Kritik und Lob » day stretch that also included an off day for the team

The Phoenix Mercury have played well on the road recently, and they just hope to get a full game out of their stars when they play at the slumping Atlanta Dream on Sunday.Guard Diana Taurasi and center Brittney Griner were ejected in the third quarter of Friday nights home loss to the New York Liberty, ending a three-game winning streak for the Mercury.Two of those victories had come on the road -- at the hot Washington Mystics and at Eastern Conference-leading New York.Because of those ejections, Phoenix (7-10) might have a chip on its shoulder against Atlanta, which has lost five consecutive games to drop to 8-8.Griner was tossed from Friday nights game after arguing her fourth foul. WNBA scoring leading Tina Charles had been her main defensive assignment.Brittney, she gets hacked all the time, Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said after the game.Tina Charles, I mean shes a great player, but shes getting calls I dont think she should. Brittney Griner never gets those calls. I get frustrated, too. ... Brittney usually doesnt complain too much. I mean, she just lost her cool, which is understandable.Taurasi had some words for the officials before picking up her second technical, although Brondello said her star guard didnt swear.Taurasi is fourth in the league in scoring at 19.1 points per game. Griner averages 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds. Phoenix has lots of other firepower, including forward DeWanna Bonner (15.2 points per game) and guard Penny Taylor (13.3).Atlanta guard Tiffany Hayes, who missed Tuesdays loss at Seattle because of a hamstring injury, returned with a career-high 32 points in Thursday nights loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. Forward Sancho Lyttle, who also missed the game in Seattle because of a hamstring, only played two minutes at Los Angeles.Forward Angel McCoughtry leads Atlanta with 19.4 points per game. Hayes averages 15.4. Center Elizabeth Williams averages 13.1 points and 7.3 rebounds.Atlanta is the worst 3-point shooting team in the WNBA at 24.9 percent.This is the first of three meetings between the teams in the regular season. Fake Vapormax For Sale . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Air Max 1 Wholesale . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. http://www.wholesalenikeshoesclearance.com/cheap-kevin-durant-shoes.html . 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. Air Max 95 Replica . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Nike Vapormax Outlet . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say. ARLINGTON, Texas -- When Bob Melvin went to the mound in the fifth inning, he wasnt going to take Sonny Gray out of the game. The Oakland Athletics manager had a reminder with a pep talk.Youve got to remind him who Sonny Gray is, Melvin said. Sonny Gray is one of the best pitchers in the American League.Gray, an All-Star last season but with a 5.49 ERA before Tuesday night, overcame that one volatile inning and had a season-high eight strikeouts as the As beat the AL West-leading Texas Rangers 6-3.The only hits Gray (5-9) allowed came to five consecutive batters to start the Rangers fifth, including deep opposite-field homers by Joey Gallo and Mitch Moreland. Gray had retired 12 of the first 13 batters before that and struck out the last two batters he faced to finish the sixth.The first four innings and even the sixth inning, thats the pitcher that I want to be and the pitcher that Ive been my whole career, not only in the big leagues, but my whole life, Gray said. I dont know what its been this year. I cant explain just the one inning.Josh Reddick drove in three runs for the As, who won for the fourth time in five games. Reddicks two-run homer in the fourth was one of three homers by the As. Coco Crisp and Marcus Semien also went deep.Gray, who has won all six of his career starts at Texas, struck out all three batters in the first and had five Ks through two innings.In the third, he had a nifty defensive play, bouncing off the mound toward the third-base line to field a high chopper. He made a backhanded catch and then an off-balance throw falling toward the line to get Robinson Chirinos out at first.He pitched great, and he got through a tough spot, which he wasnt able to do against them the one time at home, Melvin said. Hes working through some things in a difficult year for him, and he got through it tonight. He got us through six innings, and he pitched great.Crisp led off the fourth with his eighth homer of the season, and Reddick homered after Jed Lowries single. Semiens 21st homer started the fifth off Nick Martinez (1-3) before Reddick added a run-scoring single for a 5-0 lead.The no-hit bid for Gray ended when Rougned Odor singled on the first pitch of the fifth, thoughh he was easily thrown out trying to stretch a routine single to right into a double.dddddddddddd.Gallo then homered, a 448-foot opposite-field blast over the As bullpen in left-center. Ryan Rua singled before Moreland also went the opposite way over that bullpen, a 423-foot homer.Martinez gave up five runs and six hits while pitching into the fifth after being recalled to start in place of Kyle Lohse, the 37-year-old right-hander designated for assignment with a 12.54 ERA after losing both of his Texas starts.Three solid innings, two challenging innings, manager Jeff Banister said. We liked what we saw the first three innings.BIG PROSPECTWith Prince Fielder expected to have season-ending neck surgery, the Rangers recalled Gallo to give them a left-hander with potential power. Gallo hit six homers in 36 games last season in his MLB debut, but had just one at-bat this year for the Rangers before Tuesday night.SHORT HOPSThe start of the game was delayed 62 minutes because of rain. ... Gray has allowed 17 homers, matching his career high set last season. The right-hander had been 1-8 with a 6.45 ERA his previous 14 starts. ... Oakland C Stephen Vogt returned after missing three games while on family medical leave.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: LHP Rich Hill, who hasnt started since July 17 because of a persistent blister, hopes to return Sunday. He threw a bullpen session with tape over the blister Tuesday after playing catch with it uncovered.Rangers: SS Elvis Andrus was out of the lineup for the second time in a nine-day stretch that also included an off day for the team. Banister said Andrus was a little banged up but would play Wednesday.UP NEXTAthletics: Lefty Sean Manaea (3-5, 4.61 ERA) has allowed only two runs in 20 innings his last three starts -- and the As have scored only once while he was pitching in that span.Rangers: Yu Darvish (2-2, 3.12) is winless in his two starts since returning from the disabled list, but the Rangers have scored only two runs total for him in those games. The right-hander struck out 11 in six innings at Kansas City last Friday. ' ' '