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ROGERS, Ark. - Whether its because of her improved play or the reason for it, Michelle Wie appears as comfortable on and off the golf course as at any time in her career. Wie continued her season-long surge on the LPGA Tour on Saturday, shooting her second straight 5-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the suspended second round of the NW Arkansas Championship. The performance put the U.S. Womens Open champion within a round of back-to-back wins for the first time in her LPGA Tour career, not that she showed any signs of stress after reaching 10 under overall. In fact, shortly after surging into the lead at Pinnacle Country Club, Wie joined PGA Tour pros Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley as part of a social media challenge in dumping a bucket of ice water on herself on the driving range. Yes, life is good at the moment for Wie. "I think it comes hand in hand," Wie said about her winning and revamped attitude. "... I played really well toward the end of the year last year ... took a lot of time off, took about a month and a half. So, I just felt really refreshed, and I think it comes hand in hand." All 72 players in the afternoon session were unable to finish on Saturday because of thunderstorms, with second-round play expected to finish early Sunday before the final round begins later in the morning. Before the rain arrived, the morning pairings were once again left chasing Wie — who earned her first major victory at the U.S. Womens Open last week at Pinehurst after winning earlier in the season in her home state of Hawaii. So Yeon Ryu, paired with Wie, was second at 8 under after her second straight 67, while Suzann Pettersen, Chella Choi and Line Vedel were three strokes back. Pettersen had a 67, Choi shot 65, and Vedel had five holes left. Top-ranked and local favourite Stacy Lewis was four shots behind at 6 under, a week after finishing a shot behind Wie at Pinehurst. The two are training and practice partners in Florida, and Wie couldnt help but challenge her friend to the ice bucket shower after her dousing. "Michelles obviously playing some really good golf," Lewis said. "Im going to have to shoot a good number tomorrow. ... At least I put a good number up today, and well see what happens tomorrow." Lewis made the early charge Saturday to close within a shot of first-round leader Alena Sharp of Hamilton, much to the delight of the pro-Arkansas crowd — where Lewis played collegiately. Sharp made it through 15 holes prior to the delay. For the second straight day, however, Wie saved her best for the back. She jumped into contention with a 4-under 31 on the back nine on Friday. After teeing off on the back nine Saturday, she once again closed with a flurry — birdieing four of her final seven holes to shoot a 4-under 32 and surge into the lead. She putted 29 times on Saturday, a day after needing 28 in her opening round using her more hunched-over style. "These days, Michelles on fire," Ryu said. "I played with her today and yesterday, and her putting was awesome. I think thats why she could win a major tournament." Wie put the finishing touch on her round — and quest for a second straight tournament victory — with a 3-foot birdie putt on No. 9 that put her within reach of back-to-back wins. "I just want to kind of get through tomorrow," Wie said. "But at the same time, it is definitely in the back of my mind ... If I can get it done, hopefully it will happen." Wie held off Lewis by a shot to win her first major title in the U.S Womens Open. Playing a group behind Lewis on Saturday, Wie bogeyed her second hole, No. 11, and recovered with a birdie on the par-5 14th. She followed that with a second straight birdie on a par 5, getting up and down off the fringe on No. 18 to reach 6 under. Her birdie spree followed on the front nine, with large galleries following both Lewis and Wie. Lewis followed a sluggish first round in which she putted 31 times by needing only 24 putts on Saturday. She stumbled with a bogey out of the greenside bunker on the par-3 fourth hole before recovering with birdies on No. 5 and 9. Shell need more of the same if she or anyone else is to catch Wie on Sunday. "Its going to have to be something pretty low," Lewis said. "The way Michelle and a lot of those girls play, theyre not really going to come back to us." Wholesale Asics Shoes Authentic . His absence against the Celtics comes a day after he scored 43 points in the Heats 100-96 win at Cleveland. Wholesale Asics Shoes . -- Chris Tillman paid no attention to the Baltimore bullpen as it started to stir in the ninth inning. http://www.cheapasics.com/ .Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday it is inevitable that the league will one day take after European sports and have sponsor names on team jerseys. Discount Asics Shoes . Today, well look at five frontcourt players today, here from the Bay Area. 1. AMIR JOHNSON (Raptors): I cant figure out what the issue or problem is, but based upon what Im seeing, hes not right. Cheap Asics Shoes From China .com) - Semyon Varlamov more than earned his third shutout of the season as he made a career-high 54 saves to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.ATLANTA -- When Andrelton Simmons botched a grounder, the St. Louis Cardinals seized their opportunity. For the Atlanta Braves, it was another night of missed chances. Matt Carpenters two-run double that helped carry St. Louis past the slumping Braves, who shook up their lineup but still lost their seventh in a row, 4-3 on Monday. The Cardinals scored three runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of shaky defence by Atlantas Gold Glove shortstop. In fact, Simmons had a couple of plays that couldve been scored errors but were initially ruled hits. The second one was changed to an E-6 and turned out to be especially costly, leading to a pair of unearned runs. St. Louis built a 4-0 lead and barely held on to win the series opener. "It was big," Carpenter said. "Especially when we got out to a big lead, to be able to hold them off, that was big for us." Desperate for more offence, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez batted pitcher Aaron Harang eighth and put second baseman Ramiro Pena in the ninth spot. Pena had two hits, including a seventh-inning homer that brought the Braves within a run, but they couldnt overcome a 4-0 deficit. Juston Upton took a called third strike from Trevor Rosenthal to end the game with the potential tying run at second base -- Uptons fourth strikeout of the night and extending Atlantas woes with runners in scoring position. The Braves were 1 for 12 in those situations and are 6 of 51 during their losing streak, though Freddie Freeman saw some encouraging signs. "We hit some balls hard with runners on," he said. "We were in the game the whole game. We couldnt say that the past week." The last time the Braves had such a lengthy skid was May 21-28, 2012, when they dropped eight in a row. Their longest losing streak last season was four straight. Shelby Miller (4-2) got a shaky win, giving up six hits and two runs in five-plus innings. Trevor Rosenthal pitched out of trouble for his ninth save, giving up a leadoff single to Simmons. Jordan Schafer bunted the runner to second, but Pena flied out to right before Upton whiffed. Harang (3-3) took the loss, though he pitched much betteer than his previous start, when he was pounded for nine runs by the Marlins.ddddddddddddThis time, he gave up four runs in six innings but only two were earned. The game was scoreless until the fifth, when Peter Bourjos led off with a single before Mark Ellis grounded one off Simmons glove. The shortstop, looking to make a force at second, appeared to take his eyes off the ball as it skipped past him. After Miller bunted the runners to second and third, Carpenter doubled to right-centre to bring them both in. Matt Holiday followed with a hard liner past third baseman Chris Johnson to make it 3-0. "Those things happen," Harang said of Simmons error. "I told him not to be too hard on himself. Hes probably going to save my butt plenty of times this year." St. Louis added another run in the fifth on Bourjos RBI single, but Gonzalez challenged a call at third base that had seemingly given the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. Yadier Molinas bases-loaded grounder ricocheted off Harangs leg, right to Johnson at third. He caught it and blindly stepped back in search of the bag and managed to barely nick it, as the replay showed. The called was quickly overturned after a review of only 37 seconds. The Braves knocked out Miller in the bottom half of the sixth, the first three hitters reaching safely. The Cardinals went to the bullpen after Evan Gattis RBI single, and B.J. Upton followed with a sacrifice fly off Pat Neshek. Neshek escaped the jam by striking out Simmons. NOTES: The Cardinals sent pitcher RHP Joe Kelly back to St. Louis to continue his rehab from a strained left hamstring. "Joe just wasnt to the point where they thought they could push him, so keeping him around the rest of this road trip didnt make any sense," general manager John Mozeliak said. "I dont know Id call it a setback as much as he just wasnt progressing as quickly as we wanted." ... Atlanta RHP Gavin Floyd will make his season debut when he starts Tuesday against LHP Tyler Lyons (0-2) of the Cardinals. Floyd is coming back from Tommy John surgery and will start in place of Ervin Santana, who has a bruised right thumb. ' ' '