n the crucial last innings at Lords, 9, 10 and 11 had made one run between them.Right there, that is when it could have happened. The quick c

SEATTLE -- Stuck in a stretch of facing mostly left-handed pitching, Adam Lind has found himself as a spectator far more than he would prefer.Even with just a handful of at-bats over the past couple of weeks, Lind showed he can still provide pop when given the chance.Lind hit the fourth grand slam of his career as part of Seattles five-run first inning, added a solo home run in his next at-bat and led the Mariners to an 8-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.Linds 19th and 20th homers of the season helped Seattle jump to an 8-0 lead and kept the Mariners on the fringe of the AL wild card race, five games behind Baltimore. It was the 12th career multi-homer game of Linds career and his second this season.He has the ability to do that. Weve seen it in patches through the course of the year. He just hasnt put together a normal Adam Lind year, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. But you look up at the end of it hes still got 20 homers, hes had some games like this where he can really carry you. He just hasnt been that consistent.Opportunities have been limited for Lind as part of a platoon at first base. Its an unfortunate run that has left Lind and Seth Smith coming off the bench during a stretch of facing left-handed starting pitching.Lind had just 12 plate appearances over the past 10 games coming into Wednesdays game.This is definitely the division with the most lefties, Texas and Anaheim of late, Lind said. I played in the NL Central last year and it was predominantly a right-handed pitching division. Its just how it goes.The homers from Lind were plenty for starter Ariel Miranda in his strongest performance since joining the Mariners.Miranda (3-1) allowed one hit and two baserunners through five innings and was nearly untouched through six before an error kept the sixth inning alive and was capped by Carlos Beltrans three-run homer.Miranda faced one batter in the seventh before being pulled. He won his second straight start, striking out four and walking three. Texas saw its streak snapped of eight straight games scoring at least six runs.Up until now (this) has been my best start of the year, Miranda said through an interpreter.Seattle was already up 1-0 on Texas starter A.J. Griffin after Smiths leadoff double and Ketel Martes single. Base hits by Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager loaded the bases for Lind. Griffin left a fastball elevated over the plate and Lind drove it to deep center field to give Seattle a 5-0 lead.Linds opposite-field home run to left in the third gave Seattle a 7-0 lead and Smiths 13th homer of the season in the fourth pushed the lead to 8-0.Griffin (7-4) lasted four innings, giving up seven hits and all eight runs. Griffin had won his previous two decisions and the four innings was his second-shortest outing of the season.The fastball was flat and when he tried to go in, he missed out over the plate and when he was behind in the count, he wasnt able to land the off-speed pitch that he can normally drop in there for a strike, Texas manager Jeff Banister said. The first (inning) was a big challenge and giving up the grand slam was probably his big blow.AT THE TOPBatting leadoff for the second time this season, Smith was on base four times and scored three runs. He finished a triple short of the cycle.LEWIS RETURNSBanister said Colby Lewis will return to the Rangers rotation this weekend and is scheduled to start on Sunday against the Angels. Lewis has been out since June 21 with a strained muscle in his right shoulder. Before going on the DL, Lewis was 6-1 with a 3.21 ERA in 15 starts. Lewis return will give the Rangers six pitchers in their rotation for the final few weeks.UP NEXTRangers: Derek Holland (7-6) will start the series finale. Holland is 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA in three starts since coming off the DL on Aug. 23.Mariners: Taijuan Walker (4-10) looks to rebound from the shortest start of his career. Walker gave up five earned runs and six hits and recorded just two outs in a loss to the Angels. Hes 0-3 with a 7.90 ERA in his last three starts. Cheap Air Max Plus . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Air Max Plus Wholesale China . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. http://www.airmaxpluscheap.com/ . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Cheap Air Max Plus Shoes Air Max Plus Wholesale Online . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Pakistan had a chance to lose today. It would have meant they not only lost the Test, and the series, but also their latest chance to go to No.1 in the world. It would have been a slap in the face to everything they have achieved, and to their hero, Younis Khan.When Sarfraz Ahmed fell, squandering another good start by nicking off for 44, Pakistan were only 69 runs ahead. Their lead was still short of the 103-run lead they had at Edgbaston, and that wasnt enough. Now the Pakistan tail was coming in - and the best of them, Yasir Shah, had already done good work as a nightwatchman the day before. So it was left to the chaff. In the crucial last innings at Lords, 9, 10 and 11 had made one run between them.Right there, that is when it could have happened. The quick collapse, the shoddy bowling, the end of all hope. Younis Khan, walking off at the close of the day with nothing to show for it. Instead, Pakistan stood beside him.It was Wahab Riaz first - a man who can hit, and is not bereft of batting, but never a sure thing. At Old Trafford he was their second top-scorer with 39. Today he barely had to face a ball. The man at the other end did the work; all Wahab had to do was a face a couple of balls at a time and avoid doing anything stupid. For 11 overs he did his job as well as he could. Wahab made four runs, but the partnership was 37, and it took the lead beyond 100, beyond Edgbaston.Mohammad Amir can bat. He almost stole an ODI against New Zealand once. And although he has spent five years out of the game, it is fair to say he hasnt spent the time getting throwdowns and working on his game. He hasnt ever seen a ball he doesnt want to slash through point. For 23 balls though, he was a monk, and only then, with the lead already at 130 and Younis already past 200, did he dare launch Moeen Ali over the rope. It was his first scoring shot, and Englands collective shoulders slumped at that moment.The tail that is a punchline has been standing up all series. Yasirs innings at Lords gave Pakistan enough runs; 8, 9 and 10 outscored the top three in the second innings at Old Trafford, and Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali put together the second-biggest partnership on the last day at Edgbaston. Here Yasir batted for 17.3 overs, Wahab 11.3 and Amir 24.2 - a combined total of 43.2 overs. The main difference here was they didnt stand alone, they stood with a great of the game. Letting him down would be like letting down your father, your President, your King Khan. If Younis Khan tells you to block out a few overs and play smart cricket, tackle a bear family, or walk through a field of razor wire for 73 miles, you do it.Someone on commentary said this was the kind of innings in which you dont remember a shot. If you cant remember this innings, there is something wrong with your cricket emotions. Unless what he meant was that you didnt have to remember it, you simply enjoyed it by osmosis, so all the shots - the cut off Finn, the quicksilver hands that swept Moeen, the sixes, all of them, of authoritarian glory and the sweet drives - were now just part of you having been in their presence.ddddddddddddhe six to bring up Youniss 200 will be the shot that gets replayed for years to come. But it was the ball before that was Younis at his best. He should be in a commentary box, misremembering old cricket stories and mispronouncing current players names. But instead he keeps going into battle for his nation. Even when earlier in the series the game looked beyond him, he didnt walk away, he stood and fought.So here was this old man, with all the fielders back, hitting the ball at the exact right angle, with the exact right weight, and then scampering through for two runs like a teenager trying to prove something. He has nothing left to prove, and he still keeps proving it. It was smart, it was skilful, it showed desperation, it had courage, and it was a testament to his fitness. The six, well that was just muscle memory, a spinner is bowling, he was nearing a landmark, why not hit this guy into row F, seat 27.At the press conference Younis dedicated this innings to Hanif Mohammad, a man of greatness like him. He didnt have to dedicate it with his words; he had spent two days honouring Hanif with his bat. It was, in length, in importance, in style, in every single way, Younis Khan in Excelsis. This man who has played his games in empty stadia, outside his home, with people watching on illegal streams, was suddenly getting 25,000 opposition fans to stand up and celebrate him.The man who captained the World T20 triumph, the man who made a triple century the last time he was allowed to play at home, the man who has witnessed his team-mates being thrown in jail and his opposition being shot at by terrorists, the man who dragged Pakistan cricket up from its darkest times, and the man who just bats and bats for his country. That man deserves to go out knowing that his team did everything they could to fight for the No. 1 spot. That the thing he spent his whole life mastering, finally paid off.They all want to be the first Pakistani team to be the official World No.1. But they want to do it for Younis as well.By the time Pakistans bowlers had destroyed Englands top order, West Indies had already collapsed against India so their latest chance of going top had been delayed. But this time it wasnt due to a Pakistan mistake. They were glorious, from first ball to last, they were as good as they could be. Pakistan had a chance to lose today; they have a chance to win tomorrow.Pakistan didnt perform another come from in front defeat. They didnt give up their chance of being No.1. Today they werent carried by Younis; they were as good as him. They stood with Younis. They were Younis. ' ' '