Archive for the ‘NASCAR’ Category

How was your week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

How was your Week

Posted: September 10, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, NASCAR, sports
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are in 1st place in the National League West. This may still come as a bit of a surprise to some people as the San Francisco Giants had the best record in all of baseball at the All-Star break. The Dodgers have capitalized on the terrible second half of a season the Giants are having and have built a 4 game lead in the division over the Giants. I think a lot of people thought the Giants would right their ship and over take the Dodgers for 1st place, but that hasn’t happened yet and with around 20 games to go it’s looking more and more like it won’t.

On Friday night the Dodgers got some much needed help for their starting as Clayton Kershaw return. Kershaw hadn’t pitched for Los Angeles since June 26th. Kershaw threw 66 pitches over 5 innings giving up 5 hits and 2 runs (both earned) while striking out 8 against the Miami Marlins. Kershaw did take the loss as the Marlins took the game 4-1, but more importantly for the Dodgers there where no after effects from Kershaw’s outing and he should be in the starting rotation for the rest of the regular season and of course the playoffs. Kershaw should make 4 starts the rest of the season with his next one being September 13th or 214th against the New York Yankees. There’s talk of the Dodgers going to a 6-man rotation down the stretch.

Kershaw return became even more important for the Dodgers as Scott Kazmir who was also close to returning from injury had a set back and has had to go back on the disabled list. The Dodgers are also waiting for Brett Anderson and Brandon McCarthy to return from injury. With all their injuries the Dodgers have used 15 different starting pitchers this season. Will Kershaw’s return and the acquisition of Rich Hill along with Kenta Maeda be enough to help the Dodgers make a playoff run?

After Teddy Bridgewater was injured the Minnesota Vikings season was in a bit of turmoil. Minnesota went out and traded a 2017 1st round draft choice and a conditional 2018 draft pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for quarterback Sam Bradford. Minnesota kicks off it’s season on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. That meant Bradford had a little over a week to get the Vikings offense down and be able to make audible calls. Minnesota’s head coach Mike Zimmer had kept it quit on who the Vikings starter would be for Week 1. Zimmer even said yesterday he had made a decision on who would start, but wasn’t going to announce it. There are now reports out there that Shaun Hill will make the start Week 1 against Tennessee with Bradford as the #2 quarterback. During practices this week it looked like Hill would get the start. Hill took the majority of the first team snaps on Monday and Wednesday with both quarterbacks getting an equal share of snaps at Tuesday’s practice. Do to the timetable of the trade Hill getting the start shouldn’t be a big surprise. The question should be; how long will Hill be the starter? I would think that Bradford is the starter for the Week 2 Sunday night game against the Green Bay Packers.

Tonight is the last night for a driver outside the Top 16 to punch his or maybe her ticket to The Chase with a win. Denny Hamlin starts on the pole tonight for the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond International Raceway. Kyle Larsen starts 2nd with Matt Kenseth 3rd. Jamie McMurray goes off 4th with Kurt Busch rounding out the Top 5. McMurray is the first driver in the starting line up who doesn’t have a win this season, but  McMurray is currently hanging on to a spot in the Top 16. Chase Elliott and Austin Dillion are the other two drivers who would qualify for The Chase on points right now. Elliott starts tonight’s race 34th while Dillion starts 8th. McMurray has a 22 point lead over 17th place Ryan Newman while Dillion is 31 points ahead of Newman and Elliott has a 39 point lead on Newman. Kasey Kahne is the 18th place driver 44 points out of The Chase and it’s looking like Kahne will need a win to get in. Kahne has won a race at Richmond before, but it was back in 2005. Could Kahne or another driver without a win on the season pick one up tonight and grab a spot in The Chase?

Kyle Busch starts the defense of his Sprint Cup title as The Chase starts September 18th at the Chicagoland Speedway with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400.

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

You can find and or follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: September 3, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in NASCAR, sports
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We had the first of two Sports Time Radio fantasy football drafts last night. This was the traditional snake style draft. Dan the Man got the 1st pick in the draft and used it to select Antonio Brown the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver. Brown has pretty much been the #1 ranked player; so it was a good choice by Dan. I ended up with the 16th pick and Mr. Fantasy ended up picking 19th out of 20 teams. It’s always fun to get that first draft out of the way. Now tonight we have out suction style draft. It took a while, but I’ve gotten the hang of these auction drafts. When we first started doing them I would end up with quite a bit of money left over. There are still times I look at the prices and just can’t believe that someone is paying that for whatever player is on the board. So we had a Friday draft, a Saturday draft and then Mr. Fantasy and I have a draft on Monday morning. Yes you read that right we’re doing a fantasy football draft on Labor Day.

In case you where wondering how the 1st round fell for me I took Dez Bryant the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver with the 16th pick. I had to decide between Bryant and New Orleans Saints wide receiver Brandin Cooks. It was a tougher choice than I thought it would be. I think Bryant is still one of the top receivers in the NFL and I know he might suffer a little bit without Tony Romo, but I think he was the better choice. Cooks is a good receiver as well, but I think he’s more a function of the Saints offense. I know there where a lot of people who liked Dak Prescott. I just hope he throws the football to Bryant.

It was announced yesterday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss the remainder of the NASCAR season. Earnhardt Jr. has missed the last 6 races and will skip the final 12 as well due to the concussion like symptoms he’s suffering from. It’s believed that Earnhardt Jr. suffered the concussion when he was involved in a crash June 12th at the Michigan International Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports announced that Jeff Gordon will drive the #88 car this week at Darlington. Gordon along with Alex Bowman will finish the season behind the wheel for Earnhardt Jr.In addition to Sunday’s race, Gordon will be behind the wheel of the No. 88 for races at Richmond (Sept. 10), Dover (Oct. 2) and Martinsville (Oct. 30). Bowman will drive at Chicagoland (Sept. 18), New Hampshire (Sept. 25), Charlotte (Oct. 8), Kansas (Oct. 16), Talladega (Oct. 23), Texas (Nov. 6), Phoenix (Nov. 13) and the series finale at Homestead (Nov. 20). With the missed races Earnhardt Jr. fell out of the Top 16 in points and even if he was to return for this weeks race at Darlington or next weeks race at Richmond he’d have to win one of those two races to get into The Chase. Earnhardt Jr. has been undergoing regular evaluations at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program and is being treated for issues related to balance and focusing on objects that are at a distance while moving his head. On August 5th at the Watkins Glen race Earnhardt Jr. spoke with the media and said he wants to continue racing. Earnhardt Jr. is under contract with Hemdrick Motorsports for the 2017 NASCAR season. He is son of seven-time Sprint Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr. has never won a Sprint Cup title, with a best finish in the season standings of third in 2003. After missing The Chase for two consecutive seasons, he has enjoyed a career resurgence with five consecutive Chase appearances from 2011 to 2015.

At first it didn’t look like the Los Angeles Dodgers would be bringing Yasiel Puig back to the majors as a September call up. Now they did decide to add Puig to the roster when it expanded to 40 players. Puig got the start in right field for the Dodgers and hit 5th last night against the San Diego Padres. Puig spent a month at Triple-A Oklahoma City before returning to the Dodgers line up last night. Now the Dodgers did end up losing the game 4-2 to the Padres, but Puig went 2 for 4 and upped his batting average to .263 on the season. Puig was placed on revocable waivers last month by the Dodgers. One team claimed Puig on waivers, but it was never reported who that team was. It is being reported that the team was the Milwaukee Brewers and they where interested in sending the Dodgers Ryan Braun as part of a Puig trade. The Dodgers decided to hang onto Puig and have said that if they do trade him they would wait until the off season so they could talk to all the teams interested in him.

http://m.mlb.com/gameday/padres-vs-dodgers/2016/09/02/448874?#game_tab=box,game=448874,game_state=final

In other Dodgers news Clayton Kershaw is schedule to make a rehab start today for the Class-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes today. Kershaw is scheduled to throw 50 pitches in this minor league rehab outing. Kershaw has been out since June 26 with a lower-back injury, and it is possible he could return to the  Dodgers on the club’s next road trip. While Kershaw is the big name pitching at Rancho Cucamonga today Brett Anderson is also going to pitch in their game today following Kershaw to the mound. Rancho Cucamonga has been a popular landing spot for rehabbing Dodgers players this season. Los Angeles has put a record tying 27 players on the disabled list this season. Now depending on when Kershaw actually returns he could make up to four starts for the Dodgers. The Dodgers are currently in 1st place in the National League West. They’re holding a 2 game lead over the San Francisco Giants coming into Saturday’s action. Just imagine what adding a pitcher like Kershaw would do for your stretch run and playoffs.

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: August 31, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in NASCAR, sports, Uncategorized
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Did the Minnesota Vikings season end yesterday at practice? During a non-contact drill at practice yesterday quarterback Teddy Bridgewater went down. Bridgewater dropped back to pass during a drill, planted his foot and immediately went down. Trainers rushed to his side and began inflating an aircast. After an examination and an MRI Bridgewater was diagnosed with a dislocated knee and a torn ACL. The Vikings reported it as complete tear to his ACL and other structural damage, but there appears to be no nerve or arterial damage. As I’m sure you can guess that this injury ends Bridgewater’s season before it even officially started. Bridgewater was headed into his 3rd season as the Vikings quarterback and with the improvement he made last season there was talk that he’d break out this season. With Bridgewater as there starting quarterback the Vikings where expected to challenge the Green Bay Packers for the top spot in the NFC North. Now you just have to wonder if Minnesota can be a playoff team.

What do the Vikings do at the quarterback position. 36 year old Shaun Hill was Bridgewater’s primary back up. Hill appeared in 3 games for the Vikings last season, but has played in just 46 games over his 10 year career. Hill has been a back up through most of his career, but he did play in 9 games for the then St, Louis Rams in 2014. Hill’s best season was 2010 when he played in 11 games for the Detroit Lions. Hill threw for 2686 yards and 16 touchdowns in those 11 games. Is Hill the guy that the Vikings want as their starting quarterback for 16 games this season? Minnesota us expected to resign quarterback Brad Sorensen if he clears waivers. Sorensen and Joel Stave would play quarterback in the Vikings final pre-season game this Thursday against the Los Angeles Rams. If Hill isn’t going to be the starter for the Vikings who is out there.

Could the Vikings reach out to someone like Michael Vick; who isn’t currently on a NFL roster. There are some teams with depth at the quarterback position; so maybe there’s a trade the Vikings could make. Minnesota attempted to sign Nick Foles, but he chose to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs. Would the Chiefs be willing to deal Foles or their other back up Aaron Murray. Even if the Chiefs moved a quarterback they would still have some depth as they drafted Kevin Hogan from Stanford in the 5th round and he could serve as the 3rd quarterback. The Cleveland Browns are reshaping there roster; so maybe Josh McCown is available. Maybe Josh isn’t the McCown the Vikings go after, but could it be Luke McCown of the New Orleans Saints. The very first name that came up when the injury happen was Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers. I’m not sure if the Vikings would want to bring in that kind of a distraction to a contending team and don’t forget Kaepernick has quite a few years left on his deal; so what would you do with him when Bridgewater returns next season. Now the name I haven’t heard that was actually brought up on the Tuesday edition of Sports Time Radio was Mark Sanchez. The Denver Broncos named Trevor Siemian there starer this week, but would they be willing to deal Sanchez. He’s a quality back up quarterback and the Broncos may hold on t him since this is Siemian’s first go round as a starter. So there are some options for the Vikings depending on which way they want to go. It’s just a little disappointing that they have to go this route at all.

If you’ve ever listened to the NASCAR segment on the Sunday edition of Sports Time Radio you’ve heard Chris Olmstead (BeyondtheFlag.com) and I discuss Kyle Larson just about ever week. He always seemed to be a threat to win, but never quite got there. It was getting to the point that people where starting to change there thinking from when will Kyle Larson get his first win to if Kyle Larson will get a win. Well Sunday at the Michigan International Speedway Larson won the Pure Michigan 400 for the 1st win of his Sprint Cup career. On a restart with 9 laps to go Larsen was on the inside of leader Chase Elliott. Both drivers where looking for their first win and both drivers spun their tires on the restart. Larsen got a little more help from veteran Brad Keslowski behind him than Elliott did from Sprint Cup series rookie Ryan Blaney and was able to take the lead. The race stayed green for the final 9 laps and even though Elliott was able to get himself into the 2nd place spot he was unable to challenge Larsen for the win.

The victory gives Larsen not only his first career win, but a spot in The Chase. There are 13 drivers locked into The Chase as long as Chris Buescher can stay in the Top 30 in points. Right now Buescher is just 7 points ahead of 31st place David Ragan. If 13 drivers are locked into The Chase with wins that means there are only three spots for drivers to get in on points. That is of course if we don;t get a first time winner in one of the final two races and that driver grabs a spot in The Chase. As of right now Elliott, Austin Dillion and Jamie McMurray would be the 3 drivers to make The Chase on points. McMurray has a 15 point lead on Ryan Newman for the 16th and final spot in The Chase.

There are just two races left for a driver to win his way into The Chase. This week the Sprint Cup series is at Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles Southern 500. Then on Saturday September 10th the regular season wraps up at Richmond International Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400. Could we actually get two more first time winners or will three guys find a way to point themselves into The Chase. The Chase itself actually starts close to home for me. They’ll be at the Chicagoland Speedway for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 on Sunday September 18th.

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How was Your Week

Posted: August 27, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in NASCAR, sports
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Is Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton a serious candidate for the AL Cy Young? The last relief pitcher to win the AL Cy Young was Dennis Eckersely back in 1992. If you’re not taking Britton as a serious contender than who are you looking at for the award. Detroit Tigers rookie Michael Fulmer and Kansas City Royals lefty Danny Duffy have probably been the two best starting pitchers in the AL, but are they Cy Young worthy? Fulmer is 10-4 with a 2.58 ERA in 20 starts as of right now. He will probably win the AL Rookie of the Year award, but could he claim the Cy Young as well. Duffy has made 19 starts, but has appeared in 35 games since he started the year pitching out of the Kansas City bullpen. Duffy is 11-1 with a 2.66 ERA going into today’s schedule start against the Boston Red Sox. J.A. Happ of the Toronto Blue Jays is 17-4 in 25 starts with an ERA of 3.19 while Rock Porcello of the Red Sox is 17-3 in 26 starts with an ERA of 3.23 and will receive consideration for the award. The fact that Porcello is having a good year and wears a Red Sox uniform may actually make him the front runner for the award. All 4 of these pitchers have had good seasons to this points and there starts down the stretch will impact where they finish in the Cy Young voting, but I don;t think any of them has had a better year than Britton. Britton has appeared in 55 games for Baltimore. He is 2-1 with an 0.69 ERA and is 38 for 38 in save opportunities this season. Britton has pitched 52 innings, allowed 27 hits and allowed 7 runs to score, but just 4 of then where earned. He’s struck out 61 batters while walking 16 and has allowed just 1 home run. Opponents are hitting .150 against him and his WHIP is 0.83. Baltimore has 34 games left and since they’re in the pennant race there’s a chance Britton gets close to 80 appearances. I’m sure Fulmer, Duffy, Happ and Porcello’s teams all have close to the sane number of games so they should each get 4 or 5 starts depending on where they are in their rotations; so they’ll have some chances to show they deserve the award. The Orioles are currently 70-58 in the AL East. They are 2 games behind Happ and the Blue Jays for the division lead and 1 game behind Porcello and the Red Sox for 2nd place. Baltimore is holding onto the 2nd AL wild card spot right now as they have a 1 game lead over Fulmer’s Tigers. Duffy’s Royals are 67-61 and are currently 3 games out of the wild card spot. So as you can see each guy is pitching for a playoff contender. That means the choice should come down to who the best pitcher is.

I can understand if you don’t recognize the name Kerry Hyder. It took me a little while t figure who he was and who he played for. Hyder is a defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions. In the Lions August 18th game against the Cincinnati Bengals Hyder put a hit on Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton that the NFL decided was roughing the passer. Hyder was fined $18,231 for this hit. This happens pretty much every week in the NFL, but this one is interesting because Hyder has yet to earn an “accredited” season in the NFL he is only making $1000 a week during pre-season. So basically the NFL just fined Hyder about three times what he’ll make. Now Hyder can appeal this fine and the players Collective Bargining Agreement has provisions for this situation. “On appeal, a player may assert, among other defenses, that any fine should be reduced because it is excessive when compared to the player’s expected earnings for the season in question,” the CBA also states; “However, a fine may be reduced on this basis only if it exceeds 25 percent of one week of a player’s salary for a first offense, and 50 percent of one week of a player’s salary for a second offense. The rule also says: “A player may also argue on appeal that the circumstances do not warrant his receiving a fine above the amount stated in the schedule of fines.” You’ll have to think that Hyder will go the appeal route and use these CBA provisions to get his fine reduced.

Hyder was on the New York Jets practice squad in the 2014 season and was with the Lions on their practice squad during 2015 before being signed for the final game of the 2016 season with Detroit. Hyder is 25 years old and played in his college ball at Texas Tech is trying to make the Lions and add some depth at their defensive tackle position.

There are just 3 races left until The Chase; so any driver looking for a win to get in is running out of time. This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup series is at the Michigan International Speedway for the Pure Michigan 400. Joey Logano won the pole with a speed of 201.698 m.p.h. Jimmie Johnson will start 2nd with Denny Hamlin 3rd, last weeks winner Kevin Harvick will start 4th and Chase Elliott rounds out the Top 5 starting the race in the 5th spot. Elliott is the only driver in the Top 5 without a win this season, but he is currently in The Chase on points. Elliott along with Austin Dillion, Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurray are the 4 drivers that would qualify for The Chase without a win right now. If any driver not currently in the Top 16 finds his or her way into victory lane they would bump one of these drivers out of The Chase. Newman is the driver in 16th place right now and he has a 35 point lead on 17th place Trevor Bayne and a 39 point lead on 18th place Kyle Larson. With just 3 races to go that’s a pretty sizeable points margin to make up unless Newman has difficulties in all 3 races. Chris Buescher picked up a win in the rain shortened Pocano race and has moved into the Top 30 in points; so he’s in The Chase. Will we see a driver outside the Top 16 get a win and move into The Chase or will someone already in start to look like a serious cup contender and grab another victory. On a side note Alex Bowman who is driving the #88 car this week for Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a good qualifying run and will start 6th tomorrow.

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Let’s Call it Wednesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How was your Week?

Posted: July 9, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, NASCAR, sports, Uncategorized
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For the second weekend in a row the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will race on Saturday night. This week the drivers go to the Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400 Due to inclement weather qualifying was cancelled so the field was set according to owners points. That puts Kevin Harvick on the pole with Brad Keslowski joining him in the front row. In the row behind them Kurt Busch will start 3rd and Keslowdki’s teammate Joey Logano will start 4th. Carl Edwards rounds out the Top 5 as he’ll start the race 5th. In the 4th and final practice Edwards posted the fastest time at 187.448 MPH, he was followed by Martin Truex Jr. at  186.528 MPH Kyle Larson was third fastest at 186/387 MPH while Dale Earhardt Jr. 186.091 MPH and Kyle Busch 185.989 MPH rounded out the Top 5 fastest times in practice. Counting tonight’s race in Kentucky there are 9 races left before The Chase starts. There are 11 drivers with a win this season and an automatic spot in The Chase and that includes Tony Stewart who is currently 30th in driver points, but has his win to get into The Chase. Remember now that Stewart has a win he has to stay in the Top 30 in driver points to qualify for The Chase. This is no lock for Stewart as he finds himself 31 points behind 29th place David Ragan, but just 3 points ahead of 31st place Brian Scott. Ryan Blaney is currently holding on to the last spot in The Chase. Blaney has a 4 point lead on Jamie McMurray for that last spot. Right now McMurray would be the driver would make The Chase if Stewart was to fall below that 30th place spot. Can a driver pick up their 1st win of the season tonight in Kentucky and punch there ticket into The Chase or will it be a driver who already has a win heading to victory lane at the end of the night?

It looks like the Boston Red Sox are getting a jump on the July 31st trading deadline as they’ve made three deals in the last three days. On Thursday the Red Sox sent two minor league players, pitcher Aaron Wilkerson and second baseman Wendell Rijo to the Milwaukee Brewers for infielder Aaron Hill. To make room for Hill on there 40-man roster the Red Sox designated outfielder Ryan LaMarre for assignment.

Milwaukee picked up Hill this off season in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Hill was having a bounce back season for the Brewers. Hill was hitting .283 with 8 homers and 29 RBI’s for Milwaukee. His slugging percentage was .421 and his on base percentage was .780. Hill is capable of playing all the infield spots, but it looks like the Red Sox acquired him for help at 3rd base. It’s doubtful that Hill would take over as Boston’s everyday 3rd baseman, but could end up in a platoon with Travis Shaw. 

On Friday, the Red Sox started the day by picking up utility man Michael Martinez from the Cleveland Indians for cash considerations. Martinez has played 2nd, 3rd and all three outfield positions for the Indians this season.  In 32 games for Cleveland this season Martinez was hitting .283 with 1 home run and 3 RBI’s.  His slugging percentage was .383 and his on base plus slugging was .690 for Cleveland. Martinez is 33 years old and it’s a little unclear what his role with the Red Sox will be. 

Then a little later on Friday the Red Sox sent minor league pitcher Jose Almonte and minor league middle infielder Luis Alejandro Basabe to the Arizona Diamondbacks for closer Brad Ziegler. The big rumor was that the Red Sox would make a deal for a starting pitcher and they still might, but with Craig Kimbrell unavailable for Friday’s game because of knee soreness, Ziegler would be a quality fill in. 

With Kimbrell unavailable, former closer Koji Uehara recieved the save chance. Don’t forget that Boston lost Carson Smith to Tommy John surgery after he pitched just 2 2/3rd innings this season. Also the Red Sox main set up man Junichi Tazawa  was unavailable Friday due to shoulder discomfort.  Ziegler has appeared in 36 games for the Diamondbacks this season covering 38 1/3rd innings. His ERA is 2.82 and he’s saved 18 games. Ziegler has set up man experience; so while Kimbrell is the full time closer in Boston Ziegler should have no trouble at all slotting into a 7th or 8th inning role.

Now being a baseball fan I am a fan of stats. As a young baseball fan I learned to do multiplication and division by figuring out batting averages and ERA’s along with any other baseball stat I could find. Sabermetrics have a stat for just about everything and I really think things have gotten out of control. Here’s my example and you’ll have to let me know f you agree or disagree. I was listening to the local Chicago sports talk station and the host was explaining how RBI’s are meaningless because you’re just driving in your teammates who got themselves into scoring position. He then went on to explain that there’s no such thing as clutch hitting in baseball. 

While I don’t agree with either of these arguments I’ve heard them enough now to just kind of let it go. There was no reason to call into his show as anyone who didn’t agree with the host was called “stupid” and hung up on. Now the thing that really got me and just pushed me over the edge is when the host used fielding independent pitching stats to say that Jose Quintana was the best pitcher in the American League. Quintana has an ERA of 3.06 in 17 starts this season and has a record of 6-8, but they’ll tell you to throw the record out, so we won’t look at that. I do think that Quintana is a top of the rotation starter for any team in baseball but the best in the American League is a little much for me to believe.  There are quite a few people who will tell you he’s not even the best pitcher on his team, the Chicago White Sox. If you had your choice of starting pitchers off of the White Sox roster wouldn’t you take Chris Sale before Quintana?  

I understand that no matter what I think or try to do, Sabermetrics are the way baseball is going and teams are even using them to build their rosters. Again I have no problem with stats as a whole. I just have a problem with stats that lead me and or my favorite team down the wrong path.

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Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: June 15, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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Joey Logano picked up the win Sunday in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn Michigan. It was Logano’s first win of the season and it gives him a place in The Chase. Logano is the 10th driver to pick up a win this season and lock up a Chase spot. The other nine drivers are Kyle Busch (3), Jimmie Johnson (2), Carl Edwards (2), Brad Keslowski (2), Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin. There are 16 Chase spots and if there aren’t 16 race winners the rest of the spots are awarded on points. It’s always better to find your way to victory lane than to try and point your way into The Chase.

On the Sunday podcast of Sports Time Radio we had a little difficult with Chris Olmstead the the phone connection, but his picks did very well in Michigan. He had Chase Elliott who finished 2nd, Kyle Larson who finished 3rd and Tony Stewart who finished 7th. Chris joins us on Sports Time Radio every Sunday morning there’s a Sprint Cup race. He previews the race with us and then gives us his three drivers with the best chance to end up in victory lane. You can find Chris’ writing at BeyondtheFlag.com

Now Tony Stewart is an interesting case. He had the injury earlier in the season and missed some races. He was giving a waiver by NASCAR to make The Chase if he wins a race and finishes in the Top 30 in points. Stewart is currently 35th in points. He’s 45 points behind 30th place Brian Scott. Getting into the Top 30 may be the easy part. Winning a race may be the tougher part of the deal. Because of the injury Stewart has run just 7 races this season. He has had an average finish of 19th. Stewart announced his retirement before the start of this season. Can he get that win that will send him out as a Chase driver is the big question.

The Sprint Cup series is taking a week off before going into it’s first road course race of the season on June 26th. The series heads to the Sonoma Speedway for the Toyota-Save Mart 350. The road courses are always fun and interesting to see as it really opens up the field. Stewart is a good road course racer; so maybe this is where he gets his win or possible another under the radar type of driver finds his or her way into the Chase with a win at Sonoma.

As salary caps go the NHL’s is easily the toughest one to deal with out of all the major sports. While the Chicago Blackhawks have managed to win the Stanley Cup three times in this salary cap era’ they’ve also had to deal off some of the fans favorite players. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2015 Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad where both dealt for salary cap reason. The Blackhawks where eliminated by the St. Louis Blues in the 2nd round of this past seasons playoffs. Now even though the Blackhawks didn’t win back to back Stanley Cups they are still dealing with some salary cap issues. To try to free up some salary cap space the Blackhawks have sent Forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell to the Carolina Hurricanes for a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2017 draft. Teravainen, 21, had 13 goals and 35 points in 78 regular-season games and one point and 13 shots on goal in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games. He was selected by the Blackhawks with the 18th pick of the 2012 NHL Draft and made his NHL debut during the 2013-14 season. He had 10 points in 18 playoff games last year to help the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. Bickell, 30, had two assists in 25 games with the Blackhawks this season. He was placed on waivers and sent to Rockford of the American Hockey League twice this season, and had 15 goals and 31 points in 47 AHL games. Selected by the Blackhawks in the second round (No. 41) of the 2014 NHL Draft, he helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. In 384 NHL games he has 65 goals and 135 points in parts of nine seasons, all with the Blackhawks. Bickell will have a salary-cap charge of $4 million next season. It’s the last season of a four-year contract he signed with the Blackhawks on June 30, 2013.

There was finally something that went on during the NBA Finals that caught my interest. It doesn’t have anything to do with what is happening on the basketball court itself, but on the sidelines. Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager will get a chance to work his first NBA Finals, thanks to a unique partnership with ESPN. Sager, a 34-year Turner veteran and popular TNT sideline reporter known for wearing flashy suits, has continued to work as he faces a recurrence of the leukemia he has been battling for the past few years. He has never worked an NBA Finals series but will share sideline reporting duties with Doris Burke for Thursday’s Game 6 in Cleveland between the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.

Andrew Bogut left Game 5 with a sprained left knee. It’s being reported that the knee will not require surgery, but Bogut will miss the remainder of the NBA Finals. It’s been reported that Bogut will be out 6 to 8 weeks with the knee injury. Bogut was injured when he collided with J.R. Smith and Smith hit Bogut’s fully extended left knee. If Golden State decides to start a center either Festus Ezeli or former Cavalier Anderson Varejao would be called upon to fill Bogut’s spot. Golden State could always start a small line up with someone like Draymond Green at the center position and possible someone like Andre Iguodala moving into the starting line up. Will the loss of Bogut allow the Cavaliers to get more aggressive going to the basket or can Ezeli or Anderson be enough of a deterrent in the lane for Golden State.

@Burketime

 

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How was your week

Posted: May 7, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, golf, NASCAR, sports, Uncategorized
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MLB

The Chicago Cubs have won the first two games in their four game series against the Washington Nationals to improve their record to a Major League best 22-6. When the season was getting under way most if not all of the media expected the Cubs to be good and they haven’t disappointed. At first the Cubs winning was viewed as nothing but positive since it’s the Cubs and everyone knows the story. No World Series win since 1908. Then as odd as it might seem as the Cubs continued to win these early season games the media started to question if the Cubs where that good or if it was there schedule that has been allowing them to put up this type of record; so this four game series against the Nationals was seen as a big test for the Cubs.

The Cubs opened the 2016 season with an odd 2-game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Behind the starting pitching of Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester the Angels didn’t score in either game and the Cubs started off the season 2-0. The Angels are currently 13-16 and weren’t the challenge the media thought they’d be for the Cubs. The Cubs stayed out West for a 4-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks looked to have won the off season, but that didn’t translate into this series as the Cubs took 3 of 4. Arizona is currently 13-18 and in last place in the National League West; so they apparently weren’t the match up the experts where looking for the Cubs to face either. After their  trip out West, the Cubs came home for their home opener and a 3-game series against the Cincinnati Reds, which the Cubs swept. While it’s difficult to sweep a team this wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone. The Reds did get of to a good start to the season, but are now 13-17. After the Reds, the Colorado Rockies came to Chicago for a 3-game series and the Cubs hit their first speed bump of the season as the Rockies took 2 of 3 in this series. Colorado is one game under .500 at 14-15, but the N.L. West is so close that they’re just one game of of 1st place. After losing there first series of the year the Cubs went back on the road to face there rivals the St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-game series. This was looked at as the Cubs first test of the season and they appeared to pass as they took 2 of 3 games in St. Louis. The Cardinals have struggled a little bit and since they’re just .500 at 15-15 this series win wasn’t good enough for the Cubs. The Cubs then went to Cincinnati for a 4-game series against the Reds; which they where expected to win and they took 3 of the 4 games. It was back to Chicago for the Cubs and another N.L. Central match up; this time against the Milwaukee Brewers. Because of rain the series ended up being just 2 games and the Cubs won both. This was another expected outcome as the Brewers are in rebuild mode. Milwaukee is 11-18 and currently in last place in the N.L. Central. The Atlanta Braves where the next team on the schedule as they came to Chicago for a 3-game series, but more rain allowed just 2 games to be played and the teams split the shortened series. Was this the chink in the Cubs armor experts where looking for? The Braves are also rebuilding and have the worst record in baseball right now at 7-21, but look out they won a game in Chicago. The Cubs headed back out on the road and jumped back into N.L. Central play as they faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 3-game series. This was suppose to be another test for the Cubs as the Pirates where and still are in 2nd place in the N.L. Central. This appears to be another test the Cubs passed as they swept the Pirates. Pittsburgh is 16-13 on the season. This brings us to where we are now with the Cubs facing the Nationals.

You’ve seen the schedule the Cubs have played and are they just a creation of the teams they faced or are they a serious contender. I hope you’re leaning towards contender and you’re not looking to make excuses for the tams success. I’ve also been trying to figure out how the schedule is the Cubs fault. I believe the schedule was set by Major League Baseball  and the Cubs or any other team don’t have anything to do with the scheduling of games. Will the Cubs continue to win games at a clip of .786 like they are now; probably not. While the Cubs are on a 5-game winning streak right now and they haven’t lost back to back games there will probably be some times when they lose multiple games in a row. Will that be the test the media needs, to see how they bounce back from a losing streak or is it something else. While it’s still too early in the season to hand the Cubs the World Series trophy they look like a team that might be in the mix for it at the end of the season.

NASCAR

The Sprint Cup series is going racing tonight in the GoBowling 400 at Kansas Speedway. Chris Olmstead usually joins the Sports Time Radio podcast on Sunday mornings to preview the race and give his Top 3 drives he thinks has h the best chance to end up in victory lane. Well with the race being on Saturday night Chris has sent us his picks for tonight’s race. Chris is going with Kevin Harvick; who’s starting 26th, Chase Elliott who’s starting 13th and Kyle Busch who’s starting 6th. Martin Truex Jr. took the pole with an average speed of 190.921 miles per hour. Matt Kenseth starts 2nd with his teammate Denny Hamlin starting 3rd. Kurt Busch will start the race 4th and last weeks winner Brad Keslowski rounds out the Top 5 starting 5th. Hopefully Chris will be able to join The Big Jack and Mr. Fantasy on Sports Time Radio tomorrow (Sunday) to review the race.

PGA

Zac Blair is a professional golfer and yesterday he was disqualified from the Wells Fargo Championship on Friday for using a bent putter. Now how did Blair’s putter get bent? Well Blair missed a putt on the 5th hole of his round on Friday and proceeded to hit himself in the head with his putter and bent it. Everything would’ve been fine if Blair hadn’t use the putter, but Rule 4-3b states that you can’t use a non-conforming club and by bending his club in anger Blair had a non-conforming club. Blair could have tapped in with a wedge and played the rest of the round without a putter. The Rules of Golf allow you to replace a damaged club during a round but not if the damage was done in anger. Blair  approached a rules official on the sixth tee and explained the situation, which resulted in disqualification. Blair was 4 over par at the time and in danger of missing the 36-hole cut. In case you’re wondering Andrew Loupe is leading the tournament at -8 going into Saturday’s round.

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