Armadillo Sports

September’s Too……..is a good bar
1165 Central Avenue in Colonie, just west of Osborne Road

Tuesday- $5 drafts all day long…….very good food
Wednesday- they have 12 TV’s to watch games
Thursday- Open Mic night with Cool Universe, 8:00
Friday- Karaoke, 8pm
Saturday- Live music, starting at 8pm

They have 12 TV’s and good food/drinks.
You can order food from them via Door Dash
Check it out, it’s a fun place
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Baseball trends are posted regularly.

Tuesday’s 5-pack:
— Thunder 120, Pacers 109— Oklahoma City leads NBA Finals, 3-2.
— Thunder led 59-45 at halftime; Indiana got within 2 points in 2nd half.
— Jalen Williams scored 40 points; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 31.
— 10th game this season where those two combined for 70+ points.
— Game 6 is Thursday night in Indiana.
— In previous 31 NBA Finals that were tied 2-2, the team that won Game 5 has won 23 of the 31 series.

Quote of the Day 
“It wasn’t a perfect game at all and there’s a lot of room for growth, but our improvement from Game 4 to Game 5 was critical.”
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault

Tuesday’s quiz
When the Seattle SuperSonics won their only NBA title in 1979, who was their coach?

Monday’s quiz
In the Odd Couple episode where Felix/Oscar play as partners on the game show Password, they played against Betty White, whose husband was Allen Ludden, the host of Password.

Sunday’s quiz
Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan was in the major leagues for 27 years, but only pitched in one World Series, in 1969 for the Mets. 

Trends for major league teams (thru Monday’s games)

— Arizona (36-35)
Arizona won nine of its last 12 games.
Over is 7-3 in their last ten home games.
Arizona is 6-13 in last 19 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Braves (31-39)
Atlanta lost 16 of its last 23 games.
Braves are 19-15 at home, 12-24 on the road.
Under is 15-6 in their last 21 home games.

— Cubs (44-28)
Chicago is 13-3 of its last 16 home games.
Under is 16-4 in their last 20 games.
Cubs are 9-3 vs American League teams.

— Reds (37-35)
Cincinnati is 12-8 in its last 20 games.
Reds are 7-2 in last nine series openers.
Reds are 28-21 vs righty starters, 9-14 vs lefties.

— Rockies (15-57)
Colorado is 3-2 in its last five games.
Over is 7-1 in Rockies’ last eight games.
Rockies are 1-19 vs lefty starters, 14-38 vs righties. 

— Dodgers (44-29)
Dodgers are 21-19 in their last 40 games,
Dodgers are 25-12 at home, 18-17 on the road.
Dodgers are 34-18 vs righty starters, 10-11 vs lefties.
Over is 20-5 in their last 25 home games.

— Marlins (28-42)                                                                       )
Marlins are 5-4 in their last nine games.
Miami is 14-21 at home, 14-21 on the road.
Marlins are 2-10 in road series openers.

— Brewers (39-34)
Brewers are 11-6 in their last 17 home games.
Brewers are 23-15 at home, 16-19 on the road.
Under is 17-7 in their last 24 home games.

— Mets (45-27)
Mets lost their last three games.
Mets are 27-10 at home, 18-17  on the road.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven games.

— Phillies (43-29)
Phillies won their last five games.
Phillies are 34-17 vs righty starters, 9-12 vs lefties.
Phillies are 9-3 in home series openers.

— Pirates (29-44)
Pirates are 7-3 in last 10 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Pittsburgh is 19-19 at home, 10-25 on the road.
Under is 14-4 in their last 18 road games.

— St Louis (37-35)
St Louis lost seven of its last eight games.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.
St Louis is 22-14 at home, 15-21 on the road.

— Padres (39-32)
Padres lost five of their last seven games.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven games.
Padres are 11-8 against their NL West rivals.
San Diego starting pitchers have one win/five losses in last 17 road games.

— Giants (41-31)
Giants won their last five home games.
Giants are 33-18 vs righty pitchers, 8-13 vs lefties.
SF is 16-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Over is 5-0 in Giants’ last five games.
Where will they play Devers/bat him in the lineup?

— Washington (30-42)
Nationals lost 12 of their last 14 games.
Under is 13-4 in their last 17 home games.
Washington is 13-5 last 18 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, June 17th:
Dave Concepción, 77
Mickey Brantley, 64
Greg Kinnear, 62

Mike Magnante, 60
Jason Hanson, 55
Popeye Jones, 55

Andrew Chefin, 35
Yusei Kikuchi, 34
Shane Baz, 26

— Orioles (30-41)
Baltimore is 3-7 in its last ten games.
Orioles are 8-9 vs AL East foes, 22-32 vs everyone else.
Under is 11-3 in their last 14 games.

— Red Sox (38-36)
Red Sox are 8-1 in their last nine games.
Boston is 9-17 in one-run games.
Under is 8-1 in their last nine home games.
Red Sox’ lineup is sketchy, minus Bregman/Devers.

— White Sox (23-49)
Chicago is 12-8 in its last 20 home games.
White Sox are 7-31 on the road.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine road games.

— Cleveland (35-35)
Guardians lost nine of their last 12 games.
Cleveland is 14-5 against its AL Central rivals.
Guardians are 30-22 vs righty starters, 5-13 vs lefties.
Under is 12-3 in their last 15 road games.

— Detroit (46-27)
Detroit is 13-8 vs its AL Central rivals.
Tigers are 6-6 in their last 12 games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.

— Houston (38-30)
Astros are 27-13 at home, 14-18 on the road.
Houston is 6-3 in its last nine series openers.
Under is 22-10 in their last 32 games.
Astros are 14-7 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Royals (34-38)
Royals are 6-15 in their last 21 games.
Kansas City scored 11 runs in its last six games.
Over is 8-4 in Royals’ last 12 games.

— Angels (34-37)
Angels are 8-5 in their last 13 games.
Over is 10-6 in their last 16 road games.
Halos are 15-7 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Twins (36-35)
Twins are 2-8 in their last ten games.
Minnesota is 20-12 at home, 16-23 on the road.
Over is 11-5 in their last 16 games.

— New York (42-29)
New York lost its last four games, scoring four runs.
Under is 5-0 in their last five games.
New York is 32-22 vs righty starters, 10-7 vs lefties.

— A’s (30-44)
A’s won their last four games.
A’s scored in 1st inning in six of last 12 home games.
Over is 17-3 in their last 10 road games.

— Seattle (36-35)
Mariners lost eight of their last 10 road games.
Seattle is 7-12 in its last 19 home games.
Under is 6-1 in Mariners’ last seven home games.

— Tampa Bay (40-32)
Tampa Bay won 19 of its last 25 games.
Under is 21-9 in their last 30 home games.
Rays are 12-4 in last 16 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (36-36)
Rangers won seven of their last eight games.
Texas is 6-13 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Rangers are 23-13 at home, 13-23 on road.
Under is 19-7 in their last 26 road games.

— Toronto (38-33)
Blue Jays won eight of their last 10 home games.
Over is 13-3 in their last 16 games.
Toronto is 8-3 in last eleven games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Giants, Padres
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: Rays, Blue Jays, Red Sox

— Blockbuster trade Sunday night; Red Sox unloaded DH Rafael Devers and the $270M or so he is still owed thru 2033, to San Francisco, in exchange for two pitchers, two other prospects.

Pitchers Boston got are Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks.
Minor league prospects are OF James Tibbs, P Jose Bello

Consensus from the people I listened to Sunday night said this is mostly a salary dump- the players the Red Sox got don’t match up to trading an elite hitter, even if he is only a DH.

— San Francisco is a way worse hitters’ ballpark than Fenway; Giants haven’t had a player hit 30+ home runs since 2004. 

Where will Devers play in the field? 1B? 3B? Will he even play in the field?

Interesting questions to follow over the next week or so, especially when you realize that the Red Sox visit San Francisco this coming weekend.

Would make sense if the Red Sox use the $31.8M/year they just got out from under to add another potent bat, to hit between Jarren Duran, Alex Bregman, when Bregman gets healthy.
It also figures that Boston is way more likely to sign Bregman to a longer-term deal now that Devers is gone.

— Around 6:45 Sunday night, Kyle Harrison was headed to the dugout in Los Angeles, so he could stay warming up for the Giants-Dodgers game, when he was pulled back and told he was traded to Boston. Giants had a bullpen game in their 5-4 loss to the Dodgers Sunday night.

— Shohei Ohtani makes his return to the mound Monday night, when the Dodgers play San Diego, but apparently he’s just going to be an opener, throwing 1-2 innings, as he builds his workload up.

— Giants’ ace Logan Webb has had seven starts this season where he’s thrown 7+ innings; the entire Dodger pitching staff has had three games where their starter lasted 7+ innings.

— Major League Baseball has to be happy with the pitch clock/rule change.

%age of MLB games that have lasted 3+ hours:
2021- 67%
2022- 60%
2023- 17%
2024- 12%
2025- 15%

— Cubs beat Detroit 6-1 in a game last week, despite not having any at-bats with a runner in scoring position, the first team since the 2016 Twins to win a game by 5+ runs without having an at-bat with a runner at second or third base.

— Famous birthdays, June 16th:
Joan Van Ark, 82
Rick Adelman, 79
Al Cowlings, 78
Ron LeFlore, 77
Al Skinner, 73

Frank Corral, 70
Tree Rollins, 70
Laurie Metcalf, 70
Darrell Griffith, 67
Wally Joyner, 63

Calvin Schiraldi, 63
Kerry Wood, 48
Austin Blythe, 33
Will Benson, 27
Justin Jefferson, 26

— Obscure Stat of the Day, part 1:
Rangers’ SS Corey Seager has drawn a walk in 10 consecutive games; the all-time MLB record for most consecutive games drawing a walk is 22, set by Detroit’s Roy Cullenbine in 1947.

Cullenbine was a 1B/OF who played for six different teams in his 10-year career. 1947 was the last year he played; he had a career .408 on-base %age.

— Obscure Stat of the Day, part 2:
2020 San Diego Padres hold an odd record; they hit a grand slam in four consecutive games, which no one else has ever done. Would’ve thought someone had a longer streak, but no,

— Reds 8, Tigers 4
Elly De La Cruz scored 3 runs, homered and had 3 RBI.
De La Cruz has now homered in four consecutive games.
Three Detroit errors led to five unearned runs for the Reds.

— Marlins 3, Nationals 1
Eric Wagaman had two RBI as the Marlins swept this series.
Washington has lost eight games in a row; manager Dave Martinez called out his players over the weekend, rarely a good thing for the manager.

— Rangers 2, White Sox 1
Kumar Rocker threw five scoreless IP, while fighting cramps; he drank couple of small bottles of pickle juice on the mound— wasn’t sure that was legal. 

Rangers have quietly won seven of their last eight games.

White Sox manager Will Venable got tossed in the bottom of the first inning, after his pitcher had thrown only 13 pitches. It turns out Venable was thrown out of games on both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day this year.

— A’s 3, Royals 2
A’s swept this 3-game series; before Friday, A’s had lost their last 14 road games.
Nick Kurtz hit the game-winning home run in the ninth inning.
Royals went 0-6 on their homestand, scoring total of 11 runs.
Kansas City has lost its last six home series.

— Rockies 10, Braves 1
This game was 1-1 after the sixth inning.
Braves P Grant Holmes struck out 15 guys in 6.1 IP, but took the loss.
Colorado improved to 7-30 on the road.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Giants, Padres
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards:  Rays, Blue Jays, Mariners

— Happy Armadillo Day; started this blog 24 years ago this week. Hope you enjoy reading it every day- you DO read it every day, right? 🙂 

The world has changed a lot since 2001; some for the better, some not so much, but hopefully things will get better again soon.

I try to focus on the positive here, but mostly aim for being realistic.

Thanks for reading, even if you read it only because it helps you sleep better 🙂

— Panthers 4, Oilers 2
Panthers led 2-0 after the first period.
Florida scored their five goals on only 19 shots.
Brad Marchand scored twice for Florida.
Game 6 is in Florida Tuesday night.

Panthers’ star Marchand has scored six goals for Florida in this year’s Final.

He scored five goals for the Bruins in the 2011 Finals. 

He is the first player in NHL history to score 5+ goals in a Stanley Cup Final with two different teams.

— Was watching Tigers-Orioles game the other night, and the great actor JK Simmons showed up in the Orioles’ TV booth, unannounced. Simmons is a big-time Tigers’ fan; he was also the manager of the Tigers in the excellent Kevin Costner movie For Love of the Game.

He has 245 acting credits on IMDB; he was Dr Skoda in 45 episodes of Law and Order, just a tremendous career.

— Atlanta Braves were minus-350 favorites over Colorado Saturday, huge favorites. Remember reading something a long time ago advising you to never lay more than -150 on baseball.

My cousin KL Wheat, who is smart with his bets, never lays more than -120.

— Pirates P Paul Skenes has a 1.78 ERA in 15 starts this year, but he is 4-6 in those start; Pirates have scored 3 or fewer runs in 10 of his 15 starts. Under is 8-3 in his last 11 starts.

— Cardinals 8, Brewers 5
Willson/William Contreras became the first brothers since 1933 to homer in the same inning in the same game, when they were on opposing sides in that game. 

Last year, Cleveland’s Josh/Bo Naylor did it as teammates.

— Heading into this weekend, the average OPS in the major leagues was .712; in 2019 it was .758, in 2020 it was .740. Getting harder and harder to hit.

— Famous birthdays, June 15th:
Dusty Baker, 76
Jim Belushi, 71
Wade Boggs, 67
Helen Hunt, 62
Courteney Cox, 61

Kerwin Bell, 60
O’Shea Jackson Sr., 56 (Ice Cube)
Andy Pettitte, 53
Michael Doleac, 48
Derek Anderson, 42

Tim Lincecum, 41
Trevor Plouffe, 39
Jake Locker, 37
Cooper Kupp, 32
Dom Smith, 30

Happy birthday to the Big Dawg, whose birthday is this weekend. He’s been a good friend for many years, he’s a good NFL handicapper.

— When Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin scored 27 points off the bench the other night, it was the most points a sub scored in an NBA Finals game since Jason Terry scored 27 in 2011.

Both players were coached in those games by Rick Carlisle.

Pacers’ star Tyrese Halliburton has scored 71 points in the first four games of the series vs Oklahoma City; he’s taken a total of only three foul shots in the four games, all of them in the Game 4 loss.

— Diamondbacks 8, Padres 7
Arizona led 3-1 after the sixth inning.
San Diego led 7-3 in the middle of the ninth. 

Diamondbacks scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth; Geraldo Perdomo’s bases loaded triple was the big blow in the inning.

— It was a good week for a couple of NFL punters:

Monday, Jaguars gave P Logan Cooke a 4-year, $16M contract, making him the highest-paid punter in the NFL. 

Tuesday, Seahawks gave P Michael Dickson a 4-year, $16.2M contract, making him the highest-paid punter in the NFL.

— Houston Texans WR Nico Collins had 142 receiving yards negated by Houston penalties last year, more than any other player.

— White Sox traded 1B/OF Andrew Vaughn to Milwaukee for P Aaron Civale, who the Brewers had demoted to the bullpen. White Sox had demoted Vaughn to AAA.

— I’m curious if baseball executives who were really good ballplayers look down their noses at the nerdy, non-athletic guys who are often in front offices these days?

I’m guessing they do; John Smoltz was on TV Saturday night, saying how official scorers should consult with former players when they make scoring decisions, to find “how difficult a play that really was”

— Baseball seriously needs to promote itself better; a good reality show would include current players watching fantasy baseball podcasts on YouTube, where nerdy types criticize players, as they add/drop or trade these players. 

A quick trend for all of Saturday’s starting pitchers:
NL games
Marlins @ Nationals
Miami is undecided on their starter; they’re 1-4 in second game of a series, if they won the opener.

Nationals are 4-7 in Williams’ last 11 starts.

Pirates @ Cubs
Burrows is 2-1, 3.77 in his first three starts.

Cubs are 5-0 in Boyd’s home starts.

Rockies @ Braves
Under is 5-2 in last seven Dollander starts.

Strider is 0-5, 5.76 in his first five starts.

Cardinals @ Brewers
Pallante is 0-1, 6.64 in his last four starts (over 3-1)

Bewers are 6-2 in Quintana starts (under 7-1)

Padres @ Diamondbacks
San Diego won Bergert’s first two starts (0-0, 1.74, under 2-0)

Gallen is 1-4, 6.94 in his last six starts.

Giants @ Dodgers
Under is 4-1 in Roupp’s last five starts.

Over is 5-0 in Kershaw’s starts.

AL games
Angels @ Orioles
Anderson is 0-3, 5.63 in his last nine starts.

Under is 9-1 in Sugano’s last ten starts.

White Sox @ Rangers
Chicago is undecided on their starter; they’re 7-29 on the road. 

deGrom is 6-1, 1.46 in his last eight starts.

Twins @ Astros
Ryan is 5-0, 2.89 in his last five starts.

Brown is 7-2, 1.82 in his last ten starts.

A’s @ Royals
Lopez is 0-3, 6.61 in four starts.

Lorenzen is 1-1, 9.88 in his last three starts.

Bronx @ Red Sox
Under is 11-4 in Rodon’s starts.

Dobbins is 3-1, 4.74 in five home starts.

Guardians @ Mariners
Under is 8-2 in Bibee’s last ten starts.

Kirby is 1-1, 3.00 in his last two starts.

Famous birthdays, June 14th:
Vince Evans, 70
Sam Perkins, 64
Eric Murdock, 57

Bruce Bowen, 54
Sammy Watkins, 32
Bobby Witt Jr, 25

Interleague games
Reds @ Tigers
Under is 7-2 in Singer’s last nine starts.

Flaherty is 3-0, 0.50 in his last three starts.

Blue Jays @ Phillies
Francis is 0-6, 6.29 in his last nine starts.

Sanchez is 1-1, 2.41 in his last three starts.

Rays @ Mets
Rasmussen is 4-0, 0.62 in his last five starts.

Over is 8-2 in Megill’s last ten starts. 

Trends for major league teams (thru Thursday’s games)

— Arizona (34-34)
Arizona won seven of its last ten games.
Diamondbacks scored in first inning in 6 of  their last 11 home games.
Arizona is 4-12 in last 16 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Braves (29-38)
Atlanta lost 15 of its last 20 games.
Braves are 17-14 at home, 12-24 on the road.
Under is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

— Cubs (42-27)
Chicago is 11-2 of its last 13 home games.
Under is 13-4 in their last seventeen games.
Cubs are 9-3 vs American League teams.

— Reds (35-34)
Cincinnati is 10-7 in its last seventeen games.
Reds are 7-1 in last eight series openers.
Reds are 27-21 vs righty starters, 8-13 vs lefties.

— Rockies (13-55)
Colorado is 6-22 since they changed managers.
Under is 16-4 in Rockies’ last 20 road games.
Rockies are 1-19 vs lefty starters, 12-36 vs righties. 

— Dodgers (41-28)
Dodgers are 18-18 in their last 36 games,
Dodgers are 23-11 at home, 18-17 on the road.
Dodgers are 32-17 vs righty starters, 9-11 vs lefties.
Over is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

— Marlins (25-41)                                                                       )
Marlins are 4-11 in their last fifteen games.
Miami is 14-20 at home, 11-21 on the road.
Marlins are 1-10 in road series openers.

— Brewers (37-33)
Brewers are 9-5 in their last 14 home games.
Brewers are 21-14 at home, 16-19 on the road.
Under is 15-6 in their last 21 home games.

— Mets (45-24)
Mets won 11 of their last 13 games.
Mets are 27-7 at home, 18-17  on the road.
Under is 11-5 in their last 16 home games.

— Phillies (39-29)
Phillies lost ten of their last thirteen games.
Phillies are 30-17 vs righty starters, 9-12 vs lefties.
Phillies are 8-3 in home series openers.

— Pirates (28-42)
Pirates are 6-3 in their last nine games.
Pittsburgh is 19-19 at home, 9-23 on the road.
Under is 11-4 in their last 15 road games.

— St Louis (36-33)
St Louis lost its last five games.
Cardinals are 11-3 when Sonny Gray starts.
Over is 7-4 in their last eleven games.
St Louis is 22-14 at home, 14-19 on the road.

— Padres (38-29)
Padres won 11 of their last 17 games.
Under is 8-2 in their last ten road games.
San Diego is 8-4 in its last 12 series openers.
Padres are 10-5 against their NL West rivals.

— Giants (40-29)
Giants won seven of their last eight games.
Giants are 32-17 vs rightly pitchers, 8-12 vs lefties.
SF is 16-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Under is 19-5 in Giants’ last 24 games.

— Washington (30-38)
Nationals lost eight of their last ten games.
Under is 11-2 in their last 13 home games.
Washington is 13-4 last 17 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, June 13th:
Marcel Lachemann, 84
Happy Feller, 76
Richard Thomas, 74
Ernie Whitt, 73
Tim Allen, 72

Ally Sheedy, 63
Šarūnas Marčiulionis, 61
Jonathan Lucroy, 39
Hassan Whiteside, 36
James McCann, 35

— Orioles (27-40)
Baltimore is 2-4 in its last six games.
Orioles are 8-8 vs AL East foes, 19-32 vs everyone else.
Under is 9-1 in their last ten games.

— Red Sox (34-36)
Red Sox are 4-1 in their last five games.
Boston is 7-17 in one-run games.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven games.
Red Sox are 19-17 at home, 15-19 on the road.

— White Sox (23-46)
Chicago is 12-8 in its last 20 home games.
White Sox are 7-28 on the road.
White Sox are 17-36 vs righty starters, 6-10 vs lefties.

— Cleveland (35-32)
Guardians lost six of their last nine games.
Cleveland is 14-5 against its AL Central rivals.
Guardians are 30-19 vs righty starters, 5-13 vs lefties.
Under is 10-2 in their last 12 road games.

— Detroit (45-25)
Detroit is 13-8 vs its AL Central rivals.
Tigers won four of their last six games.
Under is 9-1 in their last ten home games.

— Houston (38-30)
Astros are 24-13 at home, 14-17 on the road.
Houston is 5-2 in its last seven series openers.
Under is 19-9 in their last 28 games.
Astros are 12-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Royals (34-35)
Royals are 6-12 in their last eighteen games.
Kansas City is 19-16 at home, 15-19 on the road.
Over is 7-2 in Royals’ last nine games.
Kansas City is 12-10 in one-run games.

— Angels (33-34)
Angels won seven of their last nine games.
Over is 8-4 in their last 12 road games.
Halos are 14-7 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Twins (36-32)
Twins are 2-5 in their last seven games.
Minnesota is 20-12 at home, 16-20 on the road.
Over is 10-3 in their last 13 games.

— New York (42-25)
New York won 23 of its last 32 games.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven games.
New York is 32-19 vs righty starters, 10-6 vs lefties.

— A’s (26-44)
A’s lost 24 of their last 28 games.
A’s have lost 14 straight road games.
Over is 10-4 in their last 14 games.

— Seattle (33-34)
Mariners lost eight of their last nine games.
Seattle is 4-11 in its last 15 home games.
Under is 4-0 in Mariners’ last four home games.

— Tampa Bay (36-32)
Tampa Bay won 14 of its last 20 games.
Under is 20-9 in their last 29 home games.
Rays are 12-4 in last 16 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (33-36)
Rangers won four of their last five games.
Texas is 5-13 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Rangers are 20-13 at home, 13-23 on road.
Under is 19-7 in their last 26 road games.

— Toronto (38-30)
Blue Jays won 12 of their last 14 games.
Over is 11-2 in their last 13 games.
Toronto is 8-2 in last nten games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Pacers 116, Thunder 107
Bennedict Mathurin (+16) scored 27 points in 22:00 off the bench.
Pacers outscored Oklahoma City 21-11 over the last 8:00.
Indiana leads series, 2-1; Game 4 is Friday in Indianapolis.

— In the history of the NBA Finals, when the series was tied 1-1, the team that won Game 3 has gone 33-8 in those series.

— According to the Interweb, the New York Knicks franchise is worth $7.5B, the 2nd-most valuable franchise in the NBA (Golden State is worth $8.8B).

Knicks made the Eastern Conference finals this year for the first time since 2000, they did really well. People should be optimistic. But here is where it gets dicey.

They fired their coach, Tom Thibodeau, and seem to be clueless about who they’re going to replace him with. What the hell is going on? 

Thibodeau was 226-174 in five regular seasons in New York, 24-23 in playoff games, with this year his biggest success, but he got fired, which is their business, but if you fired a successful coach, you damn well better have a new coach right there, ready to replace him. 

Maybe Michael Malone, who won the NBA title two years ago in Denver? He was an assistant for the Knicks from 2001-05.

— Four other NBA teams have already rejected the Knicks’ request to interview their current head coach to move to Manhattan.

— USC Trojans recently named former NBA guard Earl Boykins an assistant coach; the 5-foot-5 Boykins played 13 years in the NBA. He is the shortest player in NBA history to score 30+ points in a game. He was an assistant coach at UTEP the last four years. 

— Famous birthdays, June 12th:
Timothy Busfield, 68
Rory Sparrow, 67
Tim DeKay, 62
Rick Hoffman, 55

Ryan Klesko, 54
Kerry Kittles, 51
Antawn Jamison, 49
Dallas Clark, 46

Andre Davis, 46
Jrue Holiday, 35
Sean Newcomb, 32
Aaron Civale, 30

— Mets 5, Nationals 0
David Peterson threw a 106-pitch complete game.
Brandon Nimmo homered twice.
Pete Alonso has 20 RBI in his last ten games.
Mets are 26-7 at home, 18-17 on the road.

— Dodgers 5, Padres 2
Teoscar Hernandez hit a 3-run homer in 6th inning.
This was the first series between the rivals this season.
Teams play again next week in Los Angeles.

— Guardians 11, Reds 2
Carlos Santana hit a grand slam.
Jose Ramirez extended his on-base streak to 37 consecutive games.
Loss snapped Cincinnati’s 5-game winning streak.

— Braves 6, Brewers 2
Schwellenach pitched a complete game.
Acuna/Harris both homered for the Braves.
This was Atlanta’s first series win in their last seven series.

— Angels 6, A’s 5
A’s led 3-0 after the fifth inning.
A’s lost their 14th consecutive road game.
Angels won seven of their last nine games.

— Astros 10, White Sox 2
Christian Walker homered, drove in four runs.
Jose Altuve had two hits, including the 2,300th hit of his career.
White Sox slipped to 7-27 on the road.

— Twins 6, Rangers 2
Byron Buxton hit a 479-foot home run.
David Festa got the win, giving up three hits in 6 IP.

— Red Sox 4, Rays 3
Rookie Mayer homered twice for the Red Sox.
Boston hit four solo home runs.
Only third time in last 19 games that the Rays’ pitcher allowed more than 3 earned runs.

— Red Sox promoted their #1 prospect Roman Anthony to the majors this week; apparently his family isn’t very original with names:

His grandfather is Anthony Anthony
His father is Anthony Anthony
One of his brothers is also Anthony Anthony.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
AL: New York, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Twins, Rays
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Giants, Phillies, Padres

AL teams’ records, by starting pitcher:

— Orioles (26-39)
Eflin 5-3
Morton 3-7 (under 4-1 last five)
Kremer 5-8 (under 7-2 last nine)
Sugano 7-6 (under 9-1 last ten)
Povich 4-8
Young 1-1
Gibson 0-4 (over 3-1)
Rogers 1-0
McDermott 0-1
Akin 0-2 (opener)

— Red Sox (33-36)
Crochet 8-6 (under 10-4)
Houck 2-7 (over 5-1 last six)
Buehler 6-4 (under 3-1 last four)
Pitts 0-5 (under 4-1)
Newcomb 2-3 (over 4-1)
Dobbins 5-3 (over 3-1 last four)
Bello 5-5 (over 7-3)
Giolito 5-3

— White Sox (23-44)
Burke 6-5 (under 5-1 last six)
Cannon 1-9 (over 5-1 last six)
Perez 2-2
Smith 4-9 (over 4-1 last five)
Martin 3-9
Wilson 3-2 (over 4-1)
Houser 2-2 (under 4-0)
Gilbert 1-2 (opener)
Eisert 0-2 (opener)
Shuster 0-2 (opener)
Vasil 0-1 (opener)

— Guardians (34-32)
Lively 7-2 (under 6-2 last eight)
Williams 8-5 (over 7-3 last ten)
Bibee 7-6 (under 8-2 last ten)
Ortiz 5-8 (under 6-3 last nine)
Allen 5-6 (under 3-1 last four)
Cecconi 2-3 (under 4-1)
Nikhazy 0-1
Allard 1-0

— Tigers (44-24)
Skubal 9-4 (under 3-0 last three)
Flaherty 5-8 (under 3-1 last four)
Olson 5-4
Jobe 9-1
Mize 7-3 (over 4-1 last five)
Montero 5-1 (under 5-1)
Gipson-Long 1-0
Holton 1-1 (opener)
Hurter 2-0 (opener)
Guenther 0-1 (opener)
Brieske 0-1 (opener)

— Astros (36-30)
Valdez 8-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Brown 9-4 (over 3-1 last four)
Arrighetti 1-1
Blanco 5-4 (under 5-1 last six)
Wesneski 2-4 (under 5-1)
Gusto 3-5
McCullers 4-3 (under 3-0 last three)
Gordon 4-1 (under 4-1)
Walter 0-2
Blubaugh 0-1

— Royals (34-33)
Ragans 5-5 (over 5-1 last six)
Lugo 5-6
Bubic 7-5 (under 7-2 last nine)
Lorenzen 7-6 (over 3-0 last three)
Wacha 7-6 (under 8-3 last 11)
Cameron 2-4 (under 4-2)
Lynch 1-1 (opener)

— Famous birthdays, June 11th:
Adrienne Barbeau, 80
Dave Cash, 77
Gary Fencik, 71

Joe Montana, 69
Hugh Laurie, 66
Odalis Pérez, 47

Jose Reyes, 42
Jorge Alfaro, 32
Max Schuemann, 28

— Angels (32-34)
Kikuchi 6-7 (over 9-4)
Soriano 5-9 (under 4-1 last five)
TAnderson 9-4 (over 6-2 last eight)
Hendricks 5-7 (over 3-1 last four)
Kochanowicz 6-7 (under 4-2 last sox)

— Twins (35-31)
Lopez 7-4 
Ryan 7-5 (under 9-3)
Ober 8-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Paddack 3-10 
Woods-Richardson 5-3 
Matthews 3-1
Festa 2-2 (over 3-1)
Topa 0-1 (opener)

— New York (40-25)
Rodon 8-6 (under 10-4)
Fried 12-2 (over 4-1 last five)
Warren 7-6 
Carrasco 2-4 (under 4-2)
Schmidt 5-4 (under 4-0 last four) 
Stroman 2-1 (over 3-0)
Yarbrough 4-2

— A’s (26-43)
Severino 4-10 (over 5-2 last seven)
Springs 5-7 (over 3-1 last four)
Bido 4-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Sears 7-6 (over 5-1 last six)
Lopez 1-3
Spence 1-1
Hoglund 2-4 
Ginn 2-2 (under 3-1)
Estes 0-2
Sterner 0-1 (opener)
Holman 0-2 (opener)

— Mariners (33-33)
Gilbert 5-1
Castillo 6-7 (under 4-1 last five)
Miller 4-6 (over 6-0 last six)
Woo 7-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Kirby 1-3
Hancock 6-5 
Evans 4-3 (over 5-2)
JFCastillo 1-1 (opener)
Legumina 0-1 (opener)

— Rays (36-31)
Pepiot 5-9 (under 8-2 last ten)
Littell 8-5 (won last eight; under 9-4)
Bradley 6-7 
Rasmussen 7-6 (under 11-2)
Baz 9-4 (over 3-0 last three)
Boyle 1-0

— Rangers (32-35)
Eovaldi 6-6 (under 10-2)
Leiter 4-6 (under 7-3)
Mahle 6-5 (under 10-1)
deGrom 6-4 
Rocker 3-3 
Corbin 4-7 (under 6-2 last eight)
Latz 1-0

— Blue Jays (37-30)
Berrios 7-6 (under 3-1 last four)
Gausman 8-5 (over 7-1 last eight)
Bassitt 8-5 (over 3-0 last three)
Francis 4-9 (over 7-1 last eight)
Lucas 2-2
Scherzer 0-1
Lauer 1-1
Urena 1-1
Schultz 2-0 (opener)
Rodriguez 1-0 (opener)
Fisher 1-0 (opener)

Teams’ records in first game of series:
(away/home….total)
(thru Sunday’s games)

NL East
Braves 4-7/6-4…..10-11
Marlins 1-9/4-7…..5-16
Mets 7-4/9-1…..16-5
Phillies 5-6/7-3…..12-9
Nationals 5-5/6-5…..11-10

NL Central
Cubs 6-6/9-1…..15-7
Reds 6-4/8-3…..14-7
Brewers 6-5/5-5…..11-10
Pirates 2-8/4-7…..6-15
Cardinals 4-6/8-3…..12-9

NL West
Arizona 6-5/4-6…..10-11
Rockies 2-9/1-9…..3-18
Dodgers 7-4/6-5…..13-9
Padres 7-4/7-3…..14-7
Giants 6-5/5-5…..11-10

AL East
Orioles 4-7/6-4…..10-11
Red Sox 3-8/6-4…..9-12
New York 5-5/7-4…..12-9
Rays 3-4/9-5…….12-9
Blue Jays 5-5/5-6…..10-11

AL Central
White Sox 1-9/7-4…..8-13
Guardians 5-6/6-4…..11-10
Tigers 8-3/9-1…..17-4                                                     
Royals 5-6/6-4…..11-10
Twins 5-6/6-4…..11-10

AL West
Astros 4-6/8-3…..12-9
Angels 7-5/4-5…..11-10
A’s 5-5/3-8…….8-13
Mariners 3-7/5-6…..8-13
Rangers 3-8/5-5…..8-13

Teams’ records in series:
(away/home….total)

NL East
Braves 3-8/5-4-1…..8-12-1
Marlins 1-8-1/5-6…..6-14-1
Mets 4-5-1/9-1…..13-6-1
Phillies 5-6/7-2-1…..12-8-1
Nationals 5-5/4-6-1…..9-11-1

NL Central
Cubs 7-4-1/8-2…..15-6-1
Reds 4-6/3-7-1…..7-13-1
Brewers 4-6-1/7-3…..11-9-1
Pirates 2-8/5-5-1…..7-13-1
Cardinals 4-5-1/8-3…..12-8-1

NL West
Arizona 5-6/3-5-2…..8-11-2
Rockies 1-10/0-10…..1-20
Dodgers 5-4-2/8-2-1…..13-6-3
Padres 5-5-1/8-2…..13-7-1
Giants 6-4-1/6-3-1…..12-7-2

AL East
Orioles 2-7-2/3-6-1…..5-13-3
Red Sox 6-5/4-5-1…..10-10-1
New York 6-4/7-4…..13-8
Rays 4-2-1/9-5…….13-7-1
Blue Jays 5-4-1/6-4-1…..11-8-2

AL Central
White Sox 1-9/5-5-1…..6-14-1
Guardians 5-5-1/6-4…..11-9-1
Tigers 7-3-1/8-2…..15-5-1
Royals 4-7/5-5…..9-12
Twins 5-6/6-3-1…..11-9-1

AL West
Astros 3-6-1/9-1-1…..12-7-2
Angels 6-6/4-5…….10-11
A’s 4-5-1/3-8…….7-13-1
Mariners 7-3/5-5-1…..12-8-1
Rangers 4-7/5-3-2…..9-10-2

Famous birthdays, June 10th:
Jon McGlocklin, 82
Ken Singleton, 78
Larry Brooks, 75
John Gianelli, 75
Dan Fouts, 74

Floyd Bannister, 70
Jay Vincent, 66
Gina Gershon, 63
Jeff Teague, 37
Kate Upton, 33

— Monday was the 52nd anniversary of Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown of norse racing, which means it was also the 52nd anniversary of the only time I’ve ever ridden a horse.

My 8th grade field trip was to some resort place near Lake George; we were playing tennis, which was fun, but then we had to go ride horses. I had been to a racetrack with my dad, but betting on horses is way more fun than riding one was.

When I got on the horse, asked the guy in charge what the horse’s name was; he smiled and said “Jumper” which didn’t help things. The horse was pretty cool; he liked eating leaves off the trees, until we got to any open area and he took off in a full sprint, with me hanging on for dear life. Somehow I stayed on the horse and vowed never to do that again. Ever.

— Florida 6, Edmonton 1
Florida scored four times on their first 14 shots on goal.
Brad Marchand has scored in all three series games.
Panthers lead Stanley Cup finals, 2-1. Game 4 is Thursday.

— Last week we mentioned how Indiana/Oklahoma City are the NBA finalists that are the closest together in any year since 1971.

This year NHL’s finalists are 3,003 miles apart.

— Saturday in Tampa, Marlins’ P Ryan Weathers was warming up to pitch the bottom of the first inning; when the catcher threw the ball down to second to end warmups, he drilled Weathers in the head, but for some reason, they let him pitch anyway. 

Weathers pitched three innings, threw 57 pitches, and apparently hurt his back so badly that he is now on the 60-day disabled list. Oy.

— Washington Nationals have scored a total of 11 runs in their last seven games.

— Texas SS Corey Seager is 2-for-34 since coming off the injured list. He is 0-22 in June.

— Cubs’ 2B Nico Hoerner got thrown out of a game in Detroit over the weekend; TV mikes heard him tell the umpire “you’re having a really bad day” with no cursing included.

That gets you thrown out? 

— Prop bets for the US Open golf tournament this week:

72-hole winning score: 278.5

Lowest completed round: 65.5 (under -175)

— First-ever major league amateur draft was 60 years ago this week:
1) A’s- Rick Monday, OF. Played 19 years in majors, had an .804 OPS.
2) Mets- Les Rohr, P. Pitched in six games (24.1 IP) for the Mets
3) Senators- Joe Coleman, P. Pitched 15 years in majors, started 340 games.
4) Astros- Alex Barrett, SS. Played 125 games in AAA, never made the majors.
5) Red Sox- Billy Conigliaro, OF. Hit .256 in five years, never played after age 25.
6) Cubs- Rick James, P. Pitched in three games (4.2 IP) for the Cubs.
7) Indians- Ray Fosse, C. Played 12 years in majors, made two All-Star Games, helped the A’s win two World Series titles.

Monday/Fosse both became long-time announcers after their playing days. 

— Thunder 123, Pacers 107
Oklahoma City led 59-41 at halftime.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points.
Thunder’s subs were +57, their starters +23. 

Series moves to Indiana; Game 3 is Wednesday. 

— Dodgers have scored 367 runs, the most in baseball; Cubs are second (363)- last time the Cubs led the major leagues in runs scored? 

1929.

— Mets 13, Rockies 5
Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil both homered twice.
Alonso has 18 RBI in eight games this month.
Mets lead the NL East by 4.5 games over the Phillies.

— Pirates 2, Phillies 1
Andrew McCutchen had the game-winning single in the 8th inning.
Paul Skenes has a 1.88 ERA in 14 starts; Pirates are 6-8 in those games.
Phillies have lost nine of their last ten games.

— Giants 4, Braves 3
San Francisco has won five games in a row.
Braves have lost 14 of their last 17 games.
Giants are first team since the 2005 Twins to have a homestand of 7+ games, with every game decided by one run.

— UFL playoffs:
Panthers 44, Stallions 29
Michigan out-rushed Stallions 144-61; Panthers were +2 in turnovers.
Bryce Perkins threw for 238 yards and a TD.

Defenders 36, Battlehawks 18
Defenders led 20-6 at halftime.
Defenders out-gained St Louis, 388-240.
DC was 7-11 on third down, Battlehawks 2-9

Panthers/Defenders play for the UFL title next week.

— CFL Week 1:
Saskatchewan 31, Ottawa 26
Saskatchewan led 31-14 after three quarters, hung on for the win.
Ottawa had 12 penalties for 126, Roughriders had 5 for 85.
Ottawa QB Dru Brown threw for 413 yards in a long cause.

Montreal 28, Toronto 10
Montreal avenges its loss to Toronto in last year’s playoffs.
Alouettes led 15-3 at halftime.
Montreal outgained the Argonauts, 354-276

Calgary 38, Hamilton 26
Stampeders were the only underdog to win this week.
Calgary led 18-9 at halftime.
Dedrick Mills ran for 94 years, three TD’s for Calgary.

BC Lions 31, Edmonton 14
Edmonton led this game 7-3 at halftime.
Lions outscored Edmonton 28-7 in second half.
Nathan Rourke threw for 324 yards, three TD’s.
BC outgained the Elks, 446-248.

— Famous birthdays, June 9th:
Dave Parker, 74
Brian Taylor, 74
Michael J Fox, 64
Aaron Sorkin, 64

Johnny Depp, 62
Gloria Reuben, 61
D’Marco Farr, 54
Peja Stojaković, 48

Udonis Haslem, 45
Natalie Portman, 44
Josh Cribbs, 42
Yuli Gurriel, 41

— Padres 1, Brewers 0
Manny Machado’s home run was the game’s only run.
Neither team got a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning.
Five San Diego relievers got the last 11 outs.

— Rays 3, Marlins 2
In his last five starts, Drew Rasmussen has allowed 2 runs in 29 IP.
Tampa Bay leads the major leagues, with 90 stolen bases.
Teams split their six-game season series this year; Tampa Bay had won the season series the previous six years.

— A’s 5, Orioles 1
Lawrence Butler was 13-32 this week, with 12 runs scored, 22 total bases.
A’s win the series, ending their 9-series losing streak.
Orioles had won six in a row, before losing 2 of 3 in Sacramento.

— Dodgers 7, Cardinals 3
Clayton Kershaw tossed five innings, got his first win this year.
Tommy Edman drove in three runs, with two hits and a sac fly.
In his career, Kershaw is 12-6 against the Cardinals.

— Guardians 4, Astros 2
Go-ahead run scored on a throwing error in the 7th inning.
Cleveland is still only 5-8 in its last thirteen games.
Only fourth loss in 14 games for first-place Houston.

— Red Sox 11, New York 7
New York led this game 3-2 after the fifth inning.
Abraham Toro was 3-5, with a homer and two doubles.
Aaron Judge homered twice, is hitting .396 with a 1.264 OPS

— Arizona (31-33)
Arizona won four of its last six games.
Diamondbacks are 2-5 in extra inning games.
Arizona is 3-11 in last 14 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Braves (27-36)
Atlanta lost 13 of its last 16 games.
Braves are 17-14 at home, 10-22 on the road.
Under is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

— Cubs (40-24)
Chicago won 12 of its last 16 games.
Under is 9-2 in their last eleven games.
Cubs are 9-2 vs American League teams.

— Reds (32-33)
Cincinnati is 7-6 in its last thirteen games.
Under is 6-3 in their last nine games.
Reds are 24-21 vs righty starters, 8-12 vs lefties.

— Rockies (12-52)
Colorado is 5-17 since they changed managers.
Under is 16-4 in Rockies’ last 20 road games.
Rockies are 1-17 vs lefty starters, 11-35 vs righties. 

— Dodgers (38-27)
Dodgers lost five of their last seven games,
Dodgers are 23-11 at home, 15-16 on the road.
Dodgers are 29-16 vs righty starters, 9-11 vs lefties.
Over is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

— Marlins (24-38)                                                                       )
Marlins are 3-8 in their last eleven games.
Miami is 14-20 at home, 10-18 on the road.
Marlins are 1-9 in road series openers.

— Brewers (35-30)
Brewers won 10 of their last 12 games.
Brewers are 19-11 at home, 16-19 on the road.
Under is 12-4 in their last 16 home games.

— Mets (41-24)
Mets won 11 of their last 14 games.
Mets are 24-7 at home, 17-17  on the road.
Under is 18-7 in their last 25 games.

— Phillies (37-27)
Phillies lost eight of their last nine games.
Phillies are 29-15 vs righty starters, 8-12 vs lefties.
Phillies are 7-3 in home series openers.

— Pirates (25-40)
Pirates are 10-7 in their last 17 games.
Pittsburgh is 16-18  at home, 9-22 on the road.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 road games.

— St Louis (36-28)
St Louis won 22 of its last 31 games.
Cardinals are 11-2 when Sonny Gray starts.
Over is 7-3 in their last ten games.
St Louis is 22-10 at home, 14-18 on the road.

— Padres (36-27)
Padres won nine of their last 13 games.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine games.
San Diego is 8-3 in its last 11 series openers.
Padres are 9-3 against their NL West rivals.

— Giants (37-28)
Giants won their last four games.
Giants are 31-16 vs rightly pitchers, 6-12 vs lefties.
SF is 14-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Under is 17-3 in Giants’ last 20 games.

— Washington (30-34)
Nationals lost four of their last six games.
Under is 10-2 in their last 12 home games.
Washington is 13-3 last 16 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, June 8th:
Kathy Baker, 75
Don Robinson, 68
Kevin Gross, 64
John Gibbons, 63

Julianna Margulies, 59
Anthony Bonner, 57
Troy Vincent, 55
Tom Nutten, 54

Mark Feuerstein, 54
Bryant Reeves, 52
TJ McFarland, 36
Tyson Bagent, 25

— Orioles (26-37)
Baltimore is 7-1 in its last eight games.
Orioles are 8-8 vs AL East foes, 18-29 vs everyone else.
Under is 7-1 in their last eight games.

— Red Sox (31-35)
Red Sox are 4-9 in their last 13 games.
Boston is 6-17 in one-run games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.
Red Sox are 17-16 at home, 14-19 on the road.

— White Sox (22-43)
Chicago is 12-7 in its last 19 home games.
White Sox are 6-26 on the road.
White Sox are 16-34 vs righty starters, 6-9 vs lefties.

— Cleveland (33-30)
Guardians lost four of their last five games.
Cleveland is 14-5 against its AL Central rivals.
Guardians are 30-19 vs righty starters, 3-11 vs lefties.
Under is 10-2 in their last 12 road games.

— Detroit (42-24)
Detroit is 13-8 vs its AL Central rivals.
Tigers won nine of their last 13 games.
Under is 8-1 in their last nine home games.

— Houston (36-28)
Astros are 22-12 at home, 14-16 on the road.
Houston is 5-1 in its last six series openers.
Under is 16-8 in their last 24 games.
Astros are 12-6 Zzin games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Royals (33-32)
Royals are 5-9 in their last fourteen games.
Kansas City is 19-13 at home, 14-19 on the road.
Over is 4-1 in Royals’ last five games.
Kansas City is 12-9 in one-run games.

— Angels (30-33)
Angels won four of their last five games.
Over is 8-4 in their last 12 road games.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven home games.
Halos are 13-7 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Twins (34-30)
Twins are 5-8 in their last 13 games.
Minnesota is 18-10 at home, 16-20 on the road.
Over is 7-2 in their last nine games.

— New York (39-24)
New York won 20 of its last 28 games.
Under is 9-3 in their last 12 home games.
New York is 31-18 vs righty starters, 8-6 vs lefties.

— A’s (25-41)
A’s lost 21 of their last 24 games.
A’s are 11-23  in Sacramento, 14-18 on the road.
Over is 13-5 in their last 18 games.

— Seattle (32-31)
Mariners lost five in row, 11 of their last 15 games.
Seattle is 4-11 in its last 15 home games.
Under is 8-4 in Seattle’s last 12 road games.
Under is 4-0 in Mariners’ last four home games.

— Tampa Bay (34-30)
Tampa Bay won 13 of its last 17 games.
Under is 19-9 in their last 28 home games.
Rays are 10-4 in last 14 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (30-35)
Rangers lost 13 of their last 18 games.
Texas is 5-13 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Rangers are 20-13 at home, 10-22 on road.
Under is 17-5 in their last 22 road games.

— Toronto (35-29)
Blue Jays won nine of their last ten games.
Over is 8-1 in their last nine games.
Toronto is 7-2 in last nine games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Giants
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays, Blue Jays, Twins

— Panthers 5, Oilers 4, 2OT
Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway 8:05 into the second overtime to even this series 1-1.

First two games of the series both went to overtime.

Teams were a combined 2-10 on power plays; Florida had a shorthanded goal. 

Game 4 is Monday night in Florida.

— Major League Baseball does a cruddy job of marketing its product; I spend a decent amount of $$$ on MLB.TV, which is a pretty good deal except for one thing. Can’t watch New York teams play live; have to wait until 90 minutes after the game ends.

Mets are out west this week; couldn’t watch the replay of two of their games in Dodger Stadium this week until 3am. Even for me, that’s too damn late.

Lose the blackouts; stop being greedy bastards. Let people watch the games. When you have a really good product, let people see it.

— Was surprised the other night when Mets TV analyst Keith Hernandez said he’s never seen Major League, the great baseball movie. Hernandez talks about TV/movies a decent amount during his TV work, was surprised he’s never sen a movie that came in 1989, especially with Bob Uecker, Steve Yeager in it.

— A’s 5, Orioles 4
Mason Miller got the last five outs for his 13th save; he escaped a bases loaded, one-out jam in the 8th inning. Tremendous save.

Just like the old days; a closer getting more than three outs to earn a save.

A’s CF Denzel Clarke made a great, great catch in the 4th inning, running full speed into the fence in left-center field after he caught the ball. Clarke left the game a while later, possibly with a concussion.

— In 2012, NFL’s Washington Redskins drafted QB’s Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins in the same year, Griffin in the first round, Cousins in the 4th round. Mike Shanahan was the coach; they went 10-6 with rookie Griffin starting, losing 24-14 to Seattle in the playoffs.

That Washington team had a tremendous coaching staff; in addition to Mike Shanahan, who had previously won two Super Bowls with the Broncos, they had these current head coaches as assistants:

Sean McVay
Kyle Shanahan
Matt LaFleur
Mike McDaniel

— Mike Shanahan was 178-144 as an NFL head coach; he is known mainly for the passing attack John Elway used to win two Super Bowls, but Shanahan sept two years early in his career as an assistant coach for Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma Sooners, who were famous for running an offense where they rarely threw the ball. Wishbone offense teams ran the ball……a lot.

— Read on the Interweb this week that North Carolina’s basketball team will have a payroll of $14M this coming season, that’s MILLION, with an M. It isn’t college basketball anymore, it is minor league basketball, where some kids prefer getting paid to pay in college rather than make less money in the G League.

— Famous birthdays, June 7th:
Cazzie Russell, 81
Don Money, 78
Liam Neeson, 73

Jim Burt, 66
Terrell Buckley, 54
Allen Iverson, 50

Kellen Clemens, 42
Michael Cera, 37
Jordan Clarkson, 33

— Jesus Luzardo pitches for the Phillies, and is also on my fantasy team. That situation took a turn for the worse this week.

First 11 starts this year, he allowed a TOTAL of 16 earned runs. Tremendous.

Last two starts, he’s given up 20 earned runs in 5.1 IP. 20 runs in five innings.

Is he tipping his pitches? This was the most runs a pitcher has ever given up in consecutive starts. No bueno.

— Nationals 2, Rangers 0
Soroka out-dueled former National Corbin in this pitchers’ duel.
Alex Call homered for Washington.
Game was played in 1:50; bad night for the vendors.

— Tigers 3, Cubs 1
Torkelson/Jones homered for Detroit.
Tarik Skubal’s last 11 starts: 3 walks, 95 strikeouts.
Attendance was 40,132, Detroit’s third sellout this season.

— Bronx 9, Red Sox 6
New York led this game 7-0 in the second inning.
Boston starting pitchers have a 7.06 ERA in first inning this year.
Red Sox have lost nine of their last 12 games.

— Pirates 5, Phillies 4
Adam Frazier had three hits, scored winning run in 9th inning.
Phillies have lost seven of their last eight games.

— Angels 5, Mariners 4
Kyle Hendricks got his 100th career win.
Mariners have lost four games in a row.
Julio Rodriguez made a great to rob Chris Taylor of a home run.

— Giants 5, Braves 4 (10)
Winning run scored on a wild pitch.
Atlanta is now 27-35 overall, 9-17 in one-run games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Giants
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Rays, Blue Jays, Twins

— Pacers 111, Thunder 110
Tyrese Haliburton hit a 21-foot jumper with  0:00.3 left for the win.
Pacers turned ball over 18 times in first half, trailed 57-45 at the break.
Thunder led by 15 in the fourth quarter.
Indiana’s starters were +34, their subs minus-29
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points for Oklahoma City. 

— This season, Indiana is 4-0 SU/ATS in the first game of playoff series, only the third team in the last 40 years to do that:

1986 Celtics
2021 Suns
2025 Pacers

— Pittsburgh Steelers/Aaron Rodgers announced the QB has signed a one-year deal, which probably wasn’t surprise in the NFL offices. Jets-Steelers play in Week 1. Steelers also play Green Bay in Week 8.

— Since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, the Steelers have gone 29-24, 0-2 in playoff games, while starting five QBs: 

Russell Wilson
Justin Fields
Kenny Pickett
Mitch Trubisky
Mason Rudolph

Now they have a 41-year old QB who tore his achilles couple of years ago.

— Rodgers will be only the second QB to start for a head coach he previously beat in a Super Bowl; Phil Simms played for Dan Reeves with the Giants in 1993, after the Giants beat Reeves’ Bronco team in the Super Bowl after the 1986 season.

— This coming season, New England will have its third head coach in three years, its fourth offensive coordinator in four years.

— Thursday was the 40th anniversary of Ferris Bueller’s day off; the Cubs won, but they were in Washington, not Wrigley Field.

— Famous birthdays, June 6th:
Bjorn Borg, 69
Max Venable, 68
Paul Giamatti, 58

Olindo Mare, 52
Mark Ellis, 48
Rodger Saffold, 37

Anthony Rendon, 35
DeAndre Hopkins, 33
Kenny Pickett, 27

 — Diamondbacks 11, Braves 10
Arizona scored seven runs in the top of the ninth.
Braves have lost 11 of their last 14 games. 

— Dodgers 6, Mets 5
Dodgers scored three runs in bottom of the 8th, all unearned.
LA started the season 23-10; they’re 15-15 since then.

— A’s 14, Twins 3
Tyler Soderstrom homered twice, knocked in six runs.
A’s led 11-1 in the fourth inning.

— Giants 3, Padres 2
Giants are 11-2 in Robbie Ray’s starts this season.
Manny Machado hit his 350th career home run.

— Rays 4, Rangers 3
Tampa Bay scored three runs in bottom of the ninth.
Marcus Semien homered twice for Texas.

— Orioles 4, Mariners 3
Rutschman/Henderson hit back/back home runs.
Baltimore has won six games in a row.

— Cardinals 6-5, Royals 5-7
Kansas City lost opener, after leading 3-0 in 7th inning.
Maikel Garcia homered, scored three runs in the nightcap.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Giants
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Guardians, Twins, TB/Tor

— Allow me to vent a little bit today.

2025 has been a cruddy sports year so far. Had some high hopes for the A’s this season- they actually spent some $$$ this winter, brought in Severino and Springs to bolster a rotation that was decent last year. From July 1st on last year, the A’s were over .500. There was hope.

Few weeks ago, the A’s were 22-20, playing home games in Sacramento, but the bottom has fallen out, in a big way. They’ve now lost 20 of their last 21 games. No bueno.

Their pitching is freakin’ terrible; bad pitching is like having a bad offensive line in football, you have no chance to win with bad pitching. None. Zero. Bupkis.

I’ve been an A’s fan since 1965, when I was five years old; I lived thru the 54-108 disaster in 1979, the 110-214 debacle in 2022-23, when the front office was blatantly not trying- that was really upsetting. In 1979 I was a college kid, had lot of other stuff to distract me, plus Rickey Henderson was a rookie that year.

A’s are supposed to move to Las Vegas in 2028; hopefully they’ll break ground on the new stadium sometime this summer. There is a nucleus of good position players to build around; Mark Kotsay seems like a good manager, but dammit, they need to start winning some games, just for their own mental health.

— Understood that no one will care about this, but my fantasy team sucks this year too, at least so far; after three good years in a row, my hitters have either been hurt or terrible. Haven’t won a game in a month; lot of close games, need Alex Bregman to get healthy.

So with the A’s in the trash can and the fantasy team bumbling, it hasn’t been a good month.

On to happier things………

— NBA commish Adam Silver announced that next winter, the NBA All-Star Game will be a new format, USA against the World. This is going to work.

My one concern is this: IT MIGHT WORK TOO WELL!!!!! Do you want a freakin’ All-Star Game to be highly competitive, where players bust their butts to win, and one of them might get hurt, which would be a disaster.

But give them credit for this: it’ll be a real basketball game, a competitive event.

— We mentioned yesterday how people were saying that the ball/strike challenge system might become a bargaining chip in the upcoming labor negotiations- yesterday there were thoughts that the system might not happen until 2027.

Wednesday, Commissioner Manfred said that he intends to submit a proposal to the league’s competition committee this offseason that would implement the automated ball-strike challenge system for Opening Day 2026, which is an excellent thing.

The challenge system worked very well in spring training this year; it’ll make the game a lot more interesting, in several ways.

— Wednesday night, Orioles’ play-by-play guy (not Kevin Brown, not sure who it was) was openly promoting fans to “stuff the ballot box” for Oriole players to play in the All-Star Game. 

He sounded like a 10-year old; the Orioles are having a cruddy year, they don’t deserve to have multiple guys in the All-Star Game.

Here’s a novel idea; vote for the best players.

— Best teams in one-run games:
Padres 13-6
Angels 10-4
Phillies 11-5
Tigers 12-6
Cubs 9-4
Royals 12-8
Mariners 12-8

— Worst teams in one-run games:
White Sox 3-16
Red Sox 6-17
Braves 9-15
Reds 5-10
Rockies 6-11

— Famous birthdays, June 5th:
Jeff Garlin, 63
Bill Spiers, 59
Mark Wahlberg, 54
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 50
Torry Holt, 49

Ryan Mallett, 37
Andrew Heaney, 34
Royce O’Neale, 32
Joe Ryan, 29
Sam Darnold, 28

— Mets 6, Dodgers 1
Pete Alonso homered twice, knocked in five runs.
Griffin Canning is very quietly 6-2, 2.90 this season.

— Giants 6, Padres 5
San Diego led 5-0 in the fifth inning.
Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the 7th.
This was first time in 17 games that San Francisco scored more than four runs.

— Tigers 5, White Sox 4- Chicago used an opener in this game; the first four Detroit hitters reached base, but the White Sox left their starter in to face NINE BATTERS, by which time they were down 4-0. Are we trying here?

Openers only have to face three hitters; this was managing malpractice.

— Nationals 2, Cubs 0
Gore/Boyd had an old fashioned pitchers’ duel; game was 0-0 after six.
Amed Rosario broke the tie with a 7th inning home run.

— Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1
Merrill Kelly allowed one hit, no runs in seven IP.
Atlanta is 27-33, six games out of a Wild Card spot.

— Rockies 3, Marlins 2
Colorado swept the 3-game series, their first series win 23 tries.
Kyle Freeland threw 6.1 IP, allowed two unearned runs.

— Red Sox 11, Angels 9
Ceddanne Rafaela hit a walk-off homer for Boston.
Angels led 7-5 in the second inning.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Cardinals
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Guardians, Twins, Mariners.

— Disappointed to hear this week that the ball-strike challenge system probably won’t happen in the major leagues until 2027; sounds like the players’ union is going to use the challenge system as a negotiating chip in the labor negotiations that will happen after the 2026 season.

Too bad; everyone seems to like the ball-strike challenge system, but the union/owners can’t agree on what day it is, so this is likely to be delayed.

— New York Knicks made the NBA’s Final Four this year for the first time since 2000, losing in six games to Indiana, so of course they fired their coach Tuesday. Oy.

You have your best season in 25 years, then fire the coach. Why????

Tom Thibodeau was 250-197 in five years with the Knicks, 24-23 in playoff games. He signed a three-year extension with the Knicks last summer, so he’s still going to get paid. Who exactly will the Knicks hire who is a better coach than Thibodeau?

— NFL teams with most games in domed stadiums this year:
13- Cardinals
12- Texans, Raiders
11- Falcons, Colts, Vikings
10- Rams, Cowboys, Lions, Chargers, Saints

— NFL teams with fewest games in domed stadiums this year:
1- Ravens, Bengals, Patriots, Jets
2- Bills, Browns, Chiefs, Dolphins, Steelers

— Jalen Hurts’ offensive coordinators, since 2016:
2016- Lane Kiffin (Alabama)
2017- Brian Daboll/Mike Locksley (Alabama)
2018- Josh Gattis/Mike Locksley (Alabama)

2019- Cale Gundy/Bill Bedenbaugh (Oklahoma- Lincoln Riley called plays)
2020- Doug Pederson (Eagles’ HC who called plays)
2021-22- Shane Steichen (Eagles)

2023- Brian Johnson (Eagles)
2024- Kellen Moore (Eagles)
2025- Kevin Patullo (Eagles)

— In the NFL, dead money is salary cap space that teams can’t use, the penalty for releasing or trading expensive veterans.

Here are the teams with the most dead money for 2025:
$92,651,013- 49ers
$67,445,001- Seahawks
$67,435,825- Eagles
$64,643,468- Jaguars
$62,720,670- Jets

Famous birthdays, June 4th:
Bruce Dern, 89
Michelle Phillips, 81
Mike Barber, 72
Terry Kennedy, 69

Tony Peña, 68
Jim Lachey, 62
Xavier McDaniel, 62

Scott Servais, 58
Noah Wyle, 54
Darin Erstad, 51

Angelina Jolie, 50
Greg Monroe, 35
Aaron Nola, 32
Freddy Peralta, 29

— Monday night there were seven baseball games; the road team won all seven, the first time since 2013 that there were 5+ games on the same day, with the road team winning all of them.

— Interleague play so far this season:
National League 139 wins, American League 137.

Teams’ records in series:
(away/home….total)
(thru Sunday’s games)

NL East
Braves 3-7/5-3-1…..8-10-1
Marlins 1-7-1/4-6…..5-13-1
Mets 3-5-1/9-1…..12-6-1
Phillies 5-4/7-2-1…..12-6-1
Nationals 5-5/4-4-1…..9-9-1

NL Central
Cubs 6-3-1/8-2…..12-5-1
Reds 4-6/2-6-1…..6-12-1
Brewers 3-6-1/7-2…..10-8-1
Pirates 2-8/4-4-1…..6-12-1
Cardinals 4-5-1/7-2…..11-7-1

NL West
Arizona 4-5/3-5-2…..7-10-2
Rockies 0-10/0-9…..0-19 (they won a series this week)
Dodgers 5-3-2/8-2…..13-5-2
Padres 4-5/8-2…..12-7
Giants 6-4-1/5-3…..11-7-1

AL East
Orioles 1-6-2/3-6-1…..4-12-3
Red Sox 5-5/4-4-1…..9-9-1
New York 6-4/6-3…..12-7
Rays 4-2-1/7-5…..11-7-1
Blue Jays 4-4-1/5-4-1…..9-8-2

AL Central
White Sox 1-9/4-5…..5-14
Guardians 5-4-1/6-3…..11-7-1
Tigers 7-3/7-2…..14-5
Royals 3-6/5-5…..8-11
Twins 4-6/6-2-1…..10-8-1

AL West
Astros 1-6-1/9-1-1…..10-7-2
Angels 5-6/3-5…..8-11
A’s 4-5-1/2-7…..6-12-1
Mariners 7-2/5-4-1…..12-6-1
Rangers 3-6/5-3-2…..8-9-2

— Rockies 3, Marlins 2
Colorado wins, snaps their 22-series losing streak.
Hunter Goodman homered for third time in the last two games.
Marlins were -200 last night, -180 tonite. Yikes.

— Astros 3, Pirates 0
McCullers threw six shutout IP, allowed two hits.
Paredes snapped a 1-25 skid with a 9th inning homer.
Pirates scored total of 16 runs in Skenes’ last eight starts.

— Royals 10, Cardinals 7
St Louis led 7-2 after the fourth inning.
Six Royal relievers threw 6.1 scoreless innings.
Bobby Witt Jr went 2-4 with a homer, four RBI.

— Phillies 8, Blue Jays 3
Bryce Harper homered in his first AB, after missing five games.
Phillies scored six runs in the top of the first.
Loss snaps Toronto’s five-game winning streak.

— Padres 3, Giants 2 (10)
San Diego tied game with two runs in 9th inning.
Giants scored total of 16 runs in their last 10 games.
Under is 14-1 in San Francisco’s last fifteen games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Cardinals
AL: New York, Astros, Tigers, Wild Cards: Guardians, Twins, Mariners.