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…….you can buy me lunch!!! 🙂
Wednesday- Trivia, 7:00….free to play!!!
Thursday- Open mic night, 8:00
Friday- Karaoke, 8pm
Saturday- live music, 8:00

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 on the baseball page

Thursday’s 6-pack:
— Heat 109, Bulls 90- Tyler Herro scored 38 points.
— Mavericks 120, Kings 106- Dallas led 71-48 at halftime.
— Giants 11, Phillies 4- San Francisco is off to a 13-5 start.
— A’s 3, White Sox 1- Bido got 17 outs/win, didn’t strike anyone out.
— Red Sox 1, Rays 0- David Hamilton hit a third inning home run.
— Rangers 3, Angels 1- Corey Seager had 3 hits on Bruce Bochy’s 70th birthday.

Thought of the Day 
“I’m sick of it. We have allowed others to nitpick at the [Cowboys] and make fun of the star … and that’s what happens. … Now all of a sudden over the last 20 years, they win two Super Bowls and they think they’re the best thing on the planet, and everywhere I go, I hear, ‘Go Birds.’ I’m sick of hearing ‘Go Birds.’”
Former Dallas star Emmitt Smith, talking about the Eagles’ soaring popularity

Thursday’s quiz
On the old TV series Batman, what actor portrayed the villain Egghead?

Wednesday’s quiz
In the history of the Houston Astros, Craig Biggio has scored the most runs.

Tuesday’s quiz
Jackie Robinson played his college football at UCLA. 

— Diamondbacks
Gallen 2-2 (under 3-1)
Kelly 3-1 (over 3-1)
Burnes 2-1 (over 3-0)
Pfaadt 3-1
Rodriguez 1-2

— Braves
Sale 1-3 (over 3-1)
Schwellenbach 2-2
Smith-Shawver 1-2 (under 3-0)
Holmes 1-2
Elder 0-2
Lopez 0-1
Strider 0-1

— Cubs
Imanaga 4-1 (under 5-0)
Steele 3-1 (over 4-0)
Taillon 2-2 (over 4-0)
Boyd 1-3
Brown 2-1 (over 3-0)
Rea 1-0

— Reds
Greene 2-2 (under 3-1)
Lodolo 3-1 (under 3-1)
Martinez 0-4
Singer 3-0
Spiers 0-2
Abbott 1-0

— Rockies
Freeland 0-4 (under 4-0)
Senzatela 1-3
Feltner 1-3
Marquez 0-4
Dollander 1-1

— Famous birthdays, April 17th:
Marty Domres, 78
Geoff Petrie, 77
Kevin Porter, 75

Boomer Esiason, 64
Marquis Grissom, 58
Jennifer Garner, 53

Tony Boselli, 53
Theo Ratliff, 52
Jed Lowrie, 41

— Dodgers
Yamamoto 3-1 (under 3-1)
Snell 2-0 (over 2-0)
Glasnow 1-2
Sasaki 3-1 (over 3-1)
May 2-1
Knack 2-0
Wrobleski 0-1
Miller 1-0

— Marlins
Alcantara 3-0
Gillispie 0-4 (over 3-1)
Bellozo 1-1
Meyer 2-2
Quantrill 2-1
Cabrera 0-1

— Brewers
Peralta 2-2 (under 4-0)
Cortes 1-1
Civale 0-1
Patrick 2-1
Priester 2-0 (under 2-0)
Rodriguez 0-2 (over 2-0)
Alexander 2-1
Quintana 2-0

— Mets
Holmes 3-1
Megill 2-2 (under 3-1)
Senga 2-1 (under 3-0)
Canning 2-1
Peterson 2-1
Brazoban 0-1

— Phillies
Wheeler 2-2
Luzardo 3-1
Nola 0-4 (under 3-1)
Sanchez 3-0
Walker 2-1

— Movie of the Day: The Prince of Tides (1991)- A high school football coach from the south travels to New York City to talk to his suicidal sister’s psychiatrist about their family history.

Barbra Streisand is the psychiatrist, Nick Nolte is the coach; Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan, George Carlin, Jeroen Krabbé are also in this movie, which is pretty sad at times but it is a very good movie.

— Pirates
Skenes 2-2 (over 3-1)
Keller 2-2 (under 3-1)
Falter 1-3
Heaney 1-2
Mlodzinski 1-2
Harrington 0-1

— Cardinals
Gray 4-0 (over 4-0)
Fedde 1-3 (under 3-1)
Mikolas 0-3
Liberatore 1-2
Pallante 2-1
Matz 1-0

— Padres
King 4-0
Cease 3-1
Vasquez 2-2 (under 4-0)
Pivetta 3-1
Hart 3-0

— Giants
Ray 4-0
Hicks 2-1 (over 3-0)
Webb 3-1
Verlander 2-2 (over 3-0)
Roupp 2-1

— Nationals
Gore 1-3 (over 3-1)
Irvin 1-3 (over 3-1)
Parker 3-1
Williams 1-2
Lord 1-1 (over 2-0)
Soroka 0-1

— Odd Fact of the Day, part 1: In case you wondering, at the Masters last week, there were a total of 8,735 putts taken in the four-day tournament (95 players).

— Odd Fact of the Day, part 2: Had to be very taxing for whoever looked this one up, but over the last 14 years, Tampa Bay Rays are now 0-11 on April 15, Income Tax Day. 

Red Sox 7, Rays 4
Alex Bregman went 5-5, with two homers, 4 RBI. Now he goes home and on maternity leave for a couple days. This was Bregman’s 7th career game with two home runs/

— Orlando 120, Atlanta 95
Cole Anthony scored 26 points, had six assists off the bench.
Magic advances to play Boston in first round of the playoffs.
Atlanta hosts the winner of the Miami-Chicago game for the #8-seed.

— Golden State 121, Memphis 116
Curry/Butler were combined 25-31 on the foul line (rest of Warriors, 3-3)
Warriors advance to play Houston in first round of the playoffs.
Grizzlies host winner of Minnesota-Dallas for the #8-seed in West

— NBA star Chris Paul will be 40 years old next month; he started all 82 games for the Spurs this season, the oldest player ever to start all 82 games in a season. John Stockton started all 82 games when he was 39; Michael Jordan played in all 82 games when ht was 39, starting 67 of them.

— Detroit Tigers’ P Jackson Jobe is the son of former pro golfer Brandt Jobe, who won a couple tournaments on the PGA Tour. He also had three top 20 finishes in major tournaments.

— Famous birthdays, April 16th:
Jim Lonborg, 83
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 78
Ellen Barkin, 71
Bruce Bochy, 70
Curt Young, 65

Jon Cryer, 60
Walt Williams, 55
Boris Diaw, 43
Luol Deng, 40
Nolan Arenado, 34

— Astros 2, Cardinals 0
Hunter Brown threw six shutout innings, for the second consecutive start.
Jake Meyers went 3-for-4, had the game-winning RBI

— Cubs 2, Padres 1 (10)
Nico Hoerner’s 10th-inning triple knocked in the game-winning run.
This was San Diego’s first loss in 12 home games.
Manny Machado homered in the 5th inning, after the Cubs dropped two foul pop-ups during his at-bat.

— A’s 12, White Sox 3
Tyler Soderstrom hit a pair of 3-run homers.
Game was 3-3 after the first inning.
Hitters 1-4 in the Sacramento order were 10-18, with 10 runs scored.

— Rangers 4, Angels 0
Tyler Mahle struck out nine games in his 6 IP.
Mahle has a 0.92 ERA in four starts this season.
Angels are 0-4 in Kikuchi starts, scoring total of 10 runs.

— Twins 6, Mets 3
Bailey Ober threw 6.1 IP, got his first win in his last 13 starts.
Only sixth win in 18 games for the Twins.
Soto/Alonso homered for the Mets,

— Blue Jays 6, Braves 3
Toronto broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in fifth inning.
Kevin Gausman threw 6 IP, allowed only six baserunners, 2 runs.
Braves are 5-12, 2-10 on the road.

— Guardians 6, Orioles 3
Steven Kwan hit a 2-run homer for the Guardians.
Cleveland won for sixth time in last seven games.
Charlie Morton (0-4) is the first pitcher with four losses this season.

— RIP to the great gameshow host Wink Martindale, who passed away at age 91; I remember him best as the host of Gambit, a blackjack-themed game. Back when daytime TV was a whole lot better than it is now, with ton of gameshows, Martindale was an iconic figure.

RIP, sir. 

— Sunday night in Los Angeles, Cubs OF Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-4 with two home runs and a triple, really good night, especially for a guy hitting .257. Monday night against the Padres, Crow-Armstrong had three more hits in a 10-4 San Diego win.

PCA is the son of actress Ashley Crow, who was the mom in the 1994 movie Little Big League, when a 12-year old kid inherits the Minnesota Twins from his grandfather.

— PCA had 11 total bases Sunday night; all-time record for most total bases in a game belongs to Shawn Green, who in a 2002 game for the Dodgers, went 6-6, with four home runs and a double, with 6 RBI, scoring six runs in a 16-3 Los Angeles win.

— Cubs P Justin Steele is out for the year, will have surgery to fix the flexor tendon in his left elbow. It is unknown whether he will have Tommy John surgery or some other kind, but he is done for this season, and probably part of next year.

— NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans fired GM David Griffin Monday; they went 209-263 while he was the GM, during which time they traded Anthony Davis and drafted Zion Williamson, who has played  in only 45% of the Pelicans’ games in his career.

— Phoenix Suns fired coach Mike Budenholzer after only one season, after he signed up for five years, $50M last year, so he gets $40M to take a hike.

Suns were 36-46 this year, after making the playoffs the last four seasons; next year the Suns will have their fourth head coach in four years.

Budenholzer is 576-411 as an NBA head coach, 56-48 in playoff games. He won an NBA title with the Bucks four years ago. Maybe the problem wasn’t him.

— NBA playoffs start tonight, with pair of play-in games: 

Hawks @ Orlando
Grizzlies @ Golden State

— TV recommendation: Your Friends & Neighbors, with John Hamm— A hedge fund manager loses his job, then resorts to burglary, targeting wealthy neighbors to maintain his family’s lifestyle. The first episode was on Prime Video last week; too early to tell for sure, but that episode was very good.

— Famous birthdays, April 15th:
Julie Sommars, 85
Ted Kwalick, 78
Michael Cooper, 69
Emma Thompson, 66
Jeromy Burnitz, 56

Brock Huard, 49
Seth Rogen, 43
Antonio Cromartie, 41
Danny Jansen, 30
Eury Perez, 22

— Pirates 10, Nationals 3
Pittsburgh came into this game hitting .184 as a team, 16 points worse than any other team, but they had 14 hits in this game, in support of Paul Skenes.

Other teams with cruddy batting averages thru Sunday’s games:
.200 Reds
.201 White Sox
.208 Rangers

— Tigers 9, Brewers 1
Tarik Skubal allowed only four hits in seven shutout IP.
Detroit is 10-6, leads AL Central by 1.5 games.

— Rays 16, Red Sox 1
Tampa Bay led 14-1 in the third inning; rough night if you have Tanner Houck on your fantasy team- he gave up 12 runs in 2.1 IP. 12 of the 20 batters he faced scored. Last time a Red Sox pitcher gave up 12 runs in a game was in 1962, long time ago.

Kameron Misner homered twice for Tampa Bay.

— Giants 10, Phillies 4
2B Tyler Fitzgerald went 3-for 4, with a double, triple, home run— he scored three runs, knocked in three more.

Giants scored six runs in the second inning, off of Taijuan Walker.

— Braves 8, Blue Jays 4
Austin Riley homered twice, knocked in five runs.
Only second win in 11 road games for Atlanta.

— Mets 5, Twins 1
Minnesota is 5-12, tied for their worst start in team history, thru 17 games.
Twins score 2 or fewer runs in nine of their 17 games.
Juan Soto homered for the Mets.

— Dodgers 5, Padres 3
Ohtani/Betts both homered for the Dodgers.
Dustin May allowed three baserunners, one run in six IP.
Colorado has lost four games in a row, is now 3-13.

— Don’t get a lot of thunderstorms at 1am in April, but that’s what is going on here as I type this; of course, there was an earthquake in California, too. Weird weather. 

Before we start with our baseball trends today, I’d like to congratulate Pat O’Connor, Justin Hoffman on their induction into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame. Both guys were on the 1998 Schenectady High team that won the NYS Public High School championship.

One of the most fun things I’ve ever done was from 1993-2001, being an assistant coach for the basketball team at Schenectady; I was the nerdy analytics guy, I scouted opponents and helped with game management. It was a great educational experience.

Pat O’Connor was a lefty, a coach on the floor, a leader. He was kind of like the Draymond Green  of that team, and this is a compliment. He went on to play college ball at Utica College.

Justin Hoffman was more of a scorer, skilled with the ball in his hands; a solid rebounder, he would’ve scored a lot more points on a lesser team, but one of our other big guys wound up playing in the NBA, so Justin’s opportunities were somewhat limited. He was a terrific player in college, at NYU.

Congrats fellas, it was great fun watching both of you play!!!

— Arizona (9-7)
Diamondbacks won four of their last five games.
Arizona is 7-3 vs right starters, 2-4 vs lefties.
Under is 5-1 in their last six games.

— Braves (4-11)
Atlanta is 2-11 when they score less than seven runs.
Braves are 1-9 on the road.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine games.

— Cubs (11-7)
Chicago won nine of its last 12 games.
Over is 12-5 in their last seventeen games.
Cubs haven’t played any divisional rivals; they lead NL Central by two games.

— Reds (8-8)
Reds won five of their last six games.
Cincinnati is 6-3 when it scores 3+ runs.
Reds are 6-5 vs righty starters, 2-3 vs southpaws.

— Rockies (2-9)
Rockies went to San Diego this weekend and were shut out all three games.
2B Kyle Farmer was 5-10 this weekend; rest of the Colorado roster? 4 for 78
Rockies are 1-8 on the road (under 7-2).

— Dodgers (11-6)
Dodgers are 3-6 since their 8-0 start.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven road games.
Dodgers are 11-2 when they score 3+ runs.

— Marlins (8-7)
Marlins are 6-4 at home, 2-3 on road.
Over is 5-1 in their last six home games.
Miami is 3-1 in second game of a series, if they lost the opener. 

— Brewers (8-8)
Milwaukee won five of its last six home games.
Brewers are 0-5 on the road if they score less than seven runs.
Under is 4-1 in their series openers.

— Mets (10-5)
Mets won eight of their last ten games.
Mets are 8-0 when they score 3+ runs.
Under is 11-4 in their games.

— Phillies (9-6)
Phillies are 7-3 vs righty starters, 2-3 vs lefties.
Under is 5-1 in their home games.
Philly is 9-1 when it scores 3+ runs.

— Pirates (5-11)
Pittsburgh scored 4 or fewer runs in 14 of their 16 games.
Five of their six home games went over the total.
Pirates haven’t made the playoffs since 2015.

— St Louis (7-8)
Cardinals are 6-3 at home, 1-5 on road.
Their last four games stayed under the total.
St Louis is 1-4 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Padres (13-3)
Padres have thrown six shutouts in ten home games.
San Diego is 12-1 when they score 2 or more runs.
Under is 7-3 in their home games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five road games.

— Giants (11-4)
Giants are 9-2 vs rightly pitchers, 2-2 vs lefties.
SF is 8-1 vs American League teams, 3-3 vs NL teams.
Giants scored total of six runs in their four losses.

— Washington (6-9)
Nationals lost three of their last four games.
Over is 7-0 in their last nine games.
Nats scored in 1st inning in 4 of 9 home games, 0 of 6 on the road.

— Famous birthdays, April 14th:
Julie Christie, 85
Brad Garrett, 65
Stan Humphries, 60
David Justice, 59

Greg Maddux, 59
Craig Kupp, 58
Anthony Michael Hall, 57
Brad Ausmus, 56

Marc Macon, 56
Steve Avery, 55
Adrien Brody, 52
Baker Mayfield, 30

— Orioles (6-9)
Baltimore lost seven of its last ten games.
Orioles are 6-1 when they score 5+ runs, 0-8 when they don’t.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven road games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five home games.

— Red Sox (8-9)
Boston lost five of their last seven games.
Under is 7-3 in their road games.
Red Sox are 8-6 vs righty starters, 0-3 vs lefties.

— White Sox (4-11)
Chicago lost eight of its last ten games.
White Sox are 4-5 at home, 0-6 on the road.
Under is 6-1 in their last seven games.

— Cleveland (8-7)
Guardians are 5-1 at home, 3-6 on the road.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven games.
Cleveland is 7-2 against its AL Central rivals.

— Detroit (9-6)
Detroit is 9-3 in its last dozen games.
Tigers are 9-2 when they score 4+ runs.
Under is 8-3 in their last eleven games.

— Houston (7-8)
Astros scored 3 or fewer runs in 10 of 15 games.
Under is 9-6 in their games so far.
Astros haven’t scored a first inning run in nine home games.

— Royals (8-8)
Kansas City is 6-4 at home, 2-4 on the road.
Royals’ last five home games stayed under the total.
KC has only played one game (1-0) vs a lefty starter.

— Angels (9-6)
12 of the Angels’ 15 games have been on the road.
Halos scored in first inning in 7 of their 15 games.
Over is 7-2 in their last nine road games.
Angels have played only played one game (1-0) vs a lefty starter.

— Twins (5-11)
Minnesota is 3-7 in its last ten games.
Under is 9-2 in their last eleven games.
Twins are 5-2 when they score 4+ runs, 0-9 otherwise.

— New York (8-7)
New York is 2-7 when they score less than nine runs.
Over is 7-1 in their last eight home games.
New York scored in first inning in six of nine home games.

— A’s (6-10)
A’s are 2-7 in Sacramento, 4-3 on the road.
A’s are 1-4 in series openers.
Over is 6-3 in their home games; under is 4-2-1 in road games.

— Seattle (8-8)
Mariners won six of their last seven home games.
Under is 9-4 in their home games.
13 of their first 16 games have been at home.

— Tampa Bay (7-8)
Rays lost seven of their last ten games.
10 of their 15 games stayed under the total.
Rays are 1-4 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (9-7)
Texas lost five of its last six games.
Rangers are 8-5 vs righty starters, 1-2 vs lefties.
Under is 6-1 in their home games.

— Toronto (9-7)
10 of last 12 Toronto games stayed under the total.
Blue Jays won five of their last six home games.
Toronto is 6-4 against its AL East rivals. 

— Diamondbacks 5, Brewers 4
Milwaukee led 4-0 in the ninth inning; Arizona scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth for the dramatic win.

Milwaukee starting pitcher Chad Patrick threw 4.1 scoreless innings (77 PT) but they took him out in the fifth inning, after he struck out the leadoff hitter in the inning.

This is a stupid analytics thing that says pitchers shouldn’t face the same hitters three times in a game. Patrick allowed a run in 10 IP in his first two starts, both Milwaukee wins. How do you know if a guy is going to be really good unless you give him the chance?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

— Reds 5, Pirates 2
Elly De La Cruz hit a grand slam on his bobblehead day.
Andrew Abbott gave up a run in 5 IP, in his 2025 debut.

— Braves 5, Rays 4
Tampa Bay led 2-0 after the sixth inning.
Michael Harris hit a 2-run homer for the Braves in the ninth inning.
First road win nine nine tries for Atlanta this season.

— A’s 3, Mets 1
Jacob Wilson has a 15-game hitting streak to start the season, the longest by an Oakland player to start a season, since Stan Javier in 1994.

A’s bullpen got 11 outs, allowed only two baserunners, no runs.

— Angels 4, Astros 1
Tyler Anderson didn’t allow a hit in the first five innings.
Astros loaded the bases with three walks in 4th inning, but didn’t score.
Angels are off to a 9-5 start; Houston is only 6-8.

— Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4
Toronto led 3-0 in the fifth inning.
Former Oriole Anthony Santander homered for the Blue Jays.
Baltimore turned five double plays in the game.

— Phillies 4, Cardinals 1
Cristopher Sanchez allowed one run in 6.1 IP
Phillies turned four double plays in the first five innings.
Nick Castellanos went 3-4, with two RBI

— Famous birthdays, April 13th:
Dennis Thurman, 69
Quinn Early, 60
Ricky Schroder, 55
Bo Outlaw, 54
Dan Campbell, 49

Baron Davis, 46
Quentin Richardson, 45
Hunter Pence, 42
Melvin Gordon, 32
Edward Cabrera, 27

— Former Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava will be in the transfer portal a few days from now, trying to earn more than the $2M Tennessee was paying him (Oregon has apparently already turned him down).

It is a free country; he can transfer if he likes, but my question is this— down the road, when it is time for him to go to the NFL and the big $$$, will this BS hang over his head like a dark cloud? Will teams be queasy about making him the key person in their organization? 

Maybe it won’t, maybe it will; I’m asking.

I always think of the Al Pacino speech in Any Given Sunday:
“………..You’re a goddamn quarterback! You know what that means? It’s the top spot, kid. It’s the guy who takes the fall. It’s the guy everybody’s looking at first – the leader of a team – who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. ‘Cause you make them believe. That’s a quarterback.”

It is a fair question; if Tennessee had to play a game today, they’d only have two scholarship QB’s on their roster, so they’re going to have to poach at least one QB (probably more) from another team over the next four months, and those QB’s won’t have much time to develop chemistry with their new teammates.

— New Orleans Saints’ QB Derek Carr has a shoulder injury, his 2025 season may already be in jeopardy. Right now, the other QB’s on the New Orleans roster are Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener and Ben DiNucci.

Here’s the biggest part of that problem: in 2026, Carr has a $69M salary cap hit, with a $60M dead cap number, and now there’s a chance he’ll never play again.

Oy.

— Random NFL record: Brandon Marshall holds the NFL record for most passes caught in a game; he caught 21 passes for 200 yards and 2 TD’s in the Broncos 28-16 loss at Indianapolis, back in 2009.

— When Nebraska won the Crown college basketball tournament in Las Vegas couple weeks ago, their award for winning was $300K in NIL money for their program. Central Florida lost in the championship game; their program got $100K in NIL money.

— Getting back quickly to the football transfer thing, if a player wants to be eligible this year, he cannot transfer from one SEC team to another— they have a rule against that.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phil/NYM, Cubs, Padres. Wild Cards: Giants, Dodgers, Phil/NYM
AL: New York, Tigers, Texas/LAA. Wild Cards: Tex/LAA, Guardians, Blue Jays

— Thursday in Kansas City, umpire Mark Ripperger worked a perfect game behind the plate; he called 136 pitches, all of them correctly. Pretty awesome, very unusual.

In case you were wondering, he called 89 balls, 47 strikes.

— Mariners 5, Rangers 3
Cal Raleigh hit the decisive 2-run homer in the 8th inning.
Corey Seager is 0 for his last 28 against Seattle.

— Dodgers 3, Cubs 0
Tommy Edman’s 3-run homer were the game’s only runs.
Yamamoto allowed two hits in seven shutout innings.
Dodgers are 7-0 at home. 

— Rays 6, Braves 3
Danny Jansen homered, knocked in four runs.
Bradley allowed one run in six IP.
Braves are off to a horrendous 3-10 start.

— Giants 9, New York 1 (5)
San Francisco scored five runs in the first inning.
Game was called on count of rain in the sixth inning.
Giants won nine of their last eleven games.

— Tigers 7, Twins 6
Minnesota led 4-1 after five innings.
Dillon Dingler went 3-5 with an RBI, also scored a run.
Twins lost five of their last six games. 

— Cardinals 2, Phillies 0
Pallante threw 7 shutout IP, allowed only four baserunners.
Last two nights, Phillies were 0-15 with runners in scoring position.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Mets, Brewers, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Phillies
AL-  Blue Jays, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Guardians, New York

— Famous birthdays, April 12th:
Mike Garrett, 81
Ed O’Neill, 79
Jerry Tagge, 75

Andy Garcia, 69
Devlin Hodges, 29
Paul LoDuca, 53

Brad Miller, 49
Claire Danes, 46
Cade Povich, 25

— Word of the Day– Integrity- the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

These days, our country needs more integrity. A lot more.

— Not a lot of happy news these days; the QB for the Tennessee Vols, Nico Iamaleava, skipped spring practice Friday; apparently he wants a raise in his NIL deal from $2M/year to $4M. This is for a college QB who has started for one year; they lost 41-17 to Ohio State in the first round of the college football playoff last fall.

Just stop calling it “college football”; give it a new name, a lower level version of the NFL. Have the players sign contracts, like the NFL guys do.

— Problem is, this likely will have a domino effect; if Iamaleava bolts Tennessee, then the Vols have to poach someone else’s QB and so on and so forth, until Coastal Carolina or Nevada loses its QB, all because Iamaleava is a greedy, disloyal human.

— Lucas Giolito, Jack Flaherty, Max Fried are all major league pitchers; they also all pitched on the same high school team, Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles, in 2012. The pitching coach for that high school team was Ethan Katz, now the pitching coach for the Chicago White Sox.

— Speaking of a different Harvard, their point guard Evan Nelson will play for Arizona next year; Ivy League players can’t take redshirt years, and Nelson didn’t play in 2023-24, so he had to transfer in order to keep playing.

This past season, Nelson scored 9.1 ppg; he is from Tucson, so he’s coming home to finish his college career.

— Cleveland Browns signed 40-year Joe Flacco to be one of their QB’s next season; Flacco started six games for the Colts last year, throwing for 1,761 yards. His won-loss record in his 17-year NFL career is 115-92, 10-6 in playoff games.

Seattle Seahawks are expected to sign QB Drew Lock to back up newly-acquired Sam Darnold after Lock started five games for the Giants last year. Lock started two games for Seattle back in 2023, after starting 24 games for Denver before that. 

— Was pretty cool to see the reception Luka Doncic got when he returned to Dallas Wednesday night. Doncic played for Dallas for 6.5 years, was traded to the Lakers February 2nd, in a trade rattled the Interweb when it happened.

Wednesday, Doncic scored 45 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, had 6 assists; Lakers were +26 with him on the floor, in a 112-97 LA win. 

— Braves 4, Phillies 2 (11)
Game had a 2:45 rain delay after the 6th inning; game resumed at 11:30pm.
Marcell Ozuna ended the game with a walk-off home run in 11th inning.
Both teams have games in other cities tonight.

— Angels 11, Rays 1
Jo Adell homered twice (both in 5th inning), drove in four runs
Mike Trout homered twice, drove in three runs
Taylor Ward homered twice (both in 6th inning), drove in three runs

Third time in Angels history that three guys homered twice in same game.

— Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 3 (10)
Game was scoreless after five innings.
Red Sox tied game 2-2 in 8th inning on a wild pitch.
Boston has 14 errors this season, most in the major leagues.

— Guardians 6, White Sox 1
Steven Kwan went 4-5 with four RBI, two runs scored.
Gavin Williams got the win, giving up a run in five IP.
White Sox have now lost eight games in a row.

— Royals 3, Twins 2
Kansas City scored twice in 7th inning for the win.
Royals’ bullpen pitched 3.2 scoreless IP.
Twins SS Carlos Correa is hitting only .149 so far this season.

— Rockies 7, Brewers 2
Brenton Doyle went 3-5 with five RBI, including a home run.
Milwaukee was 1-13 with runners in scoring position.
Colorado won for only third time in 12 games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- NYM/Phil, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, NYM/Phil
AL-  New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Royals, Blue Jays

— Famous birthdays, April 11th:
Peter Reigert, 78
Michael Ray Richardson, 70
Jim Breech, 69
Bret Saberhagen, 61

Jason Varitek, 53
Trot Nixon, 51
Mark Teixeira, 45
Kenta Maeda, 37

— Television legend Brent Musburger has won the 2025 Pete Rozelle radio-TV award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame; he’ll be inducted in Canton this summer.

— Tuesday night, Vancouver Canucks became the first NHL team ever to overcome a three-goal deficit in the last minute; they tied the game with 0:05.2 left in regulation, beat the Dallas Stars 6-5 in overtime.

— The whole thing with the Denver Nuggets firing their coach three games before the playoffs start seems weird. Why not just wait until after the playoffs? 

Since 1985, the only two teams to win an NBA title after an in-season coaching change:

2006- Miami replaced Stan Van Gundy with Pat Riley
2016- Cleveland replaced David Platt with Tyronn Lue.

— Florida’s win over Houston in the NCAA title game drew the best TV audience for this game since 2019; it was 22% higher than last year’s Purdue-UConn game.

— Unusual situation for Seattle Mariners, who have two staring pitchers named Luis Castillo; once George Kirby comes back from his injury, this situation should be fixed, but for now, it is a little confusing.

— Indianapolis Colts saved $2.75M on the salary cap by cutting kicker Matt Gay this week; Gay was the Rams’ kicker when they won the Super Bowl three years ago- he was 64-78 on field goals in two seasons for Indianapolis. In five of his six NFL seasons, his home games have been in domed stadiums.

— Cleveland State named Missouri assistant Rob Summers  as its new basketball coach; he was an assistant at Cleveland State from 2019-22.

High Point coach Alan Huss quit his job, is going back to Creighton as an assistant coach, with the promise that he will replace Greg McDermott as head coach when McDermott decides to retire.

High Point was 56-15 in two years under Huss, making the NCAA’s this season.

— When Colorado Rockies’ IF Kyle Farmer was in high school, he appeared in the movie The Blind Side, playing the Briarcrest Christian School quarterback.

— Speaking of The Blind Side, best wishes to Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze, who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer; the 55-year old Freeze is going to wait until January to decide whether or not to have an operation to hopefully correct the problem.

Freeze was the football coach  at Briarcrest when Michael Oher played there, so he also appears in the movie. 

— Arizona (7-6)
Arizona is 2-0 in road series openers, 0-2 in home openers.
Under is 4-1 in their last five home games.

— Braves (2-9)
Atlanta is 0-9 when they score less than seven runs.
Braves are 1-5 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Cubs (9-6)
Cubs scored 7+ runs in eight of their 15 games.
Over is 11-3 in their last fifteen games.

— Reds (5-8)
Reds scored 2 or fewer runs in seven of last nine games.
Cincinnati is 2-1 when it scores more than four runs.
Reds are 5-5 vs righty starters, 0-3 vs southpaws.

— Rockies (2-9)
Rockies lost eight of their last nine games.
Under is 5-1 in their six games.

— Dodgers (10-4)
Dodgers are 2-4 since their 8-0 start.
Over is 9-4 in their last thirteen games.

— Marlins (6-6)
Marlins are 4-3 at home, 2-3 on road.
Marlins are 3-1 in games where winning run scored after the 6th inning.

— Brewers (7-5)
Milwaukee won seven of its last eight games.
Over is 3-1 in their last four games. 

— Mets (8-4)
Mets won six of their last seven games.
Mets are 6-0 when they score 3+ runs.

— Phillies (8-3)
Under is 5-1 in their home games.
Philly is 8-1 when it scores 3+ runs.

— Pirates (5-8)
Pittsburgh scored 4 or fewer runs in 11 of their 13 games.
Five of their six home games went over the total.

— St Louis (5-7)
Cardinals lost seven of their last nine games.
Eight of their nine games went over the total.

— Padres (10-3)
San Diego is 9-1 when they score 2 or more runs.
Under is 5-2 in their home games.

— Giants (9-3)
Giants are 8-1 vs rightly pitchers, 1-2 vs lefties.
Giants scored total of two runs in their three losses.

— Washington (5-7)
Nationals won four of their last five games.
Over is 7-2 in their home games.

— Famous birthdays, April 10th:
Ken Griffey Sr, 75
Terry Teagle, 65
Steve Tasker, 63
Sean Gilbert, 55

Kenny Satterfield, 44
Andre Ethier, 43
Robert Woods, 33
Jake Burger, 29

— Orioles (5-8)
Orioles are 5-0 when they score 5+ runs, 0-8 when they don’t.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven road games.

— Red Sox (6-7)
Boston lost last three games, scoring 2-1-1 runs.
Under is 5-2 in their road games.

— White Sox (2-9)
Chicago lost its last seven games.
White Sox are 14-69 (.203) with runners in scoring position.

— Cleveland (5-6)
Guardians are 2-0 at home, 3-6 on the road.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven games.

— Detroit (7-5)
Detroit is 5-1 at home; they lead the AL Central by a game.
Tigers are 7-2 when they score 4+ runs.

— Houston (5-7)
Astros lost six of their last nine games.
Under is 8-4 in their games so far.
Astros led 5-0 in 8th inning Wednesday, blew game to Seattle.

— Royals (6-6)
Kansas City is 6 for last 32 AB’s with runners in scoring position.
Royals’ last four games stayed under the total.

— Angels (7-4)
Angels won seven of their last ten games.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.

— Twins (4-8)
Under is 6-1 in their last seven games.
Twins are 4-1 when they score 4+ runs.

— New York (7-5)
New York is 2-5 when they score less than nine runs.
Over is 7-4 in their last eleven games.

— A’s (5-8)
A’s lost five of their first six games in Sacramento.
Over is 5-1 home games; under is 4-2-1 in road games.

— Seattle (5-8)
Mariners haven’t scored a 1st inning run in their 10 home games.
Eight of their ten home games stayed under the total.

— Tampa Bay (5-6)
Rays lost five of their last six games.
Eight of their eleven games stayed under the total.

— Texas (9-4)
Rangers are 8-2 vs righty starters, 1-2 vs lefties.
Under is 6-1 in their home games.

— Toronto (8-5)
Last ten Toronto games stayed under the total.
Blue Jays won five of their last six home games. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Phillies, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Mets
AL-  Blue Jays, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Royals, New York

— 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

— Florida 65, Houston 63
Houston led by 12 with 15:34 left in the game.
Florida was 17-21 on the foul line, Cougars 9-14
Houston’s last four possessions ended in turnovers.
Florida trailed by 9+ points in each of its last three games.

— This was only the second time since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams that the Final Four was four #1-seeds; the other time was 2008, when the Final Four was also in San Antonio.

— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament this year; this is the first time an SEC team won a national title since Kentucky did it, in 2012.

— Rick Pitino’s St John’s team was 31-5 this year, winning an NCAA Tourney game and the Big East tournament, both for the first time for St John’s since 2000.

St John’s went 18-2 in the Big East despite shooting only 26.8% on the arc in those games; they had the #6 eFG% defense in the country.

— Duke has now gone ten years since last tine they won a national title; in three years under Jon Scheyer, Duke has ranked 298-253-269 in tempo. Before that, last time Blue Devils were below #200 in tempo was 2010.

Last five years, ACC has been ranked the #5 or lower league every year; from 1997-2020, they were a top 4 league in 21 of 24 seasons.

— Louisville was 27-8/18-2 this year, in their first season under Pat Kelsey; the last three years, Cardinals were 25-71 overall, 11-49 in ACC games.

— West Coast Conference was the #7 league this season, their best rating this century; it helped that Washington State/Oregon State added to the league’s depth after the Pac-12 went away for a couple years.

Saint Mary’s won the WCC regular season by three games, but Gonzaga won the tournament; last time a team other than the Gaels or Zags won the WCC Tournament: San Diego, in 2003.

— Famous birthdays, April 8th:
Mark Clayton, 64
Terry Porter, 62
Robin Wright, 59
Kirk Dressendorfer, 56
Carlos Santana, 39

Jeff McNeil, 33
Dario Saric, 31
Zach Eflin, 31
CeeDee Lamb, 26
Jo Adell, 26

Tuesday would’ve been the 79th birthday for Jim (Catfish) Hunter, my all-time favorite baseball player. Hall of Famer helped the A’s win three consecutive World Series.

— In three years since Jay Wright retired, Villanova was 56-48, 31-29 in Big East games, which is why they fired their coach and brought in Kevin Willard from Villanova. Willard 65-39/32-28 in his three years at Maryland- his Terps made it to the Sweet 16 this year.

Last time a team from the Big 18 won a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.

— Last two years, Kansas was only 21-17 in Big X Conference games; this year was the first time since 2006 that they lost in first round of the NCAA Tournament. Since 2018, Jayhawks have been in only one Sweet 16, when they won the national title in 2022.

— Mountain West teams went 2-4 in the NCAA Tournament, an improvement over recent years, but the two coaches who won games both bolted to new jobs.

Richard Pitino left New Mexico for Xavier after a 27-8 season; Niko Medved bolted Colorado State for Minnesota after a 26-10 year.

Medved is a Minnesota alum, but that is a really hard job. Tough being a small fish in a very deep pond.

— #6-seed Wofford won the Southern Conference tournament, the sixth different team to win that event the last six years. SoCon teams made 45.2% of their 3’s in league games, the best %age of any league in the country. 

Chattanooga won the SoCon regular season, they also won the NIT.

— For first time in the league’s 12-year history, the AAC had only one team in the NCAA’s, Memphis. League was ranked #11 nationally, its lowest ranking ever.

Memphis made NCAA’s for third time in last four years under Penny Hardaway, but were only 1-3 in those games. Tigers haven’t made the Sweet 16 since 2009, under John Calipari.

— Cal-Irvine went 68-20 in Big West conference games the last five years, but went 4-5 in the Big West tournament, missing the NCAA’s all five years. Last four years, four different teams represented the Big West in the NCAA’s.

— Next season, Phil Martelli Jr will be VCU’s 8th basketball coach since 2002; weird thing about that is that during those 24 seasons, VCU hasn’t had one losing year.

Two of last three years, Atlantic 15 has been a one-bid league; before that, last time they were a one-bid league was 2005. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Phillies, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Mets
AL-  New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays

— Late Sunday night, Toronto Blue Jays/1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr inked a 14-deal worth around $500M, $36M a season. There are no deferrals in the contract. 

— Before a game, TV crews give a brief synopsis of the home plate umpire for that game; does he favor hitters/pitchers? lefties/righties? inside/outside?

CB Bucknor had the plate for the A’s-Rockies game Sunday; he is not viewed as one of the game’s better umpires. The Colorado TV people put this analysis up:

“Consistently inconsistent” a pretty stern criticism of an umpire, especially before a game.

— You can bet on whether or not a team will score in the first inning of a game; with the season 11 days old, here are each teams’ results for first inning scoring:

NL
Braves 2-9
Marlins 4-9
Mets 2-9
Phillies 2-9
Nationals 2-9

Cubs 4-12
Reds 3-10
Brewers 1-10
Pirates 1-10
St Louis 4-9

Arizona 4-10
Colorado 2-9
Dodgers 3-11
Padres 4-10
Giants 2-9

AL
Orioles 5-10
Red Sox 3-10
New York 5-9
Rays 2-9
Toronto 3-10

White Sox 5-9
Cleveland 4-9
Detroit 5-9
Royals 3-9
Twins 4-9

A’s 3-10
Astros 2-9
Angels 4-9
Seattle 2-9
Texas 3-10

— In the history of the major leagues, pitchers have thrown 326 no-hitters, batters have hit for the cycle 349 times.

— Dodgers put P Blake Snell (shoulder) on the IL; he allowed seven runs in 9 IP in his first two starts this season.

— Duke’s last 11 basketball seasons:
2015- 35-4, won national title
2016- 25-11, lost in Sweet 16
2017- 28-9, lost in 2nd round
2018- 29-8, lost in Elite 8

2019- 32-6, lost in Elite 8
2020- 25-6, NCAA Tournament cancelled
2021- 13-11, missed NCAA’s
2022- 32-7, lost in national semi-finals, then
Mike Krzyzewski retired

2023- 27-9, lost in second round
2024- 27-9, lost in Elite 8
2025- 35-4, lost in national semi-finals

— Famous birthdays, April 7th:
Bo Lamar, 74
Jackie Chan, 71
Thurl Bailey, 64
Russell Crowe, 61
Ricky Watters, 56

Ronde Barber, 50
Tiki Barber, 50
Adrian Beltre, 46
Eduardo Rodriguez, 32
Josh Hader, 31

— Lot of runs scored Sunday; over was 10-5 in Sunday’s baseball.

— Padres 8, Cubs 7
Cubs led this game 7-2 after the second inning.
Luis Arraez went 4-5 with a walk.
San Diego is off to an 8-2 start.

— Astros 9, Twins 7 (10)
Minnesota led 7-1 after the fourth inning.
Yordan Alvarez tied game with a 2-run homer in 9th inning.
Top three guys in Houston’s order went 8-16, with 7 RBI

— Red Sox 5-18, Cardinals 4-7
Boston scored 36 runs in its three-game series sweep.
Wilyer Abreu had a walk-off single in the opener.

— Tigers 4, White Sox 3
Spencer Torkelson’s 2-run double was a walk-off for Detroit.
Martin Perez got 19 outs for Chicago, giving up only one run.

— Phillies 8, Dodgers 7
Phillies blew a 6-2 lead, scored twice in 7th inning for the win.
Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam in the 3rd inning.

— Rangers 4, Rays 3
Jonah Heim had a walk-off homer for Texas.
Rangers have won five games in a row. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Phillies, Cubs, Giants Wild Cards- Dodgers, Padres, Mets
AL-  New York, Tigers, Rangers Wild Cards- Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays

— Florida 79, Auburn 73
Auburn led 46-38 at halftime.
Florida has now won 11 games in a row.
Walter Clayton scored 34 points, the first 30+ point game in a Final Four since Carmelo Anthony, 22 years ago.
Gators are in the national title game for the first time since 2011.

Average age of Auburn’s starting 5 is a year younger than the starting 5 for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

— Houston 70, Duke 67
Houston ended the game on an 11-1 run.
Cougars shot 10-22 on arc, out-rebounded Duke, 42-31.
LJ Cryer scored 26 points for Houston.

Florida-Houston play for the national title Monday night.

— I think there is opportunity in betting baseball totals, over/under for runs in a game, so I chart umpires. In couple weeks, when we gather some more numbers, I’ll be posting stuff about umpires several times a week. 

Friday night in Anaheim, Clint Vondrak had the plate for Guardians-Angels; if this was 2026 and the challenge system existed, there would have been a lot of challenges. Just about every marginal pitch went the hitters’ way.

Last year, over was 19-11 when Vondrak worked the plate; so far this season; his two games behind the dish ended 10-6/8-6. This will be interesting to follow.

— I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how many times I’ve watched Moneyball, but I had it on the other night, and decided to look up Art Howe’s record as a manager.

He managed the A’s for seven years, went 296-189 the last three years, but lost 3-2 in playoff series all three years. Winning 91-102-103 games three years in a row is really good. 

He obviously had the falling out with Billy Beane and bolted the A’s for the Mets, where he went 66-95/71-91 in two years, before they told him to take a hike.

In Moneyball, they made Howe look overweight, his character looked like Whitey Herzog, not Art Howe; he was a big league infielder for 11 years, hit .260. Pretty good athlete.

— Arizona Diamondbacks put 2B Ketel Marte on the IL (strained hamstring); sounded like the injury was fairly significant.

— Famous birthdays, April 6th:
John Ratzenberger, 78
Bert Blyleven, 74
Marilu Henner, 73
Sterling Sharpe, 60

Bret Boone, 56
Paul Rudd, 56
Tim Hasselbeck, 47
Spencer Dinwiddie, 32

— Mets 3, Blue Jays 2
Toronto led 2-0 in the 8th inning.
Jesse Winker tied the game with a 2-run triple.
Francisco Lindor’s sac fly was the 7th walk-off RBI of his career.

— Marlins 4, Braves 0
Cal Quantrill threw five shutout innings.
Matt Mervis homered twice for the Marlins.
Atlanta is off to a 1-8 start.

— Reds 11, Brewers 7
Cincinnati scored 14 runs Monday, 11 runs in this game.
In the four games in between, they scored a total of 2 runs, in four games.
TJ Friedl went 4-5, scored twice, had two RBI

— A’s 7, Rockies 4
Colorado led 3-1 after the fifth inning.
Jacob Wilson hit a 2-run double; earlier in the day, he hit into a triple play.
A’s are 4-2 on the road, 0-3 at home.

— In his 11 NBA seasons, Sacramento Kings’ G Zach LaVine has played in only four playoff games, the fewest of any player in the last 25 years amongst players who’ve averaged 20+ points/game.

— Word of the Day: kakistocracy- Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

— Stock market went down a combined 3,910 points Thursday/Friday; maybe we shouldn’t have elected a convicted felon president of the country, since he doesn’t seem to care much if the country succeeds or fails, he just wants to play golf.

One question before I go; how come Russia doesn’t have any tariffs?

(If you’re annoyed that I mentioned this, too bleepin’ bad. It would be nice if this country remained a democracy, I’d like to think you at least agree with that)

— Celtics 123, Suns 103
Boston set the all-time record for most 3-pointers made in a season when they sank their 1,364th 3-pointer in this game, passing the previous record, set by Golden State couple of years ago.

— Golden State is 20-2 when Steph Curry/Jimmy Butler both play; they’re 26-28 in all their other games. 

Lakers are 12-7 when Lebron James/Luka Doncic have both played, 35-23 when they didn’t.

— Detroit Pistons clinched a playoff spot Friday night, after they went 14-68 last year, one of the best turnarounds in NBA history.

Credit to coach JB Bickerstaff, in his first year coaching the Pistons.

— Saw a note that said since Christmas is on a Thursday this year, we’ll have three NFL games to watch while we drink egg nog and open presents.

— Los Angeles Chargers signed QB Trey Lance for one year, $6.2M; he was the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 draft, by the 49ers, but has started only five games (2-3) in four seasons for the 49ers and last year, with Dallas.

— Arizona Cardinals signed TE Trey McBride to a 4-year, $76M contract extension; he caught 111 passes for 1,146 yards last year, scoring two TD’s. $43M of that $$$ is guaranteed.

— Central Michigan fired basketball coach Tony Barbee, after the Chippewas went 14-17, 7-11 this season, Barbee’s fourth season there (they were 18-14/12-6 last year).

Central Michigan hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2003, has had only two winning seasons in MAC play the last nine years.

— Texas A&M is expected to name Samford coach Bucky McMillan their new coach, replacing Buzz Williams, who bolted to Maryland.

McMillan won five state high school state titles coaching in Alabama, then coached at Samford for five years, going 93-43/52-20 the last four years, getting to the NCAA Tournament last year. The last two years, his Bulldogs played the #8/#24 tempos in the country- very fast.

— Famous birthdays, April 5th:
Michael Moriarity, 84
Oliver Luck, 65
Dale Hatcher, 62
Steven Bardo, 57

Tony Banks, 52
Marc Bulger, 48
Stephen Jackson, 47
Justin Holiday, 36

— Red Sox 13, Cardinals 9
Rafael Devers got on base four times, the top six hitters in Boston’s order all had 2+ hits as they won their home opener.

— Braves 10, Marlins 0
Spencer Schwellenbach allowed only two hits, struck out 10 in 8 IP, as Atlanta took out some frustrations from their 0-7 road trip. Ozuna/Olson hit back/back homers for the Braves.

— Giants 10, Mariners 9 (11)
Willie Adames had a walk-off single in 11th inning as San Francisco won its home opener.
Giants have won five games in a row.

— A’s 6, Rockies 3 (11)
Jacob Wilson homered, had a 2-run single in the 11th inning.
Colorado was 1-15 with runners in scoring position.
Under 3-0-1 in A’s road games; over is 3-0 in their home games.

— Brewers 3, Reds 2
Reds ended a 36-inning scoreless streak, but lost their fourth game in a row, all by one run.
Tyler Alexander didn’t allow a hit in 5.2 IP as Milwaukee’s starter.

— Mets 5, Blue Jays 0
Tylor Megill allowed five baserunners, no runs in 5.1 IP.
Pete Alonso hit a 2-run homer in the first inning.

— Phillies 3, Dodgers 2
Jesus Luzardo tossed 7 shutout IP, giving up two hits.
First loss of the season for the Dodgers, after an 8-0 start. 

— Reds (2-5)
Reds lost their last three games, all by 1-0 scores. 
Cincinnati scored 4 or fewer runs in six of seven games. 

In the last 100 years, the 1960 Phillies were the only other team to lose three straight 1-0 games; May 11-13, they lost two 1-0 games in San Francisco, the third one in Cincinnati.

— Arizona (4-3)
Over is 5-2 in their first seven games.
Arizona scored 25 runs in three games vs righty starters.

— Braves (0-7)
Atlanta is 0-7 for first time since 1990.
Braves are 6-50 with runners in scoring position.

— Cubs (5-4)
Cubs won four of their last five games.
Over is 7-1 in their last eight games.

— Rockies (1-5)
Rockies started season with a 1-5 road trip, scoring total of 11 runs.
Under is 5-1 in their six games.

— Dodgers (8-0)
LA is first World Series champ ever to start the next season 8-0.
Over is 5-2 in their last seven games.

— Marlins (4-3)
Marlins started season with a 4-3 homestand, which included three walk-off wins.
In seven games, Marlins haven’t had a starting pitcher get an out after the 5th inning.

— Brewers (3-4)
Milwaukee won its last three games, despite scoring only nine runs.
Home team won six of their seven games.  

— Mets (3-3)
Mets split first six games, scoring 1-1-2 runs in their losses.
Juan Soto is off to a 5-21 start, with five walks, five runs scored.

— Phillies (5-1)
Phillies won five of their first six games.
Philly’s last four games stayed under the total.

— Pirates (2-5)
Pittsburgh is off to a 2-5 start, scoring total of 19 runs.
Five of their last six games stayed under the total.

— St Louis (4-2)
Cardinals scored 42 runs in their first six games.
Five of their six games went over the total.

— Padres (7-0)
San Diego is 7-0, but still trail Dodgers by half a game.
Five of their last six games stayed under the total.

— Giants (5-1)
Giants start season with a 5-1 road trip (over 4-2)
Giants are 12-38 with runners in scoring position.

— Washington (1-5)
Nationals lost last three games, scoring total of seven runs.
Last four Washington games stayed under the total.

— Famous birthdays, April 4th:
Craig T Nelson, 81
John Hannah, 75
Christine Lahti, 75
Tom Herr, 69

Jack Del Rio, 62
Robert Downey Jr, 60
Scott Rolen, 50
Ben Gordon, 42

Cameron Maybin, 38
Martin Perez, 34
JP France, 30
Mitch Keller, 29

— Orioles (3-4)
Orioles scored 12-9-8 runs in their wins, 2-1-0-4 in losses.
Over is 5-2 in their games.

— Red Sox (3-4)
Boston started season with a 3-4 road trip.
Under is 5-2 in their games.

— White Sox (2-4)
Chicago lost four of its last five games.
White Sox are 6-30 with runners in scoring position.

— Cleveland (2-4)
Guardians lost their last three games, scoring 2-0-2 runs.
Cleveland scored 7-6 runs in their two wins.

— Detroit (2-4)
Detroit opened season with a 2-4 road trip on west coast.
Tigers scored in first inning in three of last four games.

— Houston (3-4)
Astros lost three of their last four games.
Under is 5-2 in their games so far.

— Royals (2-4)
Kansas City is hitting 15-59 (.254) with runners in scoring position.
Royals lost three of their last four games.

— Angels (4-2)
Angels won four of their last five games.
In four of their six games, winning run scored from 7th inning or later.

— Twins (2-5)
Twins lost five of their first seven games.
Last three games, Twins are 10-22 with runners in scoring position.

— New York (4-2)
Four of their last five games went over the total.
New York scored in first inning in four of their six games.

— A’s (2-5)
A’s were outscored 35-9 in their first three games in Sacramento.
A’s four road games all stayed under the total.

— Seattle (3-4)
Mariners trailed after the 5th inning in 6 of their 7 games.
Six of their seven games stayed under the total.

— Tampa Bay (4-2)
Rays started season with a 4-2 homestand.
Five of their six games stayed under the total.

— Texas (5-2)
Rangers won five of their last six games.
Under is 6-1 in their games so far.

— Toronto (5-2)
Blue Jays won five of their last six games,
Toronto’s last four games stayed under the total.