Archive for the ‘football’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 18, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, fantasy, football, NASCAR, sports
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Week 10 in the NFL was not good to us pick wise. I believe we actually had the worse week we’ve ever had since we started making picks. Mr. Fantasy set a record for the worst week anyone has ever had going 3-1. Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and I where all under .500 as well finishing 6-8. Dan the Man has the overall lead with a record of 85-61. I have moved into 2nd place with a record of 80-66. Mr. Fantasy;s poor showing dropped him to 3rd a game behind me at 79-69 while Schaumburg Stu still finds himself in the cellar with a record of 77-69. We’ll see how Week 11 goes for us, but how could it be worse.

Major League Baseball started handing out awards starting with Rookie of the Year. Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs won the award for the National League. Bryant was a unanimous choice getting all 30 1st place votes. Matt Duffy of the San Francisco Giants finished 2nd getting 22 2nd place votes and 4 3rd place votes. Jung Ho Kang of the Pittsburgh Pirates finished 3rd getting 4 3rd place votes and 16 3rd place votes. New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard came in 4th picking up 3 2nd place votes and 4 3rd place votes. Miami Marlins 1st baseman Justin Bour picked up 1 2nd and 1 3rd place vote while Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Steven Piscotty of the St. Louis cardinals each received 1 3rd place vote.

The American League Rookie of the Year voting was much closer, but in the end Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros took home the award.  Correa received 17 1st place votes and 13 2nd place votes just beating out Francisco Lindor of the Cleveland Indians who received 13 1st place votes and 14 2nd place votes. Miguel Sano of the Minnesota Twins finished 3rd picked up 20 3rd place votes, Toronto Blue Jays closer Robert Osuna received 2 2nd and 2 3rd place votes to finish 4th. Billy Burns of the Oakland A’s received 1 2nd place and 3 3rd place votes. A second Twins played Eddie Rosario received 2 3rd place votes and Texas Rangers outfielder Delino DeShields received 1 3rd place vote.

MLB also handed out their Manager of the Year award. The Cubs made it 2 for 2 as Joe Maddon picked up the manager of the Year award in the National League. Maddon received 18 1st place votes 11 2nd place votes and 1 3rd place vote. Mike Matheny of the St. Louis cardinals finished 2nd getting 9 1st place votes 12 2nd place votes and 6 3rd place votes. Terry Collins pf the New York Mets finished 3rd in the voting getting 3 1st place votes 7 2nd place votes and 13 3rd place votes. Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up 8 3rd place votes while Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants and Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers each received 1 3rd place vote.

In the American League 1st year skipper Jeff Bannister of the Texas Rangers took home the American League Manager of the Year award, Bannister received 17 1st place votes 8 2nd place votes and 3 3rd place votes. A.J. Hinch of the Houston Astros finished 2nd in the voting getting 8 1st place votes 13 2nd place votes and 3 3rd place votes. Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor finished 3rd in the voting picking up 2 1st place votes 3 2nd place votes and 14 3rd place votes. John Gibbons of the Toronto Blue Jays received 1 1st place vote 5 2nd place votes and 2 3rd place votes. New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi received 2 1st place and 2 3rd place votes. Ned Yost the manager of the World Series champion Kansas City Royals received 1 2nd place vote and 5 3rd place votes while Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim got 1 3rd place vote.

Today MLB will announce the Cy Young award winners. In the National League the Chicago Cubs will try to go 3 for 3 as Jake Arrieta is up for the award. Arrieta is going up against two pitchers from the Los Angeles Dodgers as Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke are both up for the award. Over in the American League Sonny Gray of the Oakland A’s, David Price of the Toronto Blue Jays and Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros are the 3 finalist for the award.

On Thursday MLB will announce the Most Valuable Player winners from each league. In the National League the 3 finalist are Bryce harper of the Washington Nationals, Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds and Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The American League finalist are Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays, Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals and Mike Tout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

It’s down to 1 race and 4 drivers in the NASCAR season. Sunday afternoon NASCAR runs the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami speedway where they will crown the 2015 Sprint Cup champion. Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and defending champion Kevin Harvick are in the running to take home the title. Each driver has a story to go with his shot at winning. Harvick’s is obvious as he tries to go back to back with titles. Truex Jr. is a single car team competing with the larger multiple car teams. Busch missed 11 races after crashing during the first Xfinity race of the season. Gordon may be the sentimental favorite as this is the final race of a great career for Gordon in the #24 car. I’m not sure if NASCAR could’ve gotten four better stories for the championship race. Who are you rooting for?

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How was your Week?

Posted: November 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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It’s almost unbelievable how many times Dan the Man, Mr, Fantasy, Schaumburg Stu and I have all taken the same team to win a game in the NFL and that team has lost. I should’ve known something was up when we all picked the New York Jets to beat the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night. While it was a closer game than most of the Thursday night contests by no means was it a good football game. I’m sure the most interesting part of the game for some people where the uniforms the team where wearing. Buffalo wore all red while the Jets went with all green for a very Christmas kind of a look. I did hear an odd stat; 9% of people have what’s called Red/Green Color Blindness and if they would’ve tried to watch this game they would’ve only seen gray. In the end the Bills got a 22-17 victory and we all start off Week 10 with an 0-1 record.

If you where invested in this game fantasy wise it may be a long week for you. There where 3 touchdowns scored and they all came through the air; so hopefully you didn’t have a running back going in this game. Let’s see what we can find for fantasy owners. Tyrod Taylor went 17 for 27 for 158 yards and 1 touchdown for Buffalo; he was also sacked 4 times, but did add 6 rushing attempts for 12 yards. On the Jets side Ryan Fitzpatrick was 15 for 34 for 193 yards; he threw 2 touchdowns and was intercepted 2 times as well. Fitzpatrick was sacked just 1 time and had 3 rushing attempts for 30 yards.

LeSean McCoy put up good rushing numbers for the Bills with 19 carries and 112 yards, but didn’t get into the end zone. McCoy also had 5 receptions for 47 yards. Karlos Williams was a popular add while McCoy was battling injuries and I did see a couple of fantasy experts say he was “The Play” in this game. Williams ran the football 7 times for 24 yards, but he did add 1 reception that went for 26 yards, but more importantly it was a touchdown catch. Chris ivory led the Jets ground game with 18 carries for 99 yards; he also added 2 receptions for 36 yards and did fumble. Numbers wise it was a good rushing night for both teams as their main backs averaged 5.5 yards a carry or better, but the fact that neither found there way into the end zone will hurt fantasy owners.

Tight End Charles Clay was Buffalo’s top receiver with 5 catches for 52 yards. The Bills wide receivers didn’t contribute much to their fantasy teams this week as both Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins each caught 3 passes. Woods went for 19 yards while Watkins went for 14 yards. Jets wide receiver Eric Decker was the best pass catching fantasy option on the night as he had 6 receptions for 85 yards and 1 touchdown. Brandon Marshall caught 3 passes for just 23 yards, but one of them was good for a touchdown. Devin Smith (22 yards), Tommy Bohanon (18 yards), Jeremy Kerley (7 yards) and Kembrel Thompkins (2 yards) all had 1 catch on the night.

The best fantasy option in this game may have been Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter. Carpenter did miss and extra point going 1 for 2 on the night, but he made all 3 of his field goal attempts with his longest being from 47 yards. The Jets regular kicker Nick Folk was placed on season ending injured reserve with an with a Quad injury; so Randy Bullock was signed to do the kicking for the Jets. Bullock made all his kicks hitting 2 extra point attempts and a 29-yard field goal.

On defense Preston Brown led the Bills with 8 tackles. Marcell Dareus had the Buffalo sack on the night. Corey Graham had an interception while Bacarri Rambo had an interception and a fumble recovery; Duke Williams also recovered a fumble for the Bills. David Harris led the Jets defense with 9 tackles and had a sack on the night. Demario Davis added 8 tackles and a sack and Muhammad Wilkerson had the other 2 sacks for the Jets defense.

Craig Kimbrel was dealt for the 2nd time in his career this time going from the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox. It was talked about that the Red Sox would be looking to add starting pitching and with Koji Uehara in place as closer this move is a bit of a surprise. Of course Uehara will turn 41 at the start of next season and injuries did limit him to just 43 appearances last season. Kimbrel is one of the top closers in baseball, but he is coming off a season where he had his highest ERA at 2.58. It’s still a very good ERA but when you’ve put up 1.61, 1.21 and 1.01 in the seasons before that it’s noticeable. Kimbrel also had career lows in saves at 39 and innings pitched at 59 1/3rd, but you have to factor in that the Padres where 74-88 in 2015. In return for Kimbrel San Diego gets  outfield prospect Manuel Margot, shortstop Javier Guerra, infielder Carlos Asuaje, and lefty Logan Allen make up the return. All four players rated among the thirty best Red Sox prospects. Don’t forget that San Diego trade away most of their top prospects last season to get the likes of Kimbrel, Justin Upton and Will Myers; so this deal will help rebuild the farm system. While the Padres appear to have gotten some quality prospects in return the question now becomes who closes games for them next season. Kimbrel’s in Boston and Joaquin Benoit was dealt to the Seattle Mariners earlier in the week, Before Kimbrel was acquired before the start of last season there was some talk that Kevin Quackenbush would close; so maybe he gets the first shot at the job.

When I first heard this rumor they said the Atlanta braves where just “listening” to offers for shortstop  Andrelton Simmons.  Just a few hours later Simmons and minor league catcher Jose Briceno are headed to the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim for shortstop Erick Aybar and two of the Angles top pitching prospects lefthander Sean Newcomb and right handed pitch Chris Ellis. Simmons is considered by many not only the best defensive shortstop in baseball, but the best defensive player in the game regardless of position. Simmons offense hasn’t caught up to his defense yet, but a lot of experts think it will get there. Simmons did put up his best batting average (.265) for a full season in 2015. After a 17 home run season in 2013 his power number have been way down; 7 home runs in 2014 and just 4 last season. Simmons did win the Gold Glove in 2013 and 2014 and this week Wilson named him the Defensive Player of the Year for 2015. Aybar has 1 year left in his contract and the Angeles sent about $3 million to help cover part of his 2016 salary in the deal. Simmons signed a long term deal last off season; so the Angels pick up his remaining 5 year and the $53 million left on that deal. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Aybar is with the Barves for just the one season he has remaining on his deal as they  have a highly-regarded young shortstop in Ozhaino Albies in there minor league system. This looks like a deal that really favors the Angels, but remember Atlanta is building towards 2017 when they open there new ballpark; so this move appears to be another in that future.

There was a little bit of history made in baseball yesterday as Colby Rasmus (Houston Astros), Matt Wieters (Baltimore Orioles) and Brett Anderson (Los Angeles Dodgers) became the first players to ever accept a qualifying offer from there teams. They all get 1-year deals worth $15.8 million. Instead of the qualifying offer Marco Estrada and the Toronto Blue Jays where able to agree to a 2-year deal. If I understood this the qualifying offer is determined by taking the average salary of the top 125 players salaries from the previous season. The players that didn’t accept the qualifying offer are now free agents, and can sign with any team. However the team that signs a player who was extended a qualifying offer has to send it’s 1st round draft pick to his former team unless it’s a Top 10 pick. Who else is confused?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football
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Yesterday New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that daily fantasy sites FanDuel and DraftKings are to be considered illegal gambling in his state. Both sites have been asked to stop accepting wagers from New York residents. Here’s the statement that FanDuel released. “Fantasy sports is a game of skill and legal under New York State law,” FanDuel said in a statement. “This is a politician telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love and share with friends, family, coworkers and players across the country. The game has been played — legally — in New York for years and years, but after the Attorney General realized he could now get himself some press coverage, he decided a game that has been around for a long, long time is suddenly now not legal. We have operated openly and lawfully in New York for several years. The only thing that changed today is the Attorney General’s mind.” DraftKings also released a statement; “We are very disappointed that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman took such hasty action today, particularly since he did not take any time to understand our business or why daily fantasy sports are clearly a game of skill,” DraftKings said in a statement. “We strongly disagree with the reasoning in his opinion and will examine and vigorously pursue all legal options available to ensure our over half a million customers in New York State can continue to play the fantasy sports games they love. “We continue to see a number of other officials, including Senator [Joe] Negron in Florida, Representative [Mike] Zalewski in Illinois and the Federal Trade Commission, take a reasoned, informed and measured approach to the daily fantasy sports business. We hope this trend continues along with due consideration for over 56 million sports fans across the country who enjoy playing fantasy sports. We remain committed to working with all relevant authorities to ensure that our industry operates in a manner that is transparent and fair for all consumers. “New York’s actions today are an unfortunate example of a state government stifling innovation, technology and entrepreneurship and acting without full and fair consideration of the interests of consumers.”  In October, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the state’s attorney general ruled that daily fantasy meets the definition of sports gambling and requires a license to operate within the state. Both companies immediately stopped doing business in Nevada. Both companies were virtually free from scrutiny until this fall, when they flooded the TV market with advertising at the start of the football season. The scrutiny escalated when Ethan Haskell, a DraftKings employee, won $350,000 by finishing in second place in an NFL contest on FanDuel. Although a third-party investigation commissioned by DraftKings found Haskell did not have proprietary information to pick his winning lineup, the revelation that employees could play daily fantasy for money caught many off guard, including MLB, a DraftKings investor. Plenty of other states have been active in figuring out the future of daily fantasy. Last month, a representative in Illinois put forth the first daily fantasy regulation bill, and officials from New Jersey and Pennsylvania held hearings on daily fantasy sports this week. A federal grand jury has convened in Florida, according to multiple legal sources. Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington prohibit fantasy sports for money. Several additional states do not allow some forms of daily fantasy.

Week 9 in the NFL is in the books. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied at 7-6 while Schaumburg Stu and I finished at 6-7 for the week. On the season Dan the Man is in the lead at 79-53. Mr. Fantasy is in 2nd with a record of 76-56. I am currently in 3rd place with a record of 74-58 while Schaumburg Stu is in the cellar with a record of 71-61. Let’s see if Week 10 goes better for us.

I had the Indianapolis Colts going to the Super Bowl out of the AFC this season. The Colts are 4-5, but are in 1st place in the AFC South. Now it looked like they might be on the right track with a 27-24 win over the Denver Broncos. It was the Broncos 1st loss of the season. So just as it seemed like the Colts could be turning things around it was announced that Andrew Luck will be out 2 to 6 weeks with a lacerated kidney and a partial tear of an abdominal muscle. It hasn’t been the best of seasons for Luck as he was sidelined with a shoulder injury earlier in the year and has reportedly been playing with broken ribs in recent weeks. Luck isn’t expected to need surgery and some reports are saying the Colts expect him t be out a month. With Luck out Matthew Hasselback takes over as the starting quarterback for Indianapolis. Hasselback started Week 4 and Week 5 while Luck was out with his shoulder injury and won both of those games. If Luck is out 6 weeks he would return for the final game of the regular season against the Tennessee Titans. If it is the 6 week time period that Luck will be out Hasselback will quarterback the Colts against the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaquars, Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins. Luckily for the Colts they are probably in the weakest division in the NFL; so Hasselback should be able to keep them in playoff contention while Luck is out.

The Miami Heat sent James Ennis and Mario Chalmers to the Memphis Grizzlies for Beno Udrih and Jarnell Stokes. It was the earliest trade in the NBA since 2008. Miami was able to dump a little salary in the deal as Chalmers makes $4.3 million a season while Udrih makes $2.17 million. Stokes and Ennis have identical 1-year veteran’s minimum deals. Stokes deal is fully guaranteed while Ennis and the Heat reworked his contract before the season; so he has a partial guarantee. Memphis has gotten off to a 3-4 start and there was some concern which helped this deal move along this early in the season.

Baseball’s General Mangers are meeting this week, but nothing major has come out of these meetings except a bunch of rumors. There has been one minor trade as the Minnesota Twins sent catcher Chris Herrmann to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor league 1st baseman Daniel Palka. What may have been the biggest news that came out this week is that St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn will under go Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2016 season. Let’s see if all these rumors turn into some deals or if we’ll have to wait for something to happen.

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You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: November 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, fantasy, football
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Thursday night football for Week 9 featured an AFC North match up. The undefeated Cincinnati Bengals hosted the Cleveland Browns. It was a close game for a half as the Bengals had just a 14-10 lead going into the locker room at halftime. Cincinnati put 17 2nd half points up and Cleveland failed to score; so the Bengals where able to pull away for a 31-10 victory. With the win Cincinnati improves to 8-0 on the season. Cleveland fell to 2-7 with the loss.

If Andy Dalton is your fantasy football quarterback you’ll be happy with the numbers he put up for you on Thursday night. Dalton went 21 for 27 and while he threw for just 234 yards he had 3 touchdowns. Dalton also had 6 rushing attempts for 5 yards; so that might be worth a point for you. Johnny Manziel got the start under center for Cleveland and while he did throw a touchdown pass his passing numbers weren’t great. Manziel was 15 for 33 for 168 yards and that touchdown. Manziel did run the football 4 times for 31 yards; so if you played Manziel in your fantasy league his numbers might end up being solid for you.

Neither team had a standout runner for you fantasy team, but a couple Cincinnati running backs had decent nights. Giovani Bernard led the Bengals in rushing Thursday night. Bernard had 13 carries for 72 yards and added 1 reception for 14 yards. Jeremy Hill ran the football 15 times for 52 yards for Cincinnati. Hill also had 1 reception,but it went for 0 yards. Cleveland’s leading rusher was Isaiah Crowell who carried the football 10 times for 38 yards. Crowell did add 3 receptions for 26 yards for his fantasy owners.

Receiving wise I really hope yoou had Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert in your line up. Eifert caught 5 passes for 53 yards on Thursday night, but 3 of his catches went for touchdowns. Mavin Jones tied Eifert for the team lead in receptions with 5 catches. Jones totaled 78 receiving yards on the night. A.J. Green didn’t have a great night for his fantasy owners. Being a top wide receiver Green is always expected to put up big points in fantasy, but the Browns held him to 4 receptions for 53 yards. If you’re in a deeper fantasy league and happened to have Mohamed Sanu in your line up he paid some dividends for you. Sanu had 3 catches for 25 yards, but added a 25 yard touchdown run. While Duke Johnson Jr. couldn’t get anything going in the run game (3 carries for 0 yards) he ended up being the Browns leading receiver with 2 catches for 38 yards, but he did score the Browns only touchdown of the night. Johnson Jr. caught a 12 yard touchdown pass from Manziel in the 2nd quarter for the Browns only touchdown in the game. Gary Barnidge who had been putting up big fantasy points from the tight end position with Josh McCown playing quarterback caught just 2 passes for 35 yards with Manziel starting. Dwayne Bowe; yes that Dwayne Bowe had 3 receptions for 31 yards and Travis Benjamin also added 3 catches for 22 yards on the night.

If your fantasy league scores individual defensive players Carlos Dunlap had 2 sacks for the Bengals; Geno Atkins also had a sack. Karlos Dansby had 11 tackles (a game high) for Cleveland while Desmond Bryant and Paul Kruger each recorded a sack for the Browns.

Both field goal kickers where perfect on the night as Mike Nugent hit a 28 yard field goal and converted all 4 of his extra point attempts. Travis Coons only had 1 extra point attempt; which he made. Coons also kicked a 27 yard field goal.

It was a turnover free game as there where no fumbles and either Dalton or Manziel threw an interception. When was the last time there was a turnover free Thursday night game?

Baseball is getting set for the off season and this week teams where making decisions on who they’d extend qualifying offers to, who’s option wouldn’t be picked up and which players would be bought out. So many of these decisions have to be made by teams that there are too many to go over. What I can go into was the trade that happen this week. The Seattle Mariners sent shortstop Brad Miller, 1st baseman/outfielder Logan Morrison and reliever Danny Farquhar to the Tampa Bay Rays for starting pitcher Nathan Karns, reliever C.J. Riefenhauser and outfielder Boog Powell. While it appears that the Mariners got the best player (Karns) in this trade Tampa Bay picked 2 players that could start for them in 2016 and a solid bullpen piece. Karns started 26 games and made 1 relief appearance last season. He was 7-5 with a 3.67 ERA as a rookie. Riefenhauser pitched in 17 games last season throwing 14 innings. He was 1-0 with an ERA of 5.52. Powell split the 2015 season between Double A (Durham Bulls) and Triple A (Montgomery Biscuits). Powell played a total of 117 games last season. He hit .295 with 3 home runs, 40 RBI’s and stole 18 bases. Miller played in 144 games for the Mariners last season. He hit .258 with 11 home runs and 46 RBI’s with 13 stolen bases. Miller spent the majority of his time at shortstop. but also played 2nd base, 3rd base and all 3 outfield positions. Morrison played in 146 games last season. He hit .225 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI’s. Farquhar had a rough year out of the Seattle bullpen. He went 1-8 with an ERA of 5.12 in 43 games covering 51 innings. In 2014 Farquhar’s ERA was 2.66 in 66 games and in 2013 he picked up 16 saves as Seattle’s fill in closer. Is it possible that this trade might actually help both teams.

The Golden State Warriors are off to a 6-0 start in defense of their NBA title. Golden State picked up that 6th win last night over the Denver Nuggets 119-104. Stephen Curry went 12 of 22 from the floor and 8 of 16 from behind the 3-point line for a game high 34 points. All the Golden State starter scored in double figures led By Curry. Harrison Barnes had 21 points, Klay Thompson scored 18 points, Festus Ezeli scored 16 points and was a perfect 7 for 7 from the field while Draymond Green added 12 points. Reigning MVP Curry is off to a great start to his season. Curry is averaging 35.5 points per game, 6.5 assists per game and is even grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game through 6 games. The Warriors haven’t scored less than 112 points in a game this season and they’ve only had 1 win by less than 15 points. The Los Angeles Clippers loss to the Warriors by 4 points 112-108 last Wednesday night. It’s still very early in the NBA season, but Golden State is the only undefeated team left in the league. Don’t forget they’re doing this with their head coach Steve Kerr out injured. Even this early in the season you have to ask; are the Warriors on their way to repeating?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 4, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, fantasy, football, hockey
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Week 8 went well for me in our group picks as I won the week with a 10-4 record. Dan the Man was 8-6 while Schaumburg Stu was 7-7. Mr. Fantasy had a sub .500 week at 6-8. Overall Dan the Man is in the lead at 72-47. Mr. Fantasy is in 2nd at 69-50. I am a game behind him in 3rd at 68-51 while Schaumburg Stu is in the cellar at 63-54, Will have to see what Week 9 has in store for us.

I was very disappointed to see that NASCAR has suspended Matt Kenseth for the next 2 races for the incident Sunday in which it appears that Kenseth wrecked Joey Logano intentionally. Don’t forget that Logano spun Kenseth out a couple of races ago and pretty much eliminated him from The Chase. Logano wasn’t penalized for what he did, but Kenseth gets 2 races for getting even. .Moments after the ruling was issued, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Kenseth would appeal the penalty. NASCAR announced it would expedite the appeals process and the National Motorsports Appeals Panel has set the appeal for Thursday morning at 9 am est in Concord, North Carolina. Very rarely are these penalties are rarely overturned or even altered; so I expect this to be upheld and for Kenseth to have to sit the next 2 races.  Kenseth and Logano wrecked on Lap 454 of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, with Kenseth’s No. 20 entry making heavy contact with Logano’s Team Penske No. 22 Ford. The collision carried both cars into the Turn 1 wall, severely damaging both. The run-in was the latest chapter in escalating tensions between the two rivals during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs. Though Kenseth attempted to blame the crash on a deflated tire or mechanical issue, the altercation was widely perceived to be retaliation for hard racing between the two in recent weeks.

Logano now finds himself 8th out of 8 drivers 38 points behind leader Jeff Gordon and 28 points out of the Top 4 where he’ll have to be to move to the championship round. Logano has this week at the Texas Motor Speedway (AAA Texas 500) and next week at the Phoenix International Raceway (Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500) to get into the Top 4. A win at either track will advance Logano automatically into the championship race. The season ends Sunday, November 22nd with the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Does Logano have t get a win in one of these next 2 races to advance? or can he point his way back into the Top 4?

Has there been a more disappointing team in the NFL this season than the 3-5 Indianapolis Colts? The frightening thing is the fact that the Colts are actually tied for 1st place in the AFC South with the Houston Texans. Now someone is always going to end up losing there job when a team that was expected to be good isn’t and yesterday the Colts fired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. The team’s associate head coach Rob Chudzinski will assume Hamilton’s job. Will see what Chudzinski tries to do differently with the Colts offense, but it’s not the best week for him to take that unit over. Indianapolis plays host to what may be the best defense in the NFL as the undefeated (7-0) Denver Broncos come to town. Denver is giving up 89.3 rushing yards per game good for 4th in the NFL. They lead the lead in least passing yards given up at 171.9 yards per game and total yards given up at 261.1 per game. Indianapolis ranks 24th in rushing and 14th in passing; so what will the Colts have for the Denver defense. Luck has struggled this season completing 54.9% of his passes this season. Luck has 13 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions; he has also been sacked 14 times this season. There have been reports that Luck is playing with fractured ribs. Now it would be difficult for the fully healthy Andrew Luck to put up big numbers against this Broncos defense. How is an Andrew Luck playing hurt going to do against that defense.

The injuries really piled up in Week 8 of the NFL season and some key players where lost for the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost running back Le’Veon Bell for the season with a knee injury. Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith torn his Achilles and is done for the season. The San Francisco 49ers where already missing #1 running back Carlos Hyde last week when his back up veteran Reggie Bush torn his ACL and was lost for the season when he slipped on the concrete out of bounds on Sunday. There was also Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Ricardo Lockette. While covering a punt Lockette was blocked by Jeff Heath of the Dallas Cowboys. Lockette laid motionless on the field for quite a while before being carted off. Lockette ended up wit a concussion and a sore neck. Detroit Lions wide receiver injured an ankle making a catch Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs in the London game. Johnson left with about 10 minutes to go in the game and didn’t return. New Orleans Saints running back Khiry Robinson was carted off the field during his teams game against the New York Giants. It was reported that Robinson has a broken leg and will miss the rest of the season. Also in that game Giants tight end Larry Donnell injured his neck. The Chicago Bears lost wide receiver Eddie Royal and running back Matt Forte with knee injuries. Forte has been ruled out for Week 9; there;s no report on Royal yet. The New York Jets had both of their quarterbacks get banged up against the Oakland raiders last Sunday. Ryan Fitzpatrick left the game with what turned out to be torn ligament in his left (non-throwing) hand. Geno Smith came into relieve Fitzpatrick and he had to leave the game with injuries to his left shoulder and abdomen. I’m sure a lot of these injuries have fantasy owners scrambling to find players.

Connor McDavid was the #1 pick in last years NHL draft by the Edmonton Oilers. Last night McDavid suffered a broke collarbone in the  Oilers 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were leading 2-1 with 1:44 remaining in the second period when McDavid had a partial short-handed breakaway. Philadelphia defenseman  Michael Del Zotto and Brandon Manning met McDavid on his way to the net and all 3 fell awkwardly to the ice and went crashing into the boards. McDavid left the ice favouring his left shoulder. He was seen wearing a sling in the hallway behind the dressing room and did not return for the third period. Being that it’s the NHL all Edmonton’s coach Todd McLellan said “He’s got an upper-body injury that is going to keep him out long term,” it was later reported that McDavid had a broken collarbone. While Edmonton wasn’t expected to be a playoff team this season it’s tough to lose your top rookie who has been playing well. McDavid was off to a solid start for the Oilers, registering 12 points in his first 12 games and was named the rookie of the month for October.

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How was your Week?

Posted: October 31, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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The New York Mets got there first World Series win 9-3 last night over the Kansas City Royals. Kansas City still has a 2 games to 1 lead in the series with Game 4 scheduled for tonight at Citi Field.

There had to be some concern from the Mets and there fans when the Royals scored a run off of Noah Syndergaard in the top of the 1st. The first pitch Syndergaard threw went over the head of Royals lead off hitter Alcides Escobar and went to the screen. The hot hitting Escobar ended up striking out in the at bat, but Ben Zobrist followed him with a double. A Lorenzo Cain infield single put Royals on 1st and 3rd. An Eric Hosmer fielder’s choice scored Zobrist and the Royals had there 1-0 lead. Curtis Granderson led the bottom of the 1st off with an infield single for the Mets. David Wright was up next for the Mets and just as the Fox announce team was going to say how bad Wright is he hit a 2-run homer to left field to not only give the Mets a 2-1 lead, but also shut up the 3-man Fox broadcast team. That’s far and away the funniest part of these first 3 World Series games. The Royals came back with 2 runs off of Syndergaard in the top of the 2nd to take a 3-2 lead. Yordano Ventura was only able to hold that lead for an inning. Syndergaard led off the bottom of the 3rd with a single and Granderson followed that with a 2-run home run to right to give the Mets a lead they wouldn’t lose at 4-3. Sybdergaard settled in as the Mets added a run in the bottom of the 4th and then out the game away with 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning. Syndergaard got the win pitching 6 innings giving up those 3 early runs on 7 hits. He walked 2 and had 6 strikeouts. Addison Reed, Tyler Clippard and  Jeurys Familia all worked an inning out of the Mets bullpen. None of the Mets relievers allowed a hit and Familia had 1 strikeout. Ventura lasted just 3 1/3rd innings in the loss. He gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and struck out 1. The Royals used 6 relievers after Ventura and Franklin Morales was the pitcher who was charged with the 4 runs the Mets added in the 6th. Granderson, Travis d’Arnaud and Wright each had 2 hits in the game. Wright had 4 RBI’s on the night as well.

For Game 4 Kansas City is going with Chris Young on the mound while the Mets turn to Steven Matz. While Matz hasn’t pitched in the series Young did come out of the bullpen in Game 1. Young actually picked up the win in the 14 inning affair pitching 3 innings. Young didn’t allow a hit, but did walk 1 while striking out 4 in the game. It was a 53 pitch outing for Young in Game 1, but it was 4 days ago and you wouldn’t think it would affect his start tonight. Matz will be making his 2rd post season start. He hasn’t lasted longer than 5 innings in either start. He is 0-1 with and ERA of 3.72 over just 9 2/3rd innings. Matz does have 8 strikeouts and only 1 walk in his post season outings. Can Matz get the Mets even? or will Young get the Royals a 3 games to 1 lead?

We got another tough to watch Thursday night football game unless you’re a fan of the New England Patriots. The Patriots easily ended the Miami Dolphins 2-game winning streak 36-7 Thursday night. Some experts thought that Miami would give the Patriots a game and some even predicted that they give the Patriots their first loss of the season, but I doubt they’d admit to that now. New England improved to 7-0 while Miami fell to 3-4. New England was up 19-0 before Miami scored there only touchdown. New England added 17 more points after Miami scored to get to the 36-7 final score.

I’m sure you did, but I hope you had your Patriots in your fantasy line up. Tom Brady was 26 for 38 for 356 yards and while he did get sacked twice he threw 4 touchdown passes. Rob Gronlowski had 6 receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown. Dion Lewis may have only had 5 rushing attempts for 19 yards he did catch 6 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown. Julian Edelman led the Patriots with 7 receptions. He went for 81 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brandon LaFell even chipped in with 4 catches for 47 yards. This week LeGarrette Blount was the main running back for the Patriots. Blount had 17 carries for 72 yards and did add 1 catch for 2 yards. On the Miami side Ryan Tannehill went 28 for 44 for 300 yards. Tannehill was sacked 5 times and threw 2 interceptions. Lamar Miller scored the Dolphins touchdown on the night, but rushed for just 15 yards on 9 carries. He did add 5 catches for 19 yards as well; so he would’ve been a serviceable fantasy player. Jarvis Landry had 6 receptions for 71 yards. Rishard Matthews had 7 catches for 62 yards and tight end Jordan Cameron had 2 receptions for 34 yards. Defensively Duron Harmon and Logan Ryan had the Patriots interceptions. Ryan also led New England in tackles with 7. Chandler Jones had 2 sacks on the night while Devin McCourty, Dont’a Hightower and Rob Ninkovich each recorded a sack. Reshad Jones and Kelvin Shepard tie for the Dolphins team lead in tackles with 8. Oliver Vernon and Cameron Wake each had a sack for the Dolphins.

Not only did the Dolphins lose the game they suffered a loss along there defensive line as Cameron Wake was diagnosed with a torn Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. Wake was the Dolphins leader in sacks with 7. No other Dolphins defensive line man has more than 2 sacks on the season.

Not counting injuries who have been your biggest fantasy disappointments this season? Running backs always go high in drafts, but if you took C.J. Anderson of the Denver Broncos he has to be a bit of a let down for you along with DeMarco Murray of the Philadelphia Eagles. While Andrew Luck has struggled this season he did miss a couple of games with an injury. Most of the quarterbacks that have stayed healthy have played close to were they where predicted to, but Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson have under performed a little this season. Andre Johnson (Indianapolis Colts) hasn’t seemed to regain the form that made him one of the top wide receivers in the NFL. Mike Evans (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has also struggled at times this season. Some expected Evans to have some issues working with a rookie quarterback, but others spent a higher draft pick on him and are waiting for him to get on track. Is there someone you went out and drafted early that hasn’t met your standards? Let me know who’s hurting your team.

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football
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I’m not sure if we could’ve gotten a better Game 1 to start the World Series off with. The scoring started off with something I never thought I would see. A inside the park home run by Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the 1st inning to give the Royals an early 1-0 lead. The New York Mets came back with single runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th inning off of Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez for a 3-1 lead. With the way Matt Harvey had settled down after the home run in the 1st it looked like the Royals could be in trouble. Harvey had some issues in the bottom of the 6th giving up a double and a couple of singles that led to the Royals being able to tie the game up 3-3 after 6. Both starters exited the game after pitching 6 innings; so it became a bullpen game. With 2 outs in the top of the 8th Juan Lagares singled and stole 2nd. Wilmer Flores hit what looked like an inning ending ground ball to 1st, but Eric Hosmer made an error and Lagares came around to score. Honestly with Jeurys Familia on the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the 9th inning I really thought they where going to get a big Game 1 win in Kansas City, but with 1 out in the inning Alex Gordon hit a solo home run to center field to tie the game at 4-4. Familia got the next 2 Royals hitters and Game 1 was headed to extra innings. Neither team threatened in the 10th as all 3 Mets hitters struck out swinging and 2 of the 3 Royals hitters struck out in the bottom of the inning. Lagares led of the top of the 11th with a single and was sacrificed to 2nd, but was stranded there as the Mets went strikeout, walk, strikeout to end the inning. The Royals got an infield single with 2 outs in the bottom half of the inning, but didn’t threaten. All 3 Mets hitters struck out in the top of the 12th inning. Kansas City got an infield single by Paulo Orlando who was sacrificed to 2nd. An intentional walk put runners on 1st and 2nd. A ground out to 1st moved the runners up, but was the 2nd out of the inning and the next batter flew out to center field to end the inning. All the Mets could manage in the top of the 13th was a 2 out walk. The Royals did get a lead off single to start the bottom of the inning, but after that they had a pop out and 2 ground outs to end the inning. The Mets went down 1, 2, 3 in the top of the 14th. Escobar started the bottom of the inning for the Royals by reaching safely on a throwing error by Mets 3rd baseman David Wright. Ben Zobrist singled to right field and Escobar went to 3rd base. Lorenzo Cain was intentionally walked to load the bases for Hosmer. Hosmer was 0 for 3 as he stepped to the plate to fave Bartolo Colon, but he did hit a sacrifice fly earlier in the game to drive in a run. Hosmer hit a deep fly ball to Mets rightfielder Curtis Granderson. It looked as though Escobar would score easily to win the game for the Roayls and while he did score the game winning run Granderson made the play at home plate much, much closer than anyone thought it would be. Colon took the loss for the Mets pitching 2 1/3rd innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits and he did walk 3, but they where all intentional. Chris Young who is scheduled to start Game 4 for Kansas City worked 3 innings in relief and got the win. Young pitched 3 innings in relief walking 1 ans striking out 3. So the longest game in World Series history ends in a 5-4 win for the Royals after 14 innings.

Game 2 is tonight in Kansas City and the Mets will send Jacob deGroom to the mound to start. The Royals will counter with Johnny Cueto as they look to win both games at home. deGroom has won all 4 of his post season starts and has an E.R.A. of 1.80 over 20 innings. He has also struck out 27 batters, but has given up 2 home runs. Cueto has also made 3 post season starts, but is 1-1 with an E.R.A. of 7.88. Cueto has logged just 16 innings in his 3 starts and has giving up 15 hits. After a long Game 1 that saw the Mets use 5 pitchers and the Royals use 6 pitchers in relief you have to think that both managers would like to get into the 7th inning with there starter, but it is the World Series and if a pitcher is struggling you can’t stay wit him. It looks like the Mets have an advantage in starting pitching tonight, but this is why the Royals dealt for Cueto at the trade deadline, but will he come through for them?

Over shadowed for me by Game 1 of the World Series was the start of the NBA season. There where 3 games on the schedule; 2 of which where on national television. It started with the Chicago Bulls getting a 97-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nikola Mirotic led the Bulls with 19 points, Yaj Gibson led the team with 10 rebounds and Derrick Rose led the team with 5 assists. LeBron James led the Cavaliers in scoring with 25 points, Tristan Thompson grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the team and Mo Williams had team high 7 assists. The game you didn’t see on national television saw the Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks 106-94. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points to lead the Pistons, Andre Drummond had 19 rebounds to lead the team and Reggie Jackson handed out 5 assists to lead Detroit. Dennis Schroder came off the Atlanta bench to lead the team with 20 points, Paul Milsap grabbed a team high 8 rebounds and Schroder, Jeff Teague and Al Horford tied for the lead in assists with 4. The 3rd and final game of the night saw the defending champion Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 111-95. Stephen Curry looked to be in MVP form as he scored 40 points and handed out 7 assists to lead Golden State in both categories, Harrison Barnes led the tam with 9 rebounds. Anthony Davis scored 18 points to lead New Orleans, Davis and Ryan Anderson each grabbed 9 rebounds t tie for the team lead in that category and Ish Smith had 9 assists to lead New Orleans.

Schaumburg Stu won our pick contest for Week 7 in the NFL going 9-5. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied at 8-6 and I was at the bottom going 7-7. Dan the Man held on to his 1 game lead overall at 64-41. Mr. Fantasy is 63-42 while Schaumburg Stu and I are tied at 58-47. Let;s see what Week 8 has in store for us.

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

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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

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?

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