Tuesday’s 6-pack
Odds for this week’s US Open:
13-2— Scottie Scheffler
8-1— Jon Rahm
17-2— Brooks Koepka
10-1— Viktor Hovland
11-1— Rory McIlroy
14-1— Patrick Cantlay
Quote of the Day
“I made a decision (in 2016) that he would become the focal point of everything we do, every decision we make, every player we bring in has to be somebody that can play with and complement Nikola (Jokic).”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone
Tuesday’s quiz
How many major league teams has Buck Showalter managed?
Monday’s quiz
Terry Francona won two World Series in eight years managing the Red Sox; Bobby Valentine replaced him as manager in Boston.
Sunday’s quiz
In
Magnum PI, when Tom Selleck’s character goes undercover as the backup QB of an NFL team, he wears number 16.
************************************************** *
Tuesday’s Den: Nobody asked me, but…….
— Denver 94, Miami 89
For first time ever, Nuggets are NBA champions.
Nikola Jokic is the first center since Shaquille O’Neal in 2002 to lead his team in scoring while winning a championship.
Nuggets rookie Christian Braun is the fifth player in history to win NBA and NCAA titles in back-to-back years (won in 2022 with Kansas)
Stan Kroenke owns the Nuggets; he also owns the LA Rams and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. In the last 18 months, all three teams have won a championship.
— There are still 10 NBA teams that haven’t won a championship.
— Top payrolls in MLB this season, and the teams’ records:
$344,875,864— Mets 31-35
279,749,286— Bronx 38-29
246,962,517— San Diego 31-34
243,095,331— Phillies 32-34
228,056,364— LA Dodgers 37-29
215,903,690— Angels 37-31
— Lowest payrolls in MLB this season, and the teams’ records:
59,630,474— A’s 18-50
66,424,863— Orioles 41-24
75,336,614— Pirates 34-30
76,932,532— Tampa Bay 48-21
90,133,639— Guardians 31-34
92,569,087— Cincinnati 31-35
— Angels signed 38-year old Daniel Murphy to a minor league deal; he last played in the majors in 2020, but retired after hitting .236 for Colorado. A .296 lifetime hitter, Murphy hit .347 for Washington in 2016; he hit 90 doubles for the Nationals in 2016-17.
— Blue Jays/Diamondbacks are only MLB teams that haven’t been shut out this season.
— A’s 4, Tampa Bay 3— Oakland has now won six games in a row. Ken Waldichuk tossed three scoreless innings to notch his first save.
— Tigers 6, Braves 5 (10)— Detroit trailed 5-1 in 8th inning; they tied game with three runs in the ninth, then won it on a Torkelson single in the 10th.
— Rockies 4, Red Sox 3 (10)— Colorado scored twice in 10th inning, on a bases loaded walk, then an error.
— Arizona 9, Phillies 8— Top three guys in the Diamondbacks’ lineup went 7-12, with seven runs scored.
— Angels 9, Rangers 6 (12)— Shohei Ohtani homered twice, now has 20 dingers this season. Halos have won seven of their last eight games.
— Looking at the pointspreads for Denver Bronco games this coming season; the spread in 15 of their 17 games is 4 points or less. They’re +7 at Kansas City, +6.5 at Buffalo.
— Juan Soto didn’t walk last week; after drawing 56 walks in his first 59 games this season, he didn’t draw any walks last week, going 7-27 in six games— he was 5-5 vs Seattle Wednesday, 2-22 in the other five games.
— Movie of the Day: Lucky You (2007)— A hotshot poker player tries to win a tournament in Las Vegas, but is fighting a losing battle with his personal problems. Eric Bana plays the hotshot gambler; Robert Duvall is his father, a far more accomplished pro poker player.
Drew Barrymore and Debra Messing are also in the movie, as well as a lot of pro poker players you’ll recognize from TV. Robert Downey Jr has a cameo; there are a couple of degenerate gamblers who appear throughout the movie to add comic relief.
— Houston Cougars boosted basketball coach Kelvin Sampson’s salary to $5M a year; Houston and Gonzaga are the only teams in the country that have been in the Sweet 16 of the last four NCAA tournaments.
— Most plays of 30+ yards last season:
33— San Francisco
32— Kansas City
30— Philadelphia
29— Denver, Seattle
28— Carolina, Las Vegas
27— Chicago
— Fewest plays of 30+ yards last season:
12— Arizona, Rans
14— Tampa Bay
15— NJ Giants
17— Atlanta, Pittsburgh
18— Indianapolis
19— Washington