ITPV » Harvey banged in the eventual winner in the 49th m

The Detroit Tigers quest toward another pennant begins the same way it did a year ago, with a best-of-five American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. The As gave Detroit all it could handle last year, as the Tigers needed to win a decisive fifth game at O.co Coliseum to advance to the ALCS, where they swept the New York Yankees. Of course, Detroits run ended in the World Series, as it was swept in four games by the San Francisco Giants. Oakland may have been content with just making the playoffs last season, but its a different story this year for the As, who enter the postseason with perhaps the most complete team on the American League side. "We were just riding that emotion and certainly happy to be where we were," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "But the mindset was different this spring; the expectations were different." Last year, of course, the Athletics needed to win their final six games - including a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers to close the regular season - to claim their first American League West title since 2006. Well, Oakland proved that last year was no fluke, as it has spent most of the season at or near the top of the division. And thanks to another September swoon from Texas, it ran away with its second straight division title and finished the year 96-66. This As lineup resembles more of the late 80s power teams in Oakland at the plate without the star power of a Jose Canseco or Mark McGwire, of course, as these As are led by a cast of virtual unknowns, including MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Oaklands 186 homers were the third best in baseball, but the team managed to hit at just a .254 clip, while striking out 1,178 times. The As pitching staff was fronted by former AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon, who will be on the hill Friday. Colon turned back the clock to win 18 games this season and posted a 2.65 ERA, second only in the AL to the Tigers Anibal Sanchez (2.57). Colon, of course, did not pitch in last years ALDS, as he was serving a 50- game ban for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Detroit, meanwhile, had no hangover from its trip to the Fall Classic, as it went 93-69 to win a third straight AL Central crown thanks to another amazing campaign from Miguel Cabrera, and despite a wildly inconsistent season from ace Justin Verlander. While Verlander struggled, the rest of the staff thrived, specifically Game 1 starter Max Scherzer, who enjoyed the best year of his career, as he won an MLB-best 21 games, while pitching to a 2.90 ERA and striking out 240 batters over a career-high 214 innings. In Verlander, Scherzer and Sanchez the Tigers produced three 200-strikeout pitchers on the same team for just the third time in history, the first since the 1969 Astros. Amazingly, the Tigers starting staff led the AL in almost every major category in spite of Verlander, who was only 13-12 and finished the year with his highest ERA (3.46), lowest strikeout rate (23.5 percent) and lowest innings total (218 1/3) since 2008 while battling reduced velocity. As good as their starting staff may have been, though, any conversation about the Tigers begins and ends with the great Cabrera, who came within an eyelash of a second straight Triple Crown. Cabrera may have fell short of his remarkable 2012 season, but still hit a career-high .348 to become the first player in more than two decades to win three straight AL batting titles. His 44 home runs were second to the 53 by Baltimores Chris Davis, and he finished second in RBI, one behind Davis 138. He batted .330 last year with 44 homers and 139 RBI. "I still had a good season," he said. "I have the same numbers I had last year, and we won the division." Cabrera is the first right-handed batter in either league to win three straight batting titles since Rogers Hornsbys six straight for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1920-25. Cabrera became just the fifth player to win three consecutive AL crowns, joining Nap Lajoie (1901-03), Ty Cobb (1907-09, 1911-15 and 1917-19), Rod Carew (1972-75) and Wade Boggs (1985-88). Detroit, which lost four of seven games against the As during the season, has beaten Oakland the last two times these teams have met in the postseason. The As only win against the Tigers in the playoffs came in the 1972 ALCS, which started a run of three consecutive world titles for Oakland. Frank Gore Youth Jersey . -- Jonas Hiller is cautiously confident he has kicked his vertigo. Roger Craig Youth Jersey . He had spent 16 days on the disabled list before being activated Thursday. He was batting just .203 when he came to bat in the 11th inning on Sunday. http://www.thesf49ersshoponline.com/Youth-Patrick-Willis-49ers-Jersey/ . This weeks topics include his take on the Kevin Pillar incident, All-Star snubs, the firing of Padres general manager Josh Byrnes and more. Joe Montana Jersey . And he said Sunday that players believe nobody in Sterlings family should be able to own the Los Angeles Clippers if hes gone. Jimmy Garoppolo 49ers Jersey . -- Arizona came out of its last meeting with California a bit discombobulated, hurting from its first loss and the loss of forward Brandon Ashley for the rest of the season.PORTLAND, OREGON – Four second-half goals propelled Vancouver Whitecaps FC to a dominant 5-1 win over Portmore United in the first match of the Rose City Invitational Sunday at Providence Park. Defender Jordan Harvey bagged a second-half brace, while Nicolas Mezquida, Darren Mattocks, and Russell Teibert each scored their first goals of the preseason in a match that saw Whitecaps FC outshoot the 10-men Jamaican outfit by a 21-9 margin. Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson fielded a squad composed almost entirely of MLS players on Sunday, including the teams four most experienced defenders in Andy OBrien, Jay DeMerit, Harvey, and recently acquired right back Steven Beitashour. The only non-MLS player in the starting lineup was Residency goalkeeper Marco Carducci, who at 17 years old is the youngest player at camp. After a fairly uneventful start to the match, the action picked up around the 15-minute mark when Portmore goalkeeper Jacomeno Barrett was shown a straight red for handling the ball outside the box. The 6-foot-4 keeper was forced to come off his line after Sebastian Fernandez found an unmarked Mezquida with a great ball over the top down the middle of the park. On the ensuing free kick, a six-man Portmore wall blocked Fernandezs low strike from the edge of the box to keep the score level. The Caps had another great chance just a few minutes later, when Mattocks broke into the area only to see his attempt stymied by substitute Portmore keeper Gariece McPherson. Despite going down to 10-men early, Portmore opened the scoring in the 26th minute on what was their only real chance of the match. Against the run of play, Leaughn Williams broke in down the right flank and found a streaking Ricardo Morris inside the area. The midfielder then curled it first time just bbeyond the outstretched arms of Carducci to give Portmore a 1-0 lead.dddddddddddd. From that point forward, the Caps took over. They controlled possession, looked dangerous in the final third, and didnt give their Jamaican opponents another sniff at goal. Two players instrumental in Whitecaps FCs dominance were Teibert, who again looked confident in a holding position, and Beitashour, who was active on the right flank. Eventually, a deflected Beitashour cross led to Vancouvers first goal in the 31st minute. The ball landed at Mezquidas feet just outside the six-yard box and the Uruguayan smashed it on a half-volley into the top left corner of the goal. Vancouver picked up where they left off in the second half, as Harvey banged in the eventual winner in the 49th minute after Erik Hurtado found him unmarked at the far post. The early second-half marker seemed to take the wind out of Portmores sails, as fatigue began to take its toll. After a handful of earlier chances, Mattocks finally found the back of the net in the 65th minute, finishing from in tight to give Whitecaps FC a 3-1 lead. Teibert set up the play with a header from midfield, just minutes after he moved up to the right wing to replace Hurtado. Then, after Harvey scored his second goal of the match with a cross that sailed into the top right corner of the goal, Mattocks returned the favour in the 87th minute. The Portmore native slipped an inviting pass into box before Teibert coolly finished to cap off a dominant 5-1 performance at Providence Park. Also of note, Kekuta Manneh and Kenny Miller made their first appearances of the preseason as second-half substitutes on Sunday. Both players made an immediate impact, as Manneh set up Harveys second goal and nearly had one of his own in the 76th minute. ' ' '