Sonstiges » first base on rookie Juan Lagare

DALLAS -- Larry Allen had just been drafted by the Dallas Cowboys when he found himself standing in front of a couple of hundred kids attending a football camp at Sonoma State, the alma mater that made his future Hall of Fame career possible. His coach, Frank Scalercio, knew he was testing the best player he ever coached, coaxing the soft spoken but massive offensive lineman into a few words. "Just say no," Allen blurted out. That was it. "I can see that nothings going to happen, so then I jump in and kind of close it out for him real quick," Scalercio said. "Some of the guys still laugh about it today when theyre around. They talk about the first speech he made." Allen is getting ready for another one. A big one. After 12 dominant seasons and a Super Bowl title with the Cowboys -- and two final years closer to home with San Francisco -- Allens Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement speech Saturday night will be on national television in front of thousands of people at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Plenty of family and friends will be there -- but not his mother, Vera Allen. The woman responsible for steering him away from gangs as a kid in the Los Angeles area died a year ago. The biggest public speaking gig of his life would have been the perfect time to have her around. "I miss her," Allen said. "Whenever Id get nervous or had a big game and got nervous, Id give her a call, and shed start making me laugh." The six-time All-Pro has already cried once over the Hall of Fame -- the day his name was announced. Hes not ashamed to say hell probably cry again. "She was one of the biggest reasons Ill be up there, and I know shell be looking down on me," Allen said. The soft side of Allen isnt a familiar one to former teammates and opponents. This is a man who silently bench-pressed 700 pounds -- "absurd," says former teammate Daryl Johnston -- in the Cowboys locker room while players screamed and mobbed him. This was a player who made notorious trash-talker John Randle of Minnesota keep to himself when he faced the Cowboys, for fear of making Allen mad. "He never said nothin," said Nate Newton, one of Allens mentors on Dallas offensive line. "Every now and then youd hear him utter a cuss word or hear him laugh that old funny laugh he had. "Other than that ..." Newton said, trailing off. Allen just played, which is how Scalercio discovered him at Butte College. Thats the junior college where the lineman landed after attending four high schools in part because his mom moved him around to keep him away from gangs. Then an assistant for Sonoma, Scalercio was recruiting another player when he saw Allen throw an opponent to the ground for the first time. "I kinda forgot about the guy I was actually recruiting," Scalercio said. Allen ended up tiny Sonoma, a Division II school, because his academic progress wasnt fast enough to get him to Division I, where he probably belonged. He was out of football and living in Los Angeles when Scalercio sent some of his LA-area players looking for him. They tracked him down on a basketball court, the same place Sonoma coach Tim Walsh took Allen when he showed up on campus. Walsh wanted to see the 6-foot-3 Allen lift his 320-pound frame for a dunk. "You could have heard a pin drop when he slammed the ball," Scalercio said. "It was like in the movies where it just goes tick, tick, tick, tick and stops." The Cowboys were coming off consecutive Super Bowl wins when they drafted Allen in the middle of the second round in 1994. He was surrounded by Pro Bowl offensive linemen but didnt take long to get noticed. Late in his rookie season, Allen saved a touchdown by running down Darion Conner when it looked like the New Orleans linebacker only had Troy Aikman to beat down the sideline. Most of the rest of his career was defined by power -- first as a tackle, where the Cowboys figured he would be a mainstay, and ultimately as a guard. "He has to be one of the strongest guys to play the game," Cowboys executive vice-president Stephen Jones said. "I think Larry would have been a Hall of Famer at guard or tackle, and either side. He was special like that." True to his personality as a player, Allen retired to a quiet life in Northern California, with a wife and three kids. Hes helping coach his son, Larry Allen III, who will be a senior offensive lineman at high school power De La Salle and is getting Division I looks. He shows up at Sonoma basketball games -- the football program was dropped a couple of years after Allen left -- and happily signs autographs and poses for pictures. "Hes even bigger now than he ever was on campus," said Tim Burrell, a friend of Allens. "Everybody loves him." He still doesnt talk much, which explains why Cowboys tight end Jason Witten walked by reporters at training camp last week and asked -- unsolicited -- how long Allen was going to speak after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones introduces him. Thats generally the first thing his old Dallas comrades want to know. The answer? About 7 minutes, Allen says. And his oldest daughter, Jayla, has been coaching him. "Its going to be a little rough," Allen said. At least it will be longer than his first speech.Air Max Plus Noir Pas Cher . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Air Max Pas Cher France . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. http://www.airmaxpaschersite.fr/ . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Air Max 200 France . PETERSBURG, Fla. Nike Air Max Plus Soldes .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.NEW YORK -- Two full games, plus two more innings. A total of 561 pitches. And when it was finally (FINALLY!) over, the worst team in baseball had its 17th win of the season. The Miami Marlins sure worked hard for this one. In the longest major league game in more than three years, Adeiny Hechavarria hit an RBI single in the 20th inning and Miami outlasted the New York Mets 2-1 on Saturday, well after Matt Harvey left with lower back tightness following another stingy start. "It was amazing," winning pitcher Kevin Slowey said. "It was an amazing game." Steve Cishek retired Daniel Murphy on a fly ball to the left-field warning track for the final out of a game that took 6 hours, 25 minutes. It started 5 1/2 hours before the Belmont Stakes -- about 13 miles away -- and still ended around an hour after winner Palace Malice crossed the finish line. The last big league game to go as long also involved the Mets, according to STATS. It came when they beat St. Louis 2-1 in 20 innings on April 17, 2010. It was the longest game by far in the history of Citi Field, which opened in 2009, and it matched the longest in Marlins history -- a 7-6 loss to the Cardinals in 20 innings on April 27, 2003. "You play 20 innings, youve got to win that game," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. Harvey and Miamis prized rookie, Jose Fernandez, hooked up in a pitchers duel early. And when neither punchless lineup could break a 1-all tie, the only saving grace for both teams was that neither had played since Wednesday and both had fresh arms in the bullpen. By the 13th inning, the game had been turned over to a pair of starters: Slowey and Shaun Marcum for the Mets. Both were originally scheduled to start Saturday before getting skipped when Friday nights game was rained out. A scattered crowd of 20,338 had dwindled perhaps into the hundreds by the time the stadium sound system played Chuck Berrys "No Particular Place To Go" not long after the 14th-inning stretch. Some of the fans who remained chanted "Lets Go Home!" as the Mets came to bat in the 17th. But it took three more innings to decide this one, and it was Miami that came out on top. "The whole team spirit was up," said Rob Brantly, who caught the entire game and finished with four hits. "We were still having fun in the dugout and still cracking jokes and keeping the energy high. ... Still had enough energy to string some hits together and get that run." Placido Polanco, Brantly and Hechavarria hit consecutive singles with one out in the 20th off Marcum (0-7), who had retired 16 in a row to that point. He gave up five hits in eight stellar innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. "I definitely wasnt expecting to pitch eight innings," Marcum said. "I wasnt tired. That pitch to Hechavarria was a pretty good pitch. He went down and got it." Slowey (2-5) was just as tough. He struck out eight and walked none in seven shutout innings before Cishek got three straight outs for his sixth save. Inept at the plate, the Mets went 0 for 19 with runners in scoring position -- a team record. They stranded 22 on the bases. After taking all three games from the Mets at home last weekend for their first sweep of the season, the last-place Marlins improved to 7-3 against New York this year. They are 10-41 against everyone else. "I think moving forward, guys can kind of reach back in their mind and say, that 20-inning game we didnt give up. If were not goingg to give up now, were not giving up," Slowey said.dddddddddddd On his last pitch in the seventh, Harvey said he felt a little tightness in his right hip where it meets his lower back. He singled in the bottom half and seemed to run somewhat gingerly to second base on an inning-ending groundout. He warmed up for the eighth, but then there was a mass meeting on the mound that included a trainer, manager Terry Collins and the entire Mets infield. Harvey finally gave up the ball -- reluctantly, it appeared -- and walked to the dugout. Brandon Lyon was given all the time he needed to get loose, then he wriggled out of a jam to keep the score tied. "As soon as I came out and they worked on it, it popped back (into place)," Harvey said, adding he expects to make his next start. "Im fine. I could have stayed in there. "Its happened in college," he explained. "Its a quick adjustment. Everything was taken care of in two minutes." It was the eighth no-decision in the last nine starts for Harvey, who threw 93 pitches and remains 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA. He gave up one run and six hits with six strikeouts and no walks. New York nearly won it in the 12th, but Murphy got a slow break off third on Marlon Byrds fly toward the right-field line and was thrown out at the plate by Marcell Ozuna. Murphy plowed hard into Brantly, who held onto the ball in his bare hand as he was sent flying -- along with a couple of pieces of catchers equipment. "I went with the hit," Brantly said. "Everything always feels better if youre on the winning side." So on it went, the teams with the two lowest batting averages in the majors unable to break through against the others shaky bullpen. But they werent alone. About 45 minutes before Miami won, the Toronto Blue Jays pulled out a 4-3 victory over Texas in 18 innings. "In a situation like that," Brantly said, "the team that can keep their enthusiasm up the most usually ends up being the victor." Rained out the previous two nights, the Mets finally got back on the field under clear skies in Queens with a gametime temperature of 77 degrees. Miami also was idle the past two days -- an off day Thursday followed by Friday nights washout that was rescheduled as part of a single-admission doubleheader Sept. 14 at Citi Field. Ike Davis drew a leadoff walk in the second inning and scored from first base on rookie Juan Lagares double. Lagares, playing shallow in centre, also threw out Hechavarria at the plate on Juan Pierres two-out single in the fifth. Miami tied it in the fourth on Chris Coghlans sacrifice fly, and second baseman Derek Dietrich made a sliding stop on Murphys sharp grounder to keep it tied in the ninth. NOTES: Mets C John Buck also caught the entire game and finished 2 for 8. ... Harvey and Fernandez also started when the Marlins beat New York 4-3 in 15 innings on April 29 in Miami. Marcum took the loss in relief that day as well. The Mets said the last time two teams played a pair of games that went at least 15 innings with the same starting pitchers was 1884, when Jim Whitney faced Old Hoss Radbourn (Boston Beaneaters vs. Providence Grays), according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. ... Marcums outing was his longest of the season (including starts) and the longest in relief by a Mets pitcher since Gerald Cram tossed eight innings during a 4-3 loss to St. Louis in 25 innings at Shea Stadium on Sept. 11, 1974 -- the longest game in club history. ' ' '