the work of Muzzin and Doughty. " | Forum
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Jan 21 '18
DETROIT -- When Brad Ausmus was a player -- which wasnt that long ago -- the mental aspect of the game always came pretty easily. Texas Rangers Jerseys . "I always enjoyed the cerebral part," Ausmus said. "It was much more difficult to hit -- that was the part of the game I didnt really enjoy." Perhaps it was inevitable that Ausmus would become a manager, and hell have that chance now. The Detroit Tigers hired the 44-year-old former catcher to replace Jim Leyland at the helm of the three-time defending AL Central champions. Ausmus has little managerial experience, and the Tigers will entrust him with a talented roster that is expected to keep right on winning. "Im well aware that you dont generally get dropped into a situation like I will be this coming season," Ausmus said. "I understand Im very fortunate. That being said, Im not taking anything for granted. No details will be glossed over. Im not assuming anything going into the job." Ausmus, who worked in the San Diego Padres front office as a special assistant to the general manager, emerged as Detroits pick less than two weeks after Leyland stepped down. He takes over a team that has reached the AL championship series three straight years and should be well positioned for another big season in 2014. The Tigers lost to Boston this year in the ALCS. "Were not going to re-invent the wheel here. This is a pretty darn good team," Ausmus said. "I think I would be foolish to come here and try to make sweeping changes." Ausmus managed Israels team for the World Baseball Classic, but hes inexperienced as a manager compared to some other potential candidates. Ausmus played in the majors from 1993-2010. The Tigers also interviewed Padres bench coach Rick Renteria and Los Angeles Dodgers third-base coach Tim Wallach -- as well as Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon. Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski said hed planned to interview former Cincinnati Reds star Barry Larkin, but Larkin decided not to interview because he wasnt in a position to make the time commitment necessary for the job. If continuity was Detroits main concern, McClendon may have been the choice, but the Tigers acted a bit more boldly in hiring the Dartmouth-educated Ausmus, whose name also recently surfaced in connection with the Chicago Cubs job. "When we interviewed, we were -- not just me -- taken back at how impressive he was," Dombrowski said. "It really became quite clear for us, that he would do an outstanding job for us. It was probably not where I started, but its where we ended, and we feel very good about that." There will be one important holdover on Detroits coaching staff. Leylands bench coach, Gene Lamont, will remain in that role. Ausmus agreed to a three-year deal with a club option for 2017. Lamont agreed to a two-year deal. Ausmus is 24 years younger than the man hes replacing, and he inherits a roster with a high payroll and several big names, including Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. Hell have a chance to win right away, and hell have to deal with high expectations. "Anybody you hire has some risk attached to it," Dombrowski said. "Even a veteran manager that you bring in with a new club, where they are in their life, theres risk attached to that." The contrasts with the 68-year-old Leyland are obvious, and Ausmus will have to prove he can guide this star-studded team through the inevitable rough patches -- but it wasnt long ago that Ausmus was on the other side of that player-manager relationship. He played in 1,971 games with four different teams. He played for the Tigers for part of the 1996 season, and again from 1999-2000. "Ive got to be me," Ausmus said. "Jim Leyland -- great, Hall of Fame manager. Im not going to be Jim Leyland. I would never make an attempt to be Jim Leyland. Im going to be who I am." Detroit is one of at least three teams with first-time major league managers who should have a chance to win right away in 2014. The Washington Nationals hired Matt Williams to replace Davey Johnson. The Cincinnati Reds, who fired Dusty Baker after a 90-win season, went with pitching coach Bryan Price as their new manager. Ausmus is the latest former player to take over a contending team with little managerial experience. Mike Matheny succeeded Tony La Russa in St. Louis after the Cardinals won the World Series in 2011, and Matheny reached the NL championship series in 2012 and won the National League pennant this year. Former New York Yankees star Don Mattingly is the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team the Cardinals beat in the NLCS this season. "I was just playing the game three years ago," Ausmus said. "I have a pretty good understanding of how the locker room dynamic is." Jason Grilli Jersey . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Delino DeShields Jersey . Granlund scored 2:04 into the first period. Max Reinhart, on his first NHL shift of the season, neatly stripped the puck from Zack Smith at the Senators blue-line. As he moved in, his attempted shot deflected into the slot where Granlund buried a shot past Craig Anderson.EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. – It may end up being the key matchup in the first-ever playoff series between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. A stingy defence led by Drew Doughty against an explosive offence led by Hart Trophy nominee Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. "Hit and hope," is all Kings head coach Darryl Sutter would say on Friday when asked how his team can slow down the Ducks dynamic duo. Luckily, Sutters top defenceman was willing to go a bit more in-depth. "Ive played Getzlaf and Perry so many times," said Doughty. "Ive played with them [most recently at the Sochi Olympics], I know exactly how they play. I study how they play. Theyre two of the hardest players to play in the league, no matter who is the third guy on that line. Its such a hard line to play against. But, like I said, Ive studied how they play so many times that I know exactly what theyre going to do and it just comes down to out-competing them, being a better player in every situation. "Its going to be tough for me to do, but I have to do it." Doughty, who averaged 26:31 of ice time per game during the first round win over the San Jose Sharks, will see a lot of Anaheims top line along with his defence partner Jake Muzzin. "Those two have been together for a long time," said Muzzin when asked about Getzlaf and Perry. "They have a lot of chemistry between each other and they kind of know where theyre going to be on certain plays. So you have to be very clear on where they are on the ice and be very vocal with each other on defending that top line." But the adjustment shouldnt be too tough for the Kings. Doughty is expecting a similar series to what his team experienced against the Sharks. "Theyve got really good forwards, especially their top guys are really good like San Joses," he said. "I think we can take advantage in some parts of the game with their defence, like we could with San Jose as well. I think Anaheim has maybe a little bit better of a goalie, so itll be harder to get it past him. I think its going to be the same type of game. Theyre going to get in on the forecheck. Their forecheck is a little bit different, but they actually come harder than San Jose, surprisingly. So we know theyre going to create off that." And Doughty warned against focusing too much on the Ducks dynamic duo, who combined for 74 goals in the regular season (28 per cent of Anaheims league-leading 263 goals). "For most of the season it wasnt really Getzlaf and Perry, who dominated our team," explained Doughty, "it was kind of the third, fourth-line guys like [Nick] Bonino, [Andrew] Cogliano and [Patrick] Maroon and guys like that so we got to pay special attention to them to." Getzlaf had one goal and one assist in the five regular season games against the Kings while Perry had two goals and two assists. Bonino had one goal and two assists, Cogliano had one goal, while Maroon had two goals in four games. Doughty remembers the Ducks secondary scoring being a key factor in the season series, which saw Anaheim win four of the five encounters, including an outdoor game at Dodger Stadium. But what stood out to Sutter during the regular-season showdowns? "We played two really good games in their building," Sutter said, leaving it at that. The teams split the two games at the Honda Center where the series will open on Saturday and where Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau will have the advantage of last line change. Sutter was in fine form on Friday in his meeting with the media, which lasted a little under three minutes with a good chunk of that being awkward silence following short answers. The fiirst question to Sutter was: whats the biggest challenge your team will face in the second-round series? "Were playing indoors," a deadpan Sutter stated. Nomar Mazara Jersey. "We heard originally the whole series was going to be played at either the Angels stadium or at the Dodgers. So now we found out today that theres actually four in Honda and three at Staples [Center], so weve got a lot of work to do to get that figured out." Its a little warm to play outside, a reporter retorted referencing the high of 35 degrees celsius in Orange County. "Its supposed to cool off, though," Sutter responded, not missing a beat. The Kings had no problem handling the heat against the Sharks as they became just the fourth team in NHL history to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. And one player who has adapted well to the Hollywood spotlight is the 25-year-old Muzzin. Muzzin has proven worthy of the top-pairing assignment during just his second trip to the NHL post-season. Last year, Muzzin picked up three assists in 17 playoff games while averaging 15:50 of ice time per game. This year, Muzzin already has two goals and three assists through seven games while averaging 18:26 of ice time. "I think its just probably a little bit more experience," Sutter said. "If you take last years playoff where he was in and out of the lineup or didnt play that much, this year weve had to rely on him a little bit more to get him ready for playoffs and thats sort of just a continuation of that." "Jake was only on for one goal against in the whole series [against San Jose], shows you how good he was playing," said Doughty. "We did well offensively too [combining for 12 points]. The good thing about me and Muzz is when a teams emphasis is so hard on the forecheck, our breakout ability is really good where one of us can do it on our own. We can talk to each other, help out and I think that is the strength of us. We dont spend a lot of time in our D-zone. And when we do, were both physical, big guys who can pin a guy to have a loose puck and we can get it that way. We did really well in our D-zone, and thats why we were successful as a pair." Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns were held to just one goal over the final four games of the series against the Kings thanks in large part to the work of Muzzin and Doughty. "We were a lot better in our zone," said Muzzin when asked about the reversal in fortune in the series. "Getting pucks in and out, not giving them chances to create cycle opportunities and chances like that. [Jonathan Quick] made some big saves when called upon. But as a whole team, we definitely limited their chances by being quick in our zone and I think we had better gaps on the rush and better awareness on our changes and on the rush as well." NOTES: Jeff Carter and Willie Mitchell (lower body) did not take part in Fridays practice at the teams facility in El Segundo. Sutter said it was an optional skate and Carter took the option after working out off the ice on Thursday. Carter did see his ice time dip in the final few games of the Sharks series, playing 13:07 in Game 6 and 14:06 in Game 7 ... Anze Kopitar on whether theres any difference between facing Frederik Andersen and Jonas Hiller: "No, I dont think its going to matter too much, except for the left catch (Andersen) and the right catch (Hiller). Thats the biggest difference." ... Forward lines at practice minus Carter: Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown; Pearson-Nolan-Toffoli; King-Stoll-Williams; Clifford-Richards-Nolan. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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