ff to him and all the other golfers in Rio, men and women.Van

PHILADELPHIA -- The Washington Nationals continue to get a great return on the enormous investment they made in right-hander Max Scherzer before last season.Scherzer, signed to a seven-year, $210 million free-agent contract in January 2015, has been an All-Star each of his first two seasons with the Nationals.This year he is 14-7 with a 2.92 ERA while leading the National League with 227 strikeouts.He has been particularly effective of late, going 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA over nine starts heading into his outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night, in the middle game of a three-game series.The 32-year-old Scherzer spent five seasons with the Detroit Tigers before signing with Washington. He made the American League All-Star team the last two seasons with Detroit and earned the Cy Young Award in 2013, when he went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA.Last year he went 14-12 with a 2.79 ERA for Washington, and fashioned a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 20. He led the National League in starts (33), complete games (four) and shutouts (three).He added a 20-strikeout game against the Tigers on May 11 of this season. In 27 starts for the National League East leaders Scherzer has fanned 10 or more 11 times.He stuck out exactly 10 his last time out, while pitching eight shutout innings in an eventual 4-0 victory over Baltimore. He allowed two hits and didnt walk a batter.He had it from the opening pitch, Washington manager Dusty Baker said to MLB.com. Thats what aces do. He shut down a very high-powered offense. That was a masterful job by Max.Scherzer is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in three starts against Philadelphia this season. In his career has gone 6-1 with a 2.36 ERA against the Phillies.Right-hander Jerad Eickhoff (9-12, 3.87) is the scheduled starter for the Phillies, who were blanked 4-0 by Tanner Roark and two relievers in Mondays series opener.Eickhoff is 3-0 over his last four starts, despite a 5.04 ERA. His last time out he beat the Chicago White Sox, allowing two runs on four hits over six innings while striking out two. He didnt walk a batter.He has not faced Washington this season, but beat the Nats in his only career start against them, going seven innings and allowing two runs on five hits. He struck out 10, which matches his career high, and walked one.He will be looking to follow the lead of rookie right-hander Jake Thompson, who allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings Monday. It was far and away the best outing to date for Thompson, who tweaked his delivery after pitching to a 9.78 ERA over his first four major league starts.It was night and day from my performance my first four that Ive had, he said. Its kind of a relief. It feels a lot better.Roark was even better, though, pitching seven shutout innings to improve to 14-7. His strong showing came after a rare poor outing his previous time out, against Baltimore.I kind of knew after the last one, hed respond, Baker said.Swell Water Bottle Wood . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Swell Wood Bottle Canada . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. http://www.swellbottlesaleclearance.com/ . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. sWell Marble Water Bottle Canada . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Swell Bottle Sale Canada . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Jaco van Zyl is a professional golfer of modest success, capturing most of his tournament titles in his homeland of South Africa, only briefly able to crack the PGA Tour.Prior to this year, van Zyl had qualified for just three major championships in a 15-year career, not making the cut in any of them.Clearly getting into the games biggest tournaments is the dream, the goal for any golfer. Those who are consistently ranked among the top 50 in the world dont have to worry about their spots in the Masters, U.S. Open, Open or PGA Championship, but the rest of the games players fight and scratch to earn those spots.And that is why a decision van Zyl made this summer was met with amazement: he skipped two major championships for which he was exempt in order to prepare for the Olympic Golf Tournament.If I had to prioritize, this was it for me, van Zyl said of playing the Olympic event. Not to take anything away from majors, but next year there are four more, the year after that there will be four more, 100 years after I retire there will be four more.This was an opportunity. Im not 21 years old anymore. I really wanted to experience it. And I havent regretted for it for one minute.Van Zyl (pronounced van-seel) is 37 and has won 14 times on the Sunshine Tour, the main pro tour in South Africa, with his biggest victory coming at the Telecom PGA Championship, one of four victories in 2009.Two years earlier he had qualified for the PGA Tour, but made just four cuts. And in 2011 he qualified for the European Tour, posting five top-10 finishes. Van Zyl still competes on both the European and Sunshine Tours and earlier this year, for the first time, moved into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.That helped him secure spots in the U.S. Open, the Open and the PGA. But after missing the cut at Oakmont, van Zyl headed to the BMW International Open in Germany where he picked up an illness. The following week at the French Open he wasnt any better.With the Open looming and tthe Olympic tournament not far away, he made the decision to pull out of the remaining major championships and focus on the Olympics.dddddddddddd. Prior to this week, he had not played competitively since a tie for 62nd in Paris in early July.The majors are ultimately why we play, he said. But this is just something unique. For some of us its a once in a lifetime opportunity.Van Zyls decision is even more amazing when you consider how many male players pulled out of the Olympic tournament. There were 21 eligible who declined a spot, including the top four in the world: Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace also declined, opening up a place for van Zyl. Brandon Stone is the other South African golfer in the tournament.What Jaco did was an important statement for golfs future in the Olympics, said Gary Player, 80, the winner of nine major championships who is serving as an advisor for the South African golfers this week. What if he wins a gold medal after sitting out of two major championships to prepare? What a story that would be.I like to think of it as he put his country ahead of himself. He had a chance to win prize money and world ranking points at The Open and PGA Championship, but being able to say you are an Olympic athlete and potentially a medalist for your country is priceless. Hats off to him and all the other golfers in Rio, men and women.Van Zyl will need a big rally to get one of those coveted medals after opening the tournament with an even-par score of 71 and not being able to make up any ground on Friday morning after shooting 74. He is now 3 over through 36 holes.Basically for me this is a big week, van Zyl said. Id like to do well and Id like to play well. Whether a medal is there at the end of the week, I just want to walk away having played nicely. ' ' '