SAN FRANCISCO // Travis Ishikawa’s walk-off ninth-inning blast lifted the San Francisco Giants to a 6-3 win over St. Louis on Thursday and into baseball’s World Series.
Ishikawa’s three-run homer gave San Francisco the victory in the best-of-seven National League final four games to one.
The Giants will face American League champions Kansas City for Major League Baseball’s World Series crown, with the Royals hosting game one on Tuesday.
Read more: ‘Unbelievable’ Kansas City Royals into World Series for first time in 29 years
San Francisco are back in baseball’s championship showcase for the third time in five years. They won the title in 2010 and 2012 and will be gunning for the eighth championship in club history.
“It doesn’t get any better,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after his players won their third straight game. “What a group. No one has any will stronger than us.”
Ishikawa’s heroics followed an eighth-inning solo shot by Giants pinch-hitter Michael Morse that tied the game 3-3.
St. Louis threatened in the top of the ninth, but with the bases loaded Giants relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt induced pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras to ground out to end the inning.
San Francisco slugger Pablo Sandoval then singled to open the bottom of the ninth against Cardinals hurler Michael Wacha, who hadn’t pitched in 20 days because of shoulder trouble.
With one out Brandon Belt walked to bring Ishikawa to the plate. After taking two balls from Wacha, Ishikawa powered a 96 mph (154 kph) fastball into the seats above the right field wall.
The Giants were already celebrating as Ishikawa rounded the bases, and he was greeted at home plate by a celebratory mob of team-mates.
It was redemption for Ishikawa, who had misjudged Jon Jay’s drive in the third inning, making a vain leap for the ball that sailed over his head for a double that scored a run and put the Cardinals up 1-0.
“I was trying to be short to the ball,” Ishikawa said. “I knew he (Wacha) threw hard. I’d never seen him before, but I knew he had a good fastball and changeup. It was a good pitch after taking two in. I was just short to the ball and let the rest happen.
“This is a great feeling,” Ishikawa added. “I can’t even describe it.”
Joe Panik had put the Giants up 2-1 with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning. That was San Francisco’s first home run since Belt’s 18th-inning homer in the marathon game two of the division series at Washington on October 4.
Panik’s homer came off St. Louis starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, but San Francisco’s other two came after the Cardinals lifted their ace, even though he retired the last 10 batters he faced.
Morse, batting for pitcher Madison Bumgarner, led off the eighth with his game-tying homer off reliever Pat Neshek.
Bumgarner, who was named most valuable player of the series, retired the last 13 batters he faced after giving up home runs to Matt Adams and Tony Cruz in the fourth inning, which gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead that held up through seven innings.
“I was just making pitches with conviction,” Bumgarner said. “I knew it would be a dogfight. We did a great job of battling back.”
Wainwright had seven strikeouts, including three in the sixth inning when he retired Buster Posey, Sandoval and Hunter Pence on 13 pitches.
“We lost four games and won only one, but we were in every game,” said Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter. “To get to the World Series you have to catch some breaks, and we didn’t catch any.”
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
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Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
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Some facts about bees:
The queen bee eats only royal jelly, an extraordinary food created by worker bees so she lives much longer
The life cycle of a worker bee is from 40-60 days
A queen bee lives for 3-5 years
This allows her to lay millions of eggs and allows the continuity of the bee colony
About 20,000 honey bees and one queen populate each hive
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Propolis, a resin-like material produced by bees is used to make hives. It has natural antibiotic qualities so works to sterilize hive, protects from disease, keeps their home free from germs. Also used to treat sores, infection, warts
Bee venom is used by bees to protect themselves. Has anti-inflammatory properties, sometimes used to relieve conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, nerve and muscle pain
Honey, royal jelly, pollen have health enhancing qualities
The other three products are used for therapeutic purposes
Is beekeeping dangerous?
As long as you deal with bees gently, you will be safe, says Mohammed Al Najeh, who has worked with bees since he was a boy.
“The biggest mistake people make is they panic when they see a bee. They are small but smart creatures. If you move your hand quickly to hit the bees, this is an aggressive action and bees will defend themselves. They can sense the adrenalin in our body. But if we are calm, they are move away.”
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Ultra processed foods
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- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
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September to November or March to May; this is when visitors are most likely to see what they’ve come for.
WHERE TO STAY:
Meghauli Serai, A Taj Safari - Chitwan National Park resort (tajhotels.com) is a one-hour drive from Bharatpur Airport with stays costing from Dh1,396 per night, including taxes and breakfast. Return airport transfers cost from Dh661.
HOW TO GET THERE:
Etihad Airways regularly flies from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu from around Dh1,500 per person return, including taxes. Buddha Air (buddhaair.com) and Yeti Airlines (yetiairlines.com) fly from Kathmandu to Bharatpur several times a day from about Dh660 return and the flight takes just 20 minutes. Driving is possible but the roads are hilly which means it will take you five or six hours to travel 148 kilometres.
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Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
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