Blog

9:00 AM ET Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment This started with a crush on Starling Marte. Marte is an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates and my favorite baseball player to watch. He’s fast enough to have stolen 47 bases last year, third-most in the majors. His arm is one of the best in the game, capable of firing 101 mph bullets from the outfield. He is strong…

Over the past few days, you might have seen tweeted pictures of MLB stars holding a baseball bat with barbed wire wrapped around it. It’s a fairly brilliant tie-in for the AMC TV show The Walking Dead, which recently had its midseason premiere. A number of players were seen holding replicas of Lucille, the name of the bat that’s used by the supremely terrifying Negan. (Yes, the bat has a…

Prep baseball players to watch Top pitchers Tanner Bibee; Mission Viejo; Sr.; Cal State Fullerton signee had 1.61 ERA Jesse Bergin; Harvard-Westlake; Jr.; shut out JSerra in DI semifinals Hans Crouse; Dana Hills, Sr.; first-round draft pick in the making Hagen Danner; Huntington Beach; Sr.; he’s healthy and throwing strikes Jeremiah Estrada; Palm Desert; Sr.; UCLA signee was 10-3 with 1.00 ERA Chase Farrell; Valencia; Sr.; UCLA signee made dramatic improvement…

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The same high-caliber pitching that led South Carolina baseball to wins Friday and Saturday was present again at Founders Park on Sunday. But the hitting that accounted for 22 hits — many of them timely — through two games was nowhere to be seen. The Gamecocks (2-1) recorded only four hits and couldn’t bring a runner around, losing 1-0 to UNC Greensboro in Sunday’s series finale. “Coming…

North Carolina Tar Heels forward Isaiah Hicks (4) dunks the ball during the second half against the Virginia Cavaliers at Dean E. Smith Center. The Tar Heels won 65-41.(Photo: Rob Kinnan, USA TODAY Sports) North Carolina, currently leading the country’s deepest conference (ahem, 13 of 15 teams considered for tourney bids), has vaulted to one of the top four seeds in USA TODAY Sports’ bracketology. Credit that leap to an…

No sport enjoys messing with its points system more than NASCAR, and it reached new heights in confusion this time around. Drivers don’t even know how it’s going to work. Something about stages and playoff points and more arbitrary phrases like “carryover to the Round of 8” are being tossed around all in the name of adding excitement to races. Does Chris Buescher know how far regular-season wins or points…

A 50-minute, five-error, five-run fourth inning on Sunday all but doomed the Miami Hurricanes. Rutgers scored those five runs, then added eight in the next three innings in the Scarlet Knights’ first victory of 2017. The final score after four hours: 17-6, with the University of Miami committing six errors. UM’s media guide doesn’t list the last time the Hurricanes committed that many errors, but in 1994 Miami eliminated Auburn…

The NBA will never again veto a trade — there was far too much blowback from the last time the league did that. But commissioner Adam Silver should seriously consider following in the bold footsteps of his predecessor, David Stern, and veto a deal involving New Orleans. That’s how lopsided the Sacramento Kings’ trade with the New Orleans Pelicans for DeMarcus Cousins was Sunday night. In a word, it was comical….

SURPRISE, Az. — He wants to stay. All of the Royals’ potential free agents want to stay. But as first baseman Eric Hosmer puts it, “I realize what hand Dayton was dealt.” Which isn’t to say that “Dayton” — Royals general manager Dayton Moore — is conceding that he will lose Hosmer, the most coveted of the four Royals players entering their walk years. Hosmer said Sunday that he, his…

Here is a look at what’s going on in San Diego sports for the week for February 20th-26th. PADRES: After a week of workouts the Padres play the Mariners Saturday and Sunday in Peoria. First pitch is 12:10 p.m. both days. GULLS: It’s a double dose of hockey at the Valley View Casino Center. Friday the Gulls host the Texas Stars before the Rockford Ice Hogs come to San Diego….

There’s a bit of a void in the NFL schedule, with the scouting combine moved back until the end of the month, delaying the flurry of pre-free agency activity that usually takes place right about now in Indianapolis. Yet the NFL’s never-ending news cycle churns on, which leaves us with a nexus of not much going on between teams and agents, but plenty of time to pontificate about the many…

The UFC hits Halifax, Canada tonight for a hard-hitting heavyweight clash between eighth-ranked Derrick Lewis and ninth-ranked Travis Browne. Lewis has been an absolute force in the heavyweight division since signing with the promotion in 2014, winning eight of his 10 fights, including seven by KO/TKO. He has a chance to jump into title contention with a big win on Saturday night, but he’ll face a tough challenge in Browne,…

Photo credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images One of the biggest stories of last year’s NASCAR season wasn’t on track, but rather, about who was missing: Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat out the last half of the season recovering from a concussion. Unlike other series whose sports rhyme with “schmootball,” NASCAR actually beefed up their concussion protocol after last year’s string of concussion-related headlines. Advertisement NASCAR released a few important changes ahead of…

BUY TICKETS: See the Daytona 500 live! MORE: Hamlin wears special pair of Jordans for ‘The Clash’ DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brad Keselowski checked over the damage to his No. 2 Ford’s right-front fender, the result of a last-lap crunch in a tense contest for the lead with Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11 Toyota in the Advance Auto Parts Clash. The contact cost Keselowski a victory in a season-opening exhibition that…

Details will be released Monday   on SoccerCity,  the $1 billion-plus, soccer-based redevelopment proposal for Qualcomm Stadium property in Mission Valley. Officials of the La Jolla-based FS Investors group said they will brief the news media at 11 a.m. at the La Jolla Map Museum, owned by FS Investors principal Mike Stone. The group announced plans last month to seek a Major League Soccer franchise by promising to build a $200…

No sport enjoys messing with its points system more than NASCAR, and it reached new heights in confusion this time around. Drivers don’t even know how it’s going to work. Something about stages and playoff points and more arbitrary phrases like “carryover to the Round of 8” are being tossed around all in the name of adding excitement to races. Does Chris Buescher know how far regular-season wins or points…

Two of the biggest pieces of Langley Speedway’s 2017 schedule fell into place Sunday, when NASCAR announced that the track will host two of its touring series events. NASCAR said in a press release that its Whelen Modified Tour will stop at Langley on May 13, and the K&N Pro Series East will be there on Sept. 2. The Modified Tour is a new creation, combining NASCAR’s northern-based tour with…

SURPRISE, Az. — He wants to stay. All of the Royals’ potential free agents want to stay. But as first baseman Eric Hosmer puts it, “I realize what hand Dayton was dealt.” Which isn’t to say that “Dayton” — Royals general manager Dayton Moore — is conceding that he will lose Hosmer, the most coveted of the four Royals players entering their walk years. Hosmer said Sunday that he, his…