— Braves 5, Mets 3
Matt Olson hit two HR’s; he hadn’t homered in his last 16 games.
Atlanta leads the NL East by three games over the Phillies.
Mets are 16 games under .500, for the first time since 2018.
— Rockies 15, Giants 3
Jake McCarthy homered twice, drove in six runs.
#8/#9 hitters for the Rockies were a combined 6-for-8, scoring five runs.
Giants are only one game ahead of Colorado at the bottom of NL West.
— Nationals 9, Pirates 5
Luis Garcia/Darren Lile both hit two home runs.
Washington scored 26 runs in its last 20 innings at the plate.
Nationals’ ace Foster Griffin is 9-2, 2.87 this season.
— Nationals’ RF James Wood has scored 76 runs; no one else has scored more than 60.
— Cardinals 17, Cubs 1
Alec Burleson/Mason Winn both had four RBI.
David Peterson gave up 10 runs in 3.2 IP, in his second start for Chicago.
If season ended today, both of these teams would make the playoffs.
— Cubs are the first team in the last 100 years, to win by 15+ runs one day, then lose by 15+ runs the next day.
— Guardians 4, White Sox 3 (10)
Kahlil Watson had a walk-off single in the 10th inning.
White Sox led 3-1 in the 7th inning.
With the win, Cleveland takes over first place in AL Central.
— Orioles 3, Reds 0
Trevor Rogers allowed 7 baserunners in 5 IP; none of them scored.
Samuel Basallo hit his 13th home run of the year.
Brady Singer has given up 20 home runs in 17 starts (82.1 IP) this year
— Famous birthdays, July 4th:
Hal Lanier, 84
Harvey Grant, 61
Horace Grant, 61
Jose Oquendo, 63
Vinny Castilla, 59
Todd Marinovich, 57
Josh McCown, 47
Brock Berlin, 45
Austin Trammell, 28
— New York Knicks signed Andre Drummond for one year, $3.9M, to be their backup center. Last two years, he played 19.2 minutes/game for the 76ers.
— Houston Rockets traded Dorian Finney-Smith and three 2nd round picks to Charlotte; they got nothing in return. Nada. Bupkis.
The traded crated roster flexibility for Houston, and created a $13M trade exception.
Hornets won 44 games last year, after winning 19 the year before; they’ve been busy so far this off-season.
Notes on some NFL teams……..
— Cowboys
LY, Dallas traded Micah Parsons in August, then allowed 30+ points in eight games.
Cowboys allowed a league-worst 252 passing yards/game.
Dallas was 7-10, even though they were 3-1 in games decided by 3 or fewer points.
Last two years, Cowboys were 3-10 ATS as a favorite.
Last two years, over is 24-10 in Dallas games.
Dallas hasn’t made the NFC title game since 1995.
— Lions
Detroit slipped from 15-2 in 2024 to 9-8 last year.
Losing OC Ben Johnson to the Bears hurt their offense.
Drew Petzing will be the Lions’ third OC in three years.
Detroit was 2-4 in divisional games LY; that has to improve.
Last three years, Lions are 27-13 ATS as a favorite.
Over is 17-8 in their last 25 home games.
— Packers
Packers led Chicago 21-3 in the playoffs LY, but lost 31-27.
First three drives, Green Bay drove 85-87-32 yards, scored 3 TD’s.
In three games vs Chicago LY, Packers outscored them 41-6 in first half, but they lost two of the three games.
Former Cardinals’ coach Jonathan Gannon is Green Bay’s new DC.
Last three years, Packers are 3-10 ATS as a road favorite.
Under is 15-9 in their last 24 home games.
— Vikings
Kyler Murray was 38-49-1 as Arizona’s QB
JJ McCarthy was 6-4 as Minnesota’s QB last year.
Meanwhile, Sam Darnold won the Super Bowl with Seattle.
Vikings were 9-8 last year, with a minus-9 turnover ratio.
Minnesota is 6-2 ATS in last eight games as a favorite.
Under is 16-8 in their last 24 home games.
— RIP to former NFL defensive back LeRoy Irvin, who passed away this week at age 68.
Irvin made three Pro Bowls, scored six defensive TD’s, tied for most in Rams’ history.
RIP, sir.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies-Cubs-Cardinals
AL: Rays, Guardians, Tex/Sea. Wild Cards: Bronx-White Sox-Sea/Tex
