Pirate Galaxy » maracuja, often squeezed into juices -- sucos in Por

SEATTLE -- At this point of the season, the Oakland Athletics have to take their positives where ever they can get them.In a 5-1 loss to Seattle on Friday night -- Oaklands 10th in 11 games -- the bright spot was Zach Neal, who retired all 15 batters he faced to become just the second reliever in club history to pitch at least five perfect innings. The other was Dennis Eckersley, who pitched six perfect innings of relief in 1987.Hes come a long way, As manager Bob Melvin said. Hes had two days off, and gives us five innings of nothing against a team who looked like they were going to score 30 runs in the first couple innings.Seattle, which has won seven of nine, is one game behind Toronto for the AL wild-card second spot. The Mariners also trail Detroit by a half-game.Neal came on with one aboard in the third after starter Raul Alcantara (1-3) was tagged for five runs on four homers -- including two by Robinson Cano -- in two-plus innings.With Raul today, balls were over the middle of the plate, and unfortunately more mid-thigh than weve seen him, so he just had a tough night, Melvin said.Cano had a two-run homer in the first. He added his 38th home run in the third, a solo shot that gave him 100 RBI for the season. Norichika Aoki and Nelson Cruz also homered off Alcantara.Enter Neal, who was 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA in two starts against Seattle, giving up 12 runs in 9 1/3 innings pitched.The last time you all talked to me here I had just given up seven runs in four innings in my first big-league start, Neal said. So it kind of came full circle. It feels good to go out like that, especially here.Taijuan Walker (8-11) allowed one run on two hits in six innings, but walked five in a 113-pitch outing. The only run came on Ryon Healys 13th homer to open the sixth. Evan Scribner, Nick Vincent and Steve Cishek each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.It was just one of those weird starts where one hitter everything was locked in, the next hitter it was all over the place, Walker said. But, I just kept fighting.Cano drove a 1-1 pitch over the wall in center to give the Mariners to a 2-0 lead in the first after a leadoff infield single by Aoki.Aoki made it 3-0 in the second with his fourth homer just inside the right field foul pole.Cano opened the third with another home run to center and Cruz followed with his 42nd homer to make it 5-0.The As loaded the bases in the fifth on two walks and a two-out error by second baseman Cano, but Walker retired Stephen Vogt on a popout.Neal, who was 1/3 with a 5.74 ERA in six starts, has not allowed a run in six of his last seven relief appearances.Ive just been doing the same thing I always had, Neal said. I think if theres one thing, its understanding what I do. Learning to throw my sinker to both sides of the plate, throwing strikes just like I always have. Just competing. I knew this last month was going to be a big month for me, and I was going to give it everything I had.HORN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENTOakland assistant athletic trainer Walt Horn announced he would retire at the end of the season. Horn has spent 39 years as an athletic trainer in the Athletics organization, including the last nine seasons with the major league club.If you know Walt, this is one of the tremendous gentlemen in the game, Melvin said. He told me he was thinking about this a while ago, and Ive been trying to talk him out of it.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: RF Danny Valencia was originally in the lineup, but was a late scratch due to neck soreness. Matt Olson started in right.UP NEXTAthletics: Rookie RHP Jharel Cotton (2-0, 1.44 ERA) makes his fifth career start since being called up from Triple-A Nashville on Sept. 7. He has not allowed more than one earned run in any of his four starts, lasting at least 5 2/3 innings in each.Mariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (16-12, 3.96 ERA) has been Seattles most consistent pitcher over the course of the season. His 16 victories are a career high, but he is 2-5 in his last eight starts. Iwakuma is 4-0 against Oakland this season. David Beckham Jersey . 31, the CFL club announced Monday. The team also has yet to decide on the future of Doug Berry, who began the season as a consultant to the head coach but took over the offensive co-ordinators duties in July. Marcus Rashford England Jersey .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. http://www.englandsoccerpro.com/Jack-Butland-England-Jersey/ .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Jesse Lingard Jersey . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. Ruben Loftus-Cheek Jersey . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Ready or not, the Rio Olympics are opening their doors.The Games begin in just over two weeks, but the Athletes Village opens officially on Sunday, meaning 10,500 athletes and another 7,000 staff members will start trickling into the luxurious layout, with the pace picking up daily until the Aug. 5 opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.The 31-building compound should pamper the worlds best. Its set among tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools -- with mountains and the sea as a backdrop -- and topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound thats as large as three football fields.I want to help all the athletes have a wonderful welcome to Brazil, said Priscilla Antonello, a residence center deputy manager whose job is to help athletes find their accommodations.Will she be star-struck by so many Olympians?I couldnt be in this job if I behaved like that, she replied Saturday, standing on the 13th floor of one of buildings, gazing out over cycling paths, bubbling fountains and lots of green.She already knows which countries will be where, but shes not allowed to say.Some delegations had already arrived on Saturday, easy to spot with banners or flags hanging off the sides of buildings.Slovenia had the best banner. In green and white it says: I Feel sLOVEenia. The LOVE portion was set off in white type, making sure the message got across.Another read: All for Denmark.Banners or flags from Canada, Britain, Portugal, Finland and Sweden were among those spotted. A tiny red and yellow Chinese flag was pinned near the top of one of the compounds.Everything about the village is massive, though fairly standard for recent Summer Olympics.Organizers say the compound has:- 10,160 rooms; 18,000 beds; seven laundries; an enormous, hospital-like clinic; a massive gym.In addition, organizers are providing 450,000 condoms, three times more than London did four years ago. Among them will be 100,000 female condoms.Organizers said this is to encourage safe sex. Many had considered that increased supply to be due to Brazils outbreak of the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects.dddddddddddd.Asked about it on Saturday, deputy chief medical officer Marcelo Patricio replied: No, its not.Then theres the dining-kitchen area, a sprawling tent where officials expect to serve about 60,000 meals daily to Olympians and staff -- and perhaps another 10,000 daily to the hired help.The hardest part is knowing how much to prepare, said Flavia Albuquerque, who oversees Rios food and beverage service. We want them to eat anything they want to.That will be easy. The choices are nearly infinite. Diners will choose from different buffets -- Brazilian, Asian, International, and Pasta and Pizza. Then theres a casual dining area that will feature barbeque.The casual area might be the most popular, Albuquerque said.There will be lots of dirty plates, but none to wash. The plates will be biodegradable, made of corn and sugar cane.Brazilians figure their food will be a hit: rice, black beans, farofa (flour from toasted cassava often sprinkled on top of food) and meat. And Brazils exotic juice will be popular: caju, acai, carambola, caqui, goiaba and maracuja, often squeezed into juices -- sucos in Portuguese.Billionaire real estate developer Carlos Carvalho might have the only problem.He aims to sell the 3,604 apartments after the Olympics -- some in the range of 2.3 million ($700,000). Carvalhos company Carvalho Hosken has declined to say how many have been sold, but reports say only between 6-10 percent.The project is a victim of Brazils deep recession, the worst since the 1930s.Carvalho Hosken earlier said the projects total cost was about $1.5 billion, including construction, land acquisition and other development costs.---Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP .His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wade ' ' '