10-17-2018, 01:15 PM
Here’s a look at what’s happening around the majors today:
SWING OR MISS?
Many hitters got off to a smashing start in July as Cleveland socked 11 doubles Breeland Speaks Color Rush Jersey , Baltimore homered four times and the Cubs combined with Minnesota for 21 runs at Wrigley Field on Sunday. Now, we’ll see if the trend continues as the weather heats up and the balls fly.
June marked the second time in three months that strikeouts exceeded hits in the major leagues, a pattern that had never occurred until this year. About halfway through the season, there had been 21,090 strikeouts and 20,671 hits.
SLAMMIN’
The Reds try to keep socking grand slams when the White Sox come to Great American Ball Park. Cincinnati leads the majors with nine slams and has already tied the single-season franchise record set in 2002.
Jose Peraza hit one Sunday, and pitchers Mike Lorenzen and Anthony DeSclafani recently connected. Eight different Reds have hit grand slams – Adam Duvall is the only player with two.
James Shields, who twice has led the league in homers allowed, starts for Chicago.
MOTOWN MEMORIES
Washington ace Max Scherzer (10-4, 2.04 ERA) will face ex-Detroit teammate Rick Porcello (9-3, 3.60 ERA) in a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners when the Boston Red Sox visit Nationals Park.
HE’S BACK
Shortstop Jorge Polanco is set to rejoin the Twins after serving an 80-game drug suspension. He went 8 for 19 in six rehab games at Triple-A and Class A, and will report to the big league club for the series opener at Milwaukee. The 24-year-old Polanco was a key contributor last season when the Twins earned an AL wild-card spot.
SEATTLE SLOW
The Mariners plan to monitor Felix Hernandez and his back stiffness over the next few days. Hernandez pitched five innings Saturday night and earned the victory over Kansas City, but struggled with back pain and wasn’t able to sit down in the dugout between innings. The six-time All-Star is 8-6 with a 5.11 ERA in 18 starts this season.
—
An iconic Nike logo of a leaping Michael Jordan that the company has used to market billions of dollars of merchandise didn’t violate the copyright of an earlier photograph of the basketball star, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The logo was based on a photograph taken by someone Nike hired. That photo was ”obviously inspired” by a 1984 photo by Jacobus Rentmeester, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. But the court in a 2-1 decision said the photos are unmistakably different in key elements.
Both show Jordan leaping with his legs extended outward toward a basketball hoop with a ball above his head.
Nike used its photo for the ”Jumpman” logo – a silhouetted image of Jordan in the leaping pose in its photograph.
Rentmeester photographed Jordan while he played at the University of North Carolina. His photograph appeared in Life Magazine in a photo essay featuring U.S. athletes competing in the 1984 Summer Olympics.
An email to a law firm representing Rentmeester wasn’t immediately returned.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Next month’s NIT games will use experimental rules that include an extended 3-point line Derrick Nnadi Color Rush Jersey , a wider free-throw lane and 10-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves.
The NCAA announced the changes Tuesday.
The 3-point arc will move to roughly 22 feet, which is used by FIBA for international competition. The lane will expand from 12 feet to the NBA’s 16 feet.
Also, the shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after offensive rebounds instead of the full 30 seconds.
The NCAA says in its release that officials will review whether widened lanes ”reduce physicality and create more driving opportunities,” as well as the impact of the rule changes on ”the pace and flow of the game.”
The NIT begins March 13 and ends March 29 in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
SOCCER
MADRID (AP) – Enrique Castro ”Quini,” the former Spain striker who played for Barcelona and thrived in a long career with Sporting Gijon, has died of a heart attack. He was 68.
Sporting said Castro collapsed while walking near his house in the northern city of Gijon.
Known as ”The Wizard,” Castro played in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups with Spain.
His career was also notable for a kidnapping incident during his first year with Barcelona, when he was abducted at gunpoint after a home game, spending 25 days in captivity before being rescued by police.
Castro also survived throat cancer that required surgery in 2008.
He played for Barcelona until 1984, making 178 appearances and winning five titles with the Catalan club.
Barcelona said Castro was ”a synonym for goals” and ”one of the best strikers in Europe in his time.”
He played with Sporting from 1968 until 1980, and again after leaving Barcelona to end his career with more than 400 appearances for the club.
The Spanish league said there will be a minute of silence to honor Castro in matches on Wednesday and Thursday.
Castro was the first division’s leading scorer five times.
NFL
NEW YORK (AP) – Papa John’s is ending its recently stormy role as an official sponsor of the NFL.
Officials at the pizza chain said Tuesday that the two sides agreed to end the relationship, which became strained last year when its founder John Schnatter criticized NFL leadership over national anthem protests by players.
But the company based in Louisville, Kentucky, is not divorcing itself from the league altogether. It says instead it will focus its football marketing efforts on 22 of the league’s 32 teams and its star players.
Schnatter blamed slowing sales growth at Papa John’s on the outcry surrounding football players kneeling during the national anthem. The company later apologized for the remarks and Schnatter stepped down as CEO at the end of last year.
SWING OR MISS?
Many hitters got off to a smashing start in July as Cleveland socked 11 doubles Breeland Speaks Color Rush Jersey , Baltimore homered four times and the Cubs combined with Minnesota for 21 runs at Wrigley Field on Sunday. Now, we’ll see if the trend continues as the weather heats up and the balls fly.
June marked the second time in three months that strikeouts exceeded hits in the major leagues, a pattern that had never occurred until this year. About halfway through the season, there had been 21,090 strikeouts and 20,671 hits.
SLAMMIN’
The Reds try to keep socking grand slams when the White Sox come to Great American Ball Park. Cincinnati leads the majors with nine slams and has already tied the single-season franchise record set in 2002.
Jose Peraza hit one Sunday, and pitchers Mike Lorenzen and Anthony DeSclafani recently connected. Eight different Reds have hit grand slams – Adam Duvall is the only player with two.
James Shields, who twice has led the league in homers allowed, starts for Chicago.
MOTOWN MEMORIES
Washington ace Max Scherzer (10-4, 2.04 ERA) will face ex-Detroit teammate Rick Porcello (9-3, 3.60 ERA) in a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners when the Boston Red Sox visit Nationals Park.
HE’S BACK
Shortstop Jorge Polanco is set to rejoin the Twins after serving an 80-game drug suspension. He went 8 for 19 in six rehab games at Triple-A and Class A, and will report to the big league club for the series opener at Milwaukee. The 24-year-old Polanco was a key contributor last season when the Twins earned an AL wild-card spot.
SEATTLE SLOW
The Mariners plan to monitor Felix Hernandez and his back stiffness over the next few days. Hernandez pitched five innings Saturday night and earned the victory over Kansas City, but struggled with back pain and wasn’t able to sit down in the dugout between innings. The six-time All-Star is 8-6 with a 5.11 ERA in 18 starts this season.
—
An iconic Nike logo of a leaping Michael Jordan that the company has used to market billions of dollars of merchandise didn’t violate the copyright of an earlier photograph of the basketball star, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The logo was based on a photograph taken by someone Nike hired. That photo was ”obviously inspired” by a 1984 photo by Jacobus Rentmeester, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. But the court in a 2-1 decision said the photos are unmistakably different in key elements.
Both show Jordan leaping with his legs extended outward toward a basketball hoop with a ball above his head.
Nike used its photo for the ”Jumpman” logo – a silhouetted image of Jordan in the leaping pose in its photograph.
Rentmeester photographed Jordan while he played at the University of North Carolina. His photograph appeared in Life Magazine in a photo essay featuring U.S. athletes competing in the 1984 Summer Olympics.
An email to a law firm representing Rentmeester wasn’t immediately returned.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Next month’s NIT games will use experimental rules that include an extended 3-point line Derrick Nnadi Color Rush Jersey , a wider free-throw lane and 10-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves.
The NCAA announced the changes Tuesday.
The 3-point arc will move to roughly 22 feet, which is used by FIBA for international competition. The lane will expand from 12 feet to the NBA’s 16 feet.
Also, the shot clock will reset to 20 seconds after offensive rebounds instead of the full 30 seconds.
The NCAA says in its release that officials will review whether widened lanes ”reduce physicality and create more driving opportunities,” as well as the impact of the rule changes on ”the pace and flow of the game.”
The NIT begins March 13 and ends March 29 in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
SOCCER
MADRID (AP) – Enrique Castro ”Quini,” the former Spain striker who played for Barcelona and thrived in a long career with Sporting Gijon, has died of a heart attack. He was 68.
Sporting said Castro collapsed while walking near his house in the northern city of Gijon.
Known as ”The Wizard,” Castro played in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups with Spain.
His career was also notable for a kidnapping incident during his first year with Barcelona, when he was abducted at gunpoint after a home game, spending 25 days in captivity before being rescued by police.
Castro also survived throat cancer that required surgery in 2008.
He played for Barcelona until 1984, making 178 appearances and winning five titles with the Catalan club.
Barcelona said Castro was ”a synonym for goals” and ”one of the best strikers in Europe in his time.”
He played with Sporting from 1968 until 1980, and again after leaving Barcelona to end his career with more than 400 appearances for the club.
The Spanish league said there will be a minute of silence to honor Castro in matches on Wednesday and Thursday.
Castro was the first division’s leading scorer five times.
NFL
NEW YORK (AP) – Papa John’s is ending its recently stormy role as an official sponsor of the NFL.
Officials at the pizza chain said Tuesday that the two sides agreed to end the relationship, which became strained last year when its founder John Schnatter criticized NFL leadership over national anthem protests by players.
But the company based in Louisville, Kentucky, is not divorcing itself from the league altogether. It says instead it will focus its football marketing efforts on 22 of the league’s 32 teams and its star players.
Schnatter blamed slowing sales growth at Papa John’s on the outcry surrounding football players kneeling during the national anthem. The company later apologized for the remarks and Schnatter stepped down as CEO at the end of last year.