Wednesday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in RBI:
49— Garcia, Tex
48— Alvarez, Hst
46— Devers Bos/Alonso NYM
44— Semien, Tex
42— Olson, Atl
41— Gorman, StL
Quote of the Day
“No, look, you ask everybody that was involved and they thought it was really beneficial for our football team. And look, we’re going to look at any avenue that we can to try to improve. So that was one area we thought, just bringing him (Jon Gruden) in and having the opportunity to sit down and visit with him, would help us.”
Saints’ coach Dennis Allen
Wednesday’s quiz
Who is the all-time leader scorer for the Denver Nuggets?
Tuesday’s quiz
Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966; they previously called Boston/Milwaukee home.
Monday’s quiz
Hugh Grant’s movie
The Rewrite takes place in Binghamton, NY
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Wednesday’s Den: USFL trends, and other random stuff……..
— Cardinals/Royals are both scheduled off today/Thursday; can’t remember a major league team having two scheduled off days in a row, other than the All-Star break.
— Mets 2, Phillies 0— Kodai Senga’s home/away splits:
Home: 3-1, 1.20 in five home starts.
Away: 2-2, 6.12 in five road starts
This was the first game in seven years where the Phillies didn’t have a runner reach second base; Brandon Nimmo robbed Castellanos of a home run with a great catch in the 4th inning.
— Padres 9, Marlins 4— Sandy Alcantara is having an off year; he led this game 4-2 after six innings, but walked San Diego’s #8/#9 hitters leading off the 7th- they both scored. All four runs Alcantara gave up reached base via a walk, including the #9 hitter twice.
San Diego scored five runs in the ninth inning for the win.
— Arizona 5, Colorado 1— Zac Gallen tossed six shutout innings against a dreadful Colorado team that is 9-18 on the road.
— Reds 9, Red Sox 8— Cincinnati led 3-0 after six innings; if you bet the under, no bueno. Lively threw 5.2 scoreless IP for the Reds. Barreto hit a 7th inning grand slam.
— Cubs 2, Rays 1— Tampa Bay scored once in its last 19 innings; they’re 13-12 on the road, their lead in the AL East is down to 3 games over Baltimore.
— Odds on NBA Finals: Denver -360, Miami +270.
— Bob Myers is quitting as Golden State Warriors’ president/GM; could this be the beginning of the end of Golden State’s great run? Myers is only 48, surprising to see him leave Golden State.
Warriors are approaching some decisions with a payroll/luxury tax that could approach $500M in 2023-2024- Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, two cornerstones of their great run, have contracts ending soon.
— If you’re a fan of the NBA, I highly recommend a visit to Las Vegas for NBA Summer League, which takes place July 7-17 at UNLV. Every team is represented; you can sit there all day and watch 4-5 high-quality games, all in air conditioned comfort.
You’ll see lot of NBA celebrities there; all the coaches/GM’s, some former players who do TV work now. Two games happen at once, one in Cox Pavilion, one in the Thomas & Mack Center- they’re a short walk apart.
The games are highly competitive, because everyone playing is fighting for a job; just be careful betting on the games. Not every team plays its best players every game; they give a look to some of their bench players, so caution is advised when wagering.
— College basketball star Caleb Love is transferring from North Carolina to Arizona; originally he was going to transfer to Michigan, but they wouldn’t accept all his credits from UNC, so now he is off to Tucson, where he will be much warmer.
— Last five College World Series were won by Oregon State and four different SEC teams. In the last five title games in the CWS, seven of the ten teams came from the SEC.
— Eight teams from North Carolina are in this year’s College World Series.
—
USFL trends, thru seven weeks:
All four games last week were decided by 6 or less points.
Last three weeks, under is 9-3 in USFL games.
Stallions (5-2)
5-0 allowing 20 or less points; gave up 45-27 in losses.
4-3 ATS (favored in every game)
2-1 in games decided by 7 or less points.
under 5-2
Gamblers (4-3)
won four of last five games, after an 0-2 start
2-2 ATS as a favorite
last three games stayed under.
4-1 if they allow less than 29 points
losses were 29-13/38-31/23-20
Showboats (4-3)
won/covered last four games, after an 0-3 start.
allowed 27-42-30 points in losses; 10-10-0-20 in wins
under five of last six games
4-3 ATS; have been underdog in every game.
Panthers (3-4)
lost four of last four games, after a 2-0 start
scored 13 or fewer points in all four losses.
3-1 ATS as an underdog.
five of last six games stayed under total.
Generals (2-5)
lost last four games, by 3-3-6-3 points.
Allowed 3-13 points in wins; 0-5 giving up more than 13.
1-3 ATS as a favorite.
Five of seven games stayed under total.
Breakers (4-3)
lost last two games (10-17/10-16/20-24) after 4-0 start
last four games stayed under total.
6 of 7 games decided by 7 or less points.
3-2 ATS as a favorite
Stars (4-3)
won/covered last three games, after a 1-3 start.
4-0 in games decided by 6 or less points.
Losses are by 14-8-25 points.
4 of last 6 games stayed under total.
Maulers (2-5)
0-5 if they give up more than 13 points.
Two wins were 21-13/23-7
under 4-3
0-4 if they score less than 21 points.
