As it looked increasingly tight for the Phillies against the Pirates at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, the United States Vice President Joe Biden made a prediction - Ryan Howard will hit a homer.
Howard did just that in the ninth inning - belting a 420ft, three-run shot to left-centre field to tie the game for Philadelphia.
Raul Ibanez then doubled, and two batters later, Paul Bako singled him home to cap off an improbable comeback, with the scoreline reading 8-7 in Philadelphia's favour. The Phillies scored five in the ninth off Pirates closer Matt Capps to beat the Bucs, 8-7, in front of 45,210 fans.
"It was incredible," said Biden, wearing a Phillies cap and posing for a picture with Howard after the game. "I loved it. You know, the thing about the Phillies is, you never gave up."
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers took advantage of a first-inning error to get to Los Angeles Dodgers starter Jeff Weaver early en route to a 6-3 win at Miller Park.
After Craig Counsell hit a triple, he should have been thrown out at home trying to score on Ryan Braun's ground ball to shortstop Rafael Furcal, but Furcal threw the ball past catcher Russell Martin to allow Counsell to score.
Braun reached second on the error and scored moments later on Prince Fielder's single.
Weaver then served up a home run ball to Frank Catalanotto, and was charged with his fourth run on Mike Burns's RBI single.
Back-to-back home runs from Furcal and Andre Ethier got the Dodgers within one, but the Brewers scored twice in the eighth to make sure.
The Brewers have closed the gap atop the National League Central back to two games after the division-leading St Louis Cardinals went down 5-2 to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Ted Lilly, the Cubs' lone All-Star this season a year after they had eight, collected his 100th major league victory as he held the Cardinals to four hits over eight innings, giving up one run.
He was handed a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Cardinals starter Brad Thompson loaded the bases and then hit Milton Bradley with a pitch to force in the first. Jeff Baker followed with a two-run single.
The win was crucial for the Cubs as they bid to stay in touch with the Cardinals, who are three and a half games ahead.
Pablo Sandoval's 15th home run of the season helped the San Francisco Giants overcome the early loss of starter Matt Cain to beat the San Diego Padres 2-1.
Cain took a Tim Stauffer line drive off his pitching elbow in the second inning and left the game with what the team described as a bruise. The injury could prevent him from taking up his place on the All-Star team.
But Justin Miller stepped in to pitch three and one third scoreless innings in relief, and got the support of Sandoval's second home run in as many days - a two-run blast that scored Randy Winn and provided all the offence San Francisco would need.
The New York Mets gambled that a change of scenery could get Jeff Francoeur back to his best, and Friday's trade with the Atlanta Braves paid some early dividends as the outfielder drove in two in a 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
With Johan Santana shutting out the Reds over seven innings, Francoeur did the damage when he came up with the bases loaded and hit a single.
* With agencies
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Porsche Macan T: The Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 265hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,800-4,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Speed: 0-100kph in 6.2sec
Top speed: 232kph
Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km
On sale: May or June
Price: From Dh259,900
Our House, Louise Candlish,
Simon & Schuster
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
