With all the power they possess in the middle of their lineup

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With all the power they possess in the middle of their lineup, the Los Angeles Angels dont usually need home runs from Chris Iannetta. Yet thats what they got in a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals. The veteran catcher hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning Sunday to lift the Angels to a 4-3 victory. He also connected Friday night for their first run in a win. Iannettas latest go-ahead drive sailed into the lower seats in the left-field corner. "I didnt know if it was going to go out or not. I was just hoping it would stay fair. Im glad it did," he said. Reliever Tim Collins (0-3) retired the first batter in the eighth before Iannetta hit his fifth homer of the season. "I just missed. I was trying to go away," Collins said. "You cant miss your spots in those situations. Thats what I did, and thats what happens." Michael Kohn (2-1) pitched a scoreless inning. Ernesto Frieri got three outs for his sixth save, retiring Alcides Escobar on a popup with a runner on third. Garrett Richards, trying to preserve some arms in the Angels bullpen following Saturday nights 13-inning 7-4 loss, pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on five hits. He struck out seven and walked two. "I was prepared to go back out for the eighth, with the bullpen being taxed from last night," Richards said. "But I always try to go deep in game because I know that if I do, Im doing my job. Im going as hard as I can for as long as I can." Royals starter Jason Vargas was charged with a run and three hits over 6 1-3 innings in his return to Angel Stadium, and was lifted after 109 pitches with a 3-0 lead. Kelvin Herrera took over with a runner at first and gave up a single by No. 9 hitter Collin Cowgill on his first pitch. Mike Trout hit an RBI double with one out, Albert Pujols was hit by an 0-2 pitch and David Freese had a tying, two-run single. Pujols tried to score the go-ahead run from second on C.J. Crons sharp single, but Lorenzo Cain -- starting in right field for the first time this season after 28 starts in centre -- threw him out at the plate. Vargas struck out six and tied a career high with five walks. This was the sixth time in 165 big league starts that the 31-year-old left-hander has walked as many as five batters, and the first time since July 20, 2011, with Seattle. "I think he was being extra careful with Pujols and Trout -- and Howie Kendricks also tough," manager Ned Yost said. "Thats a powerful lineup over there. So either he was going to make his pitch, or he wasnt going to make a mistake to those guys and let them drive it out of the ballpark." Vargas walked his first batter in the second, third and fourth innings after giving up a leadoff single in the first, but the Angels couldnt capitalize. He walked his first two batters in the third before retiring Pujols on a double-play grounder to shortstop and striking out Freese. "It was just one of those games where I had to battle through some innings," Vargas said. "I was just missing and wasnt able to get ahead on some of those guys, but I was fortunate to get back into some counts later in the inning and ended up getting out of it." The Royals, who scored first in all three games of the series, took a 3-0 lead in the second. Pedro Ciriaco hit a bloop double that scored Jimmy Paredes, who singled and advanced on Richards first balk in 291 1-3 career innings to that point. Jarrod Dyson reached on a fielding error by Gold Glove shortstop Erick Aybar, and Eric Hosmer followed with a sacrifice fly before Alex Gordon capped the rally with an RBI single. Richards retired his next 11 batters, striking out the side on 11 pitches in the fifth. "Other than the third inning, it was good," Richards said. Vargas was 9-8 with a 4.02 ERA in 24 starts with the Angels last season after four years with Seattle. He signed a four-year, $32 million contract with Kansas City on Nov. 21. NOTES: LF Cowgill made two sliding catches in foul territory, one on Hosmers sacrifice fly. ... The Angels optioned RHP Matt Shoemaker to Triple-A Salt Lake and selected six-year veteran LHP Wade LeBlanc to the major league roster. LeBlanc, who signed a minor league contract in November as a free agent, was 5-1 with a 3.69 ERA with Salt Lake. He had a combined 20-32 record and 4.51 ERA in 96 big league appearances with the Padres, Marlins and Astros, including 68 starts. ... The Royals recalled RHP Michael Mariot from Triple-A Omaha and optioned C Francisco Pena to the minor league team. Pena is the son of former Royals manager and current Yankees bench coach Tony Pena. Carlos Correa Astros Jersey . - The New England Patriots needed help on defence so they added three experienced players at midseason. Josh Reddick Jersey . And like the near entirety of last season, Jonathan Bernier and Torontos goaltending tandem is up to the task. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/jef...-astros-jersey/. The club announced Friday that Mauro Biello will be kept on as an assistant to coach Jesse Marsch when the Impact join the MLS in 2012. Carlos Beltran Astros Jersey .com) - Former FBI director Robert Mueller said his investigation found no evidence that the NFL saw the elevator video of Ray Rice striking his then-fiancee before the tape was released in September. Dallas Keuchel Jersey . -- Canadas Milos Raonic defeated Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France on Saturday to advance to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.Flames visit Preds in battle between low-scoring teams (SportsNetwork.com) - The Calgary Flames were again involved in a game in which a team was held scoreless, only this time they came out on the winning side. For one night, continued scoring issues didnt cost the Flames and theyll aim to make it back-to-back wins on Tuesday night when they visit the Nashville Predators. Calgary went into Mondays encounter with the Carolina Hurricanes having been outscored 13-1 over a three-game slide and 26-6 over their previous eight games, a span in which it had been shut out five times while going 1-7-0. The Flames finally found a way to get around those scoring woes by keeping the Hurricanes off the board in a 2-0 win. Karri Ramo stopped all 23 shots he faced for his first NHL shutout. Ramo played 48 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2006-09 and then spent the next four seasons in Russia before the Flames took a chance on the 27- year-old Finn in the offseason. He posted 18 whitewashes for Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League. Mikael Backlund and Sean Monahan scored the goals as the Flames won despite Mike Cammalleri sitting out with a concussion suffered in Saturdays loss to Pittsburgh. "It was probably our best team effort of the season," Calgary head coach Bob Hartley said. "Its a feel-good story, thats for sure. We had an answer for their pressure. We were on our toes, had great support. Guys were going short (shifts), so we had plenty of energy. We were on a mission." Monahan tied Cammalleri for the team lead in goals with 13 as he has three tallies in his past seven games for the struggling offense. The Predators themselves failed to find any offense on Sunday night versus the Minnesota Wild, falling in defeat 4-0. They were shut out for an NHL-leading seventh time this season, but for the first time since Nov. 28. Marek Mazanec made 19 saves, yielding two goals in the first period and another two in the third as the Preds fell to 1-2-1 on a five-game homestand and 3-7-4 in their past 14. "They came out with a lot of juice and got us on our heels in the first," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz. The Predators and Flames are meeting for the first time this season and Nashville has claimed five of the past seven encounters overall. Calgary has lost four straight in Nashville. Sens, Wild collide in Minnesota (SportsNetwork.com) - There is still plenty of hockey left to be played, but that doesnt mean the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild arent keep an eye on the standings. The two clubs look to extend recent surges on Tuesday night with a meeting in Minnesota. The Senators are 5-0-1 in their last six games, climbing to within two points of the final two postseason spots in the Eastern Conference, while the Wild own a four-point lead for eighth place in the Western Conference thanks to a victory in five of their last six. Ottawa wraps a four-game road trip tonight and rebounded from an overtime loss in Colorado to beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday. Both Mika Zibanejad and Jason Spezza scored for the Sens in the tiebreaker, while Craig Anderson stopped both skaters he faced. Kyle Turris scored in regulation while Anderson stopped 32 shots through overtime. "You dont want to fall behind. We know were in a lump of a group of teams, but with the games-in-hand and the not-games-in-hand I think its too early to be looking at where you sit," said Spezza. Anderson has not lost in regulation since Dec. 19, going 6-0-2 since. However, he has allowed three goals or more in five of those eight games. Minnesota, meanwhile, has found success despite not having forwards Zach Parise (lower body) and Mikko Koivu (ankle surgery) as well as goaltender Josh Harding (illness) out of the lineup. The Wild also rebounded from a loss to Colorado, besting the hosting Nashville Predators 4-0 on Sunday. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves for his first career NHL shutout, while Dany Heatley, Jason Zucker, Matt Cooke and Marco Scandella all had goals. Charlie Coyle, skating on a line with Heatley and Zucker, notched a pair of assists. "I think its also the first time weve had a couple of guys weve played steady together for more than a game or two," Heatley said. "Like I said, that chemistrys a big deal and its going good right now." Kuemper only had to make five saves in the opening period, but turned aside nine in each of the fiinal two frames to finish off the shutout.dddddddddddd He will get the call in net again tonight as he faces the Senators for the first time. Ottawa is 8-3-0 with a tie all-time versus Minnesota and had won six straight in the series before a 4-3 home loss on Nov. 20. Koivu had the winner, Heatley finished with a goal and an assist and Harding made 34 saves. Turris, Zibanejad and Milan Michalek scored for the Senators, while Anderson made 21 saves. Sens backup Robin Lehner is slated to get the start tonight and has never faced the Wild. He has given up five goals in each of his last two starts overall, the most recent on Dec. 27. Ottawa has won three straight on the road in this series and is 4-1-0 with a tie all-time in Minnesota. The Senators announced on Monday that general manager Bryan Murray signed a two-year contract extension and was also named the president of hockey operations. Upon the conclusion of the extension in 2016, Murray will stay on with the team in an advisory role. The 71-year-old Murray has been with the franchise since June 2004 when he was named the teams head coach, then took over the general managers duties on June 18, 2007. Oilers look to halt struggles against Stars (SportsNetwork.com) - A stunning collapse cost the Dallas Stars a chance at snapping their five-game losing streak last time out. The Edmonton Oilers couldnt capitalize on a shocking goal to beat one of the NHLs top teams. The Stars and Oilers both aim to halt their recent struggles on Tuesday night with a meeting in Dallas. The Oilers visited the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday and lost a 5-3 decision despite a gift goal in the second period. During a delayed penalty call, Blackhawks goaltender Antti Raanta skated off for an extra attacker as Patrick Kane passed the puck to the point in the Oilers zone. However, there was not Blackhawk there and the puck traveled all the way into the Chicago net, with Boyd Gordon getting credited with a goal despite not even being on the ice. That strange tally tied the game at 2-2 with 8:31 left in the second period, but Chicagos Marian Hossa scored during the 5-on-3 power play just 29 seconds later and Jonathan Toews added another Blackhawks goal before the end of the period. Ales Hemsky had one goal and an assist for the Oilers, while Devan Dubnyk was beaten five times on 41 shots. "We made it pretty easy on them. Against a team like that, theyre going to make you pay," said Edmonton forward Taylor Hall, who scored his 18th goal of the season to make it 4-3 in the third period before Chicago again answered. The Stars and Oilers have split two meetings this season, with each club winning on the road. Dallas has won seven of nine and 12 of the last 15 meetings overall. Edmonton has won back-to-back road games in this series, but has still lost 10 of its last 13 in Dallas. Just minutes away from a victory over the New York Islanders on Sunday, the Stars instead watched as the Isles scored three times over the games final 4:16 to hand Dallas a 4-2 setback. It was the Stars sixth defeat in a row, all in regulation. Ray Whitney and Sergei Gonchar scored in the first period to stake Dallas to a 2-0 lead and Dan Ellis made 27 saves. "When youre struggling as a group, instead of finding ways to win you find ways to lose, and thats kind of where were at right now," said Whitney. The Stars have lost six in a row in regulation for the first time since Dec. 5-15, 1995 and have fallen eight points back of the eighth spot in the Western Conference. Dallas will now try to avoid losing seven straight for the first time since an 0-5-2 rut from March 17-30, 2009 and will do so against an Edmonton club that is 2-4-2 in its last eight games. Ilya Bryzgalov will start tonight for the Oilers and is 13-8-2 with a 2.26 goals against average in 29 games (26 starts) versus the Stars. He made 28 saves in a 3-2 shootout win in Dallas on Dec. 1. Kari Lehtonen is likely to start for the Stars and owns a 10-3-1 lifetime mark versus the Oilers with a 2.06 GAA. He shut the club out for the first time in his career with a 3-0 road decision on Nov. 13, then stopped 30 saves in the loss to Bryzgalov. Former Oilers captain and current Stars forward Shawn Horcoff faces his old club for the third time. He totaled 162 goals, 285 assists and 447 points in 796 games with Edmonton to begin his career and has no points in the two meetings this season. China NFL Jerseys White Cheap NFL Gear Cheap Jerseys 2019 Youth NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Youth NFL Jerseys China ' ' '