Month: August 2017

Cubs’ Javier Baez hits inside-the-park home run against Giants

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Monday’s game between the Cubs and Giants was scoreless when Javier Baez stepped to the plate with a runner on in the second inning.

The Cubs shortstop then hit a shot to the right-center gap at San Francisco’s AT&T Park and kept running.

The ball hit the wall near the 421-foot sign and then caromed out of the sharp corner of the wall and away from Giants right fielder Carlos Moncrief. By the time Moncrief got to the ball, Baez was rounding third and slid past the tag of catcher Buster Posey with a head-first dive.

It was the first career inside-the-park home run for Baez, who now has 16 homers on the season. It was also the first inside-the-parker by a Cubs player since Anthony Rizzo hit one on June 29, 2016 in Cincinnati.

Baez’s shot was the 10th inside-the-park home run at AT&T Park, and fourth by a non-Giants player as the Cubs held a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning.

Elite Kids Timmy Jernigan Jersey Anyway, back to the balance thing. If the Tigers offer to pay for $40 million of the roughly $66 million Verlander is owed from now through the end of 2019, they would likely be offered a very nice package of prospects. It’s highly doubtful they’d throw that much cash out there, though.

If Detroit offers to pay only $20 million of the roughly $66 million he’s guaranteed, the prospect return drops a couple notches. And if Detroit offers to pay next to nothing? It would get a paltry return, and basically dumping a franchise hero to save salary wouldn’t sit well with a long-frustrated fan base. The Tigers can’t allow that to happen.

One more thing that’s worth noting: Because Verlander is owed so much money, the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline doesn’t mean much for him and Detroit. He would sail through waivers, which would give the Tigers the opportunity to trade him through August 31 (the deadline for players to be eligible for the postseason with their new team). And they could wait until the offseason to make a move, too.

O.J. Simpson granted parole, set to be released as early as October

Lions coach Jim Caldwell said the Lions are aware of Johnson’s unhappiness and want to work through any issues. We’re all concerned about anytime that we hear that one of our alumni is not happy, Caldwell said back in late May.

But it’s unclear if Johnson is ready to mend any fences. Though he still lives in Detroit—a place he says he’ll always call home—he’s in the process of moving back to Georgia. Johnson has already visited Raiders OTAs this offseason and has shown no public interest in returning to help out the Lions in any capacity.

You can watch Johnson full interview with the Italian media below:

Nine years have passed since O.J. Simpson was sentenced to serve up to 33 years in prison on a kidnapping and armed robbery conviction. On Thursday, a Nevada parole board ruled that Simpson will be released.
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I haven’t made any excuses in nine years here, Simpson said during Thursday’s hearing. But I should have never allowed these alleged security guys to help me, because it turned out they were only trying to help themselves.

Authentic Kids Devin McCourty Jersey Simpson’s daughter, Arnelle, spoke on behalf of the family, saying they just want him to come home. For Simpson, the hope is that home will be Florida, though the board made it clear there will be some hurdles to clear before that can be finalized.

Then Hali circled back around to the Chiefs

Hali shifted blame for the handling of the Sandusky case to Penn State’s former athletic director, Tim Curley, and the university’s president at the time, Graham Spanier.

Paterno’s career ended in disgrace because of his failure to report Sandusky, who was convicted for sexually assaulting minors in Penn State’s football facility. He was fired after 46 years as the Nittany Lions head coach, and the university even removed its statue of Paterno that stood outside of Beaver Stadium. Spanier and Curley were both convicted and sentenced to jail time for not alerting law enforcement to the situation.

Then Hali circled back around to the Chiefs, who start back at training camp Thursday:

Let’s look at the Super Bowl champs I am sure they had 100% attendance for OTAS AND OFFFSEASON WORKOUT this year. I maybe wrong.

The numbers for Brees support his belief that he hasn’t slowed down at all. He led the NFL with 5,208 passing yards in 2016 — only the ninth 5,000-yard season in NFL history, five of which were done by Brees.

It’s anyone’s guess if ages 38 and 39 will be as nice to Brees as they were to Brady, but as long as his play doesn’t drop off, he could overtake Manning on the career leaderboards.

In 11 seasons with the Saints, Brees’ worst totals were 4,388 passing yards in 2009 and 26 touchdown passes in 2006. In both seasons, he earned a spot in the Pro Bowl.

The average season for Brees in his 11 years in New Orleans is a preposterous 4,888 yards, 35 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. But reaching Manning in 2016 in either yards or touchdowns wasn’t realistic.

Manning sits at 71,940 yards with 539 touchdowns. Brees has 66,111 yards and 465 touchdowns.
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Senators’ Erik Karlsson sits out third period in Game 4 loss

Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson injured his left leg in a sequence of collisions with Rangers players late in the second period of Thursday’s Game 4 of their second-round playoff series. He went to the locker room and did not return to Ottawa’s bench for the remainder of a 4-1 loss.
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Karlsson, a Norris Trophy finalist, has been playing through hairline fractures in his left heel since March.

Hischier had no idea he would be the top pick in the draft. The Devils did not give him a heads up, so Hischier and Nolan Patrick, who wound up going second overall to the Flyers, found out at the same moment which one of them was ending up in New Jersey.
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It feels unbelievable, said Hischier. For a long time, I was speechless. I was just happy. I hugged my mom first, and I think she was a little bit crying, too. It was a lot of emotion, but I don’t have the words to describe it.

Though he was the front-runner most of the season to be selected first, Patrick claimed Friday he was not angry about ultimately slotting in behind Hischier.

I wasn’t rattled, Patrick said. I was happy for him, he’s an awesome guy. We’ve had a really good friendship this little last bit here. I’m really happy for him.

MORE: List of picks, results for Rounds 1-7

The pair will see a lot more of each other in the coming years as Metropolitan Division rivals. That will give fans of both teams an opportunity to regularly gauge who got the better player Friday.

Now both of us need to start on making the NHL, that’s both our goal, Patrick said.

Vegas Golden Knights add to developing roster with 3 first-rounders

Cody Glass is Vegas’ newest golden boy.

The first-ever draft pick of the Golden Knights, Glass was the first of three first-round selections for the NHL’s newest franchise on Friday at the United Center.

Authentic Youth Devin Hester Jersey Someone shows us their ticket, it’s free, owner Chirs Little told the Tennessean.

Predators fans who don’t already have tickets to the big game could certainly benefit from the giveaway since they likely won’t have any money leftover to spend on souvenirs. As of Thursday afternoon, tickets for Saturday’s Game 3 are listed as high as $3,679 on Vivid Seats. Even more outrageous, four front-row seats to the same matchup recently sold for $6,960 each for a grand total of nearly $28,000.
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Jake Waddell, a Nolensville, Tenn., resident, was charged with disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime and disrupting a meeting after sneaking a catfish into PPG Paints Arena and tossing it onto the ice during Monday’s Game 1 in Pittsburgh.

The charges were later dropped, but Waddell’s elaborate stunt in which he doused the fish in cologne and ran over it with his car before vacuum-sealing it will go down in Stanley Cup history.

The Penguins hold a 2-0 lead over the Predators in the championship series, with Games 3 and 4 scheduled for Saturday and Monday in Nashville.

Stephen Curry hits 47 of 50 3-pointers at Warriors practice

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If Stephen Curry is on the money Monday like he was at practice on Saturday, the Cavaliers are going to be in trouble.

The reigning two-time MVP knocked down 47 of 50 3-pointers at the Warriors practice facility ahead of Monday’s NBA Finals rematch, including the first 19 attempts.

Brice Butler Authentic Jersey Curry was just 4 of 11 from the floor with 15 points in the Warriors’ first matchup with the Cavs this season. After seeing this, he might go for 50 on Monday.

Irving in particular is a nightmare for opponents to slow down in isolation. 20.1 percent of his offense comes in those situations on the season and he ranks in the 92.9 percentile with 1.18 points per possession. To put into context just how impressive that is, Irving has attempted 118 shots out of isolation and only two players ahead of him in efficiency have attempted more than 50 shots: Chris Paul (81) and Isaiah Thomas (53). 1.18 points per possession is also basically as efficient as Steven Adams and Hassan Whiteside diving to the basket in the pick-and-roll.

Irving has several tricks up his sleeve when breaking down defenders in isolation, but it boils down to four specific moves. Let’s take a look at each of them in detail to understand why he’s nearly impossible to stop when there’s only one defender standing between him and the basket.

Players rarely attack a set defense immediately following a dead ball because it’s hard to score against five stationary defenders who all have their eyes on the ball handler. That’s why the Celtics keep the Wizards engaged on the weak side 鈥?notice how Marcin Gortat and Otto Porter Jr. turn their backs to Thomas 鈥?by making it look like the play is for Avery Bradley to run off a pair of screens for a jump shot on the wing.