? I'll post the answer a little further down the line in today's article.
6) Andrew Cashner has given up 19 unearned runs this season, partially because he isn't pitching as well, partially because the Padres are terrible on defense. Jon Niese has allowed the second-most unearned runs this season, with 11.
5) Jose Altuve is trailing in the All-Star voting, which is fine with me; he is on my fantasy team and I'd just as soon he had the four days off to rest his legs.
4) Not sure why, but Jeff Samardzija has allowed a run or more in first inning in nine of his last eleven starts, which is really bad. A's got Marcus Semien and Josh Phegley for Samardzija and right now, they might have gotten the better end of the deal.
You can buy a ticket package to all 13 Oakland home games in July for $89; that is less than $7 a game. Lot of places, one beer costs $7, or more.
3) Karl-Anthony Towns went #1 in the NBA Draft; six guys on Kentucky played more minutes than he did last winter. Has that ever happened before?
2) Oakland Raiders lost the Super Bowl after the 2002 season, but they got there; since that day, the Raiders are 56-136, which is hard to believe.
1) NBA free agency starts Wednesday; NBA is one league where the off-season is often more interesting than the actual season.
