Infos & Interessantes » NA LCS finals were when they either replaced

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Ross Wolf was thinking about retirement while languishing in the minor leagues for a third straight year. The Texas Rangers right-hander will probably reconsider now. Wolf pitched five strong innings for his first big league win in his first start in the majors, David Murphy and Adrian Beltre homered in a three-run first inning, and the Rangers avoided a sweep with a 3-1 victory against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. The 30-year-old Wolf came up from Triple-A Round Rock for a spot start after the Rangers scratched rookie Nick Tepesch because of a blister. He beamed in front of the cameras afterward and said "awesome" a lot after escaping trouble in the fourth and fifth and getting a big boost from Neal Cotts when he was replaced in the sixth. A year ago, Wolf (1-0) had a pregnant wife on bed rest and a boy who missed him at home while be bounced between Double-A Frisco and Round Rock in the Texas farm system. He spent 2011 in the Houston organization after refusing a minor league assignment with Oakland at the end of the 2010 season. "It tests your patience," said Wolf, who was making his first big league appearance since Oct. 1, 2010, as a reliever for the As. "My wife gets a lot of the credit. She told me to stick with it, and thank God I did." Cotts, pitching a day after getting three outs on six pitches in his game in the majors since May 25, 2009, struck out the side when he came on for Wolf with two runners on and no outs in the sixth. The left-hander whose best season came with the Chicago White Sox when they won the World Series in 2005 escaped trouble again in the seventh, getting Adam Rosales on a lineout and Coco Crisp on a foul pop with a runner at third. "He may have been here in Texas a short time, but he hasnt been at the major league level being successful for a short time," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Hes throwing the ball the way I remember him throwing with Chicago." Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save in 14 chances. Elvis Andrus snapped an 0-for-10 slump with a leadoff single in the first, and Murphy followed with a homer about 10 rows into the lower porch in right field. Two batters later, Beltre hit his 10th of the season halfway up the lawn in centre. Jarrod Parker (2-6) was down 3-0 just four batters into the game, but went seven innings for Oakland. The right-hander retired 11 of the next 12 Rangers after Beltres homer and allowed six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in seven innings. "He threw a couple of early-count heaters that they squared up," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "In the past, early in the season, that game gets away from him. It looks like hes more comfortable now." Wolf, who had 25 career relief appearances, retired the first nine hitters and gave up one run with three strikeouts and two walks in five-plus innings. It was the second time in three days a Texas pitcher has made his first major league start after previous stints as a reliever with other teams. Josh Lindblom lost to Oakland on Monday. "For him to come up and pitch against his old team and get his first big league win, its cool to stay you were a part of it," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. The As scored their only run on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Moss with runners at second and third and one in the fourth against Wolf, who was 1-2 with a 2.02 ERA in Round Rock, including a 1.85 ERA in six starts. Oakland, which had a five-game winning streak snapped, put runners at second and third with no outs in the fifth when Andrus made a sliding catch over his shoulder on a blooper into left from Eric Sogard. Wolf then got Rosales on an infield popup and Crisp on a grounder. "I think it meant everything to anyone thats in the game of baseball that have a dream," Washington said. "I think he did a great job of going through a hot team." Notes: Rangers RHP Cory Burns was optioned to Round Rock to make room for Wolf. ... Tepesch is scheduled to start Sunday at Seattle, and Yu Darvish will pitch the first game of a day-night doubleheader in Arizona on Monday. The second starter is undecided. ... As SS Jed Lowrie didnt start after getting hit by a pitch on his right foot Tuesday night. ... Oakland OF Josh Reddick (sprained right wrist) was eligible to come off the DL Wednesday and will join the team Friday in Houston for limited batting practice. Alex Goligoski Coyotes Jersey .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open. Derek Stepan Jersey . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. http://www.coyotesteamstoreonline.com/authentic-christian-dvorak-coyotes-jersey/ . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. Shane Doan Jersey . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Jason Demers Coyotes Jersey .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Zachary Sneaky Scuderi came to his semifinal postmatch interview holding a pink-colored bag from one of his fans, given to him during the fan signings following the series. He smiled as he stared at the assortment of gifts inside: a few snacks, candy, a handwritten note, and pictures of previous autograph sessions with the rest of his Cloud9 teammates. It was a reminder that, regardless of how long it took to get back to the North American League of Legends Championship Series (NA LCS) finals, C9 and Sneaky always had a loyal fanbase behind them.With the teams narrow victory over the regular seasons second-place squad, Immortals, the two-time champions have made it back to their fifth finals after a yearlong hiatus. Gone is esteemed captain Hai Hai Lam and his sharp shotcalling, but in his place is a team of five that have come together as one to work toward the ultimate goal: the world championship. They might have gone about it differently than they had in the old days, but C9 are just one step away from reaching that goal and a shot at the Summoners Cup.Weve improved an insane amount over the last three weeks, Sneaky told me, sitting down after putting away his gift. [We just improved on] everything: playing together as a team, making sure we can get vision control, not be in the wrong places, figuring out matchups so we can get ideal pick/bans.No one really knew what to expect from C9 at the beginning of the summer split. Although the team finished third in the spring split regular season, everything unraveled in the quarterfinals when the team failed to upend sixth-place Team SoloMid. The team decided to pull the trigger on acquiring former world champion Jung Impact Eon-yeong from NRG Esports while also bringing back William Meteos Hartman to fulfill the starting jungle duties.Were definitely getting closer, said Sneaky on his and the teams relationship with Impact. We have a translator named Robin that translates everything we say so he can really understand what were trying to talk to him about. I think if we didnt have a translator, it would be really hard, and we probably wouldnt be where we are now, just because we couldnt have the same conversations.Saturdays semifinal was a return of the top laner that once lifted the Summoners Cup in 2013 on SK Telecom T1. A selfless player since his early days as a support, Impact has been primarily in the background for large parts of the season while Sneaky and mid laner Nicolaj Jensen Jensen have been the core carries.Against Immortals, however, Impact proved why he was once considered to be possibly the greatest top laner on the planet, completely shutting down Heo Huni Seung-hoon en route to a series victory.dddddddddddd His calm demeanor and intelligent pressure against the offensively gifted but sometimes brazen Huni was the key to neutralizing Immortals greatest strength: its top and jungle combination between Huni and reigning MVP Kim Reignover Yeu-jin.The other major switch in the offseason was bringing back Meteos, and the old superstar jungler of North America rediscovered his swagger over the course of the series. While he was hit-or-miss in the first four games of the set, Meteos came through as the hero in the final climactic game where he outplayed Reignover to push his team to another finals.[Meteos] just really helped push the team forward, said Sneaky. He came back from the break, and I think he realized he really wanted to win. So hes been pushing the team as far as he can. He questions a lot of stuff to make sure that we know matchups. ... He pushed us a lot harder than we did in spring split. [In] spring split, I dont think we were complacent, but I didnt feel any push. It just felt like going into any normal split game versus [Team SoloMid] or something, but this time we practiced really hard, and I think it showed.Meteos has made it to the finals each time he has fully completed a season (this is his fifth). The only two seasons C9 failed to make the NA LCS finals were when they either replaced Meteos in the middle of the season (summer 15) or when he didnt play at all (last split). If TSM can outduel rivals Counter Logic Gaming in the other semifinal later on Sunday, Meteos will face TSM in the finals for the fifth straight time. The current record between the clubs is 2-2.If Sneakys prediction is any indication, Meteos and the rest of C9 will have the opportunity to break the deadlock.I think TSM is going to win, he answered when asked which team he favored in the second semifinal. Pretty sure, Id give it like an 80%. But CLG has pulled through a bunch of random times, like every single time during the finals as of recent. I think the biggest one was last year in summer. I was like, Oh, this is obvious, TSM wins, but CLG 3-0ed and I was like, Huh, thats weird. So I could see them winning, but TSM has been looking stronger for sure across the whole split, and even in scrims CLGs doing a pretty good amount worse than TSM is.CLG, TSM, whoever it is, for Sneaky and Cloud9, it doesnt matter. Regardless of which team meets C9 in the NA LCS Finals in Toronto, the Saturday semifinal confirmed one thing:Cloud9 is back. ' ' '