gacy very often or at all, I guess," deadpanned Popovich. Game 6, if

TSN Baseball Analyst Steve Phillips answers several questions surrounding the game each week. Jack Tatum Youth Jersey . This weeks topics include comparing Bryce Harpers playoff record to Mickey Mantles, the more intriguing LCS matchup, Kershaws playoff struggles and Mattinglys job security. 1) The Division Series saw some dubious stats comparisons: Bryce Harper tied Mickey Mantle (amongst others) for all-time post-season home runs before the age of 22 (with four) and Nelson Cruz passed Babe Ruth for all-time post-season home runs (16). Do these records mean much, given that the records being broken are from players whose only post-season games were in the World Series? Make no mistake about it: Bryce Harper hitting four homers before the age of 22 and Nelson Cruzs 16 career post-season homers are special accomplishments. It is amazing. Stats tell a story about patterns of behavior/performance. They only have meaning, though, in comparison to something else. The reality is that the sheer number of homers doesnt tell the whole story. The number of games played and at bats matter. The post season is different now than it used to be. We have more rounds now, which give todays players more opportunities to accumulate stats. Bryce Harper is not Mickey Mantle but any player earning four post-season homers before the age of 22 is special no matter how many games it takes to get them. By the way, it took Mantle 59 at-bats for his homers and took Harper just 40. Nelson Cruz has hit his 16 homers in 138 plate appearances, while Ruths 15 homers came in 129 at bats. Many people look at baseball today and say that the talent is diluted compared to the eras in which Ruth and Mantle played. Expansion has spread the talent across more teams. They believe that todays numbers are fortified by lesser competition. That is not necessarily true. Remember Ruth played in the era of segregation, when the best African American and minority players werent allowed in the major leagues. Therefore, his performance was enhanced by lesser competition too. Other factors to consider today are that stadiums are more hitter friendly and the pitchers mound was lowered in the early 70s to provide another advantage for todays hitters. Dont forget that Cruz was found to have used PEDs in his career. I dont know for sure when or for how long he did, but I assume the effects of the drugs may have helped him for some number of his homers. The bottom line is that whether you played in the 1920s or 1960s or in the 2010s, hitting post-season homers should be celebrated. For the record I will take Ruth and Mantle over Harper and Cruz on my team. 2. The LCS match-ups could not be in greater contrast. In the American League, the Orioles and Royals meet with a combined World Series drought of 60 years. In the National its the Cardinals and Giants, who now have seven combined NLCS appearances between them over the past five seasons, including a previous head-to-head match-up in 2012. How will these match-ups stack up against one another in terms of entertainment value? I believe there will be more interest in the National League Championship Series than the American League Series. Fans like name recognition and brand recognition. That is what garners more interest than anything. Pitching matchups also pique fans interest and the Madison Baumgarner vs. Adam Wainwright matchup will be phenomenal. I cant wait to watch it. The ALCS will be interesting for those that watch it but the casual fan might not take the time to sit and view. James Shields vs. Chris Tillman doesnt stimulate the senses quite like the names in the NLCS. I think both series will be interesting and exciting. The Giants and the Cardinals are pretty evenly matched. The Cards have a slight edge in starting pitching because I prefer Adam Wainwright over Madison Baumgarner in the head-to-head match-up of aces. The bullpens are comparable, although I like the strikeout ability of closer Trevor Rosenthal of the Cards over the contact style of Giants closer Santiago Casilla. Offensively, neither team possesses great power but the Cards have better overall lineup. Giants manager Bruce Bochy is the best in the game today and has an edge over the Cards Mike Matheny despite his early success at the helm. Im picking the Cards to win the Series in seven games. The Royals and Orioles starting rotations are pretty comparable. I give the edge to Kansas City because they are led by Big Game James Shields. Shields has previous playoff experience with the Tampa Bay Rays, which will prove helpful in this series. The bullpens are both very good, but again I give the advantage to the Royals even if set-up man Kelvin Herrera is hurting. Defensively the Royals have been playing out of their minds this post-season. Their outfielders have run down just about everything the opposition has hit in the air that hasnt gone over the walls, advantage Royals. The Orioles offence is far superior to the Royals. They have much more power and quick-strike production. Although the Royals hit several homers in the ALDS, they are by far more of a manufacturing offense than a power club. The Royals have great speed on the bases and that will be a challenge for the Orioles, yet having to lump multiple hits together for a single run could be a problem for the Royals. Oppositely, the Orioles are often in scoring position when they are standing at home plate with their power. The differential between the two offenses is more substantial than the Royals advantage in pitching and defence. Add the five-day layoff after the ALDS that hurts the Royals more than the Orioles, and Ill pick the Orioles to win the series in six games. I believe the ratings for the NLCS will be better than the ALCS. I just ask that fans give the AL series a chance. I think you could really like the type of game the Royals and Orioles play. Plus, the fans in these two cities are rabid right now, they are desperate for a pennant. That always makes the games more interesting. 3. The Dodgers got bounced in four games by the Cardinals, despite getting two starts in the series from ace Clayton Kershaw. Did Kershaw choke? If not, who should be held accountable for the loss after a 94-win regular season? For the record, I hate the word choke. Sometimes players get the job done and sometimes they dont. The same player may get the job done in a critical situation one time and not the next time. That doesnt mean he choked. Clayton Kershaw threw six innings of one-run baseball in Game 1 before things blew up in the 7th inning. Does that mean Kershaw choked? Not for me. He pitched great for six innings and then choked? No! So what happened in the 7th inning? Baseball happened! Rather than criticizing Clayton Kershaw credit the Cardinals for taking advantage of the situation. They made him pay for his mistakes. They found holes and they put up eight runs before you can say Red Schoendist. In Game 4 Kershaw threw six shout out innings before getting tagged with a three-run homer by Matt Adams. Kershaw made very few mistakes in that game despite pitching on three days rest. He unfortunately hung a curve ball and Adams hit it out of the park. Since it went out of the park Kershaw choked? No way. That ball could have easily been a line drive right at some one for an out. It could have been caught at the wall or hit off the wall and the game could have been dramatically different. No one is to blame. Just give credit to Matt Adams. Clayton Kershaw does not have great post-season numbers does that make him a choker? The same is always said about Peyton Manning in football. He has all the MVP awards from great regular seasons but only one Super Bowl championship. They call him a choker. For the longest time Barry Bonds was called a choker because of poor post-season performance. That is until he finally hit in the post-season. Alex Rodriguez was the same way. Forever he was ripped in New York for being a poor post-season hitter until he hit in the post-season. Give me the player who continuously gets me to the post season and sooner or later he will perform then. Talent always finds a way. Give me Peyton Manning over Eli Manning everyday of the week. Doug Fister of the Nationals has pitched in three elimination games for in his career and his teams have won all three with him getting two of the wins. Ryan Vogelsong of the Giants is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA in five post-season starts, while Clayton Kershaw is 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in his career. I will take Kershaw over both of them without hesitation. If I could draft one pitcher today to start Game 1 for my team in the 2015 playoffs I would choose Clayton Kershaw. Give me the best player with the most talent and I will take my chances. The Dodgers lost to the Cardinals because their team got outpitched and outhit. Sure Kershaw has a share in that but they would never have been in that position without him. He can pitch for my team anytime. 4) After the Cardinals defeated the Dodgers on Tuesday night to advance to the NLCS you would have thought that it was an upset the likes of Appalachian State beating Michigan or the 1980 US Mens Hockey team defeating the Soviets. There was slight acknowledgment of the Cardinals great play but mostly everyone wanted to crush the Dodgers for the loss. Specifically, fans and media are screaming for Don Mattingly to lose his job. The argument is that since the Dodgers had the highest payroll in the game, the season is a failure if they dont win the World Series. In fact, the Dodgers had somehow assumed the expectations of the Yankees. Heads must roll if the Dodgers didnt win the World Series. I mean, really, what was Mattingly thinking pitching Clayton Kershaw (21-3 1.77 ERA), the best starter in baseball? How did Mattingly not know that his ace, who will win both the NL Cy Young Award and MVP, would lose two games in the series? How dare he bench Yasiel Puig in Game 4 after he had struck out in eight of his last nine at-bats? The Twitter-sphere was abuzz with criticism of Mattingly for pinch running with Puig in the ninth inning while pinch-hitting Justin Turner. Why wouldnt he have batted Puig and run Turner instead? Why did Mattingly opt not to pinch-hit Puig who had a measly four homers and 17 RBI after the All Star break? What is so impressive about Turners .419 batting average with runners in scoring position? People couldnt believe Mattingly could have been so stupid. The fact is that the Dodgers lost to a very good team in the Cardinals. There is no shame in losing to them. The Dodgers won the NL West title for the second straight season. Under Mattinglys leadership they have gone from 82 wins in 2011 to 86 wins to 92 in 2013 and 94 this year. They advanced to the NLCS last season where they lost to the Cardinals. This season the Cards got them in the NLDS. How can this be looked at as failure? This Dodgers team was a tough one to manage. Just because a team has the highest payroll doesnt mean that it is as easy as just rolling the bats and balls on the field and writing a line-up. It takes work. Mattingly earned his money. It started the season with having four everyday outfielders for three positions. The call-up of two young outfielders made the juggling of playing-time even more difficult. Yasiel Puig is a handful who lives recklessly and plays recklessly. He made the most outs on the bases and he ran until he was tagged out at times. Puig has a bit of an attitude that at times rubbed his teammates the wrong way; there were several issues between Puig and his teammates this season. Hanley Ramirez can be a bit moody too. I understand that the Dodgers had the largest payroll in baseball, but the notion that it is a failed season if they dont win a World Series is absurd. Its arrogant. There are plenty of other good teams in baseball too. Remember it is not always the best team that wins but the team that plays the best. Don Mattingly did a good job this year and any thought of his termination is crazy. Jim Otto Raiders Jersey . This time, it was Eric Chavezs turn. Stuck in a rut since coming off the disabled list, Chavez hit the first pitch he saw in the ninth inning for a run-scoring single, sending the Diamondbacks to another walk-off victory, 4-3 over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night. John Matuszak Womens Jersey . Last year, Matt Kuchar closed with a 4-under 68 to beat Kevin Chappell by two strokes for his second win of the 2013 season and sixth of his career. https://www.raiderssportsgoods.com/Womens-Fred-Biletnikoff-Inverted-Jersey/ . The deals were announced on Friday. Beckham will receive $4.175 million in base salary, while De Aza will receive $4.25 million. Beckham hit .267 with five home runs and 24 RBIs over 103 games last season, his fifth with the White Sox.(SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs are one win away from yet another title and they will go for it Sunday night against the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at AT&T Center. You can catch the action live tonight on TSN at at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt., you can also listen to Game 5 on TSN Radio 1050. The Spurs are knocking on the door of a fifth franchise title thanks to a pair of road drubbings of the Heat in South Beach. On Tuesday, the Spurs set an NBA Finals record by shooting almost 76 percent in the first half of a 111-92 waxing of the Heat. Then, with Miamis season basically on the line, the Spurs came out in Thursdays Game 4 and put on another clinic, demolishing the two-time reigning champs, 107-86. San Antonio hasnt won a title since 2007 and the Heat ripped the Spurs collective heart out one year ago. The Spurs held a 3-2 series lead in the Finals and had the lead with five seconds to go in Game 6. Ray Allen hit a crazy 3-pointer to force overtime of Game 6, which the Heat eventually won. Miami took Game 7 in South Beach and San Antonio lost its first Finals with this historic group. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Gregg Popovich have seen it all in Alamo City. Duncan and Popovich won their first title together in 1999 and they are cementing their status as a true dynasty. But, with the memories of last years Finals debacle still fresh, the Spurs take nothing for granted. "I think we go back to last year and we learn from that. Were 30 seconds away. We feel that we have it in the bag and it slips out of our fingers," Duncan said Saturday. "So I think we learn from that, and we draw on that, and we say, Hey, its not over till its over. Our goal right now is to just win one more game. Wed love to do it tomorrow. Wed love to do it in one game. But luckily weve put ourselves in a situation where we have a couple opportunities and were going to take whatever it takes. Theyre going to come out and give us their best punch possible." The Spurs got into this position thanks to dominating road performances. Tuesdays Game 3 was an offensive exhibition, but Thursdays victory was an overall gem. Kawhi Leonard, who scored a career-high 29 points in the Spurs Game 3 win, had another monster game with 20 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and three steals to lead San Antonio. Parker scored 12 of his 19 points in the first half, Patty Mills added 14 points off the bench and Duncan contributed a 10-point, 11-reebound double- double in the win. Maxx Crosby Youth Jersey. Boris Diaw, who was inserted into the starting lineup before Game 3, nearly recorded a triple-double with eight points, nine assists and nine rebounds. "We thought we could come in here and win these games," Duncan said when asked about the lopsided wins in Miami. "We came in here tonight with great focus and put a great game together." Duncan passed Magic Johnson for most double-doubles in postseason history with 158 and also passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most minutes played in a postseason career. History is on the Spurs side with a 3-1 series lead. Teams that have gone up by that margin are a perfect 31-0 in Finals history. "We need to win one game. Thats all we can think about," Miamis LeBron James said after practice Saturday. "We cant think about forcing a Game 7. We have to win one game. Game 5, being here in a hostile environment, we know if we lose, the season is over." James scored 19 of his 28 points in the third quarter of Game 4, though San Antonio had the game well in hand by halftime. "They smashed us two straight home games," James said. "They put you in some difficult situations." Chris Bosh tallied 12 points and Dwyane Wade finished with 10 on 3-of-13 shooting in the setback. With Game 4 a desperation scenario for the Heat, the Spurs dominated, especially in the critical categories, San Antonio shot 40-for-70 (57.1 percent) from the floor and outrebounded Miami, 44-27, Thursday night. The Spurs bench outscored Miamis reserves, 41-30, with James Jones netting 11 points off the bench in the final minutes and the Spurs owned a 46-30 edge in the paint. And now the Heat face the tallest of challenges in a bid to three-peat. They did win Game 2 in San Antonio, so theres cautious reason for optimism. "There is a point where no team came back from a 3-1 or 3-0 deficit in the ALCS, and then the Red Sox did it against the Yankees," said James. "So history is made to be broken, and why not me be a part of it? That would be great. That would be a great story line, right? But well see what happens. Ive got to live in the moment, though, before we even get to that point." The Spurs are in the process of becoming one the NBAs greatest champions. Just dont tell them that. "I dont think about legacy very often or at all, I guess," deadpanned Popovich. Game 6, if necessary, would be Tuesday night in Miami. ' ' '