Former Major League Baseball all-star David Nilsson has been named manager of Team Australia as it aims to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Baseball Australia said Wednesday that the former Milwaukee Brewers catcher would lead the team in games at the 2019 Premier 12 tournament http://www.panthersfootballauthentic.com/christian-miller-jersey-authentic , which doubles as the first chance for 2020 Olympic qualification. He could also manage Australia at the 2021 World Baseball Classic.

Nilsson returned to the national team staff as an assistant coach for the 2018 Japan Series after winning three consecutive Australian Baseball League titles with the Brisbane Bandits, who went 86-48 while winning ABL titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The 48-year-old Nilsson says: ”It was really special to get back to international competition, I love the environment and I really missed it.”

Regarded as Australia’s best-ever MLB player, Nilsson finished his MLB career with a .284 batting average, 105 home runs and 470 runs batted in.

He created history in 1999 when he became the first Australian to be named an MLB All-Star after finishing with a .309 batting average in 115 games for the Brewers.

He remains the only position player ever named from Australia for an All-Star Game. Grant Balfour, while with the Oakland A’s, was named as a replacement pitcher for teammate Bartolo Colon in 2013 and is the only other player from Down Under to appear in an All-Star Game.

Nilsson also played for Australia’s Olympic team in 2000 and 2004 Jordan Scarlett Jersey , when it won silver at the Athens Games.

LOS ANGELES — The Colorado Rockies will look to close out June by heading in the opposite direction from when the month started and build off the momentum from a wild victory Thursday.

The first weekend of June was one to forget when the Rockies were swept in a three-game series by the Los Angeles Dodgers. In full revival after a slow start to the season, the Dodgers scored 33 runs in their three victories.

Now the Rockies head to L.A. with a full head of steam. They lost a heartbreaker Wednesday on a Giants game-ending home run and coughed up a late lead Thursday before DJ LeMahieu’s ninth-inning home run was the difference in a victory.

With the month set to close this weekend, the Rockies have some confidence on their side as they open a three-game series against the Dodgers. The Rockies will send left-hander Tyler Anderson (4-3, 4.62 ERA) to the mound Friday night against Dodgers lefty Rich Hill (1-2, 5.30).

Even after the Rockies were swept by the Dodgers to open the month they still sat in second place in the National League West, 31/2 games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers were in third place, 4 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks.

Heading into this weekend series, though David Montgomery Jersey , the Rockies are in fourth place eight games back, while the Dodgers are in second, 31/2 back. The Rockies have gone 9-16 in June.

The Rockies victory Thursday appears to be motivated by a talk-is-cheap statement from Nolan Arenado, who then went out and hit a first-inning home run in a win that ended a four-game losing streak.

“We can talk about it all we want; we’ve been talking about this since April,” Arenado said, according to The Athletic. “How are we going to turn it around? Blah blah. We haven’t yet.”

The Dodgers have turned around their season by going 17-7 in June. But their turnaround goes back even further. They are 27-11 since May 17 and have the long ball to thank for it.

With two home runs Thursday, the Dodgers now have 53 in the month to tie a franchise record. They will spend the next two games chasing the major league record of 58 for a single month.

But the Dodgers are coming off an 11-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and went 3-4 against the Cubs over the past 10 days. The Dodgers have called the Cubs a measuring stick and they ended up losing the season series to the team they have faced in each of the last two National League Championship Series.

Now the Dodgers return to division play, after just six games against NL West opponents this month. The Dodgers are 5-1 against the Rockies this season.

If there is anything the Cubs might have exposed when it comes to the Dodgers it is a bullpen that appears to be in something of a lull. Dodgers’ relievers gave up eight runs in a defeat Tuesday and 10 in Thursday’s loss.

“I’m not concerned about it http://www.bearsfootballauthentics.com/riley-ridley-jersey-authentic ,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters after Thursday’s game. “We match up very well with (the Cubs) and they match up well with us. I think we are very comparable clubs. You give away outs, walks, we both can slug. You have to play good baseball. You look at a couple of games where they broke it open against our (bullpen) but by and large, our bullpen has been pretty good for some time.”

Anderson is 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA in eight starts versus the Dodgers. Hill is 0-3, 7.52 in four starts against the Rockies.