MINNEAPOLIS -- It had been nearly two months since Joe Saunders pitched in the majors and 10 days since his last rehab start in the minor leagues. So it was understandable if he was a little shaky early in his return to the Texas Rangers rotation. He spent most of the outing searching for his best stuff, but still managed to shut down the struggling Minnesota Twins offence. Saunders pitched five scoreless innings and Luis Sardinas drove in the only run of the game to lift the Rangers to a 1-0 victory over the Twins on Wednesday night. "It was a battle for the first time coming back in almost two months," Saunders said. "It was a struggle, but I made some good pitches, got some clutch strikeouts against some pretty good hitters and kept the team right where it needed to be." Saunders gave up five hits and struck out six after being activated from the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day. "I had to take a step back there in the first inning, relax and calm the nerves a little bit," Saunders said. "Its been a long time coming for me. Its the longest Ive ever been out. It was a good start." Sardinas had a two-out single off struggling Twins reliever Jared Burton (1-2) in the seventh inning to help propel the Rangers to their seventh win in the past 10 games. Kyle Gibson gave up six hits and struck out four in six scoreless innings, but the Twins left nine runners on base and went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Joe Mauer went 0 for 4. Shawn Tolleson (1-1) pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings of relief for the win and Joakim Soria picked up his ninth save in 10 tries, one night after his error in the ninth inning led to his first blown save of the season. Saunders had only made one other start this season, but he took a line drive from Evan Longoria off his left ankle in his season debut on April 4. Saunders made four rehab starts and had his breaking ball working in his return to the Rangers rotation on Wednesday night. Saunders stranded seven baserunners, including getting Brian Dozier to fly out with the bases loaded in the second. With his pitch count at 97 after five innings, manager Ron Washington elected to go to the bullpen rather than push Saunders too hard in his first start back. "Hes a competitor and he had to compete tonight, especially early in the game when they couldve done some damage," Washington said. Gibson was just as sharp, allowing just one extra-base hit and breezing through six. But he didnt get any help from a slumping offence that has scored just 10 runs in the past six games. Mauer had a chance in the seventh inning with the tying run on third base and two outs, but he chased a breaking ball for strike three and heard boos from a frustrated hometown fan base. Mauer is hitting .277 with 15 RBIs and six doubles on the season. "I feel pretty good actually, which is even more frustrating," said Mauer, who has been dealing with a sore back for parts of the season. "Im hitting a lot of balls hard and just not having much to show for it. So hopefully that turns here soon. just got to try to have some good at bats, keep having good at-bats and hopefully they start falling." Elvis Andrus was ejected in the sixth inning after he muttered something to home plate umpire Pat Hoberg regarding a low strike called earlier in his at-bat. It was the second ejection of the season for Andrus and Washington moved Sardinas from second base to shortstop and put Rougned Odor at second base to fill the hole. NOTES: Twins CF Aaron Hicks was a late scratch with a back issue, forcing manager Ron Gardenhire to start SS Danny Santana in CF. ... While on a rehab assignment for a groin injury, Twins RHP Mike Pelfrey felt soreness in his shoulder and was brought to Minnesota for examination. Another stint on the disabled list is likely after the Twins diagnose the injury. ... Alex Rios extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fourth. ... Gardenhire challenged a play in the seventh inning when Leonys Martin was ruled safe on a steal. Gardenhire claimed Dozier applied the tag, but the play was upheld after a 51-second review. Stephen Strasburg Jersey . After Mariota was pushed around by Stanford on Thursday, finishing 20/34 with 250 yards and two touchdowns in Oregons Title hope-crushing defeat, hes going to need a poor performance or two from the remaining frontrunners to have a shot at the most coveted individual trophy in college sports. Cheap Nationals Jerseys . Fognini won 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 after Argentinas Carlos Berlocq had beaten Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 on the outdoor clay surface. 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(January 11, 2014) – Once again Kevin Martin proved why he is the all-time TSN skins leader, winning $11,500 in prize money and a spot in the Travelers All-Star Curling Skins Game presented by Pintys final following a semifinal victory over Brad Jacobs earlier this evening at the Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre in Banff, Alta.NEW YORK, N.Y. - Statement from Michael Garcia, Chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee:For the first two years after my July 2012 appointment as independent Chairman of the FIFA Ethics Committees Investigatory Chamber, I felt that the Ethics Committee was making real progress in advancing ethics enforcement at FIFA. In recent months, that changed.On September 5, 2014, I and Cornel Borbely, the Deputy Chair of the Investigatory Chamber, sent a Report on the Inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bidding Process (the Report) to the FIFA Ethics Committees Adjudicatory Chamber. The Report identified serious and wide-ranging issues with the bidding and selection process. (Mr. Borbely also filed separate reports from his inquiries into the activities of the bid teams from Russia and the United States.)Soon after, the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber, Hans-Joachim Eckert, indicated publicly that only limited information from the Report would be made public. Concerned that insufficient transparency would not serve FIFAs interests, I issued a public statement calling on the FIFA Executive Committee to authorize the appropriate publication of the Report. The Executive Committee took no action on this subject during its September 2014 meetings - other than to refer me to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for allegedly violating the Code of Ethics through my public comments, namely, my public request that the Executive Committee authorize appropriate publication of the Report and the on-the-record statement Mr. Borbely and I released concerning watches given to certain football officials. The Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Claudio Sulser, ultimately rejected the Executive Committees referral.On November 13, 2014, Mr. Eckert issued a 42-page Statement of the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee on the Report on the Inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup Bidding Process prepared by the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee (the Eckert Decision). In a cover letter, Mr. Eckert described the statement as his findings, including certain descriptions of the contents of the Investigatory Chambers report.The issues raised by Mr. Eckerts selection and omission of material from the Report, and his additional comments, went far beyond the initial transparency concerns. As my public statement at the time explained, the Eckert Decision contained numerous maaterially incomplete and erroneous representations of facts and conclusions.dddddddddddd Accordingly, I appealed.A brief I filed with the FIFA Appeal Committee on November 24, 2014, outlined the Eckert Decisions most serious failings. Among other points, the brief explained why, when viewed in the context of the Report it purported to summarize, no principled approach could justify the Eckert Decisions edits, omissions, and additions.Yesterdays decision by the Appeal Committee declined to address these points. Instead, the Appeal Committee rejected my appeal on procedural grounds, concluding that it is not necessary for the FIFA Appeals Committee to enter into considerations on the substance of the appeal. The Appeal Committee found that the Eckert Decision was merely a personal opinion on the Report and had no legally binding effect whatsoever. It reached this conclusion even though, under Article 36 of the Code of Ethics, only final decisions may be made public, as the Eckert Decision, which was published on FIFAs website, obviously was. The Appeal Committee also overlooked the Eckert Decisions self-described findings, including one stating that the evaluation of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is closed for the FIFA Ethics Committee. FIFA President Blatter recently reaffirmed that finding during an interview published by FIFA, stating: Furthermore, there is no change to Judge Eckerts statement that the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups is concluded.I disagree with the Appeal Committees decision.It now appears that, at least for the foreseeable future, the Eckert Decision will stand as the final word on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process. While the Appeal Committees decision notes that further appeal may be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, I have concluded that such a course of action would not be practicable in this case. No independent governance committee, investigator, or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization. And while the November 13, 2014, Eckert Decision made me lose confidence in the independence of the Adjudicatory Chamber, it is the lack of leadership on these issues within FIFA that leads me to conclude that my role in this process is at an end.Accordingly, effective today, December 17, 2014, I am resigning as independent Chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee. 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