miaowang123: take 25 goals to the bank, with 30 or 35 poss

miaowang123

SYDNEY, Australia -- Opening day turned out to be a pretty gday for the Los Angeles Dodgers and ace Clayton Kershaw. www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/69-Jersey  . Kershaw flashed his Cy Young form, Scott Van Slyke homered and the NL West champions opened the Major League Baseball season with a 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night at Sydney Cricket Ground. A crowd of about 40,000 watched as MLB played its first regular-season game in Australia. Kershaw, who signed a seven-year, US$215 million contract in January, allowed one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. Van Slyke hit a two-run homer and also doubled. The first pitch was delayed because of rain for 14 minutes. By then, the long trip Down Under had taken even longer for some Arizona players. A team bus had a flat tire, and the Diamondbacks said "a handful" of players decided to walk the last half-mile to the stadium instead of waiting for a replacement bus. Kershaw was impressive while making his fourth consecutive opening-day start. He struck out seven, walked one and was pulled by manager Don Mattingly after throwing his 102nd pitch. Quite a turnaround from spring training, when the two-time NL Cy Young winner went 0-3 with a 9.20 ERA in four starts. "Sometimes you just need the adrenaline of a regular-season game, and I just kind of feel relieved to get this one under my belt," he said. "Its always good to get results, obviously," he said. "This one counted." In his previous opening-day starts, Kershaw was 2-0 with 19 strikeouts in 19 scoreless innings. "Kershaw did a good job keeping us in the middle of the diamond," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "He threw a good ball game against us. We know theyre always going to be close." Three relievers kept the Diamondbacks scoreless with hitless work. Chris Perez, a five-time all-star with Cleveland before joining the Dodgers in the off-season, got the last out in the seventh. Brian Wilson pitched the eighth and closer Kenley Jansen got the save. Jansen walked a batter before getting Gerardo Parra to ground out to end the game. "Clayton was really good, kind of as always ... kind of doing his thing," Mattingly said. "Hes a tough guy to take out of the game, he always wants to stay in. And I thought our bullpen was really good tonight. Chris comes in and gets a big out for us there and Wilson did a good job and Jansen in closing the door." There were plenty of Dodgers and Diamondbacks uniforms in the crowd, some worn by American visitors and others by Australians who had flown across the country to watch the opener and Sundays second game, when another capacity crowd was expected. They feasted on baseball-style treats like nachos stuffed in batting helmets and Cracker Jack, which is not usually sold in Australia. If you could afford the cost and the calories, a two-foot-long hot dog sold for $36. Kershaw ran like hed eaten one of those hot dogs when he tried to stretch a one-out single in the seventh into a double, but was easily thrown out at second by left fielder Mark Trumbo. "My baserunning needs some work," Kershaw said, laughing. "I almost stopped at first base and then went to second, and that hesitation probably killed me. Im not that fast, so I need all the help I can get. Fortunately, it didnt hurt us very much." Van Slyke, playing because of an injury to Matt Kemp and paternity leave to Carl Crawford, nearly cleared the left-field fence in the second inning. His double set up a grounder by Andre Ethier that scored Adrian Gonzalez with the Dodgers first run. In his next at-bat in the fourth, Van Slyke connected off losing pitcher Wade Miley for a drive over the right-field fence -- just inside the foul pole -- with Gonzalez again on base to put the Dodgers up 3-0. "I thought that it was either going to be a foul or caught," Van Slyke said. "I didnt think it had a chance to go out. I felt more relaxed and had a little more energy and focus than I did in the exhibition games." Sydney Cricket Ground was refurbished two weeks ago to create the baseball diamond and an outfield with an 8-foot wall. It was 328 feet down the foul lines and 400 feet to straightaway centre. Miley, who came out for a pinch hitter in the fifth, got the opening day assignment because of a left elbow injury to Diamondbacks ace Patrick Corbin. Miley gave up three runs and three hits, striking out eight with two walks. Both teams finished with five hits. The Diamondbacks scored in the sixth after a double by Paul Goldschmidt, who had two hits. He moved to third on Kershaws wild pitch and scored on Trumbos infield out. The Diamondbacks were shut out 5-0 in an exhibition game Friday by Team Australia when they stranded 11 runners. A series of thunderstorms but little rain around the stadium about two hours ahead of the start cut short the Dodgers batting practice and tarp was rolled on to the field. That caused the start of the game to be delayed and cancelled the pre-game ceremonies. NOTES: Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez gingerly walked off the field early in the game and may have tweaked a troublesome hamstring. He stayed in the game. ... LA leadoff man Yasiel Puig was hitless in five at-bats, including three strikeouts. ... On Sunday, South Korean lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, moved up in the Dodgers rotation because Zack Greinke injury his right calf, faces the Diamondbacks Trevor Cahill in the afternoon finale. ... The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Sydney Swans Aussie rules football star Adam Goodes, picked as Australian of the year this season. It was a very off-speed strike. ... Arizonas Aaron Hill had an infield single for the first hit of the season. www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/16-Jersey  .C. -- Marcus Paige and his North Carolina teammates have endured so many wild swings -- big wins, surprising losses, NCAA drama -- that no one can blame their Hall of Fame coach for wondering whats next. www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/30-Jersey  . -- C.J. Wilson parked his car and laughed while signing autographs for faceless fans who handed bats, balls and cards to the pitcher from the other side of a brick wall.There were rumours throughout the NHL season that the Minnesota Wild would be a free agent destination for a particular top goal-scoring winger and, when free agency opened, they got their man. Numbers Game looks at the Wild signing Thomas Vanek. The Wild Get: LW Thomas Vanek. Vanek, 30, has been one of the most prolific goal-scorers in the game. Since 2006-2007, his 252 goals ranks fourth, behind Alex Ovechkin, Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. Vanek is a four-time 30-goal scorer who has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last nine seasons. Only Ovechkin and Rick Nash have managed that same feat. So, with that goal-scoring resume, Vanek should have been incredibly appealing as a free agent, but there was the small matter of his slump in the playoffs that left a sour taste for some. Vanek had eight points in 10 games, through Game Six of the Boston series, but fell flat after that, managing two assists and a total of eight shots on goal in the next seven games. He played under 15 minutes in each of his last eight playoff games. For a season in which he played a career-high 19:21 per game, with the Sabres, Islanders and Canadiens, that role reduction made it clear that Vanek would be moving on from Montreal. This following a season during which he scored 15 points in 18 games with the Habs, giving him 68 points in 78 games while moving around the Eastern Conference. Which brings us to Minnesota, which had been linked to Vanek pretty much from the get-go of his contract year. Vanek played college hockey at the University of Minnesota. His wife is from Minnesota. The Wild would have Dany Heatleys $7.5-million cap hit coming off the books. Former Sabres teammate Jason Pominville was playing well for Minnesota. It was all lining up for Vanek with the Wild. Ultimately, nothing really changed that. Maybe a great playoff would have given Vanekk more leverage on the open market, but he didnt sign a break-the-bank deal, inking for $19. www.tennesseeshopfootballshop.com/67-Jersey . 5-million over three years. The $6.5-million annual cap hit is actually less than Vaneks previous contract, but when a player has a preferred destination, and particularly when he has earned a boatload of money in his career already (more than $57-million in his career, according to Cap Geek), there is an opportunity for a team to get him for less than the top price on the market. That Vanek was willing to accept a three-year term is a clear indication that Minnesota was his preferred location. When it comes to his game, Vanek doesnt use his size (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) very effectively, aside from when hes in front of the net, where he positions well for tip-ins, deflections, screens, etc. Throughout his career, Vanek hasnt been much of a puck possession player, varying up and down a little bit in relative terms from year to year, but Vanek has always been a high-percentage finisher in his own right and consistently had high on-ice shooting percentages (which includes others on the ice with him in 5-oin-5 play), so hes going to bring offence to Minnesota. Depending on how the Wild want their lines to shake out, Vanek should have either Mikael Granlund or Mikko Koivu -- two pass-first playmaking centres -- setting the table for him and if Vanek is getting opportunties -- he had a career-high 3.18 shots on goal per game last season -- take 25 goals to the bank, with 30 or 35 possible at the top end. This is a nice upgrade for the Wild, who made some noise in the playoffs and have added a premier goal-scorer to their mix and have done so without spending too much in order to get him. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '