SAITAMA, Japan - Canadas Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford had a season-best score in the pairs short program Wednesday to sit in second place at the ISU world figure skating championships. Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., were second with 77.01 points, just behind Olympic bronze medallists Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany. The four-time world champs lead at 79.02 and Sochi silver medallists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third with 76.15 points. "It was amazing," said Radford, who won world bronze last year with Duhamel. "We wish we could skate like that all the time. Most of this season, we tried so hard to please everyone and fight for every point. Today we were a lot more relaxed and its put us in a perfect spot heading into the free skate." Less than eight points separate the top five pairs. At the Games, Duhamel and Radford helped Canada to the silver medal in the team event and were seventh in pairs. "We came back from the Olympics feeling like we had achieved all our goals," said Duhamel. "We feel very settled but from this point on were going to be competing for ourselves and not worry about every little point." Tatsuki Machida of Japan upstaged compatriot and Olympic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu on Wednesday to finish first in the mens short program. Machida, who was fifth at last months Sochi Games, hit all his jumps and scored a career-high 98.21 points to finish ahead of Javier Fernandez of Spain, who had 96.42 points. Three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Toronto is skipping the championships. The mens event concludes with the free skate on Friday. Skating to music from the movie "East of Eden," Machida electrified the capacity crowd of 18,000 at Saitama Super Arena with a near-flawless routine that opened with a quad toe loop, triple toe loop combination. The 24-year-old Machida also included a triple Axel and a triple Lutz in his routine. "I got motivated when I saw Hanyu win the gold in Sochi," Machida said. "I think this is the best chance Ill have to get a medal and will do my best in the free skate. I was able to get a lot of positive energy from the crowd tonight." Hanyu fell on the opening quad toe loop and finished with 91.24 points for third place. "Needless to say the toe loop wasnt good," Hanyu said. "But how I jumped wasnt that bad so I am going to adjust for the free program." Fernandez, who was fourth in Sochi, impressed the judges with a dynamic routine and got high marks for a triple Lutz, triple toe loop combination. "One skater did better than me but I am still happy with my performance," Fernandez said. "Sometimes its hard to get motivated right after the Olympics by my coaches told me to work hard and I can see that hard works pays off." Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic was fourth, followed by Han Yan of China. Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., was 15th, world junior champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto was 16th and Elladj Balde of Pierrefonds, Que., was 22nd. Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto were sixth in the pairs while Paige Lawrence of Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., were 12th. In Sochi, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch contributed to Canadas team silver and were fifth in the pairs. "It was nice to skate the program clean one last time. All those run-throughs paid off," Moore-Towers said. "I felt great, calm and confident," added Moscovitch. "The skate felt good. Our goal is to skate to clean programs and we are halfway there." The pairs event concludes Thursday with the free skate. "I think youll find there is an easier sense of flow throughout the program," Radford said. "Weve just made some little adjustments to free up the program and when weve been skating it in practice, it feels lighter and smoother and it feels easier for us to just let it go and enjoy the moment." The womens short program is also scheduled for Thursday. ——— With files from The Associated Press. ETwaun Moore Jersey .twitter.com/TeZD3KOvlA — Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) September 24, 2014 Sorry for the delay, we just got back from lunch at Papa Vons #NBAFastFood pic. Zylan Cheatham Jersey . The win puts the final playoff berth in Group A in question. If the Czechs beat Slovakia on Tuesday, they will go through. If they lose, Germany will get the last quarter-final berth. https://www.pelicanslockerroom.com/Frank...ey/.S.-Portugal game on June 22 in the Amazonian jungle city of Manaus. FIFPro, the international soccer players union, had pressed FIFA to avoid the earliest kickoffs in the hottest and most humid weather. Jrue Holiday Pelicans Jersey . The announcement was made by the hall on Friday, March 14. She joins Switzerlands Denise Biellmann as this years inductees to the Hall, based in Colorado Springs, CO. Zion Williamson Pelicans Jersey . I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Prince Fielder had a pair of RBI doubles to end a drought of 39 at-bats without an extra-base hit and Yu Darvish worked into the seventh inning to earn his first victory in almost a month as the Texas Rangers trounced the Los Angeles Angels 14-3 on Sunday. J.P. Arencibia hit his first home run and Michael Choice added a three-run shot for Texas. Darvish (2-1) shrugged off first-inning homers by Erick Aybar and Albert Pujols to get his first victory since April 6 at Tampa Bay. He allowed three runs, seven hits and no walks in 6 1-3 innings, with nine strikeouts. His teammates scored three more runs than they totalled in his five previous starts combined. The right-hander is 7-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 11 career starts against the Angels and has won his last six decisions against them Angels starter Tyler Skaggs (2-1) lasted just 2 2-3 innings in the shortest of his 19 big league starts, giving up six runs. Pujols shrugged off an 0-2 pitch by Darvish that glanced off the front of his helmet in the fifth inning as he closed his eyes and turned his head to the right. He remained in the game after a trainer checked on him at first base. The Rangers built a 5-2 lead after two innings with Fielders identical run-scoring doubles -- both line drives over the head of first baseman C.J. Cron and just inside the foul line. Arencibia, who put left fielder Raul Ibanez against the bullpen fence on his bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the first, made it 6-2 in the third with his homer to left-centre. Choice, who had four RBIs, increased the margin to 9-2 in the fourth with his homer to left-centre against KKevin Jepsen.dddddddddddd Alex Rios capped a five-run ninth with a two-out bases-loaded triple against Nick Maronde. All five runs were unearned after right fielder Collin Cowgill dropped Josh Wilsons flyball for a two-base error. Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus, who began Sunday in a 4 for 49 slump, was 1 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and a walk after manager Ron Washington dropped him to ninth in the order for the first time since April 17, 2010. Andrus had started in the 2-hole in each of the first 30 games this season. He batted as low as eighth in the lineup six times during the previous two years, and got a hit in each game. NOTES: Angels reliever Michael Kohn grazed Shin-Soo Choo with a pitch leading off the fifth. ... Pujols homer was his 10th this season and 502nd of his career, two shy of Eddie Murray for 25th all-time. ... Howie Kendrick flied out to right field all three times he faced Darvish, and is hitless in 19 career at-bats against him. ... Angels RF Josh Hamilton, who hasnt played since April 8 because of a torn ligament in his left thumb, will start taking batting practice at the end of the week at the teams Arizona training facility while the team begins a road trip in Toronto. ... The Rangers, who opened the season with three games against Philadelphia, resume their interleague schedule with four in a row against Colorado. The first two will be at Coors Field. ... Rangers LHP and former Angel Joe Saunders is scheduled to make a rehab start Tuesday for Triple-A Frisco. He hasnt pitched since his season debut on April 4 because of stress fracture in his left ankle. ' ' '