Wednesday’s 6-pack:
My favorite local baseball crews to listen to on TV:
Blue Jays— Dan Schulman/Buck Martinez are excellent; ESPN misses Schulman badly.
Twins— Dick Bremer has a few analysts work with him; they’re all good.
Mets— As long as Ron Darling is there, it is a quality broadcast.
Rockies— Drew Goodman is excellent; it is hard to broadcast for a bad team.
Rangers— Dave Raymond/CJ Nitkowski are a very good team.
Guardians— Matt Underwood, Rick Manning, Andre Knott are fun to listen to.
Quote of the Day
“There’s no such thing as a sure thing, thats why they call it gambling.”
Oscar Madison,
The Odd Couple
Wednesday’s quiz
Where did Patrick Mahomes play his college football?
Tuesday’s quiz
Hall of Famer Fred McGriff played for six different teams; he hit 130 home runs for the Braves, 125 for Toronto.
Monday’s quiz
Brian Billick was the Baltimore Ravens’ coach, before John Harbaugh.
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— LA Chargers signed QB Justin Herbert to a 5-year, $262.5M contract extension; the extension includes a no-trade clause, $133.7M in full guarantees, $193.7M in injury guarantees. He is now signed thru the 2029 season.
— Houston Texans and first round pick C.J. Stroud reached agreement on a fully guaranteed four-year, $36.3M rookie contract. Texans are hoping that QB Stroud and new coach DeMeco Ryans will give the franchise some much-needed stability.
— Dodgers acquired SS/OF Kike Hernandez from Boston, in exchange for two minor leagues pitchers. Red Sox will pay $2.5M of the $3.5M Hernandez has left on his contract.
— Phillies 4, Orioles 3
Phillies scored twice in 9th inning for the comeback win.
Stott’s double tied the game; Bohm’s single was the game-winner.
— Mariners 9, Twins 7
Minnesota led this game 6-2 after seven innings.
Eugenio Suarez had the game-winning double in the 9th inning.
— Astros 4, Rangers 3
JP France allowed one (unearned) run in 7 IP.
Houston is only a game behind Texas in the AL West.
— Angels 7, Tigers 6 (10)
Detroit tied this game with four runs in ninth inning
Mickey Moniak had the game-winning double for the Halos.
— Movie of the Day—
The Rookie (2002)— Real-life story of Jim Morris, a high school baseball coach in Texas who tried out for the Tampa Bay Rays at age 35, and amazingly made it to the major leagues for a little while, as a lefty reliever.
Dennis Quaid plays Morris; Brian Cox is his father— they didn’t get along too well when Morris was growing up- the father was in the military, so the family moved a lot.
The scene where the Rays’ AAA manager tells Morris he is going up to the majors is excellent.
— College Football Trend of the Day: Under Jeff Tedford, Fresno State is 10-3-1 ATS as a road underdog. Tedford was Aaron Rodgers’ coach with the Cal Bears.
— This season is the first time since 2009 that the Texas Longhorns are picked to win the Big X in football, their last season there before they bolt to the SEC with Oklahoma.
— Tennessee Titans will wear Houston Oiler throwback uniforms in two games this season; hopefully not when they play the Texans (weeks 15/17). That would be confusing. Oilers moved to Tennessee in 1997; the Houston Texans started playing in 2002.
— Kansas/North Carolina signed up for a home/home college basketball series starting this fall, with both games in the campus arenas, which is unusual.
— Sometimes late at night I watch old game shows on TV; was watching Password Plus from 1979 the other day. They give five clues and the contestant has to guess the answer based on those five clues. If he/she gets it, they earned $5,000. Remember, this was in 1979,
This is how much the world has changed since 1979; on this particular answer, the person got it after the third hint. There is no way these hints would be given in 2023:
1st hint— skinny
2nd hint— Jewish
3rd hint— black
The contestant quickly laughed and said “Sammy Davis Jr” which was the right answer, but could you imagine those clues being given on TV in politically correct 2023?
— if the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards— Reds, Giants, Phillies
AL: Orioles, Twins, Rangers. Wild Cards— Rays, Astros, Jays