Herausforderungen » hird basketball player to capture the award

HOUSTON -- Robinson Cano had wondered what would happen if rookie James Jones started getting on base consistently for the Seattle Mariners. His suspicions were confirmed Tuesday night. Cano and Kyle Seager had three RBIs apiece, Jones added two more and a seven-run sixth inning propelled the Mariners to score a season high in a 13-2 win over the Houston Astros, giving Seattle its second straight game scoring in double digits. Cano drove in two runs to give Seattle the lead in the first and hit the first of the five doubles in the sixth inning that tied a franchise mark and pushed the lead to 10-1. Jones three hits included a triple. The rookie, who hits in front of Cano, has seven hits in the first two games of this series. The Mariners won the opener 10-4. "I was telling Howard (Johnson), the hitting coach: Weve been winning games and hes not getting on base," Cano said. "Watch how many runs were going to score when he starts getting on base. And look what happened the last two days." Manager Lloyd McClendon has been impressed with the Jones progress. "Hes getting a lot of big hits for us, hes hitting left-handers, hes running the bases well," McClendon said. "Ive been very pleased. He continues to get better every day." Hisashi Iwakuma (6-4) went six innings, giving up a run on seven hits while striking out seven as the Mariners improved to eight games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2009 season. Seager doubled and hit a solo homer in the ninth as the Mariners also set a season-high with 18 hits. Jarred Cosart (8-6) tied a season-high by allowing six runs on nine hits with four walks in 5 2-3 innings to end a four-game winning streak. "A lot of pitches up in the zone," manager Bo Porter said. "When he was on the streak that he was on, he was really finishing his breaking ball and inducing weak contact, but today, there were just a lot of pitches up in the zone." Darin Downs relieved Cosart and allowed five consecutive hits, with four doubles. All of the Mariners runs in the sixth came with two outs to mark the first time theyve had six straight run-scoring hits with two outs in an inning in franchise history, according to STATS. Its also the first time theyve scored at least 10 runs in consecutive games since June 19-20, 2012. Jose Altuve had two hits for his MLB-leading 36th multihit game and Matt Dominguez drove in a run for Houston. Jones singled in his first two at-bats to give him a hit in six straight plate appearances. He had an RBI in the second and his second one in the seventh made it 11-1. Domingo Santana, Houstons eighth-rated prospect by Baseball America, went 0 for 4 in his major league debut after being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday. Santana reached on an error in the seventh inning and scored on a ground-rule double by fellow rookie Kike Hernandez. Santana is the last of the players from the 2011 trade with the Phillies for Hunter Pence to reach the majors, joining Cosart, Jon Singleton and Josh Zeid. Cano hit a two-run double with two outs in the sixth inning to chase Cosart and push the lead to 5-1. Downs came in and was greeted with three straight doubles: by Seager, Logan Morrison and Mike Zunino to score three more. Michael Saunders followed with a run-scoring single before Dustin Ackley doubled off the left field wall to extend the lead to 10-1. Endy Chavez drew a leadoff walk before consecutive singles by Jones and Cano made it 1-0 in the first. Jones scored on a groundout by Seager to make it 2-0. Altuve and Presley singled in the first for Houston before Dominguez cut the lead to 2-1 with his two-out single to centre field. Ackley snapped an 0-for-21 skid with a single with one out in the second and scored on a single by Jones to make it 3-1. Ackley tied a season-high with three hits. Hernandez, who was called up from Oklahoma City on Tuesday, made his major league debut when he entered the game at second base in the seventh inning and finished with two hits. NOTES: The series wraps up Wednesday when Seattles Chris Young opposes Brad Peacock. ... The Astros on Tuesday signed OF Derek Fisher, who was the 37th overall pick in the draft. ... Houston placed CF Dexter Fowler on the disabled list retroactive to June 27 with a back strain. He is hitting .270 with six homers and 24 RBIs. Dikembe Mutombo Jersey . De La Rosa pitched six strong innings to win his sixth consecutive decision, Todd Helton homered and the Colorado Rockies snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers six-game winning streak with a 7-5 victory on Wednesday night. Thomas Welsh Jersey . -- Another baseball tradition is about to largely disappear: a manager, with a crazed look in his eyes, charging the field and getting into a face-to-face shouting match with an umpire. http://www.authenticnuggetsproshop.com/C...Anthony-Jersey/. Will Venable and Ryan Ludwick drove in a run each for the Padres, who have taken six of their last seven contests and clinched their third straight series win after winning the first two in this set. Clayton Richard (4-9) allowed five hits and a pair of runs over seven innings, while fanning five. Jarred Vanderbilt Nuggets Jersey . - Bryan Price sat down in the cushy chair. Allen Iverson Jersey . According to TSNs Farhan Lalji, Richardson is heading to Toronto for a physical and is expected to sign with the Argonauts. MIAMI -- The only thing that keeps LeBron James up worrying at night is basketball, which simultaneously makes perfect sense and no sense. On one hand, hes the games best player. On the other, hes rarely impressed with himself. Even after a year like 2013 -- when a spectacular wedding, a second NBA championship and a fourth MVP award were among the many highlights enjoyed by the Miami Heat star -- he still is, as he puts it, striving for greatness. Or, technically, more greatness, since his enormous list of accomplishments just keeps growing. James was announced Thursday as The Associated Press 2013 Male Athlete of the Year, becoming the third basketball player to capture the award that has been annually awarded since 1931. James received 31 of 96 votes cast in a poll of news organizations, beating Peyton Manning (20) and Jimmie Johnson (7). "Im chasing something and its bigger than me as a basketball player," James told the AP. "I believe my calling is much higher than being a basketball player. I can inspire people. Youth is huge to me. If I can get kids to look at me as a role model, as a leader, a superhero ... those things mean so much, and thats what I think I was built for. I was put here for this lovely game of basketball, but I dont think this is the biggest role that Im going to have." Past winners include Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Carl Lewis, Joe Montana, Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps. Serena Williams was the AP Female Athlete of the Year, announced Wednesday. James joins Michael Jordan and Larry Bird as NBA players to win the award. "I dont think Ive changed much this year," James said. "Ive just improved and continued to improve on being more than just as a basketball player. Ive matured as a leader, as a father, as a husband, as a friend." So far in 2013, with a maximum of three games left to play, James has appeared in 98. The Heat have won 78 of them. None of those was bigger than the four Miami got in the NBA Finals against San Antonio. In Game 7, James was at his best, scooring 37 points, including the jump shot with 27.dddddddddddd seconds left that essentially was the clincher. "He always rises to the occasion when it matters the most," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. Business-wise, James is booming. Some estimate his annual income around $60 million, less than one-third of that being made on the court. His wife has opened a juice bar in Miami, and David Beckham wants James to be part of the Major League Soccer team he plans on bringing to South Florida in the next couple years. Countless people want to align with James. Few make him listen. Beckham did. "You want to be a part of it, but it has to feel real to you," James said. "You dont want to do something that doesnt feel much to you, that youre just doing for the money. We all have money. For me, my time is more than money at this point in my life." James has another "decision" to make in 2014. He can become a free agent again this summer, though still smarting from the circus atmosphere that followed him during his final season with the Cleveland Cavaliers four years ago, James is staying largely silent on what might happen. He insists he has no idea. "Im so zoned in on what my task is here this year that its hard to think about anything else," James said. "A guy the other day asked me what Im going to do for New Years, and I havent even thought about that." When asked if theres anything he doesnt like about Miami, James offered few complaints, other than the often-clogged street -- Biscayne Boulevard, or U.S. 1 -- that leads to the arena the Heat call home. "What is there not to like about Miami?" James said. "It is a home. My family is very happy; Im very comfortable. But U.S. 1? I wish that was a highway." Bear in mind, hes not always unhappy when that street is gridlocked. The last two years, hes been largely responsible for hundreds of thousands of people lining that road for Heat championship parades. And if he gets his way, theyll be back next June. ' ' '