CHICAGO - This road trip, the Blue Jays last of the three-city variety and the last against non-American League East opponents, hasnt gone according to plan. Originals Adidas NMD All Nere Uomo/Donna High Top Sneaker . Really, this road trip is an extension of the entire month of August, which hasnt gone according to plan. After Sundays 7-5 loss to the White Sox, a game in which Toronto dug a deep hole early only to claw back but fall short, resulted in another lost series to a Chicago team with no playoff aspirations. The Jays are 1-5 on the road trip, with two in Milwaukee to go, 4-11 this month and fell behind yet another team - the Yankees - as baseballs playoff push kicks into its final six weeks. Star slugger Jose Bautista, known for his pragmatism when assessing the current state of affairs, didnt deviate from the course. "Weve got to play the same way we would if we were in first place," said Bautista. "Weve just got to come out here and try to win every single game and just hope that the guys that are ahead of us lose enough games that we gain that ground. Thats pretty much all you can control is the way you play and then hope for everybody else to lose some games. That certainly can happen. It happened to us." Players wake up on Monday morning members of a third place team. The Yankees beat the Rays on Sunday, moving ahead of Toronto in the division. The Jays are seven and a half games behind AL East-leading Baltimore. New York also moved ahead of the Jays in the hunt for the second wild card spot. Toronto is four games back of the leader, Seattle, and with Detroit and the Yankees in between, the waters get increasingly muddied. The pitching staff (4.90 ERA in August) is showing signs of fraying. Drew Hutchison followed up a tough start in Seattle with a poor outing on Sunday. Hutchison gave the Jays seven innings but he allowed six, two-out runs in the first inning thanks to, among other things, two walks, a grand slam and a two-run home run. The offence chipped away but couldnt overcome the damage. Edwin Encarnacion hit his first home run since returning from the disabled list, a positive sign for a ballclub that thrives off the home run and suffers more than most teams without it. Month-by-month, here are the Jays home run totals: April: 31May: 47June: 28July: 25August: 7 "It wasnt like we didnt have any shots," said manager John Gibbons after Sundays game. "We had them on the ropes and at the ballpark on a day the ball was flying we couldnt elevate anything, other than Eddies ball. And we need that. We need that to win." So its off to Milwaukee where, like Chicago, the Jays will be spared the Brewers best starting pitcher. Mike Fiers and Jimmy Nelson will provide the mound opposition for the two-game series, under National League rules, which begins on Tuesday. Its the next chance for the Jays to right the ship. CECIL GAINING STRENGTH Looking at the numbers, breaking it down into different blocks of time, Brett Cecil has the perfect description of his second season working in the Blue Jays bullpen. "I feel like the whole season for me has been up and down," said Cecil. "I started off well, seven appearances and everything to show for it. Then I had a couple of bumps and I feel like since then its continued to be up and down." Working backward from the most recent chunk of outings, Cecils run hot and cold. From July 20 to August 16: 12 appearances, 11 of which were scoreless, posting a 2.70 ERA. Between June 11 and July 19, Cecil had nine outings in which he allowed four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings (6.75 ERA). For the approximately month-long span from May 11 to June 10, which coincided with the clubs hottest stretch of the year, Cecil appeared in 11 games, pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings. After 10 scoreless appearances to start the season, Cecils first hiccup came between April 24 and May 11 when he posted a 10.13 ERA over eight outings. Like left-handed relief counterpart Aaron Loup, whos already walked more than twice the number of hitters this season than he did in 2013, Cecils been bitten by the base on balls. Hes walked 21 batters in 39 2/3 innings this season, compared with 23 in 60 2/3 innings last year. The culprit isnt health. Cecil said he feels fine after battling elbow pain late in 2013. The problem is with his mechanics. Hes been falling off to the third base side too often as he completes his delivery. "With throwing so many curveballs, trying to figure out how to keep my fastball in the zone when I want to throw it," said Cecil. "It seems like Im way up in the zone or way down in the zone so Ive got to find that happy medium." Torontos 4.26 bullpen ERA is fifth-worst in baseball. It comes on the heels of a 2013 year in which the relief corps was the bright light in a down year, posting a 3.37 ERA (ninth-best) while pitching the third most innings (552 2/3). What role carryover fatigue has played in the decline is a matter of debate. "As far as Im concerned this has been another successful season to this point, out of the bullpen, and hopefully it only gets better," said Cecil. Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 Prezzo .com) - Luke Donald saw a 4-shot lead quickly evaporate on Saturday, but a birdie at the last helped him regain the lead after three rounds at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. Donna Chiaro Blu Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 Scarpe.Darling made 32 saves in his NHL debut, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook scored, and the Chicago Blackhawks snapped a two-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.Whether they end up winning or losing the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of Major League Baseballs model franchises. They have an outstanding farm system that keeps grinding out prospects year after year and the fan base is one of the most rabid and loyal in all of baseball. It wasnt always so, though. In the late 40s and early 50s, the team went through a financial crisis that almost resulted in the team moving out of town. Though successful on the field in the 40s (four World Series appearances and three victories), Cards owner Sam Breadon was determined to build his own ballpark. Since 1920, the Redbirds had been renting Sportsmans Park from St. Louiss other team, the Browns. Breadon had set aside $5 million to construct his own facility. However, there was a five year limit for him to get this done before he would be facing some severe tax ramifications. Unable to find the land for a new ballpark, he wound up selling the Cardinals to Fred Saigh and his partner Robert Hannegan. Things continued to deteriorate under this duo, though, and by 1949 and in poor health; Hannegan was forced to sell his share of the team back to Saigh. The Cardinals slide on field went on unabated and by 1953, Saigh had to put the club up for sale. There were no local buyers stepping forward to purchase the club, so Saigh listened to offers from Houston and Milwaukee interests. He ultimately struck a deal with a Milwaukee group for $4 million to buy the team. That wasnt the end of it, though. A group of owners got together and vetoed the Milwaukee deal, instead pressuring Saigh to sell the club to beer baron "Gussie" Busch of Anheuser-Busch fame who vowed to keep the team in St. Louis. Saighs take was $3.75 millionn - less than he would have made had the team gone to Milwaukee. Yeezy Boost 350 Oxford Tan Prezzo. The Busch owned Cardinals ended up buying Sportsmans Park from the cash strapped Browns and they ended up moving themselves to Baltimore in 1954. After winning the World Series in 1946, the Cards did not win again until 1964, when they defeated the Yankees. As for Fred Saigh, he wound up going to prison for five months of a15 months sentence for Federal income tax evasion. After he was released from prison, Saigh went back into private business and amassed a large block of Anheuser-Busch stock. In fact, he became the second-largest stock holder in the company next to the Busch family itself. By the time he passed away at age 94, Fred Saigh was worth $500 million. He left $70 million of that to charity, establishing the Fred Saigh Foundation. Though Fred Saigh may have been the Cardinals worst owner, in a way he helped ensure the Cardinals would win the battle for the fans affections with the Browns and helped make St. Louis a one team town by selling the team even if somewhat reluctantly to Gussie Busch. A few weeks ago, I wrote about next year being the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field. I wondered if anyone was still alive from the last time the Cubs appeared in the World Series. It turns out there is one player left. That mans name is Lenny Merullo. He is 96 years old and played in three of the games of 45 Series. Lenny Merullo went on to become head scout with the Cubs from 1950 to 1972 and one of his grandsons Matt played for six years in the Majors, mainly with the White Sox. Heres hoping hes still around for the Cubs big celebration next year and is well enough to make an appearance at Wrigley. 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