Packers defensive end gets hearing on bounty suspension

Green Bay Packers defensive end Anthony Hargrove was scheduled to have an appeal hearing Monday, June 18, on his eight-game suspension for his involvement in the New Orleans Saints’ bounty system.

His agent claims that Hargrove has been targeted unfairly due to his past drug suspensions. Hargrove and three other present and former Saints will state their cases before Commissioner Roger Goodell, who levied the suspensions a few weeks ago.

On Sunday, Hargrove’s agent said the NFL failed to come up with hard evidence to punish the players for their roles in the system that paid Saints defenders to injure or knock out opposing quarterbacks. Hargrove’s vicious hit on Brett Favre in the 2009 NFC Championship Game has been shown over and over on TV as an example of what the Saints did.

Hargrove received the second-longest suspension among the four players punished. His agent, Phil Williams, told the Associated Press that he had dozens of questions for the league, including whether it considered Hargrove an “easy target.”

Williams also said the league released information strategically instead of sharing as much as possible, and hurt the players’ reputations as a result. He asks why Hargrove was made a scapegoat, while many players around the league have taken part in pay-for-performance pools.

Williams says Hargrove denied lying to NFL investigators, even though the league claims he admitted it.

League officials have not commented. Hargrove signed a one-year deal with the Packers this year at his minimum salary.

Brewers lose 15-inning game to Twins

The Milwaukee Brewers lost their longest game in eight years, 5-4 at Minnesota in 15 innings on Sunday, June 17.

Denard Span hit a two-out single off Juan Perez to end a four-hour, 50-minute marathon, which had a 42-minute rain delay after the 11th. When all was said and done, the Brewers blew a chance to get their first series sweep in Minneapolis since 1996.

Milwaukee’s playoff hopes are as dim as ever, as they fell to a season-low 8.5 games out of first place in the National League Central.

They’re five games back in ninth place for one of two NL Wild Card spots in the playoffs.

The Brewers took a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning Sunday when Corey Hart belted a three-run homer. The Twins tied the game in the seventh on run-scoring singles by Jamey Carroll, Ben Revere, and Joe Mauer.

In the 12th, the Twins failed to score after the loading the bases and Brewers reliever Jose Veras injured a leg while running to cover first base on the final out. The team said it was either a cramp or an injured leg flexor.

Greinke trade?

And now that Milwaukee is six games below .500, the drum-beat has gotten louder about the possibility of trading starter Zack Greinke in July.

The right-hander is having a monster season in his contract year. There’s growing speculation that the Brewers won’t be able to afford him come winter, increasing the chance that the team will trade him for prospects who are almost ready for the big leagues.

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has said he hates the idea of being a seller instead of a buyer at the July trade deadline. But this year, he may have no choice if the Brewers fall much further.

They’re already at a season-low 8.5 games out of first place in the NL Central, with injury problems that continue to grow after reliever Jose Veras hurt a leg in Sunday’s 15-inning loss at Minnesota.

Tags: sports, wisconsin, proam