Dein erstes Forum » d a third placing during the Melbourne Cup carniva

SAN FRANCISCO -- Donning fresh postseason victory gear, the Chicago Cubs gathered on the mound and posed for a group photo. They jumped up and down, saluted the fans cheering Cub-bies! behind the visiting dugout and then took the party inside.Step one in their October quest? Check.Yet every one of manager Joe Maddons men recognizes the task ahead. The club with baseballs best regular-season record at 103-58 is being counted on to end a 108-year championship drought and all the pent-up frustration in the Windy City.Chicago is headed back to the NL Championship Series for a second straight year, eager to erase the memory of a four-game sweep to the New York Mets a season ago. Once Matt Moores stellar night was complete for San Francisco, the Cubs rallied with a four-run ninth in a 6-5 victory Tuesday that eliminated the Giants in Game 4 of their NL Division Series.The same Giants who had won the World Series in every even year this decade -- 2010, 12 and 14 -- and had succeeded in 10 straight postseason games when facing elimination.This is a special group, Maddon said. Its pretty easy when you want to have kids act like kids. Listen, but you see them on the field, they play. We play hard. I think we play it right.Blue-clad loyalists stuck around the ballpark long after the final out, cheering and singing for the team favored to win the World Series from the start. The fans waited about an hour before finally heading for the exits.Now, the Cubs go home to wait out Thursdays Game 5 of the Dodgers-Nationals series and have a couple of days to rest their legs before Saturdays NLCS opener.Maddon will likely hand the ball to veteran left-hander Jon Lester in Game 1 at Wrigley Field because he wasnt needed in a potential Game 5.Chicago hasnt been to the World Series since 1945, the year Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis supposedly placed his hex on North Siders.No pressure, certainly not with this group that declines to feed the superstition chatter. No goat fear here, not with a roster packing the talent and the pluck to navigate the nerviest late-game situation.Nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else, Lester said. If we make a mistake, were not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. Were going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment.We got too many young guys in there that dont even know what that stuff is, he added. So, its almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals.In the ninth, Javier Baez hit a go-ahead single after pinch hitter Willson Contreras tied it with a two-run single. Flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman closed it out, rebounding after his blown save Monday cost Chicago in a 13-inning 6-5 loss.Since day one, we came to play hard, Baez said.Maddon and many others have spoken of the Cubs commitment to playing all 27 outs. That resolve has become a defining characteristic for the players hoping to show Wrigleyville a party for the ages.This is big. This is really big. Anytime you do that with a group, it just does a lot for that particular groups confidence, said outfielder Ben Zobrist, who won a title with Kansas City last year. Every group has to kind of find that identity. We did it during the season, but you still have to find that identity in the postseason as well.It proved to be true that thats the kind of team we have. Tonight we were able to put a good comeback together. Travis dArnaud Jersey David Wright Jersey . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. http://www.metssale.com/mets-noah-syndergaard-jersey/ . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Jason Vargas Jersey . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. Nolan Ryan Jersey . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. Jockey Mark Zahra has no concerns about Madeenaty handling the clockwise way of racing when she bids to confirm her favouritism for the Magic Millions Classic in a key lead-up race at Wyong.Victorian-based Madeenaty makes her interstate debut in Thursdays $200,000 Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic (1100m) in NSW ahead of the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic at the Gold Coast on January 14 for which she is the early favourite.Zahra has ridden Madeenaty in both her Melbourne starts down the straight at Flemington for a dominant debut win in the Maribyrnong Trial Stakes and a third placing during the Melbourne Cup carnival.He expects her to be the one to beat at Wyong.I have been to Euroa to ride her in two bits of work and shes going great, Zahra said.She had a jump-out last Wednesday going the opposite way and she went great. Shes a natural that way, so I think shell be very hard to beat there (at Wyong).Madeenaty finisshed third to Invincible Star in her second start but she was easily the first horse home of those who came down the rail side, with the first two placegetters on the outside.dddddddddddd.I really liked her leading up to her first run because I had done a bit of work on her, Zahra said.She did what I expected and then I think you just have to forgive the second one. She had a low draw on the wrong side of the track and she beat the inside horses by like six lengths.Shes just got a stride of a good horse and has always impressed me.Zahra will ride Madeenaty at 54.5kg at Wyong which is lighter than normal.Youve got to do that to get the ride in the Millions, he said.Madeenatys co-trainers David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig will also have Dam Ready in Thursdays Magic Millions Wyong 3&4YO Stakes. ' ' '