Justin Upton's home run in the eighth inning against the Nats gave the Atlanta Braves their 11th consecutive win, increasing their lead in the division over second-place Washington by 13 games.
"I thought," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said, "that the division was going to be a lot closer."
"You want to step on their necks, especially when we've got this big of a lead," said Freddie Freeman, who drove in Atlanta's first two runs with a pair of singles off Stephen Strasburg in the third and fifth. "We can expand it a little bit more against them. I think we set the tone tonight."
Nelson Cruz said he made an "error in judgment." Jhonny Peralta said, "I made a terrible mistake." After White Sox fans booed him during every at-bat (example below) and every time he touched the ball, Alex Rodriguez said, "I love Chicago." And that about sums up the Biogenesis scandal.
Zack Greinke raised his batting average to .405 as the LA Dodgers won their 15th road game in a row, beating St. Louis 3-2.
Vince Young signed with the Green Bay Packers following an "impressive" workout with the team.
Though Tampa Bay Bucs owner Richard Glazer promised less games would be blacked out in Tampa, that won't start with their first preseason game which will be blacked out.
Browns RB Trent Richardson is likely to miss Cleveland's opening preseason game with a shin injury, despite aiming to play in all four preseason games.
LSU's Jeremy Hill had terms of his probation changed and immediately rejoined the LSU Tigers for practice.
The NY Knicks will reportedly open their season against the Milwaukee Bucks.
FLASHING LIGHTS
Kanye West will perform "Black Skinhead" at the VMAs.
Drake had an incredible lineup for his OVO fest in Toronto last night, featuring performances from A$AP Rocky, Diddy, Kanye West, Big Sean, J. Cole, Miguel, The Weeknd and Wale.
Casey Veggies drops a video for "The Team."
Casey also linked up with Kid Ink for "I Know Who You Are."
DID YOU REALIZE?
US embassies shut down and American citizens in Yemen were urged to return home because the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, encouraged terrorist groups in the area to "do something." In response, the US gov't droned four al Qaeda members.
As if Chicago didn't have enough to worry about, economists see a huge pension crisis that may leave many retirees SOL.
One farmer in Colorado is sick and tired of stupid drug laws, and is taking matters into his own hands now that his state is coming around on marijuana. He's openly growing hemp in his fields, which can be used for all sorts of things like oil or clothing material, adding, "I'm not going to hide anymore."
With so many trolls and reports of abuse rising, Twitter may need a new system.
A day after threatening networks with blocking GOP debates from airing on their channels, a Republican Super PAC released an app that lets you slap Hillary Clinton. If you're this scared, you've already lost, guys.
The TSA used to work at just the airport. Now, they're dispatching special units to sweep transportation hubs as well as sporting events and music festivals.
The founder of Amazon.com will buy the Washington Post.
EVERYTHING I AM
The US government ordered the Special Operations Division, made up of NSA, FBI, CIA, IRS, and Homeland Security members, to destroy evidence that showed their agencies used NSA spying information to build cases against American citizens. Here's how they pulled it off:
The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to "recreate" the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant's Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don't know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence – information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses.
GOTTA HAVE IT
Here's the latest from Nylo, who makes music that sounds like snow.
