Connect with us

Arizona

Cardinals Make Roster Moves Ahead of Week 2

Published

on

Cardinals Make Roster Moves Ahead of Week 2


ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals have announced the following roster moves ahead of their Wednesday practice:

“The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has signed linebacker Julian Okwara (OAK-wara) to the active roster from the practice squad and has placed offensive lineman Jonah Williams on injured reserve. In addition, the team has signed offensive lineman Charlie Heck to the practice squad.”

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon previously said this morning Williams would go on injured reserve.

“Jonah’s going to go on IR. Not going to speculate about the time when he’s going to get back, what that looks like. [We’re] still gathering more information about that,” Gannon told reporters.

Advertisement

Williams will miss at least the next four weeks.

While the Cardinals will slide Kelvin Beachum into the starting spot at right tackle, Heck’s presence on the practice squad bolsters depth at the position.

More on Heck from the team’s media relations department:

“Heck (6-8, 315) played 41 games (21 starts) the past four seasons with the Texans after entering the league with Houston as a fourth-round selection (126th overall) in the 2020 NFL Draft from North Carolina. The 27-year old Heck appeared in all 17 games in 2022 and started 13 games at right tackle in 2021. He started four games last year with Houston. His father, Andy Heck, is the offensive line coach with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Heck will wear jersey #67.”

Advertisement

As for Okwara, he was added as pass rusher ahead of the team’s regular season opener, where they lost 34-28 against the Buffalo Bills.

The Cardinals failed to create a consistent rush with Zaven Collins, Dennis Gardeck and Xavier Thomas rotating at outside linebacker.

Arizona plays host to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2. We will get our first injury report later today.



Source link

Advertisement

Arizona

Arizona Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #42: 5/13 @ Rangers

Published

on

Arizona Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #42: 5/13 @ Rangers


Last night was the seventh consecutive game where the Diamondbacks were held to six hits or fewer. That ties a franchise record, last done in April 2022, and previously in August 2011. The team’s .477 OPS over that time is actually lower than either streak, though due to the efforts of the pitching staff, Arizona are actually 3-4 during the current run. They went 2-5 in 2022, and 1-6 in 2011. There hasn’t been a longer streak in the majors since the Angels went nine in April last year. In the National League, the Pirates went eight in June 2023. And in case you are wondering, the last team to reach a double-digit streak of games with 6 or fewer hits each time? The 1968 Astros reached 11, the year before the mound was lowered.

Let’s hope the D-backs render that moot and the offense comes to life a bit. The three runs added in garbage time last night, because one of the Rangers’ relievers couldn’t find the strike-zone, certainly padded Arizona’s resume. But they were more because of walks than hits. I’ve no doubt the team will hit better. They have batted .152 over the past week. It’s the second lowest in franchise history for a seven-game span. The only worse was April 7-15, 2022 when Arizona hit a remarkable .135, going 28-for-208 in that span. They actually scored three more runs than the current streak, mostly because they had twice as many home-runs (6-3).



Source link

Continue Reading

Arizona

Arizona Democrats debate for state’s top education job

Published

on

Arizona Democrats debate for state’s top education job


play

Democrats Brett Newby and Teresa Leyba Ruiz are set to make the argument to voters that they’re the best candidates to serve as Arizona’s top education official for the next four years.

Advertisement

The Arizona Republic will be streaming the Democratic debate for the Superintendent of Public Instruction race in partnership with the Arizona Media Association. The debate starts at 6 p.m. on May 13.

The office is currently held by Tom Horne, who will on May 14 face off in an Arizona Media Association debate against fellow Republican candidate Kimberly Yee, who currently serves as state treasurer.

Newby has worked as a behavioral analyst and professor, according to his campaign. He received a master’s degree in special education. His campaign has hinged on issues like downsizing the state’s controversial Empowerment Scholarship Program, retaining teachers and hiring more school counselors.

Ruiz attended Roosevelt Elementary School District and Phoenix Union High School District as a child before earning her Ph.D. from Arizona State University. She worked as a teacher at the middle and high school level before becoming president of Glendale Community College.

Like Newby, her campaign has also focused on the ESA program. She has also focused on advocating for more funding for public schools and supporting both rural and urban school districts. Ruiz has also spoken publicly about the teacher retention crisis as part of her campaign.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Arizona

Arizona Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #41: 5/12 @ Rangers

Published

on

Arizona Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #41: 5/12 @ Rangers


The last trip through the rotation for the Diamondbacks has been really good:

By that 5-game rolling average game score, it’s the best we’ve seen since a run around the All Star Break in 2022:

If we restrict to 5-game stretches with 5 different starters, it’s the best since September 2019:

So yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve had it this good. But this is still a far cry from the best in Diamondbacks history — the current stretch is only tied for 58th all-time. Here’s the best ever:

Advertisement

The good news is that there’s still quite a lot of room for Zac Gallen to improve on his last start, which had a Game Score of only 47. Doing so would give us an even better 5-game average. A score of better than 60 would surpass the 2022 streak; 69 or better would surpass 2018. Although it would take a career-best-tying 89 (reached against the Cubs on September 8, 2023) for him to pull the overall average into a tie for the franchise record. But any improvement on his last start would bring the rolling average up in the franchise rankings.

All records queried here are courtesy of Retrosheet.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending