Meister der Farbe » no walks. Hamels has thrown 202 2/3 innin

This Fourth of July for the Minnesota Wild was a little less eventful than the last. Still, the Wild made another holiday splash by bringing in more help for their blue line. The Wild announced Thursday they agreed to terms on a two-year contract with defenceman Keith Ballard, who was available after being let go by Vancouver earlier this week with a compliance buyout to clear space under the salary cap. The Wild said paperwork for Ballards deal would be filed Friday, when the free agent market opens. The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Ballards contract is worth $3 million. He was scheduled to make $4.2 million in each of the final two seasons of his previous deal with the Canucks. The 30-year-old Ballard managed just two assists in 36 games for Vancouver in 2013. Over three seasons there since being acquired in a draft-day trade in 2010 with Florida, Ballard had only 16 points in 148 games. He was hindered by several injuries. Before that, though, the former University of Minnesota star was far more productive. Over five seasons with Phoenix and Florida, he averaged nearly 30 points while playing in 97 per cent of the games. As a rookie with the Coyotes in 2005-06, Ballard had eight goals and 31 assists and played in all 82 games. In his first year with the Panthers in 2008-09, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Ballard had six goals and 28 goals with a plus-14 rating while again playing all 82 games. Ballard will essentially replace defenceman Tom Gilbert, another local guy, who was dumped by the Wild with a compliance buyout this week. Ballard is from Baudette, Minn., on the Canadian border. He won two NCAA championships in his career with the Gophers. Another Minnesotan, centre Matt Cullen, will be moving on as the Wilds most prominent unrestricted free agent. Cullen told the Star Tribune that Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher informed him he couldnt offer him a fair contract given the teams cap constraints. San Francisco 49ers Jerseys China . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Cheap 49ers Jerseys . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. http://www.cheap49ersjerseysauthentic.com/ .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy. Cheap 49ers Jerseys Authentic . Pert has formerly spent time as an assistant coach with Cardiff City, Coventry City, and Bahrain mens national team. "Martyn is a highly-respected coach with experience at the top levels in England," said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson. Authentic Jullian Taylor Jersey . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Carlos Gomez was a struggling outfielder when released by another AL West team just over a month ago. Now he is helping the AL-leading Texas Rangers close in on home-field advantage throughout the postseason.Gomez hit a towering, tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning Wednesday night, giving the Rangers their MLB-best 49th come-from-behind win, 8-5 over the Milwaukee Brewers.We believe in Carlos. We believed in him so much that we brought him not just as an experiment or anything like that, manager Jeff Banister said. Hes showing you exactly just how he can impact the game, and hes put in the work.The 418-foot homer to left was his 13th this season, the second long three-run homer in as many nights -- he had a 444-foot drive on Tuesday. That makes eight homers and 24 RBI in 31 games since joining the Rangers last month after being released by Houston.You see it the last two weeks, see the work Ive been doing, said Gomez, a two-time All-Star with Milwaukee. Work a lot, sooner or later you see a good result.Jeremy Jeffress (1-0), who came to Texas from Milwaukee in an Aug. 1 trade with Jonathan Lucroy, worked the final two innings in relief of Cole Hamels. Jeffress won five days after being reinstated by Major League Baseball from the restricted list following a drunken driving arrest last month and then a three-week stint in an inpatient rehab clinic.AL West champion Texas (94-65) has a 1 1/2-game lead over Boston for the best record in the American League after the Red Sox lost earlier Wednesday even while clinching the AL East title. Former Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira hit a game-ending grand slam to give the New York Yankees a 5-3 win over the Red Sox, who led 3-0 in the ninth.Lucroy reached to start the eighth on a two-base error when the ball ricocheted off the glove of center fielder Hernan Perez.That one was like a knuckleball. It went left to right, and at the last minute moved to the left again, said Perez, playing only his fifth game in center field this season.Delino DeShields came on as a pinch-runner, and after Mitch Moreland walked against Corey Knebel (1-4), he scored the tying run when EElvis Andrus greeted reliever Tyler Thornburg with a single to center.ddddddddddddRougned Odor also homered for the Rangers, his 32nd a two-run shot in the first that snapped an 0-for-22 slide and put Texas up 3-2.Look, hes going to hit. The swing is there, hes one of our main guys, Banister said. But some feel-good for him.SHORT HOPSBrewers second baseman Jonathan Villar hit Cole Hamels first pitch of the game into the stands for his 19th homer, and the Brewers scored in each of the first three innings to build a 5-3 lead. ... The Rangers got their 41st win from a reliever, matching the major league record set by the Dodgers in 1953.HAMELS CONSISTENCYHamels, the All-Star lefty expected to start the Rangers playoff opener Oct. 6, allowed five runs (three earned) over seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Hamels has thrown 202 2/3 innings, exceeding 200 innings pitched in the regular season for the eighth time in his career, and the seventh year in a row -- which will be the longest active streak in the majors since Chicago White Sox right-hander James Shields (nine) and Seattles Felix Hernandez (eight) will not extend their streaks this season. Hamels has exactly 200 strikeouts , his fifth 200-strikeout season.TRAINERS ROOMRangers: Shin-Soo Choo (fractured left forearm) will return to Texas on Thursday and could play this weekend to determine if hes ready for the playoffs. He played seven innings in right field and made six plate appearances in an instructional league game Wednesday, his third day in a row playing in Arizona. He was 2 for 5 with a two-run homer and a walk.UP NEXTBrewers: Lefty Brent Suter, a Harvard graduate, starts Friday in the series opener at California. Since allowing four runs in 4 1/3 innings in an emergency start Aug. 19, Suter has pitched 12 1/3 scoreless innings over 12 relief appearances.Rangers: After Texas final day off of the regular season, Yu Darvish (6-5) makes his final start before the playoffs Friday in the opener of a three-game weekend series against Tampa Bay. ' ' '