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BALTIMORE -- On the last day of the regular season, David Ortiz arrived at the ballpark wearing a white shirt with a pink floral design and a white coat with a bright red handkerchief stuffed in the pocket. His Boston Red Sox teammates teased away, saying he looked like a waiter or a wedding guest, but the slugger would have none of it. "You guys are always waiting for the best-looking guy on the team, right?" he said when reporters surrounded his locker. Ortiz is all dressed up and has a place to go. The Red Sox wrapped up the regular season Sunday with a 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, a game that had an exhibition feel for the AL East champions as they look ahead to the playoffs. "We are right where we need to be," Ortiz said. "You want to make sure that youre in the playoffs, and now its all about surviving." The Red Sox finished 97-65, tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the best record in baseball. Boston will open its division series at Fenway Park on Friday against the winner of the ALs wild-card playoff, a layoff so long that manager John Farrell is planning simulated games for Wednesdays workout. "I think everybodys anticipating Friday, but weve still got some work to do before we get there," Farrell said, "whether thats finding out who were going to play, but, more importantly, to continue to address not only the roster internally, but the work that we need to stay as sharp as possible." Making liberal use of the bench and bullpen with home-field advantage in the post-season already clinched, the Red Sox blew a 5-0 lead and used seven pitchers. Rubby De La Rosa (0-2) gave up Baltimores go-ahead run in the sixth. T.J. McFarland (4-1), the second of four Orioles pitchers, threw one scoreless inning for the win. Jim Johnson worked the ninth for his 50th save, but not before allowing one run and nearly a second that would have tied the game. The Red Sox had men on first and third with one out when Will Middlebrooks ended the game by hitting into a 5-4-3 double play. Johnson, who had 51 saves last year, became the second player in major league history with back-to-back 50-save seasons, joining Eric Gagne, who had 52 in 2002 and 55 in 2003. The Orioles finished 85-77, giving them back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97, an achievement that hardly tempers the disappointment of not repeating last years run to the playoffs. The final blow came when Chris Davis sprained his left wrist in the fourth inning on a play at first base. X-rays were negative, but the injury ended his season a couple of hours earlier than expected. The player who accepted the Orioles MVP award before the game walked off to a standing ovation, finishing tops in the majors in both homers (53) and RBIs (138). "Nothing serious, no broken bones, no fractures, just sprained my wrist," Davis said. "They said it would probably be sore for a few days. Its not going to affect anything going into the off-season, nothing like that. I was really glad to hear that." Davis was hurt on a nubber by Jacoby Ellsbury. The ball stopped only a few feet in front of home plate, and catcher Steve Clevengers throw hit Ellsbury on the left side of the back just as Ellsbury was arriving at the bag. Davis attempt to catch the ball left his outstretched hand in the path of Ellsburys torso. Davis glove flew off, and he immediately grabbed his wrist. He attempted a few throws under the supervision of the trainer before heading to the dugout. "We dodged a bullet there, hopefully," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "Next week or two passes and hes still got problems, well go into more detail with it." Davis sub, Ryan Flaherty, picked up the slack, hitting an RBI single in a five-run fifth and a run-scoring double when the Orioles took the lead for good in the sixth. With the four-day break to come, Red Sox manager Farrell wanted to give multiple innings to multiple pitchers. Scheduled starter John Lackey was scratched for Allen Webster, who threw three hitless innings. Felix Doubront pitched a scoreless fourth but fell apart in the fifth, retiring only one of the eight batters he faced as the Orioles scored five to tie the game. "We got everybody to the mound that we hoped to," Farrell said. "We found some things out, at least in the short run." Notes: Ellsbury began the game with his 10th career leadoff homer, breaking the club record held by Dom DiMaggio and Tommy Harper. ... Baltimore set a major league record with 54 errors in a 162-game season, 11 fewer than the previous mark set by the 2003 Mariners. ... The Red Sox finished the season with 39 consecutive successful stolen base attempts. Their 86.6 percentage for the season (123 for 142) is the best by an AL team since the statistic has been tracked in the league, starting in 1920. ... Orioles CF Adam Jones sat out with a sore right wrist, which he hurt while fouling off a pitch in the seventh inning of Saturday nights game. ... The Orioles drew more than 2.3 million, their best season attendance since 2005. Christian Eriksen Jersey Tottenham . The American secured his first back-to-back ATP match wins since June to leave Tsonga relying on his performance at next weeks Paris Masters to clinch one of the final three places for the season-ending event in London. Tsonga would have moved up one spot to No. 6 with a win over Querrey at the City of Arts and Sciences, but his serve deserted him in the second set as the 116th-ranked American broke twice to reach the quarter-finals. Dele Alli Tottenham Jersey . Seriously. Seven years of losing has brought many different faces, players and management, to the annual pre-season get-to-know-the-team round up. http://www.tottenhamhotspureteamshop.com/hugo-lloris-tottenham-jersey.html .com) - The Los Angeles Kings peppered Ryan Miller with shot after shot. Harry Kane Jersey . Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., had 18 aces in the match. He needed one hour 39 minutes to complete the victory. Harry Kane Tottenham Shirt .com) - Charlie Davies netted a pair of goals, including the series-winner on Saturday, as the New England Revolution battled the New York Red Bulls to a 2-2 draw in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship at Gillette Stadium and advanced to MLS Cup final via a thrilling 4-3 aggregate victory.LAWRENCE, Kan. -- There were moments of frustration for Kansas coach Bill Self, moments where hed angrily call a timeout or attend a post-game news conference and glumly bemoan another uneven performance. There never was a moment where he lost faith in his team. Now, after enduring the nations most brutal non-conference schedule, the sixth-ranked Jayhawks are proving to be exactly what the pundits thought theyd be: The Big 12s premier team, one that already has a substantial lead in the conference as the race nears its midway point. "We have grown, but were just now to the middle of the season. Thats whats so strange," Self said. "The big thing is that were playing with more energy and were starting to understand how were going to score -- not just running an offence to run an offence. Were not a tough team by any stretch, but are playing tougher than we did earlier in the season." Thats certainly been evident in the results. After a loss to fifth-ranked San Diego State ended the Jayhawks 68-game non-conference winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas has ripped off seven straight wins through arguably the toughest part of its league schedule. It began with a win at No. 23 Oklahoma, and continued with wins over four straight teams that were ranked in the Top 25 -- Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Baylor. After a blowout win at TCU, the Jayhawks beat the No. 16 Cyclones for a second time on Wednesday night. Now, theyll head to No. 25 Texas with essentially a two-game lead in the Big 12. You catch the game on TSN2 on Saturday at 12am et/9pm pt. "Im not surprised at all," junior guard Naadir Tharpe said. "I knew it was going to be a matter of time until everybody just let water run off their back and start going out there and just playing. That is what I feel like dudes are doing right now." The most important of them may be Andrew Wiggins, the highly touted freshman. After fits and starts to begin his college career, the 6-foot-8 swingman and projected lottery pick in the Junee draft has gone on a tear.ddddddddddddWiggins scored a career-high 27 points in the win over the Horned Frogs, and then bested it with 29 points against the Cyclones earlier this week. Hes averaging more than 24 points over his past three games. "I would say I feel more comfortable on the court," Wiggins said this week. "A lot of things are slowing down for me and my teammates are looking for me." Hes also starting to create his own shot, something that he was reticent to do early in the season, prompting Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg to say hes "oozing with confidence. "Thats scary," Hoiberg said. "With that athleticism, that length and that speed, the kids got it all. When hes knocking down shots, not too many better." There arent many teams better than the Jayhawks right now. Since the start of league play, the nine-time defending champions are putting up a Big 12-leading 84 points per game. Theyre just a half-point out of second place in scoring defence, and their scoring margin of 12 points per game is seven better than second-place Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks (16-4, 7-0 Big 12) also lead the league in field-goal and 3-point percentage, rebounding defence and margin, blocked shots, assists and, well, you get the idea. "They have a special group," TCU coach Trent Johnson said. "At every position, they have somebody who can score. They can attack you, so you really have to be on your toes." After the Jayhawks, Texas may be the next hottest team in the Big 12 heading into Saturdays game. The Longhorns (16-4, 5-2) have rattled off five straight wins, the last three coming against ranked teams in Iowa State, Kansas State and Baylor. The Jayhawks will represent the first time in school history that Texas will have played four consecutive Top 25 opponents. "Theyre young. Theyre not quite as young as we are, but theyre young and fast, probably as fast as any team well play," Self said. "Theyre obviously playing their tails off." ' ' '
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