Bat big. Make it count. Bat once in the Test match. Be prepared to be boring. Rotate the strike. Be patient. Respect the conditions. Attack and defend at the right moments.All these phrases were uttered by Australias batsmen entering into this series, and they have been heard on other occasions t. None of that was in Steven Smiths head when Rangana Herath lped up his first ball of the day to the Australian captain.Instead, Smith appeared to be working off the mantra he offered before the Test, about making sure he has a plan from ball one. Todays ball one plan seemed to be to hit Herath as far as possible, out of Pallekele International Stadium and even out of the country. Those fevered thoughts drew a presumptuous charge down the wicket, a wild, head-in-the-air swing, and a stumping by yards. As Smith sat to ponder his choice of shot, it also precipitated the loss of Australias last eight wickets for a meagre 134. Adam Voges, who chose a more circumspect method, sought to explain his captains motivations.We talk about taking risks early to try and spread the field and then getting ones, so he tried to take that risk early. If it comes off, it lks great; it didnt come off today, Voges said. If he hits that over the top, then, all of a sudden, the field spreads a bit and he can knock ones around, thats how he wanted to get into his innings.Day two in Pallekele will be kept in the memory banks of the Sri Lankans, the Indians and everyone else due to face an Australian touring team in the future. As epitomised by Smith and a few of his comrades, Australian batsmen are still susceptible to being alternately lured out or boxed in by spin bowling on a helpful pitch. Unlike Dominica last year, Voges was unable to complete a full rescue operation, hard as he tried.It was reasonably similar, he said of the two surfaces. Weve had a bigger spin threat this game in terms of facing more spin than what we did in Dominica. The wicket was pretty similar, maybe this one skids on a little bit more on occasions than what Dominica did, but not t dissimilar.That match in the West Indies, doubtless, entered the thinking of Herath this week. An exceptionally shrewd operator, Herath would be aware of how Devendra Bish spun through the Australians without a whole lot of bowling support at the other end, and how he successfully coaxed Smith into charging heedlessly at the wrong ball. While Smiths talents are clear, and his record over the past two years more or less matchless, his death-or-glory approach to spin is allowing opponents to think he can be countered. As Bish had put it: A lot of previous balls, he was coming. I knew exactly that he was coming. I just had to get it in the right place at the right time.This, in turn, exposes others with games not so suited to these climes. Certainly, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh allowed their limitations to be seen in the first innings of the series. Burns was not precise enough in covering up to Herath; Khawaja pinned on the crease from around the wicket; Marsh fighting hard but unable to make head or tail of the excellent debutant Lakshan Sandakans left-arm wrist spin. Voges fared better in another example of how his composed, simple technique and experienced head has reaped such handsome returns thus far, but wicketkeeper Peter Nevills attempt to shovel Herath over mid-on was almost as unsightly as Smiths charge down the pitch.Perhaps, the most unsettling element of Australias display was that it showed the extra weeks practice in Sri Lanka did not make a great deal of difference to thinking and execution when the Test match began. Even Voges conceded that despite training for and discussing exactly how Herath was going to try to attack a new batsman - namely sliding one down the line of the steps while lking to hit the front pad - he was unable to stop it from happening.I know that was probably the plan - to try to hit my pad first ball. Thats what weve been training for the last two weeks - to try to avoid that situation, he said. A little bit of heart in mouth, you sort of lk up towards the change rms to see, Mitch Marsh sat down again pretty quickly when the review came, so I felt a little bit better after that.He doesnt miss his areas, does he? Hes canny, mixes his pace. There hasnt been a great deal of spin there for him, but hes been very economical, hes taken four wickets and we always knew going into this series that hed be their main threat. So I think we can play him better than what we did today, and well be lking to do that moving forward.In the back of each players mind will be the fact that todays misstep need not be terminal to Australias chances in this match. They still scraped a lead of 86, and a wicket for Mitchell Starc put further space between the sides before afternn rain returned once more. But against better teams on other days, it may well be far more damaging - India 2013, UAE 2014 and England 2015 all stand as prime examples.With the benefit of time, the plans that came unstuck at Pallekele may yet prove valuable against others, provided they are leavened with a stronger dose of common sense. This team was never going to overcome an Asian blindspot in the space of a single innings. Many more hard lessons and experiences remain to be had.Its about having plans against each bowler and just sticking to and trusting those plans, Voges said. We spoke a bit about that tonight, that some guys it didnt quite work for them today, but theyve got to trust those plans that thats going to work for them. For me, its going to be different from the other guys, but it will be, the more experience we get over here, the more we can fine tune those plans and feel more confident about them.In the words of Brad Pitt, channeling Billy Beane, in Moneyball: Its a process, its a process, its a process… Dikembe Mutombo Jersey . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. Carmelo Anthony Jersey . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. http://www.nuggetsprostore.com/kids-jamal-murray-nuggets-jersey/ . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. Dikembe Mutombo Nuggets Jersey . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Malik Beasley Nuggets Jersey .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. CLEVELAND -- Bm! Bang! Pow! Nine pitches, three homers, one devastating inning.Back in Octobers spotlight, the Cleveland Indians rocked Rick Porcello for three long balls in the third inning in their AL Division Series opener. Francisco Lindors homer capped the rampage off the 22-game winner, and the Indians held on to beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 Thursday night.Lindor, Jason Kipnis and Robert Perez went deep in the third off Porcello, who lasted 4? innings in his shortest outing this year.After skipping down the third-base line and touching home plate, Lindor pointed toward the starry sky.If this is what Octobers like, I want to do this every year, Lindor said. I didnt even know where I was. I was just jumping and screaming.Before a sea of red-towel waving, screaming fans, the Indians got a jump in the best-of-5 series against David Ortiz and the AL East champions.Andrew Miller, acquired by Cleveland in a July trade for an October night like this, pitched two scoreless innings for the win . Summoned by manager Terry Francona earlier than usual, the lefty struck out Ortiz with two on to end the fifth and threw a season-high 40 pitches.Bryan Shaw gave up a leadoff homer to Bostons Brock Holt in the eighth that made it 5-4 before Cody Allen struck out Xander Bogaerts with the potential tying run at third to end the inning. Boston put a runner on with two outs in the ninth but Allen fanned Dustin Pedroia on a full-count checked-swing , his 40th pitch, for the save. Pedroia was livid, and Farrell went onto the field to question plate umpire Brian Knight.Pedroia had a few words for first-base umpire Phil Cuzzi and then fired his helmet in disgust on his way into the dugout.Later, Bostons fiery second baseman regretted his actions.I went, but I just was frustrated with the situation, he said. Ill apologize to Phil tomorrow for giving him a piece of my mind.Ortiz went 1 for 4 with a double in the first game of his final postseason.Rkie Andrew Benintendi and Sandy Leon also homered for the Red Sox, who will start David Price in Game 2 in the shadows Friday afternn against Cleveland ace Corey Kluber.Cleveland unloaded on Porcello in the third, connecting for the three homers that shk Progressive Field.Perez started the salvo with just his second homer in 82 at-bats at home this season. One out later, Kipnis drove a pitch over the wall in right-center, giving Cleveland a 3-2 lead and sending the raucous crowd of 37,763 into delirium. Kipnis had just finished getting a celebratory ride thrugh the dugout when Lindors shot to right barely cleared a leaping attempt by Mkie Betts.ddddddddddddAfter the first one it was exciting, Kipnis said. After mine it was even kind of getting nuts in there. And the third one our dugout was kind of losing it. We played with a lot of energy. We played with a lot of emotion. Thats the way our team goes. Weve got up and down the lineup, 25 guys who are baseball players who love to compete and we ride the waves.And that was a pretty high one.Leons homer pulled the Red Sox to 4-3 in the fifth. Francona, who won two World Series with the Red Sox before coming to Cleveland, pulled starter Trevor Bauer for Miller, who hadnt come in earlier than the sixth all season.Miller gave up a double and walk before getting Ortiz to swing at a low third strike .Francona extended both Miller and Allen knowing the importance of winning the opener.Well take inventory of what we got, he said. Youre certainly not going to see the same exact way tomorrow. But we wanted to win the game tonight and we did. Tomorrow might have to be a little bit different design.SPEEDY PEREZCleveland tacked on another run in the fifth, helped by Perezs alert baserunning. The slow-fted catcher tagged and tk second on a fly to left and scored on Kipnis single to make it 5-3.I saw the ball kept carrying, Perez. I think he kind of hesitated to throw it back or probably didnt know I was going to tag up, Perez said of Benintendi. I normally dont do that. I was taking advantage of the situation. I did it on my own. It worked out for us. We scored a run.ICE KLUBEThe winning pitcher in the 2016 All-Star Game, Kluber will make his postseason debut in Game 2. He was on the roster when Cleveland was a wild-card team in 2013, but didnt pitch.Im sure there will be some nerves, Kluber said. But at the same time, I get nervous if its a live practice in spring training. It just means you care.The 2014 AL Cy Young winner will start on 10 days rest after straining his right quadriceps on Sept. 26 at Detroit. Kluber admits he wont know if the injury is healed until he steps on the mound, but he has thrown two bullpen sessions without issues.TRAINERS RMIndians: RHP Danny Salazar (strained forearm) was sent to the teams training complex in Gdyear, Arizona, to build up his arm strength. Salazar has been out since Sept. 9. He, t, could be available in the next round. ' ' '