Inland Waterways » says Paul Merson Higginbotham believes

PHOENIX -- Ever since A.J. Burnett found out he had a hernia, hes been at his best. Burnett gave Philadelphia a great finish to a good road trip, allowing five hits in eight sharp innings for his first win of the season, 2-0 over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Burnett has an 0.83 ERA in his three outings since he found out he had an inguinal hernia and decided he would forego surgery until the end of the season. "He said thats keeping him humble," catcher Wil Nieves said. "Instead of trying to throw hard, hes throwing nice and easy." "Hopefully, hell have the hernia all year," he kidded. Nieves, the backup to regular catcher Carlos Ruiz, also was Burnetts catcher two starts earlier when he gave up three hits in seven scoreless innings against Atlanta. Thats 15 straight scoreless innings for the pairing. "Man, hes fun to throw to," Burnett said. "He has that energy about him that fires you up and locks you in." Burnett (1-1) struck out seven with no walks and hit a batter. "When I got behind, I was able to make the pitch, whether it was a sinker or a curve ball," he said. "I mixed in one changeup today. ... When Im on, Im a two-pitch pitcher." Burnett has long since deserved a win. He allowed eight runs in his one bad start, five combined in the other five. "A.J. just doesnt get flustered with any men on base or anything," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said, "just pitches and battles and competes, maybe takes it up a notch, makes quality pitches." After beginning its 10-game trip with two messy losses in Colorado, Philadelphia won six of eight to return home a game above .500 (13-12). "A good W," Burnett said, "a happy flight." Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his eighth save and second in as many games, closing out Saturday nights 6-5 victory, a game that the Phillies won after trailing 5-0. On Sunday, chase Utley hit an RBI single in the first, then doubled and scored in the sixth while raising his batting average to .360. The Phillies took two of three from Arizona. Brandon McCarthy (0-5) struck out a career-high 12 in seven innings. He gave up both runs and seven hits. "He threw a heck of a game," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "It was his best game this year by far." Still, the Diamondbacks fell to 2-11 at Chase Field this season. Ben Revere opened the game with a single, stole second and scored when Utleys fly ball fell between left fielder Cody Ross and centre fielder A.J. Pollock for a single. Gibson said Ross got a bad break on the ball, thinking it was going deeper. McCarthy shut the Phillies down the next four innings. In the sixth, Utley led off with a double and scored when shortstop Chris Owings made a nice stop on Marlon Byrds grounder but threw wildly to third. Gibson blamed third baseman Martin Prado, saying he didnt get to the bag. The Diamondbacks had their chances. Pollock and Owings opened the fourth with singles, but McCarthy bunted into a force play. Martin Prado bounced into a double play that ended the innings. In the fourth, Burnett struck out the first two batters before hitting Miguel Montero in the left foot. Montero made it to third on Aaron Hills single but first baseman Ryan Howard caught Ross sharp grounder to end the threat. With one out in the third, Owings tripled over the head of Byrd. Burnett helped himself by snagging McCarthys sharp grounder, and Gerardo Parra flied out. Parra doubled with two outs in the eighth but Prado grounded out. Right after entering the game in the ninth, third baseman Freddy Galvis made a diving stop and threw out Paul Goldschmidt from his knees. NOTES: The Phillies Cody Asche struck out four times. ... McCarthys previous career best was 10 strikeouts, accomplished three times. ... Ruiz had the day off after hitting .393 on the trip with seven RBIs in eight games. ... Owings made a diving stab of Utleys line drive to start the fourth inning. ... The Phils open a two-game home series against the New York Mets on Tuesday night. LHP Cole Hamels (0-1, 3.00 ERA) starts for Philadelphia against LHP Jonathon Niese (1-2, 2.45) for New York. ... Arizonas homestand continues with a three-game series against Colorado, Wade Miley (2-2, 4.50) pitches for the Diamondbacks vs. Franklin Morales (2-1, 3.86) Monday. ... Goldschmidt was 0 for 4 in the game, 1 for 11 in the series. Cheap NFL Wholesale Jerseys . -- Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the Dodgers starting pitchers in their two-game season-opening series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Cheap NFL China Jerseys . Knapp defeated American Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5 to secure Italys victory in the best-of-five series. She held a 5-2 lead in the second set, only to let Riske tie it at five. http://www.nflmallwebsitecheap.com/.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes have activated defenceman Joni Pitkanen from injured reserve. Cheap NFL Stitched Jerseys .J. - Henrik Lundqvist has done more than set a couple of franchise records for the New York Rangers this week. Cheap NFL Nike Jerseys . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91.England would be better off starting with Harry Kane instead of Daniel Sturridge in Fridays World Cup Qualifier against Scotland, according to Danny Higginbotham. The Liverpool striker is expected to get the nod to lead the line for Gareth Southgates side at Wembley, but tactical expert Higginbotham believes Scotlands deep defensive line might make it difficult for him to use his pace.Daniel Sturridge is a fantastic player who likes to play on the shoulder of opposition defences, he told Sky Sports. The problem youre going to find is that the back four are going to be happy to play deep and narrow. The midfield are going to come tight and deep too. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just ￡6.99. No contract. What you are going to find then is that there isnt going to be the space for Sturridge to run into. It doesnt matter how quick you are, theres not going to be any space to expose the oppositions lack of pace, unless you get an early goal. Danny Higginbotham thinks Daniel Sturridge could struggle to find space Youre not going to shift that back four around too much and that becomes a bit of an issue because youll find a lot of players are grouped together with a lack of movement.ddddddddddddSouthgates apparent decision to start with Sturridge raised eyebrows in some quarters. The 27-year-old scored in Englands recent 2-0 win over Malta, but he is yet to net a Premier League goal this season having fallen down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp. Merse on England v Scotland England must put Scotland under pressure at Wembley, says Paul Merson Higginbotham believes Tottenhams Kane, who scored from the penalty spot on his return from injury against Arsenal at the weekend, could be better equipped to break Scotland down.What you see with Harry Kane is that hes quite happy to drop deep, said Higginbotham. The problem you then have as a centre-back is, do you go with him or do you not? If you dont then hes able to turn and look for the likes of Raheem Sterling and Theo Walcott. But if you go tight, then youre still leaving space between the centre-backs and full-backs. Thats why I think its key for Kane to play.Higginbotham also discusses how Wayne Rooney could help unlock Scotlands defence from midfield, and assesses Scotlands attacking options. Watch the video above to see his full analysis. Also See: Merse on England v Scotland Sturridge no risk, Rooney is Poppy action down to match chief VOTE: England or Scotland? ' ' '