lead over Jutanugarn (69.632) in s

DETROIT -- Two starting pitchers Detroit was counting on to be rotation mainstays entering the season have been relative non-contributors the last two months but the Tigers are counting on one of them, Mike Pelfrey, to give them a chance to win a game Thursday that will keep them in the playoff hunt.Pelfrey (4-9, 4.76 ERA) hasnt started since July 31 due to a bad back. He was activated to pitch out of the bullpen Sept. 5 but has not been in a game since his last start.He cant throw many more than 60 or so pitches, manager Brad Ausmus said Wednesday. So thatll definitely be a game that involves the bullpen.Pelfrey was signed by Detroit to a two-year deal worth $11 million as a free agent after Minnesota let him go last winter.He has faced the Twins three times in his career with a 1-0 record and 5.28 ERA. Two of those starts came with the Tigers this season but he didnt win or lose either game.Zimmermann has made just two starts for Detroit since the end of June and both were bad.But three pitchers acquired by former GM Dave Dombrowski at the trade deadline in 2015 -- Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris and Matt Boyd -- have firmed up Detroits rotation.To me the most surprising part of our season, Ausmus said, is that for a good chunk of the year weve had three rookies in the rotation and we have 18 games left and were playing for a playoff spot.That is not a recipe, generally, for playing for a playoff spot, having three rookies in the rotation.Minnesota counters with left-hander Hector Santiago (11-8, 4.75 ERA). Santiago has made seven of his previous 29 starts this season with the Twins after being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels.He pitched against Detroit on May 31 while with Los Angeles, allowing six runs in 6 2/3 innings. Lifetime, Santiago is 1-4 with a 3.09 ERA in nine starts and seven relief appearances.The Twins hope to have first baseman Joe Mauer, a career .303 hitter against the Tigers, available for action for the afternoon game.Mauer hasnt played since Saturday due to a sore quad.Joe could have pinch-hit, Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said after the Twins blew a 5-2 lead and lost, 9-6, to Detroit on Wednesday. I was going to use him there in a one- or two-run game, depending on how it was going to come up.But when it got to three I decided to hold on just in case we got a couple baserunners. (Eddie) Rosario was available too.The last three or four weeks I have had to back off three or four times, Mauer said.Both Mauer and Rosario could be back in the lineup Thursday.Cheap Air Jordans Free Shipping . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? 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"We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. Cheap Air Jordan Shoes Online . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad.This time last year, two golfers -- Lydia Ko and Inbee Park -- commanded most of the attention going into the CME Group Tour Championship with LPGA season honors on the line.For the last event of 2016, which starts Thursday at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, Ko, No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, again is a main part of the plot. But Park, bothered much of the season by a thumb injury, isnt in this weeks field. The gold medalist in womens golf at the Summer Olympics and a seven-time major champion, Park is taking an extended break in hopes of getting healthy again.Ko has another very formidable foil at this years CME Group Tour Championship in the form of Ariya Jutanugarn. The 20-year-old from Thailand burst into prominence in the spring with three straight victories -- she was the first LPGA winner from that increasingly golf-loving country -- and has added two more since, including a major title at the Ricoh Womens British Open.Jutanugarn arrives on Floridas southwest coast with one more victory in 2016 than Ko, whose four wins are topped by a a major triumph at the ANA Inspiration. The 19-year-old from New Zealand took advantage of a late-Sunday swoon by Jutanugarn, who had a two-stroke lead before a crushing bogey-bogey-bogey finish that opened an avenue for Ko to win her second straight major.That was seven long months ago, and the uncertainty with which Jutanugarn played those closing holes at Mission Hills Country Club has been replaced with a relaxed confidence.As the LPGA concludes its global schedule in the United States after six tournaments in Asia and last weeks Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico, Jutanugarn, not Ko, has the mojo of the moment.Although Jutanugarn hasnt won since the Canadian Pacific Womens Open in late August, she has played well of late, racking up five top-10s in seven events since her fifth victory. Ko, on the other hand, hasnt won since July and has experienced an indifferent fall with only one top-10 in her last six starts, with three finishes outside the top 40. Her game has been uneven, and she fired caddie Jason Hamilton, with whom she had a lot of success the last couple of years. Ko is still No. 1 in the world, but Jutanugarn is an ascendant No. 2 after a major attitude adjustment.This year, I have so much fun, more than last year, Jutanugarn said during the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia in late October. This year, my only focus is I really want to be happy on the course. Thats the change for me from last year.Its hard to fathom that a year ago Jutanugarn missed the cut in 10 consecutive events.dddddddddddd. But she began to play better late in the 2015 season and in 2016, following her collapse at the ANA Inspiration, began working with performance coaches Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson of Vision54. With an improved mindset, Jutanugarn was poised to capitalize on her talent, evident since she won the 2011 U.S. Girls Junior at age 15.Powerful (she is ranked 18th in 2016 in driving distance despite rarely ever using a driver) with good touch (she is No. 3 in putts per green in regulation), Jutanugarn has the lead over Ko in a couple of season races. Jutanugarn tops the money list with $2,475,218, less than $20,000 ahead of the South Korea-born New Zealander. She has a 14-point advantage over Ko for Rolex Player of the Year and leads the Race to the CME Globe with Ko in the second position. Ko (69.611) has a narrow lead over Jutanugarn (69.632) in scoring average.The path to victory this week for either Jutanugarn or Ko could be blocked by Shanshan Feng of China, who won back-to-back events (Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia and Toto Japan Classic) within the last month. The bronze medalist at Rio, behind Park and Ko, Feng has climbed to No. 4 in the world, trailing Ko, Jutanugarn and South Korean In Gee Chun, the winner of the seasons final major, The Evian Championship.One honor that isnt in the balance at Tiburon: Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year. Chun, who wasnt an LPGA member in 2015 when she won the U.S. Womens Open, already has captured that award easily over Mexicos Gaby Lopez, American Megan Khang and Su Oh of Australia.Besides Park, notably absent from the season-ender, for which 72 players qualify, is Michelle Wie. The 2014 U.S. Womens Open champion, Wie finished 115th in the Race to the CME Globe and has tumbled to 160th in the Rolex Rankings after missing 12 cuts in her first 20 events of 2016. She played better in Asia -- picking up a top-10 at the Blue Bay LPGA -- but the upswing couldnt make up for her poor play earlier in the year.At the end of a disappointing season, Wie, 27, can look at Jutanugarn as an example of how things can turn around drastically. When youve been mired in a slump and hobbled with injuries, you look for any available inspiration. The womens game is now in the hands of young stars who will have the stage, trying to end a season in style. ' ' '