RACING:
A funeral is being held today for the 20-year-old driver who died on a dirt track after being struck by NASCAR champion Tony Stewart's car. Kevin Ward Jr.'s funeral will be held at South Lewis Senior High School in Turin, in central New York. Ward was sent into the wall when his car was bumped by Stewart's during a race on Saturday night. Ward got out of the car and walked onto the track, where he was hit by Stewart.
MLB:
The Kansas City Royals won for the ninth time in 10 games after a 3-0 shutout of Oakland to maintain their half-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central. The Tigers kept pace as Nick Castellanos hit an RBI triple and a solo homer in an 8-4 win over Pittsburgh, which keeps the Pirates 1 ½ games behind the NL-Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
The Los Angeles Angels are within 2 ½ games of first-place Oakland in the AL West after Howie Kendrick hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the eighth inning of the Halos' 4-3 interleague win over Philadelphia in Anaheim. Mike Napoli smacked a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fifth inning before the Boston Red Sox completed a 5-4 win over the Reds in Cincinnati. The Reds took a 3-2 lead on solo homers by Skip Schumaker and Mike Leake in the fourth inning before Leake served up Napoli's 15th home run of the season. Elsewhere San Francisco bested the White Sox 7-1, in a double header Cleveland won against Arizona 3-2 in the first, but Arizona came back for a 1-0 victory over Cleveland in 12.
In the American League, Adam Jones belted a tiebreaking, three-run homer with two out in the bottom of the eighth to give Baltimore a 5-3 win over the New York Yankees. The AL East-leading Orioles are now 7 ½ games ahead of Toronto who lost to Seattle 2-0 keeping the Mariners in a tie with Detroit for the second AL wild-card berth. Meanwhile Tampa Bay blew out Texas 10-1, Seattle shut out Toronto 2-0, and it was Minnesota over Houston 3-1.
In the National League, Washington bested the Mets 3-2, San Diego defeated Colorado 5-3, Atlanta edged the Dodgers 3-2, St. Louis won against Miami 3-2, and the Cubs doubled up Milwaukee 4-2.
The Major League Baseball owners are meeting in Baltimore and they could a new commissioner. MLB Chief Operating Officer Rob Manfred, Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner and MLB Executive Vice President of Business Tim Brosnan were picked by the seven-man succession committee as candidates to replace the retiring Bud Selig.
Selig has ruled baseball since September 1992, first as chairman of baseball's executive council and since July 1998 as commissioner. He announced last fall that he plans to retire next January.
Golf:
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson said earlier this week that he wouldn't rule out Tiger Woods making the team for next month's tournament in Scotland. Instead, Woods made the call for him.
The former No. 1 golfer has told Watson and the PGA of Americathat he has taken himself out of consideration to serve as a captain's pick due to health reasons. He said he has been told by his doctors and trainer that his back muscles need to be rehabilitated and healed. The PGA of America says Watson will announce his three captain's picks on Sept. 2.
NFL:
Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is due in court this afternoon for a pretrial hearing in the 2012 drive-by killings of two men outside a Boston nightclub. Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley's office says the hearing is "purely administrative in nature" as both sides prepare for a May 28, 2015, trial. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to shooting Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.
Maine Governor Paul LePage has told the National Football League's commissioner that it's unconscionable for the league to punish Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice with a two-game suspension for a domestic violence arrest. LePage wrote a letter to Roger Goodell this week. He says he is appalled by the slap on the wrist given to Rice, who struck his then-fiancee in February. LePage, who was beaten by his father when he was young, has made domestic abuse prevention and awareness a priority of his administration.
The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles hope for better weather in their final day of workouts before tomorrow night's preseason game. Their joint practice was cut short by rain that fell throughout yesterday's session. But players from both teams say it's good to get used to that since they may have to play in rain during the regular season.
WNBA:
In the WNBA, Chicago beat Washington 72-69, and Atlanta won against Phoenix 96-82.
Former UConn standout and WNBA player Tamika Williams has been hired as an assistant coach at Kentucky. Williams won NCAA championships at UConn in 2000 and '02 and set the Division I career field goal percentage record (70.3 percent) before becoming the sixth overall selection by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2002 WNBA Draft. She played six seasons with the Lynx and one with the Connecticut Sun.
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