GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers released three-time Pro Bowl guard Josh Sitton on Saturday, making an unexpected change on their offensive line.The 30-year-old Sitton had started 112 of 121 regular-season games since being drafted in the fourth round in 2008 out of Central Florida. He was one of the leaders on a front five that protects quarterback Aaron Rodgers.The Packers other notable cuts Saturday to get to the 53-man limit for the start of the season included former starting linebacker Sam Barrington and wide receiver Geronimo Allison, an undrafted free agent who drew praise from quarterback Aaron Rodgers during training camp.Sitton played through injuries, including a torn ligament in his left big toe in 2014. But the Packers have financial decisions to make up front, with the contracts of left tackle David Bakhtiari and left guard T.J. Lang expiring after this season.Sitton was entering the last year of a five-year, $33.75 million extension signed after the 2011 season. He was due to count $6.85 million against the cap this year.We want to thank Josh for his contributions during his time in Green Bay. He has been an important part of the success we have enjoyed on the field, general manager Ted Thompson said. While these decisions are never easy, this was done with a focus on what is best for the team and the growth of the offensive line.The Packers drafted two linemen this year, Jason Spriggs out of Indiana in the second round and Kyle Murphy in the sixth round out of Stanford.JC Tretter has taken over at center with two-year starter Corey Linsley out with a hamstring injury.The Packers placed Linsley on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, which will keep him from practicing and playing for at least the first six weeks of the season.Well, expectation of the offensive line, I think we clearly could have one of the best lines that weve had here, coach Mike McCarthy said recently. I think Ive said that the last two years and frankly health is always important.Another veteran Packer, punter Tim Masthay, was released on Tuesday after the team claimed Jacob Schum off waivers from Tampa Bay. Masthay had been with Green Bay for six seasons.The Packers also are without a long snapper after they released Rick Lovato, a first-year player who joined the team near the end of last season.By letting go of Barrington, a fourth-year pro who started eight games in his career but missed most of last season with a foot injury, the Packers could be counting on a youthful tandem of Jake Ryan and Blake Martinez as their starting inside linebackers.Green Bay selected Martinez in the fourth round of this years draft out of Stanford.Green Bay cut 17 players Saturday, including Brandon Ross, which leaves undrafted rookie Brandon Burks as the third running back behind Eddie Lacy and James Starks.The Packers placed a pair of undrafted free agents, defensive tackle Tyler Kuder and center Kyle Steuck, on injured reserve.Green Bay also moved defensive tackle Mike Pennel and cornerback Demetri Goodson to the reserve/suspended list. Both players will miss the first four games for violations of the NFLs drug policy.---This version corrects the number of players cut to 17 instead of 16.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Stitched Rangers Jerseys . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Texas Rangers Store . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/ . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Rangers Jerseys 2019 . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Texas Rangers Shirts . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Early in his innings, on the second evening, Steven Smith went back to try to cut Rangana Herath off the line of the stumps. The ball skidded through, Smith was hurried in his shot, and the ball skittered away for no run. Immediately, Smith reeled away in self-recriminating histrionics, angry at himself for taking the same risk that resulted in his dismissal in Galle.Of all his Test hundreds, this was perhaps Smiths most draining. He has had a difficult tour, his first experience of defeat as captain, and tried several methods to succeed as a batsman in a region where he had never scored a century.There had been extremes of approach in Pallekele; first a harebrained charge down the pitch that precipitated a ruinous first innings, then a highly disciplined second innings wagon wheel; his scoring was restricted almost exclusively to leg side deflections until Rangana Herath found a way through. In Galle, Smith tried something in between with limited success, before, if anything, adding a few more shots to the locker at the SSC.Importantly, he chose to add the inside out drive over cover to his methods of scoring off Herath, a shot the left-arm spinner is known to detest almost as much as the blow to the groin that took him from the field for periods of days two and three. Smith was then able to rejoice in the success of Shaun Marsh, and mark a milestone of his own: a first hundred in Asia and the first signs that Australia might be able to find a workable blueprint to defeat India at home in February-March 2017.There were plenty of cues to be taken from the way Marsh went about his own business: covering his stumps, not being perturbed by balls that spun and capitalising on anything fractionally loose. There was also liberal use of the sweep shot - the result of overnight discussion between Marsh, the coach Darren Lehmann and the team analyst Dene Hills - including for the nibble down leg side that took him to three figures for the fourth time in Tests.I was just trying to stick to my game plan, Marsh said. Trying to play for the straight ball and if it spun past me so be it. I was basically trying to do that over and over again and it was really challenging out there. It was good fun.Last night night when [Dilruwan Perera] came over the wicket to me, he caused me a few little problems. So I had a good chat with Boof and Dene Hills last night and it was certainly something for me to come out today and play that shot. It worked well. I was very relieved when it was called runs … I thought I got a little bit of glove there…But even as Smith and Marsh went on to a put together a stand of 246, the highest ssecond wicket stand in Tests between Australia and Sri Lanka, the feeling remained that danger was only ever a ball or two away.ddddddddddddSmith and Marsh made a significant stride in Australias efforts to find a better way in these conditions, but once they were dismissed, there was soon a reminder of how much more needs to be done by others. Having ascended as high as 267 for 1, the last nine went down for 112. This was not, in fairness, an unprecedented occurrence in these parts. Plenty of Australian teams have fallen in similar heaps after a big stand is broken. In 2001 in India it happened virtually every time Matthew Hayden got out, in 2010 likewise after Ricky Pontings exit. The progress made in Colombo was the fact that at least one partnership had been formed, so for once there was actually a platform to squander.Even so, the litany that followed the dismissals of Marsh (to pace) and Smith will be a source of further concern for the coach Darren Lehmann and whoever is chosen to work as his full-time batting assistant after this tour. The inclusion of Moises Henriques as a No. 5 batsman reached a sad, yet foreseeable conclusion; the New South Wales allrounder poking around nervously until drawn out of his crease by Herath. While serious injury and a preponderance of Twenty20 assignments have made it hard for Henriques, the fact remained that the most recent of his four first-class hundreds was as far back as March 2015. Expecting another one here was asking a lot.Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh and Peter Nevill all showed varying signs of improvement, trying to adapt the clam style earlier exhibited by Smith and Shaun Marsh. Voges was perhaps unfortunate to be given out on a marginal lbw call, and Marsh could at least toast his first 50 since his second Test, against Pakistan in the UAE near enough to two years ago. Nevills latest low score was a cause for more worries, as the wait for substantial runs from a wicketkeeper with a strong first-class record continues. A dropped catch in Australias brief stint in the field was a sign of sapped confidence, and Nevills edge on other suitors for the gloves will not last if that continues.In all, this was a day in which Australia found the first few green shoots of genuine progress in Asia, yet still found themselves in a dicey position by the time stumps were drawn. Smith will be frustrated with this of course. At least he now has helped to fashion a working example of how his batsmen should operate in this part of the world. ' ' '