Posts Tagged ‘Texas Rangers’

Almost tied at 55

Posted: July 17, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, fantasy, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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The series finale between the Cubs and the Texas Rangers ends today with John Lackey seeking his eighth win against the strong Cole Hamels looking to grab win number 10.  Hamels would strikeout the first six batters.  Cole gives puts the first batter on due to a fielding error by Adrian Beltre with Albert Almora taking first base.  With two outs, Javier Baez sends a line drive to left field allowing Almora to cross home for the Cubs first run of the game.  

The Rangers were quick to end first inning but Lackey gives up back to back singles to start the second off to Pronce Fileser and Ryan Rua.  With one out, Elvis Andrus drives in Prince with a line drive to center field.  Robinson Chirinos sends a fly ball to Almora but it’s far enough to bring Rua in for the second run for the Rangers.   

The Rangers are up 2-1, going into the 4th and Lackey assists in adding another run by walking Ryan Rua and Nomar Mazara.  Chirinos’s double to left brings in Rua for the third run of the game for the Rangers putting them up by 2.  

Lackey is able to hold the Rangers up until the eighth inning when he gives up a leadoff home run to Ian Desmond but is able to end the inning completing eight innings giving up 4 runs on 6 hits but strikes out 8.   I would say a pretty typical outing for Lackey but without the run support.  Clayton Richard enters game preserving the game for Lackey and the Cubs.  

Cole Hamels combats Lackey with eight full innings but only gives up only one run but strikes out seven.  Sam Dyson enters the game for the Rangers to hold the game for the Rangers and receives his 19th save of the year.  The Cubs took the series, everyone wants a sweep but this is still a positive weekend for the Cubs.  

Go Cubs Go!
<a href=”http://Www.twitter.com/danzeeeman&#8221; target=”_blank”>Dan the Man</a>

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Cubs Hammel the Rangers

Posted: July 16, 2016 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, Minor League Baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio
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Jason Hammel still seeking out his 8th win of the season will have to take on the best in the AL West, the Texas Rangers and back from the disabled list, Yu Darvish.

Hammel would make it a quick 1st inning but goes into the 2cd giving up a single to Ryan Rua.  With two outs Elvis Andrus would send a routine ground ball to Addison Russell who’s throw pulls Rizzo off of first, Rua never stops, Rizzo’s throw home is out of reach for Montero but bounces back to him, Miguel’s throw to second is perfect getting Andrus out at 2cd to end the inning.

That would be the only run Hammel gives up through 6 innings.  He would only give up one more hit, walks one and strikes seven for a quality start.

Yu would have batter luck through the first two innings but give up a leadoff walk to Montero and a one out single to Tommy LaStella.  With two men on and two outs, Rizzo would send a line drive to right scoring both runners.  Yu would only make it 4 and 1/3 innings but he’d strike out 9 Cubs while walking four.

Shawn Tolleson would replace Yu to finish the 5th but it would be in the bottom of the 6th with two outs and two men on, he’d give up a single to Matt Szczur scoring Jason Heyward putting the Cubs up 3-1.  That would be all the Cubs need to fly the W in Wrigleyville.

Hammel would get the win as Adam Warren and Travis Wood score the hold with Hector Rondon scoring his 15th save of the season.  Two down, one more for the sweep.

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

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Cubs top Texas

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

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

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

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

Go Cubs Go!

Dan the Man

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Let’s call it Wednesday 

Posted: June 29, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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It seems as though just a short time ago everyone was sold on the Chicago Cubs where easily the best team in baseball. The Cubs have hot there first real rough patch of the season and that seems to have allowed other teams to come back into the conversation. The Cubs still have the best record in the National League at 50-26, but the San Francisco Giants aren’t too far behind at 49-30. It is an even number year, so that makes San Francisco the World Series favorite, doesn’t it?

The Washington Nationals have the third best record in the NL at 46-32. While one of these teams should be the odds on favorite to make it to the World Series out of the NL they all seem to have a common weakness, the bullpen.

The Cubs bullpen issues showed up last night, but they where able to over come them and win the game in extra innings. Hector Rondon entered the game with a 2-0 lead, but allowed the Cincinnati Reds tie it up blowing his 3rd save chance in his last 4 opportunities. While Rondon has had his issues as of late he does still have an 1.65 ERA for the season. While Rondon has stayed healthy and is the only Cubs reliever to record a save, the Giants have had 5 different pitchers pick up at least 1 save.

Santiago Casilla is San Francisco’s closer, but he’s blown 4 saves this season and has missed some time with injuries. Casilla’s ERA is 3.23 and you have to wonder at age 35 if his time is running out as the Giants closer. The Nationals are in full on juggle the end of the game mode as their closer Jonathan Papelbon is current on the disabled list. Papelbon was 16 out of 18 in save chances before getting injured. While Papelbon has been out Shawn Kelly has 3 saves in 4 chances while Yusmeiro Petit and Felipe Rivero have both picked up 1 save in 2 chances while Papelbon has been out. Papelbon started a rehab assignment on Monday and should be back with the Nationals this weekend as long as things go as planned.

With these teams bullpen’s rough shape, are they looking to make a trade?  Any time you talk bullpen everyone goes to the New York Yankees and expect them to deal Andrew Miller and or Aroldis Chapman. Of course with the Yankees in contention for a wild card spot why would they break up their bullpen. So if any of these three teams are looking to make a trade is there a team out there selling?

Now I have started to hear and read that the Oakland A’s may be ready to start making deals. If you’re looking for bullpen help would Ryan Madson be someone your team should take a look at. Madson has converted 15 of 18 save chances and has an ERA of 3.00 and is 3-2 this season. If you’re not interested in Madson should your team or a team take a chance on Sean Doolittle. Doolittle has pretty much miss the last two seasons with injuries, but this season he has converted 4 of 5 save chances and has a 2-2 record with an ERA of 2.93. Both Madson and Doolittle can close or set up; so there’s some versatility for your bullpen. You could give the rebuilding Atlanta Braves a call, but I don’t think they’re going to trade 25-year-old Arodys Vizcaino as he appears to be the closer of the future. The Braves do have Jason Grilli in their bullpen, but do you want your team going that route?  The Minnesota Twins lost their closer Glenn Perkins for the season with an injury; so there probably out for bullpen help.  Jeanmar Gomez has been a surprise at the back-end of games for the Philadelphia Phillies converting 21 of 23 games with an ERA of 3.00 and has a 2-2 record. It’s the first time Gomez has closed on a regular basis; so it would be tough to see a contender going out to get him. Will one of these teams make an early move or will they stand pat and wait to see if the Yankees or another team with some possible bullpen help fall out of contention?

In the American League, the Texas Rangers have really put everyone on notice with the best record in baseball at 51-27. The Baltimore Orioles are 46-30 and where looking like the next best team in the AL until the Cleveland Indians went on an 11 game winning streak to equal the Orioles at 46-30. I wasn’t sold on the Indians at the start of the season.  I wasn’t sure they would hit enough to support the pitching staff they have.  Cleveland has the 14th best team betting average at .260.  They are tied for 12th in home runs with 96 and tied for 2nd in stolen bases with 62.  Don’t forget that the Indians have done this with their best player Michael Brantley playing just 11 games.  

Now the Orioles seem to be doing it with smoke and mirrors on the mound.  Chris Tillman has been very good for them, 10-1 with an  3.52 ERA in 16 starts. Other than Tillman the rotation is a mess.  Ubaldo Jimenez has an 6.63 ERA with a 5-7 record in 15 starts. Kevin Gausman has a solid 3.93 ERA and just had his first solid outing of the season, but has a 1-5 record in 13 starts.  Tyler Wilson has made 12 starts and is 4-5 with a 4.50 ERA.  Yovanni Gallardo has been injured and has made just 6 starts after being signed as a free agent in the off-season.  It’s amazing that Baltimore’s record is what it is when you look at their starting rotation.  

The Rangers are starting to look like the best all around team, but the question with them, can they stay healthy. The everyday line up has stayed healthy and with the addition of Jurickson Profar, they look good.  Starting pitching is where the injury bug has caught the Rangers.  Nine different pitchers have made starts this season. Currently, starters Colby Lewis, Derek Holland and Yu Darvish are on the disabled list.  Lewis isn’t scheduled to start throwing for four weeks, while Darvish is scheduled to throw a simulated game today and Holland is supposed to start playing catch today.  

So it seems as every top team has questions.  Can the Indians hit enough to win?  Do the Orioles have enough starting pitching to win?  Can the Rangers stay healthy enough to win? 

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How was your week

Posted: April 2, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Even though it is currently snowing where I live the Major League Baseball season starts tomorrow (Sunday) for 6 teams. The season starts with the St. Louis Cardinals at the Pittsburgh Pirates. Adam Wainwright starts for St. Louis while Francisco Liriano gets the opening day start for Pittsburgh. The 2nd game features the Toronto Blue Jays at the Tampa Bay Rays. Marcus Stroman makes the start for the Blue Jays and it will be Chris Archer starting for Tampa Bay. The final game of the day is a World Series rematch as the New York Mets visit the Kansas City Royals. Matt Harvey is starting for the Mets while Edison Volquez is the Royals opening day stater.

As we always do, we’ve made our selection on which teams and player will have success this season. Here’s what we’ve picked for the 2016 baseball season.

We’ll start in the American League East. I have 1st New York Yankees 2nd Toronto Blue Jays 3rd Boston Red Sox 4th Tampa Bay Rays 5th Baltimore Orioles.

Dan the Man has 1st Blue Jays 2nd Yankees 3rd Red Sox 4th Rays 5th Orioles.

Mr. Fantasy has 1st Blue Jays 2nd Red Sox 3rd Yankees 4th Orioles 5th Rays

Schuamburg Stu has 1st Blue Jays 2nd Yankees 3rd Rays 4th Red Sox 5th Orioles.

In the A.L. Central I have 1st Kansas City Royals 2nd Chicago White Sox 3rd Detroit Tigers 4th Cleveland Indians 5th Minnesota Twins.

Dan the Man has 1st Royals 2nd White Sox 3rd Tigers 4th Twins 5th Indians.

Mr. Fantasy has 1st White Sox 2nd Tigers 3rd Royals 4th Indians 5th Twins.

Schaumburg Stu has 1st Royals 2nd Indians 3rd Twins 4th Tigers 5th White Sox.

In the A.L. West I have 1st Texas Rangers 2nd Seattle Mariners 3rd Houston Astros 4th Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5th Oakland A’s.

Dan the Man has 1st Rangers 2nd Asttos 3rd Mariners 4th Angels 5th A’s.

Mr. Fantasy has 1st Astros 2nd Rangers 3rd Mariners 4th Angels 5th A’s

Schaumburg Stu has 1st Astros 2nd Rangers 3rd Angels 4th Mariners 5th A’s.

My A.L. wild card teams are the White Sox and the Mariners. Dan the Man has the Astros and the Yankees. Mr, Fantasy has the Red Sox and the rangers while Schaumburg Stu is going with the Yankees and the Rangers.

We’ll move into the National League starting in the East. I have 1st Washington nationals 2nd New York Mets 3rd Miami Marlins 4th Atlanta Braves 5th Philadelphia Phillies.

Dan the Man has 1st Nationals 2nd Mets 3rd Marlins 4th Braves 5th Phillies.

Mr. Fantasy has 1st Mets 2nd nationals 3rd Marlins 4th Braves 5th Phillies.

Schaumburg Stu has 1st Mets 2nd Nationals 3rd Marlins 4th Braves 5th Phillies.

In the N.L. Central I have 1st St. Louis cardinals 2nd Chicago Cubs 3rd Pittsburgh Pirates 4th Cincinnati Reds 5th Milwaukee Brewers.

Dan the Man has 1st Cubs 2nd Cardinals 3rd Pirates 4th Brewers 5th Reds.

Mr. Fantasy has 1st Cardinals 2nd Pirates 3rd Cubs 4th Reds 5th Brewers.

Schaumburg Stu has 1st Cubs 2nd Pirates 3rd Cardinals 4th Reds 5th Brewers.

In the N.L. West I have 1st San Francisco Giants 2nd Arizona Diamondbacks 3rd Los Angeles Dodgers 4th Colorado Rockies 5th San Diego Padres.

Dan the Man has 1st Giants 2nd Diamondbacks 3rd Dodgers 4th Padres 5th Rockies.

Mr. Fantasy has 1st Giants 2nd Dodgers 3rd Diamondbacks 4th Rockies 5th Padres.

Schaumburg Stu has 1st Giants 2nd Diamondbacks 3rd Dodgers 4th Padres 5th Rockies.

My N.L. wild card teams are the Mets and the Cubs. Dan the Man has the Mets and the Diamondbacks. Mr Fantasy has the Pirates and the Diamondbacks and Schaumburg Stu has the Pirates and the Nationals.

In the World Series I have the Rangers beating the Nationals. Dam the Man has the Giants beating the Astros. Mr. Fantasy also has the Giants beating the Adtros and Schaumburg Stu has the Cubs beating the Astros.

We also made our picks for some individual awards. For Manager of the Year I have Robin Ventura (White Sox) in the A.L. and Bruce Bochy (Giants) in the N.L. Dan the Man has Jeff Bannister (Rangers) in the A.L. and Terry Collins (Mets) in the N.L. Mr. Fantasy has John Farrell (Red Sox) in the A.L. and Bruce Bochy (Giants) in the N.L. Schaumburg Stu has A.J. Hinch (Astros) in the A.L. and Joe Maddon (Cubs) in the N.L.

For Rookie of the Yaer I went with Jose Berrios (Twins) in the A.L. and Orlando Arcia (Brewers) in the N.L. Dan the Man has Alex Bregman (Astros) in the A.L. and Corey Seager (Dodgers) in the N.L. Mr. Fantasy has Byron Buxton (Twins) in the A.L. and Steven Matz (Mets) in the N.L. Schaumburg Stu has Blake Snell (Rays) in the A.L> and Corey Seager (Dodgers) in the N.l.

For the Cy Young I have Chris Sale (White Sox) in the A.L. and Adam Wainwright (St. Louis) in the N.L. Dan the Man has Dallas Keuchel (Astros) in the A.L. and Zack Greinke (Diamondbacks) in the N.L. Mr. Fantasy has Chris Sale (White Sox) A.L. and Michael Wacha (St. Louis) in the N.L. Schaumburg Stu has David Price (Red Sox) in the A.L. and Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) in the N.L.

To wrap this up our Most Valuable Player picks are. You’ll see a bit of a theme with the N.l. pick. I have Lorenzo Cain (Royals) in the A.L. and Hunter Pence (Giants) N.L. Dan the Man has Nelson Cruz (Mariners) in the A.l. and Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks) in the N.L. Mr. Fantasy has Carlos Correa (Astros) in the A.L. and Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks) in the N.L. Schaumburg Stu is going with Mike Trout (Angels) in the A.L. and yes you guessed right Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks) in the N.L.

There you go; good, bad or indifferent our picks for the 2016 baseball season. Do you agree? Disagree? or did we clearly miss a player or a team that you think we should’ve had winning an award or a division or even the World Series let us know. You can leave a comment here or on Twitter @SportsTimeRadio or go over to SportsTimeRadio.com and let us know what you think.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime as well as Dan the Man @DanZeeeMan along with Mr. Fantasy @MrFanofSports

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, NFL picks
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Who had the Chicago Cubs being the first team to lock up a spot in the National League Championship Series (NLCS)? The Cubs wrapped up there series against the St. Louis Cardinals last night with a 6-4 win. What’s interesting in this Cubs series victory is the fact that players like Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant didn’t carry the team. They each have 3 hits this post season with 2 of Rizzo’s hits being home runs and 1 of Bryant’s hits being a home run. Jorge Soler is hitting .571 during the post season. Kyle Schwarber is hitting .538 with a team leading 3 home runs and 5 RBI’s. Dexter Fowler is hitting .300 out of the lead off spot for the Cubs. Javier Baez had to enter Game 3 do to an injury to starting shortstop Addison Russell. Baez had a couple issues in the field which might’ve been do to nerves, but he was 4 for 5 at the plate and hit a big 3-run homer last night. Now I’m not sure if the Cubs can continue to advance with Rizzo hitting .167 and Bryant hitting .150, but they’ll have a few days off as they wait for the winner of the other National League Division Series (NLDS) be it the New York Mets or the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The American League will wrap up both if it’s division series today. The first game of the day has the Texas Rangers on the road to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Now no home team has won a game in this series and the Blue Jays will need to change that to advance. The pitching match up for Game 5 is a rematch from Game 2 as Cole Hamels starts for the Rangers and the Blue Jays go to Marcus Stroman. Both pitchers threw 7 innings last game, but neither figured in the decision as the rangers win the game 6-4 in 14 innings. Hamels gave up 4 runs, but only 2 where earned on 6 hits while striking out 6, Stroman gave up 4 runs with 3 being earned on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5.This series has been kind of a surprise as no one thought the Rangers would be this much trouble for the Blue jays let alone take them to a Game 5. Do the Rangers have 1 more surprise in them.

The second Game 5 in the American League has the Houston Astros on the road to take on the defending American League champions the Kansas City Royals. The Astros are going with Colin McHugh as there starting pitcher while Kansas City turns to there trade deadline pick up Johnny Cueto. McHugh got the win for the Astros in Game 1 of this series pitching 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. Cueto started Game 2 of this series for Kansas City pitching 6 innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 5. Cueto didn’t figure in the decision, but the Astros won Game 2 5-4. This is another series that I don’t think anyone had going 7 games and I don’t remember anyone picking the Astros to win.

If you live in the Chicagoland area you might not know that there was a second National League playoff game last night. Clayton Kershaw went out and did just what he was suppose to do for the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. Over 7 innings Kershaw gave up 1 run on a solo home run to Daniel Murphy. Kershaw struck out 8 walked just 1 and besides the home run only gave up 2 other hits to the Mets. Steven Matz got the Game 4 start for the Mets. Matz pitched 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 2 and striking out 4. The Dodgers got all there runs off of Matz in the top of the 3rd inning. An Adrian Gonzalez single to center with runners on 1st and 3rd got the Dodgers 1st run home. Justin Turner followed Gonzalez with a double down the left field line to drive in the Dodgers other 2 run. That gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead and they scored all of these runs with 2 outs in the inning. The Murphy homer cut the lead to 3-1, but neither bullpen gave up a run and Kenley Jansen worked a 1,2,3 9th inning striking out 2 while picking up the save for the Dodgers. The series heads back to Los Angeles on tied 2-2 with Game 5 being on Thursday. The Mets are going with Game 1 winner Jacob deGroom. deGroom worked 7 shutout innings giving up 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 13. The Dodgers are countering with Game 2 winner Zack Greinke. Greinke went 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 8. The winner of this game knows they’ll go on to face the Cubs while the loser is done for the season.

Now baseball will always be my first love as far as sports go, but football isn’t far behind. This season I;m having a big problem with the NFL. Where has the defense gone? It seems as if every game I watch the when there’s about 3 minutes left to play neither team can stop the other one. I understand the rules greatly favor the offensive team, but you’ve stopped them time and again the entire game and now that there’s just 3 minutes left you can’t even slow them down. Not only can’t I figure this out, but I’m starting to feel like I’m wasting my time watching the first 3 and 3/4th of the game when all I need to see is the last 3 minutes. If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that my biggest issue with the NBA is the fact that I only really need to see the 4th quarter to know what’s going on with the game. This season in the NFL has pretty much went the same way for me. Besides the Denver Broncos is there another team out there that’s going to play defense?

With baseball in the post season and the football season up and running you might not have noticed that the NHL season has started. The Montréal Canadiens are off to a 4-0 start and there are a few teams behind them at 3-0. Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty has 4 goals and is tied for the league lead with Justin Abdelkader of the Detroit Red Wings, Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild and Oscar Lindberg of the New York Rangers. While it’s too early for these stats to mean all that much it’s always fun to see who’s putting the puck in the net.

Now I didn’t forget about our pick for Week 5 in the NFL, but I’d like to. Dan the Man won the week with a 10-4. Mr. Fantasy was a game behind him at 9-5. Schaumburg Stu had an 8-6 week while I barely made it to 7-7. Mr. Fantasy still has the overall lead at 49-28 with Dan the Man a game behind at 48-29. I’m a ways back in 3rd at 42-35 and Schaumburg Stu is still in the cellar at 41-36. Maybe I’ll have a good Week 6, but I doubt it.

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How was your Week?

Posted: October 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football
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With the Division series under way the first question that comes to mind is; who had the Texas Rangers winning the first two games against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto? I’m not even sure if the biggest Rangers fan had them doing this. Most if not all the experts talking about this game thought that the Blue Jays had far and away the biggest home field advantage in the division series, but I guess someone forgot to tell the Rangers. Toronto looked to have the edge in Game 1 with David Price as there starting pitcher against Yovani Gallardo for the Rangers. Gallardo threw 79 pitches over 5 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. While it wasn’t a long post season outing giving up 2 runs to the Blue Jay offense could be considered a success. Price pitched 7 innings; he gave up 5 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. Not the kind of Game 1 outing you’re looking for from your Cy Young contending starting pitcher. You have to wonder if Price not having pitched since September 26th had anything to do with this sub par performance. Even in that September 26th outing Price pitched just 5 innings. Is it possible that Price was over rested coming into his Game 1 start. So with the Rangers finding a way to get a Game 1 victory as a team they had to start looking at taking both games in Toronto when they had Cole Hamels starting Game 2. As it turned out neither Hamels nor Blue Jays Game 2 starter Marcus Stroman would be around to get a decision in Game 2. Hamels had a good outing pitching 7 innings. He did give up 4 runs, but only 3 of them where earned on 6 hits. Hamels stuck out 6 and didn’t walk anyone, but did throw 114 pitches over his 7 inning outing. Stroman had a good outing as well as he also pitched 7 innings. Stroman gave up 5 hits and 4 runs, but only 3 of his runs where earned. He walked 2 and struck out 5 while throwing 93 pitches. Don’t forget that this was Stroman’s 5th start of the season as he missed most of the year with a knee injury. The Blue Jays where looking like they would even the series as they had a 4-3 lead in the Top of the 8th inning. Delino DeShields Jr. led off the inning with a single and that ended Stroman’s day. Brett Cecil took over on the mound for the Blue Jays. Shin-Soo Choo sacrificed DeShields to 2nd and then after a Prince Fielder strikeout Mike Napoli cam e in to pinch hot for Mitch Moreland Napoli singled to right center field and DeShields scored to tie the game 4-4. After that the bullpens shut things down for both teams. Sam Dyson )1 Inning), Jake Diekman (2 innings), Shawn Tolleson )2 innings) and Keone Kela (1 Inning) allowed just 2 hits and struck out 6 over 6 innings of relief. For the Blue Jays Roberto Osuna (2 Innings), Mark Lowe (2/3rd of an inning), Aaron Loup (2/3rd of an inning) and Aaron Sanchez (1 and 2/3rd of an inning) kept the Rangers in check and the game was still 4-4 going into the top of the 14th inning. LaTroy Hawkins took the mound to work against the Rangers. Hawkins got the first two batters, Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton out to start the inning. With 2 outs Rougned Odor beat out an infield single Chris Gimenez and Odor went to 3rd base. So the Rangers have 1st and 3rd with 2 outs against Hawkins and it’s Hanser Alberto coming to the plate. Alberto is playing 3rd base for the injured Adrian Beltre. It’s kind of funny how post season baseball seems to out guys you’re not expecting in these type of spots. Alberto came through in his spot with a single to center field. Odor scored to give the Rangers a 5-4 lead. Gimenez went to 3rd base and Alberto went to 2nd on the throw home. That ended Hawkins night after 2/3rd of an inning; Liam Hendriks took over for Hawkins. DeShields beat out an infield single as Gimenez scored to give the Rangers a 2-run lead at 6-4. Hendricks got Choo to line out to center field to end the Rangers half of the inning. With there closer Tolleson already used in the game the Rangers turn to Ross Ohlendorf to get the save. Ohlendorf got Troy Tulowitzki looking at strike three for the 1st out. Justin Smoak went down swinging for the 2nd out. Russell Martin was hit by a pitch and then went to 2nd base on fielder’s indifference. It was up to Kevin Pillar to keep the Blue Jays hopes alive, but he struck out swinging as well to the game and give the rangers that 2-0 lead in the series. The ALDS gets a day off as they travel to Texas for Game 3. The Blue Jays are going with Marco Estrada as there Game 3 starter and the Rangers counter with Martin Perez as there Game 3 starter. Estrada was 13-8 on the season with an E.R.A. of 3.13. Estrada’s last outing was October 9th when he struck out 9 over 6 2/3rd innings. Estrada does have 4 post season appearances; all in relief for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2011. Perez made 14 starts for the Rangers this season going 3-4 with a 4.46 E.R.A. If there’s going to be baseball in Canada again this season the Blue Jays will have to find a way to win both games in Texas.

All the division series where in action yesterday with the Rangers/Blue jays kicking things off. Game 2 of the Houston Asttros/Kansas City Royals may have started a few hours later than Rangers/Blue Jays, but it came very close to ending before it. The Royals did win Game 2 of the series to even it up at 1-1. Game 1 of the National League series kicked off with the St. Louis Cardinals getting a 4-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. Don’t be fooled by that score as it was a 1-0 game for 7 plus innings before a couple of St. Louis home runs put the game out of reach. It was a very well pitched game on both sides by John Lackey (St. Louis) and Jon Lester (Chicago) and it had to be a tough game for the Cubs to lose to open the series. The final game of the night had the New York Mets at the Los Angeles Dodgers. In another well pitched game that saw both starters strikeout double digit hitters Jacob deGroom (13 strikeouts) out dueled Clayton Kershaw (10 Strikeouts) as the Mets took Game 1 3-1.

It’s a travel day for the American League series; so the 2 National League games take center stage. Kyle Hendricks takes the mound for the Cubs against Jaime Garcia for the Cardinals in Game 2 of there series with the Cubs trying to even it up. The Mets will send  Noah Syndergaard out against the Dodgers who are starting Zack Greinke in Game 2 to try to get that series even for Los Angeles.

With all this baseball going on I bet you thought I forgot all about our picks for Week 5 in the NFL. Well I wish I had, but I didn’t. My week didn’t start off well as I had the Houston Texans beating the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. So going into Sunday I’ll be 0-1 while Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy all and the Colts and are 1-0. If I said I was giving them a head start would anyone believe me?

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Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com.

How was your Week?

Posted: October 3, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football
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Week 4 in the NFL started off right for Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I as we had the Baltimore Ravens getting their 1st win of the season and luckily they did. Schaumburg Stu was the only one who took the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the game and to be fair they where just a couple of missed field goals away from Stu being 1-0 to start the week. As for me I have to make some quality picks that are different from Mr. Fantasy’s; so I can cut into his early season lead.

All in all from a fantasy perspective it wasn’t a great night unless you owned the starting running backs from either team. Le’Veon Bell had 22 carries for 129 yards and scored a touchdown o the ground for the Steelers. He also added 7 catches for 21 yards. While his passing yardage won’t really add up for you if you’re in a PPR (Point Per Reception) league those 7 extra points are nice to have. I’m sure fantasy owners where starting to question their selection of Justin Forsett early in there drafts this season, but he did what he could to change their minds on Thursday night. Forsett had 27 carries for 150 for the Ravens, but sadly for his fantasy owners didn’t find his way into the end zone.

Did you have to plug Michael Vick into your fantasy line up this week? If you did he didn’t hurt you, but he didn’t score big for you either. Vick went 19 for 26, but only for 124 yards; he did throw 1 touchdown and wasn’t intercepted. Vick also ran the football 9 time for 33 yards, but surprisingly he was sacked 4 times. Joe Flacco went 20 of 33 for Baltimore. He threw for a total of 189 and did have 1 touchdown, but he was also intercepted 1 time as well. Flacco did run 3 times, but he went for a total of 0 yards and he was also sacked 5 times and did lose a fumble as well.

When the quarterbacks aren’t throwing for a lot of yards that of course means your wide receivers aren’t racking up a lot of yards for you. Antoino Brown had 5 catches, but he went for just 42 yards and didn’t find his way into the end zone. It was Darrius Heyward-Bay who caught the Pittsburgh touchdown pass. Heyward-Bay had a total of 4 catches for 31 yards and that touchdown. Kamar Aiken was the ravens leading receiver on the night. Aiken had 5 receptions for 77 yards and 1 touchdown. Steve Smith Sr. was injured early in the 3rd quarter and didn’t return to the game; so his night ended with him have 4 catches for just 24 yards. If you’re in a deep league and happened to take Ravens receiver  Michael Campanaro he added some fantasy points for your team this week. While Campanaro did have just 2 receptions for 16 yards; he did have an end around in the red zone that ended up being a 9-yard rushing touchdown. Campanaro is also te main return man for the Ravens. He had a kickoff return for 24 yards and a punt return for 14 yards if those stats count in your league.

The top fantasy player of the night may have been Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker. Tucker hit both his extra points ans was 3 of 3 on field goals with a long of 52 yards. He of course was much better than Steelers kicker Josh Scobee who did make both his extra points, but was 2 of 4 on his field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards.

Pittsburgh did have a couple of defensive players make double digit tackles. Lawrence Timmons led the Steelers with 11 tackles and did add a sack. Stephon Tuitt had 10 tackles and also recorded a sack. Three other Steelers recorded sacks; James Harrison, Sean Spence and  Cameron Heyward got them. Ross Cockrell got the lone interception in the game. Baltimore only had 1 player get double digit tackles as Daryl Smith made 13 with 1 sack. Za’Darius Smith did have 2 sacks for the Ravens and Elvis Dumervil had the other sack for Baltimore.

The most interesting series during the last week of the baseball season had the Texas Rangers hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with not only the AL West on the line, but also the final wild card spot. Thursday night saw the Rangers get the win 5-3 and clinch themselves a playoff berth. Adrian Beltre went 2 of 3 with 3 RBI’s in the victory and Elvis Andrus added 2 hit for the Rangers. Derek Holland got the win to improve his record to 4-3. Holland went 6 1/3rd innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6. Ross Ohlendorf, Jake Diekman and Sam Dyson held the Angeles scoreless and closer Shawn Tolleson picked up his 35th save of the season working the 9th inning. Albert Pujols got have of the Angels hits on the night going 2 for 4 (a double and a home run) while scoring 2 runs and driving in 1. Erick Aybar and Shane Victorino had the Angels other RBI’s on the night. Andrew Heaney (6-4) took the lose for the Angels pitching 4 1/3rd innings giving up 4 runs in 5 hits while walking 5 and striking out just 1. While this win locks up a playoff spot for the Rangers the rest of series will decide if they’re the AL West champions or if they’re the 2nd wild card team. Will also know if the Angels are in or out of the playoffs.

Friday night saw the Angels even up the series by picking up a 2-1 win scoring a run in the top of the 9th inning off Rangers closer Tolleson to do it. The Angels took the lead right out of the gate scoring a run in the 1st inning. Aybar led the game off with a single. After 2 strikeouts Pujols singled to move Aybar to 3rd. C.J. Cron picked up the RBI singling to rightfield to drive in Aybar and give the Angels a 1-0 lead. The Rangers got even in the bottom of the 4th inning on a Shin-Soo Choo home run; his 22nd of the season. In the top of the 9th Mike Trout led off the inning with a triple. Pujols followed that up with a single driving in trout for a 2-1 Angels lead. The Rangers couldn’t come through in the bottom of the 9th inning as Mitch Moreland (fly out), Josh Hamilton (strikeout) and Andrus )ground out) against Angels relievers Mike Morin and Joe Smith who picked up his 4th save of the season filling in for injured closer Huston Street. Jered Weaver started the game for the Angels pitching 6 innings. Weaver gave up 2 hits and 1 run while walking 3 and striking out 2. Morin got the win while pitching just 1/3rd of an inning to improve his record to 4-2. Martin Perez started the game for the rangers pitching 7 innings giving up 4 hits and 1 run while walking 1 and striking out 4. Tolleson took the lose pitching 1 inning giving up 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 1; the loss drops Tolleson’s record to 6-4 on the season.

With 2 games left in the regular season the Angels find themselves 1 game behind the Houston Astros for the final wild card spot in the American League. The Angels are starting Hector Santiago against the Rangers this afternoon. Texas is going wit Colby Lewis on the mound. Santiago is 9-9 with an ERA of 3.52 in 31 starts/ Lewis is 17-9, but has an ERA of 4.53. It’s must win time for the Angels to keep there playoff hopes alive as a loss and an Astros wins eliminates them. The Astros by the way are playing an inter-league series against the Arizona Diamondbacks to end the season. Tonight the Astros send out Colin McHugh who is 18-7 with a 3.98 ERA against Jeremy Hellickson for the Diamondbacks who is 9-11 with a 4.50 ERA this season.

You can listen the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football
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Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books and Mr. Fantasy had the best week of picks in our little contest. He ends Week 1 with an 11-5 record. Dan the Man is a game back at 10-5 while Schaumburg was 9-7 for Week 1. Sadly I was a huge embarrassment going 7-9 for the first week of the season. Looks like I have quite a hole to dig myself out of right from the start of the season.

So if your a New York Giants fan and your team misses winning the NFC East by 1 game or just happens t miss the playoffs by 1 game you can look back at their Week 1 (27-26) loss to the Dallas Cowboys as the reason for it. This was far and away the stupidest football played by any team in Week 1. The Giants where on the Cowboys 2-yard line with about 1:40 to go in the game with Dallas having no timeouts. On 3rd down instead of just jamming the football int the line and trying to pound it in for a touchdown Eli Manning decides that he’s going to throw for it. Now there’s no issue with that, but as he rolled to his right he threw the ball away. Now I don’t know if he forgot the situation or is just dumb, but he stopped the clock. Then instead of going for it on 4th down the Giants decided to take the field goal and give themselves a 6-point lead. If Manning would’ve taken the sack and then New York would’ve just ran the ball on 4th down they would’ve had a 3-point lead with about .45 seconds to go in the game and Dallas would have to go 98 or 99 yards for a touchdown to win the game. So the Giants opt for the field goal and then they have to kickoff to the Cowboys. Oddly they decided to squib kick instead of just kicking out of the end zone and making Dallas start from the 20- yard line. This of course backfires as well and Dallas ends up wit the football at the 30-yard line instead where they easily drove down into scoring position. Dallas went 72 yards in 1:27 and Tony Romo even dropped the last snap he took before picking up the football and throwing the game winning touchdown pass to Jason Witten. With as easily as Dallas moved the football on their last drive could they of done the same if they had started at their own 1-yard line. I’m sure they could’ve, but remember they would’ve had far less time if Manning doesn’t throw the football away and if they had ran the football instead of kicking the field goal. Even stranger a story came out that on 1st and 2nd down Manning told running back Rashad Jennings not to score to run some time off the clock. I guess Manning’s math is bad because a touchdown and the extra point would’ve given the Giants a 10 point lead and Dallas would’ve needed 2 scores to tie or win the game. Manning has actual confirmed that he told Jennings this and Jennings has apologized for more or less throwing Manning under the bus to the media. 2015 is Manning’s 12th season in the NFL he’s a 3-time pro bowler and has won 2 Super Bowls. What I’m wondering is how? It’s almost as if Manning didn’t want Jennings to score so he could throw a game winning touchdown pass and be the hero. I’m sure that wasn’t it, but the shear stupidity of the situation is just impossible to figure out. Now I myself was dumb enough to pick the Giants to win the game on Sunday night and I also having them winning the NFC East this season. Looking back at that; maybe I’m the dumb one.

It’s looking as though the Chicago Cubs will end up with one of the two National League wild card spots. Now the debate has started; who is the Cubs starting pitcher for that game? Everyone I know and have spoken to on the podcast think it’s a slam dunk that Jake Arrieta will get the ball for that game, but I’m the one not sure about that. With the season Arrieta has had 19-6 in 29 starts with an ERA of 1.99 with 3 complete games and 2 shutouts as well. Arrieta goes for his 20th win tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates. If it’s not Arrieta; who would be the other Cubs option? Jon Lester is the answer. Lester is 10-10 in 29 starts with an ERA of 3.38 with 1 complete game which he threw yesterday (Tuesday) against the Pirates. Lester was given big money in free agency last off season to pitch these kind of games. Lester has had his issues, but his last 2 September starts have been good. He went 7 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals giving up 1 run on 2 hits while walking 1 and striking out 7 in a no decision. Against the Pirates last night (Tuesday) Lester went 9 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits while walking 1 and striking out 9. Now I’m in the Arrieta camp here. I think he should get the ball for the wild card game but you’re going to hear about Lester’s post season experience in comparison to Arrieta’s; who’s never pitched in a post season game. My question is, does Joe Maddon make this decision or does the front office of General Manager Jed Hoyer and team President Theo Epstein get involved. Which ever pitcher gets that start in the wild card game if the Cubs don;t win it there are going to be questions as to why they didn’t start the other pitcher.

The Texas Rangers took over 1st place in the American League West by a 1/2 game last night when they beat the Houston Astros for the 2nd time in a row 6-5. On Monday the Rangers won the first game of the series 5-3. Last night it was 5-5 going into the bottom of the 9th. Prince Fielder led off with a single off of Oliver Perez. Will Harris came out of the Astros bullpen to replace Perez and face Adrian Beltre. Drew Stubbs enters the game as a pinch runner for Fielder. Beltre singles to centerfield and Stubbs goes to 3rd base. It’s 1st and 3rd for Mitch Moreland. The 1st pitch of the at bat is a ball. Moreland hits the 2nd pitch to centerfield and Stubbs tags and scores to win the game and put the Rangers in 1st place. While a sacrifice fly isn’t the exciting highlight the networks like when it comes to walk offs I’m guess the Rangers could care less. The Astros look to get back into 1st place as they send Dallas Keuchel to the mound. Keuchel is a 3-time pitcher of the month. He leads the AL in ERA (2.22) innings pitched (206 2/3rd) and my favorite stat WAR (7.1). Keuchel is 13-0 at home, but just 4-7 with a 3.13 ERA on the road. By the way the Rangers are the home team. Keuchel does have a win over the Rangers this season, but it was back in April. The Rangers are going wit Martin Perez on the mound. Perez is 1-3 with a 5.64 ERA over his last 4 starts. His win was at home, but his home ERA is 5.82. Perez is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.17 in 4 career starts against the Astros. These two teams have a 3-game series on the 25th, 26th and 27th of this month whcih may decide who wins the AL West.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTallkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

The Sports Time Radio All – Stars

Posted: July 6, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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If you’ve listened to Sports Time Radio you know that we’re not a huge fan of the way the major league baseball All Star teams are selected. So I tried to have us put together our own All Star team. Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy, Schaumburg Stu and I all made list of our All Stars. Here’s how we went about it. Each person ranked the top 3 players at 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, Shortstop and Catcher. We ranked 9 outfielders, 6 starting pitchers and 4 relievers. A player got 10 points for a 1st place vote. 8 points for a 2nd place vote. 6 points for a 3rd place vote and then 5 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, 1 point and a half of a point for positions 4th through 9th. Here how are voting came out. The player’s point total is in parenthesis. Others getting votes will be listed.

National League

Catcher: Yader Molina (38)

Buster Posey (34) Wilin Rosario (12) Evan Gattis (12)

1st Baseman: Joey Votto (34) Paul Goldschimdt (34) Tie!

Adrian Gonzalez (16) Freddie Freeman (12)

2nd Baseman: Brandon Phillips (34) Matt Carpenter (34) Tie!

Marco Scutaro (16) Daniel Murphy (6) Jedd Gyroko (6)

Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki (36)

Jean Segura (34) Everth Cabrera (26)

3rd Baseman: David Wright (36)

Pablo Sandoval (26) Michael Young (16) Ryan Zimmerman (12) Pedro Alvarez (6)

Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez (28), Carlos Beltran (18) Andrew McCutchen (15)

Dominic Brown (14) Carlos Gomez (14) Dexter Fowler (13) Hunter Pence (11) Michael Cuddyer (11) Bryce Harper (8) Justin Upton (7) Shin Shoo Choo (6) Ryan Braun (5) Gerardo Parra (5) Jay Bruce (4) Norichika Aoki (2) Starling Marte (1) Matt Holiday (1/2) Alfonso Soriano (1/2)

Starting Pitcher: Patrick Corbin (30)

Adam Wainwright (27) Jordan Zimmerman (23) Matt Harvey (22) Clayton Kershaw (13) Shelby Miller (11) Mike Minor (6) Cliff Lee (5) Jeff Locke (4) Travis Wood (3)

Relievers: Jason Grilli (40)

Edwin Mujica (22) Craig Kimbel (14) Rafael Sorinao (10) Aroldis Chapman (8) Sergio Romo (6) Mark Melancon (6)

American League

Catcher: Joe Mauer (40)

Carlos Santana (28) Jarrod Saltalamacchia (8) Matt Wieters (6) Salvador Perez (6)

1st Baseman: Chris Davis (40)

Prince Fielder (28) James Loney (14) Edwin Encarnacion (8) Adam Lind (6)

2nd Baseman: Dustin Pedroia (32)

Robinson Cano (28) Jose Altuve (16) Howie Kendrick (12) Jason Kipnis (8)

Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta (38)

J.J Hardy (32) Alexei Ramirez (8) Elvis Andrus (6) Jed Lowrie (6) Ben Zobrist (6)

3rd Baseman: Miguel Cabrera (40)

Adrian Beltre (16) Manny Machado (14) Josh Donaldson (14) Evan Longoria (12)

Outfielders: Mike Trout (33) Adam Jones (30) Tori Hunter (18)

Alex Rios (15) Coco Crisp (12) Jose Bautista (12) Nate McLouth (9 1/2) Alex Gordon (7) Brett Gardner (6 1/2) Jacoby Ellsbruy (6) Curtis Granderson (4) Nick Markakis (2) Melky Cabrera (1) Nelson Cruz (1) Mark Trumbo (1)

Starting Pitcher: Clay Buchholz (30)

Max Scherzer (27) Yu Darvish (23) Hisashi Iwakuma (16) Bartolo Colon (14) Justin Masterson (10) Justin Verlander (8) Felix Hernandez (7) Matt Moore (6) Chris Sale (3)

Relievers: Mariano Rivera (40)

Joe Nathan (24) Addison Reed (11) Aaron Crow (8) Tony Sipp (6) Jim Johnson (6) Andrew Bailey (6) Jessie Crain (5) Glen Perkins (5)

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