it was a hard fight for me on the bottom," Hoefl-Riesch s

DETROIT -- Brad Ausmus is hoping hell have a chance to use every position player on his roster before too long -- no sense letting backups become rusty at the beginning of the season. "Yes, Id like to get them in," Detroits rookie manager said. "Mother Natures going to have a say in that." Sure enough, the Tigers had their game against the Kansas City Royals postponed because of rain on Thursday. The game will be made up June 19, when the Royals are back in town for what was initially supposed to be a three-game series followed by an off day. Detroit will move on to a three-game series against Baltimore thats scheduled to start Friday -- when the weather may not be much better. The Tigers are planning to push right-hander Anibal Sanchez back to Fridays start after he was supposed to face the Royals on Thursday. Rick Porcello is now slated to pitch Saturday, meaning left-hander Drew Smyly will be skipped in the rotation. Kansas City, on the other hand, will simply skip rookie Yordano Ventura, who was scheduled to pitch Thursday. Jeremy Guthrie will start Fridays home opener against the Chicago White Sox, as planned. Ventura will be available out of the bullpen. The Tigers won their first two games under Ausmus, scoring the winning run in their last at-bat both times. The new manager made a big move in Mondays opener, sending rookie Tyler Collins to pinch-run in the ninth inning of a tie game. Collins ended up scoring the winning run. Collins then started Wednesdays game in left field, but shortstop Andrew Romines first start was put on hold by Thursdays postponement. Outfielder Don Kelly and backup catcher Bryan Holaday havent played either. Now the Tigers face the prospect of additional postponements, and they have scheduled off days April 7, 10 and 14. It has the makings of a choppy start to the season. "You try to balance getting veterans rest and getting reserve players in, but when you have all these off days, the truth is the veterans probably dont need the rest," Ausmus said. "You still have reserves that need to get in, so it can be a little bit of a juggling act." Ausmus says hes settling into the Detroit area. As manager of the Tigers, hell have to deal with a certain celebrity status, and he says people recognize him. "I havent been around that much," Ausmus said. "Ive gone out to eat, but other than going out to eat, Ive kind of been holed up." The Thursday afternoon game was called about an hour before the scheduled first pitch, amid temperatures in the 30s and with significant rain expected. The decision to skip Smylys spot in the rotation came as no surprise. Its an easy chance for the Tigers to manage his innings as he makes the transition back to the starting rotation after spending last season in the bullpen. Detroits talented rotation has been on display already. Justin Verlander pitched the opener and Max Scherzer worked eight scoreless innings Wednesday. Thats part of the reason Royals manager Ned Yost isnt panicking over two losses in which Kansas City struggled to score. "Youve got to understand what youre dealing with," Yost said. "What weve dealt with here the last two days is Verlander and Scherzer. I mean, these are top-of-the-line pitchers in the American League, so theyre on most days going to shut teams offences down." At least the Royals were able to leave town without having to face Sanchez, too. "Hes nails, too," Yost said before the game was called off. "You just keep plugging until you start to get on track." NOTES: The Tigers claimed LHP Mike Belfiore off waivers from the Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. Texas Rangers Store . The mood in Seattle was electrified as the parade featuring the NFL champions began near the Space Needle and made its way to CenturyLink Field, the home of the team. At a ceremony inside the stadium, the team thanked its loyal followers -- the 12th Man -- capping a day of boisterous celebration that drew an estimated 700,000 revelers to Seattle. Texas Rangers Gear . Hamilton signed offensive linemen Mike Filer, Joel Reinders, Landon Rice and Carson Rockhill. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/ .9 million deal Thursday. The 25-year McGinn had 19 goals and 19 assists in 79 games last season in helping the Avalanche tie a franchise record with 52 wins. Cheap Rangers Jerseys . In an interview with La Presse this week, the five-time Stanley Cup champion and three-time NHL scoring leader specifically took aim at wingers Thomas Vanek and Max Pacioretty, saying they cant show up in a 7-4 win over the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final and come up empty in Game 6. Wholesale Rangers Jerseys . That little deal worked out in a big way for the Mavericks. Nowitzki had 21 points Tuesday night to pass Oscar Robertson for 10th on the NBAs career scoring list, leading the Mavs to a 95-83 victory over the Utah Jazz.CORTINA DAMPEZZO, Italy -- Swiss skier Lara Gut mastered a windy super-G Sunday in the final World Cup speed race before the Sochi Olympics, rediscovering the form that helped her win three straight races to open the season. For her fifth victory of this campaign -- but the first since Lake Louise, Alberta, in early December -- Gut clocked 1 minute, 27.81 seconds down the Olympia delle Tofane course. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein finished second, 0.12 seconds behind, and Maria Hoefl-Riesch was third, 0.61 back, to maintain her lead in the overall World Cup standings. "Its important to think about skiing and not the result," Gut said. "At the start of the season there was talk about the overall and all those things and I couldnt think about skiing. "I just have to ski the way I can, then I can have a good result," Gut added. "Today it was just me and the slope." This race concluded a run of four speed events in four days, and Weirather was a contender each day. Her results were fourth, second, third and second. "Im proud of my consistency and the ability to perform well in every race," said Weirather, the daughter of champion skiers Hanni Wenzel and Harti Weirather. "Thats something new for me." A combination of strong wind and a tough course, set by Tina Mazes coach, Mauro Pini, led to 19 racers failing to finish. Light was also a factor, as the sun ducked in and out of clouds. Olympic champion Andrea Fischbacher of Austria crashed and slammed into the safety netting but got right back up and skied down without major injury. Maze, who won Saturdays downhill, finished fifth.dddddddddddd The tailwind was so strong when Hoefl-Riesch came down that the German was nearly blown off course over the final jump. Hoefl-Riesch landed outside the blue lines painted onto the snow to help guide skiers and had to rapidly change direction to clear the last gate. "I was just happy when I went over the finish line because it was a hard fight for me on the bottom," Hoefl-Riesch said. Other skiers were slowed by a headwind as the conditions constantly shifted, at times making the banner hanging over the finish line billow in the wind. When the winds finally calmed down, it enabled Marusa Ferk of Slovenia to finish 11th with the No. 49 bib. Chemmy Alcott of Britain, the next skier down, placed 23rd for her first World Cup points since rejoining the circuit this week after leg surgery. The top Americans were Stacey Cook in 13th and Julia Mancuso in 16th. In the overall standings, Hoefl-Riesch holds a 128-point lead over Weirather. In the super-G ranks, Gut leads by 38 points over Weirather with only one more super-G remaining -- at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in March. The womens circuit moves to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom next weekend -- the final events before the Sochi Games open Feb. 7. Gut will be a threat in multiple events in Sochi. She said shes most excited about giant slalom but shell also be a contender in downhill and super-combined. "Im going to try to be like Bode (Miller) in the super-combined at the Olympics," Gut said. ' ' '