The Toronto Blue Jays have just passed the quarter mark in the season, at the .
Detroit Tigers Alex
Avila Jersey .500 mark at 21-21. Thats not overwhelming, but its still
four games better than they were a year ago when they were sitting at 17-25
through May 17. More importantly, now, they are tied with the Boston Red Sox for
third in the American League East, just a game-and-a half back of the
first-place Baltimore Orioles. Not only that, they have the top-ranked hitting
team in the American League with a .255 average , 56 homers and a
league-leading 207 runs scored and the top OPS of .762. Theyve improved by leaps
and bounds in the fielding department, as well. Theyve committed only 20 errors
in 42 games, second fewest to only Baltimores 19 in the American League. There
are still a few red flags, though. The Blue Jays team ERA is 4.56, ranked 11th
in the American League and worst in their own division. With the problems at the
back end of the rotation - Brandon Morrow (DL now), J.A Happ ( struggling until
Thursday night) and Dustin McGowan (moved to the bullpen on Thursday) - the Jays
have still managed 19 quality starts in 42 games. Thats tied with the Yankees
for second in their division behind Bostons 27. Tampa Bay has 14 quality starts,
largely because three of their starting pitchers have been injured, and
Baltimore is somehow leading the division with only 13 quality starts. Another
thing that should be of concern is who the Jays have been beating. They are a
combined 10-3 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians and Houston
Astros, teams that have a combined record of 50-70. The Jays are 11-18 against
all the rest. Remember, too, over their final 120 games, exactly half are
against their own division. Then you have seven against the AL West-leading
Oakland Athletics, six against the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers and 13
Interleague games including four with the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers,
three with the St. Louis Cardinals, three with the Cincinnati Reds and a bit of
a respite in September with three at home against the Cubs. The two biggest
question marks are how they sort out those four and five slots in their rotation
and whether they can start playing better against the teams in their own
division with regularity the rest of the way. Right now they are only 7-9
against the East and 16-19 against the entire American League with the season
nearly seven weeks old. - You may have missed it since it was a west coast game,
but the Miami Marlins called up 24-year-old right hander Anthony DeSclafani the
other night after the injury to their ace Jose Fernandez and gave him his first
Major League start against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. He was almost considered
a throw-in in the massive deal with the Blue Jays two years ago, that brought
Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes and others to the Jays. DeSclafani didnt disappoint in
his debut. He pitched six solid innings, striking out seven in a 13-3 blowout of
the Dodgers. He not only got his first Major League win, but he stroked a
two-run single for his first Major League hit. The funny thing about the hit is,
its one more than the entire Marlins pitching staff had through that night. The
Marlins pitchers were a collective 0 for 64. The one mild surprise may be that
DeSclafani made it to the Majors before his minor=league teammate lefty
Justin Nicolino, who also came over in that trade with the Blue Jays. - Joel
Sherman of the New York Post mentioned the other day that the Mets should deal
from strength and package a couple of their young arms for a much needed bat and
suggested they go after the Blue Jays Jose Bautista or Chicago White Sox
shortstop Alexei Ramirez. The Mets called up two of those dynamite young arms
this week in Rafael Montero and Jake deGrom, who went a combined 13 innings and
gave up only four runs total. Still, the Mets lost both games at Citi Field, 3-0
Wednesday and 1-0 Thursday. The Mets, though they are 19-21, are still just two
games out of a wild card spot in the National League. The pressure is on them to
finally make it back to the post-season. They should be an interesting team to
watch as the trade season approaches in late June and then on into July. - Bad
break for former Blue Jays catching prospect Travis DArnaud, who went over to
the Mets as part of the R.A. Dickey deal. He was accidently struck on the head
by the follow-through swing by the bat of Alfonso Soriano of the Yankees on
Tuesday night. He experienced headaches afterwards and then was put on the
seven-day concussion disabled list. - Jose Abreu, the White Sox Cuban slugge,r
is off to an incredible start in the Majors. He has 15 homers in his first 42
games. Hes only the fourth player in Major League history to accomplish that
feat joining Wally Berger, Kevin Maas and Wally Joyner. Of the latter three,
Joyner had the best career, but was always overshadowed by the steroid-sluggers
of the day including Jose Canseco. - I was wondering the other day if it would
be possible for the Yankees Masahiro Tanaka to win the Cy Young Award, the
Rookie of the Year and the MVP Award all in the same season. He and Abreu are
the top two first-year players so far. Hes already a front runner for the Cy
Young and, if he leads the Yankees to a playoff berth, he would have to be
considered for the Most Valuable Player as well. - If you think the Blue Jays
starting pitching is a question mark, how about the Texas Rangers? Over the past
16 games, the Rangers have had one start of more than six innings by a pitcher
other than Yu Darvish. Darvish, of course, is the man the Blue Jays will be
facing Friday night to kick off a three-game set at Arlington against
Prince Fielder and the Rangers. - The Dodgers are off to much of the same kind
of start they were a year ago before the arrival of Yasiel Puig. They are 22-20
and trail the first-place San Francisco Giants by five full games in NL West.
Fielding has been a major problem. Theyve made 36 errors in 42 games and have
given up 24 unearned runs, tied with Cleveland for the second most in the
Majors.
Willie
Horton Jersey . Samir Nasris 88th-minute equalizer at Etihad Stadium will
be of little consolation to City, which is now six points behind league leader
Liverpool and four points behind second-place Chelsea. Third-place City has a
game in hand but the surprise result against Sunderland, coupled with Sundays
3-2 loss at Liverpool, may be a setback too far in its bid for a second
championship in three seasons.
Al Kaline Jersey . The roster changes have been constant and continuous since late last year, but
even with their 46-man roster set for the start of the season, the banged-up
Bombers will be kicking off Week 1 with a handful of fresh faces and back-ups in
the starting lineup.
http://www.baseballtigersgear.com/Francisco-Rodriguez-Jersey/ . Costa Rica followed up its wins over Uruguay and Italy by holding England to a
dour 0-0 draw on Tuesday, enough to finish first in Group D.(SportsNetwork.com)
- The Chicago Blackhawks appeared to have gotten their game on track with a big
victory on Tuesday night. The Pittsburgh Penguins would like to do the same
thing on Wednesday evening when they host the Blackhawks aiming to snap a
three-game slide. The Blackhawks had lost three of four going into an encounter
with the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday that wrapped a four-game homestand. Chicago
got goals from five different skaters in a 6-1 win, with Andrew Shaw posting a
pair of tallies. Shaw had just one goal in his previous 22 games and now has
eight this season after netting 20 goals in 2013-14. Patrick Kane scored his
200th career goal and had two assists, rookie Teuvo Teravainen posted his first
career multi-point game with a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Toews snapped an
11-game goal drought with his 14th of the season. Antti Raanta stopped 35 shots
in the win as Chicago sits third in the Central Division, two points ahead of
Winnipeg and two back of the St. Louis Blues. The approach to this game was much
more business-like, said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville. We got off to a
strong start and that helps, did a lot of good things today. The Blackhawks will
try to keep the momentum going tonight in the opener of a seven-game road trip
that takes the team out west following the All-Star break. Theyll visit the Los
Angeles Kings next Wednesday. Corey Crawford figures to start tonight for the
Hawks and is 2-1-0 lifetime against the Penguins with a 1.95 goals against
average and .929 save percentage. Though they sit second in the Metropolitan
Division, the Penguins have gone just 4-6-3 over thheir past 13 games and have
lost to a division rival each time over their current three-game slide.
Miguel Cabrera
Jersey. The first two of those setbacks came against the New York
Islanders and New York Rangers as the Pens now lead the Blueshirts by only one
point in the division and are four points back of the front-running Isles.
Pittsburgh failed to get on track last night, falling 3-2 to the Philadelphia
Flyers in overtime. The Penguins were short-handed twice in the extra period and
the Flyers finally cashed in when Claude Giroux snapped a rebound past Thomas
Greiss with 1:03 left in the frame. Chris Kunitz and Beau Bennett scored for the
Penguins, while Greiss allowed all three goals on 40 shots in the loss. Well we
want some momentum heading into the All-Star Break, said Pittsburgh head coach
Mike Johnston. So weve got to regroup, recover and get ready for a tough team in
Chicago tomorrow. Johnston will unlikely have the services of defenseman Kris
Letang, who took an illegal hit from the Flyers Zac Rinaldo in the first period
and did not return to the game. Rinaldo was given a five-minute major for
boarding and a game misconduct. Marc-Andre Fleury will start this contest for
the Penguins and is a solid 5-2-2 lifetime versus the Blackhawks with a 2.60 GAA
and .918 save percentage in nine games. The Pens and Blackhawks split two
meetings last season, with each team winning at home. Chicagos victory came
outdoors at Soldier Field, but the Penguins have won two straight and are 7-0-1
with two ties in their past 10 at home in this series. Chicago has not won in
regulation in Pittsburgh since Feb. 22, 1997.
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