Sonstiges » ng steps forward.Davies has only faced the Cardinal

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Argentina and Belgium gatecrashed the Olympic field hockey festival and reached their first mens final together on Tuesday.Nobody saw them coming.Not Germany, the defending two-time champion, which was humiliated by a record 5-2 by the Argentines.And not the Netherlands, which had never lost to its Belgian neighbor in major competition, but saw that 80-year streak terminated 3-1.This is crazy, said Argentina midfielder Lucas Rey, who could have also spoken for Belgium. We knew we could do this, but its still crazy.Before the final on Thursday, Germany and the Netherlands, the finalists in London, will play for bronze.Even its own deliriously happy supporters couldnt believe Argentina made its first major final.For two decades, their womens team, Las Leonas, the Lionesses, have racked up major honors, including medals at the last four Olympics. But they lost their quarterfinal late Monday, and 14 hours later, from out of their considerable shadow, Los Leones, the Lions, came of age by ending the reign of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion.It wasnt even close.Argentina scored off its first three penalty corners, all struck by Gonzalo Peillat on the stick side of Germany goalkeeper Nicolas Jacobi, in the first half. Germany, featuring six players from 2012, was restricted to two shots in the whole half.After the interval, Joaquin Menini and Lucas Vila extended the lead to 5-0 with less than a quarter left. Thats when Germany replaced its goalie for an extra forward to try and limit the roasting.The Germans had enjoyed a streak of luck by scoring in the last 8 seconds of three games, including forcing a 4-4 draw with Argentina in pool play last Thursday. But even though they came back furiously with a penalty stroke goal by captain Moritz Furste, who failed on all five of his penalty corners, and a Christopher Ruhr goal, there was no chance of another miracle comeback.As the score mounted, Menini said their prime thought was not, Were smashing Germany by a record score, but more, Dont lose this.Every time we started from the middle line, we said the score was zero-zero, that we had to keep on playing, keep on defending, Menini added.Paillet, the expert drag-flicker who has converted a remarkable 10 of his 36 chances in these games, said, Germany always plays to the last seconds. We couldnt stop and congratulate ourselves.Not until the last minute did Argentina coach Carlos Retegui, responsible for many of the womens triumphs, finally accept hed masterminded the mens greatest success yet, and began hugging his assistants. Seconds later, the players were embracing and group hopping all over the Olympic Hockey Stadium, too, roared on by hundreds of fans.Like Argentina, the Belgians are a veteran team, even more so. They contain a staggering amount of experience; two players with more than 300 caps, another five with over 200. Intense preparation, deep self-belief and suddenly finding their groove swept them into their first Olympic medal match in 88 years, and they received one last boost before playing the mighty Dutch.The PA system broke down, so the national anthems couldnt be played. The Dutch fans, unprompted, spurred their team to start singing, then the Belgium team went a capella, loudly, with their fans echoing them.It was a goosebump moment, forward Thomas Briels said.They never let the Dutch get in a rhythm.Tom Boon hit in a rebound of his own penalty corner attempt, then captain John-John Dohmen knocked in a great pass from Cedric Charlier and it was 2-0 seconds out from halftime. There was time for Netherlands short corner expert Mink van der Weerden to punch in his ninth goal but if the Dutch thought at halftime they were back in it, they were mistaken.Belgium continued to cut through midfield, set up chances, while strangling the favorites. Charlier set up Florent van Aubel to start the last quarter, and the defense smothered a frustrated Netherlands to the end.Boon said, Its unbelievable we were better than them. We showed good hockey, good maturity, a team fighting for each other. We showed our Belgian hearts.We, Dohmen added, are having the tournament of our lives.Belgium and Argentina barely have a history in major events. Theyve met in recent World League Finals, but not in an Olympic Games for 40 years.Boon didnt care. Having finally conquered their neighbor on the greatest stage, he didnt rate Argentina.We can beat Argentina, for sure, he said. We have an unbelievable team. 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The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries.MILWAUKEE -- As the Pittsburgh Pirates inch closer to the second wild-card spot, the St. Louis Cardinals will look to regain some separation from their National League Central rivals in a very comfortable place: Milwaukees Miller Park.Since defeating Milwaukee in the 2011 NL Championship Series, the Cardinals have dominated the Brewers, winning 57 of 84 encounters during that span -- including a 29-12 mark at Miller Park.This season alone, the Cardinals have gone 9-3 against the Brewers with victories in four of their six meetings at Miller Park.St. Louis arrives in Milwaukee having gone 5-5 in its last 10 games and begins the day with a half-game lead over the Pirates in the playoff race.The Cardinals will turn to right-hander Carlos Martinez, who has allowed just two runs on seven hits in 15 innings over his last two starts. He has already beaten Milwaukee twice this season, allowing only a run in 13 innings of work in those outings.Martinez went eight innings his last time out when he held the New York Mets to a run on four hits while striking out five in an 8-1 victory at Busch Stadium.These last two outings, I really feel like have been two of my best, Martinez said. My main focus has been trying to stay focused on the strike zone (and) not to outdo myself, and really trying to stay in control of my pitches, and that really helps me in getting the velocity I need to get..dddddddddddd I feel really good about myself right now.Milwaukee will turn to right-hander Zach Davies in the hopes of snapping its string of struggles against the Cardinals as well as a four-game losing streak.Davies had dropped consecutive decisions for the first time since April but bounced back in his last outing, when Nolan Arenados home run was the only blemish on a six-inning outing in which the hurler allowed five hits and three walks while striking out eight.It was definitely a positive, definitely a step forward, but I need to make sure I go back and look at this game and work from there, Davies said. I need to keep making steps forward.Davies has only faced the Cardinals once in his career and it was a gem. He threw eight shutout innings and struck out nine while allowing only three hits in a 3-1 Milwaukee victory back on June 1 at Miller Park.Its hard to get much better than that, manager Craig Counsell said after that outing. Thats what hes capable of, against a very good offensive team, and he has the ability to pitch like that.Its fun to watch when a guy pitches like that. He was on the attack. Like I said, there were four pitches they were responsible for in every count, and when youre ahead in the count, you cant sit on anything. ' ' '