Armadillo Sports
Monday’s 6-pack:
NBA Summer League scores:
—Blazers 85, Spurs 80 — Victor Wembanyama had 27 points, 12 rebounds.
— Nets 98, Knicks 80— Brooklyn was +32 with Jalen Wilson on the floor.
— Rockets 113, Pistons 101— Jabari Smith scored 38 points.
— Wizards 103, Celtics 98— Wizards’ bench was +35, their starters minus-10.
— Pelicans 94, Warriors 86— Golden State shot only 34.3% from the floor.
— Hawks 98, Nuggets 93— Tyrese Martin scored 21 points in 24:37 of play.
Quote of the Day
“A little song, a little dance…….a little seltzer down your pants.”
Chuckles the Clown, from The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Monday’s quiz
Which QB has thrown the most TD passes against the New Orleans Saints?
Sunday’s quiz
In the movie A Few Good Men, Kevin Bacon played the losing lawyer in the climactic courtroom scene.
Saturday’s quiz
Allen Ludden hosted the game show Password for 19 years; he was married to Betty White.
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Monday’s Den: Thoughts, observations at the All-Star break
It is the All-Star break already; time flies. It has been an interesting baseball season. Here are some quick notes/impressions from the season so far:
— AL Central is terrible; Cleveland (45-45) is in first place, with the Twins (45-46) a half-game behind. All in all, the AL Central is 124-191 (.394) outside its division this season.
— AL East is very good; the Red Sox (48-43) are in last place. All in all, the AL East is 190-127 (.599) outside its division this season.
— In five of six divisions, the division leader has a lead of 2 games or less— lot of close races. Only the 60-29 Atlanta Braves have a decent-sized lead, leading NL East by 8.5 games. Braves have won 27 of their last 32 games.
— Mets have a payroll of $377,380,805; they’re 42-48, seven games out of a playoff spot.
Mets are 32-27 vs righty starting pitchers, 10-21 vs lefty starters.
— Padres have a payroll of $250,806,874; they’re 43-47, six games out of a playoff spot.
— Cincinnati has a payroll of $83,688,333; they’re 25-8 in last 33 games, lead the NL Central.
— Miami Marlins have a payroll of $103,692,500; they’re 53-39, 21-6 in one-run games, and right now, they’re a playoff team.
Last time the Marlins had a winning 162-game season was 2009, when they went 87-75- they were 31-29 in the short season of 2020. Skip Schumaker is your favorite for National League Manager of the Year.
— Texas Rangers have five starters in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, the most for any team since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.
Rangers haven’t been in the playoffs since 2016; the last three years, they were 150-234 (.391) but Bruce Bochy is a Hall of Fame manager and Texas is much improved at 52-39 this season, even though they hit the All-Star break on a 5-11 skid.
Texas has $200,684,308 payroll; will they look to enhance their roster at the trade deadline?
— This stat is a little weird, but thru Saturday’s games, in AB’s when Mets’ 1B Pete Alonso had an 0-2 count him, he is 5-68 this season. 5 for freakin’ 68 (.074).
By way of comparison:
Freddie Freeman is 20-67 (.299) this season after having an 0-2 count.
Fernando Tatis is 10-52 (.192)
Luis Arraez is 16-53 (.302).
— Bronx Bombers have a payroll of $273,528,489; Aaron Judge is hurt obviously, but they’ve got other stars, and those stars aren’t producing. New York is 49-42, and right now they’re on the outside looking in at the playoff picture.
Bronx is 14-17 since Judge got hurt, hitting .218 in those games; they fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson after Sunday’s loss to the Cubs.
It is New York’s first in-season coaching change since Nardi Contreras replaced Billy Connors in July 1995 as pitching coach on Buck Showalter’s staff. 28 years without an in-season coaching change, long time.
Funny thing is, Bronx opens the post-All-Star Game part of the year in Colorado Friday, where they figure to put up better-than-usual hitting numbers.
— Los Angeles Angels have a payroll of $215,490,192, but Mike Trout is hurt, Anthony Rendon has been a complete bust and the Halos are 45-46, losing nine of last 10 games. Shohei Ohtani is a free agent after this season; the Angels are 5 games out of the last playoff spot.
Angels are 37-29 vs righty starters, 8-17 vs lefties.
Would they trade Ohtani and if they wanted to, what could they get for a guy who will be a free agent three months from now?
— Tampa Bay Rays started the season 13-0, then 29-7; since then, they’re 29-28 and lead the AL East by only two games over Baltimore. Tampa’s starting rotation has been ravaged by injuries; would they make a move at the trade deadline?
—- Toronto Blue Jays are 50-41, seven games behind the Rays— they’d be a Wild Card team right now. Blue Jays are 7-20 vs their AL East rivals, 43-21 against everyone else.
— Teams that are struggling in one-run games:
San Diego 5-15
St Louis 9-19
Minnesota 9-15
Seattle 10-16
Texas 5-12
— Movie of the Day— Rounders (1998)— A young gambler returns to playing high stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks, while balancing his relationship with his girlfriend and his commitments to law school.
Matt Damon is the gambler; Edward Norton plays his friend. John Malkovich is a Russian mobster who runs a poker room, John Turturro plays Joey Knish, e veteran gambler who is a mentor of sorts. Martin Landau is a law professor.
This movie helps propel the poker boom in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. Very good movie, written by the same guys who write the Showtime series Billions.
— College football bowl trend of the day— In the Reliaquest Bowl, SEC teams are 6-2 SU vs Big 14 teams the last eight years.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t)
NL: Braves, Reds, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Arizona-Marlins-Giants
AL: Rays, Guardians, Rangers. Wild Cards: Orioles, Astros, Blue Jays.
