Inland Waterways » the shutout

ARLINGTON, Texas - Yu Darvish gave the injury-riddled Texas Rangers a nice send-off on an important road trip that includes all three teams above them in the AL West standings. The Japanese aces first complete game in the major leagues — a shutout, no less — still cant hide a sobering reality. The Rangers are eight games behind Oakland and dangerously close to last-place Houston, a 100-loss team for three years running. Texas just made its 20th move on the disabled list. Four first basemen are on the DL. Left-handed starter Martin Perez wont be back until sometime during the 2015 season. Matt Harrison, another lefty that was supposed to be in the rotation, may be finished for good. Somehow the Rangers will try to find a way to gain ground starting Friday night in visits to Seattle, division-leading Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels. "At some point, weve got to start getting blessed by the baseball gods," manager Ron Washington said. "But we have to make that happen. Theyre not just going to come down and say, OK, you all have been through enough misery. Im going to take you out of it. No, youve got to pull yourself out of your misery." The Rangers have actually done it once already. They started a challenging 11-game trip last month on the biggest downer of the season: news that first baseman Prince Fielder needed neck surgery and was finished for the year. Texas took three of four from AL Central-leading Detroit and ended up winning seven games, capped by Darvishs eight shutout innings in a 2-0 win at Washington. Fielders replacement is the problem this time, with Mitch Moreland finally giving in to the need for surgery on an ailing left ankle. The first report was he would miss three months, but now theres a chance he could opt for a procedure that will reduce his absence to four weeks. Regardless, the Rangers had to give Brad Snyder a crash course on playing first at Triple-A Round Rock, and he started the final two games of the last homestand. Jim Adduci figured to follow Moreland, but he rebroke his left pinkie finger near the end of a rehab assignment and will probably miss another month. The Rangers have used 40 players, and 10 are rookies. They have a majors-leading 14 players on the DL. "I think for a little while, the training staff was like hesitant to deliver some of this news to Wash or myself," general manager Jon Daniels said. "But I think theyve gotten over that unfortunately." With the rotation crumbling around him and the Rangers carrying an AL-worst 4.53 ERA, Darvish is on the best run of his three seasons in the majors. In his last six starts, he is 5-1 with a 1.51 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 47 2-3 innings. "Of course I get comfort with Darvish out there," Washington said before the right-hander ended a four-game losing streak in a 6-0 win over Miami. "Its not just Darvish. Darvish can go out there and pitch real well and if we dont score any runs, it wont matter." Reilly Smith Jersey . Dont miss a single shot, live on TSN beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Winners of their last eight games, the Heat return to Toronto for the second time in the month of November. After beginning the season 4-3, allowing 100.9 points on 47 per cent shooting, Miamis resurgent defence has vaulted them back to the top of a weak Eastern Conference. Nate Schmidt Jersey . Now he can be had by any team willing to pay his salary. According to a report from ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shopping the veteran CB and plan on releasing him Wednesday if they cant find a trade partner. http://www.officialgoldenknightspro.com/Jonathan-marchessault-golden-knights-jersey/ . Nine years later, he might have finally figured it out. He had only five rounds in the 60s in his previous eight trips. Custom Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys . Chris Johnson singled with two outs off left-hander Jerry Blevins (1-1), and Schafer pinch ran. With a 2-2 count, Schafer ran on the pitch and Upton dropped a single in front of Bryce Harper. Schafer already was rounding third when Schafer bobbled the ball. Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys . Louis Cardinals a hard-fought victory. The Colorado Rockies intentionally walked Yadier Molina with one out and runners on first and third to load the bases for Kozma.LONDON, Ont. -- The London Knights used a seven-goal second period to whip the Sarnia Sting 9-5 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Owen MacDonald, Michael McCarron and Nikita Zadorov scored twice for the Knights (38-12-5), who unleashed a 61-shot attack. Matt Rupert, Alex Basso and Josh Anderson each had a goal and an assist, while Zach Bell and Bo Horvat had three assists. Noah Bushnell had a pair for goals for the Sting (15-35-6), who dropped their ninth game in a row, and David Brown, Nikolay Goldobin and Vladislav Kodola had the others. Londons Jake Patterson made 28 saves for the win. Sarnias Taylor Dupuis stopped 52 shots in a losing cause. The Knights went 3 for 5 on the power play while the Sting scored twice on seven chances with the man advantage. --- OTTERS 3 COLTS 1 ERIE, Pa. -- Connor Brown set up the winner and then added an insurance goal into an empty net as the Otters beat Barrie for their third straight win. Dane Foxs goal 3:06 into the third period stood up as the winner for Erie (42-10-2) while Brendan Gaunce opened the scoring. Andrew Mangiapane scored for the Colts (28-23-3), who lost for the first time in four outings. Oscar Dansk made 19 saves for the Otters as Barries Daniel Gibl stopped 27-of-29 shots in defeat. --- ATTACK 4 FRONTENACS 0 KINGSTON, Ont. -- Kyle Platzer had a pair of goals and Brandon Hope turned away 22 shots as Owen Sound blanked the Frontenacs. Jeffrey Gilligan and Kurtis Gabriel also scored for the Attack (24-23-7), who halted a three-game slide. Mikko Vainonen was a team-worst minus-3 for Kingston (30-20-4), which lost for the first time in four contests. Lucas Peressini stopped 16-of-20 shots for the Frontenacs. --- STORM 5 GREYHOUNDS 3 SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. -- Justin Nichols made 39 saves as Guelph downed the Greyhounds for its fourth win in a row. Jason Dickinson, Justin Auger and Brock McGinn each had a goal and an assist for the Storm (42-9-3) while Zac Leslie and Pius Suter added single goals. Tyler GGaudet, Bryan Moore and Jean Dupuy scored for Sault Ste.dddddddddddd Marie (36-15-5). Matt Murray turned away 33-of-37 shots for the Greyhounds. --- SPIRIT 3 WHALERS 2 (SO) SAGINAW, Mich. -- Jesse Graham scored the winner in the ninth round of the shootout as the Spirit edged Plymouth. Jimmy Lodge and Dylan Sadowy scored in regulation for Saginaw (26-24-5), which halted a three-game losing streak. Zach Lorentz and Matt Mistele supplied the scoring for the Whalers (20-28-6). Jake Paterson made 27 saves for the Spirit while Plymouths Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots in defeat. --- RANGERS 5 STEELHEADS 0 KITCHENER, Ont. -- Logan Schmidt and Matia Marcantuoni scored 14 seconds apart in the second period as the Rangers blanked Mississauga. Kitcheners (20-32-2) Jordan DeKort only had to make 13 saves for the shutout while Mason Kohn, Doug Blaisdell and Ryan MacInnis also scored. Spencer Martin started in net for the Steelheads (21-31-4) but was pulled after allowing four goals on 26 shots. Chase Marchand took over to start the third period and stopped 15-of-16 shots. The Rangers went 1 for 4 on the power play while Mississauga went 0 for 1. --- SPITFIRES 6 WOLVES 3 SUDBURY, Ont. -- Sam Povorozniouk scored twice and Alex Fotinos made 39 saves as Windsor doubled up the Wolves. Ben Johnson had a goal and two assists for the Spitfires (34-19-2) and Remy Giftopoulos, Brady Vail and Ryan Foss each scored once. Sudbury (28-17-9) got goals from Nathan Cull, Trevor Carrick and Connor Crisp. Franky Palazzese kicked out 33-of-39 shots for the Wolves. --- GENERALS 6 67s 0 OSHAWA, Ont. -- Scott Laughton scored three times and set up one more and Ken Appleby made 20 saves as the Generals crushed Ottawa. Bradley Latour had a goal and three assists for Oshawa (35-15-5) and Josh Sterk and Dylan Smoskowitz had the others. Travis Konecny and Brendan Bell were both a team-worst minus-4 for the 67s (20-31-4). Ottawas Philippe Trudeau stopped 53-of-59 shots in defeat. ' ' '