PHILADELPHIA -- New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom established himself as a rising star last season.Philadelphia Phillies rookie righty Zach Eflin is just beginning to establish himself, period.The two pitchers square off Sunday afternoon, when the Mets and Phillies play the rubber game of their three-game series in Citizens Bank Park.DeGrom (5-4, 2.61) has recently begun to show the dominating form he displayed last year, when he went 14-8 with a 2.54 ERA during the regular season and 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA in four postseason starts for the National League champions.He has gone 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 20 strikeouts (compared to four walks) in 20 innings over his last three starts, and his last time out he worked seven innings in a 4-2 victory over Miami. He allowed two runs on six hits while striking out seven and walking two.He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning unscathed, and thereafter only allowed solo homers to Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth and sixth innings.(I feel) better than where I started, deGrom said afterward, according to Major League Baseballs official web site. Things are starting to come back, and I was pretty happy about today.He is 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA in six career starts against the Phillies, and the Mets have won all six of those outings.Eflin (2-2, 4.08) was hit hard by Toronto in his first major league start, on June 14, allowing nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings, but since then he has gone 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA. He earned his first major league victory on July 5, going the distance to beat Atlanta 5-1, then followed that up with a 10-3 victory in Colorado five days later.Over his last two starts, he has gone 15 innings and yielded three runs on 13 hits while striking out nine and walking two.You just cant live in the past, Eflin said of his bounceback, according to MLB.com. Youve just always got to have your head high. I learn after every outing and I learned a lot after that one (against the Rockies). Ive done a good job of just keeping the ball down and throwing all of the pitches for strikes and keeping the hitters guessing.The Mets won the series opener 5-3, but the Phillies answered with a 4-2 victory Saturday night, as Maikel Franco drove in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning single.Franco is hitting .370 over his last 18 games, raising his average from .235 to .265, and has 17 RBI in his last 15. His 18 homers and 54 RBI lead the team and are third among major league third basemen, and on Saturday he blooped the first pitch he saw from Mets reliever Hansel Robles -- a 97 mph fastball -- into left field to snap a 2-2 tie.I know it was a good situation for me, Franco said. I just want to put the ball in play. Something good happened, and Im glad something good happened for me, and for my team, too.Franco had shown considerable promise in his first extended big league trial in 2015, hitting .280 with 14 homers and 50 RBI in 80 games, but found himself in the throes of a frustrating slump earlier this season.That is now behind him.He looks like hes staying on the ball better, manager Pete Mackanin said. Hes fouling off some tough pitches to right field. Hes just not flying off the ball like he has been, and hes getting results.Mackanin added that Franco is real close to resembling the player he was a year ago.Hes going to have a good year, Mackanin said. I think hes only going to get better as the season goes along.The Phillies have won 11 of their last 15 games, while the Mets have dropped four of five. Discount Nike Shoes Website . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Cheap Nike Shoes China Paypal . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. http://www.discountnikeshoes.com/ . Louis Cardinals. Victorino is batting sixth and playing right field after missing two games because of back tightness. Discount Nike Shoes China . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. Wholesale Nike Shoes China Paypal . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. Shaun Murphy claims Ronnie OSullivan has nothing worthwhile to say about the way snooker should be run.The 2005 world champion had his say in the wake of the sports business supremo Barry Hearn arguing OSullivan should know better after likening the sport to a car boot sale.Hearn also rebuked the five-time world champion for suggesting the sport had lost respect in the public eye.When asked if the snooker authorities should be listening to OSullivans state-of-the-game verdicts, Murphy said: Absolutely not, no.Ronnies a genius and if he talks about snooker and how to play snooker, thats great, and I listen when he talks about snooker.When he talks about how snooker should be run, you should completely turn off, and he should stick to playing snooker.Murphy and OSullivan could meet in the final of the Betway UK Championship in York on Sunday, with both having reached the fourth round. A 6-5 win for Murphy over Dominic Dale was a nervy affair on Tuesday.The controversial remarks made by OSullivan on Monday remained a hot topic, and World Snooker chairman Hearn told the 40-year-old to focus on entertaining crowds, rather than aiming barbs that could offend snookers valuable stakeholders.OSullivan had said on Monday: Snookeer is becoming a nothing-type sport - its kind of like a car boot sale but with the other sports its like shopping at Harrods.ddddddddddddHe labelled it cheap TV and questioned its image, saying: You look at Formula One and see beautiful-looking people and you look at snooker and think, God.The ongoing tournament is being televised in the UK by the BBC and Eurosport, with OSullivan a regular pundit on the latter channel.Hearn said: We mustnt be disrespectful to those people who are involved, sponsors and television companies, and the paying fans, to say this is a car boot sale of sport.I deal with lots and lots of different sports because there are lots of different sports whod cut their arm off to be in the position snooker is in.When asked about OSullivans verdict on the sports image, Hearn told BBC Radio 5 Live: As a famous man once said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.I like normal people, I like working-class people who want to get value for money and want to be entertained by sportsmen who know their job is to entertain.Ronnies an entertainer and he should know better than that. 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