Fact Friday

Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep cool and would change it every two innings!

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Spain beats Italy [7-6] on Penalties

Spain edges Italy on penalty kicks to reach FIFA Confederations Cup Final vs. Brazil.

After 90' of 0-0 soccer, Spain put away 7 penalties in a row, as Italy only missed one by Leonardo Bonucci to end the game.

One special Stat seems to always standout in relation to a victorious soccer team; "Time of Possession". 9/10 soccer teams who walk away with a win, notoriously rule possession percentage for 90 minutes. Spain 54% Italy 46% in today's matchup. Granted it was called based on PKs, you can still notice the dominance of this stat according to the number of Shots on Goal [19/Spain, 13/Italy] The more time you have possession of the ball as a team, the greater number of shots on goal, resulting in a higher statistical chance of scoring. Pay attention to this stat on Sunday after the Final and test this theory, see if the Time of Possession is dominated overall (after 90') by the winning team. 

FIFA Confederations Cup Final:

SPAIN vs. BRAZIL

3:00pm PST

LindenAthletics 

LAD Complete 3-Game Sweep of the Defending World Series Champs

Dodgers win their 5th straight with a 4-2 victory over the Giants. Kershaw had 7 Ks, allowed 2 ER in 8 IP; keeping his ERA at 2.06 Kershaw, now tied with Pittsburgh's Jeff Locke, is .01 behind the first place Mets Pitcher Matt Harvey.

Yasiel Puig went 3-4 and is living up to his epic start with a .435 batting average.

The Giants' only runs came in the fourth on Buster Posey's 10th HR of the season. The Giants have lost 4 in a row and 9 of 12, dropping them to fourth place in the NL West.

Zack Greinke (4-2, 3.79 ERA) will be on the mound for the Dodgers as they face the visiting Phillies at 7:10pm PST

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Early Wimbledon Exit for Federer

Roger Federer was en route to capture a record-setting 8th title at Wimbledon until Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky (ranked 116th) upended the Swiss master in 4 sets [6/7, 7/6, 7/5, 7/6] of Second Round play. 

Federer's remarkable streak of reaching 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals ended today, "It's always a disappointment losing any match around the world and particularly here." -RF

Having won only one tournament this year, Federer had made a home at Wimbledon. He had not lost before the quarterfinals at Wimbledon since falling in the first round to Mario Ancic in 2002. Visions of a quarterfinal between Federer and Nadal suddenly come to an end, as they are both shockingly gone from the tournament.

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