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ALEXGALLARDO—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The San Diego Padres' Wil Myers scores against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 25in San Diego. Myers landed the biggest raise of all the he y salary increases in arbitration. ByRonaldBlum TheAssociatedPress NEW YORK San Diego Padres first baseman Wil Myers landed the big- gest raise of all the hefty salary in- creases in arbitration. The 168 players eligible for arbi- tration as of mid-December aver- aged a 113 percent raise, according to a study by The Associated Press on Thursday. Myers received a 26-fold increase from $523,900 to an average of $13.8 million as part of an $83 million, six- year contract. St. Louis right-hander Carlos Mar- tinez was next with an 18-fold hike from $539,000 to an average of $10.2 million in a $51 million, five-year deal, followed by Atlanta outfielder Ender Inciarte with an 11-fold raise from $523,000 to an average of $6.1 million in his five-year deal worth $30,525,000. All three were eligible for the first time. Last year, players who filed for ar- bitration averaged a 96 percent in- crease. Under baseball's new labor con- tract, players no longer have to go through the formality of filing. The AP calculated its figures based on those eligible shortly after the Dec. 2 deadline for teams to offer 2017 con- tracts to unsigned players. The average salary of eligible play- ers this winter rose from $1.79 mil- lion to $3.82 million. Nine players received multiyear contracts, the fewest since nine among the players who filed for ar- bitration in 2004. Teams won eight of 15 decisions, the most hearings since clubs went 10-6 in 2004. An increasing number of teams refused to negotiate after the exchange of proposed arbitration salaries on Jan. 13. "In this brave new world of file and trial, we simply find more teams finding their way into the arbitration room, and that was never the goal or backdrop of the process," union head Tony Clark said. "It was the last ves- tige of opportunity to see if agree- ment can be found. If it can't be, let the independent arbitrators make that decision." Players with at least three but less than six years of major league service are eligible for arbitration. BASEBALL Playersget113percentaverageraise APstudyshowslotsof he y salary increases in arbitration this offseason By Janie McCauley The Associated Press OAKLAND Zaza Pachulia holds his own during competitive games of poker on the airplane alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson — they call it the "Good Guys Table." Andre Iguodala and JaVale McGee, one-time teammates with Den- ver reunited in Oakland, hold se- cret chats. "We're building an empire," Iguodala joked. "We've got se- cret stuff we can't talk about." Jonnie West — son of Hall of Famer and Warriors executive Jerry West — joins Curry, Pa- chulia and Thompson for their card games. "It depends how Klay feels. If he's tired, then no card game," Pachulia said. With all that was made before the season about adding Kevin Durant to an already star-stud- ded roster, Golden State's play- ers have jelled just fine. The NBA-best Warriors (47-9) are gearing up for the second half and what they hope is another championship run, and chemis- try sure isn't holding them back. Two-time reigning MVP Curry and KD love to watch each other accomplish amazing things on the floor, along with Draymond Green and Thomp- son and all of the others who contribute off the bench. Curry initially allowed Du- rant to find his groove, then be- gan to assert himself more and increase his shots. Experience playing together is the biggest factor to keep building team bonds, if you ask Iguodala. "Weathering storms builds chemistry and adversity builds chemistry," he said. "The sea- son's long and you want to have all types of ups and downs. And that's where you build it the most, and off the court, plane rides. I think when you play with teammates seven, eight years, you're still building throughout that time. You continue to learn about each other. You've just got to understand that that's part of the process and you've got to want to learn from one another." The Warriors are counting on every advantage they can gain, on and off the court. During flights, team dinners, anywhere. After a heartbreaking Game 7 to end last season's NBA Fi- nals, Golden State's players want nothing short of a championship. Many of them got a taste win- ning the title two years ago for the franchise's first in 40 years. Steve Kerr, the reigning NBA Coach of the Year, gets a kick out of watching his teams come to- gether each year. "It's one of my favorite parts of coaching honestly, is seeing how a team comes together, see- ing the relationships develop, seeing guys laughing together, seeing who hangs out with who," Kerr said. "It's great. This team has a really, really good chemistry that developed really quickly. Obviously, we had the core group intact from last year. We lost some key guys, too. The additions have been great. The chemistry is really good." Pachulia took it upon himself to be a part of that. With con- stant attention on the Warriors, he knows the importance of sticking together through all of the many challenges that come in an 82-game season — and those things prepare a group for the postseason. "You wish for the chemistry to come right away because you're kind of feeling pressure, a lot of talk's going on from outside," Pa- chulia said. "The reality is it's a process. It takes some days, it takes some games. It takes some bumps as well for the team to get on the same page and get the chemistry right. You've got to go through the process. I just don't see it the other way. We couldn't wait for these 40 or 50 games to pass and see where we were go- ing to be. I feel really confident where we are right now, with ev- erything we had throughout this 50 games, even the losses we had unexpected. It made us better." NBA WARRIORSWORKING ON TOGETHERNESS Golden State has developed great team chemistry with new players, core group MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) reacts a er a score from teammate Kevin Durant, le , in the team's Feb. 1game against the Charlotte Hornets in Oakland. Staff Report CORNING The Corning Cardi- nals boys soccer team had no trouble beating the Lassen Griz- zlies on Thursday afternoon at home, 6-0. With the win the Cardinals, who went 12-6 overall and 4-2 league in the regular season, ad- vance to Saturday's champion- ship game scheduled for noon. In Saturday's game, the No. 3 seed Cardinals will face the No. 1 Orland Trojans, who beat the No. 4 Anderson Cubs on Thurs- day afternoon 2-0. With the Trojans' win, the Cardinals will travel to Orland on Saturday for the title game. The Corning semifinal win comes after Tuesday's 3-0 de- feat of the No. 6 Sutter Huskies at home in the opening round. The No. 2 Lady Cardinals lost Tuesday to No. 3 Orland at home 2-1 to wrap up their season. In the opening round the Lady Car- dinals beat No. 7 Anderson 6-0. The No. 5 Red Bluff Lady Spartans lost in the opening round to No. 4 West Valley 1-0 Feb. 16 in Redding. The No. 4 Spartans boys lost the opening round at home Feb. 16 to No. 5 West Valley 5-0. SOCCER Cardinals trounce Grizzlies 6-0 to go to final By Mark Long The Associated Press DAYTONABEACH,FLA. Dale Earn- hardt Jr. traded in his T-shirt, jeans and sneakers for a head-to- toe pilot uniform, climbed up the portable stairs and slipped into the cockpit of the iconic Good- year Blimp. He kept his head down and turned away from a 65-year-old military veteran who thought he was onboard for a once-in-a-life- time ride. Retired Marine Corps sergeant major Paul Siverson set- tled into his seat near Earnhardt — unbeknownst that his "first, second and third favorite NAS- CAR driver" was at the controls of the 246-foot helium-filled airship. When Earnhardt turned and said hello, Siverson jumped in delight. "Been talking about you all week," Siverson said. Everyone has, really. Earnhardt is the biggest story of Speedweeks. While it's fairly common for the two-time Day- tona 500 winner to be the center of attention at Daytona Interna- tional Speedway, especially given his father's fame and tragic fate at the superspeedway, it's been con- siderably different this year. All those cheers have been joined by fears. NASCAR's most popular driver missed 18 races, half the season, in 2016 because of lingering con- cussion symptoms that included nausea as well as vision and bal- ance issues. He struggled to keep his eyes focused while simply riding in a car last July. During a ride from his home to Raleigh, North Caro- lina, to taste wedding food with his then-fiancee Amy, he couldn't look out the windshield. He had to stare at the floor for two hours each way. He would pick something on a wall to focus on, but couldn't keep it in sight once he started taking a few steps. "I could go sit on my couch and convince myself I was 100 per- cent," he said. "That was my com- fort zone. Nothing was happening there. No anxiety. Anytime I went out in the world, any little bit of anxiety would make everything crazy. ... I couldn't put one foot in front of the other without falling over like a drunk-driving test." Forget racing. Sudden move- ment, loud noises and busy places all made Earnhardt cringe. Even in November, after months of treatment and recov- ery, Earnhardt went hunting with friend and fellow driver Martin Truex Jr. and would stumble to one side or the other after five or six steps. But that was progress, albeit minor, and it continued every day for the next month. His vision cleared. His abil- ity to focus returned. He slowly started feeling better, and by early December, he was back in a race car and had gained medical clearance to return this season. Now, he's back at Daytona, back in the No. 88 Chevrolet and back at the front of the field. NASCAR Earnhardt ready to return at Daytona SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, February 24, 2017 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1