miaowang123: to the momentum to bring a team back to Mo

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CHICAGO -- Gio Gonzalez delivered another dominant performance, providing more evidence he is finally healthy again. Alexander Wennberg Blue Jackets Jersey . It looks as if the shoulder problem that sidelined him for a month bothered the left-hander about as much as the opposing hitters. Gonzalez pitched two-hit ball over seven innings, and the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 Saturday in the first game of a day-night doubleheader. Gonzalez had his way with one of the weakest lineups in the majors in his third start back from the disabled list, outperforming Dallas Beeler in the rightys major league debut. "Obviously coming (off) the DL and trying to work your way back is going to be a process," Gonzalez said. "Its not going to happen overnight. Its good to see little by little using fastball and changeup at the same time. Its good to know when you need them theyll be there." Anthony Rendon had three hits, including a two-out double against Beeler in the sixth before scoring the games first run on a wild pitch. He added an RBI triple off Justin Grimm and came home on a sacrifice fly by Adam LaRoche against Wesley Wright in a two-run eighth. Denard Span chipped in with two hits and scored a run. He also made a leaping catch in front of the centre-field wall after getting turned around on a drive by Justin Ruggiano in the fourth, and the Nationals snapped a three-game losing streak. Gonzalez (5-4) had little trouble against a team that came in with the majors second-worst batting average. He struck out seven and walked two while improving 2-0 in three starts after missing a month because of inflammation in his pitching shoulder. He shut down Chicago after throwing six effective innings in a 3-0 win at Milwaukee on Monday. Tyler Clippard worked the eighth and Rafael Soriano finished for his 19th save in 21 chances. As for Beeler, he was about as good as Gonzalez. Called up from Triple-A Iowa as the 26th man, he pitched four-hit ball while allowing an unearned run in six innings. "I was a lot calmer than what I thought Id be," he said. "I walked out there, took a deep breath, threw my warmup pitches, kind of looked around again, exhaled and I was like, All right, same game Ive been playing for the last 20 years." Beeler also singled in his first at-bat when he lined the first pitch he saw up the middle in the third, drawing big cheers from the crowd. Neither team got an extra-base hit until Rendon doubled to left in the sixth. He moved up on a passed ball by John Baker before Ryan Zimmerman walked, and he scored the games first run when Beeler bounced a changeup to LaRoche. Otherwise, it was quite a debut for the rookie. "He was commanding his pitches," Rendon said. "Sinker and cutter and a pretty good curveball out there." NOTES: The Nationals remain optimistic that OF Bryce Harper will return from a torn ligament in his left thumb early in the week, if not Monday. The 2012 NL Rookie of the Year, who was injured sliding head first into third in a game against San Diego in April, has been rehabbing in the minors. "Hes progressing really well," manager Matt Williams said. "I feel good at some point this coming week (he will return), Monday is a possibility." ... Washington recalled Game 2 starter Blake Treinen and reliever Xavier Cedeno from Triple-A Syracuse while optioning RHP Taylor Hill to the minor league club. ... Chicago OF Junior Lake was back in the lineup for Game 1 after sitting out Friday. He slid hard into a metal door in the outfield wall and left Thursdays game. ... The Cubs have their first scheduled Sunday off in 82 years because of the annual Pride Parade in Chicago. The last one was on June 19, 1932. Chicago played the Giants in New York on a Saturday and then visited Philadelphia on a Monday. David Savard Blue Jackets Jersey . A better question yet may be this: How many times has the same player been involved in both? Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday. Markus Nutivaara Jersey .com) - Jenny Boucek is the new head coach of the Seattle Storm.MONTREAL – Professional athletes tend to best remember the teams with which they win a championship. A bond is forged for life. A group gets together, slogs through the adversity of a long season, plays its best when the games matter most and shares the glory of its achievement. The 1994 Montreal Expos didnt win the World Series. Nobody did. A players strike saw to that. But theres this lingering feeling among the nearly two-dozen players and coaches who gathered to celebrate their special team that they would have been champions, that the 1994 Expos would have secured a third-consecutive world championship for a Canadian-based team. “I think thats the one thing that sticks around too much,” said Cliff Floyd. “If youd played it out, youd feel better about it. If we lost you still feel better about going and getting the opportunity to play. When you dont play it out you wonder what if wed gotten the opportunity to play in the playoffs.” “We built a special bond in 1994,” said Marquis Grissom, a two-time All-Star in a 17-year career. “It didnt just start in 94, it started in 1990, in 1989-1990 when we were all in spring training trying to make the team. It just festered all the way up to 94 to where we all came together for one common cause and that was to win a World Series. We didnt expect to do anything less.” Championship baseball teams need a lot to go right. They must do the obvious, like outpitching and outhitting and outscoring their opponents on more nights than not. Emerging clubs - that Expos team was still so young - must also experience breakthrough moments. Floyd, a rookie that year who would go on to play 17 seasons in the big leagues and make an All-Star Game, provided such a moment. It was June 27. The Expos were hosting the then-National League East-leading Braves. Floyd blew open a close game with a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh inning off of future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux. Montreal won the game and closed to within a game-and-a-half of the division lead. By the time the strike started a month and a half later, the Expos led the Braves by six games in the standings. “I think about that a lot,” said Floyd. “I think about when I walked up to the plate that day. I think about what was on my mind that day. I just told myself get a good pitch to hit. The type of team we had then, the expectations and what I did in the minor leagues, they were showcased in 94 but I just said if I can just help us go out and win some games, you dont know what games or how important theyre going to be when you do it but that was one of the biggest moments of my life was for me to get that home run.” Felipe Alou pulled the strings from the dugout. Hell be 79 in May and he speaks of the 1994 team like a proud father. He is, in a literal seense, because his son, Moises, was among the clubs many young stars. Oliver Bjorkstrand Jersey. Charged with cultivating that entire unit, two decades later Alou marveled at the talent the franchise had assembled. “The 1994 club was hard to compare with anybody because we had three closers, we had incredible starting pitching and we had speed, power and defence,” he said. “Not too many teams can say that and they were young. They were getting better.” Surely the manager deserves some credit? “Anytime you have a team like that youre a good coach,” said Alou. Much has been theorized about the breakup of the team in the aftermath of the strike. Larry Walker, a could-be Hall-of-Famer whos yet to be voted in and would like an Expos cap on his plaque if the day comes, didnt want to leave. He signed with Colorado when the strike ended and embarked on a tremendous 10-season run with the Rockies before wrapping up his career in St. Louis. “There wasnt a contract on the table for a lot of us and the game kind of dictates that and you move on,” said Walker. “Its the nature of the game. I didnt leave because I hated anybody or hated the city or anything crazy like that. I know theres been some dumb stuff written about it from what Ive been told but I was just another ballplayer trying to win. We had a winning franchise that got broken up.” Grissom insists a group of top-end players went to ownership to try to persuade the group to keep the young core together. “We took it upon ourselves to try to go upstairs and tell them, hey, well take less money to stay together,” said Grissom. “We dont know how much less that would have been but, really, the strike took effect on us and there wasnt anything we could do. Even if wed taken less money I still dont think we would have stayed here.” There are more gray hairs. In some cases, the bellies are bigger. But the memories came flooding back, the reunion a chance to ask the “what if?” question one more time. If this weekend accomplishes nothing else, its reminded the powers of Major League Baseball that Montreal is a baseball town. Right now theres no ownership and no stadium for the franchise pipe dream but at least one man is hoping that the energy that still surrounds the 1994 Expos will contribute to the momentum to bring a team back to Montreal. “I believe that if we ever get a team back here it will be because of the 1994 team,” said Alou. “That is what the people in these communities, Montreal, Laval, the cities around here, they are holding on to the 1994 club. They believe that this memory, they talk about it. We are here, the 1994 team. Its not the 1993 or the 1995, its the 1994. The people hope and I hope that that club that was so good will help bring baseball back to this city.” ' ' '