- somewhere -- either here or there, Alleva said.In Louisiana, several columnists and sports talk-show hosts expressed cynicism over Floridas indecision as the hurricane approached, and q

DETROIT -- Max Scherzer is feeling the pressure these days. The Detroit right-hander is unbeaten this year, but with every turn through the rotation, it seems at least one of his teammates is reaching a new level. "We feed off each other, but weve also pushed the bar so dang high," Scherzer said. "Everybody wants to try to match that." Scherzer struck out nine in seven innings, and Victor Martinez homered and drove in three runs to lift the Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. Miguel Cabrera had three hits for Detroit, along with his major league-leading 66th RBI. Scherzer (8-0) allowed a run and four hits, walking two. He is the first Detroit pitcher to start the season 8-0 since Jeremy Bonderman in 2007. Joaquin Benoit allowed a run in the eighth, and Jose Valverde pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in nine chances. Martinez has struggled a bit with the bat since returning from a knee injury that caused him to miss all of 2012, but there was no doubt about his drive to right in the fourth, a two-run shot that cleared the wall with plenty of room to spare. It was his fourth homer of the season. Hes hitting only .231 and hasnt always been rewarded when hes hit the ball hard. "Its pretty tough not to get frustrated. Every time you go out there, you put good swings -- right at somebody," Martinez said. "Im controlling the things that I can control." Martinezs homer gave Detroit a 2-0 lead, and Cabrera drove in a run the following inning with a single. Tampa Bays Roberto Hernandez (3-6) allowed four runs in 5 1-3 innings. The first-place Tigers lead Cleveland by 2 1/2 games in the AL Central. The Indians visit Detroit for a three-game series starting Friday night. Justin Verlander will start the opener of that series, and his 3.70 ERA actually ranks fourth in Detroits rotation. Anibal Sanchez (2.65), Scherzer (3.24) and Doug Fister (3.27) are all ahead of him. "That might be the best rotation in the American League," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Scherzer is a lot like Sanchez, where he can add and subtract with all of his pitches. Hes got a lot more confidence in the changeup, and his other pitches have gotten much better over the last couple years." Opponents are hitting .185 off Scherzer. He fanned Evan Longoria three times and kept the Rays off the scoreboard until an RBI single by James Loney in the sixth. "Im showing consistency with four pitches and I feel like thats really whats allowing me to be effective and pitch deep into games and do all the little things well," Scherzer said. "I realize the leagues probably going to make adjustments to me and Ive got to be ready to still pitch my best when maybe I dont have my best stuff." Don Kelly led off the Detroit fifth with a single, advanced to second on a groundout and eventually scored on Cabreras bloop single to right-centre. Cabrera finished with three hits, and Prince Fielder had two to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Hernandez pitched 8 2-3 innings without an earned run in a win at Miami in his previous start, but he ran into trouble in the middle innings against Detroit. After Tampa Bay scored in the sixth, Hernandez allowed a leadoff double by Jhonny Peralta in the bottom half and a one-out single by Omar Infante. Pinch-hitter Avisail Garcia hit a sacrifice fly off reliever Jake McGee to make it 4-1. Cabrera singled and stole second in the seventh and scored on a single by Martinez. Tampa Bay got a run back in the eighth on an RBI infield single by Loney. Hernandez allowed 10 hits and a walk. He struck out six. The Rays lost two of three to the Tigers -- Tampa Bay has only one series win at Comerica Park in the last nine seasons. NOTES: Scherzer struck out Yunel Escobar with his 100th and final pitch -- it was also the right-handers 100th strikeout of the year. ... Cabreras seventh-inning hit was an infield single -- his hard grounder up the middle hit McGee, and the left-hander came out of the game with a left shin contusion. Maddon said he should be available to pitch Friday. ... Kelly came running in to make a nice diving catch in the fourth on Loneys flyball to shallow centre. ... Tampa Bay OF Kelly Johnson sat out a second straight game because of back trouble. Maddon doesnt expect the injury to linger. "Its just a little bit of back stiffness," Maddon said. "Once we get by that, well be fine." Johnson was available to pinch-hit. ... Verlander (7-4) starts Friday night against Cleveland RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (4-3). The Rays return home and send RHP Chris Archer (0-1) to the mound against Baltimore RHP Jason Hammel (7-3).Wholesale Nike Air Max 270 . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. Cheap Nike Air Max 270 . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. https://www.cheapnikeairmax270china.us/ . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Clearance Nike Air Max 270 . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Nike Air Max 270 From China . 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.BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU wont give up a home game later this season to make up a game at Florida that was postponed because of Hurricane Matthew, athletic director Joe Alleva said Monday, further minimizing the possibility that the traditional rivalry game will be played at all.One thing were going to hold very firm on is we have a home game on Nov. 19 -- and were going to have a home game on Nov. 19, Alleva said. Were not going to change that situation.His stance leaves open the possibility of LSU hosting No. 18 Florida on that date and buying out the Tigers scheduled opponent, South Alabama -- should the Gators be willing to play in Baton Rouge that day and buy out their own scheduled guest, Presbyterian.Alleva said the possibility of Florida coming to LSU this season and LSU going to Florida the next two seasons had not been discussed.There do not appear to be many other options, however.LSU is free on Oct. 29, a week before hosting No. 1 Alabama, which also has off the weekend of Oct. 29.The Tigers could theoretically travel to Gainesville that weekend, but Alleva asserted, Im not in favor of playing a game on that day unless Alabama also plays a game on that day.Alabama athletic director Bill Battle declined to comment when asked about Allevas statements. And even if LSU was willing to play at Florida on Oct. 29, that would require Florida and Georgia to shuffle their annual rivalry game in Jacksonville from Oct. 29 to another day, such as Oct. 22, when both are off.When Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity was asked during an SEC Network interview Monday about the possibility of moving that game, he responded, Its impractical and I dont think its an option whatsoever.If the LSU-Florida game doesnt get made up, the schools will play only seven Southeastern Conference games this season, rather than the usual eight.That means the SEC might have to decide division winners based on conference winning percentages, as was done decades ago before every team in the conference had balanced league schedules.Deciding divisions based on winning percentage could become advantageous for Florida if No. 9 Tennessee -- which is coming off a loss at sixth-ranked Texas A&M and hosts No. 1 Alabama this Saturday -- loses just one more SEC game. If Florida then wins its final four SEC games against Missouri (at home), Georgia (at home), Arkansas (on the road) and South Carolina (at home), the Gators would win their division with a 6-1 league record despite losing to Tennessee, which would be 6-2.Meanwhile, if LSU won its final four SSEC games against Mississippi (at home), Alabama, Arkansas (on the road) and Texas A&M (on the road), the Tigers would still finish second in the West if the Crimson Tide finished with only one league loss.ddddddddddddIf those scenarios play out, maybe there has to be another way of looking at who the division champions are. Maybe you only look at divisional play, Alleva suggested, but stressed that theres been no discussion at all about doing that.In a statement Monday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey reiterated that he wants administrators from LSU and Florida to work collaboratively to reschedule the game this season.We need to play the game and we need to have people come together to find a way to make that happen, Sankey said.Alleva has said that LSU -- which in 2005 moved a home game to Arizona State because of Hurricane Katrina and then delayed a home game against Tennessee for two days because of Hurricane Rita -- made every effort to have last weekends game played at Florida on Sunday or Monday, or in Baton Rouge. Alleva expressed frustration that Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley balked at LSUs offers to get the game in last weekend until Thursday, when Sankey decided to postpone it. By contrast, South Carolina and Georgia agreed to delay their game from Saturday until Sunday.I watched South Carolina play Georgia yesterday, and I was wishing we were playing -- somewhere -- either here or there, Alleva said.In Louisiana, several columnists and sports talk-show hosts expressed cynicism over Floridas indecision as the hurricane approached, and questioned whether the Gators preferred an indefinite postponement because it could improve their chances to win the SEC East and allow extra rest for a slew of injured key players. LSU is unranked but coming off a 42-7 win over Missouri in its first game under interim coach Ed Orgeron.Florida coach Jim McElwain expressed disgust and disbelief that anyone would think his team tried to dodge playing LSU.Nineteen deaths, 2.5 million people without power, families in dire needs, McElwain said. Obviously, they dont know me. They dont know the Florida Gators. They dont know our players. Dodging the game? Wow. ... How anybody could even think that way is beyond me.---AP Sports Writers Mark Long in Gainesville, Florida, and John Zenor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, contributed to this report.---Online:APs college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '