Allgemein » alley-oop from Harris to Brandan Wright with 5

CHICAGO – Less than three hours before first pitch, holding court with the media in his cramped office at U.S. Cellular Field, manager John Gibbons reclined in his office chair, picked up his lineup card and smirked. "Looks much better, dont it? Looks much better." Edwin Encarnacion was back after a 33-game absence with a strained right quadriceps. His return came two games and three days after Adam Linds, who missed 28 games with a fractured right foot. Now is the time. Now is the time for the Blue Jays to emerge from a funk which has seen the club go 3-9, scoring only 30 runs in the clubs first 12 games of August. The bodies you see are the bodies they will have the rest of the way, barring injury. There will be additions, if not a waiver claim or an unforeseen trade, come September 1 when the rosters expand to as many as 40 players. Ryan Goins, optioned out when Lind returned and Anthony Gose, whos Buffalo bound to make room for Encarnacion, will certainly be back. There will be others, too, including possibly left-handed pitching prospect Daniel Norris, whos climbed each step of the ladder and is throwing lights-out baseball with the Bisons. The key is Encarnacion. That he missed one day short of six weeks and still sits tied for seventh in baseballs home run race, with 26 and having only just been passed by the Cubs Anthony Rizzo and the Angels Mike Trout, is an indication of the season hes having. So are his career highs in OPS (.959) and OPS+ (162). The slugger hit a first-pitch grand slam in his first at-bat for Buffalo on Wednesday night. "I was surprised the way I was seeing the pitches, Ive been seeing the pitches good in the four games in the Minor Leagues," said Encarnacion. "I was thinking it was going to be different with my timing and I saw the ball good right now and my timing is good. Well see now, here." Encarnacion started Friday nights game as the designated hitter. He said hes ready to play first base. Im almost 100 per cent. Im just going to take a couple of more days to be 100 per cent but Im ready to play," he said. "I dont feel any pain right now, I played four games down there and I feel great, no problem." "Hell have to play a little bit of first base, but when hes running hell be guarded a little bit," said Gibbons. "Cant do anything stupid." The Jays entered Fridays play three games back of Seattle and Detroit for the American Leagues second wild card spot. Toronto must sweep the White Sox in order to avoid losing ground on any individual day this weekend because the Mariners are visiting the Tigers. "Weve got a chance," said Lind. "Were definitely good enough to be in the playoffs, but that doesnt mean anything, youve got to go out and win games." Lind, who along with Casey Janssen has been a Blue Jay since 2006, was asked why he thought this team could give him his first crack at playoff ball. "We were in first place for a couple of months," said Lind. "Some things fell apart but thats going to happen over the course of a season this long but were solid everywhere. Good staff, good bullpen, good lineup. We dont really have a great piece to anything but were solid across the board. Usually when that happens youre good enough to make the playoffs." The decision to send out Gose is three-fold: first, hes gone to Buffalo on option, which means he can be recalled in 10 days. Hes an outfielder and after Ryan Goins was sent out, the Jays had Gose and Reimold and only one backup infielder. Also, if one considered struggling Juan Francisco a candidate to be sent out, hed first have to clear irrevocable waivers. By keeping him on the 40-man roster, the Jays assure a full allotment of inventory come September 1. Gibbons acknowledged the threat of Franciscos power coming off the bench is worth it to keep him in the fold. "I will say the last couple weeks hes had his struggles," said Gibbons. "But hes also thrown some decent at-bats together. We need him to get going, too, theres no question about that. (With EE & Lind coming back) we can slide him down a little bit and hope he catches a few of em." If the Blue Jays are to be playing meaningful games in a month, they must salvage this road trip in its final two legs, Chicago and Milwaukee. As far as the lineup goes, what you see is what you get from here on out. Youre about to find out if its good enough. Cheap Air Jordan 11 Free Shipping . LOUIS -- Known for his game-managing and defensive skills, Yadier Molina made another statement with his bat. Wholesale Air Jordan 11 Online .com) - The Los Angeles Kings peppered Ryan Miller with shot after shot. http://www.cheapairjordan11.us/ . Lynn was tied for 16th entering the fourth round, six shots behind leader Paul Waring. He started with two birdies and added three more on his last five holes at the Oceanico Victoria course for an 18-under total of 266. Cheap Nike Air Jordan 11 . Tortorella told The Vancouver Province hell be cheering for Team Sweden to win gold when they take on the defending Olympic champions on Sunday morning. "I hope Sweden wins, cause I dont think Hammer (Dan Hamhuis) is going to play, judging by whats happened. Air Jordan 11 From China . The Red Sox maintained a share of the AL wild-card lead Tuesday night, using four home runs to beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-7 and set up a dramatic conclusion to the regular season. The skidding Red Sox were 6-19 this month before rebounding to edge the last-place Orioles.BOSTON -- Putting together a five-game winning streak and getting 10 games above .500 were once common achievements for the Dallas Mavericks. Now, both are season highs as Dallas slowly works its way back into playoff contention in the Western Conference. Dirk Nowitzki scored 20 points, Shawn Marion finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and the Mavericks beat the Boston Celtics 102-91 Sunday night to extend their winning streak to five straight. "There are encouraging signs, but theres no way we can exhale or start feeling good," coach Rick Carlisle said. Jose Calderon added 18 points and Monta Ellis played through a sore hamstring and scored 11 for Dallas, which won for the sixth time in seven games and pulled 10 games above .500 for the first time this season at 31-21. "Were looking to move up," Nowitzki said. "If you look at the standings, (places) five through eight is only separated by a couple of games. Wed love to keep pushing." Vince Carter scored 14, Devin Harris had 12 points and Samuel Dalembert grabbed 11 rebounds for Dallas. The Mavericks led by six at halftime and pulled away in the third quarter by outscoring the Celtics 28-18. "The third quarter and the start of the fourth killed us and took us out of the game," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. Rajon Rondo had 15 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for Boston, which had won three straight games. Jeff Green scored 18 and Jared Sullinger had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics. Boston managed to stay close through the first half despite shooting 27 per cent, then Dallas took command early in the third quarter and pulled ahead by as many as 24 points before the Celtics rallied when it was too late. "We still kept it close. That was the beauty of it," Sullinger said. "We played hard, but they just got awway and the deficit was so big we couldnt dig ourselves out of that hole.dddddddddddd." The Mavericks opened the second half on a 16-5 run, holding the Celtics to two field goals through the first 6:29 of the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Green got Boston within 53-43, but Calderon answered from beyond the arc and Marion and Dalembert followed with layups to extend the Mavericks lead to 60-43. "In the third quarter, we were doing the same kind of defence, but now we were sharing the ball and making open shots and thats what the difference was," Calderon said. Bostons only scoring run in the period was a 4-0 spurt late on layups by Kris Humphries and Kelly Olynyk, which Dallas negated in the last minute on two foul shots by Harris and an alley-oop from Harris to Brandan Wright with 5 seconds remaining to give the Mavericks a 72-56 lead entering the fourth. Wright opened the fourth with another alley-oop from Carter, who added a layup for Dallas eighth point in a row and the Mavericks lead was up to 76-56. The Celtics put together a late run to make it close down the stretch before running out of time. Rondo and Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Boston within 96-84 with 2:25 remaining. Johnson added another 3-pointer with 1:18 to get the Celtics within 98-89, but Calderon hit a layup to put the Mavericks back up by double-digits. NOTES: Olynyk finished with 14 points and Humphries scored 10 for Boston. ... Marion got his seventh double-double of the season. ... The Mavericks had one other four-game winning streak this season, but had reached five beating Utah on Friday and Boston on Sunday. ... Rondo was the only Boston starter to make more than two field goals in the first half with four. ... Nowitzki scored 15 in the first half. ... The Celtics shot 27 per cent (13 for 48) in the first half and opened the third quarter 2 for 10. ' ' '