#1

only hitting .164 with one homer and f

in Here is your first Forum Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:14 pm
by sakura698 • 1.245 Posts

LONDON - Unbeaten in all competitions this season, Chelsea has been in stellar form and could ensure itself a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League with a win on Wednesday. Air Max 97 Pure Platinum .Victory over Maribor in Group G, along with Sporting Lisbon failing to beat Schalke, would be enough for the London club to advance.Sporting, looking to turn around its season, is winless in this seasons tournament and sixth in the Portuguese league. But the team was denied a point against Schalke in October when Adrien Silva was penalized for handball, although replays showed the ball hit his chest.Here are some things to know about Wednesdays matches:___CHELSEA EYES KNOCKOUT STAGEChelsea has already beaten Maribor, routing the Slovenian club 6-0 at Stamford Bridge in October, and leads the Premier League by four points.But Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will be looking for an improvement on Wednesday after saying his teams collective performance was not there in the 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.In the end we deserved to win but the result couldve been more than such a narrow result, Mourinho said. We have to be more consistent and play better.___SCHALKES INJUREDSchalke travels to Portugal without attacking midfielder Julian Draxler, who is out for the year with a hamstring injury. But another midfielder, Kevin-Prince Boateng, should be back.The absence of Draxler, however, will hurt Schalkes attack. A member of Germanys World Cup squad, Draxlers speed is crucial to Schalkes counterattacks.Schalke has stabilized under coach Roberto di Matteo, winning three of four games under his guidance.You always have to try to score at least one goal away, Di Matteo said. We want to be organized in defence and then try to execute a few counterattacks.Schalke has been bolstered by the return of defensive midfielder Jan Kirchhoff from injury, who is on loan from Bayern Munich.We are going to Lisbon to win and all but clinch a slot in the knockout round, Kirchhoff said.___MAKING GOODSportings players host Schalke after being criticized by their president.Sporting dropped to sixth place in the Portuguese league after a meek display in a 3-0 loss at Guimaraes. The team has only four wins from nine games in the domestic championship.On top of that, Sporting is winless after three Champions League games.Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho said the team had embarrassed the club.They didnt show any commitment or desire to win, Carvalho said of the match against Guimaraes. Its time for them to show they are worthy of this club.___MARIBOR WANTS RESPONSEMaribors preparation for Chelsea was hampered Friday by a 1-0 loss to Slovenian league leader Domzale.We have to recuperate as soon as possible and focus our attention on what lies ahead, Maribor coach Ante Simundze said. Waking up after a victory is easier than after a defeat, but the guys have to hold their heads up high and believe in themselves. And they must focus their energy toward a new challenge.Maribor is third in Group G after drawing 1-1 in its other matches against Sporting and Schalke.___AP Sports Writer Nesha Starcevic in Frankfurt and Associated Press writer Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report. Air Max 97 Just Do It Outlet . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Air Max 97 Shanghai Kaleidoscope .com) - Australian Open champion Li Na, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and former world No. http://www.airmax97outlet.it/scontate-air-max-97-off-white.html . -- Miami Dolphins defensive co-ordinator Kevin Coyle defended the management style of coach Joe Philbin in the wake of the teams bullying scandal.It was an inning like no other in Blue Jays history, at least not one that anyone can remember. In the second game of their day/night doubleheader at Minneapolis, three Blue Jays pitchers, Steve Delabar, Sergio Santos and J.A. Happ combined to issue eight walks, wild-pitched home three runs and gave up six runs in total on just one hit. That turned a 5-3 lead into a 9-5 loss, a twinbill sweep at the hands of the Twins and a series loss. Counting the nine walks issued by the two starters, R.A Dickey and Dustin McGowan in just eight and a third innings, the Jays surrendered 17 free passes on the day. Grant you, one "crappy day" as skipper John Gibbons put it, inflated these numbers, the Jays have dropped to 10th in pitching stats in the American League. Worse than that, their 4.05 team ERA is the worst in the AL East and so is their walks allowed total of 67. The walks total is particularly disturbing when you look at their division rivals. In order, Boston and the Yankees have only walked 37, Baltimore 39 and Tampa Bay 45. A year ago, the Jays issued 98 walks in the first month of the season. At the teams current average of just a fraction over four per game, and with 11 games remaining in April, they will finish with 111 for the month, and remember, they started last April at 10-17 and never really recovered. In the last five years, the Blue Jays exhibited their best control in 2010, the final season under Cito Gaston when Bruce Walton was the pitching coach. That season, they walked only 77. That year, they finished with 85 wins, and wound up in fourth place, 11 games off the division lead. In 2011, the walk total jumped to 107, then improved to 85 in John Farrells second and last year with the team. Then, the total jumped to 98 in April of 2013 and as stated, the club is now on pace for 111 this month. More walks, especially by the starters, generally means more pitches thrown, fewer innings pitched, more stress on the bullpen, and another up the track finish. The Blue Jays, whove fashioned an 8-8 record so far, are by no means in a crisis situation yet, but if they keep this pace up well into May, they will be. Misery Loves Company You know the old saying, misery loves company. Well, the White Sox arguably had an even worse game walk-wise than the Blue Jays did on Thursday night. On Wednesday, they dropped a 14-inning five-hour 17-minute marathon at home by a 6-4 count. But the real story is how they lost. After starter John Danks gave them six decent innings of three-hit ball, albeit walking four batters, skipper Robin Ventura went through seven relievers, including four in the 8th inning. In the 8th, relievers Scott Downs, Jake Petricka, Donnie Veal and Maikel Cleto each walked a batter and the Red Sox scored a run to cut the Chicago lead to 3-2 before Cleto finally got out of the inning. In the 9th though, he walked two more to lead off the frame before getting the hook. Matt Lidstrom took over, and allowed the tying run to score, but ddid manage to go two innings without walking anyone. Air Max 97 Pull Tab Pack. Then Ventura handed the ball over to Daniel Webb, who worked the 11, 12 and 13th innings, giving up one run while walking another three. Each team scored a run in the 11th, so it was 4-4 after 13. After 59 pitches, Webb was done. Ventura was out of pitchers, choosing not to use any of his other starters and really messing up the rotation. In the 14th inning, infielder Leury Garcia went to the mound. He proceeded to walk two before giving up a game-winning two-run double to BoSox rookie centrefielder Jackie Bradley Jr. The Red Sox walked only three over 14 innings and struck out 15. The White Sox, who have one of the best pitching coaches in the business in Don Cooper, walked 15 on the night and struck out only five. Hard to believe two games like this happened on back-to-back nights. Altogether, the Blue Jays two games at Target Field lasted six hours and 15 minutes. The White Sox played a game, plus the five extra innings in five hours and 17 minutes. Incidently, the White Sox have walked 79 batters, the worst in the American League, and their ERA is 4.90, better only than Minnesotas. Oddly enough, Chicago has the same record as the Blue Jays at 8-8. The Jays are tied for second in the AL East with Baltimore, two games back of the Yankees, while the White Sox are tied for third with the Royals, just a game behind first-place Detroit. Sandwiched in between, just a half game behind the Tigers, are the Twins, if you can believe it with the worst earned runs average in the American League. Safe to say, nearly three weeks into the season, the hitters are ahead of the pitchers for the most part. Numbers Game Some surprising numbers in the early going. BoSox righthander ace Clay Buchholz still doesnt have a victory. Hes (0-1) with a 5.51 ERA. On top of that, the top two batsmen to switch teams in the offseason are struggling. Robinson Cano, who jumped from the Yankees to Seattle as a free agent, went into Thursday nights game in a 3-18 slide, but did get one hit and drove in three runs in an 8-6 loss to Texas. Overall, Cano is hitting .271 with one homer and eight runs batted in. Prince Fielder, who was dealt by the Tigers to the Rangers, is only hitting .164 with one homer and four runs batted in. Like their parent club, the Buffalo Bisons got swept at home in a doubleheader on Thursday by Scranton Wilkes Barre, the Phillies farm club. On the plus side, Ricky Romero, who thanks to five early season postponements, was making only his second start of the season, gave up just one run over six innings on just two hits in the opener. He did walk four and strike out two, but he also retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced and induced 12 ground ball outs in getting a no-decision. On the flip side, Kyle Drabek got beat up pretty good in the second game. In just four innings, he gave up five earned runs on 10 hits, including three homeruns. He struck out four and walked none, as the Bisons record dipped to 7-5. ' ' '

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