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A few years ago, in an effort to curtail teams from tanking, the NBA improved lottery odds for each of the non-playoff teams. So, even though the Bulls finished tied for the eighth-worst record in the NBA (Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans), they still have a 20.3% chance of moving into the top four. Last season, in fact, they jumped from having the seventh-worst record pre-lottery into the No. 4 overall pick, so it’s not unheard of.
“(The Astros) played better than we did,” La Russa said after Sunday’s game. “Being outplayed, a lot of it is what they did really well and some of it is stuff we can be accountable for that we could have done better. I just think, especially when you try to get it across to fans, explanations are excuses. We just got beat. We know we can play better and we will.”
“Look, it’s frustrating. It’s disappointing,” Oosthuizen said. ”I’m playing good golf, but winning a major championship is not just going to happen. You need to go out and play good golf. I played good today, but I didn’t play good enough.”
The defense let the team down, as illustrated Sunday even when the game was out of reach. There was a miscommunication in the fifth inning between Lamb in right, Goodwin in center field and second baseman Danny Mendick on a ball to shallow right-center hit by Chas McCormick; it fell in for a two-out single.
In the fifth inning, Patrick Wisdom worked a 3-2 count and 15-pitch at bat before singling on a hard-hit one-hopper that gave shortstop Miguel Rojas trouble. It tied Jon Jay’s single off Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff on Sept. 22, 2017, for the longest Cubs at-bat to end with a hit since at least 1988.
Schwarber’s third homer followed a pinch-hit double by Gerardo Parra, a 34-year-old fan favorite who returned to the Nationals on Sunday when his contract was selected from Triple-A Rochester. Parra’s walkup music of the children’s song “Baby Shark” became a theme of the Nationals’ run to the 2019 World Series title, and it sounded before his at-bat to the crowd’s delight.
“We certainly believe we’ll bounce out of it, but it’s a time where we need to do those smaller things, work at bats, work walks, get guys over,” Sogard said after Saturday’s game. “Do a little small ball compared to relying on the home run all the time. We’ve got to find other ways to win than just by the long ball.”
Under the new policy, vaccinated players will also no longer be required to wear masks at the team’s facility or during team travel. They will have no travel restrictions, can use the sauna/steam room and weight room without capacity limits, and can interact with vaccinated friends and family during team travel.
Athletes will be tested daily in the village, after being tested at least twice before leaving home, and again upon arrival. Any test anomaly in the village could land athletes or staff in the hands of Dr. Tetsuya Miyamoto, senior director of the Medical Services Department for the organizing committee.
“My first game with the Cubans, for some reason Minnie came to the game and couldn’t find his uniform,” Teasley said with a laugh during a phone interview. “They had to take someone’s uniform so he could play, because he was the star. I guess you know whose uniform they took. My first day, I was like, ‘How about this?’ I never did find out what happened to his uniform.”