Die Macht » On the ninth hole, with a man dressed as

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays are doing very little well lately.Thanks to a torrid stretch in which they have dropped 18 of 21 games, the last-place Rays (34-50) are now 15 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. They are also seven games behind the team directly ahead of them, the fourth-place New York Yankees.However, the Rays are consistently hitting the ball well against lefties. They are batting .283 against left-handers as opposed to .229 against right-handers, and they are 11-9 against lefties, 23-41 against righties.Thus, if there is any optimism for Tampa Bay headed into the series finale against the Angels on Thursday, wrapping up a homestand that currently stands at 3-7, it is that the Rays get to face Los Angeles left-hander Hector Santiago.Santiago (5-4, 4.93 ERA) owns a career 8.38 ERA against Tampa Bay, including a 9.00 ERA in one previous start this season.The Rays counter with a young lefty of their own, rookie Blake Snell, who is 1/3 with a 3.86 ERA. He is making just his sixth career start, his first against the Angels.Los Angeles (35-50) were in a 2-12 tailspin after dropping the series opener at Tropicana Field on Monday. The Angels responded a 13-5 win Tuesday and a 7-2 victory Wednesday for their first two-game winning streak in 17 days.Wednesday was another game in which so much went wrong for the Rays early that it mattered little that the bullpen stepped up with five scoreless innings, including three innings of one-hit ball from Matt Andriese, who has pitched well since transitioning from the rotation.By the fifth inning, however, the Rays trailed 7-0, done in by three errors, matching their season high, and another ineffective outing by right-hander Drew Smyly, who is 0-6 in his last nine starts.Were not playing well. Were not pitching well, said Smyly, who said he cant wait for the All-Star break and a chance to reset things from his current slump. Hopefully the second half will go better for us.The Angels are swinging hot bats right now. They are averaging 8.7 runs per game on their current road trip while hitting .336, including a .383 average with runners in scoring position. Wednesday brought a rare bright spot from their pitching to match that, holding an opponent to two runs or fewer for just the second time in 16 games.If youre a team that wants to reach your goal, you need quality innings, said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, pleased with Jered Weaver, who held the Rays to one run on four hits over seven innings. You need a pitcher to go out and throw 200 quality innings, which is something a pitcher strives for. Thats what important. You can give a guy the ball, let him go out and get beat up and give you 200 innings, and thats going to have a minimum positive effect on the outcome of your season.Both teams have one more series before the All-Star break. The Rays go to Boston, hoping to find some positive momentum to take into the break, while the Angels go to Baltimore, aiming to close out their road trip with more hitting and more wins. Milwaukee Brewers Pro Shop . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. Milwaukee Brewers Gear . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/ Brewers Jerseys 2019 . Brazilian national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has confirmed that the veteran goalkeeper is set to join Toronto on loan, saying it will help him be ready for the World Cup. Brewers Jerseys China . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. CHASKA, Minn. -- Michael Jordan was on the course watching the golfer named after him, Jordan Spieth, and his partner,?Patrick Reed, and there was no doubting the identity of the biggest American star in the field. The Ryder Cup fans were falling over themselves as they reached across the ropes to touch Jordan, get his attention and ask him if he thought the United States would finally win.Jordan was dressed in a Team USA sweat suit. He had a smoldering cigar in his hand and an all-business look on his face as he stood beside a police officer and silently watched the Americans tee off. He didnt offer much more than a few nods, a few hellos and a concession to someone he recognized and might owe a few dollars from a bygone golf game. (True story.) But really, what was there for the greatest closer of all time to say?Jordan went six-for-six in the NBA Finals and six-for-six in the chase to be named NBA Finals MVP, and you know deep down that the worlds most recognizable golf fan wonders why the U.S. never seems to have the mental toughness to put away the Europeans. You know deep down that Michael Jordan wishes he could do more than stare down Ian Poulter (and wag his finger at him) the way he did at Medinah in 2012 and wishes he had the tee-to-green talent to do to Rory McIlroy what he used to do to the Knicks.However, the fact that Jordan wont be suiting up for his fellow North Carolina Tar Heel, Davis Love III, when this Ryder Cup is decided Sunday shouldnt make any difference in the outcome. Love is on record as saying he is coaching, or captaining, the best golf team, maybe, ever assembled.If that is a debatable claim, this one isnt: Love has the better team at Hazeltine. He has a better team that has a 9? to 6? lead going into the final session. He has a better team playing a home game in front of a Minnesota crowd that has sounded every bit as hostile as a Red Sox-Yankees crowd at Fenway Park.Oh, and Love also has in Reed a lion who is roaring just as loudly as McIlroy on the other side.The Americans have no excuses to not win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008 and for only the third time in their past 11 attempts. They have no good reason to choke the way they did for Love at Medinah, where they blew a 10-6 lead with some synchronized gagging down the stretch.They have a dozen singles matches to play against an inferior European team that includes a spooked Danny Willett and five other rookies, a completely fried Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer (a combined 0-5 at Hazeltine), and the old terminator, Poulter, in the benign role of vice captain.Even if McIlroy beats Reed in perhaps the greatest opening act in Ryder Cup history, the Americans should win six of those duels just by showing up.?Dustin Johnson should take Chris Wood, Brooks Koepka should take Willett, Matt Kuchar should take Kaymer, Ryan Moore should take Westwood, Brandt Snedeker should take Andy Sullivan, and Zach Johnson should take Matthew Fitzpatrick. The Americans can lose one of those matches and the other five (four of them featuring heavyweights Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler?and Jimmy Walker) and still end up with enough points to prevail.They have all done what Ive asked them to do incredibly well, Love said of his players. They are all confident. They all want to play.Although Love gambled corrrectly Saturday afternoon that Mickelson would overcome his erratic driving and wisely listened to Tiger Woods advice to play Reed and Spieth for a fourth straight session (what a disaster that benching wouldve been!), he made one mistake that did not come back to hurt him.ddddddddddddJust as he benched his hot team, Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, before the meltdown at Medinah, Love sat Snedeker on Saturday afternoon after the Snedeker-Koepka tandem went 2-0 and was the only American team to win Friday afternoon. The U.S. captain handed in his afternoon pairings before Snedeker and Koepkas morning victory over Henrik Stenson and Fitzpatrick was complete, but the Americans never trailed in their match, and Snedeker was on fire, celebrating his made putts with fury like McIlroys and Reeds.The Europeans never seem to rest their hot hands. Five of their players will go the full five matches; only two Americans will do the same. The Europeans never seem to let up.But the two leading candidates to sit for Snedeker, Moore and J.B. Holmes, won their match with Westwood and Willett. Mickelson and Kuchar did some goofy, middle-aged, happy dance at Kaymers and Sergio Garcias expense, and Loves guys won three of four points in the afternoon.None came up bigger than the young rebel who loves to dress himself in Tiger Woods red. Teamed with the higher profile Texan, Spieth, Reed survived their calamitous finish in a morning draw with Garcia and Rafa Cabrera Bello to put on a fireworks show in the afternoon by pummeling Justin Rose and Stenson with a flurry of birdies and a hole-out eagle.As amazing as that was, Reeds show did not make a buyer of every European visitor in the stands. On the ninth hole, with a man dressed as Captain America leading the cheers, one Garcia supporter shouted at the home fans, Remember Medinah. Remember Medinah.If Love needed more reminder of what went down in 2012, he got it Saturday night.Were closer than we were at Medinah, said Rose, one of the heroes of that day. The Englishman would predict, Its our turn tomorrow. Were going to come out strong.Recent history says the Americans fear that this ballgame isnt over. That is, recent history and the presence of McIlroy, who has all of Poulters rage and guts and 20 times the talent. By playing a pro wrestling heel in Gorgeous George form, McIlroy has turned his battle with the Hazeltine crowd into a steel cage match. On Sunday, only one combatant will come out alive.Loves players should be the last men standing. The U.S. has a 3-point lead, home-field advantage, superior talent and a closer in Reed who has a Jordan-esque flair for the moment.For Love, even without former schoolmate Michael Jordan to take the ball, this should be tantamount to a slam dunk on Dean Smiths court. The best golf team (maybe) ever assembled has no business losing this Ryder Cup to a beaten-down European group that looks in desperate need of a Caribbean cruise.On Sunday, Love will tell his players to keep doing what theyre doing and have a whole lot of fun. But if the American captain were on truth serum for his final pregame meeting with his players, his most appropriate advice would be reduced to two words:Dont choke. ' ' '