Sensational skates at the Grand Prix Final are boding well for Sochi, as the fields close in and rivalries heat up. As the season progresses, the gaps are narrowing and the fields are closing in on the leaders. A week ago, there wasnt an obvious challenger in the mens or pairs event. In fact, heading into the Grand Prix Final in Japan, it was difficult to imagine that the defending champions could be beaten. Patrick Chan had an enormous 30-point lead over the rest of the men in this seasons scores and so did the defending world pair champions from Russia - Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov - who had the same 30-point margin over the rest of the teams. Patrick faltered in the short program in Japan and Tatiana and Max in the free program to open the door, but what was intriguing in both cases was the way that the challengers stepped up and that the underdogs won. Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan hit one out of the park in the short program breaking Patricks world record that he set just two weeks ago. It all came together for Yuzuru in that performance, as he aggressively attacked the jumps and played with the music to sell his program to his hometown audience. It was an easy sell and they ate it up to help lift Yuzuru to a record-breaking skate where he missed the 100-point mark by a slim .16. As Coach Brian Orser said when the marks were posted, "Sooooo close!" Patrick and Yuzuru both delivered strong free programs each with one mistake, but the edge went to Hanyu and Patrick had his first loss of the season. Patrick, of course - barring injury - has his Olympic spot locked up. Theres no doubt he will go as this countrys No. 1 guy. Thats not the case for Yuzuru, whos fighting for his Olympic life. Hes up against five other guys who are all capable and who are all fighting for three spots. With the new world record in the short program, the second best freeskate and total scores ever and with the win over Chan, one would think Yuzuru might be awarded one of those coveted spots to Sochi. But no such spot has been given and the Japanese team will be named after their nationals - which take place just before Christmas. Patrick can find new motivation in the fact that hell be pushed and he will indeed need two great skates like he had two weeks ago in Paris to win Olympic Gold. The Russian pairs take the same knowledge into the holiday season with the loss to the German team of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. It is the kind of knowledge one needs at this time of year, lest one sits back and gets too comfortable. It was expected that the Ice Dance would be a close contest in Japan. While defending world champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White received better scores all season than Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, one could sense that Tessa and Scott were working out the kinks early in the series. And in Japan they put the technical glitches behind them and had stunning performances in both the Short and Free Dance. Meryl and Charlie brought their A game as well and came away with the win. And once again we were reminded how lucky we are to have two teams of their calibre at the same time. It was a terrific event and a moment that stood out for me was the look on the faces of Tessa and Scott after the free dance. Total satisfaction - a look thats been missing of late. When youre competing there are always the little things that youve done better in practice or things you had to fight through, that werent quite right and when you finish your skate those things immediately flash through your mind and the instant self evaluation is briefly written on your face. Tessas appraisal was immediate. Her eyes flashed in delight and she said yes. Totally satisfied. That was the performance they had been reaching for. They now have the momentum and as their rivalry demands, will have to build on it. They have to dig deep and soul search in order to answer the questions. "What more can we do?" "Whats next to fine tune?" The same questions that Meryl and Charlie are now asking in light of their narrow win. This is why were so fortunate to have these two great teams. As they drive each other to strategically find the edge, they find new levels of excellence and we the audience are ultimately the winners. In the ladies event the clear winner in Japan was indeed the favourite going in, hometown heroine Olympic Silver medalist Mao Asada. While it was no surprise to me that Mao won gold what was surprising, actually I was quite shocked, was her captivating short program. In fact, it ranks as one of my all time favourite skates. In a word, she was brilliant and when I rack my brain for comparisons, it would be Olympic champion and the defending world champion Yuna Kim. Yuna missed the Grand Prix season due to injury and competed in a B international to gain some competition mileage for her new material, while the Final was taking place. She received some impressive scores and so the stage is set for a showdown in the ladies event in Sochi. Mao and Yuna - a rematch from 2010. Yuna by all accounts is on track to be as good as ever, while Mao is new and improved. Her jumping arsenal is bigger and better and artistically she is skating, with more joy, heartfelt emotion and conviction than ever before. Let the games begin! Avonte Maddox Eagles Jersey .Derrick Rose scored 23 points, and the Bulls pulled away from the Nets for a 105-80 victory on Wednesday night. Chicago held Brooklyn to 29 points on 26. Michael Bennett Jersey . CNN and Gazzetta dello Sport reporter Tancredi Palmeri broke the news via Twitter Tuesday afternoon. Italian Football Association President Giancarlo Abete has also resigned, according to Palmeri. http://www.eaglespromart.com/markus-wheaton-eagles-jersey/. Viewers in the Jets region can watch the game on TSN Jets at 6:30pm ct/7:30pm et. The game is also avialable on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg at 7pm ct. Richard Rodgers Eagles Jersey .J. -- Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils took a lot of grief considering his scored the first of his career-best three goals just 12 seconds into a crucial game against the Florida Panthers. Haloti Ngata Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota (5): He was calm, poised, and looked comfortable all game. LOS ANGELES -- Delmon Young had a career-high six RBIs, helping John Lannan breeze to his first victory with Philadelphia, and the Phillies got homers from Michael Young and John Mayberry in a 16-1 rout of the Dodgers on Friday night, snapping Los Angeles season-best, six-game winning streak. Phillies All-Star first baseman Ryan Howard, batting .268 overall and .173 against left-handers, was given the day off by manager Charlie Manuel with lefty Chris Capuano starting for the Dodgers. And with lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers on Saturday, Manuel said he would give the 2006 NL MVP another day off before putting him back in the lineup for Sundays series finale. Despite Howards absence from the lineup, the Phillies ended up with a season-high 21 hits, including four by Michael Young. Delmon Young had an RBI single in the first inning, a two-run double in the second, a run-scoring fielders choice grounder in the sixth and a two-run single in the seventh. The Phillies, who hadnt had more than nine runs and 16 hits in a game all season, also got a pair of run-scoring singles from Jimmy Rollins -- matching his RBI total for his previous 10 games combined. Michael Youngs leadoff homer in the fourth gave Philadelphia a 7-0 lead. Lannan made it 8-0 with his RBI single in the fifth, and the Phillies extended the margin to 12-0 with a four-run sixth highlighted by Mayberrys two-run homer off Peter Moylan. They added three more in the seventh. The 15-run losing margin was the largest for the Dodgers since they moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. Things got so ugly for the Dodgers, utilityman Skip Schumaker was summoned by manager Don Mattingly to pitch the ninth inning. He struck out pinch-hitter Humberto Quintero with the bases loaded on his 24th pitch after retiring his first two batters. Schumaker also threw a scoreless inning of relief on April 29 against Colorado in the Dodgers 12-2 loss at Chavez Ravine. Lannan (1-2) gave up five hits over seven innings in his sixth start with the Phillies and third since coming off the disabled list. The left-hander, who spent his six previous big league seasons with Washington, has won his last five decisions against the Dodgers.dddddddddddd Lannen also was 3 for 4 at the plate. Two seasons ago, he hit his first major league home run at Dodger Stadium in a 7-2 win for the Nationals. The Dodgers run came on a sixth-inning double by pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke, who was reinstated from the disabled list after missing 15 games because of bursitis in his left shoulder. Capuano (2-5) surrendered seven runs and 10 hits over 3 2-3 innings in his third start off the DL, after throwing a combined 11 scoreless innings against the Yankees and Padres during the last road trip. He has a 9.00 ERA in five starts at Dodger Stadium this season, compared to a 1.35 figure on the road. Two of the runs off Capuano were unearned, the result of a fielding error by three-time Gold Glove first baseman Adrian Gonzalez on a two-out grounder by Domonic Brown in the second. NOTES: Howard, in the second season of a five-year, $125 million contract, is batting .268 overall with 10 homers and 41 RBIs -- including a current 0 for 16 drought that includes eight strikeouts. In Thursday nights series-opening 6-4 loss, he grounded into an inning-ending double play on a 3-0 pitch. "Right now hes uncomfortable and hes not seeing (lefties) good," said Manuel, who met privately with Howard and hitting coaches Wally Joyner and Steve Henderson. "Its just a matter of him getting his swing back and getting in a good groove. So were going to do some drills with him, do some work with his hitting and also give him some time -- let him sit down and kind of clear his head and well where he goes. And hes fine with it." ... Delmon Young had as many as five RBIs in a game on two previous occasions, most recently on Oct. 2, 2009, against Kansas City while playing for Minnesota. ... The Phillies optioned INF Freddy Galvis to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to clear a roster spot for INF John McDonald, who was acquired in a trade with Cleveland on Thursday. ... INF Luis Cruz, who is out of minor league options, was designated for assignment. 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