Archive for the ‘NASCAR’ Category

We’ve been picking a fantasy players of the week this season for baseball. 1 hitter and 1 pitcher win the award every week.  I keep forgetting to post them; so I’m going to catch you up and cover who we’ve picked through 5 weeks of the season. Week 1 Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers and  Aroldis Chapman Cincinnati Reds. Week 2 Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles and Hector Santiego Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Week 3 Mark Teixeira New York Yankees and Gerrit Cole Pittsburgh Pirates. Week 4 Jose Altuve Houston Astros and David Price Detroit Tigers. Week 5 Bryce Harper Washington Nationals and Shelby Miller Atlanta Braves. You’re all caught up and now you can go back and look at the stats and see if you agree with us. We’ll pick our Fantasy players of the week on the Sunday podcast 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

What is going on with the scheduling for the NHL conference finals. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks don’t have a date for Game 1 of their series in Anaheim even though both teams wrapped up their series last week. There is a Game 7 tonight between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals, but that’s an Eastern conference game and shouldn’t have any affect on when the Blackhawks/Ducks series should start. The Tampa bay Lighting eliminated the Montreal Canadiens last night (Tuesday) 4-1 to win the series 4 games to 2. Tampa Bay gets the winner of the Rangers/Capitals game in the Eastern conference finals. I’m not saying that the Ducks/Blackhawks series should’ve started, but they could’ve played 1 game by now. I guess the NHL is waiting for all of the series to finish to announce the schedule for the conference finals. Tyler Johnson of Tampa Bay has scored the most goals in the playoffs with 8. Corey Perry of Anaheim has the most points with 15. While Lighting goalie Ben Bishop has won the most playoffs games with 8. Anaheim has had the best power play so far in the playoffs scoring 31% of the time they have a man advantage. At 3.89 goals a game Anaheim is averaging the most goals in a game as well. The Rangers have the best goals against average at 1.73. Of course the Rangers goals against will go up or down depending on how their game goes tonight.

Kyle Busch is having a good week. First it was announced that Busch would be returning for this Saturday’s All-Star race.  Busch received medical clearance from his doctors and NASCAR on Monday, but he has yet to make a start this season after suffering a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot in the Feb. 21 season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway. The shorter All-Star race and its segment-and-break format should help Busch in his return. There was more good news for Busch because on Wednesday, NASCAR granted a waiver to the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver who will return to racing in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Despite missing the season’s first 11 races, NASCAR has waived the Chase requirement for Busch. Should he win one of the remaining 15 regular-season points races and make the top 30 in points or earn a spot based on his position in the points standings, he would be one of the 16 drivers in this year’s Chase field. Similar situations have come up before — three other drivers have been granted waivers since NASCAR re-tooled the Chase format before the start of the 2014 season. Tony Stewart, out for three races last summer after his involvement in an on-track fatality in a non-NASCAR sanctioned event, was given the all clear to pursue a Chase spot upon his return. Unlike Hamlin, Stewart was unable to qualify for the 10-race program. Before the start of the 2015 season, NASCAR announced driver Brian Vickers would be eligible for a Chase spot after missing this season’s first two races due to health issues. Kurt Busch was suspended for the first three races of the season as a result of domestic violence allegations made by former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. A Kent County (Delaware) family judge granted Driscoll a protective order, however the State Attorney General declined to file charges against the driver. Busch was reinstated and granted a Chase waiver. Last month, he won at Richmond and is currently in the provisional playoff field with the victory and a 14th-place points position. Last year, Denny Hamlin missed one race (at Auto Club Speedway), won one race (at Talladega Superspeedway) and was awarded one of the 16 Chase starting positions, and this year, Kyle Larson missed a race in March at Martinsville Speedway, but both drivers took part in Coors Light Pole Qualifying to remain Chase-eligible. I thought it was only fair on NASCAR’s part to give Busch the waiver and a shot at making the Chase. Now it’s up to Busch and his JGR racing team to win a race and get into the Chase.

I saw an odd quote from Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer and I’m disappointed that I was unable to find it for this blog. Hoyer mentioned something to the affect that the Cubs and the New York Mets have some matching pieces, but they hadn’t come to any kind of deal yet. I did see a report that the Mets inquired about Addison Russell, but I’d be surprised if the Cubs would deal him. It does appear that the Mets may be looking for a shortstop. Does that mean Starling Castro is headed to New York. I actually thought he’d be the guy to take Derek Jeter’s spot for the other New York team, but I was wrong. Castro has a very friendly contract, but if the Cubs move him what do they get in return. The Mets do have some quality pitching prospects in their minor league system, but aren’t the Cubs suppose to be on the verge of winning according to the Theo Epstein plan. If Castro is traded Russell would have no issues moving over to shortstop, but then who takes Russell place at 2nd base. Did  Arismendy Alcantara show you enough in the games he played with the Cubs to handle the everyday job at 2nd base. Alcantara was on the opening day roster and has since been demoted to Triple A Iowa. There’s also Javier Baez. Just imagine the strikeout total Baez could put up playing everyday. Looking at a deal like this I’m not sure what Hoyer meant by match up.

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Derrick Rose banked in a 3-pointer to give the Chicago Bulls a 99-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of their 2nd round playoff series. On the radio there was just as much talk after the game about a couple of other plays as there was Rose’s game winner. Late in the 3rd quarter LeBron James drove to the basket and was clearly tied up by Jimmy Butler for what should’ve been a jump ball. The referees saw it differently and called Butler for a foul. Then on the play right before Rose hit the game winning shot James ran at Rose banged into him and luckily for the Bulls the basketball ended up going out of bounds. I get it; there where 3 seconds left and no referee in the NBA is going to call a foul on the best player in the league in that situation. Fans rooting against the Cavaliers forget how much pull James seems to have. Remember 2 seasons ago he complained that the All-Star break wasn’t long enough and this season they magically had a couple of extra days added to All-Star weekend. Any referee who likes his job and wants to keep it is going to swallow his whistle when it comes to a play like that and James is involved. Was the first play a jump ball; yes. Was the second play a foul; yes. Was either play called correctly; no and they won’t be. I was a little surprised by the Bulls fans being as upset as they were with these two blatantly missed calls. I guess they forgot how the Bulls used to benefit from this same situation when Michael Jordan was wearing a Chicago uniform.

Rose led all scorers with 30 points and finally got to the free throw line in the series making 9 of 10 free throws. Rose was 10 of 26 from the field and 1 of 3 from behind the 3-point line. That means the only 3-pointer Rose hit was the last second bank shot to win the game. Butler had 20 points, Mike Dunleavy scored 16 points and Nikola Mirotic added 12 points off the bench. Pau Gasol was injured and played just a little under 22 minutes in Game 3. James led the Cavaliers with 27 points. James was 8 of 25 from the field and made just 1 of his 7 3-points attempts on the night. Kyrie Irving went 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line, but those where the only 3 shots he made from the field going 3 for 13 while scoring 11 points. Tristan Thompson was the other Cavaliers starter to score double digit points with 10 while J.R. Smith scored 14 point off the bench included the late 3-pointer that tied the game at 96, .Matthew Dellavedova also came off the cavaliers bench to score 10 points. Game 3 is Sunday afternoon in Chicago with the Bulls holding a 2-1 series lead.

In the late game last night (Friday) the Los Angeles Clippers took a 2 games to 1 lead over the Houston Rockets in their Western conference 2nd round series by winning Game 3 124-99. J.J. Reddick went 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line and 11 of 14 from the field overall for a game high 31 points. Austin Rivers scored 25 points and Blake Griffin added 20 points as the Clippers shot 55.4% from the field and 44.8% from behind the 3-point line in their win. The Rockets were led by James Harden with 25 points, but shot 39.8% from the field and 33.3% from behind the 3-point line in the game. Harden did hand out 11 assists and Dwight Howard had a double-double 14 each points and rebounds. In true Howard fashion he went 4 of 11 from the free throw line and as a team the Rockets where 18 of 31 (58.1%) from the free throw line. Chris Paul did return for the Clippers and played a little over 23 minutes. Game 3 is Sunday for these two teams in Los Angeles.

Have you ever thought that your favorite NFL team might be cursed or jinxed or something along those lines. If you’re a fan of the Jacksonville Jaquars and I know there are some of you out there you have to be wondering about this. Jacksonville had the 3rd pick in the draft last weekend and they decided to go with a pass rusher to help their defense instead of taking the player that most if not all experts thought was the best player in the draft;; Leonard Williams a defensive lineman. Since Jacksonville wanted a true edge rusher they drafted Dante Fowler Jr. a linebacker/defensive end with the 3rd pick. Well on the 1st day of rookie mini camp Fowler torn the ACL ligament in his left knee and will miss the 2015 season. Fowler was already talked about as a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. It was report that Fowler’s left knee bent awkwardly during 11 on 11 drills and he had to be carted off of the field. Fowler was set to play Jacksonville’s “Leo” position in their defense. The Jaquars where also hoping a “high motor” player like Fowler would add to their young defense that finished 6th in the NFL last season with 45 sacks. Even though he;s out of college it looks like Fowler will be taking a red shirt year instead of rushing quarterbacks in the NFL.

The NASCAR circuit heads to the Kansas Speedway for The Spomgebob Squarepants 400 tonight. Joey Logano won the pole in qualifying yesterday  with a speed of 192.397 M.P.H. Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards round out the Top 5 qualifiers for the race. Dan the Man’s favorite driver Clint Bowyer starts 21st. This is the first race where Erik Jones will take over the #18 Jo Gibbs Racing (JGR) car from David Ragan who was filling in for an inured Kyle Busch. Ragan is now driving the #55 car for Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) for what looks like the rest of the race season. Brian Vickers started the season in the #55 car, but has been out with blood clots and there hasn’t been a timetable set for his return. Jeff Gordon is the defending champion and could use a win to lock down a spot in The Chase. Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com was unable to join us on the podcast Friday to preview the race and give us his picks, but he will be joining us tomorrow to recap the race. We did receive Chris’s picks via e-mail. Here’s what he said ” I think there is going to be another different winner this weekend so I am going to go with Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne”

So how was your week?

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Last Sunday at Bristol motor speedway NASCAR held the Food City 500 in support of Steve Byrnes and Stand up to Cancer. On Sunday morning Chris Olmstead from www.BeyondtheFlag.com was on the Sports Time Radio podcast to preview the race. I always make Chris select 3 drivers who might end up in victory lane at the end of the race. Chris mentioned pay close attention to the drivers from Joe Gibbs racing (JGR) ans sure enough Matt Kenseth in the #20 car who started on the pole won the race. By the way Kenseth drives for JGR. Chris will be back on the podcast Friday with Dan the Man and I to preview the Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond International Raceway this Saturday. Chris has been on a role picking winners on the podcast; so who will he go with for Saturday’s race.

Sadly for NASCAR Steve Byrnes passed away on Tuesday at the age of 56, but at least they were able to put his name on a race and pay tribute to the announcer. Due to his Illness Byrnes was unable to attend the race, but it was reported that he watched on television and even tweeted during the race.  During Sunday’s race, crewmen from every team stood on the pit wall with signs from the Stand Up To Cancer organization that read “I stand up for Steve.” Byrnes took a leave of absence from Fox Sports October of 2014 to focus on his treatment.  From 2001 until 2014, he was a pit reporter for NASCAR on Fox. Byrnes served as a fill-in studio host and lap-by-lap announcer for NASCAR on Fox whenever Chris Myers or Mike Joy, respectively, were not available. As of 2014, Byrnes was the co-host of Fox Sports 1‘s NASCAR Race Hub, and was expected to be the lead announcer for the Camping World Truck Series in 2015.

We’re about a week and a half away from the boxing match that everyone has been waiting for. Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather get in the ring to box on May 2nd and yesterday it was announced that Kenny Bayless would referee the fight. The 64-year-old Nevada native, who has refereed five of Mayweather’s bouts and seven of Pacquiao’s and has officiated 100 title fights. The  Nevada State Athletic Commission also announced the 3 judges for the fight. Dave Moretti and Burt Clements of Nevada and Glenn Feldman of Connecticut had been appointed for the fight. Mayweather and Pacquiao have been considered the best pound-for-pound boxers of their generation but a host of issues — including differences over drug testing protocols as well as revenue splits and broadcaster conflicts — have stopped the two meeting in the ring. Both are coming to the end of their careers and have established interests elsewhere. According to Forbes, Mayweather, 38, is the highest paid athlete in world sport. While Pacquiao, who is 36, has run for political office in his native Philippines. Who do you have winning this fight?

While it’s still very, very early in the baseball season did you have the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets getting out of the gate at 11-3. Maybe you had the Milwaukee Brewers going 2-12 at this point, but did you have the Miami Marlins just 1 game ahead of them at 3-11. Of course it’s way, way too early to panic it is fun to say that the Houston Astros are in 1st place in the American League West. Remember when the Seattle Mariners signed Nelson Cruz and the experts said his home run total would go down. Well he has 8 home runs through 14 games. Joey Votto looks a lot like the Joey Vottto of old as he has 6 home runs. Cruz and Adam Jones each have 16 RBI’s to lead major league baseball. Jones and Adrian Gonzalez are both hitting .442 while Billy Hamilton has 8 stolen bases and Dee Gordon is just 1 steal behind him with 7. Just like the standings it’s just too early to go nuts over these stats, but they’re always fun to look at and if you’re a fantasy baseball player they’re relevant to you. Looking back I realized that I forgot to name a fantasy player and pitcher of the week in Saturday’s blog. I believe I would’ve went with Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles as my fantasy player of the week and I’m going to go with Hector Santiago of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the pitcher of the week.

Yesterday was the official release of the NFL schedule and I don’t understand why it’s such a huge deal. There where two specials on the schedule. Now we’ve known who was going to play who we just didn’t know the dates of these games and now we do. The New England Patriots open the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I did find it kind of funny that the Tennessee Titans are actually playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. In Week 2 the Seattle Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers in a playoff rematch. In Week 12 we’ll get what might be our last Peyton Manning/ Tom Brady match up when Brady’s Patriots go to Denver to play Manning’s Broncos. There are 4 teams the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaquars all have 3 game road trips scheduled. To be fait though Atlanta’s 3 game road trip has them facing  the Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and the Jaquars. A lot of people are point out that none of the three teams that could potentially relocate to Los Angeles in 2016 will play at home on the final Sunday of the regular season. These same people also think that this is no accident that the San Diego Chargers, Si. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders will be spared the possibility of awkward goodbyes as lame-duck teams.. What kind of schedule draw did your favorite team get?

The NHL and NBA playoffs are just getting into the 1st round games; so we’ll look at those a little more in Saturday’s blog. There is a chance we might have a series over with by then. Well I should say an NHL series might be over as with the way the NBA playoff schedule is there’s a 0% chance a series will be done.

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The Washington Nationals were pretty much everyone’s pick to win the National League east and the World Series this season. Now there’s no real concern after a 3-1 opening day loss to the New York Mets, but what may become an issue are the Nationals injuries. The Nationals are starting the season with 4 players on the disabled list. Denard Span has been out since March when he had core muscle surgery. Span was the engine that got the Nationals offense rolling last season and there’s a big hole at the top of the order with him out. Span may return at the end of the month, but it may also take him a while to get into game shape against major league pitching. Span missed a big chunk of spring training and you have to wonder if a minor league rehab stint will be needed to get him back on track. Jayson Werth is still recovering from the shoulder surgery he had in January. Werth did hit in some minor league games at the end of March and it shouldn’t be too much longer before he’s able to return to the Nationals line up. Just like Span; you have to wonder how far behind Werth will be since he’s been out for 4 months. Washington needs Werth’s bat back in the middle of their line up and they may get it about the middle of this month. Nate McLouth would’ve been the guy to fill in for Werth, but he’s out as well. McLouth had shoulder surgery in August of 2014 and has a difficult time returning from it. McLouth may be back this month as well, but hiss absence has been twice as long as anyone else and you have to wonder how far away he is from being ready to hit major league pitching. Casey Janssen was brought in by the Nationals to provide a some bullpen support and take some pressure off of closer Drew Storen, but Janssen landed on the DL with right shoulder tendinitis. Janssen is another Nationals player who may return this month, but it’s his throwing arm that’s the issue and you have to wonder if this will hang around all season long with Janssen. Storen had some injury issues as well during spring training, but didn’t end up on the DL. With Janssen out and Storen having some issues; what kind of shape is the Washington bullpen in? Anthony Rendon was talked about as being the break out player of 2015, but his year has started on the DL with an MCL sprain in left knee. When Rendon first got hurt it was reported as minor and that he would miss a few days. Then the report changed to Rendon would miss the rest of spring training, but he should be good to go for the start of the season. Then as the season was getting ready to start Rendon went on the DL with his time table being set for a possibly April return. Rendon has avoided knee surgery and the Nationals are right to be very careful, but they’re also missing a huge piece of their line up. On the plus side for the Nationals none of their starting pitchers have ended up getting injury. That may be enough to keep them in games and get them some wins early in the season, but with Soan, Werth and Rendon’s bats on the sidelines they’re going to have to find ways to score runs. There’s nothing that can derail a teams run more than injuries to their key guys.

NASCAR took the week off last weekend, but they return Saturday in Texas for what has to be Dan the Man’s favorite race. the Duck Commander 500 at the 1.5 mile Texas motor speedway. Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com will join our podcast Friday night around 10:30 p.m. to preview this race for you. It’s a full weekend in Texas for NASCAR. On Thursday from 4:30 pm-5:30 pm there’s NASCAR Xfinity practice. The Xfinity drivers return from 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. for their final practice. Friday has a full day of activity starting at 11:30 am with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice. At 2:00 p.m. the Sprint Cup drivers hit the track again for their final practice. At 4:45 pm it’s time for NASCAR Xfinity Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying. After the Xfinity guys qualify the NASCAR drivers get back on the track around 6:45 pm for their qualifying runs. Friday night wraps up with the NASCAR Xfinity Series O’Reily Auto Parts 300. Then on Saturday night the Sprint Cup drivers will go 334 laps or 501 miles in the Duck Commander 500.

Now normally on the podcast it’s Dan the Man who comes up with the conspiracy theories, but I actually have one of my own. Yesterday the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs had a night game schedule at Wrigley Field. Just a little after Noon I turned on the MLB Network to catch some updates and on their crawler at the bottom of the screen there was an announcement saying the Cubs/Cardinals game had been postponed. They where siting the weather that they predicted would hit the Chicago area. While it would’ve been a tough night to play baseball the rain and wind that was being forecasts to hit Chicago area didn’t. These two teams have another game scheduled for this afternoon and the weather outside is just as bad as it was last night and there is rain in the forecast. So the question is; will they play today’s game? Now there was no make up date announced for yesterday’s day and why do I have a feeling that the date will be after the construction at Wrigley Field is done. I’m pretty sure you can see what I’m implying here. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if today’s game ends up being called off because of the predicted weather. Even though Wrigley Field didn’t look bad on television Sunday night it obviously isn’t in the condition the team would like it to be. Not to mention the more games they can play after construction is done the more people they can squeeze into the ballpark. All you have to do is remember that Cash Rules Everything Around Me!

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To the surprise of no one except maybe Scott Boras and the MLBPA the Cubs sent Kris Bryant to Triple A Iowa earlier this week. It’s not the fact that Bryant was sent down that should’ve been the story, but who went to the minors with him. Again it wasn’t a shock that Addison Russell was sent down. Russell hasn’t spent a full season at Triple A and he was injured last season; so a full season at Triple A wouldn’t be the worse thing for him. The story should’ve been that Javier Baez was sent down. Baez was a 1st round pick and 9th overall in the 2011 draft. He appeared in 52 games last season. He hit .169, but showed good power with 9 home runs and drove in 20. He did also steal 5 bases in 6 attempts. Did I mention he struck out 95 times in 213 at bats. Theo Epstein went out and hired Manny Ramirez to work with Baez the middle of last season and then the Cubs sold their fans on the fact that they would work with Baez in the off season to cut down on his strikeouts. This spring Baez hit .179 with 1 home run and 1 RBI in 16 games. In 52 spring training plate appearances Baez struck out 20 times. How much work did the Cubs do with him in the off season? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say NONE! Another issue I have is the fact that about a week or so ago Cubs management came out and said that they weren’t sure if Bryant could play 3rd base in the majors. Now 2015 was the start of Bryant’s 3rd season with the Cubs and they’re just now figuring out that he might not be able to play 3rd base. Bryant has played 160 games in the Cubs minor league system. He’s committed 27 errors and has a career fielding percentage of .942. He made a total of 21 errors last season; 14 of those errors were made at Double A Tennessee in 62 games, but at Triple A Iowa where Bryant played in 67 games he made just 7 errors. So the Cubs top 2 prospects start the 2015 season in the minor leagues. They couldn’t teach one to cut down on his strikeouts and they can’t find the proper position for the other one. Instead of focusing on how bad it was that Bryant got sent to the minors maybe it’s time to look at player development in the Cubs system. It’s great to stock pile all of these top prospects, but if you can’t teach them how to be good major league players; how is that going to help your team. Are you tried of seeing players the caliber of Baez traded and then turning into the player he should’ve been in a Cubs uniform?

Staying with Baez for a minute here. No one and I mean no one had him headed to Triple A. If someone tries to tell you they did they’re lying to you. On the Sunday podcast of Sports Time Radio Al Yellon from BleedCubbieBlue.com was on with us to preview the Cubs 2015 season. Al was the first person I had heard say that Baez was headed to the minors to start the season.

While I’m handing out credit on the podcast Sunday morning we also had Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com on to talk some NASCAR with us. Chris has been on the last couple of weeks with us to look at the goings on in NASCAR and preview which ever race is happening that weekend. I always give Chris a chance to pick 3 drivers that he thinks will end up in victory lane at the end of the race. While on the podcast Chris said that Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver Denny Hamlin was the guy to watch in Martinsville on Sunday. At the end of the STP 500 at Martinville Speedway it was Hamlin who was driving his car into victory lane.

We’re almost done with our season previews for the upcoming baseball season. Dan the Man was able to track down guests to come on the podcast and preview all the teams except the Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals; so we’re trying to handle the previews ourselves. We’re actually down to just 1 team to go and that’s the Red Sox; will be doing that preview on the Friday podcast. Sadly for us we’re not as in depth with these teams as the other people we’ve had on, but we’re doing what we can to give a solid preview for 2015. You can listen to today’s podcast or any archive show we’ve done at BlogTalkRadio.com and just find our show Sports Time Radio.

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