Trea Turner laughed as he pointed out that, no, his mom had not booed him again as she did from home during a game last month even as his numbers dipped more into uh-oh than All-Star territory.
Turner stuck with his process even as some Phillies fans grumbled they might have been stuck with a free-agent bust only two months into a US$300 million, 11-year free-agent contract.
Hang tight.
Photo: AP
Turner might just be getting started — just as the Phillies are warming up again in June as they did last season when they burst out of an early-season funk and rode the hot streak all the way to the World Series.
Turner on Monday homered twice for the first time with the Phillies, singled twice and knocked in three runs to lead the Phillies to an 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.
“When he’s getting his pitches, and he’s not missing, it’s pretty fun to watch,” Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola said.
Turner bumped his average to .243, but is not yet ready to stake one breakout game as the turning point of his season.
Yet, there are signs Turner is hitting his way back into elite form.
“I think it’s physical,” Turner said. “I think my swing wasn’t where it needed to be.”
He came to that conclusion a few days ago after the team’s analytics department and hitting coach Kevin Long “found something” that was out of whack in the shortstop’s swing.
Like so many changes in a baseball stance, the changes were not necessarily noticeable to the naked eye.
The results? Well, Turner’s first multi-homer game since July last year caught every baseball fan’s eye.
“Just something to do with kind of my back hip and knee,” Turner said. “It’s hard to visually see things, but with the technology now, they can tell you to a degree what things are positioned. It’s kind of something I thought in the past, but maybe overlooked because on video it looks the same. When you use technology, you can kind of break it down a little better.”
“I’m not scared to try anything,” he said. “I’ll go stand on my head up there. I don’t care what it looks like. It’s just about getting the job done.”
Elsewhere, the Reds blanked the Brewers 2-0, the Rangers edged the Cardinals 4-3, the Rays stung the Red Sox 4-1, the Marlins mastered the Royals 9-6, the Pirates pipped the Athletics 5-4, the Astros battered the Blue Jays 11-4 and the Padres crushed the Cubs 5-0.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was