Armadillo Sports
Saturday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in batting average (min 100 AB’s):
.379— JD Martinez, Bos
.363— Tim Anderson, CWS
.357— Manny Machado, SD
.354— Taylor Ward, LAA
.353— Manuel Margot, TB
.349— Luis Arraez, Minn
Quote of the Day
“Jimmy Butler’s competitive will is as high as anyone.”
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra
Saturday’s quiz
Milwaukee Brewers came into existence in 1970, a year after they played one year as an expansion team in Seattle; what was the team’s name when they played in Seattle?
Friday’s quiz
Tony Romo, Sean Payton, Jimmy Garoppolo all played their college football at the same school; Eastern Illinois.
Thursday’s quiz
Aaron Donald played his college football for the Pitt Panthers.
************************************
Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….
13) Miami 111. Boston 103— Jimmy Butler played a GREAT game, scoring 47 points, with nine rebounds, eight assists. Game 7 is Sunday night in Miami.
Boston’s Al Horford has played in 140 playoff games without ever playing in the NBA Finals, most of any player without making the Finals. That can all change Sunday.
12) Los Angeles Lakers named 48-year old Darwin Ham as their new coach; Ham has been an assistant in the NBA for 11 years, most recently with Milwaukee (they won the title last year).
Ham played in the NBA for seven years, won a title with the 2004 Pistons. This will be the first time he is a head coach. His mother used to be mayor of Saginaw, Michigan.
11) Last three years, first half under is 55-21-1, in Eastern Conference playoff games in Games 3-7 of a series. Teams get to know each other’s plays so well, the deeper you get into a series, the harder it is to score— very few easy baskets.
10) Cardinals 4, Brewers 2— St Louis is using pitch-com more; they’re trying to get Dakota Hudson to work faster when he is on the mound- they think it’ll help both his pitching and their team’s fielding behind him.
In this game, Hudson threw 97 pitches in only 4.2 IP, but he didn’t allow any runs.
9) Atlanta Braves’ TV Friday night, Chip Caray/Jeff Francouer broadcast the game from the bleachers in right-center field, which is pretty cool. They’re a good broadcast team.
Chip Caray is Skip Caray’s son, Harry Caray’s grandson, but he isn’t funny like they were. He has made himself into a good broadcaster; upbeat, prepared, fun to listen to. He’s worked very hard at his job; tough to follow in the footsteps of his famous relatives, but he is doing it well.
8) I enjoy fantasy baseball (except for weeks when my team gets killed, like this week) so this is interesting to me. Bryce Harper can’t play the field because he can’t throw— his elbow is messed up— he DH’s every day, but that means JT Realmuto can’t DH when he doesn’t catch.
So if you have Realmuto on your fantasy team, you’re losing 20-25 games where Realmuto would likely be the DH- lot of at-bats. If there was no DH, Harper wouldn’t even be playing.
7) Coming into Friday’s baseball, San Francisco Giants’ hitters in the Blogs spot in the order were hitting a combined .166, with only 8 RBI, which is terrible.
6) Last weekend, Josh Donaldson got int a kerfuffle with Chicago’s Tim Anderson; MLB said he was suspended for a game. Then he missed a game with COVID. Now he has a bad shoulder.
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d suggest his suspension might’ve been longer than one game, they just don’t want to make a big deal out of it.
5) Mariners 6, Astros 1— Both starting pitchers faced 30 batters in this game, which almost never happens these days. Pitchers seldom face the same batter four times in a game, but three batters on each team did it in this game. Unusual.
4) Orioles 12, Red Sox 8— Boston led 8-2 after six innings; their bullpen imploded. This game was 6-0 in second inning.
3) Reds 5, Giants 1— San Francisco reliever Jake McGee wasn’t allowed to pitch in this game, because his name wasn’t listed on the Giants’ lineup card, which is given to umpires.
Whoops.
2) In the NL East, New York has a 7.5-game lead.
In the AL East, New York has a 6.5-game lead.
Think the TV networks that show postseason games are excited about this?
1) There was an ad in a San Antonio newspaper Friday, which said “The summer sale you WON’T want to miss” The sale is for all kinds of rifles, all weekend long, a few days after 19 kids were murdered in a 4th grade classroom, two hours west of San Antonio.
What is wrong with people; why do they need all these assault rifles?
Remind me never to go to Texas again. Ever.
Saturday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in batting average (min 100 AB’s):
.379— JD Martinez, Bos
.363— Tim Anderson, CWS
.357— Manny Machado, SD
.354— Taylor Ward, LAA
.353— Manuel Margot, TB
.349— Luis Arraez, Minn
Quote of the Day
“Jimmy Butler’s competitive will is as high as anyone.”
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra
Saturday’s quiz
Milwaukee Brewers came into existence in 1970, a year after they played one year as an expansion team in Seattle; what was the team’s name when they played in Seattle?
Friday’s quiz
Tony Romo, Sean Payton, Jimmy Garoppolo all played their college football at the same school; Eastern Illinois.
Thursday’s quiz
Aaron Donald played his college football for the Pitt Panthers.
************************************
Saturday’s Den: Clearing out a cluttered mind…….
13) Miami 111. Boston 103— Jimmy Butler played a GREAT game, scoring 47 points, with nine rebounds, eight assists. Game 7 is Sunday night in Miami.
Boston’s Al Horford has played in 140 playoff games without ever playing in the NBA Finals, most of any player without making the Finals. That can all change Sunday.
12) Los Angeles Lakers named 48-year old Darwin Ham as their new coach; Ham has been an assistant in the NBA for 11 years, most recently with Milwaukee (they won the title last year).
Ham played in the NBA for seven years, won a title with the 2004 Pistons. This will be the first time he is a head coach. His mother used to be mayor of Saginaw, Michigan.
11) Last three years, first half under is 55-21-1, in Eastern Conference playoff games in Games 3-7 of a series. Teams get to know each other’s plays so well, the deeper you get into a series, the harder it is to score— very few easy baskets.
10) Cardinals 4, Brewers 2— St Louis is using pitch-com more; they’re trying to get Dakota Hudson to work faster when he is on the mound- they think it’ll help both his pitching and their team’s fielding behind him.
In this game, Hudson threw 97 pitches in only 4.2 IP, but he didn’t allow any runs.
9) Atlanta Braves’ TV Friday night, Chip Caray/Jeff Francouer broadcast the game from the bleachers in right-center field, which is pretty cool. They’re a good broadcast team.
Chip Caray is Skip Caray’s son, Harry Caray’s grandson, but he isn’t funny like they were. He has made himself into a good broadcaster; upbeat, prepared, fun to listen to. He’s worked very hard at his job; tough to follow in the footsteps of his famous relatives, but he is doing it well.
8) I enjoy fantasy baseball (except for weeks when my team gets killed, like this week) so this is interesting to me. Bryce Harper can’t play the field because he can’t throw— his elbow is messed up— he DH’s every day, but that means JT Realmuto can’t DH when he doesn’t catch.
So if you have Realmuto on your fantasy team, you’re losing 20-25 games where Realmuto would likely be the DH- lot of at-bats. If there was no DH, Harper wouldn’t even be playing.
7) Coming into Friday’s baseball, San Francisco Giants’ hitters in the Blogs spot in the order were hitting a combined .166, with only 8 RBI, which is terrible.
6) Last weekend, Josh Donaldson got int a kerfuffle with Chicago’s Tim Anderson; MLB said he was suspended for a game. Then he missed a game with COVID. Now he has a bad shoulder.
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d suggest his suspension might’ve been longer than one game, they just don’t want to make a big deal out of it.
5) Mariners 6, Astros 1— Both starting pitchers faced 30 batters in this game, which almost never happens these days. Pitchers seldom face the same batter four times in a game, but three batters on each team did it in this game. Unusual.
4) Orioles 12, Red Sox 8— Boston led 8-2 after six innings; their bullpen imploded. This game was 6-0 in second inning.
3) Reds 5, Giants 1— San Francisco reliever Jake McGee wasn’t allowed to pitch in this game, because his name wasn’t listed on the Giants’ lineup card, which is given to umpires.
Whoops.
2) In the NL East, New York has a 7.5-game lead.
In the AL East, New York has a 6.5-game lead.
Think the TV networks that show postseason games are excited about this?
1) There was an ad in a San Antonio newspaper Friday, which said “The summer sale you WON’T want to miss” The sale is for all kinds of rifles, all weekend long, a few days after 19 kids were murdered in a 4th grade classroom, two hours west of San Antonio.
What is wrong with people; why do they need all these assault rifles?
Remind me never to go to Texas again. Ever.