MAJOR LEAGUES
Felix Hernandez has returned to the Seattle Mariners with the same diamond studs sparkling in his ear lobes, plus a little more hardware — his American League Cy Young award.
As part of the Mariners’ pre-spring training news conference on Thursday, Seattle brought out the one bright spot from an otherwise miserable season last year — its young right-handed star.
Hernandez, who was dubbed “King Felix” after he arrived in Major League Baseball, captured his first Cy Young award despite finishing the season with a marginal 13-12 record. He dominated nearly every other pitching statistic in the game.
“For like two months, I was like really, Cy Young?” Hernandez said. “It means a lot to me. I worked hard for this, but it’s not enough. This year I’m going to go out and do my best, I’m going to be the same guy, the same pitcher and I’m going to give a chance for my team to win the game.”
He spent most of the offseason in his native Venezuela, where he became just the second pitcher from that country to win the award, joining Johan Santana. The award brought an instant bump in his celebrity and made scheduling a challenge.
“Back in Venezuela it was crazy. I did a lot of interviews, a lot of stuff,” Hernandez said. “I had to find time to work, to go to the weight room, to play catch, but I figured it out.”
He returns to a franchise that’s done a complete 180 from this time a year ago when they were a popular pick to contend for a division title.
Last year, at the same event, the team broke out its slogan of “Believe Big,” believing the American League West was vulnerable and the Mariners might finally reach the postseason for the first time since 2001.
Of course, the Mariners collapsed, losing more than 101 games for the second time in three seasons.
“Certainly, last year was a disappointing year,” General manager Jack Zduriencik said. “There were issues, things that disappointed all of us. Certainly disappointed me, but that’s behind us and we’re moving forward.”
There might not be a better arm in baseball to move forward with than Hernandez. He’s won 32 games the past two seasons, struck out more than 200 batters and pitched more than 200 innings in each of those years.
Asked what he could improve on now, Hernandez paused, rubbed his chin and said: “I don’t know. That’s a good question.”
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,