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Marlins take on the Phillies after Arraez hit for the cycle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

Miami Marlins (5-7, third in the NL East) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (4-7, fourth in the NL East)Philadelphia; Wednesday, 4:05 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Marlins: Edward Cabrera (0-0); Phillies: Zack Wheeler (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Phillies -191, Marlins +161; over/under is 8 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Miami Marlins take on the Philadelphia Phillies after Luis Arraez hit for the cycle against the Phillies on Tuesday.Philadelphia is 3-2 at home and 4-7 overall. The Phillies have a 3-0 record in games when they hit at least two home runs.Miami has a 2-3 record on the road and a 5-7 record overall. The Marlins are 2-0 in games decided by one run.The teams meet Wednesday for the third time this season.TOP PERFORMERS:LAST 10 GAMES: Phillies: 4-6, .000 batting average, 5.13 ERA, outscored by 10 runsMarlins: 4-6, .000 batting average, 5.90 ERA, outscored by 26 runsINJURIES: Phillies: Darick Hall: 10-Day IL (thumb), Noah Song: 15-Day IL (back), Cristopher Sanchez: 15-Day IL (left tricep...

Rockies and Cardinals meet to decide series winner

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

St. Louis Cardinals (4-7, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Colorado Rockies (5-7, fifth in the NL West)Denver; Wednesday, 3:10 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Jack Flaherty (0-0); Rockies: Jose Urena (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -176, Rockies +150; over/under is 13 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals play on Wednesday with the three-game series tied 1-1.Colorado is 5-7 overall and 3-3 at home. The Rockies have the 10th-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .322.St. Louis is 4-7 overall and 2-3 in road games. The Cardinals have the ninth-best team slugging percentage in MLB play at .433.Wednesday’s game is the third time these teams square off this season.TOP PERFORMERS:LAST 10 GAMES: Rockies: 3-7, .000 batting average, 6.07 ERA, outscored by 22 runsCardinals: 4-6, .000 batting average, 4.55 ERA, outscored by five runsINJURIES: Rockies: Elehuris Montero: day-to-day (hand), German Marquez: day-to-day (forearm), Daniel Bard: 15-Da...

Diamondbacks and Brewers meet, winner secures 3-game series

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

Milwaukee Brewers (8-3, first in the NL Central) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (7-5, first in the NL West)Phoenix; Wednesday, 3:40 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Brewers: Janson Junk (0-0); Diamondbacks: Drey Jameson (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Brewers -120, Diamondbacks +104; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers play on Wednesday with the three-game series tied 1-1.Arizona has gone 4-2 at home and 7-5 overall. The Diamondbacks have a 4-0 record in games when they scored at least five runs.Milwaukee is 8-3 overall and 3-2 on the road. Brewers hitters have a collective .350 on-base percentage, the fifth-ranked percentage in the NL.Wednesday’s game is the third time these teams square off this season.TOP PERFORMERS:LAST 10 GAMES: Diamondbacks: 6-4, .000 batting average, 5.01 ERA, outscored by one runBrewers: 8-2, .000 batting average, 2.33 ERA, outscored opponents by 32 runsINJURIES: Diamondbacks: Cole Sulser: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Ma...

Reds try to avoid series sweep against the Braves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

Cincinnati Reds (4-6) vs. Atlanta Braves (8-4)Atlanta; Wednesday, 7:20 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Hunter Greene (0-0); Braves: Spencer Strider (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Braves -261, Reds +214; over/under is 8 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Atlanta Braves meet the Cincinnati Reds looking to sweep their three-game series.Atlanta is 3-3 at home and 8-4 overall. The Braves are eighth in the majors with 15 total home runs, averaging 1.3 per game.Cincinnati is 1-4 in road games and 4-6 overall. The Reds have hit 12 total home runs to rank 10th in the NL.The teams meet Wednesday for the third time this season.TOP PERFORMERS:LAST 10 GAMES: Braves: 6-4, .000 batting average, 4.40 ERA, outscored by two runsReds: 4-6, .000 batting average, 4.86 ERA, outscored by five runsINJURIES: Braves: Travis d’Arnaud: 7-Day IL (concussion), Michael Harris II: 10-Day IL (back), Collin McHugh: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Max Fried: 15-Day IL (left hamstring), Huascar Ynoa: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kolby Allar...

Celtics’ Robert Williams feeling good physically, embraces offensive challenge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

When Robert Williams got the ball in the post on a play during a victory over the Raptors last week, the Celtics center heard a loud voice from his sideline.It was Joe Mazzulla.“’Score the (expletive) ball!” Williams said his coach yelled at him.“It just reassured me that we are going to need those things and my teammates do, too.”As the playoffs begin this weekend, the Celtics are asking even more from their talented center. After missing the first 29 games of the season recovering from knee surgery and then several more games managing the knee in addition to a hamstring injury in March, Williams is ready to go and seemingly ramped up physically to begin the playoffs.That’s obviously a big difference from last year at this time, when he missed the final seven regular season games and then the first two games of the playoffs due to a torn meniscus.“I’m feeling good physically,” Williams said. “I’m in a good mindset compared to last year, going through what I was go...

German officials seize cooked bats near Belgian border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German officials seized cooked bats and nearly a ton of unrefrigerated fish after police stopped a van that had entered the country from Belgium, authorities said Wednesday. Federal police said a patrol on Monday stopped the vehicle at a highway exit on the edge of the border city of Aachen, and found the bats under the fish. A vet from the local consumer protection office was sent to the scene and ordered the bats and fish confiscated. Police seized the van, which was uninsured.The 31-year-old driver, an Ivorian citizen, faced a criminal complaint for traffic offenses and unauthorized entry because he entered the country without papers or a driver’s license, police said in a statement. He also faces administrative proceedings for violations of food hygiene rules, and local authorities were looking into whether he violated conservation laws relating to the bats. A court in Aachen on Tuesday ordered the driver held in custody pending his handover to authorities in...

Talban say there’s no obstacles for UN work in Afghanistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban’s chief spokesman said Wednesday there are no obstacles for the U.N. to function in Afghanistan, after they barred Afghan women from working at the global body.Last week, the country’s Taliban rulers took a step further in the restrictive measures they have imposed on women and said that female Afghan staffers employed with the U.N. mission can no longer report for work. The ban is being actively enforced by the country’s intelligence agency, which reports to the Taliban’s leadership in Kandahar. The U.N. says it cannot accept the decision, calling it unlawful and an unparalleled violation of women’s rights. It says women are crucial for the delivery of life-saving aid to millions of Afghans, and has instructed its national staff, male and female, to stay at home. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban-led government’s chief spokesman and part of the supreme leader’s inner circle, denied authorities were to blame for Afghanis...

China warns as US, Philippines stage combat drills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — China warned on Wednesday that a deepening security alliance between the United States and the Philippines should not harm its security and territorial interests and interfere in long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea.When asked to comment on the combat exercises between American and Filipino forces that started on Tuesday in the Philippines, the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Wednesday issued a statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, who said that such drills “should not target any third party and should be conducive to regional peace and stability.”Wang did not say how China would respond if it concludes that the U.S.-Philippine security cooperation was hurting Beijing’s core interests.In Washington, the U.S. and Philippine defense and foreign secretaries met on Tuesday to discuss the development of nine Philippine military camps, where American forces have been allowed to stay indefinitely under the 2014 E...

Shooting in Indian army station kills 4 soldiers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A firing incident inside a military station in northern India killed at least four soldiers early Wednesday, an army statement said.The statement didn’t give details, saying only that quick reaction teams were activated, and the area cordoned off and sealed. Indian media reports quoted state police officers as saying that the incident in the army camp in Bhatinda in Punjab state bordering Pakistan did not appear to be a terror attack.The shooting took place as the state was on a high security alert a day ahead of Baisakhi, a major Sikh and Hindu festival marking the start of the harvesting season.Punjab had suffered a bloody insurgency in 1980s that led to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in New Delhi in 1984. It triggered deadly violence against Sikhs in northern India by her Hindu supporters. India accuses neighboring Pakistan of supporting the insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir an...

IMF slashes cash-strapped Pakistan’s growth outlook to 0.5%

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:39 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The International Monetary Fund has slashed the growth outlook for cash-strapped Pakistan, forecasting the South Asian country’s fragile economy will grow just 0.5% this year, down from 6% in 2022.The latest data on Pakistan’s ailing economy was released by the IMF on Tuesday, when it unveiled its World Economic Outlook report in Washington. The IMF also forecast 27% inflation in the impoverished Islamic nation for 2023.The global lender warned that unemployment will continue to rise in Pakistan. The country is struggling to avoid a default as it recovers from destruction caused by last summer’s floods, which killed 1,739 people and caused $30 billion in damages.The coalition government of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is in talks with the IMF to receive a key tranche of a $6 billion bailout package signed in 2019 by Sharif’s predecessor Imran Khan. Sharif’s government in recent weeks slashed subsidies and raised taxes ...