Herausforderungen » a fresh arm.SLUGGERDozier extended his hitting

For the first time in 14 years, neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal will be among the worlds top eight men playing at the ATP Finals. The poignant reality is injuries have dogged them so much this year that both were forced to call it a season within six weeks of each other.The last time they were anywhere near a tennis court together was in street clothes. Federer flew in for the opening of Nadals new tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain, in mid-October, another sign that the end of their tour-dominating days is upon us.Nobody likes Federers and Nadals absences, or these force-fed glimpses of how the tour will looks a little less lustrous when their departure is permanent, especially if some of the #nextgen hopefuls the ATP has been promoting dont get on with dominating already. (Yes, Nick Kyrgios, were especially looking at you and your latest questionable move. )Federer and Nadal may yet rise up here or there and grab another Grand Slam title. Or two. But all the wishful thinking in the world wont bring their heydays back. And Federer and Nadal both know it.The two are good friends, and they smiled a little wistfully at each other at the ribbon-cutting for Nadals academy last month. They publicly commiserated about their season-ending injuries and beat back retirement questions. They seemed like two aging lions hoping to stay in the title hunt as long as they can. Even the gift that Nadal presented Federer as thanks for coming -- a poster with photographs from all 34 matches theyve played, many of them epics -- underscored how much time is under the bridge. Nadal was ranked a pedestrian eighth in this weeks world rankings, and Federer has slid to No. 16 because of his inactivity.And yet, while the 30-year-old Nadal is five years younger than Federer, its Federer who seems to have more jump in his step and big hopes in mind. The Swiss star had never had an injury that required surgery until he hurt his meniscus in January at the Australian Open and had his knee repaired. This is new territory for him, and he told Nadal hes taken heart during his rehab work from Nadals many injury comebacks before his left wrist gave out this year.Youve done it a million times, Federer said, so I can be inspired by the way you made it look so easy when you came back. You came back to the worlds top 10, top five, even world No 1. Thats something that Im going to be thinking about when I come back to the tour in January.Nadal hasnt been as specific as Federer about how much longer he wants to play: I am enjoying what I am doing, especially when I am healthy; when Im not healthy, for sure I dont enjoy it, Nadal allowed. But when asked if he knew in his own mind when he might retire, Nadal dismissed the suggestion he knows his end is very near.I cant give an answer to questions that I cannot answer to myself, Nadal said. If you start to think about when youre going to retire, then your work is not 100 percent focused on what you want to do. So I cant say and I cant think about it now. Im not worried about it at all. When it happens, it happens. When that day arrives I am sure I will know it.Its not a day for which I have to prepare.He has a point. Theres an old saying in boxing that the truth will find you inside the ring. The same is true in tennis. Theres nowhere to hide on the court and no teammates to carry you. Though Federer still reliably pops up in tournament semifinals, even at the Slams, he hasnt won a major since Wimbledon in 2012 and hasnt won a title of any sort since October of 2014.That kind of drought can -- and has -- driven off a lot of less relentlessly optimistic and well-balanced champions into quitting. Many wouldve said forget it a long time ago. Not Federer. In a video interview posted on the ATP website after he pulled out of the US Open, he actually called these tougher times something he finds super interesting, and almost, in some ways, something fun. His reasoning? He said hes never had a five-month gap like this to repair his body and work on his game since turning pro.Nadals future is cloudier. Hes looked like a man with too many hard miles on the odometer for a while now. He did win two titles early this year, but he didnt get past the third round of any major in 2016 and hasnt won a Grand Slam title since the 2014 French Open. Yet true to his full-tilt personality, it took Nadal a while to give into the reality he, too, needed to call it a year. Its probably telling for all his greatness that hes never won the year-end finals. The best he could do was a second-place finish, twice.Nadal now concedes he was still in pain when he played singles and doubles in the Rio Olympics, and again all through his lackluster fall campaign in which he lost a five-set shocker to Lucas Pouille in the fourth round of the US Open and then dismissed by Grigor Dimitrov in Beijing. A week later, Nadal suffered a first-round loss against Viktor Troicki in Shanghai, another opponent he used to trounce.So Federer and Nadal were wise to quit punishing themselves and put off their returns until the new year, even if the ATP Finals will miss them. Federer, who won the title six times and finished the runner-up four other years, has been posting photos on Facebook and Instagram about how hes been spending his time in Switzerland hiking the Alps, while getting in a light hit on a modest-looking clay court and doing agility drills in a low-ceiling gym.On Monday, Nadal tweeted a photo of himself at a mountain lookout point at Sainte-Agnes on the Cote dZur of France, along with the message: Just resting these days.Both spots look beautiful. But its different than seeing Nadal and Federer walk on-court at an ATP Finals, unzip their racket covers and then hunker down across the net from each other knowing a three- or four-hour epic might be just ahead.Those days were great.Those days increasingly feel gone. Kirk Gibson Jersey . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Daniel Norris Jersey . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said. http://www.tigersgearshop.com/Tigers-Victor-Martinez-Kids-Jersey/ . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. James McCann Jersey . The head of USA Boxing came out swinging Tuesday with an open letter to Tyson -- a former Olympic hopeful himself -- that accuses the former heavyweight champion of trying to poach fighters who might be candidates for the U. Joe Jimenez Jersey . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. DETROIT -- Andrew Romine came feet first, then Jose Iglesias dove in with his left arm sweeping across the plate.Both Detroit runners were safe on close plays at home in the seventh inning, helping the Tigers rally for an important win.Were good sliders, Romine joked afterward.Miguel Cabrera and Ian Kinsler homered, and the Tigers scored two runs in the seventh on those slides at the plate in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. Detroit pulled within a game of Baltimore for the American Leagues second wild card.With the Tigers down 2-1 in the seventh, Romine walked and Iglesias hit a double to the corner in left field. Romine was waved around, and he made it home right as the relay was arriving. Catcher Kurt Suzuki had to move to his left to catch the throw, and he lunged back as Romine stretched his left leg toward the plate.He was called safe, and the run stood after a review. Iglesias moved up to third on the play at home.For me, that was the most important play of the whole thing, Iglesias said. Read the ball and get to third base on that.Kinsler flied out to center, Iglesias tagged up, and Suzuki had to reach to his right this time to receive Byron Buxtons throw home. Iglesias reached his left arm toward the plate and scored to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.Shane Greene (4-4) got the win in relief, and Bruce Rondon worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth. Cabreras homer in the bottom of the eighth gave Detroit an insurance run.Francisco Rodriguez walked two in the ninth but held on for his 41st save in 45 chances.Brian Dozier hit his 40th homer, and Suzuki also went deep for the Twins.Alex Wimmers (1-2) took the loss.Daniel Norris struck out a career-high 11 in 6 1/3 innings for the Tiggers.dddddddddddd. Kinsler led off the bottom of the first with his 26th homer of the season, but solo shots by Dozier and Suzuki gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.Cabreras home run was his 32nd of the year.Ervin Santana allowed one run and three hits in five innings for the Twins. He was lifted after throwing 95 pitches.I felt great, but I was at 95 pitches so if anyone gets on, Im out of the game, Santana said. It made more sense to start the inning with a fresh arm.SLUGGERDozier extended his hitting streak to 16 games. He now has 33 home runs in his last 76 games and is the second Minnesota player to reach 40 in a season. Harmon Killebrew was the other. He did it most recently in 1970.Im sure when the season is over, it will mean a lot more, but I just wish this was happening in (first-place) Clevelands position or Detroits position, where we were making a run, Dozier said. Were still looking at losing 100 games. ... That takes something away from this.QUALITY STARTNorris allowed two runs and five hits, throwing a season-high 106 pitches. This equaled his longest start of 2016, innings-wise. He also went 6 1/3 against the Twins on Aug. 25.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: 3B Miguel Sano left the game in the seventh with lower back tightness.Tigers: LF Justin Upton came out at the beginning of the fourth with a left calf strain.UP NEXTTwins: Minnesota sends RHP Kyle Gibson (5-9) to the mound Tuesday night in the second game of this four-game series.Tigers: LHP Matt Boyd (5-3) starts for Detroit. He won his previous two starts against Minnesota this season.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '