ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Nick Tropeanos first major league start in more than a month was a victory in itself for the reeling Los Angeles Angels.The right-hander returned to the rotation in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, and there were some encouraging signs during his five-inning outing.Theres more positives than negatives, but still what we saw out of him was losing a lot of counts. His pitch count got up there in a hurry, but his stuff played, manager Mike Scioscia said.After spending most of the past month on the disabled list because of right shoulder tightness, Tropeano threw 95 pitches while allowing two runs and four hits.As we talked about earlier in the season when he was pitching and getting to a certain point of the game and keeping us in games, but the length wasnt quite there, Scioscia added. I think that is kind of the start we saw today, and hopefully we continue to pick up where we left (off) when he was getting into the sixth and seventh inning.Logan Morrison homered and drove in two runs for the Rays, who won for just the third time in 19 games. Matt Moore (5-5) allowed two runs and six hits over 6 2/3 innings, improving to 4-0 in his career against Los Angeles and handing the Angels their 12th loss in 14 games.Matt Moore set the tone. Hes on a really good run. Its great to see, Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the left-hander won consecutive starts for the first time since September 2013.Morrison hit a solo homer off Tropeano and gave the Rays the lead for good with an RBI single against Fernando Salas (3-6). Brad Miller also had a solo homer for the last-place Rays, who stopped a four-game losing streak.Jefry Marte homered for Los Angeles before leaving in the sixth with a bruised left knee. The outfielder was hit by a pitch in the fourth but remained in the game long enough to go deep on the first pitch of the sixth to make it 2-all.Andrelton Simmons drove in the other run for the Angels with a fourth-inning double.They just took me out. Im OK, said Marte, who expects to be in the lineup Tuesday, when the four-game series continues at Tropicana Field.Meanwhile, Salas has taken the loss in four of his last eight appearances. The right-hander has a 9.72 ERA over his past 16 outings, compared to 2.01 through his first 22 appearances this year.Fernando just hasnt been as crisp. His command has been in the equation of why hes been struggling, Scioscia said. Hes a better pitcher than hes shown. Theres no doubt about that.Tropeano was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake before the game to make his first major league start since May 29. The right-hander, activated on June 24 and optioned to the minors, allowed solo homers to Miller in the third and Morrison in the fifth. He walked one and struck out two.I would say the one to Miller was kind of up in the zone; I didnt get it down. Morrison went out and got it. Ill tip my cap to him, Tropeano said. Overall, I was just trying to get the rust out a little. ... I ran my pitch count up a little, but physically I felt good.The Rays scored twice against Salas in the sixth, with Morrison delivering a go-ahead single and Steven Souza Jr. doubling into the left-field corner to drive in Morrison from first base and make it 4-2.TRAINERS ROOMAngels: Scioscia said C Geovany Soto (right knee) could return during the four-game series. Soto is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Salt Lake.Rays: RHP Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery) will start a rehab assignment with Class A Charlotte on Wednesday. . Tampa Bay closer Alex Colome (right biceps tendinitis) felt fine after a bullpen session Sunday and didnt rule out being ready to return this week.COMING AND GOINGAngels: To make room for Tropeano, LHP Jose Alvarez was optioned to Salt Lake to find his release point, according to Scioscia. The move leaves Los Angeles without a left-hander in the bullpen. In a perfect world you have one or two lefties that can go there and match up, but were not there right now, Scioscia said.Rays: CF Desmond Jennings was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. RHP Tyler Sturdevant was recalled from Triple-A Durham to help a struggling bullpen.UP NEXTAngels: RHP Tim Lincecum (1-2, 6.75 ERA) makes his second career start against Tampa Bay, which hasnt faced him since Aug. 3, 2013, when he was with San Francisco.Rays: RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-3, 3.91 ERA) tries to end a stretch of nine consecutive home starts without a win, the longest streak by a Rays pitcher to begin a season since Scott Kazmir went 10 in 2007. Odorizzi is 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA in three career starts against the Angels. Cheap Nike Air Max Outlet . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. Cheap Air Max For Sale . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. http://www.cheapairmaxchina.com/ . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Cheap Air Max Shoes China . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Air Max Cheap China . -- Devin Hester is done returning kicks in Chicago. Since the inception of its professional domestic league almost five years ago, the country of South Korea has been known for its world-class top laners.From the days of Bok Reapered Han-gyu leading MiG Blaze to the first Champions title to Yoon MakNooN Ha-woon becoming the first recipient of the MVP in Korea during his title run with NaJin Sword, the top lane has always been a position of pride for South Korea. And whenever legends of the top lane would deteriorate or retire, promising talents would take their place to create their own legacy.Jung Impact Eon-yeongPark Shy Sang-myeonLee Flame Ho-JongChoi Acorn Cheon-juJang Looper Hyeong-seokLee Duke Ho-SeongJang MaRin Gyeong-HwanThese are the names, along with Reapered and MakNooN, that have shaped the foundation of South Korean League of Legends over the years.Impacts superb Jax play prevailed over Chinas Royal Club to win Koreas first Summoners Cup on SK Telecom T1.Shys longevity on CJ Entus has allowed him to start with the same organization who scouted him in solo queue more than four years ago.Flames solo lane domination needed to be seen in 2013 to be believed and prompted the creation of the term Flame Horizon for whenever a player out farms his positional adversary by over 100 CS.Acorn and Looper of Samsung put a stranglehold on the position in 2014 when the top lane shifted from the one-on-one theatrics of Flames style of play to more team-oriented teleporting and utility tanks.After the Samsung top laners departed to China, it was Duke. Even with the top laners heroic efforts to carry, the former top laner of KT Rolster made his name by winning the MVP on a hapless NaJin team that missed the playoffs with a 5-9 record.But ever since then, the top lane position (in not only Korea but also the world) has been controlled -- outside of Jang MaRin Gyeong-Hwans apex in 2015 -- by two players: KT Rolsters anchor, Kim Ssumday Chan-ho, and the ROX Tigers ace, Song Smeb Kyung-ho.Over the past three seasons of League of Legends Champions Korea, the premier league in South Korea, the pair of aces have won all of the regular-season MVP awards, with Ssumday winning in the summer of 2015 and Smeb winning in both the spring and summer of this year.Saturdays matchup between the ROX Tigers and KT Rolster is a battle between the two clubs that have been under the three-peating thumb of SK Telecom T1 the past two years. While there has been a Big 3 in Korea for more than a year now among T1, the Tigers and KT, the result has been the same: Either the Tigers or KT playing Lee Faker Sang-hyeoks T1 in the final, and SKT T1 winning in decisive fashion. SKTs overall domestic finals record over the past two years sits at 9-2.KTs slaying of SKT T1 in the semifinals has opened up the third possibility that many thought wed never see: ROX vs. KT, and the battle between the worlds two greatest top laners. Ssumday, the centerpiece of the KT Rolster organization, and Smeb, the man who embodies everything the Tigers stand for as a team.The two battled in the semifinals of last years summer split, and it was Ssumdays KT that advanced in a close set. Smeb got the upper hand in the World Championships, where the Tigers knocked out KT Rolster in the quarterfinals to eventually finish second place in the world against, guess who, SK Telecom T1.Since Smeb toppled Ssumday in Europe a year ago, the Tigers frontman has taken the mantle as the worlds best in the top lane while simultaneously battling with Faker to be called the best in the world. Ssumday, who was embarrassed by Smeb at Worlds, and then by Faker in the semifinals of this years spring split semifinals, has finally redeemed himself; this finals is his chance to make amends for his falters in the past.The Heir of KT RolsterWhile the finals between ROX Tigers and KT Rolster feels like itll be the first big championship win for either of the teams top laners, it wouldnt actually be Ssumdays first domestic title if KT win on Saturday. The KT Arrows, widely regarded as the worst team to ever win a Korean championship, won in the summer of 2014 with an ultra-aggressive, kill-or-be-killed-even-harder team that won each of its playoff matches 3-2 to narrowly tightrope its way to the finish line.Ssumday in 2014 on Arrows was a good, solid role player. Thats to not take away from his accomplishments on the team. It was a five-man effort which pulled out the victory, but he wasnt anywhere near the player he is today. Back then, the team was built around the mid lane and jungle power of stars Song RooKie Eui-jin and Lee KaKAO Byung-kwon with Ssumday acting as a cog to make the machine run smoothly. He had moments where he would simply win lane and snowball from there, yet, for the most part, the Arrows was KaKAOs team - the charismatic leader who won the MVP award that summer.Ssumday has been KTs pet project over the last three years. He came into the league as a bright-eyed rookie who only knew how to play Renekton and spent time on the bench before evolving into an instrumental part of the championship Arrows team.dddddddddddd. When KaKAO and Rookie left to join the ranks of other elite Korean players chasing a higher salary in China, Ssumday, the third or even fourth man on the title-winning Arrows team, was now pushed into a role as a main carry.Maybe more than any other player in League of Legends, Ssumday has followed the same timeline, albeit a bit more spedup, as many traditional athletes whove become superstars. Theyre drafted and protected in the early days before being put into more strenuous situations. Ultimately, after all the grooming and preparation, theyre ready to be the leader and ace of the club that entrusted its future to them.Ssumday is that kind of a player. He debuted around the same time as Faker, but instead of being an all-star from day one, its been a steady process from KT Rolster, building him up to be one of the best players in the world. Hes been in finals, won a championship as a role player, and now, in his second year as the man on KT Rolster, hes ready to hoist a trophy won off his shoulders as the heir KT Rolster always thought he could be.The Story of SmebUsually when kids struggle with something, someone older will approach them and tell a story about how with enough hard work they can someday become a master.I dont want to pull back the curtain or anything, but a lot of times that story the kind person tells isnt reality. Floundering with the same task after a certain amount of time means someone just doesnt have the knack to excel there. Usually a new path is the answer.The story of ROX Tigers Smeb is something out of an overly cheerful picture book. There once was a boy who really liked playing games. The boy thought he was so good at a particular video game called League of Legends he decided to go pro. Sadly, when the boy played in the world of pros, he soon found out he was seriously lacking. The boy was made fun of, becoming a joke to the commentators as the worst at his position.But then one day, after seemingly quitting his dream, the boy returned to play on a new team with fellow outcasts and rejects. The hodgepodge of players grouped together to become the best team in the world, and the boy who was once the joke was becoming one of the very best. After two years of progression, the boy had become a man, and his teammates were atop the globe as the greatest team with the once-loser now the teams star player.Seriously, it sounds like bad fan fiction, but its true. Smeb was a joke. He was really, really bad. He had a silly ID (no one really knew what it meant in the Western region), and his play was nonsensical much of the time. It all changed when he joined the Tigers, a band of rejects plus world-class support Kang GorillA Beom-hyeon.Smeb is the ultimate outlier in not only esports but also sports in general. He wasnt a highly touted rookie who had a few rough seasons before he turned it around. To put it as bluntly as possible: Smeb was definition of a failed professional in esports when he was on Incredible Miracle when he started out. His team never competed in the playoffs, and outside of a few nice performances, he was a player whose name many were hard-pressed to remember after his weakling team was eliminated from the premiere league.On Saturday, Smeb will walk into the finals with the chance to become the champion of the league that once made him a punch line. Hes won the MVP twice this year, and with a runners-up at Worlds under his belt, Smeb could become the greatest top laner of all time if he wins the domestic title and then wins the Summoners Cup in the fall.Fakers story of the Unkillable Demon King is a special one. Like LeBron James or Tiger Woods, Faker was a once-in-a-generation prodigy who exceeded the lofty expectations. He is far and away the greatest player to ever play the game. When you expected greatness from him, he delivered, and so the title of God was presented to him.Smebs story, though, might be even better. There are many examples of superstars like Faker, but there is no other story like Smebs. He rose from a player once considered the absolute worst in the league to back-to-back MVP awards and a few steps away from becoming one of the greatest of all time right behind Faker. While millions have failed at their craft after putting everything into it, Smeb is the one case of a man who was shunned and laughed at by the world and persevered through it all.Ssumday is an heir of a franchise.Faker is a God.Smeb is just a boy turned to a man who didnt let anything or anyone take away his dream.And strangely enough, thats even scarier than an Unkillable Demon King or an heir to a throne. Jerseys NFL China Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale China Jerseys NFL Jerseys China Discount Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China China NCAA Jerseys Cheap Cheap Nike Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Nike Patriots Jerseys Cheap Nike Jets Jerseys Cheap Nike Bengals Jerseys Cheap Nike Browns Jerseys Cheap Nike Steelers Jerseys Cheap Nike Texans Jerseys Cheap Nike Colts Jerseys Cheap Nike Jaguars Jerseys Cheap Nike Titans Jerseys Cheap Nike Broncos Jerseys ' ' '