9/29/22 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday
29 September 2022 Sports
Thursday Sports
From Wayne Mausser
Brandon Woodruff struck out 10 over six scoreless innings and Devin Williams delivered four big outs late to boost the Milwaukee Brewers’ playoff hopes with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.
The victory, Milwaukee’s first since last Saturday at Cincinnati, combined with the Phillies’ loss to the Cubs in Chicago moved the Brewers within a half-game of Philadelphia for the third and final NL wild-card spot with seven to play.
Woodruff (13-4) was only at 98 pitches when Matt Bush took over to start the seventh. The move backfired immediately when Andrew Knizner led off the inning with his second homer in as many days to make it a 2-1 game.
After Ben DeLuzio followed with a double, Bush walked Brendan Donovan before getting his first out of the inning when Dylan Carlson grounded out to first. Milwaukee then turned to Williams, who intentionally walked pinch-hitter Lars Nootbaar to load the bases and got out of the jam when Juan Yepez grounded into a double play. Williams came up big again in the eighth, stranding runners at the corners with back-to-back strikeouts of Knizner and DeLuzio.
Cardinals starter Jose Quintana (6-7) struck out seven in five innings. He allowed only one run on an RBI single to Hunter Renfroe in the third.
Milwaukee added an insurance run in the fifth on Keston Hiura’s RBI double off Steven Matz and broke the game open with a three-run eighth, capped by Victor Caratini’s two-run, ground-rule double.
Brewers RHP Adrian Houser was placed on the 15-day injured list and miss the rest of the regular season because of a grade 2 strain of his right groin. RHP Justin Topa was recalled from Triple-A Nashville to replace Houser on Milwaukee’s active roster.
Milwaukee opens a four-game series tonight against the Marlins with LHP Eric Lauer (10-7, 3.96 ERA) going up against Miami lefty Braxton Garrett (3-6, 3.52 ERA). First pitch is at 6:40 and the game can be heard on AM 1100/98.3 FM, WISS.
Elsewhere in the NL Central Wednesday the Cubs beat the Phillies 4-2 and the Pirates edged the Reds 4-3. The Brewers trail the Phillies by a half-game for the final Wild Card spot. Milwaukee has seven games left Philadelphia has eight.
Aaron Judge joined Roger Maris as the only American League players to reach the 61-homer mark in a single season when he went deep in Toronto in an 8-3 Yankees win. The chase for No. 62 will begin Friday night when the Yankees return to the Bronx.
The (2-1) Packers were back on the practice field Wednesday as they get ready for the (1-2) Patriots Sunday at Lambeau Field.
LT David Bakhtiari was back on the practice field seeing limited action Wednesday — coming off his return to play Sunday. But RT Elgton Jenkins missed what was more of a walkthrough practice.
While the Packers defense had a slow start to the season, giving up 17 points in the first half of the first game, they have given up just 28 points since (the equivalent of just 11.2 points per game). Leading the way has been Rashan Gary, with one sack in each game so far.
Another area of improvement for the Packers is the special teams unit. And yesterday the were rewarded as the NFL announced that for the first time in 10 years they have the special teams player of the week in punter Pat O’Donnell. He had an outstanding game in Tampa Bay.
On Sunday, O’Donnell placed five of his seven punts inside the 20-yard line against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In fact, all five ended up inside the 15-yard line, including one at the 2-yard line. He had a net average of 44.7 yards and forced three fair catches. Punt coverage has also drastically improved with new special team’s coordinator Rich Bisaccia.
Meanwhile, instead of going up against Tom Brady, this Sunday it’s his former coach, New England’s Bill Belichick. Belichick is known as one of the greatest coaches in league history with a reputation for for taking away what an opponent does best. So what does Aaron Rodgers think Belichick will try to take away this week?
“I am not going to give him any ideas,” Aaron Rodgers said. “But I am sure he will look at what he thinks we do best and try to take away first and second options, and then have a Plan B, and Plan C, and Plan D. I have a lot of respect for Coach Belichick, best coach in the history of the game, I think.”
The Patriots have concerns about whether quarterback Mac Jones will be able to play. He suffered a high ankle sprain Sunday and is listed as day-to-day.
There will be lots of green on the field when the Green Bay Packers host the New York Jets Oct. 16.
The Packers plan to wear their 50s Classic Uniform that day. The alternate uniform, unveiled last year, features a yellow helmet, a green jersey with yellow stripes, numbers and letters, green pants and green-topped socks. The uniform is based on the gear the team wore from 1950-53. The Packers first wore the throwbacks last year during a game against Washington. The NFL allows alternate uniforms to be worn up to three times per season over a five-year period.
In Thursday Night Football Miami is at Cincinnati. The Dolphins are undefeated at 3-0 while the Bengals have stumbled to a 1-2 start.
Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre’s charity, Favre 4 Hope, donated more than $130,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation from 2018 to 2020, according to tax records obtained by ESPN on Wednesday.
During this same period, Favre was trying to raise money for a new volleyball stadium at the university, where he played football and his daughter was on the volleyball team. Funds for that stadium are under scrutiny in the largest public fraud case in Mississippi state history.
Favre 4 Hope, whose mission statement says it provides support “for disadvantaged and disabled children and breast cancer patients,” receives public donations. Tax records show that in 2018, the foundation gave the USM Athletic Foundation $60,000. Every other organization received $10,000. In 2019, the USM Athletic Foundation received $46,817. The next highest donation, to the Special Olympics of Mississippi, was $11,000. The next year, Favre 4 Hope donated $26,175 to the USM Athletic Foundation while no other organization received more than $10,000.
Favre has not been criminally charged. His attorney previously denied to Mississippi Today that the Hall of Famer knew he received welfare funds.
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