Boricuas celebran el triunfo de Mónica Puig en Río 2016 Yasiel Puig supported Monica Puig during her historic gold medal victory. (AP Photos)
Though being demoted to Triple A wasnt an ideal scenario for Yasiel Puig, it has afforded him opportunitieshe may not have otherwise had.
For example, Puig spent some time bonding with his new teammates at Oklahoma City this week by hunting Pokemon. Could you imagine Puig chasing Pokemon around Los Angeles? Highly unlikely, as were sure his schedule was typically full.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]
Heres another big advantage. While the Dodgers were playing an afternoon game on Saturday, Puig was free to watch the Olympics and cheer on his favorite tennis player, Monica Puig.
No, the two are not related, but sharing a last name can still create a bond or at least stir some emotions.Thats especially true given the historic overtones of Monica Puigs match in Rio. The 22-year-old tennis star was attempting to become the first-ever gold medalist in Puerto Ricos Olympic history when she squared off against Germanys Angelique Kerber.
How did she do?
Well let Yasiel Puig tell the story.
Go crazy, Yasiel! Go crazy.
Puig won match in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. The victory is considered a pretty big upset in the tennis ranks asPuig entered the match 34th in the world, while Kerber came in at No. 2. Youd never know that though based on Puig running away in the third set. Puig won the first five games of the third set before clinching the match.
From there, the celebration was on, with the Cuban Yasiel Puig leading the charge from Oklahoma Citys clubhouse. Monica Puig probably couldnt feel his support, but shell soon be uplifted by an entire country thats proud of her historic accomplishment.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo SportsSubscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed
Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Monica Puig -- Medalla de Oro en Rio 2016 (Orgullo Boricua del Tennis) By: AP | Rio De Janeiro | Published:August 15, 2016 1:02 pm In the run-up to Rio, there was plenty of discussion about the relationship between the Olympics and tennis, which returned to the program in 1988 after a 64-year absence. (Source: Reuters)
For a sport supposedly filled with folks who dont care about the Olympics, there sure was a lot of crying during the tennis competition at the Rio de Janeiro Games. From Andy Murray, who became the first man or woman to win two singles golds. From Juan Martin del Potro, who earned the silver, losing to Murray 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the final Sunday.
From No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who surprisingly lost to del Potro in the first round, a result that elicited tears from both men, one because a gold medal is just about the only thing missing from his resume, the other because hes had such a tough road back from repeated injuries.
And from Monica Puig, whose womens singles title gave Puerto Rico its first gold in any sport in Olympic history. Puig had done her best to memorize the islands anthem after her father emailed her the lyrics, but as that song played during a medal ceremony for the first time, she couldnt get out the words.
If I wouldve stopped crying, I probably would have started singing, Puig said. But I couldnt. I was choking up the whole time.
In the run-up to Rio, there was plenty of discussion about the relationship between the Olympics and tennis, which returned to the program in 1988 after a 64-year absence.
But watching and hearing those who did participate made clear what it meant to them.
Its been a buildup of emotions over the last 10 days or so, said Murray, who began the Rio Olympics by carrying Britains flag in the opening ceremony, then ended them by walking into his champions news conference with a Union Jack draped over his shoulder, and Im just very happy that I got over the line tonight.
Here are some things to know about tennis at the 2016 Olympics:
MURRAYS FORM: His victory over del Potro stretched Murrays winning streak to a career-high 18 matches, including a second Wimbledon title. Murray has participated in the four most significant matches of the year: all three Grand Slam finals (losing to Djokovic at the Australian Open and French Open, then beating Milos Raonic at the All England Club) and the Olympic final. I need to try and keep that going, Murray said, and the U.S. Open is always the next big goal. Play begins at Flushing Meadows in two weeks.
DEL POTROS RETURN: Considered the next big thing when he stunned Federer in the 2009 U.S. Open final at age 20, the 6-foot-6 Argentine first had problems with his right wrist, then needed three operations on his left wrist. Based on how he beat Djokovic, then Rafael Nadal, del Potros powerful forehand might be better than ever. If he stays fit, Murray said, theres no reason why he cant be up at the top of the game.
DJOKOVIC AND NADAL: Djokovic was crestfallen to leave without a medal, then pulled out of next weeks Cincinnati Masters, citing a sore left wrist. He wont play again until the U.S. Open. Will he look like the guy who won four consecutive major titles or the guy who lost in the third round at Wimbledon and first round of the Olympics? After Nadal missed 2{ months with an injured left wrist _ unlike Djokovic, hes a lefty _ no one knew what to expect in Brazil. But the Spaniard earned a doubles gold and just missed a singles medal.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Its not entirely clear what went wrong for Serena Williams, who lost in the third round of singles and the first round of doubles with her sister Venus (they won gold in all three previous Olympic appearances together). Given how the younger Williams usually responds to setbacks, it wouldnt be surprising to see her in fine form at the years last Grand Slam tournament.
MEDAL COUNT: Despite what happened in singles and doubles to the Williams sisters, and even though the countrys highest-ranked man, John Isner, opted to skip the Olympics, the U.S. wound up with the best haul: one gold (Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock in mixed doubles), one silver (Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in mixed) and one bronze (Sock and Steve Johnson in mens doubles). The only other country to win three medals was the Czech Republic, with bronzes from Petra Kvitova in singles, Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova in womens doubles, and Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek in mixed doubles.
HIGHLIGHTS - 2016 Olympic Test Event, Rio (BRA) - Women"s Individual Apparatus finals
The quintet of Biles, 2012 London Games all around gold medallist Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian showed why the Americans have been unbeatable as a team since 2011 when they racked up a total of 185.238 points.
While their challengers fell and stumbled their way through qualifying, the only blips for the Americans came when Douglas stepped out of bounds during the floor exercise and Raisman flapped her arms about to save herself from falling off the beam following a big wobble.
Though no-one could match the command performance of Biles and Co., Britain"s Ellie Downie proved herself "a fighter" when she carried on after a horrific landing on her neck.
There was an audible gasp in the arena when Downie"s tumbling run on the floor exercise ended with her clutching her neck after she suffered what she called "a crunch in my neck".
Despite being helped out of the arena to get medical attention, the 17-year-old was back in action 15 minutes later and executed two soaring vaults to provisionally leave Britain fourth in qualifying.
"It was very scary and a shock to the system. Ellie"s a fighter for coming back," summed up elder sister Becky, who earned the team"s highest score of 15.233 on the asymmetric bars.
On Sunday"s showing, China"s hopes of regaining the Olympic team title they relinquished to the U.S. in 2012 may end up being a mere pipe dream after a series of shaky performances left them second in qualifying with 175.279 points.
Unless they iron out the wobbles and flaws that marred Sunday"s routines, China could be left off the team podium for the second Games running. Russia, the 2012 silver medallists, stood third with a total of 174.620.
Uzbek Oksana Chusovitina, a member of the 1992 gold medal Unified Team and at 41 the oldest ever gymnast to compete at an Olympics, will face a long wait to discover if her average vault score of 14.999 is good enough to make the eight-woman final.
Nerves appeared to get the better of 16-year-old Olympic debutantes w**g Yan and Mao Yi of China.
w**g was lucky not to fall off the balance beam as she almost lost her footing after a back somersault and her score of 14.100 was China"s lowest on the apparatus.
Mao fared no better with her floor exercise. She landed out of bounds into the dark green area following her first tumbling run, put a hand down and then rolled on to her knee after the second tumbling combination and botched her landing on the third. A score of 11.700 reflected her flop show.
Shang Chunsong"s vault also went awry, drawing 12.766.
"Everyone is a little bit nervous because we want to compete in the finals. We can do better," admitted Shang, who feared she might not make it to Rio after being laid low with fever.
"We just need to enjoy the process. If you enjoy what you do, then the results will be good."
Although none of Sunday"s scores will be carried through to the team final, there will be no room for error on Tuesday.
In qualifying, four competitors from each country compete on each apparatus with only the top three scores counting towards the total. In the final, each nation will put forward three athletes and all three scores will count.
Trump Spox Katrina Pierson Destroys Kate Snow And Leaves Her Speechless! MUST WATCH!
Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson left MSNBC anchor Kate Snow "speechless" Wednesday, when she said that the candidate is not responsible for peoples" mistaken reactions to statements of his, that she sees being taken out of context.
"If you listen to Donald Trump"s rallies," Pierson said about comments this week about the Second Amendment, "He talks about this all the time --at every rally-- If Hillary Clinton is able to appoint Supreme Court candidates [who are] against the Second Amendment, there has to be something to stop her."
"But does he have any responsibility for what people hear?" Snow asked. "For what they interpret as a remark inciting people to violence?"
"If he had control over the liberal news networks, absolutely," Pierson responded. "But he does not. And that is another reason why we are talking about this today. Because they have picked out a piece of what he was talking about in the greater context of a topic he talks about at every single rally. And that is: The power of the NRA, and that is the ability for Hillary Clinton, if elected, to appoint candidates for the Supreme Court who will actually strip the rights from law abiding citizens to defend themselves."
"Hhe wasn"t talking about policy, he wasn"t talking about implementation of policy. He was talking about what would happen if Hillary Clinton were to be elected, and he was absolutely right," Pierson said.
"I"m speechless because I"m trying to follow your logic, here Katrina," responded Snow. "I"m having a hard time.
KATE SNOW, MSNBC: If he is elected president, every word is going to matter, right? Every word matters when you are president... If his words are misinterpreted, he will not get a do-over if he is president... I think that is what a lot of people are reacting to here. If he misspoke, you don"t get a do-over as president...
KATRINA PIERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: I don"t think you get a do-over on anything at that level, like the imaginary red line in the middle east. Just like paying hostage money to Iran... When you"re talking at a rally about the Second Amendment, and Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justices, to infer that something horrible could happen. I think we should talk about the horrible things that have already happened when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Like the emails that were just released that show her trading favors to donors to the Clinton Foundation. These are things that have a real impact on national security, as well as how the government functions. Hillary Clinton was for sale, and that means if she were president, our government would be too...
KATE SNOW: To go back to my question, you have no concern about his ability as president if he were president to make an argument with foreign leaders, with -- in negotiations and not be misconstrued or misunderstood?
KATRINA PIERSON: Absolutely not. I have no concerns with that whatsoever. He"s not going to be dealing with foreign leaders at a political rally. It will definitely be a more serious discussion and not an off-the-cuff discussion.
SNOW: There"s a difference between speeches at a political rally and speech with foreign leaders when you"re president?
PIERSON: Well, yeah, he wasn"t talking about policy, he wasn"t talking about implementation of policy. He was talking about what would happen if Hillary Clinton were to be elected, and he was absolutely right.
SNOW: I"m speechless because I"m trying to follow your logic, here Katrina. I"m having a hard time.
PIERSON: I can tell.
SNOW: There"s a difference in your head between speaking to a rally and things you say in front of a public group like that, and what he"s going to do when he"s actually in the office?
PIERSON: You know, I really don"t see Barack Obama sitting and telling us exactly what happens in his private discussions with foreign leaders.
The administration has already admitted to lying to the American public about the Iran deal. We already know Hillary Clinton lied to the public about what happened in Benghazi and lied to the faces of the families who died in Benghazi. There were very different things being said behind the scenes than what was being said in public. Wouldn"t you agree?
MILWAUKEE Volunteers swept and picked up debris Sunday in a north Milwaukee neighborhood that was rocked by hours of late night violent unrest sparked by a police officer"s shooting of a man fleeing a traffic stop.
Up to three dozen people swept up glass and filled trash bags with rocks, bricks and bottles at an intersection where a BP gas station burned to the ground, a traffic light was bent and bus shelters were shoved to the ground Saturday night. One volunteer picked up a bullet casing and handed it to police.
Darlene Rose, 31, said she understands the anger that fueled the violence, but that it doesn"t help.
"I feel like if you"re going to make a difference, it"s got to be an organized difference," Rose said. "The people that came and looted, you"re not going to see them here today."
The event that triggered the violence was the Saturday afternoon shooting by a police officer of a man authorities said was armed and who fled a traffic stop. It wasn"t clear if the man aimed the gun at officers.
Authorities have not released the names or races of the man who was killed nor the officer who shot him.
Three protesters were arrested, and one officer was injured by a thrown brick. At a late night news conference at which city leaders appealed for calm, Mayor Tom Barrett said the man was hit twice, in the chest and arm.
The protesters were largely black, and Alderman Khalif Rainey who represents the district said early Sunday that the city"s black residents are "tired of living under this oppression." Nearly 40 percent of Milwaukee"s 600,000 residents are black, and heavily concentrated on the north side.
"Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?" Rainey said at the news conference with Barrett.
The anger at shootings by Milwaukee police is not new, and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent killings of officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.
Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer fatally shot Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014. In December, the Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on reforms. Chief Ed Flynn had asked for what"s known as a collaborative reform process after the federal government said it wouldn"t pursue criminal civil rights charges against the officer.
Critics said the department should have submitted to a review of its patterns and practices, as was conducted in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black, by a white police officer in 2014.
The state is investigating the latest shooting in Milwaukee. Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera.
Barrett said police stopped the 23-year-old man who died for "suspicious activity." Police said he was carrying a gun that had been stolen in a March burglary in suburban Waukesha.
"This stop took place because two officers ... saw suspicious activity," the mayor said. "There were 23 rounds in that gun that that officer was staring at. I want to make sure we don"t lose any police officers in this community, either."
Around 100 protesters massed at 44th Street and Auer Avenue between 8 and 9 p.m., surging against a line of 20 to 30 officers. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that officers got in their cars to leave at one point and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car"s windows. Another police car was set on fire. The newspaper reported that one of its reporters was shoved to the ground and punched.
Around 11 p.m., police with shields and helmets moved slowly into the intersection, telling a crowd of about 50 people to disperse. Some threw rocks and debris at police, who held up their shields. People in the crowd also threw objects at a business a half-block from the intersection. A nearby traffic light was bent over and bus shelters overturned.
A bank, a gas station, an auto parts store and a beauty supplies shop were burned in the violence. Firefighters held back from the gas station blaze because of gunshots.
Police said the man who was shot had an arrest record. The 24-year-old officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty. The officer has been with the Milwaukee department six years, three as an officer.
Just blocks away from the riots, two people were shot and killed Friday and Saturday, bringing to five the number of people who died in shootings in the city during a nine-hour stretch.
"As everyone knows, this was a very, very violent 24 hours in the city of Milwaukee," Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told the Journal Sentinel. "Our officers are out here taking risks on behalf of the community and making split-second decisions."
___
Associated Press writer Kyle Potter contributed to this report from Minneapolis.
Trump Spox Katrina Pierson: We Weren’t in Afghanistan Until Obama Decided to Go In
Donald Trumps national campaign spokesperson insisted on Tuesday that the GOP presidential nominee was not trying to incite violence against Hillary Clinton earlier in the day with his suggestion that Second Amendment people could stop her.
Everyone knows Hillary Clinton is a gun-grabber, Katrina Pierson told CNN host Jake Tapper. And everyone knows that if shes in a position to appoint Supreme Court justices, she will do everything she can to remove the Second Amendment. So Mr. Trump was clearly pointing that out, as he has done every day on the campaign trail.
The former reality TV star was quickly criticized by both Democrats and fellow conservatives after saying at a North Carolina campaign rally, If she gets to pick her [Supreme Court] judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.
He was talking about what Second Amendment activists could do to stop her if she won to stop her from appointing a gun-control nominee to the Supreme Court, Tapper told Bowden. It wasnt about November Its not about November, its after November.
Thats actually not what he was talking about. Just before that he was saying as you said what could happen. He doesnt want that to happen, she replied. And in order to stop that, people that support their Second Amendment rights need to come together and get out there and stop Hillary Clinton from winning in November.
When Tapper asked why Trump did not just simply say he misspoke following the uproar, Pierson said a statement from his campaign saying that he was actually referring to the power of unification inherent in the Second Amendment provided enough clarification.
However, conservative analyst Ana Navarro had a less charitable take on Trumps remarks, saying that he could not grasp the influence he now has in an inflamed political climate.
It sounded like yet another stupid thing that comes out of Trumps mouth, she said. It sounded like, Oh my G*d, here we go again, its Groundhog Day. Just when I thought he might be shifting into policy with that speech yesterday, here were all gonna have to react to yet another stupid, undisciplined thing that Donald Trump said because he seems not to understand the power of words.
Democratic strategist Paul Begala said that, while reasonable people were right to be incensed by Trumps statement, he worried about how someone who is unreasonable would take it.
I fear that an unbalanced person hears that as Ana points out, in an inflamed environment and G*d forbid, thinks that that was a threat, he said. I certainly take it as a threat, and Trump needs to apologize.
Aaron Judge on being called up to the major leagues
Less than 24 hours after Alex Rodriguez ended his MLB career (assuming the Miami Marlins dont have other plans) the new era of New York Yankees baseball began. Tyler Austin was penciled in as the starting first baseman for the Yankees with fellow first-gamer Aaron Judge hitting right behind him as the right fielder. The goosebumps werent there for these two as they hit back-to-back home runs to begin their big league careers.
Its the first time this has happened in history too.
On a 2-2 pitch, Austin smacked a home run off of Tampa Bay Rays starter Matt Andriese into right field. Just as he was beginning to settle in, Judge hit one to center on a 1-2 pitch.
Two young players the Yankees plan to have around for a while, they couldnt have done anything more magnificent than this.
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Its hard enough to have guys go back-to-back. Add to it their first major league at-bats and their spots in the order coming consecutively; if you knew this was going to happen then buy a lottery ticket now. Then when you win give me a chunk of it for the suggestion.
