Abmeldung » easy. But after a lot of years in the league

SEATTLE -- One day after an ill-advised bunt attempt in a losing effort, Jose Altuve returned to what he does best.Altuve homered among his four hits and drove in three runs, Collin McHugh escaped a pair of bases-loaded jams to pitch six scoreless innings, and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 8-1 on Sunday.Altuve, who bunted on his own with the tying run on second and none out in the ninth inning of Saturdays 1-0 loss, had a two-run homer and three singles in five at-bats to raise his American League-leading average to .346. McHugh (6-6) allowed four hits and walked four, striking out 10 to win for the first time in eight starts since his last victory on May 30.Today I went there and I wasnt thinking about bunting, Altuve said. I was thinking about hitting the ball, driving the ball. I felt really good at the plate today, I feel really happy that we won the game.Carlos Gomez added his second career grand slam in the seventh inning off Nathan Karns to put the Astros up 8-0.Kyle Seager singled home Seattles only run in the eighth off Chris Devenski.Mike Montgomery (3-4), making his second start this season after 30 relief appearances, allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings, walking two and striking out seven.Altuve had the green light on a 3-0 pitch in the third and delivered his 15th homer to follow Marwin Gonzalezs leadoff double, putting Houston up 3-0.He pretty much has a green light at life, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. Stealing, hitting 3-0, hitting 0-0, hes a very gifted player, but he works at it. Hes fun to be around.The Astros made it 4-0 in the fifth when Gonzalez again doubled to open the inning, took third on a throwing error by center fielder Leonys Martin, and scored on Altuves single to left.The Astros hustled across an unearned run in the first. Gonzalez reached on a fielders choice and Altuve singled. Gonzalez stole third and continued around on an error by third baseman Seager, who misplayed the throw from catcher Jesus Sucre.The Mariners, who have lost six of their last seven against the Astros, committed four errors, walked four and left 10 runners on.Thats the worst game weve played all year, Mariners manager Scott Servais said. Messed up six or seven plays in the field today. We played a terrible ball game. Theres no way you can sugarcoat that.McHugh escaped a pair of bases-loaded situations without allowing a run.In the first, Seagers one-out drive to right with the bases loaded barely hooked foul. Seager then struck out and Dae-Ho Lee bounced back to the mound.In the third, the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs on a walk to Leonys Martin, a pop single by Robinson Cano on an overturned call and Nelson Cruzs single to the base of the wall in right-center. McHugh struck out Seager and then enticed Lee into an inning-ending double-play bouncer to second.I started sweating a little bit more when I was out there and I saw that ball, you start to give it the whole body lean a little bit, McHugh said of Seagers long foul. That could have changed the game, could have broken the game wide open.ALTUVE MISSES FIFTH HITAltuve, who struck out in his final at-bat, has 17 four-hit games in his career, but never a five-hit game. The elusive fifth hit is hard for him, Hinch said, Its a funny thing to say, because the first four arent very easy for anybody but Altuve.UPON FURTHER REVIEWWith nobody out in the third, Astros shortstop Carlos Correa dropped Canos pop up while reaching across the foul line behind third base while looking back into the sun. The Mariners challenged and the call was overturned after a review estimated at 2:08, giving Cano a single to put runners at first and second.TRAINERS ROOM:Astros: SS Correa was hit by a pitch in the seventh. He stayed in the game but was replaced by pinch-hitter A.J Reed in the eighth. Correas fine. I took him out because I wanted Reed to get an at-bat and steal a couple innings of rest for him, Hinch said.Mariners: SS Ketel Marte and OF Nelson Cruz both returned to the lineup after missing Saturdays game. Marte injured his ankle Friday night and Cruz fouled a ball off the top of his left foot.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Mike Fiers (6-3, 4.35 ERA) opens the three-game series at Oakland. Fiers allowed four earned in runs in 3 1/3 innings with a no-decision in his last start prior to the All-Star break, but he has not lost in seven starts since May 27.Mariners: LHP Wade LeBlanc (1-0, 3.52 ERA) makes his fourth start since being acquired in a trade with Toronto to open a three-game series at home against the White Sox. Merril Hoge Jersey .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. Alexander Myres Jersey . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. 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"Hell be a lot more of a problem than he was in 07, thats for sure," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Wednesday. Tim Duncan told the beaten James minutes after that series that the league would someday belong to him, and he was right. The NBAs MVP guided Miami to last years championship and the leagues best record this season. Now the Spurs will try to take it back. But James is now the best player in the game, is surrounded by more talent in Miami than he ever had in Cleveland, and still carries the memory of the beating the Spurs laid on him six years ago. "I have something in me that they took in 07. Beat us on our home floor, celebrated on our home floor. I wont forget that. You shouldnt as a competitor. You should never forget that," James said. He joined the Heat in 2010, experienced more finals failure a year later, then was finals MVP last year when Miami beat Oklahoma City in five games. Another title now would put him halfway to the four that Duncan and Popovich have won together. "Thats what Im here for," James said. "Im here to win championships, and youre not always going to be on the successful side. Ive seen it twice, not being on the successful side." He was just 22 at the end of his fourth year in the league when he carried to the Cavs to their first finals appearance. But there were holes in his game, from an unreliable jump shot to an undeveloped post game, and the Spurs took advantage of every one of them. James shot 36 per cent in the series, including a ghastly 10 for 30 in Game 4, and committed 23 turnovers. "Well, LeBron is a different player than he was in 07," Popovich said. "That was like ancient history. He was basically a neophyte at the time, wondering how all this stuff worked and how its put together. We were very fortunate at that time to get him so early. But at this point hes grown." James wasnt interested in discussing much of that series, but he recalled the way the Spurs strategy kept him from getting into the paint and dared him to shoot jumpers. Theres no blueprint now that would encourage a guy who made 56.5 per cent of his shots this season to shoot the ball. "If you go under my pick-and-roll now, Im going to shoot. And Im confident Im going to make every last one of them," James said. "Im just more confident in my abiliity to shoot the ball.dddddddddddd "But at the same time, I also have a lot more weapons this time around going against this team, where in 07 they loaded three guys to me a lot on the strong side of the floor. So like I said, Im a better player, and you cant dare me to do anything I dont want to do in 2013." Duncan and James probably wouldnt have thought it would take so long to see each other in the finals again after their meeting in the hallway of Clevelands Quicken Loans Arena. San Antonio had built a quiet dynasty, winning four titles in nine years, and the core of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili would keep giving the Spurs chances. But they couldnt get out of the West even while finishing with the best record in the conference the last two years, just as Cleveland couldnt in the East during James last two seasons there. "I hoped to be back here. Whether he would he here or not, I couldnt predict that," the 37-year-old Duncan said. "Knowing the player that he was then and the trajectory he was on, I had no doubt he would be back here. I had no doubt he would be tops in this league at some point. And Im glad and honoured to be back here playing against him." The Spurs have been off since finishing a sweep of Memphis on May 27. The Heat were forced to overcome a rugged Indiana team and the struggles of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a seven-game series that wrapped up Monday. That set up a finals between teams built in decidedly different ways but with mutual respect. While others around the league seethed, Popovich even called Pat Riley to offer congratulations after the Heat architect signed James and Bosh in 2010. It gives James a chance to pay the Spurs back for their 2007 romp, when they forced the Cavaliers into the worst offensive performance in finals history. "I believe that after that finals he probably always obviously wanted to get back again. But I think he probably always wanted to get back and play them," Wade said. "So obviously having this opportunity right now is probably something he always dreamed of, of getting back to the finals and playing the Spurs again." The Spurs Big Three didnt have to endure the same wait to win. Duncan won a title in just his second season, and Parker was only 21 when he earned his first. Yet eventually they stalled, so theyre as eager for this opportunity as James. "When I was 21 and I won my first one, it was kind of fast and we think its going to happen every year. We think its easy. But after a lot of years in the league, you realize its really hard to go to the finals," Parker said. "Now we take nothing for granted. We appreciate every moment, and well see what happens." [