Category: Atlanta Braves

FOX News responded to President Trump’s decision to cancel the Eagles’ White House visit scheduled for Tuesday by running clips of Eagles players kneeling in prayer while a newscaster discussed the President’s aversion to players kneeling during the playing of the national anthem.

No Eagles players knelt during the playing of the anthem during the 2017 regular season or postseason, however, and that led to angry reactions from Chris Long and Zach Ertz about the network’s apparent attempt to suggest otherwise during their report.

During our report about President Trump canceling the Philadelphia Eagles trip to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win, we showed unrelated footage of players kneeling in prayer. To clarify, no members of the team knelt in protest during the national anthem throughout regular or postseason last year. We apologize for the error.

The Steelers are transitioning with a new offensive coordinator, as Randy Fichtner was promoted from quarterbacks coach to replace Todd Haley, whose contract wasn’t renewed after the 2017 season.

While extra time in the offensive scheme might prove beneficial for Jones, Dobbs and Rudolph, the team’s established starter doesn’t believe he’ll require too much adjusting when considering Fichtner’s previous post.

If Coach asked me to be here every day, I would be here every day, but they haven’t asked me to do that, Roethlisberger said. I’ve worked with Randy for eight years now, so it’s not like he’s a new guy just coming in that work is necessary. So, we’ve got a lot of same guys back on offense and a lot of the stuff is plays that we’ve been doing before a lot of guys got here, that I’ve been doing a long time.

Outside of the voluntary nature of OTAs, the Steelers starting quarterback raised another valid point on the offseason workout program, where players are practicing without pads and in no-contact situations.

NFL teams typically utilize OTAs to get players back on the field for conditioning, familiarization and installation periods, among other areas. And Roethlisberger points out the true evaluations don’t begin until training camp.

The chart below breaks down all 30 major-league teams’ bullpens in terms of relievers’ proximity to the closer role, not their overall fantasy value. Teams are broken down by division.

CLOSER is either that team’s officially designated closer, or the pitcher most likely to get the team’s next save chance. NEXT IN LINE is the pitcher next-most likely to take over if something happens to the closer, or the one who might get any save chances on the closer’s nights off. NOTES beneath each division’s chart provide detail on teams’ closer situations that might have an unusual wrinkle, like an injury to the typical closer requiring a short term fill-in, or a committee situation.

NBC10 Philadelphia reporter Tim Furlong, who covered the event, said he couldn’t find one person that could even name the team’s starting quarterback.

He also reported that he found only one person at the event wearing Eagles gear.

Springer’s go-ahead single landed just in front of a sprinting Joey Gallo in left field against Jose Leclerc (1-2) after Guzman’s RBI single had pulled Texas even in the fifth.

According to research from the Rangers, only two other pitching staffs have combined to hit five batters in a game since 2002. Both were in 2017: San Diego against St. Louis and Toronto against Atlanta. In baseball-reference.com archives dating to 1908, the 2001 Angels were the only other team to win a game after hitting at least five batters.

The last AL pitcher to hit four batters in a game was Orlando Hernandez with the Chicago White Sox in 2005. Morton now shares the franchise record with the late Darryl Kile, who hit four against St. Louis in 1996. … Texas’ Jurickson Profar was hit twice in a game for the first time in his career. … Three of Houston’s walks went to Choo, who reached base in his 25th straight game to extend his majors-leading streak. … The Rangers have twice stranded 17 runners in a nine-inning game, most recently in 2007.

Astros: SS Carlos Correa missed a third straight game with soreness on his right side. Manager A.J. Hinch said Correa could be available Sunday if he doesn’t start, and the club is optimistic he will be ready after an off day Monday.

Wide receiver Trey Quinn became the latest player to get the Mr. Irrelevant label when he became the final pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, which lead him to say that he plans to be the most relevant player ever with that tag.

Hopefully, he doesn’t put too much pressure on himself. If he doesn’t, I think we’ll have a great Zeke.

While the Cowboys refer to their offense as Dak friendly, Elliott is a quarterback’s best friend. Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said Elliott is going to touch the ball a lot this season.

Can Manziel be that player? Jones thinks so. And you might be surprised to know that in his final college season, Manziel led all qualified players in completion percentage on throws from the pocket (73.5). But first, Manziel will have to master a set of rules and alternate structures that have tripped up many American quarterbacks north of the border.

During a phone conversation last week, Reilly detailed five differences quarterbacks have to adjust to while transitioning to the CFL. Here are those five differences in his words:

Reilly’s breakdown: Having 12 guys on offense, that sounds great. OK, I get an extra receiver. But the additional guy defensively allows defensive coordinators to draw up so many different coverages that you don’t even see in the States. There are essentially three safeties. When you get an extra guy out there, they can bring pressures that they can’t bring in the States. They can drop into certain zone coverages and things like that.

I want to have certainty in regards to the upcoming years of my career. I’m going to continue to work my craft and put in work so that I can add to the team and give us the best chance to win. I hope my teammates understand where I’m coming from I believe this is the right thing to do.

Dez Bryant isn’t having any second thoughts about his decision to pass on Baltimore.

The free-agent wide receiver took to Twitter on Tuesday to express that he has no regrets about turning down an offer to join the Ravens.

“I think that we’ve listened to a lot of different viewpoints, including our fans, over the last year. And I think this policy attempts to come out in a place where we respected everybody’s point of view in this as best we could.”

Dorsett, whom the Patriots acquired from the Colts in the Jacoby Brissett deal, appeared in 15 games for New England last season and caught 12 passes for 194 yards and no touchdowns.

That also means the bar for the Panthers has been set higher, and under Tepper, there’s no room for relapse. The Falcons are the latest NFC South team to go the Super Bowl, on the heels of the Panthers in 2016. The teams were joined in the playoffs by the Saints in 2017. After jumping Atlanta and Carolina for last season’s division title, New Orleans will be a popular NFC title pick in 2018.

The Panthers, however, have further reloaded their offense around a now fully healthy Newton. They have retooled their defense to better support Kuechly. They feel great about having Norv Turner as their new offensive coordinator, and they don’t think there will be a drop-off with Eric Washington becoming their third defensive coordinator in as many seasons.

The allegations surrounding Richardson, plus the fallout that led to him putting the team up for sale, formed a cloud hanging over all the optimism. Tepper’s purchase of the Panthers has brought back that sense of positive to match the other aspects of their offseason.