ARLINGTON, Texas -- Monday night began with a 2016 American League West Division championship banner being unfurled from the office complex beyond center field at Globe Life Park. But the Texas Rangers took a step back in pursuing their next goal -- earning home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.Jonathan Villar homered twice and had a career-high five RBI and Matt Garza beat his former team as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Rangers 8-3.The loss dropped Texas one-half game behind the Boston Red Sox in the race for the leagues best record. The Cleveland Indians pulled within one-half game of the Rangers.Youre playing pretty much teams that are not in the race, and they have nothing to lose, said Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus, who had three hits along with left fielder Carlos Gomez. Its two different mentalities, but youve got to go out there and try to win games.Rangers starter Martin Perez (10-11) was looking to set a career high for wins in a season. He gave up a season-high eight earned runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings. His home record this season fell to 8-3.I threw strikes; thats why they hit the ball, Perez said. If I give up runs like that, with homers or hard base hits, I dont care. I just want to stay there and throw strikes.The number on the scoreboard, it is what it is, manager Jeff Banister said, but I didnt feel like that told the story. I feel like there were some pitches Martin threw well. It seemed like when he needed to get an out, he couldnt get the out.Garza (6-8) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. He spent the second half of the 2013 season with Texas as a rental acquisition from the Chicago Cubs, going 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA. It was Garzas first appearance against Texas since 2010.I take it as this is our playoff right here, said Garza, who won Game 3 of the Division Series for the Tampa Bay Rays against Texas at Globe Life Park. Theyre a good team, and you want to go out and perform.JEFFRESS RETURNSJeremy Jeffress, acquired by Texas from Milwaukee along with Jonathan Lucroy on Aug. 1, made his first appearance since being reinstated Friday from the restricted list. He was arrested on a drunken driving charge in Dallas on Aug. 26 and was sent to an inpatient rehab clinic. Jeffress retired all four batters he faced.Getting this one out of the way is going to be pretty good for the next one, Jeffress said. I just took everything in. It made me feel good inside.CHANGE OF PITCHING PLANSBanister moved Cole Hamels final regular-season start up from Friday against Tampa Bay to Wednesdays series finale vs. Milwaukee. He said the change was made to allow Colby Lewis and Perez to start the last two games against the Rays.SHORT HOPSLucroy, who played 6 1/2 seasons for Milwaukee, faced his previous team for the first time. He went 1 for 4. . Perez added to his major league-leading total of groundball double plays induced with his 36th of the season in the sixth inning. . The Brewers scored in every inning in which their leadoff batter reached and failed to score in innings in which the leadoff man was retired.TRAINERS ROOMBrewers: RHP Taylor Jungmann wont pitch again this season after suffering a hip abductor during his start last Saturday night, which was his first in the majors since April.Rangers: OF Shin-Soo Choo (left forearm fracture) had three hits and two walks batting in all seven innings of an Instructional League game on Monday. Banister said he hopes to get RHP Tony Barnette (strained oblique), who last pitched on Sept. 4, into Tuesday nights game.UP NEXTBrewers RHP Jimmy Nelson (8-15) leads the NL in losses after getting off to a 3-1 start. Rangers RHP A.J. Griffin (7-4) lasted only 1 2/3 innings last Tuesday in Anaheim, allowing three hits and four walks. If Texas elects to go with four starters in the Division Series, Griffin is a contender for the final slot.Vapormax Canada . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. Vapormax 97 Canada . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. http://www.airvapormaxcanada.com/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Vapormax Mens Canada . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Vapormax Moc 2 Canada .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head.RALEIGH, N.C. -- A loss forced North Carolina State to re-evaluate itself. One of the Wolfpacks key conclusions: They cant afford another one this week.N.C. State looks to move on from its loss at East Carolina on Saturday night when Old Dominion visits.The Wolfpack (1-1) are coming off a mistake-filled 33-30 loss to the Pirates in which they allowed 445 total yards, let them complete more than 75 percent of their passes and flubbed a series of special-teams plays.We watched that, we corrected that and were going to turn everything we have over to ODU, coach Dave Doeren said. Im not going to sit around and dwell on the past. Weve got 10 (games) in front of me and Im going to do everything I can to help our players and coaches learn from it, have a 1-0 mentality and make up for it as the season goes on. Thats the only thing that we can do around here.The Monarchs (1-1) were equally frustrated during their 31-7 loss at Appalachian State , though they allowed only 97 total yards in the second half. Theyll play at Carter-Finley Stadium for the second time in three years, and will play the Wolfpack for the third straight year after losing the first two meetings by a combined 84-48.This team can handle going on the road, Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder said. Obviously, the results (have) got to be better but they can handle the atmosphere. Theyll handle the environment this weekend. ... They love it, theyre up for the challenge. They know were going to be huge underdogs going into this game but theyre excited to play.---Some things to know about the Old Dominion-N.C. State game:WOLFPACK OFFENSE: N.C. State certainly showed its new offense can move thee ball, with QB Ryan Finley throwing for 254 yards and a touchdown last week.dddddddddddd The Wolfpack have gained at least 500 total yards in both games with new coordinator Eli Drinkwitz. Old Dominion could test them, only allowing 361.5 total yards per game.PLAYMAKERS: Its no secret N.C. State wants to get the ball to RB Matt Dayes and FB Jaylen Samuels. Dayes ranks third in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 241 yards rushing while Samuels has four touchdowns this season -- three rushing, one receiving. Thats made Finleys transition to the Wolfpack that much easier. A guy makes plays like that, youve got to get him the ball as much as you can, Finley said of Samuels.LAYING DOWN THE LAWRY: Old Dominion RB Ray Lawry has rushed for 100 yards in both games, including a 119-yard effort against Appalachian State, and has breakaway speed once he gets through the line . He should provide a strong test for an N.C. State defense that is giving up 105 yards per game on the ground.ODU VS. POWER FIVE: Since the Monarchs restarted their program in 2009, they have yet to beat a team from a power conference and are 0-6 against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Theyve come close, though, losing by nine points at Pittsburgh in 2013 and by 12 in their previous visit to N.C. State. They basically know, we dont have anything to lose, were not expected to win, Wilder said. But what I want our guys thinking ... is `Lets go make history, lets go do something special.---OnlineAP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '