Ithas been a weeks of surprises in sport, some weirdness, some upsets: USA: Baseball: The St. Louis Cardinals were losing 5 to 4 to their cross state rivals,the Kansas City Royals, when a cat invaded the field and stopped play. The cat did not look feral, but certainly didnot like the attention it was receiving. Originally approaching a Royals outfielder,the cat realized his mistake, clearly a feline of good taste, and continue toflee toward the outfield wall. A Cardinals groundskeeper risked life andlimb, in short sleeves and short pants, to track down the feline, so that playcould continue. The cat did not go downeasily, biting and scratching across the entire outfield, and infield for thatmatter. The unfortunate and importunate groundskeeperdropped the cat outside of the ball field, as he headed for first aid. A womaninsisted on taking the cat, but then stated she had lost it in the park acrossfrom the stadium. The search continues. Thecat was renamed #RallyCat. Baseball fanswill remember #Buschie the #RallySquirrel from a few years ago, whoseappearance during a game launched the suffering Cardinals into glory. #RallyCat did not disappoint as it was histurn at bat. After the distraction,Cardinal's veteran player Yadier Molina was at bat, and batted a GRAND SLAMHOME RUN, garnering four runs for the Cardinals, who held out to win thegame. The Cardinals have renamed himYadier Meowlina, and he has since professed a great love for cats. The next day the Cardinals hit a grand slam,the first time in their history this has happedn two games in a row. Pictures of Yadier with his kittens are nowall over the internet. In more weirdnews, Cardinal's pitcher, Lance Lynn, was hit in the side of the head by a 110mph ball, but continued the game unscathed. TheCardinals have reignited the National League Central Division race these dayswith a six game win streak. This shouldmake their weekend games at the Atlanta Braves doubly interesting. DivisionLeaders Chicago Cubs have entered their characteristic August slump. Inthe USA: Today features PGA Golf Third-roundplay in the 99th PGA Championship, from Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NorthCarolina. This is golf's final major of the season, with Sergio Garcia, BrooksKoepka and Jordan Spieth winning the first three. The purse for this tournamentis $10.5 million
InLondon, United Kingdom, the Track and Field Worlds continue. As covered elsewhere in this space, 21 yearold Norwegian Hurdler Karsten Warholm apparently surprised himself most of all,when he took the Gold medal in the 400 m hurdles. Please read Rexswimguy's excellent coverage,but look around the net for pictures of the amazed athlete like the onefeatured here. They're better than a baseball player covered withkittens. Saturdaysaction at the Track and Field Worlds includes various events in the Decathlon,including the 110 m hurdles, the discuss, javelin, and pole vault. The Decathlon will come to a stirringconclusion in this evening's 1500 meters race. Today also features finals in men's 5000 meters, javelin, and 4x100 m relay. InSri Lanka, India continues their tour with their 3rd Test at PallekeleInternational Cricket Stadium, also known as Muttiah Muralitharan InternationalCricket Stadium (Sinhala: පල්ලෙකැලේ ජාත්යන්තරක්රිකට්ක්රීඩාංගණය,Tamil: பல்லேகலைசர்வதேசகிரிக்கெட் விளையாட்டுமைதானம்)in Kandy. This test begins today andlasts through the 16th. Pallekele is an ultra modern facility, whichopened a few years ago and seats 22,000. India has been dominating the series so far, and with Sri Lanka missingsome key players due to injuries, the hosts will have to rely on surprise tohold out for a win. No national teamfrom India has ever swept a series of three tests or less on foreign soil, butunder the captaincy of Virat Kohli, this team may pull out that honor. InAussie Rules football: The 2017 seasonhas been one of the most exciting and intriguing in recent memory, as manymatches have been close, and could have gone either way. On a weekly basis at least one fan base hasbeen left wondering how different things could have been if that crucial setshot or turnover went in their team’s favor. In a season as close as 2017 - it is the close margins in games whichmay well decide who finishes in the top eight. This is especially challenging in that as of the end of Round 20 therehave been 37 games decided by 10 points or less. Every team apart from Adelaide have beeninvolved in a game which has been decided by 10 points or less thus far. Today will see contests between the SydneySwans vs. Fremantle at the Sydney Cricket Grounds, the Geelong Cats vs.Richmond, the Brisbane Lions vs. the Gold Coast Suns, Essendon vs. the AdelaideCrows, and the West Coast Eagles vs. Carlton. The Fremantle Dockers make a rare trip to Sydney for a clash with theSwans at the Sydney Cricket Grounds, and it looms as a tough assignment forRoss Lyon's team who showed some good signs in their win over the Suns lastweek, just their second from their past 10 games. Sydney, currently 6th in thestandings, bounced back from a loss toHawthorn to smash Geelong and reaffirm its status as a premiership contender. TheSwans' miserly defense is settled and in form, so it's hard to see Fremantlekicking a big enough score to cause the home side any trouble. In their last five meetings, the Swans havebeat the Dockers, three games to two. Meanwhile,back in Europe, English Premiership Soccer is ramping up again, as are many ofthe other Ligues, Ligas, Serie, etc. Seems like last season was just wrapping up. More tomorrow. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 8/12/2017 12:17:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
