Posts Tagged ‘N.L. Central’

How was your Week?

Posted: September 26, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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On Thursday night the New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins 32-21 to even both teams records at 1-2. Some how this game actually went my way as I was the only one to pick the Giants to win as Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy all had the Redskins winning. With the way my season has started picking games I’ll take it.

Fantasy wise it wasn’t a good day to have a running back from this game. Matt Jones led the Redskins in rushing with 38 yards on 11 carries and did have a fumble. Alfred Morris had 19 yards on just 6 carries. If you needed to have someone out of the Redskins backfield the best choice would’ve been Chris Thompson. Thompson only had 2 carries, but picked up 29 yards; he also caught 8 passes for 57 yards and more importantly for fantasy owners he got a receiving touchdown. The Giants backfield wouldn’t of been much more help if any. Rashad Jennings was their leading rusher with 32 yards on 11 carries; he also added 3 catches for 25 yards. Andre Williams had the most carries for the Giants on the night with 14, but managed just 29 yards. Luckily if you did okay Williams he found his way into the end zone on one of his carries. Shane Vereen also carried the football 6 times for the Giants for 23 yards. I have the feeling that unless you’re in a pretty deep league Thompson wasn’t on your radar, but I’m willing to bet someone in your league depending on the size of it owns Williams.

In the passing game it might not of been bad to have either quarterback depending on what your negative points are. Kirk Cousins was 30 of 49 for 316 yards with 1 touchdown. The negatives on Cousins would be the 2 interceptions h threw and the 1 sacks for 11 yards he took. Those will be the telling factors on if Cousins was a good play in your league this week. On the other side of the football there where no negatives to Eli Manning this week. Manning was 23 of 32 for 279 and threw 2 touchdowns. Now Manning is owned in all the leagues I’m but, but he’s not a starter for everyone who owns him, Cousins on the other hand is still out there in some of the leagues that I play in. Of course with some of the regular starting quarterbacks being out injured this week Manning may be starting and Cousins may have been added to a roster. Luckily for their fantasy owners either one may be a solid play this week.

While Thompson was the Redskins leader in receptions with 8 it was tight end Jordan Reed who led the team in yardage with 96 on 6 catches. Pierre Garcon had 5 receptions for 64 yards and Jamison Crowder caught 6 passes for 45 yards. While Reed will be a good play for tight ends this week the Redskins receiver won’t do you much good. I’m not even sure if the return of DeSean Jackson would help this receiving corp. Rueben Randle had a big night for the Giants catching 7 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown while it might’ve been a down day yardage wise for Odell Beckham Jr. with 79 he did catch 7 passes and added that all important touchdown. If not for the touchdown grab it would’ve been a rough night for Beckham Jr. owners. Both Giants tight ends caught 3 passes. Larry Donnell went for 32 yards and Daniel Fells went for 27 yards. It would’ve been a good night to start either or both Giants wide receivers, but hopefully you stayed away from their tight ends.

Now your leagues score individual defensive players; so even though they don’t score huge points per week they can make or break your week. With that in mind the redskins had 3 defensive players get 10 tackles or more. Keenan Robinson led the team with 13 (10 solo), Will Compton had 11 tackles (8 solo) and Dashon Goldson had 10 tackles (7 solo). Uani’ Unga was the Giants leader in tackles with 9 (6 solo) and also had an interception while Jonathan Casillas had 8 tackles (7 solo) and the Giants sack. Prince Amukamara added 8 tackles (6 solo); defended 3 passes and had an interceptions. Also special team wise Rashad Jennings did block a punt that went for a safety; so there are a couple of extra fantasy points for you if you started the Giants Defense/Special Teams this week. Of course depending on how your league is scored will be the deciding factor on if you get points for Jennings safety.

The Oakland A’s held on last night to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4. With that loss the Giants are eliminated from the wild card race and even though they lost their game yesterday 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates the Chicago Cubs are going to the playoffs this season. It’s never the favorite way for a team to get into the playoffs, but more importantly the Cubs are officially in. Too be fair this has been expected for a while as the Giants have been struggling down the stretch and the Cubs, Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals have been the 3 best teams in the National League for a while now. Even though both teams have found there way into the post-season the games may still be big for the Pirates as they find themselves just 3 games behind the Cardinals in the standings with 8 games to go for each team. That may be too big of a hill for the Pirates to get over in such a short period of time and I doubt Pittsburgh can afford to lose a game. The Pirates are on a 7-game winning streak going into today’s game, but could they take it to 15 and catch the Cardinals. I guess with the National League just playing out the string this week it will give us something to watch. It may also add some interest to the 3-game series that the Pirates and the Cardinals have coming up in Pittsburgh. The series starts Monday wit the pitching match ups scheduled as J.A. Happ vs. Lance Lynn on Monday. Charlie Morton vs. Michael Wacha on Tuesday and Jeff Locke vs. Carlos Martinez in the series finale on Wednesday.

It’s looking like the only playoff spot left to be decided is who will be the 2nd wild card team in the American League. After a great season by the Houston Astrros their last season slide has put them in danger of falling completely out of the playoffs. It looks like the New York Yankees have wrapped up the 1st wild card slot with the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East. The Yankees have a 4 1/2 game lead in the wild card race going into today’s games. The Astros hold just a 1/2 game lead on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and they have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Minnesota Twins. The Astros are on a 3 game losing streak and our 3-7 over their last 10 games while the Angels are on a 3 game winning streak and are 7-3 over their last 10 games. The Twins who are still hanging around have dropped there last 2 games and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Astros are turning to  Collin McHugh against the AL West leading Texas Rangers to try and end there losing streak. The Angels have rookie Andrew Heaney making the start for them tonight against the Seattle Mariners and the Twins are going with  Tyler Duffey against the Detroit Tigers. It looks like the last playoff race left to watch; so who do you got?

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How was your Week?

Posted: February 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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It was a bit of a tough week to be a hockey or basketball fan in Chicago. On Tuesday the Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane was crossed checked and fell awkwardly into the boards. He didn’t return to the game and had surgery a couple of days later for what was being reported as a broken clavicle. The NHL doesn’t report what is injured on a player, but here in Chicago they’re reporting broken clavicle and Kane will be out about 12 weeks. The Blackhawks would have to go deep into the playoffs for Kane to return and without him that will be tough for them to do. Kane was being mentioned as a candidate for MVP and was among the top scorers in the NHL Kane has 27 goals and 37 assists for 64 points this season in 61 games for the Blackhawks. The same day Kane’s injury was announced the Chicago Bulls announced that Derrick Rose needed another knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus ligament. Rose had his surgery yesterday (Friday) and at a press conference the Bulls said he’d be out 4 to 6 weeks. I think this is a bit of an accelerated time line for Rose to come back. Russell Westbrook had this same type of surgery and was out 8 weeks. Now most Bulls fans will remember the first time Rose had knee surgery there where reports that he’d be returning and then he wouldn’t. What happens if we get to the Bulls announced 6 week mark and Rose isn’t ready to play. With Rose’s injury history when I heard he was injured again I just figured he was done for the season. If Rose is out the 6 weeks he’ll return with 3 regular season games left. Is that enough time for him to get ready to help the Bulls make a playoff run? Even though both teams have winning records; both teams have been disappointing this season. The Blackhawks are 37-21-5 and in 3rd place in the Central division of the Western conference with 79 points. Even without Kane they should get into the playoffs, but at the beginning of the season this team was considered a Stanley Cup contender and I’m not sure many people think that now.  The Bulls are 37-22 and hold a 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Central Division of the Eastern conference. Even if the Bulls can’t hold off the Cavaliers and win the Central division they’ll still make the playoffs. At the start of the season there was a lot of talk that the Bulls would represent the Eastern conference in the N.B.A. finals and some experts where even picking them to win it all, but right now are they a threat to even get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. I did actually hear a couple of Chicago blaming Tom Thibodeau for Derrick Rose’s injury. Thibodeau appears to be on the hot seat in Chicago as reports have come out that the front office team of Gar Foreman and John Paxson don’t like Thibodeau and his coaching style; so it was looking like he would be fired at the end of the season anyway. If anyone on the Bulls organization is blaming Thibodeau for Rose getting hurt you’d have to figure this is just another nail in his Bulls coaching coffin. Luckily for Chicago fans there’s a lot of hope for the upcoming baseball season. That’s a good thing as I wouldn’t be surprised if both the Bulls and the Blackhawks get knocked out of their respective playoffs very early or even in the 1st round.

If you’re a Bay area sports fan last night (Friday) was a good night to listen to Sports Time Radio. Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports was on the podcast with us. Nick covered everything San Francisco Giants wise and stuck around with us to talk some Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers football. We didn’t get into the Golden State Warriors, but Mr. Fantasy isn’t the biggest basketball fan; so we stayed away from that team. We  have quite a few interviews on the podcast and it’s not like your normal radio interview where the guests answers 2 or 3 questions and then they’re let go. We keep our guests on with us for almost a full 30 minutes and last night Nick stayed on the podcast with us for an hour to cover all the topics we wanted to discuss with him. We’re doing what we can to get someone from all 30 Major League Baseball teams to get previews for the upcoming season. I typed we’re, but it’s actually Dan the Man who schedules all the interviews for Sports Time Radio. If there’s a guest you’d like us to try to get on the podcast e-mail us SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com and will see if they’re willing to come on and talk to us.

Are the St. Louis Cardinals losing their grip on the NL Central? Adam Wainwright had to miss a few days of spring training already with what was being reported as an abdominal strain. Wainwright was given a few days off and has resumed his spring training workouts, but don’t forget he is also coming off surgery to clean up his throwing elbow.  Wainwright is the ace of the Cardinals pitching staff and they can’t afford to lose him for any long period of time. You do have to wonder if this abdominal injury will linger into the start of the season and cause issues. Yader Molina also missed quite a few regular season games with a thumb injury. While Molina did return for the playoffs, but went 5 for 22 in 6 playoff games. There are other questions with the Cardinals starting rotation besides Wainwright’s health. Lance Lynn is solid as a #2, but what can the Cardinals expect out of Michael Wacha and John Lackey as their 3rd and 4th starters. Then who gets the 5th spot in the rotation? Jaime Garcia, Marco Gonzales or Carlos Martinez. While I do feel that St. Louis is still the best team in the NL Central I think the gap is starting to close. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been there the last couple of seasons, the Chicago Cubs look like an improved team and remember the Milwaukee Brewers where in 1st place in this division for the better part of 2014. Sorry Cincinnati Reds fans; I think you may end up in the cellar of this division.

So how was your week?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

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