Good morning!
OK, so Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby and Exaggerator won the Preakness, but not having a Triple Crown contender doesn’t turn today’s 148th Belmont Stakes into just another horse race (6:37 p.m. on NBC).
The winner gets an $800,000 slice of the $1.5 million purse, second place nets $280,000, and finishing third earns $150,000. Even the eighth-place finisher wins $30,000, and money like that attracts the nation’s top horsemen.
Who wins? John Dobrydnio picked Brody’s Cause to win the Kentucky Derby and the 3-year-old colt ran seventh at 25-1 odds. “I’m betting him back today and I’m using Stradivari and Lani in the exactas. He beat Exaggerator twice, he won the Blue Grass and he’s won over $1 million. I know how to break down speed, and honest to God I’m giving him another chance.”
Wager at your own risk.
I’m going with 6-1 third choice Destin, one of only two horses that have won at Belmont. The other is Forever d’Oro who broke his maiden at Belmont last October and hasn’t won in either of his other two starts.
If it rains and the track turns muddy, Exaggerator will be my choice. The West Coast invader should be re-named Flipper for his love for the slop. He has three wins and a second in mud, including the Preakness where the chart writer noted he “lugged in” at the finish. This suggests that four races in nine weeks might be one too many for the best horse in the field.
The third race in today’s stakes-filled card is the 86th running of The Acorn for 3-year-old fillies. Cathryn Sophia is the 6-5 morning line favorite on the basis of five wins and one second place finish in six career starts. Javier Castellano will be in the irons, breaking from the Post 5. Post time for the Acorn is 12:39 p.m..
Hinsdale (N.H.) OTB will offer simulcast wagering on today’s 13-race card from Belmont, together with racing from harness and dog tracks. Owner Bill Faucher recently began taking phone wagers and bettors must provide legal residence and proof of identity to open an account.
NESN’s three-man broadcast team of Dave O’Brien, Dennis Eckersley and Steve Lyons have established a good rapport.
Eckersley’s ability to foretell the big play happened again on Sunday when Toronto’s Juan Encarnacion worked a 3-1 count off Red Sox hurler Eduardo Rodriguez.
“Time to party,” said Eck.
Sure enough, Encarnacion whacked E-Rod’s next pitch over the Green Monster, and when Eck called Xander Bogaerts’ bunt attempt a “brain cramp” Lyons happily piled on.
“What’s your best hitter doing bunting?” said Lyons. “Not a smart baseball move. I bunted once and John McNamara met me on the top step and said ‘Next time you have a man in scoring position, swing the bat!’
Three in the booth began with Frank Gifford, Dan Merideth and Howard Cosell doing Monday Night Football. This Red Sox troika isn’t the cultural phenomenon those three would become, but they’re a winning trifecta nonetheless.
UMass football fans can get a feel for the SEC when the Minutemen play at Florida on Sept. 3 and at South Carolina on Oct. 22. Tickets are $75 and $60, respectively, and can be purchased at the UMass box office along with any other UMass road game.
The Gators play at 88,000-seat Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and prior to the UMass kickoff the field will be named in honor of former coach and player Steve Spurrier on the 50th anniversary of his Heismann Trophy season.
Spurrier’s last coaching job was at South Carolina where he handed the coaching reins to Will Muschamp after a 3-9 season. In April 33,000 fans turned out to watch freshman quarterback Brandon McIlwain make his debut in the spring game. He didn’t disappoint, completing 19 of 26 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns.
At the MLB draft in Secaucus on Thursday, the Red Sox selected 17-year-old southpaw Jason Groome. The 6-foot-5 New Jersey native allowed one earned run and fanned 81 batters in 35 innings at Barnegat High School this spring.
Baseball America considered Groome to be the top overall pick in the draft, but character and money issues began to surface. Groome didn’t attend the draft despite living less than 100 miles from Secaucus, and word leaked his agent wanted a $4 million signing bonus.
“Boston’s got the money to take this kind of a gamble,” said MLB analyst Harold Baines.
Groome is the fourth pitcher to be selected in the first round by the Red Sox in six years. They took Henry Owens in 2011, Trey Ball in 2013 and Michael Kopech in 2014, and none have performed to expectations. Owens was sent back to the minors after he gave up 13 hits and 13 walks in 12 innings this season. Ball has a 4.50 ERA in 276 minor league innings and Kopech was suspended for 50 games after he tested positive for PEDs last summer.
The Red Sox should stick with what they’re good at and draft everyday players like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr., then use the leftovers like Blake Swihart to trade for established big league pitching.
Former Reds and Nationals executive Jim Bowden said on SXM Radio that this year’s draft is “the poorest top five in over a decade; no Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg.”
Two of the more intriguing prospects are right-handed flame thrower Zack Burdi of Louisville and 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-handed hitter Heath Quinn of Samford University in Alabama.
Burdi has a 0.92 ERA this season and his fastball topped the gun at 101 mph. The Louisville media guide reports his favorite player is Dustin Pedroia and his favorite cereal is Apple Jacks. “He’s an interesting guy for a contending team,” said Bowden, “but I would never, ever draft a closer in the first round.”
The White Sox took Burdi 26th overall with the second of their two first round picks.
The power-hitting Quinn is among the NCAA leaders in home runs and RBIs and was taken 95th overall in the third round by the SanFrancisco Giants.
Quinn used a wood bat in batting practice so scouts could gauge his true power. In 1982, the Red Sox took Jeff Ledbetter in the first round after he hit an NCAA record 42 home runs at Florida State. Ledbetter, nicknamed Imbetter by truculent teammates, had only warning track power using wood bats and lasted just three seasons in the minors.
UMass hockey coach Greg Carvel and athletic director Ryan Bamford will try to get Conor Sheary and Justin Braun to a summer golf outing or alumni barbeque, preferably with the Stanley Cup in tow.
Sheary’s last game at UMass was two years ago, and Braun’s last game was in 2010. Both are now key players in the Stanley Cup finals, Sheary for Pittsburgh and Braun for the Sharks.
It’s a rare opportunity to raise awareness of UMass hockey and awake the sleeping giant of Hockey East.
Squibbers: The owners of the new Springfield hockey franchise won’t name their team the Indians. Under Eddie Shore the nickname was synonomous with hockey at the Big E Coliseum, but tradition and heritage have caved in to political correctness. … The great Gordie Howe was a practical joker. At team photo shoots he’d tell the photographer to say “1-2-3 Cheese!” and at just that moment he’d elbow the guy next to him in the ribs. … After SXM hockey co-hosts Gord Stellick and Rob Simmer listened to Joe Thornton’s postgame remarks about goaltending, they joked about the reporters’ questions. “Couple of toughies in there. Favorite save? ‘Oh yeah, 13:12 of the second.’” … I got one of those phony IRS warnings this week. The knucklehead barks: “A warrant has been issued for your arrest and your house is under investigation! Call us now to prevent arrest and forfeiture!” No worries Tom Scanlon has always had my back, even when the call was for real.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley.