Armadillo Sports
Friday’s 6-pack
NFL teams with most dead $$$ on their salary cap this year:
$62.1M— Falcons
$51.8M— Texans
$45.2M— Bears
$44.6M— Seahawks
$36.5M— Eagles
$29.3M— Saints
Quote of the Day
“There comes a time in your life, you realize that silence is more powerful than proving a point.”
Rick Lewis
Friday’s quiz
What two managers led the Marlins to their World Series titles?
Thursday’s quiz
In the 2014 movie The Gambler, Mark Wahlberg plays a college professor with a serious gambling problem. John Goodman plays one of the three mobsters he owes a ton of money to.
Wednesday’s quiz
In the great poker movie Rounders, John Malkovich played Russian mobster Teddy KGB.
*********************
Friday’s Den: Random stuff with weekend here……..
13) Got a pleasant surprise Thursday; doorbell rang about 5:00, the UPS guy left a package on my stoop. I was a little confused, since I hadn’t ordered anything. It was a book, The Baseball 100, written by the great writer Joe Posnanski.
I had previously considered buying this book; for a second, thought I was going senile and forgot ordering it, but turns out a buddy bought it for me as a gift. Much appreciated; over the coming weeks/months, knowledge from this book will undoubtedly find its way into this space.
12) Baseball season is only eight days old, and I’m already annoyed with the Miami Marlins:
— Exhibit A: Monday night, Marlins/Angels are tied in 9th inning. Angels have winning run on second, no one out. Marlins throw a wild pitch, so now, game-ending run is on third with no one out and a 2-0 count on the hitter.
At this point, the defensive team is supposed to walk the next two hitters, set up a force at any base, and try to weasel their way out of the jam. But no, Miami pitches to the guy at the plate, who singles up the middle on the first pitch. Game over.
Reasons this annoys me:
a) It is the wrong thing to do
b) If they walk the batter and then the on-deck hitter to load the bases, the on-deck hitter was Jared Walsh, who is on my fantasy team. On-base %age is a close category this week; need all the help I can get.
— Exhibit B: Thursday night, Sandy Alcantara is pitching (Marlins’ ace and my fantasy team’s ace) They shift against Didi Gregorius like he is Ty Cobb or Roy freakin’ Hobbs; the guy was hitting .158, so of course he lays down a bunt for a leadoff single. Why give the guy a hit?
Looking forward to a shift-less 2023.
11) A’s 6, Rays 3:
— Tampa Bay has pitching issues; they’ve played seven games, their starting pitchers have logged a total of 19.1 innings, roughly 8 outs per game. This is not sustainable over 162 games.
— A’s already have five home runs with either 2 or 3 men on base; all last season, Oakland hit only 13 three-run homers, so a positive development there.
10) In 88 games so far this baseball season, only 23 out of a possible 198 starting pitchers have:
a) pitched 6+ innings
b) allowed 3 or fewer runs
9) Wednesday in Detroit, Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi threw 101 pitches, the first pitcher in the majors this season to throw 100+ pitches in a game.
8) Brewers 5, Cardinals 1:
— Milwaukee is in the 414 area code; Brewers’ home opener started at 4:14 local time
— Woodruff tossed five scoreless IP for the Brew Crew.
— Omar Narvaez hit his first homer this season.
7) Over/under in baseball so far this season: Under 55-38-7
6) Couple of guys got paid Thursday:
— Cleveland gave OF Myles Straw five years, $25M
— Pittsburgh gave OF Bryan Reynolds two years, $13.5M
5) Rangers 10, Angels 5:
— As a pitcher, Shohei Ohtani is 5-5, 5.83 in 17 road starts; he is 8-2, 2.18 in 20 home starts.
— Rangers have scored 38 runs in six games, but they’re only 2-4.
4) Padres 12, Braves 1:
— Manny Machado went 5-6, scored four runs, knocked in two.
— Eric Hosmer went 4-5 with two doubles.
— Atlanta has given up 49 runs in eight games. Not good.
3) Dodgers 9, Reds 3:
— Dodgers led 3-0 in first inning, Reds tied game in 7th.
— Trea Turner’s opposite-field single put Dodgers ahead to stay in bottom of 8th.
— Will Smith’s 3-run homer provided some insurance.
2) Detroit Mercy star Antoine Davis entered the transfer portal this week; kid was #3 scorer in country last year, shooting 37.9% on the arc. Weird thing about this is that Davis’ father is the Detroit Mercy coach; Titans were only 34-35 in Horizon games with the younger Davis playing, going to be lot harder to win without him.
1) I’m lucky in many ways, one of which is that the Baseball Hall of Fame is only 80 miles from my house; I’ve been there a few times, excellent place. Have been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio twice, in 2001/2017; if you get the chance to go to either/both of these places, you should. So much history, museums with fun stuff in them.
Friday’s 6-pack
NFL teams with most dead $$$ on their salary cap this year:
$62.1M— Falcons
$51.8M— Texans
$45.2M— Bears
$44.6M— Seahawks
$36.5M— Eagles
$29.3M— Saints
Quote of the Day
“There comes a time in your life, you realize that silence is more powerful than proving a point.”
Rick Lewis
Friday’s quiz
What two managers led the Marlins to their World Series titles?
Thursday’s quiz
In the 2014 movie The Gambler, Mark Wahlberg plays a college professor with a serious gambling problem. John Goodman plays one of the three mobsters he owes a ton of money to.
Wednesday’s quiz
In the great poker movie Rounders, John Malkovich played Russian mobster Teddy KGB.
*********************
Friday’s Den: Random stuff with weekend here……..
13) Got a pleasant surprise Thursday; doorbell rang about 5:00, the UPS guy left a package on my stoop. I was a little confused, since I hadn’t ordered anything. It was a book, The Baseball 100, written by the great writer Joe Posnanski.
I had previously considered buying this book; for a second, thought I was going senile and forgot ordering it, but turns out a buddy bought it for me as a gift. Much appreciated; over the coming weeks/months, knowledge from this book will undoubtedly find its way into this space.
12) Baseball season is only eight days old, and I’m already annoyed with the Miami Marlins:
— Exhibit A: Monday night, Marlins/Angels are tied in 9th inning. Angels have winning run on second, no one out. Marlins throw a wild pitch, so now, game-ending run is on third with no one out and a 2-0 count on the hitter.
At this point, the defensive team is supposed to walk the next two hitters, set up a force at any base, and try to weasel their way out of the jam. But no, Miami pitches to the guy at the plate, who singles up the middle on the first pitch. Game over.
Reasons this annoys me:
a) It is the wrong thing to do
b) If they walk the batter and then the on-deck hitter to load the bases, the on-deck hitter was Jared Walsh, who is on my fantasy team. On-base %age is a close category this week; need all the help I can get.
— Exhibit B: Thursday night, Sandy Alcantara is pitching (Marlins’ ace and my fantasy team’s ace) They shift against Didi Gregorius like he is Ty Cobb or Roy freakin’ Hobbs; the guy was hitting .158, so of course he lays down a bunt for a leadoff single. Why give the guy a hit?
Looking forward to a shift-less 2023.
11) A’s 6, Rays 3:
— Tampa Bay has pitching issues; they’ve played seven games, their starting pitchers have logged a total of 19.1 innings, roughly 8 outs per game. This is not sustainable over 162 games.
— A’s already have five home runs with either 2 or 3 men on base; all last season, Oakland hit only 13 three-run homers, so a positive development there.
10) In 88 games so far this baseball season, only 23 out of a possible 198 starting pitchers have:
a) pitched 6+ innings
b) allowed 3 or fewer runs
9) Wednesday in Detroit, Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi threw 101 pitches, the first pitcher in the majors this season to throw 100+ pitches in a game.
8) Brewers 5, Cardinals 1:
— Milwaukee is in the 414 area code; Brewers’ home opener started at 4:14 local time
— Woodruff tossed five scoreless IP for the Brew Crew.
— Omar Narvaez hit his first homer this season.
7) Over/under in baseball so far this season: Under 55-38-7
6) Couple of guys got paid Thursday:
— Cleveland gave OF Myles Straw five years, $25M
— Pittsburgh gave OF Bryan Reynolds two years, $13.5M
5) Rangers 10, Angels 5:
— As a pitcher, Shohei Ohtani is 5-5, 5.83 in 17 road starts; he is 8-2, 2.18 in 20 home starts.
— Rangers have scored 38 runs in six games, but they’re only 2-4.
4) Padres 12, Braves 1:
— Manny Machado went 5-6, scored four runs, knocked in two.
— Eric Hosmer went 4-5 with two doubles.
— Atlanta has given up 49 runs in eight games. Not good.
3) Dodgers 9, Reds 3:
— Dodgers led 3-0 in first inning, Reds tied game in 7th.
— Trea Turner’s opposite-field single put Dodgers ahead to stay in bottom of 8th.
— Will Smith’s 3-run homer provided some insurance.
2) Detroit Mercy star Antoine Davis entered the transfer portal this week; kid was #3 scorer in country last year, shooting 37.9% on the arc. Weird thing about this is that Davis’ father is the Detroit Mercy coach; Titans were only 34-35 in Horizon games with the younger Davis playing, going to be lot harder to win without him.
1) I’m lucky in many ways, one of which is that the Baseball Hall of Fame is only 80 miles from my house; I’ve been there a few times, excellent place. Have been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio twice, in 2001/2017; if you get the chance to go to either/both of these places, you should. So much history, museums with fun stuff in them.
