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NEW YORK -- The Colorado Rockies are hoping to hit the .500 mark Saturday and then use it as a springboard to more notable accomplishments. The New York Mets will be looking to avoid slipping another game closer to .500 while climbing out of the funk that has imperiled their chances at defending the National League pennant.The Rockies try to reach .500 for the first time in more than two months Saturday night when they visit the Mets in the third contest of a four-game series at Citi Field.Colorado (51-52) won its second straight game over New York (53-49) on Friday, when Carlos Gonzalez went 2-for-5 with four RBI in a 6-1 victory. The win was the 11th in 15 games since the All-Star Break for the Rockies, who are five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the NLs second wild card.The Rockies have not been at .500 since they were 21-21 on May 21. The franchise has not been at .500 after the All-Star Break since 2010, the last time Colorado finished with a winning record.Thats a good benchmark, Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. Weve worked hard to get in this position. Weve worked really hard. Thats the first benchmark and there are other ones after that. Obviously we want to be playing after the regular seasons over.The Mets played as long as possible last season, when they won the NL for the first time since 2000 before falling to the Kansas City Royals in five games in the World Series. But New York has lost 11 of its last 17 to fall 2 1/2 games behind the Cardinals.The Mets have scored three runs or fewer 13 times in the last 17 games. On Friday, they had runners at first and second with nobody out in the eighth before Rockies right-hander Scott Oberg recorded three outs on three pitches.I think theyre going to bounce back, Mets manager Terry Collins said. We just have to quit worrying about the bad stuff and start thinking about some of the good things ahead.Mets right-hander Bartolo Colon will oppose Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa in a battle of rotation elder statesmen. Colon, who earned the win in the second game of a doubleheader against the Cardinals on Tuesday, will be starting on three days rest for the first time since 2005. The 43-year-old is not only the only pitcher older than 28 in the New York rotation but also the oldest player in baseball.The 35-year-old De La Rosa, the only 30-something in the Rockies rotation, will be looking for his 100th career win. Twenty-six active pitchers have reached the milestone.Prior to Saturdays game, the Mets will retire the number 31 worn by recent Hall of Fame inductee Mike Piazza, who played for the team from 1998-2005. Custom Cardinals Jerseys . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Wholesale Custom Cardinals Shirts . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/ . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. Custom Cardinals Jersey China . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. Custom Cardinals T-shirts . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. PORTLAND, Ore. -- These days Terry Porter often finds himself thinking back to the day he showed up on the campus of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.There had been no schools battling to recruit the young point guard from Milwaukee. The Panthers showed interest but couldnt offer him a scholarship. He arrived, like any freshman, unsure of his decision.But he did know one thing: He loved basketball.The journey that started at the Division III college a couple hours drive from his hometown long ago has brought Porter to the University of Portland, where hes charged with guiding a team of kids that are in so many ways just like he was.I liked the coach, and they had a couple of kids that were from my conference down in Milwaukee, so I knew I could room with them, Porter recalled. I tell our players all the time that theyre so far ahead of me when I was their age, because I didnt get a scholarship to play basketball. At Stevens Point there were no scholarships to be had. I was on grants and work study and things like that.Porter is in his first season as coach of the Pilots after some 17 seasons as a player in the NBA, then more than a decade as a coach or assistant in the league. He replaced Eric Reveno, who was dismissed last month after 10 years with the Pilots.Tapping Porter, who is beloved in Portland, was a savvy move thats generated excitement for the Catholic universitys program.It was a great hire, I think, for the school, said Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who played for the Pilots. Hes one of the Rip City legends in Portland. He has such a great class and reputation about him in the Northwest. I think its a fantastic fit. He brought more interest in the program just from him signing on than weve had in probably the history of the program.Porter played for the Trail Blazers from 1985-95, with a team that went to the Western Conference finals three times from 1990 to 1992 and to the NBA Finals twice. The starters on that team were Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams and Kevin Duckworth, but the group would never win a title: In 1990, the Blazers lost to the Detroit Pistons, and in 1992 they couldnt overcome Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.Porter also played for the Timberwolves, the Heat and the Spurs over his NBA career. A two-time All-Star, he averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 assists and 1.2 steals a game. His 7,160 assists rank 14th on the NBAs all-time list.After his playing career was over, Porter was head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons from 2003-2005 and for the Phoenix Suns during the 2008-09 season. He had stints as an assistant coach in Minnesota, Sacrramento and Detroit.ddddddddddddHes not sure the young players on his team knew he was that Terry Porter when he was introduced as head coach. The only exceptions were his sons, freshman Malcolm and sophomore Franklin.They knew I played pro, but they didnt know if I had won championships, or all the teams I played with, or all the players I played with, and they wouldnt have known all the coaches I was blessed to work with, Porter said. They were just like, `Oh, he played in the LEAGUE, and he played for a long time. I think it made it a little bit easier for me, my body of work, because they were like `OK, he knows what hes talking about.Porter has never coached at the college level before, but hes already excited about sharing his experiences.Hes drawn on his contacts for advice. Porter even traveled to Miami to pick Spoelstras brain.We just met and talked shop, and it was fun. Swapping stories and talking about when he was here years ago and how excited he is about the job. I told him whatever he needs from me, Im here to help him, the Heat coach said.Porter also used his contacts in the sporting world to come up with some unique team-building activities. The group went to Seattle to spend a few days with the Seattle Seahawks, watching practices and hearing from coach Pete Carroll.He also draws on his experiences at Stevens Point, and his coach there, Dick Bennett.My college coach was the first coach I really learned a lot about basketball from, because my high school years were good, but I wasnt a great basketball player, Porter said. There was a huge amount of learning as my game progressed, and I definitely fell under the late bloomer category because I didnt have a great start.After four years at Stevens Point, Porter was the 24th overall pick by the Blazers in the 1985 draft. He remains Portlands career leader in assists (5,319) and is its third-leading scorer (11,330). He made 773 3-pointers on 2,006 attempts.At the Moda Center, just five miles away from the Pilots campus, Porters No. 30 hangs from the rafters.Ive been around basketball my whole life. The journey has been amazing. Its taken me to places I never could have imagined, he said. I have young men now, some who aspire to do the same thing as me, get to the pros or play overseas, and just to be able to talk to them and share my experiences is something Im proud to do.---AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.---More college basketball at www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '