INFO » m fast in because weve been through our Olympic trials,

BOSTON -- Its been a strenuous 10-game road trip for the majors best team, but the Texas Rangers are hoping to cap it off with a win against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.Texas (53-32) reclaimed the top record in the league after the Chicago Cubs 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.Of course, they had to claim a victory of their own to make that happen.That didnt turn out to be much of a problem, as the Rangers toppled the Red Sox for a 7-2 victory that brought them to 4-5 through the first nine games of their trip.Its key, especially going back home, Texas manager Jeff Banister said about the prospect of a win Wednesday. Tough road trip, second 10-game road trip in a very short period of time -- I think 37-game stretch.To go home .500 (on the road trip) I think it would be a big momentum boost for us, to go back home, get in our ballpark and head on into the break.The Rangers opened the trip with consecutive wins against the New York Yankees, but wound up splitting the four-game series.Then they suffered a particularly embarrassing setback, dropping two of three games to the league-worst Minnesota Twins before taking a 12-5 defeat Monday against the Red Sox.The team also had a 10-game trip from June 10-19, but they fared much better in that one with eight wins.Boston (45-38) suffered its ninth loss in 15 games Tuesday, dropping it to third place in the American League East.The team with six All-Stars -- four starters in David Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. -- could only muster a pair of runs against a team that has two -- Ian Desmond and Cole Hamels.Everybodys doing all right, said Bradley, who hit a solo home run Tuesday. I dont think we are as bad as were showing. Were definitely capable of putting together a good run. Hopefully that comes soon.Perhaps the Red Soxs most unlikely All-Star will be the man taking the mound on Wednesday.Right-hander Steven Wright (9-5, 2.42 ERA) has been the best pitcher on a staff that includes former Cy Young Award winner David Price and his mammoth $217 million contract.The knuckleballer is 0-2 against the Rangers with a 5.23 ERA in two starts -- including a June 25 start in Arlington during which he allowed a season-worst eight runs (three earned) on seven hits in a 4 2/3 inning defeat.Prince Fielder is 3-for-6 against Wright while Desmond is 1-for-3 with a solo homer.Texas counters with left-hander Martin Perez, who held the Red Sox to one run on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts over six innings in a 6-2 victory on June 26.Perez is 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA in four starts versus Boston. Ortiz is 2-for-6 with a solo homer against Perez while Pedroia is 3-for-11. 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William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. RIO DE JANEIRO -- They teamed up for a carpool karaoke video. They planted their flag in Brazil. And when the Olympics are done, theyll be remembered as the latest in a long line of U.S. swimming powerhouses.So much for all those dire forecasts.Turns out, the less-than-glittering times at the U.S. trials were no indication of how fast they would swim once they got to the big stage. And all those who thought they were too inexperienced to shine on the international stage totally missed the mark.The Americans went into the final night at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium with a shot at their biggest medal haul in the last three decades.No matter what, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky & Co. made sure the U.S. stayed firmly atop the swimming world.We all know were part of a really special team, Ledecky said Saturday, five medals hanging from her neck after one of the greatest performances in Olympic history. We have such great depth in the U.S. in swimming, and its something we take great pride in. This is kind of our stage to show the world that.With four events still to come in the final late-night session, the Americans already had 14 golds -- their most since the Sydney Games -- and 29 medals overall. They were just one off their total from four years ago in London and eying the 33 medals put up by the team that dominated Down Under in 2000.Phelps, of course, was among those leading the way. In what he again insists will be his final Olympics, the 31-year-old piled up four golds before settling for silver in a stunning upset by Singapores Joseph Schooling in the 100-meter butterfly. The 4x100 medley relay was still to come.But no one was more dominant than the 19-year-old Ledecky, whose four golds included two world record-shattering performances. She joined Amy Van Dyken and Missy Franklin as the only American women to capture as many as four golds in a single games, matched Debbie Meyer as the only females to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 free, and also won silver anchoring the 4x100 free relay.What shes doing in the sport is ridiculous, Phelps said.Theres something to be said for the camaraderie displayed by the American team.During their final training session in Atlanta, a host of swimmers -- Phelps and Ryan Lochte among them -- took to the streets to record a James Cordin-style carpool karaoke video . Even Ledecky took a turn behind the wheel, even though she still has just a learners permit.I was only at a gas station, she quipped, so I didnt think I was going to hurt anyone.When the swimmers got tto Brazil, they received a history lesson from one of the coaches, Greg Meehan.dddddddddddd. At a meeting with the female athletes on the eve of the games, he told them about the Homestead Act, the 1862 law that encouraged Americas westward migration by providing free land to settlers.Well let Ledecky take it from there.We each had American flags and they printed out each of the events, and the people that were competing in each of those events came forward, had a little moment together, took the flag and stuck it through the paper and into the grass in the Olympic village, she said. We were just kind of staking our claim in Rio, and I think we kind of did that in the pool as well.In addition to Phelps and Ledecky, the biggest U.S. stars were Maya DiRado, who turned in the ultimate one-and-done with two golds and four medals overall; Ryan Murphy, who extended U.S. mens dominance of the backstroke; Simone Manuel, the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in the 100 free; Lilly King, who backed up her brash diatribe against doping; and Anthony Ervin, the oldest member of the team at 35 and a gold medalist again in the 50 free -- 16 years after he first won the event in Sydney.Even with a hugely disappointing performance by Franklin, who didnt even make it to the final of her two individual events, the Americans still blew everyone away.There are several factors that go into the success of the U.S. program, starting with some simple numbers. The Americans have far more swimmers and resources to draw from than most nations, so its only natural they would dominate.Beyond that, Ledecky pointed to a U.S. trials format that sets up the team to perform well at the Olympics. Over eight nights in Omaha, just a month before the games and following the same schedule of events, swimmers earned their way onto the team before sellout crowds of more than 14,000 at every session.That was bigger than the crowds in Rio, where there were plenty of empty seats each night.Its an overly easy environment for us to swim fast in because weve been through our Olympic trials, which is way more pressure-filled than the Olympics, Ledecky said. Obviously the crowd here hasnt been that intimidating to us.Nothing was too intimidating to the Americans.---Follow Paul Newberry on