Saturday Night Main Event

Posted: June 18, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
0

Something I can’t remember happening in a long time or ever, a Saturday night game in Wrigleyville with Jon Lester getting the nod against Jonathon Niese.  The first inning would begin with Jody Mercer sending a line drive to left field for a lead off home run to start the day off in favor of the Bucs.  With one out Lester walks Andrew McCutchen who steals second before Jung Ho Park walks.  With David Freese at the plate McCutchen would get caught stealing third for the second out.   Lester would walk his third batter of the inning but get Matt Joyce to ground out to end the inning.  Niese make his half a 1-2-3 inning as Lester would follow suit in the top of the second.  Niese would give up a lead off home run to Rizzo to tie the game at 1.  Zobrist would line out but Javier Baez would double for the second hit for the Cubs.  Russel would strikeout and Niese would intentionally walk Ross to get to Lester who strikes out to end the second.  Mercer would go 2 for 2 with a double and Harrison would ground out but McCutchen would send a ground ball to center scoring Mercer for the second run of the game for the Bucs.  Lester gets out of the inning with a double play.   Niese gives up a two out walk to Kris Bryant but gets out of the inning with out the Cubs being able to tie it up.  Pirates 2-1.  

The top of the fourth would see Lester get himself into trouble by loading the bases but gets the next two outs with K’s.  He hits puts Mercer by hitting him and giving him another RBI but gets Harrison out with a K.  Niese would start off the bottom half giving Zobrist a single but would be forced out at second when Baez singles, then steals second with Russel at the plate, then moves to third on a wild pitch.   David Ross would sacrifice himself with a bunt to first scoring Baez.  Lester would only give up a single to David Freese.  Niese would not have a great bottom half giving up a solo home run to Kris Bryant tieing up the game at 3.  Lester would have himself another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth.  The Cubs would take the lead with David Ross’s fifth home run of the season.  Cubs up 4-3.  

Pedro Strop would enter the seventh grabbing a 1-2-3 inning.  Jared Hughes who came in after Bryant’s home run gets into a little trouble but gets out of the inning with out any extra runs.  Strop gets one out in the 8th as does Travis Wood and Hector Rondon.  Pirates closer Mark Melancon gives up a walk to Ross but that would be all for the Cubs.  

Top 9, Hector Rondon makes it a quick save, his 12th of the season and the Cubs league leaving 46th win.  Go Cubs Go!

@DanZeeeMan

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

How Was Your Week?

Posted: June 18, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Are the Chicago Cubs the best team in Major League Baseball? In most experts opinions they are. They’ve played 65 games and they’re 45-20 record is the best in baseball. The only other teams with more than 40 wins are the Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants. After making the playoffs as a wild card team last season the Cubs look to be cruising in the National League Central. They have a 10 1/2 game lead over the 2nd place St. Louis Cardinals and a 13 game lead over the 3rd place Pittsburgh Pirates; who they’re playing this weekend. It appears as though the Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer rebuild has worked for the Cubs as they are a viable World Series contender and in a lot of people’s opinion the favorite to win it.

Now even as good as the Cubs have been they have there issues like every other major league team. In the Cubs case it’s the bullpen. To be more specific left handed middle relief. This issue started the rumor a couple of weeks ago that the Cubs would be interested in making a deal for Andrew Miller the New York Yankees left handed set up guy. Now I’m not sure if the Yankees are ready to start dealing players. They’re 33-34 right now and find themselves in 4th place 5 1/2 games behind the American East leading Baltimore Orioles. A deal like sending Miller to the Cubs does make sense for both teams. It fills a weakness for the Cubs and the Yankees could acquire some of the young talent they’re looking for. Then this week everything went a little overboard. There are now a few reports out there that the Cubs not only want to pick up Miller from the Yankees, but also closer  Aroldis Chapman. Now these reports sent Cubs fans over the edge and things got a little carried away. Now what the majority of the Cubs fans who’ve heard about this possible trade don’t seem to understand is that the Yankees aren’t going to just give you Miler and Chapman. It’s not like the Yankees will just take the Cubs two left handed bullpen guys Travis Wood and Clayton Richard straight up in a deal. That sounds like a trade Dan the Man would send me in one of our year long Yahoo fantasy leagues. This is the part that for some reason a majority of Cubs fans just don’t understand, but here goes. 

There are reports out there that the Yankees want injured left hander slugger Kyle Schwarber as part of this deal and that’s just a starting point. While Chapman may just be a rent a player for the Cubs this season, the Yankees gave up 4 good minor league prospects to get him in the off season and they’re going to want some of that back.  Miller is signed through 2018 at in today’s game at a very friendly $9 million a season. A possible hold up in this deal is the fact that te Yankees appear to want young pitching back and the Cubs don’t have that anywhere in their organization. 

Okay Cubs fans here’s what it’s going to come down to. If the Cubs can acquire Miller and Chapman and set themselves up as favorites to win the World Series; which to be fair they might be anyway. Are you willing to give up a combination of Schwarber, Javier Baez, Alberto Almora and Jorge Soler along with probably your two best minor league pitching prospects in this deal? Now everyone knows the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 100 plus years, but the team appears to be set up for long term success. Picking up Miller and Chapman may help them finally get that World Series title but is that one World Series title enough to satisfy long suffering Cubs fans or can you hold pat with the team you’ve built and see if they can come through with more than one. So Cubs fans; are you making this deal?

The New York Knicks are looking for an upgrade at the point guard position. Right now the Kinicks point guards are Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant and Tony Wroten. So to upgrade the position the Knicks have had internal talks about trying to deal for Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose. Both Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek and General Manager Steve Mills have said that the Knicks are interested in upgrading their point guard position in the off-season, but is Rose that upgrade. Remember just last week the Minnesota Timberwolves dangled the #5 pick in the draft at the Bulls to try and get Jimmy Butler. There are reports in Chicago that Butler and Rose can’t play together and I think I most people’s mind Butler would be the player who was traded. Not only is Rose a Chicago native, but with his injury history you wouldn’t think there would be a lot of interest. Now Rose is in the last season of his contract and a lot of teams do like those expiring deals. Rose was solid for the Bulls last season as he  averaged 16.4 points on 42.7 percent shooting and 4.7 assists in 66 games last season. The question would be who would the Knicks be willing to part with in a trade for Rose and remember with the NBA salary cap the players salaries have to match up. Now they don;t have to be exact, but they have to be close. Under Hornacek the Knicks are going to be playing more of an uptempo style with Phil Jackson’s triangle offense mixed in. So if the Knicks are going to run next season would they be willing to trade Center Robin Lopez along with a player like Arron Afflalo to the Bulls for Rose. The salaries match up; so neither tam would have to add players. The Knicks would get Rose and the Bulls would get Lopez who could replace free agent Pau Gasol and Affalo who could add some scoring. Lopez has 3 more years on the contract he signed with the Knicks last off season and make a little over $12 million. Affalo is entering the last year of his contract and makes $8 million. Rose is the Bulls highest paid player and he’s due to make just a little over $20 million in the last year of his contract. Is it possible that Rose starts the 2016-17 season in a Knicks uniform and that Butler might be in a Timberwolves uniform. Would it be a good idea for the Bulls to deal Rose and Butler and start on a rebuild?

@Burketime

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

Pirates ship sinking

Posted: June 17, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: , , ,
0

 Cubs fans will say every time the Cubs have an off day, they lose the the next game but with the Cubs have The Great One, Jake Arrieta on the mound taking on Pirates ace, Francisco Liriano.  The Great starts the game off with striking out two out of the three batters.  Liriano wouldn’t be so lucky giving up a lead off single to Dexter Fowler.  Then Matt Szczur would launch his third home run of the season putting the Cubs up by two.  With two runs and two outs Albert Almora, would single and move to second on a wild pitch before Baez would walk.  Cubs up 2-0. 

Jake would get another two K’s in the second as Liriano would only strike out Jake.  Jake would give up two singles but strikes out the next three batters to get out of a trouble.  Liriano would mirror the three K’s but would hit Rizzo in between.  Jake would have 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth.  Liriano would load the bases in both the fourth and the fifth but the Cubs would not add any more runs to the board.  

In the sixth, with one out Jake would load the bases with walks but strikes out the last two batters to end the inning.  Chris Coghlan leads off the bottom half with a double who scores on a two out single by Ben Zobrist.  Cory Lurbke comes in and  would walk Rizzo, who moves to third on Almora’s double as Zobrist scores.  Baez would be put on intentionally  and Addison Russell would walk scoring Rizzo.  This would bring in Sean Rodriguez to get Montero to ground out.  Cubs up 5-0. 

Trevor Cahill replaces The Great One in the seventh making it a 1-2-3 inning.  Arquimedes Caminero enters the bottom of the seventh for the Pirates with one out walks Fowler and gives up a single to Szczur but gets Zobrist to ground out.  Rizzo walks to load the bases. Almora would single scoring Fowler everybody’s safe!  The Pirates would challenge the call at third being overturned ending the owning.  Cubs up 6-0.  

Travis Cahill stays in for the eighth, getting Rodriguez to ground out but hits John Jaso.  Travis Wood would replace Cahill, getting Polanco to ground into an inning ending double play.  

Justin Grimm would enter the top of the ninth as well as Cubs #1 catching prospect Wilson Contreras.  Andrew McCutchen would start the inning with a single but Freese and Jung Ho Kang pinch hits to strikeout for the second out.  Josh Harrison would reach in a walk.  Grimm would throw a wild pitch a dancing both runners.  Jody Mercer would be the Pirates last hope but would be called out on strikes.  Cubs Win!  

Jake would only go 6 innings striking 11, walking 3 and only gave up 2 hits.  The bullpen combined would strike out 2, walk 1 and give up only one hit.  Great day for the Cubs!

@DanZeeeMan

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

Battle for the Hill

Posted: June 15, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, sports, Sports Time Radio
Tags: ,
0

Wrapping up the 9 game road trip out East, Jason Hammel seeks to grab his eighth win of the season coming off loss at the hands of the Braves but he is taking on Steven Strasburg who hopes to improve his perfect record to 11-0.   He would not start off in that direction giving up a leadoff to Ben Zobist who lead off due to a day off for Dexter Fowler.  Jason Heyward would send his 11th double of the season to center.  Bryant would strike out for the first out and before Rizzo could strike out to end the inning, Jason would get caught stealing second base.  Hammel gives up a lead off single to Ben Revere but gets the next two batters to ground out but Revere would make it to third.  With Daniel Murphy at the plate, Hammel would throw a wild one scoring Revere.  Murphy would double for the second hit of the inning but Zimmerman would go down swinging.  The second and third innings would see a couple base runners for both teams but no runs would cross the plate.  After 3, we are all tied at 1.

Strasburg would start off the fourth by hitting Kris Bryant but would strikeout the next three batters.  Hammel would make it  quick 1-2-3 inning.  Jason Hammel would get the only hit of the fifth and make it another 1-2-3 bottom half  of the inning.  Strasburg would see his first 1-2-3 inning of the day.  Hammel would follow suit due to an overturned call.  After 6, we are still tied at 1.

The seventh inning would only see a double in the top half by Albert Almora, Jr and a single in the bottom half by Zimmerman.  Both pitchers would come out in the 8th, Felipe Rivero for the Nats and Pedro Strop for the Cubs.  He would get two K’s in the 8th but gives up a solo home run to Stephen Drew.  Nats up 2-1.  Matt Belisle enters the 9th giving up a lead off double to Bryant prompting Dusty Baker to bring in Oliver Perez to give up a two run dinger to Anthony Rizzo.  He would get Fowler to fly out and that would bring Shawn Kelley to come in to end the inning.  Hector Rondon enters the game for the Cubs walking Harper who moves over to second base on Murphy’s ground out.  With two outs Wilson Ramos would single to left scoring Harper.  Rondon would get out of the inning and take us into extra innings.  After 9 we are all tied up at 3.

Shawn Kelly stays in for the 10th getting all three batters out with a walk and a double play.  Justin Grimm enters the 10th getting a ground out and walk to bring in Travis Wood to get Clint Robinson to end the inning with a 1-6-3 double play.  Yusmeiro Petit  enters the 11th only giving up a two out walk to Rizzo.  Travis Wood walks both Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy, despite getting Harper to pop out, he is pulled for Trevor Cahill who ends the inning.  After 11, we are still tied at 3.

The 12th inning, the Nats are sticking with Petit who gives up a lead off single to Almora, strikes out Baez.  With one out and one on, Addison Russell sends a ground ball to center scoring  Almora to put the Cubs up by one in the 12th.  Trevor Cahill still in the game strikes out Rendon, but hits Espinosa who steals second base with Michael Taylor at the plate, who singles to score Espinosa and tie the game at 4.  Maddon would bring in Adam Warren to try and stop the Nats from taking the series and gets the second out of the inning but gives up a walk off single to Jayson Werth to give the Nationals the series.  The Cubs may have lost this series but out of seven games the Cubs took 5 to the Nats 2.

@DanZeeeMan

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

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!

Older Entries
Newer Entries