Month: May 2026

NL East
Trends are thru May 7th
— Braves (26-12)
Braves won 17 of their last 22 games
Under is 7-4-1 in their last 12 games.
Atlanta is 23-4 when they score 5+ runs.

— Marlins (17-21)
Marlins are 12-11 at home, 5-10 on road.
Over is 7-2-1 in their last ten road games.
Marlins are 3-13 when they score 3 or fewer runs.

— Mets (14-23)
Mets won four of their last six games.
New York is 1-8 vs lefty starting pitchers.
Mets are 13-3 when they score 4+ runs.

— Phillies (17-21)
Phillies won eight of their last ten games.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.
Phiilies are 14-10 vs righty starters, 3-11 vs lefties.

— Nationals (18-20)
Nationals are 6-13 at home, 12-7 on the road.
Over is 13-5-1 in their home games.
Nationals are 8-20 if they score less than seven runs.

NL Central
— Cubs (26-12)
Cubs have won their last fifteen home games.
Cubs are 20-7 vs righty starters, 6-5 vs lefties.
Over is 10-1-2 in their last thirteen road games.

— Reds (20-18)
Cincinnati lost its last seven games.
Over is 12-2 in their last 14 home games.
Reds are 14-16 vs righty starters, 6-2 vs lefties.

— Brewers (19-16)
Milwaukee is 5-1 in road series openers.
Milwaukee is 16-2 when they score 5+ runs.
Under is 3-1-1 in their last five road games.

— Pirates (21-17)
Pirates won five of their last six games.
Over is 11-4-1 in their last sixteen home games.
Pittsburgh is 14-6 when they score 5+ runs.

— Cardinals (22-15)
St Louis won eight of its last ten games.
St Louis is 10-10 at home, 12-5 on the road.
Cardinals 10-18-2 in one-run games. 

NL West
— Diamondbacks (17-19)
Arizona is 4-11 in its last fifteen games.
Diamondbacks are 11-17 vs righty starters, 6-2 vs lefties.
Arizona is 1-6 in road series openers.

— Rockies (15-23)
Rockies are 1-6 in their last seven games.
Colorado is 14-18 vs righty starters, 1-5 vs lefties.
Over is 6-3 in their last nine games. 

— Dodgers (23-14)
Dodgers are 8-10 in their last 18 games.
Under is 10-5 in their last fifteen road games.
Dodgers are 20-2 when they score 4+ runs.

— Padres (22-15)
San Diego is 11-3 in games when winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Under is 8-4 in their last 12 road games.
Padres are 18-2 when they score more than three runs.

— Giants (14-23)
Giants lost 10 of their last 12 games.
SF is 12-16 vs righty starters, 2-7 vs lefties.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine games.

— Famous birthdays, May 8th:
Mike D’Antoni, 75
Bill Cowher, 69
Ronnie Lott, 67
Melissa Gilbert, 62

Speedy Claxton, 48
Adrian Gonzalez, 44
Kemba Walker, 36
Michael Penix, 26

AL East
— Orioles (17-21)
Baltimore lost six of its last eight games.
Orioles are 17-13 vs righty starters, 0-8 vs lefties.
15 of their last 17 games went over the total.

— Red Sox (16-22)
Boston is 6-5 since they changed managers.
Over is 9-4 in their last thirteen road games.
Red Sox are 11-18 vs righty starters, 5-4 vs lefties.

— New York (26-12)
New York won 16 of its last 19 games.
Over is 6-1 in their last seven home games.
New York scored in first inning in 12 of its 20 home games.

— Rays (25-12)
Tampa Bay won seven in row, 13 of its last 14 games.
Rays are 16-11 vs righty starters, 9-1 vs lefties.
Tampa Bay is 23-5 when they score 3+ runs.

— Blue Jays (16-21)
Toronto lost its last four games, outscored 16-7.
Blue Jays are 10-8 at home, 6-13 on the road.
Toronto is 13-5 if they score 4+ runs.

AL Central
— White Sox (17-20)
White Sox are 11-7 in their last 18 games.
Under is 7-3 in their last ten games.
Chicago is 14-4 when they score 4+ runs.

— Guardians (20-19)
Cleveland is 12-16 vs righty starters, 8-3 vs lefties.
Under is 7-3-1 in their last eleven games.
Guardians are 5-2 in road series openers.

— Tigers (18-20)
Tigers are 10-2 at home, 6-14 on the road.
Detroit is 14-13 vs righty starters, 4-7 vs lefties.
Tigers are 14-5 if they score 5+ runs.

— Royals (17-21)
Royals are 9-7 at home, 3-12 on the road.
Under is 6-2-2 in their last ten games.
Royals are 15-13 vs righty starters, 2-8 vs lefties.

— Twins (16-22)
Minnesota has lost seven of its last nine games.
Twins are 10-10 at home, 6-12 on the road.
Over is 9-3 in their last 12 road games.

AL West
— Astros (15-23)
Houston is 9-10 at home, 6-13 on road.
Over is 8-1 in their last nine home games.
Astros are 2-5 in games when winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Angels (15-23)
Halos lost 13 of their last 17 games.
Six of Angels’ last seven games stayed under the total.
Angels are 9-17 vs righty starters, 6-6 vs lefties.

— A’s (19-18)
A’s lost four of their last six games.
Over is 5-1 in their last six games.
A’s are 14-11 vs righty starters, 5-7 vs lefties.

— Mariners (16-16)
Mariners won five of their last six road games.
Seattle is 15-4 when they score 3+ runs.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.

— Rangers (17-20)
Texas is 6-11 in its last seventeen games.
Joc Pederson played in OF Wednesday, for first time in three years.
Texas scored total of 14 runs in their last five games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Padres-Pirates
AL; Bronx, Guardians, A’s. Wild Cards: Rays-Tigers-Mariners

— Cubs 7, Reds 6 (10)
Michael Busch was HBP with bases loaded to force in the winning run.
Cubs have won their last 14 home games, last three via walk-offs.
Reds led 6-4 in 9th; Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a tying HR in bottom of 9th.
Cincinnati has lost six games in a row.

— Dodgers 12, Astros 2
Andy Pages hit three home runs, drove in six runs.
Dodger starter Tyler Glasnow left after one inning with a sore back.
Houston is 15-23, tied for the worst record in the AL. 

— Rays 3, Blue Jays 0
Tampa Bay has won 12 of its last 13 games.
Rays have allowed only 17 runs in those 13 games.
Shane McClanahan has thrown 16.2 consecutive scoreless innings.

— Pirates 1, Diamondbacks 0
Paul Skenes allowed two baserunners in his 8 IP.
Brandon Lowe’s first-inning homer was the game’s only run.
All five NL Central teams are over .500.

— Mariners 3, Braves 1
Brian Woo tossed six shutout IP, striking out nine.
Julio Rodriguez hit his fifth home run of the season.
This is the first series Atlanta has lost this year.

— Guardians 3, Royals 1
Joey Castillo allowed three hits in five IP to get the win.
Four Cleveland reliever got the last 12 outs, giving up one hit.
KC starter Cole Ragans left after three IP with a sore left arm.

— Padres 5, Giants 1
Ty France had a pinch-hit, 2-run triple that put Padres up in 7th inning.
Rafael Devers hit his first home run since April 8th.
Giants have lost eight of their last nine games.

— Famous birthdays, May 7th:
Bob Weiss, 84
Pat McInally, 73
Ronnie Harmon, 62
Leslie O’Neal, 62
Shawn Marion, 48

Alex Smith, 42
James Loney, 42
Austin Pettis, 38
Emilio Pagan, 35
Nolan Jones, 28

The great baseball manager Dick Williams was born on this day in 1929.

— RIP Ted Turner, 87. He founded CNN, the first 24-hour news channel which changed a lot about how we watch TV.

In 1963, he inherited his father’s billboard company and bought radio/TV stations, including WTBS. He later owned the Atlanta Braves for 20 years; one season when they were struggling. Turner managed the Braves for one game.

RIP, sir.

— Phillies’ SS Trea Turner has an 11-year contract that will pay him $27,272,728 a year until it ends after the 2033 season. Turner will be 33 in June; when his contract ends, he will be 40. Not a lot of 40-year old shortstops in the big leagues.

— Astros’ SS Carlos Correa is out for the year after he hurt his ankle while taking batting practice this week.

— When batters/catchers challenge an umpire’s call but the umpire was right, they have to be really happy right? The ball/strike challenge system is a good one; just once, I’d like to see an umpire gloat after his call was proven right.

— When major league umpire Malachi Moore was playing high school baseball/football in Los Angeles, one of his teammates was Richard Sherman, who went on to be a really good defensive back for the NFL’s Seahawks.

— EJ Warner, son of Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner, is getting a tryout with the Denver Broncos. EJ Warner played/started at three colleges; Temple, Rice, Fresno State. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Padres-Brewers
AL; Bronx, Guardians, A’s. Wild Cards: Rays-Tigers-Mariners

One non-statistical thing I always think about when making this list:

My team has the ball on its own 20-yard line, down 3 points with 2:00 to go.; what QB would I want leading my team?

Here is my list of the 13 best quarterbacks of the Super Bowl era, with some exclusions:

Johnny Unitas/Bart Starr aren’t on this lost; they obviously were all-time great QB’s, but the peak of their careers happened before the Super Bowl started. Three of Starr’s five NFL titles were before the Super Bowl, two of the three that Unitas won were before I was born.

I’m also eliminating anyone who played for the Rams, just to make the list more fun for me to do. Kurt Warner/Matthew Stafford are two of my three favorite QB’s ever, but neither one will be on this list. 

With that said, here is the list……..

13) Troy Aikman
94-71 in regular season, 11-4 in playoff games.
Won three Super Bowls. 
Threw for 32,942 yards in regular season games.
First pick in the 1989 draft.

12) Ben Roethlisberger
165-81 in regular season, 13-10 in playoff games.
Won two Super Bowls. 
Threw for 64,088 yards in regular season games.
First round pick in the 2004 draft.

11) Jim Kelly
101-59 in regular season, 9-8 in playoff games.
Won the AFC title four years in a row.
Threw for 35,467 yards in regular season games.
Also played two seasons in the USFL.
First round pick in the 1983 draft.

10) Brett Favre
186-112 in regular season, 13-11 in playoff games.
Won Super Bowl with the 1996 Packers. 
Threw for 71,838 yards in regular season games.
Second round pick in the 1991 draft.
Falcons traded him to Green Bay after his rookie season.

9) Steve Young
94-49 in regular season, 8-6 in playoff games.
Won his only Super Bowl as a starter with ’94 49ers. 
Also played two seasons in the USFL.
First round supplemental pick in the 1984 draft.

8) Patrick Mahomes
95-31 in regular season, 17-4 in playoff games.
Went 5-2 in AFC title games in a seven-year span. 
Won three of those five Super Bowls.
First round pick in the 2017 draft.
By the time his career ends, he’ll probably be on top of this list.

7) Dan Marino
147-93 in regular season, 8-10 in playoff games.
Most career wins by a QB who didn’t win a Super Bowl. 
Threw for 61,631 yards in regular season games.
First round pick in the 1983 draft.

Famous birthdays, May 6th:
George Clooney, 65
Jason Witten, 44
Chris Paul, 41

Goran Dragic, 40
Gerardo Parra, 39
Jose Altuve, 36

6) Terry Bradshaw
107-51 in regular season, 14-5 in playoff games.
Won four Super Bowls, and is still somehow underrated.
His four Super Bowl titles came in a six-year span.
First pick in the 1970 draft.

5) Roger Staubach
85-29 in regular season, 11-6 in playoff games.
Won two Super Bowls, six years apart with the Cowboys. 
Went to the Naval Academy; his rookie year was five years after he was drafted.
10th round pick in the 1964 draft.

4) Peyton Manning
186-79 in regular season, 14-13 in playoff games.
Won two Super Bowls, one with the Colts, one with Denver.
Threw for 71,940 yards in regular season games.
First pick in the 1998 draft.

3) Tom Brady
251-82 in regular season, 35-13 in playoff games.
Won seven Super Bowls, including three of the first four years he started.
Won six Super Bowls with New England, one with Tampa Bay
6th round pick in the 2000 draft.

He has accomplished the most of any QB, but if I had my pick of any QB on this list in their prime, I’d take the next two guys before Brady……..

2) Joe Montana
117-47 in regular season, 16-7 in playoff games.
Won four Super Bowls in a nine-year span.
Threw for 40,551 yards in regular season games.
3rd round pick in the 1979 draft.

1) John Elway
148-82 in regular season, 11-6 in playoff games.
Denver won the AFC five times with him as their QB.
Won the Super Bowl in each of his last two seasons.
1st round pick in the 1983 draft.

There’s the list; it is easier to play quarterback now, they don’t get hit nearly as much. The rules favor the offense; back in the 70’s/80’s QB’s got hit a lot harder than they do now. 

— Detroit Tigers’ pitching ace Tarik Skubal will have arthroscopic surgery for loose bodies in his left elbow; the procedure usually sidelines players for 2-3 months.

Skubal won a Cy Young award the last two years; he is a free agent after this season.

— Red Sox 5, Tigers 4
Game was scoreless after five innings.
Down 2-0, Red Sox scored five runs in the 7th inning.
Jarren Duran’s three-run HR was the game’s big blow.

— Cubs 5, Reds 4
Pinch-hitter Michael Conforto hit a walk-off HR in 9th inning.
Cubs have won six in a row, 16 of last 19 games.
Cincinnati lost its last four games.

— Mariners 5, Braves 4
Atlanta hit three HR’s in top of the 6th to take a 4-0 lead.
Seattle scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth.
JP Crawford’s home run was the game-winner.

— White Sox 6, Angels 0
Davis Martin allowed five baserunners in seven IP.
Munetaka Murakami has 14 HR’s; he hasn’t hit a double or a triple.
Angels have lost 13 of their last 15 games.

— Phillies 1, Marlins 0
Bryce Harper hit a third-inning homer for the game’s only run.
Aaron Nola allowed five hits in his six shutout IP.
Phillies are 6-1 since they changed managers.

— Famous birthdays, May 5th:
Ron Oester, 70
LaPhonso Ellis, 56
Harold Miner, 55

PJ Tucker, 41
Adele Adkins, 38
Logan Gilbert, 30

— Knicks 137, 76ers 98
Knicks led 74-51 at halftime.
Jalen Brunson scored 27 points in the first half.
Knicks made 19 of 37 shots behind the arc.
New York leads series, 1-0.

— Timberwolves 104, Spurs 102
Game was 45-45 at halftime.
Anthony Edwards scored 18 points in 25:00 off the bench.
Minnesota was minus-11 in 24:00 Mike Conley was off the floor.
Minnesota leads series, 1-0. 

— Orlando Magic fired coach Jamahl Mosley, after the Magic lost in seven games to Detroit in the first round of the playoffs, after leading the series, 3-1.
Mosley was Orlando’s coach for five years, going 7-12 in the playoffs, which is why they fired him. Last three regular seasons, Orlando was 47-35/41-41/45-37.

— Movie of the Day: Rounders (1998)— Law student decides he’d rather play high stakes poker than finish law school. The scenes with Matt Damon and his law professor (Martin Landau) are excellent. Same guys who wrote this wr0te the great Showtime series Billions.

Matt Damon is the law student, Edward Norton is his friend who is a cruddy person, Martin Landau is a law professor, John Malkovich is a Russian gangster, John Turturro is a veteran gambler who tries to be the law student’s mentor.

Very good movie, one of my favorites.

— Lot of times very late at night, I listen to podcasts on YouTube. Found a good one Sunday; Starkville, with Jason Stark and Doug Glanville. Two smart, good natured guys just talking about baseball; in this episode, they had former big league pitcher Ron Darling as their guest. 

If you like baseball, it is fun to listen to them exchange ideas.

— Thanks for nothing: backup C Jonah Heim homered, drove in five runs for Atlants Sunday, then on Monday, the Braves activated C Sean Murphy- they DFA’d Heim, and  traded him to the Sacramento/Las Vegas A’s.

— Was watching a Milwaukee Brewers game over the weekend; Brewers were out of ABS replay challenges in the second inning— not good. They won the game so it wound up not mattering, but I’m surprised at how early in games some teams risk their challenges in situations that don’t seem that important.

— After Saturday night’s games, all five NL West teams were on losing streak of 3+ games, which is the first time that has happened in any division, since divisional play started in 1969.

— Mets 4, Rockies 2
Mets scored four runs in 6th inning; they didn’t have a hit in first five innings.
Carson Benge’s home run broke up a scoreless tie.
Colorado is 1-6 since they swept the Mets in New York last month.

Juan Soto batted leadoff for only the third time in his career.

— Rays 5, Blue Jays 1
Ryan Vilade hit a three-run homer in the first inning.
Bryan Baker earned his ninth save of the season.
22-12 Rays have won four in a row, and 10 of their last 11 games.

— Dodgers 8, Astros 2
Dodgers led the game 7-2 in the third inning.
Kyle Tucker went 2-for-5, hit a home run.
Astros are 14-22, second worst record in the AL.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Padres-Reds
AL; Bronx, Clev/Det, A’s. Wild Cards: Rays-Cle/Det-White Sox

— Braves 11, Rockies 6
Atlanta manager Walt Weiss managed the Rockies from 2013-16, going 283-365. Tough place to win. 

Now he is managing a team with a better organization, and he has the Braves off to a 25-10 start- they lead the NL East by 8.5 games already. Atlanta swept the Rockies this weekend, scoring 27 runs in the three games.

Ronald Acuna went on the IL with a Grade 1 (lesser) hamstring strain.

— Rays 2, Giants 1 (10)
Giants went 0-6 on this road trip; they’ve scored a total of nine runs in their last seven road games. They’re 13-24, tied for the 2nd-worst record in the NL.

After the game, Giants called up 1B prospect Bryce Eldridge.

— Phillies 7, Marlins 2
Phillies scored six runs in the top of the first.
Bryson Stott hit his second three-run homer of the weekend.

After the game, Marlins sent down C Agustin Ramirez, who was supposed to be a really good hitter and a lesser defensive catcher, but he’s hit only .231 in the last year and a half. Marlins are bringing up rookie Joe Mack to replace him.

— Pirates 1, Reds 0
Game was scoreless after seven innings.
Oneil Cruz had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the inning.

NL Central standings:
21-12- Cubs
20-13- Cardinals
20-13- Reds
18-14- Brewers
18-16- Pirates

— Royals 4, Mariners 1
Royals went to Seattle and swept the three-game series.
Cal Raleigh sat out the last two games with side soreness.

AL West standings:
18-16- A’s
16-18- Rangers
16-19- Mariners
14-21- Astros
13-22- Angels

— Famous birthdays, May 4th:
Rene Lachemann, 81
Richard Jenkins, 79
Ken Oberkfell, 70
Rick Leach, 69
Tim Sherwin, 68

Cleveland Gary, 60
Ben Grieve, 50
George Hill, 40
Victor Oladipo, 34
Nathan Peterman, 32

— Pistons 116, Magic 104
Cade Cunningham had 32 points, 12 assists.
Pistons shot 16-33 on the arc.
Detroit wins series, 4-3
Pistons advance to play Cleveland in the next round, because…….

— Cavaliers 114, Raptors 102
Jarrett Allen scored 22 points, had 19 rebounds.
Game was 49-49 at halftime.
Cavaliers outscored Toronto 38-19 in third quarter.
Cleveland wins series, 4-3; home team won all seven games. 

— When the 76ers beat Boston in Game 7 of their playoff series this weekend, it was the ninth time the two rivals had played a Game 7, more than any other teams have met in a Game 7.

— Merrimack College won the regular season in MAAC basketball this past winter; they were expecting to have both players back next year, but instead, one of them will be playing at Wake Forest, the other one at Boston College, two ACC teams.

Coaching mid-major college basketball is a lot more difficult that it used to be.

— Movie of the Day: Because it is May 4th, I was going to do Star Wars (may fourth be with you) but I’ve never seen it, so that was out.

Up In the Air (2009)- Guy has a job traveling around the country firing people, but his company decides to start firing people via Zoom calls, which upsets him, because he likes spending his life living in hotels. 

George Clooney is the guy, Jason Bateman is his boss, Anna Kendrick is the young lady who is promoting the Zoom calls, Vera Farmiga is the woman Clooney’s character is screwing around with on the road.

Good movie, with an unexpected turn at the end.

— Twins OF Byron Buxton has 10 home runs this season, but only 14 RBI, which is unusual. So far this season, he is 0 for 19 when he bats with a runner in scoring position.

Twins P Joe Ryan left the game after two batters Sunday, with a sore elbow. No bueno.

— Padres 4, White Sox 3
Xander Bogaerts had the game-winning single in 8th inning.
Loss ends the White Sox’ five-game winning streak.
Miguel Andujar/Manny Machado homered for the Padres.

— Mets 5, Angels 1
Mark Vientos homered twice, had four RBI.
Clay Holmes is 4-2, 1.69 so far this season.
Mets have the worst record in the National League, Angels the worst record in the American League.

— Astros 3, Red Sox 1 (10)
Red Sox were 0-11 with RISP, left 13 guys on base.
Boston P Ranger Suarez (hamstring) left after four IP.
Red Sox are 3-4 since they changed managers.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Cardinals-Reds
AL; Bronx, Clev/Det, A’s. Wild Cards: Rays-Clev/Det- 4 teams tied for last spot

— Pirates 17, Reds 7
In the 2nd inning, Pittsburgh drew seven consecutive walks, first time that happened in a game since 1983.

Pirates scored 5 runs in the first, 5 runs in the 2nd, 5 more in the 4th inning.

Reds are 20-13; they’ve given up 21 more runs than they’ve scored.

— Cubs 2, Diamondbacks 0
Shota Imanaga allowed four hits in seven IP.
Ildemaro Vargas’ hitting streak ends at 27 games.
Cubs improved to 13-5 at home.

— Blue Jays 11, Twins 4
Down 4-3, Toronto scored 8 runs in the top of 8th inning.
Kazuma Okamoto hit his third home run in two games.
Last six games, Twins’ bullpen gave up 20 runs in 20.1 IP

— Marlins 4, Phillies 0
Max Meyer and two relievers combined on a one-hitter.
Xavier Edwards homered for the Marlins.
Loss snaps Phillies’ four-game win streak under Don Mattingly. 

— White Sox 4, Padres 0
Sean Burke allowed four hits in six shutout IP
Miguel Vargas knocked in two runs for Chicago.
Pale Hose have won five in a row, 10 of last 14 games.

— Angels 4, Mets 3 (10)
Oswald Peraza had the game-winning hit for the Angels.
Halos led 3-1 after six innings.
Mets slip to 11-22, worst record in National League. 

— Royals 3, Mariners 2 (10)
Mikael Garcia drove in the winning run with a sac fly.
Jax Caglianone tied the game with a 9th inning single.
Emerson Hancock struck out 14 guys with no walks in seven IP.

Mariners retired Randy Johnson’s #51 before the game; they had previously retired #51 for Ichiro Suzuki.

— Famous birthdays, May 3rd:
Chris Mulkey, 78
Jeff Hornacek, 63
Bobby Cannavale, 56

Dule Hill, 51
Tyronn Lue, 49
Ryan Dempster, 49

Homer Bailey, 40
Domantas Sabonis, 30
Luis Medina, 27

— Movie of the Day: Let It Ride (1989)- A gambling-addicted cab driver gets a hot tip on a race horse and when he wins that bet, it begins a hot streak for him. 

Richard Dreyfuss is the cab driver, Teri Garr is his wife. Jennifer Tilly, David Johansen, Robbie Coltrane, Michelle Phillips and Allen Garfield are also in this movie, which is very funny.

— 76ers 109, Celtics 100
Joel Embiid had 34 points, 12 rebounds, six assists.
Jayson Tatum (knee) didn’t play.

76ers won a Game 7 on the road for the first time since 1982.

In their history, Celtics were 32-0 when they led a series 3-1.
In their history, 76ers were 0-18 when they trailed a series 3-1.

— Astros 6, Red Sox 3
Brice Matthews hit a three-run homer for the Astros.
Christian Walker also hit a 3-run HR, but got hit in the head by a pitch in 9th inning.
Houston is 8-8 at home, now 5-13 on the road.

— Rays 5, Giants 1
Tampa Bay is 8-2 in its last ten games.
Jonathan Aranda was 2-for-4, with two RBI.
Giants have scored only one run in first two games of this series.

— Brewers 4, Nationals 1
Milwaukee scored three runs in the top of first inning.
Kyle Harrison tossed six IP, is now 3-1, 2.12 this season.
Nationals are 3-12 at home, 12-7 on the road.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Reds-Padres
AL; Bronx, Guardians, A’s. Wild Cards: Rays-Tigers-3 teams tied for last spot

— Braves 8, Rockies 6
Colorado led 6-2 after seven innings.
Mauricio Dubon hit a bases loaded double in 8th inning.
Michael Harris hit the game-winning HR in 9th inning.

— Mets 4, Angels 3
Angels led 3-0 after five innings; their pitcher got hit by a line drive, had to leave the game.
Ronny Mauricio hit the game-winning HR in 7th inning.
Last 21 Angel batters were retired in order.

— Cardinals 7, Dodgers 2
Jordan Walker went 4-for-4, with two doubles, two RBI.
St Louis has won four games in a row.
Dodgers are 5-8 in their last thirteen games.

— Pirates 9, Reds 1
Catcher Henry Davis hit his first two home runs of the year.
Pittsburgh snaps a five-game losing skid.
Reds are 12-0 in games decided by 1 or 2 runs.

— Red Sox 3, Astros 1
Jarren Duran hit a three-homer in the third inning.
Chad Bennett threw five innings, won his MLB debut.
Houston is 8-8 at home, 4-13 on the road.

— Phillies 6, Marlins 5
Bryson Stott hit a three-run HR in 7th inning.
Zach Wheeler allowed three hits in six IP.
Kyle Schwarber was 0-for-5, with five strikeouts.

— Rays 3, Giants 0
Shane McClanahan allowed five baserunners in six IP.
Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero hit home runs.
Giants were shut out for the seventh time this season.

— Famous birthdays, May 2nd:
Jo Ann Pflug, 86
Clay Carroll, 85
Christine Baranski, 74
Jamaal Wilkes, 73

Keith Moreland, 72
Russ Grimm, 67
Dwayne Johnson, 54
Pat McAfee, 39

Paul George, 36
Jonathan Villar, 35
Ian Anderson, 28
Alec Pierce, 26

— Pistons 93, Magic 79
Orlando led 60-36 at halftime.
Orlando got outscored 57-19 in second half. 57. to, 19,
At one point, the Magic missed 23 shots in a row.
Series is tied, 3-3.

— Raptors 112, Cavaliers 110 OT
RJ Barrett hit a 3-pointer with 0:01.2 left.
Cavaliers outscored Toronto 23-12 in 4th quarter.
Series is tied, 3-3; home team has won all six games.

— Lakers 98, Rockets 78
Los Angeles won 49-31 at halftime.
Lebron James scored 28 points, had 8 assists.
Houston shot 35% from the floor.
Lakers win series, 4-2.

— Movie of the Day: Lucky You (2007)- A poker player tries to win a big tournament in Las Vegas, but is fighting a losing battle with his personal problems.

Eric Bana is the poker player, Robert Duvall plays his famous father, Drew Barrymore is the woman he tries to impress. Debra Messing, Robert Downey Jr have smaller roles, as well as several real-life poker players.

— Virginia Cavaliers were 11-3 last year; they’re the only football team from a Power 4 league that didn’t have a player taken in this year’s NFL Draft.

— NFL’s Cleveland Browns are getting a new stadium in 2029; the 67,500-seat stadium will be located fifteen miles south of Cleveland.

— When the college football magazines start popping up on newsstands next month, the Pac-8 will be back in business. 

Boise State, Colorado State, Florida State, Oregon State
San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State, Washington State

When basketball rolls around, Gonzaga will make it the Pac-9.

— Speaking of Gonzaga, they won a recruiting battle over St John’s for the services of 7-foot-2 Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop, who scored 13.6 ppp last year, grabbing 5.8 rebounds a game for the Sun Devils.

— Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer still works some Orioles games on TV; he was saying recently how he has never had eaten chicken wings. Ever.

Palmer said if the Orioles hit a grand slam while he was working a game, he’d eat a chicken wing. Sure enough, Baltimore hit two grand slams, Adley Rutschman and Jeremiah Jackson the other day, and Palmer ate a chicken wing for the first time.

— Alex Cora isn’t going to be too anxious to get back to work after the Red Sox fired him; Boston owes him $13.7M over the next year and a half.

— Average salary in the major leagues this season is $5.34M, up 3.4% from last season.