Regeln » eighth championship

After rain washed out Thursday’s scheduled series opener Bryan Shaw Colorado Rockies Jersey , the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox will play a day-night doubleheader on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field to kick off a four-game series.

The A’s will go for their season-high fifth win in a row when they finally take the field on Chicago’s South Side.

Oakland (38-36) has won four straight games on four occasions this season, including its current stretch, but has yet to make it five. The A’s have outscored opponents 28-15 during this week’s streak, which includes two wins apiece against the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres.

A’s hitters slugged five homers in a 12-4 rout of the Padres on Wednesday. The team already has four players with double-digit blasts including Khris Davis (20), Matt Olson (15), Jed Lowrie (11) and the injured Matt Chapman (10).

“We definitely have some power,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told the A’s official website. “That’s one of the strengths of the team.”

As Oakland is riding a hot streak, Chicago (24-49) is mired in a seven-game losing streak. A loss in the series opener would give the White Sox their worst skid of the season, which is saying something considering the club’s ugly record.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria’s club has been swept in its last two series, against the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians. In Wednesday’s series finale, Chicago managed only two hits in a 12-0 shutout loss to the Indians.

“It’s tough, but instead of getting frustrated Jordan Whitehead Color Rush Jersey , we have to keep working, use that feeling to work harder,” White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada told the team’s official website. “There are still plenty of games to play, and we can improve. We can keep getting better, and if it is not this year, then next year. But definitely the games we have this year, we have a chance to improve.”

The White Sox will turn to right-hander James Shields (2-8, 4.63 ERA) in the first game of the twin bill. The 36-year-old has pitched at least six innings in 11 consecutive starts as part of a bounce-back season atop the club’s rotation.

In his career against Oakland, Shields is 6-7 with a 4.86 ERA in 19 games (18 starts). He came in as a reliever in the 14th inning of a game against Oakland in April this season, and gave up two hits, two walks and the game-winning run in two-thirds of an inning.

The A’s will start the doubleheader with left-hander Sean Manaea (6-6, 3.56 ERA) Rasmus Dahlin Sabres Jersey , who grew up in Northwest Indiana, not far from Chicago. The 26-year-old is off to a good start this season with 19 walks and 68 strikeouts in 93 2/3 innings.

Manaea has never faced the White Sox in his career.

In the nightcap, White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (4-7, 7.19 ERA) will look to improve in his 15th start of the season. The former first-round pick of the Washington Nationals (No. 16 overall in 2012) has terrific potential but has been unable to produce consistent results in his first full season in Chicago.

Poor command has plagued Giolito, who has 45 walks in 71 1/3 innings. He also has hit 10 batters, which is tied for most in the majors along with Cole Hamels of the Texas Rangers and Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals.

This will mark the 23-year-old’s first career appearance against Oakland.

For the A’s, right-hander Chris Bassitt (0-2, 2.45 ERA) will make his third start of the season in the nightcap. The 29-year-old is seeking his first victory since Aug. 4, 2015, against the Baltimore Orioles.

Bassitt is quite familiar with the White Sox, who drafted him in the 16th round in 2011 and developed him in the minors. He went 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA in six appearances (five starts) as a rookie in Chicago in 2014.

Bassitt has faced the White Sox once in his career, giving up eight hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings on April 5 http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-dalton-schultz-jersey , 2016. He did not get a decision in Chicago’s 5-4 victory.

On Dec. 9, 2014, the White Sox shipped Bassitt, Marcus Semien, Josh Phegley and minor leaguer Rangel Ravelo to Oakland for Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa. The trade did not pan out as hoped for Chicago, which retained Samardzija for one underwhelming season before he signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.

This is the first series of the season between the teams. Last year, Oakland won the season series 5-1.

Third time was the charm for James Harden.

The Houston Rockets star was voted the NBA’s Most Valuable Player after twice being runner-up, beating out four-time winner LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Pelicans at the NBA Awards.

Harden joined Michael Jordan as the only players to average at least 20 points, eight assists, five rebounds and 1.7 steals in a season.

He led the league in scoring, 3-pointers and 50-point games with four while helping the Rockets to an NBA-leading 65 wins.

James didn’t attend the show in Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport amid frenzied speculation about his future. He has until Friday to tell the Cavaliers if he will pick up his $35.6 million option for next season or opt for free agency.

Harden, who is from Los Angeles http://www.broncosauthorizedshops.com/authentic-su_a-cravens-jersey , led his mother on stage before he accepted the trophy from Commissioner Adam Silver.

Dwane Casey won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award for his work with his former team, the Toronto Raptors. He was fired last month and has since become coach of the Detroit Pistons.

Casey led the Raptors to the No. 1 seed in the East for the first time in franchise history. Toronto won a team-record 59 games. Casey coached the East in the All-Star Game for the first time.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – Oscar Robertson commends the off-court activism of today’s NBA players, although the Hall of Famer wonders why more white athletes aren’t speaking out, too.

Robertson received the Lifetime Achievement Award from presenters Charles Barkley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the NBA Awards.

Robertson is the career leader in triple-doubles and was the first player to average one for a season. His antitrust case against the NBA also ushered in free agency for players, which Robertson said was his most important assist.

The 79-year-old former guard who starred at Crispus Attucks High in Indianapolis and in college at Cincinnati before going to the NBA said it’s time for players to speak out about politics and education, among other issues.

”But the only thing that really bothers me is where are the white athletes when this is happening?” he said backstage. ”This is not a black athlete problem. You see injustice in the world. It’s all around you.”

COLLEGE BASEBALL

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Game 1 of the College World Series finals between Arkansas and Oregon State was postponed until Tuesday night because of rain – just the latest in a line of delays caused by the weather this year.

”In my 16 years of being involved with this championship, this has been the most challenging College World Series as it relates to inclement weather,” NCAA director of championships and alliances Randy Buhr said.

Rain fell most of the day, and officials announced late in the afternoon that the game would be delayed. The decision to postpone came 90 minutes after the scheduled first pitch.

Arkansas (47-19) will start Blaine Knight (13-0) against Luke Heimlich (16-2) of Oregon State (53-11-1) on Tuesday.

COLLEGE SPORTS

CHICAGO (AP) – A federal appeals court has backed an NCAA rule requiring most football players who transfer schools to sit out a year.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a lower-court finding that NCAA transfer rules don’t violate U.S. antitrust laws.

Monday’s decision was in a lawsuit brought by a former punter for Northern Illinois University, Peter Deppe. The ruling focuses on a requirement that most Division I football players who transfer to another school must sit out a year.

Deppe’s lawyers argued the Indianapolis-based NCAA enforces the rule primarily to ensure transfers don’t hurt the quality of the football and thereby cut into lucrative revenues. They say that makes it an unreasonable restraint on trade.

But the 7th Circuit rejected that. Its unanimous opinion accepted the NCAA’s concern that easy player transfers would undermine ”the amateur character of college athletics.”

A statement from the NCAA welcomed the ruling Derrius Guice Color Rush Jersey , saying it was consistent with prior court rulings that recognize ”the NCAA’s ability to preserve college sports.”

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – UConn President Susan Herbst told Kevin Ollie she was upholding his firing because the former men’s basketball coach had a pattern of breaking NCAA rules and committed serious violations, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The school released the June 19 letter from Herbst to Ollie on Monday in response to open records requests from the AP and other news organizations.

Ollie has asserted that the violations which led to his firing in March were minimal and isolated.

Herbst denies that idea in the letter, writing that ”eventually even a series of `isolated’ or `de mimimis’ violations can become a pattern of non-compliance, which is what occurred in the Men’s Basketball program under your leadership.”

TENNIS

LONDON (AP) – Rafael Nadal is back at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, retaking the top spot from Roger Federer after just one week.

Monday’s new order is the sixth change of the year at No. 1, the most since there were eight in 1999.

The record is 10 switches at No. 1 in 1983.

Federer still is expected to be seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon, where he won his record eighth championship a year ago. The grass-court Grand Slam tournament’s seedings are scheduled to be announced Wednesday. Play begins next week.

Nadal holds a 50-point edge over Federer in the rankings and will hold onto No. 1 for at least the next three weeks.