Posts Tagged ‘Addison Russell’

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 21, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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Schaumburg Stu won Week 2 in our NFL pick contest with a 10-6 record. Stu has started the season off with back to back wins. Dan the Man took 2nd with a 9-7 record. Dan and Stu where tied going into the Monday Night game, but sadly Dan went with the Chicago Bears while Stu had the Philadelphia Eagles. Mr. Fantasy and I where both 8-8 on the week. Overall Stu has the lead with a 20-12 record. Dan the Man is 2nd at 19-13. I’m holding onto 3rd place at 16-16 while Mr. Fantasy is residing in the cellar at 15-17. Can Stu win a 3rd week in a row? Or will Dan the Man win a week outright. At this point Mr. . Fantasy and I would be happy to break .500.

With the exception of the struggles they had right around the All-Star break the Chicago Cubs have been the best team in baseball. The Cubs have the best record in baseball at 96-55 and are the only team that has clinched their division. With 2 more wins or 2 Washington Nationals losses the Cubs will clinch home field through the National League playoffs. Sadly they can’t have home field advantage for the World Series as the American League won the All-Star game and that’s how home field for the World Series is decided.

When it comes to post season awards the Cubs should do quite well there as they have at least 3 contenders for the Cy Young award and 2 very good contenders for the MVP award. I’m not sure that Kyle Hendricks has the respect of the voters to win the Cy Young, but he has to be right there. Hendricks is 15-8 and has the lowest ERA in baseball at 2.06. Hendricks isn’t putting up huge strikeout numbers (161), but he also doesn’t walk a lot of guys (43); so his WHIP is under one at 0.96. Jon Lester is having a very good year as well and with an 18-4 record; he’ll have a shot at a 20 win season. Lester’s ERA is 2.36 and he’s struck out 184 batters after yesterday’s start; so he should reach the 200 mark for the season. While Jake Arrieta isn’t having as good of a season as he did last year; he’s still pitching well. Arrieta is 17-7 with a 2.96 ERA. While Arrieta should get some votes for the Cy Young I think some of the voters may hold the fact that this season doesn’t compare to last season against him. As good as Hendricks has been do you have Lester ahead of him for the Cy Young? As far as MVP goes you could pretty much put Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo name in a hat and pull one out for the award. Bryant is hitting .296 with 37 home runs and 97 RBI’s. Bryant also has an OPS of .950. Rizzo has very good numbers as well. He’s hitting .293 with 37 home runs and 104 RBI’s with an OPS of .939. Now you couldn’t go wrong with either guy as they are both having MVP type of seasons on a big time winning team. The fear might be that they cancel each other out in the MVP voting and someone else ends up winning the award.

You can look at all the numbers you want and those are the guys who win the awards. That’s the thing you need to do to win one of those, but on every team there’s an MVP that may go under the radar. On the Cubs this season their guy is easily Addison Russell. The 22 year old shortstop has played in 142 games so far this season. He played in 142 games all of last season. While it would be nice to see Russell’s batting average a little higher than the .245 he’s currently at, but is someone said that he’d hit 21 home runs and have 93 RBI’s so far I’m not sure if anyone would’ve believed you. When the Cubs need a clutch hit Russell is the guy they want to see at the plate. When the offense was this week what snapped them out of it on Monday night was a home run by Russell. It’s not just with the bat either; Russell is fielding 97% at shortstop. He has made 14 errors this season, but he is currently #1 in defensive WAR for National League shortstops. Russell was also voted to his first All-Star team this season and he should make many more of them through his career. Russell was a 1st round pick of the Oakland A’s in 2012. He was the 11th overall pick in the draft. The Cubs acquired Russell along with Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and cash considerations for pitchers Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzja. If you talk to any Cubs fan about trades you’re sure to hear about the deal that sent Lou Brock, Jack Spring and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz. It’s considered the worst trade in Cubs history. Is the trade that brought Russell to the Cubs the best trade in team history. Now Russell won’t win the National League MVP and I’m not even sure if he’ll receive any votes for the award, but the Cubs wouldn’t be where they are this season without him.

I hope you’ve been scanning the waiver wire in your fantasy football league early this season because there have been quite a few injuries already this season. In Week 1 we saw Keenan Allen of the San Diego Chargers and Robert Griffin II of the Cleveland Browns go out with injuries that ended their seasons. In Week 2 there where some more big time fantasy names that where injured. The Chargers lost another key piece of their offense for the season when running back Danny Woodhead torn his ACL. Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson tore his meniscus ligament, but there re actually reports that he could play this Sunday. Sticking with running backs Jonathan Stewart of the Carolina Panthers will miss 1-2 weeks with a hamstring injury and Doug Martin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is going to miss 3 games with a hamstring injury of his own. Jimmy Garoppolo of the New England Patriots was playing well filling in for the suspended Tom Brady, but he sprained the A/C/ joint in his throwing shoulder and will miss a couple for weeks. Josh McCown took over at quarterback for the Browns when RG II got injured. Now Cody Kessler will be the 3rd Browns quarterback to take a snap in a game this season as he takes over for an injured McCown. Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears injured his thumb during the Monday Night game and it looks like he’ll miss a few weeks. It’s being reported that Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones is questionable for this weeks game, but he’s been dealing with an ankle injury all season; so it’s tough to tell if this is something new or just the injury he’s been playing with. Hopefully you’ve been out on the waiver wire or making trades to replace these guys because there are a lot of quality fantasy names that are injured.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com or you can find the podcast anytime you want on TuneIn.com

I’m on Twitter as well @Burketime

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The Grand Crosstown Slam

Posted: July 27, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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Game 3 of the Crosstown Cup, this time on the Northside at Wrigley Field.  Jason Hammel is seeking  his 10th win of the season and third in a row.  He’s taking on Anthony Ranaudo in his first start for the White Sox since coming over from the Rangers in May.

Hammel would put a base runner per inning for the first three innings.  Ranaudo in turn would walk Fowler and Rizzo in the 1st inning but wouldn’t allow another base runner through three.

Hammel would give up the first extra base hit of the game with a double to Todd Frazier in the 4th.  But it would be the 5th inning when Anthony Ranaudo would get his first base hit of the year launching a line drive to right center for his first home run of the year.

Hammel would make it through a full seven innings, striking out seven while only walking two and giving up the one run on five hits.

Ranaudo makes it all the way to the top of the 6th be for giving up a one out solo home run to Kris Bryant tieing the game at 1.  Ranaudo gets the first two outs in the top of the 7th.  He would then walk Jason Heyward prompting a visit to the mound.  Javier Baez would knock his 11th home run of the season driving in Heyward and putting the Cubs up by two runs.  Robin Ventura decides to bring in Zach Duke who walks Tommy La Stella only to be removed for Carson Fulmer.

Hector Rondon enters the game in the top of the 8th retiring all three batters.

With Fulmer still in, he starts the 8th by hitting Bryant, then gives up  single to Rizzo.  Ben Zobrist smacks his 18th double if the season driving in Bryant with Rizzo ending up at third.  Miguel Montero walks and that is all for Fulmer as Jacob Turner enters the game.  With the bases loaded Addison Russel would launch a grand slam to left center for his 12th home run of the year.  Jason Heyward gets a single but Jacob Turner would get out of the inning.  Cubs up 8-1.

Tonights the night that we’ll get to see Aroldis Chapman in a Cubs uniform.  He starts off by striking out Jose Abreu.  He gets Todd Frazier into a full count and gets him to ground out to Russell.  Avisail Garcia would get called out on strike three, which homer Hawk Harrelson would immediately say “that was not a strike.”  While Chapman didn’t get the save, he looked great and the Cubs won!

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

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

Cubs top Texas

Posted: July 16, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in sports
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The Cubs open the second half of the season with Kyle Hendricks taking on the Texas Rangers 25 year old southpaw Martin Perez.  Perez would make it a quick 1st inning but gives up a one out double to Addison Russell in the bottom of the 2cd, he scores on Javier Baez’s two out double.  

Perez would hold the Cubs to that one run until the bottom of the 6th when Kris Bryant would lead off with a single and moves to third on Anthony Rizzo’s double.  Wilson Contreras would walk to load the bases.  Russell would drive in Bryant and Rizzo.  On a fielders choice, Jason Heyward drives in Wilson.  It wouldn’t stop there as Matt Szczur would drive in Russell and Heyward.  It does stop there as the Rangers bring Tony Barnette enters the game to end the inning.  

Hendricks would pitch a full 6 innings giving up only 3 hits walking two and striking out three.  Carl Edwards, Jr, Travis Wood, Pedro Strop and Justin Grimm take part in the last three innings with only Wood giving up two hits and Edwards striking out two.  

Cubs win 6-0 with another afternoon game on Saturday with the Rangers activating Yu Darvish.  

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

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

Reds win

Posted: July 5, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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The Cubs bounced back after being swept by the Mets, coming back to dominate the Reds yesterday, 10 to 4.  John Lackey heads to the mound hoping to improve to 8 and 4 against southpaw Brandon Finnegan.  However, it wouldn’t be that kind of day for Lackey as he’d get the loss in 6 full innings.  

It would start off bad for John in the first with a 1 out walk to Billy Hamilton who steals 2cd.  Then walks Joey Votto.  With Jay Bruce at the plate, a passed ball credited to David Ross allows Bily to score the 1st run with Votto to 3rd.  Bruce would also reach on a walk.   Both Jay’s score on Brandon Phillips 2 out line drive to left but the Cubs get Bruce out on the throw to 3rd.  Reds 2-0.

In the top of the 2cd, with Eugenio Suarez on 1st, Finnegan forces him out at 2cd but he scores on Zach Cozart’s home run to left center.  They score yet again with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd when Ramon Cabrera doubles to right scoring Suarez.  The 6th run comes in the top of the 4th after Zach Cozart scores on a sac fly by Joey Votto.  

The Cubs would score in the 3rd with 3 home runs.  2 would be solo home runs by Javier Baez and Kris Bryant.  Anthony Rizzo would walk and score on Addison Russell’s 10th home run of the year.  Russell would smack his 11th home run of the year and second of the day in the bottom of the 5th.  Finnegan wouldn’t make it to the 6th as Lackey did but he leaves with the win opportunity.  After 5, it’s Reds 6, Cubs 5.

The top of the 7th would see the Reds add to thier lead with Travis Wood at the mound.  He gives up a double to Billy and scores on Votto’s double to left.  Reds 7, Cubs 5.   

The top of the 9th, Maddon would bring in Pedro Strop enter the game and get the first out but walks Joey Votto who comes home on Jay Bruce’s 18th home run of the year.  Tony Cingrani enters the bottom of the 9th and mows through Bryant, Rizzo and Contreras to end the game with the Reds winning 9 to 5.  

Tomorrow is the rubber match, here’s to the Cubs taking the series.  

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

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

NLCS Preview?

Posted: May 22, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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Game 3 puts Kyle Hendricks up against Madison Baumgardner who gets the first two batters out, Fowler and Rizzo but then hits Kris Bryant. Then gives up a single to Ben Zobrist and loads the bases by walking Jorge Soler. With Addison Russell up to bat, I noticed the Marlins fan sitting behind home plate. Back to the game, Russell gets a hitters count and fowls off a couple but ends up watching strike 3 at the knees. Hendricks would have a similar bottom half but only puts two men on and gets out of the inning with out any damage. From the second through the fourth both men would only give up a hit a piece keeping this pitchers duel going.  
The Cubs would go down in order in the top of 5.  Kyle would start the bottom half by walking Gregor Polanco with the pitcher spot up next.  At first it would appear that he is pitching around Baumgardner as if he’s a power hitter but at this moment he sends a line drive just out of reach for Soler for a double scoring the first run of the night and his first double.  Kyle would finsh the inning but Giants are up 1-0.  He would come back out for the sixth but after a walk and a pop out, Kyle is replaced by Travis Wood.  After giving up a walk, he’d close out the inning and pitch a perfect seventh.  

The Cubs would only get a hit in the seventh by Matt Szczur.  In the top of the eighth, Baez would pinch hit for Wood and hit a soft bouncer to Brandon Belt who would be out of position and run back forcing Baez to step out of the runners box for an automatic out which didn’t really appear that way.  Immediately, Maddon would be out there livid and yelling at the first base umpire telling him he’s f*^%ing better than that.  I thought he was going to be tossed. Mad Baum would get one more out and then walk Rizzo prompting Bruce Bochy to pull him for Cory Gearrin who gets Bryant to line out.   

Pedro Strop would enter the bottom half getting the first out.  With the shift on for Duffy he would knock one down the line just out of Rizzo’s reach. He’d get Posey to watch the third strike and get Brandon Belt to send a grounder right into Rizzo’s glove coincidently touching first base to end the inning.  

The Cubs have one more half of an inning to take the series.  Santiago Casilla comes in to face Ben Zobrist who would take him deep to the center field warning track roughly 395 feet that Denard Spsn would hop to snag out of the air for the first out.  Jorge Soler showing patience would get a full count but would swing at one just below the knees for a strikeout.  Addison Russell is 0-3 looking to get his first hit and keep the Cubs alive but would strike out for the fourth time in a row. 

Cubs bats seem to have cooled off in May but the pitching has been solid especially in the pen.  It’s the Cardinals tomorrow, they need to turn it around.

@DanZeeeMan

Making it 6 in a row.

Posted: May 7, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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It was about 25 degrees cooler than yesterday and the wind was blowing straight in at Wrigley Field, but the Cubs and the Nationals still combines to score 13 runs in the Cubs 8-5 victory. It was the 6th win in a row for the Cubs and there 3rd straight over the nationals. The Cubs will go for the sweep of the 4 game series tomorrow afternoon. Lefty Gio Gonzalez got the start for the Nationals and through 5 innings he was able to keep the Cubs in check and the Nationals had a 4-3 lead. Jason Hammel struggled through 5 innings for the Cubs. It took Hammel 97 pitches to get trough those 5 innings and he walked more batters (4) then he struck out (3). Spencer Patton was the first Cubs reliever out of the bullpen, but he couldn’t get anyone out. It was Patton’s first appearance since being called up from Triple-A Iowa. Patton gave up 1 run while walking a batter and not recording an out before Clayton Richard came in to finish off the top of the 6th inning. With the way Gonzalez was pitching it looked like the 2-run lead might be enough for him. After a line out a single and a sacrifice bunt there where 2 outs and a man on 2nd for the Cubs. Jorge Soler singled to right, but 3rd base coach Gary Jones choose not to test the arm of Bryce Harper and the Cubs had runners on 1st and 3rd. Addison Russell singled to make the score 4-3 and end Gonzalez’s day. Blake Treinen walked the only hitter he faced; pinch hitter Tommy LaStella to load the bases. Lefty Sammy Solis was brought in to face left handed pinch hitter Ryan Kalish. Kalish managed a chip shot into short left field that Nationals shortstop Danny Espinosa just missed. How ever you want to describe Kalish’s hit it drove in 2 runs and gave the Cubs a short lived 5-4 lead. Travis Wood started the Top of the 7th on the mound for the Cubs, but after giving up a lead off triple t Ben Revere he was removed for Adam Warren. After a strikeout for the 1st out of the inning Harper was intentionally walked and it looked like when Ryan Zimmerman hit a ground ball that Warren would get the Cubs out of the inning. Zimmerman beat the double play throw to first base as Revere scored and the game was tied at 5. In the Bottom of the 7th with 1 out Anthoy Rizzo hit a ground rule double. After and intentional walk to Ben Zobrist Solis was replaced by Shawn Kelley. It was Russell again who came through big for the Cubs. He hit a fly ball down the right field line that looked like it might go foul. Harper moved over to the foul line to try and catch the ball and it went off his glove barely in fair territory for a double. Two runs scored on the play and the Cubs had a 7-5. “Russell’s hit could be described as a Wrigley Field double as it looked as through Harper pulled up a little to not hit the wall. In any other ballpark he would’ve had the room t make the catch and end the inning.   Now the game was in the hands of bullpen combo Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon. Strop pitched the 8th and struck out all 3 Nationals hitters he faced. A Zobrist RBI single in the bottom of the 8th gave Rondon a 3 run cushion for the 9th inning. A Daniel Murphy fly out to left. a strikeout of Revere looking and an Espinosa ground out 3rd to 1st ended the Nationals 9th inning and gave the Cubs their 6th win in a row.

Warren (3 -0) got the win for the Cubs. Strop picked up a hold (7th) and Rondon recorded his 6th save of the season. Solis (0-1) took the loss for the Nationals. Tomorrow it’s Jake Arrieta against Tanner Roark in the series finale.

@Burketime

The Podcast 

Cubs split the series

Posted: May 1, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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The Cubs enter May with the best record in the MLB and continue to liter the warning track in front of their dugout.  Julio Teheran takes on John Lackey looking for his fourth win of the season and trying to improve his ERA.  Lackey would have a quick 1-2-3 first inning.  Fowler would continue his hot streak with a leadoff single, deep into shortstop.   Heyward would send a screamer right back at Teherhan moving Dexter to second.  Kris Bryant back in the line up would strikeout on a caught foul tip.  Anthony Rizzo would walk and with Bez Zobrist up to bat both men would steal but Ben would get caught watching the ball cross the plate for his first K of the day. 

Aside from the leadoff hit by Fowler in the first, both men would cruise through the first four innings with out a run crossing the plate and for Lackey, no hits through four.  His first hit would be given up to Kelly Johnson, who would attempt a bunt, throwing Lackey off enough for a double to left.  Johnson would be pushed over to third and then score on Jace Peterson’s sac fly to right.  Lackey would get out of the inning but it would be 1-0 Braves. 

The top of the sixth would prove to be trouble for Lackey, he’d give up a single to Mallex Smith, the walk Nick Markakis.  Erik Aybar would move up the runners with a bunt, setting up Freddie Freeman for an intentional walk.  Adonis Garcia would reach on a fielding error scorin Smith.  Kelly Johnson would get an unusual RBI in his inning ending double play, Zobrisy would miss the tag on Garcia, throw to Rizzo for the out, who would throw back to Ben for the tag to end the inning. 

Mallax Smith would leadoff the eighth with a double to the left center gap but get tagged out trying to stretch it for three.  Lackey would finish the eighth.  Jim Johnson would replace Julio getting the lead off man to line out. Matt Szczur would reach on a bunt.  Fowler would push Matt to third on a double who would then score on Heyward’s ground out to second base with Hunter Cevanka on the mound, Fowler at third.  Arodyis Vizcaino would come in to face Bryant giving up a base hit scoring Fowler.  But Rizzo would end the inning with a K.  Braves 3, Cubs 2.  

Travis Wood starts the ninth off against Freeman getting him to ground out.  He’d give up a walk to Francoeur but get Johnson to fly out.  Justin Grimm would come into the game, throwing a wild pitch to advance the runner but would get the last out.  

Zobrist would lead off the ninth with a walk.  He would make it to third on Vizcaino’s throwing error to try to pick off Ben.  Zobrist would then score on Russell’s single to right, tying it at three but Aroydis would get out of it taking us into extra innings.  Hector Rondon would come into the 10th, getting the first out but Daniel Castro would single to right advancing to third on Mallax’s single to left.  Markakis would send a fly ball to left, scoring Castro.  Rondon would finish the inning off.    4-3.  

Jason Grilli would start the 10th off by getting Fowler to ground out, then get Heyward to strikeout.  Kris Bryant with two outs and a 3-2 count would walk bringing Rizzo to the plate.  However, Rizzo would fly out to left.  Still a great game for the Cubs, not what we wanted but they can’t win them all.

@danzeeeman
The Podcast

160-2???

Posted: April 15, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, Minor League Baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Colorado Rockies entered Wrigley Field with 5 – 4 record on Jackie Robinson Day.  I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the Jackie Robinson game back in 2009 against none other than the Rockies.  Chad Bettis would go up against Kyle Hendrix, who landed a W on his last start against the Diamondbacks.  He would make it through the first inning but would give up an RBI single to Ben Paulsen scoring Nolan Arenado.  He would hold it together through five. 

The Cubs would get thier first attempt at scoring in the bottom of the fifth playing small ball but the squeeze bunt by Hendrix didn’t work catching Jorge Soler by at least 5 feet.  

In the top of the sixth, Hendrix would give up singles to Carlos Gonzalez, Nolan Arenado & Gerrado Parra, scoring Cargo.  Nolan would score on a 6 – 4 -3 double play putting the Rockies up 3 – 0.  Rizzo would get the only hit in the bottom of the sixth. 

In the top of the seventh, Hendrix would give up a leadoff single to Tony Wolters, prompting Maddon to go to the pen and bring in Trevor Cahill.  Brandon Barnes would bunt his way on base but would reach second on a horrible throw by Kris Bryant that went in the Rockies bullpen, scoring Wolters putting them up by 4. The bottom half would get exciting with Chaf Qualls coming into the game giving up a single to Soler, a walk to Montero.  He would get Russell to fly out but Soler would score on a Tommy La Stella force out giving the Cubs thier only run of the game.  

Clayton Richard would come into the eighth giving up a single to Parra but moves to second on a throwing error by Russell.  He would then steal third base. The Cubs would put Mark Reynolds on and would advance on a wild pitch.   Tony Wolters would hit a soft ground ball to Rizzo scoring Parra because Rizzo’s throw would appear to hit Tony but really he just lost the ball on the exchange.  Former Cub DJ LeMahieu would ground into a force out RBI off new pitcher Neil Ramirez putting the Rox up 6 – 1.  He would finish off the eighth and the ninth.  

For the Rockies in the bottom of ninth, Justin Miller would come into the game getting both Bryant and Soler to watch strike three.  Montero would come up to bat but would go down swinging.  

Bettis would get his second win of the season giving up 3 hits, 3 walks and striking out 4.  Hendrix would make it through 6, striking out five, giving up 7 hits but only 2 earned runs giving him his first loss of the season in front of 34,437 in a two hour and fifty-nine minute game.  Despite the fours produced by the Cubs it was the bats that were silenced that lost them the game.  There’s always tomorrow!

@DanZeeeMan
Sports Time Radio Podcast