NEW YORK -- Scott Kazmir has been so good for the Oakland Athletics, manager Bob Melvin wasnt prepared to see his ace flop so badly. Kazmir was tagged for three homers and allowed a season-high seven runs in the As 10-1 loss to the New York Mets and Bartolo Colon on Tuesday night. "Its almost a shock when you see him give up some runs but he just got some balls up, missed locations with a few of them and they didnt miss them," Melvin said. "Usually hes so unpredictable in his pitches that if he does get a ball up sometimes he gets away with it but he didnt today." A first-round draft pick by New York in 2002 but sent to Tampa Bay in a very unpopular trade two years later, Kazmir struggled from the start in his first start ever in Queens. He entered with the ALs best ERA (2.08) and on a four-game winning streak, but was out after just three innings. His ERA rose to 2.66. Kazmir (9-3) gave up consecutive homers to Curtis Granderson and Chris Young in the second inning and a three-run shot to Travis dArnaud in the third. The left-hander went 22 starts without giving up more than one homer in a game since Aug. 18, with the Indians. Kazmir blamed his lack of command on his troubles, not his first outing against the Mets in New York -- he beat the Mets in September in Cleveland. "Ive never played in Shea Stadium. Id never played in Citi Field so its not really coming back for me," Kazmir said. "I think itd be a little bit different if I had actually played at the big league level with the Mets and had a little bit of history in that regard, but it was just going out here today to take care of business." The As second straight loss ended with reliever Jeff Francis striking out. Melvin had Derek Norris and Craig Gentry on the bench but Gentry was given a cortisone shot in a knee. Norris was out of the lineup after being hit by a backswing on Sunday. "I wasnt going to use him in that type of game," Melvin said of Norris. Colon (8-5) shut down the team that didnt want him back this year despite an 18-win season, pitching four-hit ball for eight innings against the AL West leaders. Signed by the Mets 10 days after the As inked Kazmir in December, Colon won his sixth straight decision. He also singled for his second straight game, much to the delight of the 25,751 in attendance. "Just when you think youve got him figured out hes going to throw something that you have no idea hes going to throw and thats just a testament to how good he is," Stephen Vogt said of Colon. "Obviously Im frustrated that we didnt beat him but obviously it was great to see him." Colon only faced trouble in the first when Yoenis Cespedes followed Brandon Moss single with a double to the wall in centre field for the early lead. Colon gave up a hit to Cespedes in the fourth and another single in the fifth to Coco Crisp, but he otherwise cruised through the best run-producing lineup in the majors. "It feels really good in particular because its a team like the Oakland As, which for me right now is the No. 1 team," Colon said through a translator. Slumping Mets outfielder Chris Young also homered off failed closer Jim Johnson in the fifth for only the Mets fifth four-homer game at Citi Field since it opened in 2009, according to STATS. Granderson and David Wright had RBI groundouts, and Daniel Murphy added a run-scoring single for the Mets, who scored at least 10 runs in consecutive games for the first time since June 28-29, 2011, in Detroit. They beat Miami 11-5 on Sunday. The Mets have won a season high-tying three straight. NOTES: The As activated RF Josh Reddick before the game. He was 0 for 2 with a walk. ... Oakland placed 1B Kyle Blanks on the 15-day DL with a left calf strain. ... Wright tied a career high with an RBI in his seventh straight game. ... First base umpire Joe West was hit in the chest by a line drive but he barely flinched. ... Up next: Oakland LHP Brad Mills (0-0) vs. New York RHP Zack Wheeler (3-7). .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at LeBron James and the Miami Heat winning their second straight NBA championship. .com) - Quarterback Cardale Jones will return to Ohio State next season.
http://www.hurricanesauthority.com/auth ... -jersey/.C. - Phoenix Suns coach Jeff Hornacek says guard Goran Dragic will return to the starting lineup against the Charlotte Hornets after missing the last two games with a strained back. .com) - Virginia is for loving Latrell Scott. . Halak, 28, split his eighth NHL seasons between the St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, compiling a 29-13-7 record in 52 games.Tim Wallach, Murray Cook and Dave Van Horne - three men whose names were synonymous with the Montreal Expos - will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on June 21. The Hall also announced on Monday that Canadian national team coach Jim Ridley will be inducted posthumously. "Tim Wallach and Dave Van Horne are two names that have become synonymous with the Montreal Expos, and both have had a significant impact on baseball in this country, and Murray Cook and Jim Ridley helped blaze a trail for Canadians in the professional scouting and executive ranks," said Scott Crawford, the halls director of operations said in a statement. "Were proud and excited to celebrate their careers in St. Marys this June." Wallach is the Expos all-time leader in several statistical categories, including games played (1,767), hits (1,694), doubles (360), RBI (905) and total bases (2,728). Nicknamed "Eli" by his teammates, Wallach also ranks third all-time amongst Expos in runs (737) and fourth in home runs (204). Chosen 10th overall by the Expos in the 1979 amateur draft, Wallach began his big league career as an outfielder before evolving into the best third baseman in the franchises history. In 13 seasons with the Expos from 1980 to 1992, Wallach was selected to five all-star games (1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990), won three Gold Gloves (1985, 1988, 1990) and captured two Silver Slugger Awards (1985, 1987). He was also named to the Topps All-Star Rookie team in 1981, topped the National League in doubles in 1987 and 1989 and finished fourth in National League MVP voting in 1987. Van Horne began his Montreal career behind the mike with the Expos first game on April 8, 1969 until the end of the 2000 season. He became known for his trademark catch-phrases like "Up, up and away!" when the Expos hit a home run. In his 32 seasons with the Expos, he broadcast the down-to-the-wire pennant races in 1979 and 1980, the teams only post-season run in 1981 and Dennis Martinezs perfect game on July 28, 1991 – a performance that inspired, perhaps, his most famous call, "El Presidente, El Perfecto!" In 2001, Van Horne accepted the radio play-by-play position with the Florida Marlins and he would later broadcast the clubs World Series-winning 2003 campaign. In 1996, Van Horne received the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fames Jack Graney Award for broadcasting excellence and 15 years later, he was the recipient of the National Baseball Hall of Fames equivalent honour, the Ford C. Frick Award. Now entering his 46th year of broadcasting major league games, Van Horne is set to become the second Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (Tom Cheek is the other) to have won both the Jack Graney and Ford C. Frick Awards. Born in Sackville, N.B. in 1940, Murray Cook has spent more than half a century in professional baseball. After graduating from Ohio University with a masters degree in history in 1962, he was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played shortstop and third base in the lower levels of their system for parts of four years, before hanging up his spikes to become the general manager of their Class-A affiliate in Gastonia in 1966. The Pirates promoted him too their big league front office in 1967.dddddddddddd He was named the teams assistant farm director the following year and soon rose through the ranks to become the clubs assistant director of minor league operations in 1972 and director of scouting in 1977. After 21 years in the Pirates organization, Cook was hired to be the New York Yankees scouting director in January 1983. Just over six months later, he was named the clubs general manager, becoming just the second Canadian to be a big league GM (Huntsville, Ont., native George Selkirk was the Washington Senators GM from 1964 to 1969). Cook remains just one of five Canadians to serve as a GM at the major league level. The others are Selkirk, Gord Ash (Toronto Blue Jays, 1995 to 2001), Doug Melvin (Texas Rangers, 1994 to 2001; Milwaukee Brewers, 2003 to present) and Alex Anthopoulos (Toronto Blue Jays, 2009 to present). In 1984, Cook was reassigned to the position of vice-president and director of scouting with the Yankees, before he replaced John McHale as general manager of the Expos on September 5 of that year. Drafting Randy Johnson, signing free agent Dennis Martinez and rebuilding the Expos into a surprising contender were among the highlights of his close to three years in Montreal. Following his tenure with the Expos, he served as the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 1988 and 1989. Since 1990, he has worked in scouting capacities for the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. In 2010, he was named East Scout of the Year for his contributions to the scouting field. He is currently the Tigers East Coast regional cross checker. After two seasons as an outfielder in the Milwaukee Braves organization in 1964 and 1965, Toronto native Jim Ridley returned to Canada where he would have a significant impact on baseball in his home country for the next four decades. While continuing his playing career in the Intercounty Baseball League – where he was named league MVP with Stratford Hillers in 1974 – Ridley launched his storied coaching and scouting career. He began as a part-time scout with the Detroit Tigers in 1973, before joining the Toronto Blue Jays in 1976 to run the clubs first tryout camp in Utica, N.Y. In his 26 years as a scout with the Blue Jays, Ridley was the driving force behind the clubs decisions to sign Canadians like Paul Spoljaric, Rob Butler and David Corrente. He also served as a coach with the Blue Jays rookie-level affiliate in Medicine Hat from 1978 to 1980. A highly respected coach at the local level, Ridley also coached the Canadian junior national team from 1983 to 1988, leading the squad to bronze medals at the World Junior Baseball Championship in 1983 and 1987. In 1988, he coached the Canadian Olympic baseball team and three years later, he was tabbed to manage Canadas squad at the Pan Am Games. Starting in 2002, Ridley served as a scout with the Minnesota Twins. Rene Tosoni and Jon Waltenbury are among the Canadians he signed and brought into the Twins organization. Ridley passed away from cancer on November 28, 2008. Each year, the Canadian Baseball Network presents the Jim Ridley Award to the countrys top scout in his memory. ' ' '
