PHOENIX -- Finally, the Arizona Diamondbacks won a series at home. Cody Ross hit his first home run of the year, Eric Chavez went deep for the second consecutive day and the Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Sunday for their first series win at Chase Field all season. After setting a team record for runs Saturday night in an 18-5 rout, the Diamondbacks broke a 3-all tie with Chavezs two-run shot off Dan Haren (5-2) in the fifth inning. "We kind of went in there with a little momentum," manager Kirk Gibson said. "Last nights game was good for us. The thing about last nights game is, unless you play good (today), it doesnt really mean anything." Ross, batting .163 entering the game after coming back from major hip surgery, also doubled for Arizona, which has won two straight over the Dodgers after losing eight of the first nine meetings this season. "I felt something in BP the other day where I was, All right, I can start driving the ball," Ross said. Chris Owings singled three times and stole two bases for the Diamondbacks. The rookie is 9 for 11 against Haren. Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez homered for the Dodgers, who have lost three of four. "Obviously, you dont want to keep losing series. If you lose series you are not going to go anywhere," Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly said. "I am really worried about day to day. Till we can grind out wins, we are in trouble." Josh Collmenter (2-2) went 5 1-3 innings to get the win. Addison Reed threw a scoreless ninth for his 12th save. Collmenter was lifted after 84 pitches, allowing two runs and four hits. "If you can beat division rivals at home, thats big," Collmenter said. "Especially the way weve been able to play halfway decent on the road, if we can match that at home I think we can get our record where we want it to be." Haren gave up five runs, a season-high four earned, and 10 hits in six innings. "The last three games have been a struggle for me," he said. "Prior to that I was fine. I have to look and see what I was doing earlier in the year." Owings led off the fifth with a single. With two outs and a 3-2 count, Chavez -- who entered in the fourth after Martin Prado left with blurred vision in his left eye -- hit an opposite-field homer to left. That gave Chavez home runs in consecutive at-bats. He also had a pinch-hit shot Saturday. After first baseman Paul Goldschmidt dropped a relay throw for what would have been an inning-ending double play, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs against Brad Ziegler in the eighth. But second baseman Cliff Pennington caught Matt Kemps liner to end the inning. Ramirezs two-out homer in the first gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Arizona tied it with an unearned run in the second. Ross doubled and scored when Ramirez threw wildly to first while trying to turn what would have been an inning-ending double play. In the third, Ramirez walked and Gonzalez homered to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead. The Diamondbacks cut it to 3-2 when Gerardo Parra led off the bottom half with a single, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Owings single. Ross first home run of the season tied it at 3 in the fourth. Even with the victory, the Diamondbacks are 6-16 at Chase Field this season. NOTES: Randy Johnson threw out the ceremonial first pitch to commemorate his perfect game 10 years ago. ... Dodgers OF Yasiel Puig went 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch, ending his 16-game hitting streak. ... Diamondbacks 2B Aaron Hill sat out his second straight game with a sore right shoulder. ... Both teams have Monday off. The Dodgers open a series Tuesday night against the Mets in New York, with Josh Beckett (1-1, 2.38 ERA) pitching for Los Angeles. Rafael Montero (0-1) makes his second major league start for the Mets. Arizona visits St. Louis on Tuesday. Bronson Arroyo (4-2, 4.15 ERA) starts for the Diamondbacks against Adam Wainwright (6-2, 2.11). . They started shooting the puck. Joe Pavelski had a hat trick to move into a tie for second in the NHL in goals and the Sharks beat Philadelphia 7-3 Thursday night in the first game for both teams following the Olympic break. . Certainly not Monday night. George Hill took care of the early work, scoring a season-high 26 points, and Paul George closed it out by scoring 11 of his 26 points during a decisive second-half stretch that finally allowed Indiana to pull away from Minnesota 98-84 for yet another win.
http://www.atleticomadridpro.com/Kids-Koke-Jersey/. Huntington doesnt want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout. The combination thats returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come. . A lawmaker is hoping the buzz from California Chromes run for the Triple Crown might build support for a bill that would place the U. . -- Desperate to stop Tom Bradys latest comeback bid, the Miami Dolphins sought help from a reserve safety making his NFL debut after being signed Tuesday off the San Francisco 49ers practice squad.VANCOUVER, BC -- It comes with the territory, but Willie Desjardins will face all kinds of difficult decisions as rookie head coach in the National Hockey League a€“ roster moves, in-game adjustments, heck, even picking the right tie to match his suit on game night. So on the rare occasion the coach is presented with an easy choice, you know hea€?ll jump at it. And that will be the case the first time Desjardins and the Canucks find themselves in a shootout to decide a game. Through seven exhibition contests and Wednesday nighta€?s 4-2 victory in Calgary in the Canucks regular season opener, Desjardins hasna€?t had to go through the process of selecting shootout shooters. But when that day arrives -- and rest assured, in todaya€?s NHL with so many hard-fought and closely-contested games on the schedule, there will be shootouts in the Canucks future a€“ the coach has an ace up his sleeve. Without a doubt, Radim Vrbata will be Desjardinsa€? easiest decision. The newcomer is fourth all-time in the NHL with 35 shootout goals to his credit. In fact, Vrbataa€?s career total matches the rest of the current roster combined and that means the Canucks will be depending on him to continue his mastery of the skills competition to help them pick up valuable points in the standings. Yes, you read that correctly. Radim Vrbata has 35 career shootout goals. The rest of the Canucks current roster combined has that same number. a€?Ita€?s just one of those things,a€? Vrbata says of his shootout success. a€?I cana€?t explain it. I just hope it continues here. When you look at it points-wise, every point you can get in a shootout is huge in the end. The last two years in Phoenix we missed the playoffs by four points and two points. Thata€?s two wins or losses. Every point you can get will be important.a€? Like Vrbataa€?s former team, his new club knows all too well the pitfalls of coming up short in shootouts. The Canucks won just five of the 12 games settled after overtime last season and of greater concern they managed just 8 goals in 50 attempts. Only the New Jersey Devils scored fewer shootout goals than the Canucks last season. And in the Western Conference where every standings point is a valuable commodity ita€?ll be one of Desjardins challenges to find guys who can rise to the challenge when games are settled in the one-on-one showdown. a€?It probably would have been good to get in some games to get some practice on it,a€? the coach says. a€?We have to be better inn that area.dddddddddddd Ita€?s something that we have to work at a little bit.a€? To that end, the coach put a hand-picked group of shooters to the test prior to a recent practice at Rogers Arena. In addition to Vrbata, he had Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Nick Bonino, Chris Higgins, Zack Kassian, Linden Vey, Brad Richardson and Alex Edler demonstrate their best moves. Higgins was one of only two Canucks to score more than a single shootout goal last season (Mike Santorelli was the other). a€?I dona€?t think it will necessarily be the same three shooters,a€? the coach says of his approach to player selection a€?It will depend on whoa€?s playing well. It will depend on a few things.a€? After Vrbata, Alex Burrows is the best of the rest when it comes to Canucks shootout shooters. The veteran is 12 of 32 in his career (37.5%) and is the only other player available to Desjardins to reach double-digits in shootout goals. In limited opportunities, Nick Bonino has had relative success scoring six times in 13 career attempts. One intriguing option for the Canucks is to give Linden Vey a chance in shootouts. A scoring machine in junior and in the minors, Vey has demonstrated an ability to make things happen wherever hea€?s played. And that scorera€?s touch has followed him to Vancouver where he had five points in five preseason appearances and added an assist in his Canucks debut against the Flames. He failed to convert in his only NHL shootout attempt, but says hea€?d welcome the chance to contribute in any way he can. a€?With the game nowdays, ita€?s key to be able to win those shootouts and we need to be sure we bear down in that aspect and thata€?s why wea€?ve been practicing it,a€? Vey says. a€?Ia€?ve got a few moves -- you always have something in mind. But I always like to read what the goalie is doing and go from there.a€? With just two games in the first 10 days of the new National Hockey League season, the Vancouver Canucks will have plenty of time to work on all aspects of their performance and that will surely include more time dedicated to shootouts. Willie Desjardins has no choice but to find guys who can make a difference for his hockey club. And shootouts are one area where there is plenty of room for improvement. VANCOUVER CANUCKS CAREER SHOOTOUT LEADERS Radim Vrbata 35/82 (42.7%) Alex Burrows 12/32 (37.5%) Nick Bonino 6/13 (46.2%) Alex Edler 6/23 (26.1%) Chris Higgins 5/21 (23.8%) Daniel Sedin 4/27 (14.3%) ' ' '
