Royce Lewis didn’t realize his latest homer for the Twins made a large section of videoboard go dark
Copyright Source：
Yueke
Wed, Jun 26, 2024
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Royce Lewis noticed the large section of the ribbon board above left field that went blank in the middle of the game and figured the people in charge of ballpark operations for the Twins were frustrated by the malfunction on Wednesday night.
As it turned out, Lewis — with his eighth home run in 14 games — was the culprit.
“If I had to pay for that, that would be a lot,” he said sheepishly. “Hopefully not.”
The Twins had a game to play, of course, a tight one that tilted toward the Tampa Bay Rays in the 10th inning on, coincidentally, a throwing error by Lewis that allowed the go-ahead run to score. They didn’t realize the correlation between the homer and the videoboard malfunction.
“I had no idea it was from me, no,” said Lewis, who has the most home runs in Twins history in a player’s first 14 games of a season. “It’s funny, I feel it off the bat now, and I have a good idea that it’s probably gone. I’m just looking at my teammates to amp them up and get them going. I think they love it just as much as I do now, so just trying to get the boys going.”
This one wasn’t quite Roy Hobbs busting the light bulbs in the movie “The Natural,” but the videoboard-breaker was yet another highlight to add to the reel for the ebullient first overall pick in the 2017 draft.
Lewis, who went 3 for 4 with a walk and is batting .380 with a .439 on-base percentage and a .900 slugging percentage this season, has hit 29 homers with 74 RBIs in 90 career major league games including the playoffs.
With an exit velocity measured at 108.7 mph off a 2-2 cutter from Rays right-hander Taj Bradley, this one ricocheted off the ribbon board that fronts the second deck above left field. Seconds later, a long section of LED lights used to depict the rotating advertisements went dark. The red Budweiser logos that were up at the time wound up with a blank black splotch, as did the rest of the ads that followed.
“When he finds the barrel, you hear that kind of piercing snap,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He finds the barrel more often than most and when it leaves the bat, a lot of the time there’s not really a question. You feel pretty good about it as it’s leaving the bat. It was another good swing by him. He’s having a lot of very meaningful at-bats. He’s doing a lot of very, very positive things for us at the plate right now. We’ve seen that a lot from him already in the couple weeks he’s been playing, and I keep saying it: ‘More to come.’ There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more to come.”
Lewis stopped an 0-for-7 skid with a single in the first inning.
“I don’t do that slump thing,” he said, recalling a conversation earlier in the day with teammate Pablo López. “That’s not a real thing for me.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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As it turned out, Lewis — with his eighth home run in 14 games — was the culprit.
“If I had to pay for that, that would be a lot,” he said sheepishly. “Hopefully not.”
The Twins had a game to play, of course, a tight one that tilted toward the Tampa Bay Rays in the 10th inning on, coincidentally, a throwing error by Lewis that allowed the go-ahead run to score. They didn’t realize the correlation between the homer and the videoboard malfunction.
“I had no idea it was from me, no,” said Lewis, who has the most home runs in Twins history in a player’s first 14 games of a season. “It’s funny, I feel it off the bat now, and I have a good idea that it’s probably gone. I’m just looking at my teammates to amp them up and get them going. I think they love it just as much as I do now, so just trying to get the boys going.”
This one wasn’t quite Roy Hobbs busting the light bulbs in the movie “The Natural,” but the videoboard-breaker was yet another highlight to add to the reel for the ebullient first overall pick in the 2017 draft.
Lewis, who went 3 for 4 with a walk and is batting .380 with a .439 on-base percentage and a .900 slugging percentage this season, has hit 29 homers with 74 RBIs in 90 career major league games including the playoffs.
With an exit velocity measured at 108.7 mph off a 2-2 cutter from Rays right-hander Taj Bradley, this one ricocheted off the ribbon board that fronts the second deck above left field. Seconds later, a long section of LED lights used to depict the rotating advertisements went dark. The red Budweiser logos that were up at the time wound up with a blank black splotch, as did the rest of the ads that followed.
“When he finds the barrel, you hear that kind of piercing snap,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He finds the barrel more often than most and when it leaves the bat, a lot of the time there’s not really a question. You feel pretty good about it as it’s leaving the bat. It was another good swing by him. He’s having a lot of very meaningful at-bats. He’s doing a lot of very, very positive things for us at the plate right now. We’ve seen that a lot from him already in the couple weeks he’s been playing, and I keep saying it: ‘More to come.’ There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more to come.”
Lewis stopped an 0-for-7 skid with a single in the first inning.
“I don’t do that slump thing,” he said, recalling a conversation earlier in the day with teammate Pablo López. “That’s not a real thing for me.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
```
Could a $170 High-Tech Soccer Ball Be the Reason for So Many Spectacular Goals at Euro 2024?
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — With outrageous goals flying in from all angles, Euro 2024 has started with a bang.
Could a $170 high-tech soccer ball be to thank for this?
“When you strike it, it stays hit,” England captain Harry Kane said.
The adidas Fussballliebe, meaning “love of football” in German, is the official match ball of the European Championship. Players appear to have quickly mastered it, resulting in a slew of stunning, long-range goals.
“It’s quick,” Kane said. “For me, personally, it is better for the strikers or the goal-scorers than it is for the goalkeepers, so I’m not going to complain about that.”
Nor are the fans, after witnessing so many spectacular strikes.
There was a goal into the top corner from around 20 meters in Turkey’s 3-1 win against Georgia. That was rivaled by his teammate Mert Muldur’s volley from the edge of the box in the same game.
Romania’s Nicolae Stanciu struck another from distance against Ukraine and nearly scored directly from a corner kick, which hit the crossbar.
Xherdan Shaqiri scored a stunner for Switzerland against Scotland, and there were rockets from Italy’s Nicolo Barella and Czech Republic’s Lukas Provod.
“Any footballs for these tournaments aren’t exactly made with goalkeepers in mind,” Denmark keeper Kasper Schmeichel said. “It’s a pleasure to strike. You can get good distance. They are certainly not made for the grip for the goalkeeper.”
Official tournament balls have been criticized in the past. Some players complained that adidas’ Jabulani for the 2010 World Cup was unpredictable.
UEFA says the Fussballliebe has been designed for “accuracy and consistency, supporting fast, precise play with maximum shape and air retention.”
It is made of recycled polyester and more “sustainable bio-based materials” than balls used for previous tournaments, including corn fibers, sugar cane, and wood pulp.
The ball, which was reduced to $85, sold out on adidas’ online store in America.
How it has contributed to the likes of Guler’s wonder goal is not clear, but smart technology within the balls assisted VAR officials in disallowing Romelu Lukaku’s would-be late equalizer in Belgium’s shock 1-0 loss to Slovakia.
UEFA is using connected ball technology for the first time at a European Championship, which can help identify every touch of the ball and send precise data to video assistant referees. A chip fixed on a gyroscope inside the ball sends data 500 times per second to record the point at which it is kicked.
In combination with AI, it can help determine offsides, but in the case of Belgium, it detected a marginal handball from Loïs Openda in the buildup to Lukaku’s disallowed goal in the 86th minute.
“The sensor in the adidas connected official match ball was able to accurately record the touch of the hand of the player with the surface of the ball,” UEFA said. “This was the first time the fast and accurate technology supported a refereeing decision during a Euro 2024 match.”
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James Robson is at Euro 2024.
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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024
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