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Cardinals host the Cubs on 3-game home skid

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

Chicago Cubs (53-51, third in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (46-60, fifth in the NL Central)St. Louis; Sunday, 2:15 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 3.58 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 46 strikeouts); Cardinals: Steven Matz (1-7, 4.34 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 85 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -135, Cubs +115; over/under is 9 runsBOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals take on the Chicago Cubs looking to end a three-game home losing streak.St. Louis is 46-60 overall and 22-29 in home games. Cardinals hitters are batting a collective .256, which ranks fifth in the NL.Chicago has gone 26-25 in road games and 53-51 overall. The Cubs have a 41-20 record in games when they record at least eight hits.Sunday’s game is the 13th time these teams match up this season. The Cubs are up 8-4 in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Paul Goldschmidt has 21 doubles, 18 home runs and 55 RBI while hitting .281 for the Cardinals. Lars Nootbaar is 12-for-30 with a double and fo...

Dodgers and Reds meet to decide series winner

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

Cincinnati Reds (57-49, second in the NL Central) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (59-44, first in the NL West)Los Angeles; Sunday, 4:10 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Graham Ashcraft (5-7, 5.64 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 74 strikeouts); Dodgers: Michael Grove (2-2, 6.19 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 53 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Dodgers -180, Reds +153; over/under is 10 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds are looking for a series win with a victory on Sunday.Los Angeles has a 31-19 record at home and a 59-44 record overall. The Dodgers are 42-20 in games when they record eight or more hits.Cincinnati is 57-49 overall and 29-23 on the road. The Reds have a 17-11 record in games when they did not allow a home run.The teams meet Sunday for the sixth time this season. The Reds lead the season series 3-2.TOP PERFORMERS: Max Muncy leads the Dodgers with 27 home runs while slugging .495. Freddie Freeman is 16-for-40 with two doubles, four home runs and 10 RBI over the...

Trump lambastes rival who said he’s running to ‘stay out of jail’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

Donald Trump said it’s “wrong” to suggest he’s running for the presidency to stay out of prison — and signaled Saturday that he’s prepared to punch down at any of his rivals who suggest he’s doing so.During the Lincoln Dinner on Friday evening — a key Republican event in the lead up to the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses — Will Hurd and Asa Hutchinson took aim at the former president for his legal troubles, echoing the line that putting a candidate facing multiple criminal charges at the top of GOP ticket spelled electoral disaster.Hurd told the Trump-loving Iowa crowd that the former president was not running to improve America or represent people, but to stay out of prison. The remark, delivered toward the end of his address, drew loud boos from the crowd that continued as he walked off stage.In trademark Trump fashion, the former president responded Saturday with blistering personal attacks on his foes and pushing back hard on the idea that he is running to counter hi...

OBF: Titles, not just words, would enhance Jaylen Brown’s social platform

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

NBA athletes were once told to: “Shut up and dribble.”In the case of Jaylen Brown, we have another suggestion: “Keep talking, but please don’t dribble.”Brown signed the biggest contract in NBA history the other day. His super-max extension is worth $303,734,893 over five years.The potential pre-shelter tax liability: $146,623,524.22. Give or take a few greenbacks.Of that, about $12,087,684.42 will be absorbed courtesy of the state’s new millionaire tax.This just in, Gov. Maura Healey has adopted Lucky.With his impending pre-tax wealth, Brown eagerly wants to change Boston’s economic ecosystem, and shrink the wealth gap that exists in the city between Black and white households.Good for him. It’s his money – and Maura’s.The first question at his press conference on Wednesday was what we in the journalism business call a “softball.” Or in this case, a 3-1 hanging curveball from the late, great Corey Kluber.It was the sort of inquiry I would have proffered to Tom and Gisele during the ...

What we’ve learned through first three days of Patriots training camp

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

FOXBORO — The Patriots’ offense needs a lot of work after their efficiency and production cratered during the 2022 season.Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, they’ve narrowed their focus during the first three days of training camp.The Patriots have exclusively worked in the red zone during team drills. It was an area of major weakness for the offense last season, so it makes sense that it would be an emphasis early this summer. But those circumstances also haven’t given fans or reporters a fully accurate portrayal of how the offense or defense will look this season.Still, there’s been plenty to learn through the first three non-contact sessions from continued offensive struggles, rookies that are most likely to contribute and the most pressing needs.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Source: Patriots host ex-Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott on free-agent visit New England Patriots | Patriots extra points: Bill Belichick touts rookie ...

An overnight drone attack on Moscow injures 1 and temporarily closes an airport

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

Three Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow in the early hours on Sunday, Russian authorities said, injuring one person and prompting a temporary closure of traffic in and out of one of four airports around the Russian capital.It was the fourth such attempt at a strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, fueling concerns about Moscow’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.The Russian Defense Ministry referred to the incident as an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime” and said three drones targeted the city. One was shot down in the surrounding Moscow region by air defense systems and two others were jammed. Those two crashed into the Moscow City business district. Photos from the site of the crash showed the facade of a skyscraper damaged on one floor. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the attack “insignificantly damaged” the outsides of two buildings in the Moscow City district. A security guard was in...

High winds stall efforts to tow a burning cargo ship packed with cars off northern Dutch coast

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — High winds blowing across the North Sea are delaying efforts to tow a burning cargo ship loaded with thousands of new cars to safety off the Dutch coast, the government said Sunday. The Fremantle Highway was unlikely to be moved Sunday because of the southwesterly wind, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.“The wind will continue to blow from the southwest for the next few days. The towing of the Fremantle Highway to the new temporary location may therefore still take several days to start,” the ministry said in an update Saturday night.“The smoke from the fire and the wind direction mean that during the towing operation of the ship smoke is blowing over the tugboat,” it added.Salvage crews on Saturday attached a second towing cable to the ship, which is transporting 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric vehicles, from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore. The salvage teams ultimately want to tow the stricken ship...

As regional and global powers decry Niger’s coup, the country’s future remains uncertain

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Days after after mutinous soldiers ousted Niger’s democratically elected president, uncertainty is mounting about the country’s future and some are calling out the junta’s reasons for seizing control.The mutineers said they overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, who was elected two years ago in Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France, because he wasn’t able to secure the nation from growing jihadi violence. But some analysts and Nigeriens say that’s just a pretext for a takeover that is more about internal power struggles than securing the nation. “Everybody is wondering why this coup? That’s because no one was expecting it. We couldn’t expect a coup in Niger because there’s no social, political or security situation that would justify that the military take the power,” Prof. Amad Hassane Boubacar, who teaches at the University of Niamey, told The Associated Press. He said Bazoum wanted to re...

Catholic youth camp’s fundraising pitch alarms Wilder Forest advocates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

A fundraising brochure produced on behalf of the Minnesota Catholic Youth Partnership details why the organization needs $16 million to purchase and create a new camp on the 600-acre Wilder Forest property in northern Washington County.It lists a dozen activities that will be available to campers, including zip-lining, rope challenge courses and a vertical climbing wall. The second phase of the group’s fundraising push, amount to be determined, calls for the construction of a “majestic lodge that will house a new and improved cafeteria, chapel and coffee shop, and additional housing for campers and staff.”The problem with the 12-page brochure, according to members of the Square Lake Conservancy, a group dedicated to the preservation of the natural resources at Square Lake and Wilder Forest, is that none of the proposed buildings or activities have been approved yet. “I was horrified when I saw it,” said former Minnesota Sen. Jane Krentz, DFL-May Township. “They are fundraising...

Stormy Daniels May Have the Last Word on Donald Trump

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:55:57 GMT

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on July 7, 2023, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.Photo: Charlie Riedel/APOnly a career criminal finds himself facing four indictments in four different jurisdictions at the same time. That level of legal exposure is generally reserved for those who engage in crime sprees of historic proportions.Enter Donald Trump, a serial criminal who has been the subject of so many federal and state investigations and indictments that he could put most Mafia bosses to shame. It seems likely that Trump, who has already been charged with felonies in two separate cases, will soon be indicted at least twice more, perhaps before the summer is over. If that happens, Trump will have to spend much of the next year traveling up and down the Eastern Seaboard defending himself in courtrooms in New York, Washington, Georgia, and Florida, even as he campaigns for the presidency.But rather than conflicting with his court appearances, Trump’s presidential run is ...