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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez lost his pitching groove in his past two starts, but history tells us hell be at the right place to get it back Saturday afternoon when he faces the Oakland As at the Oakland Coliseum.Hernandez is 11-3 with a 2.92 ERA in 22 career starts at the Coliseum. Overall against the As, hes 22-8 with a 2.67 ERA in 42 career starts.Hernandez is 10-5 with a 3.75 ERA this season, but in his past two starts, both against the Texas Rangers, he went 1-1 with an 11.17 ERA, allowing 12 runs on 10 hits and walking eight in 9 2/3 innings. Hernandez gave up six runs and walked four over 5 2/3 innings Monday in a 14-6 victory against the Rangers.He had some (command) issues, Mariners manager Scott Servais said Friday before Seattles 3-2 victory against Oakland in the series opener. Kind of got away from him in one inning. He threw 48 or 49 pitches. Very un-Felix like. He did hang in there and get through it. Its been a really weird year for him I think, even from the start of the season before the injury.The command, the walks have been up, bottom line. Its not typical of him, but hes found a way to keep us in games. You look up, hes got 10 wins now. Hes done what we needed him to do. It just hasnt been the over-the-top domination performances that were used to seeing.Hernandez went on the disabled list on June 1, retroactive to May 28, with a strained right calf and missed 43 games. Since coming off the DL on July 20, hes gone 6-1 with a 4.62 ERA in starts over 64 1/3 innings. He allowed 56 hits, including 10 home runs, struck out 54 and walked 30 during that span.I think the consistency of his curveball has maybe not been as good, Servais said. Thats always been there for him. Some outings its better than others. Thats the one pitch that probably hasnt been as consistent. The changeups still there. Its a matter if they can lay off it or not.The Mariners pulled to within 3 1/2 games of Baltimore and Detroit for the second wild-card playoff spot in the American League.Gaining more ground Saturday could be a challenge when they face right-hander Kendall Graveman (10-9), the As hottest pitcher. Over his past six starts, Graveman went 4-2 with a 1.93 ERA. He struck out 21 and walked six over 42 innings during that stretch.Gravemans worst start during that span came against the Mariners on Aug. 13 in a 4-3 loss at the Coliseum. He allowed four runs on four hits, including first-pitch home runs to Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz, over six innings.I thought I threw the ball well, all except a couple of pitches there, Graveman said.Graveman will make his team- and career-high 28th start of the season. Hes the only member of the As original rotation who hasnt missed a start and hasnt spent time on the disabled list.Based on the fact weve had so many guys go down, and to have the stability of a guy making every start and giving the team the confidence they have when he takes the mound is paramount, As manager Bob Melvin said.But for him to know he can go through a season like this and get stronger as the season went along, knock wood, hes done his best work here the last month, and is going deeper in games, too. Thats something thats difficult to do over the course of the season and it speaks to his conditioning, how he takes care of himself. Because a lot of times this time of year guys are going the other direction, and he seems to be getting better and better.After going 1-6 with a 5.36 ERA in his first nine starts, Graveman has gone 9-3 with a 3.18 ERA over his past 18.Graveman is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three starts against the Mariners this season and 1-2 with a 3.71 ERA for his career. Gravemans lone win against Seattle came last season on July 4 at the Coliseum in his lone career start against Hernandez.Graveman pitched seven shutout innings in a 2-0 victory, while Hernandez allowed two runs over seven innings and took the tough loss.Its going to be a good matchup, Graveman said. Theyve been playing some good baseball over there. Im excited.Heath Hembree Red Sox Jersey . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. Wade Boggs Red Sox Jersey . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. https://www.cheapredsox.com/1041z-josh-taylor-jersey-red-sox.html .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. Mitch Moreland Red Sox Jersey . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Boston Red Sox Gear . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season.LONG POND, Pa. -- Pocono Raceway made history in 2016 in a way that no track would ever want to make it.For the first time in NASCAR history, a track had both of its races postponed. For a track that saw?Dale Earnhardt Jr. sweep both of its races in 2014 (a track promoters and many fans dream), it got the promoters and fans bad dream in 2016.Its awful luck, said Pocono Raceway president Brandon Igdalsky after the rainout. Kyle Busch gets the great [pole/race sweep] record last week and we get the awful record this week -- way to go, good for us.At the end of the day, I literally feel so awful for the fans that were here. We had a great crowd. I just hope they all come back [Monday].Pocono, while having a little bit of a rap for bad weather, did not have a rainout since August 2009 before this Junes race was postponed for a day. Then the July race Sunday was postponed because of rain, making it back-to-back rainouts for the track.Tracks often see a drop in renewals the year after a rainout -- some in the industry estimate it results in renewals 10 percent lower than the previous year -- so consecutive rainouts cant help at all.With so many local race tracks in Pennsylvania and a passion for all forms of motorsports (the Andretti family hails from about 30 miles away), Igdalsky hopes his fans are understanding.The Dale sweep [in 2014] gave us a great bump last year, Igdalsky said. We held on to that bump and had an increase this year, which was great. Its way too early to tell [the impact].People realize Pocono is a great place to be. ... The fans have shown that. Weve got the best fans in the sport.Pocono is the only track so far this year to have a Cup race postponed (the Sprint Showdown was postponed to the morning of the Sprint All-Star race).What could make matters worse for Pocono races in the future are the 3 p.m. ET starts for the races at the track next year.The race was postponed Sunday at 2:43 p.m. ET because it had taken three hours to dry the track earlier. With sunset at about 8:20 p.m., there wasnt enough time to dry the track and get it started -- NASCARs policy is not to start a race that it couldnt reasonably get the full race (about three hours) in as long as it didnt rain.With the 3 p.m. starts next year in hopes of attracting a bigger television audience, any rain delay could result in a rain-shortened race or postponed race.At least with the 3 oclock start, were going to know early if were not going to get the track dry, Igdalsky said. Thats the good thing about it. Im curious to see how the 3 oclock is going to work out. Ive got my feelings both ways on that one.II agree to an extent, and I disagree to an extent.dddddddddddd ... I was a little bit hesitant towards it but well see what it means. Our fans have been right down the middle.Xfinity Series: Making most of opportunityErik Jones made the most of his opportunity of having the best car at Iowa Speedway. After losing the lead on pit stops, he took 77 laps under green before passing Ty Dillon with 16 laps remaining.It was the way a driver with the best car should race -- not making any mistakes and waiting for the best opportunity to pass.[Dillon] did a good job playing aero games and getting us behind and I was working hard trying everything I could and finally I got a really good run when he got hung up with the lap[ped] car and [I] was able to get clear of him, Jones said.I dont know if ... I would have been able to get around him straight up. But once you got in clear air, I felt really good about it.Jones wasnt the only driver to take advantage of having a good car at a stand-alone event.Chip Ganassi Racings Brennan Poole finished fourth. Dakoda Armstrong, driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 car in place of Matt Tifft (recovering from brain surgery), was fifth. Josh Berry, the JR Motorsports late-model driver who raced the No. 88 car, was ninth.I kind of struggled there through the middle [of the race] -- lost a lot of track position -- but there at the end, the car just kind of came to life, Armstrong said. If we would have done a better job of holding on to track position, we would have had a shot at an even better finish. [It was] still a good finish.Camping World Truck Series: Make it five for ByronWilliam Byron won his fifth Camping World Truck Series race of the season by capturing the victory Saturday at Pocono Raceway.Byron has gone from struggling on restarts and not necessarily being a weekly favorite to being able to handle restarts and handle the different pressure of entering a race as the odds-on favorite.The pulse on pit road prior to the race Saturday was that it was Byrons race to lose. He led 44 of the 60 laps at Pocono and lost the lead on only one of six restarts -- and on that one, he was back in the lead after another lap.Having the confidence that you know you can win -- its so much easier when you have a fast truck because you dont have to think about much before the race and what you have to change, Byron said. Thats what we came in to today with the mindset of and it worked out.Byron set the record for most wins by a truck rookie. ' ' '