s, the Pittsburgh Penguins turned to Justin Schultz to man the top power-play unit.

NEW YORK -- A flock of newcomers quickly swoops into Yankee Stadium and suddenly a team that wobbled all season turns into a playoff contender.So exactly whos gotten the New York Yankees flying so high? A rookie slugger, a fresh set of pitchers?Sure, theyve helped. But maybe its something more.Pigeon power , outfielder Aaron Judge said. Theyre fueling us.OK, go ahead and laugh. Then look at the Yankees record lately -- against the Blue Jays and Orioles, no less -- ever since dozens and dozens of pigeons began descending for picnics at the park.Besides, if the Royals can have a Rally Mantis, the Angels a Rally Monkey and the Cardinals a Rally Squirrel, why not a good-luck pack of pigeons?Sometimes, these birds arrive early, searching for new seeds that keep the grass so green and fresh. More than 85 of them recently roamed the yard before batting practice.Often, they stick around for the game, hardly ruffled by the balls that go whizzing past them.In the sixth inning last weekend against Tampa Bay, six gray pigeons lounged in medium left-center field, a half-dozen hung out in shallow center and seven others strolled in right-center. No surprise, moments later the Yankees hit back-to-back home runs to break open a scoreless game.Theyre fearless, longtime head groundskeeper Dan Cunningham said.Speedy, too.I dont worry about them too much because theyre pretty fast, star center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury said. They can take care of themselves.No birds have been hit yet. Certainly nothing like that spring training episode many years ago when a fastball by Randy Johnson struck a dove in mid-flight. And they arent pesky, like the seagulls that hover around AT&T Park late during San Francisco Giants games.Scorned and shooed away all around town, these pigeons relax at The House That Ruth Built. Oh, and they seem to prefer day games.When line drives get too close, they simply flap away and settle somewhere else, perhaps on the warning track in deep center or near the foul lines. Or they take off toward the scoreboard and stay there for a while, with a birds-eye view.Weve been watching them fly overhead, more and more of them, reliever Tommy Layne said. You just hope they dont unload on you.Cunningham said the birds come for the seeds that maintain the combination blue and rye grass. The stadium hosts the Yankees and the New York City FC team in Major League Soccer, making for a lot of reseeding late this summer.Plus, players who spit sunflower seeds provide tasty snacks.Overall, thats brought more and more feathered fans in the last month. Not that Cunningham minds.Im not a pigeon hater, he said. Its New York, theyre part of the scene here.A month ago, Judge homered in his first major league at-bat. He fits into the Yankees wave of the future, along with Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin and the fittingly named Greg Bird.Judge has grown accustomed to sharing his surroundings with the other birds in right field.Actually started noticing them maybe about a week ago. Kind of started showing up in little bunches, he said. Started out with five or 10, now its 20, 30, 40. Just a big bunch of them out there now.I go for a ball in the gap, they start flying everywhere. Could cause a little bit of havoc, he said.Then again, pigeons have always had a place in this city.I dont mind them, Judge said. A little company in the outfield. Nike Air Huarache Mens . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Nike Air Huarache Sale . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. http://www.huarachesnikeshoes.com/ . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said. Nike Air Huarache Red . 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. Nike Air Huarache Womens . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. OMAHA, Neb. -- The long talk came after an out-of-conference game at Arizona State in April. Sandwiched between important home series against Washington State and Stanford, Arizonas late rally fell short and freshman outfielder Alfonso Rivas finished the game on the pitchers mound.First-year coach Jay Johnson kept the Wildcats in left field for close to an hour. And after 30 games on the job, Johnson finally let it out. He told his team he wanted to win the national championship.That was the first time I ever heard about that, senior second baseman Cody Ramer said.This was heady stuff for the Wildcats, who had missed the NCAA postseason in each of the past three years. After a 3-0 win Monday over Coastal Carolina in Game 1 of the College World Series finals, they stand one victory away from the programs fifth title.Game 2 is set for Tuesday night at 8 ET on ESPN.Another Arizona win in the best-of-three series would make Johnson, 39, the first college baseball coach to win a championship in his first season at a school. Four others have played for the crown and lost.Already, after four straight Arizona wins in Omaha and five wins in six games, Johnson has lept from being an emerging name to a figure front-and-center in the sports landscape.He implores the team to attack the game with a Navy SEALs intensity, but also to shrug off the pressure of the moment and try to relax.Johnson is the son of a longtime high school track and field coach from Oroville, California. Hes an overachiever who ran his own Division I program for two seasons at Nevada before Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne picked him to take over when Andy Lopez retired last May.Johnson got his Division I start as an assistant at the University of San Diego. His boss there, Rich Hill, said the young coach blends top-shelf work ethic with integrity and intelligence.Thats what separates him from everybody else whos coaching college baseball right now, Hill said.Hyperbole? Maybe not.Johnson played at Point Loma Nazarene, an National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school, and took over at his alma mater in 2005 at age 27. After one year, Johnsons college coach, Scott Sarver, convinced Hill to hire Johnson at San Diego.Trust me, Sarver told Hill. Hes special.Johnson helped USD climb to new heights in his eight years as an assistant there. The Toreros made six NCAA regional appearances and signed the No. 1- and 2-ranked recruiting classes nationally in 2008 and 2010, respectively, according to Baseball America.Johnson carried the torch, Hill said, in landing Kris Bryant, a raw talent out of Las Vegas who blossomed into the 2013 Dick Howser Trophy winner at USD and the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year with the Chicago Cubs.Bryant hit three homers Monday night for the Cubs in Cincinnati as Johnson moved one step closer to a spot among coaching royalty at the College World Series.I dont think my night could get any better, Johnson said after the game.At Nevada, Johnson finished 72-42 with one Mountain West crown. The Wolf Pack won 41 games in 2015 but missed the 64-team tournament. That miss ate at Johnson, who dreamed of a spot in the CWS during a late-season trip last year when Nevada played Creighton in a two-game series at TD Ameritrade Park.That was the No. 1 motivating factor to be at a place where [the Wolf Pack] had won before, Johnson said.In the minutes after finishing exit interviews with 24 players last season, Johnson received a text message from an associate of Byrnes. Would Johnson be interested in talking about the Arizona job? Of course he was interested.Later tthat night, Byrne and Johnson talked on the phone.dddddddddddd A few days later, they met in San Diego.Byrne said he received strong endorsements on Johnson from Lopez, the retiring U of A coach who won a title with the Wildcats in 2012, and Mississippi State coach John Cohen, whom Byrne hired when he was AD at MSU in 2009.About 30 minutes into the first meeting with Johnson, Byrne said, I knew I had to hire this person.Byrne was struck by Johnsons passion, his focus and his plan for Arizona. His strong recruiting ties in Southern California also impressed the AD.One of the things that Jay told me when I hired him was that the Arizona job was like the New York Yankees, Byrne said Monday night outside the victorious locker room. Hes a West Coast guy, and he fits extremely well at the U of A.That said, Johnson earns a base salary of $160,000 with additional income that reportedly pushes him close to $300,000. Several Pac-12 coaches earn in excess of $500,000. Salaries get considerably higher in the SEC.Ive never talked to that guy in my life, Greg Byrne, said Hill, the San Diego coach, but he looks like the smartest AD in the world. He could have hired anybody he wanted. And at the same time, I know hes smart enough to do everything he can to hold on to Jay.Because theres no hotter commodity in the country right now than him.Notably, Texas remains without a coach after the retirement last month of Augie Garrido, who won a national championship 21 years ago at Cal State Fullerton and left a year later for the riches of Austin.If youre the University of Texas, you do everything you can to pay [Johnson] $1 million, Hill said. You do a backroom deal, so he cant use it as leverage or anything else, and you get it done. I know who Jay is. Anywhere he goes, that organization will be the best it can be. If you put him at a place like the University of Texas with unlimited resources, watch out.The 44-year-old Byrne is no newcomer to this business, with coaches Sean Miller and Rich Rodriguez on his payroll.The way I look at it, Byrne said, is that Id much rather have a coach thats in demand than have one who youre trying to figure out if its the right fit or not.Johnson wore the same look Monday night as he did when the Wildcats beat UCLA in a March series and lost three straight at Utah.His dad, Jerry Johnson, the former coach, is having the time of his life in Omaha. Jay Johnsons players dance in the dugout and throw water when they score. But their coach is unwavering.This is the guy who said he peers at WarrenNolan.com, an RPI-tracking site, 17 times per day.I guess you would call it an addiction, Johnson said.Not an addiction, said Hill. Its steely focus.Hes got a different motor than anybody else you come in contact with, Hill said. Hes always going.The San Diego coach recalls visiting Johnson a few years ago at his Point Loma home, near Hills favorite surfing spot. Hill inquired about Johnsons refrigerator, oven and washer-dryer set, none of which looked like they had ever been used.But Johnson had two dry-erase boards -- one full of NCAA regional scenarios and the other color-coded and lined with recruiting prospects.I was like, Dude, no wonder youre single, Hill said.Johnson is growing. He met Maureen Marshall at Nevada. Theyre getting married. The couple has yet to set a date.With one more victory here, perhaps Marshall can temporarily pull his attention away from baseball. And theyd have more than a marriage to celebrate. ' ' '