ST. Billiga Nike Air Max Skor . LOUIS – Its easy for one to imagine that when Red Sox manager John Farrell put head to pillow early Sunday morning, he was still stewing over a call made in the ninth inning late the night before. No, not the obstruction ruling that drew the curtain on a 5-4 Cardinals win, sending Busch Stadium into celebration as the hometown team took a 2-1 lead in the World Series. (Read about it here.) Instead, Farrell must be lamenting his decision in the top of the ninth inning to let a pitcher – a relief pitcher – hit with one out in a tie game. For reasons well discuss momentarily, Bostons bench had been reduced to Mike Napoli and David Ross. For two reasons, Ross doesnt factor into this conversation. One, hes the backup catcher and needed to be available in the event Jarrod Saltalamacchia was injured later in the game. Two, and most importantly, Ross is an inferior hitter to Napoli. Reliever Brandon Workman was Bostons fifth pitcher of the night and had worked the eighth. Jake Peavy, Felix Doubront, Craig Breslow and Junichi Tazawa had already been used. Koji Uehara, Ryan Dempster and Franklin Morales were, at the time, still in the bullpen. After Will Middlebrooks struck out to lead off the ninth, Farrell sent Workman up to hit. Workman, standing in the batters box against flame-throwing Cardinals right-hander Trevor Rosenthal, didnt stand a chance. He struck out on three pitches, Jacoby Ellsbury was quickly retired on a ground ball and the inning was over. Farrell had managed aggressively all night, the reason his bench had become short, but suddenly he went passive. The point isnt whether Napoli would have hit a home run to give Boston the lead or whether he would have gotten a hit to start a rally. The issue is Farrell, startlingly, decided to play for extra innings and save Napoli, one of his hottest hitters, for an at-bat not guaranteed to come. Farrell had wasted no time chasing starter Jake Peavy from the game. Down 2-0 in the top of the fifth and with runners on the corners and one out, Farrell pinch hit Mike Carp for Peavy. Carp grounded into an RBI fielders choice to get Boston on the board, a better result than Peavy likely would have had against hard-throwing Cardinals starter Joe Kelly. Good move, Farrell. In the seventh, with the game tied 2-2, Farrell pinch hit Will Middlebrooks for shortstop Stephen Drew. St. Louis had left-hander Kevin Siegrist pitching at the time and Drew, a left-handed hitter, has been as close as one can be to being an automatic out over the last month. The defensive alignment shifted as a result, with Middlebrooks entering the field at third base and Xander Bogaerts moving a few dozen feet to his left to assume shortstop duties. It was another completely acceptable move by Farrell. Farrell also had Jonny Gomes hit for reliever Felix Doubront in the seventh inning. An obvious move, youd think, except, of course, for what was to come. Unfortunately for Farrell, he got bit by the decision to move Bogaerts to shortstop. Matt Carpenter led off the Cardinals seventh with an infield hit. The ball wasnt hit hard but Bogaerts created a slow-developing play. First baseman David Ortiz, a designated hitter forced into the field by National League rules, couldnt corral the one-hop throw. Carpenter was aboard and would later score on a two-run double by Matt Holliday. Bogaerts is a natural shortstop and Farrell, obviously, trusts him enough at the position to put him there at a key time in a big game. The player didnt execute. You cant blame the manager for that. Reliever Craig Breslow was charged with the two seventh inning runs. He allowed the Carpenter single and also hit Carlos Beltran with a pitch that grazed the Cardinal outfielders left arm. Farrell went to right-hander Junichi Tazawa to face Holliday. Tazawa gave up the double. Again, the players didnt execute. There can be no fault found with Farrells strategy. After the Red Sox nicked the combination of Carlos Martinez and Rosenthal for two runs, to tie the game 4-4, in the top of the eighth, the Cardinals got a one out single from Kolten Wong with one out in the bottom half of the inning. Wong stole second with two outs and Carlos Beltran up. Farrell had Workman intentionally walk Beltran to get to the red hot Holliday. Holliday flew out. Gutsy move by Farrell but he must have liked the Workman/Holliday match up better than the Workman/Beltran showdown. It paid off. Farrell showed a keenness to work the National League style and he employed a proactive approach for most of the night. That was until he let Workman hit for himself instead of calling on Napoli. When Workman allowed a one out single to Yadier Molina in the bottom of the ninth, Farrell called for closer Koji Uehara, which begs the question, if Farrell was going to go to Uehara the moment Workman got in trouble, why didnt he just start the ninth with Uehara on the mound? Farrell played the role of wild gunslinger but then suddenly morphed into the shy guy in the corner. You cant play for extra innings when the home team has the opportunity to walk you off. To be fair, Farrell didnt cost his team the game. But as he laid his head on the pillow, the gunslinger surely must have recognized he left the ballpark with one bullet left unfired. Nike Air Max Thea Vita . Terry Collins is coming back confident better days lie ahead. "Maybe we can finish what we started," he said. The manager received a two-year contract extension Monday with a club option for 2016, a move the Mets announced one day after finishing 74-88 for the second consecutive season. Nike Air Max Zero Sverige . The rookie is rewarding their faith with a stellar first season. MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Jamie McGinn had two goals and an assist, and Colorado beat the Buffalo Sabres 7-1 on Saturday.Baseball season is just around the corner and TSN.ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. Today, TSN Blue Jays reporter Scott MacArthur answers the key questions facing the 2014 Toronto Blue Jays and how they stack up in the always competitive American League East. GM: Alex Anthopoulos Manager: John Gibbons 2013: 74-88 5th in AL East, Did not qualify for playoffs QUESTION: What is the answer to the Blue Jays starting rotation problems? MacARTHUR: Cross your fingers. This is a starting rotation that could pleasantly surprise. If it falters, well, that would lead some to conclude that it simply met expectations. If we work off the assumption that we generally know what the Jays will get from R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle (double-digit victories, ERAs on either side of 4.00 and more than 200 innings each,) then Brandon Morrow and Drew Hutchison become the keys to this whole thing. Morrow, 29, is healthy after missing the final four months of last season with an entrapped radial nerve in his right forearm. He has never pitched 180 innings in a single season (he did come close in 2011 when he threw a career-high 179 1/3 innings) and is out to prove he can stay healthy and be effective. Win totals arent always an accurate reflection of a pitchers season but the Jays need Morrow to swallow up 15 to 18 victories. If nothing else, the win total reflects that the pitcher went deep into enough ballgames to factor in to the result. Morrow is potentially in a contract year. The Blue Jays hold a $10-million option on his services for 2015. Hutchison, 23, was Torontos best pitcher in the Grapefruit League. He underwent Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery in July, 2012, and threw 35 1/3 innings late last season in the minor leagues. The Jays, however, insist the gloves are off and Hutchison will not be subject to an innings limit this year. The right-hander is a control pitcher and routinely was clocked with a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s this spring. More importantly, Hutchison was painting both corners and was keeping hitters off-balance with his changeup. Take this whichever way you will, but if were talking in September about Hutchison having been the Jays best starting pitcher in 2014, I wouldnt be surprised. Thats a good thing if he turns out to be the ace of a surprisingly strong staff. Thats a not so good thing if Hutchison goes through the typical ups and downs of a young pitcher while the rest of the rotation implodes around him. Regardless, Hutchisons future is bright. Aside from his stuff and his command, the Blue Jays salivate over his mound presence and his desire not just to pitch in the big leagues, but to be a dependable, dominant staff ace. You can look at the addition of Dustin McGowan to the rotation two ways and both are accurate. From a personal perspective, McGowans perseverance through multiple shoulder surgeries and various other ailments is to be commended and celebrated. He was a trustworthy arm in 25 appearances out of the bullpen last year and when, in September, he expressed an interest in stretching out to become a starter once more, people looked at one another puzzled. What could he possibly be thinking? Well, at least to this point, hes proven this doubter wrong and good for him. Can he stay healthy? Who knows. Only time will tell. From a club perspective, McGowan is the best option, which reflects poorly on J.A. Happ, who will begin the season on the disabled list with a bad back and who pitched poorly in four spring games. Happ, essentially, pitched himself out of the rotation. Esmil Rogers, who cannot throw strikes consistently enough to be a starter and Todd Redmond, a strike-thrower who struggles the second time through an oppositions lineup, are better suited to the bullpen. Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez will begin their seasons at Triple-A Buffalo and Double-A New Hampshire, respectively. Both need more seasoning before they join Hutchison in what could be a potent starting rotation for years to come. Dont be surprised if both Stroman and Sanchez make their big league debuts this year. Both are more than capable of making spot starts in case of injury or the poor performance of others. General manager Alex Anthopoulos didnt secure external starting pitching help, either via free agency or via trade, and is left with some uncertainty at the back end of his rotation as a result. Nike Air Max 2016 Dam. QUESTION: Does Alex Anthopoulos take the blame if this season is a failure? MacARTHUR: Yes, Anthopoulos will take some blame if this season is a failure, as he should. So should manager John Gibbons. So should the players. So should everybody in the organization. Will Anthopoulos be fired? The heat is getting turned up on the general manager, who took significant risks when making the blockbuster trades with the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets last offseason. Those deals represented a sudden change in course, ushering in a "win now" mentality instead of the previous plan to draft, develop and patiently cultivate talent. If Toronto has another down year, the club will have to determine whether it can win with a nucleus of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Both are elite sluggers on team-friendly tickets, possibly through 2016, and could fetch significant return. Should Anthopoulos be fired, it will be interesting to see which direction the club takes. Anthopoulos was a lieutenant of former general manager J.P. Ricciardi and there are people who work for Anthopoulos who date back to the Ricciardi days. It could be time for the Blue Jays to fundamentally reset the baseball operations department by bringing in an outsider. QUESTION: Is this the final season of the championship window? MacARTHUR: This is a tough question to answer because, after last season, it feels like the window either never existed or was bolted shut. The strange thing, despite whats been sold in these parts over the last 15 months, is that the future of the starting rotation (Drew Hutchison, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez) seems to be much brighter than the present. Maybe the so-called "championship window" is down the road a little bit. The Blue Jays have shopped high-priced talent like Mark Buehrle in the past. Theyd be open to moving him again if the season goes bust, although its a difficult proposition considering Buehrle is owed $18-million this year and $19-million next season, the heavily back-loaded years of the contract he signed with the Marlins. R.A. Dickey is locked in at $12-million per for this year and next. He has a club option for the same amount in 2016. Hes being paid to be the ace. Would another club be willing to take on the money for an almost 40-year-old who throws an unpredictable pitch? Offensively, with good health the Blue Jays should score their share of runs. They wont be a station to station ballclub; dont look for a lot of stolen bases. It will be up to Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion to combine for 75 home runs and for Colby Rasmus, in a contract year, to repeat the .840 OPS he posted last season while cutting down on the strike outs. Brett Lawrie, now 24, is showing signs of maturity at the plate. Hes devoted himself to studying video of opposing pitchers with Encarnacion. I believe the Blue Jays will be a better team this season. However, I also believe the Tampa Bay Rays and the defending world champion Boston Red Sox remain the two best teams in the division. The Baltimore Orioles have a potent offence but are dealing with questions in their starting rotation. The New York Yankees retooled after missing the playoffs for only the second time in 19 seasons but theyre dealing with health concerns of their own – namely Derek Jeter (how he bounces back from a serious ankle injury,) Mark Teixeira (recovering from a torn tendon sheath in his wrist) and CC Sabathia (had elbow problems last season; his fastball has topped out at 91 miles per hour this spring.) Typically, I dont like predicting because there are too many variables. Ill go so far as to say I think Rays starting pitching will catapult them to the American League East crown this year. The Red Sox will finish second in the division and win a wild card spot. That leaves the Blue Jays, Orioles and Yankees to finish in spots three to five. The order is anyones guess. Whos in?: 1B Dan Johnson (minor league deal), C Erik Kratz (acquired from PHI), C Dioner Navarro (Two-year contract) Whos out?: C J.P.Arencibia (Signed with TEX), OF Rajai Davis (Signed with DET), IF Mark DeRosa (retired), SP Josh Johnson (Signed with SD), RP Brad Lincoln (Traded to PHI), RP Darren Oliver (retired), SP Chien-Ming Wang (Signed with CIN)cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '
