Now I’m never going to try and claim to be a golf experts, but The Masters in the one tournament that I will actually watch. I didn’t catch much of the first two days of play, but I kept up with the leaderboard. On Friday I had some bad luck trying to catch some action as every time I turned it on they where either at commercial or talking to each other in the clubhouse. Today (Saturday) is called “moving day” so will see if there’s someone outside of the Top 5 that can make a run at or to the top of the leaderboard.
Now going into today’s round there’s a four way tie for 1st place. Charley Hoffman, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Rickie Fowler are all -4 under par and tie for the lead. There where some other names I recognized. Justin Rose is -1 under par and tied for 3rd place. Fred Couples is also in that group at -1 under in 3rd place. Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson are all Even par and tied for 4th place. I have to admit when there are names I know on the leaderboard I’m a little more interested.
Now I have no idea who will end up winning the tournament, but I know there will be a new champion. Last years winner Danny Willett missed the cut after the first two rounds. Willett is the first defending champion not to make the cut since 2004 (Mike Weir), but he has quite a bit of company. Besides Willett 10 former Masters champions missed the cut and won’t be teeing off this weekend.
Now we’re just a few games into the 2017 baseball season; so there’s no need to panic. While it’s always better to see your favorite team get out of the gate quickly. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen for your team. So if you root for the San Francisco Giants (1-4) or the Seattle Mariners (1-4) don’t panic, but also if you’re a fame of the 4-0 Minnesota Twins or the 3-0 Baltimore Orioles don’t start buying our playoff tickets just yet. While wins and losses don’t concern me at all this early in the season what I do worry about are the players getting off to a slow start.
Now I don’t think that a player like Jose Altuve will hit .143 this season there is a little concern on when he will start to hit. If you took a shot with Albert Pujols as a late fantasy pick he’s hitting .050 to start the season. The 2016 National League M.V.P. is hitting .063 to start the season. Now all these players are just about 20 at bats or so into the season and while there’s no chance at all that any of these players will end up hitting what they’re hitting right now the longer they take to get going the more their fans are going to be concerned and if they take too long to get going the panic will start. Of course with the bad there’s the good, but the same thing applies. Don’t get caught up with what these guys are hitting because they’re not going to hit .500 for the season. Nomar Mazara (.588) the Texas Rangers young outfield, J. T. Realmuto (.583) the Miami Marlins catcher, Zach Cozart (.538) the Cincinnati Reds shortstop and Matt Kemp (.500) the Atlanta Braves outfielder are all hitting .500 or better to start off the season. While this is great for that players team and of course the fans that root for them. None of these guys have more than 17 at bats this season; so don’t expect them to stay at or above .500 for a long period of time.
Luckily there haven’t been any serious injuries to start the season off, but there have been some pitchers who made their first start of the season and then headed to the disabled list. Junior Guerra who was the opening day starter for the Milwaukee Brewers made his start and then went to the disabled list with strained right calf. After Garret Richards made his start for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim he headed to the disabled list with a right bicep strain. After getting a big free agent contract this off season it took Rich Hill of the Los Angeles Dodgers just one start to make his way onto the disabled list. Hill was put on baseballs new 10-day disabled list with a blister on his left middle finger. With these type of injuries it looks as though will see all of these top of the rotation starters return after their 10 days on the disable list is up. If you own Richards or Hill in your fantasy league make sure to keep an eye on them because the injuries they have can reoccur very easily.
Sunday is the final day of the NHL regular season and barring any major shake ups here are the 1st round playoff series we’ll see.
In the Eastern Conference the Montreal Canadiens against the New York Rangers. Montreal won two of the three games these teams played this season, but one of them was in a shootout. The Rangers actually have 100+ points on the season, but are going to get into the playoffs as a wild card. The Ottawa Senators face the Boston Bruins. These teams met four times during the regular season with Ottawa winning all four games. The Washington Capitals take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Washington won the President’s trophy, but Toronto did manage to win one of the three games in the regular season series. Toronto hasn’t been in the playoffs in 12 years. The Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. These teams split their regular season series 2-2 with two of the games going into overtime. Both of these teams are 100 point teams on the season and one of them will be out after one round.
Over in the Western Conference will see.
The Anaheim Ducks against the Calgary Flames. Anaheim won four of the five match ups between these two teams in the regular season. The Edmonton Oilers face the San Jose Sharks. Edmonton took three of the five games these two teams played this season and one of the Sharks win was in overtime. The Chicago Blackhawks face the Nashville Predators. The Blackhawks are the highest scoring team in the Western Conference with 108 points. Nashville managed one win in the five match ups these teams played this season. The Minnesota Wild face off against the St. Louis Blues. While Minnesota was the better team in the regular season point wise the Blues won the season series three games to two, but one of the St. Louis wins was in a shootout.
The 1st round of the NHL playoffs always seems to produce an upset or two; so will have to see which higher seeded team may be headed home after one round.
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