— Has been very hot in upstate New York the last two days; didn’t leave the house Thursday, trying to escape the heat. One more hot day, then things are supposed to become more normal.
— Guardians 6, White Sox 5
Brayan Rocchio hit a two-run walk-off home run.
White Sox led this game 5-2 in the sixth inning.
These two teams are in a virtual tie for first atop the AL Central.
— AL Central standings:
White Sox 45-41
Guardians 46-42
Twins 4 GB
Tigers 8 GB
Royals 11 GB
— Rays 5, Royals 2
Cedric Mullins hit his 10th home run of the year.
Rays lead the AL East by four games.
Kansas City has lost seven of its last eight games.
— Rockies 14, Marlins 4
Colorado scored seven runs in bottom of the 6th.
Jake McCarthy homered, scored three runs, had four RBI
Mickey Moniak was 3-for-5, scored three runs, had two RBI
— Red Sox 1B Willson Contreras had a bad week:
Monday- ejected in 3rd inning for bitching at the umpire.
Tuesday- ejected in 4th inning for getting in a scuffle with Washington’s pitcher.
Wednesday- Actually played whole game, got 2 hits, but Boston lost 10-2.
Thursday- Suspended for seven games because of his antics Tuesday.
Contreras is on my fantasy team; not that I’m bitter, but this week’s game is close and he is done for this week, and now I can’t use him next week either. Awesome.
— Cardinals 11, Braves 5
Atlanta led 5-3 after one inning; it stayed that way until the 7th.
Cardinals scored seven runs in the top of the 7th.
Jordan Walker homered, had four RBI
Braves’ lead in NL East is 2.5 games over the Phillies.
— Famous birthdays, July 3rd
Betty Buckley, 79
Jan Smithers, 77
Frank Tanana, 73
Bruce Altman, 71
Tom Cruise, 64
Greg Vaughn, 61
Neil O’Donnell, 60
Moises Alou, 60
Grant Wistrom, 50
Carter Jensen, 23
Some notes on NFL teams:
— Cardinals
This year they have a new coach, new OC; Jacoby Brissett will start at QB, but for how long?
They were 3-14 last year, even though their turnover ratio was only minus-2.
Arizona was 2-8 in one-score games, 0-5 in games decided by 3 or fewer points.
Brissett is 20-55 as an NFL starter, for five different teams.
Last three years, over was 18-7 in Arizona’s home games.
Last three years, under was 15-10 in their road games.
— Falcons
Kevin Stefanski was 46-58 coaching Cleveland, 1-2 in playoff games.
Falcons haven’t made the playoffs since 2017.
Last three years, Atlanta is 9-16 ATS at home.
Michael Penix/Tua Tagovailoa; they have two lefty QB’s, rare in the NFL.
Last year, Falcons were 3-6 when Penix started, 5-3 when Kirk Cousins started.
In their careers, Tagovailoa is 44-33 as an NFL starter; Penix is 4-8.
— Panthers
Third year for the head coach, the QB, both coordinators.
Carolina was 8-9 LY, even though they were 6-2 in games decided by 3 or less points.
Panthers had only one win LY by more than 8 points (Week 3 vs Falcons)
Carolina is only 10-16 ATS in its last 26 road games.
Last year, Panthers were 10-5 ATS as an underdog.
Kenny Pickett replaces Andy Dalton as the backup QB.
— Bears
Bears were 11-6 in Ben Johnson’s first year, got first playoff win since 2010.
Chicago won six games LY they trailed in last 2:00 of regulation.
Chicago is #7 in NFL in $$ spent of their offensive line, to protect QB Williams.
LY, Bears had a ridiculously-good +22 turnover ratio; will be hard to repeat that.
Chicago is 14-8 ATS in their last 22 home games.
Bears were 7-4 last year, in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
— Movie of the Day: The Candidate (1972)- The son of a famous politician runs for a Senate seat he has very little chance of winning, so he does what politicians rarely do, he says what he really thinks.
Robert Redford is the youngish politician, Karen Carlson is his wife, Peter Boyle is his campaign manager, Alan Garfield, Melvyn Douglas are also in this movie, which holds up pretty well even though it is fairly old.
— Boston Celtics traded G Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia; in return, 76ers send to Boston:
Paul George
two first round draft picks
two second round draft picks
— Free agent G Anfernee Simons signed a two-year, $12.3M deal with the 76ers.
— Billy Donovan is going to be the new lead assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs; he replaces Sean Sweeney, who is the new head coach of the Orlando Magic. Donovan’s son used to be an assistant coach for the Spurs’ G League team.
— Houston Rockets signed Tari Eason for five years, $81.5M; he played 25 mpg last year, starting 34 times. He is a very good defender.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Phillies-Cubs-Cardinals
AL: Rays, White Sox, Tex/Sea. Wild Cards: Bronx-Guardians-Sea/Tex
