d-over-the mouth sort of way. Hes learned to care just a little bit less -- and that has freed him in the same way that Roger Federe

DETROIT -- Jordan Zimmermann doesnt have much time left to recapture his early season magic. If he can, the Detroit Tigers rotation should be strong enough to finish off their playoff push.Zimmermann, signed away from the Washington Nationals as a free agent, went 5-0 with an 0.55 ERA in April and was named the American Leagues Pitcher of the Month. A minor groin injury forced him to miss a late May start and he was generally ineffective in June before he was sidelined with a neck strain.He returned for one August start, suffered a setback in that 1 2/3-inning outing, and went back on the 15-day disabled list. Following another lengthy rehab stint, Zimmermann returns. Hell start the second contest of a pivotal three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.The Tigers tied the Orioles for the second wild-card spot with a 4-3 victory Friday.Its probably the worst feeling, knowing youve wasted two or three months and werent able to pitch and help this team, the veteran right-hander said Friday. This first couple of months were really good and probably better than I expected. The last two or three have been horrible, so hopefully I can turn it around for the last half a month and finish strong.Zimmermann (9-5), who expects to throw approximately 90 pitches if the start goes well, is getting thrust right into the heat of the pennant chase.I feel like Ive been around long enough that I can be thrown into a situation like this and be able to handle it, he said. Some other guys, they might not trust. I feel like Ive done enough in my career that they should be able to trust me and put me into this spot.Zimmermanns fastball reached only the low 90s in last rehab start, which didnt surprise him.Im not sure if my velocity will be back this year, said Zimmermann, who is 2/3 with a 4.54 ERA in six career starts against Baltimore. Ive had so many ups and downs, and its down just a tick right now. Hopefully, the more I get out there, the more its going to come back. But I feel strong, I feel like I can locate pretty good, so well see.Zimmermann will be opposed by Ubaldo Jiminez (6-11), who is coming off his best outing of the season. He tossed his first complete game since 2011 against Tampa Bay, holding the Rays to three runs on two hits in the 7-3 victory.It was fun to watch, said Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman, who is expected to come off the DL and start Sundays finale. He was pretty dialed in from the get go. He was able to command all his pitches. His stuff is good enough, he just has trouble commanding it sometimes. But from the get go, he established his fastball on both sides and everything played off of that.Jiminez is 5-11 with a 5.68 ERA in 20 starts against Detroit.The Orioles are in the thick of the race despite having the 11th-best ERA in the American League while issuing the most walks in the league.We kind of enjoy having people scratch their head about us, manager Buck Showalter said. We get it. In the clubhouse, everybody gets it. A lot of people that are just crunching the numbers dont get it. And Im OK with that.Avalanche Jerseys China . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. Colorado Avalanche Gear . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. https://www.cheapavalanche.com/ . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Wholesale Avalanche Jerseys . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Stitched Avalanche Jerseys . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery Friday. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.After he won his first ATP-level tournament, more than a decade ago in San Jose, California, 18-year-old Andy Murray credited his girlfriend, Kim Sears, with keeping him calm and composed. His then-coach Mark Petchey had stayed home in England, and Sears, the daughter of a tennis coach, watched her future husband play a tournament for the first time.Howd that work out?Back in February, the two welcomed Sophia Olivia into the world, and it immediately became a very different place. Murray didnt hit a ball for two weeks, something that hadnt happened since his back surgery two years earlier.Normally after a week or so, I want to hit a few balls, he told Mens Health in June. When I got back to doing stuff, I felt much better for it.After an indifferent return, in which he failed to win a title in four tries, Murray has triumphed in eight of the 11 tournaments hes played. There were back-to-back wins at Wimbledon and the Olympic games -- when he became the first ever to repeat as a singles gold medalist -- and four straight championships to end to the season. The last, in Paris, brought him the No. 1 ranking, a career obsession.Uh, howd that work out?I dont think it affected the tennis so much, but it definitely gave me perspective, Murray explained. I had to think a little bit more about whats important.Whats important at this weeks Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is carrying that No. 1 ranking into the offseason. Toward that end, Murray has made a critical adjustment. For the first time at this tournament hes never won, hes not staying at a local hotel.Rather, hes making the one-hour commute to the O2 Arena from his home in Oxshott, Surrey.On Wednesday night, presumably, he was home in time for a proper dinner and, perhaps, a change of his daughters nappies. And, rest assured, Murray will find himself in an extraordinary frame of mind.Earlier, when Kei Nishikori, hitting out of his shoes, won the first-set tiebreaker (on his fifth set point), Murray did not hurl expletives in the direction of his box. Instead, he muttered a few choice thoughts mostly to himself.ddddddddddddThat Murray ultimately prevailed 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4 was a testament to his new-and-improved frame of mind. It required 3 hours, 21 minutes -- the longest three-set match on record at the year-end event -- and he never regressed into Sour, Dour Andy.As a result, hes on a 21-match victory tear and 2-0 in London -- the first time hes started 2-0 in the year-end event since Shanghai in 2008. If Marin Cilic defeats Stan Wawrinka in the evening match, Murray is into Saturdays semifinals no matter what happens in Fridays third round-robin match.Murray was the runner-up in his first four Grand Slam finals, from 2008 to 2012, and one of his consistent features was an insufferable on-court attitude. Negative body language and a tendency to vent at his support crew were some of the reasons his former coach, Amelie Mauresmo, concluded she could no longer help him.He can still be a prickly presence; there were times against Nishikori when you could sense the surly Murray hovering just below the surface. But he kept his rage largely to himself, in a hand-over-the mouth sort of way. Hes learned to care just a little bit less -- and that has freed him in the same way that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic embraced fatherhood.After Murray beat Cilic in the first round-robin match, he was asked the inevitable question about the correlation between his evolving family life and the No. 1 ranking.Ive been dealing with wins and losses much better than I did in the past I think just because I have something else thats more important, Murray explained. Throughout the year, Im not having so many ups and downs, because Im not sort of getting too high after wins or too down after losses, which was maybe the case in the past.When I won in Paris, it was great. I really enjoyed that. But then you come home and youre back with your family. Youre just back to normal. So I feel just a bit more sort of even-keeled through the year. ' ' '