A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU

Geelong star and overwhelming Brownlow Medal favourite Patrick Dangerfield has dominated voting for the AFL Players Association most valuable player award.Dangerfield won his first Leigh Matthews Trophy with a whopping 1369 votes.His former Adelaide teammate Rory Sloane was well off the pace in second place with 443 votes, while Richmond midfielder Dustin Martin was third with 297.Current players vote on the award.The margin is similar to last year, when Fremantles Nat Fyfe won with 1455 and went on to take out the Brownlow.Last year, North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein was runner-up on 578 and Dangerfield (364) was third.Dangerfield took his game to a new level after making the high-profile move late last year from the Crows to the Cats.He is hotly-favoured to become only the ninth player to win the most valuable player award and the Brownlow in the same season.Apart from Fyfe last year, among current players to achieve the feat, Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett did it in 2009 and 2013.Also on Tuesday night, Sydneys Luke Parker won the Robert Rose award as the leagues most courageous player for the second-straight season.Sydneys Rising Star winner Callum Mills took out the associations best first-year player award, while Adelaides Taylor Walker was named best captain.Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli was named captain of the associations under-22 team for the season and Essendon onballer Zach Merrett is the vice-captain.Last Friday nights epic qualifying final win over Hawthorn means Dangerfield and his teammates have the week off.They will face the winner of Saturdays SCG semi-final between Sydney and the Crows in a preliminary final, with the winner going into the grand final.Dangerfield said it was a privilege to win the MVP award.Looking up at the past players and champions who have played our game, to sit alongside (them) and have my name on the trophy is a pretty special moment, he said.Asked if his first year at Geelong could have gone any better, Dangerfield replied: I will let you know in a couple of weeks time.Yet he admitted it had been a seamless transition. Ive been very lucky to come to a wonderful football club, he said.Dangerfield said he would not barrack for either side in the SCG semi-final, despite his strong Crows history.I have friends at Adelaide obviously who Id love to see do well, he said.But this time of the year, you have to remove emotion because its about us and us winning.For us and me, its business - were here to win and whoever wins (on Saturday), thats the challenge for us. Swell Bottle Ombre . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. sWell Bottle Stockists . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. http://www.swellbottlesnz.com/ . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Real Wood Water Bottle . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Swell Wood Water Bottle . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season. PITTSBURGH -- Jose Urenas start Sunday had little resemblance to his previous outing.Urena allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, and the Miami Marlins rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 to complete a three-game sweep.Christian Yelich homered in the first inning and Miami added a pair of unearned runs in sweeping a series for the sixth time this season. Urena (2-4) bounced back after allowing a five-run first inning at Cincinnati on Tuesday.This is a different game and a different day, too, the 24-year-old right-hander said. Youre going to face different hitters, so you go out there and face these hitters because you know you can do the job.Urena lowered his ERA from 6.80 to 6.33He kept the ball down today, Miami manager Don Mattingly said. They were aggressive early, swinging the bats. He had that one inning in there where he got himself into trouble. Other than that, he was good all day.Fernando Rodney completed the five-hitter, working around a two-out walk in the ninth. Rodney retired Francisco Cervelli on a game-ending groundout for his third save of the series and 24th in 26 chances this season.Miami went 6-1 this year against the Pirates and moved ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL wild-card race. The Marlins (65-59) trail St. Louis (66-57) by 1 1/2 games for the NLs second wild card.Wearing 1970s throwback uniforms and caps, the Pirates (62-59) dropped 1 1/2 games back of Miami. They had won six of seven coming into the series.Its a snapshot of the way a baseball seasons goes, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. You go out on the road and go 5-1, then you come home and get swept in a series in which you have a chance to win each game. All you can do is come back and keep playing.Ryan Vogelsong (2-3) gave up three runs and three hits in six innings.Miami, just 12-19 at PNC Park over the previous decade coming on, went ahead on Yelichs 15th home run. He has five in 12 games att PNC Park and 30 in 438 major league games elsewhere.ddddddddddddPittsburgh took a 2-1 lead in the fourth. With runners at second and third, David Freese hit a bouncer off the glove of third baseman Martin Prado for an error and Josh Bell following with a sacrifice fly.Miami went back ahead in the fifth without hitting a ball out of the infield. Adeiny Hechavarria reached leading off on a throwing error by shortstop Sean Rodriguez and scored on Prados RBI groundout. Dee Gordon reached on a bunt single, stole second, took third on Prados grounder and came home when Vogelsong bounced a wild pitch past catcher Eric Fryer.RAMOS BACKMiami All-star closer A.J. Ramos, who had been on the disabled list with a finger injury, was activated and pitched a perfect eighth. Reliever Brian Ellington (0.92 ERA) was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: RHP Tyler Glasnow (shoulder) is slated to throw four innings and 65 pitches in a rehabilitation start Monday at Double-A Altoona. Glasnow has been on the disabled list since July 24. ... General manager Neal Huntington said the team will continue to monitor rookie RHP Jameson Taillon, who missed 2014 because of Tommy John surgery and 2015 due to a sports hernia. He has thrown 127 2/3 innings with the Pirates and at Triple-A this season. Our goal is to get him in the position to go deep into October, Huntington said. At the same time we dont want to leave pitches in the bank.UP NEXTMarlins: Miami hosts the defending World Series champion Royals beginning Tuesday, the second time Kansas City has played in South Florida. Andrew Cashner (4-9) makes his fifth start for Miami.Pirates: Taillon (3-2) is to start Monday against the former division rival Houston, which will be playing the Pirates for the first time since 2013. ' ' '