WOMBAT-Empfang » t together a good effort from the tea

DENVER -- Dee Gordon got his team off to a quick start. The rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers followed his lead. Gordon tripled twice among his three hits and drove in three runs as the Dodgers beat Colorado 7-2 on Friday night, handing the Rockies their eighth straight defeat. The three RBIs were a career high for Gordon, who also stole his major league-leading 36th base while tying a career best for hits in a game. "It was just fun getting on base," Gordon said. "Thats it, getting on base, giving us a chance to win." Gordon became the fifth major leaguer to have two triples in a game this season and the first Dodgers player to accomplish the feat since Rafael Furcal did it Sept. 28, 2010, also at Coors Field. Hanley Ramirez had two hits and stole two bases, and Justin Turner also had two of Los Angeles 12 hits. "Our at-bats were good. Dee got us going early," manager Don Mattingly said. "This is a pretty good offensive field. Its good for everybody." The Dodgers had lost six of eight but got healthy against the struggling Rockies. Hyun-Jin Ryu cruised through the first five innings before Drew Stubbs hit a solo homer with one out in the sixth. Ryu (7-2) allowed two runs and eight hits over six innings in winning his fourth straight start. "I could tell right away why a lot of pitchers dont like throwing here," Ryu said. "It was a difficult outing out there. All aspects of gripping the ball was tough today. I just tried to keep the ball low the entire game." Stubbs and Troy Tulowitzki had two hits each for the slumping Rockies, who lost again in starter Eddie Butlers major league debut. Butler was impressive at times, touching 96 mph with his fastball and getting ahead of batters early by staying around the plate. "Opposing hitters were firing early because he was around the zone," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "Hes got the ability to be efficient and get quick outs." Colorado had hoped Butler (0-1) could stop the slide, but he struggled right from the start. Gordon ripped Butlers second major league pitch down the right-field line for a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout by Ramirez. Drew Buteras RBI double in the second made it 2-0. Butler then settled down until the fifth, when the Dodgers stretched the lead. After Ryu led off with a double, Gordon tripled again and Ramirez singled to make it 4-0. "Its easy when you have a guy like Dee who can get into scoring position," Ramirez said. "Hes just trying to make it easy for us. I just want to win, I dont care about anything else." Gordon made it 6-0 in the sixth with a two-run single off Butler, who left after issuing a one-out walk to Ramirez. Butler, called up from Double-A Tulsa to take lefty Franklin Morales spot in the rotation, allowed six runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings and learned how tough big league hitters are. "You cant pitch over the middle of the plate. Obviously, Gordon got me pretty good today," Butler said. "Ill just pull different things out of it to learn from." The Rockies didnt generate much against Ryu before the sixth. Their first two batters reached in the fourth but Ryu retired the next three to keep Colorado off the scoreboard. Stubbs fourth homer made it 6-1. Michael McKenry doubled and Charlie Culberson followed with a triple to make it 6-2. Ryu got pinch-hitter Brandon Barnes to fly out to end the inning. Yasiel Puig singled and scored in the ninth to extend his streak of reaching base to 37 consecutive games. That ties Torontos Jose Bautista for the longest in the majors this season. NOTES: Tulowitzki was ejected in the ninth by plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes. ... The Dodgers selected the contract of infielder Miguel Rojas from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena to the Isotopes. Rojas replaced Ramirez at shortstop in the eighth and made an error on his first chance. ... Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer was out of the lineup with a sore left shoulder. Cheap Asics Shoes Canada . Marie rink got back in the win column at the Olympic mens curling tournament with a 7-4 win over the host Russian squad on Wednesday. Wholesale Asics Shoes . The South Africa international, who rejoined the club last month on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. http://www.discountasicscanada.com/. -- Canadas Justin Shin shot an 8-under 64 on Thursday on PGA Wests Nicklaus Tournament Course to take the first-round lead in the Web. Asics Shoes Canada Online . And on Sunday against the Houston Astros they were pleased to see his work finally pay off with his first win since May 24. Asics Clearance Canada . His big 2-minute outburst in the fourth quarter Tuesday night is all that really mattered for the Dallas Mavericks.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Michael Jordan anticipates the Charlotte Hornets will make another big splash this off-season. Jordan said Monday with three draft picks and more than $13 million to spend in free agency the Hornets are in position to make a "big difference" in upgrading their roster. "I think we made a difference last year with Big Al (Jefferson) and some of the acquisitions -- and I dont anticipate this year being any different," Jordan said. Behind Jefferson, who was recently named third-team All-NBA, Charlotte made the playoffs for the first time since 2010 -- the year Jordan took over as majority owner. Jordan is hoping Jeffersons success will convince other big-name free agents to come to Charlotte. "I always thought Charlotte was a great destination," Jordan said. "Big Al has proven that you can come here and make a big difference. Hopefully we can look at that and attract some other superstars." Jordan spoke Monday following a presentation at Hornets Nest Elementary school in which he, along with Lowes and Fox SportsSouth, donated $250,000 to Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. The event marked the organizations first community service initiative since the changing its name from Bobcats to Hornets last month. The Hornets have the ninth, 24th and 45h picks in this months draft. If forward Josh McRoberts decides not to opt out of contract the Hornets will have all five starters from last season under contract -- and still have at least $13 million to spend under the NBA salary cap. If McRoberts opts out the team could have closer to $17 million free under the cap. "This year we have a lot of flexibility and Ive been speaking to that over the last three or four years -- flexibility is very important and we are going to use every resource to try to bettter the team," Jordan said.dddddddddddd Charlotte finished last season 43-39 and earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. However, Jefferson injured his foot in the first game of the NBA playoffs and Charlotte was swept by the Miami Heat. Still, it was a big step in the right direction for a franchise that went 28-120 over the two previous seasons, by far the worst record in the NBA during that span. Jordan said he was "very proud" of what his team accomplished under first-year coach Steve Clifford. "The guys came out and took the initiative from coach and he was able to bond (them) and put together a good effort from the team," Jordan said. Jordan said Jefferson, who signed a three-year, $41 million contract last July 4 -- the largest ever given out by the franchise -- was better than advertised. But he said what was even more surprising is how quickly his new teammates adjusted to playing with a dominant low post presence. "Everybody surrounded him and we got better," Jordan said. "McRoberts was a huge part of that. So I think we got better as the year went along." Jordan said Jefferson, who was the only player in the Eastern Conference to average 20 points and 10 rebounds per game last season, deserved to be an All-Star. Jordan wouldnt say specifically what position the team might look to upgrade this off-season, instead saying he wants to find players who truly want to play in Charlotte. Another key, he said, is developing a core of young players including Kemba Walker, Jeffery Taylor, Michael-Kidd-Gilchrist and Cody Zeller. "We have a bunch of young talent that we still are trying to nourish into some better basketball players," Jordan said. "So summer is when we have to make our big leap." ' ' '