— During the Nationals-Reds game in Cincinnati Friday, Reds’ sideline reporter Jim Day did an in-game interview with the great actor Robert Wuhl, who was at the game as a fan.
Wuhl said that Cincinnati is the 28th MLB ballpark he’s been in; they’re going to Cleveland Saturday, which would leave Tampa Bay as the only ballpark he hasn’t been in.
It was a great interview; Wuhl was excited because Reds’ P Graham Ashcraft was pitching— he has Ashcraft on his fantasy team.
Wuhl, of course, was the pitching coach in Bull Durham, one of the best-ever baseball movies.
— Greed is killing college sports; right now, there are four teams in the Pac-12, because the Big 12/Big 10 have poached eight teams away from the league.
Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State are going to wind up merging with the Mountain West to form a new league, or expand a current league, whatever.
There will be three “super leagues”, plus the ACC and the Mountain West left in the top level of college football. Hopefully the bigger leagues at least go to divisions.
Put it this way; Oregon and Rutgers are now in the same league- they’re 2,904 miles apart.
Go figure.
— Nationals 6, Reds 3 (10)— Cincinnati led 3-1 in 8th inning; they left starter Ashcraft in to pitch to Meneses and he gave up the game-tying homer. Reds are 0-4 since they declined to add a starting pitcher at the trade deadline.
— Dodgers 10, Padres 5— San Diego led 3-2 after seven innings, then their bullpen imploded, giving up 8 runs in two innings.
— Royals 7, Phillies 5— Kansas City has won seven games in a row.
— Baltimore Orioles are 33-17 this year in games decided by 1 or 2 runs.
— Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 3— Davis Schneider homered in his first major league game.
— San Diego Padres shut down P Joe Musgrove for at 3+ weeks with shoulder inflammation.
— Minnesota Twins claimed OF Jordan Luplow off waivers from Toronto.
— Texas 6, Miami 2— Jordan Montgomery won his Rangers debut, throwing 6 IP; Adolis Garcia hit two homers for Texas.
— Mariners 9, Angels 7— Seattle wins despite Luis Castillo not having a good game; this game was 7-7 after five innings. Ty France hit a 3-run homer for the Mariners.
— Movie of the Day: St Vincent (2014)— A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the WWII veteran who lives next door.
Bill Murray plays the war veteran, whose wife is in a rest home with Alzheimer’s; he drinks too much, gambles too much but he becomes friends with the kid. Melissa McCarthy is the mom who has to work a lot; she turns to the neighbor to babysit her son.
Chris O’Dowd plays a priest at the kid’s school; he also played Douglas Downey in the great movie Molly’s Game— this is a much different role for him.
I had forgotten about this movie, watched it again Thursday night— it is very good.
— College Football Trend of the Day: Last two years, Alabama is 2-7 ATS as a road favorite.
— In the NBA, LA Lakers signed Anthony Davis to a 3-year, $186M contract, which means he will bank $756,097 PER GAME for the next three years, whether he plays or not, and Davis is often out of the lineup— the last four years, he’s played in only 194 of a possible 307 games.
— Tampa Bay Bucs are moving T Tristan Wirfs from right tackle to left tackle; that move became a source of debilitating anxiety for Wirfs, so much so that he began seeing a sports psychologist for help.
— They drew 26,425 fans to Saratoga Friday for the horse races; it costs $10 to get in, so they’re up $264,250 before anyone makes a bet, or buys a program or a beer. Must be nice.
— I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards- Giants-Phillies-Reds
AL: Orioles, Twins, Rangers. Wild Cards- Rays-Astros-Blue Jays
