9/15/22 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday
15 September 2022 Sports
Sports for Thursday
From Wayne Mausser
Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina made history with the first pitch of the game, then the record-setting battery helped the St. Louis Cardinals extend their NL Central lead by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 Wednesday night. Wainwright and Molina started together for the 325th time, the most ever by a pitcher-catcher duo in the majors. The duo eclipsed the regular-season mark of 324 held by the Detroit Tigers pair of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan from 1963-1975.
Wainwright and Molina received a standing ovation from the crowd at Busch Stadium as they walked from the bullpen to the dugout prior to the game. Towels with the No. 325 were given out to fans as they entered the ballpark.
Wainwright opened the game with a first-pitch strike to Christian Yelich, who out of respect for the moment, made no attempt to swing at the offering. Wainwright and Molina made their first start together on April 6, 2007, in Houston. Wainwright recorded a 4-2 win in that game — the first of his 213 victories with Molina behind the plate.
The 40-year-old Molina, a perennial Glove Glover, has indicated he will retire at the end of this season. The 41-year-old Wainwright has yet to make a decision on his future.
Wainwright (11-9) gave up just one run in five innings despite allowed eight hits and walked two. He struck out three and walked two in a 98-pitch stint.
Molina gave him a boost, throwing out Kolten Wong attempting to steal on the back end of a strikeout to end the third. Wainwright fanned Andrew McCutchen with a 74 mph curve and Molina still got Wong by plenty. Molina put the Cardinals ahead for good with a tiebreaking single in the second.
Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar both homered for the Cardinals, who have won three of four. They stretched their division lead to eight games over the second-place Brewers.
Milwaukee had a three-game winning streak snapped and remains two games behind San Diego in the race for the final wild-card spot in the NL.
Arenado hit his 29th homer in the second off Corbin Burnes (10-7). Burnes gave up three runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out five and walked one. Nootbaar pushed the lead to 3-1 with his 12th homer in the fifth. Albert Pujols hit an RBI double in the eighth. He remains at 697 career home runs, fourth on the all-time list behind Barry Bonds (755), Hank Aaron (714) and Babe Ruth (715). Pujols was hit on the right shoulder by a Burnes pitch in the sixth, but remained in the contest.
Ryan Helsley picked up his 17th save in 21 opportunities.
Yelich had two hits for the Brewers, who spent 92 days in first place in the NL Central earlier in this season.
The Brewers are off today before opening a weekend series in Milwaukee against the Yankees. RHP Adrian Houser (6-9, 4.61) will face Yankees RHP Frankie Montas (5-12, 3.89) in the first of a three-game series on Friday in Milwaukee. Houser has just six quality starts in 18 starts this season. The Brewers are 7-11 in games his has started.
Elsewhere in the NL Central Wednesday the Pirates pounded the Reds 10-4 and the Cubs beat the Mets 6-3. The Brewers drop eight games behind the Cardinals in the division and trail the Padres by two games for the final Wild Card spot.
The Packers were back on the practice field getting ready for Sunday night’s game at home against the Bears. Green Bay’s injury news is positive to start Bears Week prep.
WR Allen Lazard, OL David Bakhtiari, and OL Elgton Jenkins were all on the practice field, though all limited in their participation. ILB Quay Walker and CB Keisean Nixon were both full participants though, coming off shoulder injuries in the opener.
The Packers are hoping to bounce back from a disappointing season-opening 23-7 loss at Minnesota. And Matt LaFleur’s teams, on average, have scored 14 points more in Week 2 than in Week 1. So what’s been the key to that success?
“I don’t really have an answer that I want to share publicly on that,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers. “I think for a lot of us, we just haven’t had bad games back-to-back too many times. Coaches and players. The most important thing for a jump to happen is for guys to not make the same mistake twice. These guys are going to make a lot of mistakes. The guys that don’t make the same mistake will get more opportunities.”
The Packers defense could have played better against the Vikings but they still have a lot of confidence in what they can do.
“If (last week), which we think is our worst game, if that’s our worst game we are going to have a great season,” said safety Adrian Amos said. “But moving forward that is not our standard. We had too many guys running free.”
Head coach Matt LaFleur is 6-0 against the Bears since becoming head coach. The two teams have met 203 times in the regular season and the playoffs, which is the most in NFL history.
In Thursday Night Football the Chiefs (1-0) host the Chargers (1-0).
Meanwhile, the City Chiefs will be without kicker Harrison Butker for Thursday night’s showdown against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs ruled out Butker, who injured his ankle in the season-opening over the Arizona Cardinals, on Wednesday’s injury report.
K.C. signed former Jets kicker Matt Ammendola to the practice squad this week. He’s expected to be elevated for Thursday’s game, which will be streamed exclusively on Prime Video.
Butker injured the ankle early in Week 1 on a kickoff but returned later in the second quarter to book a 54-yard field goal on the gimpy leg. Safety Justin Reid replaced Butker on kickoff duties Sunday and went 1-of-2 on extra points.
The governor of Mississippi in 2017 was “on board” with a plan for a nonprofit group to pay Brett Favre more than $1 million in welfare grant money so the retired NFL quarterback could help fund a university volleyball facility, according to a text messages between Favre and the director of the nonprofit.
Court documents filed Monday by an attorney for the Mississippi Community Education Center contain text messages between Favre and the center’s executive director, Nancy New, that include references to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who left office in 2020.
Nancy New and her son, Zachary New, who helped run the nonprofit, pleaded guilty in April to charges of misspending welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in the nation. They await sentencing and have agreed to testify against others in Mississippi’s largest public corruption case in decades.
In May, the Mississippi Department of Human Services filed a civil lawsuit aginst Favre, three former pro wrestlers and several other people and businesses to try to recover millions of misspent welfare dollars. The lawsuit said the defendants “squandered” more than $20 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.
In pleading guilty, Nancy and Zachary New acknowledged taking part in spending $4 million of welfare money for a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi.
The mother and son also acknowledged directing welfare money to Prevacus Inc., a Florida-based company that was trying to develop a concussion drug. Favre has said in interviews that he supported Prevacus.
The filing in a Mississippi state court included text message exchanges between Favre and Nancy New about arranging payment from the Mississippi Department of Human Services through the nonprofit to Favre for speaking engagements, with Favre then saying he would direct the money to the volleyball facility.
Favre played football at the University of Southern Mississippi before going to the NFL in 1991, and his daughter started playing on the volleyball team there in 2017.
According to court documents, Favre texted Nancy New on Aug. 3, 2017: “If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?”
Nancy New responded: “No, we never have had that information publicized. I understand you being uneasy about that though. Let’s see what happens on Monday with the conversation with some of the folks at Southern. Maybe it will click with them. Hopefully.”
Favre responded: “Ok thanks.”
The next day, Nancy New texted Favre: “Wow, just got off the phone with Phil Bryant! He is on board with us! We will get this done!”
Favre responded: “Awesome I needed to hear that for sure.”
Bryant, a Republican, served two terms and governor and could not run again in 2019 because of term limits. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.
In a July 11 court filing, Nancy New’s attorney wrote that Bryant directed her to pay $1.1 million in welfare money to Favre through the Mississippi Community Education Center for “speaking at events, keynote speaking, radio and promotional events, and business partner development.” A Bryant spokesperson said in July that the allegations against the former governor are false and that Bryant had asked the state auditor to investigate possible welfare fraud.
Favre has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing. Mississippi Auditor Shad White said Favre was paid for speeches but did not show up. Favre has repaid the money, but white said in October that Favre still owed $228,000 in interest.
NASCAR will return to Wisconsin after all. Road America will again host the Xfinity Series, with a race on July 29. The NASCAR Cup Series has raced the last two years at Road America, but the announcement that race was moving to downtown Chicago left the Sheboygan County track’s status with NASCAR in doubt.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will race at the Milwaukee Mile at Wisconsin State Park on Aug. 27 — and it’s a playoff race.
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