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sports Diahuebs 4 November 2021

Hammerin’ Braves rout Astros to win 1st WS crown since 1995

(AP) — Most of the sea- Fried early with a monster rookie Luis Garcia in the
son, it just seemed this three-run shot for his third third inning, sending the ball
wasn’t their year. homer against the Astros. flying completely out of Min-
ute Maid Park and clinching
They dropped their first Freeman hit an RBI double the Series MVP award.
four games, and soon inju- and then punctuated the
ries piled up. They lost their romp with a solo home run By the end, nothing could
most dynamic player before in the seventh that made it stop them. Not a broken leg
the All-Star break. They were 7-0. sustained by starter Charlie
stuck below .500 in August. Morton in the World Series
By then, it was a total team opener. Not a big blown lead
Yet out of nowhere, suddenly, effort. Ailing star Ronald in Game 5.
these Atlanta Braves trans- Acuña Jr., the dynamo of
formed themselves and took Atlanta’s future, bounded Steadied by the 66-year-old
off. from the dugout to join the Snitker, an organization man
celebration for Freeman, the for four decades, the under-
Jorge Soler, Freddie Free- longtime face of the fran- dog Braves won the fran-
man and the Braves breezed chise. chise’s fourth title. Joc Pederson and Soler. the Eastern Conference finals
to their first World Series last season. And then there
championship since 1995, When Yuli Gurriel grounded Consider it a tribute to the But even in the Analytics Era, was the big one, the Falcons
hammering the Houston As- out to end it, Freeman caught greatest Braves player of guided by a GM fully versed blowing a 28-3 lead to the Pa-
tros 7-0 on Tuesday night in the throw at first base, put them all. Aaron died Jan. 22 in new-age ways, the path triots in the Super Bowl.
Game 6. Max Fried threw six the ball in his pocket, and at 86, still pulling for his old these Braves took wouldn’t
dominant innings in a signa- the party was on for manager team, and The Hammer’s add up in any computer. But these Braves, not this
ture pitching performance to Brian Snitker’s club. legacy was stamped all over Especially with how things time.
close it out. this Series. looked in midseason.
A full hour after the game, “Boy, we’re in November
“We hit every pothole, every hundreds of Braves fans And note the Braves out- Minus Acuña, Atlanta wasn’t right now and we’ve been do-
bump you could possibly hit packed behind the team’s homered the top-scoring over .500 for a single day un- ing this since February. We’ve
this year,” Freeman said. “In- third base dugout kept do- team in the majors by 11-2. til the first week in August. had so many ups and downs
juries, every single kind of ing the chop and chant, caus- The Braves finished 88-73 this year. For us to be world
thing that could happen, that ing loud echoes to bounce For 72-year-old Houston for the 12th-best record in champions, that is awesome
could go wrong went wrong, around the ballpark. manager Dusty Baker, a dis- the majors and fewest vic- to hear,” Freeman said.
and we overcame every single appointment. But for many tories among playoff teams;
one of those things.” About 700 miles away at fans rooting against the As- their win total was the lowest Favored in spring training
suburban Truist Park, thou- tros in the wake of their 2017 for a World Series champion to win their fourth straight
General manager Alex An- sands of fans poured into the sign-stealing scandal, some since St. Louis’ 83 in 2006. NL East title, the Braves lost
thopoulos, the architect of Braves’ home to holler. satisfaction. Acuña to a torn knee in July.
the Braves’ midseason turn- Plus, some agonizing history Earlier, 2020 Triple Crown
around, missed this crown- A mere afterthought in the Major credit for Atlanta’s in Atlanta, a city where no contender Marcell Ozuna
ing achievement after test- summer heat among the land title goes to Anthopoulos. team had won a title in the was injured and later placed
ing positive for COVID-19. of the Giants, White Sox and Undaunted by Acuña’s knee four major pro sports besides on leave while Major League
He was back home for the Dodgers, but magnificent in injury, he pulled off a flurry 1995. Baseball investigated him
clincher. the Fall Classic. of July trades that brought under its domestic violence
the Fab Four to an entire- The Braves couldn’t convert policy. Projected ace Mike
Soler, a July acquisition who Soler tapped his heart twice ly retooled outfield — NL a 3-1 series advantage over Soroka never made it back
tested positive for the corona- before beginning his home Championship Series MVP the Dodgers in the NLCS last from an Achilles injury.
virus in the playoffs, backed run trot after connecting off Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, year. The Hawks fell short in

Raiders release WR Henry Ruggs III after fatal Vegas crash

(AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders released Henry mediately identified. is one to six years in prison, with probation avail-
Ruggs III just hours before the promising young able.
receiver faced an initial court appearance on mul- Ruggs “showed signs of impairment,” police said
tiple felony charges after a fiery predawn vehicle in a statement that did not identify the woman who Ruggs’ attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard
crash that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his died, the injuries that Ruggs or his passenger re- Schonfeld, said they are investigating the crash on
female passenger injured. ceived or name Ruggs’ passenger, who remained behalf of their client “and ask everyone to reserve
hospitalized. judgment until all the facts are gathered.”
The 22-year-old Ruggs and his passenger were
hospitalized with unspecified injuries that police Police are prohibited by federal privacy law from Chesnoff declined additional comment after Ruggs
said did not appear life-threatening after the Chev- disclosing medical information, said Officer Larry was released from University Medical Center and
rolet Corvette he was driving slammed at high Hadfield, a department spokesman. booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
speed into the rear of a Toyota Rav4 on a busy thor-
oughfare in a residential area several miles west of Ruggs faces felony charges of driving under the in- The Raiders didn’t wait for the courts to act, send-
the Las Vegas Strip about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday. fluence of alcohol resulting in death and reckless ing out a brief statement Tuesday night announc-
driving, court records show. Ruggs was released ing Ruggs’ release. The Raiders had issued a state-
The Toyota burst into flames and the driver and from a hospital and taken to jail ahead of an initial ment earlier in the day saying the team was aware
her dog died, police said. The woman was not im- court appearance scheduled on Wednesday. of the crash, “devastated by the loss of life,” and “in
the process of gathering information.”
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did
not immediately respond to messages about the NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy issued a state-
charges. ment saying, “Our hearts go out to the family and
friends of the victim of this horrific tragedy. We
Probation is not an option in Nevada for a convic- will continue to gather facts and monitor the mat-
tion on a charge of DUI causing death, which car- ter under our policies, but our thoughts at this time
ries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in state are with those impacted by this devastating inci-
prison. The possible sentence for reckless driving dent.”