it 6-1. Santana was left in to take his at-bat in the seventh inning in a sacrifice situation. Santanas bunt found a hole between the mound and first base, giving hi

Lets bounce around the NBA in our weekly tradition. Michael Lewis Jersey .10 things I like and dont like1. Mike Conley, gone for a whileWell, this sucks. Conley just keeps getting better. Hes under more pressure than ever this season for a paper-thin team, and hes thriving. Conley has nailed 47 percent (!) from deep, and hes running every possession with the usual change-of-pace guile. He has never looked more confident, and in control. He somehow appears even faster than usual when he decides to zoom.The leagues perennial almost-All-Star was making a legitimate case for a wild-card reserve spot, even as every Western Conference guard goes nuclear around him. And then, this. The Grizzlies are in deep, deep trouble. They have been great with both Conley and Marc Gasol on the floor, and disastrously bad in basically every other scenario, per NBA.com.His backups have been borderline unplayable as lead dogs, notwithstanding Andrew Harrisons random outburst Wednesday against Toronto. David Fizdale may need to get Zach Randolph (when he returns) into games earlier to provide a second fulcrum for the gummy Grizz offense.In the meantime, Memphis will round up the usual trade and free-agency suspects, and perhaps apply for a hardship exception to sign an extra 16th player. Thats a stopgap that lasts only as long as at least four players -- in this case, James Ennis, Chandler Parsons, Brandan Wright?and Conley -- are out.Good thing they banked a bunch of close wins in typical grit-and-grind fashion, including a buzzer-beater over Denver after a botched call gave Memphis one last shot.2. The Brandon Jennings experience!Jennings is straight-up rambunctious this season. He enveloped Ramon Sessions over the weekend in a full-court press so vicious, you wondered if Sessions had done something to his family. He clowned Ricky Rubio in New Yorks exciting road win against Minnesota on Wednesday.He pushes the Knicks into turbo gear and captains wildly unpredictable bench units populated by a motley crew. He appears unfamiliar with the triangle offense, and delightfully uninterested in getting familiar.That said, he knows how to leverage the patterns of the triangle to his advantage.Cagey! The Knicks look like theyre setting up for a rare pure triangle possession, and that script would call for Jennings to hand Unicorn Boy the ball before jogging to the corner. Jennings knows that. He knows the defense knows that, that they expect it, and that he might catch them snoozing through the motions if he veers off script.The results have been uneven, of course. Jennings is shooting poorly from all over the floor, and his defense breaks apart once the offense settles into its half-court actions. But I am entertained.3. The blemish in the Russell Westbrook showI love the Westbrook show. Let me repeat that for the, umm, most loyal Oklahoma City fans: I love the Westbrook show. But even the greatest shows have Poochie-level flaws. Westbrook knows he carries Oklahoma Citys offense almost by himself, and hes not averse to some blatant stat-chasing. One ugly manifestation of all that: Westbrooks foul-baiting on jump shots has reached all-time shamelessness this season.If a defender is chasing behind him, Westbrook might arch his back and jump sideways into him -- even if doing so kills the odds of his shot going in (which is supposed to be the goal of basketball). Only Draymond Green outranks him among the NBAs leg-splayers. Sometimes, hell whip one of his arms sideways upon the release of a jumper, just in case he might smack an opposing player and trick the officials into thinking the victim hit him.This is the Landry/Lance-might-have-murdered-someone subplot of the Westbrook epic. You kind of just have to ignore it.PS: Is the Westbrook triple-double season average watch the NBAs version of a baseball player flirting with .400? Is there any other feasible statistical feat that would inspire fevered day-to-day monitoring at a decimal point level?4. George Hill, craftyIndy fans who couldnt wait to dump Hill might be surprised to learn he has been Utahs MVP so far -- a 20-point scorer approaching 50-40-90 shooting levels, and playing his usual hounding defense against opposing point guards. Utah has destroyed teams with Hill on the floor, and its scoring margin has remained strong when Hill has manned the ship without Gordon Hayward, per NBA.com.Hill has been even better than expected on the ball, and he remains a lethal off-ball option -- key for a team with so many wings who take the controls.That cut looks simple, and a lot guys standing on the weak side of a pick-and-roll slash to the rim when their defenders lurch in on help assignments. But there is an art to it. Go too early, and you might collide with a rolling big man. Go late, and the ball handler is too far toward the baseline to find you.Hill nails it, and hes a crafty finisher from odd angles in the paint.Side note: Utah has outscored opponents by 68 points in the measly 131 minutes Hill and Hayward have shared the floor this season -- equivalent to a ridiculous plus-25 margin over 48 minutes. If this team can ever get healthy, watch out.5. Anthony Davis at full throttleBy some measures, Davis has not become the defender some of us predicted. He doesnt always move with the certainty and balance you would expect from one of the most well-rounded big-man athletes ever to play. He looked like he was defending on skates at times during his first two years, and he never totally excised that slight bit of awkwardness from his defense. He did not play at peak effort enough last season.But when hes dialed in, holy hell is Davis an all-court wrecker. When hes the closest defender to enemy shooters, those guys are hitting about 7 percentage points lower than usual -- a monster number, per player tracking data. Davis has killed this measure over the last two seasons. He bothers shots almost no other defender can reach.And when his antennae are up, Davis can be the most destructive team defender in the league -- a blur with a 7-5 wingspan:Davis doesnt play with this focus all the time, but hes still just 23. (Anthony Davis is 23. My god. What a world.) He has been perhaps the leagues best player this season. The Pelicans would be dead without him. Now that Jrue Holidays back, theyre alive and kicking.6. Dragan Bender, 7-1 pseudo-wingThe Suns are so weird. They have mid-career veterans acquired to push a go-go .500-ish team toward 50 wins; kiddos plucked in the lottery when those teams went bust; graybeards meant to mentor those kids; and one center, Tyson Chandler, signed amid a fit of exuberance when the Suns thought they might also land LaMarcus Aldridge.Its very hard to develop teeny-boppers while letting the vets try to win games. Earl Watson is doing his best to figure it out. Hes starting Marquese Chriss and letting him bomb 3s, and finishing close games with Jared Dudley and/or P.J. Tucker. He has found Bender minutes.Problem: Hes lately using Bender as the leagues tallest small forward, spotting him up around the arc and having him scramble against little guys on defense. Tim Hardaway Jr. blew past him for as baseline dunk Wednesday, and what in the hell is Bender supposed to do about that?In the long run, its not a big deal. But something needs to give on this roster.7. Theatrical head-coaching goodbye wavesThis is my favorite bizarre NBA coaching tradition: the end-of-game cross-court wave between opposing head coaches. There is no time to come over and shake your hand, so Im waving! I am very busy! Look, I am stretching my arm as high as it can go above my head! Do you see me? You probably do, since you are only 30 feet away. Hey, youre waving back! I am now going to shift my hand into a thumbs-up, turn around, and leave. Bye!Its just a great, strange social interaction.8. John Walls left handThe Wizards stink again, so to make my D.C. buddies feel better, heres John Wall fooling two defenders with the same lefty in-and-out dribble in the span of about two seconds:John Wall is a superhuman athlete, but the (justified) obsession over his speed has long masked the sophisticated craft in his game. Hes a gifted passer who reads all five defenders at once, and he has a mean left hand. He likes to dunk lefty, and hes good at it.9. The same old Jahlil OkaforThank the basketball gods for Joel Embiid, and may they keep watch over Ben Simmons foot. Okafor stagnating was predictable, and not some indicator that hes doomed to disappoint; hes only 20, the team around him is still bad, and hes surely depressed scrounging backup minutes behind the next big thing.But its OK to worry a little that his warts look just as unsightly as they did during his haywire rookie season. Okafor is still a black hole in the post. Hes rebounding like a wing player, again. Hes constantly late on rotations, and worse yet, when he realizes hes late, he doesnt exactly respond with urgency.Okafor is never going to be a stopper, but he should be better than this. Hes a smart player with good hands, vision, and enough athleticism to get his ass moving on defense when he has to. He gives glimpses of a revving motor now and then.Again, playing amid sub-NBA backup units is hurting his development, and though Brett Brown will try -- dude will try anything -- its unlikely Okafor and Embiid can play much together. Id be shocked if either Nerlens Noel or Okafor were on the team at the start of the 2018-19 season, provided Embiid stays healthy.Bright side: Sauce Castillo is spicy!10. Omri Casspi, real no-look passerThe Kings blitzed opponents last season with Casspi, Rudy Gay?and DeMarcus Cousins all on the floor in small-ball lineups, so it was curious that Dave Joerger, their new coach, banished Casspi from the rotation for most of the first 15 games. (Lets be clear: Its not, like, super-interesting. Casspi is a lovable, full-throttle player, and that leads to some exaggeration as to how good he really is.)Hes back, and hes as fun to watch as ever, circling all over the floor like a madman and launching 30-foot Lillardian bombs. Seriously, the balls on this dude.The most important Casspi-ism: He is a real no-look passer, not some fake who locks eyes with his target, throws a pass, and only then jerks his head the other way so everyone thinks hes clever. Casspi flies blind, and reserves the no-look stuff for passes on which baffling a defender for even a split second can make the difference between an open and contested look. Pierre Thomas Jersey . Deulofeu injured a muscle in his right leg in Evertons 4-1 win over Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday. Barcelona says that its team doctors will "co-ordinate" with Evertons medical staff as Deulofeu recovers. Tyrone Hughes Jersey . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. http://www.customsaintsjersey.com/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. NEW YORK -- Things are going so well for the Kansas City Royals these days they have even figured out how to turn the sun in their favour. And on the road. The Royals beat the New York Mets 6-2 on a sun-splashed Sunday, winning for the 11th time in 12 games and finishing a franchise-best 8-1 road trip. Ervin Santana scattered five hits and allowed one run in six innings, and Kansas City was helped by a pair of flyballs that Mets right fielder Marlon Byrd lost in the glare. Both came during a three-run fifth, with one falling for a double and the other glancing off his glove for an error. "The sign of a good team is when there is mistakes made on the field, we take advantage," said third baseman Mike Moustakas, who hit a solo homer. "That sun out there in right field was terrible. You saw outfielders on both teams struggling. "Luckily we didnt have as many flyballs hit over there." The Royals posted their best mark ever on a trip of at least nine games. They pulled out this series with two wins after losing the opener on Friday night on Eric Young Jr.s game-ending homer in the 11th inning. "It was a tough loss the first night," outfielder Alex Gordon said. "A good team bounces back and forgets about it and comes out and wins the next two." Santana (8-6) has three wins and a no-decision in his past four starts, giving up a total of four earned runs. He is 5-1 since the beginning of June and has posted a 1.27 ERA since the All-Star break. "Keep the ball down, throw strikes, and thats it," he said. "Thats what I know I can do." Zack Wheeler (4-2) lost for the first time in six starts. He gave up four runs -- three earned -- and issued five walks, three to George Kottaras, in five innings. The light-hitting catcher was the only Royals player who batted not to have a hit. He also was struck by a pitch in going 0 for 1. Wheeler wasnt nearly as sharp as in his previous start Tuesday at Miami when he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but the rookie right-hander was hurt by the defence behind him and behind the plate by catcher John Buck. "Its too bad we couldnt hit the ball that high today and get their right fielder involved," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Had it been a cloudy day, its 1-1." Wheeler fell behind 1-0 in the fourth inning on Moustakas 10th homer, and the Royals batted around in the fifth. The trouble started right away when David Lough lofted a fly ball that Byrd got under but couldnt catch as he battled the sun. Lough didnt run hhard out of the box, yet still made it to second base with a double. Hoby Brenner Jersey. Miguel Tejada bunted him to third, but Lough was forced to leave the game because of right quadriceps tightness. With Eric Hosmer batting, pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson scored on the first of Wheelers two wild pitches in the inning to make it 2-0. Hosmer walked, and Gordon lofted a fly to deep right field that Byrd tracked to the fence. He again struggled with the sun, and the ball hit his mitt and fell to the ground, sending Gordon to second on the error. "It was bad position on my part out there," Byrd said. "I chalk it up to, I need to get better with sun balls. I cant misplay two balls in a game like that. "Its tough knowing youre the reason you lost the game. Somewhere, somehow I need to figure out a way to catch those." Lorenzo Cain then lined a shot to right that Byrd pulled up on and bobbled. Hosmer, who had held up, nearly got lapped by the speedy Gordon as both runners scored almost side by side to give the Royals a 4-0 lead. Wheeler threw another wild pitch, and Buck was charged with a passed ball as Kansas City reloaded the bases. Wheeler struck out Santana looking to end the inning. "Picking it up and getting past stuff in the field is something Ive always prided myself in doing," Wheeler said. "It didnt happen today." The Mets got one run back in the bottom half on Youngs RBI single. However, Byrds tough day continued when he struck out with the bases loaded. Kansas City tacked on two runs in the sixth after Gonzalez Germen relieved Wheeler. Hosmers RBI single drove in Dyson, who had led off with a double. Gordon singled to make it 6-1. Santana was left in to take his at-bat in the seventh inning in a sacrifice situation. Santanas bunt found a hole between the mound and first base, giving him his fourth major league hit in 25 career at-bats. He hadnt had a hit since 2011. Buck, awaiting the imminent birth of his son, had an RBI single in the eighth to make it 6-2. NOTES: Royals manager Ned Yost said Lough is playing at 80-85 per cent. He wont play the next two games. ... New York 2B Daniel Murphy moved back into his usual No. 2 spot after hitting No. 5 the previous two days. He also lost a ball in the sun. ... The Royals placed All-Star C Salvador Perez on the seven-day concussion disabled list. He was struck in the mask by a foul ball Saturday. Brett Hayes was recalled from Triple-A Omaha. RHP Wade Davis was placed on the family emergency list. LHP Will Smith was brought up from Omaha. ' ' '