Interleague play has been a boon for Major League Baseball.
[b]Lance McCullers Jersey[/b] . For the Blue Jays, not so much. This weekend, battling to get back over the .500 mark, John Gibbons and company kick off a stretch of seven straight games against the National League. They start with three at Pittsburgh against the struggling Pirates and then follow up that series with two at Philadelphia before returning home the next night to kick off a two-game set at Rogers Centre with the Phillies. After salvaging the final game of their three-game set at Kansas City on Thursday night with a 7-3 victory, the Jays sit at 13-15 but thanks largely to the injuries and flaws of the other teams in the AL East, they are still just two-and-a-half games back of the first place Yankees. Still, if the Blue Jays are going to keep it that close, theyve got to start beating the National League clubs with more regularity. Since interleague play came into being in 1997, the Blue Jays have compiled a record of 143-160. The first 16 years, the games were compressed into a small portion of the schedule when school was out in June and early July for the most part. Last season, with Houston moving to the American League, there were 15 teams in each league so there pretty well had to be at least one interleague game each and every day of the season. Last season, the first year under the new format, the Jays actually had a winning record against the National League clubs at 11-9. But overall, the Jays interleague record pales to those of the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yanks are 179-123 over the 17 years heading into this season. Boston is right behind them at 175-128. It isnt just the big boys who have success in interleague play, though. The Angels, who havent won a World Series since 2002, are 174-130 against the senior circuit over that span. The White Sox are 171-132 and even the Minnesota Twins are 165-137. If you average it out over 17 seasons, the Blue Jays have cost themselves about two games per season versus the Yanks and Red Sox in the East by struggling in interleague play. The American League has dominated this annual showdown between the two leagues, having the better record in 13 of the 17 seasons. Oddly enough, though, in the beginning the National League was up four winning seasons to three over the first seven interleague plays. The American League has dominated ever since. Nine American League teams are above .500 in the crossover play to just five National League clubs. The top National League club in interleague play is Atlanta at 148-131, followed by St. Louis at 135-120. Miami has done surprisingly well at 149-141. Luckily for the Blue Jays, the two teams they are playing against over the next seven days havent traditionally done well against the American League. Pittsburgh is the worst at 106-143 and the Phillies are 127-158. The Pirates have really had their troubles this season. After making the playoffs last season for the first time since 1992, the Bucs are 10-18 this time around. They lost one of their top pitchers in A.J Burnett in the offseason as a free agent to the Phillies, while lefty Wandy Rodriguez is recouping from a knee injury. But the Pirates real problem has been cashing in runners. They stranded 28 men in dropping a day/night doubleheader to Baltimore Thursday. On top of that, their number one catcher, Russell Martin of Montreal, is on the disabled list. The Pirates are in a virtual tie for last in the NL Central with the Cubs. The Phillies are only marginally better. They are 13-13, tied with Miami for last in the AL East. Yes the Phillies were stung by the retirement of Roy Halladay in the offseason but like the Pirates, their problem is run production. If you can believe it, their outfielders have only 15 extra base hits and the season is a month old. These are teams the Blue Jays must beat. Anything less than five out of seven will be a failure. One thing to remember about the Phillies is that they won a World Series in 2008; just six years ago. Yet this year, they lost 6,000 season ticket holders and their average attendance drop from a year ago, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is 9,129 per game. This, for a team that has known recent success and has a pretty new and fan-friendly ballpark. The inclement weather of April likely plays a major part in the Phillies drop-off, but it just shows fans wont put up with mediocrity forever. I was more than a bit surprised that the team with the second biggest drop-off is Detroit at 5,493 per game. This, for a Tigers team that seems to win the AL Central nearly every year and has been to the World Series, albeit, hasnt won twice in the last eight seasons. You might have missed it but the Dodgers franchise reached a milestone on Wednesday, winning its 10,000th game. The only others to reach that magic figure are the Giants, the Cubs and the Braves. And of those four, the Cubs are the only teams to have played their entire existence in one city. The Dodgers Zack Greinke is putting up some obscure but impressive stats, nonetheless. Hes off to a 5-0 start this season and has made 18 straight starts where he has pitched five innings or more and given up two or fewer runs. That hasnt happened in 100 years -- since 1914. The last time Greinke started a season 6-0, he won the Cy Young Award in 2009 while in the American League. Adam Lind isnt close to returning to the active roster yet. Hes still rehabbing his back. But when he is healthy again, the Blue Jays could face an interesting dilemma if Juan Francisco keeps hitting the way he is. There is no way the Jays can carry Edwin Encarnacion, Lind and Francisco on the same roster. Francisco has one edge over Lind in the versatility department in that he can also play 3rd base in a pinch. Linds not in any kind of jeopardy, but this situation will be interesting to watch.
[b]Yuli Gurriel Jersey[/b] . "Its not done, but its a huge step," Hannover general manager Dirk Dufner said. Poor defending allowed the visitors to score in the second minute, when Leon Andreasens header from Christian Panders cross sent the ball inside the far post.
[b]Jeff Bagwell Jersey[/b] . Last year, Islanders forward Colin Mcdonald released a "Do It For Colin" campaign to promote his teammate and friend John Tavares for the EA sports honour:The most popular sports voting video ever has to go to Chris Bosh who showcased his comedic abilities in his effort to get fans to vote him into the 2008 All Star Game:You can vote for TJ and other star players for the NHL 15 cover vote here.PHOENIX -- Martin Prado joked that he had better be careful or hell get a reputation as a hothead. The Arizona third baseman was ejected for the first time in his 933 big league games in the Diamondbacks 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night. "I was trying to make it to a thousand," he said. "I came up short." Manager Kirk Gibson was also tossed after he came out to argue following Prados ejection. "Prads not a hothead," Gibson said. "He said something I guess the home plate umpire didnt like." Paul Goldschmidt homered and Didi Gregorius had a pair of RBI singles for Arizona. Anthony Rizzo homered twice for the Cubs. Rizzo moved into a tie with Miamis Giancarlo Stanton for the NL home run lead at 22 with his sixth career multi-homer game, second this season. He homered twice at Milwaukee on May 31. Eury De La Rosa (1-0) gave up a run in one inning and got the win. Brian Schlitter (2-3) allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning for the loss. Prado was thrown out when he said something as he ran past plate umpire Cory Blaser after grounding out in the eighth. He had to be restrained by teammates after he was tossed. "Its part of the game. Theres a lot of emotions," Prado said. "I think I just overreacted, but the most important thing is we won the game. Guys were messing with me and said You have to get ejected every day." Catcher Miguel Monteros throwing error put a runner on third with one out in the ninth, but Addison Reed got out of it, getting Ryan Sweeney to pop out and fanning Welington Castillo for his 22nd save in 27 chances. The Diamondbacks Trevor Cahill, in his first start since April 13, allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. The left-handed batting Gregorius, 2 for 20 against lefties this season to that point, singled off left-hander Zac Rosscup to bring home what provedd to be the deciding run in Arizonas three-run sixth.
[b]Nolan Ryan Jersey[/b]. "The at-bat of the game," Prado said. Rizzo hit a two-run homer off Cahill far over the swimming pool area in right field in Chicagos three-run fourth. He added a booming solo shot to centre off De La Rosa in the sixth. The last player voted by fans onto the NL squad at the All-Star game, Rizzo is one homer shy of his total for last season. "That is cool," he said. " ... You want to keep on having good at-bats, not trying to hit home runs, just trying to hit the ball hard. " Ender Enciarte, just in the game as a defensive replacement in centre, ran down Rizzos shot to deep left-centre in the eighth. Gibson said David Peralta, shifted from centre to left, probably wouldnt have had the speed to get to the ball. Goldschmidts 17th home run was an opposite-field solo shot that barely cleared the fence in right and ended the night for Cubs starter Edwin Jackson. Cubs manager Rick Renteria said Jackson "kept us in the ballgame and Rizz had an All-Star night, two homers. "We didnt get a whole lot more after that, but even in the end we had a chance, but werent able to get that tying run in there," Renteria added. Cahill was demoted from the rotation to the bullpen after going 0-4 with a 9.17 ERA in his first four starts. The right-hander was designated for assignment on June 9, making one start for Class A Visalia and six for Triple-A Reno. "It felt good," he said. "Im competing at the highest level, starting, which Ive done my whole life. It was fun to be back out there and know I had the ball for as far as I could go." Notes: Arismendy Alcantara, in his sixth game since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa, stole second twice. ... In the second game of the series Saturday night, the Cubs send Travis Wood (7-8, 4.96 ERA) to the mound against the Diamondbacks Wade Miley (5-6, 4.18).
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