Gästebuch » was his captain.Crenshaw handed in his front-loaded

CHICAGO -- As the Cincinnati Reds wind down another losing season, manager Bryan Price is hoping todays pain is tomorrows gain.The thing is about September in our situation is, were looking at some of the younger players we brought up and sometimes there are painful lessons, Price said. Its hard to go through, but the only way these guys are going to learn how to pitch up here is to pitch.The latest tough lesson came Tuesday night.Jon Lester overcame an injury scare to throw seven strong innings, Anthony Rizzo drove in three runs and the Chicago Cubs moved closer to securing the NLs best record with a 6-1 victory over Cincinnati.Lester (18-4) extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings before Jose Perazas RBI triple in the fifth. He allowed six hits, struck out five, walked none and added an RBI double.Lester stayed in after Joey Vottos comebacker in the sixth left him with a welt on the wrist of his glove hand.Its fine, Lester said. Its my right hand. I dont need it. All its there for is to hold the glove.Rizzo had a two-run single in a four-run fourth and a run-scoring single in the sixth to give him 104 RBI. The Cubs 96th win reduced their magic number to three over Washington for clinching home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.The Cubs, who wrapped up the NL Central last week, are trying to find the right balance of staying sharp while getting rest and avoiding injury before the postseason. Thats why the crowd gasped and the trainer and manager Joe Maddon quickly ran out of the dugout after Lester was struck by Vottos hard-hit ball.After David Ross singled with two outs in the second, Lester lined a fastball off Josh Smith (3-2) into right-center. The 39-year-old Ross, who plans to retire at the end of the season, lumbered around from first and belly-flopped into home without a throw to put the Cubs ahead to stay.Thats more of a collapse than a slide, Ross said. I figured if I went headfirst it would be considered a slide.Smith, making a spot start in a bullpen game for the Reds, left after allowing three hits over three innings.He did fine, Price said. Really, the only mistake was the first-pitch fastball to Lester. We know theres a pitcher hitting and the Cubs pitchers will be aggressive on a first-pitch fastball.Said Smith: To get the chance to go against him and go against that team is a huge opportunity for me. I just went out there and tried to make the best of it.The Cubs scored four two-out runs in the fourth off Wandy Peralta, who walked Lester before Dexter Fowlers RBI single. Kris Bryant followed with a bloop RBI double.We were hoping Wandy would give us a bit more than he did, Price said.With Washington losing 1-0 at Miami, the Cubs opened an eight-game lead over the Nationals with 11 left.CY YOUNG WORTHY?Lester lowered his ERA to 2.36 and improved his chances of winning the NL Cy Young Award. He twice finished fourth (2010 and 2014) for the AL prize.Its a huge, huge honor to even be in consideration, he said.TRAINERS ROOMReds RHP Homer Bailey (biceps) felt well enough that his bullpen session was moved up a day. Price was pleased and said its possible Bailey will get a start or two before the season ends. There hasnt been any issue regarding his surgically repaired elbow, Price said.UP NEXTCubs RHP John Lackey (9-8, 3.42 ERA), contending with Jason Hammel for the final postseason rotation spot, starts the series finale Wednesday night against RHP Robert Stephenson (2-1, 4.97). Adidas NMD R2 Primeknit . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Adidas NMD R1 Bianche . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. http://www.scarpeyeezyitalia.it/yeezy-boost-650.html . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Adidas NMD R1 Rosa . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. Yeezy Boost 350 Shop Online Italia . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. CHASKA, Minn. -- For those U.S. golf fans imagining what its like to have the Ryder Cup residing in America again, there were always going to be three words of caution:Davis Love III.When the U.S. captain sat down to fill out his lineup for Sundays 12 singles match, he had a healthy -- and rare -- 9 1/2-6 1/2 lead. On paper at least, Love also had a considerably more talented group of individuals. Consider: The average American player would be ranked 16th in the world; his European counterpart, 28th. The Americans have only two rookies; European captain Darren Clarke is saddled with six.But its worth remembering that the numbers were only slightly different heading into the final day the last time Love was in charge of a U.S. squad. That was in 2012 at Medinah, the biggest difference being that his team was leading 10-6. What happened next made golf history:European captain Jose Maria Olazabal front-loaded his best players, while Love took a too-cautious approach. He saved several of his best players for the last few matches, including Tiger Woods as the anchor. The Europeans won the first five matches and the day, 8 1/2-3 1/2, stealing a win and matching the largest comeback ever in the bargain.Love may have learned his lesson. This time around, hes got it right.No secret that they were going to load the boat, he said.And indeed, Clarke did just that, deciding to stash four of his rookies in the last five slots.Anticipating that, and needing only five points to win, Loves lineup looks balanced and very much based on an idea put forth by Jack Nicklaus, the greatest player ever but a more modest 1-1 as a Ryder Cup captain.Nicklaus argued against stacking your best players at either the front or the back. Instead, he came up with a compromise: Two of your best players to start, two more in the middle and the last two at the end. He felt that gave his team a chance to build momentum, but also to slow the other teams, not to mention some insurance if the result turned on the final matches. Love put Patrick Reed, an absolute bulldog at Hazeltine, off first, where hell face Rory McIlroy, Europes hottest player and its emotional leader thus far. Jordan Spieth is at No. 2, drawinng British Open champion and Olympic silver medalist Henrik Stenson.ddddddddddddFrom there, the U.S. looks less formidable -- J.B. Holmes, Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker are Nos. 3, 4 and 5, respectively -- but so does Europe, with Clarke forced to start salting in some of his newbies. Rookie Thomas Pieters goes third, followed by Justin Rose and then another rookie, Rafa Cabrera Bello.Phil Mickelson (5-5) and Sergio Garcia (3-4-1) clash at No. 6. Both are veterans with less than distinguished records in singles. But the longer the competition goes, the better the Americans odds look.U.S. rookie Ryan Moore gets Lee Westwood, 0-3 and mired in his worst Ryder Cup performance, at No. 7. Brandt Snedeker goes next against Andy Sullivan, whos appeared only once and has been locked in Europes team room ever since.In fact, the only match in the final four that looks close -- again, on paper -- pits U.S. rookie Brooks Koepka against Masters champion Danny Willett at No. 10.Its worth noting that Love was on both sides of the historic comebacks in singles. He played for the U.S. squad that first pulled off an 8 1/2-3 1/2 stunner. That came at Brookline in 1999, when Ben Crenshaw was his captain.Crenshaw handed in his front-loaded line-up and left the interview room Saturday night down by a 10-6 deficit -- but not before wagging his finger at reporters and saying, Ive got a good feeling about this.In the team room later that evening, future President George W. Bush read the Death or Victory speech given by Col. William Barrett Travis at the Alamo. Thus primed, the Americans piled up wins in the first seven matches and the Ryder Cup enjoyed a rare stay in the United States.Love was asked what might be discussed in his team room Saturday night, including whether what happened at Medinah four years ago would come up.Me bringing it up? In the team room? he asked.No, Love answered his own question a moment later. We keep looking forward.---Jim Litke is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and https://Twitter.com/JimLitke ' ' '