Armadillo Sports
Monday’s 6-pack:
Miami Marlins’ all-time leaders in hits:
1,273— Luis Castillo
1,103— Hanley Ramirez
1,005— Jeff Conine
965— Mike Lowell
960— Giancarlo Stanton
842— Miguel Cabrera
Quote of the Day
“Why would you want to dance with someone who doesn’t want to dance with you?”
Adam Sandler, The Wedding Singer
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, who was their manager?
Sunday’s quiz
Knicks beat the Lakers in the NBA finals in both 1970 and 1973; Lakers had different coaches in those two playoff losses- Joe Mullaney, Bill Sharman.
Saturday’s quiz
The ABA folded in 1976, then four teams got absorbed by the NBA; the New York Nets beat the Denver Nuggets in six games, to win the last ABA title.
*********************************************
Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday
— Saw a clip on Twitter where a college ballplayer hit a home run, but was so busy celebrating as he rounded the bases that he neglected to touch home plate, and was called out. Not good. They showed the replay and sure enough, he missed home plate.
— I’m sure the Arizona Cardinals were thrilled to see clips this weekend of QB Kyler Murray taking batting practice with the Oklahoma baseball team; Murray used to say how he wanted to play pro baseball AND pro football, but light-hitting outfielders don’t make $46M a year.
— 2024 NFL schedule gets released Wednesday night, a few days late; there are rumors of two games on Christmas, with the games being shown on Netflix. Weird thing is, Christmas is on a Wednesday this year; curious how they’ll make that work for the four teams involved.
— Quick prediction; Marlins’ manager Skip Schumaker will be the Cardinals’ manager next year. He was their bench coach in 2022, and seems like he wants out of Miami.
— When hitters see the same pitchers fewer and fewer times, it makes hitting more difficult; the new schedule, with teams playing each other fewer times, hitters get fewer at-bats against the same pitchers, which hurts teams’ offense.
But MLB has said they want more offense; seems like one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Cubs, Padres
AL: Orioles, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York, Twins, Royals
— Atlanta Hawks won the NBA Draft Lottery, despite having only a 3% chance of doing so; they get the #1 pick in the NBA draft for the first time since 1975, when they drafted the great David Thompson, who chose to play for the ABA’s Denver Nuggets instead.
— Saw an NBA mock draft for next month’s draft; only one of the top five picks played college ball.
— Famous birthdays for May 13th:
Bobby Valentine, 74
Stevie Wonder, 74
Dennis Rodman, 63
Stephen Colbert, 60
Barry Zito, 46
Mike Bibby, 46
Rob Havenstein, 32
Willson Contreras, 32
Nico Hoerner, 27
— Mets 4, Braves 3
Brandon Nimmo hit a 2-run, walk-off homer in the 9th inning.
Braves are 3-6 in their last nine road games.
— Giants 6, Reds 5 (10)
Casey Schmitt hit a walk-off double for the Giants.
San Francisco lost CF Jung Hoo Lee to a left shoulder injury.
— Cubs 5, Pirates 4 (10)
Chicago won despite going 1-12 with runners in scoring position.
Pittsburgh is 7-16 in its last 23 games, after an 11-5 start.
— Astros 9, Tigers 3
Verlander tossed 7 shutout IP against his old team.
Jake Meyers was 3-3 with 3 RBI and he didn’t start.
— Royals 4, Angels 2
Seth Lugo struck out 12; he is 6-1, 1.66 this season.
Struggling Angels are 5-14 at home.
— Arizona 9, Orioles 2
Zac Gallen tossed six innings, got his 5th win of the year.
Jake McCarthy hit his first home run of the season for Arizona.
— Twins 5, Blue Jays 1
Minnesota has won 17 of its last 20 games.
Carlos Santana homered for the third day in a row.
— Cardinals 4, Brewers 3
Milwaukee led 3-0 after the first inning, didn’t score again.
Cardinals’ manager/coach got tossed after they won a replay challenge.
Goldschmidt went 2-5 with 2 RBI, snapping out of a slump.
Monday’s 6-pack:
Miami Marlins’ all-time leaders in hits:
1,273— Luis Castillo
1,103— Hanley Ramirez
1,005— Jeff Conine
965— Mike Lowell
960— Giancarlo Stanton
842— Miguel Cabrera
Quote of the Day
“Why would you want to dance with someone who doesn’t want to dance with you?”
Adam Sandler, The Wedding Singer
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, who was their manager?
Sunday’s quiz
Knicks beat the Lakers in the NBA finals in both 1970 and 1973; Lakers had different coaches in those two playoff losses- Joe Mullaney, Bill Sharman.
Saturday’s quiz
The ABA folded in 1976, then four teams got absorbed by the NBA; the New York Nets beat the Denver Nuggets in six games, to win the last ABA title.
*********************************************
Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday
— Saw a clip on Twitter where a college ballplayer hit a home run, but was so busy celebrating as he rounded the bases that he neglected to touch home plate, and was called out. Not good. They showed the replay and sure enough, he missed home plate.
— I’m sure the Arizona Cardinals were thrilled to see clips this weekend of QB Kyler Murray taking batting practice with the Oklahoma baseball team; Murray used to say how he wanted to play pro baseball AND pro football, but light-hitting outfielders don’t make $46M a year.
— 2024 NFL schedule gets released Wednesday night, a few days late; there are rumors of two games on Christmas, with the games being shown on Netflix. Weird thing is, Christmas is on a Wednesday this year; curious how they’ll make that work for the four teams involved.
— Quick prediction; Marlins’ manager Skip Schumaker will be the Cardinals’ manager next year. He was their bench coach in 2022, and seems like he wants out of Miami.
— When hitters see the same pitchers fewer and fewer times, it makes hitting more difficult; the new schedule, with teams playing each other fewer times, hitters get fewer at-bats against the same pitchers, which hurts teams’ offense.
But MLB has said they want more offense; seems like one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Cubs, Padres
AL: Orioles, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York, Twins, Royals
— Atlanta Hawks won the NBA Draft Lottery, despite having only a 3% chance of doing so; they get the #1 pick in the NBA draft for the first time since 1975, when they drafted the great David Thompson, who chose to play for the ABA’s Denver Nuggets instead.
— Saw an NBA mock draft for next month’s draft; only one of the top five picks played college ball.
— Famous birthdays for May 13th:
Bobby Valentine, 74
Stevie Wonder, 74
Dennis Rodman, 63
Stephen Colbert, 60
Barry Zito, 46
Mike Bibby, 46
Rob Havenstein, 32
Willson Contreras, 32
Nico Hoerner, 27
— Mets 4, Braves 3
Brandon Nimmo hit a 2-run, walk-off homer in the 9th inning.
Braves are 3-6 in their last nine road games.
— Giants 6, Reds 5 (10)
Casey Schmitt hit a walk-off double for the Giants.
San Francisco lost CF Jung Hoo Lee to a left shoulder injury.
— Cubs 5, Pirates 4 (10)
Chicago won despite going 1-12 with runners in scoring position.
Pittsburgh is 7-16 in its last 23 games, after an 11-5 start.
— Astros 9, Tigers 3
Verlander tossed 7 shutout IP against his old team.
Jake Meyers was 3-3 with 3 RBI and he didn’t start.
— Royals 4, Angels 2
Seth Lugo struck out 12; he is 6-1, 1.66 this season.
Struggling Angels are 5-14 at home.
— Arizona 9, Orioles 2
Zac Gallen tossed six innings, got his 5th win of the year.
Jake McCarthy hit his first home run of the season for Arizona.
— Twins 5, Blue Jays 1
Minnesota has won 17 of its last 20 games.
Carlos Santana homered for the third day in a row.
— Cardinals 4, Brewers 3
Milwaukee led 3-0 after the first inning, didn’t score again.
Cardinals’ manager/coach got tossed after they won a replay challenge.
Goldschmidt went 2-5 with 2 RBI, snapping out of a slump.
Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Over last six years, % of time home plate umps have been right on ball/strike calls:
2023— 92.8%
2022— 92.4%
2021— 92.1%
2020— 91.7%
2019— 91.6%
2018— 91.2%
Quote of the Day
“There’s teachable moments in the building during the day, how you carry yourself as a quarterback. There’s teachable moments at press conferences. There’s teachable moments every snap on Sunday. When you’ve got two guys that have won as much as Nick (Foles) and seen as much as Andy (Dalton), and you don’t take that information in, because you’re a little standoffish and a little abrasive, you’re wasting that opportunity.”
Josh Lucas, Chicago Bears’ former director of player personnel, talking about Justin Fields
Tuesday’s quiz
In the 2021 NFL Draft, QB Trevor Lawrence was the first pick, by Jacksonville; the next two picks were also QB’s, who are still in the NFL. Who were they?
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, Jim Leyland was their manager.
Sunday’s quiz
Knicks beat the Lakers in the NBA finals in both 1970 and 1973; Lakers had different coaches in those two playoff losses- Joe Mullaney, Bill Sharman.
**************************************************
— Apparently, the Cowboys will open 2024 by playing a 4:25 game in Cleveland in Week 1, where Tom Brady will make his debut as a FOX TV analyst.
— Detroit Lions gave QB Jared Goff a 4-year contract extension for $53M a year, with $170M of the $212M guaranteed. Goff is 26-24-1 as Detroit’s QB, but he won two playoff games LY, Lions’ first playoff wins since 1991.
Goff was 44-30 in his five years playing for the Rams.
— Chicago Bears announced that they expect rookie QB Caleb Williams to be their Week 1 starter.
— UFL standings, thru seven weeks:
USFL Division
Birmingham 7-0
Michigan 5-2
Memphis 1-6
Houston 1-6
XFL Division
St Louis 5-2
San Antonio 5-2
DC Defenders 3-4
Arlington 1-6
— So far in this round of the NBA playoffs, home team is 4-0 SU in the New York-Indiana series, 0-4 in the Denver-Minnesota series.
— If you know someone who likes the NBA, tell them to go to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which runs this year from July 12-22 at UNLV.
Lot of games every day on two courts, plenty of NBA players/coaches around, even some team owners, and the tickets are reasonable. One ticket gets you in for the whole day.
— Famous birthdays for May 14th:
Tony Perez, 82
Mike Quick, 65
Joey Cora, 59
Roy Halladay, 47
Eddie House, 46
Clay Matthews, 38
Rob Gronkowski, 35
Brenton Doyle, 26
Alec Marsh 26
— Movie of the Day: Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)- A married New York detective is assigned to protect a socialite who witnessed a murder, but they get involved romantically, which complicates the detective’s life, a lot.
Tom Berenger is the detective, Lorraine Bracco is his wife, Mimi Rogers is the socialite. Jerry Orbach, Daniel Hugh Kelly, John Rubenstein are also in the cast. Very good movie, with some good music, too.
— Cardinals 10, Angels 5
Angels led 4-0 after six innings.
St Louis scored eight runs in the top of the 7th.
Angels are now 5-15 at home.
— Phillies 5, Mets 4 (10)
Phillies scored twice in ninth inning to tie game.
Mets led 3-1 in 3rd inning, had bases loaded with no one out, but Cristopher Sanchez struck out the next three batters, on nine pitches.
— Braves 2, Cubs 0
Game was 0-0 after five; neither pitcher started the 6th inning.
Ronald Acuna got picked off first for third time in two games.
— Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2 (10)
Daulton Varsho hit a homer, robbed the Orioles of a homer with his glove.
Adley Rutschman hit two homers for Baltimore.
— Pirates 8, Brewers 6
Bryan Reynolds went 5-5, with two RBI
Mitch Keller tossed 6 shutout IP, then the Pirate bullpen held on.
— Diamondbacks 6, Reds 5
Kevin Newman’s 2-run single was a walk-off hit in the bottom of 9th.
Cincinnati has lost 11 of its last 12 games.
— Dodgers 6, Giants 4 (10)
Will Smith’s 2-run double was the game-winning hit.
Dodger bullpen threw 4.1 scoreless innings.
— Colorado 5, San Diego 4
Rockies have now won five in a row, after an 8-28 start.
— Here is a case for an unnamed player to make the baseball Hall of Fame:
Player X made six All-Star teams.
He led the AL in stolen bases six times, had 649 career steals.
2,249 career hits, 1,181 runs scored.
Most importantly, he was the leadoff hitter/offensive catalyst for a team that won the World Series three years in a row.
Here are stats for Player Y, who is in the Hall of Fame:
Player Y made ten All-Star teams.
2,170 career hits, 1,338 runs scored.
Batted 2nd most of his career.
Played on one team that went 1-6 in World Series.
Here are stats for Player Z, who is also in the Hall of Fame:
Player Z made ten All-Star teams.
2,677 career hits, 1,335 runs scored.
He led the AL in stolen bases nine years in a row.
Played on one team that won a World Series.
Player Z is Luis Aparicio
Player Y is Pee Wee Reese.
Player X is Bert Campaneris, who should join the other two guys in the Hall of Fame.
If Campaneris had done what he did for a team in New York City, he would’ve been in Cooperstown a long time ago.
Over last six years, % of time home plate umps have been right on ball/strike calls:
2023— 92.8%
2022— 92.4%
2021— 92.1%
2020— 91.7%
2019— 91.6%
2018— 91.2%
Quote of the Day
“There’s teachable moments in the building during the day, how you carry yourself as a quarterback. There’s teachable moments at press conferences. There’s teachable moments every snap on Sunday. When you’ve got two guys that have won as much as Nick (Foles) and seen as much as Andy (Dalton), and you don’t take that information in, because you’re a little standoffish and a little abrasive, you’re wasting that opportunity.”
Josh Lucas, Chicago Bears’ former director of player personnel, talking about Justin Fields
Tuesday’s quiz
In the 2021 NFL Draft, QB Trevor Lawrence was the first pick, by Jacksonville; the next two picks were also QB’s, who are still in the NFL. Who were they?
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, Jim Leyland was their manager.
Sunday’s quiz
Knicks beat the Lakers in the NBA finals in both 1970 and 1973; Lakers had different coaches in those two playoff losses- Joe Mullaney, Bill Sharman.
**************************************************
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— 2024 NFL schedule gets released Wednesday night; Opening Night will be Ravens in Kansas City to play the Chiefs. The next night, Eagles-Packers will play in Brazil.— Apparently, the Cowboys will open 2024 by playing a 4:25 game in Cleveland in Week 1, where Tom Brady will make his debut as a FOX TV analyst.
— Detroit Lions gave QB Jared Goff a 4-year contract extension for $53M a year, with $170M of the $212M guaranteed. Goff is 26-24-1 as Detroit’s QB, but he won two playoff games LY, Lions’ first playoff wins since 1991.
Goff was 44-30 in his five years playing for the Rams.
— Chicago Bears announced that they expect rookie QB Caleb Williams to be their Week 1 starter.
— UFL standings, thru seven weeks:
USFL Division
Birmingham 7-0
Michigan 5-2
Memphis 1-6
Houston 1-6
XFL Division
St Louis 5-2
San Antonio 5-2
DC Defenders 3-4
Arlington 1-6
— So far in this round of the NBA playoffs, home team is 4-0 SU in the New York-Indiana series, 0-4 in the Denver-Minnesota series.
— If you know someone who likes the NBA, tell them to go to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which runs this year from July 12-22 at UNLV.
Lot of games every day on two courts, plenty of NBA players/coaches around, even some team owners, and the tickets are reasonable. One ticket gets you in for the whole day.
— Famous birthdays for May 14th:
Tony Perez, 82
Mike Quick, 65
Joey Cora, 59
Roy Halladay, 47
Eddie House, 46
Clay Matthews, 38
Rob Gronkowski, 35
Brenton Doyle, 26
Alec Marsh 26
— Movie of the Day: Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)- A married New York detective is assigned to protect a socialite who witnessed a murder, but they get involved romantically, which complicates the detective’s life, a lot.
Tom Berenger is the detective, Lorraine Bracco is his wife, Mimi Rogers is the socialite. Jerry Orbach, Daniel Hugh Kelly, John Rubenstein are also in the cast. Very good movie, with some good music, too.
— Cardinals 10, Angels 5
Angels led 4-0 after six innings.
St Louis scored eight runs in the top of the 7th.
Angels are now 5-15 at home.
— Phillies 5, Mets 4 (10)
Phillies scored twice in ninth inning to tie game.
Mets led 3-1 in 3rd inning, had bases loaded with no one out, but Cristopher Sanchez struck out the next three batters, on nine pitches.
— Braves 2, Cubs 0
Game was 0-0 after five; neither pitcher started the 6th inning.
Ronald Acuna got picked off first for third time in two games.
— Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2 (10)
Daulton Varsho hit a homer, robbed the Orioles of a homer with his glove.
Adley Rutschman hit two homers for Baltimore.
— Pirates 8, Brewers 6
Bryan Reynolds went 5-5, with two RBI
Mitch Keller tossed 6 shutout IP, then the Pirate bullpen held on.
— Diamondbacks 6, Reds 5
Kevin Newman’s 2-run single was a walk-off hit in the bottom of 9th.
Cincinnati has lost 11 of its last 12 games.
— Dodgers 6, Giants 4 (10)
Will Smith’s 2-run double was the game-winning hit.
Dodger bullpen threw 4.1 scoreless innings.
— Colorado 5, San Diego 4
Rockies have now won five in a row, after an 8-28 start.
— Here is a case for an unnamed player to make the baseball Hall of Fame:
Player X made six All-Star teams.
He led the AL in stolen bases six times, had 649 career steals.
2,249 career hits, 1,181 runs scored.
Most importantly, he was the leadoff hitter/offensive catalyst for a team that won the World Series three years in a row.
Here are stats for Player Y, who is in the Hall of Fame:
Player Y made ten All-Star teams.
2,170 career hits, 1,338 runs scored.
Batted 2nd most of his career.
Played on one team that went 1-6 in World Series.
Here are stats for Player Z, who is also in the Hall of Fame:
Player Z made ten All-Star teams.
2,677 career hits, 1,335 runs scored.
He led the AL in stolen bases nine years in a row.
Played on one team that won a World Series.
Player Z is Luis Aparicio
Player Y is Pee Wee Reese.
Player X is Bert Campaneris, who should join the other two guys in the Hall of Fame.
If Campaneris had done what he did for a team in New York City, he would’ve been in Cooperstown a long time ago.
Wednesday’s 6-pack:
NFL games already released:
Week 1, Thursday— Ravens @ Chiefs
Week 1, Friday— Packers vs Eagles in Brazil
Week 1, Sunday 4:25— Cowboys @ Browns
Week 1, Monday— Jets @ 49ers
Week 2, Thursday— Bills @ Dolphins
Week 2, Sunday— Bengals @ Chiefs
The entire 2024 NFL schedule is being released at 8:00 tonight.
Quote of the Day
“I’ve got a trig midterm tomorrow and I’m being chased by Guido, the killer pimp.”
Miles, Risky Business
Wednesday’s quiz
A’s have played home games in Oakland since 1968; before that, what two cities did they call home?
Tuesday’s quiz
In the 2021 NFL Draft, QB Trevor Lawrence was the first pick, by Jacksonville; the next two picks were also QB’s, who are still in the NFL. Jets took Zach Wilson, who is now with Denver, and the 49ers drafted Trey Lance, who is now with Dallas.
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, Jim Leyland was their manager.
**********************************************
— College sports continue to get stranger:
Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder quit, to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech.
Green Bay coach Sundance Wicks quit after one year there to take the Wyoming job; last year, Green Bay improved from 3-29 to 18-14 under Wicks, but now he is gone.
Replacing Wicks will be former ESPN/CBS TV analyst Doug Gottlieb, who has never coached; his late father was a college head coach, his brother is a college assistant.
Gottlieb currently has a radio talk show on FOX Sports Radio; the weird thing here is that he will keep doing his radio show, even while he is coaching.
— New Mexico is going to play St John’s in Madison Square Garden on November 17; Richard Pitino’s team playing against his father’s team. I’m guessing it’ll be on national TV.
— Quarterback TJ Finley is going to play for Western Kentucky this year; he’s had an interesting college career:
2020- LSU
2021-22- Auburn
2023- Texas State
2024- Western Kentucky
Hilltoppers visit Alabama in their season opener August 31; it’ll be the third time Finley has played against the Crimson Tide, for three different teams:
2020- Alabama 55, LSU 17
2021- Alabama 24, Auburn 22
— Saw an old clip of the great comedian Steve Martin appearing on The Dating Game, which had to be in the late 60’s/early 70’s.
Would be good if they brought back old gameshows like that one and Hollywood Squares, would be a lot better than the contrived talk/yelling shows they have a lot of now.
— Angels haven’t played a divisional game yet; their first 44 games will be non-division games, which will be the 2nd-latest in a season ever that a team didn’t play a divisional rival.
— Last two years, with Buck Showalter as manager, the Mets were 17-5 in extra inning games; so far this year, with a new manager, they’re 2-4 in extra innings.
— Famous birthdays for May 15th:
Don Nelson, 84
George Brett, 71
Dan Patrick, 67
John Smoltz, 57
AJ Hinch, 50
Ray Lewis, 49
Justin Morneau, 43
Michael Brantley, 37
Cole Anthony, 24
— Astros 2, A’s 1 (10)
Houston pitcher Blanco was tossed after three innings for having a foreign (sticky) substance inside his glove. He is likely to get a 10-game suspension.
— Phillies 4, Mets 0
Aaron Nola threw a 4-hit shutout, on 109 pitches.
Phillies are 20-6 vs righty pitchers, 10-7 vs lefties.
— Cardinals 7, Angels 6
St Louis blew a 5-0 lead, but Alec Burleson’s 2-run homer in the 7th inning was a game-winner.
Pedro Pages hit a bases loaded double, his first major league hit.
— Marlins 1, Tigers 0
Both teams had only four hits.
Reese Olson has started eight games; Detroit scored total of 17 runs for him.
— Rockies 6, Padres 2
Colorado had won six games in a row, after starting the season 8-28.
San Diego is 10-15 at home, 12-8 on the road.
— There have only been games this season where both starting pitchers threw 100+ pitches.
— Ronald Acuna got picked off first base three times in Sunday/Monday games; maybe the Braves need to send their first base coach to AAA.
— Reds’ CF TJ Friedl broke his wrist in spring training; he recently came back, played six games, but now he’s broken his left thumb after being hit by a pitch Sunday.
— Monday night in Seattle, with Mariners’ leadoff hitter Josh Rojas at the plate, he hit a foul ball down the left field line- a younger fan caught the ball.
Next pitch, Rojas hit another foul ball, to the same area; no one caught the ball, but the same fan emerged from the scrum with the ball.
Two pitches, two foul balls; what are the odds of that???
NFL games already released:
Week 1, Thursday— Ravens @ Chiefs
Week 1, Friday— Packers vs Eagles in Brazil
Week 1, Sunday 4:25— Cowboys @ Browns
Week 1, Monday— Jets @ 49ers
Week 2, Thursday— Bills @ Dolphins
Week 2, Sunday— Bengals @ Chiefs
The entire 2024 NFL schedule is being released at 8:00 tonight.
Quote of the Day
“I’ve got a trig midterm tomorrow and I’m being chased by Guido, the killer pimp.”
Miles, Risky Business
Wednesday’s quiz
A’s have played home games in Oakland since 1968; before that, what two cities did they call home?
Tuesday’s quiz
In the 2021 NFL Draft, QB Trevor Lawrence was the first pick, by Jacksonville; the next two picks were also QB’s, who are still in the NFL. Jets took Zach Wilson, who is now with Denver, and the 49ers drafted Trey Lance, who is now with Dallas.
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, Jim Leyland was their manager.
**********************************************
Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings………
— Here’s a question; a celebrity like Jerry Seinfeld speaks at a college commencement like he did at Duke last weekend; how much does he get paid for that? Anyone know?— College sports continue to get stranger:
Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder quit, to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech.
Green Bay coach Sundance Wicks quit after one year there to take the Wyoming job; last year, Green Bay improved from 3-29 to 18-14 under Wicks, but now he is gone.
Replacing Wicks will be former ESPN/CBS TV analyst Doug Gottlieb, who has never coached; his late father was a college head coach, his brother is a college assistant.
Gottlieb currently has a radio talk show on FOX Sports Radio; the weird thing here is that he will keep doing his radio show, even while he is coaching.
— New Mexico is going to play St John’s in Madison Square Garden on November 17; Richard Pitino’s team playing against his father’s team. I’m guessing it’ll be on national TV.
— Quarterback TJ Finley is going to play for Western Kentucky this year; he’s had an interesting college career:
2020- LSU
2021-22- Auburn
2023- Texas State
2024- Western Kentucky
Hilltoppers visit Alabama in their season opener August 31; it’ll be the third time Finley has played against the Crimson Tide, for three different teams:
2020- Alabama 55, LSU 17
2021- Alabama 24, Auburn 22
— Saw an old clip of the great comedian Steve Martin appearing on The Dating Game, which had to be in the late 60’s/early 70’s.
Would be good if they brought back old gameshows like that one and Hollywood Squares, would be a lot better than the contrived talk/yelling shows they have a lot of now.
— Angels haven’t played a divisional game yet; their first 44 games will be non-division games, which will be the 2nd-latest in a season ever that a team didn’t play a divisional rival.
— Last two years, with Buck Showalter as manager, the Mets were 17-5 in extra inning games; so far this year, with a new manager, they’re 2-4 in extra innings.
— Famous birthdays for May 15th:
Don Nelson, 84
George Brett, 71
Dan Patrick, 67
John Smoltz, 57
AJ Hinch, 50
Ray Lewis, 49
Justin Morneau, 43
Michael Brantley, 37
Cole Anthony, 24
— Astros 2, A’s 1 (10)
Houston pitcher Blanco was tossed after three innings for having a foreign (sticky) substance inside his glove. He is likely to get a 10-game suspension.
— Phillies 4, Mets 0
Aaron Nola threw a 4-hit shutout, on 109 pitches.
Phillies are 20-6 vs righty pitchers, 10-7 vs lefties.
— Cardinals 7, Angels 6
St Louis blew a 5-0 lead, but Alec Burleson’s 2-run homer in the 7th inning was a game-winner.
Pedro Pages hit a bases loaded double, his first major league hit.
— Marlins 1, Tigers 0
Both teams had only four hits.
Reese Olson has started eight games; Detroit scored total of 17 runs for him.
— Rockies 6, Padres 2
Colorado had won six games in a row, after starting the season 8-28.
San Diego is 10-15 at home, 12-8 on the road.
— There have only been games this season where both starting pitchers threw 100+ pitches.
— Ronald Acuna got picked off first base three times in Sunday/Monday games; maybe the Braves need to send their first base coach to AAA.
— Reds’ CF TJ Friedl broke his wrist in spring training; he recently came back, played six games, but now he’s broken his left thumb after being hit by a pitch Sunday.
— Monday night in Seattle, with Mariners’ leadoff hitter Josh Rojas at the plate, he hit a foul ball down the left field line- a younger fan caught the ball.
Next pitch, Rojas hit another foul ball, to the same area; no one caught the ball, but the same fan emerged from the scrum with the ball.
Two pitches, two foul balls; what are the odds of that???
