Inland Waterways » ts not the hockey way

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Padres have been searching for clutch hitting all season. For one three-game series, they found the touch. Pinch-hitter Nick Hundley stepped up Sunday, delivering a three-run double in the seventh inning that lifted the Padres to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies. San Diego swept the three-game series with late-inning victories each time. After reliever Roy Oswalt (0-5) walked home the tying run in the seventh, Hundley hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line off Wilton Lopez to clear the bases. "He threw me a real good sinker 0-1 that I swung over the top of," Hundley said. "I thought I was a little long (on my swing). I stepped out because I was trying to do too much. I shortened up a little bit and made the adjustment, and fortunately, I did." The Padres won Friday nights series opener, rebounding from a 3-2 ninth-inning deficit on Chase Headleys leadoff homer and pinch-hitter Jesus Guzmans bases-loaded single. Rookie Jedd Gyorko hit a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning Saturday night for a 2-1 win. "I think every manager will talk about that over the course of the year, that in a close game it will come down to a big hit or a big play," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "Nick got a hold of a sinker and dug it out and lined. Nicks a good low-ball hitter, thats his strength." It was the first time since June 1998 that the Padres have won three straight games despite being tied or behind in the seventh inning or later in each of the three games. The Padres have won five of six. The Rockies have dropped five of six. Nick Vincent (4-2) pitched one inning for the win. Huston Street worked the ninth for his 29th save in 30 chances. Oswalt allowed five runs on four hits with two walks in 3 1-3 innings in relief of starter Chad Bettis. "I wanted to try and keep it down velocity-wise," Oswalt said. "I felt OK." The 36-year-old Oswalt had been on the disabled list with a left hamstring strain for two months before being activated on Friday. The former 20-game winner was 0-4 with a 7.64 ERA in four starts this season with Colorado. "The bad thing about it is, Im running out of time to get arm strength back," said Oswalt, whose ERA rose to 8.57. "I havent had a lot of luck go my way." The Padres loaded the bases against Oswalt in the seventh on a leadoff walk to Headley and consecutive singles by Kyle Blanks and Ronny Cedeno. After a short flyout, Oswalt walked pinch-hitter Guzman on four pitches to force in a run and tie it at 2. Lopez then relieved Oswalt to face Hundley. The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the third when Corey Dickerson tripled and Michael Cuddyer doubled. Colorado added to its lead after Charlie Blackmon reached on a one-out error by shortstop Ronny Cedeno in the fourth and Jordan Pacheco followed with a run-scoring double. Renee Riveras sacrifice fly cut the lead to 2-1 in the fifth inning. NOTES: The Padres swept Colorado at home for the first time since September 2006. ... Rockies C Wilin Rosario was not available because of issues with his wisdom teeth. ... Rockies CF Dexter Fowler (right knee strain) missed his second straight game. ... Despite being swept, Colorado won the season series against San Diego 12-7. ... The Rockies play at San Francisco on Monday night when RHP Jhoulys Chacin (13-8, 3.16 ERA) opposes RHP Tim Lincecum (9-13. 4.50). ... The Padres travel to Philadelphia and will open with RHP Andrew Cashner (8-8, 3.45) against RHP Tyler Cloyd (2-3, 3.57) on Monday night. Jesus Manuel Corona Jersey . Catch the game on TSN starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. You can also listen to all the action live on TSN 1050 at 7pm et. The Knicks are two games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference race. Oribe Peralta Jersey . Vettel only needs to finish fifth or better Sunday to wrap up the championship with three races remaining, and bettered his own lap record to claim his third straight pole at Buddh International Circuit. http://www.soccermexicojerseysteamstore.com/hector-herrera-mexico-jersey/ . -- Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que. Andres Guardado Jersey .C. -- The shot that would have beaten No. Hector Moreno Jersey . The 27-year-old hit .209 in 86 at-bats last year after missing the 2010 season following surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.And oh how the enigmatic goaltender shines in the spotlight, much to the chagrin of the league. Bryzgalov is just what the NHL hates: unique, outspoken, not from Red Deer. The embattled and well-traveled goaltender is the antithesis of the typical NHLer. His idiosyncrasies, strange even for a goalie, rankle the entire NHL establishment, from players to management to media to that guy who lives in the apartment below yours with his mother who has a "prominent Predators blog." And as Bryz adds some animation to the typically lifeless NHL discourse in his return to centre scrum, its interesting to consider why hockey hates him so. [Getty Images] For much of his career, Bryzgalov and his delightfully absurd aloofness was left to the bliss of the uncovered hinterland of the NHL. He was allowed to ply his trade in Anaheim and Phoenix with relatively little attention paid. But, in league circles, his oddities were well known, and even celebrated when the media required moments of levity. But upon his arrival in hockey hotbed, and noted goalie-killer Philadelphia, the affection the league had for Bryzgalov turned quickly to venom. His play certainly didnt help, but many an average NHLer with a slight sense of humour has been left to his own devices. But Bryzgalovs appalling strangeness in the eyes of the hockey establishment, a sinister outfit run by old white men housed in a secret lair below the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, made him a pariah, and nearly led to the end of his career. And by "end of career" I mean playing in Edmonton. Perhaps no player has incurred the wrath of the NHL like the man the Wild acquired as insurance, and who is now their last hope to extend the season. But why? Unfortunately, hockey lacks Bryzgalovs. Of the four major sports leagues, it by far eschews personality and flavour more than all others. Hell, out of any sport it certainly boasts the most boring membership. No interview is less interesting than conversations with hockey players. Vanilla mocks the rabid blandness of NHLers. And those in NHL circles who do have personalities, like Sean Avery, Ted Nolan, or P.K. Subban, find themselves ostracized from the community, or like Subban unfairly labeled as troublesome on and off the ice. One would think a league that has struggled to find a market against its more successful sports brethren would embrace personality, but thats not the hockey way. Bryzgalov is more than a goalie, more than a hockey player. Hes a genuinely interesting and interested person. He has big questions. Like, "Im very into the universe, you know like how was created, you know, like, what is it, you know? Solar system is so humongous big, right? But if you see like our solar system and our galaxy on the side, you know, like, were so small you can never see it. Our galaxy is like huge, but if you see the big picture our galaxy (is) like a small tiny-like dot in the universe." Bryz is the opposite of boring. [HBO] But hockey is a factory of boring. The sport grabs youngsters at an early age, sends them to cosmopolitan metropoli like Chicoutimi, Lethbridge, and North Bay, and where representatives of the old boys club teach them to lack in colour and dissenting opinion. There must be courses in stock answers and cliché given to aspiring NHLers, lest they find some horrific off-ice personality. One can imagine a factory churning out 62 defencemen and gritty fourth liine centres somewhere outside of Medicine Hat whose only answers are limited to: • Gotta play all three periods and go hard into the boards.dddddddddddd • Its the coachs decision. • I enjoy CBCs Heartland. Unfortunately, this formulaic tendency has corrupted on-ice play as well. In the past quarter century weve seen the game become more systems-based, removing individuality and scoring from the game. (Lets call this Lou Lamoriellos fault.)Hockey enjoys being the definition of innocuous. What it finds funny, or interesting, is in the Jeremy Roenicks of its world, a sort of low brow, low risk comedy that makes Canadian sitcoms look like the bastard children of Louis CK and Sarah Silverman. And that affection for the benign has lowered scoring, homogenized the product, and made beat reporters quest for an interesting quote an exercise in futility. Bryzgalov is the kind of guy you like to keep in your pocket and take out at parties. He was the star of HBOs24/7, an ambitious show that tries to find intrigue in NHL locker rooms.His personality is as endearing as it playful. Hes intelligent, well read, and happy to speak on any subject. And the NHL hates him for it. This is a man who when asked if he feared the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins before a playoff matchup with his Flyers responded, "Im not afraid of anything – except bear. But bear in the forest." Whats not to love? The pundits cited his personality as one of the reasons he failed in Philly, despite the fact that the Flyers organization is a wasteland for goalies whose failures have been the result of a flawed organizational concept as opposed to a Russian who enjoys tea and literature. Whats most painfully difficult to entertain in this NHL with a hatred of the entertaining is the notion that there arent more personalities like Bryzgalov. The difference with Bryz is that he shares his self with the world. I cant even describe the weird that my peers tend towards in the privacy of dark corners of Montreal bars, so one cant be naïve enough to believe that similarly intriguing oddity doesnt exist in NHL locker rooms. NHLers are only permitted to show their game face, or as Bryz puts it, "You know, I have many faces … masks. In home, I have one face. Public, I have other face. Uh … ahhhh, on ice I have different face. Day off I have four face. With you [media] I have fifth face." The tradition of the league has implemented a gag order upon its membership, which limits both its on- and off-ice products. The marketing of contemporary sport is about personality. Its what makes the moments between on-field greatness interesting. Chad Johnson, Dennis Rodman, or Steve Lyons would never be allowed to exist in the NHL. From a young age, their personalities would never be given the chance to blossom into anything other than milquetoast. Bryzgalov once said, "OK, they fire the puck from the blue line. Chief usually yelling block the shot at the defensemen. They doesnt have the goalie gear, but they have to block the shot. So who is more crazy, me or the defencemen? Who is more weird?" No one, Bryz. No one. And thats a shame. For both the sport and its fans. This is likely his last few weeks as an NHL goaltender. And then exit Bryzgalov, pursued by bear. 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