Tuesday’s 6-pack:
Over last six years, % of time home plate umps have been right on ball/strike calls:
2023— 92.8%
2022— 92.4%
2021— 92.1%
2020— 91.7%
2019— 91.6%
2018— 91.2%
Quote of the Day
“There’s teachable moments in the building during the day, how you carry yourself as a quarterback. There’s teachable moments at press conferences. There’s teachable moments every snap on Sunday. When you’ve got two guys that have won as much as Nick (Foles) and seen as much as Andy (Dalton), and you don’t take that information in, because you’re a little standoffish and a little abrasive, you’re wasting that opportunity.”
Josh Lucas, Chicago Bears’ former director of player personnel, talking about Justin Fields
Tuesday’s quiz
In the 2021 NFL Draft, QB Trevor Lawrence was the first pick, by Jacksonville; the next two picks were also QB’s, who are still in the NFL. Who were they?
Monday’s quiz
First time the Marlins won the World Series, Jim Leyland was their manager.
Sunday’s quiz
Knicks beat the Lakers in the NBA finals in both 1970 and 1973; Lakers had different coaches in those two playoff losses- Joe Mullaney, Bill Sharman.
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— 2024 NFL schedule gets released Wednesday night; Opening Night will be Ravens in Kansas City to play the Chiefs. The next night, Eagles-Packers will play in Brazil.
— Apparently, the Cowboys will open 2024 by playing a 4:25 game in Cleveland in Week 1, where Tom Brady will make his debut as a FOX TV analyst.
— Detroit Lions gave QB Jared Goff a 4-year contract extension for $53M a year, with $170M of the $212M guaranteed. Goff is 26-24-1 as Detroit’s QB, but he won two playoff games LY, Lions’ first playoff wins since 1991.
Goff was 44-30 in his five years playing for the Rams.
— Chicago Bears announced that they expect rookie QB Caleb Williams to be their Week 1 starter.
— UFL standings, thru seven weeks:
USFL Division
Birmingham 7-0
Michigan 5-2
Memphis 1-6
Houston 1-6
XFL Division
St Louis 5-2
San Antonio 5-2
DC Defenders 3-4
Arlington 1-6
— So far in this round of the NBA playoffs, home team is 4-0 SU in the New York-Indiana series, 0-4 in the Denver-Minnesota series.
— If you know someone who likes the NBA, tell them to go to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which runs this year from July 12-22 at UNLV.
Lot of games every day on two courts, plenty of NBA players/coaches around, even some team owners, and the tickets are reasonable. One ticket gets you in for the whole day.
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Famous birthdays for May 14th:
Tony Perez, 82
Mike Quick, 65
Joey Cora, 59
Roy Halladay, 47
Eddie House, 46
Clay Matthews, 38
Rob Gronkowski, 35
Brenton Doyle, 26
Alec Marsh 26
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Movie of the Day:
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)- A married New York detective is assigned to protect a socialite who witnessed a murder, but they get involved romantically, which complicates the detective’s life, a lot.
Tom Berenger is the detective, Lorraine Bracco is his wife, Mimi Rogers is the socialite. Jerry Orbach, Daniel Hugh Kelly, John Rubenstein are also in the cast. Very good movie, with some good music, too.
— Cardinals 10, Angels 5
Angels led 4-0 after six innings.
St Louis scored eight runs in the top of the 7th.
Angels are now 5-15 at home.
— Phillies 5, Mets 4 (10)
Phillies scored twice in ninth inning to tie game.
Mets led 3-1 in 3rd inning, had bases loaded with no one out, but Cristopher Sanchez struck out the next three batters, on nine pitches.
— Braves 2, Cubs 0
Game was 0-0 after five; neither pitcher started the 6th inning.
Ronald Acuna got picked off first for third time in two games.
— Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2 (10)
Daulton Varsho hit a homer, robbed the Orioles of a homer with his glove.
Adley Rutschman hit two homers for Baltimore.
— Pirates 8, Brewers 6
Bryan Reynolds went 5-5, with two RBI
Mitch Keller tossed 6 shutout IP, then the Pirate bullpen held on.
— Diamondbacks 6, Reds 5
Kevin Newman’s 2-run single was a walk-off hit in the bottom of 9th.
Cincinnati has lost 11 of its last 12 games.
— Dodgers 6, Giants 4 (10)
Will Smith’s 2-run double was the game-winning hit.
Dodger bullpen threw 4.1 scoreless innings.
— Colorado 5, San Diego 4
Rockies have now won five in a row, after an 8-28 start.
— Here is a case for an unnamed player to make the baseball Hall of Fame:
Player X made six All-Star teams.
He led the AL in stolen bases six times, had 649 career steals.
2,249 career hits, 1,181 runs scored.
Most importantly, he was the leadoff hitter/offensive catalyst for a team that won the World Series three years in a row.
Here are stats for Player Y, who is in the Hall of Fame:
Player Y made ten All-Star teams.
2,170 career hits, 1,338 runs scored.
Batted 2nd most of his career.
Played on one team that went 1-6 in World Series.
Here are stats for Player Z, who is also in the Hall of Fame:
Player Z made ten All-Star teams.
2,677 career hits, 1,335 runs scored.
He led the AL in stolen bases nine years in a row.
Played on one team that won a World Series.
Player Z is Luis Aparicio
Player Y is Pee Wee Reese.
Player X is Bert Campaneris, who should join the other two guys in the Hall of Fame.
If Campaneris had done what he did for a team in New York City, he would’ve been in Cooperstown a long time ago.