Armadillo Sports
Monday’s 6-pack:
Major league leaders in hits:
75— Luis Arraez, SD
71— Mookie Betts/Shohei Ohtani, LA
69— William Contreras, Milw
66— Jeremy Pena, Hst
65— Juan Soto NYY/Bobby Witt Jr, KC
64— Jose Altuve, Hst/Alec Bohm, Phil
Quote of the Day
“A little song, a little dance……a little seltzer down your pants.”
Chuckles the Clown, from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Monday’s quiz
Wayne Gretzky is the best hockey player ever; what team did he finish his NHL career with?
Sunday’s quiz
Before moving to Dallas in 1993, the NHL’s Stars were the Minnesota North Stars.
Saturday’s quiz
Zack Greinke is the last pitcher to get a hit in a World Series game, in 2021.
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Monday’s Den: Wrapping up a sports Sunday…….
— Braves 8, Pirates 1
Ronald Acuna blew out his knee, is gone for the season.
Chris Sale won his 7th start in a row.
— Orioles 4, White Sox 1
Kyle Bradish struck out 11, threw seven no-hit IP (103 PT).
Baltimore sweeps this series, after getting swept in St Louis.
If you’re in a weekly fantasy league, the Bradish start was unexpected; he pitched Tuesday, and wasn’t supposed to pitch again until Monday, but when Dean Kremer came up lame after his start last Monday, Bradish’s start got pushed up a day.
— Last year when MLB banned infield shifts, TV people league-wide all said the same stuff, using the same words, so much so that it seemed obvious that they had been coached to sell the changes to TV viewers and it worked. Banning the shift has generally been accepted.
This year, the baseballs seem to be a little dead; I’ve seen Pete Alonso and other hitters hit a few balls to the warning track, but the ball doesn’t seem to be carrying as well. Scoring is down, but I haven’t heard a peep from TV analysts.
The Mets’ booth started talking about it Sunday, but they stopped mid-sentence. Go figure.
— So far this season, teams that played a series at Coors Field in Denver are 1-5 in the first game of their next series; we’ll keep tracking that stat as the season progresses.
— Dallas 116, Minnesota 107
Doncic/Irving both scored 33 points.
Mavericks lead series 3-0; both conference finals are 3-0.
No NBA team has ever won a playoff series after trailing 3-0.
— DC Defenders 36, Memphis 21
Defenders led 22-7 at halftime.
DC outgained the Showboats, 431-231.
Michigan 26, Houston 22
Panthers outscored Houston 14-0 in fourth quarter.
Former NFL QB Bryce Perkins led the two 4th quarter TD drives.
— In case you were wondering, there have been 38 Australian pitchers who’ve made it to the major leagues; Jack O’Loughlin became the 38th Sunday, pitching three scoreless innings for the A’s, in his major league debut.
— Famous birthdays for May 27th:
Jackie Slater, 70
Nick Lowery, 68
John Jaha, 58
Frank Thomas, 56
Jeff Bagwell, 56
Jose Berrios, 30
Yoan Moncada, 29
Daniel Jones, 27
— Random obscure trivia:
In 1954, a Cleveland OF Dale Mitchell made the last out in game 4 of the World Series, as the Indians got swept by the Giants.
Two years later, while playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mitchell was the last out in Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the World Series.
Mitchell was a good ballplayer; he had a .312 career batting average in his 11-year career, making two All-Star games.
— Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 1
Ryan Weathers tossed six scoreless innings.
Marlins are 9-4 in their last 13 games, after starting the season 10-31.
— Tigers 14, Blue Jays 11
Matt Vierling was 4-6 with two homers, six RBI.
In their last six games, Detroit scored a total of 18 runs.
Tigers led 8-3 after the fifth inning.
— Reds 4, Dodgers 1
Nick Martinez allowed one hit in 4.1 IP as the bulk reliever.
Dodgers have lost five games in a row.
— Rangers 6, Twins 2
Corey Seager hit two homers, knocked in three runs.
Texas won only the third time in their last 15 games.
— Cardinals 4, Cubs 3
Paul Goldschmidt homered twice, in a game that started 2.5 hours late.
Cardinals won 10 of their last 12 games.
Both teams have day games in other cities Monday.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL- Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Cubs, SD/SF
AL- New York, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Orioles, Royals, Twins