again

Lewis Hamilton finally reaches the top step again with victory at the British Grand Prix lewis,hamilton,finally,reaches,the,top,step,again,with,victory,at,the,british,grand,prix,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one

On: July 7, 2024 By: admin

It came home.

Sure England is still alive in the Euros, after a victory over Switzerland on penalties Saturday that advanced the Three Lions into the semi-finals where they will face The Netherlands on Wednesday. But something else came home on English soil Sunday.

As Lewis Hamilton finally climbed back to the top step of a Formula 1 podium, doing so at the British Grand Prix.

The last time Hamilton reached the top step? That came at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on the fifth of December, 2021. Much has changed since then, starting with the fact that a week later Max Verstappen beat Hamilton to the checkered flag at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — in controversial fashion many will be quick to point out — to capture his first F1 Drivers’ Championship. But this victory has been a long time coming for Hamilton.

But it finally came.

As the teams battled challenging weather conditions, which included two different spurts of rain at Silverstone, the second lasting longer and creating slicker conditions on the track, Hamilton and Mercedes made a series of impressive strategy calls. The second was when the team made the decision to pit one lap earlier than race leader Lando Norris, bolting on a set of soft tires to last the seven-time champion to the checkered flag. Norris came in for his own set of softs on the following lap but was left helpless as Hamilton rocketed by him as he lumbered out of the McLaren pit box.

That set up a fascinating finish, with Hamilton ahead of Norris and the ever-dangerous Max Verstappen on the prowl behind the British duo in third place. For a moment it looked as if it would be Verstappen who would come out with the win, as Red Bull made the decision to bolt on a set of hard tires and those seemed to be working better for Verstappen than the softs were for Hamilton, and Norris. On Lap 48 Verstappen wound by Norris, advancing into second place with just Hamilton in front of him.

But Hamilton had a three-second gap over his rival, and with just a handful of laps remaining the Mercedes driver had the advantage, and one hand on the Royal Automobile Club Trophy. Could he hold off his rival, or would Verstappen deny Hamilton his 104th career victory?

The roar of the crowd at Silverstone told the final story.

As Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May waved the checkered flag, it was Hamilton who crossed the line first. Verstappen was able to chip away at Hamilton’s advantage over the last two laps, but he could not get to the rear wing of Hamilton’s W15.

A win years in the making had finally come home and on British soil. Lewis Hamilton had captured the 2024 British Grand Prix.

As Hamilton crossed the line, you could hear the emotion in the driver’s voice has he received the congratulations from his team. He was handed the Union Jack as he reached Becketts Corner on his cooldown lap, and he waved it proudly as he brought his race-winning W15 back to pit lane.

An iconic image, on an iconic day, in what is becoming an iconic F1 season.

The Houston Astros are once again alive and well in the AL West the,houston,astros,are,once,again,alive,and,well,in,the,al,west,sbnation,com,front-page,mlb

On: July 5, 2024 By: admin

It wasn’t all that long ago when I was using this space to talk about how the Houston Astros had yet to really lift off this season and were spinning their wheels in the mud. With most of their rotation dropping left-and-right and their hitters underperforming while combined with the strong start from the Seattle Mariners, it was getting to the point where there were already rumors that the Astros could be considering selling once they got to the trade deadline. It was that rough.

Well, here we are a month later and all of a sudden the questions have changed. Instead of wondering whether or not the Astros are going to fall off and start selling, the question now is whether or not the Mariners can hang on to what was once the largest divisional lead in the AL West. Houston has gone 20-10 over their last 30 games and are now three games over .500 and right in the thick of things in the playoff race while Seattle has gone 16-14 in their last 30 and 3-7 in their last 10 to be specific.

As a result of this sudden change in fortune, the Astros are now only two games behind the Mariners in the AL West and FanGraphs’ Playoff Odds reflect this as well — Houston now has a 60 percent chance of making the Postseason with a 45 percent shot at winning the division again. This is after the Astros finished June 5 with a 40 percent chance of returning to the playoffs with only a 24 percent shot at winning the division. The Astros are even being given more of a shot to end up with a first-round bye (10 percent) than the Mariners currently are (8.3 percent). The boogeyman of this division is well and truly alive once again, to the point where the word “destiny” is being bandied about around here.

So what’s behind this sudden shift in form for both teams? Part of this can be attributed to the natural ebb-and-flow of the long marathon that is baseball’s regular season but at the same time, for things to change this quickly for both teams is still a bit whiplash-inducing. Usually it takes a while to see a shift like this and maybe it would warrant more attention had this shift happened in say, September instead of in June and July. With that being said, it’s still very fascinating to see just how quickly the Astros managed to turn things around and conversely it’s a bit concerning to see this getting away from the Mariners like it appears to be.

The fuel that’s been propelling the Astros back towards the top of the AL West has been the fact that their offense has stepped up their game. I mentioned that the offense wasn’t the reason why they were struggling last month but there was still room for improvement for Houston when it came to hitting the ball. Unsurprisingly, Houston’s lineup did eventually revitalize itself and has been hitting .274/.329/.445 as a collective since June 1. Additionally, they’ve put together a .335 wOBA and a team wRC+ of 119 since the start of June, which is tied for the seventh-best number in all of baseball during that period.

The main man pushing Houston’s revitalization has been Yordan Álvarez, who has absolutely unleashed fury upon opposing pitchers since the start of last month. For the season, Yordan has 2.8 fWAR — however, he’s produced 2.0 of that fWAR since June 1 alone. Álvarez has been hitting .366/.466/.796 since that aforementioned date with a wOBA of .513, 10 home runs over 118 plate appearances and a wRC+ of 240. Folks, that’s Gunnar Henderson territory. Shoot, that’s Aaron Judge territory. It also helps that the usual suspects like José Altuve (152 wRC+ since June 1) and Alex Bregman (128 wRC+ in that same span) have stepped up and are hitting like most baseball observers would expect them to do so. The Astros are a tough team to deal with at the plate but that’s always been the case since their rebuild from the mid-2010s started to pay off.

What makes this return to form for Houston’s offense so impressive is that it’s happening without Kyle Tucker. Tucker went on the IL with a shin contusion back in early June and to let you know just how rough things were going for the rest of the Astros, he’s missed every game since June 3 and he’s still Houston’s leader in On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, wOBA, xwOBA and wRC+ and he’s also still the joint leader in home runs and joint-second place in stolen bases.

Tucker has been the best player in the lineup for the Astros this season and losing him could’ve been a death knell for Houston’s lineup if the rest of the Astros continued to limp along at the plate. Instead, players have been stepping their game up left-and-right in Tucker’s absence and now Astros fans are surely dreaming of what this lineup will look like once Tucker returns and gets this offense working at full strength again.

Houston’s pitching during this span has been intriguing to say the least. This should definitely be the position that is weighing down the Astros since they’ve lost two of their starters for the season and have another one who is currently on the shelf and could potentially lose out on their vesting option in 2025. Instead, the Astros have kind of just kept it pushing in that regard and Hunter Brown’s performances since June 1 has somewhat reflected what the Astros have done on the mound during that span.

As a staff since the start of June, the Astros have an incredible ERA- of 85 — tied for the third-best in all of baseball! Weirdly enough, Houston’s FIP- during that same span has been 104, which is clearly middle-of-the-road. Then you look at what Hunter Brown has been doing during that time and suddenly his ERA- of 25 and a FIP- of 73 since June 1 suddenly makes a little more sense. Combine his performance with Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco doing their best to keep the rotation afloat and Houston’s rotation is definitely coming together to produce something that’s greater than the sum of their parts at the moment. They’re making it happen and their return to the good side of .500 has made that clear.

While it’s not exactly time to say that the Astros are “back,” they’re absolutely alive and definitely kicking again. General Manager Dana Brown’s faith in his squad is being repaid and suddenly his confidence that Houston would be buying at the deadline is looking clairvoyant instead of simply being the right thing to say in GM-speak. While it’s never really wise to call time on any team’s season during the first half, this is also a bit of a reminder that when it comes to teams like the Astros, the time to count them out doesn’t come until they’ve actually been mathematically eliminated.

Speaking of GM’s, the onus is now on Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto to help revive the Mariners. While their pitching staff is doing just fine, it is plainly obvious that Seattle needs hitting. With guys like Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco, J.P. Crawford, Mitch Haniger and even the “Big Dumper” himself Cal Raleigh all currently doing some serious underperforming at the plate, their lineup needs multiple sparks and they need it in the worst way. Seattle’s pitching should still be good enough to help keep them in the playoff conversation but if they keep struggling at the plate like they have, it won’t be long before the boogeyman from Space City catches them for good.

PGA Tour: Can Jordan Spieth win John Deere Classic again? pga,tour,can,jordan,spieth,win,john,deere,classic,again,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: July 1, 2024 By: admin

Jordan Spieth arrives at the John Deere Classic as one of the betting favorites, according to DraftKings. But the three-time major winner has hardly played like a tournament favorite throughout the 2024 season.

He has had a frustrating campaign, especially after missing the cut at Augusta National. Since then, Spieth has made eight starts. He missed the cut twice and did not post a finish better than T-29. That somewhat respectable result came at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he shot only one round in the 60s: an opening round 2-under 69.

But these last few months have served as a microcosm of Spieth’s career over the past seven years—a stretch filled with disappointment and agony, considering his stature and accomplishments. He has won only two tournaments since his Open Championship triumph at Royal Birkdale in 2017: the 2021 Valero Texas Open and the 2022 RBC Heritage.

Since then, he has had a few calls, finishing runner-up to K.H. Lee at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson and losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff at the 2023 RBC Heritage. He has 13 top 10s dating back to April 2022 but has missed 11 cuts since that juncture, too.

And yet, despite those ups and downs, Spieth, now 30 years old, has a tremendous perspective on where he is at this point in his career.

“Once I know what I’m capable of, I want to obviously stay there. If you fall from that even a little bit, it frustrates you, and then if you fall quite a bit from that, you can be wondering what in the world is going on,” Spieth said ahead of this year’s Charles Schwab Challenge in mid-May.

“It can overtake you, and it did for me for a little while. I think I have a better perspective now, but at the same time, the drive to get to where I know my ceiling has never been higher. So, every day I’m not there, I still walk away feeling like I progressed towards it; I walk away really pleased with my day. But some days, I feel like I didn’t, and instead of being okay with that, I lose a little patience because I know what I am capable of, and not sustaining that every year is something that I’m not okay with personally.

“I think it’s something I wouldn’t change anything that’s ever happened to me. I’ve accomplished pretty much all the goals that I had in golf, albeit, you know, in a short period of time, but the nature of sustaining that is something that I would like to have another opportunity at, and I’ll continue to work towards.”

Spieth went on to tie for 37th that week at Colonial, the course not far from his hometown of Dallas, Texas. He then missed the cut at the Memorial, tied for 41st at the U.S. Open, and most recently struggled at the Travelers Championship, finishing T-63—almost dead last.

But now, after a week off, Spieth arrives in the Quad Cities hoping to establish some momentum before the season’s final major. He has won the John Deere Classic twice, in 2013 and 2015, but nothing says he cannot make it a third time this year—especially since the best player in the field, Patrick Cantlay, withdrew.

Jordan Spieth, PGA Tour, John Deere Classic — Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic in a five-hole playoff. He was only 19 years old then.

And yet, the question is, how?

For starters, Spieth has to gain some confidence in his short game again, an attribute that has been very un-Spieth-like this season. He ranks 78th on tour in strokes gained around the green and 80th in putting—a surprising figure given how good he was with his flat stick when he was at the height of his powers.

Spieth also has to improve his ball striking. He is 110th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approaching the green, 70th in greens in regulation percentage, and 86th in proximity to the hole. He has especially struggled with his wedges, ranking 130th in approaches from inside 100 yards, another jarring statistic that is very un-Spieth-like.

So this week, at TPC Deere Run, a course that yields plenty of birdies, Spieth should play to the middle of the greens and look to avoid the big numbers. He already makes tons of par breakers, making more than four per round, but the problem is that Spieth drops too many shots. He makes bogey nearly 17% of the time this season, ranking 139th on tour in bogey avoidance—a reality that will not win you many golf tournaments.

Thus, Spieth must play conservatively and not press too much on a golf course that gives the player a green light in more ways than one. And if he can do that, Spieth will have a good chance of doing a victory lap in one of those famous green John Deere tractors on Sunday night.

That would undoubtedly shake off his frustrations.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

KMPG Women’s PGA Championship: Nelly Korda delivered, contends again kmpg,women,s,pga,championship,nelly,korda,delivered,contends,again,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,lpga-golf,golf-news,all-womens-sports

On: June 20, 2024 By: admin

Nelly Korda fought hard throughout her Thursday round at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She signed for a 3-under 69 and currently leads the field by one stroke with half the field left to play.

Korda began her day on the back nine and went out in 33 strokes. She recorded four birdies in her first five holes.

Despite carding a 69, the Florida resident had to scramble throughout her first round. The Douglass fir, red cedar and hemlock trees on the Sahalee Country Club course did their jobs as they made Korda work for her score.

“If you try and be aggressive when you’ve hit it offline, it just bites you in the butt,” Korda said after her first round. “Overall, I think I played pretty well. I took my chances where I could and I played safe the majority of the round.”

She made birdies on holes 13-15 before to get to 3-under. Korda moved to 4-under after a birdie on the 4th. However, the 25-year-old coughed up two shots on the fourth as the 14-time LPGA winner made a double-bogey.

“This entire golf course is so demanding. I had to make some pretty good up-and-downs,” Korda said.

Korda closed her round with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 9th to get back to 3-under on the day, giving her some much-needed momentum.

It is a much better start than her last major championship start. Three weeks ago, Korda shot an 80 at Lancaster Country Club in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open. She shot 10 strokes better on Friday with an even-par 70 but missed her first cut of the 2024 season.

The 2-time major winner also missed the cut at last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic after she shot a 76 and 67. It is the first time all season that the No. 1 ranked player in the world missed consecutive cuts. Prior to that, she won the Mizuho Americas Open for her sixth victory of the year.

Korda made history by winning five straight before she settled for a T7 at the Cognizant Founders Cup.

She will tee off with Ruoning Yin and Hannah Green at 1:28 p.m. PT or 4:28 p.m. ET for her second round of the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan: Travelers gets Signature Event status again pga,tour,s,jay,monahan,travelers,gets,signature,event,status,again,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 20, 2024 By: admin

CROMWELL, Conn. — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met with the media at TPC River Highlands on Wednesday and revealed that the Travelers Championship will receive Signature Event status again in 2025.

These tournaments feature elevated purses and limited field sizes, hovering around 70 players. This year’s Travelers Championship marks the eighth and final Signature Event of the 2024 season.

“This event will be a Signature Event in 2025,” Monahan said. “This is the 18th year with Travelers, and we have an agreement; they’re in a 10-year agreement through 2030.”

Travelers first sponsored this tournament in 2007, when Hunter Mahan won his first event on the PGA Tour. Since then, it has become a fan favorite among tour pros, who cite the golf course and hospitality as reasons why.

“It’s good to be back. I feel like this is always a fun tournament to come play,” said World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Wednesday.

“The community really rallies around the tournament. The fans are always tremendous. The golf course is typically always in great shape. The clubhouse. The way the tournament treats us as players is always tremendous. So it’s a very easy, fun week for us to come play, and glad to be back here.”

Caddies even receive courtesy cars this week, a rarity on the PGA Tour. But that’s not all. The top players on the PGA Tour receive plenty of other amenities.

“They do such an amazing job for us, our caddies, and our support team,” added Xander Schauffele.

“If you look at the range, it’s got the little umbrellas, we have a coffee stand, a lounging area, there’s the green truck there with the pizza. So it’s such a relaxing week coming after the U.S. Open and I think all of us really appreciate that.”

With this in mind, the Signature Event model—new for 2024—has drawn plenty of criticism. In March, Lucas Glover called these tournaments a “money grab,” adding that he “doesn’t like the idea at all.”

“Why do the signature events have [a maximum of] 80 players, and only 50 make the cut? Our biggest signature event next week is 144 players with a full cut. The signature event,” Glover said in March, referencing The Players Championship.

“I just don’t see what was so bad out here that we had to do all this. Let’s raise some purses to make sure we keep some guys around, but now we’ve eliminated a lot of playing opportunities for some really good players.”

Monahan recognizes this too, as many players, such as Min Woo Lee, who has had a strong 2024 season, did not qualify for the Travelers this week, even though Rory McIlroy withdrew.

“Nothing’s perfect, nothing ever is, but when you look at where we are today and as we shared with our board [on Tuesday], we feel like we’re delivering to our fans exactly what we set out to do, and that is to get our top players competing together more often, and to create the most competitive schedule we can possibly create,” Monahan said about the Signature Events.

Jay Monahan, Texas Children’s Houston Open — Jay Monahan during the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open.

“When you look at our full-field events, and you look at the strength of the field, whether it’s top 50 or top 125, our strength of the field at full-field events is up 35 percent.”

The Signature Events have undoubtedly provided opportunities for the best players to compete against one another. Look no further than who has won the seven Signature Events this season: Scheffler has won three. Wyndham Clark triumphed at Pebble Beach with a record-breaking 60. Hideki Matsuyama shot 61 at Riviera to come from behind and steal the Genesis Invitational, and then Rory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship. Chris Kirk also won The Sentry, the first tournament of the year. That’s a pretty strong whos-who of the PGA Tour.

Plus, these wins came against very strong fields. The top 50 players from last year’s FedEx Cup standings gained entry into each of these tournaments in 2024. Then, the PGA Tour established the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 to help round out these limited-field events. Whoever wins an event on the PGA Tour in 2024 also gains entry, while each tournament has sponsor exemptions they use to round out the field. Those exemptions have been greatly scrutinized, as PGA Tour Policy Board members seem to take a fair share of those. Look no further than Webb Simpson, who again received an exemption to play this week.

Nevertheless, this tournament always delivers. Players typically go low on this golf course, as TPC River Highlands, the shortest course on tour, yields plenty of birdies. It also produces great drama, as the tournament has had six playoffs since 2007. One stroke has decided the result six other times, too.

So, considering all of this, it makes sense for the tour to make the Travelers Championship a Signature Event in 2025, despite some of the criticism the overall model has received.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Men’s College World Series: Vance Honeycutt delivers again for UNC against Virginia men,s,college,world,series,vance,honeycutt,delivers,again,for,unc,against,virginia,sbnation,com,front-page,college-baseball,college-world-series,ncaa-baseball-tournament

On: June 14, 2024 By: admin

North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt began his first game in Omaha in the 2024 Men’s College World Series with an 0-for-4 mark at the plate. But he finished Friday’s opening game of the Men’s College World Series against Virginia with a 1-for-5 mark at the dish, with one single.

And what a single it was.

As he has done so many times before, Honeycutt delivered in the clutch for UNC. With the game knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run 90 away from home plate — and two outs on the scoreboard — Honeycutt ripped a breaking ball into left field, plating the game-winning run and advancing UNC into the winner’s side of Bracket 1 in Omaha.

Quite the start for UNC’s Mr. Clutch:

Or as they like to call him down in Chapel Hill, Vance Honey-clutch:

UNC now awaits the winner of tonight’s game between Tennessee and Florida State, two of the most potent lineups in all of college baseball. The Volunteers as a team posted an OPS of 1.029 this season, best for second in the nation, with the Seminoles not too far behind with a mark of .975 which placed them sixth. But the winner of that game will be facing something different in their second contest.

Mr. Honey-clutch himself.