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ST. LOUIS — St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong said he got tired of seeing the Blues being a punching bag, leading to his decision to fire coach Craig Berube.

“Your mind starts to work when you’re everybody’s homecoming game,” Armstrong said Wednesday. “It’s not a good feeling.”

Armstrong dismissed Berube late Tuesday night, about two hours after the Blues lost to the Detroit Red Wings 6-4. The two men had a beer and the move was made.

“I feel personally responsible for the situation that we’re in,” said Armstrong, who has been with the Blues since 2008 and the GM since 2010. “It’s not a great day but it’s a new day. Now we move forward.”

Armstrong said he made the decision after consulting team owner Tom Stillman.

“The players didn’t come in and say, ‘Fire Craig Berube and we’ll be better.’ The way we play the game right now isn’t good enough,” Armstrong said. “I think we’re a better team than our play indicates. We’ve changed the coach. If we could move, I guess, chairs on the Titanic, I guess we would but it’s harder to do.”

The loss to Detroit was the latest in a string of disappointing defeats. St. Louis entered the third period up 4-3 but ended up losing their fourth in a row. The losses came against Vegas, Columbus, Chicago and Detroit, with the middle two games being on the road.

Berube, 57, guided the Blues to the Stanley Cup championship in 2019. He replaced Mike Yeo on Nov. 20, 2018, as the interim coach and led an amazing turnaround. He led St. Louis to a 38-19-6 record in 2018-19.

“We’ve built a friendship over the years. He’s a true professional. We talked a little bit. We had a beer. We reminisced for a second and now my job is to move forward,” Armstrong said. “Craig will now regroup. He’ll land on his feet.”

Drew Bannister will be the interim coach. He had been the coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League. He was traveling Wednesday to St. Louis from Springfield and did not attend the team’s practice.

He will make his debut Thursday when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators.

“Now I don’t know if tomorrow will be different,” Armstrong said. “I just know one of the things has been removed from the equation and that’s the head coach. When you make that change, you’re getting to the center of the hourglass and that’s myself and the players.”

Bannister will be a candidate for the job, Armstrong said.

“I will start the process of looking for a permanent replacement,” Armstrong said. “There’s no timeline on that and there will be no updates on that as I go through it. We’ll announce it when we announce it.”

St. Louis is mired in sixth place in the Central Division, nine points behind division-leading Colorado. The Blues are in 10th place out of 16 teams in the Western Conference.

The Blues rank 26th in the NHL in goals per game (2.82) and have the second-worst power play in the league at 8.4% (7 for 83).

Armstrong also announced the Blues have hired Brad Richards as a consultant. He will look at the team’s power play and make suggestions. Richards played in Dallas when Armstrong was there. Richards retired in 2015.

Berube, who was in his sixth season with the Blues, had a record of 206-131-44. His win total ranks third in team history. He registered 24 playoff victories in 51 postseason games. Under Berube, St. Louis won five playoff series.

“There was no relief,” Armstrong said about Berube’s reaction to being fired. “He’s a competitor. He said, ‘I get it.’ He’s been in the NHL a long time.”

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

LAS VEGAS — Left-handers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox won Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards on Thursday.

Cleveland right-hander Emmanuel Clase won his second AL Reliever of the Year award and St. Louis righty Ryan Helsley won the NL honor.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined David Ortiz as the only players to win four straight Outstanding Designated Hitter awards. Ohtani and the New York YankeesAaron Judge won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in their leagues.

Major League Baseball made the announcements at its All-MLB Awards Show.

Sale, 35, was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177⅔ innings for the NL’s first pitching triple crown since the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011. He earned his eighth All-Star selection and first since 2018.

Sale helped Boston to the 2018 World Series title but made just 56 starts from 2020-23, going 17-18 with a 4.86 ERA, 400 strikeouts and 79 walks over 298⅓ innings. He was acquired by Boston from the White Sox in December 2016 and made nine trips to the injured list with the Red Sox, mostly with shoulder and elbow ailments. He had Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, and returned to a big league mound on Aug. 14, 2021.

Sale fractured a rib while pitching in batting practice in February 2022 during the management lockout. On July 17, in his second start back, he broke his left pinkie finger when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks. Sale broke his right wrist while riding a bicycle en route to lunch on Aug. 6, ending his season.

Crochet, 25, was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts for a White Sox team that set a post-1900 record of 121 losses, becoming a first-time All-Star. He struck out 209 and walked 33 in 146 innings.

He had Tommy John surgery on April 5, 2022, and returned to the major leagues on May 18, 2023. Crochet had a 3.55 ERA in 13 relief appearances in 2023, and then joined the rotation this year.

Sale and Crochet were chosen in voting by MLB.com beat writers.

Clase and Helsley were unanimous picks by a panel that included Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers, along with John Franco and Billy Wagner. The AL award is named after Rivera and the NL honor after Hoffman.

A three-time All-Star, Clase was 4-2 with a 0.61 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 10 walks in 74⅓ innings, holding batters to a .154 average. The 26-year-old converted 47 of 50 save chances, including his last 47.

Voting was based on the regular season. Clase was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in the playoffs, allowing three home runs, one more than his regular-season total.

Helsley, a two-time All-Star, was 7-4 with a 2.04 ERA and 49 saves in 53 chances. He struck out 79 and walked 23 in 66⅓ innings.

Ohtani became the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. A two-way star limited to hitting following elbow surgery, Ohtani batted .310 and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs while stealing 59 bases.

Ortiz won the DH award five years in a row from 2003-07.

The DH award, named after Edgar Martinez, is picked in voting by team beat writers, broadcasters and public relations departments. MLB.com writers determined the finalists for the Aaron awards, and a fan vote was combined with picks from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners to determine the selections.

Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs while hitting .322.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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