Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack
-- Jered Weaver left his start after two innings Monday; he has a bad back. Teams should bunt on him more often; he has trouble getting off the mound to field, but otherwise he's a damn good pitcher.
-- Mike Trout/Miguel Cabrera declined invitations to Home Run Derby; Stanton and Cespedes are both in huge slumps-- are they thinking home runs too much?
-- Tough night for backup catchers, as John Buck/George Kottaras both got sent down to the minors, and will either be traded or released; both will get new jobs.
-- Dallas Beeler, Kyle Hendricks are getting called up to join the Cubs' rotation; poor Dan Straily, who is now stuck in AAA at Iowa instead of Sacramento.
-- Bronson Arroyo, who had never been hurt before this year, is having Tommy John surgery; its been that kind of a year for the Diamondbacks.
-- Houston Rockets offered Chris Bosh four years, $88M; if he leaves Miami, it opens the door for Carmelo Anthony to sign with the Heat, which might blow up the Interweb, if it happens.
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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.....
13) We mentioned last week about young umpire Vic Carapazza getting in a lot of arguments this season, well this may be related: the last three games he did behind the plate (and four of his last six) ended up 1-0. Hitters aren’t fond of him.
Carapazza has the plate for Houston-Texas tonight; two lousy bullpens, curious to see if that game stays under the total.
12) Jay Bruce started at first base for the Reds last night, his first game as a pro at first base-- he hit a homer as the Reds beat the Cubs 9-3.
11) Mets’ TV announcers spent an entire half-inning Sunday bashing Cubs’ SS Starlin Castro for being lackadaisical in the field and various other things (they weren’t broadcasting a Cub game), so of course Castro showed up on the Interweb that night as a possible trade target of the Mets. Fans should love that if it happens.
10) Tampa Bay Rays have been hot recently; they get Jeremy Hellickson back on the mound Tuesday, as they start to gain some momentum for what would be a very unlikely playoff run—they looked dead two weeks ago.
9) Toronto’s Edwin Encanarcion is out 2-4 weeks with a quad injury he suffered while beating out the back end of a double play, getting an RBI. Costly RBI though; he had been pounding the ball this season.
8) DirecTV announced that it has created a live fantasy football channel that will be available every Sunday afternoon during the 2014 NFL season on its Sunday Ticket package. It will be channel 704, if you’re planning ahead.
7) Four of last six Felix Hernandez starts were 0-0 after the fifth inning.
6) 6-5 guard Will Jackson de-committed from UConn, will go to college at Georgiasomething you don’t see every day, a hoop recruit picking Georgia over UConn. Kid is from Athens, so if they couldn’t get him, they were in trouble as far as keeping up with Florida-Kentucky in the SEC. Actually, they still can’t keep up with those schools, but at least they got this kid, who will help them.
5) I don’t like listening to Shaquille O’Neal on TNT's studio show, I can’t always understand what he’s saying, but heard him on the NBA Summer League game Sunday and he was terrific. Bright, funny, smart, t lot more outgoing than he was on TNT most nights. Not sure why that is.
4) Former Utah Jazz coach Ty Corbin is the new lead assistant in Sacramento; I'd almost forgotten that Shaq is a minority owner of the Kings.
3) Target Field in Minnesota now has self-serve beer machines that let fans decide for themselves exactly the size beer they want. The first station, with two dispensing machines on the third-base side along the main concourse, made its debut Sunday. A second station will be added on the same concourse along the first-base side in time for the July 15 All-Star Game.
2) Baseball is a game of quirks; the instant replay system seems to find a new one every week. Thought the Braves got hosed Monday night, when umps overturned an out call on a force play at second base.
I had heard multiple times that the "neighborhood play" on potential double plays wouldn't be reviewed, as long as the throw was accurate- Atlanta's 2B pulled his foot off the base early and then threw to first, but it was an accurate throw. Umpires in the Replay Review Room at MLB called the Mets' runner safe, when announcers and myself both thought the play couldn't even be reviewed.
1) 6,683 entrants into the Main Event at the World Series of Poker creates a prize pool of $62,820,200, with $10M to the winner, $5,145,968 to the runner-up. Top seven finishers will all make $1M+.
-- Jered Weaver left his start after two innings Monday; he has a bad back. Teams should bunt on him more often; he has trouble getting off the mound to field, but otherwise he's a damn good pitcher.
-- Mike Trout/Miguel Cabrera declined invitations to Home Run Derby; Stanton and Cespedes are both in huge slumps-- are they thinking home runs too much?
-- Tough night for backup catchers, as John Buck/George Kottaras both got sent down to the minors, and will either be traded or released; both will get new jobs.
-- Dallas Beeler, Kyle Hendricks are getting called up to join the Cubs' rotation; poor Dan Straily, who is now stuck in AAA at Iowa instead of Sacramento.
-- Bronson Arroyo, who had never been hurt before this year, is having Tommy John surgery; its been that kind of a year for the Diamondbacks.
-- Houston Rockets offered Chris Bosh four years, $88M; if he leaves Miami, it opens the door for Carmelo Anthony to sign with the Heat, which might blow up the Interweb, if it happens.
**********
Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.....
13) We mentioned last week about young umpire Vic Carapazza getting in a lot of arguments this season, well this may be related: the last three games he did behind the plate (and four of his last six) ended up 1-0. Hitters aren’t fond of him.
Carapazza has the plate for Houston-Texas tonight; two lousy bullpens, curious to see if that game stays under the total.
12) Jay Bruce started at first base for the Reds last night, his first game as a pro at first base-- he hit a homer as the Reds beat the Cubs 9-3.
11) Mets’ TV announcers spent an entire half-inning Sunday bashing Cubs’ SS Starlin Castro for being lackadaisical in the field and various other things (they weren’t broadcasting a Cub game), so of course Castro showed up on the Interweb that night as a possible trade target of the Mets. Fans should love that if it happens.
10) Tampa Bay Rays have been hot recently; they get Jeremy Hellickson back on the mound Tuesday, as they start to gain some momentum for what would be a very unlikely playoff run—they looked dead two weeks ago.
9) Toronto’s Edwin Encanarcion is out 2-4 weeks with a quad injury he suffered while beating out the back end of a double play, getting an RBI. Costly RBI though; he had been pounding the ball this season.
8) DirecTV announced that it has created a live fantasy football channel that will be available every Sunday afternoon during the 2014 NFL season on its Sunday Ticket package. It will be channel 704, if you’re planning ahead.
7) Four of last six Felix Hernandez starts were 0-0 after the fifth inning.
6) 6-5 guard Will Jackson de-committed from UConn, will go to college at Georgiasomething you don’t see every day, a hoop recruit picking Georgia over UConn. Kid is from Athens, so if they couldn’t get him, they were in trouble as far as keeping up with Florida-Kentucky in the SEC. Actually, they still can’t keep up with those schools, but at least they got this kid, who will help them.
5) I don’t like listening to Shaquille O’Neal on TNT's studio show, I can’t always understand what he’s saying, but heard him on the NBA Summer League game Sunday and he was terrific. Bright, funny, smart, t lot more outgoing than he was on TNT most nights. Not sure why that is.
4) Former Utah Jazz coach Ty Corbin is the new lead assistant in Sacramento; I'd almost forgotten that Shaq is a minority owner of the Kings.
3) Target Field in Minnesota now has self-serve beer machines that let fans decide for themselves exactly the size beer they want. The first station, with two dispensing machines on the third-base side along the main concourse, made its debut Sunday. A second station will be added on the same concourse along the first-base side in time for the July 15 All-Star Game.
2) Baseball is a game of quirks; the instant replay system seems to find a new one every week. Thought the Braves got hosed Monday night, when umps overturned an out call on a force play at second base.
I had heard multiple times that the "neighborhood play" on potential double plays wouldn't be reviewed, as long as the throw was accurate- Atlanta's 2B pulled his foot off the base early and then threw to first, but it was an accurate throw. Umpires in the Replay Review Room at MLB called the Mets' runner safe, when announcers and myself both thought the play couldn't even be reviewed.
1) 6,683 entrants into the Main Event at the World Series of Poker creates a prize pool of $62,820,200, with $10M to the winner, $5,145,968 to the runner-up. Top seven finishers will all make $1M+.
