Wilkommen bei den Schatten » five of Louisvilles 11 blocks to match a c

CLEVELAND -- Who wrecks the hex?Who can reverse the curse?The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians will send their postseason aces into Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday with an eye toward winning their first championship in three generations ... or much, much longer.You know the history by now.Cleveland has not won a World Series since 1948. The Indians came up short in their three most recent appearances, the last in 1997, when Edgar Renterias walk-off single in the 11th inning of Game 7 gave the Florida Marlins the title.The Cubs have not been in the Series since 1945 and have not won it since 1908. Numerologists suggest this might be the year. There are 108 stitches on a baseball. Wrigley Field sits on Chicagos planned development lot 108. The Cubs win the Series in the movie Back to the Future II, which has a running length of 108 minutes.And on and on.Not that the teams are focused on the history.After youve actually done it, thats when you really dwell on that particular thought, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. In the meantime, I promise you, our guys are going to be in the present tense. I think we all have a tremendous amount of respect for history and whats happened before us or not happened before us. But, you know, you go in that room right now, theyre very young. Really not impacted by a lot of the lore, I dont think.Cubs left-hander Jon Lester and Cleveland right-hander Corey Kluber have been the two best starting pitchers in the postseason while lifting the Great Lakes neighbors this far. Each will make his fourth start of the postseason, his third in a Game 1.Lester is 2-0 with three quality starts, an 0.86 ERA and an 0.76 WHIP in 21 innings in the playoffs this year. He threw eight shutout innings in a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Division Series, gave up one run in six innings of a no-decision in the 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first game of the NL Championship Series and gave up one run in seven innings in an 8-4 victory in Game 5 of the NLCS.You know, there will be nerves and there will be adrenaline and all that stuff when I go out there to throw the first pitch and kind of get the ball rolling, Lester said, but once you get into the game, I feel like then youre able to go back to your game plan.Klubers postseason ERA, 0.98, trails only Lester among pitchers who have made more than one playoff start this month. He won both of his previous Game 1 starts, throwing seven shutout innings in a 6-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series and 6 1/3 shutout innings in a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game of the AL Championship Series.In Game 5 of the ALCS, he lost after allowing two runs in five innings.Obviously, youre in the World Series, and theres two teams left and all that kind of stuff, Kluber said. For me at least, its been all about getting prepared and being ready when it is time to throw that first pitch.The teams also have more than the usual familiarity.Cleveland manager Terry Francona led ghost-busting Boston to its first World Series title in 86 years in 2004, then to another crown in 2007, both times for general manager Theo Epstein, now the Cubs president.I know thats a really cool thing for fans to talk about and stuff, Francona said. It really doesnt enter into what were doing. I just think if you look too far back, you look too far forward, you miss whats right in front of you.Epstein interviewed Maddon for the Boston managerial job in 2004 before hiring Francona. Maddon said the other day the Red Sox made the right choice at the time.Our players are going to dictate who wins and loses on both sides, as it should be, but Theo had the guts to hire me up there when I didnt have a ton of resume and they were expected to win, and he believed in me, Francona said. We went eight years of a lot of good baseball.Lester won 65 games in his four full seasons as a starter under Francona, who was replaced after 2011 and hired by Cleveland in 2013. Lester is 8-6 with a 2.05 ERA in 19 playoff appearances, 17 starts, and he won four games in the Red Soxs run to the 2013 World Series title.I watch him pitch right now and when he takes the mound, extremely calm, Maddon said. Hes in the moment. There is something about that internal level of confidence and the ability to -- this is an overused term, but its true -- slow things down. I think some players have that ability better than others.The Cubs had 33 hits while winning the final three games of the NLCS against the Dodgers. Anthony Rizzo was 7-for-14 with two homers, Addison Russell 6-for-13 with two homers and Dexter Fowler 6-for-14 with two doubles.Clevelands staff, despite injuries to three start pitchers, has given only 15 runs in eight playoff games, sweeping Boston and taking out Toronto in five. Air Force 1 Cheap Wholesale . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Air Force 1 Cheap Online . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. http://www.cheapairforce1.us/ . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Nike Air Force 1 Wholesale China .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Air Force 1 Clearance Sale . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville is looking to develop some take-charge guys early this season, and several candidates are emerging.Freshman forward V.J. King scored 17 points and Deng Adel added 16, including eight during Louisvilles 10-0 run to close the first half, to help the 12th-ranked Cardinals pull away from William & Mary for a 91-58 victory Monday night.Louisville (2-0) initially struggled against the Tribes up-tempo style, going scoreless for 3:06 and allowing William & Mary to pull to 34-31 with 2:13 remaining in the first half. Adel took charge over the final 1:31 with five free throws and a 3-pointer just before the break during the spurt that gave the Cardinals some space.Coach (Rick Pitino) kept telling me to keep shooting it because once you get out of the slump, the shots are going to fall, said Adel, who went 4 of 9 from the field and made all seven free throws after scoring just six points in Louisvilles opener.Once you see the ball go in the basket, it helps your confidence.Louisville then outscored William & Mary 10-2 over the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half to open a 54-33 lead, and held the Tribe without a basket for nearly 6 minutes.William & Mary coach Tony Shaver pointed to Louisvilles late first-half run as the turning point for his team.Our execution those last 2 minutes of the half was terrible and we paid the price for that, Shaver said. We hadnt played that well the first 18 minutes and its a three-point game, so you have to feel good about that. But that spurt there really changed the complexion of the game.King helped the Cardinals cruise home by hitting a couple of 3-pointers down the stretch.If we just all play together and find each other, we all get easy shots and open shots like we did tonight, said King, who also had just six points on Friday. All of us can score, so (opponents) have to pick and choose who they have to defend.Quentin Snider and Jaylen Johnson, who scored a team-high 19 points in Louisvilles opener, each added 13 for the Cardinals, who held William & Mary (1-1) to 23 percent shooting in the seconnd half and 31 percent overall.dddddddddddd Mangok Mathiang had 10 rebounds and Johnson nine as the Cardinals topped the Tribe 49-42 on the boards.We played terrific defense tonight, Pitino said. We did a really good job of putting the pressure on and not fouling.Omar Prewitt and Nathan Knight had 14 points apiece for the Tribe, who shot 6 of 29 from 3-point range in losing their first meeting with Louisville in 64 years.THE BIG PICTUREWilliam & Mary: One game after making a school-record 22 steals against Bridgewater, the Tribe managed just two against Louisville. More importantly, they committed 16 turnovers that led to 22 points.Louisville: The Cardinals shot 46 percent and saw some bright spots in their perimeter shooting. They went 6 of 12 from beyond the arc in the second half after going 4 of 16 in the first 20 minutes, which followed a 3-of-15 showing in the opener.RIM PROTECTORSMathiang, playing his second game since December because of a foot injury, had five of Louisvilles 11 blocks to match a career high set Feb. 14, 2015, against North Carolina State. Cardinals guard Donovan Mitchell had four blocks.ROUGH HOMECOMINGWilliam & Mary had two players from Kentucky in guard/forward and team captain Prewitt and forward Jack Whitman. Their returns began with promise before Louisville took over and left them with 17 combined points. We just didnt execute, and that was probably more us than them, Prewitt said. I wanted to come out and play well with a lot of family here, and I knew a lot of Louisville players. It was exciting to play here.POLL IMPLICATIONSThursdays home game against Long Beach State might have a bigger impact on Louisvilles ranking next week.UP NEXTWilliam & Mary: Hosts Presbyterian on Saturday.Louisville: Hosts Long Beach State on Thursday. The Cardinals lead the series 2-0, with their most recent win over the 49ers coming on Dec. 30, 2014 (63-48).---The APs College Basketball page: collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '