Post by lingzi on Sept 12, 2012 8:43:42 GMT 1
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Standing in the raucous Ravens locker-room, Dennis Pitta slipped the blue AFC North Champions cap onto his head and tugged it tight. LaMarr Woodley Jersey . "The hat fits great," the tight end decided. Not just great, but perfect. Baltimore finished a perfect run through the division on Sunday night, beating the Cincinnati Bengals 24-16 for its third AFC North title behind Ray Rices two long touchdown runs. The Ravens (12-4) ran off the field with helmets raised in celebration, slipped into their championship shirts and caps, then headed home -- the only place they want to be at this time of the year. Behind Rices big day, Baltimore clinched the AFCs No. 2 seed and a first-round bye, followed by a playoff game at home, where theyre 8-0 this season. "This is a great achievement, especially when you consider whatever doubters we had," linebacker Ray Lewis said. "We swept our whole division. Now the world comes to Baltimore." Despite the loss, the Bengals (9-7) also got into the playoffs, securing the final wild card as the Jets and Broncos also lost in games that ended around the same time. Its Cincinnatis third playoff appearance in the last 21 years. No hats or shirts for the Bengals, though. They exchanged congratulatory hand slaps with a few fans as they left the field, and that was it for the celebration. "Its kind of weird," said rookie quarterback Andy Dalton, who was 22 of 44 for 232 yards with no interceptions or touchdowns. "Obviously we didnt get it done today, but we still have a chance." Cincinnati will play next weekend at Houston, which donned caps and shirts in celebration of the AFC South title after beating the Bengals 20-19 at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 11. Dalton is 3-0 at Reliant Stadium, where he played two games in high school and one at TCU. With Paul Brown Stadium packed with Bengals fans for the first time all season, Rice made the biggest plays on a blustery afternoon that made it tough to throw. He had a career-best 70-yard touchdown run on the fourth play. Rice also broke a 51-yard touchdown run on a third-and-1 play with 5:41 to go, essentially finishing Cincinnatis chances of yet another big comeback. Rice finished with 191 yards on 24 carries and set a club record with his 15th touchdown of the season. Baltimores defence had a big hand in it, too. Linebacker Terrell Suggs hit tight end Jermaine Gresham after a catch, jarring the ball loose. Three plays later, Rice went 51 yards to put the Ravens on the verge of a title. Suggs sacked Dalton, forcing the Bengals to settle for a field goal on their next possession. Cincinnati got the ball back at its 20 with 1:05 to go and no timeouts left. The game ended with Daltons desperation pass into the end zone. "This feels good," Suggs said. "You just have to take it in." During that final, futile drive, the Broncos score was shown on the videoboard, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd of 63,439. The Bengals sold out their stadium by offering two-for-one ticket deals. Ravens players raised their arms in triumph as they ran off the field after Daltons final pass. They made home-field advantage for the playoffs an overriding goal after having to play on the road each of their last three years in the post-season. It was sweet to get it. "Ill leave the eloquence up to you guys, but we all felt it in the pit of our stomach," coach John Harbaugh said. Wind gusts of over 30 mph toyed with long passes and kicks, forcing teams to go conservative. The Ravens got the better of it behind their multifaceted running back. Rice found a huge hole behind Marshal Yandas block and outran Cincinnatis secondary only two minutes into the game. Cincinnatis defence got sloppy and helped the Ravens drive for a touchdown and a 17-3 lead at the half. Penalties for holding, illegal contact and a high hit moved the ball to the Cincinnati nine-yard line with 19 seconds left. The Ravens used their final timeout to set up Joe Flaccos touchdown pass to Pitta in the far corner of the end zone. Flacco went 15 of 19 for 130 yards without an interception. The Bengals stayed in playoff contention by pulling off comebacks, overcoming double-digit deficits in the second half three times. They put themselves in position for another one when Bernard Scott broke a 25-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. Mike Nugents 46-yard field goal cut it to 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, but that was all they managed. The Bengals reached the playoffs despite losing all seven of their games against playoff contenders this season. They lost five of their last eight games, but got the wild card with the help of the Jets late-season collapse. Notes: The Ravens also won the division in 2003 and 2006. ... Rice joined Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as the only players with 1,000 yards rushing and 700 receiving in more than one season. ... Suggs has a career-high 14 sacks, one shy of Peter Boulwares club record from 2001. ... Ricky Williams carried six times for 28 yards and became the 26th player in NFL history to run for 10,000 career. ... K Billy Cundiff was back after missing one game with a sore left calf. He made a 42-yard field goal into the wind. ... Its the third time in the last four years that an AFC North team went 6-0 in the division -- Pittsburgh did it in 2008 and Cincinnati in 2009. ... Bengals K Mike Nugent made three field goals, giving him a team-record 33 for the season. ... The Bengals havent won a playoff game since 1990. Demaryius Thomas Jersey . The skip of Newfoundland and Labrador has a young team with him at the Canadian mens curling championship starting Saturday in Saskatoon. Fred Jackson Jersey . The Canadiens, drafting an uncharacteristic third, ignored Alex Galchenyuks recent injury problems and chose the 18-year-old centre only two picks after Yakupov, his teammate with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, who went No. Reggie Bush Jersey . Four months after their tumultuous 2011 season ended with a loss to Pittsburgh, Clevelands players began a "voluntary" off-season program on Monday under second-year coach Pat Shurmur, who didnt have the luxury of such preparation in his first year because of the NFL lockout Shurmur was pleased with the "outstanding" turnout of a team he now knows much better. Ryan Mathews Jersey . - Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen is still not sure if hell be able to play in the playoff opener against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. Wesley Woodyard Jersey . Zeng clocked four minutes 33 seconds to set the new record, beating Qu Xuelong from Tianjin to take the first gold of this tournament. Seldom did I beat Qu. He is still the best pursuit specialist in China.MINNEAPOLIS -- Scott Diamond was the latest reinforcement summoned by the Minnesota Twins to stabilize their reeling rotation. He sure earned another start. Diamond pitched a career-best seven scoreless innings in his season debut and Ryan Doumit hit a two-run homer, giving the Minnesota Twins a much-needed jolt in a 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night. "If you draw a baseball game up, thats the way youd do it," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. Diamond (1-0) struck out six, the most in any of his eight major league starts, and allowed only four hits. Hes the first Twins starter to pitch this year without allowing a run. Recalled from Triple-A Rochester this week to join a starting staff thats last in the majors with a 6.45 ERA, the 25-year-old Canadian retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced. Diamond got 12 groundball outs, seven to shortstop Brian Dozier, and walked only one while routinely throwing strike one and precisely locating his fastball. The Angels were shut out for the seventh time this season, four more than the Twins. "The defence was awesome. I wouldnt have been able to have gone seven without them," Diamond said. Sent down early in spring training, Diamond was told to be ready to return. "If something happens in our rotation, you be the guy thats throwing the best," Gardenhire told him. He was. "The goal was to work back here. When I got sent down I was a little discouraged, but I wanted to work hard and get back," Diamond said. Dan Haren (1-3) didnt even finish the fourth, the shortest of his seven starts this season after pitching into the seventh inning in each of his last four appearances. Even more glaring was the fact that he failed to record a single strikeout, the first time he started a game and didnt do that in almost eight years. Only three of Harens 263 career starts have ended without a strikeout. The Angels, who lost for only the third time in their last nine games, snapped a streak of 13 straight quality starts -- six innings or more and three runs or less. Their starters have the lowest collective ERA in the league. Haren gave up eight hits and five runs with two walks over 3 2-3 innings to a team that totalled only 20 hits over its previous six games. Willis McGahee Jersey. The Twins finished with 12 hits in all. "I gave up a bunch of hits to a team thats really struggling. That speaks to how I feel right there," said Haren, who complained of some lower-back muscle stiffness but said he should be fine. The Twins, who won for only the third time in 15 games, still have the worst record in baseball at 8-21. And theyre still last in the AL by far in home runs, but Doumit padded their paltry total a little with his first-inning drive into the right-field seats that followed Josh Willinghams RBI double. The last time the Twins scored before their opponent was eight games ago, on April 29 against Kansas City. This was their first lead in four games since beating Seattle on Friday. "We needed a win bad. We needed something to jump-start us," Willingham said, adding: "Weve been playing from behind a lot and maybe putting too much pressure on ourselves to get hits and score runs. Its a lot better to play ahead." Danny Valencia grounded into a bases-loaded double play that ended the third, but a sacrifice fly by Erik Komatsu and an RBI single by Dozier stretched the lead to 5-0 in the fourth. Diamond, who went 1-5 with a 5.08 ERA in seven starts last year after being brought up, was acquired from the Atlanta Braves before last season and spent the majority of the year in the minors. But he was 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA in six starts for the Rochester Red Wings this season, begging for the pitching-depleted Twins to give him another promotion. "You can watch video all you want, but until you get and see a guy you just dont know what hes going to have," said Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick. "You need to get in the batters box." NOTES: The Twins gave CF Denard Span his first day off this season, so recent acquisition Komatsu played there and batted leadoff instead. ... Harens last strikeout-less start was on June 10, 2004, when he lasted only 3 2-3 innings for the St. Louis Cardinals. .... Twins RH Jared Burton pitched a perfect eighth, stretching his hitless streak to 10 1-3 innings. Opponents are in a 0-for-31 skid with 11 strikeouts against him. ' ' '