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Sat Dec 29, 2018 11:40 pm |
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ST. Air Max Baratas Outlet . 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. Air Max Comprar Online España . -- Peyton Manning is the only player in this Super Bowl who has won the big game. Nike Air Max España .com) - The surprising Calgary Flames host the winless New Jersey Devils at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.NEW YORK -- The Raptors ended their regular season by blowing a 21-point lead in a 95-92 loss to the New York Knicks Wednesday. But with playoffs on the horizon, Toronto is looking toward its next game. With a Chicago Bulls loss to the Charlotte Bobcats in overtime, the Raptors still landed the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Theyll open up their first post-season series since 2008 by hosting the sixth-seeded Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. "We know we can beat them. We beat them twice this year, and we beat em once without me playing. Were all excited," said all-star DeMar DeRozan, who played just 22 minutes in Wednesdays loss. New York (37-45) finished its disappointing season on a high note, with Cole Aldrich making the tie-breaking dunk with 1:23 left to cap off a four-game winning streak. J.R. Smith scored 30 points, and Aldrich finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds. "We held ourselves to huge expectations, had big shoes to fill. Unfortunately we didnt fill them like we wanted to," Smith said. "We just take that on the chin and use that for preparation for next year." Kyle Lowry scored 22 points in 26 minutes for the Raptors, who finished 48-34. "The mindset going in was to make sure our guys didnt get hurt and get some rest and we did that," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. The Knicks charged back to tie at 74 entering the fourth by outscoring the Raptors 30-17 in the third. The game became meaningless during the period when Charlotte finished off an overtime victory over Chicago, meaning the Raptors could do no worse than finish tied with the Bulls. Toronto owned the tiebreaker as a division champion. The Raptors were a team that wasnt expected to be in the playoffs. Instead, they replaced the Knicks as Atlantic Division champions. "This is huge. When I first got here that was one of my biggest goals, to get this team back to the playoffs and Im happy to be there," Lowry said. ";But, Im not satisfied. Air Max Comprar Online. I want to make some noise and show that were a good team." Toronto won six of its final eight games. The only other loss was last Friday to the Knicks, a night before New York was eliminated from the post-season when it couldnt climb all the way out of the huge hole it dug with its dismal start. "The last month and a half, two months has been great for our ballclub to see them back playing like Knick basketball should be played," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said, "so Im excited about that." Smiths dunk tied it at 90, and he followed Aldrichs basket with a jumper to make it 94-90 with 21 seconds to go. Tyler Hansbrough scored while being fouled and the Knicks couldnt get the rebound after he missed the free throw. But Toronto eventually threw away an inbounds pass and Smith made one last free throw. The Knicks won without Carmelo Anthony, sidelined by a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and fellow starters Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton on the last game before changes could come. Woodson said before the game he believe hes the right coach for this team, but hasnt had a conversation with new president Phil Jackson yet about his future. Thats likely Jacksons first big decision, with another this summer if Anthony goes through with his plan to become a free agent. Lowry scored 17 in the first quarter, when the Raptors made 11 of 17 shots and led 28-21. Toronto quickly pushed the lead into double figures in the second, opening the period with an 11-2 burst that made it 39-23 on Dwight Buycks 3-pointer. Toronto went ahead by as much as 21 before taking a 57-44 lead into the break. Notes: The Knicks announced they had signed Lamar Odom before the game, giving Jackson the off-season to look at a player who thrived playing for him when Jackson coached the Lakers. Odom was a key member of the Lakers championship teams in 2009 and 2010, and the Sixth Man of the Year in 2011. 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