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  23 декабря 2019 г., 9:33:57 MSK

  Kansas City, KS (SportsNetwork. Blues Jerseys 2021 .com) - Championship contender Kevin Harvick won his eighth pole of the season in the Sprint Cup Series, while defending series titleholder Jimmie Johnson struggled in Fridays qualifying for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Harvick, in his first season as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, grabbed the pole for Sundays 400-mile race at Kansas after posting a lap at 197.621 mph in the third and final round of knockout qualifying. He set a new track qualifying record at this 1.5-mile racetrack when he turned a lap at 197.773 mph during the second round. It was the 20th time this season that a new track qualifying record has been set in NASCARs premier series. Harvick has surpassed a previous track record six times in 2014 -- Texas, Michigan, Indianapolis, Bristol and both Kansas races. One year ago when he drove for Richard Childress Racing, Harvick won the Chase race at Kansas after starting on the pole and leading the most laps with 138. When the series most recently competed here in May, the first night race at this track, he started on the pole and led the most laps with 119 but finished second to Jeff Gordon. For whatever reason, this fits everything that I have going on with my driving style, Harvick said. But in the end, its all about having fast cars. Last year, we had a fast car, and this year, we have had a fast car as well. So just have to thank everybody on my Budweiser (sponsor) team for staying focused, continuing to build better race cars and controlling all the things that we can control. Our cars are fast, we are qualifying well, our pit stops are good, cars are reliable and everything is good. We just need a little bit of good luck to go with it. Its just like I keep telling these guys - that stuff will all come full circle and hopefully it does it at the right time this year. Harvick has two wins in Sprint Cup this season but has not been to victory lane in the series since April 12 at Darlington (21 races ago). I just feel like with a little bit of good luck we can beat every car here, every week, at any style racetrack, he said. Everything is there. Its just a matter of having everything come together on the luck side. Well just keep plugging away. While Harvick claimed his 14th career pole in Cup, Johnson qualified 32nd, which matched his worst starting position in a race this season. Making his second lap in the first qualifying round, Johnsons car spun out in turn 2. He did not make contact with anything. Brian Vickers, who is not in the Chase, will start on the front row for the first time this season after qualifying second at 196.307 mph. Wow, that was a fun lap, Vickers said. Aric Almirola, who was eliminated from the Chase last weekend at Dover, qualified third, matching his best starting spot of the season. Joey Logano grabbed the fourth position, followed by Jeff Gordon, who leads all drivers with three victories at Kansas. Im happy with where we ended up, Gordon said. A top-five, you have to be happy with that starting position. Qualifying sixth through 12th were: Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards. Logano, Gordon, Keselowski, Busch, Earnhardt, Kahne and Edwards remain in the Chase. Kansas is the first of three races in round 2 of the playoffs, known as the Contender Round. The other Chase drivers and their starting positions are: Ryan Newman (17th), Denny Hamlin (25th) and Matt Kenseth (27th). All 43 drivers who attempted qualifying made the starting field for Sundays race. St.Louis Blues Shirts . - Chris Davis hit a two-run double, scoring Nelson Cruz in his Orioles debut in Baltimores 9-7 win over to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. St.Louis Blues Store . Wheeler scored at 4:58 of overtime, with Scheifele getting an assist, and the Jets beat the slumping Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday night.HOUSTON – The setting was an upscale restaurant along Dunedins pristine waterfront. It was the end of the six-week spring training grind. The 25 men who would comprise the Blue Jays opening day roster gathered with coaches, management and high-level members of the ownership hierarchy for the annual start-of-the-season dinner, held this year just prior to the departure to Montreal for two exhibition games. It was at this dinner that Blue Jays president Paul Beeston addressed the club and, according to multiple sources within the organization, pledged to the players that additional money would be made available to acquire assets in-season if they produced a winner. Playing well of late and with a record of 60-50, good for a three-game lead over the Mariners for the American Leagues second wild card spot, if this isnt a winner then its at least the closest the franchise has fielded since the heady days of the early 1990s. Yet, there was nothing at the deadline. Nothing unless you count right-handed hitting infielder Danny Valencia, acquired from the Royals for Erik Kratz and Liam Hendriks on Monday. While Jon Lester (Oakland), David Price (Detroit), Martin Prado (Yankees) and reliever Andrew Miller (Baltimore) changed addresses, the Blue Jays stood pat but the general manager said it wasnt because of budget restrictions. “We absolutely had the financial resources to add at this trade deadline. If we had a deal, obviously we were in dialogue with (president) Paul (Beeston) all the time and certainly hes keeping ownership up to date, any deal that we felt was a good baseball deal, the finances were certainly there for us,” said Alex Anthopoulos. “That has never been a problem and it was just one of those things that we couldnt find a baseball deal that made sense for us and thats really what it came down to.” Its hard to imagine, looking at the deals the Yankees made for Prado and Chase Headley (earlier this month), that finances didnt play a role in the Blue Jays losing out on both. Prado was acquired for Peter OBrien, a former second round pick who was playing at Double-A. Maybe the Jays were scared off by Prados .686 OPS in his age 30 season, a number well off Prados career .764 OPS, suggesting the start of a decline. Theres no doubt the two years and $22-million left on Prados deal would be worrisome, even though hed be an upgrade at second base. Headley was acquired for Yangervis Solarte – considered by the Yankees to be one of those “Quad-A” players, a strong Triple-A player but not someone who can put it together long enough at the big league level – and Rafael De Paula, a 23-year-old pitcher who hasnt sniffed higher than Single-A. Headley has only the prorated amount of his $10.5-million 2014 salary owed. The Jays took a pass. Lester, Price and John Lackey (St. Louis) were each swapped in deals involving big league players going both ways. Anthopoulos wasnt willing to delete from his current roster. A lack of positional prospect depth, rendering the Jays with little to offer other than whats off the big league roster, surely contributed to the quiet day. Dalton Pompey, an outfielder from Mississauga, is the only position player prospect of any consequence playing at Double-A or higher. He currently toils for New Hampshire, having been promoted from Single-A Dunedin earlier this season. You can find reasons – money, contract term, what youd give up, the type of season a guys having, attitude – that would prevent a ballclub from acquiring anyone at anytime. It seems Anthopoulos found them. His top players, including one of the games best, Jose Bautista, and the longest tenured Blue Jay, Casey Janssen, expressed dismay the club wasnt improved. “I just think from an overall perspective of all these teams getting better, we know its going to be a tough time for us,” said Janssen. “One that isnt impossible but were going to have to do everything right. Obviously, we value our prospects, we value our players, Im sure the other teams do as well. Maybe they just vaalue the player or the opportunity to get into the playoffs more. St.Louis Blues Gear. . It takes something to get something and congratulations to those teams that got those guys. Bautista addressed the media, spent about six minutes with the assembled horde, and used a variation of the word “disappointed” four times. “Of course its a little disappointing that we somehow werent able to get anything done but everybody around us thats in contention, and even some teams that arent in contention like the Red Sox, somehow figured it out,” said Bautista. “Theres still time to get stuff done. Itll be a little more difficult having to put people through the waiver process but its not impossible.” Bautista believed different players would have different reactions. Approached for comment, Mark Buehrle said he didnt know enough about the state of the franchises finances or the depth of its minor league system to offer an educated opinion. He was glad Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez remained in the fold, two potential face-of-the-franchise guys who are as much contributors to the present as they will be in the future. Another player, who will remain nameless, shrugged and muttered an expletive loosely related to bovine excrement. If other teams improved and the Blue Jays didnt the club will have to await the returns of Brett Lawrie, Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind and hope those reinforcements are enough to propel the team to the playoffs. What happens to this team if one of its starting pitchers gets injured is another matter. Todd Redmond could backfill. Then who? Brad Mills? The rotation has held up reasonably well but remember it is trotting out a couple of 23-year-olds (Drew Hutchison, Marcus Stroman) who are entering unchartered territory. “Weve heard 92, 93 and I think were tired of hearing it,” said Janssen. “We want to put our on stamp on Toronto and across baseball. For me in my eight years here, Ive never been this close, never had such an opportunity to make it into the playoffs and I think thats where this excitement level for this trade deadline was. Its finally our time, its finally beating down the door and we wanted to come on the scene as strong as we can. Like I said, it didnt happen, we just have to regroup and go about our business again.” Anthopoulos worked the phones. “We were open minded, you definitely want to hear what other clubs have to say and what ideas they might have to say, but when you start to look at your 25-man, and youre trading some of your best players, to address an area of what might be a weakness, or a need, and youre ultimately creating another weakness, create a hole, it wouldnt make any sense for us,” he said. “We definitely talked to clubs and had dialogue and all that, just didnt find anything that made the club better.” Turning 34 in October, Bautista wants to be afforded the best opportunity to win. Now. If not, well, it seems uncertain what would become of this team in the offseason. “All I can say is it gets to a point for everybodys situation and everybodys job that trying and excuses are not good enough,” said Bautista. “For everybodys sake I hope we all play great from now until the end of the season and Im one of those guys who really wants to win. Ive been playing for a long time and never experienced it.” RASMUS DISCIPLINED Colby Rasmus was originally in Thursday nights starting lineup but, about an hour before the game, he was replaced by Nolan Reimold. The official line was an “internal team decision.” After the game, a 6-5 win over the Astros, manager John Gibbons wouldnt say why Rasmus was benched. The player offered up the reason: tardiness. “I was late getting here to the field,” said Rasmus. “I wasnt here when I was supposed to be here and they punished me as they should have.” Rasmus wife and daughter are with him in Houston. He said he was having lunch with them and then got caught in traffic on his way to Minute Maid Park. ' ' '