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The agony of the nearly perfect game: Tampa Bay pitcher flirts with immortality – Yahoo Sports

On a quiet August Sunday afternoon, in front of a more-than-half-empty stadium, throwing for one unremarkable team against another, Drew Rasmussen nearly achieved history.

Unless you're a Tampa Bay Rays fan, or a really devoted Milwaukee Brewers fan, you probably have no idea who Drew Rasmussen is. Drafted in 2018, he made his major-league debut in 2020 for Milwaukee and got dealt to Tampa Bay early last season. He threw well enough to earn a spot in the Rays' rotation, but never even reaching the eighth inning of a start prior to Sunday. And then he nearly pulled off something that no MLB pitcher not Max Scherzer, not Justin Verlander, not Shohei Ohtani or Clayton Kershaw, nobody has done in 10 years.

Rasmussen took a perfect game into the ninth inning. In a game of positioning with the final AL wild-card spot at stake, Rasmussen faced 24 Orioles through eight innings, and set down all 24 of them, one after the other. He was dealing; he'd thrown just 79 pitches, and reached ball three on only two batters, both in the second inning.

And then, in one of those wrenching moments that make sports so glorious and so heartbreaking, he served up his first pitch of the ninth inning, an 86-mph cutter, only to watch Baltimore's Jorge Mateo rip it down the left-field line. Just like that, the perfect game was gone. Rasmussen would go on to get the win, and the Rays now have a crucial series win against Baltimore in the wild-card battle, but the chance for immortality vanished.

I mean, Ill take it, Rasmussen said after the game, per the Tampa Bay Times. Eight perfect [innings]. It helps our teams chance of winning. I wouldnt say it was disappointing. I came that close. Very few can say theyve done that.

He's right. There have been nearly 235,000 baseball games played at the major-league level since 1876 ... and only 23 perfect games. They arrive out of nowhere, and rarely from the pitchers you'd expect. Greg Maddux never threw one. Nor did Roger Clemens, or Tom Seaver, or Nolan Ryan. You know who has? Guys like Philip Humber and Tom Browning and Len Barker, pitchers who had everything working in perfect harmony for nine magical innings for one single day of their careers.

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No one in the majors has thrown a perfect game since Aug. 15, 2012, when Flix Hernndez did it for the Mariners. Rasmussen might never get this close to perfection again but then again, given the fact that he threw a perfect game in college for Oregon State, you never know.

What's maddening is how many perfect games seem to end, like Rasmussen's, in the ninth inning, with glory in sight but not yet achieved. Last year, the White Sox' Carlos Rodn lost perfection in the ninth when he hit a Cleveland batter in the foot. In 2015, Scherzer, then with Washington, plunked a batter with two outs in the ninth. Texas' Yu Darvish set down 26 batters before the 27th rolled a hit right back up through the middle. And in one of the worst officiating atrocities in sports, Detroit's Armando Galarraga lost a perfect game when an umpire incorrectly ruled a runner safe at first with two men out in the ninth. In all, 13 would-be perfect games have been spoiled by the 27th batter.

Baseball is the worst of all sports at getting hung up on its own mythology, the whole "Field of Dreams" treacle and nostalgia for bygone good ol' days always threatening to outshine the players and games of today. But in moments like this, when someone rises up to touch immortality, there really is something to all that "Baseball Is Life" jazz.

On any given day, you might achieve perfection. And if you don't, you get up the next day and start throwing again. Because you never know what might happen then, either.

This story was adapted from Read & React, Yahoo Sports' morning newsletter. To subscribe and get the newsletter delivered free to your inbox every morning, click here.

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - AUGUST 14: Drew Rasmussen #57 of the Tampa Bay Rays reacts during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field on August 14, 2022 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

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Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

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The agony of the nearly perfect game: Tampa Bay pitcher flirts with immortality - Yahoo Sports

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Researchers partner with industry to create better gene therapy tools – The Hub at Johns Hopkins

ByGina Wadas

Viruses are experts at infiltrating the body, as the SARS-CoV-2 virus (and resulting COVID-19 pandemic) have amply demonstrated. But their efficiency in targeting specific and isolated cells also make them useful drug delivery vehicles, known as viral vectors.

Viral vectors are modified viruses that can act as couriers to transport therapeutic "packages" to specific diseased cells. These packages contain instructions with modified or designed DNA or RNA to correct or supplement a faulty or missing gene. For instance, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine uses viral vectors to transport modified genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus to cells, generating an immune response.

Though viral vector-based gene therapies are among the most advanced treatments for many congenital and acquired diseases, producing them is complex and costly.

"One of the major challenges in viral vector gene therapy is how to improve the quality, purity, and cost of the manufactured viral vectors, so that we can use the smallest possible effective dose, reduce immune side effects, and lower the cost of treatments," said Hai-Quan Mao, associate director and core faculty member of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology. He is also a professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and a core faculty member at the Translational Tissue Engineering Center.

Hai-Quan Mao

Associate director, Institute for NanoBioTechnology

To address this challenge, Mao and his team are teaming up with Nolan Sutherland, senior scientist at bluebird bio, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company that develops gene therapies. The partnership started about two years ago when Yizong Hu, a biomedical engineering PhD student under the mentorship of Mao, was at an annual meeting for the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy presenting his research on a new particle assembly technology. Sutherland heard the presentation and approached Hu to discuss the technology and its application to the production of lentiviral vectors, which are made from a family of viruses that infect people by reverse transcription of their RNA into DNA in their host cells' genome.

Sutherland thought that the Mao team's approach might help streamline transfection, a key step in producing viral vectors. During transfection, a polymer solution is combined with a mixture of DNA plasmids to form transfection particles, a cumbersome procedure involving complicated solution blending and strictly timed dosing.

Mao, Hu, and Yining Zhu, also a biomedical engineering PhD student, developed a more effective and shelf-stable formulation of DNA particles in a ready-to-dose form. They also discovered that size-controlled sub-micron particles are most effective in transfecting cells and producing viral vectors. This production method is based on the team's years of experience in controlling transfection vehicle characteristics to enhance performances and stability.

The team members validated their findings with Sutherland at bluebird bio using that company's bioreactor. They compared the new method with the industry standard, and the results showed improved vector production yield, shelf stability, handling stability, and quality control of the transfection process.

"With the drastic increase in demand for lentiviral vector-based cell therapy products ... this new technology will greatly improve the production quality, consistency, and yield of our therapeutic LVVs," Sutherland said.

The team reported its findings in Nano Letters and is scaling up production with an eye to transferring the technology to the marketplace.

"This work represents a great example how we can partner with corporate collaborators to accelerate the translation of discoveries on the bench to the industry. This type of collaboration with industry provides us opportunities to identify the technical gaps in the engineering solutions that we develop, and fine tune them to better address the real-world problems in a more targeted fashion," Mao said.

According to Sutherland, the partnership with Mao and his team has "allowed bluebird to pursue high risk/reward innovation in a space outside of its core expertise. The team has a keen eye for application to industry which has made the partnership incredibly productive."

Team members say that this new particle engineering technology will find a wide range of applications in the manufacture of a variety of viral vectors for gene and cell therapy applications.

Also contributing to the project are Jordan Green, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and associate member at the INBT, and Sashank Reddy, assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, medical director at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, and affiliate faculty member at the INBT.

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EXCLUSIVE: Hulk Gets a 50 Shades of Grey-Inspired Pseudonym in Immortal Hulk #43 – CBR – Comic Book Resources

Marvel Comics presents an exclusive preview of Immortal Hulk #43, by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett.

Marvel Comics has given CBR an exclusive preview of Al Ewing and Joe Bennett's Immortal Hulk #43. In the preview, the Grey Hulk, who has control of Bruce Banner's body engages in fraud by pawning some ill-gotten jewelry. When the pawn shop owner asks for his name, he replies "Mr. Grey," which prompts the businessman to reply, "Yeah? As in Christian?" Grey Hulk doesn't deny that this is his name, which is a reference to one of the main characters in E.L. James'Fifty Shadesseries.

You can see CBR's exclusive preview ofImmortal Hulk#43 below alongside the solicitation information for the book.

RELATED: Avengers: How Ultron Wiped Out a Country BEFORE Sokovia

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Immortal Hulk #43, by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett, goes on sale Feb. 3 from Marvel Comics.

KEEP READING: X-Men: Cyclops and Jean Grey's Costume Change Has a Hidden Meaning

Before WandaVision: How Monica Rambeau REALLY Got Her Captain Marvel Powers

L.D. Nolan is the Features Team Lead at CBR. Prior to writing online, he worked in academia. He's currently trying to work his way through a pile of unread books that threatens to come crashing down, burying everything he loves and cares about, including his cat. You can find him on Twitter @LD_Nolan.

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EXCLUSIVE: Hulk Gets a 50 Shades of Grey-Inspired Pseudonym in Immortal Hulk #43 - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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Portland experts share perspective on what the office will look like when you go back to work – KGW.com

KGW's 'What's Next?' series looks at the future of work, technology and innovation in a post-COVID world. Hint: desks, hiring and your boss will all change.

For those working from home, or who've been laid off and your industry has collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic, what will the near-future look like for you, once things open up? We start our new series on KGW Sunrise called What's Next? with a look at the how the new office landscape will evolve.

Steve Brown is a Portland-based corporate consultant, innovation futurist with 31 years at Intel, and an author whose book "The Innovation Ultimatum" came out in 2020. We asked Brown to share some predictions for the future of work.

Fergus Nolan is a Portland-based business executive with 18 years as a senior director at Nike. He's now the Columbia Sportswear Director for Brands and Regions, Global Information Systems. We asked him for reaction to Brown's predictions and talk about what he's noticing in the business world.

Logistics

Steve Brown: Most people will spend 3-4 days a week at home and then go into the office when they need to collaborate with other people and strengthen relationships with people they work with. It doesn't mean offices go away. Now maybe we'll reconfigure those offices so that more of the space is given over to collaboration space so people can come together and brainstorm and work on projects. That moment when you run into somebody in the corridor, at the watercooler, in the cafeteria and you go, 'Oh yes! I meant to talk to you about that thing!' or 'Have you gotten that email from me yet?' All of those little moments of serendipity that is almost the lubrication that helps things move forward. We miss out on those with tools like Zoom and Teams.

Fergus Nolan:Prior to COVID, I was a firm believer that to get the most out of individuals, they needed to be in the office, they needed to work collaboratively, needed to be able to access other individuals quickly. My attitude and perspective has completely changed now though. I have just seen people doing amazing things in this new environment. But I don't think it's sustainable (working from home 100% of the time) long term without more of a hybrid approach. A college graduate, or a high school graduate coming into the workforce, I think they're at a disadvantage personally, if they don't have that actual workplace environment to help ground themselves in the culture of the company they're coming into.

Hiring and salary

Steve Brown: Now I can look at people across the country or perhaps across the planet to fulfill the role and find the perfect candidate. They don't have to crush themselves into cities. They can move to places with higher quality of life. You can start taking people working for example at Facebook in the Bay Area, who can now work across America and they're earning Facebook dollars and spending those dollars in local communities. Hopefully you'll see more money spent in rural communities and start to lift those communities up. You will see that salaries may drop as that cost of living adjustment is removed, but companies will still pay for the best talent they can get their hands on.

Fergus Nolan: There are significant challenges, especially from a taxation point of view for employers. So as much as it may seem attractive to do it, it's not always that easy. Having your workforce dispersed like potentially could come from this, is a challenge. Now saying that, the companies that can adapt and work with this new environment will have the ability to hire the best talent in the world. If you're earning a certain salary in New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco that is equivalent to that marketplace, I think it would be naive of people to think they can take that salary and move to Nebraska because most companies are going to say that is way more salary than you need for the community you're going into.

Management Style

A hybrid of some days at home, some days in the office will require a different management style.

Steve Brown: Hopefully most of the management by 'butts-in-seats' has already gone away. It's still alive in some places with some managers. But really what this means is, we have to move entirely to management-by-results. It doesn't matter whether you're at the office or at home, or how many hours you work, it comes down to what do you contribute to your organization? And that contribution is in terms of key deliverables and to team spirit, to the culture of your organization and so on.

Fergus Nolan: Managers need to create rewards relevant to the work their employees are doing. I think people respect that and do work way beyond the level they've done before.

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India vs Australia: From impossible to immortal, will we ever see anything like this again? – Firstpost

First, you can never take anything for granted. Second, never, ever, ever underestimate the Indians.

On the 19th of December, 2020, 36 all out happened.

Then, India lost Virat Kohli, and Mohammed Shami.

Then Umesh Yadav.

Then KL Rahul.

Then Ravindra Jadeja. And R Ashwin. And Jasprit Bumrah. And Hanuma Vihari.

India lost a lot.

And then, exactly a month on from 36, India won.

***

The lineup that India were able to assemble, eventually, for the decider of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020/21, at Brisbane Fortress Gabba/Gabbatoir/Come to Gabba et al was this:

1. Second away Test as an opener2. Third Test3. Ridiculed for intent4. Stand-in captain5. Recently-dropped opener6. Ridiculed for mostly everything7. Debutant, with no FC game in three years8. 10-ball long Test career9. Second Test half of it riddled with injury10. Third Test on the back of racial abuse, on the back of losing his father11. Debutant potentially ninth-choice fast-bowling option

If you were to make an equivalent Australian XI, considering similar blows and absentees, it could read something like this: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Wade, Joe Burns, Tim Paine, Moises Henriques, Ashton Agar, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland, Jackson Bird.

Now picture this revised Australian lineup playing a series-decider, against a full-strength India, at Chepauk.

How do you imagine that panning out?

***

The last visiting XI to win a Test at the Gabba read thus: Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson, Carl Hooper, Viv Richards, Gus Logie, Jeff Dujon, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Patrick Patterson.

When that West Indian team completed their victory, Sachin Tendulkar was a year away from his India debut, Virat Kohli was barely two weeks old, Diego Maradonas Argentina were world champions, and Steffi Graf had just become the first and still remains the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam (winning all four majors plus the Olympic gold in the same year).

***

Australia is the first country India made a cricket tour to as an independent nation. Indias travels to the distant land, from 1947 right upto 2018, had been the stuff of folklore even without ever actually winning a series there.

It was a different kind of folklore, though, until that point.

For through the first 70 years of Indian visits to the land Down Under, Indian cricket learned, to quote Christopher Nolan, that there can be no true despair without hope.

Think Brisbane 1968. Think Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide 1977/78. Think Adelaide 1992. Think Sydney 2004. Think Sydney 2008. Think Adelaide 2014.

And then, after seven decades of waiting seven decades of determination enveloped by disappointment, of dedication covered with dismay came the Aussie summer of 2018/19.

The promised land had been met.

But, it would be said in its wake, that it would be an achievement asterisked.

Australia didnt have two of their best players. Australia were a side in transition. Australia were a team inching their way out from their darkest pit.

How about this time, then?

Before the series, India didnt have their senior-most fast bowler. One game into it, they were without their captain/best batsman, and now deprived of two of their three first-choice pacers. Two games in, they were without three of their four first-choice pacers. By the time the last match arrived, they almost had more candidates for a hospital ward than they did to put out on the park.

For years, Australian tours to India had been billed as their final frontier. For India, their tours to Australia were more in the realm of the impossible dream.

Well, as it stands India have more Test series wins in Australia in the last two years than Australia have in India in the last 50.

Perhaps Mr.(Stephen) Kings take fits more nicely than Mr Nolans then: Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

***

Against Australia, mystically or not, have come some of the most astonishing triumphs in Indian Test history. From Kanpur 1959 to Kolkata 2001, from Melbourne 1981 to Adelaide 2003 to Perth 2008.

They will never be forgotten.

But this summer, this tour, this game this will never die. This now becomes the reference point. The permanent beacon. The forever sign-board, for any and all Indian travellers, feeling lost and out of sync.

From impossible, on the 19th of December, to immortal, on the 19th of January.

First, you can never take anything for granted. Second, never, ever, ever underestimate the Indians.

These words didnt come out of the Indian camp. They came, in a mark of begrudging respect, from the opposite coach, when Justin Langer spoke to the host broadcasters, Channel 7.

***

Oh, Covid youve been beaten! You could not stop one of the greatest spectacles you could see in life. You cannot stop sport. You could not have seen anything better than this!

Who else, but Harsha Bhogle, to illuminate this brightest of all days in the annals of Indian cricket, as Ajinkya Rahane lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and passed it over to T Natarajan before you knew it.

Yes, there are far greater battles for the country as indeed the world to fight.

But for one afternoon, basking in the most glorious glory, a country was happily positive; this was an injection nobody refuted; today, even if briefly so, everyone was united.

Weve always known this is more than a game for India. Today, we knew, if ever it was in doubt, that this is more than a team.

You know the best part? We knew it, even before they stepped out for what will, for now, be the greatest day of their cricketing lives.

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Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Receives $5 Million Charitable Gift to Accelerate Progress in World-Class Cardiovascular Prevention Research…

MHIF Establishes the Nolan Family Center for Cardiovascular Health to drive its commitment to changing the trajectory of heart disease

MINNEAPOLIS Aug. 3, 2020 The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF), an internationally renowned cardiovascular research organization, announced today a $5 million charitable donation from the Stuart Nolan family to support cardiovascular disease prevention research and education that aims to change the trajectory of heart disease for future generations. In honor of the gift matching the largest donation ever made to the foundation MHIF is establishing the Nolan Family Center for Cardiovascular Health.

My personal connection to cardiovascular research started with the care and treatment I received more than 30 years ago at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, which continues to allow me to live a full life, said Stuart Nolan, a long-time supporter of MHIF. My children have reached the age at which I had my first heart attack, raising the importance of understanding genetic and other risk factors that affect their heart health and underscore the importance of this work to my family. I have great faith in Dr. Miedema and his team of dedicated MHIF researchers who have shown a sincere commitment to furthering research to define the prevention and management of cardiovascular risks that affect many families.

At a time when wellness and overall health is as important as ever, this gift will accelerate progress and innovation in research and education around how to prevent cardiovascular disease, which continues to be the number one cause of death for people around the world. This research will also address some of the challenges around health disparities by further defining and understanding risk factors, as well as identifying the best care pathways for addressing care in racial and ethnic minorities where heart disease outcomes are significantly worse than other populations.

Our commitment to impactful, cardiovascular disease prevention research isnt new, but this inspiring gift from the Nolan family will propel our efforts to change the paradigm from heart disease to optimal health, said Michael Miedema, MD, MPH, director of the Nolan Family Center for Cardiovascular Health at MHIF and director of cardiovascular prevention at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. The ultimate goals of cardiovascular prevention research are to identify the optimal methods to accurately assess cardiovascular risk, as well as determine the best interventions to stop the evolution to heart disease. The research is all about determining who to treat and how to treat them, which gives our patients the best chance to avoid the tragic heart attack or the unwanted bypass surgery.

Mr. Nolan formerly served as MHIFs chairman of the board and is the current chairman of Minneapolis-based StuartCo, a residential property management company that he founded in 1970. He has received recognition for his ongoing commitment to giving back to the community.

Dr. Miedemas leadership in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention includes serving on the executive review committee for the 2018 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Cholesterol Guidelines and serving as a member of the 2019 ACC/AHA Committee for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. He also serves as an associate editor for the prevention section of ACC.org.

Over its 38-year history, MHIF has led groundbreaking research and education across a wide spectrum of prevention-related topics, including coronary artery calcium testing, blood pressure, cholesterol and statin use, nutrition and lifestyle behaviors, risk factors and screening for specific populations, premature heart disease and genetic disorders. New cutting-edge research planned for the Nolan Family Center for Cardiovascular Health will focus on risk prediction and optimal prevention therapies, including:

We are grateful to the Nolan family for a gift that drives the MHIF vision of creating a world without heart and vascular disease, said Kristine Fortman, PhD, MHIF CEO. This significant gift will accelerate our impact in preventive cardiovascular research, including supporting the infrastructure for the research, staff and fellows to lead an accelerated pace of clinical studies.

The Nolan family is creating a legacy in partnership with a respected research team, whose passion for discovery will advance our mission of achieving long and healthy lives for all without the burden of cardiovascular disease, said Scott Sharkey, MD, president and chief medical officer at MHIF. At this moment in our history, an unprecedented pandemic has emphasized the importance of a healthy lifestyle; we are thankful to be able to drive this important research that will benefit our patients and their families now and for generations to come.

About Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation

The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF) strives to create a world without heart and vascular disease. To achieve this bold vision, it is dedicated to improving the cardiovascular health of individuals and communities through innovative research and education.

Scientific Innovation and Research MHIF is a recognized leader across all specialties of heart and vascular research. Each year, MHIF leads more than 200 research studies with more than 2,200 patients and publishes more than 200 articles to share learnings from research. MHIF research has improved the standard of care for patients around the world, including through the development of protocols like Level One, which continues to significantly improve outcomes and survival for heart attack patients.

Education and Outreach MHIF provides more than 10,000 hours of education each year putting its research into practice to improve outcomes among health care providers. This commitment extends to patients and caregivers through a number of community health and education events to raise awareness of heart care and research, engaging individuals in their own health.

The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundations work is funded by generous donors and sponsors and engages in cutting-edge research initiatives with its physician partners from the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and at 38 community sites across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. For more information, please visit mplsheart.org.

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