Dein erstes Forum » resulting in eight suspensions. Puig

Rory McIlroy feels there were plenty of positives to take from his first-round display at the Irish Open.The tournament host, who has missed the cut three years running in the event, briefly held a share of the lead on his way to an opening-round 67 at the K Club.McIlroy, who has never finished higher than seventh in nine appearances in his home Open, reached the turn in 32 and picked up further birdies at the 10th and 13th before carding his only dropped shot of the day with a three-putt bogey at the next. Three pars were followed by a final-hole birdie to hand the Northern Irishman outright second, two strokes behind early pace-setter Danny Willett. McIlroy mixed six birdies with one bogey during the opening day I thought I played very well, I gave myself plenty of chances, McIlroy told Sky Sports. Obviously it looks like we got the better of the conditions out there, but it was still tricky with the wind getting up.I feel like you still had to go out there and play the shots and I holed a few putts, which was nice to see. I had a little bit of a blip on 14, but apart from that obviously really happy with how I played today. This is still my third week in a row but I feel nice and fresh and coming off a three-week break after Augusta has definitely helped as well.I managed myself around the golf course well and five under was a good reflection of how I played.Masters champion Willett missed the cut by a shot in the Players Championship last week in his first event since Augusta but was in much better form here.He said: It was nice coming off a pretty poor week last week, getting here Monday, and trying to get some work done with my coach, and getting everything sorted out.This is the first time I have played this golf course and its just fantastic, every holes different. Theres a few really challenging holes, a few good, fun holes.It was a good day. Played some really good golf with some birdies to start with and then started getting hot with the putter.A 65 was far beyond my expectations for today, especially after waking up and looking out the window when it was miserable and raining.Watch the Irish Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live second round coverage begins on Friday from 9.30am. Also See:Willett sets Irish paceLatest leaderboardWATCH: The next McIlroy?Golf live on Sky Sports 4Jim Brown Browns Jersey . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. Greedy Williams Youth Jersey . Siddikur, whose previous win on the circuit came in Brunei three years ago, finished his bogey-free round with a birdie on the 18th for a total of 17-under 199. Indias Shiv Chowrasia, who has finished runner-up in this tournament twice, was in second place after a 66. http://www.footballbrownsnflprostore.com/Youth-Jim-Brown-Elite-Jersey/ .com) - The red-hot Los Angeles Kings will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Sundays clash at Rexall Place. Custom Cleveland Browns Jerseys . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Ozzie Newsome Jersey .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift.Each week, TSN Baseball Analyst Steve Phillips breaks down all the big stories and issues around Major League Baseball on TSN.ca. In this edition, he looks at Brett Lawries possible move to second base, whether or not JP Arencibia deserves to be the Blue Jays whipping boy and how the Dodgers should deal with baseball sensation Yasiel Puig. 1) The Toronto Blue Jays are considering having Brett Lawrie play second base when he comes off the DL. Where should he play in order for the Jays to field their best lineup? I cant stand when organizations continuously jockey players around from position to position assuming that it is no big deal. Here is how the conversations go: "Oh, just move him to second base from catcher. Craig Biggio did it." Then its, "Lets try to move him to third base now. His bat profiles as more of a third baseman." Then when it works and you get, "Wow, he looks pretty good at third base. He has excellent range. That range would really help us up the middle. Lets move him back to second base." When a player has versatility it is a blessing and a curse at times. Its a blessing because it allows a GM the ability to construct his team any number of different ways. This allows the manager to adapt and adjust to the ups and downs of a season - not only where injuries are at play, but also where underperformance may be hurting the team. The curse of versatility is that the player never feels stability and doesnt form an identity for what he is as a player. A change of position, especially in season can disrupt a players rhythm and confidence. It can force a player to focus so much on defence that his offence could suffer. Also, too many changes in a role can make a player or team think theres no plan in place and that the GM is flying by the seat of his pants. With all that being said, I like the move of Brett Lawrie to second base. The blessing is that the move allows Alex Anthopoulos to put his best defensive team on the field with Maicer Izturis or Mark DeRosa at third and Lawrie and Jose Reyes up the middle. Defensive improvement is a critical factor if the Jays are going to make a run in the second half. And Reyes and Lawrie could be dynamic up the middle for a long time. The range would be much improved up the middle than if Izturis or DeRosa play second. And Emelio Bonifacio has been less than stellar defensively at second base and is much better suited to be a super-sub. Consider that the Blue Jays second basemen have had twice as many chances (471) as the Jays third basemen (235) through the first 91 games of the season. The move also allows for the possibility of playing Edwin Encarnacion at third base and Adam Lind at first, so this would allow some flexibility at the DH role. And there will be more of a third base trade market at the deadline than with second. Guys like Mark Reynolds, Chase Headley, Placido Polanco, Martin Prado, Aramis Ramirez and Michael Young may be available to play third. The curse is the fear that moving Brett Lawrie back to second base could disrupt his batting. Disrupt what? Do you mean he might hit less than .209 if he moves to second base? I actually think for a struggling hitter like Lawrie (who is what I call a tryer), this move can help his hitting. When Lawrie struggles at the plate, he grips the bat tighter and tells himself he has to get a hit. He over-tries - when a hitter struggles at the plate he doesnt need to try harder he needs to relax more. The distraction of playing another position will actually cause less obsession about hitting for the over-tryer. I know because I was the same over-tryer as a hitter when I played. For the most part, I like the move because Lawrie seems energized by it. He recently tweeted, "Loved playin some 2 bag last night, feel comfortable every time out there, brings me back to my first 2 seasons over there #Deuces." If it makes the kid feel good about himself, takes away the obsession of hitting and creates roster flexibility, then its hard to find anything wrong with the move. Go for it! 2) JP Arencibia got into it with local media last week. They have been critical of his approach at the plate and his handling of the pitching staff. Does he deserve to be the teams whipping boy as John Gibbons called it? We all love to play the blame game. When something goes wrong we want to find the one person who is at fault and assign blame. Its fun. Its what fans do and its what the media does. Its easy. Its even easier when we can find one guy who is struggling in multiple areas. Theres rarely only one person to blame when something goes wrong in baseball. Its a team game - you win as a team and you lose as a team and I truly believe that. Whenever the pitchers struggle and perform below expectations, we start pointing fingers. Its the pitchers fault, the pitching coachs fault, the catchers fault or the GMs fault. That leaves out the possibility that the manager may not be managing them properly or the fielders behind the pitchers may not be catching the ball. Theres a lot of blame to pass around. Ultimately, when any one component of the team is struggling there are always multiple factors as to why and any number of people who assume responsibility. Make no mistake about it, JP Arencibia is responsible for the struggles of the starting pitchers. But only partially - he needs to own it. Hes also responsible for the success of the ALs second best bullpen. But only partially - hes allowed to own that too. The fact is that Arencibia strikes out too much and hes not a functional major league hitter with a .256 OBP with 13 BB and 95 strikeouts in 295 AB. But he also has 15 home runs, so he needs to own his strengths and shortcomings offensively too. Now Arencibia has become the target of a former pitcher in Dirk Hayhurst and a former catcher in Gregg Zaun. As ballplayers, we tend to point fingers at everyone before ourselves. Pitchers have a tendency of pointing fingers at the catcher and a former catcher can always find something wrong that a current catcher is doing. Even the best ones. This broadcast team automatically has a predisposition to overanalyze the catcher just because of their own respective experiences. Arencibias response to the criticism is understandable. Who likes to get ripped publicly? I sure dont, but its the nature of the beast. The criticism of him was not personal, but he made it personal in return. Thats a mistake. This is a war that JP cant win. The media always has the last word or the last tweet. Always. Why cant Arencibia just say, "Yes I feel responsible for the struggles of my starting staff. I know we are better than what we have performed. I am going to continue to work hard on getting the most out of each guy. I hope I can have the same success with our starters as I am having with the most worked and most successful bullpen in baseball." Then add, "As far as my offense goes I feel proud of the power production so far but that is not good enough. I know I need to make more contact and be more selective at the plate. I am going to continue to work on that." One thing Ive learned is that if I acknowledge my shortcomings, people move closer to me - not further away. When I acknowledge areas I need to improve, those analyzing me can relate to their own experience better. JP Arencibia doesnt deserve to be the whipping boy for anything. No one does. But if he isnt careful, hell find himself run out of towwn because hes picking a fight he has no chance of winning.dddddddddddd. 3.) ESPN is reporting that MLB will seek to suspend Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun for 100 games each, the punishment for a second offence, even though neither player has been suspended for PEDs before. Should MLB be allowed to do this - essentially punishing the players twice for the same alleged offence? Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun both have well-documented ties to PEDs in the past. Rodriguez gave the interview to Peter Gammons in which he confessed to using drugs for a limited and contained time frame after a Sports Illustrated story that he was one of the 104 players that tested positive for drugs in 2003. He admitted that he took performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers during a three-year period beginning in 2001. Ryan Braun became the first major league player to have a positive drug test overturned when an arbitration panel ruled in his favour on appeal and decided against a 50-game suspension. He got off on a technicality and didnt challenge the validity of the test result. He questioned the process of how his sample was handled. Despite avoiding the suspension, he still tested positive for PEDs. Both Braun and Rodriguez have made claims since that they are clean. Major League Baseball is considering 100-game bans for these two as is typical for second offenses under the Joint Drug Policy. The Commissioners Office sees receiving performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch and by lying about it as two offences. And I think this is a fair and appropriate penalty under the policy. It doesnt matter that there are no positive drug tests. The drug policy which the players agreed to calls for suspensions for a nonanalytical positive. Braves outfielder Jordan Schafer was the first nonanalytical positive which led to a suspension when he was tied to HGH in 2008. He hadnt failed a drug test, but was connected to the drug by anecdotal evidence. Guilt by association. Players have to be held accountable to tell the truth to the Commissioners investigators. If they lie, they should be punished. Even if the additional 50-game suspension for lying gets overturned under appeal, its worth the Commissioners Office pursuing the penalty. Its time for the Major League Baseball Players Association to be held accountable for their defence of cheating and lying players. So let the Union stand up and declare that even though the players lied, they shouldnt be penalized. Effectively let them defend that lying is okay - I would love to hear that argument! FAIR or FOUL Yasiel Puig, a Cuban defector with only 63 games of minor league experience has burst on the Major League baseball scene. He has taken over L.A. and is reminding Dodger fans of the days of Fernandomani, Nomomania and Mannymania. Hes a Dodger phenom that seems bigger than life. In just 35 games, hes hitting .394 with eight home runs and 19 RBI while scoring 27 runs. He has 56 hits in those 35 games. When he was called up, the Dodgers were 23-32 and have since gone 22-13. Hes completely turned their season around. Now not only has he electrified Dodger fans, he has captured the imagination of baseball fans everywhere. His jerseys are already the 10th highest number sold this year and hes only been a big leaguer for a little over a month. There have been more Puig jerseys sold than (Triple Crown winner) Miguel Cabrera jerseys. Weve debated the merits of his being an All-Star. Believe it or not, he received 842,915 write-in votes on All-Star ballots. He was a candidate for the NL Final Vote, but finished second. And hes as popular a player as baseball has right now. Yet it hasnt been a completely smooth transition to the major leagues for Puig. Just about a week after his call-up, Puig was hit with a pitch in a game versus Arizona that saw two bench-clearing incidents resulting in eight suspensions. Puig was an aggressor in the skirmishes and fined for his role, but he wasnt suspended, something that angered D-Backs players and others around the league as it seemed he received preferential treatment. In another instance, Puig was thrown out easily at the plate in a game against the Diamondbacks but he collided with catcher Miguel Montero and then stared him down as he walked back to the dugout. In yet another incident with the Diamondbacks, Puig was approached during batting practice by former Arizona star Luis Gonzalez. Gonzalez starting to talk to Puig about the start of the youngsters major league career and how he, like Puig, has family roots in Cuba. And Puig didnt give Gonzalez the time of day. It took Dodger hitting coach Mark McGuire to confront the young