Gästebereich » painfully slow and flat - surface at Lords

BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles have seen the last of Ubaldo Jimenez during the first half of the baseball season.Now they must determine how much they want to see of him after the All-Star break.Jimenez was rocked by the Los Angeles Angels in another abbreviated start, and the Orioles wasted three home runs in a 9-5 loss Friday night.Jimenez (5-9) gave up five runs, five hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. His ERA swelled to 7.38 after his third start of less than two innings.What do you do with an ineffective pitcher with a year-and-a-half left on a $50 million contract?We had tried to put him in the bullpen, see if we could work some things out there, manager Buck Showalter said. But necessity put him back in there, so well attack it after the break.Many in the crowd of 44,317 began booing the right-hander in the first inning, and they cheered when Showalter finally walked to the mound to summon help from the bullpen.Theres no doubt about it, this is the toughest thing that I have had to face, Jimenez said. I have to keep going, keep working hard and hopefully find something thats going to get me out of this thing.Daniel Nava had two RBI and Mike Trout scored three runs for the Angels, who have won four straight. Los Angeles built an 8-1 lead in the fourth inning and coasted to the finish.Matt Shoemaker (4-9) allowed three runs and five hits in five-plus innings to earn his first win since May 27. The right-hander was 0-4 in his previous eight starts despite owning a respectable 3.08 ERA over that span.Adam Jones homered on Shoemakers first pitch, and the Orioles also got long balls from Jonathan Schoop and Mark Trumbo.Jones shot got Baltimore to 2-1, and two batters later Manny Machado sent a drive toward the seats in left. Nava gauged the flight of the ball while backing up, shifted to his right at the last second and reached into the front row to rob Machado of his 20th home run.Baltimores rocky night was personified by consecutive errors committed by three-time Gold Glove shortstop J.J. Hardy in the fourth inning. The miscues doubled his error total for the season.After Jimenez departed, Mike Wright hit three batters over the course of his 4 2/3-inning stint, including first baseman C.J. Cron. The pitch fractured Crons left hand and sent him to the 15-day disabled list.Schoop was plunked in the helmet by Cam Bedrosian in the sixth, prompting home plate umpire Mike Everitt to issue a warning to both clubs.ROSTER MOVESThe Angels put Cron on the DL, optioned C Carlos Perez to Triple-A Salt Lake, activated C Geovany Soto from the DL and recalled 1B Ji-Man Choi.50 YEARS LATERThe Orioles paid tribute to the 1966 World Series champions with a pregame ceremony and by wearing replica uniforms of that team. Informed that the 66 Orioles used only four pitchers in a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Showalter exclaimed, Cmon man, we use four (by) the third inning!TRAINERS ROOMAngels: LHP Tyler Skaggs (shoulder) threw 75 pitches in a rehab assignment on Thursday night. We definitely are hoping hes going to be with us and maybe part of our rotation at some point, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.Orioles: LHP T.J. McFarland (left knee inflammation) will see Dr. James Andrews on Monday for a second opinion.UP NEXTAngels: RHP Nick Tropeano (3-2, 3.28 ERA) makes his 12th start of the season and first of his career against the Orioles on Saturday.Orioles: RHP Yovani Gallardo (3-1, 6.10) has been in the league since 2007, yet he has only faced the Angels once. He allowed five runs in four innings last year. Custom Andre Dawson Jersey .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Custom Marlins Jerseys . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. http://www.custommarlinsjersey.com/ . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home. Cheap Custom Marlins Jersey .4 million title. Ryan Riess emerged with the title after a session in which he started behind, but used expert skill to gather the chips to his side amid the unpredictability of no-limit Texas Hold em. Riess put his final opponent Jay Farber all-in with an Ace-King. Custom Marlins T-shirts . On Mar. 16, coming off a "fight of the year" performance at UFC 154 the previous November, St-Pierre faced Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in what would be his eighth defence of the welterweight title. Using his superior athleticism, St-Pierre cruised to a five round, unanimous decision victory setting up a much-anticipated title defence against number one contender Johny Hendricks. Nottinghamshire 241 (Patel 100, Finn 4-54) and 24 for 0 lead Middlesex 247 (Gubbins 75, Ball 5-66) by 18 runsScorecard It was more constrictor than cobra, more glacier than waterfall but, if Middlesex do go on to win the County Championship title this season, they may look back on Nick Gubbins innings here as a key contribution.With Yorkshire passing 400 at Leeds and Middlesex reeling at 81 for 5, this could have been the day their title challenge fell away. But through Gubbins skill and determination, they will resume on day three with the match in the balance and their first Championship title since 1993 still attainable.Gubbins has already contributed heavily this season. With 1122 Championship runs at an average of almost 60, he is not only his clubs highest run-scorer, but the fourth highest in the top division. He has played three fewer innings than all above him.But many of those runs have been scored on the slow and flat - the painfully slow and flat - surface at Lords. And while Angus Fraser, Middlesexs director of cricket, reasons that such surfaces may benefit his team in the long-term (they give batsmen confidence and teach bowlers the value of control, he suggests), they can also inflate the records of some of those playing there.Here, though, in conditions where the ball moved all day for the seamers and on a slow, used surface that provided assistance to two spinners with international wickets to their name, he was forced to prove his quality in far less benign circumstances. And, after an opening over hat-trick on the first evening, he did it under the pressure of knowing his team needed him more than ever.It was, as he admitted himself, a bit of a grind at times. He went, at one stage, 38 overs without a boundary and 80 deliveries over the accumulation of five runs. His share of the stand of 42 with Stevie Eskinazi was just five and his half-century took 187 balls.But it was, in its way, compelling viewing. Forced to play straight and wait for the poor ball - and Nottinghamshire made him wait a long time - he refused to be drawn into playing away from his body and refused to let his impatience or frustration change his approach. For a 22-year-old, it was an impressively disciplined, selfless effort. Without it, Middlesex would have been in deep trouble.Gubbins is a batsman with far more to him than grim defence and crease occupation. He made his breakthrough as a List A batsman (he averaged 56.50 in that format in 2015) and has scored his Championship runs at a rate of 53.27 this season. He has a a trademark force off the hips - a stroke he can play on the ground or in the air off a good length ball on off stump - that can make a bowler wonder why he bothers.But reasoning that he is in this game for the long-haul, he has decided that such strokes are, for now, low-percentage. He has decided, like many top-order players before him, to play within himself (that shot forces my head too far over to the off side, he explains) and concentrate on a tight defence before worrying himself about domination. In conditions likee this such a method will serve him - and, one day perhaps, England - well.ddddddddddddThere were still some elegant shots. When Brett Hutton dropped short he was cut, when Jake Ball - a little off colour, despite the five-wicket haul - he was driven. Imran Tahirs odd loose balls were similarly punished. As Gubbins put it: I never really felt I had dropped anchor, but they bowled very well, had in out fields and we had to battle hard to reach parity.It was no surprise to hear that he has been spending time with Nick Compton. There were times here when this was much like watching Compton of 2012 vintage: a watertight defence and love for batting slowly breaking down the bowlers and feeding off their mistakes. Its old school but it works.Such feats of concentration and mental and physical endurance can wear any player. It may be that both Compton and Jonathan Trott one day look back on their careers and reflect that they simply exhausted themselves. But, for now at least, Gubbins has the energy and the talent to relish the battle. If he can sustain it, he will be prove of great service to country as well as club.Notts looked far better than a bottom of the table team. Hutton produced a beauty to account for John Simpson - the ball swung in, pitched and moved just enough to beat what appeared to be a perfectly respectable forward defensive stroke and hit the top of off stump - while Harry Gurney bowled impressively dry and delivered four maidens in succession at one stage.If Dawid Malan felt himself unfortunate to be given out leg before - he held his head in his hands with disappointment - James Franklin felt to a loose upper cut to deep backward point and Eskinazi was well beaten by Imran. Gubbins fine innings was eventually ended by Huttons first over with the second new ball, when he was forced to play another beauty that swung in, held in the pitch and took the edge.Notts are not out of this game. With a potent leg-spinner to call upon, Middlesex face a tough challenge in the fourth innings on a used pitch. If Notts can just bat a little better in their second innings - and they started brightly - the great escape remains a distant possibility.Meanwhile Mick Newell, who is soon to be director of cricket at Nottinghamshire, hinted that a place could be found for James Taylor on the clubs coaching staff. Taylor, who was forced to retire with immediate effect in April after being diagnosed with a serious heart condition, has made no secret of his desire to try his hand at coaching.Notts have missed not just his runs, but his experience and spirit this season. While a role as a full time coach seems unlikely, it seems a part-time position mentoring young batsmen - especially in white ball cricket - could be created.Hes interested and theres scope for him to work with us, Newell said. I think he can work with young batters like Tom Moores. We lost a lot of mental toughness when he went. It was a big loss. ' ' '