The Toronto Blue Jays start their second-half quest to regain ground in the American League East as they open a three game series with the Texas Rangers tonight at Rogers Centre. Chad Greenway Jersey . Toronto went into the break two games above .500 at 49-47. It could have been so much better, though, as the Blue Jays were 14 games above .500 on June 6 and held a six-game advantage atop the American League East. But thanks to losses in 23 of 34 games Toronto finds itself four games back of Baltimore in the American League East. The Blue Jays also limped into the break, dropping seven of their last nine games. "Were in second place," outfielder Jose Bautista said. "Were obviously not playing the baseball that we started off playing and that were capable of playing. Weve had a lot of injuries to deal with. "Bottom line is, weve got to figure out how to win some of these games that weve been losing, especially close ones. Hopefully we can manage to keep winning enough games to stay in one of the top two positions in our division, and when we get all our big bats back, kind of get back in the thick of things." Still, the Blue Jays have at least 49 wins at the break for the first time since 2006 On Friday, Toronto will hand the ball to righty R.A. Dickey, who has lost five of his last six starts. Dickey lost to Tampa Bay on Sunday, but pitched well, giving up just two runs in six innings, but still fell to 7-9 on the year to go along with a 3.82 ERA. Dickey, who started his career with Texas back in 2001, is 2-1 against his former team with a 2.91 ERA in six games (3 starts). Toronto took two of three from the Rangers earlier this season. No team needed the break more than Texas, which has lost eight straight and 22 of its last 25 games. The Rangers have also lost 11 of their last 12 on the road and now occupy last place in the American League West, 21 games back of first-place Oakland. "Commitment is doing what the game asks you to do and not looking for a reward for what youre doing," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Im in the process of getting this new bunch to understand what it means. Dont worry about stats or numbers. Its about the team. Some people need to check their attitude and check what commitment is." The Rangers havent dropped nine in a row since May 30-June 8, 2003. "It has been tough," Washington said. "Through it all, they have handled it very well. In reality, wed liked to have handled it better and get more wins. It didnt happen, but I didnt see any letdown." Getting the call for the Rangers on Friday will be All-Star Yu Darvish, who was one of the few bright spots on the team, going 8-5 with a 2.97 ERA. Darvish, though, is just 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA over his last five starts. "Just a little erratic. He usually finds himself on the course of the ballgame," Washington said. "There have been a couple of games there where hes been having trouble just trying to find the pitches he wanted to use as a combination." Darvish is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA in six career starts against Toronto. Anthony Barr Vikings Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Teddy Bridgewater Youth Jersey . Justin Upton homered and scored the tiebreaking run on Chris Johnsons eighth-inning single, and the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Tuesday night to end their seven-game skid.Fourteen months after narrowly avoiding the death penalty Penn State is back in the game. The NCAA announced it will gradually restore the scholarships taken from the football program starting next season. Still to come could be an announcement that the four-year post-season ban may be lifted as well. The cap on scholarships was set to begin in 2014 and has been drastically reduced. Instead of spending three years with 20 less scholarship players the school will now be allowed 75 in 2014, 80 in 2015 and the full allotment of 85 in 2016. The original sanctions were handed down 14 months ago by NCAA President Mark Emmert. In the heat of the moment, the NCAA over stepped their bounds. In trying to avoid the dreaded death penalty, Penn State signed off on a punishment that was misguided and out of the NCAAs jurisdiction all together. When Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse, there were many who deserved to be punished. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. Had the late Joe Paterno not passed away, he surely would have been part of the investigation along with other high ranking officials accused of covering up Sanduskys wrong-doings. The institution itself was fined $60 million and that has not been reduced. But the truth is, none of the guilty parties still roam State College. The admission by the NCAA that it took out its frustration on the wrong individuals is a welcome one. Coach Bill OBrien and his players have done nothing wrong and deserve the good news delivered Tuesday. Their star freshman QB Christian Hackenberg committed to play at the school despite the penalties and OBrien himself took the position knowing trying times were ahead. The coaches and players like Hackenberg deserve to avoid punishment in this mess, being that they had nothing to do with it. Nothing will ever change the terrible events that occurred on the Penn State campus, but allowing a new group of student-athletes and coaches their chance to put the pieces back together for a once storied football program was the right decision by the NCAA. The ruling allows 45 more students sitting in high school classrooms across America will eventually sign letters of intent to not only play football at Penn State, but to earn an education they may otherwise neveer have gotten. Cris Carter Youth Jersey. Its not often that pundits say the NCAA gets it right and this time they nailed it. Other notes from around the NCAA: - Teddy Bridgewater became the first FBS QB to throw for 4 TD in three games this season. Hes in line to be the top overall pick in next years NFL draft – but its a shame his Louisville Cardinals dont play a single tough game this season. Even if undefeated, they have little chance of making the national title game because of their cream puff schedule. - Florida State beat lowly Bethune-Cookman by 48 points. The impressive part was their defence won the game 8-6, they didnt need the extra 46 points from Jameis Winston and the Noles offence. -Ohio State backup QB Kenny Guiton got another start on Saturday against Florida A&M – he promptly broke the school record with 6 touchdown passes. He achieved the feat part way through the second quarter. The Buckeyes did not throw a single pass in the 2nd half of their 76-0 win. - UCLA showed a lot of class in their first home game since the passing of WR Nick Pasquale. The team ran their first play with only 10 men on the field, Pasquale was their 11th man. Bruins players came to the game wearing t-shirts with his number 36 on them, and fans were given towels with the number as well. The team also held a sign that said "thank you Nebraska". When hosting UCLA last weekend, the fans in Nebraska showed class last week releasing 200 blue and gold balloons as a tribute. - Clemson WR Martavis Bryant will be disciplined by Coach Dabo Swiney for a throat-slash gesture after scoring a TD. Last week it was TJ Yeldon forced to sit a quarter for mocking Johnny Manziel with his celebration. It seems like after every tackle, first down or TD these days we need to watch a show from some player craving the spotlight. What happened to handing the ball back to the official and getting back to the line of scrimmage? Good on the coaches for trying to put a stop to it all. - Anyone worried about how Wisconsin would run the ball without Monte Ball can be at ease – the Badgers have two players in the top 10 in rushing yards. Melvin Gordon leads the nation and James White is right there with him, theyve combined for over 1,000 yards in four games. wholesale nfl jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' '
