es already, the Sooners are actually ranked one spot

TORONTO - They thought Marcus Stroman could be really good. The young man, never lacking confidence, thought he could be really good. But there were issues the young pitcher needed to work out. Would Stroman be able to stay on top of his four-seam fastball often enough to prevent it from riding up in the zone, which had been a repeated issue for a pitcher of his diminutive size? Did his stuff, a plus fastball and a nasty curveball/slider combination, translate better to late-game relief or would he be a starter? Since his second recall and insertion into the starting rotation, Stroman hasnt been really good. Hes been great. And he isnt the pitcher they thought he would be. He isnt the pitcher he thought he would be. Whats changed? Stroman has developed a sinking fastball which, for the 23-year-old Long Islander, is a game-changer. "That pitch has allowed me to be so much more efficient," said Stroman. "Whereas everyone used to say he cant go deep into games, go deep into games, hes too whatever, whatever, whatever, its really allowed me to go deep into games because its a pitch that I can rely on to keep on the ground. I get big double plays when I need them with that pitch and I get a lot of early outs. I dont have to be as fine with that pitch when Im throwing it." Exhibit A of the new, efficient, Stroman is his most recent start, a 93-pitch, three-hit shutout of the Chicago Cubs on Monday night. He recorded 15 groundball outs (14 groundballs, one of which was a double play) and other than a first inning comeback line drive which almost beheaded Stroman, nary a ball was hit hard. You get the sense Stroman is surprising even himself. "I would have never gone 93 pitches, nine innings ever the way I used to pitch," said Stroman. "It wasnt realistic. I was a four-seam guy; I was a strikeout guy. I always had pretty good control but I always used to have to worry about really locating my heater." The metamorphosis began in the most innocent of ways. It was around the All-Star Break when Stroman, coming off a trying start against the Angels in Anaheim, was sitting in his apartments living room with a baseball in hand. He was, as he said he often does, messing around with different grips. He came across something that "felt right" in his hand. Stroman decided he would take the grip into his next bullpen session. He liked what he saw. He didnt change his release point. The ball naturally sank. Confident he could execute the pitch in major league game action, Stroman experimented in his first post-All-Star Break start, which featured seven innings of shutout ball in a Blue Jays 4-1 win over Texas on July 19. Stroman knew he had something when he froze Shin-Soo Choo with a full count sinker. "He just took it and walked back because Id never thrown it," said Stroman. "That might have been the first one I threw in that game, the second one I threw in that game and after I threw that pitch and I had that movement on it and I saw his take, thats when it started to take off." Stroman has trouble describing how he grips the pitch. "Its not your conventional two-seam by any means," said Stroman. "Thats what I used to try and throw and I had no success with it. I hold all my pitches pretty weird. I kind of just threw my spin and torque the ball in my hand like I do a lot of my pitches with the two-seam and felt really comfortable." Stroman was a high strikeout, high flyball minor league pitcher. Now, hes working a 55-percent groundball rate. The punch outs still will be there but they wont be as frequent. Stromans struck out 20.7-percent of big league hitters hes faced. He fanned 30.8-percent of hitters at Triple-A Buffalo but that was back when he was a different pitcher. Last year, at Double-A New Hampshire, his strikeout rate was 28.1-percent. Some of the strikeout regression is, no doubt, the result of facing big league hitters. But the new approach factors in, too. Stroman still has the plus four-seam fastball. Hes still got his filthy curveball and slider. The sinker gives him yet another look, another way to get hitters out. He can never have too many options. "Im still throwing all the pitches, it just gives me another pitch to rely on too," said Stroman. "Im always going to throw all my pitches. Im not necessarily going to take pitches out but having a sinker definitely helps, especially since Im a starter and the whole goal of being a starter is to keep your team in the game, late into games." Clint Capela Rockets Jersey . Gorges is believed to have suffered the injury while blocking a shot with a hand during Montreals win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The Canadiens added to their defensive depth this week by acquiring veteran Mike Weaver from the Florida Panthers. Steve Francis Jersey . Stevenson scored the first three goals of the game in the first period for Regina (35-22-6), which has won eight of its last 10 games. Patrick DAmico added two for the Pats, Braden Christoffer had a single and Morgan Klimchuk chipped in a goal and four assists. http://www.therocketsofficial.com/Authen...Rockets-Jersey/. Its like being on Broadway, everything you do matters. Id want to be good though! I couldnt play here if I wasnt very good. #83217388 / gettyimages. Houston Rockets Jerseys . -- Floridas smothering defence returned to form just in time for the third-ranked Gators to keep their winning streak going. PJ Tucker Rockets Jersey .com) - Top seed Klara Zakopalova reached the second round, while former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone came up a loser Tuesday at the inaugural Rio Open tennis event.Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) - One of two games on the Saturday schedule to feature a pair of nationally-ranked programs, No. 15 Oklahoma is set to take on No. 16 Washington as part of the MGM Grand Showcase at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Despite having lost a pair of games already, the Sooners are actually ranked one spot higher than the Huskies due to the tougher competition on the schedule in the early going. Oklahoma already has victories over UCLA and Butler, with the teams defeats coming against Creighton (65-63) and Wisconsin (69-56). Since the setback to the second-ranked Badgers late last month, Oklahoma has responded with three consecutive wins, the most recent being an 85-53 thrashing of in-state rival Oral Roberts on Tuesday. As for the Huskies, they are one of only a handful programs still undefeated heading into the weekend. The team is perfect through nine games for the first time since 2005-06 when they started 11-0 under head coach Lorenzo Romar, who is now in his 13th season in Seattle. While the team does have an impressive win against San Diego State (49-36) a couple weeks back, more recent wins over Eastern Washington and Grambling have not carried as much weight. This is just the fourth meeting between the two programs, with the Sooners having won two of the previous three. However, the most recent encounter was won by Washington, 96-91, during the Great Alaska Shootout back in 2004. Oral Roberts led by a basket early in the game against the Sooners, but that advantage was short-lived as the visitors made a total of just 10 field goals in the first half and shot 33.3 percent for the game, en route to the 32-point blowout loss. Aside from Jordan Woodard who tallied eight points, to go along with eight assists, every Oklahoma starter scored in double figures led by Buddy Hield with 16 points and TaShawn Thomas with 14. Isaiah Cousins and Ryan SSpangler both dropped in 13 points, the latter also clearing 10 rebounds -- all at the defensive end of the floor.dddddddddddd Hield currently leads four players scoring in double figures with his 16.0 ppg, although he is shooting just 38.3 percent from the floor. He makes up for that somewhat with his 37.7 percent accuracy behind the 3-point line, while clearing 5.4 rpg. Spangler has three double-doubles on the season and is close to averaging one at the moment with 10.0 ppg and 8.4 rpg. While the defense was staunch against Grambling, giving up only 38 points, thats still more than the nationally-ranked Aztecs tallied back on Dec, 7. Nevertheless, Washington ran all over the Tigers by forcing 17 turnovers and holding the visitors to only 23.3 percent shooting from the field as they built a massive 45-13 advantage at the break and continued to run away in the second half on Wednesday night at Alaska Airlines Arena. Shawn Kemp Jr. scored a game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor, followed by Andrew Andrews with 16 points, converting 4-of-8 beyond the arc. Off the bench the Huskies were given a huge lift by Robert Upshaw and his double-double consisting of 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, while Mike Anderson responded with 10 points, six boards and five assists. Bidding for a double-double of his own was Nigel Williams-Goss with nine points and a game- high 11 assists. Williams-Goss has shown himself to be a complete player, outside of his mere 25.8 percent shooting beyond the arc, as he leads Washington in scoring (14.6 ppg) and assists (62) and is also one of the better rebounders on the squad with 5.4 rpg. Upshaw, who has come off the bench in all nine games, is responsible for 10.9 ppg and a team-high 7.1 rpg, not to mention a total of 43 blocked shots, placing him among the nations leaders in that category entering the weekend. ' ' '