Thursday’s 6-pack:
College football spreads for this fall:
— Clemson (-8) vs NC State
— Michigan (-9) vs USC
— Oklahoma (-2) vs Tennessee
— Miami (-7) vs Virginia Tech
— Georgia (-5) vs Alabama
— Florida State (-9) vs SMU
Quote of the Day
“I am very excited to go home and see them, hug them, talk with them, play with them. I saw them before the game and it’s a totally different feeling. Very cool.”
Phillies P Ranger Suarez, who pitched in front of his wife and two kids for the first time
Thursday’s quiz
Celtics’ star Jayson Tatum was the third pick in the 2017 NBA Draft; who was the first pick?
Wednesday’s quiz
2014 Los Angeles Kings are last NHL team to win a playoff series after trailing 3-0.
Tuesday’s quiz
Paul Pierce was the Celtics’ leading scorer in the last season where they won the NBA title.
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After the season, Detroit fired their general manager, then Wednesday, they fired Williams, eating $65M in the process. How much do you have to dislike someone or the job they’re doing to pay them $65M to go away????
NBA Draft is next week; Lakers/Cavaliers are also looking for new coaches. Detroit has the 5th pick in the draft. Will they hire a new coach before the draft?
— Ten years ago, the NHL’s LA Kings played San Jose in the first round of the playoffs; they lost the first two games 6-3/7-2 in San Jose, then lost Game 3 in overtime, 4-3 at home. Things were not looking good, but they swept the last four games against the Sharks, winning all four games by 3+ goals, including a 5-1 win at San Jose in Game 7.
Then they beat Anaheim in seven games, in a series where the road team won five of the seven games. Kings won Game 7 6-2 in Anaheim.
Western Conference final, Kings led Chicago three games to one, then lost Games 5-6, but they won Game 7 in Chicago, beating the Blackhawks 5-4 in overtime.
All of this was extremely unlikely, winning three Game 7’s on the road, but when the Kings beat the Rangers in five games to win the Stanley Cup, with three of their four wins in overtime, they finished one of the most unlikely runs to a championship of any team in any sport, ever.
This was also the last time an NHL team won a series after trailing 3-0, a feat the Edmonton Oilers are trying to pull off this week against Florida.
— Is the NHL the only league that announces trades while their playoffs are still going on?
— Tuesday night in Denver, the Dodgers trailed Colorado 9-4 after eight innings, but they scored seven runs in the top of the 9th to win 11-9, getting a grand slam from Jason Heyward, a 3-run blast by Teoscar Hernandez.
Before that, the Dodgers had lost 1,137 consecutive games when they trailed by 5+ runs in the 9th inning, or later. Their last win in this situation was in 1957, their last year in Brooklyn.
— Tuesday night in Anaheim, Milwaukee led the Angels 6-0 in the 9th inning; they put in a cruddy relief pitcher to wrap the game up, but that didn’t work, so they put their closer in with Taylor Ward up to bat with the score 6-3 and two men on base— tying run at the plate.
Ward hit a ball to deep centerfield that would’ve gone over the fence and tied the game, except Sal Frelick jumped up and caught the ball, robbing Ward of the game-tying homer and ending the game. Best defensive play of the week.
— When Willie Mays got elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, in 1979, there were 23 voters who didn’t put Mays on their ballot. Huh?
Who the BLEEP!!!! didn’t vote for Willie Mays as a Hall of Famer?
— Famous birthdays, June 20th:
Dave Elmendorf, 75
John Goodman, 72
Dickie Thon, 66
Nicole Kidman, 57
Rodney Rogers, 53
Lavar Arrington, 46
Kendrys Morales, 41
Josh Childress, 41
Darko Milicic, 39
— Word of the Day: Prudent- Acting with or showing care and thought for the future.
— Braves 7, Tigers 0
Reynaldo Lopez tossed five shutout innings.
Detroit scored total of three runs in their last four games.
— Rays 3, Twins 2 (10)
Tampa Bay is 35-39, but 25-11 in games decided by 1 or 2 runs.
Loss snaps Minnesota’s six-game winning streak.
— Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 3
Boston has won five in a row, 8 of last 10 games.
Toronto made four errors; Red Sox scored two unearned runs.
— A’s 5, Royals 1
A’s win consecutive games for first time since May 4th.
Zack Gelof homered for the second day in a row.
— Astros 4, White Sox 1
This was first time in 5+ years Houston started 9 righty hitters in a game.
Backup C Salazar had two hits, two RBI- he didn’t start.
— Brewers 2, Angels 0
Freddy Peralta tossed six shutout innings.
Angels have been blanked in 21 of their last 22 innings.
— Orioles 7, New York 6 (10)
Baltimore is now 19-7 in its last 26 games.
Gerrit Cole allowed two runs in 4 IP (62 PT) in his first 2024 start.
College football spreads for this fall:
— Clemson (-8) vs NC State
— Michigan (-9) vs USC
— Oklahoma (-2) vs Tennessee
— Miami (-7) vs Virginia Tech
— Georgia (-5) vs Alabama
— Florida State (-9) vs SMU
Quote of the Day
“I am very excited to go home and see them, hug them, talk with them, play with them. I saw them before the game and it’s a totally different feeling. Very cool.”
Phillies P Ranger Suarez, who pitched in front of his wife and two kids for the first time
Thursday’s quiz
Celtics’ star Jayson Tatum was the third pick in the 2017 NBA Draft; who was the first pick?
Wednesday’s quiz
2014 Los Angeles Kings are last NHL team to win a playoff series after trailing 3-0.
Tuesday’s quiz
Paul Pierce was the Celtics’ leading scorer in the last season where they won the NBA title.
*************************************************
Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..
— Last year, the NBA’s Detroit Pistons hired Monty Williams as their new coach, giving him $78M for a 6-year contract, then they went 14-68 this year, which included a 28-game losing streak. Pistons are 94-290 (.245) over the last five years, the worst record in the NBA during that time.After the season, Detroit fired their general manager, then Wednesday, they fired Williams, eating $65M in the process. How much do you have to dislike someone or the job they’re doing to pay them $65M to go away????
NBA Draft is next week; Lakers/Cavaliers are also looking for new coaches. Detroit has the 5th pick in the draft. Will they hire a new coach before the draft?
— Ten years ago, the NHL’s LA Kings played San Jose in the first round of the playoffs; they lost the first two games 6-3/7-2 in San Jose, then lost Game 3 in overtime, 4-3 at home. Things were not looking good, but they swept the last four games against the Sharks, winning all four games by 3+ goals, including a 5-1 win at San Jose in Game 7.
Then they beat Anaheim in seven games, in a series where the road team won five of the seven games. Kings won Game 7 6-2 in Anaheim.
Western Conference final, Kings led Chicago three games to one, then lost Games 5-6, but they won Game 7 in Chicago, beating the Blackhawks 5-4 in overtime.
All of this was extremely unlikely, winning three Game 7’s on the road, but when the Kings beat the Rangers in five games to win the Stanley Cup, with three of their four wins in overtime, they finished one of the most unlikely runs to a championship of any team in any sport, ever.
This was also the last time an NHL team won a series after trailing 3-0, a feat the Edmonton Oilers are trying to pull off this week against Florida.
— Is the NHL the only league that announces trades while their playoffs are still going on?
— Tuesday night in Denver, the Dodgers trailed Colorado 9-4 after eight innings, but they scored seven runs in the top of the 9th to win 11-9, getting a grand slam from Jason Heyward, a 3-run blast by Teoscar Hernandez.
Before that, the Dodgers had lost 1,137 consecutive games when they trailed by 5+ runs in the 9th inning, or later. Their last win in this situation was in 1957, their last year in Brooklyn.
— Tuesday night in Anaheim, Milwaukee led the Angels 6-0 in the 9th inning; they put in a cruddy relief pitcher to wrap the game up, but that didn’t work, so they put their closer in with Taylor Ward up to bat with the score 6-3 and two men on base— tying run at the plate.
Ward hit a ball to deep centerfield that would’ve gone over the fence and tied the game, except Sal Frelick jumped up and caught the ball, robbing Ward of the game-tying homer and ending the game. Best defensive play of the week.
— When Willie Mays got elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, in 1979, there were 23 voters who didn’t put Mays on their ballot. Huh?
Who the BLEEP!!!! didn’t vote for Willie Mays as a Hall of Famer?
— Famous birthdays, June 20th:
Dave Elmendorf, 75
John Goodman, 72
Dickie Thon, 66
Nicole Kidman, 57
Rodney Rogers, 53
Lavar Arrington, 46
Kendrys Morales, 41
Josh Childress, 41
Darko Milicic, 39
— Word of the Day: Prudent- Acting with or showing care and thought for the future.
— Braves 7, Tigers 0
Reynaldo Lopez tossed five shutout innings.
Detroit scored total of three runs in their last four games.
— Rays 3, Twins 2 (10)
Tampa Bay is 35-39, but 25-11 in games decided by 1 or 2 runs.
Loss snaps Minnesota’s six-game winning streak.
— Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 3
Boston has won five in a row, 8 of last 10 games.
Toronto made four errors; Red Sox scored two unearned runs.
— A’s 5, Royals 1
A’s win consecutive games for first time since May 4th.
Zack Gelof homered for the second day in a row.
— Astros 4, White Sox 1
This was first time in 5+ years Houston started 9 righty hitters in a game.
Backup C Salazar had two hits, two RBI- he didn’t start.
— Brewers 2, Angels 0
Freddy Peralta tossed six shutout innings.
Angels have been blanked in 21 of their last 22 innings.
— Orioles 7, New York 6 (10)
Baltimore is now 19-7 in its last 26 games.
Gerrit Cole allowed two runs in 4 IP (62 PT) in his first 2024 start.