The Arizona Diamondbacks hoped to have A.J. Pollock back before the All-Star break. The center fielder’s thumb was in good
shape
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returning.
Pollock came back earlier than expected, coming off the 10-day disabled list on Monday and putting a key bat back in Arizona’s lineup as it tries to hold
onto the NL West lead.
Pollock was slated to hit fourth against St. Louis in his first game back since breaking his left thumb while diving for a ball in the outfield against
Milwaukee on May 14.
”I’m thankful that the guys here trusted me and allowed me to play a couple games and get back,” Pollock said.
Pollock got off to a strong start this season, hitting.293 with 11 homers and 33 RBIs in 40 games before the injury. Arizona’s division lead, once at six
games with Pollock in the lineup, was down to 2 1/2 over the Los Angeles Dodgers
after a three-game sweep by the San Francisco Giants over the weekend.
”Swing feels good, everything feels good
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Arizona also purchased the contract of right-hander Joey Krehbiel from Triple-A Reno and released right-hander Troy Scribner. Right-hander Silvino
Bracho and utilityman Christian Walker were optioned to Reno.
The 25-year-old Krehbiel went 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 29 games with the Aces. He is looking for his big league debut.
Bracho went 2-0 with a 1.84 ERA in five stints with the Diamondbacks this season.
Walker hit .208 with a homer and two RBIs over four stints with Arizona.
Tom Brady has accomplished just about everything when it comes to playing in the Super Bowl.
His five titles and four Super Bowl MVPs are more than any other quarterback. He has posted the two biggest comeback wins in Super Bowl history, including
last year’s rally from 25 points down to beat Atlanta. He has thrown for more
yards or touchdowns than any quarterback on the biggest stage.
Perhaps the only accomplishment missing seems like a relatively simple one: leading a first-quarter scoring drive.
In one of the more surprising Super Bowl stats, the Patriots have failed to score a single point in the first quarter in their seven Super Bowl trips in the
Brady-Bill Belichick era.
”We’re trying to score every time we take the field,” Brady said. ”There’s a little caveat to that in my opinion. In 2007, it was our first drive of the
game, it just happened to be the first play of the second quarter.
”But it was the first time we touched it. So we did score when we got it first. But I’d love to score 21 points in the first quarter if we can but
obviously this defense can make it really tough for us.”
The Patriots did score on that first possession in their first meeting against the Giants. But because New York held the ball for 9:59 to open the game
with a field-goal drive, Laurence Maroney’s 1-yard run came on the first play of
the second quarter.
The first-quarter scoring woes in the Super Bowl led to a memorable moment from an NFL Network documentary about last year’s title of linebackers coach
Brian Flores addressing a banquet to honor the team.
”Coach Belichick
Braden
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goes `Tom, we’ve been to six Super Bowls together, and we’ve never scored a
point in the first quarter. Can we get that done?”’ Flores told the crowd. ”I
look around and I go, `Man, we’re going to score 30 points in the first
quarter.”’
Instead it didn’t happen. It was another first-quarter shutout as the Patriots went three-and-out the first time they had the ball and then stalled
near midfield following two sacks on the second drive. The third drive ended
when LeGarrette Blount fumbled on the second play of the second quarter.
Brady has been on the field for a first-quarter score when his intentional grounding penalty in the end zone against the Giants in 2012 led to a safety for
New York. That was one of four scores in the first quarter against the Patriots
in their seven trips with Belichick and Brady.
”Look, we try to score in every game
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understand, but we try to go out and score and keep the other team from scoring.
That’s our goal every game.”
It’s not as if slow starts are a chronic problem for Brady and the Patriots. Since his first season as the starter in 2001, New England leads the NFL on
first-quarter scoring with 5.7 points per game.
The Patriots are only a tick behind that at 5.5 points per first quarter in the playoff rounds prior to the Super Bowl with Brady at quarterback.
But for some reason that all changes on the biggest stage, even though it hasn’t stopped the Patriots from winning five Super Bowl titles.
”I would say that’s the emphasis every week,” receiver Phillip Dorsett said. ”We play better when we start fast, and that’s a big emphasis every week, not
just in the Super Bowl but in the weeks prior to this. I
mean
Tyquan
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and we get out to a good start, when we get points on the board on that first
drive. So, we always like to do that.”
—
AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report
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