up a run in the first inning on Asdrubal Cabreras sacrifice f

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- The New South Wales Waratahs will stand apart from the potential chaos of the last round of the Super Rugby regular season this weekend. By beating the Highlanders 44-16 last Sunday, the Waratahs clinched first place on the overall table and afforded themselves the only sense of certainty belonging to any of the teams still involved in the playoffs race. They know that whatever happens this weekend, they will have a weeks rest before hosting a home semifinal. For every other team from the second-placed Crusaders to the ninth-placed Blues, who need events of almost miraculous proportions to reach the playoffs, almost nothing is assured. The last and most intriguing episode of the regular season has still to play out. For the Waratahs, with their fate already decided, Saturdays match against the 12th-placed Reds should be little more than an undemanding end to the regular season and a light prelude to their first semifinal in four years. But matches between New South Wales and Queensland, beginning in 1882, are invested with such a potent interstate rivalry, even antipathy, that the Waratahs cannot expect an easy time. Queensland, champions in 2011, have little to salvage from a season in which their performance has fallen well short of expectations, but a win over New South Wales would at least be a small consolation. Waratahs coach Michael Cheika has refused to name an under-strength lineup for the match to spare his frontline players for the semifinal. "You could (injure a player) at any time, in training or regular games," Cheika said. "This is a contact sport, you dont go into it worrying about things like that." In other matches in the final round, the Christchurch-based Crusaders will meet the Dunedin-based Highlanders in a contest for first place in the New Zealand conference. The Crusaders are currently in second place with 46 points and the Highlanders in fourth place with 42, needing a bonus point win to finish ahead of the Crusaders. A single bonus point would be enough to ensure the Crusaders top the New Zealand conference but they need a win, ideally a good one, to hold out the challenge of South Africas Sharks for second place and the other home semifinal. The Sharks wrapped up the South African conference several weeks ago and are currently in third place overall, equal on points with the Crusaders, sharing the Crusaders tally of 10 wins and only eight points behind on points differential. The Durban-based Sharks face the Stormers in the final round -- a team to which they lost only two weeks ago -- and also need to win to enforce their challenge for second place. If both teams win and finish the regular season with 11 wins, points differential may decide which takes the preferred route through the playoffs. The Highlanders need to recover quickly from last weekends six-try mauling at the hands of the Waratahs to take their place in the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. That position isnt yet safe and they could be displaced, depending on the outcome of matches between the ACT Brumbies and the Western Force, the Blues and defending the champion Chiefs. All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has been ruled out of Saturdays match with a rib injury: a minor setback for the Crusaders who can finish no further back than fourth but who are determined to achieve a conference victory and second place. The Chiefs must beat the Blues in Auckland to have any chance of extending their two-year reign as Super Rugby champions. They enter the final round in eighth place and must also depend on the outcome of other matches to gain a top-six finish. The Blues must beat the Chiefs by a clear 38 points and with five tries to preserve their frail hope of a playoffs spot. The Brumbies, in sixth place, and Force, in seventh -- both with 40 points -- also meet in a must-win clash between playoffs hopefuls. The winner of Fridays match at Canberra will advance to the playoffs while the losers season is over. The most anxious role in the final round belongs to the Hurricanes who are currently fifth with 41 points but who have the bye and must allow the outcome of other matches determine whether their season continues. Mike Cuellar Jersey . His big 2-minute outburst in the fourth quarter Tuesday night is all that really mattered for the Dallas Mavericks. Roy Oswalt Jersey . Louis Cardinals are one of Major League Baseballs model franchises. https://www.cheapastros.com/1173o-brad-peacock-jersey-astros.html . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (5) - Simply put, Lundqvist was brilliant. Derek Bell Jersey . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork. Carlos Lee Astros Jersey .Y. - Alex Rodriguez paid $305,000 for evidence that could be used in the case involving the Biogenesis of America drug clinic, the Daily News reported Saturday. PHOENIX -- A night after playing one of the longest games in team history, the Cleveland Indians needed Corey Kluber to pitch deep into the game to protect their depleted bullpen. Kluber did, though it had nothing to do with necessity. He tries to do that every time he takes the mound. Kluber gave Cleveland a much-needed quality start, pitching seven effective innings to help the Indians beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 on Wednesday to end a four-game losing streak. The Indians ran through their bullpen in a 14-inning game the night before Kluber (7-5) gave them a lift with another strong interleague effort, allowing four hits while striking out eight. "Obviously, we played a long game last night, but I dont think I put any more pressure on myself to go deep in the game as I normally would," Kluber said. "Thats what Im trying to do every game, go as deep as I can." Early run support helped. Michael Brantley homered and had two RBIs against Chase Anderson (5-3), sending the rookie to his third straight loss after opening his career with five consecutive wins. Yan Gomes also homered for Cleveland, and Michael Bourn had a pair of triples among his three hits. Jason Kipnis also had two doubles for the Indians, who had 10 hits. "We didnt score in bunches, but scored one and then we scored two," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "We kept after it. I thought we had good at-bats throughout the lineup." Both teams needed their starters to go deep into the game after Tuesday nights marathon. Arizona won 9-8 on Aaron Hills single in the 14th inning after both teams emptied their bullpens in a game that lasted 5 hours, 32 minutes, matching the longest game in Chase Field history. Clevelands bullpen had pitched 20 of the 41 1-3 innings in the previous four games, so the Indians really needed a good outing from Kluber. And he delivered. After giving up a pair of hits to start the first inning, Klubeer limited Arizonas chances, allowing one runner to reach second base over the next six innings.dddddddddddd Kluber improved to 6-0 with a 2.28 ERA in six career interleague starts. He also lined a single to left in the fourth inning for his first career hit. Arizona finished with five hits -- none after the third inning until Miguel Monteros run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth. "Kluber is pretty good," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "We havent seen him. He has really good stuff. A real live arm. He has some deception in his delivery." Anderson ate up a few innings, though wasnt nearly as effective. After losing his past two starts despite pitching well -- four earned runs in 11 innings -- the right-hander wasnt nearly as sharp against the Indians. Anderson gave up a run in the first inning on Asdrubal Cabreras sacrifice fly, and Gomes homered in the second. Brantley had a run-scoring groundout in the third inning and put Cleveland up 4-0 with a solo homer to right in the fifth. Anderson allowed seven hits and walked three in five innings. "I knew I had to try to get deeper in the game because the bullpen was spent," Anderson said. "Just didnt do my job tonight." Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall each had run-scoring hits off Zeke Spruill in the seventh inning to put the Indians up 6-0. NOTES: Indians ace Justin Masterson will have his start on Sunday pushed back due to a sore right knee. He will be shut down for two days before throwing a bullpen to see how hes feeling. ... Arizona had stolen eight straight bases before Ender Inciarte was thrown out at third in the third inning. He was initially called safe, but it was overturned after a review. ... Arizona has a day off before RHP Brandon McCarthy pitches in a road game against San Diego on Friday. The Indians also have a day off before RHP Trevor Bauer starts the opener of a three-game series at Seattle. ' ' '