Westburg suffers setback in rehab assignment
Baltimore Orioles' Jordan Westburg suffered a setback during his hamstring injury recovery and James Schiano details whether you should continue to roster the All-Star infielder in fantasy.
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Boston Globe
30 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Walker Buehler's early exit only added more stress to a stressful situation
Buehler's body language had a much different message on Friday night and no translation was needed. It screamed, 'Get me off this mound.' In his first game against the Yankees as a member of the Red Sox, Buehler had the worst start of his career. He allowed seven runs, five earned, over two innings in what turned into a 9-6 loss. Advertisement It was the first time in 132 career starts that Buehler pitched only two innings. He's now 4-4 with a 5.18 earned run average in 10 starts for the Sox after agreeing to a one-year, $21.05 million contract. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'This organization put a lot of faith in me this offseason and I've been [expletive] embarrassing for us. So it's tough,' Buehler said. There's been a lot of that going around for the Sox. Brayan Bello was signed to a six-year, $55 million extension before the 2024 season has a 4.36 ERA in 39 starts since. He has completed five innings four times in nine starts this season. Breslow awarded Lucas Giolito a two-year, $37 million deal after his poor 2023 season. Giolito missed last season after having elbow surgery and has a 6.42 ERA over seven starts this season. Advertisement Tanner Houck, an All-Star last season, had an 8.04 ERA over nine starts before going on the injured list with a severe case of not being able to get outs. At least he's only getting paid $3.95 million. The Red Sox have a true No. 1 starter in Garrett Crochet and a collection of No. 4 starters — if that — after him. It's why they are 30-35 and have lost 9 of their last 12 games. They now trail the Yankees by 10½ games in the American League East and this seems sure to be the seventh consecutive season without a division title after winning three in a row under Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski was fired in 2019 because of philosophical differences. His philosophy was he liked winning. What the team's philosophy has been since then isn't really clear. That the Red Sox managed to make a game of it by scoring six runs is incidental. They can't win with this rotation. They have allowed 16 runs in the first inning of the last five games. The bullpen, meanwhile, has pitched 24 1/3 innings over the last four games. 'It's hard to play this way,' manager Alex Cora said. Impossible, really. 'We just got to get better, right? We have to pitch. We trust these guys,' said Cora, who has had to work hard to stay positive. Buehler beat himself up talking to reporters. To his credit, he hasn't ducked from his performance. Buehler said he's throwing more sliders and sinkers than he's used to and doesn't have full conviction in how he's attacking hitters. Advertisement 'Good teams will make you pay for that,' Buehler said. The Yankees, who have won 13 of 17, are very good and they did just that. Crochet pitches on Saturday. It'll be his first start against the Yankees as a member of the Red Sox and he needs to work deep in the game to protect the bullpen. As Cora said, it's a hard way to play. Peter Abraham can be reached at
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
Braylon Mullins helps Indiana All-Stars get best of Kentucky, AAU teammate Malachi Moreno
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was a struggle. A good play here. A turnover there. It went like for the Indiana All-Stars for most of Friday's game against the Kentucky All-Stars at Lexington Catholic High School. The Kentucky All-Stars led by six points as the clock ticked under eight minutes. Enter Michael Cooper. The Jeffersonville senior guard drilled three consecutive 3-pointers, two on assists from Ben Davis guard Mark Zackery IV and other from Lawrence North's Azavier Robinson, to help the Indiana All-Stars breathe a little easier on their way to a 98-89 victory. 'It's just really being confident in the work I put in to just knock it down,' Cooper said. Indiana All-Stars & softball semistate? 'Just trying to be in both places and give my all' IndyStar Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins also had a big second half, scoring 13 of his game-high 24 points to lead the Indiana All-Stars its 44th victory in the past 51 games in the series. Indiana leads the all-time series, which dates to 1940, by a count of 106-46. Cooper sparked a much-needed run for Indiana. 'He's won a state championship, so he knows how to win,' Indiana All-Stars coach Marc Urban (Chesterton) said of Cooper. 'I thought we made the extra pass on those shots where he was stepping in and shooting wide-open 3s. And he made big-time plays. That's why he's an Indiana All-Star and why he's going to have a really successful career at Wright State.' Indiana had its hands full with Kentucky's highly touted Malachi Moreno, a 7-1 incoming Kentucky freshman who played AAU basketball with Mullins on Indiana Elite. Moreno, who will not play in the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots and played all but 54 seconds. 'I'm usually seeing him in the same uniform as me,' said Mullins, who will leave for UConn on Monday. 'But there's nothing personal. We were going up the court and chatting and laughing like we were doing in AAU. I'm excited to see what he does at Kentucky, but tonight was fun going against him.' Mullins helped spark the second-half run with a transition 3-pointer, though it seemed like every time Indiana would make a move, Kentucky would have a counter. Vince Dawson, a Morehead State recruit who finished with 21 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the 3-point line, drilled a 3 put Kentucky up eight with 11 minutes left. When Jeffersonville's 6-9 Tre Singleton picked up his fourth foul with 10:26 left, it brought back memories of Mr. Basketball Flory Bidunga fouling out on a technical foul in last year's loss at Kentucky. But Indiana got hot at the right time. 'We had a brutal loss on Wednesday night (against the Junior All-Stars),' Mullins said of the 117-114 loss on his home floor at Greenfield-Central. 'But that run we had at the end of the game just sparked the bench, the players and coaches. We needed that. We made that run and we weren't looking back.' Cooper finished with 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the 3-point line. Singleton, his teammate on the Jeffersonville Class 4A state champions, went for 14 points and four rebounds, but was limited to 24 minutes because of foul trouble. His bucket with 3 minutes left pushed Indiana's lead to 86-80 and Kentucky never got any closer. Ben Davis' Zackery added 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals. Fishers' Justin Kirby had nine points and four rebounds and the Butler-bound Robinson had eight points, five rebounds and two assists. Mullins finished 10-for-18 from the floor and had six rebounds and two assists. 'He's incredibly talented, as a high IQ and he's a great kid,' Urban said of Mullins. 'It's been fun to get to know him. I know he was frustrated missing those first couple but he just kept sticking with it and that one he hit in transition was big. He made Mr. Basketball plays. He demands so much attention and he opens things up for other people, but he's still able to be efficient.' Indiana played without Cathedral's Brady Koehler. The Notre Dame recruit was on the bench but not in uniform. It was the first win in Kentucky since 2022 for Indiana, which lost 94-90 in Owensboro two years ago and 103-82 in Lexington last year. 'There's nowhere else you'd rather do it than Gainbridge Fieldhouse,' Mullins said. 'They are going to have a little bit different team without Malachi playing but we're not going to take anything for granted. We're going to come out and play like we did tonight and I think we'll be good tomorrow.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
How Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby are already becoming central to the Sparks offense
After blowing a double-digit halftime lead on Sunday, the Sparks lost to the Phoenix Mercury in a close contest late, falling to 2-6 on the season. The absence of key rotational players highlights this rough start, but their two star players in Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby have suited up for every game. Their screen game is the foundation of the current offense and against the Mercury, it showed flashes of what it could be while revealing key areas for improvement. Advertisement In her first season with the Sparks, Plum is averaging 22.9 points, 4.8 assists, 2.5 steals on 37% shooting on 3-pointers. She leads the team in points, assists, steals and 3-pointers made. Hamby has picked up right where she left off from her All-Star season a year ago with 17.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and two steals per game. They both put up productive numbers, but how they collaborate determines the team's success. Their actions typically begin at the top of the key, with Plum setting a back screen before then receiving the ball on a handoff. Watch below as Plum drives off the screen, compromising the defense, which leads to an open three for Odyssey Sims. Here's another, this time with a pocket pass by Plum to Hamby on the roll. Notice how the timing is still off, as Hamby holds the screen a second too long. Being out of sync allows for the defender to recover back and contest, while the rest of the defense is never forced into rotation. Even with the miss above, this middle pick and roll action should breed good offense in the future. When Plum forces the opposite big to engage, it gets Hamby a downhill attack to the rim. Advertisement Before the game, Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts spoke on their relationship. 'They obviously have on-the-court chemistry together,' Roberts said. 'They look for each other out there which is great. I think both of them are going to have to adjust a little bit to where, because they are the other team's defensive focus, they're going to have to get other people involved in those pick and rolls too. 'What's happening now is everyone's collapsing, and so I think the more we can get other players involved in that action, off of rotation, it's going to open things up for them in the future.' A few ways they've opened the playbook is using each other to leverage their strengths. Plum was just 4-19 from the field and 2-10 on 3-pointers against the Mercury. One of her two makes from downtown came off using Hamby's screen, shown below. The defender attempts to cheat under and she burns her from downtown. In another example shown below, Hamby uses a keep action where a screener fakes the hand off to the guard and attacks the defense themselves. This action leverages the unique ball-handling ability of Hamby and takes advantage of Plum being a threat as a shooter. The above play doesn't result in points, as Hamby is denied at the rim, but these actions are ones the Sparks will need going forward. The timing on screens, when to cut off of each other and what spots they like the basketball will need time and reps on the floor, especially against a solid defense. Advertisement Even with the up and down play, they created good looks in the second half like the one below, but just couldn't convert. Plum comes off the handoff from Hamby, drives in the lane while the defense tags the roll. This opens up the open three for Emma Cannon, who can't convert. Following the loss, Plum spoke on their screen game : 'I don't think we connected that well tonight,' said Plum. 'I got to go back and watch the film. Sometimes you're not seeing it in the game and you go back and it makes sense. Credit to Phoenix, they do a good job of dropping to the level of the ball, tagging on the roller. In the first half we were in and out for three. Second half I still feel like we moved the ball well, we just couldn't make shots.' Advertisement In the first half, the Sparks were 8-20 from 3-point then went 0-15 in the second half against the third-ranked defense in the league. It was a miserable shooting performance to close it out, leaving more attention on the two stars against a physical Mercury defense. Per WNBA's tracking data, lineups with Hamby and Plum are neutral 0.4 net rating, a slight jump from the team's overall -2.6 net rating, but not good enough to contend nightly. It's only eight games so far for the duo, with a lot of time left for their connection and timing to improve. The faster they do, the quicker the Sparks can climb the standings. You can follow Raj on Twitter at @RajChipalu. Advertisement More from
