Posts Tagged ‘World Series’

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football
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I’m not sure if we could’ve gotten a better Game 1 to start the World Series off with. The scoring started off with something I never thought I would see. A inside the park home run by Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the 1st inning to give the Royals an early 1-0 lead. The New York Mets came back with single runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th inning off of Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez for a 3-1 lead. With the way Matt Harvey had settled down after the home run in the 1st it looked like the Royals could be in trouble. Harvey had some issues in the bottom of the 6th giving up a double and a couple of singles that led to the Royals being able to tie the game up 3-3 after 6. Both starters exited the game after pitching 6 innings; so it became a bullpen game. With 2 outs in the top of the 8th Juan Lagares singled and stole 2nd. Wilmer Flores hit what looked like an inning ending ground ball to 1st, but Eric Hosmer made an error and Lagares came around to score. Honestly with Jeurys Familia on the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the 9th inning I really thought they where going to get a big Game 1 win in Kansas City, but with 1 out in the inning Alex Gordon hit a solo home run to center field to tie the game at 4-4. Familia got the next 2 Royals hitters and Game 1 was headed to extra innings. Neither team threatened in the 10th as all 3 Mets hitters struck out swinging and 2 of the 3 Royals hitters struck out in the bottom of the inning. Lagares led of the top of the 11th with a single and was sacrificed to 2nd, but was stranded there as the Mets went strikeout, walk, strikeout to end the inning. The Royals got an infield single with 2 outs in the bottom half of the inning, but didn’t threaten. All 3 Mets hitters struck out in the top of the 12th inning. Kansas City got an infield single by Paulo Orlando who was sacrificed to 2nd. An intentional walk put runners on 1st and 2nd. A ground out to 1st moved the runners up, but was the 2nd out of the inning and the next batter flew out to center field to end the inning. All the Mets could manage in the top of the 13th was a 2 out walk. The Royals did get a lead off single to start the bottom of the inning, but after that they had a pop out and 2 ground outs to end the inning. The Mets went down 1, 2, 3 in the top of the 14th. Escobar started the bottom of the inning for the Royals by reaching safely on a throwing error by Mets 3rd baseman David Wright. Ben Zobrist singled to right field and Escobar went to 3rd base. Lorenzo Cain was intentionally walked to load the bases for Hosmer. Hosmer was 0 for 3 as he stepped to the plate to fave Bartolo Colon, but he did hit a sacrifice fly earlier in the game to drive in a run. Hosmer hit a deep fly ball to Mets rightfielder Curtis Granderson. It looked as though Escobar would score easily to win the game for the Roayls and while he did score the game winning run Granderson made the play at home plate much, much closer than anyone thought it would be. Colon took the loss for the Mets pitching 2 1/3rd innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits and he did walk 3, but they where all intentional. Chris Young who is scheduled to start Game 4 for Kansas City worked 3 innings in relief and got the win. Young pitched 3 innings in relief walking 1 ans striking out 3. So the longest game in World Series history ends in a 5-4 win for the Royals after 14 innings.

Game 2 is tonight in Kansas City and the Mets will send Jacob deGroom to the mound to start. The Royals will counter with Johnny Cueto as they look to win both games at home. deGroom has won all 4 of his post season starts and has an E.R.A. of 1.80 over 20 innings. He has also struck out 27 batters, but has given up 2 home runs. Cueto has also made 3 post season starts, but is 1-1 with an E.R.A. of 7.88. Cueto has logged just 16 innings in his 3 starts and has giving up 15 hits. After a long Game 1 that saw the Mets use 5 pitchers and the Royals use 6 pitchers in relief you have to think that both managers would like to get into the 7th inning with there starter, but it is the World Series and if a pitcher is struggling you can’t stay wit him. It looks like the Mets have an advantage in starting pitching tonight, but this is why the Royals dealt for Cueto at the trade deadline, but will he come through for them?

Over shadowed for me by Game 1 of the World Series was the start of the NBA season. There where 3 games on the schedule; 2 of which where on national television. It started with the Chicago Bulls getting a 97-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nikola Mirotic led the Bulls with 19 points, Yaj Gibson led the team with 10 rebounds and Derrick Rose led the team with 5 assists. LeBron James led the Cavaliers in scoring with 25 points, Tristan Thompson grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the team and Mo Williams had team high 7 assists. The game you didn’t see on national television saw the Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks 106-94. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points to lead the Pistons, Andre Drummond had 19 rebounds to lead the team and Reggie Jackson handed out 5 assists to lead Detroit. Dennis Schroder came off the Atlanta bench to lead the team with 20 points, Paul Milsap grabbed a team high 8 rebounds and Schroder, Jeff Teague and Al Horford tied for the lead in assists with 4. The 3rd and final game of the night saw the defending champion Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans 111-95. Stephen Curry looked to be in MVP form as he scored 40 points and handed out 7 assists to lead Golden State in both categories, Harrison Barnes led the tam with 9 rebounds. Anthony Davis scored 18 points to lead New Orleans, Davis and Ryan Anderson each grabbed 9 rebounds t tie for the team lead in that category and Ish Smith had 9 assists to lead New Orleans.

Schaumburg Stu won our pick contest for Week 7 in the NFL going 9-5. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy tied at 8-6 and I was at the bottom going 7-7. Dan the Man held on to his 1 game lead overall at 64-41. Mr. Fantasy is 63-42 while Schaumburg Stu and I are tied at 58-47. Let;s see what Week 8 has in store for us.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast in BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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The Sports Time Radio World Series preview

Posted: October 26, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball
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The World Series gets started tomorrow in Kaufman Stadium as the Kansas City Royals host the New York Mets. I thought we should go position by position and see who looks to have the edge. It’s a 2-3-2 game format; so do you think it’s important for the Mets to take 1 of the first 2 games in Kansas City? Let’s try to break things down.

1st Base Eric Hosmer for the Royals against Lucas Duda for the Mets. Hosmer is hitting just .222 in the post season, but he is the team leader in RBI’s with 11. Duda is also having his issues at the plate hitting just .214 with 1 home run and 6 RBI’s this post season. So if your picking between 2 players who aren’t hitting well it should come down to defense. While Duda has turned into a solid fielding 1st baseman Hosmer is Gold Glove caliber at 1st; so while it’s a close decision it’s Hosmer.

2nd Base Ben Zobrist has taken over as the everyday 2nd baseman for the Royals. Before the playoffs Zobrist was a super utility guy. He’s hitting well this post season .326 with 4 doubles, 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s. He also plays above average at 2nd. Zobrist would probably be the pick over any other post season 2nd baseman, but the guy playing 2nd for the Mets is Daniel Murphy. Murphy is leading his team in home runs with 7; he’s homered in 6 straight games he’s also leading te Mets in RBI’s with 11 and he’s hitting .426. While Zobrist’s number are good Murphy’s are great; so even though there’s no guarantee he’ll stay as hot as he was the choice is Murphy

Shortstop Alcides Escobar is the Royals leader in batting average at .386. He has 17 hits this post season 2 of which are triples. There was some crazy stat about how well he is hitting the very first pitch of the game as he’s leading off for Kansas City as well. Wilmer Flores took over at shortstop for the Mets after Ruben Tejada was injured. Flores is hitting .292 over his 24 post season at bats. Flores is a better power hitter than Escobar, but Esobar is one of the better defensive shortstops in the American League. Escobar is another player will have to see how the time off effects and he’s the choice at shortstop.

3rd Base Mike Moustakas is the Royals player who has the lowest batting average this post season (.167) he does have 1 home run and has driven in 5 runs even with a poor batting average. David Wright is hitting exactly the same as Moustakas is .167 and has struck out 12 times in 30 post season at bats, but has walked 9 times. It’s another situation where the players are both struggling; so we look to defense to try and make a choice. Moustakas has improved defensively at 3rd, but Wright is still a better defender at the hot corner; so let’s take Wright.

Left Field Alex Gordon is hitting .250 with 3 doubles 1 home run, but just 3 RBI’s. That could be a case of the guys in front of him are driving everyone in or is he not coming through in the clutch. He is the best defensive outfielder in this series though. Will the Mets stick with the platoon of Micheal Cuddyer who has 1 hit in 8 post season at bats and Micheal Conforto who has 1 hit in 15 post season at bats. Either way the Mets go the Royals have the advantage here; so the choice is Gordon.

Center Field Lorenzo Cain may still be one of the most underrated players in baseball even though we’ve seen him the last 2 post seasons. His base running alone put the Royals in the World Series. He’s hitting .275 with a home run and 7 RBI’s; plus 2 stolen bases. Yoenis Cespedes has had a solid post season a .265 average with 2 home runs and 7 RBI’s, but he hasn’t had those flashes of brilliance we saw in the regular season. He had a shoulder issue and received a cortizone shot; so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. This may be the toughest choice of them all and you really could take either guy, but I’m going to go with Cain.

Right Field Alex Rios just goes about his business at the bottom of the Royals order. He’s hitting .333 with 2 doubles a home run and 5 RBI’s. Not bad at all for your #9 hitter. While Rios has been a bit of a surprise Curtis Granderson has been very good for the Mets. Granderson is hitting .303 this season and has driven in 7 RBI’s as the Mets lead off hitter. Granderson is the tam leader in stolen bases with 4 and may be the only stolen base threat on the Mets. They’re comparable defensively as well. Granderson is the choice here.

Designated Hitter This is really an unfair position as the Royals have Kendrys Morales who DH’s all season while the Mets will just use one in the American League ballpark. Morales is hitting .268; is tied for the team lead in home runs with 4 and has 10 RBI’s this post season. He’ll be a very big loss to the Royals when he’s out of the line up when the games move to New York. If I had to guess I’m thinking Cuddyer is going to fill the DH role for the Mets. Cuddyer has some experience in the American League and has DH’d before, but no matter who fills the role for the Mets when the DH is used it;s advantage Morales.

Catcher While Salvador Perez is struggling at the plate hitting just .194 he does have 4 home runs and we all know any hitting he does is just a bonus for Kansas City. Travis D’Arnaud isn’t hitting much better for the Mets. A .206 batting average, but he; showing some power as well with 3 post season home runs. Perez has thrown out 1 base stealer this post season, but D’Arnaud hasn’t thrown out anyone. It’s a pretty even choice here, but I think you have to go with the experience and go with Perez.

Starting Pitching It’s Edison Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Yordano Ventura and Chris Young as the listed starters for the Royals while the Mets have Matt Harvey, Jacob deGroom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz listed as there starters. This was an easier choice than I thought it was going to be. The Royals will run out a veteran staff while the Mets stick with there up and coming rotation. The Royals starters have been a little hot and cold while the Mets have been much more consistent. I really think that starting pitching is going to be the deciding factor in this series. If the Royals starting rotation can have good outings and hang with the Mets young stud starters it would really give the Royals an advantage. Either way when it’s rotation versus rotation the Mets have a big advantage.

Set Up Men Even with Greg Holland out the Royals still have the bullpen down to a science. Kelvin Herrera leads to Ryan Madson or Luke Hochevar who leads to the closer. It got them to the World Series last season and can shorten games to 6 or even in some cases 5 innings. It’s a very good system and Bed Yost knows how to use it. Tyler Clippard has always been a great set up guy, but has struggled this post season. Luckily for the Mets they have starters Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon added to the post season bullpen. If Addison Reed can get some big outs and Hansel Robles gets some outs the Mets bullpen might be able to hang with the Royals. Sadly that’s a lot of if’s for the Mets and you have to go with the Royals in the bullpen.

Closer Wade Davis has 10 strikeouts and 3 walks over 6 2/3rd post season innings. Jeurys Familia has 6 strikeouts and 2 walks over 9 2/3rd post season innings. Davis is 3 for 3 in save opportunities and has a win. Familia is 5 for 5 in save opportunities. Davis has been in 5 games while Familia has pitched in 8 games. Davis has given up 3 hits while Familia has given up 3 and by the way neither pitcher has given up a run. Both pitchers have proven they can get more than 3 outs to record a save. Have you made a choice yet? I think I’m leaning a little towards Davis, but not by much and if you picked Familia I can see how you came to that decision.

Series I’m picking Kansas City to win the title in 6 or 7 games.

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How was your week?

Posted: October 24, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football, post season
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The Kansas City Royals are headed to the World Series for the second year in a row with a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

I had heard someone say the game would greatly favor the Royals since they where playing at home in Kaufman Stadium and there wouldn’t be as many home runs. Of course with that being said there where 4 home runs in the game; 2 for each team. The Royals used 2 solo home runs; 1 by Ben Zobrist in the 1st inning and then a controversial home run by Mike Moustakas in the 2nd. It appeared that a fan reached out over the wall for Mike Moustakas’ home run, prompting the Blue Jays to challenge the call. The play was upheld after a review. Jose Bautista cut the Royals lead in half with the first of his two home runs a bomb to left field that was listed as traveling 431 feet. It took until the bottom of the 7th inning before the Royals where able to put another run on the board. Moustakas led the inning off with a single. Salvador Perez flied out for the 1st out. Alex Gordon grounded out to 2nd, but Moustakas moved to 2nd base. That was the end of the night for David Price as Aaron Sanchez was brought in from the Toronto bullpen to face Alex Rios. Rios went down in the count 0-2. He took the 3rd pitch for a ball and on the 4th pitch of the at bat he singled t left field to score Moustakas giving the Royals a 3-1 lead. Now I thought with a 3-1 lead and the way the Kansas City bullpen has pitched in this series that the game was over it was just a matter of them getting the last 6 outs. As you know I was wrong. Ryan Madson took over on the mound in the top of the 8th inning. Ben Revere led off with an infield single and after Josh Donaldson struck out for the 1st out of the inning Jose Bautista came to the plate. Bautista fouled the first pitch off and then hit the second pitch into the left field seats and with Revere scoring ahead of him the game was tied 3-3. After a 45 minute rain delay Lorenzo Cain led off the bottom of the 8th inning by drawing a walk off of Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna. Eric Hosmer followed Cain’s walk by singling to right field. Bautista fielded the ball cleanly in right, but rather than hit the cut off man Bautista threw to second base. That gave Cain, running full speed and waved home by third-base coach Mike Jirschele, just enough time to beat the relay throw from second base sliding in safely to give the Royals a 4-3 lead. Wade Davis had been brought in to get the final 2 outs of the 8th inning and had to sit trough the rain delay before going out to pitch the top of the 9th. There had to be some concern that the delay and then having to sit through the Kansas City at bat would affect Davis and after a lead off single by Russell Martin and then a walk to Kevin Pillar you had to wonder if that was the case. Adding to things Dalton Pompey was sent in to pinch run for Martin and stole 2nd and 3rd during Pillar’s at bat. With the tying run 90 feet away and the go ahead run on 1st base Dioner Navarro was inserted as a pinch hitter for Ryan Goins. Navarro struck out swinging, but on the strikeout Pillar stole 2nd. Wit one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd it was back to the top of the order for the Blue Jays. Ben Revere stuck out for the 2nd out of the inning and that left the Blue Jays season in the hands of their MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Donaldson worked the count to 2-1 before grounding out to 3rd to end the game.

David Price made the start for the Blue Jays and pitched pretty well. Price worked 6 2/3rd innings; he gave up 3 runs on 5 hits, he walked 1 while striking out 8. Aaron Sanchez followed Price, but only pitched 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 hits. The run Sanchez gave up was charged to Price. Roberto Osuna pitched an inning giving up 1 run on 2 hits and did walk a batter. Yordano Ventura made the Game 6 start for the Royals. Ventura pitched 5 1/3 rd innings giving up 1 run on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. As usual Kelvin Herrera was the first guy out of the Royals bullpen. Herrera pitched an 1 2/3rd; he gave up no hits and struck out 2. Ryan Madson was next out of the Royals bullpen, but lasted just 1/3rd of an inning giving up 2 runs on 2 hits while walking 1 and striking out 1. Then it was Wade Davis; turn. Davis worked an 1 2/3rd he gave up 1 hit, walked 1 and struck out 3 and didn’t give up a run.

The World Series starts Tuesday night in Kansas City as the Royals will host the New York Mets. Remember the American League won the All-Star game; so they’re the home team in the series.

I understand that the NFL schedule comes out way in advance of the season; so you don’t know what the teams will actual be playing like when the games happen. There’s also no flex scheduling for the Thursday night games like there is with the Sunday night games. I’m sure on paper this looked like a great match up. An NFC West battle featuring a team (Seattle Seahawks) that has been to back to back Super Bowls against a team (San Francisco 49ers) who went to a Super Bowl the season before the Seahawks started going and a playoff contender was what we thought we might be getting when the schedule was released. What we got was a struggling Seahawks team that was having issues holding 4th quarter leads against a 49ers team that doesn’t look anywhere near what it did last season. San Francisco went through a much publicized coaching changed and also had multiple top players retire in the off season. Instead of what might’ve been a marquee match up a season or two ago we got a pretty boring 20-3 Seattle victory.

Of course even in bad games there are people who have fantasy players going and Marshawn Lynch was the guy to have in this game. Lynch carried the ball 27 times for 122 yards and a touchdown. Besides Lynch the only other touchdown went to was a Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett 43 yard connection in the 2nd quarter. Wilson was 18/24 for 235 yards with that 1 touchdown, but he threw 2 interceptions and was sacked 5 times for 23 yards. Wilson did pick up 20 yards rushing on 7 carries. If you had Lockett in your line up he was the Seahawks leading receiver with 5 receptions for 79 yards and that touchdown. The other fantasy relative might’ve been Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka. Hauschka made both of his extra point attempts in the game and hit 2 field goals a 46 and a 49 yarder. The San Francisco player who may give you the most fantasy help this week might be tight end Vernon Davis; if he was in your line up. Davis hasn’t produced for his fantasy owners this season and has missed some games with injuries, but if you had him in line line up for Week 7 he caught 4 passes for 61 yards. Davis could be a big help in a league where you have to start 2 tight ends.

Here’s hoping the rest of the games in Week 7 of the NFL are better than this one. Don’t forget that Week 7 gets an early start as the Buffalo Bills play the Jacksonville Jaquars in London. This is the NFL’s first attempt at live streaming a game; so don’t forget that it’s an 8:30 a.m. start time and you can watch it online.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

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Let’s call it Wednesday. 10/29/14

Posted: October 29, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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We’re going to have a World Series Game 7 in Kansas City tonight and the Royals made sure of that last night with a 10-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants last night (Tuesday) in Game 6. Kansas City jumped on Giants starter Jake Peavey early last night and never looked back. Peavey lasted just 1 1/3rd innings last night. Peavey was charged with giving up 5 earned runs on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. Yusmeiro Petit came in to finish the 2nd inning and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits as the Royals put up a 7 run 2nd inning. Yordano Ventura gave the Royals the strong starting pitching performance they needed. Ventura did walk 5 in his 7 innings, but didn’t give up any runs while striking out 4 and only allowing San Francisco 2 hits. Like you’d expect the Royals bullpen came in the final 2 innings to wrap up the game, but this time it was Jason Frasor in the 8th and Tim Collins in the 9th. Kansas City got 15 hits on the game with Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas and Omar Infante all had 2 hits apiece. Both of Moustakas went for extra bases; a double off of Peavey in the big 2nd inning and then a 7th inning home run off of Giants reliever Hunter Strickland. Cain also drove in 3 runs. The starting pitcher are Tim Hudson for the Giants and Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals. Of course being that it’s a Game 7 you’d have to think that everyone pitcher from both teams would be available except for maybe Ventura. The first pitching questions that comes up is will we see Madison Bumgarner out of the San Francisco bullpen. You have to wonder what kind of game it will be tonight as only one of these World Series games have been close. Game 3 was decided by was a 3-2 Royals victory. Will we get a classic tight Game 7? or will we get a game like we’ve been getting in this World Series; an easy victory for one of these teams. Who are you picking to win tonight?

After a couple of rough weeks making NFL picks Dan the Man bounced back to take Week 8 with a 11-3 record. Schaumburg Stu and I tied a game behind Dan at 10-4 while Mr. Fantasy struggled through an 8-6 week. For the season I still hold a one game lead on Schaumburg Stu. I am 76-43-1 with Schaumburg Stu at 75-44-1. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are tied after Week 8 with an overall record of 73-46-1. There are 6 teams on bye during Week 9; so will see if this helps us make better picks.

Mr. Fantasy either figured out or found out that I had put him into a challenge with my friend Greg. Greg got the better of Mr. Fantasy last week; so let’s look and see how their picks for highest scoring players at each position did. They did pick the same player at running back, wide receiver and tight end, but will get to those picks in a minute. Will start at quarterback. Mr. Fantasy picked Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers while Greg’s pick was Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. Brees was the 5th highest scoring quarterback of Week 8 with 24.07 points. Rodgers picked up an injury in his game, but still finished 11th among quarterbacks for the week with 18,46 points. Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger at 47.59 points was the highest scoring quarterback of the week. At running back they both went with Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears. Forte was the 2nd highest scoring running back of the week scoring 34.05 points. Houston Texans running back Arian Foster and his 43.30 points was the only player who stood in between Forte and the top scoring running back spot. At the wide receiver position Jordy Nelson of the Green Bay Packers was Mr. Fantasy and Greg’s choice. Nelson had 3 catches for 25 yards and a total of 4.75 fantasy points and 74th place among wide receivers. Ouch! Jeremy Maclin of the Philadelphia Eagles led all wide receivers with 42.95 points. They both liked New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronkowski was a very good pick as “Gronk” was the highest scoring tight end of the week with 39.90 points. Mr. Fantasy dislikes having to pick a kicker, but he went with Mason Crosby of the Green Bay Packers. I don’t know how Greg feels about picking a kicker each week, but he went with Dan Bailey of the Dallas Cowboys. With 12 points Crosby finished 8th among kickers in Week 8. Bailey had 5 points and tied for 24th place among kickers. For sleeper picks Mr. Fantasy chose Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Donte Moncrief. Moncrief had 7 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown while scoring 22.80 points for the week. Greg went with Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger who was making his first NFL start. Mettenberger threw for 299 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Mettenberger also had a rushing attempt for -1 yards was sacked twice and lost a fumble. Mettenberger totaled 13.13 fantasy points for Week 8. This looks like it’s close to call, but it might be Mr. Fantasy by a nose here.

The NBA opened their season last night with 3 games on the schedule; 2 early starts and 1 late start time. The San Antonio Spurs got their ring hung their banner and then got a 1 point win, 101-100 over the Dallas Mavericks. The other early game had the New Orleans Pelicans beating the Orlando Magic 101-84. The night-cap had the Houston Rockets getting a win over the Los Angeles Lakers 108-90. James harden of the Houston Rockets was the high scorer of the night with 32 points. Nikola Vucevic the center for the Magic grabbed 23 rebounds to led all players last night. Magic rookie point guard Elfrid Payton had 7 assists to led all players in last nights games. There was also a Dwight Howard elbow to Kobe Bryant that Howard was accessed a flagrant foul on. Injury wise Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle, the team’s top draft choice in June, broke his right leg midway through the fourth quarter. The stat line of the night has to go to Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis. Davis had 26 points, 17 rebounds, 9 blocked shots just missing a triple double. Davis also added 3 steals and 2 assists on the night.

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10/25/14 How was your Week?

Posted: October 25, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Game 3 of the World Series went to the Kansas City Royals 3-2 giving them a 2 games to 1 lead in the series with Game 4 tonight in San Francisco. After games that were won by 5 runs and 6 runs Game 3 was more of the style the Royals have played through the playoffs. Alcides Escobar doubled to left field to lead off the game against Giants starter Tim Hudson. A ground out by Alex Gordon moved Escobar to 3rd and another ground out by Lorenzo Cain gave the Royals a 1-0 lead. With 1 out in the top of the 6th inning Escobar singled, Gordon followed that with a double and Escobar scored for a 2-0 Royals lead. Cain ground to 3rd for the 2nd out of the inning and that was it for Hudson. Giants left hander Javier Lopez was brought into the game to face Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer. Hosmer singled to center off of Lopez scoring Gordon as the Royals took a 3-0 lead. The Giants cam back in the bottom of the 6th inning off of Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie. Brandon Crawford singled, Mike Morse pinch hit for Lopez and doubled Crawford home for the Giants 1st run. Morse’s double ended Guthrie’s night as the Royals went to their bullpen for Kelvin Herrera. Herrera walked Gregor Blanco to put Giants on 1st and 2nd. Joe Panik grounded out moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd then a ground out by Buster Posey scored Morse as Blanco went to 3rd. Pablo Sandoval ground out to end the Giants half of the 6th and the scoring for the night at 3-2. Guthrie got the win for Kansas City pitching 5 innings giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. Out of the Royals bullpen Herrera pitched 1 1/3rd innings, Brandon Finnegan pitched 2/3rd of an inning, Wade Davis pitched and inning and Greg Holland pitched the 9th inning for the save. In their 4 innings the Kansas City bullpen didn’t give up a hit and struck out 4 batters. Hudson took the loss for San Francisco pitching 5 2/3rd innings giving up 3 runs and 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. Lopez pitched a 1/3rd of an inning out of the San Francisco bullpen followed by Sergio Romo for an 1 1/3rd innings, Jeremy Affeldt for 1 1/3rd innings and Santiago Casilla for a 1/3rd of an inning. The San Francisco bullpen didn’t give up any runs just 2 hits while striking out 5 Royals. Game 4 is tonight at 7:00 p.m. weather permitting. There is some rain forecast for the San Francisco area tonight. Jason Vargas is the scheduled starter for Kansas City While Ryan Vogelsong is listed as the San Francisco starter.

Thursday night football had an AFC West battle as the Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers 35-21. Denver improved to 6-1 while San Diego fell to 5-3. At halftime Denver was up 14-7, but out up 2 touchdowns in the 3rd quarter to take a 28-7 lead before San Diego got on the board in the 3rd to make it 28-14 going into the 4th quarter. Denver scored first in the 4th quarter to go ahead 35-14 before San Diego got the final touchdown making the score 35-21. Luckily for us we had all picked Denver to win the game.

Fantasy wise it’s always a good play to have your Broncos in your line up. Peyton Manning was 25 for 35 for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns. All 3 of Manning passing touchdowns went to Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders also had 9 catches for 120 yards to go with those 3 touchdowns. Demaryius Thomas also had 8 catches going for 105 yards. Ronnie Hillman put up 109 yards on the ground carrying the football 20 times and adding 3 catches for 29 yards. Juwan Thompson only had 7 carries for 29 yards, but 2 of those carries went for touchdowns. For San Diego Phillip Rivers was 30 of 41 for 252 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Keenan Allen had 9 catches for 73 yards and a touchdown while Antonio gates had 5 catches for 54 yards and 2 touchdowns. Malcolm Floyd also added 4 catches for 58 yards. The San Diego ground game didn’t get much going Thursday night. Branden Oliver led the Chargers in rushing with 13 carries for 36 yards, but Oliver did add 7 receptions for 27 yards. If you’re in a PPR (Point Per Reception) league those catches Oliver got will help a lot. If you’re in a league that scores defensive players Brandon Marshall got in on 10 tackles for the Broncos with 2 going for losses while Chris Harris and Rahim Moore had the Broncos interceptions. For the Chargers Eric Weddle totaled 11 tackles with 9 of them being solo tackles.

Tonight (Saturday) is our Sports Time Radio fantasy league NBA draft. There are some injured players that will have to figure out how we’re going to handle. Steve Nash of the Los Angeles Lakers is out for the season; so of course you don’t want him on your team, but here are some more players will have to think about. While Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder is out of his cast and in a walking boot he’s still a long way away from returning to the court. The earliest Durant might return is the end of November, but it will probably be later than that. It looked like the Thunder’s free agent signing Anthony Morrow would get more minutes in Durant’s absence, but Morrow is also injured and will be out until November as well. The Thunder also lost 1st round draft pick Mitch McGary in pre-season to a foot injury and he’s doubtful for the start of the season. For the Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo out indefinitely with facial fracture. Also for the Magic 3 point shooting big man Channing Frye is expected to be out for the start of the season with a knee injury. Philadelphia 76ers star point guard Michael Carter-Williams will be out until November with a shoulder injury. The 76ers also maybe without their 1st round draft pick Joel Embiid who may miss the start of the season with back problems. Kawhi Leonard made a name for himself in the NBA finals, but the San Antonio Spurs guard is having some eye issues and may miss the start of the season. I was looking for a big season out of Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beals, but he’s out until November with a wrist injury. New Orleans Pelicans point guard Tyreke Evans may miss the start of the season with a knee injury. While the Milwaukee Bucks may not win a lot of games this season their center Larry Sanders is a valuable fantasy player if he can stay on the court. Sanders has had personal and injury issues and may not start the 2014-15 season because of t=what the Bucks are calling an undisclosed injury. Like I mentioned we know the Steve Nash is done for the Lakers, but Nick Young (Swaggy P.) is doubtful for the start of the season with a thumb injury. We all saw the horrible injury Indiana Pacers forward Paul George sustained playing for Team USA this summer. George has said he may be back for the end of the season and the playoffs and while it would be great for him to make it back he won’t be much help to fantasy players. Pacers power forward David West is also dealing with an ankle injury and may miss the start of the season. Shaun Livingston who is now playing for the Golden State warriors looks like he’ll miss the start of the season because of a toe injury. The Denver Nuggets look like they might be missing three players to start the season. Point guard Nate Robinson (knee) and Forward/center JaVale McGee (leg) might miss the start of the season and J.J. Hickson has a banged up knee as well as having to serve a 5 game suspension to start the season. Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls has a thumb injury and may miss the start of the season. Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets is having a foot issue and may miss the start of the season. Kevin Garnett, Brook Lopez and Deron Williams of the Brooklyn Nets are all dealing with injury issues and may miss the start of the season. Rajon Rondo the Boston Celtics point guard may miss the start of the season with a hand injury. These are just some of the players will have to decide what to do with tonight. While I’m sure some of them will play opening night for their teams some of w=them will miss games and playing time. making the right choice in a draft can make or break your fantasy basketball season from the opening tip.

So how was your week?

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

10/22/14 Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 22, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The World Series got under way last night in Kansas City as the Royals hosted the San Francisco Giants. The Giants took the 1st game of this World Series 7-1 on the strength of Madison Bumgarner left arm. Bumgarner pitched 7 innings allowing just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 5. Javier Lopez and Hunter Strickland pitched an inning apiece out of the Giants bullpen to wrap up the Game 1 win. The Giants wasted very little time getting to Royals Game 1 starter James Shields putting together 5 straight hits in the 1st inning highlighted by a Hunter Pence 2 run home run and had a 3-0 lead on the Royals before Kansas City had even batted. Shields lasted just 3 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 runs. San Francisco added 2 more runs in the top of 4th off of Shields and then 2 more runs off of Danny Duffy in the top of the 7th inning. Salvador Perez accounted for the only Royals run with a solo home run in the bottom of the 7th inning. For the Giants, Pence was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s and 2 walks. Pablo Sandoval also added 2 hits for the Giants going 2 for 5 with 2 RBI’s. Game 2 is tonight in Kansas City with Jake Peavey takes the mound looking to give the Giants a 2-0 in the series. The Royals counter with rookie Yordano Ventura as their starting pitcher. While it’s not a must win game for Kansas City tonight you’d have to think they need a win so the series doesn’t go to San Francisco down 2-0.

Week 7 was my week in the picks we do for Sports Time Radio. I went 12-3, Schaumburg Stu finished 2nd with a record of 11-4, Mr. Fantasy was 10-5 in 3rd and Dan the Man was at the bottom last week going 9-6. For the season I have taken a 1 game lead at 66-39-1 over Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy who are at 65-40-1 while Dan the Man has dropped to the bottom of the standings at 62-37-1. Will make out Week 8 picks on Sunday’s show from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on www.blogtalkradio.com; so we’ll see how those picks go.

As you know if you’ve listened to the show Mr. Fantasy picks a high scoring player at each position and also makes a sleeper pick for the week as well. What he didn’t know this week was that I had a friend (Greg) who is a long time fantasy player makes picks against him. Neither guy knew who the other would be picking but they only picked one position the same. So let’s see how their picks went. At quarterback they both went with Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts. Luck finished 10th among quarterbacks for Week 7 with 17.38 points. Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks was the highest scoring quarterback of Week 7 with 35.11 points. At running back Mr. Fantasy went with Arian Foster of the Houston Texans while Greg went with DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys. Murray ended the week in 5th place among running backs while Foster was the 11th highest scoring running back of the week. Murray had 28.20 points while Foster had 23.50 points; Matt Forte led all running backs with 31.65 points in Week 7. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy selected Steve Smith Sr. of the Baltimore Ravens while Greg took Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Smith finished in 45th place among wide receivers for Week 7 while Brown end the week in 8th place. Demaryius Thomas of the Denver Broncos was the leading scorer at wide receiver with 35.35 points, Brown had 22.23 points while Smith had 8.95 points for Week 7. At the tight end position Mr. Fantasy picked Jordan Reed of the Washington Redskins while Greg picked Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. Reed finished 17th among tight ends while Olsen was in 2nd place. Reed scored 9.15 points for the week while Olsen had 16.75 points. Gavin Escobar of the Dallas Cowboys scored 20.75 to lead all tight ends in Week 7. At Kicker Mr. Fantasy picked Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens while Greg went with Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts. Nick Folk of the New York Jets led all kickers for Week 7 with 15 points. Tucker scored 9 points and ended the week in 13th place while Vinatieri scored 12 points and finished in 7th place for Week 7. For sleeper picks Mr. fantasy selected Chris Hogan wide receiver of the Buffalo Bills who scored 8.05 points for Week 7 and ranked as the 53rd among wide receivers. Greg selected Daniel Thomas running Miami Dolphins who scored 9 points and finished 37th among the Week 7 running backs. It looks like Greg may have gotten the better of Mr. Fantasy for Week 7. Will have to see how the Week 8 picks work out. Just so everyone knows I use the scoring system that is customized for our Yahoo league.

Early in the NHL season there are only three teams that haven’t lost a game in regulation. The Washington Capitals are 3-0 with 2 games decided in overtime or shoot outs. The Nashville Predators are 4-0 with 2 games being decided in overtime or shoot outs and the Chicago Blackhawks are also 4-0 with 1 game being decided by overtime or in a shoot out. While those teams have yet to lose a game in regulation the Montreal Canadiens with a 6-1 record have the most points at 12. The Anaheim Ducks are 5-1 and are tied with the Predators at 10 points behind the Canadiens. While Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars and John Tavares of the New York Islanders lead the NHL in points with 10 it’s Rick Nash of the New York Rangers leading the NHL in goals with 8. There are four players tied for the league lead in assists with 7; Tavares, Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks, Jason Spezza of the Dallas Stars and Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks are the players that are tied. While it’s very, very early in the season and these stats will change not only from week to week, but from game to game I still enjoy knowing who the league leaders are. I know there’s no real reason for it, but it’s something I’ve enjoyed looking at since I was young and I continue to do it almost on a daily basis. I always want to know who scored and who got assists. Hopefully one of your favorite players is among the league leaders or your favorite team still hasn’t lost a game.

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

How was your Week? 10/18/14

Posted: October 18, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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I realized right after I posted the Wednesday blog that I forgot to include how Mr. Fantasy did with his picks for highest scoring position player for Week 6. So let’s starts off this blog with getting caught up on who he picked and how they did. At quarterback Mr. Fantasy went with Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears. Cutler was the 12th highest scoring quarterback of the week with 16.52 points. Cam Newton led all quarterbacks in Week 6 with 36.63 points. Mr. Fantasy’s running back choice was Giovani Bernard of the Cincinnati Bengals. Bernard finished 4th among running backs with 29.20 points. Matt Forte was the highest scoring running back in Week 6 with 39.45 points. T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts put up some big numbers for wide receivers against the Houston Texans two Thursday’s ago (10/9/14) scoring 35.30 points. Mr. Fantasy went with Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons to be th highest scoring wide receiver from Sunday’s and Monday’s game. Jones ended the week 38th among wide receivers with 11.40 points. Andre Holmes of the Oakland Raiders was the highest scoring wide receiver on Sunday with 27.35 points. For his tight end Mr. Fantasy picked Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. Olson was the 5th highest scoring tight end of the week while Jace Amaro of the New York Jets led all Week 6 tight ends with 20.30 points. Every fantasy team needs a kicker and for Week 6 Mr. Fantasy’s team went with Mike Nugent of the Cincinnati Bengals. Nugent was the 3rd highest scoring kicker of the week with 15 points. The New England Patriots Stephen Gostkowski was the Week 6 leader for kickers with 18 points. In Week 6 Mr. Fantasy took Storm Johnson of the Jacksonville Jaquars as his Week 6 sleeper pick. While Johnson didn’t put up great numbers he did find his way into the end zone and ended the week with 14.65 points. Johnson had 14 carries for 48 yards with that rushing touchdown. He also caught 1 pass, but it went for -4 yards. As far as running backs go I don’t think Johnson would’ve been too much help to your fantasy team, but he had a solid week. Will see how Mr. Fantasy’s Week 7 picks do.

The World Series is set and will begin Tuesday October 21st in Kansas City as the Kansas City Royals host the San Francisco Giants. The Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles to get into the World Series while the Giants took 5 game to beat the St. Louis Cardinals. I was a little surprised to see that the Giants are going to bring back Madison Bumgarner to start Game 1. I thought Tim Hudson might get the Game 1 call to give Bumgarner an extra day of rest. The Royals will go with James Shields as their Game 1 starter. There’s been a lot of talk about the Royals bullpen and with good reason. Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland have been lights out this post season. Herrera’s appeared in 7 post season games covering 8 1/3rd innings. Herrera has 10 strikeouts and has given up 1 run for an ERA of 1.08. Davis has appeared in 8 post season games covering 9 1/3rd innings giving up 1 run while striking out 10 for an E.R.A. of 0.96. Holland closes games for the Royals and has appeared in 8 post season games saving 6 of them. Holland has pitched 8 innings striking out 10 with an ERA of 1.13. While those are great numbers for the Royals bullpen don’t sleep on the Giants bullpen. While not as heralded this post season the Giants group of Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and closer Santiago Casilla have been very good as well. You could also add left-handed specialist Javier Lopez who’s appeared in 6 games, but has only pitched 2 innings and hasn’t given up a run. Affeldt has appeared in 7 post season games covering 6 1/3rd innings and hasn’t given up a run. Romo was the Giants closer early in the season, but is now the set up guy. He’s pitched in 7 post season games, but has only thrown 4 2/3rd innings. Romo has 4 holds and an ERA of 1.93. Casilla has appeared in 7 post season games and has pitched 6 2/3rd innings and also hasn’t given up a run. You’d have to think will see a lot of these pitchers in the World Series and this may turn out to be the key. Which ever bullpen can continue the run that they’re on may end up winning it all. Her are two bullpen pitchers; one from each team to keep an eye on besides the main relievers. Yusmeiro Petit of the Giants. While Petit has only been in 2 post season games they cover 9 innings. Petit may be the guy the Giants call on if a starter gets in trouble early in a game. If games don’t go as planned for the Royals Jason Frasor may become a pitcher to look for out of their bullpen. Frasor has made 4 post season appearances getting 2 wins and not giving up any runs. There always seems to be a guy or two you don’t expect to pitch in and help his team and these maybe be a couple of names you’ll see.

Big names normally don’t get traded during the season in the National Football League. Last season Trent Richardson went from the Cleveland Browns to the Indianapolis Colts for a 1st round draft pick. Yesterday Percy Harvin was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the New York Jets. Seattle will receive a conditional draft pick in 2015, which will range from a 2nd to 4th round selection. This move came as a surprised to most people, but then a report came out that the Seahawks had been listening to trade offers for Harvin for a few weeks now. When Seattle acquired Harvin from the Minnesota Vikings they gave up a 1st, 3rd and 7th round draft picks to get him. Right after the trade was made stories came out about Harvin not being a good locker room guy and that the team had grown tired of the receiver’s act, believing he had become too much of a destructive force in the locker room. In addition, two team sources said Harvin had physical confrontations in the locker room with teammates, especially on the offensive side of the ball. While Harvin is a weapon on offense and returning kicks he’s had problems staying healthy, but if he can stay healthy he’ll be part of a top wide receiver pairing with Eric Decker who was signed last off-season as a free agent. It doesn’t look like to big of a risk for the 1-6 Jets as only this season of Harvin’s contract is guaranteed meaning if things don’t go well the rest of the season they can let him go with no salary cap hit. It should make the Jets offense interesting to watch the rest of the season.

If you’re a fantasy basketball player we have our league set up and we’re looking for players. We’re at 14 teams right now and we’re hoping to get to 20 teams. It’s an auction style draft and it’s run through the Yahoo fantasy sports site and did I mention it’s free to play. If you’re interested here’s the link to join. It’s “Sports Time Radio” the draft is a week from today.

So how was your week?

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

How was your Week 10/26/13

Posted: October 26, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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On Friday’s show Dan the Man and I discussed some fantasy football issues and I thought you’d get a kick out of a situation I found one of my teams in this week. Myself, Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man are in 2, 20team leagues together. One of the things I like to do is join another random league that has their draft before yours. I found a 14 team league that was having their draft before ours, so I joined. I was on a good run in this league as my team was undefeated through Week 6 but Week 7 turned out to be my first loss and the remainder of the season may be rough for me. Jay Cutler was my #1 quarterback and he hurt his groin and is expected to miss about a month. My other quarterback was Sam Bradford who torn his ACL and is out for the season. Doug Martin was one of my starting running backs, he has a torn labrum and is out anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Reggie Wayne was my top wide receiver, he torn his ACL and is out for the season. Jermichael Finley was the starting tight end on this team. He took a hit and suffered a bruised spinal column. There’s no time-table for Finley’s return and his injury may be career threatening. Just to add insult to my injuries we have defensive players in this league and my 2 linebackers are Lance Briggs; who is out 4 to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury . My other linebacker was Brian Cushing, who broke a leg and tore his LCL ligament. I’ve played fantasy football for many seasons now and I’ve never seen so many of my players get injured in the same week. I guess it’s just a string of bad luck.

Tonight is the Sports Time Radio fantasy basketball draft. This is the first time we’ve done a fantasy basketball league. It is set up to be an auction draft, so that always add to the draft. The question is how much is someone willing to pay for the top players in the NBA. I’d have to guess that LeBron James and Kevin Durant will garner the highest bids. Of course since we are based in the Chicago area the Chicago Bulls players always go for more money than what the average price is. Dan the Man and Mr. fantasy prefer the auction style draft where I am a fan of the snake style draft we’ve also used. Either way it should be a good time, but the auction drafts do take some time to do.

The Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals are tied at 1 game apiece with the World Series headed to St. Louis for the next 3 games. While I am a big baseball fan and I enjoy watching the World Series what has interested me is the Cardinals pitching staff. Michael Wacha is 22, Trevor Rosenthal is 21, Carlos Martinez is 21 and Shelby Miller who I don’t believe has pitched in the playoffs for St. Louis is 22. This has to put the rest of the National League Central on notice with young pitching like this. Not to mention staff ace Adam Wainwright is 33 years old. With a pitching staff like that St. Louis could dominate their division and make playoff appearance after playoff appearance.

John Scott of the Buffalo Sabres was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for his hit on the Boston Bruins Loui Eriksson. Scott is what NHL teams might call and enforcer but fans would call a goon. Scott went after Phil Kessel in the exhibition season as well. This resulted in David Clarkson coming in to protect Kessel and getting a 10 game suspension. Scott has one career goal, so you know what he’s on the ice for. With concussion issues at the forefront of every major sport is there a place in the NHL for a player with Scott’s skill set? While Eriksson’s injury happened because of a late check it also brings up the issue, is it time for the NHL to ban fighting?

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 10/19/13

Posted: October 19, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The St. Louis Cardinals are headed to the World series after a 9 – 0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. St. Louis won the National League championship series 4-2, to advance to the World Series. Michael Wacha pitched 7 shutout innings striking out 5 and giving up 2 hits. Wacha was named the MVP in the series. In an interesting note, the Cardinals picked Wacha with the compensation draft pick they got when Albert Pujols signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It looked like the Dodgers where in a good position to get even in the series with Clayton Kershaw starting Game 6 for them. Kershaw went 4 innings giving up 10 hits and 7 runs. The Cardinals now wait for the winner of the Boston Red Sox/Detroit Tigers series. The Red Sox are up 3 games to 2 in the series. Boston has a chance to close out the series tonight; starting pitchers are Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox facing Max Scherzer for the Tigers. Even down a game Detroit looks like they might have an advantage in this pitching match up and if the series goes to a seventh game they have Justin Verlander ready to start a game 7. Of course just like last night; they have to play the game on the field.

I’m not sure how many people have noticed, but the NHL season has gotten underway. Early on the San Jose Sharks are the only undefeated team at 6 – 0. There are 4, 1 loss teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks. Of course it’s very early in the season but it’s nice to talk a little hockey. To no real surprise Sidney Crosby is leading the league with 14 points right now. It seems like the start of the season snuck up on me and sadly I didn’t even have time to set up the Sports Time radio fantasy hockey league. Hopefully it will be something will be able to play in next season.

Tom Powers a writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote an article suggesting the Minnesota Vikings trade Adrian Petersen. Mr. Fantasy and I covered a little of this story on Friday’s show and it’s an interesting idea. Would the Vikings trade Petersen if they got the same kind of deal they got when they traded Herschel Walker to the Dallas Cowboys. Or how about the trade the Miami Dolphins made to draft Rickey Williams. I’d be shocked if this trade ever happened or has ever been talked about by the Vikings.Petersen is going to end up being the best player in Vikings history as long as he stays healthy. With the way draft picks are paid now teams are more likely to hang on to those 1st round draft picks. That’s why the Trent Richardson trade was a bit of a surprise. It’s fun to consider the possibility of your favorite team trading for Petersen, but I doubt he’ll be playing anywhere except for Minnesota. What should your favorite team give in a trade for Adrian Petersen?

The NBA season is getting ready to start at the end of this month. The big question in and around the Chicago area where myself, Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are from, is what will Derrick Rose play like. He had some swelling in his surgically repaired knee after a plane ride to Brazil. He did come back and score 32 points last night in pre-season action against the Indiana Pacers last night. He has looked like he might return back to the form that made him an M.V.P. a couple of seasons ago. You have to wonder if the Chicago Bulls will manage Rose’s minutes early in the season to make sure that swelling or any other knee issues don’t occur. Even with Rose I’m not sure the Bulls can get past the Miami Heat in the Eastern conference, but their chances are better with him on the court.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me @Burketime

To DH or not to DH?

Posted: June 30, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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A great debate in the world of major league baseball; the DH. One of my favorite things about baseball is the fact that each league is different and we the fans tend to take sides. I like to think of myself as a NL guy. I grew a Cubs fan but also was able to catch Braves and Mets games before the Networks took over. Its the tradition of having everyone on the field step up to the plate that many of us hold onto.

It’s almost time for the all star break and I know not many are thinking about next season but in the 2013 season the Houston Astros will have moved to the American League West, making each division even with five teams. It Is believed that with this change Inter-league play could happen any time of the year.

Recently Carlos Zambrano was taken out of the game on June 9th complaining of lower back stiffness that may have been caused by swinging for the fences in BP (1) Ozzie Guillen spent his career in the AL and with situations like this I can see Ozzie and many other managers and the owners in the NL favoring the DH, so that their star pitcher with the multi year, multi million dollar contract isn’t hurt or injured in the batters box or running the bases.

As much as I love the tradition of the MLB and the two leagues possessing different set of rules, I’m beginning to think the benefits of having a DH could carry over greatly for the NL. The Cubs for instance might not be trying to trade Soriano, he could be their DH for the next 3 years of his contract. It could bring on the possibility of guys staying with one team for the life of their career. Perhaps, Pujols & Fielder would have stayed in the NL.

In the end, we’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out but either way I’m excited about 2013 and very interested in what changes will be made to the schedule.

Dan the Man
@mantime8

Zambrano Photo credit