SEATTLE -- Death, taxes and Rick Porcello.That is the type of consistency that the Boston Red Soxs 27-year-old starter carries into his scheduled Wednesday start at Safeco Field. He has won eight decisions in a row and each of his past six starts.On a Red Sox team that has struggled to find much even ground in recent weeks, Porcello (14-2, 3.47 ERA) has been rock steady.Hes been our stopper, manager John Farrell said after Porcellos last start, a complete-game, 6-2 win at Angel Stadium last week. And hes been very consistent, probably the most dependable guy in our rotation when you go back to the opening series of the season.Porcello hasnt lost a game since May 17, having gone 8-0 with a 3.44 ERA over his subsequent 13 starts. His dependability has been a big reason why the Red Sox (58-47) have been able to stay in the thick of the American League East race despite some recent stumbles. Boston is just 4-8 over its past 12 games yet is still within two games of the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the division standings.The Red Sox took another hit late Tuesday night, when first baseman Hanley Ramirez slipped on the dugout steps after a 5-4 loss to Seattle and hurt his left wrist. His status for Wednesdays game was up in the air.Earlier in the night, new reliever Fernando Abad gave up the game-winning homer to the first batter he faced: Seattles Robinson Cano. It was an inauspicious debut for the left-hander the Red Sox were counting on to help shore up their bullpen.Seattle (53-52) has its share of issues as well, but the interest in the Mariners is nowhere near what it is for the contending Red Sox. Seattle gave the home fans another exciting, comeback win Tuesday night, but those victories have been few and far between for a team that is falling out of contention.The Mariners collected five of their eight hits Tuesday night in the eighth inning.We havent done that in a long time, Cano said. Late in a game, get three, four, five hits in a row.Seattle is going to need some more big offense if Wednesday starter Hisashi Iwakuma pitches as he did the last time out. Iwakuma (11-7, 4.21 ERA) endured his shortest outing of the season in an 11-0 loss to the Cubs on Friday, giving up five runs in three innings.With a right-hander on the mound for the Mariners, the Red Sox plan to give Andrew Benintendi, a recent call-up from Triple-A, his first start. The outfielder went 0-for-2 as a late-game replacement Tuesday in his major league debut, but he is expected to bring his left-handed bat to the starting lineup Wednesday.Seattle has a prized prospect of its own, new closer Edwin Diaz. The flame-throwing rookie, who possesses a 100 mph fastball, made his debut as closer on Tuesday night and struck out three of the four batters he faced to earn his first career save.Diaz was moved into the ninth-inning role before the game, as veteran Steve Cishek blew a save Sunday and gave up the game-winning homer in a non-save situation Monday.The first time being a closer, thats tough for anyone, especially at home, Cano said of Diazs Tuesday performance. But he was the same guy: 1-2-3. Running Shoes Australia Online . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Running Shoes Cheap Australia . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. http://www.australiarunningshoescheap.com/ . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Running Shoes Discount Australia . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. Running Shoes Outlet Australia . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. Have you heard of Buccis Overtime Challenge? Well, this is Buccis Hat Trick Challenge. Whats the challenge part? Regularly coming up with three hits about the World Cup of Hockey. Wednesdays games are Team North America versus Team?Sweden?(3 p.m. ET, ESPN) and Team Europe versus Team Canada (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2).1. Why Team USA never had a chance against Canada: While sitting high above the Air Canada Centre ice here in Toronto on Tuesday night, I watched as Team USA was, ironically, melting on the ice below. It was like an ice cream cone on a humid day. You cant really tell that its getting soft at first. Then suddenly it pours over the side and onto your fingers. Do you lick it? Do you run and wash it off? Or do you just sit here, with a dazed, defeated?look of confusion, and let the wet ice cream dry on you?Hockey is hard. And playing hockey against Canada, in Canada, is the hardest. The Canadians had a 90 percent chance to win the World Cup when the rosters were announced. Sweden, Team North America and maybe Russia were the only others teams in the field with a real chance.The over/under on Hall of Famers on this years Canada roster is about nine. No other country can approach that. I went back and quickly looked at the 1996 World Cup rosters. Canadas number for that team was 11 Hall of Famers. I think the number of Hall of Famers on the 96 U.S. roster will end up being seven, so you can see how Team USA had at least a chance. Yet, it was still such an upset for the Americans to win two games in Montreal as slight underdogs. This years USA roster might have two future Hall of Famers. So thats Canada 9, United States 2. That is too big of a disparity to overcome. That explains the outcome in the most simple way.2. Kessel could have helped:?Pittsburgh Penguins?right winger?Phil Kessel (who was tied for 45th in NHL scoring last season) is probably not going to make the Hockey Hall of Fame. But given his speed and the fact that hes always a threat to score, Kessel should have been on Team USAs roster.In some ways, Kessel is the NHLs version of the Cleveland Cavaliers J.R. Smith. Hes kind of out there, unique, unintentionally funny, does his own kind of thing. But he has the kind of talent that can help you beat other talented teams. You deal with his limitations (bad shots, in Smiths case; no body checking by Kessel) and hope that he picks up his defensive intensity with that speed he has. Both players did that last spring for their respective teams -- and both the Pens and Cavs won titles they would not have won without Smith and Kessel.In the end, its like when you picked sides on the playground or gym class when you were a kid. In most cases, you knew which team was the best right away. Occasionally, a team with slightly less talent -- like, say, the U.S. team that won the 1996 World Cup -- could win with great individual efforts (like Mike Richters in 96) and a collective push. If the disparity got too big, however, the more talented and skillful woould win 99 percent of the time, as long as they tried and didnt scream at each other.ddddddddddddComing off his Stanley Cup playoffs performance, Kessel was an obvious World Cup choice who, in retrospect, might have been able to Team USA that extra individual effort. His tweet Tuesday night was pure Kessel snark at its finest:What a year for Phil! He won a Stanley Cup, then body-slammed a USA Hockey organization that many feel needs to be dredged and refocused. And he produced a funny and poignant tweet that got more action and traction than did the commentary of many of the writers whom he despises. Give Phil a Pulitzer, too.3. But help is on the way for the USA: Team North America was a great idea, and I love it, but it hurt Team USA. Six or seven American players on Team North America -- which was limited to players 23 or younger -- would have made Team USA had they been eligible. The U.S. does not have the depth of Canada, so the U-23 team hurt them even more than not getting Connor McDavid?hurt Canada.So, not only will the USA have the youngsters for best-on-best events in the future, but more are coming.This current crop of young, U.S.-born players includes some great kids. But they need a person -- and group of people -- to guide them and mold them. Pat Lafontaine, Chris Drury, Jerry York, David Quinn, Nate Leaman, Don Granato, Jon Cooper, Peter Laviolette and many more talented/competitive hockey minds are out there and ready to either lead or contribute to a new day, to be part of a Continental Congress of USA Hockey that will create a road map and one-page outline. Not as a reaction or overreaction to what happened Tuesday night against Canada, but to take an honest assessment and capitalize on the positives, create optimism and instill a culture of selflessness and commitment to the cause.The young Americans are great players. They need a captain to set the tone so USA Hockey can start building a consistent tradition and not just rely on these lightning-storm moments of 1980 and 1996. The foundation is there. It can be done. The USA is winning lots of international hockey events with teenagers. It should continue as they become NHL players.Hockey is expensive, and the challenge of the sport is to keep it from becoming elitist -- either in who it attracts and/or how it molds people into that type of destructive, introverted, tired, selfish thinking. Some passionate people at USA Hockey are fighting for change and are doing good work. But, overall, the organization has a tired, elitist feel to it. Everyone goes to their own room and the kids are all staring at their phones.Team Canada feels like a local youth hockey weekend tournament, where some of the parents get a little carried away but everybody is at the same hotel bar and the kids are all playing knee hockey in the hallway. Everyone is all in. And its fun. ' ' '