SEATTLE -- At this point of the season, the Oakland Athletics have to take their positives where ever they can get them. Ali Marpet Jersey .In a 5-1 loss to Seattle on Friday night -- Oaklands 10th in 11 games -- the bright spot was Zach Neal, who retired all 15 batters he faced to become just the second reliever in club history to pitch at least five perfect innings. The other was Dennis Eckersley, who pitched six perfect innings of relief in 1987.Hes come a long way, As manager Bob Melvin said. Hes had two days off, and gives us five innings of nothing against a team who looked like they were going to score 30 runs in the first couple innings.Seattle, which has won seven of nine, is one game behind Toronto for the AL wild-card second spot. The Mariners also trail Detroit by a half-game.Neal came on with one aboard in the third after starter Raul Alcantara (1-3) was tagged for five runs on four homers -- including two by Robinson Cano -- in two-plus innings.With Raul today, balls were over the middle of the plate, and unfortunately more mid-thigh than weve seen him, so he just had a tough night, Melvin said.Cano had a two-run homer in the first. He added his 38th home run in the third, a solo shot that gave him 100 RBI for the season. Norichika Aoki and Nelson Cruz also homered off Alcantara.Enter Neal, who was 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA in two starts against Seattle, giving up 12 runs in 9 1/3 innings pitched.The last time you all talked to me here I had just given up seven runs in four innings in my first big-league start, Neal said. So it kind of came full circle. It feels good to go out like that, especially here.Taijuan Walker (8-11) allowed one run on two hits in six innings, but walked five in a 113-pitch outing. The only run came on Ryon Healys 13th homer to open the sixth. Evan Scribner, Nick Vincent and Steve Cishek each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.It was just one of those weird starts where one hitter everything was locked in, the next hitter it was all over the place, Walker said. But, I just kept fighting.Cano drove a 1-1 pitch over the wall in center to give the Mariners to a 2-0 lead in the first after a leadoff infield single by Aoki.Aoki made it 3-0 in the second with his fourth homer just inside the right field foul pole.Cano opened the third with another home run to center and Cruz followed with his 42nd homer to make it 5-0.The As loaded the bases in the fifth on two walks and a two-out error by second baseman Cano, but Walker retired Stephen Vogt on a popout.Neal, who was 1/3 with a 5.74 ERA in six starts, has not allowed a run in six of his last seven relief appearances.Ive just been doing the same thing I always had, Neal said. I think if theres one thing, its understanding what I do. Learning to throw my sinker to both sides of the plate, throwing strikes just like I always have. Just competing. I knew this last month was going to be a big month for me, and I was going to give it everything I had.HORN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENTOakland assistant athletic trainer Walt Horn announced he would retire at the end of the season. Horn has spent 39 years as an athletic trainer in the Athletics organization, including the last nine seasons with the major league club.If you know Walt, this is one of the tremendous gentlemen in the game, Melvin said. He told me he was thinking about this a while ago, and Ive been trying to talk him out of it.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: RF Danny Valencia was originally in the lineup, but was a late scratch due to neck soreness. Matt Olson started in right.UP NEXTAthletics: Rookie RHP Jharel Cotton (2-0, 1.44 ERA) makes his fifth career start since being called up from Triple-A Nashville on Sept. 7. He has not allowed more than one earned run in any of his four starts, lasting at least 5 2/3 innings in each.Mariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (16-12, 3.96 ERA) has been Seattles most consistent pitcher over the course of the season. His 16 victories are a career high, but he is 2-5 in his last eight starts. Iwakuma is 4-0 against Oakland this season. Ronald Jones Jersey . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Lukas Denis Jersey . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. http://www.cheapbuccaneersjerseysauthent...mayfield-jersey . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Ohio State has caught up to Alabama in the odds to win the national championship at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.The SuperBook moved the Buckeyes into the role of co-favorites early last week, after taking a five-figure wager on Ohio State at 4-1, according to Ed Salmons.Alabama remains the consensus favorite in Las Vegas, but the gap between the Crimson Tide and the Buckeyes has narrowed. Alabama opened at 6-1 to win the national championship, with Ohio State opening at 10-1.The Crimson Tide and Buckeyes are now each 5-2 at the SuperBook. Clemson and Washington are next at 6-1, followed by Michigan at 7-1 and Louisville at 8-1. Those six contenders are the only teams with single-digit odds at the SuperBook.Salmons projected Alabama would be around a 3.5-point favorite over Ohio State, if they were to play this week on a neutral field. It definitely would make for a great game, Salmons said. Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading at William Hills U.S. sportsbook, said the line may even be smaller.Under a field goal, I think, he added.Washington attracts big betsThe Washington Huskies inflicted some serious damage on Las Vegas sportsbooks over the weekend.More than twice as much money was bet on Washington-Oregon than any other game at William Hills Nevada sportsbook, with 84 percent of the money on the favored Huskies. Five of the nine largest bets the sportsbook took on Saturday were on Washington, the largest being a $44,000 pop on the Huskies.Washington closed as a 10.5-point road favorite and easily won 70-21, handing multiple sportsbooks their worst defeat on Saturday. Only the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots cost Caesars Palace more money than the Huskies. A Caesars representative said the books loss on Washington was four times greater than any other single-game loss Saturday.The Huskies opened as high as 75-1 to win the national championship at MGMs sportsbook, which took 50 small bets on Washington at those odds. The 6-0 Huskies are now 6-1 to win the title.Washington is kind of the new Oregon, Westgate SuperBook assistant manager Salmons said.The Ducks are 0-5-1 against the spread this season.NFL book reportSunday got off to a good start for bettors, who sided heavily with Brady and the Patriots against the Cleveland Browns. The morning was a little ugly, MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood said. With Brady coming back, [producing] the normal results, it was the worst game of the morning.The Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings also delivered early blows to the sportsbooks, with the Detroit Lions win over the Philadelphia Eagles producing the houses biggest win of the morning.The Lions saved the morning, said Jason MccCormick, a sportsbook director for Station Casinos. Evan Smith Jersey. Outright wins by underdogs Dallas and Atlanta helped the books recover in the afternoon. The Cowboys opened as 1-point favorites, but closed as 2.5-point home underdogs to the Bengals.We had some strong play on Cincinnati, said Rood, who added that Dallas victory would erase all the books losses from the morning.Football vs. baseball bettingMore money is being bet on sports in Nevada than ever before, with the states regulated books handling a record $4.23 billion in 2015. It was the sixth straight year Nevada sportsbooks set record for the amount wagered, with all-time highs being bet on basketball ($1.25 billion) and baseball ($897.31 million), according to gaming control. The amount bet on football, however, saw a slight drop from $1.74 billion to $1.69 billion in 2015, the first year-over-year decrease since 2008-2009, during the recession.Football remains king at the window, though. Three times as much money was bet on the primetime game between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers than was bet on Sundays three MLB playoff games combined at William Hills Nevada sportsbook. (That includes wagers on Game 3 of the ALDS between Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, which was postponed by inclement weather).Overall, on Sunday, 11 of the 12 NFL games attracted more betting handle than any of the three baseball games at William Hill. The Washington Redskins-Baltimore Ravens game was the least bet NFL game Sunday. It had comparable handle to each of the baseball games on Sunday.Game 1 between the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs on Friday was the most-heavily bet baseball game in the divisional round. It attracted only 5 percent of the handle that Giants-Packers did at William Hill.Presidential oddsHillary Clinton is a 2-9 favorite to win the U.S. presidential election, with Donald Trump listed as a 10-3 underdog at English sportsbook giant William Hill.Graham Sharpe, media relations director for William Hill U.K., told ESPN on Monday morning that 2 million pounds had already been wagered on the presidential election. Sharpe said the book took its largest wager ever placed on any U.S. election last week, when a 46-year-old woman staked 550,000 euros on Clinton at 4-11. The bet would net 200,000 euros. Sharpe said the six-figure bet is the largest wager ever placed at William Hill on any U.S. election market.Trump would be the best outcome for us, Sharpe said.Clinton was a 1-5 favorite before the debate Sunday night. She was down to 2-9 Monday morning. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '