vers, even the ones we didnt turn the ball over, we had a lot of sloppy possessions that we

CHICAGO -- Over the course of a calendar year, Chicago Cubs starter Jake Arrieta underwent an amazing transformation. Like Nick Bottom from A Midsummer Nights Dream he enjoyed a magical night -- a series of them -- then suddenly woke in the forest, returned to the land of the mortals. Was any of it real?Admittedly, thats laying it on a bit thick. But thats what numbers like Arrieta put up can do to a sports writer. From June 4, 2015 until May 16 of this season, Arrieta went 27-2 over 33 starts with a 1.36 ERA. It was real in that it happened, and it was unreal in that it could not keep going.Since then, Arrieta has been a solid major league pitcher, going 8-7 with a 3.68 ERA. Thats good. Its fine. The ERA is about 5 percent better than the big league average over that span. It ranks 32nd among 79 qualifying pitchers. Meanwhile, teammates Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks have left Arrieta behind in pursuit of the Cy Young Award Arrieta won last season.Arrieta takes the mound Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Mostly likely, hell have one more regular-season start after that but this is probably the last one played under true competitive circumstances. Manager Joe Maddon has pledged to play this weekend series straight up out of deference for the Cardinals place in the wild-card derby. After that, the Cubs player usage patterns will be more spring training-like. On top of all that, the afternoon tilt will be nationally televised on ESPN. Swell Flasche Rosa . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. Swell Trinkflasche . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. http://www.swellflascheschweiz.ch/ . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. Swell Bottle Schweiz . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Swell Bottle Schweiz Kaufen . By having more great seasons. Manning was the only unanimous choice for the 2013 Associated Press NFL All-Pro team Friday. DALLAS -- Reggie Jackson took another step forward in his return from a knee injury.Jackson scored 20 points -- a season high in his sixth game -- and Andre Drummond led a dominant rebounding effort with 17 as the Detroit Pistons beat the Dallas Mavericks 95-85 on Wednesday night.Detroits floor leader had nine points and three of his six assists in the fourth quarter, when the Pistons finished a run that started late in the third to overcome a 12-point Dallas lead. Jackson missed the first 21 games this season recovering from left knee tendinitis.Thats the player he can be, said teammate Jon Leuer, who scored a season-high 19 points. Thats the player we need him to be because he is a great floor general and a good leader for us.Leuer was a plus-25 off the bench as the Pistons beat the team with the worst record in the Western Conference three nights after losing to Philadelphia, the last-place team in the East.Drummond grabbed 10 rebounds in the first 7 1/2 minutes and the Pistons had a 29-9 edge on the boards at halftime and 50-30 for the game. The 6-foot-11 center had more rebounds than Dallas by himself until the middle of the third quarter, when the Mavericks finally went ahead 15-14.Harrison Barnes led the Mavericks with 19 points.The Pistons went on a 27-5 run covering about 10 minutes in the third and fourth quarters, turning a 64-52 deficit into their first double-digit lead at 79-69 after an alley-oop layup by Aron Baynes with about 5 minutes remaining.Dallas Wesley Matthews had a season-low four points on 2-of-10 shooting, ending a three-game stretch with at least 25 points. Deron Williams scored 16 but was just 3 of 13 as one of the NBAs worst-shooting teams finished at 41 percent, just below its average.This one was frustrating tonight because we had control of the game for most of it, Matthews said. So weell learn from it and look at what went wrong.ddddddddddddKentavious Caldwell-Pope had seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer when the Mavericks were within four points with about 3 minutes remaining.TIP-INSPistons: Drummond had at least 15 rebounds for the 11th time in 25 games. ... Baynes had 10 rebounds and eight points. ... Jacksons previous season high was 18 points in his debut Dec. 4 against Orlando.Mavericks: Barnes was Dallas leading scorer for the 13th time in 25 games. ... Williams was 9 of 9 on free throws. ... The Mavericks had a season-high 13 steals.ANOTHER DALLAS INJURYMavericks center Salah Mejri, who led the team with eight rebounds, injured his left ankle in the fourth quarter and didnt return. He said an X-ray didnt show any damage but he planned to get an MRI on Thursday. Dallas is already missing starter Andrew Bogut with a right knee injury, and theres no timetable for his return.Star forward Dirk Nowitzki missed his 10th straight game and 18th out of 20 with a strained right Achilles tendon. Key backup guard J.J. Barea missed his 15th straight with a left calf strain.HOW WAS IT TIED?The Pistons were tied 43-all at halftime despite the huge rebounding edge and holding two Dallas starters scoreless, in part because of 13 turnovers to just three for the Mavericks. Besides the turnovers, even the ones we didnt turn the ball over, we had a lot of sloppy possessions that we didnt get good shots because we didnt handle the ball well, coach Stan Van Gundy said.UP NEXTPistons: Friday at Washington, where Detroit has lost four straight games.Mavericks: Friday at Utah, where Dallas lost 97-81 to drop to 0-4 on the way to a franchise-worst 0-5 start.