Preise » Chiefs lost veteran starter Sean Smith in

BROWNSBURG, Ind. -- Tony Schumacher notched his 82nd career victory in Top Fuel at the U.S. Nationals on Monday.Schumacher raced his dragster to a 3.806-second pass at 317.64 mph to beat Steve Torrences 3.803 at 325.06 in the final round.Schumacher, the NHRAs winningest driver in the category, also became the winningest driver at Lucas Oil Raceway with his 10th victory at the track.I didnt see [Torrence] for one second, but I heard him, Schumacher said. It was a great final round ... and I had the chance to win my 10th at Indy.Schumacher will be the No. 4 seed for the six-race playoff for the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Chris McGaha (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners in their respective categories at the 18th event of 24 on the NHRA schedule. The U.S. Nationals was the final race of the regular season.Hagan drove his Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to a 3.964 at 327.43 mph to beat reigning world champion Del Worshams 3.958 at 324.20 in his Toyota Camry. It was Hagans 21st career win and first at the Nationals. The two-time world champ enters the playoffs as the No. 3 seed.In Pro Stock, McGaha got his first win of the year by driving his Chevy Camaro to a 6.688 at 207.15 to defeat Allen Johnsons 6.715 at 207.09 in his Dodge Dart.Hines rode his Harley-Davidson to a 6.682 at 194.63 to beat Hector Arana Jr., who red-lighted on his Buell in the final round. It was Hines 47th career win -- fifth this year -- and gave him the Pro Stock Motorcycle points lead. Swell Bottle Online . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Swell Bottles On Sale . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. http://www.swellbottlesales.com/ . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Yellow Gold Swell Bottle . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Swell Bottle Wholesale . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The most experienced cornerback on the Kansas City Chiefs roster is entering his third year in the NFL.The best of them is entering his second.In other words, the eyes of Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers should light up when he steps inside Arrowhead Stadium for the season opener Sunday. Hes coming off a 4,800-yard season with plenty of production coming against defensive backs that have been through the professional grind.But the Chiefs seem unconcerned by their cornerback pups.In fact, they seem downright confident in them.We do have some young guys, Chiefs general manager John Dorsey said, but you know what Ive seen from preseason games? I think theyve all done a really nice job.Now its time for the real season to start. Now you take it up to that next level, and I think these guys WILL take it up to the next level.The Chiefs lost veteran starter Sean Smith in free agency , yet were still confident enough in their youngsters that they traded Marcus Cooper to Arizona for a draft pick before final roster cuts. Cooper had been losing playing time but had still appeared in 38 games, giving Kansas City some semblance of experience.Their departures left Phillip Gaines as the Chiefs elder statesmen, and the fact that hes entering his third season in the NFL is tempered a bit by the way his first two years have gone.Gaines struggled to get on the field as a rookie, the acclimation process taking longer than the third-round pick expected. And once Gaines earned the starting job a year ago, he tore the ACL in his left knee in Week 3.Gaines won back his starting job in training camp, and will pair with Defensive Rookie of the Year Marcus Peters in giving the Chiefs perhaps the youngest starting tandem in the NFL.We lost a lot of guys last year -- well, this year -- so weve got to pick it up, Peters said.That is certainly true for Peters, who was usually matched up with an opponents second wide receiver a year ago. He is now the No. 1 cornerback and will be given much more difficult tasks.Weve told him and he knows what theyre going to try to do to him, Chiefs defensivee backs coach Emmitt Thomas said.ddddddddddddHell step up to the occasion. Were not worried about him. Hes our guy back there that can get the ball, turn the ball over and hes our best cover guy on this team. Hell be ready.Will the guys deeper on the depth chart be ready?The first two cornerbacks off the bench, and the first options at nickel back, appear to be Kenneth Acker and Steven Nelson. And while both have some experience, they are still relative newcomers.Acker spent a year on the San Francisco practice squad before starting 13 games a year ago. But he was traded to the Chiefs relatively late in training camp, so the pressure has been on to quickly learn the nuances of defensive coordinator Bob Suttons press-man coverage scheme.Nelson appeared in 12 games as rookie a year ago, though much of that was on special teams.Its the small things, he said. Playing defensive back is a game of inches back there, so working on the small things is important. Having a short-term memory is important too.No problem there: Quite a few of the Chiefs defensive backs have yet to make any memories.KeiVarae Russell was a third-round pick out of Notre Dame and D.J. White a sixth-round pick out of Georgia Tech, and both have flashed some talent at cornerback. Fourth-round pick Eric Murray played mostly cornerback at Minnesota, but hes forced his way onto the field in Kansas City at safety.All of them are quickly learning what life is like in game week.You can tell the focus has been taken up a notch, Russell said. Every game counts at this point and you obviously want to win every game and work toward that No. 1 playoff seed. Its not like preseason.In that respect, Russell at least sounds like a veteran.I dont know how often my name will be called, but its going to be exciting getting out there, he said. This has been a longtime dream of mine and its going to become a reality on Sunday.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '