Archive for the ‘sports’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: June 24, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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So the Sacramento Kings fired Tyrone Corbin last season when the team went 7-21 to start the season and replaced him with veteran coach George Karl. The Kings were a little better under Karl going 11-19. Now it’s come out that Karl would like to deal DeMarcus Cousins; who may be the Kings best player. There was a rumor that the Los Angeles Lakers would be willing to give up the #2 pick in Thursday draft for Cousins, but Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has vetoed any trade of Cousins. Karl has been given the power to make draft picks and engineer some trades; just as long as they don’t involved Cousins. When the Kings hired Karl in the spring, there was push back from Cousins’ camp. It had been reported that Cousins and Karl haven’t spoken for months. but Karl’s comments in mid-April that everyone is tradable seemed to confirm what many believe, that Karl wants to move Cousins. In addition to the Lakers the Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics have expressed interest in Cousins. There was a trade rumor going around that Karl is interested in Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson and forward Kenneth Faried. The Kings may still find a way to deal for Lawson as there is talk of them sending Rudy Gay to Denver for Lawson. Cousins did average career highs in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and minutes last season and he’s just 24 years old. The negatives to Cousins seem to be that he’ll pout when he wants the ball on offense and doesn’t get it. He then has a tendency to either take a bad foul or just not play defense a few trips down the floor. Maybe if Sacramento had a veteran or Cousins goes to a team with a veteran presence these traits will disappear.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard an announcer or an analyst say a good manager can mean 5 to 10 games in the standings for a team. Now this off season the Chicago Cubs fired Rich Renteria when it was beginning to look like Joe Maddon would become available. Maddon did decide to opt out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cubs quickly moved in to hire him as their manager. Now the Cubs are much improved over last season, but does Maddon have that much to do with it or is it the Cubs improved roster that’s accounted for a better record. There is no doubt that Maddon is a great manager and the Rays weren’t going to be able to get another manager on that level. Tampa Bay hired Kevin Cash who had no major league managerial experience. So you would expect the Cubs to be on the upswing with their manager and the Rays to be headed down with their new manager. Oddly the Rays are 41-32 and in 1st place 2 games ahead of the New York Yankees in the A.L. East. The Cubs have a similar record 39-30, but they’re in 3rd place in the N.L. Central 6 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs are holding on to the 2nd N.L. wild card spot, but it’s a little early to worry about that. In the off season the Cubs big free agent signing was Jon Lester; 6 years at $155 million with an option for a 7th year. Tampa Bay’s big free agent signing was  Asdrubal Cabrera; $7.5 million for 1 year. What makes Tampa Bay’s start even more impressive may be the fact that 4 of their projected starting pitchers are on the disabled list. Alex Cobb was lost for the season after under going Tommy John surgery. Matt Moore is on the 60 day disabled list and has just started a rehab assignment and may be back in July. Jake Ordorizzi is out with a left oblique injury. Drew Smiley is also on the 60 day disabled list with a left labrum tear, but has passed on surgery and is rehabbing with the hope of returning in late July or early August. How many teams would still be in the pennant race let alone in 1st place if they lost 4/5th of the starting rotation. When Maddon moved over to the Cubs he had top prospects Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler and Addison Russell in the pipeline along with 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo who is having and M.V.P. caliber season. You could also add Kyle Schwarber to that prospect list after the way he played in his brief call up last week. Soler is out injured right now, but should be returning soon, but while he was healthy he was playing well as were Bryant and Russell. Tampa Bay doesn’t quite have the prospect pool the Cubs have. They do have Steven Souza Jr. who has 14 home runs, but is hitting .229. The Rays also have 2008 #1 overall pick Tim Beckham on the roster; though he is currently out injured. Beckham has appeared in 37 games with 5 home runs, but is hitting .213. It looks like 2 teams with about that same won/loss record at this point. Who knows were either of these teams will end up at the end of the season. Will we find out what each of these managers are worth to their teams by the end of the season or is it really talent that matters in the end.

Tom Brady had his hearing on Deflategate yesterday. The hearing was held at the NFL offices in New York and was 11 hours long with .10 hours of testimony being heard. Brady apparently didn’t speak or testify at the hearing, but was there until the end of the hearing.  Brady’s side made their case for exoneration, presumably based on the assertion that there was no direct evidence linking Brady to the deflation of footballs.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has the sole power to hear and decide on appeals of player suspensions if he so chooses. The players and owners collectively bargained that into the 2011 CBA. The players association tried to get around that in this case by insisting they’d call Goodell as a witness in Brady’s appeal hearing, but Goodell refused to recuse himself and heard the appeal on Tuesday anyway. All that’s left for Brady to do now is wait. If Brady’s suspension is not reduced or overturned completely, one would expect that he and the NFLPA would then take the case to federal court.

The Big Jack

Looking back at the 2010 NBA Draft

Posted: June 23, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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With the NBA Draft on Thursday I thought we could go back 5 year to 2010 and see how your favorite team did with it’s 1st round pick. The draft set a record with 5 players from the same college (Kentucky) being selected in the 1st round. The Washington Wizards won the draft lottery in May and have the 1st pick.

#1, Washington Wizards; John Wall, Guard, Kentucky.

Wall became the 1st of 5 Kentucky Wildcats to come off the draft board in the 1st round. Wall battled some inuries his first 3 seasons, but he’s been healthy and an All-Star in his last 3 seasons. For his career Wall averages 17.6 points per game and 8.7 assists per game. He did have his career high in assists per game last season averaging 10.0. A good pick for the Wizards at the top of the draft as long as he’s healthy.

#2, Philadelphia 76ers, Evan Turner, Guard, Ohio State.

Turner looked like he was going to turn into the scorer the 76ers thought he’d be in 2013-14 when he was averaging 17.4 points per game, but with the 76ers rebuilding and going young Turner was dealt to the Indiana Pacers to bolster their bench for the playoffs. Turner then signed with the Boston Celtics as a free agent last off season and played in all 82 games averaging 9.5 points per game, 5.5 assists per game and 5.2 rebounds per game while playing a little under 28 minutes a game.

#3, New Jersey Nets, Derrick Favors, Forward, Georgia Tech.

The Nets were still in New Jersey when they drafted Favors, but he only played 56 games with the Nets as a rookie before he was dealt to the Utah Jazz were he’s still playing. For his career Favors averages 10.9 points per game, but last last season he posted his highest scoring average of his career at 16.0. Favors also grabs 7.3 rebounds per game for his career and blocks 1.3 shots per game as well.

#4, Minnesota Timberwolves, Wesley Johnson, Forward, Syracuse.

As a lottery pick Johnson is a bust. He’s on his 3rd team in 5 seasons. He was with Minnesota for his first 2 NBA seasons. The Timberwolves dealt him to the Phoenix Suns were he spent 1 season and the last 2 seasons he’s been with the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson did post his highest points per game total of 9.9 with the Lakers last season. On his career Johnson averages 8.5 points per game.

#5, Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins, Center, Kentucky.

While Cousins has a interesting personality he has been able to score in the NBA. Cousins is a double digit scorer for his career and even though he was limited to just 59 games due to injury he averaged a career best 24.1 points per game, 12.7 rebounds per game, 1.7 blocks per game and 3.6 assists per game. Cousins made his 1st All-Star team last season and you have to wonder if he can keep his emotions under control on the floor if his numbers will continue to go up.

#6, Golden State Warriors, Ekpe Udoh, Center, Baylor.

While the Warriors won the NBA Title jut a week ago; 5 years ago they were in the draft lottery. Udoh was only with the Warriors for about a season and a half. They dealt Udoh along with .Kwame Brown and Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson. Udoh spent 2 1/2 seaons with Milwaukee before signing with the Los Angeles Clippers for the 2014-15 season. He averages 4.0 points per game and plays just under 17 minutes a game.

#7, Detroit Pistons, Greg Monroe, Forward, Georgetown.

Monroe has been a good player for Detroit since they drafted him. In 5 seasons with the Pistons he averages 14.3 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game. He did just post his highest rebounding per game average last season at 10.2. Monroe did lose some games in injury last season playing in 69 games; he had only missed 3 games in his career before last season. Monroe plays 30 plus minutes a night for Detroit.

#8, Los Angeles Clippers, Al-Farouq Aminu, Forward, Wake Forest.

Aminu only spent 1 season with the Clippers averaging 5.6 points per game. After that 1st season he was dealt  with Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and a 2012 1st round draft pick (Austin Rivers was later selected) to the New Orleans Hornets for Chris Paul, a 2015 2nd round draft pick and a 2015 2nd round draft pick. Aminu played 3 seasons with New Orleans before signing with the Dallas Mavericks last off season.

#9, Utah Jazz, Gordon Hayward, Forward, Butler.

I remember the expert coming down pretty hard on the Jazz for picking Hayward, but he’s been a good player for Utah. Hayward averaged 19.3 points per game last season which was a career high. For his career Hayward averages 13.5 points per game, 3.3 assists per game. 3.7 rebounds per game and 1.0 steals per game. Hayward has played quite a few minutes the last 2 seasons. He averaged 36.4 minutes a game in 2013-14 and 34.4 minutes a game last season.

#10, Indiana Pacers, Paul George, Forward, Fresno State.

I think we’ve all seen or heard about the horrible leg injury George sustained playing for the USA basketball team. It cost George all but 6 games in the 2014-15 season. George had made back to back All-Star teams before the injury and had also posted his career high in points per game during the 2013-14 season with 21.7. A lot of questions will be answered this season as George should be ready to go come training camp.

#11, New Orleans Hornets, Cole Aldrich, Center, Kansas.

While Aldrich was drafted by New Orleans he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Aldrich spent 2 seasons with Oklahoma City before playing 30 games with the Houston Rockets and 15 games with the Sacramento Kings in 2012-13 seasons. Aldrich has played the last 2 seasons with the New York Knicks. On his career Aldrich averaged 3.1 points per game and 3.4 rebounds per game.

#12, Memphis Grizzlies, Xavier Henry, Guard, Kansas.

Henry was the 2nd of back to back Kansas players to come off the board. Henry spent just 1 season in Memphis and Henry was part of a 3-team trade, traded by the Washington Wizards (as a future 2010 1st round draft pick) to the Memphis Grizzlies; the Memphis Grizzlies traded a 2015 2nd round draft pick to the New Orleans Hornets; the Memphis Grizzlies traded Javaris Crittenton to the Washington Wizards; the New Orleans Hornets traded Mike James to the Washington Wizards; and the Washington Wizards traded Antonio Daniels to the New Orleans Hornets. In 2014-15 Henry played just 9 games with the Los Angeles Lakers.

#13, Toronto Raptors, Ed Davis, Forward, North Carolina.

Davis spent 2 1/2 seasons with Toronto and then was  part of a 3-team trade, traded by the Toronto Raptors with Jose Calderon and a 2013 2nd round draft pick (Jamaal Franklin was later selected) to the Memphis Grizzlies; the Detroit Pistons traded Austin Daye and Tayshaun Prince to the Memphis Grizzlies; the Memphis Grizzlies traded Jose Calderon to the Detroit Pistons; and the Memphis Grizzlies traded Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors. Davis spent last season with the Los Angeles Lakers were he averaged 8.3 points per game.

#14, Houston Rockets, Patrick Patterson, Forward, Kentucky.

Patterson played 2 1/2 seasons with the Rockets before they dealt him with Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas and cash to the Sacramento Kings for Francisco Garcia, Tyler Honeycutt and Thomas Robinson. After just 41 games with the Kings they dealt Patterson with Chuck Hayes, John Salmons and Greivis Vasquez to the Toronto Raptors for Quincy Acy, Rudy Gay and Aaron Gray. In 81 games last season Patterson averaged 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the Raptors.

#15, Milwaukee Bucks, Larry Sanders, Center, VCU.

Sanders was a solid player for Milwaukee, but injuries and him just not wanting to play limited him to 233 games in 5 seasons. Milwaukee actually decided to waive Sanders in February of this year. Sanders averaged 6.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in his career. It’s unclear if Sanders will ever play in the NBA again.

#16, Minnesota Timberwolves, Luke Babbitt, Forward, Nevada.

Babbitt was drafted by Minnesota, but a draft day trade sent him to the Portland Trailblazers were he played 3 seasons. Babbitt played in 126 games for the Trailblazers before signing as a free agent with the New Orleans Hornets. In 90 games over 2 seasons Babbitt has averaged 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game for New Orleans.

#17, Chicago Bulls,  Kévin Séraphin, Forward, Cholet Basket (France)

Seraphin was the 1st international player taken and was sent to the Wahington Wizards in a draft day trade. The Bulls dealt Seraphin with Kirk Hinrich and cash to the Washington Wizards for Vladimir Veremeenko. Chicago also received a trade exception from Washington. In 5 seasons with the Wizards Seraphim has averaged 6.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

#18, Oklahoma City Thunder, Eric Bledsoe, Guard, Kentucky.

While picked by Oklahoma City Bledsoe was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for a 2012 1st round draft pick. Bledsoe spent 3 seasons with the Clippers. As part of a 3 team trade Bledsoe landed with the Phoenix Suns were he has showed he can score. In his 2 seasons with Phoenix he’s averaged 17.3 points per game in the Suns three guard system. Bledsoe is also averaging 5.9 assists per game with Phoenix.

#19, Boston Celtics,  Avery Bradley, Guard, Texas.

Bradley has played in 282 games in 5 seasons with Boston. His career scoring average is 10.5, but his last 2 seasons have been better than that; 14.9 in 2013-14 and 13.9 in 2014-15, Bradley made the switch from point guard to shooting guard last season mostly because he was averaging just 1.5 assists per game.

#20, San Antonio Spurs, James Anderson, Guard, Oklahoma State.

Anderson played 2 1/2 seasons with the Sups, but it covered just 87 games. He finished the 2012-13 season with the Houston Rockets before moving on to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013-14 season. Anderson has a career scoring average of 6.3 points per game. Anderson is currently not on an NBA roster.

#21, Oklahoma City Thunder, Craig Brackins, Forward, Iowa State.

Brackins was drafted by Oklahoma City, but was sent with Quincy Pondexter to the New Orleans Hornets for Cole Aldrich and Morris Peterson as part of a draft day trade. Brackins played just 2 season in the NBA with Philadelphia and it covered just 17 games before he was released. Brackins averaged 1.8 points per game in his NBA career.

#22, Portland Trailblazers, Elliot Williams, Guard, Memphis.

Williams has played for 4 teams since being drafted by the Trailblazers. Williams spent 1 season in Portland. He didn’t play in the 2012-13 season. Williams spent 2013-14 season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Last season Williams played for both the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans. In 104 career games Williams has averaged 5.1 points per game.

#23, Minnesota Timberwolves, Trevor Booker, Forward, Clemson.

Booker was drafted by the Timberwolves, but was sent with Hamady N’Diaye to the Washington Wizards for Nemanja Bjelica and Lazar Hayward as part of a draft day trade. Booker spent 4 seasons with Washington before signing with the Utah Jazz last season. Booker averages 6.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in his career.

#24, Atlanta Hawks, Damion James, Forward, Texas.

Another draft day trade here as Atlanta drafted James and sent him to the New Jersey Nets for Jordan Crawford and Tibor Pleiss. James spent 3 seasons with the Nets, but it covered just 34 games. James played 5 games with the San Antonio Spurs during the 2013-14 season, but is currently not on an NBA roster. James has a career scoring average of 3.8 points per game in his NBA career.

#25, Memphis Grizzlies, Dominique Jones, Guard, USF.

While the Grizzlies drafted Jones at #25 they sold him to the Dallas Mavericks on draft day. Jones was with the Mavericks for 3 seasons playing in 80 games. Jones averaged 3.1 points, 1,8 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game in his career. Jones has been out of the NBA since the end of the 2012-13 season which would lead you to believe that his NBA career is over.

#26, Oklahoma City Thunder, Quincy Pondexter, Forward, Washington.

Oklahoma City had multiple 1st round picks in this draft. Pondexter was part of a deal you may have seen early on the draft board as he went with #21 pick Craig Brackins to the New Orleans Hornets for Cole Aldrich and Morris Peterson. Pondexter spent the 2010-11 season with New Orleans before being dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies. After 3 1/2 seasons in Memphis Pondexter ended up back with New Orleans as part of a 3 team deal. Pondexter has a career scoring average of 5.3 points per game.

#27, New Jersey Nets, Jordan Crawford, Guard, Xavier.

This deal appears earlier as well as Crawford was sent to the Atlanta Hawks with Tibor Pleiss for #24 pick Damion James. Crawford played 1 season with Atlanta, 2 1/2 seasons with the Washington Wizards, 1 season with the Boston Celtics and wrapped up the 2013-14 season playing 42 games with the Golden State Warriors. Crawford has a career scoring average of 12.2 points per game.

#28, Memphis Grizzlies, Greivis Vásquez, Guard, Maryland.

Vasquez spent 1 season with Memphis before being dealt to the New Orleans Hornets. After 2 seasons with New Orleans they traded him to the Sacramento Kings. Vasquez played just 18 games with the Kings before being traded to the Toronto Raptors. Vasquez has found a home with Toronto as a back up at both guard spots. Vasquez averages 9.2 points and 4.6 assists per game in his career.

#29, Orlando Magic, Daniel Orton, Center, Kentucky.

The 5th Kentucky Wildcat player drafted in the 1st round Orton played just 51 games in the NBA. Orton played just 16 games for the Magic in 2011-12. Signed by Oklahoma City for the 2012-13 season Orton played in 13 games. The Philadelphia 76ers signed Orton for the 2013-14 season, but he played in just 22 games that season. Orton averaged 2.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in his career.

#30, Washington Wizards, Lazar Hayward, Forward, Marquette.

The final pick of the 1st round; Hayward was drafted by Washington, but traded with Nemanja Bjelica to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Trevor Booker and Hamady N’Diaye. Hayward played 42 games for Minnesota in 2010-11. He then played 26 games for the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011-12. Hayward found his way back to Minnesota and got into 2 games in the 2012-13 season. Hayward averaged 2.9 points for his career.

There you are 5 years ago this is who was picked where in the NBA draft. How did your team do?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: June 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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Last night San Francisco Giants rookie pitcher Chris Heston making his 13th career major league start pitched the 17th no hitter in San Francisco history a 5-0 victory over the New York Mets. Heston struck out the side in the ninth inning to secure the first no-hitter of the 2015 season; he had 11 total strikeouts in the game. It was also the 4th straight season a Giants pitcher has thrown a no hitter. Matt Cain threw a no hitter in 2012 and Tim Lincecum kept the streak going with no hitters in 2013 and 2014. Oddly Heston was  once designated for assignment by the Giants in July 2013, Heston only made the starting rotation because Cain began the season on the disabled list. And he had been inconsistent all season before his no hitter Tuesday night. Heston did not allow a walk along with his 11 strikeouts. Heston’s only blemishes were three hit batters, the first time dating back to 1914 that more than two batters were plunked during a no-hitter. He also became the first rookie to throw a no-hitter since Boston’s Clay Buchholz in 2007. It took Heston 110 pitches to throw his no hitter. Heston improved to 6-4 on the season and also went 2 for 4 at the plate and drove in 2 runs which were his first career RBI’s. With the win San Francisco improved their record to 33-26 and are currently in 2nd place in the National League West a game behind the 1st place Los Angeles Dodgers.

Are you surprised that the Cleveland Cavaliers are up 2 games to 1 in the NBA Finals on the Golden State Warriors. Behind 40 points from LeBron James the Cavaliers took Game 3 96-91 in Cleveland last night. Cleveland got out to a 4 point lead after the 1st quarter 24-20. The Cavaliers were able to add 3 points to their lead going into halftime 44-37. The Cavaliers were really able to pull away in the 3rd quarter outscoring Golden State 28-18 in the quarter and taking a 72-55 lead going into the 4th quarter. Golden State did what it could in the 4th period to get back into the game. Golden State outscored Cleveland by 12 points 36-24, but it wasn’t enough and they lost Game 3 by 5 points 96-91. James was 14-34 from the field last night including 2-6 from behind the 3-point line. He did make 10 of the 12 free throws he shot while scoring his 40 points. Matthew Dellavedova has really stepped up for the Cavaliers in Kyrie Irving’s absence and last night he scored 20 points in Cleveland’s victory. J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson were the other 2 Cavaliers to score in double figures as they both had 10 points. Thompson also led Cleveland in rebounding with 13 boards while James grabbed 12 rebounds and also led Cleveland in assists with 8. Stephen Curry had a much better shooting night in Game 3 than he did in Game 2. Curry went 10 for 20 from the field and hit 7 of the 13 3-pointers he attempted for a team leading 27 points. Andre Iguodala (15), Klay Thompson (14) and David Lee (11) were the other Warriors who scored in double figures. Curry led the Warriors in assists with 6 while Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green led Golden State in rebounds with 7 boards apiece. Before yesterday’s game the NBA came out and said the officiating crew missed 3 calls down the stretch in Game 2 and you have to wonder if that had any affect on the Game 3 free throw shooting numbers. Cleveland had twice as many free throws as Golden State did in Game 3. The Cavaliers took advantage of the free throw situation going 17-24 (70.8%) while Golden State was 7-12 (58.3%) from the free throw line. The series stays in Cleveland for Game 4 on Thursday night and we’ll have to see if Golden State can even things up before heading home.

I came across some odd pre-game comments and these were earlier in the day not right before the game. If you’ve watched ESPN on the day of an NBA Finals game you’ve realized that it’s really just one big pre-game show. One of the commentators was explaining how the Cavaliers have already won this series and I just couldn’t understand what he was taking about and never really explained his position at all. What made this even more entertaining for me is at the start of the NBA Finals this same commentator picked Golden State to win the series in 6 games. I’m sure if you asked him about that he’d deny that comment or say you were lying. I guess we’re not suppose to remember who these guys pick to win what; so they can go and change things to fit whatever they have going on. I’m not going back on what I picked and I am already wrong. In case you don’t remember I had the Cavaliers in the finals, but I had them losing to the San Antonio Spurs. Oops!

It’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals tonight in Chicago. The Tampa Bay Lighting have a 2 games to 1 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks. Game 3 was not a good game for either goaltender as both Ben Bishop and Corey Crawford allowed goals that they could’ve and should’ve stopped. It worked out for Tampa Bay as Crawford allowed 1 more bad goal than Bishop did and Tampa Bay grabbed a 3-2 win in Game 3. You have to wonder if Blackhawks fans are concerned with the way this series has went so far, but the Blackhawks did win the Stanley Cup a couple of seasons ago after being down by the same 2-1 margin in games. If the Blackhawks are going to repeat that performance they’ll need much better play out of Crawford in goal. What you’ll need to look for in tonight’s game is how the Blackhawks defenseman are playing. There have been a couple of experts who’ve mentioned that they Blackhawks might still be feeling the affects from their Western conference finals series against the Anaheim Ducks. While it does seem that Duncan Keith is on the ice for the entire game I don;t think it’s affected his play. I was interested to know why they think it’s just the Blackhawks that would be tired. Tampa Bay’s Eastern conference finals series against the New York Rangers also went 7 games; so wouldn’t they be feeling the affect of that series. 

On the Sunday morning podcast Mr. Fantasy and I have been picking a fantasy player and pitcher of the week. I believe I’m a couple of weeks behind; so if you haven’t been listening here’s who we picked.

Week 8 Nolan Arrenado (Colorado) and Chad Bettis (Colorado)

Week 9 Freddie Freeman (Atlanta) and Lance McCullers (Houston)

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your week?

Posted: June 6, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, horse racing, sports
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Will we see our first Triple Crown winner since 1978 (Affirmed) today at the Belmont Stakes when American Pharoah takes the race track?  At this point American Pharoah needs little introduction. He won the Kentucky Derby by a length and the Preakness Stakes by seven. His top competition in those races, Dortmund and Firing Line, are both skipping the Belmont, making American Pharoah an overwhelming favorite (3/5 betting odds) at the Belmont. He lost the first race he entered, but has won all six since. His name, by the way, is misspelled because it was entered incorrectly into an Internet registry, so he was stuck with it. Dan the Man and Schuamburg Stu believe American Pharoah will win the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown so he is their pick to win the race. Frosted is the other favorite at 5/1 and he’s Mr. Fantasy’s choice to win. Frosted Wood Memorial in April, but has had several good showings, including a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Joel Rosario is riding Frosted and he did win last years Belmont Stakes on Tonalist. As you can tell my co-hosts didn’t reach while looking for a Belmont winner as they took the favorite and the the horse with the 2nd best odds. I on the other hand have decided to go with Keen Ice who is a 20/1 shot going into the race. Keen Ice finished 7th in the Kentucky Derby, but has a strong bloodline f or the Belmont. Curlin, his sire, finished second in the Belmont. There are a total of 8 horses running in the Belmont Stakes. Besides are picks here are the other horses in today’s race. Materiality (6/1), Mubtaahij (10/1), Madefromlucky (12/1), Tale of Verve (15/1) and Frammento (30/1). Who’s your pick?

Thursday morning I got home and was really looking forward to seeing the highlights of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. As I flipped from morning sports show to morning sports show I was surprised to find that no one was really giving much coverage to Game 1 if at any at all. Of course since ESPN and Fox Sports don’t televise NHL hockey they could care less that the Stanley Cup finals are being played. They’ll bury the story in the middle of their highlight shows were no one may even notice they’re talking about it. Oddly though both network will complain that hockey doesn’t get the coverage it deserves, but yet they don’t cover it. I was able to watch the first 2 periods of Game 1 on television and heard the 3rd period on the radio; so I was able to hear the entire game, but I was hoping to see the 3rd period highlights. Later in the day I was finally able to find some highlights on Comcast Sportsnet which focus on the Chicago teams.

If you saw Game 1 you had to come away thinking that the Tampa Bay Lighting were the better team and even though they were for the most part of Game 1 they ended up losing the game 2-1. Tampa bay went into the 3rd period with a 1-0 lead and had controlled quite a bit of the game, but in the 3rd period they appeared to be playing not to lose instead of playing to win. You have to wonder if nerves or inexperience or possibly both got to the Lighting in that 3rd period. Alex Killorn gave Tampa Bay the lead in the 1st period with a great redirection of the puck by Corey Crawford. Anton Stralman and   Valtteri Filppula assisted on Killron’s goal. That was the only goal of the 1st period; so Tampa Bay took a 1-0 into the dressing room. Neither team was able to put the puck in the back of the net in the 2nd period; so Tampa Bay continued to lead the game 1-0. Teuvo Teravainen was finally able to get the Blackhawks on the scoreboard getting the puck pass Tampa bay goalie Ben Bishop and evening the game at 1-1. Duncan Keith and Andrew Shaw assisted on Teravainen’s goal. It looked as though we were going to get an overtime, but Antoine Vermette scored the game winning goal about 15 minutes into the 3rd period on an assist from Teravainen to put the Blackhawks ahead 2-1 which is how the game ended.

Both goaltenders played well as Crawford stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced while Bishop stopped 19 of 21 shots in goal for the Lighting. Keith as always was the Blackhawks leader in minutes played with 29:15 and Stralman was the Lighting’s minutes leader with 25:29. You’ll hear the announcers say that the Blackhawks are a finesse team, but Brent Seabrook was credited with 7 hits to lead the game in that category.Ondrej Palat was Tampa bay’s leader in hits with 5. Niklas Hjalmarsson of Chicago and Jason Garrison of Tampa Bay each blocked 4 shots to lead their teams in that category. Game 2 is tonight (Saturday) in Tampa Bay.

Now yesterday (Friday) I didn’t have any issues at all finding highlights from Game 1 of the NBA finals game that Golden State won 108-100 in overtime over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers jumped ahead by 10 points at the end of the 1st quarter and looked like they might run away with Game 1. Golden State got themselves back into the game cutting the Cavaliers lead to 3 points going into halftime at 51-48. The game was even by the end of the 3rd quarter at 73 all. Of course the game was tied at 98 apiece at the end of regulation. LeBron James had a chance to win the game for Cleveland at the end of regulation, but missed a tough shot as time ran out. Overtime seemed almost like a different game as Golden State out scored Cleveland 10-2 in the overtime quarter and won 108-100.

Cleveland’s point guard Kyrie Irving limped to the locker room after aggravating his troublesome left knee in overtime. It was later found out that Irving broke his left knee cap. He’ll have surgery and is out for the rest of the finals series. Irving will now join Kevin Love and Andersen Varejao on the sidelines for Cleveland. Is Irving’s injury going to turn out to be too much for Cleveland to overcome. The NBA finals gets the extra day off between game 1 & 2; so they’ll take the court tomorrow (Sunday) for Game 2. Irving’s injury will add even more to LeBron’s work load and going against the team that had the best record in the NBA this season will it be too much for the best player in the NBA to handle. Since the NBA is an offensive league people forget just how good of a defensive team Golden State is. James did score 44 points in Game 1, but without Irving in the line up Golden State will be able to adjust a little more to LeBron and that may make his life a little tougher. It appeared that Golden State was the better team going into this series and with Cleveland losing it’s 2nd best player for the series the question may become; will they be to win a game?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: June 3, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag was on the podcast Sunday morning and one of his picks to go to victory lane was Jimmie Johnson. Earlier in the week I had heard one of the Waltrip brothers mention that he thought there might be some troubles on the #48 team. He specifically mentioned what he thought was an issue between Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus. I guess whatever issues there n=might or might not have been it all worked out Sunday. Johnson didn’t have a great car early in the race, but it came around when it matter and he led the last 23 laps on his way to his 4th victory of the season. Kevin Harvick finished 2nd, Kyle Larson was 3rd, Kasey Kahne finished 4th and rounding out the Top 5 was  Aric Almirola. We’re halfway through the NASCAR regular season and the circuit still has to go to Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway twice. There are still 2 road course races at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International. There’s also a stop at the newest track on the schedule Kentucky Speedway just to go over a few of the races left on the schedule.

Is there anyone out there really surprised that Adrian Peterson showed up at Minnesota Vikings O.T.A.’s this week. I like the statement Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer made when he more or less said that Peterson could play for the Vikings or not play at all. Peterson and his representatives have done a lot of crying this off season as they tried to force the Vikings to trade him. Minnesota held it’s ground and it looks like Peterson will be in a Vikings uniform for the 2015/16 season. Once Week 1 rolls around Peterson’s salary of $12.75 million dollars will be guaranteed. Peterson is trying to get the last 2 years of his deal guaranteed, but that’s brought even more criticism from fans who believed he should be grateful for the organization’s continued support after his legal troubles. This story is just getting started; so I’m sure will hear a lot more complaining if not from Peterson himself, but from the people who represent him.

Are you ready for the Stanley Cup Finals to get started? They’ll drop the puck tonight in Tampa Bay for Game 1 at 7:00 p.m. Central time. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville did quite a bit of line juggling in the Western conference finals against the Anaheim Ducks and you have to wonder if he’ll match up his 4th line of Marcus Kruger, Andrew Desjardins and Andrew Shaw against the Tampa Bay Lighting’s triplet line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov. I would think that the 1st lines will match up against each other. We should see Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Brandon Saad match up with Steven Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn. Patrick Kane did skate with Toews during Game 7 of the conference finals; so we’ll have to see if the Blackhawks will continue to keep them together. Tampa Bay will have to decide if they’ll try to match their top defensive pairing of Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman against the line with Kane on it or the Blackhawks top line with Toews on it. The defensive pairings are easier for the Blackhawks just for the fact that Duncan Keith is always on the ice. Keith is normally paired with the underrated Niklas Hjalmarsson, but did skate with Brent Seabrook in the conference finals. The Blackhawks other 3 defenseman Kimmo Timonen, Kyle Cumiskey and Johnny Oduya really need to step up and help the Blackhawks defense. Hedman and Stralman have been getting quite a bit of ice time for Tampa Bay and the Lighting will need their other 4 defenseman Jason Garrison, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and Andrej Sustr to factor in this series. Defense and goaltending should become more important as a lot of experts are predicting and offensive series with lots of goal scoring.

How do you feel about Tampa Bay trying to prevent Blackhawks fans from getting tickets to the games in Tampa Bay. They’ve even went so far as to say that you won’t be able to wear Blackhawks gear in the bars and restaurant at Amalie Arena. This has always seemed kind of stupid to me and Dan the Man is convinced that teams do it just for the publicity. The Nashville Predators have been trying to do this with Blackhawks fans for a few seasons now and there still seem to be a good amount of Blackhawks fans at those games. I’m pretty sure when the puck drop for Game 1 and Game 2 in Tampa bay there will be plenty of Blackhawks fans in attendance.

Thursday night the NBA Finals tip off at Oracle Arena as the Golden State Warriors host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Golden State received the best news it probably could’ve gotten as Klay Thompson was medically to play in Game 1. Thompson took a knee to the head in the clinching game against the Houston Rockets and was diagnosed with a concussion. Thompson was diagnosed with the concussion last Friday and missed two days of practice. He returned to the court on Monday and has been symptom free. Thompson completed the NBA’s concussion protocol and will be ready to play on Thursday night. With Thompson being cleared to play both teams should be at full strength. The Cavaliers will of course be missing Kevin Love, but Kyrie Irving should be close to if not 100% for Thursday nights game. 

To no surprise at all the Chicago Bulls hired Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg to replace Tom Thibodeau as their head coach. Hoiberg received a 5 years $25 million dollar contract from the Bulls. Hoiberg went 115-56 at Iowa State and led the Cyclones to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back Big 12 tournament titles. Hoiberg had a 10 year NBA career including 4 seasons with the Bulls. Hoiberg had career averages of 5.4 points per game, 1.6 assists per game and 2.7 rebounds per game. It also looks like the Bulls will get their wish and Thibodeau won’t be getting an NBA head coaching job next season. The Bulls plan all along was to try and shut Thibodeau out of any open head coaching positions and right now only the Denver Nuggets are in the market for a head coach and I don;t believe Thibodeau’s name has been mentioned. It’s was petty of the Bulls to do that to Thibodeau even of they didn’t like him or couldn’t get along with him, but sadly they weren’t above being childish. Thibodeau is due to receive $9 million over the next couple of seasons from the Bulls which was another reason I thought the Bulls would like to see him get another head coaching job. Unless something else opens up or the Nuggets come calling Thibodeau will either have to take an assistant coaching job or sit out and wait for an NBA head coaching opening.

How was your Week?

Posted: May 30, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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The NHL had it’s first of two Game 7’s last night as the Tampa Bay Lighting beat the New York Rangers 2-0 to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. It was a 0-0 game until the 3rd period when Alex Killorn scored a couple minutes into the period to give the Lighting the lead. Ondrej Palat scored the 2nd goal for Tampa Bay about 11 minutes into the 3rd period to ice the game. Ben Bishop made 22 saves for Tampa Bay in the shutout and is 7-1 with a 1.25 goals-against average, a .951 save percentage and two shutouts following a loss in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was his second shutout of the series and third of the postseason. Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves for the Rangers, who entered 7-0 in Game 7 at home but were denied a return trip to the Cup Final. Lundqvist had won six consecutive Game 7’s, an NHL record. The Stanley Cup finals start on Wednesday and Tampa bay will find out tonight if they will be facing the Anaheim Ducks or the Chicago Blackhawks. Anaheim is the home team tonight; the game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. (Central Time) start time. If form holds in this series the team that scores first will win. No matter how they have gotten there if you’re the first team to out the puck in the net you win. Barry Melrose mentioned in his preview of the game that there could be quite a bit offense tonight. So will we get a 5-4 game or a 2-1 game?

So the NHL gets 3 days off before they start the Stanley Cup Finals on the other hand the NBA has 8 days off between the end of the conference finals and the start of the NBA finals. By the time the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers take the court to start the finals I won’t even care who wins it. The days off may be a blessing for the Warriors as Klay Thompson got a concussion in the series clinching victory over the Houston Rockets and can use these days to rest and get ready. Depending on the what grade of concussion Thompson received will be the final decision on if he’ll be ready for Game 1. Thompson will not return to practice until he is symptom free and is being listed as out indefinitely. The longer break should also help the Cavaliers as well. Guard Kyrie Irving has been slowed by knee tendinitis and a sore foot, and four-time NBA MVP LeBron James has been banged up as well. If you’ve listened to a LeBron James interview you wouldn’t believe it. but neither of those injuries seems as serious as the one the Warriors are facing now. The NBA’s concussion policy requires players to pass a series of steps without experiencing symptoms before they can return. That starts with riding a stationary bike and progresses to jogging, agility work and non-contact team drills, according to the league. Players must start over if they experience any symptoms. The protocol also requires the team physician to discuss the process with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the director of the NBA’s concussion program, before a player can return. If Thompson is out for any length of time will the Warriors be able to replace him?

Stephen Strasburg exited his start last night against the Cincinnati Reds after pitching 1 inning. Strasburg showed signs of an injury in the 1st inning, but came out for the 2nd inning before Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams and a trainer came out and removed him from the game. There is no official announcement on Strasburg’s condition or if he’ll miss a start, but in his post game interview he mentioned how he felt he couldn’t get his throwing shoulder loose. This is the second early departure from a start in a row for Strasburg. He pitched just 3 2/3rds innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 23rd. Strasburg has made 10 starts this season and is 3-5 with an ERA of 6.55. Strasburg was the #1 overall pick by the Nationals in 2009. When the pick was made there were scouts and baseball experts talking about how Strasburg might win multiple Cy Young awards during his career and he still might. Strasburg did pick up a small share of votes for the Cy Young award last season (2014) and did lead the National League in strikeouts with 242 and games started with 34. In 6 seasons Strasburg has made 119 career starts, but only twice gas he started 30 or more games in a season; remember though he did miss most of the 2011 season. He made just 5 starts in 2011 because of an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. Strasburg has one more year of arbitration with the Nationals before hitting the free agent market in 2017. There’s a very good chance that Strasburg will go out onto the open market since he is represented by Scott Boras. If this arm issue os something that will cause Strasburg to miss time you have to think it will affect his value a couple of seasons down the road. Then instead of what might he get on the free agent market will we be talking about the fact that he was a bust as a #1 overall draft pick.

Josh Hamilton made his return to the Texas Rangers this week. I’m not sure how I feel about this as I’m in the camp that thinks he should’ve been suspended. He’s appeared in 5 games for the Rangers and has 5 hits in the last 3 games. Hamilton actually hit 2 home runs against the Red Sox last night. Texas is 3-2 with Hamilton on the line up including a 7-4 last night in the game he homered twice in. The Rangers are 24-25, 6 games out of 1st place in the American League West. I don;t think anyone was expecting Hamilton to lead the Rangers to a division title or a World Series win, but this does have a chance to be a good story. Hamilton has a chance to be an example to a lot of people who have the sane issues as he does. The question will be; can he stay clean?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

So how was your week?

.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 27, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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The Cleveland Cavaliers easily won Game 4 of the Eastern conference finals to sweep the Atlanta Hawks out of the NBA playoffs. While I wasn’t surprised to see the Cavaliers win this series as I like a lot of people had them going to the NBA finals, but I was a little surprised they swept this series. Atlanta was the best team in the Eastern conference during the regular season and I thought they would find a way to win a game or two in this series. Game 4 ended up being the biggest blowout of the series a 30 Cleveland win 118-88. The Cavaliers took a 12 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter 32-20 and that was pretty much the end of the Hawks. Cleveland added 5 points to their lead going into the half at 59-42. The Cavaliers just kept pulling away as they added 8 points to their lead by the end of the 3rd quarter 85-60 and even in the 4th quarter when the game was pretty much decided the Cavaliers still added another 5 points to their lead to get to that 118-88 final score. LeBron James led the Cavaliers in scoring with 23 points, but 5 other Cleveland players scored in double figures. J.R, Smith scored 18 points, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson scored 16 points, Timofey Mozgov had 14 points and Matthew Dellavedova added 10 points for Cleveland. Thompson pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers and Smith also grabbed 10 rebounds in the Game 4. James lead the Cavaliers with 7 assists. Irving was returning from injury and played just under 22 minutes and it was good for Cleveland to get him into a game before the finals. There was a lot of talk of if he should play or if the Cavaliers should just hold him out until the finals started. As long as Irving came out of Game 4 healthy it was the best thing for him to get a game and some minutes under his belt before the NBA finals start. Jeff Teague led Atlanta in scoring with 17 points in Game 4. Paul Millsap had 16 points and 10 rebounds 8 assists while Kent Bazemore had 12 points and 8 assists, Shelvin Mack and John Jenkins both added 10 points for Atlanta. With Kyle Korver missing Game 4 with an injury Atlanta shot 15.6 % from behind the 3 point line going 5 for 32. The only Atlanta player to make more than one 3 pointer was Jenkins and he had 2. It was a rough end for a team like Atlanta that played so well during the regular season and this will just add to the playoff failures the Hawks have had over the years.

The first chance for Cleveland to learn who it’s finals opponent might be is Friday. Game 5 between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets tips off at 8:00 p.m. Central time on ESPN with the Warriors leading the series 3 games to 1 and looking to close it out. I’m sure every Golden State fan was relieved to see Stephan Curry come back on the court and play some minutes after the horrible fall he took earlier in Game 4. This was another situation where there was talk of if Curry should’ve returned to the game. I don;t see it being any issues as long as he was medically cleared to return to the game by  a doctor. You’d have to think if Curry isn’t have any lingering issues from the fall you have to think they’ll be able to close out the Rockets tonight, but Houston did come back from being down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Clippers in their last series. Not that my predictions ever work out; so sorry Warriors fans, but I’m taking them to win on Friday.

NASCAR had it’s longest race of the season last Sunday. It was the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards used a fuel mileage strategy to get a win and propel himself and his Joe Gibbs Racing #19 into The Chase. Greg Biffle also running a fuel mileage strategy had his best finish of the season finishing 2nd. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 3rd, Matt Kenseth finished 4th and Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps (131) during the race, but came in 5th. Now I’m a fan of NASCAR, but I have to say that I don’t enjoy the races that are won with fuel mileage. I understand that strategy is all part of NASCAR and wins are of the up most importance with The Chase set up, but I didn’t enjoy it. NASCAR has had 9 different winners so far this season; so those 9 drivers look good for The Chase. Now the Sprint Cup series goes to Dover International Speedway this Sunday for the Fed-Ex 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks. Will there be a repeat winner? or will NASCAR get it’s 10th different winner this season?

There were a couple of other races on Sunday. Juan Pablo Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 trading the lead with Will Power a few times late in the race before he pulled away for the win. Power had to settle for 2nd place. The F1 series had the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday and for the 3rd consecutive year  Nico Rosberg won. It appeared that Lewis Hamilton was on his way to victory in Monaco, but some poor strategy cost him and he ended up in 3rd place. Besides Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel was the other driver to take advantage of Hamilton’s issues and finished 2nd. I saw very little of the Monaco Grand Prix, but I did get to see quite a bit of the Indianapolis 500. Did you watch ither race? or are you a fan of either of these racing series?

The New York Rangers evened their series with the Tampa Bay Lighting last night with a 7-3 victory. The win by the Rangers forces a Game 7 for this series Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Central time. New York had a 2-1 lead going into the 3rd period and then out scored the Lighting 5 to 2 in that 3rd period to pull away for the win.  Derick Brassard had a hat trick for the Rangers scoring the 1st, 5th and final goals. Nikita Kucherov had both of the Tampa Bay goals in the 3rd period. We’ll see if the Chicago Blackhawks can extend their series against the Anaheim Ducks tonight. Anaheim leads the series 3 games to 2 with Game 6 being played tonight in Chicago. The Game is on the NBC Sports Network starting at 7:00 p.m. Central time. Will we get two Game 7’s in the NHL conference finals?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: May 23, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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It’s Memorial Day weekend and that means the Indianapolis 500 will be run. NASCAR has pretty much taken over any type of racing news, but the Indianapolis 500 is the one still mainstream open wheel race that gets covered. When I was younger I would watch the race, but not so much anymore. While I’ll still try to catch the end to see who wins the race there’s not a connection you might feel for your favorite NASCAR driver with this series for me. While I still recognize some of the names like polesitter Scott Dixon after looking at the starting grid there where only 4 other drivers starting in the Top 10 who’s names I recognized. I’m sure if I followed this racing series a little closer I would know the other drivers in the Top 10, but I don’t even know if their other races are shown on television. While I would never want to see the Indianapolis 500 not be televised this weekend or moved to another network I would like to be able to find the other races in this series easier. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in 1st place in the NL West by 1 1/2 games over the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers and Giants just finished a mid-week 3 game series that saw the Giants sweep all 3 game from the Dodgers in that series. Not only did the Giants get a sweep in that series the Dodgers were shutout in all 3 games. San Francisco seems to be getting healthy while Los Angeles is going through some injuries. Even though the Dodgers did win their game last night they still only put up 2 runs. I don;t think anyone thought that offense would be an issues for the Dodgers and when Yasiel Puig returns from his hamstring injury the offense should return to were it was at the start of the season. What I’m wondering is if there’s going to be a move made for a starting pitcher. Los Angeles still has the best 1,2 top of the rotation in baseball with Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke in those roles, but there are some questions after that. Brett Anderson has been solid at 2-2 with an ERA of 3.61 in his 8 starts. The 8 starts Anderson has made this season match his total from all of last season and he hasn’t made more than 30 starts in his career. Anderson made 30 starts as a rookie in 2009; so will he hold up over a season in the Dodgers rotation. Brandon McCarthy has been lost for the season and it was announced yesterday that Hyun-jin Ryu will have season ending shoulder surgery. Ryu didn’t make any starts for the Dodgers this season. Carlos Frias has made 6 appearances with 4 of those being starts and is 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA. Mike Bolsinger has made 3 starts for the Dodgers as well and is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.04. Will the Dodgers stick with Frias and Bolsinger at the back of the rotation or will they go out on the trade market and try to find pitching. I’d be surprised to see Cole Hamels in a Dodgers uniform unless the Philadelphia Phillies come way down on what they want in return for Hamels. Now there is another Phillies pitcher that has gotten some attention early in the trade market. Could the veteran Aaron Harang be someone the Dodgers might be interested in. Harang is 4-3 in 9 starts for the Phillies with an ERA of 1.82. I’d be surprised to see Harang still with the Phillies at the end of the season, but which contender or contenders might be interested .

I was a little surprised to see the Cleveland Cavaliers more or less coast to a 12 point win 94-82 in Game 2 of the Eastern conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks. The Cavaliers took a 5 point lead after the 1st quarter 26-21. Cleveland kept the lead at 5 going into halftime 54-49, but pulled away in the 3rd quarter out scoring Atlanta 30-17 and taking a 84-66 lead. The Hawks did out score the Cavaliers in the 4th quarter 16 to 10, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to get Atlanta back into the game or close to a win. LeBron James led Cleveland and all scorers with 30 points. James also had 11 assists and 9 rebounds missing a triple double by just that 1 rebound. Iman Shumpert (16) Matthew Dellavedova (11) and Timofey Mozgov (10) were the other Cavaliers scoring in double figures while Tristan Thompson grab a game high 16 rebounds for Cleveland. Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 13 points, but Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver and Al Horford all scored 12 points for the Hawks. Cleveland has a 2 games to 0 lead in the series and they are headed back to Cleveland for Game 3 on Sunday night. Can Atlanta win a game in Cleveland and keep the series alive and return home or are the Cavaliers looking at a sweep. 

If you’re a Houston Rockets fan are you going to end up looking back at this Western conference finals series against the Golden State Warriors and wonder what if. The Rockets lost Game 1 by 4 points 110-106 and had their chances to take that game. Thursday night though might be the heartbreaker for Rockets fans. The Rockets were down 1 point with under 10 seconds to play and they had the basketball. James Harden was doubled teamed and unable to get a game winning shot off as the Rockets lost 99-98 in Game 2. Golden State has a 2-0 lead in this series, but it could just as easily be the other way around and if you’re Houston you have to think those missed chances will cost you this series. The series heads back to Houston for Game 3 tonight and the Rockets are kind of in the same boat the hawks find themselves in. Can they win a game at home to keep the series alive or will they be swept out of the conference finals.

On the podcast we always notice how the NFL finds ways to keep themselves in the news all year long, but lately all I’ve heard is the negative “Deflate Gate” news. I doubt this is the kind of news the NFL wants to generate in the off season and I have to tell you; I’m over this already. While I do think that a 4 game suspension was too much for Tom Brady I have no real interest in this situation. I side with Dan the Man on this when he has said over and over on the Sports Time Radio podcast that this is really the NFL’s fault. With all of the money the NFL makes they couldn’t have someone in charge of the game footballs. That’s enough of that garbage. When does mini-camp start?

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: May 20, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, horse racing, sports
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Let’s go ahead and start off with the Sports Time Radio fantasy players of the week for Week 6. We went with two Cleveland Indians this week 2nd baseman Jason Kipnis and Corey Kluber. I know it’s early in the season, but it’s the first time we’ve had winners from the same team.

Here’s how we stand right now with our teams of hitting pitchers:

Dan the Man’s team is 10/66 .152 0 HR’s 4 RBI’s and 29 K’s

Mr. Fantasy’s team is 17/85 .200 0 HR’s 2 RBI’s and 26 K’s

My team is 12/82 .146 1 HR 6 RBI’s and 34 K’s

The NHL is in it’s conference finals and both series are tied 1-1 with Game 3 of the New York Rangers vs. the Tampa Bay Lighting is tonight. The series has moved to Tampa Bay and if they can hold home ice they’ll move on to the Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers won Game 1 of the series 2-1, but Tampa Bay took Game 2 by putting up 6 goals in a 6-2 win. The Western conference series is moving to Chicago for Game 3 on Thursday night. The Anaheim Ducks took Game 1 by scoring 2 goals in the 3rd period and pulling away to a 4-1 win. Last night the Chicago Blackhawks evened the series with a 3-2 win in 3 overtimes. At 16:12 of the third overtime Marcus Krueger scored the game winner for the Blackhawks. and ended what was the longest game in Blackhawks history. Corey Crawford made 62 saves for Chicago and  Frederik Andersen made 56 saves for Anaheim. It will be interesting to see how these two teams bounce back with just one day off before Game 3.

The NBA has also just started it’s conference finals, but only the Western conference has gotten under way with the Golden State Warriors taking Game 1  110-106 over the Houston Rockets. Stephan Curry lead all scorers with 34 points making 6 – 11 from behind the 3-point line. Shaun Livingston (18), Klay Thompson (15), Harrison Barnes (14) and Draymond Green (13) all scored double figures for Golden State. Green also grabbed 12 rebounds and was just 2 assists shy of a triple double as he had 8 assists. The Rockets were led by James Harden with 28 points, Trevor Ariza had 20 points and Josh Smith had 17 points. Even though he injured a knee and played just a little over 26 minutes Dwight Howard led the Rockets with 13 rebounds. Harden added 11 rebounds and missed his triple double by just 1 assists as he led the Rockets with 9 assists in the game. The Rockets had the lead after one quarter at 31-24, but Golden State bounced back to take a 58-55 lead at halftime. Golden State added 2 points to their lead after 3 quarters 84-79. The Rockets did out score the Warriors in the final period 27 to 26, but it wasn’t enough to get a win. With the next game on Thursday you have to wonder if Howard will be ready to play. If you’re a Rockets fan are you trying to figure out if Howard doesn’t get injured would you of stolen Game 1. Game 1 of the Eastern conference finals starts tonight in Atlanta as the Atlanta Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 2 is Friday May 22nd in Atlanta as well. The series seems to be being billed as Atlanta’s team concept against LeBron James or I saw someone call it “Hero Ball”. 

The NBA had it’s draft lottery last night and it was the Los Angeles Lakers who moved up at the expense of the New York Knicks. Los Angeles moved up from #4 to the #2 pick while it was New York that fell from #2 to #4. New York had the 2nd best odds going into the lottery last night, but fell to the 4th pick in the draft. Everything else for the NBA lottery held true to form. The Minnesota Timberwovles got the #1 pick, the Lakers are #2, the Philadelphia 76ers are #3, the Knicks are #4, the Orlando Magic are #5, the Sacramento Kings are #6, the Denver Nuggets are #7, the Detroit Pistons are #8, the Charlotte Hornets are #9, the Miami Heat are #10, the Indiana Pacers are #11. the Utah Jazz are #12, the Phoenix Suns are #13 and the Oklahoma City Thunder got the last spot in the draft lottery at #14. The Lakers appear to be the big winner coming out of last night as they along with the Timberwolves will get either Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns at the top of the draft. The Knicks where one of the teams that lost out last night, but in a way so did the 76ers. While Philadelphia did land the 3rd pick most experts have said that there is a drop off between the 2nd and 3rd best players in this draft. Not only that, but Philadelphia had a chance to leave the lottery with 3 lottery picks. If the Lakers pick would’ve landed outside of the Top 5 it would’ve went to the 76ers as part of an earlier trade. Of course we know now that the Lakers are picking 2nd; so they get to keep that draft pick. The 76ers also had a deal with the Heat and if the Miami draft pick would’ve fallen out of the Top 10 Philadelphia would’ve gotten that pick as well. Miami landed right at #10 in the draft and they get to keep their draft pick as well.

The most interesting player in the upcoming NBA draft may be Emmanuel Mudiay who played last season in China.  Mudiay was born in the Republic of Congo, was living in Texas and planned to attend SMU, then signed a pro contract in China amid claims (that his family denied) the move was to escape NCAA heat on academic issues. While an ankle injury cost him most of the season in Guangdong, a healthy Mudiay will pop at the select few individual workouts he performs.

Schaumburg Stu went with the favorite American Pharoah to win the Preakness and he cam through for him winning the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown. I went with Divining Rod who finished 3rd. Mr. Fantasy’s horse Mr. Z ended up in 5th place and Dan the Man’s pick Firing Line finished in 7th place out of 8 horses.  American Pharoah became the 14th horse since 1978 to take the Kentucky Derby-Preakness Stakes and now the question is; can he win the Belmont Stakes?

You cam listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: May 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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So Troy Tulowitzki met with his agent this week to decide if he would ask the Colorado Rockies for a trade. I don’t know when this meeting took place, but I saw a crawler headline on “Yahoo Sports” that Tulowitzki has decided not to ask to be traded. Now if you;re the Rockies; what do you do with Tulowitzki? He’s the biggest name on your team, sorry Carlos Gonzalez and people buy tickets to Rockies games to see him. If you decided that you’re going to try to deal him; what can you get for an injury prone shortstop who when healthy can be on of the best players in major league baseball. Tulowitzki has appeared in every Rockies game this season (32), but has played in just 264 games from 2012 – 2014. Tulowitzki is off to a solid start; he’s hitting .284 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s along with 13 doubles. Now if the Rockies make the tough decision and feel it’s in their best interest to trade Tulowitzki what could they get for him and where might he end up. Now every team in baseball could use a healthy Tulowitzki, but I’ve narrowed it down to 4 possible good landing spots.

Let’s start with the New York Mets. There was quite a bit of talk last off season that these two teams were trying to work out a deal for Tulowitzki, but they couldn’t come to terms. Now that the Mets have come back to the pack in the NL East and are currently on a 5 game losing streak I think it’s time to revisit this deal. While Wilmer Flores has shown some power early this season with 5 home runs he is still hitting .240 and  Tulowitzki would be a huge upgrade at shortstop. Part of the snag in the off season deal was the Mets didn’t want to give up pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. I’m sure the Mets would still like to hang onto Syndergaard, but they have other pitching prospects they could include in a deal for Tulowitzki. If the Mets where to package Steven Matz, Marcos Molina and Flores in a deal would that be enough for Colorado to give them Tulowitzki. Remember Tulowitzki is signed until 2020 with an option for 2021. If the option on his contract was picked up the total value left on Tulowitzki’s deal is $109 million. That would be a lot of money for a team to take on along with dealing multiple prospects. Would 2 Mets pitching prospects and someone to fill in at shortstop be good enough for Colorado.

How about Tulowitzki to the Houston Astros. The Astros are off to a better start than anyone thought and they are currently in 1st place in the AL West. The Astros are 23-13 and have a 4 1/2 game lead in the division. Now Houston did just promote their top prospect Carlos Correra to Triple A and there is a chance he’ll be brought up to the majors in June. If the Astros were to pick up Tulowitzki and Correra was to come up in June there’s no reason Tulowitzki couldn’t move over to 3rd base in place of Luis Valbuena. There could also be some at bats at Designated Hitter for Tulowitzki. The Astros did sign Jed Lowrie in the off season and he is injured right now. Lowrie has been a utility player before and shouldn’t have any problems going back into that role if the Astros acquired  Tulowitzki. I’d be surprised if the Astros would deal Correra or Mark Appel for Tulowitzki, but could pitching prospects Vincent Velasquez, Michael Feliz, Jandel Gustave and someone like Jonathan Vyllar be enough for Colrado to move Tulowitzki to Houston. If the Astros are ready to contend this season adding a player of Tulowitzki talent level might be what puts them over the top.

Even though they are only in the 4th year of their 5 year plan the Chicago Cubs find themselves in 2nd place in the NL Central with a 20-15 record and 4 games behind the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals will be tough to unseat at the top of the NL Central because they’re the Cardinals and they always seem to contend, but adding a player like Tulowitzki could make the Cubs a threat if not to win the NL Central then to grab a Wild Card spot. The Cubs would have to include Starling Castro in a deal for Tulowitzki, but Castro has a decent contract to deal. Castro is signed until 2019 with an option for 2020 and if the contract was player out he would make a little under $41 million. I seriously doubt the Rockies would swap Tulowitzki for Castro straight up, but what if the Cubs added minor league prospect Javier Baez to the deal. It’s believed that the Rockies would be looking for young pitching in any deal for Tulowitzki, but I don’t think the Cubs would part with top pitching prospect C.J. Edwards. Would Colorado accept a deal that had Castro and a couple of the Cubs other pitching prospects say Duane Underwood and Pierce Johnson.

Now there are always dark horse teams that pop up when these type of deals take place. I think a team that might be able to be that dark horse team in any Tulowitzki deal could be the team across town from the Cubs; the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have struggled out of the gate. They are 15-17 right now and 6 games out of 1st place, but a deal for Tulowitzki could change that quickly. The Mets and White Sox talked about a deal involving Alexei Ramirez during spring training and he could go to Colorado in a Tulowitzki deal. Now it’s being reported that the Rockies would like to get young pitching in any type of deal involving Tulowitzki. So would Ramirez and a couple of the White Sox young pitching prospects not named Carlos Rodon be enough to get Tulowitzki. Would top White Sox pitching prospects like Francelis Montas, Spencer Adams or Tyler Danish along with Ramirez be enough to get Colorado to send Tulowitzki to the South side of Chicago. The White Sox have always found ways to make these type of deals; so I wouldn’t count them out of a Tulowitzki trade.

I thought it would be fun for Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I to do a 5 round fantasy draft of pitchers and use their hitting stats. Of course with us this took a lot longer than of should’ve, but we got it done. Here’s how are teams turned out. Dan the Man has Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs, Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies and Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies. Mr. Fantasy drafted Jason Hammel, Chicago Cubs, Josh Collmenter, Arizona Diamondbacks, Andrew Cashner, San Diego Padres, Shelby Miller, Atlanta Braves and Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds. My 5 pitchers are Kyle Kendrick, Colorado Rockies, Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Leake, Cincinnati Reds, Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals and Matt Harvey, New York Mets. We’re going to use Batting Average, Home Runs, RBI’s and Strikeouts. I’ll try to keep you updated as the season moves along and will see who’s team of hitting pitchers does the best at the end of the season. 

The 2nd race of the Triple Crown is today; the Preakness. While none of us picked the winner for the Kentucky derby Dan the Man’s picked did finish in 2nd place. Here’s who we’re going with to win the Preakness. Dan the Man is staying with his Kentucky Derby horse and has Firing Line to win today. Schaumburg Stu Likes the favorite American Pharoah to win. If he does he’ll have won the first 2 races of the Triple Crown. Mr. Fantasy likes the horse with Mr. in his name; that would be Mr. Z and I’m going with Divining Rod to get the Preakness win.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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