Offtopic/fun » precision and take advantage of an aggressive Cub

Trainer Shug McGaughey has asked On Leave to do a bit more in each of her four starts this season, and at Belmont Park on Saturday she once again showed she was up to the task, scoring a relatively easy 2-3/4-length victory in the Grade 2, $500,000 Sands Point.A daughter of War Front owned and bred by Stuart Janney III, On Leave is undefeated this year after failing to win in two tries at 2. She began her 3-year-old campaign with a maiden win at Belmont in June, took an allowance at the tail end of that meet, and then won the $100,000 Riskaverse at Saratoga. All of those wins came on turf at distances ranging from a mile to 1-1/16 miles.In the Sands Point, McGaughey asked On Leave to go nine furlongs against a tougher caliber of competition.A lot of the War Fronts are better milers, but she handled it fine, McGaughey said. I wouldnt want to run her any farther than that this year, but maybe next year well try and get her stretched out.Jose Ortiz let On Leave roll to the lead in the paceless six-horse field of 3-year-old fillies, and then deftly slowed down the tempo while keeping On Leave clear of Elyseas World, who settled into a stalking position.Following a quarter-mile in 24.94 seconds and a half-mile in 49.86, On Leave began to pick up the pace, getting her next quarter in 23.94 seconds en route to a six-furlong clocking of 1:13.80. On Leave continued to pick up speed, getting a mile in 1:36.28 after a 22.48 quarter, and then cruised home in 11.54 seconds to stop the timer in 1:47.82.There wasnt a lot of speed in the race, and we really never put her on the lead before, but the circumstances made us, Ortiz said. She had a clean break and I put her there. She relaxed well and when I asked her from the quarter pole going to the three-sixteenths she really gave me a good kick.On Leave paid $3.50 to win as a lopsided favorite. McGaughey said he would consider the Grade 1, $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, a 1-1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies at Keeneland on Oct. 15, for On Leaves next start.Well let her tell us, McGaughey said.Diamond Fields finished second after racing in third early, several lengths behind On Leave and Elyseas World. Diamond Fields saved ground to the stretch, rallied willingly in upper stretch, but then flattened out late and ultimately held the place by a neck over Tin Type Gal. It was another head back to French shipper La Jazi, who raced at the back of the pace early. Elyseas World tired to finish last, a length behind Galileos Song.Wholesale Shoes Black Friday Free Shipping . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. China Shoes Black Friday . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. Wholesale Shoes Black Friday . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Discount Shoes Black Friday . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59.Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Saturday nights game, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.What we learned in the division seriesThat maybe using five relief pitchers in one inning isnt a good idea against these teams. The Dodgers won all three of their games by one run and the Cubs twice beat the Giants by one run. We have two managers who love to use their benches and arent afraid to empty their bullpens, so this series could be another late-inning chess match, at least until you get to closers Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman. Note that the Cubs hit just .200/.247/.350 against the Giants, with pitchers driving in six of their 17 runs and seven of the runs coming against the San Francisco bullpen. The Cubs will not only have home-field advantage, but the advantage of lining up their rotation with plenty of rest while the Dodgers will be scrambling after Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill both pitched in Game 5 on Thursday.?-- David SchoenfieldInside the pitching matchupWhen Kenta Maeda is on the mound: The 28-year-old rookie from Japan had a solid season, going 16-11 with a 3.48 ERA, although he was better in the first half (2.95 ERA) than the second (4.25). The Dodgers kept him on a tight leash down the stretch as he faced more than 24 batters just once in the second half and went five innings or fewer in seven of his final 10 starts. He followed that up by lasting just three innings in his start in the division series. He struggled out of the gate, throwing 28 pitches in the first inning.Maedas approach is that of a conventional U.S. pitcher, as he doesnt have a splitter like a lot of Japanese hurlers. He throws his fastball about 43 percent of the time, mostly a four-seamer, and adds a slider, curveball and changeup. The slider is his best wipeout pitch as batters hit just .176 against it, a key reason he had a large platoon split as left-handed batters had a .730 OPS versus .580 for righties. For some reason, he went to more fastballs against the Nationals, with right-handed batters Trea Turner, Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon all getting hits off the fastball, including Rendon homering on a 2-2 pitch.The Cubs will be able to line up four left-handed hitters against Maeda, so hell need his changeup to be an effective pitch. He actually threw the curveball more on the season than the changeup, but it wasnt a good pitch for him (.398 average allowed). Given that Maeda hasnt been going deep into games, Dave Roberts will likely have to empty his bullpen in this game. -- SchoenfieldWhen Jon Lester is on the mound: Lesters late surge made him a strong Cy Young contender, as he went 9-1 with 1 .46 ERA over his final 12 starts, and then threw eight scoreless innings against the Giants, throwing an efficient 86 pitches. The Dodgers were the worst-hitting team in the majors against left-handed pitching, so its not a surprise that Lester faced the Dodgers twice and allowed just one run and seven hits in 15 innings.Lester has made a notable change in his approach, throwing his fastball more than ever. He threw it 60 percent of the time (and 69 percent against the Giatns), when he was under 50 percent two years ago. Lester has maintained his velocity pretty well throughout the years and at 32 still averaged 92.0 mph with his fastball, a tick above-average for a left-hander. The feeling was Lester had fallen in love too much with his cutter, although it has remained an effective pitch as batters hit just .212/.268/.302 against it. He still throws that about 20 percent of the time.His curveball has become a two-strike wipeout pitch, with a K rate above 50 percent and batters hit .092 against it in 96 plate appearances ending with the pitch. He doesnt throw it a lot -- about 10 per game -- but look for him to use it with two strikes against right-handers. Lester allowed 28 stolen bases (although runners were caught 13 times against him), but the Dodgers dont run much with just 45 steals (Howie Kendrick led the team with 10). -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightJustin Turner. The Dodgers third baseman had a monster division sseries, hitting .dddddddddddd400/.591/.733. He actually had a huge reverse platoon this year, with a .919 OPS against righties and .640 against lefties (and had one last year as well).?-- SchoenfieldWhat will decide Saturday nights gameThe series could hinge on the Dodgers ability to capitalize when they get runners in scoring position. The Cubs sported the best OBP allowed in baseball with runners in scoring position, while the Dodgers batters ranked just 24th in OBP in similar situations. If the Dodgers cannot convert with runners in scoring position, theyll have to rely on their pitchers to hold down the third-best offense in baseball (5.0 runs per game) to keep them in the game.-- Daniel McCarthy, ESPN Stats & InfoDid You Know?Only one Japanese pitcher has recorded a win in Game 1 of a playoff series: Daisuke Matsuzaka won Game 1 of the 2008 ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays, pitching seven innings of scoreless baseball in a 2-0 victory.-- Daniel McCarthy, ESPN Stats & InfoNLCS Betting GuideLos Angeles Dodgers (+190) vs. Chicago Cubs (-210)Joe Peta: For the second year in a row, Ive made it through both wild-card games and all four of the division series matchups with a perfect bracket. I got derailed last year in this very spot -- the NLCS -- and the Mets victory over the Cubs turned out to be the only blemish on the card. If the Cubs can get past their 71-year curse to win a pennant, I can get over my 365-day one as well. Lets look at why that will happen for both of us through the lens of one skill set, opponents contact rate.With a roughly 97 percent probability, the Cubs were three outs away from a scenario -- winner-take-all game against Johnny Cueto -- that would have caused enormous angst for the fan base. It nearly happened, because in the two games in San Francisco, the Giants put 67 balls into play in the largest normal-altitude field in the majors. The latter fact is relevant because, although its counterintuitive, the larger the field, the more defensive excellence is marginalized, and, of course, the Cubs had a historically great defense this year. The Giants struck out less than any team in the NL this year -- a whopping 2.1 percent less than the second-best club, the Miami Marlins. The Dodgers were 11th, and the Giants were so elite, Los Angeles was closer to Miamis strikeout rate than the Giants were.Click here for more.Choosing sides: Who will win?? Just like the last round, every run in the NLCS will be as precious as antimatter. That means homers might decide a few of these games, as tends to happen this time of year. Jon Lester hasnt been allowing homers and if he can work around Justin Turner, he should negate the Dodgers lefty power. I like the Cubs in Game 1. -- Brad Doolittle Jon Lester has thrown 15 innings against the Dodgers this year with just one runner crossing the plate. Theres no reason not to think that trend continues against a team that struggled all year long against left handed pitching. And Lester is no normal lefty. Hes on top of his game and will shut the Dodgers down again to propel the Cubs to a 1-0 series lead. -- Jesse RogersThe Dodgers will roll into the Windy City with momentum, but a rested Cubs team figures to be too much to handle. The Dodgers have a chance if Kenta Maeda can use his off-speed stuff to precision and take advantage of an aggressive Cubs offense, but rekindling the magic of Game 5 in the NLDS will prove difficult. -- Doug PadillaWhere the series standsGiven the Dodgers inability to hit lefties, on paper this game certainly favors the Cubs. If Maeda struggles, Roberts will have to decide whether to burn through the bullpen or sacrifice Maeda a bit to help keep the pen fresh for the rest of the series. Plus, you have the concern that Jansen threw 51 pitches on Thursday and will have limited availability. It would seem the Cubs best chance of winning this series is to win the two Lester starts while the Dodgers may have to sweep the Kershaw/Hill games.?--?Schoenfield ' ' '