INFO » ent.Were going into an arena thats full, a lot

PHILADELPHIA -- Tom Koehler has watched his teammates play good baseball for the last month, and he was happy to finally help out.Koehler pitched eight strong innings, Ichiro Suzuki moved within four hits of reaching 3,000 for his career and the Miami Marlins pounded out 16 hits in a 9-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.Koehler (7-8) rebounded from a month-long slump with arguably his best outing of the season. He gave up two hits and only one of his three runs allowed was earned while striking out five and walking one while tying his career-high for innings. The right-hander had been 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in his last five outings and hadnt gone more than five innings in any of his previous four starts.Step in the right direction, Koehler said. Were playing great baseball and Im happy Im able to contribute. I was trying to get back to what makes me who I am. I needed to pitch better than I have been and I did that tonight.Christian Yelich homered for the Marlins, who won three of four over the Phillies to cap a seven-game road trip 5-2. Miami moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the idle Mets for the second wild-card spot in the National League. The Marlins return home for an important 10-game series that begins on Friday night against the Mets.Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis homered for Philadelphia, which has dropped four of five.The Marlins gave Koehler a big lead in the fourth.Miami battered Jerad Eickhoff (6-11) for four runs on four hits -- all extra-base -- to take a 4-0 lead.Yelich led off with an opposite-field shot, tying his career-high with his ninth homer of the season. RBI doubles by Chris Johnson and Adeiny Hechavarria and Jeff Mathis groundout also plated runs in the frame.Just put good swings on good pitches to hit and good things happen, Yelich said.The Phillies got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the frame on Howards two-out homer that broke up Koehlers no-hit bid. The opposite-field shot gave Howard 14 for the season and 371 for his career, moving him out of a tie with Gil Hodges for 77th all-time.The Marlins got those runs back in the top of the fifth. Singles by Martin Prado and Yelich to start the frame put runners on first and third. Prado scored on Eickhoffs wild pitch and Yelich reached when shortstop Freddy Galvis threw the ball away trying to get Yelich out at third on Derek Dietrichs infield single.Eickhoff had one of his worst outings of the season, matching season-worsts for innings pitch and hits allowed. He gave up six runs -- five earned -- on nine hits in five innings with six strikeouts and no walks.The funny thing is I thought I executed a lot of good pitches, Eickhoff said. Theres a couple times I got behind and had to make a pitch over the plate a little more and that kind of hurt me. They did some good damage to those pitches.Miami added three runs on five hits in the eighth off Daniel Stumpf. Marcell Ozuna had a two-run single and Koehler recorded his second RBI of the season with a single. Koehler is batting .097 with three hits in 31 at-bats.SUZUKI CLOSE TO 3KSuzuki hit an infield single in the third and a solid single to right-center in the eighth to bring his major-league total to 2,996. He is vying to become the 30th player all-time to reach 3,000 hits.Its been fun, Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. Hes a great guy to watch.The 42-year-old Suzuki joked that he had plenty of time to reach the milestone.Donny (Mattingly) said I was going to play for seven more years, Suzuki said through an interpreter. I should be able to get four more (hits) in seven years.STARTERS STREAK SNAPPEDEickhoffs outing halted Philadelphias starting pitchers streak of seven straight games with at least six innings. The last time Phillies starters had a streak as long was May 2014.YELICH LIKES PHILYYelich is batting .366 (34-for-93) in 22 career games at Philadelphias Citizens Bank Park.TRAINERS ROOMPhillies: OF Aaron Altherr had his rehab assignment moved to Double-A Reading on Thursday. Altherr has been out all year after injuring his wrist in spring training.UP NEXTMarlins: Marlins LHP Adam Conley (6-5, 3.61) faces Mets RHP Logan Verrett (3-6, 4.21) to start a three-game series on Friday night in Miami.Phillies: RHP Zack Eflin (2-3, 4.14) takes the hill for Philadelphia to open a 10-game road trip against Pittsburghs Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.11) on Friday night. Nike Tn Scontate . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Nike Air Max 1 Scontate . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. http://www.airmaxoutletscontate.it/max-1-scarpe-scontate.html . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. Air Max Saldi Zalando .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. Air Max 95 Italia . On Mar. 16, coming off a "fight of the year" performance at UFC 154 the previous November, St-Pierre faced Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in what would be his eighth defence of the welterweight title. Using his superior athleticism, St-Pierre cruised to a five round, unanimous decision victory setting up a much-anticipated title defence against number one contender Johny Hendricks. LINCOLN, Neb. -- When it comes to football and politics, Nebraska is as red a state as there is. When it comes to basketball, its a deep shade of blue, as in Creighton blue.The 10th-ranked Bluejays (8-0) and Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-3) play their annual game Wednesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, and Creightons dominance is expected to continue. The Jays have won 14 of the previous 17 meetings, including each of the last five by at least 10 points . Another win would even the all-time series 25-25.The matchups story lines provide a fun yet contentious backdrop.First, not much gets under the skin of Huskers fans more than the small Jesuit school in Omaha being better than the states flagship university at anything. On top of that, it bugs them that a lot of Creighton fans root for Nebraska in football -- the Bluejays dont have a team -- and even cheer for the Huskers in basketball outside the one game a year against the Jays.The `Jaysker thing, said Omaha radio host Nick Handley. That draws this weird, aggressive debate. The true Nebraska fans say you cant be a fan of both.Second, the Huskers have given scant attention to Omaha when looking for players. Creighton has two starters from the states largest city, guard Khyri Thomas and center Justin Patton, and each said he received no recruiting interest from Nebraska. Neither said his feelings was hurt.I wouldnt have chosen Nebraska anyway, Patton said. I look better in blue.And then theres the Greg McDermott-Tim Miles dynamic and their repartee. McDermott, the Creighton coach, is 12-0 all-time against his Nebraska counterpart going back to the late 1990s when they were Division II coaches at Wayne State and Southwest Minnesota Sttate.ddddddddddddcDermott pointed out that Miles never beats him on the golf course, either.I can only hope the game Wednesday would be as easy as the Ryder Cup match between our two staffs this summer, he said. I dont think they were mathematically eliminated after the first day, but it was close.Said a smiling Miles: They cheated. Typical Creighton. Heres a guy, 18-handicap, shoots 81. When Macs got sand coming out the bottom of his shorts and ears and hands, hes the biggest sandbagger you ever met in your life.This is one of the toughest nonconference weeks ever for the Huskers. The game against Creighton will be followed by a visit to No. 3 Kansas on Saturday.Creighton is fifth nationally in scoring at 90.8 points a game. Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster is scoring 19.4 points a game, Maurice Watson is second in the country in assists (9 per game) and Patton is second in field-goal shooting (78.9 percent).The Huskers top scorers are Tai Webster (16.9 ppg) and Glynn Watson Jr. (13.8). Their best win is over Dayton, 80-78 in the Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, California, two weeks ago. They stayed close with now-No. 2 UCLA until the closing minutes in an 82-71 loss at the same tournament.Were going into an arena thats full, a lot of energy in the building, McDermott said. When they come here, our building is the same way. Its what college basketball is about. When you have a rivalry like that in t