disk herniation, is scheduled to play catch Saturday. N

CALGARY -- Its a pivotal month for the Calgary Flames. General manager Jay Feaster has three first-round selections among his nine at the NHL entry draft June 30 in Newark, N.J. According to capgeek.com, Calgary currently has about $19 million in cap space -- $5.8 million more if goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff retires -- to work with when unrestricted free agency opens July 5. The Flames have not made the playoffs in four years, so there is considerable pressure on Feaster to maximize these opportunities and turn the team around. "I dont know that its feeling the pressure as much as it is recognizing the importance of it," Feaster said Friday at Scotiabank Saddledome. "The importance of this draft is not lost on the organization and it certainly isnt lost on the management of the organization." Calgary has the tools and the motivation to be a mover and a shaker both at the draft and in free agency. Other than the two teams currently involved in the Stanley Cup final, competition between NHL clubs moves off the ice into scouting and negotiations. Its no less intense, says Feaster. "Theres no question its big-time competition off the ice," Feaster said. "Yes, as a franchise, we have to win. "I feel very good about our preparedness level." Calgary has the No. 6 pick via the draft lottery as well as No. 22 and No. 28 from trading Jarome Iginla to Pittsburgh and Jay Bouwmeester to St. Louis this past season. "We have had extensive conversations with teams about moving up into the top five in the draft," Feaster said. "We at least know which teams are willing to do something and if they are, what it would take to do that, and also which teams are not willing to do that. "The one thing I believe with the pick at six, we want to get a player who has the opportunity to come in here right now and compete for a job. We really like this draft. We think at 22 and 28, were going to be happy with the players who are still on the board." This will be Feasters third draft as GM of the Flames. Calgary traded their 14th pick last year and dropped to No. 21 to gain a second-rounder. The Flames selected college centre Mark Jankowski in the first round and defenceman Patrick Sieloff at No. 42. Calgary chose left-winger Sven Baertschi at No. 13 in 2011. Baertschi had three goals and seven assists in 20 games for the Flames and spent the rest of the lockout-shortened season with their AHL team in Abbotsford, B.C. The Flames havent had multiple first-round picks since 1976, when the Flames took defenceman Dave Shand at No. 8 and forward Harold Phillipoff at No. 10 Calgarys current needs are size and talent at centre, more size on their third defensive pairing, plus a shooting right-winger to replace Iginla, Feaster said. "We have to get bigger and we have to get harder to play against," the GM said. Feaster fought the term "rebuild" as he traded away the teams captain and top defenceman during the season. He joked Friday that via "therapy" hes accepted that rebuilding is what Flames are doing. His intention, however, is to make that process as short and as painless as possible. "I dont think there is a quick fix," Feaster said. "We have to do a better job as an organization in drafting. We think that over the last three drafts or so, weve done a better job, but (theres) not enough players that are pushing through right now. We have to a better job developing players. Once we draft them, we do the right things to develop them. "We have to continue to add assets. We cant keep trading away high draft picks and trying for that solution that gets us through and gets us to the playoffs at the expense of the foundation." Feaster hinted hes willing to package current Flames into draft-day transactions. "When you finish where we have the last three, four years, our list of untouchable players is relatively small," he said. "No, I dont want to go into who those untouchables are." Kiprusoff, 36, has yet to announce his intentions for next season. The Finnish goaltender didnt waive his no-trade clause to join Iginla and Bouwmeester on the move. Kiprusoff has one year remaining on a contract that pays him $1.5 million in salary, but counts $5.8 million against the 2013-14 cap of $64.3 million. "I talked with him just this week," Feaster said. "Were going to continue to give him time. I think if we had to say You have to make a decision today Im not sure hes ready to play right now. "Weve made sure he knows well wait for him to be sure of what he wants to do." Feaster confirmed that defenceman Anton Babchuk and forward Roman Cervenka will play in the KHL next season. Both were eligible for unrestricted free agency. Cervenka had 20 points in 44 games in his one season in Calgary. Babchuk played just seven games in his third season as a Flame. Because of Calgarys cap space, Feaster was confident hell be able to re-sign restricted free agent forward Mikael Backlund and defenceman T.J. Brodie and Chris Butler. Backlund and Butler have the right to arbitration. Forwards Curtis Glencross and Alex Tanguay both suffered season-ending knee injuries in April and are now cleared to play, said Feaster. Cheap Adidas Shoes Australia . Galatasaray said in a statement on its website Monday that Mancini signed a three-year contract and will be paid 3.5 million euros for the upcoming season, with his salary upped to 4. Wholesale Adidas NMD Australia For Sale . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. http://www.clearancenmdaustralia.com/ .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. Wholesale NMD Australia . On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Cheap NMD Australia Free Shipping . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. LOS ANGELES -- Ivan Nova felt fortunate to be pitching in a big ballpark with Pittsburghs fielders behind him.Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer homered to lead Nova and the Pirates past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Friday night.The key to this game was our defense, said Nova, recently acquired from the Yankees. It was not one of the best games that Ive pitched. There were too many hits and its amazing they only had one run.Handed a three-run lead before he threw a pitch, Nova (2-0) has won both starts for the Pirates since they obtained him from New York at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. The right-hander scattered nine hits over 5 1/3 innings in his first outing against the Dodgers and improved to 9-6 overall this season.Theyre aggressive hitters and some of the balls they hit would have been out of an American League ballpark, Nova said.Los Angeles remained one game behind the first-place Giants in the NL West. San Francisco lost 5-2 to Baltimore.Pittsburgh opened a six-game West Coast swing and moved within a game of Miami for the second NL wild card.Nova twice struck out opposing pitcher Ross Stripling to end a rally. The new Pirates starter was replaced by Antonio Bastardo, who got the final two outs in the sixth. Felipe Rivero, Neftali Feliz, Juan Nicasio and Tony Watson followed and shut down the Dodgers.Watson came on with runners at the corners and retired Corey Seager for his fifth save.Dating to June 23, the Pirates bullpen has posted the lowest ERA (2.13) and best winning percentage 11-2 (.846) of any major league team.Everyone in the bullpen accepts their roles and pulls for one another, Bastardo said. It gives us confidence and were winning games.Stripling (3-4) started in place of Rich Hill, who remained on the disabled list with a middle finger blister on his pitching hand. After a rough first inning, Stripling retired 17 of 19 hitters but gave up five runs, including solo homers to McCutchen and Mercer.Those were probably the two worst pitches I made all night, Stripling said. They definitely punished me for them.McCutchen also made an outstanding, over-the-shoulder catch near the warning track in left-center in the second inning to take an extra-base hit away from Yasmani Grandal.McCutchen had a fantastic game. Im going to keep running him out there, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said.Los Angeles outfielder Josh Reddick robbed Josh Harrison of a home run when he reached over the low right-field wall to make a grab.Pittsburgh, which had lost eight of 10 road games, extendded its recent dominance of the Dodgers.dddddddddddd The Pirates have beaten Los Angeles in four of five games this season and improved their record to 14-4 against the Dodgers since the beginning of the 2014 season.Pittsburgh jumped on Stripling for four hits and three runs in the first. McCutchen and David Freese stroked RBI singles, and Mercers RBI fielders choice made it 3-0.Howie Kendricks two-out RBI single in the second cut the lead to 3-1. Kendrick finished with three hits.McCutchen continued his torrid hitting at Dodger Stadium with a third-inning solo shot, his 16th of the season. In his last seven games at Dodger Stadium, the slugger is 8 for 16 with four doubles and two home runs.I love Dodger Stadium and LA. Its Paradise, and the weather is always great, McCutchen said. When we come out here, I seem to get more down time and Im more relaxed.Mercer led off the seventh with his seventh homer of the season, upping Pittsburghs lead to 5-1.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: Pittsburgh C Francisco Cervelli is day to day after leaving Wednesdays game after four innings with left wrist discomfort. ... C Chris Stewart, on the DL since July 2 with left knee discomfort, is expected to begin a rehab assignment Friday with Double-A Altoona.Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw, on the 60-day DL with a mild disk herniation, is scheduled to play catch Saturday. No target date has been set for his return. ... RHP Joe Blanton was reinstated from the bereavement list, and the Dodgers optioned LHP Luis Avilan to Triple-A Oklahoma City. ... The Dodgers plan to activate LHP Brett Anderson (herniated disk surgery) off the DL in time to start Sundays series finale.CHARLIE HUSTLEDodgers 2B Chase Utley has 409 plate appearances this season without grounding into a double play, the most of any big leaguer. According to STATS, only one Dodgers player has completed an entire season with more plate appearances and zero GIDPs (current manager Dave Roberts in 2003, with 440 plate appearances).UP NEXTPirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-7) pitches Saturday. His last time out, Cole gave up four hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings and lost 7-3 to the Reds. He is 3-0 against the Dodgers in four career starts.Dodgers: RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-2) felt healthy during workouts this week and is expected to pitch Saturday. In his last outing, McCarthy went 3 2/3 innings, gave up two runs and walked five against Boston. ' ' '