NEW YORK -- Getting above .500 has proved to be difficult for the New York Yankees.The degree of difficulty is about become even more challenging.The Yankees will begin a 10-game homestand against three of the best teams in the majors starting Friday night when they face the Boston Red Sox.The Yankees will be taking on an opponent that leads baseball in runs (490), batting average (.292), on-base percentage (.359), slugging percentage (.474), OPS (.833) and doubles (216).And the difficulty doesnt let up after that with seven games against the first-place Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants.Its the kind of homestand that can put you in a good position or it could put way downstairs, right fielder Carlos Beltran told reporters during the All-Star break.Way downstairs would be even worse deficits in the American League East and the wild-card races. The Yankees are 7 1/2 games behind the Orioles in the AL East and 5 1/2 out of the second wild card with six teams (Toronto, Houston, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City and Seattle) ahead of them.Friday begins a stretch of seven straight games against the top two teams in the AL East.Were not in a great position necessarily, but if youre in this position you want to be playing a lot of games, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. That could be a really good thing.The Yankees have reached .500 eight times since May 24 and the latest instance might have been the least unexpected. New York ended the first half by taking three of four in Cleveland after dropping four of six in San Diego and Chicago, respectively.The Red Sox took a 49-38 record into the break and have seemingly recovered from a June slump that dropped them out of first place. From June 14 to June 29, the Red Sox dropped 10 of 16 to fall 5 1/2 games out, but since then they have won seven of nine and concluded the first half with a 4-0 win over Tampa Bay when David Price threw eight outstanding innings and David Ortiz hit a two-run homer.This homestand is what we needed, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. Coming off a tough month of June, we gain a little momentum as we go into the break.Ortiz has 75 regular-season games remaining in his career and enters Friday with a .332 average, 22 home runs and 72 RBI.According the Elias Sports Bureau, he has the most RBI at the break of any player 40 or older and is the second oldest player to hit 20-plus home runs in the first half.Its probably beyond our expectations coming into his final season, Farrell said. Just a powerful and impressive first half.Ortiz is not the only Red Sox player to post impressive numbers in the first half.Mookie Betts is batting .408 (20-for-49) during an 11-game hitting streak, the sixth Red Sox with a hitting streak of at least 10 games this season. Dustin Pedroia is batting .315 (23-for-73) during his current 18-game on-base streak and Hanley Ramirez is hitting .408 (20-for-49) in his last 14 games since June 22.Michael Pineda (3-8, 5.38 ERA) has personified inconsistency at various points this season and will open the second half for New York.Pineda had a 2.75 ERA in six June starts but began July by allowing five runs and five hits in six innings during a 5-0 loss at Chicago on July 6. It marked the sixth time he allowed at least five runs, and it is one less than the amount of starts that Pineda has gotten at least eight strikeouts.Pineda is 4-4 with a 4.50 ERA in nine career starts against the Red Sox. On April 30 in an 8-0 loss at Fenway Park, Pineda allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. On May 6 in New York, he gave up two runs and eight hits in six innings of a 3-2 win.If pitching to Bostons offense isnt challenging enough, hitting against knuckleballer Steven Wright might only add to the difficulty for the Yankees. Wright (10-5, 2.68 ERA) took a shutout into the ninth inning and pitched a three-hitter in two hours and 20 minutes on May 8 in New York.Wright is 3-1 with a 1.33 ERA in four outings (three starts) against the Yankees. He went into the break with straight wins despite allowing a combined nine earned runs and 17 hits in 11 innings against the Angels and Texas Rangers.Outlet Air Max 1 . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Custom Air Max 97 Plus . 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At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014.SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers are off to a good start on improving their play in overtime.Vincent Trocheck scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.The Panthers only won one of seven overtime games last season, but have beaten the Devils in the extra period twice this season.It was a great win for us tonight. I didnt think we played a great game, but we found a way, Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said.Trocheck poked in a rebound past Cory Schneider after his initial shot was blocked with 43.4 seconds left in overtime.There were three of us on the rush so they gave me the lane and I took the shot, Trocheck said. Schneider is a good goalie and made the first save, and then the puck came back to me and I put in the rebound.Denis Malgin and Aaron Ekblad also scored for the Panthers and James Reimer made 33 saves. Reimer started in place of Roberto Luongo, who has lost his last three starts.Pavel Zacha, PA Parenteau and Travis Zajac scored for the Devils and Schneider stopped 25 shots.Devils wing Taylor Hall had a point blank shot on a breakaway 37 seconds into overtime but Reimer stopped the shot.We had some chances. I had a breakaway, the puck wouldnt stop rolling. Id love to have that one back, Hall said.Zacha tied the score 3-all with 3:55 left in the third period. Zachas shot from the slot beat Reimer for his first NHL goal.It was a good feeling, at the moment, when it was 3-3, Zacha said. Id feel much better if we won the game.The teams traded goals 20 seconds apart early in the third.Trocheck extended the Panthers lead to 3-1 when he took a nice feed from Jaromir Jagr in the right circle and one-timed the puck past Schneider at 4:29.The Devils answered when Parenteau took a pass from John Moore in the right circle and beat Reimer to cut the deficit to 3-2.When you look at the baseballl game (Wednesday) night, leads arent a for-sure thing, Reimer said.dddddddddddd We battled hard and Troch came up with a big goal in OT.The Devils were behind 2-0 and 3-1 but took the game into overtime.I liked the fact that we were able to find a way to be able to come back and get a point, being down two, Devils coach John Hynes said. Theres lots of positives to be able to take out of that.The Devils closed to 2-1 on a power-play goal by Zajac, whose shot was blocked but deflected off the skate of Panthers defenseman Alex Petrovic and into the net with 1:56 left in the second.After going 0 for 7 on the power play in Tuesdays 2-1 loss to Boston, the Panthers converted on their first two opportunities.The Panthers took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Ekblad. Keith Yandle passed from the slot to Ekblad high in the left circle. Ekblads one-timer got by Schneider with 7:02 left in the first.Florida stretched its lead to 2-0 on Malgins power-play goal at 6:44 of the second. Malgins shot from low in the right circle went past Schneiders glove. The 19-year-old recorded his first NHL goal on Tuesday against Boston.Game notesJagr played in his 1,640th NHL game, passing Dave Andreychuk and moving into sixth all-time on the league list. Next up: No. 5 Chris Chelios (1,651) and No. 4 Mark Recchi (1,652). The earliest Jagr could pass Gordie Howe (1,767) for the NHL record would be in the second half of the 2017-18 season. ... Gallant said C Nick Bjugstad (hand) and LW Jussi Jokinen (lower body) could be back with the team as early as next week. ... The Devils played their first game since a 3-1 victory at Tampa Bay on Saturday. ... Devils Cs Reid Boucher and Jacob Josefson were scratched.UP NEXTDevils: Visit Tampa Bay on SaturdayPanthers: Visit Washington on Saturday ' ' '