LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Matt Carpenter dug in against Clayton Kershaw, fouling off pitches and fighting an 0-2 count. He finally broke through, smacking a go-ahead three-run double that rallied the St. Louis Cardinals to victory.Carpenters hit highlighted an eight-run seventh inning, and the Cardinals went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-9 in a fiery NL Division Series opener Friday.It makes it more fun when youre playing against somebody that is known as being the best pitcher in the game, said Carpenter, who also homered off Kershaw. When I get in those at-bats versus him I just try to fight. Hes coming right after me, seems like every time I face him Im down 0-2 and I got to fight my way back.It was 92 degrees at gametime, and things quickly got more heated in a surprising slugfest.St. Louis overcame a five-run deficit against Kershaw and held on when Trevor Rosenthal blew a 100-mph fastball past Yasiel Puig with a runner on third to end a back-and-forth game that lasted nearly four hours.Im sure everybody in baseball was expecting a one-run game, Carpenter said. We ended up getting one, but we didnt think it would be 10-9.Game 2 is Saturday night with St. Louis Lance Lynn facing Los Angeles Zack Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner.In a matchup of 20-game winners, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright hit Puig with a pitch leading off the third, triggering a bench-clearing scrum. There was shoving and shouting, but no punches were thrown.Wainwright wilted first on the mound, allowing six runs and 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings.I stunk, and those guys just completely picked me up. I was so proud, he said about his teammates. The guys never quit and kept chipping away against the toughest pitcher out there and, gosh, its a huge win.Kershaw failed once again in the post-season.The left-hander whose 1.77 ERA led the major leagues for the fourth consecutive year came in eager to erase the memory of his poor showing in Game 6 of last years NL Championship Series, when the Dodgers were eliminated by the Cardinals.Obviously my fault to let them get back in the game, Kershaw said. We have a great team and if I dont get in the way, we have a pretty good chance to win that game.Kershaw dominated through the first six innings, retiring 16 in a row between homers by Randal Grichuk and Carpenter.But he collapsed in a shaky seventh, when he gave up five of the Cardinals eight runs and became the first pitcher in post-season history to allow seven runs in consecutive starts. He yielded that many in losing Game 6 last year.He gives up a hit or two and you always feel like hes going to get out of it, hes always going to rebound, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.Kershaw, a heavy favourite to win a third Cy Young Award in four years, fell to 1-4 with a career 5.20 ERA in the post-season.The Dodgers rallied again in the ninth, pulling to 10-9 after Dee Gordons RBI groundout scored A.J. Ellis, who singled. But Puig struck out swinging against Rosenthal, who reached 100 mph on five of the seven pitches in the at-bat.Adrian Gonzalez pulled the Dodgers to 10-8 with a two-run homer in the eighth off Randy Choate. They had the potential tying run at the plate when pinch-hitter Justin Turner grounded to third to end the inning.The Cardinals ripped four consecutive singles to centre field to open the seventh. Matt Adams and Jon Jay had RBI singles, drawing them to 6-4.Carpenter then doubled to deep right, driving in three runs for a 7-6 lead and chasing Kershaw. He allowed eight runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings, struck out 10 and walked none.Pedro Baez came on and walked Grichuk. Matt Holliday followed with a three-run homer, silencing the 54,265 blue towel-waving fans and extending the Cardinals lead to 10-6.Kershaw allowed a two-out homer to Carpenter in the sixth that left St. Louis trailing 6-2.Wainwright, a 20-game winner with the NLs third-best ERA of 2.38, struggled mightily in the third and fourth innings at Dodger Stadium, where he has never been at his best. The right-hander allowed a pair of two-out runs in both innings, with the Dodgers taking a 4-1 lead.Marco Gonzales got the victory in one inning of relief. Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth to earn the save.The early scrum clearly fired up the Dodgers, who took a 2-1 lead in the third.After getting drilled, Puig went to take first base and Gonzalez began jawing with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.Molina and Gonzalez went face-to-face yelling and soon both benches and bullpens emptied, creating a scrum around home plate.I know theyre upset at what happened last year and this year they dont want the same, Molina said. Obviously theyre upset about it, but at the same time, if youre upset, you cant scream at it. Youve got to have some respect, too.A year ago, Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly hit Hanley Ramirez in the ribs in the NLCS opener, limiting the shortstop for the rest of the matchup. The teams traded hit by pitches earlier this season, too.Puig later gave Wainwright a friendly pat as he took his base.I walked over to Yasiel and I said, Hey that was my bad. I didnt mean to do that, Wainwright said. I just didnt want it to be a sideshow. Obviously you dont want to wake a sleeping dog, and I didnt want our team to lose its focus. I tried to clear the air there.Ellis, who hit .191 during the regular season, had four of the Dodgers 16 hits, including a two-run homer in the fifth that chased Wainwright. Ellis also scored three runs.Ramirez got things going with two outs in the third, singling past diving second baseman Pete Kozma as Puig scored from second to tie the game at 1. Crawfords ground-rule double into deep right field scored Ramirez, who had stolen second.UP NEXTCardinals: Lynn (15-10, 2.74 ERA) is making his fourth consecutive post-season appearance with the Cardinals since reaching the majors in 2011. His five playoff wins are tied for third-most all-time on the club, trailing Chris Carpenter (10) and Bob Gibson (seven).Dodgers: Greinke (17-8, 2.71) says the Cardinals hitters make adjustments better than most other teams, citing CF Jon Jay who went from chasing off-speed pitches one year to becoming good at handling them the next. . -- The Kelowna Rockets earned their 16th straight win with a 7-2 rout of the Portland Winterhawks in Western Hockey League action Thursday. . The Brazilian-born strikers brace drew him level with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as the leagues leading scorers with 17 goals apiece through 16 rounds. "The important thing is to help the team win, not the goals," Diego Costa said. After a first half dominated by defence, Atletico pressed Valencia into its area and Diego Costa did the rest.
https://www.cheapjerseyslines.com/ray-n ... sey-retro/. -- Michigan coach John Beilein is willing to give Nik Stauskas a little leeway when it comes to shot selection. . A little more than one year after missing a last-second tip-in that would have given the Wolverines a share of the Big Ten regular-season title, the 6-foot-8 forward scored on a layup with 7. . And by all indications, the team is expected to select phenom Connor McDavid with their selection. The Buffalo Sabres, who were knocked down to the second overall pick after finishing with the worst regular season record, are expected to take the other generational player in Jack Eichel.ACAPULCO, Mexico -- David Ferrer and Andy Murray, the top two seeded players in the Mexican Open, advanced to the second round on Tuesday while American and third-seeded John Isner became the first major casualty of the tournament, losing 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5) to Croatias Ivo Karlovic. Ferrer, the favourite in Acapulco, had a convincing 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin while Murray overcame a sluggish start and claimed a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Pablo Andujar, from Spain. "I had a difficult start, it was 10 minutes in the match and I was down 5-0, but I started to play more aggressively to get the win and hopefully I can have a good week here", Murray said. "The first set was extremely challenging, he was dictating the points, but later on he was getting tired and put the pressure on him". Murray, who played for the first time ever in Latin America, lost his first three service games and fell into a 5-0 hole, but came back strongly to set up a match against Joao Sousa of Portugal. "I played Joao once in Australia, he was new on the tour then and he has improved. Hes playing good tennis, hes good on clay and on hard courts", added Murray. "He plays similar to Pablo, hopefully I can play aggressively from the start." In the round-of-16, Ferrer, who is trying to win on Mexican soil for the fourth time in his career, will play Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez. "I..m not thinking about the final, Im only in the second round", Ferrer said. "Now Im only thinking about playing my best tennis against Feliciano Lopez, he..s a good player I need to give my best to beat him". Ferrer, who now has a 4-0 record aagainst Kukushkin, is coming off an impressive run in the past two weeks of the ATP tour, winning the Buenos Aires tournament and reaching the semifinals in Rio de Janeiro last week.dddddddddddd "Playing in Buenos Aires was not in my plans", said Ferrer who replaced his countryman Rafael Nadal in Argentina. "Im tired, but I will not be making any excuses, I need to take a rest now and get well for the rest of the tournament". Earlier, Karlovic served 15 aces to Isner fired eight in a match between two of the games biggest servers. "Im very disappointed," a visibly upset Isner said after the match. "I wanted to do well in here, is a good surface for me, but I played against a guy who played well against me". The 2.11-meter (6-foot-11) Karlovic now has a 3-2 career record against the 2.08-meter (6-foot-10) Isner, whos ranked 13th in the world. Sousa of Portugal came back to defeat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. South Africas Kevin Anderson downed Stephane Robert of France 6-2, 7-6 (7) and will next play Americas Sam Querrey. Also, Alexandr Dolgopolov, from the Ukraine, beat Canadas Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-2 and seventh-seeded Ernests Gulbis had a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Taiwans Yen-Hsun Lu. Latvias Gulbis won his fifth career title last week in Marsella. On the womens side of the combined ATP-WTA tournament, top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova had a 6-3, 6-4 win over Urszula Radwanska, from Poland, Eugenie Bouchard eliminated Shahar Peer from Israel 6-2, 6-2, American Victoria Duval had a 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Iveta Melzer and Estonian Kai Kanepi prevailed 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 against Jana Cepelova, from Slovakia. ' ' '
