TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays relied on their big bats in the first two games of their nine-game homestand.
Ben Banogu Jersey . The power game was minimized Friday and it proved costly in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels that ended Torontos season-high five-game winning streak. Angels leadoff man Erick Aybar tripled to open the ninth inning and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Raul Ibanez. Ernesto Frieri earned his fourth save to end a choppy, mistake-filled game that at times was not pretty to watch. Torontos bullpen struggled after a five-inning effort from starter Dustin McGowan. Sergio Santos left the game in the seventh with the bases loaded and Steve Delabar followed by walking in a run. Brett Cecil (0-3) was uneven in the ninth as the Blue Jays fell back to the .500 mark. "Thats where weve struggled this year -- throwing strikes out of the bullpen," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "If they beat you, make them hit it to beat you." Toronto (18-18) pumped out 22 runs over its two-game mini-sweep of Philadelphia leading into the opener of a four-game series against the Angels. The Blue Jays scratched out runs where they could on this night, scoring twice on wild pitches and getting another run on a Jose Reyes solo homer. McGowan was hit and miss on the mound and did well to escape with just two earned runs allowed. Santos breezed through the sixth inning but gave up a one-out double to Aybar in the seventh. Aybar moved to third on a groundout and after an intentional walk to Albert Pujols and another walk to Ibanez, Delabar threw four straight balls to Howie Kendrick that were well out of the zone. "It was one of those days where I thought it was right there," Delabar said. "When I released the ball, I thought it was in the zone but it was nowhere close." Mike Trout hit his seventh homer of the season for Los Angeles (17-17). Aybar, meanwhile, was 3 for 5 and is hitting .397 over his last 15 games. "Hes swinging the bat nice, he has confidence up there," said acting Angels manager Dino Ebel. "Hes putting good wood on it and he wants to be the guy ... hats off to him getting that big triple there in the ninth inning." Reyes had three hits and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who were outhit 9-7 in front of 21,383 spectators under the roof at Rogers Centre. Los Angeles starter Garrett Richards was wild at times but turned in a solid performance overall, allowing five hits, two earned runs and two walks while striking out six. "Richards is one of the best young pitchers in the game," Gibbons said. "He can overpower you. He shut down a pretty offence too tonight. So that was the key there. "We were in a position to win, we just didnt win it." Richards second wild pitch in the first inning allowed Reyes to open the scoring. Trout gave the Angels a 2-1 lead with his solo shot in the third inning but another wild pitch from Richards allowed Melky Cabrera to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame. The Angels nearly went ahead when McGowan fired a wild pitch of his own with two outs in the fifth inning. The ball bounced back toward catcher Dioner Navarro, who tagged Ibanezs leg as he slid at home plate. Umpire Angel Hernandez ruled him safe but Gibbons challenged the call and the decision was reversed to end the inning. Reliever Joe Smith (2-0) replaced Richards in the eighth and Reyes greeted him by lashing a pitch that barely cleared the wall in right field. It was the third home run of the year for the Toronto shortstop, who has struggled to find a groove after missing time with a hamstring problem last month. "He looks back," Gibbons said. "Hes feeling good, hes bouncing around. He got off to a slow start with the bat but its coming. He can do so many things." The Blue Jays put the potential go-ahead run at second base later in the eighth but Juan Francisco struck out to keep the game tied. Notes: Ebel, the Angels bench coach, will also serve as skipper on Saturday as regular manager Mike Scioscia is away at his daughters college graduation. ... Toronto slugger Jose Bautista singled in the eighth inning and has now reached base safely in a club-record 36 straight games to open the season. Its the longest season-opening on-base streak since Pujols had a 41-gamer in 2008. ... The game took three hours nine minutes to play. ... McGowan allowed seven hits, two walks and struck out a pair. ... The Blue Jays entered play Friday with five players in the American Leagues top 10 in home runs. Bautista and Colby Rasmus were tied for third spot with nine apiece. Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., and Cabrera were tied for ninth with six homers apiece. Chicagos Jose Abreu leads the AL with 12 homers and Pujols is next with 10. ... J.A. Happ (1-0) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday. Fellow left-hander Tyler Skaggs (2-1) goes for the Angels. ... The challenge in the fifth inning lasted much longer than usual. The unofficial time was three minutes 20 seconds. ... Toronto has hit at least one homer in all 15 home games this season. ... The Blue Jays have dropped eight of their last nine games against the Angels.
Jalen Collins Jersey . "Weve given ourselves now a tougher task," said Carlyle after the Friday practice, the Toronto head coach notably chipper and upbeat throughout. "But the bottom line is we just have to win our share of games [and] not worry about what anybody else is doing.
Skai Moore Jersey . First, Ivan Nova decided to have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. Then Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games for using pine tar.In his latest column, Guillem Balague says he does not believe Cristiano Ronaldo will see out his Real Madrid contract to 2021. Sky Sports Spanish expert Balague also runs the rule over Luis Suarezs controversial yellow card in Barcelonas win over Sevilla, as well as Atleticos surprise defeat at Real Sociedad.Balague also answers your Twitter questions, including Philippe Coutinhos suitability for Barcelona or Real Madrid and comparisons between La Liga and the Premier League. Gareth Bale has become the most important player for Real Madrid. Out of the five matches that he has scored goals, all five of them have been the first goal of the game.Real were struggling at times in the 3-0 win over Leganes. They couldnt build from the back, and again they came out relaxed. Everyone has been talking for weeks about the lack of intensity, especially Zinedine Zidane, as if it has nothing to do with him.Again they couldnt find the right rhythm or aggression without the ball, almost expecting that somebody was going to save the day. More often than not, this is Gareth Bale at the moment. Ronaldo signed a new contract with Real at the weekend Cristiano Ronaldo keeps moving position, but most of the time he is waiting for the cross or the ball to get to him, and raising his arms if it doesnt come, frustrated by the fact he has not scored at home since September. But its Bale making things happen.Its very interesting that all of this happens when both contracts have been renewed recently. Ive been saying for a year-and-a-half that physically Ronaldo has peaked. I know I got a lot of stick for saying that at the beginning, but I think everyone is in agreement that it is now the case.What that means is that Ronaldo had two options: either change your game, like Lionel Messi has done, or reduce your area of influence and just become a goalscorer, which Ronaldo is doing at the moment. That is obviously very useful for Real Madrid, even though he hasnt been scoring as freely as usual, because those goals will return. Bale is now the main man at the Bernabeu, says Balague But will it continue until 2021?He got special treatment on Monday at his contract renewal, but I dont see him staying at Real Madrid until 2021. I just simply dont see it.His area of influence has been reduced, and its not a problem, it just is what it is. But Gareth Bale has been growing, and I dont see Ronaldo reducing his influence even more to allow Bale to keep growing and becoming the big star of the team. I see him in around three or four years looking for an alternative either in a poorer league or away from elite football. Well see, and if anybody can beat the odds it is him. You cannot take that away from him. I admire him, because he has done what he once dreamed of and more, and hes done it through a lot of hard work.Dont discount him fighting his way to the end of 2021 with Real Madrid, but I just dont predict it will happen myself.Is Suarezs booking wrong? It happens everywhere…People are asking whether it is right or wrong for Luis Suarez to pick up a deliberate yellow card so he can have a clean slate and save himself physically for bigger Barcelona games in November and December. Luis Suarez said he was pleased with his booking for Barcelona on Sunday There is nowhere that says it is illegal. Of course, morally there will be places where people say it is morally wrong, but I hope one of those places is not England.I know around Christmas period, players get sent off to avoid having to play so many games in that period, I know that for a fact. It happens a lot, it happens everywhere, and of course it is good timing for Suarez, because he will be able to rest after the international duty.Its seen as clever, and one of those things that happens even though people do not admit it happens.Praise for La Real as Atletico slow downIt looked like Atletico, the formation was like Atletico, it was the Atletico players, but with one less level of pace as they lost 2-0 at Real Sociedad. It was like the cinema reel had just slowed down.Real Sociedad played fantastically well, with young players making an impact and the whole team playing well, especially Carlos Vela, who is back to his best. Carlos Vela scored in Real Sociedads 2-0 win over Atletico Vela is an up and down player emotionally. If he feels switched on, physically well, you get the best out of him. If not, he will even think of going to a less competitive league, so you have to look after him, and he is beingg looked after at the moment.
Evan Boehm Jersey. .Guillem answers your Twitter questionsDo you see Barcelona or Real Madrid coming in for Philippe Coutinho in the summer? Mohammed Hamza @Hamza6_18Last time I spoke about Coutinho a few months back, I thought he wasnt ready for Barcelona or Real Madrid. I can now see that he is the most talented player at Liverpool, hes performing regularly, and is scoring. Yes, he is getting to that level where either Barca or Real can come for him.He needs a bit more glamour for Real Madrid to have big, big interest. For Barcelona, they need to decide what to do with Arda Turan, and then they have to decide whether a player like Coutinho fits in that team. Match highlights: Liverpool 6-1 Watford The problem with Coutinho as a No 10, he hasnt got a place in a Barcelona 4-3-3. He has to play wide, or play deeper, but that isnt his role, so its difficult to find a place for him.Lets see who the manager is at Barcelona next season, or if Luis Enrique continues, but certainly he would be so expensive that I couldnt see Barca coming in for him just yet. At the moment, neither of them are in the equation, but lets see how things progress.Is Messi the smartest player ever? Dropping deeper against Sevilla to affect the game - Sergio Rodriguez @SergiorlfcHe was fantastic against Sevilla. Brilliant. It was one of the best games Ive seen this season in any competition this season. It was brave from both sides, both sides wanted the ball, wanted to attack, it was just fantastic.As Pep Guardiola says, when Messi is not moving hes resting actively, but also because he is waiting to see where he can impact the game better. Lionel Messi was in fine form Barcelona in their narrow win over Sevilla On Sunday, as we saw, he dropped deeper in the first half, but received the ball as a No 10 for his equalising goal. So he was moving all around.In the second half, he went 20 metres closer to the box because he saw Sevilla dropping deeper, and that the spaces were there when Sevilla lost the ball on the attack.It was just an amazing show, but he is hiding the Barcelona cracks. I see them not controlling the game as much as they used to, making individual mistakes and having difficulties building from the back. So Messi saved them again.How do you compare the quality of players between the Premier League and the La Liga? Crobrozi @TheSouthCreatorIt depends what you mean. Which quality do you mean?Do you mean strength? The Premier League. Tactical knowledge? La Liga. Technically? La Liga. Pace? Possibly the Premier League. Both the Premier League and La Liga have qualities in their own right, says Balague Both leagues require different things from different players. Theyre all amazing players, to be able to play in the top division. Forget what they earn, they had to go through a lot to get there, and the best are those who stay there for 10 years or more at that level. How can they do that? They need to be so focused, so delicate with their body, so strong mentally, you have to admire them.Who are the favourites to go down in La Liga? Carter Guiney @carterg999Quite clearly Granada will have difficulty putting together a run of wins. When the manager Lucas Alcaraz came in, he noted that the team only had two points having played against tough opposition, but now they only have four and look very unlikely to stay up.Osasuna are struggling too, and then there is always a surprise. It will be a team that cannot get away, its always a big team. At the moment, its anybody from 10th down in La Liga.Watch #CR7Live on Wednesday at 1pm on SkySports.com, Sky Sports Facebook page and on the Soccer AM You Tube Channel. Also See: Ronaldo signs until 2021 Ronaldo should retire at Real Revista de la Liga Guillem Balague
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