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TOP STORY: Pochettino to be handed war chest

Despite heartbreak in the Champions League final, Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino is set to be backed heavily in the transfer market this summer, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.

The Spurs boss highlighted the financial muscle of his top-four rivals in the aftermath of their 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Saturday, and his club have already started to make moves for a number of summer targets.

Spurs have had offers turned down for Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele of Lyon, while Fulham winger Ryan Sessegnon remains a long-term target.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has faced criticism from fans in the past 18 months for a lack of signings at the club, but he is now ready to show Pochettino that he can match his manager's ambitions with substantial transfer funds.

LIVE BLOG:

09.00 BST: And just like that, we have a DONE DEAL! West Ham have announced that they will sign goalkeeper David Martin on a free transfer from Millwall when his contract expires at the end of the month. The 33-year-old, a boyhood Hammers fan, will act as backup to Lukasz Fabianski.

West Ham United. Born and bred ⚒#WelcomeMartin pic.twitter.com/jnecWLTfDj

— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) June 3, 2019

08.30 BST: We're into June, so out-of-contract players in England can start signing precontract agreements with other English clubs. Will we find anything out today?

PAPER ROUND: (by James Capps)

Napoli target Real Madrid trio

Napoli are preparing for a busy summer in the transfer market, and Calciomercato claims that the Serie A runners-up have contacted Real Madrid regarding three of Zinedine Zidane's fringe players.

Zidane is keen to offload a number of squad members to fund a summer revamp of his own, and Napoli are believed to be interested in Dani Ceballos, Theo Hernandez and Marcos Llorente -- with all three being told by their manager that they don't have a future at the Bernabeu.

Los Blancos and the Italians enjoy a strong relationship, with three Real Madrid players making the move to the Stadio San Paolo in the past few years. Raul Albiol, Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon have all made the switch from La Liga to Serie A since 2013.

A move for Ceballos is believed to be the most complicated of the three, with a host of other clubs in the running for the former Real Betis midfielder.

Trippier set to join Sarri at Juventus

The Daily Mirror reports that Juventus are ready to rekindle their interest in Tottenham right-back Kieran Trippier.

ESPN FC sources have confirmed that Juve are set to name Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri as their new manager in a matter of days, and the Serie A champions are believed to be keen on adding the England international too.

After discussions with the Chelsea hierarchy, Sarri has made it clear that he wants to leave Stamford Bridge after just a year in charge, despite Europa League success and a third-place dfinish in the Premier League.

Juventus have been long-term admirers of Sarri following his successful spell as Napoli boss, and they are confident about tying their No. 1 target to a £19 million, three-year contract.

News of the Bianconeri's interest in Spurs full-back Trippier comes after Napoli appeared to cool their interest in the former Burnley man, but Juve are monitoring him as a potential replacement for Portugal international Joao Cancelo, who has endured a difficult first season in Turin.

Tap-ins

-- Sergio Reguilon has been told by Real Madrid that he is surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu, and AS is reporting that Alaves have become the latest club to show interest in the 22-year-old. Borussia Dortmund and Leganes are also believed to be keen on a move for the Spaniard.

-- The agent of Inter Milan goalkeeper Ionut Radu has revealed that Arsenal have been in contact with the Italian club regarding a deal for the 22-year-old. The Daily Mirror claims that the Gunners must fight off competition from Lyon for the Romanian's signature.

-- AS claims that Valencia are keen to thrash out a deal for highly rated Celta Vigo striker Maxi Gomez. The Uruguayan notched 13 goals in La Liga this season and could be tempted by the Champions League football on offer at the Mestalla.

Wales record try scorer Shane Williams has called on Ospreys and the Welsh Rugby Union to sort out the future of Alun Wyn Jones.

The 33-year-old triple British and Irish Lions tourist is out of contract after the 2019 World Cup, when his national dual contract comes to an end.

Negotiations are ongoing with a new pay banding system for next season.

"I would urge the WRU and Ospreys, please sort this guy's contract out," said former Wales wing Williams.

"I think everyone in Wales, especially within the Ospreys region, would want that done.

"The Ospreys are doing everything they can to keep Alun Wyn at the Ospreys and that is the right thing to do.

"The fact they are signing other players shows the long-term commitment the Ospreys are putting in.

"All the talk about the region and forming with the Scarlets and Blues has gone, thank God, and they can start concentrating on the season."

Jones, who has won 125 Wales caps and played nine Lions Tests, has been a one-team man since making his Ospreys debut in 2005.

He has captained his region, Wales and the Lions and was named the 2019 Six Nations Player of the Championship as Wales claimed the Grand Slam.

Williams, 42, who scored 58 tries for Wales, played alongside Jones at both regional and international level.

Cristian Penilla and Teal Bunbury each scored a goal to give head coach Bruce Arena his first victory with his new club as the visiting New England Revolution held on for a 2-1 victory Sunday over the LA Galaxy.

The Galaxy got a spectacular bicycle-kick goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 84th minute, his 11th of the season, but LA could not complete the comeback. The Galaxy's Diego Polenta nearly scored in the closing seconds, hitting hit the crossbar on a long-distance shot.

Arena, who took over as New England head coach and general manager on May 14, delayed his move to the bench as interim coach Mike Lapper ran the team. His debut on the sideline coincided with his team's visit to a venue he knows well.

Arena guided the Galaxy to three MLS Cup titles during his tenure from 2008-16, leaving to take over the U.S. Men's National Team in its failed bid for a 2018 World Cup berth.

The Revolution defense has now held its opponents to just three goals in their last four games, all after former head coach Brad Friedel was fired. In Friedel's last two games with the Revolution, they were outscored 11-1.

The Galaxy lost their third consecutive home game, getting outscored 5-1 in those contests.

Penilla scored his third goal of the season just before halftime. He received a pass from Carles Gil just outside the penalty area to the left of goal, moved in unmarked and blasted a shot through goalkeeper David Bingham's attempted save from a sharp angle for a 1-0 lead.

Bunbury extended the advantage to 2-0 in the 60th minute. His first goal of the season came after he took a pass from Gil at the top of the penalty area and chipped a shot over the approaching Bingham.

While the victory was the first for Arena with the Revolution, he how has 203 victories in his career as an MLS head coach and is one of just two head coaches in league history (Sigi Schmid is the other) to amass at least 200 victories.

Max Walters, Queensland Cricket's chief executive, has become the third state supremo to resign in a little more than 12 months, joining the former Victoria chief Tony Dodemaide in quitting at a time of internal squabbles over club cricket in their state.

The New South Wales chief executive Andrew Jones also vacated the field earlier this year, though Walters' exit appears to share more in common with that of Dodemaide and the former Cricket Victoria chairman Russell Thomas in 2018.

Having joined Queensland in 2016, after the CA Board director Michael Kasprowicz temporarily stepped in as caretaker CEO in place of Geoff Cockerill, Walters and his chairman Sal Vasta have run into difficulty over the task of dividing up money raised by the state association off the back of strategic funding handed over by CA's Board in the recent past.

It is an issue being debated at several levels of Australian cricket, also including the fund delivered by the Australian Cricketers' Association following the hot-tempered 2017 pay dispute over the current MoU between the players and CA.

There, as in Queensland, the debate centres on how the money will be distributed, whether on a strategic case-by-case basis - much as the money was handed from CA to Queensland - or via uniform grants applied to every club. With Vasta also believed to be under pressure, Walters informed QC staff of his decision to quit in an email on Sunday night.

"The past three years working at Queensland Cricket have been extremely rewarding and enjoyable. I originally committed to a three-year contract at QC, and with that period nearing its conclusion, now is the right time for me to move on," Walters said.

"I hope people will agree that Queensland Cricket has made positive steps forward during my tenure. There is now a solid launching pad for success into the future, both on and off the field. I wish every good fortune to Queensland Cricket, and would like to thank the army of tireless volunteers in all the Clubs, big and small, across our great State that keep cricket moving."

Dodemaide and Thomas both departed Cricket Victoria in 2018 following a series of disagreements over the shape of Premier Cricket and the governance of clubs in the state - Dodemaide facing criticism from his own club, Footscray, amid the arguments.

Walters, meanwhile, has overseen considerable work on Queensland's sustainability, both in terms of infrastructure funding and sponsorship levels. It was during Walters' tenure that the Gabba's traditional standing as the venue for the opening Test of summer came under strain, missing out in both 2016 and 2018. Next summer it will host Pakistan and was recently confirmed as hosting the opening Ashes Test in 2021. However India's 2020 visit remains shrouded in uncertainty after the BCCI preferred to commence last summer's home series in Adelaide.

"Max Walters returned to Queensland Cricket in 2016 with the objective to make QC the State's leading sporting organisation and to ensure that our strategy revolved around delivering outstanding life experiences for Queensland communities anywhere, anytime," Queensland's chairman Vasta said. "He has delivered in spades.

"Corporate entities such as CUA and Betta, all three levels of government and the Queensland community at large all recognise the professionalism and expertise of QC that has been achieved under Max's stewardship.

"Our strategic plan is the envy of other sporting organisations and clearly allows fans, sponsors and the Queensland Cricket family at large to see and understand our priorities. Max has been front and centre over the past three years and leaves QC well positioned to make even greater strides in the future."

TORONTO -- When Game 2 of the NBA Finals began at Scotiabank Arena between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant was watching in street clothes. By the time the game ended, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney had joined him.

And yet, despite the Warriors losing three of their six best players to injury, despite the Raptors leading by 14 midway through the second quarter at home, and despite Kawhi Leonard going for 34 points and 14 rebounds in 39 minutes, Golden State managed to emerge with a 109-104 victory Sunday night, evening this best-of-seven series at a game apiece.

"We're in the same boat they kind of were in coming here," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We got to go out there and get one.

"That's all we got to do is get one. And we can do that."

Nurse is right, of course. And the Raptors already found themselves down 2-1 in the second round to the Philadelphia 76ers and 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks before rebounding to win both of those series to make it this far.

Still, it was impossible not to watch this game unfold and feel like it was one enormous missed opportunity to lay a massive blow to the two-time defending champions.

The injuries had Golden State reeling, and struggling to score. Over the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, Nurse -- with his high school coach and multiple teammates watching from the stands -- went to a defense he may have used in those days, a box-and-one, on Curry, the lone remaining scoring threat at Golden State's disposal.

Until Andre Iguodala hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining, the Warriors didn't score against it. Meanwhile, though, the Raptors shot just 2-for-12 in the same stretch, failing to do just enough to reclaim a game they had looked on their way to winning at times in the first half.

That all changed, though, when Golden State opened the second half with an 18-0 run, during which Toronto missed all eight shots it took, and committed five turnovers to boot.

"We made a ton of mistakes," Kyle Lowry told ESPN. "That's one thing. We made a lot of mistakes we can fix, and I think that's the one thing we'll take from this.

"We will watch the film and get better, and that's all we can do right now."

That introspection will have to start with Lowry himself. Toronto's star point guard had a second straight bad game, scoring 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting and fouling out with 3:52 remaining on a bad reach-in on DeMarcus Cousins 92 feet from Golden State's basket.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Raptors other than Leonard didn't fare much better. Toronto shot 37.2 percent overall and 11-for-38 (28.9 percent) from 3-point range. Early foul trouble appeared to leave Toronto much more hesitant to play the kind of aggressive defense that has swarmed over each of the Raptors' opponents in the playoffs -- including Golden State in Game 1.

And the two players who were instrumental in Toronto's victory in the series opener, Pascal Siakam and Marc Gasol, were missing in action Sunday. Siakam shot 5-for-18 and scored 12 points after going 14-for-17 and scoring 32 in Game 1, while Gasol followed up a 20-point, seven-rebound showing by scoring six points and shooting 2-for-7 in 31 minutes.

"I think I missed a lot of layups and floaters and stuff like that that I usually make," Siakam said. "I think for the most part, it was that. I just couldn't get in a rhythm offensively.

"But that's basketball. You make shots one day, you miss some the other day. I take those shots all the time."

And, for all of the mistakes Toronto made, it still found itself with a chance to win. And after scrambling to trap (and foul) for most of Golden State's final possession, which began with 26.9 seconds remaining, the Raptors were perfectly fine with the ball winding up in Iguodala's hands -- after Leonard very nearly got a steal -- for a 3. Toronto didn't attempt to contest his shot, and, had he missed, the Raptors would've had a chance to either tie or win the game with a few seconds on the clock.

But, like most things that took place over the final 30 minutes of Game 2 for the Raptors, Iguodala didn't miss. Instead, he ended the game right there.

"We weren't disrespecting anybody," Nurse said. "We were up guarding hard, and we put two on Steph and he almost threw it right to Kawhi, right? It was pretty good defense -- they were scrambling around, running around like crazy.

"And they found Iggy, right, and they found him, and like I said, if he's going to take that and give us a chance to get the ball back and win the game, we're going to probably live with that. It wasn't like we were disrespecting him and not trying to guard him. We were in a trap and rotating out of there, and again, I would like to go back and try that again about 10 times, and see if one of them doesn't go our way."

Nurse likely would put the same percentages on the way the entire game played out. So many things were breaking in Toronto's favor -- the injuries, home court, a strong game from their star, a hot start and a double-digit lead in the first half. It looked like the Raptors were on their way to a 2-0 lead in this series.

But while Toronto didn't get the job done Sunday, there wasn't a feeling of hopelessness emanating from the Raptor locker room. Yes, Toronto let the game get away. But this team has bounced back in each of the past two rounds, and it expects to do so again.

"I think we are in a good spot," Lowry told ESPN. "We gave ourselves a chance. I think we have a lot of room to grow. We are in a position where we feel like we can do some things and we can make more plays, and if we make some shots in the third quarter, it's a different game."

The Raptors didn't make those shots, though -- and, thus, it wasn't a different game.

TORONTO -- Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins wasn't supposed to play in this year's NBA Finals after he suffered what many within the organization feared was a season-ending quad tear on April 15. On Sunday, after scoring 11 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists in 28 minutes during a 109-104 Game 2 victory over the Toronto Raptors, Cousins got the last laugh on his doubters, delivering the most important performance of his brief tenure with the group.

"He was great," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We came in thinking, all right, he can maybe play 20 minutes, and he gave us almost 28. There was only one time in the game when he needed a rest, which was mid-fourth, and we gave him a couple minutes and then got him back in the game. But he was fantastic, and we needed everything he gave out there -- his rebounding, his toughness, his physical presence, getting the ball in the paint and just playing big, like he does. We needed all of that. So I thought he was fantastic."

After coming off the bench in Game 1 and playing only eight minutes, Cousins was inserted into the starting lineup prior to Game 2, and he helped close the game down after a slow start. He provided a stabilizing force for the offense while clogging the Raptors' lane and adding two blocks on the defensive end. It was exactly the kind of production the Warriors envisioned when they stunned the basketball world by signing him to a one-year, $5.3 million deal last summer.

"It feels great," Cousins said. "I've leaned on my teammates throughout this moment and throughout this whole process, and this was an incredible moment for me. But I'm not satisfied, and I'm looking forward to Game 3."

The moment clearly meant a lot to Cousins, who got hugs from Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and other teammates after the game.

"He was special," Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. "Obviously you get more comfortable, more minutes and playing aggressive when he's out there, puts a lot of pressure on their defense. And even on our defensive end, making his presence felt blocking shots, being in the right place at the right time. It's a big lift for us. I know he's been waiting a long time to be on this stage. Obviously, with his injuries, he's taken the challenge of inserting himself and making that transition smooth. So it's been fun to watch. More to come."

Cousins, who didn't play for the Warriors until Jan. 18 after spending almost an entire year rehabbing from an Achilles injury, told Kerr that he would be ready for whatever came his way. Thursday's Game 1 marked the first time in 33 games that Cousins came off the bench this season. He found more of a comfort zone after replacing Jordan Bell in the starting lineup on Sunday.

"I told Steve coming into this, whatever he needed from me, I was OK with," Cousins said. "If it's coming off the bench, if it's starting, if it's playing eight minutes or 40, I'm cool with whatever. So I just want to come in and help the team with whatever's needed."

Cousins' performance gave an emotional lift to the rest of his teammates. On a night when the Warriors were playing without Durant, lost Thompson and Kevon Looney to injuries and dealt with dehydration issues for Curry, it was Cousins who provided an unexpected pick-me-up at the right time.

"DeMarcus hasn't played much basketball over the course of the last 18 months," Warriors forward Draymond Green said. "So the more he plays, the better feel he gets. Tonight he was huge for us. Putting him in the starting lineup, I think it was big. Obviously, they want to attack him on the defensive end, but you watch the film, he didn't give up much on the defensive end in Game 1. Similar to tonight, he was great on both ends as well. So it allowed us to play through him some in the post. They got to honor that, or we know what he's capable of if they don't."

For Cousins, the opportunity to produce on basketball's biggest stage is what he was hoping for all year. He kept working hard when his body broke down for the second time, refusing to believe that his season was over. Now all that hard work has paid off in the form of an increased role on a team that suddenly needs him more, given the injuries that continue to pile up.

"I want to be on this stage," Cousins said. "This is what I've worked for my entire career, to be on this stage, to have this opportunity to play for something. But once they told me I had a chance, a slight chance, of being able to return, it basically was up to me and the work and the time I put in behind the injury, it was up to me ... I've told y'all before, I don't take any of this for granted. I've seen how quick this game can be taken away from you. So every chance I get to go out there and play, I'm going to leave it on the floor."

TORONTO -- The champions cranked into overdrive with such ferocity and cold-blooded efficiency, it was as if the Toronto Raptors were unsuspectingly mugged in a dark alley after midnight.

Never mind that the Golden State Warriors implemented the theft of these NBA Finals under the bright lights of the Scotiabank Arena in front of 19,800 incredulous witnesses wearing red shirts and the stupefied daze of a crowd that just had their wallets swiped. This is what coach Steve Kerr's team does when it discovers its collective rhythm, feeding off a savage defense that clamps down with impunity, extracts turnovers and transforms them into transition artistry that douses the spirit of even the most resilient opponent.

Golden State returns to the Bay Area having stolen home-court advantage with a 109-104 Game 2 victory. The soul-crushing 18-0 run to begin the third quarter highlighted every weapon in the Warriors' arsenal: the aforementioned crippling defense, devastating 3-point shooting and the kind of deft passing that keeps the ball moving and the defense guessing. It transformed a 59-54 halftime deficit into a commanding 72-59 lead that altered the tenor of this series.

"When we started [on that run], I was saying, 'Oh, this is good,'" Andre Iguodala said. "That's the only time I'm really happy, when I can say, 'Oh, we're doing it.' And we were doing it."

For context, understand that the Warriors trailed by 12 points in this game, on the road, and they were, again, playing without the services of Kevin Durant. They started DeMarcus Cousins, who is still working his way back from a torn quad muscle, and asked him to log 27.5 minutes. They withstood a trio of scares: when Steph Curry briefly retreated to the locker room to address flu-like symptoms or dehydration, depending on whom you asked; when Iguodala left the floor after being powdered by a stout Marc Gasol screen; and when Klay Thompson crumpled to the court after injuring his hamstring early in the fourth quarter. The hobbled Splash Brother will undergo an MRI when the team gets back to Oakland on Monday.

"Klay said he'll be fine," Kerr said after the game, "but Klay could be half-dead, and he would say he would be fine.''

With their most redoubtable players limping to the finish, the Warriors needed -- and got -- a pair of gigantic 3s from Quinn Cook to stay afloat. They needed -- and got -- some spirited cameo minutes from Andrew Bogut, who had played a grand total of 47 minutes since the start of the second round entering Sunday.

They looked to their battered veteran, Iguodala, who was encased in ice postgame to ease the woes of multiple body parts, to seal the victory in the final seconds with a dagger 3-pointer.

In other words, it wasn't just the usual suspects who tipped the scales for Golden State.

"We've been through a lot," Iguodala said. "All everyone sees is a lot of winning, and it's easy, and it looks like we're overpowering everybody. But a lot of work goes into that. And we've had to fight these injuries, every year ..."

As the visiting team savored a win that left the players physically and mentally taxed, you had to wonder how the hometown Raptors will reconcile failing to capitalize on the opportunity before them, with Golden State's depth depleted and Curry, the consummate marksman, faltering in the early going.

Another player might have allowed a shooter's most dreaded affliction -- doubt -- to envelop him in a warm embrace after more than 16 minutes of nothing but misses, but Steph Curry is not like most players. (Ask the Houston Rockets about that.) Golden State's supernova watched his first six consecutive offerings roll off or clang short, but it did not deter him from continuing to fire away or from believing the next one would go in.

Stop me when you've heard this before. Curry, the poster boy of positive self-talk, finally connected on his first field goal with 2:50 left before halftime, then went on to drill six of his final eight, including one of his trademark floaters during the game-changing spurt.

During that 18-0 beatdown, the Raptors missed eight straight shots and turned the ball over five times. They rushed, they pressed, and they crumbled under the weight of Golden State's incessant pressure.

"It felt," Toronto veteran Danny Green said, "like we forgot how to play basketball for a second."

Although the beauty of their ball movement and incredible range has long been the Warriors' calling card, they actually win games when they lock down defensively.

By the time Fred VanVleet stemmed the hemorrhaging with a corner 3 midway through the third quarter, the Raptors had gone 5:40 without scoring.

"That," Kawhi Leonard said, "was pretty much the game."

Leonard, who was once again harangued and trapped and forced to the sideline, leaving him with uncomfortable looks and challenging angles, checked out with 34 points but did it on 8-of-20 shooting and coughed up the ball five times. Golden State bumped and bodied him and made him earn every look at the basket. Pascal Siakam, the darling of Game 1, was forced into the half court, unable to roam free as he had done just three days earlier.

Once the Warriors got rolling, their championship pedigree revealed itself in its full glory.

"When you come to a timeout after a couple runs like that and everybody's involved, whether they're scoring or setting screens or making the assist or whatever the case is, everybody feels good, and the vibe is just solid," Curry said.

Who knows how everyone will be feeling come Game 3? Is Thompson really fine? Is Durant's return imminent? Will Cousins be sore? Will Iguodala be able to shed some of those ice packs?

The message in the locker room was unanimous: It doesn't matter. The Warriors are going home, and they are flush with Toronto's house money.

NEW YORK -- Youth and inexperience have been among the driving forces behind the New York Yankees' early-season success.

They've also, at rare moments, been the source of some of the Yankees' troubles.

So consider the Bronx Bombers' rawness both a blessing and, as they learned in ‪Sunday night‬'s series finale against the Boston Red Sox, a curse.

In the seventh inning Sunday, the curse reared its ugly head.

Clint Frazier, the Yankees' 24-year-old outfielder on the major league roster for most of the year because of the team's rash of injuries, had a couple of late-inning gaffes that even his manager chalked up in part to a lack of big league playing time.

"That's part of continuing to develop as a young player," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "He's working his tail off, and like I've talked about, he's making strides out there, but obviously there's been some mistakes along the way, too."

In a disastrous inning that precipitated ‪Sunday night‬'s 8-5 series-ending loss, Frazier -- who this season is getting his first extended major league experience since his debut in the summer of 2017 -- had the following foibles:

• He committed an error while approaching a ground ball that was hit right at him, letting the ball go bouncing past him to the wall as the Red Sox scored a run.

• He threw wide on another bungled play, trying unsuccessfully to nail a baserunner at home plate.

• He misread a pair of fly balls hit toward him, even laying out and diving at the last minute for one ball he should have caught easily.

"There's going to be days where things kind of seem like they're not going your way. It just always seems like the ball is being hit to you," veteran center fielder Aaron Hicks said. "That's just a time where you learn over time that you've got to slow the game down. Know the situations going into it, what might happen before the play even starts.

"Just kind of control the moment and do your best to get clean innings after that."

As messy as Frazier's performance might have been, it didn't take away from the fact the Yankees earlier this weekend secured their ninth straight series win and now hold a sizable, 8½-game advantage over the rival Red Sox.

The biggest lesson the Yankees learned about themselves coming out of the weekend is that they are indeed a good squad, one that has the ability to rise to the occasion in a tough series. While it is still early, it is fair to expect them to be part of the postseason picture.

If they're going to get there, though, putting together more clean innings must be a top priority.

Following his challenging night, Frazier declined to speak to reporters.

He later spoke to ESPN about his night.

"I've been working really hard every day with [outfield coach] Reggie [Willits] before batting practice starts, and despite what has been happening during the game, I'm still confident in myself to be able to turn this around soon," Frazier said. "It's tough to cost the team runs and a potential win, especially when playing at home against Boston.

"Things keep happening that shouldn't, and I'm acknowledging that with all of the early work I'm doing before games."

This wasn't the first time this season Frazier had some bizarre moments in the field. In Houston earlier this season, a fly ball mysteriously landed between him and center fielder Brett Gardner in a case of miscommunication.

Last week at Kansas City, balls he seemed to be settling underneath turned into errors as the ball ticked out of his glove. The problems he had on that recent road trip pushed him into trying to get some extra, pre-batting practice work polishing his defense. Frazier, along with Willits and fellow outfielders Aaron Judge and Hicks, huddled in Yankee Stadium's right-field patch of grass regularly this week to address the issues.

"My bat is good enough to stay in the lineup, and I've got to make sure my defense is there with it," Frazier, who has 14 home runs, said to ESPN following one pregame workout session. "They know I'm not a bad defender, I'm just kind of going through a little rut right now. So it's just a matter of getting myself out of it and continuing to stay confident."

Apparently, that work wasn't enough. He's still in a rut.

As they continue pushing through this season, the surging Yankees will need dramatically cleaner defense all over the field.

Indeed, they will go only as far as their greatest weakness will allow them. And just as Gary Sanchez's penchant for passed balls was a glaring problem for them last season, Frazier's fly ball foibles have become just as much of an issue.

At this stage, with the Yankees seemingly in every game they play, and with their ability to deliver clutch and timely hits, it's hard to pinpoint other areas that have been as glaringly problematic of late.

That's why, even when you own one of the three best records in all of baseball, you'll have people expecting more.

Boone's expectation is that one of his brightest young stars will indeed get his game turned around in a way that will be more beneficial to the club as a whole.

"He knows he's capable of it, and he knows he's the type of athlete that can do it, so we've just got to keep after it," Boone said. "That's on him, on us to continue to grow from the work. That's why you work so hard at it, and when you get really good at something, confidence follows.

"As you gain success and experience at things, the confidence follows."

NEW YORK -- You can't really characterize the 2019 Boston Red Sox as a bad baseball team. Two months in, they sit just outside the wild-card race, trailing the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers for the two playoff spots, and several players on the team are putting together good seasons. But in a city that holds its baseball team to the highest of standards, following up one of the greatest seasons in franchise history by hobbling into third place in the American League East has not been the start many expected out of the defending World Series champions.

Put simply: Things are turning dire fast if the Red Sox want to compete for the division title.

With the calendar flipped from May to June, Boston is looking up in the standings, standing 8½ games behind the first-place New York Yankees after Sunday night's 8-5 victory over the Bronx Bombers, who are currently on pace to win 106 games. The victory provided a silver lining in a series that had characterized the 2019 Red Sox team so far. Inconsistency and inconsistency, with a side of inconsistency. Considering their place in the standings, the current team's track record, the star-studded roster and the coaching staff, the Red Sox aren't a bad team, but they certainly aren't quite a good team.

"Can't really be good if you're inconsistent," Boston outfielder Mookie Betts said after Friday night's loss to the Yankees. "We're definitely that. We have a long way to go to fix it."

The Red Sox do have a lot of bright spots on their roster. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts has taken another step forward, hitting .305/.386/.438 with 12 homers, 18 doubles and 39 RBIs in 56 games, looking like the shortstop many expected him to become when ESPN's Keith Law ranked him the second-best prospect in baseball back in 2014. Bogaerts, who went 2-for-4 with a home run on Sunday, ranks first in baseball among shortstops with 2.9 fWAR.

Among the team's other standouts are third baseman Rafael Devers, who has made large strides at the plate and in the field, and Michael Chavis, who has provided an adrenaline shot of youthful exuberance and light-tower pop at the plate. David Price has a 2.83 ERA in nine starts, and he threw 6⅓ innings on Sunday, allowing two runs, walking one and striking out six in the winning effort. Catcher Christian Vazquez, long considered a defense-first player, has hit .297/.335/.493 with seven homers in 46 games this year.

But manager Alex Cora expected more consistency out of his team going into this season. Boston entered Sunday having scored the fifth-most runs in baseball, with a run differential of plus-31. But Cora said before Sunday's game that the team has been more inconsistent offensively than the numbers suggest.

"Pitching, we're way close to who we are, although the results the first 10 or 11 days of the season, that wasn't us," Cora said. "Defensively, we've been a lot better early in the season. Baserunning, the last 10 days have been sloppy. Offensively, although people don't see it that way, that's where we need to get better."

The team is starting to make changes too. Cora committed this past offseason to hitting left fielder Andrew Benintendi in the leadoff spot and dropping right fielder and reigning MVP Betts to second in the lineup. With Benintendi hitting .257/.357/.416 in 53 games, Cora woke up on Saturday and decided to install Betts back into the leadoff spot for the remainder of the season. That Cora made the switch just two months in after very publicly committing to the lineup change this offseason speaks to the growing urgency within the Red Sox to make changes and break out of the up-and-down swings that have plagued the team.

"We've gotta find a way to win. We like winning. Every day is very important for us," Cora said. "Like I've been saying all along, you gotta forget about who's ahead of you and what's going on around you in the division and start taking care of business within ourselves. The first step is to play better baseball and be consistent. We haven't been consistent throughout the course of the season. The record speaks for itself. We have to keep improving and get into a hot streak."

Betts, the offensive catalyst for the Boston lineup, finished the series in New York 1-for-12, including an 0-for-5 on Sunday, his third oh-fer with five at-bats this season. Betts is hitting .203/.299/.254 with no home runs in 59 at-bats against left-handers. During his 2018 MVP campaign, the 26-year-old hit .368/.471/.736 against southpaws. Despite his recent struggles, the right fielder still ranks in the top 20 among position players with 2.6 WAR, tied with George Springer, Javier Baez and Marcus Semien. The move back to the leadoff spot means Betts will, once again, be asked to be the offensive tone-setter for the Red Sox's lineup.

"I'm pretty bad [right now], but it is what it is," Betts told ESPN after Sunday's game. "I have to do something, especially at the top of the lineup."

Boston heads to the Kansas City 8½ games behind the first-place Yankees. According to the Elias Sports Bureau research, the only time the Red Sox have overcome a deficit of more than 10 games to win the division was in 1988. Meanwhile, New York continues to trend upward, winning its past nine series while finishing May with a 21-6 record.

The Red Sox talk like a team that hasn't given up on the division title yet. But everyone, from the players to the clubhouse assistants, know something must change soon if they hope to make the playoffs, let alone escape the do-or-die wild-card game that could promptly end their World Series title defense.

"We're something away from being where we need to be," starter Chris Sale said after Friday's loss. "We've just gotta find that something. And whatever it is, a change of socks or frozen pizza, I dunno. We've just gotta find a way."

OKLAHOMA CITY -- At first, it was hard to tell just how far Jocelyn Alo's monster home run traveled.

Alo's two-run blast in the fifth inning helped Oklahoma defeat Alabama 7-3 on Sunday night to advance to the championship series. It cleared the center-field seats, the cameras and a slow-pitch fence that is 300 feet to center to give the Sooners a 4-1 lead.

"That disappeared into the darkness really fast,'' Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said. "I've seen her hit some, but I'd say that's probably right there with some of the furthest I've ever seen from anyone, and she's usually the one that hits it further than I've ever seen.''

Alo said she knew it was a home run right away.

"Sweet," she said. "It felt effortless.''

Oklahoma (57-4) will play UCLA in a best-of-three series starting Monday. Oklahoma seeks its third Women's College World Series title in four years and its fourth championship this decade. UCLA has 12 national titles, but none since 2010.

"We have got to have some crazy fight,'' Gasso said. "I know both teams are a little worn out. You have a chance -- there's two teams that have a chance to win a national championship. There's no such thing as tired, no such thing as hurt. Nothing like that.''

UCLA qualified when Rachel Garcia's walk-off homer in the 10th beat Washington 3-0 on Sunday. Garcia also threw 179 pitches and struck out 16 to earn the win.

Alabama (60-10) would have had to beat Oklahoma twice on Sunday to advance because Oklahoma beat the Crimson Tide on Thursday and the Sooners were unbeaten in the double-elimination format. In the first game, Alabama pinch-hitter Caroline Hardy singled to score Kloyee Anderson in the bottom of the eighth to clinch a 1-0 win for the Crimson Tide.

"That's what you dream about doing,'' Hardy said. "You dream about it as a little kid getting a walk-off hit, your team coming and doing a hug in the middle of the field.''

In the second game, Oklahoma got its offense going early. Caleigh Clifton doubled to score Sydney Romero, then Clifton scored on a wild pitch to give the Sooners a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Oklahoma started Giselle "G'' Juarez, but she was replaced in the second inning shortly after giving up a solo homer to Reagan Dykes. Juarez had pitched 7 2/3 innings in the first game, and Gasso wanted to get just a little bit out of her before going to Mariah Lopez. It worked -- Lopez got the win after giving up two runs in 4⅓ innings.

Alo's homer gave the Sooners a cushion, but Skylar Wallace's two-run homer in the sixth cut Oklahoma's lead to 4-3.

Oklahoma's Nicole Mendes answered in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer that gave the Sooners a 6-3 edge. Grace Lyons tacked on a solo blast that made it 7-3.

"Once Jocelyn hit that home run, it was like a spark was ignited,'' Mendes said. "Once this team gets a spark, it's really hard to stop us. Definitely made us a lot more free, kind of got the ball rolling.''

Alabama felt it proved it was better than its No. 8 seed. The Crimson Tide beat Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma in the tournament -- all teams seeded higher than them.

"Well, I just think with 60 wins, beating the people that we beat here, we definitely proved our No. 8 seed,'' Alabama coach Patrick Murphy quipped. "We were worthy of that, for sure. Possibly a little bit more.''

In the first game on Sunday, Alabama freshman Montana Fouts pitched a shutout against Oklahoma a day after she shut out Arizona. Murphy said she has a bright future.

"I think the sky's the limit because she's just really learning how to pitch,'' Murphy said. "When she gets different movement pitches, really spinning in the right direction, up, down, in and out, she's going to be really, really good."