NEW YORK -- Mets slugger Pete Alonso visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Tuesday to donate the custom first-responder cleats and baseball bat he used in a game on Sept. 11.
Alonso presented the equipment to museum president Alice M. Greenwald. He says "it means the world" that the memorial wanted the gear for its permanent collection.
The 24-year-old rookie surprised his teammates with customized spikes to wear during a game against Arizona on the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. He spent weeks jotting down the Mets' shoe sizes, preferred brands and styles, then hired a company to paint the cleats red, white and blue with lettering for first-responder units.
The Mets wound up beating the Diamondbacks 9-0, and they had 11 hits.
Alonso, the favorite to win National League Rookie of the Year after leading the majors with a rookie-record 53 home runs, initially asked Major League Baseball if he could have hats designed for the game. The league hasn't permitted the Mets to wear first-responder hats since 2001, and it rejected Alonso's proposal.
Alonso did not contact MLB about the cleats, fearing more red tape might get in the way.
He said Tuesday he hopes to make the 9/11 spikes a yearly thing.
Young players are dominating baseball like never before -- and this October presents a chance for a new group of rising stars to make their mark on the MLB postseason. From an NL MVP hopeful in Los Angeles to a pin-striped infielder who reminds us of a certain Yankees shortstop icon, we identified five rising stars with a chance to have a major impact on teams primed to make some serious noise in the playoffs.
In anticipation of these five young players becoming household names this month, we asked ESPN.com's Alden Gonzalez, Eddie Matz, Marly Rivera and David Schoenfield to introduce you to the next wave of postseason heroes and go back in time to find the best comparison for each budding superstar.
Logan Riely/Getty Images; Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
How Acuna could dominate this postseason
When you're just the third player 21 or younger to mash 40 home runs in a season -- joining Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews and Mel Ott -- you're doing a lot right at the plate, but maybe Acuna's most impressive trait is his precocious ability to hit breaking balls. A lot of young players struggle once pitchers show them some spin. Not Acuna.
Against curveballs and sliders, Acuna hit .311/.373/.547. He ranked ninth in the majors in batting average and fifth in wOBA. His 14 home runs against curves and sliders led the majors. Acuna does a great job of hunting out breaking balls early in the count. With two strikes, he's still vulnerable to chasing out of the zone -- one reason he has a 26.3% strikeout rate. With no strikes or one strike, however, he hit .476/.506/.952 against curves and sliders. Don't hang a breaking ball early in the count.
Fellow major leaguers are impressed with Acuna for the same reason we are: He's this good at such a young age.
"It's amazing what he's accomplished at his age," Braves teammate Freddie Freeman said during All-Star festivities in Cleveland. "I don't think this is going to be Ronald's only All-Star Game." Cubs shortstop Javier Baez, a wise old veteran at 26, said Acuna "has learned so fast. He's 21 and has that kind of power. That's impressive."
Acuna did have a tough stretch from Aug. 16 to Sept. 3 in which he hit .156 with just one home run over 17 games. He had perhaps become a little too homer-happy with 40 home runs in sight.
"I think he's trying to do a little too much right now, pushing toward 40," Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer told The Athletic at that time. "That's where he's at. So we just got done having a talk. We're going to adjust his routine a little bit in the cage to try to get him more flattened out. Because when guys try to do too much, they lose the barrel, and he's underneath it -- everything he's swinging and missing, he's underneath it."
Sure enough, Acuna soon got back on track. Indeed, his ability to drive the ball to all fields -- he has 12 home runs to center field and 12 to the opposite field -- suggests he's a hitter with power and not simply a power hitter trying to launch fly balls at the expense of batting average. If he can cut down on the strikeouts, 40 home runs with .300 batting averages should be in his future. Oh, and don't forget: He also stole 37 bases, leading the National League.
Shades of Octobers past: Carlos Beltran
With Acuna's power-speed combo, the comparisons are going to be limited. The name that jumps out is Carlos Beltran and his otherworldly performance in the 2004 postseason with the Astros. Beltran was one of the game's great power-speed threats, with 435 home runs and 312 stolen bases, and he was at his peak in 2004, when he hit 38 home runs (second highest of his career) and swiped a career-high 42 bases in a season split between the Royals and Astros. Then he went off in the postseason, hitting eight home runs and stealing six bases -- all in 12 games, as the Astros were eliminated in the NLCS. -- David Schoenfield
Yordan Alvarez: Not just a power hitter
John Glaser/USA TODAY Sports; Hunter Martin/Getty Images
How Yordan could dominate this postseason
It's important to understand that Alvarez isn't just some flash-in-the-pan power guy who put together a good run; it's important not to categorize him as another one of these lumbering, all-or-nothing left-handed sluggers who swing wildly and try to pull everything. Alvarez matches elite power with uncommon plate discipline. And at 22, he accomplished what few ever have -- the Cuban slugger will finish his rookie season with a weighted runs created plus of 178, a mark topped only by these five players at that age or younger: Ted Williams, Bryce Harper, Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson and Stan Musial.
Alvarez managed a .313/.412/.655 slash line and 27 home runs in just over half the games. His .342 isolated power was topped only by Mitch Garver (.357) and Mike Trout (.353). But Alvarez's chase rate and swinging strike rate were better than the major league average. And before getting called up in early June, he amassed more doubles and homers to the opposite field than he did to his pull side, according to FanGraphs data.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch raves about every aspect of Alvarez's approach.
"There's no panic," Hinch said. "He's not jumpy, he's not overly concerned if he falls behind; when he gets ahead, he hunts pitches -- he's very smart with what he looks for and when he looks for it. His stride is under control, his bat speed is really good, he's got tremendous leverage in his swing, given his size and strength, and he knows where the barrel is."
Alvarez experienced the inevitable struggles toward the end of August, going 8-for-40 over a stretch of 12 games. But he quickly recovered, finishing the 2019 regular season with a .296/.394/.605 slash line in the month of September.
Alvarez learned to hit from his father, Agustin, who played in the Cuban National Series. Patience at the plate was preached to Alvarez at an early age. When he reached professional baseball in the United States, pitchers consistently threw him away, and Alvarez learned to let pitches travel and drive them to left field rather than be overanxious and try to pull them to right. All the ingredients were there for sustained success, no matter what adjustments were made against him.
"I just had to stay strong mentally," Alvarez, speaking in Spanish, said of encountering his first struggles in the major leagues. "I had to remain confident. Sometimes, stuff like that will test your confidence, and that's how the slumps prolong."
Shades of Octobers past: Ryan Howard
In 2005, there was a fierce left-handed power hitter who burst onto the scene and was named Rookie of the Year despite not accumulating a considerable amount of at-bats and not providing much of any defensive value. His name was Ryan Howard, and he clubbed 22 home runs while playing 84 subpar games at first base for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Howard, who struck out 67 more times than he walked that season, didn't quite display the plate discipline Alvarez seems to possess. But Howard did have some dominant postseason runs, with a .933 OPS in back-to-back trips to the World Series in 2008 and 2009. -- Alden Gonzalez
Cody Bellinger: The breakout MVP candidate
Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire; David Madison/Getty Images
How Bellinger could dominate this postseason
Here's all you need to know about Bellinger's growth from Year 2 to Year 3: He went from sitting against left-handed pitchers when it mattered most to being among the game's most effective hitters against lefties. Bellinger's slash line against same-side pitchers jumped from .226/.305/.376 to 280/.386/.596 from 2018 to 2019; his 18 home runs against them this year were second in baseball behind J.D. Martinez.
Bellinger also improved as a two-strike hitter, going from .201/.280/.330 to .231/.320/.434. He also chased less, made more contact with pitches within the strike zone and ranked within the top 10% of the league in barrel percentage, which tracks the amount of batted balls that achieve the ideal combination of exit velocity and launch angle.
Bellinger stood closer to the plate this season -- unintentionally, he said -- and achieved far better coverage, but it amazingly didn't impact his ability to hit pitches traveling low and inside. In fact, Bellinger posted a 1.122 OPS on low-and-in pitches this season, 324 points better than the prior season.
Bellinger's improvement didn't just happen. He worked on it. The failures of 2018 -- batting in the low .200s by the end of July, falling out of whack with his mechanics throughout the summer, sitting against opposing lefty starters during the postseason -- lit a fire under him.
He spent the ensuing offseason alternating his time with the Dodgers' two hitting coaches, working with Robert Van Scoyoc in Los Angeles and Brant Brown in Arizona. The two worked to get Bellinger back to the upright stance and fluid load that worked for him before he won the National League Rookie of the Year in 2017. Most important, though, they wanted him to gain a true understanding of his mechanics for the first time in his life, which would help him self-correct when the inevitable struggles presented themselves.
Van Scoyoc and Brown carefully explained to Bellinger each aspect of his mechanics and had him progress through tee work, then flips, then eventually the high-velocity pitching machine, and if he wavered, they reverted back to the basics. Said Brown: "You train the movement patterns. Then when you get into the box, you just put it on autopilot."
Shades of Octobers past: Darryl Strawberry
A tall, lanky left-handed hitter with a lofty swing, surprising speed and a strong throwing arm -- yeah, sounds about right. Strawberry didn't do all that much during the 1986 postseason, batting .217/.315/.457. But he hit a towering home run to lead off the eighth inning in Game 7 of the World Series, giving the New York Mets a critical insurance run when it seemed as if the Boston Red Sox were finally starting to regain some momentum. It propelled the Mets to a championship. The Dodgers hope for similar October magic out of Bellinger. -- Alden Gonzalez
Juan Soto: Master of the strike zone
AP Photo/John Bazemore; Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Getty Images
How Soto could dominate this postseason
You've heard of spitting on pitches? Well, Juan Soto practically hocks loogies on them. In his first full big league season, the 20-year-old outfielder ranks third in the National League with 108 walks. He has the NL's third-lowest chase rate (20.2%) and sees the sixth-most pitches per plate appearance (4.23). To understand just how patient Soto is at the plate, consider the Soto Shuffle.
A proprietary dance move the lefty swinger typically deploys after taking a ball, it involves a deep knee bend and then a swipe of the dirt with each foot. Although Soto has recently toned down the glare-at-the-pitcher portion -- perhaps for fear of ruffling feathers -- the Shuffle itself is still an integral part of his game. Just like the selectiveness that spawned it.
Early in 2016, during his first season as a pro, Soto controlled the zone about as much as a TV controls the remote. Over his first 17 games in rookie ball, the Dominican native walked just once (against 13 whiffs). After an intervention from a coach who told the kid he'd never survive without learning the zone, that changed -- immediately. Soto walked six times over his next 11 games (with only five K's). The rest is history for a player who knows what to do when he does get a pitch he likes.
"It takes effort -- a lot of effort -- to do what he's doing," hitting coach Kevin Long said of Soto, a notoriously hard worker who does his interviews in English and who graduated from the team's Rosetta Stone program faster than all but one player in Nationals history. "It takes a bit of mental toughness to grind like he does. When you're working in the strike zone, you're grinding. These at-bats he puts together, it's not easy. It could wear on certain guys, but he thrives on it."
"I just try to concentrate and look for one pitch," said Soto. "If they don't throw me that pitch, I just wait. That's how they walk me."
Shades of Octobers past: Albert Pujols
Typically, it's unnatural to draw parallels between lefty and righty hitters, but not in Soto's case. The precocious plate discipline and premature power conjure up images of a young Albert Pujols. The wide stance and almost nonexistent stride don't hurt either. For what it's worth, Soto, who grew up idolizing Robinson Cano, doesn't necessarily see the similarity. But he'll happily wear it.
"I feel glad they compare me with this guy," Soto said, "but I think nobody is like Pujols. He's a machine."
So whom does Soto emulate now that he's all grown up (in an under-21 kind of way)? "I try to be like nobody. I just try to be Juan Soto."
So far, so good. -- Eddie Matz
Gleyber Torres: Mr. Cool under pressure
Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire; Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
How Torres could dominate this postseason
Remaining cool under pressure is a trait usually reserved for seasoned league veterans, especially when it comes to high-leverage situations. Enter the exception to the rule: 22-year-old Gleyber Torres.
While "clutch hitter" is a much-debated term to describe players who get more than their share of hits in high-pressure circumstances, the Yankees' Torres has the makings of an exceptionally good hitter simply on the basis of the quantity of his hits, as well as the timeliness of them.
Now in only his second full big league season, Torres has shown an ability to take it to another level in big spots -- slashing .344/.379/.641 when hitting with runners in scoring position for a 1.020 OPS with RISP, which stacks up with some all-time greats at the same age:
Alex Rodriguez, 1996 (20): .349 BA, .993 OPS and 1998 (22): .341 BA, .910 OPS
Albert Pujols, 2002 (22): .340 BA, 1.090 OPS
Torres credits a consistent approach to hitting, regardless of the situation, as a key part of his success. And though it's hard to easily measure a player's ability to respond well in pressure situations, Torres believes that always having been surrounded by much older players is the main factor behind his success.
"In those moments, I never feel fear," Torres said. "When I started playing baseball, I always played with guys older than me. I was always the youngest kid. I think that helped me develop my focus and enjoy a higher level of competition. When these situations come up, it's not new for me. I just live in the moment and enjoy it, because I love when emotions are high and adrenaline is pumping at a hundred percent, and I just try to put on a good show."
"There are a lot of different personalities that succeed in big spots," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who admittedly forgets Torres is as young as he is. "With Gleyber, there is an ease with which he plays the game. That comes because he's very good at it and he's very confident in his ability on both sides of the ball.
"He's a smart player, a smart hitter. He has committed to being better all the time and understanding pitchers, what they're doing to him, what his game plan is, what he's looking for in particular situations. He does a good job of having that ability to kind of slow everything down and adapting to the game situation."
Shades of Octobers past: Derek Jeter
In baseball lore, few players have garnered praise for their success in high-pressure situations quite like "Captain Clutch," Derek Jeter, which Boone had the opportunity to witness firsthand.
"In Derek's case, what really stood out to me was the level of focus and intensity when it was thick, when it really mattered," Boone said. "There was this energy that I felt ramped up with him. But not in an anxious way, more like, 'I got this. Hit me the ball. I'll go get the ball. I want to be up. I am in control of this.' Being his teammate and watching him in these moments, my appreciation grew leaps and bounds being around him, seeing the kind of elite competitor he was."
"When you're good at something, it's about practice and repetition and being confident in the fundamentals that you have. I believe that can go a long way in giving you the best chance to succeed. Torres is showing a glimpse of that," Boone added. "He's definitely a guy I would want the ball hit to or want up in certain spots. Obviously, it doesn't mean that you always get it done, but I love the intangible stuff about Gleyber."
Like Jeter, Torres cherishes being in those high-leverage situations, and performing like his favorite player growing up: David Wright.
"I was a big fan of David Wright when I was a kid. He was the Mets' captain, and I always admired how he excelled. I also admire Jimmy Rollins a lot, and Víctor Martinez. They were the types of players that I admired because they always seemed to come up big at the zero hour. When I was in the minors, I loved being in that situation; being the man. It's not an ego thing, it's not about personal glory, it's about helping the team." -- Marly Rivera
US Anti-Doping Agency says the Nike Oregon Project head coach has been sanctioned “for orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct”
Nike Oregon Project head coach Alberto Salazar and Dr Jeffrey Brown have both been banned for four year for “multiple anti-doping rule violations”, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has announced.
In a statement published on Monday, USADA said Salazar and Brown receive their sanctions “for orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct” while working with the Nike Oregon Project (NOP).
Salazar has coached a number of top athletes, including Britain’s Mo Farah.
Salazar has denied any wrongdoing, while there is no suggestion that Farah has violated any rules.
“I’m relieved that USADA has, after four years, completed their investigation into Alberto Salazar,” said Farah in a statement published on Tuesday morning.
“I left the Nike Oregon Project in 2017 but as I’ve always said, I have no tolerance for anyone who breaks the rules or crosses a line. A ruling has been made and I’m glad there has finally been a conclusion.”
With the IAAF World Championships currently taking place in Doha, the IAAF confirmed that, on the request of USATF, Salazar’s World Championships accreditation had been deactivated.
“USADA announced today that two independent three-member panels of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) rendered their decisions in the cases of Alberto Salazar and Dr. Jeffrey Brown, determining that each should receive a 4-year sanction for orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct while acting, respectively, as head coach of the Nike Oregon Project (NOP) and as a paid consultant for the NOP on performance enhancement and as physician for numerous athletes in the NOP,” reads a statement from the anti-doping agency in part.
USADA chief executive officer Travis Tygart said: “The athletes in these cases found the courage to speak out and ultimately exposed the truth.
“While acting in connection with the Nike Oregon Project, Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown demonstrated that winning was more important than the health and wellbeing of the athletes they were sworn to protect.”
After a career as a highly successful athlete himself, Salazar has gone on to become a top coach, with Farah having been among the American’s NOP stable based in Portland between 2011 and 2017. In 2013, Salazar was hired by UK Athletics (UKA) as a consultant to the national governing body’s endurance programme.
The USADA statement says the AAA panel found that Salazar and Brown “trafficked testosterone, a banned performance-enhancing substance, administered a prohibited IV infusion, and engaged in tampering to attempt to prevent relevant information about their conduct from being learned by USADA.”
The Salazar panel wrote: “Respondent and Dr. Brown communicated repeatedly about the athletes of the NOP’s performance and medical conditions, exchanging information without any apparent formal authorization by the athletes at the NOP or distinction between Dr. Brown’s role as an athlete’s physician and NOP consultant. Respondent and Dr. Brown shared information with the aim of improving the athletes’ performance via medical intervention, with a particular interest in increasing testosterone levels.”
In a statement published on the Nike Oregon Project website, Salazar is quoted as saying: “I am shocked by the outcome today. Throughout this six-year investigation my athletes and I have endured unjust, unethical and highly damaging treatment from USADA. This is demonstrated by the misleading statement released by Travis Tygart stating that we put winning ahead of athlete safety. This is completely false and contrary to the findings of the arbitrators, who even wrote about the care I took in complying with the World Anti-Doping code:
“’The Panel notes that the Respondent does not appear to have been motivated by any bad intention to commit the violations the Panel found. In fact, the Panel was struck by the amount of care generally taken by Respondent to ensure that whatever new technique or method or substance he was going to try was lawful under the World Anti-Doping Code, with USADA’s witness characterizing him as the coach they heard from the most with respect to trying to ensure that he was complying with his obligations.’
“I have always ensured the WADA code is strictly followed. The Oregon Project has never and will never permit doping. I will appeal and look forward to this unfair and protracted process reaching the conclusion I know to be true.”
According to the BBC, a statement from Nike said the decision had “nothing to do with administering banned substances to any Oregon Project athlete”.
“As the panel noted, they were struck by the amount of care Alberto took to ensure he was complying with the World Anti-Doping code,” it added.
“We support Alberto in his decision to appeal and wish him the full measure of due process that the rules require. Nike does not condone the use of banned substances in any manner.”
A statement released by UK Athletics on Tuesday morning reads: “The Board of UK Athletics acknowledges the announcement made by USADA concerning the four-year sanction imposed on Alberto Salazar.
“The Board and Performance Oversight Committee (POC) will now review the arbitration decision in full prior to making any further comment.
“It should be noted that at all times UK Athletics fully cooperated with both USADA and UKAD throughout the investigations. Furthermore the Performance Oversight Committee’s own investigation in 2015 was restricted to the interaction of the Nike Oregon Project with Mo Farah, and not an anti-doping investigation. Such investigations can and should only be undertaken by the relevant anti-doping authorities.
“UK Athletics is 100% committed to Clean Athletics through investment in athlete education, supporting comprehensive testing programmes, and full cooperation with both UK and International Anti-Doping Authorities.”
The four-year bans handed to Salazar and Brown began on September 30, 2019 – the date the decisions were released.
Redacted versions of the arbitration decisions are available here.
The first stop on this European extravaganza is just around the corner as the Eriksdalshallen in Stockholm plays host to the 2019 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open from Thursday 3rd to Sunday 6th October with qualification being conducted on Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd of the month.
Last year in Stockholm, Japan’s Mima Ito stunned three of China’s finest to secure women’s singles gold while Fan Zhendong overturned his defeat from 2017 with a fantastic display against current World no.1 Xu Xin.
Both sets of last year’s finalists will be present once again next week as will the likes of Japanese teenage ace Tomokazu Harimoto, local favourite Mattias Falck and World champion Liu Shiwen. An all-star cast awaits – you don’t want to miss this one!
Find all the 2019 Swedish Open information you need here.
2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open
Following hot on the heels of the proceedings in Stockholm, the penultimate Platinum event of the year will be staged from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th October as the world’s elite players take to Bremen for the 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open.
In similar fashion to last year’s Swedish Open, the 2018 German Open saw China and Japan share the singles trophies with Ma Long and Kasumi Ishikawa taking home the respective men’s and women’s singles prizes.
Many of the stars who are travelling to next week’s tournament in Stockholm are also set to make the trip to Bremen for the 2019 German Open including 18-year-old sensation Sun Yingsha, who recently won women’s singles gold at the 2019 ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships. The highly successful trio of Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska will lead the host nation’s charge as will Petrissa Solja, who is looking to continue taking steps in the right direction on her journey back to the top of the game.
Find all the 2019 German Open information you need here.
2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Austrian Open
The 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum series will conclude in Linz one month later with the 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Austrian Open running from Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th November.
Liang Jingkun made a name for himself at the 2018 Austrian Open, battling his way through the qualification rounds and five main draw encounters including victories over Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin to pick up his first men’s singles on the ITTF World Tour. The women’s singles draw Chen Meng overthrew defending champion Wang Manyu with a devastating 4-0 display – one month later she went on to take the crown at the 2018 World Tour Grand Finals!
As with the ITTF World Tour events in Stockholm and Bremen, you can expect to see some of the biggest names associated with the sport in Linz with the 2019 Austrian Open being the final opportunity to gather valuable points in the race for the 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
Find all the 2019 Austrian Open information you need here.
Stop the press... your all-time World Cup XV has been revealed.
More than 160,000 people voted on who should make the final cut, with legendary New Zealand wing Jonah Lomu proving the most popular candidate by taking almost 90% of the vote for the wide spots.
Lomu is one of seven All Blacks in a side that also contains three South Africans, two Englishmen and one player each from Australia, France and Ireland.
However, there is no place for the tournament's all-time top points scorer Jonny Wilkinson or fellow England World Cup winner Jason Robinson, with New Zealand's Dan Carter taking the number 10 jersey and France's Serge Blanco preferred at full-back.
Lomu, Blanco and Ireland centre Brian O'Driscoll are the only players not to have won a World Cup, while Australia's John Eales joins four New Zealanders in winning it twice.
There was a scrap for who would start at tight-head prop, with New Zealand's Owen Franks edging Welshman Adam Jones to join compatriot Sean Fitzpatrick and England's Jason Leonard in the front row.
There is no shortage of leaders in a forward pack that boasts four World Cup-winning captains in Eales, South Africa's Francois Pienaar, England's Martin Johnson and Richie McCaw, who lifted the trophy twice with New Zealand.
And it is a side blessed with try-scoring prowess on the flanks, with Lomu and South Africa's Bryan Habana the tournament's all-time top try scorers on 15 apiece.
So, without further ado, here is your all-time World Cup XV...
The stats behind your key players...
Martin Johnson: Despite appearing for New Zealand's under-21 side, the lock went on to become the first, and so far only, England captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 2003. Well backed with more than 100,000 votes.
Richie McCaw: One of the most popular selections and the only man to have captained two World Cup-winning teams, McCaw is the all-time most-capped player in international Test rugby, having played 148 times for New Zealand and made more tackles, 225, than any other player in the competition.
Dan Carter: The influential fly-half scored 19 points in a man-of-the-match performance as New Zealand beat Australia in the 2015 final. Just imagine seeing him outside South Africa's Joost van der Westhuizen in the half backs...
Brian O'Driscoll: Second only to McCaw in the number of international appearances made, O'Driscoll made his debut for Ireland aged 20 in 1999 and went on to captain his country 83 times. The third-most popular selection, behind Lomu and McCaw.
Jonah Lomu: The joint-top try-scorer in World Cup history, alongside South Africa's Bryan Habana. Four of Lomu's 15 tries came against England in the 1995 semi-final, though the wing never won the tournament.
Boeser was cleared from the concussion protocol and returned to practice with his teammates on Monday, a week after his head slammed into the boards on a hit from behind by the Ottawa Senators' Chris Tierney.
Boeser, 22, said it was his first concussion and that initially he didn't realize he was hurt.
"After a couple shifts I just went out there and the lights were just feeling a little weird, and I didn't feel like myself, a little nausea," he said Monday. "So that's when I told our training staff I wasn't feeling great and then I didn't play any more after that."
Boeser is entering his third season, having put up 29 goals and 29 assists as a rookie, then following that up with 26 goals and 30 assists last season.
MANCHESTER, England -- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted his frustration after VAR handed Arsenal an equaliser at Old Trafford and condemned Manchester United to their worst start to a season for 30 years.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was initially flagged offside by linesman Scott Ledger only for the decision to be overturned by the video official to bring Arsenal level after Scott McTominay opened the scoring for Man United.
Solskjaer had no complaints about the outcome, but argued afterwards that defender Ashley Young had stopped once he had seen Ledger's flag go up.
"Ashley certainly holds his hand up, he looks straight at the linesman, maybe hesitates and could have got a block in," said Solskjaer after the 1-1 draw.
"It probably would have helped David [De Gea] but it's no consolation -- it's a perfectly good goal for them but he probably should have kept the flag down.
"It made an impact on the situation by raising the flag, when it's that way you can wait and take it later."
The result leaves United 10th in the table with nine points -- the first time they have failed to reach double figures after seven games of a top-flight season since 1988-90 when they eventually finished 13th.
Solskjaer's team have managed just two league wins all season but he insists his players have not got the rewards they have deserved.
"There are many things we look at and that give me loads of confidence," said Solskjaer. "Results matter but I can talk about six out of seven good performances."
Goals remain a problem for United and they have only managed to score twice in a game once in nine attempts this season.
They have gone a goal up against Wolves, Southampton and Arsenal only to be pegged back and drop points.
"It's another game that we're 1-0 up," Solskjaer said. "We need to learn to win these games."
MANCHESTER, England -- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was right. You really don't need to be a rocket scientist to realise that Manchester United's problems this season stem from their inability to score goals, but equally, if you get rid of two proven goal-scorers, you have only yourself to blame if the goals dry up after failing to sign a replacement.
In January 2018, Arsenal allowed Alexis Sanchez -- remember him? -- to leave the Emirates to sign for United and, in his place, the Gunners spent a then-club-record £57 million to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund. For all of Arsenal's faults, and this 1-1 draw at Old Trafford exposed quite a few, they did not make the mistake of leaving themselves without firepower when Sanchez left and Aubameyang, whose equaliser in this game secured a point, has rescued his team on several occasions since arriving from Germany.
United, of course, sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan this summer before allowing Sanchez to follow him to the San Siro on a season-long loan, leaving Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and 17-year-old rookie Mason Greenwood as the club's only three forwards. Rashford has now scored just once from open play in his past 16 games, the inconsistent Martial is injured (again) and Greenwood has done well, with two goals in six appearances, but he is a kid who cannot be relied upon to shoulder the goal-scoring burden for a club of United's size and expectations.
The reason United have now made their worst start to a league season since 1989 is because they simply cannot score goals, and it was the same against Arsenal, with United failing to score more than once yet again.
"I thought, 'How many times have we been 1-0 up and not got the second goal?'" Solskjaer said. "This is a steep learning curve for us, and we'll keep working hard and with more experience, we'll make the right decisions."
United have scored nine league goals all season, and four of those came in the 4-0 opening-game win against Chelsea. The drought is as much down to the lack of creativity in midfield as it is to the absence of an experience goal-scorer, but United's problems are self-inflicted because they could have replaced Lukaku and Sanchez but failed to do so.
Aubameyang, who has seven league goals this season, is an example of what they are missing, and the Gabon striker's stats are an indictment of United's bluntness up front. In the past 17 games in all competitions, United have scored just 15 goals collectively -- Aubameyang has scored 17 goals on his own.
If Aubameyang were United's player rather than Arsenal's, Solskjaer's team might now be sitting pretty in the top four, with a world-class forward regularly converting chances and putting the ball in the back of the net. But he is Arsenal's best hope of finishing in the top four, and it is to the club's credit that they were smart enough to sign him to replace Sanchez.
If there is a gaping hole in your team, you have to fill it. Arsenal did that, but United haven't, and they have now left themselves at the mercy of the January transfer market, when their desperation for a goal-scorer could lead to yet another expensive mistake.
Yet while Arsenal have the guy who can turn defeat into a draw or a draw into victory, they will also have left Old Trafford knowing they missed a golden chance to beat United on their own patch for the first time since 2006. United, who took a first-half lead through Scott McTominay's 20-yard strike, were there for the taking, but Arsenal lacked the belief to take the game to Solskjaer's team.
Maybe they went into the fixture believing that it was still the cagey affair of the Sir Alex Ferguson-Arsene Wenger era, when the titanic tussles between two great teams were often settled by the odd goal. But this game is nothing like it used to be. Both United and Arsenal have big problems to solve, but Arsenal at least have goals in the team, and that's why they have the edge right now.
Had they backed themselves more, Unai Emery's players would have taken all three points from this game and further deepened the gloom at United. In the end, they had to settle for a point, thanks to Aubameyang, the man with goals in his boots.
Arsenal are a better team than United right now, and they should have proved that by winning this game, as Emery admitted.
"I want more -- more in the result and in the performance -- but we are progressing," the Arsenal manager said. "We were competitive, but we can do better. We can control moments with the ball better and take more chances in the box.
"We are very happy with [Aubameyang], and he is with his goal. But we need more players with the ability to score."
Guyana Amazon Warriors 185 for 6 (Hemraj 66, Hetmyer 48, Shepherd 32, Scantlebury-Searles 3-39) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 166 for 5 (Pollard 71, Bravo 58*, Green 2-18, Tahir 2-32) by 19 runs
It had to take something extraordinary to end Guyana Amazon Warriors' unbeaten run this CPL and it nearly arrived in the form of a belligerent Kieron Pollard half-century. But his 38-ball 71, and Trinbago Knight Riders' 75 off the last six overs in the chase of 186, weren't enough as they fell short by 19 in the end. It extended Amazon Warriors' stellar run to eight straight wins and confirm a top-of-the-table finish for them with two matches in hand.
With Pollard hitting big mercilessly in front of a packed home crowd, the decisive over was the 19th when Knight Riders needed 38 from 12 balls and it looked very much on the cards with the wet ball difficult to grip for the bowlers. However, Keemo Paul kept his nerves and even though he did not get all his yorkers right, and Shoaib Malik dropped Pollard at long-on, his stifling lines allowed only nine from the over to leave Knight Riders with 29 to get from six balls. Malik had kept the experienced Imran Tahir for the last over and the legspinner did his bit by conceding two singles on his first three balls to effectively seal the chase, topping it with Pollard's wicket on the fourth ball.
The Pollard-Bravo assault
Offspinner Chris Green opened the bowling with four straight overs to finish with 2 for 18 with 11 dot balls. His mix of offbreaks and seam-ups accounted for Lendl Simmons and Colin Munro cheaply, before Denesh Ramdin holed out to bring Pollard and Darren Bravo together in the ninth over when the hosts were crawling at under a run-a-ball and the asking rate had shot to over 12 per over. Bravo and Pollard spent only two boundary-less overs before launching into the Amazon Warriors attack that had to keep using the towel on the ball to get their accuracy right.
Both Pollard and Bravo targeted the 'V' - with Pollard's net much wider - as the captain pulled, lofted short-of-length balls over the covers, dispatched the fuller ones down the ground, and targeted Ben Laughlin, who had conceded only three runs in his first two overs. He started the 15th with Knight Riders needing a stiff 95 from 36 and Pollard and Bravo smashed two sixes and a four on the leg side to collect 18. After clubbing another 14 runs off Romario Shepherd, Pollard brought up his 27-ball half-century in the 17th over by hammering the ball over bowler Paul's head, and 12 from that over left Knight Riders with 51 to get from three overs.
With Shepherd's quota over, Malik had one over each left from Laughlin and Paul, which meant he had to give one to a spinner. He decided to bowl Laughlin first, who conceded another 13, but Paul's effort in the 19th meant Tahir had a cushion of defending 28 in the last over, and he did it comfortably.
Hemraj sets the stage for Shepherd
Knight Riders' decision to bowl looked the right one when they dismissed Brandon King early and kept Amazon Warriors' Powerplay score to just 35 for 1 with Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shimron Hetmyer hardly taking any risks. Apart from the odd leg-side six from Hemraj, Ali Khan's pace and Khary Pierre's tight lines delayed the batsmen's charge, but with some luck. Hemraj was dropped twice: the first one a tough return chance for the bowler Pollard, who nearly injured his right hand in the attempt, and the second was for substitute Tion Webster, who ran in from long-off only to spill a simple chance. Hemraj had already clubbed a six and a four after the Pollard drop, and this time he collected two fours off Chris Jordan right after the second miss to shoot their run rate from under seven to nearly eight per over, with a 34-ball half-century. Hetmyer, meanwhile, wasn't looking in his element and played second fiddle to Hemraj for a 38-ball 48 in a second-wicket partnership of 98.
Scantlebury-Searles v Shepherd
Amazon Warriors were on course for a massive total, at 111 for 1 in the 14th over, before Javon Scantlebury-Searles interrupted their charge. Bowling for the first time this CPL in five matches, he first accounted for Hemraj for 66 before dismissing Nicholas Pooran and Hetmyer with wide yorkers in his next over, but by leaking 15 runs between the two dismissals. When Malik fell for a duck - caught by Scantlebury-Searles - and Sherfane Rutherford for 1 in consecutive overs, it looked like they would end on a below-par total, being 143 for 6 with 17 balls to go. But Shepherd, batting at No. 7, heaved sixes over the midwicket fence in the last over off death-overs specialist Jordan, the second off a waist-high no-ball which gave the batsman the chance to smash the free-hit to the wide long-on boundary for a four. With 25 runs off the last over, Shepherd finished with 31 off 13 balls and might have given Amazon Warriors the extra margin they eventually won by.
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