The Yankees finished off a two-game sweep of the Rays in style on Wednesday as they blasted two home runs in the top of the 10th and then were able to hold on for a 6-4 win.

They also tied some impressive MLB history in the series as they hit an astounding 14 home runs in the two games. The last team to do that was the Cincinnati Reds back in 1999, which included a home run by current Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

New York hit nine home runs on Tuesday night and then hit five more in the finale. All 19 of their runs in the series came on home runs.

They Yankees have now won four games in a row heading into a key series against the Red Sox, who they lead by 1.5 games in the wild-card race. They are 4.5 games behind the AL East-leading Blue Jays, who lost to the Pirates on Wednesday.

Giancarlo Stanton had a pinch-hit two-run home run in the top of 10th on Wednesday night, after blasting two homers in the series opener. Later in the inning Austin Wells hit his second dinger of the night to give the Yankees a three-run lead.

Davey Johnson, former Major League Baseball player and manager, died on Friday. He was 82.

Johnson played 13 seasons in the majors, spending the majority of his career with the Orioles, where he was a stalwart at second base. He was a part of two World Series championship teams in Baltimore, in 1966 and ‘70, and was named an All Star four times.

After leaving the Orioles, Johnson spent a few seasons with the Braves, hitting alongside Hank Aaron, before stints with the Phillies and Cubs, as well as a brief stay with the Yomiuri Giants of NPB.

Just six years after his playing career, Johnson got his first shot as a manager, taking over the top job for the Mets in 1984. He found notable success in Queens, including a World Series championship in 1986. He also became the first NL manager in history to lead his team to at least 90 wins in his first five seasons at the helm.

After his time with the Mets came to a close, Johnson briefly led the Reds, Orioles and Dodgers before leaving the game in 2000. He would return in 2011 to lead the Nationals.

The Orioles celebrated the life of Johnson with a statement.

Astros fans will gladly take infielder Carlos Correa's performance through his first nine games back with the team—a .405/.476/.622 slashline with two home runs and six RBIs.

However, to Correa, his return to Houston has a deeper meaning. Asked by reporters Monday what his favorite part of being back with the Astros was, he provided a simple response.

"Playing with (second baseman, left fielder and designated hitter) Jose Altuve again," he said via Michael Shapiro of the .

The two infielders played together from 2015 to '21, where their journeys were bound for better or for worse. When Houston won its first World Series title in 2017, both were in the lineup; when the Astros' sign-stealing operation came to light in 2019, both took public image hits.

In 2022, Correa signed with the Twins—only for the reeling squad to trade him back to Houston on July 31 of this year.

Though both are in their 30's and playing several different positions, they have resumed their collective status as one of baseball's most visible infield tandems—and figure to get a huge ovation against the Red Sox Monday.

The Blue Jays roared back in the ALCS on Wednesday night with a 13-4 beatdown of the Mariners after dropping the first two games of the series in Toronto. As has been the case all postseason, Vlad Guerrero Jr. was the engine that drove his team's offensive production. The star slugger went 4-for-4 from the plate with three runs and came up a triple shy of a cycle.

It was a near miss, though. In the eighth inning with the game well in hand Guerrero mashed a double into the gap in right field. It was a bit of a slow roller so from the broadcast view it looked like the Blue Jays star have gone for third and become the second player to ever hit for the cycle in the playoffs. But he held up at second and missed his shot at history.

Guerrero didn't seem terribly concerned about that while speaking to the Fox Sports crew afterwards, which makes sense; his team still won by nine runs. Derek Jeter decided to have some fun with it and pressed Guerrero on why he didn't try for the historic achievement. Guerrero explained his third base coach held up the stop sign and he has to listen to his coach, leading to a perfect reaction from Jeter.

"Next time blink and tell him you didn’t see him," Jeter said.

A fun exchange, and one well-earned by Guerrero.

The Blue Jays are still up against the wall, down 2-1 with two more games to play in Seattle before heading back to Toronto if the series gets that far. But they carved out some breathing room with the dominant Game 3 win.

Guerrero will look to do it again on Thursday night. Maybe he'll take Jeter's advice, too.

Might it be that the batsmen were just better than him at that place and time?

Iain O'Brien05-Feb-2020Indulge me, for a second.Take the hammer
Smash the glass
Take the glass
Cut the Mother Earth
Opens up
And sucks you down
It sucks your sorry ass into the groundAre you pressure man or prey?
Do you suffer through the gravity?
Are you predator or prey?
Will you suffer my reality?
Are you pressure man or prey?
Do you suffer through the gravity?
Are you pressure man or prey
This 1998 New Zealand rock anthem from the Feelers, “Pressure Man” was the theme music for the precursor to T20, Cricket Max. You could say the first verse and chorus above are about short-form cricket. (Well, the song sums up a lot of life. Please replace with any non-gender-specific noun and sing along.)There is a photo of me from 2009, standing outside of a drink-break huddle. I had just dropped Gautam Gambhir at mid-off; it was day five, and it may have been the game changer.The song didn’t come to mind at the time, but for the rest of that Daniel Vettori over, I vividly remember carving out a long wound in the pristine McLean Park outfield with the smashed-glass spike of my boot and wanting it to open up and swallow me. In hindsight, the lyrics are as if I wrote them from that one experience.There are many of these moments in life and in sport. Except, in sport they are replayed and replayed and replayed. You suffer over and over.And it’s those who suffer over and over who either are or become legends and greats of the game.***A recent brief, innocent, and what seemed insignificant, back and forth on Twitter with the editor of allowed me to think about the “pressure man or prey” situation New Zealand were in recently while trying to overcome the India T20 team.”Why do they keep using Southee?” was the question I was posed after NZ Super Over loss.The demand of the question, the rhetorical, is that Southee shouldn’t be bowling that Super Over, ever. I don’t think it’s as black and white as that.Answer me these:Did Southee get the plan wrong and the execution right?Did Southee get the plan right and the execution wrong?Did Southee get the plan and the execution right and the batsman was just better?We, outside of the inner sanctum of the team, will probably never know.***In what turned out to be my fourth and last T20I, Scotland were our first opponents in the 2009 World T20. Rain cut the game short before it had even started. Seven overs each; a T7, if you like.ALSO READ: The glamorous life of a Test match bowler (2015)I bowled the first over. With The Oval Members End behind me, I ran in and delivered maybe my most perfect over. The plan locked in and every ball was perfect.The over went for 18, with two leg-byes. It was the best over I had ever bowled. It was the best I had ever kept to a plan. Ever! And I was ignominiously clubbed for four brutal fours.I do have to let you in on one thing, though. In the Scotland team, there was a Watts and a Watson. According to our scouting, Watts would open and Watson would bat about eight.I checked the plan for the opener and nailed it.Except, Watts wasn’t the opener. It was Watson, who normally batted eight. I missed the slight difference in name, which led to the massive difference in individual plans.I didn’t play another T20I. I admitted my mistake in the team debrief the next morning. I got the plan wrong but executed it right. Does that make me a bad bowler, or a good bowler who misread a name?I could have sat on that shame, that failure. I could have dwelled on the fact that no one on the park had thought to make sure I had the right plan after I was spanked for a couple of fours.

Players talk of ‘having a short memory’ when they’re asked how they deal with the massive lows of sport. But in reality, a lot have learnt to have the capacity to sit back and say, ‘I did my best, they were better’

I didn’t, though.Watts. Watson. Damn it!Some 11 years on from that game, I reflect with a greater knowledge of what I allowed myself then. It was probably the first time, and one of the very few times in my career, that I allowed myself some compassion.I failed many, many times. And almost every time I lived that failure. I endured the pain and allowed it to become more of me, more of my personality, than it should have been. All that self-loathing left me not knowing who I was and what I was. Putting on a mask to keep going, to keep being. Tired. Drained. Sleepless. Tears. Disgust.***Southee stepped up and took the ball. And failed in the third T20I against India, in the Super Over.And again in the fourth T20I, in the Super Over.But did he fail?ALSO READ: Martin Crowe: The masks we wear (2013)If we go back to the question of whether he nailed the plan and execution (and to the correct batsman – not like my stupid folly!), might it be that the batsmen were just better than him at that place and time?Fine lines. Very small margins.I think we need to give the opposition more credit than we strip credit from Southee. Or at least we need to consider doing so. And also consider that those piling onto the bowler here are adding to it their feelings and frustrations that New Zealand didn’t get over the line in regular time.You can succeed by failing. One such instance stands out in my mind – in a T20I at the SCG, against Australia, in the penultimate over.Cam White hit a straight, length delivery of mine to somewhere near the moon. Somehow, on its way down, it didn’t quite clear the rope and Vettori completed a special catch.Iain O’Brien: “I failed many, many times. And almost every time I lived that failure. I endured the pain and allowed it to become more of me”•John Walton/PA Photos/Getty ImagesWe celebrated the wicket – me, not quite so much. Vettori to me in the huddle: “Not quite your best ball, OB?” It certainly wasn’t, at all! Got lucky with the launch angle from White’s bat. Fine lines. Very small margins.But it was a success, right?***The more I study our stupid/bonkers/mad/brilliant human mind, the more I realise that in 2009 I had done something to myself that was just becoming a recognised form of mental healthcare.Compassion-focused therapy was just becoming a wholesome part of psychology. Being able to have compassion for oneself or another, as a way to deal with the emotions and outcomes of decisions and actions, whether good or bad, is an essential aspect of well-being.Imagine not being able to have compassion for yourself even if you have, to the best of your abilities, done what was required.Players hide behind the saying “having a short memory” when they’re asked how they deal with the massive lows of sport. But in reality, a lot have learnt to have the capacity to sit back, say, “I did my best, they were better,” shrug their shoulders, look for a lesson, let it all just wash over (like a kid would), and go again with the full backing of their team-mates.ALSO READ: Martin Crowe: How McCullum helped me let go (2014) That’s why I’d back Southee again. And again. That may be the definition of insanity (as in the quote attributed to Albert Einstein), but I’m backing that the plan and execution were right (or so damn close to right that no one in that line-up could have done better), and the opponent was just too good on that day. And the next.Michael Jordan once said: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”If the execution was poor, then, yes it may be right for someone else to bowl those overs that nobody really wants to bowl. But I’d still back Southee in this instance – why waste the investment?Some people carry scars of battle; some people carry a smile. Some people sleep at night; some don’t. I wish I could have shown myself more compassion when I was playing.Are you pressure man or prey?

During my playing and broadcasting career, I saw the toxic effect prejudice and ignorance could have on people and the game

Ian Chappell21-Jun-2020As racism is playing a prominent role in the current turbulent times, it’s worth reflecting on my experience of prejudice in and around cricket.As a youngster growing up in a family where there was no notable prejudice, despite being in the era of the White Australia Policy, I wasn’t really aware of racism. I had the good fortune to commence my Sheffield Shield career in the same team as champion West Indian allrounder Garry Sobers. That was a wonderful education in both cricket and life.My first overseas tour was to South Africa in 1966-67 and it was an eye-opener. The apartheid regime was in power and we got a taste of its abhorrent nature after winning the second Test in Cape Town. “Why don’t you pick Garry Sobers? Then you’ll have a team full of blacks” was the offensive comment directed at Australian batsman Grahame Thomas by an ignorant patron in the team hotel. Thomas has Native American lineage dating back to the days of slavery. Sensibly he walked away from any confrontation.ALSO READ: ‘I refuse to allow any other person to make me feel mentally less’ – Daren SammyAs captain in 1972-73, prior to commencing a home series against Pakistan and then touring the Caribbean, I spoke to the Australian players. I warned them if there were any terms of address prefixed by the word “black”, there would be trouble. I said: “You don’t call someone a lucky white bastard, so why include the word ‘black’ in any outburst?” I never heard any such comments from those Australian players.In 1975-76, my brother Greg captained Australia against West Indies. In a book published after the series, Viv Richards suggested there had been some racially prejudiced comments. I asked Greg, who had a similar outlook to me, if he’d heard any such and he said, “No”. I later spoke to Viv on the subject and he said he was referring to one player and assured me that it had all been sorted out.In 1972 I played in a double-wicket contest in Zimbabwe. On a rest day a few players were drinking in the back bar at the Victoria Falls hotel. We had been there a while when the proprietor suddenly told Basil D’Oliveira, a South African-born Cape Coloured man who played for England, that he had to leave the bar. I asked why.

I said: “You don’t call someone a lucky white bastard, so why include the word ‘black’ in any outburst?”

“Because he’s been swearing in front of my wife,” came the unconvincing reply. “Turn it up, mate,” I responded. “There’s a few of us been swearing, why pick on Basil?” The man insisted that Basil was the only one swearing, so we all put our unfinished beers on the bar and walked out.During the 1975-76 tour of South Africa by a mixed-race International Wanderers side managed by Richie Benaud and captained by Greg, we travelled to a ground outside Port Elizabeth to watch players of colour who weren’t allowed to compete in the Currie Cup competition because of South Africa’s apartheid laws. John Shepherd, who played for West Indies and Kent, and is of the most gentle people on this earth, was part of our side. As we were leaving, a member of the crowd shouted out: “Why don’t you paint yourself white, Shepherd, and then you can be like the rest of them.”ALSO READ: Sambit Bal: It’s time we South Asians understood that colourism is racismShep stopped abruptly and turned to face the crowd with a withering glare. I happened to be next to him. I grabbed his arm and said: “You don’t have to put up with this – let’s leave.”Shep’s arm was as firm as a steel rod, but without redirecting his glare he simply said: “You keep going. I’ll be there in a minute.” Then as a reassurance he added: “There won’t be any trouble.”I had another experience of the harmful effects of racism in Jamaica in 1991. At a television forum there, the moderator introduced the subject of the ICC. In answer to a question I said the power of veto that Australia and England held over ICC decisions was a disgrace and should have been abolished long ago. I did not anticipate that many in the audience would be aware there was a power of veto, but the crowd burst into applause. That made a mockery of the standard reply from Australian cricket administrators when that particular issue was brought up: “The power of veto has never been used, so why would it upset anyone?”This is the sad reality of racism. What is implied often cuts deepest.

The No.1-ranked side have played some of their most consistent cricket in the format since 2019

Andrew McGlashan02-Sep-2020During cricket’s Covid-19 hiatus, Australia became the No.1-ranked T20I team for the first time. You can read as much or as little into the rankings as you wish, and in T20s they are especially fluid, but it came after a 12-month period – from February 2019 to February 2020 – where they played some of their most consistent cricket in the format.The run, which currently stands at nine wins from 11 matches (and only denied 10 victories due to rain in Sydney), began with a 2-0 victory over India and then during the 2019-2020 series saw them convincingly beat Sri Lanka and Pakistan at home plus South Africa away. A series in New Zealand at the end of March fell victim to Covid-19 and this week marks the resumption against England.It had all been building nicely towards them being one of the favourites for the home T20 World Cup in October, but that tournament will now be played in 2022 in India next year. However, Australia believe they are forming a side that can adapt to all conditions – so what have been the key areas in their success?ESPNcricinfo LtdWarner’s run glut, Smith’s savvyAustralia’s run started before David Warner had completed his one-year ban, but his return to the top order has had a dynamic effect. In the two matches against India, Marcus Stoinis and D’Arcy Short had opened the batting. The former failed twice and while Short made two handy scores, reuniting Warner and Aaron Finch at the top has been an overwhelming success.Warner has led the way, scoring 415 runs at 138.33 and a strike rate of 142.12 including 239 runs across five innings between dismissals. The other returnee, Steven Smith, actually scored his runs at a better clip than Warner – 147.92 – with his 51-ball 80 against Pakistan in Canberra a very classy innings. When slipped down to No. 5 in the deciding match against South Africa he clubbed 30 off 15 balls. Overall, Australia are the second-fastest scorers behind England among the top-10 ranked T20I teams.