url] . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When designated hitter Kendrys Morales started the season slowly, Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost stuck with him.The patience paid off. Morales is hitting .342 with nine home runs and 25 RBI in his past 31 games.Yost said he is absolutely showing the same perseverance with Alex Gordon, who was hitting .200 after going 0-for-4 on Tuesday, striking out twice and failing to get the ball out of the infield.Gordon did not start Wednesday but did deliver a pinch double. After an off-day Thursday, which included the Royals visiting the White House, Gordon walked and tripled in his first two plate appearances in a 3-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night. It was Gordons first triple since Aug. 17, 2004 at Minnesota.Gordy is a guy that puts everything he has into his game, Yost said. You ask players every single day to come in and be prepared and just give your very best effort every day. As a manager, you take what comes with that, you know good or bad. All they can do is give their best effort. And he does that with the best of them.But he also gets a little frustrated with himself and it kind of compounds the problem a little bit. He wants to be productive. I could see him really starting to grind. When you break out, youre going to break out. Hes just too good of a player not to. He hasnt forgotten how to hit.Gordon, who was a free agent this past winter, signed a four-year, $72 million contract to stay with the club that drafted him second overall in 2005. That is the richest contract ever given a Royals player.He said the contract doesnt have anything to do with it, Yost said. Gordy is a guy; he wants to make sure that youre getting your end of the bargain. You know what Im saying. And hes just right now pressing and getting a little bit frustrated.Does Gordon appear to be standing more upright and diving at balls across the plate?Those are questions I cant answer, articulatory, Yost said. Dale (Sveum, hitting coach) can. Dale has got some ideas that can help him. But like a lot of good players that have had success, they can be a little bit stubborn. They dont blow with the wind, which makes them successful.They are not always trying to tweak and change and do stuff like that. Him and Dale they talk and are trying to figure out what can help him be more productive.Gordon, who has struck out 72 times in 219 at-bats, did not strike out Wednesday on a night when Yu Darvish struck out 11 in six innings.You cant find a whole lot negative with Yus start tonight, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said.Keone Kela and rookie left-hander Jake Diekman each pitched a scoreless inning after Darvish was removed after 91 pitches. Kela gave up a career-worst four runs in one inning on Monday in a loss at the Angels. Diekman was pitching for the first time since July 5 at Boston and going on the disabled list with a lacerated left index finger.It was great to see Keone rebound from the outing in Anaheim, flooding the strike zone with a big fastball, Banister said. It was 97-98 mile per hour, a breaking ball and a double play ball, something he doesnt get a whole lot of.And then to have Jake Diekman and do what he did, to give us an opportunity there. Those two guys are going to play big for us down the stretch out of our bullpen.The two teams meet again Saturday night in the middle game of the weekend series. The Rangers lead over the Houston Astros has dwindled to 2 1/2 games in the AL West. With the victory and the Cleveland loss, the Royals picked up a game on the Indians but are still eight games back in the AL Central.Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura, who starts Saturday, walked a major league-leading 33 in his first nine starts, 6.10 per nine innings. In his past nine starts, however, Ventura has allowed just eight free passes in 52 2/3 innings, 1.37 per nine innings. That ratio ranks third lowest in the AL during that span.The Rangers will counter with All-Star left-hander Cole Hamels. This will be first time to appear in a regular-season game at Kauffman Stadium. He did throw a perfect inning there in the 2012 All-Star Game, retiring Billy Butler, Matt Wieters and Adam Jones. He worked a scoreless inning in this years All-Star game in San Diego.The Rangers are 14-5 in Hamels starts this season, including winning seven of his past eight. He struck out the first six Chicago Cubs he faced in his Sunday start, a 4-1 victory, allowing four hits and one unearned run in eight innings.Nike Sb Schoenen Kopen . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. Nike Sb Kopen Nederland .Y. -- Marcell Dareus and the Buffalo Bills defence made life miserable for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. http://www.nikesbnederland.com/ . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Nike Sb Aanbieding . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Nike Sb Heren Sale . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach.PRAGUE -- Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has hired Karolina Pliskovas former coach, and Pliskova has hired Kvitovas former coach.The 11th-ranked Kvitova will now work with Jiri Vanek, who parted ways with Pliskova last month. The sixth-ranked Pliskova, meanwhile, has hired David Kotyza, whose seven-year partnership with Kvitova ended in January.With Vanek, who joined her in 2014, Pliskova jumped into the top 10 and reeached the US Open final.dddddddddddd.During her seven years with Kotyza, Kvitova won 17 WTA titles, including Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014. But she was struggling after their split, and former doubles specialist Frantisek Cermak, who was coaching her from April until September, didnt change that much. ' ' '