of the past nine games. 3. A Little Depth

HOUSTON -- Matt Dominguez provided a big boost to the Houston Astros on Sunday. Dominguez homered twice and had four RBIs, helping the Astros to defeat the Chicago White Sox 8-2. Dominguez hit his sixth and seventh homers of the season off White Sox lefty John Danks (3-4) in the third and fifth innings. The first was hit to deep left-centre on a full count that followed a double by Dexter Fowler. The second was hit to the left-field Crawford Boxes, also with Fowler on base, putting the Astros up 8-1. "Hes a guy that can turn around anybodys fastball," Astros manager Bo Porter said of Dominguez. "Hes got power to all fields." Backed by early run support, Astros right-hander Brad Peacock (1-4) earned his first win of the season, allowing two runs and five hits and four walks, while striking out five in 6 2-3 innings. The Astros scored two runs or fewer in six of Peacocks previous nine outings entering Sunday. Since Peacock became a starter on April 20, the offence provided 13 runs of support in his previous five starts. "Our hitters came out swinging," Peacock said. "Its a big confidence builder for them and a big confidence builder for us." The Astros have won four of their past five games, while the White Sox have lost six of eight. After taking two of three from the Rangers and White Sox, Houston has won back-to-back series for the first time since last August. The Astros improved to 12-3 when hitting two or more home runs. They are 1-17 when they fail to hit a homer. After a Chris Carter homer in the second inning gave the Astros an early lead, Jonathan Villar sparked a rally with a two-RBI single that scored Jesus Guzman and L.J. Hoes. Guzman advanced to second on a throwing error by left fielder Alejandro De Aza then stole third and scored when catcher Adrian Nietos attempt to throw him out skipped into the outfield. The Astros had 10 hits in the game and have had at least nine hits in eight straight games, the clubs longest such streak since 2008. "They were swinging it good," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Any time you get the ball up, especially in this ballpark, youre going to create a lot of problems." Villar later left the game in the seventh inning with a right hand injury, but Porter said the injury was not serious. The White Sox were playing without first baseman Jose Abreu, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with ankle tendinitis. "Everything gets frustrating, especially when you have games like this," Ventura said of Chicagos two errors. "It just needs to be cleaned up." Danks allowed eight runs -- seven earned -- and 10 hits and three walks while striking out seven in 4 2-3 innings. He allowed at least one homer for his fourth consecutive start and fell to 1-3 in that stretch after allowing just one homer through five starts in April, when he was 2-1. "I did a terrible job of keeping the ball in the ballpark," Danks said. Notes: Despite having the worst record in the AL at 16-28, the Astros are 15-11 when hitting home runs. The Astros rank third in the majors and second in the AL with 15 multi-homer games. ... Dexter Fowler has walked in eight straight games, Houstons longest streak since 2006. ... Astros prospect C Brian Holberton hit for the cycle at Class A Quad Cities, going 5 for 5 with two singles, a double, triple, two-run homer and five RBIs in a 10-3 win. ... The Astros begin a 10-game road trip to Anaheim, Seattle and Kansas City, and the White Sox travel to Kansas City for a three-game series. Hjalte Froholdt Jersey .J. -- Tom Coughlin doesnt have many options at halfback for the winless New York Giants. Cheap Patriots Jerseys Authentic . But last years runner-up Jarkko Nieminen crashed out despite winning the first set against Denis Istomin. Istomin fired 10 aces and won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 to even his career record against Nieminen at 3-3. http://www.cheappatriotsjerseysauthentic...ledsoe-jersey.Y. - Alex Rodriguez paid $305,000 for evidence that could be used in the case involving the Biogenesis of America drug clinic, the Daily News reported Saturday. Kevin Faulk Jersey . -- Rodney Stuckey scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Detroit Pistons beat the New York Knicks for the first time in eight meetings, 92-86 on Tuesday night. Joejuan Williams Jersey . Inter moved five points behind fourth-place Fiorentina and eight points behind third-place Napoli, which visits relegation-threatened Sassuolo on Sunday.TORONTO – The difference was as simple as special teams on this night. The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. “Theres a responsibility thats borne out by special teams in tonights hockey game,” said Randy Carlyle after the 5-2 loss to Boston, which snapped a brief two-game win streak. Combative with their top rival for much of the 60 minutes, the Leafs were ultimately undone by both special team units. Their once prideful penalty kill allowed two more power play goals – falling to fifth-worst overall – while a typically potent man advantage stood empty in four chances. “Our PK just let us down again,” said Jay McClement after the loss. “Its a huge momentum builder for us and right now its going the other way. Its killing our momentum.” Up 1-0 on the Bruins after a period – on a goal from Peter Holland – the Leafs veered off the road when penalties to Carter Ashton and Carl Gunnarsson struck early in the middle frame. Boston scored twice in less than two minutes with the consecutive power plays, momentum spiraling downward in rapid order for the Leafs. “It was bang-bang,” said Carlyle. “All of a sudden they score two goals and the life went out of our hockey club.” The Bruins scratched out another marker at even-strength late in the period, a puck from rookie Kevan Miller squeezing through the pads of Jonathan Bernier. And though they would claw back to cut the deficit to 3-2 on McClements first of the year, the Leafs failed to score with consecutive man advantage opportunities in the third. “We made a few mistakes on our penalty kill and thats the difference against top teams,” said a terse Dion Phaneuf. At equal with the Atlantic division-leading Bruins for the most part at even-strength – the shots were 32-25 in Bostons favour – the failure on special teams proved disappointing, especially in light of the daunting schedule that lays ahead. The Leafs clash with the Kings, Blues, Blackhawks and Penguins over the next week, clutching just two regulation victories in their past 17 games. Five Points 1. Penalty Killing Funk Countering the effects of a potent Toronto power play (more below) is an increasingly ineffective penalty kill, one that surrendered two more goals to the Bruins on Sunday night. The unit, now stumbling at just 77 per cent, has allowed an astounding 13 goals over the past eight games – at least one in all eight – and two or more in five of the past 10. “Our penalty kill is something that definitely needs work,” said Jake Gardiner, the 23-year-old leading the Leafs with over 25 minutes against the Bruins. “Youve seen that in the past few games or even weeks I guess so its something we need to work on.” Simple mistakes were punished. The Leafs failed to clear pucks on each of the two Boston power play goals; Dion Phaneuf moments before the first marker from Carl Soderberg, Mason Raymond shortly before the second from Torey Krug, a blast that ricocheted off the shin-pad of Gardiner. “Those two specifically came back to haunt us,” said Carlyle. His team has allowed a league-leading 28 power play goals this season. 2. More Penalty Kill Carlyle slightly altered the composition of the penalty kill in the past couple games, cutting down on the minutes of the increasingly over-worked James van Riemsdyk while inserting rookie Jerry DAmigo, a mainstay for years on the Marlies typically strong unit. Personnel aside, the confidence of a group that finished as the leagues second-best last season has simply vanished in recent weeks. “I think when were going really good with it – last year and then the start of this year &ndassh; we had almost a swagger when we went out there,” said McClement.dddddddddddd “We expected to kill it and we were all working together. And right now were just making tiny little mistakes and it seems like we just cant get away with anything so we have to correct those [mistakes].” Not helping matters much either is the amount of penalties taken. The Leafs have earned more power play opportunities than their opponent in just one of the past nine games. 3. A Little Depth The Leafs entered the night with 83 per cent of their offence emerging from just seven different sources, but against the Bruins they finally managed to find some depth. Energizing the fourth line – and later moved up to the third unit – Peter Holland scored his second goal with the Leafs, setting up McClement with his first this season in the third. “Obviously weve been relying on our big guys pretty much completely all year,” said McClement, who has just three points all season after posting 17 in 48 games last season. “Its huge if we can get contributions from the rest of us and take the weight off our big boys a little bit.” 4. Power Play Right up there with goaltending, the Toronto power play has been a consistent hub of success so far this season. Though it came up empty against the Bruins, the unit still ranks third-best in the NHL through 31 games. “We work on it a lot and we focus on trying to execute cleanly,” said Cody Franson prior to the game, the 26-year-old leading the team with 11 power play points. “When you can do that it enables things to speed up a little bit and its harder to defend as a penalty kill.” “Just movement, lots of traffic, timely goals,” said Nazem Kadri, asked whats made it effective to date. “Theres a few things that have been contributing; the way we bring the puck up the ice to set up the power play. Its definitely been working for us and one of our strengths of the year. But weve got to keep going and weve got to keep putting pucks to the net. Sometimes maybe we get a little too cute and sometimes were just better off just looking for those bang-in rebounds around the crease.” Especially potent on home ice – save Sunday – the Leafs have clicked on 31.9 per cent of their power plays at the ACC, tops in the league this season. Of note is the limited number of penalties drawn, just 97 on the year, seventh-fewest in the NHL. 5. Critical Areas Harping on the need to cut down on goals against from the critical areas, Carlyle was bothered by the various locations of the Bruin markers on Sunday. “The disappointing part for us as a coaching staff is where the goals are scored from,” he said. “We have got to have better coverage in those areas. If they score them from the outside those are going to happen … Its where theyre scoring the goals from is the most important thing for us to attend to right away.” After yielding 50 shots in consecutive wins against Dallas and Ottawa, the Leafs allowed a comparatively scant 39 on Sunday night against Boston. Stats-Pack 13 – Power play goals against the Leafs in the past eight games. 8 – Consecutive games in which the Leafs have allowed at least one power play goal. 25:21 – Ice-time for Jake Gardiner, leading the Leafs against the Bruins. 28 – Power play goals against the Leafs this season, most in the NHL. 14-19 – Jay McClement in the faceoff circle against the Bruins. 32-25 – Shots advantage for Boston at even-strength. 3 – Points for Peter Holland in nine games with the Leafs. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-4 Season: 26.7% PK: 1-3 Season: 77% Quote of the Night “Our PK just let us down again.” - Jay McClement, following the 5-2 loss to the Bruins. Up Next The Leafs host the Kings at the ACC on Wednesday night. 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