supposed to be better than theyve shown for large portions | Forum
Mitglied wzh123
Jun 13 '19
PHILADELPHIA -- Each time the 37-year-old, Dodger Blue version of Chase Utley stepped into the batters box Tuesday night, his former employers rolled out a new flourish to remind him of the gold-plated, Philadelphia red segment of his major-league career. Custom Buccaneers T-shirts .As Utley strode toward home plate to face Vince Velasquez in the top of the first inning, the Phillies played his Led Zeppelin walkup song, Kashmir, in honor of his return to Citizens Bank Park. The crowd responded on cue, standing and cheering for almost 90 seconds as Utley doffed his helmet, patted his heart and showed some genuine emotion beneath that typically stoic exterior.During Utleys subsequent plate appearances, the scoreboard showed photos of him in his evolution from earnest first-round draft pick to franchise favorite. One minute he appeared on the Jumbotron as winner of the Paul Owens Award as the Phillies top minor-league position player in 2002. Two innings later, he reappeared beneath a ballcap and some facial stubble, exuding a Matthew McConaughey-like brand of cool in a pose from the teams 2006 Charity Calendar.All this reminiscing eventually got the juices flowing and prompted Utley to commandeer the drivers seat in the way-back machine. He launched a 96 mph fastball from Velasquez into the right-field seats in the fifth inning, and capped off his night with a grand slam two innings later to lead the Dodgers to a 15-5 rout of the Phillies.The win helped move the Dodgers into sole possession of first place in the National League West after the San Francisco Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates late Tuesday. Thats quite an achievement given the Dodgers season-long run of injuries and the early hole they dug for themselves. But on this night, pennant races and practical concerns took a backseat to a heartfelt reunion.Before the night was through, the Philadelphia crowd gave Utley three standing ovations and summoned him for two curtain calls. Philly fans have a reputation as cynical and hard-bitten. But when they fall for an athlete, they fall hard.Its completely overwhelming, Utley said in a postgame news conference. The standing ovation my first at-bat is something Ill never forget. It was truly special. It really shows how passionate and how great the Philadelphia fan base is. It was probably one of the most nervous at-bats Ill ever have at any level. I was glad to get it over with, to be honest with you.Its hard to articulate the full extent Phillies fans love Utley, and would never dream of letting him buy a beer in the confines of the 215 area code. Part of it is the consistent performance that places Utley near the top of so many offensive categories in franchise history. He ranks among the Phillies top 10 in games, hits, runs, doubles, homers, RBIs and walks. And with six All-Star Game appearances, Utley ranks fourth among Phillies behind Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt (12), Steve Carlton (seven) and Robin Roberts (seven).Beyond the numbers, Utley played the game with a Derek Jeter-like field awareness and a sense of his surroundings that Philadelphia fans hold near and dear. They paid attention when he ran out every ground ball, advanced from first to third on a single, and found a way to win games by anticipating situations. Utley enjoyed his signature, Jeter-like postseason moment in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, when he threw out Tampa Bays Jason Bartlett after an artful deke at second base.I never really made it look easy out there, Utley said. There are so many times Id meet a father with his son or even a mother who would praise the way I played, and would tell me they want their son to play that way. To me, thats a true compliment.It was a painful yet necessary and inevitable part of the Phillies rebuild when former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. traded Utley to Los Angeles for minor-league pitcher John Richy and infielder Darnell Sweeney on Aug. 19 of last season. But Utleys first trip back to Philadelphia was worth the wait, not to mention chock full of statistical oddities.During his tenure with the Phillies, Utley played 779 games at Veterans Stadium and Citizens Bank Park and never hit two home runs and drove in five home runs in the same game. It took him five plate appearances as a Dodger to achieve the feat.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Utley became only the second player to hit at least two homers in his first road game against a team that he played at least 1,500 games for. The other hitter to achieve the feat was Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, who went deep twice for the Oakland Athletics against the Chicago White Sox in 2006.Nights like this have been less common as Utley tries to find a way to navigate the rigors of a long season at an advanced baseball age. Before Tuesdays barrage, he was hitting only .231 with four homers in 208 at-bats since the start of June. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts keeps running him out there in the leadoff spot because of what Roberts calls his consistently good at-bat quality.Roberts is also a sucker for leadership skills. Every day, he sees Utleys work ethic and example rub off on Corey Seager, Joc Pederson and the other young Dodgers in a way that can only benefit their development.If theres any player that you have to dig deeper than the numbers to find his value, Chase is head and shoulders above everyone else, Roberts said. When you want to play a certain style of baseball, to have Chase exude that every single day and not take a pitch off, its been invaluable for me as a first-year manager.Utley is all about style and substance. He sprinted around the bases after his first home run and picked it up a notch after the grand slam.Adam Rosales is probably the only guy youre going to catch with a faster home run trot, teammate Howie Kendrick?said.When asked if the second trot was the fastest of his career, Utley shrugged.I dont know, he said. Maybe you can check Statcast.Some numbers simply cant calculate a players impact on a roster, or a city. The outpouring of affection for Utley was a fitting tribute for his 13 years of hard, professional play, and his contribution to the Phillies extended run of success from 2007 to 2011. But unbeknownst to them, the 28,118 fans in attendance were on the receiving end of some equally fervent gratitude.I should be thanking them, Utley said. They motivated us and pushed us in the right direction. Im a true believer that the fans made us better players individually and gave us a chance to win on a daily basis. The true thank-you should be to them.Chase Utley, an athlete who has always taken pains not to reveal too much of himself for public consumption, rode adrenaline and love to a memorable homecoming Tuesday night. Now, to his everlasting relief, he can just go back to playing baseball. Custom Buccaneers T-shirts . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. Buccaneers Jerseys China . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. http://www.custombuccaneersjersey.com/ . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday.On a night with two Game Sevens, the Bruins won in miraculous fashion and the Rangers pulled away comfortably. Scott Cullen has stats and notes from the last games in the first round of the NHL playoffs. BRUINS RALLY TO STUN MAPLE LEAFSIn a game that appeared to be well in hand, the Toronto Maple Leafs surrendered a three-goal lead in the third period - the rirst time a team has blown a three-goal lead in the third period of a Game Seven -- and ended up losing 5-4 in overtime to the Boston Bruins. The series-winning goal was scored by Patrice Bergeron, who came up big with the Bruins season on the line. Bergeron had one goal and no assists through the first six games of the series, but delivered two goals and an assist, a plus-3 rating and 16-for-22 (72.7%) on faceoffs in Game Seven. While Bergerons line struggled, the Bruins did get offence from the line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. The trio accounted for half of Bostons 22 goals in the series. Krejci recorded two assists in Game Seven, finishing the series with 13 points and a plus-9 rating. Lucic, who was dominant physical player at times, had a goal and an assist in Game Seven, and led Boston with seven hits. For the series, Lucic had nine points and a plus-9 rating. Horton, who scored Bostons second goal, giving them some reason to hope a comeback was even possible, ended the series with seven points and a plus-11 rating. It was understandable that Boston struggled in the deciding game, given that their defence corps was depleted by injuries. Andrew Ference missed the last two games of the series with injuries and Dennis Seidenberg played only 37 seconds in Game Seven before getting hurt. That left a lot of ice time for Zdeno Chara, who played 35:46 in the deciding game (raising his series average time on ice to 28:54 per game). Johnny Boychuk played 28:30 and Matt Bartkowski, an AHL call-up who played 6:40 when inserted into the lineup for Game Five, logged 24:51 and scored the games opening goal. Toronto built their lead on the strength of a couple Cody Franson goals. The defenceman also had a game-high eight hits, but he and defence partner Jake Gardiner finished minus-2 and were caught on the ice for a long shift leading up to the Bruins winning goal. While Toronto accomplished many things in this series, earning a measure of respect for being a tough out, RW Phil Kessel slayed the dragon of not scoring an even-strength goal against his former team. After a goal and an assist in Game Seven, Kessel finished the series with four goals, two assists and a plus-3 rating. Since the comparison must always be made, Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton combined for one assist in the series. C Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist with a plus-2 rating in the season finale, though he played a modest 13:57. As great as Kadris season was, he struggled at times against the Bruins and his ice time was restricted, playing more than 15 minutes in a game only once in seven games. LW James van Riemsdyk notched two assists in Game Seven, wrapping up a productive series, in which he led the Leafs with seven points in seven games. Maple Leafs C Mikhail Grabovski was a fascinating study. He took a ton of physical abuse in the series, not shying away from Chara and Boychuk and playing 19:12 per game. But he was minus-3 in Game Seven, and finished the series at minus-10. The crazy part is that advanced stats show Grabovski was relatively (compared to his teammates) strong in the possession game. Its just hard to notice with two assists and a minus-10 rating in seven games. The way the Maple Leafs lost, giving up two goals 31 seconds apart in the final ninety seconds to lose the lead, followed by the deciding goal in overtime, makes it challenging to see the positives. They were so close to having their ticket punched for the second round. But, in totality, the Leafs showed that they have the kind of skill to compete at a playoff level. Before sitting back in the third period, when they were outshot 17-6 by a swarming Bruins team, the Leafs had gone into the Bruinns building and outshot Boston 20-13, stifling them entirely. Wholesale Custom Buccaneers Shirts. There is still much room for improvement on the defensive side of the puck, as Toronto allowed 39.0 shots per game to the Bruins, the most of any team in the playoffs this year but, for a team that hadnt seen the playoffs in nine years, the Maple Leafs made noticeable progress. Thats no guarantee that they are absolutely on the path to contending every year, but its more than Toronto has had to hang their helmets on in some time. As for the Bruins, they finished the season with a series of inconsistent efforts and only pushed back against Toronto at the last possible moment, when it appeared that Boston was on their way to blowing a 3-1 series lead. Now, the Bruins, hoping that their defence corps isnt completely decimated by injuries, prepare to face a similarly inconsistent New York Rangers team in the second round. Midway through the third period of Game Seven, that looked like a series the Bruins would be watching from the sidelines. RANGERS TAKE CARE OF CAPITALSFor the first time in the series, the road team emerged victorious as the New York Rangers earned a 5-0 win in Game Seven against the Washington Capitals. Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist recorded shutouts in Game Six and Seven, turning aside all 62 shots the Capitals sent his way in the last two games of the series. Lundqvist finished Round One with a .947 save percentage, just behind Chicagos Corey Crawford and Ottawas Craig Anderson who were at .950 (Pittsburghs Tomas Vokoun had a .957 SV% in two games). True to form, the Rangers blocked 27 shots in the deciding game, compared to the Capitals nine. For the series, however, Washington blocked 77 shots, most of any team in the playoffs, as the Rangers blocked 69 shots in the series. With Lundqvist on top of his game, the Rangers managed to shut down Alexander Ovechkin, holding the Capitals superstar winger to one goal and one assist in the series. Ovechkin recorded 30 shots on goal which, at 4.29 per game, which wasnt dramatically down from his regular season average of 4.58 per game, but he did manage just one shot on goal in Game Seven. Though he wasnt getting shots, Ovechkin tried to take over the game physically, registering 13 hits. He finished the first round with 34 hits, behind only Islanders LW Matt Martin (41), Rangers RW Ryan Callahan (35) and Maple Leafs D Dion Phaneuf (35). While Ovechkin was held in check, so too were the Rangers marquee performers. RW Rick Nash managed two assists in the series while C Brad Richards had one and was demoted to the fourth line due to his lack of production. So, when the big guns werent firing, the Blueshirts got the first goals of the playoffs from four players -- LW Taylor Pyatt, D Michael Del Zotto, Callahan and LW Mats Zuccarello, who had a team-leading five shots on goal and ended Round One with five points, second-best on the Rangers. The Rangers leading scorer was Derick Brassard, who added two more assists in Game Seven, giving him nine points, along with a plus-4 rating, for the series. While the Rangers supporting cast was coming up big, the Capitals had some players go through tough games. RW Eric Fehr and C Mike Ribeiro each took a minus-4 in the clinching game; RW Troy Brouwer and D Mike Green were minus-3. Green, C Mathieu Perreault and RW Joel Ward led the Capitals with four points in the series, just not enough to get the job done. Neither the Rangers nor the Capitals can feel elated about their overall play in the series, but the Rangers get to move on and see if they can build on this first-round win against the Bruins. In theory, it should be a good, competitive series, but thats only because, in theory, the Bruins and Rangers are supposed to be better than theyve shown for large portions of this season. One of them will get a chance to play in the Eastern Conference Final. 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. ' ' '
Mitglied vourdalak
Mai 2 '20
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