[Posted Sunday PM, prior to late baseball action….]
Brief Add-on up top, Tues. AM.
Note: StocksandNews has significant ongoing costs, and your support is greatly appreciated. Please click on the GoFundMe link or send a check to PO Box 990, New Providence, NJ 07974.
For Zelle: use Zelle recipient briannovak24@gmail.com.
The Open Championship Quiz: As we gear up for next week’s last major of the season at Royal Birkdale, between 1970 and 1989, Americans won it 13 times. Name the seven different golfers responsible for the 13 titles. Answer below.
World Cup
In the best match of the Cup thus far, last Tuesday in a Round of 16 game, Lionel Messi led a stunning comeback, with Argentina down 2-0 to Egypt until Cristian Romero, assisted by Messi, put Argentina on the board.
Messi then tied it at 2-2 with a superb kick from in close to tie it at 2-2 four minutes later, and in stoppage time, Enzo Hernandez headed in a brilliant cross for the win, 3-2.
It was the first time in World Cup history that a team had won a knockout match in regulation time after trailing by two goals in the 75th minute.
Argentina is bidding to become the first back-to-back World Cup champions since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
In quarterfinals action:
Thursday, France beat Morocco 2-0 behind Kylian Mbappe’s 8th goal of the Cup and Dembele’s 5th.
Mbappe thus equaled Lionel Messi for most goals as they vie for the Golden Boot.
Mbappe 8
Messi 8
Erling Haaland 7
Harry Kane 6
Ousamane Dembele 5
Mbappe now has 20 goals in 20 career World Cup contests.
Messi has a record 21 goals across all of his World Cups, but he’s played in 31 games.
Friday, Spain had a thrilling 2-1 win over Belgium, Mikel Merino with his second-straight late-game winner for Spain at the 88’ mark.
Merino, just as he had done against Portugal in the Round of 16, came off the bench late to put in the decider, becoming the first substitute in World Cup history to score the winning goal in two different knockout stage matches.
Saturday, in the first quarterfinal, England defeated Norway 2-1 on Jude Bellingham’s two goals, the second three minutes into extra time, Bellingham the first since Pele to score two goals in consecutive knockout games, the other in The Three Lions’ stirring win over Mexico in the Round of 16.
While Harry Kane didn’t score Saturday, he was a force on defense, getting back time and time again to help out*, while Norway’s Erling Haaland sat out the second half of extra time out of sheer exhaustion in what were brutal conditions, stifling heat and humidity down in Miami.
But on Bellingham’s first goal just seconds before halftime, VAR missed an infraction. During a Norway free kick moments before Bellingham’s game-tying score, the ball struck the sky camera above the pitch at Hard Rock Stadium and landed in an ideal spot for England to set up the goal.
According to FIFA rules, a drop ball should have been called after the ball hit the camera, but the officials seemingly missed the play. It was not picked up by the video assistance referee.
*I read a Sports Illustrated writer’s review of the game and he said Kane was “invisible” and basically awarded him a ‘zero.’ I don’t know what game this guy was watching.
England will face Argentina in the semifinals, Argentina defeating Switzerland 3-1 in extra time, the Swiss playing a man down from the 72’ mark.
Julian Alvarez settled a controversial match with a moment of brilliance, curling an unstoppable 25-yard effort past the Swiss keeper to set up the meeting with England.
It was heartbreak for Switzerland, who defended valiantly with 10 players, after star striker Breel Embolo was dramatically given a second yellow card for diving following a VAR review.
Embolo initially appeared to be fouled near the half-way line by Leandro Pardes, who was booked. However the referee was called by VAR to check under the mistaken identity rule, with the replay showing the Swiss player had clearly simulated contact.
The Paredes booking was quashed and Embolo, who had already been booked, was sent off to his distress and Swiss outrage.
Prior to Embolo being dismissed, Switzerland had been the better team for much of the game.
It was unfortunate that there were two key controversial calls/non-calls in each of Saturday’s games, but the call on Embolo was correct. He had already been booked…he should not have been so reckless.
—The Americans’ loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 drew 33 million viewers on Fox, a U.S. single-network record.
England’s win against Mexico in the Round of 16 at the Azteca was the most-watched game in U.S. television history. More than 44 million people tuned in, with more on Telemundo than Fox Sports, beating the USMNT vs. Belgium.
—Speaking of the USMNT’s loss, Nancy Armour / USA TODAY Sports:
“After all this, after all the promising performances and all the signs of progress, not to mention all that money paid to Mauricio Pochettino, the U.S. men’s national team is right back where it started.
“Still one of the JV teams, not good enough to contend with the best.
“The USMNT had a chance to put the world on notice at this World Cup, to make a run that would change the landscape of soccer in the United States for decades to come. Instead, it laid bare how much further it still has to go.
“ ‘I think we put on some really good performances for sure. We made it through group quite dominant in fashion. We won the game against Bosnia. We can for sure be proud of that,’ Christian Pulisic said.
“ ‘But I just think we want to have higher hopes than that. We want to be able to go and compete with some of the best in the world, and we still have that next step to climb. But we are close.’
“Are they, though?
“As they were four years ago in Qatar, the USMNT were outclassed in their round-of-16 game. A Belgium team that had looked so vulnerable, drawing with Iran and Egypt and needing two goals after the 85th minute just to get to extra time against Senegal, treated the Americans as if they were chew toys.
“The swagger and class that had carried the USMNT through the first four games of the tournament were nowhere to be found. The U.S. men were tentative, sloppy and a step behind the entire game, while Belgium found that extra gear the top teams do when it’s win or go home….
“For all the good things the USMNT did at this tournament…they finished no better than they did in their last three appearances….
“So back to the drawing board the USMNT goes. Pochettino’s contract is up, and the Golden Generation is not long from becoming the Silver Generation. Whether the hold the USMNT had on the American public for the first half of the tournament has a lasting impact won’t be known for years….
“But this was the moment. This was the opportunity for the USMNT to prove it could hold its own against the best and deserved consideration as one of the world’s top teams. Now we know the USMNT is no closer to that goal than before.
“Maybe even further away, because it won’t get an opportunity like this again any time soon.”
Now we await the decision on Pochettino, whose contract expires this summer. He likes the team. America has treated him well and he’s the right man for the job.
But as all fans now know more than ever, we just don’t have the talent of the elite teams, and that doesn’t seem to change at all.
Personally, I’ll get back into my Premier League mini-obsession, when the new season starts in just about six weeks, but wake me on the USMNT in about 3 ½ years.
–As rumored, former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, 59, has agreed to become the German men’s national team head coach, after Germany’s disappointing loss to Paraguay in the round of 32.
MLB
–Going back to last Wednesday, the Yankees lost to the Rays in Tampa Bay, 3-0, and had lost 11 of their last 13 games and 14 of 19.
The issue is the absence of Aaron Judge. In the first 13 games he missed (from June 1 to June 17), the Yankees scored 5.77 runs per game. But in the 20 games since then, the Yankees had scored 56 runs, 2.80 per game, the fewest in the majors over that stretch.
Thursday, however, New York gained a split of the important 4-game series with Tampa Bay, exploding for 12 runs in a 12-4 rout, All-Star Ben Rice with two home runs and 5 RBIs.
Friday, the Yanks were in Washington to face the Nationals, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a 2-run homer in the ninth for a 5-3 win.
Saturday, the Yanks got more late-innings heroics, hitting three home runs in the top of the eighth for a 4-2 win, New York 53-42, that Nats 48-48.
And the Yanks completed the sweep today, 5-3. So all is good again for Yankees fans.
–Meanwhile, the pathetic Mets entertained the Red Sox, 40 years after their historic World Series, and Boston, despite a 24-hour travel nightmare getting to New York from Chicago that had them showing up at the ballpark Friday night just two hours before the scheduled game time, defeated the Metropolitans 6-2, as Sonny Gray went six innings, one earned, to move to a rather stunning 11-1, 2.54, for the BoSox.
The Mets wasted six strong from Nolan McLean, zero earned, but two unearned runs in the first thanks to a Juan Soto error in left.
[Major League Baseball delayed the start of the game about 40 minutes to give Boston a little more time to prepare.]
Saturday, surging Boston made it eight straight, 4-0, five Red Sox pitchers combining on a 3-hitter.
Boston has won 13 of their last 15 and is very much in the wild-card race at 45-48.
And then today, Sunday, the Mets put out Zach Thornton to make his 3rd major-league start and he responded with seven scoreless, two hits, the Mets up 2-0 heading to the ninth. After Luke Weaver had extended his streak to 27 consecutive innings without an earned run, New York brought in closer Devin Williams, and with a runner on first, one out, Francisco Lindor booted a game-ending double-play ball and when the top of the ninth was over, it was 2-2.
Of course, the Mets then lost 3-2 in 10…Boston heading into the All-Star break on a 9-game winning streak.
Just shoot me…but after the England-Argentina game….
—Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled pitching start Friday due to continued irritation in his left knee, according to the Dodgers, who made the announcement about six hours prior to him taking the mound. [He is 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts.]
Ohtani then served as DH for their weekend series against Arizona, but he will not join his teammates at the All-Star Game. In a statement, the Dodgers said Ohtani will instead “have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season,” as in the knee will be drained and then he’ll receive an injection. There will be no surgery.
Ohtani’s blister on his pitching hand and tightness in his right bicep are no longer issues.
Friday night, Ohtani homered (No. 21) in a 9-3 loss to the D’Backs in Los Angeles.
And the Dodgers lost again Saturday, 9-2, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto yielded six runs in six innings to fall to 9-6, 2.85. L.A. is still a gaudy 61-35, Arizona now 48-47.
—The A’s fell 1-0 on Saturday in Chicago against the White Sox (49-45), the Athletics’ eighth-straight loss, 12 of 13, 16 of 19.
The A’s were 38-38 before this awful skid that now has them 41-54.
And befitting the poor play, star slugger Nick Kurtz has been in a bad slump, 0-for-18, that had seen his average fall to .266.
We then learned Saturday that he was placed on the 10-day IL with a right thumb sprain, meaning he won’t be in the All-Star Game. Drat!
Get healthy, Nick. We need you to have a big final two months to get to 100 RBIs (he has 66).
[The A’s then lost Sunday, 9-1. Ugh.]
—Today in Pittsburgh, the Pirates whipped the Brewers 14-5, which I only mention because Paul Skenes went 5 1/3, 2 runs, to get back to .500, 8-8, 3.57.
–And in Detroit, the Phillies (54-43) shut out the Tigers (44-52) 5-0, as Zack Wheeler threw six scoreless, 10 strikeouts, to move to 10-1, 2.13; Tarik Skubal, 5 innings, 2 runs, the loss.
Wheeler was told he made the All-Star team after initially getting dissed and he said, ‘[Blank] you.’
All are in agreement, Wheeler was right to react this way, plus pitching on Sunday, he wouldn’t be available for Tuesday anyway.
–Going back to last Tuesday, it was an historic evening in the annals of baseball…Kansas City rookie Tyler Tolbert extended his consecutive hit streak to 12 with his second-straight 5-hit game in K.C.’s 16-12 win over the Mets at Citi Field, becoming just the fifth in MLB history to have 12 straight hits. But he flied out in his sixth at bat to end the fabulous run.
And in Pittsburgh’s 12-4 win over the Braves, Ryan O’Hearn had three home runs and 10 RBIs, the 10 ribbies a franchise record, which with the Pirates’ rich history was a bit surprising to some of us.
—Justin Verlander announced this is his last season. He signed a one-year, $13 million deal with Detroit in the offseason, returning to the team that made him an anchor of its rotation less than two years after drafting him.
The three-time Cy Young Award recipient, as well as AL MVP and future first-ballot Hall of Famer, is 266-159 lifetime with a 3.33 ERA.
But this season he has appeared in just one game before landing on the IL with a hip injury. He said he hopes to return relatively soon.
—The first five picks in the MLB amateur draft, held Saturday….
1 White Sox – Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA
2 Tampa Bay – Grady Emerson, SS, HS/Texas
3 Minnesota – Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
4 San Francisco – Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
5 Pittsburgh – Derek Curiel, CF, LSU
–We note the passing of longtime reliever and pitching coach Phil Regan, 89.
Regan pitched for four different teams during his 13-year playing career from 1960 to 1972. He transitioned into coaching in 1974 when he became the head coach at Grand Valley State, and he spent the next 47 years either coaching or scouting at various levels.
Regan’s best season as a pitcher and only All-Star appearance came with the Dodgers in 1966, when he was nicknamed the Vulture by teammate Sandy Koufax because of his penchant for recording wins as a relief pitcher. The right-hander went 14-1 with a 1.62 ERA for the NL champions while also leading the league with 21 saves.
Regan had some solid seasons with the Cubs in the late 60s and was 96-81, 3.84 ERA, for his career spanning 551 games.
Regan last worked in the majors in 2019 when he served as the Mets’ interim pitching coach. He sued the Mets four years later, alleging age discrimination and wrongful termination.
Golf Balls
–At the Genesis Scottish Open, The Renaissance Club, North Berwick, after two rounds we had the following leaderboard….
Jordan Smith -9
Tom Kim -9
Rory McIlroy -9
Matt Fitzpatrick -8
Min Woo Lee -8
And among a large group at -7…
Robert MacIntyre -7
Chris Gotterup -7…there he is, again…last year’s champion.
But no Scottie Scheffler. In fact, for the first time in four years, he missed the cut, after making 78 consecutive cuts. It was the longest streak on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods set the record of 142 cuts in a row from February 1998 to May 2025.
This season in 14 events, Scheffler had finished in the top 25 at every tournament, including nine times in the top five.
Among the others not making the cut…Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay (after an opening 65), Brooks Koepka (68-74) and Xander Schauffele.
Saturday, fog delayed the start of play in the morning, and then fog suspended action mid-to-late third round for the leaders, and the leaderboard was a mess…a zillion golfers within four shots of the lead, setting up a very long Sunday.
They finished the third round Sunday morning and after 54 we had….
MacIntyre -12
Min Woo Lee -12
Matt Fitzpatrick -12
Michael Thorbjornsen -11
Gotterup -11
Tom Kim -11
Wyndham Clark among those at -10.
Rory -6 after a miserable 3-over 73.
And in the end, it wasn’t exactly high drama, but Tom Kim takes it at -17, firing a 64, career win No. 4, but first in three years, with a 2-shot win over Min Woo, who finishes solo second.
Rory bounced back with a 64 to finish -12, T7…a good effort and important momentum going into Royal Birkdale.
Wimbledon
–We had an all-Czech women’s final Saturday for the third time in four years…10 Karolina Muchova vs. 9 Linda Noskova.
Muchova had dispatched of 7 Coco Gauff in the semis on Thursday, Gauff muffing a match point that gave Muchova her opening in a tense 3-setter. Noskova beating Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
It was Muchova’s second Grand Slam final after losing to Iga Swiatek in the 2023 French Open championship match, the 21-year-old Noskova in her first final.
This will be the 10th different champion in the last 10 years at Wimbledon and the third Czech in the last four years.
And the winner is…Noskova, her first Grand Slam title, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; Muchova exhibiting total class in her post-match comments. Both highly likable.
On the men’s side Sunday, we had No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. 2 Alexander Zverez (winner of the French Open last month).
Sinner ended Novak Djokovic’s quest for a 25th Grand Slam title in the semifinals, Zverez ending the Cinderella story of British wild card Arthur Fery; both in straight sets.
Sinner is defending champion at the All England Club.
And it’s Sinner…6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4…Grand Slam No. 5, second at Wimbledon, to go with 2 Aussie Opens and a U.S. Open.
Now we all hope Carlos Alcaraz is able to compete at the U.S. Open, after missing the last two Grand Slam events with a wrist injury, so he and Sinner can resume their rivalry.
Stuff
–A group led by San Francisco 49ers limited partner Vinod Khosla has agreed to purchase the Seattle Seahawks, it was announced Saturday.
ESPN reported the price was $9.612 billion, a record for an NFL franchise.
As part of the deal, which is subject to owner approval, the Khosla family will be required to relinquish its ownership stake in the 49ers.
Owners have been given a date in late August to keep open for a special meeting to approve the deal.
The current record price was recorded when the Washington Commanders were sold for $6.05 billion to a group led by private equity investor Josh Harris in 2023.
The Denver Broncos were sold in 2022 for $4.65 billion.
In the Seattle situation, Paul Allen’s estate announced it had begun the formal sale process of the franchise 10 days after the Seahawks defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl 60. That was the franchise’s second Super Bowl win of the Allen family’s nearly three decades of control.
–The annual Florida Python Challenge got underway Friday. Some 934 people from 30 states and Canada registered for the competition, and the chance to win over $25,000 in prizes by removing invasive Burmese pythons from South Florida.
Primarily residing in and around the Everglades, the non-native snakes have posed a serious challenge to the fragile ecosystem, where they prey on various birds, mammals and reptiles.
The event is sponsored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which aims to protect the Everglades by reducing this godawful species (No. 1,124 on the All-Species List).
Some 16,000 pythons have been removed by FWC and South Florida Water Management District contractors since 2017.
Last year during the contest, 294 were removed.
—Singer Bonnie Tyler died. She was 75.
Tyler hit the charts with the #3 “It’s a Heartache” in 1978 and then the #1 “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in ’83.
I’m sorry…I was not a fan of her music. That doesn’t make me a bad person.
Top 3 songs for the week 7/12/80: #1 “Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)” (Paul McCartney & Wings) #2 “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me” (Billy Joel) #3 “The Rose” (Bette Midler)…and…#4 “Little Jeannie” (Elton John) #5 “Cupid / I’ve Loved You For A Long Time” (The Spinners) #6 “Steal Away” (Robbie Dupree) #7 “Funkytown” (Lipps, Inc.) #8 “Magic” (Olivia Newton-John) #9 “Let’s Get Serious” (Jermaine Jackson) #10 “Let Me Love You Tonight” (Pure Prairie League…C+ week…)
The Open Championship Quiz Answer: The seven Americans who took home the title 13 times between 1970 and 1989.
1970 – Jack Nicklaus
1971 – Lee Trevino
1972 – Lee Trevino
1973 – Tom Weiskopf
1975 – Tom Watson
1976 – Johnny Miller
1977 – Tom Watson
1978 – Jack Nicklaus
1980 – Tom Watson
1981 – Bill Rogers
1982 – Tom Watson
1983 – Tom Watson
1989 – Mark Calcavecchia
Brief Add-on up top Tues. AM.
