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Sports: 7-Come-11 for Mizzou; Chiefs Escape Again; Royals in Danger; Cardinals Fans Send Message; and other stuff. 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(For the few who follow these sports musings, my computer seems to have become confused about posting sports entries.  So before the weeks is out, and for the historical record, this post is finally being posted, albeit several hours late).

(WANNA BET?)—-Before we dive into our weekly sports talk today, we want to call your attention to the first of a series of posts on your editor’s blog about the upcoming statewide vote on Sports Wagering.  If you go to bobpriddy.net and look for the entry for September 16, you will read about why sports betting might be fun for you but it will not be what the casino industry and our pro sports teams are telling you in their commercials.  We take no position on the issue itself but our pro sports teams have hitched their wagons to the casino industry and the casino industry is not shooting straight with Missouri voters.  In later posts, we’ll tell you why Amendment Two is not only NOT good for our schools, it’s terrible for our veterans and even for the host cities of our casinos.

Now, on with our regular show.

(MIZZ)—Missouri’s attempt to avoid a defeat from traditional SEC doormat Vanderbilt cost it some early-season esteem.  The Tigers dropped from 7th to 11th in the AP poll after slipping past the Commodores 30-27 in an overtime game more notable for what didn’t happen than what did.

Missouri won the statistical battle with 442 yards of offense to Vanderbilt’s 324, but erratic field goal kicking and the inability to cross the goal line once they reached the red zone left a lot of fans frustrated.  While the 442 yards might seem impressive, the 188 yards gained that did result in any scores is a telling statistic.

Missouri’s offense never seemed to find a rhythm while Vanderbilt’s quarterback Diego Pavia harassed the defense, beginning with a 60-yard TD pass that put Missouri into a 7-0 hole early. When Missouri was able to go up 20-13 in the third quarter, Pavia led Vanderbilt on an 80-yard touchdown drive to tie.

The fourth quarter provided a touchdown apiece but neither team could find the traction to take control.

Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. In the second overtime, Missouri field goal kicker Blake Craig, who had an uneven day, got a field goal and when Vanderbilt stalled, its kicker, who had a slightly less uneven day, made his day, and his teams day, even worse by hooking the ball to the left.

Coach Drinkwitz, his staff, and his players have two weeks to figure out why the coffee hasn’t perked in the last two games.  They’ll play their first road game against Texas A&M on October 5. (ZOU)

(CONNOR WHO?)—Remember Connor Bazelack, who bolted from Missouri to become a high-expectation quarterback at Indiana?  He fled there for Bowling Green last year and decided to stay this year.  Last Saturday, Bowling Green played Missouri’s next opponent, Texas A&M and lost 26-20. Bazelak gave his team a chance to take a late lead when he threw a 65-yard touchdown pass but A&M recovered an onside kick with 38-seconds left to kill the Falcons’ chances.

Bowling Green is 1-2 with losses to then-eighth ranked Penn State, and then-25th ranked A&M by a total of 13 points.

Bazelak had two seasons at Missouri before one year at Indiana, where he set a school record with 66 pass attempts in one game. He threw for 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions before heading to Bowling Green for 2023. He led the Falcons to the Quick Lane Bowl against Minnesota. His team led 10-9 at the half but lost 3024. Bazelak passed for one touchdown and ran for another. Afterward, he said he would stay at Bowling Green in hopes of winning a MAC championship.

(LOOKING AHEAD)—We are only six weeks away from the first Missouri Tiger basketball game.  November 4, against Memphis, in Memphis.  Missouri will have a chance to win its first SEC game since 2022 when it plays Auburn on January 4.  Missouri has a 20-game SEC losing streak going, including a tournament loss in 2023, and all 19 games (including the tournament) last year.

On to pro sports—-

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs played just well enough to win against the Atlanta Falcons although Falcons fans think the refs were the 12th player in red Sunday night.
The Chiefs survived 22-17, thanks to two stout late-game efforts by the defense, one of which appeared to have some officiating help (at least, to hear Atlanta fans and players speak).

Falcons QB Kirk Cousins, with 4:12 left in the game, had receiver Kyle Pitts in the Chiefs’ end zone, with smaller Chiefs safety Bryan Cook covering him. Cook appeared to be face-guarding Pitts, not following the flight of the ball, and appeared to hit Pitts early.  After the game, referee Tra Blank told the Atlanta Constitution why no red flag was thrown—because the officials in the moment and from their positions “did not feel that there was a foul committed.”  Pass interference calls are not reviewable, so officials could not check other views in the video system.

After the game, Atlanta coach Raheem Morris refused to comment, perhaps fearing a fine frmthe NFL for criticizing the referees: “I like my money. I’m smart enough to be aware not to dunk on the officials. They made the call, or didn’t make the call, it is what it is.”  He also noted the Falcons had another chance to win it, on the final play but failed.

The Chiefs have gone fourteen games without scoring thirty points. They are 9-5 in those games.

Travis Kelce against was not much of a factor, with four catches for 30 yards. After the game, Patrick Mahomes told Sports Illustrated  after the game that a lot of plays are being called for Kelse but “it’s like two or three (defenders) are going to him…I’m going to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s open.” Mahomes thinks things will open up for Kelce as Rashee Rice and speedster Xavier Worthy, joined by a robust run game, get more involved.

(CARDINALS)—Only three questions remain for the Cardinals: whether they will finish at .500 or a little bit better, who won’t be back next year, and whether Ollie Marmol one of those who won’t be.

Last Friday’s loss to the Cleveland Guardians put the final nail in the playoff hopes coffin.  This season is only the third time this Century the Cardinals haven’t had any postseason opportunities.

The ‘Birds started the week 79-77. If they play .500 ball in their last two series, they’ll finish above break even.

Cardinal fans have sent a message that they’re not attracted to mediocrity or worse for a second straight year.  The end of the last homestand of the year left total attendance for 2024 at 2,869,783, the first time it’s been less than three-million since the latest Busch Stadium opened in 2006.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals are in danger of playing themselves out of the playoffs after a season that has brought a lot of hope and expectation from the fans.  But a disastrous week that has resulted in seven straight losses six to the Tigers and the Giants, have them on the brink of failure to make the playoffs for the first time since their World Series championship year of 2015.  They started the week at 82-74, tied with Detroit for the second wild card spot.  Minnesota is only one game back with six games left.

Sports Illustrated reports the Royals are at the bottom of the statistics in home runs, slugging percentage ad OPS and they have missed repeated chances to get a runner home from second base.

They have six games this week against the Washington Nationals (69-87) and the Atlanta Braves (85-71 and hoping to make the NL playoffs), all on the road.

Minnesota dropped out of a possible three-way tie for a playoff spot by losing a doubleheader to Boston Sunday.  If Kansas City and Detroit finish with the same records next weekend, Kansas City gets in because it has a winning record against Detroit this year.

Motoring on:

(NASCAR)—The field of playoff drivers eligible for the NASCAR Cup this year was winnowed from sixteen to twelve Saturday night at Bristol won by Kyle Larson in the most dominating performance in track history.  He took the lead on lap 35 and led 462 of the remaining 465 laps, giving up the lead only during pit stops. It’s his fifth win of the year, the most of any driver.

The race eliminated Ty Gibbs, who finished 15th; Martin Truex Jr., who was 24th; Brad Keselowski, finishing 26th; and Harrison Burton, who was 35th.  Larson leads the points for the remaining twelve drivers: Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Willliam Byron, defending champion Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, and Chase Briscoe.

Both Gibbs and Truex, who are teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, were fast enough to contend for a slot in the second round. But they were TOO fast at a couple of critical points.  Truex was .09 mph too fast leaving his pit stall and Gibbs was too fast coming into the pits. The penalties put both at the back of the pack.  Keselowski, who owns part of the Roush Fenway Keselowski racing team never found the speed he needed, starting 23rd but never running in the top tier and finishing three laps off the pace.  Burton, who entered the playoffs 34th in regular season points but eligible because he won a race, was 78 laps behind but still running at the end, when he finished 35th in the 37-car field.

The first race in the next round will be Sunday at the Kansas Speedway. The playoff field will be narrowed to eight after the next three races.

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar has established its charter system, seen as an underpinning of the future stability of the series.  Ten teams have accepted charters for 25 cars that will be guaranteed starting positions in all races in the series except the Indianapolis 500.  Penske Entertainment President Mark Miles calls the system “an aligned and optimistic vision” that “provides greater value for our ownership and the entries they field.”

The charter system guarantees 25 cars will compete for 22 positions in the series Leaders Circle program, a system that provides more than one-million dollars per car, based on a points schedule, to qualifying teams.  A team also has to make the field in the Indianapolis 500 to be eligible for the funds.

Several teams will have three regular-season entrants: Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, and Team Penske. With two are A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Dale Coyne, Ed Carpenter,, Juncos Hollinger, and Meyer Shank Racing.

The first race for the new system will be March 2 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

(FORMULA 1)—McLaren’s Lando Norris led from the start to a 30-second lead at the finish to win the Singapore Grant Prix and take another bite out of the big points lead Max Verstappen built up in the first half of the Formula 1 season.  But F1 numbers-crunchers say that there aren’t enough races for Norris to overtake Verstappen even if he wins all seven remaining races and Norris finishes second in all of them, a highly-unlikely event.

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Chiefs Win by a Foot But Break a Leg; Tigers Drop: Cardinals becalmed; Royals Having Historic Year; and some other stuff.

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have started the season 2-0 against stiff opposition, thanks to an opponent’s toe being out of bounds at the end of the game and then thanks to the foot of kicker Harrison Butker, who nailed a 51-yard field goal as the clock ran down to 0:00.

This one was another close call for Kansas City, a team once known for its high-scoring offense. The Chiefs have yet to hit 30 points this year and have done it only once in their last twelve regular-season games, and not at all in their last ten. Two years ago, the Chiefs had eight games of 30 or more and three in which they got 40 or more.  They’ve hit forty only once in their last 25 games.

The Chiefs announced yesterday that their featured running back, Isiah Pacheco, suffered a fractured fibula, the small bone in the leg, and will be out for at least six weeks. With Clyde Edwards Hillaire on the non-football injured list to deal with PTSD, the Chiefs have Samaje Perine and Carson Steele as the only running backs on the 53-man roster. Perine was signed after being cut by Denver after spending nine seasons bouncing around in Washington, Cincinnati, and Miami. Steele is a rookie. Both have seen limited action this year.

Reports indicate the Chiefs are bringing former running back Kareem Hunt in for a look-see.  He was with the Chiefs in 2017 and 2018, led the league in rushing as a rookie in ’07 and was second in the ROTY voting. He was cut after eleven games of the 2018 season after a video showed him knocking down a woman and kicking her.  He’s been with the Browns for most of the last five seasons but has never come close to his performance with the Chiefs.

Next week, the Chiefs play a Sunday night game against the Falcons in Atlanta. The Falcons opened the season with an 18-10 loss to the Steelers. Last night they were on the road against the Eagles.

(MIZ)—Missouri came back to beat Boston College Saturday, then the nation’s 24th ranked team, moving them up from 10th to 9th in the ESPN Power rankings. Mizzou was down 14-3 before reeling off 24 unanswered points and being far enough ahead that fans didn’t have to worry about a loss as BC headed for its final touchdown with little time left.

Missouri went into the game ranked 6th in the AP poll but dropped a slot as Tennessee hammered Kent State 62-0 while the Tigers at times struggled against a ranked opponent (that is no longer ranked this week).

Tennessee also vaulted past Missouri in the coaches poll where the Tigers are 8th, tied with Penn State.  Missouri is 3-0. Penn State is 2-0.

Quarterback Brady Cook moved into fourth place on the all-time Tiger passing yards list with a 21 for 30 day and 264 yards. He moves past Jeff Handy and James Franklin.

Next up is Vanderbilt, led by quarterback Diego Pavia, who has completed 65% of his passes for four touchdowns and 543 yards. He also has run for 195 yards on 54 carries. His top receiver is Eli Stowers with a dozen catches for 163 yards and a touchdown.

Missouri is 12th in the country in offensive yards. Vanderbilt is 77th. Defensively, Missouri is 8th in defensive yards. Vanderbilt is 57th.

(THE REGIONALS)—From time to time we’ll check up on our eight regional universities.

The Southeast Missouri State Red Hawks are 2-1 after beating the University of Tennessee-Martin 45-42 in double overtime Saturday. Paxton DeLaurent threw for a school-record six touchdowns, his fifth one for the tie (after the extra point) with 39 seconds on the clock.

Missouri University of Science and Technology is 1-2 after pounding winless Lincoln of California 45-6.

Truman State and University of Indianapolis had back-to back 96-yard kickoff returns in Saturday’s UINDY 41-34 win that dropped the Bulldogs to 0-2.

Northwest Missouri Bearcats beat 25th ranked Fort Hays state 32-20 Saturday to up their record to 1-2. Next up is Missouri Southern.

Missouri Southern dropped to 0-3 with a loss to Missouri Western 35-27.

Missouri Western is 2-1 after the win against Southern. Western scored on three of its first four possessions and got a 105-yard kickoff return from Javerious McGuinn at the end of the third quarter and then had to hang on for the victory.

Missouri State dropped beat Lindenwood 28-14 to go to 1-2 after season-opening losses to Ball State and Montana.

Lincoln University is 0-2 after a 34-19 loss to McKendree.

University of Central Missouri and Central Oklahoma lost a wild game that began with a scoreless first quarter, then saw 42 points scored in the second quarter, 27 in the third and 28 in the fourth.  Central Oklahoma prevailed 57-40 in a game with more than 1200 yards of offense.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals have guaranteed they’ll have their first winning season since their 2015 World Championship year.  Saturday’s win over the Pirates was their 82nd of the year.  At 82-68, with eleven games left, they could lock up their playoff spot this week.  Their magic number is eight.

Michael Wacha picked up his 13th win on Saturday to run his season to 13-7. He’s 38-13 in his last three seasons for the Red Sox, Padres, and the Royals, the best three years of his career.  He’s expected to become a free agent after this year.

They started the week four games out of first place in their division but just five games behind the Yankees for the best record in the American League.

(CARDINALS)—-The Pirates swept a weekend series with the Cardinals and in the process eliminated any change they had of making the playoffs.  The Cardinals start the week at 74-75 as they play out the string on a season that saw them struggle to get to .500 and fail to stay above break even very long.  They peaked in July when they climbed six games above break even, at 48-42 on July 8th.

The monthly records show the slog through 2024:

March and April  14-16

May 13-12

June  16-12

July  13-12

August 12-16

September (through Sunday)  6-7

Remember Matt Adams, a slugger who had his moments but never became the “Big” to match his nickname, “Big City?”  He wants to retire as a Redbird, so he’s being signed to a one-day contract on Wednesday. He’s been playing minor league ball the last four seasons after the Braves dropped him at the end of 2020.  The Cardinals drafted him 2009 and he played his first game for them in 2012. He helped the Cardinals win the 2013 National League Pennant. He had seven years with St. Louis and also played for the Braves, Rockies, and the Nationals—where he won a World Series ring in 2019.  He and his family live in St. Louis. He finished with a .258 batting average, 118 homers and 297 RBIs in 856 games, mostly as a first baseman.

Motoring on:

(INDYCAR)—And suddenly, the IndyCar season is gone and a championship chase that had gone to the last race vanished in the opening laps. Colton Herta won the fiercely-contested race that saw 237 passes for position.

Alex Palou became the 13th driver in series history to win three championships, all in the space of four years. Will Power, who hoped to win HIS third series championship, saw those hopes vanish 13 laps into the 206-lap race when his lap belt came loose. He finished eight laps down, 24th, the last car still running at the end of the race.

He’s the second-youngest driver to win three series championships, at 27 years, five months, and fourteen days. He’s a little more than three months older than Sam Hornish, who won his third title in 2006, a year before he left IndyCar to race in NASCAR.

The last three-time champion was Dario Franchitti, who won three in a row 2009-2011 to go with another one in 2007. They have accounted for six of the 16 championships won for team owner Chip Ganassi.  Only team Penske has more series titles—17. Franchitti, who also won the Indianapolis 500 three times, retired in 2013 after being seriously injured in a crash. He remains with Ganassi as a driver coach and advisor.

Herta got past Pato O’Ward four laps from the end and pulled away to a 1.8-second win, his first on an oval..  IndyCar returned to the oval for the first time since 2008 because construction in downtown Nashville made the street circuit used in recent years unavailable.

Herta’s victory enabled him to jump to second in season points standings, 31 below Palou. He called his finish “awesome,” and said, “hoping to do a little better next year.”

IndyCar won’t race again until March 2 when the 2025 season begins with the traditional street race in St. Petersburg, Florida.

(NASCAR)—Sundays’ race at Watkins Glen was a general disaster for the 16 drivers still in contention for the NASCAR championship, leaving six drivers to scramble for two positions in the next round.

Chris Buescher, winless during the 26-race regular season, survived the chaos of the race that saw only two of the sixteen playoff drivers finish in the top ten.  He passed Shane VanGisbergen, a road-racing champion from Australia, on the last lap and won by almost a second. Playoff driver Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing playoff driver, finishing fifth. Austin Cindric was tenth.

Buescher barely missed the playoffs when Brisco, winless until the 26th race, pulled off a victory that automatically put him in the playoffs but left Buescher a few points short of the field of sixteen.

Twelve of the sixteen playoff drivers suffered mishaps of various degrees of seriousness during the race. Several contenders didn’t make it through the first lap including points leader Ryan Blaney, whose day ended in a tangle that also included other playoff drivers, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski (a part owner of Buescher’s car), and Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin was involved in a second wreck that also included Bell, regular season champion Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and William Byron.

Both drivers were able to drive away from the scariest-looking crash of the afternoon late in the race when  Byron (24) crashed into Brad Keselowski with Byron’s car staying on the track only because of an extra layer at the top of the steel barrier.

(FORMULA 1)—Oscar Piastri picked up his second career Grand Prix victory on the Baku street circuit in Azerbaijan.  Piastri, who started second, battled pole-sitter Charles Leclerc throughout the race and held him off for the last 31 laps of the 51-lap race.  Defending Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen finished seventh but still leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 59 points and Leclerc by 78.  Piastri’s win has moved him to fourth in the standings.

(Photo credits: Cook, Missouri Athletics; Wacha, MLB; Palou, Bob Priddy; Herta, Rick Gevers; Crash; NBC Sports screenshot)

 

 

 

 

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Sports: Royals Bounce Back; Tigers Move Up, Chiefs Win Because of a Black Shoe, Missourians in Paris, and other stuff. 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(The sports entry for last Tuesday never made it into print and we blame our computer.  The opening segment about Missourians at the Paralympics in Paris was the lead article and we have moved it to today because it’s important that they be honored for their efforts, even if we are a week late.  The same is true for our roundup of Missouri football players and the NFL).

(PARALYMPICS)—Several Missourians have been competing for Olympic medals in the last few days in Paris—at the Paralympics.

Colleen Young, who was born with albinism and is legally blind, was in her fourth Paralympics as a swimmer, a silver and bronze medalist in the Tokyo games and a bronze medalist at Rio de Janeiro. She brought home a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke. She is part of the women’s 200 meter Individual Medley team.  She was part of the women’s 200m individual medley that finished seventh.

St. Louis University Occupational Therapy Professor Sarah Adam is the first woman to make the USA wheelchair rugby team, which knocked defending champion Great Britain of the tournament. Team leader Chuck Aoki, who passed to Adam for the backbreaking score in the game said, “Sarah is a dynamic player offensively, and defensively too – she’s so fast and able to find gaps in the defense and attack, and that makes my job easier. Sarah is an absolute massive contributor.”  Also on the team is Eric Newby, a graduate of Maryville University in St. Louis, who was the co-captain of the team after winning silver medals in the last two Paralympics. The USA team, however, lost in the gold medal game to Japan. Adam returns to her job at St. Louis U with a silver medal.

University of Missouri-Columbia sophomore Amaris Vazquez Collazo carried the Puerto Rican flag in the opening ceremonies as a competitor in the long jump. Her parents moved to St. Louis when she was three years old, a year after she received her first prosthetic leg. She says she has told everybody since she was eight years old that she was going to compete in the 2024 Olympics. You can see her story at Bing Videos. She finished 12th in the long jump.

Spencer Seggebruch of St. Louis is the pilot in paracycling, an event that matches a sighted “pilot” and a visually impaired stoker in the second seat of a two-person bike.  He’s partnered with Branden Walton, a Windsor, California native who began losing his vision due to macular degeneration at age four. Their time of 4:10.29 in the 4000m qualifying race left them sixth and out of the running for the next round. They finished eighth in the trial for the 1000 meters.

Rachel Watts of St. Joseph nurse, who was diagnosed in 2018 with multiple sclerosis that fully affects her right side, finished her triathlon in 13th place in 1:42:15.  She told KSHB-TV in Kansas City she would use the Paris experience to prepare for future competition, “I get to go learn how to race better at this level and really prepare for LA in 2028.”

(MIZ-NFL)—All NFL teams have finalized their 53-player rosters and a flock of former Missouri Tigers have made the big time or are sticking around to start another season.  But some are not.

Cody Schrader impressed a lot of folks with the San Francisco 49ers but not enough to crack the backfield for the season. Almost immediately after he was waived, the Los Angeles Rams picked him up. He showed versatility for the 49ers with 48 yards rushing on 19 carries, four kick returns for 30 yards, and two pass receptions for eight yards. He’s likely to be a special teams guy with the Rams, a team that has three running backs on its roster already.

Darius Robinson, who went to the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the draft, will miss the first four games of the season because he’s on the inured reserve list. He incurred a calf injury during training camp.

The Detroit Lions have kept cornerback Ennis Rakestraw and the Broncos start the year with cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine. Ty’Ron Hopper is on the Green Bay Packers roster. The Jacksonville Jaguars have kept tackle Javon Foster. The Indianapolis Colts have safety JC Carlies.

Where is Drew Lock now?  New York Giants. But he got hurt in training camp.

Mekhi Wingo, who committed to Mizzou out of high school and spent one season in Columbia before transferring to LSU, made the Lions’ initial roster.

Some guys we remember didn’t make it on the opening game roster but will be on a practice squad. Tyler Badie is with the Broncos practice squad for a third year.

Also homeless are former Tigers Xavier Delgado, let go in the last round by the Buccaneers. Likewise for placekicker Harrison Mevis, waived by the Carolina Panthers.

Former Tiger DE Shane Ray appears to have called it a career. He’s been dogged by injuries throughout his career but has been healthy enough to pick up a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos in 2016 and a Grey Cup Canadian Football League championship with the Toronto Argonauts last year.  (NFL-ZOU)

(TIGERS)—Missouri’s 38-0 win over Buffalo has boosted the Tigers in the polls.  They’re up to 6th in the AP Poll, 8th in the coaches poll.

Next up is Boston College, just outside the top 25 after wins at then 10th ranked Florida State and against Duquesne.  The Missouri defense, which has posted two straight shutouts, will face its stiffest test of the young season BU quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who has completed 75% of his passes this year and has seven all-purpose touchdowns. He hit 90% of his passes in the first half (9 of 10, 234 yards and four touchdowns) as the Eagles broke out to a 42-0 halftime lead.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have established a toehold on their campaign for a third straight NFL championship with a 27-21 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the team they beat last year for the right to go to the Super Bowl.

A record number of season-opening game viewers watched the matchup, an average audience of 28.9 million, a million-plus more than watched the Patriots-Steelers opener in 2015.  The audience peaked at 33 million in the second quarter.

The Chief took the lead after Baltimore scored the first touchdown and led the rest of the way in  the intense game, but for a few minutes faced the possibility they’d have to stop a two-point conversion to get the win.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson hit Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone as the clock ran out and for a few minutes, Arrowhead fans held their breaths before referees ruled Likely’s right toe was out of bounds.

Patrick Mahomes broke Len Dawson’s all-time Chiefs record for passing yards in the first quarter and relied on receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy for most of the night’s longest plays. Rice caught seven passes of 103 yards. Worthy, a rookie burner, scorched the Ravens with a 21-yard rushing touchdown and another one receiving, finishing with two catches for 47 yards.

When Mahomes was asked to comment on the overruled last-gasp touchdown, he suggested Likely wear white shoes in the future.

Next up for the Chiefs: the Cincinnati Bengals, upset by the New England Patriots 16-10. The Patriots held the Bengals to 224 total yards. Cincinnati was missing its star wide receiver, Tee Higgins, who has a hamstring injury. His status for the Chiefs game is uncertain.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals have bounced back from a season-high seven-game losing streak that dropped them out of a tie for the division lead by sweeping a three game series with the Minnesota Twins, their biggest competitor for the second division wild card playoff slot. The sweep, coupled with the Guardians’ loss to the Dodgers Sunday, pulls the Royals to within 2½ games of the Guardians.  Former Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty shut out the Royals into the seventh  inning before leaving. He’s 5-1 with the Dodger since moving over from Detroit, where he started the year 7-5, and is seen by some as LA’s number one starter going into he playoffs.

Former Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha polished off the Twins Sunday with seven scoreless innings, giving up only five hits. He’s now 12-7. While the Royals have surged after the losing streak, the Twins have been going 6-14 in their last twenty.

The Royals are having a strong season on the mound as well as at the plate, led by four pitchers and three hitters.  Seth Lugo is 15-8 with a 3.05 ERA; Cole Ragans is 11-9 but has an ERA of 3.33. Brady Singer’s ERA is 3.35 although he’s only 9-10. And Michael Wacha is 12-7 and 3.34.  Lugo and Ragans have the only two complete games this season, out of 142 games played.

On the hitting side, three players were or are headed for 100 RBIs. Salvador Perez is at 95 RBIs with 25 homers. Bobby Witt Jr., is 30 and 98.  Before he went on the DL with a broken thumb, Vinnie Pasquantino was 19-97.

(CARDINALS)—The cardinals are a game over .500 after letting the Mariners score five times in the first inning Sunday and then five more times the rest of the way to be the Birds 10-4.  Miles Mikolas took the loss to drop to 8-11 for the year. He lasted just two innings, and gave up seven runs on nine hits.  Mikolas is 7-6 on the road but at home he’s only 1-6 and his Busch Stadium ERA is 6.54.

Speeding along—-

(Since our sports column wasn’t posted last week and because of important developments in IndyCar and NASCAR, we’ll recap races in those two arenas  as we report on the newest stuff)

First—NASCAR wrapped up its regular season and then on Sunday started its 10 race playoffs.  Here’s the regular-season wrap-up followed by the results of Sunday’s first playoff race.

NASCAR1)—Chase Briscoe wrote a bit of a Cinderella ending to the regular NASCAR season by winning the last race that could give him a place in the championship runoffs.  But his win meant curtains for the hopes of a couple of other drivers who were scrambling to get in.

Only sixteen drivers are eligible for the first three playoff races, after which the field is cut to twelve.  Drivers who win one of the first 26 races are guaranteed a spot among the sixteen regardless of how many points they accumulate.

Briscoe’s win left only two spots open for winless drivers to get in on points—Martin Truex Jr., and Ty Gibbs.  Gibbs and Truex ranked 9-10 in the regular points standings.  It also meant that a fight between Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain for one of those spots became moot. Briscoe was 17th in the regular season points but his win put hm in the top sixteen.  Buescher had the 11th best regular season points total but he’s out, as is Wallace, who was 12th in regular season points.  Kyle Busch, whose mid-season poor finishes ruined his playoff chances, finished 16th in regular season points, but Briscoe leapfrogged him with the win.

Also in the playoffs is Harrison Burton, who finished 34th in the regular points standings. But he won a race, which guaranteed him a spot. One other winner was left out—Austin Dillon, 28th in overall points. But NASCAR ruled that his win would not count because he wrecked two competitors intentionally to finish first.

Tyler Reddick, who battled a severe stomach ailment throughout the race, finished tenth, confessing afterward that, “At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself. Thankfully they kept that from happening. A whole lot of other gross stuff.”  He appreciated his crew that was “feeding me the right stuff in the car to help me manage it best as I could. Just smart people. Able to put the right stuff in my drink to help calm my stomach down.” His persistence earned for him the regular season championship by one point over Kyle Larson.

Briscoe’s win is only his second career Cup victory and it comes at a bittersweet moment. He drives for Stewart-Haas Racing, a team that will not exist next year because co-owner Tony Stewart is withdrawing from NASCAR.  He’s moving to Joe Gibbs Racing next year and will replace Truex, who is retiring from fulltime Cup racing at the end of this year.

(NASCAR2)—Joey Logano had the lead when the last caution light came on in NASCAR’s first playoff race of the year and locked up a position in the next playoff round, when twelve drivers will remain in competition for this year’s title.

Logano will be going for his third Cup championship, tying Tony Stewart, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, and David Pearson for fourth on the most championships list.

Two playoff drivers exited early when Kyle Larson lost control on the 56th lap and crashed into last week’s winner, Chase Briscoe, taking both cars out of the race. An earlier wreck knocked Martin Truex Jr., out of the lead playoff pack. He’s now 15th in the standings, 18 points under the cutoff point for the next round. He has two races to either win his way into the round of 12 or to rack up enough points to squeak in.

Larson’s early crash wiped out a big points advantage he had going into the race. He’s now tenth, just 15 points above cut line. Briscoe is last in the field of sixteen, twenty points below the line and likely needing to win again if he wants to make it to the second round.

Tyler Reddick, who won the 26-race regular season title, came in sixth despite problems on pit road.

(INDYCAR)—Will Power has won 65 poles and 42 races including the 2018 Indianapolis 500 but is still looking for his first IndyCar championship.  He’s 43 now, and in his career twilight but still running strongly.

He had a chance to take the IndyCar championship points lead in the most recent race, at Milwaukee. But it slipped away and he goes to Nashville trailing leader Alex Palou by 33 points. IndyCar ran two races on the historic Milwaukee Mile—the oldest race track in continuous operation in the world—with Power finishing second to Pato O’Ward on Saturday, trimming eleven points off of Palou’s lead.

Then on Sunday, Palou’s entire season appeared in peril when his car would not start because of an electrical problem and he re-entered the race many laps down while Power was leading or running with the leaders and the Palou points lead was rapidly disappearing.  But Palou soldiered on, gaining points as other drivers dropped out.  Then things went sideways for Power who spun out while running in the top five. Power wound up the last car on the lead lap, in tenth place, while Palou, still 29 laps behind, had run enough laps to finish 19th.

(Powers’ teammate Scott McLaughlin won Sunday’s race, by the way)

IndyCar heads to Nashville next weekend for its last race of the season with Palou up by 33 points, and headed to his third IndyCar championship in four years.

(Photo credits: Screenshot of toe is from NBC Sports; Briscoe by Bob Priddy; Power by Rick Gevers; Logano and the playoff drivers, NASCAR)

Sports: One season fading away; Another dawning; And a possible plum race for the St. Louis area.

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals, losers of 106 games last year, are on the verge of seizing the lead in the American League Central.  They started this week with a doubleheader sweep of the Cleveland Guardians yesterday to pull withing one game of Cleveland.  Salvador Perez had two home runs in the second game, one of them a grand slam.  His six career grand slams and his 17 multi-homer games tie team records.

(CARDINALS)—Mike Schildt returned to Busch Stadium last night for the first time since he was fired by the Cardinals two years ago over “philosophical differences.”  Shildt’s Padres scorched the Cardinals 7-4.  The Cardinals drop to 65-66.  San Diego is up to 75-58.

The Cardinals have lost Wilson Contreras again. This time it’s a broken little finger because he was hit by a pitch last week. Ivan Herrera has been called up form Memphis to  back up Pedro Pages (pronounced PAW-hezz for non-Cardinal followers), who has proven himself to be a solid backup for Contreras—who has been among the team’s leading hitters since coming back from a broken arm in another HBP incident.  Was hitting .262 with 15 homers when he was hurt again.

(BASEBALL)—We have only about 30 games left in the regular baseball season. On one side of the state we have frustration. On the other side of the state we have elation. For the sport in general we are looking at an unusual situation—we might finish this season with no team winning 100 games.

Fansided.com raised the issue during the weekend.  When we checked the standings Sunday, the Dodgers had 78 wins and would have to go 22-9 the rest of the way to hit the century mark. The Yankees will have to go 23-7; the Orioles 24-6. Cleveland and the Royals and Twins have to play at a 25-6 and 28-3 to reach 100 wins.

The Cardinals are 35 games short of 100 victories this year. If they go on a 31-game winning streak, they’ll top out at 96.  They need to go 16-15 to finish at .500.

Don’t give up, Cardinals fans.  It’s doable.  Finishing .500, that is.

Fansided.com excludes the COVID year of 2020 as it points out the last year for no team winning 100 games was 2014, a year in which only six teams had 90 or more victories (the Dodgers were on top with 98). That was the year that the Giants and the Cardinals, both wild-card teams, took seven games to decide the Giants would win the World Series.

The next year, the Cardinals were the only team to win 100 games. The Cubs, with 103, were the only team to hit triple digits in 2016, the year they finally won a World Series.

While we are wallowing in statistics:  The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani has become the sixth player to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in a season. His 9th-inning grand slam Friday night was his 40th home run.   He holds the record for being the fastest to reach both numbers. He has about thirty games to become the first member of the 50-50 club.

One other thing—-He threw off a mound for the first time this year during the weekend. Next year he could win his 40th game as a pitcher (assuming he doesn’t get activated before the end of this season).  He is 38-15 in five years as a pitcher with the Angels, for whom he was 25-14 before he was hurt in the 2023 season and signed with the Dodgers for ten years and $282 million.

Somebody else who had a good week last week was the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who had seven home runs in six games and had 51 starting this week and plenty of time to break his American League record of 62 set three years ago.

And while we are talking about statistics and excellence, let’s mention some statistics and failure.  The Chicago White Sox lost their 100th game this weekend to go 31=100.  They are on track to break the modern record for most losses in a season, now held by the 1969 Mets, who went 40-120-1 in their first season.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have cut a dozen players to get their roster down to the 53 players permitted for the opening game of the season. The biggest “name” among them is fourth-string quarterback Ian Book a fourth-round pick of the Saints in the 2021 draft. He played for Notre Dame before signing a four-year deal worth $4.153 million including a $673,584 bonus. The Eagles claimed him off waivers in August of 2022 before waiving him in the 2023 preseason. He was on the Patriots’ practice squad briefly, tried out for the 49ers and the Bills before signing a futures contract with the Chiefs for this season. His career shows he started one game, for New Orleans, was 12 for 20 passing for 135 yards, two interceptions and no TDs. He also ran three times for six yards.

Also cut were cornerbacks Miles Battle, Kevin Joseph and Ekow Boye-Doe; Wide Receivers Phillip Brooks and Kyle Sheets, Defensive End Owen Carney, Defensive Tackle Alex Grubner, Guards Griffin McDowell and Nick Torres, Tight End Geor’quarius Spivey, and Safety Randen Plattner.

Some former Tigers:

Harrison Mevis was cut by the Carolina Panthers a couple of weeks ago, beaten out by Eddie Pineiro, now the only kicker on the roster.

Two former Tigers appear to have made the season-starting Denver Broncos roster—Cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine and (remember him?) Tyler Badie. Badie, who was 5-feet-8 and 197 pounds, was a second-team All-American for Missouri in 2012 when he rushed for 1,604 yards and caught 54 passes for 330 more yards. The Ravens picked him in the sixth round, waived him in 2022 and signed him to their practice squad.  The Broncos signed him for their practice squad at the end of ’22. He played his first NFL game at the end of last season and took a Russell Wilson pass 24 yards to his first NFL touchdown.  He signed a futures/reserve contract with the Broncos last January.

As we went to press last night we were waiting to hear the fates of other Tigers, most particularly Cody Schrader of the San Francisco 49ers. He has won praise for his work ethic but the 49ers are loaded with talent left over from their big  year in 2023 and a strong draft crop.

(THE GOLDEN DAYS ARE PAST)—Former Missouri Tiger Markus Golden, who finished his career in Columbia as one of the nation’s top pass rushers,  has called it a career after nine years in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals (second round pick in the 2015 NFL draft), New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers. He had 51 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, and 343 tackles in a solid pro career.

(MIZ)—Thursday night.  First Missouri Tiger football game of the year.  Murray State Racers. Faurot Field.

The Racers have a new coach, Jody Wright, who knows what to expect from a SEC team. Last year, he was the tight ends coach at South Carolina that saw Trey Knox as a second team all-conference player.  He helped recruit the school’s recruiting class that year that was ranked 17th nationally.  He has been on the Alabama staff under Nick Saban twice, most recently as director of player personnel in 2015-2017.

The turnover in coaches and players with the Racers has made it hard for Tiger coach Eli Drinkwitz to map out a strategy for Thursday night’s game. He told reporters yesterday, “There’s really no way to watch Murray State film, they’ve got a brand new offense, defense, and special teams coordinator along with 60 new players. You can watch their schemes from last year to try to see what their players are, and so figuring out matchups is almost impossible. It comes down to us executing our plan and our schemes at a really high level.”

The Tigers depth chart released during the weekend seems to contain few surprises.

Brady Cook is the quarterback with sophomore Drew Pyne his top backup. Nate Noel or Marcus Carroll will start at running back with freshman Jamal Roberts, as their first backup with sophomore Tavorus Jones and freshman Kewan Lacy behind him. Noel gets the start.

Wide receivers are three familiar names: Luther Burden III, Theo Wease Jr., and Mookie Cooper. Mekhi Miller and Daniel Blood, a junior and a sophomore, are behind them. There is no shortage of wide receivers on the depth chart—ten of them including these guys.

Sophomore Brett Norfleet returns as the starting tight end with sophomore Jordon Harris or senior Tyler Stephens behind him. Harris is questionable for the Murray State game. He’s nursing a minor injury.

The starting offensive line looks like this:

Left tackle Marcus Bryant, a senior with Jayven Richardson, a sophomore, behind him; Cayden Green, a sophomore at left guard with freshman Logan Reichert as his backup. ; Connor Tollison, a junior, will be at center with either sophomore Triston Wilson or senior Drake Heismayer in reserve.  On the right side are senior guard Cam’Ron Johnson, ahead of sophomore Curtis Peagler, and tackle Armand Membou Jr., with senior Mitchell Walters behind him.

On the Defense:

Senior Kristian Williams and Junior Chris McClellan start at tackle. They are backed up by four players, Sterling Webb, Marquis Gracial, Jalen Marshall, and Sam Williams. Webb is a junior, Gracial and Marshall are sophomores and Williams is a freshman.

Defensive ends, depending on the situation, will be Johnny Walker Jr., a senior, Junior Zion Young or Junior Eddie Kelly with backups Joe Moore III, a senior; freshmen Jakhai Lang, Williams Nwaneri and Jaylen Brown.

Middle Linebacker Chuck Hicks, a senior, or another senior Corey Flagg, are tops on the depth chart.

Outside linebackers  will be Triston Newson or Khalil Jacobs. Newson is a senior and Jacobs is a junior. They’ll be backed up by freshman Brayshawn Littlejohn, a redshirt, and three pure freshmen: Jeremiah Beasley, Brian Huff, and Nicholas Rodriguez.

Senior Drey Norwood will be the starter at one linebacker with junior Toriano Pride or freshman Nicholas DeLoach on the other side. Their backups will be senior Marcus Clarke or Ja’Mariyon Wade, a sophomore, redshirt freshman Shamar McNeil and true freshmen Cameron Keys and Jaren Sensabaugh.

Starting safeties will be seniors Joseph Charleston or Tre’Vez Jonson. Marvin Burks Jr., a sophomore and senior Daylan Carnell with freshman Trajan Greco, junior Caleb Flagg, and Senior Sidney Williams or sophomore Phillip Roche. Freshman Jackson Hancock is in reserve.

Freshman Blake Craig will be the successor to Harrison Mevis as the place kicker with Nick Quadrini, a sophomore, behind him.

Senior Luke Bauer, who often filled this role last year is number one as the punter with sophomore Orion Phillips, behind him.

Bauer and Phillips will get the ball snapped ‘way back to them by sophomore long-snapper Brett LeBlank. Senior Trey Flint will be the long-snapper on field goals.

Look for Burden, Blood, and Wease to return punts, with Burden the top choice; Manning, Burks, and Marquis Johnson will return kicks with Johnson listed on the depth chart as number one. (ZOU)

(BEARS)—Missouri State’s Bears are in their two-year transition to the Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). They’ll play their last year in the Missouri Valley Conference this year before joining Conference USA next year and be given full FCS status in 2026.  They open against Montana from the Big Sky Conference next weekend.  The Bears were 4-7 last year. The Grizzlies were 12-1.  The Grizzlies have had only one losing season in the last 27 years, 2012, when the NCAA ordered five games forfeited for rules violations.

So much for stick and ball sports. Here’s the Zoom Department:

(NASCAR)—A purported NASCAR race schedule leaked last week says the Cup cars will race at World Wide Technology Raceway next September 7.  NASCAR says the schedule is “not entirely accurate.”

If, in fact, that date is true for WWTR, it’s a huge step up in status for the track, which is owned independently from NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports.

WWTR is in Madison, Illinois, just across the Stan Musial Bridge from St. Louis.  The scheduling is significant because it puts the track into the NASCAR playoff schedule, a ten-race series at the end of the season that determines the championship.

One of the skeptics is Dale Earnhardt Jr., who said on his podcast last week, “How in the hell did St. Louis end up in the playoffs? I would love to know…It’s bizarre. It’s fine. I mean there’s no sort of, ‘Oh you don’t deserve this’ kind of vibe, I just wonder how that even happened.”

Earnhardt says he didn’t think WWTR would ever become one of the ten playoff tracks. He wants to hear the reason for the scheduling. “I’m wondering where the reasoning is,” he said a few days ago.

Whether WWTR is, in fact, a playoffs track, the fact is that owner Curtis Francois and his folks have taken a track that was days away from being sold and dismantled to make way for a private developer and have turned it into a first-class multi-motorsport facility.  Its events have had enthusiastic sponsor support from the State of Illinois for the NASCAR race, from the Bommarito Automotive Group of St. Louis for the IndyCar event, and Mission Foods for its NHRA Midwestern Nationals.  It is a 1.25 mile oval with long straightaways and differing radius corners at the ends, basically flat, producing a challenging facility for drivers. Fan-competitor opportunities are excellent, parking is good, access to and from interstate highways is solid, and there’s plenty of concession and stage attractions space.

Plus, it plugs a marketing gap as the only NASCAR/IndyCar track between Chicago and Nashville.

(DAYTONA)— A feel-good story emerged from the mess that was the 400-mile race at Daytona Saturday night, with the win by Harrison Burton that gave Wood Brothers their 100th Cup win in a history that goes back to

Harrison Burton outdueled veteran Kyle Busch on the final lap of an Overtime finish of Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway to score his first career Cup Series victory and the 100th for his Wood Brothers team.

Burton, the son of former NASCAR driver Jeff and nephew of former driver Ward, went into the race 34th in the standings and knowing he won’t be back with the team next year, guaranteed that he will be one of the sixteen drivers running in the ten-race playoff series that starts after next Sunday’s race at Darlington.

Speedy Thompson gave the Wood Brothers their first victory in 1960. The team hasn’t won since Ryan Blaney won at Pocono in 2017. It’s the first win for the third and fourth generation of Woods to own the team.

Burton found himself in position to win in a race that had fewer than ten unbent cars at the finish because of three major crashes, two of which saw cars go airborne as the field started the final lap.  A push from rookie Parker Retzlaff on the backstretch put him in front of Kyle Busch, who desperately needed a win to make the playoffs.  Burton held off Burton to win by five one-hundredths of a second.

Burton’s win has a huge impact on the list of drivers who will make up the championship field of sixteen. His win has knocked Bubba Wallace 21 points outside the list of 16 and Ross Chastain 27 back. Busch is too far back to climb back into the playoffs on points. For all intents and purposes,  all three—Wallace, Chastain, and Busch—must win next weekend’s final race of the regular season.

(INDYCAR)—Will Power’s win at Portland Sunday moves him a bit closer to Alex Palou’s points lead as the IndyCar season heads into its last two races, both on ovals.  Palou’s lead is still 54 points on Power and 67 on Colton Herta, however.

Power finished where he started—first—on the road course but Palou finished second, minimizing any points damage Power made.
IndyCar runs two races next weekend at Milwaukee and then closes out its season September 15 at Nashville.

(FORMULA 1)—Lando Norris has taken another bite out of the once-huge points lead Max Verstappen ran up in the first ten races in F1 this year. Norris beat Verstappen by 23 seconds on Verstappen’s home track in the Dutch Grand Prix.

Formula 1 returned to the Zandvoort circuit in 2021 and this is the first time Verstappen has no won the race.

The race is the fifteenth of 24 Grands Prix in Formula One this year. Norris now trails Verstappen by only seventy points.

(photo credit: Wood Brothers Racing)

 

 

 

Sports:  KC, STL Going Opposite Directions; Chiefs Sleight of Hand; And Other Stuff

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(Baseball)—Here it is in a nutshell.  The Cincinnati Reds swept the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Kansas City Royals swept the Cincinnati Reds. Our Cardinals and our Royals continue to surprise—the Royals by their continued steady, winning, play. The Cardinals by their inconsistent, losing efforts.

(Royals)—The Kansas City Royals are hanging onto the fourth wild card slot in the American League Playoffs despite having a better record than one of the teams headed for an automatic place.  The Royals, at 69-55 are two games better off than the Houston Astros, who lead the West Division over Seattle by four games. The Royals are third in the Central Division, three games behind Cleveland and a game behind Minnesota. They have the fifth-best record in the American League.

Cleveland, New York, and Houston are the division leaders after the weekend’s games.  Baltimore, Minnesota, and Kansas City led the wild card standings. Boston is 3.5 games behind Kansas City for the last playoff spot.

(CARDINALS)—We’ve seen this before.  The Cardinals get off to a slow start then show a flicker of hope in the early summer only to slide out of the picture.  The Cardinals are now five games behind the Braves in the search for a wild card playoff opportunity and the margin was gradually widened as the Redbirds continue to play uninspiring baseball. They’ve won only five times in their last sixteen games

It could get worse. The Brewers open a series in St. Louis tonight (Tuesday). One sports betting source gives St. Louis a 4.2 percent chance of making the playoffs.

(MIZ)—Luther Burden III has been declared a first team preseason All-American by the Associated Press, the latest in a string of honors nine days before the first game. ESPN and The Athletic also have him as a first-team All-American. He’s on the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award that does to the country’s top wide receiver after being a semifinalist last year, and he is also on the list for the Maxwell Award, given to the most outstanding player in college football (The Athletic reports that winners of the Maxwell Award have a better record as pro players than winners of the Heisman Trophy).

Last year, as a sophomore, he racked up 1,212 yards receiving and scored nine touchdowns, the last of which sealed Missouri’s win against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Burden is projected as a first-round NFL draft pick next year. (ZOU!!!)

(What Was That!!??!!)—The Kansas City Chiefs have lost both of their exhibition games in this pre-season, falling to Detroit 24-23 on a last-second field goal.  But what caught the eye of the fans was Patrick Mahomes’ behind-the-back pass to Travis Kelce.

Mahomes claimed after the game that it was an ad-libbed play. Kelce didn’t agree…

Bing Videos

The Chiefs played their regulars for most of the first half.

They play their third and final exhibition game of the season next weekend.

Now, the zoom stuff

(INDYCAR)—Josef Newgarden picked up a spin-and-win during the weekend in the race at Madison, Illinois, the St. Louis Gateway Arch visible behind the track administrative building in turn one.

Newgarden led only the last seventeen laps of the race but angered some of his competitors with a perceived slow start at the end of the last caution period that resulted in a four-can pileup at the head of the front straightaway that knocked out some challengers and brought out the red flag with eight laps left.

Newgarden finished 1.72 seconds ahead of teammate and pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin. Rookie Linus Lundqvist equalled his career-best finish with a third.

The race saw 676 on-track passes for position, 254 of them for position, 115 among top-ten drivers and 44 among the top five.

 

Palou now leads the standings by 59 points over Colton Herta and by 65 points over six-time series champion, Scott Dixon.  IndyCar has only four races left this year.

The race saw a record 21 lead changes, an IndyCar record at the track.  Despite Newgarden’s win, points leader Alex Palou extended his lead in the standings with a fourth-place finish.

(NASCAR)—It took two days, but a sorrowful Tyler Reddick picked up the win at Michigan International Speedway, his second victory of the year.  In victory lane, he said, “I can’t help but sit here in victory lane and think of Scott Bloomquist. Huge mentor to me, and an incredible role model and legend of dirt racing and motorsports.”

Bloomquist was killed in a plane crash last week. He was 60 years old, a legend in dirt track racing. “The last couple of days have been tough. This really helps it. This win should go for him, his family and friends,” said Reddick.

The race was stopped after 51 laps on Sunday by heavy rain.

Last week’s winner, Austin Dillon, was 17th at Michigan.  Since the controversial finish a week ago, NASCAR has allowed Dillon to keep his trophy but has penalized him enough points to drop him from 27th to 31st in points.  NASCAR also has ruled his victory will not entitle him to be in the 12-driver field for the playoffs.

Dillon had caused Joey Logano to crash on the last lap and had bumped Denny Hamlin out of the way on the way to the finish line.

Driver Corey LaJoie climbed unhurt from his car that crashed in the mid-race, slid upside down for several years before doing a barrel roll before stopping.

LaJoie unhurt in Michigan flip (msn.com)

The regular NASCAR season has only two races left before the playoffs begin. Reddick’s win has elevated him to the top of the regular season standings.  The next races is at Daytona next Saturday night  with the regular season ending at Darlington.  The last ten races will be elimination races that will leave four drivers to race for the championship in the last race of the year.

(FORMLA 1)—F1 has ten races left this year. It returns after its traditional summer break next weekend.

 

 

 

 

Sports:  Missouri Olympians and other sports

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(Our travels have kept us from posting our weekly roundup by about 21½ hours. But we wanted to pay tribute to our Missouri athletes who were in Paris and had to wait until now to find time to go through the posting process.)

(PARIS)—A few won medals. More will come home to tell their grandchildren they participated.  Let’s run down how Missourians of one sort or another did in Paris during the last couple of weeks:

Rajindra Campbell, who was part of the Missouri Southern track team for three years, 2018-2021, won the bronze medal in the shotput, representing Jamaica.  He’s the first Jamaican to win a shotput medal and the first former Missouri Southern athlete to win a medal in the Olympics.

Napheesa Collier of St. Louis, a member of the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA, was a member of the gold medal-winning women’s basketball team.

Jayson Tatum of St. Louis, a member of the Boston Celtics, won gold with the men’s basketball team.

Another gold medal went to Kansas City’s Quincy Hall won gold in he 400 meters.

Kansas City’s Chris Nilsen, a silver medalist in 2020, was 11th in the pole vault in Paris.

Freddie Crittenden II, a St. Louis native, was 6th in the 110-meter hurdles.b/

Tyler Downs of Ballwin was 8th in the three-meter springboard.

St. Louis native Brendan Miller was 17th in the 800 meter run.

Patrick Schulte of St Charles was a member of the men’s soccer team that lost to Morocco in the quarter-finals.  He’s with the Columbus Crew of the MLS.

Emily Sisson of St. Louis County was 23rd in the women’s marathon.

MU alum Karissa Schweitzer was 10th in the 5000 meters and 9th in the 10,000.

Another MU alum, Mikel Schreuders, competing for Aruba, was 26th in both the 50 and 100 meters.  He was the country’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony.

Another MU alum, Clement Secchi, competing for France in swimming events, won bronze in the 4×100 relay and was 14th in the 100 meter butterfly.

Staff Sgt. Rachel Tozier of Pattonsburg was 18th in the women’s trap shooting.—

(BASEBALL)—Both of our teams started the week with losses.  But the Royals are still in the playoff standings, two games upon Seattle.  The Cardinals are now only one game above break-even and are not a playoff team, a game and a half behind the Mets.

(FOOTBALL)—Ready or not, here it comes.  Football.  The Chiefs have played their first exhibition game, losing to Jacksonville 26-13.

We are 16 days away from the first Missouri Tiger game. The AP’s preseason poll has the Tigers 11th.

Sports with motors:

(NASCAR)—Austin Dillon won the 400-miler at Richmond but he and owner Richard Childress might be the only people happy about it.  Dillon Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the last lap of the first overtime session to take the win.  NASCAR says it is reviewing the whole scenario. Normally, it announces penalties on Tuesdays but it delayed any announcement this week.

(INDYCAR)===IndyCar will run is first post-Olympics race within driving distance of a lot of Missouri fans—-at Worldwide Technology Raceway just across the river from St. Louis.  It’s a Saturday evening race. Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden have won six of the eight races at WWTR since IndyCar returned to the track after a long absence. Pato O’Ward has been a bridesmaid but never a bride in his five career starts there, with top five finishes in all of the races and runnerups three times in the last four years.

(FORMULA 1)—F1 is enjoying its mid-year break—which coincided with the Pris Olympics.  The season has surprised some observers by how competitive it has become, especially in the last half-dozen races or do.

Four different teams have racked up wins this year, seven of them by Red Bull, the long-dominant team in the sport.  But Red Bull has not been the dominant force recently, with McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes moving to the front.  Red Bull drivers have seven wins. Mercedes has three (in the last four races) with McLaren and Ferrari posting two wins apiece. It is the first time since 2021 that four different teams have won races in a season. Seven drivers have posted wins this year.

 

 

Underrated Tigers; Eleven Above, Four Above; Speeding to the Olympic Break 

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(This entry has been updated to include last night’s Royals-Diamondbacks game)

(MIZ)—In a little more than three weeks (August 17), the Missouri Tiger football team gets down to the serious work of preparing for the season. The first game will be ten days later with Murray State’s Racers providing the fresh meat for the Tigers.

Murray State has a new coach, Jody Wright, their fifth coach in the last 17 years.

SEC sports reporters have given Coach Drinkwitz plenty of motivational material by calculating Missouri will finish sixth in the now-16-team conference. Only one Tiger player is on the first three offensive and defensive pre-season all-conference teams—Luther Burden III. Georgia has six players, Alabama and Mississippi have three each.

Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, and LSU are picked to finish higher than Missouri—which will play Alabama late in the season. But there’s some hope.  Sportswriters have correctly picked the conference champion nine times since 1992.

Each team will play eight conference games and the two teams with the highest winning percentages will play for the league championship. This is the first year since 1991 that the SEC has not had divisions.

(BASEBALL)—Our two MLB teams remain in wild card playoff contention.

Cardinals lost 2-1 yesterday in opening a three game series against the Pirates. The winning run was set up on a wild pitch that let a runner reach second and then score on a ground=ball single. They’re four games over break even and two games ahead of the Mets, second in the wild card standings.

The Royals went into last night’s game against Arizona ten games over .500, fattening up with a three-game sweep of the White Sox in which the Royals outscored the Pale Hose 17-3 and Seth Lugo picked up his first career complete game. He has run his record to 12-4.

Bobby Witt Jr., had three hits for the fourth straight game last night and the Royals hammered the Diamondbacks 10-4.  Witt was on track to hit for the cycle with a triple, double, and a home run in his first three at-bats. But he was hit by a pitch and flied out in his last two appearances.  Witt ties Johnny Damon for the second-longest stretch of three-hit games. George Brett did it for six games in 1976.

Witt is on a hot streak since the All-Star game with five extra-base hits in the last four games.  And he loves home cooking—he’s hitting .411 in Kauffman Stadium this year, the best at-home batting average in all of Major League Baseball.

Wheel sports now:

Wheel sports now:

(NASCAR)—Kyle Larson pitted about a dozen laps after other top contenders in the Brickyard 400, setting up a run to the checkered flag that had the crowd on its feet in the latter stages of the race.

Larson came out of his pit in 25th place and began to pick off the cars ahead of him as their drivers tried to stretch their fuel loads to the end. They might have made it if late crashes had not sent the race into two overtimes.  Leader Brad Keselowski had to pit one lap into the first overtime, giving Larson his big chance to take the lead…and he grabbed in going into the first turn of the two-lap shootout.

(Larson is in front, yards before the checkered flag making him the first driver this year to win four races. Pole-winner Tyler Reddick got past defending series champion Ryan Blaney to take second.)

After the race, Larson said he’s ready to return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next May to try to become the first driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. He tried to “do the double” this year—racing in the 500 in the afternoon and then in the NASCAR 600-mile race in Charlotte that evening.  Rain in both cities short-circuited the effort this year. He says nothing’s in place for that to happen yet but hinted an announcement would be coming soon.

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar has seen its second race in  which one of its cars got airborne and came down on its top—and the driver walked away.

The crash that eventually involved a half-dozen cars began when Pato O’Ward spun just a turn, a potential blind spot for oncoming competitors.

All Angles: How Huge Crash Unfolded on Streets of Toronto (indycar.com)

Other cars crashed into his and the car of Santino Ferrucci used the nose of one of the cars as a launch pad, sending his car bottom-first into the catch fence before landing upside down.  Ferrucci was protected by his seat belts and by the titanium aeroscreen from serious injury.

Colton Herta ended a long losing streak by winning the race through some of the streets of Toronto. Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon claimed the other two podium positions.

(FORMULA 1)—F1 has reached its midpoint with the Grand Prix of Hungary with Oscar Piastri winning his first race in the series—but only because teammate Lando Norris was ordered to let him pass him.  Lewis Hamilton was third, extending his record with his 200th podium finish.

The Hungary race is the third in a row without Max Verstappen in the tp position. He was fifth behind Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari.  Red Bull and Verstappen have dominated Grand Prix racing for the last few years but both admit that mid-season corrections by other teams have brought them back to the mortal level. He still has a strong points lead, though.

—Major motorsports competition is taking a two-week break because of the Olympics. It is not doing so because any of its drivers are competing in the games; it’s because their television partner, NBC, will be immersed in the Paris Games for the next couple of week.

(photo credit: Bob Priddy)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sports:  Sophie’s Choices, All-Star Break, the Draft, and other stuff 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Guy sports are so…..oh, we don’t know…..routine…..just a bunch of statistics….Not glamorous.

Who cares about MLB when we have the WNBA ?

(XMIZ)—Former Missouri Lady Tiger Sophie Cunningham is turning out to be quite the glamour figure among WNBA players and quite a quotable source for sports broadcasters.

Cunnigham, who was taken by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2018 draft after an all-star career at Mizzou, got a good look at Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark last Friday—-the Fever won the game 95-86 to go 10-14 in their last home game before the Olympic break against a team that has three Olympians on it—Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi, and Kahleah Cooper. Phoenix is now 12-11.

Clark had 20 points including a crowd-standing jumper over Griner, 13 assists and a half-dozen rebounds.

Some observers of the WNBA suggest some veteran players are jealous of Clark, an observation Cunnigham thinks is wrong. She told WSLAM radio listeners, “You see a lot of people in the public eye on the men’s side kind of having Caitlin Clark’s back, too, which is kind of surprising just because they know how physical our game has always been. But when I tell you that the narrative that we’re all against Caitlin or the vets against the rookies that needs to be squashed because it’s not like that…I’ve had my jaw broken; I’ve broken a finger; I’ve broken my nose. Everyone has stories of how physical this league really is and I think that is the main jump that people don’t understand.”

“…I don’t think anyone’s being targeted. If anything, I think we need to give her a little bit of grace sometimes because she has a lot on her plate and a lot of eyes on her. But with that, I think this is gonna be really good for her. She’s gonna be great.”

Cunningham, who does some modeling, is getting attention for some of her pre-game attire choices—such as this glam-appearance before a game earlier this month against the Dallas Wings.

And earlier this year she showed up in a hockey jersey.

She has started all  31 games at guard for the Mercury this year and is averaging 11.3 points per game.

Okay, so much for the fashion runway (that seems to lead to the team locker room).

(BASEBALL)—-It’s the All-Star break and both of our major league teams are above .500, something that is a pleasant surprise given what the Royals were (not) doing a year ago and the discouraging start of the season by the Cardinals.

We normally think of the All-Star game as the halfway point of the season….but the schedule is well beyond that.  The Cardinals have played 96 games and the Royals have played 97.

(ROYALS)—The Royals go to the break at 52-45, third in their division and two games behind the Red Sox on the Wild Card list.

They went for pitchers in the MLB draft, starting with a two-way player with their first draft pick: University of Florida pitcher/first baseman Jac Caglianone. CBS sports called him “the most fascinating player in the class, a freak show talent.”  He hit 62 homers in the last two years and struck out only eight percent of the time. The rating suggests he’s most likely to be a reliever rather than a starter if he makes it to the bigs.

High school pitcher David Shields a 6-2 lefty with three pitches that he gets for strikes. Scouting director Brian Bridges says “The sky’s the limit for him.” He was Pennsylvania’s Baseball Player. He won’t be 18 until September.

They took Tennessee pitcher Drew Beam in the third round. Beam allowed only two runs in the two College World Series games he pitched as Tennessee won its first national championship. He has four pitches including an above average change up and a fastball in the 93-95 mph range.

Round 4’s pick was L. P. Langevin, a right-handed pitcher from Louisiana-Lafayette with a 92-95 mph fastball, a slider and a changeup. He was a reliever in college who racked up 106 K’s in 62 2/3 innings with 33 walks.

Another Tennessee pitcher was picked up in the fifth round, A. J. Causey, another right-hander. Side-armer who struck out 125 batters in 91 1/3 innings

More pitchers and a catcher came in succeeding rounds: Righty Tanner Jones, a righty from Texas A&M, likely a reliever; Dennis Colleran, another righty whose ERA is not impressive (7.97 with Northeastern but he allowed no runs in the last nine of his 15 appearances;  Duke righthander Nick Conte, who’s been taken for his potential. Got in just six innings in seven games this year after missing the 2023 season with an injury but he was highly thought-of in high school and in the New England collegiate Baseball League allowed just one run in 11 1/3 innings.

North Carolina A&T catcher Canyon Brown was the ninth round choice. In his three seasons he hit .288 and in the last two years in the summer leagues he’s had a .766 OPS.  He hit .310 ith a .906 OPS for his college team this year and threw out 27 attempted base stealers.

The Royals finally picked a southpaw when they took LSU pitcher Nate Ackenhausen in the tenth round. Mostly a reliever who played a big role in the Tigers’ national championship in 2023.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals only all-star selection has decided he’d rather have four days off than take part in the game. Reliever Ryan Helsley, who set a team record with 32 saves before the all-star break, says it will be better for him and for the team to give his arm a rest so he can continue to be effective down the stretch.

The Cardinals, nine games below break-even on Mother’s day (May 12), are now four above the line (50-46). They are in playoff contention—the second spot out of three—the Mets are a half-game back and the Diamondbacks a game and a half behind the Redbirds.  They’ve gone 35-22 since then and appear to have a slightly favorable schedule the rest of the way.

But things are still unsettled with some veterans not producing as expected, a pitching staff that doesn’t breed confidence (except for Helsley) some guys still uncertain because of injuries, and a one-time wunderkind who doesn’t seem to be making big improvements at Memphis—here he was expected to make big improvements.

The Cardinals have provided hours of speculation about trades since before the season started and that speculation has become more tiresome by the week.

Jordan Walker continues to get at-bats at Memphis but hasn’t earned a trip back to the show. Manager Oliver Marmol says he needs to be more consistent “in doing what he wants to do with the baseball from an offensive standpoint and missing the way he wants to miss,” a statement crying for some definition.

The draft:

West Virginia middle infielder J. J. Wetherholt, who had been a projected number one pick until hamstring injuries cut his year in half became the Cardinals top choice. CBS Sports said he has an “excellent command of the strike zone. He hit .332 in his shortened season with eight homers. Assistant GM Randy Flores says he “plays up the middle, is athletic, has good hands, speed and makes good contact. Bats left-handed.

The ’Birds didn’t have a second-round pick. But in Monday’s picks for rounds 3-10, this is who they got:

RHP Brian Holiday, Oklahoma State. He was 7-3 with a 2.95 ERA. Led the Big 12 in Ks with 128 in 113 innings. Fastball tops out at 95 and has a “baffling” slider.

Arizona State catcher Ryan Campos was taken in the fourth round.  A stubby 5-foot-8, 190 pounder was a three-year starter for Arizona State. Considerable stats as a hitter–.357 as a freshman, .388 as a sophomore. As a junior he ripped 22 homers, 25 doubles, drove in 56 runs. In his three years, he had 94 walks and only 66 strikeouts.

University of Oklahoma left-handed pitcher Braden Davis was a round five pick, a reliever for two years at Sam Houston State, a starter last year with Oklahoma where he went 9-4 with a 4.30 ERA in 92 innings with 117 Ks. Held opposing hitters to a .208 batting average. Probably a reliever.

Josh Kross was a switch-hitting catcher at the University of Cincinnati after a year at Eastern Michigan. Mid-America Conference player of the year as a .376 hitting freshman, All Big-12 in his one year at Cincinnati where he parlayed being hit by pitches a school-record 26 times into a .438 OBP. Also played some first base.

Vanderbilt righty Andrew Dutkanych IV was one of the top high school pitchers two years ago. Had Tommy John surgery earlier this year.  Had a 3.18 ERA with 20 strikeouts and 15 walks in his collegiate career. MLB says the Cardinals might be “gambling on the upside” with this choice.

Notre Dame left-handed pitcher Jack Findlay also is an up-sider for the Cardinals. He had Tommy John surgery in 2023 but before than he was 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA. Starter and reliever in college.  108 strikeouts and only 27 walks in his Notre Dame career.

The Cardinals took Texas Tech third baseman Cade McGee in the ninth round. He’s complimented more for his fielding than for his hitting. After his freshman year at Gonzaga, he played in the Cape Cod League, perhaps the top summer collegiate league.   He hit .185 in eighteen games. But he is seen as a potential “average to above average” hitter.

Oklahoma outfielder Bryce Madron became the tenth and final pick on the second day. He hit .318 from the left side of the plate his year, an all-conference second team selection. Scouts say he controls the strike zone and “doesn’t try to do too much.” He drew 106 walks this year in college and struck out only 64 times.

Now we turn to the speed sports.

(RACING)—Penske racing had a weekend sweep in Iowa and in Pennsylvania, with drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power winning both ends of the INDYCAR doubleheader at Iowa Speedway and Ryan Blaney taking the flag at Pocono in NASCAR.

(INDYCAR)—Scott McLaughlin finally picked up an oval victory in Saturday’s race on the high banks of the .087 mile Iowa short track.

McLaughlin had said that he wouldn’t consider himself an IndyCar driver until he had won on an oval. He led 164  of the 250 laps to finish half a second ahead of Pato O’Ward.  McLaughlin had battled pole-sitter Colton Herta until grabbing the lead coming out of the pits.

McLaughlin added to his success for the day by winning the pole position for Sunday’s race, setting a track record in qualifying.

Will Power won for the first time at the Iowa Speedway the next day. But for him, the wait has been much longer.  Power had raced 18 times at the rack and had won seven poles but had never won and had been in the top three only five times.

Power had finished 18th in Saturday’s race started 22nd Sunday and didn’t grab the lead until lap 209 of the 250, thanks to a pit stop that was nine-tenths of a second faster than the last stop by Alex Palou, who finished four-tenths of a second back. McLaughlin was third.

Power had not won a race on an oval since Pocono five years ago. It’s his 43rd IndyCar victory, breaking him out of a tie with Michael Andretti for most wins in his career. He ranks fourth on the all-time list.

The weekend at Iowa was a dominant one for Penske Racing with Power and McLaughlin leading 309 of the 500 laps in the two races.

About the time Power was crossing the finish line, a multi-car crash that turned into a dangerous scenario was happening on the track behind him.

Sting Ray Robb Goes Airborne in Wild Last-Lap Incident at Iowa (indycar.com)

The IndyCar windscreen was credited with protecting Sting Ray Rob and Kyle Kirkwood from serious injuries.  Rob was checked by IndyCar’s medical team and released from their care after a checkup.

The two races’ results leave Alex Palou in the points lead but his margin over Power has been cut to 35 points. Pato O’Ward holds third, 72 back.

(NASCAR)—-Ryan Blaney’s winning run at Pocono wrapped up the hat trick for Penske last weekend. Blaney picked up his second win of the season by holding off Denny Hamlin, who finished 1.3 seconds back.

Blaney had been consistently near the top for most of the race but didn’t lead for the first time until only 44 laps left. He held off the field through two more restarts. Alex Bowman, who one last week’s race, challenged until Halin passed him with seven laps left.

Only five races remain in NASCAR’s regular season before the 15-driver field is set for the 10-race playoff series.

(Photo credits:  Cunningham—Instagram: McLaughlin and Power—Bob Priddy)

Sports:  Wanna bet?  Polling on Sports Wagering, moving KC Teams to Kansas.  And Other Sports Stuff

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(GAMBLING)—Sports wagering hasn’t been approved for the ballot yet, but Missourians appear narrowly willing to allow it if it’s on the November ballot.

A poll of more than 1800 Missourians earlier this month by Emerson College, The Hill, and Nextstar Media, shows 38.3% of prospective voters want it while 35.4% of prospective voters oppose it. That leaves more than 26% undecided.

Emerson College (in Massachusetts) Senior Polling Director Matt Taglia says, “I don’t think folks necessarily know what all it entails but a lot of them are, in principle, supportive of the idea.”

An organization supporting sports wagering—the misleadingly named Winning for Missouri Education (actually, approval of the proposal as submitted will make Missouri school losers) has submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures to put the issue on the November ballot. The Secretary of State’s office and county clerks throughout Missouri are verifying the signatures.

(CHIEFS/ROYALS; STAY OR GO?)—The same poll shows 46% of respondents think it is “very important” to keep the Kansas City Chiefs from being lured to Kansas. Another 17% say it is “somewhat important.” Twenty-two percent would not miss the Chiefs in Missouri.

Support for the Royals is a little softer. Thirty-eight percent say it’s “very important;” twenty percent say it’s “somewhat.”  Two dozen percent of the respondents say they would be bothered at all if the Royals move across the state line.

(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals have finally staggered two games above .500 thanks to their weekend sweep  and the news got even better yesterday with the reactivation of catcher Wilson Contreras from the DL several says earlier than expected. He’s been out since May 7 because of a broken arm. He’s been on a minor league rehab assignment since June 18, going 3 for 21 at Memphis.

His activation has meant a trip back to Memphis for backup catcher Nick Raposo.

Before his injury, Contreras had a half dozen homers, a dozen RBIs and a .280 average through the team’s first 31 games. He will rejoin a team that is playing far better than it was before he was hurt.  The Redbirds are eleven games over .500 in his absence, the best record in the National League since May 12 at 24-13.

He returns while Nolan Arenado spent his second straight game on the bench. He came out of Saturday’s game with a sore left forearm. He’s gotten an injection for the pain.

Noot News:  Lars Nootbar is getting close to a rehab assignment. He’s been out since early may with a left oblique strain.

(ROYALS)—The Royals have cooled off in June but remain five games above break even. Their performance since winning eight straight and soaring to 15 games over .500 to going 8-18 since has some fans wonder if the team has turned the wrong corner as the season nears the halfway point.

Former Missouri Tiger Max Scherzer, making his first start of the year for the Texas Rangers, shut down the Royals Sunday, as the Royals were swept in a series for the first time this year.

The sagging performance has left KC nine games behind the Cleveland Guardians and worse, a game behind Boston in the wild card standings.

They got some offensive punch back yesterday with the reactivation of Michael Massey from the ten-day DL. Back problems have limited him to just 29 games this year. His back problems have been treated with recent injections to relieve the pain.

And now, some wheels:

(INDYCAR)—Nobody knows his way around Laguna Seca tese days better than Alex Palou.  In his last four races on the California road course, he has had finishes of  1-3=1=2, picking up his second win of the year and moving into the IndyCar points lead.

He finished about two seconds ahead of Colton Herta in what he called “a chaotic race” that relied on a tire strategy that was “a bit risky for the position we were in.”

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi was fourth, giving his Juncos Hollinger Racing team its best finish ever in the series.

The win gives Palou a 25-point lead over Will Power. Scott Dixon is running third.

(NASCAR)—The track was damp and another rain storm was threatening and NASCAR decided to finish the weekend race at New Hampshire with cars using rain tires. Christopher Bell and other competitors had to sit out a two-hour rain and lightning delay before re-starting on a damp surface.  Although parts of the track were dry at the end, enough other segments remained damp that NASCAR decreed no car would switch to slicks.

Bell led almost half of the laps to become the fourth driver to have at least three wins this year.

 

The race was only the second one on series history to use the new kind of tires. NASCAR Senior VP for Competition, Elton Sawyer, praised the development of the tire. “We’d have been done with 82 laps to go and instead it gave us a chance to get back to green,” he said.

(NHRA)—We don’t usually comment on the folks who seek 300 mph in less than a quarter mile but John Force’s engine explosion and crash in Virginia during the weekend.  Force is 75 years old but still competing at the highest levels of National Hot Rod Association competition.

His engine blew up as his car crossed the finish line, crashed into the wall and came to rest in the middle of the track.  He was conscious when the safety crew got to him but was taken to a nearby hospital where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Daughter Brittany told reporters later, “My dad’s going to be all right…He’s one of the toughest people I know.”

(FORMULA 1)—The Spanish Grand Prix went to Max Verstappen with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton taking the other podium positions.

F1 has unveiled specifications for its 2026 cars:

It says the new cars will be “more agile” because of a weight reduction, will increase use of batteries and the use of sustainable fuels. Aerodynamics will become more active with moveable front and rear wing.  F1 will have six engine manufacturers—compared to three for NASCAR and two for IndyCar.

(Photo credits: Rick Gevers,  Bob Priddy, F1)

Sports: Getting Over the Hump; For the Want of a Cup of Gas; UFL Playoffs

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals went 13-12 in May, a record that might surprise some folks who once saw them nine games under .500 as late as May 11.  The Cardinals closed out the month winning 12 of their last 16 games and got to break even on the next-to=last day of the Month before losing to Cincinnati.

The turnaround was fueled by some bats waking up to support the pitching staff. The Cardinals hit only 19 home runs in April. In May they hit 30.  They had 23 more hits and scored 13 more runs in May than they did in April, most of that in the second two-thirds.  They stole 17 bases in May, only 11 in April.

The Redbirds were 13-13 in April, 1-3 in March.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals have shown consistency in the first two months of the season, posting identical 17-11 records in April and May.  As of the beginning of play last night,  Salvador Perez was seventh in batting in both leagues, with a .315 average.

Bobby Witt Jr. was ninth in batting at .313 and was second in stolen bases with 17.

(BASEBALL STATS, GENERALLY)—Going into last night’s games, ESPN’s ranking of the top 50 players in hitting and pitching listed these Missouri players.

Pitching—Royals Seth Lugo is number two behind Ranger Suarez of the Phillies in ERA, Suarez at 1.70 and Lugo at 1.72. Both lead the majors with nine victories. The Royals have two other pitchers in the top 50—Brady Singer is twelfth with an ERA of 2.63 although he’s only 4-2; Cole Ragens is 31st in ERA at 3.21 with a 4-4 record. The only Cardinals starting pitcher on the top 50 is Kyle Gibson, fiftieth, with a 3.60 ERA and a 4-2 record.

Masyn Winn’s .299 average ranks 14th among major league hitters.

(HAWKS)—It wasn’t particularly pretty, but the St. Louis Battlehawks locked in a home UFL playoff last weekend, slipping past their top division rival, the San Antonio Brahmas. 13-12. Both teams finish the regular season 7-3 but St. Louis won both of the regular season games and therefore gets home field advantage for the playoff fame next Sunday.

The ‘Hawks led 10-0 at the half but the Brahmas But the Brahmas reeled off twelve unanswered points in the second half and completed a two-point conversion that would have given them a 14-12 lead. But the Battlehawks won a challenge that maintained a San Antonio player was an ineligible receiver downfield.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs are beginning the serious preparations for the 2024=25 (they hope) season this week. The last of the voluntary workouts begins today with the mandatory week-long spring training camp starting next Wednesday, the 11th.

(MIZ)—Former Tiger lineman Justin Smith is one of 77 players and nine coaches nominated for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame this year. Smith, a Jefferson City native, played for the Tigers, 1998-2000.  He was a Freshman All-American and made the national All-American first team in 2000. He still ranks fourth in sacks.  He had a long pro career with seven years with the Bengals and seven more with the 49ers.  Inductees will be announced early next year.

Tigers Roar and So Do Engines

(NASCAR)—There’s a car in there somewhere—

We thought it would be the yellow car of Ryan Blaney who had the race in hand, especially after this chief challenger, Christopher Bell, developed engine trouble.  But it was the blue car of Blaney teammate Austin Cindric that did a furious burnout at the start-finish line at Worldwide Technology Raceway just across the river from St. Louis.

Blaney, the defending NASCAR Cup champion still looking for his first win of 2024,who had made his last pit stop was just one lap before Cindric’s last stop, ran out of gas on the next to last lap, had just enough fuel to run the last two laps and to celebrate the win. His tank went dry just before he got the white flag signaling one lap was left.

Cindric had not won a race in 85 outings since becoming a rookie winner of the Daytona 500 at thes start of the 2022 season and had recorded only one top-ten finish this year.  He admitted afterwards that he had become so unfamiliar with the NASCAR winners’ rituals that he almost fell off the roof of his car when he shut it down and climbed out to celebrate.

“It was like my first time all over again, it’s been so long.”  He said his win “is everything. It’s absolutely everything,” but he acknowledged that the third-place car in the race wound up winning because the two better cars—of Blaney and Bell—encountered late problems.

Bell wound up seventh with teammate Martin Truex Jr., bump-pushing him to the finish line. Truex, who had run into problems early and was far out of contention, finished 34th.  Blaney coasted the final lap and was credited within finishing 24th.

Blaney finished 24th after coasting around the track with a silent engine.

(INDYCAR)—Years ago, IndyCar driver Tom Sneva was called the “gas man” because he stood on the gas and became the first driver to turn official 200 mph laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was the fastest qualifier for the 500 four times.

There’s a new “gas man” in IndyCar today, Scott Dixon, who still goes fast at the age of 43 (he’ll be 44 next month) has been winning a lot of races because he “makes fuel,” or stretches his fuel loads father than other drivers.  Last weekend’s race on the streets of Detroit added another example of that nickname by stretching his fuel to finish a full second ahead of Marcus Ericsson.

 

It’s his 58th career win, second to the legendary A. J. Foyt, who had 67 wins his career. Dixon made only two pit stops while most other teams made four or more. “A lot of guys that you know are going to be racing for a championship had a rough day,” he said of the race. His win has elevated him to the top of the point standings, twenty points ahead of last year’s champion, Alex Palou, who finished 16th, and 33 up on Will Power, who was sixth.

(Photo credits: Bob Priddy)