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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 12, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports
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Week 5 of the NFL season is in the books and our pick contest continues to roll along. Schaumburg Stu won Week 5 with a record of 10-4. Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I all finished Week 5 at 8-6. On the season Schaumburg Stu is in the lead with a record of 47-30. Dan the Man is in 2nd at 44-33. I’m holding down the 3rd spot with a record of 39-38 while Mr. Fantasy is in the cellar at 36-41. We’re off to Week 6.

The Chicago Cubs used 4 runs in the top of the 9th against a terrible San Francisco Giants bullpen to win their NLDS series 3 games to 1. Down 5-2 going into the 9th inning it looked like this series was headed back to Wrigley Field for a Game 5 on Friday. Derek Law was on the mound to start the 9th inning, but after a single by Kris Bryant he was removed for left handed specialist Javier Lopez. Lopez didn’t do his job as he walked the left handed hitting Anthony Rizzo and was taken out of the game for Sergio Romo. Ben Zobrist greeted Romo  with a double to score Bryant and advance Rizzo to 3rd. Chris Coghlin was announced as the pinch hitter for Addison Russell; so the Giants countered by bringing Will Smith into the game to pitch. The Cubs countered that move by Putting Wilson Contreras in for Coghlin. Contreras singled off of Smith as both Rizzo and Zobrisy scored to tie the game 5-5. Jason Heyward bunted badly into a fielders choice, but a throwing error by Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford allowed Heyward to move up to 2nd base. Giants manager Bruce Bochy made a double switch as Gorkys Hernandez entered the game to play leftfield and Hunter Strickland was brought in to face Javier Baez. Baez singled to centerfield to score Heyward and give the Cubs the lead at 6-5. The top of the 9th finally ended as David ross hit into a double play, but by that time the Cubs had scored 4 runs on 4 hits and with the help of 1 Giants error had taken the lead.

The Cubs made some defensive moves to start the bottom of the 9th inning. Zobrist moved to 2nd base, Contreras stayed in the game in leftfield and Baez moved to shortstop. In the end none of those moves mattered as Hernandez, Denard Span and Brandon Belt all struck out swinging against Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman.

The Cubs now wait until Saturday to host the winner of the Los Angeles Dodgers/Washington Nationals series in Game 2 of the NLCS. The Dodgers/Nationals series is headed back to Nationals Park for Game 5 on Thursday. The Dodgers forced a Game 5 by picking up a 6-5 at home in Game 4 yesterday.

Clayton Kershaw made the Game 4 start for the Dodgers on 3-days rest. Kershaw pitched 6 2/3rd innings giving up 5 runs on 7 hits. He struck out 11 and walked 2 while throwing 110 pitches. Kershaw left the game with the bases loaded in the top of the 7th inning. Pedro Baez hit Jason Werth to force home a run and was removed from the game. Luis Avilian then gave up a single to Daniel Murphy bringing in 2 runs and tying the game at 5 apiece. Kershaw ended up with a no decision, but he ;left the bullpen in a tough spot. A Chase Utley single off Washington reliever Blake Treinen in the bottom of the 8th inning drove in the game winning run for the Dodgers. Kenley Jansen picked up the save for the Dodgers working the bottom of the 9th. Jansen struck out the first two batters of the innings and then Bryce Harper grounded out to 2nd base for the final out of the game.

With the lead in the series the Nationals choose to hold back Max Scherzer. Now they have Scherzer on regular rest for the Game 5 at home. Los Angeles turns to Rich Hill to make the Game 5 start. Scherzer took the loss in Game 1. He pitched 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5. Hill was the losing pitcher in Game 2. He pitched 4 1/3rd innings giving up 4 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7. Who do you have winning Game 5 and moving on to the NLCS?

Did you have both of the American League series ending in 3-game sweeps. Maybe you did, but I bet you didn’t have the teams right. The Toronto Blue Jays easily handled the Texas Rangers in their series to advance to the ALCS. Then it was the Cleveland Indians who where missing 2 of their top 3 starting pitchers sweeping the Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs. The Rangers did have the best record in the American League and while they where a bit of a favorite coming into the series with the Blue Jays; it’s not a huge shock that Toronto won the series. It’s a bit of a surprise that they swept, but not that they won it. In the other series the Red Sox should be nothing, but embarrassed. I can understand Game 2 as Corey Kluber is one of the top pitchers in baseball, but they got beat on games started by Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin. Both back of the rotation guys that the Indians where forced to use due to injuries to Carlos Carresco and Danny Salazar.

The only Red Sox who showed up in the series where Brock Holt who hit .400 with a home run and rookie Andrew Benintendi who hit .333 with a home run. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit .100, David Ortiz hit .111, Dustin Pedroia hit .167 and Mookie Betts hit .200. These big Red Sox hitters where shut down by a guy in Bauer who had an ERA of 4.26 this season and Tomlin who came in with an ERA of 4.40 for the season. The Red Sox where the trendy pick to win it all coming into the playoffs, but I’m sure those guys who where on that bandwagon won’t admit to being there right now.

The NHL season get sup and running tonight with 4 games on the schedule. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators will be the first two team s to drop the puck tonight. Then it’s the St. Louis Blues at the Chicago Blackhawks, the Calgary Flames at the Edmonton Oilers and the night wraps up with the Los Angeles Kings at the San Jose Sharks.

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

I’m on Twitter @Burketime

 

How was your week

Posted: October 8, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, hockey, sports
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The division series have started in the MLB playoffs. The National League has one game under it’s belt while the American League teams have played two and are on a travel day today.

We’re going to work backwards here as the last game of the day was the best game of the day. The Chicago Cubs got past the San Francisco Giants in a pitchers duel 1-0. Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto both showed why they are Cy Young Award contenders as they pitched shut out baseball for 8 innings. Cueto was great pitching 8 innings giving up 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 10 and not walking anyone. They one mistake Cueto made was giving up a solo home run to Javier Baez in the bottom of the 8th inning for the only run of the game. Lester was on his game as well as he pitched 8 innings giving up 5 hits and striking out 5 while not allowing a walk or a run. Aroldis Chapman came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th and get the save. Game 2 is today 7:00 p.m. CST as Kyle Hendricks and Jeff Samardzjia are the starting pitchers as the Cubs look to go up 2-0 in the series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers took the first game of their division series 4-3 over the Washington Nationals. All the scoring in this game happened pretty early. The Dodgers got to Max Scherzer for 4 runs in the first 3 innings. The Nationals got back into the game putting up 3 runs on Clayton Kershaw over the first 4 innings of the game. Just as it looked like we where in for a high scoring game the runs stopped scoring. Kershaw picked up the win pitching giving up 8 hits and 3 runs while walking 1 and striking out 7. The Dodgers bullpen shut the Nationals down over the final 4 innings. Joe Blanton pitched 2/3rds of an inning walking 1. Grant Dayton also pitched 2/3rds of an inning walking 1 and striking out 1. Pedro Baez worked an inning then Kenley Jansen came in to get the save. Jensen gave up 1 hit I his inning of work. Scherzer went 6 innings for the Nationals giving up 4 runs on 5 hits while striking out 5. The Dodgers did get to Scherzer for 2 hone runs in the game. The Nationals bullpen matched the Dodgers bullpen as they didn’t allow a run either. Sammy Solis pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit while walking1 and striking out 1. Nationals closer Mark Melancon got an inning of work in the game. Melancon gave up 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 3 in his inning of work. Game 2 has a 3:00 p.m. scheduled start time as Rich Hill gets the start for the Dodgers and the Nationals turn to Tanner Roark to try to draw them even in the series.

In both American League series teams took 2 games to 0 leads, but I’m not sure they’re the teams the experts thought they would be. The Toronto Blue Jays went into Texas and swept the Rangers in the first two games of their division series. The Cleveland Indians held home field advantage as they won the first two games of their series against the Boston Red Sox.

The Blue Jays put up 10 runs in Game 1 of the series for a 10-1 win. Game 2 saw the Blue Jays get a little closer win at 5-3. Most if not all of the experts had the Rangers as the favorite in these first two games as they had Cole Hamels as their Game 1 starter and then Yu Darvish ready for Game 2. Hamels lasted just 3 1/3rd innings in Game 1. Hamels gave up 6 runs. walked 3 and struck out 1 in his start. Hamels was totally out pitched by Marco Estrada who went 8 1/3rd innings giving up 1 run and striking out 6 for Toronto. Darvish struggled as well pitching 5 inning giving up 5 hits and 5 runs while walking 1 and striking out 4. Darvish gave up 4 home runs in his 5 innings. 20-game winner J.A. Happ was the Game 2 starter for the Blue Jays and while he didn’t pitch great he pitched good enough to win with the support he got. Happ went 5 innings; he gave up 1 run on 9 hits while walking 1 and striking out 5. Troy Tulowitzki has been the breakout hitter in the first two games for Toronto. “Tulo” has a triple and a home run while hitting .556 with 5 RBI’s. The series heads to Toronto for Game 3 on Sunday. American League ERA leader Aaron Sanchez  (3.00) gets the start for the Blue Jays as the rangers turn to Colby Lewis to try and keep their season alive.

In a surprise the Indians used Trevor Bauer as their Game  starter. Corey Kluber has been battling an injury and was pushed back to Game 2 to give him some extra rest. With Cy Young favorite and 22-game winner Rick Porcello line up to start Game 1 the Red Sox looked like a heavy favorite. Bauer didn’t have a shut down type of outing, but he kept the Indians in the game and their bats came through. Bauer pitched 4 2/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 6. Cleveland went to there bullpen set up of Andrew Miller 2 innings and the win, Bryan Shaw who gave up a run in 2/3rds of an inning and Cody Allen 1 1/3rd of an inning getting the save as they took Game 1. Porcello pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 6 hits with 3 of those hits being home runs while striking out 6. Drew Pomeranz 2 1/3rd innings, Joe Kelly 1/3rd of an inning and Koji Uehara 1 inning didn’t allow a run, but the Red Sox where unable to pull of a comeback win and the Indians took Game 1 5-4. The extra day of rest really helped Kluber, He pitched 7 innings giving up 3 hits and while he did walk 3 batters he didn’t allow a run and stuck out 7. The Red Sox countered with David Price who has had his post seasons struggles and they continued yesterday. Price lasted just 3 1/3rd innings giving up 5 runs on 6 hits; one of them a home run. Price walked 2 and struck out 3 as he fell to 0-8 in his post season career. Dan Otero and Bryan Shaw each pitched a scoreless inning in Game 2 to lock down the Indians 6-0 win and a 2-0 lead in the series. The series shifts to Boston Sunday at 3:00 p.m.for a must win Game 3 for the Red Sox. Clay Buchholz will be called on to keep the Red Sox season alive at home while Josh Tomlin is the Game 3 starter for the Indians.

Admit it you didn’t have the Blue Jays or the Indians winning the first two games of their series. Now the question is will we see either the Rangers or the Red Sox be swept out of the playoffs.

Tonight is the Sports Time Radio fantasy hockey draft. It’s an auction style draft and since we’re a Chicago based league we’ll see how much some of the Blackhawks go for. I’ve had some success in fantasy hockey and while I haven’t won the league yet maybe this will be my year. I am woefully unprepared. With the baseball playoffs going on I’ve been distracted, but I have stayed up to date with the injuries; so that should help me out. The draft is at 7:15 p.m. tonight; so I have some time to still get ready. Wish me luck.

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, Uncategorized
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With Week 4 of the NFL in the books here’s the update on our pick contest. Schaumburg Stu, Dan the Man and I all ended Week 4 with an 8-7 record while Mr. Fantasy may have set a record for his 5-10 record. Overall Schaumburg Stu is holding the lead at 37-26. Dan the Man is one game behind at 36-27. I’m in 3rd place at 31-32 while Mr. Fantasy slipped deeper into the cellar with a record of 28-35. Let’s see how Week 5 goes.

Could the MLB playoffs have gotten off to a better start? The Toronto Blue Jays hosted the Baltimore Orioles in the American League wild card game yesterday. The Blue Jays sent Marcus Stroman to the mound for the game and the Orioles countered with Chris Tillman. The Blue Jays got on the scoreboard first on a solo home run by Jose Bautista to lead off the bottom of the 2nd inning. In the top of the 4th inning Adam Jones got the first hit for the Orioles to lead off the inning. Jones went to 2nd on a ground out and then there was a liner to centerfield for the 2nd out. Then Major League home run leader Mark Trumbo gave the Orioles the lead when he hit a 2-run home run to leftfield. With one out in the bottom of the 5th inning Michael Saunders hit a ground rule double to left followed by a Kevin Pillar double to right, but some how Saunders only advanced to 3rd base. Ezequiel Carrera singled to centerfield to drive Saunders in and tie the game at 2-2. That ended Tillman’s night and the scoring for 6 innings. Brian Duensing was on the mound to start the bottom of the 11th inning for the Orioles. Duensing struck out Carrera for the 1st out of the inning and was then removed from the game for Ubaldo Jimenez. Devon Travis greeted Jimenez with a single. Josh Donaldson followed with a single of his own and Travis advanced to 3rd base. Edwin Encarnacion was up next and hit a 3-run walk off home run to leftfield for a 5-2 Blue Jays win.

Francisco Liriano picked up the win for the Blue Jays in relief while Jimenez gets the loss. Stroman went 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 6. After Stroman the Blue Jays bullpen didn’t give up a run over 5 relief innings. Brett Cecil pitched 1/3rd of an inning, Joe Biagini pitched 2/3rd of an inning, Jason Grilli pitched an inning, Roberto Osuna pitched an 1 1/3rd innings then it was Liriano who pitched the final 1 2/3rds. Tillman lasted just 4 1/3rd innings for the Orioles giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4. The Orioles had the best bullpen in baseball and it showed last night as they matched the Blue Jays outing up zero’s for 6 1/3rd innings. Mychal Givens followed Tillman and pitched 2 1/3rd innings. Then it was Donnie Hart for 1/3rd of an inning, Brad Brach for 1 1/3rd innings, Darren O’Day pitched 1 2/3rd innings before Duensing worked his 1/3rd of an inning. Jimenez didn’t get anyone out; so he didn’t pitch any innings. What you’ll notice about the Orioles pitching is that closer Zach Britton wasn’t used in the game. Britton had 47 saves and an ERA of 0.54 in the regular season.

Donaldson and Carrera where the only players with multiple hits in the game; they had 2 hits apiece. The Orioles recorded just 4 hits in the game.

The Blue Jays now advance to play the Texas Rangers starting Thursday night at Globe Life Park in Arlington Texas. The Blue Jays haven’t announced a starting pitcher for the game, but the Rangers are going with Cole Hamels as their Game 1 starter.

Can the National League wild card game match the excitement of last nights AL wild card game? The San Francisco Giants are going with Madison Bumgarner while the New York Mets have Noah Syndergaard on the mound tonight. Based on the starting pitchers it looks like we’ll get a pitchers duel, but the games don’t always go that way. Will we get that 1-0 or 2-1 game that people might think we’re going to get or will we see a 6-5 or a 9-8 game. While Syndergaard is still putting together his post season resume we’ve seen Bumgarner pitch in these situations time and time again. Will Bumgarner’s experience lead the Giants to a victory or will Syndergaard start to build that resume with a win for the Mets tonight.

With the NBA regular season starting at the end of the month fans of the Philadelphia 76ers finally got to see Joel Embiid play in a game. Embiid missed the first two seasons of his NBA career with foot injuries. In 13 minutes last night Embiid scored 6 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked 2 shots in the 76ers 92-89 win over the Boston Celtics. In an odd twist for the 76ers Embiid made his debut the same day this season #1 overall pick Ben Simmons had foot surgery. Simmons is expected to be out a minimum of 8 weeks, but there have been reports that it will be longer than that.

The NHL season is even closer to starting than the NBA season and the Tampa Bay Lighting are still without one of their top players. Nikita Kucherov is a restricted free agent and is not in training camp with the start of the season a little less than two weeks away. Kucherov’s agent is Scott Greenspun and reports are he’s told Tampa Bay’s general manager Steve Yzerman that Kucherov will not show up until he gets a new deal. Kucherov is just 23 years old and was the Lighting’s leading scorer last season. Kucherov had 66 points on 30 goals and 36 assists. He was also the Lighting’s leading scorer in the playoffs with 19 points on 11 goals and 8 assists. Even though he hasn’t been in traing camp with hos teammates Kucherov has been on the ice as he played for Team Russia in the World Cup of Hockey.

NASCAR has moved into the 2nd round of The Chase and that means that the field of drivers was cut from 16 to 12. The 4 drivers who where eliminated from The Chase where Chris Buescher, teammates Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson as well as Tony Stewart. Stewart is in his last season in NASCAR and there where a lot of fans who where hoping to see him go deep into The Chase. The 2nd round of The Chase kicks off Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Bank of America 500. Will we see one of the 12 remaining Chase drivers get a win and automatically move into the 3rd round or will someone outside of The Chase find their way into victory lane.

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: October 1, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports, Uncategorized
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The first two weeks of Thursday Night Football had good games. In Week 1 the Super Bowl rematch saw the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 21-20. In Week 2 the New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills 37-31. In the next two match ups we got a 27-0 blow out as the New England Patriots with a 3rd string quarterback starting beat the Houston Texans and this past Thursday the Cincinnati Bengals easily handled the Miami Dolphins 22-7.

Even in these bad games the ratings are still good. This week the game started off with an 8.24 rating and reached a 11.44 rating; easily winning the night. Now I’m not going to try to pretend I understand what these numbers mean, but they draw two to three times the amount of any pother show that’s on against them. It seems as though people will just watch football. Even bad football. I’ve been disappointed with the NFL for the past couple of seasons and these Thursday night games don’t make me feel any better about the league, but I do still tune in; even if it’s just for a short period of time.

Now some of the reason we get bad games is the match up itself. Miami seemed to be an improved team under new coach Adam Gase, but Cincinnati is a playoff team and it showed. The biggest surprise was the way New England handled Houston. Now looking at the next three weeks the match ups don’t seem much better. Next week we get the Arizona Cardinals at the San Francisco 49ers. In two weeks the Broncos play again on Thursday night this time they’re in San Diego to take on the Chargers. Then in three weeks we’ll get to see the Chicago Bears in Lambeau Field to play the Green Bay Packers. If you’re not a fan of one of these six teams; do you like these match ups? Do you see the 49ers or Chargers pulling off an upset at home? Then if the Bears don’t make a marked improvement you have to wonder how many points the Packers will beat them by. Are we going to have to wait until October 27th when the Jacksonville Jaquars are at the Tennessee Titans to get a good Thursday night game. Just looking at the Thursday night schedule that looks to be the next even match up out there. Even as bad as these match ups might look; we’ll still be watching.

Ask pretty much any baseball fan who the best player is and the majority of them will say Mike Trout. I’m in that group as well thinking Trout is the best, but is there anyone out there who could knock him off the top of the baseball mountain. Don’t forget that Trout is just 24 years old and could be the top guy for a long time. After the season he had in 2015 it looked as though Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper would challenge Trout for that top spot, but injuries have knocked Harper out of contention. Harper is just 23 years old, but seems to have one minor injury after another that holds him down. When Carlos Correa was brought up by the Houston Astros last season he was looked at as a guy who one day might be the best player in baseball. Correa is just 21 and has some time to develop into that, but maybe we’re on the right team. Jose Altuve has put together three very goo seasons in a row and maybe it’s time to start looking at him as a challenger to the top. Altuve hit .341 in 2014 and led the league with 225 hits, but he only hit 7 home runs. You can add a league leading 56 steals to that stat line. In 2015 the average came down to .313, but he still led the league with 200 hits and added some more power with 15 home runs. The stolen bases where still there as he led the league with 38 steals. Now this season Altuve’s average is up; he’s hitting .337. The home runs are up as well; he has 24 home runs and is 4 RBI’s away from his first 100 RBI season. He’s still leading the league with 213 hits and while the stolen bases are down a little he still has 28 steals. There is one stat with a big discrepancy in these three players, but no one cares about that anymore. Trout has 136 strikeouts to go with 114 walks. Harper has 113 strikeouts and 106 walks. Altuve has 69 strikeouts and 59 walks this season. Altuve is listed as being 5″6 and you have to wonder if people look past him because of his height. All three of these players are Gold Glove caliber defenders; so you can’t separate them that way. Now I don’t expect anyone to switch over from Trout to Altuve, but isn’t it time that Alutve starts getting some notice for the numbers he’s put up and the way he plays the game.

With the NBA season starting at the end of the month you have to start wondering if the Philadelphia 76ers are jinxed. They had the #1 pick in the draft and they selected Ben Simmons; who was the consensus top pick. Simmons didn’t shoot great in summer league, but that wasn’t a real concern. He added some weight so he could handle the grind of the NBA season, Now it’s being reported that Simmons broke a bone in his right foot and there’s no timetable for his return. To add to the bad luck Simmons was hurt in the final scrimmage of training camp. X-rays and an MRI revealed a fractured fifth metatarsal. You may have heard of this injury before as it’s commonly called a Jones fracture. The estimated recovery time with surgery is 8 weeks. Add Simmons injury to the list. In the 2014 draft the 76ers selected Joel Embiid with the 3rd pick. Embiid has yet to play a game in the NBA due to multiple surgeries on his right foot. In 2013 the 76ers took Nerlens Noel with the 6th pick in the draft. Noel ended up missing his rookie season with a torn ACL. Even last years #1 pick and #3 overall Jahlil Okafor played in just 53 games last season. Okafor after tearing the Meniscus ligament in his right knee. Okafor has actually had to take some practices off due to soreness in that knee. You add Simmons injury to this list and you have to wonder how much more bad luck the 76ers could have.

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: September 28, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio
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We’re three weeks into the NFL season and our pick contest. Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man tied for the lead in Week 3 at 9-7. Mr. Fantasy came in with a 8-8 record and I was under .500 at 7-9 for the week. For the season Schaumburg Stu has the lead at 29-19. Dan the Man is just one game out of the lead at 28-20. Mr. Fantasy and I are tied and under .500 at 23-25 on the year. Maybe I can get myself over .500 with a good Week 4.

The Houston Texans hold the early lead in the AFC South with a 2-1 record. The Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans are 1-2 with the Jacksonville Jaquars at 0-3. It’s a very winnable for the Texans, but their chances of doing that took a huge blow now that J.J. Watt is going to be out an extended period of time. There are reports that the Texans will place Watt on injured reserve (IR) today. That means Watt won’t be allowed to practice for 6 weeks and won’t be able to return to game action for 8 weeks. If Watt goes on IR the earliest he could return would b November 27th against the San Diego Chargers. As tough as it would be for the Texans to stay in contention with Watt gone 8 weeks there is talk that this injury may keep him out for the rest of the season. There’s a quote from a Texans team source that’s making the rounds saying “I do believe that he will miss the season, but with the new rule this year, if he were ready in December, he could come off IR”. Long shot. Watt missed all of training camp and the preseason after he had surgery for a herniated disk in his back in late July. The 3-time defensive player of the year and 4-time Pro Bowler played part of last season through the injury, before aggravating it late in the offseason. He also had surgery in January to repair five torn core muscles. Watt started all three of the Texans’ regular season games so far this season. Watt has 1 1/2 sacks, 1 tackle and assisted on 7 other tackles. Watt has never missed a regular season game in his 6-year career and when he missed practice on Monday Texans head coach Bill O’Brien called it “a day off”. The Texans did re-sign defensive end Antonio Smith to help in the place of Watt. Now if Brock Osweiler and the offense can step up in Watt’s absence maybe the Texans can compete in the AFC South, but if they can’t handle the extra pressure even if Watt returns in 8 weeks it might be too late for the Texans to get into the playoffs.

The Washington Nationals clinched the National League East division last week and where battling with the Los Angeles Dodgers to see who would host their opening round playoff series. Now the Nationals knew they would face the Dodgers and any other playoff opponent without inured pitcher Steven Strasburg, but in Monday’s 14-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos torn his ACL and is done for the season. Ramos was injured a throw to the plate where he had to jump to make the catch. There was no contact with another players, but when Ramos landed he torn the ACL. Ramos is over shadow in Washington by the Bryce Harper name and the season Daniel Murphy is having, but Ramos was putting up good numbers before he got hurt. Ramos played in 131 games and was hitting .307. Ramos had 22 home runs 80 RBI’s as well as 25 doubles. Now it’s not just the hitting the Nationals will miss. Ramos has caught 1096 1/3rd innings this season for a staff that has an ERA of 3.50. That’s the second best ERA in baseball. When Ramos caught the teams ERA is 3.46.

How will the Nationals replace Ramos. Jose Lobaton is the veteran option Dusty Baker could go with. Lobaton has played in 36 games for the Nationals this season and is hitting .226 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI’s. Washington does have another option in 23-year old rookie Pedro Severino.  Severino has played in 13 games this season and is hitting .333 with 1 home run and 3 RBI’s. I’m sure both catchers will be on the playoff roster, but who’s going to get the at bats. Do you go with the veteran in the playoffs or do you take a shot with a rookie? Will have to wait and see what decision Dusty baker makes.

Now I mentioned Washington was already short handed with Strasburg out due to a strained flexor mass in his pitching elbow. There is a chance that Strasburg could be back before the NLDS, but it looks like they’ll be going into the playoffs without him, at least for the first round. Also added to the injury list is 2015 MVP Bryce Harper. Harper has been banged up all season and is now dealing with a thumb injury. There have also been reports that Harper has been dealing with a shoulder injury all season, but he has denied that. Either way he’s not playing like the MVP he was last season.

Now playoff related with the Ramos injury is the fact that he’s going to be a free agent this off season. He was looking at a pretty good pay day until this injury. now you have to ask yourself; what’s a team going to pay a catcher who’s recovering fro a torn ACL. With this injury happening so late in the season you have to wonder if his recovery will carry over into next season. What kind of a contract will a catcher who’s going to miss the start of the 2017 season get. If Ramos’ rehabilitation takes longer than expected he could be out until the All-Star break. Ramos is 29 and it will be interesting to see if there’s a team out there that’s willing to pay him will he’s doing his rehabilitation.

Have you watched any pre-season NHL yet? They just got the pre-season going this week and I’m going to check out some of the Chicago Blackhawks/Pittsburgh Penguins game tonight. Now with the World Cup of Hockey in the finals there are still a few guys that aren’t with their NHL teams. Since it’s pre-season and there are only 2 more possible games left in the finals those players will be back with their teams soon. Before you know it October 12th will be here and they’ll be dropping the puck in the regular season.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com You can also find the podcast any time you want on http://www.TuneIn.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: September 24, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in NASCAR, sports
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What if I told you that your superstar quarterback would be suspended for the first four games of the season. I’m sure you’d  unhappy. Then as the starting quarterback the  #2 guy came in and the team went 2-0 in games that he started. I’m sure you’d be okay with that. Now throw I the #2 quarterback got injured in his second start and would miss the third week of the season. Now you’re favorite team is on to it’s third  quarterback in three weeks. Even as a fan you might think that they’ll suffer their first loss of the season in Week 3. Not only did that loss not happen, but they had a dominating performance to go to 3-0 After the game though there was a report that your third sting quarterback has a thumb injury. The injury was to the quarterbacks right hand, but it being reported as “not serious”. Now if this third string quarterback can’t play in Week 4 what would your favorite 3-0 team do under center for Week 4. Is it at al possible that they’d just go ahead and play the starting wide receiver who use to be a college quarterback in that game. Now when you look at this scenario you might find it hard to believe that this team could actual be 3-0 going into Week 4, but this is how the New England Patriots season has went and they are 3-0.

We all know the Tom Brady saga and he’s still going to have to sit out one more game, Jimmy Garoppolo played very well in his first two starts until getting hurt in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins. That left 3rd round draft pick Jacoby Bissett as the starter for Thursday night game against the Houston Texans. Add in to all this that you’re all world tight end missed the first two games with injuries and while he was on the field at times in Week 3; he was ineffective. I thought against a defense like the Texans that a third string quarterback wouldn’t be able to get a win against them. What do I know. Patriots head coach Bill Bellichick put together a game plan that Brissett executed perfectly as the Patriots cruised to a 27-0 victory over the Texans to start Week 3. I’ll be the first to admit that I picked the Texans to win the game and I did have some company as Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy also had Houston winning. That means Dan the Man was the only one who picked New England to win and he’ll go into Sunday as the only one of us at 1-0.

Brissett was just 11 for 19 for 103 yards. He was sacked once, but did not throw an interception. Brissett managed the game from the pocket and when he needed to run he did. Brissett ran 8 times for 48 yards and a touchdown. His 27-yard touchdown run was the Patriots first of three rushing touchdowns in the game. LeGarrette Blount handled the majority of the ground game for New England. Blount carried the football 24 times for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. Julian Edelman wasn’t productive as a receiver, but the Patriots didn’t throw the ball enough for that. He had just 4 catches for 38 yards, but he also ran the football 3 times for 14 yards. James White added 3 carries for 12 yards and Martellus Bennett added a carry for 6 yards to go with his 10 receiving yards on 2 catches. Danny Amendola had 2 receptions for 23 yards while Malcom Mitchell had a catch for 27 yards. Chris Hogan caught 1 pass for 3 yards and White had a catch for 2 yards as Brissett spread the football around.

Now what if Brissett’s injury causes him to miss Week 4. Does Edelman play quarterback like he did in college against the Buffalo Bills. Would you put it pass Bellichick to start a wide receiver at quarterback. He’s had linebackers catch touchdown passes and has played a wide receiver at defensive back. How about a wide receiver at quarterback. New England might as well have some fun with it in Week 4 as Brady will settled the position down after that.

Kevin Garnett announced his retirement after 21 seasons in the NBA. Garnett spent parts of 2 season with the Brooklyn Nets, 6 seasons with the Boston Celtics and 14 seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Garnett won the league MVP for the 2003-04 season. He also won the All-Star game MVP that season. Garnett was drafted by the Timberwolves with the 5th pick in the 1995 draft. The Timberwolves traded Garnett to the Boston Celtics in 2007 for two 1st round draft picks, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff and Sebastian Telfair. Garnett won his only NBA Championship with the Celtics in 2007-08. After six season with Boston Garn along with Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and D.J. White where traded to the Brooklyn Nets for Keith Bogans, MaRshon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Kris Joseph, Gerald Wallace and three 1st round draft picks. A 2014 1st round pick, a 2016 1st round pick and a 2018 1st round pick. Garnett returned to the Timberwolves in February of 2015 when he was traded for Thaddeus Young. Garnett is a 15 time All-Star and has been voted All-League 22 times. Garnett has scored 26,071 points in his career good for 17th in NBA history. He’s 9th in career rebounds with 14662 and he’s 19th in career blocks with 2037. Garnett’s scoring average for his career was 17.8 points per game. It’s safe to say that Garnett is on his way to the Hall of Fame.

It’s race two of The Chase and the Sprint Cup series is at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Bad Boy Off Road 3oo. Carl Edwards took the pole with a speed of 135.453 mph. Last weeks winner Martin Truex Jr. will start 2nd with Ryan Newman 3rd, Jimmie Johnson 4th and Denny Hamlin rounding out the Top 5 starting 5th. Remember if a Chase driver wins he automatically moves into the next round like Truex Jr. did last week with his win at Chicagoland Speedway. Will we see a Chase driver advance or will we see someone from out side of The Chase get a win. Maybe Truex Jr. gets his second win in a row and stops someone from moving into Round 2 of The Chase.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com the podcast is also available on TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 21, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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Schaumburg Stu won Week 2 in our NFL pick contest with a 10-6 record. Stu has started the season off with back to back wins. Dan the Man took 2nd with a 9-7 record. Dan and Stu where tied going into the Monday Night game, but sadly Dan went with the Chicago Bears while Stu had the Philadelphia Eagles. Mr. Fantasy and I where both 8-8 on the week. Overall Stu has the lead with a 20-12 record. Dan the Man is 2nd at 19-13. I’m holding onto 3rd place at 16-16 while Mr. Fantasy is residing in the cellar at 15-17. Can Stu win a 3rd week in a row? Or will Dan the Man win a week outright. At this point Mr. . Fantasy and I would be happy to break .500.

With the exception of the struggles they had right around the All-Star break the Chicago Cubs have been the best team in baseball. The Cubs have the best record in baseball at 96-55 and are the only team that has clinched their division. With 2 more wins or 2 Washington Nationals losses the Cubs will clinch home field through the National League playoffs. Sadly they can’t have home field advantage for the World Series as the American League won the All-Star game and that’s how home field for the World Series is decided.

When it comes to post season awards the Cubs should do quite well there as they have at least 3 contenders for the Cy Young award and 2 very good contenders for the MVP award. I’m not sure that Kyle Hendricks has the respect of the voters to win the Cy Young, but he has to be right there. Hendricks is 15-8 and has the lowest ERA in baseball at 2.06. Hendricks isn’t putting up huge strikeout numbers (161), but he also doesn’t walk a lot of guys (43); so his WHIP is under one at 0.96. Jon Lester is having a very good year as well and with an 18-4 record; he’ll have a shot at a 20 win season. Lester’s ERA is 2.36 and he’s struck out 184 batters after yesterday’s start; so he should reach the 200 mark for the season. While Jake Arrieta isn’t having as good of a season as he did last year; he’s still pitching well. Arrieta is 17-7 with a 2.96 ERA. While Arrieta should get some votes for the Cy Young I think some of the voters may hold the fact that this season doesn’t compare to last season against him. As good as Hendricks has been do you have Lester ahead of him for the Cy Young? As far as MVP goes you could pretty much put Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo name in a hat and pull one out for the award. Bryant is hitting .296 with 37 home runs and 97 RBI’s. Bryant also has an OPS of .950. Rizzo has very good numbers as well. He’s hitting .293 with 37 home runs and 104 RBI’s with an OPS of .939. Now you couldn’t go wrong with either guy as they are both having MVP type of seasons on a big time winning team. The fear might be that they cancel each other out in the MVP voting and someone else ends up winning the award.

You can look at all the numbers you want and those are the guys who win the awards. That’s the thing you need to do to win one of those, but on every team there’s an MVP that may go under the radar. On the Cubs this season their guy is easily Addison Russell. The 22 year old shortstop has played in 142 games so far this season. He played in 142 games all of last season. While it would be nice to see Russell’s batting average a little higher than the .245 he’s currently at, but is someone said that he’d hit 21 home runs and have 93 RBI’s so far I’m not sure if anyone would’ve believed you. When the Cubs need a clutch hit Russell is the guy they want to see at the plate. When the offense was this week what snapped them out of it on Monday night was a home run by Russell. It’s not just with the bat either; Russell is fielding 97% at shortstop. He has made 14 errors this season, but he is currently #1 in defensive WAR for National League shortstops. Russell was also voted to his first All-Star team this season and he should make many more of them through his career. Russell was a 1st round pick of the Oakland A’s in 2012. He was the 11th overall pick in the draft. The Cubs acquired Russell along with Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and cash considerations for pitchers Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzja. If you talk to any Cubs fan about trades you’re sure to hear about the deal that sent Lou Brock, Jack Spring and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz. It’s considered the worst trade in Cubs history. Is the trade that brought Russell to the Cubs the best trade in team history. Now Russell won’t win the National League MVP and I’m not even sure if he’ll receive any votes for the award, but the Cubs wouldn’t be where they are this season without him.

I hope you’ve been scanning the waiver wire in your fantasy football league early this season because there have been quite a few injuries already this season. In Week 1 we saw Keenan Allen of the San Diego Chargers and Robert Griffin II of the Cleveland Browns go out with injuries that ended their seasons. In Week 2 there where some more big time fantasy names that where injured. The Chargers lost another key piece of their offense for the season when running back Danny Woodhead torn his ACL. Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson tore his meniscus ligament, but there re actually reports that he could play this Sunday. Sticking with running backs Jonathan Stewart of the Carolina Panthers will miss 1-2 weeks with a hamstring injury and Doug Martin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is going to miss 3 games with a hamstring injury of his own. Jimmy Garoppolo of the New England Patriots was playing well filling in for the suspended Tom Brady, but he sprained the A/C/ joint in his throwing shoulder and will miss a couple for weeks. Josh McCown took over at quarterback for the Browns when RG II got injured. Now Cody Kessler will be the 3rd Browns quarterback to take a snap in a game this season as he takes over for an injured McCown. Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears injured his thumb during the Monday Night game and it looks like he’ll miss a few weeks. It’s being reported that Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones is questionable for this weeks game, but he’s been dealing with an ankle injury all season; so it’s tough to tell if this is something new or just the injury he’s been playing with. Hopefully you’ve been out on the waiver wire or making trades to replace these guys because there are a lot of quality fantasy names that are injured.

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

I’m on Twitter as well @Burketime

How was your Week

Posted: September 17, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, NASCAR, sports
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The Chicago Cubs became the first team to clinch a playoff spot when the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals last Thursday night. You can call it a back in or however else you want to describe it, but with the lead the Cubs had in the division it they where going to win it one way or another.

The Cubs have 15 games left and there’s some good and some bad in that. The good of course is you can get your starting rotation set up in the order you want it. Another good thing is that you can get players like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo some rest heading into the playoffs. Both Bryant and Rizzo have played in 142 games heading into this afternoon’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. These last 15 games will also give the coaching staff a chance to look at the guys they’ll want to carry on the playoff roster. There’s always that last spot or two left on the playoff roster and while it may not matter as these players may not see the field you never know. The Cubs will also have a chance to get guys healthy. Jorge Soler left yesterday’s game with an injury that was reported as not being serious, but either way he’ll have time to get back to 100%. Pedro Strop should be returning soon and he’ll have some games to get ready to go for the playoffs.

There isn’t a ton of bad that goes with clinching early, but I think there are things that you have look out for. You have to make sure you don’t get complacent while your off. There is such a thing as too much rest; so you have to make sure the regulars stay sharp. I think the biggest thing that the Cubs will have to watch out for is when you have this type of lead and you get to cruise down the stretch is turning it back on again when the games count. You can add injuries in here, but you just never know when an injury is going to come up; so you can’t count that. Again there aren’t huge negatives with clinching early; it’s just stuff that the Cubs will have to look out for down the stretch.

The Chase for the Sprint Cup starts tomorrow at the Chicagoland Speedway with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. There are 16 drivers who either won a race or qualified on points to make at Top 16. Chase Grid  Qualifying is this afternoon; so we don’t know who’s going to be on the pole, but they did have a practice session yesterday. Jimmie Johnson posted the fastest practice time, but there where four other Chase drivers right behind him. Carl Edwards was 2nd fastest with Denny Hamlin 3rd, Brad Keslowski 4th and Chase Elliott 5th. The NASCAR playoffs are starting.

We have our fantasy hockey draft coming pretty soon and while I know the top names I have a difficult time as the draft winds down finding that guy who can really help my team. It’s an auction style league; so there is some strategy on who to nominate when and try to make sure you land the guy you wanted. I found a couple of names that I think could help out a fantasy team later in the draft and I’m wondering what you think of them.

Nick Bjugstad of the Florida Panthers. Bjugstad is coming off an injury plagued season in 2015-16. He played in 67 games and put up 34 points last season. Can he get back to the player that led the Panthers in goals like he did in 2014-15.

Thomas Vanek scored 18 goals and 23 assists with the Minnesota Wild last season. In July the Detroit Red Wings signed Vanek 1-year $2.6 million dollar contract. Vanek will be looked upon to halp replace Pavel Datsyuk. Vanek has scored 40 goals twice in his NHL career and is it possible he gets close to that with the Red Wings.

Maybe I could sneak a young rookie defenseman through in the draft. How about someone like Nikita Zaitsev. Zaitsev played the last 3 season in the KHL for CSKA Moscow. He was a KHL All-Star in 2015 and 2016 as well as being named IIHF World Championship All-Star team in 2016. I know it’s tough for a rookie to make a big impact on defense, but this is a player who while considered a rookie isn’t really a rookie. Hopefully the Toronto Maple Leafs can find some ice time for him.

There’s a couple of names I’m looking at. Feel free to send me a name or two your looking at later in your draft.

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: September 14, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books and so is our Sports Time Radio pick contest. Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man got off to a hot start both going 10-6 in the first week. I managed a .500 record at 8-8 while Mr. Fantasy starts the year off in the cellar at 7-9. I’ll try to remember to update you every Wednesday on how we’re doing. Feel free to play along and see if your picks are better than ours.

In the 2010 draft the Buffalo Bills thought they had found their feature running back when with the 8th pick I the 1st round they selected C.J. Spiller from Clemson. Spiller rushed for 1212 yards with 12 touchdowns, he caught 36 passes 4 of which ended in touchdowns. Spiller was also dangerous in the return game as he returned 8 punts and 21 kickoffs with 5 of those returns going for touchdowns. Coming into the NFL Spiller looked like a 3-down back which is something that is tough to find in the league now. Spiller averaged 4.6 yards per carry in his first pre-season and was named the Bills #1 running back. Spiller beat out Fred Jackson and Marshwan Lynch. Lynch was dealt to the Seattle Seahawks soon after Spiller was named the starter. Spiller played in 14 games his rookie season getting 1 start. He rushed for 283 yards and caught 24 passes for 157 yards and 1 touchdown. It wasn’t the offensive contribution that the Bills where expecting out of the #8 pick. Spiller did play well on special teams as he averaged 14.6 yards on 12 punt returns and 23.0 yards on 44 kickoff returns taking 1 back for a touchdown. Spiller started 11 games in 2011; rushing for 561 yards with 4 touchdowns and catching 39 passes for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns. 2012 was Spiller’s best season as he rushed for 1244 yards and 6 touchdowns while catching 43 passes for 459 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2013 Spiller got close to his second 1000 yard season, but fell short at 933 yards. He had 2 rushing touchdowns and caught 33 passes for 185 yards. Injuries cut Spiller’s 2014 season short. He played in just 9 games and totaled 300 yards rushing, but no touchdowns, He added 19 receptions for 125 yards and 1 touchdown. That was Spiller’s last season with the Bills. Spiller signed a 4-year $16 million dollar deal  on at what seemed to be the perfect place for his skill set with the New Orleans Saints. Spiller started 2 games for the Saints on 2015, but played in 13 games total. He rushed for 112 yards, but caught 34 passes for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns. You would’ve thought that with a full off season and training camp with New Orleans that Spiller might be looking at a big role in their passing offense. Sadly Spiller’s training camp was cut short as he suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the final 2 pre-season games. When Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders rolled around the Saints made Spiller inactive for the game and went with veteran running back Travaris Cadet in that role. It shouldn’t of come as a surprise after being inactive for Week 1 that the Saints decided to part ways with Spiller by cutting him on Monday. New Orleans was carrying 6 running backs on their roster and sooner or later one of them was probably going to be released.

With the release of Spiller the Saints have more than $40 million in dead money counting against their salary cap; by far the most in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns are second at $28.1 million. That number includes their other big free agent signing from 2015, cornerback Brandon Browner, among several others.Spiller will count $4.5 million against this year’s cap, then another $2.5 million next year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 3 games under .500 at 70-73 and it doesn’t look like they’ll be getting one of the National League wild card spots this season. Pittsburgh had been in the wild card game the last three seasons. With the playoffs out of reach the Pirates decided to shut their ace down and placed pitcher Gerrit Cole on the 60-dat DL. Cole came off the DL after three weeks to pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday. Cole pitched 2 innings giving up 5 runs on 4 hits while walking 4. Pittsburgh lost that game to Philadelphia 6-2. This time Cole is headed to the DL with right elbow posterior inflammation. This is Cole’s 3rd trip to the DL this season. Cole finishes 2016 the season with a 7-10 record in 21 starts and a 3.88 ERA. Cole was coming off his best season in 2015 when he went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA, made the All-Star team and finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award balloting. Cole is 26 years old and is the future of the Pirates rotation. He has a career 47-29 record with an ERA of 3.16. With the Pirates out of the playoff race it’s in their best interest and Cole’s to shut him down and allow him to be ready to go come spring training in 2017.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com you can also find the podcast on Tune.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Torture 201-State of the Art

Posted: September 11, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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No one ever said the San Francisco Giants went about the business of baseball in the conventional manner. No, I think we are in agreement here. They rack up a whole passel of victories, and then set records for futility. Seriously? The worst record in MLB since the All-Star Game? Take the Chicago Cubs, for instance. They appear to be doing it right.
They stormed out the gate, sagged before the All-Star Game, and then came roaring back with a vengeance. They are currently 41 games above .500. The Cubs seem bent on a course which will net them their first world series title in forever. 

Only two days ago, the Giants were down to single digits, when it came to win/loss difference, 74-65.

No, if the Giants went about baseball in the conventional manner, there would be no need to attach the label “torture” to the team. I used to argue that Giants baseball was not torture-that it was simply National League baseball, at its finest.

Now I amend my sentiments and take a step back, and say that if the term “torture” were to apply, it would not be to the games themselves, but rather, the manner which the Giants go about the business of making the playoffs.
In both 2014 and in 2016, they managed to accrue the best record in baseball, at least halfway into the season, before falling heavily into disrepair, and staggering to the depths of their collective souls.
In 2014 the Giants sneaked in as the number ten seed and took it all. We have yet to see how things turn out in 2016, except to say that San Francisco is still ahead of both New York and St. Louis for the first wildcard slot.
At this time they are still in the driver’s seat. Bruce Bochy is the same master of his ship that he has always been, the same port in a storm that he has always provided for his team. He is the best manager in baseball-sorry Joe-as his record of success indicates, and nothing has happened to change that.
The Giants have what the Cubs do not have: They have the taste of success imbedded in every stitch of the fabric of the organization. The San Francisco Giants are success. Pure and simple. For a team to take it all is so challenging, it defies comprehension.
Therefore, for a team to do so three times in five years, is exponentially that much harder to accomplish. And yet, the Giants are this team, and still have numerous components of that 2014 team in the fold. You cannot convince me that none of this makes a difference.

I would never boldly predict a Giants victory this season-that is incredibly foolish, in light of how capricious the baseball gods can be. That is asking for disaster. No, all I will do is state that the Giants are right where they want to be: in contention, with only 21 games left to play.

Have you noticed that Hunter Pence has gotten hot? He tied a franchise record by scoring eight runs in the last two games. Do you know what an impact this individual has on the Giants? I do not have to say anything, because his actions speak quite eloquently for themselves.

How about Buster Posey and his three rings? What single player on any given team, plays as prominent of a role in the success of a team, than the catcher? None. He is involved in every play, in the thought process behind every play, and he is the one calling most of the shots.

Buster Posey is the best in the business, rated so by the powers that be, and you know something? It wasn’t even close. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/ranking-the-best-15-catchers-in-major-league-baseball-for-2016/ 
Specifically, what this poll said was, “Easy and obvious choice.” 

Does the name Madison Bumgarner “ring” a bell? It ought to, his performance in the 2014 World Series, being the stuff of legends. 

All the Giants need is a ticket into the show, which they currently possess, and anything can happen.

Because it has.  

Mark ONeill

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