Friday, September 13, 2013


Be careful out there . . . it is Friday, the 13th.

 This weekend’s big event is the world junior-middleweight championship unification fight between Canelo Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  

Here’s ESPN.com’s coverage:

Mayweather's record $41.5M purse in place 


My pick:  Although I would love to see Alvarez beat Mayweather Jr., I can’t pick against the best pound for pound boxer today.  Mayweather’s defense is second to none, and we also need to realize that Alvarez hasn’t fought anyone even remotely close to Mayweather.  Mayweather will win the fight, and I really don’t see it going the distance.

Let’s go to the NFL and last night’s yawner between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots.  This game was a definite cure for insomnia as the Pats barely squeaked by the Jets 13-10.  


Speaking of picks, I finished last week 3-2-1 on my picks against the spread, and 4-2 straight up.  Not a bad start.  I’ll try and do better this week, although I’m quickly 0-1 this week against the spread after last night’s sorry excuse of a game.  

Here is the complete schedule for WEEK 2:

 SUNDAY

DOLPHINS @ Indianapolis -3  
1:00 pm CBS

 In order to win this game, Miami is going to have to run the ball a lot better than they did last week, when they rushed for only 20 yards in 23 carries last week against Cleveland.  The Miami defense is going to have to be a lot better than they were last year when Colts QB Andrew Luck threw for 433 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-20 Indy win. Since I’m going with my heart instead of my head, I’ll take the Dolphins plus the three points.

Cleveland @ Baltimore -6  
1:00 pm CBS

 Please!  If Cleveland couldn’t beat the Dolphins at home, they are DEFINITELY not going to beat the defending Super Bowl champions in Baltimore. Right?  Taking the Ravens minus the points.

Tennessee @ Houston -9  
1:00 pm CBS

I love Houston again this week, even if they have to give 9 points.  Great come from behind win last week against San Diego for the Texans, and I don’t really see them struggling against a Titans defense that was 27th in the league last year.

San Diego @ Philadelphia -9  
1:00 pm CBS

St. Louis @ Atlanta -6  
1:00 pm FOX

Carolina @ Buffalo +1
1:00 pm FOX
Minnesota @ Chicago -5
1:00 pm FOX

Washington @ Green Bay -9
1:00 pm FOX

Dallas @ Kansas City -3
1:00 pm FOX

Detroit @ Arizona  +1
4:05 pm FOX

New Orleans @ Tampa Bay +3
4:05 pm FOX

Jacksonville @ Oakland -5
4:25 pm CBS

Denver @ NY Giants +4
4:25 pm CBS

The Manning Bowl III, as Peyton and the Broncos travel to New York to take on Eli and the Giants.  Older brother Peyton is 2-0 against little brother Eli, both games when Peyton was with the Colts.  The Broncos throttled the Ravens 49-27 last week, and Peyton tied the NFL single-game touchdown record with seven TD passes.  Eli struggled against the Dallas Cowboys, losing to their hated rival 36-31, throwing three interceptions, and the G-men also lost three fumbles.  I don’t think that the Giants can stop a juggernaut offense like Denver.  I’ll stick with the Broncos and give the 4.5 points.

San Francisco @ Seattle -3 8:30 pm NBC

Look for the Seattle defense to make a statement in this NFC West shootout, although the addition of WR Anquan Boldin has been huge for the 49ers.  Seattle needs RB Marshawn Lynch to bounce back from a bad game last week against Carolina.  

MONDAY

Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati -6 8:30 pm ESPN
After blowing an eleven-point lead in the third quarter last week before losing to the Chicago Bears, look for the Bengals to bounce back against the Steelers.  Pittsburgh lost C Maurkice Pouncey, RB LaRod Stephens-Howling, and LB Larry Foote last week in their loss to the Tennessee Titans.  Cincinnati minus the 6 points sounds like the way to go here.

Here is Armando Salguero with all the latest from the Dolphins practice facility:


Here’s ESPN’s NFL Nation Blog, with more news from all around the league:


Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.  

Let’s go out to the ballgames.

The Fish fell to the Braves yesterday by the score of 6-1.  Freddie Freeman celebrated his 24th birthday with a two-run homer and Chris Johnson and Even Gattis also drove in a pair of runs each.  Freddy Garcia looked good in a spot start yesterday for the Braves, allowing just one run and five hits in six innings of work.  The Marlins have lost five out of their last six, and need to go 9-8 in their remaining 17 games of the season to avoid finishing with 100 losses.

The Fish are in New York to take on the Mets in a weekend series, a four-game set that includes a doubleheader on Saturday.  Here are the probable pitchers for those four games:

FRI Nathan Eovaldi vs Jon Niese                    7:10 pm
SAT Henderson Alvarez vs Daisuke Matsuzaka 4:10 pm
Jacob Turner vs Carlos Torres TBD
SUN Brad Hand vs Dillon Gee 1:10 pm
The Marlins are still the worst offensive team in the majors.  The Fish have been held to three runs or less 90 times this season, and their record in those 90 games is 17-73. Taking it one step further,

When scoring three runs in a game    - 6-17
When scoring two runs in a game - 9-18
When scoring one run in a game - 2-22

Of course, they lead the majors in getting shutout, having been blanked 16 times so far this season. 

The Marlins are still at the bottom of the list in runs scored in MLB, scoring only 472 runs in their 145 games, an obscene 3.25 runs per contest.  Here are the rest of the bottom-dwellers:

TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 54-91 472
White Sox 58-88 540
Phillies 68-78 555
Padres 66-79 558
Giants 66-81 558

In contrast, the Boston Red Sox (89-59) lead MLB with 769 runs scored and the Detroit Tigers (84-62) have plated 739.  The Sox have played two more games than the Tigers. 

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  It looks like the home run race is over in the AL with Chris Davis leading Miguel Cabrera by six homers, 49-43.  Before Cabrera was slowed with injuries, it looked like a great race until the very end for the home run title.  We all remember the great home run battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa back in 1998.  Who were the sluggers that rounded out the top five back in 1998?  The answer comes later, alligator.   

In the Major Leagues yesterday, here are the capsules and summaries from all the games. 



Today’s games around the majors, 


It is now official: Jose Fernandez’ next start will be on Marlins opening day, March 31, home at Marlins Park, against the Colorado Rockies.  

Here is the complete, month-by-month 2014 schedule for the Marlins:


The 2014 season will open in Sydney, Australia on March 22 and 23, as the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks in the land down under.  This will be the first time that regular season baseball games will be played in the Southern Hemisphere, which also means that the season will both open and close in the fall.

In other baseball news, Alfonso Soriano has been doing it with the bat since being traded back to the Yankees, but here he contributes the defensive play of the day:


Rays lead Yankees by one game for the second wild card spot.  


Remember the Indians:


Will the Texas Rangers even make the playoffs?


Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports wonders where Joe Girardi will manage next year:


Sammy Sosa looks very, very scary:


Hanley Ramirez had to leave last night’s game against the Giants because of a a strained hamstring:


Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:


Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:


The Herald’s Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest scoop from the University of Miami, as the Canes return to the practice field and will enjoy a bye week this weekend:


Just because the Canes aren’t playing this week, doesn’t mean that Coach Al Golden isn’t working:


FIU’s next game is tomorrow at 6:00 pm, at FIU Stadium, against division 1-AA Bethune Cookman, who pummeled Virginia Union 66-7 this past saturday.  Here is another example of how far FIU has fallen this season:  Bethune Cookman is favored by three points.  When is the last time a division 1-AA team was favored over a 1-A team?  

Reaction from the disgruntled FIU faithful after two blowout losses already this season has been loud and negative.  There is now even a web site asking for the firing of FIU’s athletic director Pete Garcia - www.firepetegarcia.com - along with rumblings that many in the university have had more than enough of the present Athletic Department hierarchy and staff.  

It is getting uglier by the day in Westchester, and I can only imagine how much uglier it will get if the FIU football team loses to Bethune Cookman this week.

Here’s the latest football news from FIU:



Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and FSU:


From Gainesville and the University of Florida:


Here are this week’s top-25 rankings in college football:


Here is the complete schedule for NCAA football this week, including TV:


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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  It looks like the home run race is over in the AL with Chris Davis leading Miguel Cabrera by six homers, 49-43.  Before Cabrera was slowed with injuries, it looked like a great race until the very end for the home run title.  We all remember the great home run battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa back in 1998.  Who were the sluggers that rounded out the top five back in 1998?    

McGwire led all of baseball in 1998 with 70 homers, and Sosa finished with 66.  The rest of the top five in 1998 were Ken Griffey Jr. (56), Greg Vaughn (50) and Albert Belle (49). 

Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.  HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!
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