1-5, but gives the Sixers another potential lottery asset to go with thei

Its been 29 long years since the Kansas City Royals have been in this position. Eddie Murray Indians Jersey . Who can blame them for wanting to stick around a little longer? After one of the more thrilling games in baseball history the Royals continue their first postseason run since 1985 against Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Thursday in Game One of the American League Division Series at Angel Stadium. Kansas City outlasted Oakland in Tuesdays wild card game, as Salvador Perezs 12th-inning single scored Christian Colon to give the Royals a wild 9-8 come- from-behind victory in a contest that lasted 4 hours and 45 minutes. Thats the most incredible game that Ive ever been a part of, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Oakland had scored five times in the sixth to take a four-run lead, but the Royals crossed the plate four times in the final two innings to send the game to extra innings. The As then put themselves in front with a run in the top half of the 12th, only to see the Royals score twice in the bottom half to secure their first postseason win since 1985. Everyone is screaming at the top of their lungs, said Eric Hosmer, who scored the tying run in the 12th after a triple. I think we feed off their energy. You get a couple guys on base, you hear the crowd, everyone is on their feet like that, you feed off that energy. This team, this city, this crowd, everybody, theyve showed no quit. The victory may have taken Yost off the hook for his dubious use of the bullpen in what could have been a pivotal sixth inning. With starter James Shields at just 88 pitches, Yost opted to lift him after he put two runners on for rookie starter Yordano Ventura, who threw 73 pitches on Sunday, rather than Kelvin Herrera. Ventura proceeded to give up a three-run homer and before the inning was done, the Royals trailed, 7-3. You know, when we have these games, we map out our pitching, and we try to cover all scenarios. If something happens early, weve got (veteran starter Jeremy) Guthrie. If we get it past the fifth inning, were going with our power arms. ... We wanted to bring the gas for the sixth, and we wanted to bring the gas for the seventh with Herrera, Wade (Davis) and (Greg Holland) with a one-run lead. It just didnt work out. With Shields unavailable, the Royals will turn to veteran left-hander Jason Vargas, who will be making his first-ever postseason start against the team he pitched for last season. You know, I feel great, Vargas said, Its a lot of trust put in me, so I feel good about it. The fact that its a team that I played for before and played for last year, I think all of us have friends throughout baseball, so when we get in between the lines, its just us vs. them. Vargas was 11-10 with a 3.71 ERA in his first year with the Royals, but stumbled to the finish line, going 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA over his final four starts. Like most of our guys, hes gone through really, really good stretches and then some struggles in sections of the season, Yost said. What he does so well is commands his fastball in, commands his fastball down and away, has a tremendous changeup and a nice curveball. He keeps everybody off balance because when they start looking for the changeup, hell pound you in. When you start looking in, he starts throwing you the changeup and mixing in his curveball every once in a while. Vargas is certainly familiar with the Angels and is 5-4 with a 3.02 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) against them. Los Angeles, meanwhile, steamrolled its way to an AL West title, going an MLB- best 98-64, to get back into the postseason for the first time in five years. Things looked bleak, though, for the Angels on Aug. 20 when emerging ace Garrett Richards was lost for the season with a knee injury. However, rookie Matt Shoemaker and veteran Jered Weaver picked up the slack for an Angels team that eventually won the division by 10 games. Shoemaker has his own injury concerns, but the ribcage strain that caused him to miss the final two weeks of the season appears to he healed and he should be ready to go in this series. Weaver reverted back to ace form this season and will be on the hill Thursday. Weaver, a college teammate of Vargas, tied for the AL lead in wins and was 18-9 with a 3.59 ERA. We have that opportunity again to extend our season, Weaver said, and its up to us to try to decide on how far we want to go with this. Weve got a great group of guys. Its been a fun clubhouse to be part of this whole season, and were going to push on to get our main goal -- and that is to win. Trout, of course, could be on his way to an AL MVP Award this season and will be making his postseason debut in this his third season. He hit .287 to go along with 115 runs scored, while setting career-highs with 36 home runs and 111 RBI. However, he did lead the AL with 184 strikeouts. Trout is a special player, Angels teammate and three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols said. Players like him dont come often, maybe once every 30 or 40 years. This city is blessed to see a young player like Trout. Trout could not have asked for a better opponent in his maiden voyage into the postseason. In 19 career games against Kansas City, Trout is hitting .361 with seven homers and a 1.154 OPS. Los Angeles split six games with the Royals during the season with each team taking two of three in their ballpark. This is the first postseason meeting between the Angels and Royals, former division rivals in the American League West from 1969-93. Joe Charboneau Indians Jersey . De La Rosa pitched six strong innings to win his sixth consecutive decision, Todd Helton homered and the Colorado Rockies snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers six-game winning streak with a 7-5 victory on Wednesday night. Lou Boudreau Jersey . Browns advice worked. Irving scored 20 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, and Cleveland defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 88-82 Saturday night. Irving made his first shot of the night on a layup a little over three minutes into the game. https://www.cheapindiansonline.com/2628u-roberto-alomar-jersey-indians.html . However, Jim Popp isnt sure how long hell be able to admire wide receiver Duron Carter.In a move for the future, the Philadelphia 76ers traded their best player in order to get an injured lottery pick with great potential. Numbers Game looks at the move sending PG Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for highly-touted C Nerlens Noel. The Pelicans Get: PG Jrue Holiday and the 42nd pick in the 2013 draft (used to take PG Pierre Jackson). Jrue Holiday, 23, is coming off a career-best season in which he scored 17.7 points and had 8.0 assists with 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Hes at the low end of a rare group of players that scored 17 points with seven assists, four rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, as LeBron James and Russell Westbrook were the only other players to meet all those thresholds. For all that statistical production, Holidays defensive play wasnt as effective as it had been in previous seasons, perhaps a reflection of his increased offensive workload, as he attempted a career-high 16.5 shots per game. Nevertheless, as well as Greivis Vasquez played for New Orleans last season, Holiday is a better option going forward, both as an offensive creator and on the defensive end of the floor. Signed for four years and $44-million, Holiday is a quality addition for the Pelicans, one that could push them towards contending for a playoff spot next season, provided that PF Anthony Davis and SG Eric Gordon can stay healthy. Jackson is a decent value pick at No. 42. Hes a small (5-foot-11) and quick point guard who can get to the rim and shoot a little bit, so he could give the Pelicans nice depth at the position, if he sticks. The 76ers Get: C Nerlens Noel annd a 2014 first-round pick. Terry Francona Indians Jersey. . Nerlens Noel was the sixth pick in the 2013 draft, slipping from what likely would have been the top selection had he remained healthy. Unfortunately, Noel suffered a torn ACL in February, putting his status for next season in doubt, but a year to rehabilitate his injury will also allow Noel time to get stronger, as hes a very lean 7-footer. The 19-year-old is still a work in progress offensively -- he didnt score 20 points in any of his 24 games at Kentucky, though he did shoot 59.0% from the field -- but hes athletic and young enough that he has time to develop that aspect of his game. The addition of Noel, at the cost of their best player last season, makes it likely that the Sixers will struggle next season, but thats part of the plan. The pick they receive from New Orleans is protected for picks 1-5, but gives the Sixers another potential lottery asset to go with their own pick that is likely going to be in the lottery too. Those two picks plus Noel will become the building blocks for the future of the franchise. Whichever team ended up taking Noel in this draft was facing the prospect of one step back to take two steps forward and the Sixers were bold enough to take that chance. For the Pelicans, they already have their Kentucky shot blocker -- last years No. 1 pick, Anthony Davis -- and have enough pieces to show a little more urgency in their bid to become a playoff contender. 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. ' ' '