ile the Texas Rangers are getting close to clinching another AL West title, their top two pitchers are struggling a bit.Yu Darvish matched a career hig

Greater Western Sydney CEO Dave Matthews says an independent investigation vindicated Giants midfielder Lachie Whitfield and found no significant basis to support allegations he had reportedly attempted to avoid illicit drug testing.The AFL has completed an investigation into the allegation, which was made by a member of the public halfway through last year.However, they have yet to release their findings and on Tuesday could not give a time frame for when that would happen.Fairfax media reported on Tuesday it understood there were incriminating text messages between 2012 No.1 draft pick Whitfield and his then girlfriend.It said the AFL was considering what action to take, if any, after completing its own investigation into whether 22-year-old Whitfield stayed at the home of former welfare manager Craig Lambert in May last year in order to avoid a drug test.Whitfield, as well as both Lambert and former football manager Graeme Allan would face the prospect of two-to-four-year bans if it were proven they conspired to evade or were complicit in seeking to evade a drug test.Both Allan and Lambert have since left the Giants - Allan was recently appointed football director at Collingwood and Lambert returned to work at the Brisbane Lions.Matthews said GWS immediately alerted the AFL in July 2015 when they became aware of the allegations and referred the issue to their integrity committee, which commissioned the independent report.Asked why the Giants hadnt taken any action against Whitfield, Matthews said because the allegations that were put forward from a member of the public that were referred to a special counsel to investigate came back and largely were proven to be allegations that there werent sufficient evidence to support.So in that regard we didnt see any reason at the time to take any action at all.In fact weve since extended Lachie Whitfields contract. Hes an important player to our club.Weve got a lot of confidence in him and the report that weve received certainly was vindication for Lachie.Matthews was comfortable with the way the Giants had handled the matter.The report that we commissioned that was independent found that there was no really significant basis to support the allegations that were put forward, Mathews said.Were very confident and very comfortable in the report that we received and the action weve taken since our club, in my view, has acted properly every step of the way.Giants coach Leon Cameron expected Whitfield would play in Saturday weeks qualifying final against Sydney, but admitted the timing of the revealed allegation wasnt great.Its obviously not ideal, but hes in the club today, hes OK, Cameron said.Hes got around his teammates and that (the AFL Investigation) will sort itself out in time.But at this stage hell be ready to go next Saturday.Its not going to affect us at all.Whitfield has had a solid season for the Giants, playing 19 out of their 22 home and away games and averaging 20 disposals a match.He missed three matches in the second half of the season after a bout of tonsillitis.Matthews wasnt sure who was responsible for bringing the allegations into the public domain but said he wasnt worried about the source. 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In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. ARLINGTON, Texas -- While the Texas Rangers are getting close to clinching another AL West title, their top two pitchers are struggling a bit.Yu Darvish matched a career high allowing seven runs, a night after All-Star lefty Cole Hamels had another subpar outing, and the AL-best Rangers lost 11-2 to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.We believe in those two guys, in Cole and Darvish, manager Jeff Banister said. Still believe theyre as good as there is out there.Darvish (5-5) struck out eight in his five innings, but walked four batters -- all of those runners scored -- and allowed two homers.Ive been having good command throughout this year. Today I didnt have it, Darvish said through his translator. I think its because I wasnt getting a good feel for it physically, and a feel for the pitches. Im not talking about pain or anything, its just the feel. I just didnt pitch well today.Joey Wendle led off the game with his first major league homer and Marcus Semien also went deep against Darvish.Carlos Gomez homered for the Rangers (88-61), whose magic number to clinch the division title dropped to five after Houston won 2-1 at Seattle later Saturday night. The Astros and Mariners are both 9 1/2 games back in the AL West with two weeks left in the regular season.Hamels has allowed at least six runs in three of his four starts, including the series opener Friday night against the As when he allowed six runs in six innings before the Rangers rallied to win the game with two outs in the ninth.There would be no big comebacks Saturday night, after which both Hamels and Darvish will likely have no more than two more starts before the postseason.Darvish has put together some quality starts in there, Banister said. With Cole, obviously, weve seen some challenges, hes been nicked a little bit, but still, these guys are still throwing quality pitches. ... I feel like that these guys are going to continue to find their rhythm and make good pitches for us.Raul Alcantara (1-1), among five As pitchers to make their MLB debuts this season with a start, had three strikeouts without a walk. He pitched into the sixth, when he alloweed a two-run homer to Gomez.ddddddddddddDanny Valencia added another three-run homer for the As, his 17th, in the eighth off Dario Alvarez.Wendle, a rookie second baseman in his 15th career game, hit a 1-1 pitch into the left-field seats. His sacrifice fly in the second made it 4-0, after Darvish had walked the bases loaded to start the second and Bruce Maxwell hit a two-run singleSemiens three-run homer in the fifth, his 26th, made it 7-0 against Darvish.I noticed that early the fastball command wasnt there. So you get him looking in one spot, Semien said. Hes going to throw it in there. He throws a lot of offspeed too, so we were able to key in on one pitch and did a good job.NO A FOR YU VS OAKLANDDarvish is now 2-9 in 13 career starts against Oakland. No other team has beaten Darvish more than four times. When Darvish last faced Oakland -- a day after his 30th birthday exactly a month ago Saturday -- he struck out nine and walked one in seven innings in a 6-2 victory. Before that, he had gone 0-8 in 10 starts against the As since winning against them more than four years earlier in only his eighth game after coming from Japan.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: RHP Sonny Gray, out since Aug. 7 with a strained right forearm, threw all of his pitches during a 31-pitch bullpen session. He will get a couple of days off before another bullpen, and could still potentially pitch in another game this season.Rangers: DH/1B Prince Fielder was in the dugout for the first time since announcing last month that he couldnt play again after a second spinal fusion surgery. He got his neck brace off just more than a week ago.UP NEXTAthletics: Since eight scoreless innings in his first start for Oakland, lefty Ross Detwiler is 1/3 with a 5.25 ERA his last seven games (six starts).Rangers: Colby Lewis (6-2, 3.31) makes his only his second start since a two-month stint on the DL with a strained right lat. The right-hander allowed three runs, all on solo homers, in 5 1/3 innings at the Los Angeles Angels last Sunday. ' ' '