bring the tournament to North America from corse178's blog
LOS ANGELES -- Yasmani Grandal homered three times to drive in six runs, Justin Turner and Howie Kendrick added solo shots, and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 10-6 on Friday night, snapping a three-game skid. Semyon Varlamov Jersey .The teams combined for 28 hits and seven homers, including two by San Diegos Melvin Upton Jr.Both starters struggled mightily before leaving early. San Diegos Andrew Cashner gave up a career-high eight runs, while Los Angeles Scott Kazmir labored through a 31-pitch, 27-minute first inning in a game that lasted 3 hours, 45 minutes.Grandal had the first three-homer game of his career against his former team. He singled in the eighth, giving him a career-high five hits. He took a foul ball off his mask in the sixth. Grandal had hit .182 with two homers in 18 previous games against the Padres, who traded him to the Dodgers for outfielder Matt Kemp, who went 0 for 5.Pedro Baez (2-2) got the win in relief, allowing one hit in 2 2/3 innings.Kazmir allowed three runs and six hits in three innings, struck out five and walked three. The left-hander had been unbeaten in his previous 10 starts, losing for the first time since May 9.Cashner (3-7) lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up eight hits, including four homers, while striking out two and walking three. The Dodgers feasted on Cashners fastball, teeing off on it for their first eight runs.Upton led off the fourth with his 16th homer of the season on the first pitch from Louis Coleman, leaving San Diego trailing 8-4. Upton has seven homers in his last 12 games. Coleman gave up three runs and four hits in one-plus innings.The Dodgers extended their lead to 7-3 in the third. Grandal hit a three-run homer and Howie Kendrick followed with a solo shot, making it the second time this week and this season that the team had back-to-back homers.The Padres cut their deficit to 4-3 in the second on Uptons two-run homer.Los Angeles took a 4-1 lead in the first, scoring all its runs with two outs. Turner got things going with his solo homer. Adrian Gonzalez singled and scored -- going wide to avoid the tag with his left hand on the plate -- on Yasiel Puigs double. Grandal followed with his first home run of the game, driving in Puig.San Diego catcher Derek Norris left the game in the fourth with a right quad contusion, the result of a first-inning collision with Chase Utley. Alexei Ramirez grounded into a bases-loaded fielders choice to Utley at second and Norris ran into him, causing them both to fall down. Norris was out on runners interference.STARTING IN CENTER FIELDFrom Oklahoma City to starting in center field for the Dodgers was Andrew Toles. The 24-year-old outfielder had his contract purchased Friday and he made his major league debut after being out of baseball last year because of personal issues.He doubled in the second for his first big-league hit.Toles started for the Triple-A team Thursday night against Omaha and then caught an early flight to the West Coast. He began the season with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and moved on to Double-A Tulsa before joining OKC.He was on the radar because he can really hit, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.Regular center fielder Joc Pederson is on the DL and the team has a short bench, leading to Toles promotion.PADRES AGREE WITH CUBAN PITCHERThe Padres have agreed to terms with 17-year-old Cuban pitcher Adrian Morejon, pending a physical. The left-hander led Cubas 15-under league with 113 strikeouts in 68.0 innings in 2014, and had a 1.93 ERA while issuing 40 walks. Last year, he pitched in several Cuban leagues. In 2014, he started six games in the Cuban National Series for Mayabeque, with a 4.88 ERA.Ive watched a lot of video on him and Im very impressed, manager Andy Green said. His curveball, he can really spin it, real professional approach on the mound. I think more than anything this says our ownership is committed to building a winner.DODGERS MOVESTo make room for Toles on the active roster, the Dodgers optioned RHP Carlos Frias, who pitched four scoreless innings in the teams 6-0 loss Thursday, to Oklahoma City. To create room on the 40-man roster, Los Angeles designated INF Cole Figueroa for assignment. Also, to complete last weeks trade with Atlanta for RHP Bud Norris, the Dodgers acquired RHP Alec Grosser as the player to be named later. Grosser appeared in three games for Rookie-level Danville this year.TRAINERS ROOMPadres: RHP Tyson Ross (shoulder inflammation) reported discomfort in his twisted left ankle after playing catch from 120 feet at flat ground. There are no scheduled plans for him to throw off a mound. ... 2B Cory Spangenberg (pulled hamstring) was shut down midway through base-running drills during a rehab session and will be re-evaluated by team doctors.Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw is due to come off the DL after the All-Star break, but he will need additional time. Roberts said Kershaws back is improving daily, but the team wont put a timetable on him. ... Pederson is in Arizona, hasnt swung a bat yet and the team isnt sure how soon hell return after the break.UP NEXTPadres: RHP Luis Perdomo (3-3, 7.93 ERA) tossed a career high-tying six innings in his previous start Monday at Arizona, giving up three runs (two earned) and nine hits. He struck out five and walked none.Dodgers: RHP Brandon McCarthy (1-0, 0.00) makes his second start of the season after coming off the DL last weekend. He remains unbeaten in five career starts with the Dodgers, going 4-0 with a 4.82 ERA. He is 6-1 with a 3.73 ERA in eight career starts against San Diego. Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Colin Wilson Jersey . -- James Young couldnt wait to apply those tweaks to his jump shot, and the first one he made against UT Arlington told him it could be a good night. http://www.authentichockeyshopavalanche.com/Peter-Forsberg-Jersey/ . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. LONDON -- World Cup qualifying in North America is set to be overhauled to avoid shutting out the majority of countries in the CONCACAF region so early.CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani has instigated a review of an archaic format that leaves only six out of the regions 35 teams still in with a shot at qualifying for Russia in 2018.Alongside a potential new name to replace the corruption-tainted CONCACAF brand, revamping qualifying to be more inclusive has emerged as a key objective for Montagliani after five months in charge of the confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean.Something needs to change because you cant have 85 percent of your members who are on the outside looking in two years before the World Cup, Montagliani told The Associated Press. It doesnt make sense.Since qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, CONCACAF has used a system where teams play home and away in early rounds. Once 12 nations are remaining there are three groups of four, which produces six teams for a final round.The United States, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago are the last teams standing , chasing three of CONCACAFs automatic qualification places. Starting next month, they play each other twice in a league.Its great for those six teams over the next year and a bit but how about the other ones? Montagliani said. Its hard.Hard for players to raise their standard and hard for teams to generate revenue to fund soccer development.Caribbean countries have problems climbing the FIFA rankings, just because we are not able to play as many international games as you want to, John Krishnadath, president of the Suriname soccer federation, told the AP earlier this year, while also highlighting the high cost of traveling to matches.Surinames World Cup journey ended in June 2015 immediately after entering in the second round of CONCACAF qualifying. The first seven CONCACAF teams were eliminated back in March 2015. Its so long ago that Montagliani is the third president CONCACAF has had during qualifying for the 2018 tournament.Former CONCACAF head Jeffrey Webb was first arrested as part of the sprawling American investigation into soccer corruption in May 2015 and his temporary replacement, Alfredo Hawit, was indicted seven months later. Montagliani said CONCACAF competitions and the interests of teams were neglected in an era when the leadership was motivated by corruptly extorting money from the confederation and its commercial backeers. Erik Johnson Jersey. Can you imagine you are a country trying to find a sponsor and they say, `Im all for it, whens your next big game? And its three years from now, Montagliani said during an interview in London.So we seriously need to look at our World Cup qualifying system that is a bit archaic. We need to be a bit more all-encompassing. Were looking at how we balance competitions with our commercial (priorities) without putting too much stress on already too busy calendars as well.But Montagliani is certain qualifying must change, although there could be a proliferation of games that draw smaller crowds and little broadcast revenue.Discussing a new configuration, Montagliani said: Maybe its like the Europeans or maybe its like the South Americans with a league -- or its a hybrid of the two.In Europe, countries are split into nine groups, balanced according to their rankings, and play games from September 2016 to October 2017. The group winners qualify automatically and the eight best runners-up will contest playoffs for the remaining four UEFA spots in Russia.In South America, the 10 CONMEBOL members are in a two-year league that started in October 2015. The top four have guaranteed World Cup places and the fifth-place team has to go through a playoff against a country from Oceania.Each region will gain more automatic World Cup places if FIFA President Gianni Infantino achieves his mission to expand the finals from 32 to 48 teams by 2026 when CONCACAF is in a strong position to bring the tournament to North America.Separately, Montagliani is also exploring how to upgrade CONCACAFs premier club competition. The Champions League is currently nearing the end of its group stage -- featuring eight, three-team mini-leagues -- before a knockout phase, starting with quarterfinals.The Champions League is a real opportunity for us to grow that product because when you look at the latter stages of it, its quite good, really well attended and great TV audiences, Montagliani said. But the early stages are poor, not well attended and maybe not the best stadiums.So I think we need to rejig that so it really becomes an impactful event both for television and our fans and on the technical side so it is quality all the way through -- from the group stage to the final.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports Cheap Jerseys From China Wholesale Jerseys 2018 Discount NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping China Jerseys Cheap Jerseys NFL Cheap ' ' '
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