n said.For Hernandez, whose spot in the rotation happe

Afghanistan will host Ireland in a series of nine matches across formats in Greater Noida, their adopted home ground in India, in March 2017. The series, consisting of five ODIs, three Twenty20s and a four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture, will be played from March 8 to 31.This will be a great opportunity for our squad to test themselves, Ireland head coach John Bracewell said, according to RTé Sport. Its always good for a teams development to test themselves in different conditions, and theres no better place than India to do that. Im sure the younger players in particular will benefit from playing in subcontinent conditions.Both sides have played eight completed ODIs against each other till date, with Ireland winning five and Afghanistan three. The recently-concluded ODI series in Belfast finished at 2-2.Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Irelands performance director, welcomed the prospect of playing a bilateral series that has context. This tour is exactly what we have been pushing for in recent times, where the national team plays across all three formats over a four-five week period, just like the Full Members have been doing for years, he said. Both sides are aspiring to become Test countries and to organise bilateral tours on a regular basis in series with context, rather than focusing mainly on tournament cricket.These matches will not only be part of the pathway to Test cricket for both countries, but also part of the World Cup qualification pathway. Tony Gwynn Jersey . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Freddy Galvis Jersey . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. http://www.cheappadresjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-christian-villanueva-jersey . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. Austin Hedges Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Jose Pirela Jersey . A forerunning sled crashed into the worker Thursday at the Sanki Sliding Center. The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. SEATTLE -- Seattle Mariners starter Felix Hernandez hasnt gotten to pitch in many truly meaningful games in his impressive career, having never been to the postseason, and that wont change Sunday afternoon.A game that looked like it might carry more weight than any of Hernandezs 358 previous starts became painfully, familiarly irrelevant when the Mariners lost to Oakland on Saturday night.That loss officially eliminated Seattle (86-74) from wild-card contention and led to another meaningless 162nd game of the season.Well play hard, disappointed Seattle manager Scott Servais said after Saturdays 9-8 loss to Oakland in a 10-inning classic. I expect us to win the ballgame. ... Well give a good effort, no doubt.But the Mariners are human, so forgive them if its hard to bounce back from an emotional game that effectively ended Seattles postseason hopes.It was a great run, slugger Nelson Cruz lamented after the loss. Ive played a lot of games (during an 11-year career), and it was an amazing run.Seattles final gasp came with two comebacks in the late innings. Cruz delivered a two-run homer that tied the score 7-7 in the seventh, then defensive replacement Ben Gamel came through with an RBI single to tie it again at 8-8 in the eighth.Only after Oaklands Joey Wendle pushed across the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the top of the 10th and the Mariners stranded Gamel on third base with a game-ending flyout did the never-say-die season take its final breath.We did everything we could to extend the season, Servais said afterward.The dramatic win didnt do anything for Oaaklands postseason prospects -- the As have been out of realistic contention for most of the past few weeks -- but manager Bob Melvin said the way his young team was able to hold off the desperate Mariners was a good sign for the growth of a team in full rebuilding mode.dddddddddddd.This is really going to serve (the players) well in the future, knowing that they can play in this type of atmosphere, Melvin said.For Hernandez, whose spot in the rotation happened to line up with what may have been a make-or-break game in the season finale, its just another meaningless October start.The only time Hernandez has taken the mound this late in the season with chips still on the table came two years ago when he went into the final day of the year with a shot at giving Seattle a playoff berth and dominated for four innings.After the fourth, word got out that the As had just finished a playoff-clinching win in another part of the country, leaving Hernandez and the Mariners without any kind of incentive.Hernandez pitched another inning before coming off to a huge ovation in another lost season.This time around, he wont have nearly as much adrenaline. Once again, the Mariners are playing for pride.Our guys will show up and play, Servais said. Itll be a little weird. Weve played a lot of big games over the past few weeks. Weve had four or five times when (reporters) said: If you dont win today, youre done. And we won them all.Until Saturday night. ' ' '