Kommandozentrale » With all the high-priced talent on the Lo

LOS ANGELES (AP) — s Angeles Dodgers‘ roster Trevor Hoffman Jersey , Max Muncy had to find a way to stand out. He has done it with his bat, coming from the minors to lead the team in home runs.He slugged 35 homers in the regular season, propelled by a first-half tear that landed him in the Home Run Derby.Muncy’s three-run drive powered the Dodgers to a win in the opener of their National League Division Series against Atlanta, and they eventually eliminated the Braves in four games.“The whole experience has been incredible,” Muncy said.Next up is the NLCS against Milwaukee starting Friday, putting Muncy in a best-of-seven series for the first time in his career.Don’t expect him to be rattled, either.“Starting with game 163 I was kind of nervous, but you look at how everyone else in the clubhouse is walking around handling themselves,” Muncy said Wednesday. “There’s so much experience there. There’s no panic, there’s no worry. They’re all calm as can be. That kind of resonates through me. If it wasn’t for those guys, then maybe it’s a different story.”His results seem all the more improbable because Muncy isn’t an everyday player. He pops up anywhere from first base to second to third, and occasionally the outfield.The 28-year-old utility player was a non-roster invitee at spring training. He began the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, shivering in freezing weather during the team’s opener at Iowa on April 5.Less than two weeks later, Muncy was called up by the Dodgers because of injuries. He homered in his second at-bat and kept on going.“He’s just killed it for us,” teammate Ross Stripling.During All-Star weekend, Muncy defeated the Cubs’ Javier Baez in the first round of the Derby before losing to eventual champion Bryce Harper in the next round.After the break, Muncy struggled at the plate, with his average dipping to .183.“I was just focused on trying to get back to where I needed to be Evan Longoria Jersey , back to controlling the strike zone, putting good swings on balls,” he said.Buoyed by manager Dave Roberts’ unflagging belief, Muncy recovered his stroke and has continued to contribute in big moments. One of his best traits is his discipline at the plate, knowing when to let a pitch go by and when to swing.“It’s just something that I’ve always had,” he said. “It’s one of those things where you kind of either have it or you don’t.”Stripling faced Muncy back in their high school days in North Texas and later in college, with Muncy at Baylor and Stripling pitching at Texas A&M.“He was a guy that was always going to command the strike zone and just going to be just an absolute brutal matchup because he spits on good pitches, he commands the zone and puts the bat on the ball and walks,” Stripling said after a workout at Dodger Stadium.“In college he had some power and hit some home runs. He’s made some swing adjustments that have maybe created some more power,” Stripling said.A fifth-round pick in the 2012 major league draft, Muncy was released by Oakland in March 2017. He got signed by the Dodgers and sent to the minors, where pitcher Walker Buehler was also in Oklahoma City.Six months ago in Iowa, Muncy figured Buehler was a lock to wind up in Los Angeles, but wasn’t so sure about himself.Now, the rookie and the seven-year journeyman have created a buzz in the Dodgers’ bid to win their first World Series title since 1988.“I know for both of us to be able to help out this team the entire year the way we have it’s just been something that’s been very special,” Muncy said. As Rocky Balboa once said: "I didn’t hear no bell...one more round!""All the best stories are told in threes. It took three movies for Marty McFly to get the timelines sorted out, three books for Frodo Baggins to arrive at Mordor, and three seasons to figure out just what in the hell HBO’s The Leftovers was all about.Over the course of this Twins season Andrew McCutchen Jersey , I’ve looked back ten years on Justin Morneau’s All-Star dominance and a late-season sweep over the Pale Hose. The final chapter in that saga?As Rocky Balboa said...With the 2018 season featuring not one but two extra contests to decide division winners (Cubs/Brewers & Rockies/Dodgers), it seems fitting for one more look back at how 2008 came to a close. Let’s pick up right where we left off:After that stunning sweep of the White Sox at the Dome, Chicago dropped two of three to the Cleveland Indians. All the Twins had to do to snatch the division crown was take two games from a Kansas City Royals team (at home, no less) that would ultimately finish 75-87. Alas, the Twins dropped the first two games of that series before salvaging the “season finale”. When the Sox beat the Detroit Tigers in a rain-makeup game the next day, it put both teams at an identical 88-74 record. For the first time in Twins franchise history, an extra game would be needed to decide who advanced to the playoffs and who packed their bags.The first thing I remember about 163 ‘08 is the Chicago Black Out (Sox fans wearing all black to the game). To this day, I don’t think I’ve seen a stadium of fans as “all-in” as that particular night. A little intimidating, to say the least.The Twins sent Nick Blackburn to the mound, and he pitched the game of his life (6.1 IP, 1 ER). For a guy whose modus operandi was typically “give up a lot of hits and hope to scrape by on ground-ball double plays”, he was actually overpowering that night. Unfortunately, John Danks (8 IP, 0 ER) was even better. Not only did Danks relegate one of the Twins’ key offensive weapons (Jason Kubel) to the bench, as Kubes struggled mightily against southpaws, but he stymied the likes of Denard Span, Joe Mauer, & Justin Morneau (also port-siders).In all honesty http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , though, this game was decided by two plays...Big Jim Thome doing what Big Jim Thome does. Even before he became the Man with the Ox in the Batter’s Box, he was one of the (few) White Sox I had any respect for (Paul Konerko being the only other).2. Ken Griffey Jr., winding down his HOF career, gunning down Michael Cuddyer at home plate. Nothing wrong with sending Cuddyer in that situation, IMHO, as it took a perfect throw to get him and that’s exactly what The Kid provided (with old friend A.J. Pierzynski hanging on after contact).1-0.One-freaking-nothing. Two teams tied after 162 games, and the season turns on one digit in #163. While at the time I was devastated that the Twins lost out to the Sox, of all teams, I eventually grew to understand that losing out to a Thome HR wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. It was an incredible game from start to finish and, to use a little manager-speak, Chicago just “made a couple more plays” than Minnesota.It’s been fun looking back at the 2008 season and remembering how much differently (for better or for worse) I viewed the Twins and baseball in general at that time. Primarily, the fact that 88 wins could seem like a colossal disappointment. There was absolutely NO WAY 2009 could ever top that kind of drama, win or lose, right?Right?!Heh.