2B Thursday, November 15, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
SPORTS
MLB
BILL KOSTROUN I Associated Press
New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom delivers the ball to the Atlanta Braves during the
second inning of the game on Wednesday, Sept. 26 in New York.
Snell and deGrom take
home Cy Young honors
BY JAKE SEINER
Associated Press
NEW YORK — After a season marred by
narrow defeats, Jacob deGrom became a
runaway winner.
The New York Mets ace easily won
the National League Cy Young Award on
Wednesday night, a reward for a histori
cally fruitless season in Flushing. The right
hander won just 10 games, the fewest ever
by a Cy Young-winning starter.
DeGrom easily beat out Washington’s Max
Scherzer, who was seeking a third straight
Cy Young and fourth overall. DeGrom got 29
first-place votes and 207 points from mem
bers of the Baseball Writers’ Association of
America. Scherzer had the other first-place
vote.
Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays nar
rowly beat out past winners Justin
Verlander and Corey Kluber for his
first AL Cy Young after leading the
majors with 21 victories.
In his first season after chopping
off his distinctive long hair, deGrom
cut down hitters from start to finish
despite little help from teammates.
He had a 1.70 ERA, the lowest in
the NL since Zack Greinke’s 1.66
mark in 2015. Yet the 30-year-old
right-hander went 10-9, eclipsing the
low bar among starters set by Seattle’s Felix
Hernandez when he took the award with 13
victories in 2010.
DeGrom allowed three runs or fewer in 29
consecutive starts to close the season, break
ing Leslie “King” Cole’s 108-year-old record
of 26 such outings. Yet the Mets were 11-18 in
those games and 14-18 overall with deGrom
on the mound.
“My thought process was, ‘Hey, take the
ball every fifth day and continue to try to put
this team in position to win and control what
you can control,”’ deGrom said.
Hernandez’s Cy Young victory signaled a
major shift from voters, who once prioritized
pitcher wins. The push toward advanced
analytics made deGrom’s candidacy pos
sible, and by September there was little
debate deGrom was worthy, even as the
Mets regularly wasted his dominance.
Perhaps no pitcher had ever been such a
hard-luck loser. New York averaged 3.5 runs
in games started by deGrom, second only to
Cole Hamels for worst support in the majors
among qualified pitchers. During one stretch
late in the season, the Mets totaled 10 runs
over seven of deGrom’s outings, and four of
those were driven in by the pitcher himself.
DeGrom nearly produced more wins
above replacement than actual wins — a
dubious sabermetric feat that has only been
accomplished once, when the Philadelphia
Athletics’ Eddie Smith went 4-17 with 4.1
WAR in 1937. Baseball-Reference
calculated deGrom for 9.6 WAR.
The 2014 NL Rookie of the Year,
he became the seventh rookie win
ner voted a Cy Young, joining fel
low Mets Tom Seaver and Dwight
Gooden. R.A. Dickey was the only
other Met to win a Cy Young.
Snell got 17 first-place votes and
169 points to 13 first-place votes and
154 points for Verlander. Kluber
had 71 points, followed by Boston’s
Chris Sale and Houston’s Gerrit Cole.
Snell led the AL with a 1.89 ERA. The
25-year-old pitched just 180 % innings, 33
y 3 fewer than Verlander, but his dominance
was enough to sway the electorate.
The lefty nicknamed Snellzilla wreaked
havoc against the AL’s top lineups. He was
3-0 with a 1.08 ERA in four starts against the
World Series champion Red Sox, and 2-0 in
two starts each against the Astros and Indi
ans. The Yankees roughed Snell up twice,
but he got threw five scoreless innings in a
victory Aug. 16. That came during a late-sea-
son run of nine consecutive wins for Snell.
Snell
SCOREBOARD
Football/NFL
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
East
W
L
T
Pet
PF
PA
New England
7
3
0
.700
280
236
Miami
5
5
0
.500
199
256
Buffalo
3
7
0
.300
137
251
N.Y. Jets
3
7 0
South
.300
208
254
W
L
T
Pet
PF
PA
Houston
6
3
0
.667
216
184
Tennessee
5
4
0
.556
168
151
Indianapolis
4
5
0
.444
260
239
Jacksonville
3
6 0
North
.333
160
199
W
L
T
Pet
PF
PA
Pittsburgh
6
2
1
.722
279
209
Cincinnati
5
4
0
.556
235
288
Baltimore
4
5
0
.444
213
160
Cleveland
3
6 1
West
.350
218
263
W
L
T
Pet
PF
PA
Kansas City
9
1
0
.900
353
240
L.A. Chargers 7
2
0
.778
240
186
Denver
3
6
0
.333
205
213
Oakland
1
8
0
.111
147
272
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
W
East
L T
Pet
PF
PA
Washington
6
3 0
.667
176
175
Dallas
4
5 0
.444
181
171
Philadelphia
4
5 0
.444
198
183
N.Y. Giants
2
7 0
.222
177
228
W
South
L T
Pet
PF
PA
New Orleans
8
1 0
.889
330
232
Carolina
6
3 0
.667
241
232
Atlanta
4
5 0
.444
244
254
Tampa Bay
3
6 0
.333
232
291
W
North
L T
Pet
PF
PA
Chicago
6
3 0
.667
269
175
Minnesota
5
3 1
.611
221
204
Green Bay
4
4 1
.500
223
216
Detroit
3
6 0
.333
202
244
W
West
L T
Pet
PF
PA
L.A. Rams
9
1 0
.900
335
231
Seattle
4
5 0
.444
219
192
Arizona
2
7 0
.222
124
225
San Francisco 2
8 0
.200
230
266
Today’s game
Green Bay at Seattle, 8:20 p.m.
Sunday’s games
Houston at Washington, 1 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.
Tampa Bay at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.
Dallas at Atlanta, 1 p.m.
Cincinnati at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Carolina at Detroit, 1 p.m.
Tennessee at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
Denver at L.A. Chargers, 4:05 p.m.
Oakland at Arizona, 4:05 p.m.
Philadelphia at New Orleans, 4:25 p.m.
Minnesota at Chicago, 8:20 p.m.
Open: Buffalo, San Francisco, Miami, New
England, Cleveland, N.Y. Jets
Hockey/NHL
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
GP W
L
OT Pts
GF
GA
Tampa Bay
18
12
5
1
25
64
50
Toronto
18
12
6
0
24
63
47
Boston
17
10
5
2
22
53
41
Buffalo
18
10
6
2
22
55
53
Montreal
18
9
6
3
21
60
61
Detroit
18
8
8
2
18
53
61
Florida
15
7
5
3
17
49
46
Ottawa
18
7
8
3
17
62
76
Metropolitan Division
GP W
L
OT Pts
GF
GA
Columbus
18
10
6
2
22
58
59
N.Y Islanders
17
9
6
2
20
54
44
N.Y Rangers
18
9
7
2
20
52
55
Washington
17
8
6
3
19
59
58
Philadelphia
18
9
8
1
19
58
62
Carolina
18
8
7
3
19
50
54
Pittsburgh
16
7
6
3
17
53
51
New Jersey
16
7
8
1
15
49
56
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Central Division
GP W
L
OT Pts
GF
GA
Nashville
18
13
4
1
27
61
42
Minnesota
18
11
5
2
24
56
49
Winnipeg
16
10
5
1
21
51
42
Dallas
18
9
7
2
20
51
50
Colorado
17
8
6
3
19
59
50
Chicago
18
6
8
4
16
51
67
St. Louis
15
6
6
3
15
52
51
Pacific Division
GP W
L
OT Pts
GF
GA
San Jose
19
10
6
3
23
61
59
Vancouver
20
10
8
2
22
63
69
Calgary
18
10
7
1
21
56
56
Edmonton
18
9
8
1
19
52
56
Anaheim
19
8
8
3
19
44
54
Arizona
17
8
8
1
17
46
45
Vegas
18
7
10 1
15
44
54
Los Angeles
17
5
11
1
11
34
55
Tuesday’s Games
New Jersey 4, Pittsburgh 2
N.Y Islanders 5, Vancouver 2
Florida 2, Philadelphia 1
Buffalo 2, Tampa Bay 1
Washington 5, Minnesota 2
Edmonton 6, Montreal 2
Toronto 5, Los Angeles 1
San Jose 5, Nashville 4
Wednesday’s Games
Washington at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.
St. Louis at Chicago, 8 p.m.
Boston at Colorado, 10 p.m.
Anaheim at Vegas, 10:30 p.m.
Today’s Games
Florida at Columbus, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
New Jersey at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
N.Y. Rangers at N.Y Islanders, 7 p.m.
Detroit at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Nashville at Arizona, 9 p.m.
Montreal at Calgary, 9 p.m.
Toronto at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
Transactions
BASEBALL
American League
BOSTON RED SOX — Agreed to terms with
manager Alex Cora on a contract extension
through the 2021 season, with a club option
for 2022.
TEXAS RANGERS — Named Luis Ortiz hitting
coach, Don Wakamatsu bench coach, Jayce
Tingler major league player development field
coordinator, Tony Beasley third base coach and
Hector Ortiz first base coach. Announced Down
East (Carolina) general manager Wade Howell
was promoted to vice president of the club.
Promoted Janell Bullock and Jon Clemmons
to assistant general managers at Down East.
National League
PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Acquired INF Erik
Gonzalez and RHPs Tahnaj Thomas and Dante
Mendoza from Cleveland for OF Jordan Luplow
and INF Max Moroff.
FOOTBALL
National Football League
ARIZONA CARDINALS — Signed CB David
Amerson and Leonard Johnson. Signed OL Rick
Leonard to the practice squad.
ATLANTA FALCONS — Activated LB Deion
Jones.
BUFFALO BILLS — Signed WR Deonte
Thompson.
CAROLINA PANTHERS — Claimed RB Kenjon
Barner off waivers from New England.
DETROIT LIONS — Signed CB Mike Ford
from the practice squad. Placed G T.J. Lang on
injured reserve. Signed S David Jones to the
practice squad.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed OT Rees
Odhiambo to the practice squad.
TODAY ON TV
BASKETBALL
BASEBALL
■ Ball State at Virginia Tech, 11:30 a.m., ESPN2
■ St, Joseph’s at Wake Forest, 11:30 a.m., ESPNU
■ Alabama at Northeastern 2 p.m., ESPNU
■ Appalachian State at Purdue, 5 p.m., ESPN2
■ Valparaiso at Western Kentucky, 5 p.m., ESPNU
■ Connecticut at Syracuse 7 p.m., ESPN2
■ Monmouth at West Virginia 7 p.m., ESPNU
■ Ohio State at Creighton 7 p.m., FS1
■ NBA: Golden State at Houston Rockets, 8 p.m., TNT
■ Penn State at DePaul, 9 p.m., FS1
■ Oregon at Iowa, 9 p.m., ESPN2
■ NBA: San Antonio Spurs at LA Clippers, 10:30 p.m., TNT
■ Texas A&M at Gonzaga, 11:30 p.m., ESPN2
■ USA at England,
2:45 p.m., ESPN2
FOOTBALL
■ Tulane at Houston
8 p.m., ESPN
■ NFL: Packers at
Seahawks, 8 p.m.,
FOX
RACING | NASCAR
Aiming for an upset
Logano faces long odds in
NASCAR championship
BY JENNA FRYER
Associated Press
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Joey Logano
is the outlier in this year’s championship
race. He was never in the mix for this
year’s Cup title, not until he used his bum
per to move reigning champion Martin
Truex Jr. out of his way to forcefully snag a
spot in NASCAR’s version of the final four.
The move aggravated Truex, who vowed
not to allow Logano to win the title. “He
may have won the battle,” Truex fumed,
“but he ain’t winning the damn war.”
A week later, Aric Almirola made a
similar promise because he was rankled
Logano refused to cut him any slack on the
track.
Time and again, Logano finds himself in
the center of a high-profile spat.
A decade of dealing with these silly little
slights, being pushed around on and off the
track, has taught Logano how to tune it out.
He goes into Sunday’s winner-take-all sea
son finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway
convinced he’s finally going to win his first
Cup title.
Logano will race Truex, Kevin Harvick
and Kyle Busch for the championship.
“I said 15 weeks ago we were an under
dog and I would be surprised if we made it
to the final four,” Logano said. “Now I feel
like we are the favorites to win this thing.
It’s crazy how things change. ”
He feels as if he’s the favorite, but
Logano is clearly the underdog of this
group. His No. 22 Team Penske group was
mediocre most of the season and an after
thought to the so-called Big Three of Busch,
Harvick and Truex, a trio of former series
champions who dominated the regular
season.
But Logano mastered a path through the
playoffs and could pull off the upset of his
career.
It would be vindication for the driver
tagged as NASCAR’s next superstar by Hall
of Famer Mark Martin when Logano was
just a teen waiting to turn 18 and be eligible
to race at NASCAR’s national level. He was
nicknamed “Sliced Bread,” because he
was allegedly “the best thing since,” and
the expectations were enormous by the
time he made his debut.
Logano is by nature happy-go-lucky,
and when he made it to the big leagues, his
parents traveled the circuit with him. That
became a bone of contention among Loga-
no’s peers, who resented his clean path into
NASCAR and found him an easy target for
scuffles on and off the track.
Then he was pushed into the Cup Series
way ahead of schedule because Joe Gibbs
Racing, the team that groomed him, had an
unexpected opening. It made Logano a tar
get for everyone from Tony Stewart, Kevin
Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and
other high-profile drivers.
Drama after drama would have broken
some, but Logano has rebounded every
time.
When Gibbs could no longer wait for him
to produce, he landed with Team Penske
and has won 18 races since moving teams.
RICK SCUTERII Associated Press
Joey Logano (22) during a NASCAR
Cup Series race on Sunday, Nov. 11, in
Avondale, Ariz.
He’s qualified for NASCAR’s championship
round in three of the last five seasons, and
was the favorite to win the title in 2015 but
a feud with Matt Kenseth led to Kenseth
wrecking Logano out of an automatic berth
into the finale.
He was in a spectacular crash racing
Carl Edwards for the victory the next year,
and a penalty kept the No. 22 team out of
the playoffs last season. Logano was the
first driver locked into the finale this year,
despite just one regular-season victory and
not showing his Ford could keep up with
the Big Three.
He earned his berth win a victory at Mar
tinsville Speedway, where he moved Truex
out of his way in the final turn to grab the
ticket to Homestead. Truex was furious
with the move, but Logano was adamant he
had to take that opportunity and couldn’t
risk not going for broke.
Logano was booed as he took the check
ered flag.
“I love his passion. The one thing you’ve
got to appreciate out of Joey is that he
races, he gives 100 percent,” said Logano
crew chief Todd Gordon. “He’s racing all
the time, and that’s a great attribute of his.
He’s up on it. You never have to question
where we are, if it’s through practice or
through any session, you’re getting 100 per
cent out of him.”
Logano backed up his right to be aggres
sive with Truex and Almirola in last week
end’s penultimate playoff race at Phoenix.
A flat tire caused him to crash out early. If
Logano hadn’t won Martinsville, the Phoe
nix crash would have prevented him from
making the finale. So he paid no mind to
Truex’s anger, and even less to Almirola’s
assentation that Logano should have cut
other playoff drivers some slack because
Logano had nothing on the line once he was
locked into Homestead.
“Our sport was built on tough racing and
I’m going to race hard,” Logano said. “I’m
a racer. That’s what I am. I’ve got one gear
when I get in a race car... it’s to go win the
race. To be a good race car driver, a lot of
times you have to be selfish.”
EAGLES
■ Continued from 1B
how much their sons have
transformed, “not just in
school but in football,” he
said.
So far Garrett has
watched six of his players
receive collegiate offers.
Senior all-around athlete
Khalid Duke, who is second
in tackles with 124 on the
team, picked up his 11th
college offer from Kansas
State on Monday. It only
adds to his stack of names
that include Army, Navy
and Air Force.
“It’s been great, and
I’m excited,” Garrett said.
“I was just looking at that
board as we’re talking,
and it’s quite a stretch. ...
And I still believe our best
is yet to come — our best
football.”
Now the Eagles look
ahead to a Fellowship
Christian program that
has reached the second
round of the playoffs in
each of the last three sea
sons, including a state title
appearance in 2016. The
Paladins’ only loss this
season was a Region 6-A
championship loss to No. 8
Mount. Zion.
Fellowship Christian is a
well-rounded unit on both
sides of the ball according
to Garrett. The Paladins
operate in the Wing-T, put
ting up 39 points a game
behind a potent rushing
attack that averages 337
yards a game, third-best
for the Class A. It is led by
sophomore running back
Murphy Reeves (1702
yards, 18 touchdowns).
“They do an exceptional
job of driving the ball down-
field and scoring,” Garrett
said. “Their running back
is a very elusive, strong
runner.”
The Paladins have been
playing without their start
ing quarterback Brooks
Bryant, who was injured
midway through the
season.
To have a chance,
Teasley (1,405 passing
yards, nine touchdowns,
four interceptions) said
matching this high-scoring
offense drive for drive will
be crucial for the Eagles,
who average just 24 points
a game but have scored
40-plus twice this season.
Teasley, who has experi
enced far more success on
the track as a member of
Riverside Military’s state
championship team last
spring, is still processing
the fact he’s made it this far
on the gridiron. He’d love to
add another win Friday for
teammates like Duke and
Kim, who have been at the
school for five years and
have maintained a strong
brotherhood in the locker
room.
“I’d love to win the next
game, not for me, but
people like (Khalid) Duke
and (Harry) Kim who have
been here for five years.
It’ll just be great for them,
to win and keep this legacy
going.”
BANTER
■ Continued from 1B
■ Kentucky: We’re all
in for the Wildcats’ best
football season in a genera
tion! Wait, we lost to lowly
Tennessee last week 24-7?
What time’s tipoff in Rupp
Arena?
■ Vanderbilt: Sure,
we’re 1-5 in the confer
ence, but we beat Tennes
see State 31-27 earlier this
year, so take that!
■ Alabama: We’ve
seen this movie before but
if we don’t act it out again,
Coach Saban will yell at us,
tell us we’re bad fans, and
we don’t like that.
■ LSU: We aren’t sure
what our coach is saying
or whether he can even
coach football, but we’ll
take an 8-2 record.
■ Auburn: FireGus
Malzahn! (He has a $32
million buyout, prov
ing pure negligence on
the part of Auburn’s
administration.)
■ Mississippi State:
Who wants my tickets for
Saturday’s 11 a.m. game
against Arkansas? Offered
at $75 each. Okay, $50.
$25? Just take them.
■ Ole Miss: We’re
terrible, but hey, the Egg
Bowl is on Thanksgiving
night and we get to spend
all day in the Grove, thank
you very much.
■ Arkansas: My
SEC Banter stand-in/spy
refuses to spend any more
time in Fayetteville, Ark.,
so I got nothing.
■ Texas A&M: We
Agricultural can win 8
games this regular sea
son, meaning with Jimbo
Fisher’s $7.5 million
annual salary, each win
will have cost us just under
$1 million.
If you’re not thinking
along these lines about
your SEC team, let me
know and I’m happy to
consider a correction in
exchange for a nice steak
dinner.
Meanwhile, my new
puppy just soiled the rug
and I owe the vet $575 for
a three-minute check-up.
What was I thinking?!?
Ben Prevost writes SEC
Banter for The Times during
college football season.
He can be reached at
SECBanter@hotmail.com
