Abstimmungen » ing heading into the rematch with Rubio at the contr

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The AL West-leading Texas Rangers stumbled again on the road against Tampa Bay.Logan Forsythe homered after missing four games due to back spasms, and the Rays took two of three from the Rangers with an 8-4 victory on Sunday.Forsythe hit an opposite-field, three-run shot off Martin Perez (8-9) during a five-run fourth that made it 6-2. He has six homers in his last 10 games.Its a challenge to recover from a five-run inning, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. Martin today, kind of the old nemesis, that one inning is a big inning.Drew Smyly (6-11) allowed four runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings to go 4-0 in his last six starts.Texas has been in first place all year, Smyly said. Theyve got a very good lineup, great pitching and we beat them two out of three.Tampa Bay, last in the AL East, has won six of seven while outscoring opponents 55-18 during the stretch.I think were getting big hits, having more quality at bats with guys in scoring position, Forsythe said.Delino DeShields hit a two-run homer in the third inning and Drew Stubbs had a solo drive in the fifth for the Rangers, who have lost nine (1-9-2) of their last 12 regular-season road series against the Rays. Texas beat Tampa Bay in the 2010 and 2011 ALDS, going a combined 5-0 at Tropicana Field.Perez, 1-8 on the road this season, gave up six runs, five hits and three walks over six innings.They scored some runs but I feel (physically) good, Perez said. Thats part of the game. Just trying to do my best.Steven Souza Jr. put the Rays up 8-4 on a two-run homer in the eighth.TRAINERS ROOMRangers: RHP Tanner Scheppers (left knee) threw an inning Saturday night for Double-A Frisco.Rays: CF Kevin Kiermaier (left hip tightness) didnt start for the second straight game but entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth. ... RHP Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery), nearing the end of a rehab assignment, starts for Triple-A Durham on Monday night.GOMEZ GOING FORWARDBanister said Carlos Gomez, signed to a minor league contract Saturday, will primarily start in left field. This guy can take over a game, Banister said. The move allows Jurickson Profar to move into a utility role. It has not been determined if the Gomez will join the team from Triple-A Round Rock during a series at Cincinnati that starts Tuesday night.NUMBER GAMERays OF Mikie Mahtook is hitless in 29 at-bats after going 0 for 3. . Souza has homered twice in nine at-bats after hitting one in 158 at-bats. . The Rangers have homered in nine straight games against the Rays. . Texas last won a regular-season series at Tampa Bay May 30-June 1, 2011.UP NEXTRangers: LHP Derek Holland (5-5) is scheduled to make his first start since going on the disabled list June 22 with left shoulder inflammation Tuesday against Reds RHP Dan Straily (9-6).Rays: Rookie LHP Blake Snell (4-5) faces Boston and one-time Tampa Bay ace David Price (11-8) Monday night. Dee Ford Youth Jersey .25 million option on reliever Jose Veras. Mike McGlinchey Jersey . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. http://www.49ersrookiestore.com/49ers-Jimmy-Garoppolo-Jersey/ . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. Ronnie Lott Womens Jersey . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Matt Breida Youth Jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. RIO DE JANEIRO -- There are few things in this world Ricky Rubio loves more than basketball, the electricity he feels when hes on the fastbreak, teammates running with him and a no-look lob pass just begging to be thrown.His mother, Tona, was certainly one of them.The point guard spent all of last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves watching from afar as Tonas body slowly succumbed to lung cancer, and there were times that he wondered if he should be playing at all.Sometimes at night during the season I was going through hell, Rubio told The Associated Press as Spain prepared for a showdown with the United States in the Rio Olympics semifinals Friday. Waking up in, who knows, Sacramento, in LA, in the middle of the night alone in a hotel and thinking, `Why am I here? Is it really worth it?When Timberwolves president and coach Flip Saunders died suddenly from lymphoma in October, it rocked the organization and Rubio in particular. Watching Flips son Ryan, an assistant coach on the team, grieve put a permanent pit in Rubios stomach, giving him the sinking feeling that he was getting a glimpse into his own future.Sometimes during video chats -- Tonas was the first voice Rubio wanted to hear after a win or a loss -- she would have to step away while becoming ill. He scrambled back home after the season was over and spent about six weeks with her before she died on May 25 at the age of 56.Anyone can say hes close to his mom, said Lucas Charte, Rubios close friend and manager. But when you see Tona and Ricky and how their relationship went, it was something else. There was a kind of connection between them. They were too similar. Ricky has a brother and a sister. Nobodys parent will tell you they have a favorite. But you could tell Ricky was Tonas favorite.Rubio has always looked forward to playing for the Spanish national team. He started practicing with them at 16 and sees his teammates as a surrogate family that helped raise him from a child prodigy into a trusted veteran.But when Tona passed, Rubio thought long and hard about pulling out of Rio to be with his father and two siblings back in Spain.At one point when everything happened, you think whats the best? Rubio said. Stay with your familly? Stay back home? Or sacrifice one more time everything for one goal, which is the gold medal, and dedicate it to her.ddddddddddddRubio tore the ligaments in his left knee at the end of a promising rookie season in 2012, causing him to miss the London Games that summer. He watched his beloved teammates fall to the United States, 107-100, in the gold-medal game. On his first day of rehab, Rubio vowed to physical therapist Andre Deloya that he would bring him to Rio four years later. Deloya never mentioned the promise again, but when it came time, Rubio had the tickets ready for him and his wife.One promise kept. One to go.Spain started the tournament 0-2 and Rubio was not playing well. Tona was not there, and he could not get her absence out of his head.I had a lot going on in my mind. It started with doubts. I started wondering if all the sacrifice was worth it, he said. I put a lot of pressure on myself, like Ive been doing my whole career. At one point I decided to forget about all the pressure and just play for fun and do my game and enjoy what I do.He has gradually settled in, and Spain is humming heading into the rematch with Rubio at the controls. In the first two games of the tournament, Spain was outscored by six points in the 28 minutes he was on the floor. In their last three victories, they have outscored their opponents by 67 points in Rubios 59 minutes.The mighty Americans -- winners of 50 straight games in international tournaments -- have shown some rare vulnerability in this tournament, emboldening challengers like Spain and Australia.It would mean everything for us, Rubio said of a win on Friday. It would mean the world. I remember watching Argentina beat the U.S. in 2004 and I think maybe the same story that Argentina wrote with the `Gold Generation, we can write, too.Rubio wants to win for Spanish fans after falling short against the U.S. in the gold-medal games in Beijing and London. He wants to win for teammates Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jose Calderon, who may not have another Olympic run in them.Most of all, he wants to win for Tona. ' ' '