Fische » Broadway in downtown Nashville is as lively a place

NASHVILLE Kendall Sheffield Jersey , Tenn. (AP) — The Las Vegas Strip, Times Square and Bourbon Street have nothing on it.Particularly this week.For the first time, the NFL draft is in Music City, and even in the days leading up to Thursday night’s opening round, Broadway has been buzzing.Sure, the honky tonks tend to be full of revelers who don’t care if it’s New Year’s Eve or, well, a weekday in late April. The difference now: Nearly everyone is talking football while the bands on stage are working through their repertoires of Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton songs.“This weekend, Nashville, Tennessee, is, in fact http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/john-cominsky-jersey , Football City,” declared Mayor David Briley. “This wouldn’t be happening if the league and team had not seen what we already knew about the city of Nashville.”How much have the locals embraced the draft? Well, 100,000 or more are attending the opening round, with thousands more projected to turn out on Friday and Saturday.Although, by the look of things Wednesday and early Thursday on Broadway — which has been shut down to traffic for several blocks, a fact that might bottle up traffic but doesn’t seem to bother pedestrians a bit — many of those attendees aren’t from middle Tennessee. An informal survey of NFL team jerseys being worn showed 17, including from as far away as Seattle and Buffalo.NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told SiriusXM NFL Radio: “One of the things is the geographic location of the city you are in. Fans love to go from other markets to here. The number of jerseys you see (fans wearing), it reminds me of our international games.”Rain was in the forecast for Thursday night, something that didn’t plague Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas in the past four years as the draft has become a traveling circus. That could put a damper on outdoor festivities, though it’s unlikely to affect the business in the restaurants and bars downtown. Might even help.As Goodell has noted Qadree Ollison Jersey , the bar — a different sort of bar from those on Broadway — for the draft has been set high by previous cities, particularly Philadelphia.But as Briley and other Nashville residents point out, this isn’t exactly a city of strangers to big events, including the CMA Music Fest in late spring that is even more crowded.Twelve NFL cities have sent representatives here. In some cases, the league is looking to cities that aren’t likely to bid for a Super Bowl because of stadium or hotel issues.Taking particular interest in this week’s events are representatives from Las Vegas, which has next April’s draft.“I am sure Las Vegas will try to set a new bar also,” Goodell said. “Nashville will have an influence on Las Vegas.”In several ways, Las Vegas and Nashville have commonalities. Both have a centerpiece street — of course, closing down much of The Strip in Nevada would be much more of a chore and much more unlikely than doing so with a significant portion of Broadway here. Both have a solid entertainment base. Both have become destination vacation spots.That’s a year off, though. Right now, Nashville and the NFL are joined at the hip. Goodell believes “This is going to be a great platform for the city of Nashville.” The mayor simply smiled at that statement. Corey Kluber doesn’t often appear hittable, beatable or unremarkable.

It’s a baseball rarity Brian Burns Jersey , like a triple play.

On Friday night, it happened.

Kluber had a rare rocky performance, lasting just five innings and losing for the first time in seven starts as Kyle Gibson outpitched the Cy Young winner and Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer off him to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 6-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.

”I guess he proved he’s human,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. ”He doesn’t look like it very often.”

Kluber (10-3) allowed a homer on his fourth pitch of the game to Eddie Rosario and was pulled after throwing just 65 pitches by Francona, who wants to preserve his ace for bigger games ahead.

”If we want to get where we want to go, he’s going to have a major part in that,” Francona said.

It was the shortest outing this season for the All-Star, who came in 5-0 with a 0.76 ERA against AL Central teams and was riding several other impressive streaks.

Kluber didn’t offer any excuses and understood Francona’s rationale for lifting him.

”Just out of whack a little bit mechanically,” Kluber said. ”Obviously didn’t make good pitches to a few guys. Made some mistakes and they took advantage of it.”

Gibson (2-4) limited the Indians to one run and three hits in seven innings and got his first win since his season debut on March 31.

Yan Gomes homered in the ninth and the Indians closed to 6-3 before closer Fernando Rodney struck out Francisco Lindor with one on for his 15th save.

The Twins came into the series struggling at the plate and figured to be in for a tough time against Kluber, who has been as dominant this season as any stretch of his career and was seeking to become baseball’s first 11-game winner.

Kluber, though, wasn’t Kluber.

With Joe Mauer returning from the disabled list after missing 25 games with a strained neck and concussion-like symptoms http://www.carolinapanthersteamonline.com/greg-little-jersey , Minnesota manager Paul Molitor dropped Dozier from the leadoff spot to No. 5 and the second baseman responded with his two-run homer in the fourth and three RBIs.

Minnesota’s plan was to be aggressive against Kluber and it worked.

”He’s not really a guy where anybody’s too comfortable getting behind or hitting with two strikes,” Molitor said. ”A lot of our damage was aggressive at-bats, Rosie first pitch and Doz I think maybe second pitch of his at-bat, so we were trying to get after him a little bit.”

Dozier put the Twins ahead 4-0 in the fourth, when Kluber allowed his first walk in seven starts.

After Rosario doubled, Kluber threw four balls to Eduardo Escobar, snapping his string without a walk at 46 1/3 innings – the longest for a Cleveland pitcher in 11 years. Rosario then scored when Lindor’s return throw to first after a force out nearly went into Minnesota’s dugout.

Dozier followed by snapping an 0-for-20 slump with his 10th homer, a shot that put Kluber in an unfamiliar hole. The steady-and-stoic star had not given up more than three runs in a game since Aug. 3, a span of 27 starts and testament to his consistency.

ERROR PRONE

Lindor had two more errors, giving the Indians All-Star shortstop 10 this season, tying his total from 2017.

Francona isn’t concerned about it becoming a lasting trend.

”Shoot, he’s so good Will Grier Jersey ,” Francona said. ”We forget how young he is sometimes, because he’s so good. If that’s the worst thing we can come up with, he’s pretty good. ”

SIDELINED

The Indians were without starting first baseman Yonder Alonso, who was placed on the family-medical-emergency list and will miss at least this series.

CLEVELAND ROCKS

A trip to Progressive Field may have helped Dozier snap out of his funk. His homer was the 14th of his career at the ballpark, his most in any visiting stadium. Dozier has reached base in each of his last 19 games in Cleveland, batting .316 (24 for 76) with eight homers and 19 RBIs.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: OF Byron Buxton (toe fracture) is working out with the team and could begin a minor league rehab assignment in a few days. He was injured May 29 and placed on the disabled list the following day.

Indians: There’s still no definitive plan with All-Star LHP Andrew Miller, who has been out since May 24 with right knee inflammation. Francona said the team is taking a ”long-term” approach with the elite reliever, who has been on the DL twice this season. ”When we get him back, we want to keep him back,” Francona said.

UP NEXT

Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco shut out Chicago with 11 strikeouts in seven innings in his last outing. He’ll make his third start this season against the Twins, who will counter with Fernando Romero.

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