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session at even-strength and drive the speedier brand of hocke

in General Discussion Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:32 pm
by sakura698 • 46 Posts

LOS ANGELES, Calif. Nets Jerseys 2019 . - Matt Carpenter dug in against Clayton Kershaw, fouling off pitches and fighting an 0-2 count. He finally broke through, smacking a go-ahead three-run double that rallied the St. Louis Cardinals to victory.Carpenters hit highlighted an eight-run seventh inning, and the Cardinals went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-9 in a fiery NL Division Series opener Friday.It makes it more fun when youre playing against somebody that is known as being the best pitcher in the game, said Carpenter, who also homered off Kershaw. When I get in those at-bats versus him I just try to fight. Hes coming right after me, seems like every time I face him Im down 0-2 and I got to fight my way back.It was 92 degrees at gametime, and things quickly got more heated in a surprising slugfest.St. Louis overcame a five-run deficit against Kershaw and held on when Trevor Rosenthal blew a 100-mph fastball past Yasiel Puig with a runner on third to end a back-and-forth game that lasted nearly four hours.Im sure everybody in baseball was expecting a one-run game, Carpenter said. We ended up getting one, but we didnt think it would be 10-9.Game 2 is Saturday night with St. Louis Lance Lynn facing Los Angeles Zack Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner.In a matchup of 20-game winners, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright hit Puig with a pitch leading off the third, triggering a bench-clearing scrum. There was shoving and shouting, but no punches were thrown.Wainwright wilted first on the mound, allowing six runs and 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings.I stunk, and those guys just completely picked me up. I was so proud, he said about his teammates. The guys never quit and kept chipping away against the toughest pitcher out there and, gosh, its a huge win.Kershaw failed once again in the post-season.The left-hander whose 1.77 ERA led the major leagues for the fourth consecutive year came in eager to erase the memory of his poor showing in Game 6 of last years NL Championship Series, when the Dodgers were eliminated by the Cardinals.Obviously my fault to let them get back in the game, Kershaw said. We have a great team and if I dont get in the way, we have a pretty good chance to win that game.Kershaw dominated through the first six innings, retiring 16 in a row between homers by Randal Grichuk and Carpenter.But he collapsed in a shaky seventh, when he gave up five of the Cardinals eight runs and became the first pitcher in post-season history to allow seven runs in consecutive starts. He yielded that many in losing Game 6 last year.He gives up a hit or two and you always feel like hes going to get out of it, hes always going to rebound, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.Kershaw, a heavy favourite to win a third Cy Young Award in four years, fell to 1-4 with a career 5.20 ERA in the post-season.The Dodgers rallied again in the ninth, pulling to 10-9 after Dee Gordons RBI groundout scored A.J. Ellis, who singled. But Puig struck out swinging against Rosenthal, who reached 100 mph on five of the seven pitches in the at-bat.Adrian Gonzalez pulled the Dodgers to 10-8 with a two-run homer in the eighth off Randy Choate. They had the potential tying run at the plate when pinch-hitter Justin Turner grounded to third to end the inning.The Cardinals ripped four consecutive singles to centre field to open the seventh. Matt Adams and Jon Jay had RBI singles, drawing them to 6-4.Carpenter then doubled to deep right, driving in three runs for a 7-6 lead and chasing Kershaw. He allowed eight runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings, struck out 10 and walked none.Pedro Baez came on and walked Grichuk. Matt Holliday followed with a three-run homer, silencing the 54,265 blue towel-waving fans and extending the Cardinals lead to 10-6.Kershaw allowed a two-out homer to Carpenter in the sixth that left St. Louis trailing 6-2.Wainwright, a 20-game winner with the NLs third-best ERA of 2.38, struggled mightily in the third and fourth innings at Dodger Stadium, where he has never been at his best. The right-hander allowed a pair of two-out runs in both innings, with the Dodgers taking a 4-1 lead.Marco Gonzales got the victory in one inning of relief. Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth to earn the save.The early scrum clearly fired up the Dodgers, who took a 2-1 lead in the third.After getting drilled, Puig went to take first base and Gonzalez began jawing with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.Molina and Gonzalez went face-to-face yelling and soon both benches and bullpens emptied, creating a scrum around home plate.I know theyre upset at what happened last year and this year they dont want the same, Molina said. Obviously theyre upset about it, but at the same time, if youre upset, you cant scream at it. Youve got to have some respect, too.A year ago, Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly hit Hanley Ramirez in the ribs in the NLCS opener, limiting the shortstop for the rest of the matchup. The teams traded hit by pitches earlier this season, too.Puig later gave Wainwright a friendly pat as he took his base.I walked over to Yasiel and I said, Hey that was my bad. I didnt mean to do that, Wainwright said. I just didnt want it to be a sideshow. Obviously you dont want to wake a sleeping dog, and I didnt want our team to lose its focus. I tried to clear the air there.Ellis, who hit .191 during the regular season, had four of the Dodgers 16 hits, including a two-run homer in the fifth that chased Wainwright. Ellis also scored three runs.Ramirez got things going with two outs in the third, singling past diving second baseman Pete Kozma as Puig scored from second to tie the game at 1. Crawfords ground-rule double into deep right field scored Ramirez, who had stolen second.UP NEXTCardinals: Lynn (15-10, 2.74 ERA) is making his fourth consecutive post-season appearance with the Cardinals since reaching the majors in 2011. His five playoff wins are tied for third-most all-time on the club, trailing Chris Carpenter (10) and Bob Gibson (seven).Dodgers: Greinke (17-8, 2.71) says the Cardinals hitters make adjustments better than most other teams, citing CF Jon Jay who went from chasing off-speed pitches one year to becoming good at handling them the next. Nets Jerseys China . Stevenson scored the first three goals of the game in the first period for Regina (35-22-6), which has won eight of its last 10 games. Patrick DAmico added two for the Pats, Braden Christoffer had a single and Morgan Klimchuk chipped in a goal and four assists. Nets Jerseys 2020 . -- Keith Aulie has joined the Tampa Bay Lightning. https://www.cheapnetsonline.com/ .Patterson marked his anniversary by proving his worth — once again.Lou Williams poured in 26 points, and Patterson drained two huge three-pointers late in the fourth quarter, as the Raptors topped the Denver Nuggets 112-107 in overtime Monday.TORONTO a€“ Just about everyone had cleared off the ice from practice on Monday morning, but there just outside the crease of the goal with a batch of pucks was the player few could have expected to be here. He was the smallest player on hand at Maple Leafs training camp a€“ generously listed at 5-foot-8 and nearly 170 pounds a€“ but by the time the annual two-week exercise was through, nobody in Toronto may have made a bigger name for himself than Brandon Kozun, the plucky, smallish 24-year-old from southern California. Kozun is ultimately a symbol of the competitive environment Torontos coaching staff and management team hoped to create this fall and then again for the coming season, one where merit looms largest. A deeper batch of forwards means (or so the club hopes) a constant battle for ice-time and opportunity, a reality the team rarely had last year or in seasons past. Hes made it very difficult for us to not have him here by the way hes played, said Leafs general manager, Dave Nonis, of Kozun, stressing that he had much to prove in the days ahead. But that is the type of competition that we need. Theres going to be somebody not playing on Wednesday [in the season-opener] that probably expected to and thats fine. We made statements that there was going to be opportunities afforded to people who came in and earned them, added head coach, Randy Carlyle, and we feel that some people have stepped to the front of the line and showed us that theyre worthy of at least starting with our hockey club. Kozun, a Kings sixth round pick in 2009, stood out more and more as the exhibition season rolled along, his combination of speed, disruptiveness and offensive potential proving attractive to team brass. He tallied five points in six games, including two assists and a rewind-and-replay caliber of goal in the finale against Detroit on Friday night. Its exciting to get a chance after playing a couple years in the minors, he said, the reality of the moment yet to set in before Wednesdays opener against Montreal. Its pretty exciting for myself, but on the other hand, theres a lot of work to be done. Im not going to try and get comfortable, Im going to try and keep working hard and see where it goes. The Leafs have to hope that such an attitude infects their dressing room, one that sees teammates pushing one another for opportunity. They didnt have it much last year. Depth forwards like Jerred Smithson, Troy Bodie, Colton Orr, and Frazer McLaren were ill-equipped to capably play higher in the lineup if the need arose and the team suffered because of it. There are a number of players in this group who have the potential to play up and down the lineup in a variety of positions a€“ Daniel Winnik, Mike Santorelli, and Leo Komarov can all play both wing and centre a€“ a luxury that offers Carlyle increased flexibility. I think our thirrd and fourth lines are going to look different than they have in the past, said Nonis. Brooklyn Nets Store. Those third and fourth lines will be interchangeable many nights. Peter Holland could be the third line centre one night and fall behind Mike Santorelli a night or two later if his performance dips. The Leafs hope that pushes a young player like Holland, who offered hints of potential in 39 games last year, to work harder, train longer, and perform more consistently. And if hes not up to task, someone like the 28-year-old Santorelli will be there to scoop up the extra opportunity. You have options, Carlyle said. If we feel that somebody is not giving us what theyre capable of, then theres an option of somebody else going in and taking their minutes. Its cruel, but were here to win hockey games and thats what weve got to do. Winnik is amongst the new crop of depth forwards the Leafs brought in during a busy offseason. Skating in Anaheim the past two seasons, hes well-versed in the type of competitive environment Toronto is trying to create. There was no better example of that last year than the now-retired Teemu Selanne, benched at points with the Ducks during what proved to be the end of a legendary career. Guys a legend, definitely a Hall of Fame player, and he got healthy scratched as well so no one was really safe in Anaheim, Winnik said. It just pushes guys to be better every night. If you have a spell of bad games or if it goes further than that, a spell of a bad month, you know youre not going to be in the lineup. It keeps everyone honest, thats for sure. More depth (or the vision of it at least) also means less strain on the Leafs top line, which shouldered a heavy burden last season. James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, and Phil Kessel all finished amongst the leagues most utilized forwards in 2013-14 and perhaps not coincidentally tapered off in the final weeks of the season. Carlyle has the employ to spread minutes around more evenly a€“ on the penalty kill, additionally in the case of Bozak and perhaps, van Riemsdyk a€“ and thus gather contributions from areas of the lineup which offered almost nothing tangible last season. That will aid in improving the teams possession at even-strength and drive the speedier brand of hockey Carlyle has talked about implementing this season. I think were deeper, Nonis said. We didnt have the depth up front that we have this year. As for Kozun, whom the Leafs acquired from the Kings in a January trade, Nonis didnt envision a standout camp of this kind. He imagined the Los Angeles native pushing for a job and proving his worth as a depth player, but hes performed at a different level than we anticipated. This is no finish line though for Kozun, or so he (and the club) hopes. Its been a long couple years, he said, so Im not going to take anything for granted. ' ' '

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