Can Jhoan Duran's 100 mph fastball and Harrison Bader's defense lead Phillies to a World Series?
Bader saw enough to know the Phillies might have finally landed the closer that can put them over the top and win the franchise's first World Series title since 2008.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Barcelona opens disciplinary proceeding against Ter Stegen for refusing to sign a medical report
MADRID (AP) — Barcelona has opened a disciplinary proceeding against Marc-André ter Stegen saying the goalkeeper refused to sign a medical report about his back injury, according to a person with knowledge of the proceeding. The person who spoke to the The Associated Press on Tuesday did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly. The club needed Ter Stegen to sign the report so it could be sent to the Spanish league in order to clear some salary-cap space and more easily register other players without breaching financial fair play rules. But the club and the goalkeeper are at odds about the recovery time for the surgery that took place last week to deal with recurring lower back ailments. Ter Stegen said ahead of the surgery that the recovery time would be about three months. The club did not give an official timetable for the recovery process, saying only that the operation was 'successful' and that 'his recovery will determine when he can return.' Depending on the length of the recovery process, Barcelona could clear a percentage of Ter Stegen's salary from its cap, making more room to add other players to the squad. The club signed Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García in June. Its other goalkeepers are veteran Wojciech Szczęsny and Iñaki Peña. The league has to evaluate the report before approving the official time of recovery. Ter Stegen, one of the team's captains, did not immediately speak publicly after Barcelona said it opened the disciplinary proceeding. He and the club had been expected to meet to discuss the situation in the coming days. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. The 33-year-old German goalkeeper missed nearly all of last season because of a tendon rupture in his knee, and in 2023 he missed about two months because of another back operation. Peña and the 35-year-old Szczęsny started in place of Ter Stegen during his knee injury. It wasn't clear what type of sanction Ter Stegen was facing for not signing the report. Barcelona, the defending Spanish league champion, arrived back in Spain on Tuesday after completing a preseason tour in Asia. ___ AP soccer:
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
NFL longevity demands wisdom as much as determination and talent. These seasoned guys can explain
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Harrison Smith, just like anyone approaching middle age, has learned to accept the realities of getting older. The joints, for one, don't quite move as effortlessly as they once did. So that's where the 14th-year free safety for the Minnesota Vikings has aimed his recent training regimens, customizing resistance exercises to simulate the stress that NFL games can place on critical areas of the body. Reaching at full extension to make a tackle at full speed puts the arm muscles and tendons in a vulnerable position. The more fluidly the elbow can bend, the better. 'All the strength work in the world isn't really going to translate to real strength on the field if your joints don't have the range they once did, especially range under load,' Smith said. 'I've come up with different ways to work out that aren't necessarily just the traditional banging weights around. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but if you don't have your range ready, it's kind of almost counterproductive.' In a sport with notoriously short careers, as salary cap constraints perpetually conspire with constant injury risk and overall physical decline, the fountain of youth can seem like a unicorn. Smith's approach provides some valuable clues for finding the most vital source: wisdom. 'When you meet Harrison Smith, right away you understand why he might be the type of person to defy odds, and he's done nothing short of convincing us that over these few years,' Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. The sturdy 30 From a famous quarterback like Aaron Rodgers dropping back in the pocket to a steady six-time Pro Bowl pick like Smith patrolling the secondary, the young man's league still has some space for gray hair. But sticking around takes more than just determination and talent. 'I feel great, actually. I don't feel like a 37-year-old. Not sure what they're supposed to feel like, but I feel a little younger,' San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams said at the beginning of training camp. 'As we get older, things start to change. I think you've got to pay a little bit more attention to what you put in your body, how you treat your body. Moreso than just being a football player, it's just a natural maturation of a human being. When you get older you can't do the same things you did when you were 22.' According to an Associated Press review of the 90-man rosters across the league last week, there are 30 players currently with an NFL club who were born in the 1980s. That's barely 1%. Not only has Generation X been long gone from the game, once Tom Brady retired in 2023, but Millennials are already in the minority. Rodgers, of course, is the oldest active player at 41, followed by New York Jets kicker Nick Folk (40) and Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (40). The sturdy 30 includes six long snappers, two punters and two kickers, plus nine quarterbacks — the positions that usually produce the longest-lasting players. 'You have to evolve every single year,' Kansas City Chiefs tight Travis Kelce said. Smith is the lone defensive back. Kelce is the only offensive skill-position player who's not a quarterback. Williams and Arizona Cardinals left tackle Kelvin Beachum, now a backup, are the offensive linemen. Demario Davis of the New Orleans Saints and Nick Bellore of the Washington Commanders, who plays almost exclusively on special teams, are the linebackers. Then there's a well-decorated group of five defensive linemen: Calais Campbell (Arizona Cardinals), Cameron Heyward (Pittsburgh Steelers), John Jenkins (Baltimore Ravens), Cameron Jordan (New Orleans Saints) and Von Miller (Washington Commanders). 'I still feel great. I feel like I can go out there and dominate,' said Campbell, who returned this year to his original team, the Cardinals. 'I wish I had a magic formula. I think I've just been blessed. God's given me a lot of blessings to play this game I love.' Grinding it out The list has been trimmed, naturally, from last season. Nine players — tight end Marcedes Lewis, kickers Matt Prater, Justin Tucker and Greg Zuerlein, long snappers Jake McQuaide and Matt Overton, safety Kareem Jackson, defensive end Jerry Hughes and defensive tackle Linval Joseph — who logged time on the field in 2024 have not signed with a team this year. Their peers still grinding through summer practices fully realize they'll be permanently on the sideline sooner than later. 'I start a lot earlier doing my training. Just listen to my body when I need to take a rest,' Heyward said. 'But it's more just trying to get stronger as soon as possible after the season. Less time to recover, but recovering through the process.' Mastering the art of recovery, forever a moving target, is a primary focus. Moving around on Mondays after games can be a chore, but figuring out how to maximize those summer strength and conditioning sessions for a mid-30s player is also a challenge. Smith, a soft-spoken leader who'd much rather have a deep locker-room conversation about life in professional football than give the defense a rah-rah pregame speech, fields more questions from young players about recovery than any other topic. 'Sometimes you just grind it out and you don't feel good, and that's how it is,' said Smith, who also mixes in pickup basketball with his offseason work in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Pride and perspective are part of the NFL roadmap for longevity, too. Heyward's oldest son, 9-year-old Callen, has spent a few nights with him in his dorm room. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. 'There's a hunger there that I know I'm in a rare group that gets to see year 15, but it's something I constantly think about,' Heyward said. 'There's things I want to check off before I hang them up, and I haven't reached those goals yet.' ___ AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow and AP Sports Writers David Brandt, Will Graves, Brett Martel, Noah Trister and David Skretta contributed. ___ AP NFL:
Canada News.Net
5 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Kyle Schwarber, Phillies hope to tee off on Orioles again
(Photo credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images) With 50 games remaining in the regular season, Kyle Schwarber is entering the National League MVP conversation. Fresh off his latest offensive masterpiece, Schwarber hopes to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to another win over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. In the series opener on Monday, Schwarber hit a two-run homer early in the contest and then belted a grand slam to cap an eight-run sixth inning as the hosts prevailed 13-3. He now leads the NL in homers (40) and RBIs (94), and his .975 OPS ranks second behind Shohei Ohtani's .978. 'He's had a great year,' Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Schwarber. 'He really has -- the home runs, the RBIs, the big hits he's had for us, the on-base (percentage). He's had a great year. ... I can understand why everybody loves him, because I do, too.' Four other Philadelphia players homered in the Monday contest: Bryce Harper, Harrison Bader, Edmundo Sosa and Weston Wilson. In all, the power display helped the Phillies win for the fourth time in six games. Meanwhile, the Orioles have lost four of their past five outings. They received home runs from Tyler O'Neill and Jordan Westburg early in the Monday matchup, but starter Cade Povich and three relievers combined to allow 12 unanswered runs to close out the contest. 'I thought we competed well the first five innings,' said Tony Mansolino, Baltimore's interim manager. 'Once Povich came out of the game -- he threw the ball incredibly well -- but once he came out of the game, we just weren't able to give our hitters a chance to have competitive at-bats.' On Tuesday, Philadelphia will turn to Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.82 ERA), who had a 3.80 ERA in five appearances (four starts) during July but did not have a win to show for it. He gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings in a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. 'He was up in the zone,' Thomson said after the Phillies lost that game 9-3. 'He gave up a lot of (hard hits) today, but he worked through it. ... He gave us a chance to win the ballgame.' Walker has made 10 career starts against Baltimore, posting a 4-2 record with a 2.77 ERA. He will be opposed by Dean Kremer (8-7, 4.27), who has made one lifetime start against the Phillies. Back in 2023, the right-hander limited Philadelphia to one run and three hits over seven innings. More recently, Kremer allowed three runs and six hits over five innings in a no-decision against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. After the Orioles dropped that contest 9-8, Mansolino noted the effect of the heat on both starting pitchers, including Kremer, who has not absorbed a loss in any of his past eight starts. 'He was pretty red-faced as he came in,' Mansolino said, 'but he was fighting it just a tick today.' Kremer certainly could use some offensive support from the likes of O'Neill, who has homered in five of his past eight games, and Westburg, who is 13-for-31 (.419) over his past seven games.
