Armadillo Sports

— Phillies 10, Nationals 5
Washington led 5-0 after five innings.
Bryce Harper hit the game-winning home run in the 9th inning.
Last three games, Phillies scored 15 runs in the 9th inning. 

— A’s 9, Giants 6
A’s trailed 6-2 after the sixth inning.
Lawrence Butler had the game-winning hit in ninth inning.
Giants have lost Landen Roupp’s last 10 starts.

— Shohei Ohtani breakdown, by catcher:
Will Smith as catcher: 10 games, 0.74 ERA

Dalton Rushing as catcher: 3 games, 4.34 ERA

— Miami Marlins are 16-5 in June, the best record in the majors this month.

— Atlanta Braves have lost their last nine games in San Diego.

— Cubs 4, Mets 3 (10)
Pete Crow-Armstrong had the game-winning hit in 10th inning.
Cubs went 7-0 against the Mets this season, outscoring them 51-24.
Mets have lost six games in a row, are 34-47, 9.5 games out of a playoff spot.

— Mets traded lefty starter David Peterson to the Cubs, for 1B/DH prospect Cole Mathis. Cubs put two starters (Brown/Cabrera) on the injured list this week. 

— They were talking on TV the other night how restricting base coaches to the coaching boxes at 1B/3B has hurt offenses; coaches used to slide down towards the outfield- they could see how the pitcher was gripping the ball, and that tipped pitches, which helped the hitters.

Now they can’t do that, and offense is down this year.

— Famous birthdays, June 26th
Edd Hargett, 79
Shannon Sharpe, 58
Chris O’Donnell, 56
Jason Kendall, 52
Chad Pennington, 50

Michael Vick, 46
Deron Williams, 42
Raymond Felton, 42
Ariana Grande, 33
Eli White, 32

— NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves acquired G LaMelo Ball from Charlotte, for Naz Reid and four draft picks (one 1st round, three 2nd round), plus three first round pick swaps.

— Detroit Pistons traded C Isaiah Stewart to Memphis, for three 2nd round picks.

— Lakers signed G Austin Reaves to a four-year deal worth $185M, which is $46.25M/year. Reaves scored 23.3 ppg ;last year; he is a career 36.8% shooter behind the arc.

— Iowa State G Sam Hoiberg, who played for his dad with the Cyclones, signed a free agent deal with the Phoenix Suns; his future is probably more as a coach/broadcaster.

— Astros 2, Tigers 1
Tatsuya Imai struck out 10 in six scoreless IP.
Troy Melton allowed two hits in 6 IP; one of the hits was a HR.
Houston has won seven of its last nine games.

— Rangers 6, Blue Jays 5
Wyatt Langford hit a three-run homer for Texas.
In his last two starts, Kevin Gausman gave up 13 runs in 8 IP.
Toronto is 10-17 in series openers.

— Red Sox 6, New York 3
Caleb Durbin put Boston ahead with a 5th inning home run.
Red Sox flight home Wednesday night didn’t land in Boston until 6am.
Cam Schlittler lowered his ERA to 1.62.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-Cubs
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-Astros

— Cubs 10-10, Mets 5-3
Dansby Swanson bats 9th; he has 15 RBI in the Cubs’ last three games.
Mets made six errors in the nightcap; they’re 34-46. Not good.
Mets have lost the last 16 games Juan Soto didn’t play in.
Soto/Francisco Lindor have only played in the same game 9 times this year. 

— It would be surprising if head(s) didn’t roll after this debacle for the Mets; they have the second highest payroll in the majors, but they’re awful.

— Tuesday night, of the nine guys in the Cubs’ lineup, seven of them were first round draft picks.

— Guardians 4, White Sox 3
Game was scoreless after five innings.
White Sox were 0-9 with runners in scoring position.
These teams are tied for first place atop the AL Central.

— Angels 7, Orioles 6 (10)
Angels tied the game with three runs in the 8th inning.
Logan O’Hoppe had the winning hit in the Angels’ 6th walk-off win this year.
Samuel Basallo homered twice, had four RBI for the Orioles.

— Phillies 5, Nationals 4
Derek Hill hit a two-out, two-run pinch-hit HR in the ninth inning.
Brandon Marsh was 7-for-13 in this series, scored four runs.
Luis Garcia homered for the third game in a row for Washington.

— Dodgers 4, Twins 3
Mookie Betts hit his 300th career home run.
Game was 4-3 in the third inning, and stayed that way.
With Ohtani pitching, Twins had their first sellout (39,853) this year.

— Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy is going to have hip replacement surgery during the All-Star break; he doesn’t think he’ll miss any games.

— Famous birthdays, June 25th:
Dell Curry, 62
Aaron Sele, 56
Carlos Delgado, 54
Linda Cardellini, 51

Aramis Ramirez, 48
Matt Schaub, 45
Paul Maholm, 44
Gerald Everett, 32

— In 1981, there was a minor league baseball game that lasted 33 innings; Cal Ripken Jr, Wade Boggs both played in that game, which was eventually suspended, then finished couple of months later.

— QB Brendan Sorsby, who has admitted to having a gambling problem, won’t be eligible for either college football or the NFL this fall. He’ll be eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft. 

— Last 20 years, only 4 of 20 players taken first overall in the draft has wound up winning a championship ring with the team that drafted him.

— Henri Veesaaw would’ve made $5M or so in NIL money had he gone back to North Carolina and played basketball this fall; instead, he applied for the NBA Draft, then den’t get picked in the first draft, which makes his decision a very expensive one.

Veesaaw wound up with the Atlanta Hawks, the 52nd pick in the draft.

— If you like the NBA, their summer league is at UNLV from July 9-19; it is a lot of fun to go to, and not very expensive. I’ve been there a few times; it is worth the trip.

— Saint Mary’s basketball team is taking a trip to Australia August 9-21, giving them a head start on preseason practice. Gaels have long gotten a lot of recruits from Australia, this will give new coach Mickey McConnell a good chance to make/strengthen recruiting contacts. 

— Dallas Mavericks hired former Michigan coach Dusty May this week; they drafted Michigan alum More Johnson with the 9th pick Tuesday night.

— Michigan players were taken with the 9th, 10th, 12th picks in the draft, the first time since Villanova in 2018 that the college national champs had three players drafted In the first round.

— Memphis Grizzlies had the 16th pick in the draft; they traded back twice, winding up with the 21st pick. For trading back twice, Memphis acquired five second round picks.

— Knicks had the 25th pick, but they made a couple deals, moved out of the first round, adding five second round picks. Knicks/Memphis are hoarding second round picks.

— When you think about Milwaukee acquiring a 2033 second round pick in the big trade with Miami, there’s a pretty good chance the player they will draft in 2033 is in 6th grade right now.

— Portland Trail Blazers filled the last head coach opening in the league, signing Micha Nori, but they only gave him a one-year contract, which is unusual. Nori had been as assistant coach with Minnesota the last five years.

— The last time the #1 overall pick in an NBA Draft won a championship with the team that took him: Kyrie Irving, Cleveland’s first pick in 2011.

— Famous birthdays, June 24th:
Michele Lee, 84
Cleon Jones, 84
Peter Weller, 79

Duval Love, 63
Sherry Stringfield, 59
Antoine Winfield, 49

JJ Redick, 42
Wilyer Abreu, 27
Slade Cecconi, 27

— Astros 9, Blue Jays 7 (11)
Joey Loperfido’s game-winning HR was his first homer this year.
Houston tied the game with two runs in the 9th inning.
Diaz-Smith-Trammell hit back-back-back HR’s in the 4th inning.

— Phillies 14, Nationals 9
Washington led 7-6 after eight innings.
Phillies scored eleven runs in the last three innings.
Bryson Stott was 3-for-4, scored 4 runs, had 3 RBI

— Cubs 9, Mets 6
Pete Crow-Armstrong has six homers in his last eight games.
Mets drafted Crow-Armstrong in 2020, then traded him away. 

Mets are 34-44, with the #2 payroll in baseball; the guy that put this roster together makes $10M a year. He went to an Ivy League school, so he must be smarter than everyone else, but hard to tell that by watching them play.

— Diamondbacks 4, Cardinals 3
Game was scoreless after eight innings.
Eduardo Rodriguez pitched 6.2 innings, allowed three hits.
Arizona is 40-39, 1.5 games out of the last Wild Card slot.

— Brewers 2, Reds 0
Second day in row, Brewers-Reds were 0-0 after five innings.
Brandon Sproat allowed one hit in six IP, struck out 10.
Last two games, Cincinnati had a total of four hits.

— Angels 5, Orioles 1
Rookie P Johnson allowed one hit in 8 IP.
Before this game, he had given up 19 runs in 13.1 IP.
Nolan Schanuel was 2-4, with a home run.

— There has only been one day in baseball history where two players hit for the cycle on the same day; in 2008, Adrian Beltre and Stephen Drew hit for the cycle on the same day. 

— April 6th, only 11 weeks ago, Michigan Wolverines won the college basketball national title. Now, 78 days later, they’re looking for a new coach.

Monday, Dusty May bolted Michigan for the Dallas Mavericks; May was a student manager in his college days at Indiana. Mark Cuban also went to Indiana; he doesn’t run the Mavericks anymore, but he is still a minority owner in Dallas.

Another blow for semi-pro/college basketball. Guys don’t enjoy winning a national title, then have to recruit a whole new roster for next year, starting the day after you win the title.

NBA coaches get some time off after the season.

— No idea where Michigan turns for their next coach; right now, it is a bad job; obviously, the expectations will be unreasonable. You don’t want to be the guy who follows the guy, and May is definitely the guy in Ann Arbor these days.

— NBA Draft is tonight (Tuesday); lot of stuff is going on……..

— Milwaukee Bucks are trading star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami; in return, Milwaukee gets four players, three first round picks, and a second round pick.

After the trade was announced, Miami’s odds to win NBA next year when from 30-1 to 18-1.

— There was a three-team trade:

Brooklyn Nets get:
F Julius Randle
Minnesota 28th pick Tuesday night

Minnesota gets:
F Mo Gueye
Nets 33rd pick Tuesday

Chicago gets:
C Nic Claxton 

Nets/Bulls are two of the teams with the most available salary cap space, which is a big part of why this trade happened.

— Guy that owns the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights starting his bid to land an NBA franchise for Las Vegas. NBA is expected to add two expansion teams fairly soon, with Las Vegas, Seattle the favorites to get those teams.

— G Trae Young is signing a four-year deal with Washington for $53M/year.

— Free agent G Ayo Dosunmu is going to sign a 5-year contract with Minnesota for $23M/year

— Oklahoma 13, North Carolina 2
Sooners win their first College World Series since 1994.
Kid who batted 9th for Oklahoma had three hits, knocked in six runs.

Since 2019, SEC teams have won all seven College World Series, with LSU the only one of those teams to win it twice.

— Famous birthdays, June 23rd:
Bryan Brown, 79
Jim Deshaies, 66
LaSalle Thompson, 65

Brandon Stokley, 50
Shaun O’Hara, 49
OJ Atogwe, 45

— Word of the Day: Muffel— It is a German word that means “grumpy person”

— Last week, the Phillies started seven lefty hitters in a game; that’s the first time they did that since 2015, only the ninth time since 1947. 

— Only one of the 11 major league games Monday night had more than eight runs scored; eight games were decided by one run.

— Rockies 3, Red Sox 2
Colorado scored three runs in the bottom of the 9th; Jake McCarthy hit a bases loaded triple to walk it off.

Weird game; Colorado’s last eight batters in this game got hits; they ran the bases like drunken teenagers in the 8th inning, when they didn’t score.

This was the first game since at least 1961 that a team got eight hits in its last eight at-bats in a game.

Red Sox rookie Jake Bennett threw six shutout IP, with nine strikeouts.

— Brewers 2, Reds 1 (10)
Not many games in Cincinnati are scoreless after nine innings.
Woodruff/Singer had quite a pitching duel.
There were a total of only five hits in this game.

— White Sox 6, Guardians 5
Sam Antonacci had a two-run, walk-off single for Chicago.
Anthony Kay threw six shutout IP, left with a 3-0 lead.
It took Chicago’s bullpen 7 batters/30 pitches to blow the 3-0 lead.

— Nationals 4, Phillies 1
Foster Griffin allowed four hits, one run in 7.1 IP.
Curtis Mead hit his 12th hone run of the season.

— Orioles 6, Angels 1
Kyle Bradish gave up six hits in 8 shutout IP.
Taylor Ward led the game off with a homer against his old team.
OF Leody Taveras played six innings at 3B, his first 3B stint since 2019.

— Cubs-Mets were rained out, will play a doubleheader Wednesday; second day in a row the Cubs got rained out, in two different cities.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-Chi/SD/Wash
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-Blue Jays

— Home Run Derby is on Netflix this year; should be a good derby, with Philly being a good home run park. But wouldn’t you want as many people as possible to see your biggest stars in a Home Run Derby? Major League Baseball doesn’t market itself well.

— Phillies 6, Mets 2
Phillies led 5-0 after the second inning.
Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper both hit home runs.
Mets are 34-43, with the #2 payroll in baseball ($368,690,978)

— In the third inning of that game, Carson Benge hit a home run into the left field bleachers; a kid caught the ball, reached into his bag of stuff, pulled out another baseball, and threw it on the field, keeping the major league baseball for himself.

— Learned something this weekend: the home plate umpire can look at his device and see whether his called ball/strike was correct, whether the pitch was challenged or not.

— Tigers 5, White Sox 4 (10)
White Sox led 3-1 in the 8th inning.
Dillon Dingler homered, also tied the game in 9th inning.
Matt Vierling had a walk-off bloop single to end the game.

— Twins 4, Diamondbacks 2
Arizona led 2-0 after the sixth inning.
24-year old rookie Jose Cabrera tossed five shutout IP in his MLB debut.
Minnesota won five of its last six games.

— Cardinals 12, Royals 10
St Louis led 9-6 after the second inning.
JJ Wetherholt homered twice, scored three times.
DH Ivan Herrera was 3-for-5, scored three runs, had three RBI.

Managing a fantasy baseball is tough; in his last four starts, Dustin May gave up five runs in 27.2 IP, which is really good. In this game, he faced 13 hitters, and six of them scored. No bueno.

— Famous birthdays, June 22nd:
Meryl  Streep, 77
Bruce Campbell, 68
Clyde Drexler, 64

Amy Brenneman, 62
Kurt Warner, 55
Champ Bailey, 48

Tyler O’Neill, 31
Josh Naylor, 29
Cam Akers, 27

— This is the first half of our SEC football preview:

Alabama
Last ten years, Alabama is 121-19 SU.
Crimson Tide lost three of their last four bowl games.
Alabama has 3 starters back on offense, 7 on defense.
Crimson Tide has 30 returning starts on the offensive line.
Whoever the QB is will be a first-time starter.

Coach Deboer is 57-17 SU as a head coach, 20-8 at Alabama.
Since 2020, Bama is 26-10-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Since 2021, Bama is 8-14-1 ATS as a road favorite.
Last three years, Crimson Tide was 17-9-1 ATS in SEC games.
Last three years, Alabama was +22 in turnovers.

Arkansas
New coach Silverfield was 50-25 in six years at Memphis.
Hogs won last three bowls, scoring 24-55-39 points.
Arkansas has 8 starters back on offense, 5 on defense.
Hogs have 114 returning starts on the OL, at various levels.
Soph QB Jackson started one game LY; they added two transfer QB’s.

In his career, Silverfield is 11-18-1 ATS as home favorite, 8-2 as home dogs.
In his career, Silverfield is 19-29 ATS in conference games.
Last three years, Arkansas is 3-9 ATS as a home favorite.
Last four years, Hogs are 7-10-1 ATS in games coming off a win.
Last two years, Arkansas was minus-19 in turnovers.

Auburn
New coach Golesh was 23-15 in three years at South Florida.
Auburn has had five consecutive losing seasons.
Auburn has 7 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Tigers have 56 returning starts on the offensive line.
Soph QB Martin is a transfer from Maryland.

At USF, Golesh was 10-6-1 ATS in home games.
Last four years, Tigers are 7-13 ATS a a home favorite.
Auburn went 5-7 last year, despite a +9 turnover ratio.
Tigers are 3-13 ATS in last 16 games coming off a win.
Auburn lost its last four bowl games, giving up 28.3 ppg.

Florida
New coach Sumrall was 43-12 as HC at Troy, then Tulane.
In his career, Sumrall is 30-15-1 ATS as a favorite.
Gators has 7 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Florida has 70 returning starts on the offensive line.
Soph QB Philo is a transfer from Georgia Tech (played for new OC there)

Last four years, Gators are 5-10 ATS as home favorites.
Since 2018, Florida is 10-5 ATS as a home underdog.
Sumrall is 25-10-1 ATS in conference games.
Since 2019, Gators are 10-18-1 ATS in non-SEC games.
Florida is 2-3 SU/1-4 ATS in last five bowl games.

Georgia
Last ten years, Georgia is 117-21 SU.
Kirby Smart is 22-36-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Georgia has 7 starters back on offense, 7 on defense.
Dawgs have 66 returning starts back on offensive line.
Senior QB Stockton started 14 games last year.

Last 10 years, Georgia is 4-3 ATS as an underdog.
Last three years, Dawgs are 3-8 ATS as a road favorite.
Dawgs are 4-15-1 ATS in last 20 non-SEC games.
Georgia is 11-23-1 ATS in last 35 games coming off a win.
Dawgs lost in the Sugar Bowl the last two years.

Kentucky
New coach Stein has never been a HC; he was OC at Oregon.
Wildcats were 4-8/5-7 the last two seasons.
Kentucky has 5 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Wildcats have 102 career starts on OL, at various places.
Junior QB Minchey was a backup at Notre Dame.

Since 2019, Kentucky is 21-14 ATS as a home favorite.
Since 2019, Kentucky is 10-4 ATS as a home underdog.
Kentucky has had a negative turnover ratio five years in a row.
Wildcats are 20-9 ATS in last 20 non-SEC games.
Underdogs are 4-1 ATS in Kentucky’s last five bowls. 

LSU
Lane Kiffin is new coach; he is 116-53 SU as a college coach.
LSU is 26-17 SU the last four years, 3-1 in bowls.
LSU has 9 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Tigers have 121 returning starts on offensive line.
Junior QB Leavitt started 20 games at Arizona State.

In his career, Kiffin is 61-55-4 ATS as a favorite.
Last four years, Tigers are 13-8-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Last three years, LSU is 1-5 ATS as a road underdog.
LSU is 3-1 in last four bowl games, scoring 44.3 ppg
Last two years, LSU was 1-8 ATS in games coming off a loss. 

Ole Miss
Golding was 2-1 as interim coach LY, during all the Kiffin drama.
Rebels won four of their last five bowl games.
Ole Miss has 7 starters back on offense, 9 on defense.
Rebels have 92 returning starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Chambliss started 13 games LY; he is making $5M or so.

Last five years, Rebels are 4-0 ATS as a home underdog.
Since 2021, Ole Miss is 2-6 ATS as a road favorite.
Since 2020, Ole Miss is 19-8 ATS in non-conference games.
Ex-Kentucky coach Mike Stoops is a defensive analyst.
Last three years, Ole Miss was +22 in turnovers.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-Cubs
AL: Bronx, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-White Sox-Blue Jays

Semi-pro/college football has shuffled some conferences again; here is our first Pac-8 preview since 2023. 

— There are eight teams in the new “Pac-12”
— Five of the eight teams came over from the Mountain West
— Oregon State/Washington State finally have some league rivals again.
— Texas State is in the league; Texas, obviously, s nowhere near the Pacific Ocean.

Boise State
Last ten years, Boise is 94-35 SU. 
Broncos lost their last three bowls, giving up 35-31-38 points.
Boise has 7 starters back on offense, 4 on defense.
Broncos have 130 returning starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Madsen has 25 career starts.

Coach Danielson is 24-8 SU as a head coach.
Last three years, Boise is 14-4-1 ATS as a favorite.
Last three years, Boise was 20-12-3 ATS in conference games.
Boise is 14-4-1 ATS in last 19 games coming off a loss.
Broncos open this season with a game at Oregon.

Colorado State
Jim Mora comes to Ft Collins, after four years at UConn
Mora is 73-53 SU as a college coach (UCLA/UConn)
Colorado State has 1 starter back on offense, 6 on defense.
Rams have only 8 returning starts on the offensive line.
QB’s have transferred in from Oklahoma State/UConn.

Colorado State has been to one bowl since 2017.
Rams lost their last five bowls (last win, 2013)
Last five years, Rams are 5-11-1 ATS as a home favorite.
In his college career, Mora is 24-19-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Last 10 years, Colorado State is 15-25 ATS in non-league games.

Fresno State
Coach Entz was 9-4 LY, in his first year at Fresno.
Last five years, Bulldogs are 44-22 SU.
Fresno has 7 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Bulldogs have 56 returning starts on the offensive line.
Soph QB Martin is a transfer from Maryland.

Last four years, Fresno is 3-6-1 ATS as a road favorite.
Last 10 years, Bulldogs are 24-14-1 ATS as an underdog.
Fresno had a positive turnover ratio the last five years (+24 total)
Last four years, Bulldogs are 6-11-1 ATS in games coming off a loss.
Fresno won four of its last five bowl games.

Oregon State
Last two years, Beavers were 7-17 SU/5-16 ATS.
Oregon Stste lost three of its last five bowl games.
Oregon State has 5 starters back on offense, 5 on defense.
Beavers have 32 returning I-A starts on the offensive line.
Senior QB Murphy has 20 career starts.

New coach Shepard has never been a head coach before.
Last two years, he was an assistant at Washington/Wazzu.
New DC MacIntyre has been a head coach for 12 years.
Beavers are 3-10 ATS last 13 games as a road underdog. 
Last four years, OSU was 6-16 ATS in games coming off a loss. 

San Diego State
Coach Lewis is 36-66 in 8 years as a HC, 12-13 in two years here.
Aztecs lost last two bowls, by two points each.
San Diego State has 8 starters back on offense, 5 on defense.
Aztecs have 91 returning starts on OL; they added 7 OL transfers.
Senior QB Denegal has 12 career starts.

As a HC, Lewis is 21-13 ATS as a favorite.
As a HC, Lewis is 21-13 ATS in home games.
As a HC, Lewis is 12-18 ATS as a road underdog.
Aztecs are 8-4 ATS in last 12 games coming off a win.
Last year, San Diego State was 8-2 ATS as a favorite. 

Texas State
Coach Kinne is 23-16 SU in three years with the Bobcats.
Texas State won bowls the last three years, scoring 45-30-41 points.
Texas State has 7 starters back on offense, 4 on defense.
Bobcats have 53 returning starts on the offensive line.
Soph QB Jackson started 13 games last year.

Last three years, TSU was 10-14 ATS in the Sun Belt.
As a I-A coach, Kinne is 11-15 ATS as a favorite.
Bobcats are 23-16 SU under Kinne, despite a minus-10 turnover ratio.
Texas State is 9-11 ATS in last 20 games coming off a win.
Texas State is 7-9 ATS in last 16 games coming off a loss. 

Utah State
Utah State has had four consecutive losing years.
Aggies lost four of their last five bowl games.
Utah State has 6 starters back on offense, 6 on defense.
Aggies have 76 returning starts on OL, at various levels.
Junior QB Hillstead has four career starts.

In 19 years as a HC, Mendenhall is 146-95 SU, 7-8 in bowls.
LY, Aggies were 6-7 in Mendenhall’s first year in Logan.
In his career, Mendenhall is 53-37 ATS as a home favorite.
Utah State is 1-7 ATS last 8 games as a road favorite.
Utah State is 11-4 ATS last 15 games as a home favorite.

Washington State
Wazzu was 8-5/7-6 the last two seasons.
Coogs lost four of their last five bowl games.
Wazzu has 5 starters back on offense, 3 on defense.
Coogs have 40 returning starts on the offensive line.
Soph QB Pinnick started 12 games LY at I-AA Cal-Davis.

New coach Moore is a head coach for the first time.
He comes to Wazzu after being the OC at Missouri.
Last 2 years, Wazzu was 7-3 ATS as a home favorite.
Coogs are 17-9 ATS in last 26 non-conference games.
Wazzu opens season with the Apple Cup game, at Washington. 

— Famous birthdays, June 21st:
Bernie Kopell, 93
Monte Markham, 91
Mariette Hartley, 86
Michael Gross, 79

Rick Sutcliffe, 70
Tom Chambers, 67
Derrick Coleman, 59
Maggie Siff, 52

Chris Pratt, 47
Richard Jefferson, 46
Thaddeus Young, 38
Garrett Crochet, 27

— Buffalo Bills have a new head coach (Joe Brady); they’ve hired former NFL head coach John Fox as a senior assistant coach. Fox was a head coach for 15 years with three teams, winning two conference titles. Before that, he was a long-time defensive coordinator.

— Miami Dolphins only have five starters back on offense, six on defense; they’ve got $175M in dead cap space this year, as they rebuild under new coach Jeff Hafley.

— New England has a tougher schedule this year; a Wednesday game in Seattle, Monday game in Kansas City, two Thursday games, and a game against Detroit in Germany.

— Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010; they added Frank Reich as their new OC, and added 35-year old Geno Smith as their new quarterback.

— Phillies 15, Mets 3
Kyle Schwarber hit three HR’s, two in the third inning.
Bryce Harper hit for the cycle, in the first five innings.
Hitters 1-3 for Philly were 10-for-15, with nine runs scored.

— Blue Jays 8, Cubs 6
Toronto trailed 5-0 after six innings.
Kazuma Okamoto hit the game-winning three-run homer.
Blue Jays have won four of their last five games. 

— Padres 6, Rangers 4 (10)
Manny Machado hit a three-run homer in 10th inning.
Texas led 3-1 after seven innings.
Mason Miller is a perfect 20-for-20 in save chances this year.

— Braves 4, Brewers 3
Ozzie Albies homered twice, including a walk-off HR in 9th inning.
Kyle Harrison allowed only four hits, two runs in 6.1 IP.
Joey Bart was the 8th catcher to play for Atlanta this year.

— Rockies 2, Pirates 1
Horwitz led the game off with a homer, Pirates’ only run.
Jake McCarthy led off the bottom of the first with an inside-park home run.
Pirates have lost Paul Skenes’ last seven starts. 

Some secrets of happy people………

— Have fun.

Leave yourself some time every to do stuff that is fun. Experts say that regularly having fun is one of the five most important factors in leading a happy life.

— Believe in yourself

In order to do something, we have to believe that we can do it; if you don’t believe in yourself, life becomes a lot tougher.

— Pay attention; you may already have what you want.

People tend to always want more; it is important to remember where you started and appreciate all the good things you’ve done.

— Be positive.

We gravitate to people who approach life with positive expectations; seeing the bright side of things makes people want to be around you more.

— Money does not buy happiness.

Few years ago, a guy won $13M in the lottery; a month later, his wife filed for divorce, and she got half the money. No bueno.

— Have realistic expectations.

People who are happy don’t get everything they want, but they want most of what they get. Try to make things better, not necessarily perfect.

— Accomplish something every day.

Make sure that every day, do something that moves you towards achieving a goal(s). At the end of the day, write down the positive things you accomplished that day. It helps.

— Famous birthdays, June 18th:
Isabella Rossellini, 74
Tom Clements, 73
Andres Galarraga, 65

Dave Leiper, 64
Bruce Smith, 63
Sandy Alomar Jr., 60

Jeff Saturday, 51
Alana De La Garza, 50
Antonio Gates, 46

— Be open to new ideas.

Never stop learning; the world keeps changing. If you’re willing to adapt to new things/ideas, you’ll wind up happier.

— Give yourself time to adapt to change.

If you move into a new situation, give yourself time to adjust. Easing yourself to new circumstances makes it easier to deal with changes that happen down the road.

— Keep a pen and paper nearby.

People who take notes when they get an idea feel more in control of things; it is frustrating to have a good idea, they forget about it because you didn’t write it down.

— Have a purpose

Have a reason why you do the things that you do. When you define what you want, it is easier to track what what you’re doing, and decide if they’re helping or not.

— Do what you say what you’re going to do

Staying focused and committed to your goals make them easier to accomplish, and achieving goals makes us happier. Starting things, then not finishing them is deflating.

— Busy is better than bored.

Having a lot of stuff to do is more interesting/fun that feeling like we have nothing to do. We won’t all run out of money, but eventually, we’ll all run out of time. 

Spend your time wisely, doing things that matter to you.

— Focus on what really matters to you.

Figure out what matters the most to you, then work like hell to get it. It is more fun competing in game if you really want to win it. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-Padres
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-A’s/Tor

— There are only nine head coaches this season who are starting their 5th+ season as that team’s head coach.

— There are 10 new head coaches this coming season; six of those 10 coaches have never been NFL head coaches before. NFC North is only division that didn’t have a coaching change.

— Six of the 14 fourteen teams that made the playoffs in 2024 didn’t make the playoffs last year.

— Of the 32 quarterbacks expected to start in Week 1 this year, 24 were picked in the first round of the draft, three more were taken in the second round.

The other five:
Jacoby Brissett, 3rd round
Malik Willis, 3rd round
Kirk Cousins, 4th round
Dak Prescott, 4th round
Brock Purdy, 7th round……three of those five do not play for the team that drafted them.

— Long time ago (2017-20) Deshaun Watson went 38-37 as QB of the Houston Texans, starting three playoff games (1-2). He was traded for six draft picks (three first round picks) and then signed a huge contract with Cleveland (fully guaranteed $260M) but the wheels came off.

In the last five years, Watson was 9-10 as Cleveland’s starter; 19 games in five years, not great, but he still has one year left on that contract, and his salary cap hit would be $80M if they cut him.

Last year, Browns started 40-year old Joe Flacco four games and two rookie QB’s six/seven games; going to be very interesting where Watson fits in on the team this season.

— Baltimore Ravens are 3-5 in playoff games in eight years with Lamar Jackson at QB, playing in only one AFC title game, which is why John Harbaugh is coaching the Giants now.

— Harbaugh is Giants’ fifth head coach in the 11 years since Tom Coughlin left; Mike McCarthy is the Steelers’ 4th head coach since 1969.

McCarthy/Aaron Rodgers won a Super Bowl together with Green Bay, but that was 16 years ago, in 2010.

— Famous birthdays, June 16th:
Al Cowlings, 79
Frank Corral, 71
Laurie Metcalf, 71
Darrell Griffith, 68

Wally Joyner, 64
Calvin Schiraldi, 64
Kerry Wood, 49
Justin Jefferson, 27

— There are 20 new offensive coordinators this season, which doesn’t include Buffalo’s Joe Brady, who moved up from offensive coordinator to head coach.

— In 2004, only two NFL quarterbacks ran the ball for 300+ yards; Michael Vick, Daunte Culpepper. Last year, 12 quarterbacks ran the ball for 300+ yards.

— Dallas Cowboys had losing seasons the last two years, their first back/back losing seasons in 23 years. They gave up 59 touchdowns last year in 17 games.

— Kyler Murray was 38-49-1 as the QB in Arizona, losing his only playoff game; now he plays for the Vikings, a team that went 14-3 with Sam Darnold at QB two years ago, but they let him walk and Seattle won a Super Bowl. JJ McCarthy was 6-4 as Minnesota’s QB last year. 

Coach Kevin O’Connell is 43-27 in four years with the Vikings, but 0-2 in playoff games; he needs one of the QB’s to emerge as a star so he can get off his playoff schneid.

— NFL has had a 17-game season for the last five years; in only one of those five years has the NFC South champ won 10+ games. Last year, three teams tied for first place, at 8-9.

— Before the Buffalo Bills hired Sean McDermott as their coach, they had missed the playoffs 17 years in a row. They made the playoffs eight of the last nine years but didn’t get to a Super Bowl, so they told McDermott to take a hike and promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-SD/Wsh/Chi
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-A’s

— Happy Armadillo Day!!!!

25 years ago today, we started this blog— typing that made me feel old……lol

It is fun doing this every day; hope you enjoy reading it.

— Hurricanes 3, Golden Knights 0
Carolina wins its second Stanley Cup, first one in 20 years.
37-year old Jordan Staal won the Conn Smythe trophy, MVP of the playoffs.
Vegas has been in the NHL for nine years, has already been in the finals three times (1-2).

— Marlins 4, Pirates 2
Max Meyer improved to 7-0, 2.75 this season.
Marlins are 10-2 so far in June.
In his last six starts, Paul Skenes is 0-4, 4.22.

— Mets 8, Braves 1
Mets scored four runs in the first inning.
Juan Soto batted 25 times this week, reached base 14 times.
Braves lost last two series, after going 18-3-1 in their first 22 series.

—  Diamondbacks 5, Reds 3
Gabriel Moreno hit a tie-breaking homer in the 8th inning.
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo got his 700th career win.
Cincinnati lost eight of its last ten games.

— White Sox 6, Dodgers 4
Down 1-0, White Sox hit three home runs in the 6th inning.
Chicago has won its last eight home series.
White Sox used five pitchers; none of them got more than 8 outs.

— Rockies 23, A’s 9
For some stupid reason (the hockey game???) they started this game at noon in Las Vegas, when it was 101 degrees outside (the new stadium will be covered).

A’s went 4-2 in Las Vegas this week; they scored 23 runs in the two losses. Now they go back “home” to Sacramento now, for the rest of the season. Pitching in Sacramento might seem like a cake walk after a week in the dry heat of the desert.

— Famous birthdays, June 15th:
Dusty Baker, 77
Jim Belushi, 72
Wade Boggs, 68
Helen Hunt, 63

Courtney Cox, 62
Andy Pettitte, 54
Michael Doleac, 49
Derek Anderson, 43

Tim Lincecum, 42
Cooper Kupp, 33
Dominic Smith, 31
Christian Scott, 27

— Dawned on me the other night that I was in 8th grade the last time the Knicks won an NBA title……I was freakin’ 13 years old. My dad would’ve loved watching this team play.

— When I was a kid, loved game shows- Hollywood Squares was my favorite. Was watching some re-runs the other night of Match Game 74, with Gene Rayburn hosting and six famous people trying to match contestants answers. Pretty good show, but damn that was a long time ago. Richard Dawson was one of the celebrities, before he hosted Family Feud.

— Royals 4, Astros 0
Stephen Kolek pitched 7.1 IP, gave up five hits.
Maikel Garcia was 3-for-4, with three RBI.
Astros are 33-40, three games out of the last playoff spot.

— Brewers 4, Phillies 0
Kyle Harrison allowed three hits in his six IP.
Jackson Chourio hit his fifth home run in five games.
Milwaukee leads the NL Central by five games.

— Nationals 10, Mariners 1
Miles Mikolas tossed seven shutout IP as the bulk reliever.
James Wood, Keibert Ruiz homered for Washington.
Seattle lost four of its last five games.

— Rangers 6, Red Sox 4
Wyatt Langford hit the first pitch of the game for a home run.
Kyle Higashioka homered, has three RBI.
Willson Contreras homered twice for the Red Sox. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cardinals-Phillies-Padres
AL: Bronx, White Sox, Mariners. Wild Cards: Rays-Guardians-A’s/Tex

15 of my favorite sports movies:

1) American Underdog– The true story of NFL MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, who went from stocking shelves in an Iowa supermarket to becoming a big-time star.

Best part of this movie is when they slide some real footage from NFL Films into the scenes at the end of the Rams Super Bowl win over Tennessee.

2) Moneyball— Beginning isn’t very good, the end sucks, but I’m an A’s fan and this movie is about how the 2003 A’s put together a team that won 20 games in a row, made the playoffs.

Only really bad thing about this movie is they made skipper Art Howe look like a bad manager, and he was anything but— you don’t win 20 games in a row by accident. 

Movie is based on a book written by Michael Lewis, who also wrote The Big Short, The Blind Side and Liar’s Poker. He’s a great writer. 

3) Blue Chips— Nick Nolte is a college basketball coach who used to win a lot; in order to start winning again, he has to decide whether to break the recruiting rules or not. 

Bob Cousy is the AD; Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway are two of the recruits. Lot of cameos from basketball people; Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Dick Vitale.

4) For Love of the Game— Kevin Costner is a star pitcher for the Tigers who is at the end of his career; he has flashbacks throughout his last game. 

Detroit’s manager in this movie is JK Simmons, who is a Tigers fan in real life; New York’s manager is the late Augie Garrido, one of the all-time great college baseball coaches.

5) Invincible— True story about Vince Papale, a 30-year old bartender who tries out for the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles and makes the squad as a special teams player.

Papale wound up playing three years with the Eagles; Mark Wahlberg plays him, Greg Kinnear plays coach Dick Vermeil, Paige Turco plays Mrs Vermeil, Elizabeth Banks a bartender where Papale was working before the football thing happened.

6) Hustle— A basketball scout discovers a phenomenal player while watching a game on a playground in Spain and sees the prospect as the scout’s chance to get back into the NBA.

Adam Sandler is the scout, Queen Latifah is his wife, Robert Duvall has a cameo as the owner of the 76ers; lot of former/present NBA players in this movie

Basketball scenes are really well done; the parts filmed in Philadelphia have a Rocky-like feel to them. 

7) Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan manages a New York City deli until he applies for a job as a college basketball coach in Nevada. Bernard King, Michael Warren are two of his players; another one is a girl disguised as a guy.

Former UCLA coach Jim Harrick is the basketball advisor for this movie; he has a non-speaking role during the climactic game. 

8) Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino is a pro football coach whose team is struggling; Cameron Diaz is the owner, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx are two of the QB’s. 

The third QB is Pat O’Hara, who was a backup QB in real life at USC, played in the Arena League for several years, was a QB coach in the NFL and has been a football advisor on ten different movies. 

Miami Sharks play against four teams in the movie, all coached by NFL Hall of Famers. 

9) Friday Night Lights— Billy Bob Thornton is a high school football coach in west Texas, where they take high school football very seriously. I think Thornton does the best job of portraying a coach in any movie on this list. 

10) One on One— Robby Benson is a hotshot high school basketball player who gets recruited by a big-time college team, then finds himself in over his head.

Basketball scenes at the end were filmed in Colorado State’s arena, where the Rams still play. 

The coach in this movie wasn’t great; he saw Henry Steele play in high school, and couldn’t tell that he was in over his head? Seriously? 

11) He Got Game— Underrated movie about college basketball recruiting; a prospect’s father is in jail for killing the kid’s mother. The prison warden work-releases the father, and if he can get the kid to go to college where the governor wants him to go, the father gets off the hook.

Denzel Washington is the father, NBA star Ray Allen is the prospect, Ned Beatty is the warden of the jail. Jim Brown, Rick Fox are also in this movie, which is a little intense, but very well-done. 

12) Major League— Female owner of the Cleveland Indians wants to move the team to Miami, so they field a team that is so bad that no one in Cleveland will go to the games, except they win.

(History shows that moving the team to Miami would’ve been stupid, anyway)

Bob Uecker should’ve won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Indians’ radio announcer Harry Doyle. 

13) Bull Durham— Kevin Costner is a minor league catcher who is brought in to mentor a hot-shot pitching prospect. Tim Robbins is the prospect, Robert Wuhl is the pitching coach, Susan Sarandon mentors the prospect off the field.

Durham Bulls are now the AAA team for the Tampa Bay Rays.

14) The Way Back– A high school basketball star walked away from the game after high school, forfeiting his future. Years later, when he reluctantly accepts a coaching job at his alma mater, he gets one last shot at redemption.

Ben Affleck is really good in this; the basketball scenes are very well done. A good deal of this movie is sad, but it has a positive ending.

15) Draft Day— Costner does a lot of sports movies; he is GM of the Cleveland Browns in this one, Denis Leary is the Browns’ coach. Jennifer Garner is the Browns’ salary cap guru, and is dating Costner’s character. 

The year this movie came out, NFL pushed back the draft so the movie could be promoted more, but Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available for the later date, which is why they started moving the draft around the country. Sometimes great ideas happen by accident.

— Bronx 13, A’s 8
Bronx scored all 13 of its runs in the third inning.
A’s pitchers threw 74 pitches in that inning.
Bronx didn’t have any other hits, except for the third inning.
A’s have lost seven of their last eight home games.

— White Sox 2, Tigers 1
Chicago scored both its runs in the seventh inning.
White Sox have won five games in a row.
Detroit has lost 21 of its last 25 games

— AL Central standings…….
Cleveland 34-27
Chicago 32-27
Minnesota 27-33
Kansas City 22-37
Detroit 22-38

— Mariners 3, Diamondbacks 2 (10)
Victor Robles’ infield hit drove in the game-ending run.
Bryce Miller/Luis Castillo both threw five innings for Seattle.
Mariners have won six games in a row.

— AL West standings…….
Seattle 31-29
A’s 28-31
Texas 28-31
Houston 27-34
LA Angels 23-37

— Oklahoma City Thunder were 4-8 against San Antonio this season, which just beat them in seven games in the playoffs. Against the rest of the NBA, Thunder was 71-14 this year.

— Nationals 4, Padres 2
James Wood, Luis Garcia hit solo homers for Washington.
Zack Littell is 4-0, 1.96 in his last four starts.
Keibert Ruiz had two hits, threw out three Padres trying to steal a base.

— Nationals’ SS CJ Abrams has challenged seven pitches at the plate this year; all seven were changed from a strike to a ball, best record by a hitter so far this year.

— Famous birthdays, June 1st
Brian Cox, 80
Larry Centers, 58
Tony Bennett, 57

Teri Polo, 57
Derek Lowe, 53
Santana Moss, 47

Nick Young, 41
Andrew Abbott, 27
Ivan Herrera, 26

Monday would’ve been Andy Griffith’s, Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday.

— Teams who have hit the most home runs this year:
86- Bronx
82- Braves
80- Dodgers
79- White Sox, Astros
75- Nationals

— Teams who have hit the fewest home runs this year:
39- Brewers
43- Red Sox
46- Marlins
47- Rays
49- Diamondbacks

— Cardinals 5, Cubs 1
St Louis led 5-0 after three innings.
Matthew Liberatore got 16 outs, didn’t allow a run.
Hunter Dobbins got the last 11 outs, earned his first MLB save.

— Brewers 2, Astros 0
Jacob Misiorowski threw seven shutout IP.
Jake Bauers hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning.
Milwaukee has won five of its last six games.

— Pirates 9, Twins 3
Braxton Ashcroft struck out 11 Twins in six IP.
Ryan O’hearn, Nick Gonzales homered for the Pirates.
Minnesota has lost five games in a row, giving up 46 runs.

— NL Central standings……..
Milwaukee 35-21
St Louis 31-26
Pittsburgh 32-28
Cubs 32-28
Cincinnati 30-28

— Orioles 9, Blue Jays 5
Colton Cowser homered, had five RBI
Orioles went 7-3 on their homestand.

Toronto OF Jesus Sanchez left the game in the sixth inning; someone in the stands threw a baseball on the field, and it hit Sanchez on his right wrist.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Cardinals-Arizona
AL: Rays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York-White Sox-Blue Jays

— Spurs 111, Thunder 103
San Antonio is in the NBA Finals for the first time in 12 years.
Spurs were +16 in 38:00 Julian Champagne played, minus-8 in the 10:00 he sat out.
Spurs shot 17-40 behind the arc.
NBA Finals start Wednesday: Knicks at San Antonio.

— A’s 6, New York 4
A’s get a much-needed win, snapping a six-game home losing skid.
JT Ginn allowed four hits, an unearned run in six IP.
Kurtz, Langeliers, Soderstrom all homered for the A’s.

— Phillies 4, Dodgers 3
Edmundo Sosa hit a two-run homer in the top of the 8th.
Jhoan Duran recorded his 12th save, pitching a scoreless 9th inning.
Under is 16-2 in Phillies’ last eighteen games.

— Pirates 10, Twins 9
Pirates led 7-1 in 2nd inning; game was 7-7 after four innings.
Jake Mangum was 3-for-4, scored twice, had two RBI.
Minnesota is 15-14 at home, 12-18 on the road.

— Rangers 7, Royals 6
Texas led 3-0 after six, Royals led 6-3 in the 8th.
Rangers scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Ezequiel Duran had a walk-off single for the Rangers.

— Famous birthdays, May 31st:
Clint Eastwood, 96
Joe Namath, 83
Sharon Gless, 83
Tom Berenger, 77

Susie Essman, 71
Roma Maffia, 68
Chris Elliott, 66
Lea Thompson, 65

Jake Peavy, 45
Andrew Bailey, 42
Nate Robinson, 42
Emerson Hancock, 27

— Carolina Hurricanes are -155 favorites to win the Stanley Cup final over the Vegas Golden Knights. Carolina last won the Stanley Cup 20 years ago; Golden Knights won the Cup three years; they’ve been in the Finals three times in their nine years as an NHL franchise.

— Poinsettia Bowl is making a comeback this fall; Pac-12 champ is going to play one of the teams that bolted from the Pac-12, in San Diego.

— Freddy Peralta has finished the 6th inning in only four of his 12 starts; the Mets’ defense is suspect, which hasn’t helped much, but in his last three starts, Peralta allowed 11 runs in 16.2 IP.

Friday against the Marlins, Peralta threw 94 pitches, but didn’t finish the 5th inning; Marlins fouled off 21 of those pitches, whiffed on 12 of them. Mets need more length from Peralta, but they need to put a better defensive infield behind him.

— Chicago White Sox put 1B Munetaka Murakami on the IL; he is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain.  

— Movie of the Day: Against All Odds (1984)- A gangster hires a retired football player to find his ex-girlfriend. When he finds her, they fall in love and things get complicated.

Jeff Bridges is the football player, Rachel Ward is the girlfriend, James Woods is the gangster; Alex Karras, Richard Widmark are also in this movie.

— Orioles 6, Blue Jays 5
Baltimore scored five runs in the bottom of ninth inning.
Pete Alonso had a walk-off single for the Orioles.
Toronto pitchers walked 11 Baltimore hitters.

— White Sox 7, Tigers 1
Chicago’s bullpen tossed four scoreless IP, allowing one baserunner.
White Sox have won 15 of their last 18 home games.
Detroit has lost 20 of its last 24 games overall. 

— Nationals 9, Padres 4
San Diego led 3-1 in 7th inning, when Nationals scored six runs.
Luis Garcia Jr was 2-for-4, with two RBI.
Fernando Tatis Jr hit his first HR this year, in his 233rd plate appearance.

— Mets 6, Marlins 1
Hayden Senger hit his first major league home run.
Christian Scott is 1-0, 2.97 in seven starts this season.
Marlins are 18-15 at home, 8-18 on the road.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Cubs-Arizona
AL: Rays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York-White Sox-Blue Jays

— Don’t want to write a lot about this right now, mainly because thinking about it makes me want to puke, but the players’ union and owners exchanged their opening economic proposals this week. The results weren’t promising.

MLB proposed a salary floor of $171.2M, a salary cap of $245.3M; they  also called for a 50/50 revenue split and the centralization of all television revenue. Right now, teams share 48% of all local TV revenue.

It seems doubtful that the players’ union would ever accept a salary cap.

People around the sport expect a long fight leading up to the December 1st expiration of the CBA; the start of next season could be in jeopardy. Not freakin’ good.

— Rockies 8, Giants 6
Colorado scored five runs in bottom of the 9th inning.
Ezequiel Tovar hit two homers, including a walk-off two-run blast.
Giants are 10-22 in their last 32 games.

— White Sox 4, Tigers 3 (10)
Miguel Vargas hit a two-run, walk-off HR for Chicago.
White Sox are 24-14 in their last 38 games.
Detroit lost 19 of its last 23 games.

— Mets 9, Marlins 7 (10)
MJ Melendez, who was 2 for his previous 35 at-bats, hit a walk-off homer.
Mets led this game 6-2 after four innings.
Marlins are 18-15 at home, 8-17 on the road.

— Mets TV analyst Keith Hernandez was a fine-fielding 1B in his playing days; he was saying the other night how he used two gloves a season. Something I never thought about much, how often guys switch gloves.

— Pirates 6, Twins 5
Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run, walk-off homer in the 9th inning.
Pirate bullpen got the last 14 outs, allowing one hit.
Minnesota led 5-4 after three innings; it stayed that way until Reynolds’ HR.

— Dodgers 4, Phillies 2
Dodgers hit four solo home runs off of Zack Wheeler.
Phillies didn’t get a hit until the sixth inning.
Under is 15-2 in the Phillies’ last seventeen games.

— Famous birthdays, May 30th:
Lydell Mitchell, 77
Mike LaCoss, 70
Billy Donovan, 61
Manny Ramirez, 54

Je’Rod Cherry, 53
Rasho Nesterovic, 50
Zach Wheeler, 36
Harrison Barnes, 34

— Ten years ago, starting pitchers finished the 6th inning in 54% of their starts; so far this year, starting pitchers have finished the 6th inning in only 36% of their starts.

— Brewers 5, Astros 4 (10)
Brewers bullpen threw six scoreless IP, allowing two hits.
Houston led 4-1 after four innings.
Milwaukee is 24-7 in its last 31 games.

— Guardians 4, Red Sox 3
Cleveland scored all four of its runs in the first inning.
Cade Smith got his 20th save, most in the majors.
Red Sox have lost six of their last seven games.

— Rays 8, Angels 5
Yandy Diaz homered twice for Tampa Bay.
Trailing 2-1, Rays scored seven runs in the bottom of the 7th.
Nick Martinez improved to 5-1, 1.62 this season.

— Padres 7, Nationals 5
Jackson Merrill hit a two-run homer in the 7th inning.
Mason Miller got his 17th save (4th with getting 4 outs)
Washington is 10-17 at home, 19-12 on the road.

— Craig Kimbrel recently signed with Tampa Bay; he’s had an interesting 17-year career:
2010-14- Braves
2015- Padres
2016-18- Red Sox
2019-21- Cubs

2021- White Sox
2022- Dodgers
2023- Phillies
2024- Orioles

2025- Braves
2025- Astros
2026- Mets
2026- Rays…….If he gets into the Hall of Fame, which hat goes on his plaque?

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Cardinals-Arizona
AL: Rays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York-White Sox-Blue Jays

NL East
Trends are thru May 28th
— Braves (38-19)
Braves are 12-6 in their last 18 games.
Atlanta is 20-13 vs righty starters, 18-6 vs lefties.
Over is 8-0-1 in Braves’ last nine road games.

— Marlins (26-31)
Marlins are 18-15 at home, 8-16 on road.
Miami is 19-17 vs NL teams, 7-14 vs AL teams.
Over is 7-0-1 in Marlins’ last eight road games.

— Mets (26-31)
Mets lost seven of their last nine games. 
New York is 4-11 vs lefty starting pitchers.
Mets are 13-1 when they score 5+ runs, 13-30 when they don’t.

— Phillies (29-27)
Phillies are 20-8 in their last 28 games.
Under is 14-2 in their last sixteen games.
Phiilies are 22-14 vs righty starters, 7-13 vs lefties.

— Nationals (29-28)
Nationals are 10-16 at home, 19-12 on the road.
Over is 15-7 in their last 22 games.
Nationals are 16-22 vs righty starters, 13-6 vs lefties.

NL Central
— Cubs (31-26)
Chicago won its last two games, after an 0-10 skid.
Cubs are 9-4 in one-run games.
Over is 6-0-1 in Cubs’ last seven road games.

— Reds (29-26)
Reds are 1-7 in last eight games, when winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Over is 17-5 in their last 22 home games.
Reds are 20-23 vs righty starters, 9-3 vs lefties.

— Brewers (33-20)
Milwaukee is 23-7 in its last 30 games.
Milwaukee is 25-2 when they score 5+ runs.
Under is 16-5-2 in their last 23 games.

— Pirates (29-28)
Pirates are 8-11 in their last 19 games.
Pittsburgh is 24-18 vs righty starters, 5-10 vs lefties.
Over is 11-5 in their last sixteen home games.

— Cardinals (29-25)
St Louis lost its last four games, scoring eight runs.
St Louis is 13-13 at home, 16-12 on the road.
Cardinals are 10-5 in one-run games.

NL West
— Diamondbacks (31-24)
Arizona won 14 of its last 18 games.
Diamondbacks are 22-21 vs righty starters, 9-3 vs lefties.
Under is 9-2-1 n their last 12 home games.

— Rockies (20-37)
Rockies are 6-20 in their last 26 games.
Colorado is 16-27 vs righty starters, 4-10 vs lefties.
Over is 10-5-1 in their last sixteen road games. 

— Dodgers (36-20)
Dodgers are 12-2 in their last fourteen games.
Under is 10-5 in their last fifteen games.
Dodgers are 32-2 when they score 4+ runs.

— Padres (29-20)
San Diego lost its last four games, scoring fine runs.
Under is 13-2 in their last fifteen home games.
Padres are 21-4 when they score 4+ runs.

— Giants (22-34)
Giants are 10-21 in their last 31 games.
SF is 17-26 vs righty starters, 5-8 vs lefties.
Over is 7-1 in their last eight home games.

— Famous birthdays, May 29th:
Blue Moon Odom, 81
Annette Bening, 68
Sam Clancy, 68
Eric Davis, 64
Raef LaFrentz, 50

Shaun King, 49
Carmelo Anthony, 42
Steven Matz, 35
Puka Nacua, 25
Paul Skenes, 24

AL East
— Orioles (26-31)
Baltimore is 5-2 in its last seven games.
Orioles are 20-19 vs righty starters, 6-12 vs lefties.
Orioles are 4-8 in one-run games.

— Red Sox (23-32)
Boston is 9-19 at Fenway, worst home record in MLB.
Over is 4-1-1 in their last six games.
Red Sox are 4-8 against their AL East rivals.

— New York (34-22)
New York won 15 of its last 19 home games.
Under is 6-1 in their last seven games.
New York is 21-17 vs righty starters, 13-5 vs lefties.

— Rays (34-19)
Tampa Bay lost its last four games, outscored 28-10.
Rays are 22-16 vs righty starters, 12-3 vs lefties.
Tampa Bay is 14-6 against their AL East rivals.

— Blue Jays (28-29 )
Toronto is 7-2 in its last nine games.
Blue Jays are 17-13 at home, 11-16 on the road.
Toronto is 20-8 if they score 4+ runs.

AL Central
— White Sox (29-27)
White Sox are 23-14 in their last 37 games.
Over is 5-2-1 in their last eight games.
Chicago is 23-8 when they score 4+ runs.

— Guardians (33-25)
Cleveland won 12 of its last 16 games.
Guardians are 19-21 vs righty starters, 14-4 vs lefties.
Guardians are 12-6 in series openers.

— Tigers (22-35)
Tigers are 14-14 at home, 8-21 on the road.
Detroit is 16-23 vs righty starters, 6-12 vs lefties.
Tigers are 4-10 against their AL Central rivals.

— Royals (22-34)
Kansas City lost 13 of its last 16 games.
Royals are 15-17 at home, 7-17 on the road.
Under is 17-9-2 in their last 28 games.

— Twins (27-30)
Minnesota is 18-18 vs righty starters, 9-12 vs lefties.
Twins are 15-14 at home, 12-16 on the road.
Over is 15-5-1 in their last 21 road games.

AL West
— Astros (26-32)
Houston won six of its last seven games.
Over is 3-0-1 in their last four games.
Astros are 9-13 against their AL West rivals.

— Angels (22-35)
Halos won five of their last six games.
Eight of Angels’ last ten road games stayed under the total.
Angels are 15-25 vs righty starters, 7-10 vs lefties.

— A’s (27-29)
A’s lost five of their last six games.
A’s are 10-15 at home, 17-14 on road.
Under is 8-2 in their last ten road games.

— Mariners (28-29)
Mariners won five of their last seven games.
Seattle is 26-12 when they score 3+ runs, 2-17 when they don’t.
Mariners are 14-9 vs their AL West rivals.

— Rangers (25-31)
Texas lost five of its last six games.
Under is 10-4-1 in their last 15 home games.
Rangers are 2-6 in home series openers.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Cubs-Arizona
AL: Rays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York-White Sox-Blue Jays

— Dodgers 4, Rockies 1
Shohei Ohtani led off the first inning with a home run.
Ohtani also pitched six innings, didn’t allow a hit.
Rockies have lost their last ten games in Dodger Stadium.

— Brewers 2, Cardinals 1
Dustin May no-hit Milwaukee for the first seven innings.
Brewers scored the winning run on an error by the St Louis SS.
St Louis has lost seven of its last nine games.

— Phiilies 3, Padres 0
Cristopher Sanchez pitched seven shutout innings.
Sanchez has thrown 44.2 consecutive scoreless IP, the all-time Phillies’ record.
Phillies are 20-7 in their last 27 games.

— Astros 4, Rangers 3
Yordan Alvarez homered twice for the second night in a row.
Joc Pederson also hit two home runs, scored three runs.
Texas is 9-13 against its AL West rivals.

— Umpire Emil Jimenez had a rough night behind the plate at the Reds-Mets game Tuesday night. Teams challenged nine of his pitch calls; seven of the nine calls were overturned.

— Mets 4, Reds 2
Juan Soto homered for second day in a row, Mets snap a five-game skid.
In their last seven games, Mets have scored a total of 12 runs.
In this game, Cincinnati left 17 men on base, was 3-15 with RISP.

— In 2022, Aaron Judge hit 62 home runs; here are the counts he hit them on:
0-0- 10 home runs
1-0- 8 home runs
2-0- 3 home runs

0-1- 4 home runs
1-1- 6 home runs
2-1- 6 home runs
3-1- 4 home runs

0-2- 2 home runs
1-2- 5 home runs
2-2- 5 home runs
3-2- 9 home runs

— Famous birthdays, May 27th:
Tom Blanchard, 78
Steve Watson, 69
Bill Doran, 68
Ed Rubbert, 64

Glen Rice, 59
Michael Oher, 40
Craig Kimbrel, 38
Rafi Gavron, 37

— Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce became part of the Cleveland Guardians’ ownership group as a minority investor; Kelce grew up in Cleveland. Must be nice to be really rich.

— Northern Arizona is playing a basketball game at New Mexico November 10th; Lumberjacks are getting a check for $88,000 from New Mexico for making the trip to Albuquerque.

— Guardians 3, Nationals 2
Gavin Williams tossed 7 IP, retired last 13 batters he faced.
Cade Smith recorded his 19th save of the season.
James Wood went 8-for-12 in this series, scoring fine runs.

— Tigers 4, Angels 0
Five Tiger pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout.
Detroit’s win snapped their seven-game home losing skid.
Loss snapped the Angels’ four-game winning streak. 

— Cubs 10, Pirates 4
Ian Happ hit a three-run homer, had five RBI.
Cubs snapped their ten-game losing skid.
This was the 2,000th regular season game at PNC Park (Pirates 1003-996-1)

— Blue Jays’ C Tyler Heineman threw out four Marlins runners trying to steal a base Tuesday, the first time any major league catcher has done that since 2011.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres-Cardinals-Arizona
AL: Rays, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York-White Sox-Min/Tor