— Whats the best day to have a birthday? I’m thinking the 4th of July has to be pretty high on the list. People shoot off fireworks, most everyone has the day off, the weather is usually good.
Few years ago, we did the best/worst days to have a birthday (February 29 is most definitely the worst). Sometime this summer, we’ll re-visit that topic.
— Duncan Robinson has played guard for the Miami Heat for the last seven years, scoring 11.3 ppg, mostly because he has shot 39.7% on the arc- shooting is marketable.
He just signed a 3-year, $48M deal with the Detroit Pistons, $16M a year.
Robinson has earned just over $73M in his career, which is amazing for one reason; the first year he was in college, he played at Williams, which plays Division III, non-scholarship ball. This new contract will put him at around $121M for his career.
There are many very good players at the D-III level, but the odds of someone playing D-III ball, then banking $120M+ playing in the NBA have to be astronomical.
— New York Knicks are expected to hire former Cavaliers/Lakers/Kings coach Mike Brown as their next head coach. Brown has a 454-304 record in regular season games, 50-40 in playoff games. He was an assistant coach for Spurs/Warriors teams that won NBA titles- his team in Cleveland got the NBA Finals in 2007, but lost in the Finals.
Knicks just had their best season in 25 years but fired coach Tom Thibodeau anyway.
— There will be at least five more years of labor peace in the NHL; the league and players agreed to a four-year extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will carry through the 2029-30 season.
— Clayton Kershaw recorded his 3,000th career strikeout this week, the 20th pitcher to do it, only the 4th left-handed pitcher.
— Atlanta Braves P Spencer Schwellenbach broke his elbow, is out for an indefinite time. This year, Schwellenbach was 7-4, 3.09 in 17 starts.
Not sure how you break your elbow pitching, but this is yet another injury for an injury-ravaged Atlanta pitching staff.
— Quick facts on the Arizona Cardinals:
Head coach and both coordinators are in their third year with Arizona.
Arizona was 7-2 ATS as an underdog last year.
Last two years, Cardinals were 11-6 ATS at home.
Last year, Arizona was +11 in sacks (41-30)
Last year, Arizona was minus-3 in turnovers (17-20)
Last year, Cardinals were 8-9, 3-5 in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
— Famous birthdays, July 4th
Emerson Boozer, 82
Horace Grant, 60
Harvey Grant, 60
Vinny Castilla, 58
Todd Marinovich, 56
Josh McCown, 46
Brock Berlin, 44
Ömer Aşık, 39
— Cubs 1, Guardians 0 (10)
Cleveland has now lost seven games in a row.
Cubs won despite having only three hits.
Cade Horton threw seven shutout IP for the Cubs.
— Marlins 4, Twins 1
Eury Perez allowed one hit in six IP.
Marlins won 10 of last 12 games, won their last four series.
Agustin Ramirez hit a two-run home run.
— Rockies 7, Astros 6
Thairo Estrada homered, knocked in four runs.
Tyler Freeman has reached base safely in his last 18 games.
— Blue Jays 8, New York 5
George Springer hit two 2-run homers.
Toronto sweeps 4-game series, now leads the AL East.
New York is 10-16 against its AL East rivals.
— Giants 7, Diamondbacks 2
Robbie Ray threw a 102-pitch complete game against his old team.
It was Ray’s first complete game since 2017.
Rafael Devers had three RBI for the Giants.
— Angels 5, Braves 1
Jose Soriano threw seven scoreless IP.
Zach Neto went 3-5, scored three runs.
Matt Olson has reached base safely in his last 33 games.
— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Mets, Brewers, Padres
AL: Blue Jays, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: New York, Rays, Mariners
