TOWSON, Maryland, Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - After beating the Seattle Mariners, 7-6, last night at Camden Yards, the Baltimore Orioles have won 5 consecutive Major League Baseball Games. And these five straight wins are not meaningless wins; on the contrary, they have come at a time of the season when Baltimore dearly needed something like this to change their fortunes in the standings. To put it mildly, the Orioles' fortunes were badly sagging prior to this winning streak. A whole lot of Oriole fans were starting to whisper, some quite loudly, the old baseball refrain that says "Wait 'til next year."
Before this winning streak started, the Orioles were some 4 and one-half games behind in the battle for the second and final wild card playoff position.
Were the season to end today, the Orioles would still be on the outside looking in at the teams in the playoffs. But now, instead of trying to peer over the Great Wall of China, the Orioles task can be compared to peeking over a short fence. In this morning's American League Wild Card Standings, the Orioles sit a mere one and one-half games behind the team currently holding the second wild card position. In addition, instead of there being a half dozen teams between the Orioles and the Second Wild Card Spot, there is only one. This is the American League Wild Card Race, up to this very minute (which is 1:00 pm on Tuesday, August 29, 2017):
New York Yankees: 70 Wins, 60 Losses, +3 Games Ahead
Minnesota Twins: 67 Wins, 63 Losses, Even
Los Angeles Angels: 67 Wins, 65 Losses, 1 Game Behind
Baltimore Orioles: 66 Wins, 65 Losses, 1.5 Games Behind
Seattle Mariners: 66 Wins, 66 Losses, 2 Games Behind
Tampa Bay Rays: 66 Wins, 67 Losses, 2.5 Games Behind
Kansas City Royals: 64 Wins, 66 Losses, 3 Games Behind
Texas Rangers: 64 Wins, 66 Losses, 3 Games Behind
Toronto Blue Jays: 61 Wins, 70 Losses, 6.5 Games Behind
Oakland Athletics: 58 Wins, 73 Losses, 9.5 Games Behind
Detroit Tigers: 57 Wins, 73 Losses, 10 Games Behind
Chicago White Sox: 52 Wins, 77 Losses, 14.5 Games Behind
In last night's game, Adam Jones hit his 25th Home Run and Wellington Castillo drove in two runs for the Orioles, who broke out of a 6-6 tie with a single run in the 7th inning, which the bullpen held. Chris Davis' double drove in the winning run, and lefthander Donnie Hart pitched a perfect inning to get the win. Zach Britton earned his 12th save.
The Jones Home Run made Oriole History because it made Jones the first Oriole to hit 25 homers in 7 consecutive seasons, breaking Cal Ripken's record.
New Signee Chris Wood Scores In Add-On Time To Earn Burnley a Draw With Tottenham at Wembley Stadium
At legendary Wembley Stadium, Burnley was looking up at Tottenham the entire Second Half after Dele Alli gave the Hot Spurs the lead early in the second stanza. But with time running out in injury time, the money the Clarets paid to sign Chris Wood paid off in a big way. Wood took a breathtaking pass from Robby Brady and in one motion beat the Spurs Keeper, Hugo Lloris.
The Telegraph's outstanding soccer writer, Gerry Cox, said he didn't know if it was the curse that Wembley Stadium has on Tottenham - where the Hot Spurs are, for now, playing their home matches while their stadium is worked on - or what he called Burnley's "never say die spirit." I like the latter. And the look on the faces of the Claret after Wood scored backs me up. It was a magical moment.
You'd have had to see the match to know how well Tom Heaton played, but it looked all for naught until Wood scored. Burnley now stands 10th on the Premier Table with 4 points after three matches.
Maryland Opens Home Schedule With 2-0 Win Over Hofstra; Gordon Wild Gets First 2017 Goal
An early own-goal and a score in the second half by Gordon Wild, combined with a defense that erased a lot of bad memories. pushed No. 6 Maryland past Hofstra on Monday night, 2-0.
The wind was again blustery at Ludwig Field, reminding some of the horrible night in December when the last season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Providence rode that wind to a mind-numbing comeback win over Maryland. Last night, the wind helped the Terps score in the fourth minute. A failed clear by Hofstra started the very bad result for the visitors.
In the second half, Wild tallied his first goal of the season after being held scoreless in the win at Santa Clara on Friday. The Terps will entertain No. 15 UCLA Friday night in a game to be televised nationwide by the Big Ten Network.
The NCAA carries the United Soccer Coach's Poll at NCAA.com. That poll has Stanford Ranked No. 1. The Cardinal gained 23 of 24 first place votes.
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