Clan-Members » he says. And I did, and I was like, `I

NEW YORK -- Bright lights, big city, ol country hardball.Madison Bumgarner against Noah Syndergaard with the season on the line. A pair of towering tough guys you probably dont want to mess with.Playoff pitching matchups dont get much better.Toting his outstanding October resume to the mound, Bumgarner will start for the San Francisco Giants against Syndergaard and the New York Mets in the NL wild-card game Wednesday night.The winner moves on to face the major league-best Chicago Cubs (103-58) in a best-of-five Division Series. The loser heads home for the winter.Its going to be an exciting game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday, when both teams worked out at Citi Field. I mean, this is the fun thing about postseason is youre going to get great matchups like this.It took 162 games to set it up.San Francisco, the top team in the majors at the All-Star break, struggled badly throughout the second half before finishing with a four-game winning streak. That was enough to hold off St. Louis by one game and secure the last NL playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.New York, the defending NL champion, was two games under .500 on Aug. 19 after losing two straight in San Francisco. But with slugger Yoenis Cespedes and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera back from the disabled list, the Mets posted the top mark in the majors (27-13) from that point on and jumped over four teams in the pennant race, booking their postseason trip Saturday with one game to spare.Both teams finished 87-75, and New York earned home-field advantage by winning the season series 4-3.Good major league players, when it comes crunch time, they turn it on, Mets manager Terry Collins said. So Im not really sure that momentum going in means a whole lot. Both of us have had to play good at the end -- we did.Citi Field should be rocking Wednesday night, but Bumgarner and the Giants know all about thriving in playoff pressure. The team is 8-0 under Bochy when facing postseason elimination, all since 2012. And after winning World Series titles in 2010, `12 and `14, the Giants want to extend their pattern of even-year championships with another run through October.The last time Bumgarner pitched in the postseason, he saved Game 7 of the 2014 World Series in Kansas City with five scoreless innings on two days rest to cap one of the greatest postseason performances in baseball history. His 0.25 ERA in five career outings is the lowest for any pitcher with at least 25 innings in the Fall Classic.He was 15-9 with a 2.74 ERA and 251 strikeouts this season.With us finishing up the way we did, I feel really, really good about our chances, Bumgarner said.The 6-foot-5, 250-pound lefty, born in Hickory, North Carolina, started San Franciscos playoff surge in the 2014 wild-card game by striking out 10 in a four-hit shutout at Pittsburgh -- a similar assignment to Wednesday.We have been through this before. Weve been down this road. I like this wild-card thing, Bochy said. I love it. I have to. We have a ring because of this wild card and have a chance now.The 24-year-old Syndergaard, with long blond locks and the nickname Thor, is no inexperienced sophomore.The 6-foot-6, 242-pound righty from Mansfield, Texas, joined Bumgarner on the All-Star roster this summer and went 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA and 218 strikeouts over 183 2/3 innings. Featuring a 100 mph fastball, sharp slider and impressive control of several secondary pitches, he won a pair of postseason starts as a rookie last year -- including Game 3 of the World Series against the Royals.He has the best stuff for a starter in all of baseball, Bumgarner said back in San Francisco.Last fall, Syndergaard caught everyones attention with his first World Series pitch: a sizzling fastball well above Alcides Escobars head that dusted a hot hitter who liked to swing at the initial offering.Hes not intimidated by anything, Collins said. Hes not afraid. He wants to take charge. His stuff speaks for itself. I think hes grown as a pitcher. I think he trusts his stuff a lot more now.Syndergaard, for his part, is eagerly anticipating Wednesday night.Its just a dream come true, he said. Its going to be really exciting and Im looking forward to getting out there and feeling the energy from the hometown crowd, just having an awesome time.---AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report. Fake Jordan 1 Outlet . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Cheapest Air Max 90 Store . Klitschkos management company says the bout will be the Ukrainian fighters 25th world championship fight. The 1.83-meter (6-foot) Leapai defeated the previously unbeaten Denis Boytsov in November to become the WBOs mandatory challenger. http://www.cheapestairmaxstore.com/ . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Fake Yeezy 350 V2 . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. Vapormax Store . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. RIO DE JANEIRO -- The worlds greatest athlete hates being called The Worlds Greatest Athlete.He hears it every time he is introduced at an event, or meets sponsors, or is paraded in front of a TV camera. But the reality is that Ashton Eaton is far too humble for such a title -- he is so humble, in fact, that he hides his gold medal under his shirt when nobody is looking.They like me to wear it, he says sheepishly, but I dont like to.The two-time Olympic decathlon champion is wrapping up another round of commitments, this time for his sponsor Visa, when he sits down at an out-of-the-way table in an upscale hotel just off Copacabana Beach. Three stories down and out the front doors, thousands of Cariocas have begun partying the night away after Brazils victory over Germany in the Olympic soccer tournament.Eaton hasnt had a chance to party yet.Hes hardly had a chance to breathe.Ever since winning his latest gold medal Thursday night, matching an Olympic points record in the process, hes been pulled in a hundred different directions. He managed three hours of sleep after he left Olympic Stadium that night, then had to rise early for another round of interviews.Eaton takes it in stride, though. He knows that people are eager to hear from him, and he is just as eager to meet with those who have supported him the past eight years.Its kind of like networking, he says, for when I start thinking about what is next.In truth, Eaton is already thinking about whats next. Hes been on top of the decathlon world for the better part of a decade, and in a one-on-one interview with The Associated Press on Saturday night, he acknowledged that retirement is coming soon.He may compete next year. He may not.But there is no chance youll see him at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.Its not because time is catching him, like so many rivals have failed to do. The 28-year-old Eaton would probably medal in Tokyo, if not win a third straight gold. Its more that Eaton and his wife, Canadian heptathlon bronze medalist Brianne Theisen-Eaton, have other things they want to pursue, their lives in no way measured solely on the field of play.Id like to spend some time traveling, Eaton says, seeing organizations and getting a sense of what I want to do, and seeing how the world works.One of his idols is Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, whose spirit of ingenuity has inspired the decathlete. Eaton says Musk has an uncanny ability to look at something that other people would dismiss as impossible and figure out a way to make it work.I just like the way he thinks in the sense that his impact is from a foundation of not listening or accepting things the way they are, Eaton explains. Its something a loot of people dont want to do because its hard work.ddddddddddddSo, what does Eaton fancy trying? What is something that has too long been defined by the status quo, and that could use a fresh set of ideas to push it forward?It turns out the answer is big. Bigger even than electric cars.I thought itd be cool to start my own university, in a way, says Eaton, an Oregon graduate. Universities are like a utopia in a way, because youre mentally stimulated, youre challenged, and you have a lot of young, creative minds wanting to do new things, different things. Better things.But I dont think the current university systems are set up to allow people to meet their potential, he says. You just kind of go through the meat-grinder. Youre in a class with 300 people, doing rote regurgitation of information. It would be cool to do something different.Eaton hasnt fully fleshed out this idea, of course. Hes been a little busy becoming The Worlds Greatest Athlete. But the simple fact he is pondering these things 48 hours after standing on an Olympic podium speaks to Eatons character and personality.He is driven more by the pursuit of a goal than the baubles that come with achieving it.Take the decathlon competition in Rio, for instance. He says the only time he was proud of himself throughout the two-day, 10-event grind was during the pole vault on the final day.There was a situation where if I didnt clear this bar, it was over. No medal chance, he says. And I did, and I was like, `Im proud of myself for doing that. Because I had a lot of doubts going down the runway. I thought, `I could miss this and blow the whole damn thing. But I overcame that. That was good.So good it spurred him on to another gold medal. It will soon join his one from the 2012 London Games, which is not hanging proudly at home but rather stuck in a box in a crawlspace.He admits there are things he will miss about track and field, once he does finally call it quits: the circus-like atmosphere in the stadium, the pressure that builds throughout the events, the shining spotlight on the worlds biggest stage. But perhaps what Eaton will miss most is its black-and-white nature, every bit of the competition spelled out.Jump this high, run this fast, throw this far.Thats what has always been good about track. The goal is very clearly defined: Try to win. Get the gold medal. And Im able to put my energy toward that, Eaton says. The difficulty now is whats the gold medal in something else? Now I have to make up my own gold medal.Whats going to be the next victory for me? ' ' '