Wednesday's List

outlaw420 · Posted: Jul 07 2010 08:10 am Post subject: Wednesday's List

Our 2010 All-Star ballot.......

American League

C-- Joe Mauer, Twins-- Doesn't have a HR at Target Field yet, but does have a .395 OB% at home. By far the league's best catcher.

1B-- Justin Morneau, Twins-- Leads MLB first basemen in homers on the road and also on-base percentage.

2B-- Robinson Cano, Bronx-- Will probably become first 2B ever to win a Gold Glove and a batting title in his career. Surprising fact.

SS-- Elvis Andrus, Rangers-- Tremendous range as a fielder, is hitting .290 with .371 on-base percentage and 22 stolen bases. He is a big reason why the Rangers lead the AL West.

3B-- Adrian Beltre, Red Sox-- 12 HRs, 54 RBI, hitting .335 and a terrific fielder who finally got to play home games in a hitter's ballpark.

OF-- Carl Crawford, Rays-- Hits the ball hard almost every at-bat in this, his walk year. Whoever his agent is will be very happy this winter. .297 career hitter has nine HRs; his career high is 18.

OF-- Josh Hamilton, Rangers-- Pounded the ball in June, is T4 in majors in RBI, 7th in runs scored, 3rd in BA, 18th in on-base percentage.

OF-- Magglio Ordonez, Tigers-- .387 OB% with 10 HRs, 51 RBI and 48 runs scored. One of the cornerstones of an underrated team.

DH-- Vladimir Guerrero, Rangers-- His move to Texas has swung balance of power in AL West; future Hall of Famer is hitting .330 and is second in big leagues in RBI.

SP-- David Price, Rays-- 11-4, 2.42 in 16 starts this year, with WHIP of under 1.20. Considering struggles of Shields/Garza, you could make a case for Price as MVP of league, if Tampa Bay makes the playoffs.

SP-- Cliff Lee, Mariners-- Is 4-0, 1.54 in his last four starts, as teams line up to trade with Seattle for his services. The price keeps going up. In the four wins, by the way, he's pitched 35 innings, so he saves your bullpen.

SP-- Felix Hernandez, Mariners-- Not too often two of three best pitchers in a league are on a last place team, but Seattle is that team. He's 3-0, 1.48 in his last five starts.

Closer 1-- Mariano Rivera, Bronx-- Won't be participating because he has begged out of game, but has had an amazing career, and is still excellent.

Closer 2-- Andrew Bailey, A's-- 1.76 ERA with 43 saves in 117.1 career IP. If he was on a better team, you'd know a lot more about him.

National League

C-- Brian McCann, Braves-- A catcher with 10 HR and a .380 on-base%? Vision problems went away when he stopped drinking Red Bull and other caffeine-based energy drinks.

1B-- Albert Pujols, Cardinals-- Has been intentionally walked 21 times so far this year, seven times more than Adrian Gonzalez, 13 times more than anyone else in baseball. That says it all right there.

2B-- Martin Prado, Braves-- Versatile player has 59 runs scored and has gotten on base 37.2% of time. Big reason the Braves are in first place.

SS-- Hanley Ramirez, Marlins-- Always seems to be one step away from some drama, but is very talented. His relationship with whoever is next manager of the Marlins will be very interesting to watch.

3B-- David Wright, Mets-- Has 10 HRs in 164 ABs on road, but is also hitting .326 with a .430 OB% at Citi Field. Good to see he'd gotten both last year's beaning and Citi Field's dimensions out of his head.

OF-- Andre Ethier, Dodgers-- Was on fire until he got hurt; is still hitting .321 with 13 HRs, 49 RBI, despite sitting out a couple of weeks. Is very good clutch hitter. Not sure where Dodgers would be without him.

OF-- Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies-- Hitting .301 with 15 HRs, 54 RBI and 50 runs scored. I won't mention that both my A's and my fantasy team traded this guy. Not our best moments.

OF-- Andrew McCutchen, Pirates-- Hitting .295 with .376 OB% in the Chernobyl of MLB; has 51 runs scored, 20 steals. Too bad you don't get to see him unless you have the Extra Innings package.

DH-- Joey Votto, Reds-- Is putting up strong numbers this year, and he's doing it both home and away; he has 13 HRs in Cincy's bandbox, with a .316 BA, but he also has eight homers on road, hitting .321.

SP-- Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies-- Colorado is 15-2 when he starts, 29-37 if someone else starts.

SP-- Josh Johnson, Marlins-- 8-3, 1.82 with 0.96 WHIP. 'nuff said. Four pitchers on NL All-Star team have had Tommy John surgery.

SP-- Tim Hudson, Braves-- Another example of how some doctor needs to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, for perfecting Tommy John surgery. Has 2.44 ERA and 1.15 WHIP so far this season.

Closer 1-- Heath Bell, Padres-- 23 for 26 in saves opportunities for a team that plays a ton of close games. Mets could have kept him, used KRod's money on a starting pitcher and they'd be a much better team.

Closer 2-- Brian Wilson, Giants-- 22 saves in 24 chances. Giants recently signed Pablo Sandoval's brother to a minor league contract.

outlaw420 · Posted: Jul 07 2010 08:10 am Post subject:

Wednesday's six-pack

Down 9-3 in 9th inning, Rockies hung nine runs on St Louis to pull off the greatest comeback in Colorado history. Rockies win 12-9, with Seth Smith hitting the walkoff homer.

-- Johan Santana hit his first career HR and threw CG shutout as Mets beat Cincinnati 3-0. 113-pitch effort for Santana.

-- Mark Reynolds is 0-6 with six strikeouts against Cub closer Marmol.

-- Domonic Brown is hitting .404 in AAA for Phillies; he'll be starting in the outfield for Phils next season, just not sure if it'll be LF or RF.

-- Hey, Lebronapalooza ends at 9pm Thursday, when Mr James tells us where he's going to play next year. None too soon.

-- Now that I think of it, am surprised Lebron's announcement doesn't come on ESPN, at halftime of the World Cup final, whenever that is.

outlaw420 · Posted: Jul 07 2010 08:11 am Post subject:

Daily Sports Roundup: July 7

Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: Germany takes on Spain in the second World Cup semifinal, while the Red Sox battle the Rays, and the Dodgers play host to the Marlins.

Chasing the World Cup . . .

The second World Cup semifinal match will take place at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Wednesday, with Germany vs. Spain. Oddsmakers have Spain as a slight +155 favorite in that contest, with Germany at +170, the draw odds at +225, and the total at 2.5. The Spaniards barely got past Paraguay in the quarterfinals, winning 1-0 in Johannesburg; Spain also picked up a 1-0 win over Portugal in the Round of 16. Germany beat Argentina and England by a combined 8-1 score over the last two rounds.

Meeting up on the diamond . . .

The American League schedule for Wednesday has Baltimore at Detroit, Minnesota at Toronto, Cleveland at Texas, the Angels at the White Sox, the Yankees at Oakland, Kansas City at Seattle, and Boston at Tampa Bay. Tim Wakefield (3-6, 4.96 ERA) is slated to take on David Price (11-4, 2.42 ERA) in that Sox/Rays matchup. Righthander Wakefield beat the Orioles in his last trip to the mound, holding them to two runs on seven hits over his eight innings of work. Lefthander Price was beaten by the Twins in his last start despite allowing only two runs on four hits in eight innings pitched that day.

Meanwhile, the National League on Wednesday offers up Atlanta at Philadelphia, San Diego at Washington, Cincinnati at the Mets, Pittsburgh at Houston, San Francisco at Milwaukee, St. Louis at Colorado, the Cubs at Arizona, and Florida at the Dodgers. Josh Johnson (8-3, 1.82 ERA) will take on Hiroki Kuroda (7-6, 3.78 ERA) in that last contest. Righthander Johnson had to settle for a no-decision in his last start against the Braves despite allowing just one run on six hits over six innings of work. Righthander Kuroda was rocked by the D-Backs last time out, giving up six runs in just 1 2-3 innings.

Rounding out the Roundup . . .

Finally, there's just one game on the WNBA's schedule for Wednesday, with Connecticut at Atlanta in a battle of Eastern powers. The Sun (10-6 SU, 9-6-1 ATS) will be looking to bounce back from a 92-80 loss to Chicago last time out, with Sandrine Gruda scoring a team-high 17 points for Connecticut in that defeat. The Dream (13-5 SU, 10-7-1 ATS) are also coming off a loss to Chicago; they fell 88-82 to the Sky last game. Angel McCoughtry was good for 20 points for Atlanta that day, while Iziane Castro Marques had 17 points. Atlanta beat Connecticut 97-82 when they met May 21.

outlaw420 · Posted: Jul 07 2010 08:11 am Post subject:

Bettor's best friend: Wednesday's wagering tips

Lines to keep an eye on

Connecticut Sun at Atlanta Dream – The total for this game moved from an opener of 169 up to as high as 171.5 in some shops. The UNDER has cashed in four of the last five in this series.

Braves at Phillies – The total for this game has jumped to 9 on most boards after opening at 8.5.

Orioles at Tigers – Detroit opened as a -240 favorite but a few markets have moved that moneyline to -260.

Weather report
(Forecasts are extracted from Weather.com the night before the game.)

Indians at Rangers – The forecast calls for a 50-60 percent chance of rain throughout the game. Wind is expected to blow in from left field at 13 mph.

Cardinals at Rockies – A 30 percent chance of rain is in the forecast

Angels at White Sox – The National Weather Service is calling for a 40-50 percent chance of precipitation.

Who’s hot

Atlanta (WNBA) is 3-0 SU and ATS in its last three meetings versus Connecticut.

Going into Tuesday, the Royals and Indians posted a 7-3 record over their last 10 games.

Who’s not

Toronto has dropped three straight games and is 1-9 over a 10-game stretch.

The Diamondbacks had lost three in a row going into Tuesday.

Key stat

1,878 – Number of pitches by Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster this season – the highest mark in MLB.

Injury that shouldn’t be overlooked

The Red Sox long list of walking wounded grew longer Tuesday night when first baseman Kevin Youkilis left their game early with a foot injury. Youkilis appeared to injure his right foot while trying to smooth out some dirt in the batters' box. He was replaced in the lineup by Niuman Romero. Boston currently has nine players on the disabled list and can ill-afford to lose Youkilis, who is batting .299 with 17 home runs and 55 RBIs this season for the Red Sox.

Notable quotable

"It's not a good system, if you want to know the truth. But you get run out of baseball when you say that. I'll be getting booed everywhere I go.”

-- Tigers manager Jim Leyland on the All-Star selection process.

Tips and notes

- Some has been due to his recent struggles and some due to pitching matchups, but reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum has been getting favorable odds recently. In his last three starts, the Giants have been seen moneylines of -132, -118 and -103. Of course the Jints only won one of those games but that’s some serious value for a guy of Lincecum’s caliber. The shaggy-haired righty has given up four runs in each of his last two starts but feels like “things are finally clicking.” He was hitting 95 with his fastball last week and maintained that mark through the sixth inning. Lincecum and the Giants are -140 favorites against Chris Narveson and the Brewers Wednesday.

- The consensus for tomorrow’s World Cup match between Germany and Spain is that it could be a low-scoring affair. Thomas Mueller will not play in the game which eliminates one of Germany’s offensive weapons. Germany also has tremendous strength down the middle defensively so Spain will be forced to use an outside attack where they aren’t accustomed to striking from. These two teams played in the Euro Final in 2008 and Spain walked away with a 1-0 victory. We could see another tight match Wednesday and the total is set at 2.5.

- The flu bug is swarming through the Blue Jays clubhouse and bettors should be cautious. Aaron Hill and Vernon Wells were both absent from the lineup for Tuesday’s game because of flu-like symptoms. It was the second straight game Wells had missed. Team illnesses tend to linger and can affect production on the mound and at the plate. Toronto is starting a minor-league callup Wednesday against the Twins (-110).

outlaw420 · Posted: Jul 07 2010 08:12 am Post subject:

On July 7 in Baseball History...

1900 - Boston hurler Kid Nichols notches his 300th career victory, beating Chicago 11-4. The win comes two months before his 31st birthday, making him the youngest to ever reach the magic figure.

1914 - Suffering heavy losses from Federal League competition in Baltimore, Jack Dunn, owner of the International League Orioles, offers Babe Ruth (plus Ernie Shore and catcher Ben Egan) for $10,000 to old friend Connie Mack. Mack refuses, pleading poverty. Cincinnati, which has a working agreement giving them the choice of two players, takes outfielder George Twombly and shortstop Claud Derrick. Dunn finally peddles his threesome to new owner Joe Lannin of the Red Sox for a reported $25,000.

1922 - Pirates outfielder Max Carey is the busiest man on the field in a 9-8, 18-inning loss to the Giants. He gets six hits, draws three walks, has three stolen bases (including one of home), and catches seven flies.

1923 - Cleveland scores in every inning against the Red Sox, but playing at home, the team does not bat in the ninth of a doubleheader opener. They run up an A.L. record twenty-seven runs, including 13 in the sixth inning, for a 27-3 win. The Indians keep it up, scoring three in the first inning of the second game en route to an 8-5 win.

1936 - The N.L., having lost the first three All-Star Games, wins 4-3 at Fenway Park. After Dizzy Dean and Carl Hubbell each pitch scoreless three-inning stints, Curt Davis is hammered by the A.L., allowing Lou Gehrig's home run, but Lon Warneke shuts the door.

1937 - Lou Gehrig leads the A.L. All-Stars over the NL 8-3 with a home run, double, and four RBI. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attends the game in Washington. Dizzy Dean's toe is fractured by a drive off the bat of Earl Averill. After the injury Dean is unable to pitch with the same delivery. He uses an unnatural motion, causing an arm injury from which he never recovers.

1942 - A military All-star team that includes Bob Feller, Cecil Travis, Sam Chapman, Benny McCoy, Johnny Sturm, and Frankie Pytlak loses 5-0 to A.L. stars in a game at Cleveland in front of more than 60,000 fans. Military relief receives $160,000.

1948 - The Indians sign Satchel Paige, fabulous veteran Negro League pitcher. Ridiculed as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, the move pays as the 42-year-old Paige finishes 6-1.

1958 - At the N.L. meeting, William Shea outlines plans for a $12 million stadium at Flushing Meadows, the eventual site of Shea Stadium.

1959 - The N.L. defeats the AL 5-4 in the All-Star Game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Willie Mays knocks in Hank Aaron with the deciding run. Don Drysdale pitches perfect ball the first three innings.

1964 - Johnny Callison's ninth-inning three-run home run off Dick Radatz caps a four-run rally and gives the N.L. a 7-4 win in the All-Star Game at Shea Stadium. This evens the series at 17 wins apiece.

1991 - Nolan Ryan misses his eighth no-hitter when California's Dave Winfield singles in the eighth inning. His 7-0 win, however, puts Texas in first place at the All-Star break.

1993 - Tom Browning decides that he has seen the view from the dugout often enough, so he leaves Wrigley Field and watches the Reds beat the Cubs 4-3 from the roof of a three-story building across Sheffield Avenue. He is fined $500 for leaving the dugout - not to mention the ballpark - during a game.

outlaw420 · Posted: Jul 07 2010 08:12 am Post subject:

Tuesday's List of 13 (+1): Our weekly look at AL teams......
14) Orioles-- I'm thinking the HR Derby shouldn't be restricted to guys on the All-Star teams: here are the guys I'd choose to see........
NL-- Adam Dunn/Adrian Gonzalez/Albert Pujols/Mark Reynolds
AL-- Russell Branyan/Vladimir Guerrero/Miguel Cabrera/David Ortiz

13) Indians-- MLB needs to make third base coaches stay in the coaches' box; a man died in a minor league game a few years back, but major league third base coaches still stand halfway to home plate, with their back to the plate. Its for their own safety; keep coaches in their boxes, please?????

12) Mariners-- Felix Hernandez is 6-5, 3.01 in 18 starts, but isn't on the All-Star team; apparently Joe Girardi is too busy putting Andy Pettitte on the team to realize that King Felix might help the AL champ get home field in the World Series. Felix is 6-5 for a last place team, by the way.

11) Royals-- They're playing better ball under Ned Yost, 25-23 since the change was made, 8-3 in their last 11 games, but their horrid performance in Anaheim Sunday night could keep them off Sunday Night Baseball for another decade or so.

10) A's-- Solid starting pitching keeps them in games, but their offense is so pathetic, so anemic that its hard to watch. Coco Crisp is good when he plays, but he's played in only 13 of their first 84 games. They traded for Conor Jackson; it took him 14 games to go on DL. &!!$^)$%%^*(

9) Blue Jays-- Guy who writes about the CFL said that last Thursday's season opener in Regina, a 54-51 Saskatchewan win in OT, might be the best CFL game played all season. Roughriders trailed Montreal 33-12 in second half, but rallied behind former North Carolina QB Durant to get an unlikely win. NFL Network is showing CFL games, which would be real good, BUT STUPID TIME-WARNER DOESN'T CARRY NFLN. I'm sorry, I'm good now, just had to get that out of my system.

Cool

White Sox-- Paul Konerko leads MLB with 15 HRs at home; he's hit five on the road. Had forgotten that Konerko was traded strait-up in 1998 for Mike Cameron. Good trade-- both are still starters in the big leagues.

7) Tigers-- Carmelo Anthony has been offered a contract extension by the Nuggets of three-years, $65M, but hasn't accepted, even though the next collective bargaining agreement could cost him tens of millions of dollars if he doesn't sign this extension. Apparently, he'd like to play in NY City. Be careful what you wish for, young man.

6) Twins-- Justin Morneau leads MLB with 13 HRs on the road; he's hit four at home; he's hitting .375 on the road, .316 at home. Minnesota has offered two prime prospects, CF Hicks/C Ramos to Seattle for Cliff Lee. Good to see that the new stadium has made them big-time players.

5) Angels-- The model franchise in baseball; they've played better since Kendry Morales broke his leg, they don't go nuts buying free agents, the prices at concession stands at the Big A have actually gone down the last couple years. They have fast guys, they catch the ball, and they do not panic, not ever. Sadly, they're in the same division as my A's.

4) Red Sox-- Terry Francona is my AL Manager of the Year right now, for keeping this injury-plagued bunch pasted together. People in Cincinnati want to make a deal with Red Sox fans; they'll vote Youkilis for All-Star team (he's from Cincinnati) if Boston fans vote for Joey Votto, whose not being on the All-Stsr team is epic in its stupidity.

3) Rays-- Are 21-19 at home this year, after being 52-29 at the Trop last year; if I own this team, I tell my GM to go for it this season, make the big trade that'll get this team into the playoffs. After this year, Crawford is gone, and so are about six other guys, but CC's loss will be the one that hurts, since he's the best player in franchise history. Go for it now.

2) Rangers-- Texas scores 5.98 runs/home game, 4.34 on road. Hamilton wound hitting a ridiculous .454 in June, with nine HRs, 31 RBI. He had nine HRs, 27 RBI in April/May combined. Bengie Molina make them a better defensive team, but doubtful they'll be able to add any pitching.

1) Bronx-- So Joe Johnson got $119M to stay with the Hawks; read this weekend where one NBA scribe noted that if the Hawk players chose up sides for a pickup game, Johnson wouldn't be the first guy taken. I may have to get the NBA package next winter, just to watch ol' $119M Joe.

Monday's List of 13: Random stuff on the 5th of July.......
13) If I ran the LA Clippers (and the sad truth is, they'd be better off if I did), I'd offer Lebron James the position of player/coach, or player/GM. Not sure if it would've worked, but for damn sure it would've gotten his full attention, and that wouldn't be bad for the Clips.

Dave DeBusschere was player coach of the Pistons from 1964-7, at ages 24-26; they used it as motivation for DeBusschere to quit pitching for the Chicago White Sox. He lasted 222 games, but eventually got traded to the Knicks, where things went a whole lot better for him, winning two titles.

12) You hire Lebron as coach, then bring in a veteran NBA coach with no ego to be the main assistant (really the head coach) much like Stan Albeck was for Wilt Chamberlain for San Diego Conquistadors in the ABA. This would work, because players would want it to work, and its the Clippers, so any success they had would be met with overwhelming giddiness.

11) From the Its-Not-What-You-Know, but Who-You-Know department, 76ers hired Quin Snyder as an assistant coach, as former Duke assistant is hired by Doug Collins, whose son Chris was coached by Snyder at Duke. Guess it beats coaching in the D-League.

10) Joey Votto's absence from the All-Star team is so stupid its comical; Votto leads NL first basemen in batting average, OPS, runs scored, is 3rd in RBI, 2nd in HRs. The Reds are in first place; Votto might be the MVP of the league. There isn't room for three 1B on the NL team? My ass.

9) I say this with Ryan Howard playing on my fantasy team; he doesn't deserve to be on the team ahead of Votto. Now, all three deserve to be on it, but if you're taking two, you must take Votto. Its not even debatable.

Cool

Managers need to be relieved of the responsibility of choosing subs for this game; that way, the "He's my guy" defense that Charlie Manuel used for choosing Howard isn't needed. Hey, if I'm Manuel, I do same thing, as it makes my life easier, but simply, it isn't the right thing to do-- at some point, doing the right thing has to enter into the equation, doesn't it?

7) Four pitchers on the NL All-Star team have had Tommy John surgery, further proof that whichever doctor pioneered this surgery deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Who has done more to help baseball?

6) Jon Lester is 12-0, 2.00 in 15 career starts against the Orioles.

5) Texas Longhorns' football program made a profit of $65M in 2008-09 season, thats 65 FREAKIN' MILLION DOLLARS!!!!! Ohio State made a $35.8M profit. Duke used its basketball profits to make up for a deficit of $6.7M its football program built up.

I'll repeat myself; the Texas program made $65M. They only play 14 or so games a year; 12 in regular season, then Big 12 title game and a bowl. No wonder they held most of the cards in conference expansion talks.

4) You wonder why Clemson is playing Presbyterian this year? Because no matter who the Tigers play, 80,000 fans are coming to the stadium for an all-day party, and if its an easy win, so much the better, especially as Auburn/Miami are the two games after that.

Its too bad all I-A teams didn't have to play other I-A teams in all their games; a weak Sun Belt or MAC team would still be an easy win.

3) Umpire Jim Joyce was once a pitcher for the Bowling Green Falcons.

2) If the baseball playoffs started Monday morning, they'd look like this:
AL-- Bronx-Detroit-Texas-Boston (Tigers/Twins are tied, really)
NL-- Atlanta-Cincinnati-San Diego-NY Mets.......There are five teams in NL Wild Card race within three games of each other.

1) NBA is getting lot of publicity with all this free agent stuff, but seems like not that much of it is positive, just mostly half-baked guesswork that makes the agents/players look greedy, the owners dumb. Is it worth it?

Sunday's List of 13: How to impress college basketball scouts....
July 6 (Tuesday) marks start of the summer recruiting period for college basketball; after consulting with three friends who coach for a living, I've come up with a list of ways for kids to impress recruiters......
-- Toughness-- Plays hard all the time. Doesn't worry about getting calls from refs. Cares about defending.

-- Plays within himself. Its awesome to see the extra pass made. Knows how to feed players in the post.

-- Makes shots-- Guys who finish plays around hoop always stand out.

-- Does he fit into our system? Some teams have a specfic need; teams that run Princeton offense need kids who can pass moreson than some of the other teams do. Do a kid's skill fit into the system?

-- Body language-- I used to hate hearing about this when I was a kid, but how you carry yourself matters.

-- Basketball skills-- There's not much excuse for having poor basketball skills, since you can practice them by yourself.

-- Ceiling for improvement-- Age plays into this one; if a kid is 19 when he graduates high school, he likely has a lower ceiling than a kid who is 17 when he gets out of high school.

-- Be a good teammate-- Support your teammates. Share the ball. Play the game with enthusiasm. This one is close relative to body language.

-- Compete-- No matter what the score, play your butt off. Try to win on every possession.

-- Defend well without fouling. Hard to get playing time in college if you can't stop the other guy.

-- Keep yourself in shape. Fatigue causes problems. You see kids who are skilled but late in games, they break down because they're out of shape.

-- Be a threat on offense; if you can't shoot, the other team doesn't have to guard you, which makes passing and penetrating much more difficult.

-- Treat loose balls like they're your last dollar; don't just go after them, get them. Coaches love kids who play with controlled aggression.

Saturday's List of 13: Random stuff on a summer Saturday....
13) Don Coryell was 42-29-1 as coach of the St Louis Cardinals for five years, from 1973-77; here is how Redbirds did before and after Coryell:
-- Six years before Coryell got to St Louis: 35-43-6
-- Four years after Coryell left St Louis: 23-41.

12) Coryell was 72-60 as coach of the San Diego Chargers for nine years, from 1978-86; here is how Chargers did before and after Coryell:
-- Eight years before Coryell got to San Diego: 37-70
-- Five years after Coryell left San Diego: 30-49.

11) Not only did Coryell win, his teams were fun to watch; if you liked the Mike Martz-Rams or the Norv Turner-Chargers, well, they run the Coryell offense. His influence in the NFL runs very deep.

10) John Madden, Joe Gibbs, Ernie Zampese all worked for Coryell; both Norv Turner and Mike Martz worked for Zampese. Coach Coryell never got to the Super Bowl, but his coaching pupils have been regulars there.

9) My dad once needed Coryell's Chargers to beat the Oilers to win his football pool; this was Coryell's first year with the Chargers and Houston was tough to beat in the Astrodome, but Dan Fouts kept throwing the ball, and the Bolts won going away, 45-24.

Funny thing was every time the Chargers got the ball back with the lead, my dad implored them to run the ball to protect the lead, but of course, Fouts would fade back to pass and they would score again. 32 years later, I still laugh just thinking about it.

Cool

Arizona Diamondbacks ate $7M in salary when they fired GM Byrnes who had a contract that ran thru '15. Owners wanted him to fire manager AJ Hinch, Byrnes refused, so they both got canned. From what you read, the Arizona players never took to Hinch's style; they crushed Dodgers in Kirk Gibson's first game as manager, 12-5 Friday night.

7) Someone at work this week was advertising a ticket for a bus trip to the Blue Jay-Bronx game Sunday, for a mere $85. If you go to a ballgame out in Oakland on a Wednesday, you can sit in bleachers for $2, and get a hot dog for $1. Hard to believe the two teams play in the same league.

6) Say what you want about Phil Jackson, but he coached his butt off the year Michael Jordan was off playing baseball; Pat Riley would have been back in the front office before Jordan took batting practice for first time, and one of his minions would've coached the team. Now Riley is trying to assemble a super team in Miami, and if he does it, Erik Spoelstra going to get canned, so Riley can coach his collection of All-Stars.

5) So what does Spoelstra do when Miami meets with these free agents? "Hi, I'm the coach, but I won't be if you come here." Spoelstra is 90-74 as an NBA head coach, he's no dummy, but only way he coaches the Heat next winter is if Riley the GM strikes out in free agency.

4) Philly will be Doug Collins' fourth stop as an NBA head coach; in the first year of his previous three stops, Collins improved his team by total of 46 games, as in +10, +18, +18. This brings up two points.......
-- Collins is very good at cleaning up a mess.
-- Collins has inherited three awful basketball teams.

Expect the 76ers to be a lot better next winter.

3) Minnesota Timberwolves, the same team that drafted Ricky Rubio in last year's draft, just gave Darko Milicic a 4-year contract with $16M of guaranteed money in it. Darko averaged 8.3 ppg and 5.5 rpg in 24 games for Minnesota last year, and he is still only 25, but still........

2) ESPN should do a feature following the Stanley Cup around all summer as it goes with each of the Blackhawks. Would be fun to watch.

1) Last Friday, I watched Edwin Jackson's no-hitter, when he threw 149 pitches in the Trop; we debated if AJ Hinch had done the right thing, and how the whole pitch count debate could swing on how Jackson did the rest of the season. Who knew Hinch wouldn't even be Arizona's manager the next time Jackson pitched?

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