Stars und Sternchen! » replacing a man like Defoe

HOUSTON -- With every swing and miss, this looked as if it might be the day Yu Darvish pitched a no-hitter against the overmatched Houston Astros. And then with one out in the eighth inning, Carlos Corporan ended Darvishs latest bid with a home run. Darvish once again neared perfection versus Houston, striking out a career-high 15 and permitting only one hit in eight innings as the Texas Rangers won 2-1 Monday for their season-high eighth straight victory. "A wins a win," Darvish said through a translator. "Im just glad I was a big part of this win." Texas won for the 13th time in 14 games and headed home atop the AL West. In early April, Darvish (12-5) was one out away from a perfect game at Minute Maid Park before Marwin Gonzalez singled between his legs. Darvish joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in team history to have more than one start of at least eight innings with one hit or less. Darvish became the first pitcher to have two no-hitters broken up in the eighth inning or later since it happened to Justin Verlander in 2011. Outfielder Alex Rios chased Corporans drive to the wall, but had to watch as it sailed about five rows into the stands. Darvish simply looked around, and then wiped his brow with his arm before preparing to throw his next pitch. "Well, Id like to see it happen of course," manager Ron Washington said. "But those are professional hitters over there, too, and Corporan caught one." Until the homer, Houstons lone runner came when rookie Jonathan Villar drew a two-out walk on a full count in the sixth. Texas catcher A.J. Pierzynski was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Ron Kulpa about a 2-2 breaking pitch he called low -- Pierzynski was tossed after Villar walked. "Was it a strike? I dont know," Pierzynski said. "Obviously I thought it was and Ron didnt, and I was upset we walked the guy and I said a bad word and I was ejected." Darvish was perplexed by the actions of his catcher. "When he got ejected, I thought, What is he doing?" Darvish said with a laugh. The two-time All-Star ace from Japan was sharp all game, retiring the last two batters in eighth and exiting after increasing his major league-leading strikeout total to 207. "He used everything today: slider, curveball, cutter, fastball," Washington said. "He moved it around, kept them off-balance. When they were looking for breaking balls he was throwing fastballs and cutters and when they were looking for cutters he was throwing breaking balls." "I was pretty locked in," he said. Darvish struck out 14 in four prior games this year, including his earlier gem at Houston. His 15 strikeouts on Monday matched his career-high from his professional career in Japan. He is 3-0 with a 1.52 ERA and 37 strikeouts in three starts in Houston this season, and is 4-1 with a 1.31 ERA and 50 strikeouts in five starts since returning from the disabled list. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his 35th save. The AL West-leading Rangers took a quick lead over the last-place Astros. With two outs in the first, Ian Kinsler and Adrian Beltre doubled and Pierzynski hit an RBI single off Brett Oberholtzer (2-1). Oberholtzer yielded seven hits and two runs with six strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings for his first loss in three major league starts. The Houston hitters had no such luck with Darvish. Darvish was strong from the start relying mostly on a four-seam fastball, sliders and a cutter against the Astros inexperienced lineup. "He doesnt just have control. This guy has command," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "He can throw every pitch the way he wants to throw it, even out of the strike zone. Which, when you have that kind of repertoire, youre going to be up against it." He struck out the side in the first inning before getting two fly outs and a ground out in the second. The 26-year-old righty fanned two each in the third and fourth innings, struck out the side in the fifth and the first batter of the sixth inning. His strikeout of Chris Carter to start the fifth was his 200th of the season, giving him a team record for fewest games (23) needed to reach the mark. In the sixth, Darvish started walking off the mound after his close pitch to Villar. Pierzynski also began heading to the dugout, but Kulpa said it missed. Pierzynski didnt like the call. After the walk, started yelling in Kulpas face and was quickly tossed. Geovany Soto took over at catcher. Darvish, a two-time MVP in Japan, flirted with perfection last Sept. 3, too, retiring the first 17 batters at Kansas City. NOTES: Injured Texas DH Lance Berkman is getting Monday off and will DH for Double-A Frisco on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be re-evaluate him after that. ... Neftali Feliz, who was expected to throw Saturday for Round Rock but did not pitch as a precaution because of mild right arm triceps tendinitis, has been shut down. Feliz has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery last year. ... Darvish set rookie franchise records for wins (16) and strikeouts (221) last season. He finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind winner Mike Trout and Oakland outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Cheap Air Max Plus Wholesale . Yet coming off consecutive series losses at St. Louis and Pittsburgh, Los Angeles needed some sort of spark as August approaches. The Dodgers found it in the ballpark of their biggest rival, and left the Bay Area in first place following an emphatic three-game swing. Wholesale Air Max Plus . While Minnesota takes aim at its eighth win of November, the Canadiens will try to post just their third victory in nine games this month. http://www.airmaxpluscheap.com/ . -- Crystal Webster avoided elimination at the 2013 Capital One Road to the Roar Olympic pre-trial curling tournament with an 8-5 win over Amber Holland on Thursday. Cheap Air Max Plus . The two-time former Formula One champion downplayed his third-place finish three weeks ago in China and said progress is going slow for Ferrari as it tries to make up ground on Mercedes. Air Max Plus Wholesale Online .Y. - Matt Harvey wants to make sure hes on the mound in late October — if the New York Mets get there for the first time since 2006.In the end Toronto FCs British Invasion Sale led them to Sunderland who bought their unwanted rubbish and threw some back of their own. Both sides left hoping one teams trash is another teams treasure. The events of the last few days mean that forever in Toronto FC history Jermain Defoe will always be linked with Jozy Altidore. It didnt have to be that way, of course. We now know that Defoe was wanted by a number of teams in the Premier League but ultimately his destination happened to be Sunderland, where an American striker stood on the sidelines desperate for a move elsewhere. Toronto FC looked at Altidore and decided he was the man to replace Defoe. It is a bold decision. The MLSE team can shop with deep pockets. Yes, they will have been burned by the Defoe experience but they have the resources to ensure they do all the work necessary to get the right player for a pivotal position. Their due diligence has brought them to a striker who they are investing in based on the not so recent past. Given the growing apathy towards a club synonymous with losing, you would have to think those running the club thought long and hard about this. This is a decision they have to get right, not only for their own jobs but also for the club long-term. Thats why the signing of Altidore is the most important acquisition this club has ever made. On the surface replacing a man like Defoe shouldnt be too difficult in Toronto. The Englishman never fully committed himself to the course in Major League Soccer and his relationship with the fans turned sour the moment they found him in England on transfer deadline day while the club were in the middle of a playoff push. Defoe made his bed and now he will have to lie in it when it comes to how he will be remembered around Toronto. Not that he will lose any sleep on it. The attention he has received at home since August will have flattered him and he returns to the league as a proven goalscorer at that level. The same can not be said for Altidore, who departs having scored just once for Sunderland in the Premier League. The 25-year-old rejoins Major League Soccer in the prime of his career and will be looked upon to take a franchise to a place Defoe couldnt. It is easy for our minds to brush aside Defoes time in North America and call it a bust, but as the attention now turns to Altidore, it is important to remember some of the challenges the team had with Defoe in it. The 32-year-old scored all of his 11 MLS goals in his first 13 league appearances. When he scored what was to be his final ever MLS goal, a penalty against Vancouver at home, he was netting at a rate of just over a goal every 100 minutes, a ratio rarely seen at this level and one that would see him score close to 30 league goals if he played a full season. Despite such accomplishments, he was playing in an unbalanced side that found it hard to create genuine scoring opportunities. They were a side that couldnt keep the ball and one that was forced to become more of a counter-attacking team because of it. Much of the supply to Defoe during his best times was putrid and a lot of his goals were born out of his own individual brilliance. This was a key reason in the firing of Ryan Nelsen. Greg Vanney was brought in but we were unable to see if he could changge that with Defoe, who was far from 100% when he returned and played just 210 minutes in three games.dddddddddddd By then the former Tottenham striker was a frustrated man. Hed still make the runs but still the passes didnt find him and more and more times his arms would go up in despair. Stuck in a 4-4-2 maze he was surrounded by players who couldnt help him unlock defences. Defoe has now gone, but many of those asked to provide him with service remain. Vanney will have spent much of the winter wondering how he can get the best out of them and a new one striker system is likely to be part of that plan. Altidore arrives as the key component atop of that. What becomes of fellow DP striker, Gilberto, remains to be seen but the clubs desire to get a playmaking number ten likely signals the end for the Brazilian, who was always linked with Nelsen anyway, after he used his contacts to sign the player last winter. Moving Gilberto on will be the best thing for Altidore, a player who blossoms as a lone front man in a 4-3-3 and who got his confidence at AZ Alkmaar in that formation as the main goalscorer at the club. I was given a great opportunity, which is kind of rare, he said of his time in the Netherlands. I came here and was basically told, Youre going to have your chance, and its yours to take. I never had that anywhere else. You always have to fight for your position -- youre never going to walk into a team -- but I was given a direct crack at it. For the second time in his career he is going to get that chance and thats why Toronto have spent the millions it has taken to bring him to Canada. The day Altidore packed his bag to head to Sunderland he was full of praise for his team in the Eredivisie. Thats the player Toronto FC hope they have now. A happy, easygoing forward, liked by his teammates, who scored goals regularly with both feet and his head. Much like the player, TFC will try to forget his struggles in the Premier League but they would be better off embracing it and learning from it. Unlike Defoe, this will not be a player who will score lots of goals on a bad team. Behind him he will need a cohesive group of five, in front of the back four, who will need to work on their service. Altidores American teammate, Michael Bradley, will be the true leader of that five and his role as a deep lying playmaker will be crucial but the form of whoever is alongside him centrally and the three in front of him will go along way to determining whether Altidore is indeed the right man for this team. A year ago why cant we be great became the title for a new chapter in the history of this club. MLS Cup predictions followed but once the games played themselves out, the sport itself laughed in the face of all the hyperbole. Lesson learned. The hype has stayed away in 2015 for the clubs latest big name signing and although this may not be labeled as a bloody big deal it should be described as its most important. What attention you have left from last season needs to be kept and momentum needs to build again. To stop the declining attendances that happened under past regimes, there cannot be another high-profile, expensive mistake. This time they have to get this right. The trash they found in Sunderland cannot become recycled trash in Toronto. 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