nd they made the muddy mess easier to avoid by making it a short par 3. Thats what surprised the players the most. Most of them were on board with a 12-hole course -- remember, Prestwick was o

NEW YORK -- On the wild-card front, the New York Yankees were not able to make any more progress on their deficit but they were able inch a little closer to first place Monday night.The Yankees will look to gain another game on at least one front Tuesday night when they continue a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.New York has won nine of its last 14 since the non-waiver trade deadline, which saw the trades of Aroldis Chapman, Carlos Beltran and Andrew Miller. The Yankees have tied a season high by going four games over .500 for the third time and this stretch has coincided with a younger roster, which was displayed during the series opening 1-0 win.Rookie Chad Green struck out 11 in six innings while retiring the first 13 hitters and Aaron Judge had an RBI double in his third career game off R.A. Dickey. Green also was pitching to catcher Gary Sanchez, who is hitting .302 in 11 games since joining the Yankees on Aug. 3.I dont think anybody thought we were giving up, Green said. Obviously when you trade Beltran, Miller and Chapman, everybody thinks youre giving up but you still got great players here. So the young guys are going out there, trying to enjoy the moment and take it day-by-day.The Yankees won despite going 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranding 14 but are 5 1/2 games out of first place for the second time in three days. They have not been less than five games out of the lead since April 28.In terms of the Yankees interests in winning the division, their ideal scenario is to hope the Boston Red Sox beat the Orioles while they beat Toronto. If merely getting into the playoffs is fine, New York fans should root for the Orioles since the Yankees are 4 1/2 games out of the second wild-card spot.Regardless of what unfolds in Baltimore, the Yankees will need continued improvement from Michael Pineda. Although Pineda is 6-10 with a 5.07 ERA, he is 4-4 with a 3.81 ERA in his last 13 starts.The Yankees have won nine of those starts, including last Thursday in Boston. New York rallied late for a 4-2 win and Pineda put the Yankees in position to win by allowing two runs and eight hits in six innings.I thought he battled, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. They had baserunners, but he made some really big pitches when he had to.Pineda has made pitches when he has to at times against the Blue Jays, going 2/3 with a 3.54 ERA in nine starts. He faced the Blue Jays April 13 in Toronto and allowed two earned runs and five hits in six innings.Despite Mondays loss, Toronto still is the American Leagues best road team. Toronto has lost three straight road games for the third time this season although it still has won seven of its last 11 games outside of Canada.Its crucial, Toronto manager John Gibbons said before Mondays loss. You got to hold your own on the road.Torontos only four-game road losing streak was two losses in Tampa Bay April 5-6 and two in Boston April 15-16.After Dickey allowed a run and four hits in five innings, Marco Estrada will take the mound Tuesday. Estrada took the loss in the April 16 game but has not lost a road start since, going 4-0 with a 2.85 ERA in his last eight road outings.Estrada was outstanding Aug. 3 in Houston when he allowed one run and four hits in seven innings. He followed it up by laboring through five innings last Tuesday in a 9-2 loss to Tampa Bay when he allowed three runs and seven hits while throwing 113 pitches.Just a little rusty, I guess, Estrada said. Those things are going to happen. At least I gave the team a chance, I thought there were a few pitches that could have gone my way. Ive got to do a better job I guess of getting ready.In 12 starts on more than four days rest, Estrada is 4-5 with a 3.57 ERA and the Blue Jays hope he resembles the pitcher who allowed one run and four hits in seven innings Aug. 3 in Houston.The amount of rest has not mattered against the Yankees for Estrada, who is 3-2 with a 3.92 ERA in seven starts against them since joining the Blue Jays last season.Estrada held the Yankees to a .243 average last year but has been sharper this season as evidenced by the .140 (7-for-50) mark New York had off him in two May starts this season.On five days rest, he allowed three runs and four hits in seven innings during an 8-4 win at New York on May 25 and on May 30, he allowed three hits in eight scoreless innings during a 4-2 home victory. Josh Jackson Super Bowl Jersey . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Jimmy Graham Super Bowl Jersey . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. http://www.officialgreenbaypackerspro.com/Mason-crosby-packers-jersey/ . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Geronimo Allison Super Bowl Jersey . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. JK Scott Super Bowl Jersey . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury.PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Heather Bowie Young made five straight birdies while jumping from one side of the golf course to the other. Silvia Cavalleri was hitting the ball so well Friday she was sorry the Bahamas Classic was held on only 12 holes. The slogan for the LPGA Tour is, "See why its different out here." Was it ever. Bowie Young and Cavalleri were tied for the lead at 6-under 39, which by numbers alone broke the LPGA scoring record by 20 shots. Not to worry. Annika Sorenstams 59 in Phoenix in 2002 still stands as the lowest 18-hole score in LPGA history. "It was so bizarre," Cristie Kerr said after the longest day on the shortest course. Severe flooding earlier in the week left much of the Ocean Club under water. The LPGA decided to use the holes that were available, and two of those holes had to be converted into par 3s because bunkers had caved in from a foot of rain that fell in a five-hour stretch Tuesday night. The hope was to complete three rounds of 12 holes to make the inaugural Bahamas Classic official. On the LPGA Tour, 36 holes have to be completed for it to count. Even with a 12-hole, par-45 course, that was going to be a challenge because of a three-hour delay for lightning. Twenty-seven players failed to finish the round. The day ended with Na Yeon Choi sprinting to the final hole so her group could tee off before the horn sounded to stop play because of darkness. Thats not unusual. What was different was the routing. She was on the third green, and the final hole in the setup was No. 8, meaning Choi had to run around a lake, through some vegetation, behind the seventh green and across a dirt path. If nothing else, she saw a beautiful sunset along the eighth fairway. And she finished. The first round is to resume at 8 a.m. Anna Nordqvist ran off three straight birdies early in her round for a 5-under 40, tied with three others. The group at 41 included Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lang. Maude Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., was on the course at 4-under when play was called. Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont., is six back with a 45. Sara-Maude Juneau of Fossambault-sur-le-lac, Que., is another shot back. Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto had a 47, and Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., a 48. Charlottetowns Lorie Kane limped in with a 50. More than one player smiled coming out of the scoring tent and mockingly celebrated their lowest round ever. Bowie Young looked at it differently. "I can remember trying to shoot 39 for nine holes, and thats happened this year," Bowie Young said. "Ive shot well over that for nine holes." Nordqvist fared much better than the other two players in her group -- Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis, Nos. 1 and 2 in the womens world ranking. Park failed to make a single birdie in her round of 1-over 46. Lewis was going along fine until the par-5 11th, her sixth hole. She pulled her second shot just into a bunker, leaving an awkward third shot from about 50 yards that had to clear another bunker. She clipped it clean, and itt sailed over the back of the green and into the water, leading to double bogey.dddddddddddd Lewis birdied her next two holes and had a 1-under 44. The LPGA Tour signed up Pure Silk and the Bahamas Tourism Ministry as title sponsors and wanted to do all it could to play golf in the first year of this event, even if that meant going to extremes of playing a 12-hole course with the holes out of sequence to help with the flow. Everyone teed off on No. 10, and then headed to the front nine. Park was leaving the green when she stopped to make sure she knew where she was going -- a 120-yard walk across a waste area to the sixth tee. They played sixth and the seventh, and then headed over to the fourth hole. And thats when it got really crowded. At one point, there were nine players in a 50-yard radius. Morgan Pressel was in the second group, which was coming off the third green and headed to the eighth tee. "Were just going to play through," Jacqui Concolino said with a smile to Park, Lewis and Nordqvist. They were walking off the seventh green and headed to No. 4. Juli Inkster, Catriona Matthew and Candie Kung were approaching the seventh green. There was a lot of traffic. The Lewis trio got into carts, because the tee on par-4 fourth hole was moved to about 130 yards of the green. There was standing water in the fairways -- it looked more like small ponds -- though the problem was a large bunker right of the green that was unplayable. Tour officials couldnt afford players going into the bunker, and they made the muddy mess easier to avoid by making it a short par 3. Thats what surprised the players the most. Most of them were on board with a 12-hole course -- remember, Prestwick was only 12 holes when the British Open was played on the links 15 times back in the day -- in an effort to have a tournament. They just didnt realize there would be five par 3s. It felt like an executive course. Laura Davies had a 2-under 43. She was all smiles on her way to the golf course, and full of a few quips. "This should be a lot of fun," Davies said. "I just hope I dont get disqualified if I cant find my way to the next tee. Ill just walk slow and follow everybody else." Kerr finally got going with two birdies on her last three holes for a 1-under 44. She arrived at the course at 11:30 a.m., unaware there was a storm delay, and spent five hours at the course before she finally teed off. The hardest part of her day was the scorecard. There wasnt time to make new scorecards to reflect the routing of the holes -- 10, 6, 7, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 2, 3, 8 -- so she was filling in numbers that looked out of place. "I had to check it six times," Kerr said. "Youre putting a 2 or a 3 where it shows a par 5 and a 5 where it shows a par 3. But we all got it right. Theyre doing the best we can with what we have. Everyone is here. Everyone wants to play." LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan is trying to avoid a Monday finish because several players have U.S. Womens Open qualifying early next week. ' ' '