Sports
Mariners Fire Manager Scott Servais In Midst Of A Midseason Collapse
SEATTLE — With rising rumours that a managerial change was imminent, Scott Servais learnt he would no longer be in control of the Seattle Mariners from a news alert flashing across a television screen, not from his supervisors.
The Mariners made a clumsy mistake Thursday. Just another error in two months in which the club crumbled, slipping from appearing on track for a division title to sitting on the verge of playoff contention in the American League.
Mariners Fire Manager Scott Servais In Midst Of A Midseason Collapse
“In what has been one of my least favourite days in my professional life, the worst part was the fact that Scott and (hitting coach Jarret DeHart) found out about this over the crawl of a news channel,” Mariners executive vice president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “That, it crushes me and I know it hurts them a great deal.”
Servais was fired in the middle of his eighth season as Mariners manager, but only after the team wasted a 10-game lead in the AL West and is now playing catch-up with only five weeks remaining in the regular season.
Former Seattle catcher Dan Wilson was named to replace Servais, the second manager to be fired this season, following Pedro Grifol of the Chicago White Sox. Wilson will be the manager in the future, not an interim manager for the remainder of the season.
“It has been a very difficult two-month stretch, a particularly tough 10 days, but trying to do what we can do with a team that is telling us we need to do something a little different than what we have,” Dipoto explained.
The decision to part ways with the 57-year-old Servais came during a catastrophic 1-8 road trip that put the Mariners to 64-64 after 13 games over 500 in mid-June.
On Thursday, the Mariners were five games behind Houston in the AL West and 7 1/2 games down in the wild-card rankings. However, nothing about Seattle’s play since leading the division by ten games on June 18 has given hope for a turnaround in the last five weeks of the regular season.
“Where we were in the middle of June and where we are today, it’s hard to believe actually how quickly it all dissolved for us and the way our team has played,” says Dipoto.
Servais joined Seattle before the 2016 season alongside Dipoto. Servais was 680-642 during his stint in Seattle, which included a massive reconstruction midway through his tenure that ultimately made the Mariners competitive — but not great. He was the second-longest-tenured manager in franchise history, trailing only Lou Piniella.
Servais issued a statement late Thursday, thanking players, ownership, and fans for his time with the Mariners.
“The city of Seattle welcomed my family and me, and we will be eternally thankful for your support. As this chapter comes to a conclusion, I leave feeling proud of what we’ve accomplished together and excited about what the future holds,” Servais added.
This season, the Mariners have struggled with a shortage of offense, which has been especially frustrating given that Seattle’s pitching staff has been statistically the best in baseball for most of the season.
Seattle’s pitching staff leads MLB in ERA, WHIP, and batting average against. Meanwhile, the Mariners rank 30th in hitting average, 29th in slugging, and have the league’s most strikeouts. Seattle has scored two runs or less 48 times in 128 games this season, going 6–42 in those games.
But the stretch of play since mid-June is what prompted the managerial change. On June 19, the Mariners were 44-31 and led the division by ten games. However, the Mariners have gone 20-33 since then, including a 7-15 record versus Detroit, Pittsburgh, Miami, and the Los Angeles Angels, all of which are below 500. Seattle’s trade deadline signings of Randy Arozarena and Justin Turner have not given the expected offensive spark, and injuries to Julio Rodríguez and J.P. Crawford have reduced expectations of turning around the skid.
Mariners Fire Manager Scott Servais In Midst Of A Midseason Collapse
The 55-year-old Wilson, whose first game in charge will be Friday night when the Mariners begin a series against the San Francisco Giants, has served in various capacities for the organization, including fill-in manager for the team’s Triple-A affiliate and analyst on the team’s television broadcasts. He has been the team’s special assistant for player development for the past seven years.
Wilson is the 21st manager in team history and the 18th full-time manager.
“We can’t know a person better than we know Dan Wilson, and I believe in both his baseball and who he is as a person,” Dipoto told reporters. “I think that will resonate very well with our players.”
Servais will be remembered in Seattle as the manager who helped the Mariners end baseball’s longest playoff drought by earning a wild-card spot in 2022. Servais was the party’s captain the night Seattle won, and the Mariners defeated Toronto in the wild-card series before falling to Houston in the ALDS.
Seattle was Servais’s first management job. He had worked in the front office for Texas and the Angels before joining the Mariners in the dugout.
SOURCE | AP
Sports
Conor McGregor Vows to Appeal Civil Rape Case
Conor McGregor, an Irish mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, has announced that he will appeal a £206,000 judgment after a woman accusing him of rape won a legal action against him for damages.
McGregor had already faced a criminal inquiry in his home nation of Ireland concerning the claims, but he was not charged.
In a post on X on Friday evening, McGregor said he would appeal against the verdict and thanked “all my support worldwide”.
“I am with my family now, focused on my future,” he added.
Speaking outside the court on Friday, Nikita Hand expressed her hope that the verdict will encourage victims of sexual assault to “speak up.”
The jury at the High Court in Dublin deliberated for a day before concluding that McGregor assaulted Ms Hand.
She also filed a complaint against James Lawrence, 35, of Rafter’s Road, Drimnagh, Dublin. She said he abused her by having sex with her without her consent at the Beacon Hotel.
Both men refuted the 35-year-old hair colorist’s charges, saying they had consensual intercourse with Ms Hand at the hotel nearly six years ago.
After eight days of testimony and three days of listening to closing arguments and the judge’s comments, the jury of eight women and four men deliberated for six hours and ten minutes before concluding.
Conor McGregor shook his head as the jury announced that Ms Hand had won her case against him.
His partner, Dee Devlin, his parents, his sister, and his brother-in-law were all with him. He sat in the rear row of the court, between his girlfriend and his mother, Margaret.
Conor McGregor, who also testified during the two-week trial, repeatedly denied the charges of assault.
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Sports
The Utah Hockey Club’s Net Scores The Opening Goal.
(VOR News) – The Utah Hockey Club did not begin the season in the manner that they had planned to, despite the fact that they were playing their first game of the preseason on the ice.
The first goal that they scored at the beginning of the season was not the way that they had anticipated the season to begin.
Des Moines, Iowa, which is located in the state of Iowa, was the location of the first game played by the organisation that was once known as the Arizona Coyotes.
Specifically, the game will take place in the state of Iowa. Specifically, the game was developed in the state of Iowa, which was also the location where it was manufactured. The St. Louis Blues, who were the team that was competing for the championship.
We represented Utah in this particular game.
The penalty call was delayed, which resulted in Utah being required to remove their custodian in order to make room for an additional attacker. This was done in order to provide space for the additional attacker.
It was necessary to do this step in order to clear space for the attacker to move about a bit. Because of this, St. Louis was able to take the lead in the game with a score of 1-0 at the beginning of the second quarter.
This allowed them to gain control of the game. As the puck made its way down the ice and into the empty net of the opposition, the winger for Utah, Dylan Guenther, was unable to gain hold of it at the point, and he was also unable to catch up to it in time while it was falling. The disaster took place at this particular instant in time, which was the ideal time for it to take place that it did.
A defenseman with the Blues named Anton Malmstrom was given official credit for scoring the goal, and St. Louis “congratulated” Utah on scoring its first goal in the history of the team.
Malmstrom was given credit for Utah Scoring the goal.
The individual who was identified as the player who scored the goal was Malmstrom. It has been determined that Malmstrom is the individual who was responsible for scoring the goal. At the conclusion of the official investigation, it was determined that Malmstrom was the individual who was responsible for scoring the goal.
On the flip side, it would appear that yet another case of trolling was directed at the Blues. After the actual opening goal for Utah, which was scored by Michael Carcone a little more than six minutes later, Kevin Connauton added another goal later in the quarter to bring the score to a draw.
This brought the score to a tie. As a consequence of this, the score stayed tied. As a consequence of this turn of events, the score ended up being something like 2-2.
Guenther also made atonement for his prior transgressions by scoring a power-play marker that put Utah in the lead by a score of 3-2. This was a significant accomplishment for Guenther. As a consequence for his earlier misdeeds, Guenther was given this sentence.
Due to the fact that this achievement was achieved, Utah is currently in the position of being in the lead. It was on Friday that a signing took place, which ultimately led to the extension of Guenther’s contract for an additional eight years into the future. We have completed this extension.
Carcone scored his second goal of the game into an empty net, this time into the Blues’ net, during the final minute of the game. This would be his second goal of the game. Ultimately, this goal was the deciding factor in Utah’s victory, which was officially recorded as a 5-3 score.
It was generally agreed that Carcone’s goal was the one that clinched the victory. The final goal of the contest was scored by Carcone, who scored the game’s decisive goal. Utah was able to win the game and take home the victory as a result of Carcone’s goal, which was the goal that ultimately decided the outcome of the game.
However, despite the fact that the situation had already beyond the point of no return, the social administrator for the Blues was still able to successfully extract the last laugh from it. His efforts were successful.
SOURCE: SN
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No Panic for Patrick Mahomes and The Chiefs After Another Quiet Travis Kelce game.
Sports
No Panic for Patrick Mahomes and The Chiefs After Another Quiet Travis Kelce game.
(VOR News) – Nine times in the passing game was Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, targeted when he debuted in the 2023 season.
He did, however, only finish with four receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown overall. He responded the next week with seven receptions for 69 yards, the Chiefs adding another score to his record and thus allaying some of the worries of some who were on the sidelines looking in.
Kelce’s third consecutive week of poor performance marked the end of his third game of the 2024–25 season.
Two days before the year ended, this Chiefs event occurred.
Although his four receptions and thirty yards are all season highs, if they had been attained concurrently they would have been among his worst efforts from the previous season.
Once more on Sunday’s triumph over the Atlanta Falcons, a sluggish effort from the offense was evident; Kelce was not an exception to this rule. While this is the case, quarterback for Chiefs Patrick Mahomes thinks the most important symbol of respect is Kelce’s receiving less than a month away from his 35th birthday.
“I mean it’s crazy since teams are still… the respect factor Travis has is just unreal,” Mahomes said to reporters. “It is well-deserved, but we are calling a lot of plays for Travis, and it seems like just two or three people are going to him,” the spokesman added. He understands this clearly.
His desire to win at the end of the day is, in my view, the most admirable trait about him; he is not simply interested in having an impact on the game. I shall give it top attention in the future to keep giving him the ball whenever he is there and on the pitch.
At the conclusion of Week 3, Kelce ranked second only to Rashee Rice in terms of targets, receptions, and yards by the pass among all Chiefs pass catchers. This shows Kelce has made notable advancements on the right path. The other man merely had 12 receptions and 14 targets; Rice had 14 targets and 12 receptions for 110 yards.
Their differences were quite considerable. As of right now this season, three games have been played; Kelce has not yet found the end zone. He had two outstanding catches in the second half.
One was a third-quarter 17-yard gain that put the Chiefs in red zone.
The head coach and Mahomes both expressed hope that Kelce would finally reach his big-time goals after the weekend’s victory. Although this is the new normal for one of the league’s best tight ends, nobody seemed to be worried about it.
This is still the case after a week; yet, the longer Chiefs games pass without a vintage Kelce effort – or anything that even loosely resembles one – the more attention will be paid to his specific stats.
Though he has lost a lot of agility compared to his prime, Kelce is still able to get open. Besides, his head is still clear, hence he is obviously capable of writing correctly.
For a different set of factors, he is not getting targets or catches inside the rhythm of the offensive, though. Maybe we could have opened that window if our sample size had been larger.
Mahomes believes that everything else will take care of itself if other guys start (or, in Rice’s case, keep going) and Kelce keeps on going.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes stated, “The more plays Rashee makes, the more effectively we can run the football, which allows us to involve (Xavier) Worthy, thereby increasing Travis’s opportunities to be open.” “Individuals are genuinely concerned about attempting to remove him, which is facilitating opportunities for other players.”
SOUREC: SI
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