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Key Newcastle defender Daniel Mullen looks set to spend a chunk of the A-League season on the sidelines after injuring ligaments in his knee.Mullen was subbed off midway through the second half of Sundays 1-1 opening-round draw with Adelaide, immediately after making a classy clearance to stop Henrique closing in on a winner.The 26-year-old will have scans on Monday to determine the extent of the injury, which has the potential to sideline him for up to 12 weeks.Fellow defender Jason Hoffman (calf) and Finnish striker Aleksandr Kokko (Achilles) are also in doubt for this weekends clash with Brisbane.The pair await their own scan results to rule out serious injury, but participated in Mondays team recovery session.Hopefully theyre not long-term injuries, coach Mark Jones said after his debut match.But it doesnt look good for Dan.It continues a poor run of luck for the Jets who, along with their well-documented off-field issues, lost first-choice goalkeeper Ben Kennedy to a ruptured Achilles last week.In more positive news, Jones said Labinot Haliti was set to return against Roar after nearly a year out with a knee injury.The Jets will also regain Morten Nordstrand and Mateo Poljak, both of whom sat out of the opening game for fitness reasons.All three will be right to go next week, Jones said.Labi is just a case of giving him some game time and trying to build him up.We dont want to give him 90 minutes in his first game back.Newcastle produced a spirited performance, often nullifying the Reds despite a breakdown in communication between Mullen and keeper Jack Duncan gifting Jesse Makarounas an equaliser to offset Wayne Browns opener.The result buoyed Jones confidence as he prepares to host comeback kings Roar.We started without Morten and Mateo, then we lose three as the game goes on but still keep our composure, Jones said.We were more than happy with the way they played, it was just about executing a little bit better.We wanted to wait it out and not concede and we always thought wed get opportunities in the second half, which is what happened.We just, unfortunately, didnt take them.Brisbane will also be high on confidence after snatching a point at the death from Melbourne Victory at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.However, John Aloisis men will be without suspended captain Matt McKay. . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. DETROIT -- While the Detroit Tigers continue their playoff push, the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals find themselves battling to finish above .500.Kansas City reminded Detroit and everybody else on Saturday that the Royals are, after all, the defending World Series champions. They scored five times in the ninth inning to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 7-4 win that brought them back above break-even at 78-77.For me, its extremely important, Royals manager Ned Yost said Saturday about moving above .500. This group has made history the last couple years and we still have a chance to do it.If we finish over .500, it will be the fourth consecutive year that weve had a winning record and thats only been done one other time in this organization.So we need to do everything we can do to achieve that because we feel next year, getting Moose (Mike Moustakas) back, getting (Lorenzo) Cain back, getting some big pieces back in our lineup, that were going to have an opportunity to be the first club in the history of the Royals to go five winning seasons.Its been a struggle here for us lately, but thats a huge goal for us.Detroit, which finished last in the American League Central a year ago after four straight division titles, is unlikely to overtake first-place Cleveland but expects to be in the thick of the battle for one of the two wild-card spots. The Tigers trail Baltimore by one-half game for the second spot.We just need to play well to get to whatevers nnext, quite frankly, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said.dddddddddddd. Then anything can happen.Ausmus recalled his time as a catcher with the Houston Astros a decade ago.In 2006, the Cardinals were playing like crap the last two weeks of the season, he said. They won the World Series.They lost like nine out of 11. We swept them four straight games in Houston and they went in a tailspin.The Astros trailed the Cardinals by 8 1/2 games with 13 left but rallied to within a half-game with three games remaining. St. Louis hung on to win the division.Detroit will send a third straight young starter out Sunday to face Kansas City. Left-hander Matt Boyd (6-4, 4.16 ERA) is coming off a career best eight-inning start at Minnesota in which he allowed just one run and three hits with seven strikeouts.This will be Boyds second start against the Royals this season. He was beaten in his other start, allowing seven runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. Boyd has started five times against Kansas City in his two seasons with Detroit, going 1-2 with a 7.43 ERA.Right-hander Edinson Volquez (10-11, 5.25) is on record as saying he would like to return to Kansas City next year. His contract is a mutual option situation.Volquez is 2-0 with a 4.05 ERA in three starts against the Tigers this season and is 3-4 with a 5.46 ERA in 10 career starts against Detroit. ' ' '
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