Hilfestellungen » occasional tag-team title shot. As awesome

PHILADELPHIA -- Ryan Howard took a big cut, the ball soared off his bat and he paused to admire his shot like hes done for so many of his 381 career homers.A stiff wind turned this one into a double but the Big Piece has two more games left to go deep once more.Howard started his final series with the Phillies by going 1 for 4 and the New York Mets moved closer to securing a wild-card berth with a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Friday night.Howard, the 2006 NL MVP, is the last player remaining from the 2008 World Series championship team. The Phillies plan to pay him a $10 million buyout rather than exercise a $25 million option for 2017.Hes business as usual, manager Pete Mackanin said of Howard. I think somewhere down the road itll hit him and hell have that nostalgia, but right now hes all business.Jay Bruce homered for the third straight game and drove in three runs, and Robert Gsellman threw six sharp innings to lead the Mets.The defending NL champions reduced their magic number to one. The Mets began the night atop the wild-card race, with San Francisco one game back and St. Louis two behind.Phillies starter Alec Asher (2-1) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings.Ive pitched like I know, Asher said. I just want to carry it on to next year the way Ive been doing. I know theres stuff I can work on, but I think Im going in the right direction.Asher retired the first 11 batters before he ran into trouble with two outs in the fourth when Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson hit consecutive singles.Bruce and T.J. Rivera followed with back-to-back RBI singles for a 2-1 lead.More Mets fans were inside a half-empty ballpark on a wet, chilly night in Philadelphia. The blue-and-orange faithful screamed Lets Go Mets and their Bruuuuuce chants drowned out boos from Phillies fans.Bruce connected in the seventh, sending his 33rd homer the opposite-way to left field. The Mets added two runs, including another RBI single by Bruce.Earlier in the inning, Howard let Cespedes infield pop fall untouched near the first-base bag, allowing a runner to score from third.Howard hit a double to deep center his first time up. Cameron Rupps sacrifice fly followed Howards double and put the Phillies ahead 1-0.STATSBruce is 10 for 20 with four homers and eight RBIS in his last six games. ... Mets are 15-2 after an off day. ... Mets tied a franchise record with 106 homers on the road. They already have a franchise-best 217 homers.TOSSEDMackanin was ejected for the first time this season in the eighth inning by first baseman umpire Will Little. Mackanin perhaps thought Cespedes swung at an inside pitch from Michael Mariot and was tossed once he walked onto the field.TRAINERS ROOMPhillies: SS Freddy Galvis left the game because of tightness in his right hamstring.LOOKING AHEADMackanin emerged from a long meeting with coaches and front-office executives hopeful the team will add a veteran hitter in the offseason. I would like to get a good solid proven hitter somewhere on the field, he said. Where that is right now will be determined by who is available and what kind of a deal, if any, they could make.UP NEXTRHP Bartolo Colon (14-8, 3.42 ERA) starts for the Mets against RHP Phil Klein (0-1, 8.22) for the Phillies. Colon is 10-5 vs. Philadelphia.Fake NCAA Jerseys . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. NCAA Jerseys Outlet . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. Replica NCAA Jerseys . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.Kudos if the past few days of professional wrestling havent made you feel like the victim of one of Cesaros giant swings.Seriously, what a whirlwind. Just three days ago, Finn Balor, WWEs worshipped Demon King, left the Barclays Center as the inaugural Universal champion in his first marquee event. Less than 24 hours later, he was forced to relinquish his belt after suffering a dislocated shoulder, an injury that could keep him sidelined for up to six months.Certainly, it isnt the first time a champ has surrendered his title because of health setbacks (see: Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan), but the timing could not have been worse. Balor, NXTs most decorated titleholder, was to be Raws centerpiece for years to come.An abrupt, disappointing end to an exciting new storyline, yes, but it was far from the end of a series of events that left us feeling as lost as Heath Slaters contract. At SummerSlam, the U.S. Championship match between Roman Reigns and Rusev never officially started, and the brutal Brock-Lesnar-Randy Orton battle never really ended.So it appears the top brass of the WWE need to scurry to find new feuds and new angles, particularly on Raw. There will be a new Universal champion crowned next Monday, but will this open up a path for more logical, fresh and fun bookings once the dominoes fall? Its hard to say at the moment. Just more than a month after the highly anticipated split-brand draft, some storylines have already become stilted. After a confounding conclusion to SummerSlam, a shakeup is in order.That said, there are a few proposed Raw-SmackDown trades that could energize future plots.Baron Corbin (Raw) for Kevin Owens (SmackDown)Case for Corbin: Hes 6-foot-8 with massive heel potential, but Corbin isnt quite ready to be thrust into the heavyweight/Universal matrix. What he needs is a legitimate beef against a sound star, someone other than the diminutive Kalisto, who promises to be as much of a threat to Corbin as Dean Ambroses potted plant, Mitch. Seriously, can you picture Corbin clashing with Roman Reigns? Earlier in the year, Corbin and Dolph Ziggler engaged in a series of encounters, but the feud did little to propel the status of either. That would undoubtedly change with Reigns, the most polarizing figure in the business, in the picture. Down the road, how about Corbin and Braun Strowman mixing it up in a heated all-heel contest?Case for Owens: Unless KO wins the Universal title Monday in Houston, he will once again be balancing on the precarious line between star and upper mid-carder. Make no mistake: Owens, arguably the best bad guy in the business, belongs in the inner sanctum of stars. The problem is he is going to take a backseat to Seth Rollins, Reigns and Balor on Raw. From the outset of his WWE career, Owens has had remarkable chemistry with almost everyone in the ring, starting with John Cena at Elimination Chamber (and subsequent pay-per-views) in 2015 and the continuation of his long-standing feud against Sami Zayn, which culminated with maybe the match of the year at Battleground last month. Owens current teaming with Chris Jericho is fun, and theres some upside to their partnership, but KO is a singles star, a future champ who could re-establish SmackDowns pecking order.Advantage: Push. The immediate returns suggest SmackDown gets the better of the trade with Owens, the more groomed in-ring performer, but Corbin is well on his way to becoming a bona fide behemoth.Cesaro (Raw) for Kane (SmackDown)Case for Cesaro: Since his return from shoulder surgery a day after Wrestlemania, Cesaro has been booked with little semblance of strategy to suggest hell be a perennial top-tier star. True, he was given a new James Bond-style entrance and thrust into a No. 1 contenders Fatal 4-way match the first day he was back, but its been largely downhill and uninspiring for him since. A best-of-seven battle against Sheamus? Eh. A best-of-one would have been more palatable. Cesaro himself -- perhaps staged but with more than a hint of truth -- expressed displeasure after being drafted to Raw. How fun would it be to see Cesaro feud with Bray Wyatt on SmackDown? Cesaro would also be a prime contender to takes Mizs intercontinental title, a championship he almost won at Payback and Extreme Rules earlier this year.Case for Kane: Its hard to say how much in-ring exposure Kane will get at this point in hhis career.dddddddddddd. Any exposure he does garner likely will be relegated to Director of Operations work. But Kane, one of the cornerstones in the Attitude era, remains one of the most amusing personalities in the business. He worked brilliantly with Seth Rollins, and though we are a little hesitant to rehash familiar storylines, this dynamic worked. How about ... Coach Kane?Advantage: SmackDown. Cesaro is younger and a largely unfulfilled talent. A weaker SmackDown roster gives him more opportunity to shine.Sasha Banks (Raw) for Natalya & cash (SmackDown)Case for Banks: With Raw acquiring the effervescent Bayley, the flagship show currently owns the top three women in the business, Charlotte, Banks and Bayley -- a glaring inequity. With Banks out of action for a month to heal an ailing back, Charlotte and Bayley will establish the most compelling womens rivalry in some time. That leaves Banks, whose reign as the womens champ lasted less than a month, disenfranchised. Although SmackDown has a plethora of solid womens performers, none rises to the level of Banks, who could easily contend for the shows impending womens championship. We could see Banks turning heel and setting up multi-PPV showdowns against Becky Lynch and Nikki Bella for SmackDown supremacy in the near future.Case for Natalya: She has the pedigree and name recognition, but the fact remains that Natalya has failed to find a permanent identity. She has come oh-so-close to holding titles on NXT and WWE but has ultimately come up short. As a manager or tag-team partner, Natalya appears destined to be a lifelong sidekick, even when paired with her 59-year-old uncle, Bret Hart, as we saw at Payback earlier this year. Still, theres hope for Natalya to remain viable. Raws womens roster is comparably weaker than SmackDowns once you get past Charlotte and Bayley (and for now, Banks), which would give Natalya more opportunity to shine as a mid-card fixture.Advantage: Not even close. SmackDown wins by a landslide in landing Banks, which is why we offered cash in the transaction.Neville (Raw) for The Vaudevillians (SmackDown)Case for Neville: If defying gravity is his shtick, what better than to move Neville to a brand run by the daredevil himself, Shane-O-Mac? Despite his high-flying theatrics, there has to be concern that Neville will be consigned to a glorified jobber one of these days, given his trajectory on a bloated Raw roster. Wins over Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, riveting as they might be, wont do much to propel Neville out of mid-card purgatory. Lets be real: Hes too good to be part of Raws future cruiserweight division.Case for The Vaudevillains: Similar to Neville, The Vaudevillains debuted in the WWE with a good deal of interest. Their throwback gimmick feels somewhere between spooky and kooky. But after vying for the tag-team titles, which culminated in a championship match earlier this year at Extreme Rules, the duo -- Aiden English and Simon Gotch -- has found it difficult connecting with the crowd. But making the move to Raw would open a path the Vaudevillains currently dont have on SmackDown, which has an overflow of tag teams. If anything, they could take the spot of the newly retired Dudley Boyz.Advantage: Close call, but Raw would acquire a viable, talented team in The Vaudevillains worthy of an occasional tag-team title shot. As awesome as Nevilles Red-Arrow finisher is, its hard to imagine him as a legit top-level star.Heath Slater for a box of Booty OsWeirdly, Slater has had just about as many cheers as anyone on either roster, but theres some irony there, of course. Where will Slater land? That has been the?No. 1 question since draft day. Whether WWE intended or not, Slaters promos on Raw and SmackDown have been outstanding. Who doesnt love a bleeding heart simply trying to feed his stable of kids? Could Slater just live in limbo for the remainder of his career?As for Booty Os, theyre delicious and nutritious. But heres the kicker: They arent cheap. The lowest weve seen for one box is $12.99 -- and theyre not even gluten-free. On Amazon Prime, youd have to shell out upwards of $45. That probably isnt in Slaters budget until he signs that contract.Advantage: Booty Os. Its all about the power of positivity. ' ' '