ekansekans's blog: "df"

PHOENIX -- Ian Kennedy has been maddeningly inconsistent in the follow-up year to his 21-win season. His performance Tuesday night was a reminder of how good he can be. Kennedy pitched neatly into the eighth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks used an unearned run to beat Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0. It was the first 1-0 victory of the season for the Diamondbacks, who needed left fielder Jason Kubel to rob Luis Cruz of a two-run homer with a leaping grab at the wall to end the fifth inning. The lone run came in the seventh, when Paul Goldschmidt reached on shortstop Hanley Ramirezs throwing error and scored from first on Miguel Monteros double. With San Franciscos win at Colorado, the Dodgers fell six games behind the first-place Giants in the NL West. Arizona ended a six-game home losing streak. Kennedy (13-11) gave up four hits in 7 1-3 innings, striking out six and walking none. "Really what made my fastball better was the execution of my off-speed pitches," Kennedy said. "I was throwing those for strikes and when you do that its going to be a good game, at least you give your team a chance. Youve got to against Kershaw, hes one of the best pitchers in the game." Kershaw (12-9) allowed three hits, striking out five and walking three in seven innings. "I blinked first tonight," Kershaw said. "I threw a pitch I shouldnt have. I didnt put it where I wanted to and Miguel did a good job with it and made me pay for it. You cant blink first in those games and I did." Montero said he hit a slider a little over the plate. It was about the only hard-hit ball off of Kershaw. "That was the best hes looked in the times weve faced him this year," Montero said. "He had everything going. I ran into one pitch and that was the difference. But his stuff was very, very good." Kershaw is 0-2 in his last three starts despite allowing a combined three earned runs. The Dodgers have lost all three games. "It hurts when he pitches so good and we dont get a win," Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly said. But, Kershaw said, "They all hurt the same right now." Regular closer J.J. Putz, who blew consecutive saves last week, was out with a stiff back, manager Kirk Gibson said, so David Hernandez came on in the ninth. He gave up a two-out double to Shane Victorino, then Adrian Gonzalez struck out looking, staring at home plate umpire Dan Iassogna after the pitch. Kennedy got big defensive plays from third baseman Chris Johnson and second baseman Aaron Hill. Johnson nabbed Kershaws sharp line drive in the sixth and Hill made a lunging grab on Andre Ethiers liner leading off the seventh. Kennedy, a 21-game winner a year ago, left after giving up a single to Luis Cruz. Brad Ziegler came on and got a double-play grounder to end the inning. Ziegler has induced major-league best 17 double plays, most by a National League reliever since Jeremy Affeldts 18 in 2009. Goldschmidt reached for the third time when Ramirezs throw on a deep ground ball bounced in front of first base and Gonzalez couldnt handle it. Montero followed with the double to deep right-centre that easily scored Goldschmidt, who had been picked off at first by Kershaw in the second. Montero advanced to third on a passed ball and tried to score on Johnsons fly ball to centre. But Matt Kemps throw arrived first and Montero was out on a close play, ending the inning. The Diamondbacks loaded the bases in the third when John McDonald singled with one out, then Adam Eaton and Hill drew two-out walks. The threat ended when Kubel bounced out. The Dodgers got a runner to second when Ethier doubled to left-centre with two outs in the fifth. On the next pitch, Cruz launched one to deep left but Kubel, backtracking in a hurry, made a leaping grab at the wall to rob him of what would have been a two-run homer, and the game remained scoreless. "I wasnt sure if it was going to get out or not but thankfully it hung up a little bit so I could get under it," Kubel said. "It was fun. Im just happy it worked out and thankfully it saved us a couple of runs. It could have been 2-1, who knows?" Kemp doubled with two outs in the seventh but was stranded after Ramirezs check-swing dribbler to the pitcher. NOTES: Arizona had last won at home on Aug. 22, when it swept a doubleheader from Miami. ... Kershaw leads the NL with 206 strikeouts. ... Los Angeles starts Aaron Harang (9-8, 3.75 ERA) in the finale of the brief series while Arizona goes with Trevor Cahill (10-11, 3.98). ... Goldschmidts single in the fourth was his first hit against Kershaw in 10 at-bats. ... Arizona improved to 11-6 against the Dodgers this season with one game remaining. Cheap NFL Jerseys From China . The Winnipeg Goldeyes (17-6) shutout the Lincoln Saltdogs (11-14) 3-0 Monday night to win their fifth consecutive game before 4,251 fans at Shaw Park. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . The senior teams bronze-medal performance at the London Olympics has already done that. Canada will play its first game of the tournament Monday against Argentina in Kobe, Japan. http://studyworx.org/china.html . Then he did it. Danks hit his first major league homer in the bottom of the ninth and the Chicago White Sox overcame a three-run deficit to beat the Oakland Athletics 4-3 on Friday night.Paris, France (Sports Network) - Six-time champion Rafael Nadal and three- time Grand Slam runner-up Andy Murray were a pair of winners, while 6-foot-9 American John Isner lost in an epic second-round affair Thursday at the French Open. The 10th-seeded Isner succumbed to oft-injured Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16 in a more-than-five hour war of attrition on Court Chatrier. Mathieu needed seven match points to finally stop Isner, who misfired wide on one final forehand after a grueling 5 hours, 41 minutes of tennis. The fifth set was a French Open-record 2 hours, 28 minutes. Isner and Mathieu also set a record for the longest one-day match in the history of the French Open. It was also the second-longest ever in the tournament, and not since 1957 had their been a match at Roland Garros with more games played. The gutsy Isner crushed 41 aces, but also piled up 98 unforced errors (98-40) in a match that had only six service breaks, including four and a match-ending one by the French winner. The 30-year-old Mathieu had to rally from two sets down in his first-round match here against German Bjorn Phau. The towering Isner, of course, is best known for beating Frances Nicolas Mahut in the longest-ever tennis match two years ago at Wimbledon. Isner needed more than 11 hours over three days to outlast Mahut in an opening-round bout at the All England Club in 2010. A 70-68 fifth set against Mahut lasted more than eight hours. Isner was the last American man standing in Paris this week. Meanwhile, the second-seeded former world No. 1 Nadal dropped only four games in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 pasting of Uzbekistans Denis Istomin on Court Lenglen. Nadal dropped only five games in his opening-round win here on Tuesday. Nadal rolled in 1 hour, 50 minutes and was not broken by the overmatched Istomin. The amazing Nadal is now 47-1 lifetime on the red clay at Roland Garros, including his Open-Era-record-tying six titles. Hes currently the reigning two-time champ, including a victory over Roger Federer in last years finale. The 10-time major titlist Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic in the last three Grand Slam finals. Nadals third-round opponent here will be Argentine Eduardo Schwank. The fourth-seeded Murray, meanwhile, received treatments for a bad back and almost retired before recording a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 come-from-behind victory over Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen on Chatrier. The Scot needed 2 hours, 27 minutes to move on. "I was few points probably from stopping," Murray said. "I just didnt really want to stop the match. Then at the end of the second set I started standing up at the change of ends, and my back started to loosen up a little bit." Murray, who lost to the great Nadal in his first-ever French Open semifinal here a year ago, has now reached the third round in Paris five straight years.dddddddddddd Up next for the British star will be Colombian Santiago Giraldo, who took out 25th-seeded promising Aussie Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. Fifth-seeded French favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completed a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe after their match was suspended because of rain on Wednesday, while sixth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer whipped Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to secure a spot in the round of 32 for an eighth consecutive year. Eighth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic got past Frances Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, 7-5, while 12th-seeded Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro took care of former Aussie Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, and 13th-seeded gritty Argentine Juan Monaco moved on by handling Czech Lukas Rosol 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 7-6 (7-5). Another French victor on Day 5 was nifty 17th seed Richard Gasquet, who overcame talented Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 19 Canadian slugger Milos Raonic fired 16 aces in dismissing American Jesse Levine 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; Argentine Leonardo Mayer derailed No. 24 German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; No. 27 Russian Mikhail Youzhny topped Dutchman Robin Haase 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Italian Fabio Fognini knocked out No. 28 Serb Viktor Troicki 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 8-6; No. 29 Frenchman Julien Benneteau cruised past Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; and the aforementioned Schwank drove out No. 32 German Florian Mayer 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). Raonic will meet Monaco in his next outing, while Youzhny will face Ferrer in the round of 32. Veteran French crowd favorite Arnaud Clement lost to Belgian David Goffin 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 0-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a match that was suspended because of rain Wednesday with Goffin leading 5-1 in the fifth set, while oft-injured former world No. 2 German Tommy Haas moved on with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 blitzing of Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky. The third round will begin on Friday, including matches for the No. 1 Djokovic and third-seeded Federer. The reigning Aussie Open, U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion Djokovic will face Frances Nicolas Devilder, while the former No. 1 2009 French Open titlist and four-time Roland Garros runner-up Federer will battle the aforementioned Mahut. Federer is the all-time mens leader with 16 major titles. Also on the Day-6 schedule will be the former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga, seventh-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych, and ninth-seeded former U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro. ' ' '