Minecraft Disskusion » Stars to take this series

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A giant, indeed.Madison Bumgarner punctuated a World Series performance for the ages by pitching the San Francisco Giants to their third championship in five years with a 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.The big left-hander came out of the bullpen to throw five scoreless innings on two days rest, saving a Series pushed to the limit. And by winning Game 7 on the road, Bumgarner and the Giants succeeded where no team had in 3 1/2 decades.I wasnt thinking about innings or pitch count. I was just thinking about getting outs, getting outs, until I couldnt get them anymore and we needed someone else, Bumgarner said in a monotone that made it sound as though he was talking about batting practice.A two-out misplay in the ninth almost wrecked it for him.Bumgarner had retired 14 in a row when Alex Gordon sent a drive to centre. The pitcher pointed his glove in the air, thinking it could be the final out, but the ball fell in front of centre fielder Gregor Blanco for a single.Blanco allowed it to skip past him to the wall, and left fielder Juan Perez kicked the ball before throwing to shortstop Brandon Crawford in short left, holding Gordon at third.When it got by him, I had a smile on my face. I thought maybe I could score, but he got to it quickly enough, Gordon said. I just put my head down and ran, almost fell around second base, was just waiting for Jirsch (third base coach Mike Jirschele) to give me the signal. It was a good hold. He had the ball in plenty of time.From there, Blanco hoped for the best.We just need one more out. We got this. Lets do it, he thought to himself.Bumgarner, the Series MVP, retired Salvador Perez on a foulout to third baseman Pablo Sandoval near the Giants dugout. The 25-year-old ace was immediately embraced by catcher Buster Posey, and the rest of the Giants rushed to the mound to join the victory party.Most of the San Francisco players tossed their gloves high in the air as they ran to the centre of the diamond.What a warrior he is, and truly incredible what he did throughout the post-season, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. I just told him I just cant believe what he accomplished through all this. Hes such a humble guy, and we rode him pretty good.Three days after throwing 117 pitches in a four-hit shutout to win Game 5, Bumgarner tossed 68 more and dropped his record-low career Series ERA to a minuscule 0.25. Hes allowed one run and 14 hits in five outings covering 36 innings.Yeah, it was hopeless, Royals manager Ned Yost said.Bumgarner initially was credited with the win. But nearly an hour after the final out, the official scorers awarded it to Jeremy Affeldt, who was in the game when San Francisco took the lead.Affeldt pitched 2 1-3 innings of scoreless relief in his longest outing since July 2012. He was helped by the first World Series reversal in the era of expanded replay, which gave the Giants a double play on Eric Hosmers sharp grounder.Rookie second baseman Joe Panik made a diving stop and flipped to Crawford with his glove for the relay, a key play that prevented a potential Royals rally.Bumgarner joined Cincinnatis Rawley Eastwick in 1975 as the only pitchers with at least two wins and a save in a World Series, and the 15-out save set a Fall Classic record.With it all, Bumgarner etched his place in post-season lore among the likes of Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and David Ortiz — players whose indelible October performances led their team to titles.Posey expected Bumgarner to throw three innings, then turn over the game to setup man Sergio Romo and closer Santiago Casilla — who threw four pitches in the entire Series.But he just kept rolling, Posey said. I mean, its unbelievable.Consecutive sacrifice flies by Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford put the Giants ahead 2-0 in the second against Jeremy Guthrie, but Tim Hudson gave the lead right back in the bottom half on Gordons RBI double and Omar Infantes sacrifice fly.Morse hit a go-ahead single in the fourth on a 99 mph fastball from reliever Kelvin Herrera to break a 2-all tie, and the Giants eked out a battle of bullpens on a night when both starting pitchers made unusually quick exits.The Giants were dubbed a Band of Misfits in 2010 when they beat Texas to win the franchises first title since 1954 in New York. Two years later, they swept Detroit for another championship.And this time, they became the second NL team with three titles in a five-year span, matching Stan Musials St. Louis Cardinals of 1942-46.Every other year. Its the closest thing to a baseball dynasty in the 21st century.Home teams had won nine straight Game 7s in the Series since Pittsburghs victory at Baltimore in 1979, including the Royals 11-0 rout of St. Louis in 1985. Teams hosting the first two games had won 23 of the last 28 titles, including five in a row. And the Giants had lost all four of their previous World Series pushed to the limit.But before a pumped-up, blue-and-white-clad crowd of 40,535 that hoped noise and passion could lift the small-market Royals to a title that seemed improbable when Kansas City was languishing two games under .500 in mid-July, the Giants won the second all-wild card World Series, 12 years after losing Game 7 to the Angels in the first.Hudson and Guthrie combined for 15 outs — matching the fewest by Game 7 starters. Hudson, at 39, became the oldest Game 7 starter. The 35-year-old Guthrie took the loss.With his shaggy hair making him look every bit a gunslinger, Bumgarner entered to boos in the bottom of the fifth for his first relief appearance since the 2010 NL playoffs. He coated his long arms with rosin and groomed the pocked-up mound with his spikes.Bumgarner gave up an opposite-field single to his first batter, Infante, and didnt allow another runner until the ninth. Bumgarner yielded two hits, struck out four and walked none. He pitched 52 2-3 post-season innings, 4 1-3 more than the previous mark set by Schilling for Arizona in 2001, and finished with 270 innings combined, including the regular season.MadBum became king of SoMa, and from Nob Hill to North Beach, from The Marina to The Mission, San Francisco celebrated another title won by Kung Fu Panda and Hunter Pence.Pence batted .444 in the Series and Sandoval, a free-agent-to-be playing perhaps his last game for the Giants, finished at .429 following a three-hit night. In an era when pitching and computer-aided defence has supplanted steroids-saturated sluggers, baseballs dominant team established itself in the tech-fueled, boomtown by the Bay.The Giants, a 20-1 longshot when 2014 odds were first posted a year ago, won their eighth title and third since moving from New York to San Francisco after the 1957 season. They also have won 10 straight post-season rounds, one shy of the record set by the New York Yankees from 1998-01.Most of it this year was due to Bumgarner.He didnt lose a bit of energy. He didnt lose a bit of stuff, injured teammate Matt Cain said. Sometimes you wonder if hes got a pulse.THE COREEight players have been on all three Series rosters for the Giants in the past five years: Affeldt, Bumgarner, Casilla, Tim Lincecum, Javier Lopez, Posey, Romo and Sandoval. Cain, a member of the first two title teams, was hurt this October. Before this run, manager John McGraw (1905, 21-22) was the only Giant with three titles. Bochy became the 10th manager to win three World Series titles — the other nine are all in the Hall of Fame. Womens Air VaporMax 2018 . Picard had a goal and two assists to help Canada improve to 2-0 at the tournament. Seven different players scored for the two-time defending champions. "Today all four lines played excellent," said head coach Laura Schuler. Cheap Air VaporMax 2018 .cas NHL Play of the Year showdown continues today with a man whos spent most of his career on highlight reels and a goalie actually "reaching back" for a save. http://www.cheapairvapormaxfreeshipping.com/. Rosbergs time of 1 minute, 33.185 seconds at the Bahrain International Circuit was a quarter of a second faster than Hamilton, who had to abandon his final flying lap after running wide at the first corner. Mens Air VaporMax 2018 .com) - Nate Buss 3-pointer with 5. Cheap Air VaporMax China . Despite Arsenals financial firepower, the 31-year-old midfielder was the only arrival in the January transfer window. Signed until the end of the season as injury cover, Kallstrom might not be fit until mid-March after arriving Friday at Arsenal having injured his back earlier in the week while training with Spartak Moscow.The Rangers take the series lead, again; the Blackhawks blow away the Blues and the Ducks stage a miraculous comeback to oust the Stars. Notes on Couturier, Keith, Seabrook, Miller, Daley, Seguin and more. RANGERS DOUBLE UP FLYERS The New York Rangers got goals from some less likely sources -- including Marc Staal, Dominic Moore and Brian Boyle, into an empty net -- to win Game Five over the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2, givng the Blueshirts a 3-2 series lead. The other Rangers goal-scorer was Brad Richards, and it came off a goal-mouth scramble that netted J.T. Miller and assist. Miller, the 21-year-old who was a first-round pick in 2011, has 10 points in 56 career games with the Rangers, but had 43 points in 41 AHL games this season and joined a line with Richards and Carl Hagelin. New Yorks line of Derek Stepan, Rick Nash and Martin St. Louis controlled play. Aside from setting up Staals game-opening goal, the trio was on for more than 70% of 5-on-5 shot attempts, mostly against the Flyers line of Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Jason Akeson. Couturier and Read are the Flyers forwards playing the most in this series and Couturier hasnt recorded a single point. Yes, hes a responsible checking centre, but its tough to run a forward out for more than 100 minutes in five games and get no points out of that ice-time investment. Inserted into the Flyers lineup for an injured Nicklas Grossman, Hal Gill had a rough game, involved in two Rangers goals against, and it was a hard situation in which to place a guy who had played two games since Christmas. The series heads back to Philadelphia for Game Six and the Flyers have to find a way to generate better results in a hurry. The Blueshirts hold a possession edge and have the better goaltender. BYE BYE BLUES Tied 1-1 going into the third period of Game Six, the Chicago Blackhawks erupted for four goals to pull away from the St. Louis Blues, finishing off the series. Blackhawks D Duncan Keith led the way offensively, tallying a goal and three assists, and with Keith on the ice, the Blackhawks held a 20-13 (60.6%) edge in shot attempts. With Keith off the ice, the 5-on-5 shot attempts favoured St. Louis 32-16 (66.7%). Keiths defence partner, Brent Seabrook, had a couple of assists in his first game back after serving a three-game suspension, and RW Andrew Shaw added a goal and an assist. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was the pace-setter in the series, scoring three goals and seven points, with all of his goals counting as game-winners. Seabrook, who only played in three games due to his suspension, finished the series with six points and Keiths big Game Six gave him seven points for the series as well. For the Blues, there is going to be a lot of reflection because this is a team that expected to last longer than one round in the postseason, but this result shouldnt raise major concerns. They played the Blackhawks very evenly, with four of the six games in the series going to overtime, and had to play two of the games without their No. 1 centre. Considering the late run of injuries that led to the Blues losing six straight to end the regular season, setting up this matchup, its also fair to wonder if the Blues could have fared better with fewer health concerns. The Blues held a slight possession edge in the series, but got the second-best goaltending results. Chicagos Corey Crawford stopped 201 of 215 shots (.935 SV%) while Blues G Ryan Miller, after getting torched for five goals on 26 shots in the series finale, stopped 166 of 185 (.897 SV%). Could the Blues use aan upgrade or two? Sure, maybe a centre to help Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko, or a premier finisher for the top line that could allow T.ddddddddddddJ. Oshie or Alexander Steen to slide to the second line. In the end, the Blues were a really good team that played well, but not quite well enough to knock off the defending champs, who are legitimate Cup contenders again this year. There is no shame in losing to this Blackhawks team. The Blackhawks will now wait for the winner of the Colorado-Minnesota series and Chicago will be favoured against either one.. FALLING STARS Just when it looked like the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks would be headed back to Anaheim for Game Seven -- with the Stars holding a 4-2 lead late in the third period -- a goal-mouth scramble resulted in coincidental roughing penalties to Dallas Alex Chiasson and Anaheims Andrew Cogliano. 16 seconds later, Nick Bonino tied the game. Then, with 24 seconds left, Devante Smith-Pelly pounced on a loose puck and buried it for the tying goal. 2:47 into overtime, Bonino scored again, giving the Ducks a dramatic 5-4 win in Game Six, allowing the Ducks to escape with a series victory not so long after it appeared that the series was surely going the distance. Bonino and Smith-Pelly each had a pair of goals for Anaheim, while Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne each delivered a pair of assists. Selanne played 14:08 and had five shots on goal, both marking highs for him in a series that saw him made a healthy scratch. That the Ducks won a series in which they yanked starting goaltender Frederik Andersen twice shows just how back-and-forth it was. Andersen was pulled from Game Six after allowing four goals on 12 shots, leaving him with an .892 save percentage in the series; the kind of play that could leave virtually-exiled veteran Jonas Hiller an opportunity to start at some point in Round Two. Hiller stopped all 12 shots he faced after relieving Andersen. The Stars were led in Game Six, and for good portions of the series, by their top defence tandem of Trevor Daley and Alex Goligoski. Daley had two goals and an assist Sunday, while Goligoski added two assists. They combined for nine points in the series and were both on for more than 58% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when they were on the ice. Stars C Cody Eakin had a goal and an assist in the deciding game, giving him five points for the series; tied with Daley, LW Jamie Benn and C Shawn Horcoff for the team scoring lead. Stars C Tyler Seguin could have used some more reward for what was relatively impressive play. He was on the ice for 61.8% of 5-on-5 shot attempts and had 29 shots on goal in six games, yet mustered one goal and three points. There was a real opportunity for the Stars to take this series, but needed a more decisive advantage in goal, particularly with Andersen running hot and cold. In the Dallas net, Kari Lehtonen stopped 146 of 165 shots (.885%) and, as it turns out, that was only a save or two short of what the Stars needed to push this series to the limit. Even though the Stars won the possession battle, they couldnt slow down Anaheims otherwordly 5-on-5, score close shooting percentage (12.7% in Round One). Now, the Ducks wait for the winner of the Sharks and Kings which will, in either case, present a daunting matchup. But, after the way the Ducks won Game Six, let em celebrate a bit first. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '