American League, are suddenly not a laug

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ST. LOUIS -- Antti Niemi thinks the San Jose Sharks have finally found the key to beating the St. Louis Blues. Its all about familiarity. "It took a while, but now we know how they play and thats whats made us better against them," Niemi said. "Were feeling comfortable when we face them." Niemi made 20 saves and Joe Pavelski scored the first of three straight San Jose goals to lead the Sharks to a 4-2 victory Tuesday night. San Jose completed a season sweep of the Blues, winning all three games by a combined 16-7. "Its really good to get the three wins against a tough team," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "A lot of different variables went into the three nights. Fortunately for us, we got the (six) points." St. Louis, which got goals from Kevin Shattenkirk and Jay Bouwmeester, had won six of seven against San Jose entering this season. But the Sharks have turned it around, winning 6-3 and 6-2 in the first two meetings. Matt Irwin, Brent Burns and Marty Havlat added goals for the Sharks, who led 3-0 after 22 minutes. Niemi improved to 18-6-6. He held off the Blues when they had a 6-on-4 skating advantage in the closing 2 minutes. "This was big for us," Niemi said. "We got in front, then reset our game and got the win." The Blues were playing their third game in four nights. San Jose had been in St. Louis since Sunday after losing in Nashville on Saturday. "Theyre a really good team and they could have been a little tired," Sharks centre Joe Thornton said. "We started fast and we played good enough to win." The Sharks jumped to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Pavelski and Irwin in a span of 2:56. Both came from close range on rebounds of missed shots that caromed off the end boards. Pavelski scored his 13th after a miss by Havlat, and Irwin jumped on a misfire from Justin Braun for his first of the season. St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak gave up three goals on the first 12 shots and fell to 16-6-2. Halak has allowed 14 goals in his last five starts, 10 in the first period. "Tonight, it starts with me," he said. "I need to do a better job. We just need to play better, thats the bottom line." The Blues climbed to 3-2 on Bouwmeesters goal with 24.2 seconds left in the second period, but Havlat pounced on a rebound with 11:41 left in the game to make it 4-2. "The fourth one was tough. It was kind of like a dagger," Shattenkirk said. "Because we felt like we were moving in the right direction." San Jose snapped a season-high, four-game road losing streak with a solid effort. "A win is a win and were going to take that," McLellan said. "I havent seen anybody play a perfect game this year. We let the momentum get away on us. But in the third period, I thought we went out there and re-established it." NOTES: San Jose has outscored its opponents 44-15 in the first period this season. .... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock celebrated his 62nd birthday. ... St. Louis C David Backes missed his first game since Jan. 25, 2010, a string of 274 successive regular-season appearances. He sustained an upper-body injury in a collision with Ottawa C Colin Greening on Monday. Backes, who has 16 goals and 14 assists in 32 games, is expected to be out at least a week. ... The Blues were also without LWs Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Sobotka, who missed the game with upper-body injuries. Backes, Schwartz and Sobotka have combined for 29 goals and 38 assists. ... The Sharks are 0 for 16 on the power play over their last seven road games. Kenny Golladay Jersey . About seven hours before facing Washington in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference second round series, team officials said the oft-injured Bynum would miss the rest of the playoffs and would not even be with the team for the rest of the post-season. Nevin Lawson Jersey . 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Dave Naylor, TSN - My thumb is down to Cleveland Browns draft pick Johnny Manziel for last weekends Las Vegas adventure, partying it up with Rob Gronkowski and a pool full of bikini-clad young women in a scene out of spring break. Apparently, Justin Bieber couldnt make it. Look, I know what some of you are thinking - what 21-year-old male wouldnt enjoy a weekend like that? And we dont judge them the same way. True enough, but when youre about to become the most scrutinized NFL quarterback since a guy named Tebow, you might want to lay just a bit low. Once youve proven youre Joe Namath on the field, you can act a little more like Joe Namath off it. But this was the first weekend after mini-camp. Theres going to be enough pressure on Manziel without giving people reason to believe he is really more about being Johnny Fratboy than Johnny Football. Steve Simmons, Sun Media - My thumb is up to George Springer, rookie outfielder with the Houston Astros and its not just because he hit seven home runs in seven straight games this week or because he became the first freshman to accomplish this in 77 years. Its up because of what happens almost every time Springer hits a home run. The Astros win and, if not, theyre in the game. The lousy, laughable, displaced Astros, the one team were suppposed to disregard in the American League, are suddenly not a laughingstock.dddddddddddd They have a 6-2 record when Springer hits a home run. Houstons not going to challenge for the playoffs or anything, but it may not lose 100 games for the first time in four seasons. And that, by itself, makes baseball better. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated - My thumb is up, perversely, to Rory McIlroy, who is adept at going low. He opened the Memorial tournament with a 63 Thursday after doing a one-eighty earlier in the week on ex-fiancée Caroline Wozniacki. And by one-eighty, I dont mean just calling off their wedding. Reportedly, he broke up with the tennis star in 180 seconds, via telephone. A three-year-relationship ended by a three-minute call. Talk about going low. Well, it could have been worse. He could have texted her…and used an emoticon. A devastated Wozniacki lost her first-round match at the French Open while a buoyant McIlroy enters todays round in Ohio six shots off the pace. Dave Hodge, TSN - My thumb is down to the Boston Red Sox for making Major League Baseballs career leader in failed drug tests - Manny Ramirez - the star attraction at Fenway Parks celebration of the 2004 World Series championship team. The Red Sox explained that Manny was chosen to throw out the first pitch because he was the 04 World Series MVP, so, sure, that was one reason to pick him. Time does not permit me to list all the reasons not to pick him. 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