Die Macht » baseball.So youve just got to kind of wea

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees will meet for the first time this season Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Progressive Field.Both teams are coming off losses on Wednesday. Cleveland fell 12-2 at home to the Detroit Tigers, while the Yankees were shut out by the White Sox 5-0 in Chicago.For the Yankees, the series in Cleveland will conclude a 10-game road trip leading into the All-Star break. The Yankees, mired in fourth place in the American League East, are 2-4 in the first six games of their trip. They lost two of three to the San Diego Padres and dropped two of three in Chicago.The Indians, meanwhile, have been one of the majors most refreshing success stories. They recently had a team-record 14-game winning streak, and Wednesdays 12-2 loss to Detroit was the Indians first defeat at home since May 31 and snapped a 13-game winning streak at Progressive Field.Winners of 16 of their last 19 games overall, the Indians are in first place in the AL Central, 6 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Tigers, and theyve impressed Yankees manager Joe Girardi.Theyre playing extremely well, and I think it all starts with their starting pitching, Girardi said. Theyve pitched extremely well. Their bullpen has done a nice job, and they have young players who are playing well. They are a complete club. They are not going to beat themselves. So it will be a tough series.Indians manager Terry Francona says one of the unheralded areas of strength on his team is its base running. Weve been a very good base-running team, which is good because we worked on it a lot in spring training, Francona said. We need to be a team that can score from second on a hit, and go from first to third on a hit.The pitching matchup for the series opener will feature Clevelands Trevor Bauer (7-2, 3.02 ERA) versus New Yorks Ivan Nova (5-5, 5.06). Bauers last appearance, and last win, came in relief. In the Indians 2-1 win over Toronto in 19 innings on July 1, Bauer was pressed into service as a reliever and pitched the last five innings, holding Toronto scoreless on two hits. Bauer has struggled in his career versus the Yankees, going 1/3 with a 4.78 ERA in five appearances.Nova is looking for his first win since June 9. In four starts since, he is 0-2 with a 6.98 ERA while allowing opposing batters to hit .333 against him. In two career starts vs. Cleveland, Nova is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA.The Yankees are 0-3-1 in their last four series vs. Cleveland since the start of the 2014 season. New York was 2-5 against the Indians last year, the five losses being the Yankees most in a season to Cleveland since 2000, when they were also 5-5. Evan Longoria Jersey Large . -- Mike Smith never saw his first NHL goal go in. Custom Rays Jerseys . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. http://www.customraysjersey.com/ . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Authentic Custom Rays Jersey . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Cheap Custom Rays Jersey . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. MILWAUKEE -- Three weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates boarded their team charter in Milwaukee feeling good.Theyd completed a four-game sweep of the Brewers at Miller Park for the first time since 2004 and moved to within a half-game of the Cardinals for the second National League wild-card spot.But since then, its gone all downhill for the Pirates, who dropped their next eight contests -- including back-to-back sweeps by the Cubs and Brewers -- and 13 of their next 16 before finally rebounding with a four-game winning streak against the Phillies and Reds.Now, they return to Milwaukee, practically out of the playoff chase. The Pirates arrived here Monday 74-75 and five games back of the Giants for the second slot, with St. Louis and Miami standing in between.There comes a point in time where the trying hard and the grinding part needs to be let go, and you need to be 6 and get in the backyard and play Whiffle Ball, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. Its a game. Go play. In challenging times like these, youve got to find the fun. You have to get out there and not be concerned about your results and just stay focused in the moment. Were trying to revisit that in a meaningful way.After playing a doubleheader Saturday, Hurdle had yet to announce his starting rotation. But Milwaukee will hand the ball to Matt Garza, who has been bit by bad luck over the last month.Hes allowed 12 runs in his last four outings, but just three of them have been earned, leading to a 1.16 ERA during that stretch.Garza went five innings his last time out, but a pair of errors led to five unearned runs in a 6-4 loss at Cincinnati.We just made it way too haard on Matt, Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said.dddddddddddd Were asking him to get five outs. Going through Joey Votto, thats a tall task.Garza, the veteran member of Milwaukees rotation, took the miscues in stride.You just keep pitching, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Some days the ball finds the gloves, and some days it doesnt. You just keep making your pitches and keep going. We have a young team. Thats kind of where its at.Ive learned from the past you cant really come down on the guys. You cant go and harp and wear them out right now. Its September, and a lot of them its their first September playing baseball.So youve just got to kind of wear it and just keep going.Milwaukees starting pitching has stepped things up a notch over the last few weeks, with the rotation posting an NL-leading 2.85 ERA (49 earned runs, 148 2/3 innings pitched) over the last 27 games while the bullpen has combined for a league-leading 2.65 ERA over its last 28.As a result, the Brewers have been on a hot streak, winning 11 of 17 since the Pirates sweep in Milwaukee, with two series victories over the NL Central Champion Chicago Cubs.Our guys just keep doing it, Counsell said. So, as much as anything, it just speaks to them finishing the season and finishing it strong. 1/8Theyre 3/8 continuing to play well and at a high level. Obviously, were playing good teams. These are really good teams.Since the start of the 2007 season, the Brewers are 103-60 against the Pirates including a 64-21 mark at Miller Park. ' ' '