Archive for the ‘sports’ Category

Let’s Call it Wednesday

Posted: June 15, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@Burketime

 

The Podcast  Now on Tunein Radio!  Apple users can download us right in the Podcast App!

Cubs Hold the Hill

Posted: June 14, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , ,
0

Game two at Nationals Park has John Lackey up against the struggling Gio Gonzalez with Lackey looking to secure win number 8. Dexter Fowler would lead off the game with a single to right but is caught up in a double play ball hit by Heyward.  That would be all the action in the first two innings with Lackey having three K’s to Gio’s 1.  

Gio would continue the third with getting the first two outs of the inning but gives up a single to Lackey.   Fowler would smack his 19th double of the year pushing Lackey to third.  Heyward redeems himself with a two RBI double.  A visit to the mound and they decide to walk Bryant but gets Rizzo to strikeout to end the top half.  Lackey gives up a lead off single to Danny Espinosa but strikes out Jose Lobaton.  Then he hits Gio and gives up a single to Ben Revere to load the bases.  Jayson Werth would send a fly ball to right scoring Danny for a sac fly.  Harper walks but Daniel Murphy lines out to end the inning.  Cubs 2, Nats 1 after 3.  

Ben Zobrist leads off with a walk, Baez grounds out to Gio pushing Zo to second.   Zo steals third as Russell reaches by walking.  David Ross singles to center scoring Zo for another run.  Dusty Baker visits Gio again calming him down enough to strike out Lackey and get Fowler to flyout to end the inning.  Cubs up 3-1.  Lackey adds another K in his half of the inning for a 1-2-3.  

Gio gets a quick 1-2-3 fifth.  Lackey tries to follow but puts two men on but gets out of the inning with no runs added.  Gio strikes out the side in the sixth, Lackey only gets two K’s.   

Gio would walk Ross in the top of the seventh and Lackey’s bunt would push him to second prompting a call to the pen for Oliver Perez who shuts down the inning. Lackey gives up a walk by hitting Espinosa who ends up at third on Lobaton’s double to right.  Maddon decides to bring in Pedro strop who gets out of the inning but not before allowing Danny to cross the plate.  After 7 it’s 3-2 Cubs.  

Sammy Solis enters the game and gives up a two out double to Zo but strikes out Baez to end the inning. Travis Wood comes in for the Cubs walking Harper and getting Murphy to line out to bring in Hector Rondon who gives up a single to Ryan Zimmerman, then a sac fly to Rendon who brings in Harper to tie the game.  

With Solis still in for the Nats, he walks Russell to start the 9th who moves to second on Ross’s sac bunt.  Albert Almora, Jr who came into the game when Wood was pulled smacks a sharp liner to left scoring Russell putting the Cubs back up by 1 going into the bottom of the 9th.  Hector Rondon still in also makes it a 1-2-3 bottom half to end the game and add another W for the Cubs.  In what could be a playoff preview the Cubs really have the Nationals number making this a better foreshadow for the Cubs.  

@DanZeeeMan

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us straight to the Podcast App!

Nats Runs in The Republic

Posted: June 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , ,
0

The Cubs wrap up their 9 game road trip in starting with game one in Washington with Kyle Hendricks on the mound against Max Scherzer.  Max starts the  game off and takes a perfect game into the top the sixth striking out the side in the first and third innings.  

In the first and second innings, Kyle would give up singles to Ben Revere and Anthony Rendon who would steal second before Danny Espinosa walks.  With one out in the third, Kyle would walk Jayson Werth who scores the first run of the game off Bryce Harper’s line drive to center field.  Nats up 1-0.  

Kyle would get through the fourth and fifth with a runner reaching on an error and another on a walk.  Scherzer starts off the sixth with an out but takes Addison Russell deep into the count and gives up the first hit of the game, a line drive home run just inside the foul pole in left.  Cubs tie the game at 1.  

Kyle gives up a lead off home run to Wilson Ramos.  Rendon would send a line drive to left for a double and would score on Danny Espinosa’s single to left.  He would move to third on Scherzer’s sac bunt.  Justin Grimm enters the game giving up an RBI single to Ben Revere.  He would get the next to batters out but the Nats are up 4-1.  

Scherzer would give up a two double to Rizzo in the top of the seventh but gets Zobrist to pop out to end the inning.  Justin Grimm would get into trouble giving up two singles and then an intentional walk with two outs loads the bases to get to Max but Dusty Baker pinch hits for him but Chris Helsey strikes out to end the inning.  

Oliver Perez enters the game striking out Javier Baez then is replaced by Shawn Kelly who strikes out Ross and Russell.  Clayton Richard comes into the game in the bottom half of the 8th getting the first out but gives up a hit but gets out of the inning.  

The Cubs have one more shot with three outs to get back in this game and pull out a come from behind victory.  Shawn Kelley stays in the game for the save and gets Albert Almora to strike out for the first out.  Fowler sends a line drive to a diving Zimmerman who tosses it a little too high for Kelley out number 2.   Heyward with two outs, strikes out to end the game.   

On another day if Kyle would have given up 4 earned runs, the Cubs offense would have had no problem putting runs on the board but not tonight.  Scherzer, Perez and Kelley would strike out a combined 16 batters out of the 27 outs.  Can’t worry about today, there’s two more games in the series.  

Go Cubs Go!

@DanZeeeMan

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us straight to the Podcast App!

Cubs Chop up the Braves

Posted: June 12, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
0

The series finale against the Braves has Jon Lester going against 23 year old rookie getting his first start of the season, John Gant.  He gets Dexter Fowler to groundout to start the game but ends up walking both Jason Heyward and Kris Bryant.  Back in the lineup, Anthony Rizzo gets the first hit off the rookie sending a sharp line drive to right for his 13th double of the season and grabbing 45th RBI of the season.  Zobrist and Coghlan would strikeout to end the inning.  Lester would almost mirror the top half by getting the lead off man to pop out but gives up back to back singles to Chase d’Arnaud and Freddie Freeman.  With Jeff Franceour at the plate a double steal is successfully attempted but with David Ross’s throwing error, d’Arnaud would score to tie the game at 1.  The only action in the second is made possible by a Zobrsit throwing error and a fielders choice.  In the third, Fowler would get his first hit of the game but that would be all the action for both teams.

Zo would leadoff the fourth with a walk but forced out on Chris Coughlan’s ground ball to second.  Javier Baez would attempt to bunt to reach first but would be called out.  Maddon would challenge and it would be overturned and he receives a single on the play.  David Ross would send a soft fly ball to right scoring Coghlan on an error by Markakis.  Lester would drop a sac bunt scoring Baez but Fowler would end the inning on a K.  Nick Markakis would get a single in the bottom half and would make it to second on a fielding error by Fowler.  Cubs 3, Braves 1.

Jason Heyward would walk to lead off the fifth, Bryant would groundout but that would be all for John Gant.  Ian Krol would come in to end the top half of the fifth but would be pinch hit for by Brandon Snyder for a one out double  but that would be all for the Braves.  Casey Kelly enters the sixth giving up a double to Coughlan who scores on Ross’s single to right.  Lester ends the top half with a double play but makes it a 1-2-3 inning.  After 6, Cubs up 4 to 1.

After Heyward reached on a double and Bryant walked, Rizzo singles to center scoring Jason.  Bryant scores on Ben’s double to left.  Kelly intentionally walks Coghlan and is replaced by Alexi Ogando who strikes out Baez but walks Ross giving him his third RBI of the game.  Lester grounds out to end the inning.  Lester gives up a two out double to Erik Aybar but no runs for the Braves.  Chris Withrow enters the game for the Braves striking out Fowler to start the 8th.  Heyward singles and Bryant walks again to reach first.  Rizzo singles to grab his 47th RBI of the year.  Zo singles scoring Bryant for his 38th RBI of the season.  Albert Almora enters the game for Coghlan sinlging and grabbing his first RBI of the game.  With two men on, Javier Baez cranks his 5th dinger of the year.  Hunter Cervenka replaces Withrow to stop the Cubs from adding any more runs to the board.  So many changes for the Cubs in the bottom half of the 8th to mention except Adam Warren replaces Lester giving up a lead off single to Ender Inciarte who steals second with Franceour at the plate and then scores on his single to left.  Cubs 13, Braves 2.

Cervenka would hold the Cubs to just a single in the top of the ninth to Jason Heyward.  Hector Rondon would enter the close out the game making it a quick 1-2-3 ninth.

Today’s win looked like the Cubs in the early part of the season know how to take advantage of inexperienced pitching.  Exciting game in HotLanta if you were a Cubs fan.  Lester would improve to  8 and 3 dropping his ERA to 1.89 with a WHIP of 0.95.  At this pace, he can definitely make his case for the Cy Young Award.

Go Cubs Go!

@DanZeeeMan

The Podcast Now on Tune In Radio!  Apple users can download us in the Podcast App!

94 Degrees Brings Jake the Great Back

Posted: June 11, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , , ,
0

They don’t call it HotAtlanta for nothing!  Jake Arrieta would take on 23 year old Matt Wisler.  In the top of the first with one out, former Brave Jason Heyward would take a 1 and 1 fast ball deep to right  field for his fourth home run of the season.  Cubs 1-0.  Jake would put a base runner on because of a missed catch by Jake. The second inning would see both men having a quick 1-2-3 inning.  Addison Russell and Jake would both get singles and advance on a wild pitch but no runs would score.  Jake would give up a single in the bottom half but no runs for the Braves.

Anthony Rizzo would lead off the fourth with his 14th home run of the season.  Ben Zobrist and Chris Coughlan would hit back to back singles.  No outs, Miguel Montero gets into a pitchers count, 1 ball and 2 strikes, he takes Wisler deep to right field for a 3 run homer.  In the bottom half, Jake would give up a 1 out double to Nick Markakis who scores on Adonis Garcia’s line drive to center.   After 4, Cubs are up 5-1.

Eric O’Flaherty enters the game for the Chop Squad but gives up a lead off single to Heyward.  With no outs, Kris Bryant sends a line drive to left field for his 15th home run of the year.  Jake leads off with a strikeout but hits Ender Inciarte before getting out of the inning.  Cubs up 7-1.

Eric is able to get the first two outs of the sixth but gives up a single to Arrieta who scores on Fowler’s double to center.  The Braves get a base runner on a fielding error by Bryant but the inning ends on AJ Pierzynski’s 1-6-3 double play.  Cubs 8, Braves 1.

Ian Krol enters the game for the Braves giving up a lead off double to Bryant but gets out of the inning.  Arrieta gives up a leadoff walk to Jace Peterson.  He gets the next two outs but gives up a triple to Inciarte scoring Jace.  After 7, Cubs 8, Braves 2.

Alexi Ogando enters the game in the 8th making it a quick 1-2-3 inning.  Arreita was pulled from the game and Travis Wood making it a quick 1-2-3 top of the eighth.

Hunter Cervenka comes into hold the Cubs from scoring any more runs by getting Fowler to strike out.  Heyward doubles them intentionally walks Bryant but would strike out both Rizzo and Zobrist to end the inning.  Trevor Cahill enters the game putting two men on but gets out of the inning with out adding more runs to the Braves board and ending the game.

Jake was seemingly in a slump but whatever the issue was, The Great One is back scoring his 10th win of the season.  The series wraps up tomorrow before the Cubs head to Washington for a 3 game series.

@DanZeeeMan
The Podcast Now on TuneIn Radio and Apple users can download us on the Podcast app.

How Was Your Week?

Posted: June 11, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Major League Baseball (MLB) held it’s draft this week. Now unlike the drafts in the other major sports it will take three, four or maybe even five years before any of these players make it to the major leagues. There is also a chance that some of the players drafted very high in this draft will never make it to the major leagues. It’s what makes the MLB draft truly different from the other sports as you are really drafting for the future of your team.

Now the Chicago White Sox had the 10th pick in the first round of the draft and they used it to take Zack Collins a catcher from the University of Miami. Collins is a left handed hitter who batted .358 with 15 homers this past season. Collins even walked (71) more times than he struck out (59) in his current season; which is rare in baseball these days. Collins was actually good enough to be drafted right out of high school. The Cincinnati Reds took him in the 27th round of the 2013 draft, but chose to attend Miami instead. Collins has what appears to be good size for a catcher at 6’3 and 230 pounds. His scouting report describes him as a left-handed power hitter with a very patient approach at the plate. I’m sure your wondering by no why I selected the 10th player taken in the draft and decided to write about him. Well after hearing all the positives about Collins from the experts the next thing they would say is that the White Sox would need to find a new position for him because he’s too good of a hitter to catch. Now I’m not sure when this started, but when did baseball teams decide that they didn’t need good hitters at catcher. I would think the fastest way to the major league level would be by being a good hitting catcher. The experts have said that Collins has trouble with his defense especially his foot work behind the plate. Now he’s 21 years old and I would think that the White Sox would have a catching instructor who could work with Collins on this; don’t they. This of course is the way baseball is going now. The Minnesota Twins moved Joe Mauer to 1st base. There’s talk ever season of the San Francisco Giants find a different position for Buster Posey. Even the other Chicago the Cubs looked to have made the decision that Kyle Schwarber was an outfielder before he got hurt early this season. It’s odd that with all the Sabermetrics and Analytics teams use and it seeming that offense is the keys to these stats that teams would sacrifice offense at the catching position. Now I understand that Mauer was moved because of health concerns and that’s why the talk of moving Posey comes up, but when the Cubs where going to develop Schwarber as a catcher we attended one of his minor league games and where did he play in that game; you guessed Designated Hitter (DH); not sure how that helped his catching skills. Now this isn’t the first time this idea has come up. Some of the greatest catchers in baseball where tried at different positions with varying degrees of success. Johnny Bench played 3rd base, 1st base and spent some time in the outfield  Carlton Fisk played a few games at 3rd base, a  few games at 1st base and 41 games in leftfield before the White Sox realized that he was better off behind the plate. Yogi Berra played 260 career games in the outfield. I’m sure there are many more examples of this, but there are three Hall of Fame players who where moved from the catcher position only to end up back there. I ask again; is there a rule against having a catcher who can put up quality offensive numbers? Posey is easily considered the best offensive catcher in baseball, but who’s #2? Do you still like St. Louis’  Yader Molina, but how many more seasons is Molina going to play. He’s 33 right now and in his 13th season. Going to back to back World Series out Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals on a lot of peoples radar. Even if they’re your 1, 2 and 3 could you come up with a good Top 5. Besides Posey is there a catcher in the majors right now that you see as an offensive threat. At the start of the season I thought that Devin Mesoraco of the Cincinnati Reds had a chance to join this small group of offensive catchers, but he’s proven that he can’t stay healthy. Do you have a choice? If so I hope it’s better than mine.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying like I have that a playoff series hasn’t started until the home team losses a game. Well if that’s the case then the NBA Finals started last night. It was another double-digit victory as the Golden State Warriors took a 3 games to 1 lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 108-97 victory in Cleveland Friday night. Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 38 points. Curry was 7 of 13 from behind the 3-point line. Klay Thompson scored 25 points while Harrison Barnes was the other Golden State starter with double digit points scoring 14 points. Barnes made 4 of the 5 3-point shots he took. Andre Iguodala came off the Warriors bench to score 10 points and lead the tam in assists with 7. Draymond Green grabbed a team high 12 rebounds for Golden State. Four of the five Cavaliers starters scored in double figures led by Kyrie Irving’s 34 points. LeBron James added 25 points while leading the team with 13 rebounds as well as assists with 9. Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith each scored 10 points while Kevin Love came off the bench to add 11 points for Cleveland. Love is recovering from a concussion; so Richard Jefferson got the start in his place.

Golden State will look to end the series at home on Monday night. Golden State is looking to become back to back champions with a series win. If they don;t close out the series Monday night the teams would return to Cleveland for Game 6 on Thursday night. So do you have the series coming back to “The Land”? Or do the Warriors close it out in 5?

 

 

@Burketime

 

The Podcast  Now on Tunein Radio!  Apple users can download us right in the Podcast App!

Friday

Posted: June 10, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Cubs are entering game 4 of their 9 game road trip taking on the NL East in Atlanta.  Jason Hammel is looking for his 8th win of the season while the Braves starter Bud Norris is looking to not get his 8th loss of the season.  He starts the game off by striking out the first two batters of the game and a flyout ends the top half of the 1st.  Hammel follows in suit but only getting one strikeout.  Ben Zobrist leads off the 2cd with a single followed by Miguel Montero’s single.  Javier Baez sends a ground ball to short to second to first for a double play.  Russell ends the inning by striking out.  Hammel would get the first out of the bottom half of the second with Nick Markakis’s fly ball into foul territory.  However, he gives up back to back solo home runs to Adonis Garcia and Tyler Flowers.  He does give up singles to Bud Norris and Mallex Smith but gets out of the inning.  Braves up 2-0.

Albert Almora, Jr leads off the top of third with his first double of his career and a wild pitch would push him to third.  Dexter Fowler would ground out to second that scores Almora.  Heyward ends the inning with a ground out.  Chase d’Arnaud reaches on a fielding error by Russell and steals second base.  Hammel would give up one more hit to Adonis Garcia but gets out of the inning striking out Tyler Flowers.  Cubs 1 – Braves 2.

Bud Norris makes the top of the 4ht a 1-2-3 inning.  Jason Hammel hits Jace Peterson who moves to 2cd on Norris’s sac bunt.  Mallex Smith singles pushing Jace to third who then scores on Ender Inciarte’s sac fly to left.  Mallex Smith gets caught trying to advance to second to end the inning.  Cubs 1, Braves 3.  Both men would have easy 1-2-3 innings.  Norris would give up a double to Fowler in the 6th but that would be all the action for the Cubs.  Jason Hamel would give up two singles in the bottom half but after two outs, Maddon would have seen enough and bring Travis Wood into the game to end the inning.  Bud Norris continues with another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.  Wood would get into to enough trouble putting two men on but with two outs, Maddon  brings in Adam Warren who loads the bases but gets out of the inning.  Jim Johnson replaces Norris for yet another 1-2-3 inning on the Cubs.

Justin Grimm enters the bottom of the 8th loading the bases with two singles and a walk.  Clayton Richard enters the game gives up a single to Inciarte adding to the Braves lead.  Richard old strikeout d’Arnaud but gives up a sac fly to Freddie Freeman but Nick Markakis ends the inning with a ground out.  Cubs 1, Braves 5.  Former Cub, Aroydis Vizcaino comes to close the game and get a win for the Braves and he does so, getting Fowler to ground out and then striking out both Heyward and Bryant to end the game.  This was not the pretties of the Cubs losses this season but that’s why there’s 162 games plus Rizzo is out with some back issues.  The Cubs may have a rough trip East but I wouldn’t worry until after the All Star break.  Go Cubs Go!

@DanZeeeMan

The Podcast Now on Tunein Radio!  Apple users can download us right in the Podcast App!

Lackey Lucky 7

Posted: June 8, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
0

The three game series in the city of brotherly love wrapped up this afternoon with John Lackey taking on former Astro Vince Velasquez.   Vince would get Dexter Fowler to fly out deep to right field for the first out of the game but would leave he game due to a bicep injury.  Brett Oberholtzer enters the game and gets the next two batters out.  Lackey doesn’t start off that smoothly giving up back to back singles to Odubel Herrera and Cesar Hernandez.  With an on first and third, Freddy Galvis sends one to Albert Almora on his first day starting for the out, throwing Herrera out at home scored as 7-2 double play.  Lackey gets Maikel Franco to fly out to end the first.  Both men would have a quick second inning with Lackey giving up the only hit of the inning.

Montero leads off the 3rd with a single to center and moves to third when Baez does the same.  Lackey steps in the box and sends a sharp ground ball right to second baseman Hernandez who immediately throws home to catch Montero trying to score for the first out of the inning.  Fowler comes up to bat with two men on but grounds into a 4-3 double play.  Lackey gets his first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

Brett starts the fourth inning by walking Jason Heyward but with Bryant lining out, Rizzo grounds into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.  Lackey continues into the fourth retiring six consecutive batters.  Ben Zobrist leads off the fifth with a leadoff single to center.  Almora flys out but Montero reaches on an error by the pitcher.  Baez sends a single to left scoring Zo for the first run of the game.  Andrew Bailey enters the game for the Phillies striking out Lackey then getting Fowler to ground out to end the inning.  Lackey takes it to nine consecutive batters to close the fifth inning out.  Heyward leads off the sixth with a single to right and then scores on Kris Bryant’s 14th home run of the season.  Rizzo grounds output Zo hits his 8th home run of the season.  That would be all for the Cubs but they are up 4-0.  Lackey is now at 12 retired in a row.

Colton Murray enters the game for the Phillies giving up a double to Javier Baez but gets the next three batters out.  Lackey pushes it to 15 straight batters retired.  Bryant leads off the 8th with a single to right and scores on Rizzo’s 12th double to left field.  With one out, Almora sends one right back at the pitcher deflected by he pitcher giving Albert his first RBI of the season.  Montero gets on by a base on balls.  Colton throws a wild pitch moving both men up  base each.  Baez sends one up the middle for a two RBI single, trying to make it two, Herera throws it to Freddy Galvis who flips it to Herrera for the second out of the game.  The Cubs are up 8-0.

Pedro Strop replaces Lackey striking out the side.  Elvis Araujo enters the top of the ninth getting Fowler to ground out.  Heyward would grab a single but Bryant and Rizzo would strike out to end the inning.  Clayton Richard enters the game for the Cubs walking Tommy Joseph who ends up at second on a passed ball by Montero.  Herrera sends Joseph to third but gets the first out of the inning.  Hernandez grounds out but pushes Joseph across home for the Phillies first run of the game.  Freddy Galvis steps into the box sending a ground ball to Bryant to Rizzo to end the game.  Cubs win 8-1

@DanZeeeMan

The Podcast Now on Tunein Radio

Let’s call it Wednesday 

Posted: June 8, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

It had to be a bit of a surprise when the Los Angeles Dodgers designated outfielder Carl Crawford for assignment. Crawford has about a year and a half left on the 7 year $142 million dollar deal he signed with the Boston Red Sox back in 2010. Los Angeles will be on the hook for about $35 million left on Crawford’s contract. The Dodgers do have a lot of outfielders and with Andre Either working his way back from injury and the fact that Howie Kendrick has been able to move to the outfield there just weren’t enough at bats to go around. The Dodgers have quite a few young outfielders as well. Enrique (Kiki) Hernandez and Joc Pedersen are 24, Yasiel Puig (who is out injured right now) and Trayce Thompson are both 25 and Scott Van Slkye is 29. While it’s fair to say that Crawford got caught in a numbers game he wasn’t really producing when he was playing. Crawford appeared in 30 games and was hitting .185. Injuries really took away the speed part of Crawford’s game. While he still was a double digit a year steals player with the Dodgers, he was nowhere close to the 60 steals a year player he was with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009. You have to think that once Crawford clears waivers and a team can bring him in for the league minimum there will be a team or two that will be willing to take a look at him and see what he has left.

Jhonny Peralta has returned to the St. Louis Cardinals after fracturing his left thumb in spring training. Now to make room on the roster for Peralta the Cardinals sent 2nd baseman Kolten Wong to Triple-A Memphis. Wong finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2014 and last season hit .262 while playing in 150 games. With Wong hitting just .222 in 49 games this season and the good play of shortstop Aledmys Diaz it was Wong headed to the minors. Peralta will be asked to play 3rd base and Matt Carpenter will be moved to 2nd base. The Cardinals are 30-28 and find themselves 10 1/2 games out of 1st place.  Will Peralta’s return give the Cardinals a little bit of a jump start or are they going to be looking to make a trade to try and improve there team.

Has Jurickson Profar finally arrived? Believe it or not Profar is just 23 years old, but it seems like baseball people have been talking about him for 10 years already. The Texas Rangers signed him as an amateur free agent in 2009 and looked to be on the fast track to the majors. Profar had a brief 9 game stop at the major league level in 2012 before appearing in 85 games in 2013. As it was looking like Profar would be an everyday player for the Rangers, he lost the entire 2014 season to injury. The injury was so bad that Profar player just 12 games during the 2015 season. Finally healthy Profar started the 2016 at AAA-Round Rock and was brought up by the Rangers when Roughned Odor was suspended 8 games. Profar has appeared in 11 games for the Rangers this season and is hitting .380. Even with Odor back from suspension the Rangers found a spot for Profar in the line up by playing him at 1st base. It might make it easier for the Rangers to keep Profar at the major league level because he is a true utility player. In his short major league career Profar has played 1st base, 2nd base, Shortstop, 3rd base as well as leftfield. Texas of course is an American League team and while he wouldn’t be the prototypical guy for it Profar could be used as a DH at times. We’ll have to wait and see how the Rangers handle him.

Tonight we get Game 3 of the NBA Finals and if you’ve been listening to The Podcast, you know I just don’t care. Anyway, the Golden State Warriors won the first two games on their home court and they’ll look to take Game 3 tonight in Cleveland. Kevin  Love was hit in the back of the head during Game 2 and did not practice with the Cavaliers on Tuesday. Love is in the NBA’s concussion protocol and while no decision has been made on his availability for Game 3 the term that’s being thrown around is that the Cavaliers are “optimistic” Love will play. The Cavaliers officially listed Love as questionable for Game 3. Before Love can return to action there are several steps that the NBA requires a concussed player to complete before he returns to the court, including tests of physical exertion, agility work and non-contact team drills. Love got his concussion when Golden State’s Harrison Barnes collided with him as the two went for an offensive rebound with five minutes remaining in the second quarter Sunday. No foul was called on the play.

Is Game 3 a must win for Cleveland? Golden State is coming in on a 5 game winning streak since being down 3 games to 1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Golden State cruised to easy wins in the first two finals games and a lot of that had to do with the fact that the Cavaliers shot just 35.6% in those games. A return to their home court should help the Cavaliers shooting, but will that be enough to get the Cavaliers a win. Cleveland is undefeated at home in the 2016 playoffs. Don’t forget that Golden State won Game 6 in Cleveland to win the title last season. Who else from the Cavaliers needs to step up and help LeBron James out for the Cavaliers to get a win at home in Game 3. Is a healthy Kevin Love a key or do they need Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson or J.R. Smith to step up tonight. Can the Cavaliers find a way to hold down the outside shooting of Golden State. What seemed to be the downfall of Oklahoma City in there series against Golden State was they seemed to trade two-pointers for three-pointers.  Can the Cavaliers stop that from happening to them in Game 3 and get their first win in the NBA Finals?

@Burketime

The Podcast Now on Tunein Radio!

No Brotherly Love for Kyle

Posted: June 7, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
0

E Game two of the series in Philly has Kyle Hendricks looking for his 5th win of the season against the 25 year old right-hander from Evansville, Indiana, Jerad Eickhoff.  Eickoff would get through the first with only a single by Kris Bryant but Kyle wouldn’t be so lucky.  With two outs, he gives up a double to Freddy Galvis who scores on Maikel Franco’s single to Heyward in right.  He walks Ryan Howard but gets Tyler Goeddel to ground out to end the inning.  Cubs 0, Phillies 1.

Both men would cruise through the second and third innings each with three strikeouts a piece, but Jared would show Kyle up in the fourth with three straight strikeouts to close out the top half.  Kyle would get two strikeouts in the bottom half of the fourth but not before giving up a solo home run to Howard.  Phillies 2, Cubs 0.

The top of the fifth and Ben Zobrist would lead off with a walk and move to third on Tommy La Stella’s single to right.  Zo them scores on Miguel Montero’s ground ball to second baseman, Cesar Hernandez who throws it Howard at first then to Galvis the shortstop for the tag and an unorthodox double play.  Addison Russell grounds out to end the inning but the Cubs score 1 run.  Hendricks has a 1-2-3 fifth but is immediately taken out of the game in the top of the sixth for pinch hitter, Albert Almora for his first at bat of the season which turns out to be a ground out to third.  Jerad gets out of the inning but walks Heyward in the process.

Adam Warren enters the bottom half of the inning for a 1-2-3 sixth as does Jerad in the top of the seventh.  Warren gets the first out in the bottom half but gives up a single to Carlos Ruiz who steals second base after Jimmy Paredes strikes out and Montero tries to pick him off.  Clayton Richard enters the game and gives up an RBI single to Odubel Herrera putting the Phills up by 2.  Maddon has Hernandez intentionally walked, the brings in Justin Grimm to end the inning.  Phillies 3, Cubs 1.

Hector Neris enters the game for Eickoff, allowing a ground ball to second but Hernandez’s throwing error would make Montero safe at first.  He advances to second on Russell’s single to left.  Javier Baez would pinch hit for Grimm as Matt Szczur pinch runs for Miguel.  Baez singles to load the bases.  With bases loaded, Phillies bring in Andres Blanco enters the game allowing an unearned run on Dexter Fowler’s sac fly to left field.  The Cubs are rallying and with one out Heyward steps into the box, however, he grounds into an inning ending double play.  Cubs 2, Phillies 3.

Trevor Cahill enters the bottomsees four batters, walks one but doesn’t let a runner cross the plate.  Jeanmar Gomez enters the top of the ninth to close out this game and starts in the right foot striking out Bryant   Anthony Rizzo would single to right but Zobrist’s ground ball to first would force him out at second.  Tommy makes it exciting sending Zo to third on his single to right but Tommy is pinch ran for Travis Wood.  A quick visit to the mound befor Ross steps in the box who ends the game with a soft grounder to shortstop.  Better luck tomorrow morning!

@DanZeeMan

The Podcast  Now on TuneIn Radio!

Older Entries
Newer Entries