Funkerstation » orld. A black man is getting a standin

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Washington Nationals found a reliable pitcher for the ninth inning, acquiring All-Star closer Mark Melancon from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.Washington sent reliever Felipe Rivero and pitching prospect Taylor Hearn to the Pirates for Melancon, who supplants struggling Jonathan Papelbon as Washingtons closer. Melancon is expected to join the Nationals on Sunday for their series finale at San Francisco.Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dusty Baker called Melancon on Saturday. Both Rizzo and Baker said they were impressed that Melancon told them he planned to immediately check in with Papelbon.It says a lot about his character and makeup, and that was a big reason why he was such an attractive target to us, Rizzo said. His performance level is great, but his makeup and character are a lot of the reason that we went out and got him. That tells me hes team-first and Mark Melancon second.A 31-year-old right-hander, Melancon has converted 30 of 33 saves with a 1.51 ERA this season and joins his fifth organization in eight years. He is making $9.65 million and is eligible for free agency after the World Series.Once considered a possible successor to Mariano Rivera when he broke into the majors with the New York Yankees in 2009, Melancon said during the All-Star break he knew a trade was possible, given his contract status.The move comes as the Pirates find themselves on the fringe of the wild-card race. While general manager Neal Huntington stressed the team remains committed to reaching the playoffs for a fourth straight season, the opportunity to deal Melancon -- who led the majors with 51 saves in 2015 and had 33 in 14 -- for two young arms with friendly long-term contracts was too good to pass up.Rivero is under team control through 2021 and hit 100 mph on the radar gun regularly during an extended relief appearance against the Pirates this month. If Melancon left as a free agent, Pittsburgh would have received a high draft pick as compensation.We knew full well that holding Mark Melancon would have been a good return, but at the end of the day we felt this was a better return for us, Huntington said.This was Melancons fourth season in Pittsburgh after he also pitched for Houston, Boston and the Yankees.He will move his family once more -- his wife and three kids.This has been a blast. Pittsburgh has a special place in heart. My family has been treated so well, Melancon said. The experiences weve had, just running through my mind all the wild-card games, just big games that weve been in. From where we started, to where we are now, it is an honor. It is an honor to be a Pirate. We got to go through those experiences together. My teammates are my best friends.Papelbon is 2-4 with a 4.41 ERA and has allowed eight runs and seven hits in his past three outing. Baker wouldnt say earlier Saturday whether Papelbon still was his closer. Baker pulled Papelbon from a game Thursday in the ninth inning.Rivero, a 25-year-old lefty, is 0-3 with a 4.53 ERA this season. Hearn is a 21-year-old lefty who was the Nationals fifth-round pick in the 2015 amateur draft.The Pirates will plug Rivero into a seventh-inning role, with Neftali Feliz working the eighth and Tony Watson in the ninth. Watson was an All-Star in 2014 in a set-up role and will take over a position where Pittsburgh has enjoyed plenty of success during its rise from mediocrity. Each of its previous three closers: Melanon, Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan, made the All-Star team wearing black-and-gold.Manager Clint Hurdle said he will miss Melancon but is confident in his bullpen options.I love the guy, love the family. Happy we had him. He helped us, I believe we helped him, Hurdle said. We are not giving up anything, we arent lowering the bar. We are not settling. Our organization made a baseball trade, with confidence that our bullpen is going to be in a good place. We are going to be able to compete this year, we are going to be able to add to our competition level in the years to come.Huntington hinted the team may try to take the money it will save by not paying the remaining portion of Melancons contract and use it before Mondays trade deadline. The Pirates need help in the starting rotation, which has been forced to turn to rookies Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow quickly as established players Jeff Locke, John Niese and Juan Nicasio faltered.Also Saturday, Washington recalled right-handed pitcher Reynaldo Lopez from Triple-A Syracuse.The Associated Press contributed to this report. Ecco Shoes Nz Stores . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Ecco Shoes Online Nz . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. http://www.eccooutletnz.com/ . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Ecco Shoes Outlet Nz . 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. Buy Ecco Shoes Nz . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. The last go-round for the Los Angeles Dodgers Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully begins on Monday night.The 88-year-old Scully has narrated some of the most memorable moments in baseball history since he began his career calling Brooklyn Dodgers games in 1950.Here are some of his signature calls:KIRK GIBSONS HOMERGibson fist-pumping his way around the bases on two injured legs remains one of the great World Series moments. It happened in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium. With the Dodgers down a run to the Oakland Athletics in the bottom of the ninth inning, Gibson came up as a pinch hitter against Dennis Eckersley and drove the ball over the wall.High fly ball into right field. She is gone, Scully said, drawing out the is. Silence followed for more than a minute. Scully came back with, In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.AARONS 715th HOME RUNAfter Hank Aaron hit his 715th homer to break Babe Ruths record on April 8, 1974, Scully famously addressed the racial undertones of Aarons quest.What a marvelous moment for baseball, what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron.LARSENS PERFECT GAMEDon Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game in World Series history in 1956 against Brooklyn, and Scully used his command of the language to build the drama in the ninth inning.Well, all right, lets all take a deep breath as we go to the most dramatic ninth inning in the history of baseball, Scully said.He later described Yankee Stadium shivering in its concrete foundation.When Larsen struck out Dale Mitchell to end it, Scully said, Got him! The greatest game ever pitched in baseball history by Don Larsen, a noo-hitter, a perfect game in a World Series.dddddddddddd.And later, addressing that there had been a perfect game in the regular season but none in the Fall Classic, he added: When you put it in a World Series, you set the biggest diamond in the biggest ring.BUCKNERS ERRORThe Boston Red Sox were on the verge of ending their long World Series drought in 1986 when the New York Mets rallied, capped when first baseman Bill Buckner committed maybe the most cringe-worthy error of all time. The Red Sox went into the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 6 leading the Mets 5-3, but it was tied after three straight two-out singles and a wild pitch.Up came Mookie Wilson. Let Scully, who was calling the game for NBC television, take it from there.Little roller up along first. Behind the bag. It gets through Buckner! Here comes (Ray) Knight, and the Mets win it.The Mets went on to win Game 7.KOUFAXS PERFECT GAMEScullys flair for detail was apparent as he called Sandy Koufaxs perfect game against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 9, 1965.As tension built in the ninth inning, Scully described how Koufax backed off the mound, mops his forehead, runs his left index along his forehead, wipes it off on his left pants leg, all the while (Harvey) Kuenn just waiting.After Kuenn struck out, Scully let the crowd noise tell the story of the moment. When he returned, he said, On the scoreboard in right field it is 9:46 p.m. in the City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. A crowd of 29,139 just sitting in to see the only pitcher in baseball history to hurl four no-hit, no-run games ...Sandy Koufax, whose name will always remind you of strikeouts, did it with a flourish. He struck out the last six consecutive batters. So when he wrote his name in capital letters in the record book, that `K stands out more than the `oufax. ' ' '