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7/16/2014 9:36 pm  #1


available going forward." Moore did say that he expects

HOUSTON -- Brad Mills breezed into the post-game interview room after Saturdays game with a huge grin planted on his face. "Its nice to come in here with a smile," the Houston manager said after watching his team break a season-long nine-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Scott Moore homered for the second straight day and J.D. Martinez and Jose Altuve had three hits each as the Astros took advantage of the first-inning ejection of Zack Greinke to get the victory. "Hes a Cy Young winner and to be able get him out of there and face their bullpen, that really helps you," Houstons Jordan Schafer said. Greinke (9-3) entered the game looking for his 10th win; instead he was gone after four pitches -- ejected after spiking the ball following a close play at first base. Manager Ron Roenicke was also tossed for arguing the call and the Brewers were forced to piece together the game with six relievers. "When that happens to a starting pitcher, especially one as good as Zack, it changes how you feel about that game," Roenicke said. "When we get behind like we did, its hard to bounce back." Greinke, who was ejected for the fourth time in his career, called the incident a mental mistake. "I didnt think there was anything wrong with it at the time, but after looking back at it, I thought: Oh, (man), that definitely didnt look good. I put him in a bad position and he had to make a decision," Greinke said. The bad news for the Astros is that Greinke could return to the mound on Sunday with the All-Star break coming up. "We already talked to Zack. He thinks he would be fine, but were not positive which way were going to go," Roenicke said when asked about that possibility. "Weve got some more conversations to go through." The Astros were up 1-0 after the first inning and jumped on Livan Hernandez, who took over for Greinke, for three runs in the third. Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez (7-6) yielded four hits and two runs -- both unearned -- with five strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings. Brett Myers pitched a perfect ninth for his 18th save. Schafer and Jed Lowrie collected two hits apiece and Jason Castro drove in two runs as the Astros scored more runs than they had in the last three games combined to get their first win since June 27. Things went wrong for Greinke immediately when Schafer took his first pitch to centre field for a leadoff triple. Three pitches later it got much worse when he raced to cover first base on a grounder by Altuve and spiked the ball when the All-Star speedster was called safe, leading to his ejection by first base umpire Sam Holbrook. Roenicke immediately raced out to argue the call and was ejected for the first time this season. "He overreacted," Roenicke said of Holbrook, adding that the umpire said he thought Greinke was trying to show him up. "He didnt even see what happened. Zack was behind him and he didnt even see him. You need to know; you need to know 100 per cent what happens when you kick out a starting pitcher." Schafer scored on the play where the pair was ejected to put Houston up 1-0. The centre fielder also made a couple of nice defensive plays on Saturday to bounce back from a tough week where he was pulled from a game after making two mistakes. "He did a great job," Mills said. "We know that he can do it and we know its there ... he did a great job at the top of the order." Moore opened Houstons third inning with his homer to right field to make it 2-0 and give him three home runs in eight games since being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Martinez followed with a single before scoring on a double by Lowrie. Lowrie scored on a sacrifice fly by Castro later in the inning to push the lead to 4-0. Schafer singled with one out in the fourth inning and picked up his 20th stolen base when he took second. Altuve walked before Schafer advanced to third on a flyout. He scored on an error by Martin Maldonado when the catcher overthrew second base trying to pick off Altuve. Lowrie singled off Randy Wolf, a starter who was making his first relief appearance since 2001, to start the fifth. Chris Johnson doubled before Lowrie scored on a sacrifice fly by Castro to leave Houston up 6-0. Rodriguez had retired 14 of his last 16 when Ryan Braun reached on an error by Moore with one out in the sixth inning. Aramis Ramirez singled and Corey Hart drew a walk to load the bases. The Brewers got on the board thanks to another error by Moore, when he stopped a sharply hit grounder from Rickie Weeks, but dropped the ball before he stepped on third base. That allowed Weeks to reach, Braun to score and chased Rodriguez. He was replaced by Fernando Rodriguez, who retired the next batter before Ramirez scored on a wild pitch to cut Houstons lead to 6-2. Moore capped off his rough inning by catching a fly ball by Cesar Izturis in foul territory to end the inning. Cody Ransom added a run for the Brewers with an RBI double in the eighth inning. NOTES: Milwaukee RF Norichika Aoki singled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. ... Houston OF Justin Maxwell, on the DL with an injured left ankle, went 1 for 2 with a double in a rehabilitation assignment with Oklahoma city on Friday night. ... These teams wrap up the series on Sunday when Milwaukees Marco Estrada opposes right-hander Jordan Lyles. Ezequiel Lavezzi Soccer Jersey . TO2015, the organizing committee of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Games, announced Friday that CEO Ian Troop was leaving the organization and will be replaced by Saad Rafi, a former Ontario deputy minister of health. Sources within TO2015 said Troops departure was not unexpected. There have been ongoing tensions between the Games organization and the province, which is responsible for the operational costs of the multi-sport competition that will bring about 10,000 athletes from the Americas to compete in 36 Pan Am and 15 Parapan sports. Rodrigo Palacio Soccer Jersey . -- The NFL has granted permission for Saints coach Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis and assistant head coach Joe Vitt to attend New Orleans home game Sunday night against San Diego, in which Drew Brees can break a tie with Johnny Unitas for the NFL record of consecutive regular-season games with a touchdown pass. http://www.argentinasoccerteamshop.com/world-cup-angel-di-maria-argentina-jersey/. The UFC once again stages its latest big show off-Broadway -- six miles away across the river at the Izod Center in New Jersey. Augusto Fernandez Soccer Jersey . Her 64-save performance limited the damage as the Canadian women emerged with a 7-0 victory. Obydennova spent the post-game ceremony bent over in exhaustion. Rodrigo Palacio World Cup Jersey . -- Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan has what the team believes is a form of Rocky Mountain Fever and is responding to medication.KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The vast rebuilding job that Ned Yost inherited as the manager of the Kansas City Royals was strikingly similar to the one he took on when he was hired by the Milwaukee Brewers. The difference this time is that Yost will have a chance to stick around. The Royals and Yost agreed to a two-year contract extension Tuesday after wrapping up an 86-76 season, the best finish for the franchise in 24 years. Yosts contract was set to expire after the season, though both sides had expressed a desire for the manager to remain on board. "Our main goal is to win the World Series, but we took a major step this year," Yost said. "We finished 10 games over .500. That was huge for us. That was a big step." The next big step is to make the playoffs, something that Yost had the Brewers on the verge of when he was fired in 2008. He eventually landed in Kansas City and became the interim manager in 2010, and then lost more than 90 games each of his first two full seasons in charge. His biggest task then was to help develop one of the youngest rosters in baseball, and the work began to pay off this year. The Royals rebounded from a disastrous May to go 43-27 after the All-Star break, and werent eliminated from wild-card contention until their penultimate series. "Milwaukee was a great experience for me, like May was a good experience for our team," Yost said. "Im thankful for that opportunity because it made me stronger. It made me a better manager. The May we went through, it made us better, it made us stronger, because we endured it, and we were better for it the rest of the year." Yost, who is 741-831 in 10 seasons as a manager, held off on discussing a new contract until after the season. It came together quickly on Monday. "When you have something good you need to stick with it," outfielder Alex Gordon said after the final game, "and I think thats what we have. We have a good manager that gels well with the guys on this team and we all have a good relationship." Yosts two-year deal creates a strange situation in the organization in that general manager Dayton Moore is only under contract through next season. Moore declined to discuss whetherr he will also seek an extension this off-season, saying only that hes "secure" with his situation.dddddddddddd "Im at peace about where I am and what weve done," Moore said. "Theres an emotion and an expectation and excitement around this group of players, and in a small way, I feel like weve won the World Series, because we have a fan base thats excited." Now that Yost is under contract, Moore will soon turn his attention to putting together a roster for next season. Most of the lineup will return intact, led by promising young players such as first baseman Eric Hosmer and catcher Salvy Perez. But plenty of questions remain, starting with right field and what was one of the best starting rotations in the big leagues. The Royals cobbled together right field when Jeff Francoeur fizzled out, and David Lough and Justin Maxwell were platooning there late in the season. But Yost and Moore both have indicated they would like to add a bat with power to the lineup, and right field is the natural fit. In the rotation, Ervin Santana and Bruce Chen are both eligible for free agency. Santana may have priced himself out of the Royals with the best season of his career, but Moore said that he anticipates having the resources necessary to make a competitive bid to keep both pitchers. If that doesnt happen, Moore said that youngsters Yordano Ventura, Danny Duffy and Kyle Zimmer are prepared to compete for a starting job in spring training. "Every team has holes. We certainly are not immune to that," Moore said. "Well look at the areas where we can improve, but you can only improve with talent and opportunities available to you, and I have no idea what opportunities are going to be available going forward." Moore did say that he expects the Royals payroll, which was a franchise-record $81,241,725 on opening day, to remain the same or perhaps even increase next season. "You have a deep-pitted feeling in your stomach every year youre not in the playoffs," Moore said. "We want that for our fan base. We want that for our players in the worst way. So were going to continue to work to press the right buttons." ' ' ' 

 

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