Thursday May 8, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3908

is it officially a "freefall"?

I stole the headline from my crazy friend, Chris, who interrupted my evening of watching awesome Mike Malaska golf lessons on YouTube last night with this text at 10:11 pm.

"Well, is this officially a freefall now, Drewski?"

I guess that's a good word for where the Orioles are at this point.

Last night's 5-2 loss in Minnesota drops the Birds to 13-22. That's also four straight losses, but we're not counting, right?

In a cruel twist of fate, Charlie Morton fell to 0-7 on the year but almost produced an acceptable outing last night, going 4 innings and "only" allowing 3 earned runs, which all came off the swing of one bat in the 3rd inning.

Former Oriole Danny Coulombe was the winning pitcher, speaking of cruel twists of fate.

At 13-22, this is now starting to merge from "got to get it going soon" to "if we don't fix this soon we're in big trouble".

There's also the ongoing "Hyde watch".

I know Mike Elias said all the right things about the Orioles manager last week, but at some point, if this turns into an embarrassing collapse in May and the O's are something like 16-34 after 50 games, you'd have to move him on, right?

If Elias sticks with him, what message does that send?

Anyway...

Let's do some quick math.

It's likely going to take 88 wins to make the playoffs in the American League.

The O's would need to go 75-52 over their final 127 games to make the post-season.

Impossible? Of course not.

But you'd be asking a team who has 22 losses in roughly six weeks to "only" lose 10 games a month, basically, between now and the end of September.

Impossible? No. Ambitious? Very.

I'll repeat what I've been saying for a while now about the O's and their pitching and hitting woes.

I've seen a lot of teams start the season hitting, as a team, to a "4" on a 1-to-10 scale, but they wind up getting their act together in the summer and finish the year hitting a "7" on that scale by season's end.

In other words, I've seen plenty of teams start off slow on the offensive end but get it going as the season goes on.

You almost never see that with pitching.

It's actually the opposite.

I've seen lots of teams start out the year pitching, as a team, to a "7" or "8" on that 1-to-10 scale. But as the innings pile up and the games come fast and furious, that "7" becomes a "5" and later, in September, everyone's throwing on fumes and the season ends with the team's pitching staff at about a "4".

You almost never, ever see a team start out the season pitching terribly and somehow turning it around over the last 3-4 months of the season.

Hate to be a Debbie Downer.

But I don't know if it's going to get much better.

Sure, Zach Eflin's return will help.

But there's only one of him, not four of him.

And he also can't start and pitch in relief, either.

Is it officially a "downfall"? Yeah, I'd say so.

I'd say they're getting a break by going out to Los Angeles to take on the Angels over the weekend, but they're 13-22. At this point, the Angels are probably foaming at the mouth at the thought of hosting the Orioles for three games.

Glenn Clark and I got into a spirited discussion during my weekly appearance on his show yesterday, and it predictably centered on Justin Tucker, his release, and, of course, the prospects of the kicker someday being added to the Ravens Ring of Honor.

Tucker, Clark says, is facing a serious dilemma. In order for Tucker to even have a shot at the Ring of Honor, Glenn says he'll have to admit to his inappropriate behavior and "repair" the damage done along the way.

Clark says it will take at least 10 years for the fan base to "forgive and forget", but he's adamant that the only way Tucker ever reaches the "in consideration" stage is by admitting to his wrongdoings.

I don't know that I disagree with that.

But doing that would be a terrible look for Tucker, who adamantly denied the allegations the same day they were published by the Baltimore Banner back on January 30.

It would be one thing if Tucker never made a public comment and then, someday down the road, came out and admitted to everything.

But by saying "all of that stuff is made up, it never happened", Tucker has put himself in the awkward position of almost never being able to change his tune at all.

It's similar, I told Clark yesterday, to what happened with Pete Rose once upon a time.

Everyone in the baseball world knew Pete Rose gambled on baseball. It was actually more of a slam dunk than Bonds, McGwire and Sosa and the steroids speculation.

Rose gambled on baseball. Period. Everyone knew it.

And had Rose just 'fessed up from jump street, things might have turned out much differently for him.

Alas, he stuck to his guns and that became his undoing.

When he finally did admit to it, it was too late. The damage had been done.

Everyone was done with Pete Rose by the time he finally got smart and said, "Yeah, OK, you got me."

Do I think Justin Tucker belongs in the Ravens Ring of Honor? Well, frankly, I'd almost say "yes, if he never admits to the bad behavior" and "no, if admits to it".

Seems weird, right?

Tucker coming clean might be good for his soul and all, but I don't know that it would or should help his chances of getting in the Ring of Honor.

I mean, if he did it, you can't put him in, right? At least by contending he didn't do it and leaving a sliver of doubt, there's potentially a way to include him in the Ring of Honor down the road.

But I'm splitting hairs with that one.

It is, after all, called the Ring of "Honor", not the Ring of Great Football Players.

There has to be a little bit of integrity attached to the honor, I think.

In the end, it's so confusing and so double-sided that I'd almost just say to Tucker, "I'm sorry, but we're not going to be able to put you in. Like, ever. It's part of the collateral damage of the whole story. We love ya. But we can't do it."

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

With the first month of the 2025 regular season behind us, we had our 1st MVP poll of the 2025 season.

There are 46 experts who casted their votes for their MVP thus far in each league. The American League unanimous winner was Aaron Judge, who received all 46 votes for 1st place. Judge has seemed to reach a new level this season. Not only is he still hitting for power like we’ve seen from him in the past, but he is spraying the ball across the field. Judge is batting a ridiculous .412 and leading MLB in almost every stat.

He has 56 hits, 34 RBI, and 12 home runs with a 1.275 OPS. Judge is due for some sort of regression, but a .350 average 50 home run season is very much in play for him. The only player to ever do that was Mickey Mantle in 1956, where he hit .353 with 52 home runs.

To round out the remaining top 5 AL players in the poll, they were Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals), Alex Bregman (Red Sox), Cal Raleigh (Mariners), and Jose Ramirez (Guardians). These are all superstar players, but none of them received a 1st place vote. So far, it’s all Aaron Judge.

In the National League, the MVP race is much closer. As of now, it seems to be a race between Fernando Tatis Jr. from the Padres, Pete Alonso from the Mets, and Shohei Ohtani from the Dodgers.

Tatis Jr. & Ohtani are both on track to have 40-40 seasons (40 home runs and 40 stolen bases). Tatis Jr came close to having a 30-30 season back in 2023, where he had 25 homers and 29 stolen bases.

Ohtani is very capable of having a 40-40 season. Last year, he had a 50-50 season, which was the first time a player has ever done that.

Alonso is off to his best start yet in his career. He leads the National League in batting average at .341 and has a 1.123 OPS. Alonso received the most 1st place votes in the national league with 17.

With all this in mind, my money is on the 3-time MVP winner Ohtani to take home the hardware. Ohtani is a unicorn in the sport and is one of the game’s greatest hitters. Ohtani has started throwing bullpens as he recovers from Tommy John surgery and is expected to pitch at some point this season, which will greatly improve his chances of winning the MVP.

He is the current betting favorite to win the NL MVP at +220 odds which in my opinion, is great value. Going into the season I predicted Corbin Carroll to win the NL MVP, and he still has a chance to do so. It’s hard to pass on those odds right now for Ohtani.

We had another baseball oddity last Friday night in the Angels/Tigers game in Anaheim. The game was tied 1-1 going into the top of the 9th.

That’s where Riley Greene homered twice in the same inning and became the first player ever in MLB history to hit 2 home runs in the 9th inning.

I did some digging on this and a player hitting 2 home runs in the same inning is much more rare than you might think. Greene is the 62nd player in history to have 2 homers in 1 inning and, as mentioned, the 1st to do it in the 9th inning.

For there to even be a chance, a team needs to bat around the order which, from my memory this Orioles season, I only recall the Reds doing when they played in Baltimore on Easter.

Then, of course, a player hitting a home run in his first at bat of the inning, followed by a 2nd at bat where he most likely is facing a new pitcher and homering again. A lot of things have to go right for this to happen, especially in the 9th inning where the home team sometimes doesn’t even hit.

This is the 2nd time a player has homered in the same inning this season. Oddly enough, the other player that did this was Jo Adell of the LA Angels who the Tigers faced last Friday.

It’s strange that this has already happened twice this season, especially this early, when last year it only happened once. To highlight how rare of an occurrence this is, in Orioles history there has only been one player to homer twice in 1 inning.

Does anyone have a guess?

The answer is…… Mark Trumbo who did it on April 15th, 2016.

One month into the season, what has surprised everyone the most so far?

For me, I’ll start with my favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles. I wasn’t expecting this disappointing of a start from them. Going into the season, the O's had an over/under 87.5 win total. Their current over/under win total is 76.5.

I also wasn’t expecting the Detroit Tigers to be leading the American League after 1 month. I think most people expected the Tigers to be good and compete for their division with the Royals and Guardians, but not leading the entire league.

But the biggest surprise to me is what the Athletics have done so far this year. They’re 2 games back in the AL West with a respectable 20-17 record. This is a team that won just 69 games last season and were the 5th worst team in baseball.

With such a young team, it’s hard to tell if they will be able to keep this pace going all season. Needless to say, the future is looking very promising for the A's.

Players of the Week

Position Player: Marlins fans must be excited from what they have seen so far from former Oriole Kyle Stowers. This past week, Stowers batted .381 with 4 homers and 10 RBI.

Last Saturday, Stowers put the team on his back against the Athletics with 2 homers and 6 RBI, and his 2nd home run of the game was a walk off grand slam from a 102 MPH fastball thrown by the A's flame throwing closer, Mason Miller. I do wish we still had Stowers on the Orioles, but I’m happy for him that he has an opportunity to play every day and is proving he belongs in the bigs.

Pitcher: Jake deGrom is looking like the guy we saw in 2018 & 2019 where he won back to back Cy Young awards. deGrom recorded 2 wins for the Rangers last week and through 11 innings, had 10 strikeouts, 2 walks, and allowed just 1 earned run.

This past Sunday, DeGrom became the 1st MLB pitcher to reach 1,700 career strikeouts in 225 games or less. deGrom has 2 years left on his contract with the Rangers and a club option in the 3rd year.

Now at 36, it’s hard to say if he will play after his contract is up. Regardless, he is a first ballot hall of famer in my opinion.

Rookie: It’s not every week that a player on the White Sox will be highlighted in the players of the week section. Shane Smith was selected by the White Sox from the rule 5 draft this past winter from the Brewers.

In 10 innings of work this past week, he allowed 3 earned runs and had 9 strikeouts. The walks are high for Smith as he had 6 over his last 2 starts, but he manages to keep runners stranded on base. Smith hasn’t allowed more than 3 runs in all 7 of his starts this season and as you would expect from the White Sox, he doesn’t get much run support which speaks to his 1-2 record.

Smith is one of the bright spots for the White Sox this season, with a 2.41 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. I would expect him to get better as the season continues.

Games of the Week

Friday, May 9th: LA Dodgers vs Arizona Dbacks (Roki Sasaki vs Eduardo Rodriguez)

This marks the first matchup of the year between these division rivals. Roki Sasaki was one of the biggest names in baseball this past winter as an international prospect and a betting favorite to win NL rookie of the year. He’s off to a good start with a 3.86 ERA through 30.1 innings.

Can Eduardo Rodriguez get back on track for the Diamondbacks and shutdown the star-studded Dodgers? Rodriguez has not lived up to expectations since he was signed 2 years ago, let’s see if he can turn it around.

Saturday, May 10th: Texas Rangers vs Detroit Tigers (Jake deGrom vs Jack Flaherty)

This should be a great pitching matchup, and we will see The Hot Corner’s pitcher of the week in deGrom. What also makes this game interesting is watching what the Rangers do on offense as they just fired their hitting coach earlier this week.

Sunday, May 11th: Chicago Cubs vs New York Mets (Matthew Boyd vs Griffin Canning)

This series will be very fun to watch all weekend as 2 of the top 3 teams in the National League face off against one another. Another great pitching matchup also as both starting pitchers have sub 3 ERAs. I can see this game being the rubber match for the series. Keep in mind though, the Mets splits show they are much better at home this year with a 13-3 record, and they will be home in this series.

pga championship preview

This year's edition of the PGA Championship seems like such a no-brainer that it will probably be the year that someone like Alex Noren or Taylor Moore wins out of nowhere.

The second major of the golf calendar moves to Charlotte, North Carolina (May 15-18) at Quail Hollow, where there is a regular TOUR stop (except for this year) every May. It's also the course where Justin Thomas won his first major (PGA) in 2017.

There was a time -- a long while back -- where the PGA Championship was sorta-kinda known for producing "odd" winners. Sure, it provided household name champions like Paul Azinger ('93), Nick Price ('94) and Davis Love III ('97) but it also threw in the occasional "who's that?" champion like Jeff Sluman, Shaun Micheel, David Toms, Rich Beem and Y.E. Yang.

Of late, it's morphed more into a household name event based mainly on the PGA of America deciding they want their championship course to play at some ridiculous number like 7,700 yards. The only "odd" winner of the last decade or so is probably Jimmy Walker back in 2014. Since then, it's been guys like Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and last year's winner, Xander Schauffele.

As you'll later on, we're of the mindset that the winner is going to be "a name". That said, we've done something different this time around. We're going to give you our top 12, but in groups of four.

The first group will be "Outsiders with a chance".

The second group will be "Major-less no more?", which will focus on four top players who have never won a major that might be good fits for Quail Hollow and this year's PGA.

And the last four will be our "go-to-four", the final four players we feel have the best chance of winning this year.

Kurt Kitayama came in at #12 for us. #11 was Akshay Bhatia.

#10 Erik van Rooyen -- OK, so, like anyone at 150-1 for next week's PGA Championship, van Rooyen has a significant flaw in his game. He's not a great putter. But he sure was a great putter last week at TPC Craig Ranch when he finished second to Scottie Scheffler.

Off the tee, he's a dynamo. He's in the top half of the TOUR in almost every driving stat, including distance, accuracy and shots gained.

And if that data isn't convincing, this stuff below all bodes well for him next week at Quail Hollow.

He's 38th in greens hit in regulation.

He's 35th in proximity to the hole.

And he's 3rd on the TOUR in approach shots from 200 yards or more at 44 feet.

He's just not a great putter. But he has weeks where he putts great, which is all he needs next week, just like he had last week in Dallas.

van Rooyen is an exceptionally underrated player. If he putted like Scottie Scheffler, he'd win 3 or 4 times a year.

The golf course won't intimidate him next week. He hits it plenty far enough to compete. Can he get the ball in the hole quickly enough? That's the question.

I do know this. He's a great investment at 150-1, that's for sure.

Wednesday May 7, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3907

wednesday quick hits

There's so much to unpack from a day of Tuesday news, I don't know where to start.

The Orioles had a Beatles Stray Cats in their 9-1 loss to Minnesota last night. That is, 3 hits. In total. Mountcastle, Holliday and Kjerstad were the only O's with hits in the shellacking.

Cade Povich was good for 2 innings. Coby Mayo didn't help in the field, with two errors at third base.

That's pretty much the game review. Minnesota scored 5 times in the second inning and the game was basically over at that point.

It's not time to panic just yet, but you can definitely make sure the batteries are charged in the panic button so it lights up and makes a loud noise when you press it.

The Birds are now 13-21. They've played 34 games. In order to be .500 through 50 games, they need to go 12-4 in their next 16. I don't see that happening at this point.

Flyers fans, go ahead and rush for your calculators to check my math if you want, but I'm telling you, 13 plus 21 equals 34.

There was some internet aggravation on Tuesday that fueled the masses in advance of the O's getting drubbed, 9-1, by the Twins.

The Birds unveiled several of their planned stadium improvements that are in the development stage thanks to the free $600 million they arm-twisted out of the state of Maryland.

A new sound system and right field scoreboard are among the (needed) improvements.

People were apoplectic about the O's distributing that information on Tuesday. I don't know why, though.

The team was given $600 million from the state to improve/upgrade the ballpark. That's what the money is to be used for.

Fans were yelling at the team to "extend your players" or "sign some real free agents" but that's not the by-product of the $600 million.

The Orioles are going to have to spend their own $600 million on players. And that, of course, is a sticky point. The most they would spend on a free MLB pitcher this past off-season was $15 million. They're not giving a pitcher $250 million. Or, at least, to date they haven't showed us they're willing to do that. Maybe they will in the future. So far, though, they haven't.

I have no problem holding the organization's feet to the fire with regard to spending money on baseball players, but the free money handed to them by the state has nothing to do with player payroll. I'm sure they'd like to figure out a way to somehow sneak that $600 million into their payroll department and let the scoreboard and sound system rust, but it doesn't work like that.

The Kentucky Derby winning horse, Sovereignty, will not be racing in next weekend's Preakness, it was announced yesterday.

So, there goes that race.

The money in horse racing has gotten so big that not even the prospect of winning the Triple Crown can motivate owners and trainers to run their horse through the grind of Derby-Preakness-Belmont within a six-week window.

If your horse wins the Derby, you're set for life with stud fees and such.

Why bother bringing him to Pimlico and potentially wrecking him (or her, perhaps) for more money (or not) when you've already made enough money on the horse?

It's a bummer, for sure.

From a horse racing perspective, the only thing that makes the Preakness interesting is having the Derby winner on hand to attempt to win the second leg of the Triple Crown.

The event itself will go on, of course. 90% of the people there next Saturday don't care at all about the racing.

But from the racing perspective, the race is pretty much ruined by not having the Derby winner on hand.

Maybe the people at Pimlico don't care. Maybe "horse racing" in general doesn't care. But they might both be wise to at least consider moving the Preakness back another two weeks to see if that doesn't eliminate the concerns of the owners and trainers.

Just a thought...

You can file last night's loss under 'Caps gonna Caps' if you want, because that's sorta-kinda precisely how you expected them to lose.

One goal in 60 minutes, great goaltending to keep them in it, and then nothing of substance in overtime, where it was the visiting Hurricanes who eventually snagged the game-winning tally on a fluky shot from the point that went through four players before slipping under Logan Thompson's pads and into the net.

There's a long way to go. Caps diehards will, of course, remember going down 2-0 to Columbus in the 2018 playoffs, losing both of those games at home in overtime before rallying to win four straight.

But that Columbus team wasn't all that good.

This Carolina team is solid and seasoned. Game 2 on Thursday night isn't "must win" by any means, but if the Caps do manage to lose Game 2 at home, their backs will really be against the wall heading back to Raleigh for Games 3 and 4.

Any Caps fan worth his/her salt is already prepared for the 4-game Hurricanes sweep. Or the Game 7 double OT loss at home when Ovechkin and Wilson both hit the post in the first overtime and then Seth Jarvis snaps a shot past Logan Thompson on an underserved power play to end the series.

As a Caps fan, you go into every series thinking the best, hoping for a win, but always being prepared for disappointment.

The Ravens are still getting raked over the coals both locally and, now, nationally, for the way they handled the news of Justin Tucker's release on Monday.

A couple of national pundits crushed Eric DeCosta yesterday for his "lack of awareness" in not addressing the allegations in the team's press release.

I'm still trying to understand what good it does the Ravens to mention or highlight the story about Tucker's issues with the massage therapist story in town.

They've addressed all of it recently, essentially saying, "The league is investigating it and we'll wait to hear from them and we'll go from there." I'm not sure what else they're supposed to say in the meantime.

You're certainly not going to release Tucker and punch him in the face on the way out. All you really need to say is what the Ravens said on Monday: "We drafted a new kicker. He's going to kick for us. We have to release our veteran kicker to make room for the new kicker."

That's all that needs to be said. That might be the truth. Or perhaps the Ravens heard from the NFL and their findings weren't good and maybe the Ravens assume or have been told Tucker's going to be suspended for some of the 2025 season. Again, there's no value at all in spilling those beans once you've decided to release the guy.

The new, hot topic in town is the white elephant in the corner of the room: Should Tucker someday be in the team's Ring of Honor? That one is going to be met with a lot of discussion and controversy for sure.

The PGA Tour is in Philadelphia this weekend for the Truist Championship, which is essentially the old Wells Fargo at a different venue since Quail Hollow is the site of next week's PGA Championship.

The Philadelphia Cricket Club is an old-school Tillinghast design with all the tricks and gimmicks of a "Tilly" course. The greens have several "tricky" pin placement options, the course will play firm and fast, and the rough and bunkers are particularly penal for players who can't keep their ball in the short grass.

The top players on TOUR are in the event because it's a money-grab "Signature" tournament and it will, in part, prepare players for what they'll face next week in Charlotte at the PGA.

You can go ahead and throw your money down on Rory and Scottie if you want. We're not judging you. But the thought here is neither of them probably "wants" to win this week knowing how hard it is to win in successive weeks on TOUR. They'd much rather finish T7 this week and win next week's PGA.

We're giving you four names to strngly consider this week plus a few more who could be in the hunt on Sunday.

Ludvig Aberg comes in at +1800 and seems like a very logical candidate to win if Rory or Scottie don't. Everything Aberg does well (which, actually, IS "everything") bodes well for a completely 72 hole event at Philly Cricket. It's a new course for everyone, so it's not like others have an advantage in that department. It seems like a long, tough, course is perfect for him.

Collin Morikawa isn't "desperate" for a win, but he's getting close. He has a new caddie on the bag, which must mean he's starting to panic a little bit, but Philly Cricket is a ball striker's course and few guys on TOUR strike it as well as Morikawa. His putting is always a concern, but the layout this week will resemble a major championship in some ways and Morikawa is always up for the challenge of a major. The folks in Vegas like him. He's +1400.

Xander Schauffele is a little bit like Morikawa in that he's not "desperate" for a win, but he doesn't have one yet this year and we're in early May. This seems like the kind of tournament he wins. A "mini-major", if you will, where ball striking and thinking your way around the track is what gets the job done. He's at +1600, which is pretty inviting number for a 2-time major champion in the last 12 months.

Corey Conners is a little bit off the radar screen and his odds (+3300) are generous for sure, but if you're at a golf course where ball striking is a premium need, Conners has to be on your short list. He's still looking for that "big win" on TOUR, but he's been in the hunt enough now to put it all together this week and win. As always, it's all about putting with Conners. He could have, should have, would have won this year's Masters if he would have putted well. Maybe this is the week it comes together.

Other "shots gained" leaders who should factor in this week include Sepp Straka, Daniel Berger and Keegan Bradley. All three of them are Philly Cricket fits for sure.

pga championship preview

This year's edition of the PGA Championship seems like such a no-brainer that it will probably be the year that someone like Alex Noren or Taylor Moore wins out of nowhere.

The second major of the golf calendar moves to Charlotte, North Carolina (May 15-18) at Quail Hollow, where there is a regular TOUR stop (except for this year) every May. It's also the course where Justin Thomas won his first major (PGA) in 2017.

There was a time -- a long while back -- where the PGA Championship was sorta-kinda known for producing "odd" winners. Sure, it provided household name champions like Paul Azinger ('93), Nick Price ('94) and Davis Love III ('97) but it also threw in the occasional "who's that?" champion like Jeff Sluman, Shaun Micheel, David Toms, Rich Beem and Y.E. Yang.

Of late, it's morphed more into a household name event based mainly on the PGA of America deciding they want their championship course to play at some ridiculous number like 7,700 yards. The only "odd" winner of the last decade or so is probably Jimmy Walker back in 2014. Since then, it's been guys like Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and last year's winner, Xander Schauffele.

As you'll later on, we're of the mindset that the winner is going to be "a name". That said, we've done something different this time around. We're going to give you our top 12, but in groups of four.

The first group will be "Outsiders with a chance".

The second group will be "Major-less no more?", which will focus on four top players who have never won a major that might be good fits for Quail Hollow and this year's PGA.

And the last four will be our "go-to-four", the final four players we feel have the best chance of winning this year.

Kurt Kitayama came in at #12 for us.

#11, Akshay Bhatia -- The only concern with Bhatia are his driving stats. He definitely doesn't hit it far enough off the tee (292 yards) to be considered a favorite in next week's event. That's the problem.

The solution? He is a great ball striker who generally gets his ball on the green in regulation and he's having the best putting season of his career. He's in the top 30 in the shots gained: approach category and he's top 35 in proximity to the hole as well.

It's definitely a big boy golf course and it stands to reason that all things being equal, Bhatia might not have the required distance off the tee to win next week. But...

If the weather in Charlotte stays hot and humid and the course dries out and affords the shorter hitters 10 or 15 more yards off the tee, that could come in huge for someone like Bhatia. Sure, DeChambeau or Rory or Scottie will also get that additional 10 or 15 more yards, but they don't need more length. Bhatia does.

If the course somehow gets wet and plays longer, he's in big trouble.

But his golf game is ripe for a big win and he's a great investment at 150-1.

Keep your eye on the weather and the extended forecast for Quail Hollow. If the course plays dry, firm and fast, Bhatia could definitely sneak in there and be a contender on Sunday at the PGA.

Tuesday May 6, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3906

the hay...is in the barn

And, so, Justin Tucker is now a former Baltimore Ravens kicker.

Just like that yesterday, with the distribution of one carefully-worded press release, the Ravens parted company with their embattled kicker.

Tucker is now free to sign anywhere of his choosing, although there's still the potential for some kind of league mandated punishment stemming from the allegations against him in Baltimore.

The Ravens will (apparently) now turn their kicking job over to Tyler Loop, who was drafted in the 6th round in the recent NFL Draft.

In the aftermath of Monday's announcement that Tucker was being released, the internet was on fire with people chiding the Ravens for their statement and the way they soft-peddled their way around the idea that Tucker was being released more because of the allegations than for "footbal reasons".

I usually try my very best to see both sides of a story or a debate, even if I have an opinion already in place.

In this case, I just don't see why people are hot and bothered about what the Ravens said.

"Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one of those instances," Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said in the statement. "Considering our current roster, we have made the tough decision to release Justin Tucker."

DeCosta continued: "Justin created many significant and unforgettable moments in Ravens history. His reliability, focus, drive, resilience and extraordinary talent made him one of the league's best kickers for over a decade. We are grateful for Justin's many contributions while playing for the Ravens. We sincerely wish him and his family the very best in this next chapter of their lives."

A large number of people chastised DeCosta and the team for calling the decision to cut Tucker "incredibly difficult".

Of course it was difficult.

He's your longtime, incumbent, veteran kicker, he's been under the public-eye-microscope for four months now, the details of the allegations are still largely uncomfirmed by any kind of law enforcement agency and, don't forget, there are financial ramifications that come into play by cutting Tucker on May 5.

I'm certainly not saying Tucker shouldn't have been cut. I said from day one late last January I didn't see any way the Ravens could keep him around.

That said, I also agree it must have been "incredibly difficult" to call Tucker and deliver the news.

Some folks were upset that the Ravens didn't offer a more direct statement about Tucker's role in the alleged "massage therapist stories", but, again, I'm not sure what you want them to say.

Nothing at all has been finalized with regard to the story. There are no police reports. There aren't any looming (that we know of) police investigations into any of the alleged allegations. There's a newspaper account of what happened and it certainly seems well sourced, but that's all there is at this point.

So the Ravens had no reason at all yesterday to address anything relating to the allegations.

The organization's "actions speak louder than words" moment came when they released Tucker. If you wanted them to "do something" about him and the decade-ago allegations, they did. He's no longer employed by the team. What good does it do to carve him up and spit on him while he's cleaning out his locker?

I think the Ravens handled yesterday's press release perfectly. They said what they were allowed to say -- legally -- and also made sure to make it clear that letting Tucker go was for "football reasons", which, remember, is why they're in business in the first place.

If the NFL investigation finds nothing worth punishing Tucker for, the Ravens will have done the right thing by letting him go for "football reasons".

The obvious question that will always linger is, "Would they have drafted Tyler Loop in 2025 and cut Justin Tucker in 2025 had those allegations from a decade ago not surfaced in January?"

I don't know the answer to that.

But I think the answer is "no".

Tucker's release on Monday was probably a year earlier than the team once figured it would be. In the end, it was about football, but it was also about putting out a fire that was going to roar on if someone didn't do something about it.

The Capitals kick-off their Eastern Conference semifinals tonight at home vs. Carolina, with the winner of this series facing the Toronto-Florida winner for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this month.

Caps fans are worried about this series.

I am not, which certainly seems and feels weird to me since I'm always the guy who figures "Caps gonna Caps".

It might take 6 games, but the Caps are going to prevail.

The Hurricanes are a formidable foe, no two ways about it. Their style has always given Washington problems and they can get goals from a bunch of different players. I will say, unlike most NHL playoff series', where defense is premium, that Washington has to put pucks in the net to win and advance.

I don't see many 2-1 games against Carolina. I think it takes at least 3 goals to win every game if not 4 or more.

I'm going with Washington in 6 and hoping Toronto prevails in the other semifinal series since, we all know, there's just no way the Maple Leafs are going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

pga championship preview

This year's edition of the PGA Championship seems like such a no-brainer that it will probably be the year that someone like Alex Noren or Taylor Moore wins out of nowhere.

The second major of the golf calendar moves to Charlotte, North Carolina (May 15-18) at Quail Hollow, where there is a regular TOUR stop (except for this year) every May. It's also the course where Justin Thomas won his first major (PGA) in 2017.

There was a time -- a long while back -- where the PGA Championship was sorta-kinda known for producing "odd" winners. Sure, it provided household name champions like Paul Azinger ('93), Nick Price ('94) and Davis Love III ('97) but it also threw in the occasional "who's that?" champion like Jeff Sluman, Shaun Micheel, David Toms, Rich Beem and Y.E. Yang.

Of late, it's morphed more into a household name event based mainly on the PGA of America deciding they want their championship course to play at some ridiculous number like 7,700 yards. The only "odd" winner of the last decade or so is probably Jimmy Walker back in 2014. Since then, it's been guys like Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and last year's winner, Xander Schauffele.

As you'll later on, we're of the mindset that the winner is going to be "a name". That said, we've done something different this time around. We're going to give you our top 12, but in groups of four.

The first group will be "Outsiders with a chance".

The second group will be "Major-less no more?", which will focus on four top players who have never won a major that might be good fits for Quail Hollow and this year's PGA.

And the last four will be our "go-to-four", the final four players we feel have the best chance of winning this year.

#12, Kurt Kitayama -- Our first player in the "outsiders with a chance" group is someone with one career TOUR win.

Kurt Kitayama does one thing great. He drives the golf ball like a madman. He is NOT great at getting the ball close to the hole from there and is NOT a great putter if you follow along with the TOUR putting stats.

But I always say this and stress this anytime we're talking about a "bad" putter on TOUR.

No one who makes a living playing golf on the PGA Tour is a "bad" putter. There are, however, plenty of great ball strikers and players who don't have the same abilities with their putter as they do, say, with their driver or 7 iron.

Kitayama can handle the distance at Quail Hollow. He's 4th on TOUR in average driving distance at 314.9 yards. He can bomb it. He also hits it fairly straight off the tee, ranking 11th in the "Shots Gained, Off The Tee" category. He can get the ball in play. He's just not great at hitting it close from there.

Again, though, let's be measured in our criticism of him. He's coming off of a really nice CJ Cup, where he finished T5 at 17-under par. And that course played to 7,400 yards, although it was a fairly benign 7,400 yards.

Kitayama is cut from the same cloth as Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem. He's a nice player that very few people would consider to win a major championship in golf. I always look at driving stats first. I like what I see from Kitayama. If he gets any kind of decent week with the putter, he could finish Top 20, Top 10 or be in the hunt on Sunday.

Oh, and he will offer a very nice return on investment next week. He's currently at 280-1.

Monday May 5, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3905

"that one is on hyde, period!"

My maniacal Orioles-loving friend, Chris, wasted no time at all burying Brandon Hyde yesterday after he opted for Charlie Morton in a 2-run game where the Birds were actually, almost mysteriously, enjoying a productive day at the plate.

"Is this guy drunk?" Chris asked via text as Morton took the ball in the top of the 8th with O's trailing, 7-5.

He meant Hyde, not Morton.

The veteran right hander, banished to the bullpen last week after starting the campaign 0-6, promptly retired the first two hitters he faced, then gave up a home run to make it 8-5. He then allowed a single and a run scoring double by Bobby Witt Jr. to turn a 7-5 game into a 9-5 game.

As the O's went out meekly in the bottom of the 9th to lose, 11-6, Chris chimed back in, agitated and ready for action.

"That one is on Hyde, period!" he texted to me. "I know we're not going to lose the division or miss the playoffs by one game, but if we do, this was Hyde's Mona Lisa. Morton is toast. You have a day off tomorrow and you're hitting the cover off the ball today. Why throw in the towel like that?"

A moment later my phone chimed again with more agitation from Chris.

"Why aren't you rushing to defend him? You even know it was a dumb move!"

Morton being on the team, still, isn't Brandon Hyde's fault. He doesn't compile or maintain the playing roster. That job falls to Mike Elias and his staff.

But, sure, Hyde deciding the 8th inning was a suitable time to see if Morton could get three outs, without any damage, definitely fell on the manager.

Smart move?

Well, I don't think I would have brought Morton in. But it's easy for me to say that from the comfort of my kitchen table.

Then again, I probably would have opted for Bryan Baker or Yennier Cano yesterday and both of them got roasted by the light-hitting Royals. The Orioles actually employed six different pitchers on Sunday and five of them gave up at least two runs each.

The only guy with a clean scoresheet was Keegan Akin.

So, in the end, every Baltimore pitcher but Akin was ineffective on Sunday.

I realize Brandon Hyde is low-hanging fruit these days and the insertion of Morton yesterday was definitely odd given the O's aren't playing this evening.

I'm not a subscriber to the concept of "The manager/coach did 'x' so he has to be fired." Nothing I've seen from Hyde in the first two months of the season has changed my opinion one way or the other on him, but I'm not going to allow the Morton decision on Sunday to get me to slap my thigh and say, "That's it! He's done!"

That Charlie Morton is still on the team's roster is the real head scratcher. It's not my $15 million, granted, but I'm sure the O's have seen enough of Morton to know he's baseball's version of Paul McCartney. In other words, he just doesn't have it any longer.

That Mike Elias hasn't cut the cord with Morton is a far bigger story than Hyde trying to coax him into a clean 8th inning on Sunday in Baltimore.

There was a moment in yesterday's final round of the CJ Cup in Dallas where Scottie Scheffler had played 36 holes of front nine golf in the four day tournament and was, on those 36 holes, a whopping 22-under par.

As I mentioned here on Wednesday in the tournament preview, TPC Craig Ranch is a powder-puff golf course as far as TOUR layouts go. It might measure out to 7,400 yards, but it's an easy 7,400 yards. Scheffler finished the tournament at 31 under par to win by eight shots, and that included a bogey at the 71st hole and a par on the 18th hole which was an easy par 5 for Scheffler and the rest of the field.

31 under par in 72 holes of golf.

On a supposed "real" golf course.

Remarkable.

Scheffler earned his first win of the 2025 season and moved to 2nd in the FedEx Cup standings with the victory. It was his 14th career PGA Tour win.

The PGA Championship is two weeks away. Quail Hollow in Charlotte will reward a player who hits it a long way off the tee (Scheffler), can put his irons in the right spot on the greens (Scheffler) and can make enough birdies to offset the two or three bogeys he'll no doubt make each day (Scheffler).

Rory McIlroy is the current betting favorite, which makes sense, given both his play in 2025 thus far and his track record at Quail Hollow.

Bryson DeChambeau won yesterday on the LIV Tour (yes, it's still in business) and should be a definite factor at the PGA Championship.

The layout and the requirements for success are perfect for a guy like Ludvig Aberg as well.

It just seems almost impossible for one of those four, if not two, three or all four of them, to be in contention on Sunday, May 18 at Quail Hollow.

Scottie Scheffler's game is definitely percolating at the right time, as he showed everyone on Sunday in Dallas.

31 under par in 72 holes.

It's hard to believe.

The Ravens are keeping the Justin Tucker story as quiet as they can as April turns into May, but it's fairly evident something is brewing in Owings Mills.

There's the massage therapists angle they have to consider.

There's his spotty kicking record in 2024, too.

And there's the benefit, if you will, of designating him as a post-June-1 cut to save some money on the salary cap.

There are, as Buck Showalter used to say, "lots of moving parts".

Here's what John Harbaugh told the media on Sunday when asked about the team drafting Tyler Loop last weekend.

"Every decision we make has to be based on football. There's a lot of layers to that. You've got a rookie kicker and here you took him in the sixth round, early in the sixth round. He's a talented guy. Just from a football standpoint -- salary cap, all the different things that you just take into consideration -- whatever we decide to do over the next few weeks will be based on football."

"Based on football" could lead people to believe the team isn't all that concerned with the Tucker massage therapist saga that surfaced in January.

Harbaugh did acknowledge the Ravens are still waiting to hear from the NFL about their investigation of the Tucker allegations.

"I would just say from a standpoint of the investigation and all that, I mean we don't know anything," Harbaugh said. "We haven't been given any information, and as it should be. It's all done the way it's done. So, we don't know anything along those lines, so we can't make any decisions based on that."

So the Ravens are going to make a "football call" on Tucker as long as they get information from the NFL sometime this month. Right?

But what if they don't get information from the NFL in May?

Do they roll the dice and keep Tucker around, risking a possible suspension by the league for some portion of the 2025 season?

If they do keep him around, there's a cost associated with that move.

They can decide now that no matter what the league does, Tucker's going to be a post-June-1 cut. That seems like the safest, cleanest way to go about it, particularly in light of drafting Loop.

The way I see it, if the Ravens were definitely going to keep Tucker around, wouldn't they just say that now? I mean, if you announce you're keeping him and then he gets suspended for 4 games, you have an in-house replacement in Loop ready to go in September.

If you are keeping Tucker, just say that now.

Using the month of May to supposedly put the pieces together to make the right decision just seems like an attempt to kill time and deflect the inevitable news that's coming.

All that said, here's my "official" hunch on Tucker. No one in the Ravens organization has told me this, hinted at this or otherwise suggested this to me. This hunch is all mine. It's just the way I've pieced it together.

Deep down, I don't think the Ravens want to get rid of Tucker because of the massage therapists story. I do (mostly) believe Harbaugh when he says it's a football issue. If Tucker is still a better kicker than Loop, he remains the team's #1 kicker.

I'm not saying they think the massage story is a total nothing-burger, but I do think they're of the mindset that it happened a decade ago when he was younger and dumber and holding him accountable now to the point where he loses his job over it is harsh.

That said, they're also leery of the fact that by keeping him around they risk alienating a segment of their fan base who wants their athletes to be held responsible for mistakes/crimes in the same way regular citizens would be. They also know they once pledged "zero tolerance" for issues of (general term here) "abuse" and by keeping Tucker around, it could look like they're ignoring that self-edict.

So, what the Ravens really prefer is that the NFL handles it. It's a little bit like Kendrick in the movie "A Few Good Men" wanting the guys in his platoon to handle the Santiago situation. Kendrick knew he would be in deep doo-doo if the story got to Jessup that Santiago was trying to rat out someone in the platoon in exchange for a transfer. So he issued the code red and said, "You boys take care of the situation."

That's what the Ravens are doing.

They'd prefer the NFL issues the code red on Tucker rather than Bisciotti having to do it himself.

The Ravens can then say all the right things about the NFL and respecting the process and blah, blah, blah.

If the NFL hands this back to the Ravens and says, "We find no fault with this man," then the Ravens are in a pickle. They'll be forced to do "something" themselves.

And I think they'd rather avoid that if at all possible.

But the kicker to the whole thing (no pun intended) is they used a 6th round draft pick on a replacement for Justin Tucker. And that replacement is either going to play in 2025 or 2026. There's almost zero chance the Ravens would keep Loop around for two full years without using him.

If they decide to keep Tucker around, I'm sure Loop will get a late August knee injury or toe injury that will -- *ahem* -- require him to be placed on the injured reserve list for the 2025 season. They didn't draft that kid to not have be their next full-time kicker, that's for sure.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

orioles week in review

Week Record: 3-3

Season Record: 13-20

AL East Standing: 5th (5.5 GB of NYY)

Player of the Week: Ryan O’Hearn - .316 AVG 3 HR 6 RBI

The good news…it was better than last week.

The bad news…the Orioles dropped two of three over the weekend series with Kansas City and remain in the cellar of the AL East after a 3-3 week.

With the chance for a rare winning week on Sunday, the pitching once again doomed the O’s as Kyle Gibson struggled for the second straight outing and the Royals lit up an overtaxed bullpen, ending the week on a down note.

The week opened positively as the Orioles edged out the Yankees 4-3 behind Tomoyuki Sugano’s eight strikeouts over five scoreless innings on Monday. Ryan O’Hearn provided the key offense with a three-run homer in the third inning. Felix Bautista sealed the victory with a perfect final inning, striking out two Yankees for his fourth save.

That was followed by a disaster on Tuesday, as the Yankees hammered the O’s 15-3, highlighted by six home runs, including three consecutive homers to start the game off Kyle Gibson, who struggled in his season debut. Gunnar Henderson hit a solo shot in the seventh, but the game was already out of hand.

The Orioles bounced back to clinch the series against New York on Wednesday, winning 5-4. Ryan Mountcastle snapped an 0-for-18 skid with a two-run homer, Ramón Urías followed with a solo blast, and Adley Rutschman added an RBI single. The bullpen held firm, and The Mountain closed it out again, fanning Trent Grisham to strand Aaron Judge in the on-deck circle.

After a day off, the Birds shut out Kansas City 3-0 on Friday. Dean Kremer delivered his best outing of the season, throwing seven stellar innings, allowing just three hits. Ryan O’Hearn continued his clutch hitting with a decisive two-run homer, and Emmanuel Rivera added insurance with an RBI single. Bautista notched his sixth save, preserving the Orioles' second win streak of the season.

The momentum was halted on Saturday as Kansas City returned the favor, with lefty Kris Bubic once again blanking the Orioles in a 4-0 loss. A strong effort from Sugano (6 IP, 2 ER) wasn't enough as Baltimore managed just six hits, three from Gunnar, but none timely.

The Royals then took the rubber match on Sunday, prevailing 11-6 in a back and forth game. Jackson Holliday crushed two homers and Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn joined him with solo shots, but it was all for naught. Kyle Gibson surrendered three runs in just four innings and a tired bullpen melted down after the starter turned it over.

Despite the mediocre results there were a handful of standout individual performers this week. Tomoyuki Sugano continues to be one of the bright spots of the season, allowing just two runs in eleven innings while striking out twelve in two starts this week.

Dean Kremer also bounced back to pitch a gem on Friday. Jackson Holliday had a breakout week at the plate, batting .467 on the week with two homers and fellow young star Gunnar Henderson batted over .400 as well.

However, it was Ryan O’Hearn who did the most damage and earned the Player of the Week award. O’Hearn not only belted three homers and drove in six runs, but came up with timely hits throughout the week. Along with Cedric Mullins, O’Hearn has been one of the only consistent hitters throughout the first month of the season.

Down on the Farm –

AAA Norfolk had an up and down week but finished on a positive with a 9-3 win on Sunday. Coby Mayo kept his bat hot earlier in the week, hitting two homers on Wednesday before being called up to the big leagues to replace the injured Ramon Urias.

Outfield prospect Dylan Beavers continued to lead the Tides offense, hitting .417 on the week with two doubles, five RBI and two stolen bases and extending his hitting streak to 13 games on Sunday.

In addition, top prospect Samuel Basallo returned from injury and launched a mammoth homer and pitching prospect Chayce McDermott made his return from injury as well. Brandon Young delivered a solid start after dropping down from the big leagues last week.

At AA Chesapeake, catching prospect Creed Willems continued his strong season, hitting two more homers and driving in four runs. Meanwhile, 24 year old pitching prospect Braxton Bragg was outstanding on the mound, striking out 13 over 9 innings while walking only two and allowing just two runs over two starts. The 2023 8th round pick, lowered his season ERA to 0.61 with 39 Ks over 29.2 innings.

Also of note, Zach Eflin made his first rehab start in High-A on Sunday, throwing four scoreless innings. He can’t return soon enough.

Question of the Week –

Where do the Orioles stand after one month and what are their playoff chances?

A month into the 2025 season, the Orioles are staring at a much different scenario than the club or its fans had envisioned.

With a 13-20 record through approximately the first month of games, Baltimore currently occupies last place in the AL East, trailing the first-place Yankees by 5.5 games and sitting 5 games back from an AL Wild Card spot. Coming off two consecutive postseason berths, the O's now face a significant uphill battle.

Offensive Struggles: Despite potentially turning a corner this week, the offense has notably underperformed. Through early May, the Orioles are slashing just .224/.295/.378, ranking 23rd in MLB with a .673 OPS, a far cry from last year's robust .751 OPS, which ranked fifth overall.

Their OPS+ sits at 97 or 3% below league average and they've scored only 123 runs, placing them in the bottom third of the league in offensive production, compared to 786 runs (4th-best in MLB) in 2024.

As discussed here last week, the underlying numbers are positive for the O's bats and this week seemed to show some light at the end of the tunnel, with Gunnar's hard hit balls starting to find the holes and Jackson Holliday beginning to breakout in his second season. They’ll need to realize that potential if this team is going to get back on track to make any kind of postseason push.

Pitching Woes: If the bats have been shaky, pitching has been downright disastrous. Baltimore’s pitching staff currently sports a troubling 5.24 ERA, ranked 28th in MLB. The starting rotation, in particular, has struggled mightily, posting an alarming ERA of 5.66. The team ERA+ of 71 is a dramatic drop-off from their roughly league average 97 ERA+ in 2024.

The absence of projected top starters Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin has severely limited rotation depth. Veteran Charlie Morton, initially slated as a stabilizing presence, appears to have lost his battle with Father Time and has already been demoted from the rotation. Though he continues to do damage from the bullpen.

On a brighter note, the bullpen has been effective, highlighted by Yennier Cano’s continued reliability and Félix Bautista’s gradual return to form after Tommy John surgery. Though the bullpen ERA of 4.69 ranks just 24th in MLB, that is inflated quite a bit by some of the mop up innings in blowouts.

If the starters can get decent depth in a game, the back end of the O's bullpen should provide confidence they can close out games. However, the bullpen’s heavy workload due to short outings by starters risks burnout as the season progresses.

Playoff Prospects: While the current outlook seems grim, history suggests all is not lost. Teams like last season's Astros, who overcame a 7-18 start to win their division, offer some hope. Though it's unlikely 88 wins will take the AL East. For the Orioles, a turnaround isn't impossible, but it demands immediate improvement.

It would need to start with a relative return to health for the starting rotation. Getting Eflin back at the top of the rotation would be a huge boost, and there have been signs of improvement from Kremer and Povich. Some stabilization could hold the rotation over in the near term before a major trade addition or the return of injured Kyle Bradish provides a second half boost.

The offense seems destined to turn around with Henderson and Holliday coming on strong and returns on the horizon for Westburg and Cowser.

Despite that, it can't be sugar coated. Though there is some precedent for a season turnaround, it's a giant hill to climb.

Currently sitting at 13-20, the O's would need to win around 75 of their remaining 129 games, or a win percentage around .581. That's better than the .562 win percentage they produced last season, though not quite the .623 they produced in the 101 win 2023 season.

In short, while playoff prospects seem remote right now, a resurgence isn't out of the question. The Orioles must quickly regain health, shore up the rotation, and find offensive consistency to have any shot at returning to October baseball.

The next few weeks will be crucial, determining whether Baltimore's early woes are a prelude to a lost season or the start of a remarkable comeback story.

Sunday May 4, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3904

sunday q and a

I saw in the Comments section where George checked in with yet another witch hunt for the golfing-soul of one Rick Yutaka Fowler, or "Rickie" as we've always known him.

George didn't pick on Gary Woodland, Jordan Spieth or Keith Mitchell, the other three PGA Tour players who earned an exemption into next week's Truist Championship up at Philadelphia Cricket Club. His pitchfork for Fowler, though, was as sharp as ever.

Here's the thing, though. Unlike George's antiquated overview of the difficulty of Mount Pleasant, he's dead-red-right about the sponsor exemption protocols on the PGA Tour.

I'm sure you're shocked. "Did Drew just agree with George?"

I did.

Now, I might tweak a couple of things he wrote. I do believe a PGA Tour sponsor should feel free to invite any player of their choosing. That's why they're called "sponsor exemptions". The key word there is "sponsor".

I'm not willing to say, "You can invite Luke List or Scott Stallings (just pulling two names out of the air) but you can't invite Rickie Fowler or Keith Mitchell because we're tired of them getting free rides into tournaments." If you're a sponsor and you want Fowler and/or Mitchell, you can invite them whenever you want.

Almost...

I think the PGA Tour should allow each player (or, any player) a maximum of three sponsor exemptions in any one PGA Tour season. Once you've asked for three and received three, you're done asking until next season.

You can ask for as many as you want. But you can only be awarded three per-season.

That's what I would do if I ran the PGA Tour.

And if you want to argue that three should be two, I'll listen to that. Or if you want to say a player can only receive two exemptions into Signature events and the other one has to be at a "non-Signature" event, I'm good with that.

I understand what sponsors of sports events want, in terms of marquee value of the athletes and how they draw (or don't draw) crowds to the event and eyeballs to the TV sets.

No matter what any of us thinks about Rickie Fowler and how much he "deserves" a sponsor's exemption, it is undeniable that more people in Philadelphia will pile into their vehicles next week to see him play than they would to see Joe Bramlett or Aaron Wise play in the Truist.

And should Fowler somehow play his way into one of the three or four final groups on Saturday or Sunday, far more people will be inclined to tune in and watch him over, say, Davis Riley or Ben Kohles.

In the end, I understand why the folks at Truist want Spieth (3-time major champion), Fowler (multiple time Ryder Cup player and longtime TOUR veteran) and Woodland (2019 U.S. Open champ). I'm not sure what their affection is for Mitchell, but he's certainly a very nice, underrated player.

But there has to be a limit to how many times a player can get exempted into an event he otherwise failed to qualify for.

George and I have the same general agreement in principle: Make the players earn their way into (most of) the tournaments they want to play.

Sovereignty got a great ride from Junior Alvarado and outdueled race favorite Journalism in the final 200 yards to capture Saturday's Kentucky Derby on a sloppy, lifeless track at Churchill Downs.

Citizen Bull and Neoequos set the pace, as expected, and Neoequos actually hung around much longer than expected before shutting it down with a quarter-mile left in the race.

Late race entry Baeza made a spirited rally to claim third and Final Gambit also showed some late eagerness that resulted in a surprising 4th place finish.

There weren't any real surprises in the race, other than, perhaps, a sluggish, awkward performance from Publisher, whom some experts thought might sneak in and hit the board. The mud hit his face early in the race and Publisher snarled and said, "Yeah, I'm not up for this today."

One other horse who was heavily pushed at the betting windows on Saturday afternoon, American Promise, wound up not showing any promise at all en-route to a 16th place finish in the 19-horse field. Like Publisher, the muddy track threw him off as the horses battled for position.

Sovereignty trainer Bill Mott said afterwards, "The two best horses in the field dueled it out today. It's what horse racing is all about."

He was exactly right.

There were some horses who didn't belong in the race, which always happens at any Triple Crown race.

There were some good horses who just didn't have enough under the hood to compete at the Derby level.

And there were the two who finished 1-2. They were, without question, the best two participants in the race.

We won't gush and go overboard about the prospects of two more head-on-confrontations between the winner and the second place finisher, but it would be great for racing if both Sovereignty and Journalism make the trip to Old Hilltop in 13 days.

And if Journalism somehow triumphs at the Preakness, that would set up a best-of-3 finale at the Belmont in early June.

Let's hope it happens that way.

Horse racing deserves it.

Brad asks -- "What's your opinion on the team Buzz Williams has assembled so far in College Park?"

DF says -- "I mean, he's getting experienced college basketball players. It's not like he's bringing scrubs in and hoping they come through for him. The guys he's bringing to Maryland certainly have the "look" of Big Ten quality players.

But I have no way of knowing if they're going to be good enough to compete in conference play. And even if they have success in the conference, how do we know they're good enough at the next level?

We all thought Kevin Willard had the right team and right players this past season and they got vanquished by Florida rather easily in the NCAA tournament.

I do think Buzz Williams has said the right things and truly appears to be "all in" at Maryland. That said, Willard gave off the same impression when he took over the program. And three years later, he was breaking up with the Terps the way Tiger breaks up with his girlfriends. Sly and sleazy, in other words. I hope Buzz Williams isn't of that ilk, but only time will tell."

J.C. asks -- "You can pick one of these and bet $1,000 to win $100,000 that it happens in 2025. Which one would you choose? Rory McIlroy wins all 4 major championships in golf. The Dodgers win 100 regular season games AND go undefeated in the playoffs, winning their first series 3-0, the NLCS 4-0 and the World Series 4-0. The Ravens go 17-0 in the regular season."

DF says -- "Well, Rory could definitely win all four in the same calendar year. He has one out of the way already and the PGA Championship is at a venue where he's won multiple times in the last decade. But you're asking him to do something that Tiger and Jack never did. No one in the modern era of golf has ever done it, in fact.

On the subject of the Ravens and if they could go 17-0. Their non-divisional home opponents are New England, New York Jets, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles Rams and Houston. Detroit might be a worthy opponent. LA and Houston are decent, but nothing more than that. New England stinks, the Jets stink and Chicago will probably stink for at least one more season.

On the road, it's a different story. The Ravens non-divisional away games are at Kansas City, Buffalo, Green Bay, Minnesota and Miami. That's pretty close to a murderer's row, Miami notwithstanding.

So, they'd have to sweep the Steelers, Bengals and Browns, which is HIGHLY unlikely just on its own. And they'd also have to win those other six non-divisional home games, which is actually quite possible.

And then they'd have to go 5-0 in those tough away games. 3-2 is possible, I guess. 4-1 would be amazing. But I don't think 5-0 is realistic.

The answer to your question is, of course, "the Dodgers winning 100 regular season games AND posting three straight sweeps in the post-season." Do I think that will happen? I do not. But if you made me bet $1,000 on one of those three set of circumstances actually happening in 2025, it would be the one involving the Dodgers."

Chris P. asks -- "This question has been tossed around recently about O's owner David Rubenstein and I thought I'd pose it to you for your Q and A column. What's your grade for Rubenstein after one full year of ownership of the Orioles?"

DF says -- "Eh, I don't know how to judge him, honestly. I thought the raising of season ticket prices and the reduction of benefits for plan holders was a bogus move last summer (for the 2025 season). That certainly would have left a bad taste in my mouth if I were still a mini-plan holder.

I don't really know any of the inner workings, money wise, that came into play during the off-season as it related to signing free agents.

The O's did spend some money, that much is true. They signed Tyler O'Neill (jury's out), Charlie Morton (jury's verdict is in), Gary Sanchez (verdict in) and Ramon Laureano (jury still out).

But once they lost Burnes, or in preparation for losing Burnes, why wouldn't they have taken that money they were willing to allocate to Burnes and give it to another free agent pitcher? Some folks would say Sugano replaced Burnes, but purely from a money standpoint, that wasn't a replacement at all.

Anyway, spending money for the sake of spending it is obviously not a guarantee for success. I think we all sorta-kinda agree with that.

But not spending money on baseball players is also not a recipe for success. You're not winning that way, as the team's 13-19 early-season record would support.

So, look, I'll give him a "C" so far. It's a little early to be doing any formal kind of grading, I'd say. But if you're pressing me for a grade, it's a "C". He hasn't been terrible. But he certainly hasn't been a revelation, either. Is the organization really any different -- at least publicly -- than it was under the Angelos regime? I'm not sure."

Tom Warnquist asks -- "Help settle a friendly bar bet amongst my golfing friends. We have a 10-handicap player in our group who has shot 79, 77 and 79 his last 3 rounds. We're telling him that's more like a 5 handicap. What do you think the odds are that a 10 handicap golfer can shoot 3 straight rounds in the 70's?"

DF says -- "There's more to the question than meets the eye, but I get it. What course did he shoot those three rounds at? That's the first and most important question. What's the par on the course(s)? That's also important.

But, in general, I'd say it's mathematically "almost impossible" for a 10-handicap player to shoot consecutive rounds of 79, 77 and 79 if those rounds occur on a par 72 course of at least 6,500 yards.

It's not completely impossible. But it's close. Someone shooting 79, 77, 79 on a par 72 course is more like a 5 handicap, maybe a 6 at most. They're certainly not a "10"."

Saturday May 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3903

it's derby day!

Before we get to Mike Elias and the soft golf-clap he deserves for standing up and saying "this mess is my fault", let's look at today's Kentucky Derby and figure out who crosses the finish line first.

The weather in Louisville (that's, "Louis-ville" to Scottie Scheffler, remember) has gone from wildly promising to ugly-and-concerning over the last 72 hours.

Earlier in the week, the extended forecast was for blue skies and a fast track later on today.

But storms over the midwest have popped up over the last 24 hours and a more steady rain is expected throughout the morning and afternoon today. Track officials are so concerned about the precipitation they've gone to "sealing" the track with the hope it keeps the running surface from building up too much mud.

Most experts are tweaking their race predictions in anticipation of an "off" track later today.

A total of 19 horses are running in the Derby, with the #4 (Rodriguez) and #10 (Grande) horses being scratched from the race due to injuries earlier this week.

Journalism will likely go off as the race favorite at post time. Trained by Michael McCarthy and ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Journalism gives those two a shot at their first-ever Derby wins respectively. He will be at 5-2 or perhaps even 2-1 when all wagers are placed.

Sovereignty (Bill Mott/Junior Alvarado) finished 2nd in the Florida Derby earlier this year and has the kind of closing speed that racing enthusiasts love from Derby hopefuls. He'll likely be somewhere in the 4-1 range at post time.

Sandman (Mark Casse/Jose Ortiz) won the Arkansas Derby and also has that late closing speed that could come in handy today. His only flaw? In two previous races at Churchill Downs he has run very poorly in each. He should also be in that 4-1 betting range.

Three mid-priced horses could be formidable foes today if they handle the suspected "off track" well.

Publisher (Steve Asmussen/Irad Ortiz Jr.) is highly touted but has yet to win a race of any kind in his career. While Ortiz Jr. is a well respected jockey and Asmussen is a highly regarded trainer, asking a horse to make his first-ever win a Kentucky Derby triumph is probably a tad too ambitious. He might be bet down to the 12-1 or 10-1 range by post-time.

Burnham Square (Ian Wilkes/Brian Hernandez Jr.) has two recent wins on his chart (Holy Bull Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes) and a qualified guy in the irons in Brian Hernandez Jr., but his penchant for coming off the pace might be challenged with the large field bunched up around him as the race goes on. Expect him in the 15-1 range, perhaps a smidgen lower.

Citizen Bull (Bob Baffert/Martin Garcia) is one of the more interesting entries in the race. He loves being the front runner, although it's worth noting he coughed up a late lead at the Santa Anita Derby last month in a race won by today's projected favorite, Journalism. The big question: Can Citizen Bull get out of the gate quickly and jump to the lead from the #1 post position he occupies? Expect him to be in the 8-1 range.

One very interesting "off the radar" opportunity involves the Japanese horse, Luxor Cafe. He got into this race strictly from his performances in stakes races in Japan, so there's not much real intel on him. He's sired by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharaoh, which makes the horse definitely worth your consideration based on bloodlines alone.

How do we see the race?

We're going to go on the hunch that the track will be "off" by race time. If it's not, oh well. But given that the experts are calling for bad weather up until about 4:30 pm in the Churchill Downs area, we're going to mix in the expected and unexpected with our wagering decisions.

#2 Neoequos (Luis Saez, jockey) hasn't won a graded stakes race, but two of his other victories, albeit at shorter distances than the one he faces today, came on sloppy, rainy days. Saez can get the best out of this horse if the track is off.

#9 Burnham Square will settle in nicely in the early going and make his move at the mid-way point. As long as he doesn't get rattled in traffic, expect Brian Hernandez to have him there at the final turn.

#14 Tiztastic (Joel Rosario, jockey) is another Steve Asmussen entry, and if Asmussen didn't think this horse had a shot at hitting the board, he wouldn't in the race. He's a closer. The off track might be a nuisance for him, but nothing in his past tells us that.

#17, Sandman (Jose Ortiz) is a late closer type who just needs to make sure he doesn't get too far behind while jetting out of that outside post position. If Ortiz gets him settled in nicely at the quarter mark of the race, he should do just fine.

#DMD's projected order of finish:

#17, Sandman

#9, Burnham Square

#14, Tiztastic

#2, Neoequos

Mike Elias met with the media on Friday night before the Orioles 3-0 win over Kansas City and basically said this in a nutshell: "We're not happy with where we are but we're going to be OK."

He basically took the blame for the team's 12-18 (now 13-18) start and noted that he wasn't going to panic or do something goofy like fire the manager six weeks into the season.

The O's then went out and blanked the Royals, 3-0, as we got one of those high quality starts from Dean Kremer that we seem to get about six times per-season.

"It is difficult to contend with [that] level of injuries, but even that aside, they've had a poor start, and that's my responsibility. I'm in charge of baseball operations," Elias told the media. "When we have a bad record to start the year, that's my responsibility."

I hope the folks in town who have been clamoring for Elias to say "this is on me" are happy now.

It's also worth nothing Elias defended Brandon Hyde when asked about his evaluation of the manager in the midst of the team's rocky start.

"When things are going great -- and they have at times here, we've had that -- and then when we're experiencing failure, it's really important in that job, and in my job too, to be consistent with your approach," Elias said. "He's doing that."

OK, so it wasn't a rock-solid, glowing, "hear me loud and clear, the manager's not getting fired" kind of statement. But everything in Elias's voice and body language indicated he was telling the truth when he made that comment about Hyde and then moved on to another subject.

"We are all working very hard, and we have a lot of faith in this very talented group," Elias stated. "Piece by piece, step by step, we're going to get guys healthier; we're going to get guys performing more to their norms. If there's something we can fix with a player, we're working on that."

He sounded a lot like most of the words you've seen written here from time to time over the last 3-4 weeks.

"The Orioles need their injured players to get healthy more than anything else..."

A fully healthy roster might not be good enough for this edition of the O's, but it's going to yield them much better results than 12-18 every thirty games.

Starts like the one they got from Dean Kremer last night also help.

Friday May 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3902

the derby is this saturday, yes

There was a time, maybe 20 or 25 years ago, where the Kentucky Derby was a really big deal.

I mean, it was a big deal 50 years ago too. And 40 years ago as well.

At some point in this century, though, the race lost its "global luster", if you will.

There are still lots of people who care about the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Each of those three events will feature large, bulging crowds in the stands and in the infield. When I say "global luster", I'm mainly referring to the casual sports fan, not the horse racing enthusiast.

The race is this Saturday and I'm one of those "casual fans" who loves the Triple Crown series and I have almost no idea of what's going on this Saturday at Churchill Downs.

I know there are 20 horses in the race, which is pretty much eight too many. But there are always horses in the Derby who have no business racing at that level. What it means, a lot of times, is the best horse in the field winds up not winning because some scrub horse gets in his/her way at some point during the trip.

But it's still one of the 10 best days of the annual sporting calendar. The Preakness and Belmont Stakes are junior varsity events in comparison to the Derby.

It's just a shame no one knows the Derby is tomorrow.

We'll have our breakdown here in Saturday's edition of #DMD. By "breakdown", we basically mean we'll draw names out of a hat and throw a few bucks their way.

OK, we're kidding about that. It's a little more sophisticated than names-in-a-hat.

Oh, and there was some silver lining news on Thursday, when it was announced that Rodriguez, one of Bob Baffert's entries, was scrached from the race due to an injury. That means Mike Smith will not have a mount in this Saturday's Derby.

Smith cost me $8,800 (cash) at the 2011 Preakness when he let Animal Kingdom scoot past his horse, Astrology, in the final 300 yards and I've never forgiven him for that lack of quality jockey work.

Enjoy your day off on Saturday, Smitty.

I've enjoyed reading the Comments section over the last couple of days as people go back-and-forth about "leadership" and what not with both the current Orioles and O's teams of yesteryear.

I have no idea who this team's "leader" is. My gut says there probably isn't one, really, unless you put some stock in the recent no-manager-invited meeting supposedly organized by Ryan O'Hearn. That's a "leader" kind of thing to do, particularly if you think the manager might be offended but you couldn't care less either way.

Leaders are important in any organized structure, whether it's an office setting or an athletic team. There are a variety of leadership levels, if you will, and occasionally a leader surfaces organically or he/she is groomed for the position based on tenure within the organization or some other factor that is respected by his/her peers.

I don't see anyone outwardly having leadership qualities with the Orioles, but that doesn't mean they don't have a leader or two in their midst.

For all we know, Cedric Mullins is the absolute team leader of the Orioles and calls the shots within the locker room.

It just doesn't seem like his style, mind you. But sometimes the team leader does it quietly.

Ray Lewis was an obvious and very deserving "leader" of the Ravens throughout his career.

Ray didn't do anything quietly, whether it was crunching running backs or firing up his teammates in the locker room or on the sidelines.

Ed Reed was a great football player. No two ways about it. But Ed Reed wasn't anything close to the same kind of leader as Ray. Reed was far too moody and mercurial to be a complete leader of the team.

Joe Flacco was a leader.

It feels like Marlon Humphrey is a leader.

Most of the time, a team leader also has to be a high quality player. That's the way they gain that first layer of respect from their teammates. It's not mandatory that a team leader be a marquee name, but it's certainly "preferred".

I don't see Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman or Colton Cowser being a leader of the current Orioles team. They're simply too young and haven't earned their stripes, yet.

Strictly from an age and experience perspective, Mullins and O'Hearn would be the obvious choices for the unofficial position of "team leader".

And of all the sports, my hunch is "leadership" within the team itself is the least needed in baseball. What's Cedric Mullins going to do with Adley Rutschman? Scream at him and say, "You better start hitting you creep!!"?

Baseball is such a weird sport. The players look lazy and meandering because the season is six months long and it's built to be that way. You can be hitting .210 for the two months and then go 10-for-20 and now you're suddenly hitting .275 and all is well with the world.

But a leader who yells and screams and tells you to "wake up!" doesn't seem like a natural fit in baseball.

The ultimate leader of the team -- of any team, really -- is the head coach, manager, etc. If Brandon Hyde isn't the best leader on the Orioles, something is definitely "off" within the framework of their team environment.

But aside from the manager or coach, each team does need someone "in the trenches" to serve as a conduit between the players/employees and organizational leadership.

I don't know who that conduit "in the trenches" is with the Orioles. And I'm not sure they'd be any better than 12-18 if they had someone to fulfill those leadership duties.

Let's not get it twisted, though. Leadership is important. The O's need as much of it as they can get.

Along with better pitching and betting hitting.

I don't want to steal Jack Herb's thunder, but his column yesterday about 4-home-run-games got me to thinking about other historical records of importance in baseball.

There have been 23 players in Major League history who have recorded a base hit in 33 or more consecutive games.

How many of those 23 are post-1975?

Don't go hitting the Google search bar.

Think about it. How many?

For the record, I guessed 6.

I knew Rose, Molitor, Rollins, Santiago and Uggla. I figured there was one more I couldn't remember. There were actually two more. I didn't get Chase Utley and Luis Castillo.

The answer, then, is 7.

Since 1975, that's 50 years, only seven players have recorded a hit in 33 or more consecutive games.

33 games takes roughly 5 weeks to complete. Imagine that for a second. You get at least one base hit in every game you play for a period of 5 weeks or so!

And here's the weird thing about hitting and streaks and such. It's not like you only get one chance every game to get a hit. You get, in most games, at least FOUR opportunities! Hitting a baseball thrown at you 90-plus MPH is hard enough. Hitting it into a spot where no one can catch it before you reach first base is twice as hard.

Oh, and the strangest thing of all, I guess, is this: It's getting harder and harder to have hitting streaks, apparently. The last time someone in Major League Baseball had a hit streak of 30 games or more was back in 2018-2019 when Whit Merrifield bridged a 31-game streak over those two seasons.

I don't know why that is, but the longer we go on in baseball, the harder it is to put together a hitting streak of any substance.

Pitching a perfect game is obviously very tough to do. Only 24 pitchers have ever done it.

So, too, is hitting 4 home runs in a game. Only 19 guys have managed to do that.

But 33 games in a row (or more) with a base hit? Well, only 23 guys have done it. Ever. But only 7 have done it over the last 50 years.

I thought you'd like to know.

faith in sports

If you don't know the story of Nick Vujicic, today is a good day for a crash course. There's so much more to him than I'm going to show you in the 9 minute video below.

But this 9 minutes you're hopefully going to watch will show you the ultimate test of faith and why, with God, all things are possible.

Vujicic is an amazing story.

Born with no arms or legs. And yet, he's made an incredible contribution to our world.

Imagine that for a second.

And all because he believes that God has a plan for him.

It's not a sports story, per se. But it's a story I wanted to share with all of you.

No matter what you're going through, God has a plan for you. Believe it.

Thanks to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

Thursday May 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3901

les capitaux avancent

Nighty-night up there in Montreal.

Thanks for coming.

For the first time since 2018, the Capitals have advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after last night's 4-1 win over Montreal gave Washington a 4-1 series win.

It was a little nervy early on, as the Caps needed overtime in Game 1 and an empty net goal in Game 2 to forge ahead in the series, 2-0.

After the Canadiens snuck out a win in Game 3, the Caps rebounded with a nice victory in Game 4 to set up last night's series clincher. In the end, the better team definitely won, although Montreal was most certainly not a series pushover by any means.

The Carolina Hurricanes are next up for the Caps. And they will pose another formidable challenge for Alex Ovechkin and Company.

The return of Logan Thompson in Game 4 (after leaving Game 3 with an injury) was huge for the Capitals. He surrendered just three goals in the next two games and was certainly one of the three stars of the series for D.C., with Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson joining him for that honorary status.

Wilson's punishing hit near mid-ice in Game 4 was a series-changer. The Caps scored immediately thereafter and Montreal seemingly never regained their momentum in the series, as Washington piled on from there to win Game 4 and then pretty much cruised to a Game 5 win last night.

There's a lot of hockey left between now and early June, but the Caps got out of that Montreal series unscathed and should be up for the next challenge against Carolina.

The Orioles picked up a nice win last night, turning back the Yankees, 5-4, before 22,381 at Yankee Stadium South.

That victory gets the Birds to 12-18 at the 30-game mark. That's not very good, of course, but two wins in three games with New York is at least a little something to build on.

Kansas City comes to town for a 3-game weekend series that starts this Friday.

Adley Rutschman and Heston Kjerstad had two hits last night and Cade Povich was "decent" on the mound, going 4.2 innings and allowing 3 earned runs.

Six Orioles relievers allowed the Yankees just 4 hits and 1 earned run in the game's final 4.1 innings, with Felix Bautista retiring New York in order in the 9th inning to secure his second save of the series.

After this 3-game series with the Royals, the O's head to Minnesota for three and to Los Angeles for three games with the Angels. They'll then return home for three with the Twins and three with the Nationals.

Would it be too much to ask the O's to go 10-5 in those five series'? 10-5 would be great. 9-6 would be fine. 8-7 would be acceptable, I guess.

If the O's can't play over .500 baseball against these five opponents, they're in more trouble than we already think they are.

The Bill Belichick story is getting more crazy by the day, which is really saying something when you realize how bizarre his life has been for the last 12 months.

He's 73 years old and he has a 24 year old girlfriend. That, in and of itself, is tough enough to wrap your head around.

Belichick is now the head football coach at the University of North Carolina, which seems like perhaps one of the more unnatural moves in the world of sports over the last 25 years. Why on earth would the (arguably) best coach in NFL history want to drop down three notches to coach an ACC football program where 94% of the athletic supporters care only about the men's basketball program in Chapel Hill?

But as if that weren't enough chaos, he recently decided to write a book detailing all of that "winning" he did while he coached at New England.

The only problem? The book is pretty much awful.

There's nothing earth shattering in the book. No revelations about how he and Tom Brady hated one another or how he and Robert Kraft went 6 years straight without sending one another a Christmas card.

The closest we got to learning about their fractured relationship was during a recent CBS interview when Belichick admitted he didn't mention Kraft in the book or list him in the "acknowledgements" section.

That interview with CBS has sparked the latest round of controversy, as his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, was apparently calling the shots during the interview and interrupting on several occasions to admonish the network and the interview host for asking questions she says were on the "do not ask" list.

Yesterday, Belichick made a statement through the University of North Carolina where he asserts that Ms. Hudson was not "controlling the conversation" during the interview.

"CBS selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative -- that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation -- which is simply not true," Belichick said in the statement.

OK, so here's what's bizarre. To me, at least.

Why on earth would Bill Belichick write a book in the first place?

He needs $2.1 million that badly?

The man made over $70 million coaching and countless millions more endorsing stuff, doing speaking engagements, and so forth.

Why would a guy who adamantly disliked dealing with the media and the public and was as "closed off" as possible about his private life suddenly want to write a book about his life in football?

Sure, he'll make some money off the book. But at what point is that income worth ruining whatever reputation he still has in the sport?

It makes zero sense. And then to cap it off, you have a sorority sister at your side guiding you around the campus like you're there for Grandparent's Day.

The whole thing is really, really weird.

But we love ourselves a good love story in this country, even one that's bizarre like the one involving Belichick and Hudson.

Oh, and let's face it. The whole thing between Belichick and his girlfriend is probably more entertaining than Tar Heels football will be in 2025.

I've enjoyed these back-and-forth discussions about Mount Pleasant over the years with my longtime friend, George. He thinks I'm crazy when I say PGA Tour players would shoot 32-under for four days at "the Mount" and I think he's completely nuts for suggesting that because PGA Tour players in 1957 couldn't blister the course that today's players wouldn't blister the course.

Mount Pleasant is a very good test of golf. That much is true.

But it's a good test of golf for amateur players who are prone to the occasional foul ball off the tee or the three-putt-out-of-nowhere.

It would not be a good test of golf for the best 30 players in the world.

Back in the late 1950's when they held the Eastern Open at the Mount, those guys couldn't hit the first green (a par 5) in two shots on the 535 yard opening hole.

Today, the best players in the world would hit driver, followed by a 6 or 7 iron there and be putting for eagle.

I don't want to go through the place hole-by-hole, because all I would do is "cut and paste" this comment.

"On hole (x), the best players in the world would drive the ball up by the green and have an eagle chip that would likely result in another birdie."

I don't think anyone would go 61-61-61-61 (71 is par at the Mount), but the winner would have at least one round of 61, for sure.

It's important to understand, at least from my perspective, that predicting a winning score of 32 under par at the Mount for four rounds is not a slight at the golf course. I'm not poking fun at Mount Pleasant.

Instead, a score of 32 under par is simply proof-positive of how good guys like Scheffler, DeChambeau, Schauffele and McIlroy are. They can shoot 20 under par on a "tournament prepared" course with PGA Tour length, 2-3 inches of rough and greens that run 12 or 13 on the stimp meter.

That Doug Ford and Arnold Palmer and Art Wall couldn't make 8 birdies in a round 60 years ago has nothing at all to do with what Rory McIlroy would do today.

My guess is this: If you brought the top 30 players in the world to Mount Pleasant and the course was "dressed up" to the max, there would be at least two rounds in the 50's over four days, if not more.

These guys are just too freakin' good.

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" #DMD's weekly look at Major League Baseball
Jack Herb chimes in weekly here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

Another exciting week of baseball is in the books and before we break it down, we must start with what happened in the Diamondbacks game last Saturday.

Arizona’s Eugenio Suarez went 4-4 with 4 homers and became the 19th player in MLB history to have 4 home runs in a single game.

I looked a little more into this and was shocked when I learned that a player hitting 4 homers in a game is rarer than a pitcher throwing a perfect game (24 pitchers in MLB history). What makes this occurrence even more interesting is Suarez also became the 3rd player in baseball history to have 4 home runs in a game that his team lost.

Unfortunately for Suarez, the Dbacks lost 8-7 on Saturday against the Atlanta Braves in extra innings. We highlighted the Braves last week here at The Hot Corner as a team to look out for as the season goes on.

How did they manage to pull that rabbit out of their hat and come away with a win? Kudos to Eugenio Suarez and his performance. On behalf of baseball fans everywhere, we tip our hat to you.

On the other side of baseball history, the Colorado Rockies set a record going 4-24 through their first 28 games, which is the worst start to a season ever.

Orioles fans might remember (or have tried to forget) the 1988 season where we started 0-21.

This Rockies team has dethroned the O’s as well as the 2003 Tigers for worst start to a season.

There isn’t much to be excited about if you’re a Rockies fan. They have the 13th ranked farm system according to Baseball America, a little better than half the league, but you would hope to have the farm higher ranked at this rate.

Colorado is currently on pace for 23 wins over 162 games, which will be worse than the 2024 White Sox who went 41-121. I can’t imagine the Rockies only winning 23 games this year, and I really hope it doesn’t happen.

Any team losing that many games is bad for baseball in general, especially when the sport is trying to grow and reach new fans. Maybe the Rockies will go on a few winning streaks and sort of turn things around. Even the ‘88 Orioles finished the season 54-107, which is still not good but a whole lot better than 23-139.

On a more positive note, how about the Cincinnati Reds, who have looked very good this season?

They did have a 5-game winning streak snapped last night by St. Louis, but they’ve been getting contributions from everyone in their lineup.

Off-season acquisition Gavin Lux has been a key contributor, batting .352 with 14 RBIs and a .911 OPS as well as Jose Trevino, former Yankee, batting .323 with a .889 OPS.

The Reds’ pitching has also been phenomenal so far, led by young ace Hunter Greene, who has a 2.70 ERA and .85 WHIP through 36.2 innings.

A few keys to their success this year can be credited to their offense and how they bat overall as a team. They have the 6th highest batting average and have the 9th most walks. As we saw a few weeks ago against the Orioles, they constantly have traffic on the bases, which is a great formula for producing runs.

On the pitching side, Cincinnati has the 6th best team ERA at 3.37 and gives up the sixth fewest walks in baseball.

Elly De La Cruz is their superstar player at shortstop, but other than that, there aren’t many names that stick out. This Reds team meshes very well together. They’re a gritty team and are equipped to really surprise some people this year in a division, the NL Central, that’s up for grabs, especially now with injuries throughout the division.

There’s a strange thing happening right now with Devin Williams of the New York Yankees, who was once considered one of the game’s best closers. Williams is healthy as far as what we’ve been told. The problem is he has had trouble closing out a game.

Williams used to be untouchable when he played for the Brewers the past few seasons. So far in ‘25, Williams has allowed 14 earned runs through 9.2 innings of work.

To put it in perspective, his career high in earned runs is 15 through 58 innings of work back in 2021. Unless he’s perfect the rest of the way, he’s looking to set a new career high in earned runs.

It’s gotten so bad that the Yankees have moved him out of the closer role to get him lower leverage looks (If you play fantasy baseball, look to add Luke Weaver who is taking over the closer role for the Yanks for the time being). We’ll monitor the situation with Williams as the season continues, but as an Orioles fan, we won’t complain hearing this news.

Players of the Week –

Position Player: We discussed Eugenio Suarez’s historic day earlier, but let’s take a look at another player who had a great week. Andy Pages of the LA Dodgers had himself a monster week, batting .600 with 3 homers, 7 RBIs & 3 stolen bases

Pages has truly cemented himself as the everyday center fielder for the Dodgers. Keep in mind, this is a guy who Dodger fans wanted gone last year because he was struggling at the dish. The 24-year-old outfielder is proving he belongs in a Dodgers lineup that is filled with superstars.

Pages also plays fantastic defense. Just ask Rookie phenom Roki Sasaki, who is an international rookie starting pitcher for the Dodgers. Pages has robbed an opposing hitter of a home run in 3 different Sasaki starts this year.

Pitcher: Andres Munoz is the closer for the Seattle Mariners and during a time where closers across the league are struggling, Munoz is standing out amongst his peers.

With a fastball clocking in around 99 MPH paired with a devastating slider, he is a hitter’s worst nightmare to see in the 9th inning. This past week, he recorded 5 strikeouts and 4 saves through 4 innings of work.

He is currently tied for 1st in saves (11), and has a 0.00 ERA through 15 innings. Will the Mariners finally be able to win that division, where they’ve struggled in the past with the Astros and Rangers? We shall see, but they currently lead the AL West by 1 game.

Honorable Mention: Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the Dodgers last Friday night in front of a sold-out ballpark in LA, where he went 6.1 innings with 9 strikeouts and recorded a win for the Pirates. He also went against NL Cy Young favorite Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and in this instant pitching classic, Skenes won the duel.

Rookie of the Week: Jacob Wilson is off to a great start for the Athletics and, although this past week his stats may have been down (.261 average 1 homer and 4 RBIs), he is emerging as a cornerstone piece for the A’s.

Through 28 games, he is batting .321 with a .792 OPS. He leads the team in batting average, .321, hits with 35, and tied for 3rd on the team with 14 RBI. Wilson has only struck out 6 times in 106 at bats, which is 2nd fewest on the team.

One of the approaches to rebuilding a franchise is to develop position players that play up the middle of the field (Catcher, Middle Infield, Center Field). You can compare that philosophy to the Orioles and who they drafted during the rebuild phase. That’s exactly what the A’s have done with a young catcher in Shea Langeliers and Wilson at short. Center field is still up in the air, but all signs are pointing towards the A’s turning the corner in the next couple of years.

Games of the Week –

Friday, May 2nd, Detroit Tigers vs LA Angels (Tarik Skubal vs Yusi Kikuchi)

The Tigers have proven that their postseason appearance last October was no fluke, and they are here to compete this year. We’ll get to see Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, against Yusi Kikuchi, a journeyman who signed a 3-year, $64 million deal last winter with the Angels. Can the Angels get to Skubal and beat the red-hot Tigers? I don’t see it happening.

Saturday, May 3rd, Seattle Mariners vs Texas Rangers (Luis Castillo vs Patrick Corbin)

With how close this division is to start the season; this is a series for both teams that could potentially come back to bite someone at the end of the year. The Astros have not looked like the Astros this year, which means this division is a race between the Mariners and Rangers, in my opinion.

Sunday, May 4th, Arizona Diamondbacks vs Philadelphia Phillies (Eduardo Rodriguez vs Zack Wheeler)

A rematch of the 2023 NLCS, where the Dbacks won in game 7. The Phillies will be putting up one of their best starters in Wheeler, who leads the team and 2nd in baseball in strikeouts, and look to silence the Dbacks offense, which has been red hot of late.

Wednesday April 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3900

3,900!

I know what you're thinking.

That headline...

The number of times Bill Belichick has said to himself, "Why am I with this woman?" since the recent CBS interview was aired.

No, no, no. Come on. It's well into the 5,000's by now.

The number of runs the Orioles pitching staff might give up in the 2025 season?

No, no, no. Come on. 1,300 maybe. But not 3,900.

The number of fans the O's will be drawing every night by mid-June if they keep playing the way they have thus far this season?

No chance. They'd draw at least 5,200 per-game.

No, 3,900 is the number of consecutive days we've published Drew's Morning Dish. Every single day since August 25, 2014, in fact.

We weren't going to bring it up at all until the Orioles got shellacked last night, 15-3.

We figured we'd start off with something positive, like publishing 3900 straight days, before we start ripping through another heartless O's performance last night. Get the good stuff out of the way first, we say, and then go for the jugular.

So, there's the good news. 3,900 consecutive days. Thank you to everyone involved for helping us make that happen.

Everyone.

Behind the scenes staffers and web developers. Our long list of marketing partners over the last 10-plus years. Our various writers, past and present. And, of course, all of you have stopped by to read the site and participate in the Comments section.

Let's celebrate Kyle Gibson's return to the majors our feat with a golf clap and an extra cup of morning coffee or juice.

And now...about those Orioles.

OK, we can either jump to conclusions with Kyle Gibson or be patient and give him a few starts to get his "feels" back and see if he can actually make a positive contribution to the O's in 2025.

Which way do you want to go?

I'm normally the patient type.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint," I'll say quite often.

I don't feel very patient this morning.

Nothing about last night was really all that surprising. I mean, sure, I didn't expect the first inning to go quite like that. Three straight homers to lead off the game? I didn't have that one on my FanDuel account, no.

I did have a nice 3-way parlay of Aaron Judge and Gunnar Henderson to homer in Baltimore, along with Shohei Ohtani to homer for the Dodgers, so let's just say I wasn't totally bummed out about that 15-3 loss and the fact that the O's managed just three hits on the night.

But I digress...

I suspected Kyle Gibson wouldn't be sharp, although I didn't think he'd give up 11 hits and 9 earned runs before 8:00 pm.

He did strike out two guys. So there's that, at least.

But last night can't really be blamed on Gibson. He's on the roster and was pressed into duty last night because the O's have nowhere else to turn. They don't have anyone on the farm worth bringing up for a spot-start and there's no one floating around on the waiver wire worth bringing to Baltimore, either.

And while their offense wasn't the reason the O's lost last night, it's more than fair to point out they were no-hit for five innings and managed just three hits in nine innings.

My O's crazy friend Chris texted me in the 5th inning: "Going through the motions. They look like a team that's quit on the manager."

Later, after a Gunnar Henderson fielding error, he added: "Gunnar's a leader? haha"

It's hard to argue with any of that commentary.

Last night, at least, it sure did look like they were going through the motions. Then again, they were losing 5-0 in the first inning and 9-0 in the 4th inning. Who wants to break a sweat when the game's over before the stadium lights come on?

As for "quitting on the manager", I don't know how that works. I don't think Kyle Gibson "quit". I just think he threw too many 91 mile-per-pitches over the heart of the plate in the first four innings.

Gunnar did manage to hit a home run in the 7th inning, but there's no denying his 2025 start is starting to approach the "concerning" level. He's hitting .227 and, even worse, his on-base-percentage is a woeful .269.

Defensively, he has 4 errors in 21 games.

Henderson won't approach 30 errors, I don't think, but he's currently on that pace.

Maybe he isn't a leader. That wouldn't be a total shock. He's 23 years old and in his third full big league season. As they like to say in the big leagues, "he still needs to earn his chops".

That said, a lot is expected of him, especially in the next couple of years when the O's have to start putting a blueprint together for giving him $500 million-plus to sign a new contract in Baltimore.

Other than Cedric Mullins and Ryan O'Hearn, no one's doing anything offensively.

That's one of the big reasons why the O's are 11-18.

Their starting pitching is terrible.

The bullpen might not be "terrible", but it's approaching "lousy".

Even their defense is suspect.

"You are what your record says you are..."

We've heard that one before.

Frankly, I'm not sure how the O's have won 11.

In tonight's series finale, it's Carlos Carrasco vs. Cade Povich.

The good news? Carrasco's washed. If ever the O's were going to get back on track offensively, it's tonight.

The bad news? Povich had a great start in D.C. last Wednesday night. He's due for a stinker this evening.

Take the "over" in this one, whatever it is, and hope for a 9-8 Birds win.

Both the internet and sports radio in town -- and even commenters here, it's worth noting -- are starting to percolate with "time to fire the manager" chatter, which isn't anything new in Charm City. As soon as the football team loses twice in five games people want John Harbaugh jettisoned.

I'm not a "fire the coach" guy. I never have been.

We've covered this edition of the O's quite a bit here and wondered how Brandon Hyde can be held responsible for Corbin Burnes leaving and Charlie Morton showing up. Or Anthony Santander leaving and Tyler O'Neill coming to Baltimore. Or Gary Sanchez coming on board to replace James McCann.

Those things can't be laid at the feet of Brandon Hyde.

That said, it's not the "losing" that generally dooms the coach/manager.

It's the "way" those losses pile up that sends the message to ownership that it's time for a change.

In the last 10 days, the O's have lost 24-2, 7-0 and 15-3.

Sure, losing 24-2 is just like losing 3-2 in the standings.

But it's not the same. The optics of losing 24-2 are far worse than losing 3-2.

Yes, they faced Tarik Skubal in that 7-0 loss. That's true.

At some point soon, though, the excuses and reasons for the losing aren't going to be enough.

I'll continue to say it here.

If the O's reach the 50-game mark and they don't have at least 20 wins, the manager has to go. That is, unless at that point the front office simply agrees that even a managerial change isn't going to save the season.

Lots of people ask me what the O's need.

That answer is very obvious.

"They need a few of their good pitchers to get healthy and return to the lineup."

I'm talking about the likes of Eflin and Grayson and Kyle Bradish, who might be able to pitch again sometime in June. Eflin should return in early May. Rodriguez might not return at all in 2025.

If the Birds get two of those three guys back, they'll help. All three would be huge.

But by the time they get two or three of them back, the season could be lost entirely.

The next 20 games basically decide their season.

If they can squirm their way to something like 22-28 after 50 games, they certainly have a puncher's chance of getting back into the playoff picture.

But if they're 18-32 after 50 games, it's night-night time for the 2025 Orioles.

I just don't see how the manager can be the difference between 22-28 and 18-32. Players play and coaches coach.

If Gunnar starts hitting, they can be 22-28. If Adley starts hitting they can be 22-28. If Holliday starts hitting they can be 22-28.

If those three continue to sputter at the plate, they'll be 18-32. And that happens no matter who manages the team.

But at some point, the guy running the ship has to pay the price for his players stinking it up.

This week's PGA Tour stop is played at perhaps the easiest venue of the entire season, TPC Craig Ranch just outside of Dallas, Texas.

It's going to be a birdie fest. Imagine if the TOUR came to Mount Pleasant for a 4-day tournament. The winner would make 32 birdies/eagles in 4 rounds at a minimum. TPC Craig Ranch won't yield 32 birdies to the winner, but I bet it will yield at least 24 subpar scores to the winning player.

The value of wagering on Scottie Scheffler to win (+280) is minimal. But this certainly feels like the event Scheffler should win to break out of his 2025 winless skid. You won't get much in return, obviously, but a winning ticket is always better than a losing ticket.

Si Woo Kim is a horses-for-courses guy at this venue and he has great value at +3000. He finished T2 in 2023 and 13th in 2023 at TPC Craig Ranch, so the course obviously suits him well. Add to that he's 3rd in the field in strokes gained since February and you have the makings of a winning player this weekend.

I'm not sure how Ben An is at +2500 and Kim (above) is at +3000, but whatever. An is having a very good last 12 months on TOUR despite not winning an event. He slumped a little earlier in the season but has rebounded nicely over the last 8 weeks. He's made 8 of 11 cuts in 2025 and has 4 top 25's to go with it. He might not be the guy to win this week, especially if the winning score will be in the 20-something under par range, but if his putter gets hot, watch out.

Because I feel like making someone a lot of summer spending money, I'm now going to go "way off the beaten bath" and give you three potential longshot winners who can also make you a nice return on Top 20 and Top 10 finishes as well.

These guys are each priced at +6600. All three have been up and down in 2025, but a week at Birdies For Everyone Country Club TPC Craig Ranch could be just what they need. Tom Kim has mysteriously wavered throughout the current season, but all he needs is one weekend with a hot putter.

Austin Eckroat hasn't done much since winning on TOUR last season, but he's a guy that's hard to pass up at that +6600 number. He'll chew up the par 5's at TPC Craig Ranch. What he does elsewhere on the course will be his determining factor.

And if you're looking for someone you've never heard of who could win this weekend, go with Jacob Bridgeman, who has very quietly put together an excellent 2025 season, with 8/12 cuts made and 3 top 10 finishes along the way.

Tuesday April 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3899

back....on track?

Well, that Orioles win on Monday night should quiet everyone in town until tonight when they lose 7-3.

Here's the good news: When Tomoyuki Sugano pitches, the O's have a legit chance of winning that game.

The bad news? He can't pitch every day.

Or every other day, for that matter.

So, we know the Birds are winning once every 5 days, at a minimum. So let's start there, I suppose.

Before we move on to other stuff, let's create a smidgen of balance here and give Mike Elias a polite golf clap for digging up and signing Sugano in the off-season.

It hasn't been a great 12 months for Elias.

He traded away two prospects who are prospering in Miami for a pitcher who would give up a hit to your Uncle Ned at the family picnic in August.

He failed to sign a worthy free agent pitcher with MLB experience in the off-season and the one he did manage to bring to town hasn't won a game this season.

He allowed the team's popular and successful back-up catcher to scoot out of town and replaced him with a guy who has fewer hits than Loverboy, who might have had six if you're being overly generous.

Those are just the ones that are top of mind.

If you think Steelers, Ravens, Texans Cleveland Browns wide receiver Diontae Johnson has had a rough last 12 months, his has been a walk in the park compared to what Elias has experienced.

So let's applaud him for the Sugano signing. The early returns are very favorable. He might not be following exactly in the footsteps of our 47th President, but the Japanese hurler is doing his part in helping to Make The Orioles Great Again.

Last night's 4-3 win over the Yankees was huge, particuarly given the injury news that came out late in the afternoon.

Jordan Westburg (hamstring) and Gary Sanchez (wrist) are out for at least 10 days. I know what you're thinking about Sanchez. Just don't say it out loud.

Grayson Rodriguez and Colton Cowser were both transferred to the 60-day injury list, which doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things other than both of those guys will be out at least through the end of May. I think we all suspect we won't see GrayRod pitch again this season, but getting Cowser back sometime in June would be a bonus for sure.

The Westburg departure won't be massive if Ramon Urias continues to hit, but I think we all know Urias is best used as a "semi-regular" player and not someone you have to rely on six days a week. Still, Urias is having a nice start to the 2025 season despite last night's 0-for-4 performance vs. New York.

Adley Rutschman had a base hit last night. That was good to see.

Ramon Laureano had TWO hits actually, which was probably two more than I thought he'd get this week.

And the aforementioned Sugano struck out 8 Yankees in 5 innings of work to improve to 3-1 on the year. He had good stuff on Monday evening in front of 10,000 Yankees fans and 12,775 Orioles fans on a Chamber of Commerce night in The Land of Pleasant Living.

But the big story from Monday night was what happened in the 9th inning.

With the game on the line after Brandon Hyde mysteriously removed Keegan Akin, who retired 4 hitters on 17 pitches, and Cano and Soto promptly gave up 3 runs thereafter, in came Felix Bautista to try to silence the Yankees in their final at-bat.

He got Trent Grisham to pop out, then whiffed Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger to earn the save and give the Birds a much-needed win.

Bautista's save also kept the wolves from Hyde's door for the bizarre decision to remove Akin in the 7th inning while the Birds owned a 4-0 lead and Akin was cruising without incident.

Because they're (now) 11-17, there haven't been many moments so far this season for Bautista to enthusiastically announce "I'm back!", but last night was indeed that opportunity.

It's worth noting that his control has been a bit spotty thus far in '25, but for a guy coming off of Tommy John surgery, the early returns are pleasing.

Last night's 9th inning was very impressive and much-needed. For one night, at least, all was well in Birdland.

Check back with us the next time Sugano pitches for even more delightful news. And maybe even a win for the Orioles.

Hyde also got into some hot internet water on Monday when he offered a weird, perhaps cryptic comment about pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is making the start tonight vs. the Yankees.

In the aftermath of announcing that the 37-year old right hander will start Tuesday's game vs. New York, Hyde said, "I know we’re getting an unbelievable person and a human being and a real leader, and an adult in the room I think, which is great.”

"An adult in the room..."

Hyde, I'm sure, will have to explain that one today at some point when he meets with the media at Camden Yards.

The internet lit up with speculation about that comment. There have been reports and "stories on the street" over the last 12 months that the O's locker room has, at times, been deemed "too playful" after losses. Perhaps that's what Hyde was hinting at with his remark about Gibson on Monday.

Let's hope Hyde gets to talk about 5.2 innings pitched, 5 hits and 2 earned runs allowed and not the "adult in the room" comment tonight.

Greg asks -- "I know you're not one to grade a team's draft, but overall how do you think the Ravens did last weekend?"

DF says -- "Fine. I guess? I mean, Starks looks like he's can't-miss, so that should work out very well for the Ravens. It's truly incredible how one of those kind of players always seems to fall in their lap. They should do a 30-for-30 special on it.

The other guys certainly appear as if they're going to be legit. Everyone raves about Mike Green. As long as the personal stuff is part of his past and not a life pattern, I suspect he'll be an outstanding Raven.

I know most people don't care about a kicker until he misses a 39 yarder at the buzzer to lose a game, but it would appear to me the Ravens are very convinced that Tyler Loop is going to be a bonafide kicker in the NFL. If, let's say, he's the team's "next Justin Tucker", that would mean drafting him was definitely the right move.

I don't follow college football nearly enough to have a "real" opinion on any of those players. I just assume DeCosta and his staff know what they're doing. The performance of the '25 draft class over the next four to five years will tell us if they do."

John L. asks -- "Hey Drew, I'm in one of those major championship contests that I've told you about before where you have to put 3 of your 5 players in three weeks before the tournament starts and then the other two go in on Monday of tournament week. You gave me Rory, Day and Lowry for the Masters and that worked out great! How about 3 for the PGA Championship that I can send in this week? Thanks and Go Hall!"

DF says -- "Well, you have to put Rory in either now or later. I mean, he's won at that golf course four times and he's coming in off the biggest win of his career. He's already won three times in four months. He is the definite favorite at Quail Hollow.

Justin Thomas has also won there before, in the PGA Championship no less. I think winning at Hilton Head was a big deal for him. It might get him back on track for a bigger win in '25. I'd go with him for sure.

I'm going to stick with driving distance as a key stat given how long and difficult the course will play, which means someone like Min Woo Lee makes sense. He's averaging 314 yards per-drive in '25 and it just "feels" like he's on the verge of something big this season. He's my (sorta kinda) off the radar screen guy for the PGA Championship."

Brian Preller asks -- "What was your official "take" on the Shedeur Sanders story in the draft? What happened to him?"

DF says -- "I have no idea, but I'm guessing two things rose to the top. First, without question, was the way he conducted himself at the various meetings he had with NFL teams in the weeks leading up to the draft. There are too many stories out there about his attitude and such. He definitely hurt his chances in that regard.

No matter what college football players think about themselves, people in the NFL don't give a rat's rear end how many bowl games you won or anything like that. They only care about how you project as a NFL player. Sanders walking around like he's already a Pro Bowl QB probably turned off a lot of scouts and coaches.

You can also throw Deion's involvement in there if you want, but if Shedeur was coming into the league with the skills and reputation of C.J. Stroud or some other top notch college QB and the meetings with him were impressive and favorable, NFL teams would take the "Deion baggage", so to speak.

Second, and this was sort of the point I tried to make last Thursday and Friday that no one seemed to understand: No matter what Mel Kiper or any of the other "experts" felt about him on the field, people in the trenches who do professional football for a living just don't think Shedeur is all that good.

No one is willing to turn their football team over to him on day one and say, "Here you go, take us to the promised land."

Maybe he works out as a NFL quarterback. Maybe he doesn't. The jury is very much out on him. The Saints or Raiders or Steelers weren't willing to take him and say, "Here's the keys to our franchise. Drive it around for us for the next 10 years."

Now, in fairness, a lot of teams said the same thing about Lamar Jackson. Heck, the Ravens even said it about Lamar Jackson in some ways. He wouldn't have played at all in that 2018 season if not for Joe getting hurt mid-season.

It all comes down to talent and the perceived "ceiling" you have. I don't think teams see Sanders as a guy who can turn a franchise around. This isn't the CYO or high school football. It's the big leagues."

Monday April 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3898

a lost weekend in detroit

No one expected the Orioles to win yesterday in Detroit.

The manager even used a lineup that was 95% guaranteed to fail in the series finale against the Tigers.

It didn't help that the Birds were facing perhaps the best pitcher in all of baseball. Tarik Skubal shut down the visitors, as expected, and the Tigers completed the 3-game sweep with a 7-0 win in the Motor City.

The baseball was so lifeless and the result so highly anticipated that someone in the main bar at Eagle's Nest asked one of the management folks to switch the TV from the O's game to a NBA playoff game. The score at the time was only 2-0.

"They could play until tomorrow against this guy (Skubal) and they wouldn't score a (effing) run," the guy said to me as the TV was switched from baseball to basketball.

Funny enough, no one else at the bar batted an eye when the channel was changed.

The Birds did manage to scrape together five hits on the day, including two from Jorge Mateo, who saw his batting average balloon all the way up to .136 with that performance. Skubal struck out 11 batters in six innings of work and allowed four of those five hits in improving to 3-2 on the year.

Dean Kremer produced what we should now just call "a Kremer". He did work into the 6th inning, which is good, but allowed 5 earned runs and walked more guys (4) than he struck out (3). Kremer's ERA on the year is 7.04. That's, uhhhh, not good.

The Orioles offense continues to be a disaster.

Sure, you're probably not winning many games when the pitchers allow 7 runs. That much is true. But I've never known it possible to win a game by scoring zero runs.

I have no idea what went into compiling Sunday's starting lineup. With their "regular group", the O's would have probably been a 25% favorite to win the game. With the lineup they posted on Sunday, that number dropped to 5%.

Maybe that's what Hyde was figuring all along.

"Why not just give Westburg, Mullins and O'Hearn the day off? Even with them, we're probably losing. Without them, they get a nice day of rest and we still lose."

And lose they did.

The O's struck out more times than a bunch of Beatles fans Flyers fans at an escort convention in Las Vegas. Heston Kjerstad had four at-bats and whiffed on all four occasions. Ramon Laureano, Gary Sanchez and Jackson Holliday each struck out twice. All nine O's batters struck out at least once.

Once again, driving in runners was a problem for the Birds. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. In the 3-game series in Detroit, they were 2-for-23 in that category.

As the losses continue to pile up, the internet burner on Brandon Hyde continues to increase.

I can't imagine Mike Elias is seriously considering firing the manager of a 10-17 baseball team. They have six home games with the Yankees and Royals coming up this week. If they go 4-2 there, they're at 14-19 and within a quick winning streak of being a .500 team again.

But if something weird happens and the O's drop 5 of 6 to New York and K.C.? That would put the O's at 11-22. Now you're starting to think about doing "something...anything" to get the team back on track.

I'll continue to say this: I'm not sure firing Brandon Hyde is even close to "the answer" for this baseball team. Nearly all of their best players are hitting .220 or lower. No one on the team is driving in runners when they're on second or third base. I don't know how the manager is to blame for that kind of lethargy at the plate.

That said, if the O's are something like 14-26 at the 25% mark (40 games), you'd have to consider making a managerial change just for the sake of doing it.

For sure if they reach the 50-game plateau and they have anything less than 20 wins, a change is in order.

That said, getting better baseball players back in the off-season would have helped.

However, guys like Laureano and Sanchez would be once-a-week throw-ins if the team's real players were hitting and producing.

Their pitching stinks.

Their offense stinks.

Their record, therefore, stinks.

It is still early, as Dean Kremer pointed out after yesterday's 7-0 loss.

The Orioles are like a Beatles album. They're better than you think they are. Mainly because they have to be.

But these next six games against the Yankees and Royals will go a long way in telling us if that's true.

Better than we think?

Or worse than we thought?

We're about to find out more.

It wasn't the prettiest way to win a playoff game, but the Caps got the road win they needed last night in Montreal, 5-2, to go up 3-1 in their Eastern Conference series with the Canadiens.

Washington can put the series away on Wednesday night back in D.C.

Because they're the Capitals, nothing is in concrete just yet. Montreal is certainly playing "up" in the series thus far. They haven't necessarily been the better team, but they also haven't resembled an 8-seed, either. A win for the Habs on Wednesday would shift momentum back in their favor for Game 6 back in Canada.

Last night, though, was about the (unexpected) return of goaltender Logan Thompson, who got the surprising start in goal and was outstanding throughout the sixty minutes. He was the main reason the score was "only" 2-1 in favor of Montreal after two periods.

The Caps got a late third period goal from Andrew Mangiapane to go up 3-2, then tallied a pair of empty net goals to put the game away.

If Thompson stays healthy and continues to play the way he has in the first four games of the series, the Caps have a real puncher's chance of sticking around for a while in these NHL playoffs.

But first they have to dispose of the scrappy Canadiens, who have their own goaltending issues to contend with, as their #1 netminder, Sam Montembeault, missed Sunday's tilt with a groin injury.

If the Caps do get by Montreal, the Carolina-New Jersey winners awaits in the next round, with the Hurricanes currently up 3-1 in that series.

On yesterday's radio show on 105.7, I welcomed Kevin Van Valkenburg of the golf podcasting site, "No Laying Up", for a lengthy interview.

Kevin just worked his 6th Masters, so I thought it was a great time to bring him in and soak him for information and details.

One of the things we discussed was a "Sounds of the Masters" piece that he and a No Laying Up content creator worked on during their weeklong stay at Augusta National.

As you can expect, I consume a lot of golf "content" on the internet. Every day of my life, I'm reading or watching something related to golf.

I can say, without hesitation, "Sounds of the Masters" is one of the best pieces of golf content I've ever seen (in this case...heard).

If you're a golf enthusiast, please give yourself one hour and sit down and take this in. If you've never been to the Masters, this episode of No Laying Up will take you there unlike anything else you could imagine.

To watch "Sounds of the Masters", just click here.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

orioles week in review

Week Record: 1-5

Season Record: 10-17

AL East Standing: 5th (6 GB of NYY)

Player of the Week: Cade Povich - 6.2IP 4H 1BB 5K 1.35 ERA

I’m not going to lie, it’s already getting pretty hard to write these recaps. We’re not even in May and the team is on the verge of a lost season.

At 10-17, currently the only teams in MLB worse than the Orioles are the moribund/tanking White Sox and Rockies.

A combination of poor offseason planning and rotten injury luck have unsurprisingly produced the worst rotation in the majors. With a 71 ERA+ (29% worse than average), the Orioles’ rotation isn’t just at the bottom of the league, but is 15% worse than the 29th ranked Marlins (86 ERA+).

While the rotation has been putrid and owes most of the blame for the terrible start, the bats have underperformed as well, with just about everyone not named Cedric Mullins mired in a spring slump.

While they sit “only” six games behind the first place Yankees, and there are reasons to believe the lineup can rebound, with limited remedies on the mound, the window to alter their trajectory is rapidly narrowing.

It was a horrid week for the Orioles as they continue to struggle on both sides of the plate, managing just a single win.

The O’s started the week off poorly against the Nationals before losing both ends of a doubleheader in Detroit, before getting swept on Sunday, leaving them with plenty of questions to address as April draws to a close.

The week opened on a sour note as the Orioles were dominated by Nationals pitcher Mitchell Parker, who allowed just one hit across eight innings in a 7-0 defeat. Cedric Mullins’ third-inning single was Baltimore's lone bright spot. Starter Dean Kremer continued his tough start to the season, allowing six runs over 5.1 innings, including homers by Nathaniel Lowe and Dylan Crews.

Baltimore battled more closely on Wednesday, falling short in a 4-3 heartbreaker. After surrendering early home runs to James Wood and Josh Bell, Tomoyuki Sugano settled down to complete seven solid innings.

The Orioles clawed back into the game, tying it in the 8th on a Ramón Urías sac fly. But the Nationals took the lead right back with Luis García Jr.’s sac fly in the bottom of the inning and the O’s couldn’t respond again.

Cade Povich finally gave Orioles fans something to cheer about on Thursday, delivering a gem to snap the team's three-game skid. The rookie left-hander carried a shutout into the seventh inning, finishing with 6.2 innings of one-run ball.

Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins provided key RBI singles in the 5th inning for the 2-1 victory. Félix Bautista secured his third save despite some late drama, marking Baltimore’s first win in 2025 when scoring three or fewer runs.

After a rainout on Friday, the Orioles faced a challenging doubleheader on Saturday in Detroit, ultimately getting swept. Game one saw Baltimore hold a slim 3-2 lead into the seventh inning before the Tigers tied it and won 4-3 with a walk-off single in the 9th.

Rookie Brandon Young had a decent showing (5 IP, 3 ER) but the bullpen faltered late.

In the nightcap, Detroit's Riley Greene delivered the decisive blow with a three-run homer off veteran Charlie Morton, resulting in a 6-2 Tigers victory. Baltimore's offense was limited again, with Gunnar Henderson providing the lone bright spots with two RBI across the doubleheader.

The O’s capped the week off in fitting fashion, getting demolished 7-0 by the Tigers, led by a gem from ace Tarik Skubal. Skubal went six shutout innings, fanning 11 Orioles.

The Birds were missing several banged up players after the Saturday double-header and Dean Kremer did the limited offense no favors, surrendering five runs in five innings to drive his season ERA to 7.04.

In such a dismal week it's hard to find standout performers. Cade Povich provided one of the lone bright spots, going 6.2 innings in his start on Thursday. Povich limited the Nats to one run on four hits and struck out five, leading the O’s to their only win of the week.

Given the current state of the Orioles rotation, a sign of positive momentum for Povich could at least provide hope for one slot in the rotation.

Aside from Povich, Tomoyuki Sugano delivered another solid start, allowing three runs in seven innings. Sugano is currently the O’s only reliable pitcher with Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez out injured.

At the plate there wasn’t much to write home about, but Ryan O’Hearn managed a .333 average on the week, with a homer and two RBI. Ramon Urias also batted over .300 with a homer and two RBI.

Down on the Farm –

The Norfolk Tides had a week to forget, going 1-5 and dropping to 9-17 overall, though they did end the week with a 6-4 win on Sunday. Dylan Beavers and Coby Mayo provided some spark to the offense.

Beavers continued his stellar season with a .480 OBP on the week, including a homer, five RBI, and three stolen bases. Mayo batted .316 on the week with two triples and two RBI, pulling his season average up to .256 with an .861 OPS.

At AA, 25 year old pitching prospect Alex Pham had an outstanding week, striking out 17 batters over 10 innings in two dominant starts. Pham limited Altoona to two earned runs over his 10 innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.42.

Notably, top pitching prospect Chayce McDermott started Sunday’s game for the Baysox, throwing 1.2 innings in his first rehab start from a preseason injury.

Catching prospect Creed Willems led the Baysox at the plate, collecting several crucial hits while reaching base at a .522 clip for the week and smacking a homer and two doubles.

Question of the Week –

What’s going on with the Orioles’ bats?

The starting pitching has rightfully earned most of the scorn during this miserable start to the season, but a surprising lack of pop from a talented young offense has greatly contributed to the funk.

After finishing 2024 with the second-best offense in baseball (118 OPS+), the Orioles entered 2025 with expectations of another explosive year at the plate. Instead, through the first month of the season, the lineup has been frustratingly average, ranking middle-of-the-pack in most offensive categories.

The team’s batting average sits at a paltry .226, with a disappointing .299 OBP and a .388 slugging percentage, good for an OPS+ of 103 (11th in MLB).

What’s behind this drastic shift from elite to mediocre? A closer look at advanced metrics reveals a blend of bad luck and poor situational hitting.

Baltimore’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is just .262, significantly lower than the league average generally around .300, indicating that the team is making decent contact but finding fielders' gloves too often.

The Orioles actually lead MLB In Hard-Hit rate, at 35.8%, though counterintuitively they are also last in the league in Line-Drive rate at 16.8%.

They are also sixth in the league in Barrel rate, or the percentage of time hitters are connecting on the sweet spot of the bat. This suggests that the O’s may be hitting a large amount of hard ground balls that are not finding the holes.

Statcast data further supports this point. Orioles hitters like Gunnar Henderson have an elite Hard-Hit rate (97th percentile) and a high average exit velocity (~96 mph, 99th percentile), yet Henderson’s OBP is just .256, with a wOBA (weighted OBP) at .267 compared to an expected wOBA of .287.

This substantial gap between actual and expected results suggests Henderson—and by extension, the Orioles as a team—have been unlucky, with hard-hit balls consistently turning into outs.

Moreover, the team's wRC+ (Fangraphs’ overall offensive metric) is hovering around 102 (13th best), barely above league average and far from last year's potent figure. Similarly, their OPS+ has plummeted from 118 in 2024 to 103 this year, emphasizing a notable regression in overall offensive production.

Plate discipline has also been an issue, with a team strikeout rate around 23% and a walk rate in the bottom third of the league at 8.2%. The team walk-to-strikeout ratio is fifth worst in the league.

These numbers indicate some Orioles hitters are expanding their strike zones and not maximizing their at-bats, leading to wasted scoring opportunities. Situational hitting has compounded the problem as well, too often, runners are left stranded, especially in scoring positions.

Several key young hitters have simultaneously slumped. Adley Rutschman (.209 AVG, .677 OPS, 102 OPS+), Gunnar Henderson (.218 AVG, .641 OPS, 88 OPS+), and Jordan Westburg (.217 AVG, .656 OPS, 93 OPS+) have been cornerstones of the offense, but have yet to find their rhythm.

Rutschman, despite solid plate discipline, is saddled with an extraordinarily low .217 BABIP, suggesting that his average and slugging percentage should rise significantly as his luck evens out.

Looking forward, there’s ample reason for optimism. The advanced metrics point clearly to underperformance due to bad luck rather than a fundamental lack of skill. Expected metrics suggest positive regression is inevitable, particularly for Henderson, whose high barrel rate and exit velocities are elite. Similarly, Rutschman and Westburg's underlying metrics imply they are due to see better results soon.

As warmer weather arrives and these hitters adjust their approach, Baltimore’s offensive output is likely to improve. The talent is still very much present in this lineup, and history suggests that sustained bad luck is unlikely to continue indefinitely.

While the Orioles’ bats have undoubtedly disappointed through April, the underlying data signals that brighter days are ahead.

As long as injuries don’t continue to derail the offense, with Cowser already out for extended time and O’Neill now on the IL, the production at the plate should rebound.

Fans can only hope this turnaround happens quickly and dramatically enough to keep the team afloat until drastic measures are taken to solve the pitching mess.

Sunday April 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3897

got a kicker, need two wins

OK, so unless something is really "off" with the news from Saturday that the Ravens drafted a kicker, it would appear the Justin Tucker era is over in Baltimore.

I mean, sure, they could keep both Tucker and the new guy, Tyler Loop, for the 2025 season. If Loop's going to spend a season as a NFL understudy, who better to learn from than one of the greatest kickers in NFL history?

Eric DeCosta said all the right things on Saturday when asked about the team drafting a kicker for the first time in the team's 30 year history.

"I haven't really thought about that at this point. I just thought [Loop] was a really talented player and it made sense for us to do that for a lot of different reasons," DeCosta told the media. "We've told you guys multiple times this spring that we would look at kickers, and so for us it's like any other position. This year we evaluated all these guys, we felt like he was draftable. We felt like he was the best kicker, and it made sense for us to take him."

The "haven't thought about it at this point" comment is eye-wash. Of course he's "thought about it", which is why they drafted Loop, a kicker, instead of a running back, linebacker or wide receiver, for example.

DeCosta and the Ravens still don't know what punishment, if any, Tucker is going to receive from the NFL as a result of their investigation into the sexual assault allegations that surfaced in Baltimore this past January.

The selection of Loop makes sense in that regard. For all the Ravens know, the NFL comes forward in mid-May and says, "Oh, right, we forgot to mention to you before the draft. Tucker's suspended for the first 8 games of the 2025 season."

Loop, had he not been drafted yesterday, would have almost assuredly signed with a team as a free agent either last night or today sometime. By drafting him, the Ravens have protection in the event the league tells Tucker to take a seat for a few weeks or few months this coming season.

But there's also the lingering possibility that all of this is a smoke screen for the Ravens beating the NFL to the punch and simply cutting Tucker after June 1st, which will help the team's salary cap and, presumably, help them save face within their fan base as well.

Either way, whether it's this year or next, Tyler Loop is your next kicker in Baltimore. He's either replacing Tucker in 2025 or 2026.

DeCosta can wordsmith it in whatever fashion he chooses, but the Ravens wouldn't use a draft pick on a kicker unless they were of the mindset they were going to need someone other than Tucker to kick for them. And soon.

Don't look now, but only three teams in all of baseball have more losses than the Orioles thus far in the 2025 campaign.

I told you not to look.

It's ugly, I know.

After yesterday's doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Tigers, the O's are now 10-16 on the campaign. Only the Pirates (17), White Sox (20) and Rockies (22) have more losses than the battlin' Birds. The Twins, I should point out, also have 16 losses so far.

The White Sox and Rockies were supposed to be terrible this season. Heck, the White Sox are preparing for a parade with 7-20 record. I don't think they won their 7th game until Memorial Day in 2024.

Oh, and here's a not-so-good note about today's game in Detroit. The Tigers are throwing the best pitcher in baseball (Tarik Skubal) at the O's.

Watch, today will be the day the Birds either get no-hit or they pound out 14 hits (9 off of Skubal) in a 7-3 win. You know one of those two is in the offing.

Anyway, Brandon Hyde's team continued to struggle at the plate yesterday.

In the opener, they did manage an almost unthinkable 11 hits, but were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 9 guys on base in the loss. Jordan Westburg, Ramon Urias and Ryan O'Hearn each had 3 hits.

In the nightcap, a 6-2 loss, the Birds left 8 runners on base and were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Flyers fans, please don't rush for your calculators. We'll do the quick math for you right here, by hand. 1-for-8 plus 1-for-6 is 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position in the doubleheader sweep.

2-for-14 isn't good. In fact, it's terrible.

Charlie Morton didn't start the second game, as Hyde went with Keegan Akin to open the contest and he handled 1.2 innings of work before turning things over to Morton.

I know what you're wondering.

Did Morton wind up getting the loss?

He did, indeed.

Morton went 3.2 innings and allowed 3 earned runs while walking 5 Detroit hitters. He's now 0-6 on the season. The end has to be coming soon.

The O's "big four" -- I made that up, of course, but they do represent four of the team's most-relied-upon-hitters -- of Henderson, Westburg, Rutschman and Mountcastle, all continue to struggle.

Not one of them is hitting over .220 a month into the season.

Slow starts happen all the time, to players of various quality levels.

Westburg looks like he might be starting to break out of his early-season funk.

Henderson is also showing signs of an uptick.

The biggest worry, though, is Adley Rutschman, who has a couple of oddly concerning statistical notes worth mentioning.

Not once this season has he produced two or more hits in consecutive games.

And he's now gone 11 straight games without getting a hit in consecutive games.

The Orioles have played 26 games in 2025 and Rutschman has three, yes, three, multi-hit games. And one of those was the opener in Toronto when he hit two home runs and produced three hits on the day.

It's way too early to judge his '25 season against what we saw from him in the second half of the '24 season. Everyone, as I wrote above, is capable of a slow start.

But if Rutschman's numbers don't improve, significantly, in the team's next 26 games, something is definitely "up" at that point.

His last 90 games, offensively, have been woeful.

In fact, "woeful" called and snickered.

Henderson's going to come around. I don't see any reason to worry with him.

The same with Westburg. He'll be hitting .260 by Memorial Day, if not higher.

I don't concern myself much with Mountcastle because we all know he'll hit Toronto like Ichiro used to hit everyone and he'll have the occasional power surge over a two week run that will boost his numbers to the "acceptable" level. He is what he is. A platoon guy at first base who helps out here and there against left handed pitchers and the Blue Jays.

Rutschman is the chief concern.

He doesn't have to be Johnny Bench.

But he can't be Brook Fordyce, either.

Heck, at this point, Fordyce's numbers look favorable in contrast to what we're seeing from Adley so far in 2025.

The Orioles have three guys hitting the ball through 26 games; Mullins, O'Hearn and Urias.

That's it.

Everyone else is under .250.

The starting pitching is shaky. We know that.

But yesterday, the Tigers scored a total of 10 runs in two games and won them both.

The Orioles went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

You're just not going to win like that, no matter how good or bad you're pitching is in the moment.

The Rutschman saga is the story worth following the most, but others have to start percolating at the plate as well.

A 10-16 record can become a 14-25 record "like that" (snap of the fingers) and then you're in trouble.

Tonight's playoff game in Montreal isn't "must win" for the Capitals, but I'd call it a crucial game for Ovechkin and Company.

Washington is up 2-1 in the series, but it's a very tenuous one-game lead for sure. The Caps snuck out close wins in D.C. to open the series, winning the opener in overtime, 3-2, and then winning 3-1 in Game 2 but that one went down to the 20 seconds before Washington sealed it with an empty net goal.

Friday night's 6-3 loss in Game 3 was equal parts ugly and concerning, as the Caps' defense wasn't very good and they lost starting goaltender Logan Thompson to some kind of lower body (leg) injury.

Spencer Carbery wouldn't provide any news on Saturday, naturally. "I don’t have an update on LT," Carbery said. "I’ll get an update later on today from our training staff."

That, of course, isn't true. Carbery has an update. He's the head coach of the team and his best goalie was hurt on Friday night and might be out for an extended period of time. He has probably texted with the team's training staff more times in the last 24 hours than your teenage daughter has checked her TikTok account.

Carbery knows. He's just not disclosing any news. And that's perfectly fine. It's the Stanley Cup playoffs, not the CYO under-12 soccer team.

Montreal is dealing with their own goaltending issue, as their starter (Sam Montembeault) left Friday's game with his lower body injury but the Habs have listed him as "questionable" for tonight's game.

Add it all up and there's lots of drama this evening (6:30 pm start), including a lot of tension and ill will that surfaced throughout Friday's tilt in Canada.

Oh, and the Caps need a win, too.

Since they're still the Caps, there's always that possibility that this playoff series against the 8th seed Canadiens could go sideways.

I don't know what's worse.

Being the Flyers and not making the playoffs for five years.

Or being the Caps and cruising to the best record in the Eastern Conference only to lose your opening playoff series to a team that didn't get in the post-season until their final game of the year.

Because they're the Capitals, I have to consider all the possibilities.

I called this one a 4-1 Caps series win before it started, and tonight's the night that sets me up to be right on that one or wrong on that one.

A Washington win in Game 4 and they should be able to put the Habs away in Game 5 back home.

But a Montreal win tonight and it's a new series, totally, and the Canadiens will have all the momentum heading back to D.C. on Wednesday night.

When I said "Caps in 5" last week, I didn't know they were going to lose Logan Thompson, though. If he can't return in this series, the Capitals are going to have to step up their game, big time, in order to dispose of the pesky Canadiens.

Charlie Lindgren is decent enough. But not much more than that. He isn't going to lead the Capitals to the Stanley Cup title, I'm sorry.

If Thompson's injury is serious enough to keep him out for any extended period of time, D.C.'s hopes for a second championship are severely dented.

First things first, though. They need a win tonight in Montreal.

It's not must win. But it's close.

For you golf enthusiasts out there, I'll be hosting a 2-hour edition of "Fairways and Greens" later today on 105.7. The show airs from 4-6 pm.

I'm excited to be joined at 5 pm by Kevin Van Valkenburg of the extraordinarily successful website/podcasting group, "No Laying Up". Van Valkenburg will join me to talk about the recent Masters, Rory's win, and lots of other great topics from the world of professional golf.

I'm also unveiling my Top 10 "most underrated things about golf", a segment suggested to me by regular listener and e-mailer Steve Kline. I put a lot of time and effort into compiling the list for him today. I'll even run some of them by Kevin when he joins me at 5 pm.

I hope you can tune in.

Saturday April 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3896

"can he play football?"

The Ravens drafted a player last night with a bit of a troubled past.

Having seen several edge rushers go earlier in the night, Eric DeCosta addressed a vital team need with the 27th pick in the second round when he selected Marshall's Mike Green.

The selection was met with equal parts enthusiasm and confusion, for Green has twice been accused of sexual assault in his young life.

The Ravens "thoroughly" investigated those two charges, says DeCosta, and were obviously comfortable enough with their findings to take Green despite having another sexual assault situation still brewing within their own organization involving Justin Tucker.

"We understand the severity of what these allegations were, of course," DeCosta said on Friday night when questioned about taking Green. "But doing our due diligence, we are comfortable with Mike. I think the best is yet to come with him, and I'm glad we got him."

I hope no one misconstrues what I'm about to write as any sort of tacit approval of sexual assault. It's not that at all. And I'm speaking unofficially, of course, on the mindset of the team(s), not my own personal opinion of how these sorts of scenarios should be handled.

NFL teams, including the Ravens, are almost-entirely worried about one thing: Can he play football?

The words "almost-entirely" leave a smidgen of wiggle room for a club to pass on a college player if there's something in his past or present that is simply too much to ignore or overlook.

But for the most part, these days, that's the question teams ask when they're evaluating a player with a checkered past: "Can he play football?"

In Mike Green's case, the answer was a resounding "yes". He led the nation in sacks last year with 17.5 and there's almost no doubt had he arrived at this year's draft without so much as a parking ticket at Marshall, he would have been a top 10 pick.

When he was there late in the 2nd round on Friday, DeCosta didn't hesitate to snag him.

"We got as much information as we could," DeCosta said. "We considered the facts, we considered the allegations. We considered what the reports actually were and what they actually weren't, and we made the decision based off of that."

The decision they made was clear. "We're taking the best football player available to us right now. He's been involved in some things that may or may not have been entirely true. In the end, we got a terrific football player."

My phone lit up last night with people besmirching the Ravens for once again taking a troubled athlete.

I sent the same thing to all of them in reply.

"Give it a rest. If they win the Super Bowl next year, you'll be the first guy in Target buying a 'World Champs' tee-shirt on Monday morning."

The Ravens can only think one of two ways about Mike Green.

1) They investigated the (past) charges against him and are convinced there's not nearly enough evidence in place to find him guilty, let alone turn it into a criminal case.

Or...

2) They investigated the (past) charges against him and are convinced that, even if he is (was) guilty of sexual assault, no criminal record or prosecution means he's worthy of employment.

It's really that simple.

They either think he didn't do it or they think he did do it but there's not enough there to worry about.

And in both of those cases, the same question still winds up on the table: "Can he play football?"

You don't have to like that question. You might run your organization differently if given the chance. I get it.

But the days of NFL teams being worried about "criminal conduct", "allegations" and "stories from the past" are pretty much done.

The league stil cares about that stuff, because they like to act as if their brand is worthy of protection. But the teams? They're trying to win football games.

That's mostly why Justin Tucker is still on the team. Sure, that post-June-1 cut date still looms for Tucker and that might very well wind up being all the Ravens care about in the end. "Cut him after June 1 and save money..."

But if Tucker does return to kick for the team in 2025, it's simply a very public and open admission from the Ravens that they were not able to find a better kicker for the upcoming season so.......Tucker stays and kicks, despite the allegations against him in Baltimore.

Like I said earlier, you don't have to like it.

But it's not changing.

"Can he play football?" is all that matters to the Ravens and anyone else. Well, "almost-entirely" matters. There's that sliver of a chance a team might push back and say, "I don't care how many sacks he gets or touchdowns he throws, we're not employing (insert name here)".

In Mike Green's case, the Ravens were obviously more than comfortable taking him, while other teams clearly weren't.

The Ravens are tired of losing to the Bills and Chiefs. They hope Mike Green will help them beat those teams.

You can be upset with that if you want, but you're (likely) still going to the games next year and you're still wearing a purple jersey to the office on Friday and, you know, you'll check your morals at the door on Monday morning when you gather around the coffee machine at work and speak glowingly about Green sacking Joe Burrow twice in a 24-17 Ravens win over the Bengals.

Deep down at places you don't talk about at parties, you just want the Ravens to win, too.

It's just easier for you and others like you to portray outrage at the selection of Mike Green because it's not you that might lose your job if you don't improve the team's defense and the Bills roll past the Ravens again in the playoffs next January, 30-20.

"Can he play football?"

That's the only question any longer.

And this whole thing in Baltimore makes the Shedeur Sanders situation even more obvious and, yet, puzzling.

Sanders, depending on which expert you believe, was either the 1st or 2nd best quarterback available in the draft.

He was either #1 and Cam Ward was #2 or Ward was #1 and Sanders was #2.

You found no experts claiming that Jaxson Dart (who went to the Giants in the first round) was better than Sanders, although a few folks had it "too close to call" when choosing between the two.

Sanders has not yet been selected and the draft enters Round 4 today.

"Can he play football?" never seemed to be a tough question to answer when it came to Sanders.

Sure, his arm strength is a tad limited. That's his biggest weakness. You're not getting many 55-yard bombs out of him.

But everything else about him looked "NFL" according to the experts.

His scarlet letter isn't a sexual assault case or a domestic violence issue. He seems very "clean" when it comes to his personal life. No criminal activity, etc.

Sanders' issue appears to be more connected to his personality. "Brash, arrogant, abrasive, entitled..." Those are four words that have been associated with the former University of Colorado quarterback.

His dad, one of the best players at his position in the last 50 years, was also known to be "brash, arrogant, abrasive and entitled" both while he played and, more recently, while he coaches at the college level.

It seems sort of weird that "Can he play football?" matters when it's Mike Green but doesn't matter when it's Shedeur Sanders.

One of the worst phrases in sports is "black balled" because it opens up a can of worms that could lead to a dark, troubled path that people don't want to travel on.

"Black balled" was the source of the Colin Kaepernick saga, obviously. It's why he won a gazillion law suit.

Unless I'm reading the tea leaves wrong -- and taking into account what all of the experts said about Sanders leading up to the draft -- it would appear he might be being black balled by the 32 teams in the league. Or, at the very least, black balled by the eight or so teams that need a quarterback now or in their immediate future.

The Titans, Browns, Giants, Saints and Seahawks have all selected a QB in the first three rounds. The Raiders, Steelers and Jets both need one and haven't gone down that road yet, for some weird reason. Well, the Jets do have Justin Fields, so they won't need a quarterback until 2026, probably.

And the Raiders have Geno Smith. They might be OK until week 10 of the upcoming season.

But I digress...

Eight teams who needed a QB passed on Sanders with the first 100-plus picks in the draft.

Five of the eight actually took someone instead of him.

It would be different if the experts wouldn't have all agreed he was the 2nd best QB available in the draft, at a minimum. Some people even ranked Sanders above Ward, who went #1 to the Titans.

If there was a large general disagreement about Sanders' skill set, that would be one thing.

But there wasn't, really.

Yes, he can play football.

"But we're not touching him..."

It sure does seem weird.

But you go get 'em, Mike Green. Sack that quarterback, will ya!!??

Friday April 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3895

it's starks at 27

There are two ways to look at the pick of Malaki Starks last night for the Baltimore Ravens.

You can be a dissenting voice, like my friend John, who is a super-Ravens-fan and said this: "If he were that great he wouldn't have lasted until 27th in the first round."

Or you can be like the rest of the modern world and feel like the Ravens just got one of the more complete, dynamic defensive backs available in last night's first round.

We obviously all know what the real answer is, right?

No one knows what Malaki Starks is going to become in the NFL.

He could be another Kyle Hamilton.

Or he could be another Matt Elam.

The Ravens are banking on him becoming another Hamilton, obviously, which is why they picked him last night. But they also assumed Matt Elam would pan out to be something more than what they got when they picked him with the 32nd pick in the first round back in 2013.

No one knows.

But those who follow college football with the most discerning of eyes claim Starks is pretty much "can't-miss", which is good enough for someone like me. When my car makes a weird sound, I take it to a mechanic who fiddles with cars. When it comes to evaluating a college football player, I leave that up to people who evaluate college football players.

It wasn't really a secret that the Ravens coveted Starks. I mentioned him twice this week as someone the Ravens would (possibly) take at 27 if he happened to still be there. My intel within the organization says they would have taken either Mykel Williams or Kenneth Grant over Starks had either of them slipped back, but they were both gone by the time the Ravens were on the clock.

Had Starks not been there at #27 and those other two not been available as well, the Ravens and Eagles would have likely completed a deal and Baltimore would have moved back to #32, where it's likely they would have selected Nick Emmanwori from South Carolina.

None of that matters now. Starks is a Raven and he should be a great fit in Baltimore.

As for their 2nd round pick tonight, it could be someone like Jordan Burch (Edge) of Oregon, whom the Ravens have liked for a while, or another Edge guy, Josaiah Stewart (Michigan), although it's suspected he's going to wind up in Seattle with Mike Macdonald (pick #52).

There's also been some late interest in Cameron Williams (OT) of Texas, but he, too, is likely not going to be around when the Ravens pick at #59 this evening.

For now, though, the Ravens are thrilled with their Starks pick.

As long as he looks more like Hamilton than Elam in three years, everyone else in Baltimore will be happy with it, too.

The biggest story of the 2025 draft wasn't who was picked on Thursday night, but rather, who wasn't selected in the first round.

Shedeur Sanders is still waiting for his phone call, which almost assuredly will come tonight when either the Browns, Raiders, Saints or Jets selects him in the 2nd round.

But his drop from the first to second round is a costly one, money wise.

The fall from first round to second might even damage his psyche more than his bank account, as Sanders was by-passed by those four teams in the first round plus the Steelers, who don't own a second round pick tonight and are out of the running for Sanders barring a trade into the second round.

The early money this morning is settling on the Browns taking him tonight with the 33rd pick (1st in the 2nd round), which means Sanders will get two cracks at the Steelers for the next 5 years or more.

It's certainly odd, though, that the biggest story of the first round centered on a guy who didn't get picked.

And why didn't he?

As ESPN's Louis Riddick pointed out last night, it might have come down to three words: Too Much Flash.

"He has uncanny athletic ability," Riddick pointed out late in the first round when it became fairly apparent that Sanders wasn't going to be selected. "He makes plays. He stands in the pocket and reads the field and makes good, accurate throws. Some people claim his arm strength is suspect, but he made a lot of big throws in college that would dispute that. Above all, he's a quarterback. He stands in the pocket and gets the ball to open receivers."

"The only reason teams didn't pick him? Too much flash."

Riddick would later point out something else about Sanders on the ESPN broadcast: “If he (Sanders) winds up having a Drew Brees type of career, a Tom Brady type of career, which he's totally capable of, there's gonna be a lot of revisionist history on him."

That comment alone fueled the internet for an hour or so, as people laughed at the idea that Sanders could come close to being compared to those two quarterbacks.

But the story of the night was Sanders not getting picked, that's for sure.

"Flash" can be defined in a lot of ways, and only Riddick knows exactly what he meant when he said that.

But it would seem odd for an NFL team to pass on a college player because of "too much flash" when nearly every single player selected last night showed far too much "flash" in the aftermath of their selection.

$5,000 suits, watches that cost more than your car, gold chains galore, and much more were on display last night. And that's not to say there's anything wrong with that. You spend your money on what you deem important, I say.

But did Sanders get by-passed in the first round because NFL teams thought he was too "flashy"? It might be true. Riddick is well connected and certainly knows what teams and GM's look for in players.

I just find it hard to believe a NFL team wouldn't select a guy who plays the most important position in all of sports because of "flash" when the entire league and about 90% of its players spend most of their in-game-time showing "flash".

I'm not saying Riddick is wrong.

But it sure seems odd to me that Sanders is still unemployed because he was too "flashy" at Colorado.

One thing for sure, Sanders will have a nice list of teams who said "no thanks" in round one that he can target thoughout his NFL career.

faith in sports

"I Am Second" is, by far, the most well-produced and motivating series of anything being done today to bring Christian athletes and celebrities to the masses.

I probably watch an "I Am Second" video of some kind at least two times a week. Several of them I've watched dozens of times and have utilized some of the stories and scenes in discussions with my high school golf team.

There are more than 60 videos in circulation now. I've showcased a lot of them here over the years.

This one, today, is fairly new, and features a collegiate track athlete who actually used "I Am Second" to help get him through the rigors of collegiate athletics.

He went from watching "I Am Second" to being in "I Am Second". Now that's a dream come true for any of us who are trying to lead a faith-driven life while competing in athletics of some kind.

Take 5 minutes of your day today to watch this video below, please, and learn more about Jack Blythe and how "I Am Second" helped him along the way. It's 5 minutes of your day that you won't get back, but it's also 5 minutes of your day you won't regret losing.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for supporting us here at #DMD and for their enthusiastic support of "Faith in Sports" here every Friday.

Thursday April 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3894

"and with the 27th pick, the ravens select..."

So that was a great-but-not-so-great night in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.

The Capitals pulled out a 3-1 win over a pesky, determined Montreal team who could easily have won Game 1, Game 2, or both.

Washington leads the series, 2-0, with Game 3 set for Friday night in Montreal.

I wouldn't say the Caps are "lucky" to be up 2-0, but they're, let's say, fortunate, to not have dropped at least one game in Chinatown. If the two games thus far were a boxing match, it would be a split decision despite the fact Ovi and Company have won them both.

Logan Thompson saved the Capitals from a Game 2 loss. The veteran netminder was sensational, particularly in the 3rd period. It's going to be interesting to see if he can stay locked in "like this" over the next six weeks. If so, who knows how far the Caps can go?

Just down the road at the baseball stadium, the Washington team also won on Wednesday, but that one came at the expense of the Baltimore baseball faithful, as the Birds went -- are you ready for this? -- a disgraceful 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The sluggish Orioles offense continued to be just that -- sluggish. And that's being kind. The Birds managed just six hits on Wednesday night while losing for the 4th time in 5 games.

Much like the Beatles late in their brief run, the O's simply couldn't produce a hit when they needed one. They had the chance to break the game open in the 7th inning, trailing 3-1, but could only plate one run with the bases loaded and just one out. Tyler O'Neill's sac fly made it 3-2 and Kjerstad then flew out to end the inning.

Tomoyuki Sugano was terrible in the first inning but terrific thereafter, as Washington scored 3 times in the first frame and then didn't score again off the first-year Japanese pitcher. He wiggled his way out of a loss when the Birds tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the 8th, but the Nationals scratched out a run in the bottom half of that inning to take a 4-3 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Caps win in D.C.

Orioles lose in D.C.

OK, look, you want the truth?

If I had to accept and/or endorse a possible solution on Wednesday night in which there was a loss and a win by the Caps or Orioles, I'd take a Capitals playoff win and sacrifice a late April Orioles loss any day of the week. Sorry, O's.

In case you're looking ahead to tonight's series finale, the O's are facing left-hander named MacKenzie Gore. I know what you're thinking and you're right.

"Which Oriole batters will record the team's three hits this evening"?

I'll go with Westburg, Urias and O'Neill. What say you?

It's still early, yes, but the losses are starting to pile up little by little. At 9-14, the O's have to be careful to not do something stupid like losing 12 of 15 or something derailing like that.

It would be great if they were back within a game or two of the .500 mark by the time they've played their 30th game. Something like 14-16, maybe? That seems unlikely, though.

As you will see below, we've added a new contributor to our Thursday content here at #DMD.

With the Orioles struggling, we went about trying to find our own source of help here. We took the holistic approach and went with an herb to help remedy the O's woes.

As in...Jack Herb.

Jack is joining us as our "Baseball Columnist", where he will bring features, analysis and other good stuff every Thursday. In today's opening piece, he gives you a glimpse into what he sees for the '25 MLB campaign and outlines a few of this weekend's scheduled pitching match-ups.

Editor's note: Try to take it easy on Jack for a few weeks and let him get his feet wet before you start lighting into him. I've warned him about how he'll get bullied here, but have a heart for him for a while, OK? Thank you.

Randy Morgan astutely handles our Orioles coverage during the baseball season and now we have Jack Herb to keep us abreast of what's going on all over Major League Baseball.

We also have a Terps basketball writer we'll unveil in the coming weeks.

We're still looking for someone to write about the Ravens and/or the NFL during the upcoming season. If anyone out there is particularly adept at fantasy football, we'd entertain that segment of football coverage as well.

And in advance of using one of the various sales platforms (Indeed, etc.) to add to our sales force, I'll make it an "open invitation" here for a week or so. We're in need of another person here (and with another venture we're involved in) to handle some part-time -- but potentially lucrative -- advertising sales.

If you're interested in the writing or ad sales roles, just e-mail me: 18inarow@gmail.com

And welcome aboard Jack!!

The Ravens have the 27th pick in the first round of tonight's annual NFL Draft. It's impossible to know who is going to be available when Eric DeCosta and his staff are "on the clock" late in the first round. But we'll take a stab at it here today nonetheless.

Something always seems to shake out favorably for the Ravens when they have a pick late in the first round.

A player or two they otherwise assumed wouldn't be around at (insert number here) winds up being there for them, and they snatch him and giggle for hours at the water cooler.

I think the same thing will shake out tonight, as one of the three players below will wind up being available, somehow, when the Ravens pick at #27.

Which one will they get? I have no idea. But I see at least one of these three guys mysteriously sitting there at #27.

Walter Nolen, DT, Ole Miss -- Nolen's stock has slipped quite a bit. At one point back in January and February, he was a Top 15 guy in every reputable mock draft. If he slides to #27 tonight, the Ravens might not be able to pass on him. Percentage chance he'll be available at #27: 30%

Will Johnson, CB, Michigan -- Maybe his decision to not run the 40 at his pro day winds up scaring teams. His injury history is probably a concern as well. But if he's fully healthy, he's a top 10 pick for sure. Nearly every expert says he's a day one NFL starter no matter where he lands. Percentage chance he'll be available at #27: 25%

Malaki Starks, S, Georgia -- His stock has wavered over the last month. Some folks have him going as high as 10-15 and some folks think there's a chance he could slide back to the 32-36 spot. One thing that isn't up for discussion: his playmaking abilities. If the Ravens can snag this guy, they have themselves a big game hunter. Percentage chance he'll be available at #27: 20%

	"Jack Herb's Hot Corner" News from Major League Baseball
Jack Herb is a longtime Charm City sports fan who chimes in every Thursday here at #DMD with his insight on what's going on in baseball outside of Baltimore, with statistics, predictions, analysis and "Game of the Week" previews.

There’s nothing quite like watching the seasons change from winter to spring, warmer weather coming around, flowers starting to bloom, and, last but not least, the start of the Major League Baseball season.

As a lifelong Orioles fan, I always look forward to summer evenings and watching an O’s game on the weekend with some steamed crabs and a cold beer. Well, unless Charlie Morton is pitching, that is.

We’re a little over 20 games into the season and have already had contract extensions, suspensions, and major injuries.

We also have fanbases reaching for the panic button as well as fanbases (Dodger fans, mostly) pre-ordering champagne to have on ice in preparation for the annual Fall Classic.

Before we dive into all of this, let's take a quick look around the league at the first-month division leaders.

In the National League, the leaders are the New York Mets (East), Chicago Cubs (Central), and last but not least the Padres in the West. Yes, the Padres are currently leading the Dodgers, but only by a slim-margin.

The American League division leaders are the Texas Rangers in the West, Detroit Tigers (Central), and the Evil Empire (Yankees) in the East.

Aaron Judge is off to an incredible start, hitting .415 with a .513 on-base-percentage for the Bronx Bombers.

It’s very early, but all the divisions in the American League are up for grabs.

Even the Chicago White Sox are hanging in there as they look to improve on their 41-121 record from last year, which set a MLB record for the most losses in a single season.

The White Sox are already 9 games behind the Tigers. That number will be around 40-50 games behind the division leader at the end of the year, and most likely will be in that range for the next five years for the southside of Chicago faithful. Let's just say the White Sox are in a deep rebuilding phase.

The American League as a whole hasn’t looked good thus far. There’s only 5 teams that have a positive run differential.

The Texas Rangers have a -11 run differential and lead their division in the West. The Houston Astros have a +9 run differential and are second in the American League West, trailing the Rangers by 2 games. Even this early in the season, that just seems very odd, but water always finds its level as the saying goes.

The National League is looking strong and each division is closely contested. The National League West is the best division in baseball and I believe that will play out all season.

We could potentially see 4 teams in that division make the playoffs; Padres, Dodgers, Giants, and Diamondbacks. If the season ended today (I know it’s early), we would see all 4 of them in the post-season.

You might be wondering if the 5th team in that division could somehow make the playoffs over the previous 4 teams mentioned. That 5th team is the Colorado Rockies and they are unfortunately a very small fish in a big pond.

I was talking with some friends over the weekend and the question came up: What happens first, the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl or the Colorado Rockies win the World Series?

The consensus was the Browns will win the Super Bowl before the Rockies win a championship.

We will get into more detail regarding news around the league as the season goes on, but I would like to share with everyone my pre-season predictions for the outcome of the season. I have bet all of these picks, so feel free to tail any of these with me.

World Series: Philadelphia Phillies vs Kansas City Royals

Winner: Phillies beat the Royals, 4-games-to-2

World Series MVP: Kyle Schwarber

AL MVP: Bobby Whitt Jr (Kansas City)

AL Cy Young: Garrett Crochet (Boston)

AL Rookie of the Year: Kristian Campbell (Boston)

AL Manager of the Year: Alex Cora (Boston)

NL MVP: Corbin Carroll (Arizona)

NL Cy Young: Christopher Sanchez (Philadelphia) (Sanchez has a minor forearm injury but is expected to be back soon, be cautious of this pick)

NL Rookie of the Year: Dylan Crews (Washington)

NL Manager of the Year: Terry Francona (Cincinnati)

Baseball is a very long season as we all know, and there’s a team that’s struggling right now that I believe will be in the playoff hunt and a serious contender at the end of the year.

Keep an eye out for the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. I don’t expect them to win that division, but I do expect them to compete for 2nd with the Mets and earn a wildcard spot.

Even with the Mets playing very well to start the year, I still like the Phillies to eventually win the division. But, the Braves are getting healthy and will have their ace back later this season, Spencer Strider, who had 281 strikeouts in 186.2 innings in 2023.

Jurikson Profar, a key bat for Atlanta, will return from a suspension mid way through the season and should be a big help in the summer months.

Getting those guys back will be huge. And even though Profar can’t play in the playoffs because of the suspension, I see Strider and Profar helping make Atlanta a hot second half team in 2025. The Braves could be the hottest N.L. team entering the playoffs.

Atlanta will also see the imminent return of the 2023 National League MVP, Ronald Acuna Jr., who tore his ACL in May last year. If Acuna returns and plays anywhere close to what he did in 2023 (.337 Batting Average, 41 Home Runs, 72 stolen bases, 106 RBIs) the Braves will be a serious contender. Acuna should be back in action by the end of May.

Yes, as you can tell, I’m high on the Braves for a late-season run.

We’ll have a segment each week here at The Hot Corner which will highlight a pitcher, position player, and a rookie who stood out and had remarkable performances during the week.

Players of the Week –

Pitcher: Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros has looked like an ace to start the year and hasn’t given up a run in his last 19 innings pitched. In his last appearance against the Blue Jays, he went 7 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts and has a 1.16 ERA for the season which is currently 5th best in Baseball.

Position Player: Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets had a very impressive week and continues to show why he’s both the leader of the Mets and one of the best players in the game today. Lindor batted .448 with 4 homers, 8 RBIs and also had a walk off homer last Friday against the Cardinals. The Mets look good to start the season. The main concern during the offseason was the starting rotation, which currently has the best ERA in the league. It’ll be interesting to see if this holds true throughout the season.

Rookie of the Week: After a slow start to the season, Dylan Crews is starting to figure it out and is proving why he is regarded as a top prospect in baseball. The former LSU Tiger batted .333 with 3 homers, 5 RBIs and had 2 stolen bases this past week for the Nationals. It’s a good time to be a Nationals fan and watch their young core of players begin to look like superstars. They’re about a year away from being a playoff team, I think.

Rookie Debut: Nick Kurtz will be making his MLB debut Wednesday night for the Athletics, who is their 4th best prospect and 35th overall prospect in baseball. Drafted 4th overall in 2024, the 1st baseman tore up the minors last year and in Triple A this season, he’s hit .321 with 7 homers and 24 RBIs, 10 walks and a 1.040 OPS in 20 games. The As are turning the corner with their young stars in the AL West.

Games of the Week 4/24-4/27

4/25: Philadelphia Phillies vs Chicago Cubs (Taijuan Walker vs Colin Rea)

Great pitching matchup and 2 of the best lineups in baseball going against each other. Potentially a future playoff matchup.

4/26: Texas Rangers vs San Francisco Giants (Tyler Mahle vs Robbie Ray)

Former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray will look to keep the Giants hot and silence the division leading Texas Rangers. This should be a fun interleague matchup.

4/27: Houston Astros vs Kansas City Royals (Hunter Brown vs Kris Bubic)

We’ll get to see The Hot Corner pitcher of the week take on the Royals as Brown looks to continue his scoreless inning streak. Kris Bubic is also pitching very well with a 1.45 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Wednesday April 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3893

like the wallflowers, we need more hits

When Jakob Dylan started The Wallflowers in 1992, everyone assumed the band would rise to stardom.

I mean, Dylan's dad was an OK musical artist. Like sports or art, music is a DNA source that many children simply inherit through the genetic pool. Jakob Dylan was about as can't-miss as someone can be can't-miss.

And then the band released their second album in 1996, "Bringing Down The Horse", and the hits and praise started rolling in from there.

"Bringing Down The Horse" was, by almost anyone's standards, one of the ten best albums released in the 1990's by any band in any genre of music.

"The Difference", "6th Avenue Heartache" and "One Headlight" were the top three songs on that effort, but there were other rich tunes as well. Like other bands in the 1990's who hit a grand slam with one album -- Live, Counting Crows, Better Than Ezra, Goo Goo Dolls, to name four -- The Wallflowers hit it out of the park with "Bringing Down The Horse". Like, Frank Robinson at Memorial Stadium out of the park.

And then, mysteriously, the hits stopped.

Their third album, "Breach", yielded a decent and oft-played song on the radio, "Sleepwalker". And that...was that.

Oh, sure, you can still catch them at the state fair somewhere and they'll occasionally pop up at a summer festival playing with other 90's bands who still need the money, but The Wallflowers churned out a bunch of early hits and then flatlined from there.

Everyone thought Jakob Dylan was going to be Jakob Dylan until he wasn't. The hits stopped coming.

Which brings us to the Orioles...

You know, losers by a 7-0 score last night where they got one hit for 8 innings by Randy Johnson, Clayton Kershaw, some dude named Mitchell Parker. I know, I was thinking the same thing last night while I watched him blaze through the Orioles lineup like a doobie at a Dave Matthews Band concert.

Who on earth is Mitchell Parker and why can't we get a hit off of him?

Alas, we have the team's current 2025 MVP, Cedric Mullins, to thank for not getting no-hit last night in D.C. Other than Mullins, no other player on the team could manage to record a base hit in the loss.

The internet -- and even this place, which is also "the internet" I suppose -- is starting to really percolate about Brandon Hyde and his immediate or distant future with the club.

We go through this all the time in football season around here. When the team plays well and wins, it's because Lamar is the G.O.A.T. and Roquan is a beast and Kyle Hamilton is the next coming of Ed Reed.

When the team loses, it's because John Harbaugh doesn't know what he's doing.

When the Orioles win, it's because Gunnar went 3-for-4 with a 2-run homer and 2-run double, Westburg is "the man" with another 2-run homer and two web gems in the field and Jackson Holliday is "really starting to prove himself" with another 2-hit performance and 2 RBI.

When the Orioles lose, Brandon Hyde has to go.

And, look, if they somehow find themselves at 33-50 in June, Mike Elias might very well have to jettison Hyde. That's just the way it goes.

But if the O's are 33-50 in June, it won't be because of Hyde. It will be because the guys who aren't hitting now will still be "not hitting" in June.

Adley's hitting .200.

Gunnar's hitting .213.

Mountcastle (.229) and O'Neill (.230) aren't much better.

Westburg's hitting .197.

And Jackson Holliday checks in at .213.

I'm more than willing to listen to logic that connects Brandon Hyde with those six starting players all hitting .230 or less. Please, bring it on.

Or, you can do the sensible thing and just put the blame where it belongs. On the athletes themselves.

These guys aren't hitting for squat.

The pitching isn't all that great either, which is why the O's are 9-13 on the season. When you don't pitch well and you don't hit well, that's what you get. Frankly, it's kind of a mini-miracle they're 9-13 and not 6-16.

They lost on Sunday, 24-2 and last night, 7-0. The Reds scored more runs in two minutes last Sunday than the O's have scored in their last two games.

The baseball players have to play better baseball. At some point, yes, the manager is going to come under legitimate fire for the team's woes because, as we all know, they can't fire 6 players en masse and keep the manager around. Some "one" has to go and it's almost always the manager or the coach.

Make no mistake about it, though, Brandon Hyde's only a small piece of what's going on so far in the 2025 season. The baseball players in Baltimore are stinking it up. If they don't get hits and drive in runs, what strings the manager pulls don't matter one bit.

Let's clean out some questions from the inbox today. As always, if you have something you'd like me to ponder and answer here at #DMD, send it along to me: 18inarow@gmail.com

Mitch asks -- "What do you think of your former boss's latest screed where he rips into the Orioles CEO for not giving him a media credential this season?"

DF says -- "I had no idea this was still an ongoing issue. I guess new ownership doesn't always come with a "clean slate". I think the same thing about it that I thought 2 years, 4 years and 14 years ago. I think it's a very slippery slope when the team starts arbitrarily deciding who is media and who isn't media, among those who are, in fact, "in the media".

That said, and this is the key point of the whole thing, the days are long gone where the team actually needs the media. The team does their own media now. The Orioles no longer need The Baltimore Sun or any other daily outlet to cover them. They'll create and distribute their own content.

So, sure, it's a little concerning to see the team restrict or deny access to any media member, but the reality is they just don't care. Never fight someone who has a barrel full of ink when you only have a pen full. It's best to just move on and forget about it."

R.C. asks -- "What's it say about the Ravens that Justin Tucker is still on the team and (I assume) going to be on the team next season?"

DF says -- "It says that they believe a series of events that took place (roughly) ten years ago aren't worthy of punishment a decade later. I don't know what else it could mean. I'm sure they're mortified by the stories, yet I'm also certain they've done their own due diligence to get to the bottom of what exactly transpired with Tucker in that time frame.

In the end, perhaps Tucker's story is at least somewhat different than what has been portrayed in the media. And to that end, the Ravens are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt considering he has been (assumption, here) a model citizen over the last decade.

I do think the team would feel differently if these allegations stemmed from moments in, say, 2021 or 2022. They'd have no choice at all but to move him on. But a decade has gone by. And the Ravens probably think "it's the off-season...no one will remember this stuff in September" or "no one will care when he kicks a 47-yarder at the buzzer on opening day when we beat the Bengals, 23-20."

Bob G. asks -- "Quick golf question for you, Drew. I noticed during the Masters that several players are using what I see as an unconventional putting grip and I think I heard a commentator call it a "pencil" grip. What does that do for the golfer? Is it worth trying? I'm a 15 handicap with putting woes I'd like to fix."

DF says -- "There are variations of that grip, but it's generally called the "claw" or "pencil" grip because of the way the right hand sits on the putter shaft. Personally, I never really experimented with it, but that's mostly because I've putted with the long putter for the last 20 years.

The idea behind it is to minimize the right hand pressure and let the left hand do most of the actual "work" in terms of making the stroke and applying the "hit" to the golf ball.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a grip used to combat "putting nerves", but I think it's in that family, if you will. Scottie Scheffler has started using the pencil grip this season, which is really weird considering he won NINE times last year. That said, if his putting would have been better in 2023 he would have won 7-8 times that year, too.

It's not for everyone, but go ahead and give it a shot on the practice green for a while and see if it doesn't feel comfortable for you. If it does, use it in your next round."

I'm not all that interested in this week's PGA Tour event, the 2-man tournament in New Orleans. But of the teams entered, I'm zeroing in on three that I really like from a wagering standpoint.

Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama (+1200). It feels like Morikawa is due for a win and Kitayama just needs an obedient putter and he can be a huge help to Morikawa.

Thomas Detry and Robert MacIntyre (+1800). This is a very interesting duo that should play well in the fourball portion of the tournament. Detry can smash it off the tee and MacIntyre is very efficient with his irons. When his putter gets hot, watch out.

Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge (+2200). If you pressed me to pick one and only one team, this is who I would choose. Horschel has played very well at the venue both in singles and team competitions and Hoge's ball striking stats are as good as anyone on the TOUR.

One other final note and it's filed under "housekeeping" here at #DMD, I suppose. Because some people can't offer a contribution without getting personal about it, I'm going to put a stop to referencing Jason LaCanfora of 105.7 here at the site.

Some of you conveniently forget that I work there. And I don't appreciate being pressed into an uncomfortable situation because some of you have it out for him. It's not cool what you're doing.

And since you can't stop yourselves from denigrating him, I'll stop it. No more mention of him, his initials or so on. If you post something about him, it will be removed and you're on the hot list. Just be nice. It's free of charge. Thank you.

Tuesday April 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3892

ovi to the rescue

I guess we can now say, without hesitation, he's done it all.

Before last night's playoff opener with Montreal, Alex Ovechkin had done everything a man could do in hockey except score an overtime game-winning goal in the playoffs.

League MVP? Check

Stanley Cup champion? Check

All-time leading goal scorer in league history? Check

But never before had he scored an overtime playoff goal.

Until last night, that is.

Now he can check that one off, too.

The game-winning tally came at 2:26 of sudden death and saved the Caps from an embarrassing home defeat to open the '24-25 post-season. Washington led 2-0 in the third period before allowing the scrappy Canadiens to tie the game in the final 20 minutes.

Truth be told, Montreal took it to Washington in that final stanza. If not for Ovi's heroics, the #1 seed could be down a game already.

Playoff hockey is something to behold.

All four games in the league last night were decided by one goal. Regular season hockey is awesome. But playoff hockey is off-the- charts-good.

Alex Ovechkin is also off-the-charts-good, even at age 39.

The hits -- and goals -- just keep on comin'.

It's NFL Draft week in these parts and even though the general excitement level feels way down, it's not that way at 1 Winning Drive, where the Ravens are deep in their final week efforts to uncover the right players for 2025 and beyond.

The Ravens, as we know, tend to draft more on "best player available" over specific positional needs. There's also this weird thing that happens to Eric DeCosta and Company, where a player who had no business falling to them (Kyle Hamilton most recently, Ed Reed once upon a time) somehow gets by-passed and is sitting there for the Ravens to snag.

Who might that be this year?

Three names stick out as guys who could wind up being available with that 27th pick that DeCosta and his staff are hoping for, but assume someone else will come along first and grab them.

Malaki Starks, S, Georgia -- Everyone raves about Starks' "football IQ" and nearly every national expert says he's a starter from day one in the NFL. "One of the five best defensive players in college football" is something you hear over and over about Starks. If he's there at #27, the Ravens will be interested.

Mykel Williams, DE, Georgia -- "The baddest man in Georgia" (I assume that says a lot about him?) is what they called Williams, an edge rusher with long arms and a fierceness about him that seems to say "plays like a Raven". He does come with some negatives, but most of those are technique oriented and can be corrected. But the positives are very bright.

Kenneth Grant, DT, Michigan -- Most pundits assume Grant's going to L.A. to be reunited with his former college coach, Jim Harbaugh, but if he somehow doesn't go to the Chargers at #22, the Ravens could gobble him up the same way they once took Haloti Ngata to plug up the middle of their defensive line.

One associate of the Ravens tells me the organization has been very interested in two players recently, but expects both of them to be unavailable at #27; Kelvin Banks, OL, Texas and Mike Green, Edge, Marshall. If either of those guys are still available when it's time for that 27th pick, don't be shocked if the Ravens take one of them or even trade back a few picks feeling secure they can stockpile draft capital AND still get one of them in the late 20's or early 30's.

The O's head down to D.C. for a three-game series with the Nationals this week, and it's the start of what I'd consider a fairly critical early 12-game stretch for Brandon Hyde's team.

As we've said here repeatedly over the last 3-4 weeks, there's no sense in hitting the panic button when you're 15 or 20 games into a 162-game season. The O's are currently 9-12. They could leave D.C. at 12-12 if they take care of business against the Nationals.

But these next 12 games are important for the O's because you start to see trends after 30 or 40 games.

After these 3 with the Nats, it's on to Detroit for three this weekend.

Then the Birds come home to face the Yankees (3) and Royals (3).

A 6-6 mark in those 12 will put the Birds at 15-18 at the 20% mark of the season. That's nothing, really, to be worried about.

But a 4-8 mark? Now you're at 13-20 and you're seven games off the .500 pace.

Baseball is weird. Every game matters. But you can't get too wrapped up in winning every game because you might be hurting yourself for two or three games later in the week.

The Orioles are simply not in the position, yet, where they need to be overly worried about winning every game, night in and night out.

They do, however, need to be careful not to fall too far below the .500 mark in these early stages of the season. It is a marathon, that much is true. But staying in the general vicinity of the leaders is important. You don't have to run fast at the 2-mile mark, but you also can't fall so far behind you can't make it up when you do decide to run fast.

Dean Kremer gets the ball tonight in D.C. I think we all know there are only two things that could transpire with him this evening.

5.2 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 ER, 6 K's and he leaves with the O's up 6-2.

4.1 innings pitched, 9 hits, 6 ER, 3 BB's and he leaves with the O's trailing, 6-2.

There's generally no in between with Kremer.

Monday April 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3891

it was always a weird signing

This is one of those moments where I reflect and say, "I'd much rather be wrong than right."

Alas, I wasn't wrong.

And a lot of you weren't wrong, either. Some of you defended the signing of Charlie Morton over the winter and that's OK. We're not going to hold that over your head. Some of us also defended the signing of Tyler O'Neill and we're now starting to see why he's on his third team since 2017. But we'll get to him and his woeful defensive abilities later on down the road.

For now, let's stick with Morton.

I never "got" the signing from jump street. Why on earth would a team getting ready for "lift-off" sign a 41-year old journeyman in the mid-December of his career? What good could possibly come from that move?

We've seen Morton start five games this year. He hasn't yet recorded an out in the 6th inning in one of those five starts and he's allowed at least four earned runs in all five of them. He's 0-5. Yesterday vs. the Red Legs in Baltimore, he gave up seven hits and seven earned runs before he recorded the 2nd out in the 2nd inning.

Oh, and the Orioles -- more specifically Mike Elias -- gave him $15 million to do all of this.

Yesterday's final score was 24-2 in favor of Cincinnati, but the final tally is not of much importance. The last nine Cincinnati runs were scored off of Jorge Mateo and Gary Sanchez, as the Reds elected to run up the score on two guys who aren't actually pitchers. So, it was really more like 15-2, which is a butt whoopin' nonetheless. But don't be dismayed by 24-2. There were, let's say, "circumstances".

Alas, the story was and is Charlie Morton.

People are clamoring for his release today, which is fine. Go ahead and cut him. But then what? Zach Eflin appears ready to return from a brief stint on the Injury List. He'll certainly help, as long as he stays healthy.

There's no Grayson Rodriguez in the offing. In fact, I think we all know what news we're going to hear sometime in the next 3-4 weeks with regard to GrayRod.

Kyle Gibson made a start in Aberdeen yesterday. Speaking of old guys who used to be good, Gibson is probably at least 3-4 weeks away, maybe more, from being able to come up and get dinged for 5 runs in 4.1 innings of work against the Yankees, Rays or anyone else.

You see where this is going?

Charlie Morton is here right now because there's no one else, really. The O's saw enough of Brandon Young on Saturday to know he's not ready for a start per-week in the big leagues. That said, he's no worse than Morton, honestly.

That leaves Sugano, who has been solid thus far, Dean Kremer, who hasn't been, and Cade Povich, who can give up one hit in four innings of work and then allow four hits and four runs in the 5th inning in the blink of an eye.

It's obvious now that Morton was, as a lot of us thought, a bad signing.

Why would a team poised to make a third straight run at the A.L. post-season sign a 41-year old?

They passed on attempting to sign other free agents, including one of their own, and even faked their way through it by giving Corbin Burnes an offer for less years than he was willing to take knowing full well there was ZERO chance he was accepting it. Around here, we call that stuff "eye wash", which means it meant nothing.

The Orioles didn't try to sign Corbin Burnes. But they certainly did try to make their fan base think they wanted to sign him.

Instead, they signed Charlie Morton.

They passed on trying to trade for Garrett Crochet.

They were too busy signing Morton and Gary Sanchez to take a chance on signing Max Fried.

They did add Sugano, the erstwhile Japanese star, but we all know why they did that. He was inexpensive. And it might work out, too. The O's could have stumbled into a guy who is going to be good for a year or two. If so, thumbs up for that one.

But they have a problem with Charlie Morton and there's not that much they can do about it.

They can cut him and give him $15 million of "free money". I realize that $15 million in baseball money is like $150 to you and I, but I don't think David Rubenstein wants to be sending Charlie Morton $1,000,000 every two weeks for the next five months while he plays golf in Arizona or wherever he decides to hang out over the summer.

If this matters in any way, a person associated with the Orioles says Morton is a "total class act" as a man. In some ways, that probably makes it worse for me. He's a great guy who is trying hard and he just doesn't have it any longer. And it's probably bothering him greatly that he's collecting $15 million and has as many wins as, well, Jorge Mateo and Gary Sanchez on the mound this season.

This one is on Mike Elias.

The Orioles have the worst starting pitching ERA (6.14) in all of baseball. Elias put the rotation together, albeit the injuries to Rodriguez and Eflin weren't part of the plan.

But Morton? Elias looked at him and said, "He's useful."

Remember when the Ravens signed Earl Thomas? Everyone thought that was a great signing right up until it wasn't.

And over the last couple of years, Eric DeCosta has admitted, publicly, that signing Thomas was a bad move and a knee-jerk reaction to the Ravens losing C.J. Mosley to the Jets.

"I didn't think it through enough and I didn't vet him enough, for sure," DeCosta has said about the former Seahawks defensive back.

In the same way, the Charlie Morton experiment is on Mike Elias.

It's not even really on Morton himself. He's trying. He's giving it whatever it is that he has left to give.

Sadly, it's not good enough any longer.

But it's on Elias to remedy at this point. If he doesn't figure something out soon, the 2025 season is in trouble here in the Land of Pleasant Living.

The Capitals get it all started tonight vs. Montreal and, of course, there's trepidation in the air in the Middle Atlantic because it's the Caps and the post-season and we all know what that means.

Yes, they should get past the Habs. They beat them twice in the regular season and lost once in overtime, but Montreal has also been playing "playoff hockey" for the last two weeks or so because they had to scratch and fight just to make the post-season.

Those kinds of teams always worry me.

And they also worry me because, this year at least, the Caps had a tendency to play "down" to their competition.

I'll call it a 4-1 Washington series win but, trust me, nothing at all would surprise me. If I'm here 10 days from now writing about the pressure cooker that is playing Game 7 at home with all the expectations of the world on your shoulders, I wouldn't be stunned by that in the least.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

orioles week in review

Week Record: 3-3

Season Record: 9-12

AL East Standing: 4th (4.5 GB of NYY)

Player of the Week: Cedric Mullins - .300 avg 3 HR 3 RBI

A mixed week for the Orioles ended on a major sour note, as they continue to search for consistency. Baltimore took two out of three games from the Cleveland Guardians before stumbling against Cincinnati, losing two of three, including Sunday’s unforgettable 24-2 drubbing.

The week started poorly on Jackie Robinson Day, with the O’s falling 6-3 despite Cedric Mullins’ homer and two-hit performance. Charlie Morton struggled again, allowing five runs in five-plus innings. A late O’s rally wasn’t enough to overcome a strong start from Logan Allen backed by offense from Stephen Kwan.

Baltimore rebounded emphatically the next day, thrashing Cleveland 9-1 behind a Jackson Holliday grand slam, snapping his 0-for-17 slump. Dean Kremer was solid, giving up just one run in 5.1 innings. Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn also went deep, highlighting the Orioles’ barrage.

The O’s clinched the series with a 6-2 win on Thursday, powered by Ryan O’Hearn’s three-run shot and additional homers from Gunnar Henderson and Heston Kjerstad. Tomoyuki Sugano delivered his best start as an Oriole, pitching seven strong innings and improving to 2-1 on the year.

The weekend brought the Reds to town, starting rough with an 8-3 loss before a sellout home crowd on Friday night. After a 2nd inning Mullins homer, the Reds jumped on young Cade Povich, who allowed seven runs and five walks in just 3.1 innings. A 3rd inning Elly De La Cruz homer put the Reds up, then homers by Jeimer Candelario and Matt McLain in the fourth pretty much put the game out of reach for good.

Saturday saw Baltimore bounce back impressively, securing a 9-5 victory driven by a five-home-run explosion. Mullins and Henderson hit back-to-back homers in the first, Ramón Laureano delivered two homers off the bench, and rookie Jordan Westburg finally broke his slump with a seventh-inning blast.

The offense picked up starter Brandon Young in his first Orioles start, as he only managed four innings, allowing three runs. After four solid innings from the bullpen, Félix Bautista ultimately navigated a late jam for his second save.

Sunday’s finale was historically bad. The Reds humiliated Baltimore 24-2, marking the Orioles’ worst loss since 2007.

On a day where the manager implored Charlie Morton to push deep in the game, he just couldn’t do it, collapsing again after just 2.1 innings. That piled on an already stressed bullpen and the results were not pretty. It got so bad that the Orioles were forced to use two position players to pitch after the score escalated.

Cedric Mullins once again earns Player of the Week honors, continuing his strong early-season form and providing one of the few bright spots this early season. Mullins hit three homers this week, and even showed his ability to handle left on left matchups.

Tomoyuki Sugano merits a mention with his best start of the season, continuing a promising trend for the Japanese veteran. Meanwhile, both Heston Kjerstad and Ramon Laureano delivered massive offensive impact despite limited at-bats and Ryan O’Hearn was hot as well this week.

Down on the Farm --

The Norfolk Tides had a 2-3 week highlighted by an offensive explosion in a 15-6 victory at Omaha. Dylan Beavers homered twice, with Coby Mayo adding one as well. Beavers was the standout hitter of the week, with a .400 on base percentage for the week to go with the two homers. Fellow outfielder Jud Fabian also continued his strong start to the year, pushing his OPS to .876 on the season. Samuel Basallo remains out with an injury.

Question of the Week --

How much longer does Brandon Hyde have?

Let me start this by saying, it’s mostly not Hyde’s fault.

The majority of the blame for this miserable start by the Orioles falls directly on Mike Elias and/or David Rubenstein for failing to properly reinforce the team in the offseason. There is also considerable blame to go around to the bevy of underperforming players.

However, the owner and front office aren’t going anywhere soon and the players are harder to replace than the coach.

Brandon Hyde finds himself under increasing scrutiny after an embarrassing loss on Sunday. Now in his seventh season, Hyde has guided the Orioles from 110 losses in 2021 to playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024. He’s earned respect for nurturing young talents like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.

However, heightened expectations for 2025 and the O’s sluggish April have sparked legitimate questions about Hyde's future.

I don’t mean to sound like the vocal minority of fans that pop up several times each Ravens season to call for Harbaugh to be fired. I realize it’s not even May yet and this could all seem like an overreaction.

Nevertheless, this team malaise goes back to the middle of last season. And Brandon Hyde is not nearly as established as John Harbaugh. One is among the winningest coaches of the century, with a Super Bowl ring and a likely place in the Hall of Fame, the other has yet to win a playoff game.

Hyde has done well to guide the team from rebuild to contender, overseeing an outstanding two season stretch that portended a promising future. He has shown an ability to develop young talent into consistent performers and seems generally liked and respected in the clubhouse.

It's not his fault that the roster was immediately thin with the loss of a couple projected starters. It’s also probably not his fault that several All-Star caliber players are underwhelming at the plate.

Yet, patience wanes as results lag behind expectations. Hyde’s lineup tinkering and bullpen management have cost the team at times this year. Team spirits don’t seem to have been reset after the disappointing end to last season either.

I have a hard time determining the value that Hyde really adds as a manager. His best quality seems to be that he’ll dutifully implement the strategies handed down by the front office. Would another manager necessarily do better, who knows?

Hyde is the type of manager that creates a high floor, but may not raise the ceiling. The Orioles front office won’t rush to any decision, but at some point, with the competitiveness of the AL East, they have to consider making a move. I’m not even sure who would be on their short list for a replacement, but short of a massive trade for starting pitching, changing the manager is the only major shakeup available to the leadership.

The team may just need to take the risk that a new man can bring a fresh perspective or a new voice to the locker room to turn the season around.

In short, Brandon Hyde’s seat is undeniably warm, but not scorching, just yet. The team and Hyde will hope they can get Zach Eflin back from injury soon enough tofortify the rotation and prolong the manager’s tenure.

For Hyde, the time to prove he's still the right manager for this Orioles squad is now.

Sunday April 20, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3890

"you just wait until sunday morning"

What are your favorite "things" in your lifetime?

I'm not talking about getting married or having children.

Or playing a great golf course.

I'm not talking about being financially able to buy a boat or a house at the beach.

Those things are all wonderful, by the way.

I'm talking in more simple terms, I guess. What are things in your life you've stumbled upon in whatever fashion that became "favorites" of yours?

Easter, and the story of Jesus and how he was crucified, rose again, was doubted by Thomas, proved his claim as the Son of God, and went on to sit at the right hand of the Father, is my favorite holiday of them all.

I love Christmas and Thanksgiving, yes. Both, though, are charted behind Easter for me.

I have a lot of other "favorites" in my life.

Favorite albums. Favorite movies. Favorite TV shows. Favorite clips from Saturday Night Live.

And I also have a favorite YouTube clip.

Yes, of all of the millions of things that have even been posted on YouTube (and I feel like I've seen a million myself, as much time as I spend on YouTube), I have narrowed it down to one clip as my all-time favorite.

I can -- and do -- watch it on any given day of the year, but it's particularly meaningful every Easter Sunday.

I'm asking you to listen to it today.

It's 18 minutes long.

"The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached" was authored by a man named S.M. Lockridge, who was a popular Baptist preacher in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's.

I probably listen to this 100 times or more a year. Sometimes, on a hour long drive to somewhere, I'll pop it on in the car and listen to it while I drive. Other times I'll be at the practice range at Eagle's Nest and play it there while I hit golf balls.

It's one of my favorite things in life. I haven't thought about my Top 5 "Favorite Things" and what order I'd place them, but I guarantee this sermon would be a Top 5 candidate.

There's a small segment in the sermon about Easter. It's always important for us to remember how those three days transpired.

Jesus was kidnapped and killed.

He was laid to rest in a tomb that was guarded by Roman soldiers.

Three days later, Jesus was gone and only the cloth he was buried in was left behind.

"While hanging on that cross, Jesus said several things," Lockridge says.

"But when the thief taunted him and said, 'If you be the Christ, come down from the cross and save yourself from us.' To that taunt, Jesus didn't say a mumbling word. But his silence seemed to say, 'You just wait until Sunday morning.'"

I love the whole 18 minute sermon, but that 2 minute exploration of Jesus rising from the tomb on Easter Sunday is my favorite part of my favorite sermon.

Easter Sunday is the day we remember that only one man ever lived forever.

Per our routine here at #DMD, we don't really "work" much on Easter Sunday.

Yes, the Orioles won yesterday. That was awesome.

There's golf today.

And hockey as well.

We'll be back here tomorrow to focus on all of that and continue giving insight and opinion on sports. That's the great thing about sports. There's always a game again the next day.

For today, though, I'd ask you to listen to this clip and enjoy your Easter Sunday!

Saturday April 19, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3890

obituary

Jesus Christ, 33, of Nazareth, died Friday on Mount Calvary. The causes of death were crucifixion, extreme exhaustion, severe torture, and loss of blood.

A community medical examiner said it was the worst beating he's ever seen a man receive.

Jesus was the Son of the late Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, and Mary, his devoted Mother.

He was born in a stable in the city of Bethlehem, Judea. He is survived by his mother Mary, his faithful Apostles, numerous disciples, and many other followers.

Jesus was self educated and spent most of his adult life working as a teacher. He taught without request for compensation of any kind. "I never sought any kind of compensation because this was the job God assigned me," Jesus would often tell those who questioned his reluctance to be paid for his work.

Jesus also occasionally worked as a medical doctor and it has been reported that he healed many patients, despite having no formal medical education or training. Up until the time of his death, Jesus was teaching and sharing the good news on a daily basis, healing the sick, touching the lonely, feeding the hungry, and helping the poor.

Jesus was most noted for telling parables about His Father's Kingdom and performing miracles, such as feeding over 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish, and healing a man who was born blind. He also convinced his friend Peter that walking on water was, in fact, humanly possible.

On the day before His death, Jesus hosted a large dinner for a special group of friends, celebrating the Passover Feast, at which time He foretold His death to them as they sat in stunned disbelief.

The body was quickly buried in a stone grave, which was donated by Joseph of Arimathea, a loyal friend of the family. By order of Pontius Pilate, a boulder was rolled in front of the Tomb. Roman Soldiers were put on guard and ordered not to let anyone inside the tomb.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that everyone try to live as Jesus did and believe in Him. Donations may be sent to anyone in need.

BREAKING NEWS --

A 33 year old Nazarean was kidnapped and killed Friday in an apparent "murder-for-hire" plot. Jesus Christ, a popular local ministry worker, was brutally beaten by a group of soldiers and then fastened to a large piece of wood where he bled to death.

Eyewitnesses claim the Nazarean was taken from a local park by the soldiers.

"They came in overnight and just pulled him up and said, 'You're coming with us,'" said one eyewitness who wished only to be identified as Peter.

"It was very strange," Peter recalled. "They knew right where he was and stormed in together like a gang. It was almost as if they had been told of his exact location or something."

Peter and another man, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, claimed Jesus was later beaten in the village square in broad daylight.

"His mother showed up at the last minute," Peter said. "Somehow she heard about it and was there watching in horror as her son was getting beat up by the soliders."

"No one did anything about it," the anonymous man said. "Some people were actually clapping and cheering the whole time while he was getting beaten. I don't know what our world has come to. It was really sad."

When asked by a reporter why he didn't intervene himself, the man quickly replied, "People would potentially connect me with him and assume that perhaps we were friends."

Law enforcement officials have issued a warrant for the arrest of 44 year old Pontius Pilate, citing him as the ringleader of the gang of soldiers who beat Jesus to his death. Pilate was last seen wearing a Roman military uniform.

a sellout...and a stinker

Well, Gary Sanchez got a hit last night. So the O's have that going for them, which is nice.

But other than that and the sellout crowd on hand, there wasn't much else to cheer about on Friday night in an 8-3 loss to the Cincinnati Red Legs.

The O's picked a bad night to produce a "Beatles" for those in attendance, as they recorded just four hits, two of which came from Heston Kjerstad.

Cincinnati hit three homers off of Cade Povich, while Cedric Mullins and Kjerstad hit round trippers for the Birds.

You're not beating many teams when you generate just four hits on the night. I realize Povich was lousy. I get it. But four hits isn't beating anyone.

If you're looking for silver lining stuff, I'll happily oblige.

Cionel Perez had another nice outing and has now reduced his ERA to 10.80 the year. Perez worked two scoreless innings last night.

And...

Did I mention the Friday night sellout crowd of 42,000 and some change?

Perez and no seats to sell. That was roughly the only good thing about last night.

Meanwhile, the internet is starting to percolate with anti-Brandon-Hyde venom.

"He has 30 games, 40 max, to turn this around!" someone barked on Twitter in the aftermath of the loss.

"Hyde has to go!" was another remark authored by an O's fan and approved by many others on social media.

I don't know how it's Brandon Hyde's fault that the O's are missing their best pitcher from last year and their two best (expected) pitchers from this season's team. And I'm fairly certain roster additions like Ramon Laureano and Gary Sanchez weren't of Hyde's doing, either.

I'm very "on the fence" on Hyde, but in fairness I've always been that way about him. I've never been a staunch supporter and I'm certainly not "against" him or anti-Hyde in any way.

I think he has blemishes, but what manager doesn't, really?

At this point, he's managed a team to two straight playoff appearances. I realize they're still looking for a post-season win under Hyde, but getting there is far more difficult than it is being successful in the playoffs.

I'll keep saying this for the people in the back of the room. They haven't even played a month of baseball yet. The season is six months old. We're going to be hitting fall and the leaves starting to turn before the season is over. Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.

Let's wait this out and see what happens at the 40 game mark. There's your first "real" benchmark over a 162-game season.

And it's not like there's really much you can do right now, anyway. Sure, you could jettison Gary Sanchez or Jorge Mateo, who are, I think, a combined 4-for-39 on the season thus far. And then what? Who are you getting that's better than either of them right now?

The answer, of course, might be to bite the bullet and bring up heralded minor league prospect Samuel Basallo in place of Sanchez, but what's better for Basallo's development right now, getting 30 at bats per week in the minors or 4-6 at bats per-week in the majors?

I'm good with Basallo's call-up if it comes to that. Sanchez was a stock Mike Elias gambled on that has paid zero dividends in return. Sell it off and move on and take the "L" on that one.

It's the pitching that's the chief concern, though. Where are you getting quality arms to replace Rodriguez and Eflin?

GrayRod is probably done for the season. No one wants to talk about that in dark places at parties, but I think we all know what's eventually going to be announced. So is Brandon Young going to be the guy who takes over for Rodriguez? And what if he's no good?

Eflin should be back soon. As long as he returns within a week or so, there's not a whole lot of damage done. He'll miss a total of four starts, perhaps. Not a big deal.

But.....

What if Eflin's injury acts up again in early June? Then what?

So, while it would be nice to be able to return some quality to the roster to make up for the loss of Rodriguez and (for now), Eflin, there's just nowhere to find those guys a month into the season.

And when I say "don't panic", it's mostly because, A) it's very early in the season, still and B) somewhat because there's no one else to get anyway. You're panicing for no real reason.

If O's go 8-11, 8-11 and 8-11, they'll be 24-33 at the 57-game mark. That will not be good at all. What they need is to play the next 19 in at least 11-8 if not 12-7 or 13-6. That would help straighten things out.

In the meantime, Brandon Young makes his MLB debut today against the Red Legs at 4:05 pm. Beginner's luck, anyone?

Friday April 18, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3889

pickleball for $10K?

Today is arguably the second most important day in the history of the world. The most important day comes this Sunday.

How mysterious and awesome is it that this Friday and Sunday are that close to one another in historical importance? Crazy, right?

Today, of course, is Good Friday. It's the day Jesus was crucified by the Romans, led by their governor Pontius Pilate, who made the mistake of trying to pressure Jesus into caving in and admitting that it was Pilate who controlled the Messiah's fate.

Pilate said, “You refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have the power to set you free and also the power to have you crucified?”

Jesus answered, “The only power you have over me is the power given to you by God. The man who turned me in to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

That scene, just that brief 10-second interaction between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, is my favorite moment in the life of Jesus.

At the moment of truth, when given the opportunity to save himself from death, Jesus instead doubled down on Pilate and laughed at him.

In today's parlance, Jesus snickered and said, "Who are you kidding, dude? You're a nobody. God put you on this earth and gave you whatever power you think you might have. Without Him, you're just a guy roaming around the streets in weird clothes telling people you're a big deal. Get over yourself. I'm one with God."

Easter is my favorite holiday of them all.

It redeems us all, every year, and reminds us of the freedoms we have in our lives because Jesus died for all of us.

He rose again on the 3rd day, according to the scriptures.

But today is the day Jesus gave up his life for us.

Please rejoice and remember Him always, but in particular over the next 3 days.

ESPN's website featured a fascinating story on Thursday about organized pickleball within some Major League Baseball organizations and how some players and coaches are willing to play games amongst themselves for sums up to at least $10,000.

Athletes love to gamble. On anything, really. There's something in their DNA that mandates "we have to put something on this" in order to keep their blood flowing.

I discovered this first-hand in the 1980's when I was with the Blast soccer team. "Road trip bets" were part of the ritual, ranging from who had the highest room key number ("Everyone put in two dollars and the two guys with the highest room number split the pot" Paul Kitson would shout as the players waited in the lobby for me to distribute their keys.) to whose bag came out of the luggage shoot first at the airport to how long it would take for the bus to get from the airport to the hotel.

No one would bet $10,000 on that kind of stuff, obviously, but everyone throwing in $5 to see whose bag came out first was indicative of guys who needed to be charged up about something, even if it was only going to net them $100 or so if your bag plopped out first.

Major League Baseball players and coaches make a lot of money. The league minimum for a player is $800,000. Coaches, depending on their tenure and role, can make anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 or more.

$10,000 is a lot of money, of course. But if you have a few million in the bank after spending 10 years in the big leagues as a journeyman coach of some kind, ten grand is probably like $100 to the great unwashed.

You're welcome to go to ESPN.com and read the article. I'd link the article here but I'm still waiting for them to link #DMD on their website. So......I'll just let you go find it on your own. It won't take long.

One interesting thing about pickleball gambling is that people are putting up their own money. Now that, right there, is "gambling".

I'm not taking anything away from Rory McIlroy when I say this, but he made $4.2 million playing golf last weekend and would have lost something like $30,000 had he missed the cut. $5,000 for his caddie, $5,000 for his travel and that of his family, $10,000 or more for a home rental for the week and another $10,000 to pay his trainer, Bob Rotella, and so on.

In all fairness, $30,000 to Rory McIlroy is like $30 to you and I. It's eye wash.

So he puts up $30,000 to have a chance at winning $4.2 million.

When Phil Mickelson was broke and Tiger was trying to recover from giving half of his first billion to his ex-wife, they came up with the idea that they would play one another for $10 million. The winner got $9 million and the "loser" got $1 million.

The only problem? It wasn't their money in the first place. The golf was lousy. The entertainment value was "meh". There was nothing to really get their blood going other than bragging rights until they produced Phil vs. Tiger 2.0 the next year.

But if Phil would have put up $9 million of his own money and Tiger would have put up $9 million of his own money and the winner scooped the other guy's $9 million off the awards table? Now that would have been worth watching.

The golf might have been more nervy and tense, but seeing Phil have an 8 footer to beat Tiger out of $9 million of his money would have been quite a sight indeed.

So when I see MLB players and coaches playing pickleball matches (games?) for $10,000 of someone's own, real, money, I'm definitely intrigued by that.

It's the very thing that makes weekend golf exciting. I'm not really one to say "we have to play for something". Have I played golf for money? Of course. Have I played in matches where the money at stake was, let's say, a tad unsettling? I have, yes. But these days, we can play for an iced tea or a bowl of soup and I'm motivated just by that alone.

Or, you can say, "Let's just go play and have a good day" and I'm good with that as well.

But I do know a lot of people who can't play "weekend golf" unless there's a $10, $20 or $50 nassau in play. "I have to have something on it to get me interested," they'll say. Fair enough. I get it, even if I don't need that myself.

Michael Jordan is famous for this response whenever someone wants to gamble with him on the golf course and says, "What are we playing for today?"

Jordan: "Whatever makes you nervous."

Money can make people play better and money can also make people play worse. "Whatever makes you nervous" is a great way to push an opponent into an uncomfortable situation.

When you're playing for your own money, that gets your attention.

Those pickleball guys are nuts. But if they have $10,000 to throw around and that's what gets their blood boiling, I get it.

faith in sports

In today's edition of "Faith in Sports", we look at the Bible and what it might say about the competitive pride an athlete has in his/her performance.

This is something a lot of Christian athletes deal with and it takes emotional growth and control to handle both winning and losing the right way.

This is a video I've showed a lot of junior golfers. It's a great way to start them on the road to understanding how to compete with pride and do it all with God's glory in mind.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

	NOTES & COMMENT George McDowell
George McDowell is #DMD's foreign correspondent. His international reports are filed from a hardened outpost just across the U.S. / North Carolina border. He writes on sports topics that interest him that he feels might also interest some segment of the wildly esoteric #DMD readership. George has been a big fan of DF and his various enterprises since the last century, and for several seasons appeared as a weekly guest on his Monday evening radio show, Maryland Golf Live, delivering commentary as The Eccentric Starter. George also donates his time and talents to the less fortunate, and currently volunteers as secretary of the Rickie Fowler Fan Club.

joe sent me

Sports wagering is said to be for entertainment purposes only. It could only be so, because to profit from wagering under today’s conditions is simply not possible.

The stock of FLUT, the parent company of FanDuel, went from $15 at inception to $115 in 2023, then doubled from there to $230 today. Casinos all around the world flourish wildly, and there’s only one man in history who has had the ability to bankrupt one.

My country of North Carolina legalized online sports gambling last year. In the first full month of operation, the gambling companies took in $69 million and paid out $46 million, leaving $23 million (a staggering 33% rake!) to be split between the companies and the government. [I think the split is somewhere around 75% for the companies and 25% for the government.]

The City of Baltimore is suing FLUT as well as Draft Kings, alleging the firms’ algorithms take advantage of the vulnerable souls who develop gambling problems. The companies' engineers use data from a wealth of sources to create a profile of bettors. These profiles can contain more than 150 unique bits of data, and can read out instantly a decision on whether a particular bettor is a “fish.” [Presumably, a fish is someone who will wager on events that offer even more than the standard 33% rake.] The fish is then bombarded with offers to bet on various games, and frequently, is unable to resist.

Conversely, The Sun recently ran an article on a guy who wanted to bet $500 that Duke would beat Arizona by 10 or more in an NCAA game. The company declined his bet and allowed a max bet from him on the game of $88. The algorithm identified him as a “sharp” bettor, and thus decreased its exposure. Ironically [at least I think it’s ironic -- I’m not really sure what that word means], Duke only won by seven, and the gambler would have lost the bet. But the algorithms aren’t concerned with individual bets, they inform the greatest possible chances of profit for the company in the long run.

While Baltimore City sues Fan Duel and Draft Kings, the state government, fueled by campaign contributions from the companies, prepares plans to authorize, in addition to sports wagering, live betting on casino games such as blackjack, roulette, and craps. This is an excellent and far-sighted policy, especially if you want to add increased problem gambling to the list of factors such as skyrocketing homeowners insurance costs and property-tax increases, inflation outpacing wages, grocery prices going through the roof, and the addition of tariffs on imported goods that are always paid by the end user to the list of factors leading to the evisceration and destruction of the American middle class.

All seriousness aside, we are asked by Alert Commenter “Larry” if bets made by Winning Commenter “Jake,” who cleared $205 betting on a combination of DF’s Masters picks, were worthwhile.

The short answer is, the bets were worthwhile, if you define worthwhile as collecting more money than you bet.

If you define worthwhile as having money on a bunch of different players and you find it fun keeping track of them over the course of the tournament [sort of like seeing how your Bball picks do on the first four days and 48 games of the NCAA tournament], then yes, it’s worthwhile.

If you define worthwhile as employing a prudent fiscal strategy to save for your retirement, then, maybe not worthwhile.

The reasons for the latter determination are long and tedious, so we’ll just discuss the seven bets made on various players to win the Masters. The win pool for a golf tournament is not technically a parimutuel event, but for practical reasons, it can be examined as such with only very minor inaccuracies.

Note that Winning Bettor “Jake” eliminated three of DF’s 10 picks, and bet $10 on each of the remaining seven. Looks like Rory went off at 6.5 to one, so Jake cashed for $65 plus his $10 wager equals $75, earning a $5 profit.

But note that he was in fact betting against himself. A system of wagering that guarantees for an absolute certainty that six of seven bets are losers is not conducive to building a bank account for the long haul.

Note also that, had he bet all 10 of DF’s picks, he would have lost $25 even though his pick of Rory was correct. Thus, there can be a situation where 10 bets are made – one and only one of which can possibly win – and even when one does win, the punter STILL loses money. This is the reason the stock prices are skyrocketing and phones at the Problem Gambling Hotlines are ringing incessantly.

Allow me an allegorical tale. Back in the mid-1960s, Maryland racetracks were required by law to pay at least 10 cents on the dollar on winning bets. This even if the parimutuel pool (after the rake) showed that the bet should only pay nine, or eight, or even as low as two cents on the dollar.

I and a group of friends were at Pimlico one fine Saturday afternoon. The feature race of the day showcased two mares, one was Queen of the Stage and I forget the other horse’s name. These two were far and away the better horses in the race and far and away the betting favorites in the race. The other six or seven horses had almost zero chances of winning. All seemed on slow and circuitous routes to the glue factory.

Then a strange thing happened. With about 20 minutes to post time, the other horse scratched. When this happens, those who had bet on Other Horse had their money refunded. And it left Queen of the Stage as the sure winner of the race as well as the overwhelming betting favorite.

My dear friend who I’ll call Barry [if you’re reading this, sorry for opening up an old and terrible wound!] realized that, if he bet everything he had on the Queen, he’d have an instant 10% return. So not only did he bet every cent he had, he borrowed money from all his friends and acquaintances at the track and bet it on the Queen. [There was a shylock or two at Pimlico, but there was no sense borrowing from them because their vig – 10% per week – would negate any of Barry’s winnings.] The law required that 10% be paid on all wagers, so Barry, always the smart one, bet all the money he had amassed on the Queen, not to win but to show. Thus, if by some miracle she didn’t win, but finished second or third – which she was even more of a dead-lock cinch to do – Barry would still collect.

The race was six furlongs, which put the starting gate on the far end of the track at the start of the backstretch. When the bell rang, the Queen bolted out of the gate and went out to a three-length lead in the first ten seconds. Then, with a clear track ahead and nobody around her, she stumbled and fell. Some of the pack were able to avoid her, but others trampled her. As the race went on the Queen lay motionless.

As soon as the other horses were clear, the vet and a doctor sped out to the Queen in their emergency vehicle. The jockey was OK. The Queen had injuries from which she wouldn’t recover. Everybody knew this because, when it happens, track personnel put up a large screen that shields patrons from seeing the act of euthanasia. The carcass is then dragged onto a flatbed truck, covered, and driven away.

Then racing – and the wagering on it – goes on.

Thursday April 17, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3888

the last supper

Today marks a very real and very important day in the history of our planet.

It was on this day -- known throughout the Christian world as "Holy Thursday" -- where Jesus gathered his apostles and introduced what we call "Holy Communion" or "Eucharist", where bread and wine are consumed to symbolize the blood and body of Jesus, who was crucified the following day.

It was at the Last Supper where Jesus announced to those apostles gathered with him that one of them would betray him soon and turn him over to Pontius Pilate. Jesus hinted that he knew what was to come for him, meaning he was aware of his pending death and the sacrifice he was making to free future humans of their sins.

He correctly claimed that his good friend, Peter, would deny knowing him on three separate occasions when Pilate's men came searching for him.

And as we all know, it was, in fact, Judas who was among those apostles at the Last Supper who betrayed Jesus and told of his whereabouts the following day.

As Jesus started eating with them at the Last Supper, he announced that the sharing of wine and bread would symbolize his body and blood for all eternity.

He even allowed Judas to partake in that ritual, one of the final acts of kindness and humility in the life of Jesus.

If you have a few minutes tonight at your own family dinner table, please pause and reflect on the importance of the Last Supper and the way Jesus welcomed everyone to the table on Holy Thursday, despite knowing what was to come for him and how even those he deemed closest to him were likely to betray him in the coming hours.

Let's do a quick edition of "5 things", which, as you will see, should give you plenty to chew on today.

Before I forget, let me remind all of you about one of our newest marketing partners here, Longshore Coffee. If you're a coffee enthusiast, please help support them in their new business venture. The coffee is great -- and I really mean that, it's outstanding -- and it gets delivered right to your door in well-sealed packaging, ground and ready to go.

Just click here for the Longshore Coffee website.

So the Caps will play Montreal in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after the Canadiens won last night, 4-2, to clinch the 8th and final spot in the Eastern Conference. Look, I wouldn't be a Capitals fan if I wasn't nervous about this series. Washington did win the season series with Montreal, 2-1, but that doesn't mean much now. Caps fans, of course, remember the 2010 post-season when the exact same scenario as 2025 played out. Washington finished first, Montreal finished eighth, and the Canadiens shocked the Caps in seven games. I'm nervous about this series because I don't fully trust Washington's goaltending more than anything else. Prediction: No fingernails by the end of next week.

On Glenn Clark Radio yesterday, we got on the subject of Rory McIlroy's win at the Masters and I talked at length about how hard it is to win the Masters as the last piece of your Grand Slam puzzle. For starters, it's the first major of the year, which makes it the most anticipated of the four and also gives the golf writers and media members who cover the sport all winter and spring to talk about the Masters and "so and so needing to win". For someone like Jordan Spieth, who only needs the PGA Championship (in May) to complete his own Grand Slam conquest, no one will talk about that until a week or two from now when the tournament is in the crosshairs. McIlroy heard about the Masters at every tournament stop in January, February and March, not to mention all of last year, all of 2023, all of 2022 and so forth. It was becoming almost too much for him, a fact he finally admitted this week during several post-Masters interviews in which he participated. This is one reason why I think Jon Rahm has a better chance of completing the Grand Slam that Collin Morikawa, even though they both have two of the four in the bag. Rahm has the Masters. Morikawa does not. And if Morikawa were to win the U.S. Open this June, he'd be hearing Grand Slam talk from June until next April. Rahm can complete his Slam this year by winning the PGA and British Open.

Shedeur Sanders will have his jersey #2 retired at the University of Colorado, which makes total sense when you take into consideration the team went 13-12 with him at the helm and he did manage to finish 8th in 2024 Heisman Trophy voting. What's really bizarre about this story is why Sanders himself would even allow this to happen. When schools officials approached him and said, "We have great news, we're retiring your jersey", why wouldn't he have said, "Really? For what? No thank you." Now, perhaps it was his dad who started the whole campaign, which is a story for another day. But retiring someone's jersey for essentially going .500 and being "good-to-very-good" for two seasons seems awkward at best, wildly misplaced at worst.

If you made me list the top 10 "worst things in sports", I'd probably list "umpires with rabbit ears" in my top 3. It might even by first on the list, actually. There's something about baseball umpires that immediately turns them into soft, thick-skinless creatures who can't and won't tolerate one morsel of back-and-forth without taking off their mask to show you who's boss. It's beyond embarrassing for them. The funniest part of all is they do make mistakes -- which is fine, they're human -- as evidenced by the number of calls that are overturned via replay. I happened to catch a few innings of a Dodgers-Cubs game recently where Mookie Betts had the audacity to SHAKE HIS HEAD from side to side after a pitch was called a strike and he got the same tongue lashing you got from Miss Carlson in 3rd grade when you put a booger on Stacy Conforto's arm in class. Betts didn't say a word. He just shook his head. He might have even been shaking it as if to say, "I can't believe I didn't swing at that..." Who knows? But he got berated by #clownshoes in blue.

I have no idea if Buzz Williams is going to be any good at Maryland or not, but I'll share this quick story from a coach at a program down in College Park who got the opportunity to meet Williams last week. "Buzz said, 'Give me 20 minutes and tell me everything you can about how I can be successful here'" the coach told me. "I was stunned. Kevin (Willard) probably said 10 words to me in his time here. Maybe not even 10. 20 minutes with Buzz turned into 40 and as I told him a few things that make Maryland unique, he actually wrote them down on a small notepad and asked follow-up questions. If first impressions mean anything at all, we got the right guy down here." So there's that. It makes me feel good about the Williams hire. Now he just needs to win basketball games.

Wednesday April 16, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3887

don't even think about pressing it

OK, so Charlie Morton still doesn't have a win.

And last night's start, while not "terrible", was probably not exactly what the O's thought they were going to get out of him when they gave him $15 million over the winter.

But the O's were down in Tuesday night's 6-3 loss to Cleveland by a 6-0 score and the bats were doing zero to help Morton, so how can you win a baseball game when you aren't scoring any runs at all?

For the record, Morton went 5 innings and allowed 5 earned runs while striking out just 2 batters. It probably was just about what the O's are going to get out of him in 2025, which says more about Mike Elias than it does Charlie Morton, in my opinion.

Last night's lineup was weird and certainly didn't help Morton or the Orioles.

Wait, Gary Sanchez and Jorge Mateo both managed to get a hit in the same game. There's a parade on Charles Street today at 10:00 am.

I'll never understand why a baseball manager would play three guys -- Sanchez, Mateo and Ramon Laureano, I'm speaking of -- who generate a hit about as often as Kajagoogoo. Sanchez is hitting .105 and he's the best of the three. So there you go.

I just don't get it. And I don't care if the opposing pitcher throws lefty, righty, or changes what side he throws from on every pitch.

Hyde loves those match-ups, apparently. It's just a shame Sanchez and Laureano don't like hitting the ball as much as Hyde likes playing them.

Now, here's where I'll offer the obvious -- and legitimate -- disclaimer for Hyde. He can only play the players the organization gives him. I do get that. But I just don't see the justice in sitting out Holliday, Kjerstad and O'Hearn last night to play those other three dudes who offer next-to-nothing offensively.

I hope it's not one of those things where the manager says, "Well, if I don't play Laureano a couple of times a week I'm going to lose him." Or, "Sanchez is a proud veteran. I have to keep him active and make sure he doesn't think he's a benchwarmer."

That's the way a coach thinks in the CYO Fall Soccer League. "I haven't played Mikey in the last three games and his parents are all over me, sending me so many text messages and e-mails I need to hire Hillary to help me get rid of them. I'll just play him today and hope he doesn't cost us the game."

A manager in Major League Baseball should really only be worried about winning today's game if possible. If Ramon Laureano or Gary Sanchez broods at the end of the bench because they didn't get in, here's your best piece of coaching advice for them: "Get more than two hits in ten at-bats and maybe we'll talk about more playing time for you."

Now, let's get to the other part, because the internet is starting to sizzle with people claiming the Orioles are "in big trouble".

They might be in trouble.

But now is not the time to panic.

They're 10% of the way through their schedule.

They've played 16 games out of 162.

Panicking now probably only guarantees failure.

I think we all agreed going into the season that the Orioles were going to need everything to fall their way in order to win the A.L. East in 2025.

That included, among other things, Adley becoming Adley again (don't look now but he's at .237/.318/.424), Bautista becoming Bautista again (he's been acceptable, but hardly "lights out" thus far) and Jackson Holliday actually becoming Jackson Holliday (.213/.229/.340), which is taking longer to happen than I think anyone thought it might.

Of all the things that have happened and are happening to the Orioles, I'd say the biggest worry of them all is Holliday. He was -- as a #1 draft pick -- supposed to be something akin to Bobby Witt Jr., not Adam Frazier. Thus far, Frazier's even snickering at their comparison.

Me, personally? I suspected guys like Sanchez and Laureano would stink it up. I didn't understand those signings in the first place.

But I thought we'd get something really good out of Holliday. So his lackluster start is the biggest worry to me.

Anyway, mix in those three issues above (Adley, Bautista, Holliday) with the pitching injuries to Rodriguez, Eflin and Suarez and you have some significant concerns.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that Jordan Westburg is hitting .196 and Gunnar Henderson is off to a very slow start as well. I don't want to skip over those two issues, either. But I have no long-term concerns about those two guys. They'll get it together and have the kind of season we expect of them.

Yes, it's still very early.

They're 6-10, not 2-14.

As we always say around here, you pop your head up every 20 games and see where you're at in comparison to everyone else.

If they're 8-12 after 20 games, they're still fine.

Even if they're 16-24 after 40 games, they're still fine.

But if I'm Hyde and I want to set some quasi-long-term goals, I try to get to 15-15 at the 30-game mark and go from there.

As the great AC/DC once said: "It's a long way to the top, if you wanna rock-n-roll".

There's so much baseballl left to be played.

It's not time to panic.

But it is time to hit better.

And pitch better.

And play much better fundamental baseball.

Do they have the players to do that, though?

We're going to find out soon enough.

rbc heritage picks

After a successful Masters week, we're back to help guide you through what has become a significant event on the PGA Tour. It's "significant" mainly because the PGA Tour threw a bunch of money at the event to guarantee the big game hunters would show up in Hilton Head.

There are loads of huge names teeing it up this week, but the odds on the guys we like hardly render them "favorites". That said, we do like at least one prominent player in our six picks.

Patrick Cantlay is due to break out at some point. He's just too good to not have a win sometime before the U.S. Open. And with Ryder Cup points now starting to loom extra important, Cantlay is in need of a win and a couple of other big finishes to either secure a spot on this year's team or snag a captain's pick from Keegan Bradley. He's at +2000 this week. We like his chances a lot.

Daniel Berger is one of those "sexy picks" you're seeing from a lot of golf touts and with good reason. He's in excellent current form, he hits it dead straight (very important at Harbour Town) and he has a good history at the golf course. Berger missed a couple of seasons with a back injury but has the look of a guy who might be on the verge of something special (PGA Championship, perhaps?) in 2025. He's a great buy at +5000 and we're certainly urging you to invest in him this week.

Sepp Straka had a very difficult and surprising two days at Augusta National, but it looks like that was far more about putting than anything else. We suspect Straka rebounds here, at a course where his driving and ball striking skills will be what separates him from the field. He's at +4000, which is very generous indeed for a guy who has had a terrific start to 2025 thus far.

Maverick McNealy is on the cusp of something "big", and a win at a TOUR Signature Event would certainly classify as "big" for him. He's been in contention a few times already in 2025 and his +6500 number is just too good to pass up. So, we won't pass it up.

J.T. Poston has played the Harbour Town very well, with four top-10 finishes since 2019. Some places are just better fits for players than other places, and you can't ignore that when you're trying to find someone who can either win or land you a top 10 finish and boost your bank account. Poston is also one of those "fringe guys" -- as I like to call them -- who is really close to being good enough to win a big event but just needs to put it all together one week. At +7000, he's probably the best investment opportunity on the board.

Corey Conners comes in on the heels of a wonderful tournament at the Masters and everything he does well is a perfect fit for Harbour Town. His biggest issue -- putting -- is low on the list of important things to do at the RBC Heritage. First order of business is hit the fairway, which he does regularly. Second order of business is hit the green in regulation, which he also does regularly. He can make enough putts to win at a course that traditionally plays difficult depending on the weather and wind conditions. You'll get him at +2500, which is a very fair number.

As always, we suggest at least two layers of wagers on our six guys -- win and top 10 -- and three (adding in Top 20) if you really want to go all out on the tournament.

Please remember to always wager within your means.

Tuesday April 15, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3886

tuesday q and a

It's time to welcome in a new friend here at #DMD.

Over the years, you all have been very gracious in supporting our many corporate partners here. As you will see over the next few weeks, we're undergoing a significant period of growth and change here at the website. I won't spoil it, but it's coming soon.

One of those changes you'll see today is the announcement that we have a new coffee partner -- Longshore. You're not going to find them at a local convenience store. Instead, you'll be able to make their coffee in your home or place of business!

Over the last 5 years or so, I've become a big-time coffee guy. I was a "need a cup to get me going" coffee drinker in my old days on the radio and now I'm more like someone who is just searching for great tasting coffee.

That's not to say I've become what people refer to as a "coffee snob", because I do like all different kinds of coffee. What I've become, though, is simply someone who enjoys making and drinking my own coffee, complete with my own bean grinder at home and top-of-the-line coffee machine to make my own cup (or two) every morning.

I had Longshore Coffee sent to me and have been drinking it regularly before it appeared here on the website, starting today.

Thus far, I've tried two of their outstanding products; Old World and Honest Work. I'm anxious to sample the others in the next week or so.

If you're a coffee enthusiast, trust me when I tell you this: Longshore Coffee is outstanding.

Best of all, you order it and it's at your door in a few days.

You can visit the Longshore Coffee website by clicking here.

Who is Longshore? I'm glad you asked.

Stephen Miller is the owner, roaster, and sole operator of Longshore Coffee. He launched the roastery in 2021 after spending six years as a high school teacher in Providence, Rhode Island, where he helped hundreds of teenagers create their own unique business plans. In addition to roasting coffee, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Bethany (the true Boss Babe), and their dog, Abraham.

And what makes Longshore Coffee so good? I'm also glad you asked that.

Longshore roasts premium blends and single origin specialty coffees in small batches on their Mill City Roasters 3-kg gas roaster. Smaller batches allow for greater control and consistency, as well as the flexibility to offer lower minimum order quantities. They source coffee from excellent farms and producers around the globe. When creating blends, Stephen Miller views component coffees like musical parts in a song; they should work together to create a cohesive whole, but still retain enough distinct qualities to add depth and character. For single origins, he aims to showcase the unique cup qualities inherent to each origin, roasting for maximal flavor development according to the characteristics of each particular coffee.

Please take a minute today to visit the Longshore website and welcome them to the #DMD family. If you're a coffee enthusiast and would take time to join their e-mail list (accessible through their website), you'll get a 15% discount off of your first order.

Best of all, if you love coffee, you'll love Longshore! And whenever you need coffee, they'll ship it right to your door.

Supporting privately-owned companies like Longshore is important to #DMD. We are, after all, a small privately-owned company, too. Any opportunity we have to help someone get their dream off the ground and running well is something we're interested in.

Please support Longshore Coffee. You'll love their coffee and, together, we'll be helping an awesome privately-owned business!

Congratulations to Brian Gripp on winning our Masters contest. Brian's three players were Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Sungjae Im.

Much like the real tournament, our contest went down to the wire. Thanks to all of you who participated! We'll run it back with a similar contest at the PGA Championship except next time, you get to pick the 3 players.

Kyle P. asks -- "What has a better chance of happening now? Rory goes on to win at least 10 majors or DeChambeau wins the Grand Slam like Rory just did?"

DF says -- "Well, 10 majors is quite a haul, even for a guy who currently has 5 of them. However, it's important to remember that Rory is only 35 years old. If he can continue to drive the golf ball the way is now for the next 5-7 years, he can win any tournament in the world.

I think he's a pretty good bet to win another one this year, at least. He's won at Quail Hollow (site of this year's PGA) before and Oakmont CC is absolutely tailor-made for him. I'd be very surprised if he's not in the hunt at both of those majors. And then the British Open is at Royal Portrush in Ireland. Nothing else needs to be said there.

It's also fair to think he probably won't win just one Masters, either. His game connects perfectly with Augusta National. I see at least one more Masters in his future, if not two.

DeChambeau would have to do something that only six other players in the history of the world have done. I do think his game is "major flexible", if that makes sense. He can win at any venue, I'd say. But asking someone to win all four of the majors is very ambitious.

I'd say Rory has a better chance of winning 10 majors than Bryson does of winning the career grand slam."

Ken G. asks -- "What are your thoughts on the Orioles start to the season and are you still confident with your projected 86-76 record?"

DF says -- "I'd say they're doing exactly what I figured they'd be doing with their limiting starting pitching resources. They were already going to be pressed into over-achieving when they lost Burnes and didn't really replace him. Then they lost Grayson for 8-10 starts and that's probably 4-6 less wins right away.

I know the offense has either been red hot or ice cold thus far, which is also why they're 6-9, but I do think as the season goes on we'll see more consistent production from the bats. Losing Cowser hurts, for sure, but that shouldn't be a season killer for them.

This is mostly about pitching. And from that, it's mostly about starting pitching. They're just not very reliable in that spot.

I'm still thinking 86-76 is a good projection for the Birds. I hope I'm wrong. They'll get it together at some point. I'd say there's a way better chance of them winning 86 games than 76 games. I just don't see them flatlining."

Barry asks -- "Rory asked an interesting question at the Masters on Sunday night. What will the story be at next April's Masters since he has won his green jacket finally? What do you say? What will be the main storyline next April?"

DF says -- "I thought that was an interesting topic as well. Obviously I have no way of knowing, but Tiger potentially returning at age 50 (assuming he doesn't have 2 more surgeries between now and then) would likely be a story there next April.

I've always said this about Tiger in the last five years: If there was ever one more major he could win, it would be at Augusta. Justin Rose nearly won this week. Bernhard Langer came within a shot of making the cut. It's a course you can play well into your 50's and still be somewhat competitive.

Do I see Tiger winning again? I do not. But Tiger returning next April -- healthy, if that's possible -- and having a shot at a 6th green jacket to tie Nicklaus will be a significant storyline if it all comes together.

I also really do believe Rory could win at Oakmont in June and at Royal Portrush in July and he'd then be coming into Augusta National with 2 legs of the "Rory Slam" intact.

It's also very possible that Collin Morikawa could win the U.S. Open this June at Oakmont CC and then he'd only need the Masters to complete his own career grand slam. I could see that happening. Brooks Koepka could win the British Open this July and he'd face the same scenario at Augusta next April.

I could also see Justin Thomas winning either at Oakmont or Royal Portrush and he'd then need only the Masters and one more major for his grand slam. Grand slams are everywhere! Potentially.

If you pressed me to pick one, I'd say it's Morikawa winning at the U.S. Open this June to set up a grand slam potential at Augusta next spring."

Brian Preller asks -- "Hi Drew, a question for your Q&A column. Is it me or does it feel like the NFL draft build up has fallen off considerably over the last few years?"

DF says -- "You know what, it does feel that way now that you've asked. Maybe it's just that I'm not a "draft-nik" in the first place so I'm sort of out of touch until the week of, anyway. But, yes, it feels like we're not as overwhelmed with draft coverage and mock drafts as in the past.

I have no idea why that is, by the way. There's more internet "experts" than ever before. Everyone who follows college football has a mock draft. But I agree, it does feel like there's less of that going on these days.

Speaking of that, we'll have our mock draft here next week in anticipation for the draft on Thursday, April 24.

The Ravens currently have the 27th pick in the first round.

There are lots of thoughts about what they might do with that pick. Trade out of it, take a defensive end, perhaps another offensive tackle.

Anyway, it might feel like there's less draft chatter than ever out there, but we'll be on it next week."

Bruce R. asks -- "I know you like to do underrated and overrated for sports, but I was hoping in one of your future columns you would do a Top 5 all time Underrated Albums feature. What are your top 5 most Underrated albums?"

DF says -- "I have so many. This is a great question! "Recovering the Satellites", which was the 2nd album by the Counting Crows, is big-time underrated. It was always going to be hard to follow up "August and Everything After" with something close to that, but "Satellites" was really a spectacular follow-up. VERY underrated.

"Communique" by the Dire Straits was really underrated. "Lady Writer" from that album is one of their best songs ever.

I have to throw in one Bruce Springsteen album, because the more I listen to him, the more I realize how a lot of the stuff I didn't really care for ("Nebraska" mostly) was actually VERY good. Bruce's most underrated album to date is definitely "Tunnel of Love". I'd say his song writing on that particular album triumphed anything he ever did other than "Born to Run".

One of my all-time favorite bands was Live, from York, PA. Their first album, "Mental Jewelry" was criminally underrated. They obviously made their mark (and their career, really) off of "Throwing Copper", which was their 2nd album. "Mental Jewelry" was a great debut album from them that definitely ranks as underrated.

The Cars' first two albums were awesome, but their 3rd, "Panorama" was vastly underrated. There are several GREAT songs on that album (one of my favorites is below).

Thanks for this question! I love underrated and overrated topics. Next week I'll do overrated albums and just list 5 albums by the Bea -- oh, never mind. I don't want to spoil the fun now."

Monday April 14, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3885

instant classic crazy

It's probably never wise to say "you'll never see anything like that ever again" because the words "never" and "ever" extends for a long, long time.

But I'll say it: You can watch a golf tournament for as long as you live and I don't think you'll ever see anything like we witnessed yesterday in the final round of the 89th Masters.

Brandel Chamblee of the Golf Channel started off last night's post-Masters edition by saying the very same thing, in fact.

"We'll never see another final round of major championship golf like the one we just saw today."

In case you missed it, Rory McIlroy won the Masters on Sunday. And the career grand slam, too.

You might call it: "Instant History".

McIlroy started the day with a 2-shot lead. 30 minutes later, he was trailing by one.

Rory's final round went like this: "He's gonna win, he's gonna lose, holy cow he's actually going to win, oh, no, he's collapsing, wow, he's going to win this thing, oops, here comes a nervy four footer, nope, no way he wins now."

Until finally...he won.

It wasn't an instant classic. Or, it actually was the most instant-classic of all instant-classics ever. I have no idea, honestly.

The whole day was insane.

The golf was sad, exhilirating, dreadful, remarkable, bizarre, tormenting, glorious, breathtaking, gut-wrenching and heartwarming.

And that was just from Rory McIlroy.

At one point during the final round, everyone on the first page of the leaderboard stunk it up.

Corey Conners started his quest to become the 2nd Canadian to wear the green jacket by missing a putt from 18 inches on the first hole.

Jason Day, known for his sublime short game, chipped the ball like your Uncle Ned or any other 10 handicap you know.

Bryson DeChambeau got off to a great start, then couldn't buy a putt of any length, eventually playing his way out of the tournament with a double bogey at the dreaded 11th hole.

The only guy to hang in there and fight through it all was Justin Rose, who coulda, shoulda, woulda won if not for a pulled 6-foot par putt at the 17th hole on Sunday. Rose was looking to win his 2nd career major and redeem himself for a 2017 Masters playoff loss to Sergio Garcia.

The others, most notably DeChambeau, all got victimized by greens that spiked up in speed by the early afternoon along with a handful of very dicey pin placements, including the one at 17 where Rose made his aforementioned tournament-changing bogey and McIlroy coaxed in a 3-foot birdie putt to give him a one-shot lead going to the 18th hole.

And then at 18, Rory piped his drive 330 yards and had a 125 yard wedge into the green. The hard part was over. All McIlroy needed now was a par. From the fairway, it came down to one shot, one of the easiest you can give a pro, and McIlroy would be two putts away from a Masters green jacket.

Except the unthinkable happened. Or, because Rory can't ever make it simple, maybe what unfolded was expected after all.

His tee shot stopped in the fairway in a spot that left him standing five or six inches above the ball, which naturally causes the flight of the ball to go right unless the player makes a change to his body alignment.

McIlroy whiffed the shot to the right into the greenside bunker, but did what any pro would do there -- he splashed it out to about five feet and had that left for the Masters win and the career Grand Slam.

But right on cue, McIlroy snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by missing the potential-winning-putt low to the left.

Another body blow to deal with, but that one was the worst of them all. The tournament wasn't in his hands on #1 when he three putted from 12 feet to make double. The tournament wasn't in his hands at the 13th when he inexplicably dumped a 90 yard wedge into the creek. The tournament wasn't in his hands at the 15th hole when he badly missed a 5-foot eagle putt that would have staked him to a 2-shot lead with three holes to play. The tournament was there, in his hands, on that 18th green when he had 5 feet to make golf history.

How does someone recover from that catastrophe?

By hitting a wedge to 3 feet on the first playoff hole, that's how.

After Rose missed his birdie effort from 15 feet, it was there, again, for McIlroy to finish off. And this time, he did, nudging the ball gently into the hole to win the Masters.

The words I've just written can't come anywhere close to doing justice to how maddening and wild the final 9 holes was yesterday.

No one wanted to win.

Or, perhaps, everyone who wanted to win just didn't have what it took to win.

Whatever the case, it was the craziest Masters finish ever.

I'm not sure it was an instant classic given how many mistakes were made over the last two hours.

But it sure was "instant crazy".

And "instant history", too.

We'll never forget just how historically crazy it was.

In the aftermath of Sunday's round that saw McIlroy experience every possible emotional high and low an athlete could experience, it's certainly worth noting the measure of a competitor's heart and his or her ability to rebound from the worst moments they could possibly create for themselves.

Golf, as I tell my high school team all the time, is a sport of accountability.

A running back who only gains 34 yards can rightfully blame his offensive line.

A hockey goalie who gives up 6 goals can claim his defense let him down.

A baseball pitcher who allows 6 runs but only 2 of which were earned can bemoan his team's poor defense behind him.

In golf, it's just you. You're accountable for the good. And you're accountable for the bad.

It's what makes golf great. When you win, you did it.

But it's also what makes golf a difficult sport to manage. When you fail, it's all on you.

Rory McIlroy has been the 2nd or 3rd best golfer of the last 50 years, depending on how you rank him against Phil Mickelson.

And yet, McIlroy has faced more scrutiny and criticism for his losses than he has enjoyed praise and admiration for his wins.

He did that to himself, of course.

Whether it was a Masters, British Open or U.S. Open, all of which he's had in his grasp in the last 11 years and somehow couldn't put away, it was always Rory's inability to close the deal that haunted him.

After he failed to win the 2022 British Open despite hitting 17 greens on the final day, McIlroy turned in the direction of an old Greek philosophy called "Stoicism" to learn how to better deal with the emotional ups-and-downs of the pressure cooker he lived in.

In Stoicism, it is believed that we have the faculties available to control our thoughts, emotions, and actions – but it is up to us to use that power wisely. By recognizing our own agency and taking ownership of our lives, we can cultivate a sense of self-control and personal responsibility.

McIlroy dove into the philosophy the same way he dove into the 15th hole on Sunday. With authority and intent.

In the end, he believes that dedication to learning a new way to control his emotions helped him win on Sunday at Augusta National.

"It's just another way to think about situations and why they come up and how you're going to think only about the positive results that are coming your way if you just stick to the game plan and execute the shot in front of you," McIlroy said last night when asked how Stoicism has helped him over the last few years.

"This can be a very painful sport we play," he said. "I've certainly had a lot of ups and some downs, too, that I had to deal with and balance in my life. In the end I realized it's all part of it, just like it was today. The golf course is hard. It's a hard tournament to win, as I think I can attest to for sure. But if you take those bad moments and file them away quickly and just focus on the positive and what's in front of you, you have a better chance of succeeding."

If Sunday's final round would have been a boxing match, the ring doctor would have considered shutting down the fight when McIlroy dumped his ball into the water at the 13th hole from 90 yards away. That, everyone assumed, was the punch from which McIlroy couldn't recover.

It only got worse on the next hole when he bogeyed 14 to fall into a 3-way tie with Rose and suddenly surging Ludvig Aberg.

We all knew exactly what was coming next. McIlroy would hit his 2nd shot into the water in front of the 15th green, make double bogey there, and that would be the end of him. It would be painful to watch.

Instead, he hit one of the greatest shots in major championship history from 219 yards away to 5 feet.

There were more lows on the way, of course, most notably at #18 when he hit his second shot into the bunker from 125 yards out and then missed a potential winning putt from 5 feet away.

The ring doctor was circling once again. Certainly McIlroy couldn't recover from that self-inflicted wound in time for the playoff, right?

Of course he could.

The greats always figure out a way to get it done, even when it looks like they're on the verge of faltering.

Rory McIlroy is one of the greatest golfers ever, as evidenced by the fact that only six people in the history of our planet have won all four of golf's major championships; Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player, Woods and, now, McIlroy.

It wasn't easy.

But that's what makes it all the more special for any of us who were privileged to watch him finally win that elusive green jacket.

Editor's note: We'll be announcing the winner of our Masters contest tomorrow. Like the actual tournament itself, it went right down to the wire.

Sunday April 13, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3884

golf gods, do your thing

If this Masters slips away from Rory McIlroy, it will go down as one of the biggest heartbreaking moments in modern golf history.

It will make Greg Norman's 1996 meltdown look like amateur night, in fact.

McIlroy has put himself in position to do three incredibly important things this afternoon in the final round of the 2025 Masters.

He can win the Masters, which means he'll forever be a member of the green jacket club and can play the tournament until he no longer desires to do so.

He can win a major championship for the first time since 2014, an almost unthinkable stretch of golf for a player who has spent most of that time in the very prime of his career.

And he can complete the career Grand Slam and become just the 6th man, ever, to win all four major championships. Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan, Player and Sarazen are the only five to do it thus far. Imagine having your name added to that list.

Saturday's golf was something to behold.

McIlroy started the day birdie-eagle-birdie-par-birdie-par and suddenly had a 4-shot lead standing on the 7th tee.

After slipping with bogeys at #8 and #10, Rory got it together again with a birdie at #13 and then a spine-tingling eagle at the 15th hole, where he hoisted "the shot of his life" from 209 yards to 6 feet and rolled in the putt for a "3" on the par-5 hole.

DeChambeau stayed in it, though, with birdies at the 16th and 18th holes, creeping into today's final group to set up a match play scenario for all the marbles. And the green jacket.

Yes, there are others hanging around like Corey Conners (-8), Patrick Reed (-6) and Ludvig Aberg (-6), but it would appear unlikely that both McIlroy and DeChambeau would falter to the extent that one of those three would bypass them.

Conners, in reality, would be leading the tournament himself if he could putt. Alas, he's stationed four shots behind because, per his typical play, his tee-to-green was extraordinary and his putting was forgettable.

It's likely going to be a 2-man race unless Conners, Reed or Aberg -- or one of the other three at 5-under -- somehow goes out and posts something like 63 or 64 and the two leaders can't get anything going.

McIlroy vs. DeChambeau.

Just like Pinehurst last June, except this time they're in the same group, staring at one another from the very first tee.

I don't dislike DeChambeau. I see his charm, both as a golfer and an entertainer. In this era where the internet often times outdistances actual substance, DeChambeau has built himself an envious brand. And make no mistake about it, he's a remarkably talented player.

But this, today, has to be the moment where the golf gods intervene and give McIlroy the victory he so richly deserves. No man deserves the kind of heartache he's endured over the last half dozen years, some of which, admittedly, he's authored all on his own.

Either way, McIlroy has been a wonderful pioneer for the sport and someone who has carried himself well under the immense spotlight that accompanies the #1 player in the world.

This is, as they said last night on the Golf Channel, "what the people want to see". There's no doubt about that.

But if we're operating under that premise, I think most of the people want to see McIlroy work his way into the winner's circle this afternoon.

I hope the golf gods are watching.

And I hope they have a heart.

Rory has it in his grasp. But it's not going to be easy. In fact, it's probably going to be the hardest 18 holes of his life.

Come on golf gods, guide him to the finish line.

For those of you interested, I'll be hosting a 2-hour edition of "Fairways and Greens" later today from 4-6 pm on 105.7 The Fan.

We'll be following every shot of the Masters, obviously, plus we'll take a look at the quarterfinals of the MSGA A-Team matches that take place on Sunday and we'll dive into a version of "Breaking 90" for those of you trying to shoot something that starts with an "8" this summer.

Shane Lowry and Jordan Spieth both made some late Saturday news when one of them didn't talk long enough to the media and one of them spoke, perhaps, too long.

Lowry got irritated at the outset of his press conference when the first question posed to him was about the play of Rory McIlroy.

"I'm not going to stand here and talk about Rory for 10 minutes," Lowry said. "I'm in position to win the Masters, so that's what I'd like to focus on."

He didn't end there, though. Lowry, who finished his day bogey-bogey to slip back to to 5-under par, referenced the ongoing controversy surrounding Collin Morikawa, who has been outspoked of late about the amount of access the media has with players following their tournament rounds.

"I don't think coming up here and talking to you guys right after we're finished playing is a good idea," Lowry said. "I think we should get a half hour, at least, to get ourselves together. I'm always worried about saying something stupid, like I probably already have."

Lowry then moved away from the microphone and said, "I think I'll just go ahead and leave now before I do that...before I say something stupid." And with that, he exited the media area.

Spieth, meanwhile, referenced on several occasions during his interview how "we're not supposed to talk about mud balls here", yet he mentioned how frustrated he was with "mud balls" throughout his post-round press conference.

It's probably true that one of the rules handed down to players involves not mentioning "mud balls" during any media interviews. TV commentators are forbidden from referencing mud balls as well.

Spieth, however, obviously read the memo but didn't care.

"I know we're not supposed to talk about mud balls," he said. "But I got several of them today."

The bet here is Spieth also gets a note in his locker on Sunday morning. Something about stopping by to see Chairman Fred Ridley after his round today.

As for Lowry, he's right. And he's wrong.

It probably does make sense to give golfers 30 minutes to cool off and digest their round before facing the media.

That said, it's not brain surgery, either. All you have to do is stand up there and talk for 10 minutes and, as Lowry pointed out, just don't say something stupid or something you regret. It's not that hard, really.

Saturday April 12, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3883

are we getting...an instant classic?

A couple of weeks ago on the golf radio show I host, Fairways and Greens on 105.7, a listener asked me to rank my top 5 favorite Masters tournaments ever.

I've seen them all since 1987, basically, although my formal introduction to golf came at the 1985 Masters, a story I chronicle below.

The 1987 Masters actually made my Top 5 list. You remember that one, I assume. Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros and Larry Mize all proceeded to a sudden death playoff after Norman came within a whisker of winning on the 18th hole.

Ballesteros bowed out on the first playoff hole. Norman then hit the 11th green in regulation but was stationed some 60 feet beneath the hole in the bottom right corner of the green. Mize missed the green badly, off to the right, some 20 yards shy of the putting surface.

We all know what happened there. Mize miraculously chipped in for birdie and Norman couldn't get his putt to go in and that was that. Larry Mize won the Masters and a lifetime of Augusta misery started for Greg Norman.

The 2019 Masters that Tiger won topped my list of all-time favorite Masters. No explanation needed there, so none will be given.

But...

I think we have a very good chance of the 2025 Masters immediately planting itself on my Top 5 list, your Top 5 list, and anyone's Top 5 list of Masters tournaments.

This one could be -- I know some of you who can't handle a joke won't like this, but it fits -- a sports instant classic by early Sunday evening.

The leaderboard is packed with great names and incredible storylines.

We referenced Justin Rose here yesterday, who still leads at 8-under par after a second round 71. Rose was the playoff loser to Sergio Garcia in 2017 and handled it with such grace and class that perhaps that this is the week the golf gods have decided to repay him for that show of sportsmanship.

He's the only player in the field without a 3-putt so far in the 2025 Masters. If his putter continues to comply over the last 36 holes, he could very well win this golf tournament. Putting has always held Rose back a bit. Maybe it won't in 2025.

Bryson DeChambeau is at 7-under, just one shot back, and if you listen to the way he's speaking in post-round interviews, it's pretty clear that the defending U.S. Open champion has "found it" this week at Augusta National. There's confidence and then there's whatever Bryson has going for him this week.

Rory McIlroy turned a disastrous last hour of the opening round on Thursday into a memorable 2nd round performance, as the 4-time major champion produced a stirring second round 66 on Friday that has him firmly in the hunt for a green jacket and the career grand slam. Oh, and there's that pesky little back nine duel with DeChambeu at last June's U.S. Open that is probably still top of mind for McIlroy as he moves his way around the Georgia pines.

Scottie Scheffler has won two green jackets and sits at 5-under par through 36 holes. Scheffler made a miraculous bogey at the final hole on Friday after hitting a 15-handicap duck hook off the 18th tee. Unless something really wacky happens, Scheffler will be hovering around the lead during Sunday's final round. They call Saturday "moving day" and most golf followers expect Scheffler will do some moving today.

Shane Lowry is there with Scheffler at 5-under-par and has the look of a guy who might just sneak in there and be a winner on Sunday afternoon. If you're looking for someone to throw a few bucks on as the weekend begins, this is your guy. Then again, we gave to him to you in our Masters Top 10 earlier this week, so I'm sure you were "on him" anyway. Right? Let's hope so.

Oh, and speaking of 5-under and potential winners, could some guy named Matt McCarty do the unthinkable and win at Augusta National in his first-ever appearance? McCarty won on the Korn Ferry Tour three times last year and is the leader in the "shots gained" stat at the Masters through 36 holes. He can play. But can he win? It wouldn't seem like it given that first-timers just don't win at Augusta National. But that would be a story for the ages if a guy no one really knows somehow wins.

There are others in the 4 under and 3 under range to consider as well, including Ludvig Aberg (-4), Jason Day (-4), Hideki Matsuyama (-3) and Collin Morikawa (-3). A weekend of 67-67 could be more than enough to get one of those guys a green jacket, but history says a four-shot deficit through 36 holes is generally the limit someone can overcome.

The best storylines?

Well, the obvious top one is DeChambeau-McIlroy. Nothing will top that one if those two are in the hunt and playing together on Sunday afternoon.

Throw Scheffler in there with either of those two and you have some special golf in store.

A Lowry-McIlroy battle would also be something. Two Irishmen playing for a green jacket, with one of them needing to win to complete the career grand slam.

Any way you slice it, though, the weekend is setting up to be memorable.

An instant classic and a Top 5 Masters ever?

Yes, indeed.

In case you missed it, an unsettling story from the Masters made the rounds on Friday, after it was disclosed that Masters rookie Jose Luis Ballester urinated in Rae's Creek that borders the 13th hole at Augusta National.

Ballester admitted to the faux pas on Friday during a media interview, then shockingly doubled down and said, "I'd do it again if I had to", which will probably all but guarantee he'll never play at Augusta National again unless he somehow earns a spot in the field as he did this year by virtue of winning the 2024 U.S. Amateur.

That said, it's a little bit shocking he wasn't disqualified from the tournament by Masters officials when they discovered that he had, in fact, relieved himself in front of shocked Masters "patrons" on the 13th hole on Thursday.

Calling Rae's Creek "a river" probably also didn't sit well with the members of Augusta National, but that comment paled in comparison to a player in the tournament taking a leak during tournament play and having the patrons in attendance clap for him as he buckled up and headed to the 13th green.

"Just like one of us," they probably all thought as Ballester trudged to the green wiping his hands on his golf towel.

Yes, we've all peed on the golf course at some point. That much is true.

But we haven't peed on the 13th hole at Augusta National and we haven't peed during the tournament and we haven't peed in front of people who watch the whole episode in disbelief.

I'm seriously surprised he was allowed to continue to play on Friday. That says something about the membership at Augusta National, I'd say. Known for their hardline approach to their tradition of excellence, I fully expected the Spanish amateur to be kicked out of the tournament yesterday morning.

Alas, he missed the cut and is headed home. I hope he got some great pictures of the course and the clubhouse. He likely won't be back.

Bernhard Langer won the Masters two times, first in 1985 and then again in 1993.

As I've told the story here before, Langer played a huge role in my introduction to the sport of golf.

During the 1985 Masters, I was traveling with the Baltimore Blast at an away game in Cleveland. We had a player on our team from Germany named Bernd Holzebein, who knew Langer from their days growing up together.

I didn't know anything about golf in April of 1985.

On the way to a game at the Richfield Coliseum, Holzenbein asked coach Kenny Cooper if we could stop the bus while he ran into a gas station to check on the Masters since his friend, Bernhard Langer, was leading the tournament.

At a traffic light approaching the course, Cooper instructed me to go into the gas station with Holzenbein, who didn't speak great English. We went in together and there was a TV on and Holzenbein asked me to see if they would turn the channel to the Masters. I did and they complied and Holzenbein stood there for 3 minutes watching the final hole while the team sat in the bus waiting for the two of us to come out.

As Langer made his final putt, Holzenbein started to cry. I'll never forget it.

In 2021, I had the privilege of playing with Langer on Monday and Tuesday at a practice round for the U.S. Senior Open. My friend Larry Moody, the former PGA Tour chaplain, set up the pairing with Langer and he was a remarkable and gracious host.

I was sitting in the Eagle's Nest dining room in late June when my phone rang and I looked down to see an unknown number from Florida calling me.

"Hello, is this Drew?" the voice asked.

"Yes it is," I said.

"Drew, this is Bernhard Langer. I was wondering if you would like to play a practice round with me in a couple of weeks at Omaha Country Club."

Straight to the point. No small talk. Just a greeting and a question.

I obviously accepted his invitation and wound up playing two rounds with him. Langer was everything I thought he would be. Not only was he friendly and a gentleman, but he taught me a lot about tournament preparation.

On the 2nd hole at Omaha Country Club during Monday's practice round, Langer advised me not to hit any practice putts in the lower left corner of the green because "That pin location yielded the most birdies of any pin location when we played here in 2013, so they won't use it this week in any of the four rounds."

And he was right. The front left pin location was never used on the 2nd hole of the 2021 U.S. Senior Open. Langer had no interest in wasting 60 or 90 seconds of his time practicing to a pin location that wouldn't be used during the tournament.

But it was a comment Langer made to me on Wednesday that really changed my outlook on the tournament.

We bumped into one another in the locker room late that afternoon.

"Are you having fun this week?" Langer asked me.

"Well, I'm having the greatest golf week of my life," I said. "It's been amazing so far."

Langer stopped shaving for a second and looked at me.

"Can I give you some advice?" Langer asked.

"Of course," I replied. "Anything. Please."

"Just have fun. That's it," Langer said. "I know you want to compete and play well and that's great. But you're not going to win the tournament. Don't put so much pressure on yourself that you forget to have fun and enjoy this with your family. Just have fun out there."

That comment totally lifted me up. I was feeling immense pressure to play well. I left the locker room engergized and vowing to "just have fun" at the event.

I'll never forget the way Langer treated a guy he had no real reason to treat well other than he's a wonderful human being and a faithful Christian man.

So, yesterday, as Langer walked off the 18th green and I watched it unfold at a happy hour at the Center Club in downtown Baltimore, I politely clapped for him and told those gathered in the room with me about Langer and his incredible gesture of friendship to me in 2021.

I'll always be indebted to him, both from that 1985 Masters win where I got introduced to golf and then again in Omaha four years ago.

Friday April 11, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3882

rose blooms on day one

You knew the headline had to reference a rose, blooming, spring, etc. I mean, that's low hanging fruit you just can't ignore.

Yes, Justin Rose is your first round Masters leader at 7 under par. That's not quite the surprise you might otherwise think it is. Rose is a terrific player, still, even at age 44. And his Masters history is impressive for sure, with a 2nd place finish (playoff loss in 2017) and 5 other top 10 finishes to his credit.

Some folks don't think a 44 year old with only major championship win to his credit can win this edition of the Masters but I don't know that I agree with that. Rose can win this golf tournament. Will he? That's what we'll find out over the next three days.

He's never been known for having a great short game and his putting over the course of his career has ranged from excellent to problematic. But those two issues seemingly haven't bothered him all that much at Augusta National given his track record there. And, as I tell my high school players all the time, if you want to avoid having to use your short game, just hit more greens in regulation.

Justin Rose can win this tournament. And, I'll say this early on Friday morning, I'd love to see him win this week, despite the fact he's not on any of my wagering cards. I've always liked the way Rose carries himself on the course and I remember his post-round interview with Garcia after the 2017 playoff loss to Sergio at the Masters.

That interview immediately impressed me. And it still sticks with me today. The way Rose handled an incredibly disappointing loss was a wonderful teaching moment for any competitor, but it's especially meaningful when you're trying to coach impressionable young golfers who want to do jumping jacks and say "look at me!" after a good shot and then brood and disappear after a bad shot.

I'd love to see Justin Rose win this golf tournament, but he has a lot of golf to play and there are some incredibly talented players trailing him who are going to fire every bullet they have over the final 54 holes.

Scottie Scheffler is looking to join Phil Mickelson as a 3-time Masters champion and, even though no one has really mentioned it, Scheffler is also looking to do something at Augusta National that Tiger never managed to do. He's looking to win the green jacket three times in four years. Scheffler's perfectly positioned at 4-under par after a bogey-free round of 68 on Thursday.

It's one thing to shoot 68 at Augusta with 6 birdies and 2 bogeys. Or maybe your putter is scorching hot and you make 8 birdies but you also deliver 4 bogeys along the way. Those examples are both still "68". But to play Augusta National without a bogey? That's spectacular golf on one of the toughest layouts these players will encounter in 2025.

The sensational Swede, Ludvig Aberg, is also at 4-under par. Can he win? You bet. He might very well win, in fact. And if he doesn't win this year, he'll win the Masters very soon. And probably more than once. As I told someone here recently in a Q & A column, my wager is that Aberg eventually wins more majors than Rory. But he has to win his first, first. This weekend could be the one.

Corey Conners is a sublime Canadian ball striker who has fought a balky putter throughout his career. He joined Aberg and Scheffler at 4-under par. Conners has three Top 10 finishes at Augusta National in seven appearances. The golf course is a perfect suit for his ball flight and style.

His short game is decent, but not great. His putting ranges from "how is he a pro?" to "no one should miss that many 10 footers" to "Conners is putting well, so no one's going to beat him this week."

If Conners can putt well this weekend, he's going to be in the hunt for his first major championship victory.

He was 8th in shots gained on Thursday and, more importantly, 5th in the shots gained: putting statistical category. If he finishes the tournament on Sunday in the Top 10 in those two departments, he's going to win.

Bryson DeChambeau is in a great spot at 3-under par, looking to win his 3rd career major. He hit 12 of 18 greens and 11 of 14 fairways. DeChambeau has had success at Augusta National and has also been tortured by Augusta National. If he can stay in it until Sunday, DeChambeau could be slipping on the green jacket. As he has displayed in his two U.S. Open wins, DeChambeau knows how to close, although Rory did help a little last June at Pinehurst.

Other big names are chasing, including the aforementioned Rory McIlroy, who stood in the fairway at the par-5 15th hole at 4 under par and walked off the 18th green one hour later at even par 72. McIlroy made double-bogey 7 at that 15th hole after chipping his 3rd shot over the putting surface and into the water in front of the green. He then made double at the 17th hole. And just like that, he sat at 72 after round one.

Collin Morikawa was rolling along at 3-under after an eagle at #13, then made three bogeys in four holes coming down the stretch to join McIlroy at even par 72. Morikawa, a pre-tournament favorite, hit just 9 greens in regulation on Thursday, which shines a light directly on how he posted a 72 instead of a 68.

Oh, and for all the good, there was some bad. Like, really bad. As is, historically bad.

Nick Dunlap shot 90 yesterday.

Yes, 90.

No, he didn't make a 12 or 13 somewhere to artificially inflate his score.

No, he wasn't injured.

He just shot 90, that's all.

Although Dunlap didn't want to speak to the media afterwards, one of his playing partners, Robert MacIntyre, did speak about Dunlap's performance.

“To be honest,” MacIntyre said after his round of 75, "Nick was struggling out there today, but his attitude was solid. He didn’t get in the way. He didn’t do anything that was going to affect his two other playing partners because we’ve got a job to do. You wouldn't have known what he was shooting based on the way he carried himself."

If you're going to shoot 90, do it quietly and don't ruin everyone else's day. Impressive stuff from Dunlap in the face of some not-very-impressive golf.

Day two looms and players will be pressing to make the weekend cut. Some big names in need of an under par round to guarantee they'll be around for the weekend include Jon Rahm (75), Tony Finau (75), Wyndham Clark (76), Adam Scott (77) and Sepp Straka (78).

faith in sports

I wish I would have known more about this Florida basketball team and how much their faith played a role in their respective lives. I would have been rooting for them to win.

Alas, they didn't need me.

This quick video below highlights how faith played a huge role in Florida's win over Houston on Monday night. I say this all the time about athletes who get interviewed in the aftermath of a personal win or a team victory.

When an athlete has the chance to say "Look at me!" or "Look at what I just did!" or "Look at who I just beat!" and they instead say, "Look at how great God is!", they immediately become one of my favorites.

This might only be 2 minutes and some change, but it's a video I'd encourage you to watch. God is great, indeed.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

Thursday April 10, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3881

1,000 goals for ovi?

The inbox is so flooded with questions I don't think I could answer them all before, uh, Charlie Morton wins his first game as an Oriole.

Like, seriously, it could take another week for him to win a game and it might take me more than a week to answer all of the e-mails I have received from all of you.

I'm glad you care. And I apologize that I don't get to them more often.

I'll get a bunch out of the way today, though. Watch and see.

Before we get to that, I do want to offer an opinion on the ongoing debate in the Comments section about "the better team". I realize the back-and-forth started in the NCAA tournament after Duke lost and a number of people -- not here, but elsewhere -- thought Duke was the best team despite losing in their Final Four match-up to Houston.

It's not really for me to pick sides in this argument, rather to just offer my own insight.

I'll wind up agreeing with some of you and disagreeing with others.

I don't subscribe to the idea that Florida is the best team just because they won the championship. They did beat 2 of the 3 other Final Four teams to win the title, that much is true. But they didn't, obviously, beat Duke. Duke lost before they had the chance to meet up with Florida.

Here's what can't be argued: Florida is the '24-25 NCAA champion. That much is true, for sure. And they very well might have been the best team, too. But I don't know that Duke can automatically be dismissed just because they lost on Saturday and Florida didn't.

Therein lies the debate, I assume.

People just turn the debate into a black-and-white discussion: "Well, Florida won the championship and Duke didn't (and neither did Auburn or Houston) so, therefore, Florida is better than those teams."

I just don't know if I buy that.

Let's look at it like this. And this is actually a "real" example because some off-the-radar-screen teams have weaved their way through the bracket before and made unlikely runs to the Final Four.

Pretend, for a second, that Grand Canyon -- who lost to Maryland in the first round -- would have somehow magically advanced to the Final Four, then won on Saturday, and shocked the entire world by beating Duke or Houston in the Final.

Grand Canyon was a 12 seed. They were, or are, Grand Canyon. There's ZERO chance they're the best college basketball team in the country. But they caught a March/April heater and beat six teams and won the title. So they'll always have that to reflect upon. But the best team in the country? I don't think so.

It didn't work out this way because Delaware lost in the CAA final, but what if Delaware, who went 5-13 in the regular season, would have won the CAA championship? Would anyone honestly consider Delaware to be the "best" team in the conference? Of course not. They had 18 games to prove what they were and they won 5 times. They stunk. But they won three games and almost won a 4th that would have made them "conference champions".

But let's also not get it twisted. The team that wins the conference or national championship often times IS the best team. All I'm saying is it doesn't always work that way, that's all. Sometimes, Duke loses to Houston and Duke would still beat Florida, potentially, if the two got matched up with one another.

I'm not trying to stir the pot, here. I just think it's worth pointing out that the better team doesn't always win. That's all.

Adam asks -- "Hey Drew, serious question. Could Ovi wind up scoring 1,000 goals in his career? What's he have left in the tank?"

DF says -- "Well, I have no idea how many more years he's going to play, but I have to assume the 2025-2026 will be his last season. Maybe he goes two more seasons and '27-28 is the end for him? If that's the case, he could creep up close to 1,000, sure.

My guess is next year is his last. And he can put up another 35 or 40 goals if he's healthy. I think it's fair to say he was VERY driven this year. Heck, if not for that early season injury, he'd have 50 goals by now.

The answer to your question is: Maybe?

It just depends on how much longer he plays. I think Ovi finishes with something around 945, which gives Auston Matthews plenty to shoot for in the next 10-12 years. Matthews currently has 398 goals.

Don asks -- "I was watching the Golf Channel coverage of the Masters and they were talking about how the golf course dries out quickly because of some kind of electronic system in the grass? Can you explain and elaborate?"

DF says -- "They were referring to the "sub-air-system", which is actually under the turf, not "in" the grass itself. It's basically a huge vacuum cleaner that runs all throughout the golf course and sucks any moisture out of the fairways, rough and greens and funnels it to a location off property.

It basically ensures dry (or mostly dry) playing conditions at the course. If you're on the property and the system is in use, you can actually here it rumbling if you listen closely enough and you're near one of the drainage areas.

There are lots of things that make Augusta National great and unique. The sub-air-system is one of those (costly) things."

Alan asks -- "What is it with the Orioles and their base running blunders? How many games will they lose this season because they can't run the bases smartly or properly? The betting over/under is 5.5 games. Which way are you going DF?"

DF says -- "It does seem like the O's involve themselves in a lot of Keystone Cops moments on the basepaths, I'll agree with you there.

That said, I have to assume other teams have similar issues running the bases, but we just don't know that because we're busy following the Orioles and not the other 29 MLB teams.

But, yes, we do have issues running the bases smartly. There's no denying it. How many games will bad baserunning cost us? I don't think we'll lose 6 because of it. That seems like a high number. I'll take the under and hope I'm right!"

R.J. asks -- "If you're doing a Mail Bag column this week, can you name 3 things that jump out at you after two weeks of the 2025 baseball season. Thanks, Drew!"

DF says -- "After Wednesday's loss, the White Sox are 2-9. I didn't think it would be possible for them to be as bad as they were a year ago but I think they might be after all. They're 0-5 on the road already.

I think the N.L. West might be crazy good. Like, the Dodgers finish with 105 wins. The Padres finish with 99. And the Giants finish with 95. Something like that. There's a lot of baseball left, obviously, and it's "likely" that either San Diego or San Francisco tails off at some point, but for now, all three of those teams look legit.

Aaron Judge is going to sniff around the single-season home run record this year. He'll have 65 on September 10. He won't reach 73, but it will be the talk of the baseball world for a while. That is, if he can stay healthy.

There's my three things: White Sox might be REALLY bad again. The N.L. West could have three teams with 95 or more wins. And Judge will be in the spotlight in September for his home run chase."

Carl asks -- "How long is the leash on Charlie Morton before the O's have to make a decision on him?"

DF says -- "Well, I'd say it's pretty long based on the fact that there aren't really any other pitchers out there to be had and all of their other starters seem to be getting hurt."

It's one thing if they have GrayRod and Eflin both healthy. But they've also lost Suarez as well. So you're down to Morton, Sugano, Povich and Kremer at this point. There's nowhere for Morton to go or else they'd have a 3-man rotation.

Now, if you're asking how long they can tolerate "this version" of Morton, I'd say what I've been saying. 10 starts is the first barometer. Let's see where he is at that point. We know he's been very "meh" in 3 starts, but it's early, and he's old, and it's fair to give him at least 10 starts before you pink slip him."

J.K. asks -- "Why is it so hard for a golfer to win all four majors? I'm not a golf expert like you but it seems weird that it doesn't happen more often."

DF says -- "Well, for the same reason not a lot of tennis players win all four of those majors, I guess.

A) Golf is hard. Playing high level tennis probably is, too. But playing championship level golf is very, very difficult, which is why only 30 or so players have ever won more than 3 majors in their career.

B) You have to be playing your very best golf that week and then hope/need that no one else in the field is going to have the same kind of game or better than you for those four days.

C) The style of the golf course does matter. In the old days, for example, Ballesteros could never win a U.S. Open because he was too wild off the tee and the rough was just too punishing for that tournament circa 1980-1990. Some guys who aren't great chippers and putters aren't going to fare well at Augusta National.

D) It's just really difficult to put together four great days on four separate occasions in your career and beat the entire rest of the golfing world on those four days.

Of the current players, McIlroy obviously has the best chance because Augusta National fits his game very well. Spieth only needs one more, but I'm not sure the PGA (birdie fest) is a great fit for him. I think the two players with the best chance to win all four are Morikawa (needs the U.S. Open and Masters) and Rahm (needs the PGA and British)."

Wednesday April 9, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3880

and the winner is...

We're down to the last man standing in #DMD's Masters Top 10.

I feel very good about the guy you'll see at #1 below. I also feel strongly about two others in my top 10 as well; Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay.

I should mention that you haven't seen Scottie Scheffler mentioned over the last 10 days because it's obviously somewhat likely he'll win again this year. Mentioning Scheffler right now as a potential winner is akin to mentioning Tiger as a potential winner circa 2005.

That said, I don't trust Scheffler's putting in 2025. I'd be more inclined to go with him had he won once or twice already this season. But the "off" putting we've seen from him thus far is concerning.

Anyway...

If you pressed me to pick someone who could lead wire-to-wire, it's Morikawa. Everything about his game dovetails perfectly with the golf course.

If you asked me who out of my list is most likely to go 71-68-64-66 and make a 15-foot winning birdie putt on the first playoff hole, it would be Cantlay. When his putter gets hot, nothing stops him.

And if you asked me who is the guy that just plods along and puts up 4 under virtually every day and is left with a five-footer to win on Sunday and rolls it in, it's the guy you'll see below.

Morikawa, Cantlay and my other pick (below). That's who I'm feeling really good about, although I'll have a little piece riding on everyone else in my top 10 by Thursday morning.

Nothing in golf beats the Masters tournament.

These are four great days starting tomorrow.

Don't anyone bother calling me until Sunday night. My phone is on "Do Not Disturb" until Jim Nantz is finished presenting the green jacket to the 2025 winner.

Speaking of winners, congratulations to Ryan Greene who won our March Madness contest with an incredible score of 115 points!

125 points was the maximum score in the contest. Ryan missed only two questions: The first round OT (more/less 1.5) and the Maryland/Grand Canyon over/under of 81.5. (which, by the way, Maryland scored 81 points in that game!)

He had the exact Final Four and the overall winner!

He receives a $100 gift cart to High's/Carroll Fuel for his efforts.

2nd place was Kirby Truitt with 105 points.

3rd place was Owen Garber with 100 points.

4th place was Dan Hudson at 90 points.

And 5th place was Cary Loeser at 80 points.

Thanks to all of you who participated!

What happens first in 2025? You have these three options: Charlie Morton gets a pitching victory, the Caps get eliminated from the playoffs or Kevin Willard leaves Villanova and takes the job at UCLA?

It's a toss-up, I think.

Morton wasn't "terrible" last night in the O's 4-3 loss at Arizona. But it was, I guess, an "indifferent" kind of start for the 41 year old.

He did manage to hang around for 5 innings, throwing 87 pitches and allowing just four hits and all 4 earned runs to fall to 0-3 on the season.

Alas, he did walk 5 Arizona hitters.

But is last night's start about as a good as we're going to get out of him in 2025?

That was the text exchange I had with my O's-crazy-friend Chris last night in the 4th inning when he was blasting Morton for his inability to protect an early 2-0 lead.

"This guy's garbage," Chris wrote.

"If you think this start is "garbage", I don't know what to tell you," I shot back. "He's in the 5th inning and the game is still in the balance. I know he's putting on a lot of base runners, but he's Charlie Morton, not Garrett Crochet."

"This is the kind of start he's going to give you a couple of times a month, I assume," I concluded.

And that's really the point with Morton. He's a journeyman in the December of his career. I keep saying this but it's true. He's Eddie Harris from the movie "Major League".

He's probably going to be throwing a spitter at some point this season in an effort to get guys out. That seems like the next logical step for Morton.

Last night was really not that much different than his first two starts. He wasn't effective in the first two and he wasn't overly effective last night, either, but he did enough to keep the O's in the game until the Baltimore bats fizzled over the last two innings.

If Charlie Morton winds up being the reason the O's go 86-76 and miss the playoffs, our issues are far deeper than a 41-year old starting pitcher, trust me.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris. #7 was Patrick Cantlay. #6 was Ludvig Aberg. #5 was Shane Lowry. #4 was Collin Morikawa. #3 was Rory McIlroy. #2 was Wyndham Clark.

#1 Hideki Matsuyama -- I always say, whenever you're trying to narrow down a projected Masters winner, start with anyone who has won in the last five years or so and say "Is there game solid enough to win again this year?"

In Hideki Matsuyama's case, the answer is a resounding "Most definitely!"

After starting the season with a win in Hawaii and a 7-for-7 cuts made streak, the Japanese star and 2021 Masters champion has cooled off quite a bit, with two consecutive missed cuts at the players and last weekend in Houston.

But that doesn't faze me.

His track record at Augusta National is the only thing I look at and, with a win in '21 and 10 straight made cuts, the Masters is the major he's most likely to win.

Matsuyama's 2025 stats are fine. He's 13th on TOUR in shots gained and 34th in shots gained: approach. His driving and putting numbers (both in the 90's) are just OK, but, again, we're talking about Augusta National, where his game seems to come to life every April.

His putting is generally the biggest concern, but if he hits his irons close 6 or 7 times per-round and makes 5 of those, he's staring 14 or 16 under in the face over four days.

I can see a four-day total of something like 70-68-67-67 (-16) for him. The weather should be good, the course should play firm and I assume that will knock scoring down a bit.

Matsuyama is more likely to win somewhere around 14 under than he is 20 under.

I think the smart pick is always a former champion. As I noted above, it's hard to not think Scottie Scheffler has a great shot at winning the tournament based on the fact he's won it 2 times in the last 3 years.

I feel the same way about Matsuyama. This is the one major that's suited for him. I love his chances this week.

Green jacket #2 for Hideki wouldn't surprise me at all.

Tuesday April 8, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3879

it wasn't "cougar night" after all

A few weeks back I hosted an event at Golf Galaxy in Towson on behalf of FCA Maryland Golf and my old (well, "longtime") friend Mark Suchy stopped out to say hi and play our par 3 contest.

It was the Sunday of the NCAA tournament selection show and we naturally got around to talking college hoops during Mark's visit.

"Florida is the best team I've seen," he said emphatically. "I don't see anyone beating them in the tournament. They're my winner."

I love having smart friends.

Suchy's prophecy came true last night, although it took a wild rally in what became a college hoops instant classic, as the Gators worked their way back from a 12-point second half deficit to edge Houston, 65-63, and win the national title.

Sports, man. Some crazy things happen along the way.

Houston played almost flawless basketball throughout the first three-quarters of the game, with just four turnovers in the first 36:35 of contest. But then they gave it away five times in the final 3:24 -- including three times in the final minute. During one stretch in the second half, Florida got stops on nine straight Houston possessions.

The final few seconds were chaotic. Houston had the ball with almost five seconds remaining but failed to even get off a shot, as the swarming Florida defense negated what might have been a super-instant-classic had the Cougars managed to pour in a game-winning three pointer at the buzzer.

One thing that stands out when you watch games like last night is this: There was ZERO chance Maryland was beating either one of those teams. Well, in fact, Maryland didn't beat Florida. And Houston would have punked them, too. Both of those programs are very solid indeed.

Notwithstanding the Kevin Willard charade that might have contributed to Maryland getting run out of the gym by the Gators, there's still no way the Terps could have gone toe-toe with either of those squads under the spotlight of a national championship game.

I'll have the results of our March Madness college basketball contest in the next day or two. I have someone helping input everything from the weekend and last night and we should have it all ready to be announced tomorrow, but it might be Thursday morning.

Thanks again to all of you who participated!

With baseball season now moving fast-and-furious, I do want to bring this up (and I'm sure I'll have to do it again in mid-June when the O's drop 5 of 6 and people are lashing out at them) and say it "publicly" for everyone here.

This website "covers" the Orioles on a daily basis, meaning we (well, me, and Randy) watch the games and opine on all of them, mostly. Even mid-April games that some folks render meaningless are covered here. As are games in May, June and so on.

This notion from a few people that we shouldn't put much emphasis on one game is middle school stuff. There are 162 games. They all matter. We cover them all like they matter.

So, if someone botches a ball in center field and it costs the Orioles a game, that player is going to be held accountable for that in the same way he will be lauded for hitting a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to give the O's a 5-3 win.

There seems to be this idea "out there" that it's silly to be overly concerned about today's game when it's "just one of 162". If that's the case, then, we'd never cover any of them.

Zach Eflin was great last night in Arizona. Do we ignore that because it's early April and, well, no one will remember the April 7 win over Arizona in late September?

Of course not.

In the same way we won't ignore Jorge Mateo running around in center field on Sunday in Kansas City trying to track down a fly ball that 90% of the "real" outfielders in baseball would have hauled in with their eyes closed.

We cover baseball here. The games are important. All of them.

I just wanted to make that a point as the season starts and I see chatter here (and receive e-mails, like the one from Joel yesterday) about "beating up the team" in April. These are real games they're playing now, so we treat them as such here.

With the Masters starting on Thursday, I'm going to run my annual Masters contest as well today and tomorrow.

Here's how it works: There's a $20 entry fee (payable via Venmo). You will receive three golfers, selected at random, including at least one former champion from 2010 through 2020. The finishing position of your three players gets added up and the person with the LOWEST point total wins the contest.

The winner receives 40% of the total entry money we receive plus a free foursome at any of the Classic 5 golf courses. Second place receives a $50 gift card to Golf Galaxy. A tie for first or second is broken by using the highest place finisher.

As a bonus -- well, you might not consider this a bonus, but that's your call -- I'll come out and play with your group if you'd like. If not, you and your three friends can tee it up on your own.

The remaining 60% of the entry fee will go to helping fund the monthly free junior golf clinics I run for the Maryland FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) golf program.

If you'd like to enter, send your $20 Venmo entry to me: Drew-Forrester-1

You will receive your three golfers via a Venmo reply. Everyone receives three players (we do NOT include any former champions prior to 2010) including one former champion from 2010 through 2020.

Any player missing the cut is allocated 5 more points than the last place finisher receives. In other words, if 58 players make the cut, anyone missing the cut receives 63 points.

You may enter as many times as you like but each entry requires $20.

Thank you for supporting FCA Maryland Golf. Our first free monthly clinic is Wednesday, April 23 at Pine Ridge at 6 pm. Please come out and join us!!

We're starting to prepare for the summer months around here at #DMD and, with that, also thinking forward a bit to football season as well. If you're interested in potentially being a content contributor here, I have two specific needs: Someone that's interested in Major League Baseball as a whole and someone who would like to offer regular Ravens commentary here.

Randy Morgan does a remarkable job of covering the Orioles for us.

If we can find someone to do something similar on a weekly basis with the rest of MLB, that would be great.

And if you're a Ravens junkie who secretly fancies themselves a "beat reporter" of sorts, I'd love to give you the chance to write and cover the Ravens in 2025.

Shoot me an e-mail if you're interested in either of those: 18inarow@gmail.com

I'll go over what's expected and how it works.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris. #7 was Patrick Cantlay. #6 was Ludvig Aberg. #5 was Shane Lowry. #4 was Collin Morikawa. #3 was Rory McIlroy.

#2 Wyndham Clark -- Wyndham Clark's track record at Augusta National is as robust as mine. And your's.

He played it once, in 2024, and failed to make the cut.

In fact, other than winning the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, Clark hasn't done much of anything in major events in his career.

And yet, I have him at #2? It doesn't make sense, does it?

Maybe not. But I have a feeling he's going to play well this week. That's all it is, really.

Clark runs very hot and cold. He finished 15 under a couple of weeks ago in Houston and ran "hot" all week. I suspect he's going to stay hot this week at the Masters, although it's fair to point out his shots gained: approach numbers are barely TOUR average.

But off the tee he's fine and his putting numbers are actually solid as well.

Clark might very well be a one-hit wonder. I'm willing to admit that. Maybe that 2023 U.S. Open win will be the zenith of his career.

I'm willing to give him 2025 to prove that's not true. I think he's a great driver of the ball and a player who makes birdies in bunches when his putter cooperates.

There's nothing, really, about his '25 season to date that suggests this is going to be a special week for him at Augusta National. Call it a "hunch", if you like. But he played great at Houston a couple of weeks ago and there was no one in the golf world who was thinking "Wyndham Clark might win the U.S. Open next week" when he won at LACC two years ago.

I might be the only one on Clark, but at +8000 to win, I think he's well worth a small investment.

Monday April 7, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3878

"why are you ignoring the obvious?"

Regular #DMD contributor Mitch checked in early Sunday evening with an e-mail on the Orioles and their slow start and wondering, among other things, why I seem unfazed by what we're seeing ten days into the 2025 season.

Others here have offered similar opinions early on this season.

Take away the 12-2 rout of the Blue Jays on opening day and the 8-5 home opener win and there really hasn't been that much to get excited about thus far.

I get it.

I also get that the O's played the first 7 games without their best player and then lost Colton Cowser a week into the season.

One of their top starters has yet to pitch.

I get that too.

Anyway, Mitch wonders why we're all so soft when it comes to the O's and their slow start. Do you wonder the same thing? Last year, a bunch of people here got their panties in a bunch anytime we broke down a meaningless game in June or July. Should we worry about April and May losses? Or should we wait until September or October when the losses have a greater impact?

Too soft on the O's?

Too hard on them?

Mitch thinks we're soft. Or, at least, that I'm soft.

DF, when are you going to come over to the dark side and start blasting the Orioles for this play we're seeing from them? I think Paul from Towson and I might be the only two people really watching the games. Our starting pitching isn't good, our defense is terrible, our baseball IQ is junk and we're still being managed by the same clown who managed us into the ground in the playoffs last October. Why are you being so soft with them this season? Why are you ignoring the obvious? The manager is terrible and their off-season was also terrible. Last year you would blow them up when they played bad baseball. Come on DF, show some life and give them hell for us!"

I don't know where to begin.

I will start, though, by laughing out loud at the lineup Brandon Hyde used yesterday. If that wasn't a recipe for a 4-1 loss, no lineup is a recipe for a 4-1 loss.

For starters, you put Jorge Mateo in center field and it takes about 4 minutes for his insertion into that odd spot to bite Hyde and the Orioles in their hind quarters. Because no baseball statisticians ever give Major League outfielders errors, they didn't give one to Mateo on that first inning fly ball, but it was a ball your Uncle Ned could have hauled in even well into his 40's.

Hyde talked about match-up situations and all that other stuff after Sunday's game but that gets a big, fat "whatever" from most of us who would just prefer you play your best baseball players, especially a week into the season when -- big fact here -- NO ONE ON THE TEAM IS TIRED OR FATIGUED IN ANY WAY.

So, yes, I'm not a baseball savant. But some of the things the team does are really weird. Like this Laureano dude they signed in the off-season...yikes, man. He's going to finish the season with fewer hits than the Little River Band.

The lineup yesterday was as close to "automatic loss" as you can get. I mean, the guys batting 6-7-8-9 (Laureano, Sanchez, Urias and Mateo) went 0-for-10 and no one was surprised by that in the least. Sanchez was the designated hitter, which was cute right up until you remember one of the words in that position is "hitter".

So, yes, the lineup yesterday was goofy. I assume that's on Hyde. If so, he needs to stop in and see the principal for a paddling.

Cade Povich pitched 6 innings, which is good. He also gave up 13 hits in 6 innings, which most certainly isn't good. But he somehow only threw 88 pitches. It wasn't the worst start of his life, by any means, but he can't keep throwing those meatballs up there for Major League hitters to rifle all over the ballpark.

Anyway, back to Mitch's original issue, which is my apparent lack of "bite" against the O's at the 10-game mark of the season.

It's 10 games. They play 162 of them.

Lashing out at the Orioles for being 4-6 and playing (relatively) lousy baseball thus far would be akin to putting the Ravens on full blast for being down 13-6 at halftime of next September's opening game. It's the first half of the first game of the season. "Chill, bruh", as the kids say these days.

Are there things about this Orioles team that are a little unsettling 10 games into the season? Sure. But even those things are worthy of patience. I didn't think the Sanchez signing made sense when it was made in the off-season. I still think it's a bad signing. That said, it's only a bad signing if he's hitting .077 or even .177 in early May, not early April.

The same goes with Ramon Laureano. If he's hitting .111 at the 30 or 40 game mark, then we have ourselves a legit problem.

The O's head to Arizona for three games now. They avoid Corbin Burnes, which is a positive. And if they win a game or two out there, everything's right back on track.

They return home for 9 games in Baltimore after the trip out west. 6-3 in those 9 games seems about right to me, but 7-2 would be even better.

Yes, Mitch, I'm "soft" in the early stages of the season. I'll own that label.

It's too early to worry about any of these bad stuff we're seeing.

Plus we have the Masters coming up this week.

Nothing gets in the way of that golf tournament. The O's could lose all three in Arizona and all three at home vs. Toronto and it wouldn't even faze me.

Thanks for the note, Mitch. Maybe some folks here will chime in and either agree with you or tell you to relax.

Alex Ovechkin was trying hard to score 42 goals this season so he could break Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record.

Heck, if he wouldn't have missed 5 weeks of the season in November and December, he would have scored 55 goals this season instead of the 45 he's probably going to wind up scoring.

Goal #895 came yesterday on Long Island, as Ovi scored from the location affectionately known as "the office" for him, just above the left face-off circle, to pass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal-getter.

And, much like Cal Ripken went on to play 400 more games after breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak, Ovi's not stopping now. He'll come back for at least one more season, everyone suspects, and will likely get somewhere in the 940 goals-scored range before he calls it quits.

Yesterday was amazing, though.

Everyone was there to see history made, Islanders fans included. I can't imagine there was a person in the building who had a ticket and said, "I hope that guy doesn't break the record here this afternoon."

It's like watching the opposing pitcher throw a perfect game.

At some point, as you watch it unfold, you realize you're seeing something you'll never again see in your baseball viewing life.

What, you want someone on your team to get a hit and break up the perfect game when you're losing 6-0 in the 8th inning?

Who cares if your team loses if you get to watch someone throw a perfect game?

The same goes for Sunday in New York. Ovechkin scored career goal #895 against the Islanders. Who cares? If you were there, you saw an epic slice of history being made.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

orioles week (10 days) in review

Week Record: 4-6

Season Record: 4-6

AL East Standing: 5th (2.5 GB of NYY)

Player of the Week: Cedric Mullins - .313 AVG, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 1.092 OPS

The Orioles opened the 2025 season with a rollercoaster of a week, showing flashes of explosive offense mixed with frustrating inconsistencies on the mound and backed by concerning defensive lapses.

The Birds split a four-game series against the division-rival Blue Jays before taking just one of three at home versus the Red Sox, then dropping two of three games in Kansas City.

The first week and a half only fed into preseason fears about the team’s starting pitching. Nominal “ace” Zach Eflin has looked the only reliable starter thus far, with Charlie Morton fighting a losing battle with Father Time while Dean Kremer and Cade Povich remain inconsistent.

Tomoyuki Sugano provided room for some optimism with a solid start in Kansas City on Saturday, after leaving his debut in Toronto early with hand cramps.

The offense has largely been solid, with the second most runs scored in the American League thus far (though still 31 fewer than the Yankees). Though that will hardly matter if the pitching doesn’t improve significantly and quickly.

Baltimore kicked off Opening Day with an emphatic 12-2 statement win over Toronto, powered by a franchise-record six home runs, including two each from Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins. Tyler O’Neill continued his astonishing streak, homering on Opening Day for the sixth straight season. Starter Zach Eflin looked sharp in his season debut, allowing just two hits and two runs in six innings.

Unfortunately, the momentum was short-lived. Toronto bounced back strongly in game two behind Kevin Gausman, holding the Orioles to just three hits in an 8-2 victory. Charlie Morton’s first Orioles start at age 41 didn't go as planned, as he lasted just 3.1 innings, surrendering four runs and seven hits.

Baltimore rebounded in game three, securing a 9-5 victory led by Jordan Westburg’s multi-homer game. Leadoff hitter Colton Cowser set the tone early, launching a 417-foot bomb on just the second pitch of the game.

Despite a shaky performance from Dean Kremer, the offense was enough to overpower the Jays as the bullpen delivered 3.2 scoreless innings, capped off by a three-strikeout ninth from the returning Felix Bautista.

In the series finale, newcomer Tomoyuki Sugano limited Toronto to two runs through four innings, despite laboring at times, before leaving with cramps in his hands. However, the O’s bats fell silent against Chris Bassitt, dropping the game 3–1.

The O’s home opener against Boston provided another bright spot, as Tyler O’Neill went 4-4 with three singles and a double, leading the way along with Cedric Mullins who went 2-4 and drove in four runs in the 8-5 victory. Felix Bautista made his much anticipated return to Camden Yards, closing out the game despite some ninth-inning drama.

However, Boston’s new $170M arm, Garrett Crochet, completely shut down the Orioles in game two, handing Baltimore their first shutout of the year in a 3-0 loss. Zach Eflin pitched well enough, but the bats never woke up.

The Red Sox clinched the series with an 8-4 win, powered by three two-run homers. Charlie Morton struck out ten batters but struggled with control, setting the stage for costly mistakes. Cedric Mullins again provided a highlight with another leadoff homer, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome.

Traveling to Kansas City, Baltimore opened the series on Friday night on a sour note. A series of defensive miscues behind Dean Kremer, led to an 8-2 loss. The game remained close until Cionel Perez allowed a five-run meltdown in the 8th where the Royals pulled away for good.

Baltimore bounced back on Saturday, snapping a three-game skid with an 8-1 win. Heston Kjerstad and Jackson Holliday sparked the decisive four-run sixth inning, while Tomoyuki Sugano earned his first MLB win with 5.1 strong innings of one-run ball, allowing the lone run on a Bobby Witt Jr. home run.

The series finale in Kansas City was a frustrating one, as the Orioles came up short in a 4-1 loss to drop the series. Things started poorly when surprise center fielder Jorge Mateo missed a routine fly ball allowing Bobby Witt Jr. to reach on a “triple.” That sparked a three run first inning for the Royals, from which the Orioles never recovered.

Cade Povich rebounded from the early miscue to battle through six innings but was tagged for four runs on 13 hits. Baltimore’s bats were mostly quiet against Kris Bubic, despite specifically deploying a right-hand heavy lineup to counter the lefty.

Ryan Mountcastle provided the lone spark in the series finale, tripling and scoring on a wild pitch in the 7th, but it wasn’t enough as the O’s finished their opening road trip with a series loss.

Player of the Week honors belong to Cedric Mullins, whose consistent power and timely hitting anchored the Orioles lineup. Mullins led the team with three homers and eleven RBI, putting up a 1.092 OPS in the early season.

He was noticeably absent from the lineup on Sunday, despite being the team’s hottest bat. Tyler O’Neill and Jackson Holliday earned honorable mentions for the week, with .954 and .888 OPS respectively. Holliday was also absent from the putrid Sunday lineup.

Down on the Farm –

The Norfolk Tides were powered early on by the rehabbing Gunnar Henderson, who homered twice before rejoining the Orioles for the weekend. The top prospect in the organization, 20 year old Samuel Basallo, provided key offense during the series against Charlotte, hitting .250 with two home runs and three RBIs, highlighted by a critical game-tying two-run shot in the sixth inning of their April 3 win.

Fellow top prospect Coby Mayo got off to a slower start but managed to drive in four runs, including his first homer of the season in an 8–2 victory over Durham. Pitching prospect Brandon Young delivered the standout performances of the week, striking out eight batters over 5.1 innings of scoreless, hitless baseball against Charlotte on Saturday. Young finished the week with 11.1 scoreless innings, with 11 strikeouts and a 0.79 WHIP.

Question of the Week –

Q. Is Brandon Hyde over-managing the lineup with lefty-righty platooning?

One of the recurring themes of the Hyde/Elias era has been a relentless pursuit of platoon advantages, even when the underlying numbers suggest the matchups might not be as consequential as they appear on paper.

Hyde’s preference for stacking the lineup based on pitcher handedness has led to a lot of success, but it has also resulted in some head-scratching benchings of hot bats and frequent lineup churn.

Hyde’s 144 distinct lineups in 2024 led the majors. For the most part this has delivered positive results. The Orioles have been among the best offenses in the league during this time and they have been one of the most successful teams when pinch hitting, often leaning into these matchups.

They have also produced several success stories by playing into the platoon strengths of their players, like the pairing of Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle.

The issue arises when Hyde dogmatically applies this platoon philosophy seemingly without consideration for the specific matchups. Sunday was a perfect example. With the Royals starting lefty Kris Bubic, Hyde decided to sit Cedric Mullins, Jackson Holliday and Heston Kjerstad in favor of Jorge Mateo, Ramon Laureano, and Gary Sanchez.

At first glance this seems reasonable. Mullins and Holliday have poor career numbers against lefties while Laureano and Sanchez both have above average splits against southpaws. However, when you look beyond the pure righty/lefty matchups it becomes a bit vexing.

Although he is a lefty, Bubic actually has reverse splits in his career, with left-handed batters posting a .901 OPS against him and right-handed batters only a .755 OPS.

Combine that with the fact that Mateo is a below average career hitter, even against lefties and Sanchez was below average against them last year as well. Meanwhile Mullins and Holliday have been two of the hottest hitters on the team, already demonstrating some success against left-handed pitching this season.

Holliday is a young player the club hopes burgeons into a superstar, but it will be difficult for him to do that if he never learns how to hit left-handed pitching. Gunnar Henderson had similar early struggles against lefties but quickly turned it around with experience.

Once you dive below the surface platoon splits this move is hard to justify. Sitting two of your hottest hitters to get righties in the lineup that are averaging .111, .077, and .000 on the season is difficult to square.

And that’s not to mention the defensive value lost by replacing the Gold Glove caliber Mullins with a converted infielder with little experience in center field. A drop off that became all too apparent when Mateo failed to track a fairly routine fly ball to right-center in the first inning, leading to a three-run rally.

Hyde’s response when asked about the righty-heavy lineup postgame was, “We acquired and signed right-handed guys to face left-handed starters and we’re gonna give them an opportunity, especially early in the year here.”

This seems like a surprisingly dull devotion to platooning for an organization so enthralled by nuanced analytics. The idea of “righty good, lefty bad” versus left-handed pitching, regardless of the specifics of the matchups is so simplistic it makes you wonder who is driving the decisions.

While the general platoon idea is beneficial, it really seems like this organization is capable of a more targeted approach that takes into consideration the specific pitcher splits, player trends and team dynamics beyond the batter’s box.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris. #7 was Patrick Cantlay. #6 was Ludvig Aberg. #5 was Shane Lowry. #4 was Collin Morikawa.

#3 Rory McIlroy -- Ever since he gave away the Masters in 2011, I've never leaned heavily on Rory at Augusta National. You let a chance like that get away (4 shot lead standing on 10 tee on Sunday) and it's unlikely you ever see the winner's circle. Just ask Greg Norman.

This year, though, is different.

I actually think Rory might win. It's the first time I've ever really "touted" him here in any kind of predictions formula for the Masters. But I really do think he might win this week.

With most of the players here, I give you stats and support data to back up why I think they're a good fit for the Masters and the golf course. I don't need to do any of that with McIlroy.

His golf and his swing and his ability to hit fewer lousy shots than anyone else does all the supporting I need.

I also think this: If McIlroy wins at Augusta next week, he not only reaches 5 career majors, but I think it could jumpstart him in the direction of 7 or 8 majors before his career closes. He has at least 27 of them remaining where he'll be ultra-competitive, still.

This is the one hanging over his head though. He's the #2 betting favorite at +750. It's hard to not like his chances. Since Tiger's not playing, McIlroy will be receiving my full personal "rooting interest", although I'll be wagering on two others ahead of him who will also garner my other interests.

Sunday April 6, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3877

a double celebration

Oh, boy. What a Saturday that was.

Like, the only way it could have been better would have been for the Yankees to lose 35-3 in Pittsburgh.

Alas, that didn't happen.

But the other two things that did happen give us enough joy to tide us over well into the late summer here in The Land of Pleasant Living.

Go ahead, buzz on over to ESPN.com and then click the "NHL" icon up top.

Once you're there, click "Standings".

When you reach the standings page, click "Wild Card".

Go all the way down to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and there you'll see it.

It's a beautiful morning indeed.

e -- Philadelphia Flyers (GP) 77 - (W) 31 - (L) 37 - OTL (9) - (Points) 71

Do you know what the "e" stands for it.

No, not "excellent".

Nope, not "everything bagel", either.

It stands for "eliminated".

Once again this year, an angel gets her wings in heaven. The Philadelphia Flyers will not be participating in the playoffs.

Their failure to make the playoffs means it's now a total of 50 years since the Flyers last won a Stanley Cup. 50. FIFTY! Their last Cup win was in 1975.

Oh, and let's not forget this fun-filled-fact. The Flyers have now missed the NHL playoffs five straight years.

It's a beautiful morning up there in the City of Brotherly Love.

"On the first tee, we have the Konecny foursome."

The cherry on top was Duke's collapse last night in their Final Four match-up with Houston. It wasn't just a collapse -- it was an "epic collapse".

Now, I'll be the first to admit that on a scale of 1-to-10, my angst for Duke is probably a "4.5" compared to the "10" I have for the Flyers. That said, it's still always a treat to see Duke lose in that kind of way.

If Houston jumps out early to a 30-15 lead and then rolls over Duke, 82-65, that's one thing. That one might not hurt Duke fans all that much.

"It just wasn't our night," they'd say.

But last night was in the bag. They were up 14 with 8 minutes remaining and ahead by 9 with a little over 3 minutes remaining.

The Cougars, though, never quit.

And Duke couldn't make a shot down the stretch.

When the dust settled, Houston prevailed 70-67, setting up a title match on Monday night between Florida and Houston.

Duke, like the Flyers, will not be sporting championship rings this season.

As the final minute unfolded and Duke saw their lead evaporate, my son wondered why there's so much disdain for Duke. He, of course, has essentially only known Maryland as a Big Ten school. He was 7 the last time Maryland and Duke played meaningful basketball against one another.

"It goes back a long way," I said to him. "Imagine if the Steelers jumped over to the NFC. We'd still root against them, even though they wouldn't really be our division or conference rivals any longer."

That's what has happened with Duke.

Maryland has nothing at all to do with Duke any longer and the Terps aren't good enough, basketball wise, to ever stay in the tournament long enough to meet them along the way, so we're left to dislike them from the cheap seats.

Meanwhile, anytime Duke loses in the NCAA tournament, I always think back fondly to the ultimate burn I received from my good friend, the late Dr. David Bimestefer, a longtime member of Baltimore Country Club and an area dentist for 40 years.

We played an afternoon round at BCC and then headed into the bar to watch Duke play in a March Madness game.

I don't remember the details of the opponent, but I remember there was a point in the game where heavily favored Duke was getting beat and the guys in the bar at BCC were roaring with approval.

I joined in, naturally, when Bimestefer, a very proud Duke graduate, said to me: "What's your problem with Duke?"

"I don't like Duke," I shouted above the noise. "No one likes Duke, Doc!"

Things quieted down and he smiled.

"You know why you don't like Duke, Drew?"

He allowed for a 3 second pregnant pause, then said: "Because you couldn't get in..."

He laughed.

I laughed.

It was a great dig. One of the best one-liners I've ever heard.

I've used it on more than one Loyola Blakefield grad in my day, switching "Duke" for "Calvert Hall", of course.

The Flyers and Duke. Both eliminated within hours of one another.

One with immense hopes. The other just trying to hang on for dear life.

Either way, it's great to know there's despair in the air in Center City and Durham this morning.

Go get 'em next year, boys.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris. #7 was Patrick Cantlay. #6 was Ludvig Aberg. #5 was Shane Lowry.

#4, Collin Morikawa -- If anyone was ever poised to finally break through and win the Masters, it's this guy. Morikawa has three straight Top 10 finishes at Augusta National, including a T3 last year. He's played in the event five times and has never missed the cut.

He's no secret, unfortunately. At +1800, he's one of the top five betting favorites at next week's first major of the year, and with good reason. There's nothing he doesn't do well.

If there's one blemish in his game, it's his putting, but even that has improved dramatically over the last three years.

He's 6-for-6 in cuts made this year and will likely finish with his 6th Top 25 finish today at the Texas Open.

He's 2nd in shots gained on TOUR this year and 1st in shots gained: approach. What that means, basically, is he's the best iron player on the entire PGA Tour. And where he was once in the 100's for shots gained: putting, Morikawa is now a very respectable 64th in that statistical category.

When you drive it well (15th in shots gained: off the tee) and hit every iron flush and within a few yards of your aim every single time, you're going to be in contention almost every week.

I wouldn't go as far as calling Collin Morikawa a "lock" to win a Masters in his career, but if we were playing H-O-R-S-E, Morikawa would have L-O-C.

There's a very real possibility he's going to win next week, in fact.

Saturday April 5, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3876

894 !!

I know what you're thinking.

894.

The number of runs the Orioles are going to allow in 2025...

No, no, no. Come on now. It's not that bad. They allowed 740 last year. They're not suddenly going to allow another 154 this year.

Wait...

Maybe 894 isn't that far off after all.

Anyway...

The Alex Ovechkin show in Washington D.C. last night was something to behold.

So, too, was the Orioles defense.

One was breathtakingly memorable.

The other was memorably awful.

Heston Kjerstad botched a routine fly ball in left field that plated Kansas City's first run. No one ever gives an outfielder an error when they misplay a routine fly ball, so Kjerstad wasn't charged with one even though he deserved it.

Kevin Brown tried to soft-peddle it by telling the viewers it "got lost in the wind", whatever that means.

Gunnar Henderson served up his first error of the season -- in his first game of 2025 -- that led to another run.

Tyler O'Neill threw to the wrong base and that faux pas helped the Royals score their 8th run. That was also a baseball "error" but it doesn't show up as such in the scorebook.

Defensively the O's looked like the Bad News Bears on Friday night in K.C.

Editor's note: Those Royals Friday night uniforms are sweet.

I wouldn't go as far as saying the Orioles wasted a solid effort from Dean Kremer, but he managed to make it into the 5th inning on a dreary, chilly night in Kansas City and allowed just 2 earned runs on 8 hits.

The O's had six hits on Friday night, not nearly enough to win a baseball game where they just score 2 runs.

It's far, far too early to start worrying about the Orioles. I get it, they're 3-5. They've lost three straight. Me, personally, I make no formal assessments on the team until the 30 game mark. And that might even be 20 games too early, frankly.

Somewhere between 30 and 50 games will tell us what we need to know. 7 games doesn't tell us much of anything, except, perhaps that James McCann will be missed if we're going to have to endure a full season of Gary Sanchez.

What we do know, for sure, though, is we should probably hope there aren't a lot of balls hit to left field while Colton Cowser is on the injured list. Every ball hit in Kjerstad's direction is like a trip to Hershey Park. It's an adventure and your stomach might wind up hurting afterwards.

But while the O's were busy only scoring two runs last night, Alex Ovechkin scored two goals himself, which moved him into a tie with Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goal scoring lead in the long history of the National Hockey League.

We've chronicled this here before.

There are some records that will very likely NEVER be broken in sports:

Cal's consecutive games played streak.

DiMaggio's hitting streak.

18 major golf championships by Jack Nicklaus.

And most hockey historians thought no one would ever come along and score more than 894 goals in their NHL career.

But that mark, with just one more tally from Ovechkin, will be broken after all.

Ovechkin scored early in the first period last night for #893, then sizzled the record-tying goal into the net in the 3rd period to give the Capitals a 4-3 lead over Chicago.

Oddly enough, the Great Eight had 3 excellent scoring chances thereafter, including one in the game's final minute, but failed to score the record-breaking goal in front of the home faithful and Gretzky himself.

The Blackhawks pulled their goalie late in the game and Ovechkin was not on the ice for that moment, confirming what many people assumed all along. Spencer Carbery was not going to have Ovi score the tying or record-breaking goal into an empty net.

The coach said after last night's game that he left the decision up to Ovechkin himself. And when Chicago pulled their netminder, Ovi said "no" and stayed on the bench when Carbery asked him if he wanted a shift and a chance at the record. Even hockey people know those empty net goals are "cheapies".

Ovi will get the chance for #895 on Sunday on Long Island, which presents another interesting dilemma for Carbery, Ovi, the Caps and the National Hockey League.

There's ZERO reason for Ovechkin to play against the Islanders.

The Caps have everything locked down in the Eastern Conference and will have home ice in the conference throughout the playoffs.

Winnipeg (108 points) does have one more point than Washington (107) in the race for the Presidents Trophy, and maybe that matters to Carbery and the Caps in the event it's a Winnipeg-Washington Stanley Cup Final, I don't know.

But other than that...

There's really no reason at all to play Ovechkin on Sunday.

The Islanders are just about eliminated from the playoffs, for starters. So no one can say that the Caps "helped" the Islanders in the playoff race.

And the Caps don't play again until Thursday night at home vs. Carolina.

What would the league say if the Caps "rested" Ovechkin on Sunday and didn't give Islanders ticket holders the chance to see the record broken in their arena?

Is that fair game?

Should the Caps sit Ovi on Sunday so he can try to break the record in front of the home crowd next Thursday night? If he fails to score in the next two games, the Caps play in Columbus next Saturday evening.

This would be easy to settle if the game meant something to D.C., but it really doesn't. And, truthfully, they can beat the Islanders without Ovechkin anyway.

And there's also the chance that Ovi plays on Sunday and doesn't score, of course.

If that happens, Thursday at home presents itself anyway.

Last night was a great night for the Washington Capitals franchise.

There haven't been many of them since 1974, that's for sure. But the greatest goal scorer in the history of the NHL is about to be...it seems weird to say...a lifetime member of the Washington Capitals.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris. #7 was Patrick Cantlay. #6 was Ludvig Aberg.

#5 Shane Lowry -- With five straight cuts made at Augusta National and a top 5 finish just three years ago, Shane Lowry has the look of someone who is ready to challenge for a Masters green jacket.

There's something about Lowry's game we love. And he is a major championship fighter, with 9 top 10 finishes in majors over the last 15 years including a win at the 2019 British Open.

This has been a terrific start to the 2025 campaign for the 38 Irishman. He's played in 8 TOUR events with 7 cuts made and has 3 top 10's and 5 top 25's.

His ball striking numbers are off the charts phenomenal. He's 5th on the entire PGA Tour in shots gained and 6th in shots gained: approach, two stats that will be supremely important at Augusta National next week.

If you're thinking of playing all of our 10 picks here and you'd like to lean "extra hard" on a few guys, make sure Lowry is one of those few. We LOVE his chances to win or Top 10 next week.

You can get him right now at +4500, which seems like a crazy number for a player with statistics that handshake perfectly with Augusta National.

Friday April 4, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3875

one week in...

Hey, Charlie Morton had 10 -- yes, 10 -- strikeouts on Thursday vs. the Red Sox.

That's like your Uncle Ned getting a hit off of Eddie "The King" Feigner in a charity softball game during the county fair.

Or something like that.

Unfortunately, Morton also got knocked around by the Red Sox in the 8-4 O's loss at Camden Yards. If you like your starting pitchers having an earned run average of 9.72, Morton's your guy. Two starts in, it's not good.

That said, we're learning more about these O's every day. A week into the campaign, they're 3-4, with a few games (Thursday, Saturday and Monday) where they've hit the cover off the ball despite not even having their best offensive player at their disposal.

And just what have we learned thus far?

I'm glad you asked.

The aforementioned 41-year old Charlie Morton can't keep giving up 5 earned runs every time he makes a start or he won't be around to celebrate Memorial Day in Charm City. I'm not saying you ship him out if he makes another bad start. That's not the answer.

But his window is probably somewhere in the 10 start range before you have to make a call. If he's getting knocked around after 10 starts, go ahead and move him on. The clock is officially ticking, I'd say. But if he's still Charlie Morton, he'll give up 2 runs in 5.2 innings next time out and we'll all breathe a little easier. For now, anyway.

Tyler O'Neill has been very good thus far, notwithstanding Thursday's 0-for-4 day in the series finale. If he can hit both right handers and left handers this year, watch out. His career numbers suggest that won't happen, but who knows?

Cedric Mullins is doing his best to keep centerfield on lockdown. He hit his 3rd homer of the season yesterday and leads the team with 11 RBI. No one else on the team has more than 5 runs batted in. And he's not just doing it all with power, either. Mullins is tied with Jordan Westburg for the team lead in total bases with 18.

Adley Rutschman started off on fire with 2 homers last Thursday in Toronto, but he's cooled off since then, with just four total hits in the last 6 games. That opening day display in Toronto was very promising. But since then...not so much.

With Colton Cowser out, we're going to see a lot of Heston Kjerstad over the next 6 weeks or so. Thus far, it's not good. 2 hits in 9 at bats for "Silent J". Let's hope his bat doesn't remain silent.

Gary Sanchez has 7 at bats and has the exact same amount of hits you would have in 7 at bats. And he's getting paid millions to have zero hits. You and I would be willing to have zero hits for the league minimum ($800,000) and I'd donate half of mine to FCA and still be happy. Maybe Sanchez will surprise us all and make a contribution this season, but I'm not counting on it.

I don't know what Mike Elias saw in Ramon Laureano other than he's inexpensive, but the early results on him in orange and black are not favorable at all. Defensive issues in Monday's opener to go with 1 hit in 6 at-bats thus far doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. I'm not "feeling it" with Laureano. Your mileage may vary with that one.

Jorge Mateo also doesn't have a hit yet. He's had 9 at-bats. You're catching a theme here, I assume. Sanchez, Laureano and Mateo, all three of whom will likely start at least once a week (probably on Sunday, per Hyde's mangaerial theme), have 1 hit in 22 at bats between them. If all three of them play on the same day, that means your batting order consists of 6 real hitters and 3 mostly-automatic-outs. I'm not sure you're going to win much like that.

It's a small sample size, but Dylan Carlson is 0-for-4 thus far in his limited play. So add him into the mix.

The starting pitching has been "meh", with only Zach Eflin having two decent back-to-back starts.

We touched on Morton earlier. He doesn't have it. Yet.

Dean Kremer gave up 5 earned runs in 5 innings in his first start. The O's need much better from him.

Tomoyuki Sugano wasn't terrible his first time out except he tapped out with cramps and only went four innings in his first start in Toronto last weekend. Let's hope that was a one-time thing.

The guy everyone's been waiting to see, Felix Bautista, was awesome in his debut in Toronto last Saturday, then got dinged up a bit on Monday when Hyde brought him out for the 9th inning for no reason. If the data and metrics are right, Bautista is "back" though, and better than ever after missing 2024 with Tommy John surgery.

So what have we learned thus far?

Well, Gunnar Henderson would help, first of all, because it would move Mateo back to the bench and give the Orioles another real hitter in their lineup.

The early returns on O'Neill are favorable.

And if the O's can take a lead into the 9th inning, it looks like Bautista will seal the deal 95% of the time.

But the team's depth looks very questionable a week into the season. Four players (Mateo, Laureano, Sanchez and Carlson) have as many hits as A-ha produced ("Take on me", remember?). It's not good.

As long as the starting pitching holds up, the O's are going to be competitive. They'll score 4 or 5 runs a game, for sure. But they might also give up 5 or 6 per-game, which isn't great math in baseball.

Henderson will add a lot to the lineup.

The pitching needs to even out.

And the role players have to get a hit more often than once every 10 at bats.

That's what we've learned through week one.

And you? What are your observations about our Orioles through 7 games?

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris. #7 was Patrick Cantlay.

#6 Ludvig Aberg -- There's just no way you can compile a Top 10 list of Masters favorites and not have Aberg on that list. He could very well wind up posting a 4 or 5 shot win next weekend. He's that good.

The 25 year old Swede made his Masters debut a year ago and promptly finished in second place. Since joining the PGA Tour in 2023, all he has done is impress -- and win. He already has a victory this season (Genesis at Torrey Pines) and is currently 6th in the FedEx Cup standings.

No one in golf is "perfect", of course. Jack and Tiger weren't perfect and they were best ever. But Aberg is as close to a perfect golfing "specimen" as there is in the game today.

His golf swing is flawless.

He does everything well, although, like most top players, he tends to run (really) hot and (a little) cold with the putter. His shots gained: putting numbers are basically TOUR average for 2025 thus far.

You won't get great odds on him next week at +1700 (currently), but a win is a win is a win.

And there's no doubt Ludvig Aberg can win the Masters. He can win any tournament he enters. His golf game is tailored made for Augusta National.

We'd be surprised if he's not in the mix next Sunday afternoon.

faith in sports

I love going back and pulling up "greatest hits" contributions for "Faith in Sports", particularly in hopes of finding new #DMD visitors out there who might not have seen the one I'm re-posting.

This one, today, is an all-time favorite of mine.

It comes from Demario Davis of the New Orleans Saints.

Anytime an athlete gets the podium or mic in front of them and uses that opportunity to talk about his or her faith rather than themselves is incredibly meaningful to me. We're all predisposed to talk about "us" when someone asks us to do that. Instead, Davis talked about God when given the opportunity you'll see below.

Our thanks to Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our "Faith in Sports" segment here every Friday.

Thursday April 3, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3874

it's like a museum trip

OK, since Kevin Willard told us all yesterday we need to "move on" and discontinue our angst-filled reaction to his abrupt departure from Maryland, I'll go ahead and focus on something far more meaningful.

Today, my Calvert Hall golf team makes its annual regular season visit to Rolling Road to take on a very good Mount Saint Joseph team. We're off to a 3-0 start and the Gaels are 5-2, so both teams have a lot on the line today when we start at 3:15 pm.

But this trip always means a little more to me, personally, because Rolling Road is a very special place to me. I've written this story here almost annually for the last decade and I'll do so again today. Rolling Road is the site of the very first golf lesson I ever received, from former head golf professional Bill Bassler Sr.

Rolling Road is the course where I broke 70 for the first time.

It's the course where I won my first "real" golf tournament.

And it's where I made some great lifelong friends, including the Basslers, Bill Sr. his son Billy, and Billy's grandson, Matt.

I'll take a few minutes today when we first arrive at Rolling Road to head over to a spot about 75 yards in front of the 13th tee and spend a minute there by myself, just chatting with Bill Sr., who passed away a decade ago.

It was there, on the 13th hole, where Bassler ushered me out of the golf cart on a warm summer day sometime in 1988 and said, "Grab your 7-iron."

He dumped a bag of golf balls out in front of me and directed me to hit a few.

I slapped six or eight balls out into the fairway of the 13th hole before Bassler Sr. stopped me and uttered the words I still remember like they were whispered to me yesterday.

"You're going to hear a bunch of bulls**t your whole life about the golf swing. Lead with the shoulders, drive your left knee to the target, lift your left heel on the downswing," Bassler Sr. said with the familiar growl in his voice.

"Don't listen to any of that. Just remember this: It's a hands game. You hit the ball with your golf club. The golf club is in your hands. It can't be held anywhere else but in hands."

While he was talking, Bassler Sr. was -- as the kids like to say today -- putting on a "stripe show", hitting ball after ball perfectly in the middle of the clubface. The sound. The trajectory. It was all so perfect.

"Use your hands," he said. "Always remember that. It's a hands game."

And from that day on, I started to get better. Little by little, I learned how to hit the golf ball properly, in part because of those famous words from Bassler, Sr.

"It's a hands game."

He followed me on the local amateur circuit once I got decent enough to compete in the various local tournaments and would always offer a complimentary word anytime I ventured over to Rolling Road to play in some sort of tournament or match.

"I remember you when you couldn't play a lick," he'd say with a sparkle in his eyes. "I took you out there to number 13 one day and had you fixed in 20 minutes!"

It might have been more like 10 minutes.

"It's a hands game" resonated me with right away, which might have been due to my hockey background or my baseball background. Either way, I learned how to use my hands in the golf swing thanks in part to Bill Bassler Sr. telling me it was OK to swing the club that way.

The interesting thing about the evolution of the golf swing is that virtually no top teacher in the country focuses on the hands these days. It's all ground force and body rotation.

But I stick with the hands and follow Bill Bassler Sr.'s words even now. He knew what he was talking about.

Today's match will also be the first time I've visited Rolling Road or faced a Mount Saint Joseph team since the untimely death of their longtime head golf coach, Mike Dooley, last September.

We have a special way to honor Coach Dooley this afternoon. I hope the competition warms his heart in heaven as he watches us today from above.

The O's threw a Beatles at the Red Sox last night, with just four hits in a ragged, listless 3-0 loss at Camden Yards.

Garrett Chochet was very good for Boston. He went 8 innings and struck out O's hitters while walking just one in the win.

Zach Eflin wasn't terrible for the Birds, giving up 3 earned runs in 6 innings of work, but it wasn't good enought offset a Cy Young kind of night from Crochet in front of 18,146 at Camden Yards.

Westburg, Mountcastle, Urias and Ramon Laureano, trying to make up for a lousy opening day display on Monday, produced the four Baltimore hits.

The Capitals were drubbed by Carolina last night, 5-1, but Alex Ovechkin did manage a tally to get to within one-game striking distance of Wayne Gretzky's all-time record.

The Great Eight now needs two goals to tie and three to break the mark. The Caps have 7 games remaining.

Last night's loss wasn't earth-shattering or anything like that, but in their last three games, Washington has allowed a total of 16 goals, including three in the opening 20 minutes last night.

Much is going to be expected of the Caps in the upcoming post-season, but they won't be around long if they're giving up 5-plus goals per-game in the post-season.

Meanwhile, Friday night in D.C. marks Ovi's next chance to enter the record books. If it doesn't happen there, Sunday on the road against the Islanders could be the venue where history is made.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka. #8 was Will Zalatoris.

#7 Patrick Cantlay -- The former top ranked amateur in the world has carved out a great PGA Tour career for himself, with 8 career wins and several near misses in major championships.

This year, he's 6-for-6 on TOUR in events/cuts made, with 4 top 25 finishes and a pair of top 10 finishes to his credit.

He's played in the Masters seven times as a professional with a T9 serving as his best finish in 2019. In fact, you might remember, Cantlay was the momentary leader after he birdied #15 on Sunday (the year Tiger won his last major), but he falted over the last three holes to fall back to that T9 finish.

He's having a great statistical year in addition to piling up money.

Cantlay is 13th on TOUR in the all-important "shots gained" category and 33rd in shots gained: approach. But the biggest and most important stat for Cantlay is rise up the putting ranks this year. He currently ranks 35th in shots gained: putting.

He's a lot like Will Zalatoris off the tee. Not the longest guy out there (298 yards per drive on average) but he hits it straight, hitting 60% of the fairways he hits. If there's one course where length off the tee doesn't matter all that much, it's Augusta National. And without much rough on the property, driving accuracy is also not crucial.

There's always a debate about which guy on TOUR owns the label of "best player without a major". I think it's Cantlay. His career has been borderline spectacular, but he still doesn't own a major championship. That's coming, though. He's going to get one soon, perhaps even in 2025, and it might very well come next week at Augusta National.

Cantlay is currently listed at +3500, which are remarkable odds for a player of his caliber.

Wednesday April 2, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3873

another "right" williams?

Man, these are crazy days down at Maryland.

Hopefully yesterday's hiring of Buzz Williams settles things down a little bit, but this has been a wild last few weeks, for sure.

One university athletics staffer I spoke with (and, believe me, I have very little direct contact with anyone there, so this is saying something) called the whole thing: "a travesty".

The worst-kept-secret in town down there has apparently been just how dysfunctional and inefficient the school's athletic department has been over the last 10 years. A lot of people tried to blame Damon Evans for it, but the malaise extends far beyond his tenure.

"It's a school wide thing," someone involved in athletics said to me on Tuesday. "The school and the athletic department are to blame. We just happen to deal with the consequences of their poor work. It's a travesty what's happened here. Kevin (Willard) didn't handle it the right way. No one's arguing that. But this goes beyond Kevin. Coaches are tired of not getting what they need in order to compete and, more importantly, recruit athletes to play at the school. Maybe Buzz can help fix that. He won't settle for second best from what I hear."

Alas, there is another Williams in town. He's Buzz Williams, the former coach at Texas A&M, who jumped at the chance to take the Maryland gig once Willard rolled up I-95 North to Villanova.

The rumor was three candidates presented themselves immediately at Maryland; Steve Blake, Duane Simpkins and Juan Dixon. All three, obviously, are former Maryland players.

The school wasn't interested in any of those three, although Simpkins did get some modest support from one well-known alum in the D.C. area.

There was internal interest in Chris Collins at Northwestern, but there was apparently concern that Collins might not accept the deal and the school thought that could be a bad look for them.

Chris Mack of College of Charleston was also presented as a potential candidate but he gained very little traction from any alums who might have been able to push him through.

It was always going to be Buzz Williams, as long as Steve Blake didn't rally a group of wealthy, important alums to fly his flag to the administration. Blake was an "interesting name" given the school's concerns about 2024-2025 attendance issues and the possible need for someone with deep Maryland ties to come back home and help get the market enthused about the basketball program once again.

In the end, the Terps went with tried-and-true in Buzz Williams. More important than anything else: He'll bring players with him from the transfer portal. His name alone will attract others. And Maryland's NIL money, which Williams will now manage within the basketball program, will also get them a couple of top guys looking to cash in on big '24-25 seasons.

Whether he's as good as the other Williams -- Gary -- remains to be seen. Those are big, size 16 shoes to fill, after all. But unlike Willard, who reportedly suggested to some at Maryland that his stay would be short two months into his three year tenure, Williams really wants to be in College Park.

Whether the school takes what happens with Willard and uses it to get better is a whole other story. There are rumors that a number of high ranking school officials are being questioned about the Willard saga and how much responsibility goes to the athletic department and how much goes to the school's administration.

Willard tried to directly blame Damon Evans. A situation the Maryland source we spoke with called "unprofessional in so many ways."

"Damon operated under the guidelines given to him by the administration," the school's athletic source told me. "I'm not judging the job Damon did. He's at SMU now. That's water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned. But what Kevin did to him was unprofessional in so many ways. The athetic department has to get support from the school and the Board in order to be efficient. This is not just about the athletic department. The school needs to decide how important they want all of the sports to be here."

The Terps were in a jam given the timing of Willard's exit.

Could they have done "better" than Buzz Williams with more time and space to interview and "recruit" a coach that was a better fit for their long term plans? Maybe.

But with the transfer portal in full gear and players moving around the country like Lightning McQueen, there was no time to waste. Once Maryland got wind of Willard's likely move last week while the team was in San Francisco, the wheels were in motion to snag Williams after yesterday's April 1st buyout from Texas A&M went from $2 million to $1 million.

Whether Buzz is the right Williams -- or, another right Williams, we should say -- remains to be seen, but he was really the only viable candidate given how everything went down.

Like him or not, he's here.

Let's hope it goes a lot better than the Kevin Willard era did.

Alex Ovechkin scored a goal in last night's Caps 4-3 win in Boston and now needs just 3 goals to tie Wayne Gretzky and 4 to set the all-time goal scoring record.

Ovi has eight games remaining to get this done in '24-25, or he'll have to return next season to polish off the goal scoring chase.

The early season leg injury has turned this into a "possibility" instead of a "definite" this season. Without missing those five weeks, Ovi would already be in the 900's and we'd be zeroing in on the Caps and their playoff situation.

Instead, there's eight games remaining and Ovechkin needs three to tie and four to break.

His next chance is tonight in Carolina. A goal or two tonight means Ovi could tie or break the mark on Friday night at home vs. Chicago. The Caps are then on Long Island this Sunday to take on the Islanders before returning home on Thursday, April 10 to face Carolina.

One potentially interesting dilemma the Caps are facing is this: What if Ovi needs a goal to tie the mark or break the mark on Sunday in New York and the Islanders pull their goalie late in the game? Do you put Ovi out there to score the record-tying/setting goal into an empty net or do you hold him off for the Thursday home game in hopes he scores a "real" goal in front of the home fans?

The Caps are not in a position where a win really matters to them.

It's a question of history and how Ovi gets remembered for his 894th or 895th goal(s).

It would be different if the Caps needed a win on Sunday and that situation presents itself and you want Ovi out there to potentially help "seal the deal".

But without needing a win, do you hold Ovi out in that situation and hope he does the deed in front of the home crowd with a goal he'll be proud to show the rest of his life?

Oh, one more thing.

The Flyers are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs. Again. It might happen by this Friday.

Don't worry, you'll know when it happens.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day. #9 was Sepp Straka.

#8 Will Zalatoris -- Everything about Zalatoris's very brief history at Augusta National suggests he might very well win this golf tournament someday.

He's played in the Masters three times and has never finished outside of the Top 10.

Zalatoris went 2nd (2021), T6 (2022) and T9 (2024) in his three appearances. The course clearly fits his eye.

He's having a nice start to his '25 campaign, with 7 cuts made in 7 starts and 3 Top 25 finishes. True, he only has one career win. And, yes, he hasn't been able to close when given the chance. But he gets lots of chances. Could one of those finally be converted next week at the Masters? Maybe.

There are no secrets about the golf game of Will Zalatoris.

He does everything well except his putting is lousy.

And always remember, when I say someone on the PGA Tour does something "lousy", that's "lousy" in relative terms. Zalatoris ranks near the bottom of putting stats on the PGA Tour, which contains the best 150 of the best 160 golfers IN THE WORLD.

But make no mistake about it, Zalatoris doesn't win more because he isn't a great putter. But if he has a weekend where he putts great...watch out.

He drives it fine. He hits his irons as well as anyone in the world. His "numbers" are all wildly impressive from tee-to-green, although his driving distance isn't in the top 30% on TOUR. But if there's one place where length isn't that big of a deal, it's at Augusta National.

Where you hit your approach shots is what matters most at Augusta, which explains why Zalatoris has played the tournament three times and has three top 10 finishes to his credit.

If he putts well next week, he's a real threat to win.

At +4500, snag him now for Top 30 and Top 10 wagers, along with that "win" wager.

We're very secretly (well, not so secretly now, since roughly 9,000 of you are reading about him here today) very high on Zalatoris next week. Shhhhh.....don't tell anyone else.

Tuesday April 1, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3872

we don't need those cheating bats

Even a visit from the injury bug couldn't ruin Opening Day in Baltimore yesterday.

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Closers are just relief pitchers who happen to be in there in the 9th inning of a close game. Anyone can get three outs.

And you can't be overly shocked about the news that Felix Bautista is out for a minimum of 4 months with an elbow strain. With all due respect to Tommy John, that surgery ain't for the meek of heart. There's always the possibility that a torn UCL is the beginning of the end for some.

Bautista will be replaced, just as he was a year ago. I know the general reaction around town overnight was one of horror and "well, there goes our World Series", but I just don't subscribe to that line of thinking.

They'll cobble something together like they did a year ago, and this time it won't include Craig Kimbrel.

But don't be distressed or fooled by the Bautista news. The Orioles aren't suddenly going to tumble down the A.L. East standings because they don't have their closer. They'll just keep scoring 7 or 8 runs a game, that's all.

As for yesterday's thriller in front of packed crowd on an 85-degree March day, it quickly became the Tyler O'Neill show, as the erstwhile Red Sox outfielder went for 4-for-4 to help the Birds ease past Boston, 8-5.

O'Neill moved over to left field in place of the injured Colton Cowser (out 6-8 weeks with a broken thumb) and Ramon Laureano went to right, but it wasn't the kind of home debut Laureano was looking for, unfortunately. He went 0-for-2 at the plate and was eventually replaced by Dylan Carlson.

Only two players in Major League Baseball have 10 RBI thus far in the 2025 campaign.

One of them is Aaron Judge.

That's understandable, right? Judge already has 4 home runs and 11 RBI in New York's first 3 games of the season.

The other guy hitting the cover off the ball with runners in scoring position?

Oh, yeah, that would be O's centerfielder Cedric Mullins. He has 2 HR and 10 RBI in 5 games thus far.

Judge and Mullins, early leaders for the A.L. MVP award, just like you figured.

I need to re-establish a ground rule for the rest of 2025 and I want it to be clear why I'm doing it. It's admittedly a "fine line" and I'll most certainly try to be as fair as I can be about it moving forward.

The post I removed last night about an afternoon 105.7 show (co) host was simply not a contribution worth having here. Two sentences were about his (the host's) miscalculation on the productivity of the O's off-season moves and the other 15 sentences were about the host's weight, his politics and his employment record in sports media.

If you're taking issue with someone in the media here, it's fine. That's part of being in the media. You nip at athletes, coaches and so on, and you occasionally get nipped at by the people you're talking to or writing to. It's all part of the game.

If you're a 105.7 listener and you don't like something a show host says, they're fair game here. Plenty of you read this website and don't agree with stuff I say and you break out your keyboard and "have at it" with me. It is what it is.

But I'm not going to have this be a place where you buzz in and blow someone up because of their weight or their appearance or their political affiliation. It's just not what we do here.

A few times a year, I have to set a ground rule that might not fit with your agenda. If you don't like that or agree with that, I'm sorry. But that's the way it's going to be. You can either roll on out of here and take your talents to another website or you can follow the rules.

Now...back to baseball season.

The Kevin Willard saga is still the talk of the town, as Maryland tries to pick up the pieces and start again after Willard and his Mayflower vans journeyed up I-95 to Philadelphia.

What's becoming more and more apparent now, as the timeline for Willard's departure starts to clear up, is just how maliciously he "played" Maryland, the administration and the players throughout the month of March. He knew the entire time he was going to Villanova. He just had to put all of the pieces into place to make it look like it was Maryland's fault that he left.

Everyone has the right to better themselves, as we've noted here previously.

If you're making $100,000 and somehow you can make $200,000 doing practically the same thing, you're almost always likely going to take the $200,000 and move on.

Even if $35 million at Villanova isn't much different than, say, $30 million at Maryland, there's still an argument to be made about which of the two schools offers a better "basketball job". We're all big boys. Villanova has certainly been more successful than Maryland over the last 20 years. That's fine.

It's not about leaving.

It's about the way it happened and the character reveal Willard authored.

He, of course, did the exact same thing at Seton Hall when he bolted from there three years ago and took the gig on Route 1.

It was ugly then and it was ugly, again, in 2025.

What's more important, now, though, is who gets the job at Maryland?

Willard's a creep. And he's gone. We get that. Let's move on.

Who next?

How does Maryland's administration make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again in, say, 2028?

I know Steve Blake threw his name in the ring early on. The ex-Terp has no real basketball coaching experience, save for some assistant coach roles in the NBA.

Former Terp Duane Simpkins just re-upped at American University, but contracts can easily be bought out.

Those are two names familiar to College Park hoops fans who will at least receive consideration from Maryland administrators.

This might be a story for another day, but it's worth at least putting out there to let it marinate until we tackle it again later in the week.

I think we all (mostly) agree on this: Something's "missing" at College Park when it comes to basketball.

We've opined here regularly about the Big Ten move and all that stuff.

That could be some of it, sure.

But there's something else not right down there.

Could it be there's a general lack of connection between the school and the fan base that has something to do with the coaching situation since Gary left?

I don't know. But the answer might be "maybe".

And if the answer is "maybe", the Terps have to get this coaching search right, even if it means bringing on someone like Blake or Simpkins and taking a step back for a year or two in an effort to build a better basketball program with the -- very important note -- right people in charge.

Does the next Maryland basketball coach need to be a Maryland grad? I think that's a very fair question to ask. And the answer might be "maybe".

Kevin Willard wasn't "right people".

The next guy Maryland hires needs to be.

Just so no one gets their feelings hurt or their feathers ruffled, the part about Felix Bautista being out for 4 months is an April Fools joke. He's not out. He wasn't very good yesterday, but he's not out for 4 months. Carry on. Happy April 1st to you all.

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10 on our list was former PGA champion Jason Day.

#9, Sepp Straka -- If you're a regular #DMD reader and follower of my golf thoughts, you can't possibly be surprised to see Straka's name. I've been "on him" for two years now.

Straka is making his 4th appearance at Augusta Natinoal this year. He's 3-for-3 in cuts made, which means he's played 12 competitive rounds at the course plus whatever practice rounds he's had since 2022.

It's right about now where Straka is probably starting to feel comfortable with the golf course and where he can take his chances and where he needs to play safe.

It takes a few years to really learn the nuances of Augusta National.

Last year's T16 finish shows that Straka is starting to figure the place out.

Straka is off to a crazy good start in 2025. He's played 10 events, with 9 cuts made, and has a win and 3 top 10 finishes as well.

His metrics are off the charts good. He's 8th on TOUR in shots gained, 5th in shots gained: approach and 56th in putting. If he puts those numbers together at Augusta National, he can win there.

I love his chances next week. I could even see him as a first round leader and 54 hole leader, heading into Sunday with a chance to win the Masters.

Sepp Straka is a great player that is getting wildly undervalued next week at +8000. Scoop him up at that price right now.

Monday March 31, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3871

monday q & a

Happy Opening Day.

I know, I know. "Opening Day" was technically last Thursday in Toronto. But today is the "home" Opening Day, in Bawlmer, against the Boston Red Sox.

These are always special, no matter the outcome.

Baseball is back. For the next 6 months, give or take 25 odd days/nights here and there, we'll always have baseball to lean on.

Football is great, don't get me wrong.

But it's 60 minutes, once a week, and you pretty much spend Monday and Tuesday rehashing the previous game and Thursday and Friday getting amped up about the next game. You spend more time being enthusiastic than you do being a real fan of the games.

Baseball is (almost) every day.

Didn't win today?

They'll be back at it tomorrow.

Over a friend's house for burgers?

The game is on TV.

Getting in a late Sunday afternoon 9 holes?

The game is on the radio.

The game is always on, somewhere.

If you're like me, baseball is always on in my house. Sometimes I'm watching. Sometimes it's just white noise. But it's always on and I generally take time to get locked in at some point during the nine innings.

Football might be your passion.

But baseball...is your friend.

Even if your team stinks, baseball is still always there to hang out with you.

We have 81 of these at Camden Yards this season. Enjoy them all!

Editor's note: I know you are aware already, but the start time for today's game has been moved to 2:35 pm due to weather concerns.

Bart asks -- "Which of these would you rather do, personally? This topic came up with my golf group last week and I thought I'd ask you. You can either, A) Shoot 59 once, B) Play Augusta National, C) Play 18 holes with Tiger Woods, D) Make a hole in one at #17 at TPC Sawgrass on a trip with your buddies."

DF says -- "Wow, this is a good one. 18 holes with Tiger and the hole-in-one at #17 at Sawgrass are fine, but they're not the winners here. Nothing against Tiger or Sawgrass, but the other two options are FAR more interesting to me.

I've been to Augusta as a spectator on numerous occasions. I think it would be great to play, of course. But seeing it a dozen times over the last 20 years is more than enough. I don't need to play it to have immense amount of respect for how difficult the course is at the Masters every April.

The answer here is "shoot 59". You would have to hit some incredible, memorable golf shots to shoot 59. You'd have to make a bunch of putts, too, which is always fun. And, best of all, you'd obviously be playing a large portion of the back nine knowing that 59 was within reach and you somehow don't crack under the self-imposed pressure of shooting golf's "magic number".

Yes, I'll take shooting 59 out of those four options. Really good question, Bart."

Doug B. asks -- "Is there some sort of benchmark accomplishment you think we might see from Shohei Ohtani this season? Last year it was 50 HR's and 50 steals. What is it this year?"

DF says -- "Another good question. I guess the next obvious "big moment" for Ohtani would be 60 homers in a season. He hit 54 a year ago. I assume 60 is within reason for him.

I have no idea when he's going to pitch again, but it would seem reasonable to think he'll make a dozen or so starts this year. Would it be out of the question to have him throw a no-hitter or perfect game in 2025? I mean, he is Shohei Ohtani. He can pretty much do it all.

I'll stick with 60 homers. I think that's his most realistic personal milestone this season."

Craig asks -- "What's your realistic expectation for the Capitals in the playoffs?"

DF says -- "Well, I've said since the beginning of the season that the one part of their team that worries me is the goaltending. Not that Lindgren and Thompson aren't capable. They both very much are. I just don't see one of them "taking over" in the post-season and being that goaltender who backstops his team to a Stanley Cup title.

I like the pick-up of Beauvillier at the deadline, but I also wonder if the Caps will be able to score 3 or 4 goals a night in the post-season.

Defensively, they're fine, although giving up 8 goals to Buffalo yesterday wasn't great.

In the end, I guess I don't really have any legitimate "expectations", other than to say I don't see them making the Stanley Cup Finals because I just assume something will go haywire in the second or third round. I do think they're going to win at least one series, maybe even two.

Alas, they're the Capitals. Save for 2018, they always do something goofy to disappoint the diehards like me every April or May."

Marty asks -- "We're all getting Masters fever at Greystone! Can you rank these five guys from 1 to 5 with the #1 guy being the one with the best chance to win the Masters and the #5 guy being the one least likely to win out of the five I give you. Thanks, Drew! Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley. And if Bradley wins and makes the Ryder Cup team would he play and captain or give the playing spot to someone else?"

DF says -- "I don't see any way Bradley plays and captains the team. It's just too difficult to do. As for the rankings, here goes:

5. Bradley

4. Johnson

3. Fleetwood

2. DeChambeau

1. Spieth

I think Spieth could actually win this year. His golf is coming around and he seems healthy again. He has played the golf course very well in his career, with a win (obviously) and a couple of other brushes with victory on top of it.

It also seems like the kind of place where DeChambeau could win. And Fleetwood as well, although I'm not sure Tommy is a good enough putter to stay "in it" for four days.

Any former champion within the last 10-15 years could pop up and win again, so you can't discount Dustin Johnson. But I don't see him beating all of those TOUR players again.

Keegan Bradley just doesn't "feel" like a Masters champion. I could see him winning the British Open, maybe. That's his kind of style. Augusta National doesn't suit him."

R.C. asks -- "You enjoy doing these sort of "trades" so here's one for you. The Caps win the next two Stanley Cup championships but the Ravens have to get rid of Lamar or the Orioles have to get rid of Gunnar in order for that to happen. Would you agree to it?"

DF says -- "No, I would not. I might consider it had the Caps not won in 2018. I will say that.

But, no, not now. I don't want to see the Ravens lose Lamar or the O's lose Gunnar."

Ed in Parkton MD asks -- "Gilman grad here so I'm always interested in what Gavin Sheets is doing. What are your thoughts on Sheets in San Diego? Good fit?"

DF says -- "So far, so good. He went 2-for-4 yesterday. Padres are 4-0 to start the season. He homered in his first at-bat as a Padre (as a pinch hitter) last Thursday.

No one likes getting fired (released), but in Gavin's case, it might have been the best thing for him. The White Sox were (are) a disaster of a franchise. He was hoping he might catch on with the O's or D.C. and I know there were some discussions with both organizations, but San Diego wound up being the best fit for him.

And now he's getting a chance to play regularly (mostly against RHP's). So far he's off to a good start, which is great to see."

Mike K. asks -- "Who are the next three Ravens Ring of Honor guys in your opinion?"

DF says -- "First of all, I had to go back and look to see who is already in. I've lost touch with it a little bit. OK, so I thought Suggs and Yanda were the most recent two inducted in and I was right.

Well, the Ravens used to have a rule (not sure it was written anywhere but it was a rule nonetheless) that a player had to be selected to an All-Pro at least once in his career -- in Baltimore -- in order to be selected for their Ring of Honor. If I recall, that's why they never inducted Derrick Mason.

And please, let's not bring up Earnest Byner in any way when discussing the Ring of Honor and who gets in and who doesn't get in. He doesn't count in terms of "formal" inductees into the ROH. It was a friendship gesture from Art Modell. Nothing more.

Anyway, there was no one inducted in 2024. I assume they'll try to find someone to put in this year. Maybe Sam Koch? It would be a nice nod to the punting/kicking department with the Ravens, which has been so good over the team's history.

Koch was never a first-team All Pro, but he did make 2nd team once and was a Pro Bowl punter in 2015.

Joe Flacco will obviously get in after he retires from the NFL.

I would have previously said Justin Tucker was a lock. Now, who knows...

I think there will an internal push from some people to have Jacoby Jones inducted, but I don't think he played in Baltimore long enough to warrant it. Yes, he was important to the Super Bowl win in 2013, but it wasn't like he was an offensive powerhouse or anything like that.

There are lots of people from the current team who will someday get in. Lamar, Stanley, Flowers (assuming he stays in Baltimore for most of his career), Andrews, Humphrey, and maybe even Roquan Smith if he finishes out his career as a Raven.

I always ask myself this when the topic of a Ring of Honor or team "Hall of Fame" gets brought up.

Does the group already in somehow get watered down if they induct XXXX?

I know most people don't consider Sam Koch a "real" football player but I don't think anyone in the ROH would object to him being inducted.

He was a very valuable weapon and an outstanding performer at his position for a long time.

I'll take a guess and say they induct Koch this year.

Flacco is next in. A few years after he retires he'll get the call.

I assume Tucker will get in. It might take a while for the story to simmer down. But notwithstanding the events that have been publicly bandied about this year, he's as automatic as a 44 yard field goal was throughout his career.

My "official" guess: Koch, Flacco, Tucker."

#dmd's masters top 10

It's officially spring in the U.S. when you have March Madness, Opening Day of baseball and, of course, the greatest sporting event of the year all within two weeks of one another.

Yes, it's Masters time.

This one seems to be even more wide open than in the recent past, despite the fact that Scottie Scheffler won 9 times last season and is back to playing solid golf in 2025 after a slow start due to a hand injury.

It really DOES feel like this might be Rory's year. Something about the way he's playing and the fact that maybe you wind up winning the one you can't win when you start thinking "maybe I'm not going to win it after all". That trick didn't work for Greg Norman, sadly, but it did work for Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, both of whom were thought to be Augusta "locks" but needed some time to turn it into reality.

In our top 10, we're going with five or six of the top guys, but we're also going to sprinkle in a name or two you might not otherwise expect to see competing for a green jacket.

Our general thought about this year, as you will see, is that a number of new names are going to be in contention to win the first major of the 2025 golf season.

You'll see some former champions in our Top 10 as well. For those of you looking to wager on The Masters, there's almost never a bad "former champion" pick to make from, say, the last 12 years or thereabouts. Other than maybe Bubba Watson (2014), Danny Willett (2016) and Sergio Garcia (2017), anyone from 2013 (Adam Scott) until 2024 could figure out a way to win again.

Well, that doesn't include Tiger. He's not playing.

Anyway, we'll be giving you our Top 10 until we get down to our projected winner of the '25 Masters. As always, we encourage three wagering levels. Top 20, Top 10 and "win" bets. Please always wager within your limits.

#10, Jason Day -- OK, so here we are in 2025 and Jason Day does NOT have a Masters title. 12 years ago, I would have thought that to be almost impossible.

Then he got hurt, fought a bad back, and went into a bit of a black hole for a few years. But now he's back, playing well, and I think he's primed to win something "big" again in the next year or two.

His track record at Augusta National was GREAT prior to getting injured in 2020.

Day finished in the top 5 at the Masters FOUR times between 2011 and 2019. Since 2020, he's 2/4 in cuts made, but did play the weekend both in 2023 and 2024.

He's having a solid season thus far, with 7 cuts made in 7 events and a pair of Top 10 finishes in '25.

His numbers are fine, even if the driving and putting data are a bit "off" compared to what you might want to see from someone who has a chance to win the Masters.

But the one key stat for him, ball striking, is plenty good enough.

He's in the 50's in the shots gained and shots gained: approach categories.

You don't have to drive it dead straight at Augusta National. There's no real rough there to worry about.

But you do need to hit it close to the pin and take advantage of the par 5 holes. Iron play is not a problem for Day. If he drives it decently at Augusta next week/weekend, he can reach the par 5's and make some birdies.

We're going to hedge a bet that he drives it well enough to contend. We like his chances for a big finish. Could he win? Sure. Is it a better bet that he's in one of the final two groups on Sunday and then posts 71 on the final day and finishes T6? Yes, probably.

But at +7500, Jason Day is a VERY good investment for the 2025 Masters.

Sunday March 30, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3870

kevin's scarlet letter

Look, here's the good news about Kevin Willard's departure for Villanova, which was basically made official overnight with a press conference slated for either later today or Monday afternoon in Philadelphia.

We'll beat him up here today for a bit. And you're welcome to chip in via the Comments below if you have something you'd like to say.

And then he'll say something in the press conference about Maryland, how much he "regrets the way it all went down", or he'll disparage enough folks in College Park that we'll be pressed into writing about that one final time as well.

We, very fortunately, only have two days left to worry about Kevin Wlllard.

And here we thought Mark Turgeon went out in a bad way four-plus years ago. Turgeon's mid-season departure looks like Dorothy Hamill in the Olympics compared to this bizarre, embarrassing mess authored by Willard.

Make no mistake about it: Willard's exit from College Park will be his scarlet letter.

And he will always wear it.

"Hey, who was the bald guy that coached Maryland 15 years ago? They had a good run under him. Damn, what was his name?"

"Oh, you mean the guy who quit on the team in the NCAA tournament and then lied about it and left for Villanova? That was Kevin Willard."

"Right. That's right. Kevin Willard. Now I remember."

Willard will not be remembered as the guy who inherited a semi-disaster in 2022 and guided Maryland back to prominence in just three short seasons. No, no, no. He's going to be remembered for the way he butchered his departure and lied to everyone for a week while his team played for their life out on the west coast.

Maybe he did Maryland a favor by helping chase Damon Evans out of College Park and down to SMU. That remains to be seen. But in the end, not only did Willard blow up the basketball program at Maryland, he also laid waste to the athletic director's career in College Park as well.

What a weird two weeks it has been.

And before people (around here, anywhere) start whining about how Kevin Willard, like anyone else, always has the freedom to take a new job, make more money, blah, blah, blah, please check your emotional self at the door. This is NOT about someone taking a new, "better" job. We all have the right to do that.

This is about the way it was all handled by Willard, who, apparently, pulled pretty much the exact same stunt at Seton Hall when he left for Maryland in 2022.

"Graceful exits" aren't something Willard handles very well.

People are going to ask the obvious question: "How should he have handled it?"

Well, this might be hard to believe, but Mike Locksley actually got it right last week when he made a throwaway comment about Willard's sniping at the school's administration. "Those things really should stay in the family. Within our own house and not out in public."

Willard's first mistake came prior to Maryland's tournament opener against Grand Canyon when he sounded off about Maryland and what they need to do to turn their basketball program into one of the elites in the country.

His only focus at that point should have been the basketball game in front of him.

Period.

"We have a very good Grand Canyon team on Friday."

If pressed about his future, Willard would have been much better served to steer everything back to the only thing he apparently knows well -- basketball.

Instead, he went off on a tangent about the school and how they need to do more for him and the players and, well, he's just not sure what this all means for his future. But he has let the school know what he needs and now it's up to them to return serve.

That was mistake #1. When you let the media beat you, you're really lowering the bar. I mean, very few members of the press were ever Rhodes scholars.

Then earlier this past week in San Francisco, Willard couldn't help himself again. This time, he authored the famous line we'll all remember with not-so-great-fondness.

"I haven't talked to my agent at all. I haven't even talked with my wife about this."

Yeah, I'm sure.

If only there were celluar, mobile phones you could carry around with you, huh? And if those phones had some sort of platform where you could type out messages instead of actually calling and talking, that would even better. Maybe someday, huh?

Kevin Willard had the chance to be a "lifer" in College Park.

Now, I'm not even sure he gets to do a 5-second cameo on the scoreboard when they show distinguished alums of the basketball program say, with great enthusiasm: "I'm Kevin Willard......and I.........have MARYLAND PRIDE, BABY!"

If Maryland ever puts Willard in that video series, there's a 101% chance he gets booed.

Make it a 110% chance.

He will always wear the scarlet letter in College Park.

On his way out, he was deceitful, dishonest and, worst thing of all, he let his own situation get in the way of what could have been a wonderful Terps run in March Madness.

See ya down the road, Kevin.

We probably won't hear from you again until you take that Kentucky job in 2029.

Enjoy your scarlet letter.

Like Hester Prynne, you've certainly earned it.

I ventured down to Maryland Live! Casino last night for John Rallo's Shogun Fights and, like always, had an incredibly entertaining evening watching a 12-bout card of MMA fighting.

I've said it here numerous times. I'm not a "UFC guy". I've never watched one fight of UFC on TV, which is saying somethihng, because you can probably watch some sort of live event every weekend if you're into it that much.

But I've now gone to Shogun Fights four times and it's a wild, fun event to see up close and personal.

Rallo, a Dundalk guy who once fought professionally before getting into the MMA on the business side, has done a remarkable job of creating a program for "up and comers" who are taking their MMA careers seriously and would someday like to be on the big stage with Dana White's UFC promotion.

Last night's final fighter, Mahamed Aly, was being "scouted" by UFC folks in the building. He improved to 5-0 with a 3-round unanimous decision victory over a very game competitor, Jared Gooden. Aly, 31, is a Brazilian who is poised to make some noise in the world of MMA and Rallo is one of the guys who knows well enough to get him on his fight card while he can.

There were a number of outstanding fights last night. Too many to count. The venue is awesome, the event itself is VERY well run and you feel like you're right there in the ring with those guys as they go at it.

Shogun Fights will return to the Casino (it's actually in the hotel part of the complex) in October. You should attend. I'm telling you, it's a great night.

Alex Ovechkin's goal-scoring chase has now officially entered crunch time, as the Capitals have just 10 games remaining in the regular season and Ovi needs 6 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal getter.

The Caps have Buffalo at home today.

Then they're at Boston (Tues) and Carolina (Wed) before returning home to face Chicago on Friday.

Next Sunday, they're on Long Island to take on the Islanders.

Then, on April 10, they're home against Carolina.

That's the game a lot of people have circled for a while as the one where Ovi might wind up netting career goal #895.

Ovechkin's going to break the goal scoring record. There's no two ways about that.

The only looming question is: when?

Will it be this season?

Or could he stall at 892 or 893 and give the Capitals, the NHL and their two marketing departments an entire summer to plan for the big occasion early next season?

Oh, and here's the other question.

The Caps final four games are against Columbus (2), the Islanders and Pittsburgh. If those four teams are all eliminated from the playoffs, is there a chance, late in the game, that any of them "ease off" of Ovechkin in an effort to give him an extra goal scoring chance or two?

I'm just wondering...

Sort of like Cal's home run at Oriole Park on the night he broke Gehrig's record.

Would Columbus, the Islanders or Pittsburgh "groove one" for Ovi?

Saturday March 29, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3869

saturday quick hits

Welcome to Maryland, or what we call around here The Land of Pleasant Living.

Where it's 55 with 20 mph winds on Wednesday and 82 and sunny on Saturday.

Don't fret it, though. If you like the 55 and 20 mph winds stuff, it will be back next week.

I "do" outdoors every spring in Maryland as part of my high school golf coaching duties and I can say, without question, this is is the windiest (I assume that's a word) early spring I can remember.

Thanks a lot, Trump.

Enjoy 82 and sunny today, at the very least. It's going to be gorgeous outside.

It's not, however, very gorgeous down in College Park, where everyone is ripe and ready to lay waste to Kevin Willard as soon as the announcement comes later today or tomorrow that he's moving on to Villanova.

Rumors were swirling late Friday night that the Terps (men's) basketball coach had been seen in Philadelphia, which is one of those "put two and two together" kind of deals. He definitely didn't just slide up there for a cheesesteak.

This has become such a fiasco that Willard probably can't return to coach at Maryland even if he wanted to, somehow, at this point.

That's when you know you've really messed things up. When the place that adored you two weeks ago is so disappointed in you that they wouldn't take you back, you know you've handled it wrong.

And, look, I don't know that anyone is ever going to be able to come along and do for Maryland basketball what Gary Williams did, both on the court and as part of the fabric of DMV sports, but Willard, I thought, had that sort of look about him if he could have stuck this thing out for 15 years or so.

Alas, (still only) assuming he's leaving, he exits as a villain. Strange times, indeed.

One coach in the area who isn't leaving anytime soon is John Harbaugh. The Ravens picked Friday of all times to announce that Harbaugh has agreed to a new 3-year contract extension.

That makes it a total 4-year deal for the longtime Ravens coach, who had one season remaining on his current contract before Friday's announcement was made public.

Very predictably, the internet blew up with anti-Harbaugh rage within minutes of the news.

"Welcome to 3 more years (sic) of mediocrity!"

"Bisciotti!! You're so stupid!!"

"Oh good, we get more of the same; 10 penalties per game, bad clock management and losing to Buffalo in the playoffs"

"We'll never win with him but whatever."

And those were the tame Twitter replies that I just posted.

Others were, let's say, a bit more direct. And ugly.

I assume, like the Charlie Morton news I'll handle below, that you're just feigning surprise if you act shocked that Harbaugh got a contract extension.

He was in the final year of his contract. When the Ravens didn't part company with Harbaugh in January, he was always getting some sort of new deal to remain in Baltimore. No one can (effectively) coach on a one-year contract.

The issue facing Steve Bisciotti and the fan base is similar in nature, but both sides attack the ultimate conclusion in different ways.

Bisciotti likely asks his top front office folks who help make football operational decisions, "What has John done to deserve to get fired?"

Ravens fans counter and say, "What has John done to deserve to stay on board as the head coach?"

The answer in both situations is obvious: "All his teams have done in Baltimore is win and (mostly) make the playoffs."

Have they won enough championships to satisfy people? No. And, if you gave Harbaugh the Meet-The-Fockers-Truth-Serum-Needle-In-The-Neck, he would agree with that. He has one of the best three quarterbacks on the planet playing for his team and he has yet to win a title with him.

I'm sure Harbaugh expects to win at least one with Lamar, if not more than one.

Thus far, he's 0-fer with Lamar. That said, Lamar plays a role in that as well. He's also "0-fer".

But the reality is, no matter what people at the end of the bar say (haha), Harbaugh has done nothing at all to warrant being dismissed from his position in Baltimore.

He's a winning head coach of one of the more successful franchises the sport has seen over the last 20 years.

His critics will always figure out a way to give credit elsewhere; "Ray and Ed Reed carried him", "Flacco's miracle run in January of 2013 saved his job", "Lamar is the only reason the team wins now". That's part and parcel of being a fan. You remember the stuff that fits your agenda and forget the stuff that doesn't.

In the end, John was always staying. Whether he sees the next four years through to its completion is another story. But for now, at least, the John Harbaugh era rolls on in Baltimore.

As it should.

The internet, speaking of "lighting up", was filled with Orioles naysayers on Friday night as Charlie Morton got dinged up in his debut in orange and black.

Morton made it to the third inning but was in the shower when the O's hit in the top of the 4th. He gave up 7 hits and 4 earned runs in 3.1 innings of work before Brandon Hyde mercifully brought his night to an end.

Everyone went nuts on Twitter.

Mind you, Albert Suarez and Cionel Perez weren't much better in their brief stints but Morton's 10.80 ERA was the talk of the evening.

I don't understand why people get agitated with one game like that.

He's a 41-year old pitcher who is a stunt-double for Eddie Harris in the movie "Major League". He's just hanging on, enjoying the big leagues for as long as he can. And despite what you saw from him on Friday evening, Morton will, for sure, have an impressive start or two (or six) for the Orioles this season.

Alas, he's also a 41 year old pitcher in the early December of his career and you had to know going in this was potentially going to be what you get out of him a dozen times a year.

And it's not like the O's offense gave him a lot of breathing room, either.

They went from Hall and Oates on Thursday in the opener (14 hits) to the Beatles on Friday night (3 hits). When you have 3 hits and you score 2 runs, your starting pitcher is going to have to be Bob Gibson in order for you to have a puncher's chance of winning the game.

Morton and the two aforementioned relief pitchers didn't help their own cause, obviously, but let's not pretend like the O's bats were on fire again in an eventual 11-8 loss.

Three hits and two runs ain't doing it, guys.

As for Morton, he is what he is. He's Eddie Harris from "Major League".

There's room for the "crafty veteran" in every clubhouse, I'm guessing. I mean, there are only roughly 250 men in the country capable of being a pitcher in Major League Baseball (some of them are in the minors with "major league stuff", let's say) and Morton is certainly one of them, still, despite getting blistered on Friday night in Toronto.

Let's not do the "world is falling apart after one game" thing around here. Not this season. Pinky promise?

Now, if five or six starts into his 2025 season Morton is still sporting an 8.50 or higher ERA, we can chat. But let's give him April, at least, to get his chakras in line.

Deal?

Friday March 28, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3868

a laughable effort (including the coach)

Now that, sadly, was an all-time egg-laying-half-of-basketball by a Maryland team that was supposedly ready for the big moment on Thursday night in San Francisco.

Florida outscored, outgutted and outplayed Maryland by a mile in the final 20 minutes, cruising past soon-to-be Villanova head coach Kevin Willard's team 47-33 in the second half en-route to a walk-in-the-park 87-71 victory.

Basketball coaches don't often agree on much when it comes to tactical stuff on both ends of the court, but one thing is almost universally looked upon as gospel. Rebounding is mostly about "heart" and "want to", to use the fancy basketball term.

The team with the most heart usually wins the rebound battle.

Florida had 42 rebounds last night and Maryland stumbled into 20, somehow. The Gators were active. Maryland looked, well, if we're allowed to be honest, very soft under the basket.

Maybe that's because Maryland's best player has one foot out the door.

Maybe that's because some of of Maryland's other top players had their nose in the transfer portal website on Thursday afternoon instead of watching game tape on Florida.

Maybe their head coach asking anyone in the hotel lobby if they know anything about the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood in Philadelphia had something to do with it.

Whatever it was, the second half of last night's game featured one of the more uninspired efforts Maryland basketball produced all season. For a second I thought Mark Turgeon was still coaching and these were the Terps of 2021.

In the end, though, what was Maryland's true undoing was what most folks assumed would be their undoing. It wasn't "heart" as much as it was "depth". The Terps bench accounted for a grand total of 3 points, two of which came from the always-dangerous DeShawn Harris-Smith. Florida, meanwhile, got 29 points from their non-starters.

As Charley Eckman would often say: It's a very simple game.

There's no telling at all how this week's fiasco involving the team's one-foot-out-the-door head coach impacted the performance of Maryland on Thursday night. Some players manned up. Derik Queen had 27 points in his final game as a Terp. Ja'Kobi Gillespie carried Maryland for most of the first half and finished with 17 points.

Julian Reese and Rodney Rice both had 12 points.

Selton Miguel, who spoke openly about "giving the players their bag" earlier in the week should repay Maryland's athletic department for the hotel room and food he ate this week in exchange for his ZERO point output in the 16 point loss to Florida.

Florida was just better. Period.

Whether the Terps were distracted by the nonsense with Kevin Willard is anyone's guess.

Whether Willard was distracted is also anyone's guess.

If the stories out of San Francisco are true and the head coach really wasn't at Wednesday night's team dinner, it's fairly obvious Willard wasn't "all in" while he was out there with his (current) team.

It's all done, now, though.

This Maryland team will never be together again. And, despite the miracle win over Colorado State and their trip to the Sweet Sixteen, there's very little doubt that the season ended on a very sour note.

If they fight and bite and scratch and lose to Florida, 81-78, that's a whole other story.

Sure, Maryland's win last Sunday was a bit of a fluke, but a Sweet Sixteen berth and a nailbiter loss to perhaps the eventual champion wouldn't be an awful way to put the 2024-2025 season to bed.

Instead, their head coach is apparently leaving and knew he was leaving throughout the week leading up to the game and the team's performance on the court in the 2nd half wouldn't have earned them a spot in the CAA final, let alone the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

At the post-game press conference last night, Willard looked stressed when he said, "I don't know what I'm doing. I haven't talked to my agent. I haven't talked to my wife. I've been focused on this game."

I have to assume some or all of that is a fib. You haven't talked to your agent? Really? Or your wife? Come on man.

Anyway, we'll let this one marinate a little more and wait for the inevitable "official announcement" that Willard is heading to Villanova before we pile on. Chick Hernandez, as connected to UM sports as anyone in the D.C. market, confirmed on Thursday evening that the Terps have already started their head coach search.

Hernandez would never be saying that kind of stuff unless he knew something.

Now, that said, Rodney Rice said after last night's loss that Willard told the team all week that he's staying put in College Park and is working hard to get some fundamental changes made to the way Maryland runs its basketball program.

So there's that. While numerous reports in the D.C. area are indicating Willard's leaving and Maryland is already evaluating the team's next head coach, players in the locker room are saying Willard has told them he's staying at Maryland.

We'll wait to hammer him until we see Willard in a dark blue track suit with the white "V" on the left chest, talking about how "This is one of the most coveted jobs in all of college basketball and I'm proud to be here in Philadelphia helping Villanova get back to the top of the mountain."

I'm hoping there is no hammering or piling on and Willard sticks around. I think he's done a nice job, this week's embarrassing charade notwithstanding.

What a difference two weeks makes, huh?

When February turned to March, Kevin Willard was Moses, walking on water throughout the streets of College Park.

Here we are a few days from April and Willard is public enemy #1 with the school's fan base.

Sports, man.

The Orioles pounded 6 home runs on Thursday in Toronto on their way to a 12-2 romp over the Blue Jays on Opening Day 2025.

It was a fun day at the ballpark for the Birds, who did their deeds in front of one of music's all-time greats, Geddy Lee of RUSH. Lee is a diehard Blue Jays fan and, like he was yesterday, is often stationed behind home plate in seats a few rows up from the field.

As one of Canada's all-time greatest natives, I'm hoping the G.O.A.T. doesn't actually have to pay for those seats. Alas, maybe he's that much of a supporter that he doesn't mind forking over big bucks to see the Blue Jays get roasted like that on opening day.

Everything went right for the Birds on Thursday.

Adley Rutschman silenced his critics with a pair of dingers and newcomer Tyler O'Neill homered on opening day for the SIXTH straight year. Remember that tidbit on next year's opening day HR parlay card, OK?

The O's produced 14 hits in their opener (which seems like the same number of hits that were on the great RUSH album, Moving Pictures), with every starter except Ramon Urias and Colton Cowser picking up at least one base hit. The visitors scored three runs in three different innings to help support a solid 6-inning start from Zach Eflin.

I assume the Birds aren't going to put up a 12-spot every night, but it sure was good to see the (Baltimore) bats on fire on opening day.

Most of all, it was good to see that version of Adley Rutschman once again. It's only one game, yes, but he was swinging the bat like Johnny Bench on Thursday afternoon.

Gunnar who?

faith in sports

With the passing of boxing great George Foreman last weekend, I thought today would be the perfect opportunity to show you one of his final public appearances last year when he agreed to a long-form interview with Sports Spectrum.

We're showing you the "best of" 11 minutes from that interview, which focuses on Foreman's faith and how he discovered Jesus Christ after a crushing boxing loss.

George Foreman was an incredible human being. From boxing champion to entrepreneur to the pastor of a successful church in Houston, Foreman became one of the more interesting, famous people in the world of sports.

In this interview, he's open and honest about his career and how he grew closer to God through the highs and lows of both sports and business. Please give 11 minutes of your day to George Foreman. You'll be happy that you did.

Thanks, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their continued support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

Thursday March 27, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3867

don't spoil opening day, kev

Geez, Maryland's in the Sweet Sixteen tonight, playing for a potential trip to the Final Four if they can dispose of Florida, and their program smells like my Aunt Betty's feet at the annual family picnic in mid-August.

It shouldn't be this way. Not tonight, anyway.

And, granted, it's not "their program" that smells. But Kevin Willard does.

Reports started to swirl on Wednesday night that Willard is bolting for the vacant Villanova job.

They're just "reports", of course, and no deal is done until one of the two parties confirms it, but that's what was circulating in certain corners on Wednesday evening. A number of Terp-centric websites and social media platforms with ties to the school say Willard is leaving.

On Tuesday during a local radio appearance, Willard offered the not-binding comment about his future at Maryland: "As of right now, I'm staying here."

"Staying here" sounded great.

"As of right now" didn't sound so great.

We'll wait for the official announcement -- if one comes -- before we slap Willard around. There's no sense in doing it today. We're holding out hope he doesn't bolt and this will all be one of those "remember when Kevin Willard was all set to leave for Villanova and decided to stay?" kind of conclusions.

But if he does leave, it ain't gonna be pretty around here. I can promise you that.

This would probably be a great career move for Willard. But it would also speak volumes about his character and the way he's gone about the whole process.

Some folks in the DMV already think he's a rotten egg for the way he muscled the athletic director out of town. But that's a story for another day.

Let's hope Kevin Willard isn't leaving. He's done well by Maryland and the school has certainly seen the basketball program start to take shape under his guidance.

But this thing has become a public mess, some of which has been fueled by the media, no doubt.

As for tonight's tilt out west, I called it ten days ago and I'm sticking with it now. Terps win 77-72 to advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday.

Yes, it's opening day of the baseball season and our Birds are up north, at the home of one of music's all-time-greatest-bands, RUSH.

In fact, there's a good bet the G.O.A.T., Geddy Lee, will be in the stadium in Toronto for this afternoon's 2025 kick-off battle between the O's and Blue Jays.

Opening day is just one of 162, I know, but it would be nice to get a win up there and open the season on a good note.

If nothing else, let's hope Anthony Santander doesn't hit a two-run jack in the bottom of the 8th to give Toronto a 5-3 win. I don't mind losing, but I don't want to lose to that defector.

By the way, next Monday's home opener vs. Boston is nearly sold out. Of course, we know the O's have a long history of fudging attendance numbers, so we'll wait until Monday to see what really happens, but after last October's complete playoff embarrassment at the gate, it would be a nice bounce-back to sell out the ballpark on opening day.

As for the rest of Major League Baseball, here's how we see things in 2025.

American League --

A.L. East -- Yankees

A.L. Central -- Royals

A.L. West -- Rangers

Wild Card teams: Red Sox, Tigers, Twins

National League --

N.L. East -- Phillies

N.L. Central -- Cubs

N.L. West -- Dodgers

Wild Card teams -- Mets, Padres, Brewers

NLCS: Dodgers beat Padres, 4-games-to-2

ALCS: Royals beat Tigers, 4-games-to-3

World Series: Dodgers beat Royals, 4-games-to-1

I'm sure you're thrilled to see the Dodgers win again. I mean, what did you expect? How are they going to lose?

I'm serious, other than injuries -- which no one can predict -- how are the Dodgers not going to walk away with another title?

When the new indoor golf league, the TGL, started back in January, I was an open and admitted skeptic.

I referenced that I'm not a "gamer" and video competitions just aren't my thing. That said, "video golf", if you want to call it that, does have its benefits from a data-collection standpoint.

Every player on the PGA Tour now lugs around a "launch monitor" that provides him with instant data and statistical information about his golf swing. That same launch monitor was what the TGL used -- with some expensive twists -- to serve as the functional arm of their competition over the last three months.

The question, though, was whether "video game golf" would catch on enough to be a TV sport. The entire premise of the TGL was to give "funny money" to the TOUR players who eschewed the free payday of LIV Golf and stay with the PGA Tour product. Any contention otherwise is just flat out wrong. Rory and Tiger both could have collected a gazillion dollars from LIV. Instead of taking dirty Saudi money, they rolled up their sleeves and created the TGL.

And then they handed millions out, with the TOUR's blessing, to guys like J.T. and Fowler and Cantlay and Xander and the rest of the stars who didn't take LIV money.

As a business practice, TGL was a definite success. Rory and Tiger got SoFi to pony up $25 million, so they were never going to lose a dime no matter if 10 million people watched or 150 people watched.

The product itself was OK. It had some great nights and it had some snoozer nights. They tweaked the rules midway through the season to allow for more "hammer throws" and that seemed to help keep matches closer in score. I don't know that the players figured out how to chip and putt on the synthetic green until about mid-February. All in all, I thought the product was fine. Nothing great. But certainly not terrible, either.

As a "TV show", which is what it was, really, it was also "OK". Frankly, it should probably be trimmed down to 90 minutes instead of 2 hours. Maybe play just 12 holes instead of 15? The in-match banter that was promised never really materialized. Golf is just not a sport where there's a lot of needling or tom foolery when there are millions of dollars on the line.

I had this discussion with some friends at my club who were bemoaning the fact that no one was "chirping" during the matches and the events were usually tension-free.

"They're playing for millions of dollars," I told my friends. "To them, it's real golf. You guys get agitated when someone jiggles change in their pocket while you're trying to avoid losing a $10 nassau. Imagine what it's like to have a putt that could win you $1 million and one of the guys is clanking his clubs together on purpose to distract you."

Anyway, I thought the "TV show" portion of the product was fine. But, again, it might need to be tweaked for 2026.

All in all, I think the first year of the TGL was a success. It wasn't really my cup of tea and I probably only tuned in 5 or 6 times in total, but I did make it a point to have the TV on earlier this week when the Finals were played and I watched most of Tuesday's Game 2 in its entirety.

Their TV numbers were decent enough, ranging anywhere from 300,000 to 1 million for a match.

I assume it went well enough to bring it back again in 2026. After all, SoFi is forking over all of the operational expenses and guys like Arthur Blank and more than willing to keep throwing money into it because it gets him close to guys like Rory and Tiger and he can tell his friends he has J.T.'s cell number.

It's probably not a good idea to offer much commentary on the transfer portal in college basketball given the tension in the air about Kevin Willard's possible (imminent?) departure for the Villanova job.

I'm already agitated enough, in other words.

But the NCAA has somehow managed to do the one thing I thought might be impossible. They've somehow even screwed up the Wild, Wild West.

These schools are all handing out millions of dollars to basketball players and the NCAA has butchered the whole thing. It's unreal.

The premise of players being compensated for their Name, Image and Likeness is not at all inappropriate or misguided.

But the NCAA went from paying a player $5.00 whenever a jersey with his name and number is sold in the book store or at the arena/stadium to giving a guy $750,000 to play basketball. And they're doing it all pretty much on a handshake, with the promise that you can leave every March if you just feel like leaving.

It's beyond stupid.

Should a college basketball player be compensated for a replica jersey sale or in some way receive a portion of the TV money he helps generate? Sure, there's logic to that.

But where's the value in the education these kids are (supposedly/hopefully) receiving? One of the reasons why schools like Maryland can fully fund the football program with 90 scholarships (example) is because they're getting $52 million in Big Ten TV money.

The value of the college education has been forgotten by the "student" athletes.

Compensated? Absolutely.

Be able to jump around from school to school and peddle themselves to the highest bidder? Outrageously dumb.

And it's not the kids' fault, either. They're only doing what the rules allow them to do.

If you tell a kid that the rules say he can play for TWO schools during the basketball season, he'd play for two schools. They don't really care where they go to college. They just want to play and make money. End of story.

The most insane thing of all is allowing the transfer portal to be open now, while the season is still ongoing. They do the same thing in football, remember. The transfer portal opens in December and there are still 40-some teams playing in bowl games.

Just when you thought the NCAA couldn't do anything more stupid, they go and do this...and totally DO NOT redeem themselves.

(That's a line from Dumb and Dumber...)

Kevin Willard's departure from Maryland is seemingly tied into this whole mess of NIL money and paying kids to play basketball. Maryland is potentially losing him because, as Willard noted last week, "there are fundamental breakdowns" in the way Maryland handles their NIL and revenue shares.

Look, coaches want the best players. Once upon a time, schools acquired their players by recruiting them. Now they acquire them by paying them.

Oh, and "recruiting" also included giving them some things under-the-table, let's not overlook that. But in those days, a kid might have received $25,000 and 10 airline tickets for his parents to watch him play on the road. The other schools offered him $28,000 and 12 airline tickets. It wasn't enough to leave, plus you had to sit out a year.

Now, Maryland gives me $400,000 but Villanova offers me $750,000. I'm going to Philly, baby.

The idea of letting these kids roam around the country willy-nilly and playing wherever they want is the dumbest thing the NCAA ever did.

And they've done some dumb stuff.

Compensate the players in some way. No problem there. But they can't jump from Georgia Tech to Maryland to Kansas State like they're working for Little Caesars Pizza.

Make them sign up for 3 years and graduate their money accordingly. $150,000 in year one, $250,000 in year two and $350,000 in year three. If they decide to stick around for a 4th year (you know, to get that highly sought after college degree) then give them $500,000 in year four. If they transfer after 3 years, they have to play for the paltry sum of $250,000 again.

I'm just spitballing there, of course.

You figure out what the real numbers are.

All I'm saying is college sports needs to come up with a happy mix between "playing for the name on the front of the shirt" and "playing for the name on the back of the shirt".

Right now, these kids couldn't care less about the front of the shirt.

Come to think of it, Kevin Willard doesn't care about the name on the front of the shirt, either.

So maybe that's where the problems start in the first place.

Wednesday March 26, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3866

as ian eagle once said...

I should do a Phil Jackman'esque "Reading Time: 15 minutes" today. There's so much going on in the world of sports, I don't know even know where to start.

The Terps are back in action on Thursday when they take on Florida in the Sweet Sixteen. That's the "men's Terps", for those that don't know. Maryland would then face the winner of Texas Tech (#3) and Arkansas (#10) on Sunday for the right to go to the Final Four if, of course, they handle business vs. the Gators tomorrow night.

The Dodgers are going to the White House and they're calling it a "great honor". I have something to say on that, but maybe I'll let that story marinate for a day and then dig into it tomorrow or Friday.

The TGL (indoor golf league) finished their first (successful?) season last night with some pretty riveting golf in their championship final, won by Atlanta, 2-games-to-0. I followed my January vow and let the first season play out in its entirety without making any kind of real, formal judgment on the whole thing. I'll have more on the TGL tomorrow or Friday as well.

Tom Izzo had a remarkable 1:30 response to the college basketball transfer portal being "opened up" during the playing of March Madness. If you haven't yet seen it, I'll try to have it posted here tomorrow or Friday and offer some poignant commentary on Izzo's statement, which was about as good as anything you could have possibly heard from a college basketball coach.

These are very interesting times in major college sports, where the players have assumed almost all of the leverage and the coaches are pretty much left to serve as team bus drivers and travel coordinators. It's become an incredible farce. Like just about everything we do in this country, the change to the college sports landscape has been done in "extremes". Enough said on that for now. Check back on Thursday or Friday for more on what Izzo had to say.

Alex Ovechkin is closing in on Wayne Gretzky, but he's running out of time, too. Ovi scored a goal in last night's 3-2 OT loss to the Winnipeg Jets in what might have been a Stanley Cup Finals preview. And he now trails Gretzky by 6 goals in an effort to reach 895 for his career. The Great 8 needs to score 6 goals in his team's last 11 games. It seems reasonable, but it's going to be very, very close.

While the Caps are on the verge of clinching the President's Trophy for the best regular season point total, the Flyers are just about set to be eliminated, officially, from post-season play. You'll be reading all about that sometime next week, don't you worry. Another year of "Flyers Fail in Philly" is always a triumph.

Our Masters Top 12 starts soon, as the greatest sporting event of the year takes place at Augusta National starting two weeks from tomorrow. With Scottie Scheffler off to a tepid 2025 start and none of the sport's big guns doing much -- except for Rory -- early on this year, the Masters is officially wide open. We'll tell you now, just to pave the road in advance: We have an interesting and potentially surprising top 3 to reveal in the next two weeks.

Speaking of golf, we've been getting close to a big hit with our weekly PGA Tour picks and this week's event in Houston gives us an opportunity to hit on a few semi-long-shots for Top 20, Top 10 and "winner" selections.

Scottie Scheffler (7-2) has to break out of this mini-slump at some point soon and it very well might be this weekend. A win is better than a loss, so if you throw a few bucks on Scheffler and he wins, you're in the black on that wager. We're not playing him, though.

Davis Thompson (45-1) had a solid outing at The Players two weeks ago and is starting to look like a guy ready for his breakthrough season on TOUR. He won a year ago and should win somewhere this season as well. The wide open, non-penal rough in Houston is perfect for him. Love his chances to win this week.

Tony Finau (45-1) is a better version of Thompson with more winning experience. His occasionally balky driver won't impact him that much this week in Houston as the course is not very punishing off the tee. If Finau does manage to hit more fairways than not, his iron game -- always a strength -- should put him in contention on Sunday. What could be his undoing is the same thing that always seems to snag him: putting. With a good week on the greens, Finau could be dangerous.

Thomas Detry (50-1) already has won this year, so asking him to do it twice in three months might be a lot. But this kid is a tremendous player and a wonderful driver of the golf ball. On a week where accuracy won't matter all that much, it could open the door for him to just blast it all over the place and make a ton of birdies. We've been "on" Detry for the better part of a full year now and you're going to see him scattered throughout our four major championship previews in 2025. He's the real deal.

Maverick McNealy (66-1) is coming off the Florida swing in fine form and is ready to break through with a big 2025. There are guys who "look the part" but can't close the deal, and McNealy has moved closer to that description than he probably likes. That said, he's also one of those guys who simply does everything well and just needs a week where he makes a few more putts than usual and he's right there on Sunday.

Nicolai Hojgaard (100-1) is our "longshot of the week" who could net you a huge return on even a small investment. We love his style of play and his 2025 data-to-date and Houston seems like a perfect course for him to take advantage of his length off the tee. He's a little bit of an unknown here in the U.S., but that won't last much longer. We like to give you a longshot every week. A couple of weeks ago at The Players we handed you Akshay Bhatia. This week's it's Hojgaard. You can thank us on Sunday night.

Randy Morgan's Orioles preview for the 2025 campaign can be found below. Tomorrow here at #DMD, I'll have my full MLB "Predictions Edition" and tell you who wins the World Series this year. As if you don't already know yourself, right?

But I'll dive into some Orioles stuff this morning in honor of Randy's excellent work over the last two days getting us all primed for another season of baseball here in Bawlmer.

Once upon a time, the great Ian Eagle of CBS Sports made an epic comment during an October Ravens/Raiders game in Baltimore when the sky camera caught an empty baseball stadium.

"And there's Oriole Park at Camden Yards," Eagle said. "They used to play baseball in October in that ballpark...but not any longer. And that's not a low blow. It's...just a fact."

It's one of the all-time great lines ever authored on live TV.

Painfully "great", unfortunately. But still great nonetheless.

Sadly, the same will be said this October.

The Orioles won't be playing meaningful October baseball in Camden Yards, I'm afraid.

The playoff streak stops at two.

It's an 85-77 campaign for the O's that eventually leaves them three games out of a wild card spot in the American League.

What happens? Injuries, only a "decent" starting rotation, and "off" seasons from Mountcastle, O'Hearn and O'Neill contribute to the first empty stadium in October in three years.

An 85-77 record is still acceptable enough and the O's will be in the race until the last week of the season, but a slump in August where they lose 14 of 20 games will be their ultimate undoing.

As I like to say here: I hope I'm wrong.

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

2025 orioles preview

Baltimore Orioles -

2024 Record: 91-71

Additions: Tyler O’Neill (OF), Felix Bautista (RP - injury), Gary Sánchez (C), Charlie Morton (SP), Tomoyuki Sugano (SP), Andrew Kittredge (RP)

Subtractions: Corbin Burnes (SP), Anthony Santander (OF), James McCann (C), Danny Coulombe (RP)

Average Projected Wins: 86.23 (89.07 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +270 (+205 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 5th

Bullpen: 1st

Catchers: 1st

Infield: 1st

Outfield: 2nd

Depth: 1st

Strengths: Talented young core, solid offense, bullpen upside

Weaknesses: Unproven rotation depth, lack of true ace, early-season injuries

The Orioles enter the 2025 season with a clear strength in their young and talented core of position players. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Jackson Holliday represent a dynamic group that is expected to drive the offense.

The addition of Tyler O’Neill softens the loss of Anthony Santander, which should help the offense remain near the top of the league.

The massive question is the starting rotation, where a gaping hole remains with the loss of ace Corbin Burnes and the early season injury to his potential replacement Grayson Rodriguez.

Veterans Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson will help stabilize the rotation but none of them has the top end talent to carry the team or serve as a dependable game one starter in the playoffs. The good news is the bullpen has the potential to be one of the best in the league with the return of Felix Bautista at the back end.

The projections suggest that despite a lackluster offseason, the O’s remain one the of the top contenders for the division, even if that is mostly due to bad injury luck for the Yankees.

The division appears to be more wide open this season than in recent years. The Yankees and Orioles remain the favorites but significant improvements from the Red Sox and Blue Jays and the return of multiple key starting pitchers for the Rays could make it a tight race.

The win projections for both the Yankees and the O’s are lower than they were to start 2024. PECOTA specifically highlights the AL East as potentially the closest division in all of baseball.

The best thing to happen to the Birds all offseason was Juan Soto leaving the Yankees for the cross town Mets and the subsequent season ending Tommy John surgery for Gerrit Cole. Were it not for those developments the whole division would have been looking up to the Yanks.

Instead, those departures along with injuries to Luis Gil and Giancarlo Stanton have brought the Yankees back to the pack even with the acquisitions of Fried and Bellinger.

As Buck Showalter once said, “I like our guys.”

I’m excited to see Gunnar, Adley, Westburg, Cowser and Holliday try to take the next step and push this team over the playoff hump. I’m also excited to see The Mountain back to shutting down the ninth inning.

However, I’m not optimistic about this team’s chances compared to the past two seasons. The front office and/or new owner have failed the fans and the core of the team this offseason, allowing the roster to lose ground to almost every division rival.

Anyone who has paid attention to baseball the past few years could have predicted one or more starting pitchers going down with injuries, most notably the flame-throwing Grayson Rodriguez. Yet the organization decided on taking fliers on cheaper veteran alternatives rather than spending big money for a true ace like Burnes, Fried or Snell.

Nevertheless, the accumulating injuries for the Yankees provide a glimmer of hope that the Orioles could recapture the division. While they don’t seem as well-positioned to win this season if they do get in the playoffs, we all know you just need to get in the tournament and anything can happen.

So, with all that being said, I hope the team proves me wrong and Mike Elias ends up looking like a genius because Sugano or Morton beat back Father Time with an outstanding year, or Povich or McDermott make a leap, or they pony up for a true ace like Cease or Skubal in a midseason trade.

Maybe Kyle Bradish returns at the top of his game late in the season to lead the rotation into the playoffs. The Orioles will need more things to go right this year than they have the past two, but with one of the best young offenses in baseball, they should remain in the playoff hunt until the end of the season.

My Projected 2025 Division Standings -

New York Yankees

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Tampa Bay Rays

Toronto Blue Jays

Tuesday March 25, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3865

orioles magic, feel it happen

OK, we won't tell you if there will be any "magic in the air" in Baltimore until tomorrow's edition of #DMD.

But baseball is (almost) back!

Our intrepid baseball man, Randy Morgan, takes you through the A.L. East in today's piece below, giving you sharp insight into who made improvements, who took a step back, and what to expect from the O's rival division squads in 2025.

It's certainly not the best of starts for Brandon Hyde's team, what with the team's best pitcher (GrayRod) and hitter (Gunnar) not able to play on opening day in Toronto this Thursday. Injuries happen, of course. Just ask the Yankees, who get about 843 of them every season.

But you don't want to start developing a rash of injuries before the campaign even begins if you can avoid it. Alas, the O's apparently can't avoid it. So here they are.

We'll dive deeper into the Birds tomorrow here, along with our predicted finishes for the rest of MLB and our World Series participants as well.

Here, though, are five pressing questions that might very well determine the O's fate in 2025.

Will the renovated and shortened left field wall add offensive production to the Baltimore lineup in '25 or will it be one of those things where it basically just creates more runs for the O's and the visiting teams?

Does Tyler O'Neill come close to equaling the power production of Anthony Santander from the '24 campaign? Something in the neighborhood of 30 HR, let's say.

Will Jackson Holliday have the kind of season that's expected of a #1 pick? He's expected to be a every-day-player in 2025. What's a good campaign for him, statistically, and will he meet those numbers? Can the O's get 20 HR's out of him?

Does the 1B platoon of Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O'Hearn continue to "work" or do the O's need to start thinking about a full-time first base replacement for those two in 2026?

What happens with Heston Kjerstad in 2025? Is he relegated to playing on Sundays when Cowser needs a rest and occasionally filling in as a lefty DH? And if those are his two roles, does he have a decent year offensively and help ease the pain of Santander's departure?

There are other questions, of course, but those are more general. Is the starting rotation efficient, how does Felix Bautista look, is Adley Rutschman the Rutschman of the first half of '24 or the second half of '24?

But those five questions seem to be the ones that will "tell the tale" of the O's in 2025.

They moved the wall back to help get free agent pitchers to sign in Baltimore and no one of any ilk did that, so now they're moving it in to produce more runs and perhaps encourage free agent hitters to consider Charm City.

O'Neill is a big piece. The O's didn't do much of anything in the off-season. He needs to come through.

So, too, is Holliday. A lot is/was expected of him.

Mountcastle and O'Hearn, individually, are just "OK" players. But if together they can give you 40-45 HR's and drive in 100-110 runs, that's just like having a real first baseman over there for 162 games.

Kjerstad could be the odd guy out if his bat doesn't come around. He's no good with the glove, not yet at least, so he needs to make up for that with a sizzling, productive bat. Coby Mayo is waiting around to pounce on available playing time if Kjerstad isn't good in 2025.

If everything goes right for the Birds, they can challenge for the division title in 2025.

But they need to have their chakras in line for six months, I think, in order to capture the A.L. East. More than anything, I just don't know that their current starting rotation (when GrayRod is healthy) is good enough over the long haul.

But I do know this: Baseball is back!

The Masters starts in a few weeks.

A month from now, we're knee deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The next 90 days are going to be fun, fun, fun in The Land of Pleasant Living.

"Something magic happens...every time you go."

	"Randy On The O's"
Randy Morgan takes #DMD readers through the recent week in Orioles baseball as the Birds try to earn a third straight A.L. playoff appearance.

2025 AL East Preview

Opening Day looms, and the Orioles return with something to prove. After another swift playoff exit, hopes are high that their young core, now more battle-tested, can finally deliver a deeper run in 2025.

But the road through the AL East won’t be any easier. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays all made aggressive offseason moves to gain ground.

The O’s enter the season with injury concerns, most notably to Grayson Rodriguez, but they’re not alone. The Yankees are already dealing with several major losses, while Boston and Toronto have lingering uncertainty around the readiness of key players heading into Opening Day.

This preview takes stock of the division landscape, evaluating each team by their average projected win totals (ZiPS, PECOTA, DraftKings), betting odds to win the division, and rankings in six categories: Starting Rotation, Bullpen, Catchers, Infield, Outfield, and Overall Depth, based primarily on FanGraphs WAR projections.

New York Yankees

2024 Record: 94-68

Additions: Cody Bellinger (OF), Paul Goldschmidt (1B), Max Fried (SP), Devin Williams (RP)

Subtractions: Juan Soto (OF), Gerrit Cole (SP - injury), Gleyber Torres (2B), Nestor Cortes (SP), Clay Holmes (RP), Giancarlo Stanton (DH - injury)

Average Projected Wins: 86.97 (91.9 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +135 (+165 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 4th

Bullpen: 2nd

Catchers: 3rd

Infield: 3rd

Outfield: 1st

Depth: 2nd

Strengths: Power-heavy offense, star driven, strong bullpen

Weaknesses: Rotation depth without Cole, aging core

Summary: The Yankees lost one of the game’s best hitters to the crosstown Mets, then saw ace Gerrit Cole go down with season-ending Tommy John surgery in Spring Training. Adding to their pitching woes, Luis Gil, a promising young starter, is expected to be sidelined for at least three months due to a lat strain. On the offensive side, veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu is not expected to be ready for Opening Day because of a calf strain, and the status of slugger Giancarlo Stanton is a major concern due to severe elbow issues that might require season-ending surgery.

These losses have set the stage for a tight division battle. Nevertheless, the Yankees went all-in this offseason to replace the outgoing talent, adding Bellinger and Goldschmidt to keep their offense potent.

Fried will slot into the ace role vacated by Cole’s injury, but the lack of depth behind him will put pressure on Carlos Rodón and Marcus Stroman. The bullpen remains strong, especially with Williams at the back end, but overall, the team’s depth will be tested.

The Yankees possess an undeniably potent offensive lineup, headlined by the reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge and significantly strengthened by the additions of Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt.

The midseason trade acquisition of Jazz Chisholm Jr. brought an exciting element of athleticism and potential to their middle infield. Furthermore, the addition of Devin Williams provides a lockdown closer at the back end of their bullpen, and the signing of Max Fried bolsters their starting rotation with a proven frontline arm.

However, there are question marks in the lineup beyond the stars. The team will be relying on young players like Jasson Domínguez and Austin Wells to perform at a high level in key roles, which introduces a degree of risk.

Overall, the Yankees have the talent to be serious World Series contenders in 2025. However, their ability to navigate the early-season injury crisis, especially within their starting rotation, will be absolutely crucial.

If their remaining starters can provide consistent quality innings and their key offensive players can stay healthy and productive, the Yankees will remain a formidable division contender.

Tampa Bay Rays

2024 Record: 80-82

Additions: Shane McClanahan (SP - injury), Shane Baz (SP - injury), Drew Rasmussen (SP - injury), Danny Jansen (C), Ha-Seong Kim (IF), Joe Boyle (SP)

Subtractions: Jose Siri (OF), Jeffrey Springs (SP)

Average Projected Wins: 81.83 (84.87 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +750 (+600 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 2nd

Bullpen: 3rd

Catchers: 4th

Infield: 4th

Outfield: 4th

Depth: 4th

Strengths: Deep pitching staff, defensive flexibility

Weaknesses: Lack of star hitters, bullpen depth concerns

Summary – The general consensus among the projection systems is that the Rays will be in the mix for a Wild Card spot in the highly competitive AL East. The Rays remain an enigma, always competitive despite limited payroll.

The return of Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz, and Drew Rasmussen gives the rotation a boost, but workload management will be key. McClanahan already appears to have suffered a potentially severe arm injury.

The Rays enjoy a characteristically deep and talented pitching staff, even with some early-season injury concerns. Their organization has a strong track record of identifying, acquiring, and developing young talent, which serves as a significant advantage.

Offensively, Kim and Jansen add much-needed depth, but Tampa will rely on young bats like Junior Caminero to step up.

However, the Rays' offense might lack the consistent power found in some of the division's other top teams, especially with Ha-Seong Kim sidelined to begin the season. Their reliance on several young and relatively unproven offensive players could also lead to some volatility in their run production.

Overall, the Rays are projected to be a competitive team with a decent chance of securing a playoff berth in 2025. Their pitching staff is expected to be a major strength, and the performance and development of their young offensive players will be key factors in determining their ultimate success in the challenging American League East.

As always, expect them to overachieve compared to projections, but they’ll need a lot to go right to push for the division crown.

Toronto Blue Jays

2024 Record: 74-88

Additions: Anthony Santander (OF), Andrés Giménez (2B), Max Scherzer (SP), Jeff Hoffman (RP)

Subtractions: Jordan Romano (RP), Spencer Horwitz (IF)

Average Projected Wins: 82.3 (87.47 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +1300 (+400 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 3rd

Bullpen: 4th

Catchers: 2nd

Infield: 2nd

Outfield: 3rd

Depth: 5th

Strengths: Veteran rotation, infield defense

Weaknesses: Injury risks, bullpen depth

Summary – The Toronto Blue Jays have made notable efforts to improve their team during the offseason, adding offensive firepower in Anthony Santander and bolstering their pitching staff with Max Scherzer, Jeff Hoffman, and the return of Yimi García.

Their lineup, featuring established stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, has the potential to be potent.

The Blue Jays are hoping Santander’s bat reinvigorates an offense that underperformed last year. Scherzer is a big-name addition, but at 40, it’s unclear how much he has left.

The rotation remains decent with Kevin Gausman and José Berríos, but injuries (Alek Manoah’s absence) and bullpen inconsistency could be issues. If Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette return to form, they could push past expectations, but the margin for error is small.

There are still questions surrounding the team's overall upside. Beyond Kevin Gausman and José Berríos, the starting rotation lacks dominant arms. The health of key players like Daulton Varsho and Alek Manoah presents additional concerns.

Ultimately, their success in 2025 will depend on their key offensive players performing consistently, their veteran rotation staying healthy and effective, and their revamped bullpen proving to be a reliable strength.

Boston Red Sox

2024 Record: 81-81

Additions: Alex Bregman (3B), Garrett Crochet (SP), Walker Buehler (SP), Aroldis Chapman (RP)

Subtractions: Tyler O’Neill (OF), Danny Jansen (C)

Average Projected Wins: 83.76 (78.6 in 2024)

Odds to win Division: +350 (+1600 in 2024)

Starting Rotation: 1st

Bullpen: 5th

Catchers: 5th

Infield: 5th

Outfield: 5th

Depth: 3rd

Strengths: Top of rotation, power bats

Weaknesses: Rotation durability, bullpen questions, top-heavy lineup

Summary – The Boston Red Sox engaged in a substantial offseason overhaul, making several key acquisitions aimed at addressing critical areas of need within their roster. Recognizing the need for a frontline starter, the Red Sox made the move many Orioles fans pined for acquiring left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet in a trade with the Chicago White Sox.

They further bolstered their pitching staff by signing veteran right-hander Walker Buehler as a free agent and adding left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman to their bullpen.

On the offensive side, the Red Sox made a major splash by signing All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman as a free agent, adding a significant bat and veteran leadership to their lineup.

Boston’s aggressive offseason suggests they’re trying to push back into contention, but questions remain. The lineup improves with Bregman, but the pitching staff is already dealing with injuries to Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello.

Crochet and Buehler are high-upside gambles, but neither is a guaranteed frontline ace. There is also some awkwardness around Bregman pushing established star Rafael Devers into a pure DH role. If the rotation holds together, they could surprise, but they seem more like a .500 team than a true contender.

The pessimistic projection from PECOTA, placing them at the bottom of the AL East, suggests that some models anticipate their weaknesses still outweighing their improvements. While FanGraphs and the DraftKings over/under offer a more optimistic outlook, the range in projections underscores the uncertainty surrounding their potential success in 2025.

Ultimately, the Red Sox's ability to overcome their early pitching woes and for their key acquisitions to perform at a high level will be crucial factors in determining whether they can make a serious push for a playoff spot or if they are destined for another season outside of contention.

Tomorrow here at #DMD, Randy takes an in-depth look at the Orioles and offers his 2025 A.L. East predicted order of finish.

Monday March 24, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3864

maryland's march travels continue

OK, let's handle the important stuff first.

I don't think that was a travel on Derik Queen when he lofted a soft-buzzer-beater to dispose of pesky Colorado State on Sunday night.

But I'm willing to concede that it was close enough that had Colorado State made the same shot, I'd be joining in with a lot of you howling about the traveling call missed by the game officials.

However, here's the thing. And no matter what team you rooted for yesterday, you have to admit this is true.

There's no referee in the sport (college or pro) calling a travel on that play. That same play can happen ten different times to ten different players and there's simply no game official blowing the whistle for a travel there.

In 2000 or 2005? Yeah, maybe they would have called that.

But it's 2025. It doesn't get called any longer.

It's exactly the same thing as a police officer on I-95 shooting radar up there in Churchville and zeroing in on your car as you come over the hill and he gets you in the crosshairs before you have time to react. His gun gets you at 59 MPH. The speed limit is 55 mph.

Are you speeding? Well, by the law, you are, yes.

But no police officer anywhere is hitting the lights and the siren to snag you for going 59 in a 55 mph zone.

Maybe -- and that's the key word, "maybe" -- Derik Queen took three steps (or a "gather" and two?) on that final bucket. But no ref is blowing the whistle there. It's just too close to call.

You're not getting a speeding ticket for going 59 and you're not getting called for a travel on that play yesterday.

Colorado State fans can cry about it all they want, but basketball officials stopped making that call about 20 years ago.

There's no telling what is going to happen to this Maryland team in the remainder of the tournament, but that Derik Queen shot saved Kevin Willard from a wrath-filled off-season, particularly in light of the way he strong-armed the school's former athletic director out of town last week.

I was definitely ready to pile on. The headline was already written.

"Maybe SMU took the wrong guy from College Park"

Alas, Willard got that elusive second win of the weekend, which means he's probably "safe" from getting overly criticized, even if the Terps flatline against Florida and lose this Thursday night (7:39 pm projected tip off).

One play, one basket, one win. That's what Willard needed from his high priced future NBA draft pick. Whatever they're paying Queen ($1.2 million is the rumored number, which seems kind of crazy until you see him hit that shot yesterday), he's been worth every penny of it in the '24-25 campaign.

Big players make big plays, the saying goes.

Give Willard credit. When Queen said in the huddle, "Get me the ball", Willard didn't bat an eye. He didn't try to outcoach the player and say, "I got this one, buster. Let me do the X's and O's. That's what they pay me to do, you know?"

Instead, Queen said "I want the ball" and Willard did the smart thing and said, "Let's get the ball to Derik."

That might seem trivial to some folks, but a coach's knee jerk reaction to that sort of thing is to say, "No, I'm drawing up a play that I think will work, thank you very much."

A good coach would draw up a play that wins his (her) team the game.

A great coach lets his (her) players win the game.

I don't know that Willard's a great coach. He hasn't won anything of note in his college career to warrant the "great coach" label. But if he did acquiesce to Queen in the huddle and allow his star player to "call his own number", that was, at the very least, a "great piece of coaching".

And, depending on what Willard's Terps do vs. Florida and thereafter, it could be a memorable moment in the storied history of Maryland basketball.

In addition to the big bucket, Derik Queen was also involved in a funny moment in the press conference following Maryland's instant classic win over Colorado State on Sunday night.

When asked by a media member why the Terps enjoy playing for Kevin Willard, Queen smiled and said, "Well, first of all he's the guy that gave us the money."

Everyone laughed.

The times sure have changed, huh?

10 years ago, Queen would have been suspended a year for accepting a free leisure suit and $200 gift card from Chipotle from a snooping, entreprenurial sports agent.

Maybe even 5 years ago.

Now?

He can sit at the microphone and openly admit "(Willard) gave us the money."

Now, we all know that's not true. Right?

It was Maryland's sports business collective that doled out the big bucks to the star freshman from Baltimore. Kevin Willard didn't give Derik Queen the money, the school's NIL group did.

Alas, we also know Willard was/is directly involved in who plays for him, how they wind up getting there, and what kind of funding is needed to get him to College Park.

A fact Derik Queen confirmed for us on Sunday night.

The times sure have changed.

As far as surprising but important wins go on the PGA Tour, that was a big one yesterday for Viktor Hovland, who picked up his 7th victory sorta-kinda out of nowhere by winning the Valspar Championship by one shot.

Hovland had dropped into golf's frequently visited abyss over the last 18 months. In other words, he went from top of the world (winning the FedEx Cup Championship) to not knowing where his golf ball was going.

He switched swing coaches.

He switched nutrionists.

He switched trainers.

And, of course, he changed his golf swing two or three times as well.

Hovland was a top player three or four years ago. He had a terrific college career at Oklahoma State, won on TOUR right away, and then went on to be the FedEx Cup champion in 2023.

Last year, he missed the cut in 3 of the 4 major championships and compiled just two top 10 finishes in 2024.

His game was gone.

Yesterday, it showed up again.

To be clear, it showed up for all four days at the Innisbrook Resort, and Hovland held off Justin Thomas to win by a shot.

Golf is the craziest of all the crazy games.

You have it this year. Next year you don't.

You have it this week, next week you don't.

You have it today, tomorrow you don't.

You have it on the front nine, but on the back nine it disappears.

Of all the guys who could have won yesterday, Viktor Hovland is probably the most surprising of them all.

The question, of course, is obvious: Is he back? Or was that an outlier?

Was the win a gift from the golf gods or has Viktor Hovland found it again?

I don't know.

But now you can throw his name into the mix of "interesting possibilities" at Augusta National next month.

Sunday March 23, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3863

nobody's perfect

No one is perfect.

Once upon a time, a 33 year old guy named Jesus was perfect. We all know that story. Alas, that's not what I mean when I say "no one is perfect".

I mean, "no one will have a perfect March Madness bracket."

But wait.

There are still reportedly 6 perfect brackets floating around out there, believe it or not.

That's 40-for-40. 16 games on Thursday and Friday and 8 games on Saturday. That's a new modern day achievement.

ESPN reportedly has 3 perfect brackets remaining out of 24 million entries.

And the NCAA platform also has 3 perfectos still hanging in there -- out of 34 million entries.

There's no word on whether those 3 are the same bracket entered into the both contests or if they're six different people, somehow.

I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty amazing to have 6 people who, through Saturday's games, still haven't missed one. That's a remarkable feat all on its own.

In case you're wondering, it's never been done. Not "on the record", at least.

The closest anyone had ever come was back in 2017 when someone went 39-for-39 before finally making the wrong call. That mark is now gone with yesterday's slew of games that were correctly picked by 6 people.

I filled a bracket out for a charity contest being hosted by Glenn Clark but I honestly have no idea how I stand or what teams I have my remaining. I know my Final Four and Auburn vs. Tennessee championship game are still alive. But that's about it.

I used to be a "bracket nut" just like everyone else. But over the years, as my interest in college sports waned due in large part to it no longer actually being "college" sports, I just didn't care all that much about who won and who lost.

So my interest in the bracket contest(s) also diminished.

We'll be driving back from Virginia tonight when Maryland gets going vs. Colorado State at 7:10 pm. So I won't even get to see much, if any, of that 83-68 Terps triumph.

I do hope your bracket is doing well. Let us know in the Comments section how you're doing at the 40-game mark.

The Orioles are fighting the pitching-injury-bug early in the season, as you might have already heard.

With Grayson Rodriguez (elbow) unavailable at the start of the regular season later this week, the O's went out and brought back 37-year old Kyle Gibson and his rocking chair to help get them through the first month of the campaign at the very least.

The O's bullpen is also going to be missing Andrew Kittredge (knee) for at least two months if not longer.

With Gibson now (back) in the fold, the O's starting staff looks like this, in some order: Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer, Charlie Morton, Kyle Gibson, Albert Suarez, Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich.

Suarez will likely start the campaign in the bullpen.

So that leaves 6 guys to get the ball as part of the starting rotation, which seems like one too many, right up until you realize one of those 6 is probably going to get hurt or "feel a twinge" at some point in April or May.

Eflin is solid. We all know that. He's a top 15 starter in the American League when his chakras are in line. Maybe closer to Top 10. If the O's get 32 starts out of him and he's in the 18-9 range with a 3.50 ERA, they have themselves the makings of an "ace" by most of today's baseball standards.

Kremer is solid. Then he's not solid. Then he's solid again. And then off again. But I tend to think he's more hot than cold for the most part. I'm a Dean Kremer fan, overall.

Charlie Morton can share the rocking chair with Kyle Gibson and bring the pudding on team road trips. Morton's "fine", which is a nice way of saying he'll serve the team well for the $15 million they had to overpay to bring him to The Land of Pleasant Living. You're going to get out of him what you'd expect. 160 innings in 30 starts with a 12-10 record and a 4.45 ERA.

Gibson will give you something a tick off of those numbers, but the bet here is he doesn't celebrate 4th of July with the team. If Gibson pitches the entire season in Baltimore, something went really wrong along the way. For the time being, though, he'll give you 4.2 innings per-start and give up 4 earned runs per-9-innings-pitched or something around there. You're never going to mistake him for Max Scherzer, but he'll be productive every 4th start.

Sugano is the Japanese import who has been very good in spring training. There's no telling what he might do in 2025. But early returns on him are very favorable, with the caveat, of course, that he's doing "this" when the games don't count at all. It's like a wide receiver catching 2 touchdowns in a pre-season football game. That said, his stuff appears to be more than Major League caliber.

And Povich gives the team at least one left-handed arm, which seems like something you'd want in your rotation. I'm not going to press him into "replacing" Corbin Burnes, because that seems more like the role Eflin will inherit whether he likes it or not, but Povich stepping up with a big campaign would certainly help ease the pain of Burnes bolting for Arizona in the off-season.

I realize the O's turned into the Beatles at the end of last season and couldn't produce a hit if they wanted one, but this 2025 club is going to hit. And score runs. They lost Santander, yes. But they'll get similar production from a group of two or three outfielders and DH types and Santander won't be overly missed.

I don't think offense is going to be the issue for Brandon Hyde's team.

The pressure is on their starting rotation to perform well. Maybe even over-perform.

I'll save my official prediction for Wednesday's edition of #DMD in advance of Thursday's opener in Toronto, but I think you'll be paying close attention to the games in September. Let's leave it at that for now.

Saturday March 22, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3862

florida better be ready

Maryland's blowout win over Grand Canyon was so in-hand and a done deal that even DeShawn Harris-Smith got in the game last night and somehow managed to score 9 points.

I have no idea if the Grand Canyon kids were thoroughly bummed about getting roasted in their tournament opener or whether they got on the bus, laughed and said, "At least we got there..."

But letting Harris-Smith score 9 points on you should result in the whole team doing push-ups and wind sprints back at the team hotel.

Anyway, after a sluggish first 8 minutes or so, the Terps looked like a team on a mission, pounding overmatched Grand Canyon, 81-49, to earn a Sunday encounter with Colorado State.

Once Maryland and Florida both win on Sunday, it will set-up an encounter next week in the Sweet Sixteen between the #1 ranked Gators and #4 ranked Terrapins.

As you might have seen last week here at #DMD, I have Maryland advancing in that one, 77-72.

We've been saying this here in The Land of Pleasant Living for the better part of two months now and last night and over the next couple of weeks, the rest of the country will be seeing what we already know.

This Maryland team is very good and capable of a lengthy tournament run.

Their only drawback, potentially, is the lack of quality depth on the bench. But if they keep winning by double digits, they won't have to worry about that flaw in their roster composition.

Heck, if they keep winning by double digits, even the head coach might wind up looking like a rock star.

If you listed the most difficult things anyone can do in golf, we had it happen within our golf team twice in one week, including this past Thursday when we played a non-conference match at East Potomac GC in Washington D.C.

Last week, we had a player, Brooks Manning, record back-to-back eagles at Country Club of Maryland. He drove the par 4 3rd hole and made a 15 footer for a "2" and then promptly hit his 2nd shot on the par 5 4th hole to 10 feet and made that putt for eagle.

Back-to-back eagles. That's a golfing rarity for sure.

I've had two eagles in a nine hole stretch (on par 5's) on a few occasions, including once in the Baltimore Publinx two decades ago when I eagled #12 and #18 in the final round at Pine Ridge.

But I've never done the consecutive eagles thing, a fact I mentioned to Brooks on the 5th tee.

"You've done something that almost every golfer who ever played hasn't done nor will they ever do..."

That's why golf is so great. 30 years from now he can still people, "I made back to back eagles once."

Then, this past Thursday, another player, Ashton Gallo, made a double-eagle on a par 5, hitting his second shot from 250 yards into the hole for a "2".

In golf lingo, that's called an "albatross". And here's the thing: It's MUCH harder to make an albatross than it is a hole in one.

I have six holes in one. And only one albatross. I made mine on #12 at Mountain Branch. All the golf I've ever played in my life and I've made one "2" on a par 5 (or a "1" on a par 4).

Ashton now has an albatross on his career scorecard, which is really cool. Some people go their entire golfing life without a hole in one or albatross. Ashton has one of those out of the way already.

Oh, and here's a fun fact about a hole in one. See what you think and tell me, honestly, would you consider it a legitimate hole in one?

Five years ago or so, I was playing in the superintendent's revenge at Eagle's Nest. That event is one where the superintendent "tricks up" the course and puts the pins in wacky places on the greens, puts golf carts in the way of your approach shots into the green, and creates various other "challenges" designed to frustrate the golfers.

It's a fun, lighthearted tournament, almost always done at the end of the golfing season.

On this occasion, at the par 3 6th hole, the superintendent put the flag (and a cup, as if it were a real hole) in the front left bunker and then watered the entire bunker down and used something to tamp down the wet dirt to make it basically resemble a green. It was almost "clay like" and you could actually putt the ball on the muddy surface.

Anyway, I hit my tee shot into the hole.

In the bunker, yes. But into the hole. With a flagstick in there and everything. A "hole in one".

Should I claim it?

For the record, the (then) head professional said he called the National Hole In One Foundation and they told him, "Yes, it counts."

That said -- I do not count it.

I always tell people when the subject of holes in one comes up that I have "six with an asterisk" and then I explain that I have six real ones (Mount Pleasant #6, Grandview #4, Clifton Park #14, Mountain Branch #14 (on New Year's Day, even!), Regents Glen #3 and Oakland GC in Western MD (#9) and I have an "asterisk hole in one" on #6 at Eagle's Nest.

#DMD reader John L. sent an e-mail on Friday that I thought I'd publish here and hopefully have it resonate with all of you.

Drew: I have a suggestion regarding comments made by other readers. Why is it necessary to downgrade and be so critical of those who participate in providing opinions? Our country in general has communication issues. I suggest that you warn those who post not to belittle comments made by others. Everyone of us have opinions and just because someone has an opinion that is different does not make that individual an idiot. This is like watching news commentators who insist that their voice is factual. You turn the channel and you hear the opposite. Oh well, the state of mind we are in.

So, there you go.

Do with that what you may.

It goes without saying that I support John's attempt at civility here.

Please adhere to it if it's within your capabilities. I realize some of you do come here just to troll and stir up trouble. That's just a fact of life in an internet-based product.

We'll do our best to continue to weed out the trolls.

But for those of you who are good-hearted people who come here and occasionally get your feathers ruffled by something someone else posts, please do your best to communicate with passion but also kindness.

Thank you.

Friday March 21, 2025

#DMD

Issue #3861

reading time: roughly 4 minutes or so

It seems appropriate on this morning after yet another Capitals win over the Flyers that I provide you with one of Phil Jackman's all-time best efforts -- "Reading Time".

Jackman, like me, would be howling at the Flyers and their ineptness in 2024-2025. Last night's loss in D.C. didn't put that notation next to their ranking in the standings that we all crave (X - indicates eliminated from playoffs), but we're closing in on that moment within the next couple of games.

There are certain days on the sports calendar that are more special than others. The first day of the Masters is my own personal holy grail, along with baseball's opening day and Sunday at the U.S. Open golf championship. But one of the more special, heart-warming days of the entire year is waking up and looking at the NHL standings and seeing it right there in high definition.

(X) - Philadelphia Flyers

Hang in there friends. It won't be long.

With that note, let me address one thing I noticed in the comments section last night.

I am traveling with my golf team and didn't get a chance to look at the comments until very late on Friday evening. I immediately removed the comment.

Please know that if you weave my dislike for the Flyers into an attack on Christianity, your comment will be removed. End of story. If you don't like that, you can kick rocks. I'm not going to have that sort of stuff on my product. Thank you. And have a nice day.

Oh, and as always, if you're the party who posted that comment and you'd like a personal explanation from me, please feel free to reach out via e-mail (18inarow@gmail.com) and I'll happily explain it to you.

I get a lot of e-mail from folks asking about the golf swing and how they can play better. I've come up with a new way of helping them understand it, I think.

My Calvert Hall team is in Williamsburg, VA this weekend for our final pre-season tune-up before the MIAA season starts next Thursday. On the way to Virginia yesterday we played a match at East Potomac GC against St. John's of Kevin Plank fame.

Sadly, a thunderstorm halted the proceedings just as we were (hopefully) about to close out a victory on the last two holes.

That said, I got the privilege of watching two St. John's players up-close-and-personal for 11 holes yesterday. Their names were London and Hannah.

If you want to learn how to swing the golf club, create outstanding tempo, and use your body the right way in the swing, find yourself two very capable junior female golfers and enjoy your lesson.

Both of those young ladies were sublime ball strikers from tee-to-green and both were outrageously impressive off the tee. Every time they hit a tee-shot, it bounded down the fairway 240 or 250 yards. And from the red tees they played, they were a very difficult match-up for my two seasoned Calvert Hall players.

The stark contrast between the way a young man swings a club and a young lady swings a club is very interesting to watch if you're someone who studies the golf swing like I do. Both "theories" have their benefits. Men hit the ball a longer distance because they apply more force and power and those two elements provide greater clubhead speed. But women flush the ball in the middle of the club almost on command, which is why it travels straighter.

If you're looking to get better at golf, watch some old YouTube highlights of Annika Sorenstam. Or find a young, female junior golfer in the area who is adept at golf. You'll see what the golf swing is all about time. Timing, tempo and the desire to hit it straighter, not longer.

Maryland's quest for something memorable in March Madness 2025 starts tonight when they take on Grand Canyon. The Terps should roll past them and would then get the Memphis/Colorado State winner on Sunday.

#DMD regular "PLB" sent me an e-mail on Wednesday asking if there was any way Kevin Willard's job status should be reviewed if the Terps somehow get beat tonight.

In case you've missed it, there have been some rumors floating around that Villanova could be interested in Willard to fill their coaching vacancy.

"If Maryland loses on Friday, why not just let him go to Villanova?", PLB asked in their e-mail. "If Willard can't be Grand Canyon, maybe UM needs a change themselves. Thoughts?"

First of all, Kevin Willard's not going anywhere.

He's not only perfectly situated in College Park, I'd say the coaching gig at Maryland is better than the coaching gig at Villanova. Maryland's basketball program is getting funded at heights never before experienced. There are a lot of schools that used to cheat and win and a lot of schools that refused to cheat and couldn't beat the cheaters.

Now that every school can cheat. It's the wild, wild west. And Willard and the Terps are positioned perfectly for the future.

Willard isn't going anywhere.

That said, PLB asked if Maryland should consider replacing him if, in fact, they stub their toe tonight.

I don't think so, no.

I realize his March track record isn't all that great heading into this year's edition of March Madness and a loss to Grand Canyon tonight would be defined as "stunning" for sure. It would certainly not be a Wikipedia insert you'd be proud of, losing to Grand Canyon (whatever that is) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

But firing the coach over it? I don't think so.

Oh, and for the naysayers out there who think coaching criticism is something we don't do here, I think Willard screwd up the final five seconds of the Big Ten tournament loss to Michigan.

Or, at the very least, his players screwed up and one of two things happened: Either Willard, A) told them to guard the inbounds pass, which was the wrong thing to do or, B) Willard told them not to guard the inbounds pass and set up their perimeter defense instead and the two Terps didn't listen to him.

If the players screwed up, that's on them.

But if Willard didn't instruct his two players (I think it was Rice and Gillespie who chased the Michigan kid down the court?) to leave the inbounds pass alone and set up at midcourt to meet Michigan there (with 5 seconds left), then Willard botched that one.

That said, firing the coach if they lose tonight isn't the answer.

Alas, they won't lose tonight but it will be closer than a lot of us want it to be: Maryland leads at the half 40-32 and wins "somewhat comfortably", 81-71, although Grand Canyon does cut it to 6 points with about 5 minutes left in the game.

"We're on to Memphis (or Colorado State)."

This is really more of a public service announcement than anything else. And maybe you do this somewhat regularly and what I'm about to write doesn't pertain to you.

Do you/we realize just how privileged and fortunate we are to live so close to Washington DC?

There is so much great stuff in DC. As we drove to East Potomac GC yesterday, we passed the Pentagon. The golf course itself is situated very close to the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. On the drive into town we saw the Museum of the Bible off to our right.

At 5:00 pm yesterday, while we were playing our match vs. St. John's, there was a bugle salute from the Navy Yard and in the distance, you could hear the Star Spangled Banner being played. Every day at 5:00 pm, they play the Star Spangled Banner at the Navy Yard.

Washington DC is a really special place.

I feel like we're so close to it that we don't soak that in enough.

And I'll give a shameless plug to the Museum of the Bible. If you've never been -- and you're a believer in God and all of His great works -- it's a "must see" place at some point in your life.

faith in sports

Well, I've found another awesome video that's too lengthy to embed here, so I'm going to once again link the entire video and ask tha you go watch it.

I love learning about athletes that I didn't otherwise know much about and this one, this week, is a very eye-opening,impressive introduction to Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield.

I always thought of Mayfield as kind of wild kid.

And maybe he was at one point (like a lot of us, right?)

But he's a changed man and a humble man and a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

He talks about his journey to college football and how he "didn't know who I was" until he met at a pastor who changed his life.

If you've never really heard Baker Mayfield talk before, please give this a watch today and, I promise, you'll come away very impressed.

Thank you, as always, to our friends at Freestate Electrical for their support of #DMD and our Friday "Faith in Sports" segment.

To watch the Baker Mayfield video, click here.