World Series: Dodgers battle back to defeat Astros and force Game 7

LOS ANGELES --  Corey Seager's sixth inning sacrifice fly helped the Los Angeles Dodgers eke out a come-from-behind 3-1 Game 6 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday to force a World Series decider.

Seager's deep fly ball to right field allowed Chase Utley to scamper home for the go-ahead run, igniting the sold-out crowd of 54,128 as the Dodgers tied the series up at 3-3 to set up Wednesday's winner-take-all showdown.

Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor continued his clutch hitting in the post-season, tying the game 1-1 earlier in the inning with a double down the right field line off of losing pitcher Justin Verlander.

"I was just trying to put a ball in play," Taylor said.

"He's really tough with that fastball up in the zone and a good slider. I was just trying to get the barrel on the ball and hope for something good and it worked out for me," he said.

Taylor has reached base safely 26 times this post-season, a franchise record.

Dodgers slugger Joc Pederson hit a solo 373-foot blast in the bottom of the seventh to provide the National League champions with an insurance run, and reliever Kenley Jansen came in during the eighth inning for a drama-free six-out save.

The loss was the first of the post-season for the hard-throwing Verlander, who had a no decision in Game 2.

   
Dodgers starter Rich Hill was sharp but gave up a solo home run to center fielder George Springer in the third inning for a 1-0 Astros lead and was pulled with two outs in the fourth.

Dodgers reliever Tony Watson, who came into the game in the top of the sixth inning and escaped a two on-two out jam, was the winning pitcher.

The defensive play of the game came in the top of the seventh when the Astros had runners on first and third with two outs, and second baseman Jose Altuve hit a soft ground ball to Justin Turner.

The third baseman charged to pick up the ball and make a quick throw to first baseman Cody Bellinger, who took it on the hop to get the speedy Altuve and keep the Dodgers 2-1 in front.

Game 7 will pit the Dodgers' Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish against Astros curve-ball specialist Lance McCullers Jr.

Darvish had a nightmare start in Game 3 in Houston, where he could not get out of the second inning in the shortest start in his major league career.

McCullers had a solid outing for the first five innings of the same game before losing his accuracy in the sixth inning.

Wednesday's game will be the first-ever World Series Game 7 played at Dodger Stadium and will either see the hosts win a first title since 1988 or the American League champion Astros bag a first-ever crown in their 55-year history.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

U.S. celebrate their first WBC title

The United States won their first World Baseball Classic title with an 8-0 victory over Puerto Rico in Los Angeles on Wednesday behind the stellar pitching of Marcus Stroman and a 13-hit attack.

Puerto Rico came in with a spotless 7-0 record in the 16-team tournament but the Americans (6-2) were not to be denied and the losers finished runners-up for the second straight WBC.

Stroman was sensational, throwing six no-hit innings after yielding six hits in a row in a four-run first inning to Puerto Rico in a 6-5 second-round loss.

The Toronto Blue Jays starter faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings with Carlos Beltran the only man to reach, after a walk leading off the second inning. Beltran was erased when Yadier Molina bounced into a double play.

Stroman, who struck out three, had his no-hitter snapped in the seventh when Angel Pagan led off with an opposite field double, and the right-hander exited to a standing ovation from a crowd exceeding 51,000.

The U.S. team jumped to a 2-0 lead off starter Seth Lugo in the third inning when Ian Kinsler crushed a two-run homer to left-center.

The Americans doubled their advantage in the fifth on run-scoring singles by Christian Yelich and Andrew McCutchen.

They tacked on three more runs in the seventh, on a two-run single by Brandon Crawford and an RBI-single by Giancarlo Stanton, and McCutchen drove home the last with an infield single in the eighth.

The United States had advanced to their first WBC title game with a 2-1 semi-finals victory over Japan, winners of the first two tournaments.

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pinoys celebrate Obama victory

LOS ANGELES - With chants of "Four more years" and "Free hot dogs", President Obama's Filipino supporters celebrated at Dodger Stadium with other Los Angeles county Democrats.


Despite neck-to-neck races in key battleground states, Filipino Democrats in the most Filipino-populated region of the country say they never doubted that Obama could win re-election.

"It's just great for the nation to be able to move forward all together as one," Kevin Ocupillo, an Obama supporter, said.

"We got the right guy for the job for the next four years," David Dantic, a Democrat, said.

Just as both President Obama and his rival Mitt Romney worked hard on the campaign trail, Filipinos say they also worked hard for Obama's campaign doing last minute voter canvassing and phone banking in the key swing states like Nevada.

"We had 9 buses that came from Los Angeles that went door-to-door knocking, hitting the pavement, boots to the ground and I met a few Filipinos there. It was wonderful to see the support for Obama," Jocelyn Rosenthal of Filipinos for Obama said.

The pro-Obama crowd jeered as they watch Mitt Romney's concession speech..

But were more than thrilled to hear President Obama's victory speech.

"I actually teared up because this win means so much to me. To my family. When ever i think about Mr. Obama, I think about my grandfather who believed in democracy and the power of the vote," said Melissa Ramosso of Filipinos for Obama.

Many Filipino Republicans in Southern California did not attend the Republican post-election party in Orange County.

But following Romney's concession, Republican Fil-Am politician Edith Fuentes of the  Filipino-American Business Association of Glendale, told Balitang America  that "the best thing for all of us now to do - is to move forward, forget about being a Republican or Democrat, but help those who got elected to do the best job they can - for the people of this country."

Now with the elections over, Filipino Democrats believe that four more years will be enough time for Obama to make good on his 2008 campaign promises of bringing change to a country reeling from an economic crisis.

source: abs-cbnnews.com