Dein erstes Forum » Test runs in a calendar year at a 60-plus aver

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Bud Norris never started a game against Los Angeles prior to this season. After three outings this year, the Angels have seen more than enough of the Houston Astros right-hander. Norris dominated the Angels high-priced lineup again with six innings of four-hit ball and Chris Carter hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Jerome Williams, leading the Astros to a 2-0 victory on Saturday night. "Theyre a great ballclub over there. You know whos in that lineup, and you know youve got to make good pitches," Norris said. "So the only way to play it is to just take the challenge." Norris (5-4) struck out six, walked three and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to end a three-start winless stretch that includes a six-inning scoreless outing against Kansas City that resulted in a no-decision. "Every time he pitches against us hes got his A stuff," Angels centre fielder Mike Trout said. "He was hitting his spots early and locating, and his secondary pitches were good. It was one of those nights. We see him good. I mean, we hit a couple of balls hard and had our opportunities, but it just didnt go our way tonight." Norris became the first starting pitcher to beat the Angels three times before the All-Star break since 2001, when Oaklands Tim Hudson, Seattles Freddy Garcia and Texas Darren Oliver all did it. On April 12 at the "Big A," Norris allowed three hits over seven innings in a 5-0 victory. On May 8, he gave up a run and nine hits through eight innings en route to a 3-1 decision at Houston. "Im sure theyre going to figure out some things about me soon" he said. "But Ive got to stick to my strengths and keep doing what Im doing because its been working so far." Rookie Jose Cisnero pitched two innings and Jose Veras got three outs for his 10th save in 13 attempts, helping extend Houstons winning streak to a season-high four games. Its their longest since a four-game stretch May last year. "This group has come together," Norris said. "Day in and day out, these guys are picking each other up -- from the bullpen to the bench players -- and the coaching staff has pushed that out of us. Everybody is picking up their end of the bargain, and its been pretty good to see." Williams (4-2) held Houston to just three hits over seven innings and struck out six, after going 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in his previous four starts. Carlos Pena, the only Houston player to have batted against Williams in a regular-season game prior to Saturday, led off the Astros second with a double and was stranded at third when Matt Dominguez flied out. The Astros didnt get another hit until the seventh, when J.D. Martinez singled with one out and Carter drove a first-pitch homer into the upper tier of the left field bullpen with two out for his 11th homer. "I played with him a few years ago in Triple-A, so I know he pretty much throws anything and everything," Carter said. "My first two at-bats he threw cutters and two-seamers and kept me off-balance. The next time I came up with the approach that anything that was up in the zone I was going to swing at." Trout doubled in the first, but was stranded as Albert Pujols took a called third strike and Mark Trumbo also struck out. Trout doubled again with one out in the sixth, and was picked off by Norris with a 1-0 count on Pujols. The Angels then loaded the bases with walks to Pujols and Trumbo and an infield hit by Josh Hamilton. But Norris struck out Howie Kendrick, who is batting .227 lifetime in those situations and is 1 for 7 this season. "Weve seen enough of him," manager Mike Scioscia said of Norris. "It seems every time we see him he still is able to use that breaking ball when he needs it, and tonight his velocity was good. We just didnt hit too many balls hard off him. We had a couple infield hits, but he got tough with guys in scoring position." Trout had a chance to get the Angels back in the game in the seventh, but grounded out to third with two men on after Erick Aybar kept the inning alive with a bunt single. He came up again in the ninth with runners at the corners and grounded into a force play to end it. Trout has only three RBIs in 45 at-bats over his last 11 games since May 21, when he drove in five runs against Seattle and became the youngest player in AL history to hit for the cycle. NOTES: Norris is the first pitcher to get three victories against the Angels in their first 56 games of a season since May 1968, when Minnesota reliever Ron Perranoski was the pitcher of record three times in a four-day span. ... Five of Houstons 19 victories have come against the Angels. ... Angels OF Peter Bourjos, sidelined since April 30 because of a left hamstring strain, is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Monday with Class-A Inland Empire before switching to Triple-A Salt Lake. ... Norris has made 177 starts in professional ball without pitching a complete game, including 109 in the big leagues. China Jerseys Cheap .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. http://www.chinajerseyscheapstore.com/ . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Wholesale Jerseys China . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. With two Tests still to go for England in 2016, Jonny Bairstow has already racked up 1355 runs from 15 Tests, the most by any wicketkeeper in a calendar year; in fact, he needs just 127 from the last two Tests to become the highest run-getter for England in a calendar year. (Michael Vaughan currently holds the record with 1481.) Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock has been on a roll of his own, with six 50-plus scores in 11 Test innings, including two hundreds. This includes a five-innings sequence that reads thus: 82, 50, 84, 64, 104. His Test average for the year is 65.44.Add to this the useful contributions by BJ Watling, Wriddhiman Saha and Shane Dowrich, and its clear that 2016 has been a pretty useful year for wicketkeepers with the bat in Test cricket - even Parthiv Patel grabbed his chance in Mohali with scores of 42 and 67 not out.Pretty useful is an understatement, for the overall average of 40.79 for wicketkeepers in 2016 is the highest for any calendar year since 1900. In the history of Tests, there has been only one year when wicketkeepers had a higher average, and that was 119 years ago, in 1897, when just one Test was played and the wicketkeepers averaged 45. The next six entries are all since 2000, but in 2015 the average was just 30.81, which means so far this year the average is 32% higher than last year. The two wicketkeepers who have been at the forefront of this bounty year are Bairstow and de Kock. Bairstow has been on a record-breaking spree with the bat and gloves this year - his 68 dismissals in Tests this year is also the highest by a wicketkeeper in any calendar year - while de Kock has been stellar with the bat not only in Tests but also in ODIs, scoring 857 runs at an average of 57 and a strike rate of 109 in 17 ODI innings.Watling, who averaged 48.72 in Tests in 2015, has had another good year with the bat, averaging 42.61 (though his 107 and 83 not out against Zimbabwe has helped lift the average considerably). Saha has lifted his game tooo, averaging 40.dddddddddddd6 this year after struggling a bit in 2015, when the average dipped to 23.18 in eight Tests. West Indies brave move to bring in Dowrich to replace Denesh Ramdin has brought in batting benefits too. Dowrich has averaged 38.37 this year, compared to Ramdins average of 20.72 from 17 Tests in 2014 and 2015.While most wicketkeepers have been among the runs, a couple have missed out. Peter Nevill, no longer in favour with Australias selectors, managed only 195 runs in 13 innings, at 17.72, while Dinesh Chandimal has had a lean year as well, with seven sub-20 scores in nine innings when he has played as wicketkeeper. Sarfraz Ahmed came down a few notches too from his batting standards of 2014-15, averaging only 30.42 this year compared to 60.35 in the previous two years. In all of Test history, there have only been eight instances of wicketkeepers scoring 500-plus Test runs in a calendar year at a 60-plus average; two of those eight instances have happened in 2016. Andy Flower was the first to do this, in 2000 and 2001, and Adam Gilchrist in 2002. He nearly achieved it again when he averaged 59.50 in 2003. Matt Prior did it in 2011, not only averaging nearly 65, but also doing it at a strike rate of 89, the highest among these eight instances. (Gilchrists strike rate in 2002 was 88.98, and de Kocks this year is 80.68). AB de Villiers and Sarfraz achieved it too in 2013 and 2014, but never before have two wicketkeepers done it in a year.Both Bairstow and de Kock can expect to play some more Tests till the end of the year, and will have to score runs to ensure their average stays above 60. Bairstow needs 145 runs if he gets out four times in the two remaining Tests England play, while de Kock needs 71 in two innings in the Boxing Day Test. Given the form they have been in in 2016, you wouldnt bet against either. ' ' '