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Mets Notebook: Can Mets find production against lefty pitching?

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

MIAMI — Last season, the Mets hit .246 against left-handed pitching. It was neither good nor bad, it was exactly in the middle, the 15th-best mark in the league. Or the 15th-worst mark, if you’re more of a glass-half-empty type of person. The .717 OPS was also toward the bottom half of the league.The struggles against southpaw pitching were well-documented last season and alarm bells sounded all over again this weekend after the Mets managed only two hits off Miami Marlins left-hander Jesus Luzardo on Friday night in a 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins at loanDeport Park. They answered some questions over the weekend with two wins against lefties, but this particular storyline might be one that follows the Mets through the early part of the season if the trend continues.The Mets possess a very balanced lineup but the 2023 lineup is almost identical to the 2022 lineup. The club made a few tweaks to try and combat this problem. Right-handed DH Darin Ruf is no longer on the Maj...

Column: Will Chicago Cubs ask starters to go longer this year? Despite short debut, Jameson Taillon says ‘innings are sexy again.’

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

Jameson Taillon has a theory on the evolution of starting pitching.“Innings are making a little bit of a comeback,” the Chicago Cubs starter recently told me. “I think innings are kind of sexy again.”Well, it all depends on your definition of sexy.If Taillon is correct, it means more starters lasting later in games before giving way to the parade of relievers and the pendulum swinging back to the pre-analytics era.But we’re not quite there yet, and neither was Taillon in his Cubs debut Sunday. The team’s most prominent free-agent pitcher since Yu Darvish lasted only four innings in a 9-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers before 33,266 at Wrigley Field.Taillon wasn’t particularly sharp but didn’t think it was “anything too major.” Could it have been the added adrenaline of making his first start with a new team?“Yeah, maybe — there’s definitely some extra adrenaline,” he said. “But at this stage of ...

Seniors shoot it out in Mass-Connecticut game

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

FRAMINGHAM – Duxbury boys hockey coach Mike Flaherty has been a part of some special games coaching in the CT/MA Cross-Border All-Star Challenge. He admits that probably none will ever top the opportunity he received when he coached his son twice in years past.The most exciting game is a whole different story, though, and an epic comeback in the CT/MA Senior All-Star Game Sunday afternoon at Loring Arena takes the cake by far.After forcing a shootout with a late, three-goal rally in the first year the decade-old challenge took place in Mass., the home team finished off a 10-9 win when Charlie DiMartino (Braintree) and Aidan Brazel (Hingham) each tallied shootout scores as Wellesley goalie Reagan O’Neill stymied both Connecticut attempts in extra time. Brazel (two goals, two assists) proved exceptionally clutch by assisting on Frank DeTraglia’s (Lincoln-Sudbury) game-tying goal before scoring to give MA a brief 9-8 lead with 2:18 to go, eventually earning the team’s MVP honors with h...

Bay State hosts, wins All-Star hockey game

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

FRAMINGHAM — The annual Connecticut/Massachusetts Cross-Border High School Hockey All-Star Challenge has always provided some of the top athletes in New England an opportunity to play on a grand stage. For the past 10 years however, the showcase had always been held in the Constitution State.On Sunday, the Bay State had its first crack at hosting the events, and sent many of its fans home happy in the process. St. John’s (Shrewsbury) standout Luke Gerardi registered a hat trick, as Massachusetts won the sophomore/junior game in convincing fashion with a 6-2 drubbing.“It’s obviously a privilege to be here in the first place,” said Gerardi. “It’s amazing to do what I did. I just want to thank my coaches for nominating me, and giving me this opportunity.”It only took a few moments for Gerardi to leave a lasting impression, as he forced a turnover off a forecheck. The St. John’s junior spotted Central Catholic’s Tyler Hamilton racing up ice, and fed his teammate the puck. Like a pinball...

DiZoglio finds more examples of past legislative audits

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

State Auditor Diana DiZoglio said Sunday that auditing the legislature, an effort currently at the center of a standoff between Bacon Hill lawmakers and her office, is not such an unusual task after all.“We’ve been conducting a lot more research recently and I have here at least seven other audits that, in our research that we’ve been conducting in recent weeks…we’ve been able to find other times when the state Legislature has indeed been audited,” Auditor Diana DiZoglio said Sunday.During a live appearance with WCVB’s Sharman Sacchetti and Ed Harding, the state Auditor presented the hosts with a stack of folders she said her staff identified as proof her office has historically exercised oversight of the Legislature.“So this idea that there is not precedent — there most certainly is,” she said.DiZoglio, true to a long standing campaign promise, announced on March 7 that her office was in the midst of conducting an audit of the Legislature which she hoped legislative lea...

'Glimmer of hope': Twin Amur leopards born at San Diego Zoo

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The population of the world's most endangered big cat species has grown by a set of twins, born at the San Diego Zoo.The new cubs are Amur leopards, an Asian species of big cat that has fewer than 300 left on Earth, according to the Zoo. "A birth of twins is exceptional, no matter the species," the Zoo wrote in a press release. "However, when those twins are Amur leopards... the births are especially significant." Famous surfing & therapy dog makes ‘journey to the Rainbow Bridge’ The cubs have yet to be named, but they have left the birthing den with their mother, Satka, and are roaming about their enclosure. According to the Zoo, the wildlife care specialists took a hands-off approach to the birth of the twins, allowing them to bond and learn from their mother. Zoo staff closely monitored the cubs through a remote camera system to analyze their behaviors and document the cubs' development.“We are absolutely thrilled with the progres...

Man caught attempting to steal a tortoise in Balboa Park

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- An elderly man was caught attempting to steal a tortoise from an exhibit hosted by the San Diego Turtle & Tortoise Society in Balboa Park Saturday morning.San Diego police responded to the scene at one of the community rooms in Balboa Park's Casa del Prado, after receiving reports of a man trying to take one of the tortoises on display at an adoption event held by the society.One of the workers at the event, Erick Alara, said he saw the man enter the adoption event with a shoulder bag. 2 arrested at DUI checkpoint in Chula Vista While he had his back turned, Alara said he believed the man attempted to grab one of the tortoises to put in his bag. When Alara turned around, he saw the man with his hand in the bag."I turned back to see him and he had his hand in his backpack," he said. "I counted the tortoises and we were one off, so I knew he had taken it."Alara said his brother-in-law confronted him, prompting the man to pull the tortoise out of his bag to hand bac...

Put down the cookie dough, CDC warns amid salmonella outbreak affecting multiple states

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - A salmonella outbreak that has sickened people in 11 states is renewing a call from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: stop eating raw cookie dough. The agency confirmed last week it has launched an investigation into the outbreak, noting 12 illnesses have been reported. Three individuals have required hospitalization. "The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses," the CDC warned. So far, these states have each reported one case of an individual being infected with the salmonella outbreak strain: California, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia. Illinois has reported two cases. CDC investigators say illnesses were confirmed between early December 2022 and mid-February 2023. It takes up to a month to determine if someone who falls ill is part of an outbreak, the agency explains. CDC warns...

Timberwolves deliver worst loss of year, falling to tanking Trail Blazers

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

Portland entered Sunday’s matinee in Minneapolis as a loser of five straight games. Four of those losses had come by 24-plus points.The Blazers were sans players like Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic, who have been put on ice as Portland attempts to work its way up the NBA draft order.The Blazers were dealt a crushing blow amid that pursuit Sunday, as they topped Minnesota 107-105. In a season in which the Timberwolves have dropped a number of head-scratching games against cellar-dwellers, this one easily took the cake.“It’s a game at home against a team that shut down their best players. For us it was an opportunity really to keep getting better, to work on our habits and, yeah, get a win,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “So it’s definitely a tough loss. I’m not happy with the way I played and I’m not happy with the way we played as a team.”Minnesota dropped to 5-10 this season against the teams cu...

After minor setback, Wild set sights on winning Western Conference

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:16 GMT

Wild coach Dean Evason had some theories as to why his players looked lethargic on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.Maybe it was the fact that the Wild were fresh off an emotional win over the rival Colorado Avalanche. Maybe it was the fact that beloved winger Mason Shaw left the game with what appeared to be a very serious injury. Maybe it was the fact that the Vegas Golden Knights are also a good team.Or?“Maybe it’s Vegas,” Evason said while seemingly acknowledging that a few nights in Sin City might have taken their toll. “We didn’t have the pop that we’ve had for awhile now.”That resulted in a rare blemish for the Wild, who suffered a 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights. After a strong start during which the Wild controlled the pace, they struggled to maintain that energy level for the full 60 minutes.“We had a really strong game (against the Avalanche) and we wanted to back that up,” Marcus Foligno said. “We just didn’...