BASEBALL
Foul ball creates foul mood
A Taiwanese baseball fan got himself in hot water with his wife when he dropped their young daughter into the stadium seats in front of him in a bungled attempt to catch a foul ball during a televised game. The man, identified only by his surname, Bai, reached for the foul pop from his upper deck seat while holding the toddler in one arm during last week’s game between the Brother Elephants and the Lamigo Monkeys at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. The ball bounded off Bai’s other arm as he lurched forward and let go of his child. “I was going to catch the ball using one hand, but I ended up lifting both hands and dropped my daughter,” he said later. The girl was not badly hurt, but her mother was clearly not amused, as shown in TV coverage of the game that has generated tens of thousands of clicks online. She shot her husband a piercing look of anger and scolded him. Afterward, she made it clear to reporters that he’d be in trouble for a while. “I am still upset at him because I think he wanted to catch the ball so badly that he dropped his own daughter,” she said.
AUSSIE RULES
Geelong beat Magpies
Geelong kicked the first goal after 10 seconds and withheld numerous -Collingwood comeback attempts to beat the Magpies 18.11 (119) to 12.9 (81) in the Australian Football League championship in Melbourne yesterday. A sellout Australian rules football crowd of 100,000 was expected for the grand final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Despite intermittent rain, the prediction wasn’t far off — 99,537 watched as the Cats prevented Collingwood from winning their second consecutive title and tie Carlton and Essendon for league championship titles at 16. It was Geelong’s ninth title overall and third in five years, having won previous league “flags” in 2007 and 2009. Collingwood led by three points at halftime, but Geelong kicked five goals in the third quarter to lead by seven going into the fourth quarter, which it dominated to give Chris Scott a championship in his first season as coach. The loss was a disappointing end to Mick Malthouse’s 28-year career as an AFL coach. He led Collingwood to three previous grand finals before winning last year’s title with the Magpies. Geelong forward Steve Johnson kicked four goals, while forward Tom Hawkins and midfielder Jimmy Bartel, who was a member of the 2007 and 2009 Geelong championship sides, had three each. Travis Cloke kicked three early goals for Collingwood to keep the Magpies in the match early.
SOCCER
Stuttgart take fourth place
Dutchman Khalid Boulahrouz scored and set up another to help VfB Stuttgart win 2-0 at Kaiserslautern in Berlin on Friday and lift them up to fourth place in the Bundesliga. German forward Cacau tapped in Boulahrouz’s low cross seven minutes after the restart for his third goal of the season before the rugged defender added another with a deflected shot. The win took Bruno Labaddia’s team to 13 points from eight games, five behind leaders Bayern Munich. Kaiserslautern are just above the drop zone on five points. The hosts, who have won only once this season, came close in the first half with captain Christian Tiffert failing to beat Stuttgart keeper Sven Ulreich from close range and Richard Sukuta-Pasu firing wide. Israeli forward Itay Schechter then squandered three golden opportunities in the second half, missing from point blank range on each occasion.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
Wrexham on Monday were back in the driver’s seat for promotion from English third-tier soccer after a crunch 2-1 win over Blackpool. The road win lifted Wrexham back into League One’s top two spots for automatic promotion. After a loss by third-placed Wycombe Wanderers, Wrexham were two points above them with two rounds to go. Birmingham City have already clinched the league title. Celebrity owner Rob McElhenney was among the 2,000 Wrexham supporters in the away end to see their side break the deadlock on the hour mark. James McClean’s opening score through a crowded box was doubled three minutes later by Ollie Rathbone.
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