Termine » playing, and hopefully beating, a team like Ariz

SAN DIEGO -- No matter the names, the AL dominates the All-Star Game in the 21st Century and starts the World Series at home.Back in 2003, when a This Time It Counts sign was put up in right at Chicagos U.S. Cellular Field, the stars included Roger Clemens and Hank Blalock. This year, the key names were baseball Royalty: Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez.And because they came up big Tuesday night, Kansas City would open the World Series at home again if it wins a third straight AL pennant -- a big if.It just brings that sense of comfort to the team and gives you a jump-start for the whole Series, Hosmer said after homering, driving in two runs and earning the MVP Award in the American Leagues 4-2 win over the Nationals.The Game 1 Series host has won six of the last seven titles and 24 of the last 30.I would have loved to have that seventh game last year in San Francisco, manager Dusty Baker said in 2003, thinking back to when his Giants lost Game 7 at Anaheim the previous fall.Home teams have taken a 2-0 Series lead in six of the last 13 years. No visiting team has won the first two games since the 1999 New York Yankees, who swept Atlanta.Hopefully this is something we can all rally upon for the second half and find a way to use that home-field advantage, Hosmer saidHosmer and Perez homered in a six-pitch span, and the Kansas City duo drove in all the ALs runs. The defending World Series champion Royals are languishing at 45-43, seven games off the AL Central lead and in the middle of the wild-card race.Before the game, Royals manager Ned Yost told the AL team of the importance of earning home-field.We dont know who is going to be in the World Series. We dont know who is going to be representing the American League, but we know how much that home-field advantage helped us, Hosmer recalled his manager saying.The AL cut its deficit to 43-42 with two ties -- including the infamous 7-7, 11-inning game at Milwaukee in 2002 that sparked baseball officials to link Series home field to the All-Stars the following year.After two decades of NL domination starting in the early 1960s -- 20 wins in 21 games -- the AL has nearly caught up. The NLs scoring lead is just 360-359.Even the three NL players who became All-Star MVPs in the last 13 years now play for the AL -- Prince Fielder, Brian McCann and Melky Cabrera.Of course, home-field isnt everything. Speaking in 2005, then-Cardinals manager Tony La Russa thought back to Bostons Series sweep the previous year.I think that if we had started the series in St. Louis, he said, maybe we would have lost in five. Tiger Williams Jersey . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Robyn Regehr Jersey . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. http://www.wholesalelosangeleskingsjerseys.com/ . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Jake Muzzin Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Jeff Carter Jersey . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. Arizona has played an aggressive and demanding road schedule in the early part of the 2016-17 campaign, with games in Hawaii, Missouri, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. That road grind continues Saturday when the 19th-ranked Wildcats battle Texas A&M on Saturday in the first game of the Lone Star Shootout at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.Former Southwest Conference rivals Texas and Arkansas play in the second game of the showcase.Arizona is 9-2, with both of its losses coming in neutral-site games (against Butler in the Las Vegas Invitational and against eighth-ranked Gonzaga in the Hoophall LA in Los Angeles). The Wildcats also defeated 12th-ranked Michigan State in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu and beat Santa Clara in Las Vegas in their other neutral-site games and even tossed in a true road game win on Dec. 10 at Missouri.The matchup with Texas A&M will mark just the second time in 15 seasons that the Wildcats will face two Southeastern Conference opponents in the same year. Arizonas 2011-12 squad faced Mississippi State in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic before playing at Florida three weeks later.Saturdays game against the Aggies will be Arizonas final game prior to the demanding Pac-12 Conference schedule.Arizona outlasted Grand Canyon 64-54 on Wednesday in Tucson as Kobi Simmons scored 13 points and Lauri Markkanen and Rawle Alkins each had 11 points and eight rebounds. All three of those players are freshmen, making Arizona one of only two programs in the nation (Auburn is the other) to have its top three scorers all be freshmen averaging at least 10 points per game.The Wildcats had 19 turnovers in the victory, with 10 of those coming from their three post players.It was a very physical, hard-fought game and it should do well to prepare us for playing Texas A&M and for the Pac-12 schedule, Arizona coach Sean Miller said after the win Wednesday. It caught us off guard for a while but our defense was really good. We took advantage of our size but our turnovers were out of control.The Wildcats have won three straight. Arizona has been ranked in the AP poll for 84 consecutive weeks, trailing only Kansas for the longest active streak in the country.We have no depth to speak of and three freshmen are playing huge roles for us, but I think we have a tough team, with some hard-nosed guys that will not back away from a challenge, Miller said.dddddddddddd This game against Texas A&M will be another test for our team, another step in being the team we want to be.Arizona is 24-26 (.480) against current SEC institutions in program history. That 48.0 winning percentage is the second lowest versus all 32 conferences faced, trailing only the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), against which Arizona is 2-4 (.333).Texas A&M (7-2) has also won three straight games and will be led by reigning SEC Player of the Week center Tyler Davis, who averaged 18 points and eight rebounds while shooting 73.1 percent from the field in wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Denver and South Carolina State last week.Both of the Aggies losses this season are to Pac-12 teams, at home to USC (65-63) and to UCLA (74-67) in the Wooden Legacy Classic in Anaheim, Calif.We match up well size-wise with Arizona, Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. Arizona is big at the 3-4-5 positions, and we know that playing, and hopefully beating, a team like Arizona will help us in the long haul. Our practices have been good but we have to make shots -- they are the best defensive team weve played so far this year.Saturday will be A&Ms fourth neutral-site game of the season, having defeated Cal State Northridge and Virginia Tech at Cal State Fullertons Titan Gym and falling to then-No. 14 UCLA. It will be Texas A&Ms fourth game inside the Toyota Center (1-2).Our energy is great in practice so we just have to bring that level of intensity to the games, Davis said. We nearly kill ourselves in practice every day and we need to find a way to bring that mentality when were playing someone else.The state of Texas has not been kind to the Wildcats throughout program history. Despite a record of 4-1 (.800) in neutral-site games in Texas, Arizonas all-time record in the state is 54-75 (.419). The Wildcats last played in Texas on Dec. 19, 2014, in a 60-55 win at UTEP, which pushed Arizonas record in Texas to 3-0 under Miller. China NFL Jerseys White Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Black China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Black China NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Camo Jerseys ' ' '