SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014 SPORTS Dodgers top D-backs SYDNEY: Clayton Kershaw flashed his for a replacement bus. ers kept the Diamondbacks scoreless leave to Carl Crawford, nearly cleared Cy Young form, Scott Van Slyke Kershaw was impressive while with hitless work. Chris Perez, a five- the left-field fence in the second homered and the Los Angeles making his fourth consecutive open- time All-Star with Cleveland before inning. His double set up a grounder Dodgers opened the Major League ing-day start. He struck out seven, joining the Dodgers in the offseason, by Andre Ethier that scored Adrian Baseball season with a 3-1 win over walked one and was pulled by man- got the last out in the seventh. Gonzalez with the Dodgers’ first run. the Arizona Diamondbacks on ager Don Mattingly after throwing his Brian Wilson pitched the eighth In his next at-bat in the fourth, Van Saturday night at Sydney Cricket 102nd pitch. and closer Kenley Jansen got the Slyke connected off losing pitcher Ground. Quite a turnaround from spring save. Jansen walked a batter before Wade Miley for a drive over the right- A crowd of about 40,000 watched training, when the two-time NL Cy getting Gerardo Parra to ground out field fence - just inside the foul pole - as MLB played its first regular-season Young winner went 0-3 with a 9.20 to end the game. Dodgers manager with Gonzalez again on base to put game in Australia. Opening day was a ERA in four starts. “Sometimes you Don Mattingly liked what he saw of the Dodgers up 3-0. g’day for the NL West champion just need the adrenaline of a regular- his pitching ace and his supporting “He’s always been an RBI guy,” Mattingly said of Van Slyke. “He’s a good defender. He’s really a pretty sol- id player.” Miley, who came out for a pinch hitter in the fifth, got the open- ing day assignment because of a left elbow injury to Diamondbacks ace Patrick Corbin. Miley gave up three runs and three hits, striking out eight with two walks. Both teams finished with five hits. The Diamondbacks scored in the sixth after a double by Paul Goldschmidt, who had two hits. He KEY BISCAYNE: Roger Federer of Switzerland serves against Ivo Carlovic of moved to third on Kershaw’s wild pitch and scored on Mark Trumbo’s Croatia during their match on day 5 of the Sony Open at Crandon Park infield out. The Diamondbacks were Tennis Center. —AFP shut out 5-0 in an exhibition game Friday by Team Australia when they Federer, Djokovic dominate stranded 11 runners. A series of thunderstorms but little MIAMI: World number two Novak Djokovic any unforced errors. rain around the stadium about two led a parade of champions that included “There are no long rallies. It’s just like hours ahead of the start cut short the Roger Federer and Andy Murray into the more penalty shootout, like in soccer. “It’s Dodgers’ batting practice and tarp third round of the Sony Open on Friday. about quick reaction, not getting frustrated was rolled on to the field. That caused The best of men’s and women’s tennis and feeling that the returner is the one the start of the game to be delayed was on display at Crandon Park with the who has got less pressure.” and canceled the pregame cere- winners of over 30 grand slam singles titles Federer, who had been dismissed as a monies. all in centre court action. fading force following last year’s disap- Sydney Cricket Ground was refur- After Federer and Djokovic’s successes, pointing campaign, has hit back at his crit- bished two weeks ago to create the Venus Williams registered a straight sets ics on the court, clinching the 78th title of baseball diamond and an outfield win and Li Na advanced in a walkover, it his career in Dubai earlier this month, while SYDNEY: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw (left) grimaces after fouling of a third strike with an 8-foot wall. It was 328 feet was left to defending champion Murray to reaching the finals in Brisbane and last bunt attempt as the Diamondbacks’ catcher Miguel Montero and umpire Tim Welke (right) down the foul lines and 400 feet to provide a bit of late night drama, taming week in Indian Wells, where he lost to watch the play during the Major League Baseball opening game. —AP straightaway center. Australian Matthew Ebden 3-6 6-0 6-1 as Djokovic. There were plenty of Dodgers and the clock approached midnight. It was another dominating performance Dodgers. Kershaw, who signed a sev- season game, and I just kind of feel cast. Diamondbacks uniforms in the Murray, who split with coach Ivan Lendl by the re-energised Swiss maestro, particu- en-year, $215 million contract in relieved to get this one under my “Clayton was really good, kind of crowd, some worn by American visi- earlier in the week, got the contest off to an larly in the opening set where he commit- January, allowed one run and five hits belt,” he said. as always ... kind of doing his thing,” tors and others by Australians who unsteady start when Ebden broke him at ted a single unforced error. in 6 2-3 innings. Van Slyke hit a two- “It’s always good to get results, Mattingly said. “He’s a tough guy to had flown across the country to the first opportunity and then held serve to Federer broke to open the match on a run homer and also doubled. The first obviously,” he said. “This one counted.” take out of the game, he always watch the opener and Sunday’s sec- quickly jump in front 3-0 on his way to easi- Karlovic double fault and did not surren- pitch was delayed because of rain for In his previous opening-day starts, wants to stay in. ond game, when another capacity ly taking the opening set. dered a point on his serve until attempting 14 minutes. Kershaw was 2-0 with 19 strikeouts in And I thought our bullpen was crowd was expected. They feasted on After storming through the second set, to close out the set at 40-0. The long trip Down Under took 19 scoreless innings.”Kershaw did a really good tonight. Chris comes in baseball-style treats like nachos Murray was broken at the start of the third The 32-year-old Swiss continued his even longer for some Arizona players. good job keeping us in the middle of and gets a big out for us there and stuffed in batting helmets and which sent the Briton into a towel tossing near perfect play in the second set finish- A team bus had a flat tire, and the the diamond,” Diamondbacks manag- Wilson did a good job and Jansen in Cracker Jack, which is not usually sold rage as he berated himself. ing with a total of three unforced errors but Diamondbacks said “a handful” of er Kirk Gibson said. “He threw a good closing the door.” in Australia. If you could afford the The chastising had the desired result as could not break the big-serving Croatian, players decided to walk the last half- ballgame against us. We know they’re Van Slyke, playing because of an cost and the calories, a 2-foot-long the sixth seed immediately broke back to who blasted 13 aces past the 17-time mile to the stadium instead of waiting always going to be close.” Three reliev- injury to Matt Kemp and paternity hot dog sold for $36. —AP get on level terms and raced through the grand slam winner. next five games to clinch a convincing vic- But Karlovic’s big serve was not able to tory. save him in the tie-break as Federer coolly “You do what you do to win a match,” clinch the match 7-4. Djokovic, riding the Scott in command at Florida said Murray. “It’s not always about how you momentum from his victory at Indian Wells play or how calm you are on the court, it’s into South Beach, jumped out to a 4-1 lead FLORIDA: Australian Adam Scott produced about winning the tennis match. That’s in the opening set before breaking another masterful driving display to surge to a what matters. Frenchman Chardy to secure a 1-0 lead. rare seven-shot lead after the second round at “I won the next six games after that so There was only one break in the second the $6.2 million Arnold Palmer Invitational in maybe it nothing to do with it, maybe it set and that went to Djokovic, who nosed Florida on Friday. The Masters champion, who helped. I just got on with it and won the in front 5-3 before serving out for victory. started the day with a three-shot cushion after match.” “It’s a straight sets win and when I was an opening 62, more than doubled his advan- After a year’s absence, fifth seeded supposed to play my best and come up tage with a four-under-par 68 on the Bay Hill Federer celebrated his return to the Miami with some good serves and good shots, course in Orlando. hardcourts with a clinical 6-4 7-6 (4) win that’s what I have done in both sets,” said No one has had a bigger halfway lead on the over towering Ivo Karlovic while world Djokovic.