Herzlich Wilkommen » of you, and then Gomez comes through

STANFORD, Calif. -- Tangible evidence of a job well done. Its a phrase Stanford coach David Shaw often preaches to motivate his players, referring to what they can show theyve accomplished -- not what others might say they have or havent. At the end of another grueling regular season, Shaw and his team has plenty of proof of success. Now they hope for even more. Wayne Lyons intercepted two passes by Tommy Rees late in the fourth quarter, and No. 8 Stanford held off No. 25 Notre Dame 27-20 on Saturday night in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Cardinal (10-2) captured the Legends Trophy -- the kind of evidence Shaw covets -- given to the winner of the series. And theyll get a chance for an even bigger piece of hardware when they visit No. 13 Arizona State in the Pac-12 championship game next. "The first team meeting on Monday I showed them a picture of the trophy," Shaw said. "The freshmen hadnt seen it. It was here for three years, and it was gone. I wanted to make sure they looked at it. We talk about it, people can jump on and off our bandwagon, tell us they love us and tell us they hate us, but when theres a trophy on the line, all you do is point to the trophy. Theres no defence, theres nothing we can say or they can say about us. You win a game and you get a trophy." Stanford will go for its second straight Pac-12 title trophy and Rose Bowl berth at Arizona State on Saturday. The Sun Devils, whose only league loss came at Stanford, secured home-field advantage for the championship game after beating rival Arizona 58-21 late Saturday night. Stanfords final tuneup for the title game turned out to be a tough test. The Cardinal overcame two interceptions by Kevin Hogan and a penalty that wiped away another touchdown to win their 16th consecutive home game. Tyler Gaffney ran for 189 yards and a touchdown to cap his sensational Senior Day, and Hogan threw for 158 yards and TD pass to Devon Cajuste to help the Cardinal take a 21-6 lead in the third quarter. Rees nearly rallied the Fighting Irish (8-4) by throwing two touchdown passes later in the quarter. But interceptions on Notre Dames final two drives dashed the comeback. "We took it to them and we were fortunate to come out on top," Gaffney said. Along with injuries to both lines, the back end of Notre Dame defence also played short-handed. Safeties Elijah Shumate and Eilar Hardy did not travel to Stanford due to a violation of team rules, and the Cardinal took advantage. Gaffney plowed through the Irish line from a yard out to give the Cardinal a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. The bunched formation was similar to the one Notre Dame stopped Stepfan Taylor on last year to win in overtime, a stinging loss that the Cardinal regrouped from to roll off eight straight victories, including the Pac-12 title and the Rose Bowl. Backup Anthony Wilkerson capped the opening drive of the second half in similar fashion. He ran for a 20-yard TD run on third-and-9 to put Stanford ahead 21-6. Notre Dame drove deep in Cardinal territory on its first and final drives of the first half before settling for field goals each time. With Stanford seemingly ready to turn the game into a rout, Rees threw touchdown passes to TJ Jones and DaVaris Daniels late in the third quarter before missing his targets late. "Not good enough obviously. Proud of the guys and my teammates and how we fought all year but you dont come to Notre Dame to go 8-4, and everyone understands that," Rees said. "You have to be better." The Cardinal will likely have to be better against the Sun Devils if they want to keep the Pac-12 title trophy another year. Stanford had no problem sustaining drives but struggled to finish them with touchdowns in the second half, twice settling for field goals. On one of them, a holding penalty on right guard Kevin Danser -- only the second one by a Stanford offensive lineman all season -- erased a touchdown rushing for Gaffney. Bennett Jackson and Austin Collinsworth each intercepted a pass by Hogan, and officials also called a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Alex Carter -- originally ruled targeting, which would be an automatic ejection, before it was overturned on a video review -- that led to a Notre Dame touchdown. Just as it has so many times over the past two seasons, the Cardinal defence still bailed out the offence in the end. Lyons intercepted an underthrown pass by Rees, the 36th straight game the Cardinal have forced a turnover. And after the Irish stopped Stanford three-and-out, Lyons leaped high to intercept another pass by Rees on Stanfords 30 with 2:24 left. "I was in the right place at the right time," Lyons said after his first multiple-interception game at any level. Rees finished 16-for-34 passing for 199 yards. He passed Jimmy Clausen (60) for second on Notre Dames career list with 61 touchdown passes, behind only Brady Quinn (95). After losing to Alabama in the championship game, the Irish will have to wait to find out what lower-tier bowl theyll land. "Its not where we want to be, 8-4 is not where we want to be," Irish coach Brian Kelly said. "We come to Notre Dame to win football games." Ray Ban Sunglasses Sale Cheap .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday. Wholesale Ray Ban Sunglasses . And, just for good measure, lets say the lottery team finishes the game short-handed because two starters come down with the very same injury. http://www.cheapraybansale.com/. Hes even holding a bat on one of his 2014 baseball cards. So far, hes playing like his picture. Wholesale Ray Bans Real . - The New York Rangers have momentum, a unified locker room and Henrik Lundqvist. Cheap Ray Ban Sunglasses Online . Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., had 18 aces in the match. He needed one hour 39 minutes to complete the victory. MINNEAPOLIS -- With a bunch of big guys who swing even bigger, these Milwaukee Brewers always have the strength to quickly climb back in the game. They sure powered their way past this latest deficit. Carlos Gomez hit a three-run homer against his former team to spark the comeback for the Brewers in an 8-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday. "If we swing the bat like that, were going to really do well," manager Ron Roenicke said. Khris Davis hit a two-run homer off Kevin Correia (2-7) for the lead in the sixth inning to pull Brewers starter Wily Peralta (5-5) out the an early hole created by Oswaldo Arcias grand slam. Jonathan Lucroy tacked on a two-run shot in the ninth, and Francisco Rodriguez finished up for his 18th save in 20 attempts. Thats been a functional formula for the Brewers, whove been in first place in the NL Central since April 5. "Theyve got a lot of guys who can hurt you, and you have to be careful," Correia said. "Obviously you make one pitch at the wrong time, its three runs. Thats happened to us twice in the last two nights." Arcia gave the Twins a 4-0 lead in the third inning, but the young slugger left the game after spraining his right ankle while being picked off second base in the sixth. Peralta was in trouble every other inning, but Arcia was the only one who actually made him pay for it -- and in a big way. After two walks sandwiched around a single, all with two outs, Brewers pitching coach Rick Kranitz visited the mount for a talk with Peralta. Then, the burly 23-year-old Arcia clobbered a 2-2 slider onto the open concourse behind the right field seats, the first grand slam of the season by the Twins. Arcia responded to his curtain call, emerging from the dugout, flipping his helmet off to reveal his intimidating faux-hawk haircut and thrusting both arms in the air to acknowledge the crowd. Peralta (5-5) finished five innings, giving up five hits and three walks while striking out four. He was 0-4 in his previous five starts despite a couuple of strong performances.dddddddddddd Naturally, as he matched his shortest turn this season he picked up the win. "He works really hard on every single batter, and you cant keep doing that," Roenicke said. Gomez gave him a boost in the second inning with a sprinting, leaping grab of Trevor Plouffes drive to right-centre field. Gomez crashed against the wall, crow-hopped away from it as he flashed his glove and chopped his arms below his chest in celebration. Then came the bigger play by Gomez, whose all-around potential showed in two seasons with the Twins but was too raw at the time for them to trust him. He tapped his helmet and pumped his arm at each base as he sprinted around the diamond following his three-run drive that brought the Brewers roaring back in the fourth. "Huge getting back in the game. The grand slam just takes that good feeling out of you, and then Gomez comes through," Roenicke said. Gomez batted cleanup for the 13th straight game, hitting .333 with two homers and 12 RBIs in that span. "Every time he walks to the plate hes in scoring position," Davis said. Coincidentally, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire praised in his news briefing before the game the flair that Arcia and Gomez carry, which can irk some players. "I think thats part of the game, man. Youre supposed to have fun," Gardenhire said. Correia hasnt had much fun lately. He was the most reliable starter for the Twins last year, but he gave up a season-high 10 hits while striking out three. His ERA spiked to 6.11, putting his spot in the rotation in question. There was no question for Gardenhire, though. "Kevins one of our starters. Hes paid good money to do that," the manager said, "and hes still going to get paid no matter what." NOTES: Roenicke said Aramis Ramirez, used as the DH to ease him back in from the DL, will return to 3B on Friday. ... Arcia is batting .366 in his last 10 games. ... Gomez is batting .333 in 22 career games against the Twins, with six HRs and 16 RBIs. ' ' '