Posts Tagged ‘MLB’

Cubs Wins! Cubs Win!

Posted: April 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,
0

For anyone not paying attention, Major League Baseball had its season premiere Sunday April 3 and it didn’t start in Cinncinatti.  This year it was in Pittsburgh, who started off strong, just like the division rivals and everyone’s favorite to win the World Series, the Chicago Cubs.  

They started off strong in Anahiem  with a Dexter Fowler double to right, who scored on a ground ball to Mike Trout by Anthony Rizzo. Fowler would go on to collect two more singles and another run on a ground ball to short in the top of the 7th by Kris Bryant, while Rizzo would round the bases in the fourth, scoring on a single by Jorge Soler. 

The biggest surprise of the night, especially for me would have to be Miguel Montero.  If you were listening today on Sports Time Radio, I told the Big Jack that I loved the lineup put together by Joel Maddon besides the Catcher spot and to chalk it up as outs.  Now he must have been listening because he made me eat my words. He went 2 for 5 with a single in the fourth, scoring Kris Bryant, whose patience paid off by reaching first on a walk.  Miguel would go on to send a two run blast to right field in the sixth, giving Soler his second Run of the night and taking the honor as the first Cub to hit a home run for the 2016 season.  

The last of the action came in the top of the ninth with the top of the order.  Fowler would reach on a walk and then pushed over to third on a Ben Zobrist single to right. He would move over to second on another walk by Bryant.  Matt Szczur, who was a defensive substitution for Kyle Shwarber, who went 0-4 with two strikeouts, in the bottom of the seventh came up to bat in the ninth, clearing the bases with a double to left.  This secured the win for the Cubs at 9-0.  

Jake Arrieta showed why he was the 2015 Cy Young Award recipient, holding the Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem to two hits and no runs through 7 striking out 6 with only 1 base on balls.  Solid outing for Jake but we would see Justin Grimm come into the game in the eighth, giving up a lead off double to C. J. Cron but with the help of some great defense by Heyward, Rizzo, Chris Bryant & Addison Russell, the side is retired with no damage.  Travis Wood came into the game in the bottom of the ninth with a huge lead but was able to retire the Angels in order, giving the Cubss they’re first W of the year.  

They were able to score a lot of runs last night, which secured the win but for me, I’d like to see less than 12 strikeouts per game but as long as they win, no one is going to care how often they strikeout.  Game 1 of 162 and it started off strong!

@DanZeeeMan

Four Winds Field Fun

Posted: July 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports
Tags: , ,
0

  
The Big Jack & I hopped into my Equinox and took the 2 hour trip to Four Winds Field in South Bend, IN.  Neither of us had been before while the commute was long but it seemed to fly by. We arrive, pick up our media passes and went straight to the press box which was very cool, considering how hot and humid it was at the start of the game.  Fortunately, the press box wasn’t too crowded and Big Jack and I were able to set up in there.   

After watching a couple of innings of play, I got up to take a trip around the park to see what it has to offer.  Once you enter gates A or B, whichever corridor you choose has everything you’re looking for and what’s for sale at most sporting event concessions.  When you first walk in there is a little stand to purchase team gear, if you don’t see anything you immediately love, wait and go to the gift shop.    The Cubs Den team store is located in left field.  Any and everything you could want is in this store.  I of course zoomed right in on the New Era 5950 cap.  I also had to get my self one and to say Happy Birthday to Big Jack, I grabbed one for him too.  On my way to the Cubs Den I passed by the picnic area which I assume is a group outing area.  You’re given a wrist band and it’s all you can eat, picnic food.  Everything looked great.  I don’t think you have to have the bracelet to sit in the picnic area.    


Sitting directly in left field are bar style tables, there’s a few rows.  Looks comfortable and the view is great.  As you travel along to center field is where the lawn seats are.  Bring a blanket, relax and enjoy the game but try to keep the kids there’s with all the action going on behind center field. There’s a bouncy houses and blow up slides.   All I heard was screaming kids every where.  The main gate to the stadium sits by center field and all this action is taking place but before the game started they had a classic car show, outside the gate.  Now we missed that but had I known I may have checked it out.   

 
As I strolled on the walkway behind the center field’s batter’s eye wall, had I not stopped to check out the last reminents of the Silverhawks logo, I could have been in position to catch the home run in that game that was actually caught by one of the guys in the press box, mom, on a bounce in her purse.  Yes, you may have to go back and read that last sentence over slowly.  I continued on to right field and I see this other building like the Cubs den but called the performance center, with a batting cage in it open to the public.  It’s open to the public even when the players are in there.  I was told that they’ll keep to the last two cages.  There is an upstairs that is used for more group party rentals with  a view overlooking the field.   Just after you walk out of the performance center, are the right field lawn seats, complete with a splash park and a playground.  

 
As Big Jack mentioned in his blog Take A Trip, there are a lot of activities to get the younger generation interested in the game of baseball.  But not just that even a princess parade and as I mentioned earlier the classic car show.  Even though it is a baseball game, there’s definitely something for the entire family and with all the group outtings there, also a great place for a company to take it’s employees.  Great food, lots of fun, nothing really more you can ask for in the experience as a whole from the fans perspective.  Every part of Four Winds that I walked through, everyone was having a good time and if you’re in the area or are looking to take a road trip, go see the South Bend Cubs in action and then your this historical town in Indiana.   

How was your Week? 11/1/14

Posted: November 1, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

The San Francisco Giants won their 3rd World Series title in 5 tears with a 3-2 Game 7 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Jeremy Affeldt came out of the Giants bullpen first and had the longest outing of the season pitching 2 1/3rd innings before turning it over to Madison Bumgarner who pitched the final 5 innings of the game. Affeldt was credited with the win while Bumgarner picked up a save. Bumgarner threw 21 innings in 2 starts and 1 relief appearance with an Earned Run Average (E.R.A.) of 0.43. He allowed 9 hits and 1 walk while striking out 17. While Bumgarner dominated on the mound and was awarded the World Series Most Valuable Player (M.V.P.) Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval led the Giants hitting attack. Pence hit .444 getting 12 hits with 1 home run and 5 Runs Batted In (R.B.I.) adding 3 doubles. Sandoval also had 12 hits in the World Series batting .429 with 3 doubles and 4 R.B.I.’s. As the question start for the Giants on if the can repeat on the Royals side the questions become can they get back. The Royals had a big playoff run; not losing a game until the World Series and while the Royals may not be here next season their future is bright. Under the bright World Series lights rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura came through and looks like he’ll turn into a quality starting pitcher. Ventura threw 12 innings in the World Series in his 2 starts. While he did give up 11 hits and walked 5 matters in those 12 innings his E.R.A. was just 1.46; so he was able to get himself out of trouble. Ventura added 6 strikeouts as well. At the plate Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez led the team with a .333 batting average. Perez totaled 8 hits with a double and a home run for the Royals.

With the World Series over the baseball off-season begins and the Chicago Cubs didn’t waste any time getting their off-season started. The Cubs fired manager Rich Rentaria after just one season and on Monday will officially announce Joe Maddon formerly of the Tampa Bay Rays as their new manager. While there haven’t been any terms to Maddon’s deal released yet there is a report that the Rays are either going to or have asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to investigate the Cubs for tampering with Maddon. There was a report out that the reason Maddon opted out of his Rays contract was because he had contact with the Cubs and he knew he had a job waiting. The report is also saying that the Rays would look for player compensation in the form of Addison Russell or Javier Baez.

If you’re a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder or just a fantasy basketball player you have to start thinking this team is cursed. They start the season with their best player Kevin Durant out with a foot injury and then in the 2nd game of the season their other star player Russell Westbrook goes out with what turns out to be a broken hand. Westbrook should miss about 4-6 weeks for the Thunder. Westbrook did out up 38 points in the Thunder’s opening game 106-89 loss to the Portland Trailblazers. On Thursday night the Thunder dropped their 2nd game of the season to the Los Angeles Clippers 93-90. It looks like Serge Ibaka will have to try to keep the Thunder hanging around in the Western conference until Durant and Westbrook can return. Another National Basketball Association injury that happened last night was Derrick Rose spraining his ankle and having to leave the Chicago Bulls 114-108 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night. Rose finished with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes of action and the injury is being reported as minor.

Dan the Man and I have gotten off to good starts in the Sports Time Radio fantasy hockey league. It’s early in the season, but Dan;s team is the #1 rated team in our league which is 18 teams. Dan’s team has four 4 goal scorers leading his team; Tyler Bozak of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nick Bonino of the Vancouver Canucks, Damon Severson of the New Jersey Devils and Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks. Tyler Johnson of the Tampa Bay Lighting has 11 assists to lead Dan’s team. Besides Goals and assists we have some interesting categories for our league. Plus/minus, penalty minutes, power play points, short-handed points, game winning goals, shots on goal, faceoffs won, hits and blocks. Of course you must have goaltenders on out team and Dan has a good one in Frederik Andersen of the Anaheim Ducks who is off to a 7-1 start and a Goals Against Average (G.A.A) of 1.60. Besides wins, losses and goals against the other two goalie categories are save percentage and shutouts. There are times a hot start can propel a team through the season, but since I’m in this league against Dan I’m hoping his team comes back to the pack.

I mentioned Anaheim earlier and behind Andersen play they have the best record in the National Hockey League (NHL) at 9-3 and 18 points. The Montreal Canadiens are right behind then at 8-2-1 with 17 points. On the other end of the standings the Carolina Hurricanes are still looking for their first win of the season. Through 8 games the Hurricanes are 0-6-2 with just 2 points so far this season. Anaheim’s Corey Perry leads the NHL with 10 goals while the New York Rangers Rick Nash is one goal behind at 9. Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers leads the league in assists with 12 while Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings, Tyler Johnson of the Tampa bay Lighting and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers all have 11 assists. Voracek is tied for the league lead in points with Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Each guy has 15 points for the season.

I know, I know there was a Thursday night football game. Schaumburg Stu was the only one of us smart enough to pick the New Orleans Saints to beat the Carolina Panthers. The Saints (4-4) piled up 375 yards to snap a seven-game losing streak on the road that dated back to last November. Brees finished 24 of 34 for 297 yards and Mark Ingram turned in another solid performance with 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Brees threw an interception and fumbled in the first quarter before settling down late in the second quarter and leading touchdown drives on four out of five possessions. The Saints’ defense sacked Cam Newton four times and forced two turnovers. Newton, who spent much of the night under heavy duress playing behind an offensive line without three of its regular starters, was limited to 151 yards passing. The Saints won 28-10 to take the lead in the NFC South division.

So how was your week?

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

10/8/14 Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: October 8, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

Week 5 was a better week for us in picking games as everyone had 10 wins or more. I actually won the week at 12-3. Mr. Fantasy and Schaumburg Stu finished a game behind me at 11-4 while Dan the Man was at the bottom for a change at 10-5. In our season totals Mr. Fantasy has caught Dan the Man and they’re tied at 45-31. I am just 1 game behind them with a record of 44-32 while Schaumburg Stu just 2 games off the pace at 43-33. Will see what Week 6 brings for us.

Mr. Fantasy is coming off his best week of picking high scoring players; so let’s see how Week 5 went for him. At quarterback he had Eli Manning of the New York Giants as the highest scoring quarterback, but it was Russell Wilson who was the highest scoring quarterback in Week 5. Eli Manning finished as the 14th highest scoring quarterback. At running back Mr. Fantasy went with Cincinnati Bengals Giovani Bernard. Bernard finished 22nd among running backs in Week 5 as it was San Diego Chargers rookie Branden Oliver who was the highest scoring running back. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy went with Atlanta Falcons Julio Jones. Jones finished 11th at the wide receiver position for the week. It was the Denver Broncos Demaryius Thomas who had the break out week at wide receiver and led them in scoring. At the tight end position Mr. Fantasy went with his guy and New York Giants Larry Donnell. Donnell didn’t catch a pass and scored 0 points in Week 5. Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers was the highest scoring tight end for the week. At kicker Mr. Fantasy decided to go with Nick Novak of the San Diego Chargers. Novak finished 19th among kickers in Week 5 while it was San Francisco 49ers kicker Phil Dawson who led kickers in scoring. For his sleeper pick Mr. Fantasy went with Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Louis Murphy. Murphy caught 3 passes for 35 yards and 1 touchdown. If you had Murphy in one of our leagues he would’ve scored 11.75 points for you. Murphy was the 32nd highest scoring wide receiver of Week 5; so he would’ve been a solid sleeper pick.

So the championship series are set for Major League Baseball (MLB) and they’ll start on Friday. So the team with the best record in baseball the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were swept out of the playoffs by the Kansas City Royals. The team with the best record in the National League (N.L.) the Washington Nationals were knocked out of the playoffs by the San Francisco Giants 3 games to 1. The St. Louis Cardinals eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 in their series as well. In the other American League (A.L.) series the Baltimore Orioles swept the Detroit Tigers out of the playoffs; even though the Tigers had 3 former Cy Young award winners start for them in the series.

Nelson Cruz of the Orioles led the A.L. in hitting in the division series. Cruz hit .500 going 6 of 12 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI’s for the Orioles. Eric Hosmer was the Royals leading hitter going 4 for 10 (.400) with 2 home runs and 4 R.B.I.’s in their series. On the N.L. side Buster Posey was the Giants leading hitter going 7 for 18 (.389) in the series. I’m not sure if you could guess who the Cardinals leading hitter was, but if you said John Jay you where right. Jay was 5 for 11 (.455) in the series. Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis was the leading N.L. hitter in the division series. Ellis hit .538 going 7 for 13 with a home run and a double for the Dodgers. Mike Trout was 1 for 12 and Josh Hamilton was 0 for 13 for the Angels as Erick Aybar was the Angels leading hitter going 5 for 11 (.455) against the Royals.

We start with the Kansas City Royals at the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. James Shields is starting for Kansas City while the Orioles starter hasn’t been announced yet. Game 2 of this series will be Saturday with Yordano Ventura listed as the starting pitcher for the Royals while again there is no Orioles starter listed. Saturday os also the start of the N.L. series. The San Francisco Giants are at the St. Louis Cardinals. Adam Wainwright is starting Game 1 for the Cardinals and while there’s no listed starter for the Giants it’s being reported that Madison Bumgarner will be the starter for Game 1.

The NHL opens their season tonight and they won’t have to go up against any baseball games on television tonight. The NBC Sports Network has 2 games on tonight. At 6:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) the Philadelphia Flyer take on the New York Rangers. Then at 10:30 p.m. CST the San Jose Sharks take on the reigning and defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. The two non televised games have the Montreal Canadians at the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks at the Calgary Flames. The Bruins will play tonight without center David Krejci who was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. The Bruins also placed Marc Savard on long-term injured reserve. There doesn’t appear to be any other significant injuries listed for the other teams playing tonight, but you know how the NHL can be with injuries.

Tonight on Sports Time Radio Schaumburg Stu is Back.

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

9/27/14 How was your Week?

Posted: September 27, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

I realized after I posted the blog on Wednesday that I never did go through and see how Mr. Fantasy did picking his high scores at each position. Mr. Fantasy has struggled this year picking high scorers; so let’s look and see what Week 3 was like. He went with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts was the highest scoring quarterback. Rodgers ended Week 3 in 28th place for quarterbacks. At the running back spot Mr. Fantasy went with DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys. Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks was the highest scoring Week 4 running back. Murray ended up tied for 3rd place. Ay wide receiver Mr. Fantasy chose another Green Bay Packers player; Jordy Nelson. Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons was the highest scoring wide receiver in Week 3. Nelson ended the week as the 50th highest scoring wide receiver. At the tight end position Mr. Fantasy’s choice was Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans. Walker was the 18th highest scoring tight end in Week 3. Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett was the leading scorer at tight end in Week 3. I even make Mr. Fantasy select a kicker and he went with Mike Nugent of the Cincinnati Bengals. Nugent was the 19th highest scoring kicker in Week 3 while Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts led the kickers in scoring. Mr. Fantasy’s sleeper pick was New Orleans Saints running back Khiry Robinson. Robinson scored 11.40 points in Week 3, carrying the football 18 times for 69 yards, but no touchdowns. Tune in tomorrow (Sunday) from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. to see who Mr. Fantasy’s picks for high scorers for Week 4.

We may have actually watched two of the highest scoring players from Week 4 already play. In the New York Giants 45-14 victory over the Washington Redskins; Giants Quarterback Eli Manning and Tight end Larry Donnell put up some big numbers. Manning was 28 for 39 throwing the football. Manning threw for 300 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. 3 of Manning’s touchdown passes find Donnell who ended the game with 7 catches for 54 yards. Even through Donnell’s yardage numbers are low those 3 touchdowns will put him at the top of tight ends for Week 4. Even Manning’s other touchdown pass went to a tight end as Daniel Fells caught that one. Victor Cruz put up solid numbers with 6 catches for 108 yards. Ruben Randle led the Giants with 8 catches, but for less yardage (89 yards) than Cruz had. Rookie Andre Williams was the Giants leading rusher with 66 yards on 15 carries and 1 touchdown. Rashad Jennings had 55 yards on 13 carries and even Peyton Hillis had 8 carries for 31 yards. Dan the Man was the only one of us to pick the Giants to win this game as Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and I all had the Redskins winning. Kirk Cousins struggled for Washington. Cousins was 19 of 33 throwing the football for 257 yards with 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions. Alfred Morris had good rushing numbers for Washington. Morris carried the football 12 times for 63 yards and a touchdown. If the game had been closer Morris would’ve had even better stats. Running Back Roy Helu was the Redskins leading receiver with 5 catches for 78 yards. Niles Paul was on his way to having a good game until he was injured. Paul had 3 catches for 60 yards. Paul was starting for injured Jordan Reed/ 3rd string tight end Logan Paulsen came in for Paul and added 3 catches for 28 yards. Depending on the size of your league the Washington passing touchdown may not have helped you. Cousins threw an 18 yard touchdown pass to Andre Roberts. I’d be surprised to see if Roberts was owned in a high percentage of leagues. So the last two Thursday night games have been blow outs. Week 5’s match up is an NFC North match up as the Minnesota Vikings are at Lambeau Field to play the Green Bay Packers.

On the late night Friday show, I pointed out how some people just seem to have things go their way. Derek Jeter is one of these people. Thursday night was Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium and the weather forecast all day was predicting rain. Not only was there no rain, but the game had an ending Hollywood would’ve wanted. The Yankees had a 5-2 lead going into the top of the 9th inning. Yankees closer David Robertson is in to finish the game. Nick Markakis walks to start the top of the 9th inning. Alejandro De Aza strikes out for the 1st out. Adam Jones hits a 2 run home run to cut the Yankees lead to 5-4. Nelson Cruz strikes out for the 2nd out and the Yankees are 1 our away from a victory. Steven Pearce is the batter for the Orioles and he hits a solo home run to tie the game 5-5. J.J. Hardy flew out to en the top half of the 9th. Evan Meek came in to pitch the 9th inning for Baltimore. Jose Pirela led off the 9th with a single and Antoan Richardson came out to pinch run for Pirela. Brett Gardner laid down a sacrifice bunt moving Richardson to 2nd base and now who’s up for the Yankees; you got it Derek Jeter. With 1st base open and 1 one you wonder how the crowd would’ve reacted had the Orioles decided to intentional walk Jeter, but they didn’t. Jeter proceed to hit the first pitch he saw to right field for a walk off single in his last game at Yankee Stadium. Now I’m sure if it would’ve been a movie, Jeter would’ve hit a solo home run to win the game, but this has to be just as good and it was real. Now can we please put an end to the pitchers grooving pitches to Jeter. The Orioles where playing for home field advantage throughout the playoffs and I doubt they would’ve wanted to give a game away with that on the line. I have to go on record and say I am not a Yankees fan, but Jeter transcends that and it was a fitting ending to a great career in his home ballpark. Jeter’s career comes to a close in Boston’s Fenway Park. Jeter has said he won’t play shortstop Saturday or Sunday, but should be in the Yankees line up as a Designated Hitter (DH) for the Yankees. Here’s my question for you. In 5 years Derek Jeter will go into the baseball Hall of Fame on his 1st ballot. While I doubt he’ll go in with 100% of the votes because no one does. Will Jeter go in with the highest percentage of votes ever? Tom Seaver is the player who received the highest percentage of votes going into the Hall of fame at 98.84% he is followed by Nolan Ryan at 98.79%. Will Jeter get a higher percentage than that?

So how was your week?

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

3/29/14 How was your Week?

Posted: March 29, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20140414-211313.jpg

After floating his name in the trade market the Philadelphia Eagles just decided to release wide receiver DeSean Jackson. The Eagles sited Jackson’s work ethic and attitude along with rumors that he is affiliated to some gang members that have been connected to two homicides since 2010. Jackson released a statement denying he is a gang member and calling the reports “misleading and unfounded.” Jackson had 82 catches, 1332 yards and 9 touchdowns last season for the Eagles. With the re-signing of Jeremy Macklin and Riley Cooper this off-season and the trade for Darren Sproles, you wonder if the Eagles felt Jackson was expendable. There have been some rumors that the Eagles like the crop of wide receivers in this coming May’s draft. A report came out yesterday saying six teams had contacted Jackson 30 minutes after he was released. In March of 2012 the Eagles signed Jackson to a five tear $48 million dollar deal. With the release of Jackson the Eagles will take a $6 million dollar salary cap hit this coming season.

Is it just me or out of the four major sports does it seem like the NFL has more arrests than any other sport. In another example San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was arrested Friday morning in San Jose California for felony hit and run and weapons possession. According to police reports Culliver hit a person on a bicycle and then fled the scene. As a witness attempted to stop Culliver from leaving the scene he got out of his car with a pair of brass knuckles. Then to add to the matter Culliver hit the witness’s car as he was fleeing the scene of the accident. The 49ers where aware of the situation and released a statement saying “We will remain in contact with Chris and the local authorities as we continue to gather the facts regarding this situation. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will reserve further comment at this time.” If you’re having trouble remembering who Culliver is; he was the player who made headlines two years ago during Super Bowl week with his anti-gay comments.

Five teams have clinched Stanley Cup playoffs spots so far. The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern conference and the St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks in the Western conference. only one point separates the Ducks (102) and the Sharks (103) for 1st place in the Pacific division. The Chicago Blackhawks (99), Colorado Avalanche (98) and Los Angeles Kings (92) should lock up playoff spots in the Western conference soon, but the other two spots will be up for grabs. The Eastern conference is much less clear. The Montreal Canadians (91) should clinch a playoff spot, but after that their are seven different teams in the 80 point range. With five playoff spots for these seven teams the race in the Eastern conference will heat up as the regular season gets closer to the end.

With the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers both struggling a little in there last ten games do you give any other team in the Eastern conference a chance to beat either team in a seven game series. The Pacers are 6 – 4 in their last 10 games while the Heat are 5 – 5. The Pacers have a three game lead over the Heat for home court advantage in the East. It’s going to be difficult to get by either of these teams in a seven game series, but would you give the Brooklyn Nets or the Chicago Bulls a chance. How about the Toronto Raptors who look like they’re going to win the Eastern conferences Atlantic division and get the 3rd seed in the playoffs. In the Western conference the San Antonio Spurs are on a 16 game winning streak and our looking like they’ll get the #1 playoff seed in the West. It’s going to be the 8th spot in the Western conference that’s going to be interesting. The Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies are all separated by two games. Plus the Portland Trailblazers are just a couple of games ahead of this group. One of these teams with a record above .500 will miss the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres open the baseball season Sunday night. Yeah I know there where two games played between the Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia, but that was a stupid idea by major league baseball and I’m not counting that as the start of the season. Clayton Kershaw will miss this start for the Dodgers with back inflammation, but it’s not something that should hold him back from making his next start. Andrew Cashner will be the opening day starter for the Padres. Let’s play ball.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

So how was your week?

How was your Week? (2/8/14)

Posted: February 8, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,
0

20140213-220043.jpg

Did the Super Bowl go the way you thought it would go? While I actually had the winner way back before the season started I had no clue the game would go the way it did. Most if not all of the experts I heard and even Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy where picking Denver. Schaumburg Stu finally sided with me and we had the Seahawks against the world. As we all know by now it was a blowout in the Seahawks favorite and no one had that. By now you’ve heard the Super Bowl analyzed every possible way; so I’m not going to do a breakdown for you. Right now I’m just a happy fan who’s team won.

Football wise I will address this video that is trying to prove that the NFC championship game between the Seahawks and the 49ers was fixed. The easiest way to explain this is the video was made by a 49ers fan. I don’t know if you’ve seen this video but I was dumb enough to waste my time and watch the entire thing. Plain and simple it’s a video that any fan with a lot more computer skills than I, could have put together after any NFL game. I actually understand where this guy is coming from. His team lost and he’s upset and he had to find a way to explain why his team lost. I would’ve been just as upset as this fan was if the Seahawks had lost the game but I wouldn’t have made a video claiming the game was fixed. The 49ers are a young team just like the Seahawks are and they are in the toughest division in the NFL. Seattle won the division this season. San Francisco won the division last season. The Arizona Cardinals had a better record than some NFC teams that made the playoffs and the St. Louis Rams are a young up and coming team. If these teams can keep their players and this is a big if this division will be a battle for the next few seasons.

With football over the NHL on it’s Olympic break and the NBA in what some players have described as the “dog days” of the season it’s time for pitchers and catchers to report. The Chicago White Sox are the first team to report in our area (next Saturday) while the Cubs report later next week. Now we all can sit back and wait for Mr. Fantasy’s first mock draft for fantasy baseball.

We talked some baseball on the show this week and the two free agent pitchers I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago are still on the open market. Ervin Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez haven’t been signed and I have to wonder if Santana especially priced himself out of the market when he made salary demands when he entered free agency. Both guys also have draft pick compensation attached to them if a team signs them. After the last time I mentioned these two pitchers someone asked me where I thought these pitchers would end up. I really think it’s in Jimenez best interest to return to the Cleveland Indians. He had good success their last season and it would be a good fit for him. Santana on the other hand could end up almost any where at this point. I think at this point Santana will end up with the Texas Rangers or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

In more baseball news. Yesterday Alex Rodriguez dropped his lawsuit against Major League baseball and the players union (MLBPA) and will sit out the 2014 season on suspension. I don’t think this was a case A-Rod could win and he just saved himself quite a bit of money by not following through with this lawsuit. A-Rod could refile the lawsuit at any time, but right now it looks like he has “exhaust(ed) all options” like he had said he would do. The Yankees will save $25 million if A-Rod doesn’t play in 2014 but he is owed a total of $61 million though the 2017 season. The question now becomes with the dropping of the lawsuit is A-Rod admitting some guilt and would this give the Yankees enough to void the remainder of his contract. I guess will have to wait and see where A-Rod goes next.

So; how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? (12/28/13)

Posted: December 28, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20131228-204049.jpg

So how many NBA games did you watch on Christmas day? I watched all of the Chicago Bulls win over the Brooklyn Nets. I also watched all of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win over the New York Knicks. I only made it about half way through the Miami Heat victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. I managed to catch a total of about half of the game where the Houston Rockets defeated the San Antonio Spurs. I was unable to see any of the last game a Golden State Warriors win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The teams also wore jerseys with sleeves. Most of the people I heard talk about the jerseys didn’t like them but I actually did. I’d have to guess that the NBA referees didn’t like the jerseys since there where no numbers on the back and they had to search for the players number to make foul calls. It will be interesting to see if the NBA will pull these jerseys out again this season or if we’ve seen the last of them for now?

It’s week 17 in the NFL and there are two win and you’re in the playoffs games. Aaron Rodgers returns for the Green Bay Packers as they take on the Chicago Bears Sunday at 3:25 p.m. The winner of this game wins the NFC North and gets a playoff spot. While the Packers have Rodgers back, Clay Matthews had surgery on his thumb and is ruled out for this game. The Bears are a slight favorite in this game and a lot of the experts are picking Chicago to win this game and claim a playoff spot. It’s the best rivalry in the NFL in the last week of the regular season with a playoff spot on the line. What more could you ask for? The other win and you’re in-game is for the NFC East division title. The Philadelphia Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys in the Sunday night game for what will be the only playoff spot left by the time this game kicks off. After some game playing by the Cowboys, quarterback Tony Romo had back surgery on Friday and is out of this game. The Cowboys tried to string everyone along during the week and tried to make it seemed like Romo might play in this game. I don’t think anyone believed that at all but I think they where just trying to give the Eagles something to think about. Kyle Orton takes over as quarterback for the Cowboys; they signed Jon Kitna to be his back up. It’s a lot of pressure for Orton to step into but he’s a veteran quarterback and as long as the Cowboys game plan correctly for his skill set he’ll be fine. Now I’m not saying Dallas will win this game just that Orton has a chance to play well. If you want to know who we think is going to win these games listen tomorrow (Sunday) morning (December 29th) at 11:00 a.m. on Sports Time Radio to hear who we’re going with in these two games and all the other NFL week 17 match ups.

Dion Phanuef is in talks with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a seven year deal. The money that I heard was $7 million but I would think for a player like Phanuef it would be much higher. Phanuef is the Maple Leafs leader in minutes played and plus/minus and he does this against the other teams top line most of the time. In 38 games this season Phanuef has 3 goals and 11 assists with a plus minus rating of +10 while racking up 48 penalty minutes.

In the Eastern conference the Boston Bruins in leading the way with 54 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins are on top in the Metropolitan division with 57 points. In the Western Conference the Chicago Blackhawks lead the Central division with 60 points. The Anaheim Ducks lead the Pacific division with 59 points. Sidney Crosby leads the NHL in points with 50 while Patrick Kane is 2nd with 50 points. Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals with 30 while Alexander Steen is 2nd with 24. Joe Thornton leads the NHL in assists with 37 while Nicholas Backstrom and Sidney Crosby are tied for 2nd with 34. Hampus Lindholm is a +22 to lead the NHL in plus minus rating. Tuukka Rask has 4 shutouts to lead all goalies in that category.

Masahiro Tanaka was posted by his Japanese team the Rakuten Golden Eagles on Christmas day. The rumor is Tanaka wants $17 million dollars a season to pitch in the majors. Once a team signs Tanaka his Japanese team will receive $20 million dollar from the team that signs Tanaka. Tanaka was 24 – 0 with a 1.27 era, last season. Tanaka did lose a game in the Japanese World Series but did come back the very next day to close out the championship. There are a long, long list of major league baseball teams looking to sign Tanaka; so now they have 30 days to get his signature on a contract. Let the bidding war start.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @burketime

How was your Week? 11/09/13

Posted: November 10, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

20131110-070826.jpg

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 (9/7/13)

Posted: September 7, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20130907-204819.jpg

Again I have to start this week out with apologizing for Friday’s show. More issues came up during the show and I know their where some problems listening to us on BlogTalkRadio.com and i am very sorry for these problems and hopefully when next Friday rolls around the problems will be worked out.

At the start of Friday’s show I mentioned I had read a couple of articles about the Chicago White Sox. Since Dan was off Friday Mr. Fantasy filled in for the entire show and the White Sox are his favorite baseball team. The articles talked about Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko retiring after this season. I’d be shocked to see Dunn retire, since he still has money left on that big free agent contract he signed with the White Sox. Konerko has had a solid career but I could see him retiring. It’s a lot like rebuilding without selling off your pieces. With the season the White Sox have had it might be good for the team to start looking for younger players to build around. Dunn has pretty much been a bust for the White Sox since they signed him. While he’s put up big home run numbers they don’t make up for low batting average. Dunn seems to struggle every season to stay about .200 and it’s tough to win with that kind of hitter in your line up. There’s still a few weeks left in the regular season, so will see what these two players decide to do with their careers.

The NFL season started on Thursday with the Denver Broncos beating the Baltimore Ravens 49 – 27. Peyton Manning threw for 462 yards and seven touchdowns. So every Peyton Manning fantasy owner was thrilled on Friday when they saw his stats. The rest of the teams are in action Sunday and week 1 wraps up Monday night with a doubleheader. I’m not going to go through all the match ups here as we starting a NFL preview Sunday morning show at 10:00 a.m. on Blog Talk Radio. The show is simply titled NFL preview week 1 if you’d like to listen.

We never had a chance to discuss this on the show but there was a huge deal made in the media about a fight at Philadelphia Eagles practice between cornerback Cary Williams and wide receiver Riley Cooper. Fights happen all the time at NFL training camps and practices, so you’re wondering why this one made news. Well as you know Cooper had a video released in the summer of him using a racial slur at a concert and Williams is a black man. In all the accounts I’ve read of this altercation Williams was the one who used the racial slur during the fight and it had nothing to do with what Cooper said in that video. It was just two players who had a fight at practice but since Cooper was involved it became a big media event. It’s sad that the media is going to try to turn everything Cooper does into a racial issue when it’s just a football play.

You can find me on Twitter @burketime

Go and listen to this weeks episodes.

Fantasy Draft Recap

Wed is Sports Time

Happy Friday to You

Older Entries
Newer Entries