Bla Bla » Hamilton’s new stadium and the facilities they

Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Francisco Giants walked into a stadium filled with rally towels and threw a wet blanket on the whole thing. It was a familiar October script. Madison Bumgarner pitched a four-hit shutout, Brandon Crawford hit the fourth playoff grand slam in team history and the Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 in the National League wild-card game Wednesday night. The Giants have won seven straight playoff elimination games, including five on the road. Bumgarner (1-0) kept them out of trouble in this one, scattering four hits and a walk while striking out 10, and giving the Pirates little hope of scoring a rally against him. So when Crawford homered with no outs in the fourth inning off Edinson Volquez (0-1), it cast a pall over the crowd of 40,629 -- a PNC Park record -- that lasted the rest of the game. Indeed, it had none of the drama of Tuesdays instant-classic AL wild-card game between Kansas City and Oakland, which the Royals won in the bottom of the 12th inning. The Giants are OK with that. They will face the NL East-champion Nationals in a division series with Game 1 scheduled for Friday in Washington. Theres a lot of work ahead of us. We know that, said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. Were going to be facing a very good team coming up. We know that. All we wanted was a chance. Thats all you can ask. (The wild-card game) is a do- or-die situation, but these guys have been here before. The Pirates were eliminated after making the playoffs for the second season in a row. They hosted the NL wild-card game last year, beating Cincinnati 6-2 in their first playoff game since 1992. Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle stuck with Volquez after the Giants loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence and a walk by Brandon Belt. He didnt call the bullpen until after Crawford lined a two-strike curveball into the right-field seats. Those three guys ahead of me getting on was huge. It set up the whole inning, said Crawford. You get a little confidence when those three guys get on. I only wanted to get one (run). Fortunately I got four. When someone like (Bumgarner) gets four runs, its lights-out. Volquez looked shell-shocked. The right-hander hadnt given up more than three runs in any of his last 12 starts, going 5-0 with 15 earned runs allowed and 64 strikeouts in 76 innings since his last loss July 21 to the Dodgers. The last Giants grand slam in the playoffs was hit by Buster Posey in Game 5 of the 2012 NLDS against Cincinnati, San Franciscos third straight win facing elimination in that series. They went on to beat St. Louis in three straight elimination games in the NL Championship Series that year before sweeping Detroit for their second World Series title in three years. Volquez stayed in the game until walking Pence to lead off the sixth inning. Pence went to second base on Justin Wilsons wild pitch and scored on Belts single to make it 5-0. Belt added a two-run single off Jared Hughes in the seventh and Posey had an RBI hit off Bobby LaFromboise in the eighth. Bumgarner, making his seventh postseason start at the age of 25, was perfect in four of his nine innings. The four his he gave up were all singles, including two to Josh Harrison. He threw 109 pitches, including 79 strikes. Hurdle said Bumgarner pitched a different game ... than what we scouted and threw all his pitches, in particular a changeup he said he used to keep the Pirates off-balance. He had it all working tonight, Hurdle said. Absolutely a very professional and well-pitched game by him tonight. It was the second postseason start for Volquez, who has been overshadowed both times. The first one was Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS against Philadelphia when Roy Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history. Game Notes The other playoff grand slams in Giants history came from Will Clark in the 1989 NL Championship Series and Chuck Hiller in the 1962 World Series ... The Pirates, one of the NLs better home teams in the regular season, finished two games behind St. Louis in the NL Central this season in a race that came down to the final weekend ... The Giants finished six games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Andre Dillard Jersey . Helwani said that Weidman has been dealing with recurring swelling and pain in his knees related to torn meniscus he suffered as a teenager and the problems came to a head last week when he suffered prolonged swelling and pain in his left knee, resulting in the decision to undergo an arthroscopic scope procedure to clean up the tear in both knees. Ronald Darby Jersey .C. Now hes squarely in the U.S. capital and helping the Washington Wizards playoff drive. John Wall scored 33 points, Gooden got 11 of his 21 in the final quarter and the Wizards overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 101-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night. http://www.cheapeaglesjerseysauthentic.c...iott-jersey.com) - The Columbus Blue Jackets rewarded starting goaltender and pending restricted free agent Sergei Bobrovsky with a four-year contract extension on Friday. Fletcher Cox Jersey . - Alex Dostie scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the Gatineau Olympiques to a 5-3 victory over the Drummondville Voltigeurs in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Sunday. Eagles Jerseys China . Canada was placed in one of the easiest groups during Saturdays live televised draw in Montreal.The situation in the East is simply fantastic for fans of the CFL. All Week 20 games in the East matter as to who is in the playoffs and that’s how you want it to play out. I will be on site at the marque game of the week, Montreal at Hamilton. I am looking forward to seeing Hamilton’s new stadium and the facilities they have for the players and coaches. I can remember when I worked for the Ticats, Jamie Barresi and I shared an office which was fine except for when we had to meet with the players there. The players sat on the floor and watched practice and game film on two TVs we jerry-rigged to play the same video. We had to do this because the room had a weird shape and the guys closest to the exit could not see the big TV. The big TV was actually one I had at my house and had brought in to be able have a bigger screen! I have heard nothing but great things about this new facility that will provide the players with a professional work environment they deserve, looking forward to seeing that. Speaking of Coach Barresi, he is now the head coach of the University of Ottawa, and led them to a 5-3 finish and a first round playoff win over Windsor. He will now come home to Hamilton to take on McMaster this weekend in the second round of the playoffs. I am not sure that this situation has ever happened in the CFL. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats can finish first place, second place, or be eliminated from the playoffs! You don’t often have to prepare your team for all those possibilities within a week. But I think there is a very interesting coaching situation for the Cats, let’s talk about it. Hamilton’s playoff scenario is this: if they beat Montreal by eight points or more they clinch first place; if they win by less than eight points or Toronto loses they earn second place; and if they lose and Toronto wins, they are eliminated from the playoffs. Teams that finish in first place statistically have a greater chance of going to the Grey Cup, so does Hamilton change the game plan to put themselves in first place? I think I would. Let’s say Toronto wins the game Friday and Hamilton is eliminated with a loss, this is the harder scenario. Hamilton starts the game basically down 7-0 to the Als for first place. Do they become more aggressive to make up the point differential and go for first place? Aggressive might be a fake punt or special play on Teams to be able get a few extra offensive scoring possessions. Could it be a more aggressive defensive scheme or pressure package trying to limit Montreal scoring? Third and goal from the two-yard line early in the game, usually you kick the field goal but do you go for it to make up the points to try to get first place? All these things mentioned have a risk that when not executed can hurt your chances of winning the game, which is the ultimate goal for Hamilton because they would be eliminated if Toronto wins. Late in the game this will be employed but early in the game is when it could easily affect the outcome. Certainly late in the game, if Hamilton is up by three, you will see the best of both teams, because Hamilton will actually be trying to drive the length of the field and score a touchdown with the lead. That situation does not happenn often.dddddddddddd These are the decisions that a head coach must have a good understanding of not only at the end of the year, but at the beginning of the year. In 2009, when I was the offensive coordinator of the Saskatchewan Roughriders we were in the first of a four-game series with an opponent. It was late in the game and we were winning but I called a few more passes and scored a late touchdown. A coach from the other team after the game sought me out on the field and took offence to my offence (funny?) of scoring a touchdown when we could have taken a knee at the end of the game. I looked at him somewhat surprised and said we are playing you four times and there is the very real possibility that we will end up tied at the end of the year and the next playoff tie breaker is points scored. That is why we were scoring points late in the last drive, we don’t know how we will end up, so you assume you will be tied. Points-scored has to be thought of when you play an opponent twice or four times because you could be tied at the end. Playing someone three times, points is not an issue (unless there was a tie) because someone usually finishes 2-1. Back to Hamilton, let’s assume Toronto loses and a loss by Hamilton will not affect their playoff chances, they would have second place locked up no matter what happens in their game. Now you can see the Ticats being aggressive and be ready for anything that can help them score points. No huddle to get more plays, going for it on third down, onside kicks. Mistakes or poor execution of those plays can also hurt your field position which can help Montreal’s opportunity to score, so executing these calls is key. If you have a chance, look up Head Coach Kevin Kelley and the Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, a coach who calls for onside kicks every kickoff and will not punt throughout the season. The guy must be crazy and must lose every game right? A state Championship, a loss in the finals, and a semi-final appearance in three years tells another story. Although some of his data may not correlate with the CFL, he believes on kickoffs the difference in the field position is only about 15 yards if an onside kick is recovered by the receiving team and coach Kelley’s teams recover one out of every three onside kicks which is a turnover, and we know turnovers are one of the most telling stats in winning football games. In the CFL, a failed onside kick would probably be a 30-yard difference in field position which is certainly a reason not to do it every time. Kelley never punts because his philosophy is you have to score more points to win the football game and you cannot score without retaining possession of the football. That is why he will always go for it on fourth down, to keep possession of the ball. So if your team is in a fourth and 3 situation four times in a game and they average 5.5 yards per rush, why not go for it? Kelley believes he will make three out of fo