MILWAUKEE -- Buster Posey is understated in almost everything he does, from on-field celebrations to postgame interviews. There was no way, however, to minimize his mammoth two-run homer after a 6-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Told that his sixth-inning home run, which bounced off the bottom of the center field scoreboard, was estimated to have traveled 438 feet, Posey grimaced, then flashed a wry smile.
"I think it was a little further than that," he said.
Regardless of the official distance, there was no downplaying the significance of Posey's homer and his overall performance. A day after his three-run homer got the ball rolling in a 4-3 victory, Posey drove in three more runs to help the Giants overcome a rare rough outing by Matt Cain.
Cain gave up four earned runs and a career-high seven extra-base hits, but the Giants gave him six runs of support in the first six innings. Cain also gave up four earned runs in his last start and won that one, too.
After years of hard luck, is the pendulum finally swinging his way?
"Hey, that's fine with me," Cain said. "Let's keep it going. I'm not happy with some of the runs I gave up, but you've got to win these games."
Posey did the heavy lifting, doing enough damage that manager Bruce Bochy is faced with a tough decision. The Giants exercise caution when they can with their franchise catcher, and Bochy had planned to give Posey a breather in Wednesday's series
finale before sending him out for all four games against the Miami Marlins.After Posey's six RBIs in two games -- both of them wins -- at Miller Park this week, Bochy was preparing for a plea from Posey in the morning.
"He likes this park," Bochy said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he comes in and tries to talk his way into the lineup."
That Posey, nearly a year removed from a devastating ankle injury, can even consider the possibility of strapping on the gear for a day game after two long night games is another victory for the Giants.
"The ankle is not a factor," Bochy said. "I was a little concerned today that it would be a little cranky, and it wasn't at all."
Posey, as always, downplayed the progress he has made.
"I have to be smart, too," he said. "We'll see how everything feels in the morning. I'm seeing the ball well here. But there's no real scientific explanation."
Cain had a simple one for the Giants' success Tuesday.
"When (Posey) is swinging the bat right and we get guys in scoring position in front of him, that's a good feeling for us," he said.
Nobody was feeling better afterward than Joaquin Arias, who tacked on two additional runs against Brewers starter Shaun Marcum. Arias' two-run shot in the fourth inning was the first of his career, which began with a brief stint with the Texas Rangers in 2006. With Pablo Sandoval (fractured left hamate) still on the disabled list, Arias has filled in admirably at third base.
"Oh, man -- he's really saved us," Bochy said. "With Pablo down, we needed help at third. He's been swinging the bat well lately."
With the home run ball displayed proudly in his locker, Arias said the moment was everything he thought it would be.
"I always dreamed of hitting a homer in the big leagues," he said through a translator. "It was a big moment in the game, too."
There were plenty of those for the Giants, who won for the eighth time in 11 games. After Posey's RBI double and Angel Pagan's sacrifice fly got the Giants on the board in the top of the first inning, the Brewers got a leadoff triple from Norichika Aoki in the bottom of the frame.
The speedy outfielder tagged on Nyjer Morgan's fly ball to left field, but Melky Cabrera threw a perfect strike to the plate to nail Aoki.
"That was ridiculous," Cain said. "In my mind, I'm thinking that's one run (given up), and we'll get it back. But he comes up firing.
"That changed the momentum. It definitely did for me."
Cain never quite got rolling, but the Giants offense did. In two games at Miller Park they have four homers.
"A park like this can really get our confidence going," Bochy said.
"The goal was to get out there and not be so results-oriented and just have good at-bats," Huff said. "I felt I did that. I feel great. I felt like I could do some damage today, which is the first time I've felt that in a long time."
Huff's last start came April 21 in New York. Two days later, he left the team to deal with an episode of anxiety, which eventually landed him on the disabled list.
Bochy said he considered removing Burriss but didn't want to punish Cain by leaving the Giants short in the infield.
"He's better than that," Bochy said of Burriss. "There's no excuse for that. He's got to be smarter than that."
For more on the Giants, see Alex Pavlovic's Giants Extra blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/Giants. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/AlexPavlovic.
Serious sexual assault in Selby (From York Press) - The Press in York
Serious sexual assault in Selby
6:08pm Tuesday 22nd May 2012 in News By Dan Bean, Selby reporter
A YOUTH has been arrested after a girl was subjected to a serious sexual assault in Selby.
Police and PCSOs guarded a property in the Flaxley Road area of the town throughout the day today, as investigations into the attack took place.
A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: "Police in Selby are investigating an allegation of a serious sexual assault against a teenage girl which was reported on Monday, May 21.
“A local youth has been arrested in connection with the incident and currently remains in police custody. We are not in a position to give any further details at the moment.”
A worker at nearby Mustang Sally’s, who did not wish to be named, said: “We had one customer who came in and said a house got raided this morning, but we didn’t hear anything about it. I got told at about 11am, but I’ve seen police vans outisde and a lot going on all day.”
The police spokesman said Monday’s incident was in no way related to an attempted assault on another Selby teeneager in the Abbot’s Road area of the town on May 1, when an 18-year-old local girl struggled with an attacker who tried to obscure her vision before escaping.
A 17-year-old male was arrested in Scarborough on May 3 in connection with that incident. He was later charged with one count of false imprisonment and has been remanded in custody before his next appearance before magistrates in York.
Anyone with information about either attack has been urged to contact Selby police on 101, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
Facebook share drop: more than meets the eye - computing.co.uk
It has been widely reported that, at market close yesterday, Facebook's value had dipped by over 10 per cent of its asking price, drawing criticism from lead underwriter Morgan Stanley.
Such is the market-distorting value ascribed to this stock that a day's poor trading creates ripples in the market. When set against IBM's 100 years of history, for example, such moments are absurd.
Further reading
Of greater interest, however, is the fact that Morgan Stanley reduced its forecasts shortly before IPO.
The underwriter's reevaluation came towards the end of Facebook's IPO roadshow, when the company itself admitted concerns about future profitability in the face of users' shift to mobile - a platform Facebook will find difficulty in monetising in terms of advertising revenue.
It seems extraordinary that such a caveat should be added to a company's prospectus mid-roadshow - an event with few, if any, precedents in tech stock flotations - when the social network's mobile business model must have been discussed for years.
Computing saw the writing on the wall in its trio of analyses last week. These reasoned that the chasm between the company's market value and annual profitability would begin to deter mature investors, while Facebook's stated intention to focus on mobile seemed a plan lacking in substance, given the severe challenges in its desktop advertising model.
So the question remains: how aware was Facebook of deep-rooted problems when it went ahead with its stratospheric IPO - a launch for which it had built a financial cliff via a raft of last-minute announcements?
With a valuation that rests, logically, on the platform's potential for future development rather than its success to date, many analysts agree that Facebook is going to have pull something major out of the hat.
It has the money to make acquisitions, of course, but what it really needs is a coherent strategic roadmap to turn its (soon to be) one billion users into more than a few pennies apiece in annual revenues.
As a mature business, this bellwether stock (in terms of its cultural import and popularity, at least) needs to map out a long-term vision and take both users and investors on a journey towards that vision, to prevent its share value from spiralling to the ground.
Were Facebook to burst a bubble of its own making, the knock-on effects on the tech sector could be severe. If that happens, then it will have only itself to blame, along with some institutional backers that should know better than to pursue an all-too-visible high-risk strategy.
Additional reporting Peter Gothard
Defoe wants regular first-team action - Football
Published: 22 May 2012 - 16:47:11
Jermain Defoe does not want to leave Tottenham, but the England striker admits he has to start playing regular football again.
The 29-year-old netted 11 goals for Spurs in 23 appearances last season, which was enough to earn himself a call up into Roy Hodgson's Euro 2012 squad. Nevertheless, Defoe has slipped down the pecking order at White Hart Lane, with on-loan Emmanuel Adebayor deployed as a lone frontman supported by Rafael van der Vaart.
"It is a difficult one. I have never said I want to leave the club, all I have just said is I want to play," Defoe told talkSPORT:
"As a forward you just want to get some sort of rhythm and a run in the team. That wasn't the case towards the end of the season. I am going to concentrate on England and go to the Euros, then see what happens. The most important thing for me is scoring goals and that is when I am at my happiest."
Spurs finished fourth in the Barclays Premier League, having eventually been overhauled by rivals Arsenal. However, after Chelsea won the Champions League in dramatic fashion in Munich on Saturday night, it meant Harry Redknapp's men will now head into the Europa League instead.
"The main aim of the season was to finish in the top four, and we have done that. What happened with Chelsea was out of our hands and was just unfortunate," said Defoe, who is in his second spell at Spurs having been signed by Redknapp at Portsmouth in 2008. "There have been lots of ups and downs, but we all stuck together and still performed."
The loss of Champions League football for another campaign has again cast doubt over the future of some of Spurs' key men.
Wales winger Gareth Bale is said to be on the wanted list of a string of top European clubs, while Croatia playmaker Luka Modric has previously been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea, with Manchester United also potential suitors for the 26-year-old.
Defoe believes the White Hart Lane hierarchy must look to take the squad forwards with the current group.
He added: "In football you never know what is going to happen, but it is always important to keep hold of your top players. Some players like Luka Modric and Gareth Bale are players you cannot replace, so it is important to keep them."
Related Tottenham Hotspur News
PSGs Qatari owners eye new Parc des Princes - Football
Published: 22 May 2012 - 18:17:04
Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi on Tuesday said he would like to knock down the historic Parc des Princes to build a new 60,000-seater stadium in its place.
"There's an atmosphere at the Parc des Princes that I've never seen anywhere else," PSG's Qatari owner told AFP in an interview. "It's PSG's home, its heart and it's history.
"Of course, we have big plans. We want a bigger stadium. We dream of having a stadium with 60,000 seats here on the same site. It's our first option. If it's not possible, we want to renovate it to have 50,000 seats. There are other options.
"It's easy to get 60,000 seats. You've got to knock down the stadium. To have 50,000, it's just renovation. Paris is the capital. The city deserves a bigger stadium.
"Attendances have increased a lot this season and they'll increase even more next season in the Champions League."
PSG, who were bought last year by a consortium headed by Al-Khelaifi, narrowly lost out to Montpellier for the Ligue 1 title this year, with the race for top spot going down to the last match of the season on Sunday.
The cash-rich Qataris had set out plans for the French giants to challenge for the Ligue 1 title after they finished fourth in France the previous season, missing out on Champions League but securing a place in the Europa League.
Al-Khelaifi refused to rule out a move for PSG to the Stade de France in Paris' northern suburbs, which was built for the 1998 World Cup that France won and replaced the Parc des Princes as the venue for the national rugby union and football team.
"We're talking with everybody," he said. "(PSG director-general) Jean-Claude Blanc is in charge of the issue. He'll make an announcement as soon as a decision has been taken."
The current Parc des Princes, situated in southwest Paris on the edge of the leafy Bois de Boulogne, has a capacity of just under 49,000 and has been home to PSG since 1973.
Its history as a sporting venue dates back to the late 1800s and previous stadia on the site included a velodrome that was the original finish of the Tour de France cycling race.

Related Paris SG News
Sobiech earns Poland victory against Latvia - UEFA
Co-hosts Poland continued their preparations for UEFA EURO 2012 with a 1-0 friendly victory against Latvia.
With just over two weeks until his team kick off next month's final tournament against Greece, Franciszek Smuda, who still has to cut three players from his squad, fielded a mixture of first-choice and reserve figures against Latvia. Key men such as Robert Lewandowski and Wojciech Szczęsny, who only arrived at the team's Lienz training camp on Tuesday, were not included, but Poland still prevailed thanks to Artur Sobiech's goal eight minutes from time.
It could have been different for Latvia after just seven minutes, though, when KKS Lech Poznań's Artjoms Rudņevs, top scorer in last season's Polish First Division, was denied by Łukasz Fabiański's splendid stop. Smuda's side attempted to mount a swift response, but Adrian Mierzejewski's shot produced only a corner.
Rafał Wolski went a little closer midway through the first half, but Fabiański, a peripheral figure behind Szczęsny at Arsenal FC this term, showed his quality remains intact with a series of solid saves. His hard work was nearly rewarded at the other end but Marcin Wasilewski's header struck a post.
Though Poland increased the tempo after the interval, they were struggling to carve open the Latvian defence, Adam Matuszczyk's 68th-minute shot one of only a handful of noteworthy openings. That all changed on 82 minutes, however, when Sobiech headed in Kamil Grosicki's delivery to secure the victory.
Next up for Poland are further friendlies against Slovakia on Saturday and Andorra on 2 June, before they open UEFA EURO 2012 against Greece in Warsaw on 8 June.
FeedDemon 4.1 - v3.co.uk
FeedDemon is a powerful and well-regarded RSS reader that was recently acquired by Newsgator, the leader in RSS management.
This means that it can now operate as a standalone RSS reader or as part of the Newsgator suite, allowing it to synchronise with the free online service and the many other products offered by Newsgator.
As a standalone product, it is hard to beat: a clean, uncluttered interface and simplicity ensure that any level of user will have no trouble operating it.
As part of the Newsgator service it is indispensable. With FeedDemon on your desktop, the free online reader and the other services such as the mobile reader, Outlook plug-in and podcast manager, you'll never be too far from the information that you want.
There's little that can be customised by the user, but there's no need. You can, however, select from a number of different layouts to suit your preference.
The new v4.x now supports Google Reader sync support so you can keep your RSS news feeds synchronised between different copies of FeedDemon.









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