Die Macht » Wil Myers had two of Tampa Bays four hits. He

If Lewis Hamilton is to take his title fight with Nico Rosberg down to the wire then one long-running sequence must almost certainly end this weekend - the reigning F1 champions mysterious Brazilian Grand Prix victory jinx. Nine times Hamilton has raced at atmospheric Interlagos, the track forever associated with his hero Ayrton Senna, and nine times he has failed to win.Two second places and one third are the best results for a driver who has otherwise cantered up F1s all-time winners list over the last few seasons. What Rosberg needs to be champion in BrazilIts not that Hamilton has been completely starved of success in Brazil - after all, what will probably remain the most dramatic moment of his career occurred there in 2008 when he clinched his first world title in a dramatic final corner of the season.But he still only crossed the line on that famous day in fifth place. The podiums top step has remained elusive. Hamiltons Interlagos recordThe notion of a sportsperson or team being jinxed at a particular venue or competition is common - just ask fans of Major League Baseballs Chicago Cubs before last weekend - but invariably hard to definitively explain.Thats certainly the case where Hamilton and the Brazilian GP are concerned.Of the races that have been ever-present on the calendar since Hamiltons F1 debut in 2007, Brazil is the only one the 51-time GP victor hasnt triumphed at - despite his team-mates winning on three occasions. Lewis Hamilton in Brazil Year Qualified Finished 2007 2nd 7th 2008 4th 5th 2009 17th 3rd 2010 4th 4th 2011 4th Retired (gearbox) 2012 Pole Retired (collision) 2013 5th 9th 2014 2nd 2nd 2015 2nd 2nd Incredibly, he has led only 26 laps in total - less than half the circuits race distance.Be it mistakes or unreliability, drama has certainly never been far away for Hamilton at Interlagos.Hamiltons baptism in 2007 certainly fell into this category. Aiming to become F1s first rookie world champion, he qualified second ahead of his two title rivals but then got overambitious on the first lap, dropping to eighth, before his recovery was scuppered by a brief-but-disastrous gearbox glitch. A year later and what appeared McLarens cautious management of Hamiltons weekend - he only needed to finish fifth to become champion - seemed to affect the driver and in the end his dramatic final-lap pass on Timo Glock meant a hardly-vintage race performance was completely forgotten in the title euphoria.He drove far better a year later to finish third from a rain-affected 17th on the grid.It wasnt until 2012, and his final race for McLaren, that Hamilton even led a lap at Interlagos but hopes of signing off from Woking with a flourish were scuppered when Nico Hulkenberg dropped his Force India into the side of the Britons car at the first corner in a botched overtake in the wet. Nico Hulkenberg slides into Lewis Hamilton while he was leading the 2012 Brazilian GP ending the then-McLaren driver’s race. Mercedes rise to power means Hamiltons two best chances to end his Interlagos drought have come in the last two years, yet it has been Rosberg who has beaten him to victory. 2014 probably represents the one that got away when a charging Hamilton was on course to jump his team-mate through the pit stops but spun on his in-lap at the end of the backstraight.Shaded by team-matesUnusually, Hamilton has been outperformed by his team-mates in F1 at Interlagos more often than hes outperformed them.In addition to Rosbergs back-to-back wins in 2014 and 2015 at Mercedes, Jenson Button cashed in on Hamiltons 2012 collision with Hulkenberg to claim the victory. Hamilton versus team-mates in Brazil Lewis Hamilton Head-to-head Team-mates 0 Wins 3 3 Podiums 5 1 Pole positions 2 4 Qualified ahead 5 3 Ahead in two-car race finish 4 Hamilton has also been out-qualified five times out of nine at Interlagos, with his sole pole coming in 2012.In fact, he has yet to beat Rosberg on either Saturday or Sunday on this circuit in their three previous years as team-mates. Not that there has been much in it, mind you - less than a tenth of a second decided their 2014 and 2015 pole duels in the Germans favour. What does Lewis say?In the now perennial pre-Brazil question to him, Hamilton was asked at the Mexican GP if there was any particular reason why victory at Interlagos had eluded him.Not particularly, he replied. In McLaren I probably had one year [2012] where I could have won it and I was taken out by Hulkenberg.Then last year, and the year before, Nico was exceptionally quick. I think last year I was very close, I qualified second by 0.07s or something like that, I lost out in the gearshift up the hill. So who knows, third time lucky maybe? Which races has Lewis not won? Grand Prix Attempts Best finish Brazilian GP 9 2nd (x2) European GP 7 2nd (x3) Korean GP* 4 2nd (x2) Indian GP* 3 4th French GP* 2 3rd *no longer on calendar If Hamilton wins this weekend, it certainly wouldnt be the first time it has taken a multiple world champion a long time to crack Brazil - Senna took eight attempts to win his home race, albeit at two different tracks.Its that connection to Senna, and the desire to emulate his boyhood idols F1 achievements, that has sometimes been cited as a potential extra source of pressure on Hamilton in Brazil. Ahead of last years race, the Briton said a first victory at Interlagos would act as a salute from him to the late three-time world champion.The race to the 2016 titleMaybe it is too emotional for him, suggested F1 filmmaker Mario Muth on this weeks F1 Report. You could see when he won three championships he kind of had to search for new motivation because he got Ayrtons record. Maybe Brazil is too much Ayrton for him.Maybe, but probably increasingly unlikely for a driver who has already joined his hero in the pantheon of the sports most successful drivers. Where has Lewis won most often? Race wins Grand Prix 5 Hungary, Canada, USA 4 China, Great Britain 3 Italy, Japan, Germany 2 Abu Dhabi, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Monaco, Russia, Singapore 1 Malaysia, Spain, Turkey, Austria, Mexico Time to end the drought?If Hamilton could choose a moment to finally crack the Brazilian GP then it would surely be this weekend.Needing a victory to make sure his title defence remains alive all the way to the Abu Dhabi season finale in two weeks, the 31-year-olds task at Interlagos has never been clearer.Ive never won in Brazil, so I go into this weekend focused on changing that, he declared before departing for Sao Paulo.For many reasons then, a 52nd career win on Sunday would probably never taste sweeter.Can Nico Rosberg clinch the title at Interlagos? Watch the Brazilian GP live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, the race begins at 4pm; Watch the whole race weekend with a NOW TV week pass - £10.99, no contract Also See: How the title can be won in Brazil Whens the Brazilian GP on Sky? Hamiltons lifestyle is working The race to the 2016 F1 title Toronto Blue Jays Gear . -- Jake Peavy arrived at Bostons spring training complex on Monday with a large white bandage covering his left index finger, the result of a weekend accident. Cheap Blue Jays Jerseys . At this rate, the Flyers captain is set to be remembered more for a fantastic finish. https://www.cheapbluejays.com/ . Venus Williams advanced to the ASB Classic final in Auckland on a walkover when fellow American Jamie Hampton withdrew from their semifinal Friday with a right hip injury. Blue Jays Jerseys 2019 . 98 jersey in a game yet, and already its a big seller. Wholesale Blue Jays Jerseys . New York then missed its next six shots and scored only two points the rest of the night. The Los Angeles Clippers defence and the Knicks general ineptitude both played a role in the unsurprising finish to a meeting of two teams headed in opposite directions. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- It took only one pitch Tuesday night for the Texas Rangers to take the lead in a game for the first time in more than a week. Ian Kinsler drove Jeremy Hellicksons first fastball for a home run, and the Rangers went on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1, breaking a seven-game losing streak. "Obviously weve been fighting from behind a lot in this last week or so," Kinsler said. "So to be able to get a first hit out of the way, and a first run out of the way, gave (Alexi) Ogando a little bit of breathing room." Elvis Andrus felt it from the on-deck circle. "I think the homer by Ian made the whole team just relax," he said. "We havent scored first in a little while." Kinsler and Andrus homered and drove in three runs each to help the Rangers pull even with the Rays at the top of the AL wild-card race. The Rangers, who held the No. 1 wild-card spot or the AL West lead for most of the summer, won for only the fourth time in 17 games. "Given the circumstances, its a big win," Kinsler said. "Youve got to have a sense of relief when you lose seven in a row and you know youre a better team than that," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. Kinslers 12th home run broke a streak of seven homerless games for the Rangers, their longest in 23 years. The 1-0 lead marked the first time Texas has led in a game since its last victory, on Sept. 8. Kinsler added a two-run single in the Rangers four-run third, driving in three runs on the first two pitches he saw from Helickson (11-9). Andrus followed with his third home run of the season to put the Rangers up 5-0. "The first pitch of the game was not a good fastball," Hellickson said. "Then I settled down a bit, but in the third I walked the leadofff guy (Mitch Moreland) and you cant do that against a lineup like that.dddddddddddd" Ogando (7-4) won in his first start since Aug. 13, giving up two hits in five innings. He had made four relief appearances after spending three weeks on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. Ogando retired the first seven Rays he faced, the last four with strikeouts, before Jose Lobaton homered in the third inning. Washington said after the game that Ogando will start Sunday at Kansas City. "Ogando went out there and did way beyond the call of duty, and I think he deserves a lot of credit," Washington said. "We werent expecting five (innings). I was hoping he could go deep, but he gave us five quality innings." Leonys Martin doubled twice and added a ninth-inning home run, his eighth of the season. Rookie Wil Myers had two of Tampa Bays four hits. Hellickson, who is 1-6 in his last nine starts, gave up five earned runs in 2 2-3 innings. NOTES: Kinsler has led off 29 games with a home run, two this season. ... Rangers OF Nelson Cruz, who is suspended for the rest of the regular season, began workouts at the teams training facility in Arizona. ... The Rangers 43-33 road record is the best in the majors. ... The Rays promoted 32-year-old outfielder Freddy Guzman and added him to the active roster. Guzman has played in 47 major league games, most recently in 2009 with the New York Yankees. ... . RHP Jesse Crain, who has been on the DL with a right shoulder strain since the Rays acquired him from the Chicago White Sox on July 29, could be activated as early as Wednesday. ... The Rays announced a renewal of their relationship with Montgomery, their Double-A affiliate. They will play an exhibition game on March 29 at Montgomerys Riverwalk Stadium. ' ' '