woes

Ronny Mauricio hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning and the New York Mets rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Angels on Friday night in the opener of a nine-game trip.

The win — just the Mets’ fourth in their last 21 games — came a few hours after president of baseball operations David Stearns gave manager Carlos Mendoza a vote of confidence. New York has the majors’ worst record at 11-21.

Marcus Semien hit a tying two-run single in the Mets’ three-run sixth inning, which also included an RBI single by Francisco Alvarez. New York retired the final 21 Angels hitters.

Mets starter Christian Scott gave up three runs — two earned — and three hits in five innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. Huascar Brazobán (2-0) pitched a perfect sixth for the win, and Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams — who got his third save — finished up as Mets relievers combined for four hitless innings.

Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer for the Angels, who lost starter Walbert Ureña in the sixth inning when he was hit in the right leg by Bo Bichette’s comebacker. It was just the second hit for the Mets off Ureña, who hadn’t given up a run through five innings before the bullpen took over.

Alvarez singled against Brent Suter to score Bichette in the sixth. Two batters later, Semien tied it 3-3 with his two-run single off Chase Silseth.

Mauricio’s one-out homer in the seventh, with an exit velocity of 111.3 mph, came off José Fermin (0-1) and was his first of the season.

The Angels’ bullpen entered with a 5.66 ERA, second worst in the American League.

Up next: Mets RHP Nolan McLean (1-2, 2.55 ERA) enters Saturday’s middle game of the three-game series after allowing one unearned run in a loss to Colorado last Sunday. Angels LHP Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.28) is making the seventh start of his return to the rotation.

Only 22 percent of US voters back the president’s performance on the cost of living, Reuters/Ipsos survey suggests.

United States President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest point since he returned to the White House, sinking to 34 percent amid economic uncertainty and the US-Israel war on Iran, a Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests.

The poll, released on Tuesday, also showed that only 22 percent of respondents back Trump’s performance on the cost of living. Affordability has been a top issue for US voters.

The Iran war, which saw Tehran block most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, has sent energy prices soaring across the world and fuelled inflation in the US.

The Reuters poll was conducted April 24-27, and it surveyed 1,014 US adults.

It comes months before the midterm elections in November when Trump’s Republican Party will have to contend with the US president’s abysmal job approval ratings as it tries to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Trump continues to enjoy near-unanimous support from Republicans in Congress despite growing criticism of the war on Iran by some right-wing commentators and podcasters.

The conflict has also been unpopular with US voters, including a sizeable Republican constituency.

A Marquette Law School survey released last week suggested that only 32 percent of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the war.

The number rose to 65 percent among Republican respondents, but it still showed significant dissent within the party on the issue.

A separate Associated Press-NORC poll last week reported similar findings – Trump’s overall approval rating at 33 percent, support for the war at 32 percent and his handling of the economy at 30 percent.

The US and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire on April 8 that Trump extended indefinitely, but tensions remain high in the region.

Duelling blockades in the Gulf – Iran shutting down the Strait of Hormuz and the US laying a naval siege on Iranian ports – have caused global energy supply issues to persist despite the truce.

In the US, the average price of 1 gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol is currently at $4.17, up from less than $3 before the war.

Still, Trump has suggested that he is comfortable with the status quo, claiming repeatedly that the Iranian economy is crumbling and that time is on his side.

“Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘State of Collapse,’” the US president wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.

“They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!)”

It’s not clear how or why Iran, which is currently refusing to hold direct negotiations with the US without it lifting the naval blockade, would inform Trump that its own economy is collapsing.

British singer-songwriter Lola Young is opening up about the “breaking point” that steered her toward recovery.

The “Messy” hitmaker told Rolling Stone in a recent interview that she was grateful that she fainted onstage late last year, and framed the scary ordeal as a wake-up call. “What do you call that? Like, a breaking point which allowed me to then be able to be here today, allowed me to be better for my fans, better for the future, and better for myself,” she told the outlet.

In September, the Grammy winner collapsed onstage during a performance at the All Things Go Music Festival in New York City. Following the health scare — which drew speculation and worry from fans who’d watched the viral video of Young stumbling and dropping her microphone before falling backward — Young canceled the remainder of her tour, which included a 21-stop North American run.

The tour, in support of her third album, “I’m Only F— Myself,” was expected to conclude with two dates at the Hollywood Palladium in December. Instead, she spent two months seeking holistic addiction treatment in a facility that prioritizes psychotherapy. She’s now attending 12-step meetings and working with a sponsor.

When announcing that she would have to nix forthcoming performances to prioritize her health, Young told fans on social media that she was “going away for a while” and apologized, writing, “I love this job and I never take my commitments and audience for granted so I’m sorry to those who will be disappointed by this. … I really hope you’ll give me a second chance … once I’ve had some time to work on myself and come back stronger.”

Young told Rolling Stone that, naturally, some folks were really angry that she’d canceled her tour. “[I]t was a decision that I had to make, and it was sad that I had to do that. What else was I going to do, die? That was the reality of where my addiction was heading.”

This wasn’t the first health incident for Young, who is known for her chart-topping breakout hit, “Messy.” The budding megastar performed at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in 2025, and during her Weekend 1 performance, she struggled to get through. The heat lingered around 100 degrees, and while Young danced and sang, she began to visibly gag and retch before running off the stage and asking for a bucket.

The acclaimed artist has been candid about her struggles with cocaine and alcohol addiction and often explores those struggles in her lyrics. In the song “d£aler,” a bouncy goodbye letter to her drug dealer, she sings about spending the day trying to be sober but feeling miserable nonetheless: “I wanna get away, far from here / Pack my bags, my drugs, and disappear.” … “Pack my bags and tell my dealer I’ll miss him.”

Young also sat down with the Times UK and said that she didn’t want to say too much but confirmed that she was in recovery for drug addiction. “But what I would say is that recovery is an ongoing process. I’m not the finished article, but I’m doing a hell of a lot better.”