Chatecke » Safarova was playing

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees were hit with a $28 million luxury tax bill, pushing their total past the $250 million mark since the penalty began in 2003. According to Major League Baseball calculations sent to teams Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers were the only other team that exceeded the tax threshold this year and must pay $11.4 million. Boston finished just under for the second straight year, coming in $225,666 shy of the $178 million mark. Figures include average annual values of contracts for players on 40-man rosters, earned bonuses and escalators, adjustments for cash in trades and $10.8 million per team in benefits. Because the Yankees have been over the tax threshold at least four consecutive times, they pay at a 50 per cent rate on the overage, and their $28,113,945 bill was second only to their $34.1 million payment following the 2005 season. The Yankees are responsible for $252.7 million of the $285.1 million in tax paid by all clubs over the past 11 years. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said he hopes to get under the threshold next year, when it rises to $189 million. That would reset the teams tax rate to 17.5 per cent for 2015 and get the Yankees some revenue-sharing refunds. But following agreements Tuesday on a $2 million, one-year deal with second baseman Brian Roberts and a $7 million, two-year contract with left-hander Matt Thornton, the Yankees are at $177.7 million for 15 players next year, when benefits are likely to total between $11 million and $12 million. Their only hope to get below the threshold appears to be if an arbitrator upholds most of Alex Rodriguezs 211-game suspension, relieving the team of a large percentage of the third basemans $25 million salary. Tax money is used to fund player benefits and MLBs Industry Growth Fund. The Yankees finished with the highest regular payroll for the 15th consecutive year, winding up at a record $237,018,889. The Dodgers, in their first full season under new ownership, were just $146,647 behind after nearly doubling spending from $129.1 million. Regular payrolls include salaries, earned bonuses and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses. Los Angeles had a higher payroll for the tax: $243 million to New Yorks $234 million. But because the Dodgers didnt exceed the threshold in 2012, they pay at a 17.5 per cent rate and owe $11,415,959. They would pay at a 30 per cent rate if they exceed the threshold next year. Checks to the commissioners office are due by Jan. 21. Houston, which lost more than 100 games for the third straight season, had a payroll less than one-eighth that of the Yankees and Dodgers. The Astros finished at $29.3 million, the lowest total in the major leagues since the 2008 Florida Marlins and just $1.3 million more than Rodriguez made with the Yankees. After trading many of their stars following an unsuccessful first season in their new downtown ballpark, the Marlins lowered their payroll to $42.3 million from $89.9 million in 2012. Minnesota dropped from $101 million to $76 million. Toronto boosted spending from $92 million to nearly $126 million. The average salary increased 6.9 per cent, to $3,320,089 from $3,105,093, according to MLBs calculations, the steepest rise since 2006. The players association has not yet released its final figures for this year. Nike Air Max 95 Schweiz . With the results, North America claimed 2.5 of the three available points, opening up a 17.5-12.5 lead in the overall standings. A total of 60 points are available, meaning the first team to 30.5 points will win the Continental Cup. Nike Air Max 97 Günstig Kaufen . -- Oakland Athletics starting pitchers Jarrod Parker and A. https://www.schuheshopschweiz.ch/kaufen-...ellen-d166.html. I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game. Schuhe Kaufen Schweiz . - Urijah (The California Kid) Faber finds himself in an unaccustomed position Saturday night at UFC 175 — on the preliminary card. Schuhe Fake Kaufen . INJURIES - Cardinals 1B Matt Adams has been put on the DL with calf tightness, resulting in some lineup shifting, with Allen Craig moving from right field to first base, so that the Cardinals could bring up top prospect Oscar Taveras, who was the No.LONDON -- Petra Kvitova beat fellow Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-1 on Thursday to advance to the Wimbledon final and a chance to win her second title at the All England Club. Kvitova, the only player born in the 1990s to have won a major title -- here in 2011 -- improved her record to 25-5 on the Wimbledon grass and shes made at least the quarter-finals five years in a row. "I know how (it feels) when you hold the trophy so I really want to win my second title here and I will do everything I can," Kvitova said. She will play the winner of the later semifinal between French Open finalist and No. 3-seeded Simona Halep of Romania and Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., the 13th-seeded player and only woman to have advanced to all three Grand Slam semifinals this year. It was the first Grand Slam semifinal between two Czech women. It marked No. 6-seeded Kvitovas 15th consecutive win against a left-hander and she beat 23rd-seeded Safarova -- who was playing on Centre Court for the first time -- for the sixth match in a row. "I dont have words to describe my feeling right now," Kvitova said. "It was a tough match mentally, as well, because Lucie is a good friend of mine. We know each (other) very well off the court and on the court, as well." Safarova, the oldest of the four semifinalists at 27, was broken in the first game, the final two points of the game coming with two Kvitova forehand winners to an open corner. But Safarova, who had only four unforced errors in the first set and seven for the match, broke back in the fourth game, and the two stayed on serve until the tiebreaker.dddddddddddd With the score tied at 6-6 in the tiebreaker, Safarovas forehand error into the net gave Kvitova her second set point, and Kvitova converted it with a running cross-court winner, pumping her fist and yelling out. Kvitova broke Safarova, who beat five-time champion Venus Williams in the third round, in the second game of the second set on her third break-point chance, then consolidated it after two deuces in the next game to go up 3-0. She went ahead 4-1 after saving a break point in the fifth game, broke again in the sixth game and then held her serve at love in the final game. She set up match point with an ace and clinched it on a cross-court backhand in 1 hour, 20 minutes. Kvitova saved her best for last: up to 6-all in the tiebreaker, Safarova had won more total points, 40-39. From there, though, Kvitova won 31 of the last 48 points in the match. "I tried to be focused from the beginning of the second set when I won the tiebreak, and really I (broke) her when she was serving for the first time and I just kept it going," Kvitova said. Safarova was playing in her first major semifinal and had been 4-8 at Wimbledon in eight previous tournaments, never advancing beyond the third round. The men had the day off Thursday ahead of Fridays semifinals when seven-time champion Roger Federer plays Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and top-seeded Novak Djokovic plays Bulgarias Grigor Dimitrov. The winners will play Sunday in the final. ' ' '