Thursday?s 6-pack
NFL leaders in rushing yardage:
127? Joe Mixon, Cincy
108? David Montgomery, Chi
104? Elijah Mitchell, SF
101? Melvin Gordon, Den
100? Damien Harris, NE
98? Christian McCaffrey, Car
Quote of the Day
?The only thing an old man can tell a young man is that it goes fast, real fast, and if you?re not careful it is too late. Of course, the young man will never understand this truth.?
Norm MacDonald
Thursday?s quiz
Chargers have played in one Super Bowl; who was their QB that day?
Wednesday?s quiz
Ken Anderson holds the Cincinnati Bengals? career record for passing yards.
Tuesday?s quiz
Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders have won three Super Bowls; John Madden won the first one. Tom Flores won the other two.
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Thursday?s Den: Doing some thinking out loud??.
13) Red Sox 9, Mariners 4 (10)? Last two days, Boston outscored Seattle 12-3 in last two innings, pulling out a pair of wins that pushed the Mariners four games out of playoff chase.
12) Atlanta Braves have played in 11 games this season that were tied after eight innings; they lost 10 of them, but somehow are still in first place in NL East.
11) Cubs aren?t going anywhere this year; it?ll be interesting to see the team they put on the field next year. On July 18, they acquired 1B Frank Schwindel on waivers from the A?s; the guy has hit .361 in 39 games for Chicago, with a 1.075 OPS. He?s been awesome.
10) Cardinals 11, Mets 4? St Louis scored 25 runs in their 3-game sweep of the Mets; they?ve won five in row overall, are now in the 2nd Wild Card slot, but by a narrow margin.
9) Pirates 5, Reds 4? Cincinnati has lost four in row, 12 of last 16 games, as the playoffs begin to slip away. They?re 11-16 since the last time LF Jesse Winker played.
8) Marlins 8, Nationals 6? Jesus Sanchez homered twice, including a 2-run blast during a 4-run ninth inning. Marlins are two games ahead of Washington in the race to avoid the cellar in the NL East.
7) New England hasn?t been 0-2 since 2001; Packers haven?t been 0-2 since 2006, Dallas hasn?t been 0-2 since 2010.
6) Last six times Denver Broncos won their season opener, they also won in Week 2.
5) Cowboys? DE DeMarcus Lawrence broke his foot, is out 6-8 weeks; he is Dallas? best defensive player.
4) Mike Trout haas?t played since May 17; he has an injured calf. Imagine the fantasy teams that have gone down the drain this year because he hasn?t played?
3) In 1980 the Oakland A?s had three different starting pitchers throw 14-inning complete games, because their bullpen sucked and their manager (Billy Martin) didn?t give a rat?s ass about the future of the franchise. He just wanted to get re-hired by the Bronx Bombers.
I was 20 that summer; 41 years later, the A?s bullpen is just as bad, and it has cost them dearly over the last month (10-18 in last 28 games) as playoff contention slips away. They play the Astros, Mariners mostly the rest of the way; they?ll have to score lot of runs to win more than they lose.
PS From 1982 on, those starting pitchers that were overused in 1980 all had medical issues and the A?s felt into the trash can, thanks to a manager who put himself ahead of the team in 1980. After a 68-94 season in 1982, Martin jumped back to the Bronx. Good riddance.
2) When college coaches recruit these days, you think they propose ways players can make $$$ off the new NIL rules? Would seem stupid if they didn?t; the QB at Alabama had an $800,000 deal before he threw a pass. Basketball especially, with smaller rosters; lot of money to be made.
1) If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Giants. Wild Card: St Louis @ Los Angeles
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros. Wild Card: 3-way playoff (Tor-NY-Bos)
