Wichtig » nute.USC doubled its lead with 14 minutes to play

NEW YORK -- The New York Mets have changed a lot in the eight days since they were swept by the Washington Nationals in Washington, D.C. But the Nationals hope the result remains the same during a four-game series this weekend in New York.The series pitting the top two teams in the National League East begins Thursday night, when the suddenly scorching Mets host the first-place Nationals at Citi Field.The Nationals remained four games ahead of the Mets by virtue of a 7-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, New York beat the Miami Marlins 4-2.The Nationals lead was six games on June 29, the day they capped the sweep of the Mets. At that time, it seemed as if the final series before the All-Star break might present an opportunity for Washington to bury the defending NL champions.But the Mets responded to the three straight losses by authoring a four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs and then taking two of three from the Miami Marlins. New York outscored the Cubs and Marlins 46-24 in the last seven games -- a stunning turnaround for a team that scored just 47 runs in 15 games from June 14 through June 29.I said it a lot in the Cubs series: Coming into that series without playing well, (it was) really, really important to have a good series against them, and we did, Mets manager Terry Collins said Wednesday afternoon. (The) Marlins, for all the years Ive been here, play us tougher than any team we play, I think.Now weve got to go against the Nationals, who are going to come in here looking to put some more distance between us. So weve got our work cut out for us this weekend.So do the Nationals, who went 3-3 between series against the Mets despite playing two NL Central non-contenders in the Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.I always want to go into the All-Star break hot and come out hot, Nationals manager Dusty Baker told reporters Wednesday.Nationals right fielder and reigning NL Most Valuable Player Bryce Harper put his inimitable succinct spin on the weekend.How many games are we up on them? Four? Harper told reporters Wednesday. We could either be tied or up eight. Its plain and simple.Mets right-hander Bartolo Colon is scheduled to start Thursdays opener against Nationals right-hander Lucas Giolito in perhaps the most distinct old vs. young battle of the season.Colon is the oldest player in baseball at 43 and has 483 starts under his belt, most among active players. He has been pitching so long that his first appearance against the Nationals franchise came in 2002, when the team was still the Montreal Expos. Colon is 4-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 11 career appearances (10 starts) against the Nationals/Expos.The 21-year-old Giolito. meanwhile, is the seventh-youngest player in the majors and has made just one career start. He threw four shutout innings against the Mets in an appearance cut short by a rain delay on June 28.Cheap Adidas Superstar China . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. Discount Superstar Shoes . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. http://www.cheapsuperstar.us/ .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. Superstar Outlet . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Cheap Adidas Superstar . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action.AUBURN, Ala. -- In a tightly-contested match at the Auburn Soccer Complex on Sunday night, No. 21 Auburn fell 2-0 to USC. The Tigers (3-3-0) mounted a bevy of attacks that led to 13 shots, including eight on target.Im really proud of our team, said head coach Karen Hoppa. I thought we played some great soccer. Obviously, USC is a great team and really well-coached. I thought it was just a really quality soccer game and we were unlucky to not finish our chances, but give credit to USC. They scored on two corners and were able to come out of here with a win.Ellie Leek led the way on offense with three shots, including two on net, while Casie Ramsier and Courtney Schell contributed two shots apiece.The Tigers came out firing right away to start off the match. In the first minute of play, Kristen Dodson found Casie Ramsier, who then laid it off to Leek for a curling effort that was hauled in by an extraordinary effort from the opposing goalkeeper.Sarah Le Beau kept things level with a diving snare in the 14th minute to keep the score level at 0-0.Ten minutes later, Brooke Ramsier laced a firecracker from 25 yards away that rocked the crossbar, but was unable to cross the line.In the 26th minute, USC (3-2-0) broke the tie with a goal from a corner to make it 1-0. The Trojans kept that margin heading into the locker room.The opening of the second half mirrored the first half with Dodson again working it around to Leek, who forced a diving save by the USC goalie to keep the score at 1-0.ddddddddddddAvery Batson then made a pair of crucial sliding challenges to thwart the Trojan attack in the 53rd minute.USC doubled its lead with 14 minutes to play on a ball that bounced around the box and ended up finding the back of the net.Auburn ratcheted up the intensity even more, but was unable to find a goal and eventually fell, 2-0.USC head coach Keidane McAlpine returned to The Plains for the first time since he was an assistant coach at Auburn under Hoppa from 2006-11.Its always a bit emotional having someone you work with for so long on the opposite bench, stated Hoppa on McAlpine coming back. Theres also a source of pride in what hes doing with that program and how good they are. There were a lot of emotions.USC goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme and Iowa State netminder Lindsey Hendon were awarded Co-MVP honors for each producing back-to-back shutouts in the Auburn Soccer Classic.Auburn returns to its home field on Friday when it opens up conference play against Vanderbilt. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the SEC Network. ' ' '