Armadillo Sports
Thursday’s 6-pack
Major league leaders in walks:
117— Juan Soto
85— Aaron Judge
77— Jesse Winker
76— Alex Bregman
74— Max Muncy
72— Goldschmidt, Yelich, Yandy Diaz
Quote of the Day
“It gets to the point where the pregame is a meeting every day. And it’s an elongated meeting. And players don’t need all this information, quite frankly. They need nuggets. They don’t need dissertations…….people want to tell you how to build a watch. I just need to know what time it is.”
Former Angels’ manager Joe Maddon
Thursday’s quiz
Who was coach of the LA Rams before Sean McVay?
Wednesday’s quiz
In the last five years, Kansas City Chiefs have the most regular season wins (61) in the NFL; Saints are next, with 58.
Tuesday’s quiz
Bob Brenly managed the Arizona Diamondbacks when they won their only World Series title.
********************************
Thursday’s Den: Doing some thinking out loud……..
13) Cardinals 6, Nationals 5— St Louis scored five runs in bottom of the 9th; they’re the first team this season to win a game when they trailed by 4+ entering the bottom of the 9th inning.
Teams had been 0-817 this season when they trailed by 4+ runs entering the bottom of the 9th.
12) There was an interesting article in The Athletic about former MLB manager Joe Maddon, and how he thinks analytics have now gone too far as far as dictating strategy.
Maddon:
“I still love the information. I utilize the information. Information is good. It’s the imposition. I mean, it’s to the point now where actually, our general manager had an analytical guy dressing in the coaches’ room. I mean, that shouldn’t occur. That’s an imposition.”
“I want analytical people on my staff. But I don’t want them in the dugout. I don’t want them in the clubhouse. I want them to do their job, give the work to the coaches, let the coaches then teach the players. I don’t need presenters in the dugout, I don’t need presenters in the clubhouse. … It’s getting to the point where their impact or authority is exceeding that of a coach. And that’s what I think is wrong.”
“……..every day we’d get ready for the game and (Angels GM) Perry (Minasian) and (assistant GM) Alex (Tamin) would come in and they would start talking about how I should use the bullpen that night. Like I haven’t done that for the last 40 years. When you do that, when these people do that, the game becomes cloudy.”
Interesting stuff.
11) Stat of the Day: Since 2014, NFL divisional underdogs are 28-9-2 ATS in Week 1 games.
10) Indianapolis Colts are 1-11 SU/ATS in their last 12 season openers.
9) 10 NFL teams have a new starting QB in Week 1.
12 NFL QB’s will earn $30M+ this season.
8) Jets’ QB Zach Wilson is out at least three weeks more with his knee injury; Joe Flacco gets the Week 1 start for the Jets against his old team, the Ravens.
7) Flacco is 37; Jets’ OT Duane Brown is also 37. This is the first time ever an NFL team is starting a 37-year old QB and 37-year old OT in a Week 1 game.
6) Alabama visits the Texas Longhorns Saturday; this is Alabama’s first non-conference road game since 2011. True road game, not neutral field.
5) New York 5-7, Minnesota 4-1— Twins have now lost 22 of their last 24 games in the Bronx; since 2002, Minnesota is 13-53 in the Bronx.
4) Astros 4, Rangers 3 (10)— Jose Altuve scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Texas has lost 10 of its last 11 games.
3) San Diego Padres have been shut out three times in Blake Snell’s last four home starts.
2) Since 2019, the person with the most walk-off hits in the National League is………
San Diego’s backup catcher, Jorge Alfaro, with seven. Go figure.
1) Sunday, Washington QB Carson Wentz will be the fifth QB since 1950 to start a season opener for three different teams in consecutive years.
The others:
1997-99— Jim Harbaugh— Colts, Ravens, Chargers
2003-05— Kurt Warner— Rams, Giants, Cardinals
2007-09— Brett Favre— Packers, Jets, Vikings
2009-11— Donovan McNabb— Eagles, Redskins, Vikings