spring. At the time he said he thought he had broken

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers were subdued as they began the celebration, exchanging hugs near the pitchers mound at Oakland Coliseum.Things got more raucous in the clubhouse, with cigar smoke and champagne everywhere.The Rangers are getting pretty good at this division title thing. Now its time to chase some more important hardware.Beltre hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Texas Rangers secured their second straight AL West title, becoming the first American League team to clinch a playoff spot with a 3-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.Its just the first step, its just the first step, Beltre said.Its not easy to get where we are right now. We took the first step to win the division and get into the playoffs. We have a good enough team to win the World Series. Thats our goal. Were going to celebrate today, but we know this is not just what we accomplished. We want to accomplish a lot more things.This is Texas seventh AL West title -- not including the strike-shortened 1994 season -- and fourth since 2010. The Rangers have won division titles in both seasons since manager Jeff Banister took over after losing an AL-high 95 games in 2014.Its a lot of fun to be part of, honestly, Banister said. Hard to describe unless youre there every day, but everyone would rather to go to work where you love the people that youre working with, you enjoy the culture, the camaraderie, and were fortunate that whats we got right now.That camaraderie is a big part of how they got there.I feel like weve always had a lot of emotion, Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis said. We play with a lot of passion, and thats what its all about; thats what makes us good.Beltres homer came during a three-run seventh after Oakland starter Kendall Graveman (10-11) began with six perfect innings. Texas got its first baserunner when Carlos Gomez beat out an infield hit to lead off the seventh against Graveman.He was throwing the ball really well. Beltre said. His fastball was moving really well. He got us off-balanced for about six innings. We got lucky. We got a couple of balls that found some holes. We scored just when we needed to win the ball game.Beltre unloaded on what he believes was Gravemans first slider of the game.I was not suspecting that pitch, but he left it right over the plate, Beltre said. I was lucky enough to put a good swing on it.All-Star left-hander Cole Hamels (15-5), acquired prior to last years non-waiver trade deadline, pitched the division-clinching game for the second year in a row. Last year, he threw a three-hitter in the last game of the regular season to beat the Los Angeles Angels.Hamels struck out seven and allowed no walks in seven innings of six-hit ball in what for him was an important bounce-back after allowing 21 earned run in 18 innings over his previous four starts.Graveman allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings. He threw 77 pitches and went to just one three-ball count, to Nomar Mazara leading off the third.The As brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth but closer Sam Dyson got pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso to hit into a fielders choice for the last out to record his 36th save.It feels really good. Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus said. Last year was a little hard the way everything ended up, especially for myself, but I tried to use it to motivate me, and thats what I did all offseason. Really happy everything we did as a team, and weve got to keep going.BEST IN THE WESTThis is the third time the Rangers have won back-to-back titles, having also done so in 1998 and 1999 and then in 2010 and 2011. Current As third-base coach Ron Washington was their manager for the most recent back-to-back, when they made their first two World Series appearances.After being the AL Wests first-place team since May 29, the Rangers finally clinched in their 154th game. That matched their earliest clinch ever -- they also won the division in the 154th game in 2011, also at Oakland.JEFFRESS REINSTATEDRangers reliever Jeremy Jeffress has been reinstated by Major League Baseball and joined the team after being placed on the restricted list following an arrest on a drunken driving charge last month. Jeffress was arrested Aug. 26., less than a month after being acquired in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers before the Aug. 1 deadline.The right-handed reliever was at an inpatient rehab clinic for a little more than three weeks, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. It isnt clear whether Jeffress will be on the teams postseason roster.ROSTER MOVEThe Rangers recalled LHP Andrew Faulkner from Triple-A Round Rock. Faulkner has been working out at the teams Surprise, Arizona, training complex since Sept. 12.TRAINERS ROOMRangers: OF Shin-Soo Choo took batting practice for the first time since going on the disabled list Aug. 16 with a left forearm fracture. Choo hopes to play in next weekends regular season-ending series against Tampa Bay, which could be his last chance to show the Rangers hes ready to be on their playoff roster.Athletics: Utilityman Arismendy Alcantara will miss the rest of the season with a thumb sprain. Alcantara suffered the injury sliding into second base in the ninth inning of Wednesdays game against the Houston Astros.UP NEXTRangers starter Yu Darvish (5-5, 3.81) tries to get back on track against Raul Alcantara (1-1, 5.65) on Saturday. Darvish has a 7.47 ERA in his past three starts, including when he allowed seven runs over five innings last time out against the As. Fake Yeezy 350 Cleat . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Fake Yeezy 500 . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. http://www.fakeyeezysforsale.com/fake-yeezy-451/ .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. Fake Yeezys Boost . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. Wholesale Fake Yeezys . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. OTTAWA -- Jack Eichels painful scream was so loud, it could be heard throughout the rink.It occurred during the Buffalo Sabres final practice of the preseason, on Oct. 12, when he suffered a high ankle sprain. The injury forced the 20-year-old forward to miss the first 21 games of the season. Without him, the Sabres wobbled out of the gates at 7-9-5, dead last in the Atlantic.Eichels return Tuesday night helped the Sabres to a 5-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. He scored a goal and added an assist and finished the game with five shots and a plus-1 in 17:08 of ice time.It was anxious getting out there before the game because I havent played in a while, the 2015 No. 2 draft pick said.It was a solid first step for Eichel and the Sabres. He was rusty, but thats understandable given the injury. He worked hard to get back and wanted to have an immediate impact -- which he did -- but his full recovery will be a slow process.Positionally, he was sound. He didnt have his normal explosive first stride, at least on every shift, but that will return in time. His biggest impact came on special teams -- both of his points came on the power play within the first 10 minutes of the game -- which the Sabres have missed most.He adds a big dimension to our team, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma?said. Theres speed and, right from the beginning on the power play, theres a different level of execution, a different level of speed.Theres a trickledown effect and a better balanced lineup when Eichel is healthy and productive. Offseason transactions by Sabres GM Tim Murray -- signing right winger Kyle Okposo, for instance -- were intentionally made to complement Eichel and the rest of the young talent on the team, so when he went down, it was a difficult way to begin the season.After Tuesdays game, Eichel admitted he hit a wall in the second period but was able to settle down again in the third. He said the ankle felt good, but he expects to feel discomfort in the morning and in the foreseeable future.A high ankle sprain is one of the worst injuries for a hockey player. A broken bone would be better in some ways, rather than dealing with the sprain because of the location of the injury. The natural skating motion is not conducive for these types of injuries to heal properly. When a player uses his inside edge to dig in, hes putting direct pressure on that injured ligament. The mechanics of skating put repeated stress on the ligament. Plus, unlike a knee injury, a player cant put a brace on an ankle to prevent the stress that comes with skating.One longtime NHL trainer said ligaments often take eight to 12 weeks to fully heal.During 2009-10, then-Boston Brruins forward Milan Lucic dealt with a high ankle sprain the entire season and was limited to 50 games.dddddddddddd He had pain and weakness pushing off the entire season and was never right until he had time to rest and rehab during the offseason.Even though Eichel is coming back, its going to take him many months to get back to the player he was before the injury, said the trainer.If this injury had occurred during the postseason, Eichel could have had a cortisone shot as a short-term fix, but since it happened before the season, the team thought it best to rehab with strength training. Eichel has been able to maintain his fitness during this process, but it will take time to get his powerful stride back to 100 percent.Its possible he will retweak it again, the trainer said. He could set himself back, maybe not to Square 1, but you definitely set yourself back again. You see a lot of players with these injuries come back after six or seven weeks, maybe a little too early, tweak it again and be out for another month. They limp through the season. Eichel will likely limp through the rest of the season with this.Its common for a forward to return from this type of injury sooner than a defenseman or goalie would. For goalies its especially worse, given the constant up-and-down motions of the position, particularly the butterfly. Case in point: Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop suffered a high ankle sprain during the Eastern Conference finals last spring. At the time he said he thought he had broken his leg because the pain was so severe.Eichel will have to deal with this for the remainder of the season.Its something you kind of have to get used to, Eichel said. Talking with guys that have had it before and went through it, its not going to be 100 percent where you can completely forget about it.Its a matter of maintaining it and preparing properly in order to be effective. Theres a bigger picture here, more than just one game. Were talking about the development of a franchise player.In the Golden Age of young talent in the NHL, Eichel is in the class of future elite players, joining the likes of the?Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid, Calgary Flames Johnny Gaudreau, Winnipeg Jets Mark Scheifele, New York Rangers Jimmy Vesey and Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews. Eichels return is timely for a number of reasons.The Sabres need him. The NHL needs him.It was almost impossible to hear his jubilation after his first goal of the season Tuesday night, but you can bet it was just as loud as his painful scream seven weeks ago. ' ' '