sakura

Catch a doubleheader of September baseball action on TSN2 tonight. Manny Trillo Jersey . First, tied for top spot in the AL Central, division rivals go head-to-head when the Detroit Tigers host the Kansas City Royals. Then, the NL Wild Card-leading San Franciso Giants entertain the Arizona Diamondbacks. All the action gets underway at 7pm et/4pm pt. Royals at Tigers – 7pm et/4pm pt (TSN2) Rick Porcello has gotten the better of James Shields twice already this season. With a chance to move past Kansas City for first place in the American League Central, Porcello will try to make it a hat trick on Wednesday evening as the Detroit Tigers go for a three-game sweep of the Royals. Porcello is 15-10 with a 3.30 earned run average this season, but yielded six runs — three earned — and 11 hits over 6 2/3 frames of a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31. The right-hander followed up with another setback to San Francisco on Friday, charged with six runs, one of them unearned, and 10 hits over a mere three innings of work. „It was a combination of some good pitches that got hit and some bad pitches that got hit, and they capitalized on all of them,“ Porcello said. The 25-year-old has allowed only three runs over 14 innings in a pair of wins over the Royals this year, defeating Shields both times. Shields goes up against Porcello again tonight and is 0-2 with a 5.49 ERA in three meetings with the Tigers overall on the year. Shields has won four of his last five decisions and pitched a gem last time out to get a 1-0 win over the New York Yankees on Friday. The righty gave up three hits and struck out six over 8 1/3 scoreless innings, retiring 11 in a row before allowing a one-out single in the ninth. „Any time you face this team its going to be a grind,“ Shields said. „To be able to pitch like that and save our bullpen for our road trip was nice.“ The 32-year-old Shields is 13-7 this season with a 3.23 ERA. Kansas City has lost 11 of 15 to Detroit this season, and allowed the Tigers to pull into a tie atop the AL Central by losing the first two games of this series. The Royals had won five of six overall coming in. Max Scherzer, who was roughed up for a career high-tying 10 runs in a meeting with Kansas City on June 17, held the Royals to one run over 6 2/3 frames in last nights 4-2 Detroit win. Rajai Davis smacked a two-run homer and J.D. Martinez added a solo shot in the triumph, Detroits third in a row overall. „This is a huge series and were getting huge wins,“ Scherzer said. „Were playing great as a team and everybody is contributing.“ The Royals nearly came back, putting their first two runners on base against Joe Nathan in the ninth, but the closer struck out Alex Gordon, picked off pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson at second base and fanned Salvador Perez to notch his 30th save of the season. Jason Vargas surrendered four runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings for Kansas City. „Two mistake pitches, both of them in the middle of the plate,“ Vargas said of his two homers allowed. While Kansas City closer Greg Holland remains out due to a tight right triceps, Detroit reliever Joakim Soria is expected to be activated off the disabled list before tonights game. Soria, acquired from Texas on July 23, has been out since suffering a strained oblique on Aug. 9 and will provide a boost to the bullpen bridge to closer Nathan. Diamondbacks at Giants – 10pm et/7pm pt (TSN2) The San Francisco Giants continue their push toward the postseason on Wednesday when they play the second of three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. San Francisco drew first blood in this series on Tuesday, as Yusmeiro Petit tossed another complete game against his former team, going the distance in the Giants 5-1 win. Petit was masterful, throwing an incredibly efficient 68 of his 84 pitches for strikes. The 29-year-old kept his pitch count low despite striking out a season high-tying nine batters. „Hes been a lift for us,“ said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. „He was hitting his spots tonight.“ Petit (5-3) was charged with a run on four hits in his first complete game since just over a year ago. He tossed a one-hitter against the D-backs on Sept. 6, 2013. The pitching performance overshadowed a career-best 5-for-5 effort at the plate from Joe Panik. Angel Pagan went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and Buster Posey drove in two runs for San Francisco, which has won seven straight games at home and pulled within 2 1/2 games of Los Angeles for the NL West lead. The Dodgers lost to San Diego Tuesday night. San Francisco is currently first in the NL wild card standings. Panik, Pagan, Gregor Blanco and Petit accounted for all 12 Giants hits. San Francisco chased D-backs starter Wade Miley (7-11) after just two innings. Miley fell to 0-3 over his last five starts after giving up three runs on five hits and four walks. „I felt really, really good,“ Miley said. „Thats the most frustrating part. I felt really good in the bullpen. Just couldnt execute my fastball. Couldnt throw it close to where I wanted to throw it.“ Heading to the hill for the Giants on Wednesday will be righty Ryan Vogelsong, who is 8-10 with a 4.06 ERA. Vogelsong absorbed the loss last Wednesday in Colorado and looked bad in doing so, as he was rocked for eight runs and 10 hits in just five-plus innings. „Its an adventure out there,“ Vogelsong said. „The ball flies, especially during the day. Then every kind of bloop shot falls in because guys have to play so deep. Their infield grass is really quick, too. So it seems like a lot of ground balls get through that dont at a lot of places. Put that together and youre looking at a long day.“ Vogelsong has faced the D-backs 19 times (13 starts) and is 3-5 with a 4.67 ERA. Arizona, meanwhile, will counter with righty Josh Collmenter, who has won his last two decisions. Collmenter beat the San Diego Padres last Wednesday, holding them to a run and five hits over seven innings, as he improved to 10-7 to go along with a 3.81 ERA. He has allowed just two runs over his last three starts, spanning 21 2/3 innings. „Ive been able to locate, move the ball in and out and mix pitches up,“ Collmenter said. „Thats my game plan. Just trying to force contact. I dont want to be a guy that walks guys and gets behind in the count. Today I was a little more erratic than the last couple, but I was still able to make some pitches when I needed to and guys made some good plays for me.“ Collmenter is 5-1 lifetime versus the Giants with a 3.74 ERA in 16 games (5 starts). San Francisco is 9-5 this season against Arizona. Wholesale Custom Cubs Shirts .Hammel pitched inside more and it helped him get into the seventh inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night. Rod Beck Jersey . The Islanders own the fifth pick in the 2014 draft but had until June 1 to decide whether to keep it or defer to 2015. The selection was packaged in the teams deal for Thomas Vanek on October 27, 2013.(SportsNetwork.com) – The New York Islanders will try to rebound from a surprising loss when they continue a road trip with Tuesdays battle against the Vancouver Canucks. The Islanders, who are tied with Pittsburgh for the Metropolitan Division lead, carried a three-game winning streak into Sundays game against the NHLs basement dwellers, the Edmonton Oilers. New York would lose the contest by a 5-2 score, as the Oilers dealt the Isles only their second regulation defeat of the last 10 games (7-2-1). Islanders head coach Jack Capuano felt his team made things too easy for Edmonton on Sunday. We gave them three gifts and an empty-netter, said Capuano. We were physical, we did a lot of good things, but at the end of the day its about execution and there are some guys that need to look in the mirror. Johnny Boychuk picked up a goal and assisted on the other for the Islanders, who could have vaulted over idle Pittsburgh back into sole possession of first place in the Metro with a single point. New York has the same opportunity tonight, as the Penguins are idle again tonight before hosting Boston on Wednesday. Jaroslav Halak surrendered four goals on 22 shots in Sundays loss. Halak expects to start tonight against Vancouver. He is 5-3-1 with a 2.22 goals against average in his career against the Canucks. Despite the loss to the Oilers, New York still owns a solid 12-8-1 record as the visiting team this season. Tonights test is the final tilt of the Canadian pportion of a six-game road trip, which will finish with games against New Jersey, Columbus and the New York Rangers. Keith Moreland Jersey. New York has won two of its last three games in Vancouver, including a 7-4 win at Rogers Arena when the clubs last met on March 10, 2014. That win also halted a three-game overall skid in the series for the Islanders. Vancouver has split the first two games of a five-game homestand and is 10-6-1 on home ice this season. The Canucks are 4-1-1 overall since suffering through a season-worst five-game losing streak from Dec. 6-17. The Canucks lost a 3-2 regulation decision to visiting Los Angeles on New Years Day, but rebounded with Saturdays 4-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings. Ryan Miller stopped 29 shots and Henrik Sedin scored a pair of empty- net goals in Vancouvers win over the Detroit. Radim Vrbata and Alexander Edler each lit the lamp, and Daniel Sedin had three assists for the Canucks. Vancouver went 2-for-4 on the power play and killed off all three of Detroits chances with the man advantage. We had a good night on the specialty teams. That was probably the difference, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. Miller moved to 3-10-2 all-time against the Red Wings. Vancouvers No. 1 could get the call again tonight and he owns a 16-9-2 record and a 2.99 GAA in his career against the Isles. The Canucks enter tonight tied with Los Angeles for second place in the Pacific Division. The Kings are idle on Tuesday. ‚ ‚ ‚