Is Soriano Cut Out for New York?

As embattled Yankee setup man Rafael Soriano dined with his best friend in baseball, Orioles reliever Mike Gonzalez, this past weekend, the conversation naturally turned to the difficulties Soriano was having adjusting to New York.

Gonzalez and Soriano pitched together in Atlanta, where they became close—the effusive, high-energy Gonzalez and the stone-faced, silent Soriano making an interesting pairing. But it worked. Gonzalez is the godfather to Soriano's year-old son, Raoul.

So when Soriano came under fire earlier this month for skipping out without talking to the media after he blew a lead, Gonzalez was among the first people the reliever called. The two of them tried to hash out how to handle the situation.

"We definitely talked about that....He wasn't used to that kind of thing. He was in Seattle and then played with me in Atlanta. You've got two or three reporters in Atlanta, at most," Gonzalez said.

"He felt bad about the situation. He definitely regretted not talking to the press. They can either be your friends or your enemies. I'm sure he's not going to do that again," Gonzalez said.

This past weekend, Soriano told his friend he felt better about the move, that New York was a good place to sign. But his troubles on the field continue, and it's not clear how right the 31-year-old reliever is for the cauldron that is Yankee Stadium.

He's trying, at least. After Soriano blew another lead Tuesday night, he stood at his locker and gamely answered questions about his struggles. He has given up nine runs so far this season, after allowing 12 all of last year. But the reliever said the New York environment is not the issue.

"No, no, I feel fine, I feel comfortable with the team and everything," Soriano said.

"I just had a bad day…a bad month."

Still, it's hard not to wonder. Someone like Nick Swisher seems built for New York—seeing the attention and scrutiny as an opportunity to be exploited. Soriano seems the exact opposite. He is dour, quiet and spent much of spring training with his headphones on, talking to few of his teammates. When he gives up a run on the mound, he seems dejected and emotional.

Manager Joe Girardi acknowledged that Soriano isn't exactly the prototypical New York player. But Soriano has thrived in pressure in-game situations before, and that counts for something, Girardi said.

"People sometimes look at people's demeanor and it's not exactly how they would want a guy to act. But that's just who he is. And he's been really effective pitching how he is," Girardi said. "It's a different animal here. But I haven't seen anything to tell me he can't handle it.

The Yankees have a lot invested in Soriano's success. Ownership gave the former Atlanta and Tampa Bay closer $35 million over three years to be the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera.

Gonzalez said that his friend has recognized he needs to adapt to New York and understands that if he is inflexible, he will be eaten alive. To adjust, Gonzalez said Soriano has tried to emulate Rivera—another naturally quiet man who has learned how to maintain his personality in New York. But Soriano's lack of confidence in speaking English has made him gun-shy, Gonzalez said—and Soriano doesn't like using translators.

"He's just very quiet. That's his personality," Gonzalez said. "He doesn't like being in the media. He doesn't like being in the news. He likes to go out, get his inning in and be done. But it's obviously an adjustment he has to make. Going to New York, he knew that was going to happen. He's going to make strides. He's that person, where he [made a mistake] once, he learned from it, and he's going to go on from there."

Soriano is just the latest in a long line of players who needed to adapt to life in Yankeeland. Alex Rodriguez went through one of the most famously difficult adjustments of all, and said that Soriano will figure it out.

"Sori's gonna be fine. NY is a challenging place, but he's a talented guy," Rodriguez said.

It was then suggested that the two have gone through similar situations. Not quite, responded Rodriguez, whose adjustment to New York continues even today.

"I don't think so. Nothing similar. Let's not get crazy," he said.

NHL fines Ference $2,500 for obscene gesture

Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference is content with being fined $2,500 by the NHL on Friday for an obscene gesture toward Montreal fans that he says was unintentional.

Ference raised the middle finger of his left glove after his goal cut the Canadiens' lead to 3-2 midway through the second period Thursday night. The Bruins won 5-4 in overtime to even the series at 2. Game 5 is in Boston on Saturday night.

"I was pumping my fist," Ference said Friday. "I'm not giving anybody the bird or anything like that. (It was) an unintentional bird that I obviously apologized for. It wasn't meant to insult anybody, especially a whole row of cameras in the Bell Centre and the fans sitting there."

Boston coach Claude Julien stood by him.

"His comments were pretty clear," Julien said. "My job is to support and believe your player and that's what I'm going to do. And I think he's a big boy. He's capable of handling himself and he's giving money to charity."

Montreal goalie Carey Price was more skeptical about Ference's explanation.

"Come on, man," he said. "I'm sure he feels shame. ... It's over now. I'm over it."

And, Price said, "It's pretty funny. I have some stuff out there that I'm not very proud of either."

Ference spoke Friday morning with Mike Murphy, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations. League disciplinarian Colin Campbell didn't handle the case because his son, Gregory, plays for the Bruins. The fine is the maximum allowed under NHL rules for such a gesture.

"A fine is acceptable," Ference said. "I had a good talk with him this morning."

His gesture, he said, "was definitely not intentional. It was not something where I was trying to inflame anybody or do anything rude so, of course, I'm happy that there's no suspension."

With Game 5 coming up, Montreal coach Jacques Martin had more pressing concerns.

"I have enough to worry about," he said. "I think that's the league's business. My time, my responsibility is to get our team ready for (Saturday) night."

Sharks beat Los Angeles Kings to take 3-1 series lead

Looking for the first time this series like the team with the NHL's best record over the final three months of the season, the Sharks skated to a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night to move within one victory of advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Led by Ryane Clowe's two goals and single tallies from Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Torrey Mitchell and Jason Demers, San Jose headed home after sweeping two games at Staples Center to take a commanding 3-1 series lead with Game 5 set for Saturday night at HP Pavilion.
And goalie Antti Niemi repaid coach Todd McLellan's vote of confidence after a poor outing two nights earlier by stopping 35 of 38 shots.
"He's recovered well from poor games in the past, and we really believe in this guy," McLellan said before the game in explaining his reason to stick with Niemi as the starting goalie. "It's pretty simple."
The first period was scoreless, but the Sharks jumped on Los Angeles for three consecutive goals over a span of 5:30 in the second. And at that point the Kings decided that they, too, could come back from a significant deficit, though their effort fell short.
The Sharks took a 1-0 lead at 3:58 when Dustin Brown whiffed on a pass from behind the Sharks' goal line, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scooped up the puck and headed down the ice. Clowe eventually sent a centering pass from
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below the right faceoff circle, and the puck went into the net off the stick of Los Angeles defenseman Alec Martinez.

Seventy-four seconds later the Sharks led 2-0 when Martinez blocked a shot by Logan Couture, who slid it to Demers as he pinched down the left side and beat Jonathan Quick with a 10-foot wrist shot.
The Kings looked as if they might kill off a four-minute penalty to defenseman Matt Greene for high-sticking Scott Nichol, but Clowe got his second goal of the night at 9:28 when his stick touched Couture's shot from the slot that trickled through Quick toward the goal line.
At that point Kings coach Terry Murray called a timeout and whatever he said seemed to work as 1:32 later Ryan Smyth fired a shot from the left sideboards that Niemi got his glove on. The puck rolled across the goal mouth, however, and Brad Richardson was able to poke it into the net before Niemi could block the short side.
Los Angeles narrowed the gap to 3-2 at 16:04, and this time it was a Sharks defenseman putting the puck in his own net as Vlasic tried to keep a centering pass from Justin Williams from reaching Smyth.
But any hopes the Kings had of catching the Sharks as they were caught two nights before were dealt a serious blow when San Jose scored twice early in the third period.
The first came when Thornton somehow cruised into the slot undetected during a line change and converted a pass from Patrick Marleau at 2:28 to give the Sharks a 4-2 lead.
And 54 seconds later, Dan Boyle sent the puck from the right point to Pavelski in the high slot, and he redirected it past Quick to restore San Jose's original three-goal lead that grew to four when a shot from the point deflected to Mitchell at the right of the crease and he scooped it into net at 11:42.
Alexei Ponikarovsky's deflection of a shot by Kings defenseman Jack Johnson ended the scoring at 13:11.
The Sharks didn't make things easy on themselves, however, taking a pair of penalties to Dany Heatley and Boyle late in the game that gave the Kings a five-on-three advantage for almost two of the last three minutes.