01-14-2020, 08:34 AM
TORONTO -- With their lead atop the American League East on shaky ground after a disappointing road trip, the Toronto Blue Jays wanted to set the tone early for a nine-game homestand with a strong effort against New York on Monday night. Air Force 1 France . Adam Lind provided the power and rookie starter Marcus Stroman had the best start of his young career as the Blue Jays dumped the Yankees 8-3 at Rogers Centre. Stroman, making his fifth start for Toronto, allowed one earned run and three hits over a career-high eight innings. "Shoot, it was a fantastic job," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "We needed that. We needed shutdown innings early on to give us a chance to get on the board. Pretty impressive." Toronto (43-35) opened the scoring with a single run in the first inning and Lind belted a three-run shot off New York starter Chase Whitley in the Blue Jays six-run second. That was more than enough offence for Stroman (4-2), who tied a career high with seven strikeouts. "I felt my change-up was a big pitch today," he said. "Even though I didnt use it much, when I did use it, it was pretty crucial. I was just down in the zone today. Me and (catcher Dioner Navarro) got on a pretty good roll." Stromans lone blemish was a solo shot by Mark Teixeira, who hit his 13th homer of the season in the fourth inning to put New York (39-36) on the board. The Yankees fell into third place with the loss, 2 1/2 games behind Toronto. The Baltimore Orioles remained in second place, 1 1/2 games back, after a 6-4 win over the Chicago White Sox. Torontos offensive outburst was most welcome for a team that was coming off a disappointing 3-7 road trip and had been held to three runs or less in 11 of its last 16 games. The Blue Jays also had to make lineup adjustments with Jose Bautista out for at least a few days with a left hamstring strain and Brett Lawrie on the disabled list with a broken finger. Lind, who has been nursing a sore foot of late, helped fill the void by driving in four runs and scoring twice in the opener of the three-game set. "Lind is a big part of this offence," Gibbons said. "He kills right-handers." Edwin Encarnacion had three hits and Melky Cabrera had two hits and scored twice as Toronto outhit New York 13-6. Anthony Gose chipped in with a pair of hits and made an excellent running catch against the wall in right field in the sixth inning. "The defence behind me was unbelievable," Stroman said. "Eddie made two great plays, Gose with an unbelievable play. Stuff like that kind of picks you up and gives you much more confidence going into the next couple innings." Whitley (3-1), meanwhile, allowed eight earned runs, 11 hits and three walks while striking out a pair. "It seemed like when he made a mistake, they hit it hard and when he made a good pitch, they seemed to find a hole with it," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "It was the combination of that. It was a tough start for him." Toronto reliever Chad Jenkins relieved Stroman and gave up two runs over two-thirds of an inning. With two runners in scoring position, Aaron Loup got Brian Roberts to fly out to end the game. Notes: Announced attendance was 31,554 and the game took two hours 45 minutes to play. ... Whitleys earned-run average rose to 4.07 from 2.56 while Stromans fell to 4.25 from 5.14. ... Steve Tolleson replaced Francisco at third base in the seventh inning. ... Both Bautista and Lawrie were hurt Sunday in Cincinnati. Bautista said theres a chance he could play at some point in this series but Lawrie, from Langley, B.C., will likely be out for three to six weeks. ... Bautista has been named captain of the American League Home Run Derby team for the July 14 event during all-star week at Minnesotas Target Field. Colorados Troy Tulowitzki will captain the National League side. ... Toronto recalled Gose and fellow outfielder Kevin Pillar from triple-A Buffalo on Monday and optioned catcher Erik Kratz to the Bisons. ... Left-hander Mark Buehrle (10-4, 2.32) is scheduled to start Tuesday against New York right-hander David Phelps (3-4, 4.13). ... Following the series against the Yankees, the Blue Jays will continue their nine-game homestand with a four-game series against the White Sox. Toronto will get an off-day Monday before a two-game mini-series against the Milwaukee Brewers. ... Cabrera has had at least one hit in his last 20 games against the Yankees. He has reached base safely in all 22 career games against his former club. ... Yangervis Solarte ended an 0-for-28 skid with an RBI single in the ninth. Site Nike Air Force 1 Pas Cher . Its the second time this season that Milan has been sanctioned by the league judge, after fans also subjected Napoli supporters to discriminatory chants. The ban will come into effect for Milans next match, against Udinese on Oct. Nike Air Force 1 07 Femme Pas Cher . The Cavs announced the move Saturday, one day after LeBron James said hes returning to Cleveland. A 12-year veteran, Haywood has played in 794 NBA games, averaging 6. http://www.siteairforce1pascher.fr/air-f...oldes.html .com) - Robert Upshaw made a putback jumper to put 17th-ranked Washington ahead with 1:27 remaining in the game and the Huskies held on to beat Eastern Washington 81-77 on Sunday.CINCINNATI BENGALS Reason for Pessimism: This may be the best team that Marvin Lewis has had in his time as head coach with the Bengals, but is he really that good a coach? His career mark of 79-80-1 gets most coaches fired, but the Bengals keep moving on. At quarterback, all agree that Andy Dalton has been a wonderful surprise, but to truly progress he has to play his best in the playoffs. The two losses in the wildcard rounds keep the evaluation on Dalton open -- just like it did for Peyton Manning many years ago and Matt Ryan until last year. Dalton needs that playoff win ASAP. And who will compliment A.J. Green? All teams that have success find two good receivers in order to isolate the second receiver when the first draws double coverage. Someone has to emerge opposite Green. Reason for Optimism: The Bengals may have the best defensive line in the NFL. Carlos Dunlap, Domata Peko, Geno Atkins and Michael Johnson are not big names to the casual follower, but out of the franchise record 51 sacks the Bengals posted in 2012, 42 were from the defensive line. If you can rush four and drop seven, thats great news for any defensive co-ordinator. It limits the 1-on-1 opportunities for all the excellent receivers on all the other teams. And as coordinators go, Bengals DC Mike Zimmer is up there as one of the best. He is future head coach material (Dallas?) Logic says Dalton should continue to improve, and so should the Bengals. They only lost one of their last eight games of the regular season in 2012, and that was a one-point loss to Dallas, so Cincinnati has shown the ability to play great football late in the season. They just have to take care of January and early February. Reality: When Baltimores window may be closing, the Bengals is wide open. They only lost three free agents and only Manny Lawson (Bills) was a full-time player. With an offence that should catch up to the defence, I think the Bengals can win the AFC North. Prediction: First place in the AFC North. PITTSBURGH STEELERS Reason for Pessimism: The Pittsburgh Steelers were an 8-8 football team last year that missed the playoffs. And on defence, they are an old football team. And without Mike Wallace (Miami) they lost maybe the best “burner" in football. How well do Todd Haley and Ben Roethlisberger continue to co-exist? Weve heard, "just fine thank-you" and then "not so good." I am not sure where the truth is on that one – we will see. Reason for Optimism: This is a consistent franchise. The Steelers had a down year in 2009 with just nine wins, but that was following a Super Bowl victory over Arizona. Then they won 12 games in 2010 and the year after that there were 12 more. Pittsburgh will bounce back from last years disappointment to win at least 10 games. Last year the Steelers finished first in total defence again. As long as Dick Lebeau is with the organization, that side of the football will be very good to great. I also thought Pittsburgh drafted well. Top pick Jarvis Jones (linebacker from Georgia) and second pick LeVeon Bell (running back, Michigan State), looked good before getting hurt in the pre-season. Both will end up being starters when healthy. Getting 16 starts out of Troy Polamalu will also make a difference and I sense this year he accomplishes that goal. The hardest thing to do in NFL football is to stay on top all the time, ever year. With a tough training camp, physical in design, I expect a bounce-back year. Reality: I cant see the Steelers missing the playoffs two years in a row. Roethlisberger is at that point of his career that he can still perform with athletic excellence but also with genuine experience. There is nothing he has not seen before and he can still buy time to make it happen on his own. There are two key dates for the Steelers -- September 16th is a Monday night game in Cincinnati, and December 15th when the Bengals play at Heinz field in Pittsburgh. If they win those… Prediction: 2nd in the AFC North. BALTIMORE RAVENS Reason for Pessimism: Frree agency is a wonderful thing for players, but a difficult and agonizing aspect of modern football for owners and managers. Air Force 1 07 Pas Cher. Nobody was hit harder by key retirements and free agency defections quite like Baltimore. Of the nine players lost, eight were starters, so the question is how the Ravens can recover in just six months. Yes, GM Ozzie Newsome has already made some excellent and well calculated moves, but are they enough? Joe Flacco is sitting fat and happy with his new contract and, based on his playoff performance, the Ravens really had no choice but to respond in a market-driven way. But the Ravens are a team that won four straight in November and lost four of five in December before winning four straight in January/February. Tough to figure out why or even how relevant that reality is coming into this season with so many new faces, but the hold-overs proved that they could play when the pressure was highest. As hard as it is to win a Super Bowl, it may be even harder to defend one. The sense of satisfaction lingers throughout the year and seems to take an edge of desperation away from a team. Not sure if the Ravens can repeat without leaders like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed keeping the fires stoked. Reason for Optimism: $120 million is ridiculous, but in the world of TV revenue and pro football, that is what the market demands for a quarterback that responded so well in the playoffs like Flacco did. Who will emerge at wide receiver to replace Anquan Bolden? And at free safety for Ed Reed? Middle linebacker for Ray Lewis? Well, history says Newsome will find a way to find the players. Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumerville will be a pass rush nightmare and Ray Rice will continue to do it all as a running back. If Baltimore can beat the Broncos in Denver in Week 1 and then beat Houston in Week 3, they have a chance to be on their way to something special again. Reality: Burnout and leadership. The Ravens have to battle against the first and find the second. I wonder if that is too much in one year. The divisional final was won in Denver on one play, the Super Bowl on a four-play goal-line stand. Not this year. Newsome needs more time. Prediction: 3rd in the AFC North . CLEVELAND BROWNS Reason for Pessimism: Since 1999 and their "re-entry" to the NFL, the Browns have had seven head coaches and 10 offensive co-ordinators. So why not do it again? Enter Rod Chudzinski as another new head coach, which means a new playbook to learn on offence, defence and special teams. The Browns spent two years drafting talent to play a 4-3 defence and, you guessed it, will now go back to a 3-4. In free agency they lost their best returner and most explosive player in Josh Cribbs, plus their steadiest player in kicker Phil Dawson. Its no wonder that the Browns have averaged 4.5 wins in the last five seasons. They have never won more than six games in that span. Winning six this year would be a surprise. Reason for Optimism: The best move that Chudzinski made was hiring two good co-ordinators in Ray Horton (defence) and Norv Turner (offence). Turner is exceptional with quarterbacks. Troy Aikman and Philip Rivers had their best years with Norv Turner. If Turner wants QB Brandon Weeden to improve, RB Trent Richardson has to stay healthy -- that would take a lot of pressure off the quarterback. Weeden has a lot to prove with fellow 2012 draftees Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and even Ryan Tannehill appearing to be on their way. Weeden is not in their league – yet. Horton is young and respected due to how he improved Arizona on defence, and Cleveland has some talent for him to work with on that side of the ball. Reality: Everything old is new again, and having a relative unknown at quarterback is too much. The bottom line with the Browns is that they have some good players, just not enough of them. At least this year the Browns have a sense of direction, but they are still in a tough division, and have the NFC North on the schedule. Prediction: 4th in the AFC North. ' ' '