Luke Kirwan scored two goals to lead the United States t

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For his final game as baseball commissioner, Bud Selig was able to see the low-budget Kansas City Royals compete with the high-spending San Francisco Giants for the title.Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday night featured a pair of wild-card teams that had already played during the regular season. In a finale hosted by the club whose league won the All-Star game. With managers able to contest calls by umpires, the final decision coming from a replay room far from the field.All those innovations came during Seligs 22 years in charge.Yet his biggest imprint before departing in January may be the economic changes he helped usher into the tradition-bound game.Its our job to provide hope and faith and have the system where teams can compete, he said during the All-Star game FanFest last summer. Not just on the size of the market, but on what they do.With the 19th-biggest payroll at $97 million, Kansas City fell just short of becoming the first team from among the bottom half of spenders to win the title since the 2003 Florida Marlins. The Royals extended San Francisco (sixth at $165 million) to a seventh game before losing 3-2 in their first post-season appearance since winning the 1985 World Series.Then the Milwaukee Brewers owner, Selig took over as baseballs boss in September 1992 after helping lead the group that forced the resignation of Commissioner Fay Vincent.As chairman of the executive council, he pushed for a salary cap that led to a 7 1/2-month strike and the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. He didnt get the cap, but revenue sharing and a luxury tax were in the labour contracts that emerged, and they helped the middle and smaller markets compete.The 90s were painful. We had to change the whole economic structure, he said. So today theres hope and faith in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, the Twin Cities, on and on and on. As a result, baseball is so much stronger and so much better.Selig, now 80, presided over nearly one-fifth of all World Series games ever played: 121 of 641. After years of saying he would never take the job permanently, Selig did just that and was elected commissioner in July 1998. He agreed to a new contract in 2001, first announced his planned retirement in 2003 and went on to agree to new deals in 2004, 2008 and 2012.He leaves a legacy in concrete: 20 of the 30 big league ballparks opened during his tenure. While that building boom enhanced revenue and fan experiences, critics say he backed clubs trying to extract government money and assistance.Selig also pushed for splitting each league into three divisions instead of two and the expansion of the playoffs from four teams to eight (1994); interleague play (1997); having the All-Star game winning-league receive World Series home-field advantage (2003); and another playoff expansion to 10 teams (2012).We all sat back and have watched teams that have gotten in on the wild card go to the World Series and be successful in the World Series, Royals manager Ned Yost said. So that gave us hope.This is just the second all-wild card World Series following 2002 and the first year in which the champion needed to win 12 post-season games.I love the wild card, by the way. Its a beautiful thing, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. Anything can happen when you get to the playoffs. You get good pitching, timely hitting, youre getting a good chance to keep moving, and thats whats happened to us. Thats whats happened to Kansas City. You get two teams that get hot and they were playing well at the right time.After opposing video review for umpires, he accepted it for home-run boundary decisions starting in August 2008, then expanded it to many calls starting in 2014, with the final judgments coming from a replay room in New York. He was slow to embrace international play, then became enthusiastic and launched the World Baseball Classic in 2006. He took season openers to Mexico, Japan, Puerto Rico and Australia.Revenue, just over $1 billion in 1992, could exceed $9 billion this year, boosted by the formation of MLB Advanced Media in 2000 and the MLB Network in 2009. Following a series of eight strikes and lockouts from 1972-95, baseball reached labour contracts with players without stoppages in 2002, 2006 and 2012.Selig received his harshest post-strike reviews over performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball and its players didnt have jointly accepted drug rules from 1985-02, leading to congressional criticism and a series of ever-more-strict rules.I dont think that anybody can say weve ignored it, he said in 2006. Were dealing with it as effectively as anybody could deal with it under the circumstances.When Selig leaves, and Chief Operating Officer Rob Manfred takes over in a relatively seamless transition. Manfred defeated Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner in an August vote and must deal with issues that include declining national television ratings, an aging demographic, lengthening game times and the desires of Oakland and Tampa Bay for new ballparks.Selig says hell depart with no regrets.I dont know that I have anything that I can honestly say to you today where I wish I hadnt done that, he said last spring. And Im apparently very tough on myself. I do second-guess myself a lot. Custom St.Louis Blues Jerseys . "Uuufff," was all shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria could come up with after Stantons latest mammoth shot. Ryan OReilly Jersey .com) - Manu Ginobili capped off a 26-point night with a go-ahead layup with 24 seconds left in overtime, with the basket giving the San Antonio Spurs a much-needed 95-93 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. http://www.cheapbluesjerseys.info/authentic-brett-hull-blues-jersey/ .Dawson also birdied two of the last four holes to reach 12-under 132 on TPC San Antonios AT&T Canyons Course. He won his only title in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in 2002 in the Web.com Tours LaSalle Bank Open.Im not going to lose any sleep, believe me, Dawson said. I used to be a perfectionist, but my attitude now is to play like Im in the pro-am. Wayne Gretzky Jersey . Its the games against the leagues struggling franchises that have proved to be an issue. St.Louis Blues Jerseys . -- Michael Frazier II scored 21 points, Dorian Finney-Smith added 11 and No.NORTH SYDNEY, N.S. - Luke Kirwan scored two goals to lead the United States to gold with a 4-0 victory over Pacific at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Colin White had a goal and an assist for the U.S., and Christian Fischer also scored. Jeremy Bracco recorded three assists. Canadas Zach Sawchenko was constantly tested in net, stopping 48 of 52 shots in the losing effort. American goaltender Michael Lackey, meanwhile, made just 12 saves for the win. Pacific defeated Russia 7-3 on Friday to earn a berth inn the gold medal game.dddddddddddd The U.S. crushed Quebec 9-1 in Fridays other semifinal. Earlier, Russia used five third-period goals to defeat Quebec 6-2 for bronze. Dmitry Zhukenov scored a goal and added two assists, and Artur Tyanulin, Mikhail Byakin, Aleksandr Zhebelev, Ivan Kashtanov, and Ivan Emets also scored for Russia. Matthew Boucher scored both goals for Quebec. Nikita Kolesnikov stopped 35 shots for the victory, while Quebecs Oliver Tremblay made 25 saves in the losing effort. ' ' '