Jim’s Journal, July 15th, 2024

Finishing the first half of the baseball season in Cincinnati Sunday, the Reds lost 3-2 to the Marlins, after beating the Fish in the first 2 games of their series.  It looked good for Cincy for a bit, when in the bottom of the 6th, Jonathan India broke up a Marlins’ no-hitter with a double.  Moments later, Elly De La Cruz belted an opposite-field 2-run homer to also erase the shutout, tying things up at 2.  But then Miami took the lead in the top of the 8th, Xavier Edwards hitting a single that scored a teammate from 2nd base, making for the final margin of Miami 3, Reds 2.  Cincinnati got through that latest homestand with 5 wins and 5 losses, finishing the first half of the season at 47 victories, 50 setbacks.

 

The break goes most of this week, with Hunter Greene and Elly De La Cruz on the way to Arlington, Texas for tomorrow night’s All-Star Game.  The Reds gather again in Washington at the end of the week, opening the 2nd half with a 4-game series against the Nationals.  Join us for the next Reds broadcast Friday at 6:15, on the Sports Voice, 103.9 WRBI.

 

The weekend just past has been one of the biggest in IndyCar racing, with a pair of events at Iowa Speedway, near the small city of Newton.  In Saturday’s Homefront 250, Scott McLaughlin had said he didn’t want to call himself an IndyCar driver until he won on an oval.  So, he went out and did it, dominating that race, and holding off Pato O’Ward in a series of late-race restarts.  Josef Newgarden, who’d won 4 of the last 5 Iowa races and 9 of the last 12 on ovals, ran 3rd .

 

Sunday, it was the OneStep 250…  same track, different result.  Will Power won the race, the 43rd of his career, 4th in IndyCar history.  After starting 22nd among 27 cars, Power said he was “over the moon,” having tried to win at Iowa for in his words, “years and years.”  He barely held off series leader Alex Palou at the finish, by only 391 thousandths of a second.  Power’s win cuts Palou’s series points lead to only 35, with 6 races remaining in the IndyCar season.

 

And tonight, don’t miss Overtime on WRBI.  Terrance Arney and Leon Smith will be talking with Batesville High and Notre Dame grad Chris Giesting, about his being an N-C-Double-A track champion, and getting some of his insights into this summer’s Olympic games.  Overtime, right after our 6:00 news block, this evening on the Sports Voice, 103.9 WRBI.