ekansekans's blog: "df"

PHILADELPHIA -- Paul Maholm pitched 6 1-3 solid innings, Starlin Castro had two hits and an RBI, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Friday night. Jameel McClain Jersey . Maholm (2-2) allowed a run on five hits with a strikeout and no walks, dropping his ERA from 8.36 to 6.20, and Tony Campana had two hits and scored twice for the Cubs. Ty Wigginton homered for Philadelphia, which has scored two runs or less in 11 of 20 games this season. Roy Halladay (3-2) was unhittable at the start, retiring 10 straight batters with four strikeouts, but surrendered three runs on six hits in a three-inning stretch to fall to 1-5 lifetime against Chicago. He allowed three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Rafael Dolis pitched two scoreless innings for his first major-league save. Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Campana led off and got the Cubs first hit on a bunt, sliding safely into first and just beating the tag of Wigginton. After stealing second, Campana scored on Castros bloop single to centre. Castro is 6 for 12 lifetime against Halladay. The Cubs scored two more runs in the sixth on RBIs by Alfonso Soriano and Ian Stewart. Chicago went ahead 2-0 on Sorianos single to left that scored Campana, who led off the frame with his second straight infield single. Stewart doubled to right to drive home Bryan LaHair, who had singled, for a 3-0 cushion. The inning ended with a blunder by Soriano, who was caught flat-footed in between third and home on Darwin Barneys groundout that resulted in a rare 1-3-2 double play. But the three-run lead was more than enough for Maholm. The Phillies offence, still missing injured All-Stars Chase Utley (knee) and Ryan Howard (Achilles), didnt resemble the unit that tallied 20 runs in its last three games. After Carlos Ruizs second-inning double, Maholm retired 15 of the next 16 batters before Wiggintons homer to left with one out in the seventh. That hit ended the night for Maholm. Philadelphia threatened to score more in the seventh off left-handed reliever James Russell after putting runners on first and second with a pair of infield hits, but Soriano caught Juan Pierres drive to left after initially misplaying the ball for the final out. The Cubs tacked on two runs in the ninth off right-handed reliever Michael Schwimmer on Reed Johnsons RBI triple that got past a diving Hunter Pence in right. Johnson scored on David DeJesus single. Notes: SS Jimmy Rollins went 0 for 4 for Philadelphia and has three hits in his last 37 at-bats. ... Wigginton extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a fourth-inning single. ... Despite many empty seats on a chilly, windy night, the Phillies announced their 211th straight regular-season sellout with a crowd of 45,261. ... Campana has five steals in his last four games. ... Philadelphia RHP Joe Blanton (1-3, 4.34) is scheduled to face Cubs RHP Randy Wells (0-0, 3.60) Saturday night in the second game of the four-game series. Ed Reed Super bowl Jersey . Lewis, seven strokes behind South Koreas Lee Bo-mee entering the round, had 10 birdies and two bogeys to finish at 11-under 205 at Kintetsu Kashikojima. "I dont think Ive ever come back from this far," Lewis said. Ray Rice Womens Jersey .Y. -- Veteran cornerback Terrence McGee was placed on season-ending injured reserve and receiver Marcus Easley was promoted off the practice squad Tuesday after the Buffalo Bills made a series of moves to address their banged-up roster. http://www.thenflravensgear.com/anthony-allen-jersey . The school announced Tuesday that the former Cyclones star and longtime NBA player has agreed to an eight-year deal worth an average of $1. Ray Lewis Authentic Jersey .J. Barea will miss at least two games with a sprained left foot. Ray Lewis Pink Jersey . Romero, an All-Star last season, has lost his last three starts, his last 10 decisions and hasnt won since beating the Miami Marlins back on June 22. His last win against an American League team came against Chicago on June 5.The Tampa Bay Lightning addressed their glaring goaltending need, trading three picks to the Nashville Predators. Numbers Game breaks down the deal for Anders Lindback. The Lightning Get: G Anders Lindback, C Kyle Wilson and a seventh-round pick. Lindback, 24, has been a very good backup for two seasons in Nashville. In 38 games, hes posted a 2.53 goals against average and .914 save percentage. Among goaltenders with fewer than 70 games (and more than 20) over the last two years -- essentially qualifying as backup goaltenders -- that .914 save percentage ranked eighth in the league over that time, behind Cory Schneider, Braden Holtby, Tuukka Rask, Josh Harding, Johan Hedberg, Joey MacDonald and Jhonas Enroth. Note that the first three (potentially four, not including Lindback) on that list are slated to be starting goaltenders next season. Lindback has prototypical size for the modern goaltender, standing 6-foot-6, and given his performance to this point in his career, hes ready for a shot in a starting role. In Tampa Bay, he at least has a steady veteran, Mathieu Garon, who can handle a decent workload. Garon played 48 games last season, the second-most of his career (and too many for him to be effective), but if Garon plays 30-35 games and Lindback appears in 50-plus, that should yield far better results in goal than Tampa Bay received last season, when their goaltenders stopped a league-low 88.9% of the shots they faced. For a team that surrendered 46 more goals than they scored last season, upgrading their most obvious position of need is a good start towards getting back on the right side of break-even. If Lindback could merely provide adequate goaltending, something say in the neighbourhood of a .910 save percentage over 60% of the starts, leaving 40% of the starts for Garon, that would save the Lightning approximately 34 goals over last season (with all other factors remaining equal for 2490 shots against Lindback and Garon with that distribution). That doesnt make everything suddenly great in Tampa Bay, but thats also with modest expectations for Lindback. Who knows? He could be better than that projection, with the improvement that comes as players gain experience. Lindback is a restricted free agent who cost an $875,000 cap hit last season. Hes due for a raise, as the likely starter, but given his minimal track record, it shouldnt be an outlandish jump in salary. Wilson is a 27-year-old centre who has 13 points in 39 career NHL games with Washington, Columbus and Nashville and put up 54 points in 68 AHL games last season. While Wilson might have some AHL appeal for Tampa Bay, as they have several AHL players that could compete for NHL jobs next season, his inclusion in the deal is more likely because he has a one-way contract ($550,000, according to www.capgeek.comm) for next season. Torrey Smith Camo Jersey. . A seventh-round pick obviously isnt tremendously valuable -- about 1-in-12 become NHLers -- but is at least a small asset for the Lightning in their attempt to stock the system. Tampa Bay still has plenty of draft picks, including two first-rounders and their own second-round pick, but when they are sending three picks out the door, its a nice sweetener to at least get a chance to roll the dice on a seventh-rounder too. The Predators Get: Two second-round picks (37th and 50th), a third-round pick and G Sebastien Caron. The second-round picks that the Lighting traded to Nashville were previously acquired from Minnesota and Philadelphia, respectively. Along with the third-round pick, there is a good chance that at least one of the picks will turn into an NHLer, as the second-rounders offer close to a 1-in-3 shot and the third-rounder is slightly better than 1-in-4 chance to be an NHL regular. Over the years, the Predators have done pretty well at the draft table. From 2000 through 2008, for example, they made 21 picks in the second and third rounds, with four of those picks turning into players that have played at least 100 NHL games. Those that made it include Shea Weber, Kevin Klein, Cody Franson and Nick Spaling, while there were also some others that havent played 100 games, yet, but could still yield NHL value, including Roman Josi (52 games as a rookie last season), Blake Geoffrion (55 games, traded to Montreal) and Alexander Sulzer (now with Buffalo, 89 games). If, for arguments sake, all three of those players are on their way to 100 NHL games, that would mean the Predators have picked an NHLer with one-third (7-for-21) of their selections over that time frame. One other player of note from that sample is goaltender Jeremy Smith, a second-round pick in 2007 who could be in line for the backup job behind Pekka Rinne now that Lindback is gone. Smith, 23, has a .922 save percentage in 84 AHL games over the last two seasons. Sebastien Carons inclusion in the deal isnt terribly relevant, unless he wants to sign with Nashville. The 31-year-old spent most of last season in Germany (3.12 GAA, .877 SV% in three games with the Lightniing) and is due to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. From Nashvilles perspective, they have done a fine job replenishing their goaltending position (Tomas Vokoun, Chris Mason and Dan Ellis are among those to move on from the Predators crease), and have invested so heavily in Pekka Rinne for the forseeable future that it makes sense to accumulate value in exchange for what has proven to be a replaceable part. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '