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Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: August 10, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Chicago Cubs have the best record in baseball at 70-41. Teams have worked there way up to the Cubs and at some points in time may have even passed them, but the Cubs have been the best team in baseball throughout the season. Any time a team gets on a run and looks like they’re a playoff team one of the things you’ll eventually hear someone ask about that team is “Can they challenge the Cubs”. It’s slowly starting to look like the year that the Cubs make there run at a World Series title. There are a couple of things that could derail this season for the Cubs. The most obvious one is injuries. The Cubs have had their share of injuries this season, but luckily they haven’t lost a key piece of their line up or their rotation to injury. It’s always the number one worry a contending team will have and there’s no way they can control it. The other problem is a distraction from a player inside the organization. The Cubs look to have their first distraction with the situation involving back up infielder Tommy LaStella. LaStella who has minor league options left was sent to Triple-A Iowa at the end of July when Utility man Chris Coghlan came off the disabled list.

LaStella made it very clear he was unhappy about being demoted and that’s understandable. LaStella had appeared in 51 games for the Cubs and was hitting.299. LaStella had played both second and third base this season. It appears as though the Cubs went with Coghlan over LaStella because Coghlan offers a little more versatility. Not only can Coghlan play second and third like LaStella, but he can also play both corner outfield spots.They are both left handed hitters, but Coghlan has struggled sine being re-acquired by the Cubs this season. Coghlan was traded to the Oakland A’s by the Cubs just before this season started. Since being brought back Coghlan is hitting .200 in 57 plate appearances. It may nave been the fact that Coghlan can play the outfield or the fact that he was out of minor league options and would have had to make it through waivers to be sent down, but the Cubs choose to keep Coghlan with the major league club. You figure the worst case scenario for LaStella was to go to Iowa play everyday and then come back up when the September call ups are brought up. All in all, he’d spend a little over a month in the minors. Now this is not what LaStella did as he never reported to Iowa. What he decided to do was just go home. The Cubs did their best to try and cover for him by saying there where “family problems”, but that isn’t true. Yesterday the Cubs placed LaStella on the Temporarily Inactive List. I don’t understand why the Cubs haven’t released him; it’s clear that he has no business in major league baseball. It was a pouting selfish move by someone who just wanted to play on the majors and that was it. Why would a player like LaStella think he’s entitled to that. Did I miss the ceremony where he won the MVP award and should be playing everyday.

LaStella’s been a career back up; never playing more than 93 games in a season. I don’t understand why a team like the Cubs in the position that they’re in even give a crybaby like this another chance. There have been some reports that LaStella will only play for the Cubs and that if he’s traded he would retire. This ties the Cubs hands even more and it’s just one more reason that LaStella should be shown the door as quickly as possible. Even for some unknown reason the Cubs where stupid enough to bring LaStella back to the major leagues; who’s going to be the guy losing at bats to him. Are you taking at bats away from your main back up in the infield Javier Baez? How about Kris Bryant? Addison Russell or even Ben Zobrist? Should these guys lose at bats to LaStella. I get it if it’s a day off here or there, but with the way Baez has played there’s really no need at all for the skill set LaStella has. It was a garbage move that LaStella pulled and I still don;t understand even though he is Temporarily Inactive that he’s even considered a member of the Chicago Cubs. Playing major league baseball is a privilege and after this stunt that Tommy LaStella pulled he doesn’t deserve that privilege. Again it’s time for the Cubs to say goodbye to LaStella and fast.  Here’s Maddon on La Stella Video

In what looks like some sad baseball news it appears that Prince Fielder’s career is over after a second neck surgery. Fielder spent 12 seasons in the majors.He spent 7 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers before signing with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent. Fielder played just 2 seasons with the Tigers before he was traded to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Ian Kinsler. Fielder was in his 3rd season with the Rangers before this neck injury sidelined him. Fielder was limited to 42 games in his first season with the Rangers due to his first neck injury. It looked like he was over it in 2015 and bounced back with a great season. Fielder hit .305 with 23 home tuns and 98 RBI’s. Fielder played in 158 games mostly as a DH (139 games), but did play 18 games at 1st base. Fielder was struggling this season hitting .212 with 8 home runs and 44 RBI’s in 89 games. Fielder is a 6-time All-Star; he also won the MVP of the 2011 All-Star game. He was voted Comeback Player of the Year for the 2015 season. Fielder finished in the Top 10 of the MVP voting on 4 occasions. In 2007 Fielder hit 50 home runs to lead baseball. 50 home runs in a season is still the Brewers all-time record. Fielder played in 1611 career games and played in all 162 games 4 times in his career. He’s a .283 career hitter and has 319 career home runs. Oddly 319 is the same number of career home runs that Prince’s father Cecil Fielder had. Fielder is still owed about $96 million on his contract and since he is retiring because of a medical issue he’ll receive the majority of that salary. It’s never the way you want to see a good player or for that matter any player go out, but Fielder did have 12 seasons in the majors to look back on.

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How was your week?

Posted: August 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I, what most NBA experts saw as a surprise, saw Russell Westbrook sign a 3-year contract extension to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Most if not all of the experts that cover the NBA expected Westbrrok to follow Kevin Durant out of Oklahoma City when his contract expired after the 2016-17 season. Even though Westbrook has a new deal there’s no guarantee that he’ll be with Oklahoma City long term. Westbrook’s new contract replaces the final year of the deal he was under. He’s also signed for the 2017-18 season and has a player option for the 2018-19 season. We see a lot of these player options in contracts now because of the escalating salary cap number. With the new contract Westbrrok gets a raise for the 2016-17 season. He was originally due to make $17,769.374 for this coming season, but under his new contract that salary jumps to $26.5 million. That will also be Westbrook’s salary for the 2017-18 season and it would also be that for the 2018-19 season if he doesn’t opt out of the contract.

Westbrook played in and started 80 games for the Thunder last season. He averages 34.4 minutes per game. He averaged 23.5 points per game, 10.4 assists per game and 7.8 rebounds per game. On average he took 18.1 shots per game, but with Durant now wearing a Golden State Warriors uniform look for that number to go up. Westbrook is a 5-time All-Star and has finished in the Top 12 of the league’s MVP voting in four of the last five seasons. With Durant gone  Oklahoma City is clearly Westbrook’s team and I expect him to take full advantage of that.  Westbrook is a triple-double waiting to happen and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him win the league MVP award in one of both of these next two seasons he’ll be under contract to the Thunder. RW’s Career Page

Oklahoma City is going to have a different look this season than in the past. Not only is Durant gone, but the Thunder traded Serge Ibaka to the Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and Domantas Sabonis on draft night. Besides getting the #11 pick Sabonis in a trade with the Magic the Thunder also made a deal with the Denver Nuggets to acquire Daniel Hamilton the 56th pick in the draft. Oklahoma City was 55-27 and the 3rd seed in the Western Conference playoffs under 1st year coach Billy Donovan. The Thunder made it all the way to the Western Conference finals where they lost to Golden State in 7 games. Even in the tough Western Conference; the lost of Durant and the trading of Ibaka the Thunder should still be a playoff team. Can they get to the conference finals again? and if they did could they find a way to get past Golden State and into the NBA Finals?

New York Yankees 1st baseman Mark Teixeira announced this week that he’ll be retiring after the 2016 season. Teixeira is 36 years old and is in his 14th major league season. He currently has 404 career home runs and is one of just five switch hitters with 400 or more career home runs. Teixeira is a 3-time All-Star and a 5-time Gold Glove winner. His best season may have been his first one with the Yankees. He hit .292 while leading the league in home runs with 39 and RBI’s with 122. He finished 2nd in the MVP voting that season to Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins. Teixeira was the 5th overall pick of the 2001 draft by the Texas Rangers. He made his major league debut April 1st of the 2003 season. Injuries have really taken it’s toll on Teixeira the last 5 seasons. He hasn’t played in more than 123 games in any of those seasons and only played 15 games in 2013 due to injury. Besides the 404 career home runs Teixeira is a career .269 hitter and has driven in 1281 runs over his 14 seasons. Tex career stats While I don’t think Teixeira has the career numbers to get into the Hall of Fame he has been with the Yankees for 8 seasons and that can help a player in the voting.

Has anyone broken out as the National League MVP to you? Before Clayton Kershaw got injured it seemed as tough he was the front runner for the award even though he’s a pitcher and it’s a cop out to vote that way. There are some contenders, but I don’t think anyone has separated themselves from the field as of yet. Daniel Murphy is having a great season for the 1st place Washington Nationals. Murphy is leading the NL with a .356 average along with 21 home runs and 81 RBI’s. With Bryce Harper having what is considered a down year Murphy has been a huge piece for the Nationals. What about Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies? Gonzalez has good numbers this season with 23 home runs, 75 RBI’s and is hitting 320. Will there be questions about his numbers because he plays in Colorado. What may hurt Gonzalez more than anything is that it doesn’t look like the Rockies will be a playoff team. Colorado is 8 games out of the NL West lead and trail by 4 games in the wild card race. It may seem odd to talk about the standings when your looking at the MVP race, but they actual matter to the people who vote for the award. Could Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers be a surprise candidate. Seager is the front runner for NL Rookie of the Year, but with his .303 batting average, 19 home runs and 51 RBI’s could MVP also be included. Seager also plays shortstop and he plays shortstop for the Dodgers. With the injury to Kershaw and some of the other issues the Dodgers have dealt with Seager may get some consideration for MVP. Don’t forget Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs. Someone on the Cubs is going to get MVP votes with the year the team is having and Bryant may be the guy. He’s currently 2nd in the NL with 26 home runs; just one behind the league lead. He has also driven in 68 runs and is hitting .284 this season. It should also be taken into consideration that Bryant has played multiple position for the best team in the NL. Bryant has played most of his games at 3rd (68 games), but has played the outfield in 57 games. He has also played 5 games at 1st base; he DH’d in 1 game and even played an inning at shortstop this season. With Kershaw out of the running for this award could the cowards that can’t make a decision on an everyday player run and hide behind another pitcher. Is there a chance they turn to another Nationls player and get behind Steven Strasburg. Strasburg is 15-1 with an ERA of 2.63 in 20 starts this season. He’s struck out 161 batters this season while walking 38 guys. He has given up 13 home runs and teams are hitting .194 against him this season. Are one of these five players the NL MVP? or is these someone else out there? If you had a ballot; who do you have a top of it?

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Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: August 3, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, NASCAR, sports, Uncategorized
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Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline ended Monday afternoon and there where a lot of players that ended up changing teams. Now I’m not going to try and breakdown every trade that happen, but I want t talk about the way the trade deadline was rated. As you know by now they either rate a team as a trade deadline winner or losers. The one team that everyone seemed to continue to jump on and make sure everyone knew they lost at the trade deadline was the Chicago White Sox. Now the White Sox did trade set up man Zach Duke to the St. Louis Cardinals for minor league outfielder Charlie Tilson. This deal was not enough for the experts or anyone breaking down the trade deadline moves and the White Sox got the brunt of it.

The reason the White Sox where being considered the biggest loser at the trade deadline is the fact that they didn’t trade starting pitcher Chris Sale. This of course is just a huge joke. Sale is one of the top pitchers in baseball and to trade him you’d have to get quite a bit in return. There’s no way the White Sox should’ve traded Sale anywhere unless they could’ve gotten 5 prospects Double-A or higher who are major league ready. Now you’re really limiting which teams you can deal with by handling it that way, but you have to get value if you’re going to move a talent like Sale. So the White Sox couldn’t get a deal done for Sale and I don’t know why it’s such a bad thing for them to hold on to him.

The White Sox are 51-55 and find themselves 10 games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. They are 7 1/2 games out of a wild card spot, but they have 5 teams they’d need to jump to get one of those spots. It’s starting to look like the White Sox will not be a playoff team; so it’s a viable option to deal Sale, but if and only if your asking price is met. Sake is just 27 years old. He is 14-4 with an ERA of 3.17 in 20 starts. He has 3 complete games this season with 1 of them being a shutout. He has placed in the Top 6 of the Cy Young voting the last 5 seasons and he’s sure to end up there again. He led the American League in strikeouts last season and is currently 2nd this season with 133 strikeouts. So Sale is the best player on the White Sox and would easily bring the most in return if traded, but since the White Sox didn’t trade him they’re losers.

How about a team that is 10 games under .500 at 48-58. They’re 13 1/2 games out in their division and 10 games out of a wild card spot. Now this team didn’t trade it’s best player and they could’ve gotten a lot in return for him maybe even more than the White Sox would’ve gotten for Sale, but I didn’t hear this team lambasted like the White Sox where and put into the loser bracket. Why did no one jump up and down on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for not trading Mike Trout? Aren’t the Angels farther away from competing than the White Sox are and couldn’t a rebuild really get started by dealing Trout for a boat load of prospects. Let’s keep looking for another team.

How about the 43-64 Arizona Diamondbacks. They are probably the most disappointing team in baseball this season. Now they paid big, big money for Zack Greinke in the off season and they also have Paul Goldschmidt on their team. Even though the Diamondbacks are going nowhere this season Greinke and Goldschmidt are still both with the Diamondbacks. It was just laughable that the White Sox where expected to move Sale, but these other under performing teams aren’t expected to move their best players to fix there teams. Are these guys just upset because Sale had that clubhouse freak out and cut up those throw back uniforms and that’s why he has to be moved. Either that or they where secretly rooting for Sale to be dealt to a team they want to see win and he could be the piece that puts them over the top. Anyway the guys breaking down the trade deadline where way, way out of line putting the White Sox where they did and expecting them to just more or less give away a top pitcher in baseball. Stupidity just plain and simple stupidity.

On Sunday the NASCAR race was postponed do to weather and moved to Monday. There where just 21 laps left when the Monday race had to be red flagged because of fog with rookie Chris Buescher in the lead. Buescher had to wait 80 minutes as the NASCAR officials decided what to do. With threats of severe weather and no lifting of the fog, NASCAR decided to end the race and Buescher had his very 1st Sprint Cup victory. Buescher along with 3rd place finisher Regan Smith hadn’t made their final pit stops when the caution flag came out for that fog at lap 132.  The drivers stayed on the track under caution for 7 laps as NASCAR decided to throw the red flag at lap 139. While there was some rain in the area the majority of the drivers pitted either because they needed fuel or because they thought the race would go longer. No one could predict the fog rolling in and ending the race. Buescher became the first rookie to win a Sprint Cup race since Joey Logano did it in 2009. What can be considered an odd win for Buescher had to use an odd Victory Lane. They moved Victory Lane into the garage since NASCAR couldn’t use the real Victory Lane because of the threat of lightning. While Buescher did get the win he hasn’t yet qualified for The Chase for the Sprint Cup. Buescher sits six points behind 30th-place David Ragan in the Sprint Cup standings. A driver has to be in the top 30 to qualify for the Chase via a race victory. Buescher has 5 races to make up those 6 points and get himself into the Top 30 in points and qualify for The Chase. NASCAR Schedule

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How Was Your Week?

Posted: July 30, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is tomorrow July 31st. After that teams will still be able to make trades, but for a player to be traded he’ll have to go through the waiver process. From my understanding waivers woks more or less like this. A team places a player or players on waivers and every team has a chance to claim them. The teams with the worst records get the first chance all the way to the team with the best record. If a player clears waivers meaning no one claimed him he’s free to be traded to any team in baseball. If a player is claimed by another team his current team has a couple of choices. They can actually just turn him and his contract over to the team that claimed him and he’s theirs.  They can also try to work out a trade with the team that claimed him, but only that team is allowed to make a trade for him. Or they can just pull that claimed player off waivers and keep him. 

Some years teams have put their entire roster through waivers; so don’t be surprised if some bigger names with bigger contracts not only be put on waivers, but make it through the process. We’re not past the trade deadline yet, but I’m not so sure we’re going to get the flurry of activity that a lot of experts where predicting. There was a big 7 player deal yesterday along with a good old fashion one for one trade as well. Let’s take a look at who went where.

The San Diego Padres found a new home for Andrew Cashner. Cashner along with pitcher Colin Rea and minor league pitcher  Tayron Guerrero  where traded to the Miami Marlins for pitcher Jarred Cosart, who at 26 will be joining his 4th teams. Along with Cozaart the Padres received relief pitcher Carter Capps. Capps had Tommy John surgery after injuring his arm in spring training and won’t pitch this season. San Diego also gets minor league Luis Castillo and the Marlins 2015 1st round pick the 12th selection overall in the draft 1st baseman Josh Naylor.  As I’m sure you can guess since the Marlins move a top prospect all the experts went nuts over this deal for San Diego, but lets see what they received.

Miami needed a solid back of the rotation starter and Cashner certainly fits that bill. Cashner was 4-7 with a 4.76 ERA in 16 starts for the Padres. With Wei-Yin Chin just going on the disabled list Cashner will slot into the 3rd spot of the Miami rotation behind Jose Fernandez and Adam Conley. Cashner won’t eat a ton of innings for you and you’ll probably only get 5 or 6 innings per start out of him, but with the better defense behind him in Miami he can keep them in games. Will Rea be a starter for the Marlins or is he headed to the bullpen?  With the Chin injury Tom Koehler and Jose Urena are pitching in the 4th and 5th rotation spot for Miami Could Rea take one of those spots until Chin returns? Or will he go straight to the bullpen as a long man? 26 years old Rea, appeared in 19 games for the Padres this season making 18 starts. He was 5-5 with an ERA of 4.98 this season. Guerrero is a 6’8 25 year old right handed pitcher who has appeared in just 1 game pitching 2 innings in the major leagues. Guerrero has split time between Double and Triple-A this season. He appeared in a combined 32 minor league games, all in relief. He was 0-3 with an ERA of 5.30 in the minors this season. So it looks like the Marlins got a major league starting pitcher along with possibly a second starting pitcher plus a bullpen arm.

San Diego was looking to get young and rebuild a team that tried to go for it last season. Cosart was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies before being sent to the Houston Astros as part of the Hunter Pence trade. The Astros traded him to the Marlins at the 2014 trade deadline and now the Marlins have sent him to San Diego. Cosart has spent most of this season at Triple-A doe Miami. He has made 4 starts this season going 0-1 with an ERA of 5.95. Cosart is just 26 years old and it will be interesting to see if San Diego gives him the time to try and develop the skills that made him a Top 100 prospect early in his career. The injured Capps is an interesting piece t this deal and not only because he was dealt while being hurt. Capps started to break out last season and  there was quite a bit of controversial about his unorthodox delivery. There are even questions of the legality of Capps’ delivery and that came into question on multiple occasions in 2015. Capps appeared in 30 games in 2015 going 1-0, but posting an ERA Of 1.16. Over 31 innings he struck out 58 and walked just 7 posting a WHIP of 0.806. Capps could be a future closer for the Padres as long as MLB doesn’t make a ruling that would change his delivery. Castillo is a 23 year old minor league pitcher who was in High Class-A for Miami. He appeared in 20 games making 18 starts and has a record of 7-3 with an ERA of 2.25. Castillo has hit 100 mph on the radar gun this season.  If he doesn’t work out as a starter maybe he goes to the bullpen as a power arm. 

The Top prospect Naylor being included in this deal is what caught all the experts attention. As you know you’re NEVER supposed to trade your prospects. Naylor was the 12th overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Marlins. At just 19 years old he has made it to Class-A in the South Atlantic League. In 89 games Naylor is hitting .269 with 9 home runs and 54 RBI’s He also has 24 doubles and has stolen 10 bases even though that wasn’t suppose to be part of his game. Naylor’s stats at mid-season Baseball America included Naylor in their Top 100 prospect list. At just 19 years old we may be waiting a few years to see how this trade actually plays out.

The other trade saw the Minnesota Twins send infielder Eduardo Nunez to the San Francisco Giants for minor league left-hander Adalberto Mejia. Nunez is a shortstop by trade, but can also play 3rd, 2nd and even some outfield. He seems exactly like the type of player the Giants would add. Nunez appeared in 90 games for the Twins this season; 51 at 2nd base, 33 at 3rd base and 6 as a DH. Nunez hit .296 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI’s along with 27 stolen bases for Minnesota. He’s on his way to setting career highs in all three of those categories and don’t forget he made his 1st All-Star team this season. With 3rd baseman Matt Duffy still out with an injury and 2nd baseman Joe Panik just returning from the disabled list it gives Giants manager Bruce Bochy some flexibility on the roster. Mejia is 23 years old and has split time between Double and Triple-A this season. Combined he is 7-3 with an ERA of 2.81. He had better success at Double-A (1.94 ERA) then he has at Triple-A )4.20 ERA) so far. He made 18 starts covering 105 2/3rd innings this season. Mejia is projected as a back of the rotation starter and if he reaches that this could end up being one of those trades where people say it helped both teams.

Will we see a big move before the trade deadline is still the question. Will players like Jay Bruce, Jonathan LuCroy or possible an Andrew Miller find new teams soon? Some of these names we’ve heard all season long and they’re still with the team they started the season with. So let me know; who makes the move?  

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 27, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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I really use to have an interest in inter-league play. Remember I said use to. Inter-league play is just a shell of it’s former self and a lot of the time I don’t even notice that a series is an inter-league match up until it’s over. I always wanted to know who was going to DH for a National League team and watching the American League pitcher bat could be entertaining. Now there’s an inter-league series pretty much everyday and it’s really just taken the luster off of it. This week we have the Chicago teams matching up in what they call the Crosstown Cup. At least I think that’s what they’re calling it now. To me now it’s just a 4-game series between two teams. Is there anyone out there that still is interested in an inter-league series or are you like me and it’s just another series in a 162 game season. I would love to get your point of view on inter-league play. Are you like me and you’re no longer interested because of the oversaturation of games or is there another reason you’re down on inter-league play. Also if you’re on the other side and you still enjoy inter-league play let me know why you still enjoy watching it. Feel free to leave your comments here or e-mail me SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com.

As NFL teams get ready to open camp one of the biggest question still out there is; who’s going to be the New York Jets quarterback. Last seasons starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets remain stalemated in contract negotiations as training camp opens on Wednesday. The sides have not talked about a contract recently and remain far apart. The Jets and Fitzpatrick appear to be far apart on what Fitzpatrick’s value is. In February, the Jets offered Fitzpatrick a three year, $24 million dollar contract, according to sources. It included $12 million in the first year, but only $6 million in each of the last two years. Fitzpatrick is 33 and made $3.25 million last season. He ended up having his best season as a pro. He threw for a career-high 3,905 yards and a Jets team record 31 touchdowns against 15 interceptions. The Jets went 10-6 last season after going 4-12 in the 2014 season. If not Fitzpatrick then who. Geno Smith appears to be the first quarterback in line. Smith appeared in one game last season going 27 for 42. He threw two touchdowns and one interception while throwing for 265 yards. Bryce Petty was drafted in the 4th round of the 2015 draft; so could he be an option at quarterback. The Jets also have this years 2nd round draft pick Christian Hackenburg in camp; so is there a chance that he might win the job. The Jets have stated that they don’t expect Hackenburg to be the teams starting quarterback, but if Fitzpatrick and the Jets can’t come to a contract agreement you’d think they’d go with whichever quarterback gives them the best chance to win. Who’s the Jets starting quarterback Week 1?

Amar’e Stoudemire signed a contract with the New York Knicks so he could announce his retirement as a member of the Knicks. Stoudemire came into the NBA straight out of high school. He was the 9th pick in the 1st round by the Phoenix Suns and went on to win the Rookie of the Year award with the Suns. Stoudemire averaged 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds in 846 career games over 14 seasons for Phoenix, New York, Dallas and Miami. The 6-foot-10 forward/center was named an All-Star six times and selected to two All-NBA first teams. In Phoenix Stoudemire teamed with Steve Nash to form a formidable pick and roll tandem. Stoudemire may go play overseas. He has lucrative interest from China or he could join Hapoel Jerusalem, which is the Israeli team he co-owns. Stoudemire spent 8 seasons with the Suns. 4 1/2 seasons with the Knicks. He spent half of the 2014-15 season with the Dallas Mavericks and he played 52 games last season for the Miami Heat.

We’ve had a couple of deals in baseball this week. The Cubs made a big move and acquired relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees for pitcher Adam Warren and three minor league prospects. They Yankees received minor league shortstop Gleyber Torres, minor league outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford. Both Torres and McKinney are Top 100 rated prospects. Warren was trade by the Yankees to the Cubs last off season for 2nd baseman Starlin Castro, but Warren struggled to find a spot with the Cubs and had just been optioned to Triple-A Iowa before being sent back to New York. Chapman will be a free agent at the end of the season and had express interest in signing an extension wit the Yankees while he was there; so could he return in the off season? Chapman should solidify the back end of a Cubs bullpen that has had some issues this season. The other deal saw the San Diego Padres send outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. to the Toronto Blue Jays for Hansel Rodriguez a 19 year old right handed pitcher. Upton value increased this season. His batting average was just .256 with the Padres, but he’s hit 16 home runs and had driven in 45 runs. Upton has also stolen 20 bases this season. The Blue Jays did make another deal as they swapped relievers with the Seattle Mariners. Toronto had designated relief pitcher Drew Storen for assignment over the weekend and they where able to work out a deal with the Mariners to send Storen and cash considerations to Seattle for relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit. Details There are quite a few rumors out there and we’ll have to see which teams are going to make moves and which teams are just talking about making moves. Will the teams that are rebuilding like the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves or the Minnesota Twins start to deal some players as we move closer to the trade deadline?

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Destination October

Posted: July 24, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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The San Francisco Giants won for the first time in seven games, Saturday against the New York Yankees, taking the second game of the three-game series, 2-1, in twelve innings. Johnny Cueto hurled six innings of one-run ball (the run was unearned) and the bullpen matched him, while rookie Mac Williamson drove in both San Francisco runs.
After dropping the opener Friday night, when Williamson committed an eighth-inning error, leading to the Yankees’ third run, the Giants managed to regroup and finally snap out of their post-All-Star funk. Their six-game losing streak is the longest of the season, and if it weren’t for the Los Angeles Dodgers also encountering some technical difficulties, it could be worse. 
The Giants maintain their four-game lead as the Dodgers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2, Saturday.
The Giants (58-39) and Chicago Cubs (58-38) remain on a collision-course for a confrontation in October. Though they have almost identical records, the journey to get to this point in the season, has been quite different for these two competitive clubs.
The Cubs blasted off to an incredible 25-6 record during the first six weeks of the season, while the Giants were merely mortal at 16-15. However, as the hare was to discover, speed is not necessarily the optimum approach. Best keep in mind that the race will be won not so much by the swift as by the durable.

Whereas the Giants have proven less than durable with a multitude of injuries, their relief corps has been stellar. Now with Hunter Pence, Ehire Adrianza and Joe Panik rehabbing and Matt Duffy only one or two more days away from beginning his own rehab stint, the team is gearing up for a second-half crusade.

The Cubs saw Dexter Fowler return to the lineup in style, hammering a home run in his first at-bat, and he has helped balance some of the low spots created by extended slumps from a couple of key players, Ben Zobrist and Justin Heyward.
The team is also activating Joe Nathan, 41, returning from Tommy John surgery, and this can’t help but strengthen the club. 

If we go back thirty games, we find the Cubs at 46-20 and the Giants at 40-26. Since then Chicago is 14-18 (43.75%) while San Francisco is 18-13 (56.25%). A big reason for that difference has to do with Chicago’s starting pitching during this period.

Over the last thirty games, Jake Arrieta is 1-2 with a 6.17 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP; Jason Hammel is 2-2 with a 5.88 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP; John Lackey is 0-4 with a 6.38 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP; and Jon Lester is 1-1 with a 6.86 ERA and a WHIP of 1.42. 

Of course, there is Kyle Hendricks and his 4-0 record with a minuscule ERA of 0.57 and 1.09 WHIP.

San Francisco’s pitching stats are not stellar over the same period but they reflect a consistency that has not varied dramatically, as is the case with the Cubs’ rotation. Of course it goes without saying that all players are going to have ups and downs over a full season, but the simultaneous struggles of four-fifths of the Chicago rotation, bears mentioning.

Most likely we are looking at a blip on the radar of a long, grueling season. With a six-and-one-half game lead over the Cards, the Cubs do have a small cushion upon which to rest, before they have to start getting nervous. 

The Giants have a four-game lead over the Dodgers, who just learned that their ace pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, has suffered a set-back in his bid to rehab from lower back issues.

The bottom line is that injuries and slumps are all a part of the game, and a team’s ability to handle this type of adversity will often determine its degree of success. 

Both of these clubs have experienced giddying heights to their respective seasons, to accompany the low points. Both teams are looking at the approaching trade deadline with great interest.

Chicago is said to be looking at Josh Reddick of the Oakland A’s, while also contemplating a Kyle Schwarber-for-Andrew Miller trade. The Giants are rumored to be interested in Boone Logan and even Carlos Beltran, while also checking out the aforementioned Andrew Miller, along with his teammate, Aroldis Chapman.

History has proven how impactful a key acquisition can be, and you should expect that this year will be no different. With almost identical records, both the Cubs and Giants have a little over a third of the season to refine their lineups and prepare for postseason-play.

See you in the NLCS.

Mark ONeill

How was your week?

Posted: July 23, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, Uncategorized
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Derrick Rose is a member of the New York Knicks. Now I’m not sure if Knicks fans should take Rose’s last interview as confidence in his new team or if he needs to be drug tested. Rose implied that the Knicks are a “super team” in the same class as the Golden State Warriors. Rose never specifically says who has put the Knicks in that class and uses terms like “some people” and “they’re” when mentioning who has the Knicks in that class. Golden State set a record for regular season wins with 73. The Warriors went to the NBA Finals for the second season in a row. After winning the NBA title in 2014-15 season they did lose last seasons finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers. So what did the Warriors do to try and help ensure a trip back to the NBA Finals. They signed the top free agent on the market Kevin Durant. Last season the Knicks won 32 games and didn’t qualify for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Now besides Rose the Knicks have added Brandon Jennings to back up Rose, Joakim Noah and Courtney Lee in free agency. Rose, Noah and Lee should join Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis in the Knicks starting line up. While it looks like a solid starting line up for the Knicks and Jennings can score off the bench I think Rose may have put up too high of expectations for his new team. If the Knicks are going to get anywhere close to the “super team” rose has said they would be, he’ll have to stay healthy and play close to the form that won him the NBA MVP award in 2010-11. Rose played in and started 66 games for the Chicago Bulls last season. Those where the most games he’s played in since his MVP season. Rose’s scoring average fell to 16.4 points per game last season. Rose has never been a great shooter especially from behind the 3-point line. 29.3% last season and for his career he’s shot 30.2% from behind the 3-point line. Are the Knicks a super team? I’m not so sold on that, but they should improve on the 32 win team they where last season and may find their way into the Eastern Conference playoffs next season. Derrick Rose Stats

It’s that time in the baseball season where everyone is trading everyone to everybody. Outside of the talk there was actually a trade this week as the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago Cubs came to an agreement on a 4-player deal. The Mariners sent left handed pitcher Mike Montgomery and and minor league right hander Jordan Pries to the Cubs for minor league 1st baseman Dan Vogelbach and and right handed minor league pitcher Paul Blackburn.

Montgomery will give the Cubs some immediate help out of the bullpen. Montgomery has appeared in 32 games for the Mariners; 2 of them being starts. He has and ERA of 2.34 on the season. Lefties are hitting just .164 against Montgomery this season. Pries is a 26 year old pitcher who was pitching in Triple-A for the Mariners before the trade. He was 2-1 with an ERA of 3.85 in 7 games. Pries has spent 6 seasons in the minors and is 40-24 with an ERA of 4.41. He’s appeared in 109 career games with 93 of those as a starting pitcher.

Vogelbach was moved up to Triple-A for the Cubs. He got just 32 at bats there and was hitting just.125. Vogelbach has spent 6 seasons in the minors. He is a career .281 hitter and has 60 home runs. Vogelbach was blocked at 1st base with the Cubs by Anthony Rizzo; so turning him into a solid bullpen piece was a smart move. Reports have also said that Vogelbach is a below average defender. Now in the American League he’ll be able to spend time as a DH. Blackburn was one of the top rated pitchers in the Cubs  organization.  Blackburn is 22 years old and has been pitching in Double-A for the Cubs. He’s made 18 starts and is 6-4 with a 3.17 ERA. Over 102 1/3rd innings Blackburn has 72 strikeouts to 26 walks.

This looks like a deal that could benefit both teams. The Cubs needed bullpen help especially left handed bullpen help. Montgomery should supply that for the Cubs and down the road there’s a chance he could move into the starting rotation, but right now his value is in the bullpen for a World Series contender. The Mariners find themselves 4 1/2 games out of the wild card and the A.L. West lead. While it’s a reasonable total and the Mariners could move up they have to jump 4 teams to get a wild card spot and that’s a lot even with 66 games left in the season. Being that the Mariners got prospects you just never know, but Vogelbach has hit at every level and will get a shot in the majors with Seattle. Blackburn is young and has good numbers, but you just never know as a pitcher. We might have to wait and see how this deal turns out for Seattle.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed the #1 overall pick in the draft Austin Matthews to a 3-year entry level contract. Matthews 18-year old from Scottsdale, Arizona, immediately became the face of the Maple Leafs’ franchise when they selected him first in last month’s draft. Matthews deal includes the maximum entry level salary of $925,000 per year plus potential bonuses that could add up to an average annual value of $3,775,000. Matthews says he will spend most of the summer at home in Arizona, preparing for the season and the World Cup of Hockey, where he will play for the North American under-23 team in September. The Leafs also signed 23- year old forward Josh Leivo to a two-year contract. Leivo was a third round pick in the 2011 draft. The Maple Leafs are coming off a season where they won 29 games and accumulated 69 points. The 18-year old Matthews and the 23-year old Leivo are part of Toronto’s youth movement as they try to rebuild their team. Will it be enough to get the Maple Leafs into the playoffs or are they still a year away from making there?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: July 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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So the rumors started yesterday that the Los Angeles Dodgers are seriously interested in trading Yasiel Puig. We heard these same rumors last season, but Puig is still with the Dodgers. Is this the season the Dodgers deal him? While it seems as though he’s been around longer this is just Puig’s 4th season in the majors and he is just 25 years old. Remember Puig came out of the gate like a sure fire superstar. Puig came in and played 104 games in 2013. He hit .319 with 19 home runs and 42 RBI’s and added 11 stolen bases. There are some people out there who have identified him as the Rookie of the Year, but he actually finished 2nd to Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins. Puig also picked up some MVP votes that season and finished 15th in that voting. In 2014 Puig played 148 games hitting .296 with 16 home runs and 69 RBI’s and making his first All-Star team. He also picked up some MVP votes after that season and finished 19th in the voting. Puig was injured for much of the 2015 season. He played in just 79 games. He hit .255 with 11 home runs and had 38 RBI’s. The Dodgers where hoping a healthy Puig would bounce back t numbers more like his first two seasons, but he hasn’t. In 76 games Puig is hitting .256 with 7 home runs and 32 RBI’s this season. If the Dodgers do find a taker for Puig; which player will they get? Let’s take a look at some landing spots for Puig.

How about the New York Yankees? Take it easy Yankees fans I don’t think you’ll be getting Aroldis Chapman for Puig, but there are some options for these teams to deal. A more likely trade that could happen between these two teams is Puig for Carlos Beltran. Beltran is 39 years old, but is having a good season. He’s hitting .301 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI’s. If Clayton Kershaw’s return is pushed back with his injury the Dodgers are going to have to find a way to stay in contention for a wild card spot and adding some offense might help. Beltran has been able to stay healthy this season and has appeared in 88 games this season for the Yankees. Another plus for the Dodgers is Beltran is in the last year of his contract and with the young outfielders they have in their system he won’t be in the way. Beltran is owed about $8 million for the rest of this season while Puig is under contract for two more years at $7 million apiece. It’s two teams with plenty of money; so swapping salaries shouldn’t be an issue. The Dodgers could get some offensive help to put between Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez while the Yankees can get a young outfielder they can build around.

Another possible landing spot for Puig could be the rebuilding Atlanta Braves. It might sound odd to some people as the Braves are on their way to losing 100 plus games this season and possibly next season as well. It would actually give the Braves a chance t look at Puig and decide if he could be part of their rebuilding as his contract was coming to an end after the 2018 season. If so they could try to resign him or if not they could just let him go into free agency. The tough part would be figuring out what the Braves could send back in return. I don’t think the Dodgers would be interested in Nick Markakis. With the Braves rebuilding they’d want to hang on to their young players. Could the Braves out together a package featuring someone like Chase D’Arnaud or Jace Peterson with a pitcher or two thrown in be enough to get the Dodgers to send them Puig. It’s a deal that the Braves need to look into the question will be can they find a player or players that would interest the Dodgers enough to trade them Puig.

Could another rebuilding team like the Milwaukee Brewers be a team that could step up and tried to add Puig. It could be an easy deal if the Dodgers where willing to accept Ryan Braun and what’s left of his contract for Puig. Braun is signed through 2020 with an option for 20121. He’ll receive $20 million next season and in 2018, $19 million in 2019, $17 million in 2020 with a $15 million dollar option for 2021. Braun is 32 years old and it seems as though his power has been in decline. While Braun is still a home run threat he’s not the same player who hit 41 home runs in  2012. In 77 games this season Braun is hitting .313 with 13 home runs and 44 RBI’s. If the Brewers are going to truly rebuild they need to find a way to move Braun’s contract and this could be the answer they’ve been looking for. The issue may be will the Dodgers who have some talented young outfielders be willing to tie themselves down with Braun until 2020. Don’t forget that the Dodgers are going to be paying off Carl Crawford’s contract for the next couple of seasons.

Let’s reach out for one more team here and add the Toronto Blue Jays to the list of teams that could be a good spot for Puig. Jose Batista is injured and in the last year of his contract. Don’t forget that Batista is looking for a big payday at the end of the season and adding Puig could allow the Blue Jays to let Batista walk. Edwin Encarnacion is also in the last year of his contract and has been recruited by David Ortiz to sing with the Boston Red Sox and take over his role with them next season.  At 25 Puig along with Devon Travis would be the youngest player on the Blue Jays roster. The difficult part again here is finding someone to send back to Los Angeles in a deal. Ezequiel Carrera has had a solid season for the Blue Jays; so maybe they could add him into a deal with a young pitcher like Drew Hutchinson and a couple of bullpen pieces for Puig. This is the tough part about making a deal. While it looks as though Puig would be a good fit for the Blue Jays and their future it’s difficult to fin the right set of players to send back to the Dodgers to make a deal.

There are four interesting options for Yasiel Puig. Do the Dodgers finally go through with their plan to deal Puig or will he still be there at the end of the season? Remember this is a different front office talking about trading Puig this time; so maybe he ends up being dealt this time. Would you like to see your favorite team acquire Puig? Or do you have a better landing spot than the four I picked for him. If you do let me know.

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How was your Week?

Posted: July 16, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Yesterday (Friday) was the last day for NFL teams to sign players they had placed the Franchise Tag on to long term deals. If a deal couldn’t be reached then the player would go through the 2016 season playing for what the Franchise Tag ranks his position at. If I remember correctly it’s the average of the Top 5 salaries at the position. One player who looked like he wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement with his team and even threatened to sit out the entire season was Von Miller of the Denver Broncos. Miller won the Super Bowl MVP award and until yesterday was unable to come to contract terms with the Broncos. Apparently Miller was so unhappy he even cropped Broncos General Manager John Elway out of a photo he posted on social media. Yesterday the Broncos and Miller agreed to 6 year $114.5 million dollar deal with $70 million dollars in the deal being guaranteed. This deal makes Miller the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history based on guaranteed money, as well as the highest-paid player in Denver franchise history.It’s being reported that Miller gets a $23 million signing bonus and $42 million guaranteed at signing, $61 million guaranteed after the first year and $70 million guaranteed after the second year of the deal. The guaranteed money was the biggest hurdle the two sides needed to clear to get the deal done. A lot of the big money contracts handed out to defensive players haven’t really worked out. Just ask the Miami Dolphins about Ndamukong Suh’s contract. It’s a big time deal for a Super Bowl MVP so now he has to play up to it.

Miller wasn’t the only player to receive a new contract yesterday. The Baltimore Ravens agreed to terms wit their kicker Justin Tucker on a 4 year $16.8 million dollar deal. Tucker’s deal includes $10.8 million fully guaranteed, with a $6 million signing bonus. The New York Jets and defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson reach a contract agreement yesterday. Wilkerson’s deal is for 5 years and $86 million dollars. The deal also includes . $36.75 million of the deal guaranteed at signing. The contract also  includes a $15 million signing bonus. The contract, which averages $17.2 million per season, also includes an injury guarantee of $53.5 million. The Oakland Raiders signed cornerback David Amerson to a 4 year contract extension worth a maximum value of $38 million dollars. Amerson wasn’t a Franchise player for the Raiders, but they still worked out a contract extension with him.

There where four players who didn’t agree to new deals with their teams and can no longer negotiate long term deals again until after the season. Each is tied to his team for one year on a franchise player price. Those four players are; Kirk Cousins, quarterback Washington Redskins. Eric Berry, safety Kansas City Chiefs. Alshon Jeffery, wide receiver Chicago Bears and Trumaine Johnson, cornerback Los Angeles Rams. In a few of these cases it may actual be in the teams best interest to have these guys player under the Franchise Tag for a season. There are still plenty of questions about Cousins as a quarterback and now the Redskins get a chance to look at him for one more season before deciding if they want to make a long term commitment to him. There are a lot of experts who think Jeffery is a #1 receiver in the NFL, but he’s had his share of injuries. The Bears now have the entire season to see if he can stay healthy and be their top receiver. Berry returned to the Chiefs after going through treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma 2014. After being declared cancer free, Berry came back for the 2015 season and was named to the Pro Bowl, the AP All-Pro team, and was named the 2015 AP Comeback Player of the Year. While it’s not the happy ending to the story that people will want; it’s not a bad idea for the Chiefs to let Berry play under the Franchise Tag and make sure he stays healthy. Johnson led the Rams with 7 interceptions last season. He had never had more than 3 in any season before 2015 and I don’t believe the Rams had any injury concerns with Johnson. It may have been more of a case of him having his best season in 2015 and the Rams may want to see if he can repeat that or if it was an anomaly.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss this week’s NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway because of concussion like symptoms. Earnhardt Jr. mentioned he wasn’t feeling well going into last weeks races in Kentucky, but thought it might be a sinus infection or allergies. After the medication that Earnhardt Jr. was given by a family doctor didn’t help he met with a neurological specialist. After that evaluation was done it was decided that it would be best for Earnhardt Jr. to sit out this week. Now there is no timetable for Earnhardt Jr’s return and this maybe end up being more than a one race absence. Remember Earnhardt Jr. missed two Sprint Cup Series races in the 2012 season after suffering two concussions in a six week stretch. It’s a difficult time for Earnhardt Jr. too miss, but it’s better for him to sit out than try to drive with those symptoms. Earnhardt Jr. currently sits 13th overall in the driver standings, but does not have a win. Depending on how many races he’ll have to sit out there’s a chance that Earnhardt Jr. will fall out of The Chase. Alex Bowman is going to fill in for Earnhardt Jr. in the #88 car for the New Hampshire race. Bowman drives part-time for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. JR Motorsports is owned by Earnhardt Jr. It was announced yesterday that if Earnhardt Jr. is going to be out for the July 24th race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Jeff Gordon will take the wheel of the #88 car as the fill in driver. This type of injury will be a day by day thing to deal with and hopefully it won’t keep Earnhardt Jr. out to long. Of course it’s better to wait and make sure he’s 100 % before he gets back behind the wheel. There;s no reason for him to put his life at risk or possibly something happening to another driver. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 with an average speed of 133.971 m.p.h. Johnson will share the front row with Kyle Busch who’ll start 2nd. Martin Truex Jr starts 3rd while Kyle’s brother Kurt Busch is starting 4th. Denny Hamlin starts 5th to round out the Top 5.   

 The Big Jack Follow me on Twitter!

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Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: July 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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On Monday Tim Duncan retired from the NBA after 19 seasons. Now after a career like Duncan’s you might expect a little fanfare to announce his retirement. There was no gigantic goodbye press conference called. There was no cool Instagram video posted. There was no picture on Twitter making the announcement. As a matter of fact I don;t think social media was involved in making the announcement at all. So how did Duncan go out; the San Antonio Spurs out out a simple press release announcing his retirement. It’s almost the way you’d expect Duncan to go out. While Duncan wasn’t looking for the spotlight as he was retiring and didn’t seem interested on having one more retirement type season, but after the career he had if he would’ve wanted that who could’ve blamed him.

San Antonio selected Duncan with the #1 pick in the 1997 draft. Duncan entered the NBA after winning 3 player of the year awards in college. He was named AP Player of the Year, Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year and he also won the John R. Wooden Award. Duncan then went on to win the 1997-98 NBA Rookie of the Year award. That was just the start of the awards that Duncan would win throughout his career. He won 5 NBA Championships with the Spurs and was named Finals MVP. 3 times. He won 2 NBA MVP. awards and he did it in back to back seasons; 2001-02 and 2002-03. Besides winning the MVP twice Duncan finished in the Top 5 of the voting 9 other times. Duncan also made 15 All-Star teams and was named MVP of the 1999-00 game. Duncan played in 1392 games; he averaged 19.0 points per game, 10.8 rebounds per game and 3.0 assists per game while playing an average of 34 minutes a game. Duncan should go down as one of the best to every play the game and I’ve even heard some experts mention he should be in the Top 5 all-time. One of the things I found more interesting about Duncan’s 19 year career was the fact that he played all 19 of those seasons with one team and he had the same head coach Gregg Popovich for all 19 of those seasons. By comparison Kobe Bryant just wrapped up a 20 year NBA career that saw him play for 10 different head coaches. That begs the question; will we ever see a player with this long of a career play for just one head coach?

Now there is no better All-Star game than the Major League Baseball All-Star game. It’s far and away the closet to the actual game that is played during the regular season. While the National Hockey League did improve their game last season and it was a lot more watchable than it had been. Of course it is a three on three game and it’s different than what they do in the regular season. The National Football League Pro-Bowl is a huge joke. In a way it’s almost understandable. Football is a very physical game and the last thing a team or even a fan base needs is for it’s Pro-Bowl player to get injured going all out in an All-Star game. The biggest joke out of all the All-Star games has to be the fiasco the National Basketball Association puts on. There is absolutely no defense played and you have to believe sooner or later we’re going to see an NBA All-Star team score 200 points in the game. Baseball is so different because it’s difficult to fake. In the other All-Star games you can make it look like you’re trying without really trying. In baseball though there’s still a pitcher on the mound and unless he’s willing to serve one up t the hitter and make himself look bad he’s going to pitch to that batter like it’s a regular game. Ever now and then you get a blowout in the MLB All-Star game, but the majority of the time you get a close well played game like last nights.

Tuesday on the Sports Time Radio podcast Dan the Man selected the National League  to win the All-Star game. Of course we know by now that he was on the wrong side of that pick as the American League  picked up a 4-2 victory to claim home field advantage in the World Series. What I still don’t know and I haven’t been able to find out is; why was the NL the visitors? I thought for sure with the game being played at Petco Park in San Diego that the NL would be the home team. I’ll have to do a little more research and try to figure it out. Now the NL got off t a quick start as Kris Bryant hit a solo home run in the Top of the 1st off of Chris Sale to give the NL a quick 1-0 lead. The A.L. turned it around in the bottom of the 2nd inning getting a solo home run by Eric Hosmer to tie the score and then a two-run home run by Salvador Perez put the AL up 3-1 and it turned out to be a lead they would relinquish. Hosmer and Perez both hit their home runs off of their former teammate Johnny Cueto. The AL added a run in the Bottom of the 3rd inning. David Ortiz drew a walk and then Edwin Encarnacion came into to run for him and allow Ortiz to walk off the field to a big crowd reaction in his last All-Star game. Xander Bogaerts doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd for the AL It was Hosmer again who came through for the AL with a single to left field off of Jose Fernandez to bring Encarnacion home and put the AL up 4-1. The NL did get a run back in the Top of the 4th inning. Buster Posey drew a one out walk. Anthony Rizzo singled moving Posey to 3rd base. Marcel Ozuna singled to center off of Aaron Sanchez to drive in Posey and cut the AL lead to 4-2. The NL got 10 hits in the game with Daniel Murphy being the only guy with 2 hits. The AL got 8 hits in the game with Hosmer and Jackie Bradley Jr. each getting 2 hits. The AL used 10 pitchers in the game with Corey Kluber getting the win and Zach Britton picking up a save. The NL used 9 pitchers in the game with Cueto being the pitcher who took the loss. Hosmer was voted the games MVP.

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