Month: May 2018

Now comes the hard part: Finding a way to victory lane next weekend.

Game Youth Derrick Pouliot Jersey After crashing Roger Penske’s front-row party by claiming his third Indianapolis 500 pole-winning run and watching his teammate, Patrick, qualify seventh for the final start of her career, Carpenter quickly turned his attention to hosting a bigger family celebration at the track his stepfather’s family owns.

We’ve been in this position before and ran a good race. I thought we had a chance to win (when we won our) first pole, we didn’t really have the right game plan, Carpenter said. I feel like we’ve learned a lot. I feel like I’ve gotten better since 2014. We’ve got a great package with Chevrolet and ECR and hopefully we’ll be able to be in the mix (next) Sunday.

Carpenter has largely taken a backseat to Alexander Kerfoot Jersey other prominent story lines this month.

Carpenter has five career starts from the first three rows but hasn’t finished higher than 10th.

Good job, dad! one of Carpenter’s children said, stealing a hug at the end of the day.

Then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the act of protesting during the national anthem by kneeling in the 2016 season.

Kaepernick has remained unsigned since the end of the 2016 season, when he left the 49ers after spending the year as the team’s starter.

Game Avisail Garcia Jersey As part of the new anthem policy, teams will be permitted to discipline players who breach the new rules under the collective bargaining agreement.

Having reached a football epiphany relatively late in his coaching career, Carroll has reinvented himself as one of the NFL’s most philosophically open and psychologically agile figures. Although he has conceded that his decision to pass the ball in that situation was the worst result of a call ever, he also insisted that the journey means more than the moment.

From Avril’s perspective, the moment has haunted the Seahawks ever since.

The situation sucked regardless of who took the blame, Avril continued. It’s just the fact that we were so close and we weren’t able to get it, so I think a lot of guys got turned off by the message.

Panthers owner-for-a-few-more-hours Jerry Richardson is expected to make an appearance today.

Disgraced by recent allegations of workplace misconduct, Richardson hasn’t been spotted during the sale of his team to David Tepper, but he’s kept a low profile in recent years anyway.

Losing that power struggle to a new guard of owners was part of the reason, along with his health, that he backed away from most league business in recent years. He stepped aside from all his committee assignments, and only showed up at the May meeting in 2016 because it was in Charlotte, as he had skipped league business for most of the last five years.

Richardson had a heart transplant in February 2009. He’s about to pocket $2.2 billion in cash as part of Tepper’s bid. At some point after that, the league will likely wrap up its investigation into the activity that triggered the sale, which included allegations of sexual and racial harassment.

Bottom line: Philadelphia will have a less comfortable cushion, but it should finish ahead of Dallas in the NFC East again. The Eagles have not lost too much key personnel, and their coaching and experience remains strong to combat the raised stakes. They’ll be in the fight for a No. 1 seed in a top-heavy conference. Record prediction: 11-5

Herndon had 40 catches for 477 yards and four touchdowns in 11 games at the University of Miami last season. He hurt his MCL in the final game of the season and the team said after the draft that they expected him to be limited in offseason work, but he was able to do some drills at rookie minicamp.

The Jets did not re-sign Austin Seferian-Jenkins after he hit free agency, leaving them without their top tight end from last season. Herndon, Jordan Leggett, Clive Walford, Eric Tomlinson and Neal Sterling make up the contenders for playing time this year.

Randy Gregory is taking another step toward potentially returning to the NFL.

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the suspended Cowboys defensive end is submitting his application for reinstatement tomorrow.

Gregory was suspended for at least a year in January 2017. If the league hears in his favor within 60 days, that could potentially have him ready before the start of training camp. Whether he’s ready to play football is another matter, and not really the important one.

Gregory has spent more than six weeks recently in drug and alcohol rehab, and has the backing of multiple teammates who have written letters to commissioner Roger Goodell on his behalf.

Owner Jerry Jones has also said he’s proud of the progress Gregory has made, and the Cowboys would clearly welcome him back for the human aspect 鈥?as well as to try to get something out of the 2015 second-round pick.

The Celtics can find positives in the loss, as they were far more competitive than in Saturday’s Game 3 shellacking. But it will be hard not to feel like they missed a chance to put a stranglehold on the series, and now they must go back to Boston for what amounts to the start of a best-of-three series.

We talked about it in the locker room: best of three to go to the NBA Finals. It’s pretty exciting, Tatum said.

Brown struggled mightily at both ends early in Game 3, picking up two early fouls that left him timid defensively, and he failed to give Boston his usual offensive jolt, something the team Charlie McAvoy Jersey desperately needed as the Cavaliers separated early.

I use [Game 3] as fuel. I thought it was embarrassing, Brown said. Thought we came out, the way I played, the way I performed, how not aggressive I was in the first half, I look at that as fuel to come out in Game 4 and be excited about it and be ready to play and ready to fight.

As a mindset, the game is 90 percent mental, so everything that we do affects our mindset. We can’t look at the last game and get down on ourselves or think we’re out of the series because we lost one game. That’s what the world thinks, that’s what the world wants us to think, so we’re going to come out and play some basketball [in Game 4], regardless of what anybody got to say.

Game Joe Greene Jersey The Cavaliers held Horford without a field goal attempt in the first quarter, and Boston’s All-Star big man finished with just four shots overall in 30 minutes. Horford sounded confident he would have more opportunities in Game 4.
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Braves: RHP Anibal Sanchez (right hamstring strain) will make another rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday. Sanchez was roughed up Monday night, allowing eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against Durham.
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Two hitters following Faria’s departure, Wilson Ramos was taken out due to a bruised left hand after Pruitt’s 0-2 pitch to Xander Bogaerts bounced and struck the catcher.

Ramos said the hand sore but didn’t rule out being available Wednesday.

Faria allowed three runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings.

The 29-year-old Souza reinjured the pectoral muscle on a throw from right field on Friday night. He originally hurt it during spring training and didn’t start his big league season until May 3.

Outfielder Socrates Brito was recalled on Tuesday from Triple-A Reno to replace Souza.

An MRI on Saturday determined Souza suffered a strain and had inflammation.

Brian McCann (L), 41.8 percent, Houston Astros vs. San Francisco Giants (RHP Jeff Samardzija): Shark has been chum for reverse-split opponents, who’ve repelled him to a .421 wOBA, 10 walks and four homers in just 13 innings. McCann likely will pair with battery mate Justin Verlander and remains a wise play against righties (.348 career wOBA), though his 2018 numbers suggest otherwise.
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Alex Gordon (L), Kenneth Faried Authentic Jersey 7.4 percent, Kansas City Royals at St. Louis Cardinals (RHP Michael Wacha): Gordon’s brief run of power has cooled, but he’s still left the yard all three times on the year against righties to complement a .271/.444/.424 slash and a handy 34.3 hard-contact percentage in that split. Wacha’s 3.08 ERA is ripe for regression, and a big blow could come from a Royals squad known for its frequent contact (tied for fifth in the majors at 78.2 percent).

One of the NFL’s great running backs will receive the ultimate honor from his former team.

The Buffalo Bills announced Wednesday that Thurman Thomas’ No. 34 jersey will become the third number retired in franchise history when the Bills host the New England Patriots on Monday, Oct. 29. Thomas will join quarterback Jim Kelly and defensive end Bruce Smith to receive such recognition from the Bills.

Thomas, a member Marqise Lee Jersey of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Hall of Fame, entered the league in 1988 out of Oklahoma State as a second-round pick with the Bills.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Steelers have already been introducing Edmunds to the linebacker position.

It’s going to take time for Edmunds to be a game-changing player, though. He is raw as a cover man, misses far too many open-field tackles and can be overpowered by stronger ball-carriers. Perhaps this is why Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller ranked 10 other safeties from this class ahead of him.

There was obviously some stuff behind closed doors. Their owner talking s— to our owner. Bill talking s— to our head coach [Doug Pederson] before the game. I’m not going to say it, but a lot of s— kind built up to that, and I just got tired of hearing about it, man, to be honest.
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This isn’t the first time in the aftermath of the Eagles ‘ 41-33 victory over the Pats that Johnson has taken shots at New England’s way of doing things. In mid-February, the right tackle called the Pats a fear-based organization and taunted Belichick’s players for acting like f—– robots in interviews.

Obviously, do they win? Hell yes, they win. They’ve won for a long time, Johnson said on the Pardon My Take podcast at the time. Do I think people enjoy and can say, ‘I had a lot of fun playing there?’ No, I don’t. That’s just the God’s honest truth.

You only get to do this job one time, so let’s have fun while we’re doing it. Not to be reckless, but I’d much rather have fun and win a Super Bowl than be miserable and win five Super Bowls.

Womens Roquan Smith Jersey Johnson’s mid-May jabs will likely go unanswered. The Patriots, by Johnson’s own admission, are a reserved outfit. Both clubs have moved on to minicamps and OTAs. Plus, no one cares for a sore winner, especially one whose confidence is bolstered by an appearance on a retired wrestler’s podcast.

The domestic violence investigation involving Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman David Irving has been closed, a spokesperson for the Frisco, Texas, police confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.

Irving had been investigated on suspicion of assault causing bodily injury, unlawful restraint and assault by choking or impeding breath after an initial report from his girlfriend. She later recanted those claims from an alleged incident April 21.

The case has been concluded, Frisco police spokesperson Radd Rotello said. There’s no further information at this time.

One of the officers noted in a report that the girlfriend said no abuse occurred.

Running back Doug Martin has had an up-and-down NFL career. The 2012 first-round pick has a pair of Pro Bowls to his name and rushed for more than 1,400 yards in both 2012 and 2015. However, he has also dealt with a PED suspension and averaged just 2.9 yards per carry in each of the last two seasons.

Still, Martin is just 29 years old and three years removed from a Pro Bowl campaign. In the right situation, he may recapture some of that former magic. The Oakland Raiders gave Martin a one-year, $1.475 million deal in hopes that situation could be in the Bay Area.

The win let the Red Sox avoid a three-game series sweep and pulled Boston back into a tie with New York atop the AL East Standings at 26-1

While it’s still just the middle of May, Thursday’s win let the Red Sox slow down the streaking Yankees for at least one night. New York entered the night on an eight-game winning streak, and the team was 17-1 over its past 18 games.

They’ve been red hot, just to put a stop to them, Martinez said. For us to kind of at least take one here and avoid the sweep was huge.

While Kai Forbath has never been one of the NFL’s top specialists since he began kicking in 2012—he’s made 85.9 percent of his career field-goal attempts—he has been more than serviceable. With the Minnesota Vikings last year, he made 32 field goals, ninth-most in the NFL.

The Vikings re-signed Forbath to a one-year deal this offseason, but the UCLA product still may be on his way out. Minnesota also used a fifth-round draft pick on former Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson, which doesn’t seem to bode well for Forbath’s roster spot.

Dave Dravecky Elite Jersey NEW YORK 鈥?Giants co-owner John Mara was back to offering optimism regarding Odell Beckham Jr.’s long-term future with the franchise on the four-year anniversary of the night he was drafted by Big Blue.

In his first public comments since the league’s owner meetings six weeks ago, Mara said it was good to see Beckham at the Giants’ voluntary offseason workout program, and he sounded far more confident in a contract resolution that will have Beckham remaining with the team beyond this season than he did when he fanned the flames 鈥?intentionally or not 鈥?of a possible departure.

Beckham’s presence at the Giants’ training facility over the past month has served as a statement about his commitment to the franchise in his quest for a new contract, not to mention the respect he has gained for coach Pat Shurmur in the short time they have known each other.聽

Antonio Garcia Elite Jersey Beckham has been traveling back and forth to Los Angeles, where he is continuing his rehabilitation from the ankle surgery that ended his 2017 season last聽October.

Shurmur did not leave the door open when asked if he is planning on Beckham being a Giant this season. His聽answer came聽without hesitation.

Absolutely, Shurmur聽said last month. He’s Ryan Jensen Jersey an excellent player, he’s part of our team and he’s a very valued member of our team.

Superhero swing is what manager Aaron Boone called it. Teammates Aaron Judge and CC Sabathia had a hoot mimicking it聽on the dugout steps.聽Stanton hit another bomb, a more traditional parabola to right field, in a 3-2 victory for the Yankees聽over the hated Red Sox.

It was his third multi-homer game of the season, which naturally led to a familiar question: Is this the night that jumpstarts that week-long or even month-long tear the Yankees are waiting to see from him?

Boone sounded almost omniscient when asked about his cleanup hitter a few hours before his Yankees climbed back into first place, calling聽a hot streak imminent. He will have that breakout week, Boone promised, although this is isn’t exactly climbing out on a limb.

Stanton was聽the National League MVP last season. But, this聽being the Bronx, fans expected him to hit聽most聽59 of those home runs during the team’s first home stand. The sluggish start, both for the team and player, led to far more handwringing聽than was warranted.

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Baker Mayfield’s going to have to learn to deal with the pressure of being asked to save a floundering franchise, and how to tiptoe through the land mines of a relationship with a veteran quarterback he’s eventually going to replace.
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But the No. 1 overall pick also has some tangible, specific football stuff to work on too.

That, and saving a floundering franchise, of course.

Witten recounted how Bill Parcells compared him to former Giants tight end Mark Bavaro and Authentic Jeff Heuerman Jersey moved on to a story about a conversation he had with Parcells after breaking his jaw during his rookie season. Parcells told Witten the best ones, they find a way to play through injuries and Witten took that to heart during a career that saw him miss just one game due to injury.

Parcells would leave the Cowboys after the 2006 season, but kept tabs on Witten and was left impressed by the career that the tight end put together.

Jason Witten is what pro football is supposed to be about, Parcells said, via ESPN.com. He came to the Cowboys, got himself established very early, maximized his potential as a player and sustained very, very good play for an exceptionally long period of time and made a significant contribution to the team every year. Now he’s transitioning to another career by virtue of his reputation and his affiliation with the Cowboys and the success he has had. That’s what pro football is supposed to be.

The Broncos made a splash at wide receiver by selecting Sutton on Friday. The move makes some sense as both Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders are now in their 30s and 2017 third-round pick Carlos Henderson missed his entire rookie year with an injury. Sutton brings size to the passing game at 6-foot-3, 218 pounds.

The former SMU wideout was terrific at the combine and compares his game to Anquan Boldin’s.

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Morten Andersen Jersey The Packers announced the signing of six more 2018 draft picks on Monday, which leaves them with three more players to sign before their entire 11-player class is under contract.

All three of the wide receivers that the Packers drafted in April 鈥?fourth-rounder J’Mon Moore, fifth-rounder Marquez Valdes-Scantling and sixth-rounder Equanimeous St. Brown 鈥?were among the six Rick Nash Youth jersey signings. Head coach Mike McCarthy said after the draft that the team was looking for bigger targets and all three wideouts are at least 6鈥?鈥?tall.

Bauer’s innovative take was destined to brand him as a loner, but to his consternation, he has gained an even more notorious designation as a drag on clubhouse camaraderie. Since his days as a star pitcher at UCLA and a 2011 first-round draft pick, he has read and heard that he is aloof and a bit of a mope. Rather than stew over the characterization or become defensive, he did what he usually does when confronting a problem: He turned it into a science project.

We had that at Vanderbilt, where you create an NFL locker room so these guys have got a space to put their stuff and to work out and feel welcomed, Franklin said, via PennLive.com. I鈥檇 feel much better about them here than in some city across America. They know where to go, they know where not to go, they got free training facilities, they got support.

It鈥檚 a great idea, which would give players a familiar environment and the opportunity to stay in shape while also getting a break from the place where they spend so much time during the offseason program and football season.

The Jets re-signed 38-year-old Josh McCown and added Teddy Bridgewater during the offseason, but they took a big step toward securing a long-term quarterback solution by selecting Darnold. The USC product has decent size (6-foot-3, 221 pounds), terrific accuracy and a good arm. He needs to cut down on turnovers (13 interceptions in 14 games last season and 20 during his past 20 games), but he sports one of the highest floors and ceilings in this class.

The 20-year-old rookie had just calmly drained a late-clock, midrange jumper over Middleton to put Boston out front in the final minute of Sunday’s game, and, as the hosts called timeout, Tatum and Brown exulted near midcourt.

At the combined age of 41 — the same as Celtics coach Brad Stevens — these are not the sort of moments Brown and Tatum are supposed to be owning.

“That’s the best part about [the playoffs],” Tatum said. “It brings something out of you. Just an extra ounce of competitiveness and intensity.”

Analysis: Bill Parcells used to say he did not like QBs who had not started a lot of games in college. Mark Sanchez came under scrutiny when he was drafted after starting just 16 games. Mitchell Trubisky also drew questions last year for starting just 13 games.

Once you get to the 20-start mark, this becomes less of a question. That means you have started for the better part of two years. None of the quarterbacks at the top of this year’s draft have experience questions.

“We know people are saying, ‘They’re a 2-seed, but that’s the best 2-seed you can play. They’re missing four key guys.'” Larkin said.

“You can think it’s going to be easy — you may think that — but we’re still going to fight. The guys on this roster just keep fighting.”

Fantasy star Clayton Kershaw is on the hill, and two more southpaws are worth a look as rentals, with the potential for longer stints of value.

Eduardo Rodriguez (L), rostered in 35 percent of ESPN leagues, Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays: The high-strikeout, high-walk hurler has lived up to that name so far with 20 and seven, respectively, through three starts, but he’s flashing the brilliance he showed through various injuries and mechanical issues in recent seasons. Even if Josh Donaldson (shoulder) returns, he might not be at 100 percent, and the Jays have scuffled to a .352 slugging percentage against left-handers so far.