Infos & Interessantes » Huddleston also brought in a 5-9,

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Yu Darvish did his part in the first of six straight games at home for the Texas Rangers against the two teams chasing them in the AL West.Now its Cole Hamels turn.Darvish struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings and Carlos Beltran homered among three hits, helping the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-3 on Monday night.The American League-leading Rangers dropped the Mariners into third place, a game behind Houston and 9 1/2 back of Texas.For the ninth straight time since the All-Star break, the lefty Hamels will follow Darvish in the rotation Tuesday night. The Rangers are 11-6 in those starts with five straight wins.I think its huge to have your one and two going back-to-back, manager Jeff Banister said. Yu set the table tonight with what he was capable of doing, really keeping their hitters off balance. Its a big plus to have those two guys at the front of the rotation for us.Darvish (5-3) easily outpitched fellow Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma for his third straight win, leaving to a standing ovation with a 6-1 lead in the seventh after throwing 110 pitches, the most since his return from Tommy John surgery.The Mariners tagged Darvish for two runs on Franklin Gutierrezs double off reliever Jake Diekman before Keone Kela struck out Nelson Cruz as the potential tying run.Sam Dyson struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 30th save, giving Texas 13 strikeouts.Seattle has lost six of seven and been held to one or no runs by CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees and Carlos Rodon of the White Sox. The lone win in that stretch -- a 3-1 victory -- came despite 14 strikeouts from Chicago ace Chris Sale, and thanks to Mariners ace Felix Hernandez.Its very good pitching. What are you going to say? Seattle manager Scott Servais said. When you catch the guys how were catching the rotations right now, its just where were at. Weve just got to continue to grind and hang in there.Beltran had a solo homer in the first and a double that was one of three straight run-scoring extra-base hits in a four-run third against Iwakuma (14-10), who lost his third straight start while matching his shortest outing of the season at three innings.Iwakuma allowed a season-high five runs for the fourth time.Two days removed from ending a career-worst 0-for-32 skid, Beltran had at least three hits for the first time since getting four against Oakland on Aug. 16, the day before the slump started.It was the third time Darvish and Iwakuma have faced each other in the majors, and Darvish has two wins. The Rangers have won his last five starts after losing the previous five straight.WHICH WAYS UP?Adrian Beltre jokingly turned his helmet backward as he came to the plate to face ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte in the fifth, drawing a big grin from the Seattle reliever, who said Beltre did the same thing when they faced each other for the first time last year. It must work for Beltre. The 37-year-old doubled against Venditte, just as he did last year. I think hes just trying to get some laughs, Venditte said.SHORT HOPSSeattle center fielder Leonys Martin, playing in his old home park, took a home run away from Ian Desmond with a leaping catch above the wall in right-center in the seventh. ... Carlos Gomez struck out three times and is 0 for 18 with 10 strikeouts since homering in his first at-bat for Texas. ... Mike Zunino had four strikeouts, three against Darvish. ... The Rangers released OF Drew Stubbs, who rejected an assignment to Triple-A Round Rock.TRAINERS ROOMRangers: The scheduled rehab start for RHP Colby Lewis (right lat muscle strain) with Double-A Frisco at Midland was rained out. He is likely to start Tuesday night in Frisco.UP NEXTMariners: LHP James Paxton (4-5, 3.63 ERA) makes his second start since returning from a left elbow injury after getting struck by a line drive.Rangers: LHP Hamels (14-4, 2.67) is tied with Tampa Bays Jake Odorizzi for the lowest ERA among AL starters since the All-Star break at 1.59. Custom Colorado Rockies Jerseys . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Custom Philadelphia Phillies Jerseys . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. http://www.customjerseysbaseball.com/ .In my heart and mind Im competing for India, luge competitor Shiva Keshavan told The Associated Press in an email interview. Every day Im flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. Discount Custom Baseball Jerseys . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Custom Miami Marlins Jerseys . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Olivia Nelson-Ododa was content building sand castles in the long-jump pit, oblivious to her mom and big brother running laps on the track.And then she wasnt.Barefoot, the 8-year-old Olivia ditched the sand castles to run with her mom, Heather, and Alonzo, who was 15. Of course, she couldnt keep pace.She lapped us more than once, said Heather, still amazed by the memory. She just came out of nowhere and passed us by. Pretty soon, [Alonzo] got tired, but she kept sprinting.Her brother, by the way, is 6-foot-9 and 235 pounds. He just finished his collegiate basketball career at the University of Pittsburgh.Their father, Sebastian, who is 6-7?, is a native of Kenya who played basketball for Huntington University and for the Kenyan national team.We attributed Olivias ability to run fast and barefoot to Sebastian being from Kenya, Heather said.Kenya has a proud tradition in long-distance running. Sebastian attributed it to Olivia eating Ugali (a cornmeal-based dish popular in Kenya and other African nations).Seven years after that day on the track, Olivia, 15, is still leaving her competition in the dust, although its now on the basketball court.She is in Zaragoza, Spain, representing Team USA in the U17 world championships.Playing for Team USA means everything to me, Nelson-Ododa said from Spain, her first trip abroad. Ive worked really hard for this opportunity. And now that its here, Im so excited.A 6-foot-4 forward, Nelson-Ododa is the No. 13 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Terrific 25 for the 2018 class. She averaged 16.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.2 blocks as a sophomore this past season for Winder-Barrow (Winder, Georgia), making first-team Class 5A All-State.She can handle the ball like a guard -- right hand, left hand, between the legs, behind the back, Winder-Barrow coach Brandon Thomas said. She has amazing agility and skill level for someone her size.That was evident in a state semifinal this past season against Brunswick. Nelson-Ododa had 29 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks, leading Winder-Barrow to a 65-52 win and the first girls basketball state final in the 60-year history of the school.The Bulldogs lost the state final 49-48 to powerhouse Southwest DeKalb. Nelson-Ododa had 13 points and 19 rebounds. Her team was doomed by 27 turnovers, but the Bulldogs graduated just one senior from their rotation.This was the Bulldogs first trip to the 32-team state tournament in 22 years, and Nelson-Ododas carefree spirit helped define their run.On the morning of their first game, assistant coach Kimberly Garren went to get Nelson-Ododa, only to find her star player shooting 3-pointers in the school gym wearing a Snuggie adorned with a bears head.And when Garren laughed and snapped a quick photo, the teams third ritual was born.A spaghetti dinner the night before games, new T-shirts made up before each round and a goofy photo of Nelson-Ododa (the selections include one on a swing, another in a bumper car and another in a 4-foot-tall dollhouse).Nelson-Ododas mother said she could barely stop laughing when she saw the first photo of her daughter in a Snuggie that fit three years ago but now only came up to her knees.She said she wanted to be comfortable for the three-hour bus ride [to the game], Heather said. For her to be so relaxed and self-assured before a biig game was great.ddddddddddddThen again, sports have always come easy to Nelson-Ododa -- no need to stress.Track and field was never a serious consideration, although she did win an eighth-grade county championship, with little practice, in the high jump.When she was 6, she attended a University of Georgia womens basketball game with her family. Her parents had no idea she was absorbing the game so thoroughly until they found out she had memorized all the players names and positions.The next year, she asked for season tickets for Christmas.Basketball has always been her passion. And although she has that goofy side -- she once used a toe-print instead of a fingerprint to access her phone -- Nelson-Ododa is fiercely serious about her sport.For six weeks prior to USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs, Nelson-Ododa took her training to new heights. Among other things, she trained with an elevation mask that restricted her oxygen intake and prepared her for Colorados thin air.Matt Huddleston, her AAU coach, also brought in training partner Kelley Cain, a 6-6, 220-pound professional center who played in Poland this past season and has appeared in the WNBA, as well as leagues in Italy, South Korea and Turkey.Cain, who is 12 years older and 70 pounds heavier than Nelson-Ododa, said she was impressed.As good as she is now, she has potential to get even better, Cain said. Whenever we showed her something, she picked it up in one second.She doesnt realize she is decently strong, and she still hasnt figured out how to use her height. I looked her dead in the eyes, and Im 6-6, so I think shes taller than 6-4.Nelson-Ododa, who has a 3.8 GPA and aspires to be a surgeon, hasnt come up with a list of college finalists yet, but she said she likes South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio State, Georgia Tech and Georgia so far.Cain said Nelson-Ododa is one of the sweetest girls you will ever meet, but she is competitive, too.I blocked her shot a few times, Cain said. That was to help her learn that there are women out there who are her size. But it also taught her that if she can score on me, she can score on just about anyone.In addition to having her work against Cain, Huddleston also brought in a 5-9, ultra-quick male player to give Nelson-Ododa experience at defending a skilled perimeter scorer.The young man we brought in to work with her has been on the mens practice squad for the [WNBA] Atlanta Dream. He pushed Olivia to work on her ball handling and her ability to attack the rim from the perimeter.All of that work has paid off. Through Team USAs first five games, Nelson-Ododa is averaging 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds. She is shooting a team-high 56 percent from the field. Team USA plays Australia Friday in the semifinals. The medal games are scheduled for Saturday.Shes a walking legend in our school, Garren said. Shes the best player ever on our campus. Yet shes very humble, and her teammates love her.We were in a summer tournament [last week] in South Carolina, traveling in a van, and every time I looked up, the girls were Face-timing Olivia from Spain.The girls are very happy for Olivia. And Olivia deserves this -- she has worked her butt off. ' ' '