#1

Behind in the count 2-0

in Diamondcraft - Registration Sat Jan 18, 2020 6:04 am
by Cl11234566 • 420 Posts

SAN DIEGO -- It was a rally that truly came out of left field. James Ward won 10 of the last 11 games to take a stunning five-set victory against Sam Querrey and give Britain a 2-0 lead against the United States in the first round of the Davis Cup on a temporary red clay court in the outfield of Petco Park, the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. Ward, ranked 175th in the world, was two games from losing the match when he began his rally that gave him a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory. With dusk approaching and the lights on at the downtown baseball park, Ward won the match with an overhand smash. He leaned back, pumped his fists and hollered as his teammates, watching from one side of the court, jumped to their feet in celebration. "Its great to be around a group of guys you dont really have the support of normally, every week of the year," Ward said "Its certainly a different feeling. Youre not just playing for yourself, youre playing for everyone else." Wards victory in 3 hours, 11 minutes, followed Wimbledon champion Andy Murrays easy straight-set victory against Donald Young, who was making his Davis Cup debut. Murray has won 17 straight Davis Cup singles matches. Britain can clinch the match on Saturday if it wins doubles. Murray and Colin Fleming are scheduled to face Bob and Mike Bryan. Captains have until an hour before the match to make any changes. Murray, who had back surgery in September, said he feels good to go for doubles. Querrey, the United States No. 1 singles player in this tournament and ranked No. 49 in the world, had a 4-2 lead in the fourth set after winning the sixth game at love. But Ward rallied to win the next four games and the set to force a deciding fifth set. He jumped to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set before Querrey broke serve with a bleeder over the net to pull to 4-1. Ward then closed out the match. Ward didnt break Querreys serve until the eighth game of the fourth set to tie it at 4-4. "I thought Sam served really well from the beginning to the first three sets," Ward said. "It wasnt me returning badly. He made a lot of good serves. But in the end I got some chances and it happened." Ward improved to 9-5 in Davis Cup play. "Look, I love playing for my country," he said. "Every time I do it, it obviously brings something out in me thats a bit different, which I didnt see in the first set." He said team captain Leon Smith told him to come out of his shell. "And I did," Ward said. Ward said his parents travelled to San Diego for the match and are staying with long-time friends. "I came here when I was a kid," he said. "People always said, Where is your favourite place in the world youve been, and I have often said San Diego. Its a great place. I love being here. Again, to play a great match like today was pleasing." Querrey said he was "a little bummed obviously that I couldnt help the team. But its not over. You have to win three points. And if we can bounce back tomorrow and Bob and Mike win the doubles and then I think our side takes two on Sunday. "I thought he played well," Querrey said of Ward. "He came up with some good shots. A few break points that I had earlier, maybe if I had come through on those it could have been different. But he played well throughout the match. I started missing a few first serves when I needed them. But he did a good job of putting returns in later in the match and ended the match." U.S. captain Jim Courier said Ward played the way the Americans thought he would. "He was up, he was down, he was all over the place, but in the end he fought all the way through and the quality he showed shined through." Murray overwhelmed Young 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in 1:38 in the opener of the World Group match. Murray was barely challenged by Young. The two-time Grand Slam winner took leads of 5-0 in the first set and 5-1 in the second set. Young never broke serve but took the sixth game of the third set to four deuces before the British star had an ace and then won when Young netted a backhand. "I played a good match today," Murray said. "I gave him very few opportunities when I was serving. I gave him a couple in the third set which was due to his good play and him playing better and me making some mistakes. But overall it was a good match for me." Murray, who had back surgery in September, said playing a relatively short match on Friday gives him a good chance of playing in the doubles match Saturday. "That obviously helps," he said. "Weekends like this you want to try conserve as much energy as you can when possible. Days can be quite long, and playing three days in a row is challenging so its good to get one three sets so we have options when we play tomorrow." In other World Group matches, France leads Australia 2-0, Kazakhstan leads Belgium 2-0, Germany is up 2-0 against Spain and Switzerland leads Serbia 2-0. The Canada-Japan, Italy-Argentina and Netherlands-Czech Republic matches are tied 1-1. Bruce Clark Jersey . Scotlands Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half. "The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against," Laidlaw said. Marques Colston Jersey . Paul George and Darren Collison each scored 17 points and Roy Hibbert added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers (9-3), who won their third straight. http://www.customsaintsjersey.com/custom...arge-72e.html.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills will head into the regular season short on experience at quarterback after trimming the roster on Friday. Hoby Brenner Jersey . Rookie Marek Mazanec made 39 saves for his first NHL victory and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2 Saturday night. Dwayne Washington Jersey .com) - The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies have finalized their agreed-upon trade that sends former National League MVP Jimmy Rollins to the West Coast for a pair of minor league pitching prospects. TORONTO -- Even the pinch-hit return of Jose Bautista could not help the Toronto Blue Jays. The all-star right-fielder appeared in his first game in a week, pinch hitting in the sixth inning but grounding in to a force out on Sunday as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Blue Jays 4-0, Torontos third loss in a row. "Hopefully, Bautistas back in here the next couple of games to give us kind of a jolt in the lineup," said Blue Jays left-hander Mark Buehrle who took the loss despite holding the White Sox to two runs in eight innings. Chicago got seven strong innings from left-hander Jose Quintana (5-7) and a home run and a double from right-fielder Moises Sierra, who started the season with Toronto. Bautista, who did not play in at all the in the previous six games because of a mild left hamstring strain, hopes that he will be able to return full-time by Tuesday when the Blue Jays next play. "Everybody knows I cant go out on the field and not be 100 per cent," Bautista said before the game after testing the leg by running. "Hopefully by Tuesday I feel better and I can be in the outfield. If not I can DH the whole game and play the day after." The return of the right-fielder cannot come soon enough. The Blue Jays finished with a 12-15 record in June after winning the first five games of the month. They lead the American League East despite losing nine of their past 13 games. The Blue Jays won only the opener of the four-game series against the White Sox (39-44) who are fourth in the American League Central. Besides Bautistas potent right-handed bat, Toronto (45-39) is also without Brett Lawrie who is on the disabled list with a broken right index finger. "Theyre a big part of it, no question about that," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons . "Really its been a couple of weeks weve been cold, regardless. We had some games in there we put some runs up. Overall, since our big streak (21-9 in May), weve cooled off quite a bit there. We need to get going. Today was just kind of flat, one of those dead days. "Buehrle pitched good enough to win, he really did. He did what he always does. We got zero going and its frustrating." Torontos hitters are frustrated with the scoring drought as well. "It is hard because you never know whos going to be in the lineup," said Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes who had a double and a single on Sunday. "Theres a lot of different people every single day, coming up from the minor leagues and stuff. People need to step it up. If we want to continue to be in first place we need to play better baseball." Quintana held the Blue Jays to three hiits and two walks while striking out seven.dddddddddddd Hes won back-to-back starts. Buehrle (10-5), who has not won since June 1, lost for the fourth time in his past five starts. He allowed six hits, two walks and two runs while striking out five against in his second career start against his former team. White Sox designated hitter Jose Abreu extended his hit streak to 14 games with an RBI single in the third inning. He drove in second baseman Gordon Beckham who hit a two-out double. Sierra hit his second homer of the season with one out in the fourth to put the White Sox into a 2-0 lead. Chicago claimed Sierra off waivers from the Blue Jays on May 3. Buehrle knows Sierra will chase pitches out of the strike zone from watching him Toronto but lamented his change-up down the middle of the plate. "I pretty much teed one up for him and thats what hes supposed to do with it," Buehrle said. The Blue Jays did not have as many as two runners on base in an inning until the sixth when Reyes doubled with one out and designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion walked with two out. That brought out Bautista, who had not played since June 22, to bat for catcher Dioner Navarro. Reyes took third on a wild pitch as Bautista worked the count to 3-2 on Quintana. But he hit a ground ball to shortstop and Encarnacion was forced out at second to end the inning. "I tried to keep the ball down with him," Quintana said. "Behind in the count 2-0, I wanted to keep the ball away. After Im behind in the count, I just tried to get the round ball." The White Sox added two runs in the ninth against right-hander Sergio Santos on a single by catcher Tyler Flowers. It scored first baseman Paul Konerko who walked with one out and took third on Sierras double. Left-hander Eric Surkamp pitched the eighth and right-hander Jake Petricka took over for the ninth. NOTES: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 33,177. a.Left-handed reliever Brett Cecil (groin), who is on the disabled list, will start his minor-league rehabilitation assignment with triple-A Buffalo on Monday. aBautista injured the hamstring while beating out a bunt on June 22 at Cincinnati. aLeft-fielder Melky Cabrera also was not in the lineup with Darin Mastroianni starting in his place. Cabrera, who needed a day off and has not hit Quintana well in his career, pinch hit unsuccessfully in the eighth against Surkamp. aThe Blue Jays have Monday off before concluding their home stand with two afternoon games against the Milwaukee Brewers with right-hander Drew Hutchison (5-6, 4.00) facing right-hander Marco Estrada (7-4, 5.06 ERA) on Tuesday. ' ' '

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