— 50 years ago this weekend, a horse named Secretariat won the Triple Crown, won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. I remember that day for a different reason; it was the only time in my life that I’ve ridden a horse.
It was our 8th grade field trip; some genius decided the field trip should be at a dude ranch somewhere up by Lake George or Lake Luzerne, an hour north of here. I remember three things about that day:
The food was really good.
We played tennis, which was fun
We rode horses, which was no fun at all.
I get on this horse and have no clue what to do; I make the mistake of asking the guy in charge what my horse’s name was.
“Jumper” he replied and my blood pressure went up a little. Probably the horse’s too.
So we go off on our ride and it turns out the horse likes to eat flowers and plants, ones not near the path we were riding on. He did more eating than running in the beginning.
Then when all the other horses start to run a little faster, Jumper took off and I hung on for dear life. Couldn’t remember what the guy told me to do when the horse started to run, so I basically just hung on to anything I could and prayed the ride would end soon.
Luckily, Jumper didn’t jump, and we got back to the stables without me getting thrown off the horse, but my back hurt like hell for a while. I promised myself I’d never ride a horse again, and from that point on, always had a lot of respect for jockeys. Wouldn’t want to be riding horses for a living, or for any reason.
— Denver 108, Miami 95
Denver made half its 3-point shots (14-28).
Favorites are 44-37-1 ATS in this year’s playoffs.
Nuggets lead series 3-1; they can win their first NBA title Sunday
— Phillies 5, Dodgers 4
Kyle Schwarber hit a walk-off home run, LA’s third walk-off loss this week.
— Pirates 14, Mets 7
Mets have lost seven games in a row.
New York has been outscored 49-14 in first inning this year.
Ke’Bryan Hayes went 5-5, scored 3 runs, knocked in 4.
Jack Suwinski went 3-4, scored 4 runs, knocked in 2.
— Guardians 10, Astros 9 (14)
Cleveland overcame five different deficits from the 7th inning on.
Will Brennan had the walk-off hit for the Guardians.
— A’s 5, Brewers 2— Oakland has won three in a row for first time this year; they’re 5-4 in their last nine games.
— Arizona 11, Detroit 6— Diamondbacks lead NL West by 2.5 games.
— White Sox 2, Marlins 1— Luis Robert had a walk-off single; Yasmani Grandal hit a solo home run for the Pale Hose.
— Records in series openers (home/away)
Arizona 6-4/6-5……12-9
Atlanta 6-3/9-3……15-6
Cubs 7-3/7-4……14-7
Reds 7-4/4-6……11-10
Rockies 5-6/4-6……9-12
Dodgers 8-2/5-6……13-8
Marlins 6-5/2-8……8-13
Brewers 6-5/3-7……9-12
New York 5-4/6-6……11-10
Phillies 5-5/4-7……9-12
Pirates 8-3/6-4……14-7
St Louis 3-7/2-9……5-16
San Diego 5-6/6-4……11-10
Giants 5-6/5-5……10-11
Nationals 1-11/5-4……6-15
Orioles 6-4/9-2……15-6
Boston 4-6/7-4……11-10
Chi Sox 5-6/4-6……9-12
Cleveland 4-7/5-5……9-12
Detroit 5-5/6-5……11-10
Houston 5-5/7-4……12-9
Royals 2-8/2-9……4-17
Angels 7-4/6-4……13-8
Twins 4-6/6-5……10-11
New York 4-8/4-5……8-13
Oakland 2-8/4-7……6-15
Seattle 4-6/6-5……10-11
Tampa Bay 12-0/5-4……17-4
Rangers 6-4/6-5……12-9
Toronto 6-4/6-5……12-9
— Major league games have been 28 minutes faster so far this season; average runs per game has gone up, from 8.7 to 9.3 runs/game.
— Washington Nationals are 1-11 in first game of a home series; Tampa Bay is 12-0.
— Mets 1B Pete Alonso is out 3-4 weeks with a hand/wrist injury.
