Das Jahr 2008 » dedicating the time to get ready for his first tournam

WASHINGTON -- If the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to make a run to the postseason, they will need a strong second-half performance from Gerrit Cole.The right-hander is expected to come off the disabled list and start for the Pirates Saturday night against the Washington Nationals.Im excited to be able to play again and hopefully put ourselves in a position to win a ballgame, Cole said on the eve of his return.Im just excited to be back, compete, and just play.Cole has been on the disabled list for more than a month with a strained right triceps. He is 5-4 with a 2.77 ERA this year, but has gone seven innings only twice in 12 starts.The 25-year-old was a first-round pick by the Pirates in the 2011 draft out of UCLA, where he pitched for three years. He lives in Santa Ana, Calif., the hometown of Washington shortstop Danny Espinosa.Cole will make his first big league start since June 10 after he threw eight scoreless innings in two rehab starts with Triple-A Indianapolis, with the most recent coming last Sunday.He is 2-0 with a 1.74 ERA in three career starts against Washington.Ben Revere has hit Cole at an impressive clip throughout his career, going 7-for-12 (.582) with an RBI.Wilson Ramos (2-for-8) and Michael Taylor (1-for-4) are the only Nationals players who have taken Cole deep, and Daniel Murphy is 2-for-9 with two RBI.Murphy is dealing with left hamstring tightness and was a late scratch from the Nationals lineup Friday. Hes listed as day-to-day.Cole will be opposed by Nationals right-hander Tanner Roark. It will be the first career start for Roark against the Pirates, whom he has faced twice out of the bullpen.No active Pirates player has more than one career hit against Roark, but Andrew McCutchen (1-for-2) and Staling Marte (1-for-5) have each slugged two-run home runs off of him.John Jaso (1-for-3) also has a round-tripper against Roark.Roark is 8-5 with a 3.01 ERA this season. Max Scherzer will start Sunday after Stephen Strasburg started the opener on Friday and allowed one run over eight innings in a 5-1 win.Scherzer threw one inning in the All-Star game on Tuesday.What went into the thinking of the Nationals for their weekend rotation?Strasburg was the strongest. Scherzer was the least rested, so we decided to give him some extra days. We had to keep Tanner kind of rested, Washington manager Dusty Baker said.Baker is a former Cincinnati Reds manager who knows the Pirates well.I was in a division with the Pirates for a long time, Baker said. They have a good power and speed combination. This is the makings of a very good series.Pittsburgh and Baltimore will square off four more times this season, with a three-game series coming late in the season on Sept. 23-25.The Nationals emerged with a 4-3 edge in last seasons series with the Pirates, earning a three-game sweep in their first meeting but dropping three of four last July in Pittsburgh. Wholesale Yeezy 350 White . LOUIS -- Cardinals cleanup hitter Allen Craig says hes recovered from a foot injury and ready to be put on St. Fake Yeezy 350 Citrin . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. http://www.yeezys350cheap.com/cheapest-yeezy-boost-350-v2-beluga-2-0-grey-bold-orange.html . PAUL, Minn. Cheap Yeezy 350 v2 Womens . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Black . The Hall of Fame defenceman told Landsberg that he believes fighting still has a place in todays game, but thinks staged fighting needs be outlawed. NASSAU, Bahamas -- If he were keeping score -- which he wasnt -- Tiger Woods would have tallied a loosely recorded 2-under-par 70 on Wednesday at Albany Golf Club in the pro-am that precedes the Hero World Challenge.Two eagles, two bogeys and no birdies summarize the five-hour round that included four amateurs on a muggy, windy Caribbean day.Pro-ams are standard fare preceding tournaments, and Woods has almost always treated them as a leisurely way to get a look at the golf course and greens, without much grinding. That was the case Wednesday, and he acknowledged that it was a serious endeavor for only about 12 of the 18 holes.I felt good with pretty much everything, he said. I was be able to hit all the shots I needed to hit. The wind was definitely pumping today, and it was good to see it in this direction. The time since Ive been here on Saturday, its been blowing out of the other direction, so its good to see it out of this direction.Woods has been dedicating the time to get ready for his first tournament in 15 months and said he would make his way to the putting green later in the afternoon.The Hero World Challenge, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and has a field of jjust 18 players, is Woods first tournament since August 2015, when he tied for 10th at the Wyndham Championship before having two back procedures.ddddddddddddA scheduled return in early October at the Safeway Championship was canceled just days prior when Woods felt his game was not ready.The two eagles Woods made were on the third and ninth holes and were set up by excellent tee shots. He missed just one fairway during the round. The best shot of the day was his tee shot at the 210-yard par-3 eighth, which was playing into a strong wind.Woods hit a version of his old stinger shot and saw the ball cut through the wind and come to rest behind the hole, about 10 feet away. The fact that he missed the putt didnt seem to faze anyone.Thats as good as he can hit a golf ball, I would say, said Joe LaCava, his caddie. That was solid.And that was how LaCava described the round in general. It was pretty solid, a good effort, he said. And it was in some tough conditions.Said Woods, who expects to be nervous when the first round begins: Ill be focused; Ill be ready. ' ' '