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NEW YORK -- A flock of newcomers quickly swoops into Yankee Stadium and suddenly a team that wobbled all season turns into a playoff contender.So exactly whos gotten the New York Yankees flying so high? A rookie slugger, a fresh set of pitchers?Sure, theyve helped. But maybe its something more.Pigeon power , outfielder Aaron Judge said. Theyre fueling us.OK, go ahead and laugh. Then look at the Yankees record lately -- against the Blue Jays and Orioles, no less -- ever since dozens and dozens of pigeons began descending for picnics at the park.Besides, if the Royals can have a Rally Mantis, the Angels a Rally Monkey and the Cardinals a Rally Squirrel, why not a good-luck flock of pigeons?Sometimes, these birds arrive early, searching for new seeds that keep the grass so green and fresh. More than 85 of them recently roamed the yard before batting practice.Often, they stick around for the game, hardly ruffled by the balls that go whizzing past them.In the sixth inning last weekend against Tampa Bay, six gray pigeons lounged in medium left-center field, a half-dozen hung out in shallow center and seven others strolled in right-center. No surprise, moments later the Yankees hit back-to-back home runs to break open a scoreless game.Theyre fearless, longtime head groundskeeper Dan Cunningham said.Speedy, too.I dont worry about them too much because theyre pretty fast, star center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury said. They can take care of themselves.No birds have been hit yet. Certainly nothing like that spring training episode many years ago when a fastball by Randy Johnson struck a dove in mid-flight. And they arent pesky, like the seagulls that hover around AT&T Park late during San Francisco Giants games.Scorned and shooed away all around town, these pigeons relax at The House That Ruth Built. Oh, and they seem to prefer day games.When line drives get too close, they simply flap away and settle somewhere else, perhaps on the warning track in deep center or near the foul lines. Or they take off toward the scoreboard and stay there for a while, with a birds-eye view.Weve been watching them fly overhead, more and more of them, reliever Tommy Layne said. You just hope they dont unload on you.Cunningham said the birds come for the seeds that maintain the combination blue and rye grass. The stadium hosts the Yankees and the New York City FC team in Major League Soccer, making for a lot of reseeding late this summer.Plus, players who spit sunflower seeds provide tasty snacks.Overall, thats brought more and more feathered fans in the last month. Not that Cunningham minds.Im not a pigeon hater, he said. Its New York, theyre part of the scene here.A month ago, Judge homered in his first major league at-bat. He fits into the Yankees wave of the future, along with Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin and the fittingly named Greg Bird.Judge has grown accustomed to sharing his surroundings with the other birds in right field.Actually started noticing them maybe about a week ago. Kind of started showing up in little bunches, he said. Started out with five or 10, now its 20, 30, 40. Just a big bunch of them out there now.I go for a ball in the gap, they start flying everywhere. Could cause a little bit of havoc, he said.Then again, pigeons have always had a place in this city.I dont mind them, Judge said. A little company in the outfield.Cheap Jerseys From China . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Fake Jerseys For Sale . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home. https://www.fakejerseysfromchina.com/ . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Wholesale Jerseys . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. Fake Jerseys China . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged.Pre-entries for the Breeders Cup at Santa Anita on Nov. 4 and 5 will be taken Monday, and after the oversubscribed races are dealt with on Tuesday, the pre-entries will be released to all on Wednesday.I find two aspects to the Breeders Cup pre-entry process to be especially interesting. One is the work of the Breeders Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel, which determines which horses are relegated to the also-eligible list in oversubscribed races. The other is the concept of cross-entering horses in two different Breeders Cup events.The work the Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel does in overfilled races is really only discussed when people disagree with them, making their task the definition of a thankless job. In the main, however, the Panel has done good work. Anyone can disagree whether a horse should be ranked as the fourth or the sixth also-eligible, debates that indeed take place because, dont forget, the also-eligible horses in overfilled Breeders Cup events are listed in order of preference, meaning that is the order they will draw in if horses in the body of the race withdraw. But if a horse is already that far down the also-eligible list, its splitting hairs where precisely the horse is slotted.Off the top of my head, I can think of only two egregious errors by the Panel since the advent of the Breeders Cup. One was Five Star Day, who absolutely, positively got shafted when he was made an also-eligible in the 1999 Breeders Cup Sprint. And he never got into that race.But without question, at least in my view, the worst mistake the Panel ever made was excluding Quiet American from the main body of the field for the 1990 Breeders Cup Classic even though Quiet American had a victory in the San Diego Handicap and a second in the Woodward on his recent record, and a second in the Strub Stakes earlier that year.That was the Classic in which the extremely unlikely Ibn Bey finished second, beaten just one length by Unbridled for it all. There never was a defection allowing Quiet American to get into that Classic. But given the way that Classic was run (Thirty Six Red finished just one length farther back in third; nuff said) and with the way Quiet American came back to dominate the NYRA Mile (which was later renamed the Cigar Mile), he might well have won that Classic if he had the opportunity to start. He might well have won it by open lengths.As for which horses are cross-entered in this Breeders Cup, we wont know for sure until pre-entries are released. But thanks to reporting by DRF staffers, we know that the connections of a handful of horses are contemplating cross-entering on Monday.Sometimes when a horse cross-entered in two Breeders Cup races, it barely elicits a reaction. For example, there are indications that Gun Runner will enter in both the Classic and Dirt Mile. Gun Runner is a nice colt. He probably would have won the Pennsylvania Derby last time out if he didnt concede so much ground with a wide run. But even though the Dirt Mile is obviously an easier spot than the Classic, Gun Runner would be in deep in either race.dddddddddddd The choice his connections ultimately make wont move the needle that much.Other times, however, cross-entered horses make for spirited discussion. And there might be three such horses in this Breeders Cup: Limato, Mondialiste, and Curalina.There is an obvious difference of opinion amongst the connections of Limato regarding that horse targeting the Breeders Cup Mile or the Turf Sprint. Limato hasnt had success going a mile in Europe, which doesnt mean he couldnt get a mile over here, but he is a multiple Group 1 stakes-winning sprinter.Even though Europeans have yet to win a Turf Sprint, and even though horses who previously performed well over Santa Anitas downhill turf course have had disproportionate success in the Turf Sprints run at Santa Anita, Limato might still be the favorite in this wide-open Turf Sprint. He will, however, be a double-digit long shot in the much tougher Mile going a distance at which he is a question mark. That there is such apparent agonizing over this choice kind of makes you scratch your head.The English-based Mondialiste possibly cross-entering the Breeders Cup Mile and Turf is another head scratcher. Mondialiste has been tremendously productive in North America, winning the Woodbine Mile and finishing second in the Breeders Cup Mile last year, and winning the Arlington Million this year.But lets be honest. The connections of Mondialiste were very clever to recognize that the field in this years Million was decidedly sub-standard, which was a huge reason why this horse was able to successfully negotiate the 1-1/4 miles that day. There is nothing in Mondialistes other 21 career starts that suggests he can get 10 furlongs in truly top company, let alone handle the 12 furlongs of the Turf, which he has never attempted. Sure, the Mile is no picnic. But Mondialiste fits that race like a glove, and the Turf is no cakewalk, either.Curalina is to cross-enter the Breeders Cup Distaff and the Filly and Mare Sprint. Curalina is very good. She was a narrowly beaten second last time in the Personal Ensign behind Cavorting, who has since retired, and finished ahead of Forever Unbridled and Im a Chatterbox, who came back to romp in the Beldame and Spinster, respectively.Yet as good as Curalina is, and as much as she has license to contest the Distaff, she will be no better than a distant fourth choice in that race behind Songbird, Beholder, and Stellar Wind.On the other hand, even though she has spent the last 16 months competing (and almost always running well) in much longer races than the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, Curalina would be the favorite in the Filly and Mare Sprint if she goes there. Beside what would be an obvious and substantial class drop for her, Curalina won the Acorn Stakes going a one turn mile at Belmont last year, and did so after a terrible start. That proved Curalina is also highly effective in extended one-turn races. ' ' '