thinking about the mechanics and to start playing by feel

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Sonny Gray spent the past few days with Oakland pitching coach Curt Young, making subtle adjustments to his delivery. Grey wont reveal exactly what he and Young worked on. Suffice to say, the Athletics young staff ace is pleased with the results. Brandon Moss hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the fifth inning, and Gray bounced back from two sub-par outings to lead Oakland over the Texas Rangers 4-2 Wednesday, giving the Athletics (44-28) the best record in the majors. "Overall it was a pretty good outing," said Gray, who had won just two of eight starts before going seven innings against Texas and striking out seven. "I dont think there really is a difference other than I was able to make pitches," he said. "Thats probably it. People sometimes forget that baseball is a pretty hard game and theres going to be some rough patches that youre going to go through." Grey (7-3) bounced back nicely from his recent rough stretch. The right-hander needed only 31 pitches to get through the first three innings, then struck out Brad Snyder on a high 95 mph fastball to end the fourth with runners at second and third. Grey also got help from left fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who made a leaping catch at the warning track to rob Adrian Beltre of extra bases two batters before Snyder struck out. His lone mistake came in the fifth when Texas loaded the bases with two outs. Gray walked two and gave up an infield single before Shin-Soo Choos two-run single made it 2-2. "Its just balance for him," As manager Bob Melvin said. "He knows his delivery (and) his mechanics pretty well, and Curts terrific at pointing out subtle things. There are a couple things hes been working on." Cespedes and Josh Donaldson each had two hits for the As. Oakland has won four of five and is a season-high 16 games over .500. Their record is one game better than cross-bay rival San Francisco. "Anytime in the season that you can say you have the best record in baseball, its satisfying," Melvin said. "But theres a lot of baseball yet to be played. At least for the time being it feels good." Luke Gregerson pitched the eighth, and Sean Doolittle worked the ninth for his ninth save. Nick Tepesch (2-3) went five innings for Texas. Choo drove in both runs for the Rangers. "We have to get more than five innings out of our starting pitching and we have to have a shutdown inning after we score runs," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Somehow that (Oakland) lineup is always functioning. Somebody is always having a good day." Melvin shuffled his lineup and didnt start centre fielder Coco Crisp and second baseman Eric Sogard. Oaklands offence didnt miss a beat. John Jaso replaced Crisp in the leadoff spot and knocked in the As first run with a double in the third. Craig Gentry, who filled in at centre field, added two hits and scored a run. Second baseman Alberto Callaspo also had two hits. That was enough for Gray, who gave up two runs and six hits. He improved to 8-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 13 career starts against teams from within the As division. "He was keeping us off balance," said outfielder Alex Rios, who doubled off Gray in the fourth. "He managed his slider well. and his fastball had good velocity. He was locating it well." Cespedes scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning. He singled off Tepesch and scored on Moss double to right, barely beating the throw home with a headfirst slide. After Donaldson singled Moss to third, Stephen Vogt hit a short sacrifice fly to left to put Oakland up 4-2. Tepesch remained winless since May 26. He allowed nine hits over five innings with two walks and one strikeout. NOTES: Doolittle hasnt allowed a run in 22 1/3 innings, the longest active streak in the AL. ... Crisp was given a normal day off. ... Sogard pinch-ran after Callaspo singled in the ninth. ... Rangers 3B Luis Sardinas singled in the third to extend his career-best hitting streak to seven games. ... Texas LHP Joe Saunders (0-2), who will pitch the opener against the Angels on Friday, has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four starts since coming off the DL. ... Oakland LHP Scott Kazmir (8-2), who opens the series against Boston on Thursday, has a 0.95 ERA over his previous four starts. Cheap Yeezy . Her return engagement begins tonight as TSN presents Day 1 coverage of the 2015 event from Melbourne. Watch Eugenie Bouchards opening round match at the Australian Open live tonight on TSN5 at 3am et/Midnight pt. Replica Yeezy . In sunny and almost windless conditions, the Swede shot four consecutive birdies on the front nine on his way to a 68 and went 9 under for a one-shot lead over Englands Lee Slattery and two over Paraguays Farbrizio Zanotti (68). https://www.wholesaleyeezyauthentic.com/yeezy-700-outlet-130u/ . To get things started, heres a little photo tour to get you acquainted with all the main characters. Fake Yeezy . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. yeezy black friday . Span, Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche had two hits apiece as Washington won the final two games of the series. The Nationals improved to 3-7 against Atlanta. They increased their division lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Martin Kaymer reached the top of golf and wondered how he got there. He won his first major at the 2010 PGA Championship. He reached No. 1 in the world six months later. And then he realized his game would not be good enough to stay there. Kaymer wasnt much different from Tiger Woods, who overhauled his swing not long after a record-setting performance in the 1997 Masters. Kaymer was concerned about being a one-dimensional player — his primary shot was a fade — especially if he wanted to contend at Augusta National and other majors. He just didnt realize it would take this long. Halfway through his victory at The Players Championship, he thought back to the time he put in on his game. "All that work, all the hours," Kaymer said. "When you are standing on the range for six, seven hours, hitting the same shot, the same drill, you feel like it should be enough. You just dont want to be there at one stage because its so much. And its a little boring as well. But you know long term, it will become something good." It paid off in a big way last week at The Players, the next best thing to a major. The 29-year-old German tied the course record with a 63 on Thursday and was never behind after any round the rest of the way. His biggest challenge Sunday was when he had to return from a 90-minute storm delay and finish four holes in which he had everything to lose. Even with a double bogey that cut his lead to one shot, he didnt feel as if the tournament were slipping away. About the only thing that annoyed him was that "soft egg" moment to the left the green on the par-5 16th. Kaymer had spoken all week about being confident enough in his swing to stop thinking about the mechanics and to start playing by feel. He talked about hitting the right shot — the brave shot — not the easy one. He kept using the word, "wimp," until he jokingly was asked the German word for it. "Weiches ei," he replied in his native language. And then he offered that polite smile and added the English translation. "Its soft egg." Instead of chipping on the 16th, Kaymer decided to use a putter. He didnt hit it nearly hard enough, so instead of having a ggood chance at birdie, he had to two-putt from over 30 feet just to make par and keep his one-shot lead.dddddddddddd He wound up with one of the craziest pars ever on the island green at the par-3 17th, which ended with a 30-foot putt that broke some 8 feet to the right. And he collected the crystal trophy, along with the $1.8 million check from the richest purse on the PGA Tour. But that wimpy decision on the 16th gnawed at him even in victory. He wants perfection. "Its not the right thing to putt it. Its a soft egg," he said. "The swing is all good. Im happy the way that it works out and the way I go. Everything is fine, and Im really happy about this. But those things ... on 16, I was not true to myself, and thats painful. It really is. Because its just not right. "You can think, I won the golf tournament. I should be happy," he said. "And Im very, very happy about this. But those are things I would like to improve for the future." His future again looks bright. Kaymer now has won 14 times around the world. Even as he was retooling his swing with longtime coach Gunter Kessler, he managed to win a World Golf Championship in Shanghai by closing with a 63. Having barely made a Ryder Cup team in 2012 when Europe would have been better off without him because of his form, Kaymer still had enough left to beat Steve Stricker in the match that assured Europe would keep the cup. And he won at the end of last year in South Africa. But it means more to have beaten one of the strongest fields in golf, and to have conquered a course on the TPC Sawgrass that punishes the slightest mistake. Kaymer never really flinched all week. He put his name out front and stayed there. Darren Clarke noticed it in the second round. Kaymer didnt hit it his best that day, but he scored. Thats the golf Clarke remembered. "Hes a proper golfer this one," Clarke said. "Hes a finely tuned engineer." Perhaps he is ready to take his place among the best in the game. The major season is just getting started. "Now its important that you dont stop," he said. "Its very easy to just be happy now, relax and let things happen. But now its a time we have to work even harder." ' ' '