New WhatsApp messages have revealed how Southampton orchestrated a spying campaign against their Championship rivals.

Junior members of staff told the independent disciplinary commission how head coach Tonda Eckert had placed them “under extreme pressure” to carry out a task they were clearly uncomfortable with and felt was morally wrong.

The exchanges are detailed in the written reasons of the League Arbitration Panel, appointed to hear Southampton’s appeal against being expelled from the Championship play-offs and deducted four points from next season.

Saints had pleaded guilty to charges of spying on Oxford United and Ipswich Town in the regular season, and then Middlesbrough before the play-off semi-final.

In the written reasons of the punishment, Southampton’s conduct was described as “contrived and determined plan from the top down” which head coach Eckert had approved.

Now WhatsApp messages revealed in the League Arbitration Panel’s report detail how the plan was orchestrated

The messages detail how:

The document goes on to explain how the intern was caught by staff at Middlesbrough as he spied on their training session in the build-up to their play-off semi-final in May.

It details how he discovered Southampton had been accused of spying while he was still on a train from Middlesborough back to Southampton.

And it reveals how Southampton then attempted to delete images of the intern from the internet.

Appointed on a four-year deal in the summer of 2024, Bellamy made an impressive start as Wales head coach, his first senior managerial role.

The former captain was unbeaten in his opening nine matches, winning promotion to the Nations League’s top tier and instilling an attacking new style of play.

However, his first qualifying campaign ended in failure as Wales lost their World Cup play-off final at home to Bosnia-Herzegovina in March.

Bellamy has often been linked with a move into club management, and he has been open about his desire to make that switch after leaving Wales.

However, leading Wales at Euro 2028 – a tournament they will co-host with England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland – is a huge incentive for him.

There have been no formal bids for Bellamy yet, and any potential suitor would have to pay a release clause of at least £700,000 to get him out of his contract with the FAW.

“I couldn’t see it being fair for me to walk away. That’s not right,” said Bellamy.

“I had one or two players ringing up like, ‘Is this true?’. Listen, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going again, we’ve got another two years.

“I’ve always wanted to do this role, so I don’t want to wish this away. I get great backing, you know, and that’s all I can ask for.”

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The Yankees did something weird, and it forced me down the worst stats wormhole I’ve ever been through. Plus: How to get ejected before a game even starts, and Ken Rosenthal says what we’re all thinking … Tarik Skubal is going to be traded. I’m Levi Weaver — welcome to The Windup!

Stark Signal: Yankees score 13 runs in one inning

From their inception in 1903 — as the New York Highlanders — through 2004, the Yankees had scored 13 runs in an inning precisely zero times. Then, in 2005, they did it twice. Then never again … until yesterday.

The way they did it was kind of a microcosm of that nothing-then-everything pattern: All of the Yankees’ runs in yesterday’s 13-8 win over the Athletics came in the third inning. It was a game that is destined for a Jayson Stark “Weird and Wild” column in the near future.

• The Yankees finished the third inning with 11 hits, four walks and four stolen bases over 43 minutes and 75 pitches.
• It wasn’t just scoring that was limited to the third. They also tallied zero hits in any other inning.
• Outside the 18-hitter third inning, A’s pitchers held the Yankees to the minimum (24 batters). 

While we wait for Stark, Brendan Kuty has a first pass at all the other weirdness from this one.

And after we hear from Ken Rosenthal, I will tell you how one stat from this game wrecked my whole night.

Middle Relief: All eyes on Skubal

As the Tigers continue to fall in the standings, the chance of them trading Tarik Skubal continues to rise. Here’s an excerpt from Ken’s latest:

The only remaining question is whether Skubal can establish he is healthy. The Tigers are on the verge of achieving the near-impossible — falling out of contention not just in one of the weakest divisions in baseball, but also in an underwhelming American League with six playoff spots available.

Skubal, recovering from an innovative new surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow, is scheduled to throw another simulated game Monday. If he continues his rapid progress, he will be back sometime in the next few weeks, maybe sooner. And if the Tigers decide to trade him, they likely will hold off as long as possible before the Aug. 3 deadline, allowing demand to build and Skubal to demonstrate he is back to his two-time Cy Young form.

Still, a growing belief exists within the industry that Skubal is a goner. And if NanoNeedle surgery indeed repaired his elbow with minimal disruption, the frenzy to acquire him might even top what we saw with Juan Soto in 2022 or any other July auction in recent memory.

Every contender will at least check in — yes, even the spendaholic, back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers, who might view the deadline as something close to last call. The next collective bargaining agreement will include either a salary cap, closing the sport’s Free Spending Saloon, or other payroll restrictions that would have a similarly sobering effect.

The Tigers, 4-21 since learning Skubal would need surgery, are 16 games under .500, the worst team in the AL. They are 11.5 games out in the Central and seven games back in the wild-card race. And they have 14 players, including 10 pitchers, on the injured list, tied with the Dodgers for the most in the majors.

Right fielder Kerry Carpenter (shoulder) returned as a DH on Sunday, and second baseman Gleyber Torres (oblique) should not be far behind, potentially sparking the offense. Skubal, whenever he rejoins the team, obviously should provide a jolt.

So for now, the Tigers cling to faint hope, recalling their incredible run in the final two months of 2024. Yes, it was just two years ago when they earned a postseason berth after falling behind by 10 games, the largest deficit any team has overcome under the current playoff format, which began in 2022.

For the rest, click here.

Don’t Do This: Who was the OTHER team?

I left out one bullet point in that first section. According to YES Network, the Yankees were the first AL team to score 13-plus runs in an inning and none in the rest of the game.

Maybe this is baseball-writer brain, but I needed to know … AL team? Well then who was the NL team?

With no answer forthcoming, I decided I would find out. This, of course, was a horrible idea.

Fact No. 1: Google is utterly useless for things like this.

And, increasingly, everything else. But DuckDuckGo didn’t help either. So I went to Stathead, only to discover that it doesn’t have a way to conduct this exact search. Oh no!

Fact No. 2: NL teams have scored 13-plus runs in a game 3,876 3,877 times. Well, it had to be one of those …

I was in for a long night. This article from Yahoo did say the Yankees were the first team to score 13-plus in an inning in the last 21 years, and the most runs ever scored in an inning was 18.

Using the new parameters — 1898-2005, 13 through 18 runs, National League — I narrowed it down to … 2,787 games. Great.

Let’s get started. Open a bunch of box scores, click through to see if the runs were all scored in one inning, close that tab when the answer is no.

It is really humbling to consider (while your browser reboots) that there are people who know how to do this in a simpler way. Someone at the YES Network figured it out very quickly! But I am not one of those people, and it was getting too late to text anyone for help. But …

Fact No. 3: You don’t always have to be smart to find the answer. 

Sometimes, you can just be stubborn. Before I started opening tabs, I arranged the games by fewest runs scored (13), then chronologically. After starting in 1898 and working my way through about 800 box scores — with my eyes blurring as the Brooklyn Superbas and Chicago Orphans gave way to the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres — I found it.

The Braves beat the Astros 13-6 on September 20, 1972.

In the second inning, a 23-year-old center fielder named Dusty Baker doubled to lead off the inning, then hit his 16th home run of the season, then grounded out to end a 13-run inning and complete the Braves’ scoring for the day.

I do not recommend ever undertaking a project like this. But now I know the answer, and so do you!

O Say Can You Leave: Anthem standoff results in ejections

Anthem standoffs have been a staple in college and minor-league ball for years, but we’ve seen a few more of them in the big leagues lately.

The premise: When the anthem ends, someone from one team refuses to leave the foul line until everyone from the other team leaves. Then someone from the other team notices and decides not to leave either. So you have two or more guys, standing on opposing foul lines, each trying to outlast the other.

Someone always gives up. Aren’t professional athletes supposed to be the ultimate competitors? I want to know what happens when neither side cracks!

Well, now I know, and I have newfound respect for Angels reliever Brent Suter and rehabbing Rays relievers Manuel Rodríguez and Steven Wilson. On Saturday, all three continued standing, right through warmups, until it was time for first pitch.

So home-plate umpire Lance Barrett threw them out of the game before it even started.

Salute.

Handshakes and High Fives

In 2022, rather than rehab from an injury, Andrelton Simmons — one of the greatest defensive shortstops ever — chose to walk away from the game at 32. Four years later, he’s back on a field. Sam Blum caught up with him in Mexico.

In his 56th game, Fernando Tatis Jr. finally got his first home run of the year.

Meanwhile, Ronald Acuña Jr. has five in his last four games.

Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski is a big reason L.A. isn’t struggling, despite multiple pitcher injuries.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is an exciting player to watch. He’s also an emotional one — something he’s learning to harness.

Tatsuya Imai’s drastic turnaround continued yesterday. Unfortunately for him and his Astros teammates, he was up against Jacob Misiorowski, who capped an unbelievable May: A 0.23 ERA (one run) with 57 strikeouts and six walks in 38 1/3 innings.

Injury updates: Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin has hit the IL with a flexor strain in his right elbow. Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz left Sunday’s game with right hamstring tightness. And White Sox slugging 3B Munetaka Murakami hit the IL over the weekend with a hamstring strain.

Most-clicked in our last Windup: Eddie Waitkus’ SABR Bio page. I don’t blame you, and I’m willing to assume it was worth your click!

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