Arizona got a run in the seventh on Prados

As a batsman, there are few things more bittersweet than accidentally middling one from the bowling of an express quick. My ungainly swipe at our opening bowlers offering had now triggered this precise predicament. It must be like the feeling of purchasing a house: at once a triumphant achievement and frightening prospect. The bank, an indifferent friend beforehand, is now your foe.Making matters worse, my limp underarm return to the paceman had arrived on the half-volley, causing him to offer a disgusted, token right hand that had no intention of stopping the ball. It thus rolled into the path of the second net, nearly causing the incoming bowler a rolled ankle. This short but eventful transaction caused an immediate cacophony of sighs, grunts and swear words from at least five people, maybe ten. I had rattled the hornet nest of net bowlers. My middled cover drive, glorious as it was, had now compromised my safety. I was now truly in cricketing debt.Fear began to take hold externally and internally. I had angered a bowler who, previous to this exchange, had never registered my existence in his life. Why am I even in this net anyway? I thought to myself.Id heard Ian Chappell once declare the importance of immediately countering negative thoughts with positive thoughts. I tried my best. That was a great shot. I do belong at this level. Maybe theyll respect me now that Ive middled one. The positive thoughts were contrived, though; the negative thoughts were true. My shot was, as they say, arsey. I knew it. They knew it.My spiralling negativity was punctuated with a relieving development - the next group had been asked to pad up. I officially had six minutes to survive.Dont get hit. Dont get out.Thankfully it was the spinner who was up next. Sweet, gentle spinner. In reality he was probably the most skilful bowler in the club. But in this context he was a sight for sore eyes, because whatever he produced, it wasnt going to hurt me. All I wanted from this cricketing trade was for nothing to happen. To calm the emotional fever that had spiked from the ball before. Maybe a tight forward defence. Maybe Id chop a ball meaninglessly to backward point. Anything to stop the building drama. To my surprise, it was full, really full. Slipped-out-of-his-hands full. Instinct took over. I waited, zeroed in, and unleashed the full force of my ageing hands, hips, weight and blade through the ball. The shot was not a controlled, lofted drive. It was a slog. It sailed over the net and through the region that would-be batsmen call wide mid-on. Others call it cow corner.Perhaps it was the subconscious release of tension that had built previously, but I had wilfully and deliberately hit the ball so as to clear the net. To do it represented a controversial play in the unwritten protocols of net batting. When a spinner gets a ball very wrong, the classy move is to bat the ball back; almost in acknowledgment of the aberration of such a poor delivery. I, on the other hand, had instinctively whacked it. There was no need for a call of heads. It was gone. Whatever you wanted to say about our club, it was big on encouragement. Praise like Great shot, mate! and Good leave were never far from the mouths of our senior players. As my slog sailed towards the playing wicket, I heard nothing.Just as this was dawning on me, I realised another thing. Our spinner, dejectedly commencing his latest hike to fetch a slog in the way that only spinners can, would miss his next turn. I had bought myself more fast bowling.My eyes turned to the trio of quicks standing atop their mark. Off their long run, they huddled together like the cool kids at the back of the bus. The club captain had wandered over there too to join the revelry, arms crossed, staring into the net. I noticed paceman No. 2 walk to paceman No. 1. He whispered something to him and caused him to laugh. I swear I heard paceman No. 1 reply, You think so? Okay. My heart sank and quickened, because this could only mean one thing: bumper.I could feel my feet shifting ever so slightly away from my stumps as I hunched over my bat awaiting my pain. The ground fell silent bar the heavy steps of our fastest bowler flying in. I swear Id never noticed how high he pumped his knees upon approaching the wicket. His face was again strained - more evidence that the effort ball was coming. He was into his delivery stride and releasing the ball. I searched for the bouncer but couldnt find it. In fact I couldnt find the ball at all. For that brief moment I was riven with fear. Those slightly shifting feet gave way to the batsmans version of a standing foetal position. I awaited an awkward blow to the body or swish of the ball into net, but heard something far worse - the crash of leather into stump, followed by howls of laughter.I had fallen for the two-card trick. I had been done by the slowest of slower balls. I had hunted for the ball in his half and caused it to escape my eyeline. In my haste to avoid a physical blow, I had failed my second priority. I had not been hit but I was out. Whats worse is that I was now compelled to endure that most humiliating of net experiences: resetting the stumps that Id allowed to be destroyed - in full view of my club.The episode formed another scar in the ceaseless epic that is net batting at dusk. Maybe next time Ill just swing. Maybe next time Ill refuse the good net. Because, like democracy, the ritual of net batting is a flawed - sometimes broken - practice. But when it comes to training, it remains the best thing we have.Read part one: How to survive the good net Nike Air VaporMax Black+Anthracite . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. Cheap Vapormax 2 China . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-97-clearance.html . McCarthy, a player who played some games in the second tier for Wigan at the start of this season, would go on to shine inside Evertons midfield, outplaying the man he was brought in to replace, on one of the grandest stages in English football. On Saturday, it was fitting that Manchester Uniteds most recent dagger into the chest was delivered by Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, a wonderfully gifted central midfielder who put on an outstanding effort for Newcastle at Old Trafford. Wholesale Vapormax 2019 . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Nike Air VaporMax Plus Black Gold . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1.PHOENIX -- Arizona did it again. Not a walk-off home run this time. A game-ending base hit did just fine. The result was another excruciating loss for Baltimore in the desert. Aaron Hill singled with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning on Wednesday to give the Diamondbacks their third straight walk-off win over the Orioles, 5-4. "These last three days have been a lot of fun," Hill said. Not for the visitors. Baltimore led all three games entering the seventh. "It was a tough series," said Orioles starter Chris Tillman, thwarted in his bid for a 15th victory. "Theres nothing you can do about it now. Youve got to look forward to the next one at home." Hill forced extra innings with an RBI single in the ninth off Jim Johnson in the Orioles closers ninth blown save of the season and second in as many days. Bud Norris (8-10), who started and threw five innings in San Francisco on Sunday, came on in the 14th and walked two batters ahead of Hills single to take the loss. Heath Bell (4-1) threw an inning to get the victory. Hill followed Adam Eaton and Paul Goldschmidt as the Arizona last-inning stars. Eatons home run in the ninth gave Arizona the victory in the opener, then Goldschmidt homered in the ninth to tie it and hit another in the 11th to win it on Tuesday night. Hills game-winning single was the only hit in the five extra innings for the Diamondbacks, who finished the homestand 6-2. Baltimore went 4-4 in an eight-game trip to three NL West cities. Norris, the Orioles eighth pitcher, walked Parra and Martin Prado on four pitches apiece to start the 14th. He struck out Goldschmidt, and Hill joked about the reaction from the stands. "The crowd was like Oh, man," Hill said, "but hes done it enough this year. Its time for someone else, right?" Hills single just got through the infield as Gerardo Parra raced home with the winner. As was the case the previous two nights, the players doused the hero with water, dirt and who knows what else. "I dont understand the dirt bath thing, I really dont," Hill said. "The dirt, the rosin bag, the spit, whatever else comes at you, I dont know where that came from. But hey, if it means we win a ballgame, Ill take it every time." Norris refused to talk to reporters afterward. He had skipped his scheduled bullpen session Wednesday to be ready if he was needed should the game go extra innings after the 11-inning affair on Tuesday night. "We knew he was going to be able to throw a couple of innings for us," manager Buck Showalter said. "He throws more pitches on his work day, which would have been today, than he did in the game.dddddddddddd" Showalter refused to criticize Johnson, who leads the majors with 39 saves. "The worlds full of those guys who come in after the wars over and shoot the wounded. Im not one of those guys," he said. "Ill leave that to the guys who are outside the arena." Showalter got the inevitable question about sticking with Johnson as closer. "Am I going to sit Adam Jones because he had a rough day today?" he said. "I as a manager cant live in that world. Weve got a lot of pieces in the chain that have to work and every club does. And Ill be the first guy to make adjustments if they need to be made, but theres a lot of things that weve got to shore up besides that." The Orioles loaded the bases with one out in the 10th but Brad Ziegler induced Nate McLouth into a double-play grounder to second. Baltimore took a 4-2 lead into the seventh on Monday and a 3-0 lead after six on Tuesday. The Orioles were up 4-2 again when Tillman left the game entering the seventh. Arizona got a run in the seventh on Prados RBI single, then threatened but failed to score in the eighth. Parra, who tripled in a run in the second, doubled to left off Johnson to start the ninth. Prados bunt failed to advance the runner, then after a quick trip to the mound by manager Buck Showalter, Goldschmidt was walked intentionally. That brought up Hill, who singled sharply to left on the first pitch to tie it. Goldschmidt moved to third on the play but was stranded when Matt Davidson struck out and Tuffy Gosewisch grounded to short. All four Baltimore runs came with two outs against Patrick Corbin in the second, two of them on Manny Machados home run. Corbin failed for the fourth time in his bid for a 13th victory. He went seven innings, giving up four runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. NOTES: When they recalled Campana, the Diamondbacks optioned LHP Tyler Skaggs to Triple-A Reno. Skaggs had been with the team for a couple of days as a long-inning relief option in his latest in a series of stints with the big league club. ... Three pitchers were used as pinch hitters, Randall Delgado and Wade Miley for Arizona, Scott Feldman for Baltimore. ... The Orioles return home for a three-game interleague series with Colorado, sending LHP Wei-Yin Chen (6-5, 3.06 ERA) to the mound against the Rockies RHP Juan Nicasio (6-6, 5.04) in the opener Friday night. ... Arizona leaves on a 10-game road trip, beginning with a three-game series in Pittsburgh. RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-6, 4.73) goes for the Diamondbacks in Fridays opener with RHP Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.95) starting for the Pirates. ' ' '