Boasting baseballs best record, the Washington Nationals remain in top spot in the TSN.ca MLB Power Rankings, for the second straight week and fifth time this season. Winning nine of the last 10 games has vaulted the Nationals back to the No. 1 ranking, but they have been a top five team virtually all season, anchored by stellar pitching. Lately, that pitching staff has been led by Jordan Zimmermann, who has a 1.74 ERA over his last 10 starts. The Texas Rangers have climbed from ninth to fourth. Even though they arent getting the results they had hoped from starter Ryan Dempster, a resurgent Josh Hamilton has helped ignite the Rangers offence. A 12-3 record in the last 15 games, with a dominant pitching staff that allowed one run or fewer in nine of those 15 games, has carried the Tampa Bay Rays from 14 to six. San Francisco has been carried offensively lately by young stars Buster Posey and Brandon Belt, so getting third baseman Pablo Sandoval back from the disabled list helps lift the Giants from 12 to eight. Heading the other way, the Angels pitching has been terrible, with a 6.30 staff ERA in August, leading to a fall from second spot to seventh. The White Sox slipped from four to nine, largely due to the absence of first baseman Paul Konerko, who is out with a concussion. Even with the best record in the American League, the New York Yankees fell from seven to 12, with CC Sabathia going on the DL. There are too many injuries in the Bronx to consider their overall record as a measuring stick for the current team. Thats a factor familiar to the Toronto Blue Jays, who dropped from 20 to 24. Four wins in the last 15 games, along with third baseman Brett Lawrie joining half of the team that is already on the DL, were the main reasons for the Jays lowest ranking of the season. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. cheapjerseys.com . Or at least some kind of bird is. According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports report, Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has made inquiries with Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. nfl jerseys china . And through the first week and a half with his new team, the change has been good for both him and the AL Central leaders. Taking over at third base and batting second, Youkilis had 11 RBIs and two homers in his first 11 games. http://www.comcheapjerseys.com/ . Braun hit his NL-leading 29th homer and the Brewers connected four times Wednesday, beating the sloppy Houston Astros 13-4 to complete a three-game sweep. wholesale jerseys . Murray beat Karlovic 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (4) Thursday, with the Croat being foot-faulted on key points. "I dont know what to say, but it was a little bit outrageous," Karlovic said. "I mean, what is this? Is it Davis Cup or is it Wimbledon? After this match, the whole credibility of this tournament went down for me. cheap jerseys from china . The injury occurred in the second period of the Penguins game against the Boston Bruins when Hossa collided knee-on-knee with Glen Murray. He immediately left the ice and did not return. The 29-year old Hossa was the Penguins prize acquisition at the NHLs Trade Deadline on Tuesday as he came from the Atlanta Thrashers along with forward Pascal Dupuis for forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, top prospect Angelo Esposito and a first-round draft pick.PHILADELPHIA -- Not even a joint announcement of the Winter Classic could thaw the rivalry between the Rangers and Flyers. Hope the "24/7" cameras were rolling. New York team president Glen Sather grabbed the microphone and made his bid to host the next Comedy Central roast. "Were going to come to Philadelphia," Sather said, "and we are going to win." The 200 Flyers fans who came to baseballs Citizens Bank Park for the long-awaited and overdue announcement of the Jan. 2 game jeered Sather. "Now thats more like it! I knew I could get a rise out of you sooner or later," he said. "Its a great event. Ive respected the fans in Philadelphia all the years Ive been here. Im sorry we kicked the hell out of you twice in the Stanley Cup, and were going to do the same thing on the second, and at the end of the year we will be carrying the Cup, just like the Yankees are going to have the world championship as well." Exit, stage left. Not so fast. Flyers founder and chairman Ed Snider popped up and took a turn jabbing Sather. "When he said, we kicked the hell out of you in two Stanley Cups, he wasnt talking about the Rangers," Snider said. "I remember kicking the hell out of the Rangers on the way to our Cups!" The fans loved Sniders one-liners and the nod to the Flyers championships in 1975 and 1976 -- not the Stanley Cup losses to Sathers Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and 1987. This was only the warmup act -- and with temperatures above 25 C it was plenty warm -- for the biggest regular-season event in the NHL. The worst-kept secret in sports was finally let out of the bag when the league announced the Flyers vs. the Rangers in the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park. The 45,000-seat ballpark is the setting for the fifth classic. The game is not held on its traditional Jan. 1 date because it conflicted with the final week of the NFLs regular season. The NHL will again partner with HBO Sports and broadcast the "24/7" reality franchise. Sather, coach John Tortorella, and players Ryan Callahan, Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik represented the Rangers. Coach Peter Laviolette, Chris Pronger, James van Riemsdyk, Matt Carle and Scott Harnell represented the Flyers. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also was in attendance. "I dont think anybody could have imagined how big this event has become in such a short period of time," Bettman said. The Rangers and Flyers are the closest geographic rivals to ever play in the Winter Classic.dddddddddddd. They have played 261 games against each other in the regular season and gone head-to-head in 10 playoff series. For one day, theyll be the biggest show in the sport. Richards snapped photos of the outline of the rink, formed by temporary gates, that ran from third base to first base. Tickets are not yet for sale. Philadelphias AHL affiliate, the Phantoms, play the Hershey Bears on Jan. 6. Rangers and Flyers alumni will play an exhibition at 1 p.m. on Dec. 31. Other events, like public skating, will be announced at later dates. Flyers president Peter Luukko expected Winter Classic tickets to sell out "within seconds." The Flyers played in the 2010 Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins in Fenway Park. "It was one of my best hockey moments," Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. "You hear the skate marks going off the ice. You hear the puck going off the glass when you miss the net. All the hockey sounds you dont get in a big-time building when the fans are right on you." It seems fitting the Flyers are finally hosting an open-air game. After all, high winds ripped off a portion of the old Spectrum roof, mostly tar paper, in 1968 during an Ice Capades performance. Pronger, the Flyers captain, said the team was expected to start cutting "24/7" promos on Tuesday. He joked that Laviolette will be the worst foul-mouthed offender on the uncensored series. The home of the 2008 World Series-champion Phillies is the third baseball stadium in the classics history. Wrigley Field and Fenway Park also hosted the event. NFL venues Ralph Wilson Stadium and Heinz Field were homes for the other two New Years extravaganzas. Van Riemsdyk recently homered at the ballpark during a Flyers batting practice exhibition. He was the only Flyer to go deep and cant wait to trade a bat for a stick. "Weve been waiting for this for a long time," he said. Word leaked out last spring that the Flyers were leading contenders to host the game. League, team and HBO officials all spilled the beans over the last few months, but the game wasnt official until Monday. The Rangers are playing in the game for the first time. "Were a very historic franchise, one of the original six teams, and I think it was just a matter of time before we got to play in one of these games," said Callahan, New Yorks captain. "Each year that went by that we werent named, I was disappointed. It was a game we wanted to play in." He gets his chance on Jan. 2. ' ' '