OAKLAND, Calif. -- Elvis Andrus had been dealing with flu symptoms and kept his celebration rather subdued after the Texas Rangers clinched the AL West, so he asked manager Jeff Banister afterward to please put him in the lineup again Saturday. He promised to be ready to play.The lone veteran in the lineup a day after Texas won captured another division title, Andrus showed it by hitting a pair of two-run homers in the Rangers 5-0 victory against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.Yesterday unfortunately it was the first time I couldnt celebrate with the guys or go after the game and celebrate, so I was like I might as well play tomorrow if I wont be able to celebrate the right way, he said.Texas wants to keep winning to earn home-field advantage.Yu Darvish (6-5) had all the run support he needed on a couple of big swings from Andrus, who had his first career multi-homer game. Andrus, who will get a break Sunday, also established career highs for homers with eight and RBI with 68.Andrus said it means a lot to have that production, and told teammates he would one day have two home runs in a game.Theyre going to laugh when I bring up a conversation about homers, for sure, I dont have too many in my career, he said. They didnt today.Darvish allowed only Stephen Vogts two-out single in the first until Yonder Alonso singled with one out in the fifth. Marcus Semien followed with a walk, but Darvish escaped unscathed.Banister rested his regulars aside from right fielder Nomar Mazara and Andrus, who had his second career four-RBI game.Robinson Chirinos added an RBI double in the ninth for Texas (92-63), which moved 29 games above .500 for the first time since exactly four years ago on Sept. 24, 2012.Darvish had been 0-3 on the road, winning for the first time in seven away starts, but he had no-decisions in his last three. Darvish allowed two hits, struck out nine and walked one in seven innings a day after Texas became the first AL team to clinch a playoff spot with its second straight division title and seventh AL West title overall.Certainly today thats as good as weve seen Darvish pitch in a while, As manager Bob Melvin said.Three relievers finished the five-hit shutout. Darvish had lost to the As his previous time out, allowing seven runs over five innings in an 11-2 loss last Saturday in Arlington.Now, ace lefty Cole Hamels and Darvish seem poised to give the Rangers a powerful 1-2 to start the playoffs.Im sure the confidence level is high, Banister said.As rookie Raul Alcantara (1-2), someone Melvin considers a candidate for the rotation next season, struck out six with one walk over six innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits and has surrendered five home runs in four major league starts.Oakland had the bases loaded in the eighth but Vogt flied out.TRAINERS ROOMRangers: RHP Tony Barnette threw 20 pitches to hitters as he works back from a strained oblique and could get into games early in the week. He has no lingering discomfort in his left side. Im ready to roll, he said. Back to normal. ... OF Shin-Soo Choo hit against Barnette. On Friday, he took batting practice for the first time since August surgery to have a plate inserted for a fracture near the left wrist. ... LHP Derek Holland is moving to the bullpen as Banister, his staff and general manager Jon Daniels evaluate how the Rangers playoff roster might look. Carrying eight relievers over the seven Texas had a year ago for a five-game division series defeat to Toronto is Banisters leaning right now.Athletics: RHP Sonny Gray threw close to 50 pitches between his warmups and a simulated game with the hopes he still can get into a game situation before seasons end. Gray hasnt pitched since Aug. 6 because of a strained right forearm. How Melvin uses him is still to be determined. I know his routine suggests hes used to starting, Melvin said. Well see.UP NEXTRangers: RHP Colby Lewis (6-3, 3.40 ERA) seeks his first win in three starts since coming off a two-month stint on the disabled list with a back strain. Lewis, projected the No. 3 playoff starter, has won four straight starts at the Coliseum since June 2014 and is 7-2 with a 2.65 ERA in 12 outings in Oakland since returning to the U.S. from Japan in 2010.Athletics: Rookie RHP Jharel Cotton (1-0, 1.50), another young pitcher chasing a rotation spot for 2017, has allowed one or fewer earned runs and pitched at least five innings in his first three major league starts. NFL Jerseys China . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. 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Im not sure if all kids with autism are the same (probably not, because no two kids with autism are the same), but Charley doesnt understand sports. I mean, he understands that in soccer, for instance, the object of the game is to put the ball in the other teams net. But Charley doesnt understand why anyone would play sports, and he really doesnt understand why anybody would bother watching other people play them.Im always a little flummoxed when he asks me to explain it. There isnt much of an answer except: Its fun. Sports are fun, Charley, I say, and he looks at me with pity and hands me another book to read him as though he has to show me what Ive been missing.Sam knows that Charley is a little different, but he thinks Charley has something called optimism, and Ive never had the heart to correct him. Sam doesnt just understand sports. Sam was born believing in sports the way Charley believes in books and everything in them. Charley believes in dragons and ghosts and fairies. Sam believes in keeping score.The only toy I can remember him playing with, at least with any regularity, was a ball. I have pictures of us playing soccer together when he wasnt yet 2. (He sucked. I crushed him.) Golf entered the picture, then baseball, then hockey, then basketball. Im pretty relieved that he doesnt seem to like football, but I expect thats just a matter of time. I caught him watching darts the other day.He is a natural athlete, and when he isnt playing sports, he wants to watch them or talk about them or, worst comes to worst, think about them. He has an enormous head, both literally and egotistically, and I swear its because there are so many sports and he cant stop thinking about them all and how great he is at whichever one he decides to play in that moment.That has led to a different strain of parental flummoxing.Because I love sports, too, and its so easy to play catch with your kid or coach his soccer team or take him to the driving range and pretend youre the father of the year. Sports parenting is the cheapest kind of parenting, because its not really parenting at all. Its like being a kid again and your best friend is this other kid who you love more than anything. Its perfection.But there is so much more to life than sports. I know that. Charley knows that. The trouble is, those other things arent dragons and ghosts and fairies. They are hard and complicated and sad and real. More and more the world seems like a place that isnt much fun anymore, and its especially not much fuun for grownups.ddddddddddddSo here is what Ive decided to do, as the flummoxed father of simple sons. Im going to read books to Charley, as many as I can. And Im going to watch sports with Sam, as many as I can.On Saturday, we woke up and turned on the TV to watch Liverpool, Sams team, dismantle Hull in the English Premier League. Then we drove into Toronto with some friends, and I took him to his first professional soccer game: Toronto FC against the Philadelphia Union.It was, to be kind, some garbage football, but Sam was open-mouthed most of the time. He couldnt get over the thrill of the grass, or the view from our seats of the lake, or how far the goalies could kick the ball in real life. Toronto scored a nice goal semi-late to tie it, and Sam jumped up so high that he missed the ground on his way back down and fell into the seat in front of him.Then, because this life is just the purest sort of blessing and still works out beautifully sometimes if we let it, we caught a train one minute after that game ended that took us back downtown, where Canada was playing Russia in the World Cup of Hockey at the Air Canada Centre. It was Sams first hockey game, too.We were in our seats seconds after the opening faceoff, and the first hockey goal Sam ever saw in the flesh was Sidney Crosbys steal and finish to give Canada the lead, 1-0. It happened less than 100 feet in front of his wide eyes, and his arms shot up as though hed been electrocuted. Then we ate popcorn and watched Canada go on to win.This is the funnest day ever, Sam said toward the end of it, and it was everything I could do to keep my chest from caving in.Now Im sitting in the dark, listening to him snore in the hotel bed beside me. His head barely fits on the pillow. Charley is at home with his mother, dreaming under the pile of books that he uses as a blanket.I used to think it was my job as a parent to show my boys the world, to introduce them to every last one of its wonders, to make the planet and its possibilities seem as big as possible. Ive come to think its up to them to find that out on their own. My job, when they find something they love, is to tell them that their love is wise and justified, and I love those things, too, and Id love to do those things with them for as long as they will let me.Not every day can be the funnest day ever. But today might still be pretty great, if we spend time with the people we love doing the things they love. 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