early in the second half

**wanglei** 10 ноя 2017, 05:41

DETROIT – Its the annual rite of the first week of June, baseballs amateur draft, where clubs take part in a three-day, 40-round marathon, selecting more than 1,000 players they hope will improve their fortunes in the years ahead. The Blue Jays had two picks in Thursday evenings first round – ninth and 11th overall – and used them to take a pitcher and a catcher. First, the club took right-hander Jeff Hoffman, a 21-year-old from Latham, New York, who attended East Carolina University. Two selections later, the Blue Jays selected Kennesaw State University product, 21-year-old catcher Max Pentecost from suburban Atlanta. Major League Baseball uses a slotting system – a recommended signing bonus value based on where a player is taken – and the Blue Jays, if they pay in full, will be on the hook for about $6 million for their two picks. Hoffman is an interesting case. He has a plus fastball, mid-90s miles per hour which can top out in the high 90s, a strong curveball and a developing changeup. But, just last month, Hoffman underwent Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. The procedure, now so routine its rarely flawed, was hardly a concern to Torontos front office and top scouts. "We just felt like the talent was too big to walk away from," said Blue Jays director of amateur scouting, Brian Parker. "This guy was going to go top three, top four picks prior to his injury and we just felt like even with the Tommy John, we felt this was a good gamble for us." Pentecost was a seventh round draft pick of the Texas Rangers in 2011. He was projected to go higher but suffered a stress fracture in his throwing elbow, which dropped his stock. He didnt sign with Texas, choosing to go to school instead. The first catcher the Blue Jays have taken in the first round since, take a breath, J.P. Arencibia in 2007, Pentecost is a versatile player who projects to be a good hitter, although more gap-to-gap than for power. A.J. Jimenez is the Jays top catching prospect, currently toiling at Double-A New Hampshire more than a year removed from Tommy John surgery of his own, and the Blue Jays have shipped out catchers like Arencibia, Travis dArnaud (to the New York Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade), Yan Gomes (to Cleveland for Esmil Rogers) and Carlos Perez (to Houston in the J.A. Happ deal) in recent years. "Taking Max had nothing to do with any of those trades or getting rid of any of those players," said Parker. "When you pick nine and 11, you just have to line up your board and take the best player and thats what we did. We like Max, we scouted him pretty hard from last summer in the (Cape Cod League) and throughout this spring. Hes an athletic, two-way position player and we like the bat. I think theres a lot of positives with him. Obviously, a guy at a premium position that can help out offensively and defensively is something that attracted him to us." In two of the last three drafts, the Jays have failed to sign their first round pick. In 2011, it was Tyler Beede, who instead chose to go to Vanderbilt University and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants 14th overall on Thursday night. Last year, the Jays failed to land right-hander Phil Bickford, who instead went to California State-Fullerton. The pick that landed Pentecost was compensation for missing out on Bickford. Going with two college kids, including one coming off an injury, increases the likelihood of the player being willing to sign. Neither has a full school ride to fall back on. Hoffman, who is pleased with the progress hes making early in his rehabilitation from elbow surgery, sounds eager to put pen to paper. Chris Kline, the Blue Jays area scout in the Carolinas, did most of the legwork on Hoffman. 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The No. 23 seed at the first Grand Slam event of the tennis season has worked out all the details, from his training regime right down to where hes going to eat dinner. DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki apparently wasnt kidding when he said an early season game against Charlotte was a must-win for the Mavericks. Once the big German finally found his scoring groove, he got Monta Ellis to play along. Nowitzki scored 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and combined with Ellis to score Dallas last 19 points, and the Mavericks kept the Bobcats winless in Dallas by rallying for an 89-82 victory Tuesday night. "We were just reading one another," said Ellis, who had 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, when Dallas outscored Charlotte 29-15. "Dirk did a great job of keeping us close, then he got us ahead and we ran the two-man game and we just picked to see what the defence was doing." Al Jefferson had 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker scored 16 apiece for the Bobcats, who fell to 0-10 in Dallas and 1-17 overall against the Mavericks despite leading by 12 in the third quarter. "Weve got to get more organized," said Walker, who also had seven rebounds and five assists. "We tend to stop doing what weve been doing for the first three quarters. In order to win in this league, you have to stick with what youve been doing." The Mavericks had lost four of their previous five and trailed from late in the second quarter to the middle of the fourth before rallying to wrap up a stretch of seven home games in nine outings. Dallas, which is 2-6 on the road, starts a four-game trip Wednesday night in New Orleans. "We talked about it a little bit during timeouts that we needed to get things going," said Nowitzki, who was 1 of 10 from the floor in the first half. "This was a big game for us with us about to hit the road for a lot of tough games." Nowitzki put Dallas ahead for good 79-78 with a free throw after Josh McRoberts was called for a technical after getting whistled for a foul while Nowitzki was setting up with Ellis for a pick-and-roll with 3:08 left. Ellis hit a driving layup on the same possession, and then a jumper after Anthony Tolliver missed a 3-pointer. Ellis, who got hiss fourth quarter going with a tough baseline jumper late in the shot clock for a 78-76 lead, finished 22 points and five assists.dddddddddddd. Dallas was up 83-78 when Ellis jumped high for a rebound after a miss from Walker. Nowitzki hit a long jumper at the other end to turn the game into a free-throw exercise. Dallas guard Jose Calderon played after missing one game with an ankle injury and had back-to-back 3-pointers to give Dallas a 35-33 lead with 4:16 left in the first half. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from long range and was on the floor with Nowitzki and Ellis late. "Nowitzki and Ellis took over the game," Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said. "And if we would run around a double team, theyve got 3-point shooters all over." A cold-shooting first quarter provided a preview of a sluggish offensive game in the fourth quarter, when the teams either misfired or couldnt get off a shot in 10 consecutive possessions with the Bobcats leading 73-70. A 3-minute scoreless stretch ended with three straight made shots -- two jumpers from Nowitzki over McRoberts and a bucket from Jefferson on an assist from McRoberts. The 6-foot-10 McRoberts had three assists, including one on a running behind-the-back pass to Henderson for a fast-break dunk to cap an 11-0 run in the first half. The Mavericks scored the first five points of the fourth quarter on a runner in the lane from Vince Carter and a 3-pointer from Nowitzki to get within 67-65. "The turning point was at the beginning of the fourth quarter when we had a chance to extend the lead or to give it up," Clifford said. The Bobcats went ahead by 12 with a 10-run early in the second half. Henderson had a three-point play for a 54-42 lead after making a jumper earlier, and Walker hit a 3-pointer. NOTES: The teams combined to shoot 28 per cent in the first quarter (11 of 40). ... Bobcats G Michael Kidd-Gilchrist left the game in the second half with a fractured left hand. Clifford said he didnt know how long Kidd-Gilchrist would be sidelined. "Its going to be tough to make up for what he does," Clifford said. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '