Mets closer Jeurys Familia set a franchise record with 51 regular-season sa

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Carmelo Anthony does not want to see the positive vibes surrounding the New York Knicks disappear because of one bad night against the defending champions.The memories about too many bad nights in the past turning into several consecutive ones remain too fresh for the 14-year veteran, now in his sixth full season with the Knicks.Weve got to put this behind us, he told reporters in video shown on Knicks.com after New York braced for a five-game road trip with a 126-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. We just want to chalk it up as a bad night, put it behind us, and get ready for this road trip.The road trip comes just as the Knicks are winning for the first time in years. New York opens its longest sojourn of the season when they face the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the Golden 1 Center. The trip is entirely against Western Conference teams, against whom New York has won six of nine, one of them a 106-98 home victory against Sacramento on Sunday.In that one, Anthony and guard Derrick Rose scored 20 points and Brandon Jennings 19 for the Knicks, part of a 9-4 stretch that has propelled them to their best 22-game start (12-10) since the 2012-13 campaign. In this one, theyll try to put away the stench of a game they never were in after a 20-4 Cleveland run put the Knicks behind 34-17 in the first quarterWell learn from this, Anthony said. We dont want to let this linger around when we have the opportunity to go on the road and do something good.New York faces only one team with a winning mark on the trip. The Golden State Warriors (19-3) are two-time defending Western Conference champions, but the other four opponents entered Thursday with a combined mark of 32-57. New York has played only one other road game against the Western Conference, a 106-104 victory at Minnesota on Nov. 30.Rose didnt play against the Cavaliers because of back spasms, but the New York Daily News reported that an MRI exam did not reveal any serious injury. Rose played in New Yorks first 21 games, averaging 16.7 points and 4.8 assists in 32 minutes per contest.The Kings (8-13) could use a boost, period, after a very uneven first quarter of the season. Back-to-back victories could provide it, and the Kings are coming off a 120-89 blowout of the Dallas Mavericks that finished off a 2/3 road trip that included a cancellation of a scheduled game in Philadelphia.Sacramento has strung together consecutive victories only twice this season.Were competitive, first-year Kings coach Dave Joerger told the Sacramento Bee. The spirits good, the chemistry is good, different guys have been in and weve had a chance to look at different guys in the rotation, and well continued to do that going forward.Center DeMarcus Cousins averaged 32.2 points and 13.2 rebounds during the trip, He is averaging 28.8 and 10.6 for the season, ranking third and 10th in the NBA through Wednesdays games. Cheap New Orleans Saints Jerseys China . Rousey will put her perfect 8-0 record and hardware on the line against another undefeated fighter, 7-0 Sara McMann in the main event of UFC 170, which will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Nevada on February 22nd. Cheap Houston Texans Jerseys China . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. http://www.cheapfootballchina.com/cheap-detroit-lions-jerseys-china_265w.html . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months. Arizona Cardinals Kyler Murray Jersey . -- Jonathan Drouin gave Halifax the boost it needed to edge host Sherbrooke Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys China . Rousey will put her perfect 8-0 record and hardware on the line against another undefeated fighter, 7-0 Sara McMann in the main event of UFC 170, which will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Nevada on February 22nd. Nobody does postseasons better than Madison Bumgarner, but Mets ace Noah Syndergaard is certainly no slouch. With two of the premier pitchers in baseball dueling, Wednesdays NL wild-card showdown (8 p.m. ET on ESPN/Watch ESPN) could be one for the ages.Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Wednesday nights game, then vote on which team will win at the bottom of the page.Inside the pitching matchupWhen Bumgarner?is on the mound:?One thing we know about Bumgarner is that hell be unflappable on the mound at Citi Field. He owns a 0.60 ERA on the road in his postseason career while appearing in seven games. Remarkably, the Giants won all seven of those games.Bumgarner is essentially the same pitcher he was back when he dominated the 2014 postseason. He throws his four-seamer up in the zone, usually middle-in to right-handed batters, though it wasnt quite as effective this year as in the past. Back in 2014, batters had a .275 wOBA against it; this year, it was .323, with a swing-and-miss rate that dropped from 27.6 percent in 2014 to 22.4 percent in 2016. Bumgarners average velocity on the pitch dropped from 92.0 mph to 90.8.His cutter/slider -- Bumgarner calls it a cutter -- remains a deadly weapon, as batters hit .221 against it and have trouble elevating it. What makes it so effective in part is that Bumgarner manipulates the speed on it, throwing it from 85 to 89 mph. Bumgarners third pitch is a curveball that he throws about 15 percent of the time, about equally to lefties and righties, often with two strikes, and hell bury it at the knees or below. Batters hit just .130 against it, with a strikeout rate of 51.6 percent.If theres one worry, its that Bumgarner struggled a bit down the stretch, unlike in 2014, when he was red hot. In his final nine starts this season, he posted a 4.66 ERA and allowed eight home runs. -- David SchoenfieldWhen Syndergaard?is on the mound: Syndergaard stormed out of the gate in April, allowing two runs in his first three starts, and his ERA remained under 1.00 as late as mid-June. Terry Collins was pretty conservative in his usage of Syndergaard, who pitched more than seven innings just three times and 43 fewer innings than Bumgarner.Syndergaards game revolves around his high-octane fastball, which averaged 97.9 mph, the highest velocity by any starter in the majors (1.9 mph faster than Yordano Venturas). He throws it about 60 percent of the time with command, on the outer half of the plate to left-handers and the outer half of the plate to righties. The fastball itself isnt all that unhittable -- batters hit .283/.327/.411 against it, and Bumgarner had a higher swing-and-miss rate with his fastball -- but it helps set up Syndergaards slider. That pitch had the third-highest swing-and-miss rate of any starters slider (behind only those of Jose Fernandez and Max Scherzer), and batters hit .167 against it with one home run in 180 at-bats ending with the pitch (Corey Seager was the hitter).Syndergaard throws the slider about 21 percent of the time ((he threw it only 2 percent of the time last year) while also mixing in a curveball and a changeup, which he throws primarily to lefties.dddddddddddd. Syndergaard had a small platoon split, with lefties hitting .262/.324/.389 against him versus .228/.258/.322, and the Giants can roll out a lineup with six left-handed batters. -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightAsdrubal Cabrera has been one of the hottest hitters in the majors since his return from the DL on Aug. 21, hitting .343/.410/.650 with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs. Almost all of that damage came against right-handed pitchers, however, as the switch-hitter had just 18 PAs against southpaws in that stretch. With much of the Mets power coming from the left side (Curtis Granderson, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda), Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes might be relied upon to do the damage.?-- SchoenfieldWhat will decide the game?How the Mets handle MadBums best stuff:?Bumgarner is well known for his nasty fastball/slider combo. He throws those two pitches 81 percent of the time to right-handed hitters. That plays into the hands of two of the Mets most prominent hitters, who had great numbers against those two pitches from lefties -- Asdrubal Cabrera (.375 BA, five doubles, two HR in 80 at-bats ending with those pitches) and Yoenis Cespedes (.370 BA, five doubles, five HR in 54 at-bats). Cespedes had the fourth-highest OPS (1.081) of anyone with at least 100 plate appearances against lefties this season. -- Mark Simon,?ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win?Sure, the Mets have a challenge facing Bumgarner. But they have a tested answer in Syndergaard, who finished the regular season with a better ERA than Bumgarners (2.60 vs. 2.74) and earned the Mets lone win in last years World Series. And lets not forget the decided advantage the Mets have in their bullpen if they can get Bumgarners pitch count up. Mets closer Jeurys Familia set a franchise record with 51 regular-season saves, while the Giants nearly had that number of blown saves. Whats more, the Mets enter the postseason as one of MLBs hottest teams. Their 27-13 record is the best in the majors since Aug. 20. -- Adam RubinI wont even resort to the even-year argument. Lets stick with the more tangible facts, such as Bumgarners 2.14 ERA in almost 90 postseason innings. The Giants offense is built for contact, which should help against Syndergaard. The Giants bullpen isnt as bad as it appeared. It was left exposed because of a September batting slump. That ends now.?-- Mark SaxonWhere the series standsUnlike last year, the Mets have one ace to ride this postseason, and theyre rolling him out here. You know what Bruce Bochy is hoping for: a complete game, similar to the one Bumgarner delivered in the 2014 wild-card game against the Pirates. After a rough finish for the Giants bullpen, you get the feeling Bochy will live or die with Bumgarner in this one. --?Schoenfield ' ' '