Blue Jays clinch AL East title, win first division crown since 1993

Two months ago the Toronto Blue Jays were a .500 ball club a few games out of a wild-card spot in the American League and a few more out of the division.

How things have changed.

The Blue Jays clinched the AL East title Wednesday with a 15-2 win over Baltimore in the first game of a doubleheader after Tuesday's game was rained out, officially pushing the New York Yankees off to the AL wild-card game. The final score is absolutely representative of just how well Toronto's been playing lately. The Jays scored two in the second, two in the fourth, four in the fifth, two in the seventh and five in the ninth. Shortstop Ryan Goins had five hits while Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Justin Smoak each picked up home runs.

Over the first four months of the 2015 season, it was obvious that the Blue Jays were a talented team. High-profile offseason pick-ups Josh Donaldson, the front-runner for the AL MVP award, and Russell Martin produced at an All-Star level immediately. Bautista and Encarnacion, longtime Blue Jays players, were still two of the best middle-of-the-order bats in baseball.

But still, their mediocre record belied their magnificent run differential. And then suddenly, it all came together. As starting pitchers R.A. Dickey and Marco Estrada started to settle in, the pitching began to catch up to the dominant offense, and all their opponents could do was hope for an off day. Even the bullpen, once seen as a significant weakness, turned it around, anchored by 20-year-old closer Roberto Osuna.

Bolstered by the trade deadline acquisitions of All-Stars David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, as well as outfielder Ben Revere and relievers Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins, the Blue Jays have become the most dangerous team in the league. Since July 29, Toronto's record is a blistering 42-14.

Price in particular has been terrific. The 30-year-old left-hander has gone 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 11 starts with the Jays, putting himself in a great position to be named the AL Cy Young.

They've also had some unexpected contributions down the stretch. Marcus Stroman, who earned the win in the clincher, completed an improbable six-month comeback from a torn ACL he suffered in spring training. The initial prognosis was that Stroman would be sidelined for the season. Now, the dynamic 24-year-old right-hander looks set to follow Price in the postseason rotation. That's quite the 1-2 punch.

The Blue Jays are also in line to beat out Kansas City for the best regular season record in the AL and thus secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

For a franchise that hadn't reached the postseason since 1993 – let alone won a division crown – all the fan base yearned for was meaningful September games.

These Blue Jays have far exceeded those expectations. Led by Donaldson, Bautista and Price, they will make their much-anticipated return to the October stage very much looking like the World Series favorite.

Resilient Cardinals win 100th game, clinch third straight NL Central title

The St. Louis Cardinals were the first team to earn a playoff berth this season.

On Wednesday, they went one gigantic step further, wrapping up their third consecutive NL Central crown with an 11-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cardinals had two chances to celebrate Wednesday, but ended up splitting a day-night doubleheader. They dropped the opener 8-2 to Gerrit Cole, but bounced back in the nightcap behind a big game from Jason Heyward to each their 100th victory of the season.

The Cardinals winning the Central was a foregone conclusion for several months. They essentially went coast-to-coast, spending every day from April 16 on in first place. That it ended up taking this long is a credit to the talent and the resilience of Clint Hurdle's Pirates. Pittsburgh could still win 99 games this season, but will have to defeat the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card game for another crack at St. Louis.

That's how important winning the division is to the Cardinals. It's a guaranteed ticket to the NLDS, and it's an extra few days to lick their wounds and heal up.

We spoke of the Pirates' resilience. The story of the regular season in many ways has been the Cardinals resilience. They have embodied that word and almost redefined it all season long.

Along their journey, they've lost Adam Wainwright to a torn Achilles, which cost him five months but remarkably didn't end his season. More on him coming up. They also lost three key members of their lineup when Matt Holliday and Matt Adams went down with quad injuries and Jon Jay was sidelined by wrist tendinitis.

They were able to overcome those injuries, in addition to the loss of Randall Grichuk with a right elbow strain in August. Now they enter the postseason with uncertainty surrounding Yadier Molina, who has a torn thumb ligament, and rookie Stephen Piscotty, who somehow avoided major injury after an ugly collision this week. They also know they'll be without Carlos Martinez, who is lost for the season with a strained right elbow.

The Cardinals resolve will be tested again, but they've been here before and have overcome before, including when Adam Wainwright missed the 2011 postseason after Tommy John surgery.

On Wednesday, there was a beacon of hope provided by Wainwright. Perhaps as important as St. Louis clinching the division title, Wainwright was able to pitch for the first time since tearing his Achilles on April 25.

The ace will be used in a relief role, much the same way he was during the Cardinals' 2006 postseason run. His performance wasn't earth-shattering. He allowed one run on two hits. The set up itself isn't ideal, but his presence could be important in helping bridge the gap from starter to All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal. Wainwright may even be called on to close, which was his role in '06.

To put it mildly, no team has a recent history of mixing, matching and surviving like St. Louis. Not even the San Francisco Giants. Now the Cardinals are into series play, they will undoubtedly be a difficult team to send packing.

Derrick Rose to resume basketball activities in two weeks following facial surgery

Derrick Rose's latest injury does not look to be a major one. The Chicago Bulls announced Wednesday that the 2012 NBA MVP had undergone successful surgery to repair the left orbital fracture he suffered after taking an elbow to the face in Tuesday morning practice. The team expects him to resume basketball activities in two weeks, which should have him back on the court with plenty of time to prepare for the regular season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers on October 27.

That timetable comes as very positive news for Rose and the Bulls. While orbital fractures rarely keep a basketball player out for more than a few weeks following surgery, Rose's injury history has turned every report on his health into cause for concern. Rose, who turns 27 on Sunday, has played just 100 out of a possible 328 games in the last four seasons following several knee injuries, including a right meniscus tear that kept him out for six weeks late in the 2014-15 regular season.

While this relatively short recovery time is good news for Rose and the Bulls, the point guard still must navigate what has become a complicated and controversial preseason period. An ongoing civil suit related to an alleged sexual assault in 2013 continues to dominate headlines in the face of Rose's insistence of his innocence, and media day comments regarding 2017 free agency have inspired an admittedly minor controversy. It's not an ideal situation for a team looking to jell under new coach Fred Hoiberg.

Yet these issues would have become much more prominent if Rose were set to miss extended time. Rose being ready for opening night may only seem positive because it's not a worst-case scenario, but the Bulls will take any good news they can get regarding their point guard right now.

The 2015 NL Cy Young race: Two pitchers are going to get screwed

Clayton Kershaw is the 2015 NL Cy Young.

Zack Greinke is the 2015 NL Cy Young.
Jake Arrieta is the 2015 NL Cy Young.
All of those statements are true. You could also make a case that Arrieta is the National League Most Valuable Player (Bryce Harper is clearly the MVP, but he's not on a playoff team and that matters to some people).
Two of those pitchers are going to get screwed. There's just no other way around it. Major League Baseball is not going to cut the trophy in thirds and give each of those guys their fair share.
It's a shame. All three pitchers are having absolutely wonderful seasons. Unbelievable seasons. These are three of the best seasons compiled by a pitcher in baseball history.
And yet two of the pitchers are going to be left off the award, their names kept out of the record book.
It seems there are quite a few people who are looking just at the ERA and thinking it's a two-man race between Arrieta (1.82 ERA) and Greinke (1.68 ERA). But Kershaw is pitching out of this world, too.
Kershaw tossed a one-hit shutout against the San Francisco Giants Tuesday night, striking out 13 and walking just a single batter. He improved to 16-7 on the season with a 2.16 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.
The 27-year-old southpaw has won two NL Cy Youngs in a row and three of the last four (he finished second in 2012). He also is the reigning NL MVP and has claimed the league's ERA and WHIP title in four straight seasons.
Yet Kershaw has actually gotten better this season. He has 294 strikeouts (46 more than his next-best season in 2011) and 11.6 K/9 (his next closest was 10.8 K/9 last season).
FanGraphs also rates this as Kershaw's most valuable season, pegging him for 8.4 WAR, better than the 7.7 mark he put up in 198.1 innings last season.
Advanced stats also show Kershaw may be the best of the trio this season, judging by FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) and xFIP (Expected Fielder Independent Pitching) which essentially boils down to just pitching, taking real-life fielding and luck out of the equation as much as possible.
Kershaw: 2.16 ERA, 2.04 FIP, 2.14 xFIP
Arrieta: 1.82 ERA, 2.40 FIP, 2.66 xFIP
Greinke: 1.68 ERA, 2.75 FIP, 3.25 xFIP
The peripherals show Greinke has been more than a little lucky, while Kershaw has actually been a bit unlucky. It's not often a a pitcher of his caliber has a FIP and xFIP below his ERA.
At the end of the day, only one of these guys will walk away with hardware while the other two are left out in the cold.
And that just plain sucks.

Yoenis Cespedes escapes HBP with only a bruise

Go ahead and breathe now, Mets fans.

Yoenis Cespedes was removed from Wednesday’s game — and looked to be in some serious pain — after taking a Justin De Fratus pitch off his left hand in the top of the third inning. But it sounds like everything is going to be fine.

Per beat writer Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, early X-rays came back negative for any type of fractures. Cespedes has a contusion (and probably a bit of swelling) on his left middle and ring fingers.

Cespedes might not see much action over the Mets’ final four games, but he should be 100 percent for the start of the NLDS next Friday against the Dodgers.

The 29-year-old slugger reached base in both of his plate appearances Wednesday against the Phillies. He entered the night with a .940 OPS, 17 homers, and 44 RBI in 53 games with New York.

Tony Stewart makes it official: He's retiring after 2016

Tony Stewart said Wednesday that his decision to retire from the Sprint Cup Series was 100 percent his.

The three-time Sprint Cup Series champion seemed at ease and was self-deprecating as he announced he would be stepping away from the No. 14 car at the end of the 2016 season. Stewart's retirement will come after 18 years in the Sprint Cup Series. He currently has 48 wins, though he hasn't won since 2013.

Stewart, 44, said he had thought about retiring at the end of the 2015 season. However, he cited Jeff Gordon's retirement tour this season as inspiration for waiting another year. Gordon said in January that 2015 would be his last season in the Cup Series before moving to the announcing booth.

"To be perfectly honest there was a really good possibility that this would have happened at the end of this year," Stewart said. "And the reason that we decided is 100 percent because of the fans that have supported us through the years ... I've been able to follow what Jeff's done this year and see how much it's meant to the fans to watch him race and the knowledge and knowing that it's their last year to watch him, that's important to me to be able to do this for our fans who have stuck with us through thick and thin and supported us."

Stewart won't be doing TV in 2017. He'll still have his hands full being the co-owner of a four-car team at Stewart-Haas Racing. SHR currently also fields cars for Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick. The team also made it official on Wednesday that Clint Bowyer would replace Stewart in 2017 behind the wheel of the No. 14 car.

Bowyer, who is considered likely to drive for HScott Motorsports on a one-year deal in 2016, is leaving Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of the season.

Stewart won two Sprint Cup championships with Joe Gibbs Racing. He was offered a 50-percent stake in what was Haas CNC Racing before the 2009 season and seized the opportunity to be a Sprint Cup owner.

Haas CNC was a Cup Series backmarker before Stewart joined. The team formed a strong technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart was in victory lane before the halfway point of his debut season. He won his third championship in 2011 and Stewart-Haas won a second championship in 2014 with Harvick.

"But without Tony, we never would have turned in to the super team that we are now, winning two championships," co-owner Gene Haas said.

Harvick addressed Stewart's retirement on Instagram.

Stewart is currently 25th in the Sprint Cup standings. His last win came at Dover in June of 2013. He missed parts of 2013 and 2014. He broke his leg in a sprint car accident in August 2013 and missed the remainder of the season. In 2014, he missed three races after he hit and killed Kevin Ward in a sprint car race. Stewart was not criminally charged in the incident. The Ward family filed a civil lawsuit this past August.

Stewart said the broken leg and the Ward tragedy had "zero percent" effect on his decision to retire from the Cup Series. He hasn't run sprint cars since he struck Ward but said he won't be done racing completely after the 2016 season.

Bears TE fined by NFL for wearing cleats that were 'too black

It may be surprising to learn that performing a horse-collar tackle will cost an NFL player over $17,000 in fines (on top of the in-game penalty), but it's hard to argue with incentives to keep players safe. Then there are other, non-safety-related fines that the NFL continues to levy just because.

Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett was $5,787 fined in Week 4 for wearing cleats that, according to Bennett, the NFL deemed "too black."

That's not to say Bennett was surprised. After all, the designated shoe color for the Bears this season is white, per NFL mandates, so he was knowingly breaking the dress code. He wasn't trying to earn style points, he was doing so for health reasons. His persistent foot problems have made him consider an Air Jordan cleat that doesn't come in white.

He's not the first victim of the NFL's strict uniform policy and he certainly won't be the last. Other notable fines have included: $10,500 to Frank Gore for wearing his socks too low; and a similar amount to Cam Newton for wearing Under Armour visor clips that were barely noticeable to the naked eye.

Bennett was not pleased with the fine and has been vocal about it. He also noted that he can’t forfeit more money to the league because he wants to be able to pay for his daughter’s Harvard education some day.

Refreshed and recharged, Ty Lawson taking aim at Steph Curry, NBA's elite

Before Ty Lawson texted James Harden with a plea – “Man, get me over there” – he had studied the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in the Western Conference Finals and come to a conclusion: Half the time, Steph Curry was coasting.

“Steph Curry needed someone to go back at him,” Lawson told Yahoo Sports. “I thought Steph was just chillin’ on defense – and then going crazy on offense. He looked like he was just putting shots up and not working so much on the defensive end. He would just come down and hit three or four 3s. He can shoot when he’s got his legs under him.”

Now, Ty Lawson is sitting at a table in a room in the Toyota Center. He’s wearing a Houston Rockets practice top and a smile that keeps coming, and feeling so, so sure of himself again. “I’m not saying, ‘Oh, I’m going to stop Steph,' but just make him work harder at the other end. I saw that in the Cavs series too.

“He wasn’t really working at the other end.”

Lawson wanted out of Denver, and ultimately Denver wanted out of Lawson, too. He wanted a contender to compete for a championship, and the team wanted a point guard whom it could trust with the franchise.

Lawson is so gifted – his strength, his playmaking, his defense. Lawson gives James Harden a running mate and Patrick Beverley a perfect complement, and in his mind, he gives the NBA champions and the MVP a problem. Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul and Tony Parker have to guard him. In a point-guard-driven Western Conference, Ty Lawson gives the Houston Rockets a chance to go the distance.

Before the Rockets can turn themselves over to Lawson, they must believe he’s turned himself over to them. They must believe they can count upon him, that two DUI arrests in the past year and a 30-day mandatory stay at a California rehabilitation facility in the summer have been an impetus to take seriously the changes that need to come in his life.

For 30 days at Cliffside Malibu, Lawson had the chance to explore his issues with alcohol and learn to find solutions deeper than calling for a car and driver on a night he’s been drinking. Lawson spent a month with people who had lost everything, who had bottomed out. “It was eye-opening to me,” Lawson told Yahoo Sports. “I didn’t think alcoholism got that bad. But it does.

“There were people who were pushed into [the rehab facility] by family, and then me, who was court ordered. Just to see that it can get that bad, that you can die. You may not see that as a person until you’re already there.”

Lawson learned “what triggers are” and “what forces someone to drink,” but says this on his public and private problems with alcohol: “I still honestly don’t think I would’ve had to go in there if it wasn’t court ordered. I just made two dumb mistakes. But I did take things from the [rehabilitation facility].”

The Rockets organization connected Lawson with respected counselor John Lucas in Houston, and that’s a relationship that Lawson expects to grow. All in all, can the Rockets count on Lawson? “I don’t think anyone on that team or in the organization worries about that,” Lawson told Yahoo Sports.

From general manager Daryl Morey to the coaching staff, they’ve loved what they’ve witnessed out of Lawson in their brief time together. He’s been to the playoffs in Denver, chased a Western Conference title and a high seeding, and Lawson sees something else here: a chance to be a champion.

For the Rockets, so much of that will move through the partnership of Lawson and Harden. They’re old friends, and Lawson believes he’ll make Harden’s life so much easier. This is the golden age of NBA point guards, and Lawson knows that position is measured the way it is in the NFL with quarterbacks: winning.

“I don’t think you’ve ever seen so many good point guards in one conference at one time in the league ever,” Lawson told Yahoo Sports. “But you’ve got to win. If you want to be an elite PG in this league, you’ve got to win. You’ve got to be in the conference finals, the NBA Finals. If you’re not winning, you’ll always be a second-tier, or third-tier point guard.”

When those Western Conference Finals were over in the spring, Lawson reached out to Harden and told him to get his general manager working on a trade. Morey had been on the case and finally pushed a deal in late July. Great teams and great playmakers are everywhere in the Western Conference, and the climb back deep into the playoffs promises to be prodigious.

And yet, Lawson is still thinking about Steph Curry and those defending champion Golden State Warriors. He wants to make the MVP work in June. Ty Lawson wants to be in the middle of everything again, and this is his opportunity in Houston, his burden. In so many ways now, there’s never been so much on Ty Lawson.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores 500th goal in Real Madrid's Champions League win

 It was just Cristiano Ronaldo doing Cristiano Ronaldo things.

For the 500th and 501st time in his career.

Score goals that is, of course. Because there's nothing Ronaldo does as well or as regularly as put points on the board. And in Real Madrid's 2-0 away win over 10-man Malmo in the Champions League on Wednesday, Ronaldo reached and then eclipsed the half-century mark for goals in his career.

He put Real ahead in the 29th minute with a typically clinical finish on a one-on-one breakaway.

	FOX Soccer @FOXSoccer
What a moment! @Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 500th career goal for club and country. #UCL @HeinekenSoccer #UCLonFOX snpy.tv/1O2AMud 12:18 PM - 30 Sep 2015

And then he doubled the score just before the final whistle with a poke from close.

	Planeta Fútbol @PlanetaFutbolLP
Cristiano Ronaldo iguala a Raúl. El #RealMadrid le gana 2-0 al #Malmo. vine.co/v/eQvrrZd0UFQ 1:35 PM - 30 Sep 2015

As of Wednesday, he has scored an astonishing 317 league goals – including six 31-plus seasons, the last five of which have come successively in an ongoing streak – as well as 40 goals in domestic cup competitions; 83 goals in European competition; six goals in various super cups and the Club World Cup; and 55 international goals for Portugal.

Oh, and his second goal against Malmo also tied Raul for Real's all-time club record of 323 goals. The difference, however, is that Raul needed 16 seasons to score his goals. Ronaldo has only just begun his seventh season in the Spanish capital, after spending a year with Sporting Lisbon and six with Manchester United.

Ronaldo is still only 30 years old and the end of his prime is not yet in sight, even if he has altered his playing style somewhat to accommodate his own aging. Which brings us back to the long-running debate over what his legacy will be, exactly.

Most seem to agree now that Lionel Messi is the better player overall. Ronaldo leads him in career goals – 501 to 478 – but is also two years older. But that doesn't mean that if Ronaldo isn't the best player of his generation he can't still be one of the greatest of all time. Even though he has been cast in some sort of villain role for his preening and boastful habits, opposite quiet hero Messi (never mind that the latter is the one in trouble with authorities for evading taxes on his staggering income), Ronaldo is doubtless among the very best to ever play the sport.

The trio of all-time greats is generally considered to be Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and Pele. But the first two of those were never as prolific as Ronaldo and were on the downslide of their careers by the time they reached his age. Pele, whose greatness rests in part on the dubious claim that he scored 1,000 goals in his career, never played club soccer outside of the Western Hemisphere. And while South America's leagues were significantly stronger in his heyday than they are now, he was never truly tested on the highest level on a weekly basis.

Which is all to say that Ronaldo is very much in that discussion.

But if you needed these figures to be convinced of that, you probably haven't been paying attention over the last decade or so.

Carmelo Anthony: Knicks competing for championship

The longer Carmelo Anthony plays, the further he’s gotten from a championship.

A player who had never missed the postseason in his first 10 seasons has been on two straight losing teams, and these New York Knicks aren’t expected to compete for a title.

Don’t tell that to Anthony.

“We’re competing,” he said Wednesday. “I mean, people might not believe that, but we’re definitely competing for that. That’s always going to be the goal. Whether we get there or not, it depends on us and what we do and how we do it, but that’s always our big-picture goal.”

Perhaps that’s why Anthony appears so patient.

He’s 31 years old, an age when few top players are interested in a gradual building process. But Anthony doesn’t seem disappointed or dispirited, and he certainly hasn’t been demanding – at least, not publicly.

“What I see in Melo is how he feels personally, good or bad, about anything, I think he will say it if he feels like he needs to say it, but when he doesn’t feel like it needs to be said, or people publicly need to know what he’s feeling or how he’s thinking, he doesn’t say it,” Knicks coach Derek Fisher said. “And I think that says a lot about who he is.”

Kobe Bryant threw a fit in 2007 when the Lakers had fallen from title contention and even indicated he wanted out of Los Angeles. Dwyane Wade made it clear in 2009 after Miami couldn’t get out of the first round that the Heat better get him some help in South Florida.

Bryant said a couple of years ago that Anthony may need to follow his example, be so pushy that management can’t ignore him. But Anthony can’t, or won’t.

“That’s just me,” he said after practice at the U.S. Military Academy. “It’s hard for me to kind of lose my patience and get upset about something that pretty much you can’t control. Only thing I can control is what goes on on the basketball court. Everything else is out of my control.”

He has repeatedly denied reports he was angry with the Knicks’ selection of Latvian Kristaps Porzingis with the No. 4 pick in the draft. He hoped the Knicks could’ve landed one of the big prizes in free agency but seems committed to working with the newcomers they did get, organizing workouts in Puerto Rico in August that were attended by eight teammates.

“It makes you really feel like you’re part of the team, especially when the best player and a vet really invites you to come join him on a trip like that,” rookie Jerian Grant said.

Perhaps during those workouts Anthony developed a belief that the Knicks will be better than expected. Maybe he’s simply OK if they aren’t. Either way, no temper tantrum appears imminent.

“Some guys kind of like the storm or the stir that comes from saying something publicly,” Fisher said. “Other guys – not Melo – other guys around the league are for sure signaling to management what they want and what they need.

“So I don’t think he’s just biding his time because he enjoys New York City. I think he wants to win. He’s won a championship before as a player in college and he wants to win one as a pro.”

For now, Anthony is content to just be playing again. He made it through a career-low 40 games last season before knee surgery and said the time off helped put things in perspective.

“He’s put a ton of work in to get to this point,” Fisher said, “and I would assume that he’s happy with where he is right now.”

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY - SEPTEMBER 30TH

1904 - White Sox lefty Doc White, pitches his 5th shutout in 18 days.
1915 - Red Sox clinch AL pennant by beating Detroit.
1916 - Giants lose to Braves 8-3, ends 26 consecutive win streak.
1927 - Babe Ruth hits record setting 60th HR (off Tom Zachary).
1934 - Babe Ruth's final game as a Yankee, goes 0 for 3.
1939 - First televised College Football game (Fordham vs Waynesburg at NYC).
1939 - White Sox reliever Clint Brown sets record of 61st relief appearance.

1956 - White Sox Jim Derrington, 16, is youngest to start a game (he loses).

1962 - NY Mets lose record 120th game as Cubs turn triple play & beat NY 5-1.
1968 - AL & NL umpires form a new Association of Major League Umpires.

1973 - Mel Gray begins NFL streak of 121 consecutive game receptions.
1978 - Major Indoor Soccer League grants 1st 6 franchises to Cincinnati.
1978 - Phillies clinch NL East title.
1978 - Cleveland, Houston, NY, Philadelphia & Pittsburgh Phillies

win 3rd consecutive NL East Division title.
1979 - Milwaukee Brewers lose 5-0 ending 213 straight games without a shutout.

1980 - A's Rickey Henderson sets AL stolen base record at 98 en route to 100.

1980 - Martina Hingis, Kosice Slovakia, tennis star (1997 Aust/US/Wimb) is born.

1984 - Bowie Kuhn ends career as Baseball Commissioner.
1984 - California Angel Mike Witt, is 11th to pitch

a perfect game defeating the Texas Rangers, 1-0.
1984 - NY Yankee Don Mattingly wins AL batting crown with .343 avg.

1990 - Chicago White Sox beat Seattle 2-1 in last game at Comiskey Park.
1992 - KC Royal George Brett gets 4 hits to become 18th to get 3,000 hits.

1997 - Yankees Tim Raines, Derek Jeter & Paul O'Neill are 1st to hit

3 consecutively homers in post season (Yankees beat Indians 8-6).

1998 - Dan Quisenberry, baseball pitcher, dies at 45 of brain cancer.

Derrick Rose suffers orbital fracture, will have surgery

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose suffered a left orbital fracture during the team's first practice of the season on Tuesday.

A timetable for Rose's return will be determined after the surgery, which is scheduled for Wednesday, the Bulls said.

Rose was struck in the face by an elbow during practice and taken by the Bulls' medical staff to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago for tests, which revealed the need for surgery.

Rose has been limited to 51, 10 and 39 games the past three seasons, respectively, because of injuries. The 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player averaged 17.7 points and 4.9 assists for the Bulls last season.

Chicago could turn to Kirk Hinrich, Aaron Brooks or E'Twaun Moore while Rose is sidelined.

NCAA suspends Larry Brown, bans SMU from the postseason

Larry Brown's third foray into college basketball is following the exact same pattern as the first two did more than a quarter century ago.

Spectacular success, followed quickly by severe NCAA violations.

The NCAA announced Tuesday that it has banned SMU from the 2016 postseason, suspended Brown for 30 percent (nine games) of the upcoming season and stripped the Mustangs of nine scholarships over the next three seasons. Brown also received a two-year show-cause penalty for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

The penalties stem from an NCAA investigation into whether former SMU assistant Ulric Maligi and a former basketball administrator helped ex-McDonald's All-American Keith Frazier with the coursework he needed to become eligible to play for the Mustangs.

The NCAA found that Maligi encouraged Frazier to enroll in an online course necessary for him to meet initial eligibility standards to be admitted to the university. Then the administrative assistant obtained Frazier's username and password and completed his coursework, enabling him to play for the Mustangs as a freshman during the 2013-14 season.

What also contributed to the severity of SMU's punishment is that Brown and his staff were allegedly not forthright when approached by NCAA investigators.

The NCAA accused the administrative assistant of initially providing false information during her interviews and later refusing to interview again or provide documents requested by enforcement staffers. Brown did not learn of the misconduct until 2014, according to the NCAA, but he did not report it to SMU's compliance staff for more than a month and he initially denied having any information for NCAA investigators.

All that was clearly enough to make the NCAA feel comfortable wielding a sledge hammer to punish SMU because these penalties are no slap on the wrist.

The postseason ban is the most painful in the short term because SMU returns three starters from last year's 27-win team and had been expected to spar with UConn and Cincinnati for first place in the American Athletic Conference. The scholarship penalties could be crippling in the long term as the Mustangs won't be allowed to have more than 10 scholarship players for three straight seasons.

SMU has 15 days to review the NCAA's full report before it must decide whether or not to appeal any of the findings or penalties. Athletic director Rick Hart called it "unfair" that SMU players won't have the chance to compete for a spot in the NCAA tournament next season when they had nothing to do with the allegations, and Brown's statement also hinted at the possibility of an appeal.

"I am saddened and disappointed that the Committee on Infractions believes that I did not fully fulfill my duties and I will consider my options to challenge that assertion in the coming days," Brown said. "I truly believe that our program has dedicated itself unwaveringly to the ideals of academic integrity and NCAA compliance. Still, there was a violation in our program and I take responsibility for that and offer my sincere apologies to the University community."

SMU president Gerald Turner threw his full support behind Brown on Tuesday afternoon in a press conference addressing the sanctions. And really, what else could Turner say? After all, he was the man who pushed to hire Brown three years ago despite his checkered history at the college level.

Brown led UCLA to the 1980 national title game, but the Bruins were put on probation for two years after the NCAA found players had received impermissible benefits. Brown led Kansas to a national title in 1988, but the Jayhawks were banned from postseason play the following year due to recruiting violations.

When SMU hired Brown in April 2012, school officials were eager to bring in a splashy name capable of raising the basketball program's profile in time for its move to the higher-profile American Athletic Conference the following year. SMU attempted and failed to land the likes of Buzz Williams, Tommy Amaker and Rick Majerus during an overly ambitious coaching search before settling on Brown as its leading candidate.

The boom-or-bust gamble paid off in some respects as SMU instantly became a factor for recruits it once couldn't get to return phone calls, reached the NIT title game in Brown's second year and ended a 23-year NCAA tournament drought last March.

But success under Brown has always led to NCAA investigators poking around on campus. And this time, the NCAA wasn't gentle either.

A's hire Justine Siegal, making her the first female coach for an MLB team

The Oakland Athletics, long one of baseball's most progressive organizations, have hired MLB's first female coach.

She's Justine Siegal, a 40-year-old who has coached collegiate and independent baseball, and will now be a part of the coaching staff for Oakland's Instructional League club in October.

Siegal has a history of barrier-breaking in baseball. She was the first woman to throw batting practice to MLB teams (she did so in 2011 for five teams, including the A's). She's also the first woman to coach pro baseball, when she was the first base coach for the independent Brockton Rox in 2009. Additionally, she also has a PhD in sport and exercise psychology and founded Baseball For All, a non-profit that helps provide opportunities in baseball, particularly for girls.

But for Siegal herself this is a heck of an opportunity, one she's been chasing for years. It's a two-week gig for now, but it could turn into something bigger. Here's more on what Siegal's role will be, via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, and what the A's think about keeping her around:

“As a rookie coach, I expect to hit a lot of fungos, throw a lot of batting practice and help out wherever they want me to help,” Siegal said. “And I do like talking about life skills - I like to help people achieve their life goals.”

There is a chance that the opportunity could turn into a full-time coaching job with the organization at some point. The A’s do not have their minor-league coaching assignments set for next season so do not have an idea yet about potential job availability.

“Justine knows that nothing has been promised, but we’re not ruling that out,” [A’s assistant general manager David] Forst said.

Women coaching men is becoming more common on in pro sports. The San Antonio Spurs hired Becky Hammon as an assistant coach in 2014. She led their summer league team to a championship in July, summoning talk that she's ready to be a head coach in the NBA. In the NFL, Jen Welter was hired as a preseason intern by the Arizona Cardinals in July to work with the team's inside linebackers.

Siegal believes, based on her previous tenures coaching baseball, that her gender won't be an issue with the young A's players. She told the Chronicle:

“I’ve found from experience that men are surprised to have a woman coach, but when they realize you know what you’re talking about and that you care, you fit right in with the rest of the staff,” Siegal said.

As it should be for any new coach.

Yogi Berra remembered at funeral by family, sports royalty

A gold catcher's mitt was placed on top of his remains. But on a day filled with stories from a lifetime in baseball, Yogi Berra was remembered for being more than one of the game's greats.

He was the man who served his country courageously on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. He was the man who delighted in the joys of family and someone who brought roaring laughter with his words wherever he went.

The beloved New York Yankees catcher - a three-time American League MVP and Hall of Famer who played on 10 World Series championship teams - also brought out sports royalty from all corners to an overflowing church, much in the way he helped fill ballparks for a generation.

''He was always so good, so honest, so human and so real,'' former Yankees manager Joe Torre said in his eulogy. ''You didn't have to be a baseball fan to know who Yogi was.''

Berra, who in Torre's words ''personified the American dream,'' died a week ago at 90 years old. He was cremated and his remains were placed by the altar, an American flag prominently displayed.

Among those at the service were ex-Yankees Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada and club president Randy Levine. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, was there as was football Hall of Famer Harry Carson.

Torre, now MLB's chief baseball officer, recalled for the gathering at the Church of the Immaculate Conception one of many spring training car trips with Berra. As they were riding along, Berra asked that they pull over.

''Yogi gets out of the car in uniform,'' Torre says. ''People saw him in his No. 8 uniform and were saying, 'No, this isn't happening.' Yogi went in unassuming and asked, 'Can I use your bathroom?'''

Torre also added to the lexicon that has made Berra a linguistic treasure.

''We were going to play golf together, but then he had to cancel because he said he was shooting a commercial,'' Torre said. ''I asked Yogi what the commercial was for. He said, 'Amtrak.' It was Aflac. I think Amtrak sent him a check, too. Yogi Berra personified the American dream. You were a champion for every one of those 90 years. ''

Torre called Berra a ''good-luck charm for us'' because on the day in 1999 that Berra returned to Yankee Stadium after ending a 14-year feud with late owner George Steinbrenner, David Cone pitched a perfect game. Current Yankees manager Joe Girardi was catching then, using a mitt Berra used to catch a ceremonial first pitch from Don Larsen, the pitcher who threw a perfect game to Berra during the 1956 World Series.

The good luck didn't stop there. Torre spoke of a playoff series in Oakland in 2001 when the Yankees lost the first two games.

''I threw a hat in the bag to go to Oakland, and I was talking to my team before the third game and I was wearing 'It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over' hat,'' he said. ''I remember the team meeting and talked about just winning one game. That's when Jeter had the flip play.''

The Yankees won the pennant that year, but lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series in seven games.

Torre said Berra's old friend Joe Garagiola from his St. Louis days - son Joe Garagiola, Jr. represented his father at the funeral - used to refer to Yogi as his ''3 a.m. buddy.''

''Meaning,'' Torre said, ''he's the guy who you might not talk to for six months, but you'd get on the phone at 3 a.m. to call and he'd be right there.''

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York drew similarities between Berra and a visitor who just left the United States and returned to Rome.

''I hosted a man named Pope Francis who has simplicity and a loyalty to kindness,'' Dolan said. ''Think about it. The two have the same smile, the open face, the 'Aw shucks' attitude, the exciting grasp of life. They even have the same big ears. Are they not similar? One's a pope, the other's a catcher.''

Dolan, an avid baseball fan, ended his homily by melding two of Berra's most celebrated remarks.

''There's no fork in the road to eternal life,'' Dolan said. ''In that respect, it ain't over.''

Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark gave the final blessing. Dolan shared a word with the family before leaving and hugged Berra's eldest son, Larry.

There was a military presentation of colors, with two members of the U.S. Navy unfurling a flag while a bugler played ''Taps.'' The flag was presented to Larry Berra, and Tim Berra carried the remains of his father out of the church.

Shades of '06: Cardinals activate Adam Wainwright for bullpen help

The St. Louis Cardinals are about to receive a significant boost while heading into October. Ace Adam Wainwright will be activated Wednesday, and will be immediately available to pitch out of the bullpen.

The 34-year-old pitcher has been out since late April after rupturing his Achilles tendon. At the time of the injury, it was assumed Wainwright would not pitch again this season. That, obviously, is no longer the case. Wainwright has passed every test during his rehab, and is ready to return after just five months. Prior to the injury, Wainwright had a 1.44 ERA over 25 innings pitched.

Wainwright won't return as a starter. Instead, he'll be used out of the bullpen. There has been no indication the team would attempt to stretch out Wainwright as a possible starter if the Cardinals make a deep playoff run.

That means, Wainwright will likely take on the same role he filled with the team during the 2006 playoffs. That season, Wainwright was used as the team's relief ace. He didn't start any games during the club's run to a World Series victory, but instead shut down the opposition in the late innings.

During the 2006 playoffs, Wainwright pitched 9 2/3 scoreless innings as a reliever. He struck out 15 and walked just one. He also saved four games for the Cardinals.

It's unlikely Wainwright will play the exact same role this time around. Trevor Rosenthal has been excellent as the team's closer, posting a 2.10 ERA, with 83 strikeouts over 68 2/3 innings. It's more likely Wainwright will be employed as a true relief ace, coming into games when leverage is incredibly high.

That seems like the ideal way to use Wainwright, actually. If the bases are loaded in the seventh, the Cardinals are probably going to want their best pitcher on the mound to take care of business. Even with the layoff, that's probably Wainwright. If he can build up enough stamina to toss multiple innings during a game, that's even better.

After leading baseball in wins all season, the Cardinals are entering October with some pretty big questions. Yadier Molina's status for the postseason is in limbo, and the team just lost pitcher Carlos Martinez to a shoulder issue. Despite those issues, and a host of other injuries that have hit throughout the season, the team has remained in first place all year.

With that in mind, the Wainwright news has to be comforting for worried fans. Wainwright won't be employed in his normal role, but having him out there will be an obvious boost for the club as the postseason begins.

The Cardinals' 83-win team in 2006 had a lot of doubts heading into the postseason as well, but were able to get it done. This club is already in much better shape, and has Wainwright returning to the exact same role. If history tells us anything, that seems like a pretty good recipe for success.

Roethlisberger frustrated but relieved after knee injury

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says he's frustrated but relieved his knee injury is not more serious.

Roethlisberger is out indefinitely after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and sustaining a bone bruise. He was hurt in the third quarter of last Sunday's 12-6 win at St. Louis. Roethlisberger says he initially thought he broke his leg and was pleased his MRI revealed no extensive damage.

He does not believe the hit by Rams safety Mark Barron was dirty.

Michael Vick will start Thursday night when Pittsburgh hosts Baltimore. Roethlisberger isn't sure when he'll be cleared to return but hopes to be on the sideline in support if he can get off crutches by then.

Cavs guard Shumpert needs wrist surgery, out 3 months

The Cavaliers didn't get through one day without another significant injury.

With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love still recovering from injuries that severely hurt Cleveland's chances at an NBA title last season, the team announced Tuesday that guard Iman Shumpert needs surgery on his right wrist and will be out at least three months.

Cavs general manager David Griffin said on the opening day of training camp that Shumpert, who made 16 postseason starts, injured his wrist when he hit it on a rim last week during a workout. Shumpert underwent an MRI which revealed a ruptured sheath protecting a ligament in his wrist.

The team said Shumpert will have the operation Wednesday and that he could need as long as 14 weeks to recover, which would be early January.

Shumpert's injury is an early setback to the Cavs, who made the finals despite losing Love to a dislocated shoulder in the first round against Boston and Irving fracturing a kneecap in Game 1 against Golden State. Both players will be limited in the preseason and there is no clear timetable on when they'll be available.

''Obviously it's a big blow. Injuries will probably be the only thing than can stop us long-term,'' LeBron James said following the team's first training camp practice. ''This is a short-term thing. He will be there when we most need him.''

Meanwhile, the Cavs practiced without power forward Tristan Thompson, who remains in a contract stalemate with the club. Thompson, who showed his value in the postseason while filling in for Love, is seeking a maximum contract worth over $17 million per season. There is a Thursday deadline for him to sign a one-year, $6.9 million qualifying offer but that will likely be extended if a deal isn't finalized.

For the second straight day, James, who shares the same agent as Thompson, believes the sides will reach a long-term agreement.

As for losing Shumpert, Griffin said the Cavs have enough depth to offset the injury. Cleveland signed free agent guard Mo Williams and swingman Richard Jefferson in the offseason, and re-signed guards J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova, who emerged as a postseason hero when Irving went down.

''We look at this as a very similar situation to what we went through in the playoffs last year - next man up,'' said Griffin, who has no immediate plans to look outside Cleveland's roster for help.

James, too, feels the Cavs are better equipped to handle injuries this season.

''If there's one place we have depth it's at the guard spot,'' he said. ''With this injury, our guys should be able to step in.''

The Cavs acquired Shumpert and Smith in a trade last season from the New York Knicks. Shumpert battled shoulder and groin injuries, but the 25-year-old was a key contributor as Cleveland on the Eastern Conference title and made it to the finals for the second time.

One of the team's best defensive players, he averaged 9.1 points in the playoffs and 7.2 points in 38 regular-season games for Cleveland.

Caron Butler is still addicted to Mountain Dew

NBA veteran Caron Butler has earned a deserving reputation as a no-nonsense professional over his soon-to-be 14 seasons, playing for various teams in different roles and succeeding at nearly every stop along the way. At the same time, though, he's one of the most interesting personalities in the league's recent history. Move beyond his relatively unassuming on-court style and you will find a former gang member and drug dealer with a longstanding (and banned) habit of chewing straws on the bench and a medically unsafe addiction to Mountain Dew. He contains multitudes and perhaps not surprisingly has authored a new book, "Tuff Juice: My Journey from the Streets to the NBA," to tell his life story.

The promotional tour for the autobiography has confirmed that Butler is as eccentric as ever at 35 years old. So much, in fact, that he has not stopped drinking his favorite beverage even at an age when most veterans look for every possible advantage to keep themselves in playing shape. As revealed in a sitdown with Nina Mandell of For The Win, Butler just can't quit Mountain Dew:

“You’re sitting in the back of the bus and eating the right thing and (guys will) be like ‘why are you drinking that?’ And I’m like ‘what’s wrong with Mountain Dew?'” he said. “Guys are just shaking their heads and they have got water and those special crushed juices and I’m drinking a big Mountain Dew, just downing it frozen and stuff. They’re like ‘this guy, he’s not going to make it.'”

Butler said he tried to hide his habit when he played with Kobe Bryant, who is well known for keeping his teammates’ diets in check. “He’d just shake his head,” Butler said.

So when he was on the Lakers, Butler went to extreme lengths to avoid Bryant see him drinking the soda, especially on the bus. “I’d try to slide it under the chair or something,” he said.

“Guys knew I needed help. I still do. That’s like the battle I can’t get away from. I can get away from the streets, I can get away from all of these different things,” he added. “I can’t get away from Mountain Dew.”

Butler says he has gone from drinking a two-liter bottle every day to one every few days, which is vague enough that it's fair to wonder how much he once did and now does drink. Shame plays a major role in addiction and cannot be discounted when assessing Butler's habit.

Because this addiction is very real. Butler attempted to quit in the offseason of 2009 and even admitted to going through withdrawals, but that try at going cold-turkey apparently did not take. At least Butler admits that he continues to need help.

It's something of a wonder that Butler continues to perform at a reasonably high level despite his soda intake. The health effects of drinking soft drinks are very, very negative and can lead to everything from general sluggishness to serious disease. It's possible that Butler has only weathered those effects because his profession requires a high degree of physical fitness.

So here's hoping Butler is finally able to break his Mountain Dew addiction upon his retirement. Perhaps some time away from the league will allow him the chance to break his dependency.

Patriots acquire LB Jonathan Bostic from Bears

The New England Patriots have acquired linebacker Jonathan Bostic from the Chicago Bears for an undisclosed draft pick.

A second-round draft pick in 2013, Bostic fell out of favor under new coach John Fox.

Bostic started in 17 of 29 games he played, collecting 203 1/2 tackles.

The Bears announced the deal on Tuesday.

Antti Raanta, Clint Reif left off the Stanley Cup

 

The Hockey Hall of Fame unveiled the latest Blackhawks to be engraved on the Stanley Cup on Sunday, and perhaps most notable were two names that were missing: assistant equipment manager Clint Reif and goaltender Antti Raanta.

A spokesman for the NHL said that the team gets to choose which 52 names it wants on the Cup, and that the league only goes through those names to verify whether they meet the requirements. So basically, it’s up to the team who makes the cut and who doesn’t. The only rule is a player must appear in half of a team’s regular-season games, or at least one Stanley Cup Final game.

Raanta played in just 14 games, but dressed in more than the required 41. Traditionally, the backup goaltender is included even if he doesn’t play 41 games — Scott Darling is on the Cup even though he played in just 14 regular-season games and dressed as the backup for all six games in the Final — but the NHL said there was no set rule for backup goalies who dress but don’t play.

When asked why Raanta was left off, the Hawks simply said only players who play in 41 games or one Final game make the cut.

Raanta — who lost his backup job to Scott Darling late in the season and was traded to the New York Rangers during the draft — was embroiled in some controversy over the summer when a Finnish magazine quoted him as saying he rooted against the Hawks during the first round of the playoffs, so he could go home to Finland. Raanta told the Sun-Times that was greatly exaggerated, and that he was just briefly frustrated after he was called up to be a Black Ace rather than keep playing in Rockford.

“It only took one day,” he said. “[Because] then I came to Chicago and saw my teammates, and everybody was so happy to see me. So it was [a] big help for the first couple days. … I’m not that kind of guy that I would say something like that, and hope my team to lose, even if I’m not paying goalie.”

Reif, meanwhile, is the popular assistant equipment manager who died last December. The Hawks honored his memory with “CR” stickers on their helmets, and Reif’s family was on the ice to celebrate the Stanley Cup victory in June. Reif’s name is on the Cup twice already, as he was a part of the 2010 and 2013 championship teams, too.

The Hawks did petition, successfully, to have forwards Daniel Carcillo and Joakim Nordstrom engraved on the Cup, even though they came up just short of the required 41 games. Among the 52 names were 11 first-timers: Antoine Vermette, Kimmo Timonen, David Rundblad, Andrew Desjardins, Teuvo Teravainen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Darling, Nordstrom and Kyle Cumiskey, along with coaches Kevin Dineen and Jimmy Waite.

Cal Ripken Jr. weighs in on Papelbon-Harper kerfuffle

A great many former MLB players have weighed in on the Jonathan Papelbon-Bryce Harper incident in recent days, helping to stir the froth of pungent emotions whipped up by this very public disagreement.
But it’s hard to imagine a more relevant veteran opinion than that of Cal Ripken Jr., both because so many locals still revere him, and because he’s been mentioned as a past (and potentially future) candidate for the team’s managerial role.
If, you know, that slot were to ever open up again. Theoretically.
While at a charity event he co-hosted with Kevin Spacey this week, Ripken was asked about the Papelbon-Harper incident by Fox 5’s Kevin McCarthy, who is not the House Majority Leader. Specifically, Ripken was asked if stuff like that happened in his era.
“Yeah, we kept those things secret in my day, so you wouldn’t know about those things,” Ripken said with a smile. “But yeah, I mean, I can see how tempers flare. And I can see how when a season doesn’t go the way you thought it would and you get eliminated from the playoffs, I think emotions can be a little higher. So yes, the answer is yes, in the short way.
“I’m not going to go back and tell you all the different times, but it happens,” Ripken continued. “And the Nationals dealt with it in their way, and the two principals, Papelbon and Harper, seem to have ironed it out as well. So I don’t think it’s an issue.”
If you are looking for foreshadowing in any of that, you have a very active imagination.
Angels outfielder David Murphy also offered an interesting opinion, in an interview with Mike Ferrin and Jim Duquette on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio.
“Bryce Harper’s a younger guy, but he’s been around the league long enough, he knows how to play the game,” Murphy said. “And Papelbon was trying to be a leader right there and was trying to address his teammate and encourage him to play the game the right way, to play harder, to run out a pop-up. So it’s good to see players holding their teammates accountable. On the other hand, I think that the physical aspect of it, how the fight went down and how physical it became very quickly, that was probably unnecessary.
“But knowing how Papelbon is, he gets fired up,” Murphy went on. “He’s the type of guy that treats the game of baseball with the intensity of a football player. He apologized, and I think that part of it was unnecessary. You can talk about it; I don’t think it needs to get to the point where it gets physical like that. But good to see players holding one another accountable.”
The AP also solicited opinions from a few well-known MLB figures.
“Everybody’s adrenaline and emotions are all over the place, and it happens,” David Ortiz said. “It’s not like they happen a lot, but they happen. We spend way too much time together, away from our family. You’ve got 25 different mentalities together at once, 25 different men in the same room….Even between big brother, little brother — fights happen. The most important thing is figure things out and go back to normal, which is what I’m pretty sure will happen over there….
“My boy Papelbon is legit. He’s a trooper, a great teammate,” Ortiz also said. “At some point, hopefully they figure things out, because Harper is a pretty good kid, too.”
Former Nats reliever Joe Beimel said “it seemed like there was a fight every week or so” when he first arrived in the Majors, but they were rarely in public view.
“To do it in the dugout is not a very good idea,” Beimel said. “First of all, you know cameras are around. Fans are around.”

Meanwhile, let’s check in with some other baseball names!

Harper is the best player in the NL but he's 22. RUN OUT EVERY BALL. A repeat offender of dogging it- will think twice before doing it again

— Gregg Zaun (@GreggZaun) September 28, 2015

Hey Papelbon do you mma ? #teamharper

— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) September 28, 2015

Pap's message was correct. The delivery(er) was wrong. IMO, the manager or a veteran position player needs to talk to him at the right time.

— Vernon Wells (@VernonWells10) September 28, 2015

Ask Bryce if he"ran"it out.Light jog,yes.It happens,I get it.U need a good leader to remind you of the right way. https://t.co/V9WE7jLUNV

— Vernon Wells (@VernonWells10) September 28, 2015

My issue really isn't with Bryce, it happens. And he's 22! We all need need the right voice. Pap wasn't it. https://t.co/aIoMZZJS59

— Vernon Wells (@VernonWells10) September 28, 2015

@CJNitkowski loved the article CJ, Pap will take a beating for this from everyone who doesn't play the game. #EntitlementGeneration

— LaTroy Hawkins (@LaTroyHawkins32) September 28, 2015

I understand the choking part n is wrong,im just in favor of BASEBALL n how is suppose to be played thats all!it doesnt matter who it is

— Bengie Molina (@BengieMolina1) September 28, 2015

Ive never question harpers talent,hes a SUPERSTAR,im a big fan but any player should play hard n respect the game!Thats all!

— Bengie Molina (@BengieMolina1) September 28, 2015

Missouri suspends starting QB Maty Mauk for disciplinary reasons

Missouri starting quarterback Maty Mauk has been suspended for Saturday’s game against South Carolina for disciplinary reasons, according to a release from the school.

Offensive tackle Malik Cuellar, a junior college transfer, also is suspended.

The release did not elaborate on the reason for the suspension and said both players’ statuses would be evaluated going forward.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the suspension is not related to a legal matter.

Mauk started the Tigers' first four games of the season, completing just 51.8 percent of his passes for 654 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions. Mauk also rushed for 145 yards and a score.

Cuellar played in the season opener against Southeast Missouri, but hasn’t played since.

With Mauk out, freshman Drew Lock, who has appeared in all four games, likely will get the first start of his career. Lock has completed 15 of 25 passes for 225 yards, a touchdown and an interception