Inland Waterways » Lester. They were

LISBON, Portugal -- Portugal coach Paulo Bento has quit because of poor results, including a 1-0 shock defeat against Albania. Bentos departure was by mutual agreement, and his replacement would be announced soon, the Portuguese Football Federation said in a statement on Thursday without elaborating. Bento took charge four years ago and steered Portugal to the 2012 European Championship semifinals. But at the World Cup in Brazil, the Portuguese disappointed. They exited in the first round, and last Sunday lost to visiting Albania in their first qualifier for Euro 2016. Portuguese fans jeered and waved white handkerchiefs after the Albania upset, and Bento was under fierce pressure to quit. Star striker Cristiano Ronaldo wasnt fully fit at the World Cup and sat out the Albania match. His absence left the Portuguese wanting in front of goal and looking average. Portugals next match in its Euro 2016 qualifying campaign is against Denmark on Oct. 14. Bento, aged 45 and a former Portugal midfielder, was one of Europes most inexperienced national coaches when he replaced Carlos Queiroz in September 2010, having coached only Sporting Lisbon in a top flight. Cheap Nike Free Uk .com) - Intrastate rivals collide Saturday as the Texas State Bobcats hit the road to take on the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns in a non-conference battle at Frank Erwin Center. Wholesale Nike Free . The 22-year-old slugger, who is no stranger to adversity, made up for it at the end. http://www.cheapnikefreeuk.com/ . -- Arizona coach Bruce Arians says there "were obviously very, very many problems" with the officiating in the Cardinals 24-21 loss at Philadelphia. Cheap Nike Free Online . Kyle Shanahan was hired as offensive co-ordinator Monday after spending the previous four years in the same role with the Washington Redskins. Cheap Nike Free Sale .J. -- The NHL reduced its penalty against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday for signing Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010.(SportsNetwork.com) - Its been 106 years since the Chicago Cubs have won a World Series. They may have taken a step toward ending that drought late Tuesday night, as the Cubs reportedly agreed to a 6-year, $155 million deal with left-hander Jon Lester, reuniting him with former general manager Theo Epstein. After missing out on Masahiro Tankaka last winter, there was no way the Cubs were going to miss out on another ace. Especially Lester. They were the one team in this whole process that never wavered. There were times we heard the Boston Red Sox were out, we had heard the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers were no longer options. Whether it was true or not, we never heard that about the Cubs. The only thing we ever heard on them was that they were the frontrunners to get him. And apparently they were. It just made so much sense. With all due respect to Max Scherzer, Lester was the best pitcher on the market. Hes a bulldog and he wins in October. If you are a team that is on the cusp of getting ready to compete, there is no better pitcher to have at the top of your rotation than Lester. The Cubs are coming. Youd be out of your mind to say the club is going to win a World Series, because, well, you know, after all they are the Cubs, but they are a heck of a lot closer now than they were yesterday. Lester was in the midst of another magnificent season for the Red Sox in 2014, but with the team out of contention and his pending free agent status, Boston sent him to the Oakland Athletics at the non-waiver trade deadline for slugger Yoenis Cespedes. Oakland may have struggled after the trade, but Lester certainly wasnt to blame, as he went 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA and was a key reason why the Athletics reached the American League Wild Card Game. Overall, Lester was 16-11 with a 2.46 ERA last season. Lesters real value, though, comes in the postseason, where he has established himself as one of the best big game pitchers in baseball. So, as the Cubs eye their first World Series title since 1908, they now have an ace who has won all three of his starts in the Fall Classic and has only surrendered one run in 21 innings of those contests. As big a winner as the Cubs are in all this, there may not be a team happier than the Philadelphia Phillies. Withh Lester off the board, Boston desperately needs a front of the line starter.dddddddddddd Scherzer doesnt make a whole lot of sense for them. If they werent going to go much higher money wise to bring Lester back, I cant imagine them getting into bed with Scherzer, who reportedly wants north of $200 million. Desperate times call for desperate measures, though. like the New York Yankees, you can never really count the BoSox out on anything, but the guy they are going to target is Phillies lefty Cole Hamels. The Red Sox were linked to Hamels right at the start of the offseason and they probably could have had him for a little more than a song and a dance. But everything has now changed. The Phillies know the Red Sox are desperate and now Boston general manager Ben Cherington is going to have to give up a player, or two, that he did not want to. Xander Bogaerts, Blake Swihart, Mookie Betts. They are all in play now. And dont forget Yoenis Cespedes either. Two of those guys may have to go in a deal to get it done. And Philadelphia should hold out for as much as it can. Thats what makes the Oakland Athletics deal of Jeff Samardzija even more puzzling. We all knew they were going to deal him, but how about they wait until Lester signs and maybe build up some sort of bidding war with the teams that missed out on him. I just dont know what the As are doing. They got nowhere near enough for Josh Donaldson, they traded an All-Star first baseman in Brandon Moss for a 25- year-old infielder who has never played above Double-A and that was all after they signed Billy Butler to a $30 million deal. Oh and the shortstop they got from the White Sox in the Samardzija deal is far less of a prospect than the one they surrendered in the original Samardzija trade. But Billy Beane is a genius, so we just have to nod our heads and accept what hes doing, right? Think about what you thought of the As the day after the Lester trade. Now think about where they are today. Lets put it this way, they are lucky the Houston Astros are in the AL West. But, if you have been paying attention, they may not be the doormat they have been in recent years. Lester, though, was the first domino to fall at these Winter Meetings. Maybe now well start to see some movement. 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