CLEVELAND -- Theyre alive, barely, but it beats the alternative. The Indians playoff hopes are fragile, and theyre doing all the

Posted in IYH Forums by jokergreen0220 at 08:34, Sep 14 2017

CLEVELAND -- Theyre alive, barely, but it beats the alternative. The Indians playoff hopes are fragile, and theyre doing all they can to keep them from shattering. Yan Gomes hit a three-run homer, Michael Brantley got three more hits and Cleveland stayed in the AL wild-card chase for at least one more day with a 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. A loss would have eliminated the Indians, but after blowing a 3-0 lead, they rallied and moved within 3 1/2 games of Kansas City and Oakland in the wild-card standings. There are four days left in the regular season. "We said all year long as long as we have life, were going to keep battling and thats exactly what we did tonight," outfielder David Murphy said. "Weve had some good moments. Weve had some bad moments this season, but hopefully were going to be going into the last series of the season still alive." The Royals, who havent made the playoffs since 1985, fell two games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central. Zach McAllister (4-7) pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings and Cody Allen worked the ninth for his 23rd save as the Indians kept their season relevant. Theyre off on Thursday, but the Indians will closely monitor Kansas Citys game in Chicago and Oaklands visit to Texas. "It has all to do whether or not we have life coming into Friday," Murphy said, "so regardless were going to come ready to play, but hopefully were going to be playing for something." Brantley has hit safely in 15 straight games and needs one more hit to be the first Indians player with 200 in a season since Kenny Lofton in 1996. The Indians took the lead in the fifth off rookie Brandon Finnegan (0-1) on Carlos Santanas RBI groundout. Cleveland added a run in the sixth on Murphys pinch sacrifice fly. Cleveland entered the unusual series -- the teams completed a suspended game on Monday -- 3 1/2 games behind the Royals and the Indians ended in the same place. Unfortunately for them, they wasted a chance to pull closer and now have to win their final three games and hope for help from other teams to play in the post-season. Billy Butler had three RBIs for Kansas City, which can lock up one of the two wild cards by winning one of four games in Chicago against the White Sox starting Thursday. "I know things are close, were close," Butler said. "Weve got four games left. If we could do it right now, wed be in a playoff spot. You cant help but realize that its right around the corner, but you have to keep grinding and keep your head down." Their flimsy playoff hopes fading, the Indians scored twice in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. Jason Vargas hit Michael Bourn with a pitch to open the inning and Royals manager Ned Yost pulled the left-hander, who has just one win in his last seven starts. Jose Ramirez doubled off the wall and the speedy Bourn, waved around by third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh, scored the tying run on a headfirst dive into the plate, reaching in with his left hand to avoid catcher Salvador Perezs tag. "When you see a guy dive into home like that you realize nobodys playing out the string," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He was pretty fired up." Gomes two-out shot, his 21st homer, to straightaway centre gave the Indians a 3-0 lead in the first. WALK THIS WAY Santana walked three times, giving him 112 this season, the sixth most in club history. Santana has walked more than any major league switch-hitter since Lance Berkman (127) for Houston in 2002. NO RELIEF Indians reliever Bryan Shaw tied the club record with his 79th appearance, matching the mark set by Bobby Howry in 2005. K KINGS Clevelands pitchers have combined for 1,419 strikeouts, nine shy of the major league record set by Detroit in 2013. TRAINERS ROOM Indians: Nick Swisher rejoined his teammates after undergoing surgery on both knees last month. Swisher tried to play through pain for several months before deciding to have his knees "cleaned out." He expects to be ready for the start of spring training. UP NEXT Royals: RHP James Shields (14- makes his team-leading 34th start as Kansas City tries to clinch a playoff spot in Chicago. Shields is 20-5 with a 2.48 ERA on the road since the start of 2013. Indians: The Indians end a stretch of 30 games in 30 days with their final off day of 2014. They open a three-game series vs. Tampa Bay on Friday as Corey Kluber (17-9) tries to strengthen his case for the Cy Young. <a href="http://www.ventefreerunpascher.fr/nike-free-3-0-flyknit/nike-free-3-0-flyknit-femme.html">Nike Free 3.0 Flyknit Femme</a>. But sometimes the way you lose takes precedence over the final score. And how the Jets lost the 5-4 game to the New York Islanders on Thursday is what had Coach Claude Noel hot after the game. <a href="http://www.ventefreerunpascher.fr/nike-free-3-0-flyknit-homme-pas-cher-bleu-noir.html">Nike Free 3.0 Flyknit Homme - Pas Cher Bleu/Noir</a>. Redden played a total of 1,023 regular-season games with Ottawa, the New York Rangers, St. Louis and Boston. He finished with 457 points (109 goals, 348 assists) and a plus-160 rating over his career. <a href="http://www.ventefreerunpascher.fr/nike-free-run-5-0-pas-cher.html">http://www.ventefreerunpascher.fr/nike-free-run-5-0-pas-cher.html</a>. The three Calgary natives will compete after the sport was skipped by the Vancouver Games in 2010 but later included on the program for Sochi, Russia. The fight to include womens ski jumping prior to Vancouver went to the courts only to have the Supreme Court of Canada rule against the athletes appeal in 2009. <a href="http://www.ventefreerunpascher.fr/nike-free-run-5-0-pas-cher/nike-free-5-0-femme.html">Nike Free Run 5.0 Femme Pas Cher</a>. Compared to what hes gone through in recent weeks, that seemed like a breeze. Speaking to The Associated Press on Friday at an NBA Cares event, Silver said hes thrilled that the leagues attention can be on the championship series between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs -- and not, as it was for so much of the post-season, on the off-the-court matters involving the banishment of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and now the looming sale of that franchise. <a href="http://www.ventefreerunpascher.fr/nike-free-3-0-flyknit-homme-pas-cher-noir-blanche.html">Nike Free 3.0 Flyknit Homme - Pas Cher Noir/Blanche</a>. Russell Wilson against Darrelle Revis, former teammate Brandon Browner and whatever schemes Bill Belichick dreams up.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. I am sitting here watching the remainder of the Bruins and Habs game. You have said on numerous occasions that referees do not decide games or in this case, series. Was that the case with Game 7? I have many calls that we could discuss but I only want to ask about the one called against Boston with 4:31 left in the game. Did that call not decide the series? That was an interference call, however to be fair, lets sit and review the game. Can you tell me that throughout the game(s) it was fair and the calls were fair? They let so much go and then make calls like snow on the goalies shoulder! When was the last time that was called? Definitely not in a Game 7! Brian Gamley Brian: First, the Montreal Canadiens were the better team on this night and deserved the win and the series. The Bruins were tight and out of sync throughout most of Game 7. If you look at the penalty called by referee Dave Jackson on Johnny Boychuk with 4:31 remaining in regulation time it is fair to determine that by the letter of the law interference was committed once Boychuk built a bridge with his stick and shoved Bournival to the ice shortly after the puck was chipped through the neutral zone. There is also some argument to make that since Bournival did not alter his path to get outside Boychuk, but instead skated a stride or two directly into the Bruins defender that contact was inevitable and no harm, no foul - resulted 130 feet from the Bruins net. Whatever you believe to be most accurate is your prerogative. I want to focus my attention on how this specific call, with the score 2-1 and 4:31 remaining in Game 7, fit into the overall standard that the refs employed throughout the game. When I do that, it is only reasonable to conclude there were too many inconsistencies to deem this a penalty at that particular time in the game. Before I explain why I believe this to be true I want to provide some background on how the officials prepare for a game of this nature and the assignment process. When approaching any playoff game, especially a deciding game or Game 7, it is vital that the officiating crew be well prepared mentally and physically. In this case, that process would actually begin at least a day before the game when the officials left home and travelled to Boston (they might have also anticipated or even been assigned to Game 7 prior to Game 6 being played in Montreal. In any event they would have likely watched that game closely on television). While the officials are responsible for their personal preparation and readiness, the series supervisor (in this case, Kris King) also has some responsibility to get the crew mentally prepared in a meeting he conducts at noon on the day of the game. He, of course, cant work the game for them so his job is more like that of a coach and motivator. Selecting the officials assigned to the game is the direct responsibiliity of Stephen Walkom, V.ddddddddddddP. of Officiating based on his evaluation process and that of his supervisors and Hockey Operations. Referee Dan ORourke has been selected to work the Stanley Cup Final on a couple of occasions. Dave Jackson returned to playoff assignments this season under Stephen Walkom after not participating in the playoffs from 2010-13 under boss Terry Gregson. The first period was crucial for the referees to set an acceptable standard and tone that hopefully the players would respond to and could be consistently applied throughout the game. From almost the opening puck drop key decisions were made on calls and non-calls that made this objective almost impossible to be maintained and achieve success. On the very first shift, Brad Marchand caught Michael Bournival with a high-stick to the head just inside the Montreal blue line that went un-penalized. Marchand then received the first penalty at 6:18 of the game for goalie interference assessed by referee Jackson. On this play, it was Andrei Markov of the Canadiens that cross-checked Marchand in the neck and caused the Bruins player to fall through the crease and contact Carey Price. The first penalty call is often crucial to set the standard and this one clearly sent the wrong message. At approximately 9:48 of the first period, Reilly Smith was given a rough ride with an obvious leg/stick trip takedown in front of the Habs net by Josh Gorges as Price caught on incoming puck. The same referee was once again in good position to see the play but chose not to call this tripping/interference infraction. At the other end of the ice, Zdeno Chara received a holding penalty following a puck battle with Rene Bourque against the boards where some detainment was exerted by Chara and a quick call resulted from Dan ORourke. These decisions set a difficult standard for the referees to maintain as it appeared the game was being worked differently from end of the ice to the other. It only took seven seconds into the second period when Brad Marchand was whistled for stopping hard at the crease and penalized for a snow-shower on Habs goalie Price. These calls are typically something that needs to be addressed early in a series and not in game seven. It would be at this juncture that some "game management" as I described in yesterdays column could be used to the refs advantage. Then at 17:06, David Krejci had his lower glove hand slashed by Lars Eller on the back-check as Krejci was attempting to redirect a centering pass from Torey Krug. Krejci had words with referee Jackson when no call was made. So now we move to the Johnny Boychuk interference penalty that was called with 4:31 remaining in regulation time of Game 7. Given all of the above events, plus the fact that Bournival did not attempt to skate around Boychuk in addition to some embellishment on the play, it would have been the appropriate time for the referee to keep his arm down and allow the play to continue. <a href="http://www.nfljerseyscheaponline.com/">Wholesale Jerseys</a>　 <a href="http://www.nfljerseyscheapfreeshipping.com/">Cheap NFL Jerseys</a>　<a href="http://www.cheapjerseysonsale.us/">Wholesale Jerseys</a>　<a href="http://www.cheapnfljerseyssale.us/">Authentic Jerseys From China</a> <a href="http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinasale.us/">Wholesale Jerseys</a> <a href="http://www.cheapjerseysfinish.com/">Wholesale NFL Jerseys</a> ' ' '