"It put us in a position to win the ballgame. The crow

MIAMI - The initial diagnosis on the severity of Ricky Rubios sprained left ankle was exactly what Minnesota coach Flip Saunders expected.It was bad.How bad wont even be known for another two weeks.The Timberwolves will be without their point guard indefinitely after an MRI on Saturday confirmed the sprain. Rubio will be re-evaluated later this month, at which time the team will formulate a potential timetable for his return.Hes in good spirits, Saunders said before Minnesota faced the Miami Heat, not long after Rubio hobbled into the arena on crutches with a boot protecting his ankle. He feels good. Anyone who knows Ricky, he went through his knee situation a few years ago, hes an extremely hard worker. So hell get back. If anyone is going to get back as soon as they can, hed be a guy that would.With Rubio out, the Timberwolves will rely more on Mo Williams at the point, though Saunders said hes leery of playing the veteran more than 25 minutes a night. Rookie Zach LaVine, who logged a total of 13 minutes in Minnesotas five games entering Saturday, also will become a bigger part of the rotation.Saunders said he expects there will be a substantial learning curve for LaVine, who started in Saturdays loss at Miami.Im sure my hair will get greyer and Ill lose a few more hairs over the course of things, Saunders said.Rubio was hurt in the second quarter of Minnesotas loss at Orlando on Friday night. He agreed to a $55 million, four-year extension with the Timberwolves on Oct. 31 and is averaging 9.4 points and a career-best-pace 10 assists per game.They have a great insurance player with Mo Williams, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. Hes proven himself. He can have big games and he can do it by getting into the paint, much like Rubio, and creating for others. But he also can score and shoot it when he gets going.Rubio is not expected to accompany the Timberwolves to Mexico City for their game on Wednesday against Houston.Its going to be tough without him, Minnesota centre Nikola Pekovic said. But were going to have to grind, have to fight. Everybody has to step up. There is a chance for so many players.Minnesota will remain in Miami through Monday, which means Rubio will have a couple extra days to potentially see swelling in the ankle subside before he flies home.He cant put any weight on it to get any kind of weight-bearing X-ray, Saunders said. Two weeks, well be able to look at it and then well know. Cheap Nike Shoes From China . Price was hurt at the start of Wednesdays practice after facing just one shot as the team worked on their power play. He left the ice in discomfort and appeared to be favouring his leg. A Habs source told TSNs John Lu that Price suffered the injury in Sochi and not before the Olympics. Wholesale Jordans . The international synchronized skating competition takes place from January 31 - February 1, 2014, and features 39 teams from 10 countries, in senior, junior, and novice. http://www.wholesalenikeshoeschina.com/ . - The Cleveland Indians will place centerfielder Michael Bourn on the disabled list before their opener at Oakland on March 31. Authentic Wholesale Nike Shoes . Cleveland has won the first two of this set and has won six straight games since losing back-to-back tilts to open the year. Seattle, on the other hand, has now lost six in a row following consecutive wins to kick off its campaign. Cheap Nike Shoes For Sale . Needing to bulk up on both sides of the line, the Falcons agreed to terms with guard Jon Asamoah, defensive end Tyson Jackson and defensive tackle Paul Soliai. Asamoah and Jackson played last season with Kansas City, where Asamoah lost his starting job.LOS ANGELES -- All that separated Dan Haren from a possible chance at a no-hitter was a third-inning single that was awarded to Clevelands Michael Bourn after a replay review. Rookie Clint Robinson made sure the right-handers best outing of the season didnt go to waste, hitting a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, and the Los Angeles Dodgers opened their interleague series against the Cleveland Indians with a 1-0 victory on Monday night. Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas made a diving stop of Bourns smash behind second base and got the out call from umpire Adrian Johnson before Cleveland manager Terry Francona successfully challenged the ruling. Bourn stole second, putting two men in scoring position. But Asdrubal Cabrera looked at a third strike. Had the play on Bourn not been overturned, Haren felt he had enough to try for the Dodgers third no-hitter of the season after the gems by Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw. Haren was lifted after seven innings. "I didnt even think about it until I came out of the game and Zack (Greinke) said something like: If this was last year, youd have a no-hitter," Haren said after his 103-pitch effort. "I think 2 2-3 was the longest Ive had a no-hitter this year, so that was pretty good for me." The defending NL West champions took over sole possession of first place in the division by a half-game over idle San Francisco. The Giants led them by as many as 9 1-2 games as recently as June 8. Since then, Los Angeles has gone 15-6 and San Francisco 4-15. The Indians, coming off a three-game series at Seattle in which they swapped one-hit shutouts with the Mariners, couldnt do a thing against Haren (8-4) after Felix Hernandez stymied them through eight innings on Sunday. "I would have liked to be on the winning side of all three," said Cleveland third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, whose single in the fifth inning against Hernandez was the Indians only hit on Sunday following Josh Tomlins complete-game 5-0 victory over the Mariners on Saturday. "Youve got to give the pitchers credit. That doesnt happen a lot," Chisenhall added. "We usually work counts, get deep into counts, get hits and put pressure on guys. But we havent done that two days in a row." Haren struck out five and walked one on the 11th anniversary of his major league debut, getting through seven innings for just the third time in 17 starts this seaason.ddddddddddddHe ended a streak of nine consecutive outings in which he allowed a home run, one shy of his career-worst stretch in 2012. "I worked on some stuff in between starts, and tonight I was locating the ball really good," Haren said. "Weve been working on the curveball, trying to feature it a little bit more during the game." Brian Wilson pitched a perfect eighth and Kenley Jansen a 1-2-3 ninth for his 25th save. Corey Kluber (7-6) allowed a run and six hits over 6 2-3 innings and struck out five. The 28-year-old right-hander, who has spent all four of his big league seasons with the Indians, came in 6-0 with a 2.29 ERA in his six previous interleague starts. The Dodgers, who held the NL champion Cardinals to just four runs while taking three of four, had runners at second and third in the fourth when Kluber struck out Andre Ethier and retired Juan Uribe on a flyball. Ethier came up again in the seventh and led off with an opposite-field triple off the glove of left fielder Michael Brantley on the warning track. Two outs later, pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez was intentionally walked and Robinson worked the count full before smacking a single up the middle for his first major league hit and RBI. "It put us in a position to win the ballgame. The crowd was cheering, all my teammates were fist-bumping, it was awesome," Robinson said. NOTES: A moment of silence was observed in memory of Bobby Castillo, a nine-year major league pitcher who spent his first five seasons and his final one with the Dodgers. "Babo," as he was affectionately called by everyone in the organization since his rookie year in 1977, died Monday at age 59 from cancer. The L.A. native was credited with teaching Fernando Valenzuela how to throw his trademark screwball. ... Dodgers reliever Chris Perez spent the previous 4 1-2 seasons with Cleveland. Two seasons ago, he made some disparaging remarks on the record about Indians fans because of the teams poor attendance -- and felt their wrath numerous times in the aftermath. But he has no regrets. "Everything I said was true. I didnt make anything up," said Perez, who turns 29 years old on Tuesday. "It became a little more of a distraction for me than I would have liked, but I think the team didnt let it bother them. Overall, I think I was more successful there than some fans would like to give me credit for." ' ' '