August Sports Update
by Adam K.
Baseball
The Rays are still hanging in the Wild Card race, having taken 2 out of 3 from the Blue Jays over the past few days and things are looking up. The Rays’ recent acquisition of veteran catcher Gregg Zaun has been paying off, with the highlight being Zaun’s 8th inning grand slam to give the Rays the 5-1 win. Hopefully the Rays can make up some much needed ground over the next week with a 6 game home stand against the lowly Orioles and then a crucial series against the Texas Rangers. As they stand now, the Rays are 3 games out of 2nd place in the Wild Card, and 4 games behind the Texas Rangers. Luckily the Rays’ pitching has been better than usual lately, and with David Price on the mound tonight, we can only hope that he’s got his control issues under control after his last few rocky starts. Fortunately home seems to be David’s comfort zone, where he is 5-1 with an ERA under 3.
Football
Preseason football has started, and things are looking good (at least) defensively for the Bucs, who have gone under a complete overhaul in both the player and personnel department this last season, with the firing of Jon Gruden and the release of local legend Derrick Brooks, who is still looking for a job. In a loss to the Titans Saturday, the Bucs showed a lot of promise on the D, with an interception from Kerry Collins and the D-Line getting their fair share of sacks. In the end, once the 2nd and 3rd teams came on, the Bucs lost the game 27-20.
As far as the battle of the QB’s go, it seems that, in spite of Luke McCown signing a 2 year contract in the off-season, Byron Leftwich seems to be winning the starting job. However, Luke will start the next preseason game against the Jaguars. Hopefully in all that has happened this offseason, things will still be okay for the Bucs this year in the more competitive than ever NFC South.
As far as the battle of the QB’s go, it seems that, in spite of Luke McCown signing a 2 year contract in the off-season, Byron Leftwich seems to be winning the starting job. However, Luke will start the next preseason game against the Jaguars. Hopefully in all that has happened this offseason, things will still be okay for the Bucs this year in the more competitive than ever NFC South.