KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has been cleared to begin swinging a bat after missing the past month with a stress fracture in his right hand.
Hosmer had another round of X-rays before the Royals’ game against the Yankees on Monday, and they showed enough progress that he can begin taking dry swings. The hope is that Hosmer can ramp it up to hitting off a tee and in the cage in the next week.
Hosmer says he expects to be back for the final couple weeks of the regular season, and that he plans to be in the starting lineup when he returns. Designated hitter Billy Butler has been having his best stretch of the season while filling in at first base.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs have waived 11 players and placed safety Sanders Commings on injured reserve as they pare down their roster before the first deadline.
The Chiefs have 78 players on their active roster. They need to have 75 by Tuesday afternoon.
Wide receiver Weston Dressler, a star in the CFL, was among the first round of cuts. Also waived were wide receivers Darryl Surgent, Jerrell Jackson and Deon Anthony; defensive backs Jerron McMillian, Brandon Jones and Vernon Kearney; defensive lineman Jairus Campbell; offensive lineman Otis Hudson and tight end Adam Schiltz.
The Chiefs play Green Bay on Thursday night in their final preseason game. The roster must then be trimmed to 53 players by Saturday afternoon.
Like many other area high school fall sports teams the Junction City High School boys and girls cross country teams worked through the 90 and 100 degree weather during the opening week of practice.
Becky Steiger, Head Coach, noted it was a good summer for training. “We start practice and the weather knows, so it’s just part of our environment and it gets the kids ready for meet days.
Cross country runners work out during the summer preparing for the season, doing what Steiger calls base mileage…”good old fashioned road runs.” The team runs three days per week in the summer.
Steiger said at practice the first week they ran an average of four to seven miles, depending on the athlete’s ability when they begin.
In girls cross country Marissa Humphries and Bri Pace return after helping Junction City to a second place Centennial League finish a year ago.
Some of the returners on the boys team include Daniel Rivera, Nick Arneson, and Steven DeVoe.
The JCHS cross country teams open the season September 6 in a meet at Warner Park in Manhattan.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs had three decent opportunities to finally score a touchdown with their first-team offense on Saturday night. They came up empty on all of them.
Twice, Alex Smith was picked off by the Minnesota Vikings. The other time, coach Andy Reid opted to kick a 21-yard field goal rather than punch it into the end zone on fourth down.
So much for building some positive vibes heading into their preseason finale.
“You know, I think tonight was disappointing in the sense that this was the game week and we treated it as such, so there was a little more game-planning and preparation,” Smith said after a 30-12 loss. “You’d love to have shown a little better.”
That goes for games against Cincinnati and Carolina, too.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Scott Baker won as a starter for the first time in more than threeyears and the Texas Rangers beat the AL Central-leading Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.
Adrian Beltre put Texas ahead to stay with an RBI double in the first. Beltre had his fifth straight mulithit game, including all three games against Kansas City to extend his hitting streak against the Royals to 17 games.
Baker (2-3) went five innings in a spot start, 12 days after winning with two relief innings against Tampa Bay on Aug. 12. That was his first victory since a start for Minnesota against Detroit on July 23, 2011.
It was a good practice, and a good first week for the Junction City Blue Jay football
Coach Randall Zimmerman talks to the Blue Jays at the conclusion of their Saturday scrimmage.
team.
That was the assessment by Head Coach Randall Zimmerman following the team’s public scrimmage Saturday at Al Simpler Stadium. On the entire week Zimmerman said the players did some good things, and they know what needs to get accomplished. “A lot of that is just getting ourselves in physical condition to be able to go for a good two and a half hours. ” Zimmerman added some of the players are not quite where they need to be yet with the physical conditioning.
After the scrimmage he said he feels the team is real solid on defense. “It makes really tough to move the football against those guys. Offensively I saw some really good things. We were moving the ball at times. Late when we went to our hurry up stuff we scored two out of the three drives that we were in that mode.”
“Tanner’s ( Lueker ) making decisions a little bit quicker. On the defensive side Tyriq Nas is really zoned in on what he’s good to do. Raye Wilson looked great today. ” The coach also praised the play of Christian Ozores, Trae McDaniel, and also the defensive front.
At center Grant Whaley is the frontrunner for the position, but the coach indicated a couple of players new to the program are vying for playing time there, but are in the process of learning the position.
At running back Downey Wood is the leader in the competition at fullback. One fullback – running back Jeremiah Warren sustained an ankle injury leaving the locker room to go out to practice. He was held out of the scrimmage Saturday as a precautionary measure, but is expected back at practice on Monday.
The Blue / White Scrimmage will be next Friday night ( August 29 ) at the Al Simpler Stadium. The first game is September 5 at Highland Park. The home opener is September 12 against Emporia.
The Junction City Blue Jay football team will scrimmage Saturday morning ( Aug. 23 ) at Al Simpler Stadium from about 8 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
Head Coach Randall Zimmerman said it’s important for his team. “It’s an evaluation tool, see what we actually got done in the first week. I think we moved forward quite a bit during the first week. ”
The scrimmage will be what the Coach termed a situation practice. “Our special teams will be mixed in. We’ll do a lot of third down situations, a lot of first down situations, 20 and in, 10 and in, and get a little bit of our just our middle of the field stuff that we do.”
–Ty Zimmerman was waived by the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday ( Aug.26 ) as the team moved to get down to a 75-player limit. The New Orleans Times Picayune reported on their web site that he was waived with an injury designation and is considered a likely candidate for being placed on injured reserve if he clears waivers. If Ty Zimmerman is on injured reserve he would not be able to play this NFL season.
The formal action by the Saints came just a few days after his father Randall Zimmerman reported Ty Zimmerman had been put on injured reserve by the Saints.
Zimmerman Story
Ty Zimmerman suffered a shoulder injury in the New Orleans Saints’ exhibition opener
Ty Zimmerman during his days as a player at Kansas State University.
against the St. Louis Rams.
The end result is that the former Junction City Blue Jay and Kansas State Wildcat standout safety has been placed on injured reserve by the Saints.
That information was provided by Zimmerman’s father, Randall Zimmerman. “Unfortunately he’s very, very disappointed that it happened. At least he’s…he’s got a home for at least four or five months here. ”
Zimmerman injured the shoulder early in the game, but played the rest of the contest and recorded six tackles. Because he has been placed on injured reserve he will remain with the Saints, but will not be eligible to play this season.
Tryouts for the Junction City Brigade eight and under baseball team will be held Sunday, September 7 at 4 p.m. at Cleary Park at 1002 West 12th Street.
Players trying out cannot turn nine before April 30, 2015.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has been cleared to begin swinging a bat after missing the past month with a stress fracture in his right hand.
