Dein erstes Forum » plug your holes from within and build your team

SAN FRANCISCO - Bruce Bochy is crazy superstitious. Its a little-known fact about the unflappable San Francisco Giants manager.Mere mention of anything about a dynasty during the World Series made him uncomfortable. He felt equally uneasy when his name got linked to the best skippers of all-time — those Hall of Famers he well could join someday.Bochy doesnt have to worry about a jinx now. After winning its third championship in five seasons, the new label for his team looks as if it will stick.Dynasty blared the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday.The Giants closed it out with a 3-2 win in Game 7 at Kansas City on Wednesday night, sealed by Series MVP Madison Bumgarners five shutout innings as a reliever this time.A lot has to go right. First off, it starts with the talent, Bochy said. I mean, you need that, which we have. Then you have to deal with a lot of things maybe during the season. Every manager says, Hey, were fine, we have a good chance to get there if we stay healthy. But that doesnt always happen.In a remarkable every-other-year pattern, San Francisco somehow finds its best form in even years. With new faces and old ones, with castoffs and misfits and some key midseason acquisitions.Few clubs have captured three championships in a five-year span. The last National League team to do it was the St. Louis Cardinals with Stan Musial from 1942-46, so the Giants are the first of the free-agency era.The Oakland Athletics won three straight crowns in the early 1970s, and the New York Yankees captured four in five years from 1996-2000.Still, San Francisco was never considered a favourite or the best team in the regular season any of these times. Twice in this stretch, the Giants missed the playoffs altogether.After a runner-up finish in the NL West to the Dodgers at 88-74, they took the wild-card card route this time.On Wednesday night, Tim Hudson became a champion after a 16-year wait and Michael Morse got there following 10 major league seasons.Its the greatest group of guys I ever played with, Morse said. Its a group of guys who believe in each other and the outcome was a World Series victory.This city has had a football dynasty. So now the storied baseball franchise is doing its best to catch up with the NFL team in town. The Niners ruled in the late 80s and 90s, winning five Super Bowls.A unique element for Bochys latest winning roster is the talented crop of homegrown players who made it happen.There are the big names — Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval. And the emerging ones — Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik.You look at most of our team — like Joe, me, Buster, Pablo, Belt, Bum. Its loaded with a lot of good players and a lot of players who are pretty similar in kind of their approach to the game and theyre pretty even-keel, said Crawford, the shortstop.Pablos a little bit different but me, Joe, Belt, Bum, Buster, were all pretty levelheaded at any point in the game whatever part of the season it is, whether its playoffs or midway through the regular season. We dont really change. That says a lot with how well weve done in the playoffs and the post-season in recent years, he said.Nothings really too big for us, he added.Eight players have been on all three winning World Series teams: Bumgarner, slugging third baseman Sandoval, Posey and relievers Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, Santiago Casilla, Sergio Romo and Tim Lincecum. Matt Cain, too, but he was hurt this year.General manager Brian Sabean, longest-tenured in baseball, cant put a finger on why the mix keeps working. He is proud of the core of players who were drafted and came through the system and played such a huge part this time.Its a testament to player development and scouting. Thats what we all hope for, that you can plug your holes from within and build your team from within, Sabean said. Thats a surefire way to kind of keep things moving forward. It prevents you from having to go into the market, whether its free agency or more so the trade market.The Giants survived skids in June and September before winning the wild-card game at Pittsburgh. They then beat Washington in the Division Series and St. Louis in the NL Championship series.It has started with Bochy and his spot-on decision making, from resting the relievers regularly early in the season so hed have every one of them for the October run, to going with Bumgarner at every chance.But you have to play good baseball for six months, whatever, to get there, Bochy said. Once you get there, youve heard guys say, Well, its a crap shoot, but you have to play your best ball. You have to have the pitching. Thats obvious. But youve got to execute.For the Giants, its about every player doing his part and serving a role, because, as Sabean puts it, We dont have a star system here.Its everybodys got to pull on the same chain and everybodys got to be ready to play, he said. They understand the culture.Dynasty or not, Affeldt has solved a potential problem at home.The lefty reliever and Game 7 winner has three young sons — and, now, three championships.My three boys now all get to have rings on their finger, he said, And Im very happy about that. Jason Heyward Jersey . -- Creighton apparently has Villanovas number. Fergie Jenkins Jersey .com) - The Winnipeg Jets got over one hurdle by snapping their longest losing streak of the season. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Ryne...rg-Kids-Jersey/. -- Marty Havlat scored three goals for the first time in nearly nine years, and the San Jose Sharks prevented Colorado from clinching the Central Division title with a 5-1 victory over the Avalanche on Friday night. Addison Russell Jersey . Salah, who scored against Chelsea in two Champions League group matches this season, is Jose Mourinhos third significant recruit in the January transfer window after Nemanja Matic and Bertrand Traore. Javier Baez Jersey . A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the Steelers will part ways with the former Pro Bowler, a move that hardly serves as a surprise after fifth-year linebacker Jason Worilds agreed to accept a "transition player" tag last week.Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - The Kansas City Royals ensured theyll have all three main members of their dominant bullpen under contract for next season by exercising their 2015 team option on Wade Davis. Davis, who will earn $7 million next season, is coming off a sensational 2014 campaign in which the hard-throwing righty led all major league relievers with a 1.00 ERA and struck out 109 batters over 72 innings. The strikeout total was the most by a reliever in team history. The 29-year-old followed up by posting an 0.63 ERA over 12 appearances during Kansas Citys remarkable run to this years World Series, due in large parrt to the work of Davis, closer Greg Holland and Kelvim Herrera out of the bullpen.dddddddddddd Davis also recorded the win in two of the Royals four victories over Baltimore in the American League Championship Series. In two seasons since coming to Kansas City along with staff ace James Shields in a blockbuster trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, Davis has amassed a 14-3 record with a 1.65 ERA -- second only to Atlanta All-Star Craig Kimbrel among relievers over that stretch. The Royals announced earlier in the day that they have extended a qualifying offer to Shields, who is eligible for free agency. ' ' '