Allgemein » Im looking forward to the challenge. Hes got some of the b

WASHINGTON -- Bryce Harper was pulled after the sixth inning and Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg suffered his second loss of the season as Washington fell 7-1 to the San Francisco Giants Saturday night in a matchup of NL division leaders.Harper played with a stiff neck, Nationals manager Dusty Baker revealed following the loss, which snapped Washingtons four-game winning streak.Ive been having it for a couple days now, Harper said of the neck stiffness. Its been bothering me. Tonight (Dusty) came up to me in the seventh inning and just gave me the night off. `Well get you out of there. Hopefully get some treatment on that and feel better (Sunday) or Tuesday. Well see where were at.The 2015 NL MVP looked awkward in all three of his at-bats. He struck out each time, lowering his batting average to .233.Anybody who has ever had a stiff neck, I mean, you know youre not yourself, Baker said. So, I took him out for precaution. Well see if its any better tomorrow.During his third inning at-bat against Giants starter Matt Cain (4-6), Harper needed a moment to regroup after fouling off a pitch, adjusting into a slight crouch. The Nationals trainer tended to the right fielder , but Harper remained in the game.It just didnt feel very good, Harper said. It got a little tense in there. I needed a break real quick. Our trainer got out there and gave me a second. Just definitely didnt feel right. Hopefully we can see what tomorrow has in store for us.As for what caused the issue, Harper could only shrug.I dont know, man. Maybe a pillow. I really have no idea, he explained.The primary cause of pain for Strasburg (15-2) was Eduardo Nunez. The third baseman got four hits, including two triples and a double off Strasburg.There was too much Nunez today. This was his day, Baker said.Brandon Belt homered, doubled and singled for the Giants.They must have eaten some line drives for lunch because there were line drives hit everywhere, Baker cracked.Strasburg was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors with 16 wins this season. Instead, he lasted only 4 2/3 innings in his shortest outing this year, giving up four runs and eight hits.Strasburg struck out eight but allowed two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. He threw 88 pitches overall.I feel like I was scuffling the whole game, the right-hander said. Yeah, I retired nine of the first 10, but I didnt really feel like I was executing and it just kind of caught up to me.Cain won his third straight start, pitching five shutout innings and scattering five hits. Last Sunday, he threw five no-hit innings to beat the Nationals at home.Nunez had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats, and was just 2 for 20 since being traded over by Minnesota in late July. The AL All-Star scored three runs.Buster Posey drove in two runs for the Giants, who had been struggling at the plate lately before getting 14 hits.SOLO JOBDanny Espinosa drove in the lone Washington run with an eighth-inning single.TRAINERS ROOMNationals: 1B Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a bruised left wrist. The move is retroactive to Aug. 1, and OF Brian Goodwin was promoted from Triple-A Syracuse. Goodwin replaced Harper and made his major league debut, and had a flyout in his lone at-bat.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (10-6) tries to rebound after his worst start of the season last Tuesday when he gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings during a 13-8 loss at Philadelphia.Nationals: RHP Tanner Roark (11-6) has won five of his last six decisions, including his last two starts when he earned victories over Arizona and San Francisco.Clearance Custom Shirts Online .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. Clearance Custom Shirts Online . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. http://www.customcheapshirts.com/ . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Authentic Custom Shirts . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Cheap Custom Jerseys Free Shipping . 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.OAKLAND, Calif. -- After the way Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta finished last season en route to winning the National League Cy Young Award and started this season, he was overdue for a rough streak.Arrieta went 11-0 with a 0.57 ERA over his final 13 regular-season starts last year, and the Cubs went 13-0 during that stretch. This year, he went 9-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his first 10 starts as the Cubs won all 10.But over his past five starts, Arrieta has gone 0-3 with a 4.88 ERA, and the Cubs have lost all five games. Hell try to end that skid Saturday afternoon against the Oakland As in the second game of a three-game series at the Oakland Coliseum.I just think we all (have) high highs and lows, catcher David Ross said Friday before the Cubs 7-2 victory against Oakland. Its going to be hard to sustain what he was doing. I dont think anythings wrong.I think we all went through a little stretch there where we were kind of fatigued. I think the All-Star break helped him recover and hes pitched well since then. It could be fatigue, it could be rhythm, it could be any number of things. But for how long he sustained just being completely unhittable, I think everybody said, Whats wrong? when he gives up a couple runs.Arrieta (12-5) certainly isnt sweating his mini-slump. In his previous start, he gave up two runs on two hits over seven innings in a 4-1 loss to Seattle. Two starts before that, he held the Mets to one run on five hits over seven innings and got a no-decision in a 2-1 loss.Yeah, two hits, Arrieta said of his start against the Mariners. Two walks in the 8th or it could have easily been a different story. A couple close calls led to a couple base runners. They ended up getting a couple.Sometimes this game does weird thinngs to you.dddddddddddd But trying to get locked in and be at our best individually down the stretch is the most important thing for us. Thats kind of what were striving to do.Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt said the As are expecting nothing but the best from Arrieta.I faced him a lot in the minor leagues, Vogt said. You cant say enough about what hes done over the last couple years. Its pretty special. Im looking forward to the challenge. Hes got some of the best numbers in baseball and hes had some of the best success over the last couple years. It will be a good challenge for us. Im looking forward to it.As right-hander Sonny Gray will be looking again to recapture the command he had last year when he finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting. Gray is 5-10 with a 5.84 ERA and 15 wild pitches.Obviously hes frustrated and obviously hes working to get better every day, Vogt said. Its just been kind of when he hasnt been good, they take advantage of him, and when he has been good, bounces havent gone his way.So its kind of been an up-and-down season for him. But hes handling it well. I think hes learning. Obviously its not easy, but hes doing a good job, hes keeping a good level head and hes putting his work in every week, like he has all year.In his previous start, Gray gave up seven runs over 3 1/3 innings in an 8-0 loss to Cleveland.Were always looking and expecting him to go out and be the guy that weve seen in the past, As manager Bob Melvin said. So is he. Its just about going out there and stringing a few performances together that get him going in the right direction again. ' ' '