MONDAY, MAY 23 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
discomfort and was lifted for
pinch hitter Riley Adams in the
seventh as a precaution.
Martinez called Cruz day-to-
day and said he will be reevaluat-
ed Monday. The manager
brushed aside a question about
whether Washington will need to
make a roster move to replace
Cruz before a three-game series
with the Los Angeles Dodgers at
Nationals Park.NATIONALS ON DECKvs. L os Angeles DodgersToday7:05MASN2
Tomorrow 7:05 MASN2Wednesday4:05MASNvs. Colorado RockiesThursday7:05MASNFriday7:05MASN
Saturday4:05MASN2Sunday1:35MASN2at New York MetsMay 30 7:10 MASNMay 31 7:10 MASN
June 11 :10MASNRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM)FROM NEWS SERVICES
AND STAFF REPORTSManchester C ity staged a t hrill-
ing comeback with a flurry of
three goals in f ive minutes f or a 3-2
victory over Aston Villa, edging
Liverpool to win its sixth Premier
League title in 11 seasons S unday.
City trailed by two goals, giving
Liverpool fans hope that City
might be on the cusp of an epic
upset as they watched their team
in a taut match with Wolverhamp-
ton. Like City, Liverpool came on
strong i n the l ate going, scoring in
the 84th and 89 th minutes for a
3-1 victory. But City’s lead in the
standings was insurmountable,
and its late heroics sent fans at
Etihad Stadium into hysteria as
they stormed the pitch.
Over 38 games, City finished
with 93 points to Liverpool’s 92
and held a 7 3-6 8 edge in goal
differential. City’s win ends Liver-
pool’s unprecedented “quadruple”
quest — the FA Cup, the Carabao
Cup, the Premier League title and
the U EFA Champions League title.
Liverpool can still win three; it
faces Real Madrid on Saturday in
the Champions League final in
Paris. Jürgen Klopp, the team’s
manager, took the turn of events
Sunday in stride, telling NBC, “If
you w ant to win big, you have to be
ready t o lose b ig.”
— Cindy Boren
Tottenham will be back in the
Champions League next season
after a t wo-season a bsence t hanks
to a 5-0 r out of last-place Norwich
that clinched fourth place.
Manchester U nited will join Ar-
senal in the Europa League under
new manager E rik ten Hag despite
a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace. West
Ham wasted the chance to dis-
lodge U nited from sixth place a fter
losing, 3-1, at Brighton, so this
season’s E uropa League semifinal-
ists will d rop into the Europa C on-
ference League.
Dropping out of the Premier
League is Burnley after a 2-1 loss to
Newcastle. Leeds beat Brentford,
2-1, t o avoid r elegation.
l ITALY: The city of Milan was
swarming with a sea o f celebrating
red-and-black fans as AC Milan
won i ts first Serie A t itle i n 11 years
with a 3-0 v ictory at S assuolo.
Veteran f orward O livier Giroud
scored twice to set his side on the
way to the win. Rafael Leão, who
set up a ll three goals, w as present-
ed with the Serie A player of the
season award after the match.
Milan finished two points
ahead of defending champion —
and c ity rival — Inter Milan, which
beat Sampdoria, 3 -0, at h ome.
Salernitana secured another
season of Serie A soccer despite
losing, 4-0, at Udinese as Cagliari
could only draw, 0-0, at bottom
club Venezia.
Napoli won, 3-0, at Spezia in a
match in which play was h alted for
12 minutes for crowd trouble.
l SPAIN: Granada was relegat-
ed from the Spanish league after
missing a s econd-half p enalty kick
in a 0-0 h ome d raw with Espanyol
that could have kept t he team up.
Cádiz’s 1-0 win at Alavés and
Mallorca’s 2-0 win a t midtable Os-
asuna kept them i n the top t ier.
l MLS: In Commerce, Colo.,
Jonathan Lewis scored five min-
utes into the second half and the
Colorado Rapids beat the Seattle
Sounders, 1-0, to extend their
home unbeaten streak to 24....
Moussa Djitte scored in the fifth
minute of second-half stoppage
time, a nd host Austin FC rallied for
a 2-2 draw w ith Orlando City....
Jackson Yueill scored a minute
into the second half to help the
San Jose Earthquakes earn a 1-1
draw with visiting Sporting Kan-
sas C ity....
In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Ariel
Lassiter scored in the first half,
Robert Taylor scored an insurance
goal late, and Inter Miami CF beat
the N ew York Red Bulls, 2 -0....
New York City FC defeated the
Chicago Fire, 1-0, at home for its
fourth straight w in....
In Carson, Calif., Sebastián Fer-
reira notched a goal and two as-
sists and Steve Clark turned away
nine shots as the Houston Dyna-
mo handled the L A Galaxy, 3-0....
In Frisco, Tex., Robin Lod and
DJ Taylor each scored and Minne-
sota United b eat FC Dallas, 2-1....
Daniel Ríos’s tap-in goal in the
85 th minute was the difference
maker in host Charlotte’s 2-1 win
over the Vancouver Whitecaps....
Justen Glad a nd Sergio Córdova
scored in the second half to lift
Real Salt Lake to a 2-1 win at CF
Montréal.
— Associated Press
SOCCER ROUNDUP
Man. City
secures
league title
with rally
MANCHESTER CITY 3,
ASTON VILLA 2constant smile, and his
chuckling laugh, with a touch of
devilishness at the edges, was
because he had found an “ideal
reader” — is it possible one still
exists? — who already
appreciated the writers, some
obscure, that he had edited for
decades. Thereafter, “How’s
Wendy?” was Topic 1.
Years later, he sent a copy of
his latest book, inscribed: “For
Tom — Less baseball, more life!
All best, as ever, Roger.”
I appreciated his friendly
scold about the imbalance that
can be caused by the lure of a
comfortable obsession. I read his
words now, his point finally
taken, with a retired smile:
better late than never.
As all of us who can type
concoct new ways to appreciate
the lifetime gift that Angell has
given baseball fans, I would add
a large footnote. Writers want to
be read. Roger’s work on
baseball put him in the Hall of
Fame. But his work, late in life,
in two volumes of memoirs —
“Let Me Finish” and “This Old
Man: All in Pieces” — may please
some readers just as much
because they are about such a
large subject: Roger’s own
sweeping life.
Of Angell, it’s often noted that
he saw Babe Ruth hit. We can
say, lucky us, that we read Roger
Angell.all his lifelong interests that he
inevitably saw generations of
loved ones die before him. And
old age, as he wrote about
eloquently, was as unkind to him
as to the rest.
Long ago, the Folger
Shakespeare Library called me
to ask whether I would join
Roger in one of their programs:
a two-person discussion on
baseball. I said, “Thanks very
much,” but it was probably not a
good idea because, come on, we
all have to know our place.
“You don’t get it,” I was told.
“Roger won’t do it unless you
come, too.”
This was typical. Angell
respected beat writers and
columnists who covered sports
daily because he knew us from
countless batting cages, press
boxes and clubhouses. He knew
the hours we worked — the
months’ worth of days a year on
the road and, thus, the loss of
“life.” And, true to baseball, he
respected home turf — get the
D.C. guy.
So we had a ball, riffing off
each other, one anecdote or
opinion igniting the next.
Afterward, we went to lunch
with my wife, Wendy, who
doesn’t follow sports but has
always loved the New Yorker and
modern fiction. I barely got a
word in edgewise.
My fantasy is that Roger’sseldom final truths.
And no chucking little paper
wads at people’s heads in public.
This sense of playfulness, his
attraction to every source of joy
— with baseball just one
example — made him a pleasure
to be around. Throw in modesty
and generosity, too.
In one of his later essays, he
wrote, “I’ve had a life sheltered
by privilege and engrossing
work, and shot through with
good luck.”
But he also lived so long and
stayed so actively engaged withAngell was profoundly
learned across all the arts,
including classical music. He
carried himself like a tweedy Ivy
League professor, genial but
with authority in reserve.
Friendly meets deeply
formidable. He had chosen a
literary life that required
commitment to psychological
depth, to grasping and
empathizing with the widest
possible range of subjects and
experiences. In that harsh
highbrow league, there are
flashes of provisional insight butFor a couple of innings, Angell
continued his bombardment,
accompanied by taunts of
“Watch the game,” “Get lost” or
variations on “Shut up,” though I
doubt he used those two words.
The dozen other writers in the
press box played dumb.
The force field created by total
self-absorption is its own black
hole. Some of Angell’s folded-up
wads struck home, but they
might as well have been buzzing
house flies. “He’s a goddamn
force of nature!” Angell said,
grudgingly, of The Celebrity.
Eventually, just as in Milton,
the Angell won. The heathens
left, looking perplexed, not sure
what had happened — which
delighted Roger. Perhaps the
21 st century would be theirs, but
a skirmish was ours.
In “Let Me Finish,” a book of
autobiographical essays, Angell
wrote, “Memory is fiction — an
anecdotal version of some scene
or past event we need to store
away for present or future use.”
When my wife told me that
Roger died, I remembered the
spitballs first. Because even
though, at that time, I had
known him for 25 years, they
were the part of him that I never
anticipated, right up until the
moment he went wonderfully
rogue.BOSWELL FROM D1THOMAS BOSWELLAngell was a gift to baseball fans, language lovers and friends alikeMARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Roger Angell, who died Friday at 101, always carried himself like
a tweedy Ivy League professor, genial but with authority in reserve.double and Soto followed with a
two-run single up the middle. If
nothing else, it counts for a small
something, especially because
Soto was 2 for 20 in his previous
six games — not to mention 2 for
28 with five walks with runners in
scoring position this season.
The highlights of the rally,
though, were back-to-back safety
squeezes by Dee Strange-Gordon
and Hernández against reliever
Brent Suter. Strange-Gordon
dragged his bunt down the first
base line, bringing in Maikel
Franco as he reached. Hernández,
batting right-handed, pushed his
toward first, too, reaching with a
single as Lane Thomas scored.
Hernández reached in three of
his five plate appearances. Thom-
as stayed hot with a pair of RBI
doubles, the first of which was
badly misplayed by Hunter Ren-
froe in right field.Cruz exits early
Designated hitter Nelson Cruz
sprained his right ankle while
awkwardly sliding into second
base in the fourth inning. He t ook
a few swings in the cage, feltBY JESSE DOUGHERTYmilwaukee — For weeks, Ste-
phen Strasburg and Joe Ross have
followed the same schedule, test-
ing their arms under the beating
sun in West Palm Beach, Fla. But
on Tuesday, as they progress
toward a return to the majors,
Strasburg and Ross will split to
start minor league rehab assign-
ments.
Strasburg will head to pitch for
the low Class A Fredericksburg
Nationals. Ross will throw for the
Class AA Harrisburg Senators.
The plan, detailed by Manager
Dave Martinez before an 8-2 win
over the Milwaukee Brewers on
Sunday, i s for the right-handers to
log four innings and 60 -plus
pitches apiece.
Ross will be in Harrisburg for
two reasons: He’s a bit further
along, meaning the club wants to
see him against better hitters.
And because Strasburg’s r ecovery
is more critical for the Nationals’
present and future, the front of-
fice wanted him at a closer site.
The Fredericksburg Nationals
play 55 miles from Nationals
Park. It’s likely more than one
team official will get better ac-
quainted with the drive this week.
“Now they’re actually compet-
ing in a regular scenario,” Marti-
nez said when asked about the
difference between simulated
games and rehab starts. “You
can’t take them out after 15, 16
pitches an inning. They got to go
out there, and they got to com-
pete. They got to get outs.”
Strasburg, 33, is still recover-
ing from last summer’s surgery
for thoracic outlet syndrome.
Ross, 29 and on the 60 -day in-
jured list, has been sidelined
since he had a bone spur removed
from his throwing elbow in early
March. Strasburg will face the
Salem Red Sox at 7:05 p.m. Ross
will square off with the Altoona
Curve at 6 p.m.
If they both rejoin the rotation,
the Nationals (14-28) would have
to make choices on two fringe
starters, probably affecting Aaron
Sanchez and rookie Joan Adon. To
do so, Martinez has maintained
Strasburg and Ross would need to
comfortably throw six innings
and 90 pitches. That means, at a
minimum, Tuesday’s starts are
the first of three appearances
with minor league affiliates. If
they check those on a five-day
schedule, the soonest they could
pitch for Washington is June 8.
At American Family Field on
Sunday, Sanchez was backed by
an offense that scored six runs in
the fourth. Despite shaky com-
mand, the 29 -year-old limited the
Brewers (26-15) with three double
plays in five innings. He nearly
had a fourth, too, but César
Hernández couldn’t make a turn
in the fifth and permitted a sec-
ond run to score. Sanchez ulti-
mately threw 89 pitches, 46 for
strikes, and was hurt most by a
fifth-inning solo shot by Tyrone
Taylor. Martinez doesn’t want
Sanchez thinking about the spots
that could disappear.
“It’s still a ways away.... They
got to continue to build up,” he
said of Strasburg and Ross. “It’s
honestly a good problem to have.
If we get Strasburg and Joe Ross
back, we’ll have to make sometough decisions later on. But I
want these guys to continue to
complete.”
In mid-March, once the Na-
tionals reported for camp, Stras-
burg admitted he needed at least
six weeks — the length of a nor-
mal spring training — before he
started a regular season game.
That took Opening Day out of the
question. But once Martinez pub-
licly wished Strasburg would
make between 20 and 25 starts, it
was clear Strasburg wouldn’t be
back until at least mid-May.
That was the most optimistic
view. More realistically, Strasburg
would surface again in the first
weeks of June. Since signing a
seven-year, $2 45 million deal in
December 20 19, he has pitched
only 262 / 3 innings. Back-to-back
season-ending surgeries have
kept that number frustratingly
low for the Nationals.
Without him and Ross in 2022,
the rotation entered Sunday
ranked 29 th in ERA (5.58) and
28 th in on-base-plus-slugging
percentage against (.812). A lot
rides, then, on how they feel after
throwing Tuesday night. Stras-burg has been pitching out of the
windup for the first time in a half
decade. Ross, expected to become
a free agent in November, has
been on the IL since he suffered a
partial tear in his elbow in Au-
gust. Needless to say, t hey and the
Nationals have been waiting for
this.Lineup shake-up
Why did Martinez jumble the
top of his lineup Sunday?
“Get someone else up there to
try to get on for Juan. That was
the biggest thing,” Martinez said
of bumping Soto from second to
third in the order, then sliding
catcher Keibert Ruiz in front of
him. “Kind of extend our lineup a
little bit more and see what hap-
pens. I mean, if [Ruiz] can get on
base, if [Hernández] and him can
get on base, then our big three
guys maybe can do something....
Keibert is swinging the bat well,
so I wanted to get him up at the
top.”
Did it work? That w ill be decid-
ed by a much bigger sample than
nine innings. But in Sunday’s piv-
otal fourth, Ruiz lofted an RBINATIONALS NOTESStrasburg, Ross set to start rehab assignmentsSTACY REVERE/GETTY IMAGES
Juan Soto, who entered Sunday’s game 2 for 28 with runners in scoring position, hit a two-run single.Nationals 8, Brewers 2
NATIONALS AB RHBI BB SO AVG
Hernández 2b................. 422111 .276
Ruiz c.............................. 511101 .288
Soto rf ............................ 501200 .243
Cruz dh ........................... 302100 .204
Adams ph-dh.................. 201001 .214
Bell 1b ............................ 500001 .291
Hernandez lf................... 412000 .321
Franco 3b........................ 422000 .267
Thomas cf....................... 412201 .228
Strange-Gordon ss......... 411101 .216
TOTALS 40 8148 16 —
BREWERS AB RHBI BB SO AVG
Wong 2b......................... 301010 .235
McCutchen lf.................. 401101 .250
Yelich dh......................... 400002 .243
Tellez 1b......................... 301010 .246
Renfroe rf....................... 401001 .268
Narváez c........................ 400001 .241
Taylor cf ......................... 412100 .228
Peterson 3b.................... 311000 .217
Brosseau ss.................... 201010 .298
TOTALS 31 28 235 —
WASHINGTON........ 011 600 000 —814 0
MILWAUKEE........... 000 020 000 —282
E: Brosseau (4), Peterson (2). LOB: Washington 6, Mil-
waukee 6. 2B: Thomas 2 (5), Ruiz (9). HR: Taylor (3),
off Sanchez. RBI: Thomas 2 (15), Cruz (21), Strange-
Gordon (2), Hernández (9), Ruiz (12), Soto 2 (13), Tay-
lor (12), McCutchen (16). S: Peterson.
NATIONALS IP HRER BB SO NP ERA
Sanchez ....................... 572221 89 7.16
Rogers....................... 11 / 3 10000 19 4.37
Cishek.........................^2 / 3 00011 10 5.06
Finnegan...................... 100002 14 3.52
Rainey.......................... 100001 10 3.09
BREWERS IP HRER BB SO NP ERA
Peralta ........................ 365512 59 4.42
Suter............................ 253302 50 5.14
Perdomo...................... 330000 27 2.57
Milner.......................... 100002 26 3.45
WP: Sanchez (3-3); LP: Peralta (3-2). Inherited run-
ners-scored: Suter 2-2. T: 3:03. A: 39,822 (41,900).
HOW THEY SCORED
NATIONALS SECOND
Josh Bell grounds out. Yadiel Hernandez lines out. Mai-
kel Franco singles. Lane Thomas doubles, Maikel Franco
scores. Dee Strange-Gordon grounds out.
Nationals 1, Brewers 0
NATIONALS THIRD
Cesar Hernandez walks. Keibert Ruiz lines out. Juan
Soto grounds out. Cesar Hernandez to second. Nelson
Cruz singles, Cesar Hernandez scores. Josh Bell flies
out.
Nationals 2, Brewers 0
NATIONALS FOURTH
Yadiel Hernandez singles. Maikel Franco singles. Yadiel
Hernandez to third. Lane Thomas doubles, Maikel Fran-
co to third, Yadiel Hernandez scores. Dee Strange-Gor-
don singles, Lane Thomas to third, Maikel Franco
scores. Cesar Hernandez singles, Dee Strange-Gordon
to second, Lane Thomas scores. Keibert Ruiz doubles,
Cesar Hernandez to third, Dee Strange-Gordon scores.
Juan Soto singles, Keibert Ruiz scores, Cesar Hernan-
dez scores. Nelson Cruz singles, tagged out at second,
Hunter Renfroe to Mike Brosseau. Juan Soto to third.
Josh Bell grounds out. Yadiel Hernandez lines out.
Nationals 8, Brewers 0
BREWERS FIFTH
Omar Narvaez grounds out. Tyrone Taylor homers. Jace
Peterson singles. Mike Brosseau singles. Jace Peterson
to second. Kolten Wong singles. Mike Brosseau to sec-
ond. Jace Peterson to third. Andrew McCutchen reach-
es on a fielder’s choice, Kolten Wong out at second,
Mike Brosseau to third, Jace Peterson scores. Christian
Yelich lines out.
Nationals 8, Brewers 2