Dein erstes Forum » o will shrink away from those challenges, Pang

DETROIT -- Add another near miss in this 2013 baseball season -- this time it was Detroits Anibal Sanchez falling just short of a no-hitter. Sanchezs bid was broken up with one out in the ninth inning Friday night when Minnesotas Joe Mauer hit a clean single up the middle. That was the only hit the right-hander allowed in the Tigers 6-0 victory over the Twins. It was the fourth one-hitter of Sanchezs career, to go along a no-hitter he threw as a rookie back in 2006. "Its not that I go to the mound and want to do something special, its just that I want to go nine innings, go deeper, get a good command, get a good game," Sanchez said. "When I come to the eighth inning, I think about it. But when I come to the ninth inning, its really tough with those guys." After seven no-hitters in 2012, baseball is without one so far this season. There have been plenty of close calls. Before Sanchez, four other pitchers had already thrown one-hitters in 2013, according to STATS. And that doesnt include Yu Darvish of Texas, Clay Buchholz of Boston and Adam Wainwright of St. Louis, all of whom had no-hitters in the eighth inning or later but couldnt finish the job. Darvish came within an out of a perfect game at Houston on April 2. He allowed a hit and didnt finish the game. Mauer, meanwhile, is making a habit of playing spoiler. Its the third time in his career hes broken up a no-hitter in the ninth inning, according to STATS. "Hes nasty, and he had everything working tonight," Mauer said. "Obviously, you know exactly what is happening, and you dont want to get no-hit. Im just up there trying to put the bat on the ball. He threw me a really good cutter and I was just able to square it up." It was Sanchezs second gem in about a month -- he set a franchise record with 17 strikeouts in eight marvelous innings against Atlanta on April 26. Sanchez (5-4) struck out 12 on Friday and allowed three walks -- staying remarkably calm on the mound all the while. "He called me out to the mound. In the middle of a no-hitter," Tigers catcher Alex Avila said. "Ive been in the middle of a no-hitter a few times, in the sixth, seventh inning, I dont think a pitchers ever called me out to the mound. ... He just forgot what signs we were using when theres a guy on second base." The home crowd gave Sanchez a standing ovation when he came out to start the ninth, and he immediately struck out Jamey Carroll. Mauer followed with a line drive up the middle -- to almost the same spot where Pittsburghs Josh Harrisons hit landed last year when he broke up a no-hit bid by Detroits Justin Verlander, also with two outs to go. Sanchez instinctively reached up for Mauers hit, but there was no chance for anyone -- least of all the pitcher -- to catch it. Sanchez then jerked his head back and spun in frustration, but with a bit of a smile on his face. "We got the hit, but that doesnt change anything," Mauer said. "He still blew us away." After Sanchez struck out the next two hitters to end the game, he shared a hug with Avila. Sanchez threw 130 pitches. "In the end, its the result of my work. I try to figure out, to put my ball in the strike zone," Sanchez said. "Its a nice result, and I take it." Jordan Zimmermann of Washington, Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, Shelby Miller of St. Louis and Jon Lester of Boston have also thrown one-hitters this season. Matt Harvey of the New York Mets allowed one hit in nine innings against the White Sox on May 7, but that game went 10 innings and he didnt finish it. The last-place Twins have lost 10 straight, and their starting lineup against Sanchez included four players hitting .212 or worse. Carroll drew a walk to lead off the game, and Sanchez issued another to Chris Parmelee in the second. Then the 29-year-old Sanchez, acquired by the Tigers from the Miami Marlins at midseason last year, settled into quite a groove. He fanned Mauer for the third out of the third, then struck out the side the fourth. Parmelee led off the fifth with a hard grounder up the middle that Sanchez was able to field himself. The following inning, Brian Dozier nearly broke up the no-hit bid when he hit a slow roller to shortstop Jhonny Peralta and almost beat the throw the first. Sanchez then struck out Carroll and Mauer to end the Minnesota sixth. With one out in the eighth, the Twins finally got another runner on base when Eduardo Escobar walked. That snapped a streak of 18 straight hitters retired by Sanchez, but he bounced back to retire pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit on a grounder to first. Pinch-hitter Chris Colabello followed, and with the crowd on its feet, he was called out on strikes. Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run single in the second, upping his RBI total to 57. Don Kelly added a two-run homer the following inning. Minnesotas Samuel Deduno (0-1) allowed six runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. The most recent no-hitter thrown by a Tiger was in 2011, when Verlander tossed the second of his career. The Twins were no-hit last year by Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels. NOTES: Sanchezs no-hitter as a rookie came Sept. 6, 2006, against Arizona. He was pitching for the Marlins then. ... Sanchez threw 121 pitches before being taken out of his 17-strikeout game against the Braves, but there was no way manager Jim Leyland was pulling him Friday while the no-hit bid was in progress. Vapormax Plus Pas Cher Chine . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Vapormax Off White Fausse http://www.vapormaxpascher.be/ . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. Vapormax 2019 Homme Pas Cher . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Vapormax Plus Homme Solde . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. ?This could be a story about redemption.Or it could be a story about time running out on a generation of hockey players looking to shoulder their way into a discussion of the greatest American players of all time.Or both.But stripped down to its very core, this is a story about the very essence of what it means to become a team.Will Team USA coalesce into that rarest of things, something that is greater than the sum of its very disparate, rugged parts and emerge in a month as not necessarily the best players in the world but the best team in the world?History tells us that such things are possible.It was so in 1980, when a bunch of no-name American players beat the Russians en route to a gold medal. And it was so in 1996, when a brash group of American NHLers beat some of the greatest players in the history of the game to win the first-ever World Cup of Hockey.But history also tells us such transformations are difficult to achieve, and many teams fall in vain while waiting for that alchemy to take place.How will history judge the U.S. entry at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which kicks off Sept. 17 in Toronto? Well, thats whats going to make the next month or so such compelling theater. Because there is something that tells us this is going to be one of two things: a face-smashing, bone-jarring success -- or a very ugly trip into chaos.Not a lot of people are going to be picking us to win many games against teams with these high-skilled players, so were going to have to really outwork and really earn every victory, New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh?said.McDonagh is one of 14 Team USA players who also went to the Sochi Olympics in 2014 with high hopes, only to crumble late, failing to score a single goal in tournament-ending losses to Canada in the semifinals and to Finland in the bronze-medal game.What was to have been a steppingstone to greatness after the Americans earned a silver in Vancouver four years earlier, after losing in overtime in the gold-medal game to host Canada, ended with more than a little finger pointing and acrimony in Russia.I think the feeling in the locker room was we were all pretty embarrassed and upset about the result, McDonagh said. I dont think Ive heard anybody talk about that [bronze-medal] game, but you bring it up, you ask me, but I can remember that feeling, and if you asked anybody else, if they can remember that feeling, we definitely dont want to repeat that.McDonagh said he doesnt think what transpired in Sochi needs to be dredged up as motivation for this version of Team USA. But what happened there, the failure of the team to rally itself, to truly forge an identity that could carry it through the crucial moments of a tournament that was theirs for the taking, is a strong backstory to this World Cup team.I dont have a ton of regrets in my career, but to not have that group take advantage of that opportunity really still stings, and you want that back, Boston Bruins center David Backes?said. Backes was part of the silver-medal effort in Vancouver and was part of the leadership core in Sochi. Losing 1-0 to Canada in one of the fastest games youll ever see wasnt necessarily the defining moment for the 14 team, but not bouncing back was especially galling.To still have a chance against Finland to win a medal and to squander that, I think that really stings as well, Backes said.And so GM Dean Lombardi and his management team went off script to build the 16 version of Team USA.In all, nine players played on the 2010 silver-medal team, including Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson and Brandon Dubinsky, who werent in Sochi. The plan was simple: Bring in players who can bond immediately and who thrive in the dirty areas of the ice, who can win a street brawl in the tighter quarters of an NHL rink like the Air Canada Centre, and who will accept their roles without hesitation, without question.Zach Parise, the captain of the American team in Sochi, acknowledged there are lots of questions about the roster of the current U.S. squad.Im sure everyones got their opinions, Parise said recently. But I think its going to be a team thats hard to play against, and playing on an NHL rink with that style of team, I think that they did a lot research into that. I think you have guys that are very hard to play against. I think its going to be a good team.Throw into the equation the uncertainty over the future of NHL participation in the Olympics, and you add another layer of urgency for much of this team. Defenseman and two-time Olympian Ryan Suter is 31. His pal and Minnesota Wild teammate Parise is 32. Backes is 32, and?Ryan Kesler will turn 32 a couplee of days before training camp starts.ddddddddddddIf the NHL does not return to the Olympics, the World Cup represents the only best-on-best tournament available to the worlds best players. And given the International Olympic Committees stance that they will no longer pay for professional athletes travel, insurance and other expenses as they have since the NHL first started playing in the Olympics in 1998, a return to the Winter Olympics seems doubtful.Given the emergence of a plethora of top-end young American talent in Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Brandon Saad and Johnny Gaudreau, all of whom will play on Team North America in the World Cup and would seem to be locks for a U.S. team down the road, its easy to suggest this is the last, best chance for this group of American players to lay claim to being the best in the world.The World Cups not going to erase what happened in Russia by any means, but at the same time it would be a better way to go out, Parise said. Not that were all riding off into the sunset right now.The topic of urgency and taking advantage of opportunities like the World Cup was a recurring theme for Team USA players, especially those who spent the offseason in Minnesota.You only get so many opportunities like this to make a name for yourself and make yourself on top of the world, so to speak, McDonagh said. And I think our group is really trying to take that to heart and understand that its a fine line between winning. But if you can get everybody on the same page and really pushing for one another and not worrying whos in certain situations and just go out there and play hard against your opponent and play hard for your country and that jersey, I think weve got the group to do it and do whatever we want to accomplish.Backes put it more succinctly.I think the way USA Hockey is trending, theres a lot of great players that are coming up, and you never know when someones going to kick you out of your spot, he said.This last-chance mentality is something management is counting on while helping this team focus on the here and now to come together in rapid fashion.I think if you look that far in advance, youre short-sighting what you have in front of you, and thats at the forefront for me, Backes said. Make each opportunity, make the most of it, and we wont have regrets and look in the mirror and say, I wish I would have, like perhaps what were doing with Sochi and the opportunities that we had there. Thats the way Im looking at it. Im grateful and humbled by another experience to represent my country at an elite level, and I take great pride in having that opportunity.In some ways, the story of the building of this U.S. team has been the story of who wasnt asked to take part. Former Olympians Justin Faulk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Phil Kessel and Paul Martin werent invited. Neither was dynamic young Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson. Or Kyle Okposo.They may be difficult to play against, but they may be lacking some speed and finish, one scout said of the roster. In a short tournament like this, goaltending will be key.And if the team flounders, the recriminations will be swift and strong. But not everyone is pessimistic about how things might unfold in Toronto.I think its a heck of a team, said longtime NHLer and national broadcast analyst Darren Pang.He noted that GM Lombardi has built two Stanley Cup winners for the Los Angeles Kings. He knows the types of players who will rise to the occasion in big games, in difficult times, and he knows players who will shrink away from those challenges, Pang said.You ever watch Dubinsky play in hard games, big games? asked Pang, who will provide analysis for ESPN during the tournament. Hes ferocious.He noted Justin Abdelkaders hard-nosed play at the World Championships a couple of years back.Theres some meat and potatoes in this group, Pang added.Hall of Famer Brett Hull, a member of the seminal 1996 U.S. World Cup of Hockey team, has a different take.Hull, who also is providing analysis for ESPN during the tournament, said recently, They put people in charge, and its their team. It really doesnt matter what I think or what anybody else thinks, its what they think, and they obviously think theyve picked a real strong team.If thats what theyre looking for and thats the style theyre going to play, then they probably picked the right guys.And so the journey begins for this group of players with so much to prove. And I wonder, when it ends, will we call them a team or something else? ' ' '