— Long time ago, summer of 1999, my dad had bladder cancer; they actually removed his bladder, made a new one and after nine days in the hospital, he went home and was fine.
About halfway thru his stay in the hospital, I was sitting in his room on a Saturday afternoon watching the Mets. He was being fed thru a tube in his neck; the nurse was changing the dressing on that tube. It was Saturday, so there were different nurses than normal.
It was quiet except for the TV; all of a sudden my dad flinched and grimaced as if he were in pain. The nurse started apologizing to him for hurting him, but he stopped her.
He pointed at the TV: “You didn’t hurt me; the Cubs have the bases loaded!!!”
The nurse quickly looked at me; my eyes kind of popped out of my head. My first thought was positive; if he cares about the ballgame, he feels better, that’s a plus.
But I gave him a look and said “Seriously???” and got up went down the hall to the vending machines to get some junk food. As soon as I left the room I broke out laughing; it was genuinely funny, other than him scaring the nurse (I apologized to her later).
Was reminded of that story today; next month will be the 10th anniversary of his death. He was an awesome guy, a great dad, and he is missed every day.
— Denver Nuggets won the NBA title last year, went 57-25 last year and are 47-32 this year, albeit 11-13 since the All-Star break (they won their last eight games before the All-Star Game). Jamal Murray didn’t play the last five games for Denver.
Tuesday, Denver fired coach Michael Malone; the word “shocked/shocking” were used many times in every story about the firing. Nuggets also are dumping GM Calvin Booth; the story I read said the coach/GM weren’t getting along, so they both got told to take a hike, although GM Booth is going to finish this season with Denver.
— Weird stat: Four of the last six coaches to win the NBA Finals are no longer with the team they led to the championship.
— Famous birthdays, April 9th:
Michael Learned, 86
Stan Love, 76
Rob Scribner, 74
Dennis Quaid, 71
Klye Macy, 68
Kirk McCaskill, 64
Bo Kimble, 59
Raheem Mostert, 33
Luis Arraez, 28
Zac Stacy, 24
— It has been cold here in the northeast this spring, cold all over; lot of ballplayers are wearing hoodies under their caps out in the field. A’s were out in Denver over the weekend; RF Lawrence Butler looked like he was dressed to play at Lambeau Field in January. Can’t be much fun spending a couple months in Arizona, then starting the season in chilly temperatures.
— Red Sox DH Rafael Devers started the season 0-19, but is 11-26 since then.
— Toronto Blue Jays gave 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr a 14-year, $500M contract after he hit .323 last year, with a .940 OPS. Guerrero was supposed to be a free agent next winter, but that ship has sailed now.
— There were three games Tuesday that were scoreless after five innings.
Under was 9-6 for the day.
— A’s 10, Padres 4
A’s scored six runs in first inning, got their first win in Sacramento.
Dylan Cease allowed nine runs in 4 IP (78 PT)
Rough day for the Padres: they put OF Jackson Merrill on the IL (hamstring) then lost both Fernando Tatis, Jake Cronenworth during the game when they got hurt while batting.
— Guardians 1, White Sox 0
Cleveland was last team to play its home opener.
Nolan Jones drew a walk-off walk from former Guardian Mike Clevinger.
White Sox have lost six games in a row, scoring total of 13 runs.
— Angels 4, Rays 3
Rays started a 13-game home stand, the longest home stand in the majors since 2011.
Angels are off to a 7-3 start; they won their first three series.
Tampa Bay has now lost five games in a row.
— Astros 2, Mariners 1 (12)
Seattle was 1-19 with men in scoring position.
Under is 8-1 in Mariners’ home games.
Under is 8-3 in Houston games this season.
— Reds 1, Giants 0
I wouldn’t want to be the Reds’ hitting coach; they’ve scored 2 or fewer runs in seven of their last eight games, but they didn’t allow a run the last two days.
— Nationals 8, Dodgers 2
Dodgers lost four of last five games, after their 8-0 start.
— Braves 7, Phillies 5
Big win for Atlanta, after their dismal 1-8 start.
Sean Murphy homered, drove in four runs.
Phillies’ utility guy Edmundo Sosa robbed Marcell Ozuna of a homer with a great catch, in his first game playing the outfield.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL- Mets, Cubs, Padres Wild Cards- Dodgers, Giants, Phillies
AL- Blue Jays, Tigers, Angels Wild Cards- Rangers, Royals, New York
