Athen » with Paul Maholm and Scott Feldman the past two seasons.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Los Angeles Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle is expected to miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his broken right leg.The seventh overall pick out of Kentucky broke his leg in the fourth quarter of his NBA debut in Los Angeles season-opening loss to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night. Randle was strapped to a wheeled stretcher and taken off the Staples Center court after colliding with two Rockets and landing awkwardly with 6:46 to play.Before Wednesdays game at Phoenix, the Lakers announced that Randles injury was just as serious as it appeared.Randles surgery was performed by Dr. Donald Wiss at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He is expected to make a full recovery, but the Lakers anticipate he wont play this season.I think were all a little shocked by it, disappointed, hurt, all those things are probably going through all our minds, Lakers coach Byron Scott said before the tip-off against the Suns. I know I didnt get a lot of sleep just thinking about the young fella.The 19-year-old power forward was the SECs top freshman while helping Kentucky to reach the NCAA championship game last season. He was thrilled to be drafted by his favourite childhood team to play alongside Kobe Bryant, one of his idols.Scott said that after the game he spent time with Randle, just basically holding him and listening to him cry and trying to console him as much as possible,Bryant consoled Randle on the court and after the game in the Lakers locker room. Bryant made his own return Tuesday after missing the 2013 playoffs and all but six games last season with two major injuries.Even for myself, being a veteran, seeing someone going through something like this is tough, Bryant said. But thats what were here for. Were here to be his teammates and help him through it, take it day by day. ... He was progressing just fine. He was improving leaps and bounds.Scott said there was nothing violent about the play that resulted in Randles injury.He got bumped in midair but it wasnt like he collided with anybody, Scott said. It just kind of looked like his left foot kind of kicked his right leg and he comes down and he just grabbed his leg. I dont know if it was a freak accident or what but it was something that just didnt look that bad to end up being as bad as it is.After Randle recovered from a broken right foot late in his high-school career in the Dallas area, he appeared to be a budding star while averaging 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a freshman at Kentucky. He had 24 games with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds, the most in the nation and the second-most by a freshman in Division I history.Randle also won fans in Los Angeles for his humble approach to his NBA career and his devotion to his mother, Carolyn Kyles. He chose No. 30 for his uniform because his mother wore it for her college team.Everybody on the team loves Julius, Scott said. Hes a great kid, worked his butt off. We expected a lot from him this year so the guys are going to miss him.Randle and Steve Nash already have been ruled out for the season by the Lakers, who led the NBA with 319 man-games lost to injury last year during their worst season in a half-century.Three other Lakers — Wayne Ellington, Ryan Kelly and Nick Young — also missed their opener with injuries. That means the Lakers already are guaranteed to miss 166 games due to injury this season before they play their second game Wednesday night at Phoenix.Young is expected to be out until December after surgery on a torn thumb ligament, but Ellington and Kelly could be healthy soon.Randle played one more game in what was supposed to be his rookie season than Blake Griffin, another high-profile power forward chosen with a high draft pick by a Los Angeles team. Griffin missed the entire 2009-10 season with the Clippers after breaking his left kneecap in their final preseason game while landing after a dunk.___AP sports writer Bob Baum in Phoenix contributed to this report. Gianluca Gaudino Bayern Munich Jersey . -- Augusta James of Bath, Ont. Kingsley Coman Jersey .Y. - Phil Varone was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Rochester Americans edged the Toronto Marlies 3-2 on Sunday in American Hockey League action. http://www.soccerfcbayernshop.com/kids-mats-hummels-bayern-munich-jersey/ . Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany. Niklas Sule Jersey . In the late match, Shinji Okazaki scored two goals to pace Mainz to a 3-2 victory at Werder Bremen. Goals from Milan Badelj, Maximilian Beister and Hakan Calhanoglu ended Hamburgs two-match losing run and kept Hannover winless in seven games. Xabi Alonso Bayern Munich Jersey ." Also, defencemen "were found to be at a higher risk of suffering a concussion than other players, perhaps due to turning their back to retrieve pucks along the boards, which leaves them vulnerable.MESA, Ariz. -- No matter what the record says, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein insists he sees progress as he begins his third season in charge. It hasnt shown at the major league level. "The people that we have in place in this organization -- the coaches, scouts -- I believe are impact, and I believe in the processes that we have in place," Epstein said Thursday. "It takes time to turn our organization around. It takes time to build impact talent and to build requisite depth. But its happening. People in those meetings, the people in this organization, really believe that were on the verge of something special. And we understand that were perceived otherwise, and thats our fault because weve been a last-place club the last couple years. Were not protesting. We need to earn our way into a position where were championship contenders on an annual basis, and we feel like that is certainly moving in the right direction." It hasnt been an easy process, and while success might be on the horizon, it doesnt appear to be at hand. Pitchers and catchers reported on Thursday, and for the Cubs, it doesnt look like much will be different this season. They were relatively quiet in the off-season, although they did hire manager Rick Renteria to replace the fired Dale Sveum and made a run at star Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, but mostly it looks like they are in for more rough times at the major league level as they wait for their top prospects to develop in the minors. Their most recent winning season was when they went 83-78 under Lou Piniella in 2009. With four straight sub-.500 seasons, theyve matched their longest streak since 1984 to 1988. And another losing season would put them on their longest run since they finished below .500 six years in a row from 1978 to 1983. For now, the Cubs continue to sell hope, a promise that better days are coming. They tout their minor league system, and while renovations to Wrigley Field remain on hold, they can point to new facilities in the Dominican Republic along with a spring training home that just opened. As for the Cubs record, it cant get much worse. Theyve dropped 91 or more games each of the past three years and are coming off a two-year run under Sveum that produceed a 127-197 record.dddddddddddd Theyre hoping Renteria will provide the right atmosphere for young major league players such as shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo as well as top prospects Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora and Kris Bryant. They believe they have three solid starters in Travis Wood, Jeff Samardzija and Edwin Jackson, although Jackson struggled last season and Samardzija is a potential trade chip after he was unable to reach a long-term agreement and took a one-year deal. Jake Arrieta, a candidate to start, might not be ready for the beginning of the season because of tightness in his right shoulder. General manager Jed Hoyer revealed Thursday that Arrieta, acquired from Baltimore last July, experienced some tightness this winter and is being brought along slowly. Hoyer announced Arrietas injury after confirming the Cubs agreed to one-year contracts with starting pitchers Jason Hammel and James McDonald. Both could be candidates to be traded before the deadline if they succeed, considering thats exactly what the Cubs did with Paul Maholm and Scott Feldman the past two seasons. "We know we have some numbers now," Hoyer said. They also have hope that better days are coming. "Theres a real dichotomy between how the organization is perceived from the outside and how we look at it internally and the morale that we have internally," Epstein said. NOTES: Renteria tabbed newcomer Jose Veras as the closer. ... Hoyer basically dismissed the idea of moving Castro to another position even though he and the White Soxs Alexei Ramirez led major league shortstops with 22 errors last season and Baez is in the pipeline. "Castros our shortstop," Hoyer said. "We have all the confidence in the world that hell remain our shortstop and hell keep working hard and keep improving. And he knows theres (room) to improve there." ... Hoyer said reliever Kyuji Fujikawa will soon start throwing off the mound. Hes coming off Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow. ... Epstein said the Cubs will look to draft pitchers going forward, although not necessarily with their first pick. ' ' '