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LOS ANGELES -- Dan Craig and his crew have been at Dodger Stadium from dusk to dawn every night for the past week, patiently building a sheet of NHL-quality ice in the middle of the iconic baseball field. Theyre just about ready to drop the puck in sunny Southern California. The ice is solid, the fans have bought nearly every ticket, and the two local teams are eager for their historic showdown under the lights and stars. Only a few tweaks remain before the Los Angeles Kings face the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday in the NHLs first official outdoor game in a warm-weather climate. "Its hard not to get excited about it now that its almost here," Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "It seems like everybody is talking about it." While the NHL raised plenty of eyebrows with the announcement of outdoor hockey in one of the nations hottest places, Craig has always been confident that this unorthodox game wouldnt turn into a swim meet. The NHLs ice specialist is working a vicious schedule this winter with preparations for six outdoor games, but hes most excited about the chance to do the improbable in Chavez Ravine. "This is the challenge that everybody who works with me wanted to try," Craig said. "The crew thats in New York (for two upcoming games at Yankee Stadium) doesnt want to be in New York. They want to be here." Even with daytime temperatures in the 80s and abnormal humidity in Los Angeles over the past week, Craig is quietly confident about the ice sheet created by his meticulous crew and the huge refrigeration unit in the 53-foot truck beyond centre field. They work at night, building and grooming more than 10,000 gallons of water into a 1 3/4-inch sheet that stays cool under a heat-reflecting blanket during the day. The ice is out of the suns reach by roughly 4 p.m. each day, and thats when Craigs crew goes to work. "We are very patient with what we do," Craig said. "Our guys arent getting a whole lot of sleep. I know I wont be getting a whole lot of sleep." Craig said he could have made NHL-quality ice just about anywhere in North America for several years now, but the league didnt expand its outdoor exploits to a warm-weather city until expanding its series of stadium games this winter. Glycol coolant is constantly circulated from the truck and below the rink, keeping the ice temperature around 22 degrees. The outdoor temperature is likely to be in the high 50s at game time on Saturday night, which would be plenty cold enough for Craigs purposes. "Its a hard concept for anybody thats not in the field to understand," Craig said. "Ive got two very efficient systems that were marrying together." Craig and Kings executive Luc Robitaille skated on the ice Wednesday, with Robitaille pronouncing it ready to go. The Kings and Ducks will hold separate practices at Dodger Stadium on Friday to get used to the rinks peculiarities. The boards, benches and glass were trucked into Dodger Stadium from the Winter Classic at Ann Arbors Michigan Stadium, although they wont need the heaters. The NHL is also embracing the unusual setting with a variety of amusements in the Dodger Stadium bowl -- everything from a beach volleyball court and a pond to two performance stages. The game will be the NHLs first outdoor venture west of Alberta, but its not the first attempt at Southwest outdoor hockey. Robitaille and the Kings played an exhibition against the New York Rangers in Las Vegas in 1991, and everything went fairly well -- except for the swarm of grasshoppers that jumped onto the ice. "These guys know what theyre doing, and the ice is going to be great," Robitaille said. "This is an incredible opportunity for these two teams to bring hockey to a new level in Southern California." Cody Ford Youth Jersey . - The Detroit Lions have placed tight end Brandon Pettigrew on injured reserve, ending his season. 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McCutchen hit his first home run in over a month, doubled twice and scored two runs to help the Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Sunday and take three of four from the defending NL West champions.TOKYO - Canadian star Justin Morneau hit a three-run homer and Chris Capuano pitched five strong innings Sunday as the MLB All-Stars beat Japan 6-1 for the first win of their five-game post-season tour.Morneau, the National League batting champion, drove a pitch from Japan starter Shintaro Fujinami over the wall in right to give his team a 4-1 lead in the third. It was the second homer of the series for Morneau, who also connected for a two-run homer in Game 2.The win provided welcome relief for an MLB team that was no-hit by four Japanese pitchers in a 4-0 loss on Saturday.After getting no-hit yesterday, wanted to come out swinging the bats and we did, said Morneau, a native of New Westminster, B.C. We wanted to come here and represent MLB well. Unfortunately, we didnt do that in the first three games but I think weve gotten better.Evan Longoria added to the lead with a solo homer off Japan reliever Minoru Iwata in the sixth.After losing the first three games of the series and scoring only four runs, the MLB bats came to life in the first inning. Yasiel Puig doubled on a line drive to left and scored on Morneaus double to right.The MLB All-Stars added a run in the eighth when Chris Carter scored from third on Eduardo Nunezs groundout to second.ddddddddddddJose Altuve singled to right off Fujinami and Puig doubled to left in the second to set the stage for Morneaus blast that gave the MLB team all the momentum they needed.The top third of our lineup did an outstanding job, MLB manager John Farrell said. I think eight out of our 10 hits came from Jose, Yasiel and Justin so that was a big part of our win.Capuano picked up the win after holding Japan to one run on four hits while striking out four. Fujinami gave up four runs on five hits over four innings to take the loss.We dropped the first three games but we have a lot of pride and wanted to bounce back tonight, Capuano said. The Japan hitters are very good so I was doing my best to keep them off balance and pitch smart.Japans only run came in the second inning when Nobuhiro Matsuda doubled off Capuano and scored on Yoshitomo Tsutsugos double to centre.Japanese pitching sensation Shohei Otani will take the mound in Game 5 before his home fans at Sapporo Dome. Matt Shoemaker will start for the MLB team. ' ' '