miaowang123: Rene Tosoni and Jon Waltenbury are among

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AMSTERDAM - The Netherlands outclassed Latvia in a morale-boosting 6-0 win Sunday in European qualifying that eased pressure on coach Guus Hiddink after four defeats in his first five matches. Steve Francis Jersey .The Czech Republic went top of Group A with four wins out of four by beating Iceland 2-1 in Plzen thanks to a Pavel Kaderabek header in first-half injury time and a second-half own goal by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson. Iceland, which dropped to second after suffering its first defeat in qualifying, had taken an early lead through Ragnar Sigurdsson.Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar both scored twice while Robin van Persie and Jeffrey Bruma also found the net as the Dutch got their European Championship Group A qualifying campaign back on track. The Netherlands remained third, but moved closer to second-placed Iceland.After losing three of his first four matches in charge, Hiddink suggested last week that he would quit if the Netherlands failed to beat Latvia. His team also lost Wednesday to Mexico in a friendly to make it four defeats out of five matches since finishing third at the World Cup in Brazil under Louis van Gaal.He never looked likely to lose his job. And Hiddink was safe by half time as his front three of Van Persie, Robben and Huntelaar gave him a comfortable 3-0 cushion at the break.Its not important, Hiddink said of his threat to quit. What is important is we played well tonight in a crucial match.Van Persie opened the scoring, rising to head home a Robben cross in just the 6th minute. Robben — the Netherlands most dangerous player — doubled the lead in the 35th when he sent a trademark curling left-foot shot over goalkeeper Aleksandrs Kolinko despite being surrounded by four Latvia defenders.Huntelaar made it three in the 42nd when he sprinted to the near post to slide in a low cross from the left by Ibrahim Afellay.Van Persie admitted the poor string of results had been getting to him.There was a lot of pressure from all sides, he said. I was more nervous than usual. Were only human.Latvia defended better in the second half, but eventually crumbled as the Netherlands poured forward and scored three times in the last 12 minutes.Defender Jeffrey Bruma scored his first international goal when he turned in a corner that had been flicked on by Van Persie.Robben grabbed his second with another left-foot shot and Huntelaar doubled his tally in the 89th, turning smartly and drilling a low shot under Kolinkos outstretched hand.Turkey recorded its first win in Group A by beating Kazakhstan 3-1 in Istanbul. The defeat lifted Turkey off the bottom of the group into fourth place, behind the Dutch. Kazakhstan is last, with just one point from four qualifiers. Latvia is one point higher in fifth.Burak Yilmaz scored twice in three minutes in the first half and Serdar Aziz made it 3-0 in the 83rd minute before Samat Smakov scored a consolation goal for Kazakhstan from the penalty spot.In bad news for Manchester United, midfielder Daley Blind limped off in just the 20th minute against Latvia after injuring his knee and Hiddink said it looks serious. Blind was to undergo an MRI scan Monday.Im rather negative, Hiddink said. I think its a medial ligament that is twisted. It might be a rupture. Hakeem Olajuwon Jersey . "Hopefully well get all this out of the way," he said, "and everyone will be healthy the rest of the year." Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday and is expected to miss between four to six weeks. Joe Johnson Jersey . FIFA said in a statement Friday that "several racist and discriminatory incidents were apparently perpetrated by local supporters during the match, in particular by displaying neo-Nazi banners and by making monkey noises and gestures as well as Nazi salutes.Tim Wallach, Murray Cook and Dave Van Horne - three men whose names were synonymous with the Montreal Expos - will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on June 21. The Hall also announced on Monday that Canadian national team coach Jim Ridley will be inducted posthumously. "Tim Wallach and Dave Van Horne are two names that have become synonymous with the Montreal Expos, and both have had a significant impact on baseball in this country, and Murray Cook and Jim Ridley helped blaze a trail for Canadians in the professional scouting and executive ranks," said Scott Crawford, the halls director of operations said in a statement. "Were proud and excited to celebrate their careers in St. Marys this June." Wallach is the Expos all-time leader in several statistical categories, including games played (1,767), hits (1,694), doubles (360), RBI (905) and total bases (2,728). Nicknamed "Eli" by his teammates, Wallach also ranks third all-time amongst Expos in runs (737) and fourth in home runs (204). Chosen 10th overall by the Expos in the 1979 amateur draft, Wallach began his big league career as an outfielder before evolving into the best third baseman in the franchises history. In 13 seasons with the Expos from 1980 to 1992, Wallach was selected to five all-star games (1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990), won three Gold Gloves (1985, 1988, 1990) and captured two Silver Slugger Awards (1985, 1987). He was also named to the Topps All-Star Rookie team in 1981, topped the National League in doubles in 1987 and 1989 and finished fourth in National League MVP voting in 1987. Van Horne began his Montreal career behind the mike with the Expos first game on April 8, 1969 until the end of the 2000 season. He became known for his trademark catch-phrases like "Up, up and away!" when the Expos hit a home run. In his 32 seasons with the Expos, he broadcast the down-to-the-wire pennant races in 1979 and 1980, the teams only post-season run in 1981 and Dennis Martinezs perfect game on July 28, 1991 – a performance that inspired, perhaps, his most famous call, "El Presidente, El Perfecto!" In 2001, Van Horne accepted the radio play-by-play position with the Florida Marlins and he would later broadcast the clubs World Series-winning 2003 campaign. In 1996, Van Horne received the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fames Jack Graney Award for broadcasting excellence and 15 years later, he was the recipient of the National Baseball Hall of Fames equivalent honour, the Ford C. Frick Award. Now entering his 46th year of broadcasting major league games, Van Horne is set to become the second Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (Tom Cheek is the other) to have won both the Jack Graney and Ford C. Frick Awards. Born in Sackville, N.B. in 1940, Murray Cook has spent more than half a century in professional baseball. After graduating from Ohio University with a masters degree in history in 1962, he was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played shortstop and third base in the lower levels of their system for parts of four years, before hanging up his spikes to become the general manager of their Class-A affiliate in Gastonia in 1966. The Pirates promoted him too their big league front office in 1967. Wholesale Rockets Jerseys. He was named the teams assistant farm director the following year and soon rose through the ranks to become the clubs assistant director of minor league operations in 1972 and director of scouting in 1977. After 21 years in the Pirates organization, Cook was hired to be the New York Yankees scouting director in January 1983. Just over six months later, he was named the clubs general manager, becoming just the second Canadian to be a big league GM (Huntsville, Ont., native George Selkirk was the Washington Senators GM from 1964 to 1969). Cook remains just one of five Canadians to serve as a GM at the major league level. The others are Selkirk, Gord Ash (Toronto Blue Jays, 1995 to 2001), Doug Melvin (Texas Rangers, 1994 to 2001; Milwaukee Brewers, 2003 to present) and Alex Anthopoulos (Toronto Blue Jays, 2009 to present). In 1984, Cook was reassigned to the position of vice-president and director of scouting with the Yankees, before he replaced John McHale as general manager of the Expos on September 5 of that year. Drafting Randy Johnson, signing free agent Dennis Martinez and rebuilding the Expos into a surprising contender were among the highlights of his close to three years in Montreal. Following his tenure with the Expos, he served as the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 1988 and 1989. Since 1990, he has worked in scouting capacities for the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. In 2010, he was named East Scout of the Year for his contributions to the scouting field. He is currently the Tigers East Coast regional cross checker. After two seasons as an outfielder in the Milwaukee Braves organization in 1964 and 1965, Toronto native Jim Ridley returned to Canada where he would have a significant impact on baseball in his home country for the next four decades. While continuing his playing career in the Intercounty Baseball League – where he was named league MVP with Stratford Hillers in 1974 – Ridley launched his storied coaching and scouting career. He began as a part-time scout with the Detroit Tigers in 1973, before joining the Toronto Blue Jays in 1976 to run the clubs first tryout camp in Utica, N.Y.  In his 26 years as a scout with the Blue Jays, Ridley was the driving force behind the clubs decisions to sign Canadians like Paul Spoljaric, Rob Butler and David Corrente. He also served as a coach with the Blue Jays rookie-level affiliate in Medicine Hat from 1978 to 1980. A highly respected coach at the local level, Ridley also coached the Canadian junior national team from 1983 to 1988, leading the squad to bronze medals at the World Junior Baseball Championship in 1983 and 1987. In 1988, he coached the Canadian Olympic baseball team and three years later, he was tabbed to manage Canadas squad at the Pan Am Games. Starting in 2002, Ridley served as a scout with the Minnesota Twins. Rene Tosoni and Jon Waltenbury are among the Canadians he signed and brought into the Twins organization. Ridley passed away from cancer on November 28, 2008. Each year, the Canadian Baseball Network presents the Jim Ridley Award to the countrys top scout in his memory. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '