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Cardinals look to stop 3-game road losing streak, play the Pirates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

St. Louis Cardinals (25-34, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (30-27, second in the NL Central)Pittsburgh; Sunday, 11:35 a.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (4-1, 3.75 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 58 strikeouts); Pirates: Rich Hill (4-5, 4.91 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 55 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -154, Pirates +132; over/under is 9 runsBOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals will try to break a three-game road losing streak when they play the Pittsburgh Pirates.Pittsburgh is 30-27 overall and 14-13 at home. Pirates hitters have a collective .323 on-base percentage, the eighth-ranked percentage in the NL.St. Louis has a 25-34 record overall and a 13-18 record on the road. The Cardinals have hit 80 total home runs to rank third in the NL.Sunday’s game is the seventh time these teams square off this season. The Pirates are ahead 4-2 in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Bryan Reynolds has 17 doubles, three triples and seven home runs for the Pirates. T...

Diamondbacks and Braves play to determine series winner

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

Atlanta Braves (34-24, first in the NL East) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (35-24, first in the NL West)Phoenix; Sunday, 4:10 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Braves: Michael Soroka (0-1, 6.00 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, three strikeouts); Diamondbacks: Zac Gallen (7-2, 2.72 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 82 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Diamondbacks -133, Braves +113; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: Both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Atlanta Braves are looking for a series win with a victory on Sunday.Arizona has a 35-24 record overall and a 20-13 record in home games. The Diamondbacks have a 15-6 record in games when they hit two or more home runs.Atlanta is 34-24 overall and 19-10 on the road. Braves pitchers have a collective 3.65 ERA, which ranks third in the majors.Sunday’s game is the third time these teams meet this season.TOP PERFORMERS: Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has 17 doubles, two triples and nine home runs for the Diamondbacks. Emmanuel Rivera is 11-for-32 with three doubles over the past ...

San Diego Padres host the Chicago Cubs Sunday

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

Chicago Cubs (25-32, fourth in the NL Central) vs. San Diego Padres (27-31, fourth in the NL West)San Diego; Sunday, 5:30 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Marcus Stroman (5-4, 2.59 ERA, .99 WHIP, 62 strikeouts); Padres: Ryan Weathers (1-3, 4.28 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 22 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Padres -111, Cubs -109; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The San Diego Padres play the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.San Diego is 27-31 overall and 13-16 in home games. The Padres have a 20-6 record in games when they record at least eight hits.Chicago has a 25-32 record overall and a 10-16 record on the road. The Cubs have the ninth-best team on-base percentage in MLB play at .328.The teams meet Sunday for the sixth time this season. The Cubs are up 3-2 in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Juan Soto has 15 doubles, 10 home runs and 26 RBI for the Padres. Fernando Tatis Jr. is 10-for-43 with three doubles, four home runs and 12 RBI over the past 10 games.Nico Hoerner has four home runs,...

Signal fault behind India’s worst train crash in 20 years

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

India said an error in electronic signalling was responsible for the nation’s worst train crash in two decades, which killed more than 300 people on Friday.The collision, which happened in the eastern state of Odisha, is said to have occurred when a passenger train hit a stationary freight train and ran into another passing passenger train. The trains were carrying 2,296 people in total, the Associated Press reported.“According to the preliminary findings, there has been some issue with the signalling. We are still waiting for the detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety,” Jaya Varma Sinha from India’s railway board told local media on Sunday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pitched a modernization of the British colonial-era railroad network in India, but despite government efforts to improve safety, several hundred accidents occur every year.Modi, who called the incident a “painful” one, visited the crash site o...

Orioles starters believe Grayson Rodriguez will bounce back from his demotion. They’ve done it themselves.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

Kyle Gibson was first told the statistic a decade ago. He’s kept it in mind since.After the Minnesota Twins optioned Gibson back to Triple-A after 10 mostly difficult starts to begin his major league career in 2013, his agent passed along a figure he hoped would offer comfort: Only 4% of major league players avoid going back to the minors after their first call-up.That tidbit, paired with his own ability to return and have a lengthy career, gives Gibson confidence that top Orioles pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez’s return to Triple-A will prove to be a blip.“Grayson, just like every one of these young guys, is a level-headed kid that has a work ethic that will undoubtedly bring him back up here whenever the time is right,” the 35-year-old right-hander said. “If he can make sure that he just keeps himself focused on what his goal is right now, he’s gonna be fine. There’s no doubt in my mind that Grayson Rodriguez is going to be a very good...

Crime Briefs: SUV crashes into former lingerie store in Back Bay, Westboro man accused of killing mother

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

We all know parking in Boston is ridiculous, but this is clearly not the solution.Boston Firefighters responded to Hadassah Way in the Back Bay Friday morning because an SUV had rammed itself through the window of a building that appears, in the photo provided by the department, to be the former location of the luxury lingerie brand La Perla.“Companies responding to a car into a building at Hadassah Way in the Back Bay. There are no injuries to report. A building inspector will investigate the damage to the building,” the department tweeted at 9:38 a.m.Elderly mother killings: 2 in 1 weekA Westboro man has been charged with killing his elderly mother, marking the second time such a charge has been leveled against someone in the wider Boston region in one week.Daniel Uhlman, 53, was arraigned in Marlboro District Court Friday on charges of armed assault to murder a person over 60 and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and assault a...

Indian railways official says error in signaling system led to crash that killed over 300 people

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

BALASORE, India (AP) — The derailment in eastern India that killed more than 300 people and injured hundreds was caused by an error in the electronic signaling system that led a train to wrongly change tracks and crash into a freight train, officials said Sunday.Authorities worked to clear the mangled wreckage of the two passenger trains that derailed Friday night in Balasore district in Odisha state in one of the country’s deadliest rail disasters in decades.Jaya Verma Sinha, a senior railway official, said the preliminary investigations revealed that a signal was given to the high-speed Coromandel Express to run on the main track line, but the signal later changed, and the train instead entered an adjacent loop line where it rammed into a freight loaded with iron ore. The collision flipped Coromandel Express’s coaches onto another track, causing the incoming Yesvantpur-Howrah Express from the opposite side also to derail, she said.The passenger trains, carrying 2,296 people, were ...

Oil tanker breaks down in Egypt’s Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic in the global waterway

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A tanker transporting crude oil broke down in a single-lane part of Egypt’s Suez Canal on Sunday, briefly disrupting traffic in the global waterway, Egyptian authorities said.The Malta-flagged Seavigour suffered a mechanical malfunction at the 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) mark of the canal, said George Safwat, a spokesperson for Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority. The tanker was transiting the canal from the Mediterranean to the Red SeaIn a phone interview with a local television station, Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said the tanker broke down in a single-lane part of the waterway, disrupting the transit of eight other vessels behind it.Hours later, Rabei said in a statement that navigation at the canal had returned to normal after three tugboats towed the tanker to a double-lane part at the 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) mark. He said that the Seavigour ‘s crew was working on repairing the malfunction but did not share further details.The Seavigo...

A career less ordinary: Randi Roth steps down from Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

Randi Roth has had an eventful career — at least four of them, in fact. Roth, the first person in her family to attend college, Yale University no less, went on to Northwestern University School of Law and worked in legal aid on the south side of Chicago in the high-crime 1980s, then later transitioned to legal advocacy in Minnesota for farmers facing foreclosure, even though she’d never before seen a farm.“I had never owned a car. I was really from Chicago,” quipped Roth, in a recent interview.Her efforts led her to write the inaugural version of the Farmers’ Guide to the Farmers Home Administration, a guidebook to farm and home financing, which in turn drew her to serve as the federally appointed monitor in the landmark Pigford settlements, a $1 billion legal payout involving some 22,000 Black farmers who had sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for discrimination.After 12 years overseeing dozens of Pigford settlement attorneys from offices in down...

Ask Amy: We were told our behavior was unfair to the restaurant staff

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:05:55 GMT

Dear Amy: As retirees who eat out regularly, my wife and I always leave a cash tip between 20 percent and 25 percent for good service.If we order something that we simply can’t eat or truly don’t enjoy (e.g., tough meat, too spicy, over-salted, etc.), we send it back and ask for something else.Even though the returned meal is taken off the bill, we always make it a point to include the price of it as part of the overall gratuity.To my amazement, several family members are appalled that we would ever return a meal, and feel that we should stay quiet and simply pay for whatever we order, even if it is nearly inedible or tastes terrible.Overall, they argue that it’s unfair to the restaurant and kitchen staff if something is returned and taken off the bill.In any event, as this has become a subject of disagreement among several of us, I’d be interested for your input on this matter.– Resisting at RestaurantsDear Resisting: This is a matter of degree. If the food was improperly prepared ...