Thunder beat Nets despite shaky defense
Baseball agent
and trainer were found guilty Wednesday of smuggling Cuban baseball players into the U.S. in a fraudulent scheme designed to capitalize on the defectors’ major league contracts.
The two South Florida men will be sentenced July 11 on conspiracy and smuggling charges. U.S. District Judge
allowed them out on bond but ordered them to wear electronic ankle monitors in the meantime.
The jury at Miami’s federal courthouse deliberated for only a few hours after the seven-week trial concluded.
Hernandez and Estrada’s lawyers had argued that the prosecution’s case was like an overblown movie trailer foreshadowing dark and dramatic subterfuge in a plot to bring Cuban ballplayers off the island and onto Major League Baseball rosters.
But prosecutors portrayed Hernandez and Estrada as mastermind and mover of athlete commodities through a pipeline that enabled Cuban defectors to follow a route to third-country way stations and pro contracts in the U.S.
Hernandez and Estrada were accused of conspiring to pay off boat captains, falsify documents and deceive U.S. immigration authorities so that Cuban players could become free agents and they could cash in on a percentage of the players’ deals.
Hernandez, who for a time monopolized the Cuban defector market, and Estrada, a former Cuban national team catcher and former Coral Park High baseball coach, brought 25 players into the U.S. illegally via Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to the indictment.
Hernandez was charged with bringing in
who signed with Texas for $15 million in 2011.
Estrada was charged with bringing in three players, including Chicago White Sox first baseman
who signed for $68 million in 2013. A third defendant, who acted as a fixer in Haiti, is at large.
Tanaka enjoys the Japanese WBC performance
is impressed with Japan’s performance in the World Baseball Classic.
“They’ve won a couple of the tournaments but I think it’s the first time that they’ve won every single game coming up to this point,” the New York Yankees ace said Wednesday through a translator, “So, looking at that, I think they’re in good shape.” sparked a five-run sixth inning with a solo home run to lead Japan over Israel 8-3 Wednesday and into the championship round. Japan (6-0) advanced along with the Netherlands, which beat Cuba 14-1 at Tokyo.
Tanaka pitched for Japan to help win the nation’s second straight title in 2009 and again in 2013, when it lost to Puerto Rico in the semifinals. He doesn’t regret his decision not to participate this year.
Mets’ Tebow has multi-hit day
singled twice and made a diving catch at the right-field warning track, his best day as a professional baseball player.
“I think I’ve had fun every game, genuinely, but I think this one, there was a lot of action,” Tebow said after Wednesday after the New York Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Miami Marlins. “When there’s a lot of action that’s also fun. You like being involved.”
The 29-year-old, a former Heisman Trophy winner, reached in the second against starter
with a grounder into the hole that shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria knocked down but couldn’t come up with.
Tebow line a single to left-center off Stephen Fife leading off the fifth, then slid into the wall in the bottom half to catch Carl Albert product
drive to right that was slicing away from him.
Tebow also grounded out in the seventh, leaving him with a .214 average (3 for 14) in four games.
FROM WIRE REPORTS
The Thunder beat the Nets 122-104 Tuesday night, and that qualifies as good news because it was in Brooklyn. Not since Jan. 25 had the Thunder won a road game.
So at least the bleeding is stopped. But it wasn’t pretty. Blood never is.
The Thunder and the hapless Nets were tied at halftime. Brooklyn led as late as midway through the third quarter – Victor Oladipo’s 16-foot jumper gave OKC the lead for good with 6:43 to go in the third – and the Nets still were within nine points inside of five minutes remaining in the game.
All because of the Thunder’s refusal to play defense. On the recent three-game road trip in which OKC lost at Portland, Phoenix and Dallas, the Thunder played awful defense. That continued Tuesday night, when Andre Roberson was off the floor.
Roberson picked up three fouls in the first 5:11 of the game Tuesday night. The Thunder led 16-11 when Roberson went to the bench. He stayed there through halftime.
In that 18 minutes and 49 seconds with Roberson the bench, the Nets scored 51 points and made 18 of 32 shots.
Billy Donovan figured Roberson was pretty fresh, so his defensive ace played all but the final five seconds of the third quarter. And in the third period, Brooklyn scored 21 points and made five of 17 shots.
So through three quarters, the Nets made 10 of 25 shots with Roberson on the court, scoring 32 points in 17:06. With Roberson off the court, the Nets scored 51 points in 18:54.
That’s not an indication of Roberson’s particular defensive prowess. But it is an indication that perhaps Roberson brings defensive intensity every night, while his teammates don’t always do so.
Brooklyn is a mess of a team. The Nets fell to 12-54 with the defeat. Brooklyn is 28th in the 30-team NBA in offensive efficiency. Yet the Netropolitans had 62 points at halftime.
In other words, the road losing streak ended in Brooklyn. The Thunder’s lackadaisical road performance did not.