severe thunderstorm warning. Fans were asked to leave the upper deck and all fans were told to seek shelter. When the Diamondbacks left the field a few minutes later, some field crew members rolled the batting cag

SEPANG, Malaysia -- Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton put himself in the best possible position to wrest back the lead in the Formula One drivers championship by claiming pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday.Hamilton beat his teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg by four tenths of a second in qualifying.The British driver headed Mercedes first-ever front-row lockout in Malaysia and set a new Formula One lap record at the Sepang International Circuit with a time of 1 minute, 32.850 seconds.While Hamilton has been unconvincing in race starts this season, his impressive performance Saturday should provide a timely confidence boost after Rosbergs hat trick of race victories in the preceding races.Today the car felt fantastic, I really enjoyed the lap, Hamilton said. It could have been faster.I dont feel anything is going to stop us (in the race). As a team we have great pace and if you look at the last race, we had pretty good starts and we continuously work on that. Thats not something Im going to let in my mind. Im thinking of getting a launch off the grid and the car feels really good on the long runs.Rosberg was marginally off Hamiltons pace throughout his last flying lap and a wobble on the final corner put paid to his pole chances. He denied that he went out on that last lap only targeting second, given Hamiltons superb time.Of course I was going for pole, what else would I be doing out there? Rosberg said. It would have been close but I made a mistake going into the last corner.Second place, I have to live with that now, it doesnt mean a victory is not possible tomorrow. Im still optimistic.Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified third and fourth respectively, ahead of the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth, followed by McLarens Jenson Button ninth for his 300th F1 start, and Felipe Massa of Williams 10th.While Mercedes will be expected to convert its front row spots into a race win -- the team has won all but one race this season, with the exception being caused by a collision between its two drivers -- Red Bull and Ferrari had both shown strong race pace in practice, equal to that of the Mercedes.Weve made changes after Singapore and it seemed to work, Verstappen said. The long run pace looked promising and Im very pleased to qualify behind the Mercedes cars.Race strategy is not expected to be significant on Sunday, with two pitstops and long stints on the medium and hard tires expected by all runners due to the low levels of tire degradation on the very smooth new surface.I dont think its going to be too exciting strategy-wise because the tires are pretty similar, Rosberg said. I dont think itll be such a deciding factor.Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso made no serious attempt to get out of the Q1 qualifying period due to a slew of grid penalties for installing all new engine parts, and was going to start last regardless. Cheap Custom Suns Jersey . According the Toronto Star, a knee injury will keep Sundin out of the lineup, which includes former teammates Gary Roberts, Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi and Curtis Joseph. Suns Jerseys China .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. http://www.customsunsjersey.com/ . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Custom Suns Jersey China . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Custom Suns Jerseys . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Arizona Diamondbacks will avoid having to play a doubleheader in Texas. Except now they will have to make an extra trip later in the season to play a makeup game against the Rangers. Arizonas game at Texas on Wednesday night was postponed due to unplayable field conditions caused by a severe thunderstorm just more than an hour before the game was scheduled to start. During the storm that included lightning, gusty winds and heavy rains, the infield was soaked while the grounds crew struggled to get the tarp on the field. "We walked around, I was standing out there ... the field took a ton of water," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "They wanted to play a game today, we didnt want to play a doubleheader (Thursday), but it was just dangerous. It was really muddy on the baselines." Though the rain stopped and the grounds crew had been working on the field, Rangers officials announced the postponement just about an hour after the scheduled start. That decision was made after Gibson joined several Rangers officials, including CEO Nolan Ryan, general manager Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington, to survey the field. "Third base and the third-base line was just entirely too soft," Washington said. "Out of the box down the first-base line, halfway where the umpires box is, its soft too. When I saw (the rain) I was watching them go under the tarp bringing the stuff that was on the field out. I didnt see the rain or the wind blow." Arizona and Texas will play a single game as scheduled Thursday, in what was to be the end of the Diamondbacks last scheduled trip to Rangers Ballpark. The Diamondbacks are scheduled to play Friday afternoon at the Chicago Cubs. The game postponed Wednesday will be made up at a later date, likely Aug. 15, a mutual off day for both teams. That is a scheduled day off for the Diamondbacks after an eight-game homestand and before a game in Pittsburgh. That is in the middle of what is already eight home games in a row for Texas. Rangers spokesman John Blake said there were no injuries reported during the storms, but thhat about 25 trees outside the stadium sustained damage or were toppled by the bad weather.dddddddddddd. Arizona swept a planned doubleheader against Texas on Monday at home. The teams had Tuesday off before the scheduled two games at Rangers Ballpark. Both scheduled starting right-handers for the postponed game are set to start Thursday. Brandon McCarthy (2-3) will pitch for the Diamondbacks against Justin Grimm (4-3). "I thought we were going to go, it was just a matter of when," said McCarthy, who never started warming up for the game. "It was a wasted off day for nothing." A few minutes after the postponement was announced, Grimm was out in front of the Rangers dugout throwing long toss to bullpen catcher Josh Frasier. Gibson said part of the field was OK, but that groundkeeper Dennis Klein said he needed to " get spikes in it, open it up and let some air get in there and dry it out. " More than a dozen grounds crew members were working on the field after the game was called, concentrating their efforts on the third-base line. During Arizonas batting practice before the game, an announcement was made that the area was under a severe thunderstorm warning. Fans were asked to leave the upper deck and all fans were told to seek shelter. When the Diamondbacks left the field a few minutes later, some field crew members rolled the batting cage out of the way while others starting pulling the tarp. While the crew tried to get the tarp in position, gusty winds caused the heavy covering to start flapping wildly and it wound up bunched together toward second base and in shallow centre field. Heavy rain fell during the several minutes it took to get the tarp under control and cover the infield, with the grounds crew joined by security and other ballpark personnel. Once the storm had passed, the crew prepared the infield dirt with drying dust and worked furiously to try to prepare the field for play. As planned, the tarp was then pulled back over the field -- with no issues this time -- with another storm in the area, though there was no more significant rain. ' ' '