Kritik und Lob » CS playoffs. Linebac

NEW YORK -- Even when a pitcher tried to walk him on purpose, Gary Sanchez almost hit a home run.Thats how good things are going for the rookie -- and his team, too.Sanchez homered and nearly launched another as Tampa Bay messed up an intentional walk, leading the hard-charging Yankees to their season-best seventh straight win, 5-1 over the Rays on Saturday.The guys feel really good about themselves, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.No wonder, with how theyre playing and moving up in the playoff race.The Yankees closed within three games of AL East-leading Boston, their closest to the lead since mid-April, and remained one game behind Baltimore for the second wild-card spot. The Orioles beat Detroit 11-3, leaving the Tigers with the same record as the Yankees.Masahiro Tanaka (13-4) struck out 10 and took a shutout into the eighth inning. Chris Archer (8-18) tied the Tampa Bay record for losses in a season, set by Tanyon Sturtze in 2002.It was scoreless in the sixth when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer and Sanchez followed with a long drive.In the eighth, after Ellsburys double put runners on second and third with no outs, the Rays seemed set to walk Sanchez.I knew they were going to walk me, Sanchez said through a translator. At the same time, I wanted to be ready.In case, maybe, a soft toss floated near the strike zone.Its not something pitchers are always doing a lot and comfortable, Girardi said.He was right.Catcher Bobby Wilson moved wide as reliever Enny Romero lobbed in his first pitch at 52 mph, but the ball drifted close to the plate. Alertly, Sanchez socked it to the warning track in deep center field for a sacrifice fly.Yeah, I know I was supposed to throw a base on balls on four pitches, intentional walk, Romero said.Romero said his hand was sweaty and the ball started to slip. But, he said, I cant stop because if I stop its a balk.From the dugout, Rays manager Kevin Cash seemed to say, What happened?While some officials in Major League Baseball have proposed making intentional walks an automatic affair -- just wave the batter to first base without a pitch -- things like this are bound to keep people talking.Up to a point, that is.As far as the eighth inning is concerned, Im not really going to talk about it other than to say its embarrassing, Cash said. Thats embarrassing, but were not going to talk about it any farther than that.Sanchez connected for the second straight day, giving the 23-year-old catcher 13 home runs in 125 at-bats this season.Tanaka won his sixth straight decision, giving up five hits and walking none. He left in the eighth after Bobby Wilson homered with one out and Logan Forsythe was hit by a pitch.An All-Star last year, Archer leads the majors in the losses this season -- James Shields, who has lost 17 with the Padres and White Sox, pitched Saturday night.Archer fanned six and tops the AL with 217 strikeouts. Nolan Ryan is the only AL pitcher to ever lead the league in losses and strikeouts, doing it in 1976 with the Angels.TARGET TAGGEDEllsbury picked on a familiar victim when he lined his eighth home run, a shot into the right-center field seats. Ellsbury is 19 for 34 (.559) with two homers against Archer, the most hits by anyone off the right-hander.Sometimes, it just happens, Girardi said. You wonder why one guy sees another guy so well.Said Archer: A lot of that is in the past.Im sure if we looked at the numbers from this year, and if we looked at the quality of contact and not just a traditional batting average, give us a much better depiction of how hes been against me recently. You know hes a veteran hitter, I left a cookie out there for him and he capitalized, he said.CLEARING UPTRAINERS ROOMRays: Brad Miller was at 1B, a day after he was the DH while recuperating from being hit by a pitch in the right elbow. ... RHP Chase Whitley is likely to make his Rays debut Sunday, pitching in relief. He started for the Yankees last year, had Tommy John surgery in May and was acquired Tampa Bay in November.UP NEXTRays: RHP Matt Andriese (6-7, 4.58) is 0-7 with a 6.11 ERA in his last 15 games, eight of them starts. The last Tampa Bay pitcher to lose eight straight decisions was Dan Wheeler in 2007-08.Yankees: RHP Luis Cessa (4-0, 4.07) makes his fifth start in the majors. The Yankees have won all four games hes started. Jakobi Meyers Jersey . Badenhop was 2-3 with a 3.47 ERA in 63 relief appearances for Milwaukee this season. He is 18-20 in his career with three saves and a 3. Sam Cunningham Jersey . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/761p-kevin-faulk-jersey-patriots.html . After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th. Mike Nugent Jersey . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. John Hannah Jersey . -- James Young couldnt wait to apply those tweaks to his jump shot, and the first one he made against UT Arlington told him it could be a good night. (STATS) -- Taryn Christions emergence as the leader of one of the nations most prolific offenses was a big reason why South Dakota State captured a share of its first Missouri Valley Football Conference title since joining the league in 2008.The sophomore quarterback was named the MVFCs Offensive Player of the Year on Wednesday after leading the conference with school records of 3,369 passing yards and 3,754 total yards. Hes the first Jackrabbit -- and the first sophomore -- to earn the honor.The Jackrabbits picked up two more awards as John Stiegelmeier was named Bruce Craddock Coach of the Year after leading SDSU to a program record-tying 7-1 record in MVFC play and an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. Linebacker Christian Rozeboom took home Freshman of the Year honors after finishing with a team-best 107 tackles to go along with three sacks and five tackles for loss. Hes also a finalist for the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award as top freshman.Though Northern Iowa lost 45-24 to SDSU on Saturday and fell short of a playoff berth, Karter Schult became the second straight Panther to claim Defensive Player of the Year honors. The senior defensive eend finished with nation bests of 17 sacks and 24 tackles for loss to become the ninth Panther to receive the award after current Chicago Bears cornerback Deiondre Hall won it last year.ddddddddddddSouth Dakotas dynamic two-way threat Chris Streveler was named the Newcomer of the Year, making a tremendous first impression after transferring in from Minnesota. The junior quarterback ranked third in the league with 82.3 rushing yards per game and sixth with 194.7 passing yards while also finishing 25th nationally with a 140 pass efficiency rating. He ended up with five 100-yard rushing games for the Coyotes, who only had four such efforts from QBs between 2006-15.---=MVFC POSTSEASON AWARDS=OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- Taryn Christion, QB, South Dakota StateDEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR -- Karter Schult, DE, Northern IowaFRESHMAN OF THE YEAR -- Christian Rozeboom, LB, South Dakota StateNEWCOMER OF THE YEAR -- Chris Streveler, QB, South DakotaBRUCE CRADDOCK COACH OF THE YEAR -- John Stiegelmeier, South Dakota State ' ' '