News & Neuigkeiten » Weve been missing that, Parker said, attempti

NEW YORK -- That new Marlins lineup looked wonderful -- for all of one inning.Curtis Granderson came off the bench and homered twice, Jose Reyes had four hits and the New York Mets beat Miami 7-4 on Tuesday night.Trying to spark a slumping offense, Marlins manager Don Mattingly shuffled his 2-3-4 hitters and moved up Xavier Scruggs from seventh to fifth. It worked right off the bat, with Christian Yelich hitting a two-run homer in his first career plate appearance batting cleanup.To get two runs on the board felt good. I didnt think it had anything to do with necessarily where were hitting him in the order, Mattingly said.It was the teams first home run in eight games, but that was all for the Marlins until J.T. Realmuto hit a solo homer in the ninth. Jeff Francoeur tripled with two outs and scored on Dee Gordons single before Jeurys Familia struck out Marcell Ozuna for his major league-leading 43rd save in 46 chances.New York has won nine of the past 12 meetings this season. By taking the first two games of this four-game series, the Mets (68-64) passed Miami for second place in the NL East.The defending NL champions remained 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the leagues second wild card.Meanwhile, the Marlins have dropped four straight and six of eight overall.We cant try to fix it overnight. Its not going to work that way. Weve just got to play good ball, starter Tom Koehler said.Koehler (9-10) had to throw extra pitches in the fifth because Alejandro De Aza reached after striking out on a wild pitch with two outs.Realmuto blocked the ball and it rolled only a few steps away, but he took his time picking it up and was caught off guard by a hustling De Aza.Weve seen that a couple times from J.T., Mattingly said. Its something well talk about. ... Its one of those things where youd like to see a little more sense of urgency there. We cant take any chances of giving any outs away.Koehler, who grew up in nearby New Rochelle, allowed five runs and a career-high 10 hits in five-plus innings. He fell to 2-7 with a 4.37 ERA against the Mets.The right-hander has lost two straight after going 3-0 in his previous six starts.They came out very aggressive today. Lot of first-pitch base hits. Never really allowed me to get into a rhythm, he said.Asdrubal Cabrera added to his recent tear at the plate, hitting a two-run homer after missing one start with a sore knee. Rookie right-hander Seth Lugo (2-2) gave up Yelichs homer in the first inning but recovered nicely as the Mets won for the eighth time in 10 games.Granderson, batting for Lugo, connected for his second career pinch-hit homer leading off the sixth, extending New Yorks lead to 4-2 with the clubs ninth pinch-hit homer this season.De Aza added an RBI single later in the inning off Dustin McGowan.Granderson, who stayed in to play right field, launched a two-run shot in the seventh.Reyes singled leading off the first and Cabrera went deep on the next pitch. It was the 17th home run this season and fourth in 11 at-bats for the reigning NL player of the week. He is batting .447 with four doubles and 11 RBI in 11 games since coming off the disabled list Aug. 19.Reyes and Cabrera got on base seven times in 10 combined plate appearances from the top two spots in the lineup.Slumping slugger Jay Bruce, who started over Granderson, doubled later in the first and scored on a two-out single by Wilmer Flores that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.Lugo went six innings and retired the final eight batters he faced in his third major league start.END OF THE LINESeven of Familias saves this year have come against Miami -- most for any major league reliever versus one team.TRAINERS ROOMMarlins: LHP Adam Conley (finger tendinitis) began a throwing program in Florida. It could take him about three weeks to return, Mattingly said. ... RHP Andrew Cashner (finger blister) played long toss and is scheduled to throw a bullpen Wednesday. He remains on track to start Friday in Cleveland, according to Mattingly. ... RHP A.J. Ramos was OK after crashing into Reyes on a play at the plate Monday night, Mattingly said.Mets: Rookie LHP Steven Matz (shoulder) is not ready to come off the disabled list and was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday night. Jacob deGrom will be moved up a day to start for Matz in the series finale, manager Terry Collins said.UP NEXTMarlins RHP David Phelps (7-6, 2.52 ERA) starts Wednesday night against 43-year-old RHP Bartolo Colon (12-7, 3.44 ERA).Corey Seager Jersey . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. Kenley Jansen Dodgers Jersey . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. http://www.ladodgersprostore.us/Walker-Buehler-dodgers-jersey/ . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. Joe Kelly Dodgers Jersey . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Ross Stripling Womens Jersey .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training.SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs turned to their most tenured veteran to fight off the youthful energy of the Boston Celtics.Tony Parker had 16 points, including 10 in the final period, and the Spurs played their second consecutive solid home game in beating the Celtics 108-101 on Wednesday night.Tony made it a point that he wanted to finish the game out, Boston guard Avery Bradley said. You could tell. You could see it in his eyes, you could see it in his play. Every time he got the ball he was aggressive. He was either making a play for himself or making a play for his teammates.After entering the NBA as an 18-year-old rookie in 2001, Parker is now in his 16th season, all with the Spurs. The 34-year-old point guard has slowed, but he showed flashes of his old self against the Celtics.Parker was 8 for 15 from the field, including a turn-back-the-clock, teardrop floater in the first quarter over a hard-charging Amir Johnson after crossing over Marcus Smart. Parker also hit an 18-foot fall-away jumper off his left heel that gave San Antonio a 96-85 lead.It was just one of those situations, Parker said. It was kind of like they were coming back, and (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) is the boss, I just try to do whatever he wants. Just put me in that situation. Im just happy they went in.Parkers second straight game in double figures backed up Kawhi Leonards 26 points.Pau Gasol added 17 points and 13 rebounds for San Antonio, which has won three straight at the AT&T Center after dropping three of its first four at home. The Spurs (20-5) are 7-4 at home after matching an NBA record with a 40-1 mark last season.I thought the ball movement was a little more aggressive tonight, Popovich said. We communicated pretty well defensively. The ball moved. The ball moved better than it has at home all year.After collecting a season-high 38 assists in Saturdays home win over Brooklyn, the Spurs had 33 assists on 44 field goals against the Celtics while shooting 55 percent from the field.Its too early to say that weve turned the corner, but its a good sign, said Manu Ginobili, who is in his 15th season with the Spurs.Ginobili finished with 12 points and four assists.Boston was without injured leading scorer Isaiah Thomas. San Antonio rested starting power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, and both teams showed off their depth.David Lee, who started in place of Aldridge, had eight points and 10 rebounds.Bradley had 25 points and 10 assists for the Celtics, and Boston got 34 points from its bench.The Celtics outscored San Antonio 118-4 to pull to 74-73 with a minute left in the third quarter, but San Antonio came out on top in a game of big runs to win its 11th straight over Boston.ddddddddddddThey are tremendous at maximizing every detail of the game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. We have had our moments where we play really well, but were not as good as them at that.TIP-INSCeltics: Gerald Green was a late scratch after tweaking his left hip Tuesday in practice while playing 1-on-1. Greens status changed when he experienced soreness in the hip Wednesday morning. He went through all the practice, felt pretty good, didnt feel good this morning, Stevens said. ... Boston is 3-7 against the Western Conference this season, including 1-4 against the Southwest Division. ... Smart started his ninth game, including his third at point guard in place of Thomas. The Celtics are 4-5 with Smart starting at small forward or shooting guard.Spurs: Aldridge was rested for the second time this season, initially sitting out Oct. 30 in a 94-87 win at Dallas. Hes a little banged up, Popovich explained. A little back-to-back, a little bit of rest, a little bit of everything. ... Aldridge, Parker, Gasol and Ginobili have missed a combined eight games for rest this season. Ginobili has sat out three times. ... Lee is the 88th player in NBA history with 10,000 career points and 7,000 rebounds. ... San Antonio is 11-2 against Eastern Conference teams.DUNKING DUNCANSan Antonio will retire Tim Duncans jersey during a postgame ceremony Sunday, but Parker is already feeling nostalgic about his longtime teammate.After teaming with Dewayne Dedmon on an alley-oop, Parker couldnt help but recall all the times he did the same with Duncan. Or maybe Parker was getting an early dig in at Duncan.The last time I had a guy who could jump like that was Tim Duncan for the lobs. Weve been missing that, Parker said, attempting to stifle a laugh about Duncans lack of leaping ability. Missing the Timmy lobs, Dewayne is fulfilling the job.LOOKS GOODStevens expects Thomas to play Friday at home against Charlotte.I have not spoken to him directly, but via others and text, he feels really good and the goal is to play Friday, Stevens said.The 5-foot-9 guard has missed four straight games with a strained left groin he initially injured Dec. 5 at Houston. Boston is 1/3 without Thomas.UP NEXTMavericks: Host Charlotte on Friday.Spurs: At Phoenix on Thursday. ' ' '