BARCELONA, Spain -- Lionel Messi scored his 22nd double of 2012 to reach 90 goals as Barcelona beat closest rival Atletico Madrid 4-1 on Sunday, opening up a nine-point lead and sitting 13 in front of Real Madrid in the Spanish league. It was Barcelonas league-record 15th victory in 16 rounds and came just after floundering Madrid had conceded in the final minutes to draw 2-2 at home with the Catalan clubs crosstown rival Espanyol. "This league is ours to lose," said Barcelona defender Gerard Pique. Atletico striker Radamel Falcao was brilliant early and opened the scoring in the 31st minute. But Adriano sparked Barcelonas resurgence five minutes later with an unstoppable long-range strike, and Sergio Busquets made it 2-1 before halftime. Messi put the result beyond doubt in the 57th and had the final word in the 88th minute to prolong his incredible year. "Messi is the best player in the world," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone. "We brought out our best weapons, but Barcelona is playing at a different level. You cant do anything against their determination. This league is boring." The game at Camp Nou stadium had been billed as a showdown between Messi and Falcao, the leagues top two scorers. And it didnt disappoint as both stars took exquisite goals in addition to Adrianos screamer. Messi now has 25 goals in the league this season. Falcao is next with 17. Atletico showed more fight and created more chances in the first half hour than it had in 90 minutes in its painful loss at Madrid two rounds beforehand. Falcao ran rampant and had come close twice before deservedly breaking through when Diego Costa stole the ball from Messi and played Falcao clear to float a delicate lob over goalkeeper Victor Valdes. But Adriano snapped Barcelona out of its doldrums with a vicious left-footed strike from outside the area that curled off the underside of the crossbar for his fifth goal this season. "Adriano gave us a boost and we dominated the rest of the way," said Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova. The game swung in Barcelonas favour, with Busquets scoring when the ball fell to him from a corner in first-half added time. Messis first goal was like so many he has scored in his stellar career. He took Alexis Sanchezs pass, went by Juanfran Torres with a burst of speed to place the ball on his left foot before unleashing a low shot just inside the left upright. The Argentina forward finished the scoring in the 88th when he stole Diego Godins attempt at a back-heeled pass inside his own area and knocked it in for his 14th double of the season. He has netted two goals in each of his past eight starts. Messi passed German great Gerd Muellers 40-year-old milestone of 85 goals in one year last weekend. Elsewhere, Levante rose to fifth place after winning 1-0 at Real Zaragoza, while Rayo Vallecano beat Valencia 1-0 for its first ever victory at Mestalla stadium after 13 winless visits. Madrid appeared set to record its seventh straight home win in the league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored to cancel out Sergio Garcias opener and set up Fabio Coentrao to put Madrid up after halftime. But Espanyol substitute Juan Albin scored from a poorly defended corner for a share of the points two minutes from time. Madrid has already dropped 15 points, one more than it let slip in all of last season. The blow to Madrids dwindling title defence hopes came just four days after it lost at Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey. After the loss to Celta, Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was scathing of his players attitude. He was no less so Sunday. "Cristiano had a good game, his teammates did not," said Mourinho. "The league is practically impossible. (13 points) are too many at this stage of the season. I have never been in a situation like this, dropping so many points and with a team so far from its objectives." Relegation-threatened Espanyol remained unbeaten in three games under new coach Javier Aguirre and managed to end a run of seven straight losses to Madrid in which it had been outscored 21-0. Espanyol stunned the Santiago Bernabeu crowd in the 31st when Garcia struck on the break from an incisive pass by Joan Verdu. Ronaldo equalized in first-half injury time when he used the sole of his right boot to reach beyond his marker and volley Sami Khediras cross beyond goalkeeper Kiko Casilla. Ronaldo and Coentrao then put Madrid in front in the 48th when Ronaldo found his sprinting fellow Portugal international with a well-placed pass inside the box that he rolled into the net. But Madrids effort sputtered out and for the first time Espanyol took control of the ball. And the payoff came when Madrid allowed Hector Moreno to get two touches on a corner before slipping the ball for the unmarked Albin to fire home. "The point makes me happy for my boys," said Aguirre. "Nobody would have batted an eye if Madrid had beaten us by four or five goals." wholesale nfl jerseys.J. -- Jason Smith and Wayne Hunter swapped places, eager to revive their NFL careers with a change of scenery. cheap jerseys. Ortiz spent the 2012 season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre of the International League (AAA) in the New York Yankees organization. The 39-year-old right-hander posted a 13-6 record with a 3.45 ERA in 27 starts. http://www.chinaauthenticjerseys.us/. The injury means the 27-year-old winger becomes the only player on the team roster who is not officially locked out by the NHL. Under the lockout rules, Michalek is allowed to go the rink and get treatment for his injury. cheap jerseys from china. Their had been various reports that the two sides were working on a deal for the last several days. Blatche was released by the Washington Wizards in July during the amnesty process. wholesale jerseys. Tempers flared during the Impacts 4-2 victory on Saturday night, which featured Patrice Berniers goal on a penalty after Felipe Martins went down a little easily from a shove in the area. BOSTON -- Bostons lead in the AL wild-card race was down to 1 1/2 games after losing the opener of a doubleheader, and John Lackey wasnt helping things when he gave up three runs in the first inning of the nightcap. Thats when the Red Sox started hitting, and they didnt stop until they were cruising to an 18-9 victory over the Baltimore Orioles that gave them a split of the day-night doubleheader and stopped, for now, their slide in the AL wild-card race. "Weve been playing from a deficit a lot," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, whose team has fallen behind by three or more runs in 11 of their last 16 games. "Thats a hard way to play." The Orioles won the opener 6-5 to send Boston to its 12th loss in 15 tries. But Jed Lowrie hit a three-run homer in the first inning to erase an early deficit in the late game and give the Red Sox the lead for good, then Jacoby Ellsbury hit an inside-the-park homer to spark a seven-run seventh inning. The next five batters reached base before Conor Jackson hit a grand slam as Boston matched its season high in runs and hits (20). The Red Sox lead Tampa Bay by two games in the wild-card standings. The Rays were idle; they open a four-game series against the first-place New York Yankees on Tuesday. "We need to have fun," Jackson said. "Weve been stressing out. We just need to go out and play baseball like when we were 12 years old and have fun." Lackey fell behind 3-0, but the Red Sox took a 4-3 lead after one, made it 6-3 in the second and 11-5 after three innings. Then Lackey gave up another run in the fourth and two more in the fifth before Scott Atchison (1-0) came on for a one-pitch double play to end the inning. "It just got to the point where its hard to leave him in," Francona said. "We needed to stop the runs, now." In all, Atchison pitched to three batters and got two double plays, while also dropping a throw covering first for one of Bostons three errors. Orioles starter Brian Matusz (1-8) got just five outs, allowing six runs and six hits. Boston slugger Adrian Gonzalez reached base seven straight times in the doubleheader, Marco Scutaro had six hits and Dustin Pedroia drove in five runs on the day. But Lackey couldnt get through the fifth; he has allowed 25 earned runs in 24 2-3 innings in his last five starts, with three losses and two no-decisions. "Thats the best I felt warming up in the bullpen all year. I dont know what ... happened," Lackey said. "Im glad we won, for sure, obviously. Buut Im pretty frustrated.dddddddddddd I dont know what to tell you." The Red Sox essentially clinched it with seven runs in the seventh, the first when Ellsbury hit a long fly ball that bounced off the railing of the Red Sox bullpen wall in right-centre and caromed toward left field. Two fielders gave chase, but Ellsbury circled the bases and scored standing up. "It was tiring," said Ellsbury, who has a career-high 28 homers but had never hit one inside the park before. "I would have rather it went over the wall. But it was exciting." Jeremy Guthrie (9-17) pitched the last-place Orioles to the win in the day game. Robert Andino and Nolan Reimold hit back-to-back homers into the Green Monster seats off Kyle Weiland (0-3) as the Orioles, who had been outscored 40-20 at Fenway Park this year, won in Boston for the first time in six games. The Red Sox winnowed a four-run deficit to 6-4 in the fifth inning and appeared to score another, but David Ortizs liner down the right-field line was ruled foul by first-base umpire Mike Estabrook. Replays showed it caromed off the lower part of a short wall in fair territory near the Pesky Pole. "Thats the breaks of the game," Pedroia said. "Weve played a hundred-something games. Were not going to say the seasons over because an umpire missed a call." Boston, which lost three of four games against Tampa Bay last weekend, led the Rays by nine on Sept 3. The Red Sox have dropped 15 of 20 since they held a 1 1/2-game edge over New York atop the AL East on Aug. 30. The Red Sox have six games remaining against Baltimore and three in New York against the Yankees. The Rays have 10 to play, seven of them against the Yankees. "I know Tampa Bays excited about it," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "When it was 11-9, I thought we had a chance. You knew they were going to respond there. We just couldnt stem the tide in the bullpen." NOTES: Showalter said he wasnt ready to put INF Mark Reynolds back in the lineup after he missed Sundays game. Reynolds was hit in the helmet by a pitch on Saturday. ... Francona said OF J.D. Drew may see a doctor soon to check the "stability" of a broken middle finger. Drew has been sidelined since July 20 with a left shoulder injury and broke his finger on a rehab assignment. ... The first game was a makeup of a May 17 rainout. ... Gonzalez went 0 for 12 in the Tampa Bay series and made outs in his first two at-bats Monday before reaching on a double, four singles and two walks. cheap jerseys from china ' ' '