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CWS Championship Series, Florida vs. LSU

June 26, 2017

No.3 seed Florida (50-19) vs. No.4 seed LSU (52-18)

Best 2 out of 3 series

TD Ameritrade Park, Omaha, Nebraska, 24,000

Game times: Tonight, 6 CT, Tuesday, 7 PM CT, Wednesday, (if necessary) 7 PM CT

Network: ESPN

Pitchers for tonight’s game: Florida, RHP Brady Singer, 8-5, 3.18 ERA, LSU, RHP Russell Reynolds 1-1, 8.59. LSU has to start Reynolds because regular starter Eric Walker, 8-2, 3.49, was lost for the season with an arm injury last week.

Tuesday’s starters: Florida, RHP Tyler Dyson 3-0, 3.55 or RHP Michael Byrne, 4-5, 1.74, LSU LHP Jared Poche, 12-3, 3.39.

Wednesday, Florida, TBD vs. LSU RHP Alex Lange, 10-5, 2.97.

Note: Florida may not be able to use No.1 starter, right hander Alex Faedo, 9-2, 2.26, a first round pick of the Detroit Tigers, on Wednesday because Faedo just beat TCU 3-0 on Saturday and he may not have sufficient rest between starts. That would be tough for coach Kevin O’Sullivan and the Gators to try and figure that out. LSU coach Paul Mainiera is in better shape with his pitching though tonight is questionable.

LSU has won 6 national titles, 5 under Skip Bertman from 1991 to 2000; ’91, ’93, ’96, ’97, 2000, and 1 under Mainieri, 2009. Florida has won a national championship, but made it to the championship series in 2005, where they lost to Texas, and in 2011 where they lost to South Carolina. Both times under O’Sullivan.

Final decision

I like LSU’s team better than Florida’s. They hit it better, field better, and their pitching is set up much better than the Gators. I like the Gators to win tonight, but for the Bengal Tigers to take games 2 and 3 with, Poche, a 9th round pick by the Oakland A’s, and their ace, Lange, a first round pick by the Cubs.

LSU in 3

The spectacular Tim Corbin and his amazing team, MLB guys

June 7, 2017

Corbs' decision to start Matt Ruppenthal proved to be a highly prophetic one (Photo courtesy of D1Baseball.com). — Corbs’ decision to start Matt Ruppenthal proved to be a highly prophetic one (Photo courtesy of D1Baseball.com).

Jackson Gillis closed the door on Clemson (Photo courtesy of Twitter).

The greatness of Tim Corbin was no more evident than Monday Night in our regional championship game versus Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C.

Corbs went with Junior Matt Ruppenthal as our starter. Some people questioned the decision. I questioned it slightly. I was wrong as were the others. Corbs and Pitching Coach Scott “Brownie” Brown believed in Rupe 100% and “trusted” him, as Corbs said during the game to the ESPN3 commentators. And did Matt ever deliver.

Corbs and Brownie also trusted “freshman,” Jackson Gillis, and I put that in quotation marks because this young gun pitched like Mariano Rivera. Did he ever.

All in all, it was a sensational performance not only by our team, but also by our coaches. Corbs has had so many special seasons in his 15 years as head coach at Vanderbilt University, and this one ranks up there as one of his best, however it ends up. I’m optimistic that it’ll be in Omaha, but whatever transpires the rest of the way, it’s the way Coach Corbin has developed this group of players from a group that didn’t look very good in the fall, according to Tim, to one that has developed into one of the best teams in the country.

We’ll absolutely be tested in Corvallis this weekend versus Oregon State, but I really like where this team is at right now. They’re not playing distraught over Donny Everett’s passing, though I know there is still sadness, but they’ve now got the passion to play “with” number 41, as Corbs said to me three weeks ago. It’s greatness. It’s really phenomenal. It’s strength through belief, strength through passion, strength through dedication to their late teammate, his amazing parents, Teddy and Susan, an amazingly focused discipline to be the best, and a passion for each other. It all starts with head coach Tim Corbin. It’s been an amazing transformation of a college baseball team.

And it really didn’t totally click until last Friday. There were signs during the season that this team was very talented. But over the weekend in Clemson, they showed what type of team they can be. And it culminated with an absolutely terrific performance from Matt Ruppenthal, Will Toffey, and Jackson Gillis. But our other players were hugely clutch throughout the weekend. Here’s what happened in the penultimate game on Monday Night.

Matt was called upon by Corbs and Brownie to give us 6 good innings or so, and that’s exactly what he did. Matt didn’t rely on his 12-6 curve as much, though he did use it, but he was also throwing it 88-90 MPH with his fastball and throwing strikes and getting outs. Matt went 6, gave up only 6 hits, 0 runs, with a walk and 5 K’s. He threw 80 pitches with 51 for strikes against 29 balls. He was electric and dominant against a terrific hitting team in a very hitters friendly ballpark. It’s almost like Coors Field in Colorado where the Colorado Rockies launch long ball after long ball. With the short porches in Clemson, guys like DH Seth Beer (16 homers), catcher Chris Williams, who hit but didn’t catch due to a shoulder problem (14 homers), and shortstop Logan Davidson (12 homers) launched many balls into the seats this season. But Matt held them in check throughout his six innings of stellar work. He was phenomenal. Reed Hayes, our usual closer, came on in the 7th, as Corbs made a prescient decision to go with a guy who throws it 93-95 to mix it up from Matt’s slower stuff. Reed got’em out 1-2-3 in the top of the 7th, but then had some struggles in the 8th. The Tigers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th with one out , and the powerhouse hitting Beer coming to the plate. Corbs went to Gillis out of the pen. Jackson not only has the demeanor of a veteran pitcher, he has the look. He just looks tough. Jackson struck out Beer on a 93 MPH heater. Then he got Chase Pinder, another .305 hitter with 7 homers, to ground out to third for the final out. Jackson got them out 1-2-3 in the 9th to clinch the 8-0 victory and a trip to Corvallis to face No.1 Oregon State.

It was a masterful pitching performance by Matt and Jackson. Jackson could have earned Corbs’ and Brownie’s trust as our closer. He sure looked spectacular against a very good hitting team in a major pressure cooker situation.

Meanwhile, Will Toffey continued his masterful hitting in the postseason with a 2 run shot and a 3 run shot. Wow, Toff is hitting on another level. Those were home runs 10 and 11 for Will, and with the 5 RBIs, he now has 62 on the season. He is hitting .350.

Will was selected as Regional MVP. He was 9-for-19 over the weekend, a .474 average. He scored 8 runs and drove in 10. Ro Coleman was 3 for 5 in the game and freshman right fielder J.J. Bleday had a super game going 3-for-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. J.J. had 3 singles. Ro and Jeren Kendall were named to the All Tournament team. Jeren drove in 8 runs for the weekend, and Ro was spectacular, going 7-for-14 over the weekend. Ro played phenomenal left field as well, making highlight reel catch after highlight reel catch. He and Jeren were very instrumental in helping us win the Clemson regional. But the other guys, catcher Jason Delay, Reed Hayes as DH, second baseman Ethan Paul, and first baseman Julian Infante were also major reasons we advanced to the Super Regional. You can’t forget the superb starting pitching performances of Patrick Raby on Friday, and Kyle on Saturday. Just an awesome team Regional victory.

Now we head out to the great Northwest to play the No.1 seed in the entire tournament and the top ranked team in the country, the Oregon State Beavers. They are 52-4. The Beavers also went 27-3 in the PAC-12. We are now 36-23-1. We’ve got our hands full. Game 1 is Friday Night at 8 CT on ESPN 2. Rabes gets the ball for us. Saturday Night’s game is also at 8 CT, and that will be televised by ESPN. Sunday’s game, if there is one, hope there’s not, is to be determined for time and network if we split the first two games with the Beavers.

Will have more on this ultra talented Oregon State team, and more on our ultra talented team coming up on Friday as I preview this blockbuster matchup.

David Price, Mike Minor, Sonny Gray, Pedro Alvarez

David

I watched David Price’s performance from Saturday this morning and was very impressed. David had total command of the game leading his Boston Red Sox team to a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. David went 7, gave up 3 hits, 1 run, with 1 walk and 7 K’s. David threw 92 pitches, 55 for strikes against 37 balls. Craig Kimbrel came in and closed it out for Dave and the Bosox for his 16th save.

David hit 94-95 some with his heater, but was using his cut fastball quite a bit, throwing it 88-90, and hitting his spots perfectly. He also used his change up quite a bit and it was a very effective pitch as well. He gave up a homer to Manny Machado, but giving up a homer to the star third baseman for the O’s is something a lot of pitchers have to live with sometimes. But David was terrific overall.

The Red Sox also defeated the Yankees last night in the Bronx, 5-4, to move to 32-25 on the season, 1 game back of the Yanks in the American League East. So the Bosox are heating up. David pitches again tomorrow against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium @ 6 PM CT on ESPN. David will square off against Michael Pineda, who is 6-3 with a 3.76 ERA. In Pineda’s last outing, he went 5 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays and gave up 5 runs on 10 hits, so he’s hittable. The Yankees have some lumber though, so DP will have to be really on his game. David is now 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, he has walked 3 and K’d 11. His WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is 0.67 which is fantastic. Like where the man is right now.

Mike Minor

Mike came in last night in the 9th for the KC Royals and pitched a really solid inning, giving up 1 run and striking out 1 with no walks, getting the victory to move to 3-1 on the season with a 2.12 ERA. Mike was hitting 95 with his fastball. He was throwing his slider 88 to 89, and pitched spectacularly well. Mike looks like he’s back to being the pitcher he was when he was really cookin as a starter for the Braves in 2013. Mike has an 0.91 WHIP, so he’s been terrific as well. Would love to see Mikey get another shot as a starter for KC. The Royals actually won it on a walk off homer by designated hitter Mike Moustakas in the bottom of the 9th to defeat the Houston Astros, which are 42-17 and uber hot, 9-7. The Royals moved to 25-32. They’re in last place in the AL Central but only 5.5 games out of first place. The Minnesota Twins lead the Central at 29-25, so that division is up for grabs. The Astros are 13 games up on the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners in the AL West, so they are really dominating right now. Tony Kemp plays for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Astros triple A team, and he’s been up to the big club this year like he was last year. Would really like to see Tony get a shot somewhere. He’s just an injury away. He’s hitting .288 for the Grizzlies, and playing outfield and second. Tony’s such a super player.

Mike is really hitting his stride right now for the Royals.

Sonny Gray

I thought Sonny pitched really well for the A’s last Sunday in Oakland against the powerful Washington Nationals. He went 7, gave up 4 hits, 3 runs, with 3 walks and 6 K’s. He threw 104 pitches with 63 for strikes against 41 balls. Sonny’s fastball was hitting 93-95 and he hit 96 a couple of times. He located his fastball well, and his curve was outstanding. The Nationals are a tough group to pitch against, the best team in the NL at this point and a hitting machine, so I was impressed with Sonny’s performance. There has been a lot of talk of Sonny being on the trade market. If that’s the case, I hope he can land with a contender. The Cubs are interested from what I’ve heard. There are some other contenders he could go to. Would like to see Sonny on a team that is seriously in the playoff hunt. Sonny will pitch again Saturday at Tampa Bay against Erasmo Ramirez, who is in his first start for the Rays and has a 4.09 ERA. Sonny is now 2-2 with a 4.57 ERA and has a 1.21 WHIP, but I was very encouraged by his performance last Sunday against the best hitting team in baseball.

Pedro Alvarez

Pedro is still playing for the Norfolk Tides, the triple A club for the Orioles, and last night he went 1-for-2 with an RBI double to deep central field. That was his 41st RBI of the season, to go along with 13 home runs and a .235 average. That average doesn’t look that great, but it’s come up so much the last couple of weeks. Pedro has been tearing it up with the bat recently. He needs to get a shot with Baltimore. He’s too valuable of a hitter and he can play first or in right field if the O’s need him to. He’s just an injury away, or if Chris Davis keeps striking out 44 percent of the time he’s at the plate (88 strikeouts in 198 at bats), maybe he can take Davis’s spot at first. Pedro’s a better player in my opinion, and has a ton more heart than Davis does. It should happen soon. I don’t know what I’m seeing differently than the Orioles brass is seeing, but I see a much better first baseman at Norfolk than I do in Baltimore.

Tomorrow

Feature on one of our VU baseball superstars, who has an incredibly moving, powerful story.

Friday

Vanderbilt@ Oregon State

A preview of our Super Regional series at Corvallis, Oregon which promises to be a classic college baseball playoff series.

Vanderbilt basketball has tremendous postseason opportunity, baseball, football, men’s golf, women’s tennis

March 13, 2017

Our Vanderbilt basketball team finished the season 19-15 after beating A&M and Florida in the SEC tournament, both teams for the third time. With those key victories, and a key victory on the road over Arkansas, and a strength of schedule that was No.1 in the country overall, the committee awarded us with a well deserved 9th seed in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

We will play 8th seeded Northwestern in Salt Lake City, Thursday at 3:30 PM CT/4:30 PM ET on WTBS, which is channel 247 on DirecTV and channel 780 on Charter Spectrum.

This is a classic matchup of two very elite academic schools that have done pretty darn well at sports. Interestingly though, this is Northwestern’s first tournament appearance in its history. Northwestern has been playing basketball since 1904, 111 years. The NCAA tournament is in its 79th year. So, it’s a huge deal for the Wildcats. But it’s just as big of a deal for us.

Northwestern finished their season at 23-11 overall and 10-8 in the BIg Ten. They lost to highly seeded NCAA tournament teams Butler and Notre Dame in their pre-conference season. But both games were close. They lost to Butler, the No.4 seed in the South, 70-68 in Indianapolis. They lost to Notre Dame in Brooklyn at a preseason tournament, 70-66. Notre Dame is the 5th seed in the West Regional. They have a road win over Wisconsin, then ranked 7th in the country at the time and an 8 seed in the tournament in the East, 66-59. They also defeated Michigan at home on March 1st, 67-65, on an electric full court heave and score at the buzzer. Michigan just won the Big Ten tournament and is a 7 seed, which seems a little low, but the committee seems to value the regular season and the early tournament games more than the final games.

The Wildcats reached the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament in D. C. with victories over Rutgers, and a 72-64 upset victory over No.25 Maryland in the quarters. Maryland is a 6 seed in the West. The Wildcats lost to Wisconsin in the semis, 76-48, but I suspect, much like us, they were out of gas by that point.

The Wildcats are led in scoring by 6’3″, 185 junior guard Bryant McIntosh, who averaged 14.4 ppg. and 6’5″, small forward Scottie Lindsey, a junior, who averaged 14.2 per game. Their other double figure scorer is 6’7″, 205 redshirt sophomore forward Vic Law, who averaged 12.4 ppg. Six-foot-8, 235 pound sophomore center Dererk Pardon averaged 8.5 points and 8 rebounds.

They averaged 71 points a game and held opponents to 65 ppg. They out-rebounded opponents 36.2-35.4. They averaged 15 assists on the season against 10.5 turnovers. They shot 44% from the field, 34% from 3, and 75% from the line.

They have a good mix of veterans and younger players and their players are all experienced. We have our work cut out for us to win this ballgame. But we can absolutely win it.

We averaged 71 points and gave up 68. We shot 43% from the field and 38% from 3. We also shot 78% from the stripe, which is outstanding. We averaged roughly 35 rebounds per game. MFD led us in scoring at 13.6 ppg. Luke was next at 13.2, Jeff was at 11 ppg, and Riley averaged 10.5. Riley was so good at the end of the season, and really all year. He shot 49 percent from 3 for the year, 68-for-138, that’s outrageously good. He also led us at the stripe at 87%. Luke shot 85%, MFD shot 82% and JRobe shot 79%. We’re outstanding from the stripe and from deep.

Nolan Cressler, Joe Toye and Payton Willis were very valuable players for us too. Djerry Baptiste and Clevon Brown will be very valuable pieces for us underneath in the postseason as well. They’re both going to be very good players for us, and they need to step up for us now. Djerry can really help Luke out and Clevon can help Jeff out with some valuable minutes off the bench.

The keys to victory against Northwestern are, first, sinking several 3’s. I don’t want to put an absolute number on it, but 8 or better would help a lot. We have to hold our own on the glass with Luke, Jeff, Joe and our guards boarding well. We need to take care of the ball like we’ve done such a better job at the end of this season. We need to get some turnovers ourselves. We need to drive and score, which Nolan, Riley and Joe have been so good at and MFD can do. We need to pass it well to set up shooters and get some more backdoor scores, and we of course need to defend well. Keep them at 40% or less from the field and 34% or less from trifecta.

If we do all or most of these things well, particularly shooting, defense and the glass, we’ll move on and face the Gonzaga- South Dakota State winner on Saturday. Gonzaga is a prohibitive favorite in that game which tips off at 1 PM CT/2 PM ET in Salt Lake City on TBS.

So gigantic opportunity for our talented team that has improved so much throughout the season and is playing their best basketball right now, which is what you want. So can’t wait.

Here is the video of the team’s reaction to the NCAA announcement yesterday on CBS. It’s pretty electric.

***NOTE, This is from an email I sent out last night after the Northwestern game, Olivier Sarr is our 4 star 6’11’, 225 recruit who we are pursuing intensely. I spelled Olivier’s name Oliver. Apologize for the error.

Baseball splits a doubleheader

Our No. 25 baseball team is now 11-6 on the season after splitting a doubleheader with St. Mary’s yesterday, losing the first game 5-1, but winning the second game, 9-1. In the first game, Patrick Raby pitched a beauty of a game, but didn’t get enough offensive help, hardly any, and had a couple of miscues in the field that didn’t help either. Raby went 8.2 innings, throwing 118 pitches with 80 for strikes against 38 balls, an outstanding strike-ball ratio. Patrick gave up 6 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned, with 1 walk and 11 K’s. Tough luck loss for Patrick, but like where he’s at.

In the second game, the bats came alive and we got another stellar outing from freshman Drake Fellows. Jeren Kendall was 2-for-3 with a stolen base, his fifth, and three runs scored. Julian Infante was 2-for-2 with a ribbie and two runs scored. Third baseman Will Toffey was 2-for-4 with 4 Ribeyes, including a three-run triple. Super work by Will. Ro Coleman was 3-for-4 at the plate.

Fellows went 8, throwing 101 pitches, 69 for strikes against 32 balls, an over 2 to 1 strike-ball ratio, so he was outstanding. Drake gave up 2 hits, one run, which was unearned, walked none and struck out 8. Reed Hayes finished it off in the 9th giving up a hit, no runs with a K. Drake moved t0 3-0 on the season and he now has a 1.00 ERA, which is superb. Raby has a 1.40 ERA and he’s now 2-2.

Infante is leading us in hitting at .359. Ro is next at .311. We’re playing better, but need to brush up on our fielding. We’ve committed 22 errors in 17 games. That improvement will happen as we keep developing this season. We’re always good in the field and we’ve got good defensive players, good players period.

Corbs seemed OK with the split. It was hard to hear him in his interview because Born in the USA was blasting out of the speakers at Hawkins Field. Good song, but the volume was intense. He liked the efforts and performances of Raby and Fellows and thought we got it going pretty well with the bats in the second game as we had 12 hits. Overall, he’s cautiously optimistic about his team. That’s my read on his thoughts.

Next up is Western Kentucky tomorrow @ home, 4:30 PM CT. SEC Network+ will carry the game. Then we open the conference season @ Ole Miss with a weekend set. Friday’s first pitch is at 7 PM CT, Saturday’s game starts at 1:30 PM CT, and Sunday’s game starts at 3 PM CT and will be televised by the SEC Network. Should be pretty electric as we get into the conference schedule.

MLB guys

Some super news; Pedro got picked up by the Orioles on a minor league contract, meaning he’ll not start out on the 40 man roster this spring but can get on the team with a good performance during March in the Grapefruit League. There is talk that Baltimore will try Pedro out in the outfield some, and then, when he makes the team, use him out there and at first some to spell starter Chris Davis. Pedro had a good year for the Birds last year, so I’m glad they picked him up again. He has been working out on his own and with a coach on his outfield skills and Pedro is an awesome athlete, so I see him getting the outfield down. He can really play some first, so I’d like to see him still get a shot there, too. His bat is too good not to be in the lineup frequently. I expect Pedro to be an Oriole when the season starts April 3rd.

Mike Minor could be in the KC Royals’ rotation this season. I thought Mike looked good in the minors, and his stuff is ML:B starting material. David Price got a scare when his throwing elbow was having a lot of discomfort a couple of weeks ago. But Dave got it checked out and he’s OK, and will be ready when the Red Sox open the season in April. ***Note, 3-17, David looks like he’ll start on the 15 day DL, so we’ll have to wait to see David start his 2017 season. No major injury though which is the good news. David will be back probably late April.

Sonny has been injured a little for the A’s, some sort of lat issue, but he should be fine for the season. Dansby has had a little back problem, but he’ll be ready when the Braves open the season. Braves are really building for the future. If they play .500 ball this season, that would be good, and get them ready for a big 2018 at their new stadium, SunTrust Park in Cobb County, which opens this season. Should be awesome.

And I expect Carson Fulmer to be a starter for the White Sox. I’m saying very likely this season.

There will be some other guys who might be in the big leagues this year. Ryan Flaherty should be back with the Orioles. Will keep you posted.

Football

Sorry I’m late to report this but better late than never and certainly in this case. Alex Stump, a 2015 4 star wide receiver, has transferred to Vanderbilt from Ohio State. Alex is 6’3″, 210, and his film in high school is superb. He played a game last year for the Buckeyes and caught a pass for 8 yards. But watching his high school film shows me that Alex is going to be exceptional for us. He will have to sit out this year, but will be eligible in 2018 and 2019. That’s good news because we’ll be losing C.J. Duncan, Trent Sherfield and Caleb Scott after this season. We have some young studs on the perimeter in Kalija Lipscomb and Donaven Tennyson, and we have some freshmen studs coming in, 6’4″, 212 Chris Pierce and 6’3″, 200 James Bostic. And with Jared Pinkney and Sam Dobbs at tight end, we should have some good weapons on offense in 2018 as well. But 2017 is here and we’ve got Duncan, Sherfield and Scott set for big senior seasons.

I spoke with Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig about 3 weeks ago, but have decided to wait until after spring practice is over and talk to him then, so he’ll have a better handle on how the offense looks coming out of spring. We are having a Spring Showcase instead of a Spring game this year. It will be held Saturday, March 25th at 10 AM in Vanderbilt Stadium. In the past we’ve done kind of a goofy offense versus defense format, and coach Mason wants to get more out of the workout. So we will practice and do some scrimmaging. Excited to see what this team can do in 2017. We have a lot of good players back, and should be stellar on both sides of the ball. Hopefully, we’ll keep improving in special teams too. We open the season Saturday, Sept. 2nd on the road against Middle Tennessee, in Murfreesboro. No time or TV yet. We play Alabama A&M at home, Kansas State at home and then open the SEC schedule at home against Alabama. Will be tough, but I just say bring it on. I have confidence in our coaches and our players.

We’ll also play @ Florida, @ Ole Miss, @ South Carolina and @ Tennessee. We’ll have home games against Georgia, Western Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. If things go right, we’ll go 8-4, though we want to win’em all.

Here are highlights of Alex Stump. We’re going to like him.

Alex Stump

Men’s Golf

The No.1 Men’s Golf team will be in Statesboro, Georgia this weekend playing at the Schenkel Invitational. No.2 Florida will also play with a host of other teams including Kentucky, North Carolina State, Notre Dame and UAB, Should be super competition for the team as they keep matriculating towards the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. The SEC Tournament will be held in Sea Island April 21-24.

We won this event last year as Will Gordon shot a 63 on the final day and we finished -41 to win by 10 shots over second place finisher Wake Forest. Matthias Schwab, Patrick Martin, Will and company will have to play well as we face a tough field led by Florida. Note***Matthias is playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week. He is close to making the cut. Matthias earned the exemption by getting the sportsmanship award handed out by the tournament. Great stuff for Matthias.

PGA guys

In the pros, Luke List finished tied for 27th at the Valspar Championship yesterday, shooting -2 for the tournament. Adam Hadwin won at -14. Luke is now 21st in the Fed Ex Standings so in really good shape, and with a victory before the Masters, Luke will get in the Masters. So you never know and Luke’s been playing better this year after starting off the season really well at the end of 2016. Brandt is 35th in the standings and both Brandt and Luke will play this weekend at the Arnie Invitational at Bay Hill. Jon Curran is not playing and stands 154 in the standings, so he has work to do. The top 125 qualify for the 2017-18 season, and there is a lot of golf left, so several opportunities to make up ground. Luke plays all the time, Brandt plays a lot for a star on the tour, and Jon probably needs to pick up the workload to get back to relevance on the Fed Ex list.

Women’s Tennis

The No.10 women kept the machine rolling this weekend with a 5-2 victory over No. 23 Ole Miss. We improved to 9-4 overall and 4-0 in the SEC. That’s outstanding. We won the doubles, and in singles, No.5 Astra Sharma got her 80th career victory at Vanderbilt, and Georgina Sellyn, Fernanda Contreras and Emily Smith all won.

Next up, we’ll be on the road @ No. 20 Kentucky 4 PM CT this Saturday.

D Mase gets a couple more huge anchors, Zach, Bryce, team, Corbs, baseball

December 17, 2016

Coach Derek Mason landed a couple of more commits yesterday and these are two huge gets for Derek and the staff.

2017, 86 three-star Cole Clemens, a 6’5″, 290 pound offensive linemen and first team All-State selection out of South Jordan, Utah, dropped anchor on Friday morning. Clemens just won his third Class 5A state title at Bingham High in Utah leading his offense that generated 4,788 total yards and 72 touchdowns with 3,097 yards and 51 of them coming on the ground. Clemens was a standout at a couple of Nike Camps this past year and had a really good camp at VU last June.

Cole chose us over offers from Virginia, BYU, Utah and several others. Those are all quality football programs. Utah and BYU always play hard-nosed, physical, solid football and are always good. Cole fit their profile and ours, so I like who we’re getting.

Watched Cole’s film. He played right tackle for Bingham, and loves to bury people. He’s got a super mean streak. Likes to get an opponent on the ground and keep’em down. He is a superb run blocker. Didn’t see him doing much passing blocking because Bingham didn’t need to pass that much because they were so good on the ground, but if you can run block, you can pass block. Work with Coach Dobson in the weight room and Coach Norcross on the field will have Cole ready to go. He looks like he could be a three year starter for us. Again, he just buries people. A typical Coach Mason player. Physical, hard-nosed, an excellent football player. Love Cole.

Rocket Armed 2018 quarterback out of New Jersey

And we got a spectacular pickup in the 2018 class as 90, 4 star quarterback Allan Walters, from Peddie High School in Highstown, New Jersey, also committed yesterday. Walters chose us over Alabama, Michigan, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Louisville. Allen, a 6’2″, 205 pound signal caller, threw for 1,373 yards and 15 touchdowns as a sophomore at Paramous Catholic in New Jersey. Then, after transferring to Peddie School in New Jersey for his junior year, Allen completed 58-of-80 passes, 73%, for 870 yards and six TDs as well as rushing for 103 yards in the first three games before sustaining a hairline fracture that cost him the rest of the season. Not sure if it was in the leg or the arm, but Allen will be fully recovered for his senior season.

Watched film on AW. Wow, he’s got a cannon for an arm and he’s so accurate. Superb with the deep ball and intermediate throws. Handles the pocket really well, doesn’t get sacked, steps up and hits his targets in stride. His arm and his accuracy are phenomenal. We’re going to love Allen Walters. Just gotta keep him in the fold until signing day in February of 2018. We get a super quarterback every year. We’ve got a stellar one in Kyle now, with Wade Freebeck and the talented freshman Deuce Wallace waiting in the wings. Deuce is being redshirted. Jacob Free is coming in this ’17 class, and Allen will be coming to the West End in 2018. Coach Mason and Ludwig are going to have fun with these quarterbacks.

So we have 13 commits right now. Cole joins 6’5″, 290 pound high three star tackle Bryce Bailey out of Indiana, and three star tackle Grant Miller out of St. Thomas Aquinas Florida as our offensive line commits for this class. We did lose cornerback Adam Sparks. Adam decided to open his recruiting up. Sorry to see that, but we still have some really good opportunities at cornerback for this class. We already have 86 three star corner Randall Haynie out of Cardinal Gibbons in Fort Lauderdale and 85 three-star safety Tae Daley out of Warner Robbins, Georgia committed to this class. We’ve got some strong possibilities in 89 three-star corner Yusuf Corker out of Stockbridge, GA, and some others. We’re also in it for some more offensive linemen as 6’8″, 294 three star offensive tackle Jonathan Stewart out of Lawrenceville, GA., and 6’5″, 270 pound offensive guard Jax Wacaser, an 85 three star out of Scottsdale, Arizona are both very interested. We’ve got some stud wide receivers we’re looking at who are very interested in our program in 85 three star Austin Connor, a 6’0″, 180 pounder out of Dutch Fork, SC, and solid three star Chris Pierce, a 6’4″, 212 pound out of Smithfield, Virginia. We have other linemen, receivers, some linebackers and d ends, and a defensive tackle or two who are also very interested in the program. Will keep you posted as Coach Mason and the staff fill out what is a special class and keeps building for the 2018 class. Allen Walters is quite a start there.

The man just keeps on piling up the awards

Zach Cunningham

Zach became Vanderbilt’s first unanimous All-American on Wednesday after he was named first team All American by the American Football Coaches Association. Along with the AFCA honor, Zach was named Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, Football Writers Association of America and Sporting News All American. Wow. Zac was also named first team All American by CBS Sports, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Phil Steele and SB Nation. The hits just keep on coming with Zach. And the good news is, we at least have one more game with Zach. Zach led the SEC in total tackles with 119, which ranked him 11th nationally. Zach also posted 16.5 tackles for loss, finishing second in the SEC behind Myles Garrett of A&M, and 22nd nationally. Zach’s four fumble recoveries led the SEC and were second in the country. And Zach made two of the best plays in college football this season. His stop of lightning fast Georgia wide receiver Isiah McKenzie was epic and his leap and block of Auburn’s Daniel Carlson’s kick to give us a chance to win the game was beyond superb. What a phenomenal football player and an even better person. Can’t wait to see Zach compete December 26th.

What a huge day December 26th will be when we face the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA. at 4 PM CT/5 PM ET on ESPN2. I’m having withdrawals from missing watching this electrically exciting team play. Can’t wait to see the guys line it up again in Shreveport. More on the Independence Bowl leading up to the game next week along with any more recruiting or team news.

Bryce aims to get his team on track tonight in Memorial

Basketball

Bryce and the team host Chattanooga at Memorial tonight at 7:30 CT/8:30 ET on the SEC Network. Big game for us. Chattanooga is 8-2 and took Tennessee to the wire, and the Vols just took UNC to the wire in Chapel Hill last Sunday. This is a good basketball team we’re playing, so we need to really play well and kickstart our season. Unfortunately, Cam Justice has decided to transfer. Sorry Cam made that decision. Hoping for the best for Cam in the future. We’ve got a pretty short bench with just 9 scholarship players, but they’re good players and I believe in them. Know Bryce will get this team going. We’ve got good talent, we’ve just got to win games late, which we haven’t been able to do so far. Shooting is pretty good. Matt Fisher-Davis and Riley are shooting it well, and Luke is playing pretty well. J Robe is doing a good job, and we’re getting super play from freshman point guard Payton Willis. Joe Toye, Clevon Brown, Nolan Cressler and Djery Baptiste are all doing a good job off the bench. We’re a good team, we just need to win tonight and get some momentum going as we head closer to the SEC opener December 29th @ LSU at 8 PM CT on ESPNU. We’ll play a very good Dayton team before that at 6 PM this coming Wednesday at Dayton. Just need to win tonight. Will have a postgame on Monday.

Corbs, Baseball

The Commodores baseball team will play in at least 11 nationally televised games this coming season. We’ll be playing the likes of Ole Miss, A&M, Florida and South Carolina on the SEC Network and other ESPN family of networks. Ready to see Jeren Kendall, Will Toffey, Kyle Wright and company compete in the 2017 season as we aim for another deep run in the postseason. Don’t know a lot about this 2017 team yet. There are some unfamiliar names as we have a lot of youth on this team. But Corbs’ recruiting has been through the roof good, so there is plenty of talent. May take some time for our team to develop and hit their stride, but the leadership is good with the three guys I mentioned along with super sophomores Alonzo Jones, Connor Kaiser, Ethan Paul, and Julian Infante. I like this makeup of this group the more I think about it. Will talk to Corbs in mid to late January for a preview of another riveting season in Vanderbilt baseball. Looking forward to catching up with the man. The baseball facility is fully funded and it’s a go as we have secured our place as the premier baseball program in the country.

Will never forget you Number 41. You will forever be with the program. This season is for Donny.

The Fall Classic, Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago Cubs

October 25, 2016

Andrew Miller (above) and the stellar Indians bullpen will try to counter Jon Lester and the superb Cubs starting rotation — Andrew Miller (above) and the stellar Indians bullpen will try to counter Jon Lester and the superb Cubs starting rotation

FOX will telecast. Joe Buck, Smoltzie in the booth. Tom Verducci, Ken Rosenthal reporting from the field.

First game, tonight, 7:08 PM CT/8:08 PM ET first pitch.

In Cleveland at Progressive Field. Seats 35, 255, but should be a standing room only tonight with 40,000+ there. First two games in Cleveland, next three in Chicago, and final two, if necessary, back in Cleveland.

The droughts: Cleveland hasn’t won the World Series since 1948, 68 years. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 108 years, 1908.

Starting pitchers tonight: Jon Lester (Cubs) vs. Cory Kluber

Game 2 starters, tomorrow night: Jake Arrieta (Cubs) vs. Trevor Bauer

Game 3, Friday, 7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET: Josh Tomlin (Indians) vs. Kyle Hendricks

Game 4 Saturday, 7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET, Cleveland, undecided vs. John Lackey

Game 5 Sunday, 7:15 PM CT/8:15 PM ET: pitchers undecided

Game 6 Tuesday, Nov.1, 7:07 PM CT, pitchers To be determined

Game 7, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 7:07 PM CT, pitchers TBD

Analysis/Prediction

The Cubs have the edge in hitting and probably starting pitching though I like Cleveland’s starters as well. Andrew Miller is the key guy to me for the Indians out of the pen. In the postseason, Miller has thrown 11 2/3 innings in middle relief and allowed no runs with 21 K’s. You add stellar closer Cody Allen, who has thrown 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball with 12 strikeouts and that’s quite a potent combination that can win you a championship. They’ll need some help of course from the starters and the rest of the bullpen, but these two can carry their team. Cleveland is a base stealing team, too. I like that. The long ball will be big, too, and the Cubs can really do that. But I give the edge to Cleveland in the bullpen, the starters to the Cubs. defense and hitting are pretty much a wash. But since the wild card era commenced in 1994, the team with the home field advantage has won the World Series 71% of the time. I like those numbers. The Indians got the home field by virtue of the American League winning the All-Star game 4-2 over the National League. I believe in that league that wins the All-Star game and has home field advantage. I also love what Miller can do and Allen on the backend. The Royals won the world series last year with speed, timely hitting and a superb bullpen. I like the Indians to do the same in 2016.

Indians in 7

MVP: Andrew Miller

MLB Postseason Predictions

October 4, 2016

American League Wild Card

Tonight, 7:00 CT/8 ET, TBS

Toronto 7, Baltimore 5

National League Wild Card

Tomorrow Night, 7 PM CT/8 ET, ESPN

Mets 3, Giants 2

ALDS

Texas over Blue Jays in 4

Boston over Cleveland in 4

NLDS

Cubs over Mets in 5

Nationals over Dodgers in 4

ALCS

Boston over Texas in 6

NLCS

Nats upset Cubs in 7

World Series

Big Papi will not be denied as he goes out a World Series champion for the fourth time in his Illustrious career as the Bosox add their fourth World Series title in 12 years adding to their titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013. right fielder Mookie Betts, the likely MVP of the American League, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, first baseman Hanley Ramirez, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and the rest of the Bosox hitting arsenal get it done along with good pitching against a really tough Nats squad. Boston starting pitching is led by Rick Porcello, who I like to get the Cy Young in the AL. Porcello was 22-4 this season. David Price didn’t have his best year ERA-wise as he finished with a 3.99 ERA, but he was 17-9. Koji Uehara and Craig Kimbrel, though he can make Red Sox fans nervous at times, are the leaders of a good bullpen that give the Sox a slight edge over the Nats, though the Nats have the awesome Max Scherzer (20-7), most likely the Cy Young award winner in the National League, and superb closer Mark Melancon.

Like the home field advantage for the Bosox as the AL beat the NL in the All Star game, and the winning team in the All-Star game gets the home field advantage in the Fall Classic. FOX will televise. Joe Buck and John Smoltz on the call. Should be a phenomenal baseball coming up.

Red Sox over the Nats in 7

David Ortiz, Big Papi, retires with his fourth World Series ring. What a finish to his superb career.

What a drive, what a victory, super Bball news, NFL players, DP, guys in the majors

September 27, 2016

Kyle Shurmur (above) Jared Pinkney (middle) and Trent Sherfield (bottom) got it done when it mattered the most

Very proud of Coach Mason and the players for getting it done late on the road at Western Kentucky as the Commodores scored on the last play of regulation on a clutch Ralph Webb 3 yard run/dive and some clutch play by the offensive line, and the team scored a 7 in overtime and prevented Western from converting a 2 point conversion after their TD in a tremendous 31-30 victory.

With the victory, the team moves to 2-2 on the season and head into this Saturday’s matchup with the Florida Gators at 11 AM CT/ Noon ET on the SEC Network with tons of momentum.

The final drive of regulation with 1:02 left in the game and the team down 24-17 was Elway-eske in a way. It was beautiful. With the ball on our own 25, Kyle connected with tight end Jared Pinkney for 22 yards. Then Kyle connected with stud freshman wide out Kalija Lipscomb for 12 yards to the WKU 39. Kyle then hit Trent Sherfield for 24 yards to get the ball to the Western 15. We had no timeouts left and Kyle and the receivers still showed so much poise. After 2 incompletions, Kyle threw it for Trent close to the goal line. It was incomplete but Western was flagged for a pass interference penalty, so the ball was placed at the 2 yard line, first and goal. But there were only :03 left.

Western called two timeouts on defense before we ran our last play of the game. Coach Mason said afterwards that Coach Ludwig asked him what he wanted to do run or pass. Coach Mason said to run it. We ran it over the right side of our line and Ralph leapt into the end zone for the six. Tommy Openshaw connected on the extra point and we were going into overtime tied at 24.

We got the ball first in the OT, and Kyle hit Jared, who was super down the stretch, for a 14 yard gain to the Western 11. Ralph rushed for 7 yards to the Western 4. Ralph then rushed for 3 more yards to get us to first and goal at the one. After a couple of loss of yardage plays, we had the ball third and goal at the Western 5, Kyle rolled to his right and found tight end Nathan Marcus open in the end zone for the 7. Tommy connected. We were up 31-24.

Western scored on an 8 yard TD pass, and, somewhat surprisingly, Coach Jeff Brohm went for 2. Our line batted the pass in the air and our defensive backs knocked it down to secure the gigantic victory, that puts us at 2-2 overall as we head back into conference play. We are 0-2 in the SEC, but a victory over Florida could really jump start this football team for the rest of the season. Last Saturday was a huge momentum and confidence builder for the team.

Ralph ran for 95 yards and three 7’s, Kyle was 18-of-29 for 279 yards a TD along with an int, but was super clutch when it counted the most. C.J. Duncan caught five passes for 66 yards, Kalija caught 3 passes for 56 yards, Jared caught 3 for 41 yards, and Trent caught 2 for 38 yards. Our offense looked tremendous on that last drive and in the overtime period. Tons of credit goes to Coach Ludwig, Coach Mason, of course, for making the courageous run call on the last play of the game. Kyle and his awesome receiving corps and the awesome play of our offensive line were huge keys to the victory. We just wore them down at the end. Center Barrett Gouger, right guard Bruno Reagan, right tackle Justin Skule, left guard Delando Crooks, and left tackle Will Holden got the job done and done extremely well in the clutch. Really proud of our offense.

The defense may not have had their best game against Western, but there were some super individual efforts and some really good turnovers. Cornerback Torren McGaster finished with 9 tackles and a fumble recovery. Linebacker Zach Cunningham, as usual, had 9 tackles. Zach is just all over the field every game. He gives it max effort every time out, and he is a superb football player. Linebacker Ja’karri Thomas also had 9 tackles. Star linebacker/safety Oren Burks had four tackles and a tackle for loss. Zach and Ja’karri also had a tackle for loss. Zach had 1 1/2 TFL’s. Taurean Ferguson had 5 tackles and a forced fumble. Tre Herndon played a super game with five tackles, a fumble recovery, that was caused by Taurean’s strip on the Western running back at the goal line that popped into Tre’s arms and he ran if back for 27 yards, and Tre also added an interception. While we gave up 496 yards of total offense, which is too much for our defense, we made some big plays. I know we’ll be better against Florida.

Huge victory for a team that has now realized they can win these toss up games. Now it’s onto Florida. Huge test for the team on Saturday, but I see us playing well and we could very well pull this out. The Gators lost to Tennessee, 38-28, in Knoxville last Saturday after squandering a 21-3 halftime lead. Florida is playing their backup quarterback, Austin Appleby, and he was pretty good for a while against the Vols finishing 23-of-39 for 296 yards and 3 TDs, so he’s very capable. They’ve got a pretty good running game and a good defense, so it’s a major test for our football team. Florida’s stud receiver Antonio Callaway caught 4 passes for 134 yards against UT, but was hobbled some, so he could be a little banged up heading into Saturday. Anyway, we’ve just got to believe we can get this done and we will.

Tremendous victory for Coach Mason and the team. So proud of them.

Huge news on the Basketball front

Superb new basketball commit Ejike Obinna

Vanderbilt basketball Coach Bryce Drew landed his third commitment for the 2017 class. Six foot-nine, 220 pound, 4 star power forward Ejike Obinna from Ashburn, Virginia has committed to VU. Watched Ejike on film and he looks tough, talented offensively and athletically, an enforcer on the defensive end, a ferocious rebounder, and a shot blocker. Huge pickup for Coach Drew and the staff. Ejike chose us over Clemson and Florida, who were other final contenders. Ejike had offers from close to 30 programs including LSU, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Missouri, Seton Hall, Miami, Texas A&M, West Virginia and Xavier. So Ekije is a huge get for the program. Well done by Coach Drew and the staff.

Ekije joins four star point guard Saben Lee out of Tempe, Arizona and 4 star combo guard Maxwell Evans out of Bellaire, Texas. Pumped about football, but also getting pumped about basketball. Not sure if Coach Drew is through yet. I believe he’ll be looking for another power forward or a center before this recruiting period is over. The early signing period for basketball starts November 9th, that’s a Wednesday. So, we’ll get these three studs in the fold and maybe add another before then as well. Will keep you posted.

NFL guys

Jordan Matthews caught another touchdown on Sunday in a 34-3 Philadelphia Eagles victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. JMatt caught a 12 yard TD pass from super rookie quarterback Carson Wentz out of North Dakota State. Wentz has energized this football team, and they’re playing superbly on both sides of the ball. JMatt already has 15 receptions for 204 yards and a pair of 7’s. He’s been terrific. The Eagles moved to 3-0 on the season and head into their bye week with major momentum. Love to see the man doing well once again. He’s so consistent. Hoping JMatt will be at the game Saturday to help our emerging receiving corps like he did this past summer when he spent a major amount of time with them and told Coach Mason they were ready for SEC football. They look like it now. JMatt is a total stud and his presence on the sideline would mean a lot to our receivers and our entire football team. Love what the man is doing in Philly. The Eagles do, too.

Casey Hayward doing a tremendous job at corner for the San Diego Chargers. Casey signed with the Chargers in the offseason and already has three interceptions this season. The Chargers are 1-2, but look pretty competitive and Casey is playing tremendous football.

Andre Hal is a staple in the Houston Texans secondary at safety. Andre has one interception this season, it was actually off Jay, and 10 tackles. They love Andre in Houston. He’s a real pro just like JMatt and Casey.

Wesley Johnson has played center in all three games for the Jets. Wesley was one of the best linemen to ever come through VU, and I’m hopeful he’ll be the Jets or somebody’s starting center down the road. I know he can get the job done and done well.

Zac Stacy hasn’t been picked up yet. He suffered a tough broken ankle last year and was waived by the Jets before the season started. But I believe Zac will land somewhere this season. Zac is a really good player, and with the injuries at running back in the National Football League, several teams will need a running back probably sooner rather than later. Will keep an eye on Zac’s status.

Jay Cutler is having a tough year so far. His team is 0-3 and he struggled mightily last week against the Eagles at home before spraining his thumb. Hopeful Jay can come back and rally his team and get them back in the NFC North race. Jay is tough and comes back from injuries as quickly as possible, so he could be back this Sunday as the Bears host the Detroit Lions. The Bears are still playing hard, but they have five or six defensive starters who are out with injuries right now, and Jay is hurt, so it’s been a struggle. They lost to the Cowboys Monday Night, 31-17. Brian Hoyer is doing a good job in relief of Jay. Hopefully Cut can come back on Sunday.

David, Pedro Dans, Tony, Sonny

DP, BoSox, stellar; Sonny (below) giving it one more go tomorrow night — DP, BoSox, stellar; Sonny (below) giving it one more go tomorrow night

David Price is 8-0 in his last 9 starts with a 2.91 ERA. David has been superb and so have the Red Sox. The Sox have won 11 in a row, and now, at 92-64, have the best record in the American League as Texas lost last night. With six games to go, if the Sox can hold off the Rangers, they would have the home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs and would get the home field in the World Series as the American League defeated the National League in the All-Star game and earned the home field due to that, if they can win the AL pennant. With Big Papi, Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Xander Bogaerts, Sandy Leon, and super rookie Andrew Benintendi, the Red Sox have some amazing lumber in their lineup. The Sox are playing stellar defense and getting outstanding starting pitching. The bullpen has become very reliable. David earned the victory last Thursday over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, 5-3, going 7, giving up six hits, three runs, with 2 walks and 5 K’s. David threw 99 pitches, 72 of them for strikes against 27 balls, an excellent strike-ball ratio. His fastball was hitting 92-93, but he did hit 95 in the bottom of the 5th. His change up and cutter were stellar, particularly his change up. It’s a circle change, meaning there is movement as it moves into a right handed hitter and away from a left handed batter. It’s a really awesome pitch. It’s effectively a curve ball with more velocity, coming in at 85-86. Dave’s cut fastball has good movement on it too. David moved to 17-8 with the victory and now has a 3.91 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, getting closer to the walks and hits per innings pitched that he wants. His ERA keeps going down, too. The Sox are sizzling right now. Like where they’re headed as we matriculate into the postseason which starts next Tuesday, Oct. 4th with the AL Wild Card game Tuesday Night and the NL wild card game next Wednesday Night, Oct.5th. TBS will televise the AL Wild Card game and ESPN will have the NL wild card game. I will have my predictions for the playoffs on Monday, Oct. 3rd on my all sports blog. I’ll send out an email to you guys as well to alert you when it’s up.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today has already coronated the Cubs the World Series champions, but I’m not buying the Cubs yet. They have to get through the Nationals and/or the Dodgers in the National League postseason, and face hopefully the Sox in the World Series if they get there. So there is plenty to be decided and nothing is given. I really like that Nationals squad too, and the Dodgers, and I’m still not discounting the Mets if they can make it in as a wild card. In the AL, the BoSox, the Rangers, the Indians and the Blue Jays look like the best teams, and the wild card is still wide open with the O’s hanging on.

Pedro Alvarez is playing some. Still want to see him get more of a shot, he’s had a really good year with the bat and deserves more of a shot, but don’t get me started. Pedro needs to be somewhere where he is valued as the stellar player that he is. Maybe the O’s will give him more of a shot the rest of this season and in the postseason if they make it. Chris Davis is still striking out at a tremendous rate and he’s a terrible first baseman. Seems like Showalter would give Pedro a look at first to see what he could do. Still unclear why Showalter continues to play Davis and not give Pedro an opportunity. I’m still really ticked off about it.

Dansby Swanson is doing a super job for the Braves at shortstop and hitting over .300. Like where Dans is. He’s the shortstop of the future for a team that looks like they could break through as a playoff team, if not next year, in 2018.

Tony Kemp is playing left field for the Astros and doing well. Tony was 2 for 3 on Sunday, and the Astros are hanging on by a thread in the AL wild card race. They are 3.5 back of the second place O’s with 5 games left. Tony looks like he’ll have a good future in the majors, whether it’s with the Astros or somebody else. Like Pedro, somebody needs to put Tony in the lineup and stick with him. They’ll be happy they did.

Sonny Gray is going to make one last start for the A’s tomorrow night @ the Los Angeles Angels. Sonny has been out for a month and a half with a forearm injury, but wanted to pitch one more time this season for the A’s. He’ll probably go for a short period of time according to the San Francisco Examiner, anywhere from 2-3 innings, but it’ll be good to see him out there competing, and hopefully have a good outing and get some momentum for next year. Sonny should be back with the A’s next season. Not positive with the way they move players in Oakland, but just ready to see Sonny back out there full time in 2017.

David pitches tonight against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The next six games mean a lot to the BoSox for the division title and the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Just need to start the week off right by taking care of business tonight in the Bronx. David will face Luis Cessa, a right hander who is 4-3 with a 4.30 ERA. The Yankees have to win out and hope for help to make the playoffs, so they’ll be locked in. Dave will have to pitch well. I expect him to. Will have a report tomorrow.

David lost a close friend to cancer a week and a half ago and he learned about it a couple of hours before his start against the Yankees. David’s former roommate and close friend, Terry Wanthalangsy, lost his battle with cancer. David didn’t have his best start against the Yankees which was understandable. He competed hard, but it’s really tough when you lose somebody you care a lot about and try to do your job to the best of your ability. He’s still been stellar.

David’s lost a couple of close friends in the past five years. That’s tough, but David is strong and resilient. I know he misses his great friend though. Rest in peace, Terry.

Final Four Predictions, MLB predictions

April 2, 2016

2016 Final Four

Today

NRG Stadium, Houston, TX (76,000)

Game 1

Villanova (33-5) vs. Oklahoma (29-7)

5:09 PM CT/6:09 PM ET

TBS, Channel 247 on DirecTV, Channel 780 on Charter Cable

Jim, Raft, Grant, Trace

Nova by 2

Nova broke my Kansas Jayhawks’ hearts last week in the Elite Eight, but they’re not going to break my heart again this week. Kansas was my pick to win it all, but Nova is looking like they can’t be stopped after putting on a masterful defensive performance against the Jayhawks last week in a 64-59 victory. The Jayhawks’ lack of outside shooting cost them and Nova shut down the usually dominant power forward Perry Ellis inside, with strength and superior toughness. I like awesome point guard Ryan Arcidiacono and his teammates to get the job done once again, but in an outstanding game against a stellar Oklahoma Sooners team led by the superb Buddy Hield, who takes his team on his back, including last week’s Elite Eight game in which he scored 37 in an 80-68 victory over Oregon. Hield was eight of 13 from trifecta against the Ducks. He was just a dominant player. Nova has to somehow slow down Hield as much as they can, though that can seem next to impossible as Hield, who won the Oscar Robertson Trophy as player of the year which is awarded by the U.S. basketball Writers Association, finds ways to score, mainly from the outside, but he also showed against Oregon that he can take it to the glass and score. But if any team’s defense can slow Hield down, it’s Nova’s, and the Wildcats can hold the rest of the OU shooters from getting good looks, to survive and advance to the championship game.

Villanova 68, OU 65

North Carolina (32-6) vs. Syracuse (23-13)

7:49 PM CT/8:49 PM ET

TBS

Jim, Raft, Grant, Trace

UNC by 9 1/2

The Tar Heels look unstoppable right now. Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson are elite players and I don’t see Syracuse having an answer for them defensively. The Tar Heels are playing championship defense as well. Syracuse is scrappy and they upset heavily favored Virginia in the Elite Eight last Sunday, 68-62, which was extremely impressive. But they don’t have enough to stop this talented UNC team. It’ll be UNC and Nova playing for the national championship Monday Night at 8 CT/9 ET on TBS.

UNC 75, Syracuse 65

Baseball predictions:

National League MVP: Paul Goldschmidt, first baseman, Arizona Diamondbacks

American League MVP: Carlos Correa, shortstop, Houston Astros

NL Cy Young: Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks

AL Cy Young: Dallas Keuchel, Astros

NLCS: Diamondbacks over Cubs

ALCS: Astros over Blue Jays

World Series

The Astros over the Diamondbacks in 7

The ‘Stros win their first ever World Series championship. The Astros began playing in 1962, so that’s 54 years.

Like Correa and the Stros to get it done

World Series Preview, Prediction

October 27, 2015

New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals

Mets (90-72 regular season)

Postseason:

Beat the Dodgers in five in NLDS in best of five series and beat the Cubs in four straight in NLCS in best four out of seven.

Royals (95-67)

Postseason:

Beat the Astros in five in ALDS in best three of five and beat the Blue Jays in the ALCS best four of seven.

Schedule

Tonight

Mets @ Royals (Kaufman Stadium, 37,903)

7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET

FOX

Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci, Ken Rosenthal, EA

Mets: Matt Harvey (13-8, 2.71, 37 walks, 188 K’s, 18 homers given up, 1.02 WHIP–walks hits per innings pitched– good stat; postseason: 2-0, 2.84 ERA)

Royals: Edinson Volquez (13-9, 3.55, 72 walks, 155 K’s, 16 homers, 1.31 WHIP; postseason: 1-2, 4.32 ERA

Game 2

Wednesday

Mets @ Royals

7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET

FOX

Mets: Jacob deGrom (14-8, 2.54 ERA, 38 walks, 205 K’s, 16 homers, o.98 WHIP, postseason: 3-0, 1.80)

Royals: Johnny Cueto (11-13, 3.44, 46 walks, 176 K’s, 21 homers, 1.13 WHIP; postseason: 1-1, 7.88)

Game 3

Friday, Oct. 30th

Royals @ Mets

Citi Field, New Yawk, The City that never sleeps (45,000)

7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET

FOX

Royals: Yordano Ventura (13-8, 4.08, 58 walks, 156 K’s, 14 Hrs, 1.30 WHIP, postseason: 0-1, 5.09)

Mets: Noah Syndergaard (9-7, 3.24, 31 walks, 166 K’s, 19 homers, 1.05 WHIP, postseason: 1-1, 2.77)

Game 4

Saturday, Oct. 31st

Royals @ Mets

7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET

FOX

Royals: Chris Young (11-6, 3.06 ERA, 43 walks, 83 K’s, 16 homers, 1.09 WHIP; postseason: 0-0, 3.12 in one start).

Mets: Steven Matz (4-0, 2.27, 10 walks 34 K’s in six games started came back from injury later in the season. 34 homers, 1.23 WHIP; postseason: 0-1, 3.72)

Game 5

Royals @ Mets

Sunday, Nov. 1st

7:15 PM CT/8:15 PM ET

FOX

Volquez @ Harvey

Game 6

Mets @Royals

Tuesday, Nov. 3rd

7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET

FOX

deGrom @Cueto

Game 7

Mets @ Royals

7:07 PM CT/8:07 PM ET

FOX

Syndergaard @Ventura

Analysis and Prediction

This Royals team struck out the least of any team in baseball and hit the 95 MPH or better fastball at a .284 clip which is very good. Their bullpen is awesome with Ryan Madison, Kelvin Herrera and the awesome Wade Davis. They’re almost unbeatable if they have a lead going into the seventh inning. But I love the Mets’ young cannon-like arms, particularly Harvey, who’s 26,, and the awesome deGrom, who’s 27. Those two along with Syndergaard and Matz will bring the heat.

And second baseman Daniel Murphy has six consecutive home runs in the postseason and seven overall. I expect left fielder Yoenis Cespedes to have a big series along with Murphy. And veteran third baseman David Wright, who has come back from almost a career ending back injury, should be huge with the bat, glove and his leadership as well. Should be an awesome series.

Mets in 7

Major League baseball playoffs, World Series predictions

October 6, 2015

Kind of making this short and succinct.

Tonight’s matchup

American League Wild Card

Houston Astros (86-76) @ New York Yankees

(87-75)

Yankee Stadium (49,642) The Bronx

7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET

ESPN

Starters

Stros: LHP Dallas Keuchel: 20-8, 2.48 ERA, 51 walks, 216 K’s, 17 long ones given up, 1.02 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)

Yanks: RHP Masahiro Tanaka: 12-7, 3.51, 27 walks, 139 K’s, 25 homers given up. 0.99 WHIP

Like Keuchel and the Stros get it done over the Yankees. Really trust Keuchel.

Astros 4, Yankees 3

Tomorrow night (Wednesday)

National League Wild Card game

Chicago Cubs (97-65) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (98-

64)

PNC Park Pittsburgh (38,496)

7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET

TBS

Starters

Cubs: RHP Jake Arrieta: 22-6, 1.77 ERA, 48 walks, 236 K’s, 10 homers given up, 0.86 WHIP

Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole: 19-8, 2.60 ERA, 44 walks, 202 K’s, 11 homers coughed up, 1.09 WHIP

It’s hard to pick against Arrieta. He’s been so dominant the last two months of the season, and no Pirate has hit him very well. He’s been a strikeout machine. But I’m going to go with the Bucs here because I think they’ll hit enough and get good pitching from Cole, and their closer, Mark Melancon, is the best in the business. Melancon is as close to a sure thing as you’re going to get out of your closer in baseball. He’s saved 51 games in 53 opportunities, has a 2.23 ERA, and an 0.93 WHIP. He’s a stud. Like the Bucs to get it done barely over the Cubs in a heckuva game. These two teams, along with the Cardinals, which won the NL Central, have the best three records in baseball. The Cards finished the season 100-62. It’s a shame these two teams only have one game to decide who advances. Makes me think they should re-format the playoffs and let the teams with the best records get byes and not have to play in the wild card game. If that were the case, the Mets and the Dodgers, two very good teams, would be playing the wild card game, which really is the most fair and accurate way to do it. But that’s the system. Tough for both the Pirates and Cubs. But that’s the way it is right now.

Pirates 3, Cubs 2

American League Division Series

KC Royals over the Astros in 4

Toronto Blue Jays over the Texas Rangers in 4

NLDS:

Mets over Dodgers in 5

Cardinals over Pirates in 5

American League Championship Series:

Blue Jays over KC in 6

National Leauge Championship Series

Cardinals over Mets in 6

World Series (starts October 27th at American League Park. with a 2-3-2 format; two at American, three at National and two at American).

FOX will telecast

The Cardinals have had an amazingly, consistently awesome season. They’ve got strong pitching. But look at this hitting trifecta for the Blue Jays: third baseman Josh Donaldson (who should win the AL MVP), 41 homers, 123 RBIs; right fielder Jose “Joey Bats” Bautista, 40 home runs, 114 Ribeyes; DH-first baseman (in NL park) Edwin Encarnacion, 39 bombs and 111 Ribeyes. That’s something else. Combine those guys with super stud shortstop Troy “Tulo” Tulowitzki, and the other bats, and that is one potent hitting lineup. And the Blue Jays have pitching. David Price came over from Detroit right before the trade deadline, and has been superb. Price has gone 9-1 with the Blue Jays with a 2.30 ERA, he’s issued 18 walks and struck out 87 and has a 1.01 WHIP. Overall, Price is 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA, 47 walks and 225 K’s. He’s a strike throwing machine and he’s bringing it 95-96, along with an excellent split fingered fastball coming in at 90, a stellar 85 MPH change up and a pretty good curve he developed in the offseason. But his go to is his 96 MPH heater. And he’s very good at getting batters out with that, usually on swings and misses or called strike threes. The Blue Jays have some other good starting arms and a solid bullpen. And the fans in Toronto are hungry for a championship. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 1994 after winning consecutive World Series in 1992 and 93. That Rogers Centre, where they play, has been rockin’ ever since Price and Tulowitzki came to Toronto in early August. It’ll be like the Super Bowl there every playoff and series game in Toronto. It’ll be a tremendous home field advantage.I love the Jays’ bats. Donaldson, who played at Auburn, Joey Bats, Encarnacion, Tulo and Price get Toronto their first World Series championship in 22 years.

Blue Jays over Cardinals in 6

World Series Champions

The Toronto Blue Jays

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