— Happy 85th birthday to Jerry West, one of the best basketball players of all time, and also one of the best NBA executives ever.
West was a 14-time All-Star; he won a title with the 1972 Lakers, then won eight more rings as an executive. He is also part of the NBA’s logo, quite an honor.
Happy birthday, sir.
— It turns out Raiders’ new QB Jimmy Garoppolo was slow signing his contract with Las Vegas because he underwent surgery on his injured foot in March. Bottom line is that the Raiders can get out from Garoppolo’s contract if this injury continues to be an issue.
His signing bonus becomes part of his salary, which means if the contract gets voided because of the injury, Garoppolo gets bupkis. He had previously agreed to an $11.25M signing bonus. Now his salary is $22.5M, but he has to stay in one piece to get it.
Right now, the Raiders’ other QB’s are:
Brian Hoyer, Aidan O’Connell, Chase Garbers— Garoppolo’s foot better stay healthy.
— NFL teams with no primetime games this season:
Arizona, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis
— Since 2016, there have been fifteen Week 1 NFL games with a total of 50+
Over in those fifteen games was 9-5-1.
Right now, there are two Week 1 games with a total of 50+:
Lions-Chiefs, and Dolphins-Chargers.
— A’s CF Esteury Ruiz leads the major leagues with 27 stolen bases, so despite how horrible a team Oakland has been so far, they do lead the league in something good.
— Astros 10, A’s 1— Jose Abreu hit his first home run this season, in Houston’s 52nd game.
— Brewers 7, Giants 5— Giants’ OF Mike Yastrzemski hit a home run in Milwaukee Sunday that would’ve been a home run in 29 of 30 major league ballparks; the one park where it would not have been a home run was San Francisco, Yastrzemski’s home park.
— Guardians 4, Cardinals 3— Cleveland is now 11-14 in one-run games this season; no one else in the majors has played more than 20 one-run games (Reds are 8-12).
— Braves 11, Phillies 4— Lousy Sunday night game; Atlanta scored seven runs in the first inning, knocking Dylan Covey out in his first start for the Phillies.
Michael Harris made a great catch in centerfield, robbing Kyle Schwarber of a home run.
— Was watching the White Sox-Tigers game Sunday; Detroit TV guys were explaining how Tigers’ P Michael Lorenzen watches video of opposing hitters in the clubhouse in between innings when he is pitching. Lorenzen is 2-2, 3.50 in eight starts this season.
— Rockies 11, Mets 10— Colorado scored 21 runs the last two days, wins 2 of 3 in series. Ryan McMahon tied a career high with five RBI in this game.
— Tigers 6, White Sox 5 (10)— Detroit has won five of its last seven games, is now only a game out of first place in AL Central, despite its 25-26 record.
— Marlins 2, Angels 0— Miami sweeps the Halos in Anaheim, not a good weekend for a team trying to keep one of its two stars from bolting in free agency.
— Rays 11, Dodgers 10— LA starter Gavin Stone gave up seven runs in two innings; he got 15 whiffs on 40 Tampa Bay swings, which is good, but the Rays put 13 balls in play, and got 10 hits, which is really bad. Dodgers are hurting for starting pitching right now.
— Remember Bob Denver, the star of Gilligan’s Island? Turns out that after Gilligan’s Island was cancelled back in the 60’s, the actor bought a 14-foot sailboat and moved into a house overlooking the water north of Malibu.
Hopefully he didn’t take the sailboat on any three-hour tours.
— Sunday was the halfway point of the NFL’s offseason; the Super Bowl was 15 weeks ago, and Week 1 is 15 weeks ahead of us.
