Archive for the ‘Sports Time Radio’ Category

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: September 14, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books and so is our Sports Time Radio pick contest. Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man got off to a hot start both going 10-6 in the first week. I managed a .500 record at 8-8 while Mr. Fantasy starts the year off in the cellar at 7-9. I’ll try to remember to update you every Wednesday on how we’re doing. Feel free to play along and see if your picks are better than ours.

In the 2010 draft the Buffalo Bills thought they had found their feature running back when with the 8th pick I the 1st round they selected C.J. Spiller from Clemson. Spiller rushed for 1212 yards with 12 touchdowns, he caught 36 passes 4 of which ended in touchdowns. Spiller was also dangerous in the return game as he returned 8 punts and 21 kickoffs with 5 of those returns going for touchdowns. Coming into the NFL Spiller looked like a 3-down back which is something that is tough to find in the league now. Spiller averaged 4.6 yards per carry in his first pre-season and was named the Bills #1 running back. Spiller beat out Fred Jackson and Marshwan Lynch. Lynch was dealt to the Seattle Seahawks soon after Spiller was named the starter. Spiller played in 14 games his rookie season getting 1 start. He rushed for 283 yards and caught 24 passes for 157 yards and 1 touchdown. It wasn’t the offensive contribution that the Bills where expecting out of the #8 pick. Spiller did play well on special teams as he averaged 14.6 yards on 12 punt returns and 23.0 yards on 44 kickoff returns taking 1 back for a touchdown. Spiller started 11 games in 2011; rushing for 561 yards with 4 touchdowns and catching 39 passes for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns. 2012 was Spiller’s best season as he rushed for 1244 yards and 6 touchdowns while catching 43 passes for 459 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2013 Spiller got close to his second 1000 yard season, but fell short at 933 yards. He had 2 rushing touchdowns and caught 33 passes for 185 yards. Injuries cut Spiller’s 2014 season short. He played in just 9 games and totaled 300 yards rushing, but no touchdowns, He added 19 receptions for 125 yards and 1 touchdown. That was Spiller’s last season with the Bills. Spiller signed a 4-year $16 million dollar deal  on at what seemed to be the perfect place for his skill set with the New Orleans Saints. Spiller started 2 games for the Saints on 2015, but played in 13 games total. He rushed for 112 yards, but caught 34 passes for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns. You would’ve thought that with a full off season and training camp with New Orleans that Spiller might be looking at a big role in their passing offense. Sadly Spiller’s training camp was cut short as he suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss the final 2 pre-season games. When Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders rolled around the Saints made Spiller inactive for the game and went with veteran running back Travaris Cadet in that role. It shouldn’t of come as a surprise after being inactive for Week 1 that the Saints decided to part ways with Spiller by cutting him on Monday. New Orleans was carrying 6 running backs on their roster and sooner or later one of them was probably going to be released.

With the release of Spiller the Saints have more than $40 million in dead money counting against their salary cap; by far the most in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns are second at $28.1 million. That number includes their other big free agent signing from 2015, cornerback Brandon Browner, among several others.Spiller will count $4.5 million against this year’s cap, then another $2.5 million next year.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 3 games under .500 at 70-73 and it doesn’t look like they’ll be getting one of the National League wild card spots this season. Pittsburgh had been in the wild card game the last three seasons. With the playoffs out of reach the Pirates decided to shut their ace down and placed pitcher Gerrit Cole on the 60-dat DL. Cole came off the DL after three weeks to pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday. Cole pitched 2 innings giving up 5 runs on 4 hits while walking 4. Pittsburgh lost that game to Philadelphia 6-2. This time Cole is headed to the DL with right elbow posterior inflammation. This is Cole’s 3rd trip to the DL this season. Cole finishes 2016 the season with a 7-10 record in 21 starts and a 3.88 ERA. Cole was coming off his best season in 2015 when he went 19-8 with a 2.60 ERA, made the All-Star team and finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award balloting. Cole is 26 years old and is the future of the Pirates rotation. He has a career 47-29 record with an ERA of 3.16. With the Pirates out of the playoff race it’s in their best interest and Cole’s to shut him down and allow him to be ready to go come spring training in 2017.

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Cubs Loss at Coors

Posted: August 20, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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It appears to start off great with a leadoff home run to Dexter Fowler.  But just as quickly as the inning is over, like Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks gives up a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the first to David Dahl.  In the top of the third, Kyle grabs a one out single and with two outs, Kris Bryant also singles.  Anthony Rizzo also singles to score Kyle to put the Cubs up by one.  The Cubs score again in the fifth as Bryant singles in Baez who walked, advanced on a sac bunt and stole third.  Addison Russell drives Rizzo on his 15th home run of the year.  Cubs are now up 5-1.  

Travis Wood joins the Cubs in the seventh, he gives up a two out double to Daniel Descalo who scores on a fielding error by Bryant on Nick Hundley’s ground ball.  In the eighth, after giving up a walk and a single, wood is out and Carl Edwards, Jr enters the game and gives up a ground ball to DJ LeMahieu that goes down the line that is ruled as a ground rule double due to fan interference.  Carlos Gonzalez ground out but another run scores.  Nolan Arenado flys out to left and DJ would attempt to score but is gunned down by Matt Szczur.  The Rockies challenge and it’s overturned for a tie game.  

We go to 11 innings and Aroldis Chapman enters the game getting the first out.  He then gives up a single to Nick Hundley who ends the game scoring on Ryan Raburn’s walk off double.  Not a great start for this trip out west but it’s only one game.   

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

How Was Your Week?

Posted: August 20, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in MMA, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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In 2013 Carlos Gomez was with the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit .284 with 24 home runs, 73 RBI’s, 10 triples and 40 stolen bases. He made his first All-Star team won his first Gold Glove and finished 9th in MVP voting. Gomez hit .284 again in 2014 he had 23 home runs and again had 73 RBI’s to go along with 34 stolen bases. He made the All-Star team again and finished 16th in MVP voting. In 2013 the Brewers finished 4th in the NL Central. In 2014 they looked to be a playoff team and led the division for quite a while before faltering and ending up in 3rd place with a record of 82-80. As the 2015 rolled around the Brewers appeared to be a struggling team and there was talk of tearing the team down and rebuilding. Gomez was seen as a great trade piece and the Brewers used him as that. Gomez was sent to the Houston Astros along with pitcher Mike Fiers and cash in exchange for at the time four minor league players; Josh Hader, Brett Phillips, Adrian Houser and Domingo Santana. The Astros where in the pennant race and Gomez looked to be the missing piece in their outfield. Gomez played 41 games for the Astros in the 2014 season. He hit .242 with 4 home runs and 13 RBI’s, but did add 10 steals. Gomez hit a solo home run in the Astros wild card victory over the New York Yankees. Gomez did homer in the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals, but that was one of just three hits Gomez had in the 5 games he played in. Houston lost that series to the eventually World Series champion Royals. Houston looked like they’re rebuild was going well and coming into the 2016 series they where ready to contend and they had a two-time All-Star centerfielder in Gomez for the entire season. Gomez battled some injuries and you have to wonder if his personality just didn’t fit with the Astros. In 85 games with the Astros Gomez was hitting .210 with 5 home runs and 29 RBI’s before being released on August 18th. Since no other team claimed Gomez and the Astros couldn’t find a deal for him after they designated him for assignment he now becomes a free agent and Houston will be on the hook for the rest of his $9 million dollar salary. Is there a playoff contender out there that might take a shot at bringing Gomez in and if they did could he help them?

Let’s see if we can find a new team for Gomez. How about the Miami Marlins. Giancarlo Stanton is out for the season with a Grade 3 hamstring strain. While Gomez could never replace the production Stanton provides he still is a solid defender and can still steal a base. The Marlins are going with Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and Ichiro Suzuki as their everyday outfield. I love Ichiro, but he is 42 years old and you have to wonder if he can be a productive everyday player. Gomez and Ichiro could make a nice platoon type of situation and then the Marlins would also have a bench piece to turn to late in games.

How about the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers look to be fading in the AL Central race and they need t do something to get their team going. Cameron Maybin is on the DL and they’ve lost infielders Nick Castellanos and Jose Iglesias. Gomez would be an upgrade over the platoon their now using of Tyler Collins and Alex Presley. The Tigers are scrambling to stay in the AL Central race and the $100,000 it would cost them to bring Gomez in could be money well spent if he performs like he did back in Milwaukee.

How about the Texas Rangers. Shim-Soo Choo is lost for the season and the Rangers will have to turn to Delino DeShields, Ryan Rua and Drew Stubbs to fill the void. The Rangers have a solid lead in the AL West, but the addition of a player like Gomez could help come playoff time. Going to a team like the Rangers could give Gomez the time he needs to get back on track without the pressure of a pennant race.

How about the New York Mets. The Mets have one of the worst offenses in baseball. Remember last season they went out and picked up Yoenis Cespedes and that helped them make a playoff run that ended in a World Series lost, but they did get there. Don’t forget the Mets lost Juan Lagares for the season and with Cespedes returning from the DL soon the addition of Gomez could spark the team again.

How about the St. Louis Cardinals. Now this normally isn’t a move the Cardinals would make, but they did just lose outfielder Matt Holiday for at least the remainder of the regular season. Randall Grichuk has been back and forth to Triple-A a few times this season, but has been hot as of late. Gomez is more of a natural centerfielder than Grichuk. Then if Holiday does return for the playoffs Gomez could work into the outfield rotation or be a bat off the bench.

There are 5 possible landing spots for Carlos Gomez, but there could actual be more. Don’t be surprised if teams like the Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays or even the San Francisco Giants kick the tires on Gomez. Whoever Gomez ends up with it will be interesting to see which player they get. Will they get the guy who use to get MVP votes or are they getting the .210 hitter the Astros released.

UFC 202 is tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event on the card is the re-match of Nate Diaz vs. Connor McGregor. Diaz took the first fight between these two on short notice and pulled off the upset by getting McGregor to tap out to a choke hold. McGregor was on top of the world at the time of that loss and will be looking for revenge. Oddly Diaz was so disgruntled with the sport and his contract in 2014; he actually requested a release from the UFC. Now I’m not a huge UFC fan; so I have no idea who’s going to win this fight. What I do wonder is if McGregor picks up the win do we get a third fight between these two? Now if Diaz gets the win tonight you have t start wondering what this will do to McGregor’s standing in the UFC. I’ve seen both guys picked to win this fight and since I’m clueless on this I would just hope for a good fight.

There are four featured undercard bouts on UFC 202. Anthony Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira in a light-weight bout. There are two welterweight fights on the undercard. Donald Cerrone vs. Rick Story and Neil Magny vs. Lorenz Larkin. The fourth fight features bantamweights Cody Garbrandt vs. Takeya Mizugaki.

Are you buying the pay per view?

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Cubs Sweep the Brew Crew

Posted: August 18, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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In the series finale with the Brew Crew, Jake Arrieta takes to the mound searching for his 15th win of the season.  He is 1 – 0 against the Brewers seeing them last in April.  He takes on Zach Davies who faced the Cubs last on July 23 and took the W.

Today would see another great start at the plate for the Cubs but not so great for Davies as he only goes four innings.  In the first inning, he gives up a single to Kris Bryant, then a double to Anthony Rizzo.  Bryant scores on Ben Zobrist’s ground out to first.  Rizzo scores on Addison Russell’s single to center.  The third inning would start with Matt Szczur leading off with a single and then being brought home Byrant’s 29th home run of the season.  With two outs and two men on, Wilson Contreras doubles to right bringing in Zo for the fifth run of the day.  In the fourth, Szczur leads off with a double and scores on Bryants double.  Bryant then scores on Rizzo’s double.  The Cubs have earned 7 runs after four innings.

Jake would get through the first three innings with only one walk.  In the top of the fourth he would give up two, two out walks then gives up a three run homer to Kirk Nieuwenhuis, his 11th of the year.  He gets out of the fourth but  after four innings the Cubs are up 7 – 3.  Jake gives up two more walks in the fifth inning but retires the next three batters to get out of the inning.  He does however give up a leadoff home run to Hernan Perez in the top of the sixth and walks Chris Carter for the second time.  He gets the next two outs but then gives up back to back walks to Ramon Flores and Keon Broxton.  With the bases loaded, Maddon decides to bring in Spencer Patton who gives up an RBI base on balls to Jonathan Villar but gets out of the inning.

The bottom of the sixth, Craig Counsel decides to bring in Blaine Boyer who gets out of the inning but not before giving up a solo homerun to Kris Bryant for his second of the day and his 30th on the year.  The Cubs are now up, 8 – 5.  Spencer Patton remains in the game for the seventh and makes it a five pitch inning as does Carlos Torres in the bottom half of the inning.

Patton remains in for the top of the eighth and gives up a leadoff double to Kirk Nieuwenhuis who scores on Ramon Flores’s one out ground out.  Patton walks pinch hitter Manny Pina and that would be enough as Justin Grimm enters the game.  He gives up a single to Villar but gets Scooter Gennett to ground out to Rizzo to end the inning and we go to the bottom half of the eighth.  Corey Knebel joins the game and his first batter is Javier Baez who grabs a single to leadoff.  With one out, Matt Szczur walks to bring up Kris Bryant who has two homeruns today.  He sends a line drive to left field driving in Baez and going 5 for 5 today picking up his 78th RBI.  Rizzo and Zobrist fly out to end the inning.

We go to the top of the ninth with Aroldis Chapman taking to the mound for another save opportunity.  He strikes out Ryan Braun for the first out.  Hernan Perez next up and he singles.  Chapman gets Chris Carter to strike out for out number two.  Nieuwenhuis grounds out to end the game giving Chapman his 27th save of the year and the Cubs get their 13th sweep of the season!

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: August 17, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Back at the baseball trade deadline the Chicago White Sox some how managed to ignore the advice of the baseball pundits and experts that said they just had to trade Chris Sale. Sale is 27 years old and is signed through 2017 with team options for 2018 and 2019.  Now if the White Sox could have recieved five or six major league ready or close to ready young players then maybe they would’ve dealt Sale. I fully supported the White Sox hanging on to Sale and there’s no way I’m moving a pitcher of this quality. What I am wondering though; is Chris Sale out of gas? Sale was 14-3 going into the All-Star break. He’s made 5 starts since the All-Star break and he is 0-3 and the White Sox have won just 1 of his 5 starts. Sale has pitched 35 2/3rd innings since the All-Star break. He’s giving up 12 earned run for a post All-Star break ERA of 3.03. Sale game log  Of course maybe Sale’s not the problem and it’s the White Sox offense that’s just not doing the job. If you consider this a struggle for Sale; do you think the White Sox will trade him in the off season? Looking at the stats it seems as though it’s a White Sox offensive thing more than it is a Sale pitching thing. It would be difficult to see the White Sox deal a perennial Cy Young award contender, but I guess stranger things have happen. Ask our friend Schaumburg Stu about the Chicago Cubs trading Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Are we watching the San Francisco Giants fade out of the playoffs? The Giants lost their 3rd straight last night; 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. That loss with the Los Angeles Dodgers 15-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies gives the Dodgers the lead in the NL West by a 1/2 game. The Giants are 9-20 since July 15th and haven’t been able to win more than 2 games in a row during that stretch. Even with the struggles the Giants have had and even with the Dodgers moving into 1st place San Francisco is still the top wild card team. The Giants hold a 3 game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals who hold the second wild card spot. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the Miami Marlins are 4 games behind San Francisco. With the troubles the Giants have had is it possible we see them slide all the way out of the wild card game. I’m sure you’ve heard the it’s an even year theory and maybe that’s what you’re holding onto if you’re rooting for San Francisco, but you have to wonder why this team has been tanking and not in the NBA way. You would’ve thought the return of Hunter Pence would be enough to get the Giants back on track. Pence was looking like an MVP candidate before he got injured. Pence has played in 16 games since returning from injury. He’s hitting just .203 with 1 home run and 4 RBI’s. As Pence gets more and more at bats and should return to form; will that be enough to get the San Francisco ship righted?

Everyone including myself thought the pick up of Eduardo Nunez was a great get for the Giants. In 17 games for San Francisco Nunez is hitting .214 with 1 home run and 3 RBI’s; on the plus side he does have 2 triples. Is it possible that coming from the last place Minnesota Twins and joining a 1st place team has mounted pressure on Nunez and he’s struggling to deal with it. Nunez isn’t the only Giants trade acquisition that hasn’t really worked out. Matt Moore is 0-2 in 3 starts with an ERA of 4.50 over 18 innings. Left handed set up guy Will Smith was brought in to help settled down a bullpen that’s been missing the retired Jeremy Affeldt. Smith has appeared in 7 games covering 3 2/3rd innings. Smith is 0-1 with an ERA of 12.27 and has blown a save chance. These looked like three very good moves by the Giants and as of right now they just haven;t worked out. Now there’s no reason at all that Nunez, Smith and Moore can’t return to the form they had when they where traded for. If they could rectify their issues since coming to San Francisco there’s no reason the Giants can’t get into the playoffs as either a wild card team or even the NL West winner. Of course once your in the playoffs anything can happen.

Now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series had last weekend off, but the X-Finity Series ran the Mid-Ohio Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday. Now we Don’t talk about the X-Finity Series at all, but I wanted to bring this race up because if you didn’t see it they kept the race going even after it started to rain. The race started out under sunny conditions, but that only lasted two laps as the rain started and the drivers ended up coming to pit road to put there rain radial tires. Now the rain made for a different style of racing that we’re not use to seeing in the Sprint Cup Series. It made for an entertaining race as the cars where sliding into and around every corner and sometimes even in the straight-aways. When it was all said and done Justin Marks got his 1st career X-Finity victory. Sam Hornish Jr. finished 2nd about 4 seconds behind Marks. Ryan Blaney was 3rd, Ty Dillon was 4th and Justin Allgaier round out the Top 5 in 5th place.

The Sprint Cup drivers return to the track for the Bass Pro Shop NRA Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway. The Bristol Motor Speedway is a concrete shirt track as it’s just a little over a half mile. It’s 0.53 miles around to be exact. Carl Edwards won the April race at Bristol. Will Edwards get another Bristol win? Will we see someone who already has a win get to victory lane? Or will we manage to get a driver looking for his first win this season and a way into The Chase. Including Saturday nights race there are only 4 races left before The Chase starts. So drivers looking for a win to get into The Chase are quickly running out of time.

The Big Jack

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Double Header

Posted: August 16, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Game 1.

The first game of a day night double header and Trevor Cahill gets his first start of the year against the Milwaukee Brewers.  Former Cub, Matt Garza gets the nod for the Brew Crew in his first start of the season against his former team.

Cahill goes five solid innings only allowing four base runners on two hits and two walks.  He strikes out three batters and gives up no runs.  Matt Garza would counters with five full innings also.  Garza strikes out two batters and walks three batters.  He gives up five hits and that starts in the first inning with a leadoff single to Dexter Fowler.  Kris Bryant reaches but forces Fowler out.  Anthony Rizzo sends him to third on his single.  Garza then loads the bases with his first walk of the game to Ben Zobrist.  Addison Russell drives in the first run of the game with a sac fly to left.

Garza scores his second walk in the bottom of the third to Fowler.  With one out, Rizzo grabs another single and each runner advances on Zo’s force out.  With Russell at the plate, Garza throws a wild pitch and Fowler scores the second run of the game.

In the bottom of the fourth, Chris Coghlan leads off with a double and advances to third on Miguel Montero’s single.  Coghlan is able to reach home and scores the third run of the game as Cahill helps himself out with a sac bunt.  Dexter walks again but Garza gets out of the inning.  Garza has a 1-2-3 ground out fifth and that would be all for him.  The Cubs score the fourth run of the game in the eighth after Damien Magnifico walks Zo then hits Russell and let’s both runners advance on a wild pitch and Zo scores on Coghlan’s sac fly.

To finish off  the Brew Crew, Mike Montgomery grabs his fourth hold of the year in two innings gives up a hit, a walk and strikes out three.  Hector Rondon takes one inning and only walks one and also gets a hold.  Joe Smith gets one out in the ninth and walks two but is pulled for Aroldis Chapman who strikes out one and ends the game for his 25th save of the year.

Game 2.

Jason Hammel gets the nod for game 2 as he takes on Chase Anderson.  Hammel must have been eating his Sea Salt Chips as he goes seven innings only giving up two hits, three walks and strikes out seven.  He has definitely broke his old ways of declining after the All Star break.

Chase Anderson for the Brew Crew leaves the game after two batters with an injury.  Jhan Marinez takes over him going 2 & 2/3 innings.  He walks three and and gives up four hits but the Cubs only score one run in the third on Kris Bryant’s single to left that brings in David Ross.

Rob Scahill enters the game in the sixth for the Brewers and gives up a leadoff double to Zo who scores on Wilson Contreras line to right.  Javier Baez steps in the box and launches his 13th home run of the year putting the Cubs up again by four.

Justin Grimm takes on the eighth and giving up only one hit and strikes out one.  Top of the ninth and the Cubs are up by four and Joel Maddon decides to go with Travis Wood.  He gets the first out on a bouncer to third.  Chapman is up in the pen just in case as Wood gets the second out of the inning.  The Cubs have a chance to pull off the first double header shut out sweep as Len and JD brought up but almost as quickly as they said it, Wood gives up a solo home run to left to Hernan Perez.  Chris Carter gets a bloop single to to center just out of range for Zo.

That would be it for Wood as Maddon decides to bring in Chapman for the final out but allows Carter to advance on a high fast ball off the back stop.  Jake Elmore takes eight pitches and walks.  Keon Broxton steps in the box and sends a slow bouncer just out of reach of Chapman halting Bryant from picking it up.  Bases Loaded for Maldonado and he gets called out on strikes as Chapman saves both games today not with out making it an exciting ending.  Jason Hammel gets his career high 13th win of the season.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Cubs split with the Cards

Posted: August 14, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Cubs wrap up their four game series Sunday night prime time on National TV.  John Lackey takes to the mound looking for his 10th win of the season.  John is 1-1 in three starts against the Cardinals and Mike Leake looking to get to .500 with his ninth win of the season.  His last start against the Cubs was April 18th against Lackey which was a loss.

Lackey makes it a quick top half of the first with a 1-2-3 inning.  Leake is not so lucky as he starts off by walking Dexter Fowler then gives up a single to Kris Bryant.  Anthony Rizzo sends a ground ball to right scoring Fowler for the first run of the game pushing Bryant to third.  Ben Zobrist sends a fly ball to left scoring Bryant for a sac fly.  In the first, the Cubs are up by two.

Lackey gives up a single and a walk in the 2cd but gives up no runs and strikes out two.  In the top of the third he gives up a one out single to Greg Garcia, then hits Stephen Piscotty.  Matt Carpenter sends a ground ball to short, Addison Russell throws to second getting the force out but Zo’s throw to first is wild and Garcia scores.

After the first, the Cubs bats wouldn’t be able to get to Leake until the bottom of the sixth inning with Bryant sending a one out fly ball to center for a his first triple of the year.  Rizzo then drives him in for the Cubs third round of the game.  After six the Cubbies are up 3 – 1 .

In the top of the 7th, Lackey gives up a leadoff single to Yadier Molina but gets the next two outs but that would be enough for Maddon as he brings in Justin Grimm to strike out Randal Grichuk to end the inning.  Leake starts off the bottom half by giving up a double to Chris Coghlan and makes it to third on Jason Heyward’s infield single.  Cardinals skipper, Mike Mathena decides to pull Leake for Matt Bowman who loads the bases by walking Wilson Contrearas but gets the next three batters out to end the inning.

Hector Rondon enters the game in the top of the eighth and gives up back to back singles to Kolten Wong and Garcia.  Both runners ate driven in by Stephen Piscotty when he takes Rondon deep to the center field bleachers.  He does get the next out but then gives up a solo homer to Brandon Moss.  Joel Maddon decides to bring in Travis Wood who gets the second out of the inning but walks Jhonny Peralta and gives up a single to Jedd Gyorko.  Grichuk comes in and doubles driving in Peralta putting the Cards up 6-3.  Kolten Wong back up again for the second time this inning flys out to end the inning.

Kevin Siegrist enters the game in the bottom of the eighth for the Cards to face Rizzo who takes the first pitch then drives the next fast ball off the right field score board.  Zo strikes out but Siegrist would have some unannounced injury and be replace by Seung Hwan Oh.  Oh comes in and strikes out Russell in three strikes.  Baez grabs himself a single.  Jason Heyward flys out to end the inning.

Top of the ninth.  Aroldis Chapman enters the game and strikes out the first two batters and gets Matt Carpenter to ground out.  Cardinals closer as of late, Oh stays in for the ninth.  He only sees Contrearas, Soler and Fowler and strikes out all three batters to end the game to help split the series between the Cubs and Cardinals.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

Not That Grand of a Day

Posted: August 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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Kyle Hendricks as who some would refer to as the best pitcher for the Cubs right now takes the mound looking for his 12th win of the season and to continue the Cubs wining streak.  He would be taking on rookie Luke Weaver in what starts as a pitcher’s duel.

Kyle would hit Stephen Piscotty in the first but strikes out the other three batters he faces to end the inning.  Luke starts his career out by striking out Fowler and Bryant and gets Rizzo to groundout to end the inning.  Kyle then gives up a leadoff hit to Yadier Molina but strikes out the remainder of the batters he faces.  Ben Zobrist leads off the bottom half of the second with a double and Addison Russell drives him in with a deep fly ball to left for his 14th homer of the season.  Weaver then loads the bases on two outs but gets out of the inning.

Both pitchers would get into a groove making quick of their opponents through five innings.  It would be the Cardinals who strike back in the top of the sixth with Brandon Moss’s two out home run to right center putting the Cardinals within 1 run.  Hendricks then gives up another solo home run in the top of 7th to tie the game at 2 to Jedd Gyorko.   Weaver only made it through four innings as Alex Reyes would take over for him in the bottom of the fifth.  He is able to hold the Cubs through the end of the 7th.

Carl Edwards Jr, replaces Kyle in the top of the 8th and gets the first out but almost as quickly loads the bases for Yadier Molina.  Molina strikes out but the ball would get passed the Contreras to put the Cards ahead by one.  Carl then walks Peralta to load the bases again and then Gyorko gets an RBI walk for the fourth run of the game.  With two outs Joe Smith replaces Carl to face Randal Grichuk who takes Smith deep for a grand slam but he does retire the next batter to end the inning.  Cardinals now up 8-2.  Kevin Siegrist takes over in the bottom half of the 8th retiring Fowler, Bryant and Rizzo without a hitch.

Mike Montgomery takes over in the top of the 9th gives up a two out single but gets out of the inning.  Cubs have one last chance as they take on Seth Maness who gives up back to back singles to Zo and Russell.  Zo scores on Heyward’s single who’s throwing error by Maness allows Russell to reach third as Heyward goes to second.  Zack Duke looking to redeem himself for the Cards joins the game getting the next three batters out but Russell does score but the Cubs go down 8-4.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

How Was Your Week?

Posted: August 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Alex Rodriquez (A-Rod) played in his 2784th career game last night as the New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3. Now an August 12th game normally wouldn’t get this much attention, but it was A-Rod’s last one with the Yankees. After 12 seasons in Yankees pinstripes the team was parting ways with A-Rod. He was to be released right after last nights game and would then sign a one year deal with the team to be a Special Advisor. There was one year left on Rodriquez’s player contract and I guess the Yankees figured they might as well do something with him since they where paying him anyway. A-Rod went 1 for 4 in the game. He hit a double and he drove in a run. It ended up being a bit of an odd week leading up to A-Rod’s last game. At first Yankees manager Joe Girardi said A-Rod could play as much as he wanted. It was a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox and then last nights game, but when the games against the Red Sox came up there was no A-Rod in the line up. As the manager Girardi has complete control over the line up card and I have no issues with him not wanting to play A-Rod. The issue I ended up having was when he used the lame excuse of he was trying to put the best line up on the field for the team t win. Now A-Rod was having a bad year hitting right around .200, but your best line up to win with had Mark Teixera and Aaron Hicks in it. Both of these players are hitting under .200. What’s the real reason Girardi kept A-Rod out of the line up; who knows, but I’m not buying the best line up to win deal. I know I’m floating into Dan the Man territory here, but what if Yankees management wanted to keep A-Rod on the bench and out of the line up. I know that might seem weird, but the Yankees are going to pay A-Rod $21 million next season to pretty much do nothing. He was just 4 home runs away from the 700 home run mark and his contract has “Marketing Bonuses” in it for home run milestones. Is there a chance that Yankees upper management just didn’t want to give A-Rod anymore more because I’m sure there was a bonus waiting for him at 700 career home runs. Rodriquez had also asked Girardi to play 3rd base in his final game and was told no. Girardi did allow A-Rod t start the 9th inning at 3rd base before he was removed so he could get one final ovation from the home crowd.

Rodriquez has the numbers that a Hall of Fame career should have. He’s a career .295 hitter and has 3115 career hits. I mentioned the 696 home runs, but you might not remember that back in 1998 A-Rod stole 46 bases and has 329 career steals. He is a three time MVP (2003, 2005 and 2007) and finished 2nd in the voting twice (1996 and 2002) and 3rd in the voting once (2000). He is a 14 time All-Star and two time Gold Glove winner and won the AL batting title in 1996. A-Rod exceeded his rookie limits on 1995, but if he hadn’t, with the year he had in 1996 he would’ve won Rookie of the Year easily. He led the league in hits once, doubles once, runs scored 5 times, RBI’s twice and home runs 5 times. It’s easily a Hall of Fame career and then as your looking at his player card  you notice that there are no stats for the 2014 season. As we all know A-Rod was suspended that season for his use of performance enhancing drugs. So as you look back at what is statistically a great career you have t wonder when the PED use started. His numbers where great right out of the gate. In 1966 he hit .358 with 54 doubles, 36 home runs and 123 RBI’s. Those are great numbers for a 20 year old in his first full major league season, but was he clean? There have been unsubstantiated rumors that A-Rod was using PED’s all the way back to high school. Unless the voters change the way they’ve handled the Hall of Fame voting since PED’s have become an issue it looks like A-Rod will be on the outside looking in.

The NFL pre-season kicked off this week and already fans are out of control. In the Chicago area where I live fans where already on the ledge because the Chicago Bears lost their pre-season opener 22-0 to the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. Did I mention that it was the first game of pre-season. These people need to take a deep breath and relax. There are still 3 more pre-season games on the Bears schedule before they open the season for real on Sunday September 11th on the road against the Houston Texans. I understand that a fan wants his team to look good, but if they don’t the game you just went nuts about doesn’t mean anything. In Week 1 of the pre-season sometimes the most important thing is to get through the game healthy. Also let’s be fair here; if you had the Bears going to and or winning the Super Bowl this season you have another set of issues that need to be looked at. I fully understand that football is king when it comes to the 4 major sports, but if you’re giving up on your favorite team after Week 1 of the pre-season because they lost you might want to look for a new sport. With the way the NFL is now and the rules about hitting in practice tackling is so bad that even in Week 1 and Week 2 of the regular season some teams are still acting, looking or even playing like it’s still the pre-season. Again simple take a step back, take a deep breath and relax.

The Big Jack Follow me on Twitter!

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11 in A Row

Posted: August 12, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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The Cubs are coming off a late night defeating the Cardinals in 11 innings for 10 in a row.  Jake Arrieta takes to the mound today looking for win number 14 and the Cubs 11 win in a row.  This year Jake is 1-1 against the Cards and hopes to make it 2-1 against Adam Wainwright who is looking for his 10th win of the season as he is 1-0 against the Cubs.

Jake would go just 5 & 2/3 innings today giving up only 4 hits, one of them a home run to Stephen Piscotty in the 5th with one out.  Jake strikes out six batters today while only walking two batters.  Today he really has no need going passed the 6th inning with the run support he was provided.

Matt Szczur fills in for Fowler leading off the Cubs half of the 1st with his seventh double of the year.  Kris Bryant decides to second that with a double of his own driving in Matt.  Anthony Rizzo walks on five pitches.  With one out Addison Russell would also smack a double scoring Bryant.  Montero walks to load the bases but Wainwright gets out of the first with just 2 earned runs.  Adam starts the second inning off by striking out Jake but then hits Szczur.  Bryant decides to double again and again drives in Matt for another RBI.  Jorge Soler only hits a single but its enough to score Kris.  Russell gets into a full count reaching on a walk.  Wilson Contreras steps in the box and takes the first pitch to left field for his seventh home run of the year.  Montero ends the inning with a ground out but the Cubs are now up by 7.  That would be all for Wainwright just two innings.  Seth Manness takes the 3rd and Jonathon Broxton takes the 4th and 5th each only allowing one hit and holding the Cubs at 7.

The bottom of the sixth sees former Cubs, Jerome Williams join the game giving up a lead off home run to Szczur.  He does get the next two outs but gives up another solo home run, this time to Jorge Soler.  He does get out the 6th but doesn’t have any better luck in the 7th starting with a single to Wilson, he gets an out but then gives up a two run home run to Javier Baez.  Chris Coghlan joins as a pinch hitter for Jake’s replacement Justin Grimm, and reaches on a walk.  Matt Szczur then launches his second home run of the day scoring Wilson and the Cubs are up by 13.  Williams gets out of the 7th, settles down and makes it a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.

Joe Smith takes the top of the 8th inning for the Cubs and grabs the first two outs on eight pitches but gives up a home run to Jedd Gyorko to give the Cards their second run of the game.  He gets out of the inning and it would be Travis Wood taking the 9th.  He quickly gets the first two outs but then walks Tommy Pham.  Jhonny Peralta makes a pinch hit appearance and singles on the first strike he sees.  Stephen Piscotty swings on the first pitch he sees and sends it to Kris Bryant who throws it to Javier Baez for the force and the Cubs win, with an 11 game win streak.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

The Podcast now on Tunein.com, Download the app today and follow us or Apple users can download us in the Podcast app today!

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