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Less than 2 miles separate two of the biggest and most popular parks in Houston.

But for the city's cyclists and pedestrians, getting between Buffalo Bayou Park and Memorial Park feels like a long trek filled with hazards. There is no trail along the bayou, and Memorial Drive – which is lined by homes and businesses, often busy with vehicle traffic and has a narrow, shared-use sidewalk running alongside it – is the only major roadway that connects the two urban parks.

"They're so close, yet because there's no safe, attractive connection between them, they feel so far away from each other," said Joe Cutrufo, the executive director of BikeHouston, a local nonprofit that advocates for cyclists.

That gap will be closing, though, as the Houston Parks Board is receiving $8.1 million to help make it happen. The Buffalo Bayou Greenway Connector project was selected for funding as part of the Places 4 People initiative by Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, who announced Wednesday that the effort will provide a total of $170 million to 32 different infrastructure projects in her precinct, which includes northwestern and western parts of the county.

Among them are 13 other trail connection projects, along with a series of Brays Bayou under crossings, street intersection and sidewalk initiatives, roadway drainage projects, community parks and METRO bus shelters.

RELATED: Memorial Park land bridge opening prompts call for better bike access

Houston Parks Board president and CEO Beth White said the nonprofit already has invested about $5.4 million into the initiative on land acquisition, work along the bayou and preliminary design. She said more detailed design work for the project, which is expected to cost a total of $13.5 million, likely will begin before the end of this year.

The trail connector will be part of the broader Bayou Greenways initiative that includes a total of 150 miles of trails along nine Houston bayous, although it was not initially part of the plan.

"We've been working on it quietly for a while," she said. "It wasn't in the original scope of the 150 miles, but we've had our eye on making that connection for some time."

Cutrufo said connecting Buffalo Bayou and Memorial parks is a "no-brainer" in the city's trail network, which has gradually expanded in recent years as city and county leaders have committed resources to better utilize the region's green spaces and also to provide more multimodal transportation options.

RELATED: Houston inching away from car-centric reputation with slate of multimodal infrastructure projects

The two parks both include well-used trails, with Memorial Park featuring a popular bicycle loop, but the trails do not extend east of Memorial Park or west of Buffalo Bayou Park, leaving a gap of a little more than 1 mile between them. On weekends when the weather is nice, Cutrufo said walkers, runners and cyclists often can be seen crowding the sidewalk between the two parks, which is on the south side of Memorial Drive.

So the planned connector trail "can't come soon enough," according to Cutrufo.

White said the vision is to extend the existing Buffalo Bayou Park trail to the west, keeping it along the bayou as long as possible before navigating it to Memorial Drive to the north. The road feeds into Memorial Park.

"This is definitely a big deal," Cutrufo said. "It's a critical connection between two of Houston's biggest and best parks."

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They were NL East teammates at the start of the 2023 season. Now they’re squaring off on the mound in a Texas-sized AL West showdown -- and you can watch for free on MLB.TV.

Justin Verlander and the Astros take on Max Scherzer and the Rangers in MLB.TV’s Free Game of the Day.

It will be the first MLB meeting between the pair of three-time Cy Young Award winners, who were teammates with the Tigers from 2010 to 2014 before reuniting when Verlander signed with the Mets before the 2023 season. But Scherzer was dealt to the Rangers for prospect Luisangel Acuña on July 29, and Verlander was traded back to the Astros -- where he spent 2017-22 -- on Aug. 1, hours before the Trade Deadline.

Verlander owns a 3.86 ERA in six starts since then with the visiting Astros, with whom he won the AL Cy Young Award in 2019 and 2022. Scherzer, the AL Cy Young winner with the Tigers in 2013 and NL Cy Young winner with the Nationals in 2016 and 2017, has pitched to a 2.21 ERA in six outings with the Rangers.

While all eyes will be on the exciting pitching matchup, both teams’ offenses are among the best in the league thanks to plenty of star power. Rangers shortstop Corey Seager leads the American League in batting average at .345 and trails Shohei Ohtani by just one point for MLB’s top OPS. He’s joined by Marcus Semien, Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe at the top of the Rangers’ order.

On Houston’s side of things, dynamic second baseman Jose Altuve -- who hit for the cycle on Aug. 28 before homering in four straight at-bats between Monday's and Tuesday's Astros routs -- will be a tough out as always. Third baseman Alex Bregman and lefty sluggers Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker make the Astros’ lineup difficult to pitch to.

Today’s game is crucial for both teams when it comes to postseason positioning. The Astros have moved into first place in the AL West with less than four weeks remaining in the regular season, but the Rangers are still only two games back of Houston and one game behind the second-place Mariners.

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Both Verlander and Scherzer will surely bring their all to what promises to be a must-see matchup all the way around. But only one Texas team can come out on top.

ARLINGTON -- His performance in the last month, and really the entire season, has only cemented Jose Altuve’s legacy as one of this generation’s greatest players. Not that reaching 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 200 steals faster than any player in history or hitting for his first cycle was something Altuve needed to validate his tremendous career.

What he accomplished in the first two games of the Astros’ dismantling of the Rangers at Globe Life Field was astonishing, even by Altuve’s high standards. It left his manager in awe, his teammates in disbelief and Altuve focused on closing out a division title that’s now the Astros’ to lose.

Altuve clubbed three home runs in each of the first three innings in the Astros’ 14-1 win over the Rangers on Tuesday night, tying the Major League record with five home runs in a two-game span. He’s the first player in the expansion era (since 1961) to homer in four consecutive innings (he homered in the ninth inning Monday), according to Elias Sports Bureau.

“It’s obviously amazing,” Altuve said. “It’s a good thing to do, especially the situation we are in right now trying to get to first place, trying to win the division. It’s good.”

When asked if he had seen anything like that before to lead Houston’s 20-hit outburst, manager Dusty Baker paused to think.

“Maybe Barry Bonds,” he said. “That was unbelievable. He was on the ball all night. We were hoping he would hit his fourth, but they were pitching him tough after that.”

Altuve, who had homered in five of his last six at-bats after his third-inning blast Tuesday, had two chances to become the first second baseman in history to hit four homers in a game, but to no avail. He grounded out in the fifth inning and struck out in the seventh before Baker removed him from a blowout game.

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“I stayed with my same approach and if it happened, it happened,” Altuve said. “They made some good pitches.”

With Houston’s win and the Mariners’ loss at the Reds, the Astros are in sole possession of first place in the American League West for the first time this year. They’ll give the ball to ace Justin Verlander on Wednesday in a showdown with fellow three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer.

“We’re in first place and we want to pad that lead,” Baker said. “Tomorrow is very important and when we get back home, we got to start showing home-field dominance. Trying to figure out why we’re hitting so well on the road and not at home. We’ll figure it out. Right now, we’ve got a one-game lead, and we’ve got to pad it.”

Altuve led off the game with a Statcast-projected 406-foot homer off Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi to left. He hit a solo homer off Eovaldi in the second that traveled 398 feet to left field. And he followed a two-run homer by catcher Martín Maldonado with a 426-foot homer to center off reliever Dane Dunning in the third.

“He can hit anything,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “He can hit standing upside down. He can flat-out hit.”

Altuve’s only other three-homer game came in Game 1 of the 2017 American League Division Series against the Red Sox -- the year he won the AL Most Valuable Player and led the Astros to the World Series title. He’s the fourth player in Astros history to hit multiple homers in consecutive games -- first since Richard Hidalgo on Sept. 9-10, 2000 -- and the first Astros player to have five homers in a two-game span.

“We were like, ‘Oh my God, this guy already has three homers before a couple of their guys have an at-bat? What’s going on?’” said Maldonado, who hit two of Houston’s six homers. “Altuve’s one of the main guys. If he goes, we go as a team. That guy is going to be a Hall of Famer. Everything he does, you feel like it’s always getting better and better. Just like wine.”

It’s been a remarkable season for Altuve, who missed the first 43 games of the season with a fractured right thumb and 17 games later in the season with an oblique injury. He hit for the cycle Aug. 28 in Boston and became the third Astros player in history to reach 2,000 hits on Aug. 19.

As Altuve’s legend grows, he remains as humble as ever.

“It’s one of those days where you feel good and you get your pitch and you execute and good things are going to happen,” he said.

It had been maybe a week or so since Philadelphians had to think about and, thus, be depressed by the Philadelphia 76ers. Naturally, we were overdue for the next inciting bit of drama and it came this morning via reporting from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne surrounding the feud between James Harden and the Sixers franchise. Be sure to give the full article a read, but let’s take a look at the newest and juiciest nuggets, of which there are a few.

James Harden did not handle being an All-Star snub in an adult manner

“THE FIRST HINT that Harden’s “sacrifice” wasn’t being appreciated, much less rewarded in the way he hoped, came in late January when he wasn’t voted to be an All-Star. Harden, who had made 10 consecutive All-Star games, was dismayed at the snub, sources said.

It didn’t help that his former Nets teammates Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had both been voted in as starters by the fans, media and players, while Harden was a distant fourth among Eastern Conference guards behind Irving, Donovan Mitchell and Jaylen Brown.

Still, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was prepared to name him as an injury replacement, sources said. Harden just had to give assurances that he would show up and play in the game.

Days went by without Harden’s answer. He was pouting.

By the time Harden sent word that he would accept the invitation, Silver had moved on, naming Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam as the replacement for an injured Durant.”

James, you’re so upset about not being selected as an All-Star the first time that when you actually receive a second chance at being an All-Star, you can’t make a phone call in a timely manner? That’s some real cutting off your nose to spite your face stuff.

Doc Rivers was not hitting the right notes in terms of coaching Harden

“In mid-December, Rivers lit into Harden for taking the final three shots in regulation of a double-overtime loss to the young and lottery-bound-again Rockets, sources said. It wasn’t that Rivers didn’t trust Harden to take the final three shots — he had allowed him to run the offense and call his own number on the final play of regulation by not calling a timeout following a defensive rebound. It’s that the Rockets had no answer for Embiid (39 points) all night and Harden wasn’t shooting well (4-for-19).

When questioned in the film session, Harden demurred, saying he just couldn’t get the ball to Embiid, sources said. These flare-ups between Harden and Rivers continued throughout the season.

...

But Harden didn’t travel with the team to Miami, sources said. He traveled separately, with permission from the front office, to enjoy the nightlife. This is not uncommon in the NBA, or for Harden, but it didn’t sit well with Rivers and several players on the team, sources said.

Days later, Rivers brought it up in a team meeting, sources said, specifically mentioning several of the players who expressed concerns about Harden’s actions.

The whole episode was “uncomfortable,” one team source said. Even if they agreed with the substance of Rivers’ message to Harden, and the idea of holding him accountable, it was awkward for the players who were named.”

Now, coaching stars in a player-driven league is not an easy task. You have to keep them happy, while also holding them accountable to a certain extent in order to get the best out of them. It’s a fine line to walk. But this is very shoddy work from Doc Rivers, particularly naming Harden’s teammates who expressed concerns. That’s some real narc behavior.

The Sixers’ fear of another tampering fine was very real and exacerbated a lot of what has happened this summer

“But now, when it mattered most, Morey wasn’t taking Harden’s calls.

“James felt like Daryl was ghosting him,” one source close to Harden said. “He felt betrayed.”

Rather than wait for Morey and the Sixers to present whatever offer they had come up with once free agency opened July 1, Harden and his representatives, Mike Silverman and Troy Payne, decided to pick up his $35.6 million player option before the June 30 deadline and ask for a trade.

Better to take the guaranteed money for the 2023-24 season than be forced to accept whatever offer the team made him.

The Sixers were stunned at Harden’s decision, sources said, insisting to him and his representatives that they had been distant only because they were just hit with the largest tampering fine in NBA history and that they had every intention of re-signing him, as soon as the rules allowed.

But Harden was already too far gone.

“James takes things very personally,” another source close to Harden said. “When he feels like he’s been wronged, he can be very stubborn.”

An important thing to remember is that under the new CBA, which went into effect July 1, the Sixers would have been able to negotiate with their own free agents prior to the start of free agency and none of this miscommunication would have taken place. However, because the team was operating within the final weeks of an antiquated system, we’re left talking about ghosting and betrayal like we’re in a high school cafeteria. Maybe you’re of the mindset that the Sixers are better off either trading Harden or having him sit out and come off the books next summer, rather than signing him to whatever deal they were prepared to offer him. It’s a perfectly valid viewpoint. But it certainly would have been less of a headache for everyone involved with and following this team.

Fortunately, things haven’t soured with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey

“Thus far, Embiid has given the franchise assurances he is OK riding out the current drama with Harden, sources said. How long he gives them to resolve the matter remains to be seen.

Maxey has done the same, even waiting on a contract extension this summer so the franchise can preserve its ability to operate under the salary cap and improve the team in the future.

Both have been in touch with Harden throughout, maintaining their personal relationships. Embiid even invited Harden to his wedding in July, sources said.”

The Harden stuff is all very annoying and doesn’t bode well for the Sixers’ chances of winning a title in 2024, but it really doesn’t impact the long-term future for the future. If it poisons the well with either Embiid or Maxey, however, all that could change. By some stroke of luck, the franchise’s two biggest building blocks still seem to be a good place. If that ever were to happen, SB Nation might really have a second Thunder blog.

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HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans have placed right tackle Tytus Howard on injured reserve with a broken right hand, the team announced.

Howard will miss the first four games for the Texans before he can return.

Howard suffered the injury during practice Aug. 5 and was expected to miss four to six weeks, but the Texans decided he needed more time to recover from the injury.

Since training camp began in late July, the Texans have suffered injuries to four starters on the offensive line.

Left guard Kenyon Green, one of Houston's first-round picks in 2022, injured his left shoulder against the New Orleans Saints in the team's final preseason game, was placed on injured reserve and is out for the season. Center Scott Quessenberry tore the MCL and ACL in his left knee at the beginning of camp and will miss the rest of the season. Rookie center Juice Scruggs replaced Quessenberry in the starting lineup but suffered a hamstring injury in the final preseason game. Scruggs was placed on injured reserve and will miss the first four games.

Texans general manager Nick Caserio made two trades in late August in an effort to address his team's depleted offensive line ranks.

Caserio sent a 2024 fifth-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for offensive tackle Josh Jones and a 2024 seventh-round pick. The second trade included a 2025 sixth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for center Kendrick Green.

Before camp, Howard signed a three-year, $56 million extension that included $36.5 million guaranteed. In 2022, he started 17 games and was seventh among offensive tackles in ESPN's pass block win rate (93.1%). The tackle duo of Howard and left tackle Laremy Tunsil tied for the second-fewest sacks allowed(12), according to ESPN Stats & Info data.

The Texans have replaced Howard with swing tackle George Fant, whom they signed in late July.