A number of spectators began filming the grisly spectacle as well as a former teacher confronting the two attackers. As time passed, it became clear the two assailants weren't the least bit concerned about escaping as they demanded passers-by record their statements while the two still clenched knives and cleavers with blood-streaked hands.
Clutching a bloodied meat cleaver, the man suspected of executing a soldier on a crowded street declared: 'you and your kids will be next'.
In a chilling rant captured on camera, the knife-wielding man declared: 'The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers.'
In the video obtained by ITV News he added: 'Remove your governments - they don't care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start bursting our guns? You think politicians are going to die?
'No, it's going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them – tell them to bring our troops back so we can... so you can all live in peace.’
The two killers then waited 20 minutes for armed police to show up before closing in on them with machetes and a rusty revolver. One attacker was shot by a policewoman while the other blew off his thumb when the revolver misfired and was also shot by police. Both were taken to area hospitals are expected to survive their injuries. One of the murder suspects has been identified as Michael Adebolajo, a muslim convert from a Nigerian Christian family who was lived in the UK his entire life.
The soldier murdered in the machete attack has been identified as Lee Rigby, a veteran of Afghanistan who was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Rigby was described by fellow soldiers as a popular, witty, larger than life personality and lifelong Manchester United fan and was a drummer in the regimental band. Rigby leaves behind a wife of five years and a two year old daughter.
With soldiers in dress uniform acting as pallbearers, mourners bid farewell to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at a service in St Paul's Cathedral in London on Wednesday. In attendence was Queen Elizabeth, who was attending the first funeral of a British leader since Winston Churchill's 1965 funeral.
In attendence were Thatcher's son and daughter-in-law Mark and Sarah as well as her grandchildren Michael and Amanda. However, it was Amanda Thatcher's poised reading of Ephisians VI, 10-18 that caught the attention of the British tabloids.
When news of Thatcher's death broke last week, Britain's far left reacted with impromptu celebrations in the street that even some of Thatcher's political adversaries decried as crass. The leftist revelers had also promised to picket her funeral- apparently taking a page from the hate-filled morons of the Westboro Baptist Church. However, supporters lined up outside St Paul's drowned out any jeers or taunts from protesters as Thatcher's casket, draped in a Union Jack, was carried from the cathedral to a waiting hearse.
British entertainers also weighed in on the former PM's passing- although many people on social netwroking sites like Facebook or Twitter were born long after Thatcher had vacated 10 Downing Street and had literally never heard of her. Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell praised Margaret Thatcher's rise from grocer's daughter to Britain's most powerful woman through her official twitter account upon hearing of the former Prime Minister's passing last week, but quickly deleted it after facing a sharp backlash from social network users. However, she later posted on her website that she eventually regretted the decision and her unwillingness to stand by what she had said, pointing out that Thatcher was willing to stand by many of her statements no matter how unpopular they might have been with her colleagues or public.
Baroness Margaret Thatcher- the UK's first female prime minister and staunch US ally towards the end of the Cold War- has passed away from a stroke at the age of 87 on Monday. Thatcher, along with former President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Polish labor leader Lech Walesa, was one of the most prominent figures in opposing the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Thatcher got her start in politics as a Member of Parliament representing a district in Middlesex County and was appointed Secretary of Education and Science under Prime Minister David Heath in 1970. After the Conservative Party lost the 1974 general election, Thatcher became leader of the opposition and when the Labour party was ousted in a 1979 general election, Thatcher became Great Britain's first female Prime Minister.
In her first term, Thatcher sought to curb the expansion of the welfare state as well as the influence of labor unions in Britain's political affairs. Even before serving as Prime Minister, Thatcher had publicly made a number of anti-communist and anti-Soviet statements that led one Red Army publication to dub her "The Iron Lady"- a moniker she eventually embraced.
Much of her first term was also marked by strikes, high unemployment, inflation and an approval rating around 22%. Sensing weakness and a much-needed diversion from their own domestic problems, the ruling Argentine military junta annexed the lightly-defended Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic in April of 1982. However, the Argentine junta seriously underestimated Thatcher's resolve and a Britsh task force was immediately dispatched to the South Atlantic. While the USA was initially reluctant to take sides in what an inevitable 'hot' war between two countries considered allies, the United States eventually sided with Britain and provided the Ministry of defense sattelite imagery of Argentine troop movements from the mainland to the Falklands.
After a series of air and sea engagements, the SAS and Royal Army landed on the islands in May and engaged the occupying Argentine soldiers. By June 14th, the last of the Argentine forces had surrendered and the British had re-taken the capital of Stanley. Within a year, the military junta in Buenos Aires was forced to call a general election due to eroding support from their own soldiers and a civilian government was elected in October of 1983.
Thatcher's popularity increased after the Falklands War, demonstrating that Great Britain could still successfully defend her citizens and territory abroad- no matter how far-flung. Thatcher and the Conservative party would enjoy a sweeping victory during the 1983 elections.
In October 1984, Prime Minister Thatcher survived an IRA assassination attempt when a bomb was detonated in an adjoining suite at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. Although Thatcher survived, the blast killed five and injured 31. After vising the wounded at the hospital, which included members of Parliament, Thatcher would go on to address the Conservative party conference that morning as scheduled.
Thatcher and then-President Ronald Reagan had much in common and worked closely together throughout the 1980s. The Royal Navy nearly tripled their nuclear capability with the purchase of the Trident nuclear missile system, and in 1986 Thatcher allowed the US Air Force to use RAF bases to launch retaliatory airstrikes against Libya after the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin killed two US servicemen and a civilian and wounded more than 200 others. Intelligence agencies reportedly intercepted a telex from Libya to their East Berlin embassy congratulating them on a "job well done" immediately after the bombing.
Despite profound ideological differences, Thatcher and then Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev maintained a cordial personal relationship with each understanding that the other was firmly committed to their respective country's political system and could not be persuaded otherwise. The reform-minded Gorbachev credited Thatcher with bringing about change and the eventual end of the Cold War.
"We gradually developed personal relations that became increasingly friendly," he said. "In the end, we were able to achieve mutual understanding, and this contributed to a change in the atmosphere between our country and the West and to the end of the Cold War."
"Margaret Thatcher was a great politician and an exceptional person. She will be remain in our memories and in history," said Gorbachev, whose resignation as president December 1991 marked the end of the Soviet Union.
After winning three consecutive terms, Thatcher was unable to withstand an internal party challenge and resigned as the Conservative party leader in 1990, although the Conservative party would go on to win the 1992 general election with John Major as Prime Minister.
Thatcher would become the longest-serving British prime minister and paradoxically was at times more popular in the USA than she was in the UK. The strong leadership and rejection of socialism make Thatcher popular with American conservatives to this day.
Out of office, Thatcher became an author and public speaker. In 2003, her husband Sir Dennis Thatcher, passed away and Thatcher herself suffered from a series of small strokes that limited her public speaking appearances.
Despite her declining health, Thatcher flew 'across the pond' for President Reagan's 2004 State funeral in which she delivered a videotaped eulogy for her close friend and again in 2006 for a memorial service in Washington DC marking the 5th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
In accordance with Baroness Thatcher's wishes, the former Prime Minister will not recieve a state funeral but will recieve a service at St Paul's cathedral in London with full military honors.
WORLD SERIES- Faced with a must-win scenario at Game 3 in Comerica Park on Sunday night, the Detroit Tigers took their first lead of the 2012 World Series and showed signs of life.
After the Giants got out to an early 1-0 lead, the Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to a 2 run homer from Miguel Cabrera. After San Francisco jumped out to the early lead in Game 1 thanks in large part to Pablo Sandoval's 3 homers and shutting out the Tigers in Game 2 and Game 3, this was noteworthy as being the first lead Detroit had in the World Series.
However, it wouldn't last very long as Giants catcher Buster Posey belted a 2 run homer off of Tigers starter Max Scherzer with one away in the top of the 6th to give the Giants a 3-2 lead.
The Tigers would get an equalizer in the bottom of the 6th inning thanks to a solo homer by Delmon Young to make it a 3-3 game. The deadlock would continue into extra innings until the bottom of the 10th inning when former Red Sox and Blue Jays infielder Marco Scuatro drove home Ryan Theriot with a 2-out RBI single off of reliever Phil Coke to give San Francisco a 4-3 lead.
Sergio Romo came on in the bottom of the 10th to close out the game- and the series- for the Giants and after getting the first two batters, struck out Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to end the series.
As you probably gathered from the picture above, the San Francisco Giants go on to win their second World Series title in two seasons, becoming the fist National League team since the Cincinnati Reds Bid Red Machine of 1975 and 1976. After his standout performance in Game 1, Pablo Sandoval went 4-12 for the remainder of the series and was named World Series MVP.
The World Series title is only the Giant's second since moving out to the Bay area in 1958- the other coming in 2010 after beating the Texas Rangers 4 games to 1.
AP Photo/Alastair Grant
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- As it turns out, the New England Patriots are just as at home in ye olde England as they were in New England.
It wasn't quite the Patriots/Silly Nannies match that some have predicted, but apparently the end results weren't that different from a hypothetical matchup against the fictitious team comprised of British dandies.
After a three year hiatus, the Patriots returned to London's Wembley Stadium for the NFL's annual regular season game in the UK. This one actually counted as a 'home' game for the St Louis Rams and after the Rams got on the board with their opening possession thanks to a 50 yard TD pass from QB Sam Bradford to WR Chris Givens to give St Louis the early 7-0 lead, the Patriots would go on to score 45 unanswered points, including Brady connecting with TE Rob Gronkowski twice as well as a TD pass to WR Brandon Lloyd and rushing TDs from RBs Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen.
This one was all New England in Olde England, and the Patriots head into their bye week in sole possession of first place in the AFC East after the Jets were thumped by the Dolphins by a 30-9 final in Miami on Sunday.
Earlier this month, the NFL announced that there would be two separate games played over in London for the 2013 season. The Minnesota Vikings would 'host' the Pittsburgh Steelers in a late September contest while the Jacksonville Jaguars would take on the San Francisco 49ers in a Wembley Stadium game at the end of October.
The Patriots' next opponent will be the Buffalo Bills at home on Veteran's Day.
Michael Dwyer/AP Photo
NCAA FOOTBALL- The Boston College Eagles looked to snap a 5-game losing streak and get their first in-conference win of the season on Chestnut Hill Saturday when they hosted Maryland.
They opened up a 10-0 lead on the Terrapins in the first half thanks to a 20 yard pass from Chase Rettig to RB David Dudeck on the Eagle's opening possession followed by a 36 yard Nate Freese FG in the 2nd quarter. For the second half, Freese would open up the scoring with a 28 yard FG to make it a 13-0 before Maryland answered with a FG and TD late in the third to make it a 13-10 game.
Early in the 4th, Terps QB Caleb Rowe connected with Stefon Diggs to put Maryland ahead 17-13. Given the woeful performance of the Eagles in some contests earlier, the crowd at Chestnut Hill could feel the game start to slip away when on their next possession, Chese Rettig was sacked and fumbled the ball near mid-field. However, the Terps went 3 and out and had to punt- successfully pinning Boston College at their own 15 with just over 5 minutes remaining in regulation.
But Rettig wasn't done on the day, and kept a sustained drive going with a number of 12 yard passes to TE Chris Pantale and WR Alex Amidon, moving into the Maryland red zone and eating up precious time in the process. The drive was capped by a 14 yard TD pass from Rettig to WR Jonathan Coleman to give Boston College the 20-17 lead with 1:32 to go in regulation.
Although Maryland got the ball back with good field position at their own 31 and 52 seconds on the clock, DB Spencer Rositano picked off Caleb Rowe at mid-field, sealing Boston College's second win of the 2012 season and their first aginst an FBS opponent.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- Between snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, there was a whole lot of snatching going on late in Sunday's game at Foxbourough.
After the Jets got a TD on their opening posession, New England's Devin McCourty took the ball back 104 yards to tie the game at 7-7 on a kickoff return for a TD.
For the second straight week, it was looking as though the Patriots were going to pull away thanks to a 17 yard TD reception from Brady to Gronkowski late in the 1st and then got two more after Jets QB kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone after fumbling the handoff to RB Shonn Greene on the Jets own 12 yard line. The safety made it a 16-7 game, but the Jets were able to cut the Patriots lead to 7 thanks to a late 54-yard Nick Folk FG. The teams headed into the locker room for halftime with the Patriots up 16-10.
For their first possession of the 3rd quarter, the Jets were able to march the ball down into the new England Red Zone, but were unable to punch it in on 3rd and 2 from the Patriots 3 yard line, settling for a 21 yard FG to make it 13-16.
But on the next posession, the Patriots marched to ball 78 yards down the field to give them a 23-16 lead. The drive took 6:43 and was capped by a short TD pass from Brady to Gronkowski.
However, momentum began swinging the Jets' way when the 4th quarter got underway. With just under 6 minutes to go, New York closed the gap to 23-20 on a 7 yard TD pass from Sanchez to TE Dustin Keller. The Jets defense then held New England to a 3-and-out before getting the ball back and moving as close as the Patriots' 25 yard line. After being stopped on 3rd and 4, Nick Folk made a 43 yard FG to tie the contest up at 23-23.
Near-disaster struck on the following posession when Devin McCourty fumbled the kickoff return inside the Patriots' own red zone and the Jets covered on the New England 18. However, on 3rd and 7, Pats LB Dont'a Hightower came up with the second most important sack of the game [the most important? That was yet to come- NANESB!] dragging down Sanchez for a 10 yard loss and forcing the Jets to attempt a FG instead of going for it on 4th and 17. Still, Folk's 43 yard FG was good and the Jets took the lead for the first time since the 1st quarter, going agead by a 26-23 margin with 1:37 to go in regulation.
On the following kickoff, McCourty managed to hang on to the ball and got it as far out as the New England 21. This gave Brady and the Pats offense a little over 90 seconds to drive the ball down into FG range [or try and get the kill shot with a TD- NANESB!]. And that's exactly what happened as the Patriots marched down the field, getting as far as the Jets 25 with 16 seconds remaining. As time expires, Gostkowski kicked a 43 yard FG to tie the contest up at 26-26 and force overtime.
This was the first time the Patriots had to play under the NFL's revised OT rules and New England won the coin toss and got the ball to start off with. Starting from their own 16, the Patriots moved the ball thanks to a series of short passes to Welker, Woodhead, Hernandez and Deion Branch, advancing as far as the Jets 30 before bringing in Gostkowski for a 48 yard FG attempt which was good.
Under the old rules, that would've ended the ballgame right there, but the new format allowed the Jets a posession with which the could tie the game or go ahead with a TD for the win. However, after a couple of quick gains that brought New York from their own 15 to near mid field, Mark Sanchez was sacked by DE Rod Ninkovitch and then fumbled the ball. New England recovered the football, thus ending the game right there. After dropping the late lead, Patriots come from behind to force OT and shut the Jets out in OT, winning by a final of 29-26.
Brady went 26-42 with 2 TDs and 259 yards while Rob Gronkowski had 6 receptions on the day, two of them for TDs.
This weekend, the Patriots will travel to jolly old England for a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI against the St Louis Rams. This is actually considered a home game for the Rams and will kick off at 1PM Eastern time.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
WORLD SERIES- Perhaps the best baseball news as far as I was concerned came last Tuesday when the Detroit Tigers competed a sweep of the New York Yankees thanks to an 8-1 shellacking in Game 4 at Comerica Park in which Yankees starter CC Sabathia gave up 6 earned runs before getting pulled in the top of the 4th. Matt Scherzer pitched a gem through 5⅔ and the Tigers advanced to their first World Series berth since 2006.
And for awhile, it was looking as though it would be a rematch of the '06 World Series with the Cardinals taking a commanding 3-1 lead over the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS. However, the Giants would come roaring back and win the next three games by a combined total of 20-1, including shutouts thrown by Barry Zito in Game 5 and Matt Cain in Game 7.
For Game 1 of the World Series, the Giants appeared to have picked up right where they left off, taking an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Pablo Sandoval homer off of Tigers ace Justin Verlander in the bottom of the first. In the bottom of the 3rd, Giants Outfielder Angel Pagan reached when what looked like a routine ground ball took an odd bounce off of 3rd base and squirted into shallow left field with two away. Pagan then came home on an RBI double from former Red Sox infielder Marco Scutaro, who the Giants picked up from Colorado in an unheralded midseason transaction. Scutaro's base hit gave the Giants another run and brough up Pablo Sandoval to the plate where he once more went yard on Justin Verlander to give San Francisco a 4-0 lead.
As it turns out, that would be all they would need for Game 1, but starter Barry Zito helped his own cause by adding to the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the 4th and Sandoval would get his 3rd homer of the night- another solo shot in the bottom of the 5th to make it 6-0 Giants. The Tigers would get a run on a Miguel Cabrera RBI in the top of the 6th, but Detroit would answer with RBI base hits from Buster Posey and Marco Scutaro.
San Francisco would cruise to the easy 8-3 win in Game one with Barry Zito getting his first-ever win in the World Series and Pablo Sandoval becoming the 4th big leaguer to hit 3 home runs in a single World Series game, joining Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols.
On Thursday night, Game 2 of the 2012 World Series turned out to be more of a pitcher's duel with Giants starter Madison Bumgarner outlasting Detroit's Doug Fister- who took a line drive off of his noggin in the 2nd inning- in a 2-0 Tigers loss. Thursday night's win gives Detroit a 2-0 series lead. Fister was examined by doctors postgame and showed no additional symptoms of a concussion.
The series heads back to Detroit on Saturday, with Friday being a travel day for both teams and the media. Ryan Vogelsong [14-9; 3.37 ERA] gets the start for San Francisco against Detroit's Anibal Sanchez [9-13; 3.86 ERA] at Comerica Park. San Francisco backup catcher Hector Sanchez will reportedly be the NL Champion's designated hitter while playing in the American League ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 PM ET and the game will be nationally televised on FOX.
I think the image is pretty self-explanatory. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
BOSTON RED SOX- So barely a year after Terry Francona's departure from Boston, the Red Sox have decided to revisit the Francona epoch with the signing of Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell. Farrell was the Red Sox pitching coach between 2007 and 2010 before being hired on north of the border and was announced as the 46th manager in the club's history.
The Red Sox had also interviewed Brad Ausmus, DeMarlo Hale and Tim Wallach for the managerial spot. While this is sometimes done for show and the eventual favorite eventually gets hired anyway, there were some doubts as to whether or not Toronto would release Farrell from his contract. In his first season as the Blue Jays manager, the team had improved to 81-81, but in 2012 Toronto finished just a game ahead of the last place Red Sox and the Jays were more willing to part with him.
From the perspective of owner John Henry and GM Ben Cherrington, Farrell has the advantage of being familiar with some of the players and front office staff. The Red Sox had to part with infielder Mike Aviles in order to coax Toronto into releasing Farrell. The 50 year old former pitching coach still had a year remaining on his contract with the Blue Jays.
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS- Former San Diego closer Heath Bell has made his way back to the NL West in a surprise move announced over the weekend.
Just one year into his 3 year, $27 million contract with the Florida Miami Marlins, Bell was traded to Arizona in exchange for infielder prospect Yordy Cabrera who came to Arizona in a deal with Oakland that sent outfielder Chris Young to that AL Team by the Bay.
The Marlins will also reportedly pay $8 million of the $21 million still owed on Bell's contract. JJ Putz would remain the D-Backs closer while Bell would move into a setup role.
Earlier in the month, there had been widespread speculation that the New York Yankees were looking to deal Alex Rodriguez after a disappointing performance in the postseason. The Marlins were considered a likely candidate since Rodriguez was from the area and the Yankees were willing to eat a large portion of his contract in order to deal the high-salaried infielder. Dealing Bell could fuel speculation that the Marlins are getting ready to clear salary cap space for a possible A-Rod deal, although the fact that Bell went 4-5 with a 5.09 ERA for the Marlins could mean that Miami was just willing to get rid of a relief pitcher who wasn't working out for them.
NCAA FOOTBALL- Four former Louisiana State University football players, including 2011 Heisman candidate Tyrann 'Honey Badger' Mathieu were arrested by police in Baton Rouge, LA on drug charges.
Mathieu was dismissed from LSU's football in August after violating the University's substance abuse policy. Mathieu was arrested along with former starting QB Jordan Jefferson and former DB's Karnell Hatcher and Derrick Bryant on multiple counts of drug pesession as well as posession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Police were responding to a call about an individual- later identified as Jefferson- forcing his way through a gate at an apartment complex in Baton Rouge. After exchanging words with a maintainence man, the police were called and knocked on the door of an apartment where Mathieu answered the door. Officers noticed the strong smell of marijuana. A search of the apartment yielded 10 bags of high-grade marijuana and a digital scale.
BOSTON COLLEGE EAGLES- Georgia Tech picked up their 3rd win of the season after a 37-13 thumping of Boston College in Atlanta last weekend. This was the first contest since the Yellowjackets fired defensive coordinator Al Groh.
The Yellowjackets had built up a 31-3 lead on Boston College before QB Chase Rettig connected on two TD passes, one to Alex Amidon late in the 3rd and another to TE Chris Pantale, to make it 31-17, but Georgia Tech got the last word in with a late rushing TD from RB David Sims with just over 5 minutes to go in the 4th.
This upcoming weekend, BC will host Maryland at Chestnut Hill and try and snap its ACC losing streak, this time against the 4-3 Maryland Terrapins.
UMASS- With the exception of one close game at Foxborough, the UMASS Minutemen haven't had much more luck with the Mid-America conference than they've had with the other FBS programs they've faced in their first season as a FBS program.
The futility continued last Saturday when they committed 4 turnovers against the Bowling Green Falcons, including a pick and 48 yard return from Bowling Green LB Dwayne Woods. Bowling Green shuts out the Minutemen by a 24-0 final.
UMASS will travel to Music City for their final non-conference game of the 2012 season on Saturday- taking on Vanderbilt in Prime Time. The 0-7 Minutemen come in to Saturday night's contest as 32 point uderdogs. Kickoff is at 7:00 ET and will be streaming on ESPN3.
BIG EAST- After last Friday's 40-10 loss to Syracuse at the Carrier dome, the Huskies are in their bye week. The Huskies are 3-5 overall and 0-3 against Big East teams heading into their off week and will face the South Florida Bulls. Presently USF is the only Big East football team with a worse record than UConn- also sporting an 0-3 record in conference. USF will play the Pitt Panthers this weekend before their home game against the Huskies.
ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG EAST The Cincinnati Bearcats have been knocked from the ranks of the undefeated. Coming into last weekend's game, Cincinnati was ranked #21 in the nation.
And it was a MAC team that spoiled the party for Cincinnati, with the Toledo Zips getting out to an early lead against the Bearcats. The Bearcats briefly took a 19-20 lead before Toledo's Bernard Reedy retuned a kickoff 91 yards for a Rockets TD to put Toledo on top for good as they went on to win by a final of 29-23
Three anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, were not initially spotted or detained as they cut through three perimeter fences on July 28.
They painted slogans and threw what they said was human blood on the outer wall of a building where highly enriched uranium, a key component of nuclear bombs, is stored.
[DOE Inspector General] Friedman's report said the government had budgeted about $150 million in taxpayer funds for security at the plant for fiscal 2012, yet the officer responding to the alarm did not notice the trespassers until they walked up to his car and "surrendered."
The officer did not draw his weapon nor secure the area, instead letting the trespassers "roam about and retrieve various items from backpacks," the report said.
Another officer hearing alarms did not look outside the building as he was supposed to, and also missed an image of the trespassers on a camera. A third officer turned off the alarm.
Others heard the activists hammering on the building's outside wall, but assumed the sound was from maintenance workers.
The Oak Ridge facility is managed by Babcock & Wilcox [NYSE- BWC] while security is managed by UK-based G4S Security.
Earlier this summer, G4S was embroiled in a controversy over a staffing shortfall and allegations of rushing unqualified personnel onsite ahead of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The Olympics debacle reportedly cost the company £50 million and prompted the UK's Ministry of Defense to deploy more troops to London.
SEATTLE MARINERS- Starting pitcher Felix Hernandez threw the first perfect game in the Mariners history on Wednesday afternoon at SafeCo Field in Seattle's 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The only run Seattle would get came in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single from DH Jesus Montero, but it was all the Mariners would need as 'King Felix' went all nine innings and struck out 12 batters on 113 total pitches.
Hernandez's brush with perfection is the first time in MLB history that there have been three perfect games thrown in a season- the White Sox Philip Humber had thrown a perfect game against the Mariners back in April while San Francisco's Matt Cain struck out 14 Houston Astros in mid-June while throwing a perfect game of his own. Hernandez's perfect game was the 23rd one in the history of the big leagues.
So far in the 2012 season, there have been six no-hitters with half of them taking place at Seattle's SafeCo Field. In addition to the perfect games thrown by the Humber and Hernandez, the Mariners pitching staff combined for a no-hitter using six pitchers against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 9th.
Currently Hernandez holds an 11-5 record with a 2.60 ERA.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS- San Francisco Giants outfielder and 2012 All Star Game MVP Melky Cabrera has recieved a 50 game suspension after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs on Wednesday.
Unlike the Ryan Braun announcement in which Braun immediately challenged the results and it was subsquently learned the sample was improperly handled before testing, Cabrera admitted to taking a banned substance and issued an apology to fans and teammates.
With the suspension, Cabrera's season if effectively over. Should the Giants make it to the playoffs, he will still be under suspension. If the Giants miss the playoffs, Cabrera will serve out the remainder of his suspension for whichever team he is playing for, since he's a free-agent at the end of this season.
Cabrera went 2 for 3 with a homer and 2 RBI at this year's All Star Game in Kansas City, garnering MVP honors at the Mid-summer classic. The National League handily beat the American League by an 8-0 final this year, but Cabrera's drug test results have led to calls from some to invalidate the results of the game. Since 2003, the winner of the All Star game determines who recieves home field advantage in the World series. The exact date of when Cabrera underwent the drug test hasn't been released by MLB.
This season, Cabrera has been batting .346 with 11 homers and 60 RBI for the Giants. After losing to the Washington Nationals at home on Wednesday, the Giants presently trail the LA Dodgers by a game in the NL West and will be harmed by Cabrera's abesence from the starting lineup. Cabrera has also harmed himself due to the fact he was slated to be a free agent at the end of the season. If he did manage to sign with another team next season, he would miss time with them should the Giants not make the postseason this year.
RED SOX- I guess it was too much to ask to have two no-hitters in one day on Wednesday.
Following a report from Yahoo.com sports that a number of players had met with Red Sox management to demand that manager Bobby Valentine be fired immediately, the travelling soap opera took to the field at Camden Yards on Wednesday after dropping the series opener 7-1.
Red Sox starter Aaron Cook appeared to be cruising, getting a 2-0 lead in the top of the 5th thanks to an RBI ground-rule double from Jacoby Ellsbury and a sac fly from Carl Crawford. Cook threw five innings of no-hit baseball, but in the bottom of the 6th inning, the wheels came off as he led off the inning with a walk to Nick Markakis then gave up back-to-back singles to JJ Hardy and Nate McClouth to break up the no hitter and the put the O's on the board. Cook then air-mailed a comebacker to him from Adam Jones into center field. Cook would then give up a ground rule double to Matt Wieters before being pulled by Valentine. Mark Reynolds then belted a 2-RBI double off of Junichi Tazawa to make it a 5-2 Baltimore lead. Although a run would come home for Boston in the top of the 7th on a Carl Crawford groundout to make it a two run game, Baltimore's pitching staff was able to hold on to the lead and shut the Red Sox down by a 5-3 final.
The Red Sox will try and avoid the sweep on Thursday night when Clay Buchholz [10-3; 4.24 ERA] will take to the mound against Baltimore's Chris Tillman [5-2; 3.40 ERA]. The game gets underway at 7:05 ET and will be televised on NESN and MASN.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: BASKETBALL- Team USA held off a late challenge from Spain in the gold medal game. Once again, Kevin Durant led the scoring for Team USA with 30 points.
In the second half, Spain had whittled down the USA lead to just one point, but USA started to pull away late and win by a final of 107-100 in the gold medal game for their second consecutive gold medal.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: VOLLEYBALL- After Brazil's womens volleyball team gave away the first set in the gold medal game thanks to a series of unforced errors against Team USA, the Brazilians stormed back to win three straight sets to clinch the gold medal for the second straight summer Olympics.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: TRACK & FIELD- The American quartet of Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix, Tianna Madison and Carmelita Jeter broke a world record in the women's 4 X 100M relay with an official time of 40.82 seconds.
The Jamacian women's team finished at 41.41 secinds while the Ukranian team finished at 42.04 for the bronze. The previous world record was 41.37 seconds held by East Germany, which was set in 1985.
RED SOX- The Red Sox came into Firday night's game at Cleveland's Jacobs Field losing losing seven out of their last nine games- including Thursday night's series opener.
However, Clay Buchholz stopped the bleeding with an outstanding performance, going the distance on Friday night. After allowing an early solo home run to Asdrubal Cabrera in the bottom of the first, Clay settled down, allowing just one other hit and striking out six in Boston's 3-2 win over Cleveland. Clay got run support from a Dustin Pedroia RBI single in the top of the 4th and a 2-run Cody Ross homer in the top of the 6th. The Tribe would pull to within one in the bottom of the 6th thanks to a Ezequiel Carrera sac fly, but that would be it as far as runs scored off of Buchholz went.
Saturday's game will feature Franklin Morales [3-2; 3.14 ERA] starting for Boston while Zach McAllister [4-4; 3.60 ERA] gets on the bump for Cleveland. The game gets underway from Jacobs/Progressive Field at 6:05 ET. Naturally, the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- 3B Will Middlebrroks suffered what turned out to be a broken right wrist after getting hit by a 95 MPH fastball in the top of the 9th on Friday night's game.
Early reports indicate that Middlebrooks is likely to miss the remainder of the season. The Red Sox have recalled light hitting infielder Danny Valencia from AAA Pawtucket to take Middlebrooks' place on the roster.
OTHER MLB NEWS- Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Derek Lowe was formally released bt the team on Friday. Lowe had am 8-10 record with a 5.52 ERA this season. Boston and Baltimore had reportedly expressed interest in getting Lowe when the Indians placed him on waivers earlier this week, but neither team had followed through on their rumored interest.
Lowe is best known for being the Red Sox pitcher of record in the clinching games of the American League Division Series, the ALCS and the 4th and deciding game of the 2004 World series- thie first pitcher to do so. The Red Sox 2004 World Series championshi was also his last with Boston and he has since played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves before re-joining the AL with the Indians earlier this season.
OLYMPIC VOLLEYBALL- The women's beach volleyball gold medal game was an all-USA matchup pitting the duo of Misty-May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings versus Jen Kessey and April Ross.
Treanor and Walsh swept Ross and Kessey two sets to none in the Gold medal game in what Treanor adamantly insisted were her final Olympics. The duo of Walsh and Treanor have won gold in Athens, Beijing and now London- this is in addition to three FIVB beach volleyball titles. If Walsh wants to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, she will need to look for a new partner.
The postgame celebrations were marred somewhat by the partial collapse of the floorboards backstage at the Horse Guards Palace- Treanor, reportedly still wearing her gold medal, slid halfway into the hole but was uninjured along with some of the The venue had to be built from scatch after the Queen's diamond jubilee celebration earlier this summer, but completed in time for the opening ceremonies.
The Chinese duo of Zhang Xi and Xue Chen won the bronze medal match, besting Brazil's Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca. After a dissapointing start to the 2012 campaign, Xi and Chen rebounded to take their second consecutive Olympic bronze medal.
For the indoor women's volleyball, the USA Women's team once again bested South Korea to advance to the gold medal game, which sets up a rematch of the 2008 Olympic gold medal game between the USA and Brazil. South Korea will face Japan in the Bronze medal game.
OLYMPIC SOCCER- It was a rematch of last year's women's World Cup, only with different results.
Japan was attempting to become the first team to win consecutive World Cup and Olympic championships while Team USA was hoping to repeat their success in Beijing from four years ago.
Before a crowd of more than 80,000 at Wembley Stadium, Team USA got out to a relatively early lead thans to midfielder Carli Lloyd who hit paydirt about 8 minutes in. After the opening goal, Japan then dominated as far as time of posession went, but their quality scoring chances were either blocked by USA goalie Hope Solo or went off the post.
Lloyd would then give the USA some insurance with a second goal to make it 2-0 team USA early in the second half, but Yuki Ogimi cut the lead in half and put Japan on the board in the 63rd minute. Japan would get some quality scoring chances late and threaten to knot the contest up at 2-2, but Team USA managed to fend off the late rally and outlast Japan.
USA wins the gold medal game thanks in large part to Carli Lloyd. Goalie Hope Solo officially faced 7 shots on goal, stopping six of them. The women's national team has already planned a barnstorming victory tour, facing Costa Rica in forward Abby Wambach's hometown of Rochester, NY and Australia in Carson, CA in September.
Over on the men's side of the pitch, Mexico's national team stunned the heavily favored Brazilian team, going on to win by a 2-1 final for Mexico's first ever gold medal in soccer. Curiously, depsite winning five World Cup titles, Brazil has yet to win Olympic gold in the event. Mexico got on the board early with a goal from Oribe Peralta in the opening minute of the match- the quickest Olympic goal since FIFA started tracking such statistics 36 years ago.
This is not just a case of having attractive women out there as a sort of publicity stunt. The Dutch women, as it turned out, were quite good at Field Hockey.
'How good?' you might be asking? Try undefeated throughout the 2012 Olympics.
In the preliminary round, the Dutch women blazed a day-glo orange swath through Japan, Great Britain, South Korea, China and Belgium- shutting out the latter two.
The Dutch would need a shootout at the end of regulation to get past New Zealand in the semifinals. In a match that no doubt brought unwarranted comparisons to the Falkland Islands war, Argentina and Great Britain faced off in the semifinals for their respective pool. However, unlike the Falklands campaign, Argentina would come away victorious and face the Dutch in the gold medal game.
On Friday's gold medal game, Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel would put the Dutch on the board with a tally in the second half while Maartje Paumen would give Holland a 2-0 lead. Goalkeeper Joyce Sombroek kept Argentina off the board altogether and the Netherlands Women's team would go on to win their second straight Olympic gold medal after beating China 1-0 in the gold medal game at the 2008 games in Beijing.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters photo
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE- Shares of one of the most widely recognized professional sports clubs went public on Friday afternoon.
Manchester United Football Club [NYSE: MANU] traded flat for much of Friday, closing out at $14 per share, down slightly from the openeing price of $14.05.
The venerable British football club was purchased by American businessman Malcom Glazer in 2005, who also owns the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The purchase reportedly saddled Man U with close to a billion dollars in debt and high interest payments.
The Glazers will maintain control of the club by way of a tiered structure. The Class A shares available to the General Public providing one vote per share held while Class B shares would translate to 10 voted per share held. The Glazers would own both Class A and Class B shares, but retain the majority of their holdings in the more influential Class B shares. This makes it more difficult for an outside entitity to launch a hostile takeover over Manchester United through the publicly traded shares.
The Initial Public Offering makes Man U the most valuable sports franchise in the world, putting its estimated worth at around £1.5 billion- or US$ 2.3 billion, more than the Los Angeles Dodgers were sold for earlier this season.
NFL PRESEASON- The New England Patriots got their first win of the preseason with a low-scoring affair against the New Orleans Saints at Foxboro on Thursday night. Tom Brady saw limited starting time, going 4 for 7 with all of 30 yeards while backup QB Brian Hoyer went 8 for 15 with the game's ony TD in the 7-6 win over New Orleans.
The Patriots will next take on the Philadelphia Eagles at Foxboro on Monday night in a nationally televised game that gets underway on ESPN at 8:00 ET.
NBA- The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired Dwigt Howard fromt he Orlando Magin in a 4-team 11 player megadeal. The deal sends Andrew Bynum from Los Angeles to Philadelphia while Andre Iguodala goes from Philly to Denver.
Howard had earlier demanded a trade from Orlando and refused to start in some games, demanding that the magic fire head coach Stan Van Gundy
RED SOX- After a lackluster start to their road trip in which they dropped two out of three games to the Rangers earlier this week, the skid looked like it would continue with Boston dropping the opening game of their weekend series against the archrival Yankees in the Bronx thanks to a Curtis Granderson grand slam in the bottom of the 8th inning to put the exclamation point on a 10-3 Yankees win.
Saturday saw the Red Sox get out to 5-run lead against the Yankees only for the Bronx Bombers to again come back in the bottom of the 8th and knot things up at 6-6 on a two run homer from Mark Texiera. However, in the top of the 9th Red Sox got a runner on board with a one out walk to Jacoby Ellbusry. This was followed up by a Pedro Ciriaco triple to deep center to give the Sox the lead before Pedroia hit an RBI sac fly to bring Ciriaco home and make it an 8-6 Red Sox lead. Alredo Aceves then closed out the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to give Boston only their second win of the season against the Yankees.
For Sunday night's nationally televised game, Felix Doubront got the start against the Yankee's Hideki Kuroda. The Red Sox got on the board early with a 2-RBI double from Ryan Sweeney in the top of the first. Doubront would go 6 and a third innings, giving up four hits including a solo home run to Yankees catcher Russel Martin to pull the Yankees to within one run.
The bottom of the 8th inning would once again be problematic for the Red Sox, and more specifically Russel Martin who tied the game up with an RBI single off of Aceves to make it 2-2, forcing extra innings.
With nobody out and a runner on first in the top of the 10th, manager Bobby Valentine was ejected after arguing with the home plate over whether or not Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch, followed by Josh Beckett who was yelling at an umpire from the Red Sox dugout. After the umpires ruled that the ball Valentine thought had his Middlebrooks was a strike, the third baseman then singled. Sweeney then grounded into a fielder's choice, erasing Middlebrooks at second but advancing Saltalamacchia to third for Pedro Ciriaco, which led to this.
The Red Sox would take a 3-2 lead on a bloop single from SS Ciriaco before the 10th inning came to an end when Ellsbury grounded into a double play.
Still on the mound, Aceves would get the first two batters out before hitting Nick Swisher with a pitch. However, Aceves got pinch hitter Raul Ibanez to strike out and end the ballgame, giving the Red Sox their first series win over the Yankees in their three meetings this season. The win also gives the Red Sox a .500 record and muddies some of the speculation whether or not they'd be buyers or sellers by Tuesday's trade deadline. While the Red Sox are in last place in the AL East, they're only two games behind 2nd place Baltimore and conceivably within striking distance of a postseason berth under MLB's newly-expanded playoff format.
The Red Sox return to Fenway on Monday night to face the Detroit Tigers, who are currently 2nd place in the AL Central. Clay Buchholz [8-3; 4.93 ERA] will get the start against Max Scherzer [10-5; 4.49 ERA]. The game gets underway at 7:10 ET and will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Yahoo Sports columnist Jeff Passan is reporting that the Red Sox are shopping starting pitcher Josh Beckett around just prior to the trade deadline and have expressed a willingness to eat a portion of his contract as part of any trade. Although the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers have reportedly expressed interest, a trade isn't believed to be imminent.
OTHER MLB NEWS- The Milwaukee Brewers have traded starting pitcher Zach Greinke to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In return, the Brewers will get Angel's pitching prospects Ariel Pena and Johnny Hellweg in addition to shortstop Jean Segura.
Greinke made his first start with the Angles on Sunday afternoon as they hosted Tampa Bay in Orange County. Greinke went 7 complete innings, allowing two earned runs on while striking out 8. However, he was outduelled by the Rays' Jeremy Hellickson who threw 6 shutout innings, allowing just two hits in Tampa's 2-0 win.
OTHER BREWERS NEWS- Back in December 2011, ESPN reported that National League MVP Ryan Braun had tested positive for a banned substance. However, unnamed sources had claimed that while there were no traces of any performance enhancing drugs in a urine sample collected from Braun during the 2011 playoffs, there were elevated levels of testosterone, which were indicative of a banned performance enhancing drugs of growth hormone.
However, during Braun's appeal it was reported that the urine sample was improperly stored prior to testing, potentially rendering the sample useless. A second test of Braun yielded normal testosterone levels. After Braun's appeal, the mandatory 50-game suspension penalty was overturned, the fisrt such instance of that happening since MLB introduced their anti-doping program.
I belatedly bring this up because the sports media has been nowhere near as vocal in announcing the mishandled urine sample and other exculpatory information about Braun as they were when the positive test results were announced.
MINNESOTA TWINS- The Minnesota Twins have traded starting pitcher Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for infielder Eduardo Escobar and minor leaguer Pedro Hernandez.
Although it's somewhat unusual to trade within their own division, Liriano is in the last year of his contract with the Twins and was expected to leave a free agent at the end of the season.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- The USA Women's volleyball team managed to hold off a late rally from South Korea for their first game of the preliminary round. Although Team USA took the first two rounds, South Korea capitalized on some defensive miscues and won the third match while pressuring the USA in the following match. However, Team USA held on to win the decisive 4th round by a 21-25 final.
Destinee Hooker led the USA with 21 points while South Korea's Kim Yeong Koung had 29 points in the losing effort.
On Monday, the USA will face Brazil in a rematch of the gold medal game during the Beijing olympics.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: WOMEN'S SKEET- American Kimberly Rhode became one of the first Americans to win gold in London this year, making history in the process.
Rhode simply dominated in the gold medal round, hitting 99 out of the 100 targets she faced at the range on the grounds of the Royal Artillery Barracks on Sunday- a new Olympic record.
The California native also made history be becoming the first ever Olympian to medal in five consecutive Olympics, going back to a gold in the women's double trap event during the 1996 Atlanta games.
SUMMER OLYMPICS: SWIMMING- After failing to make the Olympic squad for the 2008 Beijing games, American swimmer Dana Vollmer won the first gold medal for Team USA women's swimming and Vollmer's first gold in an individual event.
The upstate New York native also set a new world record in the 100m butterfly, finishing in 55.98 seconds, a full second ahead of silver medal winner Lu Ying of China.
Vollmer is also expected to take part in the 4 X 200 freestlye relay later on in the Olympics.
OTHER SWIMMING NEWS- Perhaps the most surprising development in Team USA swimming is that favorite Michael Phelps, who had absolutely dominated in Beijing back in 2008, has been shut out of the gold medal count so far.
Teammate Ryan Lochte came away with the gold in the men's 400m individual medley on Sunday, with Brazil's Thiago Pereira taking Silver, Japan's Kosuke Hagino taking Bronze and Phelps finishing 4th in the event.
Phelps and Lochte did take the silver in the 4 X 100M Freestyle relay after France rallied to pull ahead in the event.
SUMMER OLYMPICS- BASKETBALL- Team USA [which is NOT the same as the 1992 'Dream Team' despite Kobe Bryant's insistence] blew by France in their opening game of the Olympics, winning by a final of 98-71. Kevin Durant led the scoring for team USA with 22 points and 9 rebounds on Sunday.
OTHER BASKETBALL NEWS- While it didn't take place in a medal game, this last-second heave by Australia's Belinda Snell should go down as the shot of the tournament.
Snell nailed the shot from half court with Australia down by 3 to France and with less than a second to go in regulation.
However, the Aussies would go on to lose to France by a 74-70 final in the overtime.
NHL- Free agent RW Alexander Semin has agreed to a 1-year $7 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. Semin had 21 goals and 33 assists with the Washington Capitols during the 2011-2012 season.
Last month, the Hurricanes traded away Brandon Suter, Brian Dumoulon and their 8th overall draft pick to Pittsburgh for Jordan Staal, younger brother of Hurricanes captain Eric Staal. Jordan had 25 goals and 25 assists with the Penguins last season.
RED SOX- After coming out of the All-Star break with a 5-2 record, including taking 3 out of 4 from the AL Central leading the White Sox, the Red Sox were in for a letdown during the weekend when Toronto swept the 3-game series at Fenway Park where both Jon Lester and Josh Beckett were roughhed up by the Blue Jays.
Things weren't going to get easier with this weeks road trip to Texas and the Bronx. Monday night's game didn't hold alot promise when the Rangers countered a Jarrod Saltalamacchia solo homer with a 4-run bottom of the 3rd and 5 run bottom of the 6th off of Felix Doubront and the Sox bullpen to open up a series with a 9-1 Rangers win.
Coming into Tuesday night's game, the Red Sox were hoping to break a 4-game slide in which they were outscored 37-12. However, Tuesday night's game didn't feature much in the way of offense.
Manager Bobby Valentine decided not to start, putting Kelly Shoppach into the game at catcher. Shoppach got the Sox on the board first after driving in OF Cody Ross home from first with an RBI double off of Rangers starter Martin Perez to make it 1-0 Boston.
However, as Monday night's nationally televised game had demonstrated, a 1-0 lead doesn't last very long in Arlington, TX. After Elvis Andrus hit a 1-out double off of Clay Buchholz in the top of the 6th, he advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch before coming home on a Josh Hamilton groundout to knot the contest up at 1-1.
Things got a little interesting in the bottom of the 8th when Padilla came out of the Sox bullpen in relief of Buccholz. Although Padilla struck out the first batter he faced, he then allowed a single to Elvis Andrus. Although Padilla got Josh Hamilton to strike out, a costly throwing error by Padilla put Andrus on third. Padilla than struck Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre in the helmet, giving Texas runners on first and third with two away [Yorvit Torrealba pinch-ran for Beltre while he underwent examination by the Rangers medical staff- NANESB!]. However, the inning ended for Texas on a Michael Young groundout to short.
In the top of the 9th, Rangers manager Ron Washington made the curious move of putting in closer Joe Nathan in a non-save situation. Although Nathan got the first two batters out, he walked Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who was batting for Kelly Shoppach. Previously, Nathan had walked only five batters in 38⅓ innings of work this season. The Red Sox made those walks count when Mike Aviles hit a bloop RBI single to make it 2-1 Boston. Jacoby Ellsbury then hit a ball to deep center field for the 3rd out of the inning.
Alfredo Aceves came on for the bottom of the 9th and got two quick outs before walking Mike Napoli. However, the game ended when Adrian Gonzalez caught a pop foul in along the 1st base line, snapping Boston's 4 game skid. Despite the lopsided losses experienced by the Red Sox since Friday, this was very much a pitchers duel with solid outings by both Buccholz and Perez. Vincente Padilla was credited with the win and now has a 4-0 record.
Wednesday night's game will wrap up the 3-game series at Arlington and has Josh Beckett [5-8; 4.53 ERA] going up against the Rangers Derek Holland [6-5; 4.84 ERA]. The game gets underway at 8:05 ET and will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox have traded infielder Brent Lillibridge to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for minor-league pitcher Jose De La Torre. Lillibridge came to Boston last month in part of the deal that sent Kevin Youkilis to the White Sox. Used primarily as a late inning defensive replacement, Lillibridge has appeared in 16 games for the Red Sox and was batting .125.
Between the Indians AA affiliate Akron Aeros and the AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League, De La Torre has an 8-1 record and a 2.91 ERA this season.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The Seattle Mariners traded outfielder Ichiro Suzuki to the Yankees after the All Star outfielder waived his no-trade clause on Monday. In exchange for Ichiro, who has played for the Mariners since 2001 when he first came to the major leagues from his native Japan, Seattle recieves pitching prospects DJ Mitchell and Danny Farquahr.
The trade was prompted in part by a season ending injury to Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner after undergoing elbow surgery this month.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS- The Dodgers have reportedly acquired Miami Marlins infielder Hanley Ramierez and reliever Randy Choate in exchange for starter Nathan Eovaldi and pitching prospect Scott McGough.
The slumping Dodgers, who are now 2 and a half games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West standings, are hoping that the All Star shortstop can shake up LA's stagnant offense. Ramierez has been batting .246 with 14 homers and 48 RBI with Miami this season. Earlier this week, the Marlins had dealt starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez [5-7; 3.94 ERA] to the Detroit Tigers.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES- After weeks of reportedly shopping ace Cole Hammels before next week's MLB tade deadline, the starting pitcher and the Phillies have reportedly agreed to a long term contract extension.
The six year deal is worth $144 million and includes a limited no-trade provision. The struggling Phillies remain in last place this season, but Hammels currently enjoys a record of 11-4 with a 3.23 ERA.
HOUSTON ASTROS- The Astros sent starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night in exchange for left-handed pitchers Rudy Owens and Cotton Cain as well as outfielder Robbie Grossman- all three from the Pirates AAA affiliate in Indianapolis.
The Pirates will also reportedly get $17.7 million in cash to offset Rodriguez's annual salary which could top $30 million this year with incentives.
Rodriguez currently has a 7-9 record with an ERA of 3.79. The long-suffering Pirates, who haven't appeared in the postseason since 1992, are in the somewhat unusual position of being buyers this season as they're currently only a game and a half out of 1st place in the NL Central.
Last week, the Astros acquired closer Fransisco Cordero and outfielder Ben Fransisco in a 10-player deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Besides the two major leaguers, Houston gets prospects Asher Wojciechowski, Joe Musgrove, David Rollins, Carlos Perez and a player to be named later.
Toronto gets lefty JA Happ, righty David Carpenter and reliever Brandon Lyon from the Astros in that deal.
Karen Warren Houston Chronicle photo
OTHER ASTROS NEWS- Houston announcer and Ford C Frick award winner Milo Hamilton announced that this would be his last year calling games for the Astros.
Born in 1927 in the small town of Fairfield, IA, Hamilton first started broadcasting with the Armed Forces Radio when he joined the US Navy during WWII. Like former president Ronald Reagan, Hamilton also briefly called football and basketball games for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Hamilton got his start calling MLB games for the St Louis Browns in 1953, their final year in St Louis before they moved to Baltimore. For the next few years, Hamilton bounced around landing work with the Cardinals, Cubs and White Sox before joining the Atlanta Braves when they moved to Fulton County stadium from Milwaukee in the 1966 season.
As a broadcaster, Hamilton is best known for this call:
Amazingly, of the three broadcasters calling the game for Henry Arron's 715th HR on that April 1974 evening, two of them are still calling games in 2012- Hamilton and the Dodger's Vin Scully. NBC Sports and former Red Sox broadcaster Curt Gowdy passed away in 2006.
Hamilton returned to the Cubs in 1980 but was fired by the Cubs parent company Tribune Company after expressing a preference for Harry Caray. Hamilton made mention of bad blood between him and Caray dating back to their days in St Louis in his 2006 autobiography.
After suffering a mild heart attack in 2007, Hamilton announced that he wouldn't be travelling for the Astros road games- although he reportedly was on hand for the opening of the new Busch Stadium in St Louis as well as the Mets' Citi Field and Nationals Park.
TRACK AND FIELD- A 19 year old Aussie hurdler became an almost overnight internet sensation when video of her warming up at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in Barcelona Spain earlier this month went viral.
Michelle Jenneke's warm-ups by the starting gate caught the attention of the camera crew and announcers covering the event in Barcelona.
Somebody thoughtfully dubbed questionable 1980s synth-pop music [and this is coming from somebody who likes some of they synth-pop music from the 80s- NANESB!] over the energetic Sheila's pre-race dance and warm-up routine. The full video can be seen here[full disclosure, it's kind of an earworm and not the good kind NANESB!]
Unfortunately, Jenneke's newfound fans worldwide won't be seeing her in the 2012 Summer games in London, since she did not qualify. I suspect that with a body and warm-up dance like Jeneke's, she'd have a devoted internet following even if she fell flat on her face right out of the starting gate. However, Jenneke isn't just another pretty face- the bouncy Aussie took gold in the 100m hurdles in Barcelona and five seconds of searching yielded this video of Jenneke winning silver at the 2010 Youth Games in Singapore.
Althought not set to music, the 2010 video shows a Jenneke as enthusiastic and bouncy as the 2012 version while her success so far in international competition means fans can aren't being unrealistic when they expect to see more of her at the 2016 games in Rio.
OTHER TRACK AND FIELD NEWS- 23 year old Greek Triple Jumper Voula Papachristou has been barred from the upcoming Olympic games in London when she sent out a tweet about African immigrants in Greece.
The message on the microblogging and social netorking site that got her in trouble was dated Sunday and read "So many Africans in #Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food"
Tweeting under the handle @papaxristoutj, Papachristou also linked to websites and videos linked to the formerly-fringe Golden Dawn Party who hold 18 seats in the Greek Parliament. Those messages have since been deleted.
Although Papachristou had apologized via Facebook and Twitter, the Greek Olympic committee announced that she will not be joining the team for "statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement".
Personally, while I think what Papachristou said was stupid and childish, I don't think that should prevent her from competing in the Summer Olympics. I suspect what she said publicly is rather tame compared to whats being said both publicly and privately in Arabic about Israeli athletes [or Israeli soldiers, or Israeli civilians, or Israeli schoolchildren, or Israeli grannies...you get the idea- NANESB!].
There's also the opportunity for a sort of Jesse Owens moment here. Now that the world has known what Papachristou has said about Africans, just think of the schadenfreude for spectators if and when she loses her event to a competitor from Kenya or Ethiopia. But it's all hypothetical now.
British soldiers walking past a sign welcoming visitors to the 2012 Olympics. Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters Photo
With 675,000 employees, the Crawley-based private security firm G4s [LSE: GFS] provides security guards and montiors for CCTV and alarms as well as cash and armoured vans for its 'Cash logistics' division. The company also runs adult and juevenile detention facilities and does prisoner transport via government contracts.
Amid some reports that G4S guards cheated on written exams regarding the operation of X-Ray devices, local officials in Liverpool said that they were replacing G4S security personnel with 500 local security guards to provide security for upcoming Olympic soccer matches in St James Park.
Although a major shareholder of the comapny has backed embattled CEO Nick Buckles, the fiasco has hurt the reputation of G4S which in turn may make it more difficult for them to secure contracts in the future.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that an additional 1200 British soldiers are on standby, ready to deploy on 48 hours notice. No word on whether or not Katrina Hodge is among the soldiers currently assigned to any security detail at the London Games.
OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS- Fans hoping to see bikini clad contestants in the Beach Volleyball event at the Summer Games may be in for a letdown as tournament organizers allowed participants to wear shorts and long sleeve tops in the event of inclement weather.
According to a statement from the FIVB press director, clothing worn by players must be of consistent length, color, style, manufacturer and display the same sponsors. Should the temperature drop below 15 degrees celcius during the event, long sleeves and pants are authorized.
This may become an issue since the weather in the weeks leading up to the ceremony have been overcast, rainy and grey- apparently meeting the criteria required for wearing shorts and long sleeves during the event. However, with a few days to go before the Olympic opening ceremonies, the weather in London has warmed up considerably this week.
Interestingly, the beach volleyball event will take place inland- in the Horse Guards Parade located in the Whitehall section of London, to be specific. A 15,000 seat temporary stadium has been erected on the grounds- just blocks from 10 Downing Street.
BOSTON BRUINS-Bruins RW Nathan Horton has been cleared for contact and should be ready to return to the ice in time for the beginning of the Bruins training camp.
GM Peter Chiarelli told reporters that the winger had been cleared for contact by the team's medical staff. Through 45 games, Horton had 17 goals and 15 assists last season before sustaining a concussion in a collision ith Philadelphia's Tom Sestito back in January.
Photo/Joe Howell
NASHVILLE PREDATORS- The Nashville Predators signed defenseman Shea Weber to a 14 year $110 million contract extension on Wedensday, making it the most lucrative contract in the history of the Nashville franchise and the 2nd largest in the NHL.
The Philadelphia Flyers had expressed an interest in the 27 year old All Star and were willing to offer him a comprable contract, but Weber was preortedly more interested in remaining in Nashville.
Weber had 19 goals and 30 assists in the 2012 season, including two goals and an assist during the postseason series against Detroit and Phoenix.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS- The Columbus Blue Jackets dealt forward Rick Nash to the NY Rangers in exchange for forwards Brandon Dubinski and Artem Ansimov along with defenseman Tim Erixon.
Although Columbus had never advanced deep intot he Stanley Cup playoff, Nash remained a prolific scorer for them, making his NHL debut with them back in 2002. In his nine season with the Blue Jackets, he has accumulated 289 goals and 258 assists with 30 goals and 29 assists in the 2011 season.
