Archive for the ‘football’ Category

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

How about them; wait who now

Posted: October 2, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in football
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The Dallas Cowboys are 2-1 and in sole possession of 1st place in the NFC East going into their Week 4 game against the 0-3 3 New Orleans Saints. You’d think a team that was in 1st place wouldn’t have to many more concerns other than winning games, but the Cowboys are in a unique situation. Dez Bryant was injured in Game 1 of the season and isn’t expected back for 4-6 more weeks, but there are some experts saying he might be done for the season. Even though it was an injury to one of the top wide receivers in all of the NFL; well it’s the NFL and injuries happen. The in the 2nd game of the season Tony Romo goes down with a broken clavicle. Romo needed surgery and is scheduled to return Week 11 against the Miami Dolphins. So now the Cowboys top 2 offensive players are injured and out for quite a few games. How does the team stay afloat in what is shaping up to be a winnable division even without Bryant and Romo. Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley will be expected to step up and fill the void left by Bryant at wide receiver. The Cowboys traded for Brice Butler to help at receiver, but he hasn’t appeared in a game since being acquired; so he doesn’t look like he’ll be able to help fill in for the injured Bryant. Now you can still piece together a solid receiving core with what the Cowboys have and with some good performances from tight ends Jason Witten and Gavin Escobar. Maybe there’s a chance they add a veteran like Wes Welker or Hakeem Nicks; who are still out on the free agent market. While this group could never replace a receiver like Bryant they could help the team tread water until Bryant can get healthy and return. Now the void that Romo created with his injury is more difficult to fill. Brandon Weeden was the back up quarterback coming out of training camp and made the start Week 3 a 39-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The Cowboys did send a draft pick to the Buffalo Bills for quarterback Matt Cassel. Cassel is in his 11th season and most people remember him as the quarterback who filled in for Tom Brady in 2008 and went 10-5 as their starting quarterback. Cassel has 72 career starts at quarterback and may be a better option under center than Weeden once he learns the Cowboys offensive scheme. I’m not sure if the Cowboys or anyone else in the NFL know what they have in Weeden. Weeden is in his 4th NFL season, but is almost 32 years old. He’s a former 1st round draft pick; 22nd overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2012 draft. He started 15 games for Cleveland that season. Dallas signed Weeden as a free agent in 2014 and he played in 5 games, starting 1. No announcement has been made; so it looks as though Weeden will be the starter against New Orleans this week. Too be fair Weeden played well in the loss against Atlanta. He went 22 of 26 for 232 with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception. Weeden seemed to mostly be throwing check downs  routes which seemed to be the Cowboys game plan with him. Running back Lance Dunbar led the team in receptions wit 10 for 100 yards. Weeden is not the most mobile quarterback and even behind what is considered a great offensive line he was sacked twice by Atlanta. With the Cowboys quarterback position in a bit of flux maybe they should turn to the running game with that great offensive line they have. Remember DeMarco Murray was allowed to leave in free agency this past off season and the Cowboys signing to help replace him at running back was Darren McFadden. McFadden has always been injury prone, but last season he did play in all 16 games for the Oakland Raiders, but he wasn’t there #1 running back. At one point in time McFadden was considered a #1 running back and even topped a 100 yards rushing in 2010, but he doesn’t look like the answer in the backfield and has really been the Cowboys #2 running back with Joseph Randle getting the bulk of the carries with Dunbar coming in on passing downs. Now Randle has put up pretty good numbers trough 3 games behind that Cowboys offensive line. Randle has 48 carries for 203 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. He has also caught 6 passes for 74 yards. The question is; can Randle handle the load a #1 running back is expected to? and carry the team while Bryant and Romo recover from there injuries? Now I’m not sure who’s sold on Randle as that guy and who’s not, but what really matters is are the Cowboys sold on him? Now there may be some help out there in the form of a top running back if the Cowboys where interested in making a deal. Is it time for te Cowboys to pick up the telephone and place a call to the 0-3 Chicago Bears and see what it would take to get Matt Forte in a Cowboys uniform. If you noticed this week the Bears sent Jared Allen to the Carolina Panthers for a draft pick and Jon Bostic was dealt to the New England Patriots also for a draft pick. The Bears are clearly in rebuilding mode and while no one in their right mind would take Jay Cutler and his bad, bad contract the Cowboys should be talking a look at his best weapon; Forte. If the Cowboys came to the Bears with an offer of a 2nd round pick, a 5th round pick and a player like McFadden; so the Bears aren’t short handed in there backfield; would that be enough? That’s pretty good value in the NFL as far as trades are and looking at the Bears by the time the team is ready to contend again Forte might be at the end of his career.Forte is one of the top running backs in the game both rushing and receiving. He’s even managed to average 4.7 yards per carry this season behind a terrible Bears offensive line and let’s not forget he had 102 receptions last season to go with 1038 rushing yards. Now Dallas may have to try to make some other moves to get a player like Forte under there salary cap and that may actual be the biggest hold up to a deal like this happening. If the Cowboys could find takers for players like Randle and Dunbar that would assist in this deal. While you think that might hurt the Dallas backfield; Forte is an every down back and the Cowboys did trade for Christine Micheal before the season started. Forte is definitely  the player who could keep the Cowboys contending in the NFC East while Bryant and Romo get healthy. Looking at the NFC East the Philadelphia Eagles looked better last week, but they still don’t seem to have that Chip Kelly offense under control yet. The New York Giants are still the dumbest team in the NFL and dumb teams find ways to lose games not win them. The Washington Redskins are well the Washington Redskins and while they looked good in their 1 win they reverted to form last week and aren’t expected to contend. Just think of the numbers Forte would put up running the football behind that Cowboys offensive line. He’d be a perfect check down guy for either Weeden or Cassel which ever one is playing quarterback and then imagine the weapon he’d be with Romo under center and Bryant out at wide receiver. Can or will the Cowboys find a way to make this move and would Matt Forte save the Cowboys season.

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How was your Week?

Posted: September 26, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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On Thursday night the New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins 32-21 to even both teams records at 1-2. Some how this game actually went my way as I was the only one to pick the Giants to win as Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy all had the Redskins winning. With the way my season has started picking games I’ll take it.

Fantasy wise it wasn’t a good day to have a running back from this game. Matt Jones led the Redskins in rushing with 38 yards on 11 carries and did have a fumble. Alfred Morris had 19 yards on just 6 carries. If you needed to have someone out of the Redskins backfield the best choice would’ve been Chris Thompson. Thompson only had 2 carries, but picked up 29 yards; he also caught 8 passes for 57 yards and more importantly for fantasy owners he got a receiving touchdown. The Giants backfield wouldn’t of been much more help if any. Rashad Jennings was their leading rusher with 32 yards on 11 carries; he also added 3 catches for 25 yards. Andre Williams had the most carries for the Giants on the night with 14, but managed just 29 yards. Luckily if you did okay Williams he found his way into the end zone on one of his carries. Shane Vereen also carried the football 6 times for the Giants for 23 yards. I have the feeling that unless you’re in a pretty deep league Thompson wasn’t on your radar, but I’m willing to bet someone in your league depending on the size of it owns Williams.

In the passing game it might not of been bad to have either quarterback depending on what your negative points are. Kirk Cousins was 30 of 49 for 316 yards with 1 touchdown. The negatives on Cousins would be the 2 interceptions h threw and the 1 sacks for 11 yards he took. Those will be the telling factors on if Cousins was a good play in your league this week. On the other side of the football there where no negatives to Eli Manning this week. Manning was 23 of 32 for 279 and threw 2 touchdowns. Now Manning is owned in all the leagues I’m but, but he’s not a starter for everyone who owns him, Cousins on the other hand is still out there in some of the leagues that I play in. Of course with some of the regular starting quarterbacks being out injured this week Manning may be starting and Cousins may have been added to a roster. Luckily for their fantasy owners either one may be a solid play this week.

While Thompson was the Redskins leader in receptions with 8 it was tight end Jordan Reed who led the team in yardage with 96 on 6 catches. Pierre Garcon had 5 receptions for 64 yards and Jamison Crowder caught 6 passes for 45 yards. While Reed will be a good play for tight ends this week the Redskins receiver won’t do you much good. I’m not even sure if the return of DeSean Jackson would help this receiving corp. Rueben Randle had a big night for the Giants catching 7 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown while it might’ve been a down day yardage wise for Odell Beckham Jr. with 79 he did catch 7 passes and added that all important touchdown. If not for the touchdown grab it would’ve been a rough night for Beckham Jr. owners. Both Giants tight ends caught 3 passes. Larry Donnell went for 32 yards and Daniel Fells went for 27 yards. It would’ve been a good night to start either or both Giants wide receivers, but hopefully you stayed away from their tight ends.

Now your leagues score individual defensive players; so even though they don’t score huge points per week they can make or break your week. With that in mind the redskins had 3 defensive players get 10 tackles or more. Keenan Robinson led the team with 13 (10 solo), Will Compton had 11 tackles (8 solo) and Dashon Goldson had 10 tackles (7 solo). Uani’ Unga was the Giants leader in tackles with 9 (6 solo) and also had an interception while Jonathan Casillas had 8 tackles (7 solo) and the Giants sack. Prince Amukamara added 8 tackles (6 solo); defended 3 passes and had an interceptions. Also special team wise Rashad Jennings did block a punt that went for a safety; so there are a couple of extra fantasy points for you if you started the Giants Defense/Special Teams this week. Of course depending on how your league is scored will be the deciding factor on if you get points for Jennings safety.

The Oakland A’s held on last night to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4. With that loss the Giants are eliminated from the wild card race and even though they lost their game yesterday 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates the Chicago Cubs are going to the playoffs this season. It’s never the favorite way for a team to get into the playoffs, but more importantly the Cubs are officially in. Too be fair this has been expected for a while as the Giants have been struggling down the stretch and the Cubs, Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals have been the 3 best teams in the National League for a while now. Even though both teams have found there way into the post-season the games may still be big for the Pirates as they find themselves just 3 games behind the Cardinals in the standings with 8 games to go for each team. That may be too big of a hill for the Pirates to get over in such a short period of time and I doubt Pittsburgh can afford to lose a game. The Pirates are on a 7-game winning streak going into today’s game, but could they take it to 15 and catch the Cardinals. I guess with the National League just playing out the string this week it will give us something to watch. It may also add some interest to the 3-game series that the Pirates and the Cardinals have coming up in Pittsburgh. The series starts Monday wit the pitching match ups scheduled as J.A. Happ vs. Lance Lynn on Monday. Charlie Morton vs. Michael Wacha on Tuesday and Jeff Locke vs. Carlos Martinez in the series finale on Wednesday.

It’s looking like the only playoff spot left to be decided is who will be the 2nd wild card team in the American League. After a great season by the Houston Astrros their last season slide has put them in danger of falling completely out of the playoffs. It looks like the New York Yankees have wrapped up the 1st wild card slot with the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East. The Yankees have a 4 1/2 game lead in the wild card race going into today’s games. The Astros hold just a 1/2 game lead on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and they have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Minnesota Twins. The Astros are on a 3 game losing streak and our 3-7 over their last 10 games while the Angels are on a 3 game winning streak and are 7-3 over their last 10 games. The Twins who are still hanging around have dropped there last 2 games and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Astros are turning to  Collin McHugh against the AL West leading Texas Rangers to try and end there losing streak. The Angels have rookie Andrew Heaney making the start for them tonight against the Seattle Mariners and the Twins are going with  Tyler Duffey against the Detroit Tigers. It looks like the last playoff race left to watch; so who do you got?

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 23, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football
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Two weeks into the NFL season and one thing is becoming clear to me.We’re not very good at picking winners and it’s a good thing we don;t bet on these games. Schaumburg Stu won Week 2 with a record of 8-8, Mr. Fantasy and I where 6-10 while Dan the Man went 5-11. Through two weeks Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy are toed for the over all lead with a record of 17-15. Dan the Man is 15-17 while I am bringing up the rear at 13-19. Let’s hope Week 3 goes better for us.

Did you have the Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles starting the season 0-2. Obviously it’s early in the season, but have any of these teams showed any signs of coming around to the team you thought they would be. Luckily for the Saints and the Eagles they play in relatively weaker divisions than the other 0-2 teams. Don’t forget that the Carolina Panthers won the NFC South with a record of 7-8-1 last season; so the Saints can easily get back in it. While these teams cab easily gain ground just by beating the teams in their divisions when they meet. Now even though the Eagles did just lose a game to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2 they may still be in the best spot of all that 0-2 teams. With all the injuries the Cowboys have incurred early this season and as bad as the Washington Redskins may be along with the fact that the New York Giants have been the worst team in the NFL the first two weeks of the season the NFC East could easily be the worst division in the entire NFL. So if Chip Kelly can get the Eagles going in the right direction and that’s easier said than done with the way they’ve played these first two weeks they may have the easiest road to a division title. Of course the question is; can they straighten out their issues?

After there 27-26 Week 1 victory over the Giants, the Cowboys found out they’d be without there best wide Receiver Dez Bryant for possible up to 10 weeks. Then during their Week 2 game against the Eagles which ended up being a 20-10 win quarterback Tony Romo broke his clavicle and was placed on injured reserve with a return. That means Romo will be out for at least 8 weeks and will miss at least 7 games. The Cowboys did sign Matt Cassell to help fill the void left by the Romo injury, but you have to figure this week against the Atlanta Falcons who are also 2-0 that Brandon Weeden will be the starting quarterback. Weeden was 7 of 7 for 73 yards and a touchdown in relief of Romo on Sunday. In Bryant’s absence Jason Witten led the team in receptions with 7, but Terrence Williams led the tam in receiving yards with 84 and caught the only receiving touchdown. Cole Beasely did catch 4 passes, but only managed 14 yards on those catches. While the Cowboys have one of if not the best offensive line in football, but they’ll need to find a way to get more production out of there wide receivers while Bryant and Romo are out to continue to be successful. Will have to see if newly acquired Brice Butler or Devin Street can step up at receiver or maybe it’s time that Gavin Escobar shows something as a second tight end in this offense. Even with a very good offensive line the running game has struggled. Joseph Randle has gotten the most carries through 2 games; 34, but is only averaging 3.4 yards per carry. Darren McFadden has gotten 16 carries through 2 games , but he’s only averaging 2.9 yards per carry. While Lance Dunbar has been a factor in the passing game out of the backfield where he has 11 catches for 115 yards; he has only carried the football 1 time for 8 yards. Even with the offensive line the Cowboys have they don’t have a rushing touchdown. They did go out and make a trade with the Seahawks for Christine Michael right before the season started and you have to wonder if he’ll get a chance in the backfield. Michael has been inactive for the first 2 games of the season, but with the production the running backs have given the Cowboys you’d have to think they would take a look at him. Dallas is off to a 2-0 start, but you have to wonder if they’ll be able to at least tread water until Romo and Bryant return.

You have to think that the National League Cy Young race is won to 2 pitchers. Sorry Clayton Kershaw, but it’s not you this season. Voters have to looking at Zack Greinke; Kershaw’s teammate on the Los Angeles Dodgers or Chicago Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta. Arrieta made his 31st start last night and pitched a 3-hit shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers to get his 20th victory of the season. Arrieta struck out 11 while walking just 1 last night. Arrieta also lowered his ERA to 1.88. Greinke has made 30 starts and will make his 31st start tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Greinke is 18-3 and leads baseball with an ERA of 1.65. With both the Cubs and the Dodgers headed into the playoffs and the Cubs going into the wild card game you have to wonder if either pitcher will make a 32nd start this season. You’d think both guys would be the pitcher their team would want on the mound to open a playoff series or pitch them into a playoff series by winning a wild card game. Imagine a NLDS series against the Dodgers where it’s Greinke in Game 1 followed by Kershaw in Game 2. Then they could bring them back for a Game 4 and 5 if needed. Even with some of the struggles Kershaw had in last seasons playoffs it’s still a pitching set up any team would take. The Cubs won’t quite have that set up as they’ll have Arrieta to pitch them into a NLDS series it would be Jon Lester getting that Game 1 start and Arrieta would be back in Game 3 or maybe 4. Cy Young voters are going to have to make a tough choice between Greinke and Arrieta and no matter which guys wins it there will be a case for the other one to win it.

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How was your Week?

Posted: September 19, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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Our Week 2 picks in the NFL didn’t get off to a good start for Dan the Man Mr. Fantasy and I as we all took the Kansas City Chiefs to win the first Thursday night football game of the NFL season on CBS. Schaumburg Stu was the only one of us smart enough to take the Denver Broncos to win which they did 31-24 on one of the odder plays to end an NFL game that will probably see this season. Maybe picking the Thursday night game wrong will be better for me this week. I picked last week’s game right and then went on to have a sub .500 week.

Back to that odd ending. Kansas City had the football with about :30 seconds to go in the game and the score tied at 24. Instead of taking a knee Kansas City decided to run a play and they handed the football off to Jamaal Charles. Charles is one of the better running backs in the NFL and a lot of people rate him as the best duel threat back in the league with his ability to catch the football out of the backfield. Charles is also thought to be one of those type of players that can score any time he has the football in his hands. So it makes some sense to get the ball into Charles hands and see if he can gain enough yards to allow the Chiefs to win the game in regulation. Alex Smith hands the football off to Charles and while he’s on his way to the ground he’s hit by a Broncos defender and the football pops out. Bradley Roby of the Broncos was right there when the ball came out and was able to pick it up and return it 21 yards for a touchdown and a Denver win. This is where it all starts. I’m sure before both teams got off the field there where people questioning Chiefs head coach Andy Reid’s decision t run a play and not just kneel down and tale the game into overtime. One of the first things I heard was people comparing it t a play that happened in a game quite a few years ago between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. The big difference there was the Giants where down on their own goal line when they ran there play. So right away Reid is taking all the blame for this loss and as a head coach he accepts it for his team, but is it really his fault? While Reid did call the play he wasn’t the one who put the football on the ground. I think that Charles has to take the majority of the blame for this loss, but it doesn’t seem to be going that way. People point to the fact that Charles had fumbled earlier in the game as reason for the Chiefs to just kneel down and head into overtime. In 2013 Charles led the NFL in fumbles with 19 and last season (2014) he fumbled 14 times. Charles averaged a fumble every 17 touches last season. Now think of how people would’ve reacted had Charles broken the run off and it help Kansas City get into field goal range and win the game. They’d be touting Reid as the greatest coach in the NFL today and it would’ve been a great play call. I’d also like to see a little bit of blame given to Smith as well. Smith was the last Chiefs player with a chance to stop Roby from scoring and he had a clean shot at him. Now I know that teams don’t like their starting quarterbacks to even try to make tackles and earlier in the game Peyton Manning just watched as Marcus Peters picked off one of his passes and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown, but this situation is a little different. Now even if Smith makes the tackle there’s a better than average chance that Denver just kicks a field goal to win the game, but there’s also a chance they miss that field goal and the game goes into over time. I’m not even sure if Smith touched Roby and after he got past Smith there was nothing between him and winning the game.

It’s a tough loss for the Chiefs who jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the game only to watch Denver come back and tie it up. After the teams traded field goals it looked like Knile Davis’ 8 yard touchdown run to give the Chiefs a 24-17 lead might be the game winner. Manning responded by taking the Broncos on a 10 play 80 yard drive capped off by a 19 yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders to tie the game at 24 which led to the Charles fumble and the game winning return.

Fantasy wise Manning threw for 3 touchdowns and 256 yards in the game, but did throw 1 interception. Smith wasn’t much help for your fantasy team as he threw for 191 yards, but was picked off 2 times in the game. He did add 15 yards rushing for you. Denver’s running backs won’t end up being much help to you this week. Ronnie Hillman was their leading rusher with 34 yards on 9 carries and they didn’t have a rushing touchdown. Despite the fumble Charles had 21 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown. Sanders and Demaryius Thomas each had 8 catches for Denver and while Thomas had more yards (116) Sanders caught 2 touchdown passes to go with 87 yards. Travis Kelce and Jeremy Maclin each had 4 catches to lead the Chiefs. Kelce had 1 more yard  receiving than Maclin 58 to 57. Don’t forget that both teams defenses scored in this game.

It looked like Dallas Keuchel was going to have a chance to establish himself as the top candidate for the AL Cy Young if he had a good outing against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Keuchel’s team the Houston Astros had just fallen out of 1st place in the AL West by losing the first two games of there series against the Rangers, but a win would put them right back in 1st place. Keuchel lasted 4 2/3rd innings giving up 9 runs on 11 hits; 3 of which where home runs. It was Keuchel’s shortest outing of the season and it couldn’t of come at a worse time for him or his team. If the door is open for someone else to join the Cy Young race who would it be. David Price may  be that next pitcher in line. Price is 16-5 and leads the AL in ERA at 2.42. Price is also 4th in the AL in strikeouts with 212. Keuchel of course may still be the front runner as he is tied for the AL lead in wins with 17 and is 2nd behind Price in ERA at 2.56. Is it a 2 man race or are there any other contenders. Sonny Gray is tied for 2nd in ERA with Keuchel and is 13-7 on the season, but his team isn’t contending and voters seem to lean towards players on winning teams. Felix Hernandez is tied with Keuchel with 17 wins, but he’s also on a non-contending team. Colby Lewis is 16-8 for the 1st place Rangers, but he has an ERA of 4.41. Chris Archer has had a solid year 12-12 with an ERA of 2.95 and is 2nd in the AL in strikeouts with 243, but with Tampa bay fading in the wild card race he may be over looked. Let’s look some place Cy Young voters  never seem to look; the bullpen. How about Andrew Miller. The Yankees closer has saved 34 of 35 games this season. He has an ERA of 1.80 covering 55 innings in 54 games. Miller has a WHIP of 0.800 and a strikeouts per 9 innings rate of 14.6. It seems difficult for Cy Young voters to vote for a reliever, but with no starting pitcher running away with the award this might be the year to look that way.

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football
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Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books and Mr. Fantasy had the best week of picks in our little contest. He ends Week 1 with an 11-5 record. Dan the Man is a game back at 10-5 while Schaumburg was 9-7 for Week 1. Sadly I was a huge embarrassment going 7-9 for the first week of the season. Looks like I have quite a hole to dig myself out of right from the start of the season.

So if your a New York Giants fan and your team misses winning the NFC East by 1 game or just happens t miss the playoffs by 1 game you can look back at their Week 1 (27-26) loss to the Dallas Cowboys as the reason for it. This was far and away the stupidest football played by any team in Week 1. The Giants where on the Cowboys 2-yard line with about 1:40 to go in the game with Dallas having no timeouts. On 3rd down instead of just jamming the football int the line and trying to pound it in for a touchdown Eli Manning decides that he’s going to throw for it. Now there’s no issue with that, but as he rolled to his right he threw the ball away. Now I don’t know if he forgot the situation or is just dumb, but he stopped the clock. Then instead of going for it on 4th down the Giants decided to take the field goal and give themselves a 6-point lead. If Manning would’ve taken the sack and then New York would’ve just ran the ball on 4th down they would’ve had a 3-point lead with about .45 seconds to go in the game and Dallas would have to go 98 or 99 yards for a touchdown to win the game. So the Giants opt for the field goal and then they have to kickoff to the Cowboys. Oddly they decided to squib kick instead of just kicking out of the end zone and making Dallas start from the 20- yard line. This of course backfires as well and Dallas ends up wit the football at the 30-yard line instead where they easily drove down into scoring position. Dallas went 72 yards in 1:27 and Tony Romo even dropped the last snap he took before picking up the football and throwing the game winning touchdown pass to Jason Witten. With as easily as Dallas moved the football on their last drive could they of done the same if they had started at their own 1-yard line. I’m sure they could’ve, but remember they would’ve had far less time if Manning doesn’t throw the football away and if they had ran the football instead of kicking the field goal. Even stranger a story came out that on 1st and 2nd down Manning told running back Rashad Jennings not to score to run some time off the clock. I guess Manning’s math is bad because a touchdown and the extra point would’ve given the Giants a 10 point lead and Dallas would’ve needed 2 scores to tie or win the game. Manning has actual confirmed that he told Jennings this and Jennings has apologized for more or less throwing Manning under the bus to the media. 2015 is Manning’s 12th season in the NFL he’s a 3-time pro bowler and has won 2 Super Bowls. What I’m wondering is how? It’s almost as if Manning didn’t want Jennings to score so he could throw a game winning touchdown pass and be the hero. I’m sure that wasn’t it, but the shear stupidity of the situation is just impossible to figure out. Now I myself was dumb enough to pick the Giants to win the game on Sunday night and I also having them winning the NFC East this season. Looking back at that; maybe I’m the dumb one.

It’s looking as though the Chicago Cubs will end up with one of the two National League wild card spots. Now the debate has started; who is the Cubs starting pitcher for that game? Everyone I know and have spoken to on the podcast think it’s a slam dunk that Jake Arrieta will get the ball for that game, but I’m the one not sure about that. With the season Arrieta has had 19-6 in 29 starts with an ERA of 1.99 with 3 complete games and 2 shutouts as well. Arrieta goes for his 20th win tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates. If it’s not Arrieta; who would be the other Cubs option? Jon Lester is the answer. Lester is 10-10 in 29 starts with an ERA of 3.38 with 1 complete game which he threw yesterday (Tuesday) against the Pirates. Lester was given big money in free agency last off season to pitch these kind of games. Lester has had his issues, but his last 2 September starts have been good. He went 7 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals giving up 1 run on 2 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7 in a no decision. Against the Pirates last night (Tuesday) Lester went 9 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 9. Now I’m in the Arrieta camp here. I think he should get the ball for the wild card game but you’re going to hear about Lester’s post season experience in comparison to Arrieta’s; who’s never pitched in a post season game. My question is, does Joe Maddon make this decision or does the front office of General Manager Jed Hoyer and team President Theo Epstein get involved. Which ever pitcher gets that start in the wild card game if the Cubs don;t win it there are going to be questions as to why they didn’t start the other pitcher.

The Texas Rangers took over 1st place in the American League West by a 1/2 game last night when they beat the Houston Astros for the 2nd time in a row 6-5. On Monday the Rangers won the first game of the series 5-3. Last night it was 5-5 going into the bottom of the 9th. Prince Fielder led off with a single off of Oliver Perez. Will Harris came out of the Astros bullpen to replace Perez and face Adrian Beltre. Drew Stubbs enters the game as a pinch runner for Fielder. Beltre singles to centerfield and Stubbs goes to 3rd base. It’s 1st and 3rd for Mitch Moreland. The 1st pitch of the at bat is a ball. Moreland hits the 2nd pitch to centerfield and Stubbs tags and scores to win the game and put the Rangers in 1st place. While a sacrifice fly isn’t the exciting highlight the networks like when it comes to walk offs I’m guess the Rangers could care less. The Astros look to get back into 1st place as they send Dallas Keuchel to the mound. Keuchel is a 3-time pitcher of the month. He leads the AL in ERA (2.22) innings pitched (206 2/3rd) and my favorite stat WAR (7.1). Keuchel is 13-0 at home, but just 4-7 with a 3.13 ERA on the road. By the way the Rangers are the home team. Keuchel does have a win over the Rangers this season, but it was back in April. The Rangers are going wit Martin Perez on the mound. Perez is 1-3 with a 5.64 ERA over his last 4 starts. His win was at home, but his home ERA is 5.82. Perez is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.17 in 4 career starts against the Astros. These two teams have a 3-game series on the 25th, 26th and 27th of this month whcih may decide who wins the AL West.

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How was your Week?

Posted: September 12, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, tennis
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The NFL season officially opened Thursday night in New England as the Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-21. Now the game wasn’t as close as the score indicates as the Steelers added a touchdown with 3 seconds remaining in the game t get it to that 28-21 final score. Now I’m sure that all of the fantasy football players out there had their Patriots and Steelers in there line up as that would’ve paid off for them. Tom Brady was 25 for 32 for 288 yards and threw 4 touchdowns. Ben Rothlisberger was very good as well going 26 for 38 and 351 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. With Le’Von Bell suspended the Steelers turned to veteran DeAngelo Williams to run the football and he did well. Williams carried the football 21 times for 127 yards, but didn;t get the goal line carries as Will Johnson got the Steelers rushing touchdown. On the Patriots side it was journeyman Dion Lewis get the most carries in Week 1. Lewis rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries, but did get into the end zone. Lewis did factor a little bit in the New England passing game catching 4 passes for 51 yards while Williams only caught 1 pass for 5 yards for Pittsburgh. If a fantasy owner played either Williams or Lewis he got very good value out of them in Week 1 even without a touchdown from either running back. The receivers is where fantasy owners cashed in on this game. Antonio Brown led the Steelers in receptions with 9 for 133 yards and scored a touchdown. Heath miller added 8 catches out of the tight end position for 84 yards. If you happen to be in a very deep receiver league Darrius Heyward-Bay 4 catches for 58 yards and Markus Wheaton 3 catches for 55 yards would’ve picked up some points for you. It seemed as though New England picked up right where they left off last season. Julian Edelman led the team in receptions with 11 for 97 yards, but it was tight end Rob Gronkowski catching all the touchdown passes from Brady. Gronkowski caught 5 passes for 94 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. The other New England passing touchdown went to another tight end as well, but it was Scott Chandler who had just that 1 catch for 1 yard, but it went for a touchdown. It seems as every year someone thinks that Danny Amendola will finally have a break out season; especially since he’s been with New England. Amendola was targeted 3 times and he caught 2 of those passes for 24 yards. If your league scores defensive players Will Allen had 8 tackles to lead the Steelers and also had a sack. Rookie linebacker Bud Dupree had the Steelers other sack on the night, but added just 2 total tackles. Dont’a Hightower was the Patriots leading tackler with 8; he also had a sack. Jabaal Sheard and Malcolm Brown also picked up a sack apiece for the Patriots. There was only 1 interception in the game and New England’s Duron Harmon was the player who made that interception. It’s always difficult to get the right defensive players in your line up, but hopefully you had the right ones in this game and they put up some points for you.

I don’t think we’ve ever talked about tennis on the Sports Time Radio podcast and I don’t watch tennis except for a highlight here or there, but I have to tell you I was disappointed to hear that Serena Williams lost her semi-final match at the U.S. Open yesterday to Roberta Vinci. Williams won the first set of the match 6-2, but lost the next two sets 4-6 and 4-6. It was a gigantic upset by Vinci; who was unseeded coming into the U.S. Open. It was Williams’ first loss in a Grand Slam singles match this year and ended her bid for the first calendar-year Slam since 1988. Williams had won 26 straight matches in grand slam competition and 33 straight matches overall until Vinci defeated her. It was also the first time in her career that Vinci had taken so much as a set from Williams. Williams lost a three-set match for only the second time this year, her record now 18-2. Vinci will play Flavia Pennetta, another Italian, in Saturday’s final.. Earlier Friday, Pennetta defeated No. 2 seed Simona Halep 6-1, 6-3.It’s the first time in the U.S. Open era that two Italian women will meet in a major final. Pennetta defeated Vinci 6-4, 6-1 in their most recent meeting in the 2013 US Open quarterfinals.

NASCAR’s regular season ends tonight at Richmond International Speedway with Joey Logano on the pole for the Federated Auto Parts 400. Logano won the pole with an average speed of 126.470 just edging out Matt Kenseth; who had a qualifying speed of 126.357. Brad Keslowski; Logano’s Penske racing teammate will start 3rd with Kyle Busch starting 4th and David Ragan rounding out the Top 5. Ragan is the top qualifier who doesn’t have a win this season and if he wants to get himself into next weeks Chase he’ll have to find a way to turn that 5th starting spot into a trip to victory lane. Tony Stewart is the next highest qualifier who doesn’t have a win; Stewart starts 10th tonight. Dan the Man’s favorite driver Clint Bowyer is holding on to the 16th and final Chase spot going into tonight’s race, but if someone who doesn’t have a win finds a way to get one Bowyer could be knocked out of the Chase. Bowyer is however just 10 points behind the 15th place driver Paul Menard; so if either driver has a bad night and that outside driver gets  a win they could be knocked out of the Chase. The other 3 drivers without wins who are in the Chase right now are Jamie McMurray; who clinches a Chase spot just by starting tonight’s race; so he’s as good as in. Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon are the other two drivers without wins that will qualify for the Chase unless something almost impossible happens to them. It will be interesting to see if someone outside of the Chase can get a win and find their way into it tonight, but none of those drivers have really shown they can jump up and get a win. Will find out tonight when they take the green flag at Richmond.

It’s the New York Yankees hosting the Toronto Blue Jays in a series that may end up deciding the American League East. Toronto took Game 1 yesterday 11-5. Toronto got to Yankees rookie pitcher Luis Severino right out of the gate scoring 5 runs in the 1st inning highlighted by a Josh Donaldson (38) and Justin Smoak (17) home runs. Severino didn’t last long pitching just 2 1/3rd inning giving up 6 runs on 8 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. David Price started the game for Toronto, but while he did get the win he only lasted 5 innings. Price gave up 2 runs on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7, but did throw 96 pitches over his 5 innings. LaTroy Hawkins relieved Price and gave up the other 3 runs (2 where earned) to the Yankees, but the Blue Jays still had a 9-5 lead at that point. Russell Martin (18 & 19) capped off the Blue Jays scoring with his second home run of the night; a 2-run shot to make the final score 11-5. The teams play a doubleheader today with Game 1 being Marco Estrada vs Michael Pineda on the mound. Game 2 feature the return of Marcus Stroman who’s missed the entire season to this point after tearing the ACL in his left leg during spring training. Ivan Nova is the Yankees listed starter for Game 2 of the twin-bill. Toronto takes a 2 1/2 game lead into the doubleheader tonight; so will they extend that lead, have the Yankees cut into or will we just get a split?

Some tough news for the Yankees as it was announced yesterday that 1st baseman Mark Teixeira will miss the remainder of the season as an MRI reveal a fracture in his leg. Teixeira was having a bounce back season for the Yankees. While his batting average was a little low at .255 he was supplying power for te Yankees with 31 home runs and he has driven in 79 runs. It looks like rookie Greg Bird will replace Teixeira in the Yankees line up. Is this the injury that hurts the Yankees the most?

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