Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday 8/25/20
25 August 2020 Sports
Justin Smoak homered and drove in three runs as the Milwaukee Brewers cooled off Trevor Bauer and snapped a four-game skid with a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night. Omar Narvaez added a solo shot to help the Brewers win their opener of a 10-game homestand. Bauer (3-1) began the game with an 0.68 ERA that led the majors, but fell behind 4-0 in the first four innings as the Brewers reversed their season-long trend of slow starts. He ended up striking out seven and allowing seven hits, four runs and two walks in 6 1/3 innings. Through his first four starts, Bauer ha d given up a total of two runs over 26 1/3 innings.
Before Monday, the Brewers had been outscored 37-5 in the opening two innings of games this season. Smoak gave Milwaukee a first-inning lead this time as he hit a 3-2 pitch up the middle for a two-out single that brought home Christian Yelich, who had doubled.
Bauer ran into trouble again with two outs in the third when he hit Keston Hiura with a pitch. Smoak again delivered on a full-count pitch, hitting a drive into the right-field seats. The Brewers made it 4-0 when Narvaez delivered his leadoff drive in the fourth. Brewers starter Brett Anderson (2-2) held the Reds scoreless for the first five innings before allowing leadoff homers to Curt Casali in the sixth and Eugenio Suarez in the seventh. Anderson, who left after the Suarez shot, allowed five hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Devin Williams, David Phelps and Josh Hader held the Reds hitless the rest of the way. Hader gave up a leadoff walk to Joey Votto in the ninth but retired the next three batters to earn his sixth save. Hader has worked 8 1/3 innings this season and still hasn’t allowed a hit.
The teams meet again tonight as Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo (0-3, 4.44) matches up with Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff (1-2, 3.23). First pitch is at 7:10 and the game can be heard on AM1100/98.3FM, WISS.
Elsewhere in the NL Central on Monday, the Cubs beat the Tigers 9-3 and the Cardinals downed the Royals 9-3. Pittsburgh had the day off.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, Khris Middleton finally came alive with a huge fourth quarter and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic 121-106 on Monday to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
Middleton scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 rebounds after being held to one field goal in the first three quarters on 1-of-9 shooting.
Wesley Matthews added 12 points for the Bucks, who can close out the Magic on Wednesday.
Nikola Vucevic continued his strong play for the Magic, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Terrence Ross had 19 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Milwaukee has now won three straight after losing the series opener to the eighth-seeded Magic.
The top-seeded Bucks led by three entering the fourth quarter before Middleton came alive. He scored 11 points during an 18-2 run on three 3-pointers and a mid-range jumper off an inbounds play to help the Bucks build a 102-83 lead as the Magic went cold from outside.
Antetokounmpo finished the game 14 of 21 from the field, but did most of his damage inside the paint where he was 12 of 14. The Bucks made 17 3-pointers on 41 attempts.
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This past off-season the Packers did little to add depth at the wide receiver position, outside of adding Devin Funchess, so when Green Bay opens the season its receiving corps this season will look similar to 2019. Especially, since Funchess opted out of the season due to COVID-19.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked about the team’s off-season approach at wide receiver and he’s fine with it.
“It doesn’t matter what I preferred,” he said. “What matters are the guys we have in camp right now and get on the right page.”
Outside of Davante Adams the Packers will look to young holdovers Allen Lazard, Marques Valdes-Scantling, Jake Kumerow and Equanimeous St. Brown, who missed last season with an injury. Last year, they combined for 73 catches for 1,148 yards and six TDs with Lazard being the most productive (35 catches, 477 yards, three TDs).
“I’m expecting jumps from those guys in years two and three,” Rodgers said.
And Rodgers could see Valdes-Scantling making a big jump.
“His top end is pretty damn high top end,” Rodgers said. “It’s about being a professional all the time. He’s a talented young, kid. He can do things after the catch.
While the Packers didn’t add any receiving depth in the draft, they added RB A.J. Dillon in the second round as it appears the Packers’ running game will be a focus.
“The run game, we have a number of backs,” Rodgers said. “We added A.J. to that group, so we’ll be looking at the next couple weeks what packages fit with your personnel.”
Based on what Rodgers says the offense should be improved from last season, when coach Matt LaFleur implemented a new scheme in his first season. Rodgers says the Zoom meetings have helped learn the offense and it seems everything else is coming together.
Rick Wagner was expected to start at right tackle this season after leaving the Lions in free agency but a recent arm injury has put Wagner on the sideline. Nonetheless, LaFleur isn’t ready to say Wagner will not start opening day at Minnesota.
“It doesn’t make the decision for us, it makes it more challenging for us,’ LaFleur said. “We’re still competing.”
LaFleur likes how the team has looked in practice recently and Tuesday the team will practice inside Lambeau Field with some tackling.
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Clemson is the preseason No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25, a poll featuring nine Big Ten and Pac-12 teams that gives a glimpse at what has already been taken by the pandemic from an uncertain college football season.
Ohio State (1,504 points) was a close No. 2 behind Trevor Lawrence and Clemson (1,520), which starts atop the rankings for the second straight season. The Tigers beat the Buckeyes in a thrilling College Football Playoff semifinal last season.
Alabama is No. 3, Southeastern Conference rival Georgia is No. 4 and defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma is No. 5. Defending national champion LSU is No. 6.
The 85th edition of the AP rankings will be like none before.
When the season starts — if the season starts — the Buckeyes and 53 other Bowl Subdivision teams will no longer be eligible for inclusion in the Top 25 because they have postponed their seasons to the spring.
The Big Ten, where Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State play, and the Pac-12, home to No. 9 Oregon, canceled their fall sports season because of concerns about the coronavirus. The Mid-American and Mountain West conferences have also said they will try to play spring football.
The SEC, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, American Athletic, Conference USA and Sun Belt are forging ahead with fall sports, with changes: The three remaining Power Five conferences, the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, have eliminated all or most nonconference games and delayed the start of their seasons from one to three weeks.
Erased from the college football schedule this year were a host of tantalizing nonconference matchups: Ohio State at No. 9 Oregon; No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Wisconsin at Lambeau field in Green Bay; No. 14 Texas at LSU; No. 17 Southern California vs Alabama in Arlington, Texas; No. 11 Auburn vs. No. 18 North Carolina in Atlanta.
For now, big conference games such as Ohio State-Michigan and Washington-Washington State could still be made up in the spring.
All Division I teams were eligible for the preseason AP Top 25, but after the season starts, only teams scheduled to play in the fall are eligible. That leaves 76 FBS teams from which to choose.
If a spring season is played, the AP will consider doing rankings for those teams, too.
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Another school is moving fall sports to the spring. Fond du Lac will be moving its fall sports to the spring due to concerns of COVID-19. Fond du Lac County shut down high-risk sports on Tuesday until Oct. 1 and that includes football, boys soccer and volleyball. Later, the Fond du Lac School District went a step further and moved all fall sports to the alternative fall sports calendar in the spring. The fall sports alternative schedule begins in March, including football March 8.
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