Tonträger » So now we move to the Johnny Boychuk

CHICAGO - The hard-hit grounder went right to shortstop Starlin Castro, and he made a strong throw to first. It was just too late to get Gregory Polanco. The play proved costly when Josh Harrison followed with a two-run homer, sending Castro and the Chicago Cubs to a rain-delayed 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night. "It was a bad bounce," Castro said. "I had to turn around. It was really hard, too, and the guy run pretty hard from home plate, thats why I didnt get him." Jordy Mercer went deep for the second straight day and Andrew McCutchen had a tiebreaking RBI single for Pittsburgh, which had lost four of five. Vance Worley (1-0) pitched into the seventh inning for his first win with the Pirates. Harrisons fifth homer with two out in the seventh made it 5-2 and came after Polanco was the beneficiary of baseballs replay system. He was originally called out by umpire James Hoye in a close play at first after he hustled down the line on his sharp grounder. "The play was a hard-hit ball to Starlin, who came up slower than he probably should have," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "Polanco is busting his rear end down the line." The review also extended Polancos hit streak to 11 games, making him the first NL player to begin his major league career with such a streak since Juan Pierre hit in 16 straight games for Colorado in 2000. "He looked safe, so you go out and you have your people run the replay," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "As sure as you are, you dont know until you know. It turned out to play very big for us." Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer for Chicago, which had won four of five. Eli Whiteside doubled home Darwin Barney in the seventh. "The guys keep battling, they keep playing," Renteria said. The start of the game was delayed for 2 hours, 1 minute while a storm passed through the area. Rizzos 15th homer, a drive to the bleachers in right in the fourth, gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead. The big first baseman, making a case for a spot on the NL All-Star team, is batting .318 (27 for 85) with seven homers and 19 RBIs in his last 23 games. Pittsburgh responded in the fifth. With two outs and runners on first and second, Harrison and McCutchen each singled back up the middle to put the Pirates back in front. Brian Schlitter then replaced Travis Wood with runners on the corners and retired Russell Martin on a bouncer to third for the final out. Wood (7-6) allowed four hits, walked three and struck out four. The left-hander had won each of his last two starts, including a season-high eight innings of three-hit ball in a 3-0 victory at Philadelphia in his previous outing. "We got a little wild for a little bit, brought the ball up a little bit where they could find some holes and put some runs on the board," Wood said. Worley gave up three runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. The righty, who was acquired in a March 25 trade with Minnesota, pitched seven shutout innings in his first start of the season last Sunday at Miami. "Used all his pitches, pounded the strike zone, gave us a real good effort," Hurdle said. Jared Hughes got the final out of the seventh, Tony Watson tossed a perfect eighth and Mark Melancon struck out the side for his 11th save in 14 chances. It was Melancons first opportunity since Hurdle announced on Friday he was removing struggling righty Jason Grilli from the closer role. The Pirates played without speedy outfielder Starling Marte, who left the team to attend to a personal matter in his native Dominican Republic. Jose Tabata got the start in left and went 0 for 3 with a walk. Hurdle said he thinks Marte will be back in time for Monday nights game at Tampa Bay. NOTES: Cubs C Welington Castillo (rib injury) went 1 for 5 and drove in a run in his first rehab game with Triple-A Iowa on Friday. "Felt good, and he continues to progress," Renteria said before Saturdays game. ... Cubs RHP Jason Hammel (6-4, 3.02 ERA) faces RHP Brandon Cumpton (2-2, 5.82 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday. Replica Soccer Jerseys . Price was hurt at the start of Wednesdays practice after facing just one shot as the team worked on their power play. He left the ice in discomfort and appeared to be favouring his leg. A Habs source told TSNs John Lu that Price suffered the injury in Sochi and not before the Olympics. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys China . "I knew it was gone. I mean, I felt it," the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year said. "I havent felt like that in a while. I havent got extension on a ball in a pretty long time. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/.com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic . Ramirez is still hitting behind Puig, only now they are in the third and fourth spots, and the change is starting to generate positive results for manager Don Mattingly. Soccer Jerseys Outlet . -- Phil Mickelson came to the St.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. I am sitting here watching the remainder of the Bruins and Habs game. You have said on numerous occasions that referees do not decide games or in this case, series. Was that the case with Game 7? I have many calls that we could discuss but I only want to ask about the one called against Boston with 4:31 left in the game. Did that call not decide the series? That was an interference call, however to be fair, lets sit and review the game. Can you tell me that throughout the game(s) it was fair and the calls were fair? They let so much go and then make calls like snow on the goalies shoulder! When was the last time that was called? Definitely not in a Game 7! Brian Gamley Brian: First, the Montreal Canadiens were the better team on this night and deserved the win and the series. The Bruins were tight and out of sync throughout most of Game 7. If you look at the penalty called by referee Dave Jackson on Johnny Boychuk with 4:31 remaining in regulation time it is fair to determine that by the letter of the law interference was committed once Boychuk built a bridge with his stick and shoved Bournival to the ice shortly after the puck was chipped through the neutral zone. There is also some argument to make that since Bournival did not alter his path to get outside Boychuk, but instead skated a stride or two directly into the Bruins defender that contact was inevitable and no harm, no foul - resulted 130 feet from the Bruins net. Whatever you believe to be most accurate is your prerogative. I want to focus my attention on how this specific call, with the score 2-1 and 4:31 remaining in Game 7, fit into the overall standard that the refs employed throughout the game. When I do that, it is only reasonable to conclude there were too many inconsistencies to deem this a penalty at that particular time in the game. Before I explain why I believe this to be true I want to provide some background on how the officials prepare for a game of this nature and the assignment process. When approaching any playoff game, especially a deciding game or Game 7, it is vital that the officiating crew be well prepared mentally and physically. In this case, that process would actually begin at least a day before the game when the officials left home and travelled to Boston (they might have also anticipated or even been assigned to Game 7 prior to Game 6 being played in Montreal. In any event they would have likely watched that game closely on television). While the officials are responsible for their personal preparation and readiness, the series supervisor (in this case, Kris King) also has some responsibility to get the crew mentally prepared in a meeting he conducts at noon on the day of the game. He, of course, cant work the game for them so his job is more like that of a coach and motivator. Selecting the officials assigned to the game is the direct responsibiliity of Stephen Walkom, V.ddddddddddddP. of Officiating based on his evaluation process and that of his supervisors and Hockey Operations. Referee Dan ORourke has been selected to work the Stanley Cup Final on a couple of occasions. Dave Jackson returned to playoff assignments this season under Stephen Walkom after not participating in the playoffs from 2010-13 under boss Terry Gregson. The first period was crucial for the referees to set an acceptable standard and tone that hopefully the players would respond to and could be consistently applied throughout the game. From almost the opening puck drop key decisions were made on calls and non-calls that made this objective almost impossible to be maintained and achieve success. On the very first shift, Brad Marchand caught Michael Bournival with a high-stick to the head just inside the Montreal blue line that went un-penalized. Marchand then received the first penalty at 6:18 of the game for goalie interference assessed by referee Jackson. On this play, it was Andrei Markov of the Canadiens that cross-checked Marchand in the neck and caused the Bruins player to fall through the crease and contact Carey Price. The first penalty call is often crucial to set the standard and this one clearly sent the wrong message. At approximately 9:48 of the first period, Reilly Smith was given a rough ride with an obvious leg/stick trip takedown in front of the Habs net by Josh Gorges as Price caught on incoming puck. The same referee was once again in good position to see the play but chose not to call this tripping/interference infraction. At the other end of the ice, Zdeno Chara received a holding penalty following a puck battle with Rene Bourque against the boards where some detainment was exerted by Chara and a quick call resulted from Dan ORourke. These decisions set a difficult standard for the referees to maintain as it appeared the game was being worked differently from end of the ice to the other. It only took seven seconds into the second period when Brad Marchand was whistled for stopping hard at the crease and penalized for a snow-shower on Habs goalie Price. These calls are typically something that needs to be addressed early in a series and not in game seven. It would be at this juncture that some "game management" as I described in yesterdays column could be used to the refs advantage. Then at 17:06, David Krejci had his lower glove hand slashed by Lars Eller on the back-check as Krejci was attempting to redirect a centering pass from Torey Krug. Krejci had words with referee Jackson when no call was made. So now we move to the Johnny Boychuk interference penalty that was called with 4:31 remaining in regulation time of Game 7. Given all of the above events, plus the fact that Bournival did not attempt to skate around Boychuk in addition to some embellishment on the play, it would have been the appropriate time for the referee to keep his arm down and allow the play to continue. ' ' '