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ANAHEIM, Calif. Benson Mayowa Jersey . - After six months of steady play capped by a stellar September, the Los Angeles Angels earned the best record in baseball and their first playoff trip in five years.And then that trip lasted only four days.Once theyve recovered from an unceremonious AL Division Series sweep at the smoking-hot hands of the Kansas City Royals, the Angels must figure out what they can salvage from a 98-win regular season and a brutally swift post-season exit.Angels manager Mike Scioscia succinctly summed up his 15th season and the merciless nature of October: (The Angels) played hard all season, and we had a rough three games.And the Angels high-priced hitters had the worst games of all for a team that scored only six runs in 31 post-season innings.Mike Trout, the likely AL MVP, went 1 for 12 in his first post-season series. Albert Pujols, the $240 million slugger, was 2 for 12 with two RBIs.Josh Hamilton was booed repeatedly by Angels fans when he returned for the post-season after sitting out most of September with various upper-body injuries. The $125 million left fielder with three years left on his contract went a miserable 0 for 13 against the Royals.We won a lot of ballgames, but in the playoffs, the slate is wiped clean, Hamilton said. I dont think we played poorly.Until the last 10 days, the AL West champions were an uncommonly resilient ballclub. Even after losing starting pitchers Garrett Richards and Tyler Skaggs to season-ending injuries in August while playing in one of baseballs best divisions, the Angels hadnt lost more than four straight games all year a€” before they dropped the final three games of the regular season and their only three playoff games.You dont go in with any badge saying you won the most games, and youre certainly not going to get any points for that going into the playoffs, Scioscia said. We did a lot of things well during the series. We just didnt finish some games off. Those guys got some big hits, and they beat us. But you have to get your foot in the door. We know how tough it is to get your foot in the door.Whether the Angels can keep that foot in the door is the question of the off-season.With their first playoff berth since 2009, the Angels finally accomplished something worthy of the enormous expectations brought on by their hefty payroll. That wont be much comfort while owner Arte Moreno watches two teams with a fraction of that financial investment playing for a World Series berth this weekend.Morenos urgency has a price beyond those big checks. Los Angeles has signed Pujols, Hamilton and Trout to contracts worth more than a combined $500 million, but the Angels also parted ways with several top prospects and first-round draft picks in the past few years while trying to win now.So the Angels are likely to return next season with Trout and much the same core of well-compensated players mostly in their 30s, supplemented by whats considered one of the majors thinnest farm systems. It worked well this season, but its hardly the intuitive way to win.Yet the Angels also have plenty of promising pieces. Two of the best young starters in baseball emerged from their system this season in Richards and 16-game winner Matt Shoemaker, while the Angels bullpen became a force after a few canny in-season moves by general manager Jerry Dipoto.And though he wasnt impressive last week, Trout is still the best player in baseball at just 23 years old. The franchise will be built around Trout for the foreseeable future, a blueprint that pretty much any team would love to have.Pujols, who still has seven years left on his $240 million contract, spent the entire summer angrily dismissing suggestions that anything except the post-season held any importance to Los Angeles. When the Angels flopped in the playoffs, Pujols already was looking ahead to next October.Weve got too many veteran guys here, he said. I think we can bounce back. Its not going to be the last post-season were going to be together as a group. Curtis Riley Jersey . The Brazilian-born strikers brace drew him level with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as the leagues leading scorers with 17 goals apiece through 16 rounds. "The important thing is to help the team win, not the goals," Diego Costa said. After a first half dominated by defence, Atletico pressed Valencia into its area and Diego Costa did the rest. Hunter Renfrow Jersey . When a game is in the balance, however, they still have the personnel and the experience to end up with the two points.The NHLs Mar. 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Check out todays trade-related reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. And follow TSN.ca through Deadline Day for all the updates. Murray in No Hurry The Buffalo Sabres have the NHLs worst record as of Sunday and are expected to be one of the NHLs busiest clubs in the lead-up to the Mar. 5 deadline. Veteran pieces such as Ryan Miller, Steve Ott and Matt Moulson are widely rumoured to be available, but new Sabres general manager Tim Murray has told his vets not to buy into the hype too easily. Murray told the Buffalo News: “I told them not to believe everything they read or everything theyve heard on the sports channels. But certainly their names are in play and well see what happens but it doesnt guarantee theyll be moved at all.” “For me, its all about return. These are good players. So if the return was up to a certain point and not great and we then decide we want to talk to them about staying, then thats an option too.” The Sabres are rich in draft picks already, owning nine picks over the first two rounds of the next two drafts. Buffalo also selected two players in the first round of both the 2012 and 2013 drafts. Devils Winggs The New Jersey Devils, who enter Sunday just a point out of the final wild card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, will likely be looking for a complementary forward for their big guns in their chase for the post-season. Howie Long Jersey. Jaromir Jagr is on pace for his best season since returning from KHL exile in 2011-12, but Devils coach Peter DeBoer is looking for answers on first-line centre Travis Zajacs other wing and it could be left to Devils GM Lou Lamoriello to find a solution. “Its critical for us. We really like the chemistry on three of the four lines right now. And I like Zajac and Jagr together. We have to find a piece with them. Weve tried some different guys. Josefson will get a chance tomorrow. Well keep trying. Taking a Flyer? Philadelphia has lost seven of its last nine, leading the Philadelphia Inquirer to wonder if the team can keep pace in the Metropolitan Division or if a sell-off is lying in wait. The coming Olympic break may offer salvation in the form of a forced refreshment period, but if it doesnt Philly may be forced to move – by addition or subtraction – in a hurry once trade business opens back up post-Sochi. Meanwhile, the Boston Globe speculates that if the Flyers go into sell mode, Andrej Meszaros could make a handsome fit on the Bruins blue line with Dennis Seidenberg out for the year. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football JerseysCheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '
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