ekansekans's blog: "df"

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Reds manager Dusty Baker returned to Cincinnati on Sunday after spending four days in a Chicago hospital getting treated for an irregular heartbeat. Baker missed the Reds 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday that clinched the NL Central title. Doctors wanted to keep him one more night to make sure he had fully recovered. The 63-year-old manager was released from the hospital on Sunday. He met with players in the clubhouse at Great American Ball Park after batting practice, but didnt stay around for a game against the Dodgers. The Reds are off on Monday, giving Baker a day to rest before the start of a home series against Milwaukee. "Im managing tonight and hopefully with the day off tomorrow and him getting a good, relaxing night at home, (well) come back on Tuesday and see how he feels," bench coach Chris Speier said. "So yeah, its great news." Bakers 13-year-old son, Darren, was in the clubhouse. Baker was hospitalized on Wednesday when the Reds were in Chicago playing the Cubs. Hes had an irregular heartbeat for some time. The Reds had hoped hed be back in time to see the team clinch its second division title in the past three years with Baker as manager. General manager Walt Jocketty texted him when the game ended on Saturday night, and the players toasted Baker in the clubhouse before spraying each other with beer and champagne. Speier rested several veterans for the final game of the series Sunday night against Los Angeles, which opened the day three games behind St. Louis for the final NL wild card spot. Left fielder Ryan Ludwick got a fourth straight day off to rest a sore groin, and third baseman Scott Rolen got to rest his back. Right fielder Jay Bruce and shortstop Zack Cozart also were out of the lineup. The Reds went 32-16 with first baseman Joey Votto out of the lineup because of a knee injury, successfully moving players around and changing the lineup. With the division title wrapped up, Speier had to balance trying to win games -- Cincinnati started the day tied with Washington for most wins in the majors at 92 -- while resting players to get them ready for the post-season. "I dont think thats too difficult," Speier said. "I think with our personnel, weve put a competitive team out there every day. But again, were going to take care of ourselves and make sure the people that need a day or two to get their injuries under wraps will have those. But I dont think thats going to be hard." Left-hander Aroldis Chapman finished the 6-0 win on Saturday, pitching the ninth inning. Hed been sidelined since Sept. 11 with a tired pitching shoulder that had his velocity down to the mid-90s. He was throwing 99 mph again on Saturday. "I thought he looked good," Speier said. "I was happy that when he was off the strike zone, it was down. Thats a good sign. "I know he was anxious to get back out there. It was a good position for him to kind of have a soft landing, just go out and get that inning in because were going to need him in the playoffs." Speier planned to use him in a non-save role again before moving him back into the closer position. "Were definitely easing him back into that situation," Speier said. "Maybe another time or two out of the bullpen and then well see what happens." RG3 Womens Jersey . Kuptsovs second goal of the game with eight seconds left led the St. Michaels Majors to a 4-3 win over the Barrie Colts. Authentic Robert Griffin III Jersey . The Lachenaie, Que., skater fell during the preliminary round of the 1,000-metre race last Friday at a World Cup in Nagoya, Japan. There is no firm timeline in place for his return. http://www.dancewithmeusa.com/new.html . When they learned theyd be without coach Kevin McHale against Detroit, they were even more determined to break the losing streak.SHANGHAI, China -- Two-time world champion Mao Asada of Japan won the Cup of China with a strong free skate on Saturday, while Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje earned bronze in ice dancing. Asada, who was second after Fridays short program, earned 181.76 points to overtake Russian teen Julia Lipnitskaia, who lacked the speed and polish she displayed to win the short program. The 14-year-old Lipnitskaia, skating in her first senior Grand Prix event, took second with a score of 177.92. Last seasons world junior champion is considered one of Russias top medal hopes for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Finlands Kiira Korpi finished third on 169.86 points. She overtook Mirai Nagasu of the United States, who was third after the short program but stumbled on the landing of a double axel-triple toe loop combination and came in fourth. It was the second medal this season for Weaver and Poje, who are both from Waterloo, Ont., after finishing third at Skate America two weeks ago. The duo delivered a passionate program to a piece called "Humanity in Motion." "We didnt hold anything back and it was a much better showing than at Skate America," said Weaver. "There is still a lot of work to do and well have some valuable training time to improve the technical aspects of the program. We are pleased with the overall performance especially the storytelling aspect of the routine.dddddddddddd." Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France won the gold medal with 169.73 points. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev of Russia overtook the Canadians for second spot finishing at 159.46 while Weaver and Poje earned 158.97. In pairs, Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China took the gold at 188.82, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov of Russia were second at 183.53 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, also of Russia were third at 172.55. Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto missed the podium by a mere 0.19 points placing fourth with a score of 172.36. `We skated well but a couple of bobbles cost us," said Moscovitch. `We werent too sure how it would go with Kirsten feeling ill. But we wound up doing well on most of our elements. Its a physically draining program with our jumps and throws in the second half of the routine." On the mens side, it was a 1-2 Japanese finish with Tatsuke Machida earning the gold and Daisuke Takahashi second. Sergei Voronov of Russia was third. Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., finished fifth. "The presentation of the program was very strong but I definitely need to work on my jumps," said Reynolds. - with files from The Associated Press. ' ' '