phelps

there's only 1 way for LA to win...they need a complete game shutout by CK... if they have to go to the bullpen, even for just 1 inning, they're gonna lose once again (I don't trust their offense anymore, too...they just can't score when it really matters)... even Jansen is no longer the man he used to be since he had those heart troubles last Summer (and started taking all those medicines to take it under control)...

and last night scores give South Korea (thanks to the 3-2 win over a not so motivated Mexico) a chance to earn the Bronze Medal later today in the "small final" against Venezuela (they won 4-3 vs Chinese Taipei, but they were already destined to the Bronze Medal match before the game)... the Bronze Medal match is scheduled for Today @ 1 p.m. local time (7 p.m. CET)... and it's live on Youtube... meanwhile, as we already knew before yesterday's games, the Gold Medal match is between Japan and Mexico... the first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. local time (1 a.m. CET)... and all the action is also live on Youtube...

this time we didn't need to go 18 innings...it all happened in regulations... first 6 and 1/2 half innings of nothing were followed by one of the crazy stints that reminded me so much of last year's WS game in Houston... it all began with the Dodgers taking a 4-0 nothing lead (thanks mainly to a 3-run homer by Yasiel "el caballo loco" Puig) off the so far so good Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who normally in this post-season is a reliever not used to make too many pitches per appearance, but last night he was asked by Boston manager Alex Cora to start the game, thing that he did very, very good until, after probably having been left on the mound a bit too long, he gave up that early LA lead... then the Dodgers troubles started and never ended... after 6 great innings by Rich Hill, when in the bottom of 7th he gave up a walk (and then came back with a K), the usual overmanaging by Mr. Roberts took over... first he sent on the mound a lefty reliever (Alexander) that surrendered a 4-pitch walk to a Boston hitter (when Rich Hill, who's also left-handed could well have taken care of him), then he made another change, giving the ball to the usual suspect Ryan madson, who already allowed all of his previous inherited runners to score...and guess what? he did allow a 3-run shot to Mitch Moreland that re-opened a game that looked close (does something sound similar to yesterday? )... and when Kenley Jansen came out at the beginning of the 8th inning and quickly gave up a solo shot to Steve Pierce that tied the game, it was clear that the 54-0 record when leading by 4+ runs at any point of a game of the Dodgers was going to be destroyed... and in fact, in the to of the 9th, the following LA relievers, partly because gassed out after the previous night, but mainly because they are just bad, let Boston party with 5 runs that killed any Dodger ambition (only a boiled Kimbrell made the game longer than needed by giving up 2 more points to LA in the bottom of the 9th inning)... 9-6 is the final score...but this loss is a lot more painful than the numbers say...basically, it's the the cover of the grave being layed...now Boston just need to put the last couple of nails on it (and probably it will happen tonight, @ 1.15 a.m. CET, when game #5 is scheduled to start at the Chavez Ravine, with Clayton Kershaw at his possible last outing with the Dodgers' jersey facing Boston's David Price as the starting pitchers)...

and this (together with last week's stage in Antalya) was quite an interesting tournament, since in these kind of Satellite Tour events FIE are experimenting some new and completely revolutionary rules for Foil competitions, the most important (and with the bigger implications for the future of this weapon) of which is surely the cancellation of the "invalade" hits... with this (idiot) new rule, infact, we won't see anymore the traditional white lights, but the action would eventually stop only when a valid hit is recorded (and the classic red or green light is on)... it's really clear that this change, if implemented in the future Foil competitions, would drastically change the entire development of an assault, actually it would dramatically change Foil Fencing (could we still name it Foil? I don't think so), favouring even more than nowadays the tight defence and the opportunistic tactics (and boring assaults), changing also the physical type of athlete that would most likely become the "prototype" foilist (very tall and with very long arms people on paper would definitely be more effective in those kind of tactics)... most athletes, National Federations and former champions are all totally against this crazy idea, but FIE looks very determined to destroy the history of their own sport and the most traditional (and technically + tactically difficult to play at the highest level) weapon in their program...

and so we're close to take the final curtain down...only 1 day of action left... Tomorrow's Finals Men's GR -77kg Gold Medal Match: Aleksandr Chekhirkin vs Tamas Lorincz Bronze Medal Match #1: Kim Hyeon Woo vs / / Bronze Medal Match #2: Alex Michel Bjurberg Kessidis vs / / ISR / Men's GR -97kg Gold Medal Match: Musa Evloev vs Kiril Milov Bronze Medal Match #1: Mihail Kajaja vs / / Bronze Medal Match #2: Artur Aleksanyan vs / / Men's GR -130kg Gold Medal Match: Adam Jacob Coon vs Semen Semenov Bronze Medal Match #1: Heiki Nabi vs Oleksandr Chernetskyy / Oscar Pino Hinds Bronze Medal Match #2: Kim Min Seok vs / /

I'm sure that someone would eventually find a youth and urban way to make them learn what they need to know...

and also this tournament is almost done... so far, Japan (5W-0L), Mexico (4W-1L) and Chibese Taipei (2W-3L, taking advantage of the tie-breaker over and ending with the same record) advanced to the Main Round from Group A, meanwhile Venezuela (5W-0L), South Korea and Dominican Republic (both with a 3W-2L record) advanced to the Main Round from Group B... in the Main Round, the Japanese domination continued without a stop, so they are sure to play tomorrow's Gold Medal Match... Mexico (3W-1L) will be Japan's opponents, since Venezuela (2W-2L) still have a chance to catch them in the standings, but they have lost the direct match-up, therefore they have to be satisfied with a place in the Bronze medal match... the last team to make the finals is still undetermined, as the other 3 Nations in the Main Round all have a 1-3 record and today's games will decide who's going to play tomorrow against Venezuela...

the world series were back in action last night...and it turned out to be a special game... it took 18 innings to find a winner and the game itself lasted 7 hours and 20 minutes, both a WS record... and this time the LA Dodgers came out of this marathon on top, winning 3-2 thanks a Max Muncy solo-homer in the bottom of the 18th inning... before that, not much happened, especially thanks to the great game played by the LA rookie sensation pitcher Walker Buehler, who became the 3rd man ever to pitch 7 (or more) scoreless innings with 2 or fewer hits and no walks allowed in the entire centenary history of the WS... the dodgers took the lead thanks to a solo shot by Joc Pederson and when Buehler handed over the pitching job to the closer Kenley Jansen at the start of the 8th inning on the score of 1-0 in favor of LA, it looked all over... but Jackie Bradley Jr. didn't have the same idea and with a solo shot tied the game at 1 apiece... so, the extra innings marathon started and despite Boston took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 13th inning, the tie was quickly restored in the bottom part of the same frame...until Max Muncy's shot sent everybody home... tonight (always @ 2.09 a.m. -"old time", actually, 1.09 "new time" CET) game #4 will be particularly interesting, since both teams have their respective bullpen basically boiled after last night's workload... and because of that, both starting pitchers haven't been announced yet...let's expect something unconventional (especially by the Red Sox)...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravaggio

Today's Semifinals Men's GR, -77kg Aleksandr Chekhirkin vs Alex Michel Bjurberg Kessidis Tamas Lorincz vs Kim Hyeon Woo Men's GR, -97kg Musa Evloev vs Artur Aleksanyan Kiril Milov vs Mihail Kajaja Men's GR, -130kg Adam Jacob Coon vs Kim Min Seok Heiki Nabi vs Semen Semenov Today's Finals Men's GR -60kg Gold Medal Match: Sergey Emelin vs Victor Ciobanu Bronze Medal Match #1: Kristian Fris vs Walihan Sailike Bronze Medal Match #2: Aidos Sultangali vs Ri Se Ung Men's GR -67kg Gold Medal Match: Artem Surkov vs Davor Stefanek Bronze Medal Match #1: Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet vs Mamadassa Sylla Bronze Medal Match #2: Gevorg Sahakyan vs Danijel Janecic Men's GR -87kg Gold Medal Match: Zhan Beleniuk vs Metehan Basar Bronze Medal Match #1: Islam Abbasov vs Artur Shahinyan Bronze Medal Match #2: Bekkan Ozdoev vs Roberti Kobliashvili

Today's Semifinals Men's GR, -60kg Sergey Emelin vs Aidos Sultangali Kristian Fris vs Victor Ciobanu Men's GR, -67kg Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet vs Artem Surkov Davor Stefanek vs Gevorg Sahakyan Men's GR, -87kg Islam Abbasov vs Zhan Beleniuk Metehan Basar vs Bekkan Ozdoev Today's Finals Men's GR -55kg Gold Medal Match: Zholaman Sharshenbekov vs Eldaniz Azizli Bronze Medal Match #1: Ekrem Ozturk vs Norayr Hakhoyan Bronze Medal Match #2: Nugzari Tsurtsumia vs Cao Liguo Men's GR -63kg Gold Medal Match: Elmurat Tasmuradov vs Stepan Maryanyan Bronze Medal Match #1: Lenur Temirov vs Tuo Erbatu Bronze Medal Match #2: Hassan Hassan Ahmed Mohamed vs Rahman Bilici Men's GR -72kg Gold Medal Match: Balint Korpasi vs Frank Staebler Bronze Medal Match #1: Aik Mnatsakanian vs Tarek Aziz Benaissa Bronze Medal Match #2: Rasul Chunayev vs Abuiazid Mantsigov Men's GR -82kg Gold Medal Match: Peter Bacsi vs Emrah Kus Bronze Medal Match #1: Saeid Abdevali vs Maksim Manukyan Bronze Medal Match #2: Atabek Azisbekov vs Viktar Sasunouski

Women's Wrestling Medallists Recap Women's -50kg Gold: Yui Susaki Silver: Mariya Stadnik Bronze: Oksana Livach & Sun Yanan Women's -53kg Gold: Haruna Okuno Silver: Sarah Ann Hildebrandt Bronze: Diana Mary Helen Weicker & Pang Qianyu Women's -55kg Gold: Mayu Mukaida Silver: Zalina Sidakova Bronze: Lianna de la Caridad Montero & Jong Myong Suk Women's -57kg Gold: Rong Ningning Silver: Bilyana Zhivkova Dudova Bronze: Emese Barka & Pooja Dhanda Women's -59kg Gold: Risako Kawai Silver: Elif Jale Yesilirmak Bronze: Pei Xingru & Shoovdor Baatarjav Women's -62kg Gold: Taybe Mustafa Yusein Silver: Yukako Kawai Bronze: Yuliia Tkach Ostapchuk & Mallory Maxine Velte Women's -65kg Gold: Petra Maarit Olli Silver: Danielle Suzanne Lappage Bronze: Ayana Gempei & Iryna Netreba Women's -68kg Gold: Alla Cherkasova Silver: Koumba Selene Fanta Larroque Bronze: Zhou Feng & Tamyra Mariama Mensah Women's -72kg Gold: Justina Renay Di Stasio Silver: Nasanburmaa Ochirbat Bronze: Martina Kuenz & Buse Tosun Women's -76kg Gold: Adeline Maria Gray Silver: Yasemin Adar Bronze: Hiroe Minagawa Suzuki & Erica Elizabeth Wiebe Women's Wrestling Final Medal Table JPN, 4 / 1 / 2 CAN, 1 / 1 / 2 USA, 1 / 1 / 2 BUL, 1 / 1 / 0 CHN, 1 / 0 / 4 UKR, 1 / 0 / 2 FIN, 1 / 0 / 0 TUR, 0 / 2 / 1 AZE, 0 / 1 / 1 MGL, 0 / 1 / 1 BLR, 0 / 1 / 0 FRA, 0 / 1 / 0 AUT, 0 / 0 / 1 CUB, 0 / 0 / 1 HUN, 0 / 0 / 1 IND, 0 / 0 / 1 PRK, 0 / 0 / 1

well, that changes the entire development of the game... back to game #2...and it was another painful night for the Dodgers fans...Ryu gave up the first run of the game, but then he had a strong outing until the 2nd out of the 5th inning, when Boston, at that point back 1-2 in the score, did all the damage with 2 consecutive hits off the Korean pitcher, followed by back to back base on balls, the first one off Ryu once again, the second one off the first reliever Madson, who gave up also the last hit that led to the 4-2 for the Red Sox, which eventually was also the final score of the game... so, now Boston lead 2-0 in the best-of-seven series... now...Boston is a very, very strong team...why should someone repeatedly do the same mistakes all the time? why the Dodgers fans must have a coach like Mr.Roberts? once agin he started with that sh*tful lineup made only with righthanded hitters..and when Ryu was clearly dead and gone, he kept him on the mound 2 batters too much...but it wasn't enough...why not matching up Benintendi with a lefty (Urias or Alexander) and then go to the untouchable -at least the night before- Baez? why using the always inconsistent Madson in that specific key situation? above all...why is he paid so much money to waste all of the enormous talent of the team when even the last fan like me could do a lot better??? FIRE that jerk!!!!!! now there's a one-day break and the teams fly to LA, where game #3 is scheduled for tomorrow night (2.09 a.m. CET), with rookie sensation Walker Buehler starting for the Dodgers and Rick Porcello for the Red Sox...

she did never played at the Olympic Games, but she was part of the Italian women's Volleyball team that won the 2002 World Championships... Sara Anzanello died earlier today at the age of 38, after a long fight against the consequences of a fulminant epatitis she got in 2013 while playing her club Volley in Azerbaijan (she did have a liver transplant too, 5 years ago)... https://www.archyworldys.com/volley-sara-anzanello-is-dead-she-was-world-champion-in-2002/ R.I.P.

last 4 days of the 2018 Wrestling Worlds...it's time for the Greco-Roman specialists to take the center of the stage... Today's Semifinals Men's GR, -55kg Ekrem Ozturk vs Zholaman Sharshenbekov Nugzari Tsurtsumia vs Eldaniz Azizli Men's GR, -63kg Lenur Temirov vs Elmurat Tasmuradov Stepan Maryanyan vs Hassan Hassan Ahmed Mohamed Men's GR, -72kg Rasul Chunayev vs Frank Staebler Balint Korpasi vs Aik Mnatsakanian Men's GR, -82kg Saeid Abdevali vs Emrah Kus Peter Bacsi vs Atabek Azisbekov Today's Finals Women's -50kg Gold Medal Match: Yui Susaki vs Mariya Stadnik Bronze Medal Match #1: Oksana Livach vs Ritu Ritu Bronze Medal Match #2: Kin Son Hyang vs Sun Yanan Women's -53kg Gold Medal Match: Haruna Okuno vs Sarah Ann Hildebrandt Bronze Medal Match #1: Diana Mary Helen Weicker vs Zhuldyz Eshimova Bronze Medal Match #2: Katarzyna Krawczyk vs Pang Qianyu Women's -57kg Gold Medal Match: Rong Ningning vs Bilyana Zhivkova Dudova Bronze Medal Match #1: Emese Barka vs Kateryna Zhydachevska Bronze Medal Match #2: Grace Jacob Bullen vs Pooja Dhanda Women's -62kg Gold Medal Match: Yukako Kawai vs Taybe Mustafa Yusein Bronze Medal Match #1: Yuliia Tkach Ostapchuk vs Marianna Sastin Bronze Medal Match #2: Mallory Maxine Velte vs Lais Nunes De Oliveira

and Japan sweeps the field today... Yukako Kawai survices a big scare against Tkach-Ostapchuk and she's going to face tomorrow in the -62kg class Taybe Yusein, who won quickly by fall/pin against her American rival... see you for the finals later tonight...

and Dudova kills the last Hungarian hopes of making a gold medal match among the women... in the final act, tomorrow she'll face Rong, who destryed the Norwegian Bullen in the other semifinal match...

and she's on the verge of breaking the home fans' hearts...

and Japan makes it 2 out of 2 in this session so far... Okuno, in fact, won against a brave Krawczyk and will face Hildebrandt (who won the North-American derby against the Canadian Weicker) in the gold medal match of the -53kg...

Susaki and Stadnik are the first finalists from this afternoon's action (women's -50kg class)...

and finally we are at the season's climax... World Series started last night in Boston, where the Red Sox hosted game #1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, playing their second consecutive final act... and also this time it looks they will end up on the losing side, since Boston did show all of their power with the bats, thrashing LA by a score of 8-4... it was clear from the beginning that it wasn't to be LA night, since Kershaw gave up 2 points already in the first inning...then the Dodgers cambe back once, twice and almost a third time (Machado had a chance to hit with bases loaded and 1 out in the top of the 7th, but he only hit a useless sac fly that left the team 1 run short at that point)... but one of the usual "scientific" managerial decisions by coach Roberts in the bottom of the 7th (changing an untouchable Baez to put on the mound a long time boiled Alex Wood) costed a 3-run homer hit by Nunez on the very first pitch thrown by Wood and so the game was basically over... tonight (2.09 a.m. CET) game #2 (still in Boston) will feature David Price as a starting pitcher for Boston against Hyu Jin Ryu for the Dodgers...it's gonna be another long and difficult night for the Dodger Nation, I fear...

semifinals just started... finals to follow, but not before from 6 p.m. CET

Today's Semifinals women's -50kg Yui Susaki vs Oksana Livach Kim Son Hyang vs Mariya Stadnik women's -53kg Sarah Ann Hildebrandt vs Diana Mary Helen Weicker Haruna Okuno vs Katarzyna Krawczyk women's -57kg Rong Ningning vs Grace Bullen Bilyana Zhivkova Dudova vs Emese Barka women's -62kg Mallory Maxine Velte vs Taybe Mustafa Yusein Yukako Kawai vs Yuliia Tkach Ostapchuk Today's Medal Matches women's -65kg Gold Medal Match: Petra marit Olli vs Danielle Suzanne Lappage Bronze Medal Match #1: Ritu Ritu vs Ayana Gempei Bronze Medal Match #2: Forrest Ann Molinari vs Irina Netreba women's -68kg Gold Medal Match: Koumba Selene Fanta Larroque vs Alla Cherkasova Bronze Medal Match #1: Maryia Mamashuk vs Zhou Feng Bronze Medal Match #2: Olivia Grace Di Bacco vs Tamyra Mariama Mensah women's -72kg Gold Medal Match: Justina Renay Di Stasio vs Nasanburmaa Ochirbat Bronze Medal Match #1: Martina Kuenz vs Samar Amer Ibrahim Hamza Bronze Medal Match #2: Wang Yuan vs Buse Tosun women's -76kg Gold Medal Match: Adeline Maria Gray vs Yasemin Adar Bronze Medal Match #1: Hiroe Minagawa Suzuki vs Zsanett Nemeth Bronze Medal Match #2: Erica Elizabeth Wiebe vs Epp Mae

IFSC World Cup, Stage #13 (Wujiang, CHN) Women's Speed 1st, Aries Susanti Rahayu (INA) 2nd, Anouck Jaubert (FRA) 3rd, Iuliia Kaplina (RUS) Men's Speed 1st, Aspar Jaelolo (INA) 2nd, Ludovico Fossali (ITA) 3rd, Reza Alipour (IRI) Women's Lead 1st, Janja Garnbret (SLO) 2nd, Kim Ja In (KOR) 3rd, Jessica Pilz (AUT) Men's Lead 1st, Romain Desgranges (FRA) 2nd, Jakob Schubert (AUT) 3rd, Min Hyun Bin (KOR)

sad news about Per Elofsson...the former Swedish cross country world and world cup champion had a stroke a few days ago... he's alive, but now he's experiencing a lot of really big troubles and he has to face a very tough (and uncertain) rehab... https://vaaju.com/swedeneng/per-elofsson-received-stroke-cohabitation-ia-backlund-tells/ unfortunately almost all news about it are in Swedish language, this is the only article in English I could find (I admit I didn't spend much time for that, since I already read all the info on an Italian website)... good luck to him and his family... not so dramatic, but there are bad news also about Sergei Ustyugov... earlier today he fell down while training on the skirolls in Val Senales (ITA) and he had to go to the hospital... there are no official news yet about how serious the accident was, but apparently he had strong pain (and possibly further damages) to his left hand and ankle...