wanglei
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Joined: 01 November 2017
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| Posted: 14 December 2017 at 02:49 | IP Logged
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ST. LOUIS – Its easy for one to imagine that when Red Sox manager John Farrell put head to pillow early Sunday morning, he was still stewing over a call made in the ninth inning late the night before. No, not the obstruction ruling that drew the curtain on a 5-4 Cardinals win, sending Busch Stadium into celebration as the hometown team took a 2-1 lead in the World Series. (Read about it here.) Instead, Farrell must be lamenting his decision in the top of the ninth inning to let a pitcher – a relief pitcher – hit with one out in a tie game. For reasons well discuss momentarily, Bostons bench had been reduced to Mike Napoli and David Ross. For two reasons, Ross doesnt factor into this conversation. One, hes the backup catcher and needed to be available in the event Jarrod Saltalamacchia was injured later in the game. Two, and most importantly, Ross is an inferior hitter to Napoli. Reliever Brandon Workman was Bostons fifth pitcher of the night and had worked the eighth. Jake Peavy, Felix Doubront, Craig Breslow and Junichi Tazawa had already been used. Koji Uehara, Ryan Dempster and Franklin Morales were, at the time, still in the bullpen. After Will Middlebrooks struck out to lead off the ninth, Farrell sent Workman up to hit. Workman, standing in the batters box against flame-throwing Cardinals right-hander Trevor Rosenthal, didnt stand a chance. He struck out on three pitches, Jacoby Ellsbury was quickly retired on a ground ball and the inning was over. Farrell had managed aggressively all night, the reason his bench had become short, but suddenly he went passive. The point isnt whether Napoli would have hit a home run to give Boston the lead or whether he would have gotten a hit to start a rally. The issue is Farrell, startlingly, decided to play for extra innings and save Napoli, one of his hottest hitters, for an at-bat not guaranteed to come. Farrell had wasted no time chasing starter Jake Peavy from the game. Down 2-0 in the top of the fifth and with runners on the corners and one out, Farrell pinch hit Mike Carp for Peavy. Carp grounded into an RBI fielders choice to get Boston on the board, a better result than Peavy likely would have had against hard-throwing Cardinals starter Joe Kelly. Good move, Farrell. In the seventh, with the game tied 2-2, Farrell pinch hit Will Middlebrooks for shortstop Stephen Drew. St. Louis had left-hander Kevin Siegrist pitching at the time and Drew, a left-handed hitter, has been as close as one can be to being an automatic out over the last month. The defensive alignment shifted as a result, with Middlebrooks entering the field at third base and Xander Bogaerts moving a few dozen feet to his left to assume shortstop duties. It was another completely acceptable move by Farrell. Farrell also had Jonny Gomes hit for reliever Felix Doubront in the seventh inning. An obvious move, youd think, except, of course, for what was to come. Unfortunately for Farrell, he got bit by the decision to move Bogaerts to shortstop. Matt Carpenter led off the Cardinals seventh with an infield hit. The ball wasnt hit hard but Bogaerts created a slow-developing play. First baseman David Ortiz, a designated hitter forced into the field by National League rules, couldnt corral the one-hop throw. Carpenter was aboard and would later score on a two-run double by Matt Holliday. Bogaerts is a natural shortstop and Farrell, obviously, trusts him enough at the position to put him there at a key time in a big game. The player didnt execute. You cant blame the manager for that. Reliever Craig Breslow was charged with the two seventh inning runs. He allowed the Carpenter single and also hit Carlos Beltran with a pitch that grazed the Cardinal outfielders left arm. Farrell went to right-hander Junichi Tazawa to face Holliday. Tazawa gave up the double. Again, the players didnt execute. There can be no fault found with Farrells strategy. After the Red Sox nicked the combination of Carlos Martinez and Rosenthal for two runs, to tie the game 4-4, in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals got a one out single from Kolten Wong with one out in the bottom half of the inning. Wong stole second with two outs and Carlos Beltran up. Farrell had Workman intentionally walk Beltran to get to the red hot Holliday. Holliday flew out. Gutsy move by Farrell but he must have liked the Workman/Holliday match up better than the Workman/Beltran showdown. It paid off. Farrell showed a keenness to work the National League style and he employed a proactive approach for most of the night. That was until he let Workman hit for himself instead of calling on Napoli. When Workman allowed a one out single to Yadier Molina in the bottom of the ninth, Farrell called for closer Koji Uehara, which begs the question, if Farrell was going to go to Uehara the moment Workman got in trouble, why didnt he just start the ninth with Uehara on the mound? Farrell played the role of wild gunslinger but then suddenly morphed into the shy guy in the corner. You cant play for extra innings when the home team has the opportunity to walk you off. To be fair, Farrell didnt cost his team the game. But as he laid his head on the pillow, the gunslinger surely must have recognized he left the ballpark with one bullet left unfired. Rico Gathers Jersey . Returning to Davis Cup tennis, Federer cruised past Ilija Bozoljac, winning 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in less than two hours. Federer faced little challenge from Bozoljac, who served well but still was no match for his Swiss opponent. Nolan Carroll Jersey . Louis Blues were workmanlike, methodical and -- most of all -- effective on Monday night. http://www.thecowboysfansmall.com/c-24-cowboys-dan-bailey-jersey.aspx . Sami Vatanen had a goal and an assist and Anaheim used a four-goal first period to extend their winning streak to six games with a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Damien Wilson Jersey . The New York Rangers centre had a goal and two assists in a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators ending a 13-game goal-scoring drought. Tyrone Crawford Jersey .Y. - Joe Johnson hit six 3-pointers in his 27 points, Mason Plumlee added 18 points, and the Brooklyn Nets won their 11th straight at home, beating the Boston Celtics 114-98 Friday night.Things started off quite well for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but their January slide has pushed them out of playoff position. So whats exactly wrong with the Blue and White these days? The team opened 2014 on a high, defeating the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in a shootout in front of more than 105,000 fans at Michigan Stadium for the NHLs Winter Classic. Since the outdoor win, the Leafs have dropped three straight games and have been outscored 18-5 in those contests. On top of that, the club has just five regulation/overtime victories over their last 31 games and a 4-13 record in the 17 games that ended in regulation. By comparison, the Leafs had 13 regulation/overtime wins in their final 31 games under Ron Wilson. Going into Friday nights game against Washington, theyve gone 2-7-4 in their last 13 road games, are 4-for-43 on the power play and their last road regulation win was Oct. 30 in Calgary. Is it the coaching? Many fans have called for the firing of head coach Randy Carlyle. In his lone full season with the Leafs, he led the team to their first playoff appearance since 2004. But is it possible that his good will with the players has taken a turn south? Many observers have blamed Carlyle for the Leafs defensive system, which has allowed a league-high 36.4 shots on goal per game and league-worst minus-9.2 shot differential. Others argue that the shot totals have been high all year and are nothing new for the Leafs. Their goaltending struggles, however, certainly are. Is the problem in goal? The Leafs relied on the strong play of James Reimer and more specifically Jonathan Bernier to get wins this season, but both have struggled of late. Bernier played 29 gaames with the Leafs this season before getting pulled for the first time on Saturday in a 7-1 loss against the New York Rangers.dddddddddddd He allowed five goals on 32 shots in just under two periods of play. And Bernier struggled again the next time out against the New York Islanders, allowing four goals on 24 shots, three of them that Carlyle said Bernier wanted back. The Leafs lost again, 5-3. The team turned back to Reimer on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, but he allowed six goals on 36 shots and the team lost its third straight game, 6-1. As TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger noted on TSN Radio 1050 on Friday morning, the Leafs, "played 60 minutes like they were killing a 5-on-3." At the same time, Torontos offence hasnt been anywhere near good enough to make up for the defensive shortfall. The Leafs top two scorers, Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, have just one point between them over the last three games. The losing skid could be attributed to many things, but is it as simple as a Winter Classic hangover? The Leafs played most of December under the watchful eyes of television cameras documenting their lives, on and off the ice, for HBOs 24/7 Winter Classic series. When they won the game and shook their opponents hands at centre ice, the camera crews packed up and life was supposed to return to normal. But since then victories have been hard to come by. And now the Leafs find themselves on the outside looking in for a playoff spot with just under half the season remaining and Olympic break four weeks away. The time has come to ask, whats wrong with the Toronto Maple Leafs? As always, its Your! Call. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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Rockezine Forums : Zandbak
Topic: the last three games
