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MLB-BRAVES-HERNANDEZ
Félix Hernandez opts out of 2020 season
ATLANTA (AP) — Former Cy Young winner Félix Hernández has opted out of the 2020 season, at least temporarily ending his bid to revive his career with the Atlanta Braves.
Braves manager Brian Snitker says the 34-year-old Hernández chose to skip the season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A six-time All-Star in 15 seasons with Seattle, the player known as King Felix needed a fresh start following 2019, his worst season.
The decision was made after Hernández participated in workouts Friday and Saturday at Truist Park.
The Braves announced Saturday that four-time All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, reliever Will Smith and two more Atlanta players tested positive for COVID-19.
F1-AUSTRIAN GP
Bottas wins F1′s season-opening Austrian GP, Hamilton 4th
SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Valtteri Bottas has won a chaotic season-opening Austrian Grand Prix which saw Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton finish fourth after getting a late time penalty.
Hamilton’s penalty saw him drop from second to fourth on Sunday. That meant Charles Leclerc took second place for Ferrari and Lando Norris was third.
The race was interrupted three times by a safety car and nine of 20 drivers abandoned. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon both went out the race.
F1 DRIVERS AGAINST RACISM
F1 Drivers all wear “End Racism” T-shirts, but 6 don’t kneel
SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Valtteri Bottas kneeled holding the winners’ trophy at Formula One’s season-opening Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday and the podium trio held up a black T-shirt with “End Racism” written on it.
That message was delivered before the race when all drivers wore that T-shirt. World champion Lewis Hamilton, the only black driver in F1, had Black Lives Matter on the front and End Racism on the back.
But six drivers did not join Hamilton and 13 others in taking the knee. One of the six, Charles Leclerc, later tweeted that behavior in everyday life matters more than “formal gestures that could be seen as controversial in some countries.” He said his failure to take a knee doesn't mean he's “less committed than others in the fight against racism.”
Hamilton has spoken widely about racism in recent weeks following the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd in May.
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