Clan-Members » Most players dont watch golf when they arent playing

MINNEAPOLIS -- The decisive blow for Minnesota came on Ian Desmonds leadoff home run in the 10th inning for the Texas Rangers.The Twins essentially lost the game a lot earlier.Desmonds homer set up Sam Dyson for the save as the Rangers held on for a 3-2 victory Friday night, but the Twins hit into double plays to end the fourth, fifth and sixth innings against starter Martin Perez.Another way to let one go, manager Paul Molitor said.In the fifth, after Max Kepler sacrificed to move the runners up to second and third, Kurt Suzuki tried to bunt, too. Trevor Plouffe broke for home with the pitch on a suicide squeeze play, but the ball popped high enough in the air for first baseman Mitch Moreland to catch it and throw across the diamond for an easy out. Just the type of ugly mistakes that have made a bad season much worse for the Twins.Just one of those situations that came up. It didnt work out. We didnt get the ball down, Molitor said.After losing back-to-back games to the Yankees in New York on the last at-bat, including a six-run rally Wednesday against Bush and Dyson, the league-leading Rangers settled in for a series against the worst team in the majors.Dyson surrendered a leadoff single to Kepler, but he struck out the next two batters and notched his 17th save in 19 attempts. Matt Bush (3-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, which lifted the Rangers to a club-record 52-29 mark at the 81-game midpoint of their season.Its a much better number than being the other way around, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.Flip their record, and its still three games better than the Twins.Plouffe tied the game for the Twins with a two-run home run in the seventh that spoiled Martin Perezs shutout bid, but Desmond took Fernando Abad (1-3) deep to start the extra session. Abad has taken the loss in three of his last four appearances, and his ERA has risen to 2.67, up from 0.47 a little over a month ago.Obviously that fastball wasnt where he wanted it, Molitor said. But hes still one of our guys at the end of the game that we count on.Ervin Santana turned in his third straight sturdy start for the Twins, though he needed 117 pitches to log 6 1/3 innings. Two of his three walks came in the seventh, when pinch-hitter Jurickson Profar put the Rangers in front with a two-run single off reliever Ryan Pressly. Santana struck out five and allowed only three hits.I felt great, Santana said.QUITE A SNAGByron Buxton made a running catch against the wall in right-center field to end the 10th for the Twins and keep the margin at one run.I just really wanted to get us out of the inning so I just did my best to try to get to the ball, Buxton said.DOZIERS DRIVESBrian Dozier singled before Plouffes homer, stretching his hitting streak to a career-high 13 consecutive games during which hes hitting .431 with 12 extra-base hits and 13 RBI. Doziers run of 11 games in a row with at least one extra-base hit ended as the longest in a single season in the majors since Chipper Jones had 14 straight in 2006, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.TRAINERS ROOMMiguel Sano played 3B in his return from rehab (hamstring), and he threw Adrian Beltre out with an off-balance, bare-handed grab of a slow grounder to end the sixth. Sano pumped his arm on the way to the dugout. With the RF experiment all but over, Sano will rotate between 3B and DH, Molitor said.UP NEXTRangers RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will make his second start of the season Saturday afternoon. RHP Tyler Duffey (3-6, 5.59 ERA) will take the mound for the Twins in the middle game of the series, coming off a career-high eight innings in a win on the road over the Yankees. He gave up just two hits and one run. Jessie Bates III Womens Jersey . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Joe Mixon Youth Jersey .Y. -- Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday that J. http://www.bengalsrookiestore.com/Bengals-Germaine-Pratt-Jersey/ . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Boomer Esiason Youth Jersey .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- This is one time Rory McIlroy says he was happy to be mistaken.McIlroy was among the top four players in the world who chose not to play in the Olympics, and the four-time major champion didnt help the cause when he said it was not his role to grow the game and that he would only watch the stuff that matters on television.He did watch the golf -- at least the final hole, when Justin Rose outlasted Henrik Stenson to win golfs first gold medal in 112 years.It pleasantly surprised me, McIlroy said Wednesday at The Barclays. There was more people at the golf events than there was at the athletics. It was good to see, it really was. It seems like it was a great atmosphere down there. I think it was one of the cheaper tickets, as well, and I think that encouraged a lot of people to go.But to see the crowds and see the turnout, I was glad to be somewhat proven wrong.Golf did its part with tickets that cost about $16. It was the only sellout among Olympic venues on Sunday of the mens final round.The Olympics went as expected for Jordan Spieth.He said on the day he withdrew that his decision would loom over him during the Olympics. And he was right.I enjoyed watching the finish to the Olympics, and I wished I was there, Spieth said.He still believes he made the right decision at the time. Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and McIlroy all specifically cited the threat of the Zika virus, while Spieth said he had broader concerns about the Rio Games and that Zika was only a part of it.Spieth tweeted after the mens golf ended that it would be a goal to be in Tokyo in 2020.The potential for regret was going to be there, and it certainly was while I was watching, he said.More than the competition -- Rose and Stenson came down to the 72nd hole, while Matt Kuchar shot 63 to win the bronze -- was the Olympic experience. So when he said that I wished I was there, Spieth was talking about opening ceremony and golfers spending time at other evvents.ddddddddddddRickie Fowler sent plenty of videos, his way of trying to make the absentees see what they were missing.McIlroy didnt watch much of the traditional sports, either. He was in a cabin in upstate New York that didnt have television or even electricity, but he managed to catch up with golf on the Sunday afternoon when it finished.Johnson was in Idaho with his family, and nothing Fowler shared on social media made him jealous. He was relaxing on the lake and on the course with his family. He did watch the Olympics, just not he golf. Thats not unusual. Most players dont watch golf when they arent playing.I checked the scores on the golf just to see how it was going, but thats about the extent, Johnson said.Golf was different from when tennis first joined the Olympics in that nearly every player supported it from the start, up until uncertainly about Zika, security and other operational issues that planted doubts about the Rio Games.I would have loved to have gone and played, Johnson said. But to me, the risk wasnt worth it. So that was the reason I didnt go. I think it would be a neat experience and a lot of fun, and especially winning a gold medal would be even more fun.Day said he had no regrets. He decided not to go because of his family. His wife wants more children and he stayed home because of the Zika virus. The worlds No. 1 player only watched the final hole of Rose and Stenson, and he didnt watch much else except for Usain Bolt and a swimming relay.He said that Rose told him during a corporate outing earlier this week how many people watched golf who dont ordinary pay attention, just because it was the Olympics. And he already was looking ahead at the next chance.Theres a lot of golf to be played from now until then, Day said. If I can play my way on to that team, that would be fantastic. ' ' '