PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks hired Steve Sax as their first base coach on Wednesday, putting the former All-Star in a big league uniform for the first time in nearly two decades, and moved up Turner Ward to be their assistant hitting coach. Wholesale NFL T-Shirts . The 52-year-old Sax played 14 seasons in the majors, finishing in 1994 with 444 career stolen bases and a .281 batting average. A five-time All-Star second baseman, he played in the World Series when the Los Angeles Dodgers won in 1981 and was the NL Rookie of the Year the nest season. Sax was on deck when current Arizona manager Kirk Gibson homered in the bottom of the ninth inning to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Sax effusively greeted Gibson at home plate after the homer that sent the Dodgers toward another championship. Saxe has been a professional speaker on motivation and leadership since his playing days and wrote a book about inspiration. He also focused on raising his two children, while hoping that an opportunity to return to the majors might come. "Ive been thinking about this for a number of years," Sax said on a conference call. Saxe said hed recently sent resumes to teams and went to the recent baseball winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., to explore the possibilities. He met with the Diamondbacks during the gathering. Arizona general manager Kevin Towers said "it was certainly a long process" to get Sax. "Steve came into the picture later." The Diamondbacks went 81-81 last season and fired first base coach Eric Young after it ended. Arizona also considered former major leaguer Brett Butler, its manager at Triple-A Reno, before hiring Sax. Gibson said his friend "Saxie" would work to improve Arizonas baserunning and general awareness of game situations. Ward and Sax will also try to better Arizonas outfield play. The 47-year-old Ward spent parts of 12 seasons in the majors. The outfielder homered for the Diamondbacks in the 1999 playoffs, the first year Arizona reached the post-season. Ward managed Arizonas Double-A team in Mobile for the last two years, and won the Southern League title both seasons. The Diamondbacks also hired Greg Gross as their hitting coach at Triple-A Reno. He was fired as Philadelphias hitting coach right after last season ended. Wholesale Jerseys Supply . Titans coach Mike Munchak said Monday that Locker will start this season over veteran Matt Hasselbeck, choosing to go with the passer Tennessee hopes to build around after drafting Locker out of Washington in April 2011. Wholesale Jerseys . It turned out to be that and much more. After a monster three-hour final set, Tsonga finally delivered the knockout blow by breaking Raonics serve to secure a 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 victory and a spot in the third round. http://herownblog.com/jerseys-... . The 19-year-old forward scored at 4:36 of overtime and added two assists in regulation as the visiting Kitchener Rangers edged the Sudbury Wolves 5-4 on Sunday in Ontario Hockey League action. [url=http://herownblog.com/jerseys-wholesale.html]Wholesale Jerseys For Cheap . The Blue Jays will start Henderson Alvarez, who is coming off of Tuesdays tough loss to the White Sox. Alvarez saw his record drop to 7-10 despite allowing only two earned runs on seven hits over seven innings. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping . And, three other ex-Cleveland coaches somehow got pulled into the mix. On Tuesday, the team interviewed Marc Trestman, the current coach of the Montreal Alouettes and Clevelands offensive co-ordinator the last time the Browns played in the AFC title game, a person familiar with the meeting told the Associated Press. NEW YORK (AP) -Erik Christensen scored two of New Yorks three first-period goals, and the Rangers gave their tenuous playoff hopes a big boost with a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. Christensen gave New York the lead 21 seconds in, then combined with Vinny Prospal for goals 30 seconds apart that quickly put away the game. Although the Rangers wouldnt have been eliminated with a loss to Toronto, their realistic prospects for the playoffs would have been all but dashed. The Rangers, ninth in the Eastern Conference, trail Boston by a point, No. 7 Philadelphia by two points, and No. 6 Montreal by three. All that is left on the Rangers schedule is a home-and-home series with Philadelphia A pair of wins, with at least one in regulation, would guarantee the Rangers a spot in the postseason for the fifth straight season. Olli Jokinen and Aaron Voros also scored and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves for New York, 6-1-1 in its last eight. Dion Phaneuf spoiled Lundqvists bid for his 25th NHL shutout when he scored with 11:51 lleft. Wholesale NFL Hats. CHICAGO (AP) - Duncan Keith, Ben Eager, Bryan Bickell and Kris Versteeg scored in a 3:08 span in the first period in Chicagos fifth straight victory. Andrew Ladd and Jordan Hendry also scored to help Chicago reach a franchise-record 109 points and tie San Jose for first place in the Western Conference. Versteeg added three assists to set a career high for points in a game and become the first Chicago player to have a four-point game this season. David Perron, Roman Polak, Brad Winchester, T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes scored for the Blues, who nearly overcame a 6-1 deficit. St. Louis played its first game after being eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday night when Colorado beat Vancouver. DETROIT (AP) - Tomas Holmstrom scored twice and Dan Cleary added a goal in a 1:16 span of the third period in Detroits comeback victory. Niklas Kronwall added a goal and an assist, and Jimmy Howard made 21 saves for Detroit. Mike Blunden had a goal and an assist, R.J. Umberger, Sammy Pahlsson also scored, and Steve Mason stopped 31 shots for Columbus. ' ' '