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MINNEAPOLIS -- After Yasiel Puig carried the Dodgers early, it was little-known Scott Van Slyke and Drew Butera who came up big at the end of a long day. Van Slyke and Butera homered in the 12th inning and Los Angeles held on to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 to earn a sweep of the day-night doubleheader on Thursday. Adrian Gonzalez also homered for the Dodgers, who stranded 16 runners in the 5-hour, 11-minute game. "At this time of the night, when youve played all night and youve put a couple wins under your belt, youre willing to take them, move forward and know that you got to play better to get where you want to go," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. Puig tied a career high with four hits in Los Angeles 9-4 Game 1 win and added two more in the nightcap. Before grounding out in the fifth, Puig had reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances. Joe Mauer had three hits for the Twins, who walked 12 in the second game and 18 total. Van Slyke led off the 12th and lined a 2-1 pitch from Brian Duensing (0-1) into the bullpen in left-centre field. Butera hit his first homer since July 12, 2012, when he played for the Twins. "It feels nice to hit a home run any time," said Butera, who caught all 12 innings and still had enough in the tank to hit the winning homer. "Its mentally and physically taxing," he continued. "You dont want to make any mistakes. You want to be in the game physically as much as you are mentally." Jamey Wright (2-1) didnt allow a run in three innings of relief. Kenley Jansen loaded the bases in the 12th and allowed Mauers sacrifice fly, but got Chris Colabello to line out to first for his 11th save in 13 chances. "I didnt know if it was going to take off," Colabello said. "It was pretty true. I didnt really side-spin it at all, maybe hoping that it was going to get over his head or get a deflection, or something like that." Juan Uribe had four hits and two RBIs in the first game and another RBI in the second. When Puig wasnt getting hits, he still grabbed the spotlight. The Cuban outfielder was tagged out when he flinched toward second after beating out an infield single in his first at-bat in Game 2. In the bottom of the first, Puig airmailed the cutoff man on a sacrifice fly, allowing two Twins runners to advance. Home plate umpire Tim Timmons missed a catchers interference call when Puig fouled off the first pitch during a key at-bat in the sixth. But by the time Van Slyke homered, Puigs play from earlier in the day seemed like ancient history. "Scottys a different cat. Hes hard to read from the outside," Mattingly said. "You see a guy thats kind of laid back and kind of easy moving. Everything looks like its in slow-mo. But hes a guy that sees pitching and knows what hes doing at the plate." Los Angeles left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh, with the threat in the seventh ending after second-baseman Brian Dozier dove to snare a line drive from Dee Gordon. Neither teams inexperienced starter, both called up to start under a provision that allows rosters to expand to 26 for a doubleheader, finished the fifth inning. Minnesotas Kris Johnson lasted 4 1-3 innings in his Twins debut. Wearing his powder-blue socks high and a pink band around his head to keep his glasses on, Red Patterson was removed after allowing one run and walking three over 4 2-3 innings. Minnesota took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Trevor Plouffe reached second on Uribes throwing error and came home on another throwing error when reliever Brandon League rushed to try and retire Colabello on a dribbler to the mound. The Dodgers tied it when Van Slyke led off the sixth with a triple and scored on Uribes single. Minnesota centre-fielder Aaron Hicks banged his head on the wall leaping to try and catch Van Slykes triple and left the game with concussion-like symptoms. The pitching wasnt great in Game 1, but it was much better than the never-ending night game. Dan Haren (4-0) struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings to win the first game. Mike Pelfrey (0-3), who hasnt won at Target Field since April 16, 2013, gave up five runs and seven hits and walked three in four innings for the Twins. If Pelfrey doesnt pitch better soon, he could wind up in the bullpen. "Weve got to do something about it, we have to fix it," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Were trying to get him on the right path." Both teams combined to use 20 pitchers. NOTES: Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, on the disabled list since after his first start of the season with strained shoulder, threw 86 pitches and allowed two runs in five innings in a start for Double-A Chattanooga on Wednesday night and appears in line to rejoin the rotation early next week. ... Ricky Nolasco (2-2, 6.67 ERA) starts for the Twins Friday against Baltimore and Ubaldo Jimenez (0-4, 6.59) in the first game of a three-game series. ... The Dodgers continue their nine-game road trip Friday in Miami as Josh Beckett (0-0, 2.45) faces Tom Koehler (2-2, 2.97). Authentic James Harden Jersey .com) - Colorado forward P. Authentic De’Anthony Melton Jersey .com Tours Nova Scotia Open. The 27-year-old Sloan, a former Texas-El Paso player from Calgary matched first-round leader Rodriguez at 10-under 132 on Ashburn Golf Clubs New Course. http://www.cheaprocketsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-carmelo-anthony-jersey.Y. -- As if the worst start in franchise history isnt bad enough, Buffalo Sabres President Ted Black braced his teams win-starved fans for potentially more tough times. Authentic Vincent Edwards Jersey .C. -- The Edmonton Oilers used a late-power-play goal to get a hard-fought road victory. Authentic Nene Jersey . -- Thirty years ago, the Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186-184 in triple overtime, a game that remains the highest scoring in NBA history.PITTSBURGH -- Chuck Noll, the Hall of Fame coach who won a record four Super Bowl titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers, died Friday night at his home. He was 82. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner said Noll died of natural causes. Noll transformed the Steelers from a long-standing joke into one of the NFLs pre-eminent powers, becoming the only coach to win four Super Bowls. He was a demanding figure who did not make close friends with his players, yet was a successful and motivating leader. The Steelers won the four Super Bowls over six seasons (1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979), an unprecedented run that made Pittsburgh one of the NFLs marquee franchises, one that breathed life into a struggling, blue-collar city. "He was one of the great coaches of the game," Steelers owner Dan Rooney once said. "He ranks up there with (George) Halas, (Tom) Landry and (Curly) Lambeau." Nolls 16-8 record in post-season play remains one of the best in league history. He retired in 1991 with a 209-156-1 record in 23 seasons, after inheriting a team that had never won a post-season game. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. Noll worked so well with Steelers President Rooney that the team never felt the need to have a general manager. When he retired, and was replaced by Bill Cowher, only four other coaches or managers in modern U.S. pro sports history had run their teams longer than Noll had. "Chuck Noll is the best thing that happened to the Rooneys since they got on the boat (to America) in Ireland," Art Rooney II, the former Steelers personnel chief and the son of the team founder, once said. A former messenger guard for his hometown Cleveland Browns who earned the nicknamed Knute Knowledge -- as in Knute Rockne -- Noll was an assistant with the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Colts for nine seasons. Then he accepted what seemed a dead-end job in January 1969 as coach of the NFLs least-successful organization. Art Rooney Sr. often hired friends and cronies as coaches, and only two of the Steelers first 13 coaches had winning records. At the time Noll took over, the franchise was 105 games below .500 in its history. Noll, hired only after Penn States Joe Paterno turned down a $350,000, five-year offer, was different from any Steelers coach before him. He immediately brought intelligence, toughness, stability, confidence, character and a can-do mindset to a franchise accustomed to constant upheaval and ever-changing personnel. Asked at his first news conference if his goal was to make the Steelers respectable, Noll said, "Respectability? Who wants to be respectable? Thats spoken like a true loser." Perhaps not the most colorful coach behind the microphone, Noll could often be counted on for memorable, motivational one-liners that became rallying cries. Phrases like "A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning," and "Before you can win a game, you have to not lose it," and "The thrill isnt in the winning, its in the doing," spoke volumes about what Noll was trying to accomplish. They went over well in a football-crazed region of Pennsylvania. The day after Noll was hired, the Steelers drafted defensive lineman Joe Greene. He was the first of the nine Hall of Famers selected during the Noll era. Four of the others were drafted within Nolls first four seasons: Terry Bradshaw, Mel Blount, Jack Ham and Franco Harris. Four more arrived in the first five rounds of the 1974 draft: Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster. And the 1971 draft, though it produced only one Hall of Famer (Ham), generated seven starters. While the Steelers surprisingly won their opener under Noll in 1969, beating Detroit, they lost their final 13 games that season, and their first three in 1970. By then, some were questioning Nolls hiring. The Steelers turnaround began in earnest iin 1970, the year they moved into the AFC after the NFL and AFL merged.ddddddddddddThey drafted Bradshaw with the No. 1 pick, moved into Three Rivers Stadium after years of being a secondhand tenant of Pitt Stadium and Forbes Field. They won five of eight during one stretch. By 1972, the year Harris arrived to give them the ground game Noll sought, they were championship contenders with an 11-3 record and a weve-turned-the-corner attitude. Noll had long since run off underachievers and pushed the Rooneys to bring in the players he wanted. "Hell argue a point with you and keep yelling, No, this is right, youre wrong," Dan Rooney said. "Sometimes you have to say, This is the way were going to do it." The first traditional playoff game in Steelers history on Dec. 23, 1972, also signalled what was to come. The Steelers were in control of the John Madden-coached Raiders most of the game, until quarterback Ken Stabler scored in the final two minutes to put Oakland up 7-6. With the Steelers down to fourth-and-10 on their side of the field, Bradshaw lofted a pass downfield intended for Frenchy Fuqua. As Fuqua and safety Jack Tatum converged on the ball, it bounded high in the air for what looked to be a certain incompletion. Instead, Harris, trailing on the play, caught the ball nearly at his shoe tops and raced into the end zone for an improbable touchdown. The play would quickly become known as the "Immaculate Reception." Nolls Steelers did not win the Super Bowl that season -- they lost to unbeaten Miami on a fake punt in the AFC title game. But, with their roster completed by their remarkable 1974 draft, they finally became NFL champions and did it three more times by January 1980. Still, Nolls best team might have been in 1976, when the Steelers rebounded from a 1-4 start to go 10-4 -- even with Bradshaw injured and out most of the season -- by playing the greatest stretch of defence in NFL history. The Steel Curtain shut out five of their final nine opponents while yielding only 28 points. At one point, they didnt allow a touchdown for 22 quarters. However, Harris and Rocky Bleier, 1,000-yard rushers that season, were injured in a playoff game against Baltimore. Without a running game, they lost the AFC title to Oakland. A year later, Noll wound up in a federal court trial. He accused Raiders defensive back George Atkinson, who had levelled Swann with a brutal hit the season before, of being part of the NFLs "criminal element." Noll prevailed, but there were hard feelings when, under oath, he included Blount as also being part of that criminal element. The Steelers went 9-5 that season, but rebounded to win the championship in the 1978 and 1979 seasons. When all the talent began to retire, the championships ended. Great drafts gave way to poor ones. The Steelers won only two playoff games and no conference championships in Nolls final 12 seasons, missing the post-season eight times. Noll never was much of a yeller or screamer, though he had his moments. He confronted Oilers coach Jerry Glanville at midfield and warned him about the teams borderline-legal blocking techniques. "He didnt feel like it was his job to motivate," Bleier said. "It was his job to take motivated people and give them a direction and get the job done." When he retired, Noll always said he would never coach another team and he didnt. In 2007, the football field at St. Vincent College, the Steelers longtime training camp home in Latrobe, was named for Noll, even though he played at and graduated from Dayton. Born in Cleveland, Noll attended Benedictine High School, where he played running back and tackle, winning All-State honours, before gaining a scholarship to play for the Flyers. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburghs biggest, most traditional rival, in 1953. At 27, he retired as a player from the Browns in 1959. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '