[SPOOKY]

Monday's Dirty Dozen: Wrapping up a sports weekend......


12) Major blunder by Tampa coaches Sunday; they entered couple of third basemen but no DH in their lineup, so when Zobrist took field in top of first, they lost the DH for the day, and had Sonnanstine the pitcher batting third, instead of Longoria. Terrific. Longoria entered the game later on, after a double-switch. You don't expect mistakes like that to happen in the major leagues, but they do now and then.

11) Last time it happened was July 23, 1999 when Manny Ramirez was the Indians' DH against Toronto. At least Sonnanstine made the best of it and had an RBI double, but it is an embarrassing mistake.

10) A's led 6-0 in top of second Sunday, and trailed before the third inning was over, so that shows you where they're at now. Geniuses who pegged them as a playoff team in spring training are quiet now.

9) Colorado led Pirates 4-1 in 7th inning Sunday, then gave up ten runs in bottom of 7th. Manager Hurdle is rumored to be on thin ice, with Rockies having MLB-worst 1-8 record in one-run games.

8) Rangers beat Anaheim Angels again, now lead AL West by fairly big margin of 4.5 games. Texas has won seven games in a row.

7) Padres may have lost 11 straight road games, but they came home and swept the Reds at Petco behind another strong outing by Peavy.

6) When the Cleveland Cavaliers started play as an expansion team many years ago, "Cavaliers" was chosen as part of a fan promotion; the guy who submitted Cavaliers is the father of major league pitcher Brett Tomko.

5) Clayton Kershaw had a no-hitter in 8th inning at Florida, his first good road start in five tries; he's been awesome at home so far.

4) If Toronto ever tried to trade Roy Halladay, Commissioner Selig would be remiss if he didn't ban the trade, the way Bowie Kuhn did in the 70's. Halladay and Johan Santana are the best right now, when you factor in their track record and winning experience.

3) Rough weekend for the Twins, who had three walk-off losses in the Bronx, after the sweeping the Tigers during the week. Detroit, on other hand, pummelled the A's all weekend, outscoring them 34-9.

2) Umpire Jim Wolf is brother of Dodger pitcher Randy Wolf, so it figures he is pitcher-friendly. Wolf was behind the plate for Seattle's 3-2 win against the Red Sox Sunday.

1) One more quick note about the Cincinnati-San Diego marathon on Saturday night; Reds' TV announcer Thom Brennaman was killing the home plate umpire Jim Joyce, for having a tight strike zone. Haven't heard an announcer bash an umpire like that in a long time-- he even went after the umpire's union a little bit, which was surprising.

[SPOOKY]

Six-pack for Monday

Anatomy of a marathon; notes from the Padres' 16-inning win over the Reds late Saturday night/early Sunday morning........

-- 467 pitches, 5:01 in front of a crowd that started out as 31,001 on a Saturday night at Petco Park-- quite a ballgame.

-- Reds used four pitchers to get seven outs in 6th-8th innings, and wound up using starter Owings for five innings. One of the Padres' relief pitchers threw less than one inning, so they didn't run out of pitchers like Cincinnati did.

-- Both centerfielders in the game went 0-7, the only two players to do so. The two Hairston brothers combined to go 4-14.

-- Jay Bruce was just 1-7, but his only hit was a homer that put the Reds up 5-2 in 6th inning. It was the last time Cincinnati scored.

-- Reds lost both Votto (dizzy spells), Volquez (back spasms) in this game; Votto's condition is thought to be the more serious.

-- Padre catcher Hundley hit the walk-off HR in 16th at 12:20am local time; his dad is defensive coordinator for SMU football team.

[SPOOKY]

Spookys’s Fab Five for Monday, May 18


Happy Monday everyone.

1. Quick Hits

Orlando knocks off the champion Celtics in 7 games. The Lakers survive a 7th game against Houston.

The Yankees have won 3 straight games in their last at bat. The record is 5 by the 1986 Houston Astros.

They played tennis under a roof on Centre Court Wimbledon for the first time yesterday. Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters played in front of 15-thousand fans as they tested the new retractable roof. Of course it was raining outside.

Why should there be a Triple Crown only for horses? Jockey Calvin Borel won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness on two different horses. Top 5 subscriber Linda G. suggests if a jockey wins all three Triple Crown races, even on different horses, he should get a special prize. Cool.

2. You Go Girl

I hope Rachel Alexandra doesn't race the Belmont. It would be the inevitable "battle of the sexes." The Kentucky Derby winning gelding against the Preakness winning filly. The Belmont is the longest of the Triple Crown races, 1 1/2 miles. In 1975 the filly Ruffian took on the Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure and broke down before the finish line. After surgery she had to be destroyed. Rachel Alexandra beat all the boys on Saturday. My vote is that she should ride off into the sunset.

3. Let's Get Ready to.....

Stories have surfaced that Mike Tyson hired a hit man to knock off Brad Pitt. Tyson was pissed that Pitt was dating his ex-wife Robin Givens. Since Pitt is still alive, I'm guessing the plan was never fully executed.

4. Brett Gardner, the Movie

Remember the movie The Babe Ruth Story? The Babe promises a sick kid he'll hit a homer for him in the 1926 World Series, and then he hits three in one game/ Well coming soon, the Brett Gardner Story. The Yankee centerfielder was given a bracelet by a sick 9-year old girl in the hospital. She told Brett it would help him hit a homer. Bingo. That night he hit the first inside the park homer at the new Yankee Stadium. And after he hits the homer the kid undergoes a successful heart transplant. You can't make this stuff up. Get me rewrite!

5. Sing for your Supper

An English ice cream maker has flown in an Italian opera tenor, Marcello Bedoni, to sing to his herd of cows in the hopes it will improve production. The Knicks have inquired if Bedoni is available for next season's training camp.

Today's Birthday: Hall of Famers, Brooks Robinson. 72.
Mr. October, Reggie Jackson. 63.
Bonus Birthday: Tina Fey. 39.

Today in Sports: Night baseball games in New York City are ended for the duration of World War II. 1942.
Bonus Event: Tiny Tim releases "Tiptoe through the Tulips." 1968.

[SPOOKY]

MLB SCOREBOARD FOR MONDAY, MAY 18


Pittsburgh at Washington (7:05 p.m. EDT). Shairon Martis (5-0) of the Nationals provides a reason to watch a matchup of two of the worst teams in baseball.

Stars from Sunday

-Prince Fielder, Brewers, hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning of an 8-2 victory at St. Louis.

-Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners, singled under the glove of third baseman Mike Lowell to score Ronny Cedeno with two outs in the ninth inning to give Seattle a 3-2 win over Boston.

-Johnny Damon, Yankees, hit a game-winning homer in bottom of the 10th inning to lift New York to a 3-2 win over Minnesota.

-Jake Peavy and Kevin Kouzmanoff, Padres. Peavy pitched a four-hitter and Kouzmanoff had a solo homer and an RBI single in San Diego's 3-1 win over Cincinnati.

-Ramon Santiago and Curtis Granderson, Tigers, each hit three-run homers to rally Detroit from six runs down in an 11-7 win over Oakland. Santiago finished with four hits, including an RBI triple, and scored three runs.

-John Buck, Royals, hit a tiebreaking RBI triple in the eighth inning of a 7-4 win over Baltimore.

-Roy Halladay, Blue Jays, gave up two runs in seven innings to win his fifth straight start as Toronto beat the Chicago White Sox 8-2.

-Scott Feldman, Rangers, gave up four hits in six innings of a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

-Ivan Rodriguez and Lance Berkman, Astros. Rodriguez hit his 300th career home run, a two-run shot, and Berkman had two hits and an RBI in Houston's 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.

-Nate McLouth, Pirates, had three of his four RBIs during a 10-run seventh inning as Pittsburgh rallied for an 11-4 win over Colorado.

WALK-OFF WIN STREAK

Johnny Damon's homer in the 10th inning Sunday gave the Yankees a 3-2 win over Minnesota for their third straight comeback win over the Twins that was capped by a game-ending hit. The last time New York had three consecutive walk-off wins was August 27-29, 1972.

BALKY

Mets starter Mike Pelfrey balked three times in a 2-0 loss against the Giants, matching a dubious franchise record. The last pitcher in the majors to have three balks in a game was Al Leiter for Toronto against Minnesota on April 23, 1994. It was only the second time in Mets franchise history that a pitcher had three balks. Don Rowe did it on April 27, 1963, at Philadelphia. Bob Shaw holds the NL record with five balks for the Milwaukee Braves against the Cubs on May 4, 1963 - and he had three in one inning.

QUICK RETURN

Los Angeles Angels starter John Lackey will return to the mound on Monday night following an early exit from his season debut two days earlier, when he was ejected after throwing two pitches at Rangers leadoff man Ian Kinsler. Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after Sunday's series finale against the Rangers that Lackey will get the call Monday night in the opener of a four-game road series against Seattle.

WELL, THAT WORKED OUT

After a pre-game lineup mistake cost Tampa Bay its designated hitter for the game, Andy Sonnanstine hit an RBI double and gave up five runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings in the Rays' 7-5 victory over Cleveland on Sunday. The Rays listed both Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria as the third baseman. Longoria was supposed to be DH, but Tampa Bay lost that position because of the mistake and was forced to put Sonnanstine in the third spot of the lineup.

DAY OF REST

San Diego's Jake Peavy pitched a four-hitter to lead the San Diego Padres to a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 3-1 victory Sunday. Peavy gave the Padres' bullpen a much needed rest after the club used eight pitchers in Saturday night's 6-5 win. That one took 5 hours, 14 minutes, exactly three hours longer than Sunday afternoon.

PERFECT 10

Nate McLouth had three of his four RBIs during a 10-run seventh inning of the Pirates' 11-4 win over Colorado. The first 11 batters reached in the seventh for Pittsburgh, which trailed 4-1 entering the inning but scored at least 10 runs in an inning for the first time since Aug. 20, 2003.

THE THRILL OF VICTOR-E-E-E-E

The Royals beat Baltimore 7-4 despite committing four errors. It was the first time the Royals had committed four errors in a game and still won since April 10, 2003 at Detroit.

FALLIN' ANGELS

Texas swept the Los Angeles Angels with a 3-0 win Sunday, giving the Rangers their seventh straight win, the Rangers' longest streak since winning nine straight from May 20-31, 2005.

SPEAKING

"If you'd told me we were going to commit four errors and still have a chance to win the ballgame, and win it by the margin we did, I'd have told you you were crazy. It took us a while to wake up.'' - Royals manager Trey Hillman on Kansas City's 7-4 win Sunday after trailing by three runs.

PREVIOUS SEASONS

May 18

1912 - Detroit players went on strike to protest Ty Cobb's suspension. To avoid a forfeit and fine, manager Hugh Jennings recruited college players and others; they lost to the Philadelphia A's 24-2. Joe Travers gave up all 24 runs on 26 hits.

1929 - The Brooklyn Dodgers outslugged the Philadelphia Phillies for a 20-16 victory in the first game of a doubleheader. Brooklyn's Babe Herman and Johnny Frederick each had five hits. Frederick scored five times to give him a major league record eight runs in two games. The Phillies won the second game 8-6. The teams combined for a record 50 runs in a doubleheader.

1957 - Dick Williams of the Orioles hit a ninth-inning, game-tying solo home run against Chicago's Paul LaPalme seconds before 10:20 p.m. - the curfew set so the White Sox could catch a train out of Baltimore. If Williams had done anything else, Chicago would have won. The game was later replayed from the beginning and Baltimore won.

1968 - Frank Howard hit his 10th home run in a six-game span to power the Washington Senators to an 8-4 victory over Detroit at Tiger Stadium.

1990 - The Baltimore Orioles tied an AL record with eight consecutive singles in a seven-run first inning against Bobby Witt to beat the Texas Rangers 13-1. The eight straight singles equaled a record set by the Washington Senators against Cleveland in 1951 and matched by the Oakland Athletics against Chicago in 1981.

1999 - Edgar Martinez hit three home runs - tying a major league record with five homers in two games - to give the Seattle Mariners a 10-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. He homered twice in the opener of the series.

2000 - Mark McGwire homered three times and had a career-high seven RBIs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2.

2003 - The Texas Rangers swept three games at Yankee Stadium for the first time in the franchise's 43-year existence, winning 5-3.

2004 - Randy Johnson became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, retiring all 27 hitters to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta Braves 2-0. It was the 17th perfect game in major league history and the first since the New York Yankees' David Cone did it against Montreal on July 18, 1999.

Today's birthdays: David Patton 25; Joakim Soria 25; Reggie Jackson 63; Brooks Robinson 72.

[manong36]

happy monday to you too, spooky.
gl to all your picks today. let's have fun and some money

[SPOOKY]

Where Disappointment Happens and Spooky is happy




Damn. I really wanted the Cavaliers to be the one's that sent Paul Pierce's pussy home. But instead, I have to settle on celebrating one of the worst weeks in recent Boston sports history. Think about it. Big Poopi gets benched after stranding 12 runners in a game and the Red Sox publicly acknowledging that this guy sucks without steroids.

The Bruins lost a home game seven to a team from North fucking Carolina and gave up the game winning goal to a guy who should have been suspended.

And then the Celtics get sent packing by a soft team that only shoots three's. Suck on that, Kevin Garnett, you queermo.

So that leaves us with the final four in the NBA. I'll be honest, and I am NOT one of the bigger fans of the NBA out there, these two series aren't very interesting to me, let alone the common fan. Sure, we still have the stars around with Kobe, Melo, Superman, and The King, but...ugh.
But I have a financial interest in the Cavaliers this year as I have said and thats the only reason I will watch the playoffs.

Lakers over Nuggets in 7 - It will be kind of compelling but I see 5 of these games being blowouts. Phil Jackson has done an awful job all postseason getting his players to play hard every game. George Karl is a train wreck waiting to happen. The Lakers will lose one of the first two at home but they won't lose the series. The rest that Denver is getting now will hurt them. Now many of you know I coached JR Smith here in town and see his family often since they still live here.
(Coached him in baseball that is, although he played travel ball with my son on the Warriors Travel Team)
Having him get to the NBA Finals is kind of surreal let alone just having him play in the NBA.
Coaching him all those years you would understand why.

Cavaliers over Magic in 5 - Not the best matchup for the Cavs since they don't defend talented big men all that well but I'm not too concerned. They will focus on slowing down Turkugly, Lewis, and Pietrus instead. Let Howard get whatever he wants. Hedo guarding LeBron? Please. Delonte worked his ass off bodying up Joe Johnson last series and now he gets two weeks off with his matchup against JJ Redick and his perfectly coifed hair. Stan Van Gundy is not very good and the Magic tend to come up small when the pressure is on. Don't give me a "well, they did win in Boston for a game seven". Yeah, they should have closed that out in 5. The Cavs are more focused and hungry. It's not Orlando's time yet and they aren't strong enough mentally to win at The Q. Lets go Cavs!!!!

Cavs/Lakers in the Finals. It's going to happen. David Stern won't let it happen any other way. But then again, we knew that 3 months ago. And be prepared, since this is big time important to me, the Cavs will win.

[SPOOKY]

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK MANONG!!!

Always glad to have guys come aboard the Express.

[SPOOKY]

Lets get started with a big week. Heading to Florida for the
holiday weekend so gonna do most of the posting before then.

Have a great week and good luck.

MLB

NEW YORK YANKEES -168

NEW YORK METS +121

OAKLAND A'S +121

MINNY TWINS/NY YANKEES OVER 9.5 RUNS

Almost forgot to post the NHL.
Following my plays ya kind of felt I liked a Pittsburgh/Detroit Stanley Cup.
Sooooooo, its all PITTSBURGH tonight and in the series with probably a low scoring game.

[manong36]

enjoy, spooky. don't forget your suntan lotion.

[SPOOKY]

Tuesday's List of 13: A very big day for common sense.....


13) Three things that happened Monday made so much sense that it seemed like a cruel joke, but they did indeed happen. First on list is news that baseball playoff games on FOX in October will begin 40 minutes earlier, which allows more kids to watch. Good.

12) Looks like NFL Network finally has come to an agreement with Comcast, America's biggest cable company, which will allow a great TV station to be shown on basic cable. We still need Time Warner to come to an agreement with NFL Network, but it should happen.

11) Third but not least, ESPN announced that Jon Gruden will be in the Monday Night Football booth this fall, replacing ill-suited Tony Kornheiser, who seemed to be there only to promote himself. Will be excellent to watch games and just hear football talk. Brilliant!!!!!

10) Then there's this....imagine being a senior at Wisconsin, finally it is Graduation Day, a huge day in your life. Who does the school pick to give its commencement address? None other than a used car dealer from Milwaukee named Selig, who is also baseball commissioner. By way of review, Arizona State and Notre Dame got Barack Obama; in Wisconsin, they got a used car dealer from Milwaukee.

9) Wouldn't you have loved to sit in on the meeting where a group of film executives decided to name their movie "Drag Me to Hell"?

8) Washington Nationals' Christian Guzman walked Monday night, his first walk in his last 166 plate appearances.

7) Names of thoroughbred horses are limited to 18 letters.

6) Michael Irvin recently raised $140,000 for Rich Behm, the scout for the Cowboys who was paralyzed when their practice bubble fell in on him during a storm. $40,000 of $$$ came from Irvin's pocket.

5) Los Angeles Angels have already used 10 starting pitchers in '09.

4) Giants are 15-0 when they score first, the only team that has yet to lose when they score first- they scored six runs in both Friday and Saturday's games, despite not drawing a walk in either game.

3) The mayor of Toledo is mowing grass in city parks to save money for a cash-strapped city. Political opponents are calling it a publicity stunt. A politician trying to draw attention to himself??? Nahhhh

2) Denver's Pepsi Arena is booked for pro wrestling Monday night May 25, but the NBA wants Laker-Nugget game Monday, so Nugget owner Stan Kroenke told ABC there would be a game Monday, and in process ticked off Vincent K. McMahon, who already had sellout for Monday's wrestling card. Since Kroenke owns the arena, not hard to figure out whats going to happen; question is, how much will the WWE get paid to shift its dates? McMahon's favorite color is green, for sure, but it ain't because he's Irish.

1) Kroenke, by the way, also owns 40% of the St Louis Rams and is lucky enough to have married one of Sam Walton's granddaughters, as in, he married one of the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. Smart dude.