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Case of the Mondays: Basketball Season Over, Nats Cooling Off as Baseball Heats Up

by - 6/27/2016

Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors

The dog days of summer are upon us. Basketball season came to an end last week with the Cleveland Cavaliers' improbable comeback against the Golden State Warriors, the 2015-16 NHL campaign has also wrapped up, and football has not yet begun. That means it's baseball's show, but the high-powered Washington Nationals are not putting on a show at the moment.

All odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook .

Washington Nationals . It will take more than a win over the lowly Milwaukee Brewers, which Washington accomplished on Sunday, to erase the disaster that was this past week. The Nationals had lost seven games in a row before beating the Brewers 3-2 for a much-needed road victory. In addition to their slump, the Nats put oft-injured starter Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list this past weekend because of an upper-back strain. The move is retroactive to June 16. Strasburg tweaked his back in the weight room earlier this month and missed last Monday's scheduled outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 10-0 this season with a 2.90 ERA. Washington is a +1000 fourth choice to win the World Series.

Tampa Bay Rays . Tampa Bay can't be feeling as bad as Bryce Harper and friends, because Washington actually has something to play for as the first-place team in the National League East. The Rays, on the other hand, are quickly becoming outside contenders for the No. 1 overall pick in next summer's draft, and they know they can be sellers at the upcoming trade deadline. Tampa was within one game of a .500 record as recently as June 16, but it currently finds itself mired in a ridiculous 11-game losing streak. The team has scored one run or fewer on five of 11 occasions and has given up at least five runs in all 11 contests during this stretch. Things went from bad to worse when the Baltimore Orioles polished off a four-game swing with a 12-5 blowout on Sunday. The Rays are +5000 to win the American League Pennant.

Golden State Warriors . A week removed from their loss to Cleveland, the Warriors probably won't be getting over what happened anytime soon. After all, a second consecutive title appeared to be nothing short of a lock when Golden State led the NBA Finals 3-1. No team in finals history had stormed back from such a deficit, and the Warriors were also riding the momentum of having become the first squad in Western Conference Finals history to erase the same 3-1 deficit (which they accomplished at the expense of the Oklahoma City Thunder). Stephen Curry and company even had two home games to work with; a potential Game 5 clincher and then, if necessary, Game 7. But Golden State five lost Game 5 without Draymond Green, got blown out on the road in Game 6, and was upset again in the decisive showdown 93-89. With Green but without LeBron James, Team USA is a -1200 favorite to win gold at the Rio Olympics.

Denny Hamlin . Hamlin led a race-high 33 laps of the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, which is a road course. But the reigning Daytona 500 champion could not seal the deal on Sunday, as Tony Stewart passed him on the final turn. For Stewart, the victory ended an 84-race title drought on the Sprint Cup circuit. He had last prevailed in Dover during the summer of 2013. "It was a great, fun race," Hamlin reflected. "We were fortunate to be in that position. We definitely had a car that could have and should have won. We were just on the bad end of the deal."


Ernie Els . Stewart's win on the track was a rare one, but it was not as surprising as what transpired at the Quicken Loans National in Washington, D.C. Billy Hurley III had never won on the PGA Tour, and he went into Sunday with a two-stroke advantage over a much, much bigger name: Els. A few contenders mounted a charge during final-round action, but Els was not on that list. The 46-year-old stumbled to a 1-over 72, finishing in fifth place at 12-under par. Hurley, who hails from Virginia and attended the United States Naval Academy, never wavered and came up with clutch shot after clutch shot on the back nine to triumph by three strokes at 17-under par (Vijay Singh fired a 65 to finish in second). Rory McIlory, Jordan Spieth, and Jason Day are +700 co-favorites to win next month's British Open.

Ireland . Ireland still enjoyed a solid EURO 2016 campaign by advancing out of group competition, but it seemed to be in line for a big upset and a berth in the quarterfinals when it led France 1-0 in the second half on Sunday. The host nation, however, was not to be denied. After falling behind in the second minute of the match on a successful penalty kick by the Irish side, France stormed out of the second-half gates. Lightning struck twice in the form of Antoine Griezmann, who found the back of the net in the 58th and 61st minutes. Ireland was reduced to 10 men because of a red card five minutes following its opponent's go-ahead goal, and the underdogs never could come up with an equalizer. Germany is a +350 favorite to win it all.

USMNT. Simply emerging from round-robin play at the Copa America was a success for the United States men's national team, especially given its opening failure against Columbia. Making a run all the way to the semifinals was an especially pleasant surprise for the host nation. But that's when it all fell apart, as the Americans were humiliated 4-0 by Argentina in last Tuesday's semis. Team USA turned in a much better performance in the third-place contest-a rematch with Colombia-only to suffer a 1-0 setback this past Saturday. The Argentines ended up losing the final to Chile via shootout for a second consecutive year. Argentina is a +700 second choice to win the 2018 World Cup.

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