warum » with one out in the second but Darvish snuffed out the threat

(SportsNetwork.com) - Marshawn Lynch wont be joining Lech Walesa on the list of most famous dissidents but the Seattle Seahawks star running back is always ready to fight the power that is the NFL. Lynch is often difficult, a moody, distant man who doesnt seem to enjoy the microscope professional athletes find themselves under. And plenty of people have made excuses for Lynchs behavior over the years, including yours truly who doesnt believe dissing the media should be labeled as a federal offense. Most recently Pete Carroll was busy jumping on his sword for the misunderstood Marshawn. First off, lets not miss that he is a very unique individual and he has a way that we have embraced, that we understand Marshawn and we support him every way that we can, the Seahawks coach said. But he is a very unique guy, and hes got his own way of looking at things, and hes also a very private person, too. Thats why the media thing is as it is. Its not something that he is going to express a whole lot to you. Ive said this before, that theres a great deal spoken in his silence as well. To his enablers Lynch gets a pass because he grew up in a tough neighborhood in Oakland with an absentee father. Of course, plenty of people have overcome far bigger hurdles in life and when it comes to the fork in the road where its time to be a professional or a professional troublemaker, they chose the right path. Lynch, on the other hand, always seems to speed down the left lane of dissension boulevard, intent on creating trouble where none exists. Its easy to make fun of the NFLs rules at times and point out the absurdity of preventing a grown man from wearing gold spikes or fining him tens of thousands of dollars for impudence toward reporters. But, unlike the tuck rule or the Calvin Johnson rule there is a method to the NFLs madness when it comes to Lynchs chutzpah. Sponsors pay big money to make sure there products are worn by NFL teams and everyone, including Lynch, seems to enjoy the heavy paychecks they receive because of it so the No Fun League label everyone likes to throw out when the NFL makes a big deal out of a seemingly trivial issue has sound business sense behind it. The same applies with Lynchs shrinking-violet persona when it comes to the microphones. We can all stipulate to the fact that if Lynch doesnt talk, its no great loss to our national discourse but if the NFL lets him get away with it without a significant punishment, plenty of others could follow suit and access would then become a real problem. All that said, Lynchs flouting of uniform standards or insolence toward nameless, faceless reporter No. 266 at Super Bowl media day means little on the football field, where he remains the Seahawks offensive MVP. Contemptuous people, however, can rarely keep their effrontery caged while protesting their uneducated goals strategically. Lynch has already been fined twice for grabbing his crotch after scoring touchdowns, first during a backward dive into the end zone in a game against the Arizona Cardinals in December, and most recently after scoring a touchdown late in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers. If the officials happened to notice Lynchs Degeneration X-like celebration, though, they would have thrown a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, making the ensuing two-point conversation against the Packers untenable, you know the one which made Mason Crosbys field goal in the closing seconds of the NFC title tilt for the tie and not the win. Thats how close Lynch came to throwing away a second straight trip to the Super Bowl for the Seahawks. all because of a complicated mixture of ego, vanity and smugness. And now Lynch has a target on his back as Super Bowl XLIX approaches with the NFLs head of officiating, Dean Blandino, confirming that if Lynch does it again in the big game, his team is getting punished. If he does it after scoring a touchdown, That means they will kick off from the 20-yard line, Blandino told ESPN. Instead of getting the message Lynch took to Twitter to complain about his teammate, wide receiver Chris Matthews, getting fined for the same gesture after Lynchs touchdown against the Pack. I feel embarrassed to work for a particular organization that fined a teammate of mine for shaking my hand after a touchdown, Lynch wrote. Yeah, Marshawn, thats why the NFL fined Matthews. You can now add disingenuous to the list of adjectives to describe Lynchs childish behavior. Carroll of course is most concerned about winning a football game and took a little time off from sanctioning Lynchs tired act to hear the NFLs warning loud and clear. I havent talked to him about the thing that just came up from the league and the things about the game and all that yet, but that will be addressed and I expect him to have a great Super Bowl week, Carroll said. Cheap Jerseys From China . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . -- Craig Anderson has quite a record against his former team, the Florida Panthers. http://www.discountjerseysnfl.com/ . However, the 38-year-old is in no hurry to sign with another team. "Im not in a rush. This will be my last contract, so I want to do it right," said Burris on Thursday. Discount Nike NFL Jerseys . The 18-time champions, who havent won the title since 1990, moved two points behind Arsenal after the leaders were stunned 6-3 at Manchester City on Saturday. Defending champion Manchester United trails Arsenal by 10 points after winning 3-0 at Aston Villa to avoid a third successive league loss. NFL Jerseys China . Alfredo Simon lowered his ERA to 0.86, and the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 Friday for their 16th win in their last 17 games at the Friendly Confines. TORONTO -- Yu Darvish was excellent. R.A Dickey wasnt bad either. And J.P. Arencibia returned with a bang. Darvish (9-5) scattered five hits and struck out 12 over 6 2/3 innings and former Blue Jay Arencibia hit a three-run homer to help the Texas Rangers end their eight-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over Toronto on Friday night. Dickey (7-10) started strongly for the Jays but paid for a seventh-inning knuckleball that got away and was slammed into the left-field seats by Arencibia. "It just knuckled into the barrel, thankfully, because the other ones I swung and missed by a foot," said Arencibia, who struck out twice. Dickey has now lost six of his last seven starts, during which the Jays have scored a total of 11 runs. It was a matchup of two teams in a nosedive, played before 38,012 on a pleasant 22-degree night with the roof open at Rogers Centre. The Rangers (39-57), mired in the longest current losing streak in the majors, had lost 14 of their last 15 games and 22 of 25. Toronto (49-48) had dropped eight of its last 10, 11 of 15 and 17 of 25. But Darvish proved to be the tonic needed for Texas, which is now 12-6 this season when the elegant right-hander from Japan starts. Through six innings, every Blue Jays starter had struck out at least once and Texas finished with 17 strikeouts on the night. "It started on the mound," said Texas manager Ron Washington. "Yu was able to pitch around some traffic that he had on the bases and make some pitches in some key situations. He kept us in the ball game until we could get something going offensively. Despite a slump of its own, Toronto came into the game second in the AL East, four games back of Baltimore, while Texas was last in the AL West, 21 games behind the leading Athletics. Texas has a league-leading 15 players on the disabled list. The Rangers also lead the majors in players (50) and pitchers (30) used in 2014, and, with 15 rookies, is tied with Arizona for another MLB first. Like the Rangers, Toronto is missing key personnel. But manager John Gibbons wasnt making excuses. "When guys like Darvish are on, I dont care what your lineup looks like. Theyre going to cut you up pretty good. Theyre going to limit your opportunities," he said. "We had a couple tonight that we didnt cash in. We left a few guys on base (nine). Thats why hes one of the top pitchers in baseball. But I mean weve been in an offensive drought for a while now. And were due to break something out." It marked the sixth time this season that Darvish, who tied his season high for Ks, has recorded double-digit strikeouts. Toronto, which has now lost three straight games, had won eight of its last 10 against Texas since the start of 2013. The Jays offence continued to sputter, with one run on seven hits. Dickey opened strongly before faltering in the fifth when Adrian Beltre ended the knuckleballers scoreless run with a leadoff homer. Dickey had faced the minimum 12 batters in the first four innings before giving up the line-drive shot over the right-field fence on a 3-1 delivery, Beltres 14th homer of the season. Two outs later, Dickey hit Arencibia with a knuckleball that got away and second baseman Rougned Odor tripled him home to increase the lead to 2-0.dddddddddddd. Arencibia, a catcher making his MLB debut at first base, made it 5-0 with one out in the seventh when he cashed in back-to-back singles with his homer. "A big blow," said Gibbons. "I hope it gives him confidence," Washington said of Arencibia. "He certainly didnt lack it when he arrived here from the minor leagues. It was nice for him to come through right there. It was big, it was huge. Getting hit by the pitch was huge, too. He had a good night back. Its got to continue. At least he gives us some threat in that lineup." Colby Rasmus pulled one back with a leadoff homer to right field in the seventh, his 13th of the season. Darvish exited two outs later with the Jays having men on second and third after a walk and single. Left-hander Neal Cotts induced Melky Cabrera to fly out to end the inning. The Rasmus home run ended a scoreless streak of 16 innings -- and a 42-inning run without a homer for the Jays, who lead the majors in home runs. Darvish walked three and had two wild pitches, throwing 117 pitches including 69 strikes. Dickey gave up five earned runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out seven while walking two. He threw 109 pitches, 75 for strikes. "I thought Dickey was good. The three-run homer, of course, hurt," said Gibbons. "But hes been on a nice roll pitching. Were not winning his games. Were not scoring runs in his games. But take away that home run, I thought he was really good." The combined salaries of Dickey (US$12 million) and Darvish ($10 million) would nearly cover half of the CFLs salary cap hit. And they wasted little time showing why they collected such hefty paycheques. Dickey retired the first seven batters he faced before giving up a single to Odor. A pretty double play by Munenori Kawasaki ended the inning quickly, however. Darvish also kept the Jays off the bases in the early going with just two walks and two singles in the first five innings. Toronto had men on first and second with one out in the second but Darvish snuffed out the threat with two straight strikeouts. He struck out two more to end the fifth after walking Juan Francisco. Darvish did it again in the sixth, striking out two after Cabrera led off the inning with a bloop single before stealing second. Darvish had not pitched since July 9 other than an inning in Tuesdays all-star game. The six-foot-five right-hander came into the game having given up at least four earned runs in four of his last five starts. The game marked back-to-back starts for Dickey, who was on the mound for Torontos last game before the all-star break -- allowing two runs in six innings in a 3-0 loss to Tampa. He said the lack of run support was not in his mind. "No, not really. I cant control any of that. I have a hard enough time tending to my own garden. If I can just concentrate on being me and hopefully Ill get us deep into the ball game with a chance to win the game, hopefully I havent given up any runs. Thats all I can do. And thats all I try to do." Aaron Loup, Todd Redmond and Dustin McGowan followed Dickey. Closer Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for Texas, striking out two and giving up a single. ' ' '