Profi Brickfilms » new the 2012-13 season was for nothing

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Theres nothing like a couple of timely home runs to get a stagnant offence back on track. Derek Norris hit a three-run homer, Stephen Vogt added a two-run shot, and the Oakland Athletics won their 12th straight against the Minnesota Twins with a 9-4 victory Saturday night. "Weve been getting progressively better offensively the last few days," manager Bob Melvin said. "The homers help. Weve been a little shy with those recently. That cures a lot of ills when youre scoring two and three runs off one swing of the bat." Jeff Samardzija (3-1) improved to 3-0 at home since coming to the AL West-leading As in a trade from the Cubs on July 4. He followed winning lefties Jon Lester and Scott Kazmir, who kept Minnesota in check over the first two games of the series, with six tough innings that forced him to throw 109 pitches. Vogt hit his second clout in three games in the fifth following a long funk. Norris connected for his 10th home run the next inning. "When runners get on base thats the time when you make your money," he said. "My power may not be able to compete with (Josh) Donaldson, (Brandon) Moss and guys like that, but I like to think when I do its meaningful and its not a solo home run when were up 8-0." Oakland drew seven walks in two innings to chase Trevor May (0-1) quickly from his forgettable major league debut. May threw 11 balls among his first 19 pitches and received a mound visit from pitching coach Rick Anderson after issuing a bases-loaded walk to Norris. But left fielder Josh Willingham fielded Josh Reddicks shallow fly and threw home for a nifty double play to save May further damage in a 21-pitch first. Anderson was out again after Mays three two-out walks loaded the bases in the second. Donaldson followed with a two-run single. May, winless in his last three outings for Triple-A Rochester, walked seven while throwing 63 pitches on a cool night when the 6-foot-5 right-handers parents travelled from Southwest Washington to be in the stands. The last Twins pitcher to walk seven was Francisco Liriano on Aug. 9, 2011, against Boston. Long man Samuel Deduno relieved and gave up both home runs. Samardzija allowed seven hits and two runs, struck out five and walked two as the As earned their first three-game winning streak since six straight victories July 3-8. Oaklands bullpen extended its scoreless innings streak to 29 2-3 innings before Jordan Schafers eighth-inning RBI double off Dan Otero. The As relievers set the mark Friday night at 28 2-3. POSTGAME TRADE The Twins traded right-hander Kevin Correia to the Dodgers for a player to be named or cash. Minnesota will call up ex-As lefty Tommy Milone to start Monday in Houston. Milone was dealt to the Twins at the July 31 deadline for outfielder Sam Fuld. "We are really excited to get him. We didnt want to give up Sammy Fuld," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We got a nice pitcher out of the deal, a guy that knows how to pitch in the big leagues, good track record. Were going to get him up here. ... Weve made a spot now, and hes going to get the ball." LA RUSSAS FIRST PITCH Newly enshrined Hall of Famer Tony La Russa threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Twins bench coach Terry Steinbach on a night La Russas bobblehead was the giveaway and a banner in his honour was unfurled in left field. He is the last manager to lead the As to a World Series (1990) and championship (89). GOVERNORS VISIT New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie attended the game while on vacation with family, sporting a green As cap during his latest ballpark stop. He sat behind the As dugout. TRAINERS ROOM Twins: After a three-hit performance in nine innings Friday night, first baseman Joe Mauer added two more hits as he again tested his strained right oblique muscle on a rehab assignment with Class-A Cedar Rapids. He is likely to rejoin the Twins on Monday to begin a series at Houston. "Everything seems to be good," Gardenhire said. "Were hoping Houston." Athletics: Second baseman Nick Punto is still working through stiffness in his right hamstring that he strained Aug. 2. He is not close to resuming baseball activities and wont make the trip to Kansas City and Atlanta. ON DECK Twins: RHP Phil Hughes (11-8, 4.01 ERA), who snapped a three-game losing streak his last time out, faces the As for the 12th time in his career and second this season in the series finale. Athletics: RHP Jason Hammel (1-4, 7.15) tries to make it two straight wins after losing each of his first four starts following a July 4 trade from the Cubs. Derrick Nnadi Chiefs Jersey . Cleveland released the troubled wide receiver on Wednesday, an expected ending after Bess was arrested in January for assaulting a law enforcement officer at an airport and other bizarre behaviour. Anthony Hitchens Jersey . As TSN reported Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is under intense pressure from the federal government to focus drug testing on athletes who compete in international events representing Canada. Since funding for the tests has been frozen and the cost of testing can eclipse $1,000 per test, university athletes in a number of sports are being tested less often. http://www.thechiefsshoponline.com/Youth...-Chiefs-Jersey/. The CFL unveiled its 2014 schedule Wednesday and the Redblacks will play their first-ever regular-season game in Winnipeg against the Blue Bombers on July 3. Anthony Hitchens Chiefs Jersey . Lupul injured the hand in a fall at practice on Thursday. He will wear a cast for a minimum of 10 days before he can put a glove back on it and get some mobility back, said Carlyle, who added the winger wont go on the teams upcoming road trip. Kendall Fuller Jersey .C. - Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says Danny Granger, Chris Andersen and Udonis Haslem are still not ready to play and will miss Wednesday nights game against the Charlotte Hornets. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Coaches and players left them. Others told them to go away. The guys who stuck around at UConn ended up with the last laugh and a pretty good prize to go with it: The national title. Shabazz Napier turned in another all-court masterpiece Monday night to lift the Huskies to a 60-54 win over Kentuckys freshmen and bring home a championship hardly anyone saw coming. "Youre looking at the hungry Huskies," Napier told the crowd and TV audience as confetti rained down. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when you banned us." The senior guard had 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, and his partner in defensive lock-down, Ryan Boatright, finished with 14 points. The victory comes only a short year after the Huskies were barred from March Madness because of grades problems. That stoked a fire no one could put out in 2014. Napier kneeled down and put his forehead to the court for a long while after the buzzer sounded. He was wiping back tears when he cut down the net. "I see my guys enjoying it," Napier said. "Thats the most special feeling ever." UConn (32-8) never trailed in the final. The Huskies led by as many as 15 in the first half and watched the Wildcats (29-11) trim the deficit to one with 8:13 left. But Aaron Harrison, who pulled out wins with clutch 3-pointers in Kentuckys last three games, missed a 3 from the left corner that wouldve given the Cats the lead. Kentucky never got that close again. One key difference in a six-point loss: Kentuckys 11 missed free throws -- a flashback of sorts for coach John Calipari, whose Memphis team blew a late lead against Kansas after missing multiple free throws in the 2008 final. The Wildcats went 13 for 24. UConn went 10 for 10, including Lasan Kromahs two to seal the game with 25.1 seconds left. "We had our chances to win," Calipari said. "Were missing shots, were missing free throws. We just didnt have enough." Calipari said he decided not to foul at the end "because theyre not missing." In all, Caliparis One and Doners got outdone by a more fundamentally sound, more-seasoned group that came into this tournament a seventh-seeded afterthought but walked away with the programs fourth national title since 1999. They were the highest seed to win it all since Rollie Massiminos eighth-seeded Villanova squad in 1985. Napier and Boatright now go down with Kemba Walker, Emeka Okafor, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen and all those other UConn greats. This adds to the schools titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011. "When they say Ray, Rip, Ben, Emeka, Kemba -- theyll soon say Shabazz," said their former coach, Jim Calhoun, who was in the crowd along with former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and a father-and-son team whose dance to the "Happy" song got huge applause when played on the big screen at AT&T Stadium. The crowd was cheering for UConn at the end. A short year ago, the Huskies were preparing for their first season in the new American Athletic Conference after being booted from the Big East and not welcomed byy any of the so-called power conferences.dddddddddddd Calhoun, who built the program, left because of health problems. And most damaging -- the NCAA ban triggered an exodus of five key players to the NBA or other schools. Napier stuck around. So did Boatright. And Calhouns replacement, Kevin Ollie, figured out how to make their grit, court sense and loyalty pay off. "Its not about going to the next level, its not about going to the pros, but playing for your university, playing for your teammates," Niels Giffey said. "And Im so proud of all the guys on this team that stuck with this team." They were one step ahead of Kentucky all night, holding off furious rally after furious rally. Kentuckys biggest push started when James Young (20 points, seven rebounds) posterized Amida Brimah with a monster dunk to start a three-point play and trigger an 8-0 run. In the middle of that, Boatright, who shut down Harrisons twin brother, Andrew, most of the night, twisted his left ankle while receiving an innocuous-looking pass from Napier. He called a timeout. Got it worked on and came back out. "Ive got a lot of heart and I wasnt coming out," Boatright said. "We put in too much work all year for me to give up on an ankle sprain." Napier and Giffey made 3s on UConns two possessions after the timeout, and that one-point lead was back up to five -- fairly comfortable by this tight, taut, buzzer-beating tournaments standards. The big question in Kentucky is what will happen to all those freshmen. Julius Randle (10 points, six rebounds) is a lottery pick if he leaves for the NBA. Young and the Harrison brothers could be first-rounders. The big question is whether theyll want to leave on this note. "I think all these kids are coming back, so I think we should be good," Calipari deadpanned, getting big laughs. He called his group the most coachable bunch hes ever had. They were pre-season No. 1, a huge disappointment through much of this season. They were seeded an uninspiring eighth for the tournament and came on strong in time for a run to the final. But they got outdone by a team on a different sort of mission -- a team led by Napier, who stuck with the program even though he knew the 2012-13 season was for nothing but fun. But what fun 2013-14 turned out to be. Napier was named the Final Fours Most Outstanding Player and he earned it on both ends of the court, keeping a hand in Aaron Harrisons face most of the night and holding him to a 3-for-7, seven-point, no-damage night. He could also shoot it a bit -- including a 3-pointer in the first half when UConn was having trouble dissecting the Kentucky zone. The shot came from about 30 feet, right in front of the edge of the Final Four logo at Center Court, or, as Dick Vitale put it: "He shot that one from Fort Worth." They felt it back in Storrs, where they could be celebrating another title shortly. The UConn women play for the national title Tuesday. If they win, it will be the first sweep of the titles since 2004. The last school to do it: UConn, of course. 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