Saturday’s 6-pack:
Major league leaders in total bases:
263— Shohei Ohtani, LAA
236— Freddie Freeman, LA
230— Ronald Acuna, Atl
221— Matt Olson, Atl
219— Luis Robert, CWS
216— Mookie Betts LA/Bo Bichette Tor
Quote of the Day
“It would be hard for me to go to another place and not be happy but have all the money in the world. (I’d rather) be at a place where maybe I don’t have as much, but I’m happy and I’m here to work.”
Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa
Saturday’s quiz
What was the name of the football team Al Pacino coached in
Any Given Sunday?
Friday’s quiz
Ozzie Guillen was the White Sox’ manager, last time they won the World Series, in 2005.
Thursday’s quiz
Before they played home games in Washington, the Nationals were the Montreal Expos.
*******************************************************
— Taulia Tagovailoa is Maryland’s quarterback; he is also Tua Tagovailoa’s brother. He says an unnamed SEC team offered him $1.5M to bolt the Terrapins this spring, to play for their team.
This is what college sports is becoming, teams poaching players left/right. Sam Hartman plays QB for four freakin’ years at Wake Forest, all of a sudden he bolts to Notre Dame. Why not just go to the NFL?
This isn’t good, college sports is becoming a cesspool.
— One of my heroes in life is Chase Daniel, who has been a backup QB in the NFL since 2010.
He played college ball at Missouri; in his NFL career, Chase Daniel has:
started 5 games (in 13 years). He was 2-3 in those starts.
has thrown 9 TD’s, 7 INT’s total, in 13 years.
total $$ earned in his NFL career: $41,828,471
Seriously hope he becomes a broadcaster; he must have some great stories.
— Other night on the White Sox TV broadcast, former big league pitcher Steve Arlin’s name came up— Steve Stone was talking about him. Steve Arlin had an interesting career:
He is in the College Baseball Hall of Fame; he pitched at Ohio State.
He pitched a no-hitter in the minor leagues, for the Phillies’ AA team.
San Diego took him from the Phillies in their expansion draft, in 1968.
He pitched six years in the majors, mostly for the Padres in their expansion years.
He went 9-19 in 1971, 10-21 in 1972- the early Padres were terrible.
In 1972, he pitched a one-hitter and three 2-hitters; he had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the 9th inning (by Denny Doyle).
He was later traded to Cleveland; one of the other players in the trade was Brent Strom, current pitching coach for Arizona, and the second guy to have Tommy John Surgery.
After his playing days, Steve Arlin was a dentist.
Arlin’s grandfather was Harold Arlin, the first broadcaster ever to call a game on radio, in 1921.
— Baseball trades:
Mets dealt P David Robertson to Miami, for two minor leaguers.
Dodgers acquired P’s Lance Lynn/Joe Kelly from the White Sox, for two minor leaguers and journeyman OF Trayce Thompson (Klay Thompson’s brother).
Astros acquired P Kendall Graveman from the White Sox, in exchange for a minor league catcher.
— If you wager on Canadian Football League games, you already know that the Edmonton Elks have lost 20 consecutive home games, going 3-17 ATS in those games.
— Phillies DH/LF Kyle Schwarber has 11 first pitch home runs this year, most in the majors.
— Movie of the Day:
Draft Day (2014)— General Manager of the Cleveland Browns is told by the team’s owner “to make a splash” to create interest in the team. After trading for the number one pick in the draft, the GM has to choose between drafting a lower-ranked LB with a questionable past, or a celebrated QB with a questionable future.
Kevin Costner plays the Browns’ GM, Denis Leary is their coach, Frank Langella the owner. Jennifer Garner is the team’s salary cap analyst.
NFL pushed back their draft that year to help promote this movie, but Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available at the later date, which is why they started moving the draft around America, which has turned out to be a brilliant idea.
— College Football Trend of the Day: Underdogs are 5-2 ATS in last seven New Mexico Bowls.
— Like to listen to podcasts about fantasy baseball, try to learn stuff, but the one I listen to the most has turned me off a little lately.
They’re talking about Mariners’ rookie Cade Marlowe the other night, and the host of the show doesn’t even know what position the guy plays. Here’s a hint: positions are listed in boxscores, every freakin’ day.
Last year, they didn’t know that Cedric Mullins stopped switch-hitting and was batting lefty all the time. Stop going thru the motions; earn your money, if you want people to listen.
— Super Bowl is in Las Vegas this season; that should be a low-key event.
— Cubs 3, Cardinals 2— Mike Tauchman robbed a home run to end the game; would’ve been a walk-off homer. Cubs have won seven games in a row.
— Red Sox 3, Giants 2— Boston is only 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card spot.
— Padres 7, Rangers 1— Joe Musgrove tossed six shutout IP.
— A’s 8, Rockies 5— Shea Langeliers doubled and tripled for Oakland.
— Mariners 5, Arizona 2— Seattle scored four runs in top of the first.
— Orioles 1, New York 0— Anthony Santander hit a 9th inning home run.
— Royals 8, Twins 5 (10)— Bobby Witt Jr hit a walk-off grand slam.
