sxx123: 22.120(b) went into effect in 20

sxx123

SAN FRANCISCO -- If only they could all be like Madison Bumgarner this time of year. tyeler davison stitched jersey . And by they, you know who we mean.David Price, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello, Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels and Rich Hill are a combined 0-6 in this fascinating postseason -- after going 93-35 during the regular season. Clayton Kershaw won for just the second time in his past eight postseason starts, but he made it through only five ho-hum innings. And were not even going to get into Jeff Samardzija and Colby Lewis.Weve always looked at October as that month when the aces take over. The way Sanford B. Koufax did. The way P. Robert Gibson did. The way John Smoltz and Curt Schilling and Jack Morris did. The way even Josh Beckett did.But maybe we dont live in a world where thats as easy to accomplish anymore. Maybe theres too much attention, too much pressure, too much information. Maybe weve set the bar too high -- because what weve always expected of The Aces is not?what theyve been delivering.Now if youve watched MadBum work his magic -- and you can watch Bumgarner again Monday night, in a riveting National League Division Series Game 3 mano a mano with Jake Arrieta at AT&T Park -- you might wonder what the heck were even talking about. But look around at the rest of the sport and youll find something incredible.Twelve active pitchers have won a Cy Young Award and pitched in the postseason over the course of their careers. Just five of them even have a winning postseason record. Kershaw is 3-6 with a 4.65 October ERA. Price is 2-8, 5.54 -- and 0-8 as a starting pitcher.How can this be possible? It feels like a phenomenon that defies explanation. So naturally, we went looking to find one anyway. And heres what we learned: Its complicated.Its not a blanket statement, said Smoltz, a man who went 15-4 with a 2.67 ERA in his postseason career, with more postseason strikeouts (199) than any pitcher in history. There are different reasons.Those reasons can be found inside the heads of the men on the mound -- not to mention inside their hearts, inside their deliveries, inside their own unique set of circumstances. Sometimes, actually, its all of the above. But lets start with a fact that holds true for everyone:October baseball is different. Every element involved in it is different.Everythings a rally in the postseason, Smoltz said. Umpires have every pressure and detail, and all the eyes are on them. Strike zones get a little bit interesting. Hitters dont take pitches or at-bats off like they do during the regular season. Theres a lot that goes into that bucket. But the bottom line is, if youre mentally not ready for that moment, your success rate wont be as good.Smoltz was a man who fed off those moments. Even now, he misses them so much. He still finds himself saying, I loved it. I wish there was more of it. But when he looks at some of the men who take the mound in these games nowadays, he says, Some people in our game dont quite grasp that like they should.But even if you agree, does it make any sense that pitchers of the stature of Kershaw and Price wouldnt be mentally ready for the biggest games of their lives? Think of all theyve accomplished. Think of how mentally strong theyve had to be just to reach this standing in the game.So can this really all be in their heads? One longtime pitching coach doesnt think so.Take a look at the deliveries of Kershaw and Price -- versus Bumgarners, he said. Quick jerk versus easy, fluid. Most times, that [delivery reflects] their personality as well.So what this coach is saying is that both Kershaw and Price have a delivery that might not be made to order for this time of year -- because that voice in their head, that motor in their veins and that thumping in their heart are driving them to rush, to lurch, to go faster in games where nothing is more important than the ability to stay slow and under control. In other words, their personality just might be overriding their delivery.It makes it harder to repeat, this pitching coach said. Adrenaline is the hardest thing to control in sport. ... I watch them, and I see them try to go to another gear way more often than normal.One American League executive said he believes thats an especially big problem in Prices case. Hes so amped up to do something special in these moments, he has trouble slowing down the game when he needs to most.Thats what I would see from afar, too, Smoltz said, without knowing anything other than hes very passionate. Look, hes a slow worker, very methodical, pitches 230 innings. Hes your prototypical front-line guy. But come postseason, there is a capacity to maybe care too much and want to do too well and not slow the game down.In Kershaws case, said an National League exec, it has never been about stuff. It has been that he sped up as things got rolling in a bad way. Anyone who has seen Kershaw up close knows hes motivated to be great, and to lift up his team. But the same people also wonder whether all that caring has taken a toll -- especially at times like these. And Smoltz wonders himself.Clayton Kershaw has basically pitched a playoff game in every single game for the last three years, Smoltz said, because every single regular-season game has put him at a level where he doesnt give up anything. So imagine being Clayton Kershaw, and if you give up three runs in a game, people are like, Whats wrong? So hes put up a standard that is unprecedented.Because of that, when he gets to the end of the year, I would argue that hes a little more mentally fried than most. So now, when that time comes and youre trying to carry your ball club, its not like hes just getting crushed. Its one or two innings that have defined him -- against one team.That team, of course, is the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat him four times in back-to-back Octobers (in 2013 and 14), scoring 19 runs off him in 22 ? innings. In between, all the other teams in baseball beat him three?times in the entire regular 2014 season, when he was busy going 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA.A number of scouts and executives said theyre convinced that Kershaw tipped pitches out of the stretch in those games, especially against left-handed hitters. And the Cardinals were all over that. Take away those four losses to St. Louis, and in his five other postseason starts since 2013, Kershaw has gone 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA. His only loss was to the New York Mets last October, in a game in which he still struck out 11 and gave up just four hits.Nevertheless, it feels as if there is a quality in Bumgarner that no one else in this sport can match right now. And even the manager of the team that has to face him Monday cant help but admire it. On Sunday, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon unabashedly compared Bumgarner to the likes of Gibson and Koufax. And Maddon wasnt only talking about the quality of those pitches exploding out of Bumgarners left arm.Its not just purely his stuff, Maddon said. Its his competitive nature. I think thats what gets lost in this a lot, with what we do. Everybodys always analyzing numbers and pitches and how he does this and spin rotation and whatever. This guy competes. Thats what sets him apart. Its not that his stuff is that special. Its really good. But how he competes is what sets him apart.Bumgarners postseason success is so unique among this generation. He really should start bottling cases of MadBums Miracle October Elixir -- hed make more money than Mark Zuckerberg. But first, he has another postseason baseball game to pitch, a reputation to uphold and one more heart-thumping October evening to remind the world of what aces used to look like this time of year. mark ingram stitched jersey . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Cheap Saints Jerseys . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. www.officialsaintsnflauthenticshop.com/craig-robertsonstitched-jersey/ .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. LAS VEGAS -- Not one player in Dukes basketball program was born when the 1991 Blue Devils pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Final Four history.So, Thursday, on a five-hour flight to Las Vegas, coach Mike Krzyzewski made his players watch footage from 25 years ago, when Duke beat UNLV 79-77 an epic upset in the national semifinals. It was revenge for the year prior, when UNLV throttled Duke 103-73 in the national championship.It was the perfect motivation that set the tone for the fifth-ranked Blue Devils, who got a career-high 34 points from Grayson Allen en route to a 94-45 victory over UNLV on Saturday in the first college basketball game ever at T Mobile Arena.(We wanted) to let them know that theyre going into a game where were playing against a very proud opponent that has accomplished a lot, Krzyzewski said. Thats why we watched (the 1991 game). Those games were moments. Moments in history in the game of basketball. So its an honor to come here today.Allen embraced the honor, and rose to the occasion by shooting 75 percent from the field -- including a perfect 7 of 7 in the second half. It was easily the junior guards most complete game of the season, as he appeared to be healthy after battling through leg and toe injuries since mid-November.He was making the athletic plays that he can make, but couldnt make from being injured, Krzyzewski said. That was a big plus for us. The guys responded really well.Once he knocked down the first of his six 3-pointers, three minutes into the game, Allen led an offensive charge that saw four Blue Devils score in double figures.Luke Kennard had 16 points and five rebounds for Duke (10-1), while Jayson Tatum had 13 points and five rebounds, and Amile Jefferson contributed with 10 points and 12 rebounds.Jalen Poyser had 16 points for UNLV.We ran into, if not the best, one of the top (teams). Thats a Final Four team, UNLV first-year coach Marvin Menzies said. I am disappointed we werent able to put our best foot forward. I know I have better players than that. This is one game. It is what it is. We will be fine.The Rebels (5-4) tried to make a couple of runs to challenge Duke, getting as close as 38-26 late in the first half after an 8-0 spurt.. sterling moore stitched jersey. . The Blue Devils answered with their defensive prowess and proved to be too much for an outmatched UNLV team that committed 13 turnovers a little more than 14 minutes into the game, and shot just 34 percent (10 of 29) in the first half.Though UNLV was competitive on the glass, outrebounding the Blue Devils 20-17 in the first half, Duke outscored the Rebels 26-10 in the paint while opening a 42-26 halftime lead.We prepared well, Krzyzewski said. We prepared to try to beat a really good team, and we did.The standing-room only crowd of 19,107 was the highest attendance for a basketball game in Las Vegas since, ironically 1991, during UNLVs back-to-back Final Four run under the late-Jerry Tarkanian. The previous largest crowd was 19,147, at UNLVs home, the Thomas & Mack Center, on Feb. 14, 1991, against Cal Santa Barbara.BIG PICTUREDuke: In his last four games, Amile Jefferson is averaging 17.7 points and 12.2 rebounds, while shooting 69.7 percent (30 of 43) from the floor. Jefferson came into Saturdays game leading the ACC in field goal percentage, converting at a rate of 67 percent for the season. He is a career 63 percent shooter from the field.UNLV: After opening the season 5-2, the Runnin Rebels have lost their last two after allowing an average of 95.5 points per game. UNLV lost at Arizona State 97-73 last Saturday.BET YA DIDNT KNOWWhen Duke and UNLV met in 1990 and `91, Nevada sports books were banned from posting point spreads on teams from the Silver State. That also meant whenever UNLV or Nevada made the NCAA Tournament, future odds on teams winning the title couldnt be posted until either the Runnin Rebels or Wolf Pack were eliminated. Gaming Regulation 22.120(b) went into effect in 2001, and ever since, both schools are included on the regular sports betting rotation. Jay Kornegay, who runs the Westgate Superbook, said he opened Duke as a 15.5-point favorite eight weeks before the game. The Blue Devils closed as a 24.5-point favorite at tip-off on Saturday.UP NEXTDuke: hosts Tennessee State on Dec. 19UNLV: hosts Incarnate Word on Wednesday Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '