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The previous mark was set 49 years ago. From AP-
Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui has driven in six runs in Game 6 against the Phillies to tie Bobby Richardson’s record for most RBIs in a World Series game.
Matsui hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second, a two-run single in the third – both coming off Philadelphia starter Pedro Martinez – and a two-run double off J.A. Happ in the fifth inning on Wednesday night to give New York a 7-1 lead.
Richardson accomplished the feat for the Yankees on Oct. 8, 1960, in Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Yankees are up 7-3 with two outs in the ninth inning. It’s looking like the Yankees will win yet another World Series and this NY Met fan isn’t happy. My wife is rooting for the Yankees too!
More people may be punished for their actions last week. From AP-
A senior staff member for Alberta Health Services has been fired for giving the Calgary Flames swine flu shots while thousands of people waited in line for the vaccine last week.
The board, which reports directly to the Alberta government, won’t name who was dismissed Wednesday and said more people might be punished for their roles.
“I am deeply offended that this circumstance has occurred,” Ken Hughes, chairman of Alberta Health Services, said in a news release. “The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment.”
Hughes said the “most senior staff member involved” was dismissed.
Flames president Ken King said Tuesday the players and their families received their shots on Friday at a private location. He said they believed they had gone through proper channels at Alberta Health Services, the agency that administers health services for the province.
King said they felt the shots were a priority for the players because of their extensive cross-border travel and the close-contact physical nature of their sport. He also said they didn’t want to cause a commotion by having the players stand in line at a public clinic.
What would have happened had the players gotten in line with the rest of the public? They would have gotten asked for autographs? I suppose these players and their families all live in a monastery so they don’t have to do deal with the little people.
You can turn the snark off now.
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He is having his second back surgery for 2009. From AP-
Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen is expected to miss six to eight weeks after having a second surgery on his back.
Lehtonen has not played this season after having surgery July 20 to repair a herniated disc.
The team said Wednesday that Lehtonen had another surgery Friday in Rochester, N.Y., to remove edges of bone that were applying pressure to nerve roots in his back at two locations.
Ondrej Pavelec has been a more than decent job in goal. In addition the Thrashers have been without the services of star winger Ilya Kovalchuk for most of this season. Atlanta isn’t slumping with these injuries, they are 6-4-1 at present.
Lehtonen’s back problems may put his career at risk. The 2nd overall pick of the 2002 NHL entry draft hasn’t played to the level Atlanta hoped for when they drafted Lehtonen so high.
They already have a rule in place. From AP-
The World Boxing Council wants to banish once and for all fathers from working their sons’ corners during fights after a study showed it could prove fatal.
Speaking at the WBC’s annual convention, council president Jose Sulaiman said the organization already had a rule banning fathers from their sons’ corners but that it was being flouted.
The WBC must strictly enforce this law to prevent errors in judgment that could lead to tragedy in the ring, Sulaiman added.
Dr. Paul Wallace, chairman of the WBC’s Medical Advisory Board, said that a study in California backed up the WBC’s stance.
“The most common factor out of all the fatalities that had happened, was having fathers in the corner,” he said of the study. “Now, that’s not something that’s a medical issue, but it’s something that’s clearly an association.”
Art Pelullo, president of Banner Promotions, said the emotional link between father and son should preclude them working so closely together during a fight.
“A father is not detached enough to make the right decision, because he’s looking at what he loves and maybe not seeing what’s really going on,” Pelullo said.
Experts and the WBC believe a father can’t look at what is taking place strictly as a trainer rather than as a parent. I don’t know if I agree or disagree, but if the WBC doesn’t want fathers in the corner, they should strictly enforce the rules they have now.
I’m astonished that there was no testing program in place already. Race horses are tested extensively. From AP-
The U.S. Polo Association has quietly moved to start randomly drug testing horses, months after 21 prized ponies dropped dead in South Florida.
The horses, belonging to a Venezuelan team, died in April as they stepped off trailers before a championship match. The state veterinarian has blamed it on an overdose of a common mineral that helps muscles recover from fatigue. Before the match, they were given a concoction of vitamin supplements mixed by a local pharmacy.
A pilot testing program is expected to be in place by January 2010. That is when the next polo season begins.
The trade saves the Rays from having to pay a $650,000 on Iwamura’s contract if they didn’t pick up his option.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been plugging holes after trades for years, but filling the Freddy Sanchez void proved difficult.
On Tuesday, the team agreed to acquire second baseman Akinori Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays for reliever Jesse Chavez.
*****
Iwamura was batting over .300 early last season for the Rays before sustaining partial tears of the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee. He returned in September and batted .290 for the season in 69 games. He was Tampa’s everyday second baseman when the Rays went to the World Series in 2008 and batted .274 with six homers, 48 RBIs and a .349 on-base percentage.
*****
Chavez led Pittsburgh and all major league rookies with 73 appearances in 2009, going 1-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 67 1/3 innings. He was taken in the 42nd round in 2002 by Texas, and made his major league debut with the Pirates with 15 appearances in 2008.
The Rays think they have 2nd base plugged with Ben Zobrist. Maybe they do, but the team got shockingly little compensation for Iwamura. A run of the mill reliever was the best Tampa could do?
He is the 11th leading rusher in NFL history. From AP-
The Edgerrin James experiment in Seattle is over.
The struggling Seahawks cut ties with James on Tuesday, releasing the backup running back who never provided the pop Seattle hoped to get when it signed the 31-year-old in late August.
James’ release was one of a handful of moves Seattle made two days after a lackluster 38-17 loss that dropped the Seahawks to 2-5. Seattle also released safety C.J. Wallace and cornerback Travis Fisher.
The two-time NFL rushing champ signed with Seattle near the end of training camp hoping to revitalize a career that fell flat after moving from Indianapolis to Arizona. After getting benched for the first time last season, James provided a spark the Cardinals needed in their run to the Super Bowl. But he was released by Arizona in the offseason, and remained unemployed until the Seahawks came calling. Before his release by the Cardinals, James had one year and $5 million remaining on the four-year, $40 million deal he signed with Arizona before the 2006 season.
James had gained only 125 yards rushing this year. I think his productive years in the NFL team are over but I wouldn’t be surprised if another NFL gives James a shot.
He also appeared in four of the ‘Rocky’ movies. RIP.
Lou Filippo, a California referee and judge for more than 30 years and member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 83.
Before becoming one of the top ring officials and refereeing and judging dozens of world championship bouts, Filippo boxed professionally as a lightweight from 1947 to 1957, exclusively in Southern California. The World War II veteran compiled a professional record of 23-9-3 with 8 KOs.
He finished his career with a pair of fights against Hall of Famer and former lightweight champion Carlos Ortiz, a nine-round no-decision followed by a seventh-round knockout loss.
Filippo’s presence in the ring led to numerous television and film appearances, including parts as a referee in the second, third, fourth and fifth installments of the “Rocky” films.
Filippo began refereeing and judging in the mid-1970s, working primarily in Southern California. But he was also associated with the WBC, which held a moment of silence and a 10-bell count in Filippo’s honor during its annual convention, taking place this week in Jeju, South Korea.
Perhaps Filippo’s most famous judging assignment came in 1987, when he served on the panel for the controversial Sugar Ray Leonard-”Marvelous” Marvin Hagler middleweight championship fight in Las Vegas.
Boxing fans argue to this day about who deserved to win the fight, although Leonard was awarded a split-decision victory. It was Filippo who scored the fight for Hagler 115-113.
He won’t be allowed to play in a PGA or Nationwide event for one year. From ESPN-
Doug Barron became the first PGA Tour player to be suspended for violating its performance-enhancing drug policy.
Barron, 40, a veteran who played just four times this year on the developmental Nationwide Tour and once on the PGA Tour and failed to make a cut, will begin his suspension immediately — although his status was in limbo because he was playing the Nationwide Tour this year on a medical exemption.
“I would like to apologize for any negative perception of the tour or its players resulting from my suspension,” Barron said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “I want my fellow tour members and the fans to know that I did not intend to gain an unfair competitive advantage or enhance my performance while on tour.”
It is unclear what substance Barron took or what he did to produce a positive drug test. The tour said it would have no further comment on the matter.
Barron has never finished better than 3rd at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship. More recently he has struggled on the Nationwide tour. In 2008 he only made 5 cuts in 17 tries. The drug use certainly didn’t help Barron’s play.
Jason Sobel at ESPN writes-
That said, let’s hold off on the witch hunt for the time being. In a twisted way, it’s actually a good thing that Barron got caught, as it proves the PGA Tour’s ongoing efforts toward wiping out any potential PED use weren’t fruitless nor a waste of time and money. It also discredits the theory that Tim Finchem and the folks at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., headquarters would cover up any positive tests to keep suspicions to a minimum.
I’m not naive enough to believe no PGA pro would ever use PEDs. I will be surprised if one of the sport’s better known players get caught. A former winner who has fallen on hard times but not to the extent of Barron has is the type of player who may get caught.
Some mediocre college football teams want Santa Claus to come early this year. From AP-
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe wants the NCAA to treat teams with 6-6 records the same as teams with winning records when it comes to bowl games.
Under current rules, teams with .500 records can receive a bowl bid only if the school’s conference already has a deal with a bowl and all other teams with winning records have been invited to postseason games.
A winning Division I team should receive a bowl bid before any 6-6 teams. I’ve lived long enough to remember Florida State(8-3 in 1978) and the University of Miami(7-4 in 1982) being locked out of the post season in spite of their having better records than teams that did get bids. The Independence Bowl passed on the Hurricanes to invite schools, Kansas State(6-4-1) and Wisconsin(6-5). Who then played a real snoozer of a 14-3 game.
That said, I strongly believe there are too many bowl games played these days. Nothing would be lost if about six of them went away IMHO.
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