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CLEVELAND - A year after flourishing down the stretch and landing a playoff spot, the Cleveland Indians are trying to do it again. Manager Terry Franconas one-day-at-a-time approach last season paid off with a wild-card berth. The Indians went 21-6 in September, including a 10-game winning streak to end the season. Cleveland, which is five games out in both the AL Central and wild-card race, will need a similar finish this time. The Indians and Minnesota Twins will play a doubleheader Thursday after Wednesday nights game was postponed by rain. Francona realizes that every day is crucial with 19 games to play, but his philosophy is staying the same. "Changing your colours, changing your stripes doesnt help players play better," he said. "Thinking too far ahead doesnt help. The best way to put yourself in that position is to take care of your business at hand. I just think that makes sense." The Indians dropped the series opener 4-3 on Tuesday, a difficult loss to a team that has the second-worst record in the AL. "Screaming and yelling doesnt make guys swing the bat and doesnt make you score runs," Francona said. "This is a game of almost who can handle frustration the best because theres so much of it." Francona admits its not always easy to maintain that philosophy on a personal level. "I probably dont on the inside," he said. "I do the best I can on the outside. This games really hard. I know that better than anybody." The Indians won six of seven before dropping three of four in a crucial series to Detroit last week. Cleveland swept three games from the Chicago White Sox before losing Tuesday. "Weve got a good group," Francona said. "We show up and play as well as we can and see where it takes you. You get down to the last week and maybe be aware of your surroundings, but I dont know if you can start doing crazy stuff. That doesnt really work." Wednesdays game was called off about two hours before the scheduled first pitch. Strong storms were in the forecast into early Thursday morning. The day off will give the Twins some rest before they try to do more damage to Clevelands playoff hopes. "Weve got to hold on to that mentality, to be honest," said reliever Brian Duensing, one of five pitchers the Twins used in Tuesdays win. "I think we owe it to the game of baseball. If we were to just come out and shut it down and not really give 100 per cent, its not fair to the game. Weve got to try and play spoiler and make it as difficult as possible on people." Indians ace Corey Kluber (14-9) will start game one against right-hander Kyle Gibson (11-10). Left-hander T.J. House (2-3) will pitch game two for the Indians against Ricky Nolasco (5-10). Custom Vancouver Canucks Jerseys . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league. Bo Horvat Jersey . - Pete Rose didnt want it to be about him, not on a day when four new members were elected to baseballs most exclusive club. http://www.officialcanuckspro.com/Igor-l...cks-jersey/.com) - Al Horford collected 19 points and 16 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks held off a furious rally to beat the Detroit Pistons 106-103 on Friday night in a game between two of the NBAs hottest teams. Todd Bertuzzi Jersey . Altidore strained his left hamstring in the Americans opener against Ghana on June 16 and didnt play in their next two games. "We dont know how much because we need to see how hes going, but hes available," U. Trevor Linden Jersey . Johansen scored twice and Derek MacKenzie, Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson also had goals to lead the Blue Jackets to a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, ending a three-game losing skid.When last seasons NBA Finals ended, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was all smiles. For a few minutes, that is. Popovichs first order of business after the seasons final buzzer sounded in Miami was to go and embrace Erik Spoelstra, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, giving everyone hearty hugs and offering genuine words of congratulations after the Heat topped his Spurs in Game 7 of one of the most dramatic, thrilling championship series in league history. The pain of losing started setting in later, and lasted for months. But now, the dream scenario for San Antonio has arrived. Starting Thursday, the Spurs get a rematch in the NBA Finals against the only team to ever beat them in a championship series. San Antonio will be holding home-court advantage, so if another Game 7 awaits, the Spurs will have the decided edge this time around. If that wasnt enough, the Spurs even got basically five full days between games to get healthy and prepare. It is, without question, everything the Spurs could have wanted. "We know what were going against," said Spurs guard Tony Parker, who added that he has great respect for what the Heat have done in this four-year run. "Its a great challenge." There are so many things that would seem like a distinct San Antonio advantage right now. First, while everyones better at home, the Spurs dominate in San Antonio, winning 103 times in their last 123 games there. Over the past four seasons, the Spurs are also 25-5 when having three or more days between games. Maybe most importantly, having nearly a week between the end of the Western Conference finals and the start of the NBA Finals gives Parker plenty of time to get his ailing left ankle ready to go for Game 1. "Ill do my best," said Parker, who didnt practice Tuesday but is hoping to play in the series opener, as the Heat expect he will. This is San Antonios sixth trip to the NBA Finals. The Spurs won it all in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007, the last title in that run coming when San Antonio swept a Cleveland team that featured a young LeBron James making his debut on the leagues biggest stage. James is no finals apprentice anymore. Hes been to the title round three times since, winning the last ttwo.dddddddddddd And James is quick to point out that the Spurs arent the only team fueled by hunger in this championship round. "Both teams have motivating factors," James said. "They have a motivating factor. We have our own." Losing the finals is one thing. Losing the way the Spurs did last June, thats something else. Forget Game 7 for a moment. Game 6 will be replayed for as long as there are replays, unforgettable for both how the Heat rallied and how the Spurs collapsed. A 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter was erased, in part because Mike Miller scored three points on one shot while wearing one shoe. And a five-point lead with 28.2 seconds left, well, you know the rest. Manu Ginobili misses a free throw. James makes a 3-pointer. Kawhi Leonard makes one of two free throws. James misses a 3-pointer. Chris Bosh out jumps Ginobili for the rebound. Ray Allen started backpedaling to the right corner, hoping for a chance. ABCs Mike Breen described what happened next like this: "Rebound Bosh ... back out to Allen ... his 3-pointer ... BANG!!! Tie game!" The Heat went on to win in overtime that night, then found a way to win Game 7 and the title, 95-88. When this season began, Popovich started camp by showing his team Games 6 and 7, painful as it was. "I try to learn something every game I watch," Popovich said. "Thats what we do." And while there were plenty of teams that looked like contenders this season, neither club was surprised that the end result is the first NBA Finals rematch since 1998. "We got wined and dined with some of the other teams that kind of popped up and showed greatness throughout the year," Allen said. "The Clippers looked great. OKC, they had their issues and then they popped up. Memphis looked good at the end of the year. Indiana was always hovering. But if you go back to the beginning of the year, most people said the same thing. Pop knew how to manage his team to get to this point. Same thing with us." In other words, maybe Spurs-Heat II was meant to be. 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