At a time when Australias batsmen are mired in a damaging pattern of failures, Joe Burns has returned to the Test fold with confidence derived from breaking out of his own.Until the first round of this seasons Sheffield Shield, Burns had an almost comically poor record in matches involving a pink ball. The inaugural day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval offered up scores of 14 and 11. That followed a similarly underwhelming run in floodlit Shield matches, despite Burns making extra efforts to learn - he did his own extra training against a pink ball away from the Australian side.After two poor Test matches in Sri Lanka against the spinning red ball, Burns was cast out of the national side. But, when his stocks seemed lowest, Burns was able to find a way against the pink ball. His well-struck hundred for Queensland at the Gabba against New South Wales, against an attack featuring Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood no less, means Burns will bring a much more positive vibe to Hobart than he might otherwise have.I guess it was a nice experience to make runs against the pink ball, in particular because theres a [day-night] Test match in Brisbane, Burns said. Obviously, thats a long way down the track from here, but I think as players, the more you play against the pink ball and the more confident you get against it as a batter, you certainly do feel more comfortable going into each pink-ball game.With the pink ball, the games played a little bit differently to the red ball, so just those experiences as a batter - where you can look to make your runs, where youve got to be a bit more cautions and the way the game ebbs and flows. In Brisbane anyway, its certainly a lot different from red to pink ball.The duel with the Blues was willing and vocal, placing Burns in a decent frame of mind to face South Africa at Bellerive Oval from Saturday as the replacement opener for Shaun Marsh. There was a bit of banter there, which is fantastic. You want to see guys playing the same way for their stats as you do for your country, he said. And I guess thats a strength of the Shield competition, so it was a very enjoyable challenge.When those boys are up and firing, it certainly spurs you on to bigger heights, and it was very satisfying to make some runs in that game. One of the things that you look back on and feel confident in, and know that youre hitting the ball really well against good opposition, and then, hopefully, carry that into a Test match against South Africa. But in saying that, its a new set of bowlers, new conditions, and you still have to prepare as best you can for this Test match.Burns said he learned a lot from the experience of losing his place in Sri Lanka, a perspective that will also be relevant entering a team that has just lost the first Test of a home summer for the first time in 28 years. Sri Lanka was my first Test loss and first series loss, so it was a tough tour, Burns said. It was tough because I wasnt making runs personally as well. But I guess thats part of the challenge of cricket, part of the challenge of playing for Australia.You always want to be making runs. You always want to be winning cricket games for your country, so you do everything you can to turn it around and try and get back to winning those matches. I think the experience within the group, weve had a lot of a success as a team and as individuals that theres no doubt we can turn it around.We just have to prepare well, go out and take up the challenge in that second Test match. Weve got no doubt we can certainly turn it around. Obviously, a lot of hard work will go into it, but, certainly, very confident going into the rest of the series. Larry Smith Jersey . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. Antawn Jamison Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. https://www.cheapwarriors.com/999o-tim-hardaway-jersey-warriors.html . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Damion Lee Jersey .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Mitch Richmond Jersey . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Pittsburgh closer Jason Grilli and Los Angeles Angels counterpart Ernesto Frieri each gave up three runs Sunday. The final outcome came down to one pitch that Mike Trout missed. Pedro Alvarez homered for the fourth straight game, Starling Marte capped a three-run ninth inning with a tying single, and the Pirates added four more in the 10th to beat the Angels 10-9 and complete their first interleague sweep on the road. Trailing 6-3 entering the ninth, the Pirates pulled even against Frieri -- his second blown save in 19 attempts. The right-hander issued a leadoff walk to Neil Walker, ending his string of 22 consecutive batters retired, then gave up a single to Gaby Sanchez and a one-out grounder by pinch-hitter Andrew McCutchen that scored Walker. Next came a pinch-hit RBI double by Russell Martin over the head of rookie left fielder J.B. Shuck, followed by Martes clutch hit. "I got to hang out in the air conditioning in here for about six innings, so I felt fresh when I got out there," Martin said with a grin. "But our guys battled back and had great ABs collectively, top to bottom, and it was fun to be a part of. We have no quit, thats for sure." Martin drove in the final run -- and ultimately the decisive one -- with an RBI single in the 10th. "Ernies been throwing the ball as well as anybody in the league," losing pitcher Kevin Jepsen said. "Anybody can have a rough game. When youre pitching in the back of the pen when the game is on the line, its just more magnified. He was one strike away a couple of times, so it wasnt like he had no shot. Sometimes thats how close you come. But Ernie is very resilient and hell be fine." Alvarez led off the 10th against Jepsen (0-2) with a double to centre field over Trouts head -- seven innings after Trout had shifted over from left after an injury to Peter Bourjos. A pair of one-out walks, one of them intentional to Walker, loaded the bases and brought up Travis Snider. He promptly lined a single to left that bounced over Shucks head for an error and all the way to the fence as all three runners scored. "When those guys get guys on base, they take advantage. Thats why theyre playing as well as they are," Jepsen said. Grilli closed it out despite giving up five hits, including RBI singles by Alberto Callaspo, Shuck and Brendan Harris. The right-hander finally ended it by striking out Trout with the potential tying and winning runs at third and second. "We pushed all the chips in and got what we needed to get from our guys -- and at the end of the day, the gunslinger got it done," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. Mark Melancon (2-1) pitched a perfect inning for the win. Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton was charged with six runs -- three earned -- and four hits through 5 2-3 innings in his third start of the season. The right-hander missed the first 65 games while recovering from elbow surgery last June. Pirates catcher Tony Sanchez, the teams No. 1 draft pick in 2009, went 1 for 4 in his major league debut -- as the designated hitter. His first time up he hit a ground-rule double against Joe Blanton that struck the 18-foot wall in right field halfway up and became wedged at the bottom of the out-of-town scoreboard.dddddddddddd The ball remained there until the end of the half-inning, when a maintenance worker climbed a ladder and plucked it out before giving it to Pirates right fielder Garrett Jones. "When I walked up to the plate, my legs started shaking uncontrollably," Sanchez said. "I told (Angels catcher Chris) Iannetta: I cant stop shaking. I dont know what to do. And he said: Just breathe. Just breathe. So I took one step out of the box and took a breath, but that didnt help. Then Blanton threw me a ball that I could handle. It felt really good off the bat, and I could not stop smiling. I didnt think I was going to get the ball back. I thought it was going to be stuck up there." Blanton, who is 1-10, allowed three runs -- one earned -- and six hits in 7 1-3 innings. The right-hander struck out six, walked none and retired his last 14 batters. His only victory was May 23 during the Angels four-game sweep in Kansas City. "Sometimes you have those years," Blanton said. "Baseball is a crazy game sometimes, and youve just got to keep executing out there and doing your work between starts and dont give up no matter what happens." For the third straight game, Alvarez homered his first time up after tagging Jered Weaver on Friday and Jerome Williams on Saturday. He is hitting .272 with 19 homers and 50 RBIs over his last 55 games, after batting .089 with one RBI in his first 13 games. "Hes got his confidence back," Martin said. The Angels pulled ahead 5-1 in the second, parlaying errors by second baseman Walker and third baseman Alvarez into five runs -- three of which were unearned. Pittsburgh came back with a pair of unearned runs in the third. Bourjos hurt his left thumb on a takeout slide and came out of the game. Newly acquired Brad Hawpe entered in right as the Angeles shuffled outfielders and then drove in the teams sixth run with a two-out single in the fourth. NOTES: Albert Pujols grounded out with the bases loaded, making him 1 for 9 in those situations this season. ... Blanton is 0-12 with six no-decisions in the last 18 games in which hes allowed a home run. ... Pittsburghs only other three-game sweeps against AL clubs were at home against the White Sox in 1997, the Indians in 2001, and the Royals last June. ... Sanchez is one of eight first-round picks on Pittsburghs 25-man roster. ... Angel Stadium was the site of Mortons major league debut on June 14, 2008, when he pitched for Atlanta and won 9-4. ... Pirates RHP Duke Welker made his big league debut with a perfect eighth inning. ... A home run Tuesday night in Seattle would make Alvarez the first Pirates batter to connect in five straight games since Jose Castillo in May 2006. Alvarez moved up from fifth to third in the batting order with McCutchen and Martin out of the starting lineup. ... Pirates LHP Jeff Locke puts his NL-best 2.01 ERA on the line in the opener of the two-game set at Safeco Field. ' ' '