Walking Dead. No matter how much you like each one, it takes ti

MINNEAPOLIS -- White Sox manager Robin Ventura approached Jose Abreu at his locker following Sundays tight victory over the Twins, and the two shared a joke.It was a moment of levity at the end of a stressful day.Abreu hit two three-run homers and drove in a career-best seven runs, and Chicago used Tim Andersons two-run double in the 12th inning to beat Minnesota 13-11 for a split of their four-game series.I will say that this is my best moment of this season, Abreu said.Abreu, Anderson and Melky Cabrera had three hits apiece, helping the White Sox overcome four homers for Minnesota. The teams combined for 18 homers in the series.Abreu fell one shy of the franchise record of eight RBI in a game, a mark shared by three people, including Ventura.We were joking about the RBI, our record that he owns, Abreu said through a translator. I was one short, but we were all joking about it.While Abreu delivered another impressive performance, Anderson had the biggest hit of the day. With one out and runners on second and third in the 12th, the rookie doubled to deep left against Pat Dean (1-6).Juan Minaya (1-0) earned his first major league win. He pitched a scoreless 11th but walked the first two batters in the 12th. Tommy Kahnle then came in and earned his third career save, retiring Eddie Rosario with the bases loaded for the final out.Im not going to tell you what was going through my mind, Ventura said of Minnesotas threat in the 12th. But theyre not easy.Byron Buxton hit his first career grand slam for Minnesota, and Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano and John Ryan Murphy also went deep. The Twins hit 11 homers in the four-game set.To have an offensive day like that, and to really have the guys you want in the game at the end with a chance, Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said of the frustrating pitching performance. I dont know how many of those weve had that would rank up there with that one.Abreu opened the scoring with a three-run shot in the first. He added an RBI single in the fifth and another three-run drive in the seventh, trimming Minnesotas lead to 9-7.Abreu is batting .370 with 11 homers and 30 RBI in his past 31 games.Hes swinging it, this is what you really expect out of him, Ventura said. I know that its pretty free and easy right now. But even the home runs, thats really more indicative of him. Right now hes feeling pretty good about it, sitting in the middle of our lineup driving in some runs.Buxton had three hits, and Dozier connected for his 35th homer. Sano hit his 22nd and Murphy added his first for the Twins after being recalled a day earlier.TRAILING ONLY KILLEBREWDozier leads the majors with 21 homers since the All-Star break. He has the most home runs of any Twins player since Josh Willingham also hit 35 in 2012.Only Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew has hit more homers in a single season in Twins history.Dont be putting me in Killebrews, in a sentence with him, Dozier said. Thats pretty cool. Weve still got a little ways to go, but thats pretty cool.UP NEXTWhite Sox: Chris Sale (15-7, 3.10 ERA) starts Monday against the Detroit Tigers, who counter with Justin Verlander (14-7, 3.30 ERA). Sale is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings in four starts against Detroit this season. Verlander has allowed more than two runs just once in his past 12 starts.Twins: Molitor said rookie right-hander Jose Berrios (2-4, 9.24 ERA) will be called up to start Monday against Kansas City. The Royals counter with RHP Ian Kennedy (9-9, 3.66 ERA). Nike Air Max Sale Uk . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Nike Air Max Uk Sale Online .Y. - Jerome Samson scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the St. http://www.wholesaleukairmax.com/ . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. Cheap Nike Air Max Uk Sale . The Canadian squad, skipped by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, got on the board first with two in the second end, and followed that with two more apiece in the fourth and sixth ends. Cheap Nike Air Max Uk Store . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Shortly after Ashton Eaton won his second straight Olympic gold medal in decathlon Thursday night, Usain Bolt earned his eighth gold by winning the 200 meter run. Bolt received enormous applause and attention, and deservedly so, because that was an amazing accomplishment. But Bolt had to run only 200 meters to win. He didnt have to also run 1,500 meters. And throw a discus, a shot put and a javelin. And attempt the pole vault, either. Or jump as long and high as possible. Or compete in 10 different events in just two days.I know, right? Exactly, U.S. decathlete Jeremy Taiwo said. You need to be skilled at so many things in the decathlon. I know the Greeks really valued that.We should value the decathlon more, as well. Just as we used to.Decathlon champions were first regarded as the worlds greatest athlete when Swedens king bestowed that honor on Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. Eaton earned that title at the 2012 Olympics and he retained it with an Olympic record-tying mark of 8,893 points Thursday to join Bob Mathias and Daley Thompson as the only three decathletes to win two Olympic golds.I am proud to be part of the decathlon family, Eaton said.Unfortunately, far fewer people know his name than they did in the old days when the champ was a nationally known hero, such as Bruce Jenner.He is nowhere near that. Isnt that incredible? Taiwo said. I dont really know how to get it trending for Ashton to be acknowledged by more of the world that hes the best athlete in the world. Because he is. Its one of those things where its like, Huh? I feel he should get more recognition because hes been so awesome and so dominant. Just like Bolt.Bolt and Justin Gatlin complained about having to run the 100 twice Sunday with little more than an hour break. Sure, it slowed their times in the final race, but cmon. Compare that to the decathletes.After finishing their first five events Wednesday around 10 p.m., the decathletes had to get up early Thursday, run the 110 hurdles at 9:30 a.m. and throw the discus an hour later. Then they had to pole vault a little later in the afternoon, throw the javelin in the evening and run the 1,500 roughly two hours later. No wonder most of the competitors collapssed to the track at the end of the race.ddddddddddddThe decathlon is never an easy walk-through, Eaton said.No kidding. Eaton said he got six hours sleep Wednesday night and Taiwo said he didnt get any shut-eye.When competing in the decathlon, Eaton said he is also watching the other athletes. And I think, How are they doing this? I almost separate myself from them. Watching Kevin Mayer fly down the pole vault runway at 4 p.m. after throwing the discus and knowing what it feels like. Watching Damian Warner after racing in the hurdles in the morning and thinking, I know how that feels.Its amazing to sit and watch and knowing what it takes to go through it.So why are the decathlon champions no longer as famous as they were? Why do they not get the attention others do?Part of the reason for the decline is ever-shortening attention spans. French silver medalist Kevin Mayer said that people love the 100 meter dash because it is over so quickly. Watching all 10 decathlon events is almost as long a process as sitting through every episode of The Walking Dead. No matter how much you like each one, it takes time.Canadian bronze medalist Damian Warner said another problem is people compare them to the top athletes in specific disciplines and are unimpressed when decathletes dont match their marks.Its not very special for them to see us running the 1,500 in 4:20 and see us on the ground dying afterward, Warner said. What people dont understand is we have a very small amount of time to do these events and were doing 10 different events. People needto? see how tough it is. Once people see how tough it is, they get a lot more excited. Once people have done the decathlon, they just love it.Few people will ever attempt the decathlon or even some of its events. But we still should pay more attention to it. And be as familiar with the champion as we once were.Eaton highly praised Bolt and said he was happy just to be in the same pages of the Olympic book as him. With two gold medals in the most difficult sport, Eaton should be on the front page and in the forefront of our memories of these Olympics. ' ' '