Armadillo Sports

— AL West standings, after five series this year:
A’s 8-7
Rangers 8-7
Angels 8-8
Mariners 7-9
Astros 6-10

A’s have only played 3 of their 15 games at home in Sacramento.

— A’s 1, Mets 0
Nick Kurtz homered for the game’s only run.
Aaron Civale got 17 outs, allowed only four hits.
A’s have won five in row, seven of last nine games.

— Cubs 7, Pirates 6
Pittsburgh led 6-3 after six innings.
Michael Busch stopped an 0-for-30 skid with a 2-run single in 8th inning.
Carson Kelly had a walk-off single for the 7-8 Cubs.

— Mariners 6, Astros 1
Logan Gilbert allowed four hits in his 7 IP.
Arozarena, Raley both had three hits for Seattle.
Houston has lost seven games in a row.

— Red Sox 9, Cardinals 3
Willson Contreras had four hits, three RBI
Trevor Story had four hits, two RBI
Jordan Walker hit his 7th home run for St Louis.

— Famous birthdays, April 13th:
Ron Perlman, 76
Mark Leiter, 63
Ricky Schroder, 56

Dan Campbell, 50
Baron Davis, 47
Quentin Richardson, 46

Hunter Pence, 43
Melvin Gordon, 33
Edward Cabrera, 28

— Giants manager Tony Vitello jumped from managing college ball at Tennessee to being a major league manager in San Francisco. I wonder if he is enjoying it, seriously. Not talking about the winning/losing (Giants are 6-10) but the other aspects of being a manager that have to be a lot different in the major leagues than they are in college.

— I’m thinking the ABS pitch challenge system is hurting scoring; just seems like hitters lose most of their pitch challenges. Catchers’ challenges are more successful.

— Playing fantasy baseball is fun for me, but platooning drives me crazy; just play your best freakin’ players. It is often a self-fulfilling prophecy to sit lefties against lefties; maybe if you play them against everyone, you’ll realize you have a great player on your hands.

— RIP Phil Garner, who passed away this week at age 76. Garner played 16 years in the majors for five teams, starting out with the A’s in 1973. He also managed in the big leagues for 15 years, for three teams. He played on the Pirates team that won the 1979 World Series. 

RIP, sir.

— Movie of the Day: Message in a Bottle (1999)- A female writer finds a tragic love letter in a bottle on the beach, and tries very hard to find out who wrote the letter.

Robin Wright is the writer, Kevin Costner is the person who wrote the latter, Paul Newman in his father. Robbie Coltrane, Ileana Douglas are also in the movie, which is very good but not a very happy movie.

— Diamondbacks 4, Phillies 3
Arizona scored two runs in the 8th inning for the win.
Diamondback bullpen didn’t allow a run in four IP.
Phillies have lost four of their last five games.

— Nationals 8, Brewers 6
Keibert Ruiz had the game-winning hit for Washington.
Milwaukee’s bullpen gave up six runs the last three innings.
Brice Turang homered twice for the Brewers.

— White Sox 6, Royals 5
White Sox OF Tanner Murray hit his first MLB home run.
Chicago had been shut out Friday/Saturday.
White Sox used nine pitchers in a nine-inning game.
Start of the game was delayed three hours by rain.

— Angels 9, Reds 6
Jose Soriano struck out 10 guys in 7 IP.
In his first four starts, Soriano is 4-0, 0.33
Mike Trout had two hits, scored three runs.

— Tigers 8, Marlins 2
Tarik Skubal didn’t give up a hit until the sixth inning.
Dillon Dingler hit a three-run homer in the first inning.
Marlins have lost seven of their last ten games. 

— NBA play-in games are this week:
Tuesday:
10E Miami @ 9E Charlotte
8W Portland @ 7W Phoenix

Wednesday:
8E Orlando @ 7E Philadelphia
10W Golden State @ 9W LA Clippers

— A’s 11, Mets 6
Tyler Soderstrom homered twice, had five RBI.
Mets lost their last four games, outscored 29-9.
A’s have won five of their last seven games.

Mets’ TV guys were mocking the A’s because they’ve moved around a lot. Here is their history:
1901-54- Philadelphia
1955-67- Kansas City
1968-2024- Oakland
2025-27- Sacramento
2028——> Las Vegas

A’s have won nine World Series, that’s the important thing.

— Mariners 8, Astros 7
JP Crawford had a walk-off single for Seattle.
Astros scored three runs in 2nd, three more in 3rd inning, led 6-2.
Cal Raleigh hit his second HR of the season, Julio Rodriguez his first.
In his last two starts, Luis Castillo has given up 11 runs in 7 IP.

— Royals 2, White Sox 0
First three games of this series ended 2-0/2-0/2-0, with Royals winning last two.
Michael Wacha allowed four hits in eight IP.
White Sox lost five of their last six games.  

— Pirates 4, Cubs 3 (11)
Cubs left bases loaded in 10th and 11th innings.
Oneil Cruz was 4-5, with three stolen bases.
Pirates are off to a strong 9-5 start.

— Rays 5, New York 4 (10)
8th/9th spots in Tampa’s order were 4-for-7, with three runs scored.
New York has lost four in a row, after an 8-2 start.
New York is batting .202 so far, 28th in MLB.

— Red Sox 7, Cardinals 1
Ranger Suarez pitched six scoreless innings.
Willson Contreras had three RBI against his old team.
Red Sox have won three of last four games, after a 2-8 start.

— Phillies 4, Diamondbacks 3
Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer in third inning.
Bryce Harper followed that with a solo homer two pitches later.
Phiilies’ win snaps a three-game losing skid.

— Famous birthdays, April 12th:
Mike Garrett, 82
Ed O’Neill, 80
Jerry Tagge, 76
Andy Garcia, 70
Jerry Goff, 62

Paul LoDuca, 54
Brad Miller, 50
Claire Danes, 47
Ted Ginn Jr, 41
Devlin Hodges, 30

— Tigers 6, Marlins 1
Riley Greene homered, had four RBI
Miami scored one run in first two games of this series.
AJ Hinch got his 400th win as Detroit’s manager.

— Guardians 6, Braves 0
Parker Messick allowed four hits in 6.2 scoreless IP.
Messick has allowed one run in 17.2 IP in his first three starts.
Jose Ramirez homered for the Guardians.

— Nationals 3, Brewers 1
James Wood had two RBI; he has a .953 OPS so far.
Milwaukee has lost four in a row, after an 8-2 start.
Brewers had three errors, were 0-6 with RISP.

— Reds 7, Angels 3
Nathaniel Lowe hit a bases loaded double in a four-run first inning.
Angels’ reliever Chase Silseth walked 4 guys, threw 3 wild pitches, got one out.
Elly De La Cruz had three hits for the 9-6 Reds.

— Padres 9, Rockies 5
Colorado led this game 4-0 in the third inning.
Ramon Laureano homered, scored 3 runs, had 3 RBI
Mickey Moniak homered twice, had four RBI for Colorado.

— Twins 7, Blue Jays 4
Minnesota scored all seven of their runs in the third inning.
Trevor Larnach hit a three-run home run.
Joe Ryan gave up two hits in his seven IP.

— Orioles 6, Giants 2
Jeremiah Jackson homered, had three hits for the 7-7 Orioles.
Logan Webb is 1-2, 5.25 in his first four starts.
Orioles put C Adley Rutschman (ankle) on the injured list. 

— Padres 5, Rockies 2
San Diego hit a walk-off homer for the second night in a row.
Gavin Sheets homered twice, including the 9th inning game-winner.
Padres’ closer Mason Miller struck out 17 of the last 18 hitters he faced.

— Pirates 2, Cubs 0
Shota Imanaga didn’t allow a hit in his 6 IP, throwing 100 pitches.
As soon as he left the game, Pirates scored two runs.
Bryan Reynolds’ home run scored both Pittsburgh runs.

— A’s 4, Mets 0
A’s threw a shutout for the second night in a row.
Jeff McNeil had two hits and an RBI in his return to Queens.
Mets lost their last three games, outscored 18-3.

— Dodgers 8, Rangers 7
Max Muncy hit three home runs, including a walk-off homer.
Texas tied the game with three runs in the top of the 9th.
Andy Pages went 3-for-3 with four RBI

— Nationals 7, Brewers 3
Washington scored four runs in the ninth inning.
Nationals had three bunt hits during that inning.
Washington is 5-3 when they score 6+ runs, 0-5 when they don’t.

— Famous birthdays, April 11th
Louise Lasser, 87
Peter Riegert, 79
Bret Saberhagen, 62

Jason Varitek, 54
Trot Nixon, 52
Mark Teixeira, 46

Kelli Garner, 42
Cavan Biggio, 31
Kedon Slovis, 25

— Watched Moneyball for the millionth time the other night; still bothers me the lack of respect the movie showed for manager Art Howe. The 2002 A’s were 103-59, they won 20 games in a row; you don’t win that many games without really good players and a very good manager.

Howe also played 11 years in the major leagues as an infielder, but they portrayed him as an overweight guy, which just wasn’t/isn’t true.

As an A’s fan, obviously I mostly liked the movie, but Howe should’ve been treated better.

— If you bet the under in the Rockies-Padres game Thursday night, don’t read this paragraph. Game was tied 3-3 in the 12th inning, very long game with the new extra inning rules, but the Rockies didn’t score in the top of the 12th. 

San Diego bunted the ghost runner over to third in the bottom of the 12th, then Colorado walked two guys intentionally to load the bases and set up a force play, but Xander Bogaerts hit a grand slam to end the game, and put it over the 7.5-run total. Bad beat for under bettors.

— ESPN has a good show, This is Football, which is pretty basic, just a guy interviewing coaches and front office execs around the league. Found it late at night the other night; they interviewed Kevin Stefanski, new coach of the Falcons and the new GM of the Dolphins, Jon-Eric Sullivan.

Guy who hosts the show asks good questions and gets out of the way; learned a lot watching that show and look forward to more shows with the NFL Draft coming up.

— Saint Louis Billikens’ basketball team posted on social media that they’ll have nine players back next year, which is unusual in this day and age. Saint Louis was 29-6 this past season, wont a game in the NCAA Tournament. They should be favored to win the A-14 next year.

— Movie of the Day: One More Time (2015)- A famous singer on the downside of his career plans his comeback.

Christopher Walken is the singer; Amber Heard/Kelli Garner plays his daughters, Oliver Platt his agent. Good movie, not always the happiest movie, but an interesting story well-told.

— Tigers 2, Marlins 0
Keider Montero got 18 outs, allowing three baserunners.
Marlins only got two hits the whole game.
Kenley Jansen recorded his 478th career save.

— Braves 11, Guardians 5
Cleveland led this game 2-1 after five innings.
Matt Olson’s 6th inning homer put Atlanta ahead for good.
Braves scored six runs, had seven hits in that sixth inning.

— Rays 5, Bronx 3
Yandy Diaz batted cleanup, hit a two-run homer.
Steven Matz gave up 2 hits in 5 IP, and got the win.
New York lost its last three games, scoring five runs.

— Angels 10, Reds 2
Jorge Soler, who is appealing his 7-game suspension, hit a grand slam.
Zach Neto hit his fifth homer of the year for the Angels.
Jack Kochanowicz allowed two hits in his 7 IP.

— Royals 2, White Sox 0
Kris Bubic struck out 11 guys, got the win.
Carter Jensen homered for the Royals.
White Sox are 2-8 when they score less than five runs. 

NL East
— Braves (8-5)
Braves are 3-1 in series openers.
Under is 6-0 in Atlanta home games, 2-5 on road.
Braves scored in first inning in 5 of last 10 games.
Atlanta is 7-1 when they score more than two runs.

— Marlins (8-5)
Marlins are 7-3 at home, 1-2 on road.
Marlins are 1-3 in series openers.
Nine of Miami’s last ten games went over the total.
Marlins are 7-1 when they score 4+ runs.

— Mets (7-6)
Mets lost three of their last four home games.
Over is 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
Mets scored in first inning in 6 of 13 games.
Mets are 7-0 when they score 4+ runs.

— Phillies (6-6)
Phillies lost three of their last four games.
Phiilies are 3-1 in series openers.
Under is 4-2 in their road games; over is 4-1-1 in their home games.
Phillies are 2-6 if they score less than five runs.

— Nationals (4-8)
Nationals lost five of their last six games.
Washington scored in first inning in 5 of 12 games.
Over is 9-3 in their games.
Nationals are 1-8 if they score less than nine runs.

NL Central
— Cubs (6-6)
Cubs are 1-4 in the game following a win.
Cubs are 5-1 in the game following a loss.
Bregman, Busch, Swanson are all hitting under .200
Cubs are 1-6 if they score less than six runs.

— Reds (8-5)
Cincinnati is 5-2 on the road.
Reds’ last three games went over the total.
Reds are 4-1 in games when winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Reds already have 4 wins in games when they scored two runs.

— Brewers (8-4)
Brewers won five of their first six home games.
Milwaukee is 3-1 in series openers.
Brewers are 3-1 in games when winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Milwaukee is 8-0 when they score more than two runs.

— Pirates (7-5)
Pirates won six of their last eight games.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.
Pittsburgh is 1-3 in series openers.
Pirates are 7-1 when they score 3+ runs.

— Cardinals (7-5)
Cardinals won three of their last four games.
St Louis is 1-3 in series openers.
Over is 3-1-1 in their last five games.
Cardinals already have 3 losses in games when they scored 6+ runs.

NL West
— Diamondbacks (7-6)
Arizona won four of its last five games.
Diamondbacks are 1-3 in series openers.
Over is 4-1-1 in their road games.
Arizona is 2-6 when they score less than six runs.

— Rockies (6-7)
Rockies won four of their last five games.
Under is 9-4 in their games.
12 of their 13 games have been vs righty starting pitchers.
Colorado is 5-0 when they score 4+ runs.

— Dodgers (9-3)
Dodgers won five of their last six games.
Dodgers are 3-1 in series openers.
LA scored 8+ runs in four of six road games.
Dodgers are 8-0 when they score 4+ runs.

— Padres (7-6)
Padres won five of their last six games.
San Diego is 2-3 in series openers.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.
Padres are 5-0 when they score more than three runs.

— Giants (5-8)
Giants are 3-7 at home, 2-1 on road.
Over is 5-2-2 in their last nine games.
Giants are 3-7 vs righty starters, 2-1 vs lefties.
Giants are 4-0 when they score 5+ runs. 

— Famous birthdays, April 10th:
Mel Blount, 78
Lee Lacy, 78
Ken Griffey Sr, 76

Steve Tasker, 64
Sean Gilbert, 56
Andre Ethier, 44

Corey Kluber, 40
Robert Woods, 34
Jake Burger, 30

AL East
— Orioles (6-6)
Baltimore won its last three games.
Orioles have scored in first inning in only one of 12 games.
Six of their last eight games went over.
Orioles are 4-6 when they score less than 8 runs.

— Red Sox (4-8)
Boston is 3-3 at home, 1-5 on the road.
Over is 4-1 in their last five road games.
Red Sox have scored in first inning in only two of 12 games.
Boston already has three losses when they scored 5+ runs.

— New York (8-4)
New York is 5-1 on road, 3-3 at home.
New York scored in first inning in five of last eight games.
Their last three games stayed under the total.
New York is 8-1 when they score 3+ runs.

— Rays (5-7)
Tampa Bay is 3-5 in its last eight games.
Over is 9-2-1 in their games, 7-1-1 on road.
Tampa Bay is 3-6 vs National League teams.
Rays are 5-3 when they score 3+ runs.

— Blue Jays (5-7)
Toronto lost six of its last seven games.
Blue Jays are 1-3 in series openers.
Under is 3-1 in their last four games.
Toronto is 2-6 if they score less than five runs.

AL Central
— White Sox (5-8)
Chicago lost five of its seven road games.
White Sox scored total of 11 runs in their last five games.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.
Chicago is 2-7 when they score less than five runs.

— Guardians (8-5)
Guardians are 5-0 in the game following a loss.
Cleveland is 3-1 in series openers.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine games.
Cleveland is 6-0 when they score more than two runs.

— Tigers (4-9)
Detroit lost its last five games, scoring 15 runs.
Tigers lost their last eight road games.
Tigers haven’t faced a lefty starting pitcher yet.
Detroit is 1-6 when they score less than five runs.

— Royals (5-8)
Royals lost four of their last five games.
Under is 3-1 in their last four games.
Kansas City hasn’t scored in the first inning this year.
Royals scored 2 or fewer runs in seven of their eight losses. 

— Twins (7-6)
Minnesota has won its last five games.
Twins are 4-2 vs righty starters, 3-4 vs lefties.
Under is 4-2 in their road games.
Twins are 7-2 if they score more than one run.

AL West
— Astros (6-7)
Astros lost last four games, giving up 35 runs.
Houston is 5-2 at home, 1-5 on road.
Over is 6-1 in their wins, 3-4 in their losses.
Astros are 1-6 if they score less than eight runs.

— Angels (6-7)
Angels are 4-7 in their last 11 games.
Angels’ last four games went over the total.
Halos scored in first inning in four of last five games.
Angels are 4-2 if they score 3+ runs.

— A’s (5-7)
A’s won four of their last six games.
Sacramento is 1-3 in series openers.
Under is 8-1 in their road games.
A’s are 3-1 when they score 4+ runs.

— Mariners (4-9)
Mariners lost six of their last eight games.
Seattle scored total of 13 runs in six road games.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine games.
Seattle has scored more than five runs in only 2 of 13 games.

— Rangers (7-5)
Texas won its last three games.
Under is 5-0-1 in their home games.
Over is 4-1-1 in their road games.
Texas is 4-0 when they score more than three runs. 

— Rockies 9, Astros 1
Edouard Julien scored twice, had two RBI for the Rockies.
Colorado sweeps three games with Houston, is 6-6, 4-2 at home.
Astros slip to 1-5 on the road.
Crowd of 15,189 is smallest in Coors Field history. 

Rockies drew 9 walks, struck out 7 times, first time since July 1, 2024 they walked more than they struck out.

— There are only three American League teams over .500:
New York 8-3
Guardians 8-5
Rangers 7-5

— Meanwhile, in the NL Central:
Reds 8-4
Brewers 8-4
Pirates 7-5
Cardinals 7-5
Cubs 6-6

— Cardinals 6, Nationals 1
Jordan Walker homered for the third game in a row.
Alec Burleson had three hits, three RBI for St Louis.
Cardinals improve to 7-5; Washington is 1-5 at home.

— A’s 3, New York 2
Brent Rooker’s 9th inning sac fly was a game-winner.
A’s bullpen got 12 outs, allowing only two walks.
Joel Kuhnel got his first big league save since 2022.

— Braves 8, Angels 2
Matt Olson homered, knocked in two runs.
Grant Holmes allowed five hits, two runs in 6.2 IP
Atlanta improved to 8-5; they lead NL East by half a game.

— Jorge Soler/Reynaldo Lopez were both suspended seven games after their fracas Tuesday night, but later on, Lopez’ suspension was reduced to five games.

— Famous birthdays, April 9th:
Rob Scribner, 75
Dennis Quaid, 72
Kyle Macy, 69
Kirk McCaskill, 65

Jeff Turner, 64
Bo Kimble, 60
Zac Stacy, 35
Luis Arraez, 29

— Former Dodger 2B Davey Lopes passed away this week at age 80; he was a 4-time All-Star who helped the Dodgers win the 1981 World Series. He stole a combined 140 bases for LA in 1975-76, and played for four teams in his 16-year career.

RIP, sir.

— Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 3
Davis Schneider walked twice, scored two runs off the bench.
Toronto’s win snaps a six-game losing skid.
Dodgers led this game 3-1 in the 7th inning.

— Giants 5, Phillies 0
Phillies got shut out for second day in a row.
Rafael Devers homered, drove in four runs.
Tyler Mahle allowed three hits in 5.2 IP.

— Rangers 3, Mariners 0
MacKenzie Gore allowed one hit in five shutout IP.
Seattle is 4-9, losing six of last eight games.
Cal Raleigh/Julio Rodriguez are both hitting .143.

— Orioles 5, White Sox 3
Taylor Ward was 4-for-5, with two RBI.
Orioles have beaten the White Sox nine times in a row.
Baltimore bullpen threw four scoreless IP, allowing four baserunners.

— Padres 8, Pirates 2
Game was scoreless after six innings.
San Diego scored four runs in 7th inning, four more in 9th.
Mitch Keller threw six scoreless IP for the Pirates.

— Pittsburgh signed 19-year old SS Konnor Griffin to a nine-year contract worth $140M, which raised a lot of eyebrows. It the biggest contract in Pirates history. 

— Something new this year; games in Cleveland, New York (Mets) were switched from night games to day games because it is still so freakin’ cold out in this part of the country. It was 34 degrees in Cleveland when the game there started at 1:00 Tuesday.

Guardians 2, Royals 1
Brayan Rocchio had the walk-off single for Cleveland, which improved to 7-5.
Carter Jensen homered for the second game in a row for Kansas City.

— Braves 7, Angels 2
Jorge Soler hit a first inning home run off of Reynaldo Lopez, making him 14-23 with five home runs in his career against Lopez. When Soler batted in the fifth inning with Atlanta leading 4-2, Lopez’ first pitch hit the backstop on the fly. Not over Soler’s head, but kind of close.

Words were exchanged, then a fight started, a fracas, a donnybrook, a Pier 6 brawl. Not the usual push/pull stuff, an actual fight. Braves manager Walt Weiss tackled Soler.

Lopez was ejected, which means he didn’t get the win, which sucks if you have him on your fantasy team.

— Reds 6, Marlins 3 (10)
Miami led 2-0 in 9th inning behind Sandy Alcantara; Marlins took him out with runners on first and second and one out, and Cincinnati tied the game, before scoring four runs in the 10th inning. Alcantara threw 95 pitches. 

Jacob Marsee snapped a slump, going 2-for-4, with four stolen bases.
Marlins have lost four of their last five games.

— Cardinals 7, Nationals 6 (10)
Washington led 5-3 after seven innings.
Jordan Walker/Nathan Church homered for St Louis.
James Wood homered for the third day in a row.
Nationals have lost six of their last seven games.

— Cubs 9, Rays 2
Drew Rasmussen was supposed to start this game for Tampa Bay, but his wife is expected to have a baby soon, so Rasmussen was scratched from this start, a piece of information I could have used on Monday, when I put my fantasy team’s lineup in for this week.

Alex Bregman broke out of an 0-for-13 slump, went 3-for-5.
Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-5, with three runs scored.

— Red Sox 3, Brewers 2
Game was scoreless after five innings.
Trevor Story had a two-run double in the sixth inning.
Boston improved to 3-8, despite getting only three hits.

— Dodgers 4, Blue Jays 1
They were selling 77-cent hot dogs during this game, because the Blue Jays started playing in 1977; in the first seven innings Tuesday, they sold 100,204 hot dogs.

That’s a lot of rolls. Wonder if Joey Chestnut was there?

Dodgers have won five games in a row.
Toronto has lost six games in a row.

— Famous birthdays, April 8th:
Mark Clayton, 65
Robin Wright, 60
Yonder Alonso, 39
Jeff McNeil, 34

Dario Saric, 32
Jacob Latz, 30
Jo Adell, 27
CeeDee Lamb, 27

Today would’ve been Hall of Famer Jim (Catfish) Hunter’s 80th birthday.

— Rockies 5, Astros 1
Willi Castro went 3-for-4, with a homer and three RBI
Astros had only three hits; they’re 1-4 on the road.
Colorado is 5-6 this year; last year, they were 5-25 at one point.

— Twins 4, Tigers 2
Twins scored four runs in the 5th inning, off of Tarik Skubal.
Taj Bradley had 10 strikeouts; he is 2-0, 1.08 in his first three starts.
Josh Bell was 3-for-4 with an RBI for Minnesota

— New York 5, A’s 3
Amed Rosario hit two home runs, including the game-winner in 8th inning.
Aaron Civale allowed two hits in five IP in his start for the A’s.
Sacramento is 1-6 on the road.

— Rangers 3, Mariners 2
Texas beats George Kirby for first time in his 11 starts against them.
This is first time Rangers have won a series vs Seattle in their last 10 series
Mariners are struggling, off to a 4-8 start.

— College/semi-pro basketball transfer portal opens this week; there are already over 1,000 names in the portal. One player is going to transfer from Columbia to Sam Jose State, which seems unusual.

— The daughter of new North Carolina basketball coach Michael Malone plays volleyball for the Tar Heels. Some genius on social media was questioning whether Malone was a good hire— hey genius, THE GUY WON AN NBA TITLE THREE YEARS AGO!!!!

Of course he’s a good hire.

— Can’t remember if I knew this or not, I’m guessing not; NIL money has nothing to do with the school, it is an agreement between a player and an outside business/booster, as opposed to if you donate $$$ to an athletic program, the school can spread it out to all their sports. 

— Michigan 69, UConn 63
Michigan wins its first national title since 1989.
Big 18 wins its first national title since Michigan State, in 2000.

Wolverines were 25-28 on the foul line. UConn 12-16.
Huskies shot only 34.3% inside the arc.
Teams combined to shoot 11-48 on the arc. 

— Michigan coach Dusty May was a student manager at Indiana in his college days; after that, he worked as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida- he paid his dues before getting the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.

— If you ever are wondering how tight a game is being officiated, watch the game with the TV muted; you’ll see contact, and you’ll wait for action to stop because they had to call that foul, right? Right?

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. In March, officials allow more contact; players have to learn how to play through contact, which is why they work out a lot in the off-season.

— North Carolina hired former NBA coach Michael Malone as its new basketball coach; Malone was 515-363 in ten years coaching the Denver Nuggets, leading them to the 2023 NBA title. He also coached Sacramento for a couple years, and was an assistant coach for four other teams.

— PJ Haggerty is in the transfer portal again; they should name the portal after him:
2022-23- TCU
2023-24- Tulsa
2024-25- Memphis
2025-26- Kansas State
2026-27- ?????

— Famous birthdays, April 7th:
Jim Fox, 83
Tony Dorsett, 72
Jackie Chan, 72
Thurl Bailey, 65
Russell Crowe, 62

Ronde Barber, 51
Tiki Barber, 51
Adrian Beltre, 47
Eduardo Rodriguez, 33
Josh Hader, 32

— Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven turned 75 this week; he pitched in 24 games that ended 1-0, winning 15, losing nine. 15 wins in 1-0 games is the most ever by any pitcher.

— Cleveland Guardians 3B Jose Ramirez has finished in the top five of the AL MVP voting six of the eight years, but hasn’t won an MVP yet.

— Baseball season is only 11 days old, and Juan Soto/Mookie Betts are on the IL already.

— There will be 10 teams with new head coaches in the NFL this season.

— NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers are 4-19 ATS this season when giving 10+ points.

— Movie of the Day: The Rewrite (2014)- An Oscar-winning screenwriter in a slump leaves Hollywood to teach screenwriting at SUNY-Binghamton, because he needs a job; he falls for a single mom while teaching her in class.

Hugh Grant is the writer, Marisa Tomei is the mom, JK Simmons/Allison Janney are members of the Binghamton faculty. Very good movie.

— Rays 6, Cubs 4
25,114 fans saw the Rays’ first game in the Trop in two years.
Aranda, Caminero, Mullins homered for Tampa Bay
Cubs are 1-3 on the road, scoring 11 runs in four games.

— Nationals 9, Cardinals 6
Washington hit three homers, scored six runs in bottom of 8th inning.
Nationals’ last five games went over the total.
Ramon Urias was 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Redbirds.

— Brewers 8, Red Sox 6
Garrett Mitchell had game-winning single in 8th inning.
Game was tied 5-5 after seven innings.
Boston has lost eight of its last nine games.

— Rockies 9, Astros 7
Trailing 3-0, Colorado scored eight runs in the 5th inning.
Troy Johnston went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI.
Astros allowed 32 runs in their last four games, and of them was a shutout.

— Padres 5, Pirates 0
German Marquez tossed five shutout innings, got the win.
Bottom three guys in San Diego’s lineup went 6-for-11, scored two runs.
Loss snaps the Pirates’ five-game winning streak.

— Angels 6, Braves 2
Jose Soriano is 3-0, 0.45 in his first three starts.
Neto/Adell both homered for the Angels.
Braves lost their last four games, scoring ten runs. 

— Watching Mets-Giants Sunday, they showed Bobby Thomson’s home run from 1951 that won the Giants the NL pennant in a 3-game playoff with the Dodgers, both of whom called New York home back then. It reminded me of a story.

My dad grew up in Brooklyn, was a huge Brooklyn Dodger fan; he talked a couple times about how devastating Thomson’s home run was. Dodgers had a huge lead in the pennant race in August, but let it slip away.

When I was a teenager, I spent lot of late afternoons watching M*A*S*H reruns on TV; when my dad came home from work, he’d grab a beer and sit in the living room with me and watch before dinner. 

There is an episode of M*A*S*H where surgeon Charles Winchester makes a bet that the Dodgers are going to win the pennant, thinking he can’t lose. He was wrong.

Anyway, my dad comes in the room, watches the show for about five minutes, then says to me sternly “Turn this off, now!!!”

He almost never talked to me that way; I scrambled for the remote and put something else on and things went back to normal. Not something he wanted to hear about again.

— Late Saturday night in Anaheim, Angels’ RF Jo Adell had the great defensive night any major league outfielder ever had. Seriously.

Angels won the game 1-0, but not before……..

Adell robbed Cal Raleigh of a home run in the first inning.
Adell robbed Josh Naylor of a home run in the sixth inning.

In the 9th inning, JP Crawford hit a ball down the right field line; Adell caught the ball, just before he went over the fence, into the stands. He hung on, and the Angels won. 

— West Virginia 89, Oklahoma 82 OT
Oklahoma led by 13 early in the second half.
Honor Huff was 8-15 on the arc, scored 38 points.
Huff was 12-12 on foul line; Oklahoma’s whole team was 10-12.
Sooners shot 60% inside arc, scored 1.14 ppp.
West Virginia wins the Crown Tournament in Las Vegas.

— Auburn 92, Tulsa 86 OT
Auburn led 34-13 with 7:45 left before halftime.
Tulsa led by 5 with 1:05 left in regulation.
Tahaad Pettiford scored 24 points, had 8 assists.
Auburn was 11-27 on the arc, Tulsa 6-26.
Auburn wins the NIT at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis

Famous birthdays, April 6th:
Billy Dee Williams, 89
John Ratzenberger, 79
Bery Blyleven, 75

Marilu Henner, 74
Sterling Sharpe, 61
Brett Boone, 57

Paul Rudd, 57
Lou Merloni, 55
Tim Hasselbeck, 48

Sunday was a very good day of baseball; in 11 of the 16 games, the game-winning run scored from the 7th inning on.

— A’s 12, Astros 10 (10)
This game was scoreless after four innings.
Brett Rooker hit a 3-run, walk-off home run for the A’s.
Astros pitching ace Hunter Brown (shoulder) goes on the IL.

— White Sox 3, Blue Jays 0
Davis Martin allowed four hits in his six IP
White Sox are 3-0 at home, for first time since 2004.
Blue Jays have lost five of six after a 3-0 start.

— Angels 8, Mariners 7 (11)
Nolan Schanuel hit a walk-off sac fly for the Angels.
Seattle tied the game with a run in the 9th inning.
Mariners lost four of their last five games.

— Cubs 1-5, Guardians 0-6
Cubs had only two hits in their 1-0 win; Miguel Amaya had the game-winner.
Edward Cabrera allowed one hit in 5.2 IP
Cleveland scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th to win the nightcap.

— Rockies 4, Phillies 1
Mickey Moniak hit two home runs for Colorado.
Tomoyuki Sugano gave up one run in six IP.
Rookie TJ Rumfield homered; he is hitting .345 so far.

— Diamondbacks 6, Braves 5 (10)
Ketel Marte hit a walk-off double for Arizona.
Corbin Carroll was 3-for-4, with two runs scored.
Drake Baldwin homered, had four RBI for Atlanta.

— Mets 5, Giants 2
Luis Torrens had a pinch-hit, 2-run double in the 8th inning.
Mets swept the Giants in San Francisco, improved to 6-4.
Logan Webb is the only MLB pitcher who had started three games.

— Pirates 8, Orioles 2
Ryan O’Hearn homered, had four RBI against his old team.
Pittsburgh has won five games in a row; they’re 6-3.
Oneil Cruz also homered, had three RBI.

— Dodgers 8, Nationals 6
Washington led 6-1 after the fifth inning.
Shohei Ohtani homered, had the game-winning sac fly.
Dodger bullpen threw four scoreless IP.

— Rays 4, Twins 1 (10)
Richie Palacios hit a 2-run homer in the 10th inning.
Nick Martinez allowed one hit, one run in six IP.
Rays finally go back to Florida, have their home opener Monday. 

— Michigan 91, Arizona 73
Wolverines led 26-10 early; it was 48-32 at halftime.
Michigan has scored 90+ points in all five NCAA Tourney games.
Early line on the national title game is Michigan, -7.5

— UConn 71, Illinois 62
Huskies outscored Illinois 16-7 over last 6:11 of the first half.
Illinois made 6 of 26 shots behind the arc.
UConn is in national title game for third time in four years.

— Last 11 times a #1-seed played a non-#1-seed in the national title game, the #1-seed won 10 times, only exception being when Villanova beat North Carolina in 2016.

— Oklahoma 82, Baylor 69
Sooners advance to the finals of the Crown tournament in Las Vegas
Baylor led 52-51 with 11:41 left in the game.
Xzayvier Brown scored 21 points, had 6 rebounds, 6 assists.

— West Virginia 87, Creighton 70
West Virginia shot 63.9% inside arc, scored 1.29 ppp
DJ Thomas scored 20 points in 21:00 off the bench.
West Virginia-Oklahoma is the final of the Crown tourney Sunday

— Famous birthdays, April 5th:
Michael Moriarty, 85
Oliver Luck, 66
Dale Hatcher, 63
Cris Carpenter, 61
Tony Banks, 53

Ike Hilliard, 50
Marc Bulger, 49
Stephen Jackson, 48
Justin Holiday, 37
Tetairoa McMillan, 23

— NHL’s Buffalo Sabres made the playoffs for the first time in 15 years; it is not that hard to make NHL playoffs, lot of teams do, but 2011 was last time Buffalo made it, so congrats to them.

— Reds 2, Rangers 0
Rhett Lowder gave up three hits in 6 IP, gets his first win since 2024.
Reds scored twice in the first inning, only runs of the game.
Texas only had one runner reach second base.

— Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1
Arizona’s only runs scored on a throwing error in the second inning.
Mike Soroka threw five IP, getting his second win of the season.
Arizona’s bullpen threw four perfect innings.

— Brewers 5-2, Royals 2-8
Garrett Mitchell knocked in five runs in the opener.
Royals scored six runs in 6th inning in nightcap, breaking 2-2 tie.
Milwaukee is off to a 6-2 start.

— White Sox 6, Blue Jays 3
Munetaka Murakami put Chicago ahead with his 4th homer of the year.
Both teams used an opener in this game.

— Movie of the Day: Hustle (2022)- A basketball scout discovers a phenomenal player while watching games on a playground in Spain; all he has to do is convince his bosses that the player is the scout’s ticket back into the NBA.

Adam Sandler is the scout, Queen Latifah is his wife, Robert Duvall has a cameo as the owner of the NBA team who dies suddenly, leaving his son in charge- the son doesn’t like the scout.

The basketball scenes are really well done; there are a lot of NBA players in this movie.

— Pirates 3, Orioles 2
Nick Yorke had a walk-off single for Pittsburgh.
Orioles led 2-1 after seven innings.
Pirates are off to a 5-3 start.

— Padres 3, Red Sox 2
Ramon Laureano had the game-winning hit in the ninth inning.
Cold day; was 43 degrees in Fenway, with 24 mph winds.
Red Sox are off to a slow start, losing six of first eight games.

— New York 9, Marlins 6
Marlins led 4-0 in the fifth inning.
Giancarlo Stanton knocked in the go-ahead runs in the 8th inning.
Xavier Edwards had three hits for the Marlins, is hitting. 467.

— Dodgers 10, Nationals 5
Freddie Freeman had four RBI in his first two at-bats.
Dodgers scored 23 runs in first two game of this series.
Andy Pages is hitting .500 (15 for 30) for Los Angeles.

— Pirates 5, Orioles 4
Highly touted prospect Konnor Griffin hit an RBI double in his first MLB at-bat
Pittsburgh scored four runs in the second inning.
38,986 fans at the Pirates’ home opener.

— White Sox 5, Blue Jays 4 (10)
Tristan Peters had a walk-off single for Chicago.
Sean Burke gave up 4 hits, one run in 6 IP as the bulk pitcher.
Toronto trailed 4-2, tied game with two runs in 8th inning.

— Red Sox 5, Padres 2
Mayer/Contreras homered, Boston snapped a 5-game losing skid.
Sonny Gray got the win, giving up four hits in 6 IP
First five hitters in San Diego’s lineup were a combined 0-for-19.

— Twins 10, Rays 4
Minnesota scored 7 runs in 7th inning on what looked like a very cold day.
9th place hitter Tristan Gray hit a grand slam for the Twins.
Tampa Bay hasn’t played at home yet; they’re off to a 2-5 start.

— Mets 10, Giants 3
Nolan McLean retired the first 15 batters he faced.
C Francisco Alvarez hit two home runs.
Juan Soto left the game very early with calf tightness.

— A’s 11, Astros 4
Lawrence Butler went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI
A’s led 10-1 in 4th inning in their home opener.
Jeffrey Springs gave up two hits, one run in 6 IP

— Mariners 3, Angels 1 (10)
Game was scoreless after nine innings.
Cole Young hit a RBI triple leading off the 10th inning.
Brian Woo allowed one hit in 7 scoreless IP

— Famous birthdays, April 4th:
Craig Nelson, 82
John Hannah, 75
Tommy Herr, 70
Jack Del Rio, 63
Robert Downey Jr., 61

Nancy McKeon, 60
Scott Rolen, 51
Ben Gordon, 43
Martin Perez, 35
Mitch Keller, 30

Missed a birthday yesterday; Joe Biden turned 84 years old.

— When he was in high school, Braves’ utility guy Kyle Farmer was an unnamed high school quarterback in the movie The Blind Side. Movie’s producers needed someone who could actually throw a football; Farmer played QB for his high school team. He spent 12 hours filming, learning the plays, and meeting Sandra Bullock, who gave him acting advice.

— Lions center Frank Ragnow retired, two years before his contract was up. He had signed a 4-year contract with Detroit, and now that he has retired, the Lions want some of the money back, something they had previously done with stars Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson.

Bad optics for sure, but apparently they’re getting $1.5M back from Ragnow.

— Underrated fact: In 2010 and 2011, Butler lost the national championship game two years in a row; they weren’t in the Big East back then, they were in the freakin’ Horizon League. Imagine a Horizon League team playing in the Final Four now???

Brad Stevens was Butler’s coach back then; he runs the Celtics now.

— Baseball season is a little more than a week old, and Miami’s Liam Hicks is leading MLB in RBI, with 12. Go figure.

— Cardinals/Rockies were the last two teams whose hitters challenged a ball/strike call.

— QB Kirk Cousins signed a contract with the Las Vegas Raiders for $20M which could turn into a lot more with incentives; Raiders are expected to draft Fernando Mendoza with the first pick in the draft later this month, but they’ve said they’re not crazy about starting a rookie QB right off the bat.

— Miami Dolphins have seven picks in the first three rounds of the draft, so they’ll be one of the most interesting teams to follow. 

Some quick baseball trends, very early in the season…….
NL East
— Braves (5-2)
Under is 6-0 in Atlanta home games, 0-1 on road.

— Marlins (5-1)
Marlins won five of their first six games, all at home.
Miami’s last three games went over the total.

— Mets (3-4)
Mets lost their last three games, outscored 12-3.
Bo Bichette is hitting .129 ( 4 for 31)

— Phillies (3-3)
Four of their last five games went over the total.

— Nationals (3-3)
Nationals are 2-0 in series openers.
Over is 4-2 in their games.

NL Central
— Cubs (3-3)
Under is 3-1 in their last four games.
Last four games, Cubs are 3-32 with RISP

— Reds (3-3)
Reds have scored in first inning in one of their six games.

— Brewers (5-1)
Brewers won five of their first six games, all at home.
Three of their last four games went over the total.

— Pirates (3-3)
Pirates won three of last four games, all on the road.

— Cardinals (4-2)
Their last three games stayed under the total.

NL West
— Diamondbacks (3-4)
Arizona won three of its four home games.

— Rockies (2-4)
Under is 5-1 in their games, all on road.
Colorado scored 3 or fewer runs in five of six games.

— Dodgers (4-2)
Their last four games stayed under the total.
Dodgers haven’t scored a first inning run yet.

— Padres (2-4)
San Diego is 0-2 in series openers.
Under is 3-1-1 in their last five games.

— Giants (3-4)
Giants won three of their last four games.  

— Famous birthdays, April 3rd:
Marsha Mason, 84
Alec Baldwin, 68
David Hyde Pierce, 67
Tim Conroy, 66

Eddie Murphy, 65
Pervis Ellison, 59
Jared Allen, 44
Jason Kipnis, 39

Jay Bruce, 39
Andrew Vaughn, 28
Jacob Misiorowski, 24
Connelly Early, 24

AL East
— Orioles (3-3)
 Orioles have scored in first inning in one of their six games.

— Red Sox (1-5)
Boston lost its last five games, scoring 14 runs.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.

— New York (5-1)
New York won five of six games, giving up total of 6 runs.
Four of their last five games stayed under.

— Rays (2-4)
Five of their six games went over.

— Blue Jays (4-2)
Three of their last four games stayed under the total.

AL Central
— White Sox (1-5)
Chicago lost five of its first five games.
Five of those six games went over total.

— Guardians (4-3)
Cleveland is 2-0 in series openers, both on road.

— Tigers (2-4)
Detroit lost its last four games, scoring 11 runs.

— Royals (3-4)
Six of their seven games stayed under the total.

— Twins (2-4)
Under is 4-2 in their games.
Minnesota has yet to score a first inning run.

AL West
— Astros (5-2)
Houston won its last five games, scoring 43 runs.
Over is 5-0 in their wins, 0-2 in their losses.

— Angels (3-4)
Angels lost four of their last five games, all on the road.

— A’s (1-5)
A’s lost five of their first six games, all on the road.
Under was 5-1 in those six games.

— Mariners (3-4)
Seattle hasn’t scored a first inning run since their first game.

— Rangers (4-2)
Texas won four of its last five games.
Four of their last five games went over. 

Crown Tournament in Las Vegas
— Oklahoma 90, Colorado 86 OT
Colorado led by 10 late in the first half.
Oklahoma led by 7 with 1:51 left in regulation.
Nijel Pack had 20 points, five assists for the Sooners.

— Baylor 67, Minnesota 48
Bears outscored Minnesota 36-22 in second half.
Baylor had 37-29 age on the boards.
Gophers shot 3-23 on arc, 7-15 on foul line. 

— Siena hired Marquette assistant Nevada Smith as its new basketball coach; Coach Smith has been a head coach in the G League, he assisted Shaka Smart the last six years at Marquette and Texas. Siena made the NCAA’s this year for the first time since 2010; coach Gerry McNamara then became the head coach at Syracuse, his alma mater.

— Tyler Lundblade is a 3-point shooter who played the last two years at Belmont, after playing the two years before that at TCU. He’ll be playing next year at Tennessee, which got only 25% of its points this season on the arc (3326 out of 365 teams).

This year, Lundblade made 40.9% of the 274 3-pointers he shot; he took only 66 2-point shots.

— Orioles 8, Rangers 3
First major league game that ended on a called 3rd strike, via replay review.
Albert Suarez got his first save in nine years.
Corey Seager homered for Texas.

— Cardinals 2, Mets 1 (11)
Masyn Winn had the walk-off bloop single for St Louis.
Mets went 1-for-29 with RISP in this three game series.
Mets lost three of last four games, scoring total of eight runs.

— Marlins 10, White Sox 0
Sandy Alcantara threw a 93-pitch complete game.
Liam Hicks went 3-for-4, with a homer, 4 RBI
Marlins are off to a 5-1 start.

— Famous birthdays, April 2nd:
Reggie Smith, 81
Linda Hunt, 81
Roy Gerela, 78
Larry Drew, 68

Christopher Meloni, 65
Pete Incaviglia, 62
Roselyn Sanchez, 53
Austin Riley, 29

— Phillies 6, Nationals 5 (10)
Washington led 5-1 in the 7th inning.
Edmundo Sosa hit a 2-run single to tie game in 9th inning.
Cade Cavalli allowed one run in 6 IP for the Nationals.

— Rockies 2, Blue Jays 1 (10)
Tyler Freeman had the game-winning hit for Colorado.
Rockies won 2 of 3 in this series, are now 3-12 all-time in Toronto.
Kevin Gausman is the first pitcher in the last 100 years with 10+ strikeouts in each of his first two starts, with no walks. 

— Astros 6, Red Sox 4
Carlos Correa hit a 3-run homer in the fifth inning.
Astros have won five in a row, after an 0-2 start.
Boston starts the season with a 1-5 road trip.

— Royals 13, Twins 9
Jonathan India homered, had five RBI.
Kyle Isbel went 4-for-4, scored three runs.
Kansas City led 12-1 after six innings; their bullpen struggled.

— Guardians 4, Dodgers 1
Gavin Williams struck out 10 guys in seven scoreless IP.
Jose Ramirez hit his first home run of the season.
Cleveland starts the season with a 4-3 road trip.

— Padres 7, Giants 1
Ramon Laureano homered, had two RBI.
Mason Miller has gotten a save in both San Diego wins.
Luis Arraez had three of the Giants’ four hits.

— Diamondbacks 1, Tigers 0
Corbin Carroll’s first-inning homer was the game’s only run.
Zac Gallen allowed four hits in six shutout IP.
Detroit starts the season with a 2-4 road trip.

Less than a week into the baseball season, and there are no winless teams, and no unbeaten teams, which seems unusual.

— Diamondbacks 7, Tigers 5
Rookie Jose Fernandez hit two homers in his MLB debut.
Trailing 5-1, Arizona scored six runs in the 8th inning.
Detroit had all six of its hits in a five-run third inning.

— Giants 9, Padres 3
Willie Adames went 4-for-5 with a homer, two RBI
Jung Hoo Lee went 3-for-4 with three RBI
San Diego is off to a 1-4 start.

— Dodgers 4, Guardians 1
Shohei Ohtani allowed one hit in six shutout IP.
Max Muncy homered for the Dodgers.
Dodgers are off to a 4-1 start.

— A’s 5, Braves 1
Shea Langeliers hit his 4th home run of the season.
Four Sacramento relievers didn’t allow a run in four IP
Aaron Civale got the A’s first win in five games this year.

— Rangers 8, Orioles 5
First three hitters in Texas order went 6-14, with four runs scored.
Corey Seager, Danny Jansen, Ezequiel Duran homered for the Rangers.
Orioles’ P Zach Eflin left in the 4th inning with a sore elbow.

— Marlins 9, White Sox 2
Liam Hicks homered for the 4-1 Marlins.
Miami bullpen got 14 outs, didn’t allow a hit.
Marlins 2B Xavier Edwards is off to an 8-19 (.421) start.

— Phillies 3, Nationals 2
Andrew Painter struck out 8 guys in 5.1 IP in his MLB debut.
Kyle Schwarber, Adolis Garcia homered for the Phillies.
First four guys in Phiilies’ batting order are all hitting under .200.

— Famous birthdays, April 1st
Ali MacGraw, 87
Annette O’Toole, 74
Mark Jackson, 61
Jumbo Elliott, 61

Daniel Murphy, 41
Brook Lopez, 38
Robin Lopez, 38
David Dahl, 32

Today was my grandmother May’s birthday; she lived in Queens with my grandfather, who was a conductor on the subway. They were married more than 50 years, and they were always very nice to me; happy heavenly birthday!!!

— Was watching the Twins-Royals game Monday; they were saying on TV how Salvador Perez is much more likely to challenge pitches for being high/low, rather than inside/outside. He says he sees those pitches better.

— Between the pitch clock, three-batter minimum for pitchers and the ABS challenge system, Major League Baseball has done very well with their recent rule changes.

— Colt Emerson is a 20-year-old infielder who signed an 8-year, $95M contract with the Seattle Mariners this week, even though he’s never played in the major leagues. He played 34 games at the AA level last year, six more in AAA. He is 5-14 in his first three AAA games this year, and now he is really, really rich.
 
— Blue Jays P Cody Ponce had to be carted off the field Monday night after he twisted his knee while chasing a ground ball. He had an MRI Tuesday; he has a sprained ACL and will miss a lot of time.

— ACC basketball teams went 3-11 ATS in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the 2nd-worst any league has done (with 10+ games) in the last 25 years.

— NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights fired their coach this week; he was his record:
2022-23- 51-22-9, won the Stanley Cup
2023-24- 45-29-8, lost in the first round of playoffs
2024-25- 50-22-10, lost in second round of playoffs
2025-26- 33-26-16, and got fired

Four years: 203-115-43 with a championship, and they fired him.

Oy.

— Chicago Bears’ QB Caleb Williams is trying to trademark the nickname “Iceman”, which caught the attention of basketball Hall of Famer George Gervin, who has been known as the Iceman since back in his ABA days in the 70’s. In 1987, the San Antonio Spurs retired Gervin’s number 44. They once had a poster of Gervin sitting on blocks of ice.

I don’t know much about copyright rules, but apparently Gervin may have messed up by not applying for the “Iceman” trademark, while Williams has done that, which may give him the upper hand in this matter. We’ll see what happens. 

— Astros 8, Red Sox 2
Jose Altuve went 4-for-4 with two homers, four runs scored.
Lance McCullers Jr allowed four hits in his 7 IP.
Astros won their last three games, scoring 28 runs.

— Giants 3, Padres 2
San Francisco manager Tony Vitello gets his first major league win.
Landen Roupp allowed two hits in his six IP.
Harrison Bader got the Giants on the board with a solo HR

— Mets 4, Cardinals 2
Clay Holmes got 17 outs, allowed two runs.
Mets bullpen got the last 10 outs, allowed only one baserunner.
Bo Bichette knocked in two runs for the 3-1 Mets.

— Reds 2, Pirates 0
Chase Burns allowed one hit in his five IP.
Reds scored both their runs in the fourth inning.
1-3 Pittsburgh scored total of six runs in their last three games.

— Rays 3, Brewers 2
Nick Fortes had the game-winning double in the 9th inning.
Milwaukee led 2-1 after the sixth inning.
Yandy Diaz homered; he is 11 for 20 this season.

— White Sox 9, Marlins 4
White Sox got their first win, Marlins their first loss.
Miguel Vargas hit a grand slam, knocked in six runs.
Liam Hicks homered, had three RBI for Miami.

— Rockies 14, Blue Jays 5
Rockies had 17 hits, got their first win of the year.
Colorado led 2-1 after the fifth inning.
Ezequiel Tovar went 3-for-6 with 3 RBI, 2 runs scored. 

— Famous birthdays, March 31st:
William Daniels, 99
Shirley Jones, 92
Christopher Walken, 83
Gabe Kaplan, 82

Mike Bass, 81
Rhea Perlman, 78
Ed Marinaro, 76
Mick Luckhurst, 68

Ron Brown, 65
JR Reid, 58
Steve Smith, 57
Kamren Curl, 27

— College basketball coaching changes:
Former Cincinnati coach Wes Miller is the new coach at NC-Charlotte.

Pepperdine hired Virginia assistant Griff Aldrich as its new coach.

St Bonaventure is expected to hire Daemen College coach Mike MacDonald as its new coach; MacDonald is a St Bonaventure alum; he’s coached at Canisius, Medaille and has been at D-II Daemen since 2015, going 58-2 the last two years.

NC State hired Tennessee assistant/former Wolfpack player Justin Gainey as its new coach.

Longtime Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson is the new coach at Utah State; Jacobson was UNI’s head coach for 20 years, making five NCAA Tournaments, including a Sweet 16 back in 2010, when his Panthers upset Kansas in the second round.

— Jacobson will be Utah State’s 7th coach in 12 years, even though they’ve made six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments. Utah State is moving to the new-ish Pac-12 next fall, where they’ll compete with Gonzaga and San Diego State.

— I’m guessing that Duke’s loss to UConn Sunday night ended a lot of people’s chances to win their bracket pools.

— Was watching the Cubs game on TV Sunday; their dugout reporter is Taylor McGregor, who sits by the far end of the Cubs dugout, right by the field. A foul ball winds up in her area; she picks it up, and turns around to hand it to a kid who is sitting in the front row of the stands, with his parents.

The kid, however, is wearing St Louis Cardinals gear; she pulls the ball back, says “You’re Cardinal fans!!!” and flips the baseball to someone else. It was kind of funny; they didn’t say if the parents thought it was that funny.

— First week of baseball season, Player of the Week in both leagues was a rookie, Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter and Sal Stewart of the Reds.

— Milwaukee Brewers signed minor league prospect Cooper Pratt to an 8-year, $50M contract; Pratt hit .238 in AA ball last year. He must be a hell of a fielder.

— Seattle Seahawks will be featured this summer on HBO’s Hard Knocks; in the summer of 2027, NFL Films will feature the New England Patriots on Hard Knocks. 

— UConn 73, Duke 72
Epic collapse by Duke; they led 44-25 late in first half.
Duke led by 5 with 1:50 left in the game.
LY at the Final Four, Duke led by 6 with 1:14 left, lost 70-67 to Houston.
UConn-Illinois is one semi-final Saturday in Indianapolis.

— It has been four years since Jon Scheyer replaced Mike Krzyzewski as Duke’s coach:
2022-23- 27-9/14-6, lost in NCAA 2nd round
2023-24- 27-9/15-5, lost in NCAA Elite 8
2024-25- 35-4/19-1, lost in national semi-final
2025-26- 35-3/17-1, lost in NCAA Elite 8

— Long time ago, a coach named Gene Bartow replaced John Wooden as UCLA’s career; Wooden/Krzyzewski are probably the two best college coaches ever. Bartow was a very good coach, but lasted only two years replacing Wooden:

1975-76- 28-4/13-1, lost in national semi-final
1976-77- 24-5/11-3, lost in NCAA Sweet 16

Bartow went on to start up a new program at UAB; he went 365-204 in 19 years with the Blazers, making the NCAA Tournament eight times.

Could it be that Scheyer will become this generation’s version of Gene Bartow?

— Michigan 95, Tennessee 62
Michigan shot 65.5% inside arc, scored 1.26 ppp
Wolverines led 48-26 at the half; they were 27-37 on foul line. 

Last time Tennessee lost by more than 7 points? January 10th.
Arizona-Michigan is the other semi-final Saturday night.

— Famous birthdays, March 30th:
John Astin, 96
Warren Beatty, 89
Jerry Lucas, 86
Dave Chapple, 79

Paul Reiser, 70
Chris Sale, 37
Alex Bregman, 32
Jacob Wilson, 24

— Not sure why there only 12 baseball games Sunday; very unusual for six teams to have a Sunday off. Also unusual that all 30 teams are scheduled to play Monday.

— Marlins 4, Rockies 3
Owen Caissie hit a two-out, two-run homer for the walk-off win.
Marlins are 3-0 for the first time since 2009.

— Pirates 4, Mets 3 (10)
Ryan O’Hearn had three hits, two RBI for Pittsburgh.
Juan Soto hit a double to left-center with two men on in the 10th; one run scored, but the Pirates threw out the tying run at the plate.

— Rays 11, Cardinals 7
Yandy Diaz went 5-for-6, had four RBI, scored two runs.
Tampa Bay scored 23 runs in the 3-game series, but lost two of three.

— Astros 9, Angels 7
Isaac Paredes hit the game-winning, two-run double in 8th inning.
Zach Neto homered, had two RBI, also walked three times.
Tatsuya Imai gave up four runs in 2.2 IP, in his MLB debut.

— Movie of the Day: Bulworth (1988)- A suicidal, disillusioned politician puts out a contract on himself, and then becomes bluntly honest with his voters, with interesting results.

Warren Beatty is the politician, Christine Baranski his wife, Halle Berry the hit man hired to kill him. Excellent cast; Jack Warden, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Wendell Pierce, Oliver Platt, Joshua Malina, Randee Heller, Larry King are all in this movie.

— Brewers 9, White Sox 7
Milwaukee trailed 7-3, then scored six runs in the 8th inning.
Christian Yelich’s pinch-hit, 3-run homer was the game-winning hit.
Brewers swept the three-game series, scoring 29 runs.

— Mariners 8, Guardians 0
Emerson Hancock threw six hitless innings for Seattle.
Brendan Donovan homered, knocked in three runs.

— When baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was in college at LeMoyne College, he played on the tennis team. Go figure.

— Michael Conforto is the only active major leaguer who has played in:
Little League World Series
College World Series
the real World Series.

— Last year, when a team had a guy on third and no one out, that runner scored 82% of the time.

— Sunday in Baltimore, with umpire Chris Segal behind the plate, teams challenged 10 ball/strike calls; seven of the ten calls were overturned.