Posts Tagged ‘PGA Championship’

How was your Week? 8/9/14

Posted: August 9, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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Are you surprised that Tiger Woods missed the cut yesterday at the PGA Championship? I think I was more surprised that he decided to play than I am that he missed the cut. It was the last tournament of the season for Woods and I wonder if that played into his decision to go out and try to play. Woods played in just seven PGA tournaments this season and won’t qualify for the Fed Ex Cup playoffs that start in two weeks. There was some talk of Woods playing in the Ryder Cup, but you’d have to think that right now it’s better for him to rest and try to recover. I just kind of have a feeling that we’re not going to see Woods in a tournament for a while.

Rory McIlroy is leading the PGA Championship at -9 and has a one shot lead over Jason Day and Jim Furyk. Ryan Palmer, Rickie Fowler and Mikko Ilonen are just two shots back at -7 under. Phil Mickelson is tied for 7th place going into Saturday’s round and is three shots behind McIlroy at -6 under par. McIlroy has been the hottest player on the tour lately and will see if he can add a second major win in a row during these next two rounds.

Kevin Durant left Team USA this week citing mental and physical exhaustion. Durant likely would have split his time between the two positions, starting at small forward. Now Team USA’s best options there are first-timers Gordon Hayward, Chandler Parsons and Kyle Korver, none of whom have made NBA All-Star teams. Anthony Davis, a 21-year-old, is the only All-Star frontcourt player left for Team USA, unless Love decides to play now that his trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers is agreed upon. I have to wonder if the Paul George’s injury had anything to do with Durant’s decision. Durant plays a lot of basketball and you can’t blame him for wanting some time off. His team; the Oklahoma City Thunder goes to the NBA playoffs every season and that adds games to his year as well as these tryouts and basketball camps. You can see where it could get mentally and physically draining on a player. Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay has been added to Team USA’s roster to replace Durant.

The NFL pre-season got up and running last night. I know there’s been a Hall of Fame game then the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens played Thursday night. Friday had more of a full slate of games. Just some quick take a ways from last nights action. The Chicago Bears defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 34-28, but Bears tight end Martellus Bennett did not participate do to his suspension. Blake Bortles was solid in his preseason debut Friday night, throwing for 117 yards and leading a second-half drive for a field goal in a 16-10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bortles went 7 for 11 for 117 yards in the game. Matt Cassel outplayed rookie Teddy Bridgewater in the Minnesota Vikings’ opener a 10-6 win over the Oakland Raiders. Cassel went 5-6 for 62 yards while Bridgewater was 6-13 for 49 yards. Derek Carr went 10-16 for 74 yards on the Raiders side, but did throw and interception. Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl quarterback Cam Newton did not play in Friday night’s preseason-opening 20-18 victory over the Buffalo Bills. This is not a setback for Newton, who underwent surgery in March to tighten tendons in his left ankle, as much as it is precautionary. In St. Louis Michael Sam got an extended look at defensive end in the St. Louis Rams’ pre-season opener in a 26-24 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Just a quick little NFL pre-season wrap up from last night.

Did you have the Baltimore Orioles leading the American League East by 5 games at this point in the season? Well that’s right where the Orioles are. A 5 game lead over the New York Yankees. I guess you could see the Orioles in 1st place being led by first base man Chris Davis; no. Davis has had some injuries this season and is having a down year coming off of 2013. Davis does have 20 home runs and has driven in 55, but he’s hitting .198 for the season. Then you’re thinking catcher Matt Wieters is having a break out season; no. Wieters is on the disabled list having playing in just 26 games for Baltimore this season. So how have the Orioles gotten themselves into 1st place. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis lead the offense as full-time players and a great free agent signing of Nelson Cruz have helped. Makakis is hitting .287 with 10 home runs and 39 RBI’s and has been a great defender in right field. Jones is hitting .284 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI’s while being a top defensive center fielder as well. Cruz is supplying the big power numbers for Baltimore this season with 29 home runs and 77 RBI’s. Shortstop J.J. Hardy;s power numbers have been down, but he’s gotten his average up to .281 and leads the team in doubles with 25. Wei-Yin Chen is leading the pitching staff in wins with 12, but Bud Norris and Chris Tillman have 9 wins apiece. After Tommy Hunter’s injury Zach Britton has stepped in and locked down the closer role. Darren O’Day has been a top set up guy with 18 holds and the Orioles went out and added left-handed pitcher Andrew Miller at the trading deadline. Will see if the Orioles can hold off the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays down the stretch in the A.L. East.

So how was your week?

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

8/6/14 Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: August 6, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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It’s looking more and more like Tiger Woods won’t be playing in this weeks PGA Championship. Woods aggravated his back injury hitting a shot and almost falling into a bunker. He managed to get through a few more holes before having to withdraw from last weeks tournament. There has been no official word from Woods on if he’ll be playing this week, but it would take a miraculous recovery for him to do that. With Woods out injured the media is scrambling to find a face to put on television. They’ve tried this a few times and I’m guessing they’ll turn to Rory McIlroy. McIlroy won last week and won the last major played; The Open Championship a few weeks ago. I seem to remember the media has tried this before with McIlroy and it didn’t work out, but who knows how things will go this time. I don’t know why they have to try to put a face on every tournament instead of just running the best golfer out there as the tournament is going on. I guess they figure no one will watch if they can’t find a guy to out into Tiger’s spot. Besides McIlroy here are 5 other golfers who might be holding the Wanamaker Trophy after Sunday’s final round. Watch Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, J.B. Holmes and as a wild card this week Hideki Matsuyama. Just a few guys I think the course fits well and have good chances to win.

I just heard a report that Woods has shown up at the golf course and is going to play a practice round today and see how his back is. I bet every reporter covering this tournament is hoping Woods back holds up.

Well I heard the start of my favorite debate yesterday. What debate you ask. Well it’s time for everyone to start figuring out how to give Mike Trout the American League MVP this season. Miguel Cabrera has won the award the last 2 seasons, but his stats are a little down this season and if they’re going to give Trout the MVP this may be the year to do it. Now you’re going to hear them push Trout’s Wins Above Replacement (W.A.R.) so be ready for that. The biggest issue I have with this stat is it’s estimated. You don’t estimate a players batting average, home runs, RBI’s or stolen bases. Again I’ll say that Trout is the best position player in baseball, but has he had a MVP season to this point? Right now Trout is 12th in Batting average, 5th in home runs, 4th in RBI’s Remember they pushed the fact the last two 2 seasons that Trout stole bases and Cabrera didn’t. Trout is tied for 23rd in stolen bases this season. So while there is no clear-cut candidate for MVP right now, but there are still a couple of months to go in this season. Will someone break out and win the award or will the experts get their way and finally get to give Trout the MVP. Who are some of the other candidates for MVP in the American League. You know the MVP is going to come off of a playoff team; so let’s see who’s out there. The Baltimore Orioles best player this season is Adam Jones. Jones has 21 home runs, 69 RBI’s and is hitting .285. The Toronto Blue Jays might be a wild card team with Jose Bautista being their best player, he has 21 home runs, 65 RBI’s and is hitting .292. The New York Yankees are hanging around the wild card race; it looks like Brett Gardner is having the best season for New York. Gardner has 15 home runs, 50 RBI’s and is hitting .283 and is in double digits for stolen bases at 18. Detroit should win the American League Central barring some type of collapse. Victor Martinez is having the best season for the Tigers. Martinez has 23 home runs, 66 RBI’s and is hitting .324, but remember he’s a full-time (DH) designated hitter. The Oakland A’s should find a playoff spot, but who’s their best everyday player? How about Derek Norris? Norris has 9 home runs, 41 RBI’s and is hitting .295 but has only played in 84 of the A’s games this season. Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson both have hit 23 home runs this season. Donaldson has 78 RBI’s while Moss has 72 RBI’s but Donaldson is hitting .244 while Moss is hitting .251. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim look to grab one of the wild card spots. No argument with Mike Trout being their best player. The Seattle Mariners still have a chance at a wild card spot and Robinson Cano is their best player. Cano is hitting .329, but his power numbers are down. He has 8 home runs and has driven in 62 RBI’s this season. Did any of those numbers jump out at you? I mentioned that these guys still have a couple of months to add to these stats and see if someone can win this award. Let’s face it even though he won’t win the MVP. This season the award should go to Houston Astros 2nd baseman Jose Altuve, who is hitting .337 this season and has 4 home runs with 33 RBI’s this season. Altuve isn’t a power hitter and those numbers will be much lower than everyone else’s, but he does lead the American League in stolen bases with 44. We all know Altuve has 0% chance to win the MVP and the Astros aren’t good enough and he isn’t even on a lot of people’s radar. I’d be surprised if he even found his way into the top 5 of the voting, but right now he’s the best player in the American League. See what happens to me when they start talking about this stuff. Have I ever told you how much I hate the WAR stat?

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