ekansekans's blog: "df"

(Sports Network) - Jered Weaver can become the first 19-game winner in the American League and keep the LA Angels within striking distance of a playoff spot when he takes the mound today in the finale of a three-game series versus the Chicago White Sox. Weaver has won two straight and three of his last five starts (3-1), including an 11-3 drubbing of the Texas Rangers on Tuesday in which he yielded three runs in seven innings of work. The win lifted his record to 18-4 in 27 starts with a 2.79 earned run average. The lanky right-hander, who has never won 19 games in a season and recently had a bout with biceps tendinitis, is 10-2 in 14 starts at home this year and 6-2 with a 1.61 ERA in nine career starts against the White Sox. Weaver has won 18 games in back-to-back campaigns. Anaheim has won the first two matchups in this series and will go for the sweep this afternoon. Ervin Santana dazzled in Fridays opener of the set, then Dan Haren did his job last night by hurling six innings of two-run ball. "When we got the lead I was able to be aggressive," Haren said. "I think everything was working tonight. Weve lost some tough games, but were very positive right now." Ernesto Frieri later came on for his 20th save for the Angels, who are 2 1/2 games off the final wild card berth in the American League. Mark Trumbo drove in two runs, while Albert Pujols and Torii Hunter had an RBI apiece. Mike Trout had a run scored -- his 121st of the season -- and is nearing Vladimir Guerreros franchise record of 124 runs scored in 2004. The Angels have won six of nine games and will host Seattle for three games on their current nine-game homestand (3-2). Chicagos lead atop the AL Central continued to evaporate and the club is only one-half game ahead of Detroit in the division standings. The White Sox lost their fourth in a row since winning five straight and look to close out a six-game road trip on a high note. Jose Quintana was saddled with the loss last night and gave up four runs -- one earned -- and six hits in five innings. "Jose had a rough first inning but after that he pitched pretty good," said Chicago manager Robin Ventura, who was ejected in the fourth inning by first base umpire Ed Hickox after a balk call to Quintana. "There was a couple of spots where we had our chances, just couldnt capitalize." Paul Konerko homered and Alex Rios went 3-for-4 with a run scored for Chicago. Chicago is scheduled to return to the Windy City for a seven-game homestand versus Cleveland and Tampa Bay. Gavin Floyd gets the call for the Pale Hose today and is coming off a win at Kansas City in his second outing since a stint on the disabled list. Floyd allowed two runs in seven innings and is 6-3 in his last nine decisions. The right-hander was able to even his mark at 10-10 in 26 starts with a 4.50 earned run average, and will face the Angels for the 10th time in his career. Floyd is only 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA in the first nine starts in this series with Anaheim, which reached him for five runs in 6 1/3 innings of a 6-5 win back on Aug. 4. Floyd did not factor in the outcome of that one. Anaheim is 4-3 against the White Sox this season. Cheap Jerseys China . Revamped Offence - The Browns were left with no choice but to focus much of their draft efforts on the offensive side of the ball after their 2011 offensive disaster in which they scored over 20 points in just one game. Cheap Jerseys . -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan sprained his left shoulder in the closing minutes of the NFC championship game and wont be able to play in Sundays Pro Bowl. http://www.azulvirtual.org/hot.html . Financial terms of the deal were not released, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported it is a five-year deal worth around $45 million. PHOENIX -- Eric Stults had a terrific night as a pitcher and a career night as a hitter. The San Diego left-hander allowed four base runners over seven innings and drove in a career-best three runs with a pair of two-out hits in the Padres 5-0 victory over Arizona on Friday night. While the Stults hits will get most of the attention, "really the game tonight was how he pitched," manager Bud Black said. "It really was. He had command on all four pitches and changed speeds on the fastball, which he does, had the Diamondbacks off balance." The range of speed in Stults pitches, Black said, was from 66 mph to 91 mph. "He was good," Arizonas Chris Johnson said. "He was working in, working out. His change-up was pretty good then he started throwing that slow curve ball the second time and third time we faced him. When a guy throws multiple pitches like that for a strike, it keeps you off balance and we couldnt stay back and get anything going." Stults (4-2) allowed three singles, struck out four and walked one. He singled in two runs in the second and doubled home another in the fourth. "I dont know. I think its just luck most of the time," he said of his success at the plate. "I go up there just trying to put the barrel on the ball and was able to get hits, which I think was big because we had runners on base." Chris Denorfia hit a solo home run off rookie Patrick Corbin (5-5) in the third and brought another run home with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. The Padres, coming off a three-game home sweep of Pittsburgh, have won five in a row. They are 4-0 at Arizona this season. Nick Vincent and Tommy Layne each pitched an inning to complete the shutout. The Diamondbacks fell to 2-3 halfway through a 10-game home stand. San Diego outhit Arizona 13-4. After Chris Young opened the Arizona first with a line-drive single off the glove of third baseman Chase Headley, Stults retired 11 in a row before Paul Goldschmidt drew a two-out walk in the fourth. The only other runners to reach against the San Diego left-hander were Chris Johnson and Gerardo Parra, who singled to start the fifth. "There were some line drives that were hit and were hit at guys,," Stults said.dddddddddddd "Especially for me, to go deep into games, that has to happen." Stults provided himself with a 2-0 lead in the second. Singles by Yasmani Grendahl and Yonder Alonso, followed by a two-out walk to Everth Cabrera loaded the bases in the third, Stults singled to bring two runners home before Cabrera was caught in a rundown on the play to end the inning. After Denorfias opposite-field shot, just his fifth homer of the season, made it 3-0, Stults contributed again in the fourth. Cameron Maybin doubled and, with two outs, Stults doubled to the gap in left-centre to bring the runner home. Corbin, who had been 3-0 in four starts since returning to the rotation, finished the inning but that was it. He allowed four runs on nine hits, striking out two and walking one. "He didnt have very good stuff," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "He wasnt locating well. His pitches were up." Corbin said Stults, Gibson said, "had very good location." "He mixed it up very well. He was throwing the ball well. We beat him up pretty good here last time. He made some adjustments and we didnt swing the bats very well. " (This time) he had better location and he threw all his pitches where he wanted to. We really didnt hit too many balls hard. Goldschmidt made a standout unassisted double play at first in the opening inning. With Denorfia on base with a single, Goldschmidt lunged to catch Logan Forsythes line drive, then in the same motion made a sweeping tag of the runner. He got the third out of the inning unassisted as well on a ground ball. Notes: Gibson says LHP Tyler Skaggs will remain with the big league club after his impressive debut on Wednesday. The youngster will be part of what, for now, is a six-man rotation, including three lefthanders. ... Stults improved his season batting average to .375 (6 for 16). Playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he had two RBIs in 2008 and two in 2009. ... The Padres are 4-0 at Arizona this season but 2-4 at home against the Diamondbacks. ... San Diego can match its longest winning streak of the season at six games with a win on Saturday night. ... The Diamondbacks have lost five of their last six series openers. ' ' '