28 Oct 2023

Gophers run over Michigan State in a 27-12 win

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Gophers’ All-American free safety candidate Tyler Nubin wasn’t even the best player in his family in a 27-12 win over Michigan State on Saturday.

Backup running back Jordan Nubin — a former walk-on defensive back — had a breakout game with 204 yards on 40 carries at Huntington Bank Stadium

When Jordan scored an 18-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, Tyler greeted his younger brother with a hug before he reached the sideline. Jordan added a second touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and Tyler was right there again to celebrate.

The Gophers (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) were touchdown betting favorite, but needed to overcome three turnovers to win. The Spartans (2-6, 0-6) have lost six straight games under interim head coach Harlon Barnett.

Jordan Nubin came into the season as a fifth-stringer and was playing due to injuries with three other tailbacks — Darius Taylor, Zach Evans and Bryce Williams. Nubin had only 51 career rushing yards coming into Saturday, including all 25 of his yards this season in garbage time in the blowout loss to Michigan in early October.

“It was just amazing,” Jordan Nubin said.

Jordan Nubin assumed a much bigger role after Sean Tyler’s fumbling issues resurfaced in the first quarter.

When Jordan started getting carries in the first half, Tyler wasn’t paying much attention to the defensive adjustments on the sidelines, focusing on what his brother was up to with the offense.

Tyler Nubin, an all-Big Ten candidate and two-time Big Ten defensive player of the week, added five tackles on defense on Saturday.

Athan Kaliakmanis threw for 190 yards and a touchdown in the first half, before it became Jordan Nubin’s big day.

The first half was marred by two Gophers’ turnovers and a blocked field goal attempt, but Minnesota scored on its final two drives of the half to take a 10-6 lead.

With 26 seconds left in the half, Athan Kaliakmanis hit Daniel Jackson for a 22-yard touchdown. It capped an eight-play, 94-yard drive, with a crucial 30-yard contested catch from Brevyn Spann-Ford.

It was the U’s first touchdown in nearly eight full quarters; the previous TD came just before halftime in the 52-10 loss to Michigan on Oct. 7. After the bye week, the U won on the back of four field goals in a 12-10 win at Iowa last Saturday.

The Gophers had one fumble lost across the first seven games, but coughed up two on the first two series Saturday. Tyler fumbled on the second play of the game, an issue he has had dating back to Week 2 against Eastern Michigan. Then five offensive plays later, Kalaikmanis was strip-sacked.

Michigan State had great field position inside the U’s 35-yard line on both drives, but settled for two field goals and a 6-0 lead.

Minnesota third drive was upended by a holding call and the fourth drive ended in a blocked field goal attempt from 35 yards out. The U put together an eight-play, 53-yard drive to get on the board.

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28 Oct 2023

Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov looking for more from himself

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WASHINGTON — The Wild need points from their top line, and frankly they’re getting them. Ryan Hartman has a team-high five goals, and he, Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello have combined for a team-high nine goals and 26 points.

But the Wild are getting something else from the top line, turnovers.

Kaprizov opened the floodgates in a 6-2 loss at Philadelphia on Thursday with a key giveaway at the Flyers’ blue line, which led to a breakaway goal by the Flyers’ Owen Tippett and killed the momentum Minnesota had built by pulling within 3-2 with two quick goals to start the third period.

“I made some mistakes, and of course I think our line as a whole (needs) to get better,” Kaprizov said through an interpreter on Friday. “I need to get better, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do, continue to work and improve and play better as a line.”

Heading into a road-trip finale at New Jersey on Sunday, the Wild had 73 team giveaways, third most in the NHL. Hartman and Kaprizov each have eight of those, tied for fourth most in the NHL with eight apiece.

Zuccarello has four, and he and Kaprizov are each a team-worst minus-5.

The line’s play in a 3-2 shootout loss at Washington was a rebound from Thursday. Hartman scored the tying goal early in the third period with a steal and breakaway goal, and Kaprizov had the line’s only two official giveaways after they combined for five in Philadelphia.

Kaprizov has been the Wild’s leading scorer since joining the team, and ranks sixth on the franchise career goals list with 116 — three behind Andrew Brunette — in just 211 games. Before the season started, he was named an alternate captain, in part because of his work ethic and willingness to do dirty work. He has has two goals, and team-high 31 shots on goal and is tied with Joel Eriksson Ek with a team-best nine points.

But asked Friday how he feels on the ice, Kaprizov said, “Not good.”

“You can see,” he said. “I need to get better, of course. I want to have more chances for goals, try to play simple and smart, and I think we’ll be fine.”

Not so special

The Wild, and likely their fans, have been disappointed with the team’s start, 3-3-2 after a 3-2 shootout loss Friday in Washington, a game Minnesota came within inches of winning twice in the shootout.

Statistically, it’s easy to trace the team’s issues.

For instance, the Wild were 0 for 6 on power plays on Friday, 0 for 13 on man-advantage shots on goal, while the Capitals scored a go-ahead goal on the penalty kill in the first period.

Part of that was Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was fantastic, but the Wild are missing on a lot of Grade-A chances, often simply missing the net.

“We put up 41 shots, so a lot of things were right,” coach Dean Evason said after the game. “The only negative is our special teams, right? If our power play could score, and (the PK) not give up one, (that) could be the difference in the game.”

The Wild have been missing some key special-teams players all season, most notably defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who has missed every game with an upper-body injury, and forward Matt Boldy, limited to two games by an upper-body injury. On this road trip, the Wild have been without Freddy Gaudreau, as well.

As a result, Minnesota’s power play ranked 22nd with a 13.2% success rate, and the kill was 29th at 72%. On the Capitals’ last power play on Friday, Marc-Andre Fleury had to stop five scoring chances.

Washington, Evason said, has “quality, quality special-teams people, power-play people, so for us to get a job done there was a good sign.”

Overall, the Wild rank 31st among the NHL’s 32 teams in goals against, 33 in eight games — one fewer game than last-place Carolina’s 35 on Saturday — and 4.13 a game. It’s particularly disappointing in light of the fact that they’re scoring an average of 3.36 a game, 11th in the NHL.

The Wild are optimistic that Spurgeon and Boldy will be able to begin practicing with the team when it returns home Monday.

Briefly

Jujhar Khaira, recalled from Iowa on Wednesday when Gaudreau was sidelined, was benched after one period in Philadelphia and a healthy scratch Friday at Washington, but the Wild are unlikely to replace him before Sunday’s road-trip finale. … Brock Faber has a team-high nine giveaways, tied for third in the NHL.

28 Oct 2023

Trump flexes his muscle once more, this time in Sin City

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LAS VEGAS — A gathering of Republican presidential aspirants Saturday had all the ingredients for a Donald Trump pile-on.

Instead, it turned into a demonstration of the former president’s dominance in the race — and how swiftly his perceived missteps can be forgotten.

Of all the Republican presidential contenders who spoke at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference Saturday, Trump received the most sustained applause, with some in the crowd of over 1,000 people holding their iPhones aloft to get a picture of the former president.

He made no reference to comments he’d offered just two weeks ago criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and describing Hezbollah as “very smart” in the aftermath of the attacks in Israel that had killed 1,400. Nor did the crowd seem to fixate on them.

“People judge him for what he does,” said Matt Brooks, the RJC’s chief executive officer, referencing elements of Trump’s record like moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, “as opposed to the noise.”

Moments earlier, a more vivid illustration of the hold Trump has on the party came when his one-time vice president, Mike Pence, announced he was suspending his campaign. The former vice president had almost no money left and little chance of making the debate stage in less than two weeks. But his departure from the race, for many in the party, represented something larger than tactical hurdles: Proof that there was no reward for those who stood up to Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump, in his speech, didn’t even bother mentioning his vice president.

Instead, he acknowledged several of his supporters in attendance, including “Pawn Stars” host Rick Harrison. The former president is expected to have dinner Saturday night with Republican mega-donor Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. The planned dinner was first reported by The Messenger.

“He’s got an incredible reservoir of goodwill in the Jewish community,” said Brooks. “He’s the frontrunner in a multicandidate field, and there are people supporting the other candidates as well. … But there’s no question, you saw by the response today, the strength of his support.”

Few, if any, politicians can swim through crises like Trump, who has survived more than a handful of episodes that pundits predicted would cause his political demise. But his primary campaign this go around has been defined less by political missteps (his legal troubles notwithstanding) than how he’s avoided them.

Trump has curtailed his media exposure, eschewed the stadium rallies that marked his earlier campaigns and refused to participate in either primary debate. His appearance at the RJC forum was notable not just because it came after his praise of Hezbollah’s fighting abilities but because he has so rarely been at events attended by his fellow candidates.

For Trump’s rivals, the confab was perhaps the last chance they would have to share a stage with the former president before the Iowa caucuses in January. And in the lead-up to it, there was anticipation of fireworks.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has emerged as one of Trump’s main rivals, took the hardest swings.

“As president, I will not compliment Hezbollah,” she said. “Nor will I criticize Israel’s prime minister in the middle of tragedy and war.”

Haley said the country couldn’t afford “four years of chaos, vendettas and drama” and implied that Trump wouldn’t be the party’s strongest general election candidate.

“Republicans,” she said, “need a candidate who can actually win.”

But others only took swipes more obliquely.

“We’re going to continue to have bad outcomes unless we change horses and have new people elected to leadership,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another Trump rival.

But there seemed to be little appetite in the room for attacks on the frontrunner. When former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been the most outspoken in criticizing Trump, took the stage, he was booed.

Trump, for his part, stayed above the fray and did not hit his opponents. Instead, he used his speech to promote his record on defending Israel and to assail President Joe Biden’s Middle East policies, occasionally with blemishes and bravado. He said his administration had given Israel “sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” in reference to a proclamation he’d issued saying that the U.S. recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the area. He claimed he would have brought Iran into the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic framework he had used to normalize Arab nation relations with Israel, glossing over his record decrying diplomacy with the country.

The RJC gathering, held at the Venetian resort on the Las Vegas strip, comes at a critical time in the GOP primary. The non-Trump campaigns, predominantly DeSantis’, had looked at the period between Labor Day and the Iowa caucuses in mid-January as the time when ground could be gained on the former president.

But Trump’s lead has remained both steady and daunting. And his decision to avoid the debate stage had deprived his rivals of opportunities to directly challenge him.

The hope, among the non-Trump campaigns, has been that the field would winnow, allowing for a two- or three-person race. For that reason, Pence’s departure is likely to be seen as a positive development in some circles.

“They’ve got to beat each other before they can beat Trump. Trump is far and away in the lead, and so only one person will be challenging Trump, I presume, in a runoff. And so they need to get rid of their real competition before they face Donald Trump,” said Fred Zeidman, a major GOP donor in attendance who is backing Haley.

But the former vice president had very little share of the primary vote, according to the polls. And it’s unclear who will benefit from the suspension of his campaign. At least one prominent Republican used the announcement not to celebrate the possibility of a narrower field but to call on everyone else not named Trump to follow suit.

“I was surprised, but I think that’s the right move,” said Montana Sen. Steve Daines, the National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, who has endorsed Trump. “Because it’s clear President Trump is going to be the nominee for Republicans for president, and the sooner we coalesce around him the better it’s going to be.”

28 Oct 2023

Former Orioles manager and second baseman Davey Johnson, GM Hank Peters on Baseball Hall of Fame committee ballot

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The general manager who built the Orioles’ most recent World Series roster and the manager who brought them the closest they have come to a pennant since are both candidates for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Former Orioles general manager Hank Peters and former Baltimore manager and second baseman Davey Johnson are among the eight candidates on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee’s Manager/Executive/Umpires ballot, which recognizes those whose contributions to the sport came in 1980 or later. To be elected into the Hall of Fame, nominees must be voted in by 12 of the committee’s 16 members; results will be announced Dec. 3.

Among his 42 years as a front office executive, Peters served as the Orioles’ general manager from 1976 to 1987, a stretch in which Baltimore was the American League champion in 1979 and won the World Series in 1983. The Orioles have not won a title since.

After serving in World War II, Peters worked in the St. Louis Browns’ scouting department and followed the franchise to Baltimore in 1954. He also served as the GM of the Kansas City Athletics and Cleveland Indians during his career. Peters died in 2015.

Johnson, 80, spent seven of his 13 major league seasons as a player with Baltimore, earning three All-Star nominations and three Gold Glove Awards. Two of his 17 years as a manager were with the Orioles, guiding the team to the AL Championship Series in both 1996 and 1997. The same day he was named the AL Manager of the Year for the latter season, Johnson resigned as Baltimore’s manager because of a feud with majority owner Peter Angelos.

Johnson managed the New York Mets to the 1986 World Series title and was National League Manager of the Year with Washington in 2012, making him one of eight to win the award in both leagues.

The other candidates up for election are former managers Cito Gaston, who infamously did not bring in then-Oriole Mike Mussina to pitch in the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards, Jim Leyland and Lou Piniella, who made his MLB debut with the Orioles in 1964; former umpires Ed Montague and Joe West; and former NL president Bill White.

Zimmermann undergoes surgery

Orioles left-hander Bruce Zimmermann underwent core surgery Thursday in Philadelphia and is expected to be ready for spring training, the team said.

An Ellicott City native, Zimmermann, 28, is on Baltimore’s 40-man roster and had a 4.73 ERA in seven relief appearances for the Orioles this year. In 38 major league outings (27 starts) in parts of four seasons, Zimmermann has a 5.57 ERA in 158 1/3 innings.

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