HIGH HEAT
It’s expected to be a hot box at many ballparks Denzel Ward Browns Jersey , with game-time temperatures likely to climb over 100 degrees in Texas for White Sox-Rangers, near triple digits in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Yankee Stadium, and into the mid-90s in Chicago and Cincinnati. On Saturday, three Twins left early with heat illness at Wrigley Field.
”Drink more water, try to stay by the fan. I try to keep a towel by my side and make sure I catch my breath,” White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson said. ”It’s a mind thing. You can’t think too much about it. If you do, it’ll eat you up.”
Angels manager Mike Scioscia saw starter Tyler Skaggs wilt after five innings in Baltimore. Scioscia was already anticipating another steamy afternoon.
”These guys will be hydrating tonight and I know Deck McGuire, the starter, was hydrating all day just in anticipation of the heat,” he said.
Said Orioles skipper Buck Showalter: ”There’s a big bulletin board the guys see every day reminding them of the things they need to do to hydrate properly. … We’re taking a lot of precautions.”
RIVALRY NIGHT
The Red Sox and Yankees play in prime time, with stars David Price (9-5, 3.66 ERA) and Luis Severino (12-2, 2.10) on the mound. New York entered Saturday a major league-best 19-5 against left-handed starting pitchers, and its .820 OPS against lefties was best in the majors. The left-handed Price has been tough lately, though, going 7-1 with a 2.72 ERA in nine starts since being diagnosed with a mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome that caused him to miss a scheduled turn against the Yankees in early May.
POWER PITCHER
The biggest bat off Cincinnati’s bench might be in the bullpen. No, really. Reds reliever Michael Lorenzen has homered in three straight at-bats after connecting for a pinch-hit grand slam Saturday in a 12-3 victory over Milwaukee. He also went deep Friday during Milwaukee’s 8-2 win. ”We treat him as a position player. We covered him in scouting meetings. We’re going to have to make some adjustments Anthony Miller Jersey Youth ,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. The last major league pitcher to homer in three consecutive at-bats was Colorado’s Mike Hampton in 2001. For the season, Lorenzen is 4 for 6 with three homers and six RBIs. His fifth career homer was the second grand slam by a Reds pitcher in a week – starter Anthony DeSclafani also hit one against the Chicago Cubs.
STINGY STUFF
The surging Rays (41-41) send left-hander Blake Snell (10-4, 2.31 ERA) to the mound against Charlie Morton (10-1, 2.54) and the World Series champion Astros in the finale of a four-game series. Snell didn’t give up a hit until the seventh inning of an 11-0 win over Washington on Monday night. Tampa Bay has limited opponents to two runs or fewer in five straight games, and seven out of eight during a tough stretch against the Yankees, Nationals and Astros. Morton has won three straight starts and hasn’t permitted an earned run in his last two. Houston first baseman Yuli Gurriel (paternity leave) is expected back in the lineup.
CANADIAN CURRENCY
Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ (10-3, 3.62 ERA) faces the skidding Tigers on Canada Day in Toronto. An expected trade target as the July 31 deadline approaches, Happ has won six straight decisions and is unbeaten in eight outings. Detroit has lost 11 games in a row overall – and 12 of 14 in Toronto. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have won 10 of 11 at home.
BAY AREA BOOM
Jed Lowie and the Oakland Athletics (46-38) try for their seventh straight victory when they host AL Central-leading Cleveland. The surprising A’s have won 12 of 14 overall. They’ve also taken seven in a row against Cleveland, and nine of the last 10 meetings in Oakland.
SUMMER WINS
Chicago Cubs left-hander Jon Lester (10-2, 2.18 ERA) hopes to start a new month the same way he ended the last one. After going 5-0 with a 1.13 ERA in five June starts, Lester pitches against Lance Lynn (5-6, 4.81) and the Minnesota Twins in the finale of the three-game interleague series.
WESTWARD NO
The Baltimore Orioles are 0-15 against AL West opponents this year after losing to the Angels 6-2 on Saturday. The O’s have dropped seven in a row overall, 17 of 18 at Camden Yards and own the worst record in the majors at 23-59. They’ll try again when Kevin Gausman (3-6, 4.20 ERA) pitches at home against Los Angeles righty Deck McGuire, who makes his third major league start. Gausman has lost his last four decisions and hasn’t completed seven innings in any of his past eight starts.
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The Atlanta Falcons’ claim to fame is the crushing way they lost a Super Bowl.
They’re hardly alone in these playoffs.
Seven of the 12 teams still alive have never celebrated in the big game, matching the largest group of playoff-bound squads with not-so-Super pedigrees since the 1999 season.
Will that lack of championship-winning experience prove costly?
If you’re on a team that hasn’t won a ring, it’s only natural to just shrug it off as a meaningless anomaly.
”It’s right here Dan Bailey Jersey , right now,” Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn said Thursday. ”What’s in the past doesn’t matter.”
But there’s no denying that six-time champion Pittsburgh and five-time winner New England – the defending champ, as well – are the only true blue bloods in this field.
The Falcons have lost both of their Super Bowl appearances, including last season’s 34-28 overtime defeat in which Tom Brady and the Patriots stunningly rallied from a 25-point deficit in the second half . The NFC’s top seed, the Philadelphia Eagles, is also 0-2 in the Super Bowl, as are the Carolina Panthers.
Buffalo and Minnesota are the only franchises to lose four times in the big game without a title, and the Bills, of course, are the lone team to suffer that fate in four straight years. The Tennessee Titans (who began their existence as the Houston Oilers) came up short in their lone Super Bowl try. Jacksonville has never been to the title game at all .
Jaguars owner Shad Khan said it’s good to have a bunch of teams chasing their first crown.
He noted the huge demand for tickets in attendance-challenged Jacksonville, where the Jags are hosting the Bills in a matchup of teams that broke long playoff droughts this season.
”Could you imagine the hottest ticket in football is right here, selling for five, six times face value?” Khan said. ”Our cheapest ticket is 300 bucks, standing room. Could you believe that happening in freaking Jacksonville?”
Kansas City, New Orleans and the Los Angeles Rams have only one title apiece, though the latter’s came during their two-decade-long stint in St. Louis. The Chiefs reached two of the first four Super Bowls, winning it all in 1970, but they haven’t been back since. The Saints won their lone Super Bowl appearance during the 2009 season.
”Once you get in Saquon Barkley Jersey , it’s wide open for anybody,” insisted Tennessee linebacker Brian Orakpo, a nine-year veteran who will play his first playoff game Saturday against the Chiefs. ”Yeah, the Patriots and Steelers have a lot of pedigree, a lot of tradition, and you’ve got some young up-and-comers like ourselves that are hungry.”
Since the NFL went to a 12-team postseason format in 1990, the largest group of playoff teams without a Super Bowl title on their resume came 18 seasons ago. Kurt Warner and the high-flying Rams were among eight squads that had never won the championship until they held off Tennessee in the title game, memorably stopping the Titans’ final play at the 1-yard line.
The only other times that the current playoff structure included as many as seven non-Super Bowl-winning teams were 2008 and 1996.
When it comes to postseason neophytes, the Bills are drawing much of the attention after reaching the playoffs for the first time since 1999 , snapping the longest dry spell in any of the four major professional sports. But Buffalo it still known for that unprecedented four-year run of futility in the Super Bowl, which began in 1991 with Scott Norwood missing a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds and was followed by three straight double-digit blowouts.
”It’s time to create some other memories of the Bills,” Thurman Thomas, the Hall of Fame running back on those Super Bowl-losing teams, told The Associated Press. ”It’s not the squad that went to the four straight Super Bowls. It’s somebody else.”
The Vikings were the first franchise to lose four Super Bowls, accomplishing that ignominious feat in an eight-year span that ended in 1976. They haven’t gotten that far again, losing five times in the NFC championship game, most recently during the 2000 season.
Coach Mike Zimmer said it’s important to take advantage of a season such as this, when the Vikings defied expectations by claiming a first-round bye behind a dominant defense journeyman quarterback Case Keenum .
”A lot of young guys come in and they expect it’s going to happen every single year Jason Witten Cowboys Jersey ,” Zimmer said. ”Really, you never know. The last time I won the Super Bowl was 1995 (as a Dallas assistant coach), so it’s been awhile.”
Receiver Adam Thielen isn’t fretting over all those Super Bowls the Vikings lost so many years ago.
He’s only concerned with the next one, which will be held at Minnesota’s home stadium.
”We’re not really focusing on what’s happened in the past,” Thielen said. ”Every year is a totally different situation: different team, different types of players. Honestly, for us, we just know that we have a lot of confidence in the way that we’re playing football.”
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AP Sports Writers Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida, John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, and Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
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