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Case of the Mondays: I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues

by - 4/27/2015

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker.

The St. Louis Blues are signing after the blues after an unexpectedly brief stay in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After trying for first in the Western Conference with 109 points during the regular season, St. Louis got bounced of the first round in six games by the Minnesota Wild. Speaking of higher-seeded teams making early exits, the Toronto Raptors were dismissed from NBA's Eastern Conference playoffs in rapid speed. Toronto, the No. 4 seed, lost to the Washington Wizards in four straight games.

All odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook.

St. Louis Blues . The Central Division champions did not last long in the playoffs as the Blues' loss at Minnesota on Sunday ended their 2014-15 campaign. St. Louis twice evened the series with victories of its own, but this time it could not bounce back from last Friday's 4-1 home loss to the Wild. Instead, T.J. Oshie and company fell by the same 4-1 score in Game 6. The Blues have now lost in the conference quarterfinals in three consecutive seasons, all in six games. Minnesota, which faces the Chicago Blackhawks next, is +600 to win the Stanley Cup.

Toronto Raptors . Toronto's first-round series against the Wizards went from bad to worse. The Raptors lost in overtime at home in Game 1, got blown out in Toronto in Game 2, and were soon eliminated with an awful 125-94 setback on Sunday in Washington two days after dropping the third contest 106-99. Toronto was once 37-17 and seemingly on course for no worse than the No. 2 seed in the East. But the team was never the same thereafter, finishing 12-16 and clearly unable to recover from the regular-season swoon in time for the playoffs. The Wizards are +1200 to win the Eastern Conference and +2800 to win it all.

San Antonio Spurs . San Antonio seemed be in complete control of its Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Los Angeles Clippers when it stole home-court advantage by winning Game 2 on the road in overtime then humiliating the visiting Clippers 100-73 in Game 3. But L.A. was a much different team on Sunday; for that matter, so was San Antonio. Chris Paul scored 34 points and Austin Rivers went for 16 in just 17 minutes. The Spurs got a combined zero points on 0-for-11 shooting from two of its starters (Danny Green and Tiago Splitter). They are +2 underdogs for Game 5 at the Staples Center on Tuesday.

Adam Wainwright . The St. Louis Cardinals' ace is expected to miss the remainder of the season after suffering an Achilles' injury in last Saturday's win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Wainwright led off the fifth inning with a popup before stumbling out of the batter's box. He was soon helped off the field, and that is likely the last we will see of him in 2015. Since the start of the 2012 campaign, Wainwright is No. 1 in the majors in shutouts (seven) and complete games (13) and second in wins (55). The 33-year-old was 2-1 with a 1.44 ERA and 1.04 WHIP this season. St. Louis is +500 to capture the National League Pennant and +1000 to win the World Series.

Floyd Mayweather . This is not exactly anything new, but for some reason all the media seems to want to talk about one week before the Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight is Mayweather's checkered past. He has been accused of assaulting five different women in seven separate incidents. He was also convicted of battery in a 2003 nightclub incident, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery charges in connection to a 2005 bar fight, and just last month he allegedly put a rear naked choke on his ex-girlfriend's 19-year-old son. Of course, Mayweather probably does not care about the chatter aside from being bombarded by reporters with questions-which he has either deflected or flat-out ignored. He is a -225 favorite to win the fight.

Denny Hamlin . It has been a rough two weeks for Hamlin, at least in the Sprint Cup Series. On April 19 he was forced out of the Food City 500 midway through the race because of a neck spasm. The ship seemed to have righted for Hamlin this past weekend when he dominated the Xfinity Series proceedings in Richmond and won after leading 248 of 250 laps at a track 20 miles away from where he grew up. In Sunday's Toyota Owners 400, however, track conditions changed following a Saturday downpour and Hamlin slumped from his No. 2 starting position to 22nd.

Jason Day . Day, the highest-ranked player in last week's Zurich Classic field at No. 6 in the world, was tied with Justin Rose for the 54-hole lead. But Day struggled to a final-round 69 amidst ideal scoring conditions, whereas Rose turned in a Sunday 66 to finish with a winning score of 22-under. Day played much of the par-5 second hole from the forest, ended up bogeying, and never again had either a lead or a share of the lead. The Australian at least has one victory this season (Farmers Insurance Open) but has four other near-misses (five top-five finishes in total). Day is +1400 to win this week's Cadillac Championship; Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are +900 co-favorites.

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