Dein erstes Forum » If he was upset

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins started this game sloppily and never recovered against the surging Kansas City Royals. Billy Butler had two hits and drove in two runs, Lorenzo Cain stole a home run from Trevor Plouffe with a leaping catch over the centre field wall, and the Royals beat the Twins 7-2 on Thursday for their ninth straight victory. The biggest letdown of the afternoon came afterward, for Aaron Hicks and Canadian Scott Diamond. The Twins sent their starting pitcher and centre fielder to Triple-A Rochester. Corner outfielder Oswaldo Arcia will be recalled, and the Twins will make another move on Saturday to replace Diamond on the staff. A native of Guelph, Ont., Diamond (5-10) was the only one in last years rotation assured of a spot this season after going 12-9 with a 3.54 ERA in 27 starts. This year, his ERA is 5.52 and he has only 45 strikeouts in 107-plus innings. In his 20th outing, the Royals tagged him for seven runs, nine hits and three walks in five innings, rendering a homer and a double by Justin Morneau of New Westminster, B.C., moot. "If youre not impacting the team and contributing at all, you dont deserve to be here," Diamond said. "Right now I just need to go down to Triple-A and figure some things out and hopefully come back." The 27-year-old underwent surgery in December to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow. Over his last 10 starts, Diamond went 1-6. Only two of those were turns of six innings or more and three runs or less. "I just need to get back to being aggressive and clear my head and reset a little bit," Diamond said. "I think right now Im trying to do a lot. I was fearful of this actually happening so I think because of it I was just trying to do too much." Hicks, who made the opening day roster after never playing in triple-A, has had quite a time adjusting to major league pitching. After a brief improvement right before the All-Star break, Hicks has regressed again. Hes hitting .192 with 84 strikeouts in 281 at-bats. Even a rebuilding team with time to develop prospects couldnt let that continue. "It looked like at one point he was going up the ladder a little bit, and now hes going right back down. A lot of poor at-bats. The kids trying. Hes playing a great centre field. Im happy with that, but unfortunately right now his swing is not where he wants to be. He needs some confidence too," manager Ron Gardenhire said. Managing the strike zone is what Hicks needs to work on the most. "This game is just a business. You have to be able to produce and produce on a daily basis. The past couple weeks I havent really been producing that well," Hicks said. Hicks said hell try to take the positive out of his demotion. "Just relax and be able to have fun playing the game and get that competitive edge back," he said. Andrew Albers, a native of North Battleford, Sask., is the leading candidate to be summoned to replace Diamond. The left-hander is 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 22 starts for Rochester. The Royals last won nine straight games when they opened the 2003 season at 9-0. The last time they won more in a row was a 10-game run in 1994, according to STATS research. The Twins were swept in a series for the eighth time this year. James Shields (6-7) gave up two runs on five hits and five walks in six innings for the Royals, but against a team that hasnt hit for power, hasnt hit with runners in scoring position and hasnt been stealing bases, he was never really in trouble. "That was an ugly series. Those guys came in here, wanted it more than us and found out ways to win games," Gardenhire said. "And we didnt. Striking out too many times. Missing too many opportunities." In the field, too. Plouffe misplayed at third a potential double-play ball to load the bases in the second inning, and Mike Moustakas and Justin Maxwell drove runs in to get the Royals on the board. "Balls off the wall. Guys not going to pick it up. Standing there watching plays. Overthrowing cutoff men. Not acceptable," Gardenhire said. The manager had a meeting after the game to address the lethargic performance with his players. "I thought that was pretty ugly. Our fans dont deserve to watch that," Gardenhire said. NOTES: Twins GM Terry Ryan said OF Josh Willingham (left knee) will leave for a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester this weekend. Willingham had surgery to repair a torn meniscus July 3 and said he hoped to be back with the Twins as soon as next weekend, when they have a series in Chicago against the White Sox. ... The Twins have three more games on this homestand, starting Friday with Houston. RHP Samuel Deduno (7-4, 3.18) will start the opener against the Astros, who have never been to Target Field.Gary Sheffield Jersey . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Jedd Gyorko Dodgers Jersey .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. https://www.cheapdodgersonline.com/225h-steve-howe-jersey-dodgers.html . -- 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. Los Angeles Dodgers Shirts . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Wholesale Dodgers Jerseys . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL.Moscow -- Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Li Chao of China to slip to the third position at the end of the third round of the 10th Tal Memorial Chess tournament.Starting off with an easy draw as black against Anish Giri of Holland and following up with a win against Shakhriayar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the second round, Anand did not give much away as black to Li Chao.Overnight joint leaders Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia nosed ahead of Anand after winning their respective third round games. While Giri was a class act against Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky, Nepomniachtchi outplayed top seed compatriot Vladimir Kramnik to remain ahead of the rest.Giri and Nepomniachtchi share the lead with 2.5 points apiece while Anand, on two points, is sole third. Peter Svidler of Russia, Levon Aronian of Armenia, Mamedyarov and Li Chao share the fourth spot on 1.5 points apiece while Kramnik is now eighth in the standings with just one point under his name.Gelfand and Tomashevsky both share the ninth spot with just a half point from their three games..dddddddddddd?The day produced maximum decisive games in the event with Mamedyarov also joining the party against Gelfand. If he was upset at a bad loss against Anand in the previous round, it did not show as Mamedyarov outwitted Gelfand by launching a tricky attack in the middle game.The other game of the 10-player round robin tournament was a draw between Svidler and Aronian who both have drawn all the three games thus far.Anand had no troubles whatsoever in a topical Nimzo-Indian with black pieces once it led to the middle game, after two minor pieces changed hands. Anand had an extra pawn, but Li Chao got a bit of an initiative. Playing it safe, Anand decided to diffuse the tension it by giving his extra pawn back and reached an equal endgame.Anish Giri was at his technical best in grinding out Tomashevsly in a long-drawn endgame for his second win of the tournament.?Six rounds still remain to be played in the 20000 USD prize money tournament. ' ' '