een made, and Toronto are closing in on a couple of | Forum

LOS ANGELES -- Sergio Romos reflexes gave him and the San Francisco Giants a hard-earned save. Reilly Smith Jersey . The Giants held off the Los Angeles Dodgers for a 4-2 win on Friday night when pinch-hitter Adrian Gonzalezs hard grounder went off Romos right foot. The ball bounced to third baseman Joaquin Arias, who threw to first for the final out after the Dodgers had runners on first and third with two outs. "Got a little scary there the last couple innings," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He got a break there at the end with a kick save." Hunter Pence homered and scored twice and the Giants got to Clayton Kershaw (14-9) with four consecutive singles -- the first three with two strikes -- to start the seventh. "Its one of the toughest things in baseball facing Kershaw on his way to probably getting the Cy Young," Bochy said. "We strung together some good at-bats. Guys werent trying to do too much." Mired in last place, the defending World Series champion Giants have been reduced to playing out the string. "We do want to finish strong," Romo said. "Theres a lot of pride here." Madison Bumgarner (12-9) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, extending his streak of allowing three earned runs or fewer in each of his past 18 starts. The left-hander struck out six and walked two in picking up his first win since Aug. 2, a span of seven starts. "When youre going up against a guy like him (Kershaw), you got to try to at least keep it a tie," Bumgarner said. Romo got the final four outs to earn his 34th save in 38 chances. He gave up consecutive singles to start the ninth, putting the tying runs on with no outs. Yasiel Puig struck out swinging and Nick Punto hit into a fielders choice groundout before pinch-hitter Gonzalezs groundout. "I had to bear down. These guys are no joke," said Romo, who challenged Puig. "If youre going to get beat, you got to get beat with your best stuff." Los Angeles had its four-game home winning streak against the Giants snapped, but with second-place Arizonas 7-5 loss to Colorado, the Dodgers magic number was reduced to four for clinching their first NL West title since 2009. "It should have been three," Kershaw said. "Id really like to just have that peace of mind that we clinched because anything can happen." Kershaw gave up three runs -- two earned -- and eight hits in seven innings. The lefty who leads the majors in ERA struck out six and walked none. He had won three straight home starts against the Giants. "They came right back and battled me all night and got some big hits when they needed to," he said. "The breaks didnt go our way. It was my fault." Kershaw has hit a rough patch lately. After giving up a season-high five earned runs and career-worst 11 hits in five innings of a 10-8 road win over Colorado on Sept. 2, he served up two solo homers to Jay Bruce over seven innings in Sundays 3-2 loss at Cincinnati. Pences 22nd homer with two outs in the eighth off Chris Withrow extended the Giants lead to 4-2. Pence got a leadoff hit in the seventh and Pablo Sandoval followed with a single. Arias singled, scoring Pence, and Arias took second on a fielding error by Scott Van Slyke. Brett Pill followed with a single to right, scoring Sandoval and Arias to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. "We hit some balls hard all night and we thought eventually something would break through," said Pill, who came in just 5 for 33 since Aug. 3. The Dodgers had the tying run on third in the seventh, but Gonzalez struck out swinging to end the inning. Juan Uribe sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the sixth, scoring Michael Young, who singled. Notes: Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez sat out a day after leaving in the seventh inning with mild tightness in his left hamstring. The team said an MRI on Friday showed that Ramirez has an irritated nerve in his back rather than a hamstring issue. He received a cortisone injection and is expected to be available to play next week. Ramirez, the teams best hitter with a .342 average, has had two stints on the DL this season. ... Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said that when LHP Chris Capuano returns from a strained groin, he will initially work out of the bullpen. ... Dodgers OF Andre Ethier left the game in the eighth after tweaking his ankle. ... Giants RHP Chad Gaudin, on the DL with carpal tunnel, threw 25-30 pitches to hitters in a simulated game. Custom Florida Panthers Jersey . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Jaromir Jagr Panthers Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. http://www.panthersfansstore.com/Jussi-Jokinen-Jersey/ .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers.Despite the on-pitch action being over for another year for Canadas three MLS teams, there is still plenty to be resolved in the coming weeks as the Whitecaps, Impact and Toronto FC all have crucial decisions to make ahead of the 2014 season. On this weeks blog, I look at three big questions surrounding our MLS clubs. 1. Who is next in Vancouver? When the Whitecaps took the decision not to renew the contract of head coach Martin Rennie after two years with the club, it seemed as though Frank Yallop would be the man to take over the job. However, the former Canada head coach instead became the top man in Chicago with the Fire - a deal that was completed in the space of 24 hours, something that maybe caught Vancouver a little bit by surprise and ruled out a leading contender to replace Rennie. The Whitecaps have now started the interview process. Current assistant coach Carl Robinson should be a leading candidate. Another name in the running is Richie Williams. Marc Weber reported in the Vancouver Province this week that Williams was in Vancouver to meet with club officials about the position. The former New York Red Bulls player and assistant coach is currently head coach of the United States U17 team. Promoting Robinson would be a move that is welcomed by many of the Whitecaps players. Both Canadian Russell Teibert and MLS Golden Boot winner Camilo have given their support to the former Wales international who has plenty of experience in Major League Soccer since joining the league in 2007. He is well-respected around the league as a bright young coaching mind who will go on to be a successful head coach in Major League Soccer. The Whitecaps have a wealth of young talent within their squad and their Residency Program so the new coach must be someone who is capable of developing that talent. Both Robinson and Williams have experience in that area. There is also the possibility of the Whitecaps holding out to see who else becomes available in the coming weeks. Will Sigi Schmid stay in Seattle? Is out-of-contract Jason Kreis really a viable option? With decisions needing to be taken regarding players futures, the Whitecaps need to move swiftly to fill the void if they are to have the maximum time available to prepare properly for next season. 2. Will Marco be back in Montreal? Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo apologized to the MLS family during his post-season press conference earlier this week following his clubs meltdown in Houston a few days earlier. The 3-0 defeat against the Dynamo was hard to take, but the way in which the team lost their heads was a bitter pill to swallow. Finishing with eight men was bad enough, but losing top scorer Marco Di Vaio for the first three games of next season after supplemental discipline was a further kick in the teeth. Whether or not the loss of Di Vaio will be a problem for Marco Schallibaum to deal with remains to be seen. The Swiss coach is keen to come back for another year, but Saputo and Sporting Director Nick De Santis are still unsure whether they want to stick with Schallibaum in 2014. That would have been unthinkable even two months ago, with Montreal still tied for first place in the Eastern Conference as late as mid-September, but the way they plummeted down the standings has raised concerns. Nick Bjugstad Jersey. Saputo is wise to take his time over the decision instead of making a rash move while the emotion of the playoff exit is still very raw. If Schallibaum isnt back, it would be the third coach in as many years for Montreal. The decision must come down to why Saputo and De Santis believe things went wrong in the closing weeks of the year. In late summer, they were happy with the coach and expected him to lead them into next year. Does the last two months of the season change that? Down the stretch, the Impact were unable to field a settled lineup due to a number of significant injuries. It seemed the squad also struggled to deal with the impact of the added Champions League games in the schedule. That is beyond Schallibaums control, but there were also questions surrounding some personnel decisions as well as some key games where they looked flat. Schallibaum is an intelligent coach and someone who has the respect of many of the players. If given the opportunity to return, I believe he will have learned some key lessons from his first season in MLS, and will come back a stronger, wiser leader next season. 3. Is Torontos DP search nearing an end? Toronto FC supporters have grown tired of broken promises in recent years, especially in the 2013 season when there was plenty of talk about Designated Player signings that wasnt backed up with actions. However, it seems under new MLSE president Tim Leiweke, the club is finally getting close to securing a couple of big name additions. Two of Torontos main targets right now are Italian forward Alberto Gilardino and England striker Jermaine Defoe. Gilardinos agent attended the final match of the season at BMO Field against Montreal a couple of weeks ago, and reports suggest a deal has been agreed upon with the strikers current club Genoa which would see the man who won the World Cup with Italy in 2006 added to the Reds squad at some stage next year. The club is also doing all it can to woo Defoe. The Tottenham Hotspur striker is a former teammate of Reds head coach Ryan Nelsen and when asked about the 31-year-old, Nelsen said he would be a phenomenal signing, speaking in glowing terms about his finishing ability and also his character on and off the pitch. While the additions of Gilardino and Defoe alone would not guarantee a turnaround, they would go a long way to finally giving the long-suffering fans a team capable of challenging for the playoffs. It would give the club two proven goal scorers who have the potential to be prolific in MLS – if they get the service. Thats where new GM Tim Bezbatchenko and Nelsen would have to work hard to ensure they can secure the pieces necessary to give those big name players the opportunity to thrive. While these deals are still not across the finish line, it does seem as if significant progress has been made, and Toronto are closing in on a couple of major signings that would finally provide the fans with something to smile about. Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap Soccer Jerseys' ' '