Dein erstes Forum » n.There is no sacred day of the week for any spo

CINCINNATI -- Jon Lesters late-summer surge put him in position to get 20 wins for the first time in his career. The left-hander let his one chance slip away with an uncharacteristically poor performance.No time to fume over it, though. He might be starting the Cubs first playoff game in a few days.Lester struggled for the first time since mid-July as the Cincinnati Reds pulled away to a 7-4 victory on Saturday against what is likely to be Chicagos lineup for its opening game of the playoffs.Asked before the game if hell open the playoffs with the same lineup -- including Lester on the mound -- manager Joe Maddon said, Theres a shot. The Cubs will host the NL wild-card playoff winner on Friday at Wrigley Field.For now, its more about staying ready and accomplishing a few personal goals, like a 20-win season. Lester (19-5) found himself rushing on the mound Saturday as he gave up five runs in only five innings, including Eugenio Suarezs two-run homer and a pair of RBI by Joey Votto. The left-hander hadnt allowed five runs in a start since July 9.I dont know if I was rushing, just trying to get through the game or what, said Lester, who threw 111 pitches. Im more or less bummed about that more than the other stuff.Maddon has been getting players some rest heading into the postseason. Even so, the Cubs have won eight of 12, finishing one of their best regular seasons with a flourish. Chicagos 102 victories are its most since 1910.I think weve been doing a nice job, Maddon said. Im happy with what were doing now. Its not about this. Its about four days off (before the first playoff game) -- thats the bigger concern.Tim Adleman (4-4) gave up three runs in five innings as part of a rare Reds victory over Chicago. The Cubs are 14-4 against Cincinnati this season. Ben Zobrist hit his third homer in two games.The overwhelming majority of the 30,970 fans were wearing Cubs blue and cheering for Lester to get that milestone victory.You know everybody in that clubhouse wanted to get him his 20th win, Adleman said. This didnt feel at all like home. The place was flooded with Cubs fans. It was sweet to get the win today.Nobodys been better lately than Lester. Since the All-Star break, hed won a career-high 10 straight decisions. In September, he allowed a total of two runs while winning all five starts. Lester had allowed one run or none in a club-record eight straight starts heading into Saturday.The Reds strung together several well-placed hits while sending him to his first loss since July 3. Lester was hoping to become the first Cubs left-hander to win 20 games since Dick Ellsworth in 1963.Jake Arrieta won 22 games last season to help the Cubs reach the playoffs.STATSThe Cubs have hit 40 homers against the Reds this season, the most ever by an opposing team against Cincinnati. ... Dexter Fowler singled for his 1,000th career hit. ... Suarez snapped an 0-for-12 slump with his first homer since Aug. 30. ... Votto had three hits and drove in three runs overall. Hes batting .412 since the All-Star break. Hes trying to become the first player in the majors to hit .400 after the All-Star break since Ichiro Suzuki hit .429 in 2004. ... Aroldis Chapman fanned Votto on three pitches in the eighth clocked at 101, 102 and 101 mph.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: OF Jorge Soler took batting practice on Saturday and appeared to have no problems with his sore right side that has sidelined him for a week. Maddon said he would likely play on Sunday if there was no lingering soreness.Reds: 2B Brandon Phillips had an MRI on his sore left hand that found a deep bruise. He missed a fourth straight game.UP NEXTCubs: Kyle Hendricks (16-8) is expected to go no more than five innings as the Cubs keep him fresh for the postseason. Hendricks has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last 22 starts since May 22, the longest such streak in the majors this season. His 1.99 ERA is the lowest in the majors.Reds: Robert Stephenson (2-3) makes his sixth start since he was promoted in September. He gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings of a 9-2 loss at Wrigley Field on Sept. 21.---Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay Discount Air Max . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Cheap Air Max 90 Womens . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. http://www.airmaxsneakersonsale.com/cheap-air-max-1.html . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Wholesale Air Max China . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Cheap Air Max 90 China . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. The Big Ten will play six Friday night football games a year starting in 2017 and continuing through at least 2022, the conference announced Wednesday.Not every school wants to host those games, though.The Friday night games are being added to the conferences television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox, Senior Associate Commissioner Mark Rudner said. No team will play more than one Friday night home game a year.The Big Ten already has had Friday night games on Labor Day weekend. Those games will continue and be counted among the six each year. Iowa and Nebraska play each other the day after Thanksgiving in a game that wont count among the six.Penn State announced it wouldnt play at home on a Friday night, and Commissioner Jim Delany told the Chicago Tribune that Michigan has said no to playing home or away on a Friday night.We fully support the Big Tens scheduling decisions as well as conference peers who are able to play on Friday nights, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. With our large fan base, Michigan fans and alumni travel significant distances to attend games, making Saturdays our preferred day for all football games.Ohio State is willing to host once every three years, but only when the Friday falls during fall break on the academic calendar. Iowa and Michigan State dont want to host except on Labor Day weekend. Wisconsin would be open to playing at home on Labor Day weekend in selected years, athletic director Barry Alvarez said.Nebraska and Indiana have agreed to host once every three years. Maryland had no comment, and Northwestern and Rutgers did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.It does create additional opportunities for certain programs that heretofore have not had that kind of national prime-time exposure on Saturday night to maybe have that on Friday night, Rudner said.Among those are Illinois and Purdue, which say theyre on board with hosting Friday night games.There are traditionalists who say Friday is for high school football, but if we can get our product out there on national television when all eyes are on us, thats great for Purdue, Boilermakers spokesman Matthew Rector said.Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle wrote in an email to The Associated Press, We will play the schedule assigned to us by the Big Ten.The Big Ten plans to announce the 2017 Friday night schedule within the next four to seven days.To give schoools adequate time to address logistical challenges, the Friday night games will be announced in early October of the preceding year.dddddddddddd The 2018 Friday games, for example, will be announced in October 2017.Friday night college football has become more common in recent years. There were 53 games on that night in 2014, 63 in 2015 and 65 this year. The Big 12, Pac-12 and Atlantic Coast Conference are among the leagues that play some games on Fridays.Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson, noting the importance of high school football across the state, said his school would agree only to an occasional home day game on the Friday following Thanksgiving.Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said significant operational issues make Friday night football in Happy Valley a no go. Barbour pointed out that fans generally travel more than an hour to get to the stadium. She also said shutting down the school on a Friday was not an option.Illinois spokesman Kent Brown said coach Lovie Smith and the football office emailed high school football coaches in the state explaining the situation.There is no sacred day of the week for any sports event anymore, Brown said, noting a lot of high schools play on Saturdays.Rudner said Delany called the executive directors of the state high school athletic associations in each of the 11 Big Ten states to personally explain the conferences decision.Wisconsin Football Coaches Association President Tony Biolo said his organization is opposed to the Big Tens plan.Friday nights to me has just been about the high school portion of it, and sort of let our kids be the star attraction that night, Biolo said.Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said even though his school agreed to host Friday night games on a limited basis, the Big Tens move was necessary to increase exposure.We avoided it for years, Smith said. We thought we could do it in a limited way, which is why we established some parameters around it.---AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo and AP Sports Writers Mitch Stacy in Columbus, David Mercer in Champaign, Illinois, Larry Lage in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Genaro Armas in Milwaukee, Dave Campbell in Minneapolis and Luke Meredith in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.---More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '