Sports this 'n' that

 We touched on this over at Tri-City SportsBeat on Sunday, but what we neglected to mention in noting that Dornoch had upset the field in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga was that one of his owners knows a little something about winning.

Retired baseball player Jayson Werth was on the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies, and finished his career with the Washington Nationals, where he came close, but never got a 2nd ring.

Dornoch, meanwhile, is still at Saratoga, and is being aimed at The Travers on August 24.

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The Mets & Phillies resume play tonight, but both teams came out of the London Series over the weekend with mixed results. The teams split the series, but now, it's come out that Philadelphia has placed star catcher JT Realmuto on the injured list with a knee injury. That means Garrett Stubbs gets the start vs. Boston tonight at Fenway Park.

Stubbs became the latest Phillies villain on Sunday when fans alleged that he attempted a "dirty" slide on his opposite number with the Mets, Luis Torrens. Didn't look dirty to me, and the cameras didn't pick up the slide live.

Still, fans on a Mets board on Reddit claimed, falsely, of course, that ex-Phillie Chase Utley, who served as an ambassador for the team, opposite Daniel Murphy for the Mets, taught Stubbs the slide. There's no evidence to support that claim, and those "fans" are mostly talk radio or social media dweebs who do nothing more than vent like they were at the neighborhood bar 24/7/365/52. Idiots.

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The US Olympic Women's basketball team for next month's Olympics in Paris was announced Monday, and notably missing was Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark.

Clark may not have a problem with being left off the team, and said all the right things, but for ESPN's resident idiot, Stephen A. Smith, to go off on USA Basketball on First Take reeked of ESPN and/or corporate parent Disney having issues with the decision. That won't change USA Basketball's position one iota, and Screamin' A. Cosell knows that. USA Basketball is putting together the best possible team, and that last word is the important one, team. The NBA has long been marketing individual stars more than teams, the WNBA, not as much. This is not about television ratings, which is why Smith is whining. Being a professional moron, he's probably trying to convince NBC, which will carry the Olympics, to, ah, persuade USA Basketball to reconsider. As far as ye scribe sees it, that is not necessary.

That being said, Smith gets a fresh set of Weasel ears.

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Kudos to Connecticut men's coach Dan Hurley, who decided to stay with the Huskies, and pursue a 3rd national title, instead of chasing the money and going west to the Lakers. The Huskies have won back-to-back titles, and could be poised to be a dynasty on the men's side for a change. Keeping Hurley gives them continuity, cohesion, and commitment.

And I shan't be surprised if Stephen A. Smith was whining about that, too.