LOS ANGELES -- The Houston Astros have placed left-handed reliever Fernando Abad on the 15-day disabled list because of strained right side, and purchased the contract of lefty Xavier Cedeno from Triple-A Oklahoma City. . The move with Abad is retroactive to Saturday. The injury occurred during the Astros 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night, when he faced one batter and struck out Ivan DeJesus with the bases loaded. Abad has allowed five earned runs and four homers over nine innings in his 15 appearances. This is his third season with the big club, after signing with the Astros as a 16-year-old minor league free agent out of the teams Dominican Academy in 2002. Cedeno allowed five runs and two homers in 1 1/2 innings for the Astros last season. [url=http://www.ravensofficialteamstore.com/autographed-joe-flacco-jersey-fe-30.... Flacco Jersey .C., and Zhaio Kai Pang of Burnaby, B.C., wont soon forget the bronze medal they won on Saturday at the fourth stop on the ISU Junior Grand Prix figure skating circuit. . Llorente opened the scoring with a deflected effort in the 67th and extended the lead with a 71st-minute header at San Mames Stadium. Gaizka Toquero headed the third goal four minutes later. [url=http://www.ravensofficialteamstore.com/autographed-deonte-thompson-jersey-b... . Impressive? You bet. Surprising? Not really. But how about this: Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the Sprint Cup Series points lead. [url=http://www.ravensofficialteamstore.com/autographed-ray-rice-jersey-rw-92.ht... Rice Jersey . -- Ryan Williams stood and watched as his Arizona Cardinals teammates practiced in the spitting rain on Tuesday. . 2012 has become the worst season in franchise history.The 2012-13 season of La Liga kicks off August 18, but before the action gets underway TSN.ca is helping you catch up and what you might have missed over the summer. Find out which big names have changed kits and what might become the biggest storylines of the upcoming campaign. Check back in throughout the week for previews of the upcoming seasons in German Bundesliga, Italys Serie A and the Barclays Premier League. Player Additions: Barcelona pulled off a 14 million euro double-feat, strengthening their back-line by adding Spanish national Jordi Alba while simultaneously weakening third-place Valencia, his former club. That move looked like the biggest off-season grab up until Saturday morning, when the club announced it had agreed to a transfer deal with Arsenal midfielder Alex Song. They would not be the only ones to pull from Valencias roster, as Athletic Bilbao dropped 2.5 million euros on attacker Artiz Aduriz. Valencia would counter by dropping more than 17 million euros on the combination of 21-year-old Sergio Canales (who failed to catch on with Real Madrid), Las Palmas midfielder Jonathan Viera, Argentine midfielder Fernando Gago and Sporting Lisbons Joao Pereira. Sevilla helped their back-line with Hedwiges Maduro and built up some depth adding Arsenals Geoffrey Kongdobia, Chilean Bryan Rabello, (the relegated) Villarreals keeper Diego Lopez and Javi Hervas. Real Madrid has spent the better part of the summer chasing Croatian midfielder Luka Modric while letting the likes of Canales and Joselu walk. Their cross-town rivals Atletico, meanwhile, took on an international flavor, adding Turkish midfielder Emre Belezoglu, Uruguayan midfielder Cristian Rodriguez (both free transfers) as well as Getafe defender Daniel Diaz. Marquee Match-Ups: Aug. 27 – Athletic Bilbao at Atletico Madrid: A re-match of last years Europa League Final that saw Madrids other team blank Bilbao. The 3-0 result may look lopsided in Madrids favour in hindsight, but Bilbao powered through Schalke and Manchester United en route to the final. Oct.. [url=http://www.ravensofficialteamstore.com/autographed-pernell-mcphee-jersey-il... McPhee Jersey. 7 – Barcelona at Real Madrid: The first Clasico on the schedule gets out of the way nice and early, but there will be plenty of scores to settle by that point. The two arch-rivals play each other August 23 and 29 for possession of the Spanish Super Cup, contested annually between the reigning La Liga champ and Copa del Rey winners. June 1 – Valencia at Sevilla: The drop-off for Sevilla was steep last season moving from third all the way down to ninth. While Barcelona and Real Madrid will likely run away with the league as usual, this game on the final match-day of the campaign could go a long way to deciding a berth in Champions League. Continental Hope: The hope of the Nation likely depends on where on the Iberian peninsula one is situated. It has happened exactly once since 2004 that Real Madrid and Barcelona did not finish one-two in La Ligas final table (2007-08, when Barcelona finished third). Barca has finished in the final four of Champions in each of the past five seasons, winning crowns in 2009 and 2011. Real, on the other hand, was very much the better club domestically last season and also finished as Champions league semifinalists, before getting bounced by Bayern Munich. The two teams have dominated and will continue to dominate, the question is: will the power shift to the capital after years of Catalan dominance? And, which player – Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi – wants to take a strangle-hold on the title of greatest player in the world? Lots to Prove: This one comes down to a draw… Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao have both proven they are better than the squads that took the field in 2011-12. Sevilla got less than a year out of manager Marcelino Garcia Toral and turned a third place side into a ninth-place disappointment in just one year. Bilbao – as mentioned – went through Manchester United and Schalke (to say nothing of Udinese and Celtic in the group stage) to make the Europa Final but contrasted that with a middling 10th-place finish domestically. ' ' '