ANAHEIM, Calif.
[b]Justise Winslow Jersey[/b] . - Eric Hosmer got his souvenir home run ball back while he stood on the field for a postgame interview, Angel Stadiums silence broken only by a small band of blue-clad fans chanting Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!Hosmer savored the moment, realizing that almost nobody expected the unassuming Kansas City Royals to be collecting keepsakes and plotting playoff sweeps a few days ago.But with three extra-inning wins in four remarkable days, the long-downtrodden Royals have climbed from the depths of a 29-year playoff absence to the brink of the AL Championship Series.Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning, and Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series with a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.Its a huge sigh of relief, and its a big swing for the guys, Hosmer said.Alex Gordon had an early run-scoring single and Salvador Perez added an RBI infield single in the 11th for the Royals, who became the first team in major league history to win three straight extra-inning playoff games. In its first post-season appearance since 1985, Kansas City is on a playoff roll a€” and the majors best regular-season team has not been able to stop it.Thats what the cool part of this has been a€” everyone has had their time, said Hosmer, who had three hits and scored two runs. Theyve had their moment when theyve made a big play or stepped up and did something big. A lot of the times, it was with our back against the wall. Most of the time it was with our season on the line.Game 3 in the best-of-five series is Sunday in Kansas City, where Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson faces James Shields.After two wins in the majors toughest ballpark for visitors, the Royals have the once-mighty Angels on the edge of elimination, largely thanks to a pitching staff that has limited baseballs highest-scoring offence to just three runs in 22 innings.The Royals finished last in the majors with only 95 regular-season homers, but theyve won back-to-back playoff games on 11th-inning shots over the right-field wall at the Big A.After 10 innings of intense baseball dominated by pitching and defence, Lorenzo Cain beat out a one-out infield single off losing pitcher Kevin Jepsen. Hosmer smacked a no-doubt homer to right field, setting off a celebration for several dozen blue-clad Royals fans in a sea of red at the Big A.Albert Pujols had a tying RBI single in the sixth for the Angels, but theyve been mostly helpless against the Royals. Los Angeles, which led the big leagues with 98 wins, has just 10 hits in the series a€” none by Mike Trout or Josh Hamilton.Only eight teams in major league history have rallied to win a playoff series after losing the first two games.There are some guys that right now arent attacking the ball where they can for various reasons. There is not one cure-all thats going to get everybody swinging the bat, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. We havent done a lot of the things weve done during the season, and we put a lot of pressure on our pitching staff.Trout got a chance to help in the 11th after second baseman Omar Infante made a throwing error on Kole Calhouns two-out grounder. But the AL MVP favourite struck out against Greg Holland, finishing his second straight 0-for-4 night in his first playoff series.Going back to the regular season, the Angels have lost five straight games for the first time all season.This series is not over, said Pujols, who is 1 for 8. Obviously, you dont want to go down 0-2 and go to the other place, but anything can happen. Hopefully our bats get going. ... We just need to catch some breaks. If we do, well be fine.The Royals are the first team to play in three consecutive extra-inning playoff games since the 1980 NLCS between Houston and Philadelphia, which had four straight. They followed up their 12-inning wild-card victory over Oakland with a series-opening win on Mike Moustakas 11th-inning homer, and Hosmer kept it going.Brandon Finnegan pitched a hitless 10th for the Royals, and the 2014 first-round draft pick earned the win. Holland worked the 11th for his second save of the series.Along with more lights-out pitching, strong defence again was a huge factor for the Royals.After C.J. Crons leadoff double against Wade Davis in the eighth, Angels pinch-runner Collin Cowgill decided to test the arm of centre fielder Jarrod Dyson, who had just entered the game. Dyson threw out Cowgill at third after catching Chris Iannettas fly to left-centre.Thats huge. That changes momentum. That changes everything in a game right there, Hosmer said. Thats a big-time play.Two innings later, shortstop Alcides Escobar turned a tough double play after stretching high to glove an off-target throw.In a matchup of impressive rookie starters, Yordano Ventura pitched seven innings of five-hit ball for the Royals, and Matt Shoemaker threw six innings of five-hit ball for Los Angeles.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: RHP Kelvin Herrera has a flexor strain in his right forearm after throwing just five pitches in Game 1. The reliever will be re-evaluated when the teams get to Kansas City.Angels: Hamilton went 0 for 4 with a double-play grounder to end the 10th, dropping to 0 for 9 in his first playoff series with Los Angeles. The slugger played just once in the final 22 games of the regular season due to upper-body injuries.UP NEXTShields started the Royals wild-card playoff win Tuesday, so hell be on normal rest. Los Angeles is hoping for solid work from the up-and-down Wilson.
[b]Wayne Ellington Jersey[/b] . -- The Washington Redskins coaching staff distanced itself from other coaches Thursday by siding with ownership -- and not the players -- in the NFLs labour dispute.
[b]Rodney McGruder Jersey[/b] . Burris threw for 247 yards in one half of a game -- on pace for a nearly 500-yard outing -- as the Redblacks downed the woeful Montreal Alouettes 26-10 in CFL pre-season play Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium.SPARTA, Ky. -- Brad Keselowski wont soon forget an eventful Saturday night in which the same right hand that held the winners trophy was soon bloodied and bandaged after he broke a champagne bottle celebrating. "We were playing around with some champagne and I told my good friend I should have stuck with beer," Keselowski joked after receiving four stitches in the infield care centre. "We had too much fun with champagne and one of the bottles broke and I cut my hand open. Its no big deal." Hell certainly remember the masterful performance that set those wild series of events in motion. Keselowski showed early and often that his No. 2 Ford was the best car at Kentucky Speedway, dominating the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to become the tracks first repeat winner. The Penske Racing driver and 2012 race winner and Cup champion followed his record-breaking pole effort to lead 199 of 267 laps en route to his second victory of the season and 12th of his career. Keselowski won from the pole for the first time, pulling away after rallying from sixth on a restart to chase down and pass leader Kyle Busch on Lap 248. "I knew it was going to be a dogfight to get back to Kyle and then race him," Keselowski said. "We got there with a really fast car and I hit the perfect run on him with traffic. Next thing I knew, we were there. It feels really good to get that second win." Busch was second, followed by Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who rallied from a 29th-place start. A night after dominating the Nationwide Series race before finishing second to Kevin Harvick, partly because of a pit-road speeding penalty, Keselowski saved his heavy foot for the bumpy, rough track. The 2012 Cup champion went on to win by 1.014 seconds and post his ninth top-10 this season in moving one spot to fourth in the standings. Teammate Joey Logano started second and led 37 laps before a dropped cylinder left him ninth. Busch led 31 in a race that featured 12 lead changes -- all but one featuring Penske drivers. "I felt like we were better than (Newman), but nowhere near as good as (Keselowski) or (Logano)," Busch said. "Those guys were really stout..
[b]Tyler Johnson Jersey[/b]. " Keselowski, also the winner in Las Vegas, became the first driver this season with multiple victories on 1.5-mile tracks that make up much of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The circuit wont see another such track until late August at Atlanta, and Keselowski made a case for being a favourite with arguably the most impressive run of his career. It followed his track-record qualifying speed of 188.791 mph and 138 laps led in the Nationwide race, which also featured a furious late run before settling for second to Harvick, who was seventh in the 400-mile race. This time he had enough laps to pass Busch. But the tone was set from the start, as Keselowski and Logano justified their front-row qualifying sweep with a vengeance. Keselowski wasted no time with that agenda, taking charge at the green flag and leading the first 78 laps before Logano took over for five laps. The two traded leads from there with nobody else to challenge them until Aric Almirolas wreck brought the sixth caution on Lap 213. That sent the leaders down pit road and scramble off produced the races first non-Penske leader in Busch, whose No. 18 took over on Lap 217 and led the restart with Newman second. The Penske duo needed just seven laps to draw a bead on both drivers and Keselowski was soon second and making a furious effort trying to chase down Busch, who had a 2-second lead at one point. Once Keselowski caught him in the backstretch, he again showed his Fords superiority. "Our car was awesome," said Keselowski, who has led a series-high 346 laps in four starts at Kentucky. Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart meanwhile overcame bad starting spots to finish in the top 11. Johnson was 10th after starting 25th and Stewart recovered from a 42nd-place start because of a transmission change for 11th. He had qualified 13th. "I would have liked to have been a little better than what we were there at the end," Stewart said, "but I think we definitely had to fight our way up through the day. .. All in all I thought we had a pretty honest day there; cant complain about that." Points leader Jeff Gordon finished sixth and leads Johnson and Earnhardt by 24.
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