Sunday’s 6-pack
Some updated Week 1 NFL spreads:
— Lions @ Kansas City (-7)
— Texans @ Baltimore (-9.5)
— Jaguars (-4) @ Indianapolis
— Titans @ New Orleans (-3.5)
— Cardinals @ Washington (-6)
— Raiders @ Denver (-3.5)
Quote of the Day
“I have discovered in 20 years of moving around a ballpark that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats.”
Bill Veeck
Sunday’s quiz
Which former major league manager was starting catcher for the Colorado Rockies in their first-ever game, back in 1993?
Saturday’s quiz
Minnesota Vikings haven’t won a Super Bowl, but they’ve won 19 division titles. Green Bay has won 16 division titles in the same division, but they’ve won four Super Bowls.
Friday’s quiz
In the old TV show The White Shadow, an NBA player retires and coaches a high school team in Los Angeles. Ken Reeves retired from the Chicago Bulls, then coached at Carver High School.
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Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday
— Celtics 104, Heat 103
Derrick White put in an offensive rebound at the buzzer to force Game 7.
Boston won despite shooting 7-35 on the arc.
Game 7 is Monday night in Boston.
If you see a replay of the last shot, watch Derrick White inbound the ball, then cut to the corner, where he was wide open but didn’t get the ball, but he pounded the boards and put the missed shot back in to win the game.
White didn’t get any Division I offers when he was in high school; he played D-2 ball for a few years, then transferred to Colorado, and worked his way into the NBA. Hard work pays off.
This is the 151st NBA playoff series where a team led 3-0; it is only the fourth time there will be a Game 7- the others:
1951 Knicks
1994 Nuggets
2003 Trailblazers
2023 Celtics
The other three teams all played Game 7 on the road, and they all lost.
— Milwaukee Bucks are hiring Toronto assistant Adrian Griffin as its new head coach, replacing Mike Budenholzer, who went 271-120 as coach of the Bucks, 39-26 in playoff games— he won the 2021 NBA title, but new ownership changed coaches.
Griffin has never been a head coach; he played in the NBA for nine years— his son plays for the Atlanta Hawks.
— Twins 9, Blue Jays 7
Minnesota hit home runs to centerfield on consecutive pitches in the 5th inning; Toronto CF Daulton Varsho had his glove on both balls, but couldn’t bring either one in.
— AL Central standings:
Twins 27-25
Tigers 24-26
Guardians 22-29
White Sox 22-32
Royals 15-38
By way of contrast, Toronto is 27-26, only a half-game worse than Minnesota, but the Blue Jays are in last place in the AL East.
— In six years with the Angels, Shohei Ohtani has played only seven games in the outfield; will the Angels trade him in July, or risk losing him for nothing next winter?
— White Sox SS Tim Anderson has had 15 4-hit games in his career; eight of them have been against the Detroit Tigers.
— Playing fantasy baseball is fun, it is fascinating, but it can also by mystifying; how else do you explain how some players come out of nowhere to have great/lousy seasons?
Marlins’ OF Jorge Soler is in his 10th year in the major leagues; he hit 48 homers for Kansas City four years ago, after hitting a total of 38 in his first five seasons. He’s hit more than 17 homers in only one other season (he hit 27 in 2021).
He hit his 17th home run Saturday night; that’s the 3rd-most homers he’s ever hit in a season, and now he’s homered in five straight games for the spunky Marlins.
— Cardinals 2, Guardians 1 (10)— St Louis had only two hits; the winning run scored on a passed ball. Brendan Donovan homered for the Redbirds.
— Phillies 2, Braves 1
Phillies’ starter Wheeler induced 22 whiffs on 53 swings.
Braves’ starter Morton induced 22 whiffs on 45 swings.
That doesn’t happen very much, m both starting pitchers inducing 20+ whiffs in a game.
— Mariners 5, Pirates 0— Pittsburgh hit 7 home runs Friday night; they had two hits in this game, one of them a double by Marcano leading off the game. Luis Castillo tossed six shutout innings for the second time this week.
— Rockies 10, Mets 7— Colorado blew a 6-0 lead, but they scored two runs in 7th, two more in 8th to avoid a hideous loss.
— South Florida’s football team has won a total of four games the last three years; their new coach has brought in 41 new scholarship players this season. You can only have 85 players on scholarship, so they’ve turned over half the team since last season.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t)
NL— Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Arizona-Giants-Pirates
AL— Rays, Twins, Rangers. Wild Cards: Orioles-Astros-New York
Some updated Week 1 NFL spreads:
— Lions @ Kansas City (-7)
— Texans @ Baltimore (-9.5)
— Jaguars (-4) @ Indianapolis
— Titans @ New Orleans (-3.5)
— Cardinals @ Washington (-6)
— Raiders @ Denver (-3.5)
Quote of the Day
“I have discovered in 20 years of moving around a ballpark that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats.”
Bill Veeck
Sunday’s quiz
Which former major league manager was starting catcher for the Colorado Rockies in their first-ever game, back in 1993?
Saturday’s quiz
Minnesota Vikings haven’t won a Super Bowl, but they’ve won 19 division titles. Green Bay has won 16 division titles in the same division, but they’ve won four Super Bowls.
Friday’s quiz
In the old TV show The White Shadow, an NBA player retires and coaches a high school team in Los Angeles. Ken Reeves retired from the Chicago Bulls, then coached at Carver High School.
*********************************************
Sunday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Saturday
— Celtics 104, Heat 103
Derrick White put in an offensive rebound at the buzzer to force Game 7.
Boston won despite shooting 7-35 on the arc.
Game 7 is Monday night in Boston.
If you see a replay of the last shot, watch Derrick White inbound the ball, then cut to the corner, where he was wide open but didn’t get the ball, but he pounded the boards and put the missed shot back in to win the game.
White didn’t get any Division I offers when he was in high school; he played D-2 ball for a few years, then transferred to Colorado, and worked his way into the NBA. Hard work pays off.
This is the 151st NBA playoff series where a team led 3-0; it is only the fourth time there will be a Game 7- the others:
1951 Knicks
1994 Nuggets
2003 Trailblazers
2023 Celtics
The other three teams all played Game 7 on the road, and they all lost.
— Milwaukee Bucks are hiring Toronto assistant Adrian Griffin as its new head coach, replacing Mike Budenholzer, who went 271-120 as coach of the Bucks, 39-26 in playoff games— he won the 2021 NBA title, but new ownership changed coaches.
Griffin has never been a head coach; he played in the NBA for nine years— his son plays for the Atlanta Hawks.
— Twins 9, Blue Jays 7
Minnesota hit home runs to centerfield on consecutive pitches in the 5th inning; Toronto CF Daulton Varsho had his glove on both balls, but couldn’t bring either one in.
— AL Central standings:
Twins 27-25
Tigers 24-26
Guardians 22-29
White Sox 22-32
Royals 15-38
By way of contrast, Toronto is 27-26, only a half-game worse than Minnesota, but the Blue Jays are in last place in the AL East.
— In six years with the Angels, Shohei Ohtani has played only seven games in the outfield; will the Angels trade him in July, or risk losing him for nothing next winter?
— White Sox SS Tim Anderson has had 15 4-hit games in his career; eight of them have been against the Detroit Tigers.
— Playing fantasy baseball is fun, it is fascinating, but it can also by mystifying; how else do you explain how some players come out of nowhere to have great/lousy seasons?
Marlins’ OF Jorge Soler is in his 10th year in the major leagues; he hit 48 homers for Kansas City four years ago, after hitting a total of 38 in his first five seasons. He’s hit more than 17 homers in only one other season (he hit 27 in 2021).
He hit his 17th home run Saturday night; that’s the 3rd-most homers he’s ever hit in a season, and now he’s homered in five straight games for the spunky Marlins.
— Cardinals 2, Guardians 1 (10)— St Louis had only two hits; the winning run scored on a passed ball. Brendan Donovan homered for the Redbirds.
— Phillies 2, Braves 1
Phillies’ starter Wheeler induced 22 whiffs on 53 swings.
Braves’ starter Morton induced 22 whiffs on 45 swings.
That doesn’t happen very much, m both starting pitchers inducing 20+ whiffs in a game.
— Mariners 5, Pirates 0— Pittsburgh hit 7 home runs Friday night; they had two hits in this game, one of them a double by Marcano leading off the game. Luis Castillo tossed six shutout innings for the second time this week.
— Rockies 10, Mets 7— Colorado blew a 6-0 lead, but they scored two runs in 7th, two more in 8th to avoid a hideous loss.
— South Florida’s football team has won a total of four games the last three years; their new coach has brought in 41 new scholarship players this season. You can only have 85 players on scholarship, so they’ve turned over half the team since last season.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t)
NL— Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Arizona-Giants-Pirates
AL— Rays, Twins, Rangers. Wild Cards: Orioles-Astros-New York
