Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack
— Nationals have scored 105 1st-inning runs this year, most in MLB. Boston is next, with 96.
— Steelers claimed QB Zach Mettenberger off waivers from San Diego; they lost Bruce Gradkowski (hamstring).
— Toronto catcher Russell Martin has 21 RBI in his last 15 games.
— Orioles added OFs Drew Stubbs, Michael Bourn in deals yesterday.
— Thoughts, prayers to Craig Sager, who got his third bone marrow transplant Wednesday. Very tough man.
— Vikings re-signed QB Brad Sorensen; he will back up Joel Stave tonite against the Rams. Unsure if Minnesota will add a veteran QB later on.
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Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud
13) NFL rosters have to be cut from 75 to 53 players this weekend; that’s 704 players losing their jobs in a few days. Lot of tough decisions; players cut from better teams will find their way to lesser teams, but the end result will be a lot of guys ending their football dreams and having to find a new career. Tough time for players and coaches alike.
12) Minnesota is going to miss Teddy Bridgewater, but they still have a good defense and there’s this: Vikings attempted 28.4 passes per game LY, fewest in NFL. Shaun Hill is 36 and immobile, so defenses will stack the box against Adrian Peterson and dare Hill to beat them with his arm.
11) The first commercial airplane flight from this country to Cuba in over 50 years took place this week. It has been so long, last time it happened, the passengers flew on a propeller plane.
10) Canadian Football League has nine teams, so on this holiday weekend, the schedule gets weird; Toronto Argonauts played at home Wednesday night, play again Monday in Hamilton.
9) Miami Marlins have a rule than a season ticket holder cannot re-sell more than 30% of their game tickets; they refused to sell season tickets to a fan who had previously sold more than that. Marlins are not exactly fan-friendly, especially considering the fans’ taxes paid for the domed stadium they play in.
8) In wake of Tony Romo’s injury, Dallas Cowboys went from 16-1 to 25-1 in Las Vegas to win the Super Bowl; they had been -3.5 over the Giants next week, but now game is at pick ’em, with Giants expected to be favored by kickoff.
Vikings had been -3 at Tennessee; they’re now a 1-point favorite.
7) Rumors out of LA had the A’s, Cubs as the two major league teams not represented at Tim Tebow’s baseball workout Tuesday. Whole thing was documented ad nauseum on the Interweb, so why bother going?
6) I don’t get people criticizing Tebow for trying baseball; if he isn’t good enough, they tell him to take a hike. If he is good enough, then some team has itself a bargain and a lot of free publicity. Whats wrong with that?
5) Read some articles this summer about Cuban defector Yulieski Gurriel and how great a hitter he is, then Houston gave him $40M+ to sign, so I was eager to add him to my fantasy team. After watching him play a few games now and I know it is still early, but I’m nervous about him and I ain’t playing him $40M+. We’ll see how this goes.
4) Today is September 1; not fond of college football articles predicting which coaches will be fired this season. Good Lord; let a guy lose a game or two before you start replacing him. Writers need to be more creative and find something more interesting to write about.
3) Texas Rangers are 80-54 this season, but if you bet them in the first five innings, they’re only 58-57-19, so they’ve been excellent late in games, winning lot of close ones.
2) A’s traded Coco Crisp to Cleveland for a low-level minor leaguer; there was lot of tension in Oakland recently because Crisp had next year’s $13M option kick in if he played in 130+ games this year, but no way was Oakland letting that happen, and Crisp spoke out publicly against it. A’s reward him for seven years of good service by trading him to a contender.
1– RIP Harry Fujiwara, 82. Better known as Mr Fuji on WWE telecasts, he teamed with Prof. Toru Tanaka as one of the best tag team combinations. Managed by the Grand Wizard of Wrestling, these two scoundrels would cheat by throwing ceremonial salt into their opponents’ eyes.
Good entertainment. RIP, sir.
