Happy Birthday–August 17

Johnny Rawlings (1892)
Rudy York (1913)
Donald Honig (1931)
Jim Davenport (1933)
John Buzhardt (1936)
Diego Segui (1937)
Boog Powell (1941)
Ron Boyer (1944)
Skip Lockwood (1946)
Butch Hobson (1951)
Alex Cole (1965)
Jorge Posada (1971)
Mike Maroth (1977)
Brett Myers (1980)
Dustin Pedroia (1983)

Author Donald Honig has written nearly forty books about baseball.

Ron Boyer is the brother of Clete Boyer and Ken Boyer. He played in the Yankees’ farm system for eight years, reaching AAA.

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2020 GAME 22: KC (+173) at Twins (-188) – Total 9.5

Singer on the mound for KC - he has gone exactly 5.0 IP in all 4 of his starts and KC is 3-1 over those starts including last Sundays 4-2 victory over the Twins.

The Twins are similarly 3-1 over Dobnak's 4 starts.

I think the bats figure Singer out today - take the Twins to win and the game to be more than 10 total runs.

Vegas odds before the season started:

  • 34.5 Wins (Tied for 3rd best with Astros behind Dodgers and Yankees)
  • +800 (meaning 8 to 1 - bet $100 get $900 back - winning $800)  to win the Pennant (4th behind Yankees, Astros, and Rays)
  • +1800 to win the World Series (Yankees, Dodgers, Astros, Rays, Braves, Athletics with better odds at the time)

Vegas odds as of last week:

  • 40 game win pace
  • +550 to win AL Pennant (2nd behind Yankees)
  • +1000 to win World Series (3rd behind NYY and LAD)

Odds today:

  • 37 game win pace
  • +650 AL Pennant (3rd behind NYY and TB)
  • +1200 World Series (4th LAD, NYY, TB)

Longer shot odds reflect the 3-3 week (3-6 overall stretch) the Twins have had since their best ever franchise start to a season.

The Twins have been a profitable bet to go under the total as they are 8-13 against the total so far (8 games over, 13 games under) and that includes 1-9 at home.

Happy Birthday–August 16

Hick Carpenter (1855)
Baby Doll Jacobsen (1890)
Fats Fothergill (1897)
Tiny Bonham (1913)
Gene Woodling (1922)
Puddin’ Head Jones (1925)
Buck Rodgers (1938)
Gene Brabender (1941)
Mike Jorgensen (1948)
Al Holland (1952)
Nick Leyva (1953)
Rick Reed (1964)
Xavier Hernandez (1965)
Terry Shumpert (1966)
Quinton McCracken (1970)
Damian Jackson (1973)
Roger Cedeno (1974)
Ryan Hanigan (1980)
Yu Darvish (1986)
Martin Maldonado (1986)

Nick Leyva is a long-time minor league coach and manager and major league coach.  He managed the Philadelphia Phillies from 1989-1991.

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Games 20 & 21: royals @ twins – Let’s play two!

Because of some truly menacing weather yesterday, we get to test out the goofy new 2020 doubleheader rules. Seven inning games! What do ya know about that? Funny that they are doing an actual, non-split doubleheader, now that there aren't fans to come.

Game 1 features former Terry Ryan thirst trap Ian Kennedy squaring off against Jake Odorizzi. The Odor this far has been mostly absent, so hopefully this game will get him started off on the path he was on last season.

Game 2 is unclear thus far. Bullpen game? Berrios? Odorizzi again? Who knows? It'll be fun, either way.

Happy Birthday–August 15

Charles Comiskey (1859)
Doggie Miller (1864)
Jack Warner (1872)
Bill Sherdel (1896)
Jim Snyder (1932)
Joey Jay (1935)
Jose Santiago (1940)
Cap Peterson (1942)
Duffy Dyer (1945)
Joe Lis (1946)
Billy Conigliaro (1947)
Tom Kelly (1950)
Joe Cowley (1958)
Randy Johnson (1958)
Jeff Huson (1964)
Scott Brosius (1966)
Chris Singleton (1972)
Oliver Perez (1981)
Jarrod Dyson (1984)

This would have been Mom and Dad A's seventy-fourth  wedding anniversary.

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