ESPNs Buster Olney is on vacation this week, but hes still compiling roundups. View his latest roundup here.I dont know exactly when my grandfather, a construction worker by trade, fell in love with baseball. For as hard as he worked, it never occurred to me that there would be enough time for anything except rest preparing for the next day. But I can still see him listening to the games lying down. And now it all makes sense. I dont know when he became a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, but I can remember when I did.It was the summer of 1967. My friends and I used to play baseball in front of Russell Walkers house. He and I both lived in cul-de-sacs. I didnt realize until much later that cul-de-sac was just a fancy French word for dead-end street.When I saw my grandfathers gray, four-door Pontiac (with a black vinyl top) coming down the street, it usually meant I was in trouble for staying out past my curfew. But that couldnt be it today. The street lights hadnt come on yet. We all stepped aside to let the car circle the street. As he drove by, his drivers-side window rolled down, the smell of Pall Mall Reds wafting from inside the car, he looked at me and said, Get in.We drove north up Interstate 5, and I tried to figure out where we were headed. My first clue was seeing the Stadium Way exit. It was about a mile and a half up Elysian Park Avenue.Ill never forget seeing Dodger Stadium for the first time. Little did I know that going to Dodger games would become a tradition for my family.By the end of the 1980 season, the impact of Fernando Valenzuela had caught everybody off guard. Throwing almost 18 innings of shutout relief was insane, and the reaction of all Dodger fans was like nothing I had ever heard before.But wait, Valenzuela: Thats us. This guy looks like us. He could pitch, he could hit and when he ran, he looked like he was barely going to make it to first base -- just like us.That great move of looking to the sky before every pitch added to his identity. Who doesnt look at home plate when hes pitching? you could overhear people say.My grandmother would say, Hes asking God to help him throw a strike, huh, George? To which I would reply, Yeah, Grandma.Starting the season 8-0 caught the city by surprise. It was almost impossible to get a ticket. But the night that Valenzuela single-handedly beat the San Francisco Giants by driving in a run and shutting them out? I was there, sitting high up in general admission.That was also the night a female fan in a Valenzuela shirt ran on the field, caught Fernando off guard with a kiss and then raised her arms high in the air. We all raised our hands in the air and pumped our fists, too. It was impossible not to take the ride with Valenzuela.He was the subject of what appeared to be every conversation. It got so crazy that instead of people believing he was 20 years old, there was talk that he was in his 40s. No 20-year-old could possibly be that good. Plus, he was born in Mexico and didnt have a birth certificate. That was hilarious.My grandmother worked nights at the time. One morning, I woke up and saw a Fernando Valenzuela T-shirt, hat and button on the counter. I couldnt figure out where they came from. When I asked my grandmother, she said, Oh, there was somebody selling them at work.Wait, there was somebody selling Fernando Valenzuela stuff at a factory in Van Nuys, California?Thats how crazy Fernandomania was.News conferences before a game were unheard of. But Valenzuela would have them and back them up with a win. I cant remember a time before or since that I wouldnt miss a game either on television, radio or in person.Valenzuela galvanized Dodger fans with both his talent and his playfulness. Seeing him kick around a baseball in left field like it was a soccer ball was something fans would go early to watch.Manager Tommy Lasorda would even use him as a pinch hitter. There was nothing Valenzuela couldnt do.Fernando made us believe that no matter where we came from or what we looked like, talent was the equalizer. He did this by showing us, not telling us; hes not comfortable with accolades, which is why I find a way to sneak it in. Ive never forgotten what I learned from Valenzuela, and it has helped me become another living proof example.Ive gone to Dodger Stadium with regularity in the years since Fernandomania. Every time I go, I remember my grandmother and grandfather and how much fun we used to have cheering and feeling proud every time Valenzuela did something great.My seats now are a lot better than my 75-cent ticket to the left field pavilion, but nothing is better than looking out from the seats behind home plate and imagining them both still out there.Ive known Fernando for a few years now. When were both on the field, we always make a point of saying hello. Hes a great guy, and Ill always find a place to tell him how much hes meant to me over the years.And then the conversation will switch to how much we both love golf. Authentic Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Wholesale NFL Jerseys .4 million title. 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HOUSTON -- Lance McCullers couldnt find the strike zone in the third inning and Houston couldnt muster many hits most of the game, which led to a tough day for the Astros.Kendall Graveman threw eight solid innings and Stephen Vogt had three hits, including a homer, as the Oakland Athletics held on to beat the Astros 3-2 on Saturday.McCullers (4-3) allowed three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and four walks in a season-low four innings. The right-hander had allowed four runs over his previous three starts before Saturday.I didnt see that he was at his best, Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. He was battling himself with three walks in the third inning. He was missing on all fronts. His pitch count had run up and he wasnt hitting the spots he needed to. It made for a shorter outing for him. It just didnt seem like it was his day.Vogt hit a solo home run to left field in the second, an RBI single in the third and came around to score on a Marcus Semien bases loaded walk that made it 3-0. The Semien walk was the third straight walk in the third inning following the Vogt single.Im not going to let three batters define my outing, McCullers said. I had a bad stretch with those three batters, and it hurt me. You take those three batters away -- I mean, you cant, but if you look around those, Im sure my strike percentage was pretty good.Graveman (5-6) allowed two runs on five hits and struck out three in extending his win streak to four games. The outing tied the longest of his career at eight innings, which he set June 13, 2015 at the Angels. He retired the first 14 batters to start the game before A.J. Reed singled with two outs in the fifth.We didnt do much to threaten him in the early innings -- in the first eight innings, Hinch said. We had a hard time getting multiple guys on base, but he did a good job of moving his fastball around.The right-hander was replaced by Ryan Dull after allowing singles to Jake Marisnick and Marwin Gonzalez to lead off the ninth. Marisnick scored oon a Jose Altuve groundout to third.ddddddddddddDull induced a Carlos Correa pop-up before Luis Valbuena hit an RBI single to cut the lead to one, but Dull struck out Carlos Gomez to earn his first save.Were going to keep fighting and we play until the end, Hinch said. Sometimes when you cant score or you dont hit, theres a dullness to the game and theres a lack of energy or enthusiasm, but our guys dont quit.Coco Crisp had two hits after serving a one-game suspension Friday, and Josh Reddick had two hits, including a triple.TRAINING ROOMAstros: OF Colby Rasmus was out of the lineup for a second straight game due to an ear infection. Hes still not feeling well, Hinch said. He would have played today and yesterday if he would have felt up for it, but it sounds like hes still a little under the weather. . RHP Scott Feldman, who threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings, left the game in the ninth. After allowing a single to Jed Lowrie to lead off the ninth, Hinch went out to the mound with the trainer to look at Feldman. Following two warm-up pitches, Feldman was replaced by Chris Devenski. Hinch said Feldman was a little stiff, but it was a precautionary move, and he was day-to-day.UP NEXTAthletics: LHP Sean Manaea (3-5) will try to right the ship on the road Sunday when he takes the mound for the final game before the All Star break. Manaea is 0-3 with an 11.66 ERA in three road starts this season.Astros: LHP Dallas Keuchel (6-9) will look to pick up his fourth straight victory Sunday. Keuchel allowed two runs on five hits in his last outing Tuesday against the Mariners.DULLS STREAK ENDSDull had stranded all 36 runners he had faced entering Saturday, but that streak came to an end on the Altuve fielders choice groundout in the ninth. The streak of inherited runners stranded was the longest by any pitcher in the expansion era, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Jerseys NFL China Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale China Jerseys NFL Jerseys China Discount Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China China NCAA Jerseys Cheap Cheap Nike Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Nike Patriots Jerseys Cheap Nike Jets Jerseys Cheap Nike Bengals Jerseys Cheap Nike Browns Jerseys Cheap Nike Steelers Jerseys Cheap Nike Texans Jerseys Cheap Nike Colts Jerseys Cheap Nike Jaguars Jerseys Cheap Nike Titans Jerseys Cheap Nike Broncos Jerseys ' ' '