Umfrage » Napier on the fly, who pulled up just before the 3-

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Madison Bumgarner grabbed four beers, tilted his head back and chugged like a champion.Then again, the San Francisco ace has plenty of practice.The Giants celebrating in a soaked clubhouse on the road? Must be October. Next stop: Washington.Bumgarner dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates in an 8-0 whitewash in the National League wild-card game on Wednesday night, tossing a four-hitter as the Giants advanced to best-of-five Division Series in Washington starting on Friday.If you dont want to pitch in these games, you probably need to find something else to do, Bumgarner said.No chance of the Giants doing that anytime soon. Theyve ended each even year this decade with a World Series title. The quest for a third to join the championships they captured in 2010 and 2012 began in familiar fashion, with a lights-out performance on the mound and enough offence to get by.We thrive in these situations, shortstop Brandon Crawford said. I dont know what it is. We just keep fighting no matter what the circumstance.The Giants won their eighth consecutive post-season game a€” dating back to the 2012 NL championship series when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit to stun St. Louis a€” and seventh straight with their season on the line a€” including the division series against Cincinnati that year. The memories of that run remain fresh in a clubhouse that seems to thrive once the games start to dwindle.Weve been through it before, a lot of this team has, Brandon Belt said. We used that experience tonight. We know when we get in these situations were going to have a good ballclub.San Francisco will need to rely on that experience when they face the red-hot Nationals. Washington won the season series with San Francisco 5-2, though it wont matter much when they square off in Game 1.Its a different time of year, Belt said. Its a playoff atmosphere. We know were a good team but so are they. We know weve got to go against them and not make any mistakes.The Giants didnt make any on Wednesday, not with Bumgarner doing his thing.Mixing his fastball with a slider and curve the Pirates rarely touched, Bumgarner was in complete control and looked very much like the ace who won 18 games during San Franciscos bumpy regular season.We got outplayed tonight, Pittsburgh second baseman Neil Walker said. Bumgarner went out there, he did what he wanted to do. He put up the strike zone and he made it tough on us.So did Crawford, whose grand slam off Edinson Volquez in the fourth inning was the first in post-season history by a shortstop a€” and he wasnt aiming for the fences.With the bases loaded in the fourth and nobody out in a scoreless game, Crawford turned on Volquezs hanging breaking ball and sent it to right. Pittsburghs Travis Snider waited to play it off the wall. He never got the chance, instead slumping his shoulders as the ball landed a couple of rows deep to give the Giants a 4-0 lead that felt considerably larger.I was in shock a little bit, Crawford said.So were the Pirates, who never recovered. One night after Kansas City edged Oakland in a thrilling start to baseballs post-season, this one was over by the middle innings.Overpowering one of the NLs best lineups, Bumgarner walked one and threw 79 strikes in his latest stellar October performance. The big left-hander, who allowed only four singles, has thrown 15 scoreless innings in two World Series starts.Volquez was trying to cap his comeback season by sending Pittsburgh to the NLDS for the second straight year, but he couldnt match Bumgarner.The right-hander cruised until the fourth, when a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with none out. Hed retired Crawford 19 of the 22 times hed faced him during his career.Its the 24th that hell remember.I tried to bounce it down, back foot, and the ball just kept going, Volquez said. Bad spot.That was more than enough for Bumgarner. Pittsburgh, fourth in the majors in extra-base hits this season, rarely hit the ball hard.Bumgarner was helped by his defence, too. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval a€” all 245 pounds of him a€” flipped over the railing in front of the Pittsburgh dugout to track down a foul popup off the bat of Russell Martin.Sandoval landed on his feet, a perfect symbol of San Franciscos seemingly endless resiliency when October rolls around. Dell Curry Hornets Jersey . The Montreal Alouettes announced Tuesday that they have acquired the return specialist from Calgary, as well as the Stampeders fifth-round draft pick in the 2014 CFL Canadian Draft. Malik Monk Jersey . 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John Albert Elway, 24, was booked into jail early Saturday morning after an incident near a college campus in downtown Denver, according to jail records.BUFFALO, N.Y. -- With Jim Calhoun watching from the stands, Shabazz Napier capped Connecticut coach Kevin Ollies first NCAA tournament appearance with a win. Shaking off a 23-foot miss at the second-half buzzer, Napier scored nine of his 24 points in overtime to lead seventh-seeded UConn (27-8) to an 89-81 win over 10th-seeded Saint Josephs (24-10) in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday night. DeAndre Daniels scored 18 while freshman centre Amida Brimah forced overtime by completing a three-point play in the final minute. It was a big victory for Ollie, who took over two years ago after Calhoun was forced to step down because of health issues. After the Huskies won three national titles in 26 seasons under Calhoun, Ollie became the first UConn coach to lead the program to a tournament berth since Dom Perno in 1979. And it came a year after Connecticut was barred from post-season play because of academic sanctions. Langston Galloway scored 25 points for Saint Josephs (24-10). The Hawks wore down because of a lack of depth, and then lost their top forward Halil Kanacevic, who fouled out early into overtime. The Huskies advance to play Saturday, when theyll face the winner of an East Region game between No. 2 seed Villanova and No. 15 Milwaukee. With the game tied at 70 entering overtime, Daniels opened the scoring by completed a three-point play with 3:47 left during a 5-minute period the Huskies never trailed. Napier then scored seven straight points -- five of them coming from the line -- to put the Huskies up 82-74 with 55 seconds remaining. The game turned in the final minute of regulation and after Hawks guard Chris Wilson hit two free throws to put Saint Joes up 70-67 with 49.dddddddddddd.2 seconds left. Napier missed on a drive at the other end, but Brimah got the rebound to the left of the basket, and was fouled while putting it back. He tied the game by hitting the free throw. Taking over with 39 seconds left, the Hawks never got a shot off on what became their final possession of regulation. Galloway twice lost the ball on the dribble, but got it back both times, before launching a desperation shot that hit off the side of the backboard as the shot clock expired. With 2.7 seconds left, the Huskies made two nifty passes to get the ball to Napier on the fly, who pulled up just before the 3-point line and had his shot hit off the rim. Losing Kanacevic was a costly blow for the Hawks, who have little depth beyond their starting five. Kanacevic finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Freshman DeAndre Bembry scored 16 points for a Hawks team that won the Atlantic 10 tournament title last weekend. After hitting 13 of their first 20 baskets, the Hawks offence cooled. Saint Joes went 10 of 22 in the second half, and finished the game going 27 of 54. The Huskies were coming off a 71-61 loss to Louisville in the American Athletic Conference title game on Saturday. Theyve now won 10 of their past three, with two of those losses coming against Louisville. The opening nine minutes of the game featured eight lead changes before the Hawks eventually broke the game open by building a 37-27 lead with 3:09 left, when DeAndre Bembry hit two free throws. The Hawks hit 13 of their first 20 attempts and were up 40-32 before UConns Ryan Boatright hit a 3-point basket with 8 seconds left. ' ' '