DENVER -- Early on, Stephen Strasburg didnt have his best stuff and yet the powerful right-hander tried to bear down to keep his team close. Travis Swanson Jersey. Almost paid off, too. The Washington Nationals loaded the bases in the ninth before falling 6-4 to Jorge De La Rosa and the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. Strasburg (7-8) settled in after a shaky start, giving up four runs -- three of which were in the first -- and nine hits over 5 1-3 innings. "Giving up three runs early, I couldve easily shut it down," Strasburg said. "I didnt want to do that. I wanted to keep it as close as possible. Give the guys a chance to come back -- anything can happen here." And almost did. Closer LaTroy Hawkins got the first two outs in the ninth, before allowing RBI singles to Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon to make it a 6-4 game. With the bases loaded, Hawkins struck out Ian Desmond to end the rally. "You have to tip your cap sometimes. He did a good job," Desmond said. "He made some pitches on me. "We did a good job battling back right there. We kept on grinding away. Ill take us in that situation a lot of times." Denard Span had four hits for the Nationals, who finished the season series 5-1 against Colorado. He was one of the few to have success against De La Rosa, who gave the Rockies a badly needed boost as they snapped a seven-game skid. "Jorge, another great outing. He did it again," manager Walt Weiss said. "Were scuffling like crazy and he takes the ball and gives us a great performance and wins the game." The Rockies tried a little bit of everything to break out of their funk. They wore their socks high and even engaged in a pregame staring contest. Turns out, the best cure for their slump was simply the left arm of De La Rosa. De La Rosa (11-6) struck out a season-high 11 as he pitched efficiently into the eighth inning. He kept the Nationals guessing by effectively mixing in a changeup with his 89-mph cutter. "All my pitches were working really good today," said De La Rosa, who allowed two runs -- one earned -- before being lifted for a reliever with one out in the eighth. "My command of all my pitches was really good today." The Rockies decided as a team to wear their socks high, just to try something new. Even Weiss followed the trend. This helped ease the tension, too: Prior to the first pitch, Rockies outfielder Brandon Barnes and Nationals reliever Aaron Barrett engaged in quite a stare-down, with both players standing near the dugout holding their hats over their chest to see who would blink first. After several minutes, Barnes finally gestured toward Barrett that they settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissor. Right after De La Rosas warmup pitches, home plate umpire Paul Emmel told Barnes go into the dugout, with Barrett throwing his hands up in triumph. "Well do any stare-down to win games, for sure," joked Nolan Arenado. Once again, De La Rosa mastered a park that typically isnt friendly to pitchers. Hes 42-14 lifetime at Coors Field. "This is the perfect park for me," he said. Usually, its the hitters saying that. De La Rosa had his pitches dancing all day. He struck out Bryce Harper three times. The Nationals were just 1 of 14 with runners in scoring position off De La Rosa. "He knows how to pitch here," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "Hes got a surprising fast ball when he needs it, but he relies on his changeup a lot. Thats a great strategy here. "Hes a good pitcher. He pitches well." The Nationals were without infielder Ryan Zimmerman, who went on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a strained right hamstring. "Its a pretty substantial strain of the hamstring," Williams said. "You never know how its going to react, so well just take it day by day. Its going to be a couple of weeks at least. Well see where he is at the end of that and go from there. He pulled it good." NOTES: Werth wasnt in the starting lineup because of a tender right knee. ... The Nationals are off Thursday before opening a three-game series in Cincinnati. Jed Collins Womens Jersey . They just probably couldnt have imagined how much. Blake Griffin had 26 points, 11 rebounds and six assists Sunday night as Los Angeles stormed out to a 31-point lead in the first quarter with its All-Star point guard back on the court and pummeled the Philadelphia 76ers 123-78. John Wendling Youth Jersey . Cammalleri scored two goals, Corban Knight netted the winner in a shootout, and the Flames erased a two-goal deficit in the third period to beat the Stars 4-3 on Friday night.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Anze Kopitar skated down Dustin Brown and just plain tackled him, dropping the Los Angeles Kings captain to the ice as a sellout crowd expelled 19 years of frustration. Browns goal into the empty St. Louis net had just secured a spot in the Western Conference finals for the Kings, who steamrolled their first two playoff opponents the same way Kopitar flattened his longtime teammate. Eternal also-rans since joining the NHL nearly 45 years ago, the Kings are going deep in this post-season — and the best of the West hasnt slowed them down yet. Brown scored two goals, Jonathan Quick made 23 saves, and the eighth-seeded Kings finished an improbable four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 3-1 victory Sunday, advancing to the conference finals for just the second time in club history. Rookie Jordan Nolan scored an early goal for the Kings, the first No. 8 seed in NHL history to eliminate their conferences top two seeds in the same post-season. The Kings only clinched a playoff berth right before their 81st game, but theyve been unstoppable ever since. "Its a special group, and we knew that all along this season," said Kopitar, the Slovenian star who had assists on both of Browns goals. "Maybe we didnt break out when we would have liked to, but I think weve peaked at the right time, and thats the most important thing." After eliminating top-seeded Vancouver and second-seeded St. Louis with eight wins in nine games, the Kings are the first team to earn a conference final berth. Theyll face the winner of Phoenixs series with Nashville in the Western Conference finals. The Coyotes lead 3-1, with Game 5 in Phoenix on Monday night. Los Angeles won despite its weakest effort of the post-season in Game 4, clinging to a 2-1 first-period lead while St. Louis dominated most of the final two periods. Perhaps the Kings didnt adapt well to an unusually early start time, but Quick made a handful of big saves before Brown scored his sixth goal of a stellar post-season with 25.8 seconds left. "You heard the rink today, how loud it was," said Quick, who has a .949 save percentage in the post-season. "It means a lot more to (the fans) than it does to us. Its a great deal, a big push, by us to win four in a row against a team like that. They were great all series long ... but you heard the fans, how loud they were the last two minutes there. It gives you goose bumps." The Kings made their only previous trip to the conference finals in 1993, when Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille propelled Los Angeles past Toronto and into their only Stanley Cup finals, a loss to Montreal. The Kings won just one playoff series in the ensuing 17 seasons before routing the Presidents Trophy-winning Canucks in five first-round games last month. "I can only imagine how happy Kings fans are right now," said Brown, who has never played for another organization. "Theyve been through a rough stretch, and to win on home ice, thats huge for everyone in this room. Its nice to see the fans get jacked up as much as they could. They havent an opportunity to celebrate like that at home." Kevin Shattenkirk scored his first career playoff goal for the Blues, who were outscored 15-6 in the series to end their most successful season in more than a decade. Brian p;Elliott stopped 17 shots in an improved performance, but the Kings momentum couldnt even be stopped by a bad game. Rashean Mathis Youth Jersey. "L.A. plays the way you have to play to win the Cup now," said St. Louis coach Ken Hitch****, who won the title with Dallas in 1999. "Over the disappointments of the last three or four years, theyve figured it out." Los Angeles only previous playoff series sweep happened in 1976 in a best-of-three elimination of the Atlanta Flames. The Kings failed to sweep Vancouver in the first round after losing Game 4, but managed to avoid another long trip to St. Louis by winning at Staples Center for just the third time in their past nine home playoff games. The Kings only trailed for 7:42 of the entire series with St. Louis — a short stretch of the first period of Game 1. The Blues also were swept out of the post-season in 2009, their only previous playoff appearance since 2004. "The second period, we really got into our game, the way weve played all year to be successful," St. Louis captain David Backes said. "I dont think they had a ton of response for it, but they did a good job of bending and not breaking. They get credit, but we are going to have a long summer of thinking about how we could have been better in the series." The sellout crowd for Game 4 had barely settled in its seats when Blues defenceman Roman Polak turned over the puck near his own net. Nolan, the 22-year-old son of former Buffalo coach Ted Nolan, scored his first career playoff goal just 4:36 in. St. Louis managed just one shot in the first 11 minutes, but evened the score with its second — a rocket from Shattenkirk, who beat Quick for a rare clean goal against the Kings All-Star goalie. Shattenkirk hadnt scored in the Blues past seven playoff games after getting an assist for his first career post-season point in the opener. Brown put the Kings back ahead late in the period when he used Blues defenceman Alex Pietrangelo as a screen for a sneaky shot to beat Elliott. The captain has been a dominant physical force throughout the post-season, but he hadnt scored a goal since Game 3 of the first round. Afterward, Hitch**** acknowledged Pietrangelo is playing with a serious injury, but wouldnt disclose the specifics. Pietrangelo missed Game 2 after a hard hit from Dwight King in the opener. While St. Louis dominated the second period with solid forechecking, the Kings fell into one of their biggest funks of the post-season, managing just one shot in the first 18 minutes of the period. St. Louis again dominated early in the third, and Matt DAgostinis deflected shot barely caught Quicks crossbar early on. During 4-on-4 play a few minutes later, David Perron nearly scored on a rebound before Kopitar slid into the crease and knocked the puck underneath Quick. NOTES: Los Angeles power play is in a 1-for-37 slump, but the Kings also held St. Louis scoreless on 17 power plays in the series. ... St. Louis Chris Stewart held his finger to his lips to shush the crowd after beating up Nolan in a first-period fight. ... Kobe Bryant, Landon Donovan, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier all appeared on scoreboard videos pumping up the crowd and urging on the Kings. Bryant, who attended a Kings game late in the season with his daughters, wore a white Kings jersey. cheap jerseys ' ' '
