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ARLINGTON, Texas -- The slumping Texas Rangers a couple of boosts for their starting rotation. Yu Darvish returned from a 15-day break by allowing only two singles over 6 1-3 scoreless innings and Texas beat the New York Yankees 3-0 Monday night. "You could see he was fresh," manager Ron Washington said. "He was certainly sharp. Sharper than I thought he would be." Also, the Rangers announced right before the game that they had acquired right-hander Matt Garza from the Chicago Cubs. "Last few years when we get pitchers like him we go to the World Series," said Nelson Cruz, who homered. "So thats good news." Darvish (9-4), who last pitched July 6 before going on the disabled list with a right trapezius strain, struck out four and walked two. He left after allowing consecutive batters to reach in the seventh, having thrown 60 of 90 pitches for strikes. The Yankees could have to face the newest Texas ace before they leave town. Garza, pulled from his scheduled start for the Cubs at Arizona on Monday night, is likely to make his Texas debut on Wednesday night. "Youve got to commend (general manager) Jon Daniels and the group the way it worked to try to put this together, and they got us what we needed," Washington said. "We got a tremendous starting pitcher." The Rangers had lost seven of eight games, getting swept at home in a three-game series by Baltimore over the weekend after the All-Star break. Milwaukees Ryan Braun, the 2011 National League MVP, was suspended without pay for the rest of the season and the post-season Monday, the start of sanctions involving players reportedly tied to a Florida clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs. Cruz is among more than a dozen other players also targeted by MLB for having connections to the now-closed anti-aging clinic in Miami. "I guess it is what it is. I dont have any comment," Cruz said when asked about Braun. Cruz also said hes "playing the same way. Were playing to win. Were in the race so I come to the ballpark thinking about winning. So thats my goal." Three relievers wrapped up the three-hitter that was the eighth shutout of the season for the Rangers. All-Star closer Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 32 chances Texas had reliever Robbie Ross warming up while batting in the sixth. But Darvish came out to start the seventh, and appeared surprised when Washington came out of the dugout to make the pitching change. "He was a little bit earlier than I thought, but I had about 15 days with a break and I think Wash was thinking about my body and how I felt, so I really appreciated what hes done," Darvish said through an interpreter. New York didnt have a hit until Lyle Overbay led off the fifth with a bloop single into short left field that was out of the reach of third baseman Adrian Beltre. The Yankees didnt have another hit until Overbay lined a single to right in the seventh, just before Vernon Wells walked and Darvish came out of the game. "It seemed like he located really well," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "His fastball, our guys were talking about it, he was giving us first-pitch fastball, but it was all on the corner or down in the zone, he wasnt giving them a whole lot to swing at." Ross got Travis Hafner, the only batter he faced, to ground into an inning-ending double play. Tanner Scheppers worked a perfect eighth. Ivan Nova (4-3) struck out four while throwing a season-high 112 pitches over seven innings. The Yankees, coming off an 11-inning loss late Sunday night at Boston, were held scoreless for the eighth time. "Its something we have to deal with, so we got to find a way to do that," Overbay said. "Tonight, I dont know if any of those had an effect on us. It was more Darvish was on his game." Cruzs 23rd homer was a 412-foot solo shot in the seventh that landed in the Yankees bullpen in left-centre field and made it 3-0. The Rangers led for good after Ian Kinsler drew a leadoff walk in the first, stole second base and scored on Beltres single -- the first run theyve scored in the first inning in 11 games. In the sixth, Elvis Andrus had a walk and a stolen base before Geovany Soto doubled. NOTES: Darvish only missed one start for Texas, but was unable to pitch in the All-Star game even though he did go to New York last week. ... Texas sent rookie right-hander Justin Grimm, top prospect third baseman Mike Olt and Class-A pitcher C.J. Edwards to the Cubs. There will also be at least one player to be named later, possibly two, depending on who is chosen by Chicago. ... The Rangers bullpen has pitched 22 1-3 consecutive scoreless innings. ... Yankees OF Curtis Granderson, expected back early next month from a broken pinkie, got three at-bats in his first simulated game in Tampa and continued running the bases. Granderson said he feels like its "at the spring training point again" where preseason games are just a few days away. His status will be evaluated after simulated games Tuesday and Wednesday.Nike Epic React Flyknit Dames .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Vapormax 2019 Dames . 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. http://www.vapormaxsalenederland.com/vapormax-97-goedkoop-kopen.html . 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Nike Vapormax Plus Dames Sale .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night.Historically, conditions outside Asia have been the toughest for opening batsmen; in England, South Africa and New Zealand, the ball swings and seams, while Australian pitches have offered more bounce. Over the last five years, though, opening the batting in Sri Lanka has been more difficult than in any other country.In 87 innings in Tests since the beginning of 2012, the average opening partnership in Sri Lanka has been 25.82, easily the lowest among all countries with a cut-off of 30 partnerships. (The average in Zimbabwe is 22.19, from 21 opening stands there during this period.) The only century opening partnership in Sri Lanka during this period was more than four years ago, in April 2012, when Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss added 122 in Colombo. There have been only four other 80-plus stands in this period, while 32 times out of 87 - thats 37% of the total innings - the partnership has ended before getting into double digits. That includes the dismal numbers from the ongoing Sri Lanka-Australia Test in Pallekele, when the first wicket in each of the first three innings fell for single-digit scores.The average opening stand in Sri Lanka during this period is 16% lower than in any other country (with the 30-innings cut-off). The next lowest is in South Africa, which has always been a difficult country for opening batsmen, but even there the average is more than five runs higher than the average in Sri Lanka. In the other Asian countries the averages are much higher - 40.16 in the UAE, 43.47 in India and 45.93 in Bangladesh - confirming that conditions in Asia are quite favourable for batsmen when the ball is new. Except, it would seem, when the country in question is Sri Lanka. The concept of home advantage for batsmen is a well-entrenched one, but over the last five years it hasnt held true for Sri Lankas opening pairs. In 44 partnerships at home since the beginning of 2012, they have averaged 27.59, with a highest stand of 93 not out, by Dimuth Karunaratne and Tharanga Paranavitana against New Zealand in Galle in 2012. Their numbers in the last year are especially abysmal: in 13 innings since July 2015, the openers have added more than 15 only once, and have averaged 10.15 per partnership. Their partnerships during this period read thus: 15, 12, 15, 0, 1, 8, 11, 1, 56, 1, 0, 6, 6. In 44 partnerships at home in the last four and a half years, Sri Lanka have had 24 sub-20 stands, and only seven in excess of 50.They have done much better overseas: in 35 away partnerships during this period, they have scored 248 more runs than they have in 44 home partnershhips, and averaged a healthy 40.dddddddddddd20. Apart from Australia, where the average has been only 19.16 in six innings, the Sri Lankan openers have done well everywhere, averaging 64.33 in Bangladesh, 52 in the UAE, 41 in New Zealand and South Africa, and 37.70 in England. Compared to 24 sub-20 stands in 44 home innings, in 35 away innings they have had only ten such stands.That is a huge contrast to the other subcontinent teams, whose opening pairs do much better at home than away. Indias openers have averaged 51.68 at home and 25.57 away in the same period. Pakistan have averaged 41.03 in the UAE and 22.18 in other countries, and Bangladesh have averaged 43.68 at home and 27.50 away. The home and away numbers for Sri Lankas current opening pair, Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva, illustrate just how difficult it has been to play the new ball in Sri Lanka compared to other countries. In 23 overseas partnerships, they have been extremely consistent, going past 30 on 16 occasions. On the recent tour to England, they put together partnerships of 108 and 45, and on the previous tour to England in 2014, they got starts each time, with stands of 54, 25, 37 and 40 in two Tests.At home, on the other hand, they have had little success to speak of, with only three partnerships of 30 or more in 13 innings. Ten times one of them has been dismissed before the team has reached 20. Silva, especially, has struggled at home, averaging 26.39 from 23 innings, compared to an overseas average of 39.86 in away Tests since the start of 2012.That, again, is a huge contrast with other opening pairs from the subcontinent. M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, for example, average 65.44 from ten partnerships at home during this period, but outside Asia it drops to 25.14 from 21 partnerships. Both home and overseas opening pairs have struggled to string together partnerships in Sri Lanka in these last four and a half years. Sri Lankas openers have done poorly, but overseas teams have fared even worse, averaging 24.04 for the first wicket. When India toured there last year, for example, their opening partnerships aggregated 35 in six innings, an average of 5.83. Sri Lanka wasnt always so inhospitable to opening pairs. In the five years before 2012, the average stand here was a healthy 38.50, which was higher than the opening stands in South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand. Lately, though, all opening batsmen would probably wish they were elsewhere than in Sri Lanka. ' ' '