Chat-World » The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered he

CHICAGO -- Getting cheered in Chicago after hitting a home run felt just a little odd for Justin Morneau. He wouldnt mind making it the norm, and the same goes for the White Sox.Morneau hit his first home run in more than 14 months to give struggling Chicago a short-lived lead in a 7-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.Yeah, it wouldve been nice if it wouldve held up, the four-time All-Star and former AL MVP said. Nice to get that out of the way, but its tough when were going through a stretch like this, where were coming back against a guy whos having a great year. But hopefully thats the start of good things offensively. We swung the bats pretty well tonight.Morneau had his share of big hits against the White Sox during his long run with the Minnesota Twins.This time he delivered one for Chicago in the fifth with a three-run homer off Michael Fulmer to finish a four-run rally.The home run was Morneaus first since he hit one for Colorado against Arizona on May 6, 2015. It came in his seventh game and 17th at-bat for the White Sox, who signed him on June 9 and placed him on the disabled list so he could continue to recover from offseason elbow surgery.Miguel Cabrera delivered a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh and matched a season high with four hits to lead the Tigers.Cabrera became the 56th major leaguer to reach 1,500 RBI with his single off Nate Jones in the seventh. That put Detroit back on top after the Tigers blew a three-run lead in the fifth and sent Chicago to its eighth loss in nine games.Ian Kinsler scored three runs, Nick Castellanos had two of Detroits 11 hits and the Tigers broke through after managing just six runs over the previous four games against Minnesota and Chicago.Our balls were finding holes today, Castellanos said. Against the Twins, we hit the ball just as hard as we did tonight. It just was right at people.Kyle Ryan (4-2) pitched a scoreless inning in relief after a rare shaky start by Michael Fulmer. Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth for his 27th save in 29 chances as Detroit won its second in a row.Chicagos Jose Abreu had three hits and drove in two runs. But Jacob Turner got knocked out in the fourth inning, Carson Fulmer (0-1) struggled in relief and the White Sox fell to 23-40 since a 23-10 start.Carson Fulmer came on with a 5-4 lead in the seventh and quickly ran into trouble.The Tigers loaded the bases with none out before Jose Iglesias drove in Justin Upton with a fielders choice grounder. After Cameron Maybin walked with one out to load the bases again, Cabrera greeted Jones with a two-run single up the middle.That gave the slugger 1,501 RBI and put Detroit back on top. It also gave him 43 four-hit games, tied for 32nd all-time with Willie Davis.Carson Fulmer threw 30 pitches -- 12 for strikes -- in his third major league appearance. It was also the first pressure situation for the promising rookie.Quick memory and throw it over your shoulder and prepare for tomorrow, he said. I cant ever use the excuse of it being my first big-time experience and especially for me being put in that situation. Hopefully I get the opportunity to do it again.ON THE MOUNDMichael Fulmer gave up five runs -- four earned -- and six hits in five innings after posting a 0.83 ERA in his previous 10 starts.Turner threw 101 pitches in 3 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and five hits. He walked four and struck out six after getting roughed up in his previous start against the Los Angeles Angels.TRAINERS ROOMTigers: Tyler Collins (neck spasms) batted seventh and played right field after missing four games. ... RF J.D. Martinez continues to take batting practice as he recovers from a broken right elbow, but the Tigers havent determined when hell begin a minor league rehab stint. ... RHP Jordan Zimmerman (neck) is on schedule for a rehab start Sunday for Triple-A Toledo.White Sox: 2B Brett Lawrie was feeling worse and unavailable after leaving Thursdays game because of tightness in his left hamstring, manager Robin Ventura said. He had an MRI on Friday, but the White Sox do not expect him to land on the disabled list.UP NEXTAce Chris Sale (14-3, 3.18 ERA) goes for his major league-leading 15th win for Chicago, with LHP Matt Boyd (1-2, 4.91) pitching for Detroit. Steve Nash Suns Jersey .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Charles Barkley Suns Jersey . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. http://www.officialsunsfanstore.com/dragan-bender-suns-jersey/ . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Jamal Crawford Suns Jersey . He says so-called TRT is only one problem and he wants to go even further than the ban. "Its about time," St-Pierre told reporters at a promotional event in Montreal on Friday. "I think its a good thing. Grant Hill Jersey . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. The Seattle Seahawks are playing lights-out defense this season. Just as they did in 2015. And 2014 and, in fact, all the way back to 2012.What some would call the Russell Wilson?era in Seahawks history is more aptly termed their Legion of Boom years (or some such nickname). What the Seahawks have done during the past four and a half seasons is rarer than producing consistently good quarterback play. Theyve had the most dominant defense in football over that span, ranking No. 1 or 2 in Football Outsiders DVOA metric each of the past four seasons, and No. 3 so far this season. (For traditionalists, the Seahawks also are tied with the Minnesota Vikings for the lowest average points allowed this season, 14.0 per game)What exactly have the Seahawks accomplished? And how have they done it? Lets take a closer look.First, the basics.The Seahawks have allowed by far the fewest points in the NFL since the start of the 2012 season. Theyre 21 percent better than the next-best teams and 32 percent below the NFL average.Points per game allowed, 2012-16Points are the most important measure of defensive success, but sometimes they can mask other deficiencies. So for good measure, the Seahawks also have allowed the fewest yards and first downs since the start of 2012. Opposing quarterbacks have an NFL-low 46.6 Total Quarterback Rating against them, nearly three points lower than the next-best team.The Seahawks 123 takeaways, combined with their 72 giveaways, give the team a plus-51 turnover margin, the NFLs second best since the start of the 2012 season. The New England Patriots lead with a plus-56 margin, but they join the Seahawks as high-achieving outliers. The next-best team is the Carolina Panthers at plus-27.How have the Seahawks pulled off such consistent achievement? The most obvious answer: They have a bunch of great players.Single seasons of players with plus-14 approximate value, 2012-16Check out the graphic above. Pro Football Reference measures every NFL player with an approximate value (AV) metric that uniformly attaches a number to each players season performance for the purposes of comparison. (Here is a more detailed explanation.)Lets put a strong AV season in the range of plus-14 or higher. Using that cutoff, you can see that the Seahawks have had more defensive players performing at least at that level during a single season than any other NFL team. Cornerback Richard Sherman has reached that level four times, while safety Earl Thomas and linebacker Bobby Wagner have done it twice apiece.A total of eight such performances might not seem high, until you realize thatt 14 teams have not had a single defensive player at that level?-- zero, nada -- over this span.dddddddddddd So the median across the league is one, and the average is 1.6.And if you look at the 2012-15 seasons as a whole, youll find that five of the top 50 players in combined AV played for the Seahawks: Sherman, Thomas, Wagner, linebacker K.J. Wright and safety Kam Chancellor. And that doesnt even count defensive linemen Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, who were mid-dynasty, free-agent acquisitions; they have been among the NFLs top 51 defensive players in AV since the start of the 2014 season.The Seahawks defense has done everything well since 2012. In addition to leading the league in points, yards and first downs, the Seahawks are also No. 1 in passing yards allowed, No. 2 in quarterback pressure percentage, No. 4 in rushing yards per carry and No. 6 in takeaways.But what has made them special? The Seahawks have a relatively rare but lethal weapon: the blitz.Since 2012, the Seahawks have blitzed -- a pass rush of five or more players -- on only 25 percent of opposing dropbacks. Thats the sixth-lowest percentage in the league.When they do send extra rushers, however, they get home at the best rate in football.Highest QB pressure percentage by defense when blitzingThe pressure rate in the graphic above is based on dropbacks in which the quarterback is sacked, put under duress or hit. This can be attributed both to player skill and smart playcalling from the defensive coaching staff.As a result, the Seahawks have allowed the NFLs lowest average yards per dropback when blitzing. Their performance is 20 percent better than the NFL average.Fewest yards per dropback allowed versus blitz, past five seasonsAppropriately, we should finish where we started: with points. Opponents have a far more difficult time scoring against the Seahawks blitz than they do against anyone else. Touchdowns per attempt when the Seahawks blitz is nearly 2 full percentage points lower than the next-best defense. The league average is 5.7 percent.Lowest TD percentage allowed versus blitz, past five seasonsThe Seahawks offense has slumped this season. Through seven weeks, the Seahawks?have the fifth-lowest points per game average in the league (18.5). But the Seahawks are 4-1-1 and atop the NFC West, in large part because of a defense that has picked up right where it left off.ESPN Stats & Information senior statistics analyst Jacob Nitzberg contributed to this story. ' ' '