LONDON -- Manchester United, Liverpool and Sunderland stepped up their preparations for the upcoming Premier League season by flying out on off-season tours across the globe Monday. Man United headed to Durban in South Africa to play AmaZulu FC on Wednesday night before going up against Ajax Cape Town on Saturday. United will then fly to China to face Didier Drogbas new side, Shanghai Shenhua, on July 25. Coach Alex Ferguson has selected a 22-man squad for the tour, including the likes of Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and his new signing from Borussia Dortmund, Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa. Wayne Rooney and Nani have been left out to be given more time to recover from the European Championship, while Ryan Giggs stays in England as he will captain the British football team at the London Olympics. Meanwhile, Liverpool has flown out to Toronto to begin a three-match tour of North America and Canada, beginning Wednesday against Toronto FC at the Rodgers Center. The team will then join principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner for the 100-year celebrations of Fenway Park, the historic ballpark of the Boston Red Sox -- which are also owned by Werner and Henry -- by taking on Roma on July 25. Liverpool will finish its tour in Baltimore against Premier League rival Tottenham three days later. Liverpools squad for the tour includes England captain Steven Gerrard and new signing Fabio Borini. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina will enjoy an extended break as he was part of Spains Euro 2012-winning squad. Luis Suarez stays behind as he is part of Uruguays Olympic football squad. Sunderland travel to South Korea to compete in the Peace Cup alongside German club Hamburg, Dutch side Groningen and local side Seongnam. Coach Martin ONeill, who won the trophy in 2009 as coach of Aston Villa, believes the trip will be a good opportunity to step up the intensity of the off-season training. "Over the course of the coming days well start to get a bit more fitness into the players with some harder work alongside some sort of enjoyable work as well," ONeill said. cheap jerseys from china . Jamal Crawford led a fourth-quarter rally with 13 of his 21 points, and Los Angeles beat Phoenix 117-99 on Saturday, winning its fifth in a row while sending the Suns to their season-worst sixth straight loss. cheap jerseys china . And while it doesnt always work out, these 17-, 18-, and 19-year-olds will have at least given fans, the media, and NHL scouts something to get excited about over a two-week stretch at the turn of the year. http://www.jerseysfromchinac... . Manager John Farrell said the addition of McCoy -- who can also play in the outfield if needed -- gives the Blue Jays some middle infield depth. Second baseman Kelly Johnson is nursing a tender hamstring and shortstop Yunel Escobar has had a tight left groin over the last few days. [url=http://www.jerseysfromchinacheapwholesale.com/]wholesale jerseys from china . Ike Davis hit a tiebreaking double during a four-run 10th inning, Shoppach had a two-run homer and the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-5 Tuesday night for their third straight victory. jerseys from china Bargain . Harang held his former team to four hits in seven shutout innings and had one of Los Angeles 12 hits as the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 8-1 Thursday night to split a two-game series.NEW YORK -- R.A. Dickey was so close yet so far from 20 wins, faltering from fatigue and fuming he had failed to seize the moment. "About the fourth or fifth inning I felt exasperated. I was not myself today for the most part," he said. "And then Id come out for an at-bat and I would hear this kind of growing surge, and it really was neat. I mean I dont know if Ive ever experienced something like that before. Maybe I never will again. Although I wasnt distracted from the moment, how could you not be motivated to go out there and give the fans and, well, your teammates and yourself all that you have?" he said. Absorbing the energy from 31,506 fans at the final home game of another sorry Mets season, Dickey summoned his strength and concentration. David Wright boosted him into the lead with a tiebreaking three-run homer, and Dickey led New York over Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 Thursday to become the first knuckleballer in more than three decades to win 20 games. "Its like a big exhale," Dickey said. Throwing his hard knuckler at up to 78 mph, Dickey (20-6) allowed three runs and eight hits in 7 2-3 innings, tying his career high with 13 strikeouts and walking two. With New York winding up its fourth straight losing season, he capped a trinity of highlights that began with the first Mets no-hitter by Johan Santana in June and continued with Wright setting the team career hits record on Wednesday. "This was about R.A. today," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "It was about him. It was about his connection with the fans, the connection with the city. And so I said use that." Quite a turnaround from 2010, when Dickey began the season at Triple-A Buffalo and had to prove he belonged in the majors. And from last year, when he was 8-13. The 37-year-old had never won more than 11 games in any previous season is just 61-56 in his big league career. "I was the picture of mediocrity by my own admission," he said. But in the late stages of his career, he has mastered the knuckler -- a pitch that has flummoxed most of those who have tried and must survive on fastballs. "I think everybody here today would have taken one swing where they thought they were going to crush one and they swung right throw it," Pirates outfielder Travis Snider said. Dickey had never set a numerical goal for his pitching. "Its just much more for me if I can really harness the moment and suck the marrow out of every second, then Ive done what I want to do and I can be satisfied," he said. Dickey became the first 20-game winner for the pitching-proud Mets since Frank Viola in 1990 and the first knuckleballer to accomplish the feat since Houstons Joe Niekro in 1980, according to STATS LLC. Viola also reached 20 with a win over the Pirates. New York had altered its rotation, giving Dickey a chance to win 20 at home. The fans gave Dickey his first ovation when he walked to the bullpen to warm up. He waved his cap as they applauded when he walked off after his 128th and final pitch -- his most in eight years -- and got a final round of applause when he returned to the field for a postgame interview that was broadcast over the stadium sound system. "Growing up, you just want to compete. And once you have the weaponry to compete, you want to be really good," he said. "And then when youre really good, you want to be supernaturally good. And I think for me theres been this steady kind of metamorphosis from just surviving to being a craftsman. Ultimately the hope is to be an artist with what you do." The milestone following two life-changing events. He authored a book last spring, "Wherever I Wind Up," revealing he was a sexual abuse victim when he was 8. And he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for the Bombay Teen Challenge. "When you get to a comfort level about who you are and you dont have secrets and you feel the freedom to be who you feel like youre called to be, thats something," Dickey said. "Is this the result of thee cathartic experience of writing the book, I dont know.dddddddddddd Im going to say this, it certainly hasnt hurt. And to be comfortable in your own skin, which I was not for so long in my life, theres something to that." His memorable year began with a climb to the 19,341-foot Uhuru Peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. "He was taking his career and putting it in jeopardy, putting it in harms way," Collins said. "You dont know whats going to happen. But it wasnt about him. It has never been about him." Dickey joined Washingtons Gio Gonzalez as the top winners in the majors -- until Gonzalez beat the Phillies to improve his record to 21-8. They figure to duel for the NL Cy Young Award. Dickey fell behind 2-0 and 3-1 and overcame an outstanding, climbing catch by Snider more than 2 feet above the right-field wall that robbed Mike Baxter of a tying home run in the second inning. Former Texas teammate Rod Barajas hit an opposite-field RBI double that hopped the right-field wall in the second, and Jordy Mercer following with a run-scoring infield single. Ike Davis led off the bottom half with his 31st homer, but Barajas boosted the lead to 3-1 when he homered on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth, a drive over the old 16-foot wall in left. Kevin Correia (11-11) gave up Scott Hairstons RBI single in the fourth and Murphys tying single in the fifth before Wright hit an opposite-field drive to right for his 21st home run this season and a 6-3 lead. Dickey was watching on TV in the clubhouse at the time. "There were times he picked us up and really carried us as a team on his back," said Wright, happy to provide the hit that made the difference. Dickey said after the seventh inning he was "pooped," but Collins sent him out for the eighth. "I said, look, this ballpark is filled with energy today. Use it to your advantage," the manager recalled. "These people deserve to see you walk off the mound." Responded Dickey: "Dont leave me hanging." Jon Rauch, pitching on his 34th birthday, came in after a two-out walk, finished the eighth and allowed Alex Presleys two-run homer in the nervy ninth. Bobby Parnell retired Josh Harrison on a groundout and Jose Tabata on a flyout for his fifth save. Dickey came back on the field for handshakes and soaked in the fans love. "I feel it in my face. I dont know if that makes any sense," Dickey said. "I want to get emotional. Its hard because weve had the type of season that weve had." His family stayed back in Nashville, Tenn. -- the kids are in school -- but planned to meet him in Atlanta on Thursday night for the start of the Mets final trip. He had some close friends at the game. Through all the tough times, Dickey pictured this type of success in his mind. "I never abandoned hope. I always held that out," he said. "My hope always outweighed my doubt, and thats what kind of kept me going." NOTES: Pittsburgh, which led the NL Central at the All-Star break, lost for the 20th time in 26 games and dropped to 76-80. ... Snider gave the Pirates a memory with one of the best defensive plays of the season. He dug his cleats into the chain-link fence, hooked his left arm on top of the wall in front of the Mos Zone seats, hoisted himself up and grabbed Baxters drive in the webbing of the glove on his right hand well about the 8-foot wall. ... Andrew McCutchen bruised his left knee on a failed attempt at a diving catch on a soft fly to centre in the seventh inning. He went 0 for 4, dropping to .332 and giving up the NL batting lead to San Franciscos Buster Posey, who went 2 for 4 and is hitting .333. ... The Mets drew 2,242,803 to Citi Field this year, down from 3.15 million in 2009, 2.56 million in 2010 and 2.35 million last year. This is the teams lowest home attendance since 2.19 million at Shea Stadium in 2003. ... Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez shaved off his moustache before the game in a charity fundraiser. ' ' '