SYDNEY, Australia -- Opening day turned out to be a pretty gday for the Los Angeles Dodgers and ace Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw flashed his Cy Young form, Scott Van Slyke homered and the NL West champions opened the Major League Baseball season with a 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night at Sydney Cricket Ground. A crowd of about 40,000 watched as MLB played its first regular-season game in Australia. Kershaw, who signed a seven-year, US$215 million contract in January, allowed one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. Van Slyke hit a two-run homer and also doubled. The first pitch was delayed because of rain for 14 minutes. By then, the long trip Down Under had taken even longer for some Arizona players. A team bus had a flat tire, and the Diamondbacks said "a handful" of players decided to walk the last half-mile to the stadium instead of waiting for a replacement bus. Kershaw was impressive while making his fourth consecutive opening-day start. He struck out seven, walked one and was pulled by manager Don Mattingly after throwing his 102nd pitch. Quite a turnaround from spring training, when the two-time NL Cy Young winner went 0-3 with a 9.20 ERA in four starts. "Sometimes you just need the adrenaline of a regular-season game, and I just kind of feel relieved to get this one under my belt," he said. "Its always good to get results, obviously," he said. "This one counted." In his previous opening-day starts, Kershaw was 2-0 with 19 strikeouts in 19 scoreless innings. "Kershaw did a good job keeping us in the middle of the diamond," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "He threw a good ball game against us. We know theyre always going to be close." Three relievers kept the Diamondbacks scoreless with hitless work. Chris Perez, a five-time all-star with Cleveland before joining the Dodgers in the off-season, got the last out in the seventh. Brian Wilson pitched the eighth and closer Kenley Jansen got the save. Jansen walked a batter before getting Gerardo Parra to ground out to end the game. "Clayton was really good, kind of as always ... kind of doing his thing," Mattingly said. "Hes a tough guy to take out of the game, he always wants to stay in. And I thought our bullpen was really good tonight. Chris comes in and gets a big out for us there and Wilson did a good job and Jansen in closing the door." There were plenty of Dodgers and Diamondbacks uniforms in the crowd, some worn by American visitors and others by Australians who had flown across the country to watch the opener and Sundays second game, when another capacity crowd was expected. They feasted on baseball-style treats like nachos stuffed in batting helmets and Cracker Jack, which is not usually sold in Australia. If you could afford the cost and the calories, a two-foot-long hot dog sold for $36. Kershaw ran like hed eaten one of those hot dogs when he tried to stretch a one-out single in the seventh into a double, but was easily thrown out at second by left fielder Mark Trumbo. "My baserunning needs some work," Kershaw said, laughing. "I almost stopped at first base and then went to second, and that hesitation probably killed me. Im not that fast, so I need all the help I can get. Fortunately, it didnt hurt us very much." Van Slyke, playing because of an injury to Matt Kemp and paternity leave to Carl Crawford, nearly cleared the left-field fence in the second inning. His double set up a grounder by Andre Ethier that scored Adrian Gonzalez with the Dodgers first run. In his next at-bat in the fourth, Van Slyke connected off losing pitcher Wade Miley for a drive over the right-field fence -- just inside the foul pole -- with Gonzalez again on base to put the Dodgers up 3-0. "I thought that it was either going to be a foul or caught," Van Slyke said. "I didnt think it had a chance to go out. I felt more relaxed and had a little more energy and focus than I did in the exhibition games." Sydney Cricket Ground was refurbished two weeks ago to create the baseball diamond and an outfield with an 8-foot wall. It was 328 feet down the foul lines and 400 feet to straightaway centre. Miley, who came out for a pinch hitter in the fifth, got the opening day assignment because of a left elbow injury to Diamondbacks ace Patrick Corbin. Miley gave up three runs and three hits, striking out eight with two walks. Both teams finished with five hits. The Diamondbacks scored in the sixth after a double by Paul Goldschmidt, who had two hits. He moved to third on Kershaws wild pitch and scored on Trumbos infield out. The Diamondbacks were shut out 5-0 in an exhibition game Friday by Team Australia when they stranded 11 runners. A series of thunderstorms but little rain around the stadium about two hours ahead of the start cut short the Dodgers batting practice and tarp was rolled on to the field. That caused the start of the game to be delayed and cancelled the pre-game ceremonies. NOTES: Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez gingerly walked off the field early in the game and may have tweaked a troublesome hamstring. He stayed in the game. ... LA leadoff man Yasiel Puig was hitless in five at-bats, including three strikeouts. ... On Sunday, South Korean lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, moved up in the Dodgers rotation because Zack Greinke injury his right calf, faces the Diamondbacks Trevor Cahill in the afternoon finale. ... The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Sydney Swans Aussie rules football star Adam Goodes, picked as Australian of the year this season. It was a very off-speed strike. ... Arizonas Aaron Hill had an infield single for the first hit of the season.
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https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/ . - Novak Djokovic beat John Isner 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-1 on Saturday to reach the final of the BNP Paribas Open, where hell resume his longtime rivalry with Roger Federer.
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NMD Discount . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford.England came up short at Euro 2016 but the country will still have a coach at next years Confederations Cup. Anthony Hudson has guided New Zealand to the 2017 tournament in Russia having won the Nations Cup in Oceania. Adam Bate caught up with Hudson to find out how he is harnessing the culture of the All Blacks with one eye on the 2018 World Cup…Englands familiar lament upon being eliminated from a major tournament usually includes the old line about the failure to produce enough coaches. But heres the irony: this is a country that overlooks the ones they already have. Hudson enjoyed success in Bahrain before joining New Zealand For while England need not concern themselves with the Confederations Cup in Russia next year, there will be an English coach waiting for Portugal, Chile and the rest in 2017. Anthony Hudson is set to become the first Briton to take charge of a team at the tournament.New Zealand suffered a shock defeat to New Caledonia under Hudsons predecessor Ricki Herbert four years ago, but the 35-year-old managed to guide the All Whites to Nations Cup victory in June to secure their spot in Russia.Its just the latest experience for the Londoner, son of former Chelsea and England player Alan Hudson, in a career thats already taken him to Holland, America and the national team job of Bahrain. It also more than makes up for the digs about Englands latest struggles. Keith Downie on Ellis Shorts anger over Englands approach to Sam Allardyce You get people being clever, Hudson tells Sky Sports. Every time England do badly they laugh at you. In fact, what youll see is that therell be a load of Portuguese coaches in the Middle East soon. They just follow who is winning. It definitely has a knock-on effect. But Im enjoying it in New Zealand. Ive been here two years and its been tough in a way because we havent played a lot of games and its difficult to get people together. But weve got this tournament to look forward to now and thats massive. Its all opening up now. Winston Reid is expected to play at the Confederations Cup in 2017 Some of the challenges faced are predictable ones. The 30-hour round flight to play against Oman means tackling jet lag. Trips to see English-based stars such as West Hams Winston Reid and Leeds striker Chris Wood take Hudson even further from his Auckland home. But other problems have been more unusual. Hudson took the proactive step of taking charge of the Under-23 side for Olympic qualifying with a view to spending more time with the young players and instituting a defined style across all age groups.On the field, it was a success with the team winning all of their games. But Deklan Wynne was deemed ineligible despite having a New Zealand passport and having lived there since childhood. The team was disqualified. Its just something where the admin guys held their hands up, says Hudson.This rule came in from FIFA to stop countries buying in players and nationalising them. But thats not what happened here. He came here as a kid not as a footballer. He went to school here and then he became a footballer later. Hes now been cleared and is eligible. Hudson with Jose Mourinho during his reign at Real Madrid Ive never been in a situation like that before. We just got handed an envelope. On the day of the final we were waiting around before we were told we couldnt play.dddddddddddd There were young players in tears because its a dream to go to the Olympics. It was a tough time.Fortunately, the anticipated positives have still emerged. Its because of things like this that weve got such a good bond, says Hudson. Its given the youngsters a lot of character and brought the whole team together, so its all been worthwhile. Its all part of the story. In fact, its worked out brilliantly because weve brought half of that team into the senior squad and we finished the qualifying tournament for the Confederations Cup with seven Under-23s on the pitch. They know exactly whats required and theyve been through it all.Building a strong unit has been a priority for Hudson. In doing so, hes not afraid to take inspiration from New Zealands more illustrious rugby union side. Ive spent time with the All Blacks to understand the culture, says Hudson. We think it can give us an edge. With former All Black Sir John Kirwan at a rugby match at Eden Park Its very hard to copy the All Blacks but weve tried to implement certain things within our setup and then tweak it to make it work for us. Everything with them is amazing in terms of their standards. One thing is for sure, they really value a strong team culture. How many training grounds do you go to where they have their values printed up on the wall but in reality they are just words? They rarely mean anything. With the All Blacks, they live those values. The players and staff hold people accountable. That makes it powerful.Drumming home that team culture is vital for Hudson as he travels the world - last year he visited 14 different countries - to keep his small group of players focused on their collective goals with the national team. He cant afford any high-profile international retirements.Its very different to my last job where the furthest I had to go to see my players was Qatar or Kuwait, says Hudson. I go to Holland, France, England and Switzerland. Its a tough trip because you just spent a couple of days watching training to spend time with the players. Hudson is an admirer of Marcelo Bielsa and has studied his methods But they are really important trips because there are such big gaps and they need to see me and hear from me. We dont have a huge squad so its important that the players are engaged in what were doing and I keep them excited about going to the World Cup.That World Cup, of course, is the main priority. New Zealand must negotiate regional qualifying and then a play-off against the fifth-place team in South America. As it stands, that could even be Brazil but Hudson remains optimistic about the teams prospects.Although it might not look that way from the outside, we have a serious chance of getting to the World Cup, he says. Its all we are thinking about as players and staff. This is what were here for. The World Cup is 100 per cent in our mind.Last years friendly away to South Korea has emboldened him. Without a host of senior players including Reid, New Zealands youngsters competed well and only succumbed to a late goal. All the media here thought wed get humiliated, says Hudson. New Zealands Chris Wood in action against South Korea in 2015 But we were defensively strong and created chances. The point is that we believe we can do something against these sides. Weve got really good players and weve definitely got the makings of doing something.The way weve been preparing the team is purely based on a style of play that we think will beat teams at a World Cup and if you were to ask any of the players, they know inside out whats expected of them. As a smaller nation, we have to be tactically really strong.After an autumn friendly against an as yet unnamed team from the Americas, the audition will come next summer in Russia. There are eight teams out there and youre guaranteed some big games, he adds. I really think we can go and surprise a few people, I really do.If Hudson can help pull off that surprise, expect a bit more attention back in his homeland and maybe even for some of those jibes about his nationality to stop. Could he even return to coach in England? Eventually, he says. But Im not looking past that World Cup. Also See: England U19s top group England appointment expected ' ' '
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