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Nuno reached when McGehee muffed
in Meet Other Ponies And TALK! Mon Oct 28, 2019 9:38 amby ruogu1234 • 270 Posts
AVONDALE, Ariz. - Matt Kenseth did his best to put on a brave face following his worst performance of the season, which just happened to come at the worst possible time in his championship battle with Jimmie Johnson. Dark sunglasses shielded the disappointment in Kenseths eyes when he climbed from his car. His voice cracked just once during what was clearly a concession speech. Instead of harping on the negatives — he was saddled with an ill-handling car all day at Phoenix International Raceway and every fix crew chief Jason Ratcliff attempted only made it worse — Kenseth focused on the positives. His first season with Joe Gibbs Racing has been the best of his 14 years in the Sprint Cup Series. He won a career-best seven races, added a Southern 500 victory to his resume and crossed Chicago, Darlington, Kentucky and New Hampshire off the list of active tracks where hed never won a Cup race. And at 41 years old, a decade removed from his only Cup championship, Kenseth was in the mix again. Although Kenseth is still mathematically eligible to win the title, his 23rd-place finish at Phoenix sends him into Sundays finale at Homestead trailing Johnson by 28 points. It would take a massive failure for Johnson not to win his sixth championship. "You hope to go down to Homestead and race for it on performance," Kenseth said. "On the other hand, Im extremely happy. Im really, really happy with my team. Its a special group of guys. Weve had just an amazing, incredible season and we still have one week left. Hopefully, we can go to Homestead and go down there and contend for a win." It was an admirable post-race performance on an abominable day for Kenseth and the entire No. 20 team that came out of nowhere at a time when there was zero margin for error. The rest of the garage had noted from the opening practice Friday that Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team had shifted into another gear. Coming off a rout of the field at Texas, the No. 48 team gave every indication it was poised to do the same at Phoenix. Joey Logano said Johnson was in "kill mode" and Kenseth teammate Denny Hamlin sounded as if a Johnson title was inevitable. "I think everyone in the garage knows that they can turn it up at will, and this is typically the time of year they start doing that, especially when they are in championship contention," Hamlin said. With the pressure on, Kenseth had to be perfect. Instead, his car was terrible from the start, every adjustment backfired and strategy didnt play into Ratcliffs hands. When the crew chief tried to make a call on the fly, it led to a botched pit stop that put Kenseth down two laps from the leaders. "Itd be great if we came in here and everything worked out like we had on paper, you went out and won the race and go to Homestead tied," Ratcliff shrugged. "Thats why its so hard to win these championships. People work their guts out for them and theyre very rewarding when you do get them." Ratcliff called it "a pretty rough day," but noted the No. 20 team had very few of those this year — Kenseth had two engine failures and a crash that contributed to three of his five finishes worse than 23rd this season — and that on this particular Sunday, things just spiraled out of control quickly in a sport that moves at almost 200 mph. "Everybodys going to say, Oh, the pressure got to them," Ratcliff said. "Just poor execution on a track thats so hard to pass. Youre trying to make up for something that happened earlier and it just snowballs on you." This is a team that led just 190 laps a year ago when Joey Logano drove the car and Ratcliff won his first race as a Sprint Cup crew chief. This is a team that took Kenseth to New Hampshire, where hed led 89 laps in 26 previous races and hadnt finished in the top-five since 2005, and got him to Victory Lane for the first time in his career. The New Hampshire victory marked back-to-back wins to open the Chase and put Johnson on alert. After Johnson moved into the points lead heading into Martinsville, the No. 20 team went into another one of Kenseths weaker tracks and delivered a second-place finish that tied the championship race. Sometimes, people just have bad days. Sunday was one of them for Kenseth and crew. It was the wrong day against the wrong opponent, and behind his sunglasses, Kenseth had to be wondering if hell ever have an opportunity like this again. But deep down, he knew this season itself was one to be treasured. "Disappointing day here, but yet what a great season," he said. "I really appreciate this whole group. Theres not a car out here Id rather be driving than this one. Im a pretty lucky guy." 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The 6-foot-10 centre who won an NBA title with the Miami Heat was voted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday, adding that honour to becoming a board member at his alma mater.PHOENIX - Marcell Ozuna hit a two-out, two-run home run off Addison Reed in the ninth inning to spoil a brilliant Arizona debut by Vidal Nuno and give the Miami Marlins a 2-1 victory over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night. Ozuna hit Reeds 2-2 pitch off the batters eye far above the 407-foot sign in straightaway centre. It was the fifth blown save in 25 tries for Reed (1-5) and the ninth home run the closer has allowed in 38 appearances. Nuno, acquired in the deal that sent Brandon McCarthy to the New York Yankees, gave up three hits, struck out a career-high seven and walked one in seven innings. He scored Arizonas only run. Mike Dunn (7-4) pitched one-third of an inning to get the victory. Steve Cishek pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save in 22 opportunities. Miamis Brad Hand allowed an unearned run and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings but failed to win as a starter for the 14th consecutive time, the third-longest active streak in the majors. Hands last victory as a starter came almost three years ago to the day, on July 7, 2011, against Houston. After Brad Ziegler pitched a scoreless eighth, Reed came on and walked Ed Lucas to start the ninth. Giancarlo Stanton struck out and Casey McGehee lined out to centre to bring up Ozuna for his game-winning heroics. The game ended when Paul Goldschmidt, the NLs starting first baseman in the All-Star Game, flied out to deep right. The Diamondbacks were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.dddddddddddd The only Miami player to reach second against Nuno was Ozuna when he doubled with two outs in the fourth. Nuno reached when McGehee muffed a grounder, the third basemans second error and one of four by Miami. Ender Inciartis bunt single past the mound put runners at first and second with no outs. Aaron Hill followed with an RBI single. Goldschmidt grounded into a double play and, after Martin Prado walked, Cody Ross grounded out to strand the runner at third. The Diamondbacks stranded runners at second and third in the first, second and sixth innings. In the second, Nuno — not accustomed to batting because hes been in the AL — laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. But Inciarti grounded sharply to short to end the threat. Another nice sacrifice bunt by Nuno moved runners to second and third with two outs in the sixth. NOTES: Goldschmidt hit his major league-leading 34th double. ... Arizona OF Mark Trumbo, who hit a grand slam in his rehab appearance with Triple-A Reno on Monday night, is expected to join the Diamondbacks after the All-Star break. Hes been out since April 22 with a left foot stress fracture. ... In the series finale on Wednesday, the Marlins send Nathan Eovaldi (5-4, 3.75 ERA) to the mound against the Diamondbacks Josh Collmenter (7-5, 3.98). ' ' '
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