s over England, and a blip in the form of a draw to Australia, ended with five straight wins after their only defeat of the year to South Africa.It was the perfect preparation for their second World Cup triump

NEW YORK -- Bryan Mitchell was on the verge of making the New York Yankees out of spring training. Then he spent the next four months working his way back from toe surgery.The culmination of his recovery is pitching in a playoff race.Mitchell will be on the mound Monday night when Yankees open a three-game interleague series with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium.Mitchell injured the toe during the final week of spring training, costing him a spot on the opening day roster. He finally returned to the Yankees on Wednesday and allowed four hits in five-plus scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.Mitchell became the third Yankee since 2010 to throw at least five scoreless innings in a season debut but the first since Dave Eiland in 1990 to do so in a season debut that took place in September.It feels weird coming back at this point in the season, Mitchell said. Were in this chase right now. Every game is important. Once I finally got out of the game, it was pretty rewarding looking back on the season. It feels really good.While Eiland did it as the 67-95 Yankees were playing out the string and finishing with the worst record in baseball, Mitchell did it in the midst of New Yorks attempt to get back to the playoffs. Mitchells performance helped the Yankees to a fourth straight win in what ultimately became a seven-game winning streak.The streak ended with a 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. Luis Cessa gave up three home runs and the Yankees offense consisted of Chase Headleys 14th home run and Brett Gardners RBI single.While losing for the fifth time in 18 games might be shrugged off, every defeat gets magnified this time of year. The Yankees are four game behind Boston in the AL East and two behind Baltimore in the wild-card race and those teams are facing each other at Fenway Park.Every loss hurts just because its a day that you dont make up any ground or you lose ground, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Every loss stings just because of how few games are left.The Dodgers have been in first place every day since Aug. 21, have won 13 of their last 20 games and lead the San Francisco Giants by three games in the National League West.Los Angeles had an interesting weekend in Miami as Clayton Kershaw returned from the disabled on Friday, Rich Hill was pulled after seven perfect innings on Saturday and the offense did not get its first hit until the fifth inning against Jose Urena.The Dodgers have played interleague games in Toronto and Tampa Bay this season. Manager Dave Roberts has used five players at designated hitter but hinted Justin Turner and Andre Ethier could get starts there.Turner did not play Sunday, but he is batting .302 with 22 home runs and 59 RBI in his last 75 games since June 10. Ethier was activated from the disabled list and was 0-for-3 in his season debut.Los Angeles has used 13 different starting pitchers this year and Jose DeLeon makes his second career start. DeLeon won his major league debut on Sept. 4 against San Diego, allowing four runs (three earned) and five hits in six innings. He had nine strikeouts, the second most by a Dodger in his debut only behind the 10 Kazuhisa Ishii had in 2002 and Pedro Astacio had in 1992.Im happy for him, said Los Angeles catcher Austin Barnes, who also caught De Leon at Triple-A Oklahoma City this year. Hes fun to catch. He was pounding his fastball early in the count and hes got a great change-up.Before joining the Dodgers, DeLeon was 7-1 with a 2.61 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 16 starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.The teams have met in the World Series in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 1953, 1955 and 1956 when the Dodgers were based in Brooklyn. The Yankees won each of those except for 1955 when Johnny Podres pitched a shutout in Game 7 in original Yankee Stadium.Since moving from Brooklyn, the Dodgers and Yankees met in the 1963, 1977, 1978 and 1981 World Series. The Yankees won in 1977 and 1978, and the Dodgers won in 1963 and 1981.In the regular season, the teams have split 10 meetings, with eight taking place at Dodger Stadium. The only time Los Angeles visited Yankee Stadium was June 18, 2013, when Yasiel Puig went 4-for-9 and hit home run off Adam Warren in the second game of a doubleheader.Santiago Arias Colombia Jersey . 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The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team.England became only the fourth country to finish a year unbeaten since South Africa achieved the feat in 1995. But what can they learn from the other teams who went a calendar year without losing a match?We take a look at previous unbeaten teams and what followed.South Africa - 1995South Africa warmed up to hosting the World Cup with quite an average start to 1994. It started with a defeat to England, before they tied the tour in the second Test. They suffered back-to-back defeats to the All Blacks before going the rest of the year unbeaten with a draw against the Kiwis and four wins over Argentina (twice), Scotland and Wales.That set up the ultimate year for the Springboks, in which they defeated Australia, France and New Zealand on their way to winning the World Cup on home soil. After securing the Webb Ellis Cup, they added the scalps of Wales and England at the end of the year. But they could not maintain that level of invincibility.The following year Australia and New Zealand handed back-to-back defeats to the Boks. They won back some pride in victory over Australia in Bloemfontein, before the All Blacks got further retribution for the World Cup final defeat with three consecutive victories in South Africa. The Boks finished the year strongly with wins against Argentina (twice), France (twice) and Wales but 1995 was when they peaked.All Blacks - 1997John Hart came in as head coach in 1996 and after a nine-game winning streak he saw his unbeaten season finished by the Springboks in their final Test of the year.But the promising signs were there as Harts All Blacks went on a 12-game unbeaten run the following year. Australia were on the losing end three times but the Springboks came close to knocking them off their perch in Johannesburg, but fell to a 32-35 defeat.The All Blacks learnt their lessons and in the return fixture hit the Springboks for 55 points, Ireland for 63 and Wales for 42 points.It set up a thrilling finish to the year for them against England and despite trailing 23-9 at the break, they responded emphatically in the second-half to draw 26-26.?How did it end? Well, Harts side started the next year by hammering England 64-22 and 40-10 before the house of cards came tumbling down. Both Australia and South Africa handed the Kiwis defeats as New Zealand lost four-in-a-row.Ireland - 2009After an abysmal 2008 which saw Ireland lose to France, Wales and England in the Six Nations, Eddie OSullivan exited as Irish head coach.dddddddddddd A 22-3 defeat to the All Blacks followed, but despite their bad run of form, OSullivan had set the foundations for the year to come under Declan Kidney.Ireland set 2009 alight, starting with a Grand Slam triumph in Cardiff and then eased past USA and Canada in the summer tour. Their impressive year was threatened by the Wallabies in November, but Brian ODriscolls last minute try, on his 100th Test cap, salvaged a 20-20 draw. Fiji were brushed aside before an almost perfect year was rounded off with a 15-10 victory over South Africa.But push on, Ireland did not. The following year didnt quite go to plan for Kidney as defeats to eventual Grand Slam winners France, and Scotland made for a forgettable Six Nations. A 66-28 humbling against the All Blacks and a narrow 22-15 defeat to Australia followed.It was a harsh autumn for the Irish as South Africa completed a clean sweep of victories for the Tri-Nations teams over Ireland and the All Blacks were at it again in Dublin, beating Ireland 38-18.All Blacks - 2013New Zealand looked to be going through 2012 unbeaten, but England claimed a 38-21 victory at Twickenham in their final game of the year. Come 2013, Steve Hansens men had learnt their lesson.The All Blacks were sensational, winning 14 games in 2013; they beat France four times, Australia (three), South Africa, Argentina (both twice), England and Japan.They rounded the perfect year with the perfect try against Ireland. They were trailing going into the final throes of the match but went from inside their own half to score in the left corner through Ryan Crotty to tie the game and deny Ireland a historic victory. Aaron Cruden, at the second time of asking, split the posts with the conversion to put the finishing touches to a superb year.?It wasnt much of a come down for the All Blacks in 2014. What started with three victories over England, and a blip in the form of a draw to Australia, ended with five straight wins after their only defeat of the year to South Africa.It was the perfect preparation for their second World Cup triumph in 2015. ' ' '