OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland Athletics are tired of squandering chances, especially in late September and on a night Sonny Gray more than earned a positive result. Gordon Beckham homered for the division champion Los Angeles Angels, who dropped the As into a tie for the top AL wild card with a 2-0 win Tuesday night. Grey fanned Mike Trout three times among his career-best 12 strikeouts, one month to the day after Jon Lester struck out the Angels slugger three times at the Coliseum. But Gray had nothing to show for it as Oakland was shut out for the seventh time since Aug. 1. "Its one of the major themes of the last month, month and a half," left fielder Sam Fuld said. "Weve had opportunities. Youve got to take advantage of those opportunities." Oakland and Kansas City are tied for the two wild-card spots at 86-71, three games ahead of Seattle with five to play. The Royals beat Cleveland 7-1 earlier Tuesday night and won the season series with the Athletics 5-2, giving Kansas City the tiebreaker. That means if the Royals and As win the wild cards and finish with identical records, Kansas City would host their one-game playoff next Tuesday. Wade LeBlanc (1-1) ran his scoreless stretch to 15 2-3 innings over his last six outings, allowing five hits in 5 1-3 innings for the AL West champions. LeBlanc is the second of three straight left-handers the Angels are throwing in this series. He is making his case to be on the post-season roster. "Any time players perform well, its going to help you to be stronger and help you make decisions," manager Mike Scioscia said. "We havent made any decisions yet but these are two strong starts from Wade." Gray (13-10) is 0-3 in his last six starts. The right-hander has one victory in 11 starts since a 5-0 July that earned him AL pitcher of the month honours. Of Trouts 13 games with three or more strikeouts, three are against the As. Gray struck out eight of the first 11 batters he faced. "That was terrific," manager Bob Melvin said. "He was up for it today. You could see when he came in the dugout there was a look in his eye he was going to get after it." The As had a chance to tie the game in the fifth after Josh Reddicks one-out double. Eric Sogard grounded out two batters later on an off-balance throw by second baseman Howie Kendrick that just beat Sogard, who slid headfirst. Los Angeles went ahead in the second on an unearned run when Erick Aybar scored from third during a rundown. Efren Navarro was caught stealing at second on a 2-6-3-4 double play after Hank Conger struck out swinging. Beckham hit his ninth homer leading off the sixth. "We lost. Whatever I did wasnt good enough tonight. It doesnt matter," Gray said. The As loaded the bases in the eighth against Joe Smith, who retired Stephen Vogt on a shallow fly to right to escape unscathed. Huston Street finished the three-hit shutout for his 16th save with the Angels and 40th overall. "I left a small village of runners in scoring position," Vogt said. Oakland was shut down after scoring 16 runs over its previous two games. That outburst came after the As totalled only 19 runs in their previous 10 contests. "We had some opportunities, and one or two more hits and its a different game," Melvin said. TRAINERS ROOM Angels: Jered Weaver (18-8) had the flu for a second straight day and left the ballpark. Scioscia said there is flexibility to push Weavers next start from Friday to Saturday if the right-hander needs an extra day. ... 3B David Freese was held out of the lineup after he experienced tightness in his upper back earlier in the day. ... OF Josh Hamilton hit off a tee for the second straight day. He missed his 18th game in 19 because of pain in his upper body. ... Scioscia said RHP Matt Shoemaker is "symptom-free" from a strained left oblique but wont pitch again in the regular season. He still needs to throw off a mound. "You dont want to jump over a step and risk setting yourself back," Scioscia said. Athletics: C Derek Norris was the DH for a second straight day after requiring an injection in his troublesome shoulder. He is slated to start Wednesdays series finale. UP NEXT Angels: LHP Hector Santiago (5-9, 3.98 ERA) has pitched two or fewer innings in each of his past two starts -- both losses -- after winning his previous three. He had no-decisions with a 1.00 ERA in his first three outings against Oakland this season. Athletics: Lester (16-10, 2.41) looks to improve on his 3-1 September record and beat the Angels for the first time in three starts this year. Lavonte David Jersey . 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On a night of standout individual performances Wednesday, Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand had a game hell want to forget. DeSean Jackson Jersey . PAUL, Minn.CALGARY -- A big NHL name with no previous experience coaching international hockey has stepped behind the bench of Canadas Olympic womens hockey team. Kevin Dineen was introduced Tuesday as the replacement for Dan Church, who abruptly resigned last week. Dineen was fired last month by the NHLs Florida Panthers. Hes represented Canada as a player six times, but the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, will be the first time hes coached a Canadian team. Dineen called his hiring "hopping on a moving train" as the Sochi opening ceremonies are less than two months away. Two forwards and a defenceman must be released before the 21-player Olympic roster is named. Dineen was born in Quebec City, but grew up in Toronto. The 50-year-old played in 1,188 NHL regular-season games, scoring 355 goals and adding 405 assists for the Hartford Whalers, Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators. He also played for the Canadian team that finished fourth at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. "That stuck with me a long time, not to come out of there with a medal," Dineen said. "I may have a little unfinished business from my Olympic experience." Dineen was in his third season coaching the Panthers when he was dismissed Nov. 8. Looking for hockey work, Dineen said he contacted Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson early last week about the possibility of coaching at the mens world championship in April. Church returned home to Toronto last Thursday without addressing the players. Hockey Canada said he left for "personal reasons." Churchs explanation before boarding the plane was he felt there was a lack of confidence in his ability to coach Canada to Olympic gold. The women lost 5-1 that evening to the United States with assistants Danielle Goyette and Lisa Haley co-coaching. The women went 1-1 in weekend games against male midget triple-A teams. Dineen flew to Toronto on Sunday to meet with Nicholson, chief operating officer Scott Smith and womens team scout and general manager Melody Davidson. "I was not expecting this opportunity," Dineen said. "This has been a whirlwind few days but when this opportunity presented itself I immediately jumped at it. "You end up getting fired and you go through a range of emotions. Sometimes things happen for a reason. I think this may be my reason." Dineen ran his first practice with the women after he was introduced to the media at a news conference. The Canadian women have been training full time in Calgary since August and have already played more than 30 games. The players were informed who their new coach would be just a few minutes before the news conference. They taped their names to the front of their helmets for practice so Dineen would know who they were. "It was typical hockey school, trying to help him out a bit," goaltender Charline Labonte said. "Right now, moving forward I think if we have the opportunity its nice to have someone who played the game. No, he doesnt know much about womens hockey. He seems interested and I know hes watched a lot of tapes. I know hell do anything to be ready and to learn about our game." Canada and the U.S. will clash three times over the next two weeks in their final exhibition games prior to the Olympics, starting with Fridays matchup in Grand Forks, N.D. Canada won womens Olympic hockey gold in 2002, 2006 and 2010, but has lost four of the last five world championship finals to the U.S. Hockey Canadas plan was to announce the Olympic roster prior to their holiday break next week, but the timetable is murkier with the coaching change. Five-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser says Dineen will have to adjust to dealing with female athletes, but she didnt feel his lack of international coaching experience would hinder his ability to coach the Canadian women. "Hes played for a long time and coached in the NHL and has a good track record of coachhing experience and also playing internationally, so Im not too concerned about that," Canadas all-time leading scorer said.dddddddddddd "Its different than the mens game, how you handle players, the way you approach team concepts and put the team together. Aside from that, the game on the ice, I dont think its too complicated to what goes on the mens side. "Men and women are different in the way they function and thats probably going to be the biggest adjustment for him." Dineens daughter Hannah is a freshman forward for Colby College in Maine and another daughter Emma is a soccer player. Dineen says hes coached Hannah and a team of Maine selects the last five years. "Ive been exposed to the intense, committed female athlete," he said. Dineen says hes already asked his daughters for advice and theyve told him to watch his language. "Dads vocabulary is sometimes . . . I think Ive been in enough womens locker-rooms over the year to know exactly how they speak so I dont have a lot of concerns on that," Dineen said. Davidson coached the Canadian women to gold in 2006 and 2010, but was adamant she would not step into the breach. McGill Martlets head coach Peter Smith and former NHL players Doug Lidster, Ryan Walter and Tim Bothwell have all served as either head or assistant coaches of the Canadian women at previous Olympics and world championships. But Hockey Canada went off the board to recruit a man fresh from the NHL ranks. "The biggest thing is we needed a new voice overall and in the end it didnt come from within our program," Davidson said. "Thats why I wasnt in the running, why I didnt want to be in the running. "Kevin brings forth a lot of the qualities we wanted: a good communicator, has a history of building a good team environment, has international background, sincere. "Even though he hasnt coached high-level, international women, when you have two daughters and a wife, you get a good touch of what its like to work with females as well." As it would be in the NHL when theres a sudden coaching change, Dineen had the womens full attention in Tuesdays practice because he is someone they need to quickly impress. The women had spent the days since Church departure in limbo and were relieved an important question had been answered. "Everyone has different feelings probably on what happened," forward Jayna Hefford said. "Its tough to see someone go who has invested so much in the program and Dan did that. "Its been a challenging week for us. A lot of emotions and I think until this was put in place, it was hard for us to move on. Now, I think were excited. Weve got someone who has played the game at a high level and coached the game at a high level and has a passion for the game." Dineen is the son of former NHL player and coach Bill Dineen, and his brother Gord also played in the NHL. The Panthers made the playoffs in 2011-12 when Kevin Dineen made his NHL coaching debut. Florida was 3-9 when he was fired. "Theres no doubt in my mind that hes going to bring a lot of success to that team and they should do well," Panthers defenceman Erik Gudbranson said. "Its a different game. But good hockey minds figure stuff out." Wickenheiser is day-to-day with a lower body injury she suffered in the first period of last weeks game against the U.S. when she collided with a teammate. She participated in the first half of Tuesdays practice wearing a yellow no-contact jersey. Forward Marie-Philip Poulin has played in only three games since September with a high ankle sprain. She skated prior to practice, but did not join her teammates for the full session. Poulin scored both goals for Canada in a 2-0 win over the U.S. in the 2010 Olympic final. "Well have her back in the New Year," Davidson said. "Whether well have her back earlier than that only the rehab and the time she puts into us well tell us that." Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Hockey Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China Cheap Nike MLB Jerseys China Wholesale Baseball Jerseys China Wholesale College Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Wholesale Jerseys Near Me Cheap Jerseys Online Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic Cheap Nike NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic MLB Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Throwback Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '