nthem for the victims of the deadly warehouse fire last week in nearby Oakland.BIG PICTUREUTA: UTA held a 36-30 rebounding edge. ... The M

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The two teams are a combined three games over .500, so to say the remaining three games of the series are crucial might be a bit of a stretch.The Seattle Mariners (43-43) and the Kansas City Royals (44-41) have three games remaining in a four-game series that will conclude the unofficial first half of the season. Both teams still feel there is plenty of time to get back into their respective division races.We have some good players, Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano said after his team gave up a three-run lead in the last two innings Thursday and lost 4-3 to the Royals. We will keep playing.You lose as a team and you win as a team. We dont want to blame anybody here.The Mariners and Royals are two of eight teams within 4 1/2 games of the American League wild-card lead. Just a few games past the midway point in the schedule is no time to put extra pressure on this series, according to Kansas City manager Ned Yost.Then again, Yost says he doesnt do that for any series.I dont know how many times I have to go over this, he said before the game. I dont feel (extra) urgency. The reason for that is that we feel urgency every day. We dont treat these situations with more urgency than any other situation. In a major league season, every game is important. Your mindset has to be that this is the most important game of the year. Tomorrow, thats going to be your mindset.Royals rookie second baseman Whit Merrifield added, I wouldnt say theres urgency, but its always important to put together good games and try to take the series. Going into the All-Star break it would be good to finish strong and build momentum. But I wouldnt say that its any more urgent than any other series.I dont know about it still being early, but theres a lot of baseball left. A lot of stuff can happen between now and September or October. There are lot of games to be played and a lot of ups and downs to come.Seattle has experienced ups and downs on the road. The Mariners started the season with a 19-8 road record, but they have now lost 15 of their last 17 away contests, including nine straight. Seattle is hitting the ball -- it has 129 home runs, the second-highest total in the majors. They Mariners also are pitching well, as they own the fourth-best ERA in the American League (3.94).Their defense has let them down. Seattle is tied with the Minnesota Twins for the worst fielding percentage in the league.The Royals problems are almost opposite. Kansas City is one of the better defensive teams, but it ranks last in the American League in home runs and RBI. The starting pitching also is struggling. Danny Duffys strong outing Thursday was just the teams 32nd quality start in 85 games.The Royals will throw inconsistent Yordano Ventura (6-6, 5.26 ERA) on Friday night. When hes on, hes on. When hes not, hes not.Recent back-to-back starts against the Tigers and the Cardinals showed his good and bad form. He went 6 1/3 scoreless innings vs. Detroit on June 17, giving up six hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He followed that outing by going 5 1/3 innings and allowing seven runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts against St. Louis.Ventura is running into much of his troubles early in games. He has a 7.31 ERA in the first two innings but a 4.07 ERA from the third inning on.He will be looking for his first career win over the Mariners, as he is 0-3 with a 4.34 ERA in five starts. Ventura took a 6-0 loss at Seattle on April 30, when he allowed five runs in four-plus innings.The Mariners will counter with Hisashi Iwakuma, who has been improving as the season progresses. Iwakuma (8-6, 4.43 ERA) is 7-2 in his past nine starts. His ERA is still 4.47 in that span, but he has been able to keep his team in games.Iwakuma owns impressive career numbers against Kansas City: 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA four starts, though he hasnt faced the Royals this year.Hirving Lozano Jersey . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Mexico Jerseys . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. http://www.soccermexicojerseysteamstore.com/marco-fabian-mexico-jersey/ . The Australian is competing in his final season in Formula One and still looking for his first win this year. He will look to end Vettels run of six straight race wins on Sunday. Webber, who is fifth in the championship, earned his second pole from the past three races and 13th of his career. Rafael Marquez Jersey .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Jonathan dos Santos Jersey . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball.MORAGA, Calif. -- Before the game, Scott Cross reminded his UT Arlington players they had a chance to make their mark on program history.He was like, `This would be the biggest win in school history, guard Erick Neal said. That just added fire to it and made us want to play harder.Kevin Hervey scored 15 points and UTA beat a Top 25 team for the first time, shocking previously unblemished No. 12 Saint Marys 65-51 on Thursday night just more than a week after another special and emotional win at Texas.The Mavericks (8-3) had gone 0-28 against ranked opponents dating to their first try in February 1967 after becoming Division I in 1959-60. Then, they pulled off their big upset at McKeon Pavilion, where the Gaels had won eight straight and 23 of 24, and cheers were heard from the visiting locker room.But Saint Marys (6-1) never clicked against the scrappy UTA team while returning from a break for final exams for its first game since a win at Stanford on Nov. 30. The Gaels were held to 31.4 percent from the field and shot 8 of 27 on 3-pointers.I thought we got outplayed. Pretty simple, Saint Marys coach Randy Bennett said. I thought they beat us at every phase.The speedy Neal added 13 points and eight assists in UTAs seventh straight victory.It was definitely an unbelievable game for us, Cross said. Our guys probably played as good of basketball as we could have, especially defensively, because watching them on video I honestly thought it was the best offensive team I think Ive ever seen in my entire life.Jock Landale had a rare poor shooting performance, limited to 14 points on 3 of 10 from the floor and the Gaels had a season-low 11 assists to go with 16 turnovers.Saint Marys trailed 49-30 with 11:50 to play, then used an 11-3 spurt to get back to 52-41. UTA kept answering on both ends with key baskets and rebounds -- such as a contested 3-pointer from the top by Drew Charles with 7:42 remaining.The Mavericks, from tthe Sun Belt Conference, used quick, crisp passing to create open looks from the perimeter and the paint to outplay the Gaels early.dddddddddddd Three times this season -- their lone three previous losses -- squandered double-digit halftime leads in road losses at Minnesota, Florida Gulf Coast and Arkansas.They used those defeats as learning moments that have carried UTA during this run of early season success.Its a humongous deal, Hervey said. Were excited and hopefully we can build on this.Hervey hit his first three shots as UTA jumped to a 21-12 lead midway through the first half and led 36-23 at the break.Saint Marys fell behind 21-12 and 27-15 late in the first half making just 6 of its first 18 shots and 2 of 6 by the typically spot-on Landale.Defensively we werent good, offensively we werent good, Bennett said. Taking care of the ball we were bad. Rebounding we were bad.MOMENT OF SILENCEA moment of silence was held before the national anthem for the victims of the deadly warehouse fire last week in nearby Oakland.BIG PICTUREUTA: UTA held a 36-30 rebounding edge. ... The Mavericks have led at halftime in all of their games. ... UTA followed up a 99-49 victory against Division III UT Dallas by outplaying one of nations top programs in all aspects.Saint Marys: Calvin Hermanson, 21 of 40 from 3-point range coming into the game, went 1 for 7 from beyond the arc. ... Landales shooting percentage dropped from 76 percent to a 70-percent clip (54 for 77).UP NEXTUTA: Off until playing Dec. 16 at Bradley.Saint Marys: Host UC Irvine on Sunday after the Anteaters lost last month in overtime at California. Seventh-year Irvine coach Russell Turner is a former Golden State Warriors and Stanford assistant.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '