The roof at the Open was closed yesterday. That would be the fancy new retractable roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium and it did what it's designed to do at the U.S. open tennis tournament, allow matches to be played even when there's a driving rain outside. But the number two mens' seed Andy Murray pointed out a problem with playing under the closed roof amid a torrential rain: the sound of the water hitting the roof can be so loud you can't hear anything else inside, including the sound of the ball being hit.
That may not seem like much to do deal with, but Murray likened it to playing with headphones on. He said pro tennis players use their ears when they play, not just their eyes, because sound helps them pick up the speed of the ball, how hard it's being hit, even the spin. Murray said it's just something the players will have to get used to, and Murray didn't suffer too much from the distraction, winning his match in straight sets.
On the womens' side, no major upsets, and the Williams sisters, number six seed Venus and top seed Serena, both won in straight sets yesterday.
In Major League Baseball the Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees were both idle yesterday. The Red Sox had a travel day, getting out to the left coast to open a nine-game road trip that starts tonight against the A's in Oakland with David Price, who's been very good in his last few starts, taking the hill for Boston. It could also be the major league debut at some point tonight for Yoan Moncada, the rookie prospect from Cuba who's been called and could see some action at third base, which has been a problem for Boston of late, with both Travis Shaw and Aaron Hill slumping at the plate.
The NY Yankees take on the Orioles in Baltimore tonight, with Chad Green getting the start against the O's Dylan Bundy.The Yanks took two out of three from the Royals and are still in the hunt for the second available wild card spot.
The NY Mets were in action yesterday, seeking a four-game sweep of the Miami Marlins, but the effort fell short in a 6-4 loss. Christian Yelich took Jacob De Grom deep for a three-run homer to lead the Marlins offense, and that's three straight games with a homer for Yelich. De Grom took the hill after a seven day layoff between starts as the Mets have been worried about arm fatigue, but De Grom walked four and was shaky in suffering his eighth loss of the season. The Marlins snapped their season-high five game losing streak with the win.
In the NY Penn League, JaVon Shelby homered for a third straight game last night, but it wasn't enough to extend the Monsters winning streak to three games as they fell to the Hudson Valley Renegades 3-2 in upstate New York. Shelby's homer gave the Monsters a 2-0 lead but starter and Oakland A's first round draft pick A.J. Puk couldn't hold the lead, giving up three runs, only one earned, over four innings in his final start of the season. Puk finishes his first year in the pros with an impressive 3.03 ERA with 40 strikeouts over ten starts for the Lake Monsters this year.
Some college soccer results, in the womens' game the season opener for the Norwich Cadets was a thriller that went to two overtimes against Colby-Sawyer, with the Chargers getting the win on a goal off the foot of Emily Martin. Elsewhere Plymouth beat Lyndon 6-0 and Curry defeated Johnson 8-1. The Johnson mens' team had no trouble with Wheelock, winning 8-0.
