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GREEN BAY, Wis. — The first week of training camp here has revealed an early test of the Green Bay Packers‘ shadow general manager, aka quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Two slot receivers — one a veteran whom Rodgers campaigned to acquire, the other a rookie drafted when Rodgers was contemplating his future — have each gotten work with the starters.

Packers fans and fantasy managers alike want to know how playing time and targets will shake out between Randall Cobb and Amari Rodgers. The Packers’ actual general manager, Brian Gutekunst, expressed confidence last week coach Matt LaFleur would find roles for both players. But make no mistake: Aaron Rodgers’ long and clear history of favoring veteran receivers should be the guiding light of this discussion.

“He’s a dear friend,” Rodgers said of Cobb, “and a guy that I still believe can really play.”

Over the years, Rodgers’ exacting expectations of receivers has reduced his reliance on rookies to levels unseen elsewhere in the NFL. Since his career as a starter began in 2008, Rodgers has never targeted a rookie receiver more than 68 times in a season (Marquez Valdes-Scantling in 2018). Every NFL team has had at least one rookie receiver targeted more frequently in a season than that, and overall there have been 101 rookies with between 69 and 144 targets in a season between 2008 and 2020. To be fair, the Packers have never used a first-round pick on a receiver when Rodgers was a starter. But 59 of those 101 rookies cited (58%) were not first-round picks.

In the time they played together, Cobb was Rodgers’ favorite receiver based on targets. He threw Cobb’s way 607 times between 2011 and 2018, 62 times more than fellow veteran Jordy Nelson. Cobb caught 71% of the passes Rodgers threw him, the highest catch percentage of any Packers receiver.

There was and remains a deep connection between the two, one Rodgers wanted to wring more production from in the twilight of their careers. Rodgers’ desire to influence Packers’ personnel moves, at least the ones that revolve around the passing game, was a big part of his offseason reluctance to return to the team. And as they rekindle their magic this summer, Amari Rodgers is undergoing the demanding process of earning his quarterback’s trust.

“[Cobb] already has the trust of 12,” he said, referring to Aaron Rodgers’ jersey number. “I’m just trying to earn the trust of 12, and every single day just learn the offense and get the gist of it so, when Sundays come, whenever we get our opportunities, we’re going to make those plays so we can win the Super Bowl.”

We’ve seen what happens when Rodgers has a short list of trusted receivers. Over the past two seasons, he has found ways to target veteran Davante Adams 277 times. The next most-frequently targeted pass-catcher has been tailback Aaron Jones (128), followed by Valdes-Scantling at 119. The 149-target difference between Adams and Jones is tied for the highest between the top two pass-catchers on any team in the NFL since the start of 2019, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Adams’ 25.6% share of his team’s total targets is the second-highest in the NFL, behind DeAndre Hopkins (29.1% with the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals).

Adams is unquestionably one of the most talented receivers in football, of course, and it makes sense to target him as much as possible. But even in his rookie season, as a starter alongside Cobb and Nelson in 2014, he was targeted 68 times — 85 fewer than Nelson and 61 fewer than Cobb.

Amari Rodgers faces more obstacles than Adams did as a rookie, assuming Cobb stays healthy. (He has missed 14 games in the past three seasons due to injury.) Using both players in three-receiver sets would stretch LaFleur’s creative limits. Cobb has started 80% of his career snaps, and caught 44 of his 48 touchdown passes, from the slot. Amari Rodgers, meanwhile, ran 88% of his routes from the slot at Clemson in 2020.

In other words, neither has much experience working as an outside receiver. At least early in the season, that could lead to a focus on one-off plays such as bubble screens and backfield pitches for Amari Rodgers, as well as an emphasis on kick returns. Rodgers is an exceptional open-field runner and led the Power 5 last season with 602 yards after the catch on routes he ran from the slot.

“I knew as soon as I got drafted [that] every tiny bit of selfishness in me had to go out the window,” Amari Rodgers said. “Because I know the goal here is to win a Super Bowl and that’s my goal too. So I’m going to do everything in my power to help the team do that.”

Said Cobb: “I don’t care about how many snaps I get. I don’t care how many catches. I don’t care about how many yards, touchdowns. If you don’t know that about me now, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Fortunately, the two receivers have a unique relationship that should minimize any hard feelings. Amari Rodgers is the son of former Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin, who was Cobb’s receivers coach during his final year at Kentucky in 2010. (Martin is now an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens.)

So, Cobb first met Amari Rodgers when Rodgers was 12 years old, and they have stayed in touch since. Upon his unexpected return to Green Bay, Cobb pledged to help the rookie get acclimated to the Packers’ culture. That starts with building trust with the quarterback, and the recent history in Green Bay tells us that it takes time.

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Rays’ 8-run comeback largest in MLB this season

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Rays' 8-run comeback largest in MLB this season

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays overcame an eight-run deficit to beat the Baltimore Orioles 12-8 on Wednesday night in the largest comeback in the majors this season.

Tampa Bay matched the biggest comeback in franchise history. The Rays also rallied from eight down in a 10-8 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 18, 2012, and in a 10-9 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on July 25, 2009.

It tied the Orioles’ largest blown lead over the past 50 seasons. Baltimore last gave away an eight-run lead on April 28, 2017, against the New York Yankees. The Orioles led that game 9-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning before losing 14-11 in 10 innings.

Baltimore had an eight-run second inning on Wednesday. Colton Cowser smacked a three-run home run, Cedric Mullins added a solo shot, Gunnar Henderson had an RBI single and Ramón Laureano hit a three-run homer.

Tampa Bay’s Christopher Morel hit an RBI double in the third, and Jake Mangum‘s two-run single cut it to 8-3. Curtis Mead hit a two-out triple in the fourth and scored on a Junior Caminero single. Brandon Lowe‘s two-run homer in the fifth made it 8-8. And Jonathan Aranda had a two-run single in the Rays’ four-run seventh.

Lowe has at least a hit and a run in seven consecutive games, the longest active streak of its kind in the majors. He is batting .464 (13-of-28) with two home runs, five RBIs and eight runs during that span.

Caminero had four hits and two RBIs for the Rays.

Entering Wednesday, teams were 0-134 when trailing by eight or more runs at any point this season.

“It’s a tough game,” Orioles manager Tony Mansolino said. “It really hurts. But tomorrow, we’ll have to bounce back and try to figure out how to win a game.”

Three teams came back from eight runs behind last season in the majors. Pittsburgh was the most recent team to rally from more than that, erasing a nine-run deficit in a 13-12 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Nov. 23, 2023.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Yanks finally score, otherwise sputter in latest loss

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Yanks finally score, otherwise sputter in latest loss

NEW YORK — The good news for the Yankees on Wednesday was they scored a run after 30 consecutive scoreless innings. The bad news was they again didn’t score enough to win.

The Yankees fell to the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 to extend their season-high losing streak to six games. The Angels will look to complete a four-game sweep Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees, whose lead in the AL East has shrunk to 1½ games, will look to emerge from an offensive funk that has produced seven runs in seven games.

“That’s baseball,” Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. “We know what we signed up for. You’re going to play 162. You’re going to hit a little rut like this, but you can’t give up. You can’t mope about it. You just got to show up the next day and you got to be ready to play.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. ended the Yankees’ scoreless innings streak in the second inning with a moonshot solo home run down the right-field line, giving New York its first run since the ninth inning Saturday against the Boston Red Sox. Two innings later, Cody Bellinger launched another solo shot to give the Yankees their first lead since last Thursday when they defeated the Kansas City Royals 1-0.

But the Yankees mustered only one other hit — a ground ball from Bellinger in the sixth inning that was ruled a single after it bounced off Trent Grisham as he ran to second base for the inning’s second out. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he believed his team’s at-bats Wednesday were better than they were Tuesday — when he said he noticed his players pressing — and pointed to four walks as progress.

But the Yankees went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and are 5-for-48 (.104) with 12 strikeouts, four walks and three RBIs in such situations over their past seven games.

“We just got to break through now like we’re capable of offensively,” Boone said.

Judge, the two-time AL MVP who is a heavy favorite to win a third this season, has gone 1-for-19 with 11 strikeouts, two intentional walks and a home run over the past five games. He went 0-for-4 on Wednesday with two strikeouts, a 94.7 mph groundout and 107.9 mph flyout.

“Guys are pitching, they’re doing their job,” Judge said. “Sometimes we’re faltering on doing our job. But it’s tough to say. I think it just comes down to us not executing, us not doing our job. Maybe a little passive in certain situations. But all we can do is show up tomorrow ready to go.”

The Angels broke through to retake the lead in the eighth inning Wednesday without a hit when, after three walks, shortstop Anthony Volpe mishandled a ground ball on what should’ve been a routine, inning-ending double play. Volpe, a Gold Glove winner in 2023, was charged with his ninth error of the season, the second most among shortstops across the majors.

“Right off the bat, I got to be aggressive, go get the ball, make the play,” Volpe said. “As far as that, that’s all it is. It’s the first read off the bat.”

The lack of execution trickled to the offensive side in the bottom of the inning. The Yankees appeared ready to mount a rally when Jasson Dominguez walked and Oswald Peraza was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. But they were left stranded as Grisham, who was given the green light to swing away with one strike after failing to drop down a bunt, popped out, before Judge flied out and Bellinger popped out to extinguish the threat.

“When we’re not scoring a lot of runs, we got to execute on the highest level on the little things,” Boone said. “And we haven’t done that this week a handful of times when we had some opportunities.”

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Singer defied Dodgers, belted anthem in Spanish

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Singer defied Dodgers, belted anthem in Spanish

Latin singer Nezza said that she is “super proud” of performing the national anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night and that she has “no regrets.”

Her surprising 90-second rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ game against the Giants — and a behind-the-scenes video she shared on social media of team representatives discouraging it beforehand — quickly went viral. It has become a flashpoint for Dodgers fans frustrated by the team’s lack of vocal support for immigrant communities impacted by the deportation raids across the U.S., including numerous neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles.

“This is my moment to show everyone that I am with them, that we have a voice and with everything that’s happening it’s not OK,” Nezza, 30, told The Associated Press. “I’m super proud that I did it. No regrets.”

Nezza said she hadn’t yet decided whether to sing in English or Spanish until she walked out onto the field and saw the stands filled with Latino families in Dodger Blue. Before that, as shown in the singer’s TikTok video, a Dodgers employee had told Nezza, “We are going to do the song in English today, so I’m not sure if that wasn’t transferred or if that wasn’t relayed.”

The Spanish-language version Nezza sang, “El Pendón Estrellado,” is the official translation of the national anthem and was commissioned in 1945 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Peruvian American composer Clotilde Arias.

Nezza says her manager immediately received a call from an unidentified Dodgers employee saying their clients were not welcome at the stadium again, but the team denied that in a statement to the AP.

“There were no consequences or hard feelings from the Dodgers regarding her performance,” the Dodgers said in the statement. “She was not asked to leave. We would be happy to have her back.”

Despite the Dodgers’ statement, Nezza said she does not think she will return to the stadium but said she hopes her performance will inspire others to use their voice and speak out.

“It’s just shown me, like, how much power there is in the Latin community,” Nezza said. “We’ve got to be the voice right now.”

The Dodgers have not gone on the record regarding the arrests and raids made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the areas just a short drive from Dodger Stadium, but player Enrique Hernández posted about it on Instagram over the weekend.

“I am saddened and infuriated by what’s happening in our country and our city,” Hernández posted in English and Spanish. “I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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