Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category

Blue Jays ahead

Posted: October 25, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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The Toronto Blue Jays season ended Friday night with a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. It was Toronto’s first playoff appearance since 1993 and it ended the longest drought by any team of not making the playoffs. As the Blue Jays look to the 2016 season you have to wonder what they’ll look like.

Team President Paul Beeson had announced that he planned on retiring at the end of the 2015 season and Mark Shapiro has been hired to take his place. Shapiro has been a member of the Indians front office since 1991, serving as GM for the 2002-2010 seasons and then being promoted to president prior to the 2011 season. Even though the Blue Jays had a 93-69 season and won the American League East a new President may want his own people with him. Everything points to General Manager Alex Anthopoulos returning next season you can never be sure. That’s where the questions have to start for the Blue Jays.

There are some easy decision; at least they look easy. 1st Baseman/Designated Hitter Edwin Encarnacion has a $10 million dollar option for 2016 you’d expect the Blue Jays to pick up. Jose Bautista has an option for next season to at $14 million. I’m pretty sure we’ll see both these guys in the Toronto line up next season. Catcher  Dioner Navarro is a free agent as is shortstop Cliff Pennington; I don’t think either player will be back with the Blue Jays next season. The rest of the position players are either under contract or will go to arbitration. The position players aren’t too big of a deal for the Blue Jays to deal with, but the starting Rotation is another story. David Price is a free agent and you’d have to think he’s looking at $30 million a season from whoever he signs with. Toronto has said that they intend to try and resign Price, but really what else did you think they would say. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has an option for nest season at $12 million or the Blue Jays can buy him out for $1 million. Dickey is 41 and went 11-11 with an ERA of 3.91 in 33 starts. I have a feeling the Blue Jays buy him out at $1 million and try to bring him back at a lower salary. He may not be the same pitcher who won the 2012 Cy Young for the New York Mets, but he does eat innings and a staff could use a guy like that as a #3 or #4 starter. While Dickey has an option year for the Blue Jays to deal with Mark Buehrle and Marco Estrada are just free agents like Price. Buehrle went 15-8 with an ERA of 3.81 in 32 starts last season, but wasn’t used in the post season. Buerhle will turn 37 before the start of the 2016 season and he hasn’t said if he plans to retire or not. Estrada went 13-8 with an ERA of 3.13 over 28 starts. Estrada also made 6 appearances out of the bullpen.. Estrada is 32 and those 28 starts was the most he’s ever made in a season. Toronto does have a pitcher to build around even if they lost all of these starters. Marcus Stroman is 24 and won’t reach free agency until 2021. Stroman looked very good returning from a knee injury and may have been the Blue Jays best post season starter. You’d also have to think that Drew Hutchison figures into the 2016 rotation. Hutchison who’s 25 did have a ERA of  5.57 over 30 games; 28 of which where starts he did go 13-5. The Blue Jays could be set at closer for a while as 20 year old Roberto Osuna seems to have fit into that role. Another question may be will 22 year old Aaron Sanchez continue to set up for Osuna or will he be moved into the starting rotation. Sanchez did make 11 starts in 2015; so Toronto will have to decide where his future is. The main set up core of Liam Hendricks, Brett Cecil and Aaron Loup should be back in 2016, but 42 year old LaTroy Hawkins is retiring. While Hawkins struggled greatly in the post season he was a very reliable during the regular season. Trade deadline acquisition Mark Lowe will hit free agency; so Toronto will have t make a decision on him as well.

It should be interesting to watch the Blue Jays off season and see who they try to bring back, who they decide to let go and who they try to bring in. There are reports that Toronto has money to spend this off season, so maybe some of the bigger free agents end up north of the border.

How was your week?

Posted: October 24, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football, post season
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The Kansas City Royals are headed to the World Series for the second year in a row with a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

I had heard someone say the game would greatly favor the Royals since they where playing at home in Kaufman Stadium and there wouldn’t be as many home runs. Of course with that being said there where 4 home runs in the game; 2 for each team. The Royals used 2 solo home runs; 1 by Ben Zobrist in the 1st inning and then a controversial home run by Mike Moustakas in the 2nd. It appeared that a fan reached out over the wall for Mike Moustakas’ home run, prompting the Blue Jays to challenge the call. The play was upheld after a review. Jose Bautista cut the Royals lead in half with the first of his two home runs a bomb to left field that was listed as traveling 431 feet. It took until the bottom of the 7th inning before the Royals where able to put another run on the board. Moustakas led the inning off with a single. Salvador Perez flied out for the 1st out. Alex Gordon grounded out to 2nd, but Moustakas moved to 2nd base. That was the end of the night for David Price as Aaron Sanchez was brought in from the Toronto bullpen to face Alex Rios. Rios went down in the count 0-2. He took the 3rd pitch for a ball and on the 4th pitch of the at bat he singled t left field to score Moustakas giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. Now I thought with a 3-1 lead and the way the Kansas City bullpen has pitched in this series that the game was over it was just a matter of them getting the last 6 outs. As you know I was wrong. Ryan Madson took over on the mound in the top of the 8th inning. Ben Revere led off with an infield single and after Josh Donaldson struck out for the 1st out of the inning Jose Bautista came to the plate. Bautista fouled the first pitch off and then hit the second pitch into the left field seats and with Revere scoring ahead of him the game was tied 3-3. After a 45 minute rain delay Lorenzo Cain led off the bottom of the 8th inning by drawing a walk off of Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna. Eric Hosmer followed Cain’s walk by singling to right field. Bautista fielded the ball cleanly in right, but rather than hit the cut off man Bautista threw to second base. That gave Cain, running full speed and waved home by third-base coach Mike Jirschele, just enough time to beat the relay throw from second base sliding in safely to give the Royals a 4-3 lead. Wade Davis had been brought in to get the final 2 outs of the 8th inning and had to sit trough the rain delay before going out to pitch the top of the 9th. There had to be some concern that the delay and then having to sit through the Kansas City at bat would affect Davis and after a lead off single by Russell Martin and then a walk to Kevin Pillar you had to wonder if that was the case. Adding to things Dalton Pompey was sent in to pinch run for Martin and stole 2nd and 3rd during Pillar’s at bat. With the tying run 90 feet away and the go ahead run on 1st base Dioner Navarro was inserted as a pinch hitter for Ryan Goins. Navarro struck out swinging, but on the strikeout Pillar stole 2nd. Wit one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd it was back to the top of the order for the Blue Jays. Ben Revere stuck out for the 2nd out of the inning and that left the Blue Jays season in the hands of their MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Donaldson worked the count to 2-1 before grounding out to 3rd to end the game.

David Price made the start for the Blue Jays and pitched pretty well. Price worked 6 2/3rd innings; he gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, he walked 1 while striking out 8. Aaron Sanchez followed Price, but only pitched 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 hits. The run Sanchez gave up was charged to Price. Roberto Osuna pitched an inning giving up 1 run on 2 hits and did walk a batter. Yordano Ventura made the Game 6 start for the Royals. Ventura pitched 5 1/3 rd innings giving up 1 run on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. As usual Kelvin Herrera was the first guy out of the Royals bullpen. Herrera pitched an 1 2/3rd; he gave up no hits and struck out 2. Ryan Madson was next out of the Royals bullpen, but lasted just 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 runs on 2 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. Then it was Wade Davis; turn. Davis worked an 1 2/3rd he gave up 1 hit, walked 1 and struck out 3 and didn’t give up a run.

The World Series starts Tuesday night in Kansas City as the Royals will host the New York Mets. Remember the American League won the All-Star game; so they’re the home team in the series.

I understand that the NFL schedule comes out way in advance of the season; so you don’t know what the teams will actual be playing like when the games happen. There’s also no flex scheduling for the Thursday night games like there is with the Sunday night games. I’m sure on paper this looked like a great match up. An NFC West battle featuring a team (Seattle Seahawks) that has been to back to back Super Bowls against a team (San Francisco 49ers) who went to a Super Bowl the season before the Seahawks started going and a playoff contender was what we thought we might be getting when the schedule was released. What we got was a struggling Seahawks team that was having issues holding 4th quarter leads against a 49ers team that doesn’t look anywhere near what it did last season. San Francisco went through a much publicized coaching changed and also had multiple top players retire in the off season. Instead of what might’ve been a marquee match up a season or two ago we got a pretty boring 20-3 Seattle victory.

Of course even in bad games there are people who have fantasy players going and Marshawn Lynch was the guy to have in this game. Lynch carried the ball 27 times for 122 yards and a touchdown. Besides Lynch the only other touchdown went to was a Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett 43 yard connection in the 2nd quarter. Wilson was 18/24 for 235 yards with that 1 touchdown, but he threw 2 interceptions and was sacked 5 times for 23 yards. Wilson did pick up 20 yards rushing on 7 carries. If you had Lockett in your line up he was the Seahawks leading receiver with 5 receptions for 79 yards and that touchdown. The other fantasy relative might’ve been Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka. Hauschka made both of his extra point attempts in the game and hit 2 field goals a 46 and a 49 yarder. The San Francisco player who may give you the most fantasy help this week might be tight end Vernon Davis; if he was in your line up. Davis hasn’t produced for his fantasy owners this season and has missed some games with injuries, but if you had him in line line up for Week 7 he caught 4 passes for 61 yards. Davis could be a big help in a league where you have to start 2 tight ends.

Here’s hoping the rest of the games in Week 7 of the NFL are better than this one. Don’t forget that Week 7 gets an early start as the Buffalo Bills play the Jacksonville Jaquars in London. This is the NFL’s first attempt at live streaming a game; so don’t forget that it’s an 8:30 a.m. start time and you can watch it online.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Wait til next year

Posted: October 22, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season
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The Chicago Cubs 2015 season came to and end last night (Wednesday) as they where swept out of the national League Championship Series by the New York Mets 8-3 at Wrigley Field. The Mets will move on to represent the National League in the World Series. They’ll play the winner of the Kansas City Royals/Toronto Blue Jays series. Kansas City currently leads that best of 7 series 3 games to 2. Game 6 is tomorrow (Friday) night in Kansas City.

On the Sports Time Radio podcast I was pushing very hard for Jon Lester to take the Game 4 start on 3 days rest for the Cubs against the Mets, but for some reason I seemed to be the only guy who was bang the drum for Lester to start. Jason Hammel had been the listed starter for the game, but I really thought Lester would be the better choice even on short rest. Being that it was an elimination game I thought the Cubs would want one of there Top.2 starters on the mound and since you’re not going to bring Jake Arrieta back on just 2 days rest Lester seemed like the next best choice. The Cubs didn’t listen and Hammel took the start. Sadly with Hammel on the mound the game was over before the Cubs even came to bat. Lucas Duda gave the Mets the early lead as he hit a 2-out, 3-run home run in the Top if the 1st inning. Travis d’Arnaud went back to back with Duda and his solo shot gave the Mets all the runs they would need on the night. Hammel by the way lasted 4 outs. In Hammel’s 1 1/3rd innings he was charged with 5 runs; all earned on 4 hits (2 home runs), he walked 2 and struck out 1. Do you honestly think that Lester on 3 days rest wouldn’t of had a better outing; honestly? The Cubs over used bullpen did a solid job after Hammel was removed giving up 3 runs over the 7 2/3rd innings they where asked to cover. Travis wood gave up 1 run on his 1 2/3rd innings as the first guy out of the bullpen and Fernando Rodney gave up the other 2 runs to the Mets when he pitched the his inning. Clayton Richard (2 Innings), Trevor Cahill (1 inning), Pedro Strop (1 inning) and Hector Rondon (1 inning) weren’t scored upon out of the Cubs bullpen. 24 year old Steven Matz made the Game 4 start for the Mets and while he only lasted 4 2/3rd innings he was able to relax right out of the gate as he was giving a 4-run lead before he ever had to take the mound and then 2 more runs where added to that before the Cubs batted a 2nd time. In a bit of an odd twist; Matz was almost dealt to the Cubs for Starlin Castro during spring training, but the Mets changed there mind on the trade. Matz gave up 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 4 and walking 2. Bartolo Colon relieved Matz in the bottom of the 4th inning and was credited with the win. Colon went 1 1/3rd innings; he gave up 0 runs while walking 1 and striking out 1. Addison Reed was next out of the Mets bullpen; he struck out 1 in his 1 inning of work. Tyler Clippard pitched the 8th inning for the Mets giving up the Cubs final 2 runs of the season on a Kris Bryant home run. Clippard gave up 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 1 as well in his inning of work. I was a little surprised to see Mets closer Jeurys Familia come in to pitch the bottom pf the 9th. It was an 8-3 game and normally closers don’t do well in these type of situations. Familia didn’t have any issues. He got the first 2 hitters to ground out and after a walk to Miguel Montero; Dexter Fowler struck out looking to end the Cubs season and send the Mets into the World Series for the first time since 2000.

You always figure that fans will make some type of an excuse for there favorite team losing or maybe that’s just me when my favorite team loses. I was a little surprised last night to here some of the Chicago media making excuses for the Cubs losing the series. As tough as it is for Cubs fans to take the Mets where just the better tam in this series. The Mets played better defense, out-hit, out-pitched and Terry Collins out-managed Joe Maddon in the series. Even though the Cubs won all 7 regular season games against the Mets this was a different Mets team and that showed. Neither of these teams where expected to be here this season. The Mets weren’t suppose to be able to win there division because the Washington Nationals where going to take it. The Cubs where suppose to be a year away from contending for a playoff spot, but managed to get that 2nd wild card. These teams should be interesting for baseball fans to watch as the Mets have very good young pitching and the Cubs have very good young hitting, but right now I want to look at the Cubs since the Mets still have a series left to play.

Every team makes change in the off season and expect the Cubs to do a little tweeking here and there. Dexter Fowler is a free agent and I’m guessing the Cubs will allow him to leave unless he’s willing to take a short term deal for very low money to stay. While Chris Coghlan had a solid season and showed surprising power with 16 home runs; I don;t think he’s an everyday player for the Cubs next season. Coghlan is also a free agent, but could be a valuable utility player on a contender. If Fowler and Coghlan are out of the Cubs starting line up next season Miguel Montero will be the oldest everyday player at 32, but besides Montero no other regular will be older than 26. The playoffs proved that you can;t win without starting pitching and the Cubs will need more than Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. It would be difficult for Arrieta to repeat the kind of season he had this year; so someone will have to help out in the rotation. There are a couple of quality free agent starting pitchers who will be on the market, but I’m not sure if the Cubs will hand on another big money long term deal to a pitcher again. Maybe the Cubs target a young free agent starting pitcher like Mike Leake (29) or Jordan Zimmerman (31) instead of going after the top tier free agent pitchers. Of course the other way for the Cubs to add pitching is through trades. I expect that one of the regulars will be dealt for some young starting pitcher. If you’re going to take a guess I’d say Starlin Castro would be the guy traded and the Cubs would use a platoon with Tommy LaStella and another veteran; maybe Coghlan at 2nd base. As much as you get attached to the players on your favorite team little changes here and there are needed to continue to improve the team; so we’ll see what the Cubs roster looks like come 2016.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, post season
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The League Championship series are one win away from being wrapped as as yesterday the Kansas City Royals took a 3 games to 1 lead over the Toronto Blue jays and the New York Mets went ahead in there series 3 games to 0 on the Chicago Cubs. Game 5 of the ALCS is this afternoon with the Royals looking to go back to the World Series. Game 4 of the NLCS is tonight where the Mets will look to sweep and advance to the World Series.

The offensives really got rolling in the ALCS as both teams combined for a total of 19 runs in the Blue Jays 11-8 win. The Blue Jays had a 10-4 lead after 5 innings and added a run in the bottom of the 8th inning and looked like they would cruise to there first ALCS victory. The Royals decided to make the game a little more interesting than people thought it would be as they scored 4 runs in the top of the 9th inning, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Jays held to for a win an9d cut the deficit in the series to 2 games to 1.

The offense continued in Game 4 of the ALCS, but just for the Royals. Kansas City scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning highlighted by a 2-run Ben Zobrist home run and an Alex Rios solo home run in the top of the 2nd gave the Royals a 5-0 lead and they never looked back on there way to a 14-2 victory and control of the ALCS 3 games to 1. Former Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey made the start for the Blue Jays, but didn’t get through 2 innings. Dickey lasted 1 2/3rd innings giving up 5 runs; 4 of which where earned on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 1. There was also a passed ball charged to catcher Russell Martin while Dickey was on the mound. Chris Young made the Game 4 start for the Royals. Young lasted 4 2/3rd innings before giving way to the Kansas City bullpen. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. It wasn’t a long outing for Young, but it was what the Royals need as Luke Hochevar (1 1/3rd innings), Ryan Madson (1 inning), Kelvin Herrera (1 inning) and Franklin Morales (1 inning) didn’t allow the Blue Jays to score in relief. Each pitcher gave up 1 hit in relief; Madson struck out 2 while Herrera and Morales each recorded 1 strikeout. After Dickey was removed Liam Hendriks came out of the Blue Jays bullpen and allowed just 1 hit to the Royals over 4 1/3rd innings while striking out 2. LaTroy Hawkins took over on the mound at the top of the 6th inning and didn’t record an out while giving up 3 runs on 2 hits while walking 1. Ryan Tepera relieved Hawkins and didn’t have much more success against the Royals line up. Tepera pitched 1 2/3rd innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and walking 2. Mark Lowe worked an inning after Tepera and gave up 2 runs on 1 hit while striking out 2. Shortstop Cliff Pennington got the final out of the top of the 9th for Toronto becoming the first position player to pitch in a post season game. Pennington pitched 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 hit, but 0 runs.

It will be a rematch of Game 1 on the mound as Edison Volquez starts for the Royals and Marco Estrada gets the start for the Blue Jays. Volquez got the win in the Royals 5-0 Game 1 victory. He pitched 6 innings walking 4 and striking out 5. Estrada took the Game 1 loss for the Blue Jays pitching 5 1/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 6. Can the Blue Jays extend the series and go back the Kansas City for a Game 6 behind Estrada or will the Royals win with Volquez and head to the World Series.

In the NLCS the Mets have used there good young pitching and Daniel Murphy’s bat to take all 3 game of the series against the Cubs. The Mets jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on a Javier Baez error that allowed David Wright on base and then with Wright on the move Yoenis Cespedes doubled and with Wright moving on the hit and run he was able to score. The Cubs got even in the bottom of the 1st inning on a Kyle Schwarber solo home run, Murphy struck again for the Mets in the top of the 3rd inning when with 2 outs he homered to center field to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. The Cubs evened the game up again in the bottom of the 4th inning on another solo home run this time by Jorge Soler. The Mets found a way to take the lead again in the top of the 6th inning on one of the odder plays this post season. With Cespedes on 3rd and 2 outs Michael Conforto struck out which would normally end the inning, but the baseball got away from Cubs catcher Miguel Montero and Conforto was able to reach base safely and Cespedes scored to give the Mets a 3-2 which they’d never relinquish. The Mets added 2 big insurance runs in the top of the 7th inning. With 1 out Wright doubled then Murphy got an infield hit moving Wright to 3rd base. Cesepedes followed that with a single to left field scoring Wright with Murphy going to 3rd and Cesepedes moving to 2nd on the throw. A Lucas Duda ground out allowed Murphy to score the 5th and final Mets run of the night on there way to a 5-2 win.

Kyle Hendricks made the start for the Cubs and while he had a solid outing he wasn’t around long pitching 4 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4. Cjayton Richard was the first of 6 Cubs relievers out of there bullpen pitching 1 inning, walking 1 and giving up 1 hit, but 0 runs. Trevor Cahill followed Richard and pitched an inning giving up 1 runs on 2 hits while striking out 1. Travis Wood worked 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 runs on 2 hits while striking out 1. Justin Grimm pitched 2/3rd of an inning giving up 1 hit while striking out 1. Pedro Strop was next and worked a perfect inning getting 1 strikeout. Hector Rondon was the last Cubs pitcher of the night and he threw 1 inning, walking 1 and striking out 1. Jacob deGroom started for the Mets pitching 7 innings. deGroom gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7. Tyler Clippard pitched 1 inning giving 1 hit and striking out 1 before closer Jeurys Familia entered the game working a perfect 9th inning striking out 1 to pick up the save and give the Mets a 3 games to 0 lead in the series.

The Mets are looking for the sweep tonight behind rookie pitcher Steven Matz. Matz has made 1 post season start going 5 innings and taking the loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. Trying to avoid the sweep on the mound for the Cubs will be Jason Hammel. In Hammel’s 1 post season start he lasted just 3 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals in that NLDS match up. There was some talk last night that the Cubs may turn to Jon Lester on 3 days rest to take this start, but I don;t think that’s been announced yet. No matter who gets the start for the Cubs tonight they’re going t have to be the first team since the 2004 Boston Red Sox to come back from being down 0-3 if they want to get out of this series. Sorry Cubs fans, but Jon Lester wasn’t on that 2004 Red Sox team.

Believe it or not Week 6 in our NFL picks actually went my way. I won the week with a 9-5 record while Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu finished a game behind me at 8-6. Either Mr. Fantasy’s illness or the fact that he didn’t make his picks live on the Sunday podcast cost him as he finished under .500 at 6-8. With the poor showing by Mr. Fantasy Dan the Man has been able to leap frog him and move into 1st place by a game 56-35 (Dan) 55-36 (Mr. Fantasy) I’m still in 3rd place at 51-40 while Schaumburg Stu is 2 games behind me at 49-42. Let’s see how Week 7 goes for us.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com.

How was your Week?

Posted: October 17, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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Week 6 in the NFL started with a loss for Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and I as we all had the Atlanta Falcons to beat the New Orleans Saints 31-21 on Thursday night football. The Saints knocked the Falcons out of the undefeated ranks and we’ll all go into Sunday at 0-1.

A match up like this always looks good to fantasy owners; so hopefully you had your Saints and Falcons in your line ups. Drew Brees went 30 of 39 for 312 yards and 1 touchdown. Matt Ryan was 30 of 44 for 295 yards ans 2 touchdown. If sacks are a negative in our league Ryan was sacked 5 times for 32 yards. Brees did run 2 times for 2 yards and Ryan had 4 carries for 10 yards and while it’s not huge rushing yards they weren’t in the negatives. Ryan did fumble the football 3 times on the night, but only lost 1 of them.

On the ground Mark Ingram carried the football 20 times for the Saints, but only picked up 46 yards. Luckily for Ingram owners he scored 2 touchdowns.Ingram did add 3 catches for 10 yards. If you’re using a secondary Saints running back they weren’t much help for you. Khiry Robinson had 7 carries for 23 yards while C.J. Spiller had 3 carries for 10 yards. Robinson also had 2 catches for 24 yards and Spiller added 4 catches for 17 yards, but neither player scored. Devonta Freeman continued to run the ball well for the Falcons. He only ran the football 13 times, but got to 100 yards even and scored a touchdown. Freeman also caught more passes (8) than any other Falcons on Thursday night for 56 yards and added a receiving touchdowns as well. Even in a losing effort Freeman put up a 2 touchdown night for his fantasy owners. Tevin Coleman returned from injury to run the football 4 times for the Falcons gaining 40 yards, but he did fumble 1 time.

Tigh  and t End Benjamin Watson was the big target for Brees in the New Orleans passing game as he caught 10 balls for 127 yards and 1 touchdown. Willie Snead and Brandin Cooks each had 4 catches; Snead went for 55 yards while Cooks had 41 receiving yards..The Saints other tight end Josh Hill also had 3 catches for 38 yards. While Freeman led Atlanta with his 8 catches Julio Jones led the team in yardage with  93 on 6 receptions. Leonard Hankerson seems to be the Falcons #2 wide receiver now had 4 catches for 37 yards. Tight end Jacob Tamme had 3 catches for 32 yards, but it was Roddy White who had the Falcons other touchdown catch. White had a total of 3 receptions for 23 yards, but had that touchdown catch. If you’re in a deep league or you have to start a fullback Patrick DiMarco had 2 catches for 18 and if you’re in a league where you have to start two tight ends Levine Toilolo had 2 catches for 18 yards as well. Nick Williams (11 yards) and Terron Ward (7 yards) each had 1 reception in the game for Atlanta.

The Saints kicking game struggled in this game as Zach Hocker made just 1 of 3 field goals he attempted on the night, but he did all 4 of his extra points. Atlanta’s kicker Matt Ryan had a pretty quite night for his fantasy owners as he just had 3 extra points in the game.

If your league scores for defense Dannell Ellerbe led the Saints in tackles with 14 and recovered a fumble. Cameron Jordan had 6 tackles, 3 sacks and recovered a fumble. Hau’oli Kikaha and Kasim Edebali each had a sack for New Orleans and Brandon Browner had the other fumble recovery for New Orleans. Paul Worrilow was the Falcons team leader in tackles with 9 and Adrian Clayborn had the Falcons lone sack on the night.

The ALCS kicked off last night with the Kansas City Royals beating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0. Edinson Volquez was the Royals Game 1 starter and he pitched 6 innings giving up 2 hits and while he did walk four betters he struck out 5. Kelvin Herrera was the first pitcher out of the Kansas City bullpen pitching 1 inning and striking out 2. He was followed by  Ryan Madson who gave up a hit and a walk in the 1 inning he pitched. Luke Hochevar finished the game off for the Royals pitching the 9th. Marco Estrada got the start for the Blue Jays and he pitched 5 1/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out 6. Alex Gordon led off the bottom of the 3rd with a double off Estrada. After a strikeout Alcides Escobar doubled to right field to score Gordon. A ground out moved Escobar to 3rd base where a single by Lorenzo Cain drove him home to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead. Estrada struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the 4th, but with 2 outs Salvador Perez its a solo home run to left field giving the Royals a 3-0 lead. Aaron Loup relieved Estrada in the bottom of the 6th and got the final 2 outs of the inning. Mark Lowe worked the bottom of the 7th for the Blue Jays. Lowe struck out 1 batter in his inning of work. LaTroy Hawkins took over on the mound in the bottom of the 8th inning for Toronto. Hawkins hit Escobar to start the inning. Ben Zobrist followed that with an infield single moving Escobar to 2nd. After a fly out for the 1st out of the inning Eric Hosmer doubled to right field scoring Escobar and moving Zobrist to 3rd. Kendrys Morales hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Zobrist with the Royals final run of the night.

I’m not sure Game 1 played out anywhere close to how people thought it would. I’m not sure that anyone had the Blue Jays being shutout. Toronto only managed 3 hits on the night; all singles. One each by Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello and Ryan Goins; Jose Bautista was 0 for 1 on the night, but did walk 3 times. Kansas City ended up with 8 hits on the night, but Escobar was the only Royal with more than 1 hit.

Game 2 of the ALCS is this afternoon. The Blue Jays are going with David Price on the mound while Kansas City is starting Yordano Ventura. Price has pitched 10 innings this post season; 1 start and 1 relief appearance. He’s given up 8 runs on 11 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7; his post season ERA is 7.20. Ventura has made 2 starts this post season, but it only covers 7 innings. He’s giving up 6 runs on 8 hits while walking 4 and striking out 10; his post season ERA is 7.71. Pitching may not be the key to Game 2; it may be the injury to Toronto’s DH Edwin Encarnacion. Encarnacion suffered a ligament sprain to his left middle finger in Friday night’s 5-0 loss. Encarnacion is listed as day-to-day for the Blue Jays. If Encarnacion can’t go today look for Justin Smoak to take his place in the Toronto line up. Smoak had a .226 batting average with 18 home runs and 59 RBI this season.

The NLCS kicks off tonight in New York. Jon Lester gets the Game 1 start for the Chicago Cubs while Matt Harvey will start for the New York Mets. Lester’s last start was 7 days ago against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lester went 7 1/3rd against St. Louis and it happened to be the only game the Cubs lost to the cardinals in that series. Harvey’s last start was a 5 inning outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers 5 days ago where he got the win. Who needs a Game 1 win more; the Cubs or the Mets?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, NFL picks
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Who had the Chicago Cubs being the first team to lock up a spot in the National League Championship Series (NLCS)? The Cubs wrapped up there series against the St. Louis Cardinals last night with a 6-4 win. What’s interesting in this Cubs series victory is the fact that players like Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant didn’t carry the team. They each have 3 hits this post season with 2 of Rizzo’s hits being home runs and 1 of Bryant’s hits being a home run. Jorge Soler is hitting .571 during the post season. Kyle Schwarber is hitting .538 with a team leading 3 home runs and 5 RBI’s. Dexter Fowler is hitting .300 out of the lead off spot for the Cubs. Javier Baez had to enter Game 3 do to an injury to starting shortstop Addison Russell. Baez had a couple issues in the field which might’ve been do to nerves, but he was 4 for 5 at the plate and hit a big 3-run homer last night. Now I’m not sure if the Cubs can continue to advance with Rizzo hitting .167 and Bryant hitting .150, but they’ll have a few days off as they wait for the winner of the other National League Division Series (NLDS) be it the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The American League will wrap up both if it’s division series today. The first game of the day has the Texas Rangers on the road to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Now no home team has won a game in this series and the Blue Jays will need to change that to advance. The pitching match up for Game 5 is a rematch from Game 2 as Cole Hamels starts for the Rangers and the Blue Jays go to Marcus Stroman. Both pitchers threw 7 innings last game, but neither figured in the decision as the rangers win the game 6-4 in 14 innings. Hamels gave up 4 runs, but only 2 where earned on 6 hits while striking out 6, Stroman gave up 4 runs with 3 being earned on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5.This series has been kind of a surprise as no one thought the Rangers would be this much trouble for the Blue jays let alone take them to a Game 5. Do the Rangers have 1 more surprise in them.

The second Game 5 in the American League has the Houston Astros on the road to take on the defending American League champions the Kansas City Royals. The Astros are going with Colin McHugh as there starting pitcher while Kansas City turns to there trade deadline pick up Johnny Cueto. McHugh got the win for the Astros in Game 1 of this series pitching 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. Cueto started Game 2 of this series for Kansas City pitching 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 5. Cueto didn’t figure in the decision, but the Astros won Game 2 5-4. This is another series that I don’t think anyone had going 7 games and I don’t remember anyone picking the Astros to win.

If you live in the Chicagoland area you might not know that there was a second National League playoff game last night. Clayton Kershaw went out and did just what he was suppose to do for the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. Over 7 innings Kershaw gave up 1 run on a solo home run to Daniel Murphy. Kershaw struck out 8 walked just 1 and besides the home run only gave up 2 other hits to the Mets. Steven Matz got the Game 4 start for the Mets. Matz pitched 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. The Dodgers got all there runs off of Matz in the top of the 3rd inning. An Adrian Gonzalez single to center with runners on 1st and 3rd got the Dodgers 1st run home. Justin Turner followed Gonzalez with a double down the left field line to drive in the Dodgers other 2 run. That gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead and they scored all of these runs with 2 outs in the inning. The Murphy homer cut the lead to 3-1, but neither bullpen gave up a run and Kenley Jansen worked a 1,2,3 9th inning striking out 2 while picking up the save for the Dodgers. The series heads back to Los Angeles on tied 2-2 with Game 5 being on Thursday. The Mets are going with Game 1 winner Jacob deGroom. deGroom worked 7 shutout innings giving up 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 13. The Dodgers are countering with Game 2 winner Zack Greinke. Greinke went 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 8. The winner of this game knows they’ll go on to face the Cubs while the loser is done for the season.

Now baseball will always be my first love as far as sports go, but football isn’t far behind. This season I;m having a big problem with the NFL. Where has the defense gone? It seems as if every game I watch the when there’s about 3 minutes left to play neither team can stop the other one. I understand the rules greatly favor the offensive team, but you’ve stopped them time and again the entire game and now that there’s just 3 minutes left you can’t even slow them down. Not only can’t I figure this out, but I’m starting to feel like I’m wasting my time watching the first 3 and 3/4th of the game when all I need to see is the last 3 minutes. If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that my biggest issue with the NBA is the fact that I only really need to see the 4th quarter to know what’s going on with the game. This season in the NFL has pretty much went the same way for me. Besides the Denver Broncos is there another team out there that’s going to play defense?

With baseball in the post season and the football season up and running you might not have noticed that the NHL season has started. The Montréal Canadiens are off to a 4-0 start and there are a few teams behind them at 3-0. Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty has 4 goals and is tied for the league lead with Justin Abdelkader of the Detroit Red Wings, Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild and Oscar Lindberg of the New York Rangers. While it’s too early for these stats to mean all that much it’s always fun to see who’s putting the puck in the net.

Now I didn’t forget about our pick for Week 5 in the NFL, but I’d like to. Dan the Man won the week with a 10-4. Mr. Fantasy was a game behind him at 9-5. Schaumburg Stu had an 8-6 week while I barely made it to 7-7. Mr. Fantasy still has the overall lead at 49-28 with Dan the Man a game behind at 48-29. I’m a ways back in 3rd at 42-35 and Schaumburg Stu is still in the cellar at 41-36. Maybe I’ll have a good Week 6, but I doubt it.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalklRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: October 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football
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With the Division series under way the first question that comes to mind is; who had the Texas Rangers winning the first two games against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto? I’m not even sure if the biggest Rangers fan had them doing this. Most if not all the experts talking about this game thought that the Blue Jays had far and away the biggest home field advantage in the division series, but I guess someone forgot to tell the Rangers. Toronto looked to have the edge in Game 1 with David Price as there starting pitcher against Yovani Gallardo for the Rangers. Gallardo threw 79 pitches over 5 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. While it wasn’t a long post season outing giving up 2 runs to the Blue Jay offense could be considered a success. Price pitched 7 innings; he gave up 5 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. Not the kind of Game 1 outing you’re looking for from your Cy Young contending starting pitcher. You have to wonder if Price not having pitched since September 26th had anything to do with this sub par performance. Even in that September 26th outing Price pitched just 5 innings. Is it possible that Price was over rested coming into his Game 1 start. So with the Rangers finding a way to get a Game 1 victory as a team they had to start looking at taking both games in Toronto when they had Cole Hamels starting Game 2. As it turned out neither Hamels nor Blue Jays Game 2 starter Marcus Stroman would be around to get a decision in Game 2. Hamels had a good outing pitching 7 innings. He did give up 4 runs, but only 3 of them where earned on 6 hits. Hamels stuck out 6 and didn’t walk anyone, but did throw 114 pitches over his 7 inning outing. Stroman had a good outing as well as he also pitched 7 innings. Stroman gave up 5 hits and 4 runs, but only 3 of his runs where earned. He walked 2 and struck out 5 while throwing 93 pitches. Don’t forget that this was Stroman’s 5th start of the season as he missed most of the year with a knee injury. The Blue Jays where looking like they would even the series as they had a 4-3 lead in the Top of the 8th inning. Delino DeShields Jr. led off the inning with a single and that ended Stroman’s day. Brett Cecil took over on the mound for the Blue Jays. Shin-Soo Choo sacrificed DeShields to 2nd and then after a Prince Fielder strikeout Mike Napoli cam e in to pinch hot for Mitch Moreland Napoli singled to right center field and DeShields scored to tie the game 4-4. After that the bullpens shut things down for both teams. Sam Dyson )1 Inning), Jake Diekman (2 innings), Shawn Tolleson )2 innings) and Keone Kela (1 Inning) allowed just 2 hits and struck out 6 over 6 innings of relief. For the Blue Jays Roberto Osuna (2 Innings), Mark Lowe (2/3rd of an inning), Aaron Loup (2/3rd of an inning) and Aaron Sanchez (1 and 2/3rd of an inning) kept the Rangers in check and the game was still 4-4 going into the top of the 14th inning. LaTroy Hawkins took the mound to work against the Rangers. Hawkins got the first two batters, Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton out to start the inning. With 2 outs Rougned Odor beat out an infield single Chris Gimenez and Odor went to 3rd base. So the Rangers have 1st and 3rd with 2 outs against Hawkins and it’s Hanser Alberto coming to the plate. Alberto is playing 3rd base for the injured Adrian Beltre. It’s kind of funny how post season baseball seems to out guys you’re not expecting in these type of spots. Alberto came through in his spot with a single to center field. Odor scored to give the Rangers a 5-4 lead. Gimenez went to 3rd base and Alberto went to 2nd on the throw home. That ended Hawkins night after 2/3rd of an inning; Liam Hendriks took over for Hawkins. DeShields beat out an infield single as Gimenez scored to give the Rangers a 2-run lead at 6-4. Hendricks got Choo to line out to center field to end the Rangers half of the inning. With there closer Tolleson already used in the game the Rangers turn to Ross Ohlendorf to get the save. Ohlendorf got Troy Tulowitzki looking at strike three for the 1st out. Justin Smoak went down swinging for the 2nd out. Russell Martin was hit by a pitch and then went to 2nd base on fielder’s indifference. It was up to Kevin Pillar to keep the Blue Jays hopes alive, but he struck out swinging as well to the game and give the rangers that 2-0 lead in the series. The ALDS gets a day off as they travel to Texas for Game 3. The Blue Jays are going with Marco Estrada as there Game 3 starter and the Rangers counter with Martin Perez as there Game 3 starter. Estrada was 13-8 on the season with an E.R.A. of 3.13. Estrada’s last outing was October 9th when he struck out 9 over 6 2/3rd innings. Estrada does have 4 post season appearances; all in relief for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011. Perez made 14 starts for the Rangers this season going 3-4 with a 4.46 E.R.A. If there’s going to be baseball in Canada again this season the Blue Jays will have to find a way to win both games in Texas.

All the division series where in action yesterday with the Rangers/Blue jays kicking things off. Game 2 of the Houston Asttros/Kansas City Royals may have started a few hours later than Rangers/Blue Jays, but it came very close to ending before it. The Royals did win Game 2 of the series to even it up at 1-1. Game 1 of the National League series kicked off with the St. Louis Cardinals getting a 4-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. Don’t be fooled by that score as it was a 1-0 game for 7 plus innings before a couple of St. Louis home runs put the game out of reach. It was a very well pitched game on both sides by John Lackey (St. Louis) and Jon Lester (Chicago) and it had to be a tough game for the Cubs to lose to open the series. The final game of the night had the New York Mets at the Los Angeles Dodgers. In another well pitched game that saw both starters strikeout double digit hitters Jacob deGroom (13 strikeouts) out dueled Clayton Kershaw (10 Strikeouts) as the Mets took Game 1 3-1.

It’s a travel day for the American League series; so the 2 National League games take center stage. Kyle Hendricks takes the mound for the Cubs against Jaime Garcia for the Cardinals in Game 2 of there series with the Cubs trying to even it up. The Mets will send  Noah Syndergaard out against the Dodgers who are starting Zack Greinke in Game 2 to try to get that series even for Los Angeles.

With all this baseball going on I bet you thought I forgot all about our picks for Week 5 in the NFL. Well I wish I had, but I didn’t. My week didn’t start off well as I had the Houston Texans beating the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. So going into Sunday I’ll be 0-1 while Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy all and the Colts and are 1-0. If I said I was giving them a head start would anyone believe me?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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Week 4 in the NFL went good for three of us. Mr. Fantasy won the week with an 11-4 record. Dan the Man and I went 10-5 for the week and Schaumburg Stu had a tough. tough week going 6-9. Mr. Fantasy still leads the overall standings at 40-23. Dan the Man is holding down 2nd place with a record of 38-25. I have moved into 3rd place at 35-28 while Schaumburg Stu has dropped into the cellar with a record of 33-30. Now the question is; can we catch Mr. Fantasy?

On the podcast yesterday (Tuesday) Dan the Man had the New York Yankees beating the Houston Astros 2-0 while Mr. Fantasy liked the Yankees to beat the Astros as well, but he had New York winning 4-2. The Astros beat the Yankees 3-0. Mr. Fantasy also had Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka striking out 10 Astros while Dan the man had Tanaka for 7 strikeouts. Tanaka had 3 strikeouts in 5 innings. Dan the Man was very close on his inning prediction for Tanaka as he had going 5 1/3rd. I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t put any money down on these predictions or at least I hope they didn’t.

Neither team scored in the 1st inning, but Colby Ramus led off the top of the 2nd inning with a solo home run off Tanaka to give the Astros a 1-0 lead and oddly the only run of the night they would need. It was a 1-0 game when Carlos Gomez led off the top of the 4th inning for the Astros with a solo home run of his own to put the Astros ahead 2-0. The Yankees didn’t get their first hit until the 6th inning when When Didi Gregorius led off the inning with a single to right field. Tanaka lasting just 5 innings wasn’t a big deal for the Yankees as their bullpen has been tremendous all season. Justin Wilson was the first reliever called upon and he pitched 1 1/3 rd innings of of no hit no run baseball. The only baseball Wilson allowed was a walk.Dellin Betances came in to replace Wilson with 1 out in the top of the 7th inning. Betances walked Chris Carter and Jonathan Villar was put in to pinch run for him. Jason Castro struck out for the 2nd out of the inning, but Villar was able to steal 2nd base and get himself into scoring position. Jose Altuve came through with a 2 out single t left field to drive in Villar and give the Astros a 3-0 lead. The Yankees managed just 3 hits in the game. All there hits came off Dallas Keuchel who was starting on 3 days rest. Keuchel worked 6 innings giving up those 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk while striking out 7, throwing 87 pitches on the night. There where some questions about the Astros bullpen going into last nights game and you have to say they stepped up and answered them. Tony Sipp, Will Harris and Luke Gregerson all worked an inning in relief for Houston and didn’t allow a hit. Sipp walked a batter, but also struck 1 out while Gregerson struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced in the bottom of the 9th inning. Besides Gregorius, Carlos Beltran and Greg Bird where the other two Yankees to get hits in the game. The Astros themselves only had 5 hits in the game. Tanaka gave up 4 of the 5 hits while Betances gave up the other hit. Andrew Miller worked the top of the 9th for the Yankees and struck out 2 batters. The Astros won the game the way they’ve been winning games all season with their power. The oddest stat line of the night belongs to the Astros Chris Carter who didn’t have an official at bat as he walked 3 times in the game. Houston moves on to the ALDS on Thursday against the defending American League champion Kansas City Royals.

While it’s always tough to see your favorite team play just once in the post season any team that didn’t get into the post season would’ve traded spots with them just to have that chance. The Yankees being here at all had to be a bit of a surprise to most fans. They finished 87-75 and I think most experts had them around or just under .500 coming into this season. No one and I mean no one at all had Alex Rodriquez hitting 33 home runs on the season. With their season over you have to wonder if the Yankees can get back here next season.

If you’ve listened to the Sunday Sport Time Radio podcast you heard Mr. Fantasy and I try to build the best FanDuel line up we can for that day. I kind of unsure how I feel about FanDuel now with the news coming out that an employee of the rival site DraftKings won $350,000 in one of there tournaments. Now I’ve always kind of figured that when you enter one of the bigger tournaments you where playing against more or less professionals. I guess it would be better put as people who play daily fantasy sports for a living. While i would rate Mr. Fantasy and I as above average fantasy players and we both ended the baseball season up money after losing money last season. It took me a year to try and figure out a system that works for me from time to time, but not in the big tournaments. It seems kind of unfair that a person who works for one daily fantasy site can play tournaments on the other site as they have a huge advantage over players like myself and Mr. Fantasy. You have to realize that this employee can see who’s being selected on his site and then just plug him in to his FanDuel line up. There’s also the chance that they may have let’s call it inside type of information on players and teams. I’m sure I’ll still continue to play daily fantasy on FanDuel, but I don;t think I’ll be entering any big tournaments again as I just don’t know who I’m up against or what kind of information they may have access to that I don’t. With this information coming out the New York Attorney general has opened an investigation into this situation.

Tune into the Sports Time Radio podcast tonight 5:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com as we preview the National League wild card game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: October 3, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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Week 4 in the NFL started off right for Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I as we had the Baltimore Ravens getting their 1st win of the season and luckily they did. Schaumburg Stu was the only one who took the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the game and to be fair they where just a couple of missed field goals away from Stu being 1-0 to start the week. As for me I have to make some quality picks that are different from Mr. Fantasy’s; so I can cut into his early season lead.

All in all from a fantasy perspective it wasn’t a great night unless you owned the starting running backs from either team. Le’Veon Bell had 22 carries for 129 yards and scored a touchdown o the ground for the Steelers. He also added 7 catches for 21 yards. While his passing yardage won’t really add up for you if you’re in a PPR (Point Per Reception) league those 7 extra points are nice to have. I’m sure fantasy owners where starting to question their selection of Justin Forsett early in there drafts this season, but he did what he could to change their minds on Thursday night. Forsett had 27 carries for 150 for the Ravens, but sadly for his fantasy owners didn’t find his way into the end zone.

Did you have to plug Michael Vick into your fantasy line up this week? If you did he didn’t hurt you, but he didn’t score big for you either. Vick went 19 for 26, but only for 124 yards; he did throw 1 touchdown and wasn’t intercepted. Vick also ran the football 9 time for 33 yards, but surprisingly he was sacked 4 times. Joe Flacco went 20 of 33 for Baltimore. He threw for a total of 189 and did have 1 touchdown, but he was also intercepted 1 time as well. Flacco did run 3 times, but he went for a total of 0 yards and he was also sacked 5 times and did lose a fumble as well.

When the quarterbacks aren’t throwing for a lot of yards that of course means your wide receivers aren’t racking up a lot of yards for you. Antoino Brown had 5 catches, but he went for just 42 yards and didn’t find his way into the end zone. It was Darrius Heyward-Bay who caught the Pittsburgh touchdown pass. Heyward-Bay had a total of 4 catches for 31 yards and that touchdown. Kamar Aiken was the ravens leading receiver on the night. Aiken had 5 receptions for 77 yards and 1 touchdown. Steve Smith Sr. was injured early in the 3rd quarter and didn’t return to the game; so his night ended with him have 4 catches for just 24 yards. If you’re in a deep league and happened to take Ravens receiver  Michael Campanaro he added some fantasy points for your team this week. While Campanaro did have just 2 receptions for 16 yards; he did have an end around in the red zone that ended up being a 9-yard rushing touchdown. Campanaro is also te main return man for the Ravens. He had a kickoff return for 24 yards and a punt return for 14 yards if those stats count in your league.

The top fantasy player of the night may have been Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker. Tucker hit both his extra points ans was 3 of 3 on field goals with a long of 52 yards. He of course was much better than Steelers kicker Josh Scobee who did make both his extra points, but was 2 of 4 on his field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards.

Pittsburgh did have a couple of defensive players make double digit tackles. Lawrence Timmons led the Steelers with 11 tackles and did add a sack. Stephon Tuitt had 10 tackles and also recorded a sack. Three other Steelers recorded sacks; James Harrison, Sean Spence and  Cameron Heyward got them. Ross Cockrell got the lone interception in the game. Baltimore only had 1 player get double digit tackles as Daryl Smith made 13 with 1 sack. Za’Darius Smith did have 2 sacks for the Ravens and Elvis Dumervil had the other sack for Baltimore.

The most interesting series during the last week of the baseball season had the Texas Rangers hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with not only the AL West on the line, but also the final wild card spot. Thursday night saw the Rangers get the win 5-3 and clinch themselves a playoff berth. Adrian Beltre went 2 of 3 with 3 RBI’s in the victory and Elvis Andrus added 2 hit for the Rangers. Derek Holland got the win to improve his record to 4-3. Holland went 6 1/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6. Ross Ohlendorf, Jake Diekman and Sam Dyson held the Angeles scoreless and closer Shawn Tolleson picked up his 35th save of the season working the 9th inning. Albert Pujols got have of the Angels hits on the night going 2 for 4 (a double and a home run) while scoring 2 runs and driving in 1. Erick Aybar and Shane Victorino had the Angels other RBI’s on the night. Andrew Heaney (6-4) took the lose for the Angels pitching 4 1/3rd innings giving up 4 runs in 5 hits while walking 5 and striking out just 1. While this win locks up a playoff spot for the Rangers the rest of series will decide if they’re the AL West champions or if they’re the 2nd wild card team. Will also know if the Angels are in or out of the playoffs.

Friday night saw the Angels even up the series by picking up a 2-1 win scoring a run in the top of the 9th inning off Rangers closer Tolleson to do it. The Angels took the lead right out of the gate scoring a run in the 1st inning. Aybar led the game off with a single. After 2 strikeouts Pujols singled to move Aybar to 3rd. C.J. Cron picked up the RBI singling to rightfield to drive in Aybar and give the Angels a 1-0 lead. The Rangers got even in the bottom of the 4th inning on a Shin-Soo Choo home run; his 22nd of the season. In the top of the 9th Mike Trout led off the inning with a triple. Pujols followed that up with a single driving in trout for a 2-1 Angels lead. The Rangers couldn’t come through in the bottom of the 9th inning as Mitch Moreland (fly out), Josh Hamilton (strikeout) and Andrus )ground out) against Angels relievers Mike Morin and Joe Smith who picked up his 4th save of the season filling in for injured closer Huston Street. Jered Weaver started the game for the Angels pitching 6 innings. Weaver gave up 2 hits and 1 run while walking 3 and striking out 2. Morin got the win while pitching just 1/3rd of an inning to improve his record to 4-2. Martin Perez started the game for the rangers pitching 7 innings giving up 4 hits and 1 run while walking 1 and striking out 4. Tolleson took the lose pitching 1 inning giving up 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 1; the loss drops Tolleson’s record to 6-4 on the season.

With 2 games left in the regular season the Angels find themselves 1 game behind the Houston Astros for the final wild card spot in the American League. The Angels are starting Hector Santiago against the Rangers this afternoon. Texas is going wit Colby Lewis on the mound. Santiago is 9-9 with an ERA of 3.52 in 31 starts/ Lewis is 17-9, but has an ERA of 4.53. It’s must win time for the Angels to keep there playoff hopes alive as a loss and an Astros wins eliminates them. The Astros by the way are playing an inter-league series against the Arizona Diamondbacks to end the season. Tonight the Astros send out Colin McHugh who is 18-7 with a 3.98 ERA against Jeremy Hellickson for the Diamondbacks who is 9-11 with a 4.50 ERA this season.

You can listen the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Managers, Managing

Posted: October 1, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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How many wins does a good manager get his baseball team through a 162 game season? Now if you have a bad or sub-par manager you can see moves he makes that cost your favorite team games during a season. I bet we could find a few Washington Nationals fans who could point out where a Matt Williams move lost a game for the team. So what quantifies a manager getting a win for his team. Sending up the right pinch hitter? Using the right relief pitcher? Or is it just something as simple as running the correct everyday line up out there for games? Now if any of these moves was messed up by a manager it could easily cost his team a game, but does doing them right count as that manager getting a win for his team. I’ve heard different debates about this and it seems to be that a good manager gets his team 5-7 wins a game and then in reverse a poor manager will lose his team 5-7 games a season. Now I’m fine with that number and I’m sure somewhere down the line there will be a saber-metric way to figure this out. While I haven’t had an issue with trying to decide how a manager wins a game for his team; what I am having an issue with is new managers getting quite a bit of praise for a teams improvement from one season to the next.

The Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs are two of the most improved teams from last season to this season and they both changed managers before the 2015 season. In 2014 the Astros finished 70-92 and went 59-79 before firing manager Bo Porter. Tom Lawless finished the season as manager and went 11-13. A.J. Hinch was hired as manager in the off season and the Astros are 84-75 right now and have a chance at the AL West title or possibly  getting a wild card spot. The Cubs where managed by Rick Renteria in 2014 and went 73-89. Renteria was let go by the Cubs when Joe Maddon became available and the Cubs are 93-65 right now and have clinched a National League wild card spot. My take is since neither Hinch or Maddon had anything to do with the 2014 versions of their teams they don’t get any credit for the teams improvement from year to year unless they where managing the season before. Neither Hinch or Maddon where with the team when free agents where signed or when trades where made. Now they should get all the credit in the world for how the team is playing right now, but the improvement from 2014 doesn’t go on their resume. Since I get all the Cubs news I can handle living in the Chicago suburbs let’s work with them and see how this works out.

In 2014 Wellington Castillo appeared in 110 games for the Cubs and was there #1 catcher. Castillo hit .237 with 13 home runs and 46 RBI’s. For the 2015 season the Cubs sent  Jeferson Mejia and Zack Godley to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Miguel Montero. Montero is hitting .248 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI’s in 111 games. there stats look pretty even, but Montero was brought in for his defense and pitch framing.  Castillo threw out 33% of runners trying to steal in 2014 while Monteo has thrown out 21% of runners trying to steal this season. This position looks pretty even from 2014 to 2015. In both 2014 and 2015 Anthony Rizzo was the Cubs 1st baseman. In 140 games Rizzo hit .289 with 32 home runs and 78 RBI’s. This season Rizzo is hitting .278 with 30 home runs and 95 RBI’s in 156 games. Rizzo has doubled his Hit By Pitch numbers this season; 15 in 2014 to 30 this season. Now Rizzo’s numbers are very similar from this season to last, but he wasn’t considered an MVP candidate in 2014. Now in 2014 Darwin Barney held down the 2nd base position until Javier Baez was brought up. Barney is a gold glove player, but hit .230 with 2 home runs and 16 RBI’s over 72 games. Baez played 52 games in 2014 and hit .169 with 9 home runs, 20 RBI’s and struck out 95 times. Starling Castro has been moved to 2nd base this season and seems to have established himself as the starter there. He played a total of 147 games hitting .269 with 11 home runs and 68 RBI’s. Now in 2014 Castro was the starting shortstop. Castro hit .292 with 14 home runs and 65 RBI’s, but also committed 15 errors in 133 games. Addison Russell has taken over at shortstop in 2015 after being the starting 2nd baseman in the beginning of the season. Russell is hitting .241 with 13 home runs and 53 RBI’s spending most of the season as the 9th place hitter. Russell has made 12 errors on the season. Baez has played in 24 games as September call up hitting .286 with 1 home run and 4 RBI’s and has struck out 20 times. In 2014 Luis Valbuena was the Cubs everyday 3rd baseman. Valbuena hit .249 with 16 home runs in 51 RBI’s in 149 games. Kris Bryant is the 3rd baseman for the 2015 season and has hit .279 with 26 home runs and 99 RBI’s in 148 total games this season. In 2014 the outfield was a combination of Chris Coghlan who played in 125 games; hit .283 with 9 home runs and 41 RBI’s.  Arismendy Alcantara hit .205 with 10 home runs and 29 RBI’s in 70 games. Nate Schierholtz appeared in 99 games hitting .192 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI’s while Junior Lake played in 108 games hitting .211 with 9 home runs and 25 RBI’s. The 2015 outfield is a little different. Coghlan is still in it hitting .246 with 16 home runs and 46 RBI’s in 144 total games. Dexter Fowler has played in 153 games and is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 45 RBI’s. Jorge Soler is hitting .262 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI’s in 100 games and Kyle Schwarber has added a .247 average with 16 home runs and 43 RBI’s over 66 games mot of them as an outfielder. Offensively the team is close in some categories, but the outfield is much better in 2015 than 2014.

Here’s the 2014 starting rotation. Travis Wood 31 starts 8-13 with an ERAof 5.03. Edwin Jackson 27 starts 6-15 with an ERA of 6.33. Jake Arrieta 25 starts 10-5 with an ERA  of 2.53. Kyle Hendricks 13 starts 7-2 with an ERA of 2.46 and Tsuyoshi Wada 13 starts 4-4 with an ERA of 3.25. Remember Jason Hammel and  Jeff Samardzija were traded during the 2014 season. The 2015 starting rotation looks like this. Jon Lester 32 starts 11-12 with an ERA of 3.34. Arrieta has made 32 starts and is 21-6 wit an ERA of 1.82. Hendricks has made 31 starts is 7-7 with an ERA of 4.09. Hammel was resigned in the off season and has made 30 starts and is 9-7 with an ERA of 3.86. Dam Haren was traded for to fill the 5th starter spot for the team and in his 10 starts is 3-2 with an ERA of 4.30. Which rotation would you like to have?

The 3 main bullpen arms in 2014 where Pedro Strop who pitched in 65 games and had an ERA of 2.21 with 2 saves. Justin Grimm made 73 appearances and had an ERA of 3.78 and was 5-2. Hector Rondon took over as closer and pitched in 64 games saving 29 and posting an ERA of 2.42. In 2015 Strop has pitched in 74 games and has an ERA of 3.00 and 3 saves. Grimm has pitched in 60 games and has an ERA of 2.08 and has 3 saves. Jason Motte took over the closer role for a while and saved 6. He has an ERA of 3.91; he also has a 8-1 record in 57 games, but is currently on the disabled list. Rondon is still the main closer on the team and has pitched in 70 games picking up 28 saves and has an ERA of 1.72.

I’m going to say this one more time. I have no issues with a new manager getting credit for how his team is doing on the field that season, but it’s when they start to give him credit for the great improvement the team is having from the season before. As you can tell by what I wrote there are different players brought in both rookies and free agents. Players improve or decline from season to season and it’s really the front office that should be getting credit if a team makes a marked improvement from one season to the next when a new manager is hired. As always though it could just be me!

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