Armadillo Sports
Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Six teams who get an extra 3rd round draft pick this year:
97) Vikings
98) Dolphins
99) Giants
100) 49ers
101) Rams
102) Lions
Thought of the Day
“We can’t run from who we are, our destiny chooses us.”
Martin Landau, in the movie Rounders
Wednesday’s quiz
In the movie Major League, what well-known actor played the third baseman for the Cleveland Indians?
Tuesday’s quiz
Billy Donovan won consecutive national titles coaching Florida in 2006, 2007; Mike White replaced him as Florida’s coach. White is now the coach at Georgia.
Monday’s quiz
Houston lost consecutive national title games in 1983/1984; they lost to NC State, Georgetown in those two championship games.
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Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings……..
— Long time ago, summer of 1999, my dad had bladder cancer; they actually removed his bladder, made a new one and after nine days in the hospital, he went home and was fine.
About halfway thru his stay in the hospital, I was sitting in his room on a Saturday afternoon watching the Mets. He was being fed thru a tube in his neck; the nurse was changing the dressing on that tube. It was Saturday, so there were different nurses than normal.
It was quiet except for the TV; all of a sudden my dad flinched and grimaced as if he were in pain. The nurse started apologizing to him for hurting him, but he stopped her.
He pointed at the TV: “You didn’t hurt me; the Cubs have the bases loaded!!!”
The nurse quickly looked at me; my eyes kind of popped out of my head. My first thought was positive; if he cares about the ballgame, he feels better, that’s a plus.
But I gave him a look and said “Seriously???” and got up went down the hall to the vending machines to get some junk food. As soon as I left the room I broke out laughing; it was genuinely funny, other than him scaring the nurse (I apologized to her later).
Was reminded of that story today; next month will be the 10th anniversary of his death. He was an awesome guy, a great dad, and he is missed every day.
— Denver Nuggets won the NBA title last year, went 57-25 last year and are 47-32 this year, albeit 11-13 since the All-Star break (they won their last eight games before the All-Star Game). Jamal Murray didn’t play the last five games for Denver.
Tuesday, Denver fired coach Michael Malone; the word “shocked/shocking” were used many times in every story about the firing. Nuggets also are dumping GM Calvin Booth; the story I read said the coach/GM weren’t getting along, so they both got told to take a hike, although GM Booth is going to finish this season with Denver.
— Weird stat: Four of the last six coaches to win the NBA Finals are no longer with the team they led to the championship.
— Famous birthdays, April 9th:
Michael Learned, 86
Stan Love, 76
Rob Scribner, 74
Dennis Quaid, 71
Klye Macy, 68
Kirk McCaskill, 64
Bo Kimble, 59
Raheem Mostert, 33
Luis Arraez, 28
Zac Stacy, 24
— It has been cold here in the northeast this spring, cold all over; lot of ballplayers are wearing hoodies under their caps out in the field. A’s were out in Denver over the weekend; RF Lawrence Butler looked like he was dressed to play at Lambeau Field in January. Can’t be much fun spending a couple months in Arizona, then starting the season in chilly temperatures.
— Red Sox DH Rafael Devers started the season 0-19, but is 11-26 since then.
— Toronto Blue Jays gave 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr a 14-year, $500M contract after he hit .323 last year, with a .940 OPS. Guerrero was supposed to be a free agent next winter, but that ship has sailed now.
— There were three games Tuesday that were scoreless after five innings.
Under was 9-6 for the day.
— A’s 10, Padres 4
A’s scored six runs in first inning, got their first win in Sacramento.
Dylan Cease allowed nine runs in 4 IP (78 PT)
Rough day for the Padres: they put OF Jackson Merrill on the IL (hamstring) then lost both Fernando Tatis, Jake Cronenworth during the game when they got hurt while batting.
— Guardians 1, White Sox 0
Cleveland was last team to play its home opener.
Nolan Jones drew a walk-off walk from former Guardian Mike Clevinger.
White Sox have lost six games in a row, scoring total of 13 runs.
— Angels 4, Rays 3
Rays started a 13-game home stand, the longest home stand in the majors since 2011.
Angels are off to a 7-3 start; they won their first three series.
Tampa Bay has now lost five games in a row.
— Astros 2, Mariners 1 (12)
Seattle was 1-19 with men in scoring position.
Under is 8-1 in Mariners’ home games.
Under is 8-3 in Houston games this season.
— Reds 1, Giants 0
I wouldn’t want to be the Reds’ hitting coach; they’ve scored 2 or fewer runs in seven of their last eight games, but they didn’t allow a run the last two days.
— Nationals 8, Dodgers 2
Dodgers lost four of last five games, after their 8-0 start.
— Braves 7, Phillies 5
Big win for Atlanta, after their dismal 1-8 start.
Sean Murphy homered, drove in four runs.
Phillies’ utility guy Edmundo Sosa robbed Marcell Ozuna of a homer with a great catch, in his first game playing the outfield.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Mets, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Phillies
AL- Blue Jays, Tigers, Angels Wild Cards- Rangers, Royals, New York
