Liebe, Lust und Leben » themselves unbeaten in three straight

CINCINNATI --?Chicago Cubs?All-Star left-hander Jon Lester laid down the gauntlet for his team come later this month after pitching in his regular-season finale Saturday:Some 100-plus wins are nice, but theyll mean little if October doesnt go the Cubs way.This season isnt anything unless we do what we showed up at spring training to do -- win a World Series, Lester said after failing to win his 20th game in a 7-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. I dont want to sound like an a--h--- or anything, but we really havent done anything yet.Its been over a century since the Cubs (102-58) have won this many regular-season games, but its been even longer since theyve won a World Series. Lester wants to make sure the team has its eyes on the prize.This is the real season now, he said. You play 162 to get to now.After Sundays finale, the Cubs will have four days off before their playoff run begins at Wrigley Field on Friday. It will mark three weeks to the day they celebrated clinching the National League Central, meaning they havent played any intense baseball in quite a while.Those four days off are manager Joe Maddons biggest concern.For me, mission accomplished these last 10 days or whatever its been, Maddon said in regards to his players staying sharp. Its not about this [now] -- its about the four days off.Lester thinks the same attitude the Cubs have displayed all season will come in handy at the most important time of the year.The big thing with this team is were consistent, he said. We show up every day to play. Thats huge, especially with the young group that we have. Thats hard to do. Thats a hard thing to learn at a young age. These guys do it.Lester likely will be the division series Game 1 starter Friday, so hell have a big say in what transpires in the coming weeks, though Saturdays game could have conceivably cost him the Cy Young Award. He missed out on win No. 20 while seeing his ERA rise to 2.44.For whatever reason, just fighting myself today, Lester said after giving up five runs in five innings. Ill look at it, and if there are adjustments to be made, Ill work on it next week.It was one of the few bad starts in the second half for Lester (19-5), who held opposing hitters to an .085 batting average with runners in scoring position.This one was pretty special on a personal level, he said. It will probably go down as one of the better years of my career.But it wont be complete without a championship -- Lester made that abundantly clear.Can the Cubs break the drought? The left-hander is banking on it.Its go time, Lester said. Now we have to live up to the expectations and hype. Vapormax Til Salg . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. Vapormax Hvit Herre Norge .com) - Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer were easy first-round winners Tuesday at the Australian Open. http://www.vapormaxnorge.com/vapormax-herre-norge.html . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Nike Sko Vapormax .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. Vapormax Flyknit Dame Norge . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Has some of the shine come off of Ronald Koemans start as Everton manager?The Dutchman was pushing all the right buttons early in the season, but now faces a challenge to get his side back to their winning ways. His next opportunity to do so comes Sunday when the Toffees welcome West Ham United to Goodison Park.After starting the campaign unbeaten in their first five matches, the wheels have fallen off a bit on the blue half of Merseyside with the club winless in four straight. Everton (4-3-2) havent claimed a full three points since a 3-1 win over promoted side Middlesbrough back on Sept. 17.The Toffees enter the weekend sixth in the table with 15 points.Its not about our last five games, its not about the first six, its not about winning or losing, its an overview of what has happened and that we want to change, Koeman added. Of course, we know if you dont win in the Premier League then every time you play you come closer to a must-win game.I think we need to turn it around but it happens in football. Im prepared to get in tough times and also prepared for how we started the season, because thats football.Last weeks 2-1 defeat at the hands of Burnley materialised in the worst possible fashion. After the hosts opened the scoring in the 39th minute at Turf Moor, Yannick Bolasie equalised in the 58th. Everton dominated play most of the second half, but Scott Arfield fired home the stoppage-time winner, thus sending Koemans boys home shockingly disappointed.Koeman, though, believed the final score was an unfair reflection of the game.I mentioned to the players that we had a good start, he said. Maybe we dropped a little bit too much in the last 20 minutes of the first half, but it was an unlucky goal to concede.We had a good reaction in the second half. It was with much more intensity, we created more and were more dangerous. We scored a good goal and you expect to win the game, but then what happened in the last mminute was hard to take.dddddddddddd It was unfair with what happened on the pitch.Despite the recent dip in form, striker Romelu Lukaku continues to be a bright spot. Entering this weekends action, the Belgian international has netted six goals -- second only to Chelseas Diego Costa.On the injury front, left-back Leighton Baines and midfielder James McCarthy have been ruled out. Baines has missed the last five matches with a hamstring issue while McCarthy has picked up a similar problem.After starting the season with five defeats in their first six Premier League fixtures, West Ham United (3-1-5) have done well to bounce back a bit. Theyve found themselves unbeaten in three straight, including consecutive 1-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Sunderland each of the past two weeks.Winston Red netted the stoppage-time winner against Sunderland last weekend, and the Hammers were able to continue their form in midweek with an impressive 2-1 win over Chelsea in the EFL Cup. Theyll face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the quarterfinals next month.Goalkeeper Darren Randolph believes West Ham proved they are a match for anyone.We never seem to get the easy route in cup competitions, but its another trip to Old Trafford, where we went last season and put in some good performances, Randolph said.It was a good display for the whole game. Obviously to beat Chelsea as well was great. Everyone who came in did their jobs and it was a good win, and a good game for the neutral as well. Everybodys happy.The Hammers will need all hands on deck if they are to take points away from Goodison. West Ham manager Slaven Bilic believes he should have a full squad.Its a big game, Bilic said. We played a very demanding game physically and psychologically on (against Chelsea) and we have a few knocks and all that. ' ' '