Clan-Members » said. Even if youre not superstitious, coac

HOUSTON -- Mired in a prolonged offensive slump, the Houston Astros enter a decisive series against a recent nemesis at precisely the wrong time.The Astros are 1-9 against the Texas Rangers this season and have lost 17 of the past 20 games in the Lone Star Series. The American League West rivals open a three-game set at Minute Maid Park on Friday.Houston (56-52) lost for the eighth time in 10 games Thursday night, falling 4-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Astros have scored 21 runs during that span to fall 6 1/2 games behind the Rangers (63-46) in the division.When we get a chance to play against a team thats in front of us, thats always an opportunity, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. I look at it as weve got to worry about ourselves and playing our brand of baseball no matter if were playing the Blue Jays, the Rangers, the Twins, Toronto next week. Our schedule is pretty tough the next couple of months, and theyre next on the docket.I wasnt circling this series as the end all, be all. Weve got to play all of our games, but it will be nice to get back in the division and get a look at their new team. Theyre the team people are chasing, so why wouldnt you want to play them?Left-hander Dallas Keuchel (6-11, 4.86 ERA) will make his 18th career start against the Rangers, his most against any opponent. Keuchel is 4-7 with a 4.58 ERA in his career against Texas, including 0-3 with a 7.91 ERA in three starts this season.Keuchel recorded seven consecutive quality starts before getting shelled in Detroit on Sunday, allowing seven runs on seven hits in five innings. That marked his fourth start this season of less than six innings.The Rangers, who salvaged the series finale against the Baltimore Orioles with a 5-3 victory Thursday night, will turn to left-hander Martin Perez (7-7, 4.22 ERA) in the opener. Perez defeated the Astros 5-3 on June 9, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts over six innings. He is 5-2 with a 1.88 ERA in seven career starts against Houston.Texas is working to integrate a pair of deadline-deal acquisitions into its offense: designated hitter Carlos Beltran and catcher Jonathan Lucroy. The Rangers traded with the New York Yankees to land Beltran while getting Lucroy from the Milwaukee Brewers at Mondays non-waiver deadline.The Rangers recorded a season-high six doubles Thursday as part of their seven extra-base hits, also a season high. It was Lucroy who delivered the non-double extra-base knock, belting his first home run with his new club.Any time you have extra-base hits like that, you have guys that can put some numbers up offensively, Lucroy told MLB.com. I think any one of these guys in that lineup out there can do that. Theres a lot of different weapons and a lot of different ways we can hurt you.Texas manager Jeff Banister added, To get away with this win tonight (in a) close ballgame is (good). Our guys got some nice production up and down the lineup.Roquan Smith Youth Jersey .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. Walter Payton Youth Jersey . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. https://www.bearssportsgoods.com/Womens-Anthony-Miller-Inverted-Jersey/ . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Brian Urlacher Bears Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Gale Sayers Bears Jersey .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing.Erik Williams and Brad Knaub had seen every attempt to exorcise the Curse of the Billy Goat go awry, from intrepid Cubs fans who have smuggled more benevolent goats into Wrigley Field to that Greek Orthodox priest who once sprayed holy water on the dugout.Yet their beloved Cubs continued to come up short.Every year.So, the owners of Carnivore Inc., a company that produces food from responsibly raised animals, decided to take matters into their own hands. They carefully selected a goat from a farm about 90 minutes south of Chicago, had it butchered earlier this week, and proceeded to turn the bleepin bleater into traditional Merguez sausage at their shop in the Chicago suburbs.Their hope is that Cubs fans at Wrigley Field on Friday night can collectively lift the plague by devouring their delicacy before Game 1 of their NL divisional series against the Giants.The previous attempts to reverse the curse with slaughter and macabre acts are obviously only making things worse, Williams said. Its time to make Chicagoans love goat.Of course, you could write this entire enterprise off as another utterly ridiculous idea from a bunch of crackpot Cubs fans willing to try anything to finally win a World Series.Or, you could recognize that research has proven it just may work -- at least on the field. It turns out that numerous academics, principally psychologists, have been investigating for years and in great detail whether superstitions actually have an effect.And lets be honest: No sport is rifer with superstitions than baseball.Nationals pitcher Sean Burnett dutifully puts a poker chip in his back pocket before taking the mound. Rangers pitcher Derek Holland watches a certain part of the film, For The Love of the Game, the night before he pitches. And Royals outfielder Alex Gordon never stands in the on-deck circle, instead wearing out the perfectly manicured grass in precisely the same spot right next it.Many players refuse to step on baselines when theyre running on or off the field, or use the same glove or wear the same grimy helmet, regardless of how much pine tar is caked on it.Theres so much failure in this game, and there are so many repetitions, that if you find something that you think makes you go well for a while, why change that up? Nationals first baseman Clint Robinson said. I can see why baseball would be a superstitious sport.Some players call them routines. Others call them habits or quirks or customs. But in truth, thats all just semantics. Theyre still engaging in some sort of superstition.And theres a chance theyre succeeding because of it.Researchers at the University of Cologne conducted a series of experiments that found that by activating good-luck-related superstitions, such as telling someone to keep their fingers crossed, it improved performance in golfing, dexterity, memory and solving anagrams.They also found superstitions boost confidennce, which in turn improves an athletes performance.ddddddddddddDutch researchers published an article in Psychological Science that reached similar conclusions, and then deduced that superstitions are more pervasive when the stakes are high.Its hard to get much higher than the playoffs, where the Cubs are shooting for their first World Series title since 1908 -- long before Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis was asked to leave Game 4 of the 1945 World Series because the odor of his pet goat Murphy was bothering other fans. Sianis, as the story goes, declared that day the Cubs would never win another World Series.Dr. Stuart Vyse, a psychologist and author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, acknowledges that there is no magic behind superstitions. They dont directly affect performance.But, he said, there is growing evidence it has a psychological effect, that if you believe in luck and engage in a superstition you will actually perform better in a skilled activity. And of course, baseball does involve skill.Its worth noting that Vyse grew up a Cubs fan, though hes been rooting for the Red Sox since he moved east. And his father was a lifelong Cubs fan who never saw them win a World Series title.Now, there are superstitions in just about every sport. Basketball players spin the ball a certain way before taking free throws, and hockey goalies slap the pipes a certain number of times before a faceoff, and many athletes listen to certain playlists before they take the field.Yet superstitions are more prevalent in baseball, Vyse said, because of the laborious pace of the game. Players need something to fill their minds while they stand in the outfield or sit in the dugout, so they begin to connect success and failure to certain rituals.Baseball has all this waiting time and if you dont have anything to fill it with, it can make you kind of anxious, Vyse said. Even if youre not superstitious, coaches often recommend players develop a pregame ritual, a routine, something that they can focus on to alleviate anxiety.How does all this translate to fans? Is it possible the superstitious beliefs of a couple of Chicago sausage connoisseurs, and their slaughter of a goat, can help the Cubs win the World Series?In a very loose way, it might be one additional encouragement, Vyse mused. But theres a much more important function for the fans themselves. These people are not unlike players -- their identities are tied up in the local team. Their emotions rise and fall with the fate of the team.So especially for the group, superstitions and bonding -- it makes people feel connected to the team, as if they play a role, even though they can do nothing but be a good fan.---AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report. ' ' '