ouve got to keep that, Sakic said. I also think its up to the players with

NEW YORK -- Trailing by four runs in the ninth inning, the somnambulant New York Yankees were on the verge of falling 10 games behind division-leading Baltimore in the AL East. Many in the crowd of 39,875 already had streamed out, convinced they had seen another listless loss in a season filled with them.Those who left early missed an astonishing comeback the Yankees hope sparks the turnaround that has eluded them.New Yorks first three batters reached, cutting the deficit by a run, and an electric seven-pitch span unfolded.Brian McCann hit a tying, three-run homer off Sam Dyson, Starlin Castro walked and Didi Gregorius capped the six-run inning with his two-run shot, lifting the Yankees to a 9-7 win over the Texas Rangers, the team with American Leagues best record.Probably the biggest win of the year for us, Alex Rodriguez said.New York trailed 7-2 Wednesday night and had a 1.2 percent win probability, according to Fangraphs, before McCanns solo homer with one out in the eighth off Cesar Ramos. McCann, bothered by patellar tendinitis, grabbed his left knee while rounding first and limped as he circled the bases.Matt Bush came in and escaped a two-on jam, and the 30-year-old rookie, seeking his first big league save, was left in for the ninth.Win probability was up to only 1.8 percent before Rob Refsnyder singled leading off the ninth. Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a walk, and Dyson (1-2) relieved.New York had been 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position before Brett Gardner singled, and Refsnyder came home when center fielder Ian Desmond bobbled the ball for an error.After Rodriguez lined out, McCann lined a 97 mph, 1-0 fastball on the inside of the plate above the knees and sent it about six rows deep into the right-field seats. Castro walked on five pitches, and Gregorius drove Dysons first offering, an outside changeup at the knees, into the first row above the right-field scoreboard, where the ball ricocheted off a fans glove and back onto the field.I didnt know it was gone like right away. After I stepped on first, thats when I saw it, Gregorius said. I didnt smile because I didnt want to smile, but as soon as I rounded third, see all the guys there, everybody cheering, I had to smile right there.It was the first game-ending homer of Gregorius career; he said his only other one was for the Netherlands national team in October 2010 against Taiwan in the Intercontinental Cup.Threw some quality pitches down in the zone and they got hit. Thats the end of it, said Dyson, who blew a save for the second time in 18 chances. I kind of came in and let everybody down.New York (38-39), which has never been more than two games above .500 this year, had lost the series opener, wasting a ninth-inning lead after a 3 1/2-hour rain delay in a game that ended at 2:44 a.m. Cole Hamels shut down the Yankees on Tuesday, extending their losing streak to three.Theres a sense of urgency, manager Joe Girardi said before the game. As days tick away, you start to run out of time, and you dont want to bury yourself.Texas opened a 5-1 lead in the third against Masahiro Tanaka when Nomar Mazara, a 21-year-old rookie who is the youngest position player in the majors, hit a three-run double and scored on Prince Fielders single off a diving Refsnyder at first.Rougned Odor added his 15th homer in the sixth, an opposite-field drive to left, and Adrian Beltre hit an opposite-field homer to right in the eighth off Luis Cessa (1-0), who allowed one run in three innings for his first big league win.Chase Headley had homered in the second against Nick Martinez, who played college ball in the Bronx with Fordham, and had a sacrifice fly in the sixth off Ramos. The drama was yet to come. New York had not won this year when trailing after eight innings.It can be huge, McCann said. We dug ourselves a hole early in April, and were getting out of it right now.Gregorius hoped the comeback was just a prelude.I would say the biggest is yet to come, he said.RARE FEATSBefore McCann, the previous Yankees player to homer in the eighth and ninth innings of a game was Tony Clark in 2004, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... The Yankees had not won when trailing by four runs in the ninth inning or later since beating Oakland 10-9 on Sept. 22, 2012, when they allowed four runs in the 13th, tied the score in the bottom half and prevailed 10-9 in the 14th.TRAINERS ROOMYankees: After leaving Tuesdays game in the first inning with a tight right hamstring, Carlos Beltran probably wont be available through at least Thursday, according to Girardi.UP NEXTYankees RHP Michael Pineda (3-7) starts Thursdays series finale against RHP A.J. Griffin (3-0). Pineda is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in his last four starts. Griffin returned from a stint on the DL caused by shoulder soreness and allowed two runs over 4 1/3 innings against Boston last Saturday.Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. Wholesale Jerseys Online . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. https://www.wholesalejerseys2020.com/ . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Wholesale Stitched Jerseys . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.TORONTO -- Pending free agents remain the biggest concern when it comes to expansion after the GMs meetings Tuesday.The Las Vegas expansion team and some of the 30 existing teams are worried about less-than-honest agreements circumventing the expansion-draft rules.What, GMs looking for loopholes? Come on.Specifically, GMs worry that Vegas could take advantage of the 48-hour window before the expansion draft in June to quietly agree to terms on a deal with a pending unrestricted free agent, then wait until July 1 to sign him, so as to pluck another player off a teams roster in the expansion draft.This would circumvent the rule that if a team loses a free agent to Vegas in that 48-hour free-agent-signing window, it cannot lose another player in the expansion draft. Some GMs worry that veteran GM George McPhee, who wasnt born yesterday, would take advantage of the situation.Conversely?George has the same concerns about existing teams doing those types of deals with players they dont have to protect, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Tuesday after the GMs meeting.McPhee wisely worries that a team or two might do a drawer deal with a pending UFA but not officially sign it until after the expansion draft. Why? Teams dont have to protect pending free agents because they arent eligible for the expansion draft. Heres an example: If the San Jose Sharks didnt officially re-sign Joe Thornton until after the expansion draft, they could protect another player.There has to be a high level of diligence to make sure those things dont happen and to make sure people know there will be significant penalties imposed if they were to screw around with the rules, Daly said.Daly said violators of the expansion rules forgo a first-round draft pick, so penalties in the same vein would be appropriate.?New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero insisted anyone would be crazy to attempt that type of circumvention.I certainly dont want to be involved in that because I certainly love my job and cant afford the fine, Shero said with a smile. Sure, we talked about it today [in the GMs meeting]. Those are the what-ifs? But with anything, everything has to pass the smell test with the league. You got to have some big you-know-whats to screw around with that.Rule 48 rages onAs one GM succinctly put it Tuesday, the consensus on Rule 48 is that there is no consensus.The room is split among GMs who fear that tweaking Rule 48 will further decrease the physicality of the game and those who are fearful of blindside hits -- hits to a player who doesnt see it coming -- and want the blindside language put back into Rule 48 (blindside was taken out in 2012).NHL Player Safety met with eight GMs on Monday ahead of Tuesdays full GMs meeting in order to get a head start on the raging Rule 48 debate thhat was renewed after?Toronto Maple Leafs?center?Nazem Kadris hit on the Vancouver Canucks Daniel Sedin two weeks ago.dddddddddddd That hit didnt warrant a suspension because the shoulder was hit first, so it wasnt deemed a head shot. But it was definitely a blindside hit to a vulnerable player.?Now what? Said one of the eight GMs in the room Monday when they voted on the Kadri-Sedin hit: The room was split.It will be talked about again at the March meetings, but finding consensus is proving difficult.It is the hardest part,?Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said. Im sure if you put 15 of you media guys in the room and ask to raise your hand, yes or no, youre probably going to be split on a lot of things. And thats generally the conversation here. Theres a lot of passion on both sides of the coin when it comes to hitting and making sure that is still an integral part of the game because nobody wants to see that lost. Now, certainly the mindset is players safety first. The hard part, and I feel for Player Safety, they have to rule by the letter of the rule.Added?Philadelphia Flyers?GM Ron Hextall: No one wants to see blindside hits, but when you put that blindside [language] in [Rule 48], youre going to eliminate a lot of things. You also encourage players to turn away from hits. Its not as easy and simple as people think it is. I wish it was. I think its one of those issues that needs to be looked at and studied and talked about before any rash decision is made.Colorado Avalanche GM and Hall of Famer Joe Sakic said he doesnt like hits on vulnerable players, but he added that the player with the puck has responsibility too.Theres some good, hard hits, and youve got to keep that, Sakic said. I also think its up to the players with the puck that you got to keep your head up as well. You have to have awareness.Shootout change coming?St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong proposed discussion about tweaking the shootout.My thought process was that we had great drama in Sochi with what T.J. Oshie did, Armstrong said, referring to Oshies being given and scoring on multiple shootout attempts in a game against the Russians in the 2014 Winter Olympics.The Blues GM proposed that teams use three shooters, but if the shootout goes on, coaches could deploy any shooter they want, even the same player over and over again. In other words, it would be similar to international rules.As another GM said, why do fans want to see the seventh defenseman or 13th forward take a shootout attempt when the shootouts go long? Why not put your best players in the spotlight for the whole shootout?The GMs will discuss it again at the March meetings. ' ' '