01-08-2020, 05:34 AM
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Doug Fister took advantage of facing the slumping Cincinnati Reds to extend the best season-opening start by any Washington pitcher in a 4-0 Nationals win Sunday. Fister (10-2) allowed just three hits with one walk and five strikeouts in seven shutout innings to reach 10 wins in 14 starts, one fewer than any previous Washington pitcher. Gio Gonzalez reached 10 wins in 15 starts in 2012, and Jordan Zimmerman duplicated him last season. The Nationals moved to Washington from Montreal in 2005. Adam LaRoche drove in two runs and Anthony Rendon added an RBI single in the ninth to help send the Reds to their eighth loss in nine games since the All-Star break. They are hitting .178 (50-for-281) in that span. Devin Mesoracos two-run double in the ninth off Rafael Soriano allowed the Reds to avoid their 11th shutout loss. Soriano regrouped to get the final three outs for his 200th career save. The teams went the entire three-game series without hitting a home run, the first time in the 12-year history of Great American Ball Park that three consecutive games have been played without a home run. The Reds and Nationals combined to hit just two home runs in their six games this season -- one by each team. Reds starter Mat Latos allowed no hits through the first four innings before Danny Espinosa led off the fifth with a clean single. Fister sacrificed Espinosa to second with one out and Latos walked Denard Span and hit Anthony Rendon to load the bases. Jayson Werth walked to drive in a run after falling behind 0-2 and LaRoche followed with a two-run single for a 3-0 lead. Latos and plate umpire Toby Basner exchanged words as the Reds left the field after the inning. Latos (2-3), in his eighth start after opening the season on the disabled list with elbow and knee problems, lasted six innings, giving up three hits and three runs with four walks and a season-high six strikeouts. Notes: The Reds activated 1B Jack Hannahan from the 60-day disabled list before the game and optioned RHP Curtis Partch to Triple-A Louisville. Hannahan had missed the entire season following off-season shoulder surgery in October. ... The start of the game was delayed 16 minutes by rain. ... The Nationals are scheduled to open a four-game series in Miami on Monday. Jordan Zimmerman is Washingtons scheduled starting pitcher. The Nationals have won seven straight Zimmerman starts against the Marlins. ... The Reds are scheduled to open a three-game series against Arizona in Cincinnati. The Diamondbacks are the only National League Reds scheduled starter Homer Bailey hasnt beaten. Air Max 270 React Fluo . Mission accomplished. Now the Royals will take the field on Saturday with a World Series lead for the first time in team history when they play Game 4 of the Fall Classic against the Giants at AT&T Park. Air Max 270 Be True Pas Cher . FLIP SAUNDERS (Timberwolves): Im not the least bit surprised that he appointed himself as head coach after his search concluded. http://www.airmax270reactpascher.fr/faus...do-it.html .The other side of the Bruins special teams unit delivered in the end.Gregory Campbell netted the game-winner with less than 10 minutes remaining and the Bruins fended off a late four-minute San Jose power play to earn a wild 5-3 win over the Sharks. Air Max 270 React Eng Pas Cher . The teams were scoreless for most of the first two periods before Canada scored three times in a span of less than four minutes. Sarah Potomak opened the scoring on the power play. Air Max 270 React Bleu Pas Cher . Meanwhile, the Jets extended their winning streak to four and remain perfect under Paul Maurice. Its the Jets second four-game winning streak of the season, the other coming in mid-November.Former NFL lineman Jeremy Newberry often hobbled into the 49ers locker room on game days using a walking boot and crutches, then lined up behind as many as two dozen teammates, in his case to get a shot of the painkiller Toradol in the butt. Ten minutes later, he sprinted out of the tunnel and onto the field. The toughness of pro football players may be legendary, but a lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of more than 600 former players contends it was abetted by team physicians and trainers across the NFL who routinely -- and often illegally -- dispensed powerful narcotics and other controlled substances on game days to mask the pain. Among them were the painkillers Percodan, Percocet and Vicodin, anti-inflammatories such as Toradol, and sleep aids such as Ambien -- "handed out like candy at Halloween," according to lead attorney Steven SIlverman. Sometimes, the lawsuit also charges, the drugs were given in combinations as "cocktails." "The stuff works," Newberry, who played seven of his nine seasons in San Francisco before retiring in 2009, told The Associated Press in an interview. "It works like crazy. It really does." But only for so long. Newberry, now 38 and one of the eight plaintiffs so far named in the lawsuit, says that because of the drugs he took while playing, he suffers from kidney failure, high blood pressure and violent headaches. Others -- including three members of the NFL champion 1985 Chicago Bears: quarterback Jim McMahon, Hall of Fame defensive end Richard Dent and offensive lineman Keith Van Horne -- reported a range of debilitating effects, from chronic muscle and bone ailments to permanent nerve and organ damage to addiction. "Our attorneys have not seen the lawsuit," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in Atlanta for the leagues spring meetings, "and obviously I have been in meetings all day." The lawsuits main burden is proving cause and effect -- that use of painkillers long ago is responsible for chronic problems the players face now. The claims are for a wide variety of problems that are common in older people, such as high blood pressure, knee replacements, arthritis, kidney problems, heart attacks and abnormal heart rhythms. The diversity of these problems, affecting so many different parts and body systems, tends to argue against a single cause, such as painkiller use. The players also would have to show that they are suffering these problems at a greater rate than other people their age, and that its not due to other risk factors such as obesity, smoking and family history. Six of the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, including McMahon and Van Horne, were also parties to the concussion-related class-action lawsuit less than a year ago. The NFL agreed tto pay $765 million to settle that case -- without acknowledging it concealed the risks of concussions from former players.ddddddddddddA federal judge has yet to approve the settlement, expressing concern the amount is too small. "The difference is that the concussion case claimed the NFL knew or should have known," Silverman said. "Were saying this was intentional, putting profits ahead of players health -- and in violation of federal controlled substance laws, as well as state laws. You dont order hundreds of narcotic painkillers in their names without telling them." The lawsuit covers the years 1968-2008. Silverman said a number of clients reported teams had "tightened up" dispensing procedures since then, including one incident in which a player said a trainer waited until the team plane on a flight home was 10,000 feet in the air before handing over a narcotic "to avoid violating any state laws." McMahon and Van Horne were among several players wqho said they were never told about broken bones and fed pills to mask the pain instead. Toradol, which players called a "full-body numb-er" and "the current game-day drug of choice of the NFL" was prevalent enough that Newberry described frequently seeing both teammates and opponents during warm-ups with blood spots on the buttocks of their pants -- a telltale sign theyd taken a pre-game injection. "There was a room set up near the locker room and you got in line," said Kyle Turley, who played for three NFL teams in an eight-year career. "Obviously, we were grown adults and we had a choice. But when a team doctor is saying this will take the pain away, you trust them. Newberry said he regrets that decision now, but never considered not taking the drugs during his career because he feared hed be out of a job if he didnt play. After his retirement, a specialist who reviewed his medical records concluded the protein levels in his urine had been elevated -- a precursor to kidney problems -- for years. Newberry said he got blood work during a team-sponsored physical every year but was never told about any problems. "They said, Youre good to go, you passed another one. Youre cleared to play," he recalled. Silverman said he planned to serve the NFL with the lawsuit within the next 120 days, after which the league has 30 days to respond. The case could be significantly delayed if there are similar filings and the lawsuits are eventually consolidated into a single class-action. "We hope this gets to trial," Silverman said. "I could see a scenario where, if it were to go to discovery, there would be more doctors and trainers taking the Fifth (Amendment) than providing sworn testimony. We think the problem is that profound." ' ' '