Regeln » newcomers still dont know what a win feels like either

ANAHEIM, Calif. USA Soccer Pro Shop . -- Brian Roberts and Derek Jeter joked around the batting cage before the game at Angel Stadium, wondering which old guy would be the last to hit his first homer of the season. Even Roberts was a bit surprised to beat the captain in that competition, and he did it at a key moment for the New York Yankees. Roberts hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the ninth inning, and the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 Tuesday night for just their second victory in seven games. Roberts connected with two outs against Ernesto Frieri (0-3), putting his first homer with his new club into the elevated right field stands. After the game, the ball was nestled in the locker of the longtime Baltimore infielder. "Never hit a homer in any other uniform, so Ill take it home," said Roberts, who also had an early RBI single. "I feel like Ive gotten a lot more comfortable. Sometimes, some things just click. Its been nice to get something going a little bit." After a slow start in pinstripes, Roberts is steadily improving at the plate, according to manager Joe Girardi. The Yankees unassuming replacement for second baseman Robinson Cano now has the same number of homers as Cano has hit for the Seattle Mariners this season. Alfonso Soriano had a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning, and David Robertson pitched the ninth for his fifth save in an all-around encouraging effort by the Yankees. Hiroki Kuroda had his longest and best start of the season, allowing just one earned run and not walking a batter while striking out eight in 7 2-3 innings. The Japanese right-hander is winless in four starts, but he largely shut down the Angels. "When Kuroda pitched the way he did, you need to win those games," Roberts said. Mike Trout tripled and scored the tying run on Albert Pujols two-out single off Shawn Kelley (1-2) in the eighth inning for the Angels, who had won five of seven on their nine-game homestand. Erick Aybar and Trout drove in runs with consecutive sacrifice flies in the third inning for the Angels, but their combustible bullpen let them down again after eight solid innings by C.J. Wilson. Frieri had been pitching well since losing his job as the Angels closer, and manager Mike Scioscia isnt discouraged. "(Frieri) just made one mistake tonight," Scioscia said. "He just yanked one pitch to Roberts, but give Roberts credit. He was ready for it." The Angels couldnt reward Wilson, who yielded seven hits and struck out five in just his second non-winning start since April 1. Wilson hit Jeter with a pitch to open the eighth, and Carlos Beltrans seeing-eye grounder up the middle sent Jeter to third. Jeter was tagged out after Mark Teixeiras grounder, but Sorianos single to left easily scored Beltran. "This is a lineup that typically goes up there and swings for damage," Wilson said of the Yankees. "But today they made a concerted effort to put the ball in play and make contact. I didnt have a lot of strikeouts because they were just fighting pitches off and stuff. They did a really good job of that." Trout snapped an 0-for-12 skid with a two-out triple off the top of the right-field wall in the eighth, barely missing a tying homer. Trout has never gone more than 14 at-bats without a hit in his major league career, but he had something close to a slump when he struck out on a pitch in the dirt to end the fifth, stranding two runners. "We all know how good a hitter he is," Kuroda said through a translator. "At that moment (in the eighth), I tried to just attack him and see how it goes. I dont feel bad about it." The hit chased Kuroda, and Pujols worked a full count from Shawn Kelley before delivering a clean single to left-centre. NOTES: Jeter was serenaded with chants of his name and a standing ovation for the second straight night of his final regular-season series at the Big A. He reached base three times, getting the Yankees first hit in the third inning. ... Wilson has thrown at least 111 pitches in all seven of his starts this season. ... Kuroda is winless in his last 10 road starts. USA Soccer Shirts . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Defensive Depth TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Toronto Maple Leafs have considerable interest in unrestricted free-agent defenceman Dan Boyle. Fake USA Soccer Jerseys . A groundswell for raising the number of playoff qualifiers to seven in each conference figures to get plenty of support from the 32 owners. Most notably, Arizonas Bill Bidwill, who saw his Cardinals go 10-6 and not get in, while Green Bay (8-7-1) qualified by winning the NFC North. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/ . -- Canadian Erik Bedard pitched into the fifth inning in his bid to win a spot in Tampa Bays rotation, helping the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Saturday.DALLAS - Tyler Seguins week away from Dallas felt a little longer, probably because it included a pair of one-goal losses at Anaheim to start a first-round playoff series. The Dallas Stars headed west last weekend celebrating their first post-season berth since 2008 before a meaningless regular-season finale in Phoenix. They came home subdued but resolute, ready to see how fans who used to think playoff hockey was as regular as Easter on their calendar will react to 2,162 days without it. Game 3 is Monday night. "Be interesting to see the atmosphere, especially with these fans not seeing playoff hockey in a while," said Seguin, the teams leading scorer in the regular season. "Pretty long trip. Feels like we havent been home in a while." Seguin has seen his share of the post-season, even though hes just 22. But about half the Dallas roster hasnt, including linemate Jamie Benn, who was second to Seguin in points during the regular season. The inexperience showed in the playoff opener, when the Stars fell behind 3-0 in the first period of a 4-3 loss. "Other than that I think once the guys got their feet wet everyone stepped up and did a pretty good job," said Seguin, who won the 2011 Stanley Cup with Boston and already has 44 career playoff games. "Theres going be Game 7s and a lot of things you cant really teach. Youve just got to be there. But we have a lot of experience in this locker room." All those playoff newcomers still dont know what a win feels like either. Anaheims Ryan Getzlaf led a 3-2 victory Friday, getting a goal and an assist playing with a mask after he took a slapshot to the jaw iin the series opener. Cheap USA Soccer Jerseys. Corey Perry also had a goal for the Ducks, who are looking for their first playoff series win since 2009 a year after losing to Detroit in the first round as the No. 2 seed. Anaheim is the top seed in the West this season against the wild-card Stars. "If you look at it, both goals were unassisted," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "So it wasnt like they had to make great plays. We handed both those players those opportunities." And the Stars didnt take advantage of their own chances. They outshot the Ducks 36-19, but couldnt pull even after Ryan Garbutt got them within a goal in the third period. Dallas pulled goalie Kari Lehtonen on a power play for a 6-on-4 advantage in the last 3 minutes, creating plenty of havoc but never getting one past Anaheim rookie Frederik Andersen, who has outplayed Lehtonen by stopping 66 of 71 shots. "Weve got to find a way to get a little bit more traffic on him, make life tough for him," said Benn, who had a goal on five shots in his playoff debut but just one shot Friday. "Hes been making some pretty big saves and weve got to find a way to bury our chances." If the Stars are going to get back in the series, home ice is the likely place to do it. They were 23-11-7 during the regular season, including 8-1-1 in their last 10. The home finale was a dominating 3-0 win over St. Louis to clinch a playoff spot. "Its pretty hard to go on the road," Seguin said. "Its an opportunity here at home to do the same thing they did to us." ___ Follow Schuyler Dixon on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apschuyler ' ' '