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How was your week

Posted: May 6, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, horse racing, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

Joey Logano picked up his first win of the of the NASCAR season as he won last Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Speedway, but the win will not count towards the post season for Logano and his #22 team. On Thursday NASCAR issued an L1 level penalty to Team Penske’s No. 22 team for a rear suspension violation discovered during teardown. The penalty carries multiple consequences, which includes making Logano’s win at Richmond on Sunday encumbered. What the encumbered win means is that Logano cannot use the Richmond win as consideration for an automatic playoff spot. Should Logano still make the postseason, the five playoff points that come with a victory would not apply for Richmond. The official race record will still list Logano as the winner. Additional penalties are a $50,000 fine and two-race suspension for crew chief Todd Gordon, and the loss of 25 driver points and 25 owner points. Team Penske announced it would not appeal the penalties.

There was also a penalty accessed to Richmond 3rd place finisher Denny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing #11 team, but it was nowhere near as stiff as Logano’s. During a post race check Hamlin’s car was found to have a unsecured lug nut on one of the tires. Hamlin’s crew chief Mike Wheeler was handed a $10,000 fine after one lug nut was found to be improperly secured.

Tomorrow the Monster Energy NASCAR series has the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Talladega is a restrictor plate race; so that has to bring everyone to the thought of this race being the one that the retiring Dale Earnhardt Jr. can get a win a qualify for “The Chase”. Earnhardt Jr. is still one of the best if not the best restrictor plate racer in the Monster Energy Series and he’s always a good choice to win at Talladega, but he didn’t have a great practice session yesterday; so we’ll have to see how he does in qualifying today.

While we’re on the subject of racing; the race for the triple crown starts with the running of the 143rd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs today. The favorite to win right now is Classic Empire who has 4-1 odds and is being ridden by Julien R. Leparoux. There are also two horses who’s odds are close to Classic Empire’s at 5-1. You can get McCracken or Always Dreaming at those 5-1 odds. Irish War Cry is the only other horse with betting odds under 15-1 as he’s currently at 6-1. So betting wise it looks as though it’s a four horse race.

Now I’ll be the first to tell you I know absolutely nothing about horse racing or how to bet on it, but I’m picking Girvin to win today. Girvin is currently at 15-1 odds and is being ridden by Mike E. Smith. Girvin will start the race out of gate #7 and let’s face it; how can I not pick a horse who’s named after former NBA star George Gervin.

The Baltimore Orioles won their game Friday night 4-2 over the Chicago White Sox, but when it came time to close the game out the Orioles where without closer Zach Britton who wasn’t in their bullpen last night. Not Britton was just activated from the disabled list on Tuesday. Britton went on the disabled list on April 18th with left forearm strain and it appears as though Britton may have had a recurrence of the injury. Britton did pitch a scoreless inning Tuesday night and then again Thursday night, but was unavailable last night due to the injury flare up. Britton underwent an MRI on his pitching arm and Baltimore’s manager Buck Showalter said “There’s some talk about the next step to take with him.” Brad Brach assumed the closer role for the Orioles last night just like he did when Britton was on the disabled list. Brach entered Friday nights game with a three run lead and got the save despite allowing a run on two hits to the White Sox in the 9th inning.

With an odd set of circumstances behind it the Orioles lost their starting pitcher in last nights game after he record two outs. Wade Miley made the start for the Orioles against the White Sox last night and threw just 12 pitches as he was hit by line drives off the bats of consecutive White Sox hitters. Miley gave up three hits, but no runs in what was the shortest start of his career at 2/3rd on an inning. Miley left the game with what the Orioles are calling a left wrist contusion. White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu was the first player to hit Miley with a line drive as he hit a ball that caught Miley on his pitching hand. Baltimore’s trainer came out and examined Miley, but Miley convinced him that he was okay and was allowed to stay in the game. Then two pitches last White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia hit a liner back up the middle that caught Miley in the back of his left leg. Miley walked off the field under his own power as Gabriel Ynoa came out of the Orioles bullpen to retire the side with no runs being allowed. It was reported that the baseball Abreu hit had an exit velocity of 103 m.p.h. while the baseball Garcia hit was clocked at 102 m.p.h.

Now I played a lot of baseball growing up and now I watch way too much baseball and I’ve never seen a pitcher get hit in consecutive at bats like that. Please leave me a comment and let me know if you every seen this happen in a baseball game.

There was another odd set of pitcher injuries last night in the Seattle Mariners/Texas Rangers game. In the 11th inning of what turned out to be a 3-1 Texas win in 13 innings the Mariners lost two pitchers to injury on consecutive batters. Jean Machi was removed from the game with two outs in the Top of the 11th after walking Carlos Gomez. Evan Marshall came out of the Seattle bullpen and was given all the time he needed to warm up since Machi left the game do to an injury. On the second pitch Marshall threw to the Rangers Joey Gallo he screamed in pain grabbed the back of his right leg and went down. Marshall ended up having to be helped off the field and was diagnosed with a hamstring injury. Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters after the game that Machi had a nerve issue in his right thumb that made it difficult to feel the baseball.

Now there have been a ton of pitcher injuries early this season, but these are two of the oddest set of injuries I’ve ever seen.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com or find the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

Don’t forget you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 3, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

So we’re a month into the 2017 baseball season. Are you concerned with the way your favorite team started off? Neither World Series team from 2016; the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians are both just over .500 at 14-12 while the Houston Astros are off to the best start at 18-9. Now I’m a big advocate of panicking after the first month of the season, but there are people out there who do. Of course everyone wants their favorite team to get off to a good start, but not every team in baseball can get off to that good start. It’s kind of the same thing with players stats. Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals is off to a good start this season, but I don’t think he’ll hit .419 all season long. On the other side Curtis Granderson of the New York Mets is hitting just .122 after the first month of the season. Maybe it will end up being a down year for Granderson, but do you really think he’ll hit .122 all season long? Or will we see him end up right around his career batting average of .253. I know it’s fun to talk about it, but when it comes to rooting for a team or a player you have to be able to handle the highs with the lows. I get that’s easier said than done and it does take some time to be able to do that, but it’s a long, long season and things always seem to even out.

What I am finding interesting to watch is can the players who had down years in 2016, but have had good starts to the 2017 season keep it up. Jason Heyward go a big free agent deal with the Chicago Cubs before the 2016 season and then went out and hit .230 with 7 home runs and 49 RBI’s. Heyward has started off 2017 hitting .261 through 25 games with 3 homers and 16 RBI’s. How about Zack Greinke. He also got a big free agent deal from the Arizona Diamondbacks and while he did have a winning record at 13-7 his E.R.A. was 4.37. That’s the highest it’s been since his second year in baseball. Greinke had one complete game shutout in 2016, but was limited to 26 starts due to injury. Greinke has made 6 starts in 2017; he’s 2-2 with an E.R.A. of 3.19 and he already has one complete game. Jordan Zimmerman is another pitcher who signed a big time free agent deal before the 2016 season. Zimmerman switched leagues signing with the Detroit Tigers, but was limited to 19 games (18 starts) in 2016 due to injury. Zimmerman was 9-7 with a 4.87 E.R.A. Now in five 2017 starts Zimmerman’s E.R.A. is still quite high at 6.18, but he’s 3-1 on the season. I mentioned Ryan Zimmerman in the paragraph above, but you might not remember that Zimmerman hit .218 with 15 home runs and 46 RBI’s in 115 games in 2016. In 25 games this season Zimmerman is hitting .419 with 11 home runs and 29 RBI’s.

What do you think will we see these players continue to play well this season or will they have a relapse or revert to what happened to them in 2016? Better yet; did you take a chance on one of these players in your fantasy league this season? If you happened to they might be paying some big dividends early in the 2017 season.

I’m sure by now you’ve know about the death of Boston Celtics superstar Isaiah Thomas’ sister Chyna back on April 15th. Well last night the Celtics played Game 2 of their second round playoff series against the Washington Wizards on what would’ve been Chyna’s 23rd birthday. Now the Celtics did go on to win the game 129-119 in overtime to go up 2 games to none in the series. Now Thomas who was dealing not only with the recent loss of his sister also had oral surgery on Monday to fix the tooth he lost in Sunday’s Game 1 win. With all of this going on in Thomas personal life he still went out and scored 53 points in the Boston victory. Thomas played 45 minutes in the Game 2 win. He shot 18 of 33 from the field including 5 of 12 from behind the 3-point line. Thomas made 12 of the 13 free throws he shot as well. Thomas also had 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals with just 2 turnovers in Game 2. When Thomas was on the floor the Celtics where a +10 in the game. Unlike their first round series the Celtics won both of their home games to start round 2. The series will now move to Washington for game 3 & 4 with Game 3 being played on Thursday night.

With the draft over teams have to start looking at free agents to fill the needs they still have. The Denver Broncos hope they filled one of their holes yesterday when they signed running back Jamal Charles for one year. The deal could be worth up to $3.75 million dollars. Charles has spent his entire nine year NFL career with the Broncos AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs. Charles has played in just 8 games total the last two seasons due to injury, but for his career he has gained 7260 yards with 43 touchdowns while averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Charles has played in 103 career games and has five 100 yard seasons to his credit. His best season was 2012 when he gained 1509 yards. Charles is also a receiving threat out of the backfield. In his career he has 285 receptions and 20 receiving touchdowns. In 2013 Charles caught a career high 70 passes.

Charles will join a Broncos backfield where Devin Booker was the leading rusher with 612 yards in 2016. The Broncos would also like to see C.J. Anderson return from injury. Denver also used a 6th round draft pick on De’Angelo Henderson a running back out of Coastal Carolina.

We spent quite a bit of time on the Tuesday edition of Sports Time Radio talking about Sidney Crosby and the hit that gave him a concussion; so I don’t want to go into that again. You can find that podcast on TuneIn.com if you’d like to get Dan the Man and mines take on the situation. It seems as though the series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals is the marquee NHL playoff match up, but sooner or later people may need to start paying attention to the Nashville Predators. The Predators swept the #1 seeded Chicago Blackhawks out of the 1st round of the playoffs and last night they beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 to take a 3 games to 1 lead in that series. The Predators/Blues series is the only one that has played four games and all of the other series are at 2 games to 1 with to Game 4 being played tonight. The Capitals are at the Penguins and the Anaheim Ducks are at the Edmonton Oilers. Pittsburgh and Edmonton have the lead in those series. The other Game 4 is Thursday night as the New York Rangers hosting the Ottawa Senators with the Senators ahead in that series.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com or listen to the podcast anytime you want at TuneIn.com

I’m on Twitter @Burketime

Boston Celtics 105 Chicago Bulls 83

Posted: April 29, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

After a harrowing start to their opening round series the Boston Celtics won four straight games to advance to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. The Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls in game 6 Friday night 105-83 to advance.

The Celtics scored nine of the game first 11 points and never trailed in the game. The Bulls worked the deficit down to four points at 10-6, but then the Celtics wet out and took their first double digit lead of the game at 21-11 with 5:37 left in the quarter. The double digit lead didn’t last long and the Bulls actually cut it to five with 1:20 left in the quarter. The Celtics where able to add a couple of pints to their lead and take a 30-23 lead into the 2nd quarter.

The Celtics went right back to their double digit lead early in the 2nd quarter with a 12 to 2 run. The Bulls did manage to knock the lead under 10 points at 42-33 with 5:50 left in the quarter, but the Celtics pushed the lead right back into double digits and built a 13 point lead going into halftime with a 54-41 lead.

The 3rd quarter is where the Celtics really put the game away. Boston outscored Chicago by 16 points in the quarter 34-18. The Bulls never got closer than the 13 points down they where starting the quarter and at one point found themselves down by 30 points. When Kelly Olynyk hit a 11-foot jumper with :03 seconds left in the quarter it gave the Celtics a 29 point lead at 88-59 heading into the final quarter.

With the outcome of the game pretty much decided heading into the 4th quarter both teams emptied their benches. The 4th quarter actually turned out to be the Bulls highest scoring quarter of the game as they out up 24 points in it. Boston ended up having the lowest scoring output by either team in their 4th quarter with 17 points, but knocking seven points off of the lead didn’t really mean a whole lot as the Celtics ended up with a 22 point victory 105-83.

Avery Bradley led the Celtics in scoring and tied for game high scoring honors with 23 points. Gerald Green added 16 points while Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford and Jae Crowder each scored 12 points as all of the Celtics starters scored in double figures. Horford also handed out a game high 7 assists and along with Kelly Olynyk led the team in rebounding as they each grabbed 6 rebounds.

Only two Bulls players reached double figures in scoring. jimmy Butler tied for the games top scoring honors with 23 points and Robin Lopez added 10 points. Bobby Portis grabbed a game high 11 rebounds while Dwayne Wade handed out a team high 3 assists.

The Celtics advance into the 2nd round and they’ll start that round on Sunday as they host the Washington Wizards. The Wizards also advanced into the 2nd round with a six game series win over the Atlanta Hawks.

As for the Bulls; well their 2017 season has come to an end and so have my recaps of their games. See you next season.

How was your week

Posted: April 29, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in sports

The 2017 NFL draft kicked off Thursday night with the 1st round. The 2nd and 3rd rounds where held last night and the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rounds take place this afternoon. What I’ve learned from watching some of the first three rounds is the fact that the people who predict which player a team will take doesn’t know much more than you and I do at home watching.

Now I read multiple mock drafts heading into this years draft and heading into the draft most where predicting that the Cleveland Browns would be taking a quarterback with the #1 pick. Then as word leaked out that the Browns would be taking defensive end Miles Garrett they all went in to change their drafts; so they’d get that pick right. The odd thing is that the majority of these drafts had Garrett as the Browns selection early in the process, but they talked themselves out of the pick for some reason. Garrett was the best player in the draft; so why wouldn’t the Browns select him with the #1 pick.

Of course when it comes to the Browns I’m realizing that no matter what they do the media is going to rip them anyway. After a lot of the media missed on the Browns taking a quarterback at the top of the draft they had them taking one with the second 1st round pick at #12. Well there was a quarterback taken with the 12th pick, but it was by the Houston Texans who traded the 25th pick along with some other picks to the Browns for that 12th pick. When the 25th pick came along everyone again was waiting for the Browns to take a quarterback. At #25 Cleveland selected Jabrill Peppers the versatile safety out of Michigan. Then it seemed as the Browns where almost trying to get the medias goat at this point as they traded back into the 1st round at #29 and again everyone was sure this would be the quarterback that the media thought the Browns needed. With the 29th pick the Browns selected David Njoku highly touted tight end who had slipped down in the 1st round. As the 1st round ended the Browns had made three picks and none of them was a quarterback and this got them ripped right and left by the media. Now in the past there have been reason to get on the Browns about their drafts, but it looks as though they made three very good selection this time around.

Now Cleveland traded it’s early 2nd round draft pick to move back up into the 1st round to select Njoku; so where would they find there future quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky, Patrick Mahomes II and Deshaun Watson where all selected in the 1st round and with the Browns sitting with the 52nd pick it didn’t look like they’d be getting one of the top rated quarterbacks in this draft. Well what do you know there was no quarterback taken after Watson went 12th overall and when Cleveland’s pick came up in the 2nd round they had their choice of the quarterbacks that where left; if that’s the route they wanted to go. This time the Browns did select a quarterback and with the 52nd pick Cleveland selected DeShone Kizer out of Notre Dame. Now at one point Kizer was rated as the top quarterback coming into this draft and there where experts who had Cleveland taking Kizer with the #1 pick. Now I guess they wanted to protect their good name after the Browns where able to pick up a quarterback in the middle of the 2nd round and they didn’t follow their advice the media kept giving them; so the media proceeded to rip Kizer every and any way they could think of.

Now to me this was quite humorous as it was if they where all little kids and someone had taken away the ball they where playing with. I know Cleveland has been the laughing stock of the NFL for a few years now, but why was it so difficult for the media and the people who where predicting the draft to give the Browns some credit for what they did.

Now as we go back to the top of the draft the Chicago Bears decided they needed to move up from the 2nd to the 3rd spot in the draft to get their future quarterback in Trubisky. Now the Bears gave up quite a bit just to move up to the 2nd spot the San Francisco 49ers had. Chicago sent the 3rd pick, a 3rd round pick, a 4th round pick in this draft and a 2018 3rd round pick to San Francisco for the rights to move up to that 2nd pick. Now at first I just thought the Bears front office was incredibly stupid for making this move. Then when the news came out that the Bears where bidding against themselves and no other team had even talked to San Francisco to move up to the 2nd spot in the draft; I really thought they where dumb. Then I started looking at this from a different point of view. Instead of Ryan Pace and the Bears front office being the dumb ones maybe 49ers new general manager John Lynch and his front off where just that smart. It seems as Lynch was able to make the Bears think that there where other teams interested in the #2 pick and the Bears believed that one of those teams who might move up would take Trubisky. I guess it could be a combination of both that allowed this to happen, but Lynch was able to pull of a few draft day deals; so I’m starting to think that San Francisco deserves the credit for these deals.

The NBA 1st round is almost over, but not quite. The Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics both closed out their 1st round series last night with Game 6 wins, but the Los Angeles Clippers where able to force a Game 7 in their series with the Utah Jazz with a 98-93 win Friday night. With every other 1st round series wrapped up the Jazz and the Clippers will head back to Los Angeles for their deciding Game 7 Sunday afternoon. Who do you have winning this series; the Jazz? or the Clippers?

There are a couple of ways to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast. You can find the podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com or at TuneIn.com and don’t forget you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Boston Celtics 108 Chicago Bulls 97

Posted: April 28, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

On Wednesday night the Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 108-97 in Game 5 of their 1st round Eastern Conference playoff series. With the win the Celtics take a three games to two lead in the series. Oddly this was the first time a home team got a win in this series.

The Bulls got off to a good start scoring 14 of the games first 20 points taking a 14-6 lead with 5:03 left in the quarter. The Celtics came right back with a 12 to 4 run to tie the game at 18 all. The teams swapped the lead before Avery Bradley scored the last basket of the quarter with 1:01 left to play to give the Celtics a 23-20 lead after one quarter.

Bobby Portis quickly evened the score at 23 all with a 3-pointer to start the 2nd quarter. The Celtics did go right back to the lead, but could never get farther ahead than four points on a couple of occasions, but the Bulls came back to tie the game at 31 all and again at 35 all before taking 37-35 lead. Then it was Boston’s turn to bounce back and tie the game two times at 37 all and 40 all. The teams traded the lead four times in the final 4:00 minutes of the quarter with the Celtics taking a 52-50 lead headed into halftime.

The Bulls again scored the first basket of the quarter to tie the game, but Boston took the lead right back and held it until Isaiah Canaan hit a 3-pointer to give Chicago a 64-63 lead with 6:45 left in the quarter. There where two ties and four lead changes in those final 6:45, bit this time it was the Bulls who came out of the quarter with the lead. Chicago ended up taking a 81-79 lead heading into the 4th quarter.

There where three ties at the start of the 4th quarter before the Celtics finally took the lead at 86-85. Boston quickly built a six point lead at 91-85, but the Bulls came right back and cut it to two at 91-89 with 6:26 left in the game. The Celtics then scored the next 13 points of the game to take a 104-89 lead with 4:20 left to play, but for all intensive purposes it was over. The Bulls did finish the game on an 8 to 4 run, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics took Game 5 108-97.

Avery Bradley and Isaiah Thomas each scored 24 points to lead the Celtics in scoring. Al Horford added 21 points and a game high 9 assists while Kelly Olynyk came off the Boston bench to add 14 points. Jae Crowder grabbed 8 rebounds to lead the Celtics ion that category.

Dwayne Wade was the games high scorer with 26 points. Wade also had a game high 11 rebounds and handed out a team high 8 assists. Robin Lopez and Jimmy Butler added 14 points while Isaiah Canaan was the other Bulls player to score in double digits with 13 points.

The series heads back to Chicago for Game 6 on Friday night. Will the Bulls get their first home win or will the Celtics close out the series Friday?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 26, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, hockey, NASCAR, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

I was caught off guard yesterday by the news that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be retiring at the end of this NASCAR season. Earnhardt Jr. missed the last 18 races of the 2016 season with concussion like symptoms, but was medically cleared to return to racing this season. Even though Earnhardt Jr. missed pretty much the entire second half of the 2016 season he still won Most Popular Driver as voted by the National Motorsports Press Association. It was the 14th year in a row that Earnhardt Jr. had won that award. Career wise Earnhardt Jr. won 26 races and 9 exhibition races; he is also one of only eight drivers to have won the Daytona 500 two or more times. Earnhardt Jr. won his first Daytona 500 in 2004 and then 10 years later in 2014 he won the race again. Earnhardt Jr. was actually leading this years Daytona 500 when he got caught up in a wreck. He ended up finishing 37th.

Even though he won’t be behind the wheel any more don’t expect Earnhardt Jr. to be too far away from the race track. He still co-owns JR Motorsports which is involved in the NASCAR Xfinity and truck series.

It’s been a slow start to the 2017 season for Earnhardt Jr. His best finish was a 5th place at Texas Motor Speedway on April 9th. That’s been his only Top 10 finish so far this season, but there are 28 races left this season. It would be nice to see Earnhardt Jr. get himself into The Chase and have a chance to win a championship in his final season.

Dustin Pedroia has missed the last two Boston Red Sox games after Manny Machado slide into and past 2nd base spiking Pedroia in the calf area. There was some swelling in the area that caused Pedrioa to sit out the final two games of that series against the Baltimore Orioles. There where reports that Machado reached out to Pedroia via text message and apologized for the incident and it appeared that the two players had worked things out between themselves.

On Saturday there was no attempt made by the Red Sox to retaliate on behalf of Pedroia and it looked like everything was put in the past. Then in the final game of the series on Sunday Machado came up to bat with Matt Barnes pitching for the Red Sox. The first pitch Barnes threw to Machado was a 90 plus mile an hour fastball behind his head that actually hit Machado’s bat. Barnes was ejected after that pitch and Machado went on to hit a RBI double off Joe Kelly who came in to replace Barnes. After this incident Machado and Pedroia exchanged words while Machado was in the on deck circle and it seemed as though Pedroia was saying that he didn’t ask the Red Sox or in this case Barnes to do that.

Now I would’ve had absolutely no problem at all if the Red Sox would’ve hit Machado as some type of retaliation for his slide into Pedroia, but my issue with this is you don’t go head hunting when you’re doing it. There was a similar incident in the Minnesota Twins/Detroit Tigers series over the weekend and when the Tigers pitcher retaliated he threw at the rear end of the Twins batter. Now that I can deal with, but you can’t go up around or after a guys head when you’re doing this.

Now I was hoping that Major League Baseball would come down on Barnes hard and set an example of what they would do to pitchers who go head hunting, but sadly they choked in a big way. All Barnes got was a 4-game suspension for throwing at someone’s head and he’s appealing that. This is just sad and a huge joke at the hands of Major League Baseball. Barnes should’ve easily gotten double digit games for what he did and to suspend him for just 4 games is laughable. What would’ve been Barnes suspension had he actually hit Machado in the head? Machado would’ve missed multiple games with the concussion he probably would’ve gotten from the pitch had it hit him. Is that what it would’ve of taken for Barnes to get and actual punishment. Major League Baseball truly dropped the (base)ball in this time and I hope it doesn’t take someone getting hit in the head by a pitcher who’s retaliating for one of his players for them to realize that this is a serious issue and it needs a serious suspension.

The 2nd round of the NHL playoffs gets started tonight. The Western Conference series will drop the puck tonight. The teams that knocked out the #1 and #2 seeds in the Western Conference will meet in the 2nd round as the St. Louis Blues host the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of their series. Then the Anaheim Ducks will host the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their 2nd round series. Both of these games can be seen on the NBS Sports Network.

On Thursday the 2nd round in the Eastern Conference gets started. The Ottawa Senators host the New York Rangers in Game 1 of their series. This game will be shown on CNBC. Then a half an hour after the first game starts the series that everyone is talking about gets started as the Washington Capitals host the Pittsburgh Penguins in game 1 of that series.

Now I don’t want to take anything away from the Rangers or the senators as they both won their 1st round series and deserve to be here, but does it seem right that the Capitals and the Penguins are meeting in the 2nd round and not the Conference Finals? Most people thought that the Capitals and the Penguins where the best two teams coming into the playoffs and now they meet in the 2nd round; that just doesn’t seem right to me. I know the NHL re-did their playoff format, but I don’t understand how the teams with the top two points on the season should meet in the 2nd round of the playoffs. I don’t know maybe it’s just me. Feel free to let me know what you think of the NHL playoff seeding for the 2nd round in the comments.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com but you can also listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Boston Celtics 104 Chicago Bulls 95

Posted: April 25, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

On Sunday afternoon the Boston Celtics evened up their 1st round playoffs series with the Chicago Bulls at 2 games apiece as they easily cruised to a 104-95 win. So far neither team has been able to win a game on their home court.

The Celtics started the game on a 14-4 run after Isaiah Thomas hit a 3-pointer to give the Celtics their first double digit lead with 7:18 left in the quarter. The Bulls never got closer than eight points at 16-8 with 4:43 left in the quarter. Boston then built their biggest lead of the quarter with just 1:10 left to play at 30-17. Jimmy Butler split a couple of free throws to make it Boston 30-Chicago 18 after one quarter.

The Bulls had a much better offensive 2nd quarter as they actually outscored the Celtics 28-27, but the quarter didn’t start out that way. Boston scored 11 of the quarters first 12 points and had a 41-21 lead with 9:15 left to play. While the Bulls got close they could never get the lead under double digits. They cut it to 10 points with 1:14 left in the quarter. The teams played even in that final minute as the Celtics added one point to the lead and went into halftime with a 57-46 lead.

At the start of the 3rd quarter it was the Bulls who made a run. Chicago scored seven of the quarters first nine points to cut the lead to six points at 59-53. The Bulls continued to push and actually managed to tie the game at 63 all with 5:11 left in the quarter. Then the Bulls ended up taking their first lead of the game with the next basket, but the Celtics went right back to the lead and pushed it to double digits a couple of times, but by the end of the quarter the Bulls where down nine points at 79-70.

The teams played a dead even 4th quarter as each team scored 25 points in the quarter; which didn’t help the Bulls out. The closest Chicago could get in the 4th quarter was five points at 79-74 and then again at 81-76. The Celtics where again able to push the lead back to double digits at 86-76 with 9:00 minutes left in the game. The Bulls never got closer than eight points again and late in the game Boston had a 13 point lead before the Bulls cut into it to make it 104-95 game at the end.

Four of the five Celtics starters scored in double figures led by Isaiah Thomas who tied for the games high scorer with 33 points. Thomas also handed out a team high 7 assists. Gerald Green added 18 points while Jae Crowder had 11 points. Al Horford scored 15 points and grabbed a game high 12 rebounds. Kelly Olynyk chipped in 10 points off the Celtics bench.

Jimmy Butler led the Bulls in scoring as he was the other player with 33 points. Butler also handed out a game high 9 assists. Nikola Mirotic added 13 points while Dwayne Wade went for 11 points. Isaiah Canaan scored 13 points off the Bulls bench while Bobby Portis grabbed a team high 8 rebounds coming in off the bench.

The teams will again get an extra day off as they head back to Boston for Game 4 with the series tied 2-2. With the Celtics pretty much dominated Game’s 3 and 4 in Chicago after the Bulls took the first two games in Boston. Maybe the best thong for the Bulls is the fact that the game will be televised on TNT instead of ESPN.

Boston Celtics 104 Chicago Bulls 87

Posted: April 22, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

After dropping the first two games of the series at home the Boston Celtics righted their ship as they came into Chicago for Game 3 and easily beat the Bulls 104-87. Even with the win the Celtics are down 2 games to 1 in the series, but it looks as though the Bulls will have to play this series without point guard Rajon Rondo who missed Game 3 and is out with a broken right thumb.

The Bulls came out and had a horrible opening quarter as they managed to score just 15 points. With the Bulls struggling the Celtics built a 10 point lead at 14-4 with 7:20 left in the quarter. Chicago did bounce back and cut that lead to four points at 14-10 with 5:41 left in the quarter. Boston then scored the next 13 points to push the lead back into double digits at 27-10 with 2:03 left in the quarter. Boston added one point to it’s lead in the final two minutes of the quarter and took a 33-15 lead into the 2nd quarter.

As bad as the Bulls where in the 1st quarter the Celtics where actually worse in the 2nd quarter. Boston managed to score just 11 points in the entire quarter. Luckily for the Celtics they had a big enough lead and while the Bulls did put up 26 points in the 2nd quarter it wasn’t enough to take the lead away from Boston. So even with an 11 point 2nd quarter the Celtics went into halftime with a three point lead at 44-41.

The Bulls cut the lead to one point at 44-43 on two made Jerian Grant free throws early in the 3rd quarter, but Boston ran off 9 of the games next 11 points to take a 53-45 lead with 9:11 left in the quarter. The Bulls never got closer than six points and Boston was able to build it’s double digit lead back at 60-50 with 6:15 left in the quarter. The Celtics lead never fell under 10 points and they where able to add three more pints to that lead taking a 76-63 lead into the final quarter.

While the 4th quarter was the tightest quarter played between the two teams Boston did find a way to build a 20 point lead 97-77 with 4:11 left in the game. While the Bulls where able to keep the Celtics lead under 20 points after that they never did get within 15 points of the lead and with the Celtics getting the last bucket of the game it was a 17 point 104-87 win for Boston.

While Rajon Rondo didn’t play for the Bulls he did end up getting into a little action. After Jae Crowder hit a jumper and jawed a little with the Bulls bench it appeared as though Rondo stuck out his leg in an attempt to trip Crowder as he went by. After the game Rondo said he was “stretching” his leg.

Al Horford was the Celtics top scorer with 18 points and he also led the team in rebounds with 8. Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder each had 16 points while Thomas also handed out a game high 9 assists. Avery Bradley added 15 points while Terry Rozier came off the Boston bench to score 11 points.

Dwayne Wade tied Horford for the games top scoring honors leading the Bulls with 18 points. Jimmy Butler had 14 points while Robin Lopez scored 12 and Nikola Mirotic added 11 points. Paul Zipser came off the Bulls bench to add 10 points while Cristiano Felicio grabbed a game high 11 rebounds off the Bulls bench. Wade, Mirotic and Michael Carter-Williams tied for the team lead in assists with 3 each.

The team get a day off as the series stays on Chicago for a Sunday start time of 5:30 p.m. cst and the Bulls ahead 2-1 in games.

How was your week

Posted: April 22, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

Since they run at the same time against each the NBA playoffs and the NHL playoffs will always be compared to each other. While the NBA is more popular and the NHL is regulated to second tier status as a major sport their playoffs especially the 1st round is so much better it’s not even funny. Let’s take a look.

The top teams in the NBA the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers are both undefeated in their series. Golden State has had two very easy wins. The Cavaliers are up 3-0 in their series, but it hasn’t been easy. Of course neither of these teams are in danger of being eliminated from the playoffs. In the NHL the top two teams where the Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens. Well the Blackhawks where easily swept out of the playoffs by the 8th seeded Nashville Predators and while the Canadiens are up in their series 3-2 they’ve had their hands full with the 8th seeded Toronto Maple Leafs. To be fair the Cavaliers are the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but they’re everyone’s pick to get to the NBA finals from that conference. There’s even a #2 seed in trouble in the NHL playoffs. The St. Louis Blues currently have a 3-1 lead in their series against the #2 seeded Minnesota Wild. The only thing close to this in the NBA is the 8th seeded Chicago Bulls having a 2-1 lead in their series against the #1 seeded Boston Celtics.

If you’ve been watching both of these playoffs; what has been more interesting and or exciting to you?

While I made a quick mention of where some of the series are, but here’s here they all currently stand.

In the Eastern Conference the Celtics are down 2-1 to the Bulls. The Cavaliers are up 3-0 on the Indiana Pacers. The Milwaukee Bucks are up 2-1 on the Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards are up 2-0 on the Atlanta Hawks. In the Western Conference the Warriors are up 2-0 on the Trailblazers. The San Antonio Spurs are up 2-1 on the Memphis Grizzlies. The Houston Rockets are up 2-1 on the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Clippers are up 2-1 on the Utah Jazz.

Over in the NHL the Capitals are up 3-2 on the Maple Leafs in their Eastern Conference series. The other Eastern Conference series look like this. The New York Rangers are up 3-2 on the Montreal Canadiens. The Pittsburgh Penguins swept the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 to advance to the 2nd round. While the Ottawa Senators are up 3-2 on the Boston Bruins. In the Western Conference you know the Nashville Predators have moved into the 2nd round knocking out the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1st round 4-0. The St. Louis Blues are up on the Minnesota Wild 3-1 in that series. The Anaheim Ducks advance to the 2nd round by sweeping the Calgary Flames 4-0 in their series and the Edmonton Oilers lead the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in that series.

For the first time in his career Madison Bumgarner will be making a trip to the disabled list. Now it’s never a shock to see a pitcher go on the disable list and now with the new 10-day version of the list teams seem to be using it more and more for everyone including pitchers. Oddly though Bumgarner’s injury didn’t happen while he was pitching for the San Francisco Giants. Yesterday the Giants announced that Bumgarner would be heading to the disabled with because he was injured in a dirt biking accident on Thursday the teams off day. It’s being reported that Bumgarner injured his ribs and sprained his left (throwing) shoulder. Bumgarner’s ribs are said to be bruised, but the injury to his shoulder is said to be a Grade 1 or Grade 2 sprain. San Francisco has set no time table for Bumgarner’s return. The only thing the Giants have said is that Bumgarner is out of the hospital and is resting at the teams hotel. The Giants plan to re-evaluate Bumgarner next week, but early reports are saying that the pitcher will be out 6 to 8 weeks. Bumgarner is not expected to speak about his injury until the Giants return home from their current road trip on Monday. Giants manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti both did comment on the situation. Bochy said “He’s a young guy like a lot of us and he thinks he’s invincible. He’s just having fun that day hit a slippery spot and went down. I’m sure looking at it now Madison wishes he wouldn’t have gotten on the bike . He was very remorseful in talking to him. Unfortunately an accident happened.” Righetti went a little different way with his comments saying. “Off days are the freaking worst. We don’t get many and when we do guys want to go do those things that they’re missing out on. Things like this do happen; unfortunately.”

Bumgarner has made four starts this season. He is 0-3 with an E.R.A. of 3.00 over 27 innings this season. He has struck out 28 batters while walking just 4. To fill Bumgarner’s roster spot the Giants called up right-handed pitcher Chris Stratton. Stratton has been pitching for the Sacramento River Cats in Triple-A. Stratton has pitched in 2 games both in relief covering 10 1/3rd innings. Stratton has stuck out 2 while walking 1 and has an E.R.A, of 7.84. Stratton did pitch out of the Giants bullpen in 2016 appearing in 7 games covering 10 innings. Stratton was 1-0 with a 3.60 E.R.A. out of the Giants bullpen last season.

San Francisco hasn’t announced who will fill in for Bumgarner in the starting rotation, but since they called up a reliever you have to think that left-hander Ty Blach may get the first look. Blach made the team out of soring training, but has been working out of the bullpen so far this season, but Blach did make 2 starts for San Francisco last season. Blach was a 2012 5th round draft pick of the Giants. Blach made 98 minor league starts before pitching out of the bullpen at the major league level.

Is Bumgarner’s injury the weirdest one you’ve heard of? Please post in the comments if you have one that’s stranger.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com as well as at TuneIn.com You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 111 Boston Celtics 97

Posted: April 19, 2017 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized

I heard one of the local sportswriters say that we could throw out the Chicago Bulls inconsistent regular season play heading into the playoffs. I’m disappointed that I can’t remember who said this because through two games he’s right on.

The Chicago Bulls went into Boston and took the first two games in their playoff series against the Celtics as last night they won Game 2 by 14 points 111-97.

The Celtics scored the first seven points of the game before the Bulls came back to take their first lead of the game at 11-10. Chicago then went on a 9 to 1 run to take a 20-11 lead. After Boston broke the Bulls run Chicago was able to build it’s biggest lead of the quarter at 27-15 with 3:04 left to play. Boston was able to cut into the Bulls lead in those final three minutes as they scored nine of the quarters final 13 points. After one quarter the Bulls had a 31-26 lead.

With an 8 to 2 run to start the 2nd quarter the Celtics where able to regain the lead at 34-33 early in the quarter. There was a quick trade off of the lead between the teams before the Bulls went back to the lead and where able to build their lead back to double digits. Chicago had a 50-39 lead with 3:36 left in the quarter. The Celtics where again able to cut into the Bulls lead heading towards the end of a quarter, but this time Boston could only get the lead down to eight points as the Bulls went into halftime with a 54-46 lead.

Boston again got off to a quick start in the 3rd quarter as they scored nine of the quarters 13 points and cut the Bulls lead to three points at 58-55 with 9:30 left in the quarter. After a couple of free throws by Isaiah Thomas the Celtics had the Chicago lead down to two points at 62-60 with 7:26 left in the quarter. Then it was the Bulls turn to make a run. Chicago went on a 19 to 5 run to build a 14 point lead at 79-65 with 3:49 left to play. This time Boston was only able to knock two points off of the Bulls lead as Chicago took an 11 point lead 86-75 into the final quarter.

The closest the Celtics could get in the 4th quarter was seven points at 89-82 with 9:00 minutes left in the game. When Dwayne Wade hit a 3-pointer with 6:52 left in the game the Bulls had pushed their lead into double digits at 98-86. The Celtics where never able to cut the Bulls lead to under 10 points the remainder of the game and at one point the Bulls pushed their lead to 17 points at 109-92 with just 1:35 left to play. Boston added five points to the Bulls two points, but it was too late as the Bulls took Game 2 by a final score of 111-97.

The Bulls had six players score in double figures as all five of their starters and one bench player reached that point plateau. Jimmy Butler and Dwayne Wade each scored a game high 22 points for Chicago. Robin Lopez scored 18 points while Nikola Mirotic added 13 points. Rajon Rondo scored 11 points while handing out a game high 14 assists and grabbing a team high 9 rebounds. Paul Zipser came off the bench to score 16 points for the Bulls.

Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics in scoring with 20 points. Jae Crowder added 16 points while Avery Bradley scored 12 points. Marcus Smart came off the bench to score 13 points. Kelly Olynyk also reached double digits off the Celtics bench scoring 11 points/ Olynyk also handed out a team high 7 assists. Al Horford grabbed a game high 11 rebounds in the game.

The win gives the Bulls a 2-0 lead in the series. The teams will get two days off as the series shifts to Chicago for Friday nights Game 3.

Sports Time Radio