Call missed in Seattle-Detroit game
NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino told NFL Network late Monday that a penalty should have been called on Seattle Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright for intentionally batting the ball through the end zone after it was stripped from Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson inside the 1-yard line late in Monday’s game.
It would have given the Lions the ball inside the 1-yard line with a first down trailing 13-10. Instead it was ruled a touchback, and Seattle was given the ball at its 20 and ran out the clock.
Wright admitted to batting the ball, although he thought he was making a good play.
“Yeah, you can’t hit it backwards, and you can’t intentionally I guess knock it out,” Wright said after the game, via The Seattle Times. “But at the time I wasn’t thinking that, I was just trying to not mess up the game. So I know now.”
Colby names head softball coach
WATERVILLE — Lisa-Ann Wallace, with experience and success in all three divisions of NCAA softball, has been named head coach of the Colby College softball program.
Wallace most recently was an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico since 2013. She was the head coach at Division I Bryant University from 2008 to 2013. She started at Bryant in 2000 when the program was Division II and successfully transitioned the program to Division I. Wallace also was head coach at Division III Fitchburg State University from 1995 to 2000.
Colby finished with an 11-18 record and was 4-8 in the conference last year, but it lost only three seniors to graduation.
Yankees bench Ellsbury for wild-card game
NEW YORK — New York Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was not in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s wild-card game against the Houston Astros.
Brett Gardner led off and played center field while Chris Young played left field.
According to manager Joe Girardi, the difficult decision to put Ellsbury on the bench was based on numbers against left-handed pitching. However, Ellsbury is 2-for-7 off Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel while Gardner is 0-for-4.
Gardner batted .276 with three home runs against left-handed pitching during the regular season. Ellsbury finished this year batting .253 with two home runs off left-handed pitching.
Mets’ Harvey late for practice
New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson voiced displeasure Tuesday when pitcher Matt Harvey did not show up for the start of a mandatory workout.
“You have to ask Matt,” Alderson said when pressed for Harvey’s whereabouts at the start of the workout.
Harvey, the right-handed starter who had a late-season rift with the team over limiting his innings to preserve his surgically repaired throwing arm, showed up an hour later. He said he was stuck in traffic and claimed he apologized to teammates for not being there.
Jennings to return as Marlins’ GM
Dan Jennings, who served as the Miami Marlins manager for most of this season, is going back to the job he knows best in the Marlins’ front office.
Jennings replaced Mike Redmond as manager when the Marlins got off to a 16-22 start.
Jennings will not be the Marlins’ manager next season and has been asked to resume his role as the team’s general manager.