Canada. He also beat Federer in the quar | Forum
miaowang123
Nov 19 '19
TORONTO -- After reliever Darren Oliver came out of his final game in the majors, Mark DeRosa sought him out on the Blue Jays bench. Stephen Gonsalves Jersey . "I said How do you feel?" said the 38-year-old DeRosa. "He said I feel great. And I said Thats how it should be. You should be able to walk away on your own terms. "So Im happy for him." Oliver retired on a high note Sunday, striking out two Tampa Bay Rays in the swansong to his 20-year major-league career. The 42-year-old left-hander came on to a standing ovation to open the seventh against the meat of the Rays order, with Toronto trailing 7-3. He struck out Wil Myers and Evan Longoria while inducing James Loney to fly out. He threw 11 pitches, eight for strikes, before giving way to Steve Delabar for the eighth inning in a game Toronto lost 7-6 after a comeback fell just short in the final game of the Jays season. "It was great, a great run," Oliver said of his career. "But eventually every good thing must come to an end, unfortunately. Mine just happened to end at 42, I guess. But thats all right. It was great." The six-foot-three 250-pounder leaves the game with a 118-98 record in 766 games and 1,915.2 innings pitched. He struck out 1,259 and walked 720 in a career that included three stints in Texas as well as stops in St. Louis, Boston, Colorado, the Angeles and Mets. "He had some kind of career," said Jays manager John Gibbons. "Twenty years -- very few guys get to do that. "To play a very, very small part and be able to manage him is a pretty neat thing. He was one of the better pitchers in the game for a long time. Longevity in this business is hard to come by but to do it for that long and be that effective until the very end, that speaks volumes." Added DeRosa: "I look more at not only what hes been able to accomplish but the way hes gone about it. With class and grace. Hes handled himself like a pro from start to finish." Oliver, the son of former major league infielder Bob Oliver, returned this season after the Jays exercised a US$3-million option for 2013 During spring training, he said good health, good teams and good coaches helped keep him in the game so long. He also worked at it, studying opposition batters. "Theres really no magic explanation why Ive stayed around so long," he said. Kirby Puckett Jersey . According to a report from ESPN, the veteran safety has signed another one-year deal with the team Raiders, the team that drafted him, and who he returned to last year after a long stint with the Green Bay Packers. Lewis Thorpe Twins Jersey . This is Lowry’s third time winning the award in his career. He won the award last season and as a member of the Houston Rockets in 2011.TORONTO -- As a No. 13 seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a punishing draw at the Rogers Cup. He didnt have big expectations entering the tournament but proceeded to take down some of the biggest names in tennis en route to the final. Once he got there, arguably the greatest player in the sports history became his latest victim. Tsonga relied on his powerful serve and strong baseline game in a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory over second-seeded Roger Federer at Rexall Centre on Sunday. The Frenchman took advantage of a rare off-day from the Swiss great and capitalized on his chances. "Im working hard, my motivation came back," said Tsonga, who has battled knee problems over the last two years. "I want to win, I want to play my best tennis on the court. And it happened today." It was his fourth straight victory over a top-10 opponent. He upset top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the third round, eighth-seeded Andy Murray in the quarter-final and seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinal. Tsonga earned US$598,900 for winning the $3.78-million tournament while Federer received $293,650 as the finalist. It was Tsongas second career Masters 1000 Series win and his first victory at this event. He took out three members of the so-called Big Four this week. The other, 2013 champion Rafael Nadal, withdrew due to injury. "I think for me its going to be a new motivation because just last year I always lost against those guys and it was really frustrating for me," he said. "Then today a win against (Federer), its good for me, its good for my ambition and its good for my career." Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, was his usual consistent self in a semifinal win over Feliciano Lopez a night earlier. But he had a hard time with the quick turnaround to a mid-afternoon start on a glorious summer day. "I fought, I mixed it up and I was hoping to sort of sneak in a set and then maybe he would get a bit nervous or maybe would play a bad game," Federer said. "But I just couldnt create enough opportunities. So I think he deserved to win at the end of the day. "It was pretty simple, in my opinion." The first set was a rather choppy affair. Both players made some unforced errors over thhe first few games but each held serve. C. J. Cron Twins Jersey. . Tsonga struggled with his first serve at times but his spin-heavy second serve was just as effective. The quality of the match picked up late in the set. With Tsonga serving at 5-5, Federer showed his skills at the net with a deft drop shot that a fully-stretched Tsonga could not retrieve. Tsongas serve picked him up and he earned the hold to put the pressure back on the world No. 3. Federer became unglued in the final game, spraying two shots long to fall behind 15-30. He pulled even with a winner but was wide with a ground stroke that was unsuccessfully challenged, setting up the first break point opportunity of the set. The Swiss star then launched a ball well long to give Tsonga the opening set in 44 minutes. Tsonga, who reached No. 5 in the world rankings in 2012 but is currently No. 15, kept the pressure on in the second set. He had a break point chance with a 3-2 lead but Federer came back with an ace and fought back for the hold. The Frenchman had another great chance up 4-3 with a double-break point. However, Federer answered again with two straight points to get to deuce and then saved two more break point chances before holding with an ace. In the tiebreaker, Tsonga picked up a mini-break for a 4-3 lead and took the next three points for his first ATP title of the season and 11th of his career. Earlier, Bruno Soares of Brazil and Alexander Peya of Austria successfully defended their doubles title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil. Notes: It was Tsongas first final appearance since losing to Latvias Ernests Gulbis last February in Marseille. His only previous Masters 1000 title came in Paris in 2008. ... Tsonga improved to 5-11 in head-to-head matchups against Federer. Three of his wins have come in Canada. He also beat Federer in the quarter-finals at Montreal in 2009 and in the third round in 2011. ... Federer, who has 79 career titles, won the Rogers Cup in 2004 and 2006. He fell to 2-5 in finals this season. ... The 10,600-seat venue was sold out for the final, which pushed the weeks attendance total to 148,341. That was a slight improvement from the 2012 mens event and just below the 2010 total. ' ' '
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