2:21 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” PHILADELPHIA — Late last week, before Cristian Javier etched his name into baseball history, his Houston Astros teammates attempted to describe his fastball. By velocity alone, it is a milquetoast effort, flung
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11:25 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — Cristian Javier‘s parents, Trinidad Mieses and Cecilio Javier, flew from the Dominican Republic to Philadelphia and sat in his hotel room late Tuesday night, in the build-up to the biggest outing of his life. The Houston Astros were coming off a difficult loss and needed Javier to rescue them from
8:04 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — The season will come full circle for Philadelphia Phillies starter Noah Syndergaard and Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander when they face off in Game 5 of the World Series on Thursday just as they did in their first starts of the regular season back in April. Both were coming off
10:59 PM ET ESPN News Services PHILADELPHIA — First lady Jill Biden joined the Stand Up to Cancer tribute in the middle of the fifth inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Wednesday night. Biden arrived at Citizens Bank Park shortly before the tribute, which occurred just after the Houston Astros scored five
2:03 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — There was talk, mostly rooted in Bryce Harper‘s pre-at-bat conversation with Alec Bohm, that Lance McCullers Jr. might have been tipping his pitches on Tuesday night. There was talk that the nine-day layoff, further prolonged by Monday’s postponement, might have played a part in the starter looking uncharacteristically rusty. McCullers
11:15 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies tied the record for most home runs hit in a World Series game, belting five in a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 3 on Tuesday night. All five home runs came off starter Lance McCullers Jr., a record for most homers surrendered by a
6:29 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado became the fourth infielder to win 10 consecutive Rawlings Gold Gloves when baseball’s winners for the sport’s most prestigious fielding awards were announced Tuesday on ESPN2 before Game 3 of the World Series. Arenado, 31, has won the National League’s Gold Glove at
9:05 PM ET Associated Press FULLERTON, Calif. — A California judge is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against the Los Angeles Angels over the drug-related death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Orange County Superior Court Judge Glenn Salter on Monday rejected the team’s motion to dismiss and set the start of a 20-day jury trial for
1:17 AM ET Pedro Gomez, the late ESPN baseball reporter whose award-winning career spanned 35 years and included coverage of more than 25 World Series, was posthumously inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Prior to joining ESPN, Gomez, who was based in Phoenix, was a columnist and national baseball writer
6:54 PM ET Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden took his own playful swing at Philly’s infamously ornery sports fans — including one real close to home. “Phillies fans are the most virulent, obnoxious fans in the world,” he said Tuesday while campaigning in Florida. Biden, who grew up in Pennsylvania, made his remarks