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PITTSBURGH -- The Cincinnati Reds play the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Friday night in the start of a weekend series between clubs in contention for a wildcard playoff spot, but the clubs stories lately have not been all that similar.The Reds have won all six of their series since the All-Star break, each time by taking two of three games. It is their first streak of six straight series wins since 1999.Including a series win against Chicago followed by getting swept by the Marlins just before the All-Star game, Cincinnati has won seven of its past eight series.Its been a good run really since Chicago before the break, with that little hiccup in Miami, Reds manager Bryan Price said, according to mlb.com. Since then, its been winning series and playing good ball, playing better defense, pitchers throwing strikes, a little bit deeper with some of our starts, which really helps the bullpen, and getting healthier. A lot of good things are happening.The Reds beat St. Louis 7-0 Thursday to take that series -- you guessed it -- 2-1. It was their fourth shutout this season, second in their past six games and third in their past 16 games.The Pirates, meanwhile, are 2-3-1 in series since the break, including getting swept in Milwaukee and dropping two of three to Atlanta, the worst team in the league, this week.They are trying to find the right combinations and parts, something that has been ongoing all season. Pittsburgh this week not only made a few moves at the trade deadline -- right-hander Ivan Nova will start Saturday in his Pirates debut -- but manager Clint Hurdle also made a noteworthy move seemingly born of frustration and desperation.Hurdle benched center fielder and former National League MVP Andrew McCutchen for the full three games of the series at Atlanta that ended Thursday night with a 5-2 loss.The hope was that McCutchen would benefit from taking a step back, not picking up a bat or taking the field for a few days. He is batting a career-low .241, including a current 5-for-27 showing, and has gotten just five of his 43 RBI since July 15.Hes tried a lot of things, Hurdle told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. This mans fought. Hes done early work, late work, side work, video work. Nothings worked.McCutchen, who presumably will be back in the lineup Friday against Cincinnati, wasnt thrilled with the tactic, but he did not want to make waves.If I had my choice, Id be in there, McCutchen told the Tribune-Review. But Im all for my team, all for my teammates, so thats the reason Im not going to mope about it.McCutchen also was one of the players left reeling by moves Pittsburgh made that were broadly interpreted as being rooted in financial concerns rather than boosting the clubs postseason chances this year. Among other things, the Pirates shipped Mark Melancon, one of the sports top closers, to Washington.There is some confusion, McCutchen told the Tribune-Review. Some things that feel like, Why? What was the reasoning behind some of our moves? Thats the biggest thing.We understand (management) is not our job. We understand its not what we do. We play. But there are some things that Im sure for all of us, kind of blew us away. Where we are (mentally) is just like, Dang. Wow. Thats crazy. You know?In addition, the Pittsburgh rotation has been in some disarray beyond the trades, partly because of injuries but also because of shaky performances that have led to skipped starts and stretches in the bullpen by starters. One, Jeff Locke, spoke out about a lack of consistency with his role after he spent more than a week in the bullpen.Friday, rookie right-hander Jameson Taillon (2-2, 3.52 ERA) will make his ninth major league start, first against the Reds. He has had a couple of hiccups that might be expected of a young pitcher, but overall has shown promise when healthy. He has not allowed a walk in his past four appearances and has been charged with seven earned runs in those 24 innings. Pittsburgh has won four his past five starts.Taillons counterpart Friday will be Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (6-0, 2.93 ERA), who has eight quality starts in 10 appearances, including a six-inning, one-run performance Saturday against San Diego.Aaron Ramsey Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. Gareth Bale Jersey . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. http://www.soccerwalesstore.com/joe-allen-wales-UEFA-EURO-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. Wales Soccer Jerseys . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. Joe Allen Wales Jersey . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East.Charlotte Ahrens takes great pride in the letters GER.She spent the past year competing at the national level with the abbreviation printed across her triathlon suit, and she speaks highly of her experience racing as a triathlete for her home country of Germany. But when the opportunity to become part of another team arose, Ahrens knew it was the right time to make a move.On Saturday, Ahrens will represent a new team, one that also is abbreviated by three letters: ASU.The Arizona State freshman will join 74 other women from 23 schools at the womens collegiate triathlon national championships in New Orleans. It is the Sun Devils first appearance at the championships.Arizona State University is one of just two Division I triathlon teams (East Tennessee State University is the other), but coach Cliff English has worked hard to recruit high-level athletes from across the world to help build the program.Womens triathlon is not yet an NCAA championship varsity sport, but teams can field varsity programs -- and offer scholarships -- because the sport has gained emerging sport status. If 40 D-I schools support varsity teams by 2024, triathlon will advance to championship status and be officially recognized with NCAA events. Until that point, national championships cannot contain the brand of the NCAA in the name.Along the same path Ahrens and Germany are taking, English said USA Triathlon has talked for decades about ways to develop future Olympians, and collegiate programs that offer triathlon could be the next step in the plan.We are really looking to build something pretty special here and, at one point, recruit athletes that are having the opportunity to train and get a great education, English said. Its kind of fun to imagine the next cycle going into 2020, 2024 -- that there will be schools very similar to the swim programs that are turning out Olympians. I think that would be great.One American athlete who is hoping to take advantage of the collegiate opportunity is Addison Smith, a sophomore at Baylor High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee.Smith, who won the 15-19 age division at triathlons Sprint National Championships in August, competes on her high school cross country and swim teams and said she is hoping to pursue triathlon in college.Im looking forward to training with other people my age and competing against people that are doing the same thing that I am, she said.Some high-level multisport athletes, though, still choose to compete in a single sport in college.Cornell freshman Taylor Knibb competes for the Big Reds cross country team, but she traveled to Cozumel, Mexico, this fall to race in the International Triathlon Union Junior Elite World Championships and came away with a victory. She also finished third in the Montreal Elite World Cup in early August, edging out some Olympians.While heer triathlon accomplishments stand out, Knibb said she is still figuring out her long-term multisport goals.dddddddddddd She said she did not look at triathlon programs before choosing Cornell but instead picked the school for both the academic and athletic opportunities she would be afforded as a member of the cross country team.Going through the process, knowing that anything can happen over four years, I created a list of possible schools where I thought Id be happy not even considering the athletics, and then worked my way from there, Knibb wrote in an email. Although I wasnt sure if I wanted to swim or run, I knew that I wanted to just pursue one sport to help develop it to the best of my ability.Before 2014, when the NCAA made triathlon an emerging sport, Knibbs choice to focus on a single sport was the most common option for those looking to pursue any of the triathlon disciplines in college. Accordingly, USA Triathlon depended on a program called the college recruitment program as its pipeline. The program selects athletes who excelled in running or swimming in college and helps them train to become top-level triathletes after their graduation. Gwen Jorgensen, a former Wisconsin swimmer and cross country athlete who won gold in triathlon at the Rio Olympics, is one of the success stories. (Jorgensen, by the way, will be making her marathon debut this weekend in New York.)The United States ended the 2016 triathlon season with six women in the top 20 world rankings, and five of the six athletes participated in the college recruitment program, according to a USA Triathlon spokesperson. While the college recruitment program has proved to be successful, English said the NCAA triathlon teams could deepen the pool for future Olympians in the United States.This is something that a lot of us over the years have been keeping our eye on. We have all these great junior athletes who go to college, and we lose them from our sport, English said. They will go and run and swim, and now to be able to actually go to school on a scholarship and actually be a varsity sport, Im thrilled about it. I really think you have to have that vision that this is going to be a big thing. I feel like we are sort of on the wave of that.The question remains whether the NCAA program can grow. In the short term, though, it will grant athletes, including Ahrens and her Sun Devils teammate Katie Gorczyca, the opportunity to compete against other elite athletes in college nationals this weekend.Already seeing how far we have come since the beginning of August, I can only imagine where we will be in five years, Gorczyca said. Across the nation, I think more schools will adopt triathlon as a varsity sport. ' ' '