LaberFred » Its not a knock on Oklahoma City, its not

PHOENIX -- Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson moved Miguel Montero down to eighth in the lineup, hoping it would give him a spark, playing a hunch that he might come up in a big situation. He was right on both counts. Hitting before the pitcher for the first time in two years, Montero hit a tiebreaking homer off the right foul pole in the eighth inning, helping the Diamondbacks beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 Friday night for their fifth straight victory. "One of the things when youre hitting eighth is that you have to tell yourself you might come up in a situation where you can do something good, which he did," Gibson said. "It was huge for us." The Diamondbacks struggled most of the night against Phillies starter Tyler Cloyd, managing two hits off him in 6 2-3 innings. They came through when he went out, though, scoring on a run in the seventh when Martin Prado broke a 29 at-bat hitless streak with runners in scoring position, then taking the lead when Montero hit the first pitch thrown by Mike Adams (1-3) in the eighth that curled toward the foul pole in right and just caught it. Tony Sipp (2-1) got two outs in the eighth inning and David Hernandez worked out of a jam in the ninth for his first save, sending Arizona to its sixth win in seven games. "I knew the ball was gone, but you have so much bad luck that I was running around and was like, wow, I cant believe that ball is going to go foul," Montero said. "I was fortunate enough to hit the pole. It feels great to help the team because Ive been disappointed in myself not being able to the ball the way I wanted." The Phillies jumped on Kennedy early, starting with Rollins 44th career leadoff homer that tied him with Brady Anderson for fourth all-time. They scored another run in the first inning, but struggled the rest of the way against Kennedy and couldnt score against Hernandez with runners on second and third with one out in the ninth. Laynce Nix made the second out in the ninth with a soft infield pop-up and Hernandez ended the game by getting Rollins to ground out to first. "We broke through, but we made some mistakes," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "At the same time, we got four hits in that (first) inning but we didnt capitalize on better opportunity then we didnt add on during the game." Kennedy has laboured since beating St. Louis on Opening Day, allowing four or more runs three times during a six-game winless streak. The right-hander lost to San Diego after allowing four runs in seven innings in his last outing and got off to a rough start against the Phillies. Rollins hit the first pitch of the game out to right for his 44th career leadoff homer, matching Brady Anderson for fourth all-time. Domonic Brown followed a walk and another hit with a run-scoring single that put the Phillies up 2-0. Kennedy found a rhythm after that, allowing a single in the second inning and no other hits until Ben Revere led off the seventh with a single. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom half after allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. "It was his best outing of the season, especially those last two innings," Gibson said. Cloyd was just as good. The right-hander pitched six games for the Phillies in 2012, going 2-2, and opened this season in the minors. He was called up to start against the Diamondbacks after Roy Halladay went out with a shoulder injury. Making his season debut in one of baseballs most hitter-friendly parks didnt seem to bother the 25-year-old. In the first inning, Eric Chavez lined a double to the right field corner off him and Paul Goldschmidt just beat John Mayberrys throw after running through -- almost literally -- third base coach Matt Williams stop sign. Cloyd had the Diamondbacks guessing after that, working around a pair of walks in the fourth inning with a double play and allowing no hits until Cody Ross hit a one-out flare single to left in the seventh. He was lifted after that, but didnt figure into the decision because Ross tagged up on Jason Kubels long flyball to get into scoring position and scored on Prados run-scoring single off Antonio Bastardo. Cloyd allowed two hits and struck out four, but is headed back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Right-hander Justin De Fratus will be called up to take his spot on the roster. "They told me no matter what happened tonight, they were going to end up sending me down," Cloyd said. "I have to go down there and keep going, keep myself in a position to come back up and help them out again." Notes: Rollins leadoff homer gave the Phillies 14 straight solo shots. ... Phillies RHP Roy Halladay, whos out with a shoulder injury, thanked Philadelphias fans for their support before Fridays game and apologized to the ones who were angry that he pitched while hurt. "I just want the fans to know Im thinking about them," he said. "I dont take that for granted. I dont take playing for Philadelphia for granted." ... Arizona right-hander Trevor Cahill, who will start against the Phillies on Saturday, has allowed four runs in 20 innings (1.80) his last three starts. ... Left-hander Cliff Lee will start for the Phillies after allowing two runs in eight innings against the Giants his last start. Custom Nike Philadelphia Phillies Jerseys . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Custom Nike Seattle Mariners Jerseys . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. https://www.customjerseysnikebaseball.com/custom-nike-st-louis-cardinals-jerseys/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Custom Nike New York Mets Jerseys .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. Custom Nike Boston Red Sox Jerseys .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. OAKLAND, Calif. -- Steve Kerr fully expects plenty of growing pains for the Golden State Warriors as Kevin Durant finds his way on a new-look, superstar roster.He is guarding against any big predictions about his All-Star group led by two-time reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry and Durant and a supporting cast featuring All-Stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson alongside new center Zaza Pachulia.Yes, theyre loaded .And there are familiar faces from the Warriors who won an NBA-record 73 games last season -- and then went out and added prized free agent Durant. Sure, this group should win 74, right?In the NBA you never know what you have until its there, Kerr said. You can think you know what youve got and obviously weve got great scoring on this team out on perimeter and three of the best shooters in the world. That bodes pretty well, but theres lots of other stuff that comes along in this game. ... Theres no guarantees in anything. Pieces have to fit. Were confident that it will work out well.By now, the Warriors are used to the spotlight. They got everybodys best last season.Theres no more pressure than there was last year, Curry said. Coming off trying to defend the regular season that we had, getting to Game 7 of the Finals, that was so much fun. Its what you live for. Its what you play for. This year were as confident as we were last year. But it will be a different journey.Here are some things to watch with the Warriors, who are still stung by their Finals loss and ready for more:KDS LEARNING CURVE: Everything is still new for Durant, and he hasnt been shy about sharing the challenges he faces joining a new franchise for the first time.Its going to take some time. I want things to happen so quick, thats just how I am, Durant said. Ive got to be patient with everything.That Nov. 3 date with Oklahoma City at Oracle Arena will be a big deal as much as Durant might try to downplay facing his former Thunder for the first time.Its different here. Its fun here. Its fun playing where I was before. That book is closed, he said. Im looking forward now. All Im focused on is how we prepare here every single day and how we have fun here every day. Its not a knock on Oklahoma City, its not a knock on my past teammates or organization. Im looking just forward, Im not looking backward.ddddddddddddADJUSTMENT FOR DRAYMOND: Kerr has spoken to Green about how his role could shift when he doesnt touch the ball as often on offense but is still counted upon to lead the defensive energy. He has been runner-up for NBA Defensive Player of the Year the past two seasons.Greens 13 triple-doubles last season were a single-season franchise record.In many ways he is the key to making this work because hes the key to our defense and all of a sudden hes going to be touching the ball a little bit less often, Kerr said. Thats just simple math because KD is going to get the ball a lot more than Harrison (Barnes) did. Steph and Draymond will probably have the ball in their hands a little bit less. Its good for our team but these guys are human.THE CURRY SHOWCurry led the NBA in scoring at 30.1 points last season, shattered his own record for 3-pointers with 402 and became the first unanimous MVP, then he dealt with a knee injury through the playoffs. He is healthy and eager to be even better.We can get a little bit more creative with how we go about things with the half-court with the options we have, Curry said. Its going to be fun.Kerr knows its his job to make sure it all works.He has spent the preseason getting a feel for the various lineups -- I think Steph probably knows hes not hitting 400 3s this year, Kerr quipped.HEALTHY KERRKerr was sidelined for the first 43 games last season while dealing with complications following two back surgeries and missed his teams record 24-0 start, with Golden State going 39-4 without him.Kerr and general manager Bob Myers believe all will be fine going forward with the third-year coachs health.BROWNS ASSISTNew top assistant Mike Brown , who replaced first-year Lakers head coach Luke Walton, presented Kerr with a substitution pattern the Warriors are trying.The idea calls for two starters to stay on the court at all times, barring foul trouble or matchups altering the plan.Its going to be a fun process, guard Andre Iguodala said. Thats what Im looking forward to the most. The finished product is always cool, but the process of getting there is actually the fun part. ' ' '