Month: April 2025

— Warriors 109, Rockets 106
Houston led 57-50 at halftime.
Butler scored 27 points, Podziemski 26 for the Warriors.
Golden State’s subs were a combined minus-40, their starters +55.
Warriors lead series, 3-1. 

— Cavaliers 138, Heat 83
Cavaliers led 72-33 at halftime.
Cleveland sweeps series, 4-0; only one win was by less than 21 points.
Cavaliers’ two wins in Miami: 124-87 and this game.

— Milwaukee Bucks’ star Damian Lillard tore his Achilles tendon Sunday, his 2025-26 season is now in serious doubt.

— Shaquille O’Neal is going to be general manager of the Sacramento State basketball program; his son Shaqir is playing for the Hornets next fall, after transferring from Florida A&M. Hornets haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since moving up to Division I in 1991- they play in the Big Sky Conference. Former NBA star Mike Bibby is Sac State’s new head coach.

— Famous birthdays, April 29th:
Willie Nelson, 92
Luis Aparicio, 91
Jim Hart, 81
Tom House, 78
Rick Burleson, 74

Ron Washington, 73
Bob McClure, 73
Jerry Seinfeld, 71
Michelle Pfeiffer, 67
Eve Plumb, 67

Uma Thurman, 55
Jay Cutler, 42
David Lee, 42
Josh Booty, 50
Zach McKinstry, 30

— Mets 19, Nationals 5
Brandon Nimmo went 4-6, with two homers, 9 RBI.
Before Monday, Nimmo was in a 7-for-47 slump.
Francisco Lindor got hit by a pitch twice in the 7th inning, the first player in 11 years to have that happen.

— Reds 3, Cardinals 1
Nick Martinez gave up one run, five hits in his six IP.
Noelvi Marte knocked in the go-ahead run with his first career triple.
Gavin Lux went 3-for-4, is hitting .352.

— Braves 6, Rockies 3
Colorado has lost seven in a row, is now 4-24.
Braves have won eight of their last ten games.
Alex Verdugo went 2-for-4, is hitting .350.

— Dodgers 7, Marlins 6 (10)
Tommy Edman had a walk-off 2-run single in 10th inning.
Dodgers led 5-0 after the fifth inning.
Dane Myers tied the game with a 6th inning grand slam. 

— Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise (1988)- A former Los Angeles drug dealer tries to go straight, but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.

Mel Gibson is the drug dealer, Michelle Pfeiffer owns a restaurant, Kurt Russell is a cop and Raul Julia is a Mexican commandante. JT Walsh, Arye Gross are also in this movie.

— A’s 2, Rangers 1
Tyler Soderstrom had a 2-run double in the fifth inning.
A’s bullpen got 10 outs, didn’t allow a run in relief of JP Sears.
Spunky A’s have won nine of their last 13 games.

— Orioles 4, Bronx 3
Ryan O’Hearn hit a three-run homer.
Baltimore led 4-0 after the sixth inning.
Aaron Judge had two hits, is now batting .405.

— Twins 11, Guardians 1
Minnesota has won six of its last seven games.
Cleveland lost four of its last five games.
Twins had 17 hits; six players had 2+ hits.

— Astros 8, Tigers 5
Jose Altuve went 2-4, with a homer, three RBI.
Riley Greene homered twice for Detroit.
Loss snaps the Tigers’ four-game winning streak.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Giants. Wild Cards: Dodgers, Padres, Reds
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Astros, Red Sox

— Knicks 94, Pistons 93
Jalen Brunson scored 32 points, 11 assists.
Detroit has lost its last nine home playoff games.
New York leads series, 3-1

— Timberwolves 116, Lakers 113
Lakers led by 12 points late in third quarter.
Minnesota leads this series, 3-1
Lakers didn’t sub after halftime, only time that has happened in a playoff game in the last 28 years.

— Celtics 107, Magic 98
Jayson Tatum scored 37 points, had 14 rebounds.
Boston took the lead for good with 3:58 left in the game.
Celtics lead series, 3-1

— Pacers 129, Bucks 103
Bucks’ star Damian Lillard hurt his left leg, played only six minutes.
Indiana shot 60.2% from the floor.
Eight Pacers scored in double figures. 

— In the NFL, 29-year old WR Hunter Renfrow signed with the Carolina Panthers; he sat out last year, after catching 269 passes (10.7 yards/catch) in five years with the Raiders.

— Jacksonville Jaguars signed DE Emmanuel Ogbah for one year, $5M, which figures to help the Jaguars’ pass rush. Ogbah played the last five years for the Dolphins.

— District of Columbia and the Washington Commanders struck a deal to build a stadium and play where their old stadium, RFK Stadium — the team’s home from 1961-1996 — still stands.

— Famous birthdays, April 28th:
Ann-Margret, 84
Mary McDonnell, 73
Mark Bavaro, 62
Barry Larkin, 61
Pete Stoyanovich, 58

Elisabeth Rohm, 52
Billy Volek, 49
Josh Howard, 45
Chris Kaman, 43
David Freese, 42

Spencer Hawes, 37
Blake Bortles, 33
Matt Chapman, 32
Shane McClanahan, 28
Anthony Volpe, 24

— Nationals 8, Mets 7
Mets led 7-1 in the 7th inning.
Dylan Crews homered off of Tylor Megill, the first time In 15 games a Mets’ starting pitcher gave up a home run.
Mets still lead NL East by four games.

— Twins 5, Angels 0
Joe Ryan struck out 11 hitters in seven shutout IP.
Twins have won three in row for first time since last August.
Angels lost their last seven road games, scoring total of 12 runs. 

— A’s 3, White Sox 2 (10)
Luis Urias hit a 2-run walk-off homer, sent 9,127 fans home happy.
Spunky A’s are 14-14, one game out of a playoff spot.
White Sox used an opener (1 IP) in all three games this weekend. 

 — Astros 7, Royals 3
Hunter Brown allowed one run in 6 IP for the win; his scoreless streak ended at 28 IP.
Under is 14-7 in Houston’s last 21 games.
Bobby Witt Jr extended his hitting streak to 19 games.

— Rays 4, Padres 2
Rookie OF Chandler Simpson had the first 3-hit game of his career.
Tampa Bay has won a season-high five games in a row.
Padres are 1-5 since Luis Arraez got hurt, scoring total of nine runs.

— Reds 8, Rockies 1
Nick Lodolo allowed only two hits in seven IP for the win.
Rookie 3B Noelvi Marte was 3-5, with three RBI, is hitting .364.
Colorado has lost six in a row, is 4-23 this season.

— Tigers 7, Orioles 0
Tarik Skubal struck out 11 guys in six shutout IP.
Detroit finishes this homestand with an 8-2 record.
Orioles’ season win total is 87.5; they’re off to a 10-17 start.

— Diamondbacks 6, Braves 4
Arizona’s win snaps a four-game losing skid.
Alex Verdugo was 4-4 with two RBI for the Braves.
Atlanta is 8-3 at home, 4-12 on the road.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Giants. Wild Cards: Dodgers, Padres, (Cin-Phil-Arizona all tied)
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Rangers, Red Sox

— NFL Draft is over for this year; the league is tremendous at staying in the news just about year-round. Moving the draft around the country (next year is Pittsburgh) has jazzed the whole thing up a little bit. Must be a tremendous amount of work that goes into setting up the whole thing, but now they can relax until they release the 2025 schedule on May 14th.

Everyone has their opinions on which teams did best/worst in the draft, but no one knows for sure until the games start in September

— One thing we don’t get to see, but it is important; as the draft ends, and it is only seven rounds, teams sign undrafted free agents to try out for their teams— lot of good players do not get picked.

Sometimes, it is better for a player not to get drafted; that way, he can choose which team he tries out for, and can choose a team that might need a player like him.

— Seattle Seahawks traded QB Sam Howell to the Vikings; they moved up 30 slots in the fifth round to acquire Howell, who was 5-13 as a starter for Washington in 2022-23, but threw only 14 passes for the Seahawks last year.

Vikings also have JJ McCarthy, Brett Rypien at QB; Seattle has former Vikings’ starter Sam Darnold, Drew Lock and rookie Jalen Milroe.

— Detroit Lions signed S Kerby Joseph to a 4-year, $86M contract; Lions are 29-9 the last two years, losing the NFC title game in 2023.

— Last year, Baltimore Ravens had more rushing yards than every team they played, first time that happened since 1970. Ravens made the playoffs six of the last seven years, but haven’t been in the Super Bowl since they won it after the 2012 season,

— Famous birthdays, April 27th:
Gary Huff, 74
George Gervin, 73
Herm Edwards, 71
David Whitehurst, 70

Dave Wilson, 66
Roland Williams, 50
Keenan Allen, 33
Corey Seager, 31

The great actor Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple) was born 104 years ago today; Casey Kasem, who did the top 40 music countdown on the radio for years, was born on this day 93 years ago.

How NFL teams trended in the draft:
NFC
— Six of seven players the Cardinals drafted play defense.

— Four of five players Atlanta drafted play defense.

— Carolina drafted Tetairoa McMillan, the best WR in the draft, as they try to help young QB Bryce Young, after he went 6-22 in his first 28 NFL starts.

— Bears’ first two picks were a TE/WR; third pick was an offensive lineman, as new coach Ben Johnson, brought in to make Caleb Williams a winning QB, gets some more weapons.

— Cowboys drafted nine guys; their first round pick is an offensive lineman. Dallas missed the playoffs last year for first time in four years, then fired their coach.

— Four of Detroit’s first five draft picks are linemen, two each on offense/defense.

— Host team Green Bay drafted a WR in the first round for the first time since 2002; they also added another WR in the 3rd round- they’re serious about helping QB Jordan Love.

— Rams’ first pick was a tight end; they had the fewest receiving yards by tight ends last year. Their second pick in a linebacker that was highly endorsed by Nick Saban.

— Minnesota traded for QB Sam Howell, to back up JJ McCarthy; they only had five draft picks- the first two were an offensive lineman and a receiver.

— Saints drafted two guys from Texas, two from Louisville, including a 26-year old QB (Jalen Hurts is 26, has already played five years in the NFL). New Orleans missed the playoffs the last four years- will be interesting to see who they start at QB.

— Giants traded up a for a QB who played at Ole Miss, kind of like Eli Manning; two of their first three picks are offensive linemen.

— Eagles’ first five picks in this draft all play defense.

— 49ers drafted 11 players; the first five all play defense. They took QB Kurtis Rourke from Indiana in the 7th round (their QB Brock Purdy was also a 7th round pick)

— Seattle drafted 11 guys, nine of them play offense; they took QB Milroe from Alabama, then dealt Sam Howell to the Vikings.

— Buccaneers only had six picks; they took two WRs, four defensive players.

— Washington had only five draft picks; three of them were Pac-12 guys, back when the Pac-12 still existed.

AFC
— Baltimore drafted 11 players, including a kicker in the 6th round; Justin Tucker has been a great kicker for years for the Ravens, but he has some off-field issues now, and they may be moving on from him.

— Buffalo’s first five draft picks all play defense.

— Bengals only drafted six guys; the first two play defense.

— You may have heard; Cleveland drafted two QB’s, one from Oregon, one from Colorado- he played for his father, both in high school and college. Browns have made the playoffs twice in the last 22 years; you’d think they have more needs than backup QB’s.

— Denver drafted seven guys after trading down a couple times; they picked a punter, which isn’t terribly optimistic, also added a couple of defensive ends. 

— Houston drafted two players each from Iowa State/USC; two of their first three picks were wide receivers.

— Colts’ first three draft picks played in the Big 18; they later drafted Duke/Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard— it irritates me when starting QB’s bolt to a different school without his head coach going too. Indy’s first round pick is a tight end from Penn State. 

— Jaguars traded up for WR/DB Travis Hunter; will he play both ways? Jags drafted nine guys, including a DB from the Naval Academy.

— Kansas City drafted an offensive tackle first, then took three straight defensive players. They picked a WR from Utah State who got some praise from the TV guys.

— Raiders had 11 draft picks; they took a pair of I-AA quarterbacks, one of who is apparently moving to receiver. Five of their first six picks were spent on offensive players.

— Four of Chargers’ first six picks were either RB/WR/TE; they’re trying to give QB Herbert some help.

— Four of Dolphins’ five draft picks play defense; they took a QB from Texas in the 7th round, about 90 seconds after the TV guys on ABC gave him the thumbs down.

— New England drafted 11 players; the first four play offense, two of them the offensive line. They also drafted a kicker from Miami; wonder how he’ll like December in Boston?

— Jets drafted seven guys; all seven either played in the SEC, or at Miami/Florida State. Three of their first four picks play offense.

— Five of Pittsburgh’s seven selections play defense; they took two guys each from Ohio State, Iowa, two winning programs. Some teams prefer to draft guys who are used to winning. 

— Tennessee drafted QB Cam Ward with its #1 pick, later added two WRs and a tight end to help him out. 

— Three rounds of the NFL Draft are over; five QB’s have been selected:
Cam Ward, Titans
Jaxson Dart, Giants
Tyler Shough, Saints
Jalen Milroe, Seahawks
Dillon Gabriel, Browns

— Giants drafted DE Abdul Carter with the #3 pick Thursday; apparently he reached out to Giants’ legend Lawrence Taylor, to see if he could wear Taylor’s number 56, which has been retired by the team.

Taylor said no, so Carter won’t be wearing number 56.

— Jets drafted TE Mason Taylor, whose father Jason Taylor was a Hall of Fame defensive end, mostly for the Dolphins.

— Ohio State has had a receiver drafted in the first round of the last four drafts.

— Rams only got 459 receiving yards from tight ends last year, lowest figure in the NFL; they drafted Oregon TE Terrance Ferguson, who Nick Saban gave a thumbs-up to. Truth is, Saban tends to be more enthusiastic about defensive players than players on the offensive side.

— Six of the first 38 picks played college ball at Ohio State.

— There was a trade between Carolina-Denver which wound up involving eight draft picks, all so the Panthers could move up six slots in the second round.

— Las Vegas Raiders have made the playoffs twice in the last 22 years; you get the idea that with Pete Carroll the coach now, that is about to change.

— Chicago Bears drafted Missouri WR Luther Burden III, whose grandfather Ticky Burden played in the ABA (Virginia Squires) and NBA (Knicks). Ticky Burden is from here in Albany, NY; he is in the starting five of best-ever ballplayers who grew up in this area.

— Famous birthdays, April 26th:
Carol Burnett, 92
Gary Cuozzo, 84
Amos Otis, 78
Bill Wennington, 62

Kevin James, 60
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, 58
Geoff Blum, 52
Toby Leonard Moore, 44

Cole Beasley, 36
Joey Wendle, 35
Aaron Judge, 33
Bailey Zappe, 26

— Nationals 5, Mets 4
Washington scored twice in the bottom of the ninth.
James Wood had the game-winning hit.
Mets hit into a triple play for first time in 15 years.
Loss snaps the Mets’ seven-game winning streak.

— Royals 2, Astros 0
Seth Lugo threw eight scoreless innings.
Kansas City has won five games in a row.
Bobby Witt has a 17-game hitting streak.

— Rays 1, Padres 0
Shane Baz threw seven shutout IP.
Padres lost five of their last seven games.
San Diego got shut out in its last two games.

— A’s 6, White Sox 5
Jacob Wilson homered, drove in three runs.
White Sox led 3-1 in sixth inning
A’s even their record at 13-13.

— Twins 11, Angels 4
Trevor Larnach, homered, doubled, drove in four runs.
Kyle Hendricks gave up seven runs in three IP.
Minnesota won three of its last four games.

— Pirates 3, Dodgers 0
Paul Skenes got 19 outs, allowed only five hits.
Skenes threw a career-high 108 pitches.
Dodgers are 8-10 after their 8-0 start.

— Reds 8, Rockies 7
Noelvi Marte was 3-5 with two RBI
Colorado lost for 21st time in its first 25 games.
Jordan Beck has five home runs in his last three games.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Padres. Wild Cards: Giants, Dodgers, Diamondbacks
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Rangers. Wild Cards: Guardians, Mariners, Astros

— Thursday night, 26 of the 32 players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft played in either the SEC or the Big 18……..15 SEC players, 11 from the Big 18.

— Four of the first 12 players drafted were offensive linemen. QB’s make the most money, but they need to be protected.

— Last eleven years, the first pick in the draft was a quarterback nine times.

— Tennessee Titans took Miami QB Cam Ward with the #1 pick; Giants later traded up to the 25th pick and took Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart; they were the only two QB’s drafted.

Cam Ward started 57 college games, albeit at three different schools; Dart played for former NFL head coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.

— Giants traded a 2nd-round pick and two third round picks to Houston to draft Dart, who started for three years at Ole Miss, and threw for 4,279 yards, 29 TD’s for a 10-3 Ole Miss squad that won its bowl game 52-20 over Duke.

— Cleveland has two of the first four picks Friday night; if they don’t take a QB, they go into the season with Joe Flacco/Kenny Pickett as their QB’s, so chances are they’re taking a QB Friday.

— Last three years combined, only one QB has been drafted in the 2nd round, when Tennessee took Will Levis two years ago. Levis will probably start for a while longer, before Ward takes his place as the Titans’ starter.

— Green Bay took WR Matthew Golden in the first round; it was the first time since 2002 (Javon Walker) that Green Bay used a first-round pick on a receiver.

— Famous birthdays, April 25th:
Al Pacino, 85
Talia Shire, 79
Jeffrey DeMunn, 78
Craig Minetto, 71
Randy Cross, 71

Dave Corzine, 69
Tony Phillips, 66
Art Schlichter, 65
Hank Azaria, 61
Gina Torres, 56

Darren Woodson, 56
Tim Duncan, 49
Sean Mannion, 33
Trevor Williams, 33
AJ Puk, 30

— Jacksonville Jaguars traded up with Cleveland and took WR/DB Travis Hunter; he is the first WR drafted #2 since 2007, when the Lions picked Calvin Johnson.

— Eagles/Chiefs flipped the last two picks in the first round, with Chiefs getting a 5th round pick to fall back one spot. Eagles then drafted a linebacker from Alabama, who they must really like if they spent a 5th round pick to move up one place.

— Georgia had three guys taken in the first round; Kirby Smart is 105-19 as Georgia’s coach, with 20 players drafted in the first round. More first round picks than losses is impressive.

— Three of the first 13 players taken played college ball at Michigan; had to turn NFL Network off, because studio host Rich Eisen went to Michigan and never shuts up about it.

Nick Saban was on the ABC feed; he is very good at analyzing the draft; smart, concise and gives his opinions, which is how we learn things.

— Rams traded out of the first round, getting a 2nd round pick Friday and a first round pick next year from Atlanta, which took a defensive end from Tennessee.

— There were 120,000 people watching the draft in Green Bay, a city whose population is less than 120,000. Moving the draft around the country has been an excellent idea.

— 2025 NFL schedule release will be Wednesday, May 14; this is a fun night to be in a casino, to see gamblers scurrying to the windows when the opening lines get posted. 

— Last weekend in Denver, a rookie on the Colorado Rockies hit a home run to left field; it was his first major league home run, and also his first major league hit, a very big deal for him.

My question is this: If you got that baseball, what would you want from the team in exchange for it? You have all the leverage; the guy has to get that baseball, his first major league hit.

A young couple had the ball, and the Rockies’ TV guy interviewed them, and asked about the negotiations. 

Rockies apparently offered a signed baseball in exchange for the ball (seriously??? That’s it?!?!) and that got rejected. The fan then asked for $1,000, which got rejected. They eventually settled on a signed bat, I’m assuming by the player who hit the ball.

I’ve thought about this some, and my request would be:
1) a signed batting helmet
2) a signed bat from Hall of Famer Todd Helton, a Rockies alum
3) a signed jersey from Kris Bryant, probably the Rockies’ biggest current star
4) signed baseballs from Bud Black/Clint Hurdle
5) four tickets to a future game, later in season, when the weather is warmer

Team has all that stuff laying around, not a lot to ask for.

— College sports is a mess; they need to come up with rules that everyone will follow, to make things less hideous.

Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava wasn’t happy making $2.4M a year, so he bolted to UCLA. No one is saying how much UCLA is paying, but apparently it ain’t $2.4M (I saw someone post $1.5M as “an educated guess”). UCLA also gets younger brother Madden Iamaleava, a freshman QB who had committed to Arkansas.

After that move was announced, QB Joey Aguilar transferred from UCLA to Tennessee, after he bolted from Appalachian State to the Bruins. Aguilar started for App State the last two years; he threw for 3,002 yards and 23 TD’s last year, for a 5-6 App State squad.

So basically Tennessee/UCLA made a trade; we’ll see how this works out. Would be fun if UCLA played Tennessee in a bowl game next December.

— July 31 in Canton, OH, Chargers-Lions is the NFL Hall of Fame Game; Charger alum Antonio Gates is one of four players getting inducted into the Hall of Fame.

— Celtics 109, Magic 100
Jaylen Brown scored 36 points; Boston only played eight guys.
Kristaps Porsingis scored 20 points, was 10-14 on foul line.
Celtics lead series, 2-0

— Cavaliers 121, Heat 112
Cleveland led 68-51 at halftime.
Both teams took more 3-point shots than 2-point shots.
Cavaliers lead series, 2-0

— Rockets 109, Warriors 94
Jalen Green was 8-18 on arc, scored 38 points.
Rockets out-rebounded Golden State 47-33.
Series is even, 1-1.

— This season, 17 NBA teams shot 36%+ on 3-pointers; 14 of them made the playoffs.
13 teams shot less than 36% on the arc; only two of those teams made the playoffs.

— Famous birthdays, April 24th:
Shirley MacLaine, 91
Carroll Dale, 87
Barbra Streisand, 83
Eric Bogosian, 72

Vince Ferragamo, 71
Michael O’Keefe, 70
Ernie Grunfeld, 70
Dino Radja, 58

Melinda Clarke, 56
Chipper Jones, 53
Carlos Beltran, 48
Welington Castillo, 38

— Mets 4, Phillies 3 (10)
Starling Marte had the walk-off hit for the Mets.
Mets have now won seven games in a row.
Mets are 12-1 at Citi Field this season, lead NL East by 5 games.

— Reds 5, Marlins 2
Reds won 24-2 Sunday in Baltimore, then scored a total of 11 runs in their next three games, losing two of three to the Marlins.

— Tigers 6, Padres 0
Reese Olson got 22 outs, allowed only two hits.
Justyn-Henry Malloy homered/doubled for the Tigers.
Detroit is 9-4 at home this season.

— Pirates 3, Angels 0
Former Angel Andrew Heaney struck out the first six hitters. retired the first 13 guys he faced.
Oneil Cruz hit a 463-foot home run, 4th-longest home run this season.
Angels lost seven of their last nine games. 

— Cubs 7, Dodgers 6
Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-4, with a homer, four RBI
Chicago bullpen allowed only one baserunner, no runs in three IP.
Dodgers are 8-9, after their 8-0 start.

— A’s 5, Rangers 2
Rookie 1B Nick Kurtz got his first major league hit/RBI
Lawrence Butler homered in a 4-run first inning.
A’s improve to 3-8 in Sacramento; they’re 11-13 overall.

— Rays 7, Diamondbacks 6 (10)
Arizona had bases loaded, one out in bottom of 10th, but Perdomo grounded into a double play to end the game.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Padres. Wild Cards: Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Rangers. Wild Cards: Guardians, Mariners, Astros

— Florida 79, Auburn 73
Auburn led 46-38 at halftime.
Florida has now won 11 games in a row.
Walter Clayton scored 34 points, the first 30+ point game in a Final Four since Carmelo Anthony, 22 years ago.
Gators are in the national title game for the first time since 2011.

Average age of Auburn’s starting 5 is a year younger than the starting 5 for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

— Houston 70, Duke 67
Houston ended the game on an 11-1 run.
Cougars shot 10-22 on arc, out-rebounded Duke, 42-31.
LJ Cryer scored 26 points for Houston.

Florida-Houston play for the national title Monday night.

— I think there is opportunity in betting baseball totals, over/under for runs in a game, so I chart umpires. In couple weeks, when we gather some more numbers, I’ll be posting stuff about umpires several times a week. 

Friday night in Anaheim, Clint Vondrak had the plate for Guardians-Angels; if this was 2026 and the challenge system existed, there would have been a lot of challenges. Just about every marginal pitch went the hitters’ way.

Last year, over was 19-11 when Vondrak worked the plate; so far this season; his two games behind the dish ended 10-6/8-6. This will be interesting to follow.

— I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how many times I’ve watched Moneyball, but I had it on the other night, and decided to look up Art Howe’s record as a manager.

He managed the A’s for seven years, went 296-189 the last three years, but lost 3-2 in playoff series all three years. Winning 91-102-103 games three years in a row is really good. 

He obviously had the falling out with Billy Beane and bolted the A’s for the Mets, where he went 66-95/71-91 in two years, before they told him to take a hike.

In Moneyball, they made Howe look overweight, his character looked like Whitey Herzog, not Art Howe; he was a big league infielder for 11 years, hit .260. Pretty good athlete.

— Arizona Diamondbacks put 2B Ketel Marte on the IL (strained hamstring); sounded like the injury was fairly significant.

— Famous birthdays, April 6th:
John Ratzenberger, 78
Bert Blyleven, 74
Marilu Henner, 73
Sterling Sharpe, 60

Bret Boone, 56
Paul Rudd, 56
Tim Hasselbeck, 47
Spencer Dinwiddie, 32

— Mets 3, Blue Jays 2
Toronto led 2-0 in the 8th inning.
Jesse Winker tied the game with a 2-run triple.
Francisco Lindor’s sac fly was the 7th walk-off RBI of his career.

— Marlins 4, Braves 0
Cal Quantrill threw five shutout innings.
Matt Mervis homered twice for the Marlins.
Atlanta is off to a 1-8 start.

— Reds 11, Brewers 7
Cincinnati scored 14 runs Monday, 11 runs in this game.
In the four games in between, they scored a total of 2 runs, in four games.
TJ Friedl went 4-5, scored twice, had two RBI

— A’s 7, Rockies 4
Colorado led 3-1 after the fifth inning.
Jacob Wilson hit a 2-run double; earlier in the day, he hit into a triple play.
A’s are 4-2 on the road, 0-3 at home.

— In his 11 NBA seasons, Sacramento Kings’ G Zach LaVine has played in only four playoff games, the fewest of any player in the last 25 years amongst players who’ve averaged 20+ points/game.

— Word of the Day: kakistocracy- Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

— Stock market went down a combined 3,910 points Thursday/Friday; maybe we shouldn’t have elected a convicted felon president of the country, since he doesn’t seem to care much if the country succeeds or fails, he just wants to play golf.

One question before I go; how come Russia doesn’t have any tariffs?

(If you’re annoyed that I mentioned this, too bleepin’ bad. It would be nice if this country remained a democracy, I’d like to think you at least agree with that)