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[Posted Sunday PM]
Brief Add-on up top Tues. a.m.
College Football / Heisman Trophy Quiz: There was a time when running backs dominated the Heisman vote, such as 1973-83…all 11 seasons it was a running back (including one, Johnny Rodgers, who is formally listed WR/RB). But from 1997-2025, 21 of the 29 years it’s been a quarterback who was the Heisman winner. Name the eight who were not QBs. [Hint: Three are from one school, the other five from different schools.] Answer below.
MLB
—The Yankees took on the Blue Jays at the Stadium this weekend and won the opener Friday night, 3-1, their fifth straight win. Spencer Jones hit an early 2-run homer, Cam Schlittler (11-6, 2.16) with six innings of one-run ball for the win.
The Yanks (73-55) are three games behind the first-place Rays in the AL East, four ahead of Boston for the top wild-card slot.
But then New York played a poor game Saturday, went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and fell to Toronto 4-3; the Blue Jays with 15 hits, but going only 4-for-18 with RISP themselves.
The game, however, may have been even more costly for the Yanks as starter Ryan Weathers, who has been pitching terrifically, left after allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in 3 1/3 with left forearm discomfort and was going for further imaging. Never a good sign.
And before the game, we learned slugger, and clubhouse leader, Giancarlo Stanton, was probably out for the season when he injured his other calf while trying to work his way back from his original calf strain. It’s his third calf strain of the year.
So a bleak Saturday for Yankee fans, the lineup still without Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger.
New York rebounded Sunday, 8-3, Ben Rice (82 RBIs) with a key 2-run single in the sixth.
—The Mets (58-71) are in Chicago facing the White Sox (67-61) and Friday night they blew a 4-0 lead, starter Sean Manaea giving up three straight home runs in the bottom of the sixth to allow Chicago to tie it, while Jefry Yan gave up a walk-off 2-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to Jake Rogers. Bad loss that stops the momentum the Mets had been building as they looked to finish strong.
But the Metsies rebounded nicely Saturday, 10-5, hitting five home runs, including two from former ChiSox player Luis Robert Jr.
Luis Torrens also had a pinch-hit homer for New York. Torrens had two homers his first 185 at-bats this season and shockingly now has six in his last 26 ABs.
But, Sunday, the Mets tied it in the top of the ninth at 1-1, only to have new closer Kodai Senga give up a walk-off homer to Tristan Peters, 2-1 Chicago.
–The Braves are in Milwaukee to face the Brewers, a battle of two first-place teams, and Milwaukee took the first, 2-1…Jacob Misiorowski with six shutout innings for the Brew Crew, now 13-5, 1.68.
Meanwhile, the other NL division leader, the Dodgers, beat the Pirates at Chavez Ravine Friday, 5-4, making it four straight for L.A.
So after Friday’s play, in the race to have one of the two best records in the league to avoid a wild-card matchup, we had….
Milwaukee 80-49
Los Angeles 78-51…2
Atlanta 75-54…5
But the Dodgers suffered a bad break, literally, Friday, as All-Star outfielder Andy Pages was hit on the back of his hand by a pitch from Bubba Chandler and X-rays revealed a fracture.
Manager Dave Roberts said it’s not season-ending, but Pages is expected to be out 4-5 weeks, regardless of whether he needs surgery or not.
Utility player Tommy Edman, normally an infielder, is expected to get some play in center in Pages’ absence. All Edman has done is drive in 21 runs in the postseason the last two years.
[The Dodgers’ struggling closer Edwin Diaz was put back on the injured list for the second time this season, this time with inflammation on the right side of his neck. He was to see a spine specialist. The move came after Diaz had given up nine runs and recorded three blown saves in a span of six appearances.]
The Braves then lost again, Saturday, 4-1, as Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson (8-2, 2.60) went six innings, one run.
And the Dodgers beat the Pirates 4-3, as Tarik Skubal picked up his first win as a Dodger.
Skubal, who was 0-2, 3.18, in his first three starts with L.A., went seven innings Saturday, giving up the three runs in the first inning and then slamming the door, 11 strikeouts.
Back to Atlanta, Philadelphia (72-58) is now just three games behind the Braves in the NL East, the Phillies winning their eighth straight Saturday, 12-3 over the Cardinals.
And the Phillies scored six in the bottom of the ninth today to defeat the Cards 6-4, Kyle Schwarber with a walk-off 2-run homer, his MLB-leading 39th.
Atlanta and Milwaukee are the ESPN game tonight.
—The Reds (62-68) beat the Diamondbacks (68-62) 11-5 in Phoenix on Saturday , as Cincy outfielder JJ Bleday hit for the cycle in his first four at-bats. Former Wake Forest hurler Rhett Lowder (5-8, 5.13) picked up the win with six innings, 3 earned. His ERA is ugly, but he’s been pitching much better for a long stretch now.
Arizona, despite being just two games back in the wild-card chase, is having to deal with infielder Ketel Marte, who disappeared during a road trip in Boston. When Marte, a key figure for the D’Backs with 21 homers and 67 RBIs, reappeared, he was placed on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation shortly after meeting with manager Torye Lovullo.
“Once I saw what was unfolding, I became extremely frustrated,” Lovullo said. “I felt betrayed. And that’s a whole different type of pain and frustration. But I’m through that.”
He was AWOL for four days. And he wasn’t in the clubhouse Friday night for the Reds-D’Backs game. Instead, he was spotted at a casino, though Lovullo said players aren’t required to be with the team when on the injured list.
The Dominican 3-time All-Star has 1,215 hits and 189 homers since joining the club in 2017 and is generally well-liked in the clubhouse.
But this is not what the team, and management, needs in the middle of a playoff race.
–Speaking of playoff races…here’s the AL Wild-Card picture after Saturday’s play….
Yankees 73-56…+9.5
Boston 70-59…+6.5
Texas 64-66…–
Cleveland 64-66…–
Toronto 64-67…0.5
Minnesota 63-67…1
Baltimore 63-67…1
Seattle 62-68…2
Detroit 61-68…2.5
—Last Wednesday, Paul Skenes made his delayed start for the Pirates, Pittsburgh winning it 4-3, but Skenes going just 4 1/3, 3 runs, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts, 81 pitches, as his ERA rose to 3.95.
Skenes touched 98 mph, and was frequently throwing it 96-97, but his control was awful and only 46 of the 81 pitches were strikes.
There are growing calls to just shut him down.
–I have to note another game since I last posted…Seattle’s 22-0 loss to the Brewers last Tuesday in Milwaukee, which tied for the largest shutout victory since the start of the 1888 season, matching the Pirates’ 22-0 win over the Cubs in 1975 and Cleveland’s dismantling of the Yankees by the same score on Aug. 31, 2004.
The thing is, the score was 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth, but the Brewers scored 21 runs the fifth through the eighth, highlighted (lowlighted) by outfielder Julio Rodriguez, who caught a fly ball to center that was a sac fly. Rodriguez, thinking it was the third out, threw the ball into the stands. It was just the second out. Two runs scored on the play (one on the straight sac fly, the other from second on what is ruled a 2-base throwing error).
–In the Little League World Series, Bayonne, NJ, fell to Davenport, IA, today, 6-0, for their first loss in the double elimination tournament.
Golf Balls
—Round two of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the BMW Championship, this year at Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Mo. We’ll cut the field from 50 to the final 30 for East Lake next week and the Tour Championship.
After the first round….
Gary Woodland -6
Wyndham Clark -6
Rory McIlroy -6
JJ Spaun -6
Chris Gotterup -6
Scottie Scheffler with a surprisingly poor start, +2.
And after the second round….
Clark -12
Woodland -11
Spaun -10
Gotterup -9
Sungjae Im -9
Rory -7
Scheffler -3…after a 65…but he has some ground to make up to be in the hunt Sunday.
But after 54 holes, it was turning into the Wyndham Clark show.
On Saturday, Clark, 64-64-65, put on a phenomenal putting display and now leads by five shots as he seeks his third win of the season, including the U.S. Open.
Clark -17
Rory -12
Patrick Cantlay -12
Gotterup -11
Woodland -11
Scheffler -5
Cantlay has moved from 43 to 22 in the FedEx Cup standings, handily inside the top 30, while Woodland has gone from 31 to 19.
But both must still play solidly, Sunday, to secure their trip to East Lake.
And today, on the first hole, Clark had a 3-putt bogey while Rory birdied…lead immediately down to 3.
And moving ahead we had….
Clark -15 thru 7
Woodland -14…8
Cantlay -13…7
Rory -11…7
Morikawa -11…8
Gotterup -11…7
But out of nowhere, on the 9th, a par-4, Woodland TOPPED his drive into a creek that is never in play (like 90 yards). Literally, a shot us amateurs hit at inopportune times each round. But not Tour players! Astounding. He was trying to hit a stinger.
Woodland doubles…back to -12…unreal.
Cantlay, however, is one behind at -14.
And then Rory birdies 8 and 9, -13, and is two back of Clark, along with Cantlay, also thru 9.
Clark bogeys 10…-14. Rory pars it…-13.
Cantlay makes a mess of 11…doubles it…-12!
About this time in the round, Wyndham doesn’t need to be thinking of his girlfriend, a rather sexy babe, who decided to announce on social media this week…well, let Bazooka Joe describe it:
‘Wyndham’s hot girlfriend announced she was moving in with him!’
Back to the action…Rory birdies 11, Clark pars it…and they are tied at -14!
And they are tied at -14 after the 14th.
But on 16, Clark drains a terrific putt for birdie, his first of the day! Rory must answer. He doesn’t…Clark with one shot lead heading to par-5 17th.
And Rory is making a mess of it…he bogeys…-13.
Clark birdies it! 3-shot lead heading to 18. Wow.
Wyndham will be having a lot of fun tonight…as the StocksandNews censors move in…and tell me not to go further. Being on double-secret probation, I must comply.
Cantlay, meanwhile, finishes second and is headed to East Lake…a clutch performance for him.
Wyndham’s win is No. 6 in his career. Rory solo third.
Clark birdies 18…kind of amazingly finishes Even for the round.
Ryan Fox is bubble boy…heading to East Lake! I want him to win it. [If Wake’s Cam Young doesn’t.]
–As for LIV Golf, what an embarrassment. LIV had to cancel its last scheduled event, which made this week’s tournament in Indianapolis the season finale, and the payout was slashed for it. From $20 million, including $4 million to the winner, down to $10.1 million, with the champion receiving $2 million.
This comes amid reports of players not receiving recent winnings and a new lawsuit against the league.
Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that several players had yet to be paid for their performances at Bedminster earlier this month, but multiple vendors and contractors have also complained of outstanding payments. One vendor, Mobii, which powered LIV’s “Any Shot, Any Time” broadcast feature, is suing the league for more than $1 million in unpaid fees. Another media company is suing for $1.2 million going back to preseason shoots.
Recall, LIV officials had previously maintained that the league possessed enough funding to complete the year. The financial uncertainty traces back to April, when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund abruptly withdrew its support.
Earlier this month, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil announced LIV had secured a “lead investor,” though the league declined to identify the entity.
O’Neil then said Wednesday that he was calling on the pro golf tours of the world to work together to achieve harmony among its elite players.
But the other tours have already done this! The PGA and DP World Tours have further enhanced their relationship, and the Asian Tour has reached a new agreement with the DP World Tour, all designed to shut out LIV players.
Rory McIlroy, when asked Wednesday in his press conference at the BMW Championship if certain LIV golfers would bring value to the PGA Tour if allowed to return, offered up a brutal response: “I would argue, have they brought value to LIV?”
Jim Nantz said Wednesday on a call with The Athletic, “The game is thriving without them (the LIV players),” noting that last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship had its best broadcast viewership showing since 2013.
“I, like everyone else, am anxious to see how they can sort this out, and how you can make everybody happy, because there are a lot of PGA Tour players who resisted the urge to go take their game somewhere else and cash in on a bounty or a largesse,” Nantz said. “And they’re going to have a strong opinion on this.”
Nantz continued to share that, in all of the sports he has covered in his career, he has never experienced another game so dependent on integrity. He believes that trait cannot be forgotten during this inflection point.
“(Jon Rahm) left with absolutely all the consequences out there, for the public to know, for him to know, for his team to know,” Nantz said. “You’re gonna risk it all, you can’t come back, and you’ve gotta make a decision… Golf is a game that, at its core, leans more on its rules and the consequences than any other game. And I’ve covered a lot of them. I’ve never seen a sport that leans so heavily into what a handshake means, what a contract means.”
Dottie Pepper, on the same call, observed:
“The way Brooks (Koepka) came back, was with humility and ‘I’m gonna earn it.’ The way Patrick Reed’s going to come back? He will have earned it. But to come back with an attitude that I’m bigger than all of it? Nobody’s bigger than that,” Pepper said.
LIV officials are resigned to losing Jon Rahm after the league goes into bankruptcy, which seems a certainty at this point, and the PGA Tour would eventually take Rahm back, probably through the DP World Tour, a la Patrick Reed, but beyond him, no one cares about the other LIV players, including Bryson DeChambeau.
Wednesday, at the site of LIV’s tournament, DeChambeau turned to a trio of reporters and said, “Oooh, the mafia has arrived. The mafia. You guys love talking sh*t.”
What a [jerk].
Premier League
Hopefully, after the hugely successful World Cup, there are a few fans who want to follow the sport more closely and a natural way to do that is to pick a team in the best club league in existence, England’s Premier League, which is also the most-watched in the world. I mean I have been in bars/pubs all around and there was normally a PL game on the screen (even if taped from the day prior).
So, a reminder on the final standings from last year….
1 Arsenal
2 Man City
3 Man U
4 Aston Villa
5 Liverpool
6 Bournemouth
7 Sunderland
8 Brighton
9 Brentford
10 Chelsea
17 Tottenham (my team), barely surviving relegation on the final day.
West Ham, Burnley and Wolverhampton were relegated. Coventry City, Ipswich and Hull City were promoted.
Arsenal, Man City (or just ‘City’), Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham are considered the Big Six, not only because of their long history in the PL, but mostly because they have the most money, thus they sign (generally) the best players and, most years, the Big Six finishes in the top eight of the standings. But not last year.
And this was opening weekend…with Arsenal whipping Coventry City 3-0 in the opener Friday. The Gunners are the prohibitive favorite to repeat.
Saturday, though, Hull City, after a 9-year absence, returned to the PL with a splash…a 2-0 upset at home over Manchester United. Wow.
And Brentford whipped Tottenham 3-0. The Spurs are supposed to be much improved after some big signings, but not in this one. Ugh…already.
Sunday, Brighton blew out Aston Villa 4-0; Man City rallied late for a 2-1 win over Bournemouth; and in the last one, Liverpool scored a dramatic final minute of stoppage time goal, a penalty kick, to tie Newcastle on the road, 2-2.
Stuff
—Jannik Sinner, the 2024 U.S. Open champion who returned to the final last year, won’t be in the field for the Grand Slam event as Sinner announced Friday that he’s withdrawing due to a right knee injury that has kept him sidelined since winning Wimbledon last month.
It’s Sinner’s first missed major since he debuted at the U.S. Open in 2019.
But while this opens the door for an American such as Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe to win a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since Andy Roddick in 2003, you also have the return of Carlos Alcaraz, who now becomes an overwhelming favorite. He’s been out since April with a wrist injury.
—Two longtime Massachusetts fishermen initially thought they were reeling in a shark, Wednesday, and it turned out to be a 1,260-pound Atlantic blue marlin that measured in at over 11 feet in length.
The two fought on rod and reel with the marlin for about three hours and the marlin’s bill left a couple of holes in the charter boat’s transom which were considered “war marks.”
The mammoth billfish was brought back to shore in Falmouth, Mass., where an excited crowd gathered to view what is believed to be the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught off the East Coast*. It was caught about 100 miles off the coast.
*The world record blue marlin is 1,402 pounds, caught off Brazil in 1992.
In case you’re thinking, how do you eat such a huge monster…the fish’s head was transported to the UMaine lab to determine its age but it is thought to be in the range of 25 to 30 years old.
But the meat was divided among about a dozen people, according to one of the two fishermen, who said he was looking up recipes to put the meat to good use. He conceded some of it is probably destined for clam chowder.
Top 3 songs for the week of 8/27/66: #1 “Summer In The City” (The Lovin’ Spoonful) #2 “Sunny” (Bobby Hebb) #3 “See You In September” (The Happenings)…and…#4 “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” (Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs) #5 “Sunshine Superman” (Donovan) #6 “Wild Thing” (The Troggs) #7 “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes) #8 “Yellow Submarine” (The Beatles) #9 “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love” (Petula Clark) #10 “Summertime” (Billy Stewart…A week…outstanding all around…)
College Football / Heisman Quiz: Eight non-QB recipients from 1997-2025….
2024 – Travis Hunter CB/WR (Colorado)
2020 – DeVonta Smith WR (Alabama)
2015 – Derrick Henry RB (Alabama)
2009 – Mark Ingram RB (Alabama)
2005 – Reggie Bush RB (USC)
1999 – Ron Dayne RB (Wisconsin)
1998 – Ricky Williams RB (Texas)
1997 – Charles Woodson DB (Michigan)
Brief Add-on up top Tues. AM….
