WASHINGTON -- Manager Dusty Baker wont be with the Washington Nationals when they close their three-game series against the New York Mets on Wednesday because of a death in the family.Bench coach Chris Speier will manage the team in Bakers absence.The Nationals say Baker is expected to rejoin the team on Friday night for its series opener with the Atlanta Braves.On Tuesday, the Mets pulled within nine games of Washington in the NL East and remained a half-game ahead of St. Louis in the NL wild-card race.Evan Engram Giants Jersey . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Eli Manning Womens Jersey . John Tavares, Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early. http://www.authenticnygiantspro.com/Daniel-jones-giants-jersey/ . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Phil Simms Giants Jersey . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Darius Slayton Womens Jersey . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament.SOELDEN, Austria -- When Lara Gut starts the defense of her overall Alpine World Cup title on Saturday, she will be the first Swiss skier to do so in more than two decades.Not that it puts pressure on her.I dont think I have to defend something, Gut said on Thursday, two days before the season-opening giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier.The title that I won, is last year. Now we all start at zero points again and its just a matter of winning races again.The previous skier from Switzerland to take the biggest prize in womens skiing was Vreni Schneider in 1995, successfully defending her title from the previous season.Gut downplayed the importance of the first race.My goal is to improve every day, I have to try to be as relaxed as possible, Gut said. There is always a lot of talk ahead of Soelden but this race is also worth just 100 points.She will be the only racer on Saturday who has won an overall title. Anna Veith, Tina Maze and Lindsey Vonn are all absent, for various reasons.Guts predecessor in 2014 and 2015, Veith, needs more time to recover from the knee injury that kept the Austrian away from the slopes last season.Known under her maiden name Fenninger until she got married in April, Veith returned on skis in June but has still been lacking muscle power for the World Cup.I felt that I dont have enough strength to put enough pressure on the skis, said Veith, adding she would spend next month mainly in the gym before returning to skiing in December.The 2013 champion also wont be a threat to Guts ambition as Tina Maze announced her retirement on Thursday. The Slovenian took a break from racing last season and said she will do only one last race -- on home soil in Maribor -- before quitting the sport.ddddddddddddSo, will Vonn again become Guts main challenger?The American, hunting her fifth overall title but first since 2012, was in a neck-and-neck race with Gut until damaging her left knee in a super-G crash in February, ending her season.Though fit and ready to race, Vonn declined the trip to the Austrian Alps as she planned to concentrate more on speed races and refrain from GS, like she also dropped the slalom from her schedule years ago.Ill be back on skis soon and training here at home, Vonn wrote on Facebook recently. Im disappointed I wont be there (in Soelden) but my goals for this season are focused more on downhill and super-g races.However, Gut might face fierce competition from Vonns American teammate, Mikaela Shiffrin, who agreed.Its the first season that I think its really possible, said Shiffrin, who has dominated slaloms in recent years and vastly improved in GS. Now she will add more speed events, not just super-G but even some downhills.We have to wait to get a good grasp where I stand, Shiffrin said. If I am skiing well in slalom and GS and have some good results in speed, it looks like I am a good contender.Calling it a huge dream, Shiffrin was quick to acknowledge many rivals have the same ambition.I want to keep everything in perspective, she said. There are a lot of girls that have that dream. There are probably 20 racers out there who have the potential to win the overall globe. ' ' '