1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Thursday “PADRES-DODGERS..WHAT I SAW-WHAT I THINK”

Posted by on March 21st, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“PADRES OPENING DAY-MORE OF THE SAME”
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Observations from what I saw at 3am as the Padres opened the season with the Dodgers.

SAME OLD-SAME OLD…Another game with LA-same result, a loss.  It just never seems to end, this time a (5-2) setback on opening day.

BIG BATS-NO BATS…Flashback..heart of Padres order went (0-14)..Tatis-Machado-Cronenworth-Kim-Merrill.

BROKEN GLOVE..Keeping score at home the Dodgers scored a run on a hot 1-hopper that went thru the webbing of Jake Cronenworth’s glove, breaking the webbing triggering the 8th inning rally.

YU NOT YOU..Darvish had trouble locating his pitches for much of the early innings.  He labored just beyond the 3rd inning, finished with 107-pitches, just not dazzling.

DO NOT PASS GO…It was not Monoply, but the Padres pitchers issued all of 9 bases on balls.  If LA had a few more timely hits the game would have been more lopsided.

NOT PRESEASON ANYMORE…Jhony Brito-Adrian Morejon had been strong in the Cactus League, but got banged around in the 8th and 9th innings..giving up a combined 4-runs.

SHOWTIME…Ohtani was on camera 56-times in the 9 innings..in the field, at the plate, in the dugout.  He responded with two blistering hits. two weak swings in the field, and a long foul ball home run down the line.  Two observations, what a powerful-quick swing.  Can he fly down the basepaths.

TYLER WADE…A bad throwing error, then a diving ground ball he turned into a big defensive play

PADRES BATS…This makes you remember last year, bases loaded, no outs, and they score just 1-run.

MOOKIE CAN BALL…Betts handled a couple of hot shots and made big throws from the hole in short in his debut at that position.

HOLD YOUR BREATH…Gavin Lux nearly threw away an early inning ground ball but Freddie Freeman recovered it quickly…this might be an adventure watching him.

DAVE ROBERTS SNEER…All the talk about the LA defense in the infield, a bad sneer on Roberts face when Max Muncie and Glasnow failed to communicate on a bunt that wound up being a throwing error that loaded the bases.  Could have been a messy inning, but LA escaped big damage.

YUKI MATSUI..ignored all week in the Japanese storylines about the game, the Padres reliever showed strong stuff, low in the strike zone pitches, in an efficient 1-2-3 inning.

SUK GOO..The Korean reliever did not make the 31-man travel squad to Seoul…he was optioned to AAA-El Paso the night the Padres left for Seoul.  He was behind in pitching and not ready.

DE LOS SANTOS…The ex Cleveland Guardian showed electric stuff in his one inning of work, with ball movement and a strange delivery.

PITCHING CLOCK…Wandy Peralta was cited for 2-violations of the pitching clock, in fact the Padres hurler had 5-clock violations on opening day..must be some type of record

SNEAK PREVIEW…They ran out almost the entire bullpen, seven relievers in all and most did okay.

 

BREAKING GLASS…Tyler Glasnow’s debut, pretty impressive…5-innings..2-runs in one bad inning, and was clocked at 97mph.

SKYDOME…Their state of the art park seats only 17,000 which was surprising to me.

HOME TOWN HERO…Cool shot of fans in a theatre in Shohei’s home town watching the game on satellite feed.

JERSEYS..No Peter Seidler ‘love ‘ patch on the opening day of the Padres jerseys, replaced by a corporate sponsor ad and the Seoul Series logo.

MOMENT OF SILENCE…In reverence to the late Padres owner, a nice scoreboard salute just before the first pitch..

MISSING IN ACTION…The US-National Anthem but I thought they would salute the South Korean anthem too, but they did not.

THE FANS IN THE STANDS…Now it was a really different atmosphere during the game.  Cheerleaders on the top of the dugout?  Please.  Fans sat on their hands most of the night except for a big hit.  Enough with the continued banging of the drums and fans singing during the innings. Surely not like the crowds for Dodgers-Padres game at Petco.  No beat LA-beat LA…Heard Ha-Seong Kim chant just once.  Fans were polite as if they were at a concert.  Wouldn’t find that at Yankees Stadium or Philadelphia or Boston.

GAME GEAR…Hardly saw any Padres fans wearing their jerseys.  As expected every type of Dodgers gear, every type of Ohtani clothing was in full view all game long.

GOOD BROADCAST RUINED…Really disappointed in Karl Ravch-Eduardo Perez broadcast…Talked and talked like they were doing a talk show during the first five innings of so.  Let the game breathe will you.  The use of the Korean TV reporter on the sideline was okay., but the content was weak.  Think ESPN really missed a chance to do creative things, dugout interviews, fans in the stands, interviewing players’ families.  A John Smoltz-Buster Olney touch would have added alot.  Trash the features on Korean food-why is that important on opening day?  The bullpen shots, downstairs, off the field, was unique.  Show me the clubhouse too.  Show me a historical segment of the city of Seoul.  Tell me about North Korea-South Korea and that atmosphere.  Could have done more….And with Commissioner Rob Manfred in the booth, why all the softball questions for his half of the inning.  Do a real interview please.

SCANDAL CITY…The AP reported late after the game the Dodgers terminated Ohtani’s personal aide-interpreter Ipp Mizuhara because of his friendships with gamblers and allegation Mizuhara was stealing money from Ohtani during his years with the Angels.  Reports are investigators discovered (4.5M) in money transferred from Ohtani accounts to Mizuhara’s accounts to pay off gambling debts in Southern California and Japan.  Wow.

MISSING…It was opening day, and here I was clamoring for a Beer and a Dog..but it was 3am in my house, so I didn’t get that either.

Only counts as one game, one loss, so we see what Thursday brings us.

Yeah it felt like so many other Dodgers-Padres games, a loss.  At least it wasn’t an 8-run first inning like the opening day of Spring Training this year.  At least it wasn’t a 15-0 sweep on opening day years back with Andy Green’s debut.

Opening day.  Wasn’t a win.  Could have been better game.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports–Wednesday “MARCH MADNESS = UPSETS”

Posted by on March 20th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“MARCH MADNESS-WILD NIGHTS”
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Bring it on…college basketball in March, the NCAA tournament.

Bring it on…The big boys playing the little guy.

Bring it on…Some name team getting upset-shocked-sent home.

Bring it on..a #16-seed beating a #1.

That’s only happened twice in March Madness history, but with the landscape has changed so much in the last couple of years, that more of these bad nights for the big boys is likely to happen.

The transfer portal has brought us firepower players going anywhere-everywhere making teams really dangerous.

The 3-point shot is an integral part of the game now, because so many great athletes who can fire from the next area code.

The invasion of the best players from Europe, and now to a degree from Africa, have helped reshape rosters.

So don’t be stunned if we revisit shockers, especially the first weekend of the tourney.

Here’s a look at the biggest upsets in March Madness history, courtesy of the Sporting News archives:

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11. No. 14 Abilene Christian 53, No. 3 Texas 52 (2021)
Shaka Smart has produced his share of highlights as a head coach in March Madness. This upset ranks as the lowest point of Smart’s NCAA Tournament career when his Texas team spit the bit against Abilene Christian.

Joe Pleasant calmly sank two free throws with a little over a second remaining. He then picked off an errant pass to give the Wildcats their first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament. The nine-point underdog hailed from Abilene, Texas, making its win over the state’s flagship school even bigger.

Tourney time: March Madness longshots | How Vegas oddsmakers create NCAA Tournament betting lines

10. No. 13 Princeton 43, No. 4 UCLA 41 (1996)
The Daily Princetonian’s headline succinctly captured the essence of this upset: David 43 Goliath 41.

Princeton head coach Pete Carril and the Tigers literally back-doored their way to victory. The winning margin came on a back-door layup by freshman Gabe Lewullis with 3.9 second left.

Most observers thought this would be Carril’s final game after nearly three decades at the Ivy League school. As it turned out, he had one game remaining when Mississippi State knocked off Princeton 63-41 in the second round.

9. No. 15 Lehigh 75, No. 2 Duke 70 (2012)
Lightning-quick guard C.J. McCollum bedeviled Duke with 30 points to give Lehigh its One Shining Moment in this opening round game in Greensboro. This was a home game for Duke with its campus located just 55 miles away.

The Mountain Hawks haven’t been back to the NCAA Tournament since producing one of the biggest March Madness upsets.

8. No. 15 Richmond 73, No. 2 Syracuse 69 (1991)
This one stung if you were a kid from Upstate New York. Syracuse forever owns the distinction of being the first No. 2 seed to lose a No. 15.

Curtis Blair scored a team-high 18 points for Richmond, which knocked off a Syracuse team that ran roughshod in the Big East that season. Billy Owens scored 22 points in a losing cause for the Orangemen.

7. No. 15 Princeton 59, No. 2 Arizona 55 (2023)
Princeton makes another appearance on this list after last year’s shocking upset over Arizona. The Tigers took down their second Pac-12 powerhouse program by scoring the final nine points of the game.

Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points to lead Princeton, whose head coach Mitch Henderson played on Pete Carill’s 1996 team that beat UCLA.

6. No.15 Florida Gulf Coast 78, No. 2 Georgetown 68 (2013)
Florida Gulf Coast stunned Georgetown in its second year of NCAA Tournament eligibility.

Sherwood Brown had a game-high 24 points and Bernard Thompson added 23 as the Eagles made a remarkable debut in the NCAA Tournament. Florida Gulf Coast earned the moniker “Dunk City” for its high-flying ways.

The Eagles knocked off San Diego State 81-71 to advance to the Sweet 16, where they lost to Florida.

Make your picks: Who will win 2024 March Madness? | 2024 March Madness odds | Printable bracket | ATS picks

5. No. 15 Santa Clara 64, No. 2 Arizona 61 (1993)
Before he became an NBA star, Steve Nash led Santa Clara to an improbable win over Arizona. Santa Clara head coach Dick Davey didn’t like his chances and stated that things could get ugly heading into the game.

Nash, a freshman guard from Canada, came up clutch with 10 points in the win. Santa Clara somehow managed to overcome a 25-0 run by Arizona midway through the game to pull the upset.

4. No. 15 Coppin State 78, No. 2 South Carolina 65 (1997)
How big of an upset was this? South Carolina was a 30-point favorite to beat Coppin State!

Coppin State used a 38-13 run over the final 13 minutes to secure its first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament.

Danny Singletary led the Eagles with 22 points, and he put them ahead to stay with six minutes left in the game.

3. No. 15 St. Peter’s 85, No. 2 Kentucky 79 (2022)
St. Peter’s put on an incredible shooting display in this monumental upset over Kentucky and head coach John Calipari.

50.9% shooting percentage overall
52.9% 3-point shooting percentage
85.7% free-throw shooting percentage
Daryl Banks III scored a team-high 30 points for St. Peter’s, which won its first game ever in the NCAA Tournament. The Peacocks overcame an incredible performance from Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (30 points and 16 rebounds) to win in overtime.

St. Peter’s wasn’t done. The Peacocks advanced to the Elite Eight with wins over Murray State and Purdue. The dream run ended with a 69-49 loss to North Carolina.

2. No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson 63, No. 1 Purdue 58 (2023)
The shortest team in the country pulled off the biggest upset over Purdue and 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey last year. FDU entered the game as a 25.5-point underdog.

The Knights became the second No. 16 seed to topple a No. 1 seed. FDU had to beat Texas Southern in the First Four prior to knocking off Purdue. The Knights did it with a swarming defense and 19 points from guard Sean Moore.

1. No. 16 UMBC 74, No. 1 Virginia 54 (2018)
This is the biggest upset in March Madness history because it marked the first time a No. 16 seed beat a top seed. Virginia entered this game at 31-2 as the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed.

The Cavaliers collapsed by allowing UMBC to score 53 points in the second half. It was stunning as opponents barely managed to average 53 points in a full game versus Virginia that season.

No. 16 seeds had an 0-135 record against No. 1 seeds entering this game. The Retrievers (pictured above) made history and in dominant fashion. Virginia went on to win its first national champion the following year with an 85-77 OT victory over Texas Tech.

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Enjoy it, because it’s going to happen in the first and second round.

 

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Tuesday “DODGERS-PADRES–SEASON OPENS”

Posted by on March 19th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“PENNANT CHASE OPENING DAY”
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It’s a different opening day for the Padres and Dodgers.

It won’t be at 1pm in the sunshine at Chavez Ravine or in the Gaslamp Quarter, but rather  the Dome in Seoul, South Korea.

It won’t be about luring new fans to the  Stadium, selling Dodgers Dogs, or selling the flashy Padres city current uniforms to fans.

No the Blue and the Friars will play Wednesday-Thursday abroad.  It’s about selling the game further to Pacific Rim fans.

But the 2-game series features some historical matchups, big time pitching, tremendous star-studded batting orders and personalities.  Oh yes, a long time bitter rivalry too.

At 3am-Pacific on Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani makes his debut in Dodger Blue, signing the all time record 700M-free agent contract with LA.  He will be facing fellow Japanese countryman Yu Darvish.  The game features modern day Korean star Ha-Seong Kim .

The Pacific Rim media has gone crazy.  Ohtani is a rock star, every move chronicled on the field.  Darvish is legendary of the many great pitchers who have come from there to here.

MLB has saluted the two of them, for acting as Ambassadors for the game in the two countries..  They have spoken Korean to reporters in that country.  They have taken part in charitable functions.

History between the two baseball fanatical countries, has not always been friendly. Japan dominated the World Baseball Classic early on.  Bitter things were said about the the KBO and the NPB, the two leagues.  A Korean player planted his flag on the mound after a win over Japan in the WBC, leading to an eruption of dislike.

Now the festivities are complete the night before the season opener.  We get back to baseball come Wednesday morning and the newspapers and TV reporters will be filing stories about anything and everything pertaining to the players the games.

Here at home this rivalry won’t swirl aboutJapan vs South Korea but rather age-old arguments.  Compare the players, the positions, and you can decide who you like.

Pitching:  I’ll take the Padres Big 3-starters right now over whom the Dodgers will run out there.  LA will debut newly acquired Tyler Glasnow on the mound.  He’s opposed by Yu Darvish on opening  night.  Japanese rookie Yosh Yamamoto faces off against Joe Musgrove.  The Dodgers will run rookies Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone out there and will have aging veteran James Paxton to fill out the rotation.  The Friars have 3-aces in the rotation right now with the deal that put White Sox ace Dylan Cease in Brown and Gold.  For the front end of the season, I take San Diego starting over LA’s though that likely changes when the Dodgers get Walker Beuhler, Dustin May and maybe Clayton Kershaw back in June-July-August.  EDGE-Padres

Bullpen:  The off season acquisitions mean the Padres have at least 9-experienced arms available, who have all pitched to some degree of success out of that pen.  The Dodgers have experience, but what about the many back end bulpen guys coming off surgical procedures.   How long does Blake Trienen, Joe Kelly hold up?  When is Brusdar Graterol back?  The Padres can run a ton of different guys out there the next 48-hours and the first month of the season.  EDGE-Padres

LINEUP: Easy question. Who you going to pitch around in the Dodgers batting order?  Loaded, a modern days version of the old Yankees’ Murderers row.  In San Diego, there is no Juan Soto scaring people, but the likes of Machado-Tatis-Bogaerts bring credentials.  The big issue will be if the Friars batting order, all of whom had substandard seasons last year, can hit back their lifetime career averages?  When it’s Ohtani-Betts-Freeman-Muncy-Smith-Lux-Outman you have to pitch to, the Friars face a challenge. EDGE: Dodgers

DEFENSE:  A very different makeup right now.  Mookie Betts has never played shortstop in the pros.  Gavin Lux has throwing problems at 2nd base.  Max Muncy is not a good glove guy.   Changing pieces in the outfield too in LA.  Of course not all the same for San Diego.  The rookie comes off a great spring training in centerfield and now we see if Jackson Merrill can hit.  A utilityman in left.  Xander goes to 2nd.  Kim anchors short.  Machado will not play the field to start the season so rookies might wind up at the hot corner early.  EDGE: Equal.

THE RECORD:  Lots of games to be played, but on paper leads me to believe the Dodgers can go (101-61).  The Padres, if they come together and hit back to what they are capable of doing, go (90-72).

Fans have been waiting all winter for this.   Time to watch baseball at 3am on Wednesday.  Play ball.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Monday “MARCH MADNESS IS UPON US”

Posted by on March 18th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“MARCH MADNESS-A MAD BASKETBALL SEASON”
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How do you describe wild, insane, exciting, unpredictable.

All piled into one bin, it’s college basketball in 2024 and fans will see it all beginning this week with the NCAA tourney play in games.

A season led by a monster big man, a huge number of 3-point shooters, and a ton of transfers who have come in and played immediately and won a bunch of games.

How many different number 1-teams were there in the country’s rating this year?  Can you say 7…something we have not seen in a long time.

It’s the farewell year of Purdue C-Zach Erdey, all 24-points a game of him.

It’s the stunning return of UConn as a top seed, with Dan Hurley screaming, yelling, coaching his team back to the top of the polls despite losing 3-top players from last year’s trophy winning team.

It’s the revival tour of Kelvin Washington, and the blisering finish by the Houston Cougars.

it’s the steadiness of Hubie Davis and a cross section of talent at North Carolina.

The explosiveness of everything Richard Pitino runs out on the floor at New Mexico.

It’s a year where 6-Mountain West teams survived the head to head wars they had all year, to get into the tourney.  These six are probably so exhausted from playing each other, beating up each other, they’ll be glad to have to play someone else.

It’s a year with no names like McNeese State, Yale, James Madison are part of the show.

So many fun storylines to follow, so many explosive teams, this will be neat to watch when the play-in games roll out first.

And how about those first round matchups like Gonzaga-vs-McNeese…Utah State-TCU..New Mexico-Clemson…Nevada-vs-Dayton and Boise-Colorado.

Of course we can all look ahead, for a 2nd round battle that might pit the Aztecs-vs-Auburn.

Been a wild season and what happens this week will probably top what we saw all winter long..upsets galore.

And it will be strange too to not see some household names there any longer, UCLA, Syracuse, St. Johns.

March Madness has arrived and it will be maddening.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Friday “AZTECS BASKETBALL-WINNING UGLY”

Posted by on March 15th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“AZTECS HOOPS–LIVING ON BORROWED TIME”
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SDSU basketball does not have to be pretty, as long as it is a win.

And it was in that first game of the Mountain West Conference, this war of attrition with an undermanned UNLV team.

Jaedon LeDee was dazzling in every facet but one, missed free throws, but the All American Aztec carried State on his broad shoulders with a (34P-16R) outing.

State played in spurts, trailing for most of the first half.  The shooting from the floor was horrid, they started (0-8) on 3’s and shot 25% in the opening half.

But you knew things were changing and they did right at the half.  Derrion Trammel hit a long distance 3-at the first half buzzer to set the stage for the turmoil starting the second half.

Trammel rattled home 3-straight threes, Jai Pal hit 4-baskets, and the Aztecs bigs outboarded Vegas (49-30) in roaring back

But like all things Aztecs hoops, you get streaks.  An (12-0) run for State, followed up by a (12-1) Rebels run.  A 10-point lead disappeared when UNLV zoned the Aztecs into the parking lot.

And the historically best defense in the world, kept losing Vegas freshman guard Dedan Thomas, who went off for 29 and nearly hit the game winning basket.

State survived going (15-for-25) at the free throw line.  UNLV could not survive the loss of its starting center with an ankle injury and could stop LeDee who was  banging, grinding all night long.

It only counted as one win, because come Friday night they have to play Utah State in the next round, and that won’t be easy.

It’s been so frustrating  to watch Brian Dutcher’s team.  All those tough losses to Quad 1-teams.  The cold spellsof  shooting that resemble the North Pole in winter.  And wondering who will step up and get consistent to match what LeDee has become, a complete star.

Living on borrowed time-we find out when they play Utah State on Friday.

Of course there is March Madness just ahead and they will be in that tourney too.  Not living on borrowed time because what they have earned going (23-9), but not the same type of teams we saw a year ago.

It was ugly vs UNLV, but it was a win, and that’s all that counts.

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