The New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 on Thursday. Starting pitcher David Peterson went 6 2/3 innings and only gave up one run on five hits. By all accounts, it was a quality performance. Including the account of his son, who stole a microphone from SNY's Steve Gelbs during his postgame media availability.

While he didn't grab it with the force or conviction that Riley Curry did once upon a time, Peterson's son did look like a natural with the mic in his hands and it was a truly adorable moment as his father had to ask him to give it back.

It turns out Gelbs has really been hitting it off with the younger Mets fans this week. A day before this moment with Peterson's son, he surprised a young fan by not only knowing his name, but by informing him that he was going to be the SNY Kidcaster later this month.

SNY is truly for the kids.

Juan Soto was forced out of action in the third inning against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night after fouling a ball hard off of his own foot.

Facing off against Padres starter Ryan Bergert, the Mets superstar fouled off a ball while trying to stay alive on an 0-2 count, and wound up in a world of hurt.

While Soto would collect himself and tough it out to complete the at-bat, he did not return to the field come the bottom half of the inning. The team would later announce that he had been removed due to a foot contusion.

Soto wasn’t the only star to get bit by the injury bug on Tuesday night. Brewers slugger Jackson Chourio hustled for a triple but finished his run limping and staggering, and would be removed from the game.

Ronald Acuna Jr. also had to exit his game early, with the Braves citing Achilles tightness.

Let’s hope for the best with all these players in their recovery as their teams gear up for the stretch run of the regular season.

For the first time in the MLB, Shohei Ohtani pitched against former Angels teammate Mike Trout. More than two years after Ohtani struck out Trout to win the World Baseball Classic for Japan in 2023, he took the mound to face Trout again.

Ohtani hit a leadoff triple in the top of the first inning to help the Dodgers take an early 3–0 lead. He then took the mound and struck out Angels' leadoff Zach Neto before Trout came up to the plate.

The at-bat began with a nod of acknowledgement from both Ohtani and Trout. Ohtani then threw two strikes against Trout on four-seam fastballs, reaching as high as 98 miles per hour. With a 3–2 count, Ohtani delivered the final strike on a sweeper, one Trout didn't even swing on.

Trout, who said "He won Round 1" after Ohtani struck him out during the WBC, was simply left smiling after Ohtani took Round 2 this time.

Ohtani played alongside Trout on the Angels from 2018 to '23 before signing with the Dodgers in free agency in late 2023. Ohtani made his return to pitching earlier this season after suffering a torn UCL in 2023, and has now taken the mound for the first time against his former team.

After not allowing a run in the first inning, Ohtani did up two runs in the second—including a solo home run from Taylor Ward and a sacrifice fly from Luis Rengifo that drove in Yoán Moncada. The Dodgersadded two runs in the fourth, and lead the Angels 5–2 through three and a half innings as they look to claim their first game of the series.

When MS Dhoni decided to hand the gloves to Rahul Dravid and bowl himself, he gave an example of the oddities and quirks that make cricket such a compelling sport

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's22-Jul-2011The concept of ‘do it yourself’ was brought to Test cricket at Lord’s. MS Dhoni is a captain who leads from the front in everything he does; it’s part of the reason why Graeme Swann picked him out as the key figure for this series ahead of Sachin Tendulkar. Swann, though, probably wasn’t talking of Dhoni’s bowling yet he came within one decision review of taking the 14th Test wicket by a wicketkeeper.However, given the way Dhoni plays his cricket perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He has an international wicket to his name – West Indian Travis Dowlin was the unlucky batsman during the 2009 Champions Trophy – and in that match he brought himself on in the 17th over with the score at 49 for 4. The real surprise was that Rahul Dravid had given warning of Dhoni’s cunning plan in his pre-play interview when he revealed he expected to be keeping wicket at some stage.So when the players emerged after lunch to start the afternoon session with Dravid wearing the pads and gloves it was clear the captain was going to live up to his word. He preferred himself to Suresh Raina’s tidy offspin, which already has nine Test wickets, while in days gone by Tendulkar would purvey some useful swingers.It was the fourth time Dhoni had bowled in a Test innings, but the previous three occasions had been one-over spells at the end of dead Tests. This was a match at a crucial juncture with India needing a breakthrough before the second new ball. On he came at the Pavilion End – from where Glenn McGrath among others have wreaked havoc – and marked out his run. And of all the batsmen to bowl to it was Kevin Pietersen.Facing a cricketer who rarely bowls is awkward. There is often precious little to gain for the batsman and only a reputation to be damaged. That situation is multiplied for a player like Pietersen, whose every move is being dissected as he tries to rediscover his best form. “It was really difficult to get through,” Pietersen said. “Whenever a keeper comes on it’s pretty hard and he got the ball to swing both ways. He’s a very talented man.”Having battled his way to 71 off 157 balls – including his slowest Test fifty – falling to Dhoni would have made Pietersen’s problems with Jeevan Mendis, the part-time Sri Lanka legspinner who removed him three times in the recent one-day series, seem barely worth a mention. The first ball of the spell brought an lbw appeal and although Pietersen was outside off stump he looked nervous throughout the over. Then, with his ninth delivery, Dhoni made one tail into Pietersen who didn’t quite play the line and Dravid, unlike on the opening day when he missed two catches, gathered a low chance.India appealed as one and, after suitable consideration to add to the drama, Billy Bowden raised his finger. At the same moment, though, Pietersen signalled for the DRS – it is still available for catches in this series – so the status of Dhoni’s maiden Test wicket hung in limbo. It stayed hanging for more than a minute as the third umpire rock-and-rolled the Hotspot and standard replays.Eventually it became clear that there was daylight between the bat and ball while there was a small Hotspot mark on the top of Pietersen’s pad where the bat had flicked it. Two deliveries later Ian Bell, facing his first ball after lunch, treated Dhoni’s bowling as it should be by square-cutting a long hop to deep point. “I had to review that, I couldn’t get out to Dhoni,” Pietersen said with the smile of someone who’d survived to make a double hundred.Dhoni didn’t come close to a wicket again and ended his first spell with five overs for 20 before taking the keeping gauntlets back from Dravid as the second new ball was handed to Ishant Sharma, but returned for another three-over burst when the ball was just 10 overs old. He will really have believed he could do a job and takes his bowling seriously. He often bowls in the nets, and did so at Taunton during India’s build-up to this Test, and in terms of pace is around what Praveen Kumar offers although the accuracy, unsurprisingly, isn’t the same.On the list of players who have started a Test as wicketkeeper and come on to bowl Dhoni fills that most recent four slots. Before him is the last wicketkeeper to take a wicket – Mark Boucher in a dreary Test where West Indies made 747 in reply to South Africa’s 588 for 6 in Antigua – but Dhoni wouldn’t have been the first India gloveman to strike. That honour goes to Syed Kirmani who bowled Azeem Hafeez at Nagpur in 1983.The history of wicketkeeper-bowlers is littered with some fascinating names. Rod Marsh once bowled 10 overs against Pakistan, Clyde Walcott twice came on to have a trundle and Jim Parks has a Test scalp against India in 1964. One who didn’t bowl, but could have done a very handy job, was Australia’s Tim Zoehrer who was a good enough legspinner to take 38 first-class wickets.The best figures by a wicketkeeper, however, belong to the first man who took off the pads. Alfred Lyttelton claimed 4 for 19 (the only wickets of his first-class career), against Australia at The Oval in 1884 bowling under-arm lobs. “The remainder of the innings was alone remarkable for the success which attended Lyttelton’s lobs,” reported Wisden. While Lyttelton bowled, WG Grace was behind the stumps and didn’t want to appeal for the first of the wickets.Now, 127 years later at Lord’s in the shadow of WG, Dhoni gave an example of the oddities and quirks that make cricket such a compelling sport.

INDIANAPOLIS — Your wish has been granted: Gonzaga and Baylor are set to duke it out Monday night for all the marbles. It’s been clear for some time that these are college basketball’s two best men's teams. There have been upsets all across the field of 68, and this has been a memorable tournament, but it may still be defined by the quality of this championship game. Coaches Mark Few and Scott Drew are close friends, who tried to schedule a game here in Indy that was, as you may have heard, canceled in December because of COVID-19.

“They got pros, we got pros,” says Baylor guard Jared Butler. “They win a lot of games, we win a lot of games.” Well, there’s only one left. Here are five keys to watch for as Monday night approaches.

Boston Red Sox starting first baseman Triston Casas is out for the year after tearing his patellar tendon, and the franchise is looking for a replacement at first base.

While manager Alex Cora said publicly that he did not plan to ask newly positioned designated hitter Rafael Devers about potentially playing first base, general manager Craig Breslow had no problem inquiring.

Devers, who has already been frustrated with the Red Sox front office dating back to spring training, did not take it well. Devers was asked by members of the media during spring training if he would be willing to play a different position after the team signed free agent Alex Bregman, who rates much better as a defender at third base than Devers. Devers responded that he was not interested in switching positions.

Eventually, Devers gave in after talking with Cora, and he was earmarked as the team's full-time DH. So when Breslow went to ask Devers about position change in the wake of the Casas injury, he wasn't having it.

"I just feel like it's not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position," Devers said on Thursday. "It was the GM that I spoke with. I'm not sure what he has with me. He played ball and I would like to think he knows that changing positions like that isn't easy."

According to Christopher Smith of , Devers's teammates didn't love his answer.

"One reporter told me that one of [Devers's] teammates told him to 'just stop talking.' We've also at learned that veteran players—players who have been around the league a long time—were not happy with the situation, with his inflexibility and the way he brought it out publicly."

For now, Devers is the team's designated hitter.

The Red Sox are 20-19 on the season, and two games back in the AL East of the first-place New York Yankees.

Six wickets for Mohammad Abbas has left a tense third day ahead at Grace Road between two sides in the top four

ECB Reporters Network20-Aug-20181:43

Moeen and Mitchell leave Yorkshire feeling Toxic

ScorecardMohammad Abbas took 6 for 48, his best return for Leicestershire, as the bowlers continued to hold the upper hand in a Specsavers County Championship match against promotion rivals Kent that ended the second day very much in the balance at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.The Pakistan international seamer, who was named Man of the Series after his country’s two Tests against England earlier this summer, took full advantage of the heavy cloud and used pitch to move the ball both in the air and off the seam, with only Joe Denly standing firm as visitors were bowled out for just 195 in their first innings.Kent struck back strongly however, with Ivan Thomas taking 4 for 50 as the Foxes ended the day on 126 for 5, a lead of 151 with five second innings wickets in hand.Resuming with Kent on 53 for 3, Denly and Sam Billings were made to work hard for their runs as the ball continued to swing and nip off the pitch. Abbas had beaten Billings on numerous occasions before he found the edge of the Kent captain’s bat and Ned Eckersley held a outstanding low catch diving to his right behind the stumps.Zak Crawley went the same way, feathering a thin edge off Abbas to give Eckersley a more comfortable catch and reduce the visitors to 100 for 5, but Denly was joined by debutant Ollie Robinson in building a substantial partnership for the sixth wicket, helped by frontline seamers Abbas and Ben Raine coming to the end of their spells.Denly broke the shackles by hitting four boundaries in one over from Gavin Griffiths, bringing up his half-century with a fine straight drive to the rope off the same bowler, but Raine returned to the attack to pick up three quick wickets before lunch.Robinson, on the back foot, edged an outswinger to Eckersley, and in the same over Darren Stevens glanced down the leg-side only for Eckersley to pull off another brilliant catch flinging himself to his left. In the over before the break Denly, having battled his way to 62, missed a full inswinger from Raine and was plumb leg before wicket.Abbas returned after the break to bowl Harry Podmore off the inside edge before Grant Stewart was caught at cover driving.Kent picked up an early wicket of their own when Horton was leg before to a Stewart in-swinger, but Dearden in particular was batting positively, and he and Colin Ackermann added 69 for Leicestershire’s second wicket before Ackermann went leg before to a Thomas delivery that seamed back in.Mark Cosgrove, going through a bad patch by his high standards, nicked off to Thomas without scoring, and though Dearden passed 50, he lost two further partners, both to Thomas, as Ateeq Javid was caught down the legside by Billings and Eckersley fell leg before before rain and bad light saw play close 13 overs early.

Australia legend expects ‘big things’ from legspinner, now that he has cemented his role in the side

Andrew Miller14-Sep-20182:01

Warne hopes England stick with Rashid

Shane Warne says that he is expecting “big things” from Adil Rashid in the Test series in Sri Lanka, but has called on Joe Root to show more faith in his legspinner to ensure his confidence stays high.Rashid came through a peculiar summer with his reputation enhanced thanks to an important, if bit-part, role against India. He bowled just 87 overs across the five Tests – Moeen Ali, by contrast, got through 76 in just two appearances at the Ageas Bowl and The Oval – but picked up 10 key wickets, the most in a home series by any English legspinner since Tommy Greenhough in 1959.Warne, however, believes that England have to capitalise on that promising return if they are to get the best out of a player who wasn’t even available for Test cricket at the start of the summer, having signed a white-ball-only contract with Yorkshire.”It’s very important that the captain backs you,” Warne told ESPNcricinfo at a Laureus event at The Oval. “Early on in the series, Joe Root needs to throw the ball to Rashid. Bowl him first change, or even open the bowling with him if the conditions suit in the second innings. Let him know he’s the No.1 spinner and that he’s got all the support of the captain. That is crucial.”Warne himself enjoyed his breakthrough moment on Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka back in 1992, when he was trusted by his captain Allan Border in the key moment of a tense first Test in Colombo. He responded with three quick wickets to salvage a 16-run victory, and didn’t look back thereafter.”All I know is that, as a young legspinner, it was so important to have a captain who would back me no matter what, even when it doesn’t go well. You just know when you’ve got the support of your captain, and when you are an afterthought.”For much of the India series it was hard to gauge quite how much faith Root had in Rashid. He didn’t bowl at all during the second Test at Lord’s, and went wicketless at the Ageas Bowl while his spin partner Moeen Ali claimed nine. But come a tense final Test at The Oval, Rashid produced his most memorable moment – a massive legbreak to India’s centurion KL Rahul. The ball burst out of the rough outside the right-hander’s leg stump to hit the top of off and end, at a stroke, any remote possibility of India chasing down a massive victory target of 464.The delivery evoked comparisons with some of Warne’s most memorable deliveries, in particular his ripper to Andrew Strauss at Edgbaston in the 2005 Ashes, but Warne himself insisted that Rashid deserved to be judged on his contribution to the series as a whole.”I don’t think one ball justified the whole selection,” he said. “It’s about what impact you have through the series. Does the captain have confidence to bowl you when it’s tough, or when the conditions suit, or as a change-up when nothing’s happening? Because a legspinner makes something happen. Even when he doesn’t bowl well, he can still make something happen. I hope they stick with him because all his wickets were invaluable through the series.”There’s little doubt, however, that Rashid’s performance in a clutch moment at The Oval will have assuaged a few doubts, both for the bowler himself and the England selectors, as they weigh up the balance of their side going into a winter of spin-friendly surfaces in Sri Lanka and West Indies.”England have got so many allrounders in their side,” said Warne. “People say England don’t need six bowlers, but I like having Moeen Ali in the top six. He’s a batsman who plays as a second spinner, so you’ve really got five bowlers plus Moeen. And that gives you the flexibility to keep Rashid, because I still think he’s the best option.”I like having a legspinner in your side, because you don’t pick a side just for the first innings,” Warne added. “He might not have to bowl much in the first innings, but in the second innings he might pick up a couple of crucial wickets. And when you’ve got class fast bowlers, the spinner can be brought on to break a partnership, take a wicket here and there, and then get the quicks back on. And that’s okay, because you have to know your role in the team.”Speaking from his own experience, Warne said that Rashid’s impact in that first Test, starting in Galle on November 6, could be transformed by the expectation that he will now be an automatic pick for the series.”You can’t explain to someone what it’s like when you know you’re playing in the next game,” said Warne. “If you are playing for your spot all the time it’s very, very difficult. You are bowling to not make mistakes. And you’re bowling to stay in the team, not do a bad job. To keep it tight.”If you know you are playing in the next game you have a bit more leeway. You can get a bit more experimental, you’ll try a few more things, you’ll get a bit more aggressive.”I think that’s what Rashid needs to do. Going to Sri Lanka, he knows he’ll play in that next game, which is so important. He’s got his confidence up, he got a couple of great wickets in this last Test match to help England win. So I’m looking forward to some big things. Hopefully he’ll go on and on from here.”

Kent beat Somerset for the 11th successive time in a high-scoring affair at Canterbury – a remarkable sequence which put them alongside Somerset in the knockout stages

ECB Reporters Network16-Aug-2018
ScorecardKent Spitfires downed South Group leaders Somerset by five runs in a high-scoring thriller at Canterbury to book their place in the last eight of this year’s Vitality Blast T20.Kent’s seventh south group win inflicted Somerset’s fourth defeat in their final game of the campaign and extended the West Country county’s woeful, winless T20 run against Kent to 11 matches dating back to 2011.Batting first, Kent posted their highest short-form score against Somerset and equalled their best ever T20 total, matching their 231 for 7 scored against Surrey at The Oval in 2015.Somerset chased manfully throughout, and needed a six off the last ball to tie only for Mitch Claydon to send down a near perfect yorker to seal the triumph.

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Kent captain Sam Billings led the run spree with an unbeaten 57 from 35 balls, but Sean Dickson’s cameo 20 from nine balls and a belligerent 42 from 22 deliveries by Alex Blake after a sloppy display in the field by the south group leaders.With their place in the last eight already assured, Somerset elected to bowl after winning the toss, but Jerome Taylor’s second over conceded a brace of boundaries to Daniel Bell-Drummond and 14 in total.Joe Denly, Kent’s leading T20 run-getter, plundered a straight six in Jamie Overton’s first over that ended with a deft late cut for four, as the hosts, aided by six Somerset wides within five overs, raced to 50 after only 4.3 overs.Taylor had Denly caught at short third man for 26 from the penultimate delivery of the powerplay to make it 67 for one then, with 37 off 21 balls to his name, Bell-Drummond pushed inside the line of a Max Waller legspinner that clipped off stump.Waller and Roelof van der Merwe, the slow left-armer, stemmed the flow of Spitfires’ boundaries until Heino Kuhn broke the stranglehold with a reverse sweep for six against Johann Myburgh as Kent reached the mid-point on 99 for 2.Kuhn perished attempting to repeat the shot against a Waller full toss, picking out Corey Anderson at point, but Blake opened his boundary account with a straight six off Waller and greeted Overton’s return with another maximum into the retirement complex adjacent to the ground.Waller finished his stint with 2 for 29 as Kent reached 150 in their 16th over with Blake and Billings posting a 50 stand in 4.4 overs.Billings unfurled his ramps, paddles and pulls to collect three successive boundaries in a Taylor over that cost 25 in total, but the partnership ended for 82 when Blake was superbly caught overhead by Overton at long-off for 42.Kent’s skipper reached his third 50 of the campaign from 31 balls, Taylor was taken out of the attack for his second beamer and the visitors conceded six penalty runs for failing to bowl their overs in the alloted time.Chasing 232 at 11.55 an over, Somerset lost Myburgh after 15 balls to a stunning over-the-shoulder catch by Imran Qayyum that gave T20 debutant Grant Stewart his maiden wicket.Steve Davies and Peter Trego, the former Kent allrounder, clattered a quickfire 59 in five overs before Trego holed out to deep square leg then Davies blotted his copybook by chipping Qayyum’s second ball of the night straight to extra cover.Qayyum conceded a huge leg-side six to James Hildreth as Somerset reached 102 for 3after 10 overs but, with the required rate rising to almost 13, Corey Anderson heaved against Calum Haggett to see Billings cling onto a skier running back towards third man.With 82 needed from 30 balls, James Hildreth hooked a Mitch Claydon bouncer to long leg and despite late clubbing from Gregory and Tom Abell Somerset just fell short.

Surrey opener heard of call-up after interrupted phonecall to selector Ed Smith at windy Taunton

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-20182:09

Burns’ consistency across seasons merited Test elevation – Ed Smith

Rory Burns believes he has enough “clarity in his method” to translate his prolific form for Surrey in the County Championship into a potential Test debut on the spinning wickets of Sri Lanka, after being named in his first England Test squad at the age of 28.Burns, who is back in action for Surrey at The Oval, has led the county to their first Championship title since 2002 with a formidable haul of 1319 runs at 69.42 in 13 matches, which is almost 400 runs more than his nearest challenger, Somerset’s James Hildreth.It has been the fifth season in succession that Burns has passed 1000 runs in Championship cricket, and speaking on Friday after confirming his call-up, England’s national selector Ed Smith said that he had impressed everyone with his consistency.”For me personally, it’s been a lot of hard work,” Burns told Sky Sports ahead of Surrey’s match against Essex. “I’ve tried to let my bat do the talking and churn out runs, and it’s satisfying to get the nod in the end and get the opportunity.”I’ve obviously got five seasons of backing in my own head. I’ve got some self-belief, so you’ve got to trust your method and trust the processes that you go through.”Burns heard the news while down at Taunton on Friday, where Surrey’s quest for a tenth consecutive Championship victory was curtailed by high winds. And that adverse weather may have been a factor in his slightly disjointed phonecall.”Ed Smith rung me last week after the Somerset game, but it actually cut out halfway through,” Burns said. “He started to tell me I’d got the nod, but it cut out so I had to run outside quickly and find some phone signal, and give him a call back.”The message got through in the end, however, and if selected for the first Test in Galle on November 6, Burns will be stepping into the shoes of none other than Alastair Cook, England’s all-time leading run-scorer who retired at The Oval earlier this month following a record run of 159 consecutive appearances.”I don’t think it’s [extra pressure], I think it’s exciting,” Burns said. “You probably can’t say enough about Alastair’s career – well I can’t, because I don’t think I’m as good as him at the minute. But it’ll be an exciting time and I hope I get an opportunity to do it.”Despite his success on home soil, Burns is under no illusions about what will await him in Sri Lanka, especially after speaking to his Surrey team-mate Dean Elgar, who toured the country with Sri Lanka back in July and August.Rory Burns and Dean Elgar plot a good day for Surrey•Getty Images

“I’m a decent player of spin, I’ve got a few options that I try to work my way through, but [Elgar’s] just got back from Sri Lanka, and said he didn’t face a ball of seam,” said Burns. “So it’ll be trial by spin and it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll go.”I think it’s about clarity in your method,” he added. “You need to understand what you do well, what your options are at certain times. It’s no different from going from seam to spin, there are different methods to both and you’ve got to cycle through them.”Burns’ batting technique, much like the man he is replacing, is best described as functional rather than beautiful. His backside sticks out to square leg, and he has a habit of looking towards mid-on before each delivery. But there’s no arguing with his body of work in recent seasons.”My method is slightly unorthodox,” Burns admitted. “There’s some nuances to it, let’s put it that way. I got told I was left-eye dominant, so [looking to mid-on] is about me trying to get my left eye on the ball as much as I can. Then it almost became a rhythm thing in terms of little routines at the crease. That’s how that came about.”Burns’ England call-up caps a remarkable year for a player who has only just taken up the reins at Surrey, the County Champions-elect.”You set out at the start of the season to try to win some trophies, we managed to get the biggest one, and then to get the call-up has been pretty special,” he said. “I am fortunate to come off the back of Gareth Batty and the way he stabilised the club in his tenure, so to win it is a special feeling.”We’ve done it with a group of young Surrey lads, a lot of guys in the system that we’ve played with a lot of the way up, through age groups and the academy.”From a playing side of things, we are backing youth, backing guys coming through the system and complementing that with some very good experienced cricketers around them, and off the pitch we seem to be getting people through the gate and making some money.”When we won [the title] at Worcester, most of the boys started celebrating but I was already thinking about next year and trying to do better. Hopefully this will be the first year of many years of success, but a lot of hard work has gone into winning it this year. We’ve got to recognise that, and try to reproduce it next year.”