Before tonights Toronto Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre, when the American League East leaders host last years National League pennant winners, the St. PJ Tucker Rockets Jersey . Louis Cardinals, the team will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of the SkyDome. Jays legends Jimmy Key and Ernie Whitt, members of playoff and World Series-winning teams of the past, will be on hand for the festivities to look back at what was the beginning of the Jays halcyon years. The return of these former stars comes at an apt time. For fans of the Blue Jays, its starting to feel a lot like those glory days again. Heading into Fridays game, the Jays sit at 37-24 with a five-and-a-half-game lead on the second-place Baltimore Orioles. The last team the Blue Jays held such a lead atop the division was in 1985, the year of their first-ever AL East triumph. Its easy to see why theres excitement surrounding this Jays team, but before everybody goes and books their flights to San Francisco for the World Series in October, lets step back and take a good look at these Toronto Blue Jays. Is it time to stop saying "Well, its early" and officially deem them contenders? Is the 2014 version of the Jays just the 2013 one that was expected all along, but a year late on arrival? Or will reality catch up with a team that is currently playing above its station? Friday night marks Game 62, and an even 100 games remain in the regular season. While its not exactly the halfway mark, its as good a time as any to reflect on the interesting dichotomy of the Jays season, thus far. Obviously, there have been plenty of key performances from the top of the roster on down. Mark Buehrle leads the league in wins with 10 and has a paltry 2.10 ERA. Edwin Encarnacion launched 16 jacks in May and made every at-bat a must-see event. Jose Bautista is in the midst of an MVP-calibre season. Melky Cabrera has bounced back from offseason surgery and looks headed to another All-Star Game. Jose Reyes once again looks like the catalyst he was for the New York Mets. Picked up from the Milwaukee Brewers scrap heap, Juan Francisco is one of the five Jays with double-digit home run totals. There is a lot to like right now. But before the Jays were sweeping the likes of the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics and tearing the cover off the baseball with reckless abandon and going 17-4 over its last 21 games, this team was once a very average 20-20. Its bullpen is still second-last in the bigs with a 4.62 ERA, having surrendered a league-worst 97 earned runs. Now second in the AL with 19 home runs, Encarnacion couldnt buy a hit in April and had just two homers. Reyes, Adam Lind and Casey Janssen missed significant time. Brandon Morrow and Colby Rasmus are down again. There were red flags all over this team not that long ago, but those have been seemingly swept aside in a tidal wave of power-hitting and timely pitching. Has this changed your expectations for the rest of the year? With April and early May indicating that the team was headed for another year of mediocrity, the fact that the Jays are division-leaders with the third-best record in baseball in June is quite frankly shocking. But wasnt this the Toronto Blue Jays team that was promised last season after a winter of major trades and free agent acquisitions? Maybe this run that the Jays are on isnt the aberration. Perhaps, last season and the beginning of this year was the outlier. Regardless of why its happening and how long it will last, the Blue Jays are currently playing meaningful baseball and its a welcome change for fans starving for a winner. So with 100 games left in 2014, just who are these Toronto Blue Jays and what happens from here on out? As always, its Your Call! Gary Clark Jersey . A police inspector told The Associated Press the crane operator is not yet suspected of any wrongdoing but is considered a key witness to the accident at the Arena Corinthians. Eric Gordon Rockets Jersey . -- David Price didnt think he would be in Port Charlotte this spring. https://www.rocketsrookiesshop.com/Isaiah-Hartenstein-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Mission accomplished. Now the Royals will take the field on Saturday with a World Series lead for the first time in team history when they play Game 4 of the Fall Classic against the Giants at AT&T Park.MONTREAL -- Tuukka Rask didnt look like the goalie who has had fits trying to beat the rival Montreal Canadiens. Rask stoned Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk on first period breakaways and went on to help the Bruins stretch their winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory over the Canadiens on Wednesday night. His 35-save effort was only his third win in 15 career games against Montreal. "They had a couple of breakaways, but we kept it on the outside pretty good," said Rask, who ended Bostons five-game losing run against the Canadiens dating to last season. After weathering an all-out Montreal attack in the opening period, Carl Soderberg, Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic scored in the second as Boston capitalized on every Montreal mistake. Zdeno Chara also scored as the Bruins (43-17-5) improved to 9-1-2 in their last dozen games and extended a run without a regulation loss on the road to 11 games. "Hes been great all year," winger Brad Marchand, who had two assists, said of Rask. "Hes the guy we look to be big for us. "We didnt worry about anything thats happened in the past. Its more about how weve been playing lately. We focused on how we have to play." With 91 points, the Bruins moved to within one point of idle Pittsburgh for the Eastern Conference lead. They return to Boston to face the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday night. "Were in this building and they come at us with a full court press," said Lucic. "Tuukka kept us in there. "Whenever we can withstand that pressure it gives us a chance to win. We did that and we were able to get a few good shifts in at the end of the first that carried over into the second period." David Desharnais replied for Montreal (35-25-7), which has lost three in a row and is 3-4-1 without injured No. 1 goalie Carey Price since the Olympic break. Montreal outshot Boston 36-32. As dominant as the Bruins have been, they often struggle against the Canadiens and it showed in the first period as Montreal held a 13-6 shot advantage. "We felt good about how we pushed the play in the first period and wee wanted to play the same way," said coach Michel Therrien. Trevon Duval Jersey. "Obviously, after their first goal, we have to respond better." Only 1:33 into the second frame, rookie Jarred Tinordi misplayed a puck off a faceoff and Soderberg was alone in front to score. Boston went on a counterattack after Andrei Markov fell and Bergeron finished off a give-and-go with Marchand at 9:25. Lucic bumped Alexei Emelin off the puck and then trailed in on a rush to score on a routine shot that got between Peter Budajs pads for his 20th of the season at 18:32. Chara got another only 23 seconds into the third when he broke in from the point and put in his own rebound. Montreal finally got one as Desharnais found the puck in a scramble with newcomer Thomas Vanek tying up traffic in the crease. It was Vaneks first point in three games since he was acquired in a NHL trade deadline deal last week. And it was Montreals first goal in seven periods since a 3-1 loss in Phoenix last Thursday. Therrien tweaked his lines in the third period, notably moving Vanek to the first line with Pacioretty, and will consider changes to help his team find the net. "Im trying to find a solution to scoring," he said. "Were creating chances, but we cant finish right now." The surprise number of the night was 24:03. That was the ice time of Montreal defenceman Francis Bouillon, which led all players both teams. Bouillon, replacing injured Josh Gorges, was dressed for the first time since the Olympic break and had been a healthy scratch for eight games. He finished even in plus-minus. Notes: Galchenyuk played his 100th NHL game... Francis Bouillon was back in the Montreal lineup for the first time since Feb. 8, bumping Mike Weaver. Brandon Prust returned after missing seven games with an upper body injury. . . George Parros, Dale Weise and Rene Bourque were scratched. . . Boston sat Dougie Hamilton for a second game to make room for newcomer Andrej Mezsaros. Daniel Paille (concussion), Adam McQuaid (leg) and Dennis Seidenberg (torn ACL-MCL) are sidelined. ' ' '  |
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