The San Francisco Giants have placed outfielder Alex Dickerson on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain.

The Giants announced the move before Thursday afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Dickerson, 29, missed two straight seasons in 2017 and 2018 because of back and elbow injuries. The Giants have not disclosed how long he will be out because of the oblique strain.

Dickerson has been outstanding since being acquired by the Giants in a June trade with the San Diego Padres, batting .386 with six home runs, 23 RBIs and a 1.222 OPS in 30 games.

The Giants made a pair of other roster moves Thursday, promoting left-hander Sam Selman from Triple-A Sacramento and designating right-hander Dan Winkler for assignment.

San Francisco acquired Winkler on Wednesday in the trade that sent Mark Melancon to the Atlanta Braves.

LOS ANGELES -- If the Los Angeles Dodgers, owners of baseball's best record, don't win this year's World Series, the focus -- fair or not -- will probably shift back to July 31, 2019, the day the team's front office failed to secure the high-end reliever it so desperately needed and coveted.

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers' president of baseball operations, sounded like a man at peace with that possibility.

"Everybody knows how hard we worked at it," Friedman said, "how much we wanted for it to happen."

The Dodgers pursued the likes of Felipe Vazquez and Brad Hand and Will Smith and Edwin Diaz, but came away with none of them. Instead, they made the type of depth-conscious additions previously relegated to the August waiver period, before Major League Baseball imposed a hard deadline for the 2019 season.

They added Jedd Gyorko, a right-handed-hitting infielder who can provide insurance for David Freese, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez, all of whom, like Gyorko, currently reside on the injured list. And they added Adam Kolarek, a sidearm left-handed reliever who has allowed only five runs over his past 17 innings, but in no way represents the dominant late-inning bullpen arm many expected.

The Dodgers had a very specific need heading into the deadline, which limited their chances of securing it. And the asking price for that need was high, as evidenced by the fact that none of the aforementioned relievers switched teams. Friedman stressed that he was aggressive in his pursuit, maintaining negotiations with multiple clubs leading up to Wednesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline. He also countered what has become a stereotype for young, analytically driven front offices -- that they are too obsessed with winning trades to make them.

"I don't think this is something where we were looking to win a deal from a value standpoint," Friedman said on a conference call. "You kind of expect in July not to do that. We made plenty of offers that were definitely under water from a value standpoint but felt good about making because of the pieces that we have.

"But things have a funny way of playing out. A year or two from now, that could end up having been a really good thing. We're not sure. But as far as process and the conversations and how aggressive we were, we felt really good about what we could control."

In four prior seasons, Friedman has acquired Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, Rich Hill, Josh Reddick, Alex Wood and Tony Watson for late-season pushes. This year, however, he was unwilling to meet the high demands for the high-end relievers he sought, ultimately keeping top prospects such as Gavin Lux, Dustin May and Keibert Ruiz.

The Dodgers reportedly had conversations with the Detroit Tigers about breakout closer Shane Greene; but Greene instead went to the Atlanta Braves, who were able to acquire three late-inning relievers to bolster a team that ended July with a 6½-game lead in the National League East. The Houston Astros, who defeated the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, made the biggest move of all, acquiring Zack Greinke for a rotation that already includes Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole; the deal gave the Astros a clear advantage over the New York Yankees, who, like the Dodgers, did nothing of relative substance at the deadline.

"Our focus in each deadline I've been here has been to be aggressive, and more often than not, that has resulted in an aggressive move," Friedman said. "Today, it did not. But we had various conversations going up 'til 1 o'clock and feel like we've got a team, and depth in place, to win a championship."

The Dodgers, cruising toward their seventh consecutive division title, have won 71 of their first 110 games this season. Their offense leads the National League in OPS, their starting rotation leads the NL in ERA and their defense leads the majors in defensive runs saved. But their bullpen -- 4.06 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 2.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio -- lags behind. It hasn't necessarily been bad, but it has clearly lacked a dominant late-inning reliever who could bridge the gap to closer Kenley Jansen.

Maybe it'll be Joe Kelly, who holds a 5.20 ERA in the first season of a three-year, $25 million contract.

Maybe it'll be Kolarek, who has held opposing left-handed hitters to a .302 slugging percentage throughout his career.

Maybe it'll be Kenta Maeda, who has pitched in high-leverage situations over the past two postseasons. Or Julio Urias, the young left-hander who has excelled in a multi-inning role. Or May, who will be called up for his major league debut on Friday.

The Dodgers must now make that determination internally.

"We've got two months and a lot of really talented arms -- some in the big leagues, some in the minor leagues -- and we're gonna spend these two months doing everything we can to figure out that right combination," Friedman said. "It certainly won't be from a lack of talent. We're going to throw some high-quality arms at it. We feel good about our collective ability to do that."

NEW YORK -- They might have been forced to put their pencils down, but the New York Yankees' real test is about to begin.

It's going to be a tough one.

Thanks in large part to the gargantuan, buzzer-beating undertaking pulled off by the Houston Astros in the closing seconds of Wednesday's trade deadline, the Yankees will have to prove on the field what they've been saying off of it.

"You fall back and look at the roster you have and feel like, 'This is a damn good roster,' and we can compete with anybody in the game," said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman two hours after the trade deadline passed, echoing comments he and manager Aaron Boone had been making in recent days.

For nearly a week, the pair had been setting the stage for deadline inactivity. Confronted with stubborn sellers who wanted to raid their prospect-rich stable with deals their entire organization ultimately didn't think were fair, both Yankees leaders were using language that indicated a quiet day was on the horizon. In their statements, Cashman and Boone firmly backed up their belief in the current construction of New York's active roster and the injured list pieces that will perhaps be added to it in the coming weeks.

Often in the lead-up to the deadline, Cashman equated the talks he was having with other teams to taking a school test. He regularly said that once the bell rang to close the deadline at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, all 30 teams' test pencils would be put down as their chatter ceased.

To Cashman and his staff, the conversations they had weren't very worthwhile. The Bronx Bombers, in need of starting pitching on their pre-deadline exam, didn't fill in any answers.

"The best play was we did nothing. And we did nothing for a very good reason, because we felt everything that was in front of me was really not obtainable because of the associated costs," Cashman said. "And that's with understanding that as a buyer, you have to step up and pay.

"But these were prices that were making things way out of reach; way out of reach and way out of line."

Somehow, Houston received what it felt was a fair price in exchange for landing one of the biggest trade chips, who, as fate would have it, was close enough to the Yankees on deadline day they could touch him.

It is somewhat jarring to see a team that -- since November -- has continually proclaimed its desire to upgrade its pitching rotation stand pat when it had a chance to do so.

It also was jarring to see the crosstown rival Mets add a potential Yankees pitching target in Marcus Stroman this past Sunday.

And it was especially jarring when Zack Greinke -- the man the Astros acquired in the stunning, last-minute deal that sent four of their top prospects to the Arizona Diamondbacks -- struck out seven in five innings at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday before a rain delay ended his afternoon.

No offer is the same, of course. What was on the table for any potential Arizona-New York deal might not have been apples to apples what the Astros and Diamondbacks agreed to. And there remains the unknown of how Greinke will fare in Houston, let alone how he might have handled being in the Bronx on a team reportedly on his no-trade list.

"The best play was we did nothing."

Yankees GM Brian Cashman

Still, the odds are the Yankees handed their best chance at a 28th championship to the very team that pulled off a deadline deal for a resurrected Justin Verlander two seasons ago, en route to beating New York in the American League Championship Series and winning the World Series.

No joke: The odds actually are high that that might have happened at Wednesday's deadline. According to the Caesars Sportsbook, the Yankees, who were favorites to win the AL prior to the deadline, have fallen to No. 2 -- leapfrogged by Houston.

Are these Astros the AL's best team now?

"Let's find out," Cashman said. "We've got to take care of our own business to see if we're one of those teams to go to October."

The Yankees are now fully hitching their World Series expectations to the roster they had Wednesday morning. With the deadline passed, and no more August waivers, there is no outside help coming.

Time will prove if this gamble on themselves really will pay off.

"The talent to win the World Series is here," Yankees reliever Zack Britton said. "When guys are playing to their potential in this room, we're good. We're really, really good."

But is "really, really good" good enough?

The Astros were already tough to beat, and now they've bolstered arguably baseball's most dangerous pitching rotation. Paired with a potent offense, Houston now boasts the likes of three-time All-Star Gerrit Cole and Cy Young Award winners Greinke and Verlander.

It's also a group that, paced largely by Verlander, has had success against the Yankees over the years.

In 42 regular-season and postseason starts combined, Cole, Greinke and Verlander are a combined 17-11 with a 4.16 ERA and an 8.5 K/9 rate against New York. Verlander is the only one of the group with playoff experience against the Yankees. He is 5-0 in those starts.

With the possibility of having to face those three aces, the Yankees' World Series hopes do feel strangely further away than they were about two weeks ago.

Fail to reach the Fall Classic yet again, and the Yankees' postseason losses won't be the only ones that haunt them come November.

Wednesday's loss will be right there too.

To be clear, the Bronx Bombers won the game they played Wednesday, outlasting Greinke's Diamondbacks 7-5. But it was in that behind-the-scenes war of player/prospect/cash-flipping attrition, conducted in boardrooms and on cellphones, where the Yankees posted a massive "L."

Then again, this is a Yankees team that -- recent pitching woes aside -- has rallied through an injury-ravaged roster this season. It is a group that has been discounted often this year and yet still holds a commanding lead in the AL East. It's a team that still has other elite arms, in particular an ace in Luis Severino, expected to be added off the IL before the end of the season.

Those factors help explain why the Yankees believe in themselves. But they'd better hope that belief is justified.

"[I] was just in there celebrating a win with those guys, and looking around the room, we know that we've got everything we need to be a championship club," Boone said. "That doesn't change. I have total faith in Brian and their staff in that they're going to always do what's best for this organization as far as whether that's short term, long term, all those things.

"We're ready to roll and move forward now that this day is officially behind us."

A trio of British 800m boys swept the medals at the European U20 Champs but can they go on to match the exploits of their famous predecessors?

One of the great mysteries of British athletics is why the middle-distance successes of the 1980s eventually dried up despite so many young runners being inspired by the exploits of Seb Coe, Steve Cram, Steve Ovett, Peter Elliott and others.

There have been glimmers of hope. Curtis Robb reached world and Olympic finals and Matt Yates won the European indoor 1500m title in the early 1990s. Mike East won Commonwealth 1500m gold in 2002. Mark Sesay, Mike Rimmer and Ross Murray showed flashes of brilliance. This summer, of course, Charlie Grice ran 3:30.62 to go No.4 on the UK all-time 1500m rankings. Yet none have quite displayed the world-beating ability of their famous predecessors.

Teenage record-breakers are often dubbed ‘the new Coe or Ovett’, but the pressure of history and expectation weighs heavily on their young shoulders and when it comes to winning a global senior men’s 800m or 1500m title there have been 35 years of hurt.

Perhaps the latest generation will be different, though. They certainly appear to have their heads screwed on and with an eye-catching sweep of the 800m medals at the European Under-20 Championships in Borås, Sweden, last month they have got off to a flying start.

Oliver Dustin surged to victory ahead of long-time leader Ben Pattison with Finley Mclear earning a battling bronze as the rest of Europe finished more than a second adrift. As they swept off the bend it was reminiscent to the 1986 European 800m final when Coe, Cram and Tom McKean (pictured below) were memorably described as like ‘Spitfires out of the sun’. But can these baby Spitfires develop into senior champions?

“It’s overwhelming to be compared to people who dominated the world in the 1980s,” says 18-year-old Dustin. “I’m just doing my own thing rather than being caught up being compared to Steve Cram and Seb Coe, who were world record-holders. I need to continue to work hard and dedicate my life to getting what I want to achieve.”

Despite only being born in December 2001, Pattison says he is very aware of the British runners from the 1980s and says: “I knew what they’d done and I knew we could do similar – albeit at a younger level. It shows how strong 800m running is at the moment in Britain. The fact our fastest runner, Max Burgin, wasn’t even there and we still managed to come top three, quite a way clear of the rest of the field, is pretty special.”

Mclear adds: To be compared to them is an honour really. They achieved so much and did so much for British athletics and the sport on a whole. I hope we can emulate them and bring back the golden days and that this is the start of something and not just a one-off.”

Very much like the 1980s icons, the class of 2019 come from different parts of the UK too. Coe and Elliott were raised in Yorkshire, with Cram in the north-east of England and Ovett on the south coast city of Brighton – and they all had their own coaches, training plans and personalities. Similarly, Dustin, Pattison, Mclear and Burgin have different backgrounds.

Dustin is from the fell running county of Cumbria but describes himself as a “400/800m type who trains like an 800/1500m runner with plenty of cross country”. He’s been coached for several years by Graeme Mason and is advised by Cram – and that arrangement will continue when he starts a chemistry degree in Birmingham this autumn.

Pattison is from Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC in the south of England and has focused on 400m in recent seasons before moving up to 800m with great effect. A tall, long-striding runner he was also the youngest in the entire event in Borås.

Mclear, meanwhile, studies in Ohio in the United States but the 18-year-old’s parents own a pub in Devon and he has a background as a footballer, basketball player and, in 2016, he won the English Schools 1500m steeplechase title.

As for Burgin, the Halifax Harrier is guided by his father and grandfather, who were both good runners. He employed his trademark front-running tactics to win the European under-18 title last year and despite missing Borås this year with a minor injury he clocked a spectacular 1:45.36 aged 17 in June.

Burgin’s time is faster than any British junior in history has achieved. He has a long way to go to match Coe’s British record of 1:41.73 but could hardly have enjoyed a more promising start.

Former world number one Naomi Osaka says she "hasn't had fun playing tennis" since winning the Australian Open.

Osaka, 21, beat Czech Petra Kvitova in a thrilling final in January to seal back-to-back Grand Slams, topping the world rankings.

But she has been hampered by injuries and struggled with poor form since.

"The last few months have been really rough for me tennis-wise," Osaka wrote on Instagram.

"Thankfully I am surrounded by people I love and who love me back.

"Whenever things go wrong I blame myself 100%. I have a tendency to shut down because I don't want to burden anyone with my thoughts or problems, but they taught me to trust them and not take everything on by myself.

"Unexpectedly though the worst months of my life have also had some of the best moments because I've met new people and been able to do things that I have never even considered doing before.

"That being said I can honestly reflect and say I probably haven't had fun playing tennis since Australia and I'm finally coming to terms with that while relearning that fun feeling."

Osaka parted ways with coach Sascha Bajin after the Australian Open, withdrew from the Stuttgart Open and Italian Open through injury, then suffered defeats at the French Open and Wimbledon.

"I have put so much weight on the results of my matches instead of learning from them, which is what I 'normally' do," she wrote.

"I've learned a lot about myself and feel I grew so much as a person these past years so I'm really excited what the future looks like.

"See you in the US swing."

Osaka, who lost her world number one ranking in June, aims to defend her US Open title at Flushing Meadows, starting 26 August.

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Andy Murray and Jamie Murray returned to court together for the first time since 2016 with a gutsy three-set win over experienced French pair Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

The Scottish brothers missed three match points before sealing a 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 10-5 win at the Washington Open.

They trailed 5-2 in the decider - a first-to-10 champions tie-break - but won eight straight points for victory.

Andy Murray, 32, is playing his fourth event since hip surgery in January.

The former world number one feared his career might be over before having the hip resurfacing operation, but returned to the doubles court five months later when he won the Queen's title alongside Spain's Feliciano Lopez.

The three-time Grand Slam champion says he could make a singles return at the Cincinnati Masters later this month and looked in the best shape he has been since resuming his career as he won alongside his older brother Jamie.

Andy Murray's demeanour on his return to the American capital was markedly different to 12 months ago when, struggling to cope with the pain in his hip, he broke down in tears at the end of his third-round singles win against Marius Copil at about 3am local time.

Now he is pain free - looking happy on court and as fiercely competitive as ever - as he continues towards his goal of returning to singles action.

"I'm in a much better place than last year - physically I feel better, I'm not restricted in hitting shots, I'm still a bit slow but hopefully that will improve," he said.

"To come back here and be pain free is brilliant."

The Murray brothers, who won doubles titles together in Valencia in 2010 and Tokyo in 2011, complemented each other well as they impressed with their quick reactions around the net and solid serving.

A tight first set swung the way of the Britons when a brilliant cross-court backhand from Andy Murray brought up three sets points as Jamie Murray - who won this tournament with Brazilian Bruno Soares last year - converted the first by threading a winner between the Frenchmen.

Another finely-balanced set stayed on serve - with Andy Murray particularly dominant - to take the second into a tie-break where Mahut and Roger-Vasselin dug deep to fight off three match points.

The momentum initially stayed with the Frenchmen as they moved ahead in the decider before the Murrays battled back to clinch an entertaining match to reach the last eight.

"The level of tennis was really good. Doubles matches are tough because they can turn on a few points," said Andy Murray. "But we felt we were in control for most of the match and I think we deserved it."

Jamie Murray added: "It was a lot of fun. To play tennis together again was really special and we're glad to get another match."

**The pair will next play third seeds New Zealand's Michael Venus and South Africa's Raven Klaasen on Friday for a spot in the semi-finals.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – The winner of the 57th annual Champion Racing Oil National Open at Williams Grove Speedway on Oct. 5 will pocket the biggest cash payday in the history of the track – $65,000.

Williams Grove Speedway officials made the announcement late Wednesday.

“Since 1939, for decades and decades, Williams Grove Speedway has represented the pinnacle of the sport of sprint car racing in the East,” said Williams Grove owner Kathy Hughes.

“Fans and drivers look to us and expect us to carry the torch high for the sport as the premier arena for sprint car racing in the east and taking this step just perpetuates and broadens our legacy as the leader in the industry on the East Coast,” Hughes said.

The $65,000 winner’s share of the 57th annual Champion Racing Oil National Open will be up for grabs as the World of Outlaws NOS Engery Drink Sprint Cars Series does battle with the Pennsylvania Posse at the two-day event, slated to take place Oct. 4-5.

The $65,000 winner’s share will be the biggest cash amount ever offered to win a sprint car race on the East Coast, much less at Williams Grove Speedway.

In addition to the boost in pay announced for the National Open, the speedway has also now posted an $8,000 paycheck to win the Sept. 27 National Open World of Outlaws tune up event.

As usual, the Champion Racing Oil National Open will be a multi-day event with two complete World of Outlaws shows staged on Oct. 4-5. Friday’s event will pay $10,000 to win.

The Williams Grove National Open first paid $25,000 to win in 2001 before jumping to $30,000 in 2002 and then to $50,000 in 2006.

The race paid $56,000 to winner Lance Dewease in 2018.

Save for two years when rains forced postponement, the World of Outlaws has sanctioned the National Open every year since 1989.

LEXINGTON, N.C. – On Saturday, A.J. Allmendinger and the No. 10 team will be fueled by Death Wish Coffee as they take to the track at Watkins Glen Int’l.

The World’s Strongest Coffee will serve as Allmendinger’s primary partner as he chases his first NASCAR win of the season and another victory at The Glen.

Death Wish Coffee is a new partner to Kaulig Racing and Allmendinger. Headquartered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Death Wish Coffee is no stranger to sponsorship at Watkins Glen, having previously served as a sponsor with Kaulig Racing’s alliance partner, Richard Childress Racing.

“Our partnership with Death Wish Coffee couldn’t be more perfect – and to have them on our No. 10 Chevrolet at their home track is even better,” team president Chris Rice said. “To top it off, we have A.J. Allmendinger behind the wheel, who is a previous Watkins Glen race winner.

“We’re ready to return to victory lane and properly welcome our new partner.”