If you want to look at the cold hard facts, the Kansas City

carrie201918 · Movie_Lover Geregistreerd op: 13 Apr 2019 Berichten: 346

If you want to look at the cold hard facts, the Kansas City Royals are now the only team in the Majors with a longer post-season drought than the Blue Jays. The Royals, who shrunk over the years from model franchise to annual also-rans, havent made it to the playoffs since 1985, the year they beat the Blue Jays in the American League Championship series en route to winning their one and only World Series title under the late Dick Howser. The past few years though, theyve developed a wealth of young home-grown talent, including catcher Salvador Perez, outfielders Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain, third baseman Mike Moustakas, shortstop Alcides Escobar and DH Billy Butler, not to mention outfielder Wil Meyers, who was dealt to Tampa Bay for pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis last year. The Royals are continuing their playoff push this off-season. They signed GM Dayton Moore to a two-year extension and then veteran lefty Jason Vargas to a four-year deal and this week, they traded for a needed lead-off hitter, getting Norichika Aoki from Milwaukee to play right field. The next move may be their boldest yet if they can bring back outfielder Carlos Beltran on a three-year deal. The bottom line is, even if they dont win the Central, theyd have to be a favourite for one of the two Wild Card slots, making it even more difficult for the Blue Jays to make it into the post-season. The Jays have been fairly quiet so far, non-tendering catcher J.P. Arencibia, signing catcher Dioner Navarro and then trading reliever Brad Lincoln to the Phillies for catcher Eric Kratz and lefty reliever Rob Rasmussen. Not exactly earth-shattering moves. GM Alex Anthopoulos is already dampening expectations for next weeks Winter Meetings at Orlando a bit by telling the Toronto chapter of the BBWAA that he doesnt expect to add any more than one starting pitcher from outside the organization in the off-season, when most believe they need two. I trust Alex still has a few tricks up his sleeve, but if the Jays arent aggressive enough, they could find themselves with the longest post-season drought of all at 21 years and counting after the coming season. Lone Ranger? From all reports coming out of Texas, it sounds as though Arencibia is going to wind up in Texas as the back-up catcher to Geovany Soto and maybe a part-time DH. The Texas ballpark is made to order for J.P.s power stroke, and heres hoping he can rediscover or rebuild the rest of his game. Hes too good a person to flame-out in this game so soon. On The Move? Dont rule out the possibility of the Blue Jays dealing Adam Lind next week. Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay both want free agent first baseman James Loney. But the team that doesnt get him might come a-calling about Lind. Names From the Past A few more ex-Jays in the news this week include former 2B Kelly Johnson, who is reportedly close to signing a one-year deal with the Yankees in a utility role. Eric Hinske, who won the Rookie of the Year Award as the Blue Jays third baseman in 2002, retired to become the Chicago Cubs first base coach. Finally Dave Winfield, one of the Jays World Series heroes of 1992, left his front office post with San Diego to become special advisor to Tony Clark, the new Executive Director of the Players Association. Winfield and Clark are two of the most impressive and imposing men Ive ever met, both charismatic and intelligent and just dominant in size when they enter a room with Winfield at 66" and Clark at 68". The Players Association is in good hands after the tragic passing of Michael Weiner at 51 after a long battle with brain cancer. Sylvester Williams Jersey .com) - Coming off a pair of tough losses last week, the Syracuse Orange will try to put an end to their first losing skid of the season when they pay a visit to the Maryland Terrapins at the Comcast Center on Monday night in Atlantic Coast Conference action. Custom Detroit Lions Jerseys . -- Terry Francona likened the atmosphere at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday to a playoff game in October. http://www.authenticnfllionslockroom.com/Youth-Levine-Toilolo-Elite-Jersey/. Heck, we might just miss the BCS. Maybe? It sort of worked out this season. Top-ranked Florida State (13-0) was the only team to get through the regular season unbeaten, and the Seminoles did it in dominating fashion. Levine Toilolo Jersey . After making his All-Star debut in Fridays Rising Stars Challenge, the Raptors sophomore centre wont be sticking around for the duration of the weekends festivities, thinking about the big picture instead. LeGarrette Blount Jersey . The International Ice Hockey Federation says Pavlovs avoided a two-year sanction because he acted "without significant negligence in failing to verify the safety of the supplements he was taking.Frisco, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The North Dakota State football dynasty was thought by many to be ending this season - that the Bison would be unable to roll over opponents anymore after the departure of a dominant senior class and their head coach following last season. What might have been overlooked is the Bison didnt need to just pound opponents into submission, they could have a new winning formula of dramatic finishes. The Bison completed a postseason of heart-stopping wins Saturday with an unprecedented fourth consecutive FCS national championship, rallying past Illinois State, 29-27, on quarterback Carson Wentzs 5-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds remaining as 20,918 watched in near disbelief at Toyota Stadium. What great resolve by our guys, first-year coach Chris Klieman said afterward. Thats a great football team that we were able to beat. A lot of respect for Coach (Brock) Spack and Illinois State. Theyve got an unbelievable program and great players. We just made one more play, really, because it was a game of making plays, and we were fortunate enough to make one more play, and our hats off to those guys. Wentz, a redshirt junior, had served an apprenticeship under quarterback Brock Jensen in the first three title seasons. In following Jensen as the championship games most outstanding player, Wentz finished with 324 total yards (237 passing, 87 rushing) and both a touchdown run and pass, and the Bison (15-1) gained more than just bragging rights from fellow Missouri Valley Football Conference co-champion Illinois State in the first national title game that matched two teams from the same FCS conference. It seemed only a punch in the face would end NDSUs historic run and Illinois State nearly had it when transfer quarterback Tre Roberson ran for a 58-yard touchdown with 1:38 remaining to give the Redbirds (13-2) a 27-23 lead. He had a similar scoring run late in a national semifinal at New Hampshire, and it was a knockout blow. But when a field goal wasnt going to be enough for NDSU, the Bison dug for more resilience from their championship DNA. Wentz completed three passes to freshman wide receiver RJ Urzendowski on the final drive, including a 33-yarder to the Illinois State 5 as Redbirds safety DraShane Glass slipped to the turf with 50 seconds left. Following an NDSU timeout, the 6-foot-6 Wentz took a snap out of the shotgun, followed his left tackle and banged off a defender while lumbering into the Illinois State end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Yeah, we actually called two plays right away, Wentz said about the discussion during the timeout, and something that I love about Coach (Tim) Polasek (the offensive coordinator) is right when that timeout had been called, I came over and I got on the headset and we started talking about what play to call, and he definitely took my input there, and it was just -- a relationship like that is so nice and so special for the coach to have confidence in me to kind of almost choose what play -- at least voice my input. We called both plays there and we were going to get on the ball if I didnt get in and run the other play, so fortunately we got in the first one. Keller had converted 117 straight extra points to that moment, but this one was blocked to keep NDSUs lead at 29-27 and vulnerable to a field goal. But on Illinois States desperate final drive, a Roberson pass to tight end James OShaughnessy bounded into the hands of Bison senior linebacker Esley Thornton at his teams 45, and the interception with 8 seconds left basically ended the game and kept the dynasty going. With our guys, you never saw any doubt in their mind, Klieman said.dddddddddddd You never saw panic in their eyes. Weve obviously been in this situation before, even in the playoffs, and our guys just know that, hey, its our time. When you have the success that weve had over the past four years now, guys just know how to win, and when you know how to win, you just always feel you have that chance if you can get that last possession. Incredibly, most members of the NDSU senior class finished their careers with more national titles than defeats as the Bison have gone a combined 58-3 over the last four years - the first three titles under former coach Craig Bohl. But Illinois State, fifth-seeded in the playoffs and making its first national championship game appearance, made the second-seeded Bison work to keep their historic run going. Ill try to put it into words the best I can, said senior linebacker Carlton Littlejohn. Its an amazing accomplishment. You never dream of coming to college and winning four straight national championships, only losing three games. Thats something you only dream about, something that happens in video games or something like that. But to experience it right now, its unbelievable. Illinois State led 7-3 after the first quarter and didnt go away after the Bison scored 17 unanswered points to grab a 20-7 advantage late in the third quarter. OShaughnessy, the Redbirds big-statured, big-play tight end, sandwiched 41-and 3-yard touchdown receptions from Roberson around Adam Kellers third field goal of the game, and the Redbirds found themselves down only 23-21 with 8:05 left to play. When they got the ball again, Roberson, who was at Indiana University while NDSU won its first three titles, ran the perfect delayed draw, as he often does, by faking a handoff to running back Marshaun Coprich, and racing near his teams sideline for his 58-yard touchdown. NDSU was penalized for a false start before the first play of its ensuing drive, but Wentz quickly provided the composure by completing two straight passes to Urzendowski. The Bison went 78 yards on six plays in 1 minute, 1 seconds, rallying the way they did in the fourth quarter against South Dakota State in the second round of the playoffs and then against Coastal Carolina in the quarterfinals. Different script but same championship result for NDSU much to Illinois States dismay. It was a tremendous football game played by two very good teams, Spack said, and I felt that - I just told our players after the game that you didnt lose the game, you just ran out of time, just one of those scenarios. NDSU built its 20-3 lead as Keller sandwiched two 41-yard field goals around Wentzs 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Luke Albers. John Crockett then scored on a 7-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. Wentz was 15-for-22 for 232 yards and rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries. Urzendowski finished with 100 yards on five receptions, while Crockett gained 74 yards on 22 carries, finishing a mere six yards below 2,000 for the season. Kellers 11-point, three-field goal game gave him FCS single-season records of 146 points and 29 field goals. Roberson was only 11-for-23 for 157 yards, but three passes went for touchdowns, including a 13-yarder to freshman wide receiver Jon-Marc Anderson to open the scoring in the first quarter. Coprich carried the ball 16 times for 106 yards to go over 100 yards for the 14th time in 15 games and finish the season with an FCS-high 2,274 yards. But while the Missouri Valley got the de facto conference championship game that it wanted, only North Dakota State left with an even bigger prize - a fourth straight national championship. ' ' '