Sonstiges » started fighting back.Pathirana and Shana

When it comes to pitching matchups, it simply doesnt get better than this. A lumberjack with a postseason record virtually unmatched in major league history against a guy nicknamed Thor, who throws in the upper 90s with a slider in the low 90s. Its 6-foot-5, 250 pounds against 6-foot-6, 240 pounds. Two huge guys, both as mean as a snake, facing off in a winner-takes-all game for teams that, at least a few weeks ago, werent sure theyd be here. But the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets made it, and each enters the National League wild-card game with momentum.Here are five questions:How good is Madison Bumgarner this time of year?His road ERA in the postseason is 0.60, the lowest of any pitcher in baseball history with at least 25 innings. The next five on the list are Bob Gibson (0.97), Mariano Rivera (1.02), Sandy Koufax (1.04), Lefty Grove (1.11) and Christy Mathewson (1.13). Bumgarner has made seven appearances on the road in his postseason career, and the Giants are 7-0. The last time we saw Bumgarner in the postseason, he pitched five scoreless innings in relief in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series in Kansas City. The last time we saw him this year, he was standing on the field at AT&T Park in San Francisco after the Giants clinched the second wild card, with the look of, We will be back here soon.How good is Noah Syndergaard? In his last seven starts, he has a 2.06 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings. As most of the rest of the vaunted Mets rotation (Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz) has gone to the DL, Syndergaard has helped the Mets get to the playoffs. He faced the Giants twice this season and held them to a .159 batting average against. The last time we saw Syndergaard in the postseason was Game 3 of the World Series (the only game the Mets won) when he dusted Kansas Citys Alcides Escobar with the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning, then later basically said, Come get me, Im only 60 feet away.How hot is the Mets offense?They were once 60-62, 5 1/2 games out of the wild card with three teams to jump. They seemingly had no shot to make the playoffs but finished with the best record in baseball over the last 40 games, 27-13, to win the first wild card. They have done this, in part, with surprising pitching from young starters Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman, but mostly they have done this by scoring a lot of runs. The Mets did indeed have the lowest batting average (.225) in the major leagues this year with runners in scoring position, led by Curtis Granderson, whose .152 mark was the lowest among qualifiers. But he got four hits in his last seven at-bats in those situations, and as a team, the Mets got a lot of big hits down the stretch. Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes were the primary carriers, but the whole team contributed, including new second baseman T.J. Rivera (wherever Ive seen that kid, he has hit, one scout said) and now, Jay Bruce. After a horrendous start to his career in New York, Bruce has 12 hits and four home runs in his last 25 at-bats.Has the Giants offense finally awakened? The Giants were shut out nine times the second half of the season, but in a very small sample, things turned the final week of the season. In their final four games, they outscored their opponents 26-6 to win the second wild card. The Giants dont have a primary player with a .290 average or 20 homers and 85 RBIs, but their core position players are finally healthy, and its not wise to underestimate Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Brandon Crawford or any of the Giants this time of year. They always get big hits.What is the momentum, or the mojo, like for each team?The Giants are rolling, even if its only for four games. They have this belief that no one can beat them this time of year, and they are starting to play that way. The perfect example was the crucial game last Saturday when left-hander Ty Blach, making his fourth career appearance and second start, beat the games best pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, 3-0.And then there are the Mets. They were swept by the Braves Sept. 19-21, losing the last game 4-3 when Cespedes had a walk-off homer taken away with two outs in the ninth on a spectacular catch by center fielder Ender Inciarte. But the next day, the Mets, for the first time in club history, won a game (9-8 over the Phillies) in which they trailed by multiple runs in both the ninth inning and in extra innings. They became the only team in history to win a game by erasing multirun deficits in both of those situations, each with a home run. They have played like mad men since, making this matchup with the Giants one for the books.Giants win.China Shoes Cheap . -- Timbers coach Caleb Porter didnt stray from his business-like approach to the season even after Portland downed the two-time defending league champion Los Angeles Galaxy to gain crucial playoff position. China Shoes Free Shipping . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. https://www.chinashoesshop.com/ . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Fake China Shoes . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. China Shoes Outlet . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No.West Indies A 305 for 5 (Mohammed 105*, McCarthy 102) in 47 overs beat Sri Lanka A 248 for 7 (Gunathilaka 58) in 38 overs by eight runs (D/L method)Scorecard Bad light denied Sri Lanka A in Colombo as they fell eight runs short of the Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 257, conceding the one-day series 0-3 to West Indies A.An interruption due to rain in the 12th over had reduced the match to 47 overs a side. West Indies A made 305 for 5 in that time with centuries from captain Jason Mohammed and Andre McCarthy. But Sri Lanka A were taking a right tilt at the target. They needed 58 runs in 54 balls with three wickets in hand, and they had hard-hitting allrounder Dasun Shanaka at the crease on 32 off 26 when the umpires called the players off the field due to bad light. With no further cricket possible, Sri Lanka A were left agonisingly short.West Indies A, though, would have been thankful for the runs they had on the board. They had won the toss, opted to bat and found themselves at 59 for 3 in the 15th over before Mohammed and McCarthy joined forces. Their 163-run partnership not only revived tthe innings but put their team in a position of dominance.dddddddddddd Mohammed finished unbeaten on 105 off 108 deliveries while McCarthy - from 6 off 13 - racked up 102 off 75, hitting left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana for four fours in the 31st over.With a total of 305 on the board, West Indies A strengthened their hold of the game by allowing only one Sri Lanka A batsman - opener Danushka Gunathilaka - to cross fifty. But with the hosts at 166 for 6, their lower-middle order started fighting back.Pathirana and Shanaka hammered 51 runs in 33 balls for the seventh wicket and when West Indies A broke that stand, Nuwan Kulasekara and Shanaka bashed 31 in 13 balls to inspire hopes of a consolation victory. But it was not to be.Having lost the game by such a narrow margin, they may have wondered how things might turned out if their bowlers had pushed harder having reduced West Indies A to 59 for 3, or about how Charith Asalanka had eaten up 41 balls to make only 23. ' ' '