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MINNEAPOLIS -- The Cleveland Indians have a firm grip on the AL Central. With Corey Kluber finding his Cy Young form, their goals for this season are much bigger than the division title.Kluber struck out 10 in seven innings and Carlos Santana hit a three-run homer to help the Indians to a 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.Kluber (16-9) gave up an unearned run and four hits while passing the 200-strikeout mark for the third straight season. Bob Feller, Gaylord Perry and Jack McDowell are the only other Indians to accomplish that feat.I feel confident with Kluber, Santana said. I know he throws well the last seven, 10 starts. Hes throwing great.Roberto Perez added two hits, including a triple, and drove in a run for Cleveland, which increased its lead in the AL Central to seven games over Detroit.In the first two months of the season, Kluber was 4-6 with a 4.15 ERA and not looking at all like the top-of-the-rotation fixture he has been. But ever since he gave up five runs in 3 1/3 innings of a 17-1 loss to the Blue Jays on July 3, he has been dominant. The 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner is 8-1 with a 2.04 ERA over that span to help the Indians distance themselves from the Tigers.The Indians took two of three in the series, and Klubers quality start was much-needed after the team needed 10 pitchers to get through a 12-inning loss on Saturday night. The right-hander yielded an RBI single to Byron Buxton in the fourth inning, but had little trouble against a Twins lineup that included September promotions James Beresford, Kennys Vargas and Logan Schafer.I dont think he made too many mistakes, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.Kluber reached at least 10 strikeouts in a game for the third time this season. It was his 24th 10-strikeout game, tying him with Luis Tiant for fourth on Clevelands career list.Even if the bullpen was rested Id still be trying to go out there for as long as I can, Kluber said. Thats just the way that I approach it.Jose Berrios (2-6) lasted just 2 2/3 innings for the Twins, who committed four errors and managed just five hits. Berrios gave up five runs -- three earned -- and three hits. He walked four and had an errant pickoff throw in another shaky outing for the excitable 22-year-old.SANTANAS BLASTWith Berrios flailing early, Santana hit a 94-mph fastball an estimated 431 feet onto the veranda behind the right field seats in the second inning. It was his 31st homer of the season and third in the last six games.I know the team, they need me, Santana said, and thats why Im here.TOMLINS BACKIndians right-hander Josh Tomlin will start Wednesday against the White Sox, returning to the rotation after Danny Salazar developed some tightness in his right forearm. Tomlin was demoted to the bullpen after going 0-5 with an 11.48 ERA in August. Mike Clevinger, who pitched four innings on Saturday, likely will start again on Thursday, manager Terry Francona said.The Indians also recalled left-hander Ryan Merritt and first baseman Jesus Aguilar from Triple-A Columbus. Merritt gives Francona, who has never been shy about using his bullpen, another arm after shuffling the decks to account for Salazars absence.POWER OUTAGETwins second baseman Brian Dozier has been on a historic power surge since the All-Star break, culminating in a run of homers in five straight games last week that pushed his total to 39 for the season. He has now gone four straight games without going deep. Dozier was 1 for 3 with a single and was hit by a pitch on Sunday.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: One night after delivering a game-ending hit in the 12th inning, 1B Joe Mauer was given the day off. Molitor said Mauer is dealing with soreness in both quads and he likely will need to mix in more days off over the final three weeks of the season.UP NEXTIndians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (11-7, 3.15 ERA) starts for the Indians when they open a four-game series in Chicago against RHP Miguel Gonzalez (3-6, 3.81) and the White Sox. Carrascos 2.02 ERA on the road is the best in the majors.Twins: RHP Ervin Santana (7-10, 3.58 ERA) will start the opener of a four-game series in Detroit on Monday night. LHP Daniel Norris (2-2, 3.94 ERA) gets the start for the Tigers. Cheap Athletics Jerseys China . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Cheap Mark McGwire Jersey . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. http://www.cheapathleticsjerseys.com/ . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Cheap Terry Steinbach Jersey . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. Cheap Oakland Athletics Jerseys . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. When LeBron James sprinted the length of the Oracle Arena floor and soared to meet Andre Iguodalas breakaway layup attempt at the glass in Game 7 of last seasons NBA Finals, he was playing in only his 23rd game over a span of 75 days.The Block has been immortalized as one of the signature plays in NBA history, but it wasnt the first glimpse of vintage LeBron the world witnessed during Clevelands run to the title. James 43 dunks during the postseason eclipsed his previous high of 30. At age 31, he consistently appeared to be the spryest player on the floor against younger opponents on Golden State, Toronto and Detroit.Theres little mystery as to why a transcendent superstar subjected to playing as many as five games in a week during the regular season would enjoy a spring revival: In the postseason, that workload was reduced to fewer than a single game every three days. Under the current playoff format, a team never plays on consecutive days, and that format is an admission by the league that at the moment when all eyes are on the NBA and its best talent, the more rest, the better.The poor methodology tolerated in crafting the regular-season schedule -- the lockout-shortened 2011 postseason notwithstanding -- doesnt fly when the world is watching.Now the league seems ready to take action in the new collective bargaining agreement with players. Sources told ESPN that going forward, NBA teams will play two or three fewer preseason games. In turn, the regular season will begin a week to 10 days earlier, which will allow NBA teams to stretch 82 games over a more generous span of time.This measure could eliminate blocks of four games in five nights and drastically reduce the number of back-to-back sets. In implementing these reforms, the NBA has come closer than ever to codifying what modern science, the leagues players and coaches, and commissioner Adam Silver have all publicly acknowledged in recent years:Playing 82 regular-season games over a period of 170 days is an impediment to optimal athletic performance and world-class basketball on a nightly basis.Playing a four-in-five or a five-in-seven is a different kind of feeling, says Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum. Its mentally draining. Its physically draining. Youre not getting a lot of sleep. Youre exhausted and the other team knows it.McCollum made a point to mention a dreaded upcoming trip when the Trail Blazers will play in nine different cities in four different time zones over a 15-day span. The trip includes a five-games-in-seven-days bundle that concludes with a jaunt to Portland for a single game after playing the previous night in Los Angeles. After that, the Trail Blazers head right back out on the road for three more away games. The reform should ameliorate some of the madness.Players will be sharper, McCollum says. Execution will be better. There will be fewer DNP-Rests and scheduling losses. Fans want to see opponents when both teams are fresh. Players want that too. Its better basketball.The fact that scheduling loss is a term of art in the NBA underscores how necessary a schedule overhaul is. Though much of the attention in executive suites around the league will focus on the new CBAs more aggressive revenue sharing and the cap implication of its revised salary structure, the stipulations for the schedule are a nontrivial concession by the league. Dozens of preseason dates that generate revenue for ownership -- to the chagrin of season-ticket holders who have to fork over their money for tasteless aperitifs -- will be wiped away.But in exchange, the league and iits owners are investing in the health and well-being of the athletes who drive the value of the NBA.dddddddddddd As Silver told McCollum in an interview for The Players Tribune last summer, The science is [telling us] that the No. 1 correlation between play and injuries is fatigue.The San Antonio Spurs have been incorporating this science into their workflow for years, with Tim Duncan as basketballs ultimate case study. Consulting with top performance specialists, breaking down the data, and collaborating across the basketball operations staff, the Spurs created best practices that included routinely sitting their best players when the schedule demanded it -- even if it meant eliciting the ire of the league office.Less than four years after hitting the Spurs with a $250,000 fine for resting their players at optimal times, the NBA is implementing the Spurs philosophy as official league policy.Back-to-backs are the scourge of an NBA teams calendar. Not only do consecutive games deny world-class athletes prime recovery time, but in the vast majority of instances, players are required to board flights late and arrive at their destinations at ungodly hours. Rarely a week goes by in the NBA without a play-by-play announcer noting that a team arrived at the hotel at 3 a.m. the morning of the game.When you hear that announced, youve already sort of resigned yourself to feel like, Well, this isnt what I paid for, says W. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep specialist who has consulted numerous teams across professional sports, including the Thunder and Wizards.A team wouldnt play wearing uniforms that were too restrictive to shoot the basketball or a with a rim whose height wasnt adjusted properly. No one would stand for any of that. Yet having players get into their hotel rooms after 3 oclock in the morning has become a strange accepted part of the sport. We all but guarantee that these athletes arent playing at an elite level.Winter noted that he attended a recent NHL game featuring the New York Rangers, a team he works with, who were playing their fifth game in eight days. From the start, you kind of got the impression watching them play, Yeeeeah, probably not the best were going to see them play this year, Winter says.The Rangers were blanked by Ottawa 2-0, the first time all season theyd been shut out.The drive to reduce the load for NBA players has never been a gesture of sympathy. A more sparing schedule isnt coddling an NBA player any more than a driver not riding the clutch is coddling a manual transmission. The objective isnt altruism -- its performance. Thats always been the NBAs strongest selling point. The NFL revels in its ritual Sundays and pageantry, while baseball offers nostalgia and mythology.But the NBA is where the athletes rule, and the league will ascend only as high as its superstars can soar.Theyd soar higher if the NBA reduced the overall docket of 82 games in addition to the back-to-backs, but the nature of progress is incremental, especially when money is at stake. And after two decades of contentious CBA negotiations that produced a couple of work stoppages and perpetual grumbling, NBA players and owners are in the process of assembling a new contract that, for the first time, considers empirical scientific evidence when formulating its schedule.Next season, the choice between putting the best product on the floor in January and playing to win in June wont stand in such stark contrast. ' ' '