Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Opening week college football spreads:
— Auburn (-2.5) @ Baylor
— Georgia Tech (-3.5) @ Colorado
— Utah (-3.5) @ UCLA
— Alabama (-12.5) @ Florida State
— Notre Dame (-2.5) @ Miami
— Clemson (-3) vs LSU
Quote of the Day
“That’s a joke. That to me is just a joke. What are you going to do? Bring him in for one year, are you kidding me? That guy needs to stay in California. Go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there.”
Steelers’ legend Terry Bradshaw, talking about Pittsburgh maybe signing Aaron Rodgers
Wednesday’s quiz
In the history of the New York Mets, who has the most saves?
Tuesday’s quiz
In the history of the Oakland A’s (since 1968), Dennis Eckersley has the most saves.
Monday’s quiz
Since 2008, Ronald Acuna’s 73 stolen bases in 2023 are the most steals by a player in one season.
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Halliburton had 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds.
He is third player ever with 30+ points, 15+ assists, 10+ boards in a playoff game.
Pacers were +20 in Nesmith’s 32:00, minus-11 in 16:00 he sat out.
Indiana leads series 3-1; Game 5 is Thursday in New York.
— Reds 7, Royals 2
Brady Singer tossed 7 IP in beating his old team.
Elly De La Cruz homered twice, scored three runs.
— Phillies 2, Braves 0
Phillies have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Ranger Suarez threw six shutout IP, allowing seven baserunners.
Braves are 16-9 at home, 9-19 on the road.
— Dodgers 9, Guardians 5
Ohtani homered for third game in a row; he has 20 homers now.
Max Muncy scored twice, knocked in three runs.
Cleveland has lost three in a row, outscored 21-7 in those games.
— Pirates 9, Diamondbacks 6
Arizona led 6-0 after the fifth inning.
Pirates scored seven runs in the top of the 8th.
Reynolds was 4-4 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI and a homer.
— Padres 8, Marlins 6
Marlins scored six runs in top of the first, never scored again.
Arraez, Bogaerts had three hits each for San Diego.
Kolek got the win after pitching 5.1 innings; he is the first MLB pitcher since Bartolo Colon in 1999 to allow 6+ runs in the first inning, then get the win in that game.
— Cubs 4, Rockies 3 (11)
Busch/Shaw hit run-scoring singles in the 11th inning.
Chicago stole six bases in the game.
Cubs have won nine of their last 11 games.
Rockies have now lost their last 21 series.
— Brewers 5, Red Sox 1 (10)
Yelich hit his first career walk-off homer, a grand slam.
Red Sox led 1-0 after eight innings; Yelich’s double tied it in the 9th.
Milwaukee is 17-10 at home, 11-18 on the road.
— Famous birthdays, May 28th:
Kirk Gibson, 68
Bill Doran, 67
David Shula, 66
Ed Rubbert, 61
Glen Rice, 58
Steve Watson, 48
Michael Oher, 39
TJ Yates, 38
Craig Kimbrel, 37
Wednesday would’ve been Jerry West’s 87th birthday.
— Long time ago, one of the first things I learned about baseball was this:
It is important to be strong on defense up the middle.
Catcher. 2nd base, Shortstop. Center field.
In this day and age, I’m not sure teams value defense as much; some teams put a shaky defensive guy in the outfield, to get more offense in the lineup. I’m guessing pitchers must get steamed when balls become hits that should’ve been outs.
— Last five years, Dodgers’ record after 50 games:
2021- 31-19
2022- 33-17
2023- 31-19
2024- 33-17
2025- 31-19
— In the last 20 years, there have been five NBA playoff games where the road team won after trailing by 15+ points.
Three of them were the Pacers this year, coached by Rick Carlisle.
Knicks rallied from 20 down to win at Indiana Sunday, playing against Rick Carlisle.
The fifth team? 2011 Dallas Mavericks, also coached by……..Rick Carlisle.
— First round games at the Paradise Jam tournament on the Virgin Islands in November:
Iona-Yale
Akron-Evansville
UMass-Charleston
Green Bay-Oregon State
— North Florida basketball coach Matthew Driscoll, who coached UNF for 15 years and led the Ospreys to the NCAA’s in 2015, has left UNF t0 become an assistant coach at Kansas State.
— John Jay head coach Ryan Hyland left the Bloodhounds to become an assistant coach at Fordham; John Jay is a Division III program, making this a more interesting move. Hyland has coached John Jay for the last ten years.
— Denver Nuggets named David Adelman their full-time head coach, replacing Michael Malone, who got fired three games the end of the regular season.
— Nuggets’ point guard Russell Westbrook is having surgery on his right hand to repair two fractures that happened during the season, so he was playing with a broken hand.
— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Mets, Padres, SF/StL
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Twins, Guardians, Astros
Opening week college football spreads:
— Auburn (-2.5) @ Baylor
— Georgia Tech (-3.5) @ Colorado
— Utah (-3.5) @ UCLA
— Alabama (-12.5) @ Florida State
— Notre Dame (-2.5) @ Miami
— Clemson (-3) vs LSU
Quote of the Day
“That’s a joke. That to me is just a joke. What are you going to do? Bring him in for one year, are you kidding me? That guy needs to stay in California. Go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there.”
Steelers’ legend Terry Bradshaw, talking about Pittsburgh maybe signing Aaron Rodgers
Wednesday’s quiz
In the history of the New York Mets, who has the most saves?
Tuesday’s quiz
In the history of the Oakland A’s (since 1968), Dennis Eckersley has the most saves.
Monday’s quiz
Since 2008, Ronald Acuna’s 73 stolen bases in 2023 are the most steals by a player in one season.
*******************************************
Wednesday’s Den: Mid-week musings…….
— Pacers 130, Knicks 121Halliburton had 32 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds.
He is third player ever with 30+ points, 15+ assists, 10+ boards in a playoff game.
Pacers were +20 in Nesmith’s 32:00, minus-11 in 16:00 he sat out.
Indiana leads series 3-1; Game 5 is Thursday in New York.
— Reds 7, Royals 2
Brady Singer tossed 7 IP in beating his old team.
Elly De La Cruz homered twice, scored three runs.
— Phillies 2, Braves 0
Phillies have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Ranger Suarez threw six shutout IP, allowing seven baserunners.
Braves are 16-9 at home, 9-19 on the road.
— Dodgers 9, Guardians 5
Ohtani homered for third game in a row; he has 20 homers now.
Max Muncy scored twice, knocked in three runs.
Cleveland has lost three in a row, outscored 21-7 in those games.
— Pirates 9, Diamondbacks 6
Arizona led 6-0 after the fifth inning.
Pirates scored seven runs in the top of the 8th.
Reynolds was 4-4 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI and a homer.
— Padres 8, Marlins 6
Marlins scored six runs in top of the first, never scored again.
Arraez, Bogaerts had three hits each for San Diego.
Kolek got the win after pitching 5.1 innings; he is the first MLB pitcher since Bartolo Colon in 1999 to allow 6+ runs in the first inning, then get the win in that game.
— Cubs 4, Rockies 3 (11)
Busch/Shaw hit run-scoring singles in the 11th inning.
Chicago stole six bases in the game.
Cubs have won nine of their last 11 games.
Rockies have now lost their last 21 series.
— Brewers 5, Red Sox 1 (10)
Yelich hit his first career walk-off homer, a grand slam.
Red Sox led 1-0 after eight innings; Yelich’s double tied it in the 9th.
Milwaukee is 17-10 at home, 11-18 on the road.
— Famous birthdays, May 28th:
Kirk Gibson, 68
Bill Doran, 67
David Shula, 66
Ed Rubbert, 61
Glen Rice, 58
Steve Watson, 48
Michael Oher, 39
TJ Yates, 38
Craig Kimbrel, 37
Wednesday would’ve been Jerry West’s 87th birthday.
— Long time ago, one of the first things I learned about baseball was this:
It is important to be strong on defense up the middle.
Catcher. 2nd base, Shortstop. Center field.
In this day and age, I’m not sure teams value defense as much; some teams put a shaky defensive guy in the outfield, to get more offense in the lineup. I’m guessing pitchers must get steamed when balls become hits that should’ve been outs.
— Last five years, Dodgers’ record after 50 games:
2021- 31-19
2022- 33-17
2023- 31-19
2024- 33-17
2025- 31-19
— In the last 20 years, there have been five NBA playoff games where the road team won after trailing by 15+ points.
Three of them were the Pacers this year, coached by Rick Carlisle.
Knicks rallied from 20 down to win at Indiana Sunday, playing against Rick Carlisle.
The fifth team? 2011 Dallas Mavericks, also coached by……..Rick Carlisle.
— First round games at the Paradise Jam tournament on the Virgin Islands in November:
Iona-Yale
Akron-Evansville
UMass-Charleston
Green Bay-Oregon State
— North Florida basketball coach Matthew Driscoll, who coached UNF for 15 years and led the Ospreys to the NCAA’s in 2015, has left UNF t0 become an assistant coach at Kansas State.
— John Jay head coach Ryan Hyland left the Bloodhounds to become an assistant coach at Fordham; John Jay is a Division III program, making this a more interesting move. Hyland has coached John Jay for the last ten years.
— Denver Nuggets named David Adelman their full-time head coach, replacing Michael Malone, who got fired three games the end of the regular season.
— Nuggets’ point guard Russell Westbrook is having surgery on his right hand to repair two fractures that happened during the season, so he was playing with a broken hand.
— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Mets, Padres, SF/StL
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Twins, Guardians, Astros
