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OAKLAND, Calif. Air Max 270 2021 . -- Sonny Gray has been hearing the comparisons since his high school days in Tennessee. The references to Tim Hudson, another right-hander with a slight build and a big arm. Fittingly, in the very ballpark where Hudson shined as a member of Oaklands Big Three beginning in the late 90s, Gray dominated the Houston Astros with his fantastic fastball and snapping curve on the way to an impressive first major league victory. Grey struck out nine in his home debut, and the Athletics used Nate Freimans two-run homer and four RBIs to avert a three-game sweep by the lowly Astros with a 5-0 victory on Thursday. "Ive been getting comparisons ever since high school, the short righty," Gray said with a grin. "If you compare me to Tim Hudson, hes one of my favourite pitchers, one of the greatest pitchers." Fellow rookie Freiman had a two-run double in the first, and then hit his third home run in the third with a drive to the left-field stands. He finished with four hits. "Pretty special day for both those guys," manager Bob Melvin said. The 23-year-old Gray (1-1) allowed four hits and walked one over eight innings, throwing 118 pitches in his second career start and fourth big league appearance. Like so many other young pitchers in the As organization, the top prospect has been on the fast track to the majors since Oakland drafted him in the first round at No. 18 overall in the 2011 amateur draft. Melvin asked Gray after the seventh how he felt, and the pitcher wanted to keep going. "It was good for him to have the confidence in me to leave me out there," Gray said. Its a difficult call for a skipper, especially when dealing with a young pitcher. "With any of our guys, when theyre getting them out, theyre going to stay in," As pitching coach Curt Young said. "Were never going to get crazy with the pitch count. We thought it was doable and he ended up finishing a great outing. Hes just got nice composure in the two starts that hes had. Nothing seems to bother him." Grey still had his best stuff in the late innings. He retired leadoff man Robbie Grossman on a called third strike in the eighth, and then left to a warm ovation from an announced crowd of 16,487 in his first home start at the Oakland Coliseum. Fans yelled, "Come on, Sonny!" Dan Otero finished the five-hitter for Oaklands 10th shutout. Houston never found any kind of groove against Gray. "He got us to expand the zone," manager Bo Porter said. "He pitched a tremendous game." Freiman added singles to his impressive day in the fifth and seventh innings. He is batting .315 (40 for 127) since May 1 after batting .148 in April. Oakland jumped on Erik Bedard (3-9) in a hurry. He dropped to 0-6 over eight starts since a win against St. Louis on June 26. For the As, a sweep by the Astros would have been demoralizing. They already had lost two in a row to Houston each by one run, including in 11 innings Wednesday night. Oakland pulled within 1 1/2 games of idle first-place Texas in the AL West, avoiding falling three back for biggest deficit since May 31. After Chris Young beat out an infield single leading off the bottom of the first, Jed Lowrie hit an RBI double to stake Gray to a quick lead. Lowrie was the designated hitter rather than playing his usual shortstop spot as he nurses a sore lower right leg after being hit by a pitch Tuesday. Freiman doubled three batters later to make it 3-0. He faced Gray in the minors last season and predicted big things. "It was awesome," Freiman said. "We were all, This guys good. Im not surprised." Bedards day only got tougher. The lefty allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings. He is winless in his last three outings against the As since a victory at Oakland for Seattle on May 27, 2009. Houstons Chris Carter hit a liner at ex-As teammate and shortstop Eric Sogard in the seventh and the barrel of Carters bat broke off, sailed through the air and struck Sogard in the left leg. He stayed in the game. NOTES: Melvin said he didnt intend to get tossed Wednesday night, calling it one of the most surprising ejections of his career. He argued a close call at third in the eighth inning of the 2-1, 11-inning loss. While he has confidence in his coaching staff, Melvin said: "I cant get thrown out of that game. I feel bad. ... Everybody in the dugout has a job to do, and I wasnt there to do mine." ... As CF Coco Crisp will be re-evaluated Friday to determine whether he can play in the series opener with Cleveland, which would be three days after he received a cortisone shot in his ailing left wrist. ... The As are 18-20 against the division since May 10, compared to 34-14 against all other clubs. ... Umpire Angel Hernandez was booed by the crowd when announced before the game for his calls the entire series. Air Max 270 Flyknit Igloo . The injury will keep the Finnish forward out of the Olympics. The 29-year-old has 20 goals and 41 points in 56 games this season, his first with Tampa Bay. Air Max 270 Future Swoosh . The Argentina striker has not played for the Premier League leaders since September when he refused to warm up during a Champions League match and only returned last week from a three-month unauthorized absence at home. City coach Roberto Mancini had initially told Tevez he would never play for City again after his act of public insubordination, but later softened his stance and only asked for an apology. http://www.cheapairmax270react.com/air-max-270-flyknit-fake/air-max-270-flyknit-black.html . LOUIS -- Julius Randle had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Aaron Harrison finished with 18 points and No.Go to a game at any level, at your local park or in the Premier League, and you will still hear it. "We need a goal, shoot more!!!" Thanks to a rise in analytics, the inaccuracies of the statement have been explained many times. Such emotional messages are shouted at times of frustration but, without question, less and less people believe the more you shoot the more you score approach. For those still unsure about this notion, they should study the case of this seasons Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. Spurs drew 0-0 on Sunday at Everton to move into fourth in the table, despite scoring just nine goals from their first ten matches. They are ahead of Manchester City despite scoring 19 goals less. Tottenham are where they want to be in the table but they are far from where they want to be as an attacking unit. Andre Villas-Boas side currently average one goal every 100 minutes in the Premier League. Of the nine goals, three have been penalties. The other six have come from open play, at an average of one every 150 minutes. Despite needing more goals, however, their fans are not shouting shoot more. Thats because, through 10 matches, Tottenham leads the league in shots per game (17.5). They are also third in the league in shots on target per game (5.9). This is not a team struggling to get into the final third and create opportunities, it is a team handing the opportunities to the wrong players. Finding Soldado Call it 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1, or all of the above, Spurs are a side that plays with a sole striker flanked by wingers/attackers helped by a central three, usually with one pushing further forward than the other two. In nine of their ten league games so far, their main front man has been new signing Roberto Soldado. The Spaniard cost Tottenham 26 million pounds in the summer after scoring 59 goals in 97 league appearances during the last three seasons for Valencia in La Liga. He is seen as a major upgrade to what Spurs had last season. So far, Soldado has four goals (three penalties) but only one from open play. This has led some to put the blame on him as the reason for Tottenhams inefficiency in front of goal. "I need to see more from Soldado, I dont think he is helping his teammates enough," commented Robbie Earle during Sundays game on NBC. The 28-year-old obviously plays a part in Tottenhams struggles to score goals but it is much smaller than some believe. The cast of characters behind Soldado It is clear Tottenham is a team still trying to find their identity this season. It is not easy to make the amount of changes they made this summer and succeed immediately, something Villas-Boas acknowledged earlier this season after their win against Norwich. "We have good competition for places. We are stronger than the previous year, now we have more quality in depth and we need time to bond them together." This transitional time has seen a number of different players operate as the three attack-minded players behind the striker (the two wide players and the most attacking member of the midfield 3). At Everton on Sunday, AVB selected Aaron Lennon on the left, Lewis Holtby in the middle and Andros Townsend on the right. The three combined for just nine passes to their striker, with the left back and goalkeeper topping the combinations charts towards Soldado. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) In total, Soldado combined best with his left back (who was the games best player) in an otherwise frustrating day finding outlets. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) This has been the story so far for the sole striker in Tottenhams system. In the ten league games this season (Soldado 9 starts, Defoe 1), the starting striker has received the ball just 211 times; an average of just over 21 times per match. It is a remarkably low number for a team that shoots so often. League leaders Arsenal, ranked sixth on 14.3 shots per game and second with 6.4 shots on target per game, are finding their main striker a lot more. Olivier Giroud has started all ten of their league games so far. He has played 865 Premier League minutes (three minutes less tthan Tottenhams starting strikers) and has received 357 passes from his teammates (146 more). Air Max 270 Triple Black. Not only has this helped Giroud score more goals but it also means he connects better with his teammates to help create a much more cohesive attack. Giroud averages close to 30 completed passes per game while Soldado is at just 21. Through 10 matches, the Frenchman is receiving 15 more passes per game than he would if he played as the sole striker of Tottenham, despite Arsenal having attacking threats in the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil who have all showed they can score consistently at this level. Tottenham, on the other hand, have surrounded Soldado with gifted players, many who have yet to prove they are goal scorers at this level, meaning they should be relying more on the Spaniard to not only finish off balls they give him but to get involved in the attack and help them more. Lennon certainly isnt a scorer and knows his role, except he now finds himself on the left where he cant deliver regular crosses in for Soldado, who scored all of his 24 La Liga goals last season in the penalty box. Townsend, now preferred on the right, has started each of their last nine games and leads the team in shots per game, twice as many as Soldado. Englands new golden boy, however, is part of the problem at Tottenham, wasting many chances and not combining with the clubs star striker. There is some irony that Townsends only goal this season came from a cross, not finished by any of the players in the box, which rolled into the corner of the net at Aston Villa. The winger is clearly a favourite of the manager but for the club to succeed going forward he must start to work better with Soldado. A grand total of 23 passes to the striker of choice in 757 Premier League minutes so far is abysmal. Townsends pace and ability to penetrate deep into opponents territory is impressive but he needs to find his striker a lot more than once every 33 minutes if he is to turn into a player Tottenham can rely upon. Mesut Ozil, he will never be, but it is worth noting the German has found Arsenals striker 44 times in 608 minutes, or once every 13 minutes. (photo: fourfourtwo.com - Click For Larger Image) Five of Tottenhams six open play goals this season have all come from their own efforts, and even the goal they scored from a direct mistake (their second at Villa scored by Soldado) you could argue came from Tottenhams high pressing that caused the home sides turnover. The other five showed examples of what Spurs need to do to improve. Gylfi Sigurdssons brace against Norwich was helped by Christian Eriksens decisive ball on the first goal and then ability to switch the play to find Paulinho on the second to cross the ball into the box. Eriksen again found Sigurdssons intelligent diagonal run against Chelsea and it is not difficult to assess that a Tottenham team in need of goals need the Danish creator back in the side. Defensive Solidity However, Villas-Boas clearly wants his team to be more difficult to break down, which is why Holtby has been preferred to Eriksen in the last three games and why new signing Erik Lamela has yet to play more than 27 minutes in a Premier League match. The former Chelsea man led his teams to just 15 clean sheets in 65 Premier League games as a manager before this season but he has already got seven from the teams opening 10 matches. Paulinho, a healthy Sandro and Moussa Dembele in the middle of the field have helped their back four look very comfortable. Michael Dawson is playing the best football of his career at centre-back, his new partner, the technically impressive, Vlad Chiriches looks perfect in this system while Jan Vertonghens move to left back has solved a long issue in that position. Spurs are ranked second in the league in shots allowed at just 9.5 per game and look very much like a top four contender at the back. Going forward, they now need to find the balance and that starts with getting Soldado involved in the game more. The Spaniard is not the problem for Tottenhams problems in front of goal. He is the solution still waiting to be discovered. ' ' '