Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles Dodgers’

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 2, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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Our fantasy football drafts are getting closer and closer. We have our auction draft Saturday night and then are snake league draft is Sunday night. Mr. Fantasy and I also have our money league draft Sunday morning. They auction draft isn’t so bad as it’s just deciding on how much you want to pay for a player and hitting on that player. Oddly I always seem to think that I got a deal on a guy and he ends up having a terrible season. The money league Mr. Fantasy and I share a team in is also a snake style draft. In case you don;t know snake style means your rounds go from the 1st pick to the in our case 20th pick and then the 20th team gets the first pick of the 2nd round. It goes back down to the team who draft first overall which is the end of round 2 and then they start round 3 with the first pick and so on until the draft is done. There’s a little more on the go strategy in the snake style draft because if you get caught on a run of a position you can get stuck with a lesser player at that position. If you play your pick right in a round you can actual start the run which is where you’d prefer to be. I know Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy prefer the auction draft over a snake style draft, but I still like the snake style draft better. In our two leagues we run through Yahoo it can be tough to get your draft strategy set up as you don’t know were you’ll be drafting until 30 minutes before the draft starts. That situation is much tougher for first time player to handle; so luckily I’m not one of those this season. As the draft gets closer I look more and more forward to it and hopefully I’ll land a good draft position and hit on my players.

I mentioned that we run our leagues through Yahoo and they set up a ranking of players for you to use as a guideline. This season their Top 5 picks are all running backs. Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings is ranked #1. Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks is ranked #2. Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs is ranked #3. Eddie Lacy of the Green Bay Packers is #4 and Le’veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers is ranked #5. Don’t forget that Bell has to miss the first 2 games of the season. He is suspended for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse. I downgraded Bell for this, but I guess Yahoo doesn’t feel the same way. As four the other 3 running backs I think you could pretty much put their names in a hat; pull one out and be happy with that pick. There’s almost no way to decide between those 4 players. Peterson did miss almost all of last season; so will him be rested or rusty. I do wonder if Jimmy Graham will take away some goal line attempts from Lynch. Not that Graham is going to run the ball, but would they throw a jump ball to Graham instead of handing the football to Lynch. Who else just had a Super Bowl flashback? With the season ending injury to Jordy Nelson Lacy might be the guy to go with out of this group. Charles has had his share of injury issues and the Chiefs also signed Jeremy Maclin to help the receiving game and that may hurt Charles overall touchdowns. Now there aren’t really huge negatives with any of these players and that;s why their ranked where they are going into this weekends drafts. It really boils down to who you happen to like and then you’ll have to see how the pick works out for you this season.

The San Francisco Giants lost a tough game to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night (Tuesday) 2-1 to fall 5 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West. I think the Giants need to find a way to win these next 2 games against the Dodgers or I believe they’ll miss the playoffs this season. Zack Greinke picked up the win for the Dodgers pitching 7 1/3rd innings giving up 5 hits; allowing just 1 run while striking out 5 and walking 1. Greinke also lowered his major league leading E.R.A. to 1.59. Madison Bumgarner started for the Giants pitching 7 innings giving up 8 hits; allowing 2 runs while striking out 8 and walking 1. Adrian Gonzalez gave the Dodgers the lead by singling home the 1st run of the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Joc Pederson gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead by hitting his 24th hoe run of the season off of Bumgarner in the bottom of the 7th inning. Matt Duffy drove in the Giants lone run of the night with a single to centerfield in the top of the 8th inning. Kenley Jansen got the Giants 1. 2. 3 in the top of the 9th to pick up his 28th save of the season and give the Dodgers their 2-1 win. It’s not going to get any easier for the Giants to make up any ground on the Dodgers tonight as Clayton Kershaw will be the Dodgers starting pitcher tonight. San Francisco will counter with Mike Leake. Kershaw is 11-6 with a 2.24 E.R.A. in 26 starts this season. Leake is 9-6 on the season, but 0-1 with the Giants. His season E.R.A. is 3/53, but it’s 3.38 with the Giants. Leake has made 24 total starts this season, but only 3 of them have been with San Francisco. The Giants traded Keury Mella and Adam Duvall.to the Cincinnati Reds for Leake on June 30th. While it’s difficult to say that tonight is a must win for the Giants, but it would be nice if they could take at least one of these 3 games against the Dodgers. Don’t forget that the Giants lost the 1st game of the series 5-4 in in 14 innings on Monday night. The Giants have 30 games left while the Dodgers have 31 games left this season. These two teams do meet for a 4 game series at the end of this month, but for the Giants to still have a chance to win the N.L. West they’ll have to cut into that 5 1/2 game lead the Dodgers have by the time that 4 game series rolls around. San Francisco is actually a game closer to catching the Dodgers in the N.L. West than they are catching the Chicago Cubs for the 2nd wild card spot. We’ll have to watch and see how the last month of the season plays out.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

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

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

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

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

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

How was your Valentine’s Day?

Posted: February 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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2/14/15

If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or caught some of the blogs here you know I’m not a fan of All-Star games. I do however enjoy some of the events that the NBA has during its All-Star weekend. Last night (Friday) they had two games that I didn’t have a lot of interest in. The Celebrity game kicks off the weekend followed by the Rising Stars Challenge. This year they had the World vs. USA with the World winning 122-112. Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves playing for the World team was the MVP of the game scoring 22 for the World team. There are four events held today (Saturday) starting with the Shooting Challenge. Then it’s the Skills Challenge followed by the 3-point Shooting Contest and ending with the Slam Dunk Contest. The Shooting Challenge features four teams of three players. The teams are; Team Bosh with Captain Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Dominique Wilkins is the team Legend and Swim Cash of the New York Liberty is their WNBA player. Team Curry; with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry as the team captain, his father Dell Curry is their Legend and Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm is their WNBA player. Team Westbrook captained by Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as their Legend and Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever as their WNBA player. Team Milsap is captained by Paul Milsap of the Atlanta Hawks. Milsap is replacing the injured Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans. Milsap’s teammates are Legend Scottie Pippen and W.N.B.A. player  Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky. I’ll take Team Curry to win this event. The Skills Challenge features eight NBA players who compete in a bracket-style tournament for the first time. The format calls for two players to compete simultaneously on an identical course with the fastest finisher reaching the next round.  The players will be tested in an obstacle-course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and shooting skills. Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz is back to defend last year title and he is joined by Brandon Knight of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors. Isiah Thomas of the Phoenix Suns, Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks and his teammate Dennis Schroder who is replacing Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls. Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic is taking the place of Michael Carter-Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers and Patrick Beverly of the Houston Rockets is taking the place of Washington Wizards guard John Wall. I’ll take Teague to win this competition. A lot of experts think that this will be the best 3-point shooting challenge ever. The eight guys in the 3-point shooting Contest are defending champion  Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks, Wesley Matthews of the Portland Trailblazers, J.J. Reddick of the Los Angeles Clippers and teammates Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. It seems like most experts think that one of the Golden State players either Thompson or Curry will win this contest, but I’m taking Wesley Matthews to win. The Dunk Contest has lost most of its luster from when it was a must see event, but this season they are returning to their classic format. That means it will be a two-round event in which the four participants can perform any dunk they choose without time limits. The players will have a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. Five judges will score every dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30. The four players in the Dunk Contest are Mason Plumlee of the Brooklyn Nets, Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic, Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m taking LaVine to win the Dunk Contest. To me these events at least feature players skills while the All-Star game itself is just players watching other players score. Will you watch?

The first interview on the podcast last night had Scott Andes from LasordasLair.com to talk Los Angeles Dodgers baseball we followed that interview with Billy Brost from FriarsonBase,com for some San Diego Padres talk. On the field the Dodgers and Padres are rivals and both play in the NL West. While the Dodgers have had the better of this rivalry for years now the Padres have made a ton of moves this off-season to try to close that gap. There are questions on both sides as teams get ready for spring training to start. The Dodgers will be brand new up the middle with Yasmani Grandal catching, Howie Kendrick at 2nd base, Jimmy Rollins at shortstop and rookie Joc Pederson in centerfield. The Padres will have a new starting outfield with Matt Kemp in rightfield, Will Myers in centerfield and Justin Upton in leftfield as well as Derek Norris catching. Both teams still have some questions though. While Kenley Jansen is a solid major league closer posting 44 saves in 49 chances. The question is who gets the ball to him? Is the biggest question I think the Dodgers have to address. In San Diego the Padres have to decide if Yonder Alonso is the right player at 1st base? The Padres also have a glut of outfielders with  Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and Will Venable on the 40 man roster. Are the Padres done dealing? With the addition of James Shields the extra outfielders and Philadelphia Phillies General manager Ruben Amaro Jr’s interest in Andrew Cashner could Cole Hamles be on the radar. One of the best things was listening to Scott and Billy’s take on each others team.

The NHL trade deadline is March 2nd; so which players may be switching teams. Will the Ottawa Senators trade Chris Neil? Will the New York Rangers try to deal J.T. Miller and clear some salary cap space? Will the  New Jersey Devils trade Jaromir Jagr? Since the Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been able to reach extensions with forwards Jiri Tlusty and Jay McClement, will they be dealt before the trade deadline? There’s a couple of names that might move before March 2nd for you. Which Stanley Cup contenders need to add what to win it all? We should get some of these answers soon.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday 7/30/14

Posted: July 30, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Is there another sports league that gets more negative publicity than the National Football League (NFL)? It seems like almost daily there’s another NFL player arrested for something or failing a drug test. There’s the ongoing storyline with Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and his now wife. ESPN’s Steven A. Smith was suspended over the comments he made about the situation. There’s the suspension of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon not only failed a drug test, but then got arrested for DUI. Just a month ago Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman John Abraham was arrested for DUI. Just in the month of July besides Gordon; Jimmy Smith of the Baltimore Ravens, Keelan Johnson of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jo-Lonn Dunbar of the St. Louis Rams and Jacksonville jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon have all been arrested for different offenses. There was also Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay’s arrest for DUI and I didn’t even mention that former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is still in jail awaiting trial for murder. I also left out former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. I thought Kluwe was trying to do something good when all of this first started with him, but more and more it’s starting to seem like he’s just out for himself.

Even through all of this the NFL remains the most popular sport in the United States. If you’re reading this I’m guessing you have at least one (1) if not more NFL fantasy drafts coming up. I myself actually have 3 (three) fantasy drafts coming up. I have a money league team that I share with Mr. Fantasy. Then there are the 2 (two) Yahoo fantasy football leagues we have. There’s the Sports Time Radio league which is an auction style draft and then there’s the league we’ve had for years titled Next Year is Here; which is a more traditional snake style draft. If you’re interested in joining either of our leagues they are free and run through Yahoo sports; email me at Sportstimeradio@hotmail.com

The Major League Baseball (MLB) trading deadline is tomorrow or at least the first trading deadline is tomorrow. Is your favorite team a buyer or a seller this season? David Price looked like he was going to be the big pitching prize on the market this season, but then his team the Tampa Bay Rays began to play better. Now the talk has turned to Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester. Lester is a free agent after this season and the Red Sox look to be out of it in the American League (A.L.) East. Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington has said he’d need to be blown away by an offer to move Lester as the Red Sox hope to resign him in the off-season. It looks like the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners are the primary suitors for Lester heading into Wednesday. The Miami Marlins aren’t entirely out of the Lester sweepstakes. However, the Marlins won’t part with top prospect Andrew Heaney in a Lester deal or a deal for any rental player. Last night, Lester was scratched from his scheduled start tonight. A clear indicator that the Red Sox are looking to deal there ace. Lester may not be the only Red Sox starting pitcher headed out of Boston at the trade deadline. John Lackey’s name has come up in trade rumors with the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers showing the most interest right now. Lackey’s five-year, $82.5MM contract with the Red Sox contained a clause that gave Boston a 2015 club option at the league minimum in the event that he missed significant time with an elbow injury. A torn ulnar collateral ligament that required Tommy John surgery triggered that clause, making Lackey a highly appealing trade chip even to teams with the most modest of payrolls. It seems as if the Dodgers are in on even big name pitcher or just pitcher whose name comes up on the trade market. They’ve been linked to Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres closer Joaquin Benoit. Benoit got the Padres closer job when Huston Street was trade to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It seems like teams are looking for pitching, pitching and more pitching. Will have to wait and see if any of these big names pitchers changes teams and how much a team will have to give up to get one. If your favorite team could land a Lester, Price or Hamels in a deal it could lock up a playoff spot for that team and maybe get them into the World Series.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

6/21/14 How was your Week?

Posted: June 21, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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If you’ve been listening to Sports Time Radio you know that I’ve been giving Dan the Man & Mr. Fantasy NBA & NHL playoff games to pick along with other miscellaneous games to pick. We ended this until next season on Tuesday with Dan the Man taking them out on a high note going 3-0. Sadly even with a perfect last day they still ended up under .500 at 39-45-1. Mr. Fantasy has suggested that they pick against each other next season; so maybe will go that way for picks. Schaumburg Stu also helped out making picks any time he filled in as a co-host.

I get to talk sports 5 times a week on Sports Time Radio. It airs Sunday at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday at 5:00 p.m., Thursday at 4:00 p.m. and Friday at 5:00 p.m. You can find the show on Blog Talk Radio, the one Dan the Man is supposed to be on three days a week with me and then of Mr. Fantasy is on twice a week. As I mentioned Schaumburg Stu is a more than capable fill in any time we need him to do that. With all the sports talk it started me thinking back to how I developed my love for sports. Like most this goes back to when I was a very young boy. My father was a huge sports fan and I’m talking about every sport. We watched them all together and he would try to explain what was going on during the games. Now this really picked up in the summertime especially on Sunday’s. My father was a chef; so every Sunday morning he made a big breakfast for my mother and I and then he’d get whatever we where having for dinner going. After that he’d take his 10 inch black and white television and he and I would head out to the backyard for the day. Now my father had a Goute; so he wasn’t really able to run around with me in the backyard, but he watched like it was the most important game on. Since he couldn’t get around all that well and I was an only child I was supplied with the equipment to play games myself. I had a Johnny Bench Batter Up and I also had a Pitch Back. Do you remember those? The Cubs game would come on first; because they didn’t have lights at Wrigley Field yet. Now my father was a Cubs fan; so this was a must watch. After that if it was early spring we might catch the end of a Bulls or a Blackhawks game. That was if the Blackhawks where on the road. You might not remember, but they didn’t show Blackhawks home games on television. In the summer he’d try to find the White Sox game to watch but it seemed every Sunday in the backyard ended with golf on that little black and white television. As I got a little older my father put a hole in the backyard; so I could practice putting at home. Now my father was a little older than the other kids father’s when I was born. He was 40 years old when I came along and sadly I lost him 28 years ago this month to cancer. Looking back I realized how he passed his love of all sports on to me. What I’m wondering is where did your love of a sport or sports as a whole come from?

On Wednesday Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitched what is being called one of the greatest games ever pitched in major league baseball. Kershaw no hit the Colorado Rockies and was one Hanley Ramirez throwing error away from a perfect game. Kershaw threw 107 pitches; 79 of which where strikes in the game and he struck out 15 Rockies hitters during the game. It was an 8-0 Dodgers win and Kershaw improved to 7-2-on the season. A pitching performance like this one re-establishes Kershaw as the premier left-handed pitcher in major league baseball. It was I who had mentioned that White Sox lefty Chris Sale had passed Kershaw as the best left-handed pitcher in baseball, but it looks like I was off on that. Bill James has come up with a sabermetric stat called Game Score. Game Score is a simple way of measuring the effectiveness of a pitcher’s start. A pitcher starts with 50 points, gets a point for each out, two points for each innings completed after the fourth inning, and one point for a strikeout. He is docked two points for each hit, four points for each earned run allowed, two points for each unearned run allowed and one point for each walk. An average Game Score in a given season usually ranges from 49 to 50. The way Game Score is calculated, nearly every start ends up scoring between 0 and 100, with occasional exceptions for extraordinarily good or bad pitching performances. Kershaw 15 strike out no-hitter was the 2nd highest game ever scored on Game Score. The only game it scored lower than was Kerry Wood’s one hit 20 strikeout performance from May 6th 1998. My only negative to this game was I didn’t get to see it. Being that it was a west coast game I was in bed long before this game ended. I know I’m just nitpicking, but I would’ve loved to see it live.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

How was your Week? 11/09/13

Posted: November 10, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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With the World Series over, the baseball off-season starts to heat up. Yesterday on the show, Start of the weekend; Friday Dan the Man and I discussed free agent demands that Ervin Santana and Rickey Nolasco have made. Santana wants a contract worth $100 million and Nolasco is looking for a contract worth $80 million. Now I know this is a down year for free agent pitching but why would a team consider giving either if these pitchers contracts worth anywhere near that amount. Santana made 32 starts last season and had a 9 – 10 record. He pitched 211 innings and had a good ERA 3.24, but does that make him worth a $100 million dollar contract. Nolasco went 13 – 11 overall, but was 8 – 3 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nolasco made 33 starts and pitched 199 innings total. His ERA with the Dodgers was 3.52, but would that make you want to pay him $80 million dollars over the life of a contract. It will be interesting to see which teams will jump in and negotiation with these two pitchers but I think I’d be very surprised to see either of them get the kind of long-term deals and the kind of money they’re asking for right now. If these two pitchers are worth this kind of money what would a free agent pitcher like Matt Garza would command. Garza is a free agent as well and has always been looked at as a guy with #1 starter type of stuff. I’m not sure the same could be said about either Nolasco or Santana.

The NBA season is getting going and the Indiana Pacers are the only undefeated team at 6 – 0; while the Utah Jazz are the only team that hasn’t picked up a win yet. The Jazz are currently at 0 – 6 as I’m writing this. You’d have to say the biggest surprise to start the NBA season are the 4 – 2 Philadelphia 76ers. While the 76ers may still end up in the draft lottery you can’t say they haven’t gotten off to a surprising start; even getting a win over the Miami Heat. Evan Turner is leading the team in scoring at 22 points a game. While rookie Michael Carter – Williams is averaging 18 points and 7 assists a game. While I’m sure no one is ready to put the 76ers in the NBA finals they are a good story to start the year off.

With the NHL season about a third of the way over the Anaheim Ducks have the most points in the league right now with 29 and lead the Pacific division. The Colorado Avalanche aren’t that far behind with 26 points and are leading the Central division. There is still a long way to go in this NHL season and right now there are 13 teams with 20 points or more and 9 of them are in the Western Conference. The Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby is leading the league in points with 23 while the St. Louis Blues Alexander Steen leads the league with 14 goals; Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks is the league leader in assists with 17.

Tuesday on the show we talked quite a bit about the Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito situation with the Miami Dolphins. I don’t want to go into all the details about what has went on with these two Dolphin players and at this points it’s a no win situation for both guys. At this point in time I’m wondering if either Jonathan Martin or Richie Incognito will ever play in the NFL again.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Another special Thursday

Tuesday

Sports Time Radio Pregame Show

How was your Week? (6/15/13)

Posted: June 15, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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NBA vs. NHL

The NHL has only played one (1) Stanley Cup finals game. Game 2 is actually tonight; so I’m a little ahead of the game right now. The NBA Finals just played game 4. For what it’s worth the one Stanley Cup three overtime Chicago Blackhawks victory over the Boston Bruins has been more exciting than the NBA Finals four games. I understand I am way in the minority here but which of any of the NBA Finals games has come close to game one of the Stanley Cup finals. Now from here on out you never know which series will go which way but I’m saying right now it’s the NHL for me.

We had Jerry Hoover on Sunday night at halftime of the NBA Finals game to break down the game. I hadn’t seen a lot of the 1st half of the game, but he described the game so well it didn’t matter that I hadn’t been able to catch a lot of the game. The San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat are tied at 2 – 2 in the series right now. The Tony Parker injury is the key right now and without him I don’t think the Spurs can win this series. We discussed the series all week long with the big question being is this the Spurs last chance to win a title? LeBron James is far and away the best basketball player in the world and he has to show that he can carry his teammates to a title. Dwayne Wade showed up in game 4, but will Miami get anything else out of him this series. Unless Chris Bosh steps up and does something for Miami you have to look at him as a bust. Besides Parker being healthy the Spurs have to get something more out of Manu Ginobili. Game 5 is tomorrow; so will see which team can take a 3 games to 2 advantage.

Major League Baseball handed down it’s suspensions from the brawl between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ian Kennedy got 10 games; so really 2 starts. Eric Hinske got 5 games, but I’m wondering if they got this right. In the video he doesn’t seem to be throwing any punches, but does take a shot to the back of the head from Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig. Other players and coaches where giving 1 and 2 games suspensions and quite a few players were fined. Now the question is this over?

Mr. Fantasy and I have ventured into the field of daily fantasy baseball. I’ve actually managed to get ahead from my starting point, but to tell the truth I’m afraid to wager more than $1 or $2 on a game. Maybe as time goes on I’ll take more chances, but right now I’m still kind of learning the system. I was very surprised to find out how different it is than managing a weekly fantasy team; even are regular fantasy leagues where we change the line ups daily. These daily leagues are salary cap leagues; so you have to pick and choose where to spend your money. So far I’ve really enjoyed it, but like I mentioned I haven’t taken a big loss yet.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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Wacky Wednesday

Life is a Fantasy

Dodgers 2013 World Series Winners???

Posted: October 16, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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In an interview earlier this season Dodgers President Stan Kasten said that the Dodger fans need to see something now as opposed to any 5 year plan for a team. He didn’t say any names but immediately Theo comes to mind. Which he has completed Year 1 of his 5 year plan. Being a life long fan of the Cubs, Theo’s 5 year plan to me means; don’t expect your Cubbies to be a contending team for the next couple years. While I will probably still go to a couple games, I know that I have to find a new team to cheer for in 2013 and what’s better than throwing on Dodger Blue. It’s very close to Cubbie Blue, plus I have never seen the Cubs beat the Dodgers Live. What that has to do with it Nothing but check out my later blogs when I take you back in time through my ticket stubs.
But back to the Dodgers, we all know they have new ownership that includes Magic Johnson, who by all means is Mr LA and wants winning teams in the city of angels. Also, the Dodgers have an exclusive tv deal with Fox and what’s seeming to be a bottomless purse of money!!! Will the Dodgers go all the way to the end. I think they have a huge shot at winning it all in 2013 but there’s a few questionable spots and pitchers possibly out for some or all of 2013. Lets take a look at the tentative 2013 depth chart according to me.

Catcher AJ Ellis -2012, Matt Treanor-2013
1B. Adrian Gonzalez – 2018
2B. Mark Ellis – 2014
3B. Nick Punto/Juan Uribe -2013???
SS. Hanley Ramirez – 2014
RF. Andre Either – 2018
CF. Matt Kemp – 2019
LF. Carl Crawford – 2017

AJ Ellis was drafted by the Dodgers in 2003 but it wasn’t until last year that he seen 133 games behind the plate. His numbers at the plate are still low but he’s great behind the plate defensively. He’s spent his whole career with the Dodgers, but should be be their starter or do the Dodgers look for veteran experience from AJ Pierzynski or Brian McCann.

Adrian Gonzalez back on the west coast. In 5 years for the Padres He averaged about .288 and hit 161 home runs. Moving to the other side of the country didn’t hurt this man at all as for the 2011 season he hit .338 with 27 hrs, 117 RBIs and 108 runs. However, the issues that were going on in the Sox Nation, may have been the cause for his departure. He moved to a team by all means should have been in the playoffs in 2011 & 2012 but we all seen what happened. Barring any injury, he’s going to comeback in 2013 and make that ball fly again out west especially when he returns to his former home at Petco Park. I also see him winning his third gold glove being back in the NL is going to be great for him.

Mark Ellis isn’t going to put up huge numbers but he can be very effective on when on base to be driven in home. But what he lacks at the plate he makes up for in the field. He’s spent most of his career at 2cd Base and will be another piece to the Dodger Puzzle.

Juan Uribe at 3rd base this next season seems highly unlikely. His contract is up in 2013 but will we even see him in the Majors.

Nick Punto, another guy that came over from Boston. He’s spent the last ten years playing the entire field but since 2007 has had barely 100 starts at 3B. Is the guy they are looking for at third. I don’t think that’s the direction they’ll go but keeping him is a must because he can play any position. But if he isn’t the starter then who?? Kevin Youkilis and David Wright are free agents. Both of these guys were their leagues Rookie of the Year in 2004. Defensively, you can’t go wrong with either guy. At the plate these two are very similar both average up to .300 each year. Your going to get 75-100 plus RBIs but your also looking at least 100 Ks from each. Wright is a 6x All Star and Youk’s been there 3x.

Hanley Ramirez played well in MIA until his injury in 2011 and being the star of the show Until Ozzie showed up and the Marlins upper management took the light off him focused it all on Ozzie and Reyes, left a sour taste in his mouth. But after moving back to shortstop in LA he started to have a resurgence. Look for a refreshed Han-Ram next season.

Matt Kemp and Andre Either do I really need to say anything. These two guys are franchise players and as long as Kemps’ hamstring is okay and Either stays healthy Both of these guys are going to do what they do best play Ball.

Carl Crawford will he be a liability or an asset. Injuries have plagued him since be arrived in Boston. Who knows maybe the warmer climate will bring him back to top shape or hell be the Alfonso Soriano of the Dodgers. A healthy Crawford is going to give a .300 batting average while stretching out those base hits into doubles and triples setting the guys behind him for RBIs.

The Dodgers bench would have Dee Gordan, Nick Punto, Luis Cruz, Juan Rivera and Jerry Hairston Jr if he is healthy along with back up catcher Matt Trenor.

Now the mound!!! Probably one of the most uncertain rotation in 2013. Who will be the Ace? Who will still be pitching and who are they looking at in the off season?

1. Clayton Kershaw as I’m writing this. I just confirmed that he will not have hip surgery this offseason. So the Dodgers Ace will be back at in 2013.
2. Chris Capuano-2014 Pitched for average in 2012. Which I believe will keep him in the rotation but being up for free agency. I feel that if he and Aaron aren’t improving in the 2013 season it’s possible that they could be shipped out by the trade deadline of next season.
3. Aaron Hrang-2014 In Dodger Blue he pitched for average which could keep him in the rotation in the 3,4 or 5 spot.
4. Josh Beckett-2014 he was once a 20 game winner but that was also in 2007. Going 2-3 in 7 starts for LA wasn’t impressive at all and neither was the end of his time in Boston. I am not going to blame the chicken & beer incident on his downfall. If they are unable to move him somewhere else-Would the Pen be a place for him. Until we see Crawford. I think the weakest link in the Infamous LA-Boston Deal is Beckett.
5. Chad Billingsley-2015 Still hasn’t been confirmed if he will undergo Tommy John surgery or not. It is reported that the decision will not be made until November or so which would make it in time for the winter meetings because if he has surgery. He will miss the 2013 season.
6. Ted Lilly-2013 after having surgery on his left shoulder. It is possible that he could be ready by spring training.

This off season we will see Zack Grienke and Ryan Dempster in the free agent market and with what it would seem as endless bank account, the Dodgers could pay for both if they wanted. But with the anxiety issues Zack has, is it even possibility of him being in one of the largest markets in the country. Dempster didn’t prove to be all that valuable to the Rangers but NL pitchers switching over to the AL never seem to transition all that well. Plus the Dodgers seemed very interested in him in 2012 but they obviously weren’t willing to give up any prospects for a rent a player.

Jake Peavy has a 22 million option that no one expects the White Sox to pick up. The question isn’t really can they afford it but is he worth it. Will he offer them a discount? Who knows but going back to the west could be good for him.

The bullpen seems pretty solid but they really need a solid closer for the 2013 season. Now my predictions are just that, what I think, but it’s going to make for a real exciting off season. I will be glued to the tv during the December meetings to wait to see what deals will be made. Will the Dodgers be the big talk in December or will another team surprise us. Either way as of now and most likely at the start of the season I will be riding the Dodger train. Who’s with me?

@mantime8

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