and scored on a sacrifice fly in the eighth to extend the Nationals lead to 8-3.Washington scored its first run when Koehlers pick-off throw to second went into centerfield and Yelich was una

Each week, Ill write about the sport I love: college basketball.Say what you want about Larry Brown, but no one can deny that he can teach and coach how to play basketball! Will he ever coach again? Brown quit SMU over his contract after inviting scandal.There was quite an array of talent at the Peach Jam. Future college stars and superstar coaches were present for the event. It was a great showcase of the future of the sport.Guard Austin Grandstaff hopes the third time is a charm. He previously attended Ohio State and Oklahoma, and his latest stop is DePaul.Purdue has some rugged games on its non-Big Ten schedule. Defending national champion Villanova, Louisville, Notre Dame and Arizona State are among the opponents for Matt Painters club.A Pac-12 all-star team is competing in Australia this week. The collegians include USC s Jordan McLaughlin, Arizonas Kadeem Allen and Oregon States Stephen Thompson Jr.A number of matchups for early-season tournaments are out. Pittsburgh faces SMU and Michigan meets Marquette at the 2K Sports Classic. Notre Dame faces Colorado and Texas meets Northwestern at the Legends Classic. The Battle 4 Atlantis features Wichita State vs. LSU, Old Dominion vs. Louisville, Baylor against VCU and Michigan State vs. St. Johns.Custom Soccer Jerseys . 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. Cheap Custom Wear .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. http://www.customjerseysnearme.com/ . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. Custom Basketball Jerseys . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Custom Jerseys From China .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena.MIAMI -- Max Scherzer strengthened his case for the NL Cy Young Award.Scherzer pitched 6 2/3 innings to tie for the National League victory lead with 18, helping the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 8-3 on Wednesday night.When we needed shut-down innings I was able to go out there and put up zeroes when we really needed it and it helped get the offense going, Scherzer said.Scherzer (18-7) allowed three runs and struck out eight to push his major league-leading total to 267. Hes tied for with Chicagos Jon Lester for the most wins in the NL.He should be in strong consideration for a Cy Young, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. I talked to him earlier and I gave him a number and said lets win six or seven of them and he said, `I want to win all of them. Thats the attitude you want and thats the attitude that he carries and the guys love playing behind him.Ryan Zimmerman hit a three-run homer and Trea Turner also homered for the Nationals.We got some good offensive days out of some guys especially after our offense was a little sleepy the last couple of days, Baker said.Washington ended a four-game losing streak and lowered their magic number to two to win the NL East over the New York Mets with a chance to clinch on Friday at Pittsburgh.Ive never been a part of anything like this, but its exciting, Turner said. Every game means something even down the stretch playing for home-field advantage or whatever it may be. Its exciting and I enjoy it.Tom Koehler (9-12) allowed four runs -- three earned -- in four innings for the Marlins. They had won three in a row to stay in contention for the second wild card spot.It kind of leaves us in the same spot, Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. It wouldve been nice if we could have won and cut a game off. Hopefully the Dodgers win tonight.Christian Yelich hit a solo home run and Derek Dietrich hit a two-run homer to chase Scherzer in the seventh and cut it to 6-3.Prior to the home runs allowed by Yelich annd Dietrich, Scherzer had only allowed two hits.ddddddddddddObviously there in the seventh-of course Im frustrated about that, Scherzer said. You cant walk away from an outing like that feeling great when you give up two home runs especially when your last pitch is a home run. But youll beat yourself up and drive yourself crazy if you try to sit here every single start worrying about the negatives. This start had way more positives and thats what Im going to focus on.Wilson Ramos had an RBI double and scored on a sacrifice fly in the eighth to extend the Nationals lead to 8-3.Washington scored its first run when Koehlers pick-off throw to second went into centerfield and Yelich was unable to field it cleanly allowing Danny Espinosa to score.Zimmermans three-run homer, his 15th, to left field gave the Nationals a 4-0 lead in the fourth.You cant really afford to spot Max a 4-0 lead, Koehler said. More times than not he gets four runs, hes not going to give it back.Jayson Werth had an RBI single and Turner hit his 12th home run for a 6-0 advantage.TRAINERS ROOMMarlins: RF Giancarlo Stanton was held out of the lineup after starting and homering in the last two games. Medical says he felt he needed a day so we gave a day, Mattingly said. ... LHP Adam Conley (finger) pitched a three-inning simulation game Wednesday with hopes of returning to the team before the season ends.UP NEXTNationals: LHP Gio Gonzalez (11-10, 4.48) will take the mound on Friday in Pittsburgh against RHP Jameson Tailon (4-4, 3.39) to begin a three-game series against the Pirates in the final road trip of the season. Gonzalez has allowed six runs in two of his last three starts.Marlins: RHP Jose Urena (4-7, 5.59) will start Thursdays game against Atlanta RHP Josh Collmenter (2-0, 4.61). Urena allowed seven runs in two innings in his last start at Philadelphia. ' ' '