st Virginia came when Harris was ejec | Forum

(SportsNetwork. Air Max 90 Essential Bianche .com) - Postseason baseball returns to the Steel City for the first time in 21 years on Tuesday when Justin Moreau, Russell Martin and the Pittsburgh Pirates host Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds in the National League wild card game at PNC Park. There have been over 600 playoff games contested in Major League Baseball since the Pirates lost to the Atlanta Braves in Game 7 of the 1992 NL Championship Series. None of those games, though, have included the Pirates, who are back in the postseason for the first time since their last winning season way back in 1992. This will be the first playoff game in Pittsburgh since Game 5 of that 1992 NLCS. "Thats a long wait," said Pirates second baseman Neil Walker. "Our focus is winning games and series, and we play for each other more than anything else. But we also play for the city and the fans. After teasing its fans with two straight second half collapses, Pittsburgh put it all together this season behind NL MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen and ended the year, 94-68. The Pirates spent a good deal of time atop the NL Central and were 26 games above .500 on Aug. 8. However, they were a .500 team in 48 games after that, but won five of six to close the campaign. In fact the Pirates cemented their season by sweeping the Reds over the weekend to secure homefield advantage for the wild card game, outscoring their NL Central foes, 16-6 in the process. "Itll be electric," Bucs outfielder Marlon Byrd said. "This city, its sports fans ... they love their sports. Theyve had their Steelers and their Penguins, and have been waiting on their Pirates. And here we come. "We wanted to make sure were able to bring it back to Pittsburgh. One game. Now its time to get it done." Pittsburgh had five All-Stars at this years Midsummer Classic, but none shined brighter than McCutchen, who continued to state his case as one of the best young players in the game. McCutchen hit .317 with 21 home runs, 84 RBI, 27 stolen bases, a .404 on-base percentage and .508 slugging percentage in 157 games. He became just the fourth major league center fielder since 1947 to have consecutive seasons of hitting .300 with a .400 slugging percentage and .500 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, joining Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. In addition to the great McCutchen, a big reason behind the Pirates success was the man that will be taking the ball on Tuesday, left-hander Francisco Liriano. Signed as a free agent this winter, Liriano missed the first month of the season recovering from a broken arm, but showed no ill effects of the injury upon his return and ended the year, 16-8, while pitching to a 3.02 ERA. Liriano, the Pirates first postseason starter since Doug Drabek, struggled against the Reds, going 0-3 with a 3.70 ERA against them in four starts. However, the Dominican hurler was terrific at PNC Park, where he has just one loss in 11 starts (8-1) with a sparkling 1.49 ERA. Pittsburgh, as a team, was 50-31 in front of its fans this season. While the Pirates are back in the postseason for the first time in over two decades, Cincinnati is making its third appearance in four years after going 90-72. Like Pittsburgh, the Reds were in cruise control for the better part of September, despite being six games back in the NL Central as late as Aug. 10. Still and all, Cincinnati essentially knew it would be postseason bound in some capacity after taking three of four from Arizona from Aug. 19-22. The Reds, though, enter the postseason riding a five-game losing streak after losing three straight home games to the Pirates. "Youve got to block it out," manager Dusty Baker said of the rough finish. "Its a situation where its a new season. What you did previously, it doesnt matter. What you didnt do previously doesnt matter. Now you start the season all over." Cincinnati has something to prove this October after an awful collapse in last years NLDS. The Reds had won the first two games of that series with the San Francisco Giants, only to lose the final three at home in the best-of-five set to the eventual World Series champions. Johnny Cueto made only eight pitches in that series before leaving Game 1 with a strained oblique and will take the ball for the Reds Tuesday following an injury-plagued 2013 that saw him make three trips to the disabled list. "Its a really meaningful game for me," Cueto said via translator Tomas Vera. "This is the most important game of the season. All I have to do is keep doing my job. Baseball is still the same. I hope to do what I have to do." After missing 2 1/2 months with a lat strain Cueto returned to make two starts late in the season and allowed just one earned run in 12 innings. He ended his year 5-2 with a 2.82 ERA. "Im going to be normal. Im going to be the same guy," Cueto said. "What happened to me in San Francisco, I was excited. I was so emotional for the game and I think I overdid it too much. I really dont know what happened that day or how I got to that point." As bad as Liriano was against the Reds this season, Cueto has been the exact opposite versus Pittsburgh, posting a 13-4 lifetime mark against the Pirates with a 2.37 ERA in 21 starts. "They have a great team," Cueto said. "They have really good players so Im going to have to do my job as well." The matchup between Cueto and Liriano is just the third in postseason history between two starting pitchers from the Dominican Republic. In both 1999 and 2004, Pedro Martinez faced off against Bartolo Colon. "I want to tell my people in the Dominican Republic to follow this game," Cueto said. "There are two Dominicans on the mound. I want to give advice to all the youth in the Dominican that you have to work hard and continue working hard to do things like this." The Pirates took 11 of their 19 meetings with the Reds, including five of the nine matchups in Pittsburgh. Tuesdays winner will face NL Central champion St. Louis in the NLDS beginning on Thursday. Air Max 2017 . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Nike Air Max 90 Essential Scarpe Da Ginnastica Uomo . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. http:///...r-max-thea-uomo.html . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators.MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- It was tough to tell what Remi Dibo enjoyed more: being the centerpiece of West Virginias 3-point show against No. 11 Iowa State, or clamping down on Big 12 scoring leader Melvin Ejim. Dibo scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Mountaineers to a 102-77 victory Monday night, the Cyclones most lopsided loss of the season. Dibo went 6 of 8 from beyond the arc as West Virginia tied a season high with 13 3-pointers. A native of France who finished his high school career in southern West Virginia and played last season at Wyomings Casper College, the 6-foot-7 Dibo made his fourth straight start and fifth overall. "I think my teammates did a great job of finding me," Dibo said. "I think its been a while. Theyve been doing a good job finding me and I was not responding. But I did today." Juwan Staten added 19 points and Eron Harris and Terry Henderson each had 16 points for the Mountaineers (15-10, 7-5 Big 12). Iowa State (18-5, 6-5) had five players in double figures, led by Georges Niangs 17 points. But Ejim, coming off a Big 12-record 48 points and a career-high 18 rebounds against TCU, was guarded by Dibo and held to six points -- 12 below his average -- on 1-of-9 shooting. "We just knew we couldnt let him score 40 points on us," Dibo said. "We had to make an effort on him." The Cyclones fell behind by double digits midway through the first half and trailed by as many as 32 points late in the game. It was the most lopsided loss for Iowa State since a 23-point setback at Texas in January 2011. "It was pretty much, start to finish, just a poor effort on our end," Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. West Virginia shot 54 per cent (35 of 65) from the field, hit a season-high for points and improved to 2-1 amid a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents heading into a matchup Saturday at No. 19 Texas. Iowa States outside scoring was virtually nonexistent until it was too late. The Cyclones were held to 37 per cent shooting (26 of 71) in losing their fourth road conference game. Air Max 2015 Outlet. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins called it "by far the best" defensive effort from his team this season. Dustin Hogue added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Cyclones while Deandre Kane had 14 points, Matt Thomas 13 and Monte Morris 10. Kane, a Pittsburgh native, had more than 50 relatives and friends in attendance. He went 1-2 against the Mountaineers while he played at instate rival Marshall and was booed and taunted whenever he touched the ball. "Tonight we just didnt have it," Hoiberg said. "I dont know what it was. This group has been very focused and given everything all year." West Virginias lack of bench scoring had stood out in a double-digit loss to No. 7 Kansas on Saturday. On Monday, the Mountaineers reserves outscored Iowa States 27-15. "We had pretty much the same shots against Kansas, but we didnt make them," Huggins said. "Today, we made them." Trailing 52-33 at halftime, Iowa State put together its best stretch and closed the gap to 58-44 5 minutes into the second half before West Virginia again pulled away. The Cyclones went 4 minutes between field goals after that, and West Virginia got a big boost from its bench to keep the pressure on. Freshman Nathan Adrian made two baskets and two free throws, and Kevin Noreen doubled his season scoring average with a layup and two free throws. Dibos 3-pointer with 6:53 left gave the Mountaineers their largest lead, 86-54. "We just stuck to the game plan," Dibo said. "We couldnt let them make a run to come back. We knew from the past every time we had a lead, we had let teams come back, and we knew we couldnt let that happen." The only drama for West Virginia came when Harris was ejected for a flagrant foul with 4:25 left. After the game, West Virginias players went into the student section to celebrate. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap Soccer Jerseys ' ' '