Wednesday evenings. But back in May, we played at home on the eve of a county second XI match at our ground. This was a prestigious fixture, for which we wanted the ground and in particular

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jason Kipnis and the Cleveland Indians felt a lot better heading home for a day off after what was still a miserable trip overall. Kipnis had a home run among his three hits, and the Indians got a series-clinching 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, a night after ending an eight-game losing streak. "Definitely a good way to end this trip that did not start the way we wanted it to," Kipnis said. "It takes a little pressure off. You get a happy flight home, you get a day off, you get a little momentum on your side, you get to go home for a long homestand. I think everybody is ready to go home even more so now." The Indians hit the road after an 11-3 loss at home to Tampa Bay on June 2. They were then swept in three-game series at the New York Yankees and Detroit before losing the opener at Texas. Now they get a day off Thursday before playing Washington on Friday to start a nine-game homestand. "We went through a pretty bad stretch there," manager Terry Francona said. "We played well tonight, and well have a much-needed day off." Mike Aviles also homered for Cleveland (32-33) which also won 5-2 on Tuesday after losing the series opener 6-3. The Indians get a day off before starting a nine-game homestand Friday against Washington. The Indians had lost 12 games in a row away from home before winning the last two against Texas. They had gone 0-4-1 in road series since taking two of three May 10-12 in an early series at Detroit, the only American League team with a better home record than the Rangers (19-10). Ubaldo Jimenez (5-4) allowed one run pitching into the sixth, and five relievers finished it out for the Indians. Rangers rookie right-hander Nick Tepesch (3-6) gave up five runs in five innings with five strikeouts. "Its just when he got the ball out over the plate, they were putting some good swings on it, not missing," manager Ron Washington said. " I thought he was sinking the ball extremely well, but when it didnt sink, they put some good swings on it. " The Indians went ahead to stay with two outs in the second when Jason Giambi was hit by a pitch and Aviles homered, his fourth this season, for a 2-0 lead. An inning later, Michael Bourn had a leadoff infield hit and scored on Michael Brantleys single. Leonys Martin scored both runs for Texas. He led off the third with his third homer, and reached on an infield single in the ninth before scoring on Juricksons Profars double. Jimenez, who had four strikeouts and four walks, was gone after Lance Berkman walked and Adrian Beltre singled to start the sixth. Reliever Rich Hill retired the only batter he faced before Bryan Shaw got the last two outs of the inning. "Like we expect," Francona said of the relievers. Kipnis, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, hit his ninth homer on the first pitch of the fifth. Brantley then walked with one out and scored on a double by Carlos Santana to make it 5-1. After a flyout in his first at-bat, Kipnis singled in the third. He had a hustling double in the seventh, when he hit the ball to left and slid headfirst into second to beat a strong throw by David Murphy, who had already thrown out one base runner. In the ninth, Kipnis reached on a strange double-play fielders choice. Runners on first and second base both froze when shortstop Jurickson Profar couldnt quite come up with a short-hopper. Profar threw to third for the force, and Adrian Beltre held the ball momentarily before realizing there was still a play to be made at second. Bourn also started the game with a single, but ended the first when he was thrown out trying to score on Brantleys two-out hit. Murphy threw a strike to catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who held on through the collision at the plate. It was Murphys third outfield assistant his last eight games. Notes: Vinnie Pestano pitched the ninth for Cleveland, and needed 15 pitches to get out leadoff hitter Jeff Baker on a disputed play at first base. ... Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler, out since May 18 because of bruised ribs and then a stress reaction in the same area on his right side, is scheduled to start a rehab assignment Thursday at Double-A Frisco. He will DH the first game, then play at least two games in the field. ... Cleveland pulled C Lou Marson from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Columbus because of continued soreness in his right throwing shoulder. ... Texas LHP Michael Kirkman (recurrence of lymphoma) was transferred from the 15-day to 60-day disabled list. ... The Rangers have signed their top 10 picks from last weeks drafter after coming to a deal with their third-round draft pick, RHP David Ledbetter.Fake Vans From China . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Cheap Fake Vans . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. http://www.fakevans.com/ . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. Wholesale Fake Vans .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Fake Vans Toy Story .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena.Faced with uncertainty, the human mind devises narratives to feign predictability. Uncertainty comes in various forms - from fundamental questions such as Why are we here? to more humdrum ones - Will I get wet later?Humdrum it may be but, dealt a 13-week season, impinged upon by football, school trips and family holidays, knowing whether it will rain later has become one of the determining considerations of my life as a junior cricket organiser. Yesteryear, when the weather was really significant, we would consult seaweed, or the posture of cattle. Nowadays, theres a very modern indicator of coming rain: text messages.It starts in the late morning. Parents: Will tonights game be rained off? Im out of town, so would be good to know. I understand the need to drive out uncertainty, the modern middle-class parents desire for the one quiet evening at home that a cancellation can deliver. The thing is, Im out of town as well.Six years into this role and I am also very clear that if we decided whether matches in Englands north-west should be played based on weather conditions at 11am and forecasts for the early evening, our youngsters would play very little cricket at all. The UKs temperate maritime climate, with very few climatic extremes, means that the weather is a state of mind as much as it is an objective fact. For cricket enthusiasts in this damp region, there is a pragmatism about conditions: Well start if its not raining (hard) and carry on if its not pouring.Recently, I drove through heavy traffic and heavier rain to a friendly local club. As I pulled onto the driveway that skirts the grounds southern boundary, I saw a heron wading on the outfield. But the rain had stopped. Our hosts put the kettle on, joined me in conference with the neutral umpire and agreed wed give it half an hour - but would mark the boundary anyway (cordoning off the wading bird reserve at wide long-on).Thanks to the practicality of our hosts and the shared view that its only a game that nobody gains from cancelling, our teens played on. Two-hundred-and-seventy runs in 34 overs showed it was a batters night and that weather is, within parameters, a state of mind.To agree that its only a game may be a luxury thats being depleted. Umpires have a responsibility for ensuring the safety of playing conditions. Thats well understood. An opposition first team player umpiring an Under-13 game once tried to bring the teams off in light rain. His legitimate concern was that the boys didnt have spikes and were slipping. The opposition coach and I walked out to the middle to assess conditions. The boys were loving it, performing sliding stops and soft-landing dives. No more long run-ups, the other coach and I decreed before returning to the scorebox, out of sight of the parents fretting over laundry.With that responsibility placed on the umpires comes an opportunity for litigation. A case has already reached court (Bartlett v ECB Coaches Association, 2015). A fielder was injured on a wet outfield after having argued with the umpire that the game shouldnt take place. The court, in this example, dismisssed the claim against the umpire, perhaps noting that the fielder, concerned about the conditions, had nonetheless attempted a sliding stop.dddddddddddd The very fact of this legal case, though, will cause a ripple through our recreational umpires, like a cricket bag dragged through a carpark puddle.Theres another impediment to a laissez-faire approach to the weather and junior cricket. Its the hierarchy of needs within the club. Ten-year-olds share the same square as the clubs senior teams. Allowing an Under-11 match to go ahead and damage the first XI track is heresy. The balance is tightest on a Friday night, when the pitch will have little time to recover before the weekends big fixture.On many a Friday afternoon, watching drizzles pathetic, stubborn dampening of the street outside my office window, my duty to play and play on, has shunted up against a wish for it to just rain properly and put us out of this misery. I check my iPhone weather app with the compulsion normally reserved for the Test score. The teasing of rain specks on the windscreen continues on the drive to the ground. The texts are coming in thick and fast. Were on, I announce with fingers on keypad when I get to the ground and find the moisture hanging in the air, making the grass greasy, the square so inviting for a young cricketer to skid across and wreck tomorrows track.As long as it doesnt get any heavier, I explain to opposition, umpire, parents. We dig out bar towels for the fielding team to dry the ball that will still swell like a raisin in a Moroccan stew. Bats left carelessly on the grass will lose their sharp report. The fielders hair, that started in a variety of self-conscious shapes, becomes uniformly flattened on their scalps. Meanwhile, the pitch for our first teams match takes on more water. Should I or shouldnt I just call the game off? I can cope with the rain; its the drizzle I cant stand.This season, Ive been spared the Friday game of cat and mouse with the elements, with the matches I organise occurring on Wednesday evenings. But back in May, we played at home on the eve of a county second XI match at our ground. This was a prestigious fixture, for which we wanted the ground and in particular the square, looking its best. We got under way with grey clouds occluding the sun in the west. Club officials, looking more often at the sky than the play, stood on the boundary. Soon after the second innings started, the clouds began to leak and the covers made it to the pitch before the players reached the pavilion. Three of us stood sentry in the middle, heads cocked upwards like men have done for millennia. Then each of us 21st century men would look down and consult our smart phones, two of which told us it was raining and one claimed sunshine. Meanwhile, the square, the covers, the outfield, our heads and shoulders were rapidly filling in white as snow fell.Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with Inbox in the subject line. ' ' '