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ST. PETERSBURG, Florida - J.A. Happ and Alex Cobb stood side by side on Sunday afternoon and called on Major League Baseball to provide pitchers with the option to wear protective head gear. "Whether that pitcher wants to pitch with head gear or not is up to him but I definitely think there should be an option," said Cobb. "I havent heard too much but I do know that its moving in the right direction and hopefully there will be an option by next year." The league has been studying different prototypes, including caps with enhanced padding, since last offseason. So far nothing has been approved. "I think youd be crazy not to look into it if it was available," said Happ. "I think function is the big issue. We were struck in the ear so like I said it would almost have to be a helmet situation. If it was functional and comfortable and didnt hinder the performance at all then absolutely." Both pitchers are linked by separate, equally scary, incidents at Tropicana Field this season. It was May 7 when Happ, pitching to Desmond Jennings in the second inning of an eventual 6-4 win, was struck in the side of the head by a line drive. He crumpled to the ground. Onlookers thought he was out cold even though he wasnt, and eventually he was carted off the field. Happ suffered a minor skull fracture behind his left ear. Stitches repaired a nasty gash to his ear. The worst of his injuries, however, were to his right knee. He suffered strained MCL and PCL ligaments when his leg buckled underneath him. Happs return, which came exactly three months after the incident, would have been much sooner if not for the knee trouble. Almost six weeks after Happ was hurt, an Eric Hosmer line drive hit Cobb in the head in the fifth inning of the June 15 Rays-Royals game. Cobb suffered a concussion and had to work through the effects of his head trauma before returning to the majors on Thursday, exactly two months after the incident. The two men didnt know each other beforehand and since, theyve kept in touch via text messages and have struck up a friendship. While neither relied on the other for support through the recovery process, they share a bond very few can understand. "Not too many people know what youve gone through on a personal level so to know his battles, although they were different, they were almost more severe and more troublesome in some cases with his knee," said Cobb. "Its really nice to see him back out on a big league field and pitching well, too." Happ happened to be watching at the time Cobb was injured. "It was just such a surreal thing," said Happ. "Again, just to see him and be able to catch up and see that the healing has taken place, thats the biggest thing. Definitely a scare with some of the issues that he had to deal with that I didnt. "He had a little bit more to overcome in that sense and really glad to see he was able to do that." Youth Spurs Jerseys . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Spurs Jerseys From China .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. http://www.cheapspursjerseyschina.com/ . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. Wholesale Spurs Jerseys . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Spurs Jerseys Outlet .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.OAKLAND, Calif. - Two days after homering in the eighth inning to break up Yu Darvishs no-hitter, Houstons Carlos Corporan came up with another timely late hit. Just like that, the Astros have a winning streak and their first series win in nearly two months. Corporan hit an RBI double off reliever Sean Doolittle in the 11th inning to drive in Jose Altuve, lifting Houston to a 2-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. "I was ready for the fastball and he threw it," Corporan said. "As soon as I hit it I thought its either a homer or a double and were going to score." Corporans hit came after Oakland nearly won the game in the bottom of the 10th when Houston left fielder Robbie Grossman made a leaping grab of Chris Youngs deep fly at the fence. Its the first time the Astros have had back-to-back wins since June 15-16 when they took three of four from the Chicago White Sox. Thats also the last time Houston won a series. "That was a big hit by Corporan," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "Hes actually got big hits all year. You look at the year (catcher Jason) Castros having, a lot of that credit goes to Corporan being a great backup and giving him opportunities to take days off." Jose Altuve singled with one out Doolittle (3-4) and was headed for third on Corporans double to left-centre when Young bobbled the ball. Altuve alertly rounded third and scored the tiebreaking run while Corporan was caught in a rundown between second and third. Corporan had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth. "Weve been playing pretty good," Corporan said. "Things are going our way now. Its our turn." Chris Carter homered and Jonathan Villar added two hits for the Astros. Houston has won the first two games of this series after dropping 11 of the first 12 between the two division rivals. Lucas Harrell (6-13) pitched one inning for the win while Josh Fields earned his second save. Yoenis Cespedes singled and scored Oaklands run. The As have dropped nine of 13 and fell two games behind first-place Texas in the West. "It just seemed like it was frustrating from the beginning and got more frustrating as the game went on," said As manager Bob Melvin, who was ejected in the eighth inning after arguing a close play at third base. "You have to try and put that away and keep your wits about you and not get frustrated.dddddddddddd" Houston won despite Oakland getting the tying run on base in the bottom of the 11th. Eric Sogard hit a leadoff double but Fields struck out Alberto Callaspo, Jed Lowrie and Josh Reddick to end it. Carter, the former As first baseman, homered off As starter Jarrod Parker leading off the seventh. Its Carters third in his last five games. Brandon Mosss RBI double in the seventh off Houston reliever Phil Humber tied it. Both starting pitchers were stellar but left with no decision. Houstons Jarred Cosart, the first pitcher in franchise history to begin his career with five consecutive starts of five-plus innings while allowing two or fewer runs, kept the As silent early. He allowed only one runner past first base through six innings and didnt give up a fly ball out until Josh Donaldsons sinking liner to centre leading off the fifth. The Astros also backed him with solid defence. Houston turned a double play to end the third, and centre fielder Brandon Barnes made a running catch near the wall to rob Seth Smith of extra bases in the sixth. Parker pitched a career-best 8 1-3 innings for Oakland and had six strikeouts. The right-hander faced just two over the minimum through the fifth and made his only mistake came in the seventh when he gave up Carters team-leading 22nd home run of the season. Melvin was ejected in the eighth after arguing a call by third base umpire Doug Eddings. Sogard doubled leading off the inning but was thrown out on a close play trying to advance on Nate Freimans deep fly to centre. Melvin scampered out of the dugout to dispute the call before getting tossed. NOTES: Castros single in the ninth extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games. ... Carters home run was his first against his former club. He was traded to Houston in the off-season as part of Oaklands deal to acquire Lowrie. ... As C John Jaso still has not been cleared to resume baseball activities but the team is hopeful he can return this season. Jaso met with a concussion specialist in Pittsburgh earlier this week. ... CF Coco Crisp was held out of the lineup after getting a cortisone injection in his wrist on Tuesday. ... The Astros called up INF Marwin Gonzalez from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned RHP Jorge DeLeon down. ... Houston traded minor league LHP Travis Blackley to Texas in exchange for a player to be named later and cash considerations. 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