Author: Armadillo Sports

— Pacers 116, Thunder 107
Bennedict Mathurin (+16) scored 27 points in 22:00 off the bench.
Pacers outscored Oklahoma City 21-11 over the last 8:00.
Indiana leads series, 2-1; Game 4 is Friday in Indianapolis.

— In the history of the NBA Finals, when the series was tied 1-1, the team that won Game 3 has gone 33-8 in those series.

— According to the Interweb, the New York Knicks franchise is worth $7.5B, the 2nd-most valuable franchise in the NBA (Golden State is worth $8.8B).

Knicks made the Eastern Conference finals this year for the first time since 2000, they did really well. People should be optimistic. But here is where it gets dicey.

They fired their coach, Tom Thibodeau, and seem to be clueless about who they’re going to replace him with. What the hell is going on? 

Thibodeau was 226-174 in five regular seasons in New York, 24-23 in playoff games, with this year his biggest success, but he got fired, which is their business, but if you fired a successful coach, you damn well better have a new coach right there, ready to replace him. 

Maybe Michael Malone, who won the NBA title two years ago in Denver? He was an assistant for the Knicks from 2001-05.

— Four other NBA teams have already rejected the Knicks’ request to interview their current head coach to move to Manhattan.

— USC Trojans recently named former NBA guard Earl Boykins an assistant coach; the 5-foot-5 Boykins played 13 years in the NBA. He is the shortest player in NBA history to score 30+ points in a game. He was an assistant coach at UTEP the last four years. 

— Famous birthdays, June 12th:
Timothy Busfield, 68
Rory Sparrow, 67
Tim DeKay, 62
Rick Hoffman, 55

Ryan Klesko, 54
Kerry Kittles, 51
Antawn Jamison, 49
Dallas Clark, 46

Andre Davis, 46
Jrue Holiday, 35
Sean Newcomb, 32
Aaron Civale, 30

— Mets 5, Nationals 0
David Peterson threw a 106-pitch complete game.
Brandon Nimmo homered twice.
Pete Alonso has 20 RBI in his last ten games.
Mets are 26-7 at home, 18-17 on the road.

— Dodgers 5, Padres 2
Teoscar Hernandez hit a 3-run homer in 6th inning.
This was the first series between the rivals this season.
Teams play again next week in Los Angeles.

— Guardians 11, Reds 2
Carlos Santana hit a grand slam.
Jose Ramirez extended his on-base streak to 37 consecutive games.
Loss snapped Cincinnati’s 5-game winning streak.

— Braves 6, Brewers 2
Schwellenach pitched a complete game.
Acuna/Harris both homered for the Braves.
This was Atlanta’s first series win in their last seven series.

— Angels 6, A’s 5
A’s led 3-0 after the fifth inning.
A’s lost their 14th consecutive road game.
Angels won seven of their last nine games.

— Astros 10, White Sox 2
Christian Walker homered, drove in four runs.
Jose Altuve had two hits, including the 2,300th hit of his career.
White Sox slipped to 7-27 on the road.

— Twins 6, Rangers 2
Byron Buxton hit a 479-foot home run.
David Festa got the win, giving up three hits in 6 IP.

— Red Sox 4, Rays 3
Rookie Mayer homered twice for the Red Sox.
Boston hit four solo home runs.
Only third time in last 19 games that the Rays’ pitcher allowed more than 3 earned runs.

— Red Sox promoted their #1 prospect Roman Anthony to the majors this week; apparently his family isn’t very original with names:

His grandfather is Anthony Anthony
His father is Anthony Anthony
One of his brothers is also Anthony Anthony.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
AL: New York, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Twins, Rays
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Giants, Phillies, Padres

AL teams’ records, by starting pitcher:

— Orioles (26-39)
Eflin 5-3
Morton 3-7 (under 4-1 last five)
Kremer 5-8 (under 7-2 last nine)
Sugano 7-6 (under 9-1 last ten)
Povich 4-8
Young 1-1
Gibson 0-4 (over 3-1)
Rogers 1-0
McDermott 0-1
Akin 0-2 (opener)

— Red Sox (33-36)
Crochet 8-6 (under 10-4)
Houck 2-7 (over 5-1 last six)
Buehler 6-4 (under 3-1 last four)
Pitts 0-5 (under 4-1)
Newcomb 2-3 (over 4-1)
Dobbins 5-3 (over 3-1 last four)
Bello 5-5 (over 7-3)
Giolito 5-3

— White Sox (23-44)
Burke 6-5 (under 5-1 last six)
Cannon 1-9 (over 5-1 last six)
Perez 2-2
Smith 4-9 (over 4-1 last five)
Martin 3-9
Wilson 3-2 (over 4-1)
Houser 2-2 (under 4-0)
Gilbert 1-2 (opener)
Eisert 0-2 (opener)
Shuster 0-2 (opener)
Vasil 0-1 (opener)

— Guardians (34-32)
Lively 7-2 (under 6-2 last eight)
Williams 8-5 (over 7-3 last ten)
Bibee 7-6 (under 8-2 last ten)
Ortiz 5-8 (under 6-3 last nine)
Allen 5-6 (under 3-1 last four)
Cecconi 2-3 (under 4-1)
Nikhazy 0-1
Allard 1-0

— Tigers (44-24)
Skubal 9-4 (under 3-0 last three)
Flaherty 5-8 (under 3-1 last four)
Olson 5-4
Jobe 9-1
Mize 7-3 (over 4-1 last five)
Montero 5-1 (under 5-1)
Gipson-Long 1-0
Holton 1-1 (opener)
Hurter 2-0 (opener)
Guenther 0-1 (opener)
Brieske 0-1 (opener)

— Astros (36-30)
Valdez 8-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Brown 9-4 (over 3-1 last four)
Arrighetti 1-1
Blanco 5-4 (under 5-1 last six)
Wesneski 2-4 (under 5-1)
Gusto 3-5
McCullers 4-3 (under 3-0 last three)
Gordon 4-1 (under 4-1)
Walter 0-2
Blubaugh 0-1

— Royals (34-33)
Ragans 5-5 (over 5-1 last six)
Lugo 5-6
Bubic 7-5 (under 7-2 last nine)
Lorenzen 7-6 (over 3-0 last three)
Wacha 7-6 (under 8-3 last 11)
Cameron 2-4 (under 4-2)
Lynch 1-1 (opener)

— Famous birthdays, June 11th:
Adrienne Barbeau, 80
Dave Cash, 77
Gary Fencik, 71

Joe Montana, 69
Hugh Laurie, 66
Odalis Pérez, 47

Jose Reyes, 42
Jorge Alfaro, 32
Max Schuemann, 28

— Angels (32-34)
Kikuchi 6-7 (over 9-4)
Soriano 5-9 (under 4-1 last five)
TAnderson 9-4 (over 6-2 last eight)
Hendricks 5-7 (over 3-1 last four)
Kochanowicz 6-7 (under 4-2 last sox)

— Twins (35-31)
Lopez 7-4 
Ryan 7-5 (under 9-3)
Ober 8-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Paddack 3-10 
Woods-Richardson 5-3 
Matthews 3-1
Festa 2-2 (over 3-1)
Topa 0-1 (opener)

— New York (40-25)
Rodon 8-6 (under 10-4)
Fried 12-2 (over 4-1 last five)
Warren 7-6 
Carrasco 2-4 (under 4-2)
Schmidt 5-4 (under 4-0 last four) 
Stroman 2-1 (over 3-0)
Yarbrough 4-2

— A’s (26-43)
Severino 4-10 (over 5-2 last seven)
Springs 5-7 (over 3-1 last four)
Bido 4-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Sears 7-6 (over 5-1 last six)
Lopez 1-3
Spence 1-1
Hoglund 2-4 
Ginn 2-2 (under 3-1)
Estes 0-2
Sterner 0-1 (opener)
Holman 0-2 (opener)

— Mariners (33-33)
Gilbert 5-1
Castillo 6-7 (under 4-1 last five)
Miller 4-6 (over 6-0 last six)
Woo 7-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Kirby 1-3
Hancock 6-5 
Evans 4-3 (over 5-2)
JFCastillo 1-1 (opener)
Legumina 0-1 (opener)

— Rays (36-31)
Pepiot 5-9 (under 8-2 last ten)
Littell 8-5 (won last eight; under 9-4)
Bradley 6-7 
Rasmussen 7-6 (under 11-2)
Baz 9-4 (over 3-0 last three)
Boyle 1-0

— Rangers (32-35)
Eovaldi 6-6 (under 10-2)
Leiter 4-6 (under 7-3)
Mahle 6-5 (under 10-1)
deGrom 6-4 
Rocker 3-3 
Corbin 4-7 (under 6-2 last eight)
Latz 1-0

— Blue Jays (37-30)
Berrios 7-6 (under 3-1 last four)
Gausman 8-5 (over 7-1 last eight)
Bassitt 8-5 (over 3-0 last three)
Francis 4-9 (over 7-1 last eight)
Lucas 2-2
Scherzer 0-1
Lauer 1-1
Urena 1-1
Schultz 2-0 (opener)
Rodriguez 1-0 (opener)
Fisher 1-0 (opener)

Teams’ records in first game of series:
(away/home….total)
(thru Sunday’s games)

NL East
Braves 4-7/6-4…..10-11
Marlins 1-9/4-7…..5-16
Mets 7-4/9-1…..16-5
Phillies 5-6/7-3…..12-9
Nationals 5-5/6-5…..11-10

NL Central
Cubs 6-6/9-1…..15-7
Reds 6-4/8-3…..14-7
Brewers 6-5/5-5…..11-10
Pirates 2-8/4-7…..6-15
Cardinals 4-6/8-3…..12-9

NL West
Arizona 6-5/4-6…..10-11
Rockies 2-9/1-9…..3-18
Dodgers 7-4/6-5…..13-9
Padres 7-4/7-3…..14-7
Giants 6-5/5-5…..11-10

AL East
Orioles 4-7/6-4…..10-11
Red Sox 3-8/6-4…..9-12
New York 5-5/7-4…..12-9
Rays 3-4/9-5…….12-9
Blue Jays 5-5/5-6…..10-11

AL Central
White Sox 1-9/7-4…..8-13
Guardians 5-6/6-4…..11-10
Tigers 8-3/9-1…..17-4                                                     
Royals 5-6/6-4…..11-10
Twins 5-6/6-4…..11-10

AL West
Astros 4-6/8-3…..12-9
Angels 7-5/4-5…..11-10
A’s 5-5/3-8…….8-13
Mariners 3-7/5-6…..8-13
Rangers 3-8/5-5…..8-13

Teams’ records in series:
(away/home….total)

NL East
Braves 3-8/5-4-1…..8-12-1
Marlins 1-8-1/5-6…..6-14-1
Mets 4-5-1/9-1…..13-6-1
Phillies 5-6/7-2-1…..12-8-1
Nationals 5-5/4-6-1…..9-11-1

NL Central
Cubs 7-4-1/8-2…..15-6-1
Reds 4-6/3-7-1…..7-13-1
Brewers 4-6-1/7-3…..11-9-1
Pirates 2-8/5-5-1…..7-13-1
Cardinals 4-5-1/8-3…..12-8-1

NL West
Arizona 5-6/3-5-2…..8-11-2
Rockies 1-10/0-10…..1-20
Dodgers 5-4-2/8-2-1…..13-6-3
Padres 5-5-1/8-2…..13-7-1
Giants 6-4-1/6-3-1…..12-7-2

AL East
Orioles 2-7-2/3-6-1…..5-13-3
Red Sox 6-5/4-5-1…..10-10-1
New York 6-4/7-4…..13-8
Rays 4-2-1/9-5…….13-7-1
Blue Jays 5-4-1/6-4-1…..11-8-2

AL Central
White Sox 1-9/5-5-1…..6-14-1
Guardians 5-5-1/6-4…..11-9-1
Tigers 7-3-1/8-2…..15-5-1
Royals 4-7/5-5…..9-12
Twins 5-6/6-3-1…..11-9-1

AL West
Astros 3-6-1/9-1-1…..12-7-2
Angels 6-6/4-5…….10-11
A’s 4-5-1/3-8…….7-13-1
Mariners 7-3/5-5-1…..12-8-1
Rangers 4-7/5-3-2…..9-10-2

Famous birthdays, June 10th:
Jon McGlocklin, 82
Ken Singleton, 78
Larry Brooks, 75
John Gianelli, 75
Dan Fouts, 74

Floyd Bannister, 70
Jay Vincent, 66
Gina Gershon, 63
Jeff Teague, 37
Kate Upton, 33

— Monday was the 52nd anniversary of Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown of norse racing, which means it was also the 52nd anniversary of the only time I’ve ever ridden a horse.

My 8th grade field trip was to some resort place near Lake George; we were playing tennis, which was fun, but then we had to go ride horses. I had been to a racetrack with my dad, but betting on horses is way more fun than riding one was.

When I got on the horse, asked the guy in charge what the horse’s name was; he smiled and said “Jumper” which didn’t help things. The horse was pretty cool; he liked eating leaves off the trees, until we got to any open area and he took off in a full sprint, with me hanging on for dear life. Somehow I stayed on the horse and vowed never to do that again. Ever.

— Florida 6, Edmonton 1
Florida scored four times on their first 14 shots on goal.
Brad Marchand has scored in all three series games.
Panthers lead Stanley Cup finals, 2-1. Game 4 is Thursday.

— Last week we mentioned how Indiana/Oklahoma City are the NBA finalists that are the closest together in any year since 1971.

This year NHL’s finalists are 3,003 miles apart.

— Saturday in Tampa, Marlins’ P Ryan Weathers was warming up to pitch the bottom of the first inning; when the catcher threw the ball down to second to end warmups, he drilled Weathers in the head, but for some reason, they let him pitch anyway. 

Weathers pitched three innings, threw 57 pitches, and apparently hurt his back so badly that he is now on the 60-day disabled list. Oy.

— Washington Nationals have scored a total of 11 runs in their last seven games.

— Texas SS Corey Seager is 2-for-34 since coming off the injured list. He is 0-22 in June.

— Cubs’ 2B Nico Hoerner got thrown out of a game in Detroit over the weekend; TV mikes heard him tell the umpire “you’re having a really bad day” with no cursing included.

That gets you thrown out? 

— Prop bets for the US Open golf tournament this week:

72-hole winning score: 278.5

Lowest completed round: 65.5 (under -175)

— First-ever major league amateur draft was 60 years ago this week:
1) A’s- Rick Monday, OF. Played 19 years in majors, had an .804 OPS.
2) Mets- Les Rohr, P. Pitched in six games (24.1 IP) for the Mets
3) Senators- Joe Coleman, P. Pitched 15 years in majors, started 340 games.
4) Astros- Alex Barrett, SS. Played 125 games in AAA, never made the majors.
5) Red Sox- Billy Conigliaro, OF. Hit .256 in five years, never played after age 25.
6) Cubs- Rick James, P. Pitched in three games (4.2 IP) for the Cubs.
7) Indians- Ray Fosse, C. Played 12 years in majors, made two All-Star Games, helped the A’s win two World Series titles.

Monday/Fosse both became long-time announcers after their playing days. 

— Arizona (31-33)
Arizona won four of its last six games.
Diamondbacks are 2-5 in extra inning games.
Arizona is 3-11 in last 14 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Braves (27-36)
Atlanta lost 13 of its last 16 games.
Braves are 17-14 at home, 10-22 on the road.
Under is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

— Cubs (40-24)
Chicago won 12 of its last 16 games.
Under is 9-2 in their last eleven games.
Cubs are 9-2 vs American League teams.

— Reds (32-33)
Cincinnati is 7-6 in its last thirteen games.
Under is 6-3 in their last nine games.
Reds are 24-21 vs righty starters, 8-12 vs lefties.

— Rockies (12-52)
Colorado is 5-17 since they changed managers.
Under is 16-4 in Rockies’ last 20 road games.
Rockies are 1-17 vs lefty starters, 11-35 vs righties. 

— Dodgers (38-27)
Dodgers lost five of their last seven games,
Dodgers are 23-11 at home, 15-16 on the road.
Dodgers are 29-16 vs righty starters, 9-11 vs lefties.
Over is 16-5 in their last 21 home games.

— Marlins (24-38)                                                                       )
Marlins are 3-8 in their last eleven games.
Miami is 14-20 at home, 10-18 on the road.
Marlins are 1-9 in road series openers.

— Brewers (35-30)
Brewers won 10 of their last 12 games.
Brewers are 19-11 at home, 16-19 on the road.
Under is 12-4 in their last 16 home games.

— Mets (41-24)
Mets won 11 of their last 14 games.
Mets are 24-7 at home, 17-17  on the road.
Under is 18-7 in their last 25 games.

— Phillies (37-27)
Phillies lost eight of their last nine games.
Phillies are 29-15 vs righty starters, 8-12 vs lefties.
Phillies are 7-3 in home series openers.

— Pirates (25-40)
Pirates are 10-7 in their last 17 games.
Pittsburgh is 16-18  at home, 9-22 on the road.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 road games.

— St Louis (36-28)
St Louis won 22 of its last 31 games.
Cardinals are 11-2 when Sonny Gray starts.
Over is 7-3 in their last ten games.
St Louis is 22-10 at home, 14-18 on the road.

— Padres (36-27)
Padres won nine of their last 13 games.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine games.
San Diego is 8-3 in its last 11 series openers.
Padres are 9-3 against their NL West rivals.

— Giants (37-28)
Giants won their last four games.
Giants are 31-16 vs rightly pitchers, 6-12 vs lefties.
SF is 14-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Under is 17-3 in Giants’ last 20 games.

— Washington (30-34)
Nationals lost four of their last six games.
Under is 10-2 in their last 12 home games.
Washington is 13-3 last 16 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, June 8th:
Kathy Baker, 75
Don Robinson, 68
Kevin Gross, 64
John Gibbons, 63

Julianna Margulies, 59
Anthony Bonner, 57
Troy Vincent, 55
Tom Nutten, 54

Mark Feuerstein, 54
Bryant Reeves, 52
TJ McFarland, 36
Tyson Bagent, 25

— Orioles (26-37)
Baltimore is 7-1 in its last eight games.
Orioles are 8-8 vs AL East foes, 18-29 vs everyone else.
Under is 7-1 in their last eight games.

— Red Sox (31-35)
Red Sox are 4-9 in their last 13 games.
Boston is 6-17 in one-run games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.
Red Sox are 17-16 at home, 14-19 on the road.

— White Sox (22-43)
Chicago is 12-7 in its last 19 home games.
White Sox are 6-26 on the road.
White Sox are 16-34 vs righty starters, 6-9 vs lefties.

— Cleveland (33-30)
Guardians lost four of their last five games.
Cleveland is 14-5 against its AL Central rivals.
Guardians are 30-19 vs righty starters, 3-11 vs lefties.
Under is 10-2 in their last 12 road games.

— Detroit (42-24)
Detroit is 13-8 vs its AL Central rivals.
Tigers won nine of their last 13 games.
Under is 8-1 in their last nine home games.

— Houston (36-28)
Astros are 22-12 at home, 14-16 on the road.
Houston is 5-1 in its last six series openers.
Under is 16-8 in their last 24 games.
Astros are 12-6 Zzin games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Royals (33-32)
Royals are 5-9 in their last fourteen games.
Kansas City is 19-13 at home, 14-19 on the road.
Over is 4-1 in Royals’ last five games.
Kansas City is 12-9 in one-run games.

— Angels (30-33)
Angels won four of their last five games.
Over is 8-4 in their last 12 road games.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven home games.
Halos are 13-7 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Twins (34-30)
Twins are 5-8 in their last 13 games.
Minnesota is 18-10 at home, 16-20 on the road.
Over is 7-2 in their last nine games.

— New York (39-24)
New York won 20 of its last 28 games.
Under is 9-3 in their last 12 home games.
New York is 31-18 vs righty starters, 8-6 vs lefties.

— A’s (25-41)
A’s lost 21 of their last 24 games.
A’s are 11-23  in Sacramento, 14-18 on the road.
Over is 13-5 in their last 18 games.

— Seattle (32-31)
Mariners lost five in row, 11 of their last 15 games.
Seattle is 4-11 in its last 15 home games.
Under is 8-4 in Seattle’s last 12 road games.
Under is 4-0 in Mariners’ last four home games.

— Tampa Bay (34-30)
Tampa Bay won 13 of its last 17 games.
Under is 19-9 in their last 28 home games.
Rays are 10-4 in last 14 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (30-35)
Rangers lost 13 of their last 18 games.
Texas is 5-13 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Rangers are 20-13 at home, 10-22 on road.
Under is 17-5 in their last 22 road games.

— Toronto (35-29)
Blue Jays won nine of their last ten games.
Over is 8-1 in their last nine games.
Toronto is 7-2 in last nine games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Giants
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays, Blue Jays, Twins

— Arizona (28-31)
Arizona lost 10 of its last 12 games.
Diamondbacks are 8-11 in one-run games.
Arizona is 2-10 in last 12 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Braves (27-31)
Atlanta lost eight of its last 11 games.
Braves are 17-11 at home, 10-20 on the road.
Under is 15-3 in their last 18 home games.

— Cubs (37-22)
Chicago won nine of its last eleven games.
Under is 5-1 in their last six games.
Cubs are 8-1 vs American League teams.

— Reds (29-32)
Cincinnati lost four of its last five games.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.
Last 9 series, Reds are 0-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Rockies (10-50)
Colorado is 3-15 since they changed managers.
Under is 14-4 in Rockies’ last 18 road games.
Rockies are 1-17 vs lefty starters, 9-33 vs righties.  

— Dodgers (36-24)
Dodgers won eight of their last 12 games,
Dodgers are 21-10 at home, 15-14 on the road.
Dodgers are 28-13 vs righty starters, 8-11 vs lefties.
Over is 14-4 in their last 18 home games.

— Marlins (23-35)                                                                       )
Marlins are 8-9 in their last seventeen games.
Miami is 14-18 at home, 9-17 on the road.
Marlins are 1-8 in road series openers.

— Brewers (33-28)
Brewers have won eight games in a row.
Brewers are 18-10 at home, 15-18 on the road.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 home games.

— Mets (38-22)
Mets won nine of their last eleven games.
Mets are 24-7 at home, 14-15  on the road.
Under is 15-5 in their last 20 games.

— Phillies (36-23)
Phillies lost their last four games.
Phillies are 28-13 vs righty starters, 8-10 vs lefties.
Under is 9-6 in their last fifteen games.

— Pirates (22-38)
Pirates are 5-3 in their last eight games.
Pittsburgh is 13-16 at home, 9-22 on the road.
Under is 10-4 in their last 14 road games.

— St Louis (33-26)
St Louis won 19 of its last 26 games.
Cardinals are 10-2 when Sonny Gray starts.
St Louis is 19-8 at home, 14-18 on the road.

— Padres (34-24)
Padres won six of their last eight games.
Under is 7-3 in their last ten home games.
Padres are 8-1 against their NL West rivals.

— Giants (33-27)
Giants are 4-7 in their last eleven games.
Giants are 27-15 vs rightly pitchers, 6-12 vs lefties.
SF scored total of 14 runs in their last nine games.
Under is 14-1 in Giants’ last fifteen games.

— Washington (28-31)
Nationals won ten of their last 14 games.
Over is 5-1 in their last six games.
Washington is 10-3 last 13 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, June 3rd:
Billy Cunningham, 82
Emmitt Thomas, 81
Az-Zahir Hakim, 48
Travis Hafner, 48
Al Horford, 39

Imogen Poots, 36
Harrison Bader, 31
Eric Lauer, 30
Luis Urias, 28
Ryan Jeffers, 28

Tuesday would’ve been the 100th birthday for Tony Curtis, the 88th birthday for Edward Winter (Colonel Flagg on M*A*S*H)

— Orioles (22-36)
Baltimore is 6-2 in its last eight games.
Orioles are 8-8 vs AL East foes, 14-28 vs everyone else.
Under is 6-2 in their last eight games.

— Red Sox (29-33)
Boston is 6-16 in one-run games.
Under is 10-4 in their last fourteen games.
Red Sox are 16-15 at home, 13-18 on the road.

— White Sox (18-42)
Chicago lost seven of its last eight games.
White Sox are 6-26 on the road.
White Sox are 12-33 vs righty starters, 6-9 vs lefties.

— Cleveland (32-26)
Cleveland is 14-5 against its AL Central rivals.
Guardians are 29-18 vs righty starters, 3-8 vs lefties.
Over is 4-2 in their last six games.

— Detroit (40-21)
Detroit is 12-6 vs its AL Central rivals.
Tigers won seven of their last eight games.
Under is 9-3 in their last 12 games.

— Houston (32-27)
Astros are 22-12 at home, 10-15  on the road.
Houston is 2-6 in road series openers.
Under is 13-6 in their last nineteen games.
Astros scored total of nine runs in their last four games.

— Royals (31-29)
Royals are 6-11 in their last seventeen games.
Kansas City is 19-13 at home, 12-16 on the road.
Under is 18-10 in Royals’ last 28 games.
Kansas City is 12-8 in one-run games.

— Angels (27-32)
Angels lost seven of their last nine games.
Over is 11-5 in their last 16 road games.
Under is 5-0 in their last five home games.
Halos are 13-6 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Twins (32-27)
Twins lost five of their last eight games.
Minnesota is 18-8 at home, 14-19 on the road.
Over is 4-1 in their last five  games.

— New York (36-22)
New York won 17 of its last 23 games.
Under is 6-1 in their last seven home games.
New York is 28-17 vs righty starters, 8-5 vs lefties.

— A’s (23-38)
A’s lost 18 of their last 19 games.
A’s are 9-20 in Sacramento, 14-18 on the road.
Over is 9-3 in their last 12 home games.

— Seattle (32-26)
Mariners are 9-12 in their last 21 games.
Seattle is 4-8 in its last 12 home games.
Under is 7-2 in Seattle’s last nine road games.
Over is 5-1 in Mariners’ last six home games.

— Tampa Bay (30-29)
Tampa Bay won nine of its last 12 games.
Under is 16-7 in their last 23 home games.
Rays are 9-3 in last 12 games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (29-31)
Rangers lost nine of their last 13 games.
Texas is 5-13 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Rangers are 20-13 at home, 9-18 on road.
Under is 13-4 in their last 17 road games.

— Toronto (31-28)
Blue Jays won their last five games, scoring 41 runs.
Under is 5-1 in their last six road games.
Toronto is  9-10 in series openers.

— If the baseball playoffs started today: (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Cardinals
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Astros, Twins

Teams’ records by starting pitcher:
(thru Saturday’s games)

Diamondbacks (27-31)
Gallen 4-8 (under 4-2 last six)
Kelly 6-6
Burnes 5-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Pfaadt 7-5 (over 3-1 last four)
Rodriguez 4-5 (over 6-0 last six)
Nelson 1-2 (under 3-0)

— Braves (27-30)
Sale 6-6 (under 6-2 last eight)
Schwellenbach 7-5 (over 6-2 last eight)
Smith-Shawver 5-4 (under 7-2)
Holmes 5-6 (under 5-1 last six)
Elder 4-4 (under 6-1 last seven)
Lopez 0-1
Strider 0-3 (under 3-0)
Blewett 0-1

— Cubs (36-22)
Imanaga 5-3 (under 6-2)
Steele 3-1 (over 4-0)
Taillon 5-6 (under last seven)
Boyd 6-5 (home team 10-1)
Brown 6-4 (over 9-1)
Rea 6-3 (over 4-2 last six)
Horton 4-0
Pomeranz 1-0 (opener)
Keller 1-0 (opener)

— Reds (29-30)
Greene 5-5 (under 7-2 last nine)
Lodolo 5-7 (over 6-3 last nine)
Martinez 3-8 (under 7-1 last eight)
Singer 7-4
Spiers 0-2
Abbott 7-2 (under 4-1 last five)
Petty 0-2
Suter 2-0 (opener)

— Rockies (9-49)
Freeland 1-11 (under 8-4)
Senzatela 2-10
Feltner 1-5 (under 4-0 last four)
Marquez 2-9 (over 7-3 last ten)
Dollander 2-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Blalock 0-3
Gordon 1-2
Palmquist 0-3

— Dodgers (36-22)
Yamamoto 8-3 (under 8-3)
Snell 2-0 (over 2-0)
Glasnow 3-2
Sasaki 6-2 (over 6-2)
May 5-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Knack 4-2 (over 4-2)
Gonsolin 3-3
Wrobleski 0-1
Miller 1-0
Kershaw 1-2 (over 3-0)
Casparius 0-1 (opener)
Dreyer 2-1 (opener)
Sauer 1-0 (opener)

— Marlins (23-33)
Alcantara 4-7 (over 7-4)
Gillispie 1-5 (over 5-1)
Bellozo 1-4
Meyer 5-6 (over 6-1 last seven)
Quantrill 6-5 (under 5-0 last five)
Cabrera 5-4 (under 4-1 last five)
Weathers 1-2

— Famous birthdays, June 1st:
Brian Cox, 79
Tim Daly, 69
Teri Polo, 56

Shane Matthews, 55
Paula Malcomson, 55
Alanis Morissette, 51

Santana Moss, 46
Nick Young, 40
Andrew Abbott, 26

— Brewers (31-28)
Peralta 6-5 (under 8-3)
Cortes 1-1
Civale 2-1
Patrick 5-7 (under 9-3)
Priester 1-6 (under 5-2)
Myers 2-3
Rodriguez 0-2 (over 2-0)
Alexander 2-2 (over 3-1)
Quintana 4-2 (under 5-1)
Henderson 3-1 (over 3-1)
Hall 1-0
Zastryzny 1-0 (opener)

— Mets (36-22)
Holmes 8-3 (under 3-0 last three)
Megill 5-6 (over 6-2 last eight)
Senga 7-4 (under 10-1)
Canning 8-3 (under 7-4)
Peterson 8-4
Tidwell 0-1
Brazoban 0-2 (opener)

— Phillies (36-22)
Wheeler 8-4 (under 3-1 last four)
Luzardo 8-4
Nola 3-6 (under 6-3)
Sanchez 9-2 (over 3-0 last three)
Walker 4-4 (under 3-1 last four)
Suarez 4-1 (under 3-1 last four)
Abel 1-0

— Pirates (21-37)
Skenes 4-7 (under 5-2 last seven)
Keller 3-9 (under 4-1 last five)
Falter 6-6 (under 7-2 last nine)
Heaney 4-7 (under 8-3)
Mlodzinski 3-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Harrington 0-1
Burrows 0-1

— Cardinals (33-25)
Gray 10-2 (over 9-3)
Fedde 3-8
Mikolas 6-5 (won last six) (under 5-2 last seven)
Liberatore 5-6
Pallante 7-4
Matz 2-0

— Padres (32-24)
King 5-5 (1-5 last six) (over 3-0-1 last four)
Cease 7-5
Vasquez 6-5 (under 8-3)
Pivetta 8-3 (under 6-2 last eight)
Hart 3-3 (over 4-2)
Kolek 3-2 (over 3-1 last four)

— Giants (32-26)
Ray 10-2 (under 7-1 last eight)
Hicks 4-5 (over 7-2)
Webb 6-6 (over 4-2 last six)
Verlander 4-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Roupp 6-5 (under 3-0 last three)
Birdsong 1-1 (under 2-0)
Harrison 1-1 (under 2-0)

— Nationals (28-30)
Gore 4-7 (under 5-1 last six)
Irvin 7-5  (over 4-2 last six)
Parker 7-4 (under 7-4)
Williams 5-6 (over 4-2 last six)
Lord 2-4
Soroka 2-4

13 of my favorite TV shows (in alphabetical order):
— Batman— When you’re six years old, and in the opening credits every week, they show “WHAP!!! POW!!! BIFF!!!” and your name is Biff, this quickly becomes a favorite show. 

The villains were some pretty big stars back then (Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Milton Berle, Vincent Price, Liberace, Ethel Merman)

I haven’t seen much of the Batman movies that have been made over the years, but the TV show had some humor; one week there was a 3-foot Martian on the loose in Gotham City, and Robin blurts out “Holy interplanetary yardstick, Batman!!!” Good stuff. 

— Billions— Showtime series about a hedge fund manager who pushes the boundaries of the law while his marriage falls apart. His arch-enemy is a prosecutor in NYC who is into S&M and his wife is his dominatrix— the wife is also the psychiatrist for the hedge fund manager’s company. 

Trivia: Paul Giamatti plays the prosecutor; he is the son of former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti. I suggested a cameo role for Pete Rose, but that never happened.

— CSI— I spent a good chunk of my work career searching fingerprints and working for the NY State Division of Criminal Justice, so I enjoyed all the CSI shows, but especially the one set in Las Vegas— the actors seemed to have a chemistry working together. 

One of my weirder ideas (a teacher friend of mine scoffed at this) is that CSI should be taught to all high school kids, so they realize how difficult it is to get away with crimes, so maybe there would be fewer crimes. What could it hurt?

— Green Acres— As a kid, I spent lot of hours watching Green Acres re-runs; my dad would walk into the room, say “Why the hell are you watching that?”, but within five minutes, he’d be sitting there laughing harder than me and would leave the room before my mother came in and saw the both of us laughing. She wasn’t a big fan of Hank Kimball or Arnold Ziffel. 

— Law and Order— 20 years, 456 episodes, a great launching point for lot of acting careers, not to mention the spinoff shows that branched off this original show. 

Take Billions; there are 32 actors who have appeared in 12+ episodes of Billons; 14 of those 32 actors appeared in at least one episode of Law and Order, and two others were in Law and Order SVU, and that doesn’t count Eric Bogosian, who was in Law and Order: Criminal Intent for 61 episodes, but was only in 11 episodes of Billions. 

— Magnum PI— I’ve never been to Hawai’i, but if I ever went, would like to visit Robin Masters’ estate; I’m told you can visit there, it is kind of a museum or something. 

One of the best episodes was when Frank Sinatra played a retired New York City cop whose granddaughter was murdered— this was near the end of both the series and Sinatra’s career. 

The overriding themes of the show were that great friends will do all kinds of stuff for each other, and if you’re really good looking and drive a Ferrari, women will like you 🙂

Famous birthdays, May 30th:
Mike LaCoss, 69
Billy Donovan, 60
Manny Ramirez, 53
Jordan Palmer, 41

Zack Wheeler, 35
Harrison Barnes, 33
Jeremy Lamb, 33
Shaedon Sharpe, 22

— M*A*S*H— Years later, after watching re-runs of this show on our local channel 10 and the Boston channel for hours at a time, it dawned on me that this was actually a very sad show, with humor/jokes masking the grotesque sadness of wartime Korea. 

The McLean Stevenson episodes were the best; he was Colonel Henry Blake for the first 75 episodes, and a lot of them were classics, just funny as hell. 

— Mr Ed— This show ran on network TV from 1961-66, so I never saw it until the re-runs came on at 4:30 weekdays on a local channel in the early 70’s. Mr Ed was a talking horse, but he only talked to Wilbur Post, an architect who worked at home but never actually seemed to work. 

Mr Ed was a big Dodger fan; his favorite player was OF Willie Davis. In one episode, the horse takes batting practice against Sandy Koufax, and hits a ball off the wall at Dodger Stadium, with the bat held in his mouth. A fun show, not necessarily a realistic one. 

— Odd Couple— As a kid, Oscar Madison was one of my heroes; a sportswriter who always spilled food on his clothes but was a good natured guy who somehow dated a doctor or one of the Pidgeon sisters. 

To this day when I see my cousin’s husband, we recite lines from Odd Couple episodes; when they owned a greyhound racing dog , or appeared on Password (a game show), or when Oscar dated a princess from some obscure European country “You bought her a salty pretzel; oh, boy!!!” Great stuff. 

— Ray Donovan— The most violent program on this list; just about everybody on this Showtime series that isn’t related to the Donovans eventually winds up dead. 

Ray Donovan is a fixer for rich people, but he can’t fix his own family; his wife passes away from cancer, and the last time we saw him, he was still struggling with that. 

Live Schreber plays Ray, Jon Voight plays his father (a genuine creep); they’ve had guest stars like Susan Sarandon, James Woods, Wendell Pierce, Hank Azaria. Alan Alda, C Thomas Howell. 

Very good show but also very violent. 

— Suits— This show was about a law firm that hired a young guy with a photographic memory who had one small problem— he is a college dropout who never went to law school, but he gets paid to take bar exams for other people. 

The show had to change directions because one of the actresses (Meghan Markle) moved to England after she married Prince Harry in real life. Her character was married to Mike (the fraudulent lawyer) so they got written out of the last couple years of the show.

They introduced Suits LA this year, which is similar; Harvey Spector (Gabriel Macht) made a couple appearances, as did Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman). Pretty good show. 

— West Wing— Martin Sheen plays the President in this show; his cabinet included Rob Lowe, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer— great cast.

Actor Duke Hill was in both West Wing and Suits; Mary Louise Parker was in this and is also in Billions. Alan Alda was in this, Ray Donovan and of course, M*A*S*H

Jimmy Smits, Mary MacCormack, Tim Matheson, Gary Cole, just a ton of excellent actors. 

In one episode, President Bartlet has to throw out the first pitch at an Orioles’ game, but he never played ball, so one of his aides has to teach him how to throw a baseball in a hallway in the White House, where an errant toss breaks an expensive vase. 

— White Shadow— Ken Howard plays a washed-up NBA player who becomes a high school basketball coach in Los Angeles. Show only lasted three years, because well, high school kids graduate so they would’ve had to turn most of the cast over every other year. 

The basketball scenes were really well-done; Gwyneth Paltrow’s father was the creator of the show. Lot of the issues they tackled in this show were issues that real high school in the inner city had to deal with. Ken Howard was great as Coach Reeves; he wasn’t some all-knowing guy; he had flaws but he fought for his kids and they respected him for it (most of the time). 

— Thunder 128, Timberwolves 126
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 40 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists.
Thunder held Julius Randle to 7 points, on 1-5 shooting.
Oklahoma City trailed for only 36 seconds the whole game.
Thunder leads series 3-1; Game 5 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma.

— College sports have gone off the rails; 6-3 G PJ Haggerty signed on with Kansas State, and will get paid $2.5M there next season.

This has been Haggerty’s college career:
2022-23- TCU 22-13, only played in six games
2023-24- Tulsa 16-15
2024-25- Memphis 29-6, lost in first round of NCAA’s as a #5-seed
2025-26- Kansas State

I’m waiting for him to transfer during a TV timeout from one bench to the other during the game.

— Green Bay Packers’ QB Jordan Love threw out the first pitch before the Red Sox-Brewers game in Milwaukee Monday. Love is 19-17 as an NFL starter, 1-2 in playoff games. This will be his third season as Green Bay’s starting QB.

— Former New Orleans Saints’ coach Jim Mora Sr turned 90 recently; he still lifts weights twice a week, for 85 minutes at a time. They posted videos of it; pretty impressive.

— Las Vegas Raiders signed punter AJ Cole to a 4-year, $15.8M contract, making him the highest-paid punter in the NFL. Last year, Cole averaged 50.8 yards per punt, second best in the NFL, and had 27 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.

— Tampa Bay Ray hitters have gone 73 games since last time one of them got an intentional walk; Barry Bonds was once walked intentionally 73 times in a 72-game span.

— Why only 12 major league baseball games on Memorial Day? Would think that Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day would be full schedules, since everyone has the day off.

— If you ever watched the TV show Duck Dynasty, the patriarch of the Robertson family, Phil Robertson, passed away this weekend, at age 79.

Phil Robertson played college football at Louisiana Tech, starting ahead of future Hall of Fame QB Terry Bradshaw in 1966 and 1967. He got really rich when he created/patented the Duck Commander duck call, a kazoo-like instrument used by duck hunters.

Duck Dynasty was on TV from 2012-17, made the family famous and a lot wealthier. It was a quirky and funny show.

— Famous birthdays, May 27th:
Lee Meriwether, 90
Stan Walters, 77
Jackie Slater, 71
Richard Schiff, 70
Nick Lowery, 69

David Greenwood, 68
Peri Gilpin, 64
John Jaha, 59
George McCloud, 58
Frank Thomas, 57

Jeff Bagwell, 57
Antonio Freeman, 53
Jose Berrios, 31
Yoan Moncada, 30
Daniel Jones, 28

— Best records in one-run games:
Angels 8-2
Phillies 10-4
Padres 10-5
Tigers 9-5
Guardians 8-4

Worst records in one-run games:
White Sox 3-13
Red Sox 6-14
Rockies 4-9
Braves 9-13
Bronx 8-11

— Mets 2, White Sox 1
Chicago led 1-0 after the 7th inning.
Both Mets’ runs scored on sacrifice flies.
White Sox slipped to 5-22 on the road.

— Brewers 3, Red Sox 2
Milwaukee is 16-10 at home, 11-18 on the road.
Jackson Chourio led off the first inning with a home run.
Red Sox slipped tp 11-15 on the road.

— Orioles 5, Cardinals 2
Dylan Carlson hit a 3-run homer against his old team.
Orioles have won three in a row, for first time this season.
Charlie Morton got the win, lowering his ERA from 7.68 to 7.09.

— Diamondbacks 5, Pirates 0
Ryne Nelson allowed only four hits in 6.2 IP.
Win snapped Arizona’s five-game losing skid.
Pirates are now 6-20 in road games.

— Padres 4, Marlins 3 (10)
Manny Machado tied the game with an 8th inning home run.
Ryan Weathers allowed two unearned runs in 5.2 IP for Miami.
Marlins are 13-15 at home, 8-16 on the road.

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

— Minnesota 143, Oklahoma City 101
Timberwolves led 72-41 at halftime.
Minnesota shot 57% from the floor.
Home team has won all three lopsided games in this series.

— Five highest payrolls in MLB (record):
Dodgers $336,802,442 (32-20)
Mets $323,933,710 (31-21)
Bronx $288,738,657 (31-20)
Phillies $279,297,954 (33-18)
Blue Jays $246,441,798 (25-26)

— Five lowest payrolls in MLB (record)
White Sox $67,064,334 (17-35)
Marlins $67,340,342 (20-30)
A’s $73,664,777 (22-30)
Pirates $90,351,625 (19-34)
Rays $90,482,005 (25-26)

— Bottom of first inning in Cincinnati Friday night; Reds’ leadoff hitter TJ Friedl hits a double down the right field line. Problem, is the ballboy thought it was a foul ball; he caught it and gave it to a fan. Not good. Umpires rightfully called it a double.

— Rockies, Pirates, Reds have all been shut out eight times this year, most in MLB.

— Mets’ batters have been hit by a pitch 30 times this year, more than any other team.

— White Sox’ City Connect uniforms look a lot like the Chicago Bulls’ uniforms; the same guy owns both teams. Nice big names/numbers on the back of the uniforms. Well done.

— Famous birthdays, May 25th:
Leslie Uggams, 82
Mike Myers, 62
Kendall Gill, 57

Miguel Tejada, 51
Brian Urlacher, 47
Chris Young, 46

Kevin O’Connell, 40
Michael King, 30
Malik Willis, 26

— Cardinals 6, Diamondbacks 5 (10)
St Louis scored two runs in the bottom of the 8th.
Cardinals are 15-4 in their last 19 games.
Arizona has lost four in a row.

— Guardians 7, Tigers 5 (10)
Detroit has lost three in row for first time since first week of the season.
Jose Ramirez has a 17-game hitting streak.

— Twins 5, Royals 4
Minnesota walked the Royals off for second day in a row.
Twins have won 16 of their last 18 games.
Kansas City led 4-0 in the fifth inning.

— Pirates 2, Brewers 1
Oneil Cruz knocked in the winning run with a 7th inning triple.
Milwaukee had 11 hits, only scored once.
Brewers are 15-10 at home, 10-18 on the road.

— Nationals 3, Giants 0
Jake Irvin allowed only three hits in 8 IP.
Washington has won seven of its last nine games.
James Wood has 9 runs scored, 10 RBI in his last six games.

— Braves 7, Padres 1
Ronald Acuna homered for the second straight game.
Matt Olson has five home runs in his last seven games.
San Diego has lost seven of its last eight games.

— Phillies 9, A’s 6 (11)
Tied 6-6, A’s had bases loaded, no one out in 10th inning, couldn’t score.
Phillies have won nine games in a row.
A’s have lost 11 in a row, after a 22-20 start.

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

AL teams’ records, by starting pitcher:

— Orioles (16-33)
Eflin 3-2
Morton 0-7
Kremer 3-7 (under 4-2 last six)
Sugano 6-4 (under 7-0 last seven)
Povich 3-6
Young 1-1
Gibson 0-4 (over 3-1)
McDermott 0-1
Akin 0-2 (opener)

— Red Sox (26-26)
Crochet 6-5 (under 8-3)
Houck 2-7 (over 5-1 last six)
Buehler 6-1
Pitts 0-3 (under 3-0)
Newcomb 2-3 (over 4-1)
Dobbins 3-3 (under 3-1 last four)
Bello 5-2 (over 5-2)
Giolito 2-2

— White Sox (16-35)
Burke 5-5
Cannon 1-7
Perez 2-2
Smith 1-9
Martin 2-7
Wilson 2-2
Houser 1-0
Gilbert 1-2 (opener)
Eisert 0-2 (opener)

— Guardians (28-22)
Lively 7-2 (under 6-2 last eight)
Williams 6-4 (over 5-2 last seven)
Bibee 6-4 (under 6-1 last seven)
Ortiz 3-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Allen 5-4
Cecconi 1-1 (under 2-0)
Nikhazy 0-1

— Tigers (33-19)
Skubal 7-3 (over 5-2 last 7)
Flaherty 2-8 
Olson 5-4
Jobe 8-1
Mize 6-1
Montero 3-1 (under 3-1)
Holton 1-0 (opener)
Hurter 1-0 (opener)
Guenther 0-1 (opener)

— Astros (26-25)
Valdez 5-5
Brown 6-4 
Arrighetti 1-1
Blanco 5-4 (under 5-1 last six)
Wesneski 2-4 (under 5-1)
Gusto 3-3
McCullers 2-2 (over 4-0)
Blubaugh 0-1
Gordon 2-0 (under 2-0)
Walter 0-1

— Royals (28-24)
Ragans 4-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Lugo 5-4 (under 7-2)
Bubic 6-4 (under 5-2 last seven)
Lorenzen 5-5 (under 8-2)
Wacha 6-4 (under 6-2 last eight)
Cameron 1-2 (under 3-0)

— Famous birthdays, May 24th:
Bob Dylan, 85
Gary Burghoff, 82
Mitch Kupchak, 71
Kristin Scott Thomas, 65

Pete Metzelaars, 65
Joe Dumars, 62
John C Reilly, 60
Jeff Zgonina, 55

Bartolo Colon, 52
Dash Mihok, 51
Tracy McGrady, 46
Aaron Ashby, 27

— Angels (25-25)
Kikuchi 5-6 (over 9-2)
Soriano 3-7 (over 6-3 last nine)
TAnderson 8-2 (over 5-0 last five)
Hendricks 4-5 (under 3-1 last four)
Kochanowicz 5-5

— Twins (24-20)
Lopez 6-3 
Ryan 4-5 (under 8-1)
Ober 8-2
Paddack 3-7 (under 4-1 last five)
Woods-Richardson 5-2 (under 5-2)
Festa 2-1
Topa 0-1 (opener)

— New York (30-20)
Rodon 6-5 (under 8-3)
Fried 9-1 (under 6-2 last eight)
Warren 5-5 (under 5-2 last seven)
Carrasco 2-4 (under 4-2)
Schmidt 4-3 
Stroman 2-1 (over 3-0)
Yarbrough 1-1

— A’s (22-30)
Severino 4-7
Springs 5-5 
Bido 4-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Sears 6-4 (over 3-0 last three)
Hoglund 1-3 (over 3-0 last three)
Ginn 2-2 (under 3-1)
Estes 0-2
Lopez 0-2

— Mariners (29-21)
Gilbert 5-1
Castillo 5-5 (under 3-1 last four)
Miller 4-4 (over 4-0 last four)
Woo 7-2
Kirby 0-1
Hancock 6-2 (under 3-1 last four)
Evans 3-2 (over 4-1)
JFCastillo 1-1 (opener)
Legumina 0-1 (opener)

— Rays (24-26)
Pepiot 3-7 (under 5-1 last six)
Littell 5-5 (won last five) under 8-2)
Bradley 6-4 (over 3-1 last four)
Rasmussen 4-6 (under 8-2)
Baz 5-4
Boyle 1-0

— Rangers (25-27)
Eovaldi 5-6 (under 9-2)
Leiter 3-4 (under 6-1)
Mahle 6-5 (under 10-1)
deGrom 6-4 
Rocker 2-3 (under 3-1 last four)
Corbin 3-5 (under 4-1 last five)

— Blue Jays (25-25)
Berrios 5-5
Gausman 5-5 (over 5-0 last five)
Bassitt 6-4 (under 9-1)
Francis 4-6 (over 5-0 last five)
Lucas 2-2
Scherzer 0-1
Urena 1-1
Rodriguez 1-0

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

NL teams’ records, by starting pitcher:
— Diamondbacks (26-24)
Gallen 4-6 (under 6-3 last nine)
Kelly 6-4 (under 5-1 last six)
Burnes 5-4 (under 4-0 last four)
Pfaadt 7-3
Rodriguez 4-5 (over 6-0 last six)
Nelson 0-2

— Braves (24-25)
Sale 5-5 (under 5-1 last six)
Schwellenbach 6-4 (over 6-1 last seven)
Smith-Shawver 5-3 (under 7-1)
Holmes 4-5 (under 3-1 last four)
Elder 4-4 (under 6-1 last seven)
Lopez 0-1
Strider 0-2
Blewett 0-1

— Cubs (30-20)
Imanaga 5-3 (under 6-2)
Steele 3-1 (over 4-0)
Taillon 4-6 
Boyd 4-5 (home team 9-0)
Brown 5-4 (over 8-1)
Rea 6-1 (over 3-1 last four)

— Reds (25-26)
Greene 5-3 (under 6-1 last seven)
Lodolo 5-5 (over 5-2 last seven)
Martinez 2-8 (under 7-0 last seven)
Singer 6-4 (under 5-1 last six)
Spiers 0-2
Abbott 5-2 (under 3-0 last three)
Petty 0-2
Suter 2-0 (opener)

— Rockies (8-42)
Freeland 1-9 (under 7-3)
Senzatela 2-8 
Feltner 1-5 (under 4-0 last four)
Marquez 2-8 (over 7-2 last nine)
Dollander 2-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Blalock 0-3
Gordon 0-1
Palmquist 0-2

— Dodgers (31-19)
Yamamoto 7-3 (under 8-2)
Snell 2-0 (over 2-0)
Glasnow 3-2
Sasaki 6-2 (over 6-2)
May 4-5 (under 4-0 last four)
Knack 3-1 (over 3-1)
Gonsolin 2-2
Wrobleski 0-1
Miller 1-0
Kershaw 0-1
Casparius 0-1 (opener)
Dreyer 2-1 (opener)
Sauer 1-0 (opener

— Marlins (19-29)
Alcantara 3-6 
Gillispie 1-5 (over 5-1)
Bellozo 1-4
Meyer 5-5 (over 5-1 last six)
Quantrill 6-3 (under 3-0 last three)
Cabrera 3-4
Weathers  1-1

— Famous birthdays, May 23rd:
Joan Collins, 92
Rod Thorn, 84
Drew Carey, 67
Jay Feely, 49

Kirk Saarloos, 46
Chad Hall, 39
Aaron Donald, 34
Jonathan Aranda, 27

— Brewers (24-26)
Peralta 6-4 (under 8-2)
Cortes 1-1
Civale 1-1
Patrick 4-6 (under 8-2)
Priester 1-5 (under 4-2)
Myers 2-3
Rodriguez 0-2 (over 2-0)
Alexander 2-2 (over 3-1)
Quintana 4-2 (under 5-1)
Henderson 2-1
Zastryzny 1-0 (opener)

— Mets (30-20)
Holmes 7-3 
Megill 4-6 (over 5-2 last seven)
Senga 5-4 (under 9-0)
Canning 8-1 (under 7-2)
Peterson 6-3
Tidwell 0-1
Brazoban 0-2 (opener)

— Phillies (32-18)
Wheeler 7-3 
Luzardo 8-2 (under 3-1 last four)
Nola 3-6 (under 6-3)
Sanchez 7-2
Walker 4-3
Suarez 2-1
Abel 1-0

— Pirates (17-33)
Skenes 3-7 (under 5-1 last six)
Keller 2-8 
Falter 5-5 (under 6-2 last eight)
Heaney 4-6 (under 7-3)
Mlodzinski 4-5 (under 4-1 last five)
Harrington 0-1
Burrows 0-1

— Cardinals (27-23)
Gray 8-2 (over 9-1)
Fedde 3-7 (over 3-1 last four)
Mikolas 4-5 (won last four) (under 4-1 last five)
Liberatore 4-5 (under 6-1 last seven)
Pallante 6-4
Matz 2-0

— Padres (27-21)
King 5-5 (1-5 last six) (over 3-0-1 last four)
Cease 6-4 (under 4-2 last six)
Vasquez 5-5 (under 7-3)
Pivetta 6-3 (under 4-2 last six)
Hart 3-2
Kolek 2-2

— Giants (29-21)
Ray 9-1 (under 5-1 last six)
Hicks 4-5 (over 7-2)
Webb 6-5 (over 4-1 last five)
Verlander 4-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Roupp 5-4 (over 4-1 last five)
Birdsong 1-0

— Nationals (23-27)
Gore 4-6 (under 4-1 last five)
Irvin 5-5  (over 3-1 last four)
Parker 7-3 (under 7-3)
Williams 4-6
Lord 2-4
Soroka 1-3

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

— Pacers 138, Knicks 135 OT
Knicks led by 14 with 2:51 left in regulation.
Indiana’s starters were +31, their subs minus-16
Halliburton scored 31 points, Nesmith added 30.
Brunson scored 43 points for the Knicks.

— 22 of the 30 players in the Minnesota-Oklahoma City series are age 26 or younger, so those teams figure to be really good for several years.

— NBA will have a different champ for the 7th year in a row; last team to repeat as champs were the 2017/2018 Golden State Warriors.

— Former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who won an NBA title two years ago, is working for ESPN on the Western Conference finals.

There must be a hell of a story as to what happened with the Nuggets this year; not often do you see the coach of a good team fired, three games before the playoffs start.

— Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is this year’s NBA MVP, the 7th year in a row a foreign player has won that award. Last American player to win MVP; James Harden, in 2018.

— NFL announced Wednesday that the Buffalo Bills will be on Hard Knocks during training camp this summer; the in-season Hard Knocks will be the teams in the NFC East.

— Detroit Lions have five games this season against team whose previous game was on Monday Night Football, little bit of a rest advantage for Detroit.

— Former NFL coach Jon Gruden has joined the ownership group of the Nashville Kats of Arena Football One; former NFL coach Jeff Fisher is also a part owner of the Kats.

— Famous birthdays, May 22nd:
Richard Benjamin, 87
Tommy John, 82
Fair Hooker, 78
Randy Brown, 57

Michael Kelly, 56
Dre Bly, 48
Eric Sogard, 39
Julian Edelman, 39

Chase Budinger, 37
Lauri Markkanen, 28
Isaiah Stewart, 24
Anthony Richardson, 23

— RIP to actor George Wendt, 76, who passed away this week; he became famous playing Norm from Cheers, the great sit-com about a bar in Boston.

He was one of only three actors to appear in every episode of Cheers; he was a funny man.

RIP, sir.

— RIP to Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, who passed away Wednesday at age 65; when Jim Irsay was 12, his father bought the Rams and that same day, traded them for the then-Baltimore Colts. 12 years later, Robert Irsay moved the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis.

Jim Irsay was the Colts’ CEO since 1997; he played in a band and had a tremendous collection of guitars used by famous musicians.

RIP, sir.

— Mets 5, Red Sox 1
Mets scored three runs in 7th inning to break a 1-1 tie.
Brett Baty drove in three runs.
Mets are only 9-11 in their last 20 games.

— Guardians 5-5, Twins 6-1
Teams split a pair of games; the first game was the completion of Monday’s game, which was suspended by weather in the fourth inning.

Minnesota has won 14 of its last 16 games.

— Pirates 3, Reds 1
Pittsburgh has scored 4 or fewer runs in 26 straight games, tying an MLB record.
Andrew Heaney and four relievers held the Reds to four hits.

— Orioles 8, Brewers 4 (11)
Baltimore snaps an 8-game losing skid.
Adley Rutschman hit a 3-run homer in the 11th inning.

— Cubs 2, Marlins 1
Kyle Tucker had three hits, including a home run.
Cubs have won seven of their last nine games.

— Mariners 6, White Sox 5
Leody Taveras won the game with a 2-run homer in the 8th inning.
Seattle has won five of its last six games.

— Royals 8, Giants 4
Salvador Perez went 3-for-4, with two RBI.
Kansas City is 17-1 when it scores 4+ runs, 11-22 when it doesn’t.

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

Teams’ records in series:
(away/home….total)

NL East
Braves 3-5/5-1-1…..8-6-1
Marlins 0-6-1/4-4…..4-10-1
Mets 3-4-1/6-1…..9-5-1
Phillies 3-4/6-1-1…..9-5-1
Nationals 3-5/3-3-1…..6-8-1

NL Central
Cubs 4-3-1/6-2…..10-5-1
Reds 3-4/2-5-1…..5-9-1
Brewers 2-6/5-2…..7-8
Pirates 1-7/3-4…..4-11
Cardinals 3-4-1/6-1…..9-5-1

NL West
Arizona 4-3/3-3-2…..7-6-2
Rockies 0-8/0-7…..0-15
Dodgers 4-2-2/6-2…..10-4-2
Padres 3-4/6-2…..9-6
Giants 4-3-1/5-2…..9-5-1

AL East
Orioles 1-5-1/2-5-1…..3-10-2
Red Sox 4-4/3-4…..7-8
New York 4-3/5-3…..9-6
Rays 4-2/4-5…..8-7
Blue Jays 3-3-1/3-4-1…..6-7-2

AL Central
White Sox 1-7/3-7…..4-11
Guardians 4-4/5-2…..9-6
Tigers 5-3/6-1…..11-4
Royals 2-5/5-3…..7-8
Twins 4-4/5-2…..9-6

AL West
Astros 1-5-1/7-1…..8-6-1
Angels 4-5/3-3…..7-8
A’s 4-3-1/2-5…..6-8-1
Mariners 6-1/4-3-1…..10-4-1
Rangers 3-4/4-2-2…..7-6-2

— Famous birthdays, May 20th:
Leroy Kelly, 83
Cheryl Sarkisian (Cher), 79
Terry Nelson, 74
Rick Upchurch, 73
Wendell Tyler, 70

Bronson Pinchot, 66
Todd Stottlemyre, 60
Timothy Olyphant, 57
Terrell Brandon, 55
Jayson Werth, 46

— Royals 3, Giants 1
Bubic-Ray pitchers’ duel was 0-0 after seven innings.
Vinny Pasquantino hit a 2-run homer in the 8th inning.
Giants are 24-9 vs righty starters, 4-11 vs lefties.

— Red Sox 3, Mets 1
Mets scored total of 10 runs in their last six games.
Jarren Duran had a double/triple in first two innings.
Mets are out of first place in NL East for first time since April 9th.

— Astros 4, Rays 3
Jake Meyers had the game-winning home run in 7th inning.
Tampa Bay is 10-8 on road, only 11-18 in their temporary home stadium.

— Phillies 9, Rockies 3
Colorado led this game 3-2 after the 7th inning- their bullpen imploded.
Kyle Schwarber hit his 300th career home run, a 466-foot blast.

Sunday’s 1-0 win over Pittsburgh took 1:59 to play, fastest Phillies game since 1998.

— Marlins 8, Cubs 7
Jesus Sanchez homered in first inning, also had a walk-off triple.
Marlins are 13-13 at home; six of those wins are walk-off wins.

— Brewers 5, Orioles 4
William Contreras had the game-winning single in 8th inning.
Cedric Mullins had a 3-run homer for the Orioles.
Baltimore lost their 7th game in a row.

— Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 5
Dodgers have lost four in a row at home, for first time since 2018.
Arizona led this game 7-0 in the third inning.
Brandon Pfaadt threw 6 IP, became MLB’s first seven-game winner.
Dodgers swung at 42 of his pitches, didn’t whiff on any of them— unusual.

— Twins led Cleveland 2-1 in 4th inning; game was suspended by rain, will be resumed at 6:10 Tuesday night.

— If the playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Mets, Padres, Giants
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Twins, Guardians, Royals

— Prayers go out to President Joe Biden, who was diagnosed with an ‘aggressive form’ of prostate cancer, and it has spread to his bones. The 82-year old Biden and his family “are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

Get well soon, sir. 

— Thunder 125, Nuggets 93
Oklahoma City gets to the NBA’s Final Four for first time since 2016.
Thunder outscored Denver 39-20 in the second quarter.
Thunder-Minnesota series starts Tuesday.

— Since 1979, dating back to their days in Seattle, the Sonics/Thunder have won their last seven Game 7’s- this was their first one since 2014.

— Philadelphia Phillies closer Jose Alvarado was suspended 80 games without pay following a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug; he is ineligible for this year’s postseason.

— Arizona P Zac Gallen this year, by catcher:
with Jose Herrera at catcher: 2.92 ERA in four games
with Gabriel Moreno at catcher: 6.89 ERA in eight games

He also has a 6.03 home ERA, a 3.38 road ERA; this is a contract year for Gallen, not the best timing for him or the Diamondbacks.

— Arizona OF Corbin Carroll is the first ballplayer since Eddie Mathews in 1959 with 14+ home runs, 50+ hits, 5+ triples in the first 45 games of a season. Eddie Mathews is a Hall of Famer, so a good comp for Carroll.

— Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde Saturday, after a 15-28 start, which seems kind of quick; the last two years, Baltimore was 91-71/101-61. All of a sudden this is his fault?

Four of the seven starting pitchers Orioles have used this year are 30+ years old; maybe the person who assembled this underachieving roster should shoulder some of the blame.

One stat about the Orioles that makes very little sense: they’re 1-7 in games after a day off.

— There are only three active major leaguers with 3,000+ plate appearances who have a career batting average of .300+:

Jose Altuve, Luis Arraez, Freddie Freeman

— Famous birthdays, May 19th:
Archie Manning, 76
Ed Whitson, 70
Jack Thompson, 69
Bill Laimbeer, 68

John Friesz, 59
Turk Wendell, 58
Paul Justin, 57
Brandon Inge, 48

— Bronx 8, Mets 2
Bronx scored six times in the bottom of the 8th inning.
Juan Soto went 1-10 with four walks in his return to the Bronx.

— Astros 4, Rangers 3
Isaac Paredes hit a 3-run homer in the 8th inning.
Astros didn’t get a hit off Jack Leiter until the 7th inning

— Phillies 1, Pirates 0
Mick Abel tossed six shutout IP in his MLB debut.
Phillies have won 15 of their last 20 games.

— Nationals 10, Orioles 4
Nationals led 6-0 in 1st inning Saturday, 7-0 in 2nd inning Sunday
CJ Abrams was 9-30 with four HR’s, 8 runs scored this week.

— Tigers 3, Blue Jays 2
Spencer Torkelson knocked in all three runs for Detroit.
Detroit is an MLB-best 31-16, 8-0 when Jackson Jobe pitches.

— Reds 3, Guardians 1
Will Benson hit two home runs for Cincinnati.
Reds have won four games in a row, Cleveland has lost four in a row.

— Angels 6, Dodgers 4
Angels led 4-0 in 5th inning, blew the lead, but won the game late.
Travis d’Arnaud hit his first homer of the year in the 8th inning.

— Diamondbacks 1, Rockies 0
Merrill Kelly allowed only one hit in seven IP.
Rockies are 8-38, the worst start for any team since 1901.

— If the playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Giants
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Twins, Guardians, Royals

— Friday was the 10-year anniversary of the day my dad passed away, a cruddy day.

My dad was a nice person, an honest person- he was the kind of person this world needs a lot more of. He loved the Mets, the Knicks, the football Giants; he was a pretty good golfer, and he was a freakin’ great father. 

He was a great example of the kind of person I should be; I would’ve been remiss if today had gone by without giving a wave up to heaven and saying hi.

I love you, dad. You are missed every day.

— Knicks 119, Celtics 81
New York led 64-37 at halftime.
Knicks win this series, 4-2.
Knicks-Pacers (#3-seed vs #4-seed) is the Eastern Conference final

— 49ers signed QB Brock Purdy to a 5-year contract worth $53M/year; Purdy has played three years in the NFL, is 27-15 as an NFL starter, 4-2 in playoff games. 

— Illinois signed football coach Bret Bielema to a six-year contract, with $7.7M/year. Bielama has been at Illinois four years, has a 28-22 record, 2-2 in bowl games. 

Overall in 16 years as a head coach, Bielema is 125-80, 5-6 in bowl games.

— Former NBA star Nick Van Exel had some thoughts on social media about the increased amount of Achilles tendon injuries in the NBA:

“There have been Achilles tears throughout the years but my thoughts on them is that they happen more now and I think it has something to do with them dam lows the players wear nowadays. Cover them ankles up fellas.”

— I’m curious how much these celebrities get for doing commercials:
Christopher Walken (Miller Lite)
Will Ferrell (PayPal)
Jeff Goldblum (apartments.com)

— Texas Rangers P Max Scherzer is getting direct deposits in his bank account from all over the continent this year; he is getting paid:

$30,833,334 from the Mets
$15,500,000 from the Blue Jays
$15,000,000 from the Nationals
$12,500,000 from the Rangers

— Famous birthdays, May 17th:
Paige Turco, 60
Danny Manning, 59
Hill Harper, 59
Craig Erickson, 56

Hubert Davis, 55
Sasha Alexander, 52
Carlos Pena, 47
Tony Parker, 43

Matt Cassel, 43
Channing Frye, 42
Matt Ryan, 40
Austin Ekeler, 30

— Week 1 NFL spreads:
Cowboys @ Philadelphia (-7)
Chiefs (-3) vs Chargers (@ San Paolo, Brazil)
Cardinals (-3.5) @ New Orleans
Bengals (-4.5) @ Cleveland

Dolphins @ Indianapolis (-1.5)
Raiders @ New England (-3.5)
Giants @ Washington (-7.5)
Buccaneers (-2.5) @ Atlanta

Panthers @ Jacksonville (-3.5)
Steelers (-2.5) @ NJ Jets
Texans @ Rams (-3.5)
49ers (-1.5) @ Seattle

Titans @ Denver (-7.5)
Lions @ Green Bay (-1.5)
Ravens @ Buffalo (-1.5)
Vikings @ Chicago (-1.5)

— Twins 3, Brewers 0
Minnesota won its 12th game in a row.
Twins haven’t allowed a run in their last 24 innings.
Joe Ryan allowed three baserunners in six scoreless IP.

— Cardinals 10, Royals 3
St Louis has won 11 of its last 12 games.
Ivan Herrera had three hits, four RBI.
Cardinals are 49-26 in their games at Kauffman Stadium.

— Phillies 8, Pirates 4
Pittsburgh led 3-1 in 7th inning.
Phillies scored four runs on only one hit in bottom of 7th.
Bryce Harper got his 1,000th career RBI

— Bronx 6, Mets 2
Juan Soto was 0-2 with three walks in his return to the Bronx.
Mets are 17-5 at home, 11-12 on the road.
Bronx leads AL East by five games.

— Nationals 4, Orioles 3
Mackenzie Gore allowed 12 baserunners in 3.2 IP, but only gave up 2 runs.
Winning run scored from 2nd base on a 9th inning infield hit.
Orioles lost 10 of their last 12 games. 

— Marlins 9, Rays 4
Only 5th win for Miami in their last 29 games against the Rays.

— Astros 6, Rangers 3
Texas led 2-0 after six innings.
Astros scored six runs in the top of the 7th.
Christian Walker’s 3-run homer was the big hit.

— Mariners 5, Padres 1
JP Crawford hit the first pitch of the game for a home run.
Logan Evans tossed six shutout innings, allowing seven hits.
Seattle leads the AL West by a game and a half.