— Spurs 78, Hornets 68— ESPN made way too big a deal about Victor Wembanyama’s NBA Summer League debut; the kid is 18, and it showed Friday night.
They sold out the Thomas & Mack Arena, UNLV’s arena, but Wembanyama shot 2-13 from the floor— he did have 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocked shots, but if you’re hyping up a kid as the best prospect since Lebron James, more was expected.
— Please don’t bet on who is going to be Rookie of the Year, but if you have to, don’t bet on the favorite— there is no value in it.
Three days ago, Arizona OF Corbin Carroll looked like a great bet to win NL Rookie of the Year, but then his shoulder popped out of place while he was hitting and it still looked like it bothered him in Friday’s game.
— Oklahoma City Thunder made a trade this week where they got a draft pick in the 2030 NBA Draft, which means that they traded for a kid who is probably in the 6th grade these days.
— Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Cubs scored three runs in 9th inning to pull out a 4-3 road win, ending a streak where they had lost 112 games in a row when they trailed by 2+ runs in the 9th inning or later.
— Phillies 4, Marlins 3— Bad loss for Miami; Christian Pache hit a pinch-hit homer in the 9th inning off closer AJ Puk. This is the same Christian Pache who wasn’t good enough to play for the woeful Oakland A’s. Phillies have now won their last 13 road games.
— Arizona 7, Pittsburgh 3
Zac Gallen tossed 7 solid innings, improved to 11-3
Saw something in this game I don’t think I’ve seen before; Jake McCarthy walked his first two times up, then got picked off both times but stole second base both times. It looked like he got picked off on purpose, figuring he could outrun his opponents, which he did.
— Seattle 10, Houston 1— Mariners scored nine runs in 4th inning, and didn’t hit a home run in that inning. Luis Castillo evened his record at 6-6 with seven good innings.
— Dodgers 11, Angels 4— With Mike Trout out for a long time, the Halos are stumbling; will they trade Shohei Ohtani before the August 1 trade deadline? Angels are 45-45, 4.5 games behind the last Wild Card spot.
— Mets 7, Padres 5 (10)
Over last five weeks, San Diego is 1-7 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Mets have now won six games in a row; they’re still 6.5 games behind the last playoff spot.
— Movie of the Day: The Meddler (2015)— An aging widow from New York (Susan Sarandon) follows her daughter to Los Angeles in hopes of starting a new life after her husband dies.
The title is fitting; Sarandon’s character gets involved in everyone’s business, but lot of what she does is helpful. Some of it isn’t; her relationship with her daughter is shaky.
Excellent cast: Sarandon, JK Simmons, Rose Byrne, Michael McKean, Harry Hamlin, Laura San Giacomo. Stumbled upon this movie on Amazon Prime; it is a good one.
— Worlds colliding; while you slept the other night, I was watching an old episode of Kojak, and who pops up on the screen but Yvonne Craig, who five years earlier had played Batgirl in the classic TV series Batman.
— College football bowl trend of the day: Underdogs are 5-2 SU/6-1 ATS in the last seven Cure Bowls.
— College football teams switching leagues this year:
going to Big X:
BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Houston
going to AAC:
UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UTSA
going to Conference USA:
Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State, Sam Houston State
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t)
NL: Braves, Reds, Arizona. Wild Cards: Dodgers-Marlins-Phillies
AL: Rays, Twins, Rangers. Wild Cards: Orioles, Blue Jays, Astros.
