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NEW YORK -- The second half of the season began virtually flawlessly for the Boston Red Sox.They hit three home runs, Steven Wright pitched six solid innings and the bullpen shut the door.Now Boston hopes Eduardo Rodriguez has fixed his flaws during a two-week stint in the minor leagues.Rodriguez returns to the rotation Saturday afternoon when Boston continues its three-game series with the New York Yankees.The Red Sox have won eight of their last 10 games after Fridays series-opening 5-3 win. Ryan Hanigan, Travis Shaw and Xander Bogaerts homered off Michael Pineda and Wright allowed all three of his runs in the sixth before escaping trouble.Rodriguez has had similar success to Wright in his brief experience against the Yankees. He was on the disabled list earlier this year when Boston took four of six against New York, but last year Rodriguez was 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA in four starts against the Yankees.He faced the Yankees on Sept. 28 when he allowed one run and seven hits over six innings in a 5-1 winRodriguezs success against the Yankees was part of an impressive rookie season that saw him go 10-6 with a 3.85 ERA. He has struggled to follow it up, going 0-3 with a 10.03 ERA over his last five starts.The left-hander was so ineffective June 27 at Tampa Bay -- when he allowed nine runs and 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings -- that it earned him a demotion to Triple-A Pawtucket.In Triple-A, he made two starts while allowing two runs in 10 innings as he used some new mechanics.(He) looks like hes gaining some comfort with the hand position that has widely been talked about, manager John Farrell told reporters last week.Meanwhile, the Yankees hope CC Sabathia has better fastball command than Pineda, who allowed the home runs on his fastball and lasted five-plus innings Friday.Sabathia has experienced a career revival, but has struggled recently.Sabathia is 0-2 with an 8.22 ERA in his last four starts after going 5-4 with a 2.20 ERA in his first 11 outings.The last time Sabathia pitched was a week ago in Cleveland when he took a no-decision. Sabathia allowed five runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings but the Yankees wound up with a 7-6 victory in 11 innings.Despite recent struggles, the veteran lefty is 7-8 with a 3.44 ERA in his last 24 starts since Aug. 1.Sabathia is 12-12 with a 4.47 ERA in 32 starts against the Red Sox. With the Yankees, he is 10-8 with a 4.64 ERA in 25 starts against them.Sabathia will be pitching for a team 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. The Yankees largest deficit has been nine games on two occasions in late June.And with each day that ticks by without much traction in the standings, the Yankees will face questions about urgency.Of course there is (urgency), New York manager Joe Girardi said. Weve talked about it. We talk about it in here, weve talked about it with the group in there. Of course there is because you start to run out of days.We have to focus on winning series, especially against teams that are in our division, Yankees right fielder Carlos Beltran added. We are playing Boston, next team will be Baltimore for four games here, so we have to get it done.Otis Thorpe Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Houston Rockets Shirts . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. https://www.cheaprocketsonline.com/1067z-clint-capela-jersey-rockets.html . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. Lewis Lloyd Jersey . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Austin Rivers Jersey . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov.RIO DE JANEIRO -- After each of the U.S. field hockey teams first four games here, all of which ended in a win and two of which resulted in upsets, striker Michelle Vittese fielded questions about what sparked her squads Olympic turnaround after finishing last overall at the 2012 London Games.I love the question, Vittese said Saturday, after scoring the lone goal for the Americans in their first loss of the tournament, 2-1 to Great Britain.Its the type of positions we put ourselves in, the uncomfortable places we go to in training, in the weight room, during conditioning and game training. We go to the ugliest places and figure out how to push through and get out of them. That shapes you as a person, makes you mentally fit and helps you get up for games like this. Were so resilient and gritty.That training will also help Vittese and her teammates pick themselves up after their first defeat and refocus for Mondays quarterfinal match against No. 9 Germany. If the Americans want to be defined by their 2016 grittiness rather than their 2012 meltdown, Monday is their moment to prove themselves.Were so process oriented, U.S. captain Lauren Crandall said. Weve been through so many scenarios in tournament play that nothing is a surprise. Theres no panic. Thats the mental preparation weve done to get out of whatever place weve gotten ourselves into.If it sounds like Crandall and Vittese are quoting the same philosopher, thats because they are. To a woman, the members of the U.S. team have bought in to a team philosophy and culture they began creating 3? years ago, after the hiring of their head coach Craig Parnham, a former assistant coach for Great Britain.When our new coaching staff came in, we recommitted to the program, defined our culture and values and started building a family, Crandall said. We pride ourselves on our hard work, persistence, perseverance and family.Three years ago, Parnham wrote a lofty goal on a board at the teams practice facility and asked the women if they were ready to buy in to the idea that they could become the best in the world. He didnt care that they hadnt won an Olympic medal since 1984. He wasnt interested in who they were before his arrival; he wanted to know how good they believed they could be now that he was there.The coaches can push it on you all they want, but unless the players buy in and want to do the work,, you wont get there, Vittese said.dddddddddddd The player buy-in is huge.It meant a complete overhaul of the way they were doing everything from lifting in the weight room to practicing technical drills on the field. It meant transforming themselves from a defensive-minded squad into the most physically fit attacking team in the world. Parnham told his players that with complete commitment, they could push the boundaries of womens field hockey, but they, not him, needed to lead the change.The players drive the culture here, Crandall said. Our coachs philosophy is [for Parnham] to be useless. He wants independent thinkers on his team.But of all the changes to their program, it is their geographical move that has received the most attention. For years, the womens team trained at the U.S. Olympic training center in Chula Vista, California, an idyllic, culturally diverse San Diego suburb located close to the beach but far from home for most of the women, the majority of whom are from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. So Parnham relocated the program from Chula Vista to the field hockey hub of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where players could train year-round in a world-class indoor facility with fewer distractions than they had in Southern California.Theres no party or night life, so its a great place to train and focus on what we need to get done, U.S. goalie Jaclyn Briggs said. It takes the stress off of feeling like Im in my 20s and should be living it up or Im missing out on things.Lancaster is also located in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, where commitment and hard work, community and family are at the center of Amish values. The move to Lancaster allowed the women to slow down, simplify their lives and evaluate what was important.The Amish are community oriented, Crandall said. Its a family-oriented culture, and we are a family. We are so supported there.Now in Rio, 5,000 miles away from home, the women say they can still feel that support, and they believe it will carry them to the gold-medal game.We know you could put your head down for 3? years and still be the first out of the Olympics, Crandall said. That knowledge is what makes us work so hard. Our goal is to stand on that podium. Our goal is to win it all. ' ' '