w whats going to happen and you have to stay on your game.On tonights win... I felt like Stephanie [Aiple] and I had a really good connection tonight. Just being up and early no

CHICAGO -- Far removed from the playoff races, James Shields was trying to avoid his 19th defeat this season while facing the 103-loss Minnesota Twins.It resulted in a rare night of smiles for Minnesota while confusion surrounded White Sox manager Robin Venturas future.Byron Buxton and Jorge Polanco each hit a two-run home run to send Shields to a major league high-tying 19th loss, and the Twins beat Chicago 6-0 on Saturday night.The Twins havent lost this many games since the franchise moved to Minnesota, but in this one, they got 6 1/3 innings of three-hit ball from Hector Santiago (13-10) for their third win in 14 games.Buddy Boshers, J.T. Chargois and Brandon Kintzler completed the four-hitter.Weve lost enough games already, Santiago said. So you go out there and try to give your team a chance to compete and win.The Chicago Sun-Times reported during the game that Ventura, who is in the last year of his contract, would not return after five seasons and that Rick Renteria, a former manager of the Chicago Cubs, would likely replace him.Ventura wouldnt answer questions about his future.I just said all along that Im going to talk about it at the end, Ventura said.Meanwhile, White Sox players claimed they hadnt heard the news.I dont know whats going on, third baseman Todd Frazier.Shields (6-19) concluded a career-worst season split between San Diego and Chicago by allowing five runs and four hits over seven innings. His 40 home runs and 118 earned runs allowed are the most in the majors. Only Tampa Bays Chris Archer has as many losses.Polanco homered in the fourth and Buxton connected an inning later off Shields. Juan Centeno added run-scoring doubles in the seventh and ninth.Shields is 4-12 since being traded to the White Sox in June.Thats just the kind of year Im having, Shields said. I make two bad pitches, and it costs me.Buxton continued his late-season emergence. The former top prospect hit .193 with one homer in his first 63 games this season, but then batted .277 with seven homers, 18 RBI and a .936 OPS in September.The 34-year-old Shields was an All-Star in Tampa Bay, helped Kansas City to the World Series in 2014 and entered the year with a major league-high nine straight 200-inning seasons. That streak ended as Shields finished with 181 2/3 innings and a 5.85 ERA.Santiago, who spent parts of three seasons with the White Sox, struck out six. He improved to 4-0 with a 1.03 ERA in four starts against Chicago this year, with two coming before he was traded by the Angels on Aug. 1.Maybe a chip on the shoulder from being traded that first time, especially being there for so long and them moving me, Santiago said. Going against those guys it makes you step your game up because thats the team that brought you up and they got rid of you. So you want to go out there and beat them every time.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: Brian Dozier went 1 for 3 with a walk and two strikeouts before exiting with right oblique soreness. Earlier stage of my career Id probably keep playing, Dozier said. I didnt want to be stupid. Dozier is in a 2-for-37 slump and remains at 99 RBI. ... Molitor decided not to start 1B Joe Mauer (quadriceps) again this season.LOT OF HOMERSShields is the first pitcher to allow 40 home runs in a season since Cincinnatis Bronson Arroyo gave up 46 in 2011.MOLITOR UNPLUGGEDMolitor was blunt when asked to evaluate his team, which has the franchises worst record since the Washington Senators went 50-104 in 1949.He described the pitching as at a level thats probably the most significant reason were setting a Twins record for losses.Asked about the AL-high 126 errors, Molitor said it would be a point of emphasis next spring because its been crazy the total weve been able to accumulate.Molitor described the toll of all the losing by acknowledging you can feel the attitude and the deflation each time that we walk off the field and arent able to shake hands.UP NEXTAmid speculation he could be traded in the offseason to accommodate a rebuild, White Sox ace Chris Sale (17-9, 3.21 ERA) seeks his career-best 18th win in Sundays season finale. RHP Jose Berrios (2-7, 8.61) starts for the Twins. Cheap Fergie Jenkins Jersey . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Cheap David Ross Jersey . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. http://www.cheapcubsjerseysshop.com/?tag=cheap-ryne-sandberg-jersey . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Wholesale Cubs Jerseys . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Cheap Ron Santo Jersey . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M middle blocker Kaitlyn Blake had a team-high 13 kills while hitting a career-high .632 as the Aggies pulled away for their season-high sixth consecutive victory with a 27-25, 29-27, 25-20 victory over Mississippi State this evening at Reed Arena.A&M improved to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in Southeastern Conference matches and remained undefeated against the Bulldogs in seven all-time meetings. MSU falls to 12-16, 4-10 SEC.MSU, which has never won a set against the Aggies, pushed Texas A&M to the brink in the first two sets and was serving for a combined four set points before the Aggies kicked in gear and came back to the win the match.In the opening set, the Bulldogs got an early lead on the Aggies by continuously keeping the ball alive on their side of the court while building their largest lead at 21-13. Senior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers then got a kill to mark the start of an 8-1 run that put the Aggies within 22-21. Hollann Hans, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, also helped kick start the Aggies, posting three kills during the rally.The teams began to trade points with a kill by Bali Leffall-Young putting the Bulldogs at set point, 24-22. MSU was whistled for a ball handling error on the ensuing play, and Babers and junior outside hitter Kiara McGee followed with a block to tie the score, 24-24. Evie Grace Singleton put down her fifth kill of the stanza to put the Bulldogs at set point for the third time, 25-24, but junior opposite hitter Ashlie Reasor put down an errant MSU overpass for a kill to tie the score. Babers followed with a strategically placed tip kill to the sideline to even the score, 26-26, and then she teamed with junior setter Stephanie Aiple to block Singleton to close out the set.There were 17 ties and eight lead changes in the closely contested second set before A&M pulled out the 29-27 win. MSU held the largest lead of either team at 7-3 before Babers caromed a kill off the Bulldog block to start a 5-0 run that gave the Aggies their first lead since 1-0. The teams continued to battle back and forth before Blake had two of her six kills in the set during a 3-0 run that gave the Aggies their largest lead, 21-18. MSU fought back to tie the score at 23-all, but Reasor broke the tie and put A&M at set point with a well-timed off-speed shot that fell in for a kill. An A&M ball-handling error knotted the score at 24-24, and Singleton followed with a kill to give the Bulldogs a 25-24 lead. Aiple quickly set up Babers for back-to-back kills to return the lead to A&M. The teams exchanged kills and the score was tied at 27-27 before Aiple dumped the ball in for a kill, and Reasor followed with another off-speed shot to close out the set.A&M spotted MSU a 12-9 lead in the third set before beginning another comeback. The Aggies, who outhit MSU .385 to .207 in the frame, went on an 11-2 run, including seven unanswered points that put A&M up, 20-14. The Bulldogs cut into the lead, getting within 22-19 before Blake got a kill and teamed with McGee for a block to put the Aggies at match point. Singleton staved off one match point with her match-leading 16th kill, but McGee countered with a kill down the block to end the set and complete the sweep.Aiple dished out 42 assists and guided the Aggies to a .283 to .208 lead in hitting percentage for the match. She also added five blocks, one shy of her career high. Babers finished with a match-high 15 points, posting 12 kills and a match-high six blocks. McGee and Hans pitched in nine kills apiece, while libero Amy Nettles and defensive specialist Victoria Arenas led A&M with nine digs each.Texas A&M wraps up its four-match homestand Sunday as the Aggies play host to the Georgia Bulldogs. First serve is Sunday at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena. A&M narrowly defeated Georgia, 3-2, when the teams met Oct. 21 in Athens.The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be hosting its annual Aggies CAN food drive on Sunday. Anyone donating four canned food items will be admitted free to the match. It also is Take a Kid to the Match, with up to four kids admitted free with the purchase of one regular-priced adult ticket. In addition, it will be Bingo Sunday. Fans are encouraged to pick up a bingo card at the 12th Man kiosk at the main entrance and play along for chances to win Aggie gear.Texas A&M postmatch quotes: TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH LAURIE CORBELLI On todays slow start... Weve definitely had some frustrating slow starts. We cant do that and finish the way we want to finish anymore, we cant do it anymore. We just challenged them to make a switch. We were hesitant on the court, there was not as good of communication as there usually is. I realize that is going to happen sometimes, but my job is to let that not happen. If it happens, you have to call them out on it, so thats what we did. I think we kind of wokke up some players that kind of didnt realize they needed to be woken up.dddddddddddd Overall a 3-0 win in the SEC near the end of the season, Im really happy about the victory. [Mississippi State] just doesnt quit swinging at blocks. I almost wanted to at some point stop blocking because we seem to dig them better just a straight, clear shot coming at you then they score at the block. They came at us on their right side, and thats not an easy spot to defend from when they just relentlessly swing away. I thought they had a great game plan, and I thought they really handled, for having two freshman on the floor, outside hitter and setter, they had great composure and very well coached.On strategy against Mississippi State... [Kaitlyn] Blake was really hot, so whenever we can get our middles going, both in front and behind our setter, its something we definitely want to stick with. Blake hasnt had a night like tonight in a long time. Shes been a little bit hot and cold lately, and this night she was obviously really hot with 13 kills, one error. Its really difficult to stop us when we are running both of those two in front of the setter and the blockers are having to figure out when to jump, who to jump with, who to stop. I thought [Stephanie Aiple] made some really great decisions, especially when we were running our combinations. A lot of the time setters want to set someone in that combination and she is setting someone outside of the combination. Thats usually a one-on-one situation as well. I was really impressed with her selections.On Mississippi States Outside Hitter Evie Grace Singleton... What a player. I love it when the players can come in defying the odds. Not the size, not the jump, not the accolades that so many SEC players come in here with. Just a kid that is just talented and goes for it. In fact, I compared her to my players. I said, if every one of you played like that, just with that kind of joy, passion and intensity, boy what a fun team it would be to coach every night. They dont like it when I do that, when I compare them to other players because they take it personally. I tell them its not personal, its just the truth. I thought she was really fun to watch and she does have a great swing. She has had a great career there, she has taken that program. She has been the hitter on that team for four years.On Mississippi States fast pace sets... They do run such a fast set to the pins, to the antennas. Its faster than anyone well see. I dont know if a team can really play any faster than that, is probably how I should say it. It is really challenging; weve worked on it all week in practice. You know, our practice squad side is setting the ball super-fast. Our hitters arent used to hitting it that fast so we try to emulate it, but it was really hard to do. That ball just comes through the seams and off your hands and comes on quick. All the things that take you a little bit out of your typical rhythm of blocking. Blocking is all about timing, rhythm and position. They just ripped that part up on everybody, thats how they score most of the time.TEXAS A&M SOPHOMORE MIDDLE BLOCKER KAITLYN BLAKE On starting stronger... Were a fast, strong team. Its just a matter of if we are ready to come play or not. I think thats what gets in our way. Were so ready that were kind of tight and not wanting to make mistakes, and thats when we make the most mistakes. I think all around tonight we did fairly well. Of course, everybody struggles at times, but we always pull it out in the end. But we do need to start playing well earlier. I think we played well toward the end.On maintaining focus...I think our problem is we get comfortable and think we have it in the bag. We should never have that mindset, because everyone is good in the SEC. Whether youre at the top or the bottom, you never know whats going to happen and you have to stay on your game.On tonights win... I felt like Stephanie [Aiple] and I had a really good connection tonight. Just being up and early normally seems to work for me, and when I feel like I get on a run, it just keeps happening. Its nice to know that Im able to work with my setter, and to perform tonight was what our team needed. I think all the other hitters did that as well, and it was really good for us.TEXAS A&M JUNIOR OUTSIDE HITTER KIARA MCGEE On moving forward as a team... When it comes time for the tournament and were still playing like this, were going to lose, no doubt. Thats what were trying to work on, our mental game, right now, on coming out and starting faster, because we have all the athleticism, height and strength in the world on our team. Right now its just our mental games getting us down right now, and our starts. ' ' '