Weekly Update July 10, 2023

Baseball: Lots of headlines. LSU teammates go 1&2 in the draft for the first time ever. Yanks fire batting coach.

Basketball: New mid-season tourney. Wemby played 1 week of summer league and security hits Britney one more time.

Football: NW HC Fitz fired!! Breaking news there. Brady lost $30MM in FTX.

Golf: Straka wins John Deere. Corpuz wins Women’s US Open at Pebble. Smith wins LIV London.

Olympic Sports: US Nationals for T&F. All the details. Nassar stabbed. Vingegaard winning TdF.

Tennis: Quarterfinals set. 2 American women still in and 1 man. Men is dominated by RUS.

Baseball:

• Some quick highlights from the week: The battle for Texas ended on Monday with the Houston team getting the last laugh. The Astros beat the Rangers 12-11 but it wasn’t always that close. The Astros had an 8-run lead in the 4^th before blowing that and letting the Rangers take the lead in the 8^th. But the Stros put up 2 in the 9^th to finish the game and take the series 3-1. The Braves won 9 in a row after beating the Guardians on Monday but that streak would end the next game. The Braves lost in 10 to the Cleveland team. The Dodgers beat the Pirates 5-2 but that was noteworthy because it was their manager Roberts’ 700^th On Tuesday, the Cubs took the Brewers to 11 to get their win but thanks to LF Happ with 2 killer throws to plate, the Chicago team wins. Mets P Scherzer won his 6^th straight game, this one over the Diamondbacks 8-5. The Phillies beat AL leader Rays 3-1 which totals 10 straight away game wins. The A’s Tigers game went to 10 innings but the A’s only won 1-0 – talk about a boring game. However their next game the next day was the opposite with the A’s putting the hammer down winning 12-3. The Cardinals only had 1 error in their game against the Marlins but it was costly in the 9^th to give the Marlins the win by 1. The Twins P Pablo Lopez had his 1^st career shutout with 12 Ks as they beat the Royals 5-0. The Padres swept the Angels and kept Ohtani under control. The Mets only had 1 out left when Francisco Alvarez hit a HR to tie their game against the Diamondbacks then they had a single and a triple sealed the W. The Reds better thank Senzel for their W against the Nationals on Thursday as he saved a run in the 9^th inning and then hit a HR in the 10^th to win 5-4. The A’s got shutout by the Tigers 9-0 and that was their 10^th shutout of the season. Yikes! The White Sox/Blue Jays game was 0-0 until the 11^th inning. George Springer hit a single to bring in their first run of 6 in that inning. The White Sox tried to rally, putting up 2 but that was still 4 shy for the win. Also going into the 11^th inning, the Phillies beat the Rays for their 5^th loss in a row, a seasons worse for the top team. The Yankees were on a bit of a hot streak coming into Thursday’s game against the Orioles but that ended emphatically with the Baltimore team putting up 14-1.

• Continued: A big series began Friday between the 2 teams with the best record in the MLB, the Rays and the new leader, the Braves. The Braves took the first two games 2-1, 6-1 but then the Rays fought back to avoid the sweep, winning Sunday 10-4. The Phillies beat the Marlins 4-3 to add another win to their road streak at 13, which ties the most in franchise history. That would be the last as they went on to lose the next 2 against the Tampa Bay team. The Rangers took Game 1 of the series with the Nationals 7-2. That was the 5^th straight loss for the Washington team but they bounced back to take the next two games to win the series and stop their skid. The Diamondbacks stopped their 4-game skid by beating the Pirates 7-3. The Mets won 6 in a row beating the Padres 7-5 on Friday before dropping the next two to lose the series. Mookie Betts hit 2 HRs in the Dodgers win over the other LA team, the Angels. That was 2 of 5 HRs hit by the team that night. The Tigers had 3 pitchers to combine for a no-hitter against the Blue Jays which was just their 2^nd all season. Mookie Betts back in the headlines the very next night as he tied a MLB record with the 10^th leadoff HR. The Dodgers swept the Angels in the LA series which was split up over different weeks. Nationals Joey Meneses HR’d for the 3^rd consecutive day with their win over the Rangers Sunday. The Red Sox end the week sitting at 5 straight wins going into the All-Star break. The Rays lost 7 in a row before beating the Braves last night 10-4. Quite a way to fall from the MLB leading team. Royals P Yarbrough is back after from a facial fracture to get the W for the Royals over the Guardians, their first in 6-games. Despite getting 11 hits, the Tigers lost to the Blue Jays on Sunday in a close one that went into 10 innings. The Orioles put up 15 runs against the Twins with 6 HRs.

• LSU tops the draft with the first pair of teammates to go #1 and #2. P Paul Skenes and OF Dylan Crews went to the Pirates and Nationals respectively. Skenes was the first P to go #1 since 2018. This is only the 3^rd time in history that a school has had multiple top-3 picks in the same year, the other 2 were UCLA in 2011 and Arizona State in 1978.
• Yankees have fired their hitting coach Dillon Lawson after their loss to the Cubs on Sunday 7-4. This is usual from the NY who usually prides itself on stability. They do have the worst batting average in the league though. They hired Sean Casey today.

Basketball – NBA:

• In-Season Tournament announced over the weekend. All 30 teams will be participating… broken into six groups and all games except the championship game count towards regular season standings. All teams in group play each other once and then the winners of each group are moved on to elimination rounds. All games in elimination are single game elimination and the Finals are in Vegas in Dec. The winning team gets $500K bonus for each player.
• Wemby started his first game on Fri in Vegas. Oh and his security hit Britney Spears or rather may her hit herself in the face. Hope you enjoyed watching him in the summer league because official word is he is done.

Football:

• Northwestern HC Pat Fitzgerald is suspended for 2 weeks after alleged hazing. That will begin this Friday and will be served over the next 2 weeks. Preseason practices do not begin until August. However other measures are also being put in place including a monitor in the locker room that does not report to the HC staff. Fitzgerald has been the coach of the Wildcats since 2006 and before that was a decorated player. Harsher punishments are being considered.
• Tom Brady lost $30MM in the collapse in crypto company FTX. He was paid in now worthless stock.to add insult to injury, FTX is suing their celebrity endorsers for repayment. That includes Tom Brady, his then wife Gisele Bundchen, Shaq, Larry David (of Seinfeld), Naomi Osaka and Steph Curry.
• Former-Saint and Bama RB Mark Ingram will join the guys at Fox Sports as an analyst.

Golf:

• Sepp Straka won the John Deere Classic thanks to a stellar final round where he was on 59 watch until the final hole where he carded a double bogey. This was his 2^nd win on the PGA Tour along with his other win at the Honda Classic last year. He took the title by 2 strokes over Brandon Todd and Alex Smalley. It didn’t look like the AUT would take the title after round 1 with a opening 73 but he rallied in his next 3 going 63, 65 and a disappointing 62.

• There were quite a few headlines at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach this week. The week started all about Amy Olson who was competing at the iconic course 7 months pregnant. Also a big bomb dropped was that Michelle Wie West announced that this would be her final tournament of her career. And as one Hawaiian leaves the sport, another enters as HI Allisen Corpuz won her first ever LPGA title at the first major in women’s history on this legendary course. Corpuz earned it as she was the only golfer to have scores under par in all four rounds. Her final score of -9 was 3 shots ahead of the next person.

• AUS Cameron Smith is going into defend his Open Championship title after winning this week’s LIV event in London. He was 3 shots clear of the field going into the 3^rd and final round before Patrick Reed and Marc Leishman cut the lead down to 1.

Olympic Sports:

• It was Track & Field Nationals this week. There were some great headlines. Let me get your ready for Worlds.
  • Sha’Carri Richardson put on a clinic winning the 100m in 10.82, 2 years after she won at US trails before being banned for a doping violation. She whipped off her orange weave for braids and all business on the starting line. She continued business after the race as well admitting to Lewis Johnson that last time she stood there, she wasn’t ready for the moment. Personally I loved the ‘Im not back, Im better.’
  • Gabby Thomas beat Sha’Carri to take the 200m title, setting a world leading time of 21.60.
  • 19 year old Erriyon Knighton won the m 200m with Noah Lyles already having a bye into worlds in the event. Fred Kerley lost his first race all year getting 4^th but has a bye in the 100m anyway.

• • Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone holds the WR in the 400h but we saw her set the World leading time in the 400m. The M 400h will be another matchup between Karsten Warholm and USA Rai Benjamin, who both went under the WR in Tokyo.
  • Cordell Tinch was a cellphone salesmen last year, D2 champion n 3 events and is now representing the USA in the 110h after he got 2nd. He also got 5^th in the LJ.
  • Just when you think track isn’t a contact sport, watch this men’s 800m final. No one was DQ’d despite a flag going up but it was still something that even the announcers hadn’t seen. Bryce Hoppel won that race.
  • Ryan Crouser, reigning Olympic champ won the shot put but the upset was that Joe Kovacs got 4^th. He might not be left at home though as Crouser has a bye into worlds.
  • Athletes from the USA that already have a spot in an event: M100m Fred Kerley, M200m Noah Lyles, M400m Michael Norman, W800m Athing Mu, M110h Grant Holloway, W400h Sydney McLaughlin, WPV Katie Nageotte, M&W Shot Put Ryan Crouser and Chase Ealey, W Hammer Brooke Andersen,
• No one will shed a tear over this one but Larry Nassar was stabbed multiple times by another inmate in Florida and was taken to the hospital. This is the 2^nd time he has been attacked in prison, the first time in Tucson then we was relocated to Tampa.
• DEN Jonas Vingegaard is winning the Tour de France but only by 17 seconds over our favorite SLO Tadej Pogacar. Those two have a 2 minute lead over the rest of the pack.

Tennis:

• Wimbledon is in full swing and set to end this weekend.

• • On the women’s side, POL Iga Swaitek is still in despite a hard 4^th round battle with Bencic where the match went to tie breakers in the first 2 sets. There are still two USA Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys. Pegula should meet Swiatek in the semifinals unless there is an upset as both women play the only unranked opponents left in the tournament. Keys has to play BLR Sabalenka on Wed to advance to the Semifinals which would be a big upset (25 seed > 2). But the Quarterfinal to watch will be Wednesday #6 Jabeur vs #3 Rybakina.
    • Sloane Stephens lost in the 2^nd Vanessa Williams lost in Round 1 and Coco Gauff fell to a fellow American in Round 1.

• • On the men’s side, ESP #1 Alcaraz will face DEN #6 Rune on Wed and it hasn’t been a walk in the park for the Spaniard to get to the Quarterfinals. He had to play extra sets in his last 2 matches to do so. #3 RUS Medvedev will take on the only USA left in Christopher Eubanks. Eubanks and RUS Safiullin are the only unranked opponents left in the tournament. Safiullin plays ITA Sinner tomorrow and #7 RUS Rublev will try to stop #2 Djokovic’s record-breaking GS attempt. Both Rublev and Djokovic had a hell of a matchup in the 4^th Round Djokovic dropped a set and had 2 others go into tie breakers while Rublev played the full 5 with only 2 ending in a 6-game win.

What to watch this week

Baseball – MLB:

• Mon 7/10
  • HR Derby @ 7pm on ESPN
• Tues 7/11
  • All Star game: AL vs NL @ 7pm on FOX
    • Gerrit Cole vs Zac Gallen
• Fri 7/14
  • Giants at Pirates @ 6:05pm on Apple TV+
  • Dodgers at Mets @ 6:10pm on Apple TV+
• Sat 7/15
  • Guardians at Rangers @ 3:05pm on FS1
  • White Sox at Braves – or – Dodgers at Mets @ 6:15pm on FOX
• Sun 7/16
  • Giants at Pirates @ 11:05am on Peacock
  • Astros at Angels @ 6pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Thurs 7/13
  • Genesis Scottish Open – Round 1 @ 8:30am on Golf Channel
  • Barbasol Championship – Round 1 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 7/14
  • Genesis Scottish Open – Round 2 @ 8:30am on Golf Channel
  • Barbasol Championship – Round 1 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 7/15
  • Genesis Scottish Open – Round 3 @ 10am on Golf Channel
  • Barbasol Championship – Round 3
    • @ 1:30pm on NBC
    • @ 4pm on Golf Channel
• Sun 7/16
  • Genesis Scottish Open – Final Round @ 10am on Golf Channel
  • Barbasol Championship – Final Round
    • @ 1:30pm on NBC
    • @ 4pm on Golf Channel

Olympic Sports:

• Mon 7/10
  • TdF: Stage 9 @ 1am on USA
• Wed 7/12
  • TdF: Stage 10 @ 1am on USA
• Thurs 7/13
  • TdF: Stage 11 @ 1am on USA
• Fri 7/14
  • TdF: Stage 12 @ 1am on USA
• Sat 7/15
  • TdF: Stage 13 @ 1am on USA
• Sun 7/16
  • TdF: Stage 11 @ 1am on USA
  • TdF Stage Recap @ 12:30pm on NBC

Soccer:

• Mon 7/10
  • Armed Forces Cup @ 7pm on FS1
• Wed 7/12
  • CONCACAF Semifinal: USA vs PAN @ 6:30pm on FS1
  • CONCACAF Semifinal: JAM vs MEX @ 9pm on FS1
• Sat 7/15
  • MLS: Atlanta United vs Orlando City @ 6:30pm on FS1
• Sun 7/16
  • CONCACAF Final @ 6:30pm on FS1

Tennis:

• Mon 7/10
  • Wimbledon – Round of 16
    • @ 5am on ESPN2
    • @ 7am on ESPN
• Tues 7/11
  • Wimbledon – Quarterfinals @ 7am on ESPN and ESPN2
• Wed 7/12
  • Wimbledon – Quarterfinals @ 7am on ESPN and ESPN2
• Thurs 7/13
  • Wimbledon – Semifinals @ 7am on ESPN
• Fri 7/14
  • Wimbledon – Semifinals @ 7am on ESPN
• Sat 7/15
  • Wimbledon – Finals @ 8am on ESPN
• Sun 7/16
  • Wimbledon – Finals @ 8am on ESPN