Sitting in the rare position of being first in the AL East with the calendar approaching June, the Blue Jays are set to kick off a ten game homestand against fellow division leader, the Oakland Athletics.
[b]Preston Brown Bengals Jersey[/b] . Toronto has won three straight and six of its last seven games overall to take a one-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East. The Blue Jays concluded an impressive three-game sweep over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park with Thursdays 7-2 victory. Mark Buehrle tossed seven innings of two-run ball for his major league-best eighth win of the season. Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista went back to back in the first inning off Red Sox starter Jon Lester. Toronto tacked on five more runs in the second and went on to out-hit Boston, 14-7. Right-hander Liam Hendriks was promoted from Triple-A to make his Blue Jays debut. Hendriks, who was claimed off waivers from the Orioles during spring training, went 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA in nine games at Buffalo. Hell look to the offense for some run support. Toronto leads the majors with 67 home runs to go along with an AL-best 168 extra-base hits. First baseman Edwin Encarnacion has been one of the main catalysts with 11 homers already this month. "You can see how weve been making adjustments at the plate," Encarnacion said. "Weve been looking for our pitch, weve been trying to be aggressive and trying to do our best to win games." For Oakland, Scott Kazmir takes the mound after being ejected by home-plate umpire Jerry Layne in the second inning of his last outing against Cleveland for arguing balls and strikes. The veteran left-hander walked three and struck out one in 1 1/3 innings. Opposing hitters are batting just .215 off Kazmir this season, and that includes a .133 average with runners in scoring position. Manager Bob Melvin decided to keep Kazmir on his normal routine between outings since he did throw 41 pitches before getting tosses. "Were still trying to be careful and get him through the whole year," Melvin said. Over the teams last 13 games, As pitchers have posted a combined 1.58 ERA while holding opposing hitters to a .185 batting average. Oakland has gotten hot with wins in 11 of its last 13 games to claim the best record in the majors. The team began Friday with a 3 1/2-game lead over the Angels in the American League West. The As, who are wrapping up a nine-game road trip with this weekends series, own a major league-best 18-7 road record this season. However, they are coming off Thursdays 5-2 loss at Tampa Bay in 11 innings. As starter Sonny Gray went eight innings and allowed just one run, but the offense could not help him out and the bullpen eventually imploded. Reliever Dan Otero yielded three hits in the 11th, including a two-out RBI single to Desmond Jennings to tie the game at 2-2. Luke Gregerson came on and promptly served up a walk-off three-run homer to Sean Rodriguez. Oakland has won eight of the last 11 meetings in Toronto.
[b]Jessie Bates III Bengals Jersey[/b] . - Tom Brady was upset that his New England Patriots hardly looked like a division champion in the first half.
[b]Andrew Billings Bengals Jersey[/b] . Peko, a fourth-round pick in 2006, started all 16 games and a playoff loss to San Diego last season. He was second on the line with 72 tackles and had a career-high three sacks.BARCELONA, Spain -- Second-seeded David Ferrer was ousted from the Barcelona Open by a Russian opponent for the second straight year and defending champion Rafael Nadal laboured to victory on Wednesday. Ferrer was unable to find his rhythm in losing 6-4, 6-2 to Teymuraz Gabashvili in his opening match while Nadal struggled past fellow Spanish player Albert Ramos 7-6 (2), 6-4. Nadal eventually overcame his 103rd-ranked opponent to reach the third round, rebounding from a surprise loss to Ferrer in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals. "After losing in the Monte Carlo I wanted to raise my game here," Nadal said. "It just took a while." Eight-time winner Nadal was made to work against the stubborn Ramos, who broke back in the 11th game to force the first-set tiebreaker. Nadal eventually came out on the winning end of a long rally of baseline shots for a 4-2 lead as he went on to take the set. Nadal was steadier after that but still could not shake Ramos. He sealed it after a quick talk with the tournament doctor by breaking his fellow left-hander to win the match. "I had to accept that I was going to be made to work today, that I was not playing at my best level," Nadal said. "But I got through it." Nadal will face Ivan Dodig next after the Croatian dismissed Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-4. Ferrer, meanwhile, will not be facing Nadal in the final for a fifth time after the 55th-ranked Gabashvili dominated Ferrer on his favoured clay to reach the last 16.
[b]Malik Jefferson Bengals Jersey[/b]. Gabashvili kept Ferrer running to the corners, and the fifth-ranked Spaniard was surprisingly unable to keep up with shots he normally returns, looking fatigued at times. Ferrer netted to give his opponent a triple set-point opportunity to close out the first frame, which Gabashvili did by smashing a crosscourt forehand Ferrer couldnt handle. Gabashvili maintained his play from the start of the second set to race to 3-0 when Ferrer skied his return high and into the crowd. Ferrer, who lost at this same stage last season to Dmitry Tursunov, slapped a crosscourt forehand long for Gabashvili to clinch it. "Three weeks ago I lost to Ferrer in Miami but I dominated that first set. Today, I wanted to maintain my energy and keep it going, which I did for (90) minutes, but any more and it might have been tougher to win," Gabashvili said after winning for the first time on the third try against Ferrer. Ferrer wasnt the only significant player to exit early as third-seeded Fabio Fognini retired to injury while losing 6-0, 4-0 to Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. Eighth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine was also ousted by Spanish player Albert Montanes 7-6 (5), 6-3. Other second-round winners included sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro and fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes.
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