Black- and Whitelist » Serb Bojana Jovanovski

DETROIT - A runaway title in a division of behemoths, then an unexpected sweep against a trio of Cy Young winners.For Nelson Cruz, Buck Showalter and this unheralded bunch from Baltimore, the question now is: Whats next?Cruz sliced a two-run homer for his latest big post-season hit, and the Orioles held off the Detroit Tigers 2-1 Sunday to reach the AL Championship Series for the first time since 1997.Bud Norris outpitched David Price in Game 3 of the AL Division Series. The Tigers scored in the ninth inning and put the tying run on second with no outs, but Orioles closer Zach Britton escaped the jam to lift Showalter into his first LCS in 16 seasons as a big league manager.This is fun to watch. Believe me, Im happier than you can imagine, Showalter said. But most of it comes from getting to see the players get what theyve put into it.Baltimore opens the ALCS on Friday at home against Kansas City. The Royals won the season series 4-3.Weve got a lot to go and were grinding, outfielder Adam Jones said. If we play as a team, we can do anything.So often an afterthought in the rugged AL East, the Orioles won their first division title since 1997 this year, dispatching the second-place New York Yankees by 12 games a€” and last-place Boston by more than double that margin. That put Baltimore up against another of the games most star-laden rosters, and Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and the Tigers couldnt manage a single win.Cruzs homer Sunday was his 16th in post-season play, including eight against the Tigers. He was the MVP of the 2011 ALCS for Texas in a six-game victory over Detroit.Cruz spent much of this past off-season without a team after serving a 50-game suspension last year for violating baseballs drug agreement.He knows things were self-inflicted, Showalter said. He really wanted to re-establish himself, and we thought that we could provide a real good opportunity for him, and the sky might be the limit.Norris pitched two-hit ball for 6 1-3 innings, and Andrew Miller got five straight outs to keep the shutout going.Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez opened the ninth with back-to-back doubles off Britton. Bryan Holaday struck out after a failed bunt attempt, and Showalter made the unconventional decision to put the winning run on base by intentionally walking Nick Castellanos.That meant the bottom of Detroits lineup would have to come through. The Tigers sent up Hernan Perez a€” who had five at-bats in the regular season a€” to pinch hit, and he bounced a 96 mph fastball into a 5-4-3 double play. It was Brittons second save of the series.Cruz led the majors with 40 homers this season, and the Orioles topped baseball with 211. It was his two-run homer in the first inning of the opener that set the series tone, and he came through again in the sixth inning against Price. Cruzs drive cleared the wall in right, about 2 feet to the left of the foul pole.Not bad for a guy the Orioles signed in late February. Cruz turned down a $14.1 million qualifying offer that would have kept him with Texas a€” but he ended up having to settle for an $8 million, one-year contract with Baltimore that included $750,000 in roster bonuses.Cruzs powerful bat enabled the Orioles to withstand season-ending injuries to Manny Machado and Matt Wieters, as well as Chris Davis 25-game suspension for an amphetamine violation.If you tell me before the series were going to sweep, I dont believe it, Cruz said.Detroit won its fourth straight AL Central this year. But after reaching at least the ALCS the last three seasons, Detroit couldnt make it there this year. The Tigers remain without a World Series title since 1984 a€” a drought one year shorter than Baltimores.Its disappointing. You feel like you let the fans down and you feel like you let the organization down, said Brad Ausmus, who replaced Jim Leyland as Detroits manager after last season.Detroit acquired Price at this years trade deadline, adding another impressive arm to an already-formidable rotation. Max Scherzer, Price and Verlander are the ALs last three Cy Young Award winners, and the Tigers started them all in this series. Verlander and Cabrera have combined for the last three MVP awards.No use against a Baltimore team that had already surprised most of baseball with a 96-win regular season.We got beat. Theres all there is to say, Scherzer said. We got outplayed in the series in every facet.After dropping the first two games of the ALDS in Baltimore a€” the second thanks to an eighth-inning collapse by the bullpen a€” the Tigers returned home to a fairly subdued crowd at Comerica Park.In the third, Don Kelly was on second with one out when Torii Hunter hit a grounder to the left side. Kelly was caught between second and third and tried to slide headfirst back to second. Second baseman Jonathan Schoop initially dropped the throw from shortstop J.J. Hardy, then quickly picked up the ball and tagged Kelly.An umpire supervisor said through Major League Baseball spokeswoman Phyllis Merhige that Schoop was still in the act of fielding the ball, so it was not obstruction.It was probably more incidentally than anything else, going after the ball, Ausmus said. I dont know that anything could be done in that situation.TRAINERS ROOMDetroit OF Rajai Davis was out of the starting lineup with a pelvic strain. He lined out as a pinch- hitter in the seventh. Tigers C Alex Avila left in the sixth after taking a foul ball off the mask.UP NEXTBaltimore reached the ALCS in 1996 and 1997, losing to the Yankees and Cleveland. The Orioles went 3-4 against Kansas City this season and 4-2 against the Angels. Nike Air Max 95 Günstig Kaufen . - The first sign that Kansas Speedway was going to be a heartbreaker for Hendrick Motorsports should have come during qualifying when Jimmie Johnson inexplicably spun and earned one of his worst starting spots since 2005. Nike Air Max 97 Günstig . The shortstop still grieves, but it will be nights like the one Segura had in a 5-2 victory Monday over the Cincinnati Reds that will provide some distraction. http://www.shopairmaxschweiz.com/air-max-95-fake-kaufen.html. The rest of the team was already on the field stretching before batting practice while Puig was getting dressed in the clubhouse. He had been slated to start in right field for the afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants, who beat the Dodgers 8-4. Nike Air Max 270 Schweiz Günstig . -- Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe was alert and recovering at a Denver hospital Saturday after suffering seizure-like symptoms when the teams bus pulled into the airport Friday afternoon for the flight to Kansas City. Air Max Günstig Outlet . DArnaud hit one of three doubles for the Mets as they took a 4-0 lead in the first. Then the catchers seventh home run of the season broke the game open in the fifth. The 41-year-old Colon (10-8) retired the first 20 batters in his last outing Wednesday against Seattle, eventually allowing two runs on three hits in 7 1-3 innings in a 3-2 win.Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Maria Sharapova survived, and in more ways than one on Thursday at the Australian Open. Sharapova, the 2008 champion and this years third seed, outlasted Italys Karin Knapp 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 in a 3 1/2-hour marathon second-round match that was played in sweltering heat before the roof was closed at Rod Laver Arena. "Im really happy to get through," said Sharapova. "I really am. I worked really hard in the last few months and I wanted this match. I didnt play my best tennis. I didnt do many things well. I got through it, and sometimes thats whats important." Also getting through to the third round were Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska, but in much easier fashion. Azarenka, the two-time defending champion and second seed, claimed a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while the fifth-seeded Radwanska notched a 6-0, 7-5 win over Olga Govortsova. Sharapova and Knapp opened play Thursday at Laver Arena and the decision to close the roof and halt action on the outer courts because of oppressive heat was made during the match. Rules, therefore, stipulated that the match conclude before the roof could be closed. The two gutted it out through a 108-degree temperature with high humidity. Knapp had Sharapova on the ropes in the third set, holding an 8-7 lead, but the Russians experience came through down the stretch. After holding serve for 8-8, Sharapova broke Knapp to go on top before the four-time Grand Slam champ closed out the contest on her serve. It wasnt easy, however, as Sharapova gave Knapp three points with double-faults in the 18th game before finally prevailing on her fourth match point when Knapp missed on a backhand. "I was up a set and a break and I had many opportunities to finish the match faster," noted Sharapova. "So I would have loved for it to finish faster, but thats what I got and I have to deal with the circumstances. Im all right with that. Im a competitor here, and I worked hard to get through that match. I will have to work just as hard to get through the next ones." Next up for Sharapova, who was an Aussie Open runner-up in 2007 and 2012, will be 25th-seeded Alize Cornet of France after she earned a hard-fought 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 decision over Italys Camila Giorgi. Azarenka, who beat Sharapova for the 2012 title, opened the night session and played under the roof at Laver Arena. She had little trouble in a 34-minute first set, but struggled to polish off Zahlavova Strycova, needing nearly an hour to win the second set. "There was just a moment when I just felt I dropped my intensity a little bit and was watching her a little bit too much," said Azarenka about the second set. "Im glad I could just turn it around in the end and really get back into it and play the way I was playing in the first set." Azarenka will encounter Austrian Yvonne Meusburger in the round of 32. Radwanska had a similar match on Thursday, winning 25 off the 34 points played in a 24-minute first set.dddddddddddd Govortsova made the four-time Aussie Open quarterfinalist work in the second set before ultimately falling. "I started really well today," said Radwanska, who also was able to play indoors at Hisense Arena. "I think then she tried to play more aggressive in the second set and I think I did step backwards, unfortunately. Suddenly I was a break down. But just very happy that I could manage to win that second set and finish the match." Next for Radwanska will be Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Luxembourgs Mandy Minella. Former world No. 1s Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki also advanced, as did American Sloane Stephens. The eighth-seeded Jankovic thumped Japans Ayumi Morita 6-2, 6-0, while the 10th-seeded Wozniacki went the distance in a 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 triumph over American Christina McHale. Stephens, seeded 13th this year after her surprising semifinal run last year, rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Croatias Ajla Tomljanovic. Up next for Jankovic will be Japans Kurumi Nara, who took out 32nd-seeded Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4, 6-3, while Wozniacki will next play Spains Garbine Muguruza, a 6-3, 6-3 victor over Slovakias Anna Schmiedlova, and Stephens will next face Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Australias Olivia Rogowska. The hot Muguruza is fresh off her first-ever WTA title in Hobart last week. Eleventh-seeded Romanian Simona Halep bounced back from a slow start against American Varvara Lepchenko to claim a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win, setting up a third- round matchup with Kazakhstans Zarina Diyas, who downed New Zealands Marina Erakovic by a 6-4, 6-0 margin. Carla Suarez Navarro needed a late rally to fend off Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, as the 16th-seeded Spaniard secured her place in the next round with a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 8-6 victory. Slovakias Dominika Cibulkova, the 20th seed, awaits Suarez Navarro in the third round after cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Swiss Stefanie Voegele, and the aforementioned Meusburger dismissed 33rd-seeded Serb Bojana Jovanovski 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The excessive heat forced play on the outer courts to be suspended for a few hours and rain also delayed play. The third round will commence Friday, including matches for five-time champion Serena Williams and two-time Aussie Open runner-up Li Na. The world No. 1 and reigning U.S. and French Open champion Williams will face 31st-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, while the fourth-seeded Li will battle 26th-seded Czech Lucie Safarova. Li lost to Azarenka in last years Melbourne finale. Also on Friday, last weeks Sydney runner-up, ninth-seeded German Angelique Kerber, will meet upstart American Alison Riske and 14th-seeded former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic will tangle with 17th-seeded former U.S. Open champ and heavy Aussie crowd favorite Sam Stosur. The former French Open winner Ivanovic was an Aussie Open runner-up to Sharapova in 2008. ' ' '