Friday’s Sports

Girl's Coordinator and Head Basketball Coach Stephen Ladd

MLB

Friday

Rays (62-43) at Houston Astros (58-45) at 7:10 pm

Rangers (60-43) at San Diego Padres (49-54) at 8:40 pm

Standings before the trade deadline on Aug 1

AL East

Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees

AL Central

Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals

AL West

Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics

NL East

Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Washington Nationals

NL Central

Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies

Texas should be as busy as anyone at the trade deadline, with bullpen help, a starter, and perhaps another bat in sight. It was a rough week for all Rangers pitchers, as they gave up 41 runs in a four-game span. It led to the highest ERA in baseball over seven days ending Tuesday: 8.21. The Rangers had just one starter last six innings, taxing a bullpen that kept giving up hit after hit to the Dodgers in a series loss. There’s a further emphasis on pitching before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Most metrics-based projection models favor the Rangers in the AL West race because of their overwhelming edge over the Astros in run differential. But with Houston closing in on the division leaders, the West once again seems like the Astros’ race to lose. That means first-year GM Dana Brown can make targeted additions at the deadline. Brown told reporters that the club would likely target rotation depth, bullpen help, and a left-handed bat. On the latter front, Houston ranks last, by far, in plate appearances from lefty batters this season.

NFL

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott guaranteed one thing for 2023 when he met with the media for the first time in training camp Thursday. “I am going to lessen my interception numbers,” Prescott said. “That is a guarantee.”

WWC

Taylor Swift will soundtrack every goal scored by the United States at the Women’s World Cup, but she isn’t the most chosen artist at the tournament. The U.S. leads Group E.

GROUP E

GP-W-D-L-GD-P

United States 2 1 1 0 +3 4

Netherlands 2 1 1 0 +1 4

Portugal 2 1 0 1 +1 3

Vietnam 2 0 0 2 -5 0

HIGH SCHOOL

Mt Vernon ISD has named Stephen Ladd the Girl’s Coordinator and Head Basketball coach