Melbourne Victory have added to the A-League’s biggest trophy collection in grand style, downing Perth Glory 2-0 in the FFA Cup final.
The Victory were dominant in the first half of Saturday night’s decider as they became the first side to concurrently hold all three domestic titles, having won a third A-League premiership-championship double in 2014-15.
The only down-side for them was the disappointing crowd of 15,098, with high ticket prices blamed for a half-full AAMI Park. Melbourne were well deserving of their two-goal halftime lead, following an opening 45 minutes played at a tempo worthy of a cup final.
The home side had the ball in the back of net as early as the 16th minute courtesy of a powerhouse strike by in-firm New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses, although that effort was correctly disallowed as Victory defender Matthieu Delpierre was clearly offside.
Victory went ahead in the 35th minute, when Oliver Bozanic was on hand to lash the ball home after a good build up down the right from Jason Geria and Barbarouses. Melbourne doubled their advantage seven minutes later. Captain Carl Valeri played a perfect through-ball into the path of striker Besart Berisha, whose first touch took him past the final defender.
The Albanian goal-poacher then fired a brilliant strike across Glory keeper Ante Covic and inside the left post. Glory looked dangerous at times on the counter-attack although Brazilian striker Sidnei Sciola was mostly well held by Delpierre. Perth started the second half brightly and almost halved the deficit within four minutes when Diogo Ferreira slammed a shot into the right-hand upright.
In the 61st minute, Glory captain Richard Garcia’s first-time effort flew over the crossbar. The visitors had most of the best scoring chances in the second half without being able to convert any of them.
Victory were forced to play the last eight minutes with 10 men after Valeri was sent off for a second bookable offence - a heavy foul on Dino Djulbic. The same fate befell Valeri in the A-League grand final against Sydney FC earlier this year, although his team held on to win both matches in comfortable fashion.
Perth were unable to consider several important players due to injury on Saturday night including Chris Harold and import Gyorgy Sandor. The two-goal defeat meant Glory are still to win any silverware in the A-League era, having lost last year’s inaugural FFA Cup final to Adelaide United and the 2011-12 A-League grand final to Brisbane Roar.
ISML 2015: Nova, Stella Division Finals Set By Jo-Ryan Salazar The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue November 6, 2015
Match Day 3 of the 2015 International Saimoe League Postseason concluded, and we have our Nova and Stella Division Finals. In the Nova Division, Kosaki Onodera and Yukino Yukinoshita will duel for the rights to win the coveted Sapphire Circlet. Onodera, the 2015 Amethyst Necklace winner, defeated Ruby necklace holder Chiyo Sakura 3728-2218. Yukinoshita, winner of the Aquamarine necklace, defeated classmate Yui Yuigahama 3719-1756.
In other Nova Division action, Yoshino defeated Kurumi Tokisaki 3257-2501, Shiro scorched Tohka Yatogami 3439-2586, Jibril flew past Kurousagi 3112-2738, Chitoge Kirisaki took down Izusu Sento 3345-2928, Marika Tachibana prevailed over Maki Nishikino 2958-2867 and Shino Asada shot down Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi 3275-2699.
The Diamond Circlet is giving to the best-performing contestant in the veteran-rich Stella Division. Ayase Aragaki, despite a dogged campaign full of detractors and naysayers, has one more chance to win a prize before the Tiara knockout rounds come rolling in later this month. However, she faces the odds-on favorite by the Bedlam, Mashiro Shiina, the defending Topaz Necklace champion. Aragaki clobbered Asuna Yuuki 4060-2436 while Shiina dismantled Eru Chitanda 4013-2405.
In other Stella action, Saber slashed past Eucliwood Hellscythe 3275-3059, Nanami Aoyama rolled past Rin Tohsaka 2797-2248, Kurisu Makise stormed past Illyasviel von Einzbern 3450-2271, Yuri Nakamura scored the Upset of the Round with a 3136-2924 blasting of Kuroyukihime, Azusa Nakano romped past Yui-nyan 3205-2756 and Rikka Takanashi dominated Taiga Aisaka 3354-2428.
In the Summer Seasonal, Nao Tomori and Umaru Doma will duel for the right to be named the Queen of the Summer. Tomori crushed Kurumi Ebisuzawa 3952-2434 while Doma cruised past Ayumi Otosaka 3963-2315.
Match Day 4 of the 2015 International Saimoe League Postseason is scheduled for November 6, 2015. Vote for your favorite candidates at InternationalSaimoe.com and join the ongoing debate.
ISML 2015: Postseason continues on with Division Finals
By Jo-Ryan Salazar The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue November 4, 2015 Match Day 2 of the 2015 International Saimoe League postseason concluded, with a number of winners' bracket matches to go with classification bracket matches in the Nova and Stella Divisions. In the Nova Division, Chiyo Sakura hammered Chitoge Kirisaki 3743-2621, Kosaki Onodera rolled past Yoshino 3709-2242, Yukino Yukinoshita drubbed Jibril 3664-2012, Yui Yuigahama hammered Shiro 3606-2645, Kurousagi bounced past Maki Nishikino 2925-2536, Tohka Yatogami scored the Upset of the Round over Marika Tachibana 3517-2685, Isuzu Sento drove past Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi 3006-2588 and Kurumi Tokisaki mowed down Shino Asada 3759-2602.
In the Stella Division, Ayase Aragaki routed Kuroyukihime 4016-2356, Asuna Yuuki slashed past Eucliwood Hellscythe 3302-3115, Mashiro Shiina whipped past Kurisu Makise 3819-2612, Eru Chitanda trounced Nanami Aoyama 2888-2358, Illyasviel von Einzbern slammed Azusa Nakano 3339-2585, Rin Tohsaka defeated Yui-nyan 3306-3055, Yuru Nakamura shot down Taiga Aisaka 2954-2705 and Saber sliced and diced Rikka Takanashi 3128-2751.
In special exhibition play, Umaru Doma crushed Ayame Kajou 3440-2229 and Ayumi Otosaka burned Lala Satalin Deviluke 3502-2703. Both Dona and Otosaka advance to the Summer Seasonal semifinals. Match Day 3 of the 2015 International Saimoe League postseason is scheduled for November 5, 2015. Vote for your favorite candidates at InternationalSaimoe.com and join the ongoing debate.
By Jo-Ryan Salazar The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue November 2, 2015
On the day of the Melbourne Cup, the first day of the 2015 International Saimoe League Postseason began with Match Day 1 and the first day of the Nova and Stella Division finals. Chiyo Sakura thrashed Kurousagi 3643-3202, Chitoge Kirisaki throttled Maki Nishikino 3722-2989, Yoshino defeated Tohka Yatogami 3331-3209 and Kosaki Onodera flattened Marika Tachibana 4513-1697.
Yukino Yukinoshita destroyed Tsukiko Tsutsukakushi 4407-1886, Yui Yuigahama hammered Isuzu Sento 4546-2381, Jibril flew past Kurumi Tokisaki 3703-2985 and Shiro stormed past Shino Asada 3836-2801. Ayase Aragaki crushed Illyasviel von Einzbern 4154-2672, Kuroyukihime flew past Azusa Nakano 3416-3329, Asuna Yuuki slashed past Yui-nyan 3687-3405 and Eucliwood Hellscythe scored the Upset of the Round over Rin Tohsaka 3496-3426.
Wrapping up division play, Mashiro Shiina routed Yuri Nakamura 3807-3240, Kurisu Makise rolled past Taiga Aisaka 3825-2772, Eru Chitanda defeated Rikka Takanashi 3573-3370 and Nanami Aoyama dominated Saber 3399-3097. In special exhibition play, Nao Tomori and Kurumi Ebisuzawa will battle for the Summer Seasonal honors, with both advancing to the semis. Tomori routed Akane Sakurada 4349-2451 and Ebisuzawa defeated Yusa Kurobane 3324-3124.
Match Day 2 of the 2015 International Saimoe League postseason is scheduled for November 3, 2015. Vote for your favorites at InternationalSaimoe.com and join the ongoing debate.
All Blacks 34 Australia 17 Pandemonium at
Twickenham. The All Blacks have become the first nation to defend their
World Cup title by beating Australia in another tense and agonisingly
close final.
They did it not by running away with the game like
they threatened to do just after halftime when Ma'a Nonu scored his
stunning try from 40m out. No, they had to dig extremely deep in the
end, just as they suspected they would, against a Wallabies team that
refused to give up.
At 21-17 following Tevita Kuridrani's try, this game
looked to be slipping slightly despite the almost unprecedented support
from the 80,125 in attendance and the fact that almost everything was
going in the All Blacks' favour in the first half.
In the end it
was comfortable only due to Dan Carter's incredible last 10 minutes in
an All Blacks jersey in which he dropped a goal to push the score to
24-17, and then kicked a penalty from halfway to give his side some
proper breathing space.
Beauden Barrett's try from a kick by Ben Smith as the
Wallabies chased the game was a piece of opportunism that sealed the
match once and for and sent all of the black-clad supporters at this
magnificent stadium into raptures.
At the final whistle, the All
Blacks leapt for joy, skipper Richie McCaw deservedly mobbed by his
teammates. What a test for the 34-year-old - his 148th - to bow out on.
Asked if this was the proudest moment of his career, McCaw was absolutely adamant.
"We played damn good rugby there," McCaw beamed.
"We
lost a bit of momentum in the second half but we kept our composure and
came home strong. That's been the hallmark of this team for the last
four years."
Back home Kiwi fans back home were left squirming
when a spirited Wallabies comeback narrowed the score to four points,
but on the field the All Blacks captain said he always knew which way it
was going. "I wouldn't say I was anxious. We've been in those
situations before and it was a case of not panicking and doing the
simple things. Get the ball back and get in control," he said.
"We've done that a lot of times over the years, but to do it in a World Cup, that shows the calibre of men we've got."
And
still, McCaw refuses to say whether this will be a fitting swansong to
his All Blacks career - instead deflecting questions of retirement to
pay tribute to his team mates and "a great bunch of men."
"I still don't want it to end. At the moment, I'm still part of this team. How could you get enough of this?" he said.
"I'll
worry about that after today, I'm just going to enjoy having played a
great World Cup final with a great bunch of men - and having been able
to wear this jersey again.
"I don't think I could ever have enough of it."
The
All Blacks had heroes across the park and they needed them as the
Wallabies mounted their extraordinary comeback from 21-3 down.
They
wanted to attack to win this match, to win their title back, but in the
end they had to defend, and it was something to behold.
They
were in a hole with Ben Smith controversially sinbined for a lifting
tackle on Drew Mitchell. David Pocock's try from the subsequent rolling
maul put the Aussies on a roll and momentum was shifting and that gained
momentum when Kuridrani went over.
If Barrett's try was crucial -
so were the efforts of his fellow bench play Sonny Bill Williams. On
for Conrad Smith at halftime, he had two touches and made two offloads,
the second sent Nonu away, the second-five - another veteran bowing out -
stepping Kurtley Beale and pushing off Mitchell on way.
Willie
Apiata has been with the All Blacks at this tournament, just as he was
at the last one, and the "Who Dares, Wins" motto of his former SAS days
could have been applied to the men in black.
The started as they
meant to go on - with a relentless line-speed on attack and a
determination to test the Wallabies in every way they could. The impacts
in the early exchanges were brutal.
From the fury of the haka, with wing Julian Savea
looking particularly fired up (with the help of Aussie coach Michael
Cheika's notes indiscreetly shown on the eve of the test maybe?), the
All Blacks kicked off and immediately smashed fullback Israel Folau and
flanker Michael Hooper in short order. The battle lines were drawn. They
had all the ball and all the territory, and while their probes and
sorties were shut down by the excellent Wallabies defence, the
Australians, who had one less day to prepare for this showdown, had to
pay for their efforts at some stage.
Carter and Bernard Foley
swapped penalties, before the All Blacks No10 kicked another and then
another - the third following a suspiciously forward pass from Nehe
Milner-Skudder right in front of his country's former World Cup nemesis
Wayne Barnes on the sideline.
And then, the first dagger blow,
just before halftime. Commander and chief Richie McCaw got the ball in
his hands in his own half twice in succession and then the All Blacks
were on the attack, sweeping to the right where Conrad Smith, Aaron
Smith and McCaw again combined to put Milner-Skudder over in the corner,
a try superbly converted by Carter.
At 16-3 down at halftime, this was an almost impossible margin for the Wallabies to come back from.
They
had lost second-five Matt Giteau to concussion from a Brodie Retallick
charge, and lock Kane Douglas. But comeback they did and it just made
the All Blacks' efforts in defending their title more noteworthy.
Who dares wins, indeed. All Blacks 34 (Nehe Milner-Skudder, Ma'a Nonu, Beauden Barrett tries; Dan Carter 4 pens, 2 cons, dropped goal) Australia 17 (David Pocock, Tevita Kuridrani tries; Bernard Foley pen, 2 cons) Halftime: 16-3.
Not a drop of Champagne dotted the salt-and-pepper hair or clean-shaven face of Dayton Moore as he sat along the bench inside the visitors’ dugout at Citi Field, the home these last three nights for the greatest Royals team in a generation.
Up above him, hundreds of Royals fans serenaded the players with a rendition of Queen’s “We Are The Champions.” Hidden from sight, away from the spotlight, Moore still looked dazed.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Moore said. “This is pretty cool.”
Nine years ago, when owner David Glass chose Moore to resurrect this franchise, Moore dreamed about a parade threading through the streets of Kansas City. The final step of his vision — which restored his organization’s credibility within the game, revived the sport in his community and delivered night after night of indelible memories — will happen on Tuesday along Grand Boulevard. Because at 34 minutes after midnight in New York, the Royals captured their first world championship since 1985 with a 7-2 victory in 12 innings in Game 5 over the Mets.
The win followed a blueprint authored by this club all postseason. The Royals collected their eighth comeback victory, and their sixth with a multiple-run deficit. Silent for eight innings, the team conquered Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia to tie the game in the ninth. Three innings later, Christian Colon cracked the go-ahead single and opened the floodgates for a five-run flourish.
After the last 95-mph fastball from closer Wade Davis whistled into the glove of backup catcher Drew Butera, this cherished group assembled for one last time as a team in the center of Citi Field, the last mountain they ascended en route to the sport’s apex. Thousands of miles away, fireworks popped in Kansas City and fans clambered through the streets. As the champagne flowed in New York, the Royals erased the bitterness of last October and established themselves as a team incapable of cardiac arrest.
“Never give up,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “Never give up. Came through again. We’re the comeback kids, if you want to call us.”
Along the way, the Royals personified the blueprint Moore brought when he took over the team’s baseball operations department in 2006. The team displayed athleticism in the field and on the bases. They refused to roll over in the face of adversity. They leaned upon one another and relished one another’s company. On a team stocked with All-Stars, there was no one singular star.
Salvador Perez received the Most Valuable Player trophy, but the honor could be shared by so many on his team. Eric Hosmer drove in the run that ejected Harvey from the game and bested the infield arms of the Mets for a daring, game-tying score. Only a few days removed from his father’s funeral, Edinson Volquez turned in six innings of two-run ball. Davis did not yield a run all October.
And in his first at-bat of the entire postseason, Colon found a moment to pair with his game-tying infield single from the American League Wild Card game in 2014. That night, so many months ago, solidified the ethos of this team. Pushed to the brink, the Royals do not break. Instead, it is their opponents who buckle.
“This is too good of a group, too good of a team, not to be remembered as world champions,” Hosmer said.
During the regular season, the Royals resembled a freight train, barreling past their foes. In the playoffs, they transformed into Ali in Zaire, luring opponents into a false sense of comfort, only to strike in the highest-leverage spots. The Royals possessed the chin of a champion. After the way the 2014 season finished, no singular shot could shake them.
“We never quit,” Perez said. “We never put our heads down. We never think about, ‘OK, the game is over.’ No. We always compete to the last out.”
When their season ended last October, with the tying run stranded at third base in Game 7 of the World Series, the Royals felt the sort of heartbreak that lingers through the winter. The players mourned the loss and sought to convert the pain into fuel for 2015.
Kansas City became the best team in the American League. They won their first division title in 30 years. Their players shined at the All-Star Game. Their coffers filled with a franchise-record for attendance at Kauffman Stadium. The renaissance emerged in full bloom.
Except all of this would have been coated with bile, rendered meaningless, if the Royals had been unable to defy incredible odds in the first round. The journey from the brink of the abyss to postseason bliss lasted 21 days. It may be difficult to recall now, in the wake of popped bottles and kept promises, but the Royals looked on the verge of a collapse in Houston.
Across 162 games during the season, the Royals played like the best team in the American League. During the first 34 innings of the American League Division Series with the Houston Astros, the Royals played like the second-best team on the field. October allows scant time for second chances, for extended slumps, for platitudes like “We’ll get them tomorrow.” Tomorrows do exist in the postseason, but they disappear with expediency when you lose.
At 3 p.m. on Oct. 12, Kansas City trailed Houston by four runs. Six outs remained in their season. Their bats never found life, and Yost was preparing for a concession speech.
“I was thinking about how I was going to congratulate the Houston Astros in my press conference,” Yost said. “I mean, I really was.”
Then Alex Rios hit the first pitch he saw from reliever Will Harris into left field. Alcides Escobar fished for a curveball and found a hit. Ben Zobrist cracked a line drive into center field, where outfielder Carlos Gomez declined to dive.
By know, of course, the rest of the story has been written into Kansas City legend, standing alongside the Wild Card Game as the exemplars of this club’s fortitude. The club earned a chance to rewrite the chapter they could not get right last year.
When the ninth inning on Sunday began, the Royals found themselves in the predicament that has become so familiar. They were down two runs with three outs to play. They had overcome so much this postseason, yet with Harvey on the mound, this task looked so tall.
Harvey does not deal in deception. He piles power upon power. His fastball approaches triple digits. His slider clocks at 90 mph. His changeup resides only a few ticks lower.
In the fourth, Harvey displayed the depth and breadth of his arsenal. With the count at 3-1, Cain chased a high fastball. Harvey finished him off with a changeup, down and in. Hosmer flailed at a curveball for a second strikeout.
“Harvey was nasty tonight,” Hosmer said. “He was dirty.”
The last victim was Moustakas. Harvey flipped a pair of curveballs for strikes. Then he blazed a 98-mph fastball past Moustakas to strike out the side. Harvey pumped his fist as he headed for his dugout.
The celebration looked premature. The Royals, after all, do their most devastating damage in the later innings. Harvey would receive a reminder in the ninth. At that point, he had struck out nine. He had not allowed a runner to reach third base. The game belonged to him, and Mets manager Terry Collins refused to take it away.
As the bottom of the eighth inning wound down, the fans shouted for another inning from Harvey. Inside the dugout, he argued with Collins, insisting on staying in the game. Harvey wanted the ninth. He wanted the Royals. Perhaps history will forgive him for his impudence. Because the Royals did not.
Down two strikes, Cain battled his way back for a walk. The crowd stirred. There was life. The future felt recognizable to George Brett, the Hall of Famer from the 1985 Royals.
“As soon as Harvey walked that guy in the ninth,” Brett said, “I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. We’re winning this game.’ ”
With Familia ready, Collins let Harvey stay in the game. Harvey tried to drive a 94-mph fastball past Hosmer’s knees. Hosmer did not let the baseball pass. He thumped an opposite-field, RBI double. The hit halved the score and petrified the park.
Collins fetched Harvey and handed the baseball over to Familia. Before this series, the presence of Familia almost guaranteed a Mets victory. Yet in the first four games here, he had already blown two saves. A third would soon follow.
Guile ruled the day. After Moustakas advanced Hosmer to third base, Perez stepped to the plate. He tapped a grounder toward third baseman David Wright. Wright looked at Hosmer before he threw, but Hosmer did not return to the bag. He prepared to sprint home. He knew Wright lacked superior arm strength and he knew the first baseman, Lucas Duda, is a mediocre fielder.
“Bless his heart, Duda,” first-base coach Rusty Kuntz said. “He’s a good bat.”
The Kansas City scouting report on Duda mentioned his sidearm throwing motion. His volleys often tail away from the intended target. And so catcher Travis d’Arnaud reached in vain as the ball skittered away. Hosmer slid across the plate to tie the game. Joy coursed through the Royals dugout, and the knowledge that now the game would come down to bullpens. No team possessed a deeper relief corps than Kansas City.
Kelvin Herrera returned for the ninth inning, his third scoreless inning. Luke Hochevar turned in a pair of spotless innings. In the top of the 12th, Perez smacked a single off reliever Addison Reed. Jarrod Dyson replaced Perez at first base. Dyson proceeded to utilize his finest skill, the speed that convinced the Royals to stick with him as a 50th round draft pick in 2006, as he stole second base.
Two batters later, Colon picked up a bat for the first time this postseason. Reed refused to throw him a fastball. Colon waited until a fifth slider crossed the plate. Then he punched the go-ahead single into left field and thumped his chest at first. He spent each day this October waiting for an opportunity like this.
“I lived it,” Colon said. “You know what I’m saying? I went to bed almost every night, thinking about this moment. And being ready for my team and for my family and everybody.”
In the aftermath, the Mets bullpen combusted. The Royals notched four more runs, the last three on a bases-clearing double by Cain. The rally turned the bottom of the 12th into a fait accompli. As he did so many times this season, Davis insured the outcome was never in doubt.
In the aftermath of their summit, madness descended onto the Royals clubhouse. The players jostled with camera operators inside the cramped confines. They strapped Oakley goggles over beanies that read “2015 World Series champions.” Corks flew from the bottles of Nicolas Francois champagne. Red bottles of Budweiser operated like helicopters, unleashed torrents of hops around the room.
Alex Gordon, the team’s longest-tenured player, slipped through the throng. He has given 10 years of his life to this organization, and Sunday could have been his final night as a Royal. His ankles were still wrapped. He wore shower slides and sipped from a paper cup.
“Gordo’s hammered,” someone shouted.
“Shocker,” Gordon replied, though his eyes appeared clear and lucid.
Moore stayed away from the party, but other executives ringed the room’s periphery. Drenched across his chest, Gene Watson, the team’s director of pro scouting, engulfed advance scout Alec Zumwalt in a bear hug. It was Zumwalt, along with scouts Mike Pazik and Mike Toomey, who filed the advance reports that helped doom the Mets.
The reports called for the team to pitch inside to Daniel Murphy, the MVP of the National League Championship Series, and back him off the plate. Murphy hit .150 in this series. They also mentioned Murphy’s propensity for fielding mishaps. His error in Game 4 aided another comeback. And the reports nothed the vulnerability of both Wright’s arm and Duda’s arm. The Royals capitalized on that in Sunday’s ninth inning.
“You’re a world champion!” Watson shouted as he grabbed Zumwalt. He said the same to Mike Groopman, the team’s director of analytics.
Nearby, Dyson spotted his closest confidante in the organization. Kuntz has said he intends to retire from the big-league staff after this season. When Dyson found him, his idyllic blonde mane was still in place.
“Where you going?” Dyson asked. “You’re dry.”
Dyson dumped a beer on Kuntz’s head. “Yeah, player!” reliever Greg Holland said.
Someone handed Dyson the Commissioner’s Trophy. He carried it from the clubhouse, through a dugout muddied with Gatorade cups, sunflower seeds and Dubble Bubble wrappers, and onto the field.
“This is what you play for,” Dyson shouted toward the crowd. “This is what you play for, baby, right here.”
Blair and Andy recap Royals' World Series-clinching victory
The Star's Blair Kerkhoff and Andy McCullough recapped the Royals' 7-2 win in 12 innings over the Mets in World Series Game 5 on Sunday night in New York, which clinched the championship for Kansas City for the first time since 1985.
The Royals gathered with their families and friends for pictures and interviews. Yost spotted his kids. “You guys want to be on TV?” he said before sauntering toward an MLB Network interview.
Inside the dugout, Moore wrapped up a conversation with a small throng of reporters. He laughed about a Sports Illustrated story that predicted his club would win a championship in 2015. On this night, it was yet another vision fulfilled.
As ushers shooed the fans out of the park, Moore’s wife and his two children found him in the dugout. Moore hugged his son. His daughter wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Dad,” she said, “we won the World Series.”
Moore dashed a tear from his eye. He would fly back to Kansas City on Monday morning. Meetings about the 2016 season would begin on Wednesday. In between, there will be a parade, the one he envisioned nearly a decade ago.
World Series Game 5
Royals 7, Mets 2, 12 innings
ROYALS WIN WORLD SERIES!!!!!
a-struck out for K.Herrera in the 10th. b-fouled out for Familia in the 10th. c-singled for Hochevar in the 12th.
1-ran for S.Perez in the 12th. E: Hosmer (2), D.Wright (2), Dan.Murphy (2). LOB: Kansas City 7, New York 6. 2B: A.Escobar (1), L.Cain (1), Hosmer (1). HR: Granderson (3), off Volquez. RBIs: A.Escobar (4), L.Cain 3 (4), Hosmer (6), S.Perez (2), C.Colon (1), Granderson (5), Duda (2). SB: L.Cain 2 (4), Hosmer (1), J.Dyson (1). SF: Duda. Runners left in scoring position: Kansas City 3 (Hosmer, Moustakas 2); New York 3 (Harvey, T.d’Arnaud, W.Flores). RISP: Kansas City 4 for 11; New York 0 for 5. Runners moved up: Hosmer, Moustakas, S.Perez, A.Gordon, Conforto. GIDP: A.Escobar, Cespedes, T.d’Arnaud, W.Flores. DP: Kansas
City 3 (Zobrist, Hosmer), (Moustakas, Zobrist, Hosmer), (A.Escobar,
Zobrist, Hosmer); New York 1 (Dan.Murphy, W.Flores, Duda).
TableStyle: SP-basepitchersCCI Template: SP-basepitchers
Harvey pitched to 2 batters in the 9th. Blown save: Familia (3). Inherited runners-scored: Familia 1-1, B.Colon 3-3. IBB: off Volquez (W.Flores), off A.Reed (Zobrist). Umpires: Home, Alfonso Marquez; First, Gary Cederstrom; Second, Mike Everitt; Third, Mark Carlson; Left, Mike Winters; Right, Jim Wolf. Time: 4:15. Att: 44,859.
AP-WF-11-02-15 0538GMT
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Giving the world one more magical memory, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah provided a storybook ending to the first Breeders' Cup ever held at pastoral Keeneland Race Course, galloping into his retirement to stud with a 6 ½-length victory over longshot Effinex in Saturday's $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.
"He gave everybody what they came to see today," trainer Bob Baffert said. "That's what horse racing is about. There was some great racing. We saw some really good horses run, that's the beauty of the Breeders' Cup. It's tough, it's tough to win. You better come with a good horse and you better be ready.
"I'm so proud of Pharoah, what he did today. Just watching him turn for home… I've never seen anything like him, never trained anything like him. He is a gift from God. I'm just glad the Pharoah goes out the champ that he is. It's going to be sad to see him go, but I think he's done enough. He's proved enough."
Baffert and owner-breeder Ahmed Zayat and their families watched the race from the walking ring of Keeneland's paddock, jumping up and down and screaming as American Pharoah cruised away from the competition through the stretch with little urging from jockey Victor Espinoza. Without seemingly exerting himself, he covered 1 ¼ miles in 2:00.07, easily a track record at a little-used distance at Keeneland.
It was the sixth track record in three days on Keeneland's year-old dirt track that replaced an eight-year experiment with Polytrack.
"What can you say? What a horse," Zayat said. "The kindest, friendliest, easiest most brilliant horse I've ever seen in my life. We owe American Pharoah everything.… This race was only about American Pharoah, we wanted him to go out as a winner, just for the horse. He's run so hard and brilliantly for a very long taxing time.… He runs with his heart. He's just a different kind of animal.
"I literally did not watch the final eighth. I closed my eyes, I knew he'd won and I got extremely emotional."]
American Pharoah, who had never faced older horses, raced unchallenged on the lead, a lethal situation his rivals feared once the champion mare Beholder was scratched on Thursday, leaving no other true speed horse to provide pressure.
The first horse to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 37 years loped through a quarter-mile in 23.99 seconds – fast for most horses trying to go wire to wire at 1 ¼ miles but not for a horse who can reel of 12-second eighth-miles all day. But Pharoah picked up the pace slightly, the second quarter-mile going in 23.51 and the third in 23.71 to have a two-length lead on Effinex.
"I knew it was going to be his last race and I was ready for it," Espinoza said. "I wanted to let him bounce out of there and (use) his high speed like he's always done. I don't want to take any chance. I don't want to take any one inch out of him in the race to let anybody get close to me.
"On the backside, he kind of slowed down a little bit and then I looked at the track and it was a little bit deep and I decided to move him just like maybe one or two paths out. As soon as I moved from that spot, he accelerated again. I was like wow. I was really excited. Turning for home I was not worried about the track. I was gone. I was trying to open it up as much as I can and I saw the wire maybe 20 yards out. For me, it couldn't come fast enough to cross that wire and get it over with."
American Pharoah strode home in quarter-miles of 24.26 and 24.60 as the crowd roared approval. Off at 7-10 odds, much of it no doubt $2 souvenir tickets, he paid $3.40 to win.
The victory came nine weeks after American Pharoah lost the Travers by three-quarters of a length, coming the day after he got overly excited while galloping before a Saratoga crowd estimated at 15,000 just to watch the Triple Crown winner train.
"I'm so proud of the horse, but (also) a sense of relief," Baffert said. "After that last race, I was really down on myself. I thought he was doing really well, enough to win that race and he was just a little flat. We had that extra time, got him ready. When he's right, you saw what he can do."
It was Baffert's second straight Classic, following the 3-year-old Bayern last year. His 12 Breeders' Cup victories rank second only to D. Wayne Lukas' 20.
The $26 million Breeders' Cup was played out on a cool and overcast day before a crowd of 50,155, a track record. They'll never forget being there to see the last race for American Pharoah before he heads to a stallion career at the international Coolmore conglomerate's nearby Ashford Stud, though there could be a possible side trip to Churchill Downs for a finale fan farewell.
American Pharoah, a son of WinStar Farm's stallion Pioneerof the Nile, concludes his career with nine victories in 11 starts, earning $8,650,300 with the $2.75 million payday. His 3-year-old season never included a home game, the colt flying out to compete at seven different tracks.
The Jimmy Jerkens-trained Effinex, with big-money rider Mike Smith up, went off at 32-1, the second-longest shot in a field reduced to eight with the scratches of Smooth Roller Saturday morning.
Effinex stayed closest to Pharoah throughout, with Tonalist and Frosted next in pursuit before giving way.
"I was so happy with the way he ran," Smith said. "He just ran brilliant. I knew of course American Pharoah would set the pace, but I thought I got to put myself close enough to give myself a shot. At the three-eighths pole when I saw that I couldn't match strides I thought, 'You know what? Don't panic, don't go with him, sit there and wait and try to get second' and we got it."
Smith, a Hall of Famer who has been around some truly great horses, said of Pharoah, "The real guy showed up today. He's a machine, just a brilliant horse. No words, at least in my vocabulary, does him justice. I thought I had him for a little bit there, and he just keep hitting gears."
Honor Code rallied from last,13 lengths back with a half-mile to go, to finish another 4 ½ lengths back in third under Javier Castellano.
"I thought he ran great," said trainer Shug McGaughey, a Lexington product. "There was no pace over a very fast racetrack and a very good horse won. I wasn't going to take him out of his running style, and he was the only one who closed… I think everybody was riding to be second, because nobody put any pressure on the winner. The race was over when they were going down the backside.
"… As a trainer, this is the first Triple Crown winner I've ever seen, and I think he is a very deserving Triple Crown winner. To see him come back and run the way he did, against this field of horses, my hat is off to him."
Churchill Downs-based Keen Ice, who in the Travers became the only horse to beat American Pharoah since the Triple Crown winner's first start, finished 1 ½ lengths behind Honor Code, nosing out Tonalist, Hard Aces and Frosted in the photo for fourth, with Irish invader Gleneagles last in his dirt debut.
(CNN)According to the Reputation Institute, it is the "most admired" nation on earth. Immigrants flock there from all over the world -- for the most part politely standing in line for the opportunity.
Taxes seem to get lower every year and the government runs a surplus. Burdensome regulations have been slashed and the tax code's been rewritten to encourage business investment and pro-family policies. Abroad, it's taking the fight to ISIS with a reinvigorated military, standing side by side with Israel and against aggression from the mullahs of Iran and Vladimir Putin's Russia.
No, it's not three years into the Marco Rubio administration -- it's present-day Canada, and its courageous leader just got booted out of office after nine years of steadily maneuvering the ship of state.
The Conservative Party's loss is to the detriment of its neighbors to the south and the world at large, since the Tory leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was defeated by the unprepared, gaffe-prone but well-coiffed son of a former prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Harper's fate is all the more shocking when you consider how well Canada weathered the 2008-2009 financial crisis under his watch. He didn't bail out anyone (except the U.S.-based auto industry), no financial institutions failed and the Canadian economy hummed along.
Part of Harper's success -- and doom -- lies in the commodity markets. With sky-high oil prices and other resources reaching record highs, Canada got rich as other industrial powers paid top dollar (or top loonie, if you will) for the raw materials they needed to grow. As oil prices fell off a cliff, the Canadian economy slowed, even briefly dipping into recession this year. But Harper made the necessary cuts and kept taxes low. Amazingly, he balanced the budget ahead of schedule as the commodity markets nosedived.
Despite their success, Harper's policies, too, seemed to echo the "American" political discourse, a byword for becoming what Canadians fear most -- too much like their rapacious, bellicose and paranoid neighbors to the south. In Canada, identity is tied up in a few things (hockey, universal health care) but none more powerful than a genteel anti-Americanism that tinges every political debate in the Great White North.
When Harper introduced anti-terror legislation called C-51, or "Canada's Patriot Act," after prominent attacks inspired by radical Islam, the wing nuts of Canada's left came out of the woodwork, painting the Prime Minister as a tyrant in the making.
His inaction on climate change -- a shrewd move for a near-petro state -- enraged the ecowarriors.
But the final straw came when Harper took a stand for an inclusive, but fully Westernized and assimilating Canada -- banning the niqab, or face veil, from being worn at citizenship swearing-in ceremonies. The din of the "culturally sensitive" left's cries was deafening -- "racist," "Islamophobe" and "anti-immigrant" entered the normally polite Canadian discourse.
What lies next for Canada is bad news for America and especially conservatives.
Canada under Harper's leadership was a conservative wonderland with balanced budgets, increasingly low taxes and a robust foreign policy aimed at taking on terrorists and bullies the world over. But that is poised to change under the Liberal Party's Trudeau, who promises to run deficits, pull out of the anti-ISIS operation in Iraq and Syria, and re-establish ties with Iran. He also wants to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.
Furthermore, although the abortion debate has been "settled" for a generation by repeated diktats from Canada's uber-leftist Supreme Court, Trudeau has stamped out dissent within his own party over abortion, where a thriving anti-abortion wing once existed.
Without Harper at the helm, the lessons of Canada's miracle -- surviving the financial crisis, balancing budgets, slashing red tape and taxes while maintaining a healthy welfare state -- will be lost to history as Trudeau's Liberals in a fit of pique roll back the gains the Great White North has made.
Politics is a fickle game and fatigue is a real phenomenon. Harper's achievements will be relegated to the dustbin of history.
As Shelley's "Ozymandias" reminds us, "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
