and four runs in 5 2/3 innings and lost 7-3 to the Reds. He is 3-0 against the Dodgers in four cand four runs in 5 2/3 innings and lost 7-3 to the Reds. He is 3-0 against the Dodgers in four c | Forum

LONG BEFORE SHAQUILLE ONEAL was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, he was a lanky 20-year-old from LSU whose impact on the NBA game was so highly anticipated that each of the 11 teams at the 1992 draft lottery had a jersey printed with its logo -- and ONeals name -- stashed under the seat. Babe Ruth Jersey Large .It was, says Orlando Magic senior vice president Pat Williams, the Shaq draft.Then-Charlotte Hornets coach Allan Bristows team had won the lottery the season before (and selected Larry Johnson), so he laid out the same suit and tie and checked into the same hotel in advance of the 1992 lottery. He also brought along his trusty turkey caller.Then-Dallas Mavericks owner Donald Carter, for his part, opted for a 10-gallon hat with a brim dotted with coyote teeth. He obsessively caressed his lucky stone in advance of the lottery results, prompting Williams, who had not brought along any good-luck charms, to inquire about it.Williams rubbed the stone and noticed it was speckled with raised bumps. Carter explained they spelled out Shaquille in braille.Carters stone didnt bring him the good fortune he was seeking: The Mavericks wound up with the fourth pick (Jimmy Jackson). After the Timberwolves won the third pick, the final two selections came down to Charlotte and Orlando.As the lottery unfolded, and each team fell into their slotted place, you could hear the rustle of those (Shaq) jerseys going back into the paper bag, Williams says. It was the sound of, Its not going to happen for us.The Magic had just one chance in 11 of winning, but that was enough as they brought home the No. 1 pick. It should have been cause for wild celebration in Orlando, but Williams knew there was a problem.ONeals then-agent, Leonard Armato, while acknowledging it was nice that the Magic won the rights to No. 1, was noncommittal about his clients willingness to play for Orlando.He was very standoffish, Williams says of Armato. We couldnt get a visit with Shaq.Armato liked the idea of ONeal playing for the Lakers, but Williams made it clear he wasnt trading his potential franchise player.Two days before the draft, ONeal finally agreed to visit Orlando. The Magic hastily arranged for a private plane to fly ONeal, his father Philip Harrison and ONeals younger brother Jamal into town.Jamal is about 12 or 13 at the time, Williams says. We have a lot of activities planned for Shaq, so we take Jamal to my house. My children are there and weve got a swimming pool and a basketball court.Everything is going well until we get word Jamal isnt happy with his lunch. He insisted he needed some pickles. So we had to make an emergency run to the grocery store.Later that evening, the Magic arranged an elegant, exclusive dinner with members of the DeVos family, who still own the team, along with some key sponsors and then-coach Matt Guokas, who plopped down at the end of the table where Williams, Shaq and Jamal were seated.Here we are having this very important dinner, and Shaq and Jamal start stealing food off each others plate, Williams says. Theyre stabbing each other with their forks. Then theyre shooting pieces of rolls at each other. Safe to say it was a food fight.I asked Matty about it later. He said, I didnt know what to do. I felt like sending them to their room.Sophomoric table manners hardly deterred the Magic. On the night of the 1992 NBA draft, which was held in Portland because USA Basketball was wrapping up the Tournament of Americas there, more than 10,000 Magic fans crammed into Orlando Arena to witness live on the video screen the selection of Shaquille ONeal as their savior.Longtime commissioner David Stern kicked off the proceedings by taking the mic to declare, The Orlando Magic is on the clock. You have five minutes to make your pick.All Williams needed to do was call the Magic representative in Portland, who would relay the teams selection to the commissioner. It should have been a matter of seconds.Yet a technical malfunction prevented the call from going through. One minute, then two, then three minutes went by. Engineers on site frantically tried to identify the problem, but the Magic had virtually no way to convey their Shaq selection to league officials in Portland.Now theres a minute left to go and Im thinking, This is going to be the biggest faux pas in the history of our sport, Williams says. What if we cant make our pick?Alex Martins, who is now the CEO of the Magic but back then was an industrious young public relations director, stepped outside Orlandos arena into the corridor and dialed up his oversize, boxy mobile Nokia phone, a novelty in those days. He called directly to the NBAs New York office and relayed the choice of Shaquille ONeal. The selection was recorded with just seconds to spare.It was getting close, Martins recalls. I think it was down to about 20 seconds. I dont know what they would have done if we didnt get the pick in on time.Stern, reached by ESPN on Tuesday, says he has no recollection of the near snafu.Of course, we would have made sure nothing untoward happened, and we would have made every effort to make sure we were in contact with them one way or another, Stern says, but I dont remember it. That was (former deputy commissioner) Russ Graniks problem. It was a great division of responsibility on my part.Granik is also fuzzy on the details of that night, but holding the event in Portland created some unusual obstacles, he says. So what would have happened if the Magic hadnt been able to call Shaqs name in time?We would have allotted for it somehow, Granik says. Were not crazy.While those five minutes were harried and nerve-wracking for the Magic, they were excruciating for ONeal, a superstitious young man who, even though the Magic had made it clear they would take him, fretted over a possible last-second change of heart.I wasnt going to believe it til I heard it myself, Shaq says. They could have changed their mind and gone for (Alonzo) Mourning or (Christian) Laettner.Shaqs mother, Lucille Harrison, says the family was unaware of the technical difficulties surrounding his selection, in part because they were so nervous.We werent familiar with the business of it all, Lucille explains now. We were excited he was picked at all.What I remember most is the fact this dream Shaquille had was now happening. He was walking into the reality of it.While Stern remains hazy on Shaqs initial introduction to the league, he quickly became familiar with the big man because of incessant correspondences from Armato.Leonard became a regular at my desk, Stern says. Hed call me, send me letters, and come in and tell me how our refs werent used to calling fouls against players guarding someone as large as Shaq. He said they werent calling fouls that they would call if Shaq were a normal human being, because after all, Shaq was superhuman.We listened and we told Leonard, We feel your pain. Period. End of sentence. We understood what he was saying.Shaquille ONeal went on to play 20 seasons in the NBA -- though only four of them with the Magic. He led the Magic to the NBA Finals in 1995 (and fell short) but won championships with Los Angeles and Miami while maintaining his home in Orlando. Nineteen years after he bolted in a rancorous exit from the Magic to play for the Lakers, he returned in 2015 to be inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame. That evening, he admitted, I regret (leaving) sometimes. Is this where I started and should have stayed? I actually wish theyd make it a law that whoever drafts you, youve got to stay there your whole career.Granik says that about a month and a half before Shaquille ONeal embarked on his dominant NBA journey, he and his father -- nicknamed Sarge because of his stern visage -- requested an audience with the commissioner and his deputy.It was pretty rare when that happened, but the few times (players did that) we accommodated them, Granik says. Its mostly, What should I know about the league? What do I need to do?I made a joke to Shaq in our meeting about how much publicity he was getting. I told him, Weve been hearing a lot about you. I sure hope you can play. The look from his dad was unforgettable. I had to tell him, Im kidding, Im kidding!There was one other draft prospect who requested a similar audience before the draft in 1992: Christian Laettner, the star from Duke.Laettner told us, I know Im better than Mourning, but that guy Shaq is better than all of us, Granik says.He was right. Custom Ted Williams Jersey . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Custom Wade Boggs Jersey .com) - Richie Incognito has reportedly been admitted to a psychiatric care unit in Arizona. http:///...rsey-large-309j.html . -- James Young couldnt wait to apply those tweaks to his jump shot, and the first one he made against UT Arlington told him it could be a good night. LOS ANGELES -- Ivan Nova felt fortunate to be pitching in a big ballpark with Pittsburghs fielders behind him.Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer homered to lead Nova and the Pirates past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Friday night.The key to this game was our defense, said Nova, recently acquired from the Yankees. It was not one of the best games that Ive pitched. There were too many hits and its amazing they only had one run.Handed a three-run lead before he threw a pitch, Nova (2-0) has won both starts for the Pirates since they obtained him from New York at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. The right-hander scattered nine hits over 5 1/3 innings in his first outing against the Dodgers and improved to 9-6 overall this season.Theyre aggressive hitters and some of the balls they hit would have been out of an American League ballpark, Nova said.Los Angeles remained one game behind the first-place Giants in the NL West. San Francisco lost 5-2 to Baltimore.Pittsburgh opened a six-game West Coast swing and moved within a game of Miami for the second NL wild card.Nova twice struck out opposing pitcher Ross Stripling to end a rally. The new Pirates starter was replaced by Antonio Bastardo, who got the final two outs in the sixth. Felipe Rivero, Neftali Feliz, Juan Nicasio and Tony Watson followed and shut down the Dodgers.Watson came on with runners at the corners and retired Corey Seager for his fifth save.Dating to June 23, the Pirates bullpen has posted the lowest ERA (2.13) and best winning percentage 11-2 (.846) of any major league team.Everyone in the bullpen accepts their roles and pulls for one another, Bastardo said. It gives us confidence and were winning games.Stripling (3-4) started in place of Rich Hill, who remained on the disabled list with a middle finger blister on his pitching hand. After a rough first inning, Stripling retired 17 of 19 hitters but gave up five runs, including solo homers to McCutchen and Mercer.Those were probably the two worst pitches I made all night, Stripling said. They definitely punished me for them.McCutchen also made an outstanding, over-the-shoulder catch near the warning track in left-center in the second inning to take an extra-base hit away from Yasmani Grandal.McCutchen had a fantastic game. Im going to keep running him out there, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said.Los Angeles outfielder Josh Reddick robbed Josh Harrison of a home run when he reached over the low right-field wall to make a grab.Pittsburgh, which had lost eight of 10 road games, extendded its recent dominance of the Dodgers. Custom Bobby Doerr Jersey. The Pirates have beaten Los Angeles in four of five games this season and improved their record to 14-4 against the Dodgers since the beginning of the 2014 season.Pittsburgh jumped on Stripling for four hits and three runs in the first. McCutchen and David Freese stroked RBI singles, and Mercers RBI fielders choice made it 3-0.Howie Kendricks two-out RBI single in the second cut the lead to 3-1. Kendrick finished with three hits.McCutchen continued his torrid hitting at Dodger Stadium with a third-inning solo shot, his 16th of the season. In his last seven games at Dodger Stadium, the slugger is 8 for 16 with four doubles and two home runs.I love Dodger Stadium and LA. Its Paradise, and the weather is always great, McCutchen said. When we come out here, I seem to get more down time and Im more relaxed.Mercer led off the seventh with his seventh homer of the season, upping Pittsburghs lead to 5-1.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: Pittsburgh C Francisco Cervelli is day to day after leaving Wednesdays game after four innings with left wrist discomfort. ... C Chris Stewart, on the DL since July 2 with left knee discomfort, is expected to begin a rehab assignment Friday with Double-A Altoona.Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw, on the 60-day DL with a mild disk herniation, is scheduled to play catch Saturday. No target date has been set for his return. ... RHP Joe Blanton was reinstated from the bereavement list, and the Dodgers optioned LHP Luis Avilan to Triple-A Oklahoma City. ... The Dodgers plan to activate LHP Brett Anderson (herniated disk surgery) off the DL in time to start Sundays series finale.CHARLIE HUSTLEDodgers 2B Chase Utley has 409 plate appearances this season without grounding into a double play, the most of any big leaguer. According to STATS, only one Dodgers player has completed an entire season with more plate appearances and zero GIDPs (current manager Dave Roberts in 2003, with 440 plate appearances).UP NEXTPirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-7) pitches Saturday. His last time out, Cole gave up four hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings and lost 7-3 to the Reds. He is 3-0 against the Dodgers in four career starts.Dodgers: RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-2) felt healthy during workouts this week and is expected to pitch Saturday. In his last outing, McCarthy went 3 2/3 innings, gave up two runs and walked five against Boston. ' ' '