me career. "The first six or eight or 10 minutes, I thought

SEATTLE -- Collin McHugh didnt know he was starting Tuesday until late the night before. When he took the mound, he surprised just about everyone with his performance. McHugh struck out a career-high 12 in his season debut to lead the Houston Astros to a 5-2 win against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night, extending Seattles losing streak to eight games. McHugh (1-0) was told he was being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday and flew to Seattle. It wasnt until he got to the team hotel late Monday night that he found out he was going to start for the Astros on Tuesday. Before the game, Houston coach Bo Porter characterized McHugh as a "pitch to contact guy," but the Mariners made almost no contact. McHugh struck out the first three batters he faced to set the tone for his first win in 10 career starts. "That was outstanding. Thats what you call seizing the opportunity," Porter said. The right-hander didnt walk a batter, giving up three hits in 6 2-3 shutout innings. "I dont think anybody prepares to go out and strike out a bunch of people. But I knew I had pretty decent command today with two or three pitches," McHugh said. "It was really good to kind of get the proverbial gorilla off your back with a W." McHughs stuff caught the Mariners off guard as well, as they only reached second once against him. "He was a little different than the scouting report we got. He was 94 (miles an hour) with a pretty good cut slider," Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He threw exceptionally well tonight." The Astros offence gave McHugh plenty to work with, as Jason Castro and Chris Carter each hit homers to give Houston a 3-0 lead after two innings. Seattle starter Erasmo Ramirez (1-3) struck out eight over six innings and only allowed three hits, but they included the two costly homers. Three at-bats into the game, Castro just cleared the left field wall for a two-run homer, his fourth. Carter followed in the second inning with a shot to left that landed in the second deck for his first homer of the year. Seattles Dustin Ackley tried to counter with a deep ball to left in the bottom of the second, but Matt Dominguez made a leaping catch at the wall to end the inning. Dominguez added a homer of his own in the top of the seventh to give Houston a 4-0 lead. The Astros have now won two in a row after a seven-game losing streak, and their offence -- which entered Tuesdays game with a major league-worst .196 batting average -- is finally showing some signs of life. "Once the whole offence is flowing like it is the last couple games, you kind of get in a little groove with it," Dominguez said. "Its been nice being able to score some runs." McHughs 12th strikeout came against Robinson Cano to leadoff the bottom of the seventh, but Porter brought on reliever Raul Valdes with two outs in the inning. McHugh had thrown 89 pitches, well above his high of 73 pitches in his minor league outings this year. Valdes walked Kyle Seager and then gave up a two-run home run to Justin Smoak, Seattles only offence of the game. McHughs call up came after Scott Feldman was placed on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Feldman will miss at least one more start, possibly giving McHugh more chances to show what he can do. "He didnt do anything to hurt his chances of sticking around," Porter said. "He definitely earned his keep." NOTES: The crowd of 10,466 was the fifth-lowest in Safeco Field history. Six of the seven lowest crowds at Safeco have been matchups with the Astros, all coming since the start of last season. ... Seattle RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (finger) was scheduled to pitch in a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Tacoma, but instead threw a simulated game at Safeco Field on Tuesday afternoon due to weather concerns. McClendon said the outing went well, and Iwakuma will have a rehab outing with Tacoma on Sunday. ... Astros RHP Lucas Harrell, designated for assignment on April 16, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Dalvin Tomlinson Youth Jersey . Mike Babcock has turned to the Montreal Canadiens goalie over Roberto Luongo, who backed Canada to a gold medal in Vancouver in 2010, for Canadas final preliminary round game against the ailing Finns. Mark Bavaro Womens Jersey . "I was so nervous," Hadley said Sunday after winning the Puerto Rico Open for his first PGA Tour victory. "I did not eat well last night. http://www.nygiantsfanaticshop.com/Black...ey.html?cat=863. - Frankie (The Answer) Edgar dominated B. Darius Slayton Giants Jersey . With the suspension, Nigeria is unable to take part in any kind of international fixtures. FIFA had issued a warning to the NFF last week after the federation was served with court proceedings from the government that prevented the NFFs president from running the NFFs day-to-day affairs. Deandre Baker Womens Jersey . Smith, an eighth overall pick, had two goals in only 276 minutes of playing time over 16 appearances last season. The left side midfielder played only 43 minutes in three games this season. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- North Carolina has beaten Michigan State, Kentucky and reigning national champion Louisville in this up-and-down season, but the Tar Heels were no match for No. 2 Syracuse. A strong start keyed by James Michael McAdoo vanished amid the Oranges flailing arms and diving bodies, and Syracuse beat UNC 57-45 on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference marquee matchup. Forwards C.J. Fair and Jerami Grant combined for 32 points and 20 rebounds to pace the Orange, who shot a season-low 35 per cent (21 of 60) and still won handily, leading by as many as 19 late in the second half. "They got by and won a game shooting 35 per cent," said UNC coach Roy Williams, who dropped to 1-4 against Syracuse in his Hall of Fame career. "The first six or eight or 10 minutes, I thought we were aggressive. We were involved. I thought after that point they were just so much more aggressive than we were. It ends up a 12-point game, but it really was more than a 12-point game. "They had so much more intensity than we did." Not at the start. North Carolina attacked the middle of the Syracuse zone with great success at the outset, with McAdoo hitting a pair of jumpers and J.P. Tokoto another from the foul line as the Tar Heels gained an 8-4 lead in the first 4 minutes. "We started slow, let McAdoo get in the lane," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "Once we got back in front, our defence was good the whole game." The Orange regrouped after a timeout and went on a 17-5 run keyed by Fair and Grant, who did all the scoring. Fair, who had three early turnovers and was struggling at the start, hit a 3 from the wing and converted three free throws to give Syracuse a 19-15 lead, and two free throws by Grant completed a 10-0 spurt that put the Orange on top to stay, 21-15 at 8:53. The Tar Heels cooled off in a big way after the solid start, unable to penetrate inside. After Paige converted a three-point play with 13:04 left, UNC got only a fast-break slam dunk by McAdoo, a layup by Nate Britt and a jumper in the lane by Leslie McDonald in the ensuing 11 minutes and went into the locker room at halftime trailing 34-22. "Forr us, not being able to get looks -- we were successful early in the game.dddddddddddd Thats really on us, McAdoo said. "And also them being really good." Syracuse (16-0, 3-0 ACC) evened its all-time record against the North Carolina (10-6, 0-3) to 4-4. UNC started 0-2 in ACC play three times in the past five years and five times overall, and the loss to Syracuse equaled the worst conference start in school history in 1996-97, Dean Smiths final year as head coach. The last time North Carolina scored fewer than 45 points was in a 56-44 loss to eventual national champion Villanova in the Southeast Regional final of the 1985 NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels also beat North Carolina State 45-44 in February 1997. UNC shot 2 of 12 from behind the arc against the Syracuse zone and 20 of 51 (39.2 per cent) overall and was outrebounded 41-35, 17-10 on the offensive glass, netting just two second-chance points. "They were just playing harder," said Tokoto, who finished with three points on 1-of-6 shooting. "Thats pretty much what it was. We couldnt knock down the shots we needed to make and go on our run." The Tar Heels dont play again for a week, when they host Boston College. "Cant go backwards," Tokoto said. "Its on to the next game. Just got to look at the film, look at what we did wrong as a team, and where we can improve on." North Carolina was coming off a 63-57 home loss to Miami in which the Tar Heels shot just 31 per cent (20 for 65) and finished with a season-low scoring output against Miamis zone. This game, which featured teams with a combined 3,990 wins (UNC is third with 2,100 and Syracuse fifth with 1,890) was decided by a dominant first half by the Orange. Tyler Ennis finished with 10 points and seven assists to go with a season-high four turnovers, and Trevor Cooney had five steals and 10 points on 4-of-17 shooting. Rakeem Christmas contributed eight rebounds and had four of the Oranges nine blocks. Marcus Paige led North Carolina with 17 points and McAdoo had 15 points and nine rebounds. Desmond Hubert suffered a concussion in practice Friday and did not play against Syracuse. ' ' '