Herausforderungen » Towers has said the team wants to acquire

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Nationals attempts to jump-start their season have so far been false starts. Perhaps, on the Fourth of July, the return of Wilson Ramos and an "epiphany" change in the batting order provided the final pieces that can sustain some momentum. Back after missing 44 games with a strained left hamstring, Ramos hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning Thursday, leading the Nationals to an 8-5 matinee win over the Milwaukee Brewers. "Hes a statement player," shortstop Ian Desmond said. "And definitely somebody whos waiting for his turn in the spotlight." Ramos put a 1-0 slider from Brandon Kintzler into the left-field stands and received a curtain call. He finished with three hits and a career-high five RBIs. "Im excited, happy for this day, for me, for my family, for my team," Ramos said. "They were waiting for me for my return, and Im happy for this day, and hopefully I will help the team to win a lot of games." The Nationals earned a split of the four-game series and moved back above .500 in their seesaw season. Theyve already had plenty of emotional wins this year that might have sparked a chase at the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East, but each time theyve fallen flat within a few days. Getting desperate to try anything, manager Davey Johnson joked before the game that he was "going crazy" figuring out how to get the bats going and said he was "having a problem" with his Ouija board. He decided to flip-flop Desmond and Jayson Werth, batting Desmond second and Werth sixth. Asked why, he said: "I dont know. Because Im supposed to do something. I had an epiphany last night about 9:30 and I called Desi, and I said, Desi, Im changing something." For at least one day, it was managerial genius. Desmond had three hits, stole two bases and scored two runs and ignited two scoring rallies. Werth had three hits, an RBI and scored twice. "Yeah, that came out all right," Johnson said after the game. "You know, once in a while I have a great idea." Taylor Jordan allowed two runs over 5 2-3 innings in his second major league start, and Drew Storen (3-2) got the win despite blowing a 5-2 lead by allowing two home runs in the seventh inning. Ramos and the Nationals quickly bailed out Storen with a two-out rally. Werth singled off Tom Gorzelanny (1-1). Brewers manager Ron Roenicke then brought in Brandon Kintzler to face Anthony Rendon in a righty-righty matchup. The move backfired. Kintzler walked Rendon and gave up the homer to Ramos. "Just hung a slider," Kintzler said. "What are you going to do? Itll not be the last slider I hang, either. I just didnt make the adjustment quick enough." Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 22nd save, but he allowed the tying run to come to the plate with two out. It might have been Carlos Gomez, who had homered earlier in the game, but Gomez had been taken out in the double switch that brought Kintzler into the game. Roenicke said he made the switch because Gomezs bothersome shoulder had tightened up after a collision with the outfield wall. Gomez said he was fine. "It surprised me when I got out of the game," Gomez said, "especially after I hit a home run." It was a star-spangled day in the nations capital. The game began at 11:06 a.m. and featured a national anthem sang by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a new "Freedom Song" performed by Neil Diamond. There would be fireworks on the later on the National Mall, but only after Ramos had lit up Nationals Park. Johnson essentially called the shot while chatting with bench coach Randy Knorr. "I was talking to Randy, I said, Hes had a good day, he might as well just hit one out here," Johnson said. "And, boom, sure enough he did." NOTES: Ramos must love national celebration days. His last three-hit game came on Cinco de Mayo. ... Desmond was doing so well that he was intentionally walked to put Bryce Harper at the plate with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth. Harper grounded out to first, and he is 1 for 15 since returning from a knee injury, and the only hit was a home run in his first at-bat. ... The Brewers were hurt by minor league mistakes. They failed to execute a rundown when Harper was caught between first and second in the third inning, and Juan Francisco strayed too far off first and was thrown out by the cutoff man after an RBI single in the sixth. Geron Christian Redskins Jersey . -- Jane Kish stopped all 25 shots she faced as the Weyburn Gold Wings blanked the Sudbury Lady Wolves 3-0 on Friday to advance to the gold-medal game at the Esso Cup. Jonathan Allen Redskins Jersey . Chris Capuano. Shane Greene. And now, Esmil Rogers. http://www.authenticshopredskins.com/Aut...edskins_Jersey/. The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. DaRon Payne Jersey . Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans each had two goals and two assists for the Roughnecks (8-5), who outscored Minnesota 6-2 in the fourth quarter after being tied through 45 minutes. Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale. Pernell McPhee Jersey . -- Athletics manager Bob Melvin is already starting to run out of superlatives to describe Scott Kazmir.PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks have extended the contracts of manager Kirk Gibson and general manager Kevin Towers. Contracts for both had been set to expire after the coming season. The team would not divulge the lengths of the contracts or even whether the lengths were the same for both. Team President Derrick Hall said after Mondays announcement that Gibson and Towers asked that the length of the deals be kept secret. "I dont understand why the contracts of people in management are public knowledge," Towers said. "Its between myself, Derrick, (managing general partner) Ken (Kendrick) and Gibby." Last October, the team declined to exercise options to extend both contracts, but Hall said he has felt all along that the Diamondbacks shouldnt go into the season with the two facing the last year of their deals. "Theres constant distraction and a labeling of whos on the hot seat," Hall said, "Are they feeling the pressure?" Besides, Hall said, "These are guys I have a lot of confidence in." In fact, Hall said he probably would have preferred to have the extensions in place sooner. He said that when the contracts werent extended last fall, it was with the understanding that there would be talks on a new deal for both. Gibson and Towers have had three full seasons together, and their most successful was their first. The Diamondbacks won 94 games in 2012 and took the NL West title before falling to Milwaukee in five games in the divisional playoffs. Arizona has gone 81-81 each of the past two seasons. "Im certainly very excited," Towers said, "as is Gibby. This is a place where we hope we get to spend the rest of our careers at." Gibson, a standout football player at Michigan State, played 17 seasons in the majors, 12 with the Detroit Tigers. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988, earning the NL most valuable player award. In the pllayoffs that season, he hit one of the most memorable home runs in World Series history.dddddddddddd Playing virtually on one leg because of a severe knee injury, Gibson hit a game-winning, two-run home run off Oaklands Dennis Eckersley in Game 1, limping around the bases and pumping his fist in triumph. The Dodgers went on to win the series. Gibson was hired as Arizonas bench coach in 2007 and was named interim manager when A.J. Hinch was fired on July 1, 2010. Towers, former GM of the San Diego Padres, came on board as general manager in September of that year, and one of his first decisions was whether to keep Gibson as manager. He did and the team went on to have that highly successful 2010 season. But the Diamondbacks stumbled the next two seasons in the vastly improved NL West, with pitching-rich San Francisco winning in 2012 and the just-plain-rich Dodgers taking it in 2013. Towers said he wants to develop "a ball club that not only has a chance to win the NL West but hopefully go deep into the post-season." "I dont take these things lightly," he said. "There are only 30 of these jobs." He said that the jobs "arent easy" and require the confidence of the clubs top executives and ownership. Towers said that going into the final year of a contract probably would have been more of a distraction for Gibson, given the high public profile of the managers job and his duties directing a teams day-to-day operation. Pitchers and catchers report for spring training at the Diamondbacks Scottsdale facility on Thursday. They are the first team to begin spring training because of Arizonas early season-opening two-game series against the Dodgers in Australia. Towers has said the team wants to acquire a No. 1 starter, but added on Monday "theres not too many of those guys out there." "The markets not the same as it was two months ago," he said. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '