rt in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head.WASHINGTON --

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When the Oakland Athletics open a four-game series on Monday night at Kansas City, they will be sans Billy Butler, who was released Sunday.Butler was a 2012 All-Star, hitting .313 with 29 home runs and 107 RBI that season with the Royals, who drafted him in the first round in 2004. Butler played with Kansas City from 2007 to 2014 and was the designated hitter on the team that won the 2014 American League championship.Butler became a free agent after the 2014 season and signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the As but hit a career low .251 last season. This year, he was relegated to mostly DH duty against left-handed pitchers.Butler had only a dozen at-bats since Aug. 17 and was in a 1-for-15 funk when released.I knew it was a possibility because I wasnt playing, Butler said. Its been like that all year. Theyre the ones that make the decision. I know that now that Cocos (Crisp, trade to Cleveland) gone, I was the highest paid player. Theyre not going to let guys making that much just sit around and not make a move eventually.Ive been in this game long enough to know that moves like these happen. Unfortunately, the last two seasons as a team it has not gone the way as expected. Your higher paid players end up taking the brunt of that because I was expected to come in to keep this organization where it was at.As general manager David Forst said this was the right time to move on without Butler.Its something weve discussed, Forst said. With a lot of the younger players here now, potentially more coming once Nashvilles done, the at-bats just werent there. Its time to move our focus beyond.Obviously, he didnt perform last year up to what we expect, and then coming into this year it was tough for him to ever get going. We made some moves this last offseason that took away from some of his opportunities this year. There were times, frankly, right before the incident with him and Danny (Valencia clubhouse fight) when he was swinging the bat well. He obviously still has ability. It just wasnt going to be a fit here.The As are 13-27 in their past 40 games and have dropped to a season-worst 22 games below .500 after a 3-2 loss Sunday to the Seattle Mariners. Overall, the As are 60-82, assuring them of a losing record in back-to-back years.Three other former Royals with the As are Brett Eibner, who had a RBI triple Sunday; Ryan Madson, a reliever who suffered the loss Sunday, and Valencia.The defending World Series champion Royals shut out the White Sox 2-0 on Sunday to complete a 4-2 trip to Chicago and Minnesota. They remain on the fringe of the wild-card race, but theyll need a great eight-game homestand against the As and White Sox to stay viable in the postseason hunt.The Royals Ned Yost is one victory shy of 1,000 in his managerial career.Win two series on the road, which was big, Yost said. Weve got to win series. Each win is crucial right now. It feels good when you match up against a guy like Chris Sale and end up on the winning side of it. Just keep grinding them out and keep winning ballgames.Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales homered for the only runs off Sale, but that was enough for Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy and the bullpen. Wade Davis logged his 24th save of the season.Definitely huge, Hosmer said to capture the series at Chicago. We needed this. We need every series from here on out, and every game is huge. Well head back home. We play good in Kansas City. Well see if we can take it a day at a time against Oakland and get things shaken up here at the end.Royals right-hander Dillon Gee will start the series opener, his 14th start and 30th outing of the season. He is 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA in three career outings, including two starts against Oakland.The As will start left-hander Ross Detwiler, who is 1/3 with a 5.06 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance since called up from Triple-A Nashville.Detwiler has faced the Royals once, on May 14, 2015, while with the Texas Rangers. He took the loss, allowing three runs, nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings.Shoes Canada From China . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Shoes Canada Cheap . Already owning gold from competition in Vancouver in 2010, Loch posted a combined four-run time of 3:27.526. That included a track-record third run of 51. https://www.shoescanadaonline.com/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Shoes Canada Nike . 10 VCU 85-67 on Thursday night at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Seminoles (4-0) have scored at least 80 points in each of their games. Shoes Canada Sale .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head.WASHINGTON -- Monique Currie, Jazmon Gwathmey and Astou Ndour scored 16 points each and the San Antonio Stars beat the Washington Mystics 85-74 on Sunday to end a six-game losing streak.San Antonio (6-19) outscored the Mystics 26-6 in the second quarter, including nine straight points to end the half up 43-20.Washington (10-16) opened the second half on a 16-4 run to pull to 47-36 in the middle of the third quarter. The Stars responded with four straiight points and led by no less than eight from there.ddddddddddddMoriah Jefferson added 15 points and nine assists, and Kayla Alexander had 12 points for the Stars.Tayler Hill was 5 of 10 from 3-point range and led the Mystics with 26 points. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt added 17 points, Stefanie Dolson had 11 and Emma Meesseman 10. ' ' '