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A22 sports
Monday 9 SepteMber 2019
Connecticut Sun coach Curt Miller questions official Tiffany Bird
during the team’s WNBA basketball game against the Chicago
Sky on Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, in Uncasville, Conn.
Associated Press
Final WNBA playoff
seedings came down New York Mets' third baseman Jeff McNeil (6) can't get Philadelphia Phillies' Corey Dickerson's
foul ball as fans watch from behind a protective netting during the fifth inning of a baseball
to last day of season game, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019, in New York. Associated Press
By DOUG FEINEBRG Chicago swept the three Phils hit 3 HRs, outlast Mets
AP Basketball Writer games during the regular
NEW YORK (AP) — The WN- season between the two 10-7 to tighten wild-card race
BA’s playoff bracket is set teams.
after a busy final day of the “In a one game knock- By BEN WALKER pen got battered yet again as the Mets
regular season. out situation as long as we AP Baseball Writer missed a chance to move up in the post-
Washington, Connecticut can limit what they want NEW YORK (AP) — Looking for every ex- season race.
and Los Angeles had al- to do and make them feel tra edge in a playoff chase, the Phila- "It stings, it stings," Mets manager Mickey
ready sealed up the top- uncomfortable anything delphia Phillies tried most everything Callaway said. "We're still going to be
three playoff spots before is possible. We didn’t win — stealing and bunting, plus plenty of the same amount of games back. We've
Sunday’s contests. The Mys- at Connecticut last year pinch-hitters and pitchers. got one less game to make that up. But
tics and Sun don’t play until and we went in there and On and on they went, mixing and match- we can do it."
the semifinals. The Sparks won,” Phoenix coach San- ing against the New York Mets for so long It was the longest nine-inning game in
will play Sunday against dy Brondello said. the teams actually began to run out of Mets' history, topping a 4:14 matchup
the worst remaining seed. “We’ve been in these situ- baseballs. with Washington last Sept. 23. The Phillies
Las Vegas, which had ations before so we’re not In the end, the Phillies had just enough. tied for the longest nine-inning NL game
clinched the franchise’s looking at it like “Oh we Maikel Franco , Scott Kingery and Adam at 4:30 on July 6, 2018, against the Pitts-
first playoff berth since haven’t won,” because Haseley homered as Philadelphia over- burgh.
2014 and first since moving you just go and play. We’re came an early deficit and outlasted the The Red Sox and Yankees set the major
to Nevada last year from going to believe. We know Mets 10-7 Sunday to further tighten the league record of 4:45 in 2006.
San Antonio, earned a first- we can do this. It’s not NL wild-card race. By the late innings, extra balls were need-
round bye and a home easy, no game is easy. "It wasn't the prettiest win by any stretch," ed. Usually, 16 dozen are rubbed up for
game with a victory over Anyone can beat anyone manager Gabe Kapler said. games at Citi Field — that's more than at
Phoenix on Sunday and a in this league so we just The game took 4 hours, 29 minutes — a most parks and usually ample by a lot.
loss by Chicago. have to make sure that it’s minute short of matching the longest But the teams ran through those, and re-
“The season kind of went our night.” nine-inning game in NL history. When it quired an extra two dozen to finish.
how I expected it to. A lot Minnesota had a chance was over, Philadelphia had closed within Phillies starter Vince Velasquez blamed
of ups and downs, trying to get a home game, but a two games of Chicago for the second himself for the slow proceedings. He al-
to understand each other loss to Los Angeles on Sun- wild-card spot. The Mets stayed four lowed four runs, six hits and four walks in
and learn how to win,” day and a win by Seattle in back of the Cubs, who lost Milwaukee 4 1/3 innings.
Aces coach Bill Laimbeer Dallas gave the Storm the 8-5. "I take full responsibility on that end," he
said. home matchup against With both managers maneuvering, the said.
“We had our moments we the Lynx on Wednesday clubs combined to use 39 players, in- Pinch-hitter Phil Gosselin blooped an RBI
looked very good, and mo- night in the opening round. cluding eight pitchers apiece. Héctor single that gave the Phillies a 5-4 lead
ments where we looked re- Seattle won three of the Neris escaped a two-on, one-out jam in in the sixth and Franco followed with a
ally bad. All in all, to take four meetings between the the ninth. two-run homer. Franco later doubled
the fourth seed and have teams this season, includ- "We have to try to win games," Kapler and had seven homers and 18 RBIs in 15
a bye in the first round and ing the last three. said. "We have to try to win the inning." games against the Mets this year.
a home game. We will take “We know how to be good, Injured star Bryce Harper drew a bases- The Mets clawed back for two runs in the
it.” and now we need to do loaded walk as a pinch-hitter, capping bottom of the sixth to make it 7-6 and
While the Aces have a bye, that on the road. That’s the a three-run seventh inning to put the Phil- had the tying run in scoring position, but
Chicago will have to play hardest thing, and that’s lies ahead 10-6. That came shortly after Rodríguez charged hard into the tight
Wednesday against Phoe- why the home games are a sensational catch by right fielder Sean foul space, banged hard into the wall
nix. so coveted,” Lynx coach Rodríguez preserved a slim lead. and caught a fly by J.D. Davis to end the
The Mercury are no strang- Cheryl Reeve said. Wilson Ramos and Robinson Canó hit inning. Rodríguez's teammates waited
er to the single-elimination “We are going to see if we back-to-back homers in the first inning outside the dugout to greet him, and
postseason format, going can win a hard road game. for a 3-0 New York edge. But Noah Syn- several players came off the bench to
6-0 in it since the league We need to play a lot bet- dergaard couldn't hold it and the bull- join in.q
changed to it in 2016. ter than we did today.”q