(BASEBALL)—Major League baseball passed the midseason mark last weekend with both of our teams getting bounce-back wins.
The Cardinals seem to have played themselves out of the playoff picture with seven losses in nine game before taking a 2-1 in from the Marlins Sunday. Kyle Leahy won for the first time since mid=May and Bryan Torres provided the offense with a two-run homer Sunday.
The Royals, after a 22-1 mauling by the White Sox also avoided a series sweep by beating the White Sox 5-4. That gave them a split in their last ten games but still left them with the worst record in the American League. Only the National League’s Colorado Rockies are having a worse season at 33-51 while the Royals were 35-50 at week’s end.
(MOMOVESON)—Former St. Louis Cardinals executive John Mozeliak has a new job, moving on to become interim general manager of the Los Angeles Angels.
(ONTHEFARM)—Redbirdrants.com has checked on four Redbirds sent down to Memphis to find themselves.—Nolan Gorman, Yohel Pozo, Thomas Saggese, and Victor Scott II.
Scott started hot with nine hits and four steals in his first six games. In the next seven he had just three hits, stole no bases and struck out 11 times.
Gorman, who headed to Memphis via Florida after striking out half of the time in St. Louis struck out his first four times in Memphis before getting his first hit but has continued to have strikeout problems although he did hit two home runs and walking three times. Blaze Jordan is doing well enough in The Show that there appears to be little rush to get Gorman back in St. Louis.
Saggese’s batting average remans in the low 200s but has walked more times than he has fanned.
Pozo caught ten of his first fifteen games in Memphis but he has to contend with the play of Leonardo Bernal who is a catcher-first baseman and might be a victim of a numbers game.
(MIZZFB)—The Missouri Tigers continue mining home state talent with the latest commitment coming from four-star running back Kingston Miles of St. Louis, who originally committed to Auburn. He plays high school ball for St. Mary’s, the school that has produced current Mizzou running back Jamal Roberts and former Tiger wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr., who was drafated in the fifth round of this year’s NFL draft.
Six of the states ten top-ranked players in this recruiting cycle now have committed to Missouri.
Kansas City offensive lineman Kyler Kuhn, a four-star, player at St. Pius X, has joined Miles. He’s a 6-3 280 pounder.
Others who’ve committed in recent days are a pair of three-stars: Cornerback T’ari Miller from Miami and Jaylen Hill, an 6-5, 295 pound offensive tackle from the state of Louisiana.
Motoring along—
(INDYCAR)—Two Indianapolis 500 winners’ off-the-track situations might signal a significant change in the IndyCar lineup for 2027. One definitely will.
Speedcafe is reporting that the deadline has passed for Chip Ganassi Racing to have exclusive negotiating rights to keep six-time series champion Scott Dixon, leaving him free to talk to other teams. The Dixon-Ganassi combination has been a constant in IndyCar since 2003.
Ganassi’s exclusive negotiating window with Dixon recently lapsed, allowing the Indianapolis 500 winner to speak with other teams. Arrow McLaren has been mentioned as a possibility. Dixon is 45 and has one Indianapolis 500 win to his credit. He has led more laps in the Indianapolis 500 than any other driver—709. The most laps led by any other active driver is Will Power’s 145.
The winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500, Felix Rosenqvist, says he has taken an offer from a rival team, speculation suggesting the Andretti Global arm of Arrow McLaren, and will move on from Meyer-Shank racing at the end of the year.
Rose
nqvist had been with Arrow McLaren before moving to Meyer Shank two years ago. Meyer Shank minority owner Helio Castroneves, a four time 500 winner, says the team has started talking with rookie Caio Collett, a Brazilian driver for A. J. Foyt’s team. Collett has had some impressive performances this year although his overall results have been poor.
Team co-owner Jim Meyer told the Indianapolis Star that a decision will come later whether to go with a newcomer or a veteran-ish driver is the correct direction to take, saying, ” Ultimately, we’re all trying to figure out how to consistently beat Alex Palou right now, to be honest with you. So however we think we can do that best is how we’re going to look at that.”
(NASCAR)—-Shane Van Gisbergen how stands just one win away from tying Jeff Gordon’s record of winning nine Cup road races. Van Gisbergen fought off a determined late challenge from Chase Briscoe to win at Sonoma.
The race was the last on a road course this year. Van Gisbergen’s win puts him 14th in the points standings, two slots above the cutoff point for drivers wanting to be among the ten that will race for the season championship. Two former champions, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano (a three time champion) are having less than mediocre seasons and rank 18th and 20th.
Eight races remain before the championship runoff begins.
The points standings have a new number one for the first time since Tyler Reddick won the Dahytona 500, the opening race of the season.
Denny Hamlin’s 26th place finish gave him enough points to be one ahead of Reddick, who lost four laps early that he could never get back. He finished 36th, last, in the race.
(Picture credits: Cardinals—Chris Creamer’s Sports Logo Page; Royals—Pinterest; Dixon at Indianapolis—Rick Gevers; Rosenqvist at the bricks—Bob Priddy; Van Gisbergen at WWTR-Priddy)