2334 Beiträge -
Forengott
|
|
|
PHILADELPHIA -- The Washington Nationals are just where they want to be at the All-Star break: atop the NL East. Edmonton Oilers Store . Jayson Werth homered and drove in four runs, and Tanner Roark pitched seven strong innings to lead Washington to a 10-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. Ryan Zimmerman also went deep and had two RBIs, Ian Desmond knocked in two runs, and Anthony Rendon had three hits and an RBI for Washington. "If you told us earlier wed be in this spot at this time, everybody would feel good," Werth said. "Were healthy now and we kept our heads above water. I like where we are." The Nationals (51-42) won the last two games of the series and entered the break in a virtual tie with Atlanta (52-43) for the NL East lead. "Were right in the thick of the division," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "This is a great way to finish up the first half. Its momentum for us." The Phillies finished a forgettable first half in familiar fashion, producing little offence against Roark and Ross Detwiler. Philadelphia scored two unearned runs off Aaron Barrett in the ninth to end with three runs or fewer for the 49th time this season. "We didnt get anything going on the offensive side of things," manager Ryne Sandberg said. The Phillies dropped to 8-41 overall and 2-29 in their last 31 games when failing to score four runs. Cody Asche had two doubles and an RBI for Philadelphia, which fell 10 games behind Washington. It was the second straight defeat for Philadelphia after a five-game winning streak in which the Phillies averaged 6.2 runs. They had no answers for Roark (8-6), who allowed a run and four hits. He struck out six and walked none. "I pitched with confidence," Roark said. "I didnt nibble." Kyle Kendrick (4-9) continued his pattern of struggling badly in the first inning and then pitching well. Werth followed consecutive singles by Denard Span and Rendon to lead off the game with an opposite-field shot that quickly made it 3-0. But Kendrick settled down and retired 14 straight batters until Roarks two-out single in the fifth. The Phillies couldnt recover. "It was a tough tone set for us early on in the game, and we didnt bounce back from that," Sandberg said. Kendrick ran into trouble in the sixth when the Nationals scored four runs off him and left-handed reliever Mario Hollands. Kendrick allowed Rendons single to start the frame and then hit Werth to put runners on first and second before getting Adam LaRoche to fly out. Zimmermans one-out sacrifice fly scored Rendon and chased Kendrick. Hollands then surrendered three straight hits, including Desmonds two-run double and Jose Lobatons RBI single, that broke open the game. Kendrick left after allowing five runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks in 5 2/3 innings. The focus was on his first-inning struggles. "Its just quality pitches," Kendrick said. "I just have to make pitches in that first inning. Thats what it comes down to." The Phillies got a run back on Ryan Howards groundout in the sixth. Werth remained hot in July, upping his average this month to .375 (15-for-40) with six homers and 19 RBIs. LaRoche went 0-for-5 with a strikeout to drop his average in July to .122 (5-for-41). He was the only Washington starter not to get a hit on Sunday. NOTES: Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard was selected to the All-Star game by NL manager Mike Matheny, replacing Braves starter Julio Teheran. Clippard will be the only Washington representative after starter Jordan Zimmermann had to bow out on Saturday because of a right biceps strain. Clippard, who earned the win for the NL in his only other All-Star appearance in 2011, is 6-2 with a 2.03 ERA in 40 innings. ... Desmond, who led major league shortstops in RBIs entering Sunday, raised his total to 57. ... Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee, on the DL since May 19 with a left elbow strain, will return to the mound on July 21 against San Francisco. ... Chase Utley will represent the Phillies at the All-Star game, making his sixth appearance. The only NL second basemen to make more All-Star starts than Utley are Hall of Famers Joe Morgan (seven) and Sandberg (nine). Wholesale Oilers Jerseys .S. President Barack Obama saluted the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks at the White House on Monday -- a rare moment for a president hungry to see more victorious teams from his hometown. Cheap Oilers Jerseys .com) - The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies have finalized their agreed-upon trade that sends former National League MVP Jimmy Rollins to the West Coast for a pair of minor league pitching prospects. https://www.cheapoilers.com/ . The Bulls seem to be getting along fine without him. D.J. Augustin scored 27 points in a start for Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson matched a career high with 26 filling in for Carlos Boozer as the Bulls improved to 7-2 since trading the popular Deng with a 98-87 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mark Jackson came to the Golden State Warriors talking big and brash. He promised playoff appearances and championships, and he delivered plenty of wins along the way. Away from the court, though, Jackson never backed down from doing things how he wanted. His inability to mesh with management -- and managements inability to mesh with Jackson -- increasingly overshadowed his success and ultimately cost him his job. The Warriors fired Jackson after three seasons Tuesday, ending the franchises most successful coaching tenure in the past two decades but also one filled with drama and distractions. "Obviously it was not made exclusively on wins and losses," Warriors owner Joe Lacob said. Lacob and general manager Bob Myers both thanked Jackson, saying he helped make the Warriors a more attractive franchise. But Myers said the decision to dismiss Jackson was "unanimous" among the teams executives -- though still not easy -- in part because the Warriors want a coach who can "develop a synergy" with everybody in basketball operations. Jacksons time with the Warriors will be remembered for the way he helped turn a perennially losing franchise into a consistent winner and the bold and bombastic way in which he did it. He guaranteed Golden State would make the playoffs in his first season, then finished 23-36 after the NBA labour lockout. The Warriors went 47-35 last season and had a memorable run to the second round of the playoffs, and they were 51-31 this season before losing in seven games to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round. The Warriors, who have surrounded star Stephen Curry with a talented nucleus since Lacobs group bought the franchise in 2010, had not made the playoffs in consecutive years since 1991-92. They had made the post-season once in 17 years before Jackson arrived. Lacob compared the decision to replace Jackson to his work as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. "Theres a different CEO that may be required to achieve success at different stages of an organizations development," Lacob said. "When youre a startup company its one thing, when youre a small-growth company its one thing and when youre a mature company thats trying to reach a billion in sales -- or in this case win an NBA championship -- perhaps thats a different person. And we just felt overall we needed a different person." Lacob and Myers declined to discuss the coaching search, other than to say it would begin immediately. Former NBA player and TNT broadcaster Steve Kerr, former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, Iowa States Fred Hoiberg and Connecticuts Kevin Ollie have been among the most talked-about candidates this off-season. The Warriors know a new coach comes with the risk of disrupting team chemistry, especially considering nearly every player publicly called for Jackson to return, most notably Curry, whom Lacob said was told of the decision ahead of time. Myers also spoke to several players after he and Lacob informed Jacksonn of their decision in a meeting Tuesday morning. Edmonton Oilers Gear . "The hope and belief after talking to them is that they trust us and they believe that we make decisions to win as well," Myers said. Jackson took to Twitter to thank the organization, players and fans. Several of his present and past players also applauded the job he had done. Jackson, a former NBA point guard who had his best seasons with the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, had never been a head coach at any level when Lacob hired him away from the ESPN/ABC broadcast table in June 2011. A minister who runs a church with his wife near their Southern California home, Jackson often spoke of his Christian beliefs while surprisingly turning the Warriors into one of the NBAs best defensive teams. But Jacksons boisterous personality at times did not play well with Warriors management, his staff and -- to a much lesser extent -- his players. And his attitude, which bordered on confidence and cockiness, also came off as increasingly insecure when the team struggled. The Warriors still stuck by Jackson even when he created news off the court, including when reports surfaced in June 2012 that he and his family were the targets of an extortion attempt related to an extramarital affair he had six years prior, which led to questions about his credibility and morals. The pressure on Jackson really heated up when the Warriors decided to pick up his contract option for the 2014-15 season last summer instead of negotiating a long-term deal as he had wanted. Management also encouraged Jackson to hire a strong tactician after top assistant Michael Malone -- who had several disagreements with Jackson -- left to become the coach of the Sacramento Kings. Instead, Jackson promoted Pete Myers and other assistants and hired Lindsey Hunter and Brian Scalabrine. And while reports of rifts within the team surfaced on occasion, having two assistants dismissed -- Scalabrine reassigned to the teams NBA Development League affiliate in Santa Cruz, and Darren Erman fired -- in a 12-day span before the playoffs perpetuated the idea that Jackson had fostered an environment of dysfunction, which he repeatedly refuted. The Warriors also parted ways with all of Jacksons assistants Tuesday. Several home losses to lesser teams frustrated Lacob more than anything and cost the Warriors a chance to earn anything more than the sixth playoff seed, which they also had a year ago when they upset Denver in the first round before falling to San Antonio. The Warriors still showed a lot of fight -- and an ability to make adjustments -- with centre Andrew Bogut out with a fractured right rib in the playoffs, pushing the third-seeded Clippers to seven games. "George Karl was Coach of the Year last year and got fired," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "Mark Jackson gets a team to multiple playoffs for the first time in a thousand years, and then gets fired. Its our job. Its a tough job, and I think everybody knows it now more than ever." ' ' '
|
4531 Beiträge & 4289 Themen in 4 Foren
