Delle Donne Suffers Setback in Battling Illness

June 28, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Chicago Sky star Elena Delle Donne is home sick. Which is not necessarily the same thing as being homesick. The WNBA’s 2013 Rookie of the Year has returned to her native Delaware for treatment of Lyme disease, the team announced Friday afternoon. She had missed five games before returning to play Wednesday. There is no timetable for her return to the team. In case anyone was wondering whether athletes — especially highly talented and proficient ones — are human. Here’s hoping she gets well soon.

There’s always room for video and photos of WWE’s Summer Rae around here,

* Speaking of the Sky defeated the New York Liberty 73-69 Friday at Madison Square Garden, as Epiphanny Prince scored 30 for the Sky (7-8). Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter went scoreless for the first time in her eight-year career.

* Speaking of the WNBA, the Phoenix Mercury improved to 10-3 with an 81-76 victory against the Indiana Fever at Indianapolis. Brittney Griner, the 2013 No. 1 draft pick, went 1-for-6 from the field and finished with four points. Griner did have six blocks and six rebounds, but that’s not quite the dominant player some folks envisioned.

* Speaking of rookie stars, Chicago White Sox slugger Jose Abreu hits his 24th and 25th home runs in a 5-4 victory at Toronto. The Sox have played 81 games of their 162-game schedule. The rookie record for homers if 49 by Oakland’s Mark McGwire in 1987. The statistical-analysis department at ElliottHarris.com worked late into the night and early morning to determine that if Abreu equals his first-half output in the second half, he would finish with 50 home runs.

* Speaking of Abreu, he missed 14 games in the first half of the season. Meaning he averaged .37 home runs per game. If he maintains that productivity and plays 75 games the second half of the season, he would hit 28 more. The statistical-analysis around here is fairly certain that would mean his homer total would be 53. A reminder: Past performance is not guarantee of future results. Just as true in sports as it is in the stock market.

* Speaking of past performance, reserve catcher John Baker went 3-for-3 and drove in four runs in the Cubs’ 7-2 victory vs. the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field. He has eight RBI for the season. Pretty sure that means he doubled his RBI total in one game.

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